#AND their individual arcs. without sacrificing either.

[joysmercer]

what if each episode of season 4 was 90 minutes and spanned 2ish months, leading them up to opening night (07) and ricky/kourtney/maddox graduation (08). they don't get approval for the fall musical right from the get-go because of the movie. so they prep for spring throughout the year while dealing with (actual!) doc fallout and filming and stressors of all kinds.

[sixthwater]

Hello! Due to a change in my life I've become quite busy, but I'll try and get some pacs out every once in a while. Also working on a few projects (with and without people), so look out for that! I've wanted to do this one for some weeks now, but it's just short messages that your guides or angels wanted to deliver to you, pretty straight-forward haha.

(Left → Right / Pile 1 → Pile 4)

Decks Used: Trickster's Journey, Tarot Familiars, Arcana of Astrology, featuring Sea Melodies & Language of Flowers

Disclaimer | Pinned | Tip Jar | Paid Readings

Pile One

Cards: X of Cups, The Lovers, Trickster Rx, II of Wands, IV of Swords, Ace of Wands, Ascendant, Pallas Athena

I can’t ignore the song that popped up. It reminded me of fan-art that a friend made decades ago for hxh; it was for the chimera ant arc from Killua’s ‘perspective’ and how, despite how much pain each side was going through, he would stay by his side as long as he could.

This pull is hinting at you being in a position of looking at your life and the possibilities ahead of you, but not authentically. Resembles someone quadruple checking their path or getting someone to tell them what to do with their life. The message here is not ‘just go out and live your life’ — while that is inherently true, it’s more along the lines to have a breather and take it day by day. They want you to find yourself, and through finding yourself you will find your path. I don’t know why I keep wanting to bring in The Magician, but this pile has undercurrents of its energy as well. It’s not so much manifestation, but it’s not giving up on your dreams or your desires — they’re on pause until you can figure yourself out. I wanted to cry as soon as Shake It Out started playing, so I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a lot of pent up frustration here. There is a rebirth coming for you guys, the timeline is going to be different for all of you. However you cant be born anew if you aren’t being authentic. Some advice/help might come from friends and family, but it’s all about exploring externally and internally. You might have been searching for this for quite some time...and honestly no amount of astrology or pick a cards will give you a definite answer, but spending time with yourself and figuring out what brings you joy will give you the direction that you need. You might be annoyed hearing this, but don’t rush the process and enjoy the ride, Sure Fire Winners is your end result after this frustrating trip.

Songs: Figure 8 – Ellie Goulding, Twin Machines – DBMK, What We Life For – American Authors, Shake It Out – Florence + The Machine

Pile Two

Cards: Death, VII of Wands, Wheel, III of Coins, Queen of Cups, VII of Wands, Eros, Pallas Athena, Third House

Interesting set of cards. I’m also having difficult describing your energy. You’re not being stubborn or combative, but you feel like people aren’t giving you the time of day or listening to you, which causes you to be stubborn or a solitary individual which makes people believe you’re not co-operative — is the best way I can describe it. A little of it feels reminiscent of being a push-over, but that’s sprinkled in?

Regardless, good news is on the way, but you have to meet it halfway. This is a learning experience for you, whatever it might be (work or higher learning). It’s definitely one of those lessons that will keep repeating until you learn it, so pay attention when it pops up. You need to sort what topics or issues you legitimately care about and refuse to budge on, and what can be sacrificed. This is a key element when working with others, because it’s a quality that is often balanced when dealing with others. People seek you out because you bring something to the table for them, but if you’re going to be stubborn or not shine to the point that they can simply find anyone, then you lose out. That’s where your double Seven of Wands comes in. This could manifest in people either questioning why they’re working with you, commissioning you, or you not budging for what you want to keep within a project. This could also be you proving some people wrong? Either way, it’s a message to stand your ground and not be overwhelmed by those trying to knock you down. There’s also a high chance that there will be a nurturing mentor to help you through this or they will give you some advice that you’ll carry with you long after this. With the owl staring at me on the Queen of Cups I’m moved to think this’ll be a figure that comes in. I think they’ll probably remind you of third house themes which is to balance listening as much as you’re talking. Sometimes what you’re so frustrated by or trying to figure out will be answered before you even have to ask it. Or maybe someone has a good idea that you haven’t thought of and you should give it a shot before brushing it off. The main message here is collaboration and working with people, knowing when to stand up for things and to just let things go, and becoming a new person after this. The skeleton in Death is holding an old skull and even on the Seven of Wands it’s a little chick that just hatched; there’s a lot of beginnings after this uncomfortable period but you will learn a lot about yourself and possibly learn a lot of new skills! (From all the songs, maybe this is your first job?)

Songs: Something Good Can Work – Two Door Cinema Club, It’s Time – Imagine Dragons

Pile Three

Cards: X of Swords, Page of Swords Rx, X of Wheel Rx, Empress Rx, Queen of Wands Rx, VII of Wands Rx, The Sun Rx, Mars, Waning Gibbous Moon, Eighth House

It’s pretty obvious where you are right now, so I’m not going to get into it — I don’t believe you want me rehashing it either. You are being urged to rebuild your confidence little by little and push for what you want in your situation. I think a good portion of this though is sharing how you feel. Being comfortable with expressing your emotions or your darker issues with others instead of trying to hold onto all of this. It doesn’t feel like a shadow trait, more like bad news/a situation, but you need to lean on someone to help you. I’ve been re-watching Regular Show and this is similar to the episode where Skips was ignoring his stress killing him and everyone had to force him to deal with it and let them help. Usually I see The Sun reversed as shining too bright to the point of exhaustion or just being a little gloomy but it’s resembling The Star reversed, which worries me. You just need to take it slow and work on yourself, but absolutely you need to rely on others and don’t feel like you’re too much or you’re not meeting standards that society or you set for yourself. We all need breaks or we all get tired, it’s impossible to be in top shape all the time, so give yourself some time to get back up there. Yes, sitting in your sadness is not helpful, but you need to be able to go through it’s motions so you know what you’re purging in the first place. I’m going to pull some more clear advice/upbeat cards for you guys:

Reflect, Optimism, Azalea, Jonquil

Reflect: Peer into the endless ocean and see what peers back  Optimism: After each rainstorm, there will be clear skies  Azalea, Temperance: Find balance and be centered  Jonquil, Power: Take hold of what you know is yours

Songs: Fall to Pieces – Avril Lavigne, Love Die Young – Eric Nam, Ain’t No Mountain High Enough – Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell, Grip! – Every Little Thing

Pile Four

Cards: VI of Wands, Strength Rx, IV of Wands, VII of Cups Rx, King of Pentacles, The Hierophant, Solar Eclipse, Chiron, Leo

Experiencing impostor syndrome right now, or not wanting the spotlight on you despite...accomplishing something worth celebrating honestly. I’m weirdly taking strength quite literally, like feeling the weight of the world on your shoulders and being crushed by it. The imagery looks as such and its between two celebratory cards — or ones that can show being celebrated or being in high regards in immediate surroundings. I know you want to, but don’t run back to a ‘shell’ or what’s safe. Try and make new safe spaces or make a routine to soothe yourself, because you should embrace your wins and take pride in what you did. I don’t know what you guys did, but more opportunities are coming your way, so embrace the new and change. It might keep coming or it might just be some fun new experiences for this time in your life. Make sure to tread carefully and whatever you say yes to; you want to say yes to. Don’t just agree to whatever. There are signs of looking for a community or mentor to lean on or stick by, and it’s encouraged as well. There’s a mix of taking on this new energy because it’ll be good for you or your future (experiences or just in general), and grounding yourself because you’re in a flight reflex right now. This might be due to a past scar, because the wolves look as if they’re protecting something but ready to hurt me, and I love wolves as well as this card. Either way, you should be celebrating with everyone else the milestone you accomplished, being mindful of your next steps, being open to change, and I’m wishing you the best.

Songs: When the Levee Breaks – A Perfect Circle, Raging (ft. Kodaline) – Kygo, Have Faith In Me – A Day To Remember

[biblioflyer]

How Picard should end.

The very probable end of The Next Generation is coming and with it the beginning of the end of the first phase of the revival of Star Trek that began with Discovery. Here's what I'm thinking about.

As I write this, the final episodes of Season Three, the series, and perhaps even this sub-franchise are coming into view. I refer to it as a sub-franchise because I think that Picard as a series has a storytelling approach and a set of themes that it has explored that overlap with Discovery but also has its own identity.

Because of the age of many of the principal characters, there has been a strong theme of having to adjust with grace and empathy to a world radically changed from what was normal and comfortable to you, having to acknowledge your complicity in the faults you find in this world, and of repairing relationships that have been harmed. 

Immersing myself in where Picard has been as a series, even just the first four episodes to date, has given me a strong sense of what it is that Picard is about and thus some strong, but not pugnaciously held opinions on how it should end. The failure to do any of the following will not “ruin” the series for me, although the alternatives better be really well done.

For the first time of the CBS era, I actually really feel strongly that my own aesthetics could be defied and I will still really enjoy the outcome. For example I despise the trope that Jack Crusher represents but the trope has been so superbly executed that I’m almost annoyed at how completely I’m in his corner.

Speaking of Jack Crusher….

I would strongly prefer he not be written off as a space god or killed. For one, this is just Wesley’s arc duplicated. For two, while “NuTrek” is doing a great job at moderating the setting’s default posture that transhumanism is bad, it feels too cliche and even cheap in a way for him to vanish into the aether. Let him live, as a mortal, trying to do right by all of the people who fought and died for him not because he was a space god, but because it was right. 

We’ve had three seasons of intense focus on the deeds of mortal and fallible individuals struggling to know what is right in a morally complicated universe, taking huge risks, and even sacrificing stability, family, love, peace, sobriety, and even their own lives: don’t end this with space magic. Don’t do another “space magic makes it all better so nobody really ever had skin in the game” ending.

Speaking of Wesley, having the two meet would provide a nice bit of closure for Beverly. It would bookend nicely with her line about already having lost one son to the same stars that call Jean luc.

Seven of Nine & Raffi

On again or off again, just pick a lane and make them handle it like adults.

As I’ve said before, I see two equally valid paths for Seven assuming it's handled properly. Seven can remain in Starfleet, her acceptance earned and her merits recognized by all but especially by Shaw. Ideally were this to be the case, I think I would like to see her take up Picard’s mantle of mentor to misfits.

There isn’t a character who is better positioned narratively in this series to become the person who sees something in people that others don’t and can find ways to take the round hole that is Starfleet and make it a square hole for the people who need it.

Or she can walk away and reclaim her full autonomy. Go back to the Fenris Rangers or go into Starfleet Intelligence.

As for Raffi, the past two seasons have intensely focused on the work the character was doing to first recover from addiction and then reclaim her mental health and with that the ability to have relationships without either her need to chase mysteries or the desire for control alienating those around her. It's time for Raffi’s work to be seen by others and to be supported. 

In the first season it was entirely fair for her son to refuse contact: she was too much a creature of her substance abuse and her obsessiveness. Now? Cut her some slack and let her show that she’s mastered the thing that makes her the hero no one is prepared to recognize that they need until it's too late but also makes her the villain in her own life.

I would merrily support a Worf & Raffi spy action buddy cop series. Seven, Jack, Laris, and anyone else unaccounted for who is not really a good fit for traditional ship service can come too if they want. A Star Trek answer to Firefly or The Expanse would be incredibly fascinating with good writing. Given the way Star Trek Picard has been critiquing the limits of institutional power in dealing with the unknown or morally complicated situations, I think the time is right. 

Perhaps this could be the Section 31 series instead of a 23rd century era one. Just have the Guardian of Forever send Georgiou to where she’s needed rather than where she belongs. She’d be a great foil for Zen Worf and the morally flexible but not that morally flexible Raffi.

Section 31 are bad guys, full stop.

Speaking of Section 31, either confirm that Section 31 has been disbanded and formally disavowed or that it had its Church Committee hearings and been folded back into Starfleet Intelligence with strong oversight and strong guard rails. Putting Worf and Raffi front and center in it would afford an opportunity to show that it is possible to address existential threats to the Federation without genocide or the intervention of space gods. 

It's really only been after seeing Discovery recycle the same deus ex ending, only worse, that I have come to realize that the way Deep Space Nine finished the Dominion War arc really, really rubs me the wrong way. My list of things that I think are completely antithetical to the core assumptions of Star Trek is not long, but the Federation being saved not once, but twice by attempted genocide is definitely on that list. 

Don’t get me wrong, Deep Space Nine is probably the most overall well executed series from the point of view of nearly every aspect of the show being consistently competent, but falling back on Section 31 to save the Federation? Not a fan of that.

Romance

I am not on the Bev/JL train. It had its time. For all the ways that Star Trek Picard has been in conversation with critiques of TNG’s very 1990s “end of history” worldview, one thing that was superbly managed was the idea that Beverly and Jean luc could try out a romance, realize it doesn’t work, and then be content with a strong bond that doesn’t need to express itself romantically. It was incredibly, shockingly mature for a 1990s drama.

This show did not kill off Zhabon and an ancestor of Laris for Laris to be killed off or to politely step aside.

Maybe Bev is happy being unpartnered. How about them apples? Maybe a senior woman is perfectly self actualized on her own and can take or leave romance.

This is probably one of the looming plot resolutions I am the most likely to be actually angered by if it doesn’t go the way I would prefer and it isn’t handled extremely well.

Once again, do not fridge Laris to make room for Beverly. 

That would easily make my list of the top five most appalling creative decisions of this show and this is coming from someone who has invested quite a bit of effort into defending and rationalizing its other controversial decisions. Having her step aside with her life and dignity is less distasteful but still frustrating.

The Federation and Shaw

Follow through with the overall theme from season one that institutions solve big problems but rules are not there to follow mindlessly. Conscience matters as does doing the right thing even when you are fearful. 

It may not be fair to ask 500 people to risk their lives for four people who have deliberately chosen to put themselves in harm’s way on a fool’s errand, but then when does it become fair? Does it have to be 501 lives on the line to be worth 500? How morally virtuous do the victims need to be? 

Smaller, more nimble actors don’t have to make these trades. The Mugato in the room is the Maquis. They could easily have provoked war but they did also provide a means by which Federation citizens who wanted their autonomy could contest Cardassian oppression without exposing the Federation to the specter of war  if the Federation failed to ensure their well being.

Also when and if a bad call is made out of anger, fear, or incomplete knowledge of the situation, how the consequences of that decision are addressed matter.

The Federation abandoned the Romulans. As did Picard himself. Picard accepted responsibility in Season One. The Federation extended its protection over Maddox & Soong’s Synth colony but there’s no mention of any peacekeeping or humanitarian efforts for Romulans who have rejected “the old ways.”

Finally, Shaw has his reasons and this series has been nothing if not incredibly nuanced in how it invokes trauma and uses it in a way to explain but not justify the behavior of characters. A theme I have thought about a lot in the context of Captain Marvel is the way that coping mechanisms for trauma often encourage self reliance and aloofness to the extreme. In Shaw’s own words “at some point asshole became a substitute for charm.” I would argue that the final stage of healing would be to become a team player who is capable of forging authentic relationships built on mutual trust and respect.

Now I do think this is coming in the form of a sincere working relationship with Seven but I would prefer it be extended beyond Seven. For Shaw to accept Seven as Seven is a good start but everyone is capable of accepting “one of the good ones.” Some sort of broader recognition that it's on him to swallow his terror and rage, it's not on every single XB to prove they’re not going to assimilate him.

Other characters / elements

BBEG: (Big Bad Evil Guy) I don’t know that I’m necessarily hoping for anything or anyone in particular. Armus would be cool. He’s one of the last entities on the board with an axe to grind who could conceivably be a credible menace to Changelings and shares some of their mercurial nature. 

The alien parasites would be neat as well. That that has long gone unresolved is a longstanding gripe but I feel like the time may have passed. Thematically the Changelings have more or less eaten their lunch when it comes to replacing people and intricate conspiracies. At this point, I think it would be just as well to retcon the infiltrators as having been an early effort by the Changelings to infiltrate other societies without exposing themselves to danger. The Founders certainly have the genetic engineering acumen to design a parasite species.

Elnor: at least mention him as existing, if not give the character some proper closure. Show him thriving in Starfleet and having a good relationship with Picard and Raffi as mentors and surrogate parents, explicitly connect Picard’s experiences with Elnor as a child and his effort to repair his relationship with Elnor as having been a practice run for Jack and the recognition that Jean luc would not have been his father as a parent.

Or show him choosing to leave Starfleet for the Rangers or even just to lead a quiet life of study and meditation. That’s cool too.

Jiurati: if the big bad is the Borg or related to them somehow, it would be cool to see Jiurati’s faction sweep in to help defeat them. Otherwise maybe one more reference would be nice.

The Admiral Janeway cameo is long overdue.

It would be nice for Worf to mention Alexander and Jadzia. Perhaps in the context of giving advice to Raffi on love, life, pursuing rapprochement after being an absentee parent, and living with the knowledge that your life choices place partners in existential danger. It would be a great way to cement their dualistic role this season rather than having Raffi be Worf’s sidekick.

Don’t fridge Tuvok. Find him safely.

Oh yeah, there's also JL himself.

We don't need to have Picard die on screen (again.) As far as I'm concerned Logan is all I'll ever need for Patrick Stewart death scenes. Its just too hard to contemplate. I consider the character of Picard to be a father figure and I'd kind of just prefer that he gets to be happy. I'd like for him to get good with Elnor and Jack.

"I tried so very hard to belong to this place."

Maybe pass the vineyard on as a national park that is Picard in name only. We all know his real home is in the stars. Putting him to work leading a Romulan humanitarian NGO that relies on his Starfleet contacts and credibility is I think the perfect bookend to how the series began with his despair over the Federation's failure and the ongoing interrogation of whether Starfleet is the only legitimate or appropriate entity for solving problems in the universe.

[cosmicjoke]

Hi ❤️

Which themes levi character portray or serve ?

Hi!

Well, that's a complicated question, haha. I've talked a lot about what themes and messages Levi represents within the story of SnK, and we would be here all day if I went back over them here in detail.

Just as a short answer, I think the thing Levi most represents within Attack on Titan is this theme of life being precious, being valuable, having worth, whether it's to achieve something great, or simply to be alive for the sake of living. Because Levi values life so much himself, and works so hard to preserve and protect it. He's really the story's stand-in representative for the notion of life having intrinsic value. I also think Levi really represents the ideas of acceptance, non-judgmentalism, compassion and kindness, and how important those things are in this world, which can be so overwhelmingly cruel.

I think Levi also represents the often misunderstood truth that there are good people in the world who can do bad things, and them doing those bad things don't make them bad people. Levi does a lot of supposedly "bad" things, like killing other people, torturing someone, engaging in general acts of violence, etc... but Levi is unquestionably a good person. He's in fact a genuine hero. So his role in the story I think really makes the audience reevaluate what it is they think makes someone good or bad, and whether a person's actions alone, without context, are enough to condemn them as a bad person, or if things are more complex than that, and each case is different and individual and can only be judged with context. Levi shows that you can't just flatly condemn someone as a "bad person" for doing a "bad thing". This really is highlighted most of all during the Uprising Arc, when the 104th scouts are flatly condemning Levi for killing other people, only to learn a hard lesson not long after that choosing to kill or not kill isn't such a simple, black and white question of morality, but rather a very complex and often ambiguous thing. They learn that killing another person is sometimes the only option and that it isn't always wrong, either. It depends on the situation. They learn that holding to a black and white, moralistic view of the world can actually be more harmful than anything, and can actually be extremely selfish and have far reaching, negative consequences for others. One questions if it's more important to uphold ones own moral purity by refusing to do anything morally questionable or ambiguous, or is it more important to save lives by getting ones hands dirty. Is it more important to you to be able to tell yourself you're a "good person" because you refuse to do something bad, or is it more important to you to save lives and protect others by sacrificing your ability to call yourself "good", or present yourself as morally pure, both to yourself and others? Levi forces the audience, and the other characters in the story, to face that question. He shows how a person who refuses to compromise their simplistic moral views in any way can actually be the more morally bankrupt person, because they're often placing their own comfort and peace of mind above the lives of others.

This is also why I laugh when people try to say Levi is a one dimensional or boring character. No, he's really, really not. He's actually one of the more complex and multi-faceted characters in the story.

[mylittleredgirl]

all the posts about harry kim getting shafted have me thinking about What Could Have Been and YES he should have gotten promoted and that is the LEAST they could do, but it should have been so much more than that. harry could and should have been the audience self-insert pov growing-into-hero character we deserved.

basically, he's perfectly set up to fill the wesley crusher role on voyager without the three things that pissed off tng fans (unfairly imho): that wesley was a literal teenager, a civilian who hadn't earned the right to be an officer, and that he was overpowered because he kept figuring out answers alone.

harry's strength isn't in his individual genius, but in his a) relentless starfleet optimism, and b) ability to collaborate and bring out the best in other people. his weakness is that he has been on the job for 14 hours when everything goes to hell.

if they weren't so allergic to continuity, voyager is set up to be theee individual character development show and they should have leaned into that hard (because tng was the "these characters are already the best starfleet has to offer" one and ds9 already had the "we all have to learn to collaborate with our different objectives and points of view" story well in hand). so let harry be the flagship character of that story!!

first off: he shouldn't have walked on board as the operations officer. almost nothing has to change for this. let his first conversation with janeway when he comes on board be about his potential. "it's a special privilege to be a starfleet officer's first captain," she says, which tells us a lot about her character right off the bat (she's great at spotting potential and loves to develop people). "your job is to do your best and watch and learn from the experienced officers around you, and one day you'll make a great one."

and then two scenes later we get flung into the delta quadrant and the senior bridge officers DIE, and in that moment of holy shit this is my first day on the job and all these people died and i don't know what's going on, harry steps up!! and in the ocampa arc he shows how he handles first contact like a starfleet officer even when literally dying. after the pilot we would totally get why janeway is like "welp i guess you're getting that chance to be a senior officer a lot sooner than expected." both he and the audience know that he's stepping into huge shoes he's not really qualified for (last held on-screen by DATA) but we want to root for him!!

and i don't think anyone else's story has to be sacrificed for this either. i know the EMH and b'elanna have fish-out-of-water senior officer stories already, but this is something different. those two are both fully confident in their individual abilities, but need to learn the interpersonal skills to work with others and lead a department. harry needs practical experience to offset his academy idealism and develop faith in his own skill.

and tom's story isn't competition because that's a "second chance" narrative and has a totally different arc.

so that's the setup, and THEN we get to go through all the things that actually already happen on-screen with harry (and more of the same -- a "nightingale" type story should have happened way sooner). there should have been more of the kind of scenes with janeway that we got at the end of "emanations" where she helps him process his experiences and recognizes him for his development. give the kid some medals! his night shift command could have been be a big deal!

and YEAH he finally gets promoted! i think it should come either after "the killing game," or after an unwritten episode where all the senior officers are captured somewhere and harry has to rally a handful of lower decks crewmen to save the day. that would be a fantastic episode in this storyline actually, because it could start with him kind of bemoaning that he's not really a command officer because he doesn't get to / can't make these bold command decisions on his own that janeway & chakotay do -- janeway especially gets a lot of individual heroism moments. but here you have him in charge of some scared crewmen and yeah he makes some decisions but also he leans into his strengths and raises them all up. in some nice narrative parallels, he gives them a speech that janeway gave him early on about how You Can Do It Actually.

and at the end of that, janeway gets to talk to him about how every captain has a unique style. she can't give him his own ship, but here, now he's one pip closer.

anyway since that did NOT happen paramount owes me money and they can pay me back by having the phrase "youngest admiral in starfleet history harry kim" spoken aloud and guys you literally have FOUR actively airing shows where this could happen.

[fullscoreshenanigans]

whats your favorite ff trope for the full score trio specifically? your least favorite?

I’m blanking on specific tropes and extremes because the content curation I do for myself mostly avoids this, but I relate to what @officersnickers mentioned in this post a lot:

Things done in fanfic that annoy me: Ray being constantly annoyed with Emma and Norman; listen, he‘s sarcastic and sometimes loses his temper, but overall, Ray always takes time to explain things that annoy him, without too much scolding. In some stories, I get the feeling he doesn’t even like Emma and Norman, the way he acts, or he drank too much edgy juice™ this morning. Also Norman being all bashful around Emma. He‘s certainly not a casanova, but I like to imagine he cooled down over his crush for her and is just as happy as Emma herself to experience new feelings alongside her. That being said, I don‘t really see Emma being either too shy around either of them or drifting into turbo mode when she‘s in the mood. I like her as a complex, more differentiated character and not a child in a teenager’s or adult body. She’s not dumb and she‘s not over the top 24/7.

So I guess it’s the flanderization of their characters for least favorite?

In an effort to incorporate Ray’s cheekiness/playful teasing that’s most prominent during his time at Grace Field (which I do enjoy and feel like circumstances lead him to refrain from doing this more post-Goldy Pond, both in-universe and metawise), some writers will go overboard and have it descend into almost sketch comedy levels of antagonistic hijinks. Which is fine if people want to write it since it’s all in good fun and they’re exploring things with these characters that appeal to them, but I don’t vibe with it very much.

I do like to think that side of him would resurface more once he’s in the safety of the human world, especially among those he’s closest to.

(Chapter 161; whenever I look at this too quickly I think Ray’s lightly yet exasperatedly slapping Norman instead of Norman being so excited and invigorated by Emma’s speech that he accidentally bonks into Ray and Ray’s reflexively shielding himself djfkdjs)

Norman’s love for Emma being misconstrued into extremes ranging from being embarrassingly and uncharacteristically nebbish to a yandere is also annoying (covered in this post by @princesscringe with some additional tags I also felt were relevant). Again chalking this up as more of a balance thing because young love can be intoxicating and overwhelming, and when you’re specifically writing fic where the focus is the ship, greater emphasis on those feelings naturally happens. But to the point where it’s all-encompassing and Norman neglects other people who are important in his life or seems to lack any ambition outside of the relationship is so off-putting. That’s part of the significance of his first exchange with Emma upon their reunion in the final chapter:

He starts off by emphasizing how, through mutual effort and support, the cattle children have been able to finally start thriving in life instead of merely surviving, and stressing how they’ve all been well, because Emma would hate if out of worry and fear for her they weren’t able to create some new happy memories and appreciate the freedom she sacrificed so much for.

While also showing he’s taken to heart what she said about being honest and vulnerable around others by openly acknowledging how even with all the good that came from this and the fulfillment he found in other pursuits and interactions, he still missed her terribly and wanted her as a part of his life. (If this arc was longer I would have liked to see the children struggling with conflicting feelings of bitterness over Emma’s choice to do this without consulting anyone after how the narrative repeatedly stressed against this level of individual self-sacrifice, but with the amount of pages Shirai had left I’m happy with what he chose to focus on.)

I do enjoy him being briefly stunlocked/flustered by something Emma or Ray say or do because that’s more in tune with how they’re all dynamic characters who are constantly changing and challenging each other as they grow older, tying into the emblematic “I’ll show you something cool, so shut up and follow” line infused with an infectious optimism for the future.

Emma being shy for a prolonged period of time is also off for me with the amount of self-confidence she displays. When there’s something she wants and believes it’s correct to do so, she just goes for it. (It’s why I always maintain she’s the last one to consciously realize and articulate her feelings in a relationship because once she does it’s like, “wait, why aren’t we together? We should fix that,” and the progress on it dramatically picks up lfjldj I love her respectful tenacity and ambition.) Yet pigeon-holing her as a genki girl is also dishonest to her character, even if she is incredibly exuberant and plucky in her default, unstressed state; she’s energetic but it’s with an acute awareness. (This is something I give more leeway to in individual short comics with the hyperbole being used to quickly and clearly deliver a punchline with a limited amount of time and space).

For favorite…does hurt/comfort count as a trope or a genre? I like them taking turns with that for each other. 🖤🧡🤍

[consoledacup]

Hey, hey, hey

Just pulled up to my safe space to discuss all things jordayla after 6x03. Have to tell you Mac is officially in my top 3. I have been wanting Jordan to have a guy that believes in him and actually sees him forever, still undecided about whether or not I think he will enter the draft but I'm so happy that he has a fair chance and even if he walks away he can do so on his own terms and not feeling like he isn't good enough. I'm not sure that Mac's intentions are completely pure but for now I think their interests are aligned and I'm happy for my boy.

I also feel like we've gained traction on Layla's mental health arc, loved that she was able to see that she feels numb and I don't think it's her meds because we've seen her elated while she was on her meds and I also don't think she believes herself either I think it's easier to have an external excuse like meds because she's isn't ready to process the conflicting feelings she has about the wedding. I also want her to take her time processing because it is confusing to expect to be elated but also feel sadness/grieve, fear and anxiety about something that you want. I also think this is her first major milestone aside from prom/graduation without her mom and she's going to have to reconcile that for most milestones in her life she'll probably always have these conflicting feelings she just has to sit in them and process them and I think that needs to take as long as it needs to take. I understand that this processing will hurt Jordan this time because he is completely out of the loop and I'm sad for him but I also understand that she's mostly trying to protect his feelings and also isn't ready for an honest conversation because if she had to start one with Jordan I don't think she'll be able to use meds as an excuse for how she feels he is usually able to ask direct questions that spark honesty with herself and him.

I think their break up will be necessary because as much jordayla is usually pretty healthy they are clenching a bit too tightly to one another that it's gotten a bit unhealthy, because as much as it seems that Layla doesn't cares about the wedding I actually think part of why she is avoiding processing her feelings is because she knows they are going to hurt Jordan she needs to learn to prioritise herself because a healthy Layla is exactly who is unlikely to intentionally hurt Jordan. Hopefully she remembers Jordan's advice in 4x01 about the pain only being for the moment but the healing is for a lifetime. I also think Jordan needs to focus on his own individual life/path and not be entirely consumed by his relationship, I love that he loves her so much but I also want him to have hobbies, other friends, experiences and a full life and share that with her. So I think they need to answer the question of what losing the other would be like in order for them to get back to a healthy place again.

I also don't think Ryan is interested in Layla and vice versa, I just see colleagues interacting and yes it might include a few personal conversations which is common when you work closely with people but yes Layla might need to check her boundaries as she would for any other relationship. I do see how Ryan is necessary for Layal to have an inconsequential honest conversation with someone who isn't part of her life, I also see how Jordan will view this relationship as a threat.

All in all love where they are going I will be found in the trenches for the next few episodes but I love the story that they are telling for these two characters individually and as a couple, it's so relatable and real life I could not have asked for a better season 6 plot so far, apologies for being in my thesis bag.

Hey, hey, hey!

Lots of insightful thoughts I agree with!

Do you think their breakup is inevitable? I don’t. I think they can work through this. Layla just needs to open up to him.

She’s sacrificing her needs because she thinks Jordan needs a happy fiancée. What’s ironic is her keeping them from him is doing far more harm.

I think there’s a chance Ryan has a thing for her. I want Ryan to go. Suggesting that she wean back on her meds? Absolutely not. I was furious.

And while I appreciate that she has an outlet in Ryan, I hate that it’s him. I think her avoiding talking about her meds with Jordan, Olivia, even Spencer, Patience, Asher, Coop, Jaymee… it’s not great. And Ryan’s just the worst.

I love that you love their arc. The scenes can be uncomfy at times, but I like it too. And think it’s necessary for their story.

<3

[illegiblewords]

I’ve been seeing people argue for a while that the public has superhero fatigue and is tired of seeing the same characters time and again. Tbh I think that answer suggests fundamental misunderstanding of storytelling and the genre itself--and especially the dangers of crossovers. HUGE discussion under the cut.

Superhero films are a category with a ton of potential for tonal variation, same as science fiction and fantasy. Alien is not the same as Dune which is not the same as Star Trek. Christopher Nolan’s Batman is not the same as Joel Schumacher’s which is not the same as Tim Burton’s. I'd argue that when telling the story of a superhero, there are certain fundamental elements you need to establish.

- What is the hero’s motive for being a hero rather than doing something else?

- Who is the hero’s civilian supporting cast? How do they shape the hero’s development arc and relationship with the world around them?

- What villains have sprouted up around the hero? How do they act as thematic foils to the hero? How do they challenge the hero internally, externally?

- What is the overall tone of the title, and how do the abilities of cast members reflect that tone? Ex. Superman has space and technology, Wonder Woman has mythology, Batman has largely psychology and technology. Every character and the methods at their disposal should play into a cohesive picture of what the world looks like. - What underlying themes/arcs exist across the title and how are these explored? Ex. Coming of age, where responsibility begins and ends, what being a hero means, and fatherhood I’d argue are really big themes for Spider-Man. Batman has a lot of questions about being a person versus being a symbol and coming to terms with humanity in all its forms.

Now, I want to take a moment to invite some reflection on what happens in crossovers.

- The individual life experiences and motives of heroes are often underutilized or outright skipped during crossovers due to larger casts and time constraints. This results in less personal relationships established between the audience and characters, risking the reduction of characters to gimmicks with less relevance. Avoiding this issue requires careful attention to either pacing and detailed characterization or weaving in arcs established in individual films. Both can be difficult to execute and often aren’t in the name of blockbuster spectacle.

- Civilian supporting casts are underdeveloped or omitted due to time and complexity constraints during crossovers. Heroes become the supporting casts to one another instead, sacrificing individual tones, backstories, relationships, and day-to-day experiences. Non-applicable in cases like Teen Titans where day-to-day life is spent on a team and tone is established accordingly, or in Spider-verse films where there is careful cohesion through theme while depth of focus is limited to certain cast members/supporting cast members. Also note loss, parent/child relationships, sense of belonging vs imposter syndrome, and responsibility are consistent across both films throughout the cast for Spider-verse.

- In both solo and crossover films, villains are rendered less personal and more generic/flat as characters. Villains become less compelling in consequence and more reliant on abstract ideas of bad. After all, in solo films they won’t likely be used in crossover events so it’s more an excuse plot. In a crossover, the villain isn’t personal for multiple members of the heroic cast--if any.

- Tone becomes muddy and homogenous as time isn’t spent on establishing distinct atmospheres for individual heroic titles. Can be mitigated if maintaining individual heroic tones/stories to play off of one another is a priority but current priority tends to be setting up future crossover events instead.

- Themes and arcs cannot be tailored on an individual level as much without risking incoherence due to cast size/complexity.

None of this is to say crossovers can’t be used and used well... but I’d argue they need to be done carefully and sparingly--particularly where film is concerned. And if individual films are leading into the crossover, the individual films need to be able to stand alone as strong movies with all essential genre elements addressed. That isn’t what’s been happening. Part of what breathes life and success into the superhero genre is being able to get different experiences from Batman compared to Superman or Wonder Woman, or different experiences with Iron Man compared to Spider-Man or Thor or the X-Men. If you homogenize in any direction, there is less incentive to check out different titles. You aren’t getting anything significantly different. Worth noting, it’s possible to do a more realistic spin on superheroes while still exploring variation within that style. A realistically dark Batman should stand apart from a realistically light Superman and a more realistic classic hero/mythology inspired Wonder Woman. You can have campy Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman at the same time too with Batman leaning into detective stuff, Superman leaning into reporting and alien bits, and Wonder Woman an almost magical girl/Power Puff girl vibe maybe? Play into the invisible plane type of deal.

It’s not that you have to do one realistic, one campy, one surreal, etc. You can still have a unified overall direction while still forming distinct experiences one story to the next. I think any concept of that has been lost with the advent of crossovers. If you have dark Batman and dark Superman, Batman will do it better while Superman will feel inauthentic. People don’t go to Superman movies because they want Batman-lite. There is a distinct experience Superman should be providing and when that isn’t achieved, it’s a lost opportunity. On top of the genre-specific stuff I mentioned, I think a lot of superhero storytelling has become very superficial and lazy. Not all of it, but a lot. Hollywood is churning out films that check superficial boxes in formulas without understanding why they’re there or how elements fit together--using the least amount of thought, effort, and money they can get away with. They’re risk averse which means experimentation averse. They’ll churn out the same thing over and over again doing lower and lower quality jobs until people are sick of it, then blame the genre instead of their own lack of innovation, competence, and respect for the stories being told. They don’t understand that risk-avoidance becomes certain death when you overdo it. In addition to this, Hollywood has largely forgotten fundamental craftsmanship techniques in storytelling regardless of genre in how they handle superhero films. Heroes, villains, supporting cast members, etc. should all be characters first and foremost--their role within the story is secondary. The shape of each character’s arc, their motivation, the challenges they face, how they shape one another through interaction... these are essential for stories overall, but are often skipped. There’s a preview floating around where the villain literally says “your love for your family makes you weak,” and it is the most cartoonishly evil thing that could have been said. Whole thing advertises a death of humanity, self-awareness, nuance, and complexity. There is no room to imagine that villain getting groceries, brushing his teeth in the morning, dealing with traffic, waiting in line at the bank. He sees regular people with families going about their business and sneers to himself--how weak. How pathetic. Did he even have a family of his own? Has he ever wanted one? Does he even have a social life? Has he ever had a social life? Why is he like this? Is he actually, realistically, making a good point about anything that would cause a reasonable person to stop and think? I seriously, seriously doubt that movie is going to give a satisfactory answer. Everything in the preview screamed lazy and formulaic. Why even bother watching a film with as much humanity as a sock-puppet performance? It’s not the genre’s fault. It’s not even the characters’ fault. Any genre, any cast, would suffer the same way if you gave lazy, incompetent, allergic-to-experimentation people the reins. Have studios step away from crossovers for a while and treat every superhero film like its own self-contained story with opportunities to do something different. That alone would probably boost attendance at this point.

