#and bc op thinks the show fumbled his character

[pandoratheprocrasticreator]

i think ppl can and should project onto fictional characters. that's kind of what they're for a lot of the time. even if in the story they dont have the exact same experiences the audience can still find similarities with them and it's empowering to headcanon that, because of these similarities, the character has a similar identity to you. a lot of writers purposely give their characters experiences similar to marginalized groups to make those groups feel seen.

that being said, if you project your own experiences onto your blorbos you HAVE to be able to tell when the story is purposely making the character a metaphor for your experiences and when the story is. not doing that. just because you personally relate to a character doesn't mean the character literally is your marginalized identity. and it definitely doesn't mean that the writers hate your marginalized identity, specifically, if they don't do what you want them to do with that character.

[sleepyvib-es]

do you have like a turning point beyond which rick's writing became unsalvageable to you? and if you do, what do you think should have happened instead of what happened canonically

hii! <3 this is such a good question omg, ty for sending it!

i had to really sit and think about this one. i don't think that i could really pinpoint one moment where i felt like "yeah this is it im done" because to me, there are a lot of those throughout the riordanverse lmao

but if i really had to pick one? at the risk of sounding basic, i would say blood of olympus. rick's treatment of his main characters and how he handled their arcs all throughout hoo but especially in boo just didn't work for me. i also strongly dislike how some established themes in pjo and the final conclusion to the og series feel so insignificant now.

before i go further though i will say that there are some things i enjoyed in boo, mainly having to do with nico's and reyna's povs. i don't like that 4 out of the 7 main cast were sidelined in the last book of the series (i think rick's excuse for sidelining annabeth and percy was total bs but i'm equally as angry that frank and hazel both received supporting cast member treatment) but i did enjoy their povs and think that rick's writing was strongest writing these two (until the last few pages of nico's chapter).

i genuinely despise how the narrative started blaming percy for things that were out of his control and how rick turned him into a fumbling incompetent idiot, something that has only gotten worse in his newer books (the way he wrote him in tsast, cotg, and wottg has been discussed in great lengths so i won't dive into it here but i'll link some posts if you're curious).

gonna apologize now for my long rant:

i didn't like the final speech he gave to the greek demigods before fighting, especially when you compare it to the speech he gave in TLO. like the difference between the two is just so... disrespectful lmao that is not my percy. and this was supposed to be the last we saw of percy bc rick said he was done writing for this universe when the book came out. like.. no. this is one of those moments that just shows how heavily he started to lean on the fanon interpretation of percy. a literal decade has passed and the fandom is still struggling with this interpretation of his character. i hate it.

i didn't like the "not my type" joke like imo you had to have written both nico and percy in an ooc way just to land that joke. the way rick wrapped up these two and their ~complicated~ relationship (that is only complicated because rick retconned nico's character and redid his arc from pjo, which would explain some inconsistencies like why he was looking to bring bianca back by using the doors of death when he had a mini arc of acceptance that bianca must stay where she is. which, yk, was the whole emotional conclusion to daedalus and his arc. nico will always grieve his dead sister ofc but he had said goodbye to her in pjo already.) it's one of my least favorite things about hoo.

and listen, out of all the things that i could choose to rewrite, this one scene isn't actually on the top of my list considering all of rick's writing offenses. but i just wish that relationship between both these characters and the conclusion to their arcs had been resolved in a much more meaningful way.

Edit: i think this is an excellent breakdown and analysis of one of my least favorite things regarding nico's writing in hoo. op offers suggestions on how the writing could have been improved and i wholeheartedly agree with everything. it's worth the read!

i think he had a lot of interesting concepts and he introduced a lovely cast of new characters that i love to this day but failed to execute his ideas in a way that would have made better sense narratively. there is a lot i wish had been done differently.

also, im aware that it's not only percy's characterization that has suffered. i'm very critical of the way he's been writing annabeth's character as the girlbossified, hyper-competent mom friend. the flanderization of both percy and annabeth's characters is just Not It for me. but there's also:

the way he fumbled leo's arc in hoo (leo's journey of self love and acceptance is something that can be so personal. i forever mourn the potential that could have been leo realizing that he fucking mattered to his friends. platonic friendships matter.)

sidelining hazel and frank (his mars transformation as part of his character development? terrible, awful implications)

questions left unanswered about frank and hazel's characters and their curse and how that was answered in toa, a series where they were not the main characters.

jason. where do i even begin with jason. i liked his arc in hoo and i like the tragedy of jason's character but i'm not a fan of how he was killed outside of his own series. this was poor writing to me.

i also really wish rick had committed to writing a seperate roman series before writing hoo so that new rome/camp jupiter and its cast were properly fleshed out. perhaps the quality of his writing in hoo would have been better if he had already established jason and reyna as characters instead of starting from scratch with 5 new main characters + reyna + octavian (wouldn't have been such a letdown of a villain)

the way he wrote nico and will in tsats. and also all the inconsistencies, the typos, the retcons, the way the plot literally doesn't make sense (why couldn't hades just let bob out? why is making his son relieve his experience in superhell with his bf seen as such a great parenting moment?). it made tartarus seem like Not A Big Deal. the cocomelons.

