#I love exploring Ben's opinion of himself and how he feels learning that he's a clone of someone else

[ultimatepeter-man]

Umm hey I was wondering if you had any headcanons for scarlet spider he's my favorite usm character

Sure do!

His eyes are actually very sensitive to light and that's why it looks like he's glaring all the time. Boi needs a pair of sunglasses on a sunny day otherwise it's constantly scowling.

He has deep-rooted anxiety, not just about himself and his own identity, but by being around a lot of people. After finding out he was a clone of Spider-Man, he struggled with coming to terms with it and differentiating himself from Peter (nothing new if you've read comics, but I disgress.) Being around people gives him a lot of anxiety because he feels like he has to constantly protect himself. Fight or flight is ingrained into him and he struggles with relaxing with the team, even if he WANTS to. He's always waiting for SOMETHING bad to happen.

He's incredibly bristly and doesn't take anyone's bullshit, but he actually has a very low opinion of himself. Dealing with Otto's narcism all the time gave him a lot of self-hatred and anxiety, and instead of dealing with it in a healthy way, he tends to lash out and attack first because he doesn't feel safe being vulnerable in front of people.

He's become very aware of Peter and over-analyzes all the little behaviors they share. They both rub the back of their necks alot when they're sheepish, they both love wheatcakes to an unhealthy degree, and they both deep appreciation old 80's sitcoms. Sometimes Ben tries to change these behaviors because he doesn't want to be seen as TOO much like Peter. He gets anxious about other people making these connections and seeing him as some screwed up, off-brand Peter Parker.

He;s also incredibly kind and soft if you can get him alone. If its just him and one other person, he tends to let his guard down a little and relaxes more. He feels like he has to put on a big, tough guy performance in front fo a crowd/group, but one-on-one, he lets his walls down. (He has a secret soft spot for Miles and Amadeus)

Aunt May is his most favorite person in the entire world, and she's one of the few people he feels like he can be himself around. She makes him feel the safest he's ever been.

He overcompensates to make up for betraying Peter, Aunt May, and the Academy. He tries to take on more than he can handle to prove that he won't do something like that again, but gets very standoffish and defensive when Hydra or Otto is brought up. He's still working on it.

[msnihilist]

what do you think about rook's character in ben 10 in general?you know I never really liked that he was this serious and workaholic partner from beginning to nearly the end,in Wikipedia says he's kinda ben's other best friend too but they hardly had a memorable scence for that together maybe except 1 or 2,and also he has scenes where he mocks ben seriously which I didn't like,idk it feels like his character is so unexplored he had more potential to him since he was ben's partner replacing gwevin in OV so just wanted to know your opinion👍🏻

I've already put all of my thoughts about Rook into my fics. Namely, Separately (S2-era Rook, who would disrespect Ben's boundaries purely for his own curiosity and then feels like shit for it), In All The World... (pre-canon Rook, and how/why I think he grew to idolize Ben and become a Plumber), Cross Your Heart (and Hope to Die) (puts Rook through absolute hell to break him down into one of the rawest character studies I've ever done), and Diamonds Are Forever (post-canon fic that explores the kind of person Rook is and how Ben has changed who he wants to grow to be/how Rook defines himself without Ben around).

But I know that's a lot to read, so here are the SparkNotes:

Rook mellows out a lot by season eight. This change is incredibly noticeable if you watch two episodes back-to-back.

Ben and Rook are very close, and this is something else you can see if you watch season one and then season eight to compare.

I think Ben and Rook had plenty of memorable scenes/moments. Their fake fight in season one, Rook being pushy during Showdown and later apologizing for it, "I don't always get him, but he's cool." "The feeling is mutual.", Rook physically holding Ben back from attacking someone (twice, lol), Rook fighting Lord Transyl's mind-control to warn Ben, "I have worked with Ben long enough to know that when he foolishly charged headlong into a trap, I should have foolishly charged after him.", Ben meeting Rook's family, literally all of their interactions in The Vengers, "Ben! I made a wisecrack!", acting like proud parents after Young One's tail fell off, Rook's promotion to Magister (and their successful fist bump!!), "It has been an honor to fight at your side," (Rook using his final words to tell Ben how important their partnership has been to him and that he doesn't regret a thing just does something to me), etc. If you don't think they're as iconic as Ben and Kevin, that's fair, but they do objectively have plenty of relationship-defining moments.

Rook has scenes where he mocks Ben. In early seasons, this is a character flaw. In later seasons, this is a product of the Omniverse writers thinking it's funny when the punchline to a joke is, "Ben's an idiot." If I held it against Rook, I'd have to hold it against literally every character... So I ignore it, lol.

Here are some episodes that I think do a good job of exploring Rook's character.

S2E6: Bros In Space

S2E7: Arrested Development (not a character-heavy episode, I just think Rook is really funny in this one.)

S3E2: Tummy Trouble

S3E8: While You Were Away ("You have become a hero while you were away," just makes me grin like an idiot every time.)

S3E10: The Frogs of War: Part 2

S4E2: The Ultimate Heist (I loved the scene towards the end where Albedo called Rook out on his willful ignorance.)

S4E8: OTTO Motives

S6E1: Catfight (Another one where Rook is really funny.)

S7E2: Rook Tales (Rook's fight with Kundo is iconic as hell to me. "You taught me everything you know. But we are not in your training hall anymore.")

S8E6: The Final Countdown

S8E10: A New Dawn

Rook is not an overly complicated person. He's a solid guy who gets character development and learns to loosen/open up. He's not as nuanced as Kevin. He doesn't have the history with Ben that Gwen does. But Rook is not a bad character by any means, and his bond with Ben feels earned.

But if you still aren't impressed with Rook, you can always rewatch UAF :p

[queer-and-dear-books]

Title: Openly Straight

Author: Bill Konigsberg

Genre: YA Fiction | Romance | Friendship | Drama | LGBTQ+

Content Warnings: Homophobia

Overall Rating: 9.3/10

Personal Opinion: It does not hold up as well from when I first read it. That aside, I will always love Rafe and Ben as best friends and as a couple. They truly felt perfect for each other. Agape, a higher love. One that transcends all others. This story is about Rafe learning the importance of being himself and also about the possibilities of love when you keep your mind open to them. And there is nothing more romantic than that.

Couple Classification: Seamus Rafael Goldberg X Ben Carver = Nerd/Jock X Nerd/Jock

Do I Own This Book? Yes! It was a favorite of mine in high school so I bought it way back then.

Spoilers Below For My Likes & Dislikes:

Likes:

- I don’t know if it’s just the nostalgia talking but I still love these characters. Truly, even without the romantic aspect, I think Rafe and Ben were just perfect together. I mean, their talks were always so deep and they openly said, “I love you” as friends and that kind of shit just brings a tear to my eye. I think it’s because Ben is this huge, buff, perceived straight guy but he’s so sweet and openly affectionate with all of his close friends and I wish that more straight men could be like him and Bryce. Smart, kind-hearted, and sensitive.

- Albie and Toby are amazing friends too. They didn’t judge Rafe for hiding who he is and just talked to him openly about shit. They made him feel welcome and real. All three of them are dorks too. I love their wild and less-than-sensible antics. But they’re also good people. Like when Toby wanted to help that lost old lady.

- Claire Olivia is an ace bestie too. Even though she didn’t get why Rafe did what he did (and yeah, it was bizarre), she was there for him. She was always backing him up and made sure his facade stayed strong even when she didn’t understand.

- Rafe’s parents may be the best part of this story though. They’re even bigger dorks than Albie and Toby and they love their son so much, clearly. I love how much they support him and how much they love to celebrate his queerness. God, if only every parent could be like that. 

- I haven’t talked enough about Rafe and Ben. I think what really gets me is just how connected they were. Every time they locked eyes and just stared at one another, my heart skipped a beat. Every time they had a philosophical debate, I wanted them to talk even more nonsense. I just wanted more of them. With every detail of their developing relationship, I wanted more and I think that’s what makes a good fictional couple. When you can read every single one of their interactions and crave for more. And not because their interactions are lacking. Those interactions were very central in this book. The fact that I yearned for more when I got so much is proof that Rafe and Ben worked. When Rafe was walking to the bathroom and Ben opened his door and said, “Those footsteps. I know those footsteps,” I swooned. It was like he knew Rafe was thinking about him and then they had implied sex and it was beautiful. 

- Mr. Scarsborough is such a great teacher. I love that he didn’t judge Rafe and instead, encouraged him to write about his experience. He helped Rafe discover and explore himself in a safe and private way and I think that makes him an extraordinary teacher.

- I just remembered that Ben kissed Rafe on the cheek not once, but twice! The guy is so sweet, I can’t take it. It’s really no wonder my standards for men are so high. And why I’m subsequently disappointed by them.

Dislikes:

- Fuck Steve and Zack. God, I hate their dudebro attitudes. But that’s intentional so whatever.

- I feel like I should really hate what Rafe did. We’ve pretty much established that I loathe when a character is in the closet for no real reason. So I should hate that Rafe went back in the closet and was seemingly ungrateful toward his parents, right? Except I’m not. I’m mildly disappointed in him for not telling Ben sooner but overall, I’m not mad at him. I think it’s because my coming out story is the exact opposite of his. And if I could have traded lives with him, I would have. So I think I get why he did what he did. I get why he felt like he had to. The grass is always greener on the other side and whatnot. If only dear sweet Ben hadn’t been collateral damage in it.

- There’s a lot of ableist language in this book. The early 2010s was clearly very different because every other work by Konigsberg (that I have read) handles mental health very differently.

- Whatever happened to Toby and Robinson anyway? I feel like we glossed over it after Robinson got outed and Toby showed his secret hideaway to Albie and Rafe.

- I am so glad there’s a sequel in Ben’s POV because the ending is severely lacking.

[cartoonemotion]

hmmm. ill pull one out of my ass. what about ben or kevin for the character thing

favorite thing about them: from the original i think even to omniverse (though. Aough yknow) i do think ben really does encapsulate a somewhat relatable portrayal of what would happen if a 10-16 yr old was given super powers, for better or for worse. i think a lot of ben's charm comes from both his sincere desire to help people and do what he thinks is right and also his complete goofball fuckin' around 'i really should have thought about this for more than 2 seconds damn it' hijinks

least favorite thing about them: this i feel is more of a gripe with his inconsistent writing ? it feels like they want to keep ben was a moral center bc obviously ben 10 is at its core a superhero cartoon and ben is our hero, but the writers often flipflop between what/what they like... want ben to be or how to fulfill that, so you get a lot of instances where hes supposed to have "learned" something but he obviously hasnt/slips back into old habits bc its easy to either a) flip it into a new "lesson" or something to give the writers some sort of credibility or illusion of thought or b) painfully unfunny """comedy""". hes allowed to be annoying though cuz hes a teenager thats fine i like that ben is annoying

favorite line: the problem with ben 10 being so fucking long is that its hard to retain a lot of actual lines and who said them imo but to be honest i did really like that time an alien dignitary or something showed up to give ben a medal and he just burped at them

brOTP: HIM AND ROOK. IT'S FREE OLDER BROTHER

OTP: UHH ben's love life is a mess tbh but its also hard for me to get too invested just cuz im not a teenager anymore so i dont relate to teenage love plots very strongly gghfdkjgh.. i thought it was sad how him and julie went from being really cute actually to just a complete mess. i did really like ben/kevin in high school though like i cant lie

nOTP: him and attea like that shit with him and looma was objectively bad but aging up attea from like 8 to a teenager was truly demonic

random headcanon: i think hes hamster sized. no sorry. i Know he is the size of a hamster. any average adult or just barely in shape teen could throw him like a tennis ball easily

unpopular opinion: UM ig ppl assume hes selfish cuz of the characterization especially in ov but i dont think hes anymore selfish than an average teenager ? i suppose when you consider his self-sacrificial tendencies you could argue hes kind of forced himself to be less selfish than kids are often allowed to be but again a lot of this kind of stems from me wishing they explored ben putting up the selfish, self-assured, annoying Hero Guy front as like a bad and strange coping mechanism to kind of convince himself of it to an extent in any like. actual earnest capacity. cuz outside of one episode in ultimate alien maybe i think it was just totally dropped x_x

song i associate with them: SPEAKING OF THE ABOVE LMAO imposter syndrome by sidney gish...

favorite picture of them:

at first i was gonna pick a screenshot of him i thought was cute but actually fuck you

ben in the mocap suit.

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

I really want to read the post where you say "why Ravenclaw is the House that suits MC the most in the main story" but I dont find it

I haven’t ever made a full length post about it, come to think of it. I’ve talked about it in previous Ask responses but admittedly I have quite a few of those. So I suppose now is as good a time as any! 

Ultimately, HPHM’s story is designed so that any House can work for Jacob’s Sibling. Obviously, no one House is “canon” over the others. But in my personal opinion, certain Houses do make more sense for different reasons. Everything can change based on how you characterize MC, but setting aside the dialogue choices, they tend to have a general personality that fills in for most of the scenes. It’s average, a kind of “everyman” type. And certain choices can arguably be considered “canon” when they’re the ones that are free, placed next to choices that are locked behind attributes or friendship checks. That is the general vision of MC that I’ll be analyzing. 

But first, the characters. 

One of the primary reasons that MC fits Ravenclaw the best in the Main Story is because there are several characters who are aligned to MC in their Sorting. They always follow MC to whatever House they go to. Thus it becomes a question of which house suits them the most. Rowan Khanna, I think, speaks for them-self. I could see them in any House but they are a Ravenclaw through and through. I bet the only reason they ever get Sorted anywhere else is because they ask the Hat to let them follow MC. They are absolutely brilliant, with a love of reading and learning new things. They’re eccentric as well, deeply creative and good at coming up with plans. They dream of being a Professor, and they turn to books above all else. Next we have Jacob. Another character who could go anywhere based on interpretation, but he strikes me as a Ravenclaw too. Several of the options you can give when expressing speculation about him suggest that the reason he probably investigated the Vaults in the first place was his thirst for knowledge, his desire to know their secrets. To be specific, his stubborn and obsessive need to know. I feel like Jacob couldn’t let this go until he had learned all of the hidden magic and secrets of the Vaults, until he realized far too late that he was in over his head, mixed up with R and everything. 

Then there is Flitwick. A canon Ravenclaw of course, and one of the four Heads of House. It could be coincidental, but even if it is, Flitwick is easily the most developed of the Heads of House within this game. McGonagall is totally in character, but she’s part of the sideline outside of a small section of Year 2. Sprout contributes absolutely nothing, and Snape is likewise in character, but lacking anything to do until Rakepick shows up. Flitwick prepares MC for the first duel with Merula and gives them counsel. I suppose it’s not that much more than McGonagall teaching them the revealing spell in Year 2, but this felt so much more personal. You have the chance to make a promise to Flitwick, and either keep it or break it. In Year 4, he is I think the only teacher to speak up in Rakepick’s defense, and this leads into even further development of his character. By Year 5, he starts to warn MC not to investigate the Portrait Curse, but stops mid-sentence as he realizes that nothing he can say will stop them. I bring all of this up because Flitwick being such a fleshed out character in this game kind of goes hand in hand pretty well with the idea that he is MC’s Head of House. He is the only Head who shows the slightest bit of remorse when banning MC from Hogsmeade. With him, you really get the sense that he’s being overruled and doesn’t agree with it. That he’s in MC’s corner. And god I love him.  I won’t stray too far into the Quidditch characters, but I will say that Murphy and Orion are two other characters that stick with MC, who I could very much see as Ravenclaws, both in different ways. But still, it’s Jacob and Rowan who are most important in affecting the story.

Which brings me to the story itself. 

Hogwarts Mystery is different from the story of Harry Potter. This is the tale of Jacob and his Sibling. In HP, we know from the beginning who the villain is, that he’s an evil monster. We know what he wants, and that he failed. It gets fleshed out more later but everything you need to know is in that first book. We see him, he clashes with Harry, and loses. The books are a hero’s journey. A story of good versus evil. They do have mystery aspects, each of the books has a mystery told within it’s pages. But the overarching story is not about what’s hidden in the trapdoor, or who opened the chamber of secrets. It’s about Harry and Voldemort’s rivalry, their hero/villain dynamic. Everyone knew going into DH that Harry would defeat him in the end because that’s how these things go. OOTP basically confirmed it but most fans had known for years. 

HPHM is different. 

There are heroic moments, and Merula in particular compares MC to being a “hero.” But nothing they do is heroic in the same way as Harry. They both take active roles in the story but in different ways. Harry is still reactionary. He takes it upon himself to solve the problems, but he still waits until the problems show up. MC plans to open the Vaults even before the Curses show themselves. They arrive at Hogwarts with a goal in mind, finding Jacob. And with Hogwarts Mystery, the overarching story is not a hero’s journey. Because MC is so much more ambiguous than Harry. It might seem redundant to say that this story is a Mystery, but it is. An ongoing investigation, the unraveling of a conspiracy. Learning the truth about just what went down during Jacob’s years at Hogwarts. By HBP, Voldemort was such a familiar presence that we were learning the ins and outs of his childhood, right down to how his parents met. By Year 6, we still have no idea what R really is, or what they want. We don’t even know what it stands for. The black and white of the books, the heroes and the villains...that’s all replaced with shades of gray. Jacob is constantly in the gray. So is Rakepick, at least at first. Don’t get me started on Merula. Ben is another character who is definitely good, but has gone through such a roller coaster about who he is and whether he can be trusted. 

Then there’s the ambiguity of MC them-self. The hints that they don’t share everything with people, are prone to tricking others, and for all we know, might wind up on the Dark Side someday. I’ll admit, this can also lend itself well to MC being a Slytherin, and indeed there are dialogue choices that are locked behind being one. But I still feel as though MC playing detective throughout this entire game, that whole premise lends itself pretty damn well toward a Ravenclaw MC. They’re trying to defeat the bad guys, but their main method of preparing for that fight is not train up an army of students, it is to investigate the Vaults, and investigate R. Even going as far as to work with Wizarding police. Granted, I know Harry poked around a lot too. And MC does form the Circle of Khanna, just like how Harry formed Dumbledore’s Army. Both of them do exhibit both behaviors, but MC specializes in covert investigation more than preparation for combat. Again, at least they do so in the main story. The Circle of Khanna was not meant to be like Dumbledore’s Army, at least not in concept. MC first conceived it as the idea of standing toe to toe with the Cabal by having a secret organization of their own. I know that didn’t really land perfectly in actual practice but that was the whole idea. And if there’s one thing MC has a constant stream of, it’s ideas. Not always the right ones, not always fast enough, but they do have them, and these ideas steer the plot. In the main story and otherwise. 

It’s probably a bit cheap to get meta, but so be it. 

I can’t help but notice how, if we take every other contribution to the Potterverse into account...well then, we’ve got a Gryffindor Protagonist in the form of Harry. We’ve got a Slytherin Protagonist in the form of Albus Severus. And a Hufflepuff over in Fantastic Beasts with Newt Scamander. If MC is a Ravenclaw, then that completes the quartet. But there’s another Quartet out there as well - that of the Original Four. Rowan, Ben, Penny, and Merula. The Year 1 characters and the OG leads of the Hogwarts Mystery story. Notice anything about them? We have a Hufflepuff, a Gryffindor, and a Slytherin...but no Ravenclaw. None that is, unless MC, and therefore Rowan by extension, is a Ravenclaw. MC being Sorted into the House of Eagles completes both of these groups. I dunno, I just find it curious that unless the Player goes to Ravenclaw, the first student character we meet in that House shows up in Year 3. Because Jam City wrote in some amazing characters for Ravenclaw. My love of Tulip Karasu is well documented, but I also think Talbott is pretty damn fascinating. Andre and Badeea rock too! Ravenclaw is also a relatively neutral House. I’ve said before that HPHM ignores the House rivalries, and that’s easiest to incorporate in the House of Eagles, which mostly keeps to itself. It would not be socially strange for a Ravenclaw to have so many friends from different Houses. I’m not saying a Slytherin MC couldn’t befriend Ben, for example, but he’s a Muggle-born Gryffindor and that would be a big deal to everyone else. Again, not saying it couldn’t happen, just that it would turn heads and people within Slytherin might go as far as to treat MC like a traitor. I like this premise, but...would Felix seriously help MC prepare to fight Merula, a fellow Slytherin, on behalf of someone like Ben? There are other trivial problems, like the question of two male Prefects if MC is Gryffindor, etc. 

But that’s just a few thoughts. Again, there’s clearly no “canon” House, and neither of my MCs are even in Ravenclaw. But I think it’s fun to explore the idea as Ravenclaw is a House that, I think, is sorely needing development.

[sparklinpixiedust]

Basic Training

This post has been sitting in my drafts for months now, during which I've come up with a few ways I wanted to write this post. This is what I've come up with.

Basic Training is the episode which made me hate Ben the most. The whole episode consisted him of being a stuck up brat only to be rewarded for it in the end.

This episode was the perfect opportunity to have Kevin in the spotlight and show how skilled and smart he is.

Gwen's presence in this episode was actually fine, there's no change needed for that.

Look, I know the shows named Ben 10 but we have seen Ben be the hero tons of times already.

And Ben being egoistic about his heroism is not something new in the franchise.

There have been episodes on the OS where Ben got a big head, yet I dont ever see anyone complaining about that.

Was is it because he was 10 that we excuse this behaviour? Nope.

15 - 16 is still pretty young and his attitude can be excused at this age as well.

My opinion? It was handled better in the OS.

There were times when Ben wasn't always the main focus.

In Lucky Girl, Ben has his ' who's your hero?' Moment.

They showed Gwen feeling jealous and hurt by the fact she wasn't noticed much.

It was realistic.

Then the epsiode proceeded to focus on Gwen , having Ben being kind of like a sub plot to the story.

Towards the end Ben compliments her.

So yeah Ben got big head, but at the same time they shifted focus so that the audience wouldn't find it annoying.

Gwen was in the spotlight for a bit, giving people a break from Ben.

Secondly  , in Be Afraid Of The Dark, Ben again is shown to be slightly stuck up, but towards the end of that episode he learns and acknowledges Gwen and Grandpa for help and understands his crime fighting is more of a team effort.

In Galactic Enforcers, we are shown there are other heros besides Ben as well.

Ben wasn't the sole focus of that episode. Yes it was about him but also about the Galactic Enforcers.

I don't think he was shown to be over confident here , but it was nice to see some other heros in the scene.

The Ben 10,000 episode focuses on how Ben was too focused on his job and the lesson at that was Ben needed to relax and have them Galactic Enforcers take the lead instead.

Again , his attitude towards everything was brought in focus but towards the end he learnt something.

I recently started watching Generator Rex and I can't help but compare Rex's character to Ben's.

Rex is also proud , rushes into things and considers himself to be a hotshot. But they also show him being down ,having trouble with his nanites and actually voice out his insecurities.

He's still the hero, still has things go his way most times but it's not annoying like Ben.

( I've only seen like 7 episodes so far so I don't know if this going to go down hil or not but so far so good)

The issue with the sequels after the OS was that Ben was the focus a bit too much.

We as the audience were rarely ever given a break from him.

Other than a few conversations here and there about his attitude,  nothing really was done about it.

Gwen should've been appreciated more for saving Kevin and Kevin should've been appreciated for stopping Aggregor.

But they weren't.

If it had been Ben , they would've made sure to show him getting some sort of recognition or trophy.

Back to the Basic Training episode.

We know he's the legendary Ben Tennyson, we know he's a hero. We didn't need another episode on it.

Instead the plot should've focused on Kevin. His skills, his abilities.

Ben would act the same but Magsiter Hulka should've put some sort of cover so Ben couldn't use the omnitrix.

Ben goes on breaking rules,  and having a hard time being a hero without the watch.

Towards the end, it should've been Kevin who cracks the case and saves Hulka. Ben is mad he can't use the omnitrix but instead uses the guns and other weapons he's learnt to use at the academy

He's not amazing at them , but it makes him realise that he is hero , watch or not, something that has been emphasised in the show. Its not impossible for him to function without the watch.

Towards the end, Ben getting a 95 was a stretch. I'm sorry , but the guy wasn't great with using weapons and without the watch I dont think he would've been able to complete that hostage excercise.

I'm thinking more like 89%.

Gwen gets 98, that's fine and Kevin gets a 100.

Hulka comes in and awards the medal (?) to Kevin, suggesting he's becoming more like his father.

( im ignoring the ret con, plus the retcon I'm assuming wasnt thought off at this point by the writers)

Ben is shown to take one of the guns back to earth, because he thinks they're cool and he wants to practice and get better at them.

The whole hostage situation makes him want to get better at making strategies.

Yes he's good at improv, but he needs to learn to properly plan as well.

It doesn't matter if he's never shown to use the gun ever again, and he's back to relying on the omnitrix.

Or maybe some time down the line, he could use the weapon, even if it for a second, to show that he is improving and getting better.

Before you say 'he's already a hero, he doesn't need to learn anything ' sorry but no.

He's 16. He may have saved the world but he still has growing up to do. Different battles are going to arise all the time.

Saying he is perfect at 16 is dumb. Saying he's perfect when he's ben 10k , it'll make some sense. He's been around for a while and is pretty experienced.

The watch is a part of him, but seeing him try to explore other options would've been a fresher idea.

Another scene that made me mad was the court (?) scene in Vreedle, Vreedle.

Ben being a hero shouldn't make him above the law.

Domstol ruling in favor of Ben just because he's the legendry Ben Tennyson was stupid.

After Ben's little monologue , and destroying Domstols desk, the judge should've just informed him that being a hero does not excuse him from following the law.

Kevin could've had his little moment doing some negotiation ( would've been nice to see how he works as con artist) and Ben could've jumped in and helped while making some good points for the argument, showing us he's not stupid.

Then having Domstol rule in their favor would've made sense.

On the way back to earth there could've been a joke about how Ben watches Judge Judy too much which is where he learnt about trials and stuff. Or maybe Gwens dad taught him a thing or two at some point.

All this doesn't mess with Ben's character all that much, he's still the hero of the show, he still has his ego but it makes him more likeable, shifts focus from his attitude, and shows us he's pretty smart and is growing into a good hero.

Ben's not a bad guy. I mean he is the hero of the show. There are tons of scenes which show he's good , like the whole sacrificing thing so the ultimates could live and all.

But little scenes here and there tend to be enough for someone , especially for someone who isn't a super hard-core Ben lover to form negative opinions on him.

Although calling him a psychopath / narc is out of line because I don't find him to be like that. His attitude was magnified by him being in the spotlight too much and writers not having a good balance in writing situations.

Ben being the main character of the show is at risk of becoming hated or less appreciated just because he's the font runner of the show.

Admit it, side characters tend to get more love most times than the main agonist of shows.

I've been watching videos on YouTube on this topic as to why this happens , and what I've come up with is that writers of shows tend to focus too much on main character. Things seem to go their way most times and this tends to get on peoples nerves, consciously or subconsciously because it's not exactly realistic.

Having shows where everything focuses on one person most times tend to backfire.

I don't mind Ben having a big head, I dont mind him making jokes and being so casual.

It's his defense mechanism to protect himself from drowning into the struggles and pressures of being a hero. But always having him be that way isn't good.

The writers should've executed it properly.

( okay this post got really long,  more than I thought it would. If you're read the whole things , congratulations on making it here lol.

I'm not going to stop anyone from replying to this because everyone has different opinions and we all have the freedom to express them.

Although I believe I've made my point and I've made sure to keep in mind all the arguments about why bashing Ben is wrong when he's not a bad guy while typing this out.

I don't think I've directed any major hate towards him , its mostly towards the writers for making the situations like that,but if you think I have you can reply to it.

I'm not gonna reply back though , because again I feel I've made my point.

Any agreements / disagreements you have with the post feel free to share because it is your right.

Any disagreements you have with other members,  as long as its related to the post you can share it.

Any issues you have personally with other members,  please keep them to your selves.

I will not tolerate bullying , harassing,  name calling and petty arguments on my post and blog page.

If this happens I will simply delete this post and re-upload it.)

[hermitreunited]

The most important thing about Klaus is not whether or not he is sober. Klaus’ arc in s1 is not about him getting sober. 

This is a statement in service of another point, but I’m going to need y’all to agree with me on this one, so let’s spend some time on it. Klaus’ worth is not dependent on his sobriety, and his storyline is not about a character who starts the season wanting to get clean and who then does by the season’s end. That is a thing that happens, but that’s not his motivation. The drugs are a way of externalizing an internal issue.

It is laid out pretty clearly in the conversation between Klaus and Ben in 1x09. Ben is encouraging sobriety, Klaus’ counterpoint is that sobriety has gotten him nowhere. “I can’t talk to the person I love. People still don’t take me seriously. I want to be numb again.”

Klaus would like to be loved and taken seriously, but when he can’t have either of those things, he would prefer to be numb. When the show starts, he is numb and high, but when Luther asks him to summon Reginald, a person I don’t think Klaus is particularly interested in seeing again, Klaus does attempt to sober up and give it a shot. In 1x08, he tells Luther that he finally did what Luther asked - he is sober now and he spoke to Reg - but Luther doesn’t believe him. Klaus is right, being sober is not a fix to the problem of not being taken seriously. 

It’s not until the end of 1x10 that Klaus manages to achieve that, by manifesting Ben to save the others. After that, Luther trusts that Klaus enough that he asks him for Ben’s opinion on the plan. It’s also a sign that his control over his powers is growing, so the part where he wants to be with the person he loves is very likely within reach as well. 

This is Klaus’ storyline, this is concrete progress towards something he’s wanted the entire time. His first line on the show is to tell someone that he believes in them! And he finally gets his family to believe in him in the final 10 minutes of the final episode of the season, because that is his actual storyline. He gets sober halfway through the season. His sobriety is window dressing, it is a plot line to show and explore his struggle, but it isn’t his sole struggle or his core desire. 

Sobriety is not the most important thing to Klaus, it is overrated, and it’s not the most important thing about Klaus. Sobriety doesn’t give Klaus some kind of innate goodness that he is otherwise lacking. Drug use turns down the volume on the ghosts, an external issue, and numbs the painful internal issue of not having his deepest needs met. Sobriety doesn’t fix either of those things. Sobriety is not the point. 

SO ANYWAY let’s talk about Dave

We don’t see a lot of Dave in s1. He’s not onscreen very much, he doesn’t have a lot of lines. The way that we know him is through Klaus, and the function of Dave’s inclusion in the story is the profound effect he has on Klaus. He plays a key role in Klaus’ character arc. A character arc that is NOT about sobriety.

Dave doesn’t demand that Klaus be sober. Dave falls in love with him when he’s not sober. It’s pretty heavily implied that they shared their first kiss while they were both not sober together! Dave’s death is what makes sobriety a requirement for Klaus to be with him, Dave himself doesn’t require that from Klaus.

Klaus’ sobriety is not a factor in whether or not Dave loves him, or whether or not Dave respects him, or whether or not Klaus has worth. Dave is an oasis of goodness in Klaus’ shitty life - or, to phrase it another way, he is an island of relief. Dave shows Klaus what love can feel like.

