Tcf - Blog Posts
Yeah, of course i have a plan
Plan:
Quick question – why do the TCF fans keep portraying Bud Illis as an idiot?
It kind of bothers me, because in canon, Bud is not stupid.
Yes, he is a at times reckless (like that time he got captured by Jopis). And yes, he plays the "drunk idiot" role very well, to the point he completely fooled Raon when Cale and Bud met for the first time.
The problem is, for some reason, TCF fans remember that interaction between Cale & Bud in the inn and take it as his actual characterization, and not an act. Which it is.
Because Bud acts like a drunk blabbermouth idiot on purpose, there! Cale himself notices it almost instantly!!
Bud is an interesting character. He's someone who relies on his drunk act – which he does mostly to gather intel, just like OG Cale relied on his act to ruin his reputation – in order to be underestimated. And it works, because everyone is surprised just how much Bud knows, despite being from a different contient than Cale.
However, being drunk and supposedly recklessly talkative (even though I can tell he chose the information he told Cale in that first meeting very carefully, figuring Cale out at the same time), Bud also shows signs of very quick wit and spontaneous planning, just like Cale.
He figures out quickly that Cale and the others are no joke. He's willing to enter an alliance, and show Cale the Directory, and also makes the immediate decision to burn the Directory down, once he realizes that the White Star uses it for nefarious purposes.
We see his competence in the 1,001 mercenary squad rescue, how he's willing to do anything for his men, and isn't too stubborn to ask Cale for help, when he needs it. He's also compassionate and responsible enough to regret putting Cale in danger as he rushes in to save them.
Of course, I understand why the "idiot" part is what the fans actually remember of this character. He got captured by Jopis' "innocent" puppies. That.... wasn't his fault. He has an Ancient Power which should have warned him of potential danger, and yet, the puppies turned out one of the few immune exceptions to his senses. Bud's true mistake was going in alone, and doing so because the wanted to impress Cale. Which is why he gets no sympathy from Cale when they show up to "rescue" him and make a deal with Jopis.
Sorry, Bud, as much as I'm on your side, that was a hilariously stupid mistake on your part.
One incident shouldn't make fans believe that Bud is an idiot, though. The reason it does, however, is because of Glenn. Glenn Poeff's reaction to Bud getting stupidly captured shows us that this was not the first time when Bud was stupidly reckless. But it does fit his overall characterization. Bud is not stupid, but he's not as cautious as Cale, despite his justified paranoia about the White Star aiming to kill him.
Bud's attitude towards Cale's crazy shenanigans also reminds the audience of two specific characters: Toonka, and Archie. Both of which are, at the same time, the "violent thugs" of their society, who contrast Cale in being shocked by his "mad viciousness" and become ironically "the only sane man on board". But just because Bud is also one of the characters who react to Cale as "dude, are you crazy?? Wait, nevermind..." doesn't mean that Bud is at the same intelligence level as Toonka and Archie. In fact, Bud is much, much more intelligent than those two. So it's not really fair to put him together with them in that department.
Bud is also a Sword Master, and a Mercenary King. We can probably conclude two things about his personality from that: one, he loves adventure and swordmanship. Two, he is brave enough to lead and make risks in order to achieve his ambitions. Bud is intelligent and a good actor, but he does love alcohol – he just pretends he's a lightweight (again, just like OG Cale). Bud is a good strategist and fighter, but he does make reckless mistakes from time to time, much to Glenn's exasperation.
So here it is. My reasons why "Bud Illis isn't as stupid as fans portray him in the fandom". Just because he's funny, doesn't mean he's a complete idiot. He's a competent leader, who managed to defend the Mercenaries against Arm in the Eastern Contient for a significant amount of time. He was one of the last lines of resistance towards the White Star there. That says things about him.
Give Bud some love, guys, he deserves it.
just wanted to add my 2 cents! i like the point you made here.
I haven’t finished any of these stories yet, but I think what could play into this is the fact that TCF’s mc and ORV’s mc are interacting with world’s, situations, & people that they understood as fictional, at first (ORV a little less than TCF, but still).
for Yoojin, his post-regression reality has always been very real to him. there is no “plot” or storyline to follow — it’s his life relived immediately after experiencing traumatic loss, so he truly sees this life as his “second chance” to keep all that tragedy from happening again. there’s no degree of detachment or separation for him.
& that detachment is a specific point of internal conflict for sb like Kim Dokja — his ability as a “reader”, the Fourth Wall, is what allows him to detach himself from the emotional stress of any given situation. he can continue to be the “omniscient” observer, can continue to understand ppl through characterization and read their thoughts as if they were still on the page; then, he can act on that info w/o becoming emotionally vulnerable.
& i think this is somewhat proven when ORV veers into things that happened in Dokja’s life before TWSA began. anything dealing with his mother throws him off kilter — i think he still manages to keep his cool, but there’s a notable difference in the way he deals with situations involving her vs. situations he expects from TWSA’s plot.
I haven’t read as much of TCF so I can’t say quite as much! but there’s still a jarring difference between reliving your own life and living the life of an aristocrat in a fictional world you read about.
The S-Classes that I Raised often gets grouped with Omniscent Reader's Viewpoint and Trash of the Count's Family, but there's something distinctly different about Han Yoojin as a protagonist. I think it's that his story really makes you feel how much of a fighter he is. I'm not saying that Kim Dokja and Kim Roksoo aren't fighters exactly, but they tend to come off as schemers first and foremost. Their approach to most problems (from my perspective as someone who's read all of ORV and like a third of TCF) involves leveraging secrets of the world that only they know in order to get the better of their adversaries and achieve their goals. They plan things out a long time in advance, and sure, things don't always go their way, but they feel like chess players when they're confronted with obstacles.
