#and aura deserved more screentime

[mimikyutie]

There's things i like about dual destinies but man..... it really was a lot weaker than the rest of the series huh.

[natrogersfics]

The Anthology - Chapter 2: Fortnight

Artwork by @faith2nyc Read on AO3

Did you have an early call-time that I missed? Haven’t heard from you all day. Getting a little worried… Nat, where are you? Please answer the phone.

She’s not a morning person.

Of all the things Steve knows about Natasha Romanoff, that’s one fact he’s certain he can bet his life on. It’s why waking up to an empty bed yesterday was such a jarring experience, especially since he’ll be hard-pressed to pinpoint the last time it happened. And as he looks down at his phone, reading through all his texts to her that have gone unanswered, he can only run a hand wearily over his face.

Natasha had been an enigma from the very moment he’d met her on the set of The Avengers years ago. He had heard a lot about his first-time costar, sure – it was hard not to know of the prodigious child actor who would eventually go on to become box office royalty in no time at all. But with the limited amount of screentime they shared then, it’s not as though he’d gotten the chance to get to know her. It's for that reason that he had jumped at the opportunity when, after their first table read for The Winter Soldier, their directors had suggested that they spend time together outside of set.

It wouldn’t be hyperbolic to say that getting to know Natasha has been profound in every aspect. Nevertheless, it hadn’t been an easy process. Despite her vast body of work and the many stories the media has written, speculating untruthfully about her life more often than not as he would learn, the mysterious and seemingly impenetrable aura about her that intrigued so many remained. It’s only through their late-night conversations, often seated on the floor of their temporary living rooms and a bottle of whatever they could find passed between them, that he had finally come to realize that her mystique is all to do with all the armor she carries. Armor that, despite how ruthless this business is, has allowed her to survive. To thrive. The concept was foreign to him, of course. He’s an open book, has been from the very first time he entered the industry and donned the glimmering shield of Captain America. But that too was a privilege, he had found out. While he’s made some mistakes along the way, none of them have been heightened, underscored, and thrown back at him at lightspeed quite like hers have.

In all honesty, he’s still not sure what he did to deserve to see what’s underneath all her sacred protection. To get a glimpse into just how heavy and exhausting it is to have to constantly carry it around. Even so, he’s glad to have the honor. For as grim a sight as it can be, mixed in with all the pain and loneliness are also the most beautiful parts of her that very few get to see. To the rest of the world, Natasha Romanoff is the captivating bombshell on their magazine covers. The striking, perfect face and the husky, seductive voice behind some of the most alluring characters to grace the big screen. And yes, he sees those facets of her, too. But beyond that, Natasha to him is the epitome of what it is to be beautifully human. She has loved. She has lost. She’s made mistakes and made them again. And while she’s not always afforded the same time and space to learn from her missteps as others, she’s always risen from the ashes – even if that’s meant she’s had to keep her heart under lock and key.

The last thought elicits a sigh from him. She rarely speaks about her past, but he didn’t need to hear the entire story to know that she’s had her heart eviscerated enough times to last her a lifetime. And it’s not as though her heart is something he expects of her now. He wasn’t expecting anything at all when they had fallen into… whatever this thing between them is now. But he’d be lying if he said he hasn’t felt something shift. Almost as if their touches have lingered, their kisses growing hungrier in the absence of their ability to speak the words. He can’t help but wonder if she had felt that, too. If that’s the reason she felt the need to run away from the warmth of his bed that morning.

The need for clarity cuts through him like a blade through the softest of flesh, and he finds himself reaching for his phone once more. “Natasha,” he all but pleads when his call goes straight to voicemail. “Please talk to me.”

A gasp falls from Widow’s lips as her back hits the wall. Before her, Captain America stares her down, his eyes blazing with fury. “Where is it?”

“Safe,” she says practically through gritted teeth.

“Do better!”

Her eyes narrow. “Where did you get it?”

“Why would I tell you?”

“Fury gave it to you. Why?”

“What's on it?”

“I don't know.”

Unconvinced, Captain America’s grip on her arms tightens. “Stop lying!”

“I only act like I know everything, Cap.”

“I bet you knew Fury hired the pirates, didn't you?”

“Well, it makes sense,” she acquiesces. “The ship was dirty, Fury needed a way in, so do you.”

“I'm not gonna ask you again,” he hisses.

“I know who killed Fury,” she whispers, prompting his hold on her to loosen. “Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists, the ones who do call him the Winter Soldier. He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last fifty years.”

“So he's a ghost story,” he concludes.

“Five years ago, I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran. Somebody shot out my tires near Odessa. We lost control, went straight over a cliff, I pulled us out, but the Winter Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer, so he shot him straight through me…” She pulls up her shirt to show him the scar on the side of her stomach. “Soviet slug, no rifling.” She lets her lips curl into the slightest of smirks. “Bye-bye bikinis.”

“Yeah,” he deadpans. “I bet you look terrible in them now.”

“And cut!”

Natasha would never show it, but for the first time since her day started, it’s as though she can finally catch her breath as she steps away from Steve to look at the men behind the camera. “Did you want us to go again?”

“No, we’re good,” Joe, one-half of their directing duo, says. “We got the take.”

“That’s a wrap for you two today,” Anthony chimes in.

She doesn’t argue, and despite feeling Steve’s gaze heavy on her, she doesn’t dare look his way as she nods at both directors and makes a beeline for her trailer. She’s halfway there when she hears hurried footfalls behind her.

“Natasha,” Steve calls out, but she keeps walking. His voice grows louder. “Natasha, wait!”

“What do you want, Steve?” she asks as she whips around, crossing her hands over her chest. The question comes out harsher than she’d intended, and she regrets it immediately when she sees the hurt flash in his eyes.

“What do I want?” he says, expression incredulous. “Nat, I haven’t heard from you in days, and now you can’t get away from me fast enough.” He takes a step towards her, leaving mere inches between them. “Did I do something wrong?”

She looks away from him at that. She’s read his every text. Listened to every voicemail he’s left her, and then listened to it again. And now, as she stands before him, hearing the agony in his voice up close and personal, she wants nothing more than to tell him the truth. To let him know that this is killing her, too.

As his question hangs in the air between them, she feels his hand encircle her wrist. “Natasha,” he whispers, running his thumb gently over her tripping pulse. “Baby, I-”

Her head snaps to him then. He’s never called her that, at least not outside the safety of either of their beds, that, coupled with the concern thick in his stare, she feels her restraint begin to waver like a house of cards in a gust of wind.

No.

She yanks her hand away and out of his touch, shaking her head. “I have nothing to say to you.”

As she walks away, she keeps her eyes downturned, certain that another glance at him will all but make her resolve crumble. It’s only when she’s finally in the solace of her trailer that she leans her back against the door, bringing her hands to her face. “I’m sorry,” she whispers. “I’m so sorry.”

Chapter 1 | Chapter 3

[sytokun]

RWBY's characters are friggin hard to write properly

"People who make RWBY rewrites will never know the effort CRWBY goes through to make RWBY, they just say their work is better"

Rewriters, with 0 funding, 0 studio backing and niche fan support:

How do I write Ruby as a nuanced long-term protagonist who struggles with trying to carry on someone else's legacy (Summer) while becoming her own person as one of the youngest people in the cast? Between Ozpin cementing her Hunter career and Summer's death, how does she know how much of her dreams and goals are truly her own, and how much will her morals be tested as she finds out the actual sacrifices and difficult choices she will have to make as a Hunter, which goes far beyond her initial idealistic idea of Hunters as infallible heroes who are always on the right side?

How do I write Weiss' struggle and deal with the fact that Jacques is underwhelming as her personal antagonist, with his motivations as a businessman seemingly entirely divorced from Weiss' own goals of becoming a Hunter, and thus her own goals of becoming a Hunter runs contrary to the kind of journey she needs to become the SDC's heiress? How do I best convey her loneliness and her presentation between the trailer and the show, where her inner life is sullen and contemplative, but her outer personality manifests in being overly abrasive and competitive? How do I portray her struggling with her racist views while not making her an outright unlikeable lead, giving her moral journey the nuance it deserves and not just sweeping it under the rug and have her simply undergo a change of heart on a dime?

How do I write Blake, which means by extension I need to properly write the entirety of the White Fang? How should I contextualise her relationship with Adam, her undercover identity with Beacon and her conflict between wanting peace and coexistence vs. standing up for the right thing, as someone who is part of a disenfranchised people yet is now working for a majority human organisation and Kingdom? How do I write her as a Faunus and show her unique struggle as one in this fantasy world that seems familiar and relatable, but also believable for a people whose animal features grant them wildly more disparate biological differences from humans beyond just skin colour, even many of them being outright advantages over humans, thus not making them a straightforward 1-to-1 allegory for race in our world?

How do I write Yang, someone whose entire character rides a very delicate balance between a family-oriented, sentimental and protective sister and surrogate mother figure; and a thrill-seeking, reckless person willingly throwing herself into danger out of a distinct lack of purpose and concern for her own life, due to never having a proper childhood and growing up too early, so every day is spent like she's a brilliant star that's looking for every opportunity to burn herself out for the sake of others or giving her life some sense of purpose?

How do I write Jaune, who is infamously known for how much screentime he steals from the main cast, so I have to trim everything surrounding him to facilitate the main girls' development, while still giving him the same amount of substance fans come to expect from him due to his disproportionately large amount of prominence and screentime for the past 10 years? How do I rework his role as an audience surrogate and have him be inexperienced but also not inconsistently ignorant (like not knowing what Aura is despite being from a family of Hunters), knowing that after he's done learning, he still needs an actual characterisation to fall back on?

How do I write Ren and Nora, knowing that they've been treated as a 2-in-1 package from the start? How do I make them more distinct characters, knowing I may need to expand on them further down the line, but also making sure they fulfill their roles as supporting characters without taking too much time away from the main cast? What sort of traits do I give them that makes them more distinct from each other, while selling to the audience that they've known each other forever, making them believable as childhood partners while also being their own people with tangible personal lives beyond each other's company?

How do I write Pyrrha, someone who only got proper characterisation in the second half of the same Volume she dies, and properly pace it throughout the story, while also making sure she properly stands as her own person and not just a vehicle devoted for Jaune's development to the detriment of her relationships with everyone else, including her other teammates? How do I portray her complex inner turmoil, where she's torn between her destiny of becoming someone great after showing great promise and talent since a young age, but also seeks a normal, fulfilling life forming connections with people she can view as equals and not from atop a pedestal? How do I deal with her immensely polarising death, knowing that if I do so, I would be trading a great amount of potential for growth and unexplored avenues for her character in exchange for a story-defining loss that singlehandedly changed the story moving forward?

How do I write Penny, someone whose newfound humanity poses far-reaching questions for the nature of Aura and the soul in Remnant, whose friendship with Ruby needs to be given proper devotion and time to really sell their friendship, given she occupies a pretty notable role as Ruby's best friend who isn't from her team or JNPR, or even really associated with Beacon? How do I handle her death and possible return, knowing that her soul's malleable nature could lead to any number of possible ways she can come back to life, but not as herself - showing that while she may be, in a sense, immortal, there is still always a price to pay for reviving her; because simply bringing her back with no repercussions feels dramatically unsatisfying and cheapens the power and impact of her first death?

How do I write Ozpin, one of the most divisive and enigmatic figures in the show, whose fan perception of him ranges from "well-intentioned tragic hero" to "morally grey immortal pragmatist" to "manipulative head of shadow government"? How do I satisfyingly convey the extent of his powers and wisdom, as well as the moral mire of his actions, knowing I have to push and pull the view of the audience towards him - and by extension the views of Ruby and the other heroes - starting as a fairly trustworthy if shady mentor, slowly unraveling his past and calling him into question, and how that would divide the allegiances of the cast?

How do I write Raven, another mysterious figure who left her daughter and family behind for equally mysterious reasons? What could reasonably cause someone like her, a battle-hardened warrior and formerly a hero, to abandon her daughter? Why does her Semblance seem to contradict this, allowing her to instantly reach people she cares for, showing she may actually have cared all along, but was forced to distance herself for some reason?

How do I write Cinder, a widely-disliked villain who many consider to overstay her welcome and has a uninteresting personality, and considered one of the least compelling antagonists in the show, despite being one of the most prominent ones? What could I do to improve her place in the series to make her a more compelling villain, while still maintaining her more substantial traits, like how she seeks power and control, and uses a mix of intimidation and cunning to strip power away from Ozpin, while coordinating large-scale plans involving multiple accomplices and complex Semblances?

How do I write Adam, a character who elicits some of the most impassioned reactions from any side of the fandom, knowing that he is an oppressed Faunus in a group fighting to keep their own place in a world that violently wants to keep them down? How do I fairly represent him and the White Fang as a faction that causes large-scale conflict in Remnant and the plot, knowing I have to grapple with the uncomfortable situation that our heroes are fighting possibly the only group on Remnant willing to fight for the rights of the Faunus? Is it worth maintaining their canon portrayal as a once noble group with corrupted ideals (knowing the canon show's horrible history of villainising disenfranchised people in favour of an unjust but comfortable status quo) or should the portrayal of this group evolve to meet a better standard that better represents people opposing such blatant inequality and discrimination?

How do I weigh the options between keeping or removing Oscar, a character who is popular but also criticised for being an extraneous protagonist-type character, and do this knowing he is polarising enough that I would make one half of the fandom unhappy no matter what I choose - those who love Oscar and his inclusion in the show and the moral conflict he presents, as well as being a sort of moral contrast to Ozpin, vs. those who feel he is narratively unnecessary and under normal circumstances, he has very little reason to exist in the story?

