Requisite Tidus bitchery

[fuyu]

The nephew's playing a new game of FFX, so this is kind of sticking in my head again.

Why, why, why does Tidus get so much shit for being a "whiner"?

Okay, yes. He has father issues out the wazoo, and that does get a little annoying. Keep playing. He has reasons for those, and has considerable character development relating to that.

Yes, the narration is a little annoying. That's because the whole first chunk of the game is a recap. He stops narrating when you get to Zanarkand, I promise.

Screaming outside of Kilika Temple? Well, it's better than just bottling up all his discomfort and letting it eat him inside, right? Or hauling off and hitting someone from all the stress? Saying "I kinda wanna scream" and then doing so and getting on with what you need to be doing is actually a quite healthy way of dealing with the situation.

For the most part, Tidus is just kind of a doofy, optimistic dork who tries hard to make the best of his really crummy situation. Hell, by the time you get to Besaid he's already had half a metric fuckton of shit dropped on him, and yet he resolves to make the best of what he's got and try not to worry. Sure, he doesn't entirely succeed, but that he has the presence of mind to decide that after his city's been attacked, he's been sucked into a new world and had to fight monsters, scrape together camp in an old ruin when he's probably never even spent a night without electricity before, then he gets rescued by people who are suspicious of him and the one friend he can make in that situation tells him that everything he knows was destroyed a thousand years ago, and THEN he gets separated from them... I mean, really, and that's just the beginning of what happens to him. This is culture shock x100.

Again, sure, he has father issues up the ying-yang, but other than that he is remarkably well-adjusted. And he gets better as time progresses and he gets used to Spira, and he even eventually overcomes his issues. He's not a whiner, damn it. T_T

*protective of the dork*

Edit: Some spoilers in the comments. For the... one or two people who might read this post and haven't got that far yet. XD

Comments

[fuyu]

Oh, Tidus is a total dork. That's not a bad thing. XD Viva la dork. But yes. And he's amazingly mature in the endgame. I know I sure wouldn't have taken that revelation from the fayth as well as he did, holy crap.

Srsly. *still has that picture on her to-do list*

[laylah.livejournal.com]

HAH, icon ftw. "FF8: The one where Square MISERABLY FAILED the het ship."

I never managed to get through 8, mostly because I bonded with Seifer too much (congenital weakness for anti-heroes) and I wasn't enjoying the battle system or the story enough for it to make me want to keep slogging through it to get to the little bits with him. I found Squall...entertaining, in a horrible and misanthropic way; it was fun in a really petty and spiteful way to watch him be mean to everyone. But it didn't make me care about him much.

[isanah.livejournal.com]

Yeah, his dorkiness became really endearing later in the game.

...YES YOU STILL NEED TO DO THAT. XD

[fuyu]

Yes. Ow. ;_; And she's so much better in AC, and Cloud's showing signs of healing, and just... it's not even just on her end, Cloud was infatuated with her as a child and does not seem to have stopped. They would be so sweet, if they can ever hack down the mile-thick jungle of issues between them. XD Cloud especially seems to neurotically guard his most precious feelings, so coaxing any action out of him towards Tifa, even if it was Tifa doing the coaxing, would be a tricky proposition not unlike trying to ply a scrappy feral cat with food so it will get out of the rain gutter. XD

[fuyu]

I'm so soft for dorks, that it's a selling point for me. "Here is a character. Hi, character! Are you a dork? Yes? Good! I am automatically going to pay more attention to and love you now." Part of why I love Leon so much more than Squall. His inner dork shines through. XD

YES GOD I DO. XD

[laylah.livejournal.com]

Yes yes. I ship them hard, and I write them when I can, but it's so tough, because they have all those years of tangled history and misunderstanding and trouble to work through.

