#TLDR AT LEAST IF THEY GOT REDEEMED THAT WOULD BE INTERESTING

[aberfaeth]

this is not going to be well articulated but i think the reason i and lots of other people feel a bit weird about certain aspects of tonights ep is that like. the ratgrinders have literally never posed a genuine threat to the bad kids in any aspect of their lives—social, academic, relationships, even their physical wellbeing, any of it. they bodied the last stand, they bodied the dragon fight. the closest thing to a bad thing happening this season was kristen almost getting expelled and that was all bobby dawn who wasnt even a part of the battle! like i genuinely cant relate to people feeling catharsis at the RGs going down bc i was just sat there like. what did they even do other than be kind of a general annoyance and a little bitchy lmfao

[groovyfrog420]

Finished the show, time for a mini theory. (keep in mind that it's late and I'm in no way a poet. just letting the brainrot out of da brain)

Scarab's Voice and what it could mean for possible future character development

long post be warned. DOES contain spoilers!

I had a weird feeling about his human design.

No, not because he doesn't look like a hot magazine-cover model, but because it's a completely different vibe than what his voice & personality have been giving off so far. Why would Scarab choose to present himself as a more scrawny-looking weird little guy, instead of someone who looks perfect, strong, and exhibits fear and respect just from one look at his face? (this isn't a roast I swear just stay with me on this one)

Well, maybe he didn't.

His voice is so grandiose and full of self-confidence, all high and mighty like he owns the world. Even from character design perspective, his human form just doesn't match this vibe. When I saw his human face, I've expected a matching voice, fit for a scrawny character like that, not a bossy boasting man.

Except he does have a scratchy weird voice too

We only get to hear it a few times - mostly, in ep 9 from his little bug-selves, or in the finale, when his mask fully comes off, or during the final fight in more feral, buggier form.

All moments when he's completely out of his depth or loses all self-control.

(Here, around the 6th minute of the episode, he's even more distressed because of losing hold on the crystal. You can hear the difference from his usual voice a bit clearer at this point)

So, here's my mini crack-theory - Scarab fakes his voice.

Or, at the very least, has trained himself to make it sound like that.

Scarab hides a lot of stuff. His face, behind a literal mask, for once. That in itself could be symbolism that there's more to this guy than what meets the eye.

We've got a good look at his obsession with rules and control already. Everything has to be perfect, has to work exactly as expected, as planned. If it doesn't, it must be changed. So, if he himself doesn't meet this standard in his eyes? Well, he'd change that too. He'd make himself fit his standards of perfection, mold himself into a person that's as rule-abiding as possible. Even if that doesn't bring him happiness and he's stuck always chasing smth he can't get, even if everyone hates him for it, it must be the right way, right?

There's also of course, the red-blue dynamic - both his human form and the new shape he has in 2D-dimension are blue and not red as his outer shell. An interesting pattern, as many people have pointed out already.

I don't feel super confident in getting into that part, but, I think it can connect to my previous point - this little guy has layers. They're better reflective of who he is on the inside. That's why neither of those forms is super scary or menacing, softer at the edges.

And I really think that's why his 'punishment' is perfect. Yes, he's stuck with the one guy he hates the most, but it's also the one guy who can show him that following the rules isn't always needed. Therapy by exposure, and all that. Hopefully, that will help him open up and be more honest to himself as well.

TLDR: I theorize that because of Scarab's obsession with rules, he forces himself into brackets and roles he can't find happiness in. He's got a lot of potential for character development if he manages to work this out (likely with the help of Prismo) and accept himself as he is.

I believe that this lil guy WILL be redeemed. Give him time, he's just warming up. He just needs to come out his shell more.

...get it?

ok I'll go

[corellianhounds]

top 5 headcanons? Your own or just faves!

GREAT question so these are just the ones off the top of my head:

1. This headcanon for Mando teaching the kid sign language, and the kid communicating back

2. Not something I came up with, but I like the idea of Luke having permanent Force-lightning scars as a result of Palpatine using it on him in RotJ

3. Personal headcanon: I think Han Solo would have taken Leia’s last name when they got married: Han (at least in the movies) had no family ties to the name ‘Solo,’ it was the name the Imperial officer gave him when he enlisted in the military to escape Corellia. It’s the perfect description for a smuggler on his own who only thinks of himself and his ship (though eventually Chewie becomes a part of The Only Things Han Solo Cares About).

The most important thing about Han Solo’s character that I think many audiences and even official creators (INCLUDING GEORGE LUCAS SOMEHOW) seem to forget is that Han’s whole character arc is that he was NOT a good guy— He BECOMES a good guy. All of the tension surrounding him in the original trilogy is based on the fact Han Solo looks out for himself. His return at the end of A New Hope is predicated on the audience being surprised that he came back.

Each movie, there was no guarantee that he would stay or stick around when the going got tough. By the end of the trilogy, Han’s character arc has ended with him choosing to be a part of something bigger and caring for people beyond himself and beyond his circle of friends. Choosing to marry Leia means choosing to remain relatively sedentary and present for her (and by extension their family, friends, and the New Republic), and besides, what better way to throw people off the scent and protect yourself from your criminal past than by marrying into the royal and political-leading family?

TLDR: Han takes Leia’s last name after they’re married because he finally has a family he chooses to tie himself to.

4. Personal headcanon: Leia does not forgive Vader for what he became, regardless of whether Luke says he redeemed himself in the end.

Leia not only saw the war he led and the atrocities he committed her entire life, he enabled/directed the destruction of her entire home planet before her very eyes. Leia loves her brother, but she cannot reconcile what Luke says about Vader being a good person with the war criminal she knew him to be.

Bonus headcanon: I think in the sequel trilogy Leia should have been the one to see a vision of her son’s future and she should have been either the catalyst for Ben Solo leaving, or she should have been the one who said she saw too much of Vader in him as an adult and he had to be killed in order to be defeated, while Luke and Han should have been the ones trying to bring him back. Luke’s character in the original trilogy was defined by compassion and mercy even towards one of the worst people the galaxy had to offer, and Han’s character was defined by the people who didn’t give up on him and whose encouragement and support and willingness to see the good in him were the reasons he was able to become a good person.

5. Personal headcanon: I’ve had the idea since 2020 that Mando’s family on Aq Vetina were part of the Disciples of the Whills. I’ve liked the idea of Mando being connected in a non-Force-sensitive way to other lore surrounding the Force, and I’ve based it on the similarities in costume design and because I think thematically, the idea of exploring the Force through a different lens than the Jedi would have made a much more interesting and compelling story in what was originally a relatively independent TV show with new characters on a much smaller scale, exploring different parts of the galaxy.

How I understand the doctrine of the Whills is that it’s more trying to understand the direction of the Force as it tries to find balance in the world, and the result of those teachings means seeing how the Force working in others is what benefits people— In Rogue One Chirrut says “May the Force of others be with you,” which I’ve interpreted as “Yes the Force exists and has an impact on life and death, but because it is the connection binding every living thing together, it’s our choices and the actions we take and the connections we form that exhibit the Force, which are what will ultimately save us in the end.” Chirrut says “The Force protected me,” and Baze Malbus says “I protected you,” and they are both right.

In the context of The Mandalorian, I wanted to see what could have happened if the show diverged from the Jedi, who to be clear were a specific order of Force sensitive followers whose primary purpose was as protectors of the galaxy— The Jedi teachings weren’t just a belief system, they were combined with a martial art and specific learned abilities that were intended to be used to protect people. That doesn’t mean their way was the only way Force-sensitives interacted with the Force.

Long story short, I wanted Mando’s potential ties to a different part of Star Wars lore to be the gateway to exploring more of the galaxy that these stories were set in. I think it would have been a lot more interesting and would have freed up the story to go whatever direction it needed without being confined to the Jedi and prior source material

[clarkgriffon]

You’re a big fan of Chloe right? How are you feeling about the direction the show has taken with her recently?

I'm actually not, but I do find Chloe to be a particularly interesting case of a character.

She's very exemplary of a character I would tend to like- I love the "mean girl with a secret heart" trope- very Heather from Total Drama, Alison from Pretty Little Liars, Sasha Waybright from Amphibia. I love to love a capital B Bitch. But Chloe never really fascinated me that much, her mean-ness just generally isn't that fun. There's a way a Capital B Bitch character can rag against a protag and it's somehow still enjoyable, but Chloe really just isn't really written that well in that aspect (which, it's a kids show, so I guess Chloe repeatedly flaunting her richness and saying "baker girl" is the best they can do in their confines).

When I started to turn to like Chloe was when I realized the show was backtracking with her.

Particularly, with the recent direction of her character in S4/5, I actually don't hate the message. Sometimes people are just bad. Traumatic experiences don't automatically grant you redemption, it's something you have to work toward. It's like that comment Mylene makes in a recent episode, she's experienced things similar to Chloe but isn't a bully.

My main issues come in the following forms: 1) The pretending that her redemption arc never existed and was backtracked. I just don't buy the creators when they say that they never intended to redeem Chloe because they literally got her 3/4 of the way there and backtracked. 2) The execution. The shift from that almost-redemption to complete Evil Villain was VERY sudden and VERY abruptly done, which felt unnatural. Her nuances from the early seasons are gone, her desire to be loved, her true affection for Adrien as a friend is gone and she literally plotted for him to be removed from school. She went from an interesting, complex antagonist to someone as completely one-sided evil as Lila. Say what you want about Gabriel, but at least he has layers. Chloe could have stayed an antagonist and kept her layers too, but instead we get Lila 2.0, which is just the most boring kind of antagonist when you know there's no good and no interesting motivation other then "Be Evil, Do Bad Thing".

TLDR; Chloe is super interesting to me because she should be a character I love, and I only started to care when I realized how much they were butchering her character. I agree with almost every direction ML has gone in, and this is probably the only thing I disagree with in the whole show, is the direction of Chloe's character, not because the idea to have her revert was bad, but because the execution was atrocious.

[karpeted-kitchen]

My thoughts on the comic

SEXY BEAUTIFUL ART GREAT JOB IT LOOKS SO NICE

the writing was iffy, i dislike how they resolved such an important issue so quickly, and how they made up right away after

wattson good job electrocuting caustic, stinky man needed a reality check. Also i noticed, he took off his gas mask and i was like “huh that’s kinda weird- WAIT HE WAS GONNA GIVE IT TO HER” so i mean that bit was kinda cool that he was at LEAST willing to do that

i wish wattson understood caustic more, it’s almost as if she’s gaslighting herself, she NEEDS to stop comparing him to her dad, maybe season 5 or so i thought he MIGHT have been redeemable and worthy of being her father figure, but he’s stabbed her in the back too many time, and i wish she would see that because i know she’s smart enough too, emotionally it’s a lot for her too which i get

i wanted caustic to gas the city. Thought it would be interesting lore tbh. And why did he wanna gas the city btw?? Like big plot hole? I don’t wanna just hear “cause gas go brrr” kinda thing, caustic is smart and had to have had a bigger plan, right??

anyway, tldr, art was sexy as hell, writing had some big plot holes and was rushed, but got the point across ig? Plot didn’t change at all, AS USUAL

[blause]

Why Azula Doesn’t Deserve a Redemption Arc

With the Avatar Renaissance, I've seen quite a few people say that Azula deserved a redemption arc. I disagreed, despite her being my 3rd favorite character, and wrote a whole essay about it!

This is strictly about Azula in the show, not the comics!

Avatar: The Last Airbender is not only praised for being one of the greatest children’s cartoons created, but also creating one of the greatest character redemption arcs possibly in animated history.

Prince Zuko started as a bitter child, wanting only to restore his honor and be seen by his father as a valuable member not only to the Fire Nation but to Lord Ozai’s family. He spent years putting his heart and soul into a mission that was meant as a joke to keep him away, but when Prince Zuko actually finds the Avatar, Aang, it’s the first time he has had hope in a long time. That hope, though, was a flame tended by hatred, anger, and fear that he let get the best of him for two seasons of Avatar. And while there are moments in the show where he shows vulnerability and his true colors (see: “Zuko Alone”), his traumatic past overshadows any positive step he could truly take even if he had the best intentions.

It is in the third season where Zuko truly shines, standing up to his father and his sister, an abusive family where he hardly ever feels like he belongs, and joining the Avatar and his friends who he had betrayed so many times to finally do what was right and aligned with his morals instead of his father’s. It is with the love he had gotten from his Uncle Iroh from the beginning, and the compassion of his newfound friends, that he fights his own family for the sake of saving the world only to take his place as crowned king of the Fire Nation.

The reason I go into brief detail of Zuko’s character arc is to explain how fleshed out it makes his character. The questioning of himself, his morals and his motives truly make Zuko human. It makes him relatable, as nearly all true heroes in media try to be. There is an argument to be made that, despite his trauma and his warranted anger, he is not a three dimensional character in the first season of Avatar, but instead an angry child that wants his way no matter what his true motives are. Making Zuko end up on the “good” side was his fleshing out, and making him come full circle made genuine sense for the show.

So if Prince Zuko was able to get a redemption arc, doesn’t that mean his sister Azula, who also went through an immense amount of trauma, would be able to get one too and have it be just as great or make just as much sense?

No. I genuinely believe that giving Azula a redemption arc would not make sense for her character or the show.

Azula, Zuko’s younger sister and only daughter to Firelord Ozai, is seen as, what I believe to be, the secondary villain in Avatar. She was born with a natural talent for firebending, picking it up more easily and far younger than her brother Zuko did. Her personality type was nasty; she was a cunning, manipulative bully with relentless determination that reflected poorly on everyone around her. She commanded the attention of anyone in her presence, took what she thought was rightfully hers, and would not stop until she was the best -- the best being Ozai’s true approval.

In her introductory scene at the end of season 1, Azula does not even speak but it is not hard to see her emotions come through on her face. Beyond the “evil smirk” commonly associated with “bad” or “evil” characters, there is the radiating pleasure of being donned a serious task by her father. By the time you were to finish Avatar, it is clear to see in this 3 second introduction of Azula as a character that she is willing to do anything her father asks of her, thus turning into anything she would do to gain the respect and honor that Zuko also seeks out. It can be argued that, despite Azula receiving praise from her father both in her past and in the show, she never receives the honor that Zuko does.

In season 2, Azula is already cruel to those working for the Royal Family. This is to be expected, as she is only a 14 year old girl with the whole world wrapped around her talented finger, but the confidence and power in her tone as she commandeers a ship cannot be ignored. To have that ability and that intimidation at such a young age shows the complex that Azula develops with each success and conquer, only to end up being her downfall. When she reunites with her childhood “friends”, Ty Lee and Mai, it is through manipulation and fear that she gets them once again on her side (although with Mai and the way she hardly shows her true emotions, it is not as clear). It takes only minutes for Azula to get those on her side, showing the signs of a leader but also of an overlord.

While Azula’s bending powers are far beyond her years, it can be argued that her verbal powers are even stronger. Her confidence, persuasion tactics, and mastery of manipulation can sway anyone from vulnerable children (Zuko when she tried to bring him home as prisoner to her father as a traitor alongside her uncle), to an entire kingdom (not only the Earth Kingdom, but also the Dai Lee that held a leader confident in his abilities to lead the rogue society). As a counter, though, Azula’s verbal skills also lack when seen in season 3 as she tries to play the role of a “normal firebender citizen”.

She is shown at a firebender party having no social skills whatsoever, trying to find others ulterior motives, and overall struggling to fit in. While her traumatic past absolutely had a huge impact on her social skills, on top of being part of a royal family (Zuko shared similar struggles when going to offer to teach Aang firebending), it is interesting to see her confidence falter. In this episode is when we see Azula most vulnerable not only with those her age that she cannot immediately control, but also when she reflects on her mother and being called a “monster”. Those feelings of abandonment after Ursa left the Fire Nation only pushed her beyond her own limits to do anything in her power to keep Ozai’s love no matter how twisted it was

One of the biggest reasons I think that Azula did not deserve a redemption arc is because, much like Zuko, she chose her own path in the very end. If Zuko did not choose to seek out Aang and his friends in season 3, there would be no arc whatsoever. Obviously the writers chose this for him, and I see exactly why they did it. They showed Zuko’s wavering beliefs clearly over the years, despite his anger and his fear of not only change but forever losing his father regardless of how severed their connection had been for years on end. Azula, on the other hand, never showed anything but loyalty to her father and their shared beliefs and cause. There were countless openings for Azula to show some sort of questioning of herself and her beliefs, with the loss of Ty Lee and Mai, her father’s decision to make her the next ruler over the Fire Nation despite his plans as the Phoenix King, and the Agni Kai against Zuko and Katara, but she never did.

The closest she ever got was when her mental state and mental health began to collapse on her coronation day, and even that cannot be justified as questioning herself.

It’s heartbreaking to see the fall of Azula, the pressure put on her practically since birth finally crashing down around her. All the times that she had been called “crazy” by Zuko, Iroh, and others that she saw as disposable pawns finally “coming true”. It is when she begins to lose herself, not question herself, that she becomes such a big threat. While before she was cold and so tightly wound up in her ways, seeing the unraveling of trauma and how it can affect a teen girl whose true motivation was love and acceptance was powerful. The scene of Azula hallucinating her mother in the mirror was the acknowledgement of a lost past, a hopelessness that she could never forgive, and resulted in Azula’s genuine intentions to kill Zuko and Katara once confronted. And instead of stepping down, having enough awareness to see herself in such a deteriorating state, she challenges her brother to an Agni Kai.

Azula is truly gone the moment she steps off the throne. And even after she is defeated, instead of accepting the consequences of her actions or what led her to that point, she breaks down instead, forever sealing the potential of any character arc.

TLDR; So why do I believe that Azula doesn’t deserve a redemption arc?

1) She showed no desire to be redeemed.

2) Azula was already so fleshed out that it would not make sense to redeem her. Her anger, trauma, and actions take her down a road she cannot return from.

3) The fact that Zuko got such a terrific character redemption arc cannot be ignored in the sake of arguing whether Azula deserves one. If every character were to be redeemed, there would be no power behind the redemption. Giving both siblings a redemption arc, despite their (partially) shared traumas, would lessen the importance/meaning of the other’s.

4) Despite my personal belief that Azula is not evil, she is not good either. I believe that giving her a redemption arc would be a cheap shot at wiping clean or attempting to validate all of her past actions in at least some aspect. It would be a disservice to her as a character and invalidate her motivations and what she did to get to every peak she hit in the show.

[cmescapade]

my long overview/review of ‘Star Wars: Journey to Batuu’ after forcing myself to play it almost nonstop

so i said i was going to amend what i said in response to this ask after playing to min/max shit so here is a tldr version of my opinion after playing:

I consider this pack to be a 2/10; It's enough to kill time as a temporary distraction, but not for long. There’s absolutely no replay value after going through all those missions as each outcome is ultimately the same by faction. There also doesn’t seem to be any negative outcomes for each prompt in the little “choose your adventure” pop ups--And if there is, it is extremely low since I have never gotten a negative outcome. 

The aspirations are fair, and are the only things I found in this pack that’s anyway redeemable since I believe the rewards can be used well in conjunction with general solo/super-sim gameplay.

kinda sat on this for a while bc i wasn’t sure if i should post something so lengthy but then i remembered this is my blog n i can post my left toe if i wanted to

even tho i would never post a pic of my left toe anyway

.......at least for free. With the right price, however....

anyway more details under the cut if you’re interested bc i like to ramble :))

I decided to split this into 5 sections to organize my thoughts a little better. I’ll be separating my thoughts on each faction, the ships as a rabbit hole, the faction missions, the star wars aspirations, and then the breakdown of my 2/10 rating. 