i love piper but god is it hard to ignore rick's unhidden biases about the way he feels about women. i also think she deserved better. i love that she has a girlfriend but i wish shel was a fleshed out character. and again i just wish we had all this from piper's pov.

the way he handled reyna's character after hoo. other people have discussed this in a much better way that i can on this post but his aroace rep and lesbophobia is very disappointing.

the way he retconned and handled calypso's character. i have never shipped caleo so i dont care if they break up. if it was up to me leo would have been single and gay never been on that island and they would have never gotten together. however, the way he wrote them in toa does not make me feel better about either of their character arcs. there are so many interesting things he could have done with calypso's character post pjo (where she was actually meaningful to the plot and themes of the series) and he took the "snarky love interest" route. it's boring. i also know she's not anyone's favorite but rick has done a huge disservice to her character that's kinda ... not really discussed b/c of how much people dislike her.

the cupid scene

i think that he attempted to rectify a lot of these issues in toa. but even where i find positive things to say about toa, there are still some things that i'm just not really happy about. this isn't me criticising the series, feel free to enjoy it if you do! i have moots that love it. the few complaints i have boil down to rick choosing to resolve character arcs outside of the series where they were the main characters. it just makes the writing in hoo look even worse.

back to why boo was the turning point for me: i remember being so angry that i couldn't bring myself to read the book much less finish it. i'm someone who doesn't like to drop things halfway once i've started (including shows and movies. like i literally force myself to finish a series even when i feel the writing quality has gone down. i have watched every ep of grey's anatomy up to it's current season and yes i know what that says about me lmao.)

sometimes i like media that is mid or trashy and im okay with that! but when it's to the point where i don't even want to finish it? that's how you know you lost me.

[pixieswashere]

First off, I agree with everything with what OP said here. I want to also add onto this that it makes no sense for AU!Jinx/Powder not to have her mental illness/psychosis, not only bc of the fact she had it since she was a child....but also bc in that universe.....Vi is dead...like SHE IS GONE. If anything the trauma and psychosis would still be there, if not worsen overtime.

Like at first when I started it, I didn't think much thinking that in this universe she had professionall help in coping with it healthily.....but then the Vi reveal and the fact we didnt see her having some hallucinations or voices is what ruined this......her ONLY last remaining family to her parents and who was very close to her clearly...is DEAD. Jinx loved her sister so much and had a mental breakdown as a kid when she LEFT her to go and find Vander. The only person who was there that BELIEVED in her, STUCK up for her, and practically raised her along Vander. You're telling me, Jinx wouldn't have any slightest of a breakdown or crisis over that??? At all??? Even when considering her mental state???

Adding to this for Viktor (bc I love him and I 100% agree that his character was fumbled)

Viktor NEVER hated himself in s1 let's get that straight. In S1, he makes a very big POINT to show that he has always carried himself and that in whatever he does, he is proud of it because he believed in himself enough to accept who he is and DOESN'T care about what others think of him

"When you're going to change the world don't ask for permission."

"I didn't have the benefits of a patron or a name, I simply....BELIEVED in MYSELF."

You could argue that while yes he is self-assured and confident, he still has some insecurities of how people close to him perceive him....and that could be true, but it's not really ever alluded. He DOES care about making connections but hes isolated himself bc of these judgements that its almost second nature if not a rarity. But he does value companionship, its just not something he is accustomed to a degree, and he sometimes without consideration distances himself from it if it gets in the way of his aspirations (Ex: Sky/Jayce, Heimerdinger/Singed.) In the latter acts of S1 he was DYING he wasn't hating himself because of his "terminal illness" that was killing him or his disability....He was in a vulnerable and solemn state because he felt like his accomplishments meant or achieved NOTHING. This is a character that is selfless, altruistic and a workaholic who worked his way up with dreams of something better and now after so many years in developing Hextech he's seeing that what he strived to achieve for the improvement of his home that's also DYING because of Piltover's ignorance and oppression, is unable to do NOTHING about it now.

He is angry that he has no CONTROL over his fate and the assuredness of his Legacy = helping those in need for the Undercity because of Jayce and Piltover's lack of understanding, especially after they had complied building the Hexgates for their trade disputes first.....over the disputes of lives. Viktor has contemplated death because he knows time is fleeting and he wants to make it count for something good, he doesnt want to be remembered as PERFECT, he wants to be remembered in the contributions that the people of Zaun will FINALLY heal/be helped after so long and not have to live short lives bc of unsafe work environments, manual labour, illnesses cause by toxic chemicals and etc.

He even brushes the idea of when he'll die off, and you could even add that he is ticked off by the fact that hes now being perceived as a "dead man" before he even died (Ex. Heimerdinger convo and Jayce in the hospital, etc). He doesn't like being seen as powerless or as his terminal illness now because he ISN'T and never was. Furthermore, he doesnt use the Hexcore to "PERFECT" himself, he's using it to heal himself of his terminal illness/expand his lifespan so that he can continue his research in helping Zaun.

