i always thought artificer was irredeemable - even with everything from this world being able to come back from the dead it still attempted genocide of the scavengers. and sure, i'm not saying that others can't like arti