...When he looks at her at the end of AC and says "I'm home," though, omg. I cry. I read so much depth into that -- not just "I've survived, I'm going to pull through," but "I've decided to live now, and come all the way back instead of clinging to the past." I really need that to be their happy ending. Or at least the point at which their ending can start working on being happy. ^^;

[fuyu]

Thank you, thank you. XD Yeah, that one just... no. Locke/Celes? Sure! Cloud/Tifa, Zax/Aerith, hell, Cloud/Aerith? Fine and good. Zidane/Garnet? Awww. Tidus/Yuna, Wakka/Lulu? SQUEE. Squall/Rinoa? ... I'm sorry, Square, you dropped the ball on that one.

*also, misread your "Square" as "Squall" and was amused*

Yeah, I never finished 8 either. I keep meaning to, just so I can say I have and so I can see the damn ending and get closure, dammit. XD I was lucky enough to like most of the playable characters (Irvine~! Zell~! Quistis~! Selphie~!), and I did sympathize with Squall, but... geh. The battle system and the Squall/Rinoa put me off. (Plus, Squall/Rinoa IRKS me on a philosophical level, but that's another story.)

[laylah.livejournal.com]

ahahaha, that's true, too. Squall: *fails het ship* *does not graduate from Garden* *gets held back for another year with Seifer*

Yeah, it's weird, given how well they did in so many other games (I would totally put KH on that list, too, because as much as the Riku/Sora is obvious, it is *also* quite obvious that they both care for Kairi as much as their teenage-dork-boy hearts know how). I guess everyone has to fail sometime. ^^

Also, please, go ahead! Tell the philosophical story! You can see how badly I need distracting from work, I'm sure. ^^;

[fuyu]

So true. ;_; ... That's also the reason I have trouble comprehending watching AC first. I can't imagine watching them in that movie without knowledge of their history and their issues and oh. ;_;

YES. Aieee. The certainty in that "Tadaima" is just. Oh. "I'm home. I'm where I belong." That is totally the starting point for their happy ending.

icooooon. *woob* from a canonwhore perspective that scene bothered me, but oh god was it sweet.

[fuyu]

Maaaan. I ship SoRiKai as hard as I do for a reason. :D The boys obviously have the bi for each other, but they both went through so much for Kairi too, and Sora is slayingly adorable in KH2 when he goes off into that fantasy of dancing with her and is so obviously in his Happy Place. ♥

Ha. XD Alright, well... we have the story with Laguna and Julia's unresolved love, and how Laguna is Squall's father while Julia is Rinoa's mother. The point of all this, apparently, is that Squall and Rinoa get to fall in love so they can carry out the romance their parents were denied.

... Which makes me angry. Because then it feels like they HAD to fall in love, like no matter what they did, they were going to fall in love because they were required to. This wouldn't rub me so much the wrong way if there'd been ANY sense of credibility to their romance. It might still have irked me, but I could at least have admitted they worked together. But no. They don't. So the "we're only in love because we have to be" is magnified and it upsets me. It's bad storytelling and it's a disservice to the characters. It would have been so much better if it had felt like they fell in love because they liked each other, with the "oh, and we're fulfilling the romance our parents couldn't have!" as a poetic afterthought.

I even kind of liked Rinoa, damn it, just not how she more or less existed to hang off Squall's arm. That weakens her for me significantly, which irks me further.

[laylah.livejournal.com]

Hah, yeah, I sort of suspect that Square treats canon less like rules than like guidelines, with a lot of the new FF7 material coming out. Which is sort of maddening -- omg what really happened there -- but also kind of helpful, when one wants to, say, write Zack-centric the-week-in-Nibelheim fic. *cough*

[laylah.livejournal.com]

...argh, just lost comment. stupid ie.

Was starting to say, I find the "carrying out our parents' romance" thing pretty unpleasant in general, whether forced or not. I mean...ew. That's my "lack of free will" squick right there, thanks. And then you add that to the fact that they really genuinely didn't get along, not in a romantic-comedy "we snark because we're attracted" way, but rather in a "we genuinely don't understand/connect with each other" way, and, well, no.

I tend to dislike fandom attempts to rationalize the canon female love interest out of the way in order to make room for the yaoi pairing, but FF8 is the one where I make an exception. Because the canon pairing is so pastede on yay, it doesn't seem like much of a stretch to write it off as weird Sorceress magic that can be undone, or what have you. I mean, it's no more implausible than making the pairing happen in the first place.
I think this is why I never really got into writing for ff8; the story is broken in ways that I'm not interested in doing the work to fix. Unlike ff7, which is broken in ways I do want to fix.

