The way Mina described as absolutely perfect, smart, athletic, beautiful, etc. I thought how funny it would be if he was set up in Yumeship with personfailure. Definition of The groom and his ugly uss spouse.
Like, Minajael is literally surrounded by beautiful, high-status women only to think of them as pretentious, annoying and thinking of how to get out of here and then he looks at Yuu, who is straight up personfailure trying show cool trick in front of their first years friends by throwing food in the air and eat it... Only for said food to fall on their face, smudging both their face and clothes, as Ace laughs, Deuce looking in concern and Minajael be like: Ah yes. Radiant seven I want this one :)
The man is actually perfect 💀
xbjsbwjwkwd It would be kinda funny if he went for someone that’s the complete opposite of the types of women he usually attracts… Someone that’s a messy and a little inept and pathetic in an endearing way. A regular ass, socially awkward person trying to make it through the day.
I don’t necessarily think that Mina is against good looking, competent, or high status women. It’s that he doesn’t trust the intentions of those kinds of women that aggressively approaching him. They’re looking for something to gain out of the relationship, putting on airs to get in his good graces. It’s not genuine, it’s forced and manufactured. That’s not the type of love he’s after.
Mina strikes me as someone who wants to be loved for what he is, stripped bare of the things that make others salivate over him. Take away the money, the brains, the status, the looks, the magic, etc. Look at what is inside, and then choose to accept him as he is, even if he didn’t have a single madol/thaumark or a shred of power to his name. I think that’s what makes Mina so effortless to ship with a Yuu, despite his recency and lack of content in the Twst canon.
Yuu, as a blank slate, is pitched as a practical and down-to-earth everyman, someone able to see value in the things that their peers cannot. For example, they are the only NRC student to realize the value in the Radiant Seven and what they stand for. If anyone can look past Mina’s exterior and to his heart, it’s them. Not only that, but Yuu lives such a humble life in Ramshackle and is pretty ordinary by any accounts (a non-mage, humble, etc.). They have nothing to prove, no desire to hunt down a rich and powerful husband. They’re content just chilling with their besties and being goofy with them. That’s relatable—and, to Mina, someone worth falling in love with. And because “Yuu” can be anyone, so many different permutations of them can exist and work well in this context ^^
I like to imagine that Mina confesses to his RSA buddies that he has a crush on someone and they all get SO hyped that the cool, mature Mina-chan had feelings for someone. Neige and Rielle for sure hold sleepover meetings to gossip and to help Mina develop a plan of attack (ie asking them out)!!! B-But now Mina’s too embarrassed to tell then more…
P.S. The Kuzco rejecting his potential brides scene, except it’s Mina/j
miss raven!! i've noticed many people hcing minajael as someone who's very teasing/flirty and i'm so curious what's your take on this! what do you think his style would be like?
I think a big part of Mina’s appeal is that we barely know anything about him. A pretty face and some basic background + vaguely princessy and Jasmine inspiration is enough for fans to project whatever romanticism they want onto him to fill in for knowledge gaps. And yeah, it helps that Mina also has a very strong face card
I believe that fans like to headcanon Minajael as flirty/teasing because of their own thirst/j of how Jasmine, his inspiration, behaves in the film. Since Jasmine has a romance with Aladdin (and, uh, arguably also a charged “moment” with Jafar 🤢), we can reference that and extrapolate for Mina and how he'd act when it comes to pursuing love for himself or just how he acts in general. I've also noticed that many people like the idea of the RSA boys having Disney prince/hero traits, so those tend to get combined with the princess/heroine traits. For Mina, that means he may have some Aladdin elements as well (though for simplicity's sake, I'll be pulling only from Jasmine for this post).
Firstly, Jasmine is fierce and firmly believes in marrying for love, not for status or royal obligation. "I am not a prize to be won!" really sticks out in my own memories of her film. This is something we already see reflected in Mina, who pretty quickly rejects the idea of having his spouse decided for him in his introductory scene. It's therefore not far-fetched to look to Jasmine for other examples of what could be transferrable to Minajael. For example, he could have a strong sense of justice and a desire to help others since Jasmine does (thinking Jafar's sentences are too harsh, wanting to feed a hungry child, etc.).
