#phantasmacabre

from the character breakdown ask game:

I got two asks for Vincent, so this will be the answer for both~

How I feel about this character

I love him, plain and simple.

I remember watching a friend play through OG years ago, before I played it, idly going through the strategy guide he had while he was bumbling around the overworld map, and seeing the Nibelheim section - and the guide going over how to get Vincent. Pointed right at the screenshot of him standing on the back of his coffin and told my friend, "you ARE getting him, right??"

Both my dad and I remember when I pulled a literal all-nighter to get Vincent when I played - from 5 PM to 5 AM, my poor dad checking on me right before he left for work just as Vincent did That Backflip, and his deadpan "...this is who you played all night for?"

Me: Dad, I love him.

Dad: ...please go to sleep after you save your game.

But I honestly adore just about everything about him. His overall character designs ping my love of vampires and gothic artstyles (though he is not a vampire), and his character arc in all its tragedy and redemption - he's gone through so much in his life, death, and existence now, and I love that he finally triumphs over it all and is on the way to finally being able to LIVE HIS LIFE, post-Dirge. He's helped me get through some really shitty times (to put it lightly) in my life, he's introduced me to some of my best friends... I owe him a lot~

I'm excited (and a little nervous/reserved) to see his storyline in the Remake continuity. We've gotten little tastes of it with his initial reactions to the group, THAT BATTLE (that yes, I cried through the first time, and teared up at the Rebirth concert), the design of the mansion basement (GODS IT ACHES ;; ), and the side-quests he's involved in... I want to see him get his showdown with Hojo. I want to see him starting to come to grips with everything now that he's decided to leave the mansion for good.

I want to hug him, goddammit (and I kinda get to in a few weeks when I go to C2E2 lol).

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Vincent/Reilena, aka VinRei. Yes, she is my OC, and has been my brainchild for over 20 years (watch me age myself).

Allow me to share a plate from this bountiful buffet I have cultivated, for I am a canon/oc shipper who makes her own food and will always welcome a new seat to the table~

Though I know now this makes me look incredibly biased, if we go strictly by canon, the only romantic ships I have with him are both unrequited - Vincent/Lucrecia (though I headcanon that they definitely had an emotional affair, and remained friends up until he was murdered, hence his initial "?!?!?!" when he discovers what Lucrecia's done to him as well in DoC), and Vincent/Reeve (Reeve is crushing HARD, alas).

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Platonic Valenwind gives me SUCH goddamn life, and Dirge made me SO happy when it revealed that Vincent and the Highwinds are still close friends, to the extent that Shera worries about his well-being, and Cid talks about "grabbing some cold ones" after the Deepground crisis. The mental image I have of Vincent, Cid, and Shera on a moonlit porch, stargazing and shooting the shit while having drinks is priceless.

My unpopular opinion about this character

I don't like the spikiness of his hair in Rebirth; give him back his original/AC or Dirge hair, dammit.

In all seriousness though - I don't like his appearance in Before Crisis (I don't like most of BC as a whole, but that's a ramble for another day). Instead of giving us a potential flashback to his time as a Turk, actually showing us what he did before he was sent to his death Nibelheim, we instead get yet another person waking him up before the OG just for him to give the location of a materia and for shippers to squeal "BUT THEY WERE ~PARTNERS~" because if you have two men partnered together in the Turks, they're obviously fucking.

Yes, I'm being sarcastic.

It feels like an unnecessary cameo done purely to snag fans of his from the OG. I would have rather the Player Turk peeked in, get freaked out a la Zack, and been like "LET'S LOOK SOMEWHERE ELSE."

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

SHOW US VINCENT AS A TURK.

SHOW HIM ACTUALLY DOING TURK THINGS.

from the character breakdown ask game:

how I feel about this character

I will be totally honest with you - when I first played OG so many moons ago, Yuffie annoyed the hell out of me. She was obnoxious, she was in my face, she was a selfish brat.

She was also a teenager. Acting like an actual teenager. And she's also a war survivor.

