Welcome to Gaia! ::

Holy shoot, I’ve only been gone for 3 days. Ok here we go, let’s see if you all remember what you said. Furthermore, if you can make it through all this (just going to answer every post from oldest to newest):

@Hawk - Yea, my brother is hardworking unlike my dad, probably in spite of my dad (like me), but he’s taken his rough anti-social manner from him, he’s even perverted it to an extreme. I wish he’d lighten up.

I’m not talking about the split personality, I’m talking about Malik’s personality separate from Mariku. Yes I can allow the split personality easy enough, I mean the fact that he’s the only one in all the years of the family being down there (presumptively) doesn’t exactly recommend him to me as a “strong” character, I like my characters to be beaten, silently endure and rise up rationally and calculated (like Kaiba), the ones who go insane just aren’t my cup o’ tea. They can be entertaining but they aren’t going to be the characters that I’ll personally love and respect. As for the blame, it’s only justifiable - logically, so far. I mean there is a point when you have been above ground long enough now to just see that you aren’t exactly justified. Insanity is the only justification Malik has to retain it at a point, so again the retreat into a split is fine. I’m just not exactly thrilled with what’s there of Malik’s personality outside from his insanity. On top of that it isn’t exactly ‘correct’ to multiple personality disorder, however I suppose I won’t criticize a kid’s show for taking a bit of artistic license there. It’s just won’t make him attractive for me personally. I’m not saying Malik doesn’t work or I can’t “forgive” him, and I totally understand why people love him, I just can’t. It’s not about not understanding the way that he is, I know plenty of people I understand the way they are, that doesn’t make it easier for me to get along with them. Although as for intelligence I’d have to wonder, I mean naturally aptitude was one thing, but there is the whole argument that he’s only educated so much.

@Kits - I do love the atmosphere of Christmas, it’s exciting and bustling. I like lights and decorations, I love the smells. I like bits of the commercialism, I like bits of the family atmosphere. It’s just a lovely collective hodgepodge. I also have a great variety of Christmas music, very little the standard, so that’s probably why I don’t get sick of it. I have orchestral stuff (I rather like Russian Christmas music) and Il Divo has some amazing compositions as well. I mean so much of my Christmas music isn’t English, isn’t American culture, I have a lot of church stuff. There are definitely some standard songs I get sick of, but I can always find “Christmas” music that I like.

Yea I wouldn’t have counted Rishid as a ghoul either, and exactly. He presents a humanized back story element to the ghouls. Which is why Malik - even if it’s understandable the way he is - won’t earn any love for me for abusing them. I mean most of the ones I’d consider wanting to see abused don’t even get abused by him, they get it from Yami no Yuugi.

Yes they are very shippable characters, but they aren’t necessarily characters likely (realistically - most anime isn’t realistic) to all be paired off into established relationships. HS was a lot of crushes and brief relationships, there shouldn’t be an extremity of established pairings. There should however be flirtations, and there are a lot - those that we want to see with our own preferences actually, and those that are implied that they should be there, regardless of anything should come of them.

I do find Malik’s sudden “I’m happy,” lack of guilt a little bull shitty as well. Already stated I don’t think he’s intelligent either, and at the very least not overly educated (I mean if the family has been underground for centuries, logically nobody down there would have been qualified to impart education, so it seems impossible they‘d have much more than basic numerical/literacy training). I see the Ishtar family role analogous to something akin to religious/priestly. So yea they wouldn’t have been swimming in grandeur, simplicity and a removal from the material world are usually elements of monastery type existence, but they would in no way have been in an impoverished position. They were clearly well fed, well dressed (just to the garb of their faction), etc. Sequestered and impoverished are in no way analogous.

@Hawk - I actually don’t like my villains to feel overly justified. It’s not exactly evil. I mean Dr. Evil in Austin Powers is a classic source of what I like in my villain in a sense, evil just because, a desire to not be good. However completely functional and organized in regards to the life of crime. Vengeance, well the whole “eye for an eye” cliché right? It’s just too built to fail and end up unnecessarily miserable, it’s unhealthy.

He had no reason to hate the pharaoh to begin with, so if he had still hated him and done a COMPLETE 180 on everything else I probably would have found it stupid in addition to unbelievable.

I do find it kind of irritating when characters don’t notice the obvious, but I do get those elements are supposed to be comedic half the time (especially with Jessie and James).

