#and that her characterization is wildly inconsistent because of this

[dreampearls]

colleination prerequisite is more than just being a collei fan you have to be a collei fan in such a way that you cherish her whlist simultaneously acknowledging she is one of the shittiest written characters in the game

[gold-rhine]

Inazuma Rewrite part one

This is bullet points rewrite for Inazuma general plot structure, bc I think it had so much potential, but was horrifically scuffed in game. If I keep something from canon unchanged, I’ll just say so without retelling the entire thing to keep the length down, bc it’s gonna be A LOT already.

Some disclaimers: I’m not trying to fix every single problem, just what I see as major structural failures. I will reference my problems, but you can read my explanations on them more in depth in my “inazuma ranting” tag.

This is also not envisioned as free for all fanfic where I can write whatever I want, but aimed to be actually feasible to see in game, bc it’d be unfair and I want to show that Inazuma could be improved in the same constraints that hoyo writers had. So please don’t ask why I didn’t do wildly inconsistent thing that would be cool, but genshin would never actually do.

I’m aiming to retain all relevant lore and achieve basically same worldstate in the end, including character arcs, for the most part, because I presume them to be integral to the larger strategic plotline of the game. Which means I can’t drastically change characterization and major plot beats like the decrees, rebellion, Raiden has to be a sympathetic ally in the end, etc. I’m also trying to keep genshin’s general tone and modus operandi, bc like, target audience includes 13 yolds and I can’t just “make Inazuma good” by turning it into like, a gruesome and complex power struggle of political factions like Fallout New Vegas.

List of main issues I want to address: pacing in general, rebellion pacing especially, lack of impact and continuity of effects of vision loss on people, lack of setup for the stasis vs transience aka ei vs makoto conflict, character arcs: raiden, ayaka, kazuha, kokomi, yoimiya, kujou sara. And more! 

Initially I wanted to make a single post, but it’s already 3k and I’m only up to Raiden’s first duel and I plan to cover post-archon quest content too, like Raiden and Yoi story quests, so I decided to split it up instead of posting like 20k monstrosity. So remember, this is for now mostly a setup.

EDIT: Part 2

Raiden’s motivations\Reasons for vision hunt

Ok, so one of the biggest principal changes is that vision hunt and sakoku decree are active Raiden’s decisions, instead of Fatui’s plot that she’s just passively allowing to happen. Raiden closed the country, but she’s ok with Fatui starting a civil war and selling delusions, bc it doesn’t “affect eternity”, like??? I honestly think that the current plot of her people dying in a civil war meant nothing to her is much worse than her starting vision hunt decree out of misguided plan to ultimately do better for people.

I mean ok, we have to have closed borders to reference Japan’s history, sure, but like, the whole point of isolationist policies like this is to prevent the outsiders’ influence on the country. So she should not be ok with Fatui schemes at any point.  

I mean, if it was fallout new vegas AU, I’d keep it to show that dictator doesn’t not care about foreign powers exploiting it’s people as long as it profits the empire and helps to keep people subjugated, but like. Then raiden can’t be uwu waifu. So we gonna give her good intentions and integrity, but misunderstanding of humanity due to closing herself off instead.

Now to why would she close the country and institute sakoku decree. I want to tie this in with another plotline that is just. Kinda floating at sidelines at the moment, but I think could work nicely in tandem. The Scaramouche destroying Raiden Gokaden, the five schools of weapon smithing, which were canonically highly valued by Raiden.

I’m not gonna recount Scara’s entire plotline, but basically he went on a misguided crusade against Raiden Gokaden and managed to cause fall of 4 out of 5 weapon-smith schools.

Game says that he like, tampered with the schools and covertly led to their ruin, which like?? They never found anyone guilty, like the most prized weapon art smiths of your country fall apart and you’re like oh well, I guess Yashiro commission is just bad at it’s job?

There is a plot point in this story where Isshin weapon smiths, unable to replicate a faulty design that was Raiden’s commission tampered by Scara, were scared of Raiden’s wrath and decided to flee to Snezhnaya. I want to change it to be that there is an event, where ALL weapon schools receive same commission at the same time, and Scara tampers with it.

Just as in canon, scared smiths, but now from 4 schools, not one, are manipulated by Fatui to flee to Snezhnaya, But we add a new NPC, the most talented blade smith who had a vision. Fatui frame him as the ring leader, as if they were running not to save their lives because of the tampered design, impossible to fulfil, but that this was a betrayal because of his ambitions.

After this, Raiden has legitimate cause to feel like her eternity is threatened. She sees weapon art schools, one of the most prized country’s traditions being ruined in a moment because of what she thinks is ambitious hubris of one vision holder, who colluded with outsiders. So she closes Inazuma and declares a vision hunt, to prevent this from ever happening again.

But ironically, in truth it was the fault of not just Fatui, but specifically a puppet without a vision that she herself created and failed to supervise. This brings the main idea of the plotline from “Fatui evil, Raiden passive” to “Solipsist goddess who doesn’t understand humanity tries to protect her people by locking them in stasis and taking their ambitions, but the real case of tragedy was her negligence and lack of empathy all along, and this is what needs to be changed.”

Interlude and plot setup

We start with similar plotline. Traveler tries to go to Inazuma, learns that it’s closed, talks to Inazuman NPC to learn more. Here we’re introduced to the general idea that Inazuma was closed off due to one traitor blade smith with a vision who sold off Raiden Gokaden to Fatui.

We go to Beidou’s tournament, which goes basically the same, we meet Kazuha and watch a beautiful cutscene about his dead friend who challenged Raiden to a duel, and now Kazuha tries to find someone who can reignite his vision. I will actually add changes to Kazuha’s storyline, but it be will later.

then we arrive to Inazuma, go through the same bureaucracy loops with Thoma on Ritou, to show the barriers to outsiders and also to illustrate how Thoma is the best fixer when he manages to drop a fee from 1 mil to like 10 gold by promising to have a dinner with government official.

But we’re cutting the second part of Ritou, with the boring plot about like merchant from Mond scamming people with the local police and then Traveler delivering love letter or whatever. I mean, we can keep this as an optional side quest, if like hoyo thinks the lore about love letter is essential for the Ayato’s quest or smth, but not as an Archon quest.

Instead, we put a part of Yoimiya’s quest there. I think Yoi’s quest is relevant enough to stay in the Archon quest, unlike Ayaka’s, but it’s slapped into a place where it ruins pacing. So instead, we’re cutting it up in parts and inserting it into main storyline.

On Ritou, while doing bureaucracy bullshit, we meet Yoimiya, and play the part of her quest about her helping a guy with a vision to escape from his former best friend, who is now a guard hunting him. It helps to show the rift that vision hunt brings not only with the outsiders, but with inside of the country as well.

Ghost of Makoto\Transience setup

another key point that I think is integral to fixing Inazuma is planting seeds for Makoto’s reveal from the start. I really like the Stasis vs Transience conflict from raiden’s second story quest, where raiden believed in eternity as lack of change, a perfect state maintained until the rest of time, while her twin Makoto believed in eternity as never-ending change, where people’s dreams constantly evolve, nature of them chasing these dreams never changes.

but it feels like it came out of nowhere and raiden just speedruns character development in like an hour, so a lot of people ended up feeling like it was just about Raiden mourning her sister, instead of raiden coming to understand makoto’s belief system and through that unlocking makoto’s final connection and then being able to let go.

so we need to first of all, introduce makoto’s ideas of transience from the start, and also empathize the conflict of them with raiden’s stasis.

and it doesn’t mean we’ll spoil the reveal about the second raiden shogun! we don’t have to ever use makoto’s name, just her title as a raiden and sprinkle her ideas throughout the land. We know hoyo area designers can do that stuff really well (guizhong’s relics being scattered all over liyue, rukkhadevata’s shadow in the aranara quest).

like, it’s strange that Makoto primarily ruled and shaped country by herself while Ei was just a warrior, yet we do not have Makoto’s influence visible. We need to add ideas of transience into fundamentals of Inazuma,

“Transience is the dream of the nation of thunder. We find the greatest joys in mortal life in fleeting dreams, for is life itself not like the shadow of the thunder? Pursue your dreams into the clouds if you wish, and enjoy the unexpected silence of the dim lamp-lit nights.” - Guide to Transience talent book.

add these ideas all over the place, esp near sakura. And let’s draw player’s attention a couple of times specifically to the internal contradiction of these ideas of transience being integral to inazuma and raiden’s current hatred of change.

like, we need even 13 yolds and twitch streamers to remember this, so lets make paimon say like

“Huh, this shrine to raiden shogun says that eternity is the pursuit of fleeting dreams, but doesn’t raiden shogun fucking hates dreams?? I wonder, what made her change her mind about them to the total opposite!“

this and more subtle puzzles\locations with focus on transience for people who pay more attention will add the much needed setup for makoto’s reveal

Kamisato siblings

ok, first things first, Ayato being absent without any explanation while his little sister is plotting treason and his malewife Thoma is about to be executed on the streets is unacceptable.

like I know it’s marketing or whatever and he’s not being released but we need his model, hoyo. If we 200% CAN’T have his model, we need to come up with solid excuse why he’s not here. Like idk, he’s helping the war refugees or smth

And we need hints at his presence\influence throughout the story. Like oh, here’s group of refugees who were helped by Yashiro commissioner, they are relocating to new homes, I guess Ayato is really busy. Oh, here is Fatui’s camp where everyone is slaughtered and boba tea cups are littered around, I wonder what is up with that.

and also, Ayaka is organizing resistance behind his back, and we never meet him bc Ayaka actively tries to hide traveler from him.

bc like, Ayaka doesn’t have a development arc in archon quest. She’s just kind of there, being perfect. Like in her story quest that hoyo makes you do at gun point, you like, go on a date, learn that she’s lonely and has trouble connecting with people due to the pressure of having to project an image of perfection and societal distance, do an investigation to uncover her late mother’s fox fursona roleplay diary which she used to cope her with own societal pressure. Which like. Ok, sure, but but this wet socks quest is not an archon quest material. It should be just a normal story quest.

no, Ayaka’s real conflict is wanting to prove herself to her brother, bring real difference to the world. This is her ambition, she literally gained her vision while fighting Ayato in a training, she wanted to show him that she’s strong enough to handle responsibility, he named her Shirasagi Himegimi after she won that fight

but during a civil war, watching people suffer, her role as a cultural figurehead is not enough. She wants to help, but she’s afraid to act, because this will undermine Yashiro Commission and her brother worked so hard to build it back up after Raiden Gokaden fall. so she organizes resistance behind her brother’s back in secret, to help, but without compromising Kamisato name

this basically tracks with what happens in game, but we spell it out and expand on this later.

