bleepity-blooper - Tumblr blog

[bleepity-blooper]

So I’ve finally started reading The Sight, and I’m really interested in Hollypaw. The medcats as a whole are VERY fascinating to me.

I know Jaypaw eventually gets forced to be a medicine cat or something along the lines of that, and it’s obviously the book wants us to see Jaypaw as having more potential and just being “made for it” compared to Hollypaw, who’s mostly interested for religious purposes, and thus is somehow.. idk, “unpure” in motivation. But honestly, I don’t see why that’s bad?

Being a medicine cat is an inherently religious role. You’re a healer, and the communicator between starclan and living cats. That’s an IMPORTANT role, especially in a society incredibly based around religion. These cats are so fucking religious that it dictates their WHOLE WORLD. For Hollypaw to be interested in it makes sense. Everyone tells her she HAS to follow the code, she HAS to listen to starclan.

This is a really interesting moment to me. I feel like the author is trying to hint Hollypaw won’t be that good of a medicine cat, but I just can’t read it like that. To me, Hollypaw is exploring her religion. She HAS to follow the code, but how does the code apply in this situation? Does Starclan see Graystripe as “dead” in their society? He IS alive, but what does that mean? She’s obviously being kind of insensitive about it, but these are normal things for a curious religous child to be wondering about.

She does not have much of a passion or instinct for healing, but she DOES want to assist her clan, and she wants to be connected to starclan. I can’t see this as being a problem?? As long as she learns how to heal, and can do so properly, I really don’t see any issues with it.

[bleepity-blooper]

i will literally never get over the time leafpool told mothwing about a vision she’d recieved and mothwing believed her even though she doesn’t believe in starclan so leafpool asked why and mothwing fr says “because i believe in you, leafpool” and there’s literally emphasis on the you. i will die and explode she straight up said i will blur the lines of what faith and religion means to me just for you babygirl

[bleepity-blooper]

Ngl I feel like there really were no “good” characters in Mapleshade’s vengeance cause all of those cats have done something wrong whether directly or indirectly. At the end of the day all of them are morally grey.

[bleepity-blooper]

We have too many cases of a cat being forced to become a medicine cat against their will, how about instead of all that they give us a cat being forced to become warrior against their will when they really REALLY want to be a medicine cat.

[bleepity-blooper]

I’m a big fan of the headcanon that warriors is post apocalyptic and the cat societies used to be huge until something wiped them out or they destroyed each other with a deadly war. I think I like the headcanon so much because it has a lot of potential for worldbuilding.

We already know about the existence of the ancient cats who lived by the lake and later went on to form the clans and the tribe. Well what if those ancient cats happened to be the survivors of whatever happened to their previous society. What if the original inhabitants of the lake were the cats who dug out the tunnels in the first place and had elaborate underground networks.

There would be so much potential to create a cool culture with unique traditions, and could perhaps answer why the tunnels had been dug at all, and what purpose they originally served. Imagine if these cats had had an entire writing system of their own based on claw scratches left on trees or sticks (like Jayfeather’s stick). It could have been used to pass on valuable information.

Idk I feel like it would just be such a cool concept.

[bleepity-blooper]

This was a very interesting read. As someone who is not American I had no idea that the tribe contained so many stereotypes about Indigenous American culture. Felt like it was worth a reblog

Since it’s been brought up again, here are some statements made by Indigenous people about warrior cats, feathers, and other issues

Warrior Cats and Anti-Indigenous Writing doc by Several Indigenous writers (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nnCCD4TfR-5MZie9hQgpDfEE4mYpCtjNXQpD9VqOkxs/edit)

The Feather Issue Doc by Kit (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ll3Gfo7d5kD2GLT1F1t4fUcP9LkLRHWBQ197XffU_Os/edit)

Explaining why the tribe is racist by Mouse (https://volepaw.tumblr.com/post/182546899759/this-is-probably-a-long-time-ago-but-i-just-saw-it)

Another take on the feather issue and the fandom at large by Ńoakka (https://cat-soap-opera.tumblr.com/post/678715926987866112/regardless-of-how-harmful-the-feather-thing-is-to)

It's More Of An Ableism thing by Window (https://nmirah.tumblr.com/post/659609615122694144)

The Siamese cats from Firestar's Quest by pippastrelle (https://pippastrelle.tumblr.com/post/686149398523199488/how-have-i-not-seen-people-talk-about) (unclear if they are a poc or not, still a good point.)