If he is going to use Hexcore, he needs to make sure that it will work. So, to tests its capabilities, he tests it on HIMSELF. Only to find out that the same thing he created to HEAL ended up killing someone that meant a lot to him. He wasted NO TIME telling Jayce to destroy it bc it harmed someone and he finally realizes that ensuring a legacy = saving people....ended up at the cost of harming people in return.

P.s. sorry this was long. Hope you enjoyed reading it if u did !

I don't have perfect thoughts on it, but I do want to note that I'm not loving how Arcane handles disability.

Viktor hating his disability so deeply, feeling that it needs to be "fixed" so thoroughly, that he succumbs to ~ultimate eugenics for everyone ~ ?????? fucked up

Jinx's psychosis being a manifestation of her being "unhinged" and encouraging her to act out either to challenge or appease them, and then her psychosis magically disappearing in the "perfect" universe????? also fucked up

Vi's alcoholism and (albeit mild) psychotic symptoms never being brought up....ever???? just created as fodder to make her a more angsty and submissive lapdog to facism????? also also fucked up

Let me have my mad/cripple characters who have their shit recognized as parts of their humanity rather than trauma porn plot or things that need to be corrected or traits indicative of rash violence please

[taz-skylar]

hi roh!

hope this week has been kind to you 😌 (despite all your finals) as a working adult (?) fumbling through the world, sometimes (most times) I really miss my school days hah

asdfghj I confess to not watching op *sweats* I briefly considered bingeing it to make your gift but when I googled the episode count, this was me: *insert homer simpson backing into bush meme*

I'm enjoying both of them! sxf was kinda slow the first few episodes, but I really enjoyed the tennis tournament ones. blue lock is absolutely amazing so far! I went into it knowing only that it was about football/ soccer so the first episode had me going ?????? omg is it that dramatic? 🤣 the additional time really had me laughing though, especially the recent one with kunigami crying 💀 tbh I don't remember much of link click but I remember it keeping me on the edge of my seat, and whenever the first few notes of the ending song started playing I would go "ah yes here comes the cliffhanger ending"

your answers were so fun to read, especially the characters you relate to! if anyone ever asked me that question I would probably struggle to answer, but you have so many and that's so cool! you and moh sound like a chaos duo asdfgh but it's such a nice dynamic! my brother and I aren't that distant but we don't share similar interests and don't spend much time together, so we don't have a lot of things in common to talk about. increasingly the only time we interact is when we go on family trips which are becoming shorter and rare as the years go by 😔 you and moh sound close and I'm really envious about that!

and here's this week's questions: do you have any plans for the end of the year? do you have anything new you're looking forward to or want to try next year? could be an activity, a hobby, a place to go to, ...

- your animanga secret santa 🦖

finally finished all my exams so i’m just exhausted and finally got back home on monday night so i’m just catching up with my family and friends and on tv shows/movies that i missed while school was going on.

flkadfja i’m honoured that you even considered bingeing op for me 🤣 that’s hilarious and amazing !!! yeah, op is definitely the longest animanga series out there but i will say that it’s definitely worth the read/watch! and if you ever do, lmk and we can scream about it together bc i definitely feel like you’d enjoy it :D

yes, sxf was pretty slow in the beginning but i’m glad it’s picking up now ! the tennis tournament was absolutely wild and my sister and i had to keep pausing and rewatching certain scenes bc we couldn’t stop laughing (like when loid started dodging the bullets by swinging all over the place fjaldkfa). my favourite thing about blue lock is that, while all other sports animanga are like ‘there’s no i in team’ and everything, blue lock’s like fuck friendships, i’m winning this shit flkfjad the additional time bits are such a cute little add on, i love them all!! since i got super busy with school, i wasn’t able to get back into link clink but now that i’m home, i’m hoping i finally can (especially since i stopped on a two parter)!

faldfj i wanna know who you find yourself relating to now that you posed that challenge 🧐 that question was super fun, and initially i definitely struggled and had to go through my anime list bc i suddenly forgot every single character that i’ve ever seen fjaldkfja (also why i asked moh what she thinks which was a mistake, clearly)

yeah, moh and i are very chaotic. i think everyone who knows us can attest to that, our parents like to say that when we fight, we’re like cats so that’s fun 🤣 aww i honestly can’t imagine not being close to my twin sister or my brother. is there anything that you and your brother do enjoy doing together?? do you guys live close to one another? maybe starting with something small can bring you closer than you are?

answer for this week’s question: my plans for the end of the year consist of me being home with my family and friends for a bunch of parties since i haven’t seen them all for 4 months and eating all the homemade food my mom and dad can make bc i missed it so much 💙 i really want to explore the city i’m living in next year so hopefully school will calm down a bit and let me do that bc i’m only there for one year and i don’t want to just be sitting doing nothing but studying 😭

thanks for the ask!! love hearing from you, bud! 💙

[quetzalpapalotl]

Under a cut bc the post is long enough already

I mean, I'm very open about the fact that I think Megatron being shoved into Mtmte made the narrative go astray and messed up many character arcs bc JRo didn't know how to integrate them in their new plot. The mainly happened to Drift, but I think the biggest fumble was Rodimus, as he is the main character so fucking him up is felt more strongly. His arc is sort of... left hanging and never really picks back the momentum if got rolling pre Dark Cybertron only to give him some sorta closure by the end of LL.