1. Factions

When you travel to Batuu, the game gives you a starting “mission” or quest to get you acclimated to the areas, and each area has a specific Faction associated with it.

And yes, you cannot live anywhere, nor are there any lots, as was already stated.

Every area has a similar makeup which has:

Control Panels

Supply Crates

1 non-rabbit hole area

1 interactable ship

The Black Spire Outpost is the biggest area and has:

Two places to grab food, three if you count the Cantina

Aside from the Cantina, the other areas are rabbit holes

The two eateries are:

Docking Bay 7

this one has the most food options

you’ll never go hungry in batuu because the cheapest items on the menu are Outpost Popcorn Mix and Water at 0 credits lmao

the other two foods not shown in the screenshot above are Yobshrimp Noodle Salad and Braised Shaak Roast

Ronto Roasters

This food place has two of the same options Docking Bay 7 has as well as two additional food items

Oga’s Cantina

The only area that you see the inside of

yea the bar serves batuu-only drinks too

also where you find the guy who would give you Scoundrel missions, Hondo Ohnaka.

You can essentially max your Scoundrel reputation without it hindering whichever side you wanna take, and you can keep it when you essentially max out your rep on either the Resistance or the First Order.

There aren’t any real pros to being a Scoundrel aside from some socialization interactions. It doesn’t do anything for initial Batuu gameplay aside from unlocking Scoundrel outfits in CAS and some upgrades for your droids, but this goes for all of your options (Resistance, First Order, & Scoundrel).

The Dwelling

This is a rabbit hole where your sim goes to sleep, pee, or shower… If not the closest bench. 

It’s located opposite to the Cantina. 

If you’re ever lost, there’s a spire you can sit/nap on right in front of it–or you can just wait till your sim wants to pee. 

they’ll automatically run there 

that’s… how i found it, tbh

Dok Ondar’s Den of Antiquities

Another rabbithole

This place sells items you can use to complete missions, like Dataspikes and a couple of Lightsaber parts

Majority of the inventory are decorative stuff to bring back with you

Savi’s Workshop

Right behind the antique shop is the lightsaber place where you can find more hilts, kyber crystals, and display cases for your lightsabers.

You can also click on the shop to start a lightsaber challenge.

Outside this area, you have the First Order District which has more supply crates and control panels than the other two neighborhoods, and a lot more activity–Makes sense since this is basically the hub for the First Order in general. 

There’s only the Droid Depot in this area, and the only real shop that has use for credits. Food wise, there’s a food stall, and if your sim is stinky or tired, they’d basically disappear for a few minutes to recharge and come back. 

Droid Depot

Each faction has specific Droid personality traits

Aside from “voices,” these personalities don’t do much

I guess the First Order one is a lot more zap-happy though

The Resistance Camp is even smaller. Like the other areas, it’s littered with supply crates, but only has one control panel and no shops. However, there’s a rabbit hole toward the back in the Caves.

This doesn’t lead you to anywhere interesting, and it’s just another ‘choose your own adventure’ kind of thing. 

2. Ships

In the Black Spire Outpost, you’ll find the iconic Millennium Falcon. You can do kessel runs and explore in the Millennium Falcon with Chewbacca if you have a high Scoundrel reputation. 

However, although I said you get to ride with Chewbacca, you don’t ever see him come out 

He just kinda……………..stays there

and the prompts tell u he’s there

n ur gonna have to go with it and use the power of your imagination to believe he really do be there

In the First Order District, there’s the TIE Echelon, which functions the same way as the Millennium Falcon… But, you can’t do anything outside of exploring or using it for missions. This is how the X-Wing Starfighter in the Resistance Camp functions as well. 

It’s all pretty copy and paste, but w/e, that’s how EA does it  

 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

3. Missions

There may be several different missions per faction, but to no one’s surprise, they’re all literally the same one but worded differently.

Regular missions only have one plus (+) and one negative (-) icon

Regular Scoundrel missions only have one plus icon and no negatives since they don’t impact other factions

Each faction has a regular mission that pertains to:

Obtaining information

Exploring with the faction’s designated ship

Stealing from Supply Crates

Hacking a Control Panel

Yes………………….They’re very repetitive

You don’t have to do all of them though

You can spam the same one over and over as long as it fits the time slot

For example, the Resistance’s ship exploration mission is limited to only the day time and seems to disappear when it gets late in game

also there’s an error with the TIE Echelon where it’s missing a whole ass prompt

……As you can see, the options make no sense because the prompt is the same one that came before it 🥴

anyway…

Story Missions are the only missions that seem to differentiate from each faction.

All missions that pertain to the “story” are indicated with prerequisites of higher ranks within the faction

All of them give a double boost toward your faction

If it’s a Resistance story quest, it’ll always increase hostility from First Order members

Vice versa for the First Order faction

The Scoundrels are neutral, and do not impact any faction 

It’s only the Resistance and First Order factions that have very similar plot lines

but I’m guessing it’s only like that since they’re supposed to follow the vague cause/effect the two of them have?

4. Aspirations

The initial Aspiration you get when you pick the Star Wars umbrella in CAS (or in game) is “Hope VS Order.” After completing this one aspiration, you unlock the 3 that pertain to each faction.

Paragon of Hope

Resistance aspiration

Reward trait gives a boost to Charisma skill building

This is probably nice for those careers that need Charisma to be high, like the Political and Business branches

Enforcer of Order

First Order aspiration

Lowers chances of “Death from Anger”

Since I like killing my sims, I think this aspiration is pointless lmao

Galactic Privateer

Scoundrel aspiration

“Sleight of Hand” reward trait

Unlocks pickpocketing outside of Criminal branch usage

Best one here tbh

Works outside of Batuu, you’ll steal simoleons instead of credits

Also you can cheat whenever u play Sabaac and no one will notice

5. Reevaluation of Initial Opinions

I’ll be going through my initial list from my Response to the Ask I got before. I originally stated that it seemed promising and it was a 3.5~4/10.

Aesthetics/Visual: my opinion is unchanged, it still made me sad i can’t have a little shanty house out there or rent a garbo lot, 0.5/5

The longer I played, the more I didn’t find any new animations

The lightsaber sparring slowly began to look like a mash between GF and RoM duels after a while

I still hate that the areas were beautiful (+0.5) but the interactive places forced cutaway

why do you wanna ruin my screenshots like this, man

CAS/BB still is hard to integrate–Unless your sim is a geek with figurines, the ship models might be nice to add to their collections

Otherwise……

….

I don’t have a follow up for that, sry

Gameplay: uhhh at least i found something i could use outside of Batuu, 1.5/5

I think that playing 3984729847 repetitive missions for a long period time really orientated me to the whole map

…but the fact that i had trouble the first time around still makes it not-user friendly

the issue I had with the resistance members not having an icon? It’s a thing, I guess

The resistance quests take you on a weird trip to “prove” yourself so i guess the icons are supposed to show that they’re “not” resistance members or something idk

they’re supposed to be the sneaky underdogs who wanna do good or w/e

I guess that’s immersive…….. +0.5

sry im first order trash

they also have “Ignite the Spark” and “Ask about Missions” both leading to the same mission screen……………….

convenience?? i guess??

missions are still confusing, made worse when the game itself glitches up a storm

there was one mission where i had to go to the cantina to find someone

and they wouldn’t spawn within the time frame………….

i had to go in and out for like 3 days until they actually spawned

i only knew this bc i arrested half the people in the cantina while i was bored

so anyone without a red bar was probably them lmfaoo

also, as i stated above……. there’s some mission errors in the prompts 

Currency is still worthless.

Everything can be done by purely stealing from supply crates

Credits are only worth to blow it off on sabaac! 

The only real need for credits is to have 1,000 so u can buy a droid

Then slam the rest of those credits on the table to bet bajillions on a game of sabaac!

Aspirations………. Useful +1

Despite them being sorta niche, they’re pretty decent

Can abuse the rewards for optimal gameplay for a super sim

Honestly i just love the pickpocketing reward off the Scoundrel aspiration, just because it works outside of Batuu (and that he didn’t have to be in the Criminal career for it either)

In total, my personal rating for this pack is 2/10.

It was nice, but I don’t really see this pack being replayable, considering that i did everything there was to do on Batuu in a single trip. Sure I could’ve taken my time, but since everything would end up the same anyway, it felt like it was set up to be a one-time gig. 

At least with JA you’re moderately forced to return so you can collect treasures that are RNG–In JtB, you can snatch up all that you need on Batuu from grinding everything like a nutcase. There’s also chances of failure in JA, but on Batuu that percentage is almost little to none. The most you’ll ever get is a dazed moodlet that barely lasts, a negative relationship, and being escorted to a loading screen.  

I feel like this pack could be a little better if there were more risks involved, but there are barely any that I encountered. It’s just another weird, rehashed cash grab by EA.

[mysaldate]

what are your thoughts on kaigaku as a character? your analyses are always interesting to read so i'm curious to hear what you have to say about that... special... boy.

I'm putting this one up front since it's analysis and not headcanons (and also because he's an interesting character).

If you've seen my demon POV masterpost, you already know the outlines of what I'm gonna talk about. Kaigaku, like many other demons, suffered from the POV the story is told from. Furthermore, we didn't even get to see his side of the story, just Zenitsu's. And since we know Zenitsu is the character we're supposed to feel sorry for, I think it's safe to say most of us viewed Kaigaku as little more than another wrench in the lighning boi's life, thus there was little sympathy for him. Ever. Much less when we found out he became a demon.

But there's much more to Kaigaku than a prideful jerk, regardless of what the fandom might tell you. After all, we've been over fandom interpretations that omit backstory for the sake of painting a character in a worse light and Kaigaku's case is no different. But I said there's more to him than that because he certainly is a prideful jerk no matter how you look at it.

