#agency is a big theme with Cass | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

rachelbethhines · 3 years

Text

Tangled Salt Marathon - Cassandra’s Revenge Part 1

So here we are, the beginning of the end, the point of no return, the start of the big story arc that supposedly the entire series was leading to... So how does it hold up? Well, I’ll give it this, it’s the best two parter of season three, which is just damning with faint praise... Let’s get to it, shall we?

Summary: Rapunzel is preparing for Eugene's real birthday while secretly planning to propose to him, unaware that Eugene plans to do the same thing. Cassandra appears during the party with an ultimatum for the Demanitus scroll or she will destroy Corona, Rapunzel revealed that she gave it to Varian so he can translate three incantations while revealing a fourth unknown incantation. Cassandra kidnaps Varian when he destroyed the translations, using Varian's truth serum to teach her the third incantation to control the black rocks.

The Jury Is Still Out On Weather or Not This is a Good Song

It sounds nice, which is to be expected because it’s still an Alan Menken song, and the lyrics are fairly clever, but the problem comes from the lack of context. Why is this song here? What does it add? What is it trying to say? What do the writers want us, the audience, to take away from it?

I and several other people have tried to come up with theories and interpretations, but they all fall apart when you stop to think about the story for all of two minutes. I’m going to list out as many as I can here cause they’re all good points of debate.

Theory #1: It’s a celebration song showing how far the main character has grown thus far. Counterpoint: But the story isn’t over with and Rapunzel hasn’t done anything to earn such a song. She’s not learned anything.

Theory #2: It’s reiterating the series message about being content and grateful for what you have in life. Counterpoint: But that’s not the show’s message. In fact it’s the opposite of the story’s premise. Remember The Secret of the Sundrop? Remember Rapunzeltopia? In seasons one and two the series was actively dismissing this lesson. If “be happy with your lot in life” is what you’ve taken away from this show then the writers have failed to convey their themes properly.

Theory #3: It’s a “pride cometh before the fall” song. Counterpoint: What fall though? Yes Rapunzel needs to eat a slice of humble pie, but all the bad stuff that happens later this episode has nothing to do with her past actions. She still doesn’t get called out for anything, she not allowed any real agency, and more importantly she still doesn’t learn anything by the story’s end.

Theory #4: It’s here to show how Rapunzel has moved on from losing Cassandra. See she’s painting over past adventures with Cass with her new adventures with other friends. Counterpoint: But she hasn’t moved on. She goes right back to obsessing over Cassandra this very episode and never stops. Heck she was obsessing over Cass just last episode too, and the series treats this obsession as the correct course of action.

Theory #5: It’s here to be a point of contrast between Rapunzel and Cassandra’s later song, Nothing Left to Lose. Counterpoint: This is most likely reason why this song exists, but if so then it’s pointless. Like I said earlier, neither girl is allowed agency nor accountability within the conflict; so this just winds up being a hollow parallel.

Like am I suppose to understand Cassandra’s motives better just because Rapunzel is smug here? Am I suppose to feel jealous on Cass’s behalf just because Rapunzel has friends and family? Cause I don’t. Cassandra still threw her life away for a dumb rock that doesn’t even work and that’s her own fault.

Nor can I side with Rapunzel and feel happy for her, because this song is so utterly tone-deaf to Rapunzel’s previously awful behavior. It smacks of that same self-congratulatory bootlicking dialogue that has plagued season three thus far.

Also, to make things even more confusing, Cassandra’s song is a duet with Varian. Who has nothing to do with her conflict with Rapunzel, so it fails at even being a parallel.

Like what am I suppose to feel here show? Cause at the moment, I just dislike both characters and I’m fairly certain that wasn’t your intent here. This isn’t deep nor complex, it’s just convoluted and frustrating.

We Skipped Over Rapunzel’s Birthday

Ok, as jokey as this dialogue exchange is, it’s actually an important clue to the timeline. And it’s no less significant nor out of place than any of the other exposition we get in the show, so you don’t get to ignore it just because it’s being framed as funny.

We know when Frederic’s and Arianna’s anniversary is. It was during Queen for a Day. Which we know takes place three months before Secret of the Sundrop, which was Rapunzel’s 19th birthday. You could also frame it as being nine months past Rapunzel’s 18th birthday.

Either way, six months past, means that Rapunzel had a birthday three months ago.

Since we know that Rapunzel’s Return was her 20th birthday, then that means we’ve skipped over her 21st birthday completely. Add to this Once a Handmaiden taking place during the Goodwill Festival, and it becomes pretty clear that season three has to be two years. There’s no other way to explain it that makes any sense. (or is convoluted as hell)

For further evidence...

Queen for a Day is suppose to be right after Under Raps (Hearts Day) according to the production codes. Which makes sense given how it’s suppose to be the mid-season and suppose to be months before the S1 finale.

Hearts Day in S3 took place again several episodes back. It also makes sense that their anniversary has already occurred, especially since each episode in TTS seems to be several weeks apart on a normal basis.

Even if you fudged things and tried to claim that Rapunzel’s Return wasn’t her 20th birthday (which doesn’t make sense given S2′s timeline) that still wouldn’t explain for Hearts Day and Rapunzel would still be missing a birthday.

Also Cass needed time to travel back to Corona from The Great Tree, on foot, which was a six month journey in season two originally.

You have to actually work harder and make up more excuses, backed by nothing, to make the series finale Rapunzel’s 21st birthday. It doesn’t fit nor add up in anyway. I don’t care what the crew says after the fact.

We’re now a year and three months past Rapunzel’s Return. Which is 3 years and 3 months since the OG movie, and 2 years and 9 months since the start of the show.

The end. No more excuses, that it. It’s as plain as day.

Well not as plain as day... The very fact that I have to go digging for all this, and the fact that crew apparently fucked up their intent, means it was all very poorly handled. And no, just because the crew says something on twitter doesn’t make it fact and doesn’t make it cannon. Only what’s on screen counts.

I Do Like This Reprise, Though.. Shame It Doesn’t Have a Pay Off.

Rapunzel taking the initiative to propose herself is the only real sign of character growth we’ve seen from her this whole season. It means she’s no longer running away from commitment and responsibility, and is ready to hopefully communicate better... hopefully.

Also her and Eugene getting engaged is long overdue. This subplot has been unnaturally stretched as far as it can go, and by this point it’s just aggravating to watch. Like there’s no reason why they couldn’t be engaged and just save the wedding for later.

But watch as the writers steal even this little scrap of agency away from Rapunzel and continue to pointlessly drag things out.

Is This Suppose to be Funny?

Just because Eugene ‘forgave’ Edmund for being an asshole, doesn’t mean he’s stopped being an asshole.

The bad parent trope isn’t funny unless there’s some sort of comeuppance or character growth to counter it. Edmund receives neither, and no, characters standing around awkwardly when he puts his foot in his mouth does not count as a proper consequence.

Which is frustrating because the series had ample opportunity for real character development, even within this very episode.

Really, This is the Best Subplot You Could Come Up With For Eugene?

I know this whole season has been about Eugene having an identity crisis, but this is just lame. ‘Oh no, he’s 26?’ Who cares?!!!

And I get it, that’s suppose to be the joke, but why did you make his character development into a joke to begin with? He’s the duel protagonist of the movie!

Eugene should have the same plot importance as Cassandra at least, if not to be on the same standing as Rapunzel herself. Anything less is a disservice to the characters and to the audience watching at home. Not because Eugene is my fav or anything, but because not doing so is another broken narrative promise.

And just like with Edmund there was plenty of opportunity to incorporate him into the main plot. Like say, how he’s the actual heir to the moonstone. Remember that plot point show?

You could have tied Edmund’s and Eugene's arcs into this episode by having them go after Cassandra themselves.

But they didn’t.

Because this show is dumb.

This is a Dumb Plan Cassandra

Let it be known, this is all Cassandra’s idea here. It’s confirmed later this episode. And even if it was Zhan Tiri goading Cass on, (which Cass could just ignore btw) it’s still a very stupid plan for Cassandra to go along with.

At this point Cassandra hasn’t done much wrong outside of stealing the moonstone, which is a thing that Rapunzel was going to do herself anyways. Thus far the only person she’s attacked is her own father (who is suspiciously absent from the episode btw) during a family spat.

So far no one has any reason to suspect her of being a threat, and even Lance questions if she’s here to pick a fight or apologize. But that ambiguity flies right out the window with this confrontation. Which is detrimental to both Cassandra’s ongoing story arc and the character’s personal goals, what little they are.

Why Doesn’t Cass Just Lie?

You can’t tell it with screenshots, but Cassandra is being obviously sarcastic and her body language screams “I’m trying to intermediate you’, hence why she scrapes her sword along the floor. She’s trying to cause discomfort and scare everyone into giving her what she wants for no other reason than because she gets a power trip out of it.

But had she been smart enough to just behave politely and act nice towards Rapunzel, she could have tricked her into giving up the scroll easily, same as she did before with the moonstone.

Rapunzel is more than willing to trust her, even now, and Cass is sabotaging her own chances because the writers can’t agree on what kind of villain she should be.

What Type of Villain is Cassandra?

Is she a manipulative and lying chess-master, like in Density's Collide? She a lost little girl who is just looking for acceptance and trying to find her place in the world, like in Be Very Afraid? Or Is she a bullying brute who expects her demands to be fulfilled under threat of pain and/or death, as shown here?

Those three depictions aren’t compatible with one another, and just because they’re contradictory doesn't mean that Cassandra is suddenly complex nor deep. Especially since she lacks an overall reason to do the things she does.

