Discover Top Posts Tagged with #longread

He’s no Einstein but . . . .

Anyone else seen the question doing the rounds of “ in equal machinery who wins, Charles, Lando or George”? My answer has always been the same, Lando. Because Charles has speed and George has brains, but Lando has enough of both to beat them.

The idea that Lando is stupid is a complete joke to me. Because in 2024 Lando Norris did something that effectively won him the world title in 2025. Meanwhile his teammate Oscar, widely considered to be intelligent, was completely blindsided by it.

Let’s break this down.

So after his win in Miami 2024 and podiums in Imola, Montreal and Barcelona, Lando knew he had a car that could challenge underneath him. By the time he and Max clashed in Austria, he knew he had a car that could fight for both titles. And by the way Max was racing Lando, Max knew it to!

Sadly McLaren for some reason unknown to man, didn’t see it! They fumbled Silverstone spectacularly and then they went to Budapest.

And this was Oscar’s first mistake. Anyone who watched that race, who has followed F1 for years was disgusted by McLaren asking Lando (the lead driver) to slow down to allow Oscar to pass. Not because a pit stop had gone wrong. Not because of an impending penalty. Simply because McLaren had banked on Oscar being able to catch Lando up for a simple swap, and he couldn’t do it. In Lando’s mind he is racing for the win and a shot at the title. He told the team as much,”it matters to me”. But Oscar was given the win and acted from that day forward as if he had earned it. Never an acknowledgement of Lando having to slow, or be told by the team to let him past. He acted as if he had done it on merit.

Now to me, a long standing F1 fan of 30 years+ I had one feeling that day. A driver who believes that they are World Champion material, would not be happy to have won that race, their first race, in that way. If you believe in yourself enough, you don’t need that kind of thing gifted to you. When you are leading a team and the whole team is geared to you winning the championship, then yes. Or you are in a team where you have raced for years and it looks like you may never get another chance, then yes. But your first win, in your second season, in the fastest car on the grid at that point, at 23, handed to you. Let’s just say it changed how I viewed Oscar that he was happy to take that.

Trouble was, having not addressed this, in Monza Oscar goes for a move that has a triple whammy. The team lose the race, the move costs Lando valuable points and most importantly was putting the team’s hope of a constructors title at risk. By now there is genuine talk of Lando challenging for the title. Not from McLaren mind you. They must have still been waiting for the idea to finish buffering and download.

Then Azerbaijan, Oscar’s second win. But again Lando is instrumental in helping Oscar get that win by frustrating the hell out of Perez. Yes it took a great move into turn one on Charles, but without Lando, neither Oscar or Charles are winning that race.

So by the time McLaren admit, full support behind Lando, Oscar has been helped to two wins and has cost the team another.

Oscar is asked to give up the win in the Brazil sprint to Lando, and then the rain soaked crash bandicoot spectacular with yet another red flag that screws Lando, happens on Sunday, effectively kills any hope Lando had for the title.

McLaren were far too late to realise what was going on, but Lando. Well Lando had been dialled in since around Canada. In the Qatar sprint, despite leading from the start and dragging Oscar along in his DRS the whole race, he defied the team to give Oscar the win on the line.

Finally Oscar acknowledged it. But by then Lando had the chess board loaded. When he crossed the line in Abu Dhabi in 2024 and announced next year would be his year, he was putting the team on notice, I’m fighting from race 1. And most importantly. I owe Oscar nothing when it comes to team orders. The one time you gave me something, I gave it back.

Then 2025 turns into a bit of a mess, Oscar lawn mowing in Australia, Lando having every car issue known to man and where the hell did Max come from at the start of the year?

By the time we got to Silverstone it might have looked a two horse race, but that radio message asking for the swap must have finally shock something loose in McLaren’s brain. If Oscar keeps getting and never having to give back, he’s never going to appreciate the value. Lando still knew that the team owed him for Hungary, and Azerbaijan. And any questionable move he pulled, well you let it slide in Monza folks 🤷‍♀️

Now we come to the real killer part. Monza 2025 and THAT team order. It’s not so much the order that caused the damage, it’s the fact the team took away Oscar’s narrative. Hey Osc you know when we had Lando slow down in Hungary to let you win the race? You remember that? Well today you need to pay that back.