Guess what, that doesn't make him a bad guy, not in the slightest. You know who else is prideful? Most the pillars to a certain degree. You know who else is a jerk? Sanemi Most the pillars to a certain degree! That doesn't make them the bad guys in the slightest because somehow their position makes us feel like they have the right to be like that. It's a classic double standard, nothing too unusual both in fiction and real life. We forgive people above us way more than we would ever let slide if it came to someone we consider inferior to us. That might be the main issue with Kaigaku's character as well.

From the very first glimpse we get of Kaigaku, it's clear he respects their teacher way more than Zenitsu does in spite of having none of the warm familial relationship those two have. He scolds Zenitsu when he feels like he's not showing their elder enough respect and we don't see him ever allowing even himself to call Jigoro anything but master up till the moment where he feels neglected and underprecciated.

Honestly, much like in Kyogai's case, much of Kaigaku's anger and many of his actions are caused simply by feeling shunned but unlike with Kyogai, we never got to see a full backstory (+ there's the thing where we're supposed to like Zenitsu so we get to see this from his eyes rather than Kaigaku's). Kaigaku worked really hard and there was just a single technique he couldn't master. Meanwhile, Zenitsu was always crying and running away and didn't properly appreciate their teacher and only ever managed to learn a single technique — and he couldn't even use it consciously on top of that. By plain logic alone, Kaigaku was superior in every possible way. And yet, Jigoro decided to make the two of them equal, make them both become his successors together, thus completely destroying any feeling of achievement Kaigaku had.

And don't get me wrong, you can see where he was coming from too. It wasn't meant to harm Kaigaku or make him feel like whatever he was doing was not good enough for his teacher. But intentions and actual results may often clash. And that's completely fine, that's just how life works. And Kaigaku was mad and wouldn't understand the point of this. That's also fine, that can also happen and we've seen it on the human side of our cast many times already (Sanemi and Genya being the most notable example). Here lies what I believe might be the most controversial part of the backstory though.

We saw how quickly Jigoro got attached to Zenitsu despite Zeni having absolutely no qualifications, no redeeming qualities and no wish to become a slayer. He was a pathetic loser, incapable of even defending himself from an unfair debt. Jigoro not only took him in and cleaned up his mess after him but quite obviously cared for him very deeply.

With Kaigaku, we didn't really get to see much but the fact that he wouldn't ever think of calling him anything other than master (until he became a demon) and even scolded Zenitsu for showing such disrespect hints on a lot. Kaigaku's relationship with Jigoro was strictly proffessional in order to make him strong. There was no tender patient care like with Zenitsu. After all, while Zeni was allowed to only learn a single move, Kaigaku was refused his one ambition because he failed to learn one technique even though he mastered all the others.

It's obvious how this may seem as a double standard, especially if you put yourself in Kaigaku's position. Because it was pretty unfair, let's be honest here.

Of course, we know how this story ends. Kaigaku almost gets killed by Kokushibou but in the last minutes, Koku actually recognizes his strength and offers him blood. Kaigaku, who was already bitter and feeling rejected and shunned, and now also scared of dying, gladly takes him up on the offer. And we can't really blame him for that, we saw people turning into demons for less (playing outside with other kids in Rui's case for example). Not to mention, the rage he feels towards Zenitsu, the way he sees him as something less, that is very similar to how Kokushibou saw Yoriichi. Yet, you don't see people complaining about him being a jerk, at least not so much as you see it with Kaigaku.

And guess what, even as a demon, his eventual inferiority to Zeni is just as much of a burden as it has always been, perhaps even more. Forget the fact Zeni could only master one technique, forget the fact he was a cowardly crybaby up till now. No, in the final arc, he suddenly gets over his issues all at once. Suddenly, he's all brave and selfless and even comes up with an entirely new technique we have never even seen him train or attempt and-

You know what, I'm bitter about what a rushed arc Zenitsu's personal one was. It was out of nowhere, bland, boring and with no build-up. Zenitsu was an annoying character who only ever cried and ran away and hit on girls (and not even normally hit on them, he just went Mr. Creepy on them) and then, one meditation later, he's suddenly badass who is dedicated to a revenge plot? Look, I don't necessarily dislike comedic relief characters and if a character starts like that and then gets developed to be deep and cool, that's even better. But there's just so much cringe and out of nowhere sudden development for Zenitsu that I feel honestly cheated.

TLDR: Kaigaku doesn't deserve the shit he's getting because he's basically Koku but with more reasons behind his jealousy and also because his supposedly better counterpart is objectively worse than him in every way while Yoriichi was at least praised for his actual skills.

[chriscdcase95]

Reposting for TLDR reasons. 

To see the full rant, click the “Keep Reading”, but this covers what I consider an example of a show taking shipping wars too seriously, giving fans and how it can potentially pull a show down the tubes. Especially at the expense of character development and their stories.

It’s kind of a follow-up to another post I made about canon and non canon ships, and how there’s some ship based stories better left to fanfiction.

Disclaimer: I generally don’t like Ship Policing (bullying, and badgering other people for liking “the wrong ship”) despite this being one of my biggest NOTP’s. I don’t intend to bully people who like this ship, and this analysis is based on my observations and opinions. 

So here I am talking about a barley known show and ship that’s barely relevant anymore if at all. This is a follow up post on a Loud House post regarding a non canon ship called Luaggie. I mentioned on that post , how it was an example of a fanfic ship and it’s best to be left a fanfic based ship. I now bring to you it’s antithesis; Jemma of Every Witch Way. Originally this was strictly about why some ships and stories that are best left to fanfiction, but there are so many problems with this ship, that I don’t really know where to start. I guess I’ll start with an introduction to the show.

Edit: I also had to revisit to trim this down, and correct misinformation.

Edit Edit: Twice. I had to edit it twice!

“What is Every Witch Way ?”

Every Witch Way was a comedy/drama series on Nickelodeon. Anyone who heard of it would know it is an Americanized remake of Grachi, a Latin American Nickelodeon series. The less educated may dismiss it as a Wizards of Waverly Place knockoff. The series focuses on Emma Alonso, a teenage girl who moves to Miami with her father and discovers she is a witch and chosen to one day lead the magical realm. With a group of muggle friends, the enthusiastic tough girl Andi; Emma’s queen bee rival Maddie also being a witch; a subplot about Fantastic Racism that ended with the wiping out of all but two of an entire race; we got ourselves a simple little TV show that could be a passible watch.

Coming from a post iCarly, Victorious and Big Time Rush era of Nickelodeon, where most of their shows were marketed to the younger kids and barely anything for teens to chew on, Every Witch Way was a breath of fresh air. Taking cues from previous Nick shows such as H2O Just Add Water and House of Anubis, and aimed for a teenage audience, it was more interested in telling stories than telling jokes.

I would have called the show an underrated cult classic series to get nostalgic over, like The Troop (a show which I’ll also talk about one day)…then comes seasons three and four and it becomes clear that Every Witch Way is more interested in ship war than it was telling stories. Maybe I was giving the show too much credit or had too much expectations for it. Let’s just say this was no House of Anubis or the Avatar franchise. I don’t know what pulled the show down the tubes; it was either the character Jax Novoa and his story arc, or his relationship with Emma. But they overlap with eachother so I might as well cover all of them.

“What kind of relationship is Jemma ?”

Imagine if you will; a high school drama, that involves a loving, kind and empathetic girl meeting a dark brooding bad boy, who does bad things. But because he has a sad past and bad parents, anything bad he does is immediately forgiven and brushed aside, or justified. And it is by the love of this girl, and only because of this love, does the bad boy get redeemed. 

It’s the kind of story you see in mediocre romance stories or fanfics; the idea that the dark and brooding love interest with a bad past or history can be changed for the better with the love of the protagonist. This describes the relationship Emma and Jax’s relationship to such a tee that it’s borderline parody. The kind of reationship you’d at least put some kind of spin on.

So how does this compare to Jax and Emma’s relationship ? A quick description is that Jax is a new student and a dark seeming wizard introduced in the second season, who immediately displays an arrogant personality and behaviour while befriending Emma and putting the moves on her (and making a quick rivalry with Emma’s then boyfriend Daniel). Emma has a good heart, and a loving empathetic girl, so of course she likes to see the good in people and Jax was no exception. Jax eventually “changes” his darker ways and becomes more altruistic, mainly to get back and stay into Emma’s good graces. 

Normally, I have no issues with an Enemies to Lovers story, but it’s the context and overexposure that puts Jemma in a bad light.

Emma continuously forgives, or ignores Jax’s flaws to near absurdity, mainly because Jax has a dead mom and an emotionally distant, controlling and seemingly abusive father…which is shown to be false in the many retcons season four gives us.

“What are the problems with Jemma ?”

I said in another post that a friend of mine defined toxic relationships differently than I did; one definition was that a ship is toxic based off of fans behaviour in the name of the ship; I define them for how much it romanticizes problematic behaviour. How does Jemma fall into either of these ?

Back when Every Witch Way was on, Jax x Emma fans were pretty rapid, and became the most loud and vocal part of the fanbase. Any attempts to criticize Jax, his behaviour or relationship with Emma is bombarded with “HE CHANGED! HE CHANGED FOR HER!” ad nauseum. 

It’s gotten to the point where they literally vote their preference to make them the shows official couple. This can be partially blamed on the writers because they went about asking their audience what they want to happen in a TV show, having them vote for wat hey want to happen and in turn made season four into a Jemma based AU fic that rewrote the entire show. Kind of lacks integrity if you ask me. It also had to have been one of most one sided and manufactured shipping wars I’ve seen. By the end of the series, Jemma fans were pretty sore winners.

So Jemma fans could be pushy, but did Jax and Emma’s relationship entail toxic ideals I listed above ? On the surface, “no” since Jax doesn’t physically abuse Emma or the like…but Jax is manipulative person, and is rather possessive and entitled towards Emma all things considered. And what else can you say about a relationship where this partner has manipulated and gaslighted nearly everyone around him to get in, and attempts to destroy the world over a breakup ?

There’s so much to cover that stems from Jax that I might as well write a section on Jax himself. The worst that can be said of Emma here is that she was too forgiving and empathetic for her own good.

“Jax and how not to write a redemption arc”

So Jax is an overwhelmingly popular character on the show, so much that season four retconned him into the main character behind Emma. It’s easy to call him a Gary Stu character since he’s a seemingly perfect character who gets his way all the time and soon becomes the center of the show. This trope also fits; “Draco In Leather Pants” where a villain tends to get romanticized or woobified in fanfics regardless of how sympathetic or redeemable they are in canon; mostly because they are cute.

When Jax was introduced, he was the de-facto Big Bad of season two, being the most prominent, and personal antagonist and direct source of most of the drama that occurs in the season. Throughout the season he befriends and puts the moves on Emma with the intent on using the power coming Fool Moon (long story) to take over the world and rule at her side. Jax eventually falls in love with Emma, but when she breaks up with him when she makes right with Daniel… Jax’s response was aiding in an attempt to destroy the magic realm; something they make clear would kill all but a few magical beings in the world and this is something Jax is very aware of In the final showdown Jax makes it clear to Emma that he doesn’t care about what could happen to their loved ones in this magical apocalypse, so long as Emma is with him.

Again, I wouldn’t take this as seriously if the show didn’t treat it as seriously.

Now in his defense, I was originally rooting for Jax to reform himself. No joke, I genuinely wanted to see how Jax would make good with those he manipulated, pushed around and tried to fucking kill. I like a good redemption stoy as much as the next guy, but Jax doesn’t really go through one; he just turns Face at the last minute, apologizes to Emma about not wanting to hurt her, Emma immediately forgives him and Jax wastes no time putting the moves on her and antagonizing Daniel. What punishment does Jax go through ? What atonement did he have to suffer ? He’s put through a boot camp with the threat losing his powers, all the while he agonizes that those who he wronged still resent him. To be fair he does have genuine good deeds in season three; such as heping a dying friend, and even riskiig his life to save another But even then, the sho treats Emma as his prize for being a Nice Guy, and he admits this to Emma during the third seasons finale in a scene we are supposed to find romantic. And when he gets the girl, its all rendered moot in season four.

Helping or not helping with Jax’s character is that in season two he is given multiple “excuses”; controlling and abusive father, seemingly dead mother. They worked back then in making Jax sympathetic. The problem is when we get the actual revelations of his family and in turn make him unsympathetic in retrospect.

“The Mess That Is Season Four”

I don’t like the Fanon Discontinuity trope - where fans refuse to accept an istallment as canon out of a dislike of them. I generally don’t apply this trope with very few exceptions. But let me tell you this; when I say season four isn’t canon to the previous seasons, that’s not me talking, that’s the show itself talking. 

It isn’t a continuation of the previous seasons, it’s a reboot. When Emma and Jax become the shows OTP, the universe literally changes around them. Season four introduces a plot point that where an SCP style anomaly exists called a Continuum Break, in which as a direct result of Emma’s decision, the universe casted Daniel out of everyone’s lives, and their friends memories, and retroactively replaces him with Jax. Subsequently, the events of the previous seasons and their conflicts revolve around Jax and Emma’s relationship. 

One reason why these retcons don’t work is that because the world was altered in Jemma’s image, Jax here isn’t the same Jax as we knew through season two and three. The retcons fail because Jax’s previous sympathy is erased in retrospect, because Jax would hide behind his parents as an excuse for his actions (the dead mother wasn’t dead, but in fact, secret villain; and Jax’s abusive father wasn’t abusive). Jax being sympathetic hinged off of these excuses, and they either never applied, or was hit by the reset button, and thus irrelevant to his development.

And I am left asking myself why the writers came up with the Continuum Break in the first place ?Where Jemma fans that pushy about making their ship canon that they had to make it the only canon relationship in the show ? If so, that’s how wildly Jemma shippers are, if not that’s on the writers for being that much fan slaves. What other point could there be in portraying the Continuum Break as the way things should be ? Not to be pesimeistic, but it feels like this is the show throwing a character under the bus for the sake of rewriting the previous seasons and making Jax the new protagonist.

On top of that, other characters and arcs get thrown under the bus too

Mainly, Mia Black, who was introduced in season three as the de-facto main antagonist, and is added as another member of the love triangle. Mia is also affected by the Continuum Break as she is also cast from everyone’s memories and lives, to live an alternate life with Daniel. This is arguably more jarring than Daniel being taken away because Mia ultimately doesn’t sacrifice her morals for what she believes in and ultimately wasn’t that much of a threat and her own redemption arc is foreshadowed throughout the season by bonding with Daniel and Diego, and the added empathise on how lonely she is. This culminates in Emma reaching out to her in the season finale, and declaring herself her protector.  Like Jax, I was looking forward to seeing where they would take Mia and her arc the next season. Well as a result of the Continuum Break, she’s out of everyone’s lives, and living an artificial alternate one the universe spat out. Like Daniel, she may have been happy with her new life, but it still renders everything they foreshadowed for her and what she’s been through for nothing.

Personal conclusion

I reiterate my first statement Every Witch Way was a great show (first three seasons, at least is IMO). It was a breath of fresh air in a time when most of Nick’s shows were targeting a younger demographic in a post iCarly, Big Time Rush, and Victorious era. I’d call it an cult classic series, but I still feel that season four keeps it from being one of the great ones. I do recommend checking the series out, the story arcs are mostly good. Unfortunately by the time season four rolled in, it seemed pretty clear the show was more interested in shipping wars than it was in telling it’s stories.

I can’t really pinpoint what caused the show to drop in quality; the manufactured ship war ? Jax as a character ? Jemma’s pushy fans ? The writers for bending to fan demands ? Either way, season four’s Continuum Break was something the show could have done without. I won’t say that Jax is the most unlikeable character on the show (that would be Emma’s father) and he isn’t the most evil either (that would be Torres). I consider Jax and his blunders more so the fault of how he was written than anything else.

I will give Jax and Jemma this; the character and ship has so much going for it, I can’t help but compare and contrast them to other similar characters, story arcs and ships. I use it as an example of not to write a redemptive romance, and why some things are best left to fanfiction. But above all else, I hold it as an example as to why writers and creators shouldn’t sacrifice their stories blindly cater to fans and popular ships.

[yukidragon]

You know what grinds my gears is when people say that when you make Chara a irredeemable villain that they’re flat and not complex which is very far from the truth I mean there’s characters like Thanos who are very interesting and had a understandable motive but his actions were not justifiable and he still wasn’t redeemed in the end, tbh I think villain Charas are LOT better written than good Charas which tend to be too perfect, ride on emo tropes, and come off as bland and uninteresting

Thank you very much~! Mouko and I feel the same way. In fact, that’s one of the primary reasons why we created the Risen Child blog in the first place. Villains that are sympathetic and/or redeemable are interesting, but they’re not the only kind of villains out there.

For example, classic Maleficent is a fantastic character who has stood the test of time, and she proclaimed herself to be the mistress of evil. She had not a speck of kindness whatsoever, but she was a lot of fun to watch the way she just reveled in making others suffer for slighting her. Personally, I feel she lost a chunk of what made her interesting in the live action version.

If anyone has had the misfortune of dealing with a narcissist - or someone who lacks empathy in general in favor of their own desires - then they will know that there are people out there who will exploit your sympathy towards them to the fullest. These people have their own motivations, things that make them happy or upset, the full range of the human experience, but that doesn’t guarantee that they will ever care about anyone else but themselves. What makes them worse is people who will justify what they do, who feel that their suffering is any excuse for the suffering they inflict on others. These enablers are then used as shields so the toxic person can evade blame and continue to prey on others.

More than a few members of the Chara Defense Squad (or whatever label that got slapped on it) go so far in their defense, they look like enablers. Why did Chara want to murder every last human on the planet, including people they clearly could never have encountered, as well as infants and the elderly? Well, obviously there’s something that excuses it out there. Let’s spin the wheel of abuse and headcanon away all the blame! Obviously it’s the fault of other people, not the character we have chosen to protect. Who cares if that just makes someone else into an irredeemable villain? The character we like is safe from all repercussions of their actions.

Personally, I think that’s cowardly. Chara wanted humans to die. They meticulously set up a plan that would allow them to leave the underground with the power to kill humans. They manipulated another child’s sympathies towards them and the monsters into agreeing with murder. They went so far that they were willing to kill themselves, not to escape pain, but to gain the power to kill humans. Maybe Chara didn’t know their consciousness would linger after death? They still died specifically to ensure that Asriel would murder at least six humans. This was more important to them than the suffering they would inflict on their adoptive family who loved them. And, naturally, if humans see a monster killing a few of them, well… what’s more murder after that?

Want to show Chara is a good person? Want to redeem Chara? Admit Chara wanted to murder people. Chara was going to murder people if Asriel didn’t stop them. The second Chara got the power to kill, they went for it. Then, after acknowledging this to be fact, have them realize their wrongs and take steps to make amends. A Chara who has grown from such a dark experience is a far stronger and more interesting one than someone who was just a puppet to external forces.

Most of the characters in the game are guilty of attempted murder. Some succeeded. The past humans who fell were murdered by monsters. Frisk was murdered. This shouldn’t be shrugged off or treated like it’s nothing just because Frisk could reset the timeline and come back to life.

Past trauma and desperation explain the motivations, but it does not absolve someone of the blame of their actions.

TLDR: Chara did a bad thing. We shouldn’t pretend that bad thing was okay.