Getting Traveler to help

next, let’s throw out the weird edging introduction where traveler is not allowed to see Ayaka the first time. like??? bro, we’re friends with 2 archons and heads of their governments, you’re not that important. and it can’t be to protect her identity, bc like. You go to Kamisato estate! You’re told who she is! If you wanted to betray her, that would be enough already.

another awkward thing is that Traveler, who agrees to do every stupid quest they meet, suddenly refuses to help the resistance.

I think we should reframe their convo a little, like Traveler says hey I’d love to help, but my primary goal is to get info about my sibling from an Archon, so I don’t want to go against her.

To which Ayaka says oh, I totally get you, you see, I am myself a culture figurehead and a nominal princess and I can’t speak up against the decree, bc that will hurt Yashiro Commission. But I’m not asking you to fight Raiden Shogun in a duel or smth, I’m just asking you to help people with the resistance, which we do totally in secret. No one will know! Also, how are you going to see Raiden? She’s locked up and doesn’t appear in public. But my big brother is a head of the Commission, if anyone can get you an audience, it’s him. So help me help people and I will ask him to help you see Shogun!

she secretly believes that after traveler sees ppl suffering, they will change their mind and help willingly, same as in canon, but she’s more subtle about it

Rebellion connection

my other problem with vision hunt is that the 3 quests they force you to do about meeting people who lost their visions are like. not good. The concept is interesting, but they are just kinda boring and meandering. They lack dramatic impact. They could do better. So we’re not doing these 3 quests rn, but don’t worry about it, we will get to the effects of vision loss

Instead, ayaka sends us to help Yoimiya and we do the same quest we do in archon quest - help her to free someone from prison dungeon. It goes the same, we get to the dude being mistreated by cops, Kujou Sara steps up and lets us go

But then it’s like, we need to get this dude out of Inazuma city. Cops know he escaped! They will just come for him again! There is only one place that will take him and it’s the watatsumi rebels.

Common complaint about Inazuma is that other countries feel like found families and Inazuma doesn’t, bc characters from resistance and rebellion basically don’t interact, and it’s true. And like, we can get them together! Thoma knows Kazuha, Kazuha knows Gorou, Gorou in canon went to recoinsanse missions to Narukami island.

So, Gorou visits the tea house to pick up the Vision Dude, and the gang has the hotpot meet up. Everyone is there (except Kokomi bc ok hoyo, we’re saving up for dramatic battle reveal, and i think her reveal would fuck up banner schedule). Ayaka, Thoma, Yoimiya, Kazuha, Gorou. and Teppei! Who is here bc he was recruited by Gorou. He’s actually from Narukami island, not Watatsumi, and he had nothing to do with visions, but he’s an idealist, he believes in freedom, so he joined rebellion. fun times are had, Ayaka tries to play srs bsns lady host, but breaks into giggling at The Shenanigans, Gorou is overly polite but adorable and apologizes to Ayaka about The Shenanigans in which everyone but him participates, Yoi is a life of party and the Shenanigans and later has to be bodily stopped by Kazuha from organizing fireworks right here, right now, Thoma and Teppei both get sick from eating Ayaka’s nasty cakes that she threw into soup, bc Thoma is just into oral stuff and Teppei is so earnest and eager to prove himself and impress ppl, haha comic relief, look how sweet and funny this guy is and all characters get along so great with him

bc like, I think Teppei has a problem of a) not having enough screen time b)not having any interesting characterization moments to make him stand out 3)not having other playable and already likeable characters interact with him

so this scene can serve not only to bring that “unlikely bunch of people becoming friends and working together” connection to life, but also to endear Teppei to the players

Vision Loss Effects\ Yoimiya and Thoma

ok, next Ayaka asks Traveler to do that one quest about martial arts master losing their vision. I think it’s the one quest from 3 about vision loss with most drama, but the real reason is that it introduces Yae Miko and we need to do this before leaving for the rebellion. Like, in theory, it could be switched to another, better quest that lets us meet Yae Miko, but honestly, this is not one of Inazuma archon quest problems so I can’t be arsed. Feel free to imagine a cooler intro instead.

when we go back to tea house, we learn that Yoimya’s vision has been taken away. She has been recognized in that last prison raid and the guards came for her later, and she didn’t fight bc there were kids and her old father around.

She’s completely changed. Her innate optimism, her belief in people and their dreams has been drained from her like a sunshine from a dark cellar. But she’s still Yoimiya!! She came here to warn you bc she still cares even if she had her own joy taken from her. She tries to smile and reassure you that it’s ok, she’s fine, but her smile is visibly strained, she’s never had to fake it before so she doesn’t know how. She wears a vision, but it’s a fake one, because her pops said that maybe having it here would help and she agreed, tried to pretend for him that it does help, bu. It very obviously doesn’t.

Ayaka is horrified. She apologizes to Yoimiya, tries to think of ways to help her, but Yoi just laughs humorlessly. “It won’t ever touch you, princess.”

She’s immediately disgusted at herself and apologizes, tries to take it back, this isn’t her, she would never say this, and not to her friend! But also, it’s so hard to care now and she can’t remember why it’s so important to care at all.

Ayaka is shaken. Bc it’s true! She is a privileged noble, vision hunt will not come for her! She is playing at the resistance from the safety of anonymity, while people like Yoimiya actually risk themselves and pay the price!

And this is when the news that Thoma was arrested and about to be 100th vision taken at the feet of the statue comes. Tenryou commission truly strikes back.

Ayaka is in uproar. She’s ready to go herself and fight for Thoma, especially after Yoi’s words. She’s sick and tired of being a perfect princess, she can’t allow any more of her friends, her family come to harm because they don’t have her protection. Clearly Thoma being a theatrical execution is a blow specifically against Yashiro commission and Kamisato family in particular, and if Shogun has beef with her, well, she can settle it with HER instead of going after her friends!

Traveler stops her. This is what they want. If Ayaka openly moves against the Shogun, the entire Yashiro commission falls. Even if Ayaka is in the right! No, it’s the Traveler who will go to save Thoma

But traveler needs raiden’s good will for the info, they can’t confront raiden openly, it was the deal from the start!

But at this point traveler has seen too much, the divide in the country, the change and suffering of their own friends, and they can’t allow all of Yashiro commission take the fall.

This is when the Traveler decides to take a stand.

ACT 2

[once-upon-a-stolas]

Here’s the one, guys. The one that I’ve been waiting for and I know a lot of you have been waiting for, and we should talk about all the things that have happened in the interim, we should view these through the the lens of the Kendraws screenshots, Millie’s brother, the transandrophobia/ableism screenshots...

We’re not going to be doing any of that. Not today. Let me have the memory of this one.

This incident starts off with Blitzo, undisguised and in plain view, being spotted and photographed by a human in the living world. To say that Stolas is annoyed would be a gross understatement; he’s pretty fuming, not even remotely playing around. It’s quite possibly the angriest we ever see him become, with the possible exception of the time a commenter suggested he rape Blitzo.

Now, before we get to the good part, it has to be said how important this is, because it speaks volumes regarding Before!Stolas and Blitzo’s arrangement regarding the grimoire. This was all taking place pre-Murder Family, and as said many times before on this blog, without expecting anything in return. Stolas simply allowed Blitzo to use his grimoire because he liked him, and in these posts, we see that his only condition was this: that Blitzo not do anything foolish with it. A condition Blitzo, being Blitzo, breaks.

That being the case, Stolas shows up at I.M.P.’s office, waiting for hours in the office to have a serious talk with Blitzo, who avoids him until Stolas makes it clear why he’s interrupting work hours, at which point Blitzo lets him in immediately.

And here’s, of course, where things get fun.

Blitzo lets Stolas lecture him for a while, and then whips out a remote controlled vibrator. Stolas is surprised, but needless to say, delighted. Blitzo is delighted. You’re delighted, I’m delighted, everyone’s delighted. The only one not enjoying this is Moxxie. 

(The commenters are also delighted, and that’s not a good thing. Just a quick scroll reveals that there are a lot of very, very young people in this crowd. I’d say at least half of them have no idea what’s going on here.)

Stolas would be within his rights to get extremely upset over this, but after all is said and done, he just tells Blitzo that he’s lucky he’s cute. Blitzo flirts back at him, saying Stolas is lucky Blitzo wasn’t recording him, Stolas is aflutter, and all is forgiven.

So, what does this very lighthearted, extremely fun incident tell us about Before!Stolas and Blitzo’s relationship? A couple of key things.

1. Blitzo and Stolas’s sexual encounter was not a one-off deal; the only way that this is able to take place is if Stolas is wearing a vibrator 24/7. 

2. Blitzo enjoys his sexual relationship with Stolas. He enjoys teasing him and is comfortable enough around him to do so.

3. Because the full moon deal doesn’t apply, they’re both doing this for no other reason than they want to.

We now know, by Vivzie’s own admission and the admissions of people who were close to her, that Vivzie writes by the seat of her pants and frequently changes things on a dime. We know, for instance, that Present Day!Stolas and Blitzo being childhood friends was a last moment pivot based on a piece of fanart she liked. This is, of course, not the way to write a coherent story, but it explains everything about Stolas’s wildly inconsistent characterization. The Stolas we saw bleeding out in today’s episode, love him or loathe him, is a completely different character than the Stolas who once crossed his legs and went brrrr.

And that’s why, the further away we get from that summer of 2020, the more important it becomes to me that that briefly lived iteration of Stolas is remembered for who he was, and his romance with Blitzo remembered for what it was. Because it was trusting, playful, healthy.

And it had remote controlled vibrators.

[villainihavedonethymotheronao3]

I have not made a post about this because usually I do apply the Goldwater Rule to fictional characters, and I’m nowhere near a medical professional, and personality disorders are a whole morass of stigma and societal misunderstanding—but Laudna’s character becomes 10 times more reasonable when you assume that she has the most borderline personality disorder in Exandria.