Indigenous people feel free to add your own thoughts.

[bleepity-blooper]

Look as far as I am concerned Graystripe’s parents were Willowpelt and Whitestorm, and he was their kit from a previous litter. Saying this cause it makes me uncomfortable to think that his father was Patchpelt cause that would make his parents siblings. Besides Willowpelt and Whitestorm canonically have kits later on so bam problem solved.

[bleepity-blooper]

Y’know the more I think about it the more I feel as if the new prophecy might be my favourite warriors arc. The whole message was essentially about breaking barriers between the clans, everyone learning to be more accepting of each other regardless of background and forming unlikely friendships.

We really got to read about the questing cats becoming closer through their travels, the clans at home being forced to work together in order to overcome challenges, friendships forming as a result of hardships and the clans finally learning to appreciate loners and rogues (when humans started taking clan cats away).

And then they just proceeded to do absolutely nothing with it, and after a while everything went back to normal despite the existing bonds that were formed. I wish it had ended with some sort of message about how the clans are finally starting to unlearn their prejudice and be more accepting of each other and outsiders. Cause I can’t help thinking that it had wasted potential. This was the big chance for the clans to get rid of their xenophobia and it would have been a cool idea for the new generation to play a crucial part in it.

[bleepity-blooper]

I feel like overall the warrior cats fandom needs more female villains. I can think of maybe three off the top of my head and those are Mapleshade, Sleekwhisker and Rainflower.

And even though some of them succeed at being absolutely horrible cats (looking at you Rainflower), their motives seem wildly different from male villains in the series.

I guess I just want at least one female villain who gets her chance to be totally unhinged and power hungry and whose villain arc doesn’t revolve around a tragic backstory like Mapleshade.

[bleepity-blooper]

I barely see anyone talk about the fact that Cinderpelt and Brightheart were literally SISTERS. Like true they were from two different litters and Cinderpelt was older, but still why is this never acknowledged in the book.

Their family must have been hit by some sort of bad luck curse cause one sister gets run over by a car and the other gets mauled by wild dogs. You think they ever like talk to each other about their traumatic experiences??

[bleepity-blooper]

imagine if jayfeather never became a med cat. hollyleaf became a warrior too, sure, but jayfeather has his whole "i can't believe he gave the blind kitten to the half blind cat you still have one working eye" in front of brightheart and she's like "it's because i had to learn a whole new style of fighting when i lost my eye and i can fucking do it again"

so she works with jaypaw to figure out his strengths in battle and weaknesses. his problem with visual tells? she interrogates everyone about other clans' fighting styles and recreates them on her own time, and then she works with jaypaw until he can recognize the sound of someone planting their hind paws to rear up, the sound of a front paw rushing through the air, the sound of riverclan warriors emerging from the river when most warriors wouldn't be able to hear it because they wouldn't be listening for it. she runs drills with him again and again, not telling him what clan's fighting style she's emulating before starting and letting him figure out. he gets lightning-quick reflexes, and the ability to tune out most battle sounds to focus on the cat in front of him. he learns how to get his subconscious to focus on the sounds of battle and filter in the sound of approaching pawsteps. he learns how to go for the main parts of the body, the head and legs with a sideswipe and the full body itself by crashing down. he learns that if he scoops up sand, dirt, leaf-litter, and throws it at their face, it'll fuck them up completely. he learns how to track a moving target while he himself is moving.

she brings him out to pieces of the territory without telling him where they are, and has him guess. she has him learn to pinpoint a scent and sound more precisely than any sighted cat, to brush a paw over the ground so lightly that it doesn't crunch dead leaves or snap twigs. she has leafpool cobweb a leaf over her good eye and tries to hunt, to figure out the problem areas, and she figures out workarounds. she brings him to different spots of the territory and quizzes him on the location, on how to get places from there. she has him move silently all the way back to camp.

his siblings graduate. everyone tells them to give up. jaypaw looks them in the eyes and says fuck you, he's learning to be a warrior and it's working.

he and brightheart run drills where they borrow other clans' cats and have them attack jaypaw. he defends himself startlingly well, in their eyes.

at one point he, in typical prickly jaypaw fashion, asks longtail why tf he's still an elder. longtail finds the idea of becoming a warrior again insurmountable. jaypaw flounces off thinking he's better than longtail because of course he does, but it makes longtail happy to see a cat who is like him doing what he couldn't.