[merryfortune]

001. Precure in general. 002: HikaLala. 003: Himari Arisugawa? (not all of them, just what you would like to answer, if any at all)

PreCure in general

Favorite character: Emiru Aisaki

Least Favorite character: this is… highkey unfair and for no good reason but that Towa girl. I’m like 2 episodes away from the violinist princess getting redeemed in Go Princess PreCure but I stan Yui so hard that in my eyes, Towa is the reason that Yui isn’t able to become the Princess of Music & Art

5 Favourite ships (canon or non-canon): Emiru/Lulu, Haruka/Kirara, Hikaru/Lala, Nozomi/Coco, Haruka/Close but there are more but these ones with the most interesting story or dynamic

Character I find most attractive: don’t at @ me but I think Close (and Shut) are both gorgeous as all hell (I like thots apparently)

Character I would marry:

Character I would be best friends with: Emiru!!!!!!!!!!

A random thought: where is all the fic ;w;

An unpopular opinion: I really liked how the Homare has a crush on Harry plot was handled. Maybe it’s because I remember/was in Homare’s position once (16/17 year old me was hot for teacher lol), I really liked how she found closure for herself without having to confess her feelings. I dislike how vehemently fandom will deny that this plotline even took place because I think young girls, who will develop crushes on unattainable/older men, need to be shown stories of how to handle those feelings without placing themselves in danger of being preyed on.

My canon OTP: Akira/Yukari (look, if the dub had to ungay them, that must make them canon)

Non-canon OTP: gonna give this to Ichika/Himari because I shipped them before Emiru was introduced I’m p sure so they get seniority privileges

Most badass character:

Pairing I am not a fan of: tbh I think I can give most precure ships a chance but I did see some Smile PreCure ships where I’m ehhh on. I only like Nao/Reika from that set. all the others should stick to being friends.

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): I think this goes without saying but Hana. Saaya, and Homare got super screwed over by Hugtto having a lot of Emiru/Lulu subplots. Also, Yui. She should have gone PreCure.

Favourite friendship: I mostly read said friendship as romantic but Emiru and Lulu……… they’re best friends oh my god

HikaLala

when or if I started shipping it: hmmmm middle of episode 1; definitely cemented by the end of episode 2 lol

my thoughts: I wrote a meta on them so I have a lot which mostly boils down to a lot of great symbolism between them gives them subtextual evidences, they hold hands a lot canonically so that’s cute, and it’s just a great ship

What makes me happy about them: Hikaru gets an alien girlfriend aND ITS FANTASTIC

What makes me sad about them: the Hikoboshi and Orihime parallels between them heavily implies that sometime in the future, they will separate and they will only have miniscules chances of continually/regularly seeing each other thereafter ;v;

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: me, who owns a lot of property in the hikalala fanfic tag on ao3, jack and shit, babe!

Things I look for in fanfic: anything which accentuates Lala’s alien-ness

My kinks: look… Lala can generate electricity…. that gives a lot of stimulation play scenarios but mostly… nah

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: I like these ships a lot - Hikaru/Yuni, Lala/Yuni, and Lala/Madoka

My happily ever after for them: they go off traipsing the universe, exploring. Hikaru takes after her father and writes a book on her travels whilst Lala uses the information to update the Saman Planet AI because I’d love to see a plot twist where the AI isn’t quite as benevolent as Lala trusts it is so she takes it upon herself to remedy it (using the Rainbow Planet Tragedy as a catalyst for said goal or as foreshadowing towards it)

Himari Arisugawa

How I feel about this character: I was expecting to fall totally head over heels in love with either Aoi or Yukari since their animal motifs are both feline and I’m a major cat person but instead, Himari managed to steal my heart before either of them got the chance. I super relate to her and see a lot of myself and some of my struggles (particularly in social situations) in her. so yeah. I love my squirrel daughter.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: Ichika

My non-romantic OTP for this character: no one in canon springs to mind…  which brings to mind something else… so this is out of the left-field but I had a dream once where Spectre met all the KiraKira PreCure A La Mode girls but it was Himari whom he bonded the most with in said dream (kind of “I’ve only had Himari for five minutes but if anything happened to her, I’d kill everyone in this room and then myself” type situation or maybe its more comparable to the reaction image of the samurai dude (spectre) with the cat (himari)). anyway long story short, her and spectre because if one favourite character makes me happy then two makes me even happier.

My unpopular opinion about this character: she is the best girl of KiraKira PreCure A La Mode.

One thing I wish would happen/had happened with this character in canon: can’t remember if this happens or not but I swear KiraKira forgot at some point that the girls gained animal characteristics (so, in Himari’s case, her superspeed) so I would have liked to see that explored more. also in a kind of Tokyo Mew Mew twist, I would have liked to see Himari (and by extension, all the girls) deal with their new animal natures in their civilian forms too… like, this might be too lore heavy for PreCure but I would have liked to see Himari (and I guess this applies to all the girls) deal with becoming “part fairy” (just like Pekorin and Ciel had to deal with becoming part human). TLDR: more Squirrel characteristics from Himari, please!!! because I am a furry!!!!

My OTP: Ichika/Himari

My OT3: i don’t have any but if I was at gunpoint, the options I suppose I could live with are Rio/Ichika/Himari (gee, Ichika, who let you have a girlfriend AND a boyfriend) or Aoi/Himari/Ichika because apparently Aoi/Himari is a semi-popular ship???

[klanced]

i’ve been putting off season 5 for literal months now just bc i’m really uninterested in the current storyline + the way i see it going. i’m not really into making lotor a sympathetic villain, at least while he’s still a “probational” member/peripheral member of the team. 

i’m into his whole “conflicting ideals/identity crisis” thing he’s got going on rn along with the subplotline about his connection w his parents and their respective legacies, but i don’t like how he’s doing it while so close to the team. it definitely makes things... messier. idk. i just feel that voltron is trying too hard to redeem lotor by pulling an “character is at an all time low so let’s see how they develop” card except they’re barely sticking to the trope, lmao.

lotor is an interesting character in that he’s so good at playing to expectations, it’s easy to simultaneously doubt and trust him. but it would be cleaner and more emotionally resonating if lotor were to experience this all time low in an environment where he’s surrounded by friends who trust him and who he (probably) trusts in turn, like his generals, instead of with the team, who are suspicious of every move so lotor has to play up more masks and avoid more topics without ever emotionally resolving anything. it’s too busy.

also every time lotor tries to butter up allura/appeal to her emotionally i’m literally just

tldr: ¯\_(-_-)_/¯ 

[paperstarwriters]

Ok so, uh, to followers that follow me for transformers, the arcana, or writing stuff, first off, I know I don’t really need to apologize but I feel kinda bad ruining the usual content you come to my blog for.

Yeah I know, “it’s my blog” and all but sorry. You will not stop me from apologizing.

And two— this obviously isn’t Transformers or Arcana related so keep scrolling if you aren’t interested in someone talking about marvel- specifically Bucky Barnes.

We good?

Now, I’m not really a part of the marvel fandom… I’ve seen the movies and I know some of the comics but I wouldn’t really consider myself a fan….

Buuuuut….

I’ve kinda stumbled face first into Bucky Barnes. (ImeanheandMurielarekindasimmilaryoucan'tblameme… don’t try to read that) And while I haven’t seen the tv show or anything yet and m memories of the movie are pretty foggy I know the general premise of his character from fanworks.

And I just wanna say—

Is it bad that I wanna introduce the man to Violet Evergarden?

See, what I generally note is that Bucky kinda hates his metal arm. I don’t blame him, he probably associates it with killing. And I know he might be a bit weary seeing a character outright declare themselves I be a tool, a weapon meant for war, I kinda hope he’d at least sympathize a little bit with her.

Again I haven’t seen the tv show, but from what I know Bucky is still trying to move on from being the Winter Soldier. He has a therapist, who he doesn’t really like and he struggles to comply with the therapy she tries to provide.

Violet, while without a therapist goes through the same kind of trip. While her journey doesn’t focus entirely on the topic, Violet still has to learn or move on from her wrong-doings during the war. She’s been used as a weapon and she’s had to go through a process to learn that what she did was wrong, then she has to lean that while she did wrong she could still redeem herself. On top of it all, Violet has metal arms herself. The metal of her hands have never seen blood but I think the connection would still be there.

I just wanna show Bucky that he’s allowed to hope for redemption and forgiveness, and that his metal arm doesn’t make him dangerous or a weapon.

Now obviously when recommending I wouldn’t outright link him to Violet, no one wants to be exposed like that (with reasonable exceptions). I’d probably just recommend it as a sad show to watch or just start watching it within proximity of him and hope he notices. If all else fails I’d probably call on cap. (I’m still in the denial phase just saying. With fanfics I don’t think I’d leave.)

Oh yeah, and I am one of those people who takes pleasure in watching people suffer through sad stories. I totally wanna se how he’d react to things like episode ten or the more war-centric episodes. Kinda mean, I know, but don’t worry I don’t make fun of people when I do and I’m not gonna start with him (if Sam starts the banter though…)

So yeah. TLDR; I wanna let Bucky Barnes watch Violet Evergarden because I think he’d relate to Violet and he’d appreciate that a person like him is allowed to have nice things.

Also again I’m not real apart of the fandom I’m sorry if I got some things wrong.

[isuzukuretsuki]

Welp I finished Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk and my biggest comment is that this game has more plot holes than swiss cheese.

*insert more shifty eye uncomfortable emojis* 

What was...... that convoluted mess of a game I just played? Like this is reaching Zero Escape level of plot holes and “wow the writer clearly has no idea what the hell they are doing”. I don’t even know where I’m gonna start breaking down the amount of issues. Lots of spoilers beneath.

