So what does "Lulu" mean, anyway?
Mar. 5th, 2006 08:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
auronluShe asks, too lazy to go look it up in name dictionaries.
I had two very large problems with this character. Okay, three.
I see her as a rather formidable young woman, strong-willed, somewhat sour and prickly, and frighteningly dangerous in battle. (Possibly I boosted her magic a bit earlier than some people do.) She seems a cool cookie who isn't alarmed or upset by much, any more than Auron is. "So together", as Rikku complained. Yet Lulu is a silly name. It sounds like a toy poodle.
WTF?!!!!!
When I first started writing all the fanfic that's been pouring out of me, I steadfastly refused to write "Lulu". I wrote "Lu" instead. Hence Auronlu. I've gotten used to it now, but "Lulu" still feels a little weird.
The other problem is the plush toys, for the same reason. I do not need my scary badass Dark Mage of Doom chanelling her power through a Pokémon, Beanie Baby, or other gratuitously cute fuzzy object, thankyou. However, I had a discussion about this on Adultfanfiction's forums that helped me get a little better grip on this; they're like the Shinto nature-spirits that show up in Miyazaki films. Okay, I grok. Spirits come in cute packages. And dark mages come in travel-inappropriate boob-baring corsets, never getting sunburned even in the Calm Lands.
I still can't bring myself to mention the cutsey things when writing Lu in battle. She casts fireballs. A plush toy doesn't. Okay?
And yeah, last but not least, I can't pretend I don't enjoy looking at her physical attributes, but I do wish that they weren't so gratuitously jiggly. I object to the deliberate, "look, here are my GINORMOUS WOBBLY TITS!" victory pose when she lands a critical hit and vaporizes a bad guy to a smoking cinder. They are perfectly adequate tits, but at that point, I want a badass comment, and possibly a look of withering disdain and nonchalance. I have a sinking feeling the fanboys are being invited to enjoy her tits, and not the character. This irks me. The character comes first; being totally droolworthy is icing on the cake. Auron's not very attractive (or at least I think he looks like an old shoe) and he's a fabulous character.
Whoops, that's enough posting for the day!
But one last thing.
Dear Square, if I buy FFX-2, I'm going to enjoy bits of it and be horribly horribly disappointed by having everyone reduced to Barbie Dolls. Had you done that to Lulu, I would have been forced to destroy something. I may still have to buy it, just to get a little more backstory for fanfic writing purposes. That means I'm going to have to watch Lulu with Wakka.
No love.
I had two very large problems with this character. Okay, three.
I see her as a rather formidable young woman, strong-willed, somewhat sour and prickly, and frighteningly dangerous in battle. (Possibly I boosted her magic a bit earlier than some people do.) She seems a cool cookie who isn't alarmed or upset by much, any more than Auron is. "So together", as Rikku complained. Yet Lulu is a silly name. It sounds like a toy poodle.
WTF?!!!!!
When I first started writing all the fanfic that's been pouring out of me, I steadfastly refused to write "Lulu". I wrote "Lu" instead. Hence Auronlu. I've gotten used to it now, but "Lulu" still feels a little weird.
The other problem is the plush toys, for the same reason. I do not need my scary badass Dark Mage of Doom chanelling her power through a Pokémon, Beanie Baby, or other gratuitously cute fuzzy object, thankyou. However, I had a discussion about this on Adultfanfiction's forums that helped me get a little better grip on this; they're like the Shinto nature-spirits that show up in Miyazaki films. Okay, I grok. Spirits come in cute packages. And dark mages come in travel-inappropriate boob-baring corsets, never getting sunburned even in the Calm Lands.
I still can't bring myself to mention the cutsey things when writing Lu in battle. She casts fireballs. A plush toy doesn't. Okay?
