#also i knew this arc was going to end badly when we started with a party and the robin saul stuff……..

[crowdusk]

goddamn!!!!!!!!

[blueraith]

It's wild to me just how badly Vi's arc is misunderstood in S2. The claims I've seen that it was bad because she didn't join up with Ekko to help liberate Zaun or didn't "have enough stuff to do."

Big 'ole S1 Vi analysis under the cut because some "hot" takes seem to forget that Vi's S1 arc even exists.

Like, sorry, but that was never the direction her character was going to go. This was spelled out for us in the very first episode of the show when Vander is giving her that lecture.

"When people look up to you, you don't get to be selfish."

"Whatever happens, it's on you."

This is the first conversation in the show that carries an impactful character building statement. We are effectively being given the start of Vi's character arc verbatim.

She is not allowed to be selfish.

And as S1 Act 1 progresses, and Vi expresses a will to fight, to rebel, to revolt, she is constantly and consistently shut down and discouraged from that way of thinking by her father figure. She's fifteen years old or so, Vander is the only authority figure in her life that she respects. Why wouldn’t she internalize any of this as is, let alone after all the tragedy she's forced to endure at the end of this act?

Then we get to tragedy. Vander tells her two very specific things before and after the showdown with Silco.

"Take care of the family."

"Take care of Powder."

You know. Not, "hey, take over my mantle as Hound of the Underground."

Or "lead Zaun to freedom" or whatever the fuck.

He tells her to look after their family. The people closest to Vi.

And I don't know how many of you are older siblings. Or even older sisters. But I question if some of Vi's most heated critics are either neither of those things or lack any knowledge of sibling dynamics, period. When you are handed this tiny baby from a young age and are told "this is your baby sibling, you have to help take care of them, we won't always be here but they'll always have you" by your parents, that shit sticks with you forever. For better or worse.

If you're parentified on top of that through either circumstance or abuse, then that sentiment turns toxic. Vander, as well-meaning as he is in his talks with Vi, inadvertently presents a pretty black and white viewpoint. When paired with Vi's reaction to his (first) death and learning what Powder did, it becomes even worse.

Think about it. Most people seem to focus solely on Vi's anger issues when she strikes Powder for obvious reasons. But there's this selfishness that Vi temporarily succumbs to when she hits Powder as well. She's not thinking of Powder's emotional state or devastation as she realizes what she's done, Vi is mired in her own grief and anger.

She then walks away from Powder to take a moment to herself and presumably recollect her own composure, also a selfish move.

Now, when I call these actions selfish, I'm not assigning any negative connotations to them. Selfishness is not always a bad thing, putting yourself and your own needs first does not make someone a bad person by default. It can be healthy to take some time for self-care.

The "issue" is that Arcane is a tragedy. The narrative punishes Vi for lashing out and temporarily leaving Powder by having Marcus kidnap her and Silco adopt her sister. Not that Vi even knows that much when it happens. For all she knew, Silco murdered Powder.

So, then Vi spends something like seven years in Stillwater in constant limbo wondering if Powder is even alive. The sheer guilt she must have felt at "failing" to protect her baby sister would have likely been agonizing.

Seven.

Years.

Then she gets out. And all Vi cares about is finding her sister. She doesn't care about the Hexgem besides the fact that it's directly related to Jinx, and Caitlyn lied to her by ommission about it.

She's not trying to retake the Lanes in Vander's name. She only cares about bringing Silco's empire down because of what he did to her family. She wants her sister back first and foremost, she does not care to stick with the Firelights and even leaves Ekko and Cailtyn on the bridge initially to go after Jinx.

It's really her burgeoning feelings for Caitlyn that ever cracks this near obsessive compulsion to chase after her sister. Vi was going to choose Jinx until the point Caitlyn was injured and then the both of them were shot at by Jinx.

Even the moment she falls in love with Caitlyn is tied to her guilt about leaving Powder. The story she tells while they're on Caitlyn’s bed, her obvious grief and guilt over her sister. She's mired in this moment of pain until Caitlyn reaches out to comfort her. Like, Jinx and Caitlyn have always been intertwined in Vi's arc after she meets Caitlyn. There is no overarching thread to connect Vi to any of the political plot points in this story.

Vi's arc is character driven. Always has been. She's motivated by her warring desire to protect those she loves with EVERYTHING she has, and this by now guilty pleasure to finally develop something purely for herself.

It's why she pushes Caitlyn away during the infamous Oil and Water breakup. The class differences she's citing are an excuse, an easy thing she can point at to push Caitlyn away. What's really going on is that she failed to get the Council to decisively act against Silco. She's failed Jinx again in her own mind, he's still out there poisoning her mind, and now she needs to take care of him herself. Caitlyn proved to be a distraction from her goal, and so must be removed.

Even after teaming up with Jayce and then going her own way, Vi does not go after more shimmer factories. She's not rallying the Lanes to revolt with Hextech weaponry in (on) hand. She immediately goes to the Last Drop to challenge Sevika, someone she hates specifically because she'd betrayed Vander. She had every intention to confront Silco right after that.

Then we get the tea party, and Vi has to come to terms with the fact that the sister she loved is fundamentally changed in more ways than one. She's given an ultimatum to choose between her self-imposed duty as an older sister and Caitlyn. The only relationship Vi has ever formed purely for herself.

And she can't do it. It's an impossible choice. Jinx ends up triggered intensely, Caitlyn is struck by indecision and doesn't take the shot because of Vi's pleas, and Jinx goes on to fire that rocket.

Like this is just Season. One. Every single important character moment Vi has is tied to either Jinx, Caitlyn, or both. This is not a new thing S2 did with Vi's character. Her arc was always about how much she was giving to other characters without much thought to herself.

I just don't get how some people expected that to radically change in S2. It was never going to happen. I'll probably make an analysis on S2 Vi as well, but this is already getting very long. It's also a good way to remind some folks that each season of this show does not exist in a vacuum. I've read a lot of takes that seem to just... ignore S1. It's pretty bizarre.

[kisses-in-the-void]

"Though of immensely smaller native power than his Master, he remained less corrupt, cooler and more capable of calculation. At least in the Elder Days, and before he was bereft of his lord and fell into the folly of imitating him, and endeavouring to become himself supreme Lord of Middle-earth. While Morgoth still stood, Sauron did not seek his own supremacy, but worked and schemed for another, desiring the triumph of Melkor, whom in the beginning he had adored." (c) Morgoth's Ring

So, as long as Mairon had Melkor by his side, he, at least in part, remained the person he had once been before the fall — less corrupt, less chaotic, and someone who valued order and coordination over mindless destruction.

And indeed, I can’t remember a time when First Age Mairon acted purely on emotion. He was very cruel, yes, but his actions were driven by logic and gain, not by impulse. There were moments when he was truly awful, like with Beren and Finrod, when Mairon sent his werewolves to attack them and devour their companions. Or when he wanted to capture Luthien to get a reward. Or when he deceived Gorlim, lying about his wife being alive to extract information from him. But it wasn’t mere sadism on his part; there was always a clear, practical reason behind it

Unlike Melkor, whose hatred and nihilism drove him, Mairon was, at first, a different kind of villain. His violence was calculated, never gratuitous.

But later, when he was on his own, he began mimicking Melkor’s more chaotic nature, especially in Númenor, where he sank so low as to perform human sacrifices and became obsessed with vengeance, all while his only goal was to bring the kingdom to ruin when a wiser approach would have been to kill Ar-Pharazôn and claim Númenor for himself.

It's like he lost a part of what originally made him who he was.

Of course, Tolkien didn’t want readers to think that Melkor had a positive influence on Mairon or made him better, far from it. Once Mairon became Melkor’s lieutenant, he was no longer the Admirable Maia he had once been in Aulë’s service, and the world knew him as Sauron, the Abhorred. But it ties into the idea that the more power you hold, the more inevitably corrupt you become. In Tolkien’s view, Mairon was less evil than Melkor because, as the subordinate, he wielded less power and served another rather than himself.

And after losing his master, Mairon spiraled even further downward. His original obsession with order, planning, and coordination began to fade, overtaken by an all-consuming desire to hold on to power, his sole focus from then on.

It’s very tragic, he's a fallen angel who started with good intentions (or at least believed them to be) but succumbed to darkness, ignoring every chance to turn back and becoming a tyrant. Melkor’s arc is tragic too, and their shared story remains a tragedy, even as platonic "master/servant" type of dynamic in canon.

But we can take it further and turn it into romance, and then their story becomes something else, something almost majestic. Mairon couldn’t forget Melkor or break free from his influence, even millennia after his master was gone, beyond any reach. So he stepped into his place, becoming "a shadow of Morgoth and a ghost of his malice", even going so far as to claim himself "Morgoth returned". Maybe he wasn’t fully aware of it, maybe it wasn’t intentional, but it’s easy to interpret it as him missing Melkor so badly that he began to seek to literally become him. Because it was the only way to fill the void inside him, to soothe the ache in his heart. But in the end, he only destroyed himself with his own hands.

It’s just… everything about it screams how awful and twisted it is, but I can’t help but sob and think — yes, it’s horrendous, but it’s also fascinating. It’s a love that doesn’t inspire you to change for the better when you have it, nor does it allow you to heal after you’ve lost it. Instead, this feeling and this loss will ravage you, leaving you hollow, devastated, and doomed. But it’s still powerful, it’s consuming, it's an unbreakable force, a bond that ties you to your partner for eternity. And I can’t stop thinking that it’s beautiful, even in its darkness. It’s not something you’d want in your life, yet you still feel drawn to it — to this passion, this hunger, this tragedy.

[nagia-windermyre]

Chrome Dokuro Character Analysis

It has been years since Katekyo Hitman Reborn! ended. Regardless of some of my discontent with certain things in the series, specifically the way the final story arc was handled, I’ve learned to come to terms with it and to this day KHR is still one of my most favorite series of all time, one that has a very special place in my heart. 

I always wondered why it never occurred to me to write analysis about the characters from the series until I recently read some character analysis written by some people. And after reading those analyses and posts, I finally decided to write one myself. And the character who has the honor of being analyzed first is none other than my most favorite character in KHR, Chrome Dokuro or also known with her real name, Nagi!

Now, this is going to be quite a long one, because I’m going to start from the beginning. And I recommend reading the ALT part as well as I wrote additional description on most of the pics.

Shyness and insecurity 

Chrome was originally a girl named Nagi. During the first few times she made her appearance, you’d think that she is this cute shy girl type that you’d see in many manga and anime. However, the more I watched her, I noticed things that made it obvious that she was more than the typical shy girl character she appeared to be.

Based on the information from the flashback in which she appeared and some bits from the novels that I read, Nagi was obviously neglected by both her mother and step-father. Growing up with parents like them, it’s understandable that Nagi has difficulty in socializing with her own peers, resulting in her without any friends and having low self-esteem. It's up to the point that she believed that death would be a mercy than continue living a hollow lonely life.

I think there was more than just her being neglected, because her problem was not just about her being too shy and I won’t really call her anti-social. 

No matter how shy or introverted someone is, will that cause them to believe that they’re nothing without giving something beneficial to another person? 

Chrome was under the belief that nobody would accept her unconditionally. Mukuro, the very first person she opened up to, said that he needed her when they first met. Putting aside Mukuro’s personal motive, objectively speaking, this can’t be considered as unconditional acceptance, isn’t it? Mukuro accepted her because there’s something he needed from her. That’s why, even with Mukuro accepting her, Chrome was still stuck with her belief that she won’t be accepted if she didn’t prove her worth and the sorts. And let’s not forget about Ken and Chikusa, that they made it clear to her how they accepted her only because she’s the only one connecting them to Mukuro.

Yes, we as viewers knew that Ken and Chikusa secretly genuinely cared for her, but can that be the same to Chrome? Considering her personality, it wouldn't be surprising if she believed that they took care of her only because of Mukuro. I couldn’t blame Chrome for having the mindset that she won’t be accepted by anyone if she has nothing that can make herself useful. 

Not only that, whenever someone was being mean to her, she never retaliated no matter how much she disliked being mistreated. This was evident in the case of Ken and (the ever detestable) M.M, even when they badmouthed (or in M.M’s case even hurt) her, Chrome just silently accepted it like it was something normal. I doubted this was because of her being too kind, rather it was more because she had gotten so used to being treated badly that she felt there’s no need to bother defending herself. 

I believe her original life she had as Nagi took a big part in making her this way. I’d say though she wasn’t abused physically, she was abused mentally. And more than often, mental abuse leaves a lasting scar far worse than physical abuse.

While Tsuna and the other Guardians treated her better, to Chrome, they were (at least initially) only people whom she must work together with due to Mukuro’s order and wasn’t interested in trying to get to know them beyond what Mukuro told her to. Tsuna and the others might have accepted her, but they themselves never really made any attempt to become closer to her like how Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto, and Ryohei did with each other. In Gokudera’s case, he was even still suspicious of Chrome due to her relation with the Kokuyo Gang.

That’s why, when Kyoko, Haru, I-Pin, and Bianchi were being very kind to her even when she hadn’t done anything for them, Chrome was confused. Chrome was not used to unconditional kindness. She didn’t understand what it means to be accepted and loved unconditionally. Because she wasn’t used to being treated so kindly, her first response was running away from them. She didn’t know what to do in the face of their unconditional kindness and gentleness. 