My favourite order is prob Levi > Elric > Lugus > Hugh > Eiar > Aria > Tee > Lord > Olgar > Lawrence >>>> Lavan >>>>>>>>>> Francisca

For starters, this felt like less of an otome game and more of a gang bang 5p fuck pile orgy. Seriously. One moment, Eiar is making out with Lavan, the next moment, Eiar is dreaming of sleeping with Lugus and wakes up panicking because “oh no! I think I’m in love with Lugus!”. If the romance is “the heroine being passed among all the guys”, I’d rather there be no romance at all. It felt more like a fucking badly written reverse harem anime than an otome. I had this problem with PBB but boy it was not this level of bad. 

None of the characters really develop, none of the relationships really develop. Let’s not even get started on the fact that 2/4 of your love interests are your adopted brothers who are actually your blood cousins. At first I enjoyed Lugus’s enchantment with Eiar but it doesn’t develop beyond that. Why is Lugus even in love with Eiar? His feelings never felt like anything beyond captivation, and the same applied for Eiar. Why is Lavan in love with Eiar? Because he’s some gross nii-chan lusty pervert who’s in love with his adopted sister??? IDK. 

The only one who genuinely felt like he loved Eiar was Levi, and even Levi’s character was butchered with the whole “yeah I’m a serial killer who enjoys inflicting pain onto other people”. Even if you blame it on the ~magical stone~, the revelation was like a slap in the face and it was so disconnected w everything we knew of Levi. The writers clearly didn’t know if they wanted to write him as a character who’s sadistic and ruthless, or if they wanted to write him as a character who was manipulated by his mother into becoming her assassin through abuse + gaslighting. The writers aimed for both, and failed miserably at both. 

Speaking of Francisca, the fact that Francisca is an evil bitch is literally NEVER brought up lol???? Like when Levi admits that Francisca was using him as an assassin, Eiar and Lavan are shocked but.......... that’s it. Especially in Levi’s ending, the fact that there’s never a hint of acknowledgement that Francisca was abusing him is jarring to say the least. There’s never any real discussion of how Eiar and the Wolf brothers feel about Francisca after they find out what she did to Aria and Olgar. Like wow we just found out our mom is a piece of shit, let us NEVER DISCUSS THIS or have ANY heart to heart talk about this EVER. Because that will give our characters perfect closure! The fact that Eiar never returns to her real name, the name given to her by her mother, also kind of bothers me.

Francisca’s character was honestly butchered along with Levi after everything she did to Aria was revealed. "That evil slut is taking away all the men in my life!” is not a good enough motive to burn a completely innocent woman to death, sorry. Her love for her sons felt shallow and her love for Eiar felt like she was just trying to show up Aria. I can’t find any redeemable thing about her and her character just ended up being at to the bottom of the barrel along with Rika and Mejojo. The only emotion I got out of the whole dumpster fire between the parents was “wow Aria deserved so much fucking better”.

Now lets get started with all the fucking plot holes this game has. 

For starters, if the whole town is actually Psychedelica and everyone lost their memories, it makes no sense for Francisca to be the only one who remembers killing Aria, and there’s never any indication to confirm whether or not Francisca is actually aware the fact that everyone is in Psychedelica.

Speaking of Aria, that scene where Aria is shown to be slumbering in the abyss and stops the kids from completing the Kaleido Via makes no sense either. For starters, why is Aria even in the abyss? She died in the real world, so her soul should have moved onto the afterlife, or she should have been trapped in the Psychedelica town too. Actually, the fact that she isn’t trapped makes no sense. Olgar activated the Kaleido Via with a desire to see Aria again (similar to Hikage with Usagi), so it makes no sense for Aria’s soul to not be drawn to the town if the town was created through Aprus and Olgar’s collective desires.

I don’t really understand why tf Aria would want to stop the kids from completing the Kaleido Via when that’s literally the only method to free the souls of the town so they continue into the afterlife? It’d make sense for Aria to stop them if their souls would go into the abyss, but again, it’s explicitly stated that your soul will only end up in the abyss if you die in Psychedelica. And again, the fact that Aria is supposedly in the abyss makes no sense in the first place. The scene with the kids and the kaleido via was so out of place it was ridiculous. How do you not remember a scene where a shard flew into your friend’s eye and caused her to bleed everywhere?

Moving on, it’s literally never explained what the hell is up with Eiar’s red eye. It can be assumed that Eiar inherited it from Aria who really was a witch, but then that doesn’t explain why only one of Eiar’s eyes glow red and not both. 

MOVING ON, who the fuck is Hugh and literally what is his damn role in the story. Like I looove character types like him bc and I’m a huge sucker for “mysterious observer characters who act as the story’s narrator” not to mention he’s beautiful but Hugh’s origins and role remains wishy washy from start to end and his character ends up being a plot device to give 30 minute info dumps on the plot. Like, he’s the dumb dead bird that lived with Ashen Witch (whom I assume is Aria’s mother), and after he’s killed by Aprus, Ashen Witch... releases his... soul? So he becomes... a mindless traveler traveling between the different Psychedelica worlds...? I guess??? It’s implied that Hugh is the one who gave Hikage the kaleidoscope but again, how or why he did so is never explained either. I also dunno wtf is up with his ending where Eiar just magically turns into a butterfly and whooshes away with Hugh.

I still have no idea what was with that scene where he chats with Aria about the stories in the Links ending, and I definitely don’t know what was with that scene where Aria talks with Eiar and decides to name her non born child off of her (who is the same Eiar). Like what?? are dreams and timelines converging or something??? No clue.

Also. What the fuck is the deal with Lawrence and Elric??? THAT’S NEVER EXPLAINED? Like yes, I know that much that they’re Kagiha and Hikage respectively but literally wtf is Kagiha and Hikage doing in Aprus/Olgar’s Psychedelica. Lawrence clearly retains his memories as Kagiha, but Hikage never does and it’s like ??? why?? Also why is Usagi in a form of a rabbit in this world? WHO KNOWS. I was just so tired of this game that by the time I was half way done all the endings I just wanted it to be over already.

No joke, I seriously thought that PAA took place in the real world where Hikage was born and raised because of the medieval/historical setting and we’d learn more about the lore of the manor and the kaleidoscope. Honestly though, I wish it was because it prob would have made this game a million times better. If the game was split between a “wolves” and “hawks” path like BWS, it probably would have fixed some of the problems with the terrible romance.

The one good thing I will say about this game is that it’s the first otome game localization from Aksys I’ve played that didn’t give me a migraine because of no proof readers. There were some issues with wrong tenses being used but other than that it wasn't littered with typos like literally EVERY OTHER otome they’ve localized so far lmao.

Presentation wise, this game is beautiful. The sprite work is beautiful and the cgs are amazing. I loved the character designs for all the guys like A++ pretty boys. Unfortunately, the OST really lacked in comparison to PBB this time around. This game had so much potential but everything just fell apart the further and further you go and that’s what makes it even more disappointing. It’s setting and premise were a million times more interesting than PBB. Like medieval setting? Check. Feud between two clans with the heroine caught in between? Check. It had everything I loved and I was confident I was going to love it but the execution was just so terribad that I don’t love it. I can’t love it. I do love all the characters sans Lavan and Francisca though and I think they all deserved better. They deserved better writing. They deserved better development. I wish I could just rework this entire game from the ground up because that’s how frustrated I am with it lmao.

TLDR; I am very very disappointed with this game and it’s such a shame because I loved Black Butterfly to bits and pieces but this game ended up being a convoluted mess of bad and inconsistent writing. PBB had a rather weak premise with an uninteresting and incredibly cliche “all childhood friends in love w the heroine and there’s ~tragedy~!”. However, it had a very interesting and well written lore and universe while simultaneously being clean and easy to understand so it didn’t make any unnecessary loop holes for itself. PAA was the complete opposite. I enjoyed the connections this game made to the first game, but that was pretty much it. 

anyway wow that was long, this is the first time I’ve played a game where all I can do is go on a tangent about all the problems I’ve had with it. Hopefully other people enjoyed this game more than I did HAHA.

[robertjacobsugdens]

1/2 I want Kate the 'Robron love making" Kate, to add something too if she wants. So I was always conflicted with Robert & his feelings about Aaron. During the affair I was like he wants him but he is using him, HF/Chrissie was always Rob's first choice. There wasn't a dilemma to that. There was so much ambiguity/manipulation/lack of actual intimacy that I was sure it couldn't be anything beyond sex/power play for Robert. Then the lodge came & for once I saw for a few seconds raw emotions in Rob

2/2 And then only once scene convince me that Aaron meant something more for Robert. Something close to love. After the affair reveal he had a scene with Vic. When she told him that she wants him happy, Jack would have understood. When she told him 'I just want to find somebody y love' the way Ryan said 'I did. Chrissie' & then 'No' for Aaron 'it doesn't matter anw' It was obvious from Ryan's acting. So my question is to analyze Ryan's acting choice.

3. to this day, I'm can't figure out if the writers wrote Robert being in love with Aaron or if it meant for Robert to play Aaron and not have genuine feelings beyond lust. It was meant to be an affair not something deeper so... I'm still conflicted. Like Katie (RIP) x old Robert affair was written as a love story.

Hi Anon!

Okay, so, as always, let me preface that neither Kate nor I have the last name Stanislavsky, so our understanding of Ryan’s acting choices and Robert’s actions is very much filtered through personal opinions/feelings.