Taking that into consideration, it makes sense. Dirge didn't do her too many favors with her characterization at times LET ME WRITE A DIRGE REMAKE SE PLEASE but OTWtaS, Remake Intergrade and now Rebirth have made me appreciate and love her a helluva lot more. She's still got that obnoxious streak in her, still headstrong at times, but she's also going to stand up for what's right, even if that means getting right in your face and irritating the hell out of you. Hell, she was the ONLY one who stuck up for Barret when he was getting shit on in Corel - and despite Barret telling her to stop and that he deserved their ire, you could tell he also appreciated it, and that she was genuinely defending him. She even jumped in to help during the battle in Costa del Sol against Hojo's Grasptropod, before joining the group proper.

And she's still a kid, too. She gets into the Gold Saucer welcome dance and even gets Tifa and Aerith into it. She challenges Cloud to a video game, and goofs off with him in the Skywheel to avert their awkward silence. She sings when she's bored/when the group is victorious in battle, and her friendship with Nanaki is adorable. Also, two words: Cloud Jr.

I can't wait to see her in Wutai in R3 (do not fuck this up, SE), especially when she runs into Godo. PLEASE give us Yuffie and Godo interactions.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

No one.

Yes, even when she's "of age." I don't ship her romantically with anyone. Yuffie's always been aroace to me - that's not to say that she won't get invested in her friends' relationships or be their cheerleader. You need a hype woman to get your crush's attention? Tell Yuffie who you have a crush on, and she is ON IT.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Platonic Yuffentine; the unlikely friendship is wonderful, and it's one of the things that Dirge did right in their characterization, in my opinion. I also love the sisterly bond she has with both Aerith and Tifa, and can just imagine the shenanigans she and Aerith got into on the Skywheel~

And Sonon. Dear gods, the bond she had with Sonon ;; The way she screamed at the plate drop is right up there with Cloud's scream when he finally snapped out of his coma... in time for Zack to die.

My unpopular opinion about this character

I don't ship romantic Yuffentine. At all. It's never made sense to me.

However, I love their unlikely friendship, and I hate when that's undermined or played off as "Vincent can't stand having her around," "she's just an annoying teenager," et cetera and so on.

Sure, she's an annoying teenager that he can't stand... that also saved his ass, more than once (and vice versa), even carrying him back to the Shadowfox with what would've been a fatal wound on a normal human being.

Can you imagine what had to have been going through her head during that? The possible flashbacks and potential PTSD from the Wutai War (and Aerith's death) while she's carrying back her unconscious friend, who's covered in blood, with a gaping wound in his chest where a normal person's HEART would be???

But sure, she's just an annoying teenager.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

Since I already mentioned needing to see her and Godo have a confrontation in Wutai...

Give her a final showdown with Scarlet. Hell, let it be her, Barret, and Tifa versus Scarlet - the three with the biggest grudges against "the bitch in the red dress" yes I stole that from Krauser oops get to finally give her her due.

I never gave it too much thought before, but I kinda ship it moreso now~

1: What made you ship it?

Some of the fanart is really nice, and plays into how similar their personalities actually are (i.e. they both have gremlin tendencies, and the snark levels are off the charts), seeing their characters more fleshed out in the Remake continuity, and then playing out the potential relationship in fic and roleplay got me climbing aboard.

2: What are your favorite things about the ship?

The personalities! As I said, they both have sarcastic streaks, but I also think she brings out his more caring side, while he gets her even more snarky than she already is (hey, she grew up in the slums). We've also seen that Reno does have a tendency to rethink some of the Turks' missions - Tseng's the one who basically tells him he has to harden his heart and remember this is all "just a job" - so once Aerith's read him the riot act over it all, I could see Reno pouring out his actual thoughts about it all, and some possible regrets over it.

3: Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

from the 'ask game: unpopular opinion edition <3'

🧡: What is a popular (serious) theory you disagree with?

Vincent Valentine...

Sorry not sorry, Hojo fathered Sephiroth.

I don't care if Sephiroth and Vincent have similar facial meshes (that's done so often in games, that if you use this as a reason, then Tifa and Elena are sisters), I don't care if "BUT HOJO'S SO UGLY" (you inherit from BOTH parents; he got his looks from his mother[s], and personality from his father), I don't care if you subscribe to the belief that Vincent and Lucrecia slept together even once...

Sephiroth's parents are Hojo, Lucrecia Crescent, and if you want to include them, Jenova.

Vincent's part of it was being the bodyguard for the Jenova Project, falling in love with Lucrecia, being rejected by her, being murdered by Hojo, and then being resurrected by both Hojo and Lucrecia to be used as a test subject.