Oscar had built his whole confidence around winning his first race in his second season and wasn’t he brilliant. His fans lauded it over everyone else. And the team had suddenly told him and everyone listening, you remember that time we and Lando let you win a race, well today you have to give up a third place because of that.

Oh man we saw the fall out. I standby the fact it was never simply the team order. That never made sense. Team orders had been used before at McLaren for both Lando and Oscar, it was that moment of saying we orchestrated your first win and the damage that did to Oscar’s confidence.

The confidence that abandoned him through Azerbaijan and Singapore and Austin and Mexico and Brazil. The worst part was when Lando bounced into him in Singapore again Lando had the ammunition. It’s no worse that what he did to me in Monza last year and nothing compared to what he did to me in Austin!

No one wanted to see Oscar in the wall. Hell a real F1 fan never wants to see anyone in the wall. Not really. But McLaren had burst the bubble around Oscar. And suddenly the noise the media and fans created about him being a robot and emotionless and ice cold was deafening. And I’ve talked about how McLaren really should have dealt with that better previously.

Meanwhile all those times Lando had silently helped the team and his teammate, well he started cashing them back in. To the point at the end of the season Mclaren were even considering asking Oscar to help Lando, if it meant neither of them would win the title. After all, the year before Lando had been left to win the constructors practically on his own in Abu Dhabi, the team’s debt to him at this point was insane.

And Lando having seen the team stumble and fumble 24, went into 25 with an arsenal against his own team and teammate. With favours to be returned and nothing in his own red column. It was a genius move. Almost Schumacheresque!

So when people say Lando didn’t deserve that championship I just laugh. As he seemed to have been multiple steps ahead of the rest of them for two seasons. When he says he’ll be back at the front and winning races before the end of this season, I wouldn’t discount it. He does magic tricks. Maybe the best one was loading his deck ready for when he needed it in a championship fight and we watched him do it, but were distracted by other things he did to actually realise what he was up to!

Oh and if my calculating is right, he is still owed for Azerbaijan 2024. Someone should really warn Oscar this time.

And for some of us, we haven’t forgotten Lando owes Carlos a podium. Ah Singapore 2023, you were special!

(You have no idea how long I have been meaning to write this, and even now, I’m not sure I want to post it)

#lando norris #oscar piastri #mclaren f1 #longread #likelonglonglongread

In Praise of Non-Anglocentric Frankensteins

The World Will Hunt You and Kill You For Who You Are First off, let’s get this out there: I don’t like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. I get it, but I don’t like it. Del Toro talks [positively] about the book’s “fidgetey energy”, like a teenager questioning “why” to so many things, from capitalism to the meaning of life, and I think that’s also what doesn’t work for me, in the same way I can’t get…

#gothic books #Gothic Fiction #gothic film #gothic horror #Longread

Tales from another anon who also lives in the Twilight Zone (2018)

Post mentioned in the end.

#/x/ 4chan #greentext #serious discussion #suburban spooks #longread #weird places #cover ups #weird people #mystery #cults #strange phenomena #strange lights #weird #strange #eerie #spooky

After discovering the Storm Hawks, what was the first aspect of the show to capture your interest in entirety?

I joined the fandom two years ago, and still can't say exactly what attracted me to Storm Hawks, but I dare say it inspired my love of science fantasy.

The first advantage that was able to win me over: an open sandbox world, decent graphics of those years (3D, stylized as 2D, is one of my guilty pleasures), atypical characters and a lot of plot details with great potential. In terms of the semantic load, the series sometimes evokes associations with saturday morning cartoons, although I am also impressed that, being limited by the children's rating and, for the most part, the comedy genre, the creators were able to masterfully convey the atmosphere of the tragedy of military realities.

The second advantage: lore. It is ironic to note that the world of Storm Hawks has a unique structure, so it's not surprising that the fandom has generated so many interpretations based on what little was presented in the series. I mean, examples of settings where a group of young pilots stand up to the tyranny of a matriarchal empire, using phlebotinums of a wide variety of applications, and riding on hybrids of fighters, combined with a competent presentation of the material, are quite rare. And thanks to @sihedwu's articles on how this world works, I've become even more interested in exploring what Nerd Corps has been able to offer us (even if that wasn't their original goal).