Swings wildly between self-loathing and self-pity? Age inappropriate childishness and neediness stemming from traumas she cant fully confront? Contradictory actions? An intense fear of being betrayed or abandoned, that spills over into accusing even her friends and allies of things they didn’t do (“Ashton’s kidnapped Imogen!”) or clearly didn’t mean? Diving headfirst into engaging in a Real Grownup Tragic Romantic Relationship with the one person she refuses to lose, complete with declarations of eternal love and exhortations to move on after her death? She’s not inconsistent or badly characterized, she’s a pretty spot on representation of someone whose brain processes everything at extremes. Oh, we’re dating Imogen now? We’re going to date Imogen so hard. Oh, Delilah’s back? Guess I’m either the ultimate victim or a beautiful weapon to be wielded! A frightening upset in group dynamics? Time to abscond to the woods! Its been really fun to watch.

[mamawasatesttube]

this is like a kinda weird pair but what do you think kon's thoughts on/relationship with bruce is?

the hardest part of this is, i think, deciding on how on gods green earth to nail down a bruce characterization when he's been written so wildly inconsistently across so many comics. generally i try to characterize him as like... a good man, overall, but incredibly emotionally constipated and prone to really putting his foot in it now and again because he's got like control issues and whatnot. i think in a lot of comics he turns into more of a plot device (and white male power fantasy, conflict driver, etc) than a consistent character, so it kinda makes it hard to be like "man i wish he wasn't an asshole" but also i just dont think he can be a total dickwad and still be a hero bc imo that makes the entire meta fall apart. heroes have to be good (can be incredibly flawed, but have to be good) for the genre to work, i think. otherwise its like oh boy thats just cops.

so that being said...

i think bruce cares for kon in the way of any awkward-but-well-meaning parental figure with their child's best friend. i also think he's absolute godawful dogshit at making that clear at any point. i don't think he particularly has any reason to dislike kon other than when writers try to make him racist against metas or play him into misogynistic "my daughter can't have friends who are male!" tropes, which i just kinda. tend to throw out personally, so i don't really think they have that sort of conflict, but i do think kon doesn't really know what to make of him because he knows bruce has pulled some shit with tim (like tim's 16th birthday fiasco, which is imo the kind of thing thats like. in character for a bruce-esque fuckup. literally wouldve been fine if he'd just told tim like hey this is a practice exercise i want you to take seriously. tim wouldve happily larped about it with him like cmon man), AND with cass, two people kon definitely cares about. but kon adores clark and bruce and clark are pretty close, so i think to kon he's in the nebulous space of like "weird distant uncle-ish figure" or something.

i DO also think bruce is fond of kon in a distant but anguished way because he saw firsthand just how badly losing kon affected tim, and quite possibly cass if we kinda just. throw out the stupid mind control arc and let her like. have a storyline that isn't whatever the hell that was. also there's something to the fact that an alternate universe kon was his robin. he probably learned about that when kon reported back to the jl after hypertension arc. i think he probably had at least one (1) emotion about it but didn't tell anyone.

the comedic version however is that bruce finds out that baby kon wanted parents so bad, is deeply affected because he is NOT immune to a little guy who wants parents, and keeps really awkwardly trying to dad at him but he's so weird and awkward and distant about it that kon straight up has no idea what he's doing. who the hell just bought him a new oven to replace the one in his apartment he complained to tim about one (1) time??? tim swears it wasn't him so what the hell??? bruce is pleased with himself, kon is so fucking confused, and clark meanwhile will be laughing his ass off about it all.

[woodchipp]

A CRITIQUE OF OMORI, PART 1: PLOT & SETTING

NOTE: Reader discretion is advised. By clicking on “Keep reading”, you willingly choose to continue reading the post.

As the game's synopsis on TVTropes explains,

Omori's home is White Space, an empty white void containing only Omori's sketchbook, laptop, cat, box of tissues, and the door to the Neighbor's Room where Omori's friends live. These include the plucky Aubrey, the mischievous Kel, and the brotherly Hero, and from here they venture into the fantastical land of Headspace to have picnics with the innocent Nature Lover Basil and Omori's loving sister Mari and go on adventures. But one day, Basil goes missing, and Omori, Aubrey, Kel, and Hero set off to search through all of Headspace for him. As they navigate their way through a space pirate's relationship issues, a mad duchess' narcissistic tyranny, the evil laboratory inside a whale, and various types of hostile bunnies (among other things), a horrifying presence continues to rear its head, and it wants something from Omori.

Indeed, a large part of OMORI’s story is spent in Headspace - an expansive and vibrant JRPG dreamscape created by the game's actual main protagonist, Sunny, to avoid facing an unpleasant truth pertaining to Mari in the real world, with her and his childhood friends always by his side. While the idea is fascinating on paper, OMORI’s execution of said idea turns Headspace into a tedious slog to play through.

It can be hard to get invested in Omori and his friends' hijinks since they don’t have much of a coherent plot to follow, nor do they have a cohesive sense of escalation and stakes. Even if the game heavily implies this to be the point - Omori is creating random distractions on his quest to rescue Basil because Sunny is unwilling to face the truth - it still comes off as being random and quirky for the sake of being random and quirky, along with padding out the game to an ungodly degree. Just because Sunny doesn’t want to confront his issues doesn’t mean that the player should be forced to watch the paint dry. Even the quest to rescue Basil gets ultimately rendered moot, making the time the player spends in Headspace aimless floundering where random things happen for no reason in particular.

Another issue with Headspace is that it results in a great deal of tonal inconsistency. Since re-entering Headspace at the end of every in-game day is required by the game to progress, the game’s tone wildly oscillates between Omori’s wacky escapades in the dream world and the examination of the tragedy Mari’s death wrought on Sunny and his friend group in the real world. On top of all this, Headspace itself is rendered entirely irrelevant halfway through the game with the introduction of Black Space, consequently rendering 50% of the story pointless as well. 

Black Space isn’t any better. It is essentially a blatant rip-off of Yume Nikki, down to the Nexus with an assortment of doors that lead to nightmarishly surreal locations, the big red maze (Yume Nikki's Hell is above, OMORI's Haunted Trees Hanging Maze is below) and even the Toriningen. Story-wise, Black Space is only slightly less meaningless than Headspace; the game provides the player with little to no context for all the imagery, nor does it use Black Space to provide Sunny himself with any substantial characterization (despite the location representing his subconscious), yet acts as if the player is supposed to understand every little detail of the story up until this point perfectly. 

Gameplay-wise, Black Space fumbles being a rip-off of Yume Nikki by discouraging the latter’s core gameplay mechanic - exploration. Instead of making you search for the key you need to exit the area, the game holds your hand and leads you to the key with a convenient trail of footprints. In some cases, the key may be located literally in plain sight. Unless you make the conscious decision to stray from the trail and avoid the Red Hands after taking the key, the average Black Space area can be completed in 10-20 seconds, if not less. As such, Omori’s journey through Black Space can be summed up as “go to surreal room, grab the key, leave surreal room” ad nauseam.

Moreover, all of Black Space's "psychological horror" revolves around the game being unnecessarily edgy, such as having Basil brutally die five times or pressuring the player into dissecting Mewo, Omori’s pet cat. Each time Basil dies cheapens the impact of his subsequent deaths, and by his final death, it’s quite likely the player may not care anymore. The game never gives you any concrete clues to figure out Black Space’s symbolism beyond very opaque implications either, so why should you care?

The abrupt transition from Headspace into Black Space is also jarring for a whole different reason than the giant change in aesthetics and tone - Headspace mainly relies on exposition (i.e. characters spelling things out) to convey the story whereas Black Space takes after the game it’s inspired by and tries to use environmental storytelling, the operative word being “tries.” Some of Black Space’s imagery seems to be vaguely connected by the motif of hanging, but there’s nothing much beyond that.

Faraway Town, the game's "real" world and the setting responsible for moving the game’s overarching plot along, makes it a point to try and subvert gameplay conventions typically seen in similar RPG games to show that Sunny's fantasies are obviously incompatible with how real life works. As with Headspace, the idea itself is neat on paper, but the problem with OMORI's execution of said idea is the inconsistencies in Faraway Town's "realism": Sunny injuring a person with his steak knife is framed by the game as shocking despite said person freely walking around (and attacking him) with a huge nail bat, Mari's picnic baskets are inexplicably scattered across the entire town and function as save points just like they did in Sunny's dream world, the priest of the local church makes no attempt to stop the altercation that happens within the church near the end of Three Days Left because it "seemed really important" (to the plot), Sunny is somehow able to use his breathing skills in the fight with his fear of drowning despite being underwater, none of the charms have any effect on your stats except for one, etc.

The overarching plot itself is entirely character-driven, so I suppose it’s time to talk about OMORI’s characters.

[zalrb]

For who Damon is, how would you have written him pining after Elena?

Well, this actually requires a bit more specificity. Do you mean who the writers say Damon is or for who Damon actually is?

Because, and as I've said repeatedly including in my three recent posts, how the writers characterize him and how they actually portray him are contradictory.

They've always been wildly inconsistent with Damon's characterization, what irritated me the most was the way the dialogue and action would contradict each other when it came to Damon and his emotions:

the show packages the feelings he has for Elena as something specific to her, I sit there like but it’s not, though. Season 1 was all about how Damon would do anything to get Katherine back — it’s not like Elena awakened in Damon the capacity to feel because he’d been feeling and waiting for Katherine for over 100 years.

So when Stefan and Damon have that exchange in 2x01

I’m sitting there like but that part of him was NEVER destroyed! Damon’s problem is that he can’t handle what he feels so he kills people because it’s easier than dealing with his shit.

But that isn't the same thing as not being emotional. Damon is, hands down, the most emotional person on the show.

In 1x06 alone, Damon saw a picture of Katherine, got sad,

slow-danced with Vicki after seeing the picture because he was feeling a type of way

and then killed Vicki as a way to deal with his grief

He killed Lexi because he felt guilty, he killed Zach because he felt guilty

he kills random people because he's sad Elena's "dead", he kills Aaron because he's upset about Elena breaking up with him

So, are you asking me how this guy would pine? Or how the guy in dialogue would pine?

[erinptah]

Your thoughts on jakemark? I started to like it quite recently and I find them extremely underrated

All the headmate shipping combinations are A+ good in my book 👍

And, uh, my hand slipped and I wrote an essay, here...

I think the Steven sides of the triangle are easier to make happen, because Steven wears his heart on his sleeve (see: gushing over Layla after knowing her for 5 minutes), and is willing to put in the effort to drag the emotions out of somebody more closed-off (see: the entire Duat). So he can take the emotional initiative with both Marc and Jake.

Marc is more closed-off and withdrawn, with this persistent underlying feeling of "I don't deserve nice things, I don't get to ask for things I want, I shouldn't even think about wanting things." (Layla definitely also took a lot of emotional initiative, or they wouldn't have ended up together in the first place.)

And Jake -- okay, his MCU scenes are tiny and his comicverse characterization is wildly inconsistent, but here's the version I write, based on "cherry-picking only the character notes I like and mashing them all together."

Jake is willing to be open and sociable about surface-level things, but his underlying hang-up is "I can't talk about things that are really important to me, those are vulnerabilities, and if I'm too obvious about them, they'll be used against me."

So Marc's first instinct when he finds out about Jake is "oh no, this must be someone scary and dangerous and monstrous, because I know how bad I am, and if I couldn't handle knowing about him before, how much worse must he be?"

Which just reinforces Jake's existing approach of "showing any weakness or soft spots is a bad idea, and Marc in particular doesn't like or trust me at all, so why would I risk being vulnerable in front of him?"

I figure they would soften up toward each other once the whole system spends some time adventuring together...but then they get caught in a standoff where both of them think "okay, that guy's not so bad, maybe I even care about him...but he's obviously still got his walls up against me, so I'm gonna be cool and keep my distance and not make this weird."

So to make the good ship actually sail, you need some outside force to break the standoff! Or else they'll keep spinning around in that infinite loop forever.

Personal favorite approach is for Steven to break the loop. He did the feelings-wrangling for each of these idiots individually -- he can bloody well roll up his sleeves and tackle both at the same time, if that's what it takes!

(...This is the approach I'm taking in the Cover of Knight universe, and, well, we're 100K+ words in, and Jake+Marc are still only at the point of "we can let ourselves show affection toward each other IF Steven's in the middle to act as a buffer." It's totally possible they're headed towards "okay, sure, technically we're having full-on hot headspace sex with each other -- but only because Steven thinks it's hot to watch, and we think it's hot to indulge him -- it's not like we like each other or anything.")

[pines-troz]

Animaniacs Reboot Pinky and The Brain Segments Ranked

Now that I watched all three seasons of the Animaniacs Reboot, I wanted to rank every Pinky and The Brain segment from worst to best and give my brief thoughts on each one. 

In regards to the reboot’s take on Pinky and The Brain, I thought that they did a good job for the most part. While there are certainly some stinkers, there were plenty of enjoyable and intriguing episodes. I do appreciate that this iteration of Pinky and The Brain continues to explore the characters and their relationship, much like the spin-off. While the characterization of Brain was wildly inconsistent in season one, he got a lot better as the show went on, as lowered his emotional guard and displayed his soft side while still keeping his comedic roots. I do not fully agree with the idea of Brain being a super villain, and I felt like some of season one crossed a fine line. Thankfully, seasons two and three toned it down considerably and his villainy was more in a comedic light. Pinky was given a lot more spotlight in seasons two and three, even focusing on his attachment to Brain and his issues. If there’s one issue I have with Pinky in this version, it’s that he was portrayed as too much of a nuisance at times, as he normally was not the one responsible for foiling the schemes. It’s a shame that the show ended in season three because I firmly believe that the show would have continued to expand on these characters if they were given more seasons. 

The biggest issue I have with the Pinky and The Brain segments of the reboot is Julia and her arc. Even though I like the idea of her character and some of the themes (Brain creating his own worst enemy), I do feel that she was poorly handled. It feels like there wasn’t much thought put into the execution of her story and where it was going to go, and I do not find it believable that Brain would try to form a romantic relationship with her. It’s a shame that her story is left unresolved and will most likely remain that way. 

As for things I did enjoy, I liked seeing animation studios like Titmouse, Tiger Animation, and Digital eMation animate for these characters. I also appreciate that the Pinky and The Brain formula still works in the 21st Century. The sharp social commentary is still there, even if their approach is a little different from the 90s (mainly the fact that the humans are aware that Pinky and The Brain are mice). The character designs by Genevieve Tsai are great! I love the small modifications, like Brain’s bushy eyebrows, the bags under Pinky’s eyes and the tip of his tail being bent, and the mice having sharp teeth. The reboot’s version of the Pinky and The Brain opening is fantastic, holy moly! Titmouse and Giant Ant’s work on the animation is simply amazing. I love the addition of thunder and lightening in the first moments, which build up to Brain’s confident declaration of trying to take over the world. I also love the symbolism in the opening when the mice’s tails are entwined and when they try to go their separate paths, they fall apart, which is a nice way to showcase their codependent relationship. Last, but not least, I greatly enjoy hearing Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche reprise their roles again! They both seem like they had a blast voicing these characters again, and they deliver some great performances in the reboot. 

Overall, I did enjoy this iteration of Pinky and The Brain. It’s not perfect (but then again, the characters had their ups and downs in the 90s, especially with Pinky, Elmyra and The Brain), but I appreciate the ambition in the segments. Though there are some misses, there are many hits. Season one had its ups and downs as they were trying to figure out the characters. Season two had a lot more consistency and enjoyable segments. Season three was definitely the best of the lot as their segment output ranged from good to fantastic (in my opinion). In conclusion, the reboot crew did a commendable job of adding to the legacy of these lovable characters and even made some enjoyable gems that I look forward to revisiting. 

32. Mousechurian Candidate

This episode is very divisive among fans. Some folks liked the darkness of this one while others despised it. I’m in the latter camp as I feel like this episode had a lot of interesting ideas but failed to execute them. 

Although I do like the idea of Julia being Brain’s new rival, I despise the story choices made with her, especially since her transformation into antagonist largely relied on making Brain so uncharacteristically detestable and doing things that he never would have done in the original show. So the misogynistic and abusive aspects of the episode made me incredibly uncomfortable. This dark portrayal of the character is especially jarring since the episode after this one, Future Brain, has Brain still retaining his redeemable qualities. So making him completely unlikable throughout for the sake of the story is just bad writing. Additionally, I found Julia in her First Lady/Presidential Candidate mode to be too perfect, which may have been intentional, but I wish that they gave her some character flaws at the start (like being competitive or wanting to be the center of attention). 

The comedy in this one was also lacking. Pinky was barely given anything to do in this episode and there were only a couple of moments where I chuckled at best. This episode is one of my least favorite PATB segments because it feels so overly edgy and out of place compared to the other episodes from the reboot, and it began the very messy and frustrating Julia arc.

31. Close Encounters of the Worst Kind

There isn’t much to say about this one. I found the plot to be very predictable and not engaging. The only thing worth mentioning about this one was the story of how the crew accidentally put in a sex hotline number at the beginning of the episode and how they scrambled to replace it. 

30. 1001 Narfs

A pretty bland episode, if I’m being honest. It’s basically the reboot’s version of “Mouse of La Mancha”, but without any memorable moments and slower pacing. 

29. Pinko and The Brain

As for the Red Scare episode, I felt this one was decent but wasted potential. Although this one has a handful of humorous moments (like Brain swearing), however, the “mice as communism” allegory falls flat when one of the characters actually mentions communism in the episode. I feel like the Red Scare premise would have worked so much better if Brain was accused of communism (as opposed to being a mouse), but Brain would use his trademark honesty by saying “actually, I’m a laboratory mouse” and he spends the episode convincing the politicians that he is a mouse. It has its moments, but it’s not one that I would be eager to revisit. 

28. Babysitter’s Flub

An alright episode. There are some fun moments, like the “love/quantium” bit in the beginning, or Brain rescuing Pinky, and I like how the mission highlights just how small the mice are, but the dark ending soured it for me. 

27. The Prisoner’s Dilemma

I feel like this one has a lot of interesting ideas (the mice being recruited by a league of super villians, a mystery plot similar to And Then There Were None), but it falls flat due to the rushed pacing. There are humorous moments between the mice throughout, but things like Dr. Doppler (aka the Tumblr Sexyman reject) and the visual nods to The Prisoner were too distracting (especially the latter since I kept thinking about The Brainwashed Trilogy) and took me out of the episode. 

26. The Pinktator

A rather predictable episode that’s similar to another episode from the spin-off (”T.H.E.Y.”, which was a bad episode in my opinion), but the comedy does elevate it. The banter between the mice in the beginning and middle is funny, and I do think that Brain roasting the three dictators was incredibly satisfying. I just wish that the plot wasn’t so paint-by-numbers. But I’ll still take this episode over “T.H.E.Y.” though. 

25. The Flawed Couple

This episode is fine. I appreciate the inclusion of Nora as a framing device (and giving her more to do), but this episode largely feels like a “parody for parody’s sake”, and after having learned that this episode was included in season two at the last minute, it certainly adds to the notion that this one feels out of place from the rest of the PATB segments from season two. I thought the first half was pretty solid, but it dragged a bit in the latter half until the reveal that the mice are actually in the lab in the final scene. It’s a decent episode, but nothing to write home about. 

24. Fantasy

The first PATB cold-open in the reboot, and a really fun one. I love the idea of Brain being a wizard (complete with a long beard), and him summoning The Warners to do his bidding only to find out that they’re rebellious. Even though it’s a cute and funny short, I would have liked to see this one play out in a seven-to-ten-minute format, since there’s a lot of comedic potential in pairing the mice with The Warners (The first and last scenes of “Wakkiver Twist” are proof of that). But as a cold open, it’s a good one. 

23. Roadent Trip

A solid episode, if a little uneven at times. The beginning scenes and the first moments of the mice trapped in the car are pretty good, but I felt like the song number drags the episode a little bit. But I do like how it rebounds a bit with Brain deciding to have a heart-to-heart talk with Pinky. Brain’s backstory is easily the highlight of the episode. I love how the scene is treated with seriousness and gives the audience a good sense of why Brain has a lot of control issues and why he is so emotionally guarded. Even though I appreciate that the reboot gives Brain his tragic backstory in a scene that’s played straight, I wish they didn’t undercut the mood ten seconds later with Pinky’s humorous story. 

22. Of Mice and Memes

A great debut and a nice reintroduction to the characters. I thought the comedy in this one was solid, and the social commentary on the nature of internet memes and fads is on point. It embodies what was great about PATB from the 90s and seamlessly transfers it into the modern age. 