And yeah, last but not least, I can't pretend I don't enjoy looking at her physical attributes, but I do wish that they weren't so gratuitously jiggly. I object to the deliberate, "look, here are my GINORMOUS WOBBLY TITS!" victory pose when she lands a critical hit and vaporizes a bad guy to a smoking cinder. They are perfectly adequate tits, but at that point, I want a badass comment, and possibly a look of withering disdain and nonchalance. I have a sinking feeling the fanboys are being invited to enjoy her tits, and not the character. This irks me. The character comes first; being totally droolworthy is icing on the cake. Auron's not very attractive (or at least I think he looks like an old shoe) and he's a fabulous character.
Whoops, that's enough posting for the day!
But one last thing.
Dear Square, if I buy FFX-2, I'm going to enjoy bits of it and be horribly horribly disappointed by having everyone reduced to Barbie Dolls. Had you done that to Lulu, I would have been forced to destroy something. I may still have to buy it, just to get a little more backstory for fanfic writing purposes. That means I'm going to have to watch Lulu with Wakka.
No love.
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no subject
Date: 2006-03-06 05:06 am (UTC)(Possibly I boosted her magic a bit earlier than some people do.) It's okay, I did that too. :| *used Auron, Lulu, & Kimahri whenever possible*
FFX-2 is HORRIBLE. It was only fanservice, and I wanna whap it off the face of the Earth. D:
no subject
Date: 2006-03-06 05:40 am (UTC)But the Lulu/Wakka made me cringe.
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Date: 2006-03-06 05:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-06 10:23 pm (UTC)But it really was fanservice. :| The Lulu/Wakka nearly made me vomit. :(
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Date: 2006-03-06 06:17 am (UTC)Berg, however, offers no perspective on small furry things. ;)
no subject
Date: 2006-03-06 08:21 am (UTC)On the other hand, maybe it wasn't deliberate. Squaresoft named two characters "Irvine" and "Laguna" in the last game I played, which are two towns within a few miles of me. I think somebody on the creative team was throwing darts at a map.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-06 08:17 am (UTC)I'm trying not to get my hopes up about X-2, the way I didn't get my hopes up about Narnia. That allowed me to enjoy the latter. Maybe X-2 will be okay.
Odd thing: I am screamingly bi, and I really can enjoy sexy women very much. Lulu's voice makes my knees go wibbly. Yes, I loved her outfit, even if it was insanely impractical. (I swear, I'm going to give her frostbite on Mt. Gagazet as at least one excuse to drop her in Auron's warm fuzzy embrace.) But I do not at all like the look of the costumes I've seen in X-2 icons. Especially... YUNA?! Bless her, I liked her the way she was. Strong. Formal. Quiet. Traditional. Not innocent, because she knew the world, but pure of heart. I don't need her "skankified" as somebody put it.
And Rikku bugged me enough in FFX, unfortunately; I have a phobia of Cute which is part of the reason Lu's moogles bug me. Having the token Perky Chick hopping about in a leather bikini...uuuuuuum. O.o
(Why did I suddenly flash to Auron in a loincloth, with that comment? Okay, moving right along.)
Paine looks promising, but she looks like Auron's and Lulu's daughter... and that makes me incredibly wistful.
Honestly, Square, can't we have one of the female characters be the Badass In the Long Trenchcoat With the Big Honking Sword, just for a change?
As for Wakka/Lulu, I'm sure I will need a whole entry to adequately express my joy over that plot device.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-06 10:30 pm (UTC)I like Rikku. 8D In the very beginning I couldn't stand her (or Tidus), but after playing back a few times I thought she was cute. xD *shot* I don't like Lulu's weapons, though, because I'm all for just physically attacking (and I got her strength up really high too), but her attacks are funny the first time...then just icky. :| Magic gets repetitive after a while, that's why I'm all for slashing someone in half. ;D
Argh, I hate Wakka/Lulu. D: I was really pissed off that they married them and made them have a kid, considering it didn't look like they had anything more than a close friendship before. UM HELLO SHE WAS ENGAGED TO HIS DEAD BROTHER? That just...irked me. D: