halfnekoslair

[halfnekoslair]

Very negative post

You know. I got really mad about Sam Wilson after Thunderbolts.

I liked the character before. And I know it's really stupid to start disliking a character because of someone's online posts.

But I'm so annoyed with this part of the fanbase that acts like he's not just another character but some kind of second coming of Christ. And has a sovereign right to the Avengers title. Just because he's Captain America now.

But the joke is, Steve wasn't a Special Character! He was one of a group. He wasn't always right and above criticism. He threw down his shield for his personal relationships more than once. And now we're supposed to consider Sam above criticism because he picked up that shield?

But he's not even the only one with a right to the Captain America legacy! There are a ton of people who have a connection to that. Who suffered because of it. And I've seen posts where people can't just write that they like John Walker without writing twice as much about how they love Sam as Captain America and of course no one else is worthy of the shield. Just to avoid conflict. It's just disgusting. It's terrorizing and smug moralizing under the guise of confronting racism or something. People have a right to think that someone else could have been Captain. Bucky had a pretty good storyline in the comics for example. People have a right to like John Walker. Or even Valentina for fuck's sake! Negative characters have always had a fan base. And people shouldn't have to justify what they like or bow to crazy aggressive people on the internet. And now I'm wanting for Sam Wilson to screw up in MCU. Not because the character did something wrong. But because what I see in the fan base is not okay. And I don't want these people to have anything good in their direction.

[halfnekoslair]

Thunderbolts quick sketch 3

[halfnekoslair]

Thunderbolts quick sketch 2

`Lena, my little goblin)

[halfnekoslair]

It's fun to joke about Bucky out of place as a congressman. But I can't agree with that. This guy is a menace! Yeah. He's not killing people and (maybe?) he's not hacking/tracking their devices. But he's sneaking around in corners where the cameras can't see. Playing his spy games. Scaring the shit out of his colleagues. Trying to recruit other people's followers. He doesn't do the job as it should be done and interferes with others doing it as they are accustomed to. And his co-worker Gary is noticeably so done with it. Read the packets! The poor guy is on the verge of swearing.

[halfnekoslair]

Can someone explain to a Russian-speaker what the hell is going on with surnames? Russian is a very gendered language in general. So most surnames have different endings for the male and female bearers. As an example, my surname is Ovchinnikova. But my father (obviously a male) is Ovchinnikov. See the pattern? The feminine forms of the surname often have this -a at the end. Then there is this westernized -ff ending. I assume that families moving to English-speaking countries change this -v/-va ending to -ff for both genders to avoid confusion. So what is going on here? Why do Natasha Romanoff and Melina Vostokoff have a westernized -ff ending instead of being Vostokova and Romanova. And yet Shostakov and Dreykov have normal male-gendered -v endings. And Yelena Belova has the correct feminine -va ending, not the Westernized gender-neutral -ff ending. But Antonia Dreykov has the gendered-masculine -v ending! This all makes no sense to me at all. I guess this is just another "Хотел Борис" case)

[halfnekoslair]

Ok. I'm tired of the "Bucky works with the government" argument. The Avengers worked with the government for some time. How is Shield better than the CIA? Shield was an organization half-captured by Hydra. And Fury had this pod on the plane to drop and potentially kill the Hulk. Not much better than Val having a button for the Sentry.

Oh, Bucky's such a bad friend that he chose to work with the authorities (which he did anyway as a congressman because you can only change things from within) instead of throwing these pathetic mercenaries under the bus to impeach Valentina.

Sam is so independent, right? Since his gear is not provided by the US government anymore. And everyone is completely okay with Captain America (who do not work with the US government and may even oppose them) being funded by a foreign country (Wakanda)? That's so independent. That's so patriotic.