[fuyu]

Exactly. I wouldn't mind it as much if we found it out later and they treated it as a happy coincidence. But it IS forced, because like you said, they honestly don't connect. The story makes them slaves to fate, and it DISTURBS me.

*nods* It bothers me when people brush aside Aerith for Zax/Cloud when the threesome is obviously so much better - it's one of my few gripes with the bishounenink FF7verse - or totally ignore Yuna or whatever, but in FF8? Sure, whatever excuse you like, just get Squall and Rinoa out of that situation PLEASE. Save them.

[laylah.livejournal.com]

YAY OT4!
*cough*

Really, I think the Rude/Reno has to be my favorite thing about Bishink's FF7 continuity -- well, that and I like what they've done with Reeve, though I'm a big traditionalist and I pair Elena with Tseng. (FF7 = the fandom that makes me conservative, wtf.) Well, I also think their Rufus is much cooler and has far more depth than the one in the game. But yeah, the girls kind of get shafted there, and, er, I've never been able to get it up for Vincent, so as much as I respect their writing and worldbuilding, the directions they took with FF7 don't entirely satisfy me.
...With FF8, on the other hand? I love how they managed to work through the damaged canon until it was not only salvageable, but fulfilling. I should probably be ashamed of how many hours I spent devouring that stuff. ^^

Also omg cannot imagine trying to ignore Yuna to write Tidus with someone else. wtf.
But, er, I guess I don't have much investment in trying to get him in yaoi pairings at all; I'm rabid about how I pair Auron and I don't feel any need to read/write Wakka. ^^;

[elanor-pam.livejournal.com]

Just want to say I'm totally WORDing you two here.

Uh, yeah, that. Because I haven't played X yet :D;

[fuyu]

They do write some nice Rude/Reno, yes (though I can't quite shake the feeling now that I'm reading the same Rude/Reno fic in a few different flavors). I know what you mean about shipping Tseng/Elena, but Reeve/Elena is cute too. XD Their Reeve really is wonderful, and I like their Zax and Sephiroth. Frost tickles me in a way I like. Just... where's Aerith?

I have read some of their FF8 fic. I have the feeling I'd agree with you, if I were interested/canon-versed enough to actually read the whole timeline. I dunno, FF8 as a whole is kind of profoundly disinteresting to me, despite so many characters I like because o hay, here's FF7 and FFX and KH! And I can get a Squall and Seifer that I love the hell out of in KH, so whee!

Yeah, he just has no slash chemistry. Straightest Square boy I've seen. okay I admit I've seen Auron/Tidus that I enjoy, but. Oh, how do you pair Auron? *fairly avid about her Auron/Jecht and Auron->Braska* I know what you mean about Wakka, too. I love him, but was so satisfyingly wrapped up in the game itself I have nothing I want added or filled in.

(Double post to correct a really retarded typo. XD)

[laylah.livejournal.com]

Hah, yeah, actually one of the things that keeps me from writing Rude/Reno more often is that it doesn't feel like there's that much development that needs to happen there. It's just...yeah, of course they're doing it. The end. ^^

I tried hard to like FF8 based largely on their work, but it just was not happening. FF7 and FFX and KH are all more satisfying fandoms. (and WHEE, KH!Seifer, omg, love -- I didn't realize how badly I needed him taken out of his original canon until I got to roll around in the glee of seeing him Twilight Town.)

Re FFX ships: Auron's love for Braska is like the sun rising in the east. I'm willing to accept different understandings of why or what it means, but if you tell me it doesn't happen I'm just going to stare at you blankly. ^^
I can take or leave Jecht as part of the relationship; he never pinged me as hard. But Auron and Braska together, omg. woe. My first No Seriously OTP. When Sora said, "This must be what belongs in Auron's heart," I broke down sobbing.
I have actually written Auron/Tidus despite this but I am totally unsatisfied with how it came out.

