Ruan Mei & (the) Herta!

Realized something so funny about Yusuke while playing Strikers.

1. He suggests that the Phantom Thieves go to Kyoto on their vacation because he really wants an art tour, and he immediately gets vetoed. They then plan a barbecue, and he gets excited for that but then plans change when the Metaverse returns and they go on their road trip, so he gets deprived of that too. But every single time their vacation gets brought up he acts like these things are going to happen. "What about our Kyoto excursion" "our barbecue extravaganza" he is in his own little world where the Thieves listen to him. They actually do eventually go to Kyoto and he STILL doesn't get his art tour.

2. Zenkichi tells them that Alice Hiiragi went to the same school as the Thieves and Yusuke pipes up like "SHE WENT TO KOSEI HIGH??" Even though he is the only member of the Thieves who didn't go to Shujin Academy.

3. The scene where they discuss how they're going to go on their road trip without a vehicle and he announces that he has money like it's HIS MOMENT. Like it's the moment he's been waiting for his whole life, and Futaba responds "keep your snack money, Inari". Later he makes a comment about how he's gone from "rags to riches".

Every single case of this he gets the dramatic cut-in thing, so what I'm saying is Yusuke is convinced he's the main character through all of Strikers. Like he goes through the motions assuming the world will bend at his whimsy and the other Thieves just sigh and move on.

The two characters I thought of immediately:

i love when a character has something terrible happen to them and as a result they see themself as, essentially if not literally, a ghost. and so that means they only can (and have to) do what ghosts do, ie get revenge and then cease to exist. easy as that. but then halfway through this ghost vengeance they realize hey actually i might still be a human person. with human needs. that’s incredibly inconvenient, considering how much i’ve invested in this whole ghost thing

Normalize thanking your friends for not stabbing you on the Ides of March. You never know when that might change!

Headcanoning Persona 5 characters Mariokart mains, because I'm funny and I have way too much time to think about dumb things

Ren mains Shy Guy, usually green because he loves Kakyoin from JJBA. Mute City F-Zero is also his favorite Mariokart 8 track because of this.

Ryuji once said "I bet Ann plays Princess Peach", and Ann was so offended by the assumption that every time she intentionally takes Bowser before Ryuji can, so he has to pick his second favorite (Donkey Kong) instead. She doesn't even dislike Peach necessarily, she just never played Peach and was feeling petty.

Now, technically Ryuji could always just pick Dry Bowser- but unfortunately for him, Makoto always picks Dry Bowser, so he has no choice but to pick Bowser Jr, and he would rather just keep Donkey Kong.

Akechi doesn't really play Mariokart unless he's roped in by the group, so he never really had a main. The others kept throwing out suggestions for him to pick, and he kept shooting them down for various contrived reasons, only giving in because Futaba was the loudest and most obnoxious one shouting "Pick Yoshi". That's the day he became the Yoshi main.

Yusuke mains King Boo, and was extremely baffled and confused when Futaba blurted out "only sluts play King Boo" (Ann couldn't help but laugh at that).

Futaba would only play either Luigi or Waluigi, depending on her mood. Either way, she's a memelord about it.

Haru would be Daisy, because she's iconic and also they're very similar. Makoto pointed it out and Haru has picked Daisy every time ever since.

Morgana always picks Mario, but not just any Mario. Specifically Tanooki Mario. Everyone gave him a look, but he acted like this was perfectly normal behavior. If anyone brings up the resemblance, he will get extremely defensive.

Sumire almost exclusively played Rosalina, until one day she decided to pick Toadette out of nowhere. The group was kind of surprised, and she explained that she thinks it's cute, and never went back.

Zenkichi keeps refusing to play, and only gives in because Sumire is a sweetheart who suggests that he match her and pick Toad. He does, and it's funny as hell.

And finally, Sophia would pick Princess Peach, specifically Cat Peach with the pink car because it matches the colors. Before that she was just going to make a Mii of herself reluctantly, but Ann showed her Cat Peach and her eyes just lit up.

Basically:

Ren: Green Shy Guy

Ryuji: Bowser Donkey Kong

Ann: Bowser

Makoto: Dry Bowser

Akechi: Yoshi

Yusuke: King Boo

Futaba: (Wa)Luigi

Haru: Daisy

Morgana: Tanooki Mario

Sumire: Rosalina Toadette

Zenkichi: Toad

Sophia: Cat Peach

Both Selfish; you each lose 2 points

You Selfish, prev Cooperative; You gain 2 points

You Cooperative, prev Selfish; You lose 1 point

Both Cooperative; You Each gain 1.5 points

(ps make sure to say what you voted)

Making this post long so you have to scroll to see prev's tags.