What do I do with Salem, a character whose presence determines the entire direction and stakes of the show, whose early introduction led to large periods of inaction and passivity that diminishes her impact and legitimacy as a villain?

How do I write Ironwood, a greatly divisive character who some view as a misunderstood hero and potential ally who was turned into an unapologetic villain only through a mishandled narrative, while others view as an inevitable antagonist who was always destined to come to blows with the heroes? How do I balance his role as a strong but unstable ally of Ozpin, who is an open book who is quick to action while Ozpin is secretive and slow to act, and portray this uneasy tension well up until the Fall of Beacon, past Ozpin's death and all the way till Ironwood's tipping point in the fight against Salem and the Grimm?

And so on and so forth for every other character - not even including the setting and overarching plot.

We may have 20/20 hindsight by working with an existing work, but we also have to use every ounce of that hindsight to work with whatever shit that RWBY makes up - which is a far more herculean task than many give it credit for.

Our benefit of hindsight is countered by canon RWBY's benefit of foresight and the responsibility to create a cohesive narrative with the characters and setting they have. Our job is hardly easier; creation of any sort is a hard endeavour - it's just hard in a different way than making something from scratch. One is the freedom of a writer to create something new and then seeing it through; the other is the editor who must correct for mistakes and properly respect and best enhance the work that is on their table.

People who dismiss RWBY rewrites and fanfiction like to think RWBY is this perfectly tended garden, and we're just harmful pests coming to strip and infest it for no discernible reason, when the reality is closer to RWBY being a buggy, rushed game with exploitative monetization and near game-breaking glitches, and we are players and modders simultaneously trying clean up the mess it left behind and hash it together into something less prone to failure.

No one is denying that a lot of effort and work went into the game. Doesn't mean that the game isn't a buggy product on release and its creators could have done so, so much better. The recent Pokemon S&V game is a perfect example of how a piece of media can have a lot of fun things to enjoy and is widely-liked with a lot of great content - and also be intensely broken and criminally underdelivered, given the resources and underlying value of the property the company has access to.

[cerisia76]

What's a relationship that you wish you could have seen more in TD?

Gosh there are so many... I will give three because they are totally different!

As a romantic relationship I wanted more of Samkota (If you thought I would say Gwuncan or Lyler... You're right I hesitated).

These two were never given a true chance to shine in a season where they were doomed. They deserve more screentime.

Then there is Scott and Dawn.

I love them as a ship, I love them as a friendship but I also love them as rivals and THAT'S what I wanted to see more. How Dawn would be so annoyed at him and want to destroy him for his nasty personality but at the same time read his aura and feel bad for him while he is scared of her but at the same time respects her because she doesn't let him play his game. Give me this please!

Finally I wanted more of Gwen and Lindsay's friendship.

They are polar opposite but I do think they would genuinely enjoy each other's company. Or well... Cody and Lindsay too. Give me more Lindsay friendship moments!

[nandinis-world]

SHERSHAAH: The Kargil Conflict

The Kargil conflict - the toughest mountain warfare ever. Fought at a dizzying altitude of 17,000 feet, this historic war had a lot at stake. The Pakistani troops had infiltrated into the Indian side of the Line of Control (LOC), disguised as Kashmiri militants. The skirmishes quickly escalated into a full-blown war that also chalked the journey of a soldier from Lieutenant to Captain for his absolute dare-devilry and patriotic spirit to unfurl the tricolour at the highest point of conflict. Even if that meant laying down his own life for the cause.But before we get there, director Vishnu Varadhan and his writer Sandeep Srivastava take it slow. So we are taken right back to a childhood sequence of Captain Vikram Batra (Sidharth Malhotra) and shown his growing up years, finding the love of his life Dimple Cheema (Kiara Advani), before he is finally posted at the 13 JAK Rifles as a Lieutenant. While this build-up depicts the character's journey, it doesn't do so very sharply to merit so much screentime. In fact, most of the times, Kiara Advani's track and the romantic songs featuring her, feel like a distraction from the heavy-duty subject at hand. This also impacts the pace of the film that suffers from a slow first half.

Of course, director Vishnu Varadhan had a mammoth task of doing justice to the copious amounts of data and milestones from the Kargil war, but the bulk of it is dealt with, in the second half. Sidharth Malhotra shines in the war scenes and his performance evolves through the film. His earnest efforts to recreate the aura of his character's larger-than-life persona shows on screen and this is one of his better performances. Kiara Advani looks her part as a resolute Sardarni, who loves her man with all her heart. But she doesn't have much scope to perform.

The film's overall tone is obviously high on patriotism. Many combat scenes don't reflect the large canvas that the film is set up on, perhaps more deserving of a big screen experience. Yet, as an industry, Bollywood has seldom churned out epic war films that have been critically and commercially acclaimed. By those standards, 'Shershaah' ranks high than most of the recent war dramas and tells an inspiring story that needs to be told.

[messiisgodibeliveinhim]

Taeyong

I just wanted to rant about everything that happened. So here I am.

So initially I didn't want to watch the concert because of the obvious lack of Taeyong. But i did watch it (ill*gally) on Twitter Live Stream, to see who would cover for Taeyong and how.

Okay, first of all, is it just me or was there an actual lack of preparation and production for the concert??? Like, compare it to SuperM's Beyond Live. The VCRs, the camera direction, the stage, the AR effects... Everything looked so good and exciting. But for this one, they didn't even try. The production was lacking severely and the AR effects were barely used. Everything looked rushed as if they didnt actually plan it set by set. The VCRs were just all the footages from other videos clamped together. There was nothing new or cool about this Beyond Live, even with the increased price. Overall, it looked cheap. I think, the only saving grace of this online concert were the boys themselves.

Secondly, the boys who covered for Taeyong did a good job. Obviously, no one can come close to even performing and delivering like Taeyong but the boys did fine, considering that they had to practice his parts for only 2-3 weeks. And it's a daunting task to fill such huge shoes. The pressure that the boys felt, especially the newbies Shotaro and Sungchan, to try to fill that gap, must have been immense.

But of course, NShittyzens took this as an opportunity to sh*t on Taeyong, saying stupid things like 'XYZ ate Taeyong up', 'ABC made Taeyong's song his own', 'MNO killed Taeyong's part and I think he should've been part of the original line-up instead of Taeyong', 'I hope my bias gets to shine now', 'My faves really took this "opportunity" and showed the world' etc.... Like??? Are you really that dense or just spewing bs like this cuz y'all want attention??? The same thing happened when Taeyong missed the KBS mid-year festival and the other boys covered for him for Kick It.

If y'all truly believe that you're bias only shines when Taeyong is absent, then it shows how insecure you are about you're faves talents and abilities. If you truly think Taeyong's injury is an "opportunity" for your fave, then there is clearly something wrong with you. If you think you're fave ate Taeyong up in any manner, then it shows that you just hate Taeyong. If you think Taeyong is replaceable, then you're doing piss poor job of convincing yourself. Taeyong doesn't need NCT, but NCT needs Taeyong.

He is not just the leader, but also the main dancer, main rapper, sub vocalist, the center of the group and the face of the group. He has also contributed to the group with over 30 songs and has choreographed for some of NCT songs. He is NCT's idea bank, with the numerous times he has come up with something new and interesting for their concepts or choreography (For Example: The Jungle Gym for Neo City tour, the epic finger move and Mark stepping on Taeyong for the Kick It choreography, the chandelier scene in MAW, etc) . Many professionals have constantly praised Taeyong for his creativity and excellent inputs.

Taeyong was there from the very beginning of NCT and has carried the group on his back for 4 years now. And he has always remained kind and humble, even with all the misdirected hate that he faced for years. He always puts himself down and praises all the members, no matter what. He has juggled between groups, 5 comebacks and numerous concerts, this year alone. His schedule list looks like the Bank Statement of one whole year. The way the man has worked for the past 2 years is insane. And upon that, the burden of being the leader of a group with 23 members??? Can y'all even imagine the amount of weight on Taeyong's shoulders???

And yes, the injuries he has constantly sustained for over 4 years now. We have seen various footages of him having neck braces, holding his waist and limping. He has also talked about the continuous back pain or how he was sick for 3 days after shooting a MV. SM had known exactly the extent of his injuries and still overworked him to the bone. Now his waist disc injury has relapsed and we still dont have a statement on his health or time of recovery on ANY of the SM Official Accounts. Not one word. We had to find out through a platform that's barely used and most non-twitteratti NCTzens didn't know about this whole ordeal until after the concert began.

What boils my blood is that SM knew about the relapsed injury way before, gave the boys enough time to practice Taeyong's part, but announced the concert by advertising Taeyong all over it, last Monday. And they literally only made the announcement after the concert ticket cancelation period was over. F*cking money whores! F*ck SM!!!!

The worst part of it all are the NShittyzens. Most of you didn't care about the fact that SM not only neglected the leader's health but also scammed Taeyong's fans. When TyongFs began to get refunds for the concert, some of you accused them and started dictating what they should do with their own money, pulling sh*t like- 'Taeyong as a leader, wants his group to do well. Now he would be sad knowing that fans dont care about the group cuz y'all are getting your refunds'. Really? Cuz most y'all who said this watched the concert illegally, makes it even more funny to me. And its none of you're business, how anyone else spends their money. And if you think Taeyong cares about SM losing money, then you're just stupid. If it's anyone in the whole group who'd say 'F*ck Capitalism!', it's Taeyong. So STFU!

Also, when TyongFs started demanding an official statement from SM about Taeyong, some of y'all went- "You're just a fan. Y'all dont have any right to cross the boundaries of Idol-Fan relationship and ask for personal stuff. Other artist fans didn't get any official statement, so why should you?'. We didnt ask for his f*cking medical records. We just want a statement from SM's official accounts about his health and his time of recovery. That's it. SM has refused to acknowledge the injuries of other artists before, doesn't mean that this pattern has to continue. And as fans, we are entitled to know about the artist, cuz WE CARE...! Cuz a waist disc injury relapsing aint a small thing. The amount of pain that Taeyong is probably enduring right now.... We dont even know the extent of it. We dont know how long he needs to recover or even how long SM will give him to rest. We don't know anything and we are scared. So just wanting a statement about it, isnt 'crossing the boundaries' as you put it. So again, STFU!

Y'all don't care about Taeyong, fine. The least you can do is respect him and not discredit his hardwork. After everything he has done and continues to do for NCT, y'all keep going with the 'Taeyong is the villain' narrative. He isn't stealing your faves lines or screentime. He isn't pushing them back to 'shine more'. He isnt the bad person you think he is. Y'all rejoicing now that he is injured, happy that your faves got to take up Taeyong's part or just hateful saying your fave was better than Taeyong.... It just ain't it.

No other group leader gets the kinda hate Taeyong does, even though he does 5 times the work for the group than any other leader. Yes, Taeyong has multiple positions the group, all deserved. Yes, he is a very charismatic and an amazing performer on the stage, that lures new fans in. Not his fault that he grabs everyone's attention. Yes, he is very talented in so many aspects. But that doesn't mean you get tobblame you're faves mistreatment on him, cuz he himself is being mistreated by SM. So don't come at me with you're 'SM's golden boy' bs! I will taze your ass and watch supernanny as you crawl under the carpet!

Maybe you're right about how you're faves dont get to shine enough when they're on the same stage as Taeyong, cuz his charisma and aura is very magnetic, you can't help but watch him and him only. I thought only TyongFs have this kinda tunnel vision but apparently, all of you have it as well....

Here's the thing. You don't like it when Taeyong gets praised all the time, whether its his dance or rap or anything at all. Cuz you don't like Taeyong. So why are you even focused on him and TyongFs. If I don't like anything, i simply ignore it. So instead of focusing on Taeyong, focus on hyping up your fave (again, by not dragging Taeyong, not even subtly). It ain't hard, trust me.

At least have the human decency to not rejoice over the fact that he is injured. The sh*t i see online everyday, some of y'all have totally lost it.

And lastly, no one can eat up Taeyong. No one can do his part better than him. Hell, no one can even come close to doing what he does. So get that delusion outta your heads. Its embarrassing.

[bootlegsymphony]

Being Hopeful [a *personal* Komahina writeup]

*major Danganronpa 2/2.5/3 spoilers ahead*

Someone told me to gather my thoughts into a post so here it is.

Note: Unless you’re up for a challenge to potentially reshape your opinions towards certain ships, if you think Komahina is by default a toxic ship in anyway shape or form, or if you firmly believe that Hinanami is “bestest Hinata ship OTP owo”, it’s not in your best interest to read this post. I’m not suggesting you are invalid or wrong, but you’re likely not the group of people I’m looking forward to having a constructive and evoking conversation with.

First off, I might have been recognized as an avid Komahina shipper, and my opinions towards Hinanami could be generally summarized as ambivalent/mixed/minorly favourable. I was able to acknowledge Hina/Nami’s relationship as of roughly equivalent significance in regard to DR2’s theme.

But it was impossible for me to consider the two relationships narratively equal, I was able to notice that Koma/Hina was a “meant to be” endgame relationship right of the bat, yet Hina/Nami reads as this transitory experience of an obscure puppy love, or “yeah that happened” that’s melancholic and beautiful. Evidently, the narrative strongly favoured Koma/Hina in terms of screentime, development, complexity, compatibility, and endgame potentials.

I wasn’t too confident about why Komahina screams an ultimate destination of a Hinata relationship to me, yet Hina/Nami never convey a remotely similar message. In many aspects, I didn’t ship Komahina in the past for the sake of “I want Komaeda to savour happiness” but placed more emphasis on “it would be wise for Hinata if he could ascertain that his future is with Komaeda”. However I couldn’t elucidate why I thought so.

But due to some unexpected changes in my personal life, it was so effortless for me to reach an epiphany why Hinanami couldn’t quite be the same Hinata-OTP as Komahina. And now I’m kicking myself for not being able to be more adamant about it earlier.