Cassandra isn’t a Zuko. She’s not a Maleficent. She’s not a Darth Vader. She’s not even a fucking Gaston. She’s not anything.

She’s not, in any way shape or form, ‘cool’ enough to pull off being a heartless calculating badass, but she’s also too much of a stupid jackass to be woobiefied by the narrative.

This is Clearly a Threat

I want you to remember this viewers. Cassandra is escalating things for absolutely no reason and doing so publicly. Everyone in this room, which is practically half the kingdom, can hear her threating the princess and themselves.

At 25 years old and as a former member of the royal guard, Cassandra has zero excuse for what unfolds after this point. For her to play stupid later, and act like she didn’t do this, along with a whole lot of other worse things, is insulting to women everywhere.

It’s also bad writing.

The Sad Thing Is, This is the Most “In-Character” Cassandra Has Been All Season Long

The fact that the only consistent character trait Cassandra has over the course of three seasons is that she’s petty and bitchy to most people isn’t a good thing.

Like I understand that a lot of people like the ‘rude bitch’ trope for whatever reason, maybe they find it empowering or it’s just their kink, which is perfectly fine on it’s own, but there has to be something else there. There has to be a point of relatability, a point of development to jump off of, they can’t just be the ‘The Bitch’ and nothing else cause that’s bad writing.

Unfortunately for Cass fans, season three of Tangled the Series has been slowly stripping away the rest of her personality. The things that made Cassandra relatable, empowering, sympathetic, and entertaining are being erased, and the writers are desperately hoping that the fans’ nostalgia for what the character once was will fill in the cracks of their poor writing decisions. Which is lazy.

I mean look at that smug twat! She’s fucking proud of being a bully and threating innocent people that has nothing to do with her stupid bitch fight with her bestie!

Why am I suppose to like this character again?

Why am I suppose to feel sorry for her?

Five Weeks!?

Did... did we just forget that Varian’s whole trauma revolved around being abandoned and neglected for three damn months!!!?

Why is he willingly isolating himself from everyone now that he’s been reaccepted by society? Why is he not spending time with his dad, who he sacrificed so much to save? Is the boy okay?

I mean, Varian needing time alone to focus on a project is one thing; him shutting himself away from the world completely for over two months is another thing entirely. Not to mention he choose to work underground next to the amber, you know that stuff that ruined his life and traumatized him.

Trauma doesn’t magically go away. Dealing with it doesn’t mean ignoring it exists, and it also doesn’t mean forcing yourself to come in contact with your triggers routinely.

There’s no need for this, he could have done the same work at home or in a lab at the castle or something. He could also have done it while still taking time to have a social life.

Being embarrassed isn’t the problem here, Rapunzel. Also since when was Varian ever a shrinking violet? The guy built a shrine to his man crush and then showed it off to him upon meeting said hero, first thing!

I reiterate, is the boy okay?

This Wasn’t Foreshadowed

I’m not talking about the scroll itself or Varian being able to translate it; that’s been established since season one.

No I’m talking about the incantations and what they do.

For starters, why was the healing and decay incantations already pre-translated in The Great Tree, but not here on the master scroll?

Secondly, why didn’t Rapunzel recognize the similarities between the two scrolls, and the wall on the Great Tree, regardless of translation? I mean the images are the same.

Then there’s also the question of why Zhan Tiri herself needs Varian to translate these things when she was around for their creation, supposedly, and was the owner of the Great Tree and it’s already translated versions.

Also, those images don’t line up with what Varian is saying. I mean the healing and decay incantations I can buy, because they have the images of the sundrop and moonstone, but this is symbolizing the comet that broke in two and just shows random symbols for people, plants, and animals. What does that have to do with the rocks?

Then of course there’s the fact that Cass’s powers have been so ill defined thus far.

Why was she able to control the black rocks just fine in Rapunzel’s Return, but not afterwards?

Why did you focus on her burnt hand being the problem only to switch it to needing a random incantation?

Also what happened to the moonstone being controlled by her emotions?

None of this makes sense!

Finally, Demanitus told us that the scroll contained “the ultimate power’ to combine the moonstone and sundrop together back in season two. Except that’s not what it does, nor did he mention anything about any of the incantations.

It is soooo fucking obvious that the writers just pulled this ‘incantation’ thing out of their asses at the last minute and hoped no one would notice the change. I don't know what the scroll was originally meant to do, but I know it wasn’t this. It’s the same problem as the note being just “I’m proud of you son”. It’s so sloppy.

What a Bizarre Response

Why would Varian be happy to see Cassandra?

Last time he saw her, he tried to kill her. (he also injured her dad) While she herself was leading the lynch mob that was coming to murder and/or imprison him. They literally were fighting each other to the death.

Before that Cassandra ditched him same as all his other friends despite being there when he asked for help, despite knowing what happened to his dad and about being hounded unfairly by the guards, and despite spending all that time getting to know him and making him one of her very few friends.

Then after ruining that friendship, they spent a over a year (going on two years now) completely separated. They haven’t exchanged a word since their battle and Cass wasn’t present for his redemption. Neither did Cass care about him being in jail, same as how Raps and Eugene knew but didn’t care.

At best Varian should feel awkward and guilty upon seeing Cassandra again as he hasn’t made amends with her yet. At worst they should still be at each others throats as she hasn’t reached out to him either.

Also Varian knows Cass is a threat. He knows she stole the moonstone. He knows she’s after the scroll and why. Yet, he acts confused by everyone’s hostility towards her?

Once Again, Why Do You Need Varian’s Translation When You Have Zhan Tiri?

Shouldn’t Zhan Tiri know more about the scroll and its incantations than Varian? What does she need Varian for? Why does Cassandra not think to ask her ghost girl buddy for help with that, seeing as how the little blueberry is the one that told her she needed the scroll’s incantation to begin with?

Time To Talk About Character Design, Yet Again

I’ve already talked about the problems with Varian’s Saporian design back in Rapunzel's Return, and in truth Cassandra’s villain design is equally bad, if not worse, for much of the same reasons. However, I thought it best to bring it up here, because the narrative calls attention to it.

Lets get the most obvious problems out of the way first

That doesn't look like armor. It looks like a catsuit.

It also doesn’t look anything like the black rocks. Those spikes are too short and curvy and wind up looking like feathers more often then not.

The color scheme is garish and clashes horribly with everything

Why is her hair and eyes lit up all the time, even when she’s not actively using the moonstone’s power? Shouldn’t it alternate to better showcase her lack of control over the rocks?

How does she move in a catsuit made of unbreakable rocks anyways?

If she can’t control the rocks, then how does she keep the catsuit intact? Shouldn’t it also power down/and or fall off? Or maybe even freeze in place?

Why a catsuit? Why would Cassandra, a woman who values being practical, choose to wear that instead of something that looks like actual armor?

Stylistically speaking, a catsuit also clashes with the rest of the show’s fairytale aesthetic. Cass looks like she belongs in a modern day superhero show, like BH6, not Tangled the Series.

Take a look at the concept art again. This was made back in 2014 when the show first went into production. There’s far more effort here to match the character’s premise. There’s an effort to make the rocks look like rocks and the armor to look like armor. And while I can see elements here that wound up making it into the final design, it still baffles me that we wound up with what we did.

Well, no, ‘baffle’ is the wrong word. I know precisely what went wrong.... Chris.

Chris thinks catsuits are hot and decided to think with his dick rather then his brain.

When we talk about the male gaze and fictional characters being overly sexualized, this is what we mean. The character of Cassandra would never wear a catsuit. We know this because of her past outfits and personality. But she’s being forced to wear one by the writer who doesn’t care about her as a character and just wants to get off on her.

Oh, and here’s a friendly reminder that Chris based Cass off of a crush he had back in college.

I’ll Ask Again, Why is Cass Being Such a Dumbass?

Yes, Cassandra does know that! She fucking saw it happen! She also knows how badly Gothel screwed Rapunzel over because Eugene told her the story inside the very tower where it happened!

I can forgive characters for being bitchy. I can forgive characters for being selfish and hurtful. But stupidity is the one the thing I refuse to tolerate. Especially if there’s no logical plot reason for them to hold the idiot ball.

Also why even bring this up? Gothel died because Rapunzel’s hair was cut. She was dust before she ever hit the ground. What kind of ‘gottcha’ is this? Where would Cass come to this assumption and why?

This isn’t a compelling conflict show. I am swiftly losing all interest and investment in these two characters. That is a problem. There’s a reason why viewing figures dipped again after this episode, though not as drastically in season two with Chris’s PR fiasco, but it’s there.

The show started with 2.87 million viewers and ended with 0.47 million. A net loss of 2.40 million viewers. Season three hovered around the twenty’s and thirty's for most of the time and couldn’t even raise it’s viewership up during a fucking pandemic, where everyone stuck at home doing nothing but watch tv.!!

Oh, and for the record, Beginnings had the lowest rating of all at 0.16 million. Make of that what you will.

Let’s Talk About Character Design One Last Time.

Varian’s outfit for the majority of season three is better than his pervious Saporian design, but it’s still not good.

I like the structure of it, there’s little details here that showcase his changed social status and growing maturity, but the color scheme is still off.

Browns instead of the garish red are better suited to his pallet, but there’s too much of it. If Cassandra clashes with her surroundings then Varian has the opposite problem. He blends into the background too much.

Look at that! You can barely read where his gloved hand is in relation to the wall. The only contrast his his white shirt and that’s not enough.

Not to mention that clothing him in warm tones clashes with his hair and eyes, which the artists are having to actively dull down into order blend in with the rest of the design.

Notice how Varian’s hair streak is now a duller green rather then the bright blue it should be?

It’s like the creators decided to switch Cassandra's and Varian’s color pallets in order to visually symbolize them switching places within the narrative.... and it’s all wrong.

It’s off setting to look at because these two characters never should have switched roles. Even if this was the plan all along, it wasn’t very good plan as the characters had little to no reason to switch alignments like they did. And yeah, we know for a fact that Moonsandra was always in the works, since the beginning, but all of the writing indicates a last minute story change anyways. Therefore I can only assume that this drastic role reversal wasn’t originally planned out.

It’s not even cleverly playing with audience’s expectations at this point. The viewers aren’t uncomfortable because they’re worried about what will happen. They’re upset because they’re wondering ‘why the fuck would writers do that!?’ Why would you screw up your characters so badly and piss away all of that hard earned development and story opportunities for this?

Why Do You Need Varian if You Have Zhan Tiri?

Yes I know I brought this up before, but I’m asking it again. Why does Cass assume she need’s Varian? What the fuck is her plan here? What the fuck is Zhan Tiri’s plan? Why does Zhan Tiri need Varian?

Is he just meant to be bait to lure Rapunzel into fighting Cass? Because you didn’t really need to do that. Cass would have fought Rapunzel anyways, as shown here. And if for some reason Zhan Tiri couldn’t provide the final incantation, she still could have invaded Varian’s dreams without him being in a cell.

Just Because You Imply That It Happened Off Screen, Doesn’t Mean It Didn’t Happen.

So let me get this straight, Cassandra, a twenty something year old woman, physically assaulted an unarmed teenager, who was only an innocent bystander at the time, injuring him to the point where he fell unconscious?

And you still expect me to sympathize with her?

If you wanted to imply that Cassandra used something other then physical force to nab him, then you needed to show her using his sleeping powder or something. Otherwise, as presented, I have no choice but to assume she punched the poor kid hard enough to make him pass out. That’s fucking dangerous!

It’s like Chris’s idea of avoiding the censors was just to imply all of the awful things that happens to Varian through out the story just happened off screen, and then proceeds to ignore that they happened at all after they served their story purposes. Which is even worse, imo, then just outright showing what happened.

And before you exclaim, well ‘Varian did it too’, no he didn’t. He didn’t physically attack Arianna, she wasn’t an innocent bystander but a powerful queen who enabled his abusers, and she wasn’t a fucking teenager!

And here’s the real kicker, I would have been fine with Cass being hostile towards Varian because of what he did in season one, but that’s never brought up as a reason. So it’s just her being abusive for the sake of being abusive.

Yes, This Was All Indeed Cassandra’s Plan

It’s really hard to blame Zhan Tiri for Cassandra’s actions when you have lines like this.

Also all of Zhan Tiri’s lame ‘manipulation’ tactics thus far have only amounted to shouting “Rapunzel is such a meanie!” and “It’s your destiny!” over and over again. She’s not been seen contributing to Cassandra’s plans nor even egging her on all that much.

Couple this with her not even knowing that scroll existed until Cassandra told her so, and Zhan Tiri becomes a pretty ineffective villain and doesn’t even work as the intended scrape goat.

Did...Did You Just Imply That a Grown Woman Forcefully Drugged a Minor While He Was Unconscious and Restrained, and Forced Him to Do Things That He Didn’t Want to Do While Under the Influence?

WHAT THE FUCK DISNEY!

Yes I posted the whole scene. You need to see the whole scene. Cause it’s really uncomfortable and not in a good way.

Let’s list all the problems with this, shall we?

Problem #1: Varian is still a minor. That’s makes a difference.

Even if you believe that season three is two years, and are like me and headcannon Varian’s birthday in March and Rapunzel’s b-day in May, that still only makes him 17 here. He’s still not a legal adult by US laws. Real teenagers face the very real risk of being in Varian’s situation here and it’s not a good thing to add that to your story unless you’re willing to actually address it. Just because he’s drugged with a magic potion instead of alcohol or some heaver drug, doesn’t make it any less awful here.

Problem #2: He was unconscious and tied up when it happened. After previously being assaulted and abducted

Good god is this terrifying. Let me repeat, this happens in real life. My sister used to work for a company that did background checks on felons that applied for jobs. You’ve any idea how many messed up real life stories she’s told me that mirrors this very scenario? And once again, it’s not the fact that the writers included it here that bothers me. It’s the fact that they brush it off as no big deal and even make a joke out of it. What if one of the kids watching at home has survived this kind of thing, or knew someone who lived through it? How would they appreciate seeing their trauma being made light of?

Problem #3: Drinking that much of something that is concentrated is dangerous

The truth serum and mood potion had to be diluted when used previously. Max and Pascal put it in lemonade, then they turned it into a fog accidently, and Varian baked it into some cookies. No one was ever just straight up drinking the stuff. If anything Varian should have suffered more extreme consequences then he does here. And even then it still sounds painful. (Jeremy does a good job with the acting here, as usual)

Problem #4: Cassandra doesn’t seem to care.

The writers desperately want to keep Cassandra sympathetic in order to redeem her later on, but stupid scenes like this shoots that plan in the foot. She’s literally smiling and cracking jokes while making him suffer! And once again, it’s not because they have bad blood between them, cause that would actually have made sense. No, she’s just doing it because she enjoys being a dick. (and because the writers don't know what they hell they’re doing)

Having Cassandra Repeat Varian’s Pervious Plans Diminishes Both Characters

But let’s get to the real issue here.... Casandra isn’t allowed to be her own character.

Like I discussed previously, Cassandra isn’t anything. All of the traits that made her a unique character has been stripped away, and shoved in it’s place is a bunch of recycled tropes that don't fit together. She’s not only forbidden from becoming her own individual, but she isn’t allowed establish herself as a competent villain in her own right either.

All of her story beats are stolen from either Varian or Rapunzel herself. She’s given Rapunzel’s backstory and forced to play Varian’s role in a vain effort to make her more popular and excuse her actions, rather then just letting her be herself unapologetically.

Cassandra is a brute. She is petty. She is an asshole.

Why not just let her be those things?

Sure it might be harder to make her sympathetic when you embrace those negative traits, but it sure as hell would be more entertaining then feeding her stupid pills in order to make your dumb plot work. Not to mention a lot less insulting.

Cause as is, Cassandra has no plans of her own. No agency of her own. No goals of her own.

She blindly wants whatever Zhan Tiri wants, for no other reason then because the plot demands it.

She lacks any sort of motivation until Zhan Tiri gloats in her ear about how awful Rapunzel is. At this point I don't even know why Cass is still mad at her bestie, and I doubt Cass knows either as her head has become empty.

She can’t come up with her own plots without stealing Varian’s tricks. Even though in past seasons she was reasonably clever. Not a genius mastermind like Varian, but competent.

It’s this last one that really grates because when Cassandra is forced to repeat Varian’s story beats she always is worse at it than him, despite the narrative trying to frame their crimes as equal.

Because Cass is a bully, she’s always more violent then him, as pictured above. She also lacks the goals and motivations that he had and so commits such atrocities for petty reasons, which is a stark contrast to Varian fighting for his and his father’s lives.

Varian didn’t force the truth serum down anyone's throat. He tricked a guard. A grown man who could have chosen not to listen to him. Nor did Varian commit any further harm to the guy into order to achieve this goal. Also Pete is not a minor!

Forcing these parallels between these two characters, down plays Varian’s story, what he had to suffer through and what he accomplished. While Cassandra is robbed of both agency and charisma.

And this shouldn’t come down to which is better, but the narrative forces the audience to make the comparison anyway.

This Should Have Been Sung

This is clear mismanagement of both budget and storytelling.

Someone couldn’t get the funds to pay Menken to score the incantations, so no one gets to sing them. This wouldn’t have been a problem had they allotted the budget better and not wasted it on stupid shit like giving Hookfoot a joke song last season.

But it’s also a wasted plot point in of itself because, Cassandra never uses it ever again in the show. This one time spell just gives her free reign over the rocks permanently.

Yet she doesn’t do anything more with it other than that. It doesn’t unlock any cool new powers. Seriously how is this any different than was she was doing in Rapunzel’s Return?

You literally could skip over this episode and everything that came before it, and not miss anything. Just jump from Rapunzel’s Return to Race to the Spire and the only thing different is that Zhan Tiri is suddenly purple not blue. Big deal.

The Tower is Lame!

Okay let me tell about this tower. It doesn’t fucking do anything. It’s here to be this one time obstacle for Rapunzel to over come for one episode, and it never comes into play again. We’ve already established that this story arc doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, and despite knowing exactly where she’s at, Rapunzel nor anybody else ever goes after her.

No the reason why this is here is so Chris can make some stupid symbolic statement, about how Cassandra is ‘reclaiming’ Rapunzel’s old life by rebuilding over her former, or like, something equally asinine.

It’s so dumb you guys!

I hear people hear people dismiss this show as being ‘fanficion’ and I don't like using that word as an insult as, hey, fan fic can be good, better then the original even, and OCs and Mary Sues have their place. They provide a venue for writers to explore elements that they can’t find in other forms of media.

Buuuuttt.... Such things clearly do belong in the realms of Fanfiction and not a mass advertised animated sequel produced by the Mouse. They're two different medias with two different audiences.

When I write a self indulgent fanfic, yes even one with a self insert, the only target audience is myself. I’m not getting paid to make it. And if I share it and other people happen to like it then it’s just a nice bonus.

But if you’re trying to sell a product for mass audiences then you have to keep that audience in mind. The people watching something called Tangled the Series, are watching because they want to see the Tangled characters and their lives after the movie ended. They’re not here to see Chris’s wifu running around in a catsuit while she steals Rapunzel’s story.

Conclusion

So that’s it for part one. I don't when I’ll get around to part two. My best friend’s wedding starts tomorrow, it’s a weekend long event, and then as soon as a I get back I start my new job.

I also want to work on my Rocks and Robot fic next.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/23068177/chapters/55177498

So just be on the look out for things... I'm shooting for two weeks, though it may wind up being three.

#tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure #tangled #anti-tangled #anti-cassandra

121 notes · View notes

wordsoflittlewisdom · 4 years

Text

Watching bop again

I kinda forgot Cass was at the roller derby game. Love how all the characters are connected

Why does Roman’s voice...sound like that

Boss Bitch is weirdly nostalgic now

I like that the whole roller derby team is wearing like. team jackets. and harleys got her whole fringe sleeves thing going on

YES LOVE WHEN SHE THROWS THE NECKLACE AWAY

The chemical plant blowing up as fireworks was a very Harley choice

“So I’ll start where I fucking want” four minutes ago

huntress huntress huntress huntress huntress

I read somewhere that this huntress and Montoya scene was one take and they just changed the lighting to show the change

romans middle name being beauvais is probably the clearest clue they could have given that he was from a rich family

Love that Renee finds the necklace and knows Harley and the joker broke up. I like this idea that superheroes/villains are kinda like celebrities in this world

The egg sandwich scene is great what more can I say

Love that there’re cars and people just living their lives in this city

It’s a crime that we never see Harley wear this glittery fanny pack

The music is really good in this

It’s neat how the line between her narration and her dialogue is blurred, like how she’ll say the first part of something in narration and the second part in dialogue

Huntress’s little flute theme

And Montoya knows Cass; c o n n e c t i o n s

Montoya’s been going after Roman, too

And now we’re flipping back to the bertinelli massacre and diamond

Even if the whole missing diamond plot isn’t that unique, everything’s woven together so neatly

And now Dinah and Renee are on the phone about Cass and the diamond

It’s all connected

Harleys whole “I’m here to report a terrible crime”—she could have just run in there but she wanted to be Dramatic

I do wish the vocals were a little louder here maybe?

Big fan of this fight choreography

Harley pausing on a frame where she’s making a weird face before rewinding to explain about the diamond—it’s so rare to ever get to see women like. making weird faces in movies. All the women in his this are gorgeous but they don’t always have to be; they look beat up after fights and get dirty and make weird faces and it’s great

Dinah singing? Exceptional

“Loans, liquidity, laundering” ah yes the three L’s of illegal business

I unironically listen to Black Canary’s man’s world.

I like that everyone just calls Dinah “Canary”

“I’m all on my lonesome. It’s great” Harleys even an unreliable narrator when she’s just talking

I’ve really never seen a movie that feel like it’s from the female gaze visually as much as this one—all the rings and earrings, the hair, the makeup, it feels like what women might fantasize about dressing like

Dinah yelling “you motherfucker!” While beating some creeps up is quality

What time of day is it? Dinah would probably be leaving early in the morning, but I Refuse to believe that Roman would be awake particularly early any morning

She either canary is leaving her nightclub singing gig in the late morning/early afternoon or roman is still awake from the night before and is going to go to sleep soon

Cass and Dinah in the same building. (Bernie voice): I am once again talking about the connections

I’ve riffed on this before but i refuse to believe that Roman can drive

This Dinah and Renee scene establishes character, backstories, and moves the plot along all at once

Jesus some of ewan mcgregor’s acting in this is painfully bad

I love that Cass has a big bomber jacket and longer, looser shorts

Jurnee’s abs wow

The lights from behind the hands with the eyes behind Harley, who’s surrounded by people and then Roman and Victor emerge from the back, whispering to each other? Beautiful

One of the grievances roman has against Harley is “constantly interrupting him, like I’m doing right now”

Harleys “you’re really not as complicated as you think” bit is almost satirical of this cult we’ve created of “complicated” white male movie villains who have massive fan followings (cough cough joker)

Interesting that Roman holds the knife to Harleys face but hands it off to Victor to do that actual cutting

Someone handed Roman a bowl of popcorn

Harleys pocket tampon

It’s diamonds are a girls best friend yeah babey!

The male backup dancers are wearing muzzles/masks (Roman has one too for a split second) is an interesting flip on the way women are typically the ones being silenced, as well as Harleys desire to silence the men around her and be the one telling and controlling her own narrative

“Hey! you’re that singer no one listens to!” “Hey! You’re the asshole no one likes!”

Harley with her glitter gun

Harleys reaction when the sprinklers go off is perfect—Margot makes her feel like a living cartoon

This cell block fight scene is a showstopper

I like that cass doesn’t immediately want to stay with Harley. It gives her some agency in a story where she’s mostly just following the curveballs life throws her

Harleys little stare straight into the camera when cass admits to eating the diamond

Harley at the grocery store really emphasizes that she’s a total weirdo

I think I heard somewhere that the pic of child Harley with the nuns is a pic of young Margot??? Not totally sure though

Cass not knowing who the joker is goes with the whole supers are like celebrities thing—cass probably follows a whole different group of them (like how most kids follow different celebrities than their parents)

Huntress huntress huntresssss

“Give me number 32. Mild”

This kid in helenas flashback doesn’t really look like she’s grow up to look like Mary Elizabeth Winstead

This filming in this flashback has so much style

Helena practicing in the bathroom mirror with her drawing and her multiple bottles of travel mouthwash

We’re in the scene where Roman makes the girl dance on the table and oh god it’s so uncomfortable

No no no no no not this hate this

Alright that nightmare’s done

“and that’s why you should never pay federal income taxes”

Harley offering to bring cass to Roman after hearing doc say “business is business is interesting

OH ITS HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT TIME

Dinahs car is yellow because it’s...canary yellow

Roman putting on the mask is cool and all but he’s just gonna have to take it back off to get changed

This Harley vs Renee fight is fun because they keep mirroring each other—they’re fighting each other, but they’re really on the same side

The way the women all kind of circle each other at first and don’t immediately get along

Cass popping up with the gun also gives her some agency—she’s at the end of her rope with the diamond and being betrayed by Harley

“I am nOT THE CROSSBOW KILLER”

The way Huntress sounds so uncertain when she says “...and now I’m done” Mary’s acting really popped off

Roman’s a bitch but I like his outfits

Helenas little smile when Harley says “you just killed his BFF”

I love how excited Harley is when they all agree to work together

Roman’s giving his little speech in the back of a pickup truck?

When all the guys turned around with masks on I got chills

“I love this chick she’s got rage issues.” “I DONT HAVE RAGE ISSUES”

Huntress stabbing the guy while going down the slide is peak cinema

This set lights up as the scene progresses and reveals more

I love love love that Helena is genuinely caring towards Cass and recognizing that children shouldn’t have to go through trauma like her

“When the fuck did she have time to do a shoe change?”

THE HAIR TIE YEAH

Forgot to mention this but it’s a stroke of genius for this place to be called the booby trap

Love me some canary cry

“Told ya she had a killer voice”

Harleys chase was a real group hurrah—the canary cry cleared the way and pushed her forward, Huntress towed her, Renee gave her the gun with one bullet

Cass and Roman are just sitting in the back seat. That must have been an awkward car ride

Cass pulling the gun away from Roman when he tries to shoot up at Harley when Harleys on top of the car is elite

Damn this is one foggy pier

When Harley starts with “your protection is based on the fact that people are scared of you” you expect her to say that it’s wrong or something but she says “I’m the one they should be scared of” this movie messed with tropes so much

That also includes the whole “one bullet” thing—Harley misses with her one bullet, and you don’t really know what’s gonna happen next

“I took your ring”

You can pinpoint exactly when Harley and Roman realize what Cass did

I’d put the entire taco scene here if I could

Renee moving the drink away from cass shows her caring side—she doesn’t want a kid to get into alcohol and make the mistakes she did

“Does she always talk like the cop in a bad eighties movie?”

Harley and Cass stealing the car is a fun way to show that she may be on the side of the good guys sometimes, but that doesn’t necessarily make her one

“Woman” by Kesha

Wow the outfits in this scene are iconic

I mean they are in the whole movie but I especially like these

Cass riding around with Harley and a hyena, wearing cute outfits and learning the ways of chaos

Harley got her sandwich!

The credit art for this movie is cool

Especially how they represent each character

In conclusion this is still my favorite movie

I know I’ve been kinda absent recently, but watching this again has really reminded me how much I love it. I got really busy but I’m going to Make An Effort to be a contributing member of the bop fandom again.

#birds of prey and the fantabulous emancipation of one harley quinn #birds of prey #harley quinn #huntress #black canary #Renee Montoya #Cassandra Cain #Roman sionis #Victor zsasz #words of little wisdom

45 notes · View notes

fallout-lou-begas · 4 years

Text

Questions for OC Creators

Shamelessly stole this from @tarberrymentats‘ post because I’m always a sucker for behind-the-scenes character inspiration and meaning stuff, so if you steal this in turn, feel free to tag me!

(I’m also stealing Halk’s usage of lovely art by @yesjejunus for this one 🖤)

Agnes Sands, Courier Six of the Mojave Express

A) Why are you excited about this character?