Jasmine is consistently shown to be flirty (sometimes in subtle ways, other times more aggressively or overtly). Her "I'm a fast learner" line could be seen as being coy, especially when paired with her expression and in the context of having fallen into Aladdin's chest a little earlier. And who could forget the infamous scene where Jasmine lays it on thick to distract Jafar? In fact, Jasmine demonstrates several times that she knows how to "turn on the charm", not just to distract Jafar, but also with Aladdin, whom she expresses both hostility + hesitation towards and genuine interest in. For example, she strides up to Aladdin, places her hands on him, and speaks in a sweet voice in their balcony scene. Jasmine also acts playful with the feather on Aladdin's turban, proactively puts her head on his shoulder, and refers to him as "my handsome prince" after their date in the sky.
Considering all of that, here's my own interpretations of the "Minajael is teasing/flirty" headcanon(s), along with related headcanons of my own:
My immediate impression of Mina is that he speaks casually, but is serious when it comes to achieving his goals. However, this doesn’t mean that he can’t also be a romantic or have a teasing streak.
As I mentioned earlier, he is canonically very opinionated when it comes to matters of love and is against the idea of having others choose his partner for him.
I see the RSA boys as kinda… bleeding hearts and/or those with savior complexes. For Mina specifically, I think he’d share Jasmine’s fierceness and self-righteousness, so he’d be the type to intervene if he senses a NRC guy is giving someone else trouble. Swoop in and play hero, y’know 😭
I fully believe in Mina’s capacity to whip out the charm if he has to or wants to. Now, I don’t think he’s a playboy even if he kinda looks like trouble. He’d be looking for The One to pledge his devotion to, someone who would love him for him, and not money, status, or titles. An old-fashioned romantic at heart!
Mina daydreams about having a serendipitous encounter in some farmer’s market (while he’s in his commoner cosplay). Like he reaches for the same blemished apple as a rando and then their hands touch, their eyes meet, sparks fly—
Mina does strike me as someone who easily teases, thanks to being inspired by Jasmine. He’s not unaware of the effect he has on people, bro knows what’s up.
He’s very selective with how he wields his charm, because he doesn’t like the idea of giving false hope. If he’s such an advocate for true love, then the last thing he wants to do is lead someone on. And if the person he’s interested in is into someone else, Mina will immediately back off and encourage them to follow their heart. HE’S A SUCKER FOR HAPPY ENDINGS (even if they do not involve him).
I think a good way to incorporate Jasmine’s (initial) hesitancy and skepticism (of Aladdin as his Prince Ali persona) is… maybe Mina teases others as a sort of “test” to see how they react. Kinda like putting his feelers out there, so he can determine what kind of person they are, if he can trust them or not, etc.
To add that element of insincerity (Jasmine faking it with Jafar) to Mina, I think he has a… complicated relationship with flirting? Like, it’s a useful tool to determine friends and foes, but it isn’t “true”—it has a detached quality to it. Maybe he feels a real connection with someone, but then the thought occurs to him that they may not like him for his “real” self, since he’s kinda putting on an act or pretending to be someone else in the moment (perhaps someone more romantically aggressive).
He doesn’t like being pursued; he’s more into being the pursuer. I think this thought of mine stems from Jasmine’s “I am not a prize to be won” line and how she constantly had suitors knocking at her door. (Also! A reference to the lyric “a thrilling chase”/“a wondrous place”/“for you and me” in A Whole New World.) It’d feel suffocating for Mina and like people are fighting for his affections. He wants that freedom to choose who he loves and pursues.
I think he'd be really popular on Magicam and every time he posts, he gets a flood of thirst tweets and people hitting on him. Mina laughs it off, but it'd make him feel kind of uncomfortable and think about how people like him only for his riches or looks and not really for HIM, the "real" him.
Mina seems so easy to talk to… so casual. Flirting comes to him naturally, and sometimes even the non-flirting sounds like it because of how effortlessly it rolls off his tongue. My female friend and I have this dumb in-joke where we’ll greet each other with “hey, girl” to parody playboys, but in Mina’s case, that “hey” greeting would actually be innocent and chill but so, SO effective, even if he does not mean for it to be that way.
You know how sometimes guys use their dogs in dating app photos to make themselves seem more likable??? MINA WiTH HIS PET TIGER AS HIS WINGMAN…
I don’t think he’d be perfect in matters of love. At the end of the day, Mina is still extremely privileged (despite his own reservations about his status), and that will blindside him to certain things that the common man experiences that he never has. He might make some accidentally insensitive comments, but quickly recovers from them and is cordial + mature with the apologies unlike most of the NRC boys. Y’know, cuz Jasmine can get pretty feisty but isn’t afraid to change her mind when she has realized she was wrong.