In short, I had a brief taste of how “true bond” or “true connection” functions. It was an estranged, uncharted experience to me prior to that “sudden change”. And in retrospect it’s unimaginable how I survived that bitter life of pure bleakness without it. But since I was able to discern the characteristics of a “true bond”, Koma/Hina, while being excruciatingly complicated and bitter in canon timeline, had a great foundation for that nonetheless, while Hina/Nami was, fundamentally “deficient” in this specific department.

Hina/Nami, either the DR2 or DR3 iteration, doesn’t go beyond being a fine relationship. It’s not bad, as adolescent crushes are typically not bad. It’s functional and somewhat sweet if Hinata was just some normal shy boy who at some point met a nice caring pretty girl. But a great, monumental relationship doesn’t come from being just fine, and Hinata is much more messy than a such-and-such average joe as what a part of the fandom preferred to project him as.

But Hinata wasn’t an adequate rival and foil for Komaeda, that ridiculously multilayered character likely in all fictions for nothing.

For starter, Hinata committed Izuru Kamakura and countless war crimes, for fuck’s sake.

I had this pessimistic outlook that humans aren’t truly designated at birth to understand each other unless they are. Real life Nanami being the talented, worthy Ultimate Gamer she was, even if she could acknowledge and validate Hinata’s struggles as a talentless person, and brought him some temporary comfort and solace, she could not understand the full spectrum of complications the struggle itself entails. Being the kind and somewhat compassionate person she was, she’d try to understand Hinata if he ever decided to open up, but she’d likely just go “yeah talent doesn’t really matter you should just be confident in yourself” as long as she’s not some Ultimate Empath like Makoto (or Junko) all at the same time. To her, Hinata’s decision to Izuru-fy is unfavorable, but not particularly tangible.

It’s somewhat similar to a moderately affluent person not knowing what an impoverished/economically-challenged life entails, they could never understand why it’s necessary for anyone to opt for crimes and prostitution and shit, if you could just “yeah money doesn’t matter you should be happy” your way out of it. Why is it necessary to choose a life path of crimes and prostitution? Why is it necessary to Izuru-fy oneself? It’s the perpetual predicament of mutual understanding in humankind. No matter how sweet and wholesome on the surface that ship appeared, Nanami would hardly ever reach Hinata’s soul beyond skin-deep, if the talent/worth debate, the rigorous societal expectations, the everlasting emotional quagmire of being under-loved and under-appreciated...everything which gradually carved out Hinata’s pivotal character (that we know of) from his embryo, was a non-issue to Nanami at core.

If there was a portion of Hinata yearning for true connection in an intimate relationship (which I doubt he didn’t), his relationship with Nanami would eventually turn insufficient or dissatisfactory, despite feeling nice on the exterior.

Normally, people don’t realize they’re empty until they’re fulfilled.

But who else struggled immensely with the entanglement between talent and worth throughout their life? Who else once resolved to obliterate their own precious being in pursuit of an almost delusional ideal of hope as Hinata did, so that they could potentially speak to Hinata on the deepest, hidden stratum of his soul?

Komaeda.

It always pains me to read Komaeda’s first FTE where he suggested Hinata’s ultimate talent could be “Ultimate Serenity” because Hinata granted him some inner peace “just by being there”. Knowing Komaeda’s mind it’s a nearly impossible feat to make him feel peaceful. Komaeda likely didn’t even consider that a legitimate talent, he inwardly viewed Hinata “being there” as inherently valuable but he couldn’t even tell. Yet Hinata failed to just, be there, be existent.

And, I always considered Komaeda sustaining himself being alive to be a monument on its own, yet 2-5 happened, for Hope, I believed.

I once had a mentally stimulating talk about how emotional and intellectual transparency lead to a solid foundation of “true love” among people with someone before. They even expressed, months ago, that if Hinata could just speak up about his problems with Nanami he wouldn’t have necessarily Izuru-fied himself.

Yet even being the aloof and reserved fucker he was, Hinata wouldn’t camouflage himself in front of Komaeda. Komaeda saw through him even if he was having a hard time deciding on how he should have felt himself. He voiced, various times throughout DR2, that “we have similar scents” “I thought you would understand me” “we’re both miserable bystanders” “I couldn’t see you as completely separate from me”. On the surface it seemed like Komaeda was being cryptic and dragging Hinata to his level, but given how we knew Hinata took even more drastic measures as escapism, were they even that different?

It was why exactly Komahina dynamic was so embittered and resentful in the canon timeline. It was not hatred, but involuntary intimacy. Hinata was emotionally stripped naked (sorry, not to evoke any erotic visualizations, just a convenient metaphor) when it’s not even Komaeda’s intention, and Komaeda’s always emotionally naked. It didn’t turn out well not because it was a fundamentally dysfunctional dynamic, but they simply met each other in the worst, most despairful and unluckiest timeline possible. With continuous manslaughters ongoing, it’s only palpable that baring your soul to someone as dangerous as Komaeda would be intimidating, but it still had that mesmerizingly entrancing aura, especially in Komaeda’s last FTE.

They had no choice of not knowing each other well.

Unless either of them died, which they both did. But an ultimate future was born and they were granted a second chance to finally reach the destination they deserved.

In a post-HPA scenario, Komahina was not only somewhat contextually implied as Hinata’s endgame, but it was deliberately set up as a generally hopeful relationship as well. Kodaka once suggested in an interview that post-HPA Hajizuru inherited Hinata’s emotions, so that he was able to sort out his considerably complex feelings for Komaeda as it left off; meanwhile with Izuru’s analytical skills and insights into human psychology, it would likely become not as cumbersome. With Hinata’s determination and persistence it would hopefully not only cure Komaeda’s terminal illnesses, but also “heal” Komaeda from his hope fetish and other cruddy coping mechanisms, with all the support and dedication Hinata could provide. Hinata, being emotionally identical to his past self, would likely occasionally experience insecurity and low self-esteem as well, and it could require Komaeda’s weird little method of presenting challenges/creating minor inconveniences for Hinata in order to help him build up self-agency and develop infallible self-assurance.

It’s kind of the Ultimate Love that survived all the trials and tribulations, and to think of that the Ultimate Tragedy gave birth to the Ultimate Love, huh, seems about right for our two Ultimate Lucks.

[littlebetesofeverything]

RWBY Vol 8 episode 2

Okay, episode 2 let’s be kind and not have too much angst please.

Again, the opening has a lot of meta I love to read into, but prob won’t make a post but will reblog others thought

The only reason I know that the teams won’t turn is the little nod Ruby and Yang have in the opening, do not make me eat these words, CRWBY...

QROW, my baby. Robyn talking to Jacques not Qrow

Damn Jacques, how dare you call anyone a murder. I do not put money on Whitney bailing out daddy dearest

Lol Watts, you have to admit the sarcasm is not gonna fly in Atlas

Robyn being helpless hurts so much, but, uh Qrow please don’t go down that road, please. It won’t help you in the long run

GO HAPPY HUNTRESSES!!!! look after your people :) 

Time for the bike scene, and I love seeing it all polished. And the glasses for Yang, I want 10 of them please CRWBY

Take out those cameras! and also the Grimm...

OHH, mobile shields??? Thank you, Pietro!

Okay, time for a lesson in racism from Yang. and don’t forget, the big wigs don’t really care for you plebians

Ozpin, thanks for joining us, but please make a U turn. Thanks for the reminder about the soul merge

Ren, baby, please be nice to Juane. Are you okay?

Is that Weiss’s leitmoif I hear? 

Ohh, using Schnee shit to sneak in? I love that for you.

Was the general ever your friend? Penny, don’t you dare believe the Dickwood. You deserve the Maiden power, baby girl

Kdin, I love you as May

And Nora just killed Weiss... and seemed happy about it? At least someone is having fun

Fiona is being the best commander, also FI!!! I love it

Ohh, tension that they don’t agree on the mission...

Yeah for community theft during the apocalypse!!

Nice teamwork, Team Mantle!!! Jaune comes in with the final blow

Okay, Grimm retreating is never a good sign

OSCAR!!! What the hell kind of Grimm did she make, his Aura broke so easily!!

Also, kudos to the design team on the Grimm shifting its boddy around

Smart Grimm? HOLY SHIT IT CAN TALK?????

The creepiness is 10000/10 with the wings just flopping out... all that gunk flying around

BRING OSCAR BACK YOU SHIT

Speculation time: is it too early to have an Oscar meets Salem scene? or are we gonna see Team Amity vs AceOps from the preview? But there is gonna be a lot of focus on Penny and her response to becoming the Maiden vs her duty as Protector of Mantle. No Ironwood this episode but uh, last episode did NOT inspire any confidence that he will do good things. Hello, new minor antagonist: benefits include getting more screentime and a definite forecast of doom. But Qrow also has me worried with his talk about killing Tyrian. At least I think he means Tyrian, but if he ends up fighting Ironwood? Hoo boy, that is gonna be one spicy fight. Prayer circle for the people of Mantle and Team Amity staying together

[veinereastath]

Far Cry: New Dawn was a disaster, and here’s why.

Okay, just to be clear - this is my personal opinion, not pure, cold facts that I’m trying to push down people’s throats. I just felt the sudden urge to break down piece by piece my utter hatred towards this game. So, let’s go. What exactly went wrong with it, and why Far Cry 5 was way better? I will try to present my ramblings and point of view by putting both of these games side by side. So, when reading every sentence in this... thing, add in your head a “it’s vei’s opinion” bit to avoid misunderstandings. Thanks in advance! First thing, to make everything clear - Far Cry 5 was not a perfect game. No, actually, it was far from so; there are many games much better plot-wise, with more entertaining gameplay, bigger world, more interesting side quests and so on. But, one thing for sure, this game has a spirit, an unique aura that makes many people want to come back to it and replay it over and over. The way Ubisoft portrayed Hope County is absolutely fantastic - the music, the landscapes, the characters. It was something new, something fresh, and despite quite a lot sceptical voices when the first trailers came out, it turned out really well, and in general, people really liked this game, or loved it even. Yeah, some people hate the endings, the fact that every single one of them is bad one way or the other and that you can’t basically win (I always thought this was fantastic, because, hey, you can’t be a perfect hero every time - even so, I love how this game, Seeds especially, mock the “hero attitude” that protagonist tries to have). But even so, Far Cry 5 was mostly a success, right? And the canon ending when the nukes get dropped seemed to leave a perfect opportunity for a sequel. So, what could go wrong? Well, about that...

1. How long is this game? New Dawn is short. It’s fucking short, because I installed it right after it became available (fun fact, this was the first and the last game I ever pre-ordered, so imagine how excited I must’ve been), and started playing it as soon as I could. In my case, it was around 2-3 am. I had a break then, woke up at 7 am and continued playing. I was playing it slowly - completing the side quests, because I wanted to know what has changed in Hope County, and, of course, I was looking for some easter eggs regarding the Seeds (surprised pikachu - there weren’t any, Old Compound, John’s bunker and Ranch are too obvious).  Took me around 5 hours to move on and actually start playing the main story. I was pretty sure that it will take me at least 10-15 hours to complete it (why was I thinking so, don’t ask me, I guess I still have way too high expectations after what Witcher 3 expansions have shown me). Again, surprised pikachu! I finished the whole game in 16 hours. Sixteen. Including liberating all the outposts (1 star in each, didn’t bother to get 3) and finish all side-missions + driving around the County just to look around. The hell? And it wasn’t a DLC? Just for a little comparison, because, yes, FC5 can also be completed pretty damn fast if you rush it, but my 1st playthrough of it, with all the quests and admiring the landscapes took me 33 hours. Which leads us to the next point on this god forsaken list, and that is... 2. The map.

The next reason why I am shocked this game wasn’t a DLC - the heckitty hecck they did with the map in New Dawn. Radiation zones? Sign me the hell up, they make sense, are cool and stuff, but adding them just so you could bite off half of the original map is stupid, and extremely lazy thing to do. Okay, you can take off some parts, but if you’re doing so, add something new - some new paths, caves, mountain routes, something. And no, expeditions don’t count. To make it worse, the parts that were deleted were one of the best parts of the FC5 storyline. Faith’s Gate, Drubman’s Marina, Jacob’s Armory, Wolf’s Den, and the fucking Veteran’s Center. The opportunity to make this a haunted location with an entertaining quest in it was HUGE and it was absolutely wasted. It’s not like they couldn’t done it, we’ve got the mission in old Joseph’s statue, and the crocodile pikachu in Inquisitor’s Grave (which, by the way, shouldn’t actually exist - this bunker was blown up to pieces, but it seemed pretty decent in New Dawn, there are barely any sings of explosions, not to mention that “The Confession” room is untouched!). You bought this game with an intention to actually go back in time and find out about something that FC5 didn’t tell you? Kekus maximus, you don’t. Have some photographs instead (which are a nice addition, but seem lazy). To give this post even more personal hatred - I really don’t like the Henbane River region, so you could literally hear my heart breaking when I saw that we got 50% of the River, 80% of the Valley and 10% of the Whitetails, which were my absolute favorite. So fun!

3. The Villains. I must admit, in the trailers, back when the hype for this game was insane, Mickey and Lou seemed to be quite interesting. Even though back then it was obvious that Highwaymen won’t have that kind of depth that Eden’s Gate had, it was still something I was looking forward to, even though those vibes aren’t really my cup of tea; but most of my excitement was born from my love for Far Cry 5, so if course I had to try out the sequel. So yes, the trailers were quite nice (just not the live action one - that was a fucking disaster, and killed my hype for a few days afterwards).