@Morgey - HA! Go Wicked!! razz

I agree it’s a little annoying the way Anzu, Jou, Hiroto, etc etc worship the pharaoh (I don’t blame Yuugi for it though), however that tends to set me more against them and their decisions than his. I mean he’s an arrogant a** (which I like as well), but it’s not his fault everyone is bowing down to him like an idiot.

@Hawk - Got nothing but trying not to kill order.

@Kits - I think deep down that’s what bothers me most about Malik as well, that he’s just completely wrong. It’s his complete wrongness more than anything else that just drives me up a wall.

Again the rest of the changes and a hatred for Yami would have still made no sense. Now had he ended up like you suggested before, suicidal and wrecked, guilty and confused, yea, that would have been plausible to me. He personally had no reason to hate Yami, had he gotten to know the guy, find one, maybe. Hating him just because goes back into that wrongness category that gets on my nerves.

I can’t blame Yami for wanting to find his memories, an eternity trapped in the bodies of teenage boys does not seem fun. There are priorities sure, it doesn’t bother me that he’s crass though. I mean if you know if someone is going to be fine, I suppose that’s a morality call. I mean it’s not like Malik just letting someone die, perhaps it’s a bit cruel, but hey it’s not like Yami’s known all these people for ages. And he is very socially stunted.

Haha, that is so not out of character for Kaiba, oh Kaiba, you idiot, I wouldn’t change a thing about you either. xd But yes, rainbows and unicorns ridiculous, Yami no Malik ridiculous - just in terms of he had no perceptible attachment to anything, including existence. He did while he was, because he was, but not because he had any desire or need to be (one of the things I loved about him). So begging to preserve his existence just seemed unlikely.

@Hawk - Still nada, sorry.

@Morgey - By recovering his memories Yami no Yuugi can move on and go away, and that seems to be what everyone here would want anyhow right? *is shot*

I like that the musical is neat, plausible and has interesting songs. I do really love the friendship, which is why the triangle makes me sad, though I’m glad they resolve it. I like the book but in a very different way. And in general the characters I like in the musical I don’t like in the book and visa versa (with exceptions of characters that don’t exist in both, like Avaric whom I adore).

@Hawk - Ok I don’t care how much I hate someone, I am NOT eating sex organs, blech. Too creepy to think about.

As you’ll eventually figure out elsewhere, I adore TAS, and have a hard time not making references to it.

@Morgey - I do think TAS brought some life back into YGO, which I can’t lament. And it was too fun. It also was too perfect, especially in the beginning. I like it now, but in a different way. A way that’s funny in a bit of original plot with known characters than actually crass truncation.

@Hawk - Couldn’t care less what people do, and it’s true, for some people TAS would be more to their tastes than the actual series. I think TAS is probably best for someone who once loved and now hates YGO or someone who loves and still loves (but appreciates the myriad of flaws) YGO. I don’t particularly think you can appreciate TAS though without knowing YGO, so I’d probably ignore someone who only knew the one. I wouldn’t mind someone who at least knew the series and just hated it, and thus enjoys the bash element of TAS - though I think part of the changes have dropped the bash element from TAS.

@Morgey - I never finished the manga either, the friend I was borrowing it from had stopped buying it, and now we aren’t friends anymore anyhow. *is shot*…again. stressed

@Hawk - I can definitely see Malik being most likely to turn into his abridged version these days, I think that would definitely have me afraid to play him, trying to sort out his past from his TAS. xd

@Morgey - nada

@Hawk - nein

@Kits - If you mean extraordinaire, like the wizard extraordinaire, that would be correct. If you mean extraordinary it would not. I can’t recall where that all started so I can’t tell you if spelling is off or usage (or both).

That is a curse, the more time they get the more you get to find out things you don’t like about them and don’t find yourself craving their presence. It’s easier to end up disliking a main character, you have more time to get annoyed with them. Yuugi definitely falls victim for me here.

I definitely would have preferred laughing like a maniac.

No sentence should ever start with “speaking of v****a and steak” *dies*… lol

I think TAS is - or was, especially in the beginning - pretty good at capturing caricatures of characters, and as it morphed into more extremes over time people morphed with it. Especially if they were more current with TAS than the series which might be more in their past at this point. The characters are more comedic, and in certain role-plays you couldn’t keep them 100% to their TAS origins, but you could definitely morph a character into something hybrid of canon and TAS. I mean the point of parody is it does have basis in an original, it’s easy to blend, and some characters blend better than others. Malik is definitely one of them.