But Tarn just isn't a character I think was strongly hit by this. More info on his time as Damus would have been nice, but I don't think the lack of it can exactly be atrributed to Megatron and we do have the bare minimun we need to understand him. He fulfilled his narrative role nicely and was put away. I really don't know what else we could have asked of his character. I also don't think his pathetic-ness only shows in the context of Megatron: he loses his cool far too often for the kind of person he pretends to be, he looks like a dork trying to run a murder squad like a corporate manager who insisnts we're all family and then murders his own guy bc he let Overlord get under his skin.

I do think that his transforming addiction is an attribute that's only told and never shown and only exists for the Delphi arc (that's not really about him) and never integrated into his character.

As for Getaway, I mean, I think that believing that his mutiny was really about Megatron instead of an excuse to get people to rally behind something he already wanted to do is just buying into his lies. But you do seem to be aware that Getaway always had it out for the captaincy, so I won't go into detail about that. But it's because the excuse is reasonable that it works. The mutiny includes the entire crew, includes characters we readers were meant to be fond of and it includes Thunderclash who is perfect and has never done anything wrong in his life.

But then again, the excuse was maybe too good. And as it is the case with Megatron, his gravity weights down on the narrative and JRo doesn't really know how to course-correct. I don't mind that it obfuscates Getaway's actual motivations because I think those are clear enough if you pay attention, but that it eclipses that Rodimus' shortcomings as a captain were also (or should have been) part of the crew's discontent (which I assume would have gotten more focused if Drift had been the reason for the mutiny I, as it was originally planned iirc). And then the foil rivals thing Getaway and Rodimus have got going also loses focus. And then we never really get to resolve the crew's discontent with Megatron.

I don't think that the script is necessarily on Megatron's side. I think a lot of it is about Megatron getting over himself. Like, Megatron starts with an intellectual belief that he fucked up and he keeps gaining a deeper understanding of how much he fucked up. Like, even Elegant Chaos shows us what a joke it is to think that Megatron could have been the better choice. I am very happy with Megatron's arc in Dying of the Light, I think it makes sense, I think it works for him. My issue is again, how this is integrated to the broader story.

I think a problem is that Mtmte is a story that isn't shy about showing its characters as morally wrong (except OP), but also doesn't really put its focus on it, they just are. But Megatron's arc is one where you can put morality on the backseat as easily, so that tone dissonance plus the fact that the comic wants you to root for Megatron is what creates the "woe is me, I killed people" effect.

But you made the comparison on how Barber can write OP effectively while JRo not so much and that a lot of how JRo write Megatron feels similar to how he writes OP, and I'm thinking you're right. While JRo is not willing to question OP's morality and he is Megatron's, this takes the form of JRo not really questioning the implications of OP's actions despite him being a big and important figure. Megatron's action are always more adressed in the hyphotetical and we never really see the impact he has on people the way we see Optimus' impact on people very directly on Barber's series. Which makes it all about Megatron and also contributes to the "woe is me"

So maybe we really could have used a better look at Tarn, after all...

And then we have..... everything that happens in Lost Light which not only making it more All About Megatron, and diminishes his arc on Mtmte by basically saying that Megatron was really the better choice all along bc the Council would have eventually tried to destroy not only the whole galaxy but also other dimentions and also even after all that time only Megatron would have been capable of oposing them....... I don't like to think about this much tbh.

As always, I think JRo's biggest weakness is that he gets these ideas that sound really cool and he get so focused on getting them on page that he loses sight of the themes.

Strange thing but did you ever feel like Tarn was made to be more pathetic just to work around Megatron being on the MTMTE cast? Like maybe pathetic wasn't the right word but like JRo had to kneecap the character cor Megs.

Honestly, Tarn has always being pathetic to me lmao

But I kind of get what you mean. There are two factors about Tarn's confrontation with Megatron that make him seem pathetic, the first is that he's an emotional mess that wants to punish Megatron at the same time that he's begging him to go back to the person he used to be. The second is how easily Megatron gets rid of him the moment Megatron decides to get serious, making Tarn look weak in comparison.

For the first one, I really would have accepted nothing else. Tarn is above everything else fake. The guy is LARPing at being this righteous revolutionary that's doing the necessary evil who is so smooth and cultured who cares so much for his team and Megatron's vision and all that. Tarn—presumably to distance himself from Glitch—relies on performing this image of himself and his idolatry of Megatron to get a sense of identity and confidence, it's not about the cause no matter how many quotes he throws at you, is about feeling good with himself. This, I think, is something that has always being a part of his character, so him losing his shit when his identity is treathened this way is only natural.