First things first, here’s @lesfemmesdangereuses thoughts and feelings. She loved this ask by the way. And please let’s now only refer to her as “Robron love making” Kate. It’s what she deserves. 

tw: self harm

Kate (and like, for the sake of accuracy I’m gonna say that she sent me about 45 texts about this, but I’m putting it all in one line or this would rival the Odyssey. I love her): My take on this. Is that Robert fell in love way earlier than he let himself acknowledge. Bc we see his mask slip. He fucks up. So much. And this idea he only wanted CHRISSIE and HF. Works to a point. Except. You cannot. Work around the fact that he TOLD AARON THAT HE’D LIED TO HIM ABOUT KATIE’S DEATH AT THE LAY-BY. BC AARON SELF HARMING SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF HIM. NOTHING ABOUT HIM DOING THAT. WAS TO KEEP AARON IN LINE OR BE ABLE TO CONTROL HIM OR WHATEVER. IT WAS ENTIRELY BC HE LOVED AARON AND WAS SCARED FOR HIM AND HE TOOK A MASSIVE FUCKING RISK IN DOING IT. AND SAID THE PHRASE “I can’t just watch you fall apart”. Even while trying to murder Aaron’s mom. He was like. I’VE NOTICED HIS SELF HARMING FOR WEEKS HOW COULD YOU NOT NOTICE. HOME FARM WEEK WAS EXPLICITLY HIM WANTING TO LIVE DOMESTIC BLISS WITH AARON I JUST. And like. Robert was so fucked up and in denial. Which is another point actually. Which is that. CHRISSIE and Home Farm and money and power and what he thought would make his dad proud. Were all linked. Whereas why the robron emotionally intimate sex theory carries water. Is that him wanting to be with Aaron. Was just about Aaron. Every other person he’s slept with and been with there’s at least been one other main factor at play. Eg fucking over Andy. Lmao. Money, status. Aaron had nothing like that. Aaron was always such a huge risk. And he kept finding ways to be with him. So whole I see where people are coming from sort of with like. He chose Chrissie/HF over Aaron loads during the affair. Lmao he kept fucking. Choosing Aaron. In every way that mattered. Early damn on. He Confided in Aaron about so much. And tried to change because he knew Aaron was disappointed in him. Their relationship was so intense so early because they really fucking. Got each other right off the bat. And loved being around each other. And liked each other as people. Which is a nightmare. But Rob was so fucked up about himself. And Aaron’s self worth was very bad. And it was a mess because to everyone else. Eg Chas and Paddy. Rob was using Aaron bc the sex was good and he just cheats and doesn’t give a fuck just like always. But even Chas. Fucking saw the way he reacted when Aaron collapsed. And realized that nope, this isn’t just sex. TLDR. I THINK IT’S HARD TO SPECIFICALLY DATE BUT. ROBERT WAS ABSOLUTELY HEAD OVER HEELS FOR AARON P EARLY ON. HE CARED ABOUT HIM LOADS. HE TOLD AARON PERSONAL SHIT REALLY FUCKING EARLY. HE WANTED TO HAVE WYLIES FARM AS A PLACE FOR HIM AND AARON TO LIVE. LITERALLY EVEN BEFORE KATIE DIED. HE BELIEVED IN AARON SO MUCH AND WOULDN’T LET HIM GET DOWN ON HIMSELF OVER THE SCRAPYARD. LIKE. HE RISKED SO MUCH SO CONSISTENTLY TO SEE AND BE WITH AARON. AND IT WAS V CLEAR FROM THE BEGINNING. IT WASN’T EVER GONNA BE JUST SEX. THAT HILARIOUS SCENE WHERE THEY’RE BOTH JUST LIKE. OK YES WE ARE HAVING AN AFFAIR. IS SO FUNNY. BC THEY ARE BOTH JUST LIKE. RUDE TO EACH OTHER. AND IT’S NOT EVEN A PRELUDE TO THEM HAVING SEX. AARON IS ANNOYED AF WITH ROB WHO IS LIKE AARON THIS IS HOW U HAVE AN AFFAIR. LIKE RIGHT OFF THE BAT IS INVOLVED EMOTIONS. AND IT CONTINUES FOREVER AND EVER. DESPITE ROB LYING TO HIMSELF P CONVINCINGLY AT TIMES. Ok I am done.

Me: What she said. 

Jk. If you managed to get this far down, congrats though. 

I’d say that, especially during the affair days, we were very much meant to see an ambiguity and opaqueness to Robert’s feelings for Aaron. I think ultimately we know from the Lodge that he was, and like, he was having as full breakdown there and usually people having a breakdown don’t lie lmao. I think Robert wasn’t necessarily meant to be a long term character at the time, so the ambiguity suited them well, in terms of writing. BUT what I think is really interesting, is that they started writing him as waaaaay more explicitly and vocally in love with Aaron ever since they decided to “redeem” him the first time around with Who Shot Robert and then the abuse sl. 

So like. My opinion is that it’s open to interpretation, but Kate gave you a really interesting break down of why you might want to buy into hers!

[evils--crown]

do u uh....wanna talk about hook B))) i'll do it too if you do

fuck me. do i want to talk about hook ? no, actually. i don’t want to talk about hook at all because he’s a pansy ass fucking hypocrite who get’s excused from all his bullshit just because he’s banging the fucking savior. but oh hoe, oh hoe hoe, it’s okay because he’s “redeemed” himself. i’m sorry, how the fuck did he redeem himself ? “but lara, hook came back for everyone to take them to neverland! he helped save henry! he loves emma!” fuck off, that is complete assfuckery ok. he came back for everyone to take them to neverland ? yeah, after he helped gary and tammy fucking torture regina. “but lara, she deserved it, she’s done worse so it’s ok and it wasn’t his fault” fuck off is going to be a real common phrase here. she did not deserve to be fucking electrocuted until she passed the fuck out. what the fuck ? and it ***is*** his fault, he’s the one who fucking delivered her to them with a red fucking bow on her head. 

( also side note, read my meta on magic   –   he could’ve fucking killed her suppressing her magic with that band ok fuck me dead )

and everyone conveniently forgets that he was leaving with the bean in the fucking first place ? he didn’t do jack shit to help with the failsafe except run the fuck away. but oh no, we should definitely praise him for coming back. but, but hang on. why did he come back ? no seriously, why did he come back ? because there’s some contra-fucking-dictory information there because at the send of season two it was because he owed it to neal, who as far as anyone is aware, is fucking dead. but in the first fucking episode of season three, it’s because he’s in fucking love with emma fucking swan. where the fuck did that come from ? who gives a fuck that she just watched the father of her child “die” noooooo she’s blonde and she has legs so ofc she should spread them for him because he’s a fucking pirate and he wears a lot of leather and wears more fucking eyeliner than regina which makes him automatically attractive to everyone. i mean, that’s fine. that’s ok. it’s not like he didn’t constantly harass the woman until she gave in, it’s not like he can’t take no for an answer. oh wait, hang on… that is exactly what it was like. interesting. 

and i’m not sorry, but how the fuck did he “help save henry?” he did jack shit on that island. literally. jack. shit. they could’ve found another way there, i have hc’s about it but that’s not the fucking point right now. the fucking point is that he couldn’t even lead them through the fucking island so what was his actual purpose on this rescue mission except try to get in emma’s pants ??? they should’ve taken ruby instead. at least she could’ve tracked henry’s scent ffs. 

but then, but then they all come back from neverland, and emma and henry get sent away, and everyone else returns to the enchanted forest, but he’s so in love and so good now that he absolutely has to be the one to seek out emma and return her memories so she can come back and save the fucking town which, might i add as a side note, she didn’t even fucking do??? fucking regina saved the town assholes, fite me. idk, maybe the other mother of henry should’ve been the one to track emma down, maybe the biological father of henry should’ve been the one to track emma down, maybe one of emma’s parents should’ve been the one to track emma down. noooooo it had to be the pirate. and he couldn’t even do that properly! who the fuck just goes up to someone and is all “your life isn’t real, your same age parents from another world are in trouble, you never raised your son, come with me” ????? like seriously ?

but he’s completely fucking useless then too. doesn’t do jack shit about zelena, doesn’t do jack shit about breaking the curse, doesn’t do jack shit about helping anyone except emma because they’re true fucking love. are you kidding me ? seriously ? his only purpose in that plotline was to fucking make out with another woman so that emma can’t use her magic and everyone happens to forget that he did that ? fuck off. but you know, that’s fine because everything he didn’t do has absolutely redeemed him in the eyes of everyone. 

let me just point out that he has absolutely no fucking character development whatsofuckingever and nothing was ever addressed about his three hundred year attempt at revenge on rumplestiltskin. that animosity disappeared as quickly as emma’s pants did. 

and then he and emma go and do literally the stupidest fucking thing you can do. they went and fucked around in the past. what the actual fuck ? did emma not watch back to the future ? were they not listening when regina explained what would happen if zelena changed the past so she wouldn’t exist ? they literally changed the whole fucking story and saved a woman who was sentenced to prison. they didn’t know who the fuck she was, they didn’t know why she was imprisoned. regina could’ve had a valid fucking reason for it but nooooo they know better so they’re going to save this random woman and bring??? her??? back??? to??? the??? future??? couldn’t just leave the bitch there and had her explain it as “i escaped” fuck no, that would be too logical. 

and we all know hook and emma are all about the logic #sarcasm

but as if he couldn’t get any worse, he fucking went and proved me wrong and he got fucking worse. dark swan plot comes along and he’s all “we have to save emma!!!” as if they’re not already going to try ??? you’re not the only one who fucking cares about her not being a dick to everyone, captain dumbass. but you know, it’s okay to endanger a twelve/thirteen ( how the fuck old is henry in season three ok because the fucking timelines suck ) year old kid against his mother’s fucking wishes because he wants to go on some gung-ho mission without a fucking plan to save his other mother who, if he really fucking knew the woman, wouldn’t want henry involved in the first fucking place ???? or at least, if she was a decent mother she wouldn’t ????

and i’m not sorry but i’m pretty sure he didn’t do jack shit in camelot either ??? like literally did nothing that was even remotely helpful at all. but he ragged on regina who was doing literally everything she possibly could ??? and ragged on her for asking emma to save robin but then he goes and gets himself turned in to the fucking dark one and sent down to hell but it’s okay for literally everyone to go on a fucking rescue mission to save him even though he’s completely useless and no one cares about him except for emma ???? he should’ve gone to hell a fucking century ago, nothing would’ve changed in the story, him not being a part of the show wouldn’t have affected shit about the fuckery that is once upon a time anyway. 

tldr; hook is fucking useless and i hate him