[fuyu]

Yes. ^^ ... For this reason I would kind of guiltily like Rude/Tifa, because he's supposed to have a crush on her (and you know he carried Tifa out of the church in AC, and brooked no argument from Reno, no matter how much he whined about Cloud being so much heavier and Ruuuuudo, why can't you carry the big heavy SOLDIER and let me take the girl?) and you could work SO MUCH DEVELOPMENT there and it would be darling. ... But I'd feel horrible about taking away Cloud's last living romantic prospect. It'd be like kicking a kitten.

Word, yo. KH!Seifer = the win. "Destiny? In that case, let's be friends. I don't feel like cooperating with destiny." sjhgvkjb LOVE YOU SEIFER. LOVE YOU. And Leon totally fails at hiding what a big softie dork he really is. XD

Woohoo! We are of like mind. ^___^ I do love me some Auron/Jecht, but only after Auron's come to terms with Braska's complete straightness (and the fact that Braska has his wife in the Farplane and I doubt Auron would EVER ask for a threesome even if Braska and his wife were both like "Auron, come have mad Farplane sex with us!") and yeah. Auron is so devotedly in love. I keep wanting to write, or see someone else write, angsty Braska/Auron sex in Zanarkand where Braska's mostly doing it because he feels horrible about having to break Auron's heart in so many ways and wants to give him at least one intimate memory to treasure. It would be so painful but so good.

[ziarenete13x.livejournal.com]

I have no videogame dork icon...I must rectify this immediately...

But YUS, I return your proposition of marri~age {my first ever}, and would like to inquire that skinship be our mistress. Together, the DPL will be ours!

[fuyu]

Hee~ VIVA LA DPL!

(In related news, I also weep about Yuna being seen as weak, wishy-washy, or vanilla. She is one of my personal top two coolest video game girls ever.)

[skinship.livejournal.com]

Tidus does that sporty guy thing right, without becoming annoying or a brainless jock. Just for that, he deserves my fangirl wub.

also why are you not on MSN. XD YOU ARE OBVIOUSLY ONLINE.

Because I'm hardly ever on MSN these days. Not only do I have to wake up every morning at 6 AM, but my Windows is also utterly fucked, and I don't have the time or the skillzorz to do anything about it. It can only manage about one program at a time; you can imagine the horrors of opening MSN.

Two weeks of insane work schedule left. That's what I keep telling myself. Maybe after that I can actually do something to help my baby.

[zax-dude.livejournal.com]

... I like Tidus too T.T I don't understand why so manypeople brand hima whiner. If at all, he's one of the only FFX main-characters that has reacted realistically to the problems the games tend to represent... and dude, he took 'not being real' extremely well. GO TIDUS~!

... and I liked it when he screamed, too. It was cute ^_^

[SPOILERS]

[fuyu]

...heyheyheyhey careful! I've got a guy on my friendslist who hasn't finished FFX yet but is going to and he might not know that yet. D:

But yeah. He was a really good main character, a healthier main character than most of Square's heroes. He deserves commendation.

(... also, because I've been meaning to mention this! You have a few of my icons uploaded with 'credit unknown'. If you yoinked them straight from me, plz to note that any icon I have uploaded that doesn't have some form of credit given? Was made by me. So on the "SOLDIER through and through" Zax, the Sapphire Weapon, the 'crazy moon language', and the pouty Cloud, plz to credit me? :3)

Re: [SPOILERS]

[zax-dude.livejournal.com]

O.O I'm sorry! I didn't know T_T

Apart from Cloud, who is a little angstwhore with good reason and I love him for it, Tidus was one of my favourite FF main characters... he's easy to relate to, as well :)

(o.o a few of those icons I got from a friend of mine's photobucket, but I think I did yoink some from you x_x sorry, I'll go do that right now!)

[fuyu]

Yes. :D I loved so much the opening scene. He won me over instantly by being a famous athlete who was genuinely nice and friendly with his fans. +50 points.

... Aaaaaack. Ew. Not good. Ick. D: Good luck with that. D: