#I think she’s the least sympathetic yes but I like her as a villain

[anarchypumpkincowboy]

Do I think the rat grinders will be revived if the bad kids survive? Yes. Do I think all the rat grinders will be revived? Not necessarily. Do I think all the rat grinders will die? Again not necessarily but it has been a kill or be killed situation.

I think, if they die, the most likely ones to be revived are Mary Ann and Buddy. Lucy if possible will definitely be revived. After that I feel like Oisin and Ruben are a who knows kinda situation. I genuinely don’t think they’re gonna revive Ivy or Kipperlily though. Ivy cause she was kinda just the least relevant rat grinder and Kipperlily cause she’s the most antagonistic (and has always been the most antagonistic even before being rage crystaled).

I feel like buddy and Mary Ann are the most sympathetic current rat grinders and so I feel like they have the highest chance of redemption. This definitely could be me just really really not wanting them to perma die but I do feel like they’ll have the highest chance out of all the others. And I also feel like kipperlily has the lowest chance of redemption (though it would be cool if she did! She’s also just the most antagonistic and least sympathetic out of them)

[icantspellthings]

The thing that I really like about The Boys as a show is that there is no *truly* evil characters, there is nobody so irredeemable and 100% an evil asshole piece of shit for the sake of being one (well except stormfront but we're ignoring her).

Like with A-train at first when we met him, he was this fame obsessed adrenaline junkie who is only focused on winning/being number one and his popularity. He literally killed Robin and was totally set up to be the "main bad guy". But as the series went on, we actually see his character fleshed out more. There are nuances to his actions that yes were done out of selfishness, but if you looked at it from his perspective he is nothing without the Seven, he is nothing without his fame and money, he wants so desperately to not fall into poverty and irrelevancy anymore that he would fight tooth and nail just to maintain statusquo. And we start to see he realises the consequences of his actions whis brother got hurt and he apologised to hughie. Does it makes A-train a "Good" person? No but it certainly makes him a more sympathetic character.

Other characters, too, like The Deep who is a fucking rapist who you are primed to HATE right from the start for what he did to Annie. But as time goes on, your hate starts to lessen and transform into pity. At his core, Kevin is pathetic, insecure, and quite frankly a very idiotic and gullible man. He sexually assults other to gain power over them, does this make his actions justifiable, No. But it does make his actions understandable. He isn't a good person but he's a good *character* because he isn't just this 100% evil caricature of a person, he has nuances and contradictions and sometimes even sympathetic moments.

I could go on and on and on about the other characters in The Seven or even all the other minor villains. How they're actually fleshed out characters instead of just one dimensional villains. And also the inverness of the good guys not being saintly, can never do wrongers, always doing the right thing. They're the protagonists, but that doesn't make them perfect people. Case in point with butcher!!! And how he drags hughie down to his level of "doing anything for the mission." The way butcher uses MMs obsession against him to literally drag him back into his revenge plot despite the fact that MM just wants to live a normal life with his daughter and literally had ro rebuild his life from nothing 3 times! Now thanks to butcher, the man is a grade A CUNT who manipulates the people around him for his own gains! Yeah it's "for the greater good" but it's still not a nice way to treat your friends

Hell even fucking annie who the show sets up as this pure saintly paragon of goodness and kindness fucks up. Half the time she doesn't know what the fuck she is even doing just stumbling along trying to do what she thinks is best. Hell most of the time her plans doesn't work out or activity makes things worse! AND THATS OKAY!

BECAUSE I LOVE THEM ALL SO MUCH! because they're so painfully human, they make mistakes, they try to seek forgiveness but somethings can't be forgiven. They try their best but somtimes it makes things worse. They have a characters arc but then will walk back 20 steps until they become even worse because its the essence of what being human means! We all make mistakes, progress isn't linear. Sometimes, you take 1 step forward and then 40 steps back until all improvements are undone and you're back at the same point possibly even worse of. But you keep trudging forward because you're alive and you're human and the least you can do is wake up another day and try your damnest.

Its what I love so much about this show, everyone is SO SO SO painfully human.

[symphonyofsilence]

does Jin Guangyao play a villainous role in Wei WuXian’s story? yes. but is he also the Narrative’s special boy? also, yes.

I don’t remember the post, but the fact that Wei Wuxian, and by extinction, the narrative sympathizes with Jin Guangyao has already been brought up. He draws a comparison between himself and JGY when the crowd suddenly turns against JGY in Lotus Pier and wants WWX to deal with him, and again when the other Sect Leaders led by Sect leader Yao assume that the Guanyin statue is made to resemble JGY himself ‘cause he’s a narcissist, and when people are saying nasty things about JGY in a tavern after his death.

but another way in which the narrative sympathizes with JGY is that every time JGY is shown doing a shitty thing, it’s immediately followed by him being shown in a situation in which he is a victim, or has done something good.

he paralyzes Qin Su after she finds out some horrible truths about him and hides her in the creepy room where WWX finds JGY’s sworn brother’s head? A chapter or an episode after that we see him being trash-talked and cast out by other Nie soldiers when they’re drinking the water he brought, while he’s doing thrice the work they’re doing. we see him cleaning the battlefields and helping the commoners after battles, we see him voluntarily do the work of the servants as a deputy general when they lack staff, and pour people tea, while they rudely clean their cups when they take it from his hands (which NMJ does nothing about), we see him loyally arguing with LXC that he can't leave NMJ for his father’s sect after all NMJ has done for him, and learn that he has saved LXC. CQL shows him in his Meng Yao Era more. We see him repeatedly receive scorn when all he gives others is curtsey and smiles, we see beforehand the Nie Captain be an absolute bitch to him so I'm sure nobody in the audience regretted his loss, but even then we immediately get that jumping in front of NMJ and taking a stab to the chest to save him, and the teary banishment scene that cancels the "guy is now officially a scheming murderer" out.

He's being a bitch to NMJ in the Nightless City? He kills Wen Ruohan & turns out that he has been bravely spying for the Sunshot campaign all this time and they owe him their victory. But even then, he apologizes to NMJ, kneels down, and surrenders himself.

He's protecting Xue Yang? You have him explaining to NMJ why he can't go against his father's wishes, and how he's scared of everything and everyone because he was never given the luxury of safety, status & power, so he can practice that power freely. In the end, NMJ offends his mother and kicks him down the stairs (which he's well aware is a trauma for JGY). Which honor-bound ancient man wouldn't have killed the man who disrespected his mother and kicked him down the stairs? What would have NMJ done had this been done to him? But even then, in the book, the narrative does even more to make JGY sympathetic, LXC comes to NMJ to calm him down, and he says that JGY's in a difficult situation right now. His stepmother beats him & his father doesn't listen to anything he says anymore. Otherwise, he wouldn't have talked back to NMJ. & after that, NMJ's qi deviation happens when he drops eaves on this conversation between LXC & JGY:

I mean if you've tried to murder him thrice, shoved him down the stairs, & called him a whoreson, taken any opportunity to scold him, & you don't like it when he talks back to you, at least let him talk behind your back. He's not even lying or being disrespectful or anything.

He retaliates against WWX & LWJ’s attack by showing WWX as a villain and the way he has killed NMJ comes to light? a few chapters later WWX is surprised that JGY hasn’t visited LXC to demand a search but to tell him that he has prevented everyone from searching the CR and thinks it’s best if LXC, whenever it’s convenient for him opens the doors of the CR so JGY can get this search over with and shut the other sects up. And reassures him that he won’t let LWJ’s reputation be tarnished in any way. (At the stairs of Jinlintai, JGY knew fully well that LWJ was doing what he was doing because he was in love with WWX, as we learn at the Guanyin temple, but he loudly suggested that LWJ is being deceived in front of the crowd to save LXC's brother reputation.) The Donghua even has a wartime flashback from a young Meng Yao saving LXC, feeding him, hiding him, washing his clothes, getting beaten up by the Wen soldiers to keep LXC safe, and even then bringing back food for him with a smile.

He takes everyone hostage, twice (his hostages are children the first time) and is at the peak of his villain moment? You have the whole Guanyin temple thing happening. (which, personally for me, was what really elevated him from an interesting character to my poor little mew mew in my eyes.)

When JGY kneels down, WWX feels uncomfortable. He feels embarrassed on his behalf:

the same effect of inducing pity & sympathy for him is achieved in the show by somber music swelling in this scene, reaction shots, slow-mo, and a wide-shot of everyone in the temple as JGY kneels down to make him look especially small, while almost 2/3 of the shot is of the candles of the Guyanin temple. in the exposition scene when LXC kneels down to hear JGY out, the statue of Guanyin is between them. THE LOCATION OF ALL OF JGY TRAGIC EXPOSITIONS IS A GYANYIN TEMPLE! The temple of the bodhisattva of mercy who is considered to be the physical embodiment of compassion!

And the sympathetic reaction shots when he talks about JGS continue throughout the scene.

then we learn that he had to marry Qin Su because she was already pregnant and he didn’t want QS & JRS to have his and his mother’s fate and that the reason they had to rush things through like this and conceive a child was that JGS might have further caused problems for their marriage because he really disliked his son. and that if a political fall-out happened between Jin & the Qin clan, JGY would get the burn of it. (still a shitty act, but you can’t help but understand where he’s coming from & pity him), he goes on about his father kicking him down the stairs of Jinlintai on his birthday while celebrating JZX’s birthday, we learn about his childhood in the brothel, about JGS saying that he could save Meng Shi but he didn’t ‘cause she would be too much trouble, and that their son wasn’t worth mentioning, we see JGY & SMS deep connection, the show gives us some very good Xiao Shushu & A-Ling moments, & even though it’s been always clear & is especially clear during the whole Guanyin temple scene, we see truly see the depth of love, respect, and loyalty JGY has toward LXC. 

We see him in the Villainous Friends chapter telling Xue Yang that he can vandalize people's shops and restaurants for no reason, only under the condition that he doesn't wear the Jin uniform. But it's immediately followed by the mention of the bruise on his head given to him by his stepmother because she can't vent her anger on her cheating husband, who JGY has to retrieve from brothels every night to ensure his safe stay in Jinlintai for another day. We see him massacre the He sect, and right after that, he goes to retrieve his father from the brothel and hears those awful things and you can't help but sympathize with him.

Because what is really important is that you understand Jin Guangyao. There are about 14 chapters in the book and 4 episodes in the show of JGY explaining himself while crying on the floor because it's less about "Jiggy eVIL" & more about look what the society who turned his back on him & his mother when they needed their help, and sneered at them when they tried to improve their situation, and never forgave JGY for being born has done to this man to make him do such horrendous deeds. (And his sword's name is Hensheng. Meaning "hate to be born". They made him never forgive himself for being born either.)