“For all the valid reasons we have for wanting the addict to “just say no,” we first need to offer her something to which she can say “yes.” We must provide an island of relief. We have to demonstrate that esteem, acceptance, love and humane interaction are realities in this world, contrary to what she, the addict, has learned all her life.” - Dr. Gabor Maté, ‘In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters With Addiction’

Dave doesn’t change Klaus for the better by forcing Klaus to give up drugs. Dave’s death is not the thing about Dave that has the biggest effect on Klaus or his storyline. Death is not the ending for Klaus that it is for most people, at least, it doesn’t have to be. 

Speaking of things that Klaus didn’t have to be - he didn’t have to be a soldier in the Vietnam War. Fandom likes to joke about how Dave smiled at Klaus and that was all it took for him to elect to stay in a famously brutal war zone. But it’s actually less funny than it is indicative of a miserably lonely loveless life, isn’t it?

Klaus gets sober so that he can interact with Dave again, because Dave gives  Klaus what he has always longed for but never had. Dave’s life is what changes Klaus, ten months of him treating Klaus like a human being and not a worthless junkie, ten months where Klaus was given love and respect with no strings attached, because that is what Dave believes Klaus deserves.

That’s a scary thing for a highly self-destructive person like Klaus to believe. If Klaus is deserves love, it’s much less acceptable for people to treat him badly - including himself. Dave is good for Klaus, that much is obvious. Does Klaus deserve to have that good in his life, or not? If it’s possible for him to regain that good but he decides not to bother, doesn’t that mean that he is saying that Dave is wrong, and was wrong for all those ten months? Klaus loves Dave, it says so right on his skin. Klaus loves Dave, and Dave loves Klaus, so how can Klaus love Dave and not love himself? It devalues Dave as a person to decide that he was wrong about Klaus, and disrespecting someone’s personhood is not love.

So, then. Dave’s death isn’t just a catalyst for Klaus to choose sobriety, it’s a chance for Klaus to discover that he finally agrees. Dave is right, Klaus does deserve love, so much so that he will take on an incredibly hard challenge to give himself a chance at gaining the care that he deserves. 

Klaus doesn’t change because Dave is worthy of Klaus’ sobriety. Dave never required that from him at all. He changes because of a massive shift in the way he perceives himself, because he learns how to see himself the way that Dave does. Klaus is worthy of love.

If you love Dave and you love Klaus and you love this show, then I suggest learning to do the same. Sobriety is not what matters about Klaus, and someone telling him that again and again and proving it with their unconditional love is ultimately the reason why he later makes the choice to reach for sobriety. Not because he needs to be clean to be loved, but because he is already loved and he deserves to be.

[jurassicparkpodcast]

Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous Season 2 | SPOILER Breakdown & Review

Be advised – this article contains heavy spoilers for the second season of Camp Cretaceous. Make sure to check out our non-spoiler review before you read this piece. If you’ve seen the entirety of Season Two, please feel free to read this review.

If you read my non-spoiler review of the second season of Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous, then you may have noted my choice to refer directly to coming back to the spoiler section for several bits of key information. That is primarily because the events of this second season take place at a previously un-documented timeframe – meaning everything which occurs is ‘new’ – even if it may have nods to earlier and latter parts of the timeline. 

With that said, we’re going to use this article to talk about some of the juicier parts of the second season of the show. Let’s dive in.

The key part to the second series of the show is the idea of the emergency beacon on Main Street being used by the kids to summon some help to the island – making their rescue a possibility. I enjoyed how the beacon was uncovered by the kids within the Jurassic World Inside Guide – a nice nod to some of the real documents like the Jurassic World Staff Book we have in the real-world. I also enjoyed how this sequence was used as an opportunity to explain how lots of technology may be hidden around the park as ‘nature’ – helping to retroactively explain how the park may have functioned without us even realising in Jurassic World. We also get to see the Jurassic World Discovery Walk (a new attraction!) during this segment, building out the park a little more, and also spend more time in T-Rex Kingdom, which was a welcome addition. This sequence also features a gut wrenching flashback – with Darius having a moment where Ben’s fall from the train in Season One is replaced with his dad falling. This was a heart wrenching moment – and really sets up the guilt arc which is a key driver for Darius throughout the second season. Of note is the fact that the beacon message does change from ‘Sent’ to ‘Received’ – something which is not touched upon again in the second season. This sets up a couple of interesting options for a third season – something which we will discuss in another article here on the website soon.

The next interesting element I wanted to talk about is the implementation of the veterinary area of the park in Episode Two. This was a fun opportunity to peak underneath the hood of the functioning Jurassic World a little bit more – seeing where sick animals may have been quarantined and treated. I particularly appreciated how the animals in cages here included a Parasaurolophus and Stegosaurus – a fun nod to the same animals being caged by Ludlow’s team in The Lost World: Jurassic Park. I loved the way Grim, Chaos and Limbo were introduced during this sequence – and also loved seeing them squaring off with the Stegosaurs, showing that sometimes predators would rather leave groups of Herbivores than pick a fight where they would be outnumbered. This is a nice nod to the real palaeontological understanding that herbivores moved in larger herds to protect them from predators. Kenji and Yaz also got some interesting development in Episode Two, too – and I feel like the first two episodes were some of the strongest in terms of the areas of the park they explored, and also the animal behaviours which they showed throughout the moments we spend with dinosaurs in these episodes. This is continued in Episode Three, however – which introduces us to the watering hole, and some fun accompanying lore to flesh out the behaviour of the dinosaurs in the series a little bit more. 

Episode Three introduces us to the watering hole – and is arguably my favourite episode because of the time it takes to really bring back the ‘natural beauty’ element of the dinosaurs and the environments in the Jurassic franchise. During these sequences we get some interesting bits of information – including Darius sharing that Doctor Grant stated that predators and prey may be able to co-exist at a watering hole if the right conditions were met. It is nice to hear Grant name dropped to remind us of the universe we are in, and this is a nice way of explaining the Ceratosaurus also at the watering hole. During this sequence the Ceratosaurus also encounters the kids but chooses to ignore them and walk off – a nice call-back to the more docile behaviour we see exhibited from this animal in Jurassic Park III.  Of note during this episode is the idea that the Stegosaurus has shed its plate as it has grown and rubbed itself against a tree – something which Sammy compares to modern-day animals, and we also see a Parasaurolophus inhabiting a river – calling back to where they were located in the park. Although we don’t get much of it in the latter parts of the season, the steps taken to really add to the dinosaurs behaviours in the earlier episodes feels rewarding and helps to flesh them out as natural animals in their own right. 

Another interesting note in this episode is the fact that Brooklynn, Sammy and Yaz revisit the genetics lab where Doctor Wu and Eddie were in Season One, to find it now stripped back and empty. This suggests that, much like we see in the film, Hoskins may have ordered his people to extract assets from across the island – which does then call into question some moments which occur later in the season. During this sequence the trio find a key card in an envelope – alongside a couple of pieces of paper which appear to contain information, potentially to do with E750’s genetics given the fact that this name is on the envelope. E750 is, if you remember, the ‘confidential’ folder we saw on Wu’s Computer in Season One – implying that this is something big. At the end of this episode we are also introduced to a campfire on the island – indicating that someone else is on the island. In Episode Four we learn that these people mercenary-type character of Hap, and two Ecotourists – Mitch and Tiff. Mitch’s character design is an overt Alan Grant reference – designed to make us feel as though we can trust him, whilst Hap feels more akin to someone like Dieter Stark. Over the course of this episode we learn a few interesting details – including the fact that the group’s boat is away refueling at Papagayo. Interestingly, this is a peninsula on the North Pacific Coast of Costa Rica – in keeping with the geography of the series. The episode ends with Hap chasing the kids after they tried to break into his yurt – only for them to be rescued at the last moment by Ben and an adult Bumpy.

Episode Five takes the time for us to explore how Ben survived – showing how he attempted to escape the jungle but inadvertently wondered into Toro’s nesting ground. This sequence is cool as it shows Toro has been hunting animals since the end of Season One – suggesting he has been taking his aggression out on Nublar’s other residents. At a couple of different moments here we see Compys surrounding Ben as he cowers – helping to create the similar sense of vulnerableness that we see in Cathy Bowman. Eventually, after snapping at Bumpy and finding himself on his own, Ben stands up to the Compys and decides to go and fight Toro. This leads to a cool sequence where Bumpy eventually saves Ben and fights Toro – although I do feel like here the kids show side of the series takes over a little bit more, as I can imagine a kid with a spear not being much of a problem for a fully grown Carnotaurus. With that said, seeing a fully grown Bumpy showdown with Toro was a nice call-back to the cut Sinoceratops vs Carnotaurus fight from Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom, and I was quite excited to see Toro back for an episode as I wasn’t sure we would see this animal again in the series. 

The next episode reveals why Tiff and Mitch are truly on the island – because they are Big Game Hunters. In the yurt which was off limits Darius finds a lot of hunting tools, including a bear trap, and brutally – the head of a Sinoceratops. I was genuinely shocked at how morbid this sequence was – and think this reinforces the idea that this isn’t purely a kids show. Whilst this was mainly implied as the whole head is not shown under the cover it has over it, it was enough to shock me. I really enjoyed this reveal as I didn’t expect it – I thought it would be easy for this to be Mantah Corp, but obviously, as The Lost World shows us, there will be people out there who want to hunt these animals for a challenge. Interestingly, Mitch justifies hunting them as preserving their memory, saying that the UN will soon forget and abandon the island. I appreciated this attempt from the writers to show how the character would justify his actions as it helps to make him slightly more compelling – even if I would argue that the writing for both characters is weak here. In this episode we also see the death of Hap – who stays behind to distract the pack of three Baryonyx so that Brooklynn and Kenji can escape on a motorbike following Ben’s rescue. This was an interesting moment as it is clear Hap was written to fit the ‘villain’ stereotype and then flip it. Interestingly enough we don’t see Hap die – so whilst surviving an attack from three Baryonyx is improbable, it is possible he could return. I would argue that he was the best of the three new characters introduced in the second season of the show. We end with Yaz, Darius and Sammy at the mercy of the pair of hunters – who now want Darius to show them the watering hole so they can kill more dinosaurs. This makes sense – but may have benefitted from being slightly more fleshed out in my opinion.

This idea carries over into Episode Seven – where Darius falsely leads the pair to main street in a desperate bid to escape. There is a really cool sequence on main street here where Darius and Sammy are avoiding the couple in a way which almost mimics the Velociraptor kitchen sequence from Jurassic Park  - with them moving from cover to cover in a slow fashion. Whilst this unfolds, Brooklynn, Kenji, Yaz and Ben find an emergency bunker when Brooklynn follows a hum she has heard throughout the series – pointing to something still being operational underground. The Bunker facility appears identical to the one which we see in Jurassic World Aftermath – which poses some interesting questions for where that latter entry slots into the story given what else unfolds here. We learn that this room connects to a room where a sample is cryogenically frozen – and Kenji inadvertently begins the process of awakening it. I enjoyed everything we saw on the computer screens on this sequence – including the location of the watering hole, which appears to be near Gyrosphere Valley. This then leads into the second sequence we get with the Tyrannosaurus Rex in this series – which is, unfortunately, a sequence which suffers from the necessity for plot armour to carry the antagonists through to the final episode. Rexy tries repeatedly to bite Tiff and Mitch and misses – allowing them to escape and eventually being distracted from Darius and Sammy by lights and sounds the rest of the crew activate in the command centre. Seeing Rexy unable to kill either Tiff or Mitch when they were out in the open is one of the moments which breaks the realism of the series, in my opinion – making it a little bit harder to accept at face value.

The finale starts with Tiff and Mitch heading to the watering hole whilst the rest of the kids attempt to stop them. During this sequence we get a brutal moment where Tiff kills Grim with a single shot – reminding us that this animals are not nearly as resilient as the Indominus Rex. This stood out to me as it reminded me how easy the dinosaurs which are rampaging during Jurassic World Dominion would be to deal with – implying that something more serious may happen to prevent authorities around the world from dealing with the animals so quickly. This moment really was brutal – as although Grim was technically an antagonist, the death had a similar effect to that of Zara, with it not feeling earned. Eventually the kids manage to stop Tiff and Mitch from killing any of the other animals – and both die in ways which homage different parts of the franchise. Mitch steps on his own snare and is eaten by the Tyrannosaurus Rex whilst hanging from a tree – a fun nod to the death of Cooper in JPIII who has a similar fate at the hands of the Velociraptors. Tiff, on the other hand, makes it onto her boat (which has been moored at the dock the whole time) – and makes it on in time to escape before the kids can get onboard. As she begins to sail away it is revealed that Limbo and Chaos have made it onboard – sealing her fate, and providing a moment of Karma for the brutal execution of Grim earlier in the episode. This also serves as a fun nod to the novel – where Velociraptors were able to board the Isla Nublar supply ships. This then ends with the kids practically in the same position as the end of Season One – which does, in some ways, negate the events of the second season as it feels as though no real progress occurs. 

Overall, there are some fun sequences in Season Two of Camp Cretaceous – but it feels as though there are less memorable moments than the first season, and many of them are over-exaggerated and therefore leave you questioning their realism within the canon. Whilst the show should be granted additional freedom due to its target demographic, this undoubtedly is a canonical piece – and I feel like the second season pushed the boundaries of being a canonical entry in the series a little bit too far at times. Whilst some sequences, like a stampede sequence in Episode Seven and the Baryonyx attack in Episode Two feel well executed, other sequences, like the chase in Episode Six, feel a little bit too extreme. With that said, I think kids are definitely going to love these set pieces, so I can look past them for the impact they may have on younger fans. 

I also didn’t enjoy the lack of any presence for Mantah Corp in Season Two. Whilst I appreciated Mitch and Tiff not being agents of the organisation, as that would’ve been easy to do, I do think that having some kind of reference – whether it be another drone, or mention of another boat off shore – would have been a nice way of tying in the fact that Mantah Corp are still an active threat in this universe. Whilst I have no doubt that they will return in the future, the complete lack to acknowledge them beyond Brooklynn and Sammy name-dropping them a couple of times did seem like a shame considering the focus that was placed on season one. The issue which irked me most, however, is probably that of E750 – which is being thawed out. We will have a separate video speculating what this could be, but my biggest issue is how this sits within the canon. As per JWFK and Jurassic World Aftermath, we know that teams were sent back to recover assets and extract them off of the island – so if E750 was such a big project for Wu, then why did he leave it on the island? This makes little sense to me right now and is, in my opinion, one of the bigger issues with retrospectively building this mystery specimen into the Jurassic timeline.

With these issues highlighted, I think Season Two of Camp Cretaceous was good, but it fails to follow-up on some of the more interesting parts of the first season, and strays a little close to the boundaries of the pre-established canon present in the universe. Whilst I appreciate it is a kids show, and I can allow more due to this, I do feel like the E750 storyline has the potential to raise more questions about the rest of the lore, depending on the direction it takes – and this is a problem which can occur when retroactively building a multi-media timeline. I am interested to see how this unfolds in a third season – and I do wonder how much more we can explore on Nublar before it begins to feel stagnant. There is certainly more of the island I would like to see and explore – so I hope we get to do this in future instalments. 

I think it is fair to say I enjoyed the second season of the show – but, perhaps not as much as I did the first season, which I felt gave a little more to adult fans and those of us more familiar with the lore. With that said, I would love to hear from you! Let me know what you thought of Season Two in the comments below, and stay tuned for more Camp Cretaceous content on The Jurassic Park Podcast in the near future.

Written by: Tom Fishenden

[nocturna-iv]

001: descendants, 002: Bumarry, 003: Ben for the ask game please ❤️

Hi luv!

About this ask:

And of course!

