Hmm id have to watch all of Bc, but IIIRC the only enemies fought and killed are non human, monsters etc. I dont know for sure though. Wondering if it's some sort of self censorship on SEs part? If theyre trying to portray the Turks sympathetically.
That's a great observation Licorice. It makes sense considering BC is trying to portray the Turks as not wanton killers. As I noted a lot while streaming the game, BC actually encourages you to avoid fights when you can. You not only have the option to avoid them (unlike a lot of games where you just get sucked into random encounters and are rewarded for killing as much as possible) but often are told to avoid fights in order to do timed missions. (BC loves beat the clock missions, I think I would rage quit if I ever had the opportunity to actually play this game because I hate count downs, mazes, and all that). So the sense we get with the Turks is their goal isn't kill everyone, it's do their job and a lot of the time that means not going through the trouble of unnecessary killing. Then with the Shinra military grunts it makes sense that the Turks aren't going out of their way to kill them because unlike the party you play in the original FFVII, they know that these are ordinary men just doing their jobs.
That's just brilliant really, that small detail. The more I look at BC the more respect I have for it.
And:
Here's my Turk group with some cosplay pics from past weekend's con.
All of the above photos are by JouninK check her DA and Tumblr, give her love!
It might seem a bit similar to previous pics with them. Lee has this habit of trying recreate "poses" from candid shoots where I just snap unposed pics without telling him. Still, they're adorable together.
Then, here are my boys together:
Feel free to caption that last set however you want.
This was a bit awkward because I'm telling them to get together, and the Tseng is my husband so my Elena is like, are you sure this is ok with you? Meanwhile, Tseng doesn't really want to do anything because he was going on no sleep.
My husband works overnights while going to school full time. He requested 3 days vacation time to take off for the con, and his boss thought that meant pack his 30 hour work week into the first 5 days of the week so he had back to back over night, which mean going on days of very very very little sleep. My poor darling. So a lot of these con pics he's going to look a bit out of it.
Meanwhile, I had my hair mutilated on Thursday (like seriously, she cut my head, I was bleeding afterwards) so I'm not so sure how I look because my hair is so uneven right now it's not even funny.
And a group shot of
Including a Vincent we met at the con.
Also, my Cissnie's nickname for my Reno is Moomba, so she convinced him to do this. It's cute. He's not happy in this photo because he doesn't want anyone to know he's adorable.
Nice cosplay; digging the comedic Reno and Rude. And the damage to your hair is not noticeable to me in the last set; you do a Rufus good crossplay.
I really appreciated how BC and CC (despite CC being as convoluted as the original game, requiring the assistance of an ultimania to understand the plot, and squeezing a bunch of pivotal and potential OCs into a 20hr game, only to almost immediately kill them off) fleshed out and gave perspective to the Shinra Company and the Turks to an extent. It is no longer the faceless evil Corporation we see in VII but rather a realistic political entity at the epicenter a lot of darkness and trauma, composed of various types of people with different lives and motivations.
I'm also interested in seeing how the Turks were portrayed in the Lateral Biography, perhaps expositions on the past personal lives of the main Turks (though if not, I wouldn't be disappointed - plenty of good and likely better headcanons in the fandom), and light on Veld's survival? I don't know/have not found much about this book aside from the brief summary posted here. It is quite a long read revolving around an OC so I won't be expecting translation any time soon, and I'm sure a lot of people don't even want to know in fear of it being terrible. I'm honestly curious regarding the quality, however, as there was likely a lot of thought put into it, considering its length. Speaking of Nojima's work, I would have also certainly liked to see a smoother transition of the character changes experienced by Rufus and the Turks in CoS.
The cosplayer had some other good shots submitted in 2012, as well. I believe they were posted here. I didn't quite understand the purpose of the feminizing makeup, though. Artistic license I suppose.
Personally, I really like CoS, but I feel you have to wade through the awkwardness of the translation to get at the meaning, but once you do it makes a lot of sense. Tseng's character and interactions with Aerith make a lot more sense after reading CoS's explanation: i.e. Tseng acted like a monster to Aerith because to her he was a monster. It was kinder to act evil rather than do evil things (kidnap her and give her over to Hojo) while acting kind (saying he was sorry, being gentle). He gave her a monster to hate to make it easier for her. She's never have to question "if you love me why are you doing this" because he could make things black and white for her.