He once thought about confiding in his thoughts on love with Neige, Rielle, etc. but they got way too squeaky and excited about it, so Mina changed his mind and shut the convo down 💀
I may or may not have more thoughts on this later, we’ll see… I could yap about this for a good long while :v
And there's more 😭😭😭 JAMIL GET UPPP DO SOMETHING 😭😭 Funniest thing in a while pls
I don't know about Rielle and Azul, but I definitely feel like the common sentiment in the fandom is that Minajael is outshining Jamil 😭 Not Jamil being relegated to second place THANKS TO AN ASIM (RELATIVE)/j
@/Twst devs... save the NRC boys... SAVE THEM, GIVE'M A MAKEOVER
Related: I stared at Minajael for a long time trying to figure out what about him was attracting everyone. And then I realized... HIS FACIAL EXPRESSIONS ARE A COMBINATION OF LEONA'S SMUG SMIRK, FELLOW'S ANNOYED EYEBROWS, AND JAMIL'S QUIET NONCHALANCE. Leona's prince status and ability to read others, Jamil's desire for freedom and insight, Fellow's free spirit and wish to live as he wants... He has all the cuntiness but none of the cringe... Bro is a pretty boy genetically engineered in a lab to appeal to us 💀
You're so right about Mina, idk how they created this man but GOD has he been fixed in my mind lately 😩
Him calling the suitors pretentious and conceited when he prolly doesn't even know them tho💀(and I imagine some are his age and being used for political reasons too)
Then snapping at rielle, homeboy seems to have a bit of a temper actually lol 👀 which I don't mind, we like some SPICE over here
[ My book 8 chapter 3 thoughts here! ]
I think it really helps that both Mina and Rielle are twisted from Disney princesses with big personalities! They’re able to stand out from the cast and get into disagreements because they’re headstrong in their own ways and have their own desires that are different from the standard RSA “let’s all be besties and play fairly”.
Minajael in particular stole the show for me this update. I love the trope of the mature and reliable older brother, which Mina fits very well. The update even opens with Kalim referring to him as “Mina-nii” (which is akin to “big bro Mina”). He is aware of the potential for NRC to use underhanded tactics and Rielle’s shortcomings getting in the way of their victory and plans workarounds for those problems. The mob students frequently look to him for advice and are impressed by his range of talents. Minajael definitely comes off as the leader and strategist for RSA in Relic Labyrinth. People depend on him and feel comfortable doing that.
He almost reads as Gary Stu levels of perfect—beautiful, intelligent, wealthy, gifted at magic, etc.—but then he has moments where his fieriness surfaces. Mina has a vehement dislike for those who hold try to control him, and he projects that disdain onto advisors and those who pursue his hand in marriage. He also gets annoyed when he’s not listened to, or others fail to follow his commands. He gives back-handed compliments, calling Rielle’s usual self noisy so it’s hard to believe he has such a beautiful singing voice. He does not instantly realize that what comes to him naturally does not for others. No matter how much Mina may resent his royal status, the fact that he was raised as a prince leads to him coming off as arrogant and demanding in moments of anger, even to peers. Mina humble brags about things like his beauty and physique, which he seems to be well-aware of. He says things he regrets later, recognizes when he’s overstepped and hurt his friend, and reflects on how he can be better. He becomes frustrated with himself when his own privilege and shelteredness gets in the way of his relationships. He’s flawed in ways that make sense for his character.
Minajael’s background informs his good traits as well as his bad ones. Together, they help him feel much more three-dimensional than, like… Neige, who’s generically nice yet naïve (which I feel is the safest direction to take an RSA character + this characterization probably applies to most, if not all, RSA mobs so it doesn’t help Neige stand out). The same goes for Rielle, who is curious and energetic but also impulsive, easily distracted, and extremely childish despite wanting so badly to be seen as an adult. My focus is just on Mina because he’s definitely the one I favor between the two
… Ngl, the funniest thing about Mina is that he’ll randomly traumadump, catch himself traumadumping, go, “oopsie, I rambled again; anyway—”, AND THEN CARRY ON LIKE NOTHING HAPPENED.