So by saying that X & Y has happened to JGY, and so what he does is for self-preservation, nobody's JUSTIFYING his genocides, & nobody's denying that JGY had a choice in everything he did. Even if his other option was to accept his place, sit down, shut up, and suffer in silence, NOT murdering a whole sect that includes children by doing experiments on them is the better option. The point is that it's not the point. JGY's atrocities are only means in the story to tell the cautionary tale of a classist, cruel society. The things that JGY has gone through cannot be erased from the conversations because "JGY EvIl. Periodt." The Narrative doesn't want the reader to do that! It's specifically structured to put the reason JGY's got to this point on the forefront every time he does a crime. The fight with NMJ's fierce corpse ends as quickly as it begins. The Climax of the story is mostly JGY's monologues. 14 chapters of monologues cannot be dismissed as JGY gaslighting LXC & shedding crocodile tears.

in a story that has Wei WuXian as a protagonist, and literally starts with the monster the society has made of him through rumors and has this theme going on through the rest of the story, especially with JC, and baseless accusations are the first thing that happens when JGY's secrets are out in the Lotus Pier, and then ends with society making a monster out of JGY after his death through rumors when Sect Leader Yao speculates that the statue's face is modeled after JGY himself (which WWX especially comments on), and in the tavern when people made such crude remarks that even those who were participating in the conversation felt uncomfortable, I think it's clear what and who the real villain is.

MXTX could have written people talking about literally any real atrocity that JGY has done, but instead, they talk about what he hasn’t done and read the worst out of his every action in life.

And actually, with everything that JGY has been through, he’s not even the worst case that could come out of his situation. He did have good intentions. For all his genocides, unlike Xue Yang, he didn't actually want to see the world burn. He did help the innocent common folk. He helped them during the sunshot campaign, and with the watchtowers, he fought against systematic corruption, and he treated everyone with respect. He rescued LXC and QS. We don’t know how many others he has personally saved. It's that the means he had to use to have the power to help the poor was incredibly dirty because he was playing an unfair game that was especially designed against him. (I'm not saying helping the poor was his only objective when he tried to gain his father's approval and a secure place in Jinlintai for himself. Though it's sad that he had to fight for these things at all.) The best he could honorably do was be NMJ's deputy general, which didn't save him from being bullied and people cleaning the cups they took from his hands. He knew that if he tried to help the innocent without having the political power to do that, he would end up like WWX. But what he didn’t know was that he would end up like that if he, unlike WWX, played by the rules of the game and compromised his morals anyway. There was no winning for people like them.

Dismissing the good that JGY has done, the real desire he had for helping the poor, and what he’s been through cheapens the character, cheapening JGY’s character to a one-dimensional Marvel villain, and dismissing the commentary that he represents on society as a whole is a disservice to the story. And that’s a crime cause the story is great. 

his fall from grace, the heinous acts he had to commit to find himself the slightest bits of safety, security, and respect wouldn’t be that much of a tragedy if he didn’t want to be good and do good for people.

Then there is JGY's death and the framing of it. Here is a wonderful analysis by @sapphicdalliances of why his death wasn't justice and that was the point, how he died because of an act he didn't commit, and here are great analysis by @thatswhatsushesaid & @crithir about how his death is described as a gut-wrenching horrible scene framed through his horrified nephew & ward's eyes, both in the book and in the show, how it didn't bring the Nie brothers any closure either, and how through the lenses of LXC and JL, and by JC’s & WWX’s reaction we see his death as a tragedy.

His death is because of a dishonorable trick. His last act in life, pushing LXC away is an act of love and of forgiveness. In the CQL before that, he pushes Jin Ling out of danger, too.

As said in the aforementioned posts, after it, we don't see a victorious Nie Huaisang or Wei WuXian. In fact, neither of them is victorious.

WWX, and by extension, the narrative blames NHS for his scheming & risking innocent lives. WWX is especially appalled by NHS' treatment of Meng Shi's body. He points out that JGY, being a big liar with a considerable criminal record, will be forever accused of lying, no matter what. While he immediately after brings JGY's last genuine act toward LXC as proof that JGY couldn't have been lying.

In the CQL, he straight-up calls NHS the devil with the coldest tone he's ever had towards NHS.

NHS for his part doesn't seem victorious either.

Dare I say he even looks like despite years of scheming he was not ready for it when JGY pushes Shuoyue deeper inside his own chest. (Who would he be acting for at that moment? Nobody's looking at him. And he’s sweating!)

And I think there's a "no, he didn't" in his last "I don't know." To LXC (at least in the show) when he's insistently asked whether JGY was going to attack LXC or not and he insistently answers "I don't know". It's a confirmation without confirmation.

And then in, IMHO, one of the most beautiful and nuanced scenes, NHS finds A-Yao's hat, in the book, he bends down, picks it up, and quietly goes away (and that's the last we see of Nie Huaisang), in the show he wipes off the dust on it, and his hand finally gets bloodied, literally & metaphorically despite trying his best to not do his dirty work himself. And we get a flashback of A-Yao's childhood that I always assumed we're seeing through NHS because maybe JGY had told him that story. Not only does the order of the scene, combined with NHS' deep in thought look seem like it but also NHS cleans JGY's hat when in that memory A-Yao's mom tells him that he needs to take good care of his hat.

And that scene is especially beautiful because the show went out of its way to show their close relationship pre-time skip. And we see NHS keep A-Yao's principal by cleaning his hat when JGY himself is too dead to do that. Even when the reason for his death is NHS himself. And by NHS getting his hands bloodied while cleaning the hat, and staring at it with a deep, nuanced look, that combination of care & hatred is shown in that scene.

I think he feels empty. He's spent years after years planning this thing. It was his only drive. Now it's over. And it wasn't a grand, victorious moment. It just...happened. and it was something that needed to happen, in his eyes.

And he did love his san-ge for a long, long time before the betrayal came to light for him. And then he hated him for a long, long time. But at that moment with JGY's bloodied hat in his hand? I think that's the moment when love and hatred have both run their passionate course and they've finally reached each other in the middle and collided and ran out of strength and intensity and separate, clear meaning and they just take their exhausted leave together, leaving only a trace behind.

And most prominently we see a devastated LXC and JL. We see Jin Ling's flashback of when his Xiao Shushu gave him his spiritual puppy. We see him being the only one who could cheer JL up when he was down for days.

We see JL choosing to keep loving him despite everything.

His loss is felt and the memory of his good deeds keeps coming back in JL's narrative:

The Narrative doesn't just sympathize with him. The Narrative mourns him.

[iamafanofcartoons]

RWBY is a good show, and I’m tired of people pretending its not!

I’m sorry, I’m just so tired of all these random claims that RWBY is “boring anime cliche” or “racist white male writing”, So...let’s go over them in segments

Female characters:

Aren’t walking fanservice shots and aren’t sexualized

Aren’t degraded in their field (combat, tactics, dust usage, etc) to boost up male characters (cause seemingly female characters being too skilled at something is emasculating to incels)

When a woman says no to a man, the man takes no for an answer and doesn’t keep trying. (So dear Hbomberguy, stop claiming that Weiss x Jaune was ever a thing)

Women don’t require a man to “Defend their honor” (This is in response to the dude who harassed me in anonymous about V5 who was upset that Yang punched a creep)

Aren’t woobified or emotionally weakened, instead having reactions to things like normal human beings. (Sorry Shonen anime which loves to make women woobified or emotionally weakened vs men) Being capable of emotions but also doing things effectively.

Aren’t made into waifu for male characters. Nora is still a badass and even being allowed to explore who she is outside of Ren, which runs against the usual anime/manga bs. Weiss didn’t get with Jaune after finding out he helped w/ Neptune. Blake actually defended her boundaries when Sun crossed certain lines (even though they’re brotp not romantic, he’s a male character that could’ve been put as a pseudo-love interest). Yang is also shown to be more than just Blake’s GF as we see in Ruby Yang interactions, Yang vs Salem, Yang ageeing to talk with Robyn. They’re all their own characters not trying to be the perfect wife for a male character.

LGBT+ characters:

aren’t in a world of “everyone is gay or straight”, so for me at least coming across as more impactful

have Ilia (lesbian); Coco (lesbian); Terra (wlw) and Saphron (wlw) also married and w/ kid that aren’t treated different to any other couple; Scarlet (gay-male); Nolan (implied, I think its at this point and not confirmed, mlm); May (non-deadnamed, voiced by and helped crafted with the help of a trans VA, and not having her trans status be the central element of her character trans character); Blake (bi) and Yang (wlw) that are a main pair that are being allowed to build to a relationship at the same pacing as the hetero alt. pairing. BB being naturally built up and not rushed into a relationship, though still soft-canon locked in via Nora.

Are ALL ALIVE (funny how the straight white male characters get killed off?)

PoC characters:

Includes Marrow, Pietro, Joanna, Flynt, Yatsuhashi, Lie Ren, and Robyn as default heroes side

Includes Emerald having switched to the heroes side after having it foreshadowed in v3. Also possibly Elm and Harriet, depending on where they go in the future.

includes Sienna, who was admittedly actual wasted potential, being contrasted against Adam as the morally better version of violence in activism. A controlled violence actually giving a shit rights activist leader vs. a co-opting murderous abusive bloodthirsty psychopathic terrorist.

are easily the lesser in villain count vs. Caucasian villains.

So can the RWDE please stop trying to claim how RWBY isn’t better than anime/manga at least, but overall “isn’t progressive” in these areas.

Adam Taurus represents a very real element in real life regarding “Radical civil rights movements” ; extremism and co-opters; While the actual faunus rights aspect on its own is given a sympathetic light repeatedly. We also have Ilia Amitola, the female POC lesbian, get a redemption. While Adam Taurus, the cis white male edgelord? Is Evil  and gets his death by double penetration at the hands of two lesbians. (Edit: yes, I know Blake is Bi, as is her VA. It was an expression explaining how cis white male “authority” individuals get emasculated)

The WF has a lot of references, not specifically the Black Panther one. Also the WF on its own is fine, its the version that gets corrupted by Adam’s psychotic co-opting terrorist ass that is the problem.

 Reflective of reality where if any group for any cause crosses into violence that involves innocent bystanders; then they lose any credibility and are nothing more than terrorists. I don’t care what the cause is. Which is exactly what the WF under Adam presents; but is just 1 vein of it with Sienna’s vein existing, Ghira’s, and even Blake’s. Was it handled perfectly? No, you could have easily have shaved time from Adam to give to Sienna and had her live to continue. Personally I found Sienna to be the actual wasted potential, but EruptionFang naturally loves cis white male evil men as his favorite Meow Meows. Don’t even try to recommend a gay or bisexual dude to rwby critics, they’ll flip and call it pandering.

The MC’s aren’t remotely “paper thin”, nor secondaries. Heck the only ones that fit that bill are characters in the tertiary vein that are supposed to be that way. The “two traits” falls apart if one actually pays attention to the characters.

And most fixit fanfics not only sexualize the characters in a show with no fanservice...

Sadly they also overfocus on male characters and have their favorite male characters talk down the female main characters.

Robyn Hill represents the people standing up NOT against the military, but against fascism/totalitarianism. We see that for all the “good intentions” that Ironwood MAY have? It is always sabotaged by him. Ironwood backstabs Ozpin, brings an Army as a show of force, does multiple projects behind people’s backs, and yet displays more than few acts of hypocrisy. Volume 7 literally showed him acting as a dictator because he believed that only he knew the answer to everyone’s problems. Yet the consequences of HIS actions are what led to Atlas Downfall. Yang and Blake even tried to get Robyn to work with Ironwood and Robyn was literally willing to do so. Which of course pissed off Ironwood stans that anyone, especially a POC hero of the people, would stand against a Cis White Male Authority figure. The elections in V7 meant that anyone’s authority could be challenged by the people. Of COURSE Ironwood stans REFUSE to acknowledge the election part was good.