I want to add to this. I reblogged it before I actually thought of what I wanted to say, but it finally connected in my head. I agree with all of this, but it was mainly the realization that what the fandom calls his sudden "traumadumping", as funny as it is, is literally just him attempting to make Ren feel close to him without any real vulnerability.

He talks about his mom with Ren unprompted, and says he hasn't told anyone this before, and that's true- because he hates feeling pitied. He doesn't want to feel weak, but he does want to be cared for. He wants to be supported, by anyone, but most people would react to his hardship with sympathy that he doesn't need or believe he deserves or earns. So he instead opens up to Ren because he sees them on equal footing. They're on the same page, and he wants Ren to feel a connection to him even if it's entirely fabricated and calculated. It's partially due to habit because, y'know, Detective Prince mask requires him to do this already in general, but also because so much of his real hardship is locked up so seeking a real connection requires the melodrama.

For me, I had this realization remembering when he walked into Leblanc the first time. He sees Futaba and he says "You must be Wakaba Isshiki's daughter" and then after he gets chewed out by Sojiro, he starts talking about how he doesn't feel wanted anywhere. Then seemingly unrelated, he talks about his mom. It feels to me like he's trying to say "if you can care about Futaba, then you should care about me."

He hasn't had a support system, so the need for just someone, anyone to care, even though they don't know him and what he's done, is so strong. He hates being pitied because he doesn't see himself as weak, and he doesn't think he deserves sympathy, so why would he share anything more than necessary? The third semester is the inverse of this. Everyone knows too much, so now the care he craved for so long feels way too exposed. It's too vulnerable, and he never thought he would have earned it if he shared this much, even from Ren. So ultimately the trust he earned has the opposite effect, and now his prior "see me and love me" mask has been replaced by a "leave me alone and hate me" mask.

Just said something about this on twitter but out of everything in 3rd semester that’s meant to show the contrast between akechis behavior pre-engineroom and post-engineroom I honestly think this specific change in sprite expression does it best

The first one looks directly at you because he makes this face when he’s trying to gain sympathy points / connect with whoever he’s talking to. Okay yeah he uses it when he was talking about his mother at leblanc and the bathhouse which definitely drew from a place real sadness but it was still a calculated part of his attempts to endear himself. And the second one is the exact opposite. It barely shows up and when it does it’s only for 1-2 (?) dialogue boxes a piece. It’s the expression he makes when he can’t immediately hide his emotions. The quick turning away / avoidance of eye contact is so you Don’t connect with the little hints of genuineness that manage to slip out for the two seconds that they last. Maybe so he doesn’t have to see your face if you do? Anyway. TDLR I just think it’s nice to focus less on his crazy talk and meangirlisms and acknowledge that they’re 100% also being used to rein in the fact that he’s progressively losing his grip on masking “the real akechi” from sight 100% of the time. At every point in the game he only wants his real self to be seen in tiny, entirely controlled sneak peeks, and only when he thinks it benefits him. agh

Got banned from the Little Ceasers. Call that a little Cease-and-Desisters

a shuake commission for @tzviaariella’s lovely Pirate AU fic, A Brig too Far! I’m such a sucker for classic tarot imagery… and pirates… and these rival losers… Truly kismet ⚔️💖🏴‍☠️

Artists of Tumblr, where you at?

I love how Persona 5 solved the issue of train fares. If Ren doesn't have enough money on him to travel in crucial scenes, there's special dialogue where Morgana pipes up and basically calls Ren broke and pays the rest of the fee.

I just find it hilarious because this literally means that not only does your cat have his own savings, but if you don't have enough for the Kichijoji trip with Ryuji, then Makoto literally sees your cat pay your train fare while stalking you. Think about how embarrassing it is, to be so broke that your cat has to pitch in for your transportation.

This is why his introduction cutscene is so hilarious to me. It starts with showing this devastating and tragic subway accident on the news, and then the next thing you know there's this silly teenage detective thoroughly disappointed that his coworker is subjecting him to conveyor belt sushi. It's so funny to me that this face is literally him right after his most recent heinous crime broke the news:

P5r has a lot of writing flaws generally But you have to admit. no matter how you view his character “highly marketable anime Pretty Boy who keeps going ‘woaww Protagonist you’re so interesting <33’ is actually a hired assassin and is acting like that because he’s actively planning your murder” is an objectively hilarious plot point