Wataru Himura | Lance Blackthorn (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
swatswithdragons) wrote2020-12-31 09:23 pm
swatswithdragons) wrote2020-12-31 09:23 pm
Entry tags:
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HMD and general contact here. IP logging is off, anon is on.
Old journal.
Bete Noire information
Application | Powers | Activity chart
World background
Character snapshot
Detailed world history | Modern timeline | English/Japanese glossary | Description of technology | Pokemon team
Fanficced background
The Good Fight | The Mighty Fallen | The Fool's Paradise
(Disillusions Trilogy. Gives context into the nature of Lance's duties as Champion.)
Diachrony
(Offers context into the history of the Dragon Clan.)
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It sometimes bothers me how perceptive he can be. I get that he's a big player in the world he came from, which entitles him to be more than averagely smart and perceptive, but all the same he can still come off as too quick. Figuring out that Cho was actually the Doctor, for instance, after exchanging no more than a few sentences with her/him. In my opinion, that takes a couple of assumptive leaps that don't make sense unless Lance is a telepath or some kind of crazy super genius.
I realize this may come off as hypocritical since I'm playing the Doctor, but... he *is* a crazy super genius, and even given that I wouldn't have had him figure something like this out quite so quickly.
I'm not asking for a ret-con or for you to delete the comment on Romana's post, but it did bother me. And again, I DO want to keep playing with Lance, which is actually why I brought this up. I didn't want to just sit on it.
sorry for the tl;dr >.<
As for Romana's post, I was assuming that as the Lance/Doctor-Cho thread progresses he'd had more clues to confirm what he suspects. He does have a tendency to make assumptions and get suspicions based on very little, and sometimes they are wrong, but then he also tries to get them confirmed, too. So if they're having a meal he'd get to see more personality quirks, and given that Lance may have seen the Doctor's handwriting when he oversaw the research with the dragon pearls (would he have?) then by the time of Romana's post he likely would have seen the handwriting in the logbook, too.
But as far as his perceptiveness goes in a greater context, I try to play it as at least partly being sheer breadth of knowledge and experience--he asks all the questions ever, at every opportunity, which allows him to know things most people don't. He also spent some time in the wild, and most of his career has been under fire from assassins, so being perceptive is partly a survival issue. That said, I also do actually play him as a prodigy at least, because in canon he is insanely perceptive. Most of that trait comes from the generation two games, Gold/Silver/Crystal and Heart Gold/Soul Silver, when he gets the player character to help him take down an unethical research lab by the local mafia group, but the way he does it is actually pretty omniscient.
Basically, the player character first meets him at a lake where shenanigans that no one can explain are happening. On his arrival, he already knows exactly what is happening and why, and knows that 'a mysterious radio broadcast' from the nearby town is the cause, but doesn't explain how he knows that. So he asks the PC's help and tells them to meet him in the town. The PC finds him in a shop the mafia group is using as a cover, from which he says the broadcast is coming from, but again, doesn't explain how he knows it's that shop in particular. And then he somehow knows exactly where a secret entrance into the basement laboratory is hidden, something even the mafia grunts comment on in a 'how the fuck did he know that was there?!' sort of fashion.
Obviously he must have done some things in there which the player character didn't see to come to those conclusions, but the rest of the game also makes the player character figure out nearly everything on their own. So the fact that, on this occasion, one single character suddenly does all the work the player character usually does, without explaining how he's coming to conclusions that seem impossible (how did he know that closely-guarded secret entrance behind the counter was actually there?), indicated to me that he had to have extremely high perceptiveness, whether because he does ask all the questions or because he's just naturally observant, or some combination of the two.
In his tags I do try very hard to plot out his process of thinking so people know how he's coming to the conclusions he does, but it's entirely possible they're nonsensical or I've skipped steps (I do have a tendency to miss steps when I already know where all the links are). From the sounds of it this is something that's been bothering you for a while, so if you have any other specific points in mind, would you like to let me know what they were? That way I can either explain what my process was or take note of them so I can do better next time.
Is okay! Have some tl;dr back.
As for the log thread, as I saw it the conclusion took two assumptions: 1) that Cho had been brainswapped at all and 2) that she's been swapped with the Doctor. I can see how the second assumption would be easy to make after the first, but what I didn't see was where the first came from. Looking back on it, it may have been more an issue with how the tag was phrased. It didn't come off like an assumption or a suspicion, but like Lance just knew right away, which made me go "well hang on a minute =|" Also the questioning whether Cho was really a "her." I couldn't see what I had done to make Cho appear to be not-a-girl. Unless it was because "her" behavior was subtly reminding Lance of the Doctor, but in that case I'd put it down as another phrasing issue.