Agnes was an opportunity to create what felt like a very unorthodox OC, and it’s an opportunity that has certainly paid off. She’s not young, and she’s not a particularly pleasant or easygoing person to be around, but she’s also not the endearingly tragic loner type or a badass army-of-one. She’s not “spunky” or “fun” and isn’t the kind of Fallout character who’s necessarily motivated to do every quest, meet every companion, accomplish every thing. She’s not an important person; being an important person is anathema to her, and the looming, overarching themes of It Keeps Right On a-Hurtin’ are these ideas of the hard limits on unlikely heroism, and how you really can’t fly that far on circumstance and luck. I’m very excited for everyone to see how it goes when the going gets tough.

Furthermore, the design and writing process for Agnes was very informed by finding justifications, reasons, and origins for all of her personality traits, skills, and various hang-ups. The result is a character that feels, to me, so deeply real and well-rounded and alive, that Agnes is a person who has lived every one of her 34 years of age, and that in each of those years were key developments that molded her into the person she is. When I write her, I feel like I know her because of how intimately I’ve researched and come to understand the life she’s led. I don’t want to say it comes effortlessly, but there’s a very genuine, sculpted depth to her character that I’m proud of, and it forms the bedrock of It Keeps Right On a-Hurtin’.

It is also very important to me that Agnes is a trans woman, and is a trans woman who looks the way she does with a strong jaw and a big nose and long face and a wide body and hairy arms and so many other “masculine” features, because I wanted to create a character with a very real, visceral, visible transness to them, and for this transness to be a meaningful part of her character that informs her relationship to other people and the scarce world of the Mojave Wasteland instead of just an auxiliary character trait. She is no less of a woman for existing the way she does, but I simply wasn’t interested in creating a character or interpreting the Mojave Wasteland in a way that wouldn’t meaningfully grapple with what it really feels like, to me, to be a trans woman.

B) What inspired you to create them?

Many of Agnes’ character traits actually come from mechanical and specialization decisions that I play in game. I often joke that Agnes “just plain sucks,” but it’s true that in my Fallout: New Vegas game, I have encumbrance set to a measly 25 lbs without backpacks (necessitating her shoulder-slung duffel bag), use a directional flashlight instead of the Pip-Boy light (necessitating the shoulder-mounted flashlight), play with dramatically decreased total S.P.E.C.I.A.L. and skill points per level (which is why she’s so bad-to-average at most things except key specialties), and so on. This was the most obvious level of inspiration, and much of Agnes’ personality and backstory is reverse-engineered to justify the aspects of her character suggested and represented by her mechanical stats.

C) Did you have trouble figuring out where they fit in their own story?

Epiphanies have come over time, but ultimately I more or less hammered out Agnes’ whole “story” upfront. I have a detailed character bible saved away that covers not only her entire life pre-courier, but the story beats of her experience as the courier thrown into the center of the events of Fallout: New Vegas and the seismic geopolitical power plays leading up to the second battle of Hoover Dam. So, uh, stay tuned for each new issue of IKROAH!

D) Have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look?

I wouldn’t say that I’ve meant to meaningfully change her appearance over time, but as I’ve been working on the comic, I’ve simply gotten better at drawing and the result has been an Agnes that more consistently looks like how I want her to look. One deliberate change to her appearance has been that her hair is a lot fluffier and voluminous than it used to be, just because a few other peoples’ fanart of her would be like that and I really liked how it looked.

E) Are they someone you would get along with? Would they get along with you?

Hard to say. Agnes has such a defensive, prickly, and particular personality and is so shy and anxious that she’s someone very hard to get along with in general, regardless of who you are. Cass could only ply her through a combination of drunken genuineness and total embarrassment that razor-cut right to her trauma. I don’t think I’d have the...audacious wherewithal to be that blunt with her if we’d just met. The best case scenario is that she imprints on me as a younger trans woman and feels compelled to look out for me because if there’s one soft spot she has, it’s that.

F) What do you feel when you think of your OC (pride, excitement, frustration, etc)?

Pride at the amount of work I’ve put into developing her and crafting her story so far, pride at how it’s been such a rewarding and enjoyable vehicle for getting so much better at art and writing since this summer, and occasionally sadness just because, man, I really let her fucking have it sometimes, huh.

G) What trait of theirs bothers you the most?

Her solitary lifestyle made it necessary to find a way to write Cass into the story, just so that there would be some more dialogue while she traveled. She has a lot of interpersonal flaws, her habit of going from totally reclusive and private to hollering mad with no steps in between would certainly be off-putting to me especially. She gets a bad, sad, crying kind of angry, and she doesn’t get there quick but she goes get there suddenly.

H) What trait do you admire most?

She has a dedication to her and a commitment to what she’s good at. She understands the value of stability, good work and a good job. Sometimes this value is so much to her that it keeps her stagnant, and she’s very much a person who’s stuck in their ways in so many regards, but there’s a resilience to her that may not be obvious at first, but that she simply wouldn’t have gotten this far or survived without.

I) Do you prefer to keep them in their canon universe?

Agnes’ story is so tailored to the source material of Fallout: New Vegas that I thought that transplanting her into other AUs would be difficult, but it’s actually been pretty seamless inserting her into the a modern AU with a few friends called Courier House, where instead of being a courier, she kept up her medical training and works as an EMT. That also spun off into a modern zombie AU, which is just fun and tragic in a lot of juicy ways.

I also have a lot of thoughts on an AU in which she makes it to the Commonwealth, in which she’d become Nick’s partner at the eventually-renamed Valentine and Sands Detective Agency, helping to solve cases of burglary and theft, B&E, and advises on various security concerns. She’d also get extremely invested in tracking down missing children. There are a lot of parallels and dramatic development potential between Agnes Sands and Nick Valentine that I’d kill for more time to explore one day.

J) Did you have to manipulate or exclude canon factors to allow them to create their character?

I didn’t have to, no, but I chose to and at least filled in some holes. My theory on transitional health care in the wasteland is all my own (the Followers are the primary manufacturer and distributor of hormones, which can be inefficiently synthesized from Auto-Docs so they’re not impossible to find but are considerably rare) and I’ve taken some liberties in the IKROAH canon so far for convenience, such as Primm never getting taken over by convicts and the Cassidy Caravans buyout offer being a letter at the Mojave Express instead of something she’d have had to get personally from Alice McLafferty later on. Expect a lot more little twists like this in the future.

#agnes sands #ikroah meta

52 notes · View notes

kierongillen · 5 years

Text

Writer Notes: The Wicked + the Divine 43

Spoilers, obv.

Issue 44 comes out tomorrow at the time of writing. As I’m on the west coast of the USA, it will be just after midnight GMT by the time they’re online. So abstractly, this is the first time ever which we come out when the next issue is out. Abstractly. I’d say the day counts as where I am, and doesn’t Comixology come out a little later? We’ll see.

It’s also been so long that I almost wrote notes for issue 44. This is a weird goodbye, this period.

Anyway – Issue 43, wherein we finish explaining all the big stuff we’re going to explain.

I mean, there’s more in issue 44 and 45, but it’s all details, with the denouncement really being based around the characters’ response to this issue. They know the truth. Now what are they going to do about it?

That was the main note I gave in the script to the team – if there’s any really big questions you are confused about, now is the time to say, as this is the best clarification it’ll get. As such, we worked on it a lot to nail what we wanted to say – and what we didn’t. Sometimes this meant actually simplifying a little to avoid repeating huge amounts of stuff and leaving people even more confused. More often it involves sliding in a little nod to something someone would be thinking about.

It’s an interesting issue, I think. It’s where we show a lot of our hand.

It also involved a lot of crunching.

Jamie/Matt Cover

Cassandra finally gets her head cover. Normally a cover relates to a key beat, which isn’t true here – except in the widest possible sense that it’s where Cassandra gets to say I Told You So to everyone, including herself.

Jason Latour Cover One of the fun things about commissioning these covers is getting to see a creator’s process close up. Jason’s process on this was amazingly never-ending – he was always tweaking, and trying things and moving in a different direction. Where he ended was stunning – very him, and very WicDiv too. I remember us and the Jasons semi-jokingly about swapping books for an issue – they do WicDiv for an issue and we do Southern Bastards. This cover absolutely makes me wonder how amazing that hypothetical issue would have looked.

(Our story would have been about a Taylor-Swift-esque-singer/songwriter-before-she-got-big in the town. And probably murder, as it’s Southern Bastards, right?)

IFC

That “Life goes on” still creeps me out.

1-2

Opening vignette that lets us establish what Minerva’s plan is now, as well as re-establish Beth and her crew, and actually let us define their current position, and even give their codenames, which have existed in the Bible document since issue 1, I believe.

(Oddly, calling people “Boss” is one of my verbal ticks. It seemed fun to give it to Beth here.)

As such, Minerva immediately HiveMinding them when they’ve just stated their agency is plain harsh. Jamie’s large panel on page 2 sells it incredibly well – the statues, Minerva walking away from us – it’s all so casual.

It’s also the running theme of the issue – what Mini has been doing all these years. This is just a particularly direct example of it.

Three panels on second page to try and stress the seriousness of what this is (Space = Meaning, remember). Of course, as the issue shows, this isn’t the real part of the issue – but you have to at least believe this is a real gambit. And it is – I mean, it’d be awful if Mini pulled it off. But in people’s guts they’d realise this isn’t how WicDiv goes, right?

Minor glorious Matt Wilson note – the crackle of green in panel 3 is wonderful. Give that guy another Eisner. He deserves a hat trick.

