Thanks mako_lies, I can't unsee Cid/Rygdea.

[lowkey]

Did I just write a scene where Rygdea expresses his man-pain through talking about brewing beer?

YES THAT HAPPENED

THANK YOU WIKIPEDIA FOR TELLING ME EVERYTHING I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BREWING BEER
SERIOUSLY


Did I just stay up till three hoping my friend and beta-er would show up online so we could talk about said scene?

WHY YES YES THAT DID HAPPEN


Did I, while waiting for her to finish being cultured and get back from watching Shakespeare in the park, stumble onto a new addicting tumbr and also a new television obsession?

THOSE THINGS HAPPENED TOO YES

Comments

[nal_rene]

Lol. It's okay I just spent a really long time cutting fabric for a Renaissance fair dress... it is going to be gorgeous. Now if only I could find patterns to make FF cosplay outfits... ALL WOULD BE GOOD!

[lowkey]

Well, rock on! I hope the dresses turn out GREAT.

Man Pain?

[nal_rene]

What is man pain? my femininity requires me to ask.

Re: Man Pain?

[lowkey]

This Urban Dictionary definition should give you a sense of it. "Angst" works just as well, but I had to acknowledge somehow that Rygdea is a manly man (the MANLIEST).

Re: Man Pain?

[lowkey]

Also, thingswithwings did a really nifty write-up critiquing the implementation of manpain. So there you have it.

Anyways, as best I can tell, the concept is sorta foreign to Final Fantasy.

Re: Man Pain?

[nal_rene]

Huh... thank you. that was very insightful... it makes so much sense. I think Lightning has a lot of Manpain. Just saying.

Re: Man Pain?

[lowkey]

(Excellent icon choice!)

Hey, I hadn't thought of it that way! And once we start on that road, Cloud clearly has manpain, and probably Squall, too. And also Basch. And maybe Ashe?

ffffuuucccckkkk, now it's clear that Final Fantasy is all about the manpain.

Re: Man Pain?

[lowkey]

But again: that's a good point. The Lightning-Snow dynamic seems to reverse the gender roles for manpain loss, maybe? "WELL SHE'S MY SISTER AND EVEN THOUGH SHE'S YOUR FIANCE YOU CAN NEVER UNDERSTAND MY PAINNNNNNNNN"

Re: Man Pain?

[mako_lies]

You know who is king of manpain? SQUALL. Forever.

Re: Man Pain?

[nal_rene]

Yeah, Squall is kng of manpain. But Lightning ranks up there pretty high. The only one that probably has a true reason to feel... Nope Fang = manpain too. "OMG I JUST LOST MY ENTIRE PEOPLE AND EVEN THOUGH THEIR YOUR PEOPLE TOO IT SUCKS MORE THAN LIFE BECAUSE YOU'RE TURNING INTO A CIE'TH AND EVEN THOUGH YOU'RE THE ONE GOING TO LIVE IN TORMENT FOREVER, I STILL HURT MORE THAN YOU. NVM THAT WE'LL BOTH BE ALONE FOR THE REST OF ETERNITY!"

But yes, with Light and Snow, that is exactly what I was thinking.

Re: Man Pain?

[lowkey]

WHOA, Fang is pretty bad at that, too. "FINE I MUST BEAR THIS SINGULAR BURDEN NO VANILLE I CANNOT BE TALKED OUT OF THIS I MUST COMMIT GENOCIDE TO PRESERVE OUR LOVE ALSO I'M SORTA CONDESCENDING AND DON'T EXACTLY TREAT YOU LIKE A TRUE EQUAL"

The upshot of all of these is, my love of Sazh has just increased. True awesomeness is being justified in your manpain and then MANNING IT THE FUCK UP.

Re: Man Pain?

[nal_rene]

YAY FOR MANNING IS UP!

hmm... that is super sexist and I never even realized it...

HAHA! YAY FOR WOMANNING IT UP!

Re: Man Pain?

[lowkey]

(Again, excellently relevant icon choice!)

Oh, yeah -- that's totally sexists. WHOOPS

But we're already applying the gendered concept of manpain to females. BUT THEN AGAIN we're making the masculine normative -- Fang and Lightning behave like men, and that's good -- so, uh...

Re: Man Pain?

[nal_rene]

LOL!!!!

So acting like a man is good now. Oh I see how it is.

How is this for manly? (Points at Icon.)

Re: Man Pain?

[lowkey]

Well, I was trying to draw attention to the fact that behaving manly isn't necessarily a good thing.