And there's something poetic about it, Tarn who represents the cause is hollow and fake because Megatron's cause was always being hollow and fake. He groomed Tarn just to spite Optimus. He made up some shit about how they totally needed to kill all the organics and after that we'll have peace, trust me, bro, because his life stopped to have meaning without violence and he didn't want to be vulnerable ever again. So Megatron has to expose and kill Tarn for his own arc.

And I really like that, I love that Tarn is absolutely lame despite it, or because of it, he is this terrifying threat. But because he's introduced as this mounstrous unstoppable force, it may feel cheap that Megatron defeats him so easily. But honestly I don't have a problem with it, Megatron is supposed to be Megatron, the scourge of the galaxy, the guy this professional murder-torturer fears so much. I think it was important for the arc he was going through to really show just how good Megatron is at violence and why he's so afraid of returning to it.

Which I guess, from a certain point of view, does mean that Tarn was discarded for Megatron's arc, but like, he's a villian, he was meant to be defeated no matter how scary he looked, I don't mind. And like, Megatron did have to pull a brand new and op trick to do it, which I guess may also feel unsatisfying, but like, it's Transformers, I expect bullshit powers to happen and it did have set up, it wasn't out of nowhere, which is the most I ask. The most important thing for me is that things make thematic sense.

But I will say that we do know that originally Drift was going to be the DJD's target, and we can't say how that would have looked like, Drift doesn't really need to be able to curb-stomp the DJD alone. But I don't think Tarn's personality would have come across as any less pathetic, like I said, his character always seemed fake, even before Dark Cybertron. And Drift is someone who is also portrayed as putting on a fake-ass persona at the start of Mtmte so they kinda seem like they were meant to be foils.

I don't dare to speculate further because JRo has a very different vision of Drift than McCarthy and then Drift ended up being the worst written character out of Mtmte bc JRo didn't knew what to do with him when he had to deviate everything to include Megatron. So who knows what Drift vs Tarn would have looked liked, maybe more equal since Drift isn't Megatron. But really my issue with this isn't that Tanr was done dirty, but that Drift was.

[firebirdsdaughter]

Random Writing Tidbit Here We Go…

… Okay. So. First time writing for Zero-One.

Kinda like my first thing for LuPat, this is set in the future. Possibly the far future.

So. This is a little clunky. It’s not great. This mainly started bc I got this idea of calmed down Isamu trying to get Yua to (re)authorise him to use the ProgriseKey to the point that he’s like ‘Do you want me to beg?’ And she’s like ‘If you do that I will throw up.’ It’s also sort of based on the vague idea I had of him maybe coming over to Aruto’s ‘side’ even before she does?

So, in this, the timeline I was imagining was that something like--Isamu/AIMs actually being used by Thouser in some way, and something happens, like he gets a ‘you’ve outlived your usefulness’d or something (and maybe gets saved by Aruto and they end up working themselves out, after it’s hopefully been kinda building overtime). Anyway, Isamu gets, like, ‘blacklisted’ w/ the new AIMs, w/ Thouser basically branding him as a dangerous criminal or something. Yua hangs around bc she feels it’s important she keeps control of the AIMs arsenal, but is general disgusted by proceedings and isn’t actually loyal to Thouser. I’m not sure what exactly is going on outside, but it’s some big fight… I was kinda imagining the scenario kind of like in ToQger where Right was meant to wait for Akira to get back, but lied and went to fight the bad guys anyway, w/ Aruto in Right’s position--why is this right outside AIMs? Heck if I know, I’m just the author.

Anyway. Hopefully this all isn’t too OOC. I think a few of the lines sound like Yua. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A familiar sound behind him made him freeze. “What do you think you’re doing here?”

Even if he hadn’t recognised the click of the ShotRiser, there was no mistaking her voice.

Slowly, he shifted back from the containment unit, raising his hands so she could see them. “… Yaiba.” Under any other circumstances, he might have rolled his eyes at the twist of fate. “Of course.”

He heard her step across the floor, and the gun muzzle pressed against the back of his head. “I asked what you were doing here.” Her tone was level enough that he didn’t think she was fixing shoot him—yet.

“I feel like that’s pretty obvious.” He shot back, before he could stop himself.

The idiocy of that response was driven home when the gun pressed harder against his head, knocking it forward slightly. “Don’t push me, Fuwa.” She hissed icily. “You’re not the Captain anymore.”

“Alright, alright!” He tried to make soothing motions with his hands while keeping them in the air. “… I’m trying to get the ShotRiser.”

“How did you get in?”

“Will you let me turn around?”

“And if I do?”

“I’m not going to try anything—I’m not even armed.”

