madimpossibledreamer

I also wonder if the strong ‘opt-in concrit’ stance goes alongside the heavily minority-based nature of Ao3 writerbase. Because yeah, if you’re getting a lot of unsolicited ‘you’re living wrong’ criticism in real life, you’re hardly going to want that from your escape.

Actually you know if they mentioned, like, contests, or whatever, giving away androids, that would explain the mechanics in Detroit Become Human. They won’t, because all these worldbuilding things weren’t thought about, but. And also because it’d get into some dicey slavery territory, but you know, it’s already there, and if you’re going to use superficial stuff, you might as well show how absolutely horrible the realities of slavery really were. Particularly when there are still people still going “well, slavery was a good thing, actually”, like, suuuuure bud, I don’t see yourself signing up to become a slave.

*note that it’s more like the multiplicity of humans, but that’s less catchy of a title.

So for this one, thank you to a wonderful comment by Axsan_Kat, I probably wouldn’t have figured out the reason behind this choice without you.

For the longest time, I wasn’t sure why I’d gone with multiple-personality disorder in Self-Made Hero, other than maybe the vague idea that I didn’t want to only use one version of Tony Stark. Turns out there was more going on in my subconscious that I was aware of, which kind of leads into the actual reason why I’d made the decision: Personas.

Not exactly from the hit SMT series, mind. Going back to Carl Jung, in fact. The basic premise is this: we wear different personas, or masks, depending on what we’re doing. That might seem strange, but if you think about it, it makes perfect sense: we’re different people at work, by ourselves, on the internet, with our best friend, with our family (and sometimes, with different family members), at a concert, shopping, etc. We put on our work persona just like we put on our work clothes. We should remember this more often, for example, when someone says “Oh, that person treats me like garbage” and we go “but they’ve always been nice to me”, but that’s the basic premise.

There’s a little of that in every superhero tale, and part of the enduring appeal of the genre. Who you are when you put on that mask or faceplate or transform or whatever. But a character that definitely takes that to extremes (even when he’s got a Public ID) and is thus fascinating to write is Tony Stark.

To the average person, it might seem like Tony is the same no matter where he goes; sarcastic, irreverent, never taking things seriously, but there are layers.

Some of it is probably neurodivergence (probably ADHD, maybe autism), trauma (Howard Stark, either as a terrible parent in most of it and as a good parent but presumed dead in Armored Adventures), and PTSD (getting the arc reactor in whatever permutation that happens). But there’s also a whole lot more. Let’s turn to the movies specifically. I might have a lot of problems with The Avengers (and most of Whedon’s work, looking back, honestly), but I do think the ‘tinker tailor soldier spy’ genius millionaire playboy philanthropist line is great for this. He’s intelligent and he knows it, it’s probably the thing he’s most confident in. Millionaire is something he’s probably coming to terms with, especially once finding where a lot of that blood money had come from, and he’s also starting to get the sense that, you know, maybe the eccentricities that come with being a millionaire aren’t actually all charming. Playboy, also mixed, because it’s started to feel a little more hollow and unfulfilling. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, mind, but it’s hurting Pepper, maybe, and he doesn’t want to do that, but at the same time sometimes he needs to just stop thinking and it’s that or alcohol, and sometimes he just needs to feel like someone cares even though that’s maybe a line. Philanthropy may just be throwing money at problems to make amends, but it’s something he knows how to do and it’s something, and he’s not so great at apologizing (maybe, partly, because with his self-worth he doesn’t actually think he deserves to be forgiven).

When he’s with the bots, for example, he might be sarcastic but he’s more gentle and patient than he’d be with humans. On a lot of occasions, he’s leaning on Pepper, and it’s almost impossible to tell what’s him not feeling up to dealing with things, trusting her, trying to figure out how she works (because he adores her but I don’t think he ever reaches a point where he’d say “I can predict how she’ll react”), and stress testing, trying to find her boundaries and breaking points. Rhodey’s more predictable but they definitely don’t see eye to eye on everything—Rhodey is a soldier first, and doesn’t react well to Tony starting to come to terms with his past, legacy, and family legacy as a (legitimized) arms dealer. He probably is grateful to Howard for the inheritance of his intelligence, but resents him for how he was treated. In some ways, it was probably more comforting to think it was black and white, that Howard never loved him, because that’s easier to deal with. Obie he saw as more of a father figure than his own dad, because Obie made the time to actually treat him that way, even if it was mostly selfishness on Stane’s part. His meeting with Cap was largely one of resentment, too, because Howard cared more about Steve Rogers than his own son, but there was probably some fear, too, because you tell yourself that they’re not right about you, when your family tells you you’re not good enough, but part of you will always whisper and wonder maybe they’re right. (Another thing that could have been great in the Avengers, except it never got followed up on or resolved so there’s no learning, no character growth.) It’s probably clear that his confidence waxes and wanes, but he hides it more or less well (in some cases especially Iron Man 3 it’s cracking) because some of his role models (Aunt Peggy and Edwin Jarvis) were British, so stiff upper lip and keep calm and carry on are the adult coping mechanisms he’s learned to emulate. Actually opening up and showing he’s vulnerable takes work and effort and honestly there are some days it’s probably impossible for his brain. Iron Man 3 did such a good job with compassionately and realistically portraying not only his PTSD but him learning how to deal with it and maybe, just a little, starting to heal.

So, yeah, it follows naturally that actually kind of making that literal and have Xander have to deal with all that in a YAHF (Yet Another Halloween Fanfic) is a writing decision that isn’t quite as out of the blue as it seems. Not that I recognized that for years, just “this is happening and I am writing it, okay”, but I got there in the end.