@Hawk - Ugh, a bit of a tandem but on female hate, I have an old friend (a childhood friend, whose values are now WAY different from mine, now that we are old enough to have values) who is female, who recently said to me that “women are the number one reason relationships are unsuccessful,” and “women are the reason men cheat.” I am not exactly a feminist, but I got SO angry, I ignored her because I knew there was just no point. She’s just one of those people and nothing can be done about it, but I was so freaking angry, and even more because now I’m floating in feminist sounding argument. Just to specify for those who don’t know, I’m not anti-feminism because I’m anti-women (obviously) I’m anti-feminism in the way that I’m anti any segregated group. It just seems still unequal whole to separate a group out it’s self. My only concern is human rights. Not gendered, racial or orientation rights, just we are all people. Now I get for causes, in a society based on black and white law, you have to separate it out. Just it in general makes me uncomfortable on the basis of the literal message of that separation. Anyhow yea, I ended up feeling that seriously (in fun is a different matter) no woman should EVER say such a thing. It wouldn’t have offended me as much if a man had said it only. It just, I think it offended me and made me sad, so it was just a double whammy.

Back on topic, there are definitely several of my characters that I prefer, fantasize about gay, because yaoi is something I rather adore (I also have a hard time liking a lot of canon females in several series, anime/manga creators are just not nice to female characters a lot of the time), however I rarely assume any character is gay. The funny thing with YGO is the only character I’d even consider making that assumption of is Pegasus, the one character who is flat out proven not to be (he’s at least bi if he was, but I doubt even that). Malik is like a little Martian in terms of social interaction and appearance, so who knows what he is. xd


AND FIN…At least it’s 1:30am and it’s been a LONG day (I’ve worked on that throughout the day) so even though I skimmed and there is probably more I could add, I just won’t. Good luck reading all that, I don’t expect it, but much power to anyone who gets through all of their own section much less than whole. sweatdrop

Okay, lot to respond to here, but I'm gonna go for it.

@Hawk: Eh, sometimes I assume character sexualities, but I think overall, rather than assuming "Oh, this person is gay." or "Oh, this one is straight," I just kind of pretend everyone is bi for my own sake, just so I don't have to hold back when deciding what characters I liked paired with whom. XD Like I don't actually think Anzu is a lesbian, but I pair her with Mai and Shizuka because I just like how they go together. So canonly, I try not to assume, especially since high school is such a forming age where people are confused about their sexualities as is, but for roleplays and my own imagination? Apparently everyone is pansexual. I only base pairings on personality.

@JK: Thinking this over, and the way you worded how you feel about Malik, I think that's helped me understand that I love him more as like... a portion of the plot than an actual character. I don't feel any real connection to him like I do some of my other favorites, but I love him as a villain and an emotional wreck with a split personality. I think I tend to see most villains like that; I love them for being a villain, rather than loving the actual character. I don't know if I can truly love a character as if they were a real person who is as amoral as any villain out there. I think I feel similarly for Muraki in Yami no Matsuei, though to a more extreme, since he's my favorite character in the series. XD

Oh! I do actually love the more elegant Christmas music, things you don't hear as often. I think it's gorgeous (especially Russian!), and don't get sick of it because it's not overplayed. I'm talking more about the typical stuff you hear in retail all across America. XD

Of course, makes sense that high schoolers wouldn't begin full, established relationships. But I see that as a bit different than just dating or confessing mutual feelings, which I also see as different from just flirting or other little implications. I think you need to be one of the former two categories to be considered 'canon,' where's the third category is more for fan shippings and stuff. Then again, that's just how I assume everything. Obviously everyone can interpret what's canon in different ways; I just only mostly see the third category in Yuugiou, so therefore don't consider any of the main characters to be in canon pairings. To me something doesn't have to be a strong relationship or last a long time to be canon; just a mutual attraction between the characters that is actually state or proven by the series.

I'm a jerk and find reasons to blame characters I don't like, so I blame Yami Yuugi for Jounouchi and the others worshiping him. It's all his fault for being the main character. But in more seriousness, I don't mind the arrogance. It's the fact that not only do other characters let it slide and worship him, but the plot always moves aside for him as well, and the villains. Obviously that's not really something he can control, but it still makes him less likable to me nonetheless, an obnoxious character who is never called out on it.