21. Ex-Mousina

If you take away some of the weird “wishing for a father figure” vibes from Pinky, then you would still get an entertaining episode. I do enjoy seeing Brain become so endeared to his own invention and finding an equal, the “Bonding” song number is fun, and I love how it ends with Pinky destroying the robot with his own inane question that was set up earlier in the episode. While “Brinky” from the spin-off is much superior, Ex-Mousina is enjoyable as its own thing. 

20. Reichenbrain Falls

As the follow-up to “Mousechurian Candidate”, this one is so much more entertaining. I love the mystery element of the first half in which “Pinky” acts slightly off and Brain, and the audience, then discover that it’s actually Julia in disguise. My issue I have with this one is mainly how the writers didn’t take the opportunity to have Julia call Brain out on what he did to her and instead have her want to take over the world for the sake of taking over the world. Other than that, I do enjoy the comedy and the animation in this one. Even though it does suffer from not expanding on the Julia arc in an interesting way, it’s still an entertaining episode. 

19. Backwards Pinky 

When I first read the plot for this one, I recoiled. I did not want this to retread the awful Pinky, Elmyra, and The Brain episode “Teleport a Friend”, in which Brain was conjoined to Elmyra. Fortunately, this episode proved to be an entertaining take on the conjoined episode trope. I enjoy the design of the conjoined mice, and having their personalities change every so often was amusing as Brain really gets to become silly and Pinky becomes a bit more self-aware. But the thing I appreciate most is how the mice have to work together as a team to resolve the issue. Backwards Pinky is a surprisingly fun episode. 

18. How To: Friendship

A solid follow-up to the first “How To” episode from season two. Even though the first “How To” is superior in terms of comedy, I appreciate how this one branches off from it and mainly focuses on Pinky and how he loves Brain. I love seeing the relationship from his perspective as Pinky genuinely adores Brain and when they fight, Pinky does everything he can to make amends. The ending to this one is incredibly sweet, as the mice reconcile and Brain shows his gratitude to Pinky, both verbally and by still keeping the macaroni photo of Pinky giving him a kiss (and rearranging the macaroni so that the hearts are on top)! 

17. Run Pinky Run

The first time loop episode in the reboot, and a really fun one. I love how Pinky is at the center of this story as he tries to do his best to save Brain. And although Brain is the damsel in distress, he does manage to find his way out of the predicament in two of the three-time loops. I also like how you can see the subtle differences based on the decision Pinky makes. Like stopping at the crosswalk before the bicyclist affects the take-out food delivery, which buys Brain enough time to escape from the snake. Or how watching over the armed truck manages to be the correct choice as Pinky does show up on time with the money. But my favorite aspect of the episode is the ending, as Brain showcases his gratitude to Pinky as they head out of the hide-out. As the first of two-time loop episodes, this one was a great one. 

16. International Mouse of Mystery

As a cold open, this one is a lot of fun. Even though Pinky and The Brain already did a James Bond parody back in the spin-off ( the very funny “To Russia, With Lab Mice”), this version is different enough that I can appreciate it. Pinky’s song and his role as the Bond girl are enjoyable, and Brain in a speedo and having chest hair are also very amusing. Even though the meta-commentary on reboots seems a little late by this point (especially since it’s in the very last episode of the reboot), the delivery was decent enough. 

I also love it when the mice make their own movie or television show, something that we’ve seen in episodes like “Battle for the Planet”, “Brain’s Song” and “But That’s Not All, Folks!” I always enjoy watching the mice put together a low-budget production in the lab. As a short cartoon, it does its job well. 

15. No Brainer

A very fun take on the amnesia plot. Here, Brain forgets the plan he gave to Pinky over the phone, so the mice need to break into the National Security Agency headquarters with the help of Edward Snowden. 

The comedy in this one is great, as there are some humorous dialogue exchanges between the mice. The moment when Pinky tells Brain the plan, who gets excited, only to realize that Pinky is talking about Christmas is amusing. The twist at the end is great with Brain going through this effort to retrieve the message in exchange for returning Snowden’s houseplant only to discover that the houseplant was crucial to Brain’s plan is funny, and is reminiscent of other twist-ending episodes like “Opportunity Knox” or “When Mice Rule The Earth”. This was just a fun heist cartoon. 

14. Bride of Pinky 

A really fun Frankenstein parody. I love Titmouses’s animation as the expressions here are incredibly entertaining. I enjoy seeing Brain’s jealousy and disgust at the romance between Pinky and Drusilla the monster, and how that story is resolved with her leaving poor Pinky and Brain doing his best to comfort him. I also love the aesthetics of this episode as it really embraces the monster movie atmosphere. 

13. How To Brain Your Dragon

A really fun episode. I love that it’s just the mice going on an adventure to find the dragon and having to change their trajectory halfway through. Both mice are great here, and Benedict adds a lot to the episode’s humor with his jolly nature and charisma. 

12. All’s Fair in Love and Door

Definitely the strongest Julia episode despite not featuring her until the end. Even though I have my issues with how Julia’s story was basically born from presenting Brain as a cruel misogynistic abuser, I appreciate that Love and Door did rectify some of those problems, mainly with Brain feeling regret for what he did to her. I find the door being perceived as an allegory for Brain being “in the closet” and trying to maintain a heteronormative relationship interesting. The two issues I have for this one are that I don’t find Brain’s attraction to Julia due to her intelligence to be all that believable (since they barely had any chemistry in her debut episode) and they should have kept the boards of Pinky still being angry and jealous of Brain during the dinner scene. But despite those flaws, there are a lot of things going for this episode. From the amazing animation by Titmouse to Brain trying to shield Pinky from AI Julia, even taking responsibility for his actions when he confronts her, and that beautiful moment near the end of Pinky squeezing Brain’s hand and Brain smiling fondly at Pinky. It’s a shame that the show did not resolve the arc because I feel like had the show continued, I would have liked to see that story conclude with Brain holding himself accountable for his actions and atoning for his sins by trying to help Julia (and her most likely not forgiving him, but him learning to live with that). But overall, All’s Fair in Love and Door does do a good job of balancing comedy, drama, and sweetness into one solid package. 

11. Mouse Madness

An awesome episode. Even though there have been quite a few time-travel PATB stories, this one has the most fun with its premise, as Brain goes back in time to rig a college basketball game so he can earn billions to purchase his own island. But he becomes so invested in the scheme that he messes with the fabric of time with each push of the button. I love the absurdist and even darker elements of each timeline, and it culminates at the very end where Pinky is animated in stop-motion while Brain is animated in flat 2-D animation, which leads to a very soft and sweet conclusion. 

10.  Royal Flush

This episode has grown on me during each rewatch. I love how Pinky, despite being one of the most British Animaniacs characters with his signature cockney accent, finds England to be this strange and foreign place. Brain’s plan of trying to win his claim to the British crown by way of beating the prince at a poker game is amusing. I also appreciate that this is more of a Pinky-centric story that highlights how he feels like an outsider and wants to be close to Brain. It also has one of the cutest endings to a PATB cartoon with the constellation of Brain smiling and winking at Pinky. 

9. How The Brain Thieved Christmas

After learning that reboot would make another Pinky and The Brain Christmas episode, I kept my expectations low. I knew that this one wasn’t going to match the quality of “A Pinky and The Brain Christmas” since that is the gold standard for holiday specials. But at the same time, I figured that their take was going to be infinitely better than the terrible Pinky, Elmyra, and The Brain holiday episode “Yule Be Sorry”. And although I was right in my prediction, I was genuinely surprised by how funny and entertaining this one was. 

I appreciate that this was mostly a Grinch parody and really leaned into it from the inclusion of the rhyming dialogue to scenes reminiscent of the classic Chuck Jones cartoon (Brain’s Grinch grin and the scene with everyone caroling by the Christmas tree). At the same time, it riffed on previous Pinky and The Brain stories like the aforementioned “A Pinky and The Brain Christmas” and “The Brain’s Apprentice” with Brain leading an army of small robots to do his bidding. I also liked that this one wasn’t focused on a world domination plan, but Brain was so annoyed by the Christmas carolers that he decides to ruin Christmas for everyone. The animation by Titmouse is one of the highlights of the episode. Brain’s irises turning pink when he’s annoyed or maniacal is so humorous, and the pushed expressions and fluid animation are also evidence as to why Titmouse is my favorite studio from the reboot.  The comedy is also incredibly strong, as there were some lines that had me laughing out loud ( “For the last time, Pinky, stop posing so...seductively”). The ending had some genuinely sweet moments, from Pinky singing silent night to Brain being so touched by the gift Pinky gave him that he decides to join the choir and sing the final verse (which is a nice payoff to Brain’s anti-caroling sentiment that was presented earlier). And much like the Grinch, Brain also returns everyone’s gifts in a very sweet gesture. Even though I would have liked the episode to maintain the sweetness to the very end, I’ll excuse it since they did build up to the comedic climax with Brain’s gift-giving contraption going awry. Though I did find Brain’s expression at his broken gift and his following response about Boxing Day to be amusing, so the comedic tone at the end doesn’t ruin things for me anyway. 

It’s no “A Pinky and The Brain Christmas” (then again, that episode raised the bar to a high standard), but as its own holiday special, it’s an enjoyable one. 

8. How To: Brain Takes Over The World

This one is a lot of fun! I love how this episode parodies internet videos in a way that’s enjoyable and in character. Pinky is adorable as he’s having fun making his how-to videos, and Brain’s plan of rigging the lottery is very amusing. The character interactions are top-notch, all of the jokes land, and the run-time is the right length as it does not run the concept to the ground. How To: Brain Takes Over the World is a gem!

7. Narf Over Troubled Water

Pinky and The Brain have done music parodies in the past. Some are gems (Bubba Bo Bob Brain, Brain’s Way), while others were lacking (All You Need Is Narf, The Girl With Nothing Extra). Narf Over Troubled Water is definitely one of the gems.

The Simon and Garfunkel homages are so endearing and humorous. The “I Ate A Rock” song and montage are great. 

I love how this episode basically sums up how Pinky and The Brain work best as a duo, and that neither of them are able to function properly when they are separated. Pinky helps Brain lift his spirits, and Brain gives Pinky a sense of direction, and when they work together, they are able to succeed. 

But the climax of the episode is so fantastic, as the mice reunite in a humorous parody of “The Graduate” which both works in isolation and perfectly meshes with the Simon and Garfunkel theme of the episode. Just seeing the mice be so elated to see each other again and the implication of the ending of them being unsure of their future is so great. 