Along those lines, I had a similar depressing thought. It occurred to me why the Hispanic/black/other minority population is lower than it should be. I heard on a True Crime show that serial killers who get away with it for a while usually target “people who wouldn’t be missed”, i.e. those the media and police won’t make as much of a fuss about. “Smart” demons and vampires probably target them, too.

Maybe you could read the importance of relationships to Buffy as a deconstruction of the way women construct their identities in relation to how men define them.    The Watchers are coded almost exclusively as a male organization, and in rebellion against that Buffy thinks of her personality mostly in terms of who she’s dating, which is entirely how modern society operates but it’s kind of messed up too.

Figured out, thanks to Rant With My Family, what it is that bugs me about Next Gen so much.    We went from goofy bunch of nerds having adventures to This is A Job.    Picard is a Career Starship Captain that takes Being a Career Starship Captain very seriously.    The rest of the crew make it clear (for the most part) that they are not friends, they are Coworkers.    (Except for maybe the Security Chief lady that died.    It’s been long enough since I last attempted to get through TNG I don’t remember.)    They are portraying We are Coworkers that work together but don’t particularly like ourselves or our job too much; it’s just a paycheck, and it makes perfect sense and fits in perfectly in the universe.    But it’s not particularly fun.

I was trying to figure out why “Why Do All the Monsters Come Out at Night?” "Monsters" by All Time Low has such BtVS vibes and I think I’ve figured it out.  Sure, there are a lot of unhealthy relationships in the series, but there’s something more metaphorical here, too.
It’s Sunnydale Syndrome.  Sunnydale itself is a perfect metaphor for an unhealthy relationship.  It looks nice, friendly sometimes.  And sometimes it tries to kill you. 

Previously: Buffy - Death, Xander - The Magician, Willow - Priestess, and Giles - Hierophant.

I’m also fairly certain story-wise Tower is a very fitting one for Faith, as well as personality wise.  People generally look at Death, the card I chose for Buffy, and think that’s the ‘bad omen everything’s going wrong’ one.  (Also another factor I forgot to mention in the first post is that the Sunnydale Herald has the Persona Death card in their banner, so that’s even more fitting.)

Just as Faith is written to be Buffy’s ‘dark shadow’, so too can you see Tower as the ‘dark shadow’ of Death, the card that those who are more familiar with the two know is the problem one.

Tower meanings generally involve destruction-self-destruction, destructive behavior, it’s pretty much all the same.

It’s easy to see Tower characters as deserving the doom of their own making, because they’re arrogant and generally any harm that occurs is of their own making, because they’re too proud to ask for help, because their own faults and bad decisions are usually what leads to their downfall.

What can be easy to miss is that it’s easy to downplay your own responsibility and influence.  Sure, they’re the ones that decided to get drunk and throw themselves in the water, and would swear at anyone who tried to help, but even then no one’s even attempting to help, because saving a life is more important than avoiding hurtful words (other than, eventually, Protagonist).  The isolation and refusing to rely on others isn’t solely a choice of their own making.  They desperately need help to avoid the downward spiral of their life but don’t know how to ask for help, don’t think they deserve it, or can’t conceive of a better life in a less hostile world.  They don’t have th coping mechanisms, support, or anything else they might need to save themselves on their own.

(Interestingly, she might have her own Social Link in the form of the Mayor, because there’s a very similar character, aside from the whole ‘actually becoming a devil’ thing, in the Persona 3 social link Tanaka.  [If you play Persona 4, you might be aware of him too.]  Who is the Devil Arcana.  Random stuff I found interesting.)

Also, even if I’m making this not Wesley’s Major Arcana it’s 100% one of his Minor Arcana, because it fits that man, especially in later seasons of Angel.

Sometimes Tower cards have non-Physical damage skills.  She might get an Almighty (Megido) attack but would probably focus heavily on Physical, particularly since HP is used as the fuel for Physical attacks in Megami Tensei (Megaten) games and it would feed into the whole self-destructive thing she has going on.

Previously: Buffy - Death and Xander - The Magician

Willow power-wise is unusual for this tarot card in canon, but personality-wise I’d say she’s spot on, or at least, within a certain time period, it’s spot on.

Priestess as shown in Persona is much closer to early Willow.  Specifically, they’re shown as patient, quiet, reserved, hardworking, intelligent, wise, and shy.  (Generally.  I would argue that Yukiko got to the point where she felt she’d been patient enough, but then, that’s probably also a good parallel, since you could probably say the same of Willow.)  Priestess is also symbolic of untapped potential, which, right up until the end of the show when Willow becomes the most powerful witch in the world, is accurate.

Her striving for good grades, unlike many other Priestess characters in Persona, doesn’t seem to be  due to the pressures of family members—unless it’s the “You’re the daughter of that researcher?” variety, but her mom doesn’t seem to take all that much interest in her life at all, and I don’t remember if we even saw her dad.

Also, there’s fun stuff here about her being a Wiccan priestess.  Symbolism is fun.

If she does get to be a party member (more than canon), then she’d probably be a bit different in terms of Priestess characters.  While she’d start with healing and support and probably one elemental spell (Garu/wind?  Because canonically she knows telekinesis spells), like Yukiko, who is a beast when it comes to Agi/fire, I don’t think she’d stop there, because she focused on destruction a lot near the end, especially as she started unlocking her confidence.  Willow would get recarm and level it up, though, since she also canonically learns resurrect powers.

Follow-up to Buffy - Death

I thought about Fool for 0.2 seconds.  It’s possible Fool is one of his Secondary, because he is kind of naïve and sometimes easily manipulated, but given his similarities to Yosuke (and Junpei, who’s often the darker, more jealous version of the Magician Best Friend character)…yeah, it’s Magician for Xander.  He pretty much fits all the characteristics in the games.