The Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium

I reverted it to just "colleague" because come on.

We could just say Aya blackmailed Momiji into fighting her because she was running low on news. Or perhaps it is propaganda made to make humans fear the protectors of the Tengu?

This whole thing is stupid. I don't even know why I care so god damn much.

Where does Momji actually appear in canon (not that Touhou's ever been about canon, mind you) besides MOF? Because if it really is just MOF where she's with Aya, I'd like to point out that that hardly implies they work together or like each other; Momji was on guard duty, got beaten up, and ran to the nearest player-character-level tengu available to defend the mountain in her stead.

That's the only time she's ever been in a game besides Double Spoiler, and the fanbase spent so much time crafting a personality for her based solely on what we knew, and now it's all just thrown out the window.

But we really still don't have much info either way. There's no, like, dialogue, so all we really have is Aya's word on the matter, and what Hatate is trying to guess.

And come on, it's Aya, can we really trust her word?

It doesn't matter whether or not we can trust Aya, because now everyone's going "Oh well I could maybe see Momiji and Aya in a violent angry tsundere hatesex relationship", and that PISSES ME OFF because that's the EXACT OPPOSITE of what I've always loved about that pairing, but now everyone's going to make THAT the "official" depiction of their relationship because now I'M in the minority because of this STUPID GAME, and now when I finally get around to writing more stuff about having them interact like I've always wanted to, people are going to be like BUT DOUBLE SPOILER SAYS BUT THIS IS HOW THEY INTERACT BUT THIS IS HOW and it's like AUGH.

I don't think anyone will stop you from using an outdated version of their memetic personalities as long as it was popular at some point.

Koakuma and Daiyousei are in the same boat, and it hasn't stopped anyone. I think the main issue is that no one in Touhou fits a certain kind of moe archetype that people want, so they always try to attach it to the characters with zero characterization. And then get proven wrong, because Zun simply doesn't make those kind of characters. To paraphrase Zun, anyone who participates in danmaku fights has a minimum level and aggression and standoffish-ness.

Wait, I don't think ZUN ever said anything about Daiyousei. Koakuma, sure, but not the fairy.

And yeah, fans will ignore canon as much as they see fit. (See Alice for the best and worst examples.) I can still see Momiji as a cute puppy-girl cuddling up with Aya (though, oddly, I'm not planning to ship them in my own work if it ever comes up).

edited 18th Mar '10 7:02:33 PM by CapedLuigisYoshi

I think the main issue is that no one in Touhou fits a certain kind of moe archetype that people want

I don't like that personality because it's SO KAWAII MOE UGUU~, I like it because it just feels like it fits, it feels like that's how she should be. I don't care if that's what ZUN says, I don't think participating in danmaku means you have to be a complete jackass.

^^ I believe he's said things about the nature of fairies in general that contradicts fanon about Daiyousei.

^ It doesn't matter why you want it, it's still a certain kind of moe archetype.

edited 18th Mar '10 7:03:25 PM by Clarste

Yes, but the way you said it made it sound like you were making an assumption about me personally.

Eh, I haven't seen any evidence that the fans are going to use Momiji's canon personality. The fanon version is fairly popular and been around for nearly three years; ZUN deciding that her personality is the exact opposite of what the fans use is just going to be written off as trolling.

How can you say that? YOU'VE already been planning out how her new canon personality will affect the Aya/Momiji ship, Hylarn, a couple pages ago.

nah, it's all a Xanatos Gambit by Aya to draw any attention on her "relationship" with Momi away.

With a fandom like Touhou's, a character getting a (new) personality in canon will just cause that personality to exist alongside the old one(s) in fanon.

Momiji's fanon personality is pretty well defined. I find working out how the new one would affect things to be a much more interesting mental exercise.

Eh, I'm not a huge fan of how it reduces their previously-cute relationship to typical Foe Yay bullshit, which I've been really growing to dislike personally, although maybe if I find a sufficiently fascinating one I might change my mind. I'll just be sticking with her old personality and getting annoyed when people tell me I'm wrong.

If it makes you feel any better, your shipping mindset disgusts me in general anyway, so we're even?

Yeah, well your tendency to judge people because of a single thing you just can't get over disgusts me too, so there we go.

OH NOES SOMEONE IS WRONG ON THE INTERNET

...I feel like I should change the subject.

So, do you think Hatate works better as Aya's rival or apprentice?

Rival.

I'm sure whichever one gets picked ZUN will just make her the opposite anyway.

Clarste, don't be a jerk. Sparky- wait, I'm already talking to you.

Hatate is definitely a rival, though not exactly an... equal one. Unknown Rival, I think it's called? She might copy some of Aya's "techniques", but I don't think she'll go so far as to just do everything as Aya does. I think she'll stick to her own way and try to prove that it's better than Aya's.

And fail at it.