Meanwhile, Han Yoojin feels like a guerilla soldier. He definitely also schemes, but SCTIR makes a dedicated effort to showing that his current knowledge of the future and the world's secrets will only take him so far. He does think ahead and plans for the future whenever he can, but most of his problems are solved by improvising. One of his greatest strengths is that he thinks on his feet and doesn't let himself be fazed by surprises. This ends up making him feel more like someone who has always had to fight desperately for every last scrap of respect and survival he could get his hands on in a way that ORV and TCF don't go for as much (as far as I can tell for TCF as of now). Kim Dokja and Kim Roksoo's plans go "first, I'm going to go to the super secret location to get a weapon that will help me in six months, and then in five weeks, I'm going to recruit an obscure powerhouse to be my spy for the operation I'll do next year..." whereas Han Yoojin's plans are more like "first, I'll get into some shit, and then, I'll figure it out."
It's kind of hard to explain the vibe difference because these characters are all defined by their cleverness, but I guess the best way to put it would be that Kim Dokja and Kim Roksoo seem more... exasperated? with the way they've been wronged in the past, whereas Han Yoojin seems more angry and spiteful about it. The first two mostly seem tired of dealing with the way their lives were going before and just want to be happy, but Han Yoojin gives off the feeling that he doesn't think he can find happiness without biting and clawing his way to it
I recently received a lot of activity on this blog and while I don't have any plans for holding the big bang this year yet, as I mentioned last year when the event came to a close (this is a really busy and important year for me),,, considering the attention it has received from the fandom, I might hold it sometime around late August to early September. Though I don't really want to rush it... But well, we'll see if I do end up holding it based on the interest check I will post later.
But for now, it would be nice to have a vague idea on how many people would like to participate in the LCF BigBang.
Whether there will be an interest check form later or not also depends on this poll so do spread the word.
Low effort crayon drawing to feel something
Cale Henituse save me
Day 5 - Tea Set
Hooray, hooray, happy seventh anniversary of TCF! 💋
Cale: “Hmm I don’t owe these people a full explanation, it’s too much work and too complicated. I’ll just give them the watered down version and avoid extra trouble”
*Proceeds to explain things is such a way and with such wording that he makes himself seem like the holiest, most self sacrificing, caring MF in all of history*
Cale afterwards: “… why are they looking at me like that?”
I recently received a lot of activity on this blog and while I don't have any plans for holding the big bang this year yet, as I mentioned last year when the event came to a close (this is a really busy and important year for me),,, considering the attention it has received from the fandom, I might hold it sometime around late August to early September. Though I don't really want to rush it... But well, we'll see if I do end up holding it based on the interest check I will post later.
But for now, it would be nice to have a vague idea on how many people would like to participate in the LCF BigBang.
Whether there will be an interest check form later or not also depends on this poll so do spread the word.
Some doodles from the Kim roksoo angel au taking over my brain
You know, one of my favorite parts of tcf is how they deal with misunderstandings. Since Cale here, literally EVERYONE misunderstands what he means. Normally, I'm not a fan of when something adds a lot of misunderstandings, but the way the book does it is genuinely so good.
I generally feel second hand embarrassment when misunderstandings happen, but in tcf, when such misunderstandings happen, it tends to work out for him AND doesn't feel awkward. Mostly because they misunderstand Cale and think he's kinder then he is when he's actually being "selfish" (that gets quotation marks because he really isn't being selfish lol).
I have such a soft spot for Earth 2!Kim Rok Soo, you guys have no idea.
He's like an adorable, wrapped-up little bundle of everything I love about our protagonist Cale, just younger and a tiny bit less traumatized - but no less oblivious or self-sacrificing for it, mind you.
He's the stubborn bugger who kept refusing to call Park Jin Tae "the king of the shelter" (because that title should belong to its founder Lee Soo Hyuk), even if all he got for it was getting beat up.
He's the sweetheart who chose to sleep under a leaking roof just so that others wouldn't have to.
He's the guy who got to see his alternate self's memories and witness him saving his future, and his response to it all was basically an empathetic "Damn dude, your life sucks! ...Also I wanna beat up a god too" 😂
He spilled blood alongside Cale and his reaction to others freaking out over it was a confused "What's their deal?", because he's just as much of an emotionally stunted idiot. You never change do you, Kim Rok Soo?
I know he's a freaking 20-year-old man, but I wanna adopt him so bad. I wanna hug him and squeeze his cheeks and feed him an apple pie to make him less skinny and beat him over the head for being such an oblivious moron.
Please let him return in Part 2 at some point I am b e g g i n g
What you cooking good-looking?
Hear me out: beachoi ✨
It could also work in both timelines!!
Also- welp, this wasn't anything specific in mind but could be seen as that one where Choi han introduced Beacrox to Korean cuisine after getting to know about KRS ✨✨
All in all, I think it would be a cute ship and probably expect more propaganda for it later on ~ (° ~ ° ~)
Panels used:
Where the idea came from (yes, it was just one panel, I'm easily influenced):
every few months i come back to tcf because of the pure chokehold polysoos has on me. it's actually insane
Art Collab with @youngyoo-apologist!!!!!!!!
Mary and Hannah, because they deserve more content too 💜💜💜💜💜💜
I love it when Cale has a specific detailed plan to take down someone but then that person is so awful and he despises them so much, he just says:" fuck it, we strangle them instead".