The third advantage: the visual style. Particularly, it is impressive how meticulously the artists approached the study of the smallest details, be it binoculars or an walkie-talkie. While watching, I often paused episodes and stared enthusiastically at the many gears, which sometimes could take several minutes, but it was worth it. Maybe someone has noticed, but lately I've been trying to borrow the style of the series in my art, paying attention to details related to the drawing of mechanisms. Yes, this has also sparked my interest in steampunk.

The fourth advantage: the wide range of emotions. At this point, I am attracted to the willingness of creators to experiment with facial expressions of characters, which allows them to move beyond the one-faced plastic figures. Although due to the modest budget, some moments seemed even more comical than they should have been, I believe that on the contrary it gives the series a certain charm, which, in my opinion, its possible reboot couldn't achieve. By the way, one of my dreams is to modify the Storm Hawks models in Garry's Mod and make funny animations with them, like in Team Fortress 2.

In conclusion, I would like to note that Storm Hawks, despite their objective shortcomings, are an amazing phenomenon that is firmly embedded in my head and will probably continue to inspire me for a long time to come. For this, I drop the mic and go underground behind the work machine.

#storm hawks #rin's ask #longread

az írástudók árvulása

Parászka Boróka nagyszerű írása a facebookon válaszul egy követőjének arra a megjegyzésére, hogy túl hosszúak a posztjai (szerintem meg túl rövidek, de így is hihetetlen, mennyi energiát beletesz, hogy nagyon magas színvonalú publicisztikái a fácsén mindenki számára ingyen elérhetőek legyenek, ami ebben a ronda, monetizált, neoliberális világban – az elszarasztás tombolása közepette – önmagában is hatalmas kincs, és sokkal többet érdemelne, mint egy léha, semmire se kötelező lájkocska).

sajnos nem tudom belinkelni, mert mint @wndrpanda kedvesen felhívta a figyelmemet múltkor, a meta linkek kiadják az identitásodat. De ha még nem teszitek, akkor olvassátok őt! A nagyon kevés számú ember egyike, akinek a posztjai miatt megéri megtartani a fb accountodat.

azért is szeretem, mert pont Petőfit meg Adyt emlegeti – divat manapság leszólni őket, itt a tumblin is – szerintem a magyar irodalom két hegycsúcsa, a legmagasabbak között; ha tetszik, ha nem, az ő köpönyegükből (is) bújtunk ki mindnyájan.

#longread #tldr #parászka boróka #enshittification #enshittifikáció #elszarasztás #facebook #petőfi #adybandi

ПОЧЕМУ ХАМЕЛЕОНША ПРОВАЛИЛАСЬ?

Прошел почти год с премьеры четвертой части «Кунг-фу Панды» – провальной, по мнению большинства, части. Есть множество причин, по которым фанаты франшизы ругают этот фильм. Это и режиссер, который не имел опыта работы над серьезными лентами; это и откровенно развлекательный характер сценария; это и пиар на старых, полюбившихся героях; это и попытка подсунуть нам новых персонажей, которых мы должны каким-то макаром полюбить. Но в центре всего этого перечня Хамелеонша – серая, плоская, тривиальная злодейка, чей потенциал спустили в унитаз в угоду… китайского рынка?

Так, стоп!

Студия западная. Продукт западный. Основная аудитория, казалось бы, тоже западная. Причем тут Китай?

Обо всем по порядку.

1. Там, откуда не ждали.

Для начала вернемся в 2008 год, когда вышла первая часть «Кунг-фу Панды». Вы только вдумайтесь, семнадцать лет назад! Семнадцать лет назад в DreamWorks и подумать не могли, что лента, изначально задумывавшаяся как шутка, пародия на старые азиатские боевики, обретет головокружительный успех по всему миру! Более того, мультфильм проник на довольно закрытый, особенно ко всему западному, китайский рынок. «Кунг-фу Панда» стала первым анимационным фильмом, собравшим в прокате более 100 млн. юаней, что ранее не удавалось ни одной западной ленте на территории Поднебесной. Режиссер Лу Чуань комментировал в China Daily:

«С производственной точки зрения фильм почти совершенен. Американские создатели показали очень искреннее отношение к китайской культуре».