Mickey and Lou were quite fun, but to little extent, sadly. I liked their sister-sister dynamics, they really seemed close, and it was nice that shey were so different from each other - Mickey was more calculating, while Lou was living for the action and brutality in itself. The Highwaymen as a faction in itself wasn’t really that great for me, because their only purpose was to cause mayhem, and I simply don’t like something like this. But the sisters were something different, right? No, they weren’t, and that’s the point. I felt like there was little to no depth in their actions - it was all for fun, and I find this just boring and pointless (pr maybe I’m the boring one). I know that this is often how the world works - people take and destroy simply because they can and because it’s considered cool. We suck as a species, that’s official and well known, but I expected something more entertaining from a videogame. Maybe I shouldn’t, but I did. And Mickey and Lou were literally Highwaymen members with a VIP crown above their heads and nothing more. They left their mother? Okay, that is something that could lead to other interesting things. They killed their father for power? Huh, alright, I can work with that. The point is, it didn’t give them that much depth, their main purpose was to plunder everything. Which would be all good and nice if they were some kind of a side-faction. But this was The Villains™, and I wanted to feel something more towards them. And to be honest? I didn’t even hate them. I felt absolutely nothing, they just existed and I didn’t care, because they didn’t make this game interesting. What I will say now may sound brutal, but I will say it: I don’t consider two young people (they were around 19/20) just wanting to blow everything up “for lulz” a good villains. I fucking don’t. It was a huge downfall after what FC5 has given to us. I was just so bored when fighting the Highwaymen, because they were shallow, and their personalities were only focused on one thing. 

Of course, there is also Ethan. Yes, I hate him (he even has a very punchable face, what a coincidence!), but I admit he was somehow a nice touch in this game. Yes, he was a prideful, irritating kid, but while I was just utterly bored by the Twins, Ethan actually managed to make me hate him. The only thing that I’m quite bothered by is that I don’t believe that he’s actual, biological son of Joseph. To put it shortly, and say it louder for the people in the back - The Twins were just meh. Boring. How was the situation in FC5 better? Oh boy.

Putting their obvious... Attractive physical appearance aside, and focusing purely on their personalities, because that’s what I’m trying to explain - they were something else, and something new. Ubisoft took a risk with creating four villains for a single game, because it’s extremely hard to give each one of them the screentime they deserve, and make them interesting and unique. Did FC5 succeed? In a way, yes. I’m not saying that Seeds are absolutely perfect villains (they aren’t), but they can eat Twins for breakfast and still stay hungry. To show you what I mean, have some short descriptions: JOSEPH: Cult Leader, “The Father”, a person who claims to hear the voice of God himself. Someone from a broken family and difficult life, who was in prison (according to song dedicated to him), lost one job after another, lost his wife, killed his daughter, and then formed a religious cult. JACOB: military veteran suffering from PTSD, with a massive knowledge about history and psychology, someone who literally brainwashed nearly half, if not more of the County, and manages to combine religion (something he clearly isn’t really fond of) and personal, darwinistic look on life. JOHN: former lawyer, a person skilled in adapting to any environment, charismatic manipulator abused as a kid, forced to spend most of his life pretending to be someone he hated to be, battled with addictions, emotionally unstable and with sadistic outburts. FAITH: young woman devoid of purpose in life, also battling with addictions in the past, probably on the verge of suicide at some point, who was manipulated (and quite possibly drugged) in order to comply; a broken girl hiding her pain behind lovely smiles. Sounds pretty diverse, right? And I bet that at least one member of this family was somehow entertaining for everyone. Now, here’s what New Dawn has given to us: MICKEY: the more calculating sister; young girl who followed her father and chose brutal life, creating entertainment for herself by making others suffer. Shows some kind of regret when you defeat her by the end of the game. LOU: the more brutal sister; young girl who followed her father and chose brutal life, creating entertainment for herself by making others suffer. Doesn’t show any regrets towards her actions.

And honestly, that’s it. I really tried to write something more for the Twins, but I couldn’t put my finger on anything. That’s all we know. And yes, I know that there is a major difference between them and the Seeds, which is the age gap - FC5 villains are simply older and have more life experience, but honestly, this doesn’t make it better. Mickey and Lou could have much more depth and be far more interesting despite them being young. Age is not a problem in such a case. I suggest to compare Mickey and Lou’s descriptions with the Faith one, since she’s just few years older. There is a difference, isn’t it? And even when playing both of these games, the Seeds just seem to be better developed than the Twins. Ubisoft did something weird, because they managed to focus on four villains and make each one of them interesting in their own way, but made just two main villains flat, and nearly identical. 4. Radio calls. This is a continuation of the point above, because it’s also something I wanted to point out and is connected to the villains of both games. The things you can hear directly from The Twins can be mostly described as “hey rabbit, you’re pissing us off a bit”. Same with the things they say at outposts and direct them to the Highwaymen - it’s always about the same thing, and there isn’t a single line that I found interesting or worth remembering (okay, my bad, the fact that Mickey and Lou seemed to be dissapointed after Nana chose to stick with the Captain rather than them was a nice touch). Meanwhile, I can recite most of the dialogue lines from the Seeds from my memory, and it’s something I could do after 2 playthroughs. They seem to be on a whole different level - and yes, it is true that to some point, the “rabbits” thing is similar to “the weak” theme of Jacob, or “the sinners” in case of John, but it didn’t seem to be that much tiring to hear about. Faith’s radio calls were interesting, because with each one of them you could hear her demeanor towards the Deputy changing - in the beginning, she was friendly, but after you destroyed Joseph’s statue, she was scared, and at the final confrontation - maliciously hostile. Jacob started his radio calls history with a threat towards you, and kind off keeps that all the time, but the closer you get to the final meeting with him, the more... Okay, how the fuck do I describe it in a non-thot way amused (I guess we can call it this way?) he sounded. He was still far from friendly, you still didn’t have any doubts he’s your enemy, but there was something in those radio calls, something that suggested he actually sees the Deputy as something more than just enemy, as a tool he crafted all by himself and he was proud of it. John welcomes you with this cheesy ad at the beginning of the game, and as time goes on, he goes even more obsessed with making you atone and confess; not to mention his absolutely fantastic reactions to stealing his house and destroying his sign. His calls are something unpredictable, because once he’s all official and charismatic, but suddenly he switches to this ominous mode that actually makes you want stop for a bit and look around you, as if he was lurking somewhere. To sum it up, this game made you feel like if you were actually developing some kind of a relationship with each one of the family member. But the radio calls from the Twins seem to be always the same, it’s all about “rabbits” and “problem solving”. Yes, it might've been better if only one sister was all about it, and the other one had something else on her mind, but making them nearly identical was a lazy move.  5. Landscapes.

Far Cry 5 was amazing, because every region was different and had something else to offer. Henbane River was full of Bliss, which created weird hallucinations, Faith dancing around you was also pretty interesting addition, and The Pilgrimage was also a nice touch (I recommend going with it, it’s a really nice experience, actually). Holland Valley was the pure definition of Montana countryside, and it felt fantastic to walk around and see those little farms, cows, windmills and so on. Whitetail Mountains were also something unique, with less open spaces, a huge amount of wildlife, combining massive mountains with deep forests. And even though the colors of this game could be simply described as beige-green, I didn’t really feel bored when wandering around. New Dawn had a cool concept, actually - makind the post-apocalyptic world colorful, instead of making it a grey wasteland was something new and I was excited. And, honestly, I really liked how it all looked like during the first 2 hours of playthrough. After that... I was just so done. The pink colour in itself wasn’t bad, really, but the way they added it everywhere made me feel sick. Those flowers were nearly everywhere and they were always the same. And while I love screenshoting landscapes in games, New Dawn didn’t really felt like something I wanted to spend time on. I like to admire the views of FC5, but not in ND. Combining the small as hell map with nearly the same flowers on your every step was a bad solution. 6. Other. To mention other things - well, I guess we could mention the music, but I feel it isn’t fair, actually. Both games did this well in some way, FC5 songs are certainly something unforgettable, and I mean both the cult ones as well as the OST. New Dawn did what it could - gave Highwaymen music that fits them. The OST, however, isn’t that good. Maybe because it just doesn’t feel unique to me, while the different type of music in each region in FC5 is, for me, unforgettable in many ways.  I won’t really talk about The Deputy >> The Judge metamorphosis, because everyone sees it in a different way. I personally don’t consider it as a bad thing, it’s quite a nice plot twist, and I like it (even though I went with a totally different path with my deputy OC).

Okay, I think it’s time to get to the main point. Why I consider New Dawn as a disaster? The Villains were devoid of any depth and felt exactly the same, the map was small as hell, the story was way too short (and these two things should be enough to make this game a DLC, not an actual installment of the franchise), the landscapes were repetitive, 90% of what was left from FC5 (locations, for example) didn’t get a chance to shine. Just imagine how much more entertaining this game could be if we would find some old recording of the Eden’s Gate songs somewhere. If there were mentions of some terryfingly huge wolves roaming around, if the members of Prosperity actually mentioned something about John Seed (which house they are living in!), if we could visit the remnants of the Faith’s Gate, hear the ominous “Only You” when approaching the Veteran’s Center and read some old notes about experiments that were happening in there, and so on. Basically, the main opportunity that got wasted was focusing on continuating FC5 legacy in a more respectful way. The things I mentioned above seem like small details, but they really could make the experience something else entirely. So, yeah. I hate New Dawn, in case someone didn’t notice. :)

[nct-perrie]

Era Log: Make A Wish

—Lines 10 second (+chorus)

(1:16 - 1:20) Never stop keep breaking out 

still working all the time

(1:34) Neodo imi star

(2:23 - 2:28) Neol eodirodeun deryeoga jul su isseo

—Center + Dance Break

(3:06 - 3:15)  ] I can do this all day

back it up back it up

seodulleo ‘hit that line’

shigan akkaweo akkaweo

— Wardrobe 

• Her outfits mainly consists of long sleeves and shorts. 

•Gloves were also worn a lot because of her tattoos. 

• The style matched with the rest of the group but it tended to be a bit tighter around her upper body.  

• The material of the outfits was always silk which she liked dancing in.

• Many fans worried about her not being able to dance properly because of the shorts and skirts. 

• She struggled a lot when she wore the skirts :(  

• but luckily it was only two or three times. The rest of the time she wore shorts which were much more comfortable to dance in.

• However, she really liked the chains and jewelry used. She was able to experiment with them a lot. 

— Visuals

• She kept her lip rings in as well as her eyebrow piercing. Her nose piercing was out for the majority of the promotions.

• Despite her hair being black in the music video for promotions she dyed it silver with rainbow streaks.

•  Her makeup was very bold and different - especially her eye makeup

• She pulled it off flawlessly. 

•  Her hair remained down for the most part but the bangs were new. She never had them before so fans were shook when the mv showed her new look. 

• It very well may have trended for a few days. 

— MV shots

• People were shook by her solo shots. 

• The outfit, the hair, the accessories, the makeup, her confidence, was just *chefs kiss* perfection. 

• She was mainly sitting for her shots but she was also dancing the choreography in some shots. 

• The MV did not have to worry about covering her tattoos, so she was able to wear different styles of clothing. 

• In her solo shots, she was excluding confidence and had this you can’t touch me aura. 

• In the group shots, that completely went away. 

• She was back to being the adored baby. 

• Anytime she tried to act cool, the members face’s in the background completely ruined the moment - especially Doyoung and Taeyong. 

• There’s a part where she got shy and just malfunctioned. It’s a fan favorite part

• Her and Xiaojun got matching flowers in their hair by Taeyong.

• She did have a little dance scene with Shotaro which is one moment that will never be forgotten by the fandom. 

— Era Commentary

• NCTzens were quite happy with her screentime. However, there were a few that though she deserved more. 

• However, her visual stood out the most. Many people were complimenting her new style. 

• In interviews, she was quiet but that is quite normal for her. 

•  She opened up much more when it was just the members. 

•  However, you could see her making sure Shotaro and Xiaojun were feeling comfortable and being able to talk. 

• Speaking of which, many people fell for her friendship with Shotaro. She was constantly hyping him up and complimenting him and they remained next to each other for nearly the entire promotion. 

•  Her and Xiaojun were still a little shy but by the end of promotions, people noticed a difference. 

• You could tell she was very happy to be promoting with Jaemin again. 

• Anytime she was around him, she just lit up. 

•  Halfway through the promotions she started getting anxious, especially when on stage,

• Jaemin made sure to watch out for that and there were multiple complications made of them meeting eyes and both smiling. 

• She mainly stood back with these promotions and let the other members - mainly Doyoung and Taeyong - guide everything. 

[rwbyconversations]

Why Oscar’s writing has been disappointing

Stories rely on their characters. You can tell a grand, sweeping narrative that spans continents and timelines but if you don’t give a rats ass about the people at the center of these events, viewers won’t care. Stories with high kill-counts like Walking Dead, Game of Thrones and Attack on Titan rely on audiences forming an attachment with characters very quickly, so that the possibility of their sudden death is all the more painful for the viewer. Long story short, if you can’t make an audience care about your character, it can be hard to keep them interested. 

RWBY has overall done a fantastic job at getting people to fall for its cast; I’m a case in point with how hard I’ll go to bat for Emerald and Mercury. But be it the obvious choices in the main cast, the wide array of villains to obsess over. The fandom even has a few eccentric folk who stan for people not seen in years! (shoutout to CFVY fans, who knew you’d get rewarded over the whole Coco in Chibi thing by getting a book?) But rather unfortunately, while one character has managed to earn a fanbase happy to see them get content, the writing has consistently failed one particular character, through constant refusals to allow them the screentime they deserve and often putting it in the wrong places when they do get morsels of time to shine each year.