6. Groundmouse Day and Groundmouse Day Again

The Groundmouse Day two-parter is a brilliant parody of Groundhog Day. I love that we have a Brain time loop episode, but this time, Brain tries to utilize the time loop to his advantage, and he does succeed in world domination, but he can’t enjoy it because the loop keeps restarting. There are a lot of great jokes here and I love how Brain slowly loses it over the course of the episode. But the ending is incredibly sweet, with Brain spending the day with Pinky and the kiss was adorable. It’s a strong pair of episodes that reminds me of the half-hour episodes from the spin-off. 

5. Happy Narfday

A very funny and sweet episode. I like how the story centers around Pinky wanting to do what he wants with Brain, and Brain trying his best not to take over the world. I appreciate how when Brain finds the item he needs for his plan, he tries to cover it up for Pinky’s sake and essentially lies to spare his feelings. But when Brain blows his cover, Pinky reveals that he lied about his birthday because he did not want to take away from Brain’s plans. So both parties did end up lying to each other, both of them are hurt in the process, and they reconcile in a very sweet scene at the end. I would have liked the last scene to linger a little longer, but I think it’s a great episode overall. 

Also, both versions of The Narfday Song are amazing!

4. Future Brain

Easily the strongest segment from season one. I love the concept of Brain being confronted by his future self, who informs him that Pinky would betray him, but Brain chooses Pinky over his future self. The jokes in this one land, from the banter between the mice to the jokes about the Oscars. Future Brain also elevates the episode with his fantastic design and the character still being very silly (like enjoying Pinky’s cheesecake and bragging about how cool he looks). But the aspect I love is that this one focuses more on how Brain values Pinky as a friend. We see Brain being very protective of Pinky the moment Future Brain shows up, and he immediately chooses to have Pinky in his life despite what Future Brain told him. This one also has a great ending, from Pinky giving Brain the cheek nuzzle and the following exchange ( “Of course Brain! You’re my best friend!” “And you...are Pinky...” “Aww, that’s sweet, Brain!”) and Brain choosing Pinky’s loyalty over intellectual cynicism. 

Overall, “Future Brain” is a great episode that knows that focusing on the characters and their relationship results in an entertaining episode. 

3. Plight of Hand

When I first read the plot synopsis for “Plight of Hand”, I was concerned that it was going to go in a weird direction. Thankfully, this was a surprisingly fun episode! The episode seems to be a sort of riff on “Brain Meets Brawn”, but instead of Brain enhancing his own strength, he fires a blue laser light on Pinky, which gives his hands a cunning intelligence. I appreciate that this episode does address the issues in the mice’s relationship, from Brain taking advantage of Pinky to Pinky feeling insecure about his abilities as an assistant. The comedy in this episode lands, as it sometimes takes some dark turns but not to the point where it’s off-putting. 

The climax is especially engaging as Pinky’s hands betray Brain and Brain tries to revert Pinky’s physical state back to normal, but Pinky ultimately stands up to his hands, which causes a helicopter crash. This episode is also noteworthy for having one of the most tender scenes between the mice. After climbing out of the wreckage, Brain approaches Pinky’s unconscious body, mourns for him, and even gives him an indirect kiss by kissing his own hand and cupping Pinky’s cheek with it. Thankfully Pinky is alright, but I love how Brain is visibly happy to see Pinky again. Overall, it’s a fun and fascinating episode from start to finish. 

2. Mad Mouse: Furry Road

As someone who loves Mad Max: Fury Road, this was an enjoyable parody. I love how the episode slowly covers the aspects of Fury Road, from the desert setting and warning of the world becoming a desert wasteland to Brain’s plan being similar to Immortan Joe. The episode taking place at a festival similar to Burning Man was also a clever idea of invoking the post-apocalyptic future while still taking place in the present day. 

But the thing I find most fascinating is that Brain makes an enemy in the form of an Elon Musk caricature, and the episode does a great job of making Dexter Trux an entertaining antagonist that you want to see Brain defeat. Brain is especially great here. When he and Pinky aren’t looking like an elderly couple going on holiday together at the beginning, Brain is teaching a yoga class to collect sweat and convert it into potable H2O and at the epic climax, he applies eye makeup to resemble Furiosa and he outsmarts Dexter and his lackeys like a badass. And that car chase sequence at the end is so humorous and a lot of fun, and definitely does a great job of invoking the aesthetic of the film it’s parodying. Mad Mouse: Furry Road is a banger!

1. Talladega Mice: The Ballad of Pinky Brainy

The best segment from the Animaniacs reboot and one of my absolute favorite Pinky and The Brain cartoons. 

I love the premise, in which the mice engage in a lab experiment in order to steal the car that they need, but when it’s revealed that the car’s ability to function is linked to the driver’s stress level, Brain has to make an effort to keep Pinky calm all the way through the timed maze. 

Both Pinky and Brain are in top form in this episode. Their interactions are incredibly funny, and I love seeing them cooperate on a task and work together to achieve the same goal. 

The comedy in this episode is amazing, from the reference to “Opportunity Knox” to the various ways Brain has to keep Pinky calm, such as talking in a baby voice, doing various celebrity impressions, and even engaging in a tickle fight. I also love how it delves into the mice’s relationship as they undergo a lab experiment together (something that’s rarely seen in a PAB cartoon), especially with having Pinky feel anxiety over Brain being verbally mean to him in a high-stakes situation. It’s cathartic to see Pinky address his own issues and equally cathartic for Brain to actually do his best to tend to Pinky’s emotional needs. 

The animation by Titmouse is top-notch stuff. Giving Pinky blue irises for when he’s stressed is great and it is reminiscent of the expressive irises from the old PATB cartoons made by TMS. 

I also love how Brain’s childhood trauma that was established in “Roadent Trip” came full circle here, as he reluctantly gave Pinky his hand during the climax and as a result, he and Pinky complete the maze and are rewarded with a piece of cheese, which Pinky then eats. I’m not sure if the callback was intentional, but it was great to see the “Pinky is the cheese” theory come back and to see Brain become more comfortable with reaching out and even being rewarded for it. 

It’s a brilliant episode that delves into the characters and their relationship and delivers some top-tier comedy. 

[inconsistentcharacterizationcomp]

Eric Foreman: Inconsistently Characterized?

Submissions propaganda will be here. Feel free to reblog or reply to this post with additional inconsistency in characterization, or to refute it!

See #Eric Foreman Propaganda as a tag.

Foreman is routinely compared to house and often described as being just like him. This is often the case. However, it isn’t always. Sometimes, he’s a borderline sociopath. Other times, he goes so out of his way to do something nice for someone he barely knows that it impedes on his own life. Most of his personality remains the same or is changes slightly by reasonable major events, but his level of kindness varies wildly for apparently no reason. It’s kind of fascinating, honestly. Why does he offer to let Taub move in with him? Why does he ditch his own girlfriend on Valentine’s Day to spend time with a patient he just met a few days ago who’d gotten dumped because he and his wife found out they were actually related? Why does he snarkily tell Cameron, a close coworker, that they aren’t friends after he steals her idea for an article, totally out of the blue? Why does he fire his own girlfriend, who he recently risked his medical license for out of love, after realizing they weren’t working as boss and subordinate instead of stepping down or trying to make it work? At a certain point, these actions become so inconsistent that one could argue they make his character too inconsistent to make sense. Honestly, I choose to believe that his level of kindness varies wildly depending on his mood in the moment, and it’s inconsistent because he’s constantly going through an identity crisis (supported by his house-related identity crisis he has throughout the show) that expresses itself in an unpredictable amount of empathy. I think he’s just a really fucking weird guy who struggles WAY more than the average person with his own sense of empathy. However, I fully acknowledge that my theory is just as provable as the idea that his character is just written inconsistently. That’s why I’m submitting him.

[angelsdean]

i have been studying for my dean studies degree (rewatching spn + going down all the dean winchester meta tags like im a crazy 1800s scientist and the tags are holes marked Centre Of The Earth: This Way) and i just want to say you are absolutely correct in how you perceive dean. also i wanted to ask if you have any thoughts on deans character change post-kripke era bc i have so many thoughts but they dont arrange themselves in coherent sentence forms. im like an idea blender constantly on the highest setting and every so often they throw too much material into me and i explode chunks of thoughts in ways that do not lend themselves to interpretation under our earth standards of logic. and it looks like you have a lot of really good dean thoughts™️. anyway have a nice day

hi thanks so much for being here! i feel like i'll have much more to say about post-kripke era dean once i get there in my rewatch (which i have not been doing lately, need to get back to that!!) but i think a lot of the changes we see in dean's character post-kripke era is a combination of the fact that dean really was becoming thee central character (i know i know that's such a deangirl thing of me to say but!) of the two brothers, like post-swan song felt like sam's arc as the "main character" ended, and for seasons after most of the central plots revolved around dean (purgatory, demon dean, mark of cain, the darkness). another thing that i think contributed to the changes post-kripke era is just that there were a lot of new writers coming in. also following kripke era was gamble era and sera gamble is a known samgirl lol (and not a huge cas fan) so i feel like that also impacted some of how dean was characterized during her era. but yea i think, in general, throughout the show, we see lots writers bring their own spin on all the characters and sometimes that leads to new characterization (both good and bad) and sometimes we have to grapple with some wildly ooc or inconsistent characterization because writers will just...not do their homework lol.

these are all mostly outside explanations for dean's character changes, but once i'm farther along in my rewatch i'll def start talking abt more in-world explanations. for me a lot of it goes back to just unresolved post-hell trauma. (and continuous trauma piled on top of all that). like dean IS different when he comes back from hell. early seasons (and pre-series) dean ISN'T all that angry. he's always had to be the mediator. but then he starts getting angrier (starting with john telling him he may have to kill sam). and then he comes back from hell and he's got a lot more anger boiling under the surface. and i think hell is a HUGE thing for him that the narrative never properly addresses or lets him deal with and heal from in any significant way. and i feel like having to bury that trauma so he can deal with the next big bad or apocalypse definitely has some effect of him.

anyways, i'm rambling now but thanks for the message, sorry it took me a few days to get to it!

[sapphire-weapon]

Do you have a favourite version of Leon, or a close second to RE4R? I really loved his design and and character depiction in Vendetta. He seemed a lot more fleshed out and was overall just really enjoyable to watch imo!

this is a super interesting question that I've never really thought about before.