Лу также отметил, что «Кунг-фу Панда» стала глотком свежего воздуха в привычном взгляде на китайскую культуру и боевые искусства. Еще более красноречива реакция Ву Цзяна, президента Китайской национальной оперной труппы в Пекине, в Reuters:

«Главный герой фильма – национальное достояние Китая, и все элементы – китайские, но почему не мы сняли такой фильм?»

Отдельно стоит отметить, что лента победила в китайской премии «Хуабяо» (中国电影华表奖 [zhōngguó diànyǐng huábiǎo jiǎng]) в номинации «Выдающийся фильм на иностранном языке».

Успех комедии о неуклюжей панде-лапшичнике, однако, не мог не привлечь пристального внимания к франшизе китайских цензоров. Именно от их одобрения зависит, что китайский зритель увидит на экране. «Кунг-фу Панду» как ленту, лишенную какой-либо исторической, социальной и политической критики Поднебесной, поначалу легко пропустили на экраны страны, но последовавший успех теперь исключал возможности «проскользнуть» через цензуру. С этого момента DreamWorks были вынуждены считаться с китайскими реалиями, с которыми волею судьбы столкнулись.

2. Корень всех бед.

Чем так интересны Тай Лунг, лорд Шень и генерал Кай (третий в меньшей степени, но все же) – антагонисты предыдущих трех частей? Ответ прост – они не являются злодеями в чистом виде. Традиционные злодеи – это картонки, покрашенные черной краской, за которой нет ничего, кроме жажды разрушений. Этого нельзя сказать о нашей троице. Их отличает то, что у них, в отличие от картонки, есть угол зрения. Если посмотреть на ситуацию с их стороны, окажется, что они никакие не злодеи. Тай Лунг должен был быть героем и делал все для того, чтобы стать им. Лорд Шень – жертва непонимания и заблуждений. Генерал Кай был предан самым близким существом. Такая перспектива делает их неоднозначными и в какой-то момент заставляет зрителя сочувствовать антагонистам. Да, с точки зрения китайской культуры они злодеи. Они выказывали неповиновение старшим и неуважение к традициям (о чем был один из моих постов), но, тем не менее, заставляли зрителя думать и сомневаться в определенных для этих персонажей ролях. И это не нравилось китайским цензорам. Можно сказать, что генерал Кай, казавшийся фанатам до определенного момента менее глубоким персонажем, был последней попыткой сценаристов в персонажа с серой моралью.

Что есть серая мораль? Анастасия Роскостова, автор блога «Читай и плакай», дает следующее определение:

«Серая мораль – это особая концепция, которая выводит за рамки стандартного деления на положительных и отрицательных персонажей. В книгах с серой моралью герои не всегда классические «ангелы» или «демоны», они скорее похожи на реальных людей со своими слабостями, противоречиями и сомнениями. Эти персонажи могут совершать неоднозначные поступки, которые и не совсем героические, и не злодейские».

В моем понимании серая мораль – это свобода от радикальной дихотомии «черного» и «белого». Мир настолько многогранен и разнообразен, а современная мысль настолько широка и настолько далеко шагнула вперед, что должно было давно стать ясно, что вселенная – это оттенки серого, потому что на свете нет ничего идеального и абсолютного.

Казалось бы, почему китайским цензорам не дают покоя персонажи с серой моралью? Почему они не могут принять и отпустить это? А все дело в… конфуцианстве! Конфуцианство, наряду с коммунистической идеологией, диктует каждому человеку определенный образ жизни и склад мыслей. В том числе и отношение к искусству, будь то книги, кино или просто картинки в Интернете. Согласно конфуцианству, искусство не может быть, грубо говоря, жвачкой для мозгов, пустым развлечением. Искусство обязано служить нравственному воспитанию человека. Как бы это грубо не звучало, но в этой картине мира человек – это ведомая овечка, которая, увидев что-то на холсте, странице или экране, не будет анализировать увиденное, а пойдет повторять его. Получается, искусство равно призыв к действию – хорошему или плохому.