To be perfectly frank, I was frustrated when I heard people saying they’re annoyed with and hated Chrome’s impassiveness, they dislike how she’s staying quiet and all. This is partly also the reason why I hate M.M. She criticized Chrome as this pitiful girl for trailing after Mukuro like an obedient puppet even after she warned her that Mukuro was just using her (just because she hates Chrome looking so pitiful that gave her the right to slap her? As if! How dare she!). Those people could say that because they never bother trying to place themselves in Chrome’s shoes.

For years Chrome had suffered from neglect or perhaps even something worse, and it would be foolish to think she would magically break out her shell, open up, and change in such a short time. People who were annoyed by her behavior were too impatient and forgot that this kind of thing needs process. Some even took years to get better. I could say this with 100% confidence because I had real-life experience.

Personally, I think the anime handled it better in showing the process of how Chrome started to open up to Kyoko, Haru, and I-Pin. While the manga only showed some bits of their moments from one chapter to another separately, the anime not only included more moments together in the filler episodes, they even made one whole episode dedicating to her growing friendship with Kyoko, Haru, and I-Pin, and the additional original scenes added made it even more impactful.

Chrome also has one quirk at the beginning, which was how she never addressed other people by their names. This is one of the important aspects of her growth. Not including Tsuna who was clearly her boss, she called people like Hibari as “Cloud person/ Cloud man”, Lambo as “Cow child”, or Uni as “Sky child”. Mukuro, Ken, and Chikusa were the only ones whom she called by their proper names. 

This was most likely also due to the problem I mentioned above. She wasn’t sure about socializing or talking with people she wasn’t really close with and weren’t really close with Mukuro the same way as Ken and Chikusa. Even though she knew their names, she didn’t know if it was okay to call them so.

Progress and development

After I-Pin finally managed to touch her heart, giving her that one last push, Chrome finally gained the courage to come out of her shell and took the initiative to get to know Kyoko, Haru, and the others under her own volition, a choice that was not based on Mukuro.

She finally started to call their names properly. No longer she referred to others by their flame attributes or characteristics. This is no small change in her, because it proved that Chrome had taken another step to break out from her shell and actually tried to interact with others in her own way. Not because Mukuro wanted her to, but because Chrome herself wanted to.

One of the first steps that I believe is the most evident in her gradual change is when she decided to join Kyoko and Haru in their boycott. Before, she followed along with whatever Tsuna told her to because he was her boss, and this was the first time that she was against him. 

But not just that, she also became a good mediator during this moment. While she understood Kyoko and Haru’s insecurity of being kept in the dark, she didn’t just blindly support them, she also helped Kyoko and Haru understand the struggle Tsuna and their other friends were facing. 

In Inheritance Ceremony Arc, Chrome had shown a hint that she began to take a path of independence, which was hinted when she decided to protect Enma during the fight against Demon Spade. She sympathized with Tsuna’s plight and decided to help him on her own accord. Yes, it was a reckless thing to do, but for her to make this decision on her own without Mukuro’s consent spoke loudly that she’s taking further steps towards her independence. I was so astonished when I read this part. (^w^)

With her newfound bonds with her new friends, she realized there’s more to her life than just being revolving around Mukuro alone. Though Mukuro is still the most important to her, she has found other people that she cherished and wished to protect outside of the Kokuyo Gang circle. Chrome might have narrated that she loved the people that Mukuro loved, but with how much Chrome had grown, I don’t have any doubt that Chrome would still love them regardless of how Mukuro feels towards them.

After she finally opened up and made her resolve in the final arc, Chrome had shown that not only she became more confident but also outspoken and fierce.

She was certain she could do it when she must support Mukuro's illusion. And in the final battle, Chrome was very strict and firm with Fran to the point of raising her voice that even Fran was afraid of her. I couldn't imagine the Chrome would ever do that even in a dire situation.

By the way, just a note, the Mangastream translation above made a mistranslation in the part of Fran said "Her voice...". In the original Japanese text, Fran said 「この人こえー」 (Kono hito koee). While "koe" normally means "voice" in Japanese, the "こえー" that Fran said here wasn't referred to Chrome's voice. It has "ー" at the end. This was called "choonpu" (長音符). It's primarily used in Katakana writing to indicate a long vowel sound, so the "e" part was read longer, giving it a different meaning. "こえー" here was actually a slang, a somewhat rude way of saying "kowai", that means "scary". So what Fran actually said was that "This person is scary...", or in other words, he found Chrome scary. lol

Relationship with Mukuro

The most important and crucial aspect of Chrome’s character is her relationship with Mukuro. Now, I am a big fan of the 6996 (Chrome x Mukuro) ship, so perhaps I might sound biased here, but I promise that I did my best being objective when writing this part.

To Chrome, Mukuro is her most precious person. He gave her everything that she had wanted but couldn’t have before: acceptance, comrades, and a place to belong. Mukuro also treated her kindly and gently. It’s no wonder that Chrome developed deep loyalty and devotion to Mukuro. Mukuro was pretty much her everything, the one person she’d willingly give her life to. At first, her life revolved only around Mukuro, so she had little to no interest in things or people that had no relation to him. Even when faced with a warning that he was only using her, Chrome’s feelings for him didn’t change. 

At first, I thought their relationship was one based solely on mutual symbiotic dependency. Mukuro was imprisoned in Vendice Prison, so he needed Chrome to act as his vessel to interact with the outside world. Chrome lost her organs in a traffic accident, so Mukuro kept her alive by creating illusionary organs for her. Both couldn’t exist without each other.

However, after reading an analysis done by katzkinder, I saw Chrome at the beginning of the series in a different light. And after putting that analysis in consideration and reading again the chapters about Chrome, it made sense. According to katzkinder’s analysis, Chrome’s dependency on Mukuro was not because she lacked skill in creating her own illusionary organs, but because of her being greedy.

Throughout the series, even though Chrome needed Mukuro to fill her missing organs, characters who are experts and illusionists themselves have commented how skilled Chrome is and she should have more confidence in herself. Thinking more about it, isn’t it strange that even though all these characters said that Chrome is skilled that only a true expert can see through her illusions, yet she couldn’t create illusionary organs with her own power?

During Future Arc, Chrome managed to construct her own organs with the power she drew from the Mist Vongola Ring. One could argue that this was only possible because the Vongola Ring is an S-Class Ring that gave its wielder incredible power. However, no matter how strong the ring is, only if the wielder has the strong resolve can they draw out its true power. And after the end of the Future Arc, Chrome could’ve used the Vongola Ring to sustain her own organs, but she didn’t and instead continued with having Mukuro do the sustaining.

Reading the katzkinder’s analysis and reading chapter 383 made me realize that Chrome’s problem was not in her lack of skill in constructing her own illusionary organs, but rather because she was afraid that she’d lose her connection to Mukuro. 

Quoting katzkinder,

“It’s because she was afraid, and how many times have we convinced ourselves of our helplessness out of fear that once we no longer required aid, the people who supported us would drift away?”

Chrome relied and depended heavily on Mukuro because he was the first person to accept her, acknowledging her that she has worth. And on top of it all, she gradually falls for him. She didn’t want to lose what she believed was the only thing that could connect her to the person she loves the most. She thought that if she didn’t live with Mukuro’s illusionary organs anymore, then the special connection she had with him would disappear.

To put it into words, she was indeed being greedy. And this greed of hers did let her stay by Mukuro’s side for so long. Chapter 383 also affirmed this. If she didn’t feel so strongly about it, would she be in such a dilemma? 

On a side note, this also gave me another understanding during her confrontation with Demon in chapter 318. Before, I kinda wondered if it was really necessary for Demon to control her mind. Demon was obviously stronger than Chrome, so I don’t think he needed to go out of his way to use mind control. Now, it got me thinking, if Chrome could reject Mukuro’s illusionary organs, then she should be able to do the same to Demon’s. Since Demon needed her alive to get to Mukuro, he couldn’t have her reject his illusions and die on him. That’s why he controlled her mind so she won’t reject the illusionary organs he provided for her and kept her alive long enough until the time comes.

When I realized this, I have to say that I didn’t really hate this part of her. While it was not a good thing to be so heavily reliant on someone or being too greedy, this gave Chrome’s character a more human touch, showing that she’s as capable of feeling various kinds of emotions like ordinary people are, including the negative ones. She’s still 13 years old after all. And this gave her character development all the more satisfying.

Unfortunately, while her greed allowed her to stay connected to Mukuro, it also became a chain that bound her down, preventing her from reaching her true potential. Because she was so afraid, she subconsciously held herself back from unleashing the power that she actually already had in her.

The turning point of her relationship with Mukuro was when Mukuro finally was freed from Vendice Prison. It had always been her dearest wish to free Mukuro from the prison and she can be by his side physically. However, when this wish was granted, Chrome came to realize that she and Mukuro were no longer tied by the special connection they initially had. Both Chrome and Mukuro were now their own separate person. With this realization, Chrome found a new wish: she wanted Mukuro to see her as her own person. It was during this time that her greed became a double-edged sword for her. 

Being the person closest to her, Mukuro always knew that Chrome was stronger than she believed herself to be. Mukuro noticed the dilemma in her heart, and that’s why he decided to distance himself from her by kicking her out from the Kokuyo, so Chrome has more room to sort out her thoughts. It might be cruel of him to just leave her like that, but it was necessary. It pushed Chrome to think outside of the box. Mukuro wanted to urge Chrome to realize her own worth.

Obviously, her seeming abandonment by Mukuro upset her (and me too when I first read it), but it was clear that Chrome’s feelings for Mukuro remained unchanging. She had gained more than she could ever imagine ever since she met Mukuro, so there’s no way her feelings for him would change so easily. 

Obviously, her seeming abandonment by Mukuro upset her (and me too when I first read it), but it was clear that Chrome’s feelings for Mukuro remained unchanging. She had gained more than she could ever imagine ever since she met Mukuro, so there’s no way her feelings for him would change so easily. 

Considering her reaction when Mukuro revealed her condition, it seemed that Chrome herself knew what her problem was. She knew, but she was still afraid to face the problem head on. Perhaps she understood why Mukuro did what he did, but even knowing this, she was still feeling torn.

When she pleaded with Tsuna to accept her into his team, it looked like Chrome only did so out of desperation to be acknowledged by Mukuro again. She has yet to make her resolve. If she did, she wouldn’t be hospitalized. Only after Reborn posed her the crucial question that she truly considered what her heart truly desires,

Where does she want to be in regards to Mukuro? 

Before, she was all content to be by his side living with the organs he created for her and be useful to him. But now, she realized that she didn’t want to keep depending on him. Just like how Tsuna wished to protect his loved ones, Chrome realized that she didn’t want to always be protected. She didn’t want to stay as a weak girl needed to be protected, she also wanted to be someone that could protect the people she loved and fight together side by side with them as equals. And Mukuro saw this potential in her. He knew that she could be more, which is why he left her so she could spread her wings on her own.

Chrome realized Mukuro’s faith in her and didn’t want to waste the opportunity he had presented, now understanding that she always has what it takes to stand up on her own and for herself. Following this, any hesitation and self-doubt that she had finally broken apart, nothing was chaining her down anymore. She accepted herself, striving to not disappoint Mukuro who believed in her. Once she was finally freed from her insecurity, she showed how powerful she was.

And after she finally acknowledged her true wish and made her resolve, Chrome’s self-confidence also grew. Before, she was unsure of her own skill, being anxious before she did something. Now, she showed a more positive attitude of trying first and seeing if she can do it. 

Additionally, her desire to protect Mukuro was different from the rest of the Kokuyo Gang members. For Ken, Chikusa, and M.M (I’m not including Fran here since he’s a different case altogether), Mukuro was their leader, a very strong and reliable person. They might want to do something for him, be useful to him, but they never thought of wanting to protect him. Because Mukuro had always been stronger than any of them, they thought it wasn’t necessary for them to protect him, or perhaps rather that they thought they couldn’t and would only be a hindrance to him. They just need to support Mukuro and he’ll lead the way. 

This had been demonstrated with how Ken and Chikusa always followed Mukuro’s order obediently without question. In one of those occasions, it led to Mukuro being captured by the Vendice. Even after that, when the Vendice attacked them again, despite what happened previously, Chikusa and Ken still followed Mukuro’s order to retreat after Mukuro promised that he’ll return. 

Chrome was the first person to ever express a desire to protect Mukuro. It wasn’t a desire to be useful to him like before that was the same as the rest of the Kokuyo members. Wanting to be useful and wanting to protect are two different things. No matter how strong a person was, each has their own limit, and Mukuro was no exception. 

Chrome’s desire to protect Mukuro was not because she didn’t believe in his capabilities, but because she was aware there are things that he can’t do all by himself. Should he reach the limit of what he could do alone, she’ll be there for him to share his burden. And this, in turn, also made her stronger as a person.

Protecting someone stronger than yourself requires courage, resourcefulness, and a willingness to act despite potential risks, often involving using your own strengths to help them, even if you are physically weaker than the person you wish to protect. 

