InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I just farted."

raisedbymoogles (raisedbymoogles) wrote,
@ 2009-06-20 22:09:00

Current mood:	tired
Current music:	The Call - Prince Caspian soundtrack
Entry tags:	fandom, ff7, springkink, writing

*whimpers*
No sooner do I overcome my common sense and express interest in becoming a writer for GirlGamer.com, than I get an email inviting me to a Power Rangers RP. And it's one that I was contemplating before, so I already have a character in mind, but oh god I can't take on even one more thing. Let alone two. My brain, you guys. My poor braaaaiiiin. ;_;

...speaking of my poor brain and being stretched thin. I don't have either springkink fic written that's due tomorrow, and I need to go to bed soon 'cause I have work at seven AM tomorrow. I... think at least one's gonna be late. *whimperthud*

Apropos of reading too many dark FFVII/KH fanfics when I'm already emotionally wobbly, I've been wondering about Zack and Shinra. Granted, I've never played CC, but from what I've heard, Zack doesn't seem to have questioned the goals of the people he was working for, about Wutai specifically, or the motives of any terrorists he happened to have fought. He doesn't seem to blame Shinra for what was done to Angeal and Genesis. Fandom tends to paint him as this sainted force of nature who could have fixed everything if he hadn't died, but now I wonder if that's true. Wasn't Zack a little blind himself, in a way?

I don't really blame him, though. Nobody outside of Wutai seems to think about what Shinra did to Wutai, and those Mako generators seemed to make life a little easier for everybody, and it's hard to argue with that from behind a computer monitor in a well-lit, warm house. And like I said, I haven't played CC so I don't really know his motives for staying with Shinra after Angeal-and-Genesis. It just hurts a little to think that if I were in that world, he and I might well have been enemies.

/whine

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deepbluesquee
2009-06-21 04:17 am UTC (link)

From what I remember, what you see of Wutai in the game isn't really a war, it's just Zack on one of this Very First Soldier Missions sneaking in and out of the palace getting to play ninja and occasionally beating up a Wutai patrol. ...And making friends with Yuffie. It wasn't shown as a war, more like - well, a training exercise, and from what you see I think a lot of the Soldier training is done in very realistic VR rooms - possibly to enable that sense of this-isn't-quite-real.

That and Zack does seem to have been shown as this rather dumbed-down and naive kid who wants to play at Soldiers. *facepalm* He was absolutely heartbroken at Angeal 'disappearing', since that's apparently how it's shown, but I don't think you really find out a lot about how Angeal and Genesis ended up the way they did. A lot of it was made very personal, in that Dr Hollander was made the focal point of the problem at first, and by the time you get to 'Shinra was behind the whole damn thing!' Zack's best friend and mentor has gone completely batshit insane and is flapping around calling himself a monster, asking Zack to kill him.

...I'm not sure what happens between then and Nibelheim, but Genesis is running around cloning himself and raving about Loveless and taking over the world, not to mention sparking off Seph's own happy fun slide into Jenova-induced crazy.

(Basically? Yes, Zack was shown as very naive and not thinking about the bigger picture, but Crisis Core was fanservice that got shoehorned into the original canon to try and wring more profits out of the 'Zaaaaack!'-reaction, so it's probably best to take the entire thing with a very, very large pinch of salt. -_-)

*cuddles moogle?*

Springkink never seems to mind if fics for them are late, my moogle, and there's always the drabble option. *snuggles up tight and fans and Muses for* Just keep calm, make sure you get plenty of sleep and go at things at your own pace, and you'll be fine. *loves* ...And good luck with GirlGamer.com!

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	raisedbymoogles 2009-06-21 07:40 am UTC (link)
	cuddles tight and hopes 'Boots doesn't mind if a moogle doesn't let go Even if I do play CC, it's unlikely it'd make it into my personal canon - still, it's a resource for Zack's state of mind leading up to Nibelheim, and it's not exactly conducive to 'could have Saved The World With Hugs.' And, GG.com rejected me. Of course. -_- (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

deepbluesquee
2009-06-21 03:05 pm UTC (link)

*doesn't mind even slightly; my moogle, keep...* I dunno - there's a couple of bits in there that I keep as canon - hah, Seph was a decent guy pre-Nibelheim! validation! - but pretty much all the rest of it, I jettison. Like what it said about Cloud being effectively useless. *growls* What I saw of Aeris had me flailing, and - I don't really like their Zack. He's a dumb puppy who wouldn't last two minutes in Soldier, let alone survive the game. And as for managing a comatose Cloud all the way to Midgar...I has my doubts. I have very little time for CC at all, to be honest, so I might not be the most impartial voice here. *snugs* As resources go, it's a pretty biased one itself ~~o hey there super-duper-first-class-who-looks-like-the-designer's-singer-celebrity-crush~~. I'm not saying that Zack was perfect, but...meh. If they were trying for fanservice and tying into the fandom Zack Ideal? In my most humble opinion, they missed.