Отсюда строгое деление персонажей на положительных и отрицательных. Оно выражается через образы «благородного мужа» (цзюнь-цзы) и «низкого человека» (сяо-жэнь). Цзюнь-цзы – это совершенный человек высших моральных качеств, носитель совокупности конфуцианских добродетелей. Он пример объективности и беспристрастности, спокойствия и уравновешенности, принципиальности и примирительности, достоинства и заботливости и внимательности. В людях он видит, прежде всего, хорошее. Он живёт в согласии с другими, но не следует за ними, требователен в первую очередь к себе, следует долгу. Сяо-жэнь – это собирательный отрицательный образец, пример того, как не следует поступать, чего следует избегать. Он высокомерен и заносчив, горделив и мелочен, самолюбив и мечтателен о личной выгоде, стремится разглядеть в людях лишь дурное.

В такой картине мира персонажи с серой моралью – чужеродный элемент. В большинстве своем серая мораль – это продукт развития западного искусства, в частности литературы и философии. Например, «Демон» М.Ю. Лермонтова, «Потерянный Рай» Дж. Мильтона или «Иуда Искариот» Л.Н. Андреева, которые подрывают традиционные доктрины и дают повод читателю симпатизировать и переживать за персонажей, которые традиционно и безоговорочно считались врагами Бога и всего человечества. В китайской же иерархичной культуре не было предпосылок для появления серой морали, поэтому неудивительно, что она, будучи исключением из привычной картины мира, стала врагом для этой самой картины мира.

Со временем конфуцианская философия прочно закрепилась на уровне государственной идеологии Китая и получила свое развитие в сегодняшнем дне:

2010 г. – принят нормативный акт «Китайский закон о пропаганде для детей и подростков», запрещающий персонажей с серой моралью в книгах. Включает в себя положения о том, что литературные произведения для детей должны пропагандировать положительные ценности и идеи, а также запрещает использование персонажей с аморальным поведением или негативными чертами.

2019 г. – принят нормативный акт «Правила администрирования видеоигр», запрещающий персонажей с серой моралью в играх.

2021 г. – принят нормативный акт «Кодексе поведения для киноиндустрии и телевидения Китая».

3. Возвращаясь к Хамелеонше.

Все вышесказанное создает для потенциальных желающих внедриться на китайский рынок разнообразные ограничения. И тут встает выбор – свобода творчества или коммерческий успех. Четвертая часть показала, что второе оказалось важнее для DreamWorks. Они побоялись экспериментировать с успешным в Китае вот уже семнадцать лет продуктом, и это наложило свой отпечаток.

Поначалу да, Хамелеонша кажется коварной и интригующей особой:

«Императрица маскировки, способная принять любую форму, любой облик. Ящерица-перевертыш с бирюзовыми глазами. Да, я говорю о Хамелеонше!»

Первая злодейка крупного калибра в «Кунг-фу Панде». Звучит круто, правда? Она будто была призвана усидеть на двух стульях. С одной стороны, запрос нового, прогрессивного общества на репрезентацию сильных, самодостаточных героинь. С другой стороны, закостенелая китайская политика, для которой наиболее удобны картонные злодейские злодеи с типичной жаждой власти и манией величия:

«Я тоже вышла из грязи и всегда мечтала стать чем-то большим, добиться уважения, власти, стать великим мастером кунг-фу. Я так старалась, но меня не приняли ни в одном додзё. Говорили, что я слишком мала, заурядна, что мне не по чину заниматься кунг-фу. Я избрала иной путь – колдовство».

Как я говорила в одном из предыдущих лонгридов:

«Ее мотивация настолько ущербна, что будь с ними в одном зале Пятерка, то она бы сдулась. Богомол тоже маленький, даже меньше ее, однако он живая легенда своего времени. Журавль был обычным уборщиком, зауряднее некуда, но он тоже выбился в люди! […] Можно было бы, конечно, напустить драмы, сказать, какой она на самом деле глубокий персонаж, что в стремлении достичь своей мечты и бесконечных перевоплощениях она потеряла саму себя и не знает, кто она сама по себе, что у нее есть личная трагедия банально в виде усвоенных «Трех законов улицы», но где это все? Где раскрытие персонажа?»