She hesitated for a moment—then leaned forward, gently patting his jacket to check his claim; maybe it was wishful thinking, but it didn’t seem like she checked as closely as protocol should have mandated. Eventually, satisfied he was telling the truth, her footsteps fell back. “Fine. But slowly, and keep you hands up.” Carefully, he obeyed, leaning back slightly against the case behind him. Despite carrying the ShotRiser, she clearly hadn’t been intending to go into the field—she didn’t even have her vest on, just her regular suit and her usual annoyed expression; and a gun, pointed at his face. “Now, how did you get in.”

“Hacked the locks.” She gave him a disbelieving look. “I’m not completely incompetent. I’ve done spec ops.”

“But why? You know what would’ve happened if anyone else-” She faltered, there, but recovered quickly. “You know what could’ve happened. Why take the risk?”

“Because in a little bit, all hell is gonna break loose outside. And right now, that idiot comedian of a CEO is alone in the middle of it—if I can get the ShotRiser and the Shooting Wolf Key, I can back him up, and he’ll—we’ll have a chance.”

Her mouth twisted in a suspicious frown. “They’re not going anywhere without my authorisation.”

“Alright.” He took a deep breath, well aware of the gravity of what he was about to ask. “… Then I need you to reauthorise me.”

She gaped at him, even lowering the gun in shock. “Have you lost your mind?”

He hesitated for a moment. “… Possibly. But that doesn’t matter right now.”

“I’m not just going to let you take dangerous weapons like that on your own say so.” She hesitated for another moment, a conflict he couldn’t decipher playing across her face—then she lowered her own ShotRiser completely, stepping back. “… But I’m also not interested in shooting you—for now, at least. Get out of here before I change my mind, or someone who will do it shows up.” Turning on her heel started toward the door.

“You need to reauthorise me!” She ignored him, hand on the door handle. “Please!”

She froze. Slowly, mechanically, she turned to stare at him, clearly unable to believe what she was hearing.

He fumbled forward a step, keeping his hands up—just in case it would help. “Please.” He repeated, when she still said nothing. “I’m asking.”

There was a long silence. Finally, she turned fully from the door, scrutinising him. “… Who are you, and what have you done with Fuwa Isamu?”

“I’m not joking.”

“Neither am I.”

They stared at each other for a long moment—then, somewhere outside the building, something exploded, shaking the foundations.

She glanced frantically around, her weapon snapping back up—though not pointed at him again, yet. “What was that?”

Though they stayed in the air, his hands curled into tense fists, gritting his teeth. “Shit! He lied to me!” His attention snapped back to her, even more urgently. “Remember what I said about hell breaking loose? Well, that’s it.” He knew his expression was turning into pleading, but there wasn’t time to care anymore—pride be damned; for once in his life, someone out there actually needed him. “So please… You need to reauthorise me.”

“How can I possibly-”

“Look, I know how you don’t trust me, or even like me, and I know that there’s probably nothing I can say to change that. There’s a lot I can’t make up for. But this isn’t about me!” His arms lowered slowly, still keeping his hands where she could see them, forcing his fists to unclench. “Hiden’s out there. Alone. If we—if I—if someone doesn’t help, he’s going to get himself killed.” He gave her a hard look. “Are you really okay with that?” She deliberately didn’t meet his gaze, looking pointedly over his shoulder as another tremor ran through the building. He flinched, casting a nervous glance towards the direction the sound had come from—as a soldier, he’d learned the sounds of destruction well, and the idea of that obnoxious kid stuck out there alone made his chest clench. Struggling to keep his breathing under control, he turned back to her, now unashamed of the open desperation in his face—his next words were so quiet it even surprised him. “… Do you want me to beg? Because I will.” She looked back over to stare at him like he was speaking an alien language. When she still said nothing, he sighed, and dropped ungracefully to a kneel on the armoury floor. “Yaiba, I-”

“Don’t!” She snapped, throwing out a hand to silence him. “If you say another word, I am going to throw up.” Obediently, he shut his mouth, merely giving her a plaintive look.

For a long moment, she just stared back at him, searching his gaze, the alarum and discomfort that had flashed into her expression when she’d told him to stop. Finally, she sighed deeply. Fishing her phone from her pocket, she tapped in a code on the screen—and something behind his shoulder beeped. Glancing back, he saw that the light on the case had switched to green. Frowning slightly, she tucked the device away again.

Slowly, he got to his feet, then turned and tried the case door again—which popped open easily. Looking cautiously back between her and the container, he carefully retrieved the ShotRiser and ProgriseKey, examining them for a moment—then another explosion rocked the walls, and he spun on his heel, rushing for the door.

Only to pause as he came up beside her. “… If it does count for anything, at all…” He stared awkwardly at the wall rather than her for a moment, then took a deep breath and actually met her gaze. “… I am sorry.” He didn’t wait for her to respond, instead rushing out the door at a full run.

Yua stayed where she was for a moment, taking out the Rushing Cheetah Key and turning it over in her hand. The building shook again. After another moment, her fingers curled back around it and she scowled. “Oh, screw it.” With a decided huff, she spun around and ran after him.

