A Soulbonder's Wow In Detail: Celebrian's Liveblog

Also keep in mind that soulbonding is different for everyone who does it and DLC's Rules may not apply to other people and not everyone Reforms their villain bonds.

I still don't see what the problem is with reforming villains/rogues (Anya Romanov is not a villain and is actually a very kind and sweet woman). They pose a danger to themselves and others. SOMETHING has to be done with them. :/ I understand if they're pixel and their series is still going on, but the ones who are "dead" or whose series are over need SOMETHING to do with their lives that isn't completely dangerous.

XD New around here, I'm guessing?

No. I've seen the drama that comes out of the soulbonding threads, but I don't view that as a certainty. I think if we were able to have a topic that wasn't about any specific soulbonder, the thread might be more productive.

We had one. It became a thread about DLC almost immediately thanks to Guitar Bizarre's unhelpful bitchery.

Actually we've had 3.

It became one about me thanks to various people's bitchery. So yeah. Not a good idea. Don't do it.

Any thread about soulbonding is going to become about the person that these fora associate with soulbonding.

Guitar Bizarre's gone now, though...

So? We had fights about this before he showed up. :/

tl:dr: Making an IJBM about this is a bad idea don't do it

Seeing as I didn't get an answer before, hope it doesn't seem rude to link back to them, hoping I could get an answer? I am quite interested in what you have to say on these matters.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=cgh77v4gb6i3b6y3a41txfkg&page=26#646

And a couple of new questions, if I may.

You mentioned the reformation process, and 'making the characters good'. Does this mean you're convincing them to accept YOUR moral standpoint, regardless of what they want, using this psychic bond? If so, I'm seeing why some people find this a bit dodgy, especially considering other aspects. For example, how much does this reformation project change them? If a characters culture dictates that eating the body of the dead, or something like that for example, is a perfectly acceptable and honourable practice, and you believe it's evil, would that be 'wiped clean'? Do the chatacters never feel any shame, or effect of the idea that someone they have bonded with has effectively neutered their cultural identity within their world to conform to an outside powers ideal of how the world should work?

Also, a lot of these characters, like Sephiroth are a constant character. While Advent Children and FF 7 are finished, he is a recurring boss within the Kingdom Hearts series. I think you mentioned that you'd reformed him. How does this impact a series? Why is Sephiroth an evil, murdering madman in the new games, if he has now become an upstanding member of society?

Because people can change. :/ I don't know what else to say. Sephiroth was a bad guy back then, sure, but a lot of people were bad guys in their younger years and aren't anymore now.

Speaking of reforming, this week I have been working with Anya, who is a professional thief for money. Anya was in one game (Stolen) which received low ratings and basically its creator has done nothing else with it after that one game. Anya's been doing what she does for 6 years and she's been quite a difficult woman, mainly because I wasn't sure how to reform someone who does what she does. Last night, after a lot of working with her and showing her what her future holds if she doesn't cut out what she's doing, Anya finally decided she might want to turn her life around. We are all very proud of her.

Also no, I usually leave questionable things done for religious or cultural reasons alone, though I will question it if it needs questioning.

edited 18th Oct '10 9:14:56 AM by DarkLadyCelebrian

People can change. But what you do... seems to come off as very odd. It does seem to revolve around mind-rape or exploiting this bond you have with them. Especially when it comes to something like stealing - really? As someone else mentioned, what makes a character is their personality, and quirks. Some being more extreme than others. Sephiroth without his want for murdering a world which fooled him is just... a guy with a big sword and a trenchcoat. What do these bonded souls ever say about you insisting, without choice, that you destroy their own sense of self and indentity?

And a lot of the other questions remained unanswered. About the differences in characters between mediums, if you could bond with the same thing if it was in a different medium (not being able to bond with a webcomic, but being able to bond with the same characters if the comic was then published as a comic).

And I'm still quite curious on how what you do affects the setting. Is Sephiroth from FF 7 the same as he is in Kingdom Hearts, even with his differing art style, motivations and the fact he's simply a cameo boss fight? How come a character you has reformed can, in another sequel, be completely evil once again?

Not sure how you turn around someone who steals BECAUSE of the challenge and the thrill of getting caught and being put in prison. Just more coercive persuasion, I guess. It sounds frighteningly close to cult behavior though.

edited 18th Oct '10 11:11:55 AM by Boardcaster

No she does it for money, not for the thrill. She claims it's the only way she can get money. I told her that's not true and she knows it.

As for the mind rape allegations all I can say is I do not have the sufficient power to do that sort of thing.

You don't need "power" to do that. Just some knowledge of how the mind works. It's not all that difficult if you know what you're doing.

edited 18th Oct '10 3:16:49 PM by Boardcaster

In that case you could say therapy is "Mind Rape," can't you?

When conducted by someone who isn't a trained therapist (or is, but is not in possession of sufficient empathy to be considered sane), it might well be.

Therapy usually involves working with the patient for what they want to change, usually through conversation to simply help the patient think things out, but without giving the patient any answers yourself.

With your "reform" process, it seems like you're starting by telling them they need to change to fit your views, and then you start to drive them to where you want them to go with different arguments and scare tactics.

edited 18th Oct '10 3:30:45 PM by Boardcaster

Nothing to do with my views. It had something to do with Anya does not deserve to be locked up in jail, or shot.

Eh, I think it does. You're the one urging the character to change even though the characters seems perfectly aware of what they're doing and the consequences. Then again, all this bonding stuff works is full of holes anyway, so I'm not sure why I even bother trying to figure it out.

edited 18th Oct '10 5:37:41 PM by Boardcaster

^ It works in the same way that Superman's powers work. In that they function in the way the writer determines they do.

But yeah, DLC, surely forcing your Pokemon to live a way that YOU deem acceptable is pointless? Who wants to bond with a Batman who isn't insane?

...My Pokemon? o.O

Sephiroth! I choose you!

SEPHIROTH used SEXY!

It's super effective!

Because you horde them.

Sephiroth is sexy? He looks like he's made of Legos!

You don't know jack about the fandom. At all. Do you?