Ответ прост. Китайской цензуре не нужны нетривиальные антагонисты. Они – враги для них. Они подрывают общественные устои и сеют сомнение. Сегодня ты сочувствуешь тому, что пошел против несправедливости отца и учителя, а завтра что, партию продашь? Звучит абсурдно, но именно так цензоры видят ситуацию. А DreamWorks покорно молчат в тряпочку.

Поэтому, увы, франшизу «Кунг-фу Панда» ждут тяжелые времена.

Понравился пост? Поддержи блог денюшкой.

#dreamworks #kung fu panda #kfp #kfp 4 #kfp chameleon #kung fu panda chameleon #longread #long reads

i'm not really here to defend itch.io, because i think they've handled the situation... not as well as they could have, but this is NOT their fault. the blame is entirely on the payment processors that, in essence, held a gun to itch.io's head, and Collective Shout in very specific

this whole thing is fucked up, but putting the blame squarely on itch.io is missing the entire context. they're not the ones you should be mad at

Is it only itch.io's fault? No. Is it entirely Collective Shout's or Visa/Mastercard's fault? Also no.

It's everyone's fault. But that doesn't mean itch.io is innocent, and here's why.

What's wrong with itch.io:

They denied payouts without warning, robbing creators of money they already earned. And no refunds to buyers either. Like, hello? Where did the money go?

They changed the rules overnight, freezing the money that didn't even belong to them in the first place. Couldn't they handle it in a civil way? Explain the situation, pay out the creators, refund users who ask, give it a week before pulling drastic moves. 3 days at least?

They had to act urgently? Well, excuse me, I'm not buying it. There should’ve been some sort of negotiation, some attempt to defend the rights and interests of the community in front of the payment processors. And if this was the best they could manage… were they even trying? They had good intentions but was forced to act differently?

Just to be fair:

Payment processors basically shot themselves in the knee after falling for a blackmail-style pressure campaign from a small but loud group of people. They probably have their own interest in censorship too, which actually shouldn't be their damn concern. And now everyone else has to jump through hoops with petitions and phone calls just to undo the damage? What is it now, whoever screams "think of the children!" louder wins?

Collective Shout blew up the entire situation over the one game - No Mercy. Honestly, I haven’t looked deep into their history, but from what I've seen so far, I assume they would attack everything they don’t personally like, and impose their opinion. They want to dictate what you play, what you watch, what you think, probably even how you fuck and when you breathe. This isn’t activism, it’s ideological authoritarianism as they don’t want a world with dialogue or diversity of thought. They want a world where they dictate what’s acceptable.

And I hate to say it, but… Steam and itch.io let this happen too!

Don't they have any sort of review process before publishing the games on their marketplaces? Obviously, they had a very weak legal position in this particular case and couldn't even defend the game, because of the kind of content it had. It became an easy target, and now, they've thrown all NSFW creators under the bus.

One more thing, that particular game, No Mercy, wasn't an exception. I've played some games on itch.io, and I've seen non con and other content that could easily get them cancelled too if anyone looked closely enough. But those games were listed, people were buying them, everyone seemed to be okay with it. Steam/itch.io operated in a so called grey zone and let it stay that way for years.

Then No Mercy came out, heavily focused on non-con and incest, and ofc it was such an easy target. So if you want to know my opinion, that game shouldn't have been released on Steam/itch.io in the first place. But not because of the censorship thing, censorship is ugly. Because it doesn't suit these platforms guidelines and could easily jeopardize a lot of people, and that exactly what happened.

I honestly believe that we have to be more open-minded and give people freedom of art and freedom of expression. The fact that these games have been around and operated in a grey zone for so long makes it a custom of business turnover imo. That doesn't mean non-con and other games should be everywhere, but they exist and some people have interest in them too, like it or not.