And it’s not just protection in physical matters, protecting someone who is stronger than you can also involve emotional support, strategic thinking, and using your skills to help them overcome challenges. Recognizing that you might be at a disadvantage and still choosing to help someone who was stronger than yourself requires courage and a strong moral compass.

Chrome embodied all those aspects the moment she decided to protect Mukuro. Even though the situation was clearly at their team’s disadvantage and the possibility of turning things around was only by theory, Chrome still chose to take the risk and supported Mukuro’s illusion. By standing by his side, Chrome gave Mukuro both the emotional and physical support that assured him that victory would be in their hands. Combining their skills together, they successfully turn the tide to their favor.

Chrome’s no longer just a subordinate who only follows along from behind, she’s a brave soldier who fights on equal standing with Mukuro, right next to him. I’ll admit that the execution of Chrome’s character arc was still quite lacking, but I nevertheless still felt so proud when Chrome finally created her own organs and helped Mukuro defeating the Vendice.

At the end of it, Chrome’s bond with Mukuro was still the most important, but her loyalty was not out of blind servility and it was no longer the sole defining factor for her as a person. Even though they’re no longer sharing the same body and lived separately, it didn’t make their bond weaker. In fact, their bond became stronger than before precisely because now they could fight together as individuals who pushed each other to become better. 

I could elaborate further about Chrome and Mukuro’s relationship, but I decided to save the rest for when I write an analysis for Mukuro’s character. 

Innocent or Ignorant

Let’s straight out the fact that Mukuro might have ruined many people’s lives. Lancia would be the most perfect example. The illusionist forced him to murder his own famiglia and then many other people by controlling him for five long years, making the poor guy’s life a living hell.  

But in Chrome’s case, her life had only gotten better ever since she met Mukuro. She became the person she was now because she met him. It was also through their meeting that she eventually met Tsuna and the others, gaining more new friends who cherished her for who she was and she cherished them in return. Mukuro gave her happiness that she couldn’t have before, and Chrome was beyond grateful for it. It’s not so different from Ken and Chikusa’s loyalty to Mukuro, whom he had saved and gave them a place where they belong.

Some people might still think that Chrome still deciding to follow Mukuro was because she was blinded by her feelings for him or too ignorant to see his true nature. I beg to differ. Chrome took M.M’s warning to heart about Mukuro’s just using her. She accepted that might be the case, but decided to continue following him nevertheless because she saw there’s still genuine goodness in him.

There are a lot of people who believe that innocent people are stupid because they only see the good things in others while ignoring or turning away from the bad things, from the cruel reality. Perhaps there were some cases like that, but I don’t think that applies to Chrome. Chrome was innocent, but she didn’t turn away from reality. There’s a difference between being innocent and being ignorant.

In chapter 383, Chrome reflected how she loved the things that Mukuro loved, and in this moment, Tsuna and the other Guardians and Kokuyo Gang came into her mind. Again, people might think Chrome was being naive for believing that Mukuro cared about them, but I think this was actually what Mukuro truly felt without him himself realizing, and Chrome could see that. 

Chrome saw the best in Mukuro, which doesn’t mean she lacked intelligence or was oblivious to his cruel nature, she simply chose to believe in and followed the one goodness that he has while still fully aware of the darkness he possessed in his heart. Should her feelings be taken advantaged, she wasn’t oblivious to it, she let it happen because she believed it would help the person she loves.

Chrome believing the best in Mukuro isn’t foolish, it’s a reflection of who she is, not who he is.

Position

I noticed that in the chapter cover and the volume extras, Chrome was still regarded as part of Kokuyo Gang. She even still received an allowance from Mukuro even though she no longer lived with them. But in each of the volume’s character introductions, Chrome was never included together with Kokuyo Gang, she was separated from them. 

In some chapter covers and extras like Pineapple Communication in every volume since her debut, on the other hand, still included Chrome as part of Kokuyo. Even during the time Chrome was kicked out from the gang, she was still mentioned.

For a few years, I was confused why she was never included in the volume introduction even though in the previous volumes before Mukuro was freed she was included together with Ken and Chikusa as Kokuyo. I kept asking that question to myself. After doing a repeat reading so many times, I think I finally found the answer. While Chrome was indeed still part of Kokuyo Gang, she had formed a relationship with other people outside of them, specifically Tsuna and the other Guardians. 

I’m sure the argument whether Chrome or Mukuro was the true Mist Guardian still continues to this day. The source material and many official visuals more than often shows Mukuro when it comes to showing the 10th Vongola Family, while Chrome is secondary. This strongly indicated that Mukuro was the true Mist Guardian, especially since Mukuro was the one who kept the Mist Vongola Gear and always stole the spotlight when there were major battles. However, I do not believe that makes Chrome any less a Mist Guardian.

Unlike Mukuro, Chrome did hold a loyalty for Tsuna and truly considered him as her boss and genuinely liked him as a person. It’s still lesser compared to her loyalty to Mukuro, but Chrome had grown enough to acknowledge that Tsuna and the other Guardians were people she personally cherished. Logically speaking, even though Mukuro was the one Iemitsu personally picked to be Tsuna’s Mist Guardian, when it came to trust, I’m sure Tsuna and the rest would find Chrome more trustworthy than Mukuro, and they acknowledged her as a Guardian all the same with or without Mist Vongola Gear.

I think that this was some sort of symbolism that even though she was still part of Kokuyo Gang, Chrome also has her own path to walk on independently as a member of Vongola Family.

Still, I’m curious, what will Chrome do if Vongola and Kokuyo Gang go on an all-out-war. If it’s the old Chrome, she’d take Mukuro’s side without hesitation, but what if it’s the current Chrome? Even if her loyalty to Mukuro was still stronger than to Tsuna’s, I don’t think it’d be easy for Chrome to pick a side. It’d be interesting to see if the series ever got a continuation in the future, after she gained her independence, her next character arc would be in regards to her relationships both to Kokuyo Gang and Vongola Family. (^w^)

Verdict

Chrome was one of those characters who had the potential but was held back by her own insecurity due to the desperate need to be with the person she loved. But once she let go of this dependency, she proved herself to be a strong-willed fighter that shouldn’t be underestimated. 

Despite the lack of opportunity given to her in terms of actions, her character development was still one of the most satisfying among the main cast. Her growth from a timid girl lacking self-confidence and dependent on her savior to an independent fighter who willingly fights to protect her loved ones touched my heart deeply. Her growth was my favorite alongside Tsuna’s. 

I also had similar aspects with Chrome. Though maybe what happened to me was not as bad as hers, I could see myself in her that made me relate to her, resonate with her. And I also admired how she grew up to become so courageous and strong, something I’m still lacking to this day. When I see Chrome, it always makes me feel that I also want to do my best to become better.  (^_^)

Note

So, what do you think about my analysis about Chrome? Please do share your thoughts. I’m always excited to read people’s opinions. But say that you have a differing opinion than mine, let us be respectful of each other and not get into a fight over it.

By the way, this is the link to katzkinder’s analysis that I referenced:

[saveahorserideaneddie]

Do you think buddie was meant to go canon in S4, how do you think they would have done it?

I fully believe that buddie was intended to go canon in early s5 after eddie was shot. there was so much surrounding buck’s reaction to eddie being shot, eddie only focusing on making sure buck wasn’t also hurt, buck breaking down in front of chris, the discussion of the will…. they set up those building blocks to showcase that there was something deeper there with buck and eddie and then……. season 5 happened bc KR took over (FOX also had to do with the decision as well but…) but i think Tim was trying to intentionally write them into a corner but was moved to LS before he could ever get there himself.

I think s5 would have started out with eddie having the same realizations about not wanting to be with ana, and that it would lead to him reexamining his feelings for buck when buck would have been the one to comfort him through it. I think this version of s5 taylor would have noticed buck’s dedication to eddie and had a heary to heart with him about how he needs to be true to himself, and we would have gotten buck accepting his feelings (i also hc that in this timeline, buck knew he was bi already he just never felt the need to bring it up) and he and taylor would part ways as friends (taylor wouldn’t fuck everything up in this universe either) and buck would want ti confront his feelings, but before he got the chance to, eddie would leave the 118. buck would view this as eddie leaving him behind and not face the music. they would follow a similar path of canon s5 leading up to the big PTSD breakdown in 5x13 where buck would go to eddie’s when chris called. we would see buck immediately fall into place to take care of eddie (just like in canon) and it would lead to plenty of moments where they are just on the edge of something but never cross the line. they continue to dance around each other; buck saying he wants to give eddie some time to breath post-breakdown, eddie saying he doesn’t want buck to rush into a relationship after taylor (obviously not knowing the bereakup was bc of his feelings for eddie) and then finally in 5x18 while eddie and may are having their simultaneous arcs of what comes next, they would have a heart to heart where may would tell eddie he needs to stop waiting around and go after what makes him happy— this would lead to an emotional confession scene at hen and karen’s vow renewal where eddie would tell buck exactly how he feels, and buck, in lieu of a reply, kisses eddie and that would be how s5 ended, ushering buddie canon in s6 where we see them stumble, the whole wack-ass donor plotline would go away bc eddie would be there to talk some sense into buck, eddie would tell the buckley parents to fuck off, buck would still get struck by lightning and eddie would grapple with the idea of losing someone else (to give that shannon angst another stroke), we still get the poker date where it’s still a fluffy buddie moment, buck would continue recovering but he and eddie would grow distant bc buck would have similar post-lightning strike stress about not knowing what to feel, and eddie sould be repressing his emotions about it— lead to some angst with natalia flirting w buck, buck being flattered at someone not treating him like a living corpse, eddie getting pissed st this woman for thinking buck’s death is “cool” and thinking that buck might leave him for natalia, they have a mini (VERY mini) devorce era 2.0 that would get resolved during the freeway collapse and s6 would end with a bathena parallel of them getting secret married. then s7 would have been completely different bc we would have no racist man, no weird nun storyline, no doppelgänger bullshit, etc. We would get some secretly married buddie, possibly some more discussions of catholic guilt bc eddie doesn’t know if he’s ready to come out to his parents yet, eddie would come out to them and they would react badly, and s7 would end w ramon and helena starting a custody battle w buck and eddie over christopher.

yes i basically just rewrote the entirety of s5-7 but we deserved better than what we got from each of those seasons so 🤷🤷 if the creators won’t fo it themselves, someone has to.

anyway i hope this answered your question anon lmao <3 i kinda just sat down and started typing this out with no real clear direction but honestly… i might consider a series of fix-it fics to rewrite s5-7 in the future… but i make no promises

[reikiajakoiranruohoja]

Murder Drones essay: So nice, it is a curse

Warning: This essay deals heavily with emotional abuse, manipulation and gaslighting. Please take care.

There used to be a cliche among the readers of badly written fanfiction. When a character was 'so beautiful it is a curse' it was mocked as the writer refusing to give their OC any flaws. It was born out of the (misguided) idea that any attention the OC got was positive.

Years later, when most of us had grown up and experienced the real world, mocking that statement suddenly didn't feel right. After all, all the attention you get is not positive.

I began this essay with this story, because the same mentality goes with N and how he got treated by the people he was nice to.

When we see N the worker drone, he has nothing negative to say about his coworkers no matter how harsh they are towards him. He isn't blind, he knows Tessa's folks are bad news. But to Tessa and his fellow drones, he is as nice as can be.

While the situation between him and J was already toxic, it was still mostly J being an arsehole with no murderous intentions.

The same cannot be said with Cyn/the Absolute Solver. For the sake of my sanity, I will use Cyn as a stand-in for both the Solver and Cyn herself. Now, it is clear that Cyn actually liked N. She seems to gravitate towards him and we can see in episode 5 that she even sees him as safety.

However, Cyn intentions are far from pure. While she likes N a lot, she is also quite clearly using his kind nature to make him do things he wouldn't otherwise do. Like take him to a situation he knew he was not allowed to be in and then let him take the heat for her actions.

Cyn's care is also extremely twisted. She likes N, but she likes him like one might like their favourite tool. If he breaks, she'll just get a new one. Cyn also likes N to be a certain way, so she resets his memory to keep him from changing.

Because N is often absolutely clueless about the wider situation, his behaviour indirectly hurts V and J. Neither who get to forget and so treat him badly in their own ways. V ignores him to avoid him getting hurt and J just outright abuses N.

All three women share one thing in common when it comes to their treatment of N; They ignore his agency and who he actually is entirely.

While J and V deal with a lot of trauma, they have the choice to choose how they react and how they do their job.

N doesn't.

N is stripped of pretty much any choice or way to affect situations entirely. He is robbed of his memories to keep him static. Anything he tries with J and V is doomed to fail, because neither is interested in actually getting to know him as he is. V refuses to interact with him unless she absolutely has to and J ignores him unless he messes up.

V, like Cyn, has an idea of N she wants to remember. While J just sees an easy punching bag.

Since N cannot remember the past and is nearly completely socially isolated, all he can do is keep trying to be nice to both J and V and hope they one day might change their minds. It is futile, but he doesn't really have any other option.

It is very telling that it isn't Uzi's kindness that draws him to her as much as the way she asks him to make his own choices. Uzi challenges N to question and not go with what he is told, which ends up with him getting hurt by J. Luckily Uzi is there to get him back up and basically forces him to fix his mistakes.