I would probably say that I don't have a favorite version of Leon per se, so much as I appreciate it when installments actually follow the emotional throughline for his character.

every RE character has a problem of an inconsistent characterization, to a certain extent, because the writing teams at Division 1 change from installment to installment. the reason why RE2make to RE4make feels so coherent is because it was literally the exact same team both times, which almost never happens. in the OG canon, the writers for RE4 were not the same writers as Damnation, and those guys did not write RE6, etc.

the only version of Leon that I straight-up did not like was Degeneration, and I'm pretty sure the vast majority of the fandom agrees with me on that. and, I've been over this before -- I get it; I understand why Degeneration was such a shitshow. but that doesn't absolve it.

but like. I'm very critical of Damnation Leon, for example, because he's so fucking annoying in that movie, because Capcom went real hard swinging the pendulum in the opposite direction after Degeneration. Leon is literally the worst part of Damnation; he ruins every single scene he's in. if you were to remove him from that movie, the entire movie would be much better off for it and would probably be able to stand on its own as a genuinely good film. it would've done a wonderful service to Ada's character, too, because she's mostly fantastic in that film -- but Leon's presence drags her down, because it always does.

but even Damnation has moments of brilliance with him -- particularly, the very beginning and the very end. (the sarcastic nod he gives JD when he's tied to the chair is also probably one of my most favorite Leon reaction moments ever, too -- on par with his tantrum at Chris in Vendetta.) his anger and frustration at the US government is so on point and finally exposes just how little he trusts them and how stuck he feels. that was something that was missing from OG RE4 (for, again, understandable reasons), so it was really great to have that put out in the open and expressed.

same thing with RE6. there are moments in RE6 when Leon is absolutely insufferable and/or feels like a scene was crafted without the intention of even putting him in it, so he's just kind of there -- but there's some really brilliant moments with him. his reunion with Sherry will always be a stand-out moment for him, and the entire Tall Oaks section with him being The Professional(TM) to Helena's rookie is excellent, too, and shows real character progression from his own rookie days in RE2.

and Infinite Darkness -- holy shit, his characterization is all over the place in that series. it's like he's three different characters rolled up into one, and he just bounces wildly back and forth between who he's meant to be for any given scene. but that scene of him and Jason in that shitty apartment, sitting across from each other and talking about treason, and then Leon just hauls off and shoots him in the heart -- that is one of the single best scenes in the entire Resident Evil series, period. not only is Leon's character perfect in that scene, but everything about the visual storytelling there was on point to create the perfect amount of tension.

but now that I'm thinking about it -- you're right, in that Vendetta is probably the best example of consistently good characterization that he has. Vendetta doesn't stray or get distracted at any point when it comes to Leon's character, and it follows his emotional throughline perfectly. the only issue with Vendetta is that he's so steeped in his misery that he almost comes off as mean-spirited sometimes, when that's really not who he is.

[hamliet]

Hello, Stranger (Things)

So, Hamliet finally watched Stranger Things, motivated by the promise of a super hot squid villain I mean, 80s nostalgia and a good story. 

Overall, I enjoyed it. Eleven and Max are my daughters, and Will is my son. Steve and Eddie are too pure for this world (so were Alexei and Bob). Robin and Erica are amazing. Nancy is my girl. It is a good story. 

The writing itself varies wildly, with characterization inconsistency as the story’s main flaw. Seasons 1 and 2 were extremely tightly written and well done. Season 3 is definitely the weakest, with several characters just doing what the plot needed them to do for Reasons, but it ironically has what was, for me, the most satisfying climax. I also found Season 4, while also having some very, very, very obvious flaws in its writing, the most interesting in terms of themes about the past, choices, parents, and more. We’ll see if they continue to explore those in Season 5. If they do, it could be great. 

The Part Where I Complain

Y’all know critique’s coming so let’s get it out of the way before I gush about other things and give theories. 

Season 1: 

The subtext around intercutting shots of Nancy choosing to have sex for the first time with scenes of her BFF literally dying is decidedly Not Great. Yes, I know it is a deliberate flouting of the typical horror movie trope in which the dark-haired girl who has sex gets murdered. But it still relies on this premise that women choosing to have sex for the first time is a negative and results in losing your friends and not knowing who you are anymore. 

Season 2: 

Season 2 introduces the good victim/bad victim dichotomy between El and Kali, and Max and Billy (which continues into Season 4 with Henry). The writers also don’t seem interested in exploring this deeper. 

Also, the writers are addicted to sacrificial death starting this season. 

Season 3: 

If you thought I was going to complain about Billy’s death, you’re not wrong. But it’s honestly decently done so writing-wise it’s not terrible, and now I’ve complained a bit so let’s go on.

Why did Steve and Billy never interact again? After that fight in Season 2, there was unfinished business. I can only conclude the writers were terrified of the sexual tension. (I kid. Kind of.) 

Mostly, here is where the inconsistent characterization emerges. Hopper’s character is the worst victim of this. His arc could have worked, but the execution didn’t. It makes a lot of sense for Hopper to struggle with anxiety and to have all his insecurities stirred up with having a daughter again. But how controlling he was to the point of threatening a child? It wasn’t shown how he got there at all. Hopper deserved a way better arc than acting controlling with El and Joyce without the substance behind that being explored.

Jonathan was also somewhat inconsistent in Season 3, again not because his conflict couldn’t work, but because the writers didn’t put the time or effort into making it work. Jonathan being mad at Nancy for pursuing the rat lead was a bit nonsensical, and then being furious when they lost their jobs--the conversation about their experiences with sexism and classism could be an excellent source of conflict for them. However, it’s brought up just once and then dropped. If you’re gonna bring it up, explore it. 

And I know the show isn’t over and these issues could come back, but like. Patience only gets you so far when you’re telling a story in serial format which inevitably affects the experience consuming it.

Season 4: 

Why is the Upside Down’s poison air now gone? Do you know how obvious a worldbuilding inconsistency has to be for me to notice and care? 

Brenner’s characterization was also a retcon that puts BNHA’s Enji retcon to shame. ~He may have abused and been a monster, but he still really loved them~ The complexity, again, is not inherently bad, but it wasn’t even remotely hinted at earlier and four seasons is a long time to suddenly be like “surprise!” But I am glad El chose not to say she understood at the end. 

Ye old "the way the world is is actually a prison and we should change it" is again the ideology of a villain. Like... really, it’s a bit tiring to see revolutionary ideas always framed as dangerous. Not that I’m advocating violence or Vecna’s solution, but.  Vecna's making points. Since we can't have that let's show him slaughtering innocents to show us he's wrong even though--well--some of it ain't wrong. 

The clear neurodivergent and gay coding of Henry Creel is... here is where I’ll invoke patience. I’m not entirely ready to say I don’t like this yet. It really depends on how the show handles it next season. 

The Parts Where I Liked Things

Will’s sexuality (and also, just. Will) 

Going into Stranger Things, I only knew a few things. I did know that many people were complaining about Will being a queerbait-y character, and went into the show expecting Will’s sexuality to be a subtextually teased thing that I would complain about. 

Not the case.

Even before Season 4 Volume 4, and actor interviews aside, the show is very upfront about Will’s sexuality from like the first 20 minutes of Season 1 Episode 1. If people didn’t get that Will was gay, I’m sorry, but--how? Joyce literally says that he’s “sensitive,” and other kids call him “queer” and other things. Season 3 has Mike directly state that Will does not like girls. Yeah, kids say stupid shit all the time and people develop at different paces, but it’s a story, not real life where we say dumb things that don’t matter. In a story every detail should be important. The writers are trying to set expectations. Something that is repeated multiple times across seasons is obviously intentional. It doesn't need to be spoonfed to the audience be abundantly clear that Will is gay. 

The scene in Vol 2 of Season 4 where Jonathan and Will talk--where Jonathan is clearly telling him that he knows Will is gay and he loves him--is beautiful, one of the show’s best scenes. 

Give Will a Boyfriend please (Mikhail, anyone?) 

But, more on Will later. 

Season 4′s Themes

Like I mentioned earlier, I really enjoyed Season 4′s questions about the past, about parents, about the difficulties of growing. Everyone regressed this season: Jonathan being Mr. Mom, Joyce was absent (even w good cause), Max isolated herself, El thought she was the monster again, Steve obsessed over Nancy, etc. 

Steve: Too Pure, Too Good For This World

Speaking of Stancy/Jancy... the writers really don’t need to draw out this love triangle. Unless a major retcon is coming (not impossible), Jancy should be endgame as it’s always been set up to be. Steve and Nancy will probably have another moment, but there’s enough weird framing of Steve’s feelings in Season 4 to make me doubt any possible endgame for them. Despite Dustin and Robin insisting it’s true love, Nancy never once said it was love herself, and the problem is that Steve also says--after Dustin has already suggested he get Nancy back--that he would date Robin if she was not a lesbian. Hence, I’m not convinced the story wants us to buy Steve really loves Nancy, or if he just loves an idea of hers.

The thing is, Steve already has what he says he dreams of. He wants six kids. Well, that’s ironic considering he has six kids Robin explicitly identifies as “your kids”: Dustin, Mike, El, Max, Lucas, Will. He also says he dreams Nancy is there with them and the kids--and she is. She already is, even if not romantically. My guess is Steve will realize this at the end of his arc. 

Honestly, Steve’s arc is a fantastic deconstruction of toxic masculinity. Which... don’t hurt him Duffers. Don’t. I’m begging you. 

Max Will Be Fine

Seriously, I promise. Max will be fine. You don’t leave a character in a coma unless you plan to wake them up, unless you’re the latter two seasons of Angel levels of horrifically bad writing which, for all of my complaints, Stranger Things is not. 

Max is heavily foiled with Vecna (and Chrissy): traumatized, isolated child subject to the whims of their unstable mother. Vecna tells Eleven that he wants them to make their own rules, essentially to be gods of the world. Max, way back in Season 3, tells Eleven that “we make our own rules.” 

Max’s words are what El remembers when she brings Max back. No, this isn’t negatively framing El bringing Max back. It’s showing that there might in fact be some nuance. Max’s rules are based in love and friendship, in hope, in love of humanity, while Vecna’s are based in hatred of humanity. To uphold Max’s message--which the story needs to do--Max has to live. 

Eleven, I am Your Brother!

Okay, now let’s talk Squid. 