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I kinda imagined Isamu’s big ‘wake up call’ might sorta… ‘Break’ him, so to speak? So that’s why I was trying to write him as significantly more subdued. Feels like he’s the type of character who would react to their rigid worldview being upturned by sort of losing their will and going kind of death seeker (hence a certain slip in his dialogue in here). So… He’s kinda still reeling and very self destructive at the moment.

Yua goes off too at the end bc she knows very well those two idiots are probably going to make everything worse, somehow, and she’s had enough.

… Did any of this make sense? I am so tired. I’m not sure any of this made sense.

[angstandhappiness]

INTRIGUING

@ninjakittenarmy I mean yeah, everyone knew he was sus, but a lot of us were hoping it’d be a red herring because it was both really obvious and played out for him to be the villain while as an ostensible good guy, he was a pretty entertaining foul to Oz with a few good counters to his philosophies.

@gatheringkeepsakes #ironwoods arc was flawlessly executed and i will die on this hill#also many of your commentaries about what fear does to a person can be applied to some groups in fndm me thinks

@laserdog10 THIS, THISTHISTHISTHISTHIIIIIIS!

@shadows-twilight #it truly is baffling to see people jump on his iron dick and treat him like his turn to villainy was some kind of character assassination#the signs were there from the very beginning

@indomitableweiss #as a resident ironwood fan yeah exactly#except for that last point of not to sympathize with him#bcs i think part of the point of ironwood as a character is that you can sympathize with him#bcs like you said#ironwood WAS a good man#and there are points where you can see that in v3 and 4#but the point is that he is a tragedy#bcs a number of things#(his paranoia. his need for control. his belief this his way is the best way. his unwillingness to be vulnerable)#end up destroying him as he falls to fear#from the start you can both see how he had good and dangerous qualities#but the decisions he made bcs he was afraid#and refused to ask for help#are what doomed him and so many people#and you can recognize that and sympathize#without saying that he was in the right or crwby messed up his character or anything#bcs it’s possible to sympathize with antagonists without acting like they’re really the hero#(sorry for rambling in your notes op. ironwood is my special guy that i love to think about)

@revalentinee #honestly it was a huge W for rwby to portray its military man(tm) as suspicious and villainous and i think they really nailed it#also with his whole military recuitment thing with weiss back in v4#your home life sucks? join the military! you'll have a place here!#thats probably how winter joined tbh

@tokufan400 I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: The fall itself fumbled near the end, but I won’t say it wasn’t decently built up.

@iamafanofcartoons Whoo! Well said!

@dappercat123 I think most people claimed that hen”proved himself” towards the end of volume 3, he did have his heroic moment, like telling the students they can leave, etc, People assumed this was his “character arc” and that he’d already moved past his failings. Which was clearly not true by volume 4

@everydaywulfang On the topic of Ironwood's semblance, people that use that as some sort of excuse always miss that he only uses it like twice. He uses it to shoot Oscar and attack Winter. There's a visual tell where the highlights in his eyes disappear. I think the best show of it is when he's about to fight Winter because you can see him getting visibly and audibly upset but then suddenly drop to a placid expression. It's not him like, mind controlling himself somehow, it's him shutting off the little voice in his head that tells him not to hurt his friends.

@bridgyrose #this#he's had issues from the start#and vol 7 and 8 really were just his fall as he shed his own humanity#There's a reason he said he admired Salem's inhumanity

@tumblingxelian #Beautiful work

@average-monster #and it was a fantastic arc!!!#such a compelling story!

@crimsonxe I'd also toss in his basically extorting of Jac-ass towards the end of v4. Like I love watching Jac-ass squirm, but looking at just the situation and traits on display it was extortion.

@angstpancake @crimsonxe yeeeeep. he basically threatened jacques in his own home. which he deserves but stiLL if you have jacques schnee of all people telling you to get a grip-

@keets-writing-corner beautifully said OP!!

@dappercat123 @angstpancake I think the bigger issue is that he never threatened Jacques over the countless dead Faunus caused by his cutbacks on safety standards, But once what Jacques did went against what HE wanted, suddenly ironwood has problems

@angstpancake @dappercat123 absolutely. Despite what he says Ironwood doesnt give a shit about anyone but himself and the hunk of rock that gave him the power and means to fight back against salem. Also @dappercat123 in response to your reblog, Ive always viewed him telling the students that they can just leave their school even though they trained to be heroes, is very telling of his true nature if hes telling everyone they can just abandon hope and heroism and save themselves.