Given Uzi's personal arc is to stop trying to play a role and accept herself, the little push she gave N to make his own choices starts to bear fruit from the end of episode 2 onwards.

Now that N is no longer so desperate for attention that he'd follow Uzi like a lost puppy, he starts to ask questions and act different from the image V (and Cyn) had of him. What is important to note, is that N doesn't stop being nice or kind. Rather, he tempers it with other aspects of his personality.

N's kindness is actually important, because he serves as a brake and advisor to Uzi's chaos. He tempers her drive and helps her direct it better.

N no longer just hopes others would like him, he is willing to demand answers if they aren't given to him.

As we see in episode 4, this change shocks V. As stated above, V had an image of N that she wanted to cherish but that image had over the years lost all the rough edges N had.

When N meets Tessa, he has his memories back. But regaining memories does not mean one is the same person anymore. The way N acts around 'Tessa' shows how uncertain of how he should feel about her.

The more 'Tessa' decides for him and stonewalls his choices, the less N trusts her and the more he starts to doubt her. By the time N beheads 'Tessa', he has had enough of everyone's lies to him. It doesn't matter that Tessa once saved him and loved him; the N that cared about that is long gone.

Cyn can only blame herself for that reaction. She was the one who wanted N to stay static and so N developed from that static baseline into someone new. Not the big brother she remembered, but someone moulded by years of being a disassembly drone and having to hunt his food lest he starve or overheat.

N's story is about many things: trauma, dehumanisation and grief. But it is also about the loss of agency and how to regain it.

[ludinusdaleth]

this is something ive had brewing in my mind for a while, but now that this aeor arc seems concluded, im really thinking on ludinus & other calamity survivors, and the idea of no perfect victim & moving forward.

ludinus & leylas are about the same age, have lived the same years. when we meet leylas, she is sending her soldiers to war in large part because she has seen the cycles of exandria unfold so consistently she cannot imagine peace until she defeats her enemy (quana still prays for it, and unity among everyone. but she holds her tongue). ludinus, on the opposite side of the mountains, knows the cycles too. and he thinks he must wage them to break them. leylas worships the luxon to free herself from the gods. ludinus despises the luxon for being seen as a god at all, that leylas as a survivor would dare worship it. both see the exact same thing but in opposite ways. but leylas gives a small smile of surprise when the m9 stop the war of ash & light. she is surprised, but happy to be wrong, in this one moment; her faith in these non dynasty folk paid off. all ludinus, one who hates cycles seeing a cycle caught short, sees, is a loss at taking more beacons, at destroying the "religious drivel" of the luxons religion. at least he can get to work on the big picture, the cycle he actually cares about, over any he enforces.

devexian & alyxian awaken the same year, devexian by the m9, in the ruins of his (and ludinus's) home. he can only laugh dryly at its fate, say it is a cruel joke of history. he picks up the pieces, tries to bring his people back to life. he wants them to start anew. he wants them to let go. if ludinus cant escape the day the city fell then it seems devexian wants nothing more than to leave it for tomorrow. alyxian has been caught in the hell of being a demigod of divinity & ruidis left to rot in half death. (depending on your netherdeep ending) he awakens to a new dawn, suddenly ancient & old in body, but.... free. freed by your party. he was torn asunder by avandra/correlon/sehanine & predathos within him, their powers festering in him as gruumsh destroyed him - and still he tries to be kind, and have faith, even if he is not the warrior he was, even if everything he ever knew was destroyed. he can see society flourish again, even after his & gruumsh's battle destroyed half of marquet. ludinus has seen society rebuild its entire course of time - and all he sees is a world never as brilliant as what it was before.

all of these calamity survivors are completely fucked. leylas is paranoid, losing her mind from living too long, and still haunted by lolth. quana is resigned to stay at her lovers side even as madness takes her when all she wants is unity with others. devexian is clearly so unwilling to face history repeating he wont tell other aeormatons their heritage. alyxian is broken & battered after an eon of nonstop torture.

but they had help from others, from kind souls, who reached a hand out. and they took that kindness and internalized it. and they have vowed to help their people any way they can. to spread that glimmer of hope. to rebuild.

ludinus hasnt. and i think there is deep tragedy in that. i dont know if he has much hope, ironically, beyond raging cleansing fire. in that broad big picture it is both incredibly real & also heartbreaking when recovery falls through the cracks so badly. to have so little of a support group of survivors around you that you smack the hand of those who came out of it differently, and not have known others who could show you it was okay to move on. you hurt other survivors in your refusal to breathe, and live too large to see the others choosing a small destiny. it is unfair to him to had to have suffered and unfair to inflict that on calamity survivors again for your own agenda.

i fixate on him not disagreeing with the bells finding a third option. deep down, he wants to have that hope the others share so fucking bad. we'll see if he ever finds it.

[stelladess]

So I said I was gonna write something about an aspect of Amiya as a character that really hooked me when I saw the anime and made me go play the game.... So, I really like paragons. Superman, Adora, paladins in DnD, etc. So naturally I was already liking Amiya as a fairly paragon hero from the get go. A hero fighting for her ideals and with a strong moral compass. (Also big jacket is just great design) So, the moment I knew Arknights had its hooks in me... Lets talk about episode 7 and 8 of the anime. Skullshatterer, someone who essentially represents the very people Amiya wishes to save, tries to murder the doctor to save his sister (I actually got some very cult like vibes from Reunion in the early chapters as a group preying on people with very real problems and directing them into blind loyalty towards the group and their doctrine and hatred of those not in the group, this is of course moved away from in later chapters. I think the more morally gray anti-hero portrayal Reunion moves into over time works better overall, but I did find the kinda cult vibe fascinating too). It is of course a classic scenario to have a situation where the easy out is for a paragon to compromise on their morals but they still will not.... Except Amiya does. She kills Skullshatterer out of desperation to protect the doctor. And this horrifies her. The realisation that she is willing to compromise on her own morals because of her own fears and hangups makes her feel like a huge failure. Amiya is essentially a person *trying* to be a paragon, but her own flaws and situation often gets in the way of that.

This had me really intrigued, and it helps that the anime version portrays how badly shaken up by this Amiya is *really well* and the fallout with what Misha ends up doing in chapter 8 and such is also handled pretty well in the anime. I do think that the anime making Amiya more easily rattled by horrifying things then she is in the game has the potential to maybe undermine that scene in chapter 8 where Amiya breaks down crying once the mission is done, but it really improves the Skullshatterer and Misha arc. Amiya of course grows a lot from here, and we learn a lot more about *why* she sees it as such a personal failure to not be able to be a savior but it was a very interesting starting point to me and the thing that made me decide to check the game out. I wanted to know where Amiya´s arc would go from there and know why she was the way she was, why does a teenager believe it is her duty to save everyone? What drives her to be so dedicated to her ideals and where will she go from here? Will she gradually have her idealism crushed out of her (like what we eventually learn happened to Talulah) or will she persevere and manage to actually grow into the hero she feels she should be? Something entirely different?

My taste in media tends to lean... dark but hopeful. I like seeing characters plunged into the pits of despair manage to climb their way out and grow and become better then before, they may never be what they wanted to become, but they can still grow to be better.

Amiya has grown to be one of my all time favorite characters in anything.

[justatiredghost]

Traffic Lights Tag Game

rules: talk about something creative you're working on of any kind.🚦 green: what is it about, what excited you about it, what sparked the idea? orange: slow down and share something from it: a photo, a few words, some more background info etc. red: what is the roadblock currently? what is one thing that is a necessary evil in making it?

tagged by @princessraptor thank you so much!!

Green

I’m going with my ongoing series No Freedom from Knowing. It’s a Magnus Archives fantasy au where avatars are warlocks and the Fears are their patrons. John is kinda hiding out alone on the fringes of society, because most people are understandably terrified of magic and react badly when they find out he’s a warlock. 

Occasionally, because he’s the only one stupid enough to live in a monster-infested forest, he stumbles across injured victims of the Fears and tries to help them, which is how he meets Martin at the start of the story. 

While I wanted to put him through the horrors, I ended up wanting to focus more on John learning to trust people again and the ways connections can save us, which is how I took a 10 chapter fic and managed to get it up into the 30s lol. 

I first got this idea while relistening to s5 and at the very end, when Georgie mentions the mob justice people were enacting on avatars, I realized, if he knew Martin was safe, John probably wouldn’t fight back if they came to kill him. And that is an incredibly sad thought. He’s just so full of guilt, and if he isn’t actively protecting someone or trying to save the world, he’d probably just accept it. I don’t think he wants to hurt anyone, and honestly he’d probably see it as some sort of atonement.

So I wanted to do something with that, but ended up putting it in an au bc I wasn’t sure how to handle a post-canon world, especially if I wanted a happy ending. So yeah, John hasn’t ended the world, but he has hurt people and if the only other avatars/warlocks people know of are like Jane Prentiss, they are more likely to lash out first and ask questions later.

Orange

This was supposed to be a short exploration, but apparently I am enjoying writing John having one panic attack after another, but then getting to experience comfort and safety after. So, every time I think I’m done, I think of another scenario or scene I want to explore and it just keeps going lol. 

I am happier with the character arc I have now than when I’d originally planned to end it at ch10, so I might wrap it up for now and create a series if I do end up adding onto it. It makes sense to have Elias be the final villain. I do think it would be interesting to bring Peter Lucas in and explore stuff with Martin more, but I have no concrete ideas yet so we shall see. 

Also, I keep going back and thinking about Martin’s pov and writing little scenes for him which is fun to explore considering what an unreliable narrator John is. No idea if I’ll do anything with them though

Red

Ah action scenes, the bane of my existence lol. I’ve got at least two, maybe more, coming up, and I’m not entirely sure how to handle them yet. I find them very difficult and get impatient with them, so. I’m trying to make sure I’m actually having fun writing them and not just using them as a way to get from point A to point B. 

I also have a scene where a character confronts their abuser, and I want to make sure I handle it okay and also make it satisfying. Hopefully I can pull it all off lol. Endings are always stressful. 

[kitkatopinions]

The RWBY writers: *Writes five seasons of Blake being stubborn, feisty, active, and passionate, standing up for herself, calling out Weiss when she's anti-faunus, speaking her mind, doing what she wants and only changing her mind if she's been given a good argument, being willing to call out others, trying to take a more realistic approach, has broken away from a toxic and controlling person she's stood up to repeatedly since then, yells "he's mine" while attacking someone she thinks is actively hurting her people, has opened up about her feelings repeatedly, doesn't back down from a challenge, acts openly exasperated when her friends or acquaintances are being stupid, is mature enough to recognize that even when her friend is reminding her of Adam that it doesn't mean that she is Adam and calmly explains her initial hesitance and explains what reassurance she needs before deciding to believe her friend anyway, saw her horrible ex trying to kill people and jumped into a fight with him while proclaiming she wouldn't run away, and then when her friend got hurt gave him this look

And only ran away when it was Yang's life on the line after tricking him and saving Yang despite having been suffering from a stab wound, etcetera, etcetera.

The RWBY writers: *Writes Weiss to say she'd been used to Blake being 'the quiet one' at the end of V5, implying that the writers want us to think that Blake's behavior in the early seasons had been muted and that now that she'd had a growth arc in V4 and V5 (badly done or not) that she would be more feisty, more outspoken, more self-assured, more passionate, and even more action driven than ever. Which would make sense considering that we saw her take Sun's words to heart concerning the personal growth she needed to do, and seemed to start moving in the direction of shedding her self-hate and blaming herself and start learning to accept love and care instead of pushing people away. And the writers also seemed to want us to believe that she was becoming more of a leader and V5 seemed to mark her finally fully moving on from what had happened with Adam.*

Also the RWBY writers: *Proceeds to write Blake to randomly turn into a meek wallflower who doesn't usually stand up for herself, needs frequent help in fights, gets insecure when she thinks people are unjustly mad at her, plays peacekeeper with her friends while trying to manage their angry moods with soft tones like a mother attempting to corral toddlers in the middle of temper tantrums, doesn't fight or argue when people make anti-faunus cracks at her or call her cat ignorantly or otherwise, flinches and grimaces when Yang gets angry, hides behind Yang when she feels threatened, doesn't really talk things through, is no longer active and is content to wait for her friends to tell her what they should do, the closest she's gotten to active has been in V9 where she was telling her friends about a story they all already knew, hasn't called out or even casually argued with her friends on anything iirc since V6, doesn't care to attend rallies against Jacques Schnee, is characterized like a sweet, caring, shy girl who needs reassurance when her romantic interest goes on a different mission than her, has no problem at all with Yang going red-eyed at the mere suggestion that they should ever take missions apart, acts like she thinks she's going to be hit all the time and wouldn't be able to do anything if she was hit.*

Some RWBY fans: "I am just so happy that Blake is healthy now and gets to be her true self now."

Like, Blake prior to the end of V5 was not "the quiet one" who was so so so super not confident and wasn't her true self. Her relationship with Yang didn't "fix" her and make her confident. The writers haven't actually shown her to be better and healthier and stronger and more sure of herself than before. If anything, they've given us the exact opposite.