All the problems are because Sam is slow as F! First, it took him the entire TV series to accept the Shield, which he got before it even started. And because of this, Walker's life was fucked and his friend died (they wouldn't have even had a part in this story if the authorities hadn't gotten the shield). Then he spent half of congressional term assembling his new avengers. And you know what? Someone did it faster than him. Again. If you want to do something relevant - Be the first to do this!!!!

(I'm not hating on Sam. He is right to sue Val for the name. It's just this nasty online discussion triggers me to write nasty things)

[halfnekoslair]

I love how Bucky's journey in the MCU has gone from "What?" to "What the fuck?" to just "…fuck." How that gradation goes from not understanding to annoyance. Sorry English isn't my first language, it sounded a lot funnier in my head than when I tried to write it in English)

[halfnekoslair]

I guess I'm gonna get some hate for this.

But it's NOT RACISM to dislike Sam Wilson. Or any other character.

It's NOT RACISM to think he shouldn't have been Captain America.

No one should have taken that role. In the comics, it was Bucky who got the shield at first. And you know what? He got beat up big time every other chapter. And every other character had to drop everything and run to save his ass. And he almost died in the nearest crossover with slightly stronger enemies. Why? Because Bucky in the comics is not a super soldier. And Walker wasn't much better in TFATWS. The level of threats Captain America faces aren't meant for the average person. No matter how trained. At least not to fight them openly hand to hand. Like the original Captain America would.

If the MCU were a little more realistic, we'd have literally every minor villain on Sam's tail trying to kill him so they could be the one who killed Captain America. While it's easier to do.

It's not even a question of whether he's morally worthy. Of course, he is. It just doesn't do him any favors.

I loved Sam as a supporting character. He was easy-going and fun. He can't be that way in a leadership position when he's in charge of the rest of the group. And seriousness doesn't suit him. It makes him less entertaining. I'm not saying Sam should be a chronically secondary character. I'm saying that in order to be his fun self, this character needs someone who is an equal. Not these guys that BNW gave him. This New Falcon guy is nice but he is not Sam's equal. He is a student looking up to him. And that girl... That was really, really bad. She was the most faceless, forgettable Marvel character I've seen in years. What even was her name?! Couldn't they at least have Sharon for this position? If they wanted a badass female character?

I checked the CABNW tag. And you know what?

A big part of it is that 5-minute scene with Bucky's cameo. Because what? Because these characters are equals and they work well together. There were also only like a couple gifs of this New Falcon guy. And literally nothing about the girl. Like she wasn't there at all. Also, almost nothing about the villains.

What does that mean? It means that unfortunately CABNW completely failed at creating a team and making the characters likable. It could have been so much better if we could have had someone Sam could interact with more interestingly instead of that girl. Someone equal.

And I have to say I really liked the plot and the ideas in the movie. But the character interactions were disastrously weak and it got in the way of exploring Sam's issues. So, to the casual viewer, Sam looks like a guy who is right and has almost no problems.

And this is the second time that Sam's character has suffered from the script's inability to explain itself. The previous one was in TFATWS with the "don't call her a terrorist" thing. I wrote a whole page about why Sam was right and Carly wasn't just a terrorist. https://www.tumblr.com/halfnekoslair/783726082544254976/tfatws-thoughts?source=share

But the question isn't what's true. Or who's right. The question is what someone who's just watching the show and not trying to think sees. And that person sees a moralizing character without seeing the reason. And because the script can't explain why that character is right in an obvious way... It's not nice. It doesn't serve the character.

So poor Sam has two projects where the script has failed him. In the first, the script failed to explain well why he was right and in the second, the script failed to give him someone to air his problems with or have the funny conversations that made Sam likable in the first place.

This is what led to the current situation. People hate Sam on account of the post credits scene. Because he looks like this moralizing guy who is right because he is right. Because of bad non-obvious writing. Not because of the color of his skin.

Now that I've spent some time thinking about it, I can say that Sam is doing the right thing to stop people like Valentina from using the Avengers name. That Val is doing to the group the same thing that happened to Walker in TFATWS and it will not end well. TBH, I don't even see Bucky being opposed to Sam in this (he just hates the naming thing in general and is frustrated that it's become a problem).