Oh no, not you. I’ll get back to you before this hiatus is out. 

... actually why are his gloves orange of all colors? And what’s with the banages, is he planning on cosplaying Dazai from Bungou Stray Dogs at an Atlas convention during the off-season?

Yeah, no, I’m talking about Oscar Pine. First introduced in Volume 4, Oscar has now been a part of the main cast for half of the show’s runtime. In that time Oscar has developed psychosis, met a ticket-punching man, got stuck in a house for a month, fought a teleporting staircase man, was involved in a train crash, bought new clothes, and stole military property. 

Notice something? Nothing in there mentioned Oscar getting character development. Or rather he does... but it’s always offscreen. Oscar is infuriating in the sense that he has a lot of wasted character potential to be one of the best characters in the show- a simple but efficient design, great voice work from Aaron Dismuke and a charming personality that makes him a likable hero. But in spite of that all, Oscar constantly get the shaft when it comes to his screentime showing him developing from his problems, and each volume so far has had Oscar be faced with a trial that would make for a truly fascinating character arc, only for him to get over it while the camera’s focused elsewhere. And that’s what I’m going to focus on in this essay- I’m going to go over why I think Oscar’s writing has been consistently mishandled, and my hopes for the character in Volume 7. 

God damn I don’t like doing this, I want to like the farm boi most of the time 

1) Volume 4: All these voices running through my head, I’m on fire, face burning red

Oscar is introduced very early in Volume 4- as in, he’s in the first episode and is the eighth character we see onscreen after the villains. Oscar is in fact, if you don’t count Ruby’s character short, present in Volume 4 before the title characters. His first episode is... a lot of nothing, mostly just Oscar doing some farming. Oscar’s introduction does a good job telling us a bit about his character without him saying much- he’s prone to daydreaming while working on the farm, clearly not enjoying himself and his work. It matches up with what we learn later, that Oscar dreams of becoming a hero. It’s a stock motivation, and a stock background, but a simple and effective way of setting up a hero who desires the chance to prove himself in the wider world. His intro scene is a nice, quiet beat between the dark opening of Evernight and Salem, and the more frantic action of RNJR fighting the Geist. But overall the time the fandom was wondering what was up with Oscar- he wasn’t in the OP and nothing had set him up before now and yet here he was, getting focus before the main girls.

It takes until Oscar’s second appearance, three episodes later in Family, that we get the real reason for his importance- Ozpin’s in his head, but it would take another three episodes, in Punished, for this to be elaborated on in an unintentional Christmas gift from Rooster Teeth; Ozpin’s in his head due to their Auras and souls merging thanks to Ozma’s pact with the Archangel Asshole a few centuries back, and now Oscar is starting to act like an Assassin’s Creed character with all the memories that are in his head that he didn’t create. It’s a cruel irony for Oscar- Ozpin plays on how Oscar wants to be more than just a farmhand to try and get him to go to Mistral, but Oscar’s body language and face make it clear that this wasn’t how he saw himself getting some new life choices. Rather tragically, Oscar finally gets the chance to be part of something bigger but the manner in which it’s offered to him is anathema, as it’s coming from a literal voice in his head who claims to be a dead headmaster, and more importantly, he was never offered a choice- this was thrust upon him, a young 14 year old child who never asked for this burden of responsibility. And the last shot of Oscar in this episode already has him cracking under that burden, stuck on his knees and unsure what to do. 

(also btw Oscar’s Aunt tells him to clean his hands but Oscar’s model has gloves on all the time, so... how would he clean his hands? Or does he read books with dirty gloves? Eww)

It’s an interesting place to leave Oscar, at the metaphorical and and spiritual crossroads, and means the viewer wants to see Oscar’s next actions and the deliberation between the easy, boring life he knows or risking everything on a voice in his head telling him to try his chances in the big city. Sounds pretty interesting, right?

Not to the writers, unfortunately. Because when we next check in with Oscar three episodes later during Kuroyuri, Oscar’s already on the road to Mistral with his backpack all ready to go. That deliberation, the consideration, Oscar eventually choosing to trust Ozpin and go along with his plan? All done offscreen. Similarly, Oscar goes from treating Ozpin’s voice as an irritating thing to be annoyed has been chucked out a window- now out on the open road, it doesn’t “feel crazy” anymore. It just feels like such a cheap way to handle Oscar’s writing- rather than show his development naturally, it just fast-forwards until it reaches a point where it skips all that. And unfortunately, this isn’t the first or last time Oscar is victim to the writers fast-forwarding through his development moments. Given how much of Oscar’s arc hinges on this crucial first step, it just seems inane to me that of all of the potential Oscar scenes to cut... him coming around on Ozpin and making the call to leave was what got the cutting room floor. Especially since nothing in his Kuroyuri scene was all that essential for Oscar in contrast, barring setting up the the mystery Hazel and Ozpin’s past.

Oscar doesn’t appear again after his encounter with Hazel until the finale, when during the montage of Ruby’s letter (that consists of half her dialogue this season) we see Oscar on the train to Mistral, which really only caused a problem thanks to all the people who used it to ask why RNJR didn’t take a train. He also appears in the post-credits scene, meeting Qrow at a bar and asking for his cane back, the volume ending on Oscar extending the cane experimentally. 

Being blunt, I feel like Oscar should have been cut from Volume 4 and just introduced in Volume 5 with the bar scene. Volume 4 already had to juggle far too much in RWBY and Cinder’s plots, and adding Oscar to the mix unfortunately meant the screentime for some characters had to suffer- especially Yang. His time this season ultimately goes nowhere and only gives him a basic background that most fans would have already guessed from his character design, and the already wobbly Jenga Tower that was Volume 4′s screentime didn’t need more blocks thrown on top. I like a fair few things in Oscar’s arc, but it’s content that ultimately I’d have been fine having left on the cutting room floor. Hell, if nothing else, Oscar’s first scene should have ended with Ozpin’s reappearance, that these are two separate scenes is mind-boggling and left the fans wondering what the hell was Oscar’s purpose for weeks. 

Oscar’s debut arc has its ups and downs, much like the volume itself. His intro scene and argument with Ozpin are both well-executed and show the viewer the vocal dynamite of Dismuke’s performance or just set up his base character, but for every good thing to come of Oscar’s arc, it’s fraught with issues- most notably, his scene of choosing to leave his home being omitted and beginning the unfortunate tendency for Oscar to get the short end of the stick when it came to development and agency, which undermine his choice to leave. But overall, Oscar built himself a small but dedicated fanbase with his debut volume, even immediately shooting up to become a potential target for Ruby’s affections in the fandom shipping wars. It was a rocky start, but surely now that Oscar was going to have his plot merged with RNJR, he’d be able to handle his screen-time more effectively, right? 

Right? 

Volume 5- Two for one on meatsacks

Volume 5 is Oscar’s worst volume so far, being blunt. It’s a lot of people’s worst volumes though (Cinder, Ruby, Weiss, Mercury, Adam, mine) that at least he can share the load. It doesn’t help that he’s not in half the damn thing because his body is being used by Ozpin to regale the audience with expositon that makes them actively yearn for the sweet embrace of death... or just the return of the World of Remnant shorts. Oscar’s first scene in Volume 5 is just a recycling of the Volume 4 post-credits scene, which raises the question of why the scene was used in Volume 4. I don’t think it’s even touched up, they literally just copy-pasted it. Much like his first scene in Volume 4, his intro scene this volume is intercepted by comedy relief- last time it was Jaune’s miserable attempts at being a strategist, this time it’s Drunkle Qrow.

... You know, this scene ages poorly in hindsight given how just one volume later Qrow’s alcoholism is treated with ice-cold severity. 

Episode 3 follows up on this and gives us Ozcar’s first major scene of the volume, and unfortunately also sets up their dynamic this volume. Oscar gets some awkwardly charming moments with Ruby but overall the scene is dominated by Ozpin taking over for the first time and explaining his reincarnation powers alongside setitng up RNJR’s plot for the season- “training.” An episode later sees the entirety of this training, with Oscar and Ruby engaging in hand-to-hand combat and Oscar getting a lore dump from Ren (in hindsight this is novel not just because they’re outside during it but Ren’s the one delivering the infodump and not Ozpin). Ozpin barely even factors into the episode barring some fisticuffs and a generic speech at the end. But the scene is overall just pointless to the narrative beyond loosely setting up Jaune’s own Semblance unlocking, and this is the last we hear of RNJR “training” for the upcoming trials at Haven. Hell, even though the story makes a point of noting Oscar still hasn’t unlocked his Semblance, that still hasn’t come up two years later. This scene really only pays off in one immediate way:

This is Ruby’s sole contribution to the Battle of Haven after getting KO’d by Emerald outside of just yelling orders for offscreen fights, and all this helped do was begin to convince people that “MERC’S A BAD FIGHTER WITHOUT EMERALD.” 

Lighting the Fire’s training scene is one of Oscar’s only major scenes where he interacts with RNJR to boot for the entirety of Volume 5, and it’s quite sad that nothing really comes of it. It just serves to highlight how little Oscar interacts with the other kids, as most of his dialogue this season is just as Ozcar.

Necessary Sacrifice then, should be great on paper. It’s an entirely Oscar and Ruby scene with Ozpin only chiming in at the end. It has Oscar confronting Ruby and himself on his fears and how Ruby can put up a brace face, and Ruby finally gets to open up a little about losing Penny and Pyrrha at Beacon. But the scene just falls flat on its face and botches the execution. Putting aside Ruby’s own problems in this scene (her speech feels incredibly pre-rehearsed, as if she spent hours practicing it in the mirror to ward off anyone actually prying into her life). Oscar’s anger and fear come out of left field with nothing setting this up in his prior scenes this volume. Ruby needed a scene where she talked about losing Penny and Pyrrha, but it should have been during Volume 4, with Jaune. Having it now with Oscar feels like the writers apologizing for having Ruby get shafted for screenitme during Volume 4... during the volume where she gets shafted by literally everyone else. The scene is frustrating to me, it could and should have been a lot better (musically at least I love the reprises of When It Falls and Lets Just Live), but it just feels like a hasty patch note. Oscar doesn’t really develop from the situation and his fears are just forgotten for the rest of the volume. 

Oscar then proceeds to basically sit out Volume 5 barring Chapters 11 and 12. I still don’t get why he wasn’t part of the dinner scene with RWBJNR, since it would have been so very easy for him to be part of the dinner and get the chance to interact with the rest of the kids. Oscar wants to be a hero, so let him... actually interact with heroes his age. Have him brought up to speed on the crazy adventures the team have, let them get to interact with Oscar without having to deal with his backseat driver. You could even make something tragic of the scene where Oscar is forced to go away so Ozpin can take over, and the team’s faces fall flat when Ozpin gets right to talking shop which leads to the YOU TURNED THEM INTO BIRDS exchange. But otherwise, the rest of the House scenes revolve around Ozpin talking. The kids talk past Oscar, and again, you can very easily make something tragic of that as Oscar could grow to resent Ozpin because none of the others see him as himself, just a puppet on strings. But again... Oscar’s just not allowed to develop onscreen in this show.

And perhaps the worst thing about all this is that whenever Ozpin actually is called out on his tactics, one of the most pressings ones in his possession of Oscar,a  14 year old boy, is never used as fuel. Granted, yes, Ozpin has no control over who’s his next host but surely someone, somewhere is going to opine how morally bankrupt it is that Ozpin essentially conscripted a child not even old enough to get a learner’s permit into his eternal shadow war. It’s times like this that my theory that Jaune was going to be Ozpin’s original replacement before the backlash to Jaundice made them backtrack looks more and more possible. 

The Haven Battle episodes quickly have Ozpin force control away from Oscar, but it’s not like Oscar did much before then anyway other than serve as the conduit for another lore dump on Hazel’s backstory. He doesn’t try and learn why Leo defected and manages to trounce the headmaster so well one wonders how the hell Leo got put in charge of a combat school. After that, Ozpin takes over (and we admittedly get some of the coolest fighting in the actual Battle of Haven in Ozcar vs Hazel) and Oscar only briefly returns in the last seconds of the finale to drop the sequel hook that they need to get the lamp to Atlas.

Volume 5 is just a bad season for Oscar- this is the one time we don’t get his eternal phantom of offscreen character development because it’s not fair to say Oscar has any development in Volume 5. He’s immediately forced to the back to serve as a projector through which Ozpin can put the audience to sleep, most of his actual scenes are irrelevant or just feel like a waste of time and he basically sits out the entire finale. It’s just infuriatingly incompetent writing- we’ve gone from Oscar being a waste of time in Volume 4 to just being a waste of a character in Volume 5 who barely gets to express himself. Little is done with Oscar that could not be achieved by putting a tape recorder beside a lampshade and calling that Ozpin’s new host. Volume 5′s bad for a lot of characters, but at least most of the rest of the cast had good seasons beforehand to show how well they could be handled or written. Oscar didn’t have that, and while ultimately the blame was placed more on Ozpin for hogging the time, Oscar’s critics began to grow and he was derisively seen as just a plot device to let the writers bring Ozpin back and serve as a mission marker for the heroes. One more bad season for Oscar could spell the end to his character ever having a warm reception among the fans and critics. Drastic action would need to be undertaken in order to regain trust in Oscar. 

3) Volume 6- Tossing out the baby with the water

So the big plan to give Oscar some screentime... was basically cut Ozpin out of the story entirely. Oscar is almost entirely himself after the fourth episode, it’s the longest run of episodes with Oscar as himself that we’ve gotten in the show to date and Ozpin doesn’t even surface until the finale. There’s a lovely line of Oscar’s in episode 4 that finally lets him address some of the fears and concerns he should be rightfully worried about- “I’m just going to be another one of his lives, aren’t I?” Oscar’s tone is just so bleak there, it works super well and it was nice to finally see Oscar expressing human emotions. It even my cynical heart hope that Volume 6 would finally see Oscar get the limelight he had been denied for two years running.