Show time in the showbiz and the “time to show you everything” sense.

Establishing the stakes and situation for the heroes. There’s a draft of the issue I wrote which is a couple more pages long, which would have pulled this out a little more. In the end, we decided it worked better shorter – I’ll tell you why when I get there, and we could use the space elsewhere.

Key thing is showing some response to Cam’s actions at the end of last issue – it’s important to know that they haven’t just walked away, right?

In the first panel, the “identify who is speaking” is a tricky one. The “say the character’s name” is a little brutal move, and I avoid it. We’re not that book. Dio is easy – and Lucifer, bless her, is immediately identifiable by her idiom. Her line also reminds people of what she’s like, which sets up the last page.

Laura’s captions here again, doing a lot of the heavy lifting.

It says so much about this issue that the last two panels are only a half page total. These are big rock and roll images, presented in a tiny space. Jamie’s composition makes it land really well, selling the drama.

Page 5

It says even more that we did all this in a page.

Tara’s move in the original version was basically a page, but looking at it structurally it actually left it even more underwhelmed – a fight kicked off, and then heroes were losing, and then Tara does this cool thing, and they’re winning, before immediately the hive mind kicks in and they’re losing again. This does not sell the joy of Giant Woman.

This works better, not least for sheer audaciousness. I used to have a thing about tableau based storytelling – the idea that you can create a large image which people can explore and juxtapose it with a few captions to create a larger conceptual space. This is very much that.

“People treating people like meat” reminds me for the second time when re-reading this issue of the line from Pratchett: “Sin is treating people like things.” The first time was the puppets bit. I’d agree with Pratchett, clearly.

In the original draft of the script I had a line “You want more? Go re-read Rising Action” which is a bit too cute, so I lost it. It’s not really the sort of thing WicDiv does, anyway.

Yes, Giant Woman is a Steven Universe nod. Putting aside that image of Giant Tara kicking ass which has been in my head forever, there’s so much to love in the image – to pick a small part, how about the Norns blasting in triplicate? We rarely see them act like this.

You can also trace via the colouring which of Beth’s crew have duplicated which God’s powers.

Page 6

There’s been a lot about people copying people’s powers in WicDiv, and trying to find out what someone can and can’t do, and then using it against them. This switches it up. The thing about being creative instead of a straight plagiarist that creative people make up new shit. That’s kind of the point of them.

Once more, Matt showing the dance of the colouring between the Woden green (haunting the series like a ghost now) and the joy of Dio is (er) a joy.

Page 7

Another Matt moment – we step out of the club, and we drop to greys, before building the energy up.

I’m not quite sure how long Robin has wanted to punch Beth for. Or how long I planned to do it, even. I can imagine Robin thinking of this a lot though – she’s the one who takes a long time to snap.

There’s a dual structure here too – there’s two main compare-and-contrast bands in WicDiv. Beth’s and Cass’…

Page 8

And this is a very different kind of band break up.

The problem here is different – I want to give much more space. First draft it seemed that they got talked into it really easily. But it’s all the space we had so what to do? Once more, captions. Silent panel with captions can be timeless, and gives room for our minds to populate it. It’s been so long I can no longer remember if the fact the two almost-silent characters are shouting, but we’re not allowed to hear, because it’s private seems relevant.

Page 9-10

Hard cut made easier with the caption. Captions are great. Trust captions.

The shot of Mini at the edge, just looking back with space either side is great. Just the isolation of it.

The “try to sing” on the page turn seems a meaningful reveal. Can she?

No she can’t. This is another very old beat in the founding documents – it’s hinted at on page 9. Mini says that she gave it up – and she said the same in issue 9. I’m not sure I believe her. When planning it I realised that some people would take it as a comment on Work for hire – don’t get stuck keeping a story alive forever, as it will eventually atrophy your talent. It wasn’t planned, but I’d be fine with it as a reading. When Chrissy read it, she took it as “Don’t get stuck in art management.” which works too. Readings are fun.

Anyway – a performance. That the big thing in the issue is a performance rather than a fight is very much WicDiv turning towards its core concept as we head towards the final straight. Of course we’d do this.

Yeah, Matt and Jamie, killing it on the final panel of the second page – the Persephone-esque tentacles made something else, because she is something else now. The numinous expression of Minerva. Amazing.

Page 11

The borders in this sequence harking back to the Persephone performance in issue 18.

I may actually try to tweak this sequence in the trade and have a different execution of “When I was 14” and all the rest, to work a little more like a LOC CAP rather than a speech. We couldn’t make it work given the time before deadline. That’s the odd thing about our extended issues – just because it’s taking longer doesn’t mean we have more time to do tasks, right? Some things are only possible when the whole thing is together. It works, I think, but part of me wants to push it harder.

Anyway – these two. I loved writing them though. I said it back in the other flashbacks, but how the two of them dance is a delight. Hell, doing them across a lifetime is a delight.

Okay – I’m going to give you a name for Ananke’s sister. It’s the one I used in my notes. It’s no more her name than “Ananke” is really Ananke’s.

It’s Demeter. Ask me about it another time.

Page 12

The “god” in panel 2 is a Proto Norn.

This primal gathering brings to mind issue 9 as well.

Demeter’s expression in the penultimate panel? Love it.

Page 13

The captions are Laura’s style, but changed colouring. That Laura is helping Minerva performs means it comes across in her voice, was our thinking.

Captions are once more useful though – trying to get something that is evocative, but also clear was the battle.

(The Colours here!)

She-in-Thirds is a name-behind-the-name. The Maiden/Mother/Child archetype – the one which Ananke subverted in a few pages time.

Page 14

I find myself thinking whether the return to a close-to-eight panel for much of this is meaningful. This is kind of Bronze Age Phonogram.

Reading this I wish I had capitalised The Rebel – it’s another archetype. Proto-Lucifer. I’ll tweak for the trade.

I forget when the metaphor for a song for the “godhood” in WicDiv came to me, but it feels like the right one. It’s how songs often feel to me.

Page 15

If you go back to issue 34, you’ll see some of the details of this plan are different to the plan that Ananke has put into play there. In fact, the deal that she strikes in issue 34 is akin to what she wants here. It’s mainly for clarity – the reader needs to be reminded of what’s actually going on, as they won’t necessarily remember the details from way back then. I figure this is the plan she wanted to do, then found something else when Demeter wasn’t into it, before swooping around to something closer.

Page 16

“After all my friends were dead” gives a little flex in the timeline.

I do like Ananke’s hat.

“The Great River” being the Nile, and the pantheon we saw back in issue 36.

In terms of lists of things in this issue I was looking forward to write, the first meeting between Ananke and Minerva was certainly one of them. I tried to get something of the oddness here. Jamie and Matt manage to get the mood of issue 34 again too – I really do like this bronze-age western vibe. There’s a project I keep on thinking about doing, and it has some of that too it. Hmm.

Yes, page width panel of character delivering a line remains a key WicDiv tool. There’s so much I love here – the touch from Ananke, whose PoV we’re in. Minerva speaking to herself, speaking to us, etc.

That the knife is just sentimental is a minor beat I’m very fond of.

Page 17

Once more, Captions, as Laura makes sure we all Get It.

One of the debates in WicDiv fandom has always been whether the gods are picked by Ananke (i.e. Anyone could be a god) or whether they’re actually people with a gifts. Of course, the answer is that it’s both.

The thing I least like about WicDiv’s mythology is that the 12 people are people with this gift, for obvious “Ugh Chosen Ones” reasons. There’s some things that mitigate that a little, I hope, and not least that it’s clearly transferable to wherever you are in life. The core of it is “if you find yourself with a gift, be careful with it and use it responsibly.” It’s a book about the power, privilege, dangers and seductions of being an artist and all that. It’s only when writing that sentence do I realise how tired I am. This has been a busy week. Excuse me if the writing is looser than usual.

Anyway, I’m probably over-worrying. If X-men is fine, we probably are too.

So – end of the page is a download of some of the explanations of stuff folk will inevitably be going “Wait – what?”

And then Tara steps up.

When you’re writing a large group scene, with limited space, there’s choices you make of who speaks and who doesn’t. Who’s going to have the strongest counter-argument to something? Who’s going to have the biggest reaction? Them. They’re the one who carries the scene.

Which is Tara. Perhaps you could make an argument for Baal, but Baal is reeling through all these issues – plus if you choose one or the other, you tie-breaker would be who hasn’t had spotlight.

Page 18-21

And the counter is equally inevitably Cassandra (who is also in the process of beating herself up). Being Cass, she puts it harshly. Clearly, this is going to get a response from Tara.. and Cass opens up herself and makes herself vulnerable. Which is a hell of a thing for her, right?

I’ll stop this – I’m just walking through the emotional flow, but I love these two women here.

Which segues into the last formalist style thing of the issue. Once again, we have a space = meaning problem. This is clearly the most important sequence of the issue, but we have so few pages. We turn to one of the core WicDiv moves of black panels in a six panel grid, and loading them up with text. Suddenly we have a sense of ritual, a lot of dialogue produced in a stylistic way and most of all a whole extra page (hence an extra page of weight).

It’s also a complete showcase for Matt. The last godly panel of them is them at their most Godly, this final little iconic burst. A confession, and it’s gone.

I cried when I got the colours for this. I forget which one it was – there’s just some wonderful Jamie expressions in there as well.

Choosing the confessions was definitely tricky. We have space, but too much is too much. Some of them I kept simple, and others needed a little space to explain. The ordering was also one of those processes where you feel out the character, and think how they’d speak. Dio would clearly jump in, then Inanna, then Mimir trying to just piece it together, and all leading to Baal.