001: Descendants

Favorite character: Uma

Least Favorite character: Mal

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon):

Harry Hook x Uma

Ben x Uma

Harriet Hook x Ginny Gothel 

Jay x Lonnie

Jay x Uma

5 Favorite polyships (canon or non-canon):

Ben x Harry Hook x Uma (Ben x Gil x Harry Hook x Uma)

Audrey x Harry Hook x Gil x Uma (Audrey x Ben x Harry Hook x Gil x Uma)

Carlos de Vil x Jay x Lonnie

Chad x Jay x Gil x Harry Hook 

Gil x Harry Hook x Jay x Uma

Character I find most attractive: Harry Hook

Character I would marry: Ben, Harry, Lonnie & Uma

Character I would be best friends with: Ben, Carlos, Jane & Jay

A random thought: Because it’s Disney, Descendants doesn’t touch on prostitution, human trafficking, and violent sexuality and at a very early age that the VK had to live, as happens in the real world in invasions, guerrillas (child soldiers), street children or centers penitentiaries not properly regulated (such as the Isle of the Lost, a prison without guards and any law). But I don’t touch on the subject because it’s something very real and strong to expose it like that with the fandom but due to my profession and work, it’s something that my brain always remembers. Also, I don't like it when people treat these topics just for shock value.

An unpopular opinion: It's visibly awkward that ships and popular characters are mostly white. And I mean in the content of the fandom. Although we talk about the racism that exists in the canon, very few people seek to balance the numbers with new contributions  (whether with content with canon characters, OCs, or y/n). I don't know if it makes sense. But it seems that it is easy to talk about racism but not do something actively to include BIPOC characters (This is why I get excited when I find people drawing Audrey, Jay, Evie, Uma, and others without lightening their skin tone or writing fics with BIPOC y/n or creating things with the BIPOC canon characters as their main characters)

My canon OTP: Harry Hook x Uma

Non-canon OTP: Jay x Lonnie

Most badass character: Uma

Pairing I am not a fan of: Any ship with Mal. Especially Mal canon. And I HATE Mal x Uma, Audrey x Mal and Ben x Mal. Because of the toxic and abusive environment.

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): 

Chad Charming.  From the start, Chad, Cinderella's son was turned into... a terrible character. Well, in the beginning, he is intelligent and manipulative, who knows how to use his charm against others. Brilliant. Cool. I can work with that. He may have an arc about learning about his wrongdoing and using his privileges to help others who don't. But no, the character just went downhill and became everyone's joke. 

Also, Ben, obviously. The movies wouldn't exist without him and he became an accessory to Mal. Disney can only write hero and damsel in distress, it seems. Because they do that to Ben. A tool to move the plot. My poor golden boy.

Favourite friendship: Jay and Lonnie. Give me two best friends who constantly joke around, kick each other's butt, compete in even the most ridiculous things, are affectionate with each other and even if they don't plan on it, they spend time together (I'm seeing you Jay and "I'm not going to invite no one to the ball but I'm going to dance with Lonnie all night ")

Character I want to adopt or be adopted by: I'm going to adopt Celia and no one will be able to stop me!

002: Bumarry,

When of if I started shipping it: Technically I answered this here. Also, from looking for Huma and Buma fics, I ended up finding my first Bumarry and... Oh, I got hooked on the idea.

My thoughts: They are my OTPoly (One True Polyship). I love them. Because they allow me to mix the variables and create new scenarios. After all the damage Ben has gone through, I inevitably want to give him the best and the best is Huma. What else can I say? It’s absolute logic.

What makes me happy about them: The devotion, affection, and strength they would have. Ben and Uma are very different leaders who complement each other very well and I could only trust Harry to take care of the two of them and give them the freedom they deserve. Ben is incredibly loving and that's something both Harry and Uma deserve to feel, Uma is incredibly protective and Ben needs that backing to rule and Harry needs that to stay alive every 5 seconds. Harry's loyalty is unprecedented, he would see to not only that everything is up to Ben and Uma's standards, but he would personally see that their dreams come true.

What makes me sad about them: 

Harry Hook/Uma:

Ben/Harry Hook:

Ben/Uma:

Ben/Harry Hook/Uma:

There isn't much of them... And they're mostly fics of mine. I want more content, you know? I want to read fics, drabbles, see fanarts... Buh.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: It’s not in Bumarry itself. Actually, it's in Ben/Harry Hook, they usually play dirty with Uma. And it annoys me. They make her mean, jealous, cruel, or things like that to Ben and Harry. And this I came across once: They make Harry gay and that his relationship/dynamic with Uma is pure appearance. I had no problem with Harry being gay, but the justification for his sexual tension with Uma was all... Fake? No, it didn't fit in well with me. I think that's why when you ask me to write Ben/Harry Hook, Uma is there to give support. Don't play dirty with my queen.

Things I look for in fanfic: Uma dom! Uma top! Those are my favorite tags.

My kinks: With this polyship? Okay... BDSM all the way. 

Ben:  Caring dom, cuckolding, cupping, degradee (especially with actions), experimentalists, little one, masochist, pet, hunter (primal), praise kink, prey (primal), rope bunny, submissive, suspension, switch, tentacle fetich, voyeur,  wax play

Harry Hook: Alpha sub, brat, breath play, biting fetich, choking, cupping, dom, degrader, exhibitionist, knife play (hook play?), owner, pet, praise kink, prey (primal), rigger, sadistic, slave, submissive,  switch, tentacle fetich

Uma:  Brat tamer, biting fetich, Dom, electrostimulation (electro-wand, feel like a little sting), exhibitionist, Immobilization, masochist, mistress, owner, hunter (primal),  orgasm control, sensation play, scratching, 

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: Ben/Uma, Ben/Harry Hook, Harry Hook/Uma, with Gil, Evie or Jay. 

My happily ever after for them: 

Ben and Uma reigning Auradon and the Isle of the Lost together, Harry Hook taking care of them so they don't get exhausted and are protected from any attack. 

Ben on the run with Harry and Uma to live a pirate life and reclaiming Auradon in a rebellion.

003 Ben

How I feel about this character: I love him! He has good intentions. Ben knows that he is in a position of power and struggles to take advantage of his privileges to change things. He is rebellious, the second he is going to take the throne he begins to dismantle the system. Ben has a good heart and wants to help other people. Besides, I love that he has his survival instinct broken.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: Uma, Harry Hook, Evie, Gil, Jay, Audrey and Chad

My non-romantic OTP for this character: Jane, Lonnie, Chad, Audrey, Evie, Uma, Harry Hook, Evie, Gil, Jay hahaha

My unpopular opinion about this character: Because he's a guy, the fandom downplays the horrible things he's been through.

One thing I wish would happen/had happened with this character in canon: He has maintained his friendship with Audrey and Chad. It breaks my heart to know that he is completely alone in that department since D1 and is perpetuated throughout the following films. I also wanted him to end up with Mal.

My het ship: Ben/Uma & Audrey/Ben

My fem/slash ship: Ben/Harry Hook, Ben/Gil, Ben/Chad

My OTP: Ben/Uma

My OT3: Ben/Harry Hook/Uma

My cross over ship: *thinking* Oh... Ben/Leo Valdez (PJO) And! And! Ben/Reggie (JATP)

My kink: Caring dom, cuckolding, cupping, degradee (especially with actions), experimentalists, little one, masochist, pet, hunter (primal), praise kink, prey (primal), rope bunny, submissive, suspension, switch, tentacle fetich, voyeur,  wax play

A HC fact: He likes to constantly question himself. About his sexual orientation, about his gender identity, about his ability to love, about his pleasure, above all. He likes to explore. Ben is queer.

My gender bend: Technically I already have it. In Meanwhile. Bee, she loos like her. I LOVE the idea of Bee shieldmaiden.

I love responding this! Thank you!!!!!!!

[vanveronicango]

if you don't mind me asking, what aspects of s2 did you dislike? bc for me, although i liked it a lot better than s1 (mainly for the increased focus on sibling dynamic scenes). i also kind of realized that it had kind of a Lot going on, that although i appreciated, didn't get enough equal attention? idk

i agree that the dynamic scenes this season were pretty great. we got some great interactions between characters that didn’t have much last season (personal fave being klaus/allison/vanya and every individual combo in that trio). 

i personally love reading other peoples’ opinions on shows/movies, even if they don’t match my own, because a lot of the time they open my eyes to some stuff i haven’t seen, and i love to see work affecting others the same way it does me, even if it has a different outcome. 

so, i know  i said i wouldn’t, but since you asked, under the cut i’m going list out some of the stuff i wasn’t a huge fan of, and some of the stuff i really liked. 

(edit warning: this shit is LONG. but please don’t take this as me absolutely hating the season - I didn’t. there was some genuinely enjoyable stuff. but, in my opinion, it didn’t have the spark and intent that s1 did. it wasn’t the caliber of the season i fell in love with. i think it’s still rewatchable though, unlike a certain godawful season of a certain hit netflix show...... coughstrangerthings3cough)

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

1. not enough characterization/development in most of the characters (this will be the longest point, so I’ll get it out of the way first) - for one, the siblings - save maybe vanya & allison - really... did not develop much this season, and weren’t explored as heavily as in the first season. hell, even in vanya and allison’s cases, i still think s1 did a better job at delving into their characters and psyche, even though they still had a bit of it in s2. but especially in the other siblings cases, i feel like SO MUCH of this season leaned into trivial things the fans liked, that it either (at least) took time away from or (at worst) was an active detriment to the characters’ development and plots. they said oh you like banter? we’ll give you unnecessary arguing and jokes that go on for 20 minutes too long when we could be delving deeper into these interesting situations we saw on the surface. here’s some fart jokes and forgettable music when we could be seeing more of how these characters are coping with the literal end of the world/being sent back in time/facing the prospect of never seeing their families again. 

in s1, we got luther’s immense internal struggles in living up to his “name” and only existing to please his father... diego finding his relationships through his jaded nature towards his siblings and himself, and grappling with feelings of inferiority... allison’s coping with the effects her powers have had on her life, and trying to become someone without rumoring everything into existence, which is a new feeling altogether that she isn’t quite sure how to cope with... klaus going through intense development as a simultaneously self-obsessed and self-destructive drug addict that gets thrown into a gruesome war for a year, only to watch the person he loves most die, grappling with his ptsd from war & his abusive childhood, and discovering new powers... five coming back home after decades of solitude and then being used as a weapon, trying to reestablish himself within the group while dealing with an eating feeling that he doesn’t belong in his body or in this group.... vanya, oh vanya, with her depression, anxiety, feelings of loneliness and betrayal, feeling invisible and utterly ordinary, gripping to whoever makes her feel special (and dealing with that fallout) before suddenly being slammed with unbelievably powerful abilities that she can’t control.

in s2... yes, we get lesbian!vanya who becomes truer to herself, and - through intense struggle - finds a way to harness her abilities so she isn’t so out of control and can finally feel extraordinary herself. but much of the latter was given up for a vast majority of the season bc she literally didn’t know who she was (there was a positive in that though, which i’ll list in my positives list), and so we lost a LOT of potential coping and learning time, which easily could have mingled with her sissy storyline! allison’s storyline i actually dug, i don’t have too much gripe with it except that i wish her throat injury didn’t just kind of magically heal, and they could’ve addressed it more. the end of ben’s story was interesting, but still lacked depth imo. as for the other siblings.... it all just felt like a TON of jokes that were funny at first, but quickly became stale and had me wishing they would take the story a bit deeper. that said, a lot of the gags, jokes, and quips were great, but they could’ve been incorporated WAY more intelligently, and allowed for characterization at the same time. loads and loads of banter, not being balanced with poignancy like s1 did very well.

we could have seen luther’s descent into the criminal underworld, and why he felt the draw and obligation to go that route. a more detailed look at klaus’ beginnings and relationship with the cult, his motivations (which s2 kept super shallow), more of diego’s life inside the asylum and even beforehand. but no, we got five and old five farting.

2. the music - man, the s1 soundtrack was iconic, was it not? effortlessly cool scene/music combos, countless iconic music moments, brilliantly and thoughtfully done. this season felt like they said “music? oh ok throw music EVERYWHERE” and it was just. not. good. instead of music that intertwined with each scene like it was a character itself, amplifying the tone and adding a new layer (like in s1), the music this season was mostly just distracting, forgettable, and felt like they were this close to just making a bunch of music videos. i even found myself hating a couple of their choices (the rest i just kinda... forgot). i did like the vanya/allison/klaus dance scene, but other than that.... eugh.

3. the handler - I HATE. HATE HATE HATE. when shows/movie franchises do shit like make a big deal of killing off a villain or lead and then just being like “hehe jk uwu” and bringing them back with some totally bs reason that they lived. a metal plate? really? and she magically awoke... how long after? not to mention how unbelievably lazy and lame it is. they could’ve done so much more with carmichael and the swedes, but they had to bring back... the villain we already had? don’t get me wrong, i LOVEEE kate walsh, but come on. it’s season 2. give us something fresh.

4. the swedes - in s1, cha cha and hazel had personalities, wants, desires that were all explored. we knew their motivations, their doubts, their fears. we liked to watch them. then the writers threw in the swedes... who were completely devoid of any and all characterization (they could’ve gone in my #1 point too heyo), personality, backstory, anything. it was so painful that when each one died, it was clear that we were supposed to feel something for the others, but did any of you really feel anything? no. because we didn’t know these characters at all. they were walking guns, pretty much. nothing substantial.

5. ben & klaus - being someone who loves these two characters so, so much (hellloooo, my old url?), this one breaks my heart. i was so unbelievably disappointed with them this season. all either of them were was horrible to the other. in klaus’ case, he just decided to keep ben’s presence a secret, not even telling the group ben loved them, or that he was there. he called him his ghost bitch, he used him as a personal pet, he lacked sympathy or compassion. we saw a glimmer of hope when he allowed ben to possess him, but that’s where ben’s issues start. seriously, possessing your brother past his breaking point, fighting him out of his own bodily autonomy, until he is in a state of complete exhaution? then saying he “regrets nothing”? and then the show playing it off as ~comedy~ bc that’s almost all they cared about this season... no... there was nothing in their relationship this season that compared to last’s. no moments of tough brotherly love, where ben tries to help klaus through his drug/alcohol desires or ptsd flashbacks, no moments of teamwork (besides the brief moments of consenting possession before that was ruined), no tender moments between brothers in general. all just REALLY FUCKING LOUD “comedy”, anger, resentment, bickering, and cruelty, all played for laughs. not about it son

6. “we’re not blood related!” - and, once again, getting played for laughs... for a show that became uncomfortably self-aware with trivial fan desires (but not the deeper stuff...), they sure do lack a lot of common sense of realizing what we don’t want

7. hazel (& agnes) - they went through the trouble of saving hazel and agnes just to have agnes die off-screen before the season started, and for hazel to die five minutes into his only appearance? lame. lame lame lame.

8. plot pace - i don’t really recall any moments in s1 that i thought “this scene doesn’t need to be here”, “this is moving so slowly”, or “this is being really rushed”. there was plenty of all three of those in s2. s1 was constant, everything was either towards the main goal or was filled with private and fascinating character moments. i love just watching characters live and do their thing if it’s done properly... but those scenes this season really weren’t very entertaining (save one or two), didn’t really seem to serve a purpose or hold weight, and didn’t give us any character insight.