HELP 😭 NOT JP FANS COMPArInG LEONA TO MINA bUT POSinG MINA As THE SUPERIOR PRINCE
Rough translation of the tweet:
[ Similarities Between Leona and Minajael ]
royalty
talented/capable in both academics and athletics
handsome
reliable
[ Differences Between Leona and Minajael ]
Minajael can reflect on his own words + actions and feels remorse
Leona was held back a year
THey’RE MEking ART DunKING ONL*oNA TOO 😭 LIKE THIDS coMIC… OJITAn’S BEING rOASTED AlIvE
,$/$/!&b,],\<\>!:?)/?.evhevs I don’t know if there’s a name for it, but I’m a big fan of this niche category of humor that focuses on one prince dunking on the other 🤡 (Here’s another example of what I mean!)
miss raven how do we feel about minajael literally being made in a lab to be the most perfect man ever with suitors far and wide vying for One Chance... personally my jaw is on the floor
iS MInA NOT LIt34RALLY THiS MEMe???? So perfect that every woman in Twisted Wonderland apparently wants him/j
Scarabia mob voice) he can’t keep getting away with this… get his ass
I think this aspect of Mina’s character makes sense, given that Princess Jasmine had many pompous suitors vying for her hand in the film. Mina’s just as candid about how much he despises them too 💀 Jasmine calls her suitors “stuffed-shirt, swaggering peacocks” while Minajael refers to the women pursuing him as pretentious and conceited chasvjwkwkwl And, of course, we’ve got that obvious disdain towards having their partner chosen for them.
The way Twst made the ideal guy (bro’s got it ALL; the money, the looks, the talent, the magic, the personality, the intellect) and also made him basically unattainable for everyone 😭
By the way??? It’s ridiculous to me that Mina is SO perfect that he pisses off the Scarabia mobs. SCARABIA MOBS, who have always read to me as the chill party bros. Mina made THOSE guys mad 🤡 What even…
TEAL BOYS WHO HAVE A PART OF THEIR UM INCANTATION WHERE THEY TELL YOU "DON'T BE AFRAID" 🤡 I have a type/j
Jade says そんなに怖がらないで (son nani kowagaranaide). Mina, on the other hand, uses 恐れるな (osoreru na). The phrasing (probably to better reference their respective Disney films), tones, and verbs they go for are different, but the meaning is still roughly the same.
I would say that Jade is much softer and more comforting, as though he is speaking to calm down a child, while Mina's is more authoritative and like a command. It's like... "There's nothing to fear!!"
This wasn’t my idea!! I just saw it and found it really interesting, so I wanted to spread it around and share my thoughts. All credit for the initial idea goes to OP, Twitter user @kodama_ma_!
To roughly translate OP's tweets:
"What if... What if there was a time in Prince Minajael's childhood when he was playing with his friend (a tiger whom he affectionally called "Tora-chan") and, one day, entirely without malice, the tiger accidentally scratched Minajael (and drew blood)? There would be a massive commotion/uproar, and the prince would desperately shield his friend, crying out, "Stop it! No, it's not like he did it on purpose!" But no one would listen to him. In that moment, it was the first time he truly grasped the reality of what it meant to be a prince, and even though he loathed it, he wiped away his tears...
"... put on the most 'dignified expression' he could, and, speaking in as cold of a voice as he could muster, Minajael declared: "--That is an order. Do NOT harm him. I will show no mercy to anyone who lays a hand on him." ... …What if that actually happened? What if that was the first time he ever issued a 'command' to another living being…?
Ugh, I cannot stress enough that this is SUCH tasty angst 😭 I feel like it also fits Mina super well, especially because this makes me think of the scene from Aladdin when Jasmine reveals herself and uses her authority as the princess to command the guards to release Aladdin. (The switch from sweet, curious, and a little sassy to authoritative is so good!!) I also love the idea that Minajael, despite disliking his status as crown prince, knows how to wield his power well and uses it to correct what he sees to be acts of injustice or inflicting pain onto his loved ones. Again, this is VERY Jasmine-esque of him.
I was talking about this headcanon with a friend the other day and they wondered how far the commotion actually went. They suggested that the servants even suggested to put down the tiger and then another friend went, "damn, that's more concern than the Sunset Savanna palace servants ever gave for Leona" That friend also pointed out that even though Mina hates using his authority, he's willing to use it to protect those he cares about... It really speaks to the difference between NRC and RSA. Using your power to get yourself ahead vs using your powers for others 🤡
Having someone fret over your safety every living moment, having a whole kingdom on his shoulders, having lives laid down for one drop of his blood... That's an immense weight to be on a child, and he didn't ask for any of it. I find it really ironic that the crown princes in Twisted Wonderland tend to not care for their titles or thrones. Malleus doesn't exactly resent it, but him being crown prince has negatively impacted his social life by isolated him from others and building him up as a figure to be worshipped, never treated like a normal person. Silver doesn't even acknowledge his royal bloodline that much; he considers himself his adoptive father's child. And then there's Mina, who wants to run away from it all 🥲