[prowerprojects]

Heh, welcome to why I've always been so selective of Tails content in this fandom. I remember the early 2000s days of the fandom where he was either killed off to either enrage Sonic to hype up some new villain or replace him with a "better" partner. {Be it someone's OC or other popular characters like Shadow or Blaze} Or, due to accusations of being useless/not cool, he rarely used in anything meaningful. He's just cute and that's it. (With Tailsmo for flavor.)

Then Colors-Forces happened; I don't think I need to explain to this one, but no doubt this caused a shift in how he was viewed. (And the dynamic with Sonic.)

Stuff has somewhat chilled since then, but it feels like a 180 was done. (Like, fans are quick to bring out the knifes if you speak ill of their bond, and due to recent media like the movies and Prime, this probably the most Tails' character has been deeply and widely discussed, but now we're in this weird limbo were people want a more independent and active Tails, but won't let Sonic "let go of his hand" and protect him at all cost. People understand they're partners, but won't grasp they're equals. They cover the other's flaws, they take care of each other. That's since the day they met.) I like a "blue hedgehog takes care of a [smart] baby fox" story as much as the next person, but do you think that said baby fox never tried to pull his own weight? Never tried to return the favor to this blue hedgehog; who respects his skills [and his tails] and comes to him when he can't figure something out or the best and quickest solution? That they don't think twice on throwing themselves in danger for one another? That's what's so fun about this dynamic. It evolves, but it's ultimately the same premise.

TL:DR Depending on how fanon Tails is written more or often not gives away what kind of Sonic to expect and the dynamic that comes with it. Am I seeing two individuals with their own thoughts and beliefs bounce off each other? Or is one being heavily guided by a figurative leash by the other? ( I'm scared depending on how Nine's story ends, if it's going to cause yet another shift of how Tails gets looked and portrayed and his relationship with Sonic. Cause I'm still seeing some miss the point on why Nine is the way he is and is not a more "complete/developed" Tails. Latching on to him for stuff Tails has done before in games and other adaptions. {And I'm speaking as a Nine fan. Yeah, he's more independent and self-sufficient, but not a healthy way.})

Sigh

I don't even have anything to add, but I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed this weird two-way thing with Tails. Fans want him to get character development and be independent, because it's good for his character arc, and this is what makes sense, but in their hearts what they really want is for Tails to be the little baby brother that Sonic tucks in every night and gives him funny kisses and checks for monsters under his bed; who exists solely to show how great of a big brother Sonic is, sacrificing so much of his freedom and taking on so much responsibility to raise a child, can you believe this? (Not saying you can't be independent and still get affection and help from your family, note the word "solely") (And if Sonic doesn't need to keep an eye on Tails because Tails is such a helpless baby, then it's because if he's left without supervision for 5 seconds, he starts killing people and destroying cities and Sonic needs to keep him in check)

And yeah, I get it, fandom, we're all having fun, I also think jokes about Tails being a little unhinged are funny, and I enjoy the brotherly fluff between Sonic and Tails, but I wish it wasn't all that he got reduced to (Especially in fics where the focus is one Sonic + some other character who isn't Tails. If it's a shipping fic there's often a plot where Sonic's partner would have to babysit Tails (never mind he lives by himself in canon) and bond with him, to kind of "get approval from Sonic's family".) But it's hard to talk about these kinds of things. Like when you criticize the way people portray characters in a ship, you could say "don't reduce them to just a generic love interest, remember that they're a character with a full personality also", and people understand what you mean, but how could you say "don't reduce this character to just a little brother type"? They are brothers after all, we just want to make them act like real brothers do/s

Yep, I've seen way to many people being like "Nine is what I always wanted Tails to be". And it's like. Ok. So you just hate Tails then. Let me guess, is Shadow your favourite character? I also like Nine, he's a great character, probably the best written one in the show, but he's not "cool", he doesn't represent "Tails reaching his full potential" or anything like that. He's deeply hurt and kind of pitiful honestly. Tails becoming more like him would be a regression if anything because he'd already overcome a similar (maybe just not as... prolonged) situation before. But I don't think this is what the show is building up to, Tails (in the show) is portrayed to be a pretty competent person already, just the one who is willing to put aside his issues because he doesn't want to risk creating any kind of conflict in his relationship with Sonic (in contrast to Nine who doesn't have as much history with Sonic and is willing to tell him exactly when and how he fucks up), and it's Sonic who needs to change his attitude. But we'll see how it goes. (I wouldn't want their relationship to turn into "long-suffering Tails holds his dumbass older brother on a child leash otherwise he'll run off and do something stupid" in popular conciousness either)

[linkspooky]

Megumi and Toji

Megumi knows almost nothing about his father, his early memories are of being abandoned. His only family is Tsumiki as far as he’s concerned. It’s clear he doesn’t regard himself as a Zenin, or Toji’s son. He doesn’t even recognize Toji when they meet again briefly. However, though Megumi’s not even aware of it there’s a lot of story parallels between father and son. Toji serves as a cautionary tale of what Megumi could become if he does not grow up and learn to handle his emotions properly. MORE UNDER THE CUT. 

1. Inherited Trauma 

I don’t know if you’ve noticed this yet, but the Zenin family definitely has issues. They exclude anything which does not fit their arbitrary standards as an outsider. We don’t really know Toji’s backstory. We don’t have to know either, it obviously doesn’t excuse his actions. However, we see the after-effects of him being thrown out and scapegoated by his own family by the time we see him in the hidden inventory arc. Not only that, but from the clan’s treatment of Maki, we can theorize a little ibt of what Toji has been through. 

Maki and Toji were both born without cursed energy and labeled as defective and wrong because of it. It’s clear both of them developed bad, hostile, even downright violent personalities in order to cope with a home environment that was constantly hostile to them. 

In Maki’s case, it’s not that Maki is a hateful person it’s that she’s conditioned not to accept any kind of love because she was never shown the unconditional love of a family she was owed. When Yuta tries to accept her, Maki rejects him because she doesn’t know what that feeling of acceptance and security is like if it’s unearned. She ties it to strength, she has to be stronger than the Zenin clan, she has to prove she’s better than them and that they were wrong about her in order to earn it. 

Maki is so busy trying to reject everything that the Zenin clan stands for, that she can’t really accept other people’s feelings at all positive or negative. She’s too busy thinking about herself, protecting about herself, trying not to hate herself that even the feelings of Mai who loves her, but in a more complicated way is something she can’t accept. She doesn’t want to think about mai’s feelings because she’s too busy with her own, Mai is an afterthought to her. 

Maki has a complicated way of dealing with the abuse of the Zenin family, and I assume Toji did too. The only difference is that Toji is an adult, whereas Maki is still an adolescent. Toji was set in his ways, Maki is still in the middle of changing. 

Toji is labeled as “the one who is left behind, the one who is free”, it’s very likely especially considering the way he treats Megumi and distances himself from anyone related to him, that Toji’s way of dealing with the Zenin family was to simply reject all of it. He couldn’t accept the hatred of his family, but at the same time he also couldn’t accept any kind of positive emotions too, like love between a father and son. It’s likely Toji can’t even accept the idea of having a family, or the unconditional love of a family because he’s never had it - not that any of that is Megumi’s fault.

 Toji grew up completely isolated from his own family until he was eventually thrown out, and he probably had no idea how to raise a family, but he turned around and inflicted those same circumstances on Megumi. Toji grows up alone, Toji makes Megumi grow up alone because he fails to provide for him as a father. 

Toji deliberately made a choice to throw out Megumi along with the rest of his family trauma, that’s his self reflection upon the moment of death. He wanted to throw away everything and live for hismelf, but he threw away Megumi too. 

However, from Meugmi’s perspective his father gave him the name ‘Megumi’ and left. Apparently Toji was around so little that Megumi doesn’t even recognize his face whent hey meet again as a teenager. He married Tusmiki’s mom, got a divorce, and presumably left Megumi there. 

Megumi grew up with no idea of what a family was, except for his step sister, and also completely isolated from others. He grew up with the same sense of isolation and distance from his family that Toji did, lacking totally in the unconditional love a child needs from his parents in order to grow up, because Toji was never even around for Megumi. Megumi just by default assumes that his father either didn’t love him, or just plain forgot about him. 

2. Like Father, Like Son.

However, despite the fact Toji wasn’t even around to raise his son, Megumi turned out a lot like Toji. There’s a lot of parallels between father and son, probably because as stated above Megumi grew up in isolated circumstances, completely cut off, never truly receiving the parental love or guidance that he needed to help him mature into a emotionally healthy adolescent able to process his feelings and handle them properly. 

Both Megumi and Toji respond to their emotional trauma in the same way, by suppressing themselves and all their feelings, and rejecting the feelings of everyone around him. Megumi isn’t even able to hear the news that his dad died, because he insists that already in first grade, he doesn’t care about his dad or even want him around. 

This is you know, a lie of course. Megumi’s a first grader. All children want a parent. It’s just, Megumi’s way of dealing with his feelings is to just pretend that they’re not there, to pretend he doesn’t care. A first grader is not really mature enough to think of his family situation in these terms, or cope with these feelings. Megumi is simply pretending to be mature as a way of pretending to deal with his hurt feelings. 

We as the audience know that Megumi is a deeply caring, and deeply feeling person. However, Megumi himself seesm to be in denial of this fact. 

Megumi’s response to all of thes icky gross feelings he has for people, soft feelings that makes him feel vulnerable because while Megumi cares deeply, circumstances have taught him that people do not care about him, or at least Toji didn’t care enough in Megumi’s eyes to stick around. Megumi’s response is the same as Toji’s, he shuts everyone out, he insists he doesn’t care about anyone. 

He can’t accept anyone’s feelings because he’s too busy rejecting everyone. He can’t even accept the positive feelings of familial love his sister has for him, he almost begrudges her for it. Tsumiki chose to see him as family, different from Toji who he feels didn’t choose him and Megumi just couldn’t realize that until it was too late. He’s so used to being abandoned and unchosen that he doesn’t know what familial love even looks like in Tsumiki. 

This is also something that Toji does to Megumi. It’s said in a bonus in volume 8 or volume 9 that after the death of Megumi’s mother, Toji insisted that he “stopped caring about everything.” We see this repeat when he’s about to sell Megumi to the Zenin clan. 

Toji insists he doesn’t care, while Megumi tries to creep back into his thoughts, and he keeps trying to help him in indirect ways. Toji wishing for a better future for his son than he had, while at the same time, selling him off for the money he plans to gamble away at the race track. Toji forgetting his son’s name, and then remembering it on the brink of death and asking his enemy to do something about it. These are all compeltely contradictory behaviors because Toji has no healthy, adult way of processing his emotions. 

He’s just used to pretending he doesn’t care about things, that even when he obviously does care it’s what he keeps falling back on. It’s the same as Megumi’s complex with saving people, he insists he hates people, that he doesn’t want to save them, and then he goes far out of his way to save people like Yuji. 

3. Growing Out of Your Father’s Shadow

They process emotions the same way, both insisting that they don’t care about anything around them, the only real difference is their priorities. Toji is a self centered person who prioritizes himself above all others. Megumi’s a self sacrificing person, he’s continually belittling himself for the sake of other people. Megumi belittles himself to the point where he insits he could never be strong enough to challenge Gojo. Being the strongest individual is just never his priority. 

Toji however is someone who climbed to the top of the Jujutsu World to try to prove he could become a better fighter than them without any cursed energy. Megumi is someone who ran away from the challenge of becoming stronger than Gojo, but Toji wanted to prove himself stronger than Gojo so badly he stayed and fought a fight he knew he couldn’t win. 

However, even though their priorities are total opposites, Toji prioritizing himself, and Megumi prioritizing other people above himself they both end up in the same place. They’re both incredibly self destructive people. Toji stayed and fought with Gojo, knowing that he would die. When Megumi is pushed to his limit in Shibuya, rather than try to run away he also sacrifices himself in order to summon Mahoraga in a suicidal move against his opponent. They are even paralleled in the way they’re drawn. 

I think the takeaway from all these connections set up between Toji and Megumi is that even though Megumi doesn’t know his father well he’s a lot like him. They both handle their emotions in the same way, insisting that they don’t care when they in fact care deeply. They both repress all of their emotions until they go crazy from it. 