The attempt to balance idealism with realism is pretty interesting. What do you do against an enemy with an unlimited army, immortality, and agents who seek to turn everyone against each other? Do you submit to the “inevitable?” Or do you keep fighting to the end, instead prolonging the end?

You can think of this as having borrowed a theme or two from dark souls!

RWBY is at the very least leaps and bounds beyond most anime it's close in genre with. I remember seeing, partially in jest, the idea that RWBY has half the fanbase it does for being an action anime with a female case and no fanservice and I think it might almost literally be true.

It is depressingly hard to find a decent action show with a female cast that doesn't sexualize them in gross ways. Even shows I like on the whole end up doing that.

Of course, the points regarding love are helped by the fact that a good chunk of the female cast is front and center in the story. They’re largely in the driver seat and aren’t secondary to any male titular protagonist. Thus you don’t get cases where a girl on the main cast is there to be… the girl.

In any other story, Oscar and/or Jaune  would be front and center. Heck, the three creators of RWBY are guys before their team grew so you’d think they’d “write what they know.” Yet they stick to their guns on having girls get shit done.

One Anime a person I know felt came close to this was, if you can believe it, Fairy Tail where Natsu might’ve been the prominent ass kicker but Erza is the one effectively leader the team, Wendy goes on an arc of learning to love herself and Lucy grows into the wizard that leads the charge against Acnologia.

Yet it sent mixed signals with how the girls (those of age) had designs that left little to the imagination. I can appreciate an artist honest in his horniness… but the Anime did something right when it came to Erza’s torture in Tartaros that helped sell the gravitas of the traumatic experience.

RWBY feels like the above but far more refined in execution. There’s a time and place for schlocky cheesecake but not when it clashes with the narrative and themes overall.

So tell me...without using Hbomberguys’ repeated false information about the “love triangle” or “self-insert” slander...how would YOU respectfully criticize RWBY?  How would you claim to be “a critic” yet still encourage people to watch RWBY? 

If you try to bring up Hbomb’s 2.5 hour hate video, then anyone who tries to claim that a video from 2 years ago no longer is relevant is just being hypocritical. (Looking at you, RWDE Apologist, you know who you are)

Oh, one more thing. RWBY seasons 1-3 were the weakest in terms of writing and animation. But even so, the fact of the matter is that anything that happened in those seasons are ignored by critics, theorists, and straight shippers.

Material Inspired from   https://www.tumblr.com/crimsonxe/691425946111295488/since-i-ran-across-a-dumbass-earlier-that-tried-to 

[leagueofidiots]

Why I think BNHA 427 was a bunch of bullshit

I am going to leave my personal opinions on characters out of this because that's a whole seperate issue, I want to focus on how this chapter pissed me off from a story standpoint

I think Horikoshi has seriously lost track of what the original point of this story was supposed to be. In general, I have found that the ending (up until now at least, I'm gonna hang in there) has gone completely against the themes originally present in the rest of the story, honestly since All for One's reveal that he orchestrated Tomura's birth.

My Hero Academia has always been about how there is no real black and white, good or evil, just a whole lot of grey area. The heroes are not all good people, and the system itself is corrupt. Most of the villains have been put in situations where they were nearly forced into the lives they lead, even though they're still terrorists. From the get-go, this story was set up to be about A.) fixing hero society, and B.) saving the villains while not dismissing the fact that they're literal terrorists.

For one, I think it is unbelievably fucking stupid that Tomura has been established to have done nothing wrong at this point, that he apparently has never made a decision in his life and is free of all guilt. I won't bother with how stupid it is as a character thing for him, his family, and All for One, because at the end of the day it is a shounen. Whatever. But all along, the theme of the entire league is that they did have a choice at the end of the day. Dabi's life was a living hell, but he still chose to join the LoV. Toga was discriminated against for her quirk, but she still chose to become a serial killer. Twice had the shittiest luck in the world and no support system, but he still formed a self-made gang. Spinner is a victim of quirkism, but he chose to follow in Stain's, and later Tomura's footsteps. While Tomura has always been raised in All for One's shadow, let's be honest. Even after All for One was arrested, and after he realized he had been groomed, he did far worse things than he did under All for One's wing. Part of this is obviously the fact that he was raised to be like All for One, but the level of sadism and power-hungriness he shows is something extremely brushed off by the fandom. The villains are sympathetic, yes, but at the end of the day they are still bad people. Removing Tomura's agency takes away from the whole common thread set up in the MLA arc, that all it takes is one bad day to make a villain. It was obviously just so Horikoshi could take the lazy route in his redemption.

To follow this, Tomura, from a story standpoint, should not be dead. Especially as the main villain, and the main one basically the entire cast was fighting to save. He was met with apologies and understanding, so there is at least a level of closure there (more on that later), but it defeats the whole point of the story if Tomura is dead. Horikoshi can obviously do whatever he wants with his own story, but the whole plot seemed to be setting up that the main three villains would live, be held accountable, and considered "saved" when they could live on with at least some sort of happiness and dignity. Tomura will not be held accountable in any tangible way, nor will he get to be at peace. It's extremely unfulfilling from a narrative standpoint.

The next thing I've been seeing a lot of is an absolutely baffling amount of Izuku hate. I have seen people (even canon now!!!) call him a murderer. I have even seen people go so far as to accuse him of mind-raping Tomura. The fandom is one thing, but the fact that Horikoshi seems to want us to agree with this statement, is actually fucking insane. I think that's what really made this chapter especially shitty for me. And I say this as a Spinner fan! It's about the way it's written. From Spinner's perspective, obviously he is going to be on Tomura's side. The narrative seems to want us to be on Tomura's side too, and honestly, I am not. Izuku went above and beyond to not only see Tomura's side of things, but to reach out and acknowledge his pain. Tomura got the only semi-satisfying ending (so far) out of any of the villains, except Overhaul for some reason. Dabi's chapter last week was absolutely sickening as an ending to his story. Now Spinner's arc has been completely written off in favor of serving Tomura (for the billionth time). Toga hasn't even been seen since her fight. Jin's death was pointless. Sako's sacrifice was pointless. Kurogiri's death was the most infuriating shit I have ever had to read. Tomura got acknowledgement from the heroes and the villains, he got apologies from several people, he got to watch All for One die not once but twice, and he got to go out on his own terms. The fact that anyone faults Izuku for A.) fighting a terrorist who was killing dozens of people at a time, B.) not treating him like an innocent little baby, and C.) not being able to help a man who didn't want help is beyond me. Again, the fact that this chapter seems to want us to agree with Spinner about even the people on TV is just honestly unrealistic. He was a terrorist. Obviously people won't care that much that he was traumatized.

BNHA 427 was the latest chapter in a long string of characters being completely ignored for the sake of Tomura's development. Every fight was cut shorter than it could have been all so we could see more of him mindlessly killing characters who don't even have names, and beating the shit out of Deku. A certain level of this is understandable, he is again the main villain, but some of it is just honestly dismissive of other characters.

I'll stick to Spinner since he's the only one relevant to this chapter, but I think his is perhaps the worst case aside from Kurogiri's. Since the MLA arc, the fandom and canon itself have brushed off Spinner as an extension of Tomura, a lense to show compassion towards him and nothing else. With very little development, we are suddenly supposed to believe that he completely abandoned his/Stain's ideals in favor of the complete opposite. Their entire relationship is 100% one-sided until flashbacks during the final war arc about nothing but League of Legends. Tomura claims he fights for Spinner by saying things we have never heard Spinner even mention, nonetheless support (destroying Mt. Fuji, world destruction in general). He is used as a tool in the final war arc to the point where he can barely form sentences, his points about quirkism are ignored, he can't process any sympathy shown to him, and he is immediately written off as soon as he gets to Kurogiri (another character used as a prop for Tomura's development). Even now, all he talks about is Tomura, all that is brought up to him is Tomura. Nothing about the rest of the league, next to nothing about his own physical condition, nothing acknowledging his trauma or the changes that need to be made to society. Spinner's whole character arc is about being empty, about finding himself by acting as someone he admires. His whole character conflict is that he has no identity of his own. So his arc is wrapped up by making everything about him relevant to Tomura? He's going to spend years writing a book about Tomura??? And nothing else for him?????

I don't know what else to say. The story has been going downhill for a while, it's just especially rubbing me the wrong way recently. I'm running out of faith that the next three chapters will be any good, but it's too late to quit now ig

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hey Raven, are you going to watch the upcoming new Disney movie "Wish"?

I've seen mixed reviews, but i'm lowkey excited since we get to see a new Disney villain, especially since Disney got really lame villains after all the old classic movies!

Have you seen the trailer for the movie? What are your thoughts so far?

I saw Wish with a friend recently! I'll give my thoughts on the trailers here (in case you don't want spoilers for the film itself) and put my full thoughts beneath the cut (if you're okay with spoilers).

Looks-wise, I think Disney was definitely trying to go for something more stylistic and painting-esque for this?? And while I commend the effort, it definitely doesn't look as interesting as Puss in Boots 2: The Last Wish. The humor also definitely isn't for me, it feels very "quirky" and "so relatable" (Asha reminds me of Mirabel in that sense), and other times too juvenile (like the goat butt joke). I do like the idea of the villain passing as a good guy in-universe and actually being vain and selfish, especially since the marketing is making it clear who the bad guy is rather than making it a "twist" villain scenario. Not sure if I like Magnifico himself though??? All the ads with him in it feel like Disney is trying too hard to make people thirst for him. From just the trailers, Magnifico does seem interesting and like more of a return to the traditional "villain" rather than the protagonist having to deal with an existential dread or concept.

***Spoilers for Wish beneath the cut!***

Right off the bat, my first impression is the narrative is SO ham-fisted. Within the first 5 minutes alone we're establishing so much information and in such a clunky, unnatural way. Like... Asha says hi to her friends but then they robotically have a dialogue where they overtly call each other "friends" just so it's clear to the audience (when in reality no one talks like that). It's telling instead of showing, and this happens sooo many times early in the film.

Could not for the life of me remember the friends or their names. There were just too many of them when 1 or 2 would have been just fine to move the plot along and to help Asha. (Yes, I know they're a reference to the 7 Dwarves but it's STILL not necessary to have so many just for a reference.)

Bruh, the makeup in this movie is on point. Every time there was a close up of a character, I was staring at their eye makeup (especially Asha and the queen's).

Asha as a protagonist was... fine? She feels very close to Mirabel and at times Rapunzel in her character. I didn't dislike her by any means, but she didn't reinvent what it means to be a Disney protag. Her motivations also come off as… really “out of nowhere”. We’re told she “cares too much”, but she initially only wants to save the wishes of her mom and grandpa; she randomly decides she has to free ALL wishes midmovie and that was jarring. There could have been a smoother transition. Instead, it was abrupt and Asha didn’t change in any meaningful way. Even her “I want” song was vague (what exactly is “to have something more for us than this”?) and didn’t connect well with her character.

I do really like her design though! Her freckles, earrings, and how her hair moves are my favorite details.

Valentino was not as annoying as I thought he would be. Still didn't care for his sass and brand of humor, but at least he helped out a few times.

I called it, the film is trying so hard to make Magnifico "hot" 🤡 I don't get it but okay, Mouse. I see your effort.

Loved his fit!! Very cool cloak and diamond/star motifs everywhere! His lab and study was also fun to look at.

I quite liked the moments when the queen talked to her husband and tried to smooth things over with him. “I can fix him energy”— Their relationship seemed very genuine at the start of the movie.

NOT THE WISH NEPOTISM...

If they were going for “sympathetic” with Magnifico, it didn’t work. He gave this backstory about how he was traumatized before + left as the only survivor of a great tragedy and so now he wants to use his magic to prevent that from happening to anyone else. Thing is, we only ever know about this via his word and staring at a half-burnt tapestry. We never see the event on screen, nor what was left of the tapestry. I was expecting a twist where it’s revealed that he lied all this time about his backstory and rewrote history so he could more easily manipulate the people of the kingdom he founded and live out the fantasy of being worshipped as a “good guy”. That was such a missed opportunity!!

Something else I was thinking of (this was during “This is the Thanks I get” was??? Maybe Magnifico started off genuinely good but became worn down over time as people’s wishes grew more selfish and they became ungrateful for what they had?? Then he could have become bitter and disillusioned by the behavior of his people.

Another idea is maybe Magnifico was “villainous” only in Asha’s eyes, since they don’t agree on how to best handle granting wishes. This would be more of a clash of ideologies rather than the traditional Obvious Evil vs Obvious Good that Disney is so known for, but hey, it could be a neat evolution of their storytelling from classic fairy tale roots.

This is to say that there were so many more interesting directions they could have gone with Magnifico’s motives, character, and portrayal 😭 but the second half of the movie never commits to any of these, they just blame his complete insanity and turn to the dark side on Forbidden Magic which is such a cop-out.

The trailers gave away the twist that Magnifico was the villain. It wasn’t revealed until like the second song into the movie. Would’ve worked better as an on-the-spot reveal rather than part of the marketing, in my opinion.

When they showed the wishes, the TWST fan in my was shouting, "OMG IT'S WISH UPON A STAR, THE LIMITED TIME STORY EVENT FROM THE HIT DISNEY MOBILE GACHA GAME TWISTED WONDERLAND!!!"

As Wish is Disney's anniversary film for 100 years, there were tooons of easter eggs scattered throughout. (I had fun looking for them!) Some were visual (I saw Aurora's dress, Snow White’s well, Peter's Pan's costume, Ursula's green smokey hands, Asha's robes resembling those of the Fairy Godmother, etc.) or extended imagery/scenes (Asha recreates Mulan's dinner and “Reflection" scenes), others were more overt lines of dialogue (Magnifico says the "Mirror, Mirror" lines along with others, a deer named “Bambi”, Valentino mentions an animal metropolis in reference to Zootopia, etc.).

In theory, the wish magic sounds cool but has so much that isn't explained??? And yeah, it's magic so it technically doesn't have to be. However, there are things not explained even when it is important to the plot. For example, Magnifico crushes some wishes and seems to absorb their power for himself (including the wish of Asha's MOM, so you'd think this would be important)? The consequence of this is that the wish's owners... become sad??? Okay, what are the long-term effects??? Why isn’t this fully explored?? But then later in the film we see the same people whose wishes were crushed... regenerate their wish??? So what, he has to keep reaping them??? And why are the wishes only taken at 18 years old? What if a wish changes? Ironically, the townspeople of Rosas have a scene where they question the technicalities of this wish magic. Magnifico essentially tells them to shut up, and it kinda felt like Disney was telling us to not question their lore www

It was weird that they never fully explored the ramifications of going without your wish. You’d think they’d show us people without ambition or hope (which would incentivize Asha to return their wishes), but everyone seems blissfully happy without their wishes?? The only exception is Asha’s friend that betrays her (cannot for the life of me remember his name), and that’s namely because his asshole friends keep ragging on him for it.

I thought the movie was going to go in a “you can make your own wish come true!!” direction but NOPE, turns out it’s just magic. Felt like Disney unintentionally wrote a whole movie about "wishes not coming true unless some big powerful entity allows it to come true” (Asha literally becomes the fairy godmother of Rosas at the end, making her ultimately no different than Magnifico)… ie a metaphor for how Disney owns so many properties it practically owns our childhoods www

"The power of friendship saves the day" ending 🤣 It was very Paper Mario ending-esque...

A song saving the day though?? It’s giving the Illumination Lorax film…

I was right about the humor. Too "quirky" and/or juvenile for me.

Animation was alright? Nothing awful about it, it just didn't feel as detailed or as experimental as other films with a similar style.

Songs were mid, which checks out with the recent Disney music excluding We Don't Talk About Bruno--

Some of the lyrics however were awful. “I let you live here for free and I don’t even charge you rent” is redundant. “So I throw caution to every warning sign” means you’ll show more caution than usual, not that you’ll forego caution. The correct expression is “throw caution to the wind”. Etc, etc, etc.

There was a cute after credits scene where they reveal that Asha's 100 year old grandpa (same age as Disney omg) wrote the "When You Wish Upon a Star" theme, which was sweet since his wish was "wanting to make a mark".

THE BEST PART OF THE MOVIE WAS STAR!! It was very cute (partly because it couldn't talk and just jingled and giggled, I was dreading another annoying mascot animal voice) and reminds me of my own pet… The way Star infused everything with glitter and formed unique shapes with the red twine was so fun 😭 I'M A STAR STAN, IT WAS ADORABLE AND KINDA BRATTY AND I'M LIVING FOR IT

Decent ideas, "meh" execution. Enchanted and Shrek did it better in terms of self-aware, fairy tale defying stories. It felt as though the movie was trying to deliver a profound message but got lost in the sauce of making as making Disney references possible and didn't fully commit to actually saying something meaningful. As a result, the film feels somewhat… hollow.

That one friend betraying Asha was the biggest surprise in the film but I still saw it coming 😂 I do get where he’s coming from though (being worried that his wish won’t ever come true) but it also felt like his conflict wasn’t resolved??? It might have gone better if the movie actually fully tried to push the “you can make your own wish come true” message (to reinvigorate the traitor to make his dreams a reality on his own) but they don’t 💦

Wish didn’t end up being “the wishing star’s origin story” because not once did anyone question where Star came from or why it was different from other stars (or what the significance of Magnifico blotting out the other stars was).

I think the people that would enjoy this movie are the people that are already highly invested in Disney and the nostalgia of it.

... Anyway, stan Star 🤩 (and the talking mushrooms 🍄)

[sapphic-agent]

Can you please get into how much the fandom demonizes Rei? Like, I’m not disagreeing that she wasn’t the best mother. But people really turn this woman (who is financially, socially, AND emotionally dependent on her husband and Clan!) into some abusive mother who WANTED to burn Shoto’s face! When it’s obvious that she was begging her mother to take her away from the house because she was too stressed out from Endeavor’s influence and Touya’s death!

I don’t know, I just think she’s not a perfect mother, but nobody can be a perfect mother. She clearly did her best with what she had, and who would’ve believed her if she said Endeavor was an abusive husband and father? The police? Other heroes? No! I bet Endeavor would’ve claimed that SHE was the terrible parent and that she was suffering from PPSD (which, she probably was, four kids, two of which were born when Endeavor started getting obsessed with overcoming All Might? She definitely had that) and she would’ve ended up in the hospital no matter what.

Let's talk about it😈

So I was actually skimming through the manga where Shoto mentions this. He says that his mother was pushed and pushed by Endeavor until she just broke. And I love this because Shoto understands that his mom was in a shitty situation and never intended to hurt him. Unlike this shitty fandom, he's aware enough to see who was the abuser and who was the one who made a mistake.

Let's go over Rei's past for a minute. She:

Grew up in an environment that was at the best neglectful and at the worst abusive

Was sold like an object (and yes this is canon, the Himura Clan canonically sells their children it was a forced marriage, not an arranged marriage)

Married Endeavor and had Touya at 18

Already, she was dealt a shitty hand. Endeavor is also four years older than her, so he was 22 while she was only barely an adult. Even outside her being bought by him, there's a huge power imbalance here. Even if he was polite and nice in the beginning, she was at a major disadvantage in their "relationship."

One of my gripes with Horikoshi and the later parts of the manga is the retcon of the Todoroki past. How Shoto tells the story and how it's portrayed later are very different.

In Shoto's version, Endeavor hit Rei for defending him from Endeavor. In the Touya flashback, she tripped. In Shoto's version, Endeavor only saw his children as means to an end. In the Touya flashback, he's portrayed as caring about them. In Shoto's version, there's a menacing and villainous aura surrounding Endeavor. In the Touya flashback he's portrayed normally.

And this is done to make Endeavor look more sympathetic. Which is bad not only because he was an abuser who doesn't deserve sympathy, it also antagonizes Touya and Rei in the process.

(People could argue that Shoto's love for his mother and young age make him an unreliable narrator. But to me this is dismissing the victim. Shoto might have been young, but he recalls enough to tell it in excruciating detail. It was a huge part of his life and writing it off like that does him a disservice)

So there are two instances specifically that people demonize Rei for.

1. Shoto's Burn

Now this is the one that is her responsibility. My thing is though... No one ever said it wasn't? Least of all Rei herself. Once she saw Shoto again, she immediately apologized. During the event itself, she realized what she did and broke down and tried to fix it. She also spent 10 years in asylum paying for what she did (which is more consequence than Endeavor faced btw).

The thing no one seems to acknowledge about this is that this didn't come from nowhere. She didn't do what she did out of cruelty or hatred towards her son. She did it because Endeavor had abused her to the point of insanity. To the point where even seeing them in her kids' faces caused her to have a complete mental breakdown. Which is understandable due to the physical, verbal, financial, and sexual abuse he was putting her through.

You know, there's an irl story like this. A woman was suffering from severe PPD and other mental issues after having four kids I think it was. Doctors and everyone repeatedly told her husband that she souldn't have more kids. He didn't listen (I'm not sure if SA was involved here but I'm inclined to believe it was) and they continued to have more. Eventually one day she snapped and killed her children.

PPD is seriously dangerous when it's left untreated, even worse when that isn't the only thing going on. Rei was no doubt suffering from the ramifications of that, but on top of everything else Endeavor out her through I can't believe she didn't break earlier.

2. Touya's Situation

It baffles that people find it in themselves to blame Rei but feel sympathy towards Endeavor over Touya.

Because on top of every instance of abuse I mentioned above, Rei was also taking care of four kids completely by herself. That would be hard even without her own and Touya's mental issues.

From the manga panel I provided, she was the only one between her and Endeavor taking Touya's mental well-being seriously. She knew how having more kids would affect him and she was right. She was the one who had to deal with Touya lashing out when Endeavor ignored him (which also contributed to her breaking down and burning Shoto due to Touya emulating Endeavor).

Rei is a character who's been judged so unfairly. Partly because Endeavor fanboys, partly because Dabi/Shoto fangirls, and completely because of the misogyny that runs rampant in this fandom. She deserved so much better.

I have a fic giving Rei the justice she deserves if anyone's interested. It features my OC who happens to be Rei's quirkless younger sister. Give it a read if you want

[anthurak]

Where do you see Sera's arc going in S2 onward? Even though she was the one who authorized Extermination Day, she seems sincerely regretful over it and largely sees it as a necessary evil to protect Heaven, unlike Adam and Lute who only carry it out for sadistic pleasure and bigotry against Demons. Do you think after seeing that redemption for Demons is possible thanks to Angel Dust and Pentious's actions she'll either change her stance or double down on her extremism out of paranoia and denial?

So I touched on this when answering your ‘Are the Exorcists a cult?’ ask a few months back, but I’m pretty sure that Sera is going to end up being one of the main villains of Hazbin.

Like considering this look, I think it’s pretty clear the only ‘sincere regret’ Sera feels related to the extermination is that Emily found out and now thinks less of her for it. I mean we already know that she was the one pulling the strings on Adam and the Exterminators behind the scenes.

I do think that unlike Adam and Lute, Sera isn’t motivated by any kind of sadistic pleasure, but rather through fear and a fixation/obsession with maintaining ‘order’, ie; ‘the status quo’. And of course is no less bigoted then Adam and Lute against demons.

I imagine Sera justifies the extermination as a kind of ‘necessary evil’ to prevent conflict between Heaven and Hell. A very ‘We NEED to keep the demons subjugated, otherwise they’ll surely rise up and make war on us!’ kind of circular justification. I also wouldn’t be surprised if Sera tries to make some kind of ‘retroactive justification’ to Emily for continuing the extermination, saying something like ‘Yes, starting the extermination in the first place may have been regrettable and hasty, but we can’t stop doing it now because if we do, the demons will surely rise up against us in anger!’.

And I think going forward we’re going to see Sera push more into a ‘knight templar’, ‘fundamentalist’ mindset, becoming more obsessed with preserving the status quo, no matter who she has to hurt to enforce it. Thus becoming in some ways even more dangerous than Adam and Lute were.

Like whereas those two were simply straightforward sadistic bigots who got off on killing sinners, I can definitely see Sera doing a lot more moralizing to justify any of her actions. Say, going on a whole ‘everything I do, I do to defend Heaven and our kind!’-type rant to Emily.

To wit, I have a pretty good feeling that Sera is going to be absolutely fucking TERRIFIED at the sight of Sir Pentious actually ascending into Heaven at the end of season 1, simply because the fact that sinners actually CAN get into Heaven is one of the massive revelations that could upend EVERYTHING in Heaven society.

Or at least that’s how Sera is likely to see it. And thus probably go to considerable lengths to keep what happened from getting out.

In fact, as both word of Sir Pentious and the truth about the exterminations start spreading among the ‘winners’ and even other angels in Heaven, I imagine we’ll start seeing quite a few sympathetic to the sinners and demons, particularly Emily, start becoming quite vocal about Heaven’s treatment of those in Hell.

And I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Sera, and other angelic higher-ups, start trying to, shall we say… SUPPRESS those outspoken voices.

As we saw in Helluva Boss, Heaven is an amazing, perfect place to live… so long as you don’t stray so much as a millimeter out of line.

[mistystarshine]

Considering some of your current answers, do you think that sexism is the reason Sera is so hated by the fanbase, even though she sports some good characteristics (that are completely removed in fanworks featuring her as a prominent character)? That, or media illiteracy (combined with sexism)?

I think that sexism is definitely part of it. I also think that media illiteracy is also a decent chunk of it. However, in terms of fanwork specifically, I think there's a completely unrelated reason that is a big part of it.

Hazbin Hotel only gave us five angels with names, and only four of them possess characterization: Adam, Lute, Sera, and Emily. That means that if you want an angel to serve as a villain and you want them to be a canon character, you need to use one of them. Emily is out unless you either get really OOC or REALLY creative. Adam and Lute are obvious choices, but if you're doing a story where they're sympathetic or getting a redemption arc, they're out. Or even if they aren't, but you want more than one angelic villain, who does that leave you with? Sera.

The simple fact of the matter is that, unless they are very well-written, OOC characters tend to be more well-received than OCs. There are a lot of people who will outright refuse to give a fic a chance if they know that an OC plays a prominent role. If you want your OC to be well-received, you need to write them well, and that's intimidating! There are people who don't give a shit and are comfortable writing prominent at any experience level, and more power to them! But for other writers, it becomes nerve-wracking. You also need to consider that this is the Hazbin fandom, specifically. It feels, at least to me, that if your story is going to include a prominent OC, they need to be taken from the bible. But not everyone is comfortable writing bible characters who haven't appeared in canon. (I know that I probably wouldn't even if paid! But that's also a little bit due to spite over how much I've been pressured and nagged to write about Eve, Cain, and Abel.) That means that if you're writing an outright OC, there's even more pressure for them to be well-written to "justify" not using a bible character.

No one likes receiving mean comments. When you write OCs, you face an increased risk of receiving mean comments. What's more accepted? Sanding off a complex character's positive attributes to make them fit in an exaggerated or relatively flat villainous role, especially when it's a character who the fanbase does not particularly like.

And you know what? I don't blame them for it! No, I personally won't read fanfics where a character is written especially OOC, even if it is purely because the story needs a villain. Yes, I encourage people to write OCS when there is a hole in the story that needs filling and no canon characters fit. But developing your own characters is hard! It takes lots of time and practice.

I use OCs when there's a gap in the story that none of the canon characters can fill, such as Anastasia and the residents of Oak Creek in Live Again, but it is also worth mentioning that I have been writing for sixteen years. I am actively writing original novels for publishing. I am perfectly comfortable designing my own characters for fics and confident in my ability to flesh them out enough to feel like actual character. But when I was less experienced, I was terrified to include OCs in any of my writing to the point of altering my plots if I would have needed to create an original character for it to work. If you have a story that you want to tell, aren't comfortable writing OCs, and need to write a character OOC to get a villain, then go for it. (Just... don't forget that your characterization isn't canon and start harassing other people for not using the same characterization. This goes for both writing canonically heroic or morally gray characters as outright villains and writing canonically villainous characters as heroic.)

That said... I, personally, would rather read a fic with an OC villain than one with an OOC villain, any day of the week. So what if their writing is a little flawed? People tend to forget that there's a wide spectrum in between 'insufferable Mary Sue' and 'would fit right into canon'. Just because your OC doesn't slot in perfectly doesn't mean that they'll be bad, and you won't get any better at writing them if you don't practice.

[beevean]

I know TvTropes is edited by different people, but I would dearly love to understand their general logic.

You find this in the YMMV page of Lament of Innocence:

Mathias is not afforded much grace for acting out of desperate grief, to the point that apparently some thought he didn't even deserve a second chance in the form of Soma.

Now, I would argue that LoI doesn't even expect you to cry over Mathias. It's very obvious that he has become a despicable person, using his friend as a pawn, causing the death of said friend's fiancée and not shedding a compassionate tear over her, and even believing he would be joined in immortality. But yes, I agree, Mathias is pitiable only to an extent: "wife died" is not exactly a compelling argument for rejecting humanity to the degree that he did.

... but then what about this, TvTropes? From the YMMV page of NFCV?

(you'd think Mathias would also get the moniker of Jerkass Woobie. nope)

One, NFCV didn't come up with the idea of Dracula lashing out due to the grief of Lisa's death. It comes from SoTN. NFCV only put more emphasis on it. Stop giving the show undeserved credit.

Two, really? Really. N!Dracula is really that sympathetic, that most of the voices he gets are all about how much of a poow bapyboy he is? What the hell do you mean, "he makes a good case against humanity"???? This piece of shit wanted to exterminate humankind and vampirekind (because he was aware that they'd all starve to death, he just refused to give a fuck) because one village didn't rise up against a bishop! When he yells "there are no innocents, not anymore", do you take him seriously?????

He does get a Moral Even Horizon voice, but it feels half-hearted, to say the least:

If you think it's hard not to sympathize with him and that being brought back as a treat rectifies it, then by definition it's not a Moral Event Horizon, because the very definition of the trope is that it's an act that makes a character completely and utterly unforgivable, on par with Griffith sacrificing the Band of the Hawk and raping Casca, to make a famous example.

(funnily enough they do the same with Lenore under the same trope, saying that apparently she understood that she crossed the line and tried to make amends. There's not, however, mention of Isaac killing innocent people and defiling their corpses for his selfish purposes. Inch-resting.)

I really, really am made uncomfortable by the serious apologism N!Dracula gets, and only because he cries a little more than his game counterpart. "He makes a good case against humanity", huh? Do you have any idea how many genocides started from motivations that were seen as reasonable? How many dictators tried, and are trying, to kill many for the perceived sins of few? Yes, I am fully aware that N!Dracula is a fictional villain, and he benefits from a cool design, suave voice, and multiple Pet The Dog Moments, I'm not really saying that his fans condone real crimes... but just like Lenore fans who justify her abuse and rape with real life rape apologism arguments such as "Hector consented at first" or "she wanted his own good", the rhetoric used here is honestly appalling.

But yes, on a pettier note, I'm also salty that game Dracula isn't afforded the same sympathy, even though he too is bereaved by grief. He just doesn't express it in a pitiable enough way. It's easier to go all 🥺 at a depressed man moping in a chair, isn't it? Ignore how said depressed man has hired two misanthropes to Forge demons to routinely send to slaughter innocent humans! It's off-screen, after all :) you don't need to see it :)

But you know who gets called Unintentionally Unsympathetic in the show?

And here I say what I said about Mathias: there is nothing "unintentional" about this, the show has zero pity for the peasants who were slaughtered. Much like you, person who roots for Dracula, the writing too painted them as stupid because believing the CHURCH BAD, and therefore, like all stupid people, deserving of gruesome punishment. Peasants are low-class and religious, and as such deserve death. "Cool" murderers like Dracula and Isaac, who are so intelligent and above the petty masses, instead deserve everything on a silver platter.

I really despise this show and the messages it sends. And the general anti-game bias, of course.

[littlealeta]

Telltale's The Walking Dead Season 2 Review

Long post! Scroll down for a TL;DR and Aleta Rewrites Version!

I had a lot of thoughts after watching a LP of this season, but I decided to go back to the first season to see how it holds up against this one. I always felt this season was a little off, but I wasn't sure. While the first one isn't amazing, it was still a lot better than whatever this season was. But even without playing the first one, this season Is still badly written in general so I'm not going to compare the two much.

Story

To start with the positives, there are some good ideas in here. Seeing how Clementine has grown since the first season and the themes of figuring out who to trust and side with are good themes to explore. However, the execution of these things are horrible. The game doesn't actually explore the trust theme much, your choices do not have much impact on the theme of your story or the characters, the trust theme gets thrown out the window by the time Carver is introduced and you are forced to stick with this group of shady people, and Clementine is treated like an adult and forced to babysit all the pathetic adults around her.

First of all, the intro tells you all you need to know. A random b!tch comes in to bully and threaten our 10-year-old protagonist (who has never even met her in the first place), Omid and Christa are both written out of the story, and a dog dies, all happened 30 minutes in. Jeez, relax, story. Spoiler alert, yes, Christa does not come back. And Clementine just decides to forget about her. The beginning of the game does a good job of showing you how pointless and melodramatic the rest of the story will be.

The next episode has Clementine seeking help for her dog bite. No one believes her and decides to lock her in the shed. God, this season is mean-spirited. Even I think Lee was treated better in season 1 than Clementine A FUCKING CHILD. I get being worried about it being a walker bite, but why lock a literal child in a shed, like have some mercy, man.