How the hell am I meant to think Blake has gotten better when the writers specifically now write her to act this way ever since the beginning of V6? How am I meant to take their 'you used to be the quiet one' seriously when it isn't true? When the opposite is true and she becomes the quiet one in V6? It really just feels like they and a lot of their fans literally forgot who Blake was and replaced her with a whole new person and I'm sitting here like

How is she now "Not the quiet one" and before she was "the quiet one" when she was five times more outspoken and acted more confident and passionate and feisty before? I do not get it, I do not understand how I'm supposed to think she's more healthy now. I do not know how I'm supposed to think that she's done all her growing and is now much better when she actively seems worse off than she did in V freaking 1.

[imagitory]

Hey all! So recently Wish was added to Disney+, and I thought it might be a good opportunity for me to watch it again for the first time since I saw it in theaters. I asked you all what I should write about after watching it, and in the end, the top answers were an analysis of the criticism surrounding Wish and something focusing more on the positive aspects of the movie, rather than just the usual mindless bashing.

So that's what I intend to write! A look back at some of the common criticisms I've heard about the film, and how much weight they actually have.

Now, before we begin, I should put in a disclaimer -- I don't particularly like Wish as a film. I think it had ridiculous amounts of potential that were likely hampered by corporate decisions, but I personally find it to be one of Disney's weaker animated films. That being said, as promised, I will make any critiques I do include as balanced as I can, and I will try to include praise where I can too.

So let's start!

"Asha is a badly written character because she has no character arc."

This is a critique I actually found on a list also discussing valid criticism of Wish, and I knew I had to include it, because even BEFORE I rewatched the movie, I thought it was a bit unfair. Because here's the thing: there are plenty of good films, Disney or otherwise, where the main character doesn't have/need a character arc. All of Walt's original three princesses, Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora, don't have character arcs. Ariel doesn't have an arc either -- instead her father Triton is the one who goes through a change of heart. Neither does Pongo, or Basil of Baker Street, or Robin Hood. Indiana Jones doesn't go through any real character development in Raiders of the Lost Ark, yet he was interesting enough to inspire a whole movie series! with mixed results. The important part is that even if a main character doesn't develop personality-wise, we should still be able to root for them and want them to achieve their goal. We don't want Cinderella to be abused by her stepfamily -- we want her to find someone who loves her and will take care of her the way she takes care of others. Although it can be more interesting to give your characters an arc while they pursue their goals, it isn't necessary to tell a good story or write a compelling character. Sometimes a story can be more focused on how their life circumstances or environment changes around them.

Another criticism this leads into is the idea that Asha is just another "quirky female lead" a la Rapunzel, except without any background that justifies it. And well...plenty of people griped that Anna was too much like Rapunzel, when Frozen came out. I saw people compare Moana to both Rapunzel and Mulan, when her film came out. Mirabel was also compared to past Disney heroines like Anna and Rapunzel. Even before Wish came out, people tried to argue that Asha looked just like Isabela Madrigal, which was just ridiculous. There's plenty of bad-faith criticism out there that'll shallowly associate one character or story element with one trope exclusively without looking at any nuance or detail. And I think most people would agree that truthfully, none of these female characters are the least bit "the same," no matter how much someone might try to all boil them down to "the quirky Disney female lead." And, like the others, Asha has traits that set her apart. The big one for me is her bent toward social justice, which is something we haven't really seen in a Disney leading lady since Esmeralda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Even so, I admit that Asha's quirkiness isn't as justified by her backstory as the trait is by Rapunzel's isolation or Mirabel's "outcast" status in her family, and that does make it so that her characterization has less depth than those of some of her counterparts'. Does that make Asha a bad character? Of course not. If you like Asha as written, that's totally fine. Underdeveloped doesn't have to mean unlikable.

"There are too many characters in this movie!"

Even I've been a bit guilty of thinking this. I still feel as though the film would've saved a lot of space if some aspects of Asha's friend group had been redistributed to other characters. Like okay, you want to reference the Seven Dwarfs in Asha's inner circle, but give them all distinctive personalities? Have her mother fill the Bashful role, and cut Bazeema. Have her grandpa be Happy, and cut Hal. Have Valentino be your Grumpy role, and cut Gabo. Have Star play your Dopey, and cut Dario. Suddenly you only have three characters -- Simon, Safi, and Dahlia -- to introduce in that kitchen scene instead of seven, and you've also now given Asha's mum, grandpa, and sidekicks more personality as well!

That being said, the amount of characters truly isn't the problem. The real problem is time. Because let's be honest, we can ALL think of media with a large cast of characters we've become strongly emotionally invested in. The Lord of the Rings -- The Avengers -- Hazbin Hotel...but the difference is how much time the audience is given to get to know all of these characters. Even Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which has a cast of eleven, ends up leaving the Prince and the Huntsman rather underdeveloped compared to the Dwarfs. We don't ever learn the Evil Queen's whole deal or even her name, and she gets a lot of focus! With Wish only being ten minutes longer than Snow White with a cast of fourteen, it's little wonder the filmmakers struggled to have all fourteen of them leave a strong, unique impact. Even when I first watched the film, I didn't feel anything negative toward Asha's friend group -- if anything, I was happy to see a Disney animated female lead with a friend group of her peers, since the closest we'd gotten to that previously was Hiro in Big Hero 6 and Mei in Pixar's Turning Red. All of Asha's friends had the potential to be very interesting people, and that's why it's sad that we didn't get to see more of them and have the chance to become invested in them as individuals.

"Magnifico was actually right the whole time! Asha is the REAL villain of the story."

I see this one a lot, both from people who disliked the movie and fans who stan Magnifico, and as much as I won't give anyone a hard time for liking Magnifico, I think this view isn't really fair to either character or to the story the filmmakers pretty clearly wanted to tell. And sadly, as much as I want to be positive, I think this interpretation comes about partly because of inconsistent writing on the filmmakers' parts.

In Welcome to Rosas, there is this utopic vision presented of the island -- one that only reinforces the story told to us at the beginning by Asha, of how this man who loves wishes learned powerful magic so he could found this idyllic island kingdom with his wife where he could make wishes come true. Unfortunately, for some viewers, I think that propaganda works a little too well -- making us see Rosas as a place that truly is that happy and content and peaceful. And yeah, that does make it so that when Asha sings about how she wants "more than this," that could make her come across as rather selfish and entitled. But I think there are a few things that are good to remember --

Welcome to Rosas is framed as an advertisement of sorts -- like one of those commercials you see promoting Disneyland and how magical it is, without ever bringing up how much money it costs or how many lines you'll have to stand in. Asha's guiding some new people around with the goal of convincing them to stay and give their wishes to Magnifico, so of course it's going to sanitize the kingdom and make it seem like a place you'd want to stay in. There's blatant hyperbole thrown in there for dramatic effect, like the idea that you could go to outer space. Asha even sings that you're "unlikely to be unhappy": not that you'll be happy living on this island, just not unhappy. And yes, there is a difference between contentment and true, fulfilling happiness.

Simon's friends flat-out call him boring, after he turned eighteen and gave up his wish. This foreshadows what we learn about the wishes later, which is that they're a core part of a person that they're left a shadow of themselves without. At the wish ceremony later on, we can see this in the animation of the two "new citizens" giving their wishes to Magnifico. When they think of their wishes, they're full to the brim with joy, but when they've given them up, they're left looking confused and almost bereft, and even as everyone else cheers, they look unconvinced by the crowd's cult-like "forget without regret" chant. According to Wish's own canon, you're cutting out the "heart" of who you are, when you give up your wish.

Considering Amaya says that Asha will need to keep the tea hot, listen whenever and for however long Magnifico wants to talk, and never question anything, Magnifico didn't want an apprentice -- that would insinuate he'd actually be teaching them magic. If anything, it sounds more like he wanted a personal servant to cater to his whims. And when that person interviewing before Asha disappoints him, he's left running down the hall crying hysterically. This develops Magnifico as the film's future antagonist. Already long before he uses the evil magic book, we see that he wants a subordinate to do whatever he wants without question or complaint, seemingly for nothing in return except his own approval and, I would presume, some sort of paycheck. (I mean, I'm not saying Asha was right to expect favors from Magnifico so soon, or that that kind of quid-pro-quo stuff isn't corrupt as heck, but considering she and Magnifico did seem to connect over how important the wishes were, and considering Sabino's 100 years old, can you blame Asha for opening up about her hope that Magnifico would consider granting her grandfather's wish? She never framed it as a quid-pro-quo, and this probably would be the best chance she'd have to appeal to the King directly.)

Asha is seventeen! Of course her world view is going to be smaller and more idealistic than Magnifico's, and of course her family is going to be the center of her world. At the same time, even if Asha is young, it doesn't mean her perspective isn't worthy of compassion and respect. Sometimes the young do have a more meaningful view of a situation than their elders -- just look at David Hogg, or Malala Yousafzai, or Greta Thunberg...hell, even Anne Frank! However upset Magnifico was about Asha disagreeing with and contradicting him, it does not justify how pettily he decided to shut her down. He was an adult, and a ruler besides: it behooved him to act like one.

The filmmakers clearly envisioned Magnifico as the villain. Even if you want to ignore the promos where they compared Magnifico to the likes of classic Disney villains, Magnifico is portrayed as an arrogant, vain, vindictive control freak. He thinks only he knows what's best for everyone else, has decreed that only he has the authority to cast magic or grant wishes, and knows how beautiful people's wishes are, but prefers to hoard them away like trinkets, long before realizing that crushing them gives him power. (Not to mention he looked at Asha's hand-drawn animation and actually said, "Do we call that a talent?" I mean -- excuse you!) I've even heard some people theorize that Magnifico was based off Disney's "collect-'em-all" CEO himself, Bob Iger, and not in a flattering way. His main argument scene with Asha has been compared to how creatives have felt about their corporate bosses abruptly shutting down and locking away their incomplete films rather than let them be finished or released. Admittedly Wish also goes out of its way to try to make Magnifico sympathetic by giving him the slightest of tragic backstories, having him actually trust Asha enough to show her the wishes after only just meeting her, and (later on) not giving into the temptation of the random evil magic book because Amaya asks him not to, and that definitely muddies the waters. I still have to stand by the fact, though, that one's motivation doesn't excuse their bad behavior, however much one can explain the other. Magnifico having a sad backstory or trauma doesn't mean he's justified in treating people poorly, collecting wishes for his own enjoyment instead of truly loving them and the people they're attached to by sharing them with others, or not wanting people to ever question him or his authority. Magnifico's "nicer" moments don't mitigate these things either. Nor does his role as king. Even if yes, the story could've done well to add more nuance to the idea of wishes and make clear that not all of them are good -- and yes, the story could've either made Magnifico's villainy a bit more straightforward or followed through with the idea of Magnifico being a misguided anti-villain...in this film, we only see good wishes represented in Rosas. Magnifico even calls the wishes "the very best part [of a person]" -- and so one can only presume that all of the wishes Magnifico's collected are that way. Asha even suggests (before Magnifico interrupts her) that if a wish is dangerous, they could probably address that, while still giving back the wishes Magnifico won't grant. And the wish that Magnifico explicitly calls too "dangerous" to grant is Sabino wanting to inspire future generations, presumably through music. Paranoia on Magnifico's part? Perhaps, but also unjustified, in the context of the film. When Star comes down, every last person in Rosas -- including Magnifico's wife and queen, Amaya, who presumably must know something of his trauma and understand wanting to protect their people -- feels nothing but warmth, hope, and joy: all except for Magnifico, who immediately reacts in fear just seeing the wishes moving outside of his control. This insinuates that Magnifico's perception is the odd one out -- he's the only one who's afraid and not inspired, because that alternative magic threatens his absolute rule and control. Just like he's threatened by his people asking too many questions about the wishes he's taken. Just like he's threatened by the idea that Sabino could inspire the next generation in a way he doesn't approve of. And in the end, if that random evil book did corrupt Magnifico, it only magnified what was already there inside of him -- a greedy, obsessive need to hoard things away all for himself and to control others.

Again, for those people who see Magnifico more sympathetically than the filmmakers intended, I can understand why. Wish has two very conflicting ideas of who Magnifico is supposed to be, likely because it was compiled from dramatically different script drafts. But I feel demonizing Asha or ignoring the film's overall message about the value of people being free to chase their dreams to try to prop Magnifico up is misguided.

"Wish is bad because it's 'woke.'"

I almost wonder if I even need to say anything. This sentiment is so disingenuous, it seems like I should really be able to let it speak for itself. Ironically enough, though, I would actually argue that one of Wish's biggest shortcomings is that it isn't as revolutionary as it clearly wants to be.

For one, the culture of Rosas -- inspired largely by Spain and the Mediterranean -- is really never explored. We get no real influence of either of those cultures on the soundtrack aside from a few mandolins and a flourish of castanets now and again, unlike how Encanto embraces Colombia or how The Princess and the Frog celebrates New Orleans with their music. There's a lot of diversity in Wish's cast with a biracial lead and her colorful friend group (including Dahlia, who has a crutch!), but that would be a lot more meaningful if that diverse cast of characters had had fully fleshed-out personalities and relationships that made us emotionally invested in them, such as how Turning Red handled Mei and her friend group. We have aspects of social justice in Wish's storyline, sure -- but as much as you can draw parallels to Wish's story and the writers' strike that had been going on earlier that year and I think those parallels are striking, a film that clearly dealt with so much corporate oversight and meddling almost couldn't commit to making their villain a True Evil sort, and in the end, Rosas doesn't even do away with the absolute monarchy at the end of their supposed "revolution": it just shifts leadership from its King to its Queen. (And yes, I acknowledge saying "no more royalty" is a message that Disney, of all companies, would be hesitant to put out there, but you can't deny, it would've been both ballsy and different.)