Toji literally springs from Megumi’s shadow. The shadow is the symbol of repressed emotions. Emotions that people are conscious of, the ones they acknowledge are usually represented by light, deeper emotions, the ones they repress and refuse to acknowledge are then referred to as the shadow. The brighter the light, the darker the shadow. The more Megumi pretends not to care about his father or his family situation, the deeper the shadow underneath his feet grows. 

Being underneath your father’s shadow is even a common phrase used to describe people who are unable to escape from their parents, and become their own person. There is a connection between Megumi and his father between Megumi and the Zenin, even if Megumi likes to pretend it’s not there, like when he denies any similarity between himself and Kamo Noritoshi.

 A lot of Megumi’s life is dictated by his family circumstances too, he’s just in denial about it. Kamo’s aware to sympathize with people because he’s far more aware fo himself and his family circumstances, Megumi denies sympathizing with other people, because he doesn’t have any sympathy for himself either. 

Zombie Megumi is colored in pure shadow. He’s even referred to as a manifestation of the repressed feelings of the Zenin clan. Those who are restrained by their connection to the Zenin clan, all look in awe at the one who broke free from the Zenin, and free from everything. 

Megumi exhibits the act same behavir as Toji. He suppresses himself, suppresses himself, and suprresses himself and then he just goes crazy. Megumi claims he’s not the strongest, he doesn’t care about being strong, but then he pulls moves like summoning the Mahoraga and Domain Expansion. Megumi just holds himself in until he violently lashes out on everything around him too, he’s hurt feelings waiting to explode. 

Which is why Megumi learning more about his father and the connection between them could be a good thing, not because Megumi necessarily owes Toji anything, but that he could learn from Toji’s mistakes. When Megumi sees his own unhealthy behavior exhibited in another, he can learn to accept the things that Toji could not accept. He could learn to accept connections like family, and friednship, before they become chains that hold him down too hard, until he breaks everything and himself trying to be free. Megumi dosen’t have to become the strongest like Gojo, he doesn’t have to surpass or fight against the Zenin clan. He doesn’t have to save everyone in the whole world like Yuji. The best thing for Megumi’s character development would be for him to learn to accept his own feelings and the feelings of others without going crazy. That’s a strength that neither Toji, nor Gojo could never find in themselves. 

[grayintogreen]

This is not the kind of thing I usually meta about here but I’m at work and thinking about it so here we go.

I’m thinking about the only two GENUINELY kind acts that Urahara performs- as in “this act had no actual value to an overall strategy and, in fact, could have been a detriment to what he was already doing”- is because of Hiyori.

Now keep in mind that Urahara is at his core… not a bad person but not a good person either. He’s the sort of person that you don’t trust with YOUR life, but the lives of as many people as possible. He cannot single out an individual life because when that happens, you run the risk of sacrificing more people. Absolutely Rukia’s life was worth the lives of everyone Aizen would kill if he got his hands on the hogyoku. That’s just math. You don’t have to like it but most people understand that’s how he operates even as it makes him seem pretty cold and indifferent. (And he’s not.)

But Hiyori DOES NOT. From the jump, Hiyori is calling him out. At first, it’s because he’s dopey and he doesn’t get angry and he’s clearly a people-pleaser. (Which I’m assuming he was only doing for her benefit because she’s bossy, temperamental, and suffering from abandonment and it was tactically sound to complement her without butting heads.) She DOES NOT like his tactics. Period. She doesn’t like the Maggot’s Nest and is extremely irritated about him being from squad two, which tells me Hiyori has a zero tolerance policy for deceit.

Yoruichi? Urahara’s BEST FRIEND? She knows (and would scream at him if he didn’t) that he would let her die if it would save a hundred people. She gets pissed at him when his inclinations skew selfish and don’t take tactics into consideration. When Hiyori ends up in a dangerous situation that Urahara put her in, she’s the one who tells him to captain up and respect that Hiyori can handle herself- sending someone else into a situation that MULTIPLE people are already involved in is stupid and shows that he doesn’t believe Hiyori can handle herself.

Except HIYORI wouldn’t think like that. Hiyori fears abandonment. Hiyori doesn’t like lives being weighed and measured against the best possible scenario. So Urahara goes after her and it ends up BEING a tactically unsound decision that gets him exiled and loses him the chance to undermine Aizen from the inside. What it does do is save several individuals at the cost of Soul Society losing the only people who could have stopped Aizen quickly. It was not a decision that came to ANYTHING except saving the Visored and Urahara made it work but it took a century.

Now the second time: during the Blood War arc, the only scene we really get with Hiyori and Urahara is the scene where she says, pointedly, that he’s clearly okay with Ichigo and Yoruichi going into a dangerous situation if it suits his plans and she is PISSED. We only see Urahara from the back and he doesn’t react, but when he goes out, at first, he’s with Kyouraku’s group and then, at some point during I believe the Gerard fight (aka the FIGHT URAHARA PROBABLY COULD HAVE REALLY HELPED WITH), he’s fucked off and where does he end up? In the Askin fight where Ichigo and Yoruichi ended up. (I know Ichigo fucked off before Urahara got there but he WAS there.)

Oh huh. So Urahara abandoned the group he was SUPPOSED to be with because either he sensed Yoruichi and Ichigo were in danger or because he felt he needed to get to them. And yes, his fight with Askin turned out tactically in his favor and he was able to prevent repeating his mistakes but THAT GERARD FIGHT NEEDED HIM.

And you could argue with Mayuri out, there was NO ONE else who could fight Askin and win so it worked out fine, but the point is that Urahara did not set out to meet up with Yoruichi. He just DECIDED that in the moment.

Because Hiyori said “these are your friends and people you love and you DO NOT LEAVE THEM BEHIND.” And he didn’t leave her behind and I don’t think she ever really grasped that- or she did and she can’t reconcile it with the persona Urahara projects.

Hiyori is the only person who absolutely will not accept Urahara’s bullshit and will bully him to do better and I VALUE that relationship and Kubo owes me reparations for not giving me more of it.

[maulusque]

Clone genetic enhancement ideas

So the clones were genetically enhanced, but i don’t really see any writers (in fanfic or in published stuff) really exploring what that MEANS beyond “clone very stronk”. Here are some ideas that would actually make clones significantly different from just a regular-ass human in peak condition. 

-enhanced senses: eyesight, hearing, etc. I’m talking eyes like a HAWK

-better reflexes

-quicker information processing

-can hear sounds of higher and lower frequency than standard humans

-can see light of a broader spectrum than human standard

-learn quicker, retain information and skills better (potential problem: if you learn something the WRONG way, that way might stick really well)

-photographic memory (really useful for memorizing layouts and maps)

-immunity to various diseases

-can tolerate a wider range of temperatures and environments

-increased stamina and strength baseline. Clones can just run full-tilt for hours and hours and be like “ah a nice stroll”. Over long distances, they can out-pace jedi in the same way that humans can out-pace horses.

-higher tolerance of certain poisons/toxins (clones can straight-up drink ethanol, and get maybe a little tipsy)

-bodies respond quickly to physical stress, and slowly to the absence of it (basically, this means that physical conditioning results in stronger muscles and a stronger cardiovascular system really quickly, and it takes MUCH longer for a clone to lose strength and conditioning due to not exercising than standard humans. Think how much valuable training time is saved if they only have to go on a run like, once a month in order to stay in shape)

-increased ability to function through intense pain and acute injuries. Basically, semi-disabling the pain system so it’s less distracting. Probably not good for the survival of the individual in many situations, but an advantage on the battlefield. 

-heal faster and better, with fewer long-term complications. Clones can dislocate their shoulders and NOT have the joint be permanently fucked up, because the Kaminoans re-designed the whole damn thing to suck WAY less.

-actually, unique internal anatomy. There’s probably a lot about the human body besides the shoulder joint that is actually just really stupid, and something no intelligent designer would actually build. So the Kaminoans can fix a lot of that stuff. Better knees, maybe. Stronger ribs. Maybe Cody punches droids not just because he’s a mad bastard, but also because his metatarsals are literally as strong as steel. 

-Hearing loss/hearing damage? No problem, your ear can regrow those little hair-thingies that help you hear. 

-Of course, it takes energy to maintain muscle mass, which is why human bodies lose it if we’re not using it. Clones need significantly more calories than standard humans. However, their digestive systems are enhanced to extract calories and nutrients from food much more efficiently, so food goes much farther. Potential weird side effect: maybe clones only have to poop like, once a week?

-You could probably extend that into increased ability to tolerate long periods without food/on low rations, despite the increased need for calories. 

-wouldn’t it be NEAT if the kaminoans somehow designed self-repairing DNA. This would mean that others couldn’t take a DNA sample from a clone and modify it to create their own clones (basically, it protects their product. It’s like DRM for clones). This ALSO means that clones couldn’t get cancer, and that they’d be immune to radiation poisoning. So a clone could just walk up to a sphere of uranium at critical mass and pick it up. Maybe with oven mitts on if it’s hot. (this would also make it harder for a rapid-aging cure to be developed, but uhhhh fanfic writers find a way)

- “bred for obedience” I think most of this would have to be accomplished through tightly-controlled messaging and cultural norms as the clones grow up- basically, enshrining obedience as a desirable and almost sacred trait, to be prized higher than anything else, including the lives of your brothers. In the same way that we hear stories of people sacrificing their lives to protect their loved ones, the clones would grow up hearing stories of soldiers sacrificing their brothers’ lives to obey an order from a superior. 

-SOME of the “obedience” thing could be engineered, though. Humans are already super social, but it would probably make sense for the clones to have an even greater need for social bonds. This would make for greater teamwork and coordination, and better unit cohesion, since the clones would be more inclined to prioritize friendship/agreeing with someone over winning an argument. It would also make it so they’d bond with their natural-born generals more easily, so they would obey them not just because they’re supposed to, but because they’d be much quicker to see them as a friend, and someone who’s trust they want to earn, someone they want to incorporate into their group and make happy.

-consequently, clones who find themselves alone do NOT do well. Isolation has a much more profoundly negative impact on clones than on regular humans.

-Originally, clones designed to operate alone or in small teams would not have the social enhancement- ARC troopers, spec-ops teams, etc. There wouldn’t be much of a noticeable difference in everyday interactions, but they’d also be vaguely weirded out by what they interpret as aggressive friendliness from their brothers, and their brothers would think they’re a bit shy and standoffish. 

-actually this social modification would make it MUCH harder for clones to kill people. REGULAR HUMANS are already super bad at killing people- i remember reading this article about how as soon as soldiers have to point their weapons at actual people, their aim gets mysteriously much shittier. Even when compared to situations that are exactly the same, except they’re not shooting at other humans. So reconcile this how you will, idk.

-I imagine a lot of these enhancements would be accomplished not through DNA, but through microorganisms. Retroviruses could explain the DNA resistant to modification, and the increased healing speed, and possibly some disease resistance (do i know anything about retroviruses other than a vague concept of what they are? no i do not. will that stop me? also no.) Their metabolism can be partially explained through specially engineered gut microbes.

-not sure how they’d go about making clones “resistant to any stress”, because you can’t exactly turn off the trauma response in the brain without breaking a bunch of other things. They could probably do a bit of fiddling to make clones more resistant to chemical imbalances, and therefore more depression-resistant. I think most of the “stress-resistance” would have to come through training. Either they train the clones to basically suppress everything, which might work alright in the short term. OR they actually have systems in place that help prevent the development of things like PTSD and help treat trauma. Meaning the clones are literally trained in self-care, positive self-talk, talking about their pain with their brothers, and having community rituals around things like death and grief. I don’t think that’s super likely because one thing that’s integral to those concepts is the concept of “i am a person and i have worth, and if i feel angry about something bad happening, that is ok and valid” and considering that a whole lot of bad things happen to the clones all the time and their childhood is a whole boatload of bad all happening at once, i don’t think the kaminoans would want the clones realizing “hey wait a minute i’m a person and i don’t deserve to be treated this way and it’s ok for me to be mad at you”. 

- the clones were supposedly engineered to be “less aggressive” but i think there was literally nothing more to that than a cover story for the control chip. The clones wouldn’t be raised with a lot of the aggressive western concept of masculinity, where anger is the default reaction to like, everything, and your personal pride is extremely important and also fragile (no offense lmao). So you wouldn’t have clones posturing and getting angry over perceived slights and fighting each other all the time, like everyone in-universe apparently expects to be the case. Anyway, why would you want your soldiers to be less aggressive? they’re literally supposed to fight and kill the enemy. You want them fully capable of getting angry, anger is the human response to fear and danger that lets us DO something about it. 