I will explain more about the story in the character section. But what I will say is that overall, there are a lot of quick deaths and characters getting written off, so don't get too attached to these characters, because you won't get to bond with them too much. None of the characters really get much time to grow or shine due to the story writing them off 1-2 episodes in. There was potential for Nick and Luke to grow, but they both die before that can happen.

After Carver dies, the story seems to struggle with figuring out where to go. As terrible of a villain Carver is, at least he has some point to the story unlike a certain Russian guy who comes out of nowhere and the story wants you to sympathize with despite trying to kill you TWICE. Oh, and Kenny comes back... somehow.... and the story makes him out to be a bad guy all because he was trying to whip all the manbabies up into shape and protect everyone from the russian b!tch who ambushed them. In no way am I saying Kenny is a saint or that the way he approaches situations are always healthy, but the game makes him out to be a madman and everyone else is morally correct or sympathetic when everyone in the group are fucking manbabies except for Clem.

The ending is a mixed bag. I would say the choice between leaving Kenny for Wellington (due to overpopulation) or staying with him is one of the few times where I think the game makes actual sense. But the fight with him and Jane before that just feels so forced. It's just again, the game trying to prove to you through this annoyingly cynical woman that Kenny is a bad man and shouldn't be around Clem. So she does something completely heartless to try to prove that to Clem, when I'm sure many (especially a hothead like Kenny) who found out their baby was left to die would probably react that way or close to it. Why couldn't this b!tch have stayed gone? Why am I supposed to like these characters?

Characters

Nearly every character here is just unlikeable, forgettable and dumb. They are so dumb that they literally make Clementine do all the dirty work while they sit there with a thumb up their asses. I even forgot to write a couple characters into this section because they were just that unmemorable. Even the characters that I liked have their own problems.

For example, Pete is probably one of the characters that I liked more, he's one of the more rational adults and has one of the few deaths that made sense. I also like Alvin too, his love and commitment to raising the baby that may or may not be his is admirable and his death at least serves a purpose. Luke is perhaps the most rational adult in the group, but he can make some dirty coward decisions (like for example, running away from the group twice (yeah another way the story tries to keep you from bonding with these characters) and refusing to shoot Carver) and he acts out of character in episode 4. Thankfully, he mellows out in episode 5 and we get to see more of his personality as he pities himself for not doing more for the group. But then he dies, so goodbye character development.

Kenny is still the same, sometimes an asshole but also loveable and kind. Clementine is still Clementine, with a bit more sass and edge which is to be expected. I personally would've liked more done with her, but I'll explain more in an Aleta Rewrites version.

I'm in the minority when I say that Sarah (Aka Futaba) is a good character. A lot of people call her useless, but I think she's a worthwhile example of what would happen if you shelter someone in an apocalypse and she can make for some good back and forth with Clementine. I would've liked to see how she grows, but she also becomes an annoying burden and then just dies. I understand she's coping with PTSD and her father dying, I have no problem with that. But girl, you are in a zombie apocalypse and you're just sitting there letting yourself die in a house. Come on, now.

Now, for the problematic characters. Nick is just Ben 2.0 but more hotheaded and less likeable. His whole deal with Matthew made no sense because he claims that he shot Matthew for allegedly pointing a gun at his friends, but HE was the one who drew the gun first before Matthew so why he shot him, I don't understand. I think there could've been a better way to keep this storyline intact without having him going insane thinking Matthew was going to kill Clementine and Luke.

Carlos and Rebecca are just straight up assholes to Clem in the beginning and Carlos treats Clementine like she's his own FUCKING ANXIETY RIDDEN DAUGHTER, WHAT?!?!?! Like I said, I think it's interesting to show the ramifications of sheltering someone in an apocalypse but I just can't get over these two being the ones to push the bright idea of letting a little girl suffer in a shed. I would say Rebecca's story with the baby is cute, though.

Sarita... doesn't really have much personality. She's a pretty likeable character, but I think there could've been more to do with her (see the Aleta Rewrites version).

Mike was ok until he started whiteknighting Arvo. Bonnie was a weird character. At first, she sides with Carver, but then she joins the group and is on their side while also making some dumb decisions like *coughs* Getting Luke killed on the lake *coughs* and also whiteknighting Arvo.

Jane just gave off so many red flags. She's cynical, always telling Clementine the worst that could happen like Sarah being dead after losing her glasses and Kenny being a bad person. She has a hidden evil side (willing to leave a baby in the car out in the cold). She gets involved with Luke for whatever reason. And she just seems like an extremely twisted character overall while trying to keep up the cool, nice girl act.

Carver and especially Arvo are both horrible villains. I felt like something interesting could've been done with Carver, he wants to raise the baby that may or may not be his, but he was such a confusing character. On one hand, his motivations seem clear, he wants to get rid of Alvin and help Rebecca raise the baby. But then he has another motivation is that he is a ruthless Karen who wants everyone to work with him and will hurt them if they make even the tiniest mistake. Arvo just feels completely out of the blue. Even if you didn't make the choice to steal the supplies, you still get ambushed by his group. He's clearly a villain yet the game wants you to sympathize with him at the same time. Also a confusing mess of a character.

Gameplay/Animation/Voice Acting

What about the gameplay? Well, besides me not liking the QTE events, the gameplay is still relatively the same and I don't have much to complain about it. Overall, the gameplay and the technical aspects such as the animation and voice acting are still competent. But I'm a writer first and foremost so I focus on the writing more and don't have much to say about anything else.

Overall/TL;DR

I give The Walking Dead Season 2 5.5 bells out of 10.

It was pretty hard to rate. I mean, I have so many mixed feelings about this season and I don't think it's an awful season, but it does so much wrong in terms of writing. I don't want to be too mean to it because I think it's playable at best, it didn't make me want to rip my hair out. The gameplay is competent and there are a few characters to like here (though, it really doesn't help that pretty much every likeable character is killed off and have issues of their own).

But overall, the story rarely makes sense and is just overall mean-spirited and melodramatic, filled with pointless deaths, dumb character decisions, and characters being assholes. One character from the first season gets treated like a villain despite being one of the more rational characters in the group. Characters die before they have much time to develop. Clementine is an 11 year old who's either treated like the only sane adult or treated like a clueless child. Story throws in a bunch of random conflict that throws off the pacing and consistency. Both Carver and Arvo yo-yo between being somewhat sympathetic characters (at least in how the story portrays them) to completely ruthless classic villains. Even the more likeable characters have their own problems, usually as a result of dying off too soon. Or even just other things like Luke being out of character in episode 4 and Sarah becoming an empty husk before her death. Sarita is an anomaly in that she's not an asshole, but pretty much a blank slate.

Aleta Rewrites

Clementine has no character development whatsoever and is somehow a cold, blood-thirsty killer and wise way beyond her years after only two years. Instead of being this static Mary-Sue, why not give her a coming of age story? Show her as a still sensitive, naive little girl losing her innocence as she makes some big choices and sacrifices. Make her hesitate a bit and freak out over the stuff she is doing and going through. Show a major breakdown over everything she's going through. She doesn't need to be a Sarah, but she does still need to have some vulnerability. This could make her bond with the adults (especially Luke and Kenny) much more dynamic and emotional. And THEN by season 3, we can see a cold, cynical, blood-thirsty Clementine, hardened by everything she had to go through, especially in season 2.

Luke. He should've survived at least up until season 3. I could see him having a more heroic death where he sacrifices himself for Clem. If he was able to survive longer, I think he would've had some great character development. Either it's going to be him making less stupid choices, or having to make more morally grey choices in order to survive.

Sarah (aka Futaba). They at least should've kept her until season 3 as well. Maybe season 3 would be the development of Sarah struggling to become more of a badass.

Nick, like I said, the guilt about a huge mistake he made is a good concept to explore. It was just the way it was done didn't make sense. They could've done the simple thing of having Matthew pull out his gun on him first, being suspicious about the group, which then causes Nick to shoot him. Nick could've survived a little bit longer as he tries to make up for his misdeeds, and maybe he dies while doing so.

Sarita, how about having some drama come with being a replacement goldfish for Katjaa? Since Kenny is an emotionally unstable character, maybe he and Sarita don't really get along that much and he's only using her as a rebound. But Sarita doesn't want to break up because she kinda loves him and she wants to keep him happy, it's a codependent issue.

Jane, I think is one of the characters that possibly could've been written out in this season. She's a strong and smart character, so after teaching the group all her skills, having her die instead of Luke maybe during an all is lost moment for the characters would be emotional and would cause the group to go frantic, if only she was a more likeable and loyal character.

Carver. Focus more on his motivation of trying to raise the baby. Considering that the story tries to make him sympathetic at some points, maybe don't imply he r@ped Rebecca in his backstory? I just feel like having that kind of topic even for a villain makes a character instantly unsympathetic and irredeemable. Maybe he was an old fling or flame and she used Alvin as a rebound or another fling that became a relationship or something, idk. Maybe Carver is someone who constantly steals from the group or is an assassin working for someone to kill someone or two in Carlos's group in order to make enough dough to raise the baby.

I could see Arvo being a minor villain to the story if you choose to steal the supplies, but he overstays his welcome. Instead of Arvo, BONNIE should've been the secondary antagonist after Carver. Actually, have HER turn out to be the one who wanted Carver to work for her in assassinating someone. She was initially allied with Carver when the group first talked to her so it'd make sense she'd want revenge after his death. We don't have to have that whole lake bullshit. We don't have to have Bonnie blaming Clementine for someone's death and then turning her back on her while allowing someone to point a damn gun at Clem. JUST MAKE HER WANT VENGEANCE! Seriously, how hard is it to make her be the one to shoot Luke in the leg and Clementine causing her near-death experience? Or idk, that would conflict with Arvo. Maybe don't have him in the story at all. Unless maybe Arvo gets one of your allies killed (maybe Mike, who probably lets himself die in order to make up for stealing the supplies, But also, Mike doesn't do anything so maybe he should die at some point in the story anyway by either Bonnie or Arvo).

Kenny and Luke already had tension built up for episodes and with Kenny gradually losing more and more of his sanity, it would make sense for HIM to be the one to attack Luke because their tension reached a breaking point and Luke did something that he strongly disagreed with. Maybe it was stupid, maybe it got someone killed. Maybe it was Sarita? She was the closest to Kenny.

[andy-solo1]

Prom Night [ MJ x Fem!Reader]

Pairing(s): MJ x Fem! Parker Reader 

Peter Parker x Sister! Reader 

Request: fem!reader is a spider person, and instead of tom holland spider-man, she is in MJ’s universe. maybe it’s prom night or something, and as she’s beginning to dance with MJ, the green goblin, or some other villain attacks the school?

Words: 1,438

Warnings: None

* * * * 

Senior prom was only a week away now, and, ever since the whole world had found out that you and your brother, Peter, were the two spider themed superheroes swinging around New York and helping the Avengers, people hadn’t stopped asking if you’d be their date to the event. 

“Come on, you know how great your night would be if you, Spidergirl-”

“Spiderwoman.” You muttered under your breath, but Flash carried on as if he hadn’t heard you. 

