Locuas

I do wish people did not reduce the 90s movie version of the character to just a shallow character with "no personality" without bothering to understand what the movie was going for.

It took elements present in the manga and shifted to give them a major focus and go for a more existential take on it. While the movie AVOIDS the trap of treating cybernetics and prothesis as an inherently evil thing (versus the human body being a sacred vessel that should never be changed), it does ask the question of what kind of impact would such massive changes have on a person.

How would someone be impacted, psychologically, by having her entire body replaced with a machine? at which point can we still be considered human and what even is to be human? Can Kusanagi BE considered human when not only her body is a machine, but her very personality has become so machine-like?

if yes, why?

If not, why?

And has her robot body anything to do with that even? or is the stress of her very work that which made her so emotionless?

How can Puppet master Not be Human when Major, someone who doesn't behave the way many people would consider "human" is?

So I have seen people argue that Yellow, Aqua and Orange don't quite represent their corresponding SOUL trait?

Yellow is Justice, but he is dumb and easily tricked.

Aqua is Patience, but she is constantly getting distracted and bored.

Orange is Bravery, but she keeps hiding and running.

And I'm like. yeah, but those aren't representative of them not being their element.

Yes. Yellow is kinda dumb and he is quick to misunderstand and take everything literal. but you know what he also is? non-Judgemental. He never assumes anyone is guilty until proven. While he accused the heroes of stomping Blue's flowers, he accused them of something they definitely did, and when they defend themselves by suggesting of some human-shaped flowers may have done it, he concedes on the basis that "what if there was some human-shaped flowers who did it instead?" should be an element that needs to be taken into account and disproved for Justice to happen.

Likewise, he never makes exceptions as to who deserves justice. Not his companions and not himself. everyone who is guilty (and let's be honest here, the joke here is that most of these crimes are small potatoes as the chapter is very lighthearted) needs to face their actions. You know? the principle of Blind Justice?

The only exception he ever does of not wanting to deliver "Justice" on a "guilty" is Blue. And Not wanting to do Justice on Blue is so opposite to what Yellow embodies that he has the need the actually punish himself.

Aqua is extremely patient. She never gets upset with anyone or takes it badly when people tell her they don't want to play. She is always ready to go with what Seth has in store.

Yes, sometimes she gets bored or wants to do something else, but it's usually alongside what she is currently doing. The only time she loses her "patience" is when Seth really pushed it by forcing her to do a single move repeatedly ad-nauseum, but her attack on them wasn't even out of malice or lashing out, it was her still doing things from the frame this was a "game".

And Orange is not a coward.

Yes, she initially goes behind the screens to hide her true appearance but that's because the game hints that (despite her own words) she is very self-conscious that she doesn't "look human enough". Whenever that button is pushed, she gets upset or cries. But when danger happens? she is in the front.

She tries to take part on Seth and Aqua's fight with the gang.

she initially attacks the gang when they first see her true appearance, then runs away on the basis she was doing zero damage. that's not cowardice, that's being smart enough to know you are at a severe disadvantage.

when teaming-up with Green, she is the one doing all the fighting while Green is purely support. She is the one doing everything.

Hell, when it's her turn to be support for Flowery, she works in tandem with him with physically trying to punch the heart. Something no one except Flowery does, everyone else just does their usual attacks.

and when she becomes a flower once more, she is not afraid. She is sad and wondering if she showed enough bravery. Again, not a sign of cowardice, but of how she was very self-conscious.

And still never backed down.

Toriel's relationship with Asgore, even in Undertale, was always more complex than a simple "She divorced him".

But people want Asgore to be a "Bad Parent" and a "Bad Husband" because that is easier than admiting parents are flawed. Or that something Happened that made Asgore get into a bad mental state.

No, I am not going to use the word Trauma. Because in a fandom that is a Buzzword to reduce everything a character is or has.

...Determination...

No. I don't mean they get tricked, or that they did what Vecna had planned.

I mean they arrive. They try to stop it. They fight Vecna.

And they get crushed.

Mechanically, it was a winnable fight according to Matt. but regardless, the execution was Vox Machina at their most powerful getting their asses handed to them by the strongest opponent they ever faced. so much so that they are forced to retreat with their barely alive companions and a dead Vax.

And I get it they want to keep it fresh and give a new spin but also remain true to things. and that a cunning enemy can be better than a powerful one.

TADC: *Is complex in an uncomfortable way. which is Good and Valid for fiction to be*

He is not powerful because he gets angry.

...

... He got better.

But still, he had made a promise to Kaylie that he would be careful and he would come back alive. This was, to Scanlan, his one chance to show his daughter he wasn't someone who broke promises, so he told the party, he cannot die no matter what.

Scanlan died. He (in his mind) broke his promise.

The party brought Kaylie to his resurrection ritual. Which while done so she could help bring him back, to him it meant showing Kaylie his failure of keeping the one promise he did to her.

And while he was unconscious afterwards (because Sam Riegel was away for real life stuff), the gorup tried to do a prank to him while he was asleep, which the character did not find funny at all (Sam Riegel probably loved it).

the was the background for why scanlan had his outburst in the original Bard's Lament.

While it was initiated because Sam Riegel wanted to do a twist with the character, he took advantage of all of that to give a foundation to Scanlan's furious outburst, which was mixed with Scanlan's own biased views of the dynamic in the group.

In terms of DND roleplaying, it was *chef's kiss* what makes for great table moments. In-universe it was one of the rawest moments in which Scanlan said what he emotionally felt, but which hurt everyone deeply and each reacted to that in different ways.

He wasn't right. He wasn't wrong. And Sam Riegel was a goddamn troll who had read everyone's wiki entry before the session so he could pretend Scanlan remembered shit about anyone.

So while the context is different. and I understand why it was done the way it was. This version of Bard's Lament is lacking something.

It's lacking Vox Machina's anger.

Percy answering back to Scanlan by shouting "what's Kalyie's mom's name?"

Pike getting offended by Scanlan calling her divine powers "weird magic"