-obviously the biggest component in how they behave would be how they are raised, but that’s an entirely different post

-Specializations! I imagine that initially, the Kaminoans had different clones with different traits engineered specifically to fill certain roles. However, as the war went on, they struggled to keep up with demand and had to start shoving clones into whatever roles were needed (hence Fives and Echo becoming ARCs, despite not being engineered as ARC troopers). 

-Command clones would have better abilities in the executive function parts of the brain that deal with extrapolation, planning ahead, spatial reasoning, etc. They’d also have increased visual pattern recognition (like a pigeon)

-search-and-rescue troops would also have the pigeon pattern recognition abilities. The coast guard literally strapped pigeons to helicopters who would tap a button when they saw orange in the water, because they were better at spotting it than humans. Pigeons can detect cancer in microscope images of cells, because they’re that good at pattern recognition

-Pilots would have hella reflexes, excellent spatial awareness and spatial reasoning skills, much greater ability to process visual information, stronger hearts and blood vessels (to resist greater Gs of force), and they’d also be much shorter, to better fit into a cockpit. Which reminds me of Axe, that poor bastard from Ahsoka’s squadron over Ryloth who was almost eight feet tall. rip poor Axe, how did you even become a pilot, you long bastard.

-medics who can smell certain diseases. If you want to get a little bit out there, make the medics able to purr so they can sooth stressed-out patients. 

-infantry would have even greater endurance than everyone else, as well as greater tolerance for, and ability to, remain constantly on alert.

-ability to fall asleep at will? that would be super dope.

-maybe more efficient sleep, so to an adult clone, 4 hours of sleep is genuinely sufficient.

-concept: clones can sort of turn down their bodily functions- slow their digestion, heart, lungs, the whole nine yards- to last longer in adverse conditions. Sort of a half-hibernation (or quarter hibernation- they’d still be able to talk and think, but they’d feel very lethargic). They wouldn’t be able to function very well, but it would be great for things like enduring intense cold, periods without food, low-oxygen environments, and it would be especially useful if you were wounded and waiting for help, since you could slow your circulation, meaning it would take you a lot longer to bleed out. This state could be triggered by a combination of physical actions such as sitting or lying still, breathing slowly and deeply, and focusing on slowing the heart down (humans can actually slow down their hearts consciously if you practice at it, this is basically that, but turned up to like 1100).

-one thing that never made sense to me was the whole “we’re running out of jango fett’s DNA, all the new clones won’t be as good, and we have to stop ventress from stealing the original DNA” because like, can’t they just, get the EXACT SAME DNA from the clones?? you know, the exact genetic copies? With all the enhancements already done? But now my idea is that the kaminoans have engineered the clones so their DNA straight up can’t be copied. The clone’s own body can obviously replicate it, but if you take a sample and try to extract the DNA, it just self-destructs or something. This is to protect their intellectual property, but also means that they literally have to use a couple of Jango Fett’s actual human cells for every single clone they make (and the fact that they then have to do all the above enhancements to every single embryo helps explain why there’s so many small mutations, such as hair color and height). So they kinda shot themselves in the foot with that one. 

-of course since things like ADHD and autism have a strong genetic component, the kaminoans could theoretically engineer those out of the clones, but actually FUCK THAT so for whatever reason, that’s just not something they are able to do, and neurodivergent clones are absolutely a thing

[my-mt-heart]

I don't want to use your "ask" button for this, so my apologies. But I figured they seem to be an avid reader of your content, and you did invite me to add, so I thought that would be best?

I say this with all due respect, but I disagree. No Caryler or shipper of Donnie has good reason to believe in the possibility of a romance between the latter ship. I have yet to see a "good reason" from either side. When I ask for one, I don't get one. 

Stop conflating Daryl's relationship with Leah and Connie. They are not the same. Find Me dealt with multiple things, one of which was introducing what Daryl's attitude is towards intimate relationships and being able to communicate that in a way that doesn't reveal too much from Daryl verbally. Because that is probably where they plan to take Daryl in the long run; an actual relationship with a committed partner. With it being just them, alone. No other people around. Like it was with Daryl and Leah. Does that sound like Daryl and Connie to anyone or Daryl and Carol? 

And contrary to what Carylers and Donnie shippers continue to suggest, that episode Find Me (while sloppy and rushed) was not aiming to convince anyone that Daryl is your typical male, while sacrificing his psychological nuances. In psychology, Daryl would be considered someone who is high in openness, neuroticism, and at least above average in agreeableness. Meaning, he is more likely to settle into a pace and environment or way of living, because he thinks it is what he is supposed to do, rather than what he wants to do. That is how he tends to act, without his proper counterpart present (physically or mentally), which would be Carol. Daryl is childlike in a way with Leah and Connie that he doesn't get to be with Carol (because there is a healthy maturity there, but also because she's so damn stubborn). And he mirrors Carol. That is one of the reasons he seems so dismissive towards her. She's blocking him out, too. He doesn't mirror Leah and Connie, though. Have you ever noticed that children stare at things or people a lot? Daryl wanted to help Leah. Daryl wanted to help Connie and I think still does. It's not romance. And it will be totally confirmed once we all see the episodes to come. 

Angela Kang gets a lot of flack from the Caryl side but maybe we would rather have Gimple back on the ballot for showrunner? We all know how wonderful he was with Daryl. Kang is the one who has the task of building up a declining show, following the plot mostly, and having the creativity to use other characters to bring Caryl to where we want them to be ultimately (that's the hope, right?). Sure, we want Caryl now, but her vision for them has durable elements that work for us and them better long-term. Notice how there is still so much about them as people that we don't know and they don't know. She wants that there on purpose. All the best romances that are going to be long-term romances have that in mind. Otherwise, we'll just get a sappy fanfic. And I am not a Caryler who has been following their journey for years on end for a sappy fanfic, just because the thought of Connie and Daryl interacting unless for romantic intent is inconceivable for some of us. No, I don't agree with all her choices. But I agree with her vision. And the direction she is taking us to get there. 

Kang spoke of Daryl having a child element to him. Like, he is dreaming and wondering again. Carol is not quite there, yet. But she will be. Melissa McBride correctly dubbed Carol and Daryl as being "wounded children". If you look at Daryl and Carol's individual arcs since Kang took over, that is coming through loud and clear. They are both realizing that they don't have to be there for people the way they used to; the world will reorder itself, with or without them. Now, they don't have to survive just to survive. So now what? Well, they can live. Adults don't "live". They pay bills, they have obligations, appointments, engagements, work, inconveniences. Children don't. They dream, they explore; they imagine; they adventure. That is what all great children's books/movies do. I actually noticed a while ago how childlike Carol is becoming, myself, so it struck me when Angela Kang recently said Daryl basically is, too. 

Now, keep doubting if anyone wants to doubt. I am not trying to dissuade you. But stop presenting Find Me, Connie being around since season 9 and not being able to pinpoint one scene that was laced with romantic tension between Donnie, while topping it off with Kang, as actual "good reasons". As someone involved in law and counseling, they're not. It's doubt. Doubt is fine. Reconstructing Kang's style, and Daryl's relationship with Leah based on that doubt, is faulty though. 

And this response is not an accusation, nor a challenge or an insult of anyone's thought process. I say all of this in friendship and I mean that sincerely. 

Thanks my-mt. Hope I wasn't too long. I probably was, though.

You can use my ask button anytime you want. Couldn't have said it better myself. Really, I couldn't have.

[flightfoot]

When trying to craft a character-centric story, one that revolves around developing and exploring a character and their personal story, it can be a challenge. That challenge gets even harder if you want to introduce a decent-sized supporting cast, and a limited amount of space in which to do all of this. 

Do you:

A. Focus as much as possible on 1 or 2 characters, the main protagonists, and have most other characters exist to further their stories? It allows for the chosen characters to have the maximum amount of development, since so much screentime is devoted to the them, but leaves all the other characters to pick up their table scraps, development-wise, only existing to serve the leads.

or

B. Give all the characters separate stories and arcs, maybe not as fleshed out or long as the protagonists, but enough that you get the sense that they’re their own characters and have their own stories, that you can care about them as well. This one is favored by a lot of longer stories and series with ensemble casts. It comes with some downsides though: less screentime can be devoted to everyone’s individual journey, and while one person’s facing their inner demon, going through their conflict, the other characters’ development is put on hold. Furthermore, it can make the narrative feel disjointed, less streamlined. It works well for an adventure story, but not always as well if the work revolves around a central theme or message that the different characters’ journeys are supposed to help convey.

Reading Trials of Apollo, I realized that there’s another way to achieve some of the aims of A, with having a central theme and message conveyed through character arcs, especially while developing a singe central protagonist, while not relegating other characters to only serving that protagonist’s story - at least directly.

Have the other characters’ stories expand on some similar themes to the main protagonist’s story.

That way, the side characters can have their own stories and development while still furthering the protagonist’s character arc.

For instance, in Trials of Apollo, Apollo learns from various other character’s struggles, realizations, and development, even though those characters didn’t exist FOR him - indeed, many of them are previous protagonists who are simply developing further from the decent amount of development they already had. Not that they’re the only ones, there are some characters who debut in TOA who he learns from as well. But it helps to illustrate that while these characters have arcs that parallel and inform his, they don’t exist to serve him.

Spoilers for Trials of Apollo below the break.

Book 1: Meg... Ok Meg’s is an outlier, since she’s Apollo’s partner throughout the series, and her entire arc about coming to terms with her adopted “father” being her abuser and breaking free from him is a very close and obvious parallel of Apollo’s own arc of breaking away from Zeus.

Book 2: Lit and Calypso. Lit feels like he doesn’t deserve the second chance and kindness Apollo, Jo, etc show him, especially since he tried to murder them all. Honestly Lit’s story parallels Apollo’s mostly in how other people react to him with kindness even when he’s done nothing to deserve it, and in how he became fiercely protective of his new family as a result.

Calypso parallels a different aspect of Apollo’s journey. She’s ALSO a mortal immortal like he is, just let out of the golden cage of her island, and struggling to cope with the change. 

Book 3: Jason and Piper. Jason’s more direct, with specifically tasking Apollo with remembering what it’s like to be human, since he’s certain he’ll die. At least, he’d rather die than let Piper do so. He doesn’t WANT to die, but he makes peace with his mortality if it’s to protect his friends.

Piper’s dealing with insecurity and uncertainty, not knowing who she is or how to connect with her roots. Hera’s meddling with her love life leaves her uncertain how much of her initial attraction to Jason was real and her own choice, and with also trying to figure out what her being native american, being cherokee, means to her, she’s feeling very lost. Piper’s left wondering who she is outside of what others expect her to be, and who SHE expects herself to be - an identity crisis that Apollo becomes very familiar with.

Book 4: Frank and Reyna. Frank reclaims his destiny, setting light to his own greatest vulnerability in order to save the camp, something that should have killed him... and yet doesn’t, setting him free instead. It doesn’t make much sense from an in-universe lore perspective and seems almost hand-waved, especially with Apollo’s speculation that by willingly facing death the way he did, he took charge of his own destiny and made his own fate, which undid the whole “tying his fate to a stick of wood” thing. It makes a LOT more sense when seeing it as foreshadowing and further theme-building for Apollo’s journey, for how he had to take control of his own destiny.

Reyna’s also been dealing with other people’s expectations, especially about her love life. That she needs to or should get together with someone, that they’ll “heal her heart”. It’s something she struggled with throughout HOO as well, especially with feeling as lonely and isolated as she did and needing support. The ending of Tyrant’s Tomb had her realizing that she doesn’t need to conform to anyone else’s ideas about romance, that she can figure it out in her own time. It doesn’t reflect as directly on Apollo’s arc as some others, but it follows the same “reclaiming your destiny and being who you are regardless of other people’s expectations” theme.

Book 5: Lu. She cared for Meg, but didn’t help her escape before this point, instead just helping make her time with Nero more bearable, try to make things better where she could, like by faking Meg’s “kills” of various people Nero wanted dead. But she didn’t quite have it in her to take Meg and run, not yet, since Nero had been her benefactor for centuries at that point. She knew it was wrong, but she couldn’t do it - not yet. And while Apollo didn’t trust her at first, he DID understand her not standing up to a tyrant on whom she depended, since he didn’t stand up to Zeus often either. 

There’s more to these character arcs of course as well as additional characters with arcs that parallel Apollo’s own, but these are the main ones that I hope get my point across. Having other characters’ arcs parallel the main protagonist’s arc in some way so that the protagonist can learn from them or have some particular theme explored further can be a very effective way of showing character development for a wide range of people without sacrificing the main protagonist’s own development time or having those other characters’ merely serve the protagonist’s arc.