But it wasn't like that the first time I watched it. Back then I immediately texted my friend "OMG they're making Sam look bad! They're ruining his character!" and she was also really upset because she liked him and she didn't watch TFATWS or CABNW.

Why? Because of the emotions. Thunderbolts did a great job of playing on the audience's emotions. They didn't have the strongest plot. And the pacing was weird. And not all the characters got enough attention. But those who did worked perfectly. Watching the movie, it was easy to understand why this title of Avengers is important for the characters. This is recognition of them as heroes. This is their ticket from the dark side where they suffered. And it seemed cruel that someone would want to take that away from them. It made me angry at that person. On an emotional level. Without seeing the big picture and trying to figure out who is right.

I understand both sides of the argument. Both those who think Sam's right and those who criticize him. But the racism argument irritates me the most. It's not racism to dislike someone or think they're wrong. Giving the topic of alcohol to both characters of Russian descent is racism. Or at least disrespectful stereotypes. And everything I can say against Sam is based on a shitty script of his latest projects and not his origin. The race argument just devalues ​​everything. It's like saying "it doesn't matter what you say, you're the bad guy."

Sorry if I offended anyone.

[halfnekoslair]

I want a Thunderbolts/New Avengers episode where the running joke is the naming. You know Bucky hasn't been really happy about it since day one. Not about Steve calling himself Captain America. Not about Battlestar in the TV series. Not about Thunderbolts. And now his group is trying to get a fight with Sam over the Avengers name. Imagine Valentina with her PR program for the group. Everyone has their "semi-hero" nickname except Bucky (Bucky is more of a friendly nickname from his teenage years). And Val announces that they have to come up with some kind of hero name for him. And throughout the story the group tries to stick some kind of naming on Bucky causing pure frustration.

[halfnekoslair]

I keep thinking about John Walker in Thunderbolts. I assume he had some communication with Bucky after TFATWS. Since Bucky knows about his wife leaving. I think what the movie failed to convey was the choice John made after the TV show. He went to work for Valentina. Yes, she recruited him in a vulnerable position by saying the things he wanted to hear. And I'm pretty sure he did bad and illegal things for her. Otherwise, she would have no reason to get rid of him as evidence. He is a super soldier. He had some value to begin with. So after TFATWS, Walker started doing shady things encouraged by Valentina's lies. To continue to feel wanted and special. That was the choice Bucky was talking about.

[halfnekoslair]

Sorry to everyone who reads my blog. But I just won't shut up.(at least this week) I find it hilarious that Bucky took off his jacket before the fight with Sentry. Remember how he just tore off the sleeve in FATWS? I guess he just likes this jacket) Maybe he even went back to the tower for it after everything ended >W<

[halfnekoslair]

Let's talk about the fact that Bucky stole the Chitauri handcuffs from Val`s event. He didn't even know yet that he was going to catch these guys. Didn't know Who even work for Val. He just went and stole this thing because he was annoyed that his co-worker this Gary guy wouldn't listen to him.

[halfnekoslair]

TFATWS thoughts.