Henry’s whole story is Star Wars. Actually, Season 4 was just Star Wars (makes sense given the 80s stuff). Brenner was Yoda, telling Eleven that she wasn’t ready to leave just yet, that if she ran out to save her friends she’d fail. I know the prequels weren’t until the late 90s-early 00s, but Anakin killing the younglings is clearly the inspiration of Henry’s rainbow room massacre. And Henry’s “join me, Eleven, to build a better world” speech is essentially Vader’s speech to Luke and Kylo Ren’s speech to Rey braided together. 

With that said, I fully expect Henry to get some kind of human ending. Will he atone? Don’t think so. But the foreshadowing is pretty obvious. (More on that later.) 

Brenner tells El that she and Henry are not alike: “that’s where your similarities end.” Brenner’s the least reliable narrator about this. (Also, you cannot give the abuser--Brenner--a redemptive death and not give that compassion to his victim.)

El and Compassion 

El’s true superpower isn’t her telekinesis. It’s her compassion. It was her compassion, her empathy with the abused child in Billy, that inspired Billy to sacrifice himself. Her compassion saved Will. Yeah, she’s human and lashes out, but she loves deeply. Her compassion freed Henry and then her uncontrolled powers turned him into Vecna (not that she’s at fault; she isn’t). But her compassion should ultimately be what helps save the world.

Vecna himself asks El this. "Why cry for them after everything they did to you?" Well, let's see Vecna. Why does Max cry for Billy? It’;s kind of a theme in Stranger Things. Even without forgiveness (like El not forgiving Brenner), she still acknowledged his humanity. I don’t have to love it to see the theme as it is. 

I strongly suspect the main question at the end for Vecna will be "after all I've done to you, why cry for me?" But compassion is what Vecna’s missing, what he lacks in his view of humanity. It’s the true magic of being human.

Henry and Vecna, Unreliable Narrator

Did Vecna choose to become the monster like he proclaimed? Yes. And no. 

It’s not a coincidence that an abused child targets other abused, isolated, and traumatized children. Even if Victor loved Henry, his mother was clearly implied to be considering locking him up and lobotomizing him. Like... woof. There’s a lot there subtextually. He’s clearly targeting himself as much as he’s targeting everyone else. I’m not sure the writers will entirely explore this, though. But I do think they will have him experience humanity again. They should. 

Honestly, Victor should die trying to save/stop his son. If Victor’s alive, and if he mourns his son--which he does--he should have to consider whether he loves Henry despite everything that Henry has done. If he does, he should try to convey that even if it kills him. 

But who will the actual key be to stopping Vecna? 

Will as the Key

So, there are two characters--and only two--who have survived the Upside Down for any significant length of time. Vecna, and Will. 

I actually think Will is the one who can reach Henry. It can't be Eleven, because Henry sees her as having hurt him. But a “weak” helpless boy who is an outcast, gay (Henry is absolutely coded this way) and has just been suffering his entire life still choosing love (or even choosing corruption for a time and going back to love/friendship even though I doubt the writers have the balls for this particular plotline)? 

Vecna thinks he and El are the two most alike, but it’s actually Vecna and Will. And Will is so human, in everything Henry thinks he hates about human beings. He’s not superpowered. He’s a sad boy in unrequited love with his best friend. He just happens to have a mom and brother who love him. 

Plus, tbh, structurally Will should be the focus of season 5. Season 1 was Mike (the heart, which Will called out funnily enough in Season 4), Season 2 Lucas (the mind), Season 3 Dustin (the body), Season 4 Eleven and Max. 

Obvious Foreshadowing is Obvious

I’m not sure how much clearer the D&D game at the start of Season 4 could be in terms of foreshadowing. 11 couldn’t defeat Vecna. 

But 20 did.

How interesting that the three kids still alive are 11, 8, and 1, which totals 20. 

Henry--Vecna’s humanity--is probably going to be key to stopping himself. No, I don’t think he’ll get any sort of classic redemption, and he certainly won’t survive it, but I can see him pulling a Zeke Jaeger where he doesn’t exactly repent but still chooses to sacrifice for some bigger goal like destroying the Upside Down or something in a moment of compassion in the end. 

[mushroompineapplepizza]

Holy shit, I think the new way DC is writing Harley just clicked for me

~Possible spoilers for the current (2023) Harley runs

Thanks to the first portion of Black + White + Redder, the entirety of the main run that has been confusing me since the multiverse shit started just got a lot clearer. This issue is entirely correct: Harley has been a lot of things. Some of these things contradict previous versions enough that some writers have tried to explain it as her being two separate people entirely (whether or not I agree with that is a separate rant). At first, I was confused by this current run being so focused on her interactions with the multiverse. It made very little sense to me and I spent so much of my time reading the comics trying to figure out what it was going to build up to. Whether or not it was the intended purpose, this specific issue made something click for me. The multiverse of Harleys addresses the issue of her inconsistent characterization in an adventurous and zany way, which is in line with the main character Harley of this run. It acknowledges that there are many different iterations of Harley Quinn. Hell, you can go back in certain issues and look for easter eggs galore. Until then, they had all been more distanced. People have argued over what the canon and “correct” Harley characterization was ever since she got her own books. However, when you not only pull in the very-canon multiverse as well as many wildly different versions of the same character, it sends a very clear message: Harley can be whatever people want her to be.

As I was reading this specific comic, I was reminded of the quote “Anyone can wear the mask,” from Spider-man (who also utilized the concept of the multiverse to reach a larger audience). Harley Quinn is a character many people enjoy and connect with. She can be a very emotionally powerful and fun character! That being said though, that can cause fans of one version to disavow any version that doesn’t align with the specific one they connected with. In a sense, the multiverse addresses that too. For a character that has had so many changes in her story, this current run does not ignore its predecessors as many others have. The Harley you like isn’t gone or invalid because she doesn’t match the current run, she’s still there somewhere inside the multiverse. I find that almost comforting in a sense as someone who has honestly complained about specific tellings of her story, mostly coming from a place where I otherwise so deeply connected with other versions. I feel as though from a psychological standpoint, a huge part of her attraction is identification with the readers. Additionally, it makes the ever-changing and evolving nature of her stories a solidified part of her character. Whereas the Spider-verse may have been a tool to expand upon a fairly standardized character, the Harley-verse is tackling the magnitude of a non-standardized one. It is okay for her to change over time. It's okay for her to be different things to different people. All of them have their place. Again, I don’t know if this was DC’s exact intention, but I find myself really enjoying at least this interpretation. I feel like could expand to even greater lengths, but I actually want to read the comics I just bought, not just write about them ; )

Regardless, she is such a beautifully complex and adaptable character with so many great stories to tell because of that. I love her so much

< 3

[neutralgray]

A small simple list of why The Boys Season Finale Makes Absolutely No Fucking Sense

Leaving Maeve to fight Homelander by herself

Billy not simply getting Ryan out of the Vought building

Everyone conveniently turning against Soldier Boy because of some half ass "he's the bigger problem" theme

Completely wasting Black Noir

Starlight's powerup was shot like this amazing buildup of power for her to push Soldier Boy like 3 feet

Ryan completely betraying every thought and principle the kid has displayed thus far. I know what they were TRYING to go for because he's just a kid and Butcher rejected him while Homelander accepted him but this is still wildly inconsistent with anything about Ryan's characterization in season 2

Kimiko gleefully slaughtering and torturing people doing their jobs instead of simply getting the job done, despite the massive focus on her not being a "monster" this season

Stalling Homelander's demise-- I know he can't die yet but his character isn't one-dimensional. If you're going to keep him alive while making it NOT feel like you're just artificially contriving the show's length, then actually fucking challenge his character so there's a point to keeping him around outside of "bad guy"

Again-- LEAVING MEAVE TO FIGHT HOMELANDER BY HER FUCKING SELF

Eric Kripke on Twitter stated:

So apparently the season finale had been written by writers who have barely written for the show at all (one of them having never written a script), and it really fucking shows. Like, it's painfully obvious. Did not one person on the creative team bother to revise this?

I'll obviously get over it, but I'm pretty upset with the entire season finale because I love this show. It's fun, diabolical, grotesque, weirdly charming, and its got some interesting layers to many characters.

It deserved better writing than this, especially considering that up 'til the finale, we were on the strongest season thus far.

[aliveandfullofjoy]

elaborate on the ana de armas vs janelle monae thing please?

I’ll do my best!

(Glass Onion spoilers below.)

And to clarify, this isn’t meant to pit these actors against each other or to diminish their work. I find it to be a natural point of comparison since the roles they play in the Knives Out movies essentially serve the same function. I also think both give very effective performances.

I think de Armas gives the richer performance, but I also think this partly because her film is more focused on her. She’s our point of entry. From the beginning, Marta feels like a live wire, someone living through a nightmare. From the flashbacks to before the murder, through Blanc’s entrance, to the reading of the will, to the killer ending, I think de Armas does an exceptional job tracking Marta’s arc. It’s a dynamic role, but she finds a lot of surprising and exciting texture in her performance. One of her best assets as an actor are her expressive eyes: Marta may not be able to tell a lie without vomiting, but her eyes almost betray her more. In every scene, before she says anything, we know what she’s feeling.

Monáe, meanwhile, has a wildly different role and set of challenges to overcome. The film’s structure is one: where Marta is the true protagonist of her film, guiding us through the story, Monáe’s true purpose in the narrative is only gradually revealed. They have less time than de Armas does. Andi is, necessarily, an enigma for most of the first half. Monáe’s eyes are also a great asset: if de Armas’ default is expressiveness, Monáe’s might be elusiveness. Rian Johnson knows that Monáe has a striking screen presence with unreadable eyes — that’s what makes the Mona Lisa parallel in the final shot so effective. When she’s silent, we can tell Andi is keeping something from us. We just don’t know what.

The reveal of her purpose in the story (and the reveal of Andi’s death and twin sister Helen) is thrilling storytelling on Johnson’s part. Monáe clearly has fun recoloring our perception of the character they’ve been playing, even with some technically shaky moments (including their questionable accent work, lol), and the raw physicality of their performance at the end is a blast to watch. Theirs is an entertaining, effective performance that I find to be a little inconsistent.

I’m not sure if any of this made sense, lmao. To review: both are great roles, but I think de Armas’ characterization is richer and deeper than Monáe’s. The excitement (and awards run) in response to Monáe’s performance is, in my opinion, mostly in response to their role in the narrative and not so much about their actual performance.

(Worth noting that this is not new or unique to Monáe — Oscars are given out to the role rather than the performance all the time. This comparison had just been on my mind since rewatching Glass Onion.)