9. klaus - the reason he’s listed specifically even after i mentioned him in the first point, was because of how personally saddened i was by his “arc”, if you could call it that. i know, him being my favorite (along with vanya) in s1 isn’t an original thought. but the writers, directors, and robert created a character so entertaining, charming, layered, and multi-faceted that it was hard not to fall in love with him. for all his goofiness, he then got a shit ton of characterization and development in the war, in dave, in his ptsd and discovering his power. his poignant moments were so powerful because of how different it was from his typical outward appearance. and fuck if he didn’t develop! this season, klaus felt... shallow. the cult stuff had no depth, no real reason to be there at all (the show really wouldn’t be much different without it, besides it being how five and allison found klaus), and it was kind of a throwaway point anyway, just another tool to get - shocker - more laughs. those touching, serious klaus scenes were completely absent in s2... he was just the ~quirky~ and/or ~high/drunk~ guy. there was literally no depth to his character at all this season. yeah, he crawled from behind the desk in e9.... and what else? nothing. robert did all he could this season, but something tells me even he was probably disappointed by just how one-dimensional klaus was. he was really no different at the end than he was at the beginning of the season, which is a no-no. 

10. klave - this is kind of an expansion of #9, but i was so disappointed by it that it needed its own spot. the only stuff that was supposed to be serious in klaus’ story - the klaus/dave stuff - was really not good. the moment the shopkeeper said “david?” in the store, i literally gasped bc i was so excited... but that was the last of any excitement i felt for the two, which, if you know me, is BONKERS considering how much i adore s1 klave. but this new young actor had ZERO chemistry with robert (fuck if rob wasn’t trying, though. it looked painful for him, but this guy really was just not well casted) (cody and rob were phenomenal together and had a fraction of the screentime this new actor had), and klaus being 30 and this actor/character being a kid was just... weird to watch. plus... so many white actors look the same, they really couldn’t find someone who looked like cody ray thompson? c’mon now ...... also, was there any point to it? at all? dave just wound up going anyway and there was literally no differences made in that situation. i think the writers thought they were catering to the audience by adding dave, but you need actors with chemistry (cody! cody!!!) and a good plot to do so.

11. s1 fallout - there really was none. that’s it. you’d think there’d be more after the explosions in the relationships of these siblings, but everything was just kind of glossed over.

12. sparrow academy - mostly here because... does this mean 7 more characters? meaning MORE time taken away from our og siblings, who already (mostly) didn’t develop well this season? i’m not gonna lie, i’m worried/

WHAT I LIKED

1. the chestnuts - i absolutely loved ray, loved allison, and loved their and their group’s work this season. the issue of race is so important all the time, but in the 60′s the tensions were so high and it would’ve been a joke if the show hadn’t addressed it or just kind of went with little racist remarks. these two had some of the most touching scenes of the season, and the sit-in scenes/every police scene had me incredibly anxious. that was well done, imo. which is proof that they still know how to do a good storyline, which makes me even more upset that the show was overall lacking that this season. i’m also so glad they didn’t go the “oh sry ray i still love luther’ route bc i literally don’t know if i would’ve kept watching. ANYWAYS im gonna miss ray sm :(

2. vanya & sissy - lesbian!vanya is all i want and more. vanya/sissy was all i want and more. these two, much like the chestnuts, breathed so much life into an often-dull season. so in love!!! vanya connecting with harlan even in just the most human ways!!! sissy finally standing up to carl (and carl d*ing god bless).... little found family oh my GOD!!! super devastated that sissy didn’t come back to the future with vanya, but because of harlan’s ending, something tells me we haven’t seen the last of them. oh and i am so conflicted about vanya’s amnesia, bc while i think so much more development could’ve happened without it, i also don’t think a lot of what happened with her and sissy could have happened, at least as quickly, if vanya was bogged down by guilt, anger, and lingering feelings of self-hatred and anxiety.

3. sibling dynamics - okay, this one is a contradiction, kinda sorta. i know i said the ben/klaus relationship was horrid. and i didn’t dig absolutely everything with all the siblings.... but they had some REALLY strong stuff this season. i know i’ve already mentioned it multiple times, but vanya/allison/klaus was everything to me this season. i knew i wanted klaus/vanya stuff happening, but adding allison to the mix gave it a whole new layer and they all just worked SO. DAMN. WELL. i just kind of wish it was vanya with her memories getting that bonding time, because i feel like the trio really could’ve gone in with how they all related to each other, their struggles, etc. but still, just some Happy Time was much appreciated. in addition to them, i really did dig a lot of almost every sibling dynamic this season. not every relationship got the attention it deserved, but it wasn’t too bad, it would be really hard to get all of that into 10 eps. plus, the fact that almost all of them grew so much closer was everyyyything. it’s odd, because good dynamics usually come with good development but uh..... nvm im keepin this section positive

4. the humor - another kind of contradiction, maybe. for some of the humor, i thought it went too long, was extremely heavy-handed, often took away from the plot, and some of it even degraded certain characters and situations (see examples throughout my points above). however, the stuff that didn’t fall into these categories was so, so good. some favorites: olga foroga, “think of batman, then aim lower”, “you look like antonio banderas with that hair” “thanks man”, i’m t h e  d a d d y  h e r e, “not everyone here likes you” “sounds ridiculous but go on”, klaus’ little pop culture quips to his cult, “being smart doesn’t make you interesting” “neither does that beard”, klaus calling ben to manifest and ben being like ”...nah”... there are plenty more, but these were the first i could think of in 60 seconds off the top of my head. some of it really was laugh out loud funny, which can be hard to do, especially consistently. if only they didn’t lean into it so damn hard, and put in WAY too much heavy-handed humor that it dampened the experience

5. old five - although i don’t love all of the stuff in the five/old five scenes, old five’s actor was fantastic! he got aidan’s mannerisms down really, really well. it’s always cool to see actors do that kind of thing when they play a character at a different age, or a character’s sibling, etc.

6. time period bigotry - i’m really, really glad they didn’t gloss over the intense racism and homophobia of the era. it was mostly brought up with allison, vanya, and klaus, and all three actors did a great job in their respective roles when expressing their reactions to the hatred. the scenes were really hard to watch, but well done.

7. pogo/grace/reggie - don’t get me wrong, i still hate reggie with a burning passion. but i actually found his scenes with these two really interesting, and it gave us great insight as to why pogo was always so loyal to reggie, and how grace was more than just a face on a robot to hargreeves. (which actually makes lack of development in our mains even more infuriating... they clearly knew to put some in there, where is it for the rest of the sibs who got nothing this season!!!)

alright, i’m gonna stop here. i’m sure i can think of more for each section, but i’ve been thinking this out and typing for an hour (holy shit) and it’s 2am and i need sleep xoxo

[bexterbex]

A Soul to Mend His Own | Ch. 43

Warning, PLEASE CHECK TAGS IF YOU SEE SOMETHING YOU DON’T WANT TO READ THEN DON’T READ.

Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Will tag as I go along, Will update tags, Slow Burn, Influenced by Star Trek and other Sci-Fi themes, References to We Happy Few, Tons of References and quotes to George Orwells 1984 see if you can find them all, The First Order is the new Big Brother,  but who is really surprised, Blatant Nazi Symbolism, Interrogation Themes, Eventual Smut, Eventual Romance, Really just drawn out Slow Burn, Don’t repost without permission, Torture themes, Suggestive Themes, Execution themes, Disturbing Themes, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Verbal Abuse, Controlling Kylo Ren, Physical Abuse, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Kylo Ren is Not Nice, Kylo Ren Has Issues, Supreme Leader Kylo Ren, Possessive Kylo Ren

A Kylo Ren x Modern! Reader in a soulmate au with some canon divergence. —————————————SLOWBURN————————————–

He is already the Supreme leader, searching the universe to find you, his Empress. Your name on his wrist has been the only constant in his life, while you have doubts about his existence and his acceptance of you. He isn’t in the database and why did the name Kylo Ren cover Ben Solo?

MASTERLIST

Chapter 43: A Decision is Made

He escorted you down to the conference room where the First Order High Command had gathered, or rather all present persons had gathered and any others appeared as hologram projections.

He sat you down in a chair at the middle of the table. Allegiant General Hux was to your right and General Parnadee to your left, Admiral Griss faced her and General Pryde faced Hux. The chair opposite of you was empty, you knew that it was to be Kylo’s chair that he never seemed to use. “Lady Ren and myself will be leaving Earth in two days. I am sure you are all wondering what will be done. The Finalizer will be stationed here until a proper base can be built,” said Kylo, his mask distorting his voice.

Heads around the room nodded in acknowledgment and agreement.

“I also know many of you are eager to hear who will be left in charge of the planet.” As he said this many of the generals and admirals had looks of excitement in their eyes. “I have made an agreement with Lady Ren, she is the one who will make the decision as to who will be left in charge. She will give us her decision now.”

You knew he knew that you had yet to make a decision on what you had only discussed hours ago. You only knew a few of the faces in the room, this was something he knew too. He wanted the upper hand in the relationship, all of the power and control.

You needed to play your hand right, to gain some semblance of power, of control. You acted quickly hoping your brain would make the right decision. You turned to your right, “Allegiant General Hux, I value your opinion on this matter. How well would you recommend General Parnadee?”

You saw Kylo’s head shift, questioning you, even though you knew he could see into your mind you were acting on impulse. Something you weren’t thinking about too much ahead of time. And it was throwing him for a loop.

“General Bellava Parnadee is a good candidate m’lady. She received exemplary marks when she was in the Academy. She also has been highly admired by subordinates and peers. After the fall of Hosnian Prime, she focused on the occupation of contested worlds and directed ground forces on Torost, Odynnia Gavo and the planet Kijimi. Her input is invaluable as she has an avid love of history, but instead of admiring the past she learns from it, builds from it. I believe she would be most excellent in guiding your home planet to be a model for the First Order and the rest of the galaxy,” said Hux.

You could see the woman in question sitting next to swell in pride at the compliments from the allegiant general and from the honor of being a candidate. You could also see Pryde’s jaw twitch at the allegiant general’s words. Especially the part about learning from history and not idolizing it.

You turned to her, “I am willing to offer you the position only if you agree to weekly debriefings with me, however that may need to work. And you will take my advice and input. Do you accept the position General Parnadee?”

“I would be honored to m’lady. I now recognize this as your home planet, it is one of the most valuable resources the First Order has and I will treat it with respect,” she responded.

Although you had your disagreement with her earlier, over the treatment of your people, you trusted Hux. You also knew you could stand up to her when it was needed. And honestly, you knew that an admiral was in charge of ships and a general was in charge of ground forces, mostly. So you had a very limited choice in who you could choose. And as much as you wanted to be as far away from the unpleasant gaze of General Pryde, you knew you could not leave him in charge of your home.

“Congratulations General Parnadee,” said Kylo. The room was still, you had no idea how he would react to this decision, and it seemed that no one else did either. You wondered if he could see that you still tried to hold some of the cards, some of the power. “We will be heading back to the Supremacy which will be docked outside Mars for a few more days, as we are finalizing permanent mining operations there. Once we are finished there we will be going on a mission that I have planned, those who need to know will know. But if done correctly we will be able to increase the size of our military ten-fold.”

There was a murmur of excitement throughout the room. A positive energy for once.

“That is all, Allegiant General I have some matters to discuss with you.” With that everyone filled out of the room.

Parnadee thanked you again. You could feel General Pryde’s eyes rake over you before he left, it sent the most unpleasant shivers down your spine. You remained in your seat knowing that you were only allowed to leave when Kylo allowed it.

“You will continue educating Lady Ren. But see to it that you find a way to keep a close watch on Pryde. I do not want him on board the Supremacy but I do not want him attempting anything,” you heard Kylo telling Hux.

“Yes, Supreme Leader. Did you think about my recommendation for Lady Ren?”

“I believe you are correct,” he then turned to you. “You will have two ladies-in-waiting joining us on board the Supremacy. One will be your choice, one will be mine. They will keep you company and keep you occupied when neither the general or I will be around. You will receive more when you become empress, but for now, the two will do. I expect you to make a decision by tomorrow morning.”

Two ladies-in-waiting? You needed to pick someone to trap in your cage with you. Could you be so cruel to someone who already had their own freedom? No one came to mind when you initially thought of it, maybe you would need to ask for help, but not from Kylo. You know this was just him throwing you another bone.

Kylo and the general continued discussing matters you had no interest in, you zoned out. You had no idea how long you were out of it before Kylo pulled you up and guided you back to your chambers. Chambers that were now guarded by two knights right outside the door. Your guarded cage.

You were there for dinner, which was quiet. Neither of you speak, or rather want to speak. You tried to keep any thoughts you had buried deep down, tried to keep your mind from wandering to things he wouldn’t approve of. After dinner, you both headed to the living room, where he pulled you down onto his lap, his heavy arms trapping you against him.

He groaned at the pressure of you on him. His lips found your neck as he turned on the big projector screen, the same one Hux had used during your tutoring session, but this time it was some weird First Order children’s show and not some boring etiquette video.

You weren’t at all interested in the show, but anytime your eyes shifted away for too long he snapped his fingers and pointed to the screen. But he was also distracting you with his lips and the fingers that kept exploring your sides. Eventually one of his hands came to rest on your heat once more, this time pushing your underwear aside and letting his fingers roam free. You were frozen but just as he tried to tease the tip of his finger into your entrance you cried out, “no!”

His fingers backed away but still tried to roam, so you caught his wrist in your hand, “no.”

He scoffed and brought his fingers to his lips, tasting the wetness that had seeped out of you, “mmm better than I could have imagined.” His other hand came up to squeeze your breast while the other one moved back down to squeeze your ass. “Why deny something that you want?” His voice dripped in sensuality, low and velvety.

A moan escaped your lips, again only a small part of your brain was screaming for him to stop, the rest of your body betraying you. Before you could answer one of his hands, grab yours and pull it behind you to feel his crotch, you could feel his hardness beneath you. “Do you feel what you do to me?”

“Yes,” you called out. Your heartbeat was in your ears. You couldn’t really even breathe. All he seemed to want to do was to set fire to your nerves. “I want to wait.”

“When? When will I fully have you?” he breathed into the crook of your neck, grinding your hand harder down onto himself.

That small bit of rational brain had a thought and it ran like wildfire. “When I become empress, on that first night.” Your breathing hitched. “A celebration, for both of us.”

He groaned in frustration as he bucked up into your hand, into your ass. He then bit down rather hard on your shoulder, “As you wish Kitten.” His hand then squeezed your breast hard once more before picking you up and carrying you up the stairs.

He set you down in front of the closet that held your sleep clothes. You grabbed what you needed to get ready and headed to the bathroom where Kylo trapped you in the doorway. “No misbehaving.” He then hooked his hand under your chin and came down with a crashing kiss before letting you go.

The door shut and you felt as if it was the first time you have had a chance to breathe all day. You quickly took a shower and got ready for bed. You noticed your neck was now littered with dark lovebites. You left the bathroom and your body was immediately pulled into his, his lips crashing onto yours. He sucked and bit on your bottom lip asking for entrance which you granted. He pulled you down on top of him on the bed.

His hands trailed down your back and squeezed your ass. This caused you to straddle him. He groaned into your mouth as he rolled his pelvis into yours. You pushed yourself up onto your elbows breaking the kiss. He looked up at you, “Does Kitten not want to play,” he teased.

“Kitten would like to sleep,” you referred to yourself in the third person and used his nickname for you. You crawled to the left side of the bed and lay on your side with your back to Kylo, who crawled up to spoon you.

As he started to grind into you once more he said into your hair, “Mmm I can’t wait to get my kitten to purr.” This was the last thing you heard before you drifted off to sleep.

Your dreams were filled with the kinder man you had first met. You dreamed of him saving you from a high tower off a cliffside with waves crashing at the bottom. He was still a knight, but this time classically dressed in armor. He rode a beautiful white steed and he seemed happy. He saved you after slaying an awful black dragon, that spit red fire and had yellow eyes. It was the largest dragon you had ever seen, a legend in your dream world. In the end, you rode off into the sunset with him to a beautiful castle filled with light. Every fiber of your being wished this dream, this fairytale would come true.

Sadly it looked like you were not going to get your prince charming as you were still trapped with the dragon, that hoarded your beauty and happiness like gold.