I came back to the fandom years later and found that some people have rather mixed opinions about Karly and Sam's stance on her. Which some people find hypocritical. I can agree that the TV show did a pretty poor job of emphasizing the Flagsmashers motivation. But it seemed so obvious to me what happened. From an economic standpoint. What do you think happened when half the population disappeared? Businesses lost half their employees. Half their customers. They would have to cut their production in half. But then would they be able to afford their space and equipment? The economy would collapse if these people weren't replaced. Production would suffer greatly. It wasn't necessarily the useless, uneducated poor people who moved to rich countries as migrants. The richer countries simply vacuumed up everyone they needed from countries with a even a little lower quality of life. And for these people, it wasn't just a matter of moving to a better place. It was a race to get to a place that would last. Because I'm sure that the economies of countries that couldn't attract enough people were destroyed. Even a small local business can't survive if there are too few buyers for their products. So in a way, richer countries Cannibalized economies of the weaker ones. In a time of crisis and chaos. And when the people erased by Thanos returned, the government wanted to send back the people they attracted to save their economy. But do they send them back to their home as they left it? No. In a few years, it turned into a poor semi-medieval society. And it will take decades to somehow fix it. The authorities used these people and wanted to throw them out when they were no longer needed. They were victims of the situation. And that's why Sam sympathized with Karly's ideas. And asked not to call her a terrorist. I've seen more than enough people call Sam a hypocrite on this. (mostly on my side of the fandom. I'm not sure if there are many with these ideas on the English-speaking side) And it's just so stupid. But at the same time, his lecturing the government seems a bit unfair. Because he's not offering a solution to the problem. And the problem is really complicated. Just "being better" isn't really an answer. And it won't help provide people with housing, jobs, and food. And the TV series did a really bad job of communicating the problem itself. So some people saw the displaced people as just invaders of other people's places. Ugh. Does it really require much knowledge of History and Economics to imagine what happened after half the population disappeared? And I'll add the TB* tag. Because I feel like that misunderstanding adds a little bit of negativity to Sam's position. Sorry.

[halfnekoslair]

As a Russian speaker I found it annoying that everyone calls Yelena by her full name all the time. Why not just Lena (without the Ye)? I have a cousin named Lena and I have never called her Yelena. And we are not even close! The rest are fine. But her father? Her friend Anya in the flashback?

Is it also correct that she called her little friend Anya (instead of Anna which would be an adult full name).

I wish her father called her Lena, or Lenochka which is more affectionate (that -chka ending for the short form of the name works a bit like the -chan part in anime). When a Parent calls you by your Full Name… It sounds like getting scolded to me.

Like where is the logic in this? Why did her sister Nat get Natasha (short friendly form of Natalia. Yes, that's one same name in Russia) for her official name, But Elena got Full name (Like in her passport and not Lena as her friends might call her in Russia). Also, she calls her father by his full name works correctly. Because it sounds like she is distancing herself from him by doing this. Which is what she does.

[halfnekoslair]

I have a weird thought. You know, there's this repeating scene where Bucky just freezes if someone stops his metal arm. I get that it's supposed to be to draw attention to the opponent's strength. But it makes me think. He's trained as a killing machine. He could use his other arm and try to break free. Could it be something instinctual from the Hydra days? It made me think of the scene in the second Captain America movie. When Hydra was restraining the Winter Soldier in the chair to "wipe" him. They only used one strap for his metal arm while they used two for his normal arm. Like if you're restricted in movement then you shouldn't try. On an instinctual level. Just a vaguely supported theory.

[halfnekoslair]

I almost didn't notice Ava on my first watch. The others are just so much louder. (Bucky is quiet too. But oh well. It's Bucky.) But now I see that Ava is a pretty good character in the group.

Just watch her! She vibes!

She listens to everyone's stories without the amounts of malice and cringe that the others do. She smiles. Unsure but not negatively when Alexei says heroic shit. She teams up with Yelena to laugh at Walker.

Yeah. She killed that mercenary. But after the others helped her escape - she had no qualms about helping them in return. Her story about Bob is the most incoherent. She just mumbles.

She looks really interested. She even bends to peek from behind the Red Guardian.. She has that little tentative smile when she agrees to give it a try. And she goes with it!

No selfishness. No overthinking. She is the first to jump and run to help Yelena without even understanding where she is going. She is often in the frame with someone. Nodding their heads together. Always looking at the reaction of others. And she looks the most scared in front of journalists.

An unsocialized girl just wants to be a part of something. And when this something was offered to her even in the form of this crazy group, she clutched it with both hands. She is way too relaxed with the murders though))