@dappercat123 @angstpancake ok I have to disagree with you there, I think he did want t save the world, but his worldview was sow arow dbz atlas society he doesn’t think the world can survive without atlas, but he truly believed he was the hero, that he was doing “what had to be done” He was wrong, but he wasn’t an arrogant self serving prick in the same way someone like, say Jacques is And as for his speech in volume 3? That was genuin,y heroic, these kids where students, not fully trained and CERTAINLY-not prepared for an attack on that scope, they didn’t even know Salem existed, they didn’t know about the relics, the gods, or ANY of this shit, yet ozpin is using basically them as human shields to be out between salem and the relics, this is why the gang got so,pissed at ozpin, because he told them NOTHING yet still expected them to fight and die for it, Giving them the chance to go and live their lives is a heroic act, they shouldn’t have to die for his and ozpins mistakes,

@angstpancake @dappercat123 yea thats true. I suppose where i’m going is that even though he meant well, there were a lOT of things about him that felt off? so signs were there. And i think that vol 7’s flashback to the fall of beacon, aFTER that beginning scene showing the condition of mantle and the general shouldve been the first signs for those people who thought his arc was over in vol 3 that he’s not right and something is fishy.

@dappercat123@angstpancake oh I agree, honesty towards the end of volume 7 when he came clean to the council and started dedicating resources towards evacuating mantle he was making genuine steps towards learning from his mistakes Then he saw cinder’s chess piece and went right back to his old way’s,

@angstpancake @dappercat123 yea true that mightve been why he said that to them. But it doesnt change the fact that although he mightve been a good person once, it didnt mean that his actions at the fall of beacon indicated his arc was over. I think it would be more clear if we look at him fighting there as the beginning of his arc, showing him on the grounds fighting side by side with innocent people, to it ending with him alone on a falling hunk of rock, no one by his side.

@dappercat123 @angstpancake oh I agree i never said it absolved him of his other obvious flaws, he still caused his own downfall and those flaws where evident from the beginning

@crimsonxe @angstpancake Since I looked back in on a whim and saw the convo happening I want to toss in that characters can be shitty with some good traits or good with some massively shitty traits. IW can be argued either direction, though I do lean a bit towards the latter. IW's "massive shitty traits" that were shown across the series = hero complex, "my way is the only way", stubborn-ness, might is all, military military military, etc. Him displaying some good traits doesn't (contin.) remove the bad. He can tell the students no one will blame them for leaving (good) and yet still have massive shitty traits.

Idk when people switched from “ironwood is sus” in vol 3 to “ironwood is a fucking hero who deserved better” in vol 8. This fall of ironwood was built up from the beginning. He was already paranoid during volume 2, when he decided to gaze menacingly into the distance at night in uniform and Glynda tells him “Its time you stopped talking about trust and started showing it”

Ironwood has always been stressed about Salem. He is lectured time and time again in volume 3 about the unnecessary show of force by everyone in Ozpin’s inner circle. They know the enemy is there, but Ironwood screwed them over by revealing that. And didn’t the fandom show some distrust towards Ironwood’s intentions when the council handed over the control of security to him? Didn’t Ironwood do that behind Ozpin’s back? Yes, and yes. The Fall of Beacon showed Ironwood that nowhere is safe, and being “prepared” with an army up his ass 24/7 is necessary. When he had his flashback to the fall of beacon during volume 7, it proves that the event made things ten times worse. His trust was betrayed, and like Ozpin, he put up walls to keep himself safe. But his walls were made of cinder blocks and explosives. Ironwood fell to fear just like Lionheart did. But Ironwood didn’t want to surrender, and that’s what made him different from Lionheart, but Salem controls creatures who are attracted to fear, and the hearts of men are easily swayed.

Oh yea Ironwood's semblance is not something outside of his control. I honestly don't believe in such a thing as passive semblance. We can even see the possibility of Qrow's bad luck, which was believed to be passive, start to become something he can control if he changes his outlook. Ironwood's semblance locks him to a goal, and shuts off his emotions so he can no longer hesitate. But ironwood still has to pull that trigger, and he cant ctrl+z the bullet. "I hope you aren't going to try to convince me to change my mind." "I don't think that is possible anymore" SO yea, Ironwood is not victim of his semblance.

Once you start to forget about the ordinary person, then you start to lose your humanity and who you are. You start to lose sight of what is good in the world, and replace it with fear and uncertainty and distrust. Once you stop caring, it all comes crumbling down. Ruby and Ozpin tried to show Ironwood that, but fear had an iron grip on Ironwood's heart to the point where he wouldn't listen.

Ironwood was a good man. Emphasis on was. Ozpin seemed to have similar thoughts, enough to invite him into the inner circle. At some point, they were friends. But fear took its hold and wouldn't let go. And it ended in tragedy.

“The single quality that is common across every living creature on this planet, is fear; it’s funny then that as common as fear is, we so easily underestimate its power.

Fear of growing close to someone, the subsequent fear of loss, fear of failure; and as more people depend on you, those fears can take on greater power.

Fear itself isn’t worthy of concern, it is who we become while in its clutches . Will you be proud of that person? Will you forgive them? Will you understand why they felt the need to do the things they did? Will you even recognize them? Or will the person staring back at you be the very thing you should have feared from the start?

I suppose we all find out sooner or later."

Stop worshipping false heroes. Stop sympathizing with horrible monsters. Stop rewriting the narrative. This was planned from the start. Leave CRWBY alone