I'll keep this short and sweet for everyone who supports this censorship - back the fuck off from the kinky community and give them a corner of the internet where they can safely explore their kinks. The only non-negotiable boundary? KEEP MINORS OUT OF KINK. ALWAYS. But don't you dare play the "think of the children" card for censorship and ideological control on what turns you off. Your personal discomfort is not a universal moral law.

Now what we needed, and still need, is a more suitable platform that is not afraid to host this kind of content. A place that doesn’t pretend kinky creators don’t exist the second things get tough, and that is ready to defend their interests, who will find a way to fight back the payment processors and pretty much everyone else.

And Steam/itch.io, since they been listed games with some specific topics for years, should have been prepared for various consequences, including pressure from payment processors, and handle them fairly. But instead, they cowardly removed games and ripped off community and creators. So yeah, IT IS THEIR FAULT. The wrong things done by payment processors and collective shout shouldn't diminish their own fault.

Hope's Peak and... Whatever is Going on with the "Talents" They Study

Hope's Peak Academy! Where only the greatest talents are invited to focus on the areas in which they excel (and to be studied by the staff).

The people working at Hope's Peak Academy in Danganronpa (whether staff, scientists, or Steering Committee) are pretty consistently presented as being dedicated to researching and understanding the nature of talent. They talk like talent is this hazy concept that only certain people somehow possess, so they're out to crack the code of its mysterious origins.

We have top men working on the origins of talent right now. .... TOP. MEN.

Now, I know we all eventually learn just how much of a shitshow HPA was and how corrupt its primary operators were. But the evidence of their crimes is mostly focused on how they take their interest in "Talent" much too far. So long as it furthered the study of "talent," human experimentation, endangering the lives of students, and much, MUCH more were totally on the table as far as HPA's Steering Committee was concerned. Which is very bad, yes.

However! I think the issues with HPA's intentions ran even deeper. The people in charge weren't just corrupt; they were also stupid. And this is evidenced by many of the "talents" they identified and researched.

See, Hope's Peak makes no real distinction between the types of talent they identify and accept into their walls. Even though there's a MASSIVE DIFFERENCE between the talent of someone like Junko Enoshima vs. that of someone like Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu. Y'know?

(I strongly doubt I'm the first to observe how bullshit some of these "talents" are. But since I can't find any other conversations about this on Tumblr, I'm going to move forward with making my own commentary. Sorry?)

BTW, consider this: If Komaeda were somehow born earlier and was an adult by the time the 77th Class entered HPA? He could've easily been one of the staff members putting Hajime into that metal coffin.

In descending order of "I can see why they were interested" to "WTF is this," here are the four core types of Super High School-Level "Talents" that Hope's Peak Academy welcomes within its hallowed halls:

(DISCLAIMER: I include V3 students as some of the examples cited below. YES, I know they don't attend Hope's Peak in their game's main storyline. However, they attend Hope's Peak in both UTDP and DRS. That's good enough for me; you can always ignore those examples if you disagree.)

CATEGORY (A) Talents that seem to come innaately/naturally to those who have them. These are either your wunderkind types, or they otherwise gained their talent seemingly overnight. — (e.g., Yasuhiro Hagakure, Junko Enoshima, Nagito Komaeda, Miu Iruma)

My Thoughts: Okay, SURE. I get why you'd want to study how this can happen and where these kinds of skills come from. No notes.

CATEGORY (B) Talents that are developed over a lifetime of practice and/or hard work. Most Hope's Peak students we know about seem like they slot into this category. — (e.g., Nekomaru Nidai, Mikan Tsumiki, Kaede Akamatsu)

My Thoughts: My first reaction is "What is there to study/research about this?" Do the Hope's Peak staff not know that working on something for a long time can make you get way better at that thing? Y'all reminding me of Hajime in the now-classic @reddpenn comic where he is legitimately shocked to learn people can gain skills through practice. :P But HOLD UP; let's give them the benefit of the doubt here for a sec. Perhaps Hope's Peak's personnel are wondering why only some practitioners of these talents can reach such a noteworthy level of skill by the time they're teenagers? That's the most reasonable conclusion to draw about the inclusion of these students.