And wow, it's been so long since I played Pokemon Silver that I forgot he was that guy. I can understand him being a prodigy in that case - maybe all I'd need to see is a little more explanation of how his process works. Since in LJRP, we do get to see the inside of his brains in a way the canon didn't let us.
I have to go afk now and I can't think of any other instances off the top of my head, but I could discuss this more later if you'd like to =)
/returns with more >.> <.<;
I definitely agree the tag could have been better phrased, though; I mean, he's pretty certain, but it's still unconfirmed and he would take the rest of the thread to confirm it, so I should have had the tag have overtones of an intense suspicion, instead of 'knowing'. As for the questioning whether it was 'her', that was more a 'well, bodyswapping is happening and I'm pretty sure she's bodyswapped since she's acting weird, but do I even know it's a girl in there? =|'. Basically it was meant to be a narrative acknowledgement of the possibility that it wasn't a girl, rather than him 'knowing' it wasn't a girl, if that makes sense.
Haha, yeah, he's that guy. XD Sorry for the vagueish explanation; I keep forgetting who has played pokemon and who hasn't, and try to assume people haven't, just in case. That's why I like LJRP, though, and especially tags that reveal inner process. :3 I do always have a process that makes sense (at the time, though maybe not in retrospect, lol), but yeah, I really do have a habit of assuming people know more context than not. ORZ
If you feel there's more to address, or you'd like some more clarification, sure! I'm always up for the discussing. :3
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While I understand that this a more realistic take on the games - on which I do commend you -, I'm curious about your reasoning behind the modern timeline and the reason the protagonists are basically sidelined in most events which they played a a helping or keyrole in the games. I would also like to point out that it seems like the GSCHGSS Protagonists are barely involved at all and the Houen ones are completely absent.
It also seems that in the GSCHGSS events like Lance is playing more of a role than he did the games, though given the tone of the AU that is to be expected somewhat. I'm just curious as to the reasoning behind these choices, based on what I have read of the AU.
no subject
I'm not entirely sure what you mean about reasoning out the modern timeline--I just took the basic timeframe in which the games were created and used them as a basis for the AU's timeline. A lot of the references and technology seemed to be fairly modern, or just the slightest bit advanced for the 90s, so it seems like a logical step to use modernity's timeframe.
As for the rest, that was actually deliberate. Black and White have changed that, but in the early days the games were explicitly protagonist-centred. Looking at it from a real-world, or live-action, perspective, it doesn't make much sense; even genius children have their limits, and in a truly stable society (where there's a government and police force, etc) it's illogical that the authorities would do nothing. That's why Lance, and the other gym leaders and Elite Four members, take a far more active role in this AU.
The AU protagonists are involved and often peripherally present--it doesn't really come across because the world is still in development. I haven't roleplayed them, so I haven't yet had a need to write out their history in detail, though I do know how the FRLG protags are involved in detail and the GSC protags in vaguer terms. (The Hoenn protagonists aren't visible at all because I know their history the least--I haven't worked out how they play into the League's defence yet.)
They are sidelined though, you're right--deliberately so. What I wanted was to focus on the culture and society as if it was a plausible real-life construct, which meant that the lesser-skilled children had to be sidelined in favour of what the proven and elected authorities should and would handle. Does that make sense?
no subject
It does somewhat, given I have truly only played the Black and White pair of games and wasn't very aware of that fact. In light of that, the timeline for the FRLG side makes sense.
However, without any other timeline for the other protagonists, it's hard to say if the rest would make sense, though from what I have read of the GSC one, it seems it would. While it is logical that the League trainers would play a much activer role, I personally think it would also be logical that the AU protagonists, most likely the Hoenn and Orre(?) ones, would also be active in the defense of their regions.
Though as you said the world is still in developmental stages and is your own take on a more realistic view, so I will be interested in seeing how everything unfolds in this AU.
Thanks for answering my concerns.
no subject
On the other hand, the Hoenn protags are roughly the same age as the games I mentioned in my other comment, so they won't be active in the defence so much as present. Hoenn's endgame is a lot more violent than either of the prior generations, far more widespread, and a lot more noticeable to the layperson (or a skilled young trainer, as the case may be). At the end of the day, though, the protags really are only kids, so their experience and ability to help would be limited.
No problem; glad to clarify.