“-were to go to prom with me. The most popular guy in school.” Flash Thompson finished, grinning at you from across the table. You sighed and shook your head. 

“Flash, for the millionth time, no. And stop pretending you’re the popular guy in school. Even before people knew my brother was Spiderman you wouldn’t have even come close to being the most popular guy. I’m sure some lady would love to go with you Flash, but you really aren’t my type.” You told him flatly before standing and walking away as he stared, mouth agape, unable to think of a word of reply. 

“Oh yeah, well I like Spiderman better anyways!” Flash finally retorted to your retreating form, making you laugh softly before leaving the classroom as the bell rang for the start of lunch. 

“Got anymore people asking you to prom?” Ned asked you, glancing up from his spot next to your brother as you joined them at your usual lunch table. You groaned and pulled a face. 

“Yeah, Flash, again.” 

“Jeez, Flash really doesn’t take the hint.” Peter commented, looking over at you sympathetically. “Though it would help if you actually would ask a certain someone to prom so people would stop asking you.” He said accusingly, giving a pointed look to someone coming across the room towards the three of you. 

You looked over to watch as MJ made her way over. A light blush rose on your cheeks before looking away from her to glare at your brother. 

“She wouldn’t possibly want to go with me.” 

“You never know unless you ask.” Peter replied. 

“Unless you ask what?” MJ asked as she finally reached you all, sitting down next to you. “The ultimate question of if your spiderpowers have brainwashed us into being your loyal followers?” She joked, quoting something in one of the newspaper headlines she’d read earlier that day. 

“Actually we were talking about Prom.” Ned supplied, very unhelpfully, and you cast him a small glare before MJ turned to look at you. 

“Did Flash ask you out again?” She inquired, “Because I can go make sure he doesn’t ask you again.” She said, sounding entirely serious. You laughed and shook your head. 

“He did, but that’s okay, he means no harm, besides I made sure to put him in his place.” You replied, making MJ grin. 

“That’s my girl.” MJ said happily, before turning her gaze back to her food. Your face flushed warmly and Peter gave you a look that practically screamed ‘ASK HER’ 

Swallowing your nerves you turned towards the brunette. “MJ?” You asked, making her look back towards you, raising a brow. “Would you like to go to Prom? With me? As a date?” 

“I thought you’d never ask.” MJ replied, a grin breaking out across her face. 

“You-you knew I was going to ask you?” 

“It was only a matter of time. I see the way you look at me. I also overheard Peter and Ned talking about it.” She told you, making you cast a glare towards your brother and his best friend. They both at least had the sense to look embarrassed about having been overheard. 

“So is that a yes?” You asked hopefully. 

“It’s a yes.” 

* * * * * 

A week later, you stood in front of a mirror at Happy’s home, looking at yourself in the dress you’d picked out for the occasion. 

“You look amazing honey.” Your aunt May said, coming up beside you to pull you into a crushing hug. “She’s going to love you in that.” She commented, making you blush. Your aunt was the most understanding person, and you were so grateful for her. 

“Where’s Peter?” You asked, looking around for your twin. He was supposed to be getting ready for prom as well, but you hadn’t seen him since that morning. 

“He said he had something he wanted to check out quickly, an idea for something.” May replied, a worried look on her face. Since she found out about you two being heroes, she was better at letting you both do your things, but she still worried, especially now that people knew your identities. 

“I’m sure he’ll meet us all there at school then.” You reassured your aunt, “He wouldn’t miss the chance to see that he was right about me and MJ together.” You joked, making your aunt laugh. 

“I know he wouldn’t. Let’s get you going so you’re not late.” May said happily, leading you out towards the door. You happily followed her, looking forward to seeing MJ. 

* * * * *

MJ was waiting outside the school for you when your Aunt pulled up in front of the building. She grinned when she saw you. “You look good.” 

You smiled at her, “You look even better.” You told her. She was dressed up nicely, a flattering dress with a black dahlia necklace hanging around her neck. You’d gifted it to her back on a school trip you’d all taken before everything went bad. You had planned on asking her out then when you’d gifted it to her, but then everything with Mysterio happened and instead you’d gifted it to her as a friend. Though honestly, you both probably knew it had been more than that. 

“Have fun girls!” May shouted to you both before driving off. 

“Bye May.” You both replied, waving her off before you turned towards MJ and offered her your hand. “Shall we?”

“And miss a chance to show up Flash? Never.” 

You both laughed as MJ took your hand and she led you inside. When you both entered the gym, your brother and Ned came over to the two of you. 

“You two look amazing together.” Ned complimented you. 

“Was there any doubt?” MJ asked, grinning at him. 

“Where did you disappear off to earlier?” You questioned Peter, raising a brow at him. He grimaced and shook his head. 

“I’ll tell you later. For now let’s just enjoy this.” Peter replied and you were happy to agree. Music filled the air around you all and you turned to MJ. 

“Care to dance?” You asked. In response she grabbed your hand and pulled you to the centre of the floor and the two of you quickly fell into a rhythm with the music. 

Moving to the music with MJ, was some of the happiest you’d been in a while, certainly since the world found out about your identity. 

Even happy moments weren’t meant to last though as your senses started to go off. You paused, MJ watching you closely as you slowly looked around the room. From the corner of your eye you could see your brother was doing the same. 

“What’s wrong? Is it your tingle?” MJ asked quietly, moments before one of the walls of the school exploded and screams filled the air. 

“Everyone get out of here!” You yelled over the screams as you hurried towards the now gone wall. The sounds of maniacal laughter filled the air along with the whir of a glider as a man in a green suit with a horrible grinning mask flew through the opening. 

“Can the spider come out to play?” The man laughed, “I know you’re here Parker.” he cackled. 

“What did you do?” You snapped at Peter as you both engaged your nano tech suits that you brought to be on the safe side. 

“Not the best time for this.” He retorted. 

You were about to snap at him again when you heard MJ call your name. You turned to see her come up behind you. She grabbed your face gently and pressed a kiss to your lips before pulling away. 

“Be safe.” She told you. You smiled at her before your mask came up to cover up your face and hide the blush crossing your cheeks.

“I always am the safer one.” You told her. “You be safe too.” You warned her and she nodded. 

“I will be.” She replied before turning and following the others out of the gym. You turned your attention back to the green suited man who’d started trying to fight your brother. You were going to make him pay for ruining your date.

[itspkuwu]

EEnE characters ranked (MY OPINION)

Let’s cut right to the chase, because I really wanna put this out there.

Lee Kanker is in last place. She gets lower than F tier. Where Marie and May had moments where they seemed to genuinely care about each other, Lee just sits there, manipulates, and spreads cruelty. And as for the times where Marie and May were fighting/being mean etc? Well, I have a theory. Remember in Big Picture Show where we see that Lee has a third eye? You know who else has a third eye for no good reason…?

DEMONS. LEE IS AN ACTUAL DEMONIC MENACE WHO BRAINWASHES HER SISTERS JUST TO MAKE OTHERS FEEL MISERABLE. AND EVEN THEN SHE MISTREATS HER “MINIONS” TOO.

And remember when Nazz kissed Double D and Eddy on the cheek? Compare that to how they react to the Kanker’s kisses. How big those lips are… that specific shade of red… the way the Ed boys become horrified every single time…

THE LIP STICK IS CREATED BY LEE AND HAS DARK MAGIC INSIDE OF IT. THATS MY THEORY. IM STICKING TO IT. SCREW YOU LEE.

(that was a joke lolol)

Everybody in the “lol why” tier it’s just an object that isn’t Plank or I haven’t seen those episodes yet. So I can’t really give my thoughts yet.

Rolf’s animals get their own tier. They have an amazing caretaker :3

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH DORK DORK DORK DORK ITS KEVIN DJDJUDUFHDBRJRIRID.

He’s just a jerk lol. AND NO I DO NOT SHIP HIM WITH ANYBODY. NOT NAZZ. NOT DOUBLE D. ESPECIALLY NOT DOUBLE D. NOBODY.

except his bike.

Eddy’s brother (whose name is apparently Tarry??) is also a jerk. But he makes a pretty cool antagonist. And he just makes me like Eddy even more.

also i feel like he would be a tumblr sexy man

Mildred blinks at you :D

Plank is an immortal God who will one day rule the world. This is my canon.

I REALLY wish we could have seen more of what happened to Jonny post Big Picture Show. Him being “The Gourd” and having a villain arc just sounds super fun. Other than that he’s just a weird kid. I like him.

Don’t let Jimmy fool y’all. He’s a lil maniac. He probably gets it from Sarah. And it’s always a shocker to me given how much he acts so innocent and harmless. He’s a pretty neat anti hero.

I KNOW I SHOULD HATE SARAH. But I feel like there’s more to her than meets the eye. I honestly think her parents taught her the hate her big brother. If they weren’t around, she probably wouldn’t been to mean to him. Making me feel extremely sympathetic for both of them. And at least she looks after Jimmy, giving her redeeming qualities.

To be honest this show needs a character like Nazz. Everything has to be balanced out with someone who isn’t constantly out to get something, being mean, or acting like a weirdo. But yes, she does have her moments, which are rightfully deserved. Plus, I just really like her chill and hippie way of going about.

Marie Kanker and May Kanker are being ranked together. The potential they have to be redeemed is through the roof. They deserve so much better. If Lee wasn’t around to mess with their heads, I think they would be truly happy. Marie could spend her days jamming out and living on the edge, while May is cute and ditzy and a voice of reason at times. Plus both of their hairstyles are really eye candy for me.

The Ed boys are also being ranked together. What else can I say that hasn’t been said already? The way these three bounce off of each other is extremely enjoyable and definitely gets good laughs out of me. I know they have their moments where they aren’t so friendly, but you don’t always have to get along with someone for you to still love them. And when the gentle giant goof, the soft hearted nerd, and the selfish man with a heart of gold do get along, it’s sweeter than jawbreakers :)

AND NOW WE HAVE ARRIVED AT THE TRUE GOD. THE LIGHT IN DARK TIMES. THE DIAMOND WITHIN THE DIRT. THE ONLY BOY ON THE SHOW WITH A GOOD HAIRCUT.

ROLF. THE SON OF A SHEPHERD.

Rolf is hands down one of if not the best side character in animation history. He’s a goober for one thing. But a goober that’s gets us to take him seriously. You do not mess with this man. His pride is enough to break you leg. And yet, he still manages to be one of the nicest characters in the show. He’s so friendly and upbeat! And when he isn’t… his dark side is also a fun time.

And another thing, he’s a fish out of water. Which also allows the viewer to feel sympathetic for him. Like in Wish You Were Ed. Seeing Rolf cry is something you’d never think you’d see, but when you do, it makes you feel a somber emotion you had no idea existed. It’s amazing.

yeah, Rolf is amazing.

Also I asked my sister if she wanted to dance to That’s My Horse at her wedding and she said no. What a loser right?

So uh, that’s my list. Hope you enjoyed.

Go hug a chicken.

[kitkatopinions]

So a couple of things stand out to me with this little gem from the commentary for V9.