Haha, I like when characters are wrong. XD At least if they end up getting called out on it. Makes them seem more human to me.

But in going back to that wrongness category that Malik was originally in to begin with, wouldn't that continue to suit his character? I'm not saying it would make him more likable to you or many others, but I think it would at least stick with his established characterization more than unicorns barfing rainbows Malik. I do see the suicidal/guilt Malik even more likely though.

I guess the reason Malik killing people doesn't bother me, even though Yami Yuugi continuing to search for his memories when peoples' lives were at stake does is because of their roles as characters. Malik's a villain; it's acceptable as a villain, whom everyone hates, to kill people and such. Yami Yuugi, however, is a respected, beloved heroic character. Because he gets the benefits of people practically worshiping him, I expect him to earn that and do the more noble, less selfish thing. That's what irks me about him; he isn't as selfless as Yuugi, nor as loyal as Jounouchi, nor as thoughtful as Anzu, yet he's revered more than all of them. If he were an anti-hero, or someone who wasn't seen as the savior of the world and such, I wouldn't mind him so much continuing to risk lives for the sake of his memories.

I've noticed I tend to like different characters in the Wicked book vs musical as well. Like Glinda, I find her okay in the book, but love her in the musical. Fiyero I love in the book but hate in the musical. Boq I loved in the book but didn't care for in the musical. The list goes on.

And I'm not sure if this is exactly what you were saying, but from what I got, I agree with you that the Abridged is sort of like... it was a parody at first, but has kind of like almost become its own series? Like I feel like the characters are their own characters now, based on the Yuugiou ones, but still with their own expectations and standards within the Abridged.

Yes, I meant extraordinaire. XD

Yet somehow I find myself always liking the almost-main characters best. It's like they get enough screen time to develop them and get you attached to them, but not enough to go so completely into their flaws.

But a sentence totally did. Oh... yeah. cool

That just... immensely upsets me when I hear things like that. I heard a similar girl at university talking like that, about how she hated feminists and thought that women were meant to keep house and serve men and such. I don't know why she was going to college if she felt that way, but I had to keep myself from speaking out. It just bothers me to say you hate an entire group of people just because of their beliefs... it's sad.

Yay, I read all your post!

Oh wow, lots to respond to. Okay, here goes. I doubt if anyone'll even remember what I'm responding to.

Kitsune: Aww, I feel kind of sorry for Yami Yugi now. And yay, Jou sandwich. And Rishid sandwich. But now Jou has fallen out of the bread!

Your description of the book is more like the kind of thing I want in my backstory stories, so yay. Although it is a shame that the friendship's not so big in the book, because the friendship is one of the show's major strengths. But I've been warned that the book isn't quite as fluffy, lolz.

Hawk: I used to be on Zoloft too -high five-

JK: I read your whole post. What do I win?

I don't really tend to interpret the characters' fanning of YY as an in-story thing, which is annoying because your way sounds a lot more sensible, but I can only see it as "Yay, isn't he great!! AGREE". And I think it's because he is the sort of character I'd normally quite like, if only it got acknowledged more. It's just so close but no cigar.

I like Malik's wrongness, because it means he's screwed up badly and has to fix it, and that's interesting.

Yeah, I'm not crazy about the triangle myself.

Let us lament together with the song of the unfinished manga

"I'll never know if the hero won the day
Ten quid off amazon is too much to pay
Now I have only the dub to remind me
But I still can read fanfiction, oh joy, oh hooray"
*Cough*

DON'T DIE

Hawk: Fandom is weird. A not-insubstantial amount of it is girls and women bonding over how they don't care for female characters. I think with shows like YGO where there aren't female characters who are that amazing (except Mai) it's not that surprising, but then when it affects OCs and characters from other shows that are decent, it's just weird. I mean, I've done it, so I can't claim to be on some ivory tower not doing it. Hmm.

Hugs on the medication thing. I'm not in a position to give you constructive help, but I know how much stuff like that sucks and I hope you're okay.

JK: Ha. One of my flatmates said to me on the night I moved in "I don't tend to make friends with girls, they're such bitches". And what is the one topic of conversation with her? "Such and such is such a blah blah blah". She's a couple of years younger than me so hopefully she'll grow out of it, but for the moment, it's kind of funny.

Malik being a little martian made me lol.