[writingstruggles]

Ben Solo/Kylo Ren: a character analysis

OK, first things first: THIS ISN’T A STAN OR ANTI POST. This is a character study, and if you can’t handle this character getting impartial concrit, just don’t read. If, however, you don’t agree with some of the points I’m going to make and want to have a healthy discussion about it, then I’m all ears. I don’t think my opinion is the only valid one, so feel free to try and change my mind.

And second things second: I tried so hard to love the sequel trilogy, but when it became clear after TROS that the studio had no plan other than making money, it became very difficult. I’m aware that the main problem for all the characters is the lack of general planing in this whole mess of trilogy, so keep this always in mind while reading this post: the first problem of this character was that the studio didn’t even know what to do with him.

1. Does Ben Solo becoming Kylo Ren make sense?

I checked the comics to get his background better. He had a happy childhood traveling a lot with Han and Leia, but when she discovered about the First Order, she sent him to train with Luke while Han and Chewie ran undercover missions for her. This is important: up to this point, he had a good relationship with his family, even if he was already being pulled by the dark side of the Force. It was during his adolescence that he started to be really seduced by Snoke, hearing the voice he thought belonged to Darth Vader. After the Luke incident, he did explode the cabin and thought he had killed his uncle, but he was not the one who killed all the other students and destroyed the temple: that was Snoke’s thing. He did kill some of his fellow Jedi apprentices later on, though. So, his turning points were Luke’s treason and Snoke’s coordinated abduction. And I would like to point out: the Sith training involves torture and brainwashing, so the first wrong impression I would like to correct about this character is that he was not simply a dick and revolted teen who ran away to join a cult.

BUT, there are some huge problems here. The first one is that when you watch the movies, you don’t learn anything about that aside from Luke’s part. In the way he’s presented in TFA, he’s Leia and Han’s son who betrayed his family, destroyed his uncles’ dream and joined the dark side for no reason. OF COURSE half of the audience wouldn’t like him. That wouldn’t be a problem if they just wanted him to be a villain like Darth Vader was, but it’s very clear that there was a plan (at least for one director) to make him a supposedly redeemable character. And how can we sympathize with his character like that? Even after we get to know what Luke almost did, the next question is simple: ok, so why he didn’t go back to Han and Leia?

And here is the second huge problem: we learned that after Ben leaves Yavin IV, Luke vanished, and Han and Leia broke up and went back to smuggling/leading a rebellion. And I can’t stress this enough, this doesn’t make any sense. The sequel trilogy killed Luke, Han, and Leia’s characters. These three characters that we have known for years would never, ever, had abandoned Ben Solo. Leia F*cking Organa and Han shot-first Solo would have brought their son back or die trying. Luke Skywalker is not a coward, he wouldn’t go into hiding and abandoned his only sister to clean up his mess during another war, let alone close himself to the Force, knowing full well he wouldn’t be able to feel if she was in danger. Just remember Han risking his life to save Luke in Hoth; or Leia leaving the rebellion to rescue Han from Jabba; or Luke straight-up disobeying ghost Obi-Wan and ghost Yoda to save Han and Leia, even if that costed the war. They were older and different, for sure, but we are talking about the quintessential things, the things that make these beloved characters themselves.  

(THIS ^^. This right here is the spirit of Star Wars)

So no, in the way it was done in the movies, Ben Solo becoming Kylo Ren doesn’t make sense to the audience, and that’s a huge problem. A friend of mine suggested once that instead of being a rip-off of ANH, TFA should have been a movie about the beginning of the First Order (because after we defeat the Empire on episode VI, episode VII starting with ANOTHER all-powerful evil government already dominating the galaxy and exploding planets just throws away all the previous movies’ efforts) and about how Ben Solo becomes Kylo Ren. Just imagine if Rey, Finn and Poe had interacted with Ben Solo before he becomes evil: the stakes would have been so much higher, and it could have been well done. It would have made this character more human and likable.

2. Kylo Ren’s motivations: what does he want?

If the OT was about hope, I think we can agree that the ST’s themes are legacy and belonging. Having their protagonists, Rey and Ben/Kylo representing two apposite sides of those things was one of the best ideas for the new saga.  Rey looks for belonging in the past she doesn’t know, while Kylo wants to abandon Ben Solo’s past and find his place in his future as Kylo Ren.

In that sense, his character arc was somehow solid. In TFA, it’s clear he’s still struggling with the dark side and feels the temptation of the light: he loses control easily, and he’s not doing anything unless Snoke orders him to. Ok, but why? Why is he clinging to Darth Vader’s ideals and staying in the sith path? Basically because he thinks it’s too late, and he has no other options. Which brings us back to the problem with Han and Leia: his parents didn’t go after him, they chose to go back to their old lives – of course he would think there’s no going back for him now. “But he is an adult man and could make his own decisions.” It’s a fair point, but again: sith training corrupts you and even if he had escaped, the only thing that would happen would be Snoke finding him again. It’s kinda like leaving an addiction: you supposedly can do it by yourself, but it is so much easier if you have help. Not a simple promise or offer, but actual, constant, and present help. I can not stress this enough, but I insist that one of the main problems with the sequel trilogy was not explaining in a satisfactory way HOW and WHY he turned to the dark side and stayed there.

3. Han Solo

Okay, I will admit: maybe my opinion on this specific topic is biased, because Han Solo is my favorite SW character. You may call me out as a fangirl if you don’t agree, but my point is: making Kylo Ren kill Han Solo was a bad idea. They basically killed the character for half of the audience, with zero chance of redemption.

It’s because it’s fratricide. Unless your father is Satan, the Emperor, or someone as equally villainous, fratricide is just that bad. It’s not easy to redeem a character who commits murder, but one that kills his own father? Who happens to be one of the good guys? And one of the most iconic and beloved characters in the franchise? There were other options to give Kylo Ren a tipping point, a conflicted moment that didn’t involve killing Han Solo. But they did, and he killed him. And now he’s no longer a villain we can sympathize with: now we think he’s a monster.

4. His interactions with Rey in TLJ

(I’m not wearing shipper goggles for this. I don’t even own shipper goggles when we are talking about Star Wars.)

Kylo Ren is conflicted after killing Han Solo, (and I will make a small pause here to reinforce how good Adam Driver’s acting was. He’s the only responsible for all the likable parts of Kylo Ren, especially in this movie). Kylo is once again unstable and Snoke is displeased with him, and for a moment we think he finally turned completely to the dark side, until he pauses before shooting Leia’s ship.

The force bond was the most interesting part of the movie. I don’t agree that he used it to manipulate Rey: if anything, he was completely harsh and blunt and kind of a dick to her, but he didn’t lie. He told her things how he saw it, with so much conviction that she started to see his side of the story. And since she was probably the first person in years that actually listened to him, his decision of murdering Snoke and inviting her to join the dark side makes very much sense.

We are talking about motivations and his are simple: let the past die, forge a new path. When he kills Snoke and no longer has a master, he only has one option: to become the master. That’s why he takes over the FO, and wants Rey to be his apprentice. Does the character suffer from sith-tunnel-vision? Definitely. But it makes sense. His decision-making is not overly complicated: he feels alone, and he wants a purpose: he decides that the solution for both is Rey joining him in the dark side. When she refuses, he still has one purpose: the FO.

This is, however, the point where he turns his back to the light completely: on Crait, he orders the FO to explode the Rebel Base and kill everyone, knowing full well his mother was in there. He orders them to exploded the Falcon out of the sky, once again knowing that Chewie and Rey are on board. When facing Luke, he repeats that he will kill Rey and the rebels. His transition from conflicted sith apprentice to the new villain of the franchise was actually well done.

And exactly because of that, the next topic pisses me off so much.

5. The continuity problem between episodes VIII and IX

Introducing Palpatine here was bad for so many reasons: backtracking Rey’s arc, making us think about Palps’ sex life, insisting on beating a literal dead horse when there were new things to explore, etc etc. And it was also bad for Kylo Ren’ arc. As I said before, the way they finished episode VIII, everything pointed to Kylo becoming the final evil Rey would have to face, and that would have been awesome. We didn’t need Palps, or ANOTHER all-powerful evil army ready to conquer the galaxy with exploding-planets-tech (seriously, is Alderaan a joke to you, Disn*y?).

  But, in the third movie, they went back and decided they didn’t want Kylo Ren to be the ultimate villain anymore. They wanted him to be redeemed. And that’s not bad per se, but an actual redemption arc needs to be planned, and I think we can all agree, there was no planning in the sequels. And again, FRATRICIDE. So they introduced an old, more powerful evil to make Kylo Ren less evil and less of a threat in comparison. And evil so definitive, and with such a bullshit connection to Rey, that it makes Kylo reconsider his previous promises of killing the last jedi and going back to the plan of making her turn.

And so, his character spends the movie going after Rey, to tell her the bullshit truth about her parents, to convince her to join him. At least his arc is still somehow solid, because once he’s decided on his path, he doesn’t lose control like in the previous movies, and his body language is more firm and lethal. Which, honestly, thanks Adam Driver, he knew the character way better than the director at this point.

He finally comes back to the light when Leia dies. Although it was rushed, I agree that, at that point, it was literally the only thing that could have made him turn. Rey reminding him that he wouldn’t be alone if he hadn’t chosen the dark side helped, too. It was clear that the moment with Han Solo was supposed to be with Leia, but I’m really glad Harrison Ford agreed to come back to fill in the role for his old friend.

6. Ben Solo

Okay, there’s so much to unpack here. When Ben Solo finally comes out to play, it’s very good. We can finally see some things that explain Kylo Ren better – it’s so obvious how awkward he was in his own body trying to be an evil sith lord when he is clearly a natural disaster. He still suffers from tunnel vision, but at least now it’s Skywalker-do-or-die tunnel vision. It’s like a weight was lifted from his shoulders, and the way his actions scream Han Solo makes me, once again, wish the first movie had been about him, and not the whole “find a map/ Star Killer base was ANOTHER ridiculous idea / I know R2’s alignment is chaotic bastard but COME ON”.

Star Wars has a notorious story with pulling Force powers out of nowhere, and I’m not going to pretend to be an expert in SW lore, so I won’t complain about the dyad thing (and the weird stuff with the light sabers). I honestly liked the concept. There’s a lot I have to say about the final battle against Palpatine, but I think it would fit better in a future character study about Rey (God, that’s going to be another long ass post). I just want to add that after Luke insisted on her taking both light sabers to Exegol, and after all the crazy stuff Ben did to get to her, they should have, you know, actually fought side by side against 85% dead Palpatine? Aren’t these two idiots supposed to be stronger than that?? I’m not complaining about Rey bringing him down “alone” since she is the protagonist yada yada, I just wished that Ben had done something, instead of being thrown into a hole.

(Palps did that out of spite because of his grandfather? I bet he did.)

I won’t say I didn’t cry hearing the voices of the past jedi talking to Rey, because I definitely did. If anything, it was great to see so many beloved actors getting a chance to honor such iconic characters. But are you freaking shitting on us? Where were ANY of those assholes when Luke, Leia and Ben needed them, like, ten years ago?? “Well, force ghosts should not be used as ex machinas, and they don’t see the future” Tell that to episodes IV, V and VI. Anakin, Obi Wan and Yoda can show up for Vader weird funeral/party with ewoks but they can’t send a jedi signal for the Skywalkers to warn them about Sith bullshit about to happen? “They were probably ahead in the world the comes next and they didn’t have a way to come back, they just talked to Rey because Exegol is a Force nexus and-” And so is Ach-To. And so is Yavin IV. And so is Dagoba (Yes, Snoke sent Ben there for training). Look, I have no problems with Force Ghosts, I love them bastards. I’m just so freaking mad with the lack of coherence in this trilogy. If they did not talk to the Skywalkers – and I’m sure at least Luke and Ben asked Obi Wan/Anakin to show themselves A LOT – they should not have talked to Rey. It was a crowd please moment, for sure, but it was another gigantic middle finger to Ben Solo (before he becomes Kylo Ren).

And then Rey died, and Ben brings her back. I know how many funny jokes are going around in the fandom about how resurrecting Qui-Gon or Padme would have saved the galaxy so much trouble, but again, I’m okay with that. It was previously established that since they were a dyad, they had this living Force between them (although it was rushed in the final like everything else). And it does make sense Ben doing that: he had just come back to the light, and his parents were both dead. Han and Leia were gone because of him, the last time he saw Chewie was as his captor, and before that, he got shot by him, etc, you get the idea. He had nothing else, only this: the chance to make it right by a person that genuinely cared for him. Exchanging his life for Rey’s was nothing: he knew that his family would be waiting for him in the world that comes after.

So, did I like the Bendemption? It. Was. Not. A. Redemption. It was the right choice, and it made things right between him and Rey, because she forgave him for everything. But that’s it. He did not face the consequence of any of his previous actions. “But he died for her!” And we just established that it was not a difficult choice, considering that he had literally no reasons to stay alive if Rey was dead. If you want to see an actual redemption arc, go watch Avatar the Legend of Aang.

And finally, the kiss and the death. Okay, I know I’m digging my own grave by addressing that, but my mama raised no coward. Here it goes: it was fan service, pure and simple. It’s there to make part of the fanbase happy. Good for you, reylos, but to us, not shippers, it came out of nowhere. And I’m not questioning if they had feelings for each other or not: I’m talking about pacing and characterization. I’m not 100% convinced that Rey, as a character, as she was presented to us so far, would have done that. It felt out of place, and it broke the immersion of the scene. I was emotionally invested on what was going on, I was happy to see Ben smiling at her and everything, but then suddenly they were sucking faces and the “FAN SERVICE” alarm was so loud in my mind that I immediately lost interest. If they wanted that in the movie so much, there was probably a better way to do that.

It makes sense that Ben had to die to bring Rey back: one life for another and everything. I still think that, story-wise, it would have been better if none of them had died a ridiculous death, and Ben had faced the consequences of his actions as Kylo Ren, but okay, moving on.  The main problem here is what happens after he dies: nothing. Absolute-effing-nothing. He dies, he disappears – which, again, I won’t question because Leia was involved and Skywalkers do whatever they want with the Force and I’m no expert – but that’s it. Rey, the same Rey that had just jumped his bones fifteen seconds earlier, doesn’t even mourn him. She doesn’t cry, she doesn’t do anything for him in the end, she just goes to Tattooine because it makes sense to the Skywalker saga to end where it started. She sees more of those Force Ghosts who never appear when they freaking should and that’s it.

Why is it bad? Well, first, like it or not, Ben Solo/Kylo Ren was one of the main characters and he deserved an actual final. Finn and Poe too, but those are long posts for another day. And second, it makes the fan-service in that kiss scene more evident. You can’t have the girl kiss him and in the next scene act like it didn’t matter at all. “Ok, then it was a thank-you kiss and there were no real feelings of loved involved”. But that makes it worse, it would be even more completely out of character for Rey – who avoids physical contact with people on the regular – to just kiss someone as a thank-you. Do you see how the math does not compute? If she had feelings for him, and therefore kissed him, she should have mourned him. If anything, she should at least miss her other part of the dyad thing. And if she didn’t mourn him because she didn’t have actual feelings, then she should not have kissed him. A little consistency, it’s all I’m asking.

7. Conclusions (aka tl;dr)

He was a somehow consistent character, but the lack of plot for the sequels was a huge problem. If the trilogy had been about Ben Solo becomes Kylo Ren – Kylo Ren kills Snoke and becomes the real villain – Rey faces Kylo Ren and she either saves him or kills him, it would have been so much better than the mess the studio did.

His story in the comics is so much more complex than what it is shown in the movies, but what they did to Han, Leia and Luke was a crime.