He feels guilt for Sephiroth being born because he feels he could've stopped it.

He feels guilt for telling Lucrecia her son is dead, knowing he is the harbinger of the potential end of the world (also lying about him being dead).

Nowhere in there is guilt for said harbinger being his son. He never even utters the possibility, and as for his own reaction when Hojo admits it? Most likely the fact that Hojo even uses such a term in reference to himself and Sephiroth, as Hojo is known for referring to others with more inhumane terms (i.e. 'specimen'). To hear him refer to Sephiroth as his SON implies that at one point, Hojo actually cared for him and saw him as more than just a means to further his theories.

So no, I do not subscribe to the VinDad theory. Never have, never will.

🤍: Which character is not as morally bad as everyone else seems to think?

Kyrie Canaan.

Yes, she is annoying. Yes, she pulls all sorts of shit on Cloud to get him to do her work for her while she takes the credit. Yes, she is a manipulative gossip and a thief.

She is also the product of Shinra fucking over the people of Midgar so much that she's turned to thievery and manipulation in order to get by. Even her grandmother Mirelle (the self-proclaimed 'Angel of the Slums') says that Kyrie is a child who needs guidance more than anything, while admitting to the error of her own ways in teaching her. Yuffie feels for her - as irritating as she says Kyrie is - and Cloud lets her go with a threat, but it's more implied to be a way for her to get her head on straight and figure herself out (scare the hell out of her to get her to realize what she's getting herself into).

She is irresponsible, yes. She is also still a teenager - barely older than Yuffie when we meet her - and as evidenced in 'The Kids Are All Right: A Turks' Side Story,' she does start to change her ways.

And she had stayed."

You cooked with that

i'm still so, so glad people still like kintsugi as much as i loved writing it (even if it brought me to tears while writing it, lol).

🛼 ⇢ describe your latest wip with five emojis

🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love

🪐 ⇢ name three good things going on in your life right now

🍬 ⇢ post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character

❄️ ⇢ what's your dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best?

🌿 ⇢ give some advice on writer's block and low creativity

🍦 ⇢ name three good things about a character you hate

tysm for the questions! I'll get to the ones that haven't been answered already~

🛼 ⇢ describe your latest wip with five emojis

🎇⚰️🍻💋😆

🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love

If We Die, We Lived With Passion - a FFVI fic that I got very into, despite not knowing a whole heck of a lot of VI lore myself (I know the bare bones, because I haven't played it... yet, lol).

🪐 ⇢ name three good things going on in your life right now

I got a raise at work, I sponsored an adorable bat named Ronan through a bat sanctuary, and brain has finally been focusing enough to let me daydream and write (now I just need to FINISH at least one thing).

🍬 ⇢ post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character

Elena is allowed to be immature, because she is a rookie Turk and she is also only eighteen years old. I can see giving her maturity over time, but to assume that she's immediately a cold-blooded Turk is somewhat silly, given the way we're introduced to her and the way she acts throughout the game. She puts on airs to look good to her superiors yes, but she lets her actual self shine through with her snippiness to Palmer, wanting to be left alone to "be sad" at the bar in Junon, and whining about their black suits, ice cream, and the less-glitzy parts of her job.

Am I saying she isn't a badass in her own right? No. Hell, Tseng trusts her enough to fight by her side. But she still has quite a bit of time before she gains the John Wickian iciness to the job that other Turks have. Hopefully we'll see more of that when we get to Part 3.

🌿 ⇢ give some advice on writer's block and low creativity

Keep the creative muscle flexing somehow, whether it be by a different artistic outlet or a different hobby. Or just turn your brain off, put on a comfort show or movie, and lose yourself in that for a bit - you'd be surprised how that can help you work out the word kinks.

Also, like the "hack" I swear by, jot down everything, no matter how silly or insignificant it sounds. Sometimes that random line will be the one that gets you out of your block and has you writing again.

🍦 ⇢ name three good things about a character you hate

He fathered one of the best video game villains in existence.

He got a much better English voice in the Remake continuity (no shade to Paul Eiding, but his voice... didn't really fit the character).

He will inevitably get what he deserves in said continuity, just like he did in the original Compilation.

from this ask game:

34: What's your favorite flower?

I love carnations, especially deep red ones. Tiger lilies are pretty too, as are orchids, and you can never go wrong with roses of any color.