[army-of-mai-lovers]

Jet and Yue’s Deaths: Were They Necessary?

Two of the most common ideas I see for aus in this fandom are the Jet lives au, and the Yue lives au. I’ve written both of these myself, and I’ve seen many others write them. And while yes, fanfiction can be a great way to explore ideas that didn’t necessarily have to be explored in canon (I’m mad at bryke for a lot of things, but not including a Toph and Bumi I friendship is not one of them, even though I wrote a fic about it), it seems to me that people are mad that Yue and Jet are dead, to varying degrees. There’s a lot to talk about regarding their deaths from a sociopolitical perspective (the fact that two of the darker-skinned characters in the show are the ones that died, and all the light-skinned characters lived, is ah... an interesting choice), but I don’t want to look at it that way, at least for right now. I want to look at it as a writer, and discuss whether these deaths were a) necessary for the plot and themes of ATLA in any way whatsoever and b) whether it was necessary for them to unfold in the way that they did, or if they would have been more impactful had they occurred in a different way. 

(meta under the cut, this got really, really, really long)

Death in Children’s Media

When I first started thinking about this meta, I had this idea to compare Jet and Yue’s deaths to deaths in an animated children’s show that I found satisfying. And in theory, that was a great idea. Problem is: there aren’t very many permanent deaths in children’s animation, and the ones that do exist aren’t especially well-written. This may be an odd thing to say in what is ostensibly a piece of atla crit, but Yue’s death is probably the best written death in a piece of children’s animation that I can think of. That’s not a compliment. Rather, it’s a condemnation of the way other pieces of children’s animation featuring permanent character death have handled their storylines. 

I’ve talked about this before, but my favorite show growing up was Young Justice, and my favorite character on that show was far and away Mr. Wally West. So when he died at the end of season 2, it broke me emotionally. Shortly thereafter, Cartoon Network canceled the show, and I started getting on fan forums to mourn. Everybody on these fan forums was convinced that had Cartoon Network not canceled the show, Wally would have been brought back. And that is a narrative that I internalized for years. Eventually, the show was brought back via DC’s new streaming service, and I tuned in, waiting for Wally to also be brought back, only to discover that that wasn’t in the cards. Wally was dead. Permanently. 

So now that I know that, I can talk about why killing him off was fucking stupid. Wally’s death occurs at the end of season 2, after the main s2 conflict, the Reach, has been defeated, save for these pods that they set up all over the world to destroy Earth. Our heroes split up in teams of two to destroy the pods, and they destroy all of them, except for a secret one in Antartica. It can only be neutralized by speedsters, so Wally, Bart, and Barry team up to destroy it. It’s established in canon that Wally is slower than Bart and Barry, and it’s been played for laughs earlier in the season, but for reasons unexplained, the pod is better able to target Wally because he’s slower than Bart and Barry, and it kills him. After the emotional arc of the season has wrapped up, a literal main character dies. There’s some indication at the end of that season that his death is going to cause Artemis to spiral and become a villain, but when season 3 picks up, she’s doing the right thing, with seemingly no qualms about her position in life as a hero. In the comics, something like this happens to Wally, but then he goes into the Speed Force and becomes faster and stronger even than Barry, in which case, yes, this would have advanced the plot, but that’s probably not in the cards either. 

In summary, Wally’s death doesn’t work as a story beat, not because it made me mad, but because it doesn’t advance the plot, nor does it develop character. Only including things that advance plot or develop character is one of the golden rules of writing. Like most golden rules of writing, however, it’s not absolute. There is a lot of fun to be had in jokey little one off adventures (in atla, Sokka’s haiku competition) or in fun worldbuilding threads that add depth to your setting but don’t really come up (in atla, the existence of Whaletail Island, which is described in really juicy ways, even though the characters never go there.) But in general, when it comes to things like character death, events should happen to develop the plot or advance character. Avatar, for all of its flaws, is really well structured, and a lot of its story beats advance plot and develop character at the same time. However, the show also bears the burden of being a show directed at children, and thus needing to be appropriate for children. And as we know, Nickelodeon and bryke butted heads over this: the death scene that we see for Jet is a compromise, one that implicitly confirms his death without explicitly showing it. So bryke tasked themselves with creating a show about imperialism and war that would do those themes justice while also being appropriate for American children and palatable to their parents. 

The Themes of Avatar vs. Its Audience

So, Avatar is a show about a lone survivor of genocide stopping an imperialist patriarchal society from decimating the rest of the world. It’s also a show about found family and staying true to yourself and doing your best to improve the world. These don’t necessarily conflict with each other, and it is possible for children to understand and enjoy shows about complex themes. And in a lot of cases, bryke doesn’t hold back in showing what the costs of war against an imperialist nation are: losing loved ones, losing yourself, prison, etc. But when it comes to death, the show is incredibly hesitant. None of the main characters that we’ve spent a lot of time getting to know die (not even Iroh, even though he was old and it would have made sense and his VA died before the show was over--but that’s a topic for another day.) This makes sense. I can totally imagine a seven year-old watching Avatar as it was coming out and feeling really sad or scared if a major character died. I was six years older than that when Wally died, and it’s still sad and terrifying to me to this day. However, in a show about war, it would be unrealistic to have no one die. Bryke’s stated reason for killing off Jet is to show the costs of war. I’ve seen a lot of posts about Jet’s death that reiterate some version of this same point--that the great tragedy of his character is that he spent his life fighting the Fire Nation, only to die at the hands of his own country. Similarly, I’ve seen people argue in favor of Yue’s death by saying that it was a great tragedy, but it showed the sacrifices that must be made in a war effort. 

Yue

When we first meet Yue, she is a somewhat reserved, kind individual held back by the rigid social structures of the NWT*. She and Sokka have an immediate attraction to one another, but Yue reveals that she is engaged to Hahn. The Fire Nation invasion happens, Zhao kills Tui, and Yue gives up her life to save her people and the world, and to restore balance. Since we didn’t have a lot of time to get to know Yue, this is framed less as Yue’s sacrifice and more as Sokka’s loss. Sokka is the one who cares for Yue, Sokka is the only one of the gaang who really interacts a lot with Yue on screen, and Sokka is the one we’ve spent a whole season getting to know. While I wouldn’t go so far as to call Yue a prop character (i.e. a character who could be replaced by an object with little change to the narrative), she is certainly underdeveloped. She exists to be unambiguously likable and good, so we can root for her and Sokka, and feel Sokka’s pain when she dies. In my opinion, this is probably also why a lot of fic that features Yue depicts her as a Mary Sue--because as she is depicted in the show, she kind of is. We don’t get to see her hidden depths because she is written to die. 

In light of what we’ve established earlier in this meta, this makes sense. Killing off a fully-realized character whom the audience has really gotten to know and care about on their own terms, rather than through the eyes of another character, could be really sad and scary for the kids watching, but not killing anyone off would be an unrealistic depiction of war and imperialism. On the face of it, killing off an underdeveloped, unambiguously likable and good character, whom one of our MCs has a deep but short connection with, is the perfect compromise. 

But let’s go back to the golden rule for a second. Does Yue’s death a) advance the plot, and/or b) develop character? The answer to the first is yes: Yue’s death prompts Aang to use the Avatar State to fight off the Fire navy, which has implications for his ability to control the Avatar State that form one of the major arcs of book 2. The answer to the second? A little more ambiguous. You would think that Yue’s death would have some lasting impact on Sokka that is explored as part of his character arc in book 2, that he may be more afraid to trust, more scared of losing the people he loves, but outside of a few episodes (really, just one I can think of, “The Swamp”) it doesn’t seem to affect him that much. He even asks about Suki in a way that is clearly romantically motivated in “Avatar Day.” I don’t know about you, but if someone I loved sacrificed herself to become the moon, I don’t think I would be seeking out another romantic entanglement a few weeks after her death. Of course, everybody processes grief differently, and one could argue that Sokka has already lost important people in his life, and thus would be accustomed to moving on from that loss and not letting himself dwell on it. But to that, I’d say that moving on by throwing himself into protecting others has already shown itself to be an unhealthy coping mechanism. Remember, Sokka’s misogyny at the beginning of b1 is in part motivated by the fact that his mother died at the hands of the Fire Nation and his father left shortly thereafter to fight the Fire Nation, and he responds to those things by throwing himself into the role of being the “man” of the village and protecting the people he loves who are still with him. Like with Yue, he doesn’t allow himself to dwell on his mother’s death. This could have been the beginning of a really interesting b2 arc for Sokka, in which he throws himself into being the Avatar’s companion to get away from the grief of losing Yue, but this time, through the events of the show, he’s forced to acknowledge that this is an unhealthy coping mechanism. And maybe this is what bryke was going for with “The Swamp”, but this confines his whole process of grief to one episode, where it could have been a season-long arc that really emphasized the effect Yue’s had on his life. 

In the case of Yue, I do lean toward saying that her death was necessary for the story that they wanted to tell (although, I will never turn down a good old-fashioned Yue lives au that really gets into her dynamism as a character, those are awesome.) However, the way they wrote Sokka following Yue’s death reduced her significance. The fact that Yue seemed to have so little impact on Sokka is precisely what makes her death feel unnecessary, even if it isn’t. 

Jet

Okay. Here we go. 

If you know my blog, you know I love Jet. You know I love Jet lives aus. Perhaps you know that I’m in the process of writing a multichapter Jet fic in which he lives after Lake Laogai. So it’s reasonable to assume that, in a discussion of whether or not Jet’s death was necessary, I’m gonna be mega-biased. And yeah, that’s probably true. But up until recently, I wasn’t really all that mad about Jet dying, at least conceptually. As I said earlier, bryke says that in the case of Jet’s death, they wanted to kill a character off that people knew and would care about, so that they could further show the tragedies of war and imperialism. Okay. That is not, in and of itself, a bad idea. 

My issue lies with the execution of said idea. First of all, the framing of Jet’s original episode is so bad. Jet is part of a long line of cartoon villains who resist imperialism and other forms of oppression through violence and are punished for it. This is actually a really common sort of villain for atla/lok, as we see this play out again with Hama, Amon, and the Red Lotus. To paraphrase hbomberguy’s description of this type of villain, basically liberal white creators are saying, “yeah, oppression is bad, but have you tried writing to your Congressman about it?” With Jet, since we have so little information about the village he’s trying to flood, there are a number of different angles that would explain his actions and give them more nuance. My preferred hc is that the citizens of Gaipan are a mix of Earth civilians, Fire citizens, and FN soldiers, and that the Earth citizens refused to feed or house Jet and the other Freedom Fighters because they were orphans and, as we see in the Kyoshi Novels, Earth families stick to their own. Thus, when Jet decides to flood Gaipan, he’s focused on ridding the valley of Fire Nation, but he doesn’t really care about what happens to the Earth citizens of Gaipan because they actively wronged him when he was a kid. That’s just one interpretation, and there have been others: Gaipan was fully Fire Nation, Gaipan was both Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation but Jet decided that the benefits of flooding the valley and getting rid of the Fire Nation outweighed the costs of losing the EK families, etc, etc. There are ways to rewrite that scenario so that Jet is not framed as an unambiguously bloodthirsty monster. In the context of Jet’s death, this initial framing reduces the possible impact that his death could have. Where Yue was unambiguously good, Jet is at the very least morally gray when we see him again in the ferry. And where we are connected to Yue through Sokka, the gaang’s active hatred of Jet hinders our ability to connect with him. This isn’t impossible to overcome--the gaang hates Zuko, and yet to an extent the audience roots for him--but Jet’s lack of screentime and nuanced framing (both of which Zuko gets in all three seasons) makes overcoming his initially flawed framing really difficult. 

So how much can it really be said, that by the time we get to Jet’s death, he’s a character that we know and care about? So much about him is still unknown (what happened to the Freedom Fighters? what prompted Jet’s offscreen redemption? who knows, fam, who knows.) Moreover, most of what we see of him in Ba Sing Se is him actively opposing Zuko and Iroh. These are both characters that at the very least the show wants us to care about. At this point, we know almost everything there is to know about them, we’ve been following them and to an extent rooting for them for two seasons, and who have had nuanced and often sympathetic framing a number of times. So much of the argument I’ve seen regarding Jet centers around the fact that he was right to expose Zuko and Iroh as Firebenders, but the reason we have to have that argument in the first place is because it’s not framed in Jet’s favor. In terms of who the audience cares about more, who the audience has more of an emotional attachment towards, Zuko and Iroh win every time. Whether Jet’s actually in the right or not is irrelevant, because emotionally speaking, we’re primed to root for Zuko and Iroh. In terms of who the framing is biased towards, Jet may as well be Zhao. So when he’s taken by the Dai Li and brainwashed, the audience isn’t necessarily going to see this as a bad thing, because it means Zuko and Iroh are safe.