CASE IN POINT YOUR ICON

Like, I love Snow and all, but seriously, that man gets on my nerves sometimes. I suspect there is a perfect correlation between how I feel about Snow at any given point in the game, and how Lightning feels about him at that same point.

Re: Man Pain?

[nal_rene]

I know. He can be such an idiot sometimes.

In my headcannon Snow has a little more justification. See Snow was an orphan in Eden, so he has major abandonment issues. But he was also a soldier for a time (Where do you think he got the skills to lead a militarized group of BAMF misfits?), So he has the "I am gonna save everyone" Syndrome that Lightning suffers from too. Thus losing Serah is a major blow and his hero complex is explained. Oh and his obsession with marrying Serah and having a family.

But you gotta love his voice actor.

Re: Man Pain?

[lowkey]

I've certain you've already seen it, but it's worth mentioning...

STEELGUARD!

And that's some pretty good headcanon! He's a rather charismatic leader of men, and he totally suffers from "I am gonna save everyone" Syndrome. So, yeah, his character is completely understandable. And I liked when Lightning and Snow made up in the dandelion-field-thing. Especially because it's so clear they're both suffering, it's just that they express that pain in different-but-related ways. And it's also made better/worse when you realize that Snow isn't a dumb brick; he already knows and believes all of Lightning's criticisms of him.

But sometimes his chipper personality gets on my nerves. But then again, at some point every character in XIII got on my nerves.

Re: Man Pain?

[nal_rene]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waKe-AK628w&NR=1
Just found that one... It's awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxQJY6pLAoE&NR=1
This one too. Troy is the awesome Snow. It sounds like Snow on drugs.
("You're gonna be my sister... BUT BEFORE YOU DO...! ;D"

"That dress is ...... just awesome! I love it; It's like the tailor just woke up and hada really bad day and goes 'watch this world'..... 'You are now Walking Sex'. " XDD)

But as for my head cannon. Thank you. There wasn't any evidence to disprove it... or explain anything about Snow's behavior, so in the process of finding someway to look at him and not immediately think 'IDIOT!' I stumbled around and found this.

The dandilion feild. I got the intense feeling that the two of them could have made out. And did you know that Lightning cries during that scene. Mako was playing it (I was watching) and suddenly there are tears. We had to look the scene up again on youtube to see it. But yeah. So Lightning cries a little bit, or I was high on life and took her along for the ride.

Either way! I should make a post on how awesome the voice actors for Snow and lightning are.

Re: Man Pain?

[lowkey]

Hey, do you know who does NOT suffer from mainpain? TIDUS

Re: Man Pain?

[mako_lies]

XD

(BUT HIS DADDY NEVER LOVED HIM AND HE NEVER EVEN EXISTED XD XD XD)

You know who really doesn't suffer from manpain? ZIDANE

Re: Man Pain?

[lowkey]

Okay, that's true. But even the fact that Tidus was facing a literal existential crisis, I'm willing to give him some leeway. True, his weepiness with his father was uuuuuurrrggggghhhhh, but 1) it made sense and was relatable, and 2) he was totally not like that when it came to saving Yuna's life, and in my book, that is what counts.

Never played IX, so, uh, I'll take your word for it. He definitely seems completely awesome.

Re: Man Pain?

[mako_lies]

XD Heh, no I agree, Tidus's manpain could have been a lot worse. All things considering, he didn't do too badly for himself.

Re: Man Pain?

[nal_rene]

Yay for Tidus! I never understood all of the Tidus or Jecht hate. I mean they were wiling to sacrifice themselves for everyone else... in a WORLD THAT WASN'T EVEN THEIRS! They were both pretty cool. Whiney sometimes, but he matured over the course of the game without losing his desire to have fun.

Re: Man Pain?

[lowkey]

Jecht is a BAMF. One of overarching goals was acquiring all of his record spheres; they were a fantastic addition to the game.

Re: Man Pain?

[nal_rene]

I could never find two of them without the help of a guide... but by time I actually had time... I no longer felt the need to run around Spira. *Shrug* I need to find them on Youtube or something.

Re: Man Pain?

[lowkey]

That's completely fair. I had that as one of my overarching game goals from the beginning, and my friend danchekker already had played the game AND had the strategy guide. And we used the internet.

SO my teh dreams, they did teh happen.

[mako_lies]

I have no regrets sharing the win of Cid/Rygdea with you. :)

[nal_rene]

Cid/Rygdea is beast.

[lowkey]

YES

YES IT IS

So much potential. So much awesome.