brightheart grabs the leader himself and is like "watch jaypaw's assessment. he's doing ridiculously amazing he should be a warrior" and he has to agree, jaypaw has somehow mastered being a warrior despite his disability.

jaypaw gets to be a warrior and spit in the faces of everyone who told him he couldn't, brightheart becomes the de facto mentor of disabled kittens, and the rest of the clan learns an Important Lesson about disability

(edit we have a poll abt his warrior name now)

[bleepity-blooper]

Jayfeather appreciation

This is a Jayfeather appreciation post cause the dude had to constantly go through so much shit and deserved way better from the series. I will literally never understand Jayfeather haters.

The guy spends his entire life being belittled because of his disability and being treated like a special case who will never become a warrior. And when he finally gets the chance to fulfil his childhood dream of becoming a warrior, he is given Brightheart as a mentor only because she can “relate” to his disability, and is forced to listen to Longtail try and explain what blindness is like to him as if he hasn’t been blind since birth.

He constantly experiences endless ableism from his own clanmates who refuse to try and understand him. And in the end STARCLAN ITSELF tells him that he needs to give up on his dreams because he will never be able to become a true warrior. They tell him that he needs to accept his “destiny” and become a medicine cat when that was never ever what he wanted!

So he does, he becomes a medicine cat and does what StarClan told him to do, and yes he is bitter, yes he is mad about it and he has every right to be. He’s not just the stereotypical grumpy medicine cat for no reason, he’s had to deal with prejudiced bullshit his entire life from everyone except his family and now even his ancestors view him as helpless.

And somehow through all of his internal hatred he still manages to do great things and be a good cat. He fights Breezepelt in order to protect a pregnant queen, he saves Lionblaze from being buried alive, he discovers his powers and finds out about his past life and the history of how the clans and tribe were created, he tries to save his best friend Flametail and ends up getting blamed for his death, he refuses to give up on Briarlight after everyone says that she can’t recover from her injuries because he finally sees another cat like him, belittled for their disability.

And as if that’s not enough he literally unites StarClan after it was torn apart, the same cats who basically told him he had no future. And he does all of it WHILE BEING BLIND. And to his ableist clanmates that’s STILL not good enough. So next time you complain about Jayfeather being “grumpy and annoying” consider why he is the way he is.

Also I know this was a long post so if you actually read it ily <3

[bleepity-blooper]

Another thing about the old books that I liked was the concept of gatherings. They used to genuinely be a time for cats from all clans to come together and socialise. It was a place to meet new friends, talk and share stories.

Now it’s just a bunch of cats making small talk while waiting for the leaders to start their speeches and then they go away as soon as the speeches are finished. All of it happens so quickly and there aren’t any more oral storytelling traditions. It’s started to feel a bit rushed.

[bleepity-blooper]

Yes Yellowfang is one of my favourite characters, yes I absolutely despise Yellowfang’s ghost, we exist (I refuse to claim dead Yellowfang cause I know the real Yellowfang would never do those things, and yes I happen to know Yellowfang better than the writers, I know her personally)

[bleepity-blooper]

I feel like over time StarClan lost its mystical appeal. Those cats used to be their ancestors who watched over them and occasionally sent ominous prophecies as warnings. They were on another plane of existence entirely and you barely knew anything about them.

That quickly got lost as the books progressed and started focusing more on the supernatural aspects of things rather than just survival in the wild (like the first two arcs).

I’m honestly not sure how I feel about it, but I dislike that the cats of StarClan have essentially become gods and now appear apathetic towards the suffering of cats in the clans. They have become so detached from what it’s like to actually live life that they seem almost cruel, and we see bad cats like Ashfur being let in while others like Leafpool get punished.

Though that might be a good idea for an au where StarClan was evil all along, or a situation where following the warrior code no matter how cruel the rules might be gets you into StarClan, while disobeying the warrior code gets you sent to the dark forest even if you had good intentions.

Idk all I know is that StarClan now isn’t the same as StarClan was in the old books.

[bleepity-blooper]

Honestly this poll is just out of genuine curiosity cause I wanna see the fandom’s thoughts. Personally I ship her with Mothwing but I could see her having a passing crush on Cody at some point

[bleepity-blooper]