Does this mean Bob Iger was right, that Wish is proof its creative types are focusing too much on message and not on entertainment? No. I'd say the bigger problems with the film were more likely caused by corporate interference -- you know, like hiring some popular pop composers to write songs that can be repackaged into other projects easily rather than primarily tell the story and develop the characters. Or deciding that our main female lead has to be able to do everything on her own without "too much help" from her main co-star (LOL, pun) because "feminism." Or defanging the villain with similarities to the company's CEO so he won't scare the kiddos. Or even animating the film at the exact same time as you're writing it like you previously did with Frozen II, to save time and take advantage of the 100th anniversary timing.

Even so, I sadly can't help but feel that Wish is "woke" largely in a performative sense. It features people who look different from each other and it talks about revolution and positive change, but it really doesn't go far enough to depict diversity in a way that people can get really excited about it or inspire deep thought and even maybe positive change in its audience. That's not focusing too much on message and not on entertainment -- if anything, it's more indicative of not giving the relevant and timely themes and the diverse culture enough focus.

"The meta Disney references are awful."

This one I think really is much more subject to personal taste. I've heard quite a few fans say how fun it is to find all the Easter eggs for other Disney projects or even to theorize how Wish could be connected to those movies in some kind of Disney Cinematic Universe. Personally I'm not in this camp, but that doesn't mean that I hate all the references included. The film opening with the exact same kind of text from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs actually made me smile. The Sleeping Beauty-esque drawing style in the storybook was pretty. Even the Seven Friends as an idea I thought was cute, when I first saw the concept art for them.

By and large, the references I tend to see more favorably are the ones only hard-core Disney/animation fans would pick up on. This might make me sound snooty, but I still personally enjoy references like Star's design being based on one of the star cherubs from a discarded Snow White sequence far more than I do the more blatant ones like Magnifico crushing a dream about a "perfect nanny" or the boy dressed like Rosasbound!Peter Pan. I guess for me, the first kind of references feel more like homages, rather than things that are deliberately supposed to make you think of other Disney movies you could be watching instead of this one. For other people, though, thinking of different Disney films while watching Wish is fun, and it reminds them of how much they enjoy those other movies too. It's good, clean, nostalgic entertainment. And well, Disney has put plenty of Easter eggs in its work before, though usually a bit more sparingly.

So yeah, I think ragging on the flood of Disney Easter Eggs in Wish is a bit unfair. As much as most of them aren't for me and I would've been happier with a lot less of them, I know there are other people who find joy in them, and I'm happy they do. The animators working on this film undoubtedly had a lot of fun including those references too, and I don't blame them! It's fun to create art celebrating what you love with like-minded people.

"Wish's songs are all terribly written."

Now up to a certain point, I could just say exactly what I said against the last criticism -- that this really comes down to personal opinion. Unlike meta Easter eggs, however, music is an art form, and there is real craftsmanship to it -- hell, people study music theory for a reason. And as several Youtubers have discussed before, there are real structural problems to how a lot of these songs are written. In some cases, it's an issue of cadence, where the way the words are sung don't sound like how they'd be naturally spoken aloud. In Knowing What I Know Now, for instance, sometimes the singers use the wrong emphasis on certain words, just based on where they land in the song, such as when Asha sings about Magnifico showing his "TRUE col-ORS in SHADES of GREEN," even if people don't naturally emphasize the second syllable in the word "colors." In other cases, it's over-stuffing a line with words so that the melody line isn't as memorable, such as in This Wish where the amount of syllables per line are all over the place and sentences get cut in weird places --

Isn't truth supposed to set you free? (9) Well, why do I feel so weighed down by it? (10) If I could show them everything I've seen, (10) Open their eyes to all the lies, then (9) Would they change their minds like I did? (8) But when I speak, they tell me, "Sit down!" (9) But how can I when I've already started runnin'? (8) Oh, this is where we've been, (6) But it's not where we belong, (7) And I may be young, but I know I'm not wrong... (11)

There are also cases where the songs barely use any actual rhymes in favor of half-rhymes or worse twist themselves into pretzels just to make an actual rhyme, such as in I'm a Star, with lines such as "When it comes to the universe we're all shareholders // Get that through your system! (Solar!)" and "Ooh, I'm a star! // Watch out, world, here I are!" (Excuse me while I cringe.) And then of course, most infamously, there are the redundant and otherwise weird lyric choices, most commonly cited in Magnifico's And This is The Thanks I Get?!, such as "I got these genes from outer space!" and "I let you live here for free and I don't even charge you rent!"

By and large, people have not responded as well to Wish's soundtrack as they have for many other Disney musicals. It could also be argued that the songs don't tell the film's story as well as they could've. The most egregious example of this is At All Costs, which is supposed to be our villain and hero singing about the beauty of the wishes the first has collected, but was literally written as a love song first, just because Julia Michaels wanted to write a song that could be played at people's weddings even if the movie in question didn't feature any romance. Even This Wish was written well before the script was finished, and this is when we can tell from all the concept art released by Disney that this movie had been dramatically rewritten at multiple stages of development.

And yet even with this, I still see people making animatics for At All Costs featuring their own characters or Asha and the discarded Starboy concept. (And yes, we'll come back to that.) I still see fan-made music videos featuring This Wish. Hell, even I have some of Wish's songs on my IPhone, and I listen to them actively! Knowing What I Know Now, as much as I see what's technically wrong with it, is still a bop for me. However much I had to take a full-on sanity break after listening to I'm a Star a second time, I do enjoy This Wish and At All Costs, just on their own. I don't think This Wish (reprise) is a bad musical or thematic climax, especially if one considers Magnifico's fear that Sabino's wish was to inspire the next generation through music, and it ends up being a song -- sung by his loving granddaughter -- that ultimately defeats our antagonist. I don't think any of Wish's songs really help tell the story as well as other Disney songs do for their films, but I still think there's room for personal taste here. Music -- like all art -- still has an element of subjectivity. It isn't a science -- yes, there is talent and skill involved that can only be mastered with practice and hard work, but there's still a bit of magic that comes with the finished result, and as much as it might not be popular with the masses, that doesn't necessarily make something worthless, or that public consensus can't change. Tchaikovsky famously hated the work he did for The Nutcracker, as did the critics of his day, only for it to go on to become a staple of holiday entertainment and ballet productions overall. Plenty of cult classic films like Labyrinth and Heathers didn't make a lot of money or get lots of praise when they first came out, but soon enough they found their audience.

"The animation is lazy!"

There's actually a much better video discussing this, made by a real professional animator, and I think I'll just let him handle this.

One thing I want to touch on, though, is Jennifer Lee's commentary about why Wish ultimately wasn't done in 2D animation --

"What happens in hand-drawn is that you have the incredible hand of the artist, but also limitations in what you could do on screen. What happened in CG is you'd have incredible, boundless opportunities, visually, that elevated it — even to the point for some — into realism, which is not what we wanted to do. The more important thing to us was to have a way to find technology that can do everything. Connect to the true vision of the artist, but bring in technology that could finally take away limitations."

-- and yeah, I'm not going to lie, this sentiment leaves a really bad taste in my mouth. The idea that hand-drawn animation somehow limits what art you can create is mind-boggling for anyone working in animation to think, but especially for someone working in Disney animation. I can't help but feel like Uncle Walt would've been ticked if he'd heard anyone suggest this. Anyone who loves animation I think would be annoyed by it, and I'd say people like Hayao Miyazaki continue to prove that Lee's thought process isn't true, considering that his hand-drawn film won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature the same year that Lee's Wish was passed over by the Academy altogether. To be fair, though, this is more a reflection on certain Disney leaders' dismissive attitude toward the medium that built their company as well as the vast majority of the films they're supposedly celebrating, rather than any condemnation of the hard-working animators who worked on Wish. And yes, although no one can argue that Wish ultimately doesn't look as good as its animated peers like Sony's Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse (which was made with half the budget Wish was), that's more the fault of a flawed vision on the part of the filmmakers than anything. It's certainly not indicative of a lack of talent, resources, or caring from the animators themselves.

"Wish would've been so much better if it had featured a love story between Starboy and Asha!"

Okay, let me pop this bubble right now --

None of Disney's official releases have ever indicated Star was going to be Asha's love interest.

The concept art featuring Asha and human!Star? Yeah, that exists, but there's nothing strictly romantic in any of those concepts, like them kissing or even hugging. At All Costs originally supposedly being a love song for Asha and Star? As touched on above, nope, it was even more of a cynical corporate decision than that -- the songwriters just wanted to write a love song that they could repackage and use elsewhere, even if there was no love story to go with it. The thing about Asha and Star supposedly being soulmates? That's derived from a comment in the artbook from Wish co-writer Allison Moore, talking about Asha and Star in their current forms, and so therefore the sentiment was intended platonically --

"Now Star and Asha have an emotional journey. They are soulmates."

And well, just based on a good chunk of the Disney animated films that had come out prior to Wish featuring male and female leads -- Zootopia, Moana, Big Hero 6, Wreck-It-Ralph -- there was really nothing definitive to suggest that our two central characters were going to be romantically linked. And even if Star and Asha were going to be love interests, that still would've been no guarantee of a better movie -- you'd still need compelling, well-developed characters, if you want to likewise have a compelling, well-developed relationship between them. And as I've argued in the past, a movie doesn't need romance to be good. If someone could feel sincere platonic love between Star and Asha as their actual movie selves, then any romance between them wouldn't be needed. I truly believe the only reason that so many people have gotten so hung up on the idea of a Star/Asha romance is because that original platonic "soulmates" idea Allison Moore and others envisioned just didn't ring true for them. They saw more love and interesting chemistry between the original concept art versions of Star and Asha than they did between any of the characters in the finished film...and so they've built upon those flickers of love with their own imagination and then built that mental image up into something that I don't think the filmmakers probably ever intended.

I must be honest, it was kind of a slog, watching Wish for a second time. I stopped multiple times to take notes, unable to just sit back and let the movie wash over me. Even so, I truly appreciate how much time you must've spent to skim through this way-too-long analysis, as well as the votes you all cast in that one poll of mine! I love analyzing Disney, and as much as I don't love Wish, I do think it provided great fodder for new fan creations and has amazing potential as an educational tool about both good storytelling and film-making. And if there are more criticisms of Wish you'd like me to discuss, please feel free to reblog this post with them! Thank you for your support!

To close us out...if you love Wish, then keep on loving it! Don't let anyone -- including me -- tell you otherwise. I don't think a film that was truly the worst thing ever would've attracted as much attention or overanalyzing as Wish has received. And for those of you who are still dissatisfied with Wish, here's a list of films I compiled that you can watch and enjoy instead!

For Starboy/Asha stans...Stardust!

For both Starboy and Chris Pine stans...Rise of the Guardians!

For those of you who love the idea of storytelling magic...Whisper of the Heart!

For those of you hungry for a diversely cast, "woke" fairy tale...Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1997)!

For people looking for a colorful, family-friendly musical...Wonka!

For avant-garde animation fans...Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio!

For modern CG animation fans...Puss in Boots: The Last Wish!

And finally, probably most obviously -- for those Disney fans looking for a loving tribute to 100 years of Disney Animation with a bunch of Easter Eggs and good humor...Once Upon a Studio!

Much love to you all! 💛

[seankayos]

Arcane Season 2 Part 2 thoughts and theories

Because holy shit this show has grabbed me and isn't letting go, cannot wait till next.

Also what the fuck, I need to process

So right off the bat the pacing is a lot faster, like I remember Season 1 was like being on a rollcoaster, this feels like jumping out of a plane. Exhilarating, but definitely an escalation. Still works though, at least so far.

I knew Isha was fated to die the second I saw her in the previews, she was just too damn cute and too damn close to Jinx for the writers to resist, and honestly I'm kind of OK with it? As interesting as Jinx essentially retiring to be a stay at home mum was I think I'd rather see her process grief from a position of love rather than trauma. Plus, you know, Isha wanted to be just like Jinx, and what's more Jinx than blowing up Vander?

Speaking of the most dysfunctional family anywhere in Zaun, Piltover or anywhere else, holy shit I loved Warwick in this, a genuinely terrifying werewolf that spat blood everywhere and yet made you feel genuine sorrow at his condition as well. Dude's been through it and then some.

Cait and Vi are still going strong through their divorce arc as I knew they would, with everything that's gone on these two are solidly locked in as the end game couple now. One more argument to let Vi finally get a win in (because seriously, for being the designated bruiser she can't win a fist fight for shit this season) before the much anticipated sex scene that they allegedly upped the rating for. Going off Vi spitting on Cait and then her wiping it across her mouth, shit's going to get freaky.