But then the ball is just dropped hard. Oscar’s left in a background role for the Brunswick episodes, stuck working on a tire while RWBY encounter the Apathy. What’s already a somewhat rushed resolution to the whole plot of “RWBY express concerns about going onward to Atlas in light of Jinn’s revelations” now leaves Oscar, the guy carrying Ozma’s soul in him, out of the moment. He just gets to be tired and tell Blake to make food if she’s hungry. 

Argus at least alludes to putting Oscar in the driver’s seat for his own solo arc where he explores the city alone after Jaune physically assults him (why didn’t anyone stop Jaune from hurting Oscar two people saying Jaune’s name with all the concern of someone stubbing their toe just feels cheap). Even though I was cold on the episode as a whole, Dead End did set up the wonderful idea of an Oscar episode, one where he maybe forces Ozpin to come out so they can talk frankly for the first time in two volumes. Maybe they could even rip off Avatar (some more) and have Oscar meet Ozma himself, using his conversation with the two as his own chance to rally onwards and decide to bring the fight to Salem.  It could have been a really sweet moment of him backing Ruby up in her desire to keep going, the two forming a mutual bond of bolstering each other’s hopes as they carry the burden for their team. 

But no. Because I can’t have nice things, in an otherwise near-perfect episode where I actually got Mercury and Emerald screentime and the lovely Pyrrha statue scene (which I low-key feel like Oscar should have been a part of but that’s a subject for another day), Oscar just gets over his issues, buys a new outfit and dodges past his problems, getting to develop past them, off-screen, for the third time in a row. 

As far as I care, Oscar stole the money for this costume from either Qrow or Jaune and I don’t care if Miles says to my face he earned the money legit, I’m keeping that headcanon. Also, why are his gloves still orange? They don’t fit the rest of his costume.

If there was anything that got cut from Volume 6′s final half, I’d bet money on it being Oscar’s solo arc. Kerry himself has admitted during the RWBY Rewind for the finale that stuff got cut, and it’s very likely (going off comments from Miles that The Lost Fable was a huge resource drain) that this content was going to be part of the entire episode that was cut (Volume 6 initially had 14 episodes but around Christmastime this was remedied down to 13). It’s actually downright insulting and infuriating that Oscar got the shaft again, especially when Volume 6 finally seemed to be addressing the issue of Oscar never getting growth or focus. He was free of Ozpin, and with Ozma’s history revealed it was the perfect time for him to embrace the past forced upon him and resolve to become a hero. But no, the episode count went down so we had to wave goodbye to Oscar’s agency again. 

Just think of how beneficial it would be for Oscar to actually confront his sorta-not-really ancestor, who may have had to watch as soul after soul gets consumed for him. Has Ozma ever had someone tell him none of this was his fault? I feel he needs it. 

If I was a more suspicious person I’d say it almost feels deliberate, that someone on the writing team doesn’t like Oscar and is purposefully keeping his growth offscreen out of childish spite. But three volumes in a row now, Oscar’s growth has felt artificial and fake, and leaves him feeling like an afterthought. I know it’s not a problem of RWBY not being able to write new characters well, just look at how fleshed out and beloved Maria was after just her debut season. But Oscar just can’t catch a break and it’s frustrating to watch. In a volume that otherwise made huge strides in solving many of the pre-existing issues in Volumes 4 and 5, that 6 still refuses to treat Oscar with anything other than mild apathy is just mind-boggling. 

Like, what was even the point of having Jaune say Ozpin was just pretending to be Oscar? To make Jaune look irrational? To plant the red herring in the viewer’s minds?  The rest of the volume itself shoots the idea down hard, and it feels like it was going to be used during Oscar’s potential cut scene, but again... it was cut. I can only go off what’s in the volume and unfortunately, Oscar in Volume 6 is only marginally better than he was in past Volumes. Bless his heart, Aaron is trying to save this character but the writing itself is dragging Oscar down every chance it can get. 

4) Volume 7- The potential breaking point

Oscar’s character is currently in a make or break spot, and Volume 7 will either finally solve his growth issues or this will be it and his fandom will reach a boiling point. The worst thing is, it’s a very easy solution to fix Oscar.

Just put his character development onscreen. 

That’s it, the golden answer to all of Oscar’s problems is to just stop cutting his development and agency short. Oscar has potential to be the most tragic character in RWBY- someone who wanted to be a hero, only for the responsibilities to be forced on him without his consent. He’s someone who the rest of his companions oftentimes don’t see as a person, just a walking telephone to their boss. Imagine how dehumanizing it would be, especially after Qrow’s “Don’t lie to him, we’re better than that” line? Imagine being someone effectively living on borrowed time because sooner or later, your consciousness will be absorbed what makes you you will be but a distant memory? Oscar could easily be a shining example of character growth, he could easily have a great arc of learning to deal with the burdens of Ozma’s struggle, of being the target of Hazel and Salem’s ire when he did nothing to earn it. But it needs to be soon, or all the potential in the world won’t be able to save Oscar. 

Perhaps Volume 7 will have a flashback to Oscar in Argus having that confrontation with Ozpin and getting his new outfit. Perhaps Ironwood will be mistrusting of Oscar claiming to be Oz, and Oscar will have to step up and prove he is who he says he is. Qrow never apologized to Oscar for punching him, so an apology would serve both Qrow and Oscar’s arcs as Qrow reignites his spark to fight. A potential confrontation with Salem where Oscar may try something the previous Oz lives didn’t could work wonders for Oscar. Volume 7 could still easily have Oscar get spotlight, but with how many plates the season is already planning to spin (Tyrian and Wattts going to Atlas, Cinder and Neo going after Ruby, Weiss dealing with her family, Ruby learning about the Silver Eyes with Maria, a likely return of Faunus racism for Blake and Yang, Atlas class warfare, the token reminder that Pyrrha died so Jaune, Ren and Nora can be sad, etc.) I’m already accepting that Oscar is the most likely candidate to get the boot again. It’s happened before, and I try to avoid being a sucker who falls for the same thing over and over. Definition of insanity and all that. 

5) Conclusion

Oscar is... I hate to say this again, but infuriating to me writing wise. He has so much potential as a character in terms of his growth but despite having had main character status for half the show’s runtime now, it’s hard to really care. Oscar keeps getting the short end of the stick, and if it turns out that the whole reason he got shafted for years was because of M&K’s mystery fetish, I might actually throw a chair out a window.  

What makes it worse is that Oscar is not a character with no hopes of being salvaged! There is a very easy way to remedy the problem and it’s just to let him have his time to shine and develop offscreen. Flashbacks covering the lost events such as his leaving his farm or gaining confidence in Argus (or even giving Oscar a character short specifically to address these issues) might be belated and feel like damage control- let’s be fair, after Adam’s short this wouldn’t be the first time they resorted to doing damage control in their shorts- but it would be a step in the right direction and show the team are committed to working to salvage Oscar. But they want to do it, it has to be now. If Oscar leaves Volume 7 suffering from the same problems, he might as well get killed off in Volume 8 because that will be it for his character, no one will defend him and Oscar will fully become the heroic Cinder in that no matter what, you can rest assured they won’t get onscreen development from anything that happens. In the meantime, all I can do is hope that this time, things will work out for the farm boi. There’s a goldmine of a character here guys, someone’s just gotta put the work into finding the first nugget. 

In short, Oscar can be a great character, if the writing lets him become it onscreen. But until then, it’s going to be a frankly depressing journey to get there.

Thank you for reading. 

[fangzeronos]

Young Justice Outsiders finale

Ok, guys. Here’s the finale wrap up for Young Justice Outsiders! Massive spoilers under the cut, so read at your own risk.

 Episode 24: Into the Breach

 Ok, so this picks up just before M’gann’s teams infiltrate the Orphanage from Ep 23 Terminus. The Outsiders, minus Static (who’s been with Black Lightning), and Geo-Force, who was with M’gann’s team, infiltrate Building 16, a props department with no surveillance. Vic’s powers come in hand to get rid of the illusion and find the Apokoliptan tech, leading Granny to show up after putting the Outsiders in the X-Pit’s Ghost Dimension.

 Gar and Granny fight, and since when can Gar turn into a Ma’ale’fak? We haven’t seen one of those since M’comm tried to fight M’gann back early on in the season. I know he can turn into things from other planets, like that weird bird thing from Rann, but this was new. I really enjoyed the fight, even yelling “GAR GET YOUR ASS UP!” several times.

 Vic, while all this was going on and they were being tortured, worked his technomagic on Overlord and kicked it’s ass, breaking Granny’s hold on the Ghost Dimension and causing them to win the fight. After he and Beetle destroyed the tech he’d found earlier, he boom tubed to the Orphanage and found Violet and Granny, whose two selves (Granny Goodness and her “avatar” Gretchen Goode) fused back together. He blasted the control goggles off of Halo’s head, and y’all this is where it got good!

 MY GIRL WENT SUPER SAIYAN! All of her auras, lookin’ like motherfucking Rainbow Brite before laying a hurt on Granny’s candy ass. She cleansed the Anti-Life Equation, freeing her friends before she, Vic, Superman, and Captain Atom blew up the device on the Orphanage. The reunion with Brion was sweet and I’m glad they’re together again, even though I know something bad is about to happen later on.

 Connor and M’gann, however, aren’t so kosher. He’s still dealing with her hiding the Anti-Light from him, and who knows how they’re going to end up. I know a lot of people hate SuperMartian as a ship, but we already lost Spitfire and BluePulse isn’t going to happen, so can we please leave at least one ship intact?

 Vic officially joined the Outsiders too! Cyborg is now officially born!

 Episode 25: Overwhelmed

 Ho, boy. Let’s start with the easy and get to the emotional stuff, because that’s where the meat of the episode is.

 Connor and Forager go to Geranium City, a city created and inhabited by Genomorphs, the same ones that were under Cadmus’ control back in the early days. Forager’s trying to find his place on Earth since Mantis was arrested at the end of the last episode for helping Granny Goodness, and he’s torn between returning to his home world or staying on Earth. He and Connor have work to do regarding both of them coming to the light, so to speak.

 Metron returned long enough to basically kidnap Vic and Violet, and unfortunately little Lian since she was in Violet’s arms at the time. Turns out, since they’re both “children” of MotherBox and FatherBox technology, they’re technically Metron’s grandchildren, which is something I never thought I’d hear. He warns them that they may be the key to stopping Darkseid’s plans if they don’t die in the process.

 Gregor Markov is back. He’s with Brion and Tara in Beverly Hills, meeting his siblings in secret. The first time all of them have been together in years. Tara, however, has other plans and tells Deathstroke Gregor’s out of the country, allowing them to put their plan into action in Markovia, allowing their uncle, Baron Bedlam, to stage a coup and take over the country. It’s going to be interesting to see how they pull this off.

 And now the emotional stuff. Artemis. After coming home and seeing Will had made dinner and set up candles and shit, the two talk before kissing. She breaks the kiss and apologizes, running off to her room and grabbing the picture of her and Wally and apologizing to it. She called Zatanna and meets with her, M’gann, and Rocket under the willow tree they met Dr. Fate under early on in the season. Zatanna casts some magic (or so we think) and Artemis goes into Limbo, seeing Wally.

 She’s only got until sunrise, so she imagines their house, they’re engaged, she’s pregnant, and then ends up with a nameless baby. She knows it’s fake, because the tv in the mindscape has Zatanna saying she’s going to cast a spell to “raise the sun”, and then it turns to an episode of “Hello, Megan!” which should have been a clue as to what the hell was going on.

 Wally tells her its time to wake up, step through the door and find someone to love again, saying she deserved a chance. “I already had my chance” fucking hurt. She walks through the door (all that’s left of the house after everything faded from around them) and comes back under the willow, and she walks off with the girls.

Rocket questions what happened, and Zatanna admits she cast a spell, but it was all M’gann’s doing. She created a mindscape in Artemis’ head that let her get the closure she needed to be able to move on after two years. The day Artemis finds out that her best friends did that to her, I can very easily see it blowing up in M’gann and Zatanna’s faces and Artemis either threatening her friends or just outright cutting them out of her life.

 Violet got home with Lian who was sound asleep, and she tells Will it was “an average night” before going to lay Lian down. Artemis arrived a minute later, her and Will talking about the kiss and what happened, but they both agree it was wrong and felt wrong the moment it happened. They’re still in-laws, after all.

 Side note: Can you please bring Wally back already? The Goode Goggles hallucination for Garfield in ep 12, Dick’s fever dream in ep 23, and now a fake limbo by M’gann in ep 25, I am tired of being teased about my boy. Bring him back or stop fucking with our emotions, you bastards. Seriously!

 Episode 26: Nevermore

 Other than sharing its name with my favorite Teen Titans episode, let’s dive into the big finish!

Three teams lead the charge into Markovia to deal with Baron Bedlam. Tara, Garfield, Victor, and Brion are one squad, M’gann leading El Dorado, Blue Beetle, Traci 13, Static, Wonder Girl, and a couple of others are a second, and Connor, Artemis, Dick, Forager, and Violet are the last. Connor’s squad faces off with Bedlam who takes off running, Count Vertigo coming in to keep the squad down.

 Bedlam runs right into Gar’s team, and he’s confronted by his niece and nephew. Brion knocks him out of the window after Bedlam backhands Tara, and the two fight in the courtyard where it gets publicly broadcast. The fight goes either way, but Brion finally manages to get the upper hand on his uncle. Despite everyone telling him not to, Brion executes his uncle on international television! We find out later it’s the Ambassador using a low-level psychic ability to influence Brion’s actions, but the damage is done. Brion is now king of Markovia, estranged from his sister and broken up with Violet who is horrified at his actions. We see later the Ambassador is now a member of the Light, controlling Brion for a puppet government, along with Dr. Jace back in the picture looking happy to have her “Son” back. I honestly fear that Brion is going to be a season 4 antagonist.

I’m so glad to see that Tara’s not going to end up betraying everyone to Deathstroke and we’re not getting Judas Contract again. IT’s about time to do something new with her character, and where she is now is a good place to give her a new direction.

 Nice to see Luthor getting what he deserves. Connor outing himself as a clone created by Luthor was a nice touch, and it’s good that Troia might be getting the big chair.

 I’m glad SuperMartian is going to stay together. At least two of my ships continue to sail. I was so worried they were going to split for good at the end of Ep 24, and I’m happy to see them going to last.

 Dick outing everything they did to the Team and the League was a nice way to end it. Everyone coming back together, and Black Lightning getting the League chair was great. Dude has had a shit run the entire season and it’s good to see him get a win.

 A FUCKING LEGION OF SUPERHEROES RING IN THE END SHOT?! WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!? Are we getting the Legion in season 4?! That would be so crash!! We almost got Slobo! And Lobo showing up and squashing his clone made from his severed finger was goddamn hilarious.

 Overall, this was a great season. There were some slow parts, a few things that could have been expanded on and shortened, but all in all I loved it from the word go. I’m glad we got to see a handful of “one-off” characters in Spoiler, Arrowette, and Orphan, and I hope to see them get more screentime in Season 4. Loved all the new characters, Cyborg was great, Halo was my all time favorite, loved Forager, and up until the end of Ep 26, I enjoyed Brion.

 Hats off the all of the voice actors this season, man. Stephanie Lemlin did so good as Artemis still struggling with Wally’s disappearance, and every time she talks about him, you feel the weight and emotion behind each word. Zehra Fazal, if you guys follow my twitter, you know how I feel about this woman. She voiced like a dozen characters, and she did such a damn good job in each scene she was in, and you felt the weight she was carrying trying to discover who and what she was. Zeno Robinson had some big shoes to fill as Cyborg, but MY GOD did the due kill it! From either of the spectrum, Zeno quickly rose up in the ranks of my favorite VA’s.

 I’m sad to see the season end, but let’s look forward to Season 4!!

[rwdestuffs]

Done dirty: Yang.

Because I guess her having an entire hate group dedicated to her on deviantart isn’t enough to make the writers to think that maybe they should actually develop her and cut her some slack.

Hey everyone, and welcome to ‘Done dirty’ the blog series that takes a look at these characters, and shows how they’ve failed at being characters, or at least the ones that the writers have tried to tell us that they are.

And Yang is a perfect example of this.

See, Yang was meant to be a deconstruction of the party girl trope. This means she loves fun, and doesn’t take things seriously.

If that sounds nothing like Yang, then congratulations!- You clearly know the difference between what was told and what was shown.

The Yang/Yellow trailer shows Yang going to a nightclub and wrecking the place because she didn’t get the information she wanted. While her going to a nightclub seems to be all that is needed for her to fulfill the party girl trope for the writers, it really isn’t enough for the viewers. Here’s an idea: How about we open on Yang on the dance floor, and when she does a minor offense (Like spilling someone’s drink while she’s dancing), the guy she offended attacks her, and she defends herself.

Not only would this give Yang a valid reason to fight, but it would also show that she was there for a good time, only to have it ruined because some asshole didn’t accept an apology.

Instead, she walks up to Junior, skipping the dance floor entirely, and demands that Junior give her the information that she wants. Such a ‘party girl’ am I right?- Then she assaults him for not giving it to her, and wrecks the place!

She doesn’t even face any consequences for wrecking the place! Some of the fanfics I’ve read have the excuse being that Junior doesn’t want any attention from the police, as he associates with criminals. But that doesn’t work because a) This isn’t conveyed well enough to the audience and is pretty much moot, and b) Yang tends to not do this often.

Volume 1 rolls around, and she’s giving her sister a big hug. But once they touch down, she immediately ditches Ruby to hang out with her shadow friends!- But not only that, they establish in the very next episode that Yang was like a mother figure for Ruby, so this contradicts what happened because on one hand, the first part makes us think that Yang is actually a party girl, like the writers intended, but the second part…

… Establishes her as a motherly figure. She wants Ruby to break out of her shell, and meet new people, as established in the next episode.

and she does this even further by not actively looking for Ruby, so that she can help her little sister break out of her shel- She doesn’t at all. If you’ve been following, Yang is really contradictory in the first volume.

Party girl tendencies?- Practically nonexistent. Motherly figure to Ruby?- Only when the plot calls for it. Wanting to help Ruby grow?- Doesn’t even apply to the following episode. Cares about her partner?- She doesn’t even run off trying to chase and stop her after Blake runs off.

There’s no consistency about Yang in volume 1 because at this point, she’s just a pretty face who punches things. At least she’s strategic about it, as she came up with the idea of blasting the Nevermore from the inside on her own and didn’t just recklessly shoot it from the ground in a fruitless manner (remember this for me, would you?)

Volume 2 gave her some personality. She makes puns! Oh I get it! It’s just like Barbara!- Oh that’s clever.

Yeah, the start wasn’t good to Yang, but she provides some interesting things to say, and she manages to get Blake to calm down with a heartfelt speech about how she should have died when she went out to look for Raven, yadda yadda, we know how the end went.

She dances with Blake for… about what?- five seconds of screentime?

Then she doesn’t dance with anyone else.

And when we get to Mountain Glenn, she provides some pretty neat exposition on the location.

And people keep saying that she’s a ‘dumb blonde.’- HA!

Like… the other things. I mean, she blocks, dodges and weaves in all the fights she’s in (remember that for me).

She also nearly rings out Mercury, and that’s actually pretty brilliant. She almost threw the entire plan of Cinder out the window, and she didn’t even realize it. It’s actually a pretty cool fight.

And we know how it ends, so let’s talk about the consequences of the fight.

There are none. Sure, she gets disqualified, but that’s hardly anything. We finally had Yang in a position that she couldn’t punch her way out of, and the writers didn’t capitalize on it. This would have been a perfect opportunity for the Yellow trailer to come back and bite her, but we don’t get that. We don’t get to see Yang developing from bad social stigma. We don’t get to see people flinching away at her, or being on edge because they’re afraid of making her mad, we just see her uncle calling her crazy.

Right… The guy who fought a person who could distort what they were seeing being at the tournament is totally never going to happen. It’s not like Qrow once fought a person with that ability when he was trailing the fall maiden.

But really, the biggest insult of all comes from the audience, when Yang got her arm cut off. After the initial shock, we got treated to people saying that “She deserved it” “Now she won’t be so reckless” and ‘She should have waited!”

Right. Because obviously, if that were said viewer’s friend in that same situation, they would have waited too. There was no reason for Yang to believe that Adam would step away from Blake, there was no reason for her to know that Blake had enough aura to use her semblance, and there was no reason for Yang to wait around and strategize. If she did, then I’m positive that the fans would say “Why did she wait?- She put Blake in danger by waiting! She should have rushed in!”- Effectively blaming Yang for losing her arm, and putting her in a no-win situation.

Then we have Volume 4. Oh boy, how to deconstruct this piece of shit.

Let’s start with the positives of Yang’s arc.

It starts off really well. Yang’s PTSD is portrayed realistically, and she finds it hard to function as she once did. She acknowledges that she has to get used to this, and her nightmares feel very real.

Tai doesn’t blame her for not wanting to put on the arm, and that’s actually pretty good. He’s not guilt tripping her……… yet.

We go to a later part, and we now see that Tai actually does blame Yang for losing her arm.

WHO. THE FUCK. WANTED THIS. JOKE?- Who thought that this was an okay thing to say to a person who lost their limb on the battlefield?

Not only does this show that Tai blames Yang for losing her arm, but it also carries the implication that Tai would have let his teammates suffer through death had he been in Yang’s shoes. And then Yang has to diffuse the situation.

If this was how they functioned, then Yang would have shot back with something equally as scathing. But why should I think that Tai knows how to parent when he was stated to have ‘shut down’ after Summer died?

There is no reason to. Tai was a shitty parent not only in that scene, but in the past as well. And yet, the narrative still seems to want to shit on Yang some more.

Yep. comparing losing a limb and getting PTSD from it to a fear of mice. I guess that’s something you’d see if you only read the cliff notes of the cliff notes on how to write PTSD.

And remember how I said that Tai hadn’t guilt-tripped Yang into putting on the arm?

……… Yeah, it didn’t last long. Whether he intended to or not, Tai guilt-tripped Yang into putting on the arm. And the narrative still makes Tai out to be in the right in this situation.

This is only like… four or five episodes after she lost the arm, by the way. This makes the whole drama of her losing it totally pointless. How about she loses that feeling of invincibility by just having Adam defeat her in a brutally-drawn-out manner, and then she collapses from exhaustion? Not only would this provide an explanation as to why Blake managed to save her (she could recover enough aura in the time they were fighting), but it would also instill a deeper fear of Adam. And it would also make it so that it didn’t feel like the writers half-assed and rushed the PTSD arc so that they could get Yang back into action. But we don’t get that.

And do you want to know the worst part about the training session?- It’s not when he makes unfair comparisons to Raven. It’s not when he implies that Yang’s fighting style isn’t his fault (despite him being her teacher). It’s when he outright calls her semblance, the manifestation of her soul, a temper tantrum.

Real father of the year material right here. Yeesh, and people wonder why I don’t like Tai. And that line “What if you miss?”- That’s not an actual argument. That’s like asking Ruby “What if you miss with your scythe?”- It applies to everyone, not just Yang. So Tai saying that just feels like the writers couldn’t find a flaw in Yang’s fighting style, so they went with the most generic and useless concept they could think of: The possibility of missing.

Gasp! That’s right! What if Yang does miss?- She could be left about as vulnerable as……… any time that she’d miss before charging her semblance! How about focusing on how she’s predictable instead? Or how she doesn’t think of incorporating kicks into her fighting style? Was that too hard?

Volume 5 is slightly better to Yang, but not by much. For starters, Qrow apparently decided that after only knowing three-fourths of them for about two months, that team RNJR needed to know everything about Raven, despite the fact that Yang’s been asking for at least a decade.

And while the arm shaking is nice to see, it feels… tacked on. As if the writers decided to throw it in because they realized that Yang didn’t have many lines back in the Volume that shall not be named. It doesn’t seem like a genuine effort to actually show the trauma, it just feels really forced.

Yang beats up some bandits by……… doing what she’s been doing. Blocking, dodging, weaving, and getting in close to her opponent. She doesn’t deliberately take hits like she did in that one single fight we saw back in volume 2, and it just shows that Tai (and the writers) knew absolutely nothing about Yang’s fighting style.

She confronts her mother, and instead of getting the answers she wanted, the writers threw out that motivation in favor of her demanding that Raven send her to Mr. “I fought a person with the ability to alter a person’s perception but it’s impossible that Yang was under that influence when she kneecapped that Mercury kid who shares a name with that one assassin named Marcus Black.” (Can you tell that I’m not happy with any of the male authority figures in Yang’s life?).

Also also, we don’t see that shopkeep from earlier being wary of Yang. So either word got out that there were some shenanigans going on at the tournament, or people in this world are really forgetful. Considering that Emerald later forgot about her semblance and the “Pulling Coco  using her weapon’s chains back  in Volume 3″ feat, the latter is pretty likely.

And I guess to Yang and pretty much everyone else in the world, Ozpin possessing a kid, dragging him into a war, and eventually assimilating him takes a lower priority than him giving Qrow and Raven bird powers. Granted, this is a problem with everyone, but Yang is the one who brought up the bird thing.

Unfortunately, she seems to have forgotten that she once described Summer as

Because now, Summer is now just

Thankfully, Yang shows some human emotion, and talks about how she’s always been abandoned.

It’s really great to see a character actually talking about their issues, and- waitaminute. Tai was what?

And she had to what?

And she was what?

So, we’re all in agreement that Tai isn’t ‘dad of the year’ material, right?- The guy left Yang alone to pick up the pieces, and forced her to grow up really quickly. Albeit, he did this unintentionally, but he still did it. And the narrative just doesn’t ever bring this up. There’s very little resentment towards him outside of Yang calling her father by his name, and nobody seems to want to talk about this?

She shows some human emotion and is convinced that she should at least try to understand why Blake left, but considering all she’s been through……… I can’t help but blame her for wanting someone to be there for her.

Later in the volume, Weiss gets impaled. And like a lot of people in RWDE discussed before, only jaune gets to react to it.

And Yang abandons her arm when she’s told to go after Raven. Like……… why? There’s a time and a place for brute force, and that was a time and a place for it. What was she going to do if Cinder had won?- Ask nicely for her to not take the relic?

Her speech to Raven also feels empty. She wasn’t brave coming down to that vault, she was reckless. She wasn’t thinking ahead, and she wasn’t using what she had available to her. I dare say that it was Taiyang’s advice that made her think to abandon the arm.

And can we talk about how jaune was rewarded for rushing in to fulfill his revenge boner, while Yang was punished for wanting to save Blake?- Again, nobody is saying that jaune had no right to those emotions. But the narrative, characters (specifically Tai), and a few audience members seem to believe that Yang was in the wrong for wanting to save her friend, while saying that jaune was in the right for wanting revenge.