I did try and write a Baal caption, but any words were just too small.

And then, of course…

Page 22

You’ve probably seen me talking about year 4 as Solving The Equation. Yes, we knew lots of the key things, but there’s lots of elements of the execution were worked, and rethought and discovered. I may be able to talk a little more about this in the last issue’s notes.

This was a big one. I was chewing over the synopsis and thinking… a battle against Ananke/Minerva is a little underwhelming after everything, right? At this point in the story, Minerva is a busted flush. In reality, Laura (and Demeter) won the intellectual battle against Minerva in Mothering Invention. She’s already beat her. It nagged at me. There was something else.

Then there was the other thing – I knew that Lucifer was going to get her body back, but I wasn’t entirely sure what she’d do when she had it.

The two came together: of course, the final confrontation isn’t between Laura and Minerva. It’s with Lucifer, the person who brought Laura into the world, the person who brought us all into the world. The girl who wanted to be on stage, no matter the cost. That’s the final battle.

And best of all, I had no idea what would happen.

Well – not quite, but suddenly a whole lot of things was up in the air.

Page 23

Song reference, obv. Always connected to something in my head in my early career. If I do writer notes for the playlist, I may actually tell you.

Oh – some people wondered whether all the skulls meant everyone was dead. No – it’s just there’s no god in the slot. I’m not that kind of shithead.

Anyway – issue is out tomorrow. Or maybe today, depending on where you are. It ends the story, with 45 being an epilogue with a somewhat different tone. Clearly, it’s a huge issue, so be a little careful with your tweeting. The last cover is especially a big spoiler.

Thanks for your patience and thanks for reading.

#WicDiv #the wicked and the divine #jason latour #writer notes

117 notes · View notes

katefathers · 7 years

Text

Kate Watches: Doctor Who 9x04 & 9x05

“What are you doing now?” asked the giant Odin head in the sky.

“I’m averting my eyes from this episode, O Lord.”

“Well don’t.”

That’s right, it’s time for “The Girl Who Died”.

But first, let’s take a look at “Before the Flood”. It opens with a breaking of the fourth wall, which while interesting I thought ultimately unnecessary. As the first episode ended on a cliffhanger, I would have rather had it immediately resolved than to draw attention to the technique the writers were using. This is another example of how Moffat’s Doctor Who doesn’t trust the audience. After the credits, however, the story recommences, and although it wasn’t quite as well-paced it was still a tense and enjoyable episode.

Part of this enjoyment was Toby Whithouse’s employment of some storytelling devices that I have always liked in Doctor Who. He name-checks previous companions, as well as Harold Saxon, the episode “Kill the Moon”, and adds some possible foreshadowing with the Minister of War. I always like it when episodes remember that they’re part of a wider universe, that Doctor Who doesn’t only exist in that moment and the character’s actions have broader implications. Whitehouse did this again when he referenced the Doctor’s “survivor’s guilt”, which could be a nod to the time war (and how hilarious is it that Moffat might be the only one who cared for his Time War retcon?), and again when he brought back the very Russell T Davies trope of the paradox. Under Moffat, paradoxes became a minor inconvenience, something bandied about as if they mattered and halfheartedly overcome with “special space magic”. Whithouse isn’t afraid of the complications a paradox presents. He looks at the rules--at the limitations--and uses his imagination to find a way around it. That’s interesting storytelling. That’s absorbing viewing. It’s something I have dearly missed from Doctor Who, and as a writer have found so frustrating with Moffat’s work.

Whithouse’s characters also stand in direct contrast with Moffat’s, particularly his writing of the Doctor and Clara. Whithouse’s characters, of all genders, have agency and opinions. They are angry and frustrated with their situation, but also incredibly kind. Clara, while not as active as I’d like her to be, still does more than wait around for a rescue. And the Doctor isn’t a god, when Whithouse writes him. He isn’t infallible, and he isn’t insulting, and characters don’t bow to his genius. Bennett confronts the Doctor after O’Donnell dies, directly questioning his actions. Cass shows her displeasure at how Clara, and through her the Doctor, treats other people’s lives. Unlike Moffat who often lets the Doctor’s actions go unquestioned, Whithouse forces the Doctor to take ownership of his decisions. To explain himself both to characters and the audience. It’s so wonderful to see that again, and judging from the episodes that come after I wonder if this will become a theme of the series: the Doctor examining how he treats the lives of those around him.

That brings me to “The Girl Who Died”. Written by Jamie Mathieson and Steven Moffat, it picks up at the end of adventure, which I quite enjoyed. Unfortunately, that opening segment was the high point for me, as this episode was fraught with terrible CGI, painfully ridiculous conceits, and frustratingly passive characters. That Odin head in the sky was laughable. “Baby” is not a language; I muted the television when the Doctor was “speaking” it. Clara turned from a negotiator to an observer, waiting for the Doctor to come up with a plan rather than helping him formulate one. Most other characters were pretty passive too. The Doctor was also much more abrasive and rude, which after “Before the Flood” made it clear that this was Moffat’s characterization. The pace was middling, and the story was a little dull, and Ashildr being made “functionally immortal” using technology the Doctor had lying around makes you question past narratives. Why was the Doctor being with Rose such a big deal if he could have easily matched their lifespans? Why has losing companions to time and death such a sadness when he had a solution? True he was uncertain about his decision, but given his past conflict with his being so long-lived, I feel like the Doctor should have had greater reservations. This shouldn’t have been so easy for him to do. There should have been more than a two-minute struggle.

There were things about this episode that I did enjoy. I like the idea of Clara always being a little uncomfortable with the Doctor and the time she spends with him. As a viewer you know that Clara won’t stay forever, and the story is already planting those seeds. This is a break in her daily routine. This is not a lifestyle that she seamlessly slips in to. The awkward thumbs up and hug from the Doctor was also adorable, and Ashildr was interesting, and I did love that we weren’t in Victorian England. However, all these things were marred by the episode’s rather massive flaws. Perhaps if characters were allowed more agency I would feel differently. Or if the revelation of “why the Doctor has this face” had actually been built up properly, rather than mentioned once and then never again. There were good ideas here, but they were poorly executed.

Here’s hoping the second part is better.

#Kate watches #Doctor Who #Doctor Who Series 9 #criticism #analysis #review #spoilers

0 notes

rachelbethhines · 4 years

Text

Tangled Salt Marathon - Rapunzeltopia

This episode, much like many other plot important episodes of the first two seasons, is decent on it its own, but becomes retroactively worse due to season three’s bad writing and behind the scenes bullshit.

Summary: Matthews reveals himself as another dark spirit and disciple of Zhan Tiri, and traps Eugene, Lance and the others in unbreakable vines similar to the Great Tree's evil magic. He has Rapunzel live the perfect life while he prepares to hand over the mystical powers of the Sundrop to his master. Fortunately, Rapunzel is able to make contact with her brown-haired dream self and attempts to convince her to let go.

Timeline Alert

So what does almost a year ago mean? The Great Tree was six months out, and then in Mirror, Mirror, Lance said that they been fighting for three weeks since. So how long have then been stuck in this shell house? Because You’re Kidding Me was just the next day after Mirror, Mirror. Was Lance’s ‘three weeks’ comment meant to be after Brothers Hooks and Rapunzel: Day One and not Great Tree? Are we 7, 8, 9, or 10 months out from Secret of the Sundrop? Like be clear about your time frame guys if you’re going to use it as a plot point.

I’m going to say we are 9 months along on this trip, just cause that sounds closer to ‘almost a year ago’ without keeping them all trapped in the shell house for months. So Great Tree is 6 months, Brother’s Hook and Rapunzel Day One is 7 months, Mirror, Mirror is going on 8 months, and at the end of this episode they’ll be heading into the 9 month period...I guess. Lets just say they were trapped there for a week or two.

This Episode Only Highlights How Self Centered and Immature Rapunzel Still Is Rather Than Showcase How Much She’s Grown

The point behind this episode is show how much Rapunzel has grown since season one, and how she is accepting of responsibility now, but it actually backfires because she’s not actually being challenged on her selfish desires but on her lack of agency. Which is the wrong lesson that she needs to be learning at this point in her development.

Rapunzel in her subconscious mind doesn’t wish for what’s best for other people but what’s best for herself. People she must interact with on the regular have to be superficially happy even if it completely warps their character. While people she doesn't care about, like Lady Caine, can just be simply banished and ignored regardless if they deserve such an end or not. She doesn’t see people as people with individual thoughts and feelings, but as satellites to herself and her narrow worldview.

Also, ‘I believe everyone deserves a second chance’ my eye! Caine never gets even a first chance in Rapunzel’s own fantasy world. Because Rapunzel is a selfish hypocrite who’s ‘redemptions’ always comes with strings attached.

Here Comes the Dumbest Plot Point In the Show

I’ll talk about this more when we get to season three, but this scene is the beginning of the end for any dignity the show once held.

Also why would ‘I don’t trust anyone’ Cassandra follow a creepy voice calling her name through a doorway inside a magic house that’s tried to kill her twice now?

If you gotta make you character act out of character in order to get your plot rolling than you haven’t a good plot. Think of something else.

What’s the Point of Having Two Names?

They did this both with Sugarbee and Matthews here and it makes zero sense. Why would they need to bother with fake names if the heroes wouldn’t even recognize their real names to begin with? Such revelations add nothing and fails to tell the audience anything new about the characters. It’s also not consistent as it turns out Gothel was a disciple too and she only gets one name, so what gives?