It was clear that one director had a vision to give him a redemption, and the other to make him the ultimate villain.

Adam Driver did what he could to make this character solid and somehow likable, let’s thank him for that.

There was no reason to bring Palps back,

Rey’s actions in the final are contradictory,

He should have stayed alive to face the consequences of his actions,

and the studio is charged guilt for getting our hopes up just to crush them with their lack of interest in doing something descent for the fans.

But again, that’s just my analysis of this character. Feel free to disagree with me, I would love to see what other people think about Ben Solo/Kylo Ren.

[hamfistedmorals]

Rise of Skywalker: Initial Thoughts and Feelings

As a movie, it was engaging. As a Star Wars story, it hooked me. But as a conclusion to this particular trilogy? As a final chapter to the entire saga? Oh boy, was it a hot mess.

BEWARE OF SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT

(Disclaimer - I’m one of the 5% of Star Wars fans that loved The Last Jedi, so that might influence my opinion, but I’ll try to keep things unbiased.) 

It was all over the place, and I mean that quite literally. 

We got to see so many new locations, and most of them seemed interesting. Unfortunately, because of the breakneck pace and the ticking clock, the film doesn’t spend any time developing these places apart from Exegol - and that’s only planet who’s name I can remember. Adding on to the map of a Galaxy Far, Far Away is always a good thing. But so many new locations in one movie, with our heroes jumping back and forth every ten minutes...doesn’t make this universe feel larger. Actually, it makes it feel smaller. In past Star Wars movies, it would take time to go from one planet or star system to another. But that really doesn’t seem to be the case here. If there’s one problem that’s been semi-consistent throughout this trilogy, it’s the confusion of timing. (What’s the point of the title crawl if Episode 8 is going to pick up immediately after Episode 7? But I digress.)

The Dyad in the Force is easily the most fascinating concept of the entire trilogy.

I braced myself for the movie to ignore the connection previously established between Rey and Kylo Ren, as it ignores so much of Episode 8. But no, Rise of Skywalker actually build on the bond between these two characters and gives us more amazing scenes of them interacting entirely through their connection in the Force. We learn that they are essentially a one-of-a-kind anomaly, that Palpatine can use to restore his life energy. Rey and Ben even learn how to use their bond by the end of the film. It’s a new idea that Star Wars hasn’t done before and I kinda love it - I just really wish they had explored it more, and better outlined what it is, where it came from, and how it works. Then again, after how much people hated the Midichlorians, I expect the writers are hesitant to give any answers about how The Force works. 

I also appreciated the official introduction of Healing, as a Force Power. 

Say what you will about some of the Force-Abilities introduced in TLJ, but this one makes perfect sense. So much so that I’m pretty sure it’s already a thing in Star Wars video games? It was well foreshadowed and it played a role in Rey and Ben’s final fight, as well as that heartbreaking climax. Honestly, I truly thought Rey was dead in that moment. I teared up, thinking that her parents’ sacrifice was for nothing. Wondering if Finn could sense that she was gone. Wondering what Ben would do without her, since he had no one else. To be honest, I almost wish Rey had stayed dead, since as it stands...we have a redeemed villain sacrificing himself to save the hero that redeemed him...sound familiar? If Ben had lived, and Rey had died, it could have been a tragic inversion of Return of the Jedi, instead of just a retread. But oh well. I had a feeling they were going to kill off Kylo Ren anyway. 

It feels like they did have plans for Finn, but never properly carried them out. 

Rise of Skywalker very clearly implies that Finn has discovered that he’s Force-Sensitive. Which is a good idea, it just comes out of nowhere. Apparently, that’s what he was going to tell Rey - JJ has clarified it. One problem...that’s not a detail that should be confirmed in an interview. It should be answered within the movie. There were two separate conversations about Finn wanting to tell Rey...something, but the film never comes back to that or gives it any conclusion. Likewise, the idea of Finn being force-sensitive is only ever foreshadowed, never brought to light. Overall, Finn got some great moments, like when he met Jannah and got to connect with another former Storm-trooper...but his overall character arc in this film never got off the ground. 

Was it just me...or was Poe constantly angry throughout the movie? 

I don’t know if this was just Oscar Isaac’s frustration slipping through, or if it was meant to be the stress of the war, or something...but Poe was in a bad mood in just about every scene. But just like with Finn, this never gets resolved or even really acknowledged. Didn’t Poe go through an entire arc in the last film about learning to be less of a hot-head? For some reason, he and Rey are at each other’s throats...even though the end of the last film hinted that they found each other attractive? He does get some backstory as a Spice Runner (though they don’t explain what that is. Maybe it’s answered in one of the books, I dunno.) and we get to meet Zori, who is truly a charming and compelling character. Even if she was only written in as a final “no-homo” to Finn and Poe, I wanted to learn more about her. 

They did Rose dirty. They did her so dirty.

She should have been an official member of the squad in this film, not relegated to cameos. There was no reason she couldn't have been more involved. Her romance with Finn should have been addressed. Even if it was just him gently letting her down, they ought to have mentioned it. Regardless of how you feel about Rose and that particular pairing (Personally, I adored her) it's downright strange that she's so absent from the story when she was a main character last time. Gee, I wonder why this was done? Could it be because the character was eviscerated online by a group of hardcore “fans” who compared her to Jar Jar Binks? Who not only made racist, sexist, and body-shaming comments about the character - they drove Kelly Marie Tran off social media? It really seems like downplaying Rose in this film was a direct response to how unpopular she was, and that isn’t fair to the character or the actress. It just seems...cowardly.

The CGI on Leia...could have been better. 

Not gonna lie, it might have been safer to simply reveal Leia’s death in the title crawl and open the movie with her funeral. Don’t get me wrong, I was initially quite impressed with how they managed to re-create Carrie Fisher. It was nice to see her training Rey, and we even get an answer to the age-old mystery of why she never became a Jedi. But as Leia’s scenes went on, the cracks started to show. It became very noticeable after a while that she would never adjust her standing position or really move at all. So many of her lines were shot to avoid showing her face while she spoke. Don’t get me wrong, I understand why it looked this way. I’m just saying that as a viewer, I noticed. Leia’s death scene was the worst offender of this. By the way...what exactly killed her? She apparently gave the “last of her energy” to call out to Ben, but...nothing beforehand indicated that her health was failing, so why would a simple telepathic message consume all her life energy? She’s done it before. Either way, the death scene was kinda lame...but other characters reactions to it? Hit me right in the feels. Chewie’s breakdown tore me to pieces. I wanted to hug him. And as for Ben...

 That Han Solo Cameo

I’m impressed, first of all. We all though Han could never come back since he wasn’t force-sensitive, so he wouldn’t get a spirit form. But the great thing is, Han didn’t come back - not really. It was all in Ben’s head, hence the lines echoing his father’s death. I love how Leia’s death, compounded with Rey healing Ben and all but telling him that she would be with him if he wasn’t on the dark side, is what ultimately swayed him to turn back. When he called Han “Dad...” In that broken voice, and Han just said “I know...” Honestly, that was the best scene in the movie. Ben previously said to Rey that the Dark Side was in her blood, so she couldn’t escape it. It was so clear that he felt that way about himself too, which may have been part of why he turned. Seeing Han was a perfect reminder that he had more than just Vader in his ancestry. 

Chewie’s “death” was the other scene in the movie that took my breath away. 

Echoing the Force-Battle over Anakin’s lightsaber, Rey and Kylo Ren have a tug-of-war for the ship Chewie is on, and in her rage, Rey accidentally conjures Force-Lightning and blows up the ship, shocking everyone. It demonstrates Rey’s power, as well as her natural leaning toward the Dark Side (through anger.) It also foreshadows her lineage. Plus, the whole concept of accidentally killing your beloved friend..It’s got so much tension, so much emotion - it’s fantastic. Only one problem...Chewie survived, and we find that out not even five minutes later. Honestly, it’s the last movie. Anything goes, you can kill off main characters, even beloved main characters. All of the emotional drama that this scene brings to the table stops mattering once you find out Chewie’s alive. I would love to see Rey actually have to deal with the consequences of what happened, for the movie to explore how it makes the other characters feel about her. On the other hand, one of my first thoughts after it happened was “Geez, if the fandom hated her before...” All the fans who complain Rey is a Mary Sue (She’s not) Yeah, they’d never, ever forgive her if she was responsible for Chewie’’s death.

I can’t decide how I feel about Kylo Ren repairing his mask. 

When I first realized it was happening, I was disappointed. In a way, it undoes his character growth in Last Jedi when he rejected his hero worship of Darth Vader - and even did what Vader could not, slaying his master and living to succeed him. Kylo Ren surpassed Vader once he stopped trying to be him, and that was awesome. But between bringing back the mask (with the painfully on-the-nose line about the “cracks in your mask”) and the reveal that “Snoke” is still alive, all of Ben Solo’s coolest moments from TLJ have been reversed. On the other hand... the Kylo Ren mask is, and always was, a symbol. In TFA, it reflected a pretentious attempt to be more like Darth Vader. But in this movie, it seemed to reflect Kylo Ren embracing the image of being the “Big Bad.” much like how Luke embraced his status as a legend, just before he died. And I’m not gonna lie, seeing the words “Supreme Leader Kylo Ren” in the title crawl was quite satisfying. Not to mention, at the end of the day...it’s all an act. Kylo Ren has always tried very hard to be “evil” but his heart just isn’t in it. He’s trying to be something he’s not - so maybe it’s okay if the mask comes back. 

Let’s rip this band-aid off: Bringing Palpatine back was a mistake.

If they needed a greater-scope villain for the climax after Ben was redeemed...why not use Snoke? Apparently, they’re the same person anyway, and people were mad that Snoke died without having a greater story to tell. Palpatine’s return goes entirely unexplained. He just hand-waves the issue by quoting Episode 3. As a viewer, why should I feel triumphant when Rey kills him at the end, when as far as I know, nothing is stopping him from returning again? After all, he survived certain death before, and we don’t know how he did it. (This is what I mean when I say the film is good by itself, but highly flawed as a continuation of existing Star Wars.) Palpatine’s return devalues Anakin’s sacrifice. It weakens both Vader and Kylo as villains because it removes their agency - we now know they only turned because Palpatine manipulated and groomed them. They’ve made him the greater-scope villain of every single trilogy, which just feels weird. I always thought the overarching villainous force of Star Wars was supposed to be, y’know, the Dark Side and it’s tempting call. That anyone could potentially succumb. But speaking of this film rejecting the idea of “anyone” being special...

Rey...did not need to have a bloodline. 

You need Palpatine to have a reason that he’s so intrigued by her? You’ve already got that - she’s part of an anomaly in The Force that no one’s ever seen before. Need a life-changing shock that pushes her closer to the Dark Side? All you have to do is let Chewie stay dead, and have it be her fault. As much as I have genuinely loved Rey’s character growth and I always enjoy watching her, I can’t help but feel like giving her a bloodline at this point was at least partially done to mitigate the claims that she’s “too powerful.” Not to mention, it ruins the reveal at the end of The Last Jedi, and it’s one more thing that makes the Star Wars universe feel smaller. Coming from a powerful bloodline shouldn’t be a requirement for changing the fate of the Galaxy. Sure, Force-Sensitivity is often hereditary, but not exclusively. Besides, there are more people out there attuned to the Force that just the Skywalkers, Palpatines, and Kenobis. Why couldn’t Rey just be one of them? If Star Wars really is going to go on forever, it can’t simply be the continuing sage of two or three families screwing up the Galaxy. 

What’s up with the super-rushed tone of the ending? 

So, Rey and Ben share a kiss - whether or not you ship them, this moment is wholesome, heartwarming, and so earned -  But then Ben immediately, and I mean immediately falls down dead. He doesn’t get any last words or even a last moment. (Come to think of it...does Ben have any lines at all after his scene with Han? I...don’t think he does. That’s just weird.) Nope, he just fades into the Force so quickly that I didn’t even realize what happened at first. Rey makes it back to the Resistance base and reunites with her friends, but they don’t share any dialogue either. No final moments, not even Finn telling Rey that he’s Force-Sensitive. Disney gets to check off their diversity clipboard by having two nameless women kiss in the background, and Rey then visits...Tatooine, of all places, to bury The Skywalker twins lightsabers. Because you see, a Jedi’s Weapon deserves respect. Burning them? Shameful. But burying them, A-Okay.

Rey is never shown mourning Ben Solo.

Whether or not you think he “deserved” redemption, the film clearly sided with the idea that he did. It based a lot of it’s conflict on Rey and Ben being a hero and a villain who also cared about each other. Going so far as to include the Dyad, and give them a kiss scene. So it’s bizarre that Ben’s death doesn’t seem to affect Rey. She doesn’t even have any sort of reaction to it, but she does have a gold lightsaber now. Which is so incredibly cool that it baffles me that they didn’t let her have it sooner. She never gets to really use it. A random local shows up, for no other purpose than to ask Rey who she is. Rey looks on to see Luke and Leia’s Force-Spirits give their blessing (No Ben, for some reason.) And she then introduces herself as Rey Skywalker. Because they had to justify that title somehow, right? Then the scavenger-turned-jedi, who started out all alone on a desert planet but found a family through her travels...ends her story all alone on desert planet. Hey, wait a minute-

The problems of this trilogy boil down to the fact that it had two writers, with two different visions for the characters.

Perhaps the death of Snoke, the introduction of Rose, and Rey’s lack of lineage directly conflicted with J.J.'s plans for the new trilogy...but The Last Jedi happened. It's canon now. Trying to pretend otherwise doesn't "fix" that. Having moments that directly contradict the previous film, even taking intentional jabs at it (looking at you, Force-Spirit Luke) is a waste of time and honestly feels...kind of immature? As a writer, I’m sure it isn’t easy, but you've got to work with what you have, follow the ideas and plot threads introduced, or else none of it will feel organic. So many moments like repairing Kylo Ren's mask, bringing back Anakin's destroyed saber, giving Rey a bloodline...they just cause whiplash.The only arcs that really continue through each movie are Kylo Ren's redemption, and Rey's identity issues. The writing of Episode 9 does everything it can to erase the ideas of Episode 8, and as a result, the entire trilogy feels directionless. The story feels like its at war with itself. I understand if Rian left J.J. in a compromising position, but sometimes you have to let go of ideas if they can no longer work in your story, however much you want them to. And, not to pick on J.J. too much, but...if he really had a major plan for the trilogy, then why didn't he stay to write Episode Eight? He left the second chapter of the trilogy to an entirely different writer, so...what did he think was going to happen? 

It’s a good movie. It really is. I was on the edge of my seat. If you’ve never seen the first two films, you’ll likely enjoy the hell out of it. But if you’re hoping to get a satisfying conclusion for the characters you’ve grown to care about...well, I’ll just say that I didn’t find that here. 

[mbti-galaxies]

Analyzing the INFP Villian: Kylo Ren/Ben Solo

As an INFP myself, I know how common it is for my type to be stereotyped as naïve, illogical, and always optimistic.

Literally every MBTI video I’ve seen on YouTube shows INFPs as “oh my gosh I love everyone, I love flowers and rainbows, I’m a hopeless romantic, I love staying home and reading books and never talking to people… lolololol”

Which is all either very untrue or very exaggerated

It’s honestly so amazing that we have an INFP villain in a mainstream movie franchise now.

So, why do I think Kylo Ren is an INFP? He exhibits all the INFP cofnitive functions.

INFP’s functions are Fi-Ne-Si-Te

Fi is the primary function, and it represents a moral code(what’s right and wrong, and specifically how they’ve been wronged), personal beliefs(how the world should be), and how the person identifies themselves.