[betterthinkaboutittwice]

so.... i did the thing... i invested myself in it... i did it...

i watched the first episode of Produce 48. all two hours of it. and i’m hooked. we haven’t seen all the trainees yet and i’m hooked. oh god. why did i do this to myself. but okay, here’s the peeps we saw in episode one who caught my attention with a short rundown of why:

Yamada Noe (NGT48) - Literally the happiest, funniest, cutest person i’ve ever seen, definition of mood-maker. Seems to have good dance/vocal potential as well.

Lee Kaeun (After School/Pledis) - This doesn’t need an explanation. She’s beautiful, talented, professional, spectacular. If she doesn’t make the final group I will scream.

Takeuchi Miyu (AKB48) - Holy vocals, Batman! Easily the most impressive vocalist of the first episode. I wanna hear more, she’s got a really cool voice.

Lee Chaeyeon (WM) - MY GIRL!!! All grown up now, dancing queen really out here. First out on Sixteen, but my girl damn-well better debut with this group. She’s a stellar dancer, and it seems her vocals have improved as well. Plus she’s such a cutie.

Choi Yena (Yuehua) - Cute personality (though i might be swayed by the amount of screentime she got initially in the episode), great dancer, good vocal potential.

Kwon Eunbi (Woollim) - Solid all-around talent, good in dance and vocal, stood out most as a leader.

Ahn Yujin (Starship) - Really damn pretty, seems to be a good vocalist and a solid dancer.

Jang Wonyoung (Starship) - Maknae and visual material, already has that mad stage presence and aura that you expect from a center, which is crazy considering she’s barely 15. Seems to have great dance potential as well.

Yoo Minyoung (HOW) - Basically the only rapper we saw in this episode?? But definitely has some ability to work with, writes her own lyrics. Solid dancer already, good stage presence despite limited time as a trainee.

Hwang Soyeon (Wellmade Yedang) - The Sunmi lookalike who moves in such a way as to honestly deserve the comparison. Great dancer, we didn’t see any singing from her in the episode tho.

Goto Moe (AKB48) - Seemed like the most unique dancer in this episode, very pretty, good stage presence, endearing personality. Looking forward to her getting her voice back so we can hear how she sings.

I’m also obviously extremely interested in Matsui Jurina and Miyawaki Sakura, but we didn’t see their evaluation performances in the first episode so my only opinion of them is based on hype. Though I will say, Jurina looks a lot like Kahi?? Maybe I’m just crazy, but their faces seem very similar to me.

[knightofbalance-13]

http://saltwukong.tumblr.com/post/173979310856/miles-luna-is-unequivocally-the-poster-child-for

Well then, let’s give you a bit of criticism yourself then.

Miles Luna is unequivocally the poster child for immature assholes who should not be in charge of other people or creative writing and the sooner people realize that the better.

Says the guy who threw a fucking fit over Scarlet being gay and calling it ‘insulting’ like a whiny bitch. (http://saltwukong.tumblr.com/post/174002001031/actually-let-me-say-this-clearly-no-praise-is)

Be polite in your criticism” fuck off. Miles is every bit as immature as his fandom who have famously taken every bit of criticism, no matter how it was phrased, as hate. Miles Luna and his rabid fanboys can fuck off.

Of course, rationally sitting down and explaining why something went wrong and showing it like in Faboover’s ‘Thoughts-RWBY Volume 4′ Series (https://www.youtube.com/user/Fal3oover/videos) is the same as flailing your arms around and crying like a child who was told no. I mean, only a whiny, immature, self obsessed, selfish, sociopathic piece of shit would say that because they are so far removed from what defines a human fucking being that the concept is foregin to them.

By the way, you seem to have uh, blocked me for criticizing you once (https://knightofbalance-13.tumblr.com/post/167961927725/a-girl-with-sparkling-lies-saltwukong). I mean surely, this must be a mistake. After all, why would you block me unless you’re even more immature than Miles?

I’m tired of dancing around this, I’m tired of being nice. I’ll be nice some other fucking night. All blind RWBY stans can fuck off. MKG can fuck off. Rip the goddamn veil off. Acknowledge that your favorite content has a flaw or five. Acknowledge that your favorite “writers” are people too, which doesn’t just mean they’re people with feelings, it also means they’re people with flaws, who are responsible for those flaws and doubly so if they refuse to work on them, and triply so if other people have to sit through the results of them.

Okay then!

Miles has a SEVERE tendency to put in more characters than necessary. I have said this multiple times.

The time skip retcon is an ACTUAL retcon and was fucking stupid. I have also said this multiple times.

And they need a professional writer on staff to teach them how this is all done. I have said this multiple times...

No veils here. I’ve always seen them as people with flaws....

But I guess you don’t want me to see them as people with feelings though.

Okay then, let’s test this out on you people:

You are a fucking coward. You sit there acting all high and mighty while you block everyone who might disagree with you because god fucking forbid any hurt your pwoor prwcious fweelings while you preach hate and destruction on a level that would make the KKK question their life choices.

You are also a fucking hypocrite, saying that Miles and Kerry should be held accountable doubly and triply so when YOU refuse to work on your flaws and I have to sit through it with you. And yet, YOU fucking hide like the cowardly little shit you are behind a blocklist because the mere thought of someone even saying in the most polite manner possible that your ego is fucking massive and wholly undeserved.

You’re also a fucking sociopath since you think that people sending Miles DEATH THREATS and ACTUAL HARASSMENT are JUSTIFIED and that Miles should eat up this shit without realizing that a skill a writer MUST have is discerning constructive criticism from DECONSTRUCTIVE criticism. But god fucking forbid someone post Sun hate in the sun tag when you can just ruin a man’s life (http://saltwukong.tumblr.com/post/173391967376/dont-fucking-post-sun-hate-in-the-sun-wukong-tag).

In general:

You’re all fucking bigots. I have not met a single RWDE poster who wasn’t racist, sexist or hetero/homophobic. Dudeblade outright thinks that the writing is bad because they’re white men, Soku thinks Jaune being white is a flaw, Invested In Your Future adamantly REFUSES to see a female character as anything other than in the right ect. 

You’re all fucking cultists. You people will regularly attack anyone with different opinions than you while preaching your opinions as right. You religiously hate on Miles and Kerry to the point I’m pretty sure youd hear their names if I said ‘satan.’ And you indoctrinate people into your line of thinking all the damn time.

And you are all fucking SHIT at your jobs. Name five flaws in RWBY? I can name FIFTEEN!: Villians need a bigger presence, Aura needs to be explained, more racism against the fanaus needs to be shown, the fight scenes need a LOT of improvement, Ruby needs more focus, We need to spend time in locations in order to get a better feel of them, show don’t tell, the Maidens need more clarification, Volume 4′s plots were messy, Yang needed more screentime in Volume 4, Salem needs more focus, they need to show Aura breaking more, Ozpin’s morality needs to be more defined, the actual retcon of Volume 4s time skip, we need more interactions between Ruby and Blake.

RIght fucking there, I just made a list THREE TIMES LONGER than what you asked for. Thing is, I didn't lie about them, they aren’t formed from my delusions, they have an actual Impact on the quality, they are reasonable for RT to handle and I didn’t use misinformation to make them. That’s ALL YOU PEOPLE DO. You lie out of your asses so much if I hadn’t left I would have drowned in your bullshit, you demand fucking shit that would contribute to NOTHING except your egos, you demand RWBY handle shit more than RT can handle (which is one of the biggest problems with RWBY) and you rely on people forgetting certain parts of the show to make them work. You people aren’t getting shit for pointing out flaws: you’re getting shit because you are so BAD at it that you make people want to forget about them and thus enforce the idea that RWBY has no flaws. That AND as someone who tries to be critical of RWBY, I have to deal with you asswipes.

Actually, let me repeat that for the hard of hearing: “the writers are people too” means they are as deserving of criticism as the rest of us, no more, and definitely no less.

So...none at all, considering you people think you’re all SO flawless and perfect that if anyone criticizes you, they MUST be wrong.

Let me inform you of something: You DON’T see them as people. You see them as fucking SLAVES, you arrogant stain on the face of the Earth. You see them as slaves that you can beat and abuse and harm and harass and belittle all while expecting them to do as you say. You people are so fucking removed from humanity that unless people think like you, have ZERO empathy towards them.

Start thinking critically.

How about you lead by example?

Oh wait, if you thought critically for even a single moment of your life: You’d realize that half the shit you say is fucking delusional, that you sound like a ravening sociopath with zero humanity in him, that you are surrounded by people who will turn on you in a fucking instant if you step out of line, that 99% of the shit you preach if applied to you would make your life miserable and that you have likely driven away anyone who actually cares about and isolated yourself in a cage of hatred that you have no one to blame for but yourself. And when that all hits you, you’d try to scream but end up choking on whatever fatty soda is in your gullet and you’ll die choking on it, cold and alone. So you completely turn off every single part of your brain that performs critical thinking because let’s be honest: Critical thinking requires self awareness and said stuff is basically LETHAL to you at this point.

... Oh what, you have a problem with what I am saying? Well, all I’m doing is following YOUR rules. I’m just treating you as YOU treat Miles. You OBVIOUSLY don’t want things like compassion and empathy applied to you because you’ve never even shown a capacity for such a thing, let alone towards Miles. You wanted this and now you have to fucking take it, because even you know no one listens to a hypocrite. 

Now how about you unblock me eh? Let’s see how you handle your veil being ripped from you.

[des-shinta]

.Hack’s 15th anniversary popularity Poll results finally went Public

To the surprise of No-one, the top 3 Among the male characters was...

Strongest characters arcs within the Franchise, and the top two being counted among the characters with the longest-running appearances among main castmembers and also possess the strongest story-and-developmental-arcs period as a result because of it, so no Duh they’d score so strongly. ...Haseo(Ryou MisakI) is Sora plus a case of Amnesia of his time AS Sora and 7 years, and Endrance(Kaoru Ichinose) is Elk Plus 7 years and having witnessed Mia’s Murder by CC2′s RA Plan, if you’re not among the Deep Lore people who memorized this or just didn’t know.  It’s surprisingly not common knowledge even among people who played G.U. 10 years back. Kite ranked Fourth, for those about to complain; Followed by A.I. Buster’s Albireo.  Again, No Duh; A.I. Buster Probably Remains the strongest of the .Hack Novels, and it’s canon to boot. Among the Women, the top 3 were:

Again, to the surprise of No-one.  Alkaid(Yowkow) may be best girl IMO, but there’s a reason I ship Atoli with Haseo beyond it being canon and her being the Fluttershy of the series. Hell, by just straight poll numbers counted across the categories, Atoli Rated as the 5th most popular character behind Kite, with Alkaid taking 6th. And Mistral is completely adorable, and you can’t help but cheer for the clumsy-but-well-meaning housewife helping Team Kite even with a baby on the way. In Fourth was Shino, Followed by Aura being in Fifth Place. ... Poor Aura, outscored by an individual that was solely intended to be a cipher for loss, despite the entire franchise ultimately being about the cycle of Aura’s Life in all it’s stages. 6th was Blackrose, again for those about to complain, and it’s one I Echo in how she somehow wasn’t in the top 5.  As I’m baffled *She* didn’t outrate Shino, Blackrose got her own Novel series of IMOQ taken from her perspective, and they’re *GOOD* books at that. Lastly, in the beastman category:

...Okay, Mia (taking 7th most popular character overall by just strict poll number) and Ouka make sense; they had tangible, positive, roles in the stories they were part of--And Mia’s existence had long-term repercussions for the lore and Elk/Endrance’s story.  But I’m baffled by Tabby Taking third.  She does *nothing* but waste screentime that should have been spent on other characters/filler setting-developmental stories/progressing the main plot, provide fanservice, Mope for being useless and doing nothing to change that, and Alienate Haseo in Roots.  I never found her in any way appealing, only insufferable, thus don’t see why she’d rank so high. There are only 16 beastman main/secondary characters (this of course not counting Recurring NPC’s like, say, Seisaku) in .Hack of both genders, but the majority have more tangible and impactful roles in the content including them.  Hell, Sophora has her own manga telling how she joined Moon Tree and was friends with Alkaid and Gaspard and Crushed hard on Silabus.  It’s really good. Fourth was Maha (pre-Mia Macha from Sign) and 5th was Phyllo, who actually did something and played part in Roots/G.U.  Again, them scoring that high made sense from the role and impact they play, which leaves Tabby alone an abnormal outlier in this entire poll.. ...I have many Issues with .hack//Roots, and Tabby is central to many of my Criticisms of it. So yeah, Shino and Tabby’s placing so High over others more deserving immediately behind them are the only things I disagree with on the entire spread of this poll. But whatever, I’ll take this as one of those unique fandom oddities like the indecipherable and incoherent, baseless hatred a sect of the western fandom seems to have for Atoli, since much of what they say is wrong about her is contradicted directly within the freaking story. Lowest-scoring characters with 1 vote each were  The Chaotic PK Greedy Cervantes (why was he even on the list?), Grein (which makes sense, he barely talked), and CCCorp president Genius (seen in .Hack//Link, for those who haven’t play it).  Again, these make sense.  One’s just a specially-named NPC Enemy that’s a footnote in the multi-game sidequest to unlock R2!Natsume as a partymember, the second’s almost mute, and the last is an awfully-developed villain who’s not even the main villain of his entry. Lowest among the women was Ender AKA Reiko Saeki/Pi during the first half of Roots...which again makes sense, considering her and Naobi/Takumi/Yata’s motivations made little sense with regards to the story they were prequeling in Roots and the terminal disk data supposedly precipitating said actions. Though this was tied at two votes each with two characters from Guilty Dragon.  Again, No surprise. Lowest among Beastmen was Nasubi, Gord’s Information broker in .hack//Roots.  I think he had... A Handful of lines in...I think no more than Four episodes in the entire franchise, so again there’s no surprise there.