So How Does This All Work Again?

So Zhan Tiri needs ‘a clash of the sundrop and moonstone’ in order to be freed from her prison. Why? I don’t know, but holding Rapunzel prisoner for life actually undermines that plan, and it’s a plan that Zhan Tiri is currently setting up with Cassandra off screen during all of this.

So does Tromus/Matthews just not know that Zhan Tiri is already ‘free’ and has her own plans?

Is Rapunzel’s power being drained what gives Zhan Tiri a foothold in the real world?

Or was Zhan Tiri released back in the Great Tree with the removal of the spear and that’s why she knows to go after Cass?

What was up with the Great Tree and the sealed tree back in Painter’s Block? Did they have any impact on Zhan Tiri’s plans?

Were any of the disciples actually useful at all?

So What Do the Disciples Gain From All This?

Sugarbee, Matthews, and Gothel were all once real people who actually lived so what are their reasons for following Zhan Tiri? What do they gain from going through such complicated plans? Why continue to follow someone after you’ve been dead for centuries and are a ghost now, and were presumably trapped and or killed by Demantius for following her? Real people don’t just hold on to such fanatical devotion without reason.

This Conflict Over Choices Does Not Work Without Varian

Going back to how this episode fails to develop Rapunzel; it wants to have Rapunzel take responsibility for difficult choices, but much like Painters Block, it completely ignores her biggest fuck up thereby undermining why she has trouble with owning up to hard choices.

Rapunzel ruined a child’s life. She may not have meant to but she did, and thus far she has done nothing to make amends for it. She’s not even spared the poor boy a single thought beyond seeing him as the boogeyman in a nightmare once.

You can’t have Rapunzel take responsibility for anything if you won’t hold her accountable for anything.

Varian was meant to appear in this episode, and indeed he should have for the above reason.

But of course Chris had to give us a bullshit excuse for why he cut the most plot important character from the series.

I’ve already spoken about how Varian’s cameo in Happiness Is did nothing to actually further develop Rapunzel nor explore her guilt back in that review. In this episode, however, I want to discuss how hollow the comparisons to Gothel is and why there shouldn’t logically have been any competition between the two.

Varian and Gothel provide two completely different conflicts and two completely different points of development for Rapunzel’s arc. Gothel is the instigator of her conflict with Rapunzel. Rapunzel, as the victim, has only one thing to learn, self esteem. She learned it back in the movie, she relearned it back in the season one, and here she’s re-contextualizing it for this episode’s mini-arc.

Meanwhile Rapunzel is the instigator of her conflict with Varian. She’s the one with the power in their relationship and her choices matter. She doesn’t need to learn agency because she already has it. What she needs to learn is responsibility and she can’t do that without confronting Varian and what she did in some manner. So unlike with Gothel there only new ground to cover here rather than rehashing old conflicts.

Chris Sonnenburg has things all backwards. Rapunzel’s agency/self-esteem issues and her need to take responsibility for her actions are not interchangeable conflicts. Addressing one does not automatically address the other, and of the two her conflict with responsibility holds more weight because it’s ongoing. We haven’t seen the resolvement there. It also affects more people than just herself so the stakes are higher there as well. And to top it all off, it fits with the themes of the episode better.

Also, you very much could have had both characters because they both reflect different conflicts and serve different purposes in the narrative. Time management in television is a very big deal yes, but you have little grounds for defense when all you’ve shown is how poorly you’ve managed your time until now.

In short, Chris is full of shit.

No, It Wouldn’t

We’ve already established that there’s no need for Rapunzel to go on her quest in season two. The black rocks are inactive, there’s no ticking clock she has to beat, and her staying at home would have actually prevented the conflicts in season three.

Unless dream Rapunzel is referring to Zhan Tiri being released, but even that is false because Zhan Tiri is already floating around a little blue ghost girl off screen right now. What Rapunzel choses or chooses not to do does not change that.

Lack of external conflict undermines internal conflict.

Just Cause You Make A Meta Joke About Your Heroes Being Dumb For No Reason, Does Not Make Them Any Less Stupid

Jokingly admitting a fault in your writing doesn’t not excuse that fault. If you can’t have a plot without handing the idiot ball to your characters than you haven’t a good plot. Time to go back to drawing board.

Season Three Will Go Back On This Episode’s Message and Prove the Villian Right

I’ve liget seen fans unironically praise the show for it’s message of ‘be content with what you have’. Not only is that a terrible lesson to teach children; it’s actually the exact opposite of what the show is trying to achieve.

“Be satisfied” is suppose to be the wrong motto. Rapunzel is suppose to be fighting against this message. In the episode itself it’s the villian who is saying such things in order to tempt her to stay put.

So how could anyone look at the show as a whole and come away with idea that the one off villain was right along?

Because season three does a complete 180 away from its original messages regarding agency and responsibility. All consequences disappear from the story and the mains are given convenient scapegoats to distract from their decisions. Characters actively regress and are rewarded by the narrative for either not doing anything or for victim blaming others for their actions.

But most damaging of all is the fact that nearly everyone winds up back where they started out at, or aren’t given a proper ending at all. Tangled’s story is just one giant circle and that in of itself contradicts the idea of progress.

Cassandra’s Hurt Hand Is Only Relevant When The Story Wants Rapunzel to Feel Guilty About Something

Oh but we can just throw Cassandra’s burnt hand in here as a substitute Rapunzel’s guilt over Varian. Even though the two incidents should actually complement one another rather than compete for dominance.

Tangled doesn’t trust its audience to remember things. It acts like if it’s off screen or not being focused upon than it’s not happening or isn’t relevant. This undermines any ongoing or overarching conflicts.

Why should we care about Cassandra’s arm if she’s been shown as being fine with it for four episodes by now? Especially since it’ll never come up again after this point? And on the flip side of things, why should the audience not care about the 15 year old who has been sitting in a dungeon for almost a year now due to Rapunzel’s neglect?

We’re not magpies who are quickly distracted by shiny new things. We are capable of retaining information and informing decisions based off of that. Especially if Chris was shooting for the teen audience as he claims he was.

Oh But We Got Time For Godzilla-Pascal

Can’t spare even half a minute for a Varian cameo that would be relevant, but we sure got time to waste on a pointless action sequence that does nothing to further the character in what is meant to be a character development episode.

This Scene Is Out of Character

That’s not how abuse works!

The whole reason why Gothel was able to keep Rapunzel under her thumb for 18 years because Rapunzel always sought her approval. Never at any point, even when finally choosing to break away from her in the movie, did Rapunzel wish to harm the woman. That goes against who she is as a character and it’s not how abuse victims respond to abusers even after cutting things off with them.

If anything, Rapunzel’s treatment of Frederic in Happiness Is is more in line with how a victim goes about mourning the loss of an abusive relationship. Victims grieve for what might have been. Victims mourn the loss of what good times they had with their abusers, because yes, abusers aren’t abusive 100% of the time 24/7. They can’t be or they risk losing their victim quicker.

I initially was ok with flashbacks to Gothel on occasion because no victim ever makes a completely clean break from their abuser. Even ‘moving on’ isn’t some triumphant singular action when you stand tall while you knock your opponent down in a wish fulfilment fantasy.

No. ‘Moving on’ is slow. It’s understated. It’s routine. It’s about being able to do the dishes without getting triggered. It’s sitting at lunch with friends and being happy and calm without the fear of returning home hanging over your head. It’s not skipping out on work because your anxiety is through the roof over just meeting with your boss. It’s not devolving into a yelling match over something minor because you internalize your abusers behavior.

Abuse victims don’t celebrate violence as strength. We celebrate being an unmovable mountain of clam fortitude. Being in control even as the world rages at us, because we’re self assured.

The fact that this scene exists, while Happiness Is shows Rapunzel behaving the opposite way to the father who abused her the same as Gothel did, only proves that a man shouldn’t have been in charge of this show. Certainly not without a woman by his side giving equal input.

Stop Using Destiny as a Shorthand for Everything!

Destiny isn’t a catch all word that can mean whatever you want it to. Words have definitions for a reason. Destiny isn’t a goal nor does it equate to agency and responsibility; kind of the opposite in fact.

Well That Was Redundant

All we did was rehash Rapunzel’s season one arc in under half in hour. Nothing new was learned. It’s like writers don’t know how to resolve any conflict that isn’t a repeat of the first movie. Meanwhile actual unique conflicts are just sitting off to the side being ignored. All because the show’s creator doesn’t want to hold his precious self insert accountable for anything.

Bye Bye Smart Cass, Hello Dumb Cass

So from this point onward the Cass we’ve known for nearly two seasons is gone. She’s just been replaced by the dumbest bitch on the planet. Because the writers don’t understand how manipulation and trauma actually works. Nor do they comprehend the importance of giving characters actual goals.

Conclusion

Season three is what retroactively spoils this episode. Cass’s dumb decision here, Zhan Tiri’s lack of a coherent plan, the uselessness of the disciples, and even the lack of Varian could have been glossed over had they writers given us a satisfying pay offs for any of the main conflicts. But they didn’t and so here we are.

Also a small update, but after this review and starting next week, the Salt Marathon will go from bi weekly updates to only one a week. This is a combination of real life work getting in the way and the growing length of the reviews. This means we’ll hopefully be done come March, which would mark the show’s anniversary. I got some plans to celebrate if that works out.

#tangled #anti-tangled #anti rapunzel #rapunzel's tangled adventure #tangled the series #varian

80 notes · View notes