I've already reblogged something about Viktor but I just want to say I absolutely loved every part of the compound, but especially how understatedly creepy the whole thing was? Like, yeah, art nouveau cyber-magic hivemind hippies, fucking awesome, but none of feel like real people, at least compared to Zaun or Piltover. I think the flashes of them we get from Jayce's perspective of them as warped and broken puppets is accurate, they are peaceful because Viktor thinks that's what peace and cooperation look like, when in reality it's more like unquestioning obedience. Shame though, I really did love Viktor's whole mind quest to the soul of Vander, regardless of how badly it went.

As for Jayce, big theory time; this is a time travel plot now and we're seeing Jayce at the end of it. Those flashes we see are actually from some hypothetical bad future where Viktor expands his 'glorious evolution' to all of Piltover and Zaun and it all goes horribly wrong, hence why he looks so much older (even accounting for the.....roughly 4 months, I guess, time skip) and so incredibly haggard and traumatized. Dude's got a Mad Max shout out knee brace, you don't just get those unless you're from The Dark Future™. My guess is Viktor asked Jayce to go back and kill him, which is why he keeps repeating he won't fail and just kills Viktor with basically zero hesitation. Or, more accurately, kills the Hexcore, leaving Viktor alive(ish) to become something else. After all, from what I can tell from the League lore videos I watched a while back, VIktor used to be able to buy a Hexcore prototype that looked like the purple one we saw, but also had a normal Hexcore that provided different upgrades. He might start again down a different road that avoids the Bad Future but which makes him more of the explicit villain.

[feppepurin]

SONIC 3 THOUGHTS GRGRYAYAAHHH (SPOILERS)

THIS SHIT. WAS . CRAZY !!!!!! I WAS LOSING MY MIND THE ENTIRE TIME IT WAS SO HARD TO CONTAIN MY EXCITEMENT i couldn't stop smiling through the entire thing. i'm so srs please watch it it's the best movie ever oh my fucking god. OKAY ONTO MY ACTUAL FEELINGS NOW

when the movie opened with shadow's memories of maria right off the bat i knew i'd love it. more on this specific maria iteration later but jesus christ aren't they just the most siblings of all time ?????? shadow was basically having a huge depressive episode for all these 50 years and now he's hungry for VENGEANCE. YOU WILL HAVE JUSTICE MARIA. also he's just so well animated literally just fucking kill me and blow my brains out THEY GAVE HIM A GUN AND A MOTORCYCLE FOR A MOMENT THERE TOO HE EVEN DID THE AKIRA SLIDE !!!!! SHADOWOWWWWW <3333

i am really happy with all the popculture references too. hate-watching, detective pikachu, comic con, cosplay ... HOT TOPIC. some people may have found it too cheesy but i for one could not be more delighted. this is so silly of COURSE knuckles would know about pokemon. i also adored how they implemented the chao into the world by making them themed cafe mascots in tokyo. these three doofuses and commander walters having a universal level of importance conversation at a kids restaurant ??? SEEMS ABOUT RIGHT. actually i think this sequence from their first encounter with shadow up until stobotnik meetup is one of my favs in the whole movie ngl. they're just a trio of goofsters aren't they

WHILE WE'RE ON THE TOPIC OF THE OTHER 2 BROS !!! ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. WASN'T KNUCKLES JUST THE SWEETEST ??? i could fill a book with every cute and/or endearing thing he's done/said in this movie and same with tails. "the fox was just trying to comfort you." ; "you ready to play some base of ball??" LITTLE BROTHER AND OLDEST BROTHER !! SEDATE ME NOOOOW. ALSO MADDIE !!!!!! I KNOW WE ALL LOVE TOM BUT I WANT MORE MADDIE SO BADLY. MAKE THE BROS INTERACT WITH HER MORE I BEGGGGGG !!!!!!!!!! MATRIARCH WACHOWSKI I WISH YOU HAD MORE SCREENTIME SO BADLY. I UNDERSTAND YOU CAN'T FIT ALLAT IN JUST ONE MOVIE THOUGH !! WE HAVE FANFICS FOR THAT. that moment when the team™ arrived home to go over the g.u.n infiltration plan and knuckles IMMEDIATELY put on some kind of thingamajig one of his parents knit. he ate their homemade bread too <\333 fuckkkkkk please make him talk to maddie more

THE STOBOTNIK NATION IS THRIVING WITH THIS ONE THOUGH (not really) !!!! they were so Queer. why did stone have to do all that when shaving robotnik's head. why did robotnik have to rip stone's fucking shirt off to later make a new costume out of it. WHAT WAS THAT COMMENT ABOUT TIED UP STONE ? don't even get me started on the message too AND ON ROBOTNIK'S RELATIONSHIP WITH GERALD AND THE WHOLE THING WITH THE ARK SIBLINGS JESUS. i'm actually so sad he's dead now =<:,[[[[[[ pleaseeee he was hilarious ........ and cute ............... stone has no one to have a homoerotic workplace relationship with now ............................. legitimately though the way he Finally acknowledged how much stone cared for him this whole time. called him a good friend <333 "goodbye, doctor." FUCKKKKKK. WHAT IS MR AGENT STONE GONNA DO NOW HOW DO YOU EVEN RECOVER FROM THAT. YOUR UNSPOKEN LOVER JUST LIVESTREAMED HIS DEATH ON SOME FUCK ASS SPACESHIP AND (indirectly) TOLD YOU HE LOVES YOU TOO ???

okay since we're talking about robotnik we're talking about gerald and if we're talking about gerald we're TALKING ABOUT MARIA. SHE WAS SO SILLY !!!!!! SHE'S GOOD NATURED SHE BELIEVES IN KINDNESS AND HER HOME AND EVERYTHING BEING OKAY IN THE END AND HER BROTHER SHE'S MISCHIEVOUS AND RESOURCEFUL AND SNEAKY (damn when i say it like that maria sure does sound a lot like soni— *gets shot*). i really really love how we got some more of her as her own character and not a catalyst for shadow's arc. she's perfect MWAH !!!!! <33333 however i'm not too sure about her being a regular girl and not a chronically ill disabled living in a damn space colony never been to earth girl. i know you can never make a Totally Faithful adaptation of something but i think shadow and maria growing up in the same place, with shadow's entire purpose of creation being maria's supposed cure makes their relationship so much more viscerally moving and affecting and emotional and profound and andAND AND. SHIT.. CURLS UP ON TJE FLOOR AND DIES ??? THEY WANTED TO VISIT EARTH TOGETHER ONE DAY ....... absolutely not complaining about the content we did get with the 2 of them. silly dancing to a song having sleepovers rollerskating stargazing deep conversations. oh my fucking god. don't even get me started on the phrase. th PHRASE. i watched this movie again when i came home and it brought me to tears A SECOND TIME. every time i think how i've calmed down i think back to it and want to cry again and again. a light still shines, even when the star has died.

A LIGHT STILL SHINES, EVEN WHEN THE STAR HAS DIED. MARIA'S LIGHT STILL SHINES !!!!!!! IT FUCKING SHINES WITH SHADOW !!!!!!!!!! WITHOUT LIGHT THERE'S ONLY DARKNESS BUT A SHADOW WILL SHOW YOU WHERE TO FIND THE LIGHT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SHADOW WILL KEEP LIVING BC THIS IS WHAT MARIA WOULD'VE WANTED !!!!!!!

okay wipes tears away this is already too long for anyone's liking and i'm so sleepy so i'll make a part 2 tomorrow bc that's not even THE TIP OF TJE FUCKING ICEBERG OF WHAT I HAVE TO SAY ABOUT SONIC 3. GOOD FUCKING NIGHT EVERYPONY

[flanneryculp]

a deep dive into kate gordon

kate is one of the most interesting characters in tb8, and i wish more people talked about her! there’s a lot to talk about, especially considering how often she appears.

kate is the second most mentioned character, just behind natasha. their names are mentioned 334 and 357 times respectively. that’s not so big a gap! adam, the third most mentioned character, has 278 mentions, over fifty fewer than kate, and the rest of the basic eight have at least a hundred fewer. while everyone in the basic eight has meaningful arcs, kate is the only one other than natasha who is prevalent from start to finish, and her arc has a ton of similarities with flan’s.

one of the most interesting things about kate and flan’s dynamic imo is how they project onto each other. in the second half of the book, flan uses kate as a scapegoat, especially re: her body and her relationship with adam. since adam reflects the societal norms that flan (and everyone) is trying to conform to, kate is an easier target to blame.

flan resents kate for stealing adam away from her, even if kate never actually did. kate only started flirting with adam after flan was dating gabriel, and kate even asked flan if it was alright.

we don’t know how long kate liked adam, but we do know that she knew him better than flan did, and she she got together with him very quickly after flan and gabriel started dating. still, she repressed her feelings and encouraged flan to go after him for the entire first half of the book.

but it’s likely that kate asked flan to absolve herself of guilt rather than make sure things were okay with flan. flan obviously still had a crush on adam, and kate knew that! if kate really wanted to make sure things were okay with flan, she could have openly asked about it instead of dancing around her point. i think she wants to be seen as a good friend, more than actually considering how flan feels. kate still knows that flan loves adam, and she even asks again. flan responds by saying yes and immediately bursting into tears. kate is insightful enough to know that she’s not okay with it. that’s in line with how we’ve seen kate before--she deliberately creates an image and tries to play it off as effortless.

not that flan was in the right in this situation either, though. flan deflects her own guilt onto kate, especially when it comes to leading gabriel on. if flan villainizes kate, she can see her own actions as better than they are. flan makes herself believe that kate has it all, since she has adam/society’s love, even if it’s just tolerance and adam isn’t that into her. if flan is also being strung along here, she believes it’s not so bad if she does the same to gabriel. kate is an easier person to blame than adam, so kate gets the vitriol.

the resentment isn’t one-sided. kate talks about how the girl who wrote adam love letters all summer is tactless and undeserving of adam. toward the end, kate even says “somebody beat us both to him,” which reads to me like kate is more okay with adam dating flan than she would be with him dating a random girl.

kate doesn’t believe (or tries not to believe) that flan wrote the letters, even though it’s pretty obvious from the way flan changes the subject every time kate brings it up, and rachel explicitly told her. kate refuses to think badly of flan, because flan is her friend and kate wants to be loyal.

in the same scene, flan says we are better off without adam, including both of them. once they stop idolizing adam, they stop blaming each other. flan and kate relate to each other, and they both resent and understand each other for it.

---

another similarity between flan and kate is how violent they can be, though in different ways. flan is the one directly poisoning carr and killing adam, but kate is thrilled to cover it up.

also, when jenn fights nancy and cheryl, kate is overjoyed.

no other character has such a consistent, positive reaction to violence. and in kate’s case, she’s never the one committing these acts, but supporting her friends. and she believes everyone is like her, in that way. like when she believes that ron piper will support them.

later she says, “we aren’t just doing this for flan anymore,” which i think kate actually believes. she wouldn’t do all this for flan, but she’d do this for the group. kate has such a strong us vs them mentality that it overrides everything else, and yet, she’s not exactly selfless.

---

dinner party #1 is one of the most iconic scenes in tb8. it’s the first time we see the main cast in their element. the toasts, especially, are each character introducing themselves; douglas is cautious, flora completely misses the point, jenn is helpful, etc. (rip v___ who didn’t get to say anything) but kate’s toast is definitely the most memorable.

what’s interesting to me is the way she says it--it’s snappy and memorable, but also contrived. and that’s the basic eight’s whole deal, especially kate’s. i wonder if there are any comparisons to the school’s motto, which has a similar phrasing--just listing good traits instead of anything tangible, especially since the scene where the phrase was first introduced is a kate scene. one of the major themes is that the friend group isn’t different from the school/societal structures it tries to go against. as effortless as kate wants to appear, she’s always trying to fit in.

like the play they’re in, they’re all playing roles, to a certain extent, and kate is such a clear picture of that.

[thatone-highlighter]

I just got through the Earthlings arc during my SU rewatch and im absolutely facinated by Jaspers character

She’s such an effective antagonist for so long because she clashes with every other character so fundamentally. She’s got this completely foreign to the show worldview that is shown to be contrary to what the rest of the show is trying to say but she still feels like a real person and when you think about her she’s just as much a product of her circumstances as anyone else. She doesn’t want to talk it out with Steven because why would she? She was literally born to fight as has been doing so since the second she was born, it’s all she’s ever known and has been drilled into her head that that’s what’s expected of her, she’s rewarded for fighting well and watches as others are punished for doing badly, either by losing or by facing consequences for failing.