CATEGORY (C) Talents that are only noteworthy because these students demonstrated some above-average skill relative to their age or because they garnered attention through one specific incident. In other words: These individuals aren't nearly as exceptional as those in the previous two categories of talent, but at least they seem pretty decent at what they're being identifed for? — (e.g., Mahiru Koizumi, Shuichi Saihara, Kaito Momota)

My Thoughts: I hope I'm being clear enough about what I mean by this category. But if not, I'll try to clarify: Shuichi was supposedly recognized for his talent solely because he caught one murderer. Mahiru's photography is almost solely portrait photography and therefore not particularly noteworthy to most photographers; she's just pretty good at the one thing she happens to do. (And in truth, her mom's reputation probably played a role in her own Hope's Peak invite.) Kaito being able to pass a basic Astronaut screening exam at a younger age than is usually allowed is neat, but it's not like he's been an exceptional trainee or even gone into space; he's just the "Ultimate Astronaut" because he cheated his way into taking a test early and did surprisingly well at it. Maybe we're meant to think "Oh, Kizakura or whoever could somehow tell these students have the innate potential to be truly spectacular" or somesuch?? But that interpretation requires putting a lot of faith in this questionable-ass system (and the one HPA scout we're familiar with — a known alcoholic). Do these people REALLY demand further study? Is there ACTUALLY anything to be gained by learning about their "talents"??? I... can't see it, y'all. I don't get it.

CATEGORY (D) Talents that aren't even really a talent at all, they're just a position/title someone gained by being born. — (e.g., Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu, Sonia Nevermind, Keebo)

LIVE HINATA REACTION

My Thoughts: Okay, so MAYBE Sonia was recognized by Hope's Peak as the the absolute pinnacle of refinement and royal behavior or something? But I kind of doubt it based on her actual behavior (and weird interest in serial killers) in DR2. And there's no way in hell that Fuyuhiko is the baddest-ass Yakuza, even among teenagers. You scratch that kid slightly. and you get the babychild undernearth. And Keebo? His talent is HIS OWN EXISTENCE. His "talent" is actually just his creator's talent, FFS. He's not even "High School"-AGED in reality; he's just programmed to operate at a mental capacity of approximately teenage-level. So ultimately, I'm asking: What is there to STUDY about any of these?! These aren't even TALENTS, frankly! These have got me wondering if there's some other reason to include these particular students... like perhaps Hope's Peak wants to extend their tentacles into the power/influence afforded by Novoselic royalty/the Yakuza? Or perhaps they wish the leverage Keebo's A.I. technology in their own pursuit of creating of an "Ultimate Talent"? Point is: THESE 'TALENTS' ARE SEVERELY SUS. (I have to wonder if the larger public and Reserve Coursers ever complained about how sketchy some of this shit sounds?? SURELY they did.)

ADDENDUM/NOTE: There are also those who hover between the various categories I've cited. This includes those who might be a mixture of two categories, or those whose background is hazy enough that it's not clear whether they always had their talent (A) or developed it over time (B). But I think the above list encompasses everyone we know about, either in one or multiple categories.

CONCLUSION: Hope's Peak is so vague and weird about what they define as "talents" that it's tough to say what on Earth they believe they're studying over there. Because the methodology they were employing for identifying these talents is super loose, they're inviting over SOME fascinating subjects right alongside a bunch of teenagers who... really can't reveal much of anything about anything?

How did Junko Enoshima learn to easily analyze the patterns all around her to the point that she was able to accurately predict most outcomes? GREAT question! You may genuinely be able to unravel something about inborn skillsets and unusual brain development from such a case.

How did Mahiru Koizumi become a great photographer? Uhhh, she observed some stuff from her mom and just tried a decent amount of portraits, I suppose. But she's not even that amazing frankly, she ain't taking any award-winning pictures or using any particular artistry. She's just good at smiling portraits. That's it. You ain't gonna learn shit from this.

How did Fuyuhiko become the Ultimate Yakuza? Because YOU decided he was! And that was just because of his inherited leadership role! He has NO special talent, wtf are you idiots doing?!?!

ANYWAY, that should cover all of the Hope's Peak students we've ever me—