They viewed Neo as she is as irredeemable. I one hundred percent disagree with the idea that there's a certain level of villainy that makes it impossible for someone to ever come back from, and if I did believe that, it would be like 'genocidal colonizers who want to take over the world' and not like 'formerly abused disabled woman who spent the better part of her on screen time working for someone doing much worse things than her who then developed a grief-driven misguided grudge and has done technically less worse things than most of the RWBY villains even including V9.' But this does make me feel a bit better in that the RWBY writers are less likely to redeem Salem and Cinder, who are two people that even though I think they can be redeemed, they probably should stay evil.

However, them saying they did want to give Neo a bit of sympathy (which is not the same thing as redemption) because of her past... Cool, actually. Yes, it's frustrating that other characters didn't get that sympathy despite having gone through similar or worse things than Neo went through, like Adam, but I'm not gonna want a formerly abused disabled woman to not get an ounce of sympathy just because a different character didn't get it in the past. But also, this does make me think Cinder, Salem, and potentially Mercury will get similar sympathies (I say 'potentially' Mercury because there's quite a chance that the writers are only willing to extend sympathy towards the women characters based on misogyny as they seem to be sometimes pushing a narrative that the women characters are unable to have made their own choices, but also Hazel is an example of them letting men have unfair sympathies they don't deserve and getting treated with a ton of sympathy like they're not responsible for their own actions too.)

It's worth noting that they were swayed by fandom opinion. "There's this really weird line of everybody likes her as a character," they say, as if they don't like or understand exactly why fans would like a character they invented, which is a weird thing writers do sometimes. And they go on to imply it was one of the reasons they had for not wanting to write Neo to have too bad of an end.

The way they talk about Neo committing suicide like it's a good thing... They are actively talking about how Neo 'has a chance' to ''pick a different person to be.' I mean, it was bad enough with the Paper Pleasers, but at least they actually were from the Ever After where (badly done or not) the implication was that it was slightly different than for humans, but Neo? She was a real person from Remnant! She killed herself, and they're like 'dum dum dum it's a sympathetic end for her because killing herself is a good choice actually that 'gives her a chance to be something better.' Like ??? That is point blank period glorifying suicide.

It's remarkable to me that the writers as well as fans think that the ending they gave Neo is even sort of a good thing for Neo that says that they're favoring her character, whether people think that's unjustified or good. The writers might've written Ruby to act a bit sympathetic (which I see as a step in the right direction for her being a caring protagonist, unlike when she cut off Tyrian's tale,) but Neo still didn't get any sort of good ending and in fact when you compare it to Hazel, it feels even worse. She spent the last several seasons playing lacky to someone who didn't respect her while she was grieving the only person who had ever treated her well, she then lost all will to live and reason for existence after Ruby was supposedly dead, then had her autonomy ripped away from her in one of the most meant-to-be-disturbing moments in the show, and a different being talked with her mouth and used her like a puppet, and then she committed suicide. How is that a good sympathetic ending just because Ruby had a two second moment of being like 'hope she does decide to commit suicide for good and become a different person who isn't so messed up?' Hazel got to die a heroic death after 'teaching Oz a lesson' and he was responsible for tons of deaths in Mistral and he beat Oscar on screen!

Idk, I just feel like the entire narrative surrounding Neo's death feels like a big middle finger, even if MKEK intended to try to appease her fans. I thought volume 9 was going to be Neo's time to finally shine in the spotlight, but they brushed her aside to make the Cat a twist villain (like they needed a twist villain,) and then wrote the worst possible end for Neo they could have, and I feel like a crazy person because I feel like the only person who's bothered by it.

[thecaffeinebookwarrior]

Why do you think Kylo hasn’t been called a Mary Sue? I actually see him as a male example of one. He’s also badly written: we never know his motivations, he’s written to be sympathetic even though we firsthand witness him being cruel and remorseless about it, we don’t know why he wants to be evil, every character is forced to be nice to him even after aforementioned cruel acts and a shitty ‘redemption’, etc.

He’s the worst character of the new trilogy. He’s not intriguing, he’s not relatable, he’s not cool, he’s got no charm or pizazz. I know others feel differently but I just can’t stand him at all. What’s your analysis of this?

Thank you!

Hello there! Going to geek out for a bit and share some controversial opinions here.

I think all the flaws in Kylo's writing that you mentioned are 100% valid, though I will also say that I do personally find him to be a better written character than Rey. Why? Because there's an element of narrative tension to Kylo's character that Rey's character lacks.

This isn't a compliment to the writers. It's a byproduct of the fact that they themself didn't know what they were going to do with Kylo, and were waiting to see audience reactions to base their decisions around that.

This is true for a lot of elements of the Star Wars sequel trilogy (and the original trilogy to an extent to, though in lieu of the internet, it all felt a little bit more spontaneous and less...algorithmically generated).

But Rey was always going to stay good, and we, the audience, never doubted that or were given actual reason to suspend disbelief about it (like, yes, the odds of Luke following in Darth Vader's footsteps were also negligible, but the pull of the Dark Side felt way more real and tangible as Vader and Palpatine were tempting him).

I DO think Rey had a lot of potential as a character, and liked her in the first movie especially, but she was just increasingly blandly written. And a lot of that blandness came from a lack of narrative tension. There was no seduction from the Dark Side, no moment where we were really forced to question if we'd give into it in her position.

Now, Kylo had SO many narrative flaws, probably more than Rey. But at least we didn't know whether he was going to rejoin the Light Side, because the writers themselves didn't know. He could be REALLY villainous and unlikeable, but there was also a door left open for redemption - because the writers were waiting to see if that's what audiences wanted.

I can't speak for anyone else, but to me that's personally why Kylo ended up being a more interesting character than Rey, albeit not a particularly well-written one.

As to why he's never called a Mary Sue, obviously there's a big gender element to that - the term is almost exclusively applied to female characters, often by people who don't like women very much.

But I'm going to dip my toe into the waters of controversy here: a lot of producers, directors, and writers try and hide behind "strong" female characters to justify bad, shallow writing. A female character being "strong" won't make her interesting, likeable, or iconic.

Granted, people who don't like women will call ANY powerful female character a Mary Sue (or similar terms) but a well-written female character can usually attract enough adoration to drown those complaints out more.

Like, for example, The Bride from Kill Bill. Jackie Brown. Ellen Ripley from Alien. Katniss Everdeen from Hunger Games. Clarise Starling from Silence of the Lambs. Agent Scully from X Files. Elle Woods from Legally Blonde. Evelyn and Joy from Everything Everywhere All At Once. Princess Leia!

Yes, misogynists are going to hate, say, the most recent incarnation of She-Hulk (who's AMAZING in the comics, I'm so mad about it), but their hatred doesn't make her a well-written character by default. She's simply badly written in the show (in my opinion. Please don't kill me).

And I really, really want more iconic characters, male and female. That's why I demand better writing for both, and won't accept any cheap cop-outs.

Okay, this has turned into sort of a rant that doesn't have much to do with your original question. Forgive me.

Looping back to your original point, I do actually agree with all of your points about the flaws in Kylo's writing! And I hope you don't mind me using it as an opportunity to vent some of my Opinions.

P.S. Please don't jump me Star Wars people, the reason I'm opinionated about it is because I do really love it, especially the original trilogy (and more controversially, the prequel trilogy). Also, you guys make some beautiful fanworks, and really give a lot of these characters the depth and care that they deserve.

[rachelbethhines]

60 Years of Doctor Who Anniversary Marathon - C. Baker 1st Review

The Two Doctors - TV Story

I was so disappointed when this was the story that the randomizer chose.

Unlike most fans, I genuinely enjoy Colin Baker's time as the Doctor on tv. I would have gladly watched any other story, yes even The Twin Dilemma or The Mysterious Planet. Heck, I personally think Timelash is loads of fun.

But this....

Not only is The Two Doctors my least favorite C. Baker episode, it is perhaps my most disliked episode of the classic era. And quite possibly in the bottom ten stories out of the show's history.

However, fair is fair. This is what the randomizer picked and I haven't given the story an honest shot since my first viewing of it.

So is it as bad as I remember?

Yes.

It really is that bad.

Granted there are moments in the story that are entertaining, but these are few and far between and don't do enough to save the serial.

The first and foremost problem is that the story suddenly turns the Doctor into a racist!

These are Androgums. They're an enslaved race, born into servitude because they are deemed to be "less intelligent" then more "civilized" races.

The main villain has been experimented on by a mad scientist, used as a sentient lab rat, and has gained genius intellect and knowledge through her forced upon mutations.

She uses her brains to manipulate people, framing the time lords for crimes they, lets be honest, would have committed themselves anyways, and kidnaps the doctor to force him to teach her time travel so that she may free her people and conquer those that had enslaved her.

You would have thought that the Doctor would be at least sympathetic to her motives, if not her methods, but no!

The Doctor constantly repeats through out the story that Androgums are inherently evil. That it's "in their nature" to destroy everything. That they can never become better people no matter what, and constantly dismisses their plight.

Worse, the story goes on to prove this outlook as correct when the Doctor is forced to become an Androgum himself through genetic experimentation and briefly becomes "evil."

Like why the fuck would you write that into your story!?

Did you not stop to think at all that this might not be the best way to write your hero, nor the most appropriate message to put forth in your narrative?

Then again, this is the written by the same man who wrote The Talons of Weng-Chiang because he unironically loved Fu Manchu movies.

I don't place Robert Homes on any kind of pedestal unlike the rest of fandom and bullshit like this story is why.

Oh but there's more offenses to find here.

See, Homes is not only racist, he's also that smug fake leftist that pretends he's better than you because he doesn't eat meat.

His preachy, holier than thou, anti-meat arguments have popped up a couple of times on the show, but here is where it's at it's most overbearing and obnoxious.

See, there are plenty of legitimate reasons to adopt a vegetarian/vegan diet... from religious beliefs, to health and safety concerns in commercial processing, to personal dietary needs... but Homes never makes this argument.

No Homes believes that people who eat meat are no better then murdering cannibals!

Man what I wouldn't pay to see Robert Holmes in a debate with the current writers of the Poison Ivy comics.

But to add injury to insult, Holmes then decides that the Doctor and Peri must become vegans like him at the end of the story.... You know the two characters who are not his creations and have no previously established reasons to adopt his personal belief systems.

Peri has since been retconed into having always been a vegetarian in the expanded universe, and that works okay as there's nothing in previous episodes to contradict it. It also nicely ties into her being revealed as a botanist in the next story.

But the Doctor not only has never held this practice before, the story makes a point to establish that he does enjoy eating meat and has him fishing for fun at the beginning.

So this is essentially the writer forcing his personal beliefs on to the main hero of a long established running series that he himself has only been a part of for a brief amount of time.

Trying to morph a character that isn't yours into just another version of yourself, ignoring anything that came before to do so, is bad writing. Plain and simple.

It's not only disrespectful to the character and their creator, it's also just flat out boring.

If you can't write anyone but yourself and can't present anyone else's view other than your own, then why the fuck are you even writing to begin with?

This a personal pet peeve of mine in professional media, writing characters that aren't yours out of character cause of ego, and I truly think it's a waste of everyone's time.

What else...

Oh the pacing is poor, the direction is flat, and I truly despise the scene where Oscar dies with the passion of a thousand suns!!!

It is the most tone deaf, poorly directed, poorly acted, poorly written scene in the entire story with perhaps the stupidest dialogue in the entirety of the classic era.

I hate it!

At least we can only go up from here.