Snowflake Challenge #11 and #14

[chacusha]

Challenge #11: In your own space, share your love for a trope, cliché, kink, motif, or theme.

Since I wrote my Bravely Default canon promo last year, I've been meaning to post a discussion about trios that strongly fit a Sun/Moon/Star aesthetic.

Probably the most prominent example of a trio like this is DC's "Trinity": Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. Superman is a good fit for Sun because of both his bright, idealistic outlook but also for the fact that (Earth's, Krypton's) sun is relevant to his powers. Batman makes for a good Moon fit because he operates in Gotham, which is basically designed to be "New York at night" (as opposed to Metropolis, which is "New York in the day"), and also because of the Moon's association with lunacy, which works well for Batman and his gallery of villains. Wonder Woman fits Star, which is also a hopeful/optimistic sort of card in tarot, and also stars feature prominently on her costume.

The first trio in my fandoms that I noticed worked really well for Sun/Moon/Star is Sora/Riku/Kairi from Kingdom Hearts. Because of their naming scheme (named after sky, land, and ocean), the three of them already have an "elements of nature" vibe to them, and then they fit the three types well: Sora is bright and cheery in a distinctly childish way, perfect for the Sun tarot card. Riku is subdued and withdrawn in comparison, and a lot of his plotline involves darkness and trying to move toward dawn, which fits a Moon theme. Kairi is similar to Sora in demeanor -- optimistic and pure of heart -- but in a way that is less childlike than Sora is.

And then I talked about how I think Yew/Janne/Magnolia from Bravely Second fit Sun/Moon/Star as well. Yew is definitely Sun -- bright, cheery, youthful. Both Janne and Magnolia have a good claim to Moon, but overall, I think Janne fits Moon vibes better (moody, pessimistic, secretive and associated with wolves). Magnolia instead fits Star better -- she has a vibe of clarity, hope, new faith, etc. Even though she's literally from the Moon, she's got a general outer space/star-faring sort of vibe, so I think Star still works pretty well for her.

That's about all I can think of off the top of my head. They're also all guy/guy/girl, hm. Do you have any trios in your fandoms that fit the Sun/Moon/Star types well?

(Not super related to this post, but one thing I love about the Level 5 Jeanne d'Arc PSP game is that its element system is a rock/paper/scissors thing between Sol/Luna/Stella (color-coded red, blue, and green), which is roughly equivalent to Fire/Ice/Lightning. I've never seen that element system in a game before and I think it's neat.)


Challenge #12 is giving me a bit of a hard time and I might need to meditate on it a bit more. And I might be too shy for Challenge #13 -- in any case, giving it a bit more time seems like a good idea. So I'm going to just skip ahead to Challenge #14?


Challenge #14: In your own space, create your own fandom challenge.

I feel like in this year's challenge, there wasn't really a lot of opportunities for people to talk about specific characters they like in fiction, so I'd like to ask a question related to characters. So feel free to answer any of: Do you have a character you used to be obsessed with and no longer are, or a character you've encountered recently that you're like, "Younger me would have LOVED this character"? Which character do you find yourself thinking about the most / rotating in your mind lately, and why? Do you have a character you feel has been done dirty by fandom, and if so, in what way? Do you have a canon that you think does a particularly good job at establishing its cast of characters, and if so, what would you say is its secret to success?

Comments

[prisca]

Don't hesitate to do a challenge later in the year, or come back to a challenge again, if it feels there is more to say. Snowflake was created to chat about our fandom love, and there can never be enough love in the world.

[chacusha]

Thank you! This year, I think it's helping me keep the scope manageable to give myself a definite timeframe for finishing, but I can see different things working for different people. The flexibility is nice!

[breyzyyin]

Oh, I love that Sun/Moon/Star aesthetic. Maybe because they're both FF games that I finished recently, but I can't help but think that Clive/Joshua/Jill from FFXVI and Palom/Porom/Leonora from Final Fantasy IV: The After Years could also fit for it. Clive, Joshua, and Jill have been a trio since childhood...and there's even a sun/moon/star motif throughout their dynamic (with Jill even referring to Clive as her "star" and the scene with her seeing the sun rising at the end of the game once she figures out what happened to him). Clive and Jill definitely lean into sun/star aesthetic while Joshua (who is a bit more removed from them at first in the later portions of the game before they reunite) would be more the moon given his more reserved and enigmatic aspects.