To me that's really interesting and it makes what we're old told in the OG (Tseng loves Aerith) and what we're shown (Tseng slaps Aerith) make more sense.
CoS is also the only place we get to see Rufus Shinra from his own point of view and I love the characterization we get. He has a lot of brilliant moments.
As to the above cosplay, I've actually spoken to him and it's not make up. It's all photoshop. So maybe the model isn't trying to look feminine, so much as flawless, which creates a more feminine look. There's also the whole "Soft masculinity/bishounen" aesthetic which is quite popular in anime, J-Pop, and K-Pop, so it's possible he's trying to emulate that look?
I think they did a good job with Tseng; made good sense of the "evil should be evil comment". Even with the translation it came out quite well.
What I'm mostly referring to in regard to smooth transition is Rufus' character changes, with lines like "someone who refers to their employees as lapdogs must have an uncivilized mind," or apologizing to Mutten for not recognizing him as an infantryman. There is no problem with this new characterization in and of itself, and there is certainly good impetus for the change of heart, with all of the injuries, kidnappings (being captured by Killmister and living with common people), etc., to humanize him. But aside from his reflecting on his father (which I enjoyed), we don't see much of the reflective inner monologue that usually comes with such change even though it was 3rd person omnicient and he had a lot of time to himself. As a result, his character seems slightly disjointed to me from VII, even though the change itself is believable and we do see some brilliance and essential Rufusness like that witty banter with the people that were trying to kill him, the "ostensible monument" scene, etc. ...But it's only a minor complaint. Aside from that I loved CoS and the interactions between the Turks, or as the elderlies at Healen referred to them, "The Hooligans playing make believe," choosing to stay attached to the organization.
Ah, I see your point. Honestly, I feel the story would work better as a manga or some other medium because it doesn't flesh out things. I'm doing my on version of it currently (smoothing out the translation and expanding upon the original).
I think in regards to Rufus's character that the author really got to start with an almost blank slate. We aren't given much of his character in the original game. He's polite, pragmatic, brave, and bent on ruling the world through fear. I think that rather than showing us a change in character by having Rufus as the type of man who would not see his subordinates as lap dogs it's trying to show us who Rufus is as a person. That despite being one bent on ruling the world by fear he's not just a power mad sadist, he's more complex.
Mutten is a foil for Rufus. He's there to contrast what Rufus, to show what Rufus isn't despite his political philosophy. Being confronted with the logical outcome of the "rule by fear" mentality forces Rufus to rethink to some extent, but I think the point of CoS is to show us that he wasn't that bad of a person to begin with but rather a pretty good person if you get to know his character. CoS is an opportunity to do so.
"So I definitely have an AU rp with a friend in which Reno is a physics teacher (as well as a bouncer) and Rude is an AP Chemistry teacher (as well as a bouncer)."
So.. are any of you guys interested in a sort of event/ project like Ghost X's Art Competition idea? I was thinking if we could start something like it here in the Turks thread, just so we could narrow down the theme to the Turks, ofc. I know some of the folks here have done fan arts before, but you don't have to be a professional to join of course (nor do you have to be a frequent poster here.. anybody can take part as long as they're interested )
Here's the link to the original idea from Ghost X (also take note that it's not really a 'competition', more like a community event to share artworks). Basically, somebody will post a subject or prompt (or we could all propose and agree on one). And then fan art of said prompt will be submitted by us within the agreed time. It could be very simple, like "Reno smoking a cig" or even silly, " Rude with Tseng's hair". Fan art could be digital, traditional, colored, even stick figures, however you want it done; you decide on the effort you put into it.
Roughy translated it goes something like this: In the printed Japanese, Tseng is reminiscing about how he had Aerith under surveillance from when she was a very small child, and how they always met up in the same church. There's a line I don't understand (damn lack of pronouns; it's hard to tell who he is referring to) which I think means they didn't talk about Shinra things. I also think he's saying that his hand felt on fire when she touched it.
Then Reno says, "So that was from the time when she was just a little brat?"
Tseng, "Yes, we started associating from that time."
Reno side-eyes him really hard.
So then Tseng loses his cool and shouts something like, "Who are you looking at? You don't need to say anything."
I like the fanart idea.
That reminds me, I have some drawings in progress of Shinra/Turk weaponry; I'll post them if you guys are interested (my talent lies more within mechanical drawings and landscapes than human anatomy).
...I should really get into the habit of checking the date in the morning.
CameoAmalthea said:
Mutten is a foil for Rufus. He's there to contrast what Rufus, to show what Rufus isn't despite his political philosophy. Being confronted with the logical outcome of the "rule by fear" mentality forces Rufus to rethink to some extent, but I think the point of CoS is to show us that he wasn't that bad of a person to begin with but rather a pretty good person if you get to know his character. CoS is an opportunity to do so.
I remember commenting to myself about how the tables had been turned there. One thing I also noticed in CoS (and also partially in VII) was how he'd always refused to back out or run away from his responsibilities as a leader. In addition to his respect for his Turks' opinions. I couldn't have seen that from his teenage self in BC, or from his father, who constantly shot down reasonable arguments from his subordinates. And that tendency to laugh while injured/injured in CoS took me back to the fight with Cloud. It's such a minute little observation, but its there.
So.. are any of you guys interested in a sort of event/ project like Ghost X's Art Competition idea? I was thinking if we could start something like it here in the Turks thread, just so we could narrow down the theme to the Turks, ofc. I know some of the folks here have done fan arts before, but you don't have to be a professional to join of course (nor do you have to be a frequent poster here.. anybody can take part as long as they're interested )
Here's the link to the original idea from Ghost X (also take note that it's not really a 'competition', more like a community event to share artworks). Basically, somebody will post a subject or prompt (or we could all propose and agree on one). And then fan art of said prompt will be submitted by us within the agreed time. It could be very simple, like "Reno smoking a cig" or even silly, " Rude with Tseng's hair". Fan art could be digital, traditional, colored, even stick figures, however you want it done; you decide on the effort you put into it.
That sounds like fun. If we make it so that written works could be entered as well that would cool. I'm not much of an artist, but I can write or maybe do cosplay pics on a given theme if given enough time to make arrangements.
Another thing that would be fun is just a game where we list things we'd like to see and then if someone else on the thread likes that idea they could fulfill that prompt. Sort of like make a wish/grant a wish. If the thing the person would like to see exists just post links/pics whatever, if it doesn't then create something?
Ex) I've always wanted to see Rufus Shinra as a servant/slave (preferably to one of the Turks). And I don't necessarily mean that in a BDSM/Kink way, I mean that in a plot relevant way because I enjoy power plays and reversals of presumed dynamics.
That sounds like fun. If we make it so that written works could be entered as well that would cool. I'm not much of an artist, but I can write or maybe do cosplay pics on a given theme if given enough time to make arrangements.
Another thing that would be fun is just a game where we list things we'd like to see and then if someone else on the thread likes that idea they could fulfill that prompt. Sort of like make a wish/grant a wish. If the thing the person would like to see exists just post links/pics whatever, if it doesn't then create something?
I think shes disappointed that you don't want an S&M pic of Rufus, hence the 'sadpanda'
I do think thats a good idea, except that I haven't drawn in ages....and its just reminded me that I was meant to be doing something for Ghost X's idea...
I made a start bu the baby was watching me and put me off
What Octo said, but I was merely joking But I still want a kinky Rufus
On the proposed project: I haven't done any Turk sketches in a while too But like I said there's no particular rule that fan art has to be a seri0s, detailed masterpiece so there's no pressure It could be doodles, practice sketches, spontaneously drawn stuff etc (or, for written works, could be a short drabble). We could probably make a rule that you can pass late works, or that you don't have to participate everytime, etc You know.. just for fun (and sharing ofc)
Gaaah sorry for the fail in my explanation, I couldn't find the appropriate words for it *insert English ain't my first language excuse here*
)
But I still want a kinky Rufus
