estirose | More musings about Yuletide fandoms, 2015

I think I was a bit too concise this year, but I don't like to ramble on in DYW letters. So, in comments, I've rambled about my Yuletide fandoms.

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From:

estirose

As I mentioned in the main letter, Mutsuki is my favorite character. He's also the one I've chosen to focus on, though I did nominate all four of the main Riders.

I probably would have not gotten fully into Kamen Rider if it hadn't been for poor Mutsuki (and to an even greater extent, poor *Nozomi*, given that nobody ever seemed to think she needed to know things). Mutsuki is a quiet, almost shy teenager who ends up with a belt because various Undead found him so easy to manipulate. He combined his lack of confidence with a teenage male swagger, which just made me feel for him more. I really loved his interaction with both Nozomi and the Tigress, because they were the ones that seemed to care for him the most. (I swear, for all her posturing, Tigress had a maternal streak a mile wide when it came to Mutsuki.) It's why I mention them specifically here, because I would have liked to see more interaction with them.

I also think that Tachibana was important to him, which is why I wouldn't mind seeing them interact more in fic. Since Mutsuki was possessed for a great deal of the story, they really didn't get a chance to interact besides Mutsuki's training. Actually, I like Isaka and Shima for much the same reasons - their interactions with Mutsuki were somewhat more limited, but they're important to Mutsuki's story for very different reasons. Same for Kenzaki, Shiori, Koutarou, Amane, and Hajime, to an even more limited extent. (Amane wasn't my favorite character at the time, but she's grown on me a bit over the years, and part of it is because of the way she interacted with Mutsuki about Nozomi.)

From:

estirose

I almost never started watching Drive. Gaim was a fairly decent series (though I hated that they effectively turned Mai into an object to be won by the victor), and I figured that anything the new series would have wouldn't be so good. Which is why I didn't start watching until about episode 15 or so and had to go play catchup.

Drive is a good series, but not perfect. I wish they'd developed the main Roidmude Generals a lot sooner than almost at the end, and that some of them (Freeze, Hurricane) had stuck around longer. I wish Kiriko had been kept competent instead of someone for all the main Riders to help at the end. (After all, she kicked Gou in Dead Heat to get him out of attack mode, why was she suddenly relegated to being big sister/girlfriend to be rescued by the end?) I wish someone had pointed out to Gou how harmful his secret hiding was - I mean, it was somewhat pointed out to him that it was bad, but the show seemed to condone hiding Banno's presence from Kiriko. Actually, I don't like Gou very much period, and hope that someone writing for me would keep his presence as minimal as possible (unless you're writing the prompt that is about their brother/sister relationship).

One of the reasons I'd like to see more of Kiriko's relationship with Banno is because we get almost nothing of it in series. We get to see his impact on Gou and his relationship with Gou, but apparently Kiriko isn't important enough to merit showing how she feels about Banno and what kind of relationship they had when she was younger. (Sorry, I'll stop grumping now.)

I love all the Roidmude Generals (I really disliked Brain and Medic until late series, when we got their backstories) and I wish we'd known more about them. Heart is important to me because he is a good boss (for the most part) and he cares so much. I really loved how he had gotten to the point by mid-series that he let Chase go to be what Chase wanted to be - it showed real respect for Chase's agency. I wanted to see more of his relationship with Brain and Medic - I almost want a fix-it fic so that we don't lose Heart, Brain, Medic, or Chase so that the can go on learning and becoming more what they were meant to be.

Edited Date: 2015-11-05 04:26 am (UTC)

From:

estirose

Once you get past the gorgeous art, Monument valley is kind of a very plain, minimalistic game. The whole storyline is the main character, Ida, is walking around trying to get to a point where she can deposit objects of various shapes above a star-shaped platform. We only get the name of the character in the tutorial, and there are only a few places where she encounters the Ghost and gets monologued at. In fact, Monument Valley is in some ways a five-minute fandom because all one needs to know is about 15 lines of Ghost monologue and the ending of the main game.

I don't mind at all, because worldbuilding is very much a favorite thing of mine. I want to know how other people construct Ida's world and her place in it, how they see the Crow people and the monument builders and everything else.

My own personal headcanon is that the monuments are nowhere as weird and interesting as we, the player, see them. They look that way because Ida is confused, because the spell is warping her mind and making her forget the reality of anything. It's possible that the Crow People are not real, but Ida's guilt stopping her in her tracks. The whole thing is Ida struggling to remember who she is and what she needs to do - restore the monuments - before she loses everything.

From:

estirose

Dino Charge reminds me in a really good way of Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger. In particular, I like that the characters are less than perfect, have their own issues, and don't always communicate with each other, but still come together as a team. I can see this team spending evenings watching movies, having fun, and still kicking a lot of rear end. The recent addition of Prince Philip makes things even more interesting - he's a prince, an outsider with lots of responsibilities, but he has to be part of this team. (I know who the next Ranger is going to be thanks to spoilers, and that one will prove interesting as well.)

What I want this year is that fuzzy team bonding, team-as-family kind of thing. I'm happy to have them as a OT7/8 as they would make such interesting dynamics (if a bit awkward for Prince Philip as he's not going to have a chance to be as close as the rest of them given his duties).

My personal favorite characters are Shelby, Tyler, and Ivan, but I think the whole cast is too interesting to focus on just them. It's why my letter and signup are pretty much "write me team fic!" because that is exactly what I want.

From:

estirose

This is "the Fandom I Keep Requesting In Hopes I Get A Story In It But Never Do", I swear.

Anyway, I think part of the reason I love this series so much is that it has to do with women and families. You've got the Kurosawa/Munakata/Hinasaki family line that connects I and II, the Asou family line (Yuu, Misaki, Mio/Mayu, and Ren) that connect II-V, and the Kurosawas (Rei and Hisoka) which connect V to III. Of course, the vast majority of playable characters and ghosts are female, and we sadly don't know much about anybody's backstory besides a few tantalizing hints.

I really love Miku because while she's afraid, she's strong. She survives a very nasty haunted house in the first game because she's so determined to find her brother, loses her brother, is attached to him so much that she gets drawn into the manor of sleep, survives that, and then goes to Mount Hikami despite all the dangers so that she can be with the one she loves. (I have issues with part of this, because I don't think the Miku of III would end up in the situation that resulted in Miu, nor do I think she would stop being a photographer's assistant just because she gets pregnant with Miu. She's stronger than that!) I want to see that strength in her, just because I really like that she had the courage to keep going no matter what. I really love the fact that she has an opportunity to turn around and not follow Mafuyu in III - you lose a really powerful cutscene, but it says that she can keep going despite her guilt and her grief, instead of almost giving in like V somewhat implies.

I couldn't put this in because I didn't want to spoiler people who like me have yet to play Maiden of Dark Water, but I think that it would be interesting if Miku's choice to go to the Matchmaker means that she is now down at Himuro Mansion, being there for Kirie and Mafuyu. It could also be somewhat happy, because Miu could go and see her mother anytime - presuming Himuro Mansion doesn't fall down on her head, of course.