Porom, Palom, and Leonora also fit for it too. Porom and Palom are like the sun and the moon, respectively, given the differences in their personalities yet strong sibling dynamic all the same. Leonora becomes a close comrade/friend to them both by the end of the game and seems to merge their different goals and personality types together in a way in one package...so I can easily see her fitting a "star" motif for their new little trio during the end credits as a result. ♥

...And I totally just remembered that the Aerith/Cloud/Tifa dynamic could fit for that aesthetic too! Evidently, I am in a FF headspace right now. XD

Elaine/Van/Agnes from The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak games might also be a good fit for it too. Elaine would be more the sun given her status as a helpful and more law-abiding top-ranked bracer in society, Van would be the moon given his more scrupulous profession of spriggan and his more tragic/darker background, and Agnes would be a star due to straddling both lines by being a thoughtful person wanting to do good who still helps Van out with trickier ethical assignments.

...I'll stop now. XD Lookie, I found some girl/guy/girl dynamics there to help balance things out! XD

(That is a pretty cool element angle for the game! I've been wanting to try that SRPG out someday. :D)

Hmm, I like that fandom challenge! I'll have to ponder it though, as I tend to like a lot of different characters so it's tricky to narrow the list down. XD Great idea though, might just make it into an entry later on for us! ♥

[chacusha]

Oh nice, thank you for all these examples! These are very interesting -- I can definitely see Porom and Palom as a Sun/Moon pair. I'm less familiar with Leonora but I can see how she would balance them out. Aerith/Cloud/Tifa as a Sun/Moon/Star trio is also a fun idea to play with!

And yay, I always like hearing you guys talk about your favorite media/characters, so I hope you're able to get some post material out of it! :D

[silveradept]

I think a character that was done terribly by her canon was Korra, but I think that had more to do with Executive Meddling than the story that they were trying to tell with her.

I think a fair number of "love triangle" situations in media follow the Sun/Moon/Star idea, especially when it's two of one identity and one of another. Sun/Moon tend to be the two, and they're usually portrayed as rivals of one sort or another (Like Cecil and Kain from the original Final Fantasy IV) and Star is the other (Rosa, in this case.) Because the Star is there for both the Sun and the Moon to orient themselves to, even as they revolve around each other in their rivalry.

Final Fantasies after VII seem to be moving more in an ensemble cast method, something that would prevent that kind of dynamic forming around a primary trio. Although I suppose you could put Lightning/Fang/Vanille in that dynamic, although I'm not entirely sure which one of them is the Star. (Vanille, probably.)

[chacusha]

Oh I am not familiar with the executive meddling of Legend of Korra. (aside from toning down the Korrasami romance -- but not sure if that's what you're referring to or something else). Can you say more?

That makes sense, the love triangle angle where you have two rival love interests who contrast/are foils for each other and then the one they're both revolving around. I was thinking, though, that maybe I might personally just have a bias for putting the woman character as Star XD For example, I was thinking about Kilik/Maxi/Xianghua from Soulcalibur and my initial temptation was to say Xianghua is Star-coded, but then when I thought about it some more, I think her personality is way more Sun-like. Maxi is probably Moon then, and Kilik Star. So yeah, the love triangle aspect makes sense, but yeah, maybe I just also have a bias/tendency to slot a woman into Star even when not the center of the love triangle?? Not sure.

And ooh, interesting to think about a Lightning/Fang/Vanille Sun/Moon/Star dynamic. It is a bit hard because I think none of them are particularly strong Sun types, but they all do have a sky/celestial bodies vibe to me / work well for multiple types. (I think the FFXIII character with the strongest Sun vibes is Snow, but I don't know who would work as a Moon/Star for him. Maybe Lightning and Serah.)

[silveradept]

Yes, the romance part is the big one, but also, after the second season, Korra stopped being broadcast on the channel and was instead moved to the website, and by the time of the end, where the big romantic kiss happened, you had to know petty well where to look on the website to find the new episode of Korra. They did not do good by that series.

Most love triangles are set up as two guys pursuing a girl, so your bias for putting the girl as Star might be because you have the most examples putting her there.

If Snow is Sun, Lightning is absolutely Moon and Serah Star, since Lightning is usually "you're a dweeb who's not good enough for my sister" about him. And you could make an argument for Caius/Lightning/Yeul, again with Lightning in the Moon aspect, opposing Caius to try and keep the timeline together.

[chacusha]

Oof, okay. Yeah, Korra was really done dirty by Nickelodeon. I just read that the creators also had to argue that boys would watch a show with a girl as the main character. Geez...

Yeah, could be!

So many neat Sun/Moon/Star dynamics in FFXIII! Well, I guess it IS a game built around 3-person parties/dynamics...

[silveradept]

They did, yes, and there age even studies conducted to show that boys would watch girl stuff.

Yeah, XIII has a lot of three people dynamics so that each party should be in good synchronization with each other. So they could all be Sun, Moon, and Star together, depending on which combination you wanted them to be in.