Kitsune: I also ship just based on personality, so I approach shipping like you.

Yami Yugi totally should have been an anti-hero. That would have rocked.

I knew a girl at sixth form who was going to university to find a rich husband. Maybe the girl you heard thought the same. Except the girl I knew just didn't want to work, and was well aware that that wouldn't work for everyone. But yes on the beliefs thing, especially as people who think like that also tend to get the group's beliefs wrong. It's not as simple as all feminists hating women who want to be housewives, although that girl sounds like she's on the gender essentialism bus, so there's not a lot that could have been said.

Hawk: I get what you're saying about giving the characters more time to mature. It is fun to speculate on where they might end up.

I actually don't hate who I was at school. I'm kind of jealous of how brave she was. XD

Hawk: -Hug-

I understand what you say about feeling critical about yourself. I do that all the time too. I've got a running commentary going on in my head calling me stupid. It's easy to say to be more objective, but yeah, one can't always do that. I wish I could say something actually helpful.

The world you're writing in isn't only populated by the canon characters, so it makes sense to flesh it out with other people. It's a shame you can't find people who like RPing with you, but you should give yourself some credit. A lot of people who think like that only seem to because it's so common to think OCs and female characters are bad and they haven't really critically questioned it.

It depends on whether you get the right therapist. I've had quite a few experiences where it would've been more helpful to have stayed home and talked to the wall. But I've also had lovely ones. I think it's beneficial to get that space that's just for you and and you can say the stuff that really needs saying to someone who is neutral, but yeah. A lot of it's trial and error, and when you're already feeling vulnerable, that's not easy. Sounds like you've had some bad experiences.

Still so much to respond to, not used to this at all!! xd

@Hawk - Evil for evils sake is good, though it depends on what kind of obnoxious I suppose. I don't particularly enjoy maniac speeches that go on with no purpose (so while I used Dr. Evil as an example type, I don't particularly love him either...except in that I don't like Austin Powers - so I guess if you have to root for someone). I like hidden, witty, intelligent, but mainly just don't care. They are completely charming and charismatic, and just manipulate people because they can. I tend to really enjoy sociopathic characters for that reason. They just tend to be a bit harder to develop sometimes.

I definitely enjoy non-normal characters, and I like vampires so I'm not totally opposed to the idea of cannibalism, that whole steak thing though would be quite the gag fetish though, I don't know if I could read/watch THAT book/series. sweatdrop

I don't usually get bothered by too many people trolling, but maybe I'm just lucky. Most of the people I know who are familiar with TAS are or were YGO fans, and the rest don't bother talking about it more than to mention a familiarity.

@Kits - Haha, I think after I wrote that I had to think over about how I feel about Malik, going back and forth over him from post to post and aspect to aspect got harrowing and somewhat contradictory at times, I'm glad someone could muck through it, haha. I think I agree though, I like Malik more as an aspect than as a character. Which is why I don't dislike him as a character, I just don't particularly like him, and it's hard to rank him on a "character," list. I do really like Muraki as a character though, however he's not my favorite, maybe second.

Yea years of band, plus my parents own tastes in music, have kind of helped to give me a nice balance with the mainstream. I still can't say I ever want to listen to Rudolph or Frosty (except for Frosty the Pervert - it's a parody song I rather enjoy, though even that gets old after a few listens), however I can listen to Silver Bells or Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas in conjunction with the other aspects of Christmas music I like and be ok.

Oh yea, I agree that canon relationships are those that are known/stated. I was just saying I wouldn't necessarily expect or need a lot of canon relationships in a series like YGO, which isn't about that anyhow.

I understand how people do that, blame the main character for their main quality. I do it too. It's just the other characters get over the top ridiculous in their Yami worship, which becomes so funny that I can never lose sight of the fact that he didn't really do anything or ask someone to bow down. If they'd be more subtle maybe I'd get to be more annoyed with him. But he tends to be quiet more often while they go off on rants and rages, and so I just can't really hate the guy for it most of the time.

@Hawk - We definitely aren't who we were in high school (though part of who we are now is based on that), and the characters would definitely evolve and change as they grow. I wouldn't say everyone forms in college, for one not everyone goes to college. But people do grow over the course of their life, and they aren't done at 18. I think most anime characters who are high school aged don't exactly come off quite that age, YGO is a better exception than most, but it's still not quite right in depiction. It's hard to make high schoolers interesting without it turning into a soap opera.

I think it's hard to know what pairings are forced, some are completely implausible with what's known in this period, others not as much. Malik is not a character whose seen to express romantic/sexual interest whatsoever, so he'd be a harder character to actually make any sort of definitive statement on. Sexuality is not a known part of Malik...even if his wardrobe tends to disagree. xd

@Morgey - You win the privilege of meeting me on Tuesday, woo! Haha

Back on Malik as aspect rather than character, yes I do like it as well. It doesn't endear him to me as a character, but it makes him more interesting to the story.

Yea I made a joke once:

*My friend was talking about looking for roommates. To fill 3 of the 4 bedrooms in her place*
Me: Find all hot men!
Friend: Well I don't think I want to share a bathroom with a man.
Me: Ok find two hot men, and find one gay men to have the room you'll share the bathroom with.
Friend: I dunno, I think I want at least one girl.
Me: No no no, girls are bitches.
Friend: We're girls.
Me: And we're bitches!

But I was totally kidding, and my friend knew. The girl who said that was TOTALLY serious, she really feels that way. Her values are predisposed to a woman's worth is in marriage, a woman isn't worth as much if she's not producing a family, and if a woman can't obtain these things it's her own fault. That's just...oh well.

Malik would be a great Martian. sweatdrop

I also ship on personality, and based on characters I like, so there's some I probably force. I do rather tend to adore love/hate relationships. However sometimes it's just too implausible - in those cases though I'll still like art, I just won't necessarily want to follow a story because it will probably have to go to out of character to work.

YY totally has the makings of an antihero, he's just unfortunately the main (sorta) character. It's hard to be the protagonist and be anti to the protagonist, which is an element of antihero. If the series were Seto-O (psh idk) then he could have been. *is shot*

I think I'd almost have more respect for a girl who was just lazy and didn't want to work, at least in regards to that. Because it's more about she's lazy than she sees herself as second class.

I don't hate who I was in high school either, and I'm still a lot of the same person. I do however realize how I've grown and changed, and even that I needed to. I've pretty much always liked who I am, and in general it's why I try not to regret what happens. It shapes the person I am today and the person I'll be tomorrow.

@Hawk - I don't think OCs are bad in fanfiction, I think they are easier in fanfiction than in role-play (because you don't have to ask someone else to center themselves and their writing around a character that isn't known and isn't their's - it's the segmented/isolated effect that I am apprehensive about in role-playing a canon series with a non-canon character). I do tend to read fanfiction in most series for pairings, so I personally tend to avoid OCs just because obviously if I'm looking for a pairing it's not likely to be in a story that's about someone else, however I wouldn't say they are bad. And I'd definitely try to be as unbiased as possible in reading someone else's work, regardless of what my own tastes are.

YGO is a hard series to not like yaoi in if you are reading for pairings, because there aren't a lot of women. I don't think it's so much as females = badness as so many anime series create just weak and unlikeable females. Which is a shame. There are some females I REALLY love, and I wish there'd be more of them in the anime/manga-verse than the canon stock that abounds.

As for therapy, I couldn't tell you, it probably couldn't hurt to try, and maybe try a new therapist. Or maybe look into group therapy. I mean that might be intimidating, but everyone there is going to feel vulnerable as well, and it'd let you get feedback from more than one person. A network of support rather than what feels like one on one judgment.

I definitely have my own share of trust issues, and I can appreciate how it would be much harder when you have a problem most people can't relate to. I can't say I know how a professional will be able to help you, but I do at least know nothing gets done without trying. Kind of back on when I mentioned regret earlier, I don't regret the things I've done, they've made me who I am and help me to get where I need to be (even if they don't always help how I want). Life is trial and error, and I generally only regret the things I didn't do, the chances I was too afraid to take. You won't know until you put yourself out there, generally you aren't going to be lucky the first time, problems aren't that easy. But if change and help is something you want, it might be worth the difficulty and the risk.

I definitely feel like I did a lot of maturing, in terms of how I evaluated myself and my own values, in high school. They've fleshed out more over the years, but they haven't changed. I'm still starting to figure out what I want in relation to other people (both romantically and in terms of friendship). Characters I also only consider in the now.