And then there’s the whole “perfect solider” part of her character. She was literally born more capable and with a higher status than everyone else. But because of the way home world is structured to reward her and punish people like the off-colours, she’s been indoctrinated into thinking that the reason she came out on top had nothing to do with how she was made and everything to do with her behaviour and attitude. Peak “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” type person but because it’s a fictional story you can see what happened to make her this way. Her and amethyst are fundamentally different, they’re different quartzes, they were born in different places, they were just created differently, from the start jasper was always going to be better at some things than amethyst and amethyst would be better at others than jasper. But because of the way jasper has been “raised” for lack of a better word she doesn’t see that, she doesn’t understand that her and amethyst are simply different gems who were made different, she’s better at fighting and is picture image of what a quartz “should” be so that means it’s possible and anyone who can’t live up to that standard simply isn’t trying hard enough. And she even manages to get that into amethysts head, if jasper is capable of this then that means that amethyst must be too, even tho that’s simply not true. Through no fault of her own amethyst would have to try infinitely harder to achieve even close to where jasper is, jasper started out with a huge head start and trying to play catch up does nothing but hurt amethyst. It’s such a good analogy for so many things I think

Her main role in the story is serving as a character who simply refuses to talk it out with Steven, but again, why would she? From her perspective the entire reason her life is like this, she reason shes spent her life fighting endlessly, all the suffering shes lives through, its his fault. Rose Quartz started the war she was quite literally born to fight in. Rose Quartz also ended that same war by killing the only person jasper ever had to look up to, forced her out of the only reason she had for existing (both as in to fight the war and to serve Pink Diamond). And then heres Rose Quartz once again, saying she wants to help her? Where was she offering help when jasper when she was living to fight as much as she was fighting to live? Where was this „help“ when she shattered Pink Diamond and Jaspers entire world with her? „Help“? Help my ass shes the reason everything thats gone wrong in jaspers life went wrong in the first place

And then she gets poofed at her lowest point, gets removed from the story entirely until Future, and Future does nothing to make anything better for her! Last jasper knew the person shes been seeking revenge on her entire existence cant even be bothered to remember what she did, and then she loses herself to the Earth and corruption, the very things she prided herself on being better than.

And then suddenly shes brought back and „hey guess what! That war we created you to fight in? The one you created your entire person around? The one you lost Everything in? Yeah so it was pointless. Actually the person you idolised for the past 6000 years is the same person who you thought killed her and have been seeking vengeance on for the same amount of time. Crazy how that happens. Anyways so do you wanna come hang out with us now that we sorted that out and were chill about it?“

Can you even IMAGINE what that feels like? No wonder she runs off into the woods and becomes a hermit what else is she supposed to do! Shes got nowhere to go! Her entire life has been turned on its head and she’s expected to just move on! That’s ridiculous!

And thats just the backdrop for her appearance in Future. When she finally does appear they kill her and thats the first and only time we ever see her happy. Someone Finally speaks to her in a way she can understand and she actually dies, and uses that to find herself a purpose. If steven is powerful enough to shatter her, a feat never before seen by a gem, then sure she can serve him, anything to give her life purpose again. and then they just forget about her! Steven literally ditched her in his house! They pull the rug out from under her Once Again. but now she can be „normal“ now she can do what other people want her to do so they all assume shes „better“ now.

I think future did her so dirty the original show handles her character So Well and im not really sure how else they could have gone further with her character because people like Jasper in real life dont really change. And if she were to change and agree with steven it would feel like the show saying steven was right and jasper was wrong and she should have listened to him from the start. Shes such an interesting character to delve into because shes the antagonist yes but shes a very specific type or antagonist that doesnt appear very often and when it does its not with as much backstory, even if just implied, or delving into the thoughts behind the actions. Its so interesting to me

[realchemistry]

Everything that went right and wrong with 9-1-1 season 7 (according to me, duh!)

Let me start by saying that I enjoyed the season a lot, but that doesn't mean that it was flawless and I thought the finale didn't deliver. So, this is me pointing out what I did and didn't like and why, and how I wish it'd happened instead.

Also: it's a short and somewhat rushed season due to the writers' strike, this I know. You know who else knew? TPTB. So, nope, it’s not a valid excuse for any of its shortcomings. If they tried to bite off more than they could chew, that's on them.

Everyone knows that having a three-episode arc for the honeymoon was a bad choice, it was clear because the episodes dragged due to it and the Bathena drama made no sense. Let's say they had to keep up with the tradition and that it's a huge budget deal to build those sets so they had to milk them for all they were worth. Fine. It could've still been made more interesting, but wrong choices were made. I didn't appreciate the whole pirates taking over thing, and the season ended with the cartel, which... why do you want to have POCs being the bad guys so badly?

So, let's go by the assumption that having a three episode arc for Bathena's honeymoon was the only choice possible, fine... but didn't Madney deserve a lot of attention as well considering they got freaking married? Why was that not a two-parter? Why not have a first part with cases and some fun bachelor/bachelorette shenanigans, and have Chim disappearing be the cliffhanger? Why not dedicate a big chunk of the second part to that, like they did, and then actually give the wedding some breathing room? Sure, it mirrored their kiss after the whole Doug debacle but these are two main characters who got married. It's a drama show but the drama gets old if there are no bright moments in between.

The inclusion of Amir was interesting because of what it brought up in Bobby. Plus, the actor was clearly great and he was such a big deal that he, well, he was given A LOT of screentime. This made me mad because the show, as previously mentioned, was short on time as it was. Having a new character come in and have such a huge role would’ve made sense if we were talking about a full season. As it was, his presence meant that some of our regulars were pushed to the background. Their storylines suffered for it, and while the show usually does this, it's sorta okay when screentime is divvied up between the regular cast. When it's an outsider... well, I have some issues with that. Like, we literally know more about Amir than we do about Ravi at this point. Also: Amir was clearly an amazing person and he was wronged time and time again. Athena got to play solo-cop as it's her thing, and we're supposed to think she was being heroic instead of downright wrong and abusing her power? If I were Amir, I'd sue her and I'd burn their house down for real (not really, but you know what I mean). They put this man through hell. Sure, Bobby saved him... which felt such a white savior redemption thing. And I know the show and the character said otherwise, but it still felt awful and then it just got worse. In any case, they could’ve made this story play out with more nuances instead of devoting so much of a short season to it to the detriment of our stable cast. 

Buck had an amazing start of the season, finding himself and his truth and sharing it with his family. The fact that they had him entering the dating scene with a character like T*mmy... I didn't like that. Any random person would've been better. But, also, I don't wanna be that person but this is my blog so I'm gonna be: Oliver clearly hadn't been enjoying the latest interactions between these characters to the point where their scenes, few as they were, were actually hard to watch. The last one was literally the most cringe inducing moment of TV I've ever witnessed. Instead of Buck exploring himself, we have him reacting to the odd, negative and out of place comments that T*mmy keeps throwing his way. It's just weird and not at all the happy story Oliver was hoping for, so I get him. I hope this gets better next season, with BT being bones and Buck being able to thrive instead of falling back into a revamped awful dating life.

On the other hand, this season was the Buddiest of them all. Well, I mean, it had the most hints of it actually happening at some point. When Buck talked about there being underlying sexual tension in the premiere, it was just ashslgjñhjsdñgjsñdg. They were comparing Chris's interactions with girl friends and boy friends but we all know that wasn't all that was. We had Eddie talking about how much growth Buck had done from being a playboy, which funnily enough he never got to meet, to the person he's today. Another great indicator were the whole 100th/101st episodes, with Buck clearly wanting to get Eddie's attention due to jealousy, which everybody could see, and the ~reveal that the episode was from Buck’s POV which was also incredible because that man was so in love with Eddie, it’s just insane. But, even most importantly maybe, was Maddie's scene with Buck... It was a mirror of her calling him out on his guy crush on Eddie from season 2, with the circled with a heart around it, but the next episode it got real. To me, her words and her face spoke volumes: first she couldn’t believe Buck was with Eddie’s friend, then she told him he might not be sure of his own feelings and finally that if there’s something he needs to tell Eddie, he will, just in his own time. That was NOT about Buck being bisexual, it was Maddie reading right what Buck was reading wrong: how Buck had been jealous because of the way he feels about Eddie and how he was putting his feelings for Eddie into somebody else. Someone safe for the time being, all things considered. That's a thread waiting to be pulled when the right time comes if I ever saw one! I've been giddy just thinking about it ever since, tbh. We also had a Buddie scene in pretty much every episode, and I absolutely adored them in the bachelor party because they were so in sync, as they were all season long actually. The parallel of Eddie asking for Buck’s help at the end was nice as just that, but the story... I’ll rant about it later. I love that Oliver has been pushing the Buddie agenda harder than ever, so I'm hoping he's talking Ryan's ear off about it and that they'll demand it from Tim soon enough.

Onto Eddie, the problem with the whole Kim thing actually starts because they killed Shannon in the first place. They should've never done that, I've always thought this way. She was a great character and seeing Eddie co-parent with his ex would've been great storytelling, he could've still had a breakdown due to divorcing her or even her dating again or whatever. Besides the insanity of Kim going back to his house after learning the truth, the fact that Eddie broke down and caved in was understandable. I actually thought that was pretty well done. The problem was all that followed. We don't care about Marisol because the show never made us care about her, so her part in all of this was completely irrelevant.

As for Chris, I honestly have SO many issues with his reaction. Him being confused would only be right, but being that mad with Eddie? I honestly feel like I'm missing something because the two of them developed such a strong relationship that it felt like Chris's reaction was totally OOC. Why wouldn't Chris want to know Eddie's side of the story? Why would he want to leave his dad and his house? Why would he want to leave the state? Why would he want to go live with his grandparents? Sure, he had a good relationship with them at that point, but we can only gather that by... imagining it, for the most part. How long since they been around? Why not mention that they were visiting or that Chris was with them when he was away to set the stage? It honestly felt like it was all improvised and they wanted to leave Eddie without Chris and this was all they could come up with. There were other ways that could've actually made more sense to get to this place, but they chose to do it in a way that's both hurtful to the characters and to their progression throughout the seasons. Make it make sense!!! There's also the fact that the finale script was all written under the assumption that Eddie and Kim were kissing when Chris showed up. That didn't actually make the cut. This is clearly a consequence of rushed scripts and filming schedules, and while we can interpret every scene saying they kissed as an exaggeration or simply a wrong interpretation of the situation, it actually made me very mad. Having characters rehash what happened the episode before so the people who missed it can catch up is normal but I hated it with my whole heart. Those people can go to hell, but if they're gonna spend time of the finale doing that, the least they could do was make the facts factual. Sure, Eddie was going insane and he said it was hard to explain but everyone in-show very much believed that Eddie had kissed Kim. This was upsetting because of the exact reason why that kiss was cut, as said by Ryan in an interview this week.

On top of this, Chris’s 13 years old. Eddie letting him go was not it. Eddie had every right to tell him he's staying whether he liked it or not because he's his father and he got to decide where he lives. The show tried to make the whole thing come out as noble but I thought it was bullshit. From what we know about Eddie, he wouldn't just let him go: he would either tell Chris to stay put or go with him. The fact that, again, they clearly wanted to have Eddie alone for whatever reason, and they couldn't find a better way to pull it off... that's just bad on TPTB's part.

Hen and Karen were put through hell once more for no reason. Why can't the big obstacle for them be simply getting through Mara? Why do they have to get to a good place only for it to be ripped away? Don't say it's drama tv, I don't care, people on screen deserve happiness, damn it! They most of all, tbh, and the fact that Denny was so upset just made it 5464641636469 worse. Then we had Madney helping out, which was lovely but completely unrealistic from a legal pov and also... why can't HenRen just get what they want without a het couple's intervention? So Ortiz had enough power to get Mara away from them but she didn't know that the people wanting to foster her were part of the 118 even though she had something to do with Gerrard being reinstated? I know this was what Tim implied on his socials to explain why someone as shitty as Gerrard would be taken back by the firehouse... which, I don't know if that even makes sense? Does she have the kind of power to do any of this?

A lot of questions now:

Why was a random woman given so many precious minutes of the finale just so Athena could have a car to go after an innocent man? Why does she keep getting away with asking for personal favors, recklessly involving Maddie too? 

Why wouldn't the editor of the episode give us a full body frame at least of Buddie by Bobby's hospital bed? This made me particularly mad because it actually looked like Oliver and Ryan were not there filming (though we knew they were), and that's why they kept showing their backs. 

Maybe they had lines, maybe not, but a few seconds while Chim, Hen and Maddie talked would've been nice... since it clearly seemed like nobody was particularly perturbed by Bobby's state. 

I'm sorry but I can't fear for his life when his wife is away trying to get revenge and his team are just... there. 

Also, why are him, Athena, the aforementioned neighbor and Amir allowed to just walk into a house that suffered that much fire damage? Wouldn't the structure be compromised? 

Plus, Athena and Bobby kinda were awful to Amir, first killing his wife and then accusing him and all, so why would he want to talk about anything with Bobby, nevermind say he's earned his family? He was wronged so badly, he didn't owe them a thing, it's honestly ridiculous. 

Then Bobby came back so fast... but he had quit before and forgot about it? 

The Gerrard reveal was actually not something I hated because I love a good shake up. I bet he'll last three episodes at most. 

We know this isn't gonna be good exactly, and it makes zero sense, but a change in dynamics is always refreshing and could put some things into perspective. 

I hated when Buddie weren't partnered, but I ADORED the way Hen was weirded the fuck out by the closeness she is not used to having with Chim while on the field, so I can't wait for some of it.

Things I wanna see:

More May, more Ravi, Eddie’s sisters. 

More Buddie. 

No dating people to fill up time for either of them. 

Eddie’s gay/demi awakening (I swear, if this is not where his story is going, it will all feel like such a waste, much like during his previous breakdown). 

Chris and Mara going back home soon. 

Gerrard and Ortiz getting what they deserve.

This is so long it's insane, if you've read it, I thank you. If I think of anything I forgot, I'll add it later. If you have anything to contribute, please do. I'm around and I'd love to discuss this show and all its intricacies.