*...hugs tight*

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	raisedbymoogles 2009-06-21 04:43 pm UTC (link)
	...good. Nyompf, your moogle. And my 'Boots too. ...Let's just keep our fanon!Zack, shall we? Much smarter. And believing in Cloud, too. nods firmly clingclingcling (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	deepbluesquee 2009-06-21 05:36 pm UTC (link)
	My moogle. Anna your 'Boots, always. firm nod Augh, srsly. Surely you can't get to that level in Soldier if you're a complete doofus! He's got to have a bit of smarts in him just to get that far! facepalm ...Much better idea. And very much agreement on the Cloud-believing! rarflail cuddles up tight and keeps... (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	raisedbymoogles 2009-06-21 08:36 pm UTC (link)
	Eeee. ^_^ Then all is as it should be. nods determinedly and clings to My Boys, rar! lays head on shoulder and clings you're not going to go 'way, are you? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

deepbluesquee
2009-06-22 07:23 am UTC (link)

*I should say so! So there, nyar.* *cuddles them up tight and keeps, dammit! Neither dumb nor useless, so there! Bad story designers, bad!*

*...oh, moogle, where on earth would I go?* *holds on tight and Does Not Let Go* *I'm not going anywhere unless you're coming with me, or if I can phone you or IM you or something. I'd go stark raving bonkers if I didn't have my moogle - it's bad enough having to miss you one night out of the week, let alone not having a moogle at all! ...And if I suddenly drop dead or something, I'll come be your guardian angel and sit on your shoulder and be pervy in your ear.*

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	raisedbymoogles 2009-06-22 02:57 pm UTC (link)
	giggles nyompf! ZackandCloud: peek up at you, spikes perking hopefully? snuggles ever-so-tight and adores and doesn't want to be let go ...I love you, my 'Boots. You make it worth getting up in the morning-slash-afternoon. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	deepbluesquee 2009-06-23 06:47 am UTC (link)
	nyompfs happily and cuddles tight ...ruffleruffleruffle? And cake? And hugs? wraps around and loves on and won't ever let go, so there ...melts and giggles just a little bit My moogle. Looking-after and cuddling and fussing over, until I can do it properly in person. So there. firm nod! (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	raisedbymoogles 2009-06-23 08:29 pm UTC (link)
	bweesnugglefusspurr, my 'Boots. ^_^ ZackandCloud: nomnomcake and cuddle up in the hugs, happy and appreciated boys... squeaks and noses into your shirt and smiles... Eeee. Something to look forward to, with much shinyeyes. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	deepbluesquee 2009-06-24 05:43 pm UTC (link)
	cuddlesnuggleadores, my moogle... ...wraps a Seph around them for good measure, before he gets chance to go WTF and freeze up. Cake and hugs for you too, mister! cuddles up tight and adores, my moogle. Should be a happy and a smiling moogle. Will make it worth the wait, promise. firm nod! (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	raisedbymoogles 2009-06-24 08:04 pm UTC (link)
	eeee. Yourmoogle. ^_^ Seph: blinkablinks at ZackandCloud, blinkblink? 'Boots makes a happy moogle, always. Even when moogle is lost in the darkest depths of emo. I have absolutely no doubt of that. snugglecuddlefusspurr! (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	deepbluesquee 2009-06-25 01:25 am UTC (link)
	glows anna your'Boots. Nyompf. ZackandCloud: ...cuddles? Now he's here? ...wanders in bravely with torch, finding moogle-? cuddles up tight and adores Will not let you down, ladymoogle! firm nod (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	raisedbymoogles 2009-06-25 03:46 pm UTC (link)
	giggles nyompf. :3 bats at Seph: ...will not say no to cuddles. brave adventurer 'Boots, moogle is well and truly safe. nods and cuddles and nuzzles I never had any doubt of that, brave 'Bootsknight. ^_^ gives shinies! (Reply to this) (Parent)

megpie71
2009-06-22 07:17 pm UTC (link)

I think the one thing which has to be remembered about Zack as a character is he's actually very young. He dies at the physical age of twenty-three (mental age of eighteen), and the majority of the events of Crisis Core (and his involvement in the FFVII timeline) happen when he's between sixteen and eighteen. Most young men of that age aren't thinking about big ethical and sociological issues because they don't have the life experience to be able to do so. I figure when we first run into him at the beginning of Crisis Core, he's joined up to become a hero (whatever one of those is) straight out of school and he doesn't know anything more about the larger issues at stake here than the average British trooper in the trenches knew about the geopolitical background of World War 1. He's young, he's naive and he's human.

Let's also remember the following truth about Shinra: it's a super-large corporate entity. It is acting as a default government purely on the basis that they're a Bahamut-ZERO-sized entity in a world full of flippin' Hedgehog Pies, and they can do whatever the hell they think they can get away with. They're an absolute power on the world of Gaia, so of course, they're absolutely corrupt. The reason nobody outside Wutai thinks about what happened there in the war is because nobody outside Wutai actually knows about what happened during the war.

I'm currently working my way through Crisis Core again (I'm bored, it's winter and it's something I can do sitting in the warmest room in the house) and to be honest, the main thing which keeps Zack going with Shinra is pure inertia. He doesn't know what the hell is going on (CC!Zack is definitely a fully paid-up member of the mushroom club) or why the hell Angeal and Genesis left in the first place, so he stays with the people who are paying him on a regular basis. He's in his first job out of school, he's working for the biggest employer in the world, and really, he's learning a skillset which is only useable in their employ.

Oddly enough, I tend to find the CC!Zack a bit more believable simply because he is so very swept up in the tide of events. The writers for Squeenix put a lot of effort into catching the zeitgeist of a late-teens male - he's much more concerned with things like catching the attention of whichever woman is in range, or having people realise how cool he looks in his SOLDIER uniform.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	raisedbymoogles 2009-06-22 07:49 pm UTC (link)
	I'm not saying he's a bad person, not at all. Just because he's not the person I've made him out to be doesn't mean he's not a good character. (Reply to this) (Parent)