There is definitely no merit to bashing someones OCs or interests. And I've definitely seen some obnoxious het things out there (Yuri isn't at all my interest so I can't say I've seen the worst of it as I've barely seen any), so it's definitely more a reflection of fans and fandom than yaoi or characters. The only time I can stand throwing characters together is in art, in fic (or rp) it would just be too boring if they really hand nothing to establish the pairing.

Kaiba would have to change too though, not just Shizuka. I mean Jounouchi grows and strengthens throughout most of the series, and canon Kaiba still refuses to accept or tolerate him. He's a type to not let go of his biases, one of the things I don't particularly love about him. If you have irrefutable proof you can't just ignore it. So no matter what Kaiba, as he is now, would probably hold the Jounouchi factor against any version of Shizuka. That pair is a two way road in growth to work.

((Morgey, pity the Yami, pity him!!! hahahaha))

I luckily had a heavy arsenal of fiction/novel reading under my belt before I got into anime/manga, so I never considered it as female hating but anime/manga stereotype hating.

Haha, I totally misread what you said and came up with "all Catholics are child molesters." Hahaha, I was about to say uhhhhhh...wow, a HUGE portion of the world consists of child molesters? But yes, exactly. And I know that's what most feminists are about, it's just even the vocab, feminist, as a segmented quantity makes me uncomfortable. I don't think it's necessary to align myself to a group anyhow, so I have my values and I'm fine. As long as nobody preaches man bashing at me then I'm fine with whatever identification people want to pursue - in relation to that.

((@Hawk - Therapy takes years and years, nobody goes to therapy once or twice, or for a couple of months, and sees anything like results. It's hard work, and time consuming, even when you luck out and finally find the right therapist for you. People don't have time, insurance would rather pay for quick pills than therapy, so therapy systems are not the easiest to work out, even if they'd be the more beneficial solution to many problems that have drugs applied to them. I mean you have to first be open to it, and I know I'd have a hard time doing so myself, so I definitely understand it isn't the easiest advice to take. However it's the number one thing, if you go into it already thinking it won't work, it's a waste of time, that will set a stage. You won't put yourself into it as much as you need to, and it's not a process of a therapist doing all the work, you'll have to do a lot of painful work to. But yea, if it's something you want you have to be open, and you have to accept that it'll probably take a long time. If your problems were so easily dispelled you'd probably have dealt with them already by now right?))

He goes on a decent amount of phrases, he's no eloquent executioner here, which is why he isn't memorable. They aren't speeches, they are half-hearted quotes. I think Hiroto makes more speeches than Yami does. But hey who could blame him, I mean where the hell did an ancient Egyptian pharaoh learn to speak Japanese anyhow? He probably doesn't know enough words for speeches. *is shot*

Exactly. I mean the two best tensions are hatred and sexuality, it's not a far cry to want to mix them. They usually are the most implausible, but not always complete impossible. There are some hate/hate relationships I avoid no matter how hot they'd be because they are just impossible to work out in any sense of character. However a lot of them do have some edge. Hatred is a strong feeling, and if you can muster up that much feeling for someone (especially for no good reason - like they killed your father or something), it's no far cry to twist it around into it's opposite. Or at least just raw chemical heat. wink I find characters who are indifferent to each other much harder to pair than characters who hate each other.

I have no idea, I mean for one you'd have a new cast of main characters so who knows how it'd play out? I was just kind of making the point that it's hard to be the main character and an antihero, at least fully, just because being antagonistic the main is a quality of antihero.

I'm not sure what area you are from, but if you aren't from somewhere small/in the middle of nowhere, a lot of groups tailor to specific problems, such as exclusively fixations/habits etc, so say a group that's not full of people with standard violent problems, but people with their own obsessions that are weird and unusual. Again those aren't as easy to find as physical and substance abuse support, but they do exist, and are sometimes an easier platform for people who don't have "normal" problems. And it's the 21st century, there are also online communities for these problems a well, some under medical professional operation, you just have to look for them. I mean even this in some ways can function to that purpose, it's just in here there is nobody who would really know how to help you or even totally relate. I'm assuming. I tend to get fixated on things, but not to a permanence I can't eventually escape (especially when deprived, deprivation is the quickest way to end a fixation for me). Also never to the point where it effects my ability to function and focus.

Oh really (to the new series)? Where did you hear this? I meant to check out 5D but never had time, and I've seen a couple of episodes of GX and can't say I was overly impressed. It seems like each series was attempting to create love children of the previous though, so as far as character conception goes that wouldn't surprise me.