Because Kylo was manipulated and abused by Snoke and his family neglected and thought the worst of him, his Fi is very twisted. Kylo believes that evil is right because Snoke rewarded him with power and praise whenever he did his bidding. Kylo believes good is wrong because his “good” uncle almost killed him and didn’t support him in his darkest moments, and Han and Leia were probably too busy with their smuggling and political affairs to give him the love he needed. He learned quickly that identifying with the dark guaranteed him a place in the world, even though he couldn’t live up to the legacy of Vader.

Ne is the secondary function, and it represents wanting to find meaning, purpose, intentions, and connections.

Kylo’s main quest in his character arc is to find belonging. He wants to connect with others who have similar motives. He couldn’t find that with his family or at Luke’s Jedi academy, he tried to find it with Snoke, and he found it with Rey. When Snoke controlled all his actions, he found purpose in his ability to please him. When Kylo killed Snoke, his connection with Rey became most important and he found meaning in fighting with and relating to her.

Fi and Ne go hand in hand when it comes to beliefs lining up with intentions. When Kylo’s beliefs don’t align with his intentions, he has to change one of them to avoid the cognitive dissonance. In The Force Awakens, Kylo believes he’ll only find peace through killing his father, even though he didn’t originally intend on doing so. He has to change his intentions to align with his beliefs though, so he ends up killing him. But in The Last Jedi, Snoke points out that that decision tore Kylo apart even more, suggesting that his beliefs were now conflicting with the action: he realizes his action didn’t actually bring him peace. Later on, he finds peace with Rey, but he screws it up because he wasn’t sensitive to her intentions to save the Resistance.

Si and Te are Kylo’s tertiary and inferior functions, Si represents the need for details and evidence, and Te represents the need to be right and make judgements about the world. Even for healthy and mentally stable INFPs, these functions aren’t developed nearly as much as Fi and Ne. For someone with as many emotional issues as Kylo Ren, as you can imagine, these functions are even less developed.

Kylo’s focuses on his past experiences as the evidence his Si needs, and he doesn’t explore much else. His Te makes judgements based on this small amount of information and he believes his conclusions are always right.

Exploring the dark side of INFPs: why does he make such a great and complex villain/anti-hero?

I’ve always connected and sympathized with him, I feel his pain more than any other villain I’ve seen on screen.

I feel like my flaws are exaggerated through him, quick to anger(his tantrums), selfishness/being self-absorbed(him expecting everyone to feel the way he feels, and ignoring others’ needs in favor of my own(not caring about the map in favor of the girl, not caring about Hux and Snoke’s opinions, not helping the fleet because he wants Rey to join him)

People assume that INFPs are innocent and couldn’t hurt a fly, but that is so far from the truth. When we feel hurt, we want to make the people who hurt us pay.

I’m not saying I or any other INFP is a villian, or has committed as many atrocities as Kylo Ren, but I am saying than we all could. We all have the capability.

And the opposite goes as well, Kylo Ren has the capability and opportunity to redeem himself and reach his full potential as a human being. Hope is never lost, even when everything about you appears to be out of control.

Thank you for reading! Comments, conversation, and feedback are always appreciated, I’m always looking to learn more about MBTI and how I can be better at explaining it!

[moonfirerainbow]

ADHD Richie? Ops?

Hello anon!  This has taken me only 7 years to get to.  Sorry about that.  

I’m not sure if you are looking for opinions?  I asked a friend what Ops means and they said likely opinions sooo okay.  

Richie totally has adhd.  There’s this whole section in the book I read recently about how he thinks there’s this monster/demon inside him that needs to be tamed, and the only way to tame that demon is to channel it.  That is pretty much spot on to what it feels like for me.  It’s like this wild thing that you can’t control, and it ruins things in your life and it’s hard to stop it.  I guess I channel  it similarly.  I feel it get in line when I’m hyperfocusing on something.  

I’m not sure if you wanted some head canons or something.  Here are some I have for how Richie handles it, without even knowing what it is he has.  This isn’t like a HC story thing.  It’s just little head canons.  It’s literally nothing.  And it isn’t cute or anything.  It’s not even reddie but I guess anything I talk about involving Richie or Eddie will have a hint of Reddie.  IDK?  This is just what I think Richie would deal with.  

- In grade school Richie started to draw little comics in his notebooks.  Stuff that kept him stimulated enough to not squirm or get up from his seat, but not so much that he didn’t know what was going on in class.  They were mostly super hero things.  His favorite was about a guy who defeated bad guys by distracting them with jokes.  The problem was that, he got so excited about them at times, he just had to get up and cross the room and show Big Bill or Eds.  That got him sent outside more times that he care to remember.  

- When he started to really think something was wrong with him, he was 12 and sent to the principals office for the 7th time within a month of starting 8th grade.  His mom told him he just had a lot of energy.  That maybe he should try a sport, maybe it would tire him out or help him focus.  Richie took up soccer for a couple weeks, until he got hit in the face and broke his glasses, because he was distracted trying to make Eddie laugh.  Who was sitting in the bleachers with the rest of the losers, there to support (and laugh) with Richie.  

- In high school, the darker side of adhd started to come out in his teen mood changes.  Frustration is a big one.  Richie developed a bit of a temper, especially when he would fuck up and not get his homework done, because he got side tracked or stuck on something else.  Like video games or hanging out with Stan and mocking the birds while his friend went bird watching.  It was a quiet temper, though.  Pushed inward.  Instead of blowing up at people, he would keep it in and break things in his bedroom.  Tear up his old notebooks with the comics or his day-dreamy stand-up comedy routines, tucked away under his mattress.  He didn’t even know why he hid them.  His dad thought they were great  His mom believed he could do whatever he wanted.  But there was something about someone finding them.  He didn’t want anyone to really know.  The only person who really knew was Eddie.  

- Richie failed a couple elective classes, because for fucks sake, who gives a shit about learning French or fucking, German or whatever the hell he signed up for?  The only thing he cared to take from those classes was a new voice to add to his already growing closet of personalities.  

- And then there was the overstimulation.  Group projects were some of the worst.  In World History, Richie would get paired up with Eddie, Stan, and a couple other random kids.  But getting anything done?  Forget it.  He couldn’t focus with the other groups in the classroom doing their thing.  Talking, brainstorming.  Not even being loud.   Just that they were there, making noises or saying interesting things that drew his attention.  And if Mr. Benson got into talking to a group?  Fuck.  A few times Stan got mad at him because he had to repeat himself about 4 times until Richie finally could take in what he was saying.  

- And then the flip side of overstimulation- understimulation/restlessness.  Too quiet?  God.  Fucking.  Anything but that.  Richie would rather tear his eyes out than sit in a quiet classroom and be expected to fucking read gd Les Miserables, or whatever.  And sit and wait if it was a day of reading out loud.  Others would go so damn slow.  And he’d be about 6 pages ahead, jamming, getting the chapter done.  Then he would get called on to read.  And he’d have to go back.  Look like a fucking idiot because he didn’t know where they were.  And then he’d read it too fast, or get bored while reading out loud because hello- he just read this?  And he’d throw his voice.  Detention again.  Or those times at home, when the games weren’t interesting and the comics weren’t interesting, and there was nothing on TV, or maybe the losers were all too busy to hang, or it was summer and no one was around and he would be left alone with just his brain and nothing else.  And it’s like, he wanted to do something, he just couldn't figure out what.  Or kick himself to find anything interesting enough to just.  Do it.

-Oh, and then the RSD.  Yes, I think Richie has RSD.  But I think he’s a fucking pro at hiding it.  Ben declined hanging out, and maybe he seemed a little off because he’s tired or something normal?  Richie would go home and think that Ben must hate him.  Ben must not want to be his friend anymore.  And he could even understand it.  Why would anyone want to be friends with him?  He’s loud.  Annoying.  He’s a lot to deal with.  Fuck.  None of his friends wanted to hang out, or they were too busy with their own things.  Maybe they all hate him.  But then Stan would call or maybe Ben, turns out they have time after all, and all those self-loathing thoughts just disappear.  

- Eddie started to understand it near the end of high school.  He had no name for it, but he could tell when Richie would start to get burned out, or if he wasn’t himself because there was too much going on, or if he simply just couldn’t put on his mask.  So could Stan, but he let Eddie handle it.  If Eddie could see Richie’s eyes start to get a little bigger, if he seemed twitchy or restless, he’d invite Richie with him to watch a movie- just the two of them- or insist they take a drive and park and maybe take their homework with them so they could do it somewhere a little less hectic.  Richie would be so damn grateful.  They’d often end up at the quarry, on the hood of Eddie’s car (that he bought with this own damn money fuck you Sonia), talking and laughing and yes, even doing homework.  

So that’s all I got for now cause I gotta run and eat dinner.  I’m getting hangry.  Thanks for the ask- again, sorry I took 30 years to answer it.  I love exploring Richie and his ADHD.   

[traincat]

Hi! I've been thinking a lot about this and was curious about your opinion- I've seen people online be critical of getting another fantastic four origin story potentially in the movies, similar to how people didn't want another 'uncle Ben sob story' for spidey, in the event of another FF movie would you want to see their origin explored again or would you prefer the story beginning after the fact? Would it make a big difference w their characters like not having uncle Ben to reference did?

So I’ve got a couple of different thoughts on this, but the biggest one is that we need origin stories in our superhero comics and in our adaptations because without them, we are missing a crucial building block in the foundation of characterization. Superman and the destruction of Krypton and his arrival on earth as a baby. Batman and the death of his parents. Spider-Man and the spider’s bite, the decision not to stop the burglar, and the subsequent death of Uncle Ben. I don’t think a lot of people who argue against even referencing the death of Uncle Ben realize the narrative weight involved here, or maybe the absolutely ordinariness of the scenario makes people uncomfortable: there’s no planet to be destroyed, and the fate of Batman’s parents have a certain dramatic quality about it, with the image of the wealthy Waynes, of Martha’s pearls, and young Bruce being made to witness these acts. Peter never sees Uncle Ben get killed. He’s shot by an ordinary thug. This action comes about through Peter’s inaction. It’s not the kind of crime that would make the front page of a paper if not for Spider-Man’s involvement in the capture of the criminal. It is actually, when you look at it, a painfully average sort of crime: an old man shot by another man with a gun during a bungled home invasion. And I don’t know if the aversion to seeing it again comes from a lack of empathy -- the audience refuses to feel for Peter because of the lack of superhero flair contained within the scene -- or from an abundance of this -- they “don’t want to see another Uncle Ben sob fest” because, in that there’s no superhero drama in it, it’s too easy to imagine the same sort of thing happening to someone in your life. But the thing that makes Spider-Man extraordinary has always been taking the ordinary and applying that to a superhero. It’s why he worries about bills. And it’s why his uncle dies in a way that has no flair to it. Peter’s not the lone survivor of an alien planet. He’s not the scion of a made up city’s elite and wealthy family. He’s an ordinary guy from a real city, and his uncle gets killed and that’s it: it’s mundane and terrible and like many people who experience a loss, he rationalizes that if he had taken different actions he could have prevented it, imposing his own responsibility on an event he couldn’t have foreseen. Beyond cementing responsibility in Peter and painting him with a certain down to Earth brush, though, Ben’s death serves another narrative function: without it, we don’t know how Peter functions as a crimefighter. Most Peters, including and originated with 616 Peter, when left to his own devices and without supervillain intervention, target street crime: muggings, drug dealers, assaults in the night, gun crime, illegal weapons. He also doesn’t use guns. Noir Peter, on the other hand, has a Ben who wasn’t shot as a means of murder, and that shows: he believes the mob murdered his uncle, so he cracks down on organized crime. His Ben wasn’t shot, so he has no problem using guns. You don’t have to spend the 40 minutes The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) took to set up Ben’s death, but without even referencing it or letting us know how Peter feels in response to it, there’s something vitally missing from the story and from our understanding of Peter as a character. Origin stories are important because they let us know what set the characters on this path, and people who are impatient with them need to consider that even if they know the story, a new movie will always be someone’s introduction to a character, and those new fans deserve to know that character’s origin story to its fullest. This might not be your first time watching an origin story, but it will definitely be somebody else’s. This isn’t to say the origin always has to be done in full, but I do think it has to be respected within a new piece, and it’s weird to me that some characters get this respect and others don’t.

On the other hand, we have to look at the Fantastic Four’s original origin and its execution within Fantastic Four #1. This is one of those origins that we have to adapt for the times -- and obviously comics have had to do this too as the sliding timescale moves along -- because there’s a big problem in that we can’t have the Fantastic Four steal a rocket because they want to beat to Russians to space. Fantastic Four itself is a little weird about the origin story: Fantastic Four #1 doesn’t open with it itself. Instead we’re introduced to a faceless “strange man” who monologues to himself that he’d hoped he’d never have to fire the signal to summon the mysterious Fantastic Four and prays it will be the last time. We’re then introduced to three individuals who display strange powers -- a woman running out on a society friend by turning invisible; a huge man who is having trouble being fitted for new clothes reveals a monstrous form; a teenager tinkering with an engine bursts into flame. We’re introduced to the Fantastic Four in their already powered state before a flashback takes us through how the cosmic rays transformed them, meeting them in their transformed state before we learn what it was exactly that transformed them. So in a way I do think you could make an argument that they’re suited for fast-forwarding through the origin story and perhaps revisiting it later, but there’s a few things about the origin story that inform the Fantastic Four in very important ways. First of all, the audience needs to understand that these are people who thought of and followed through with a plan to steal a space mission. Making it a planned space mission they’re all legally along for the ride on ala Fantastic Four 2005 automatically undermines the fact that the Fantastic Four are hugely independent free thinkers who don’t let little things like “canceled missions” keep them from breaking into government property and taking a couple billion dollars for a joyride just to prove a point. They’re rule breakers -- more than that, they invent new rules. The audience has to realize that these are people who will defy the government in favor of breaking ground and the discovering the new. Fant4stic (2015) did this better -- Reed, Ben, Doom, and Johnny very much do take an unsanctioned trip to another dimension just so they can be the first -- but it’s very Ultimate-inspired as origin retellings go, and I don’t like that Doom took Sue’s place in the original government property stealing lineup. Second, we need the origin to make it clear that Reed feels very guilty about the fact that the shielding wasn’t good enough and that he is responsible for the transformation of the three people he loved the most.

(Fantastic Four v3 #60)

We also need the origin story for the Ben angle. Now this is a thing I love about Fant4stic (I know, I know, but you all should know who I am -- a Fant4stic apologist -- at this point), and I think it’s actually a good thing about the fact that, going in, much of the viewing audience might already know the origin story: you can use that knowledge of the origin story to build up a lot of tension. If we know something has to happen within the story -- the transformation of the Fantastic Four, the spider biting Peter Parker -- then we have to be waiting for it. The shotgun, so to speak, is on the wall. The first Captain America film did this: obviously, I as a person who was familiar with Bucky Barnes knew he had to “die”, and I remember being on the edge of my seat waiting for it. Fant4stic does this with Ben: we know what happens to Ben, especially, out of all of the Fantastic Four. We know how monstrous his transformation is. We know he can’t turn back. And we know how that makes him feel. So we’re waiting for this horrible thing to happen to him and I don’t think that has to be a drudge -- I think it can be really quite exciting. It’s all in how confidently the creators embrace their source material and their skill as storytellers. 

If there’s one thing I think fans should be advocating being left out of a brand new Fantastic Four movie, it’s Doom. The Doom Trap is a huge Fantastic Four adaptation problem; they need to stop writing him into the origin story alongside them when it erases his own origin, and makes a film that has to introduce four main characters all with complex relationships with each other too crowded when they’re trying to do the Ultimate Big Bad of the Fantastic Four right off the bat. Personally, I’d kill to do another little origin -- the first bad guy the Fantastic Four ever faced -- and have a new film feature the Mole Man as the main antagonist.