The only real bit of sympathetic framing Jet gets are those initial moments on the ferry, and the moments after he and the gaang meet again. So about five, ten minutes of the show, total. And then, he sacrifices himself for the gaang. And just like Yue, his death has little to no impact on the characters in the episodes following. Katara is shown crying for four frames immediately following his death, and they bring him up once in “The Southern Raiders” to call him a monster, and once in “The Ember Island Players”, a joke episode in which his death is a joke. 

So, let’s ask again. Does this a) advance the plot, and/or b) develop character? The answer to both is no. It shows that the Dai Li is super evil and cruel, which we already knew and which basically becomes irrelevant in book 3, and that is really the only plot-significant thing I can think of. As far as character, well, it could have been a really interesting moment in Katara’s development in forgiving someone who hurt her in the past, which could have foreshadowed her forgiving Zuko in b3, but considering she calls Jet a monster in TSR, that doesn’t track. There could have been something with Sokka realizing that his snap judgment of Jet in b1 was wrong, but considering that he brings up Jet to criticize Katara in TSR, that also does not track. And honestly, neither of these possible character arcs require Jet to die. What requires Jet to die is the ~themes~. 

Let’s look at this theme again, shall we? The cost of war. We already covered it with Yue, but it’s clearly something that bryke wants to return to and shed new light on. The obvious angle they’re going for is that sometimes, you don’t know who your real enemy is. Jet thought that his enemy was the Fire Nation, but in the end, he was taken down by his own countryman. Wow. So deep. Except, while it’s clear that Jet was always fighting against the Fire Nation, I never got the sense that Jet was fighting for the Earth Kingdom. After all, isn’t the whole bad thing about him in the beginning is that he wants to kill civilians, some of whom we assume to be Earth Kingdom? Why would it matter then that he got killed by an EK leader, when he didn’t seem to ever be too hot on those dudes? But okay, maybe the angle is not that he was killed by someone from the Earth Kingdom, but that he wasn’t killed by someone from the Fire Nation. Okay, but we’ve already seen him be diametrically opposed to the only living Air Nomad and people from the Water Tribes. Jet fighting with and losing to people who aren’t Fire Nation is not a new and exciting development for him. Jet has been enemies with non-FN characters for most of the show’s run at this point. There is no thematic level on which the execution of this holds any water. 

The reason I got to thinking about this, really analyzing what Jet’s death means (and doesn’t mean) for the show, was this conversation I was having with @the-hot-zone in discord dms. We were talking about book 2 and ways it could have been better, and Zone said that they thought that Jet would have been a stronger character to parallel with Zuko’s redemption than Iroh and that seeing more of the narrative from Jet’s perspective could have strengthened the show’s themes. And when it came to the question of Jet’s death, they said, “And if we are going with Jet dying, then I want it to hurt. I want it to hurt just as much as if a main character like Sokka had died. I want the viewer to see Jet's struggles, his triumphs, the facets of Jet that make him compelling and important to the show.” And all of that just hit me. Because we don’t get that, do we? Jet’s death barely leaves a mark. Jet himself barely leaves a mark. His death isn’t plot-significant, doesn’t inspire character growth in any of our MCs, and doesn’t even accomplish the thematic relevance that it claims to. So what was the point? 

Conclusion

Much as I dislike it, Yue’s death actually added something to atla. It could have added much, much more, in the hands of writers who gave more of a shit about their Brown female characters and were less intent on seeing them suffer and knocking them down a peg, but, in my opinion, it did work for what it was trying to do. Jet? Jet? Nah, fam. Jet never got the chance to really develop into a likable character because he was always put at odds with characters we already liked, and the framing skewed their way, not his. The dude never really had a chance.        

*multiple people have spoken about how the NWT as depicted in atla is not reminiscent of real life Inuit and Yupik people and culture. I am not the person to go into detail about this, but I encourage you to check out Native-run blogs for more info!

[maxwell-grant]

May I please ask where you set the boundaries when constructing a crossover? (i.e. How far are you willing to bend characterisation of the setting a character's adventures take place in and of the individual characters themselves to make this crossover work? How many settings are you actually prepared to smush together before you feel you're losing more than you gain in this mix? and so forth).

I could be off the mark here, but this question sounds like you yourself got a very big idea planned but you are unsure of how far you can, or want to, push the concept. Two words of advice upfront: 1: Stop overthinking it, and 2: Run your ideas by people whose judgment you know and trust. I run some of my biggest and stupidest ideas by friends of mine and they help me make them less stupid or at least stupider but in a better way.

I mentioned in my post about potential Shadow crossovers that "boundaries" are not the priority to fret over so much as having a good working knowledge of the characters. And part of that is because a crossover, by design, already constitutes the breaking of boundaries. That's by default what a crossover does. You don't wanna test or break boundaries, then you picked the wrong kind of story.

A crossover is still a story like any other. Two characters meeting is not a story, it's a premise. You don't start a story by defining where it can't go, before you've even decided where you want to take it. Some boundaries are important, others aren't. Some boundaries are hard-coded and unbreakable, and others HAVE to be broken for the story to work, and the process of deciding which is which is easier when you have a clearer idea of what are the characters and what is the story you want to tell, and what you can and can't do with either. You gotta understand the properties you're working with, or at least, understand WHY you want to work with them and make this crossover happen in the first place.

For example, you could, very easily, write a crossover between The Shadow and The Spider, just by going through the motions. They are urban vigilantes with fairly similar designs who live in the same time period and fight crime with their supporting casts. I'm sure most writers offered the job wouldn't think twice of putting them together. But as someone who's read their stories quite extensively and who likes and obsesses over both characters, I would not cross over the two, because their stories and characters are fundamentally incompatible with each other in a more "serious" narrative, and you could not merge the two without seriously fraying one or the other.

It's a story that doesn't work, with characters that are not supposed to function together or in each other's narrative real estate, even with a character as malleable as The Shadow. This doesn't mean that it's impossible to write a good Shadow and Spider crossover, but to me, personally, these two are hard-line incompatible. That is, if it's a crossover based specifically on these two, because that changes if said crossover expands to more characters, as I'll get into.

Regarding the question:

How far are you willing to bend characterisation of the setting a character's adventures take place in and of the individual characters themselves to make this crossover work?

By default, any crossover is already going to have to create new settings from scratch based on relevant bits and pieces from the properties in question, so you do get more leeway for bending it.

But regarding characters, it's a question that cannot have a unified answer, because it's even more so dependant on a case-by-case basis. You could argue "only as much as necessary for the story to work", sure, but that's not really a good answer, because a story can do anything it's author wants to, and sometimes the story is not good to begin with, or the characters are just not made for being in the same narrative or even partaking in a crossover to begin with.

No amount of justifications for a story or characterization can excuse an unsatisfying result. Joe Yabuki and Guts are two of my favorite manga protagonists, but there would be no point to even attempting to put them together in the same story, because you'd have to twist either their narratives or their characters past the point of recognizability, which defeats the purpose of making a crossover to begin with.

Like, yeah, we've all heard the argument that Zack Snyder's Superman makes sense in the context of his movies, doing his own thing. Sure. But there's a reason any discussion of that character in the context of Superman in general comes prefaced with "Zack Snyder's" first, and why mainstream audiences who earnestly looked forward to Batman V Superman walked away feeling cheated, because, to borrow RLM terms here, they got "MurderMan vs Captain Hypocrite", and you can't even tell which is which in that description. You gotta give audiences at least a bit of what you promised them.

How many settings are you actually prepared to smush together before you feel you're losing more than you gain in this mix?

This one actually DOES depend on the story, because most stories that aren't just short narratives require multiple settings for it's scenes. Chances are your narrative will already be combining multiple settings, because setting is a word that can refer to "Korea during the Joseon dynasty", "spaceship traveling through lost nebulas" and "the McDonalds parking lot", as if they are the same thing. And in a way, when you look at a narrative's bones, they basically are.

To an extent, I think opening yourself up for a massive crossover of multiple properties of different characters and settings can, indeed, be a better choice than just going off purely by X meets Y. You start off by making it very clear to the audience that the boundaries are thin and you will be breaking them, and you use said framework to instead tell a myriad of stories, big and small. Stories that you couldn't really tell if you stuck to an existing framework or defined strongly the boundaries you can't cross. I'm gonna use Smash Bros as an example:

Smash Bros is arguably the biggest "official" crossover of all time, and it doesn't really have a "story" other than the basic framework that the series was built on, that these were representations of Nintendo icons dueling it out, and the few details that used to define this in the older days (like the characters being trophies and copies, and not the real deal) have been basically pushed aside. The most story you get in Smash nowadays is in the form of what the trailers showThe "point" of Smash was never really to tell a big, dramatic story with these characters. And maybe you really can't tell this kind of story, or a good story, with this many characters to juggle.

But they tried it once.

I'm sure most of you who do remember Brawl, as anything other than the blistering shame of the franchise that it's treated as these days, remember it mainly because of Subspace Emissary, which was this big, dramatic storyline where the end of the world was at stake and all the characters had to pull their weight to fight it. Subspace didn't have dialogue, it didn't have much story other than characters going from scene to scene while fighting, several of the characters either got nothing to do or were written poorly (mostly Wario), and none of this mattered at all, because Subspace, I'd argue, was the one and only time Smash Bros ever really recaptured that childhood feeling of smashing toys together that the franchise was built on.

Because if you remember being a kid smashing toys together, you remember not just doing it because you wanted Max Steel to kick Cobra Commander's butt. No, you did it because you wanted to tell a story where Max Steel got trapped in a rapidly filling water tank along with He-Man's Battle Cat while Cobra Commander kidnapped Max's girlfriend April O'Neil and bombed the city, and Max Steel had to talk Battle Cat into not eating him so they could together save the city and April from evil, and so they reconciled their differences and saved the day. Those things mattered to you. They were the stories you could tell with the resources you had in hand, sagas you did for the sheer fun of it, regardless of whether they were "good", you probably didn't even think of that. Why would you? You had bigger things to do.

And that's what Subspace did. It was big and dramatic and the world was at stake and all these heroes were coming together. Ness sacrificing himself to Wario so Lucas could have a chance to run away. Diddy Kong dragging along seasoned Star Fox pilots to rescue his buddy. Samus and Pikachu forming a bond. Peach stopping a deadly battle just by offering tea. ROB's story arc culminating in actual genocide, hell, ROB having a story arc to begin with. To a lot of people who played Brawl as one of their first games, this would have been their "introduction" to a lot of these characters in any sort of narrative, and to characters like ROB or Ice Climbers, this would have been the only chance they would ever get to be part of a great big dramatic narrative. Hell, Pit sure looked like he was on the same boat at the time, until Smash brought the Kid Icarus franchise back from death, and now Smash is where characters or properties get to stay relevant or at least on life support (Captain Falcon), or make glorious comebacks (King K.Rool). Brawl was what destroyed the idea of there being boundaries as to who could get in Smash or what kind of story could be told within it.

And people don't seem to recall this nowadays, but Brawl was when Smash exploded in fan content, specifically inspired by Subspace. This was the period of the Machinima craze and the fan mods galore and fan remixes and fan art and fan headcanons and fan films, and suddenly it hit people that, just because the games couldn't accomodate the stories they could tell with the premise, didn't mean that they couldn't start telling them on their own. We even got the formerly longest piece of English fiction off of it. The devotion Melee inspired in competitive players, Brawl did for artists and creators who got their start off in Smash fan content.

And because of it, suddenly a lot more people started writing stories with ROB and Ice Climbers and Pit and Captain Falcon and so on than there would have ever been if it wasn't for Brawl and Subspace. Smash gave ROB a story the character likely would have never gotten otherwise. And if you don't grasp what I'm getting at because you still think that fan content is a long way from being "official" or at least respectable, I don't know what you're doing following someone who rants about pulp fiction all day.

The point I want to get across is, boundaries in a crossover are important, yes, they exist for a good reason, but the boundaries should be defined by the story and characters and whatnot, not the other way around. Boundaries in fiction exist to be crossed or tested, they exist to tell you where you can't go so you can try to do so anyway and either fly high or crash.

Sometimes, bending or twisting characters and settings can be both a grave sin, as well as the thing that allows them to survive. Sometimes there are rules that seem unbreakable until someone breaks them without trying. And sometimes, going big and stupid and carefree over-the-top is either the worst, or the best outcome. It's fiction, taking risks and having fun is part of it.

So I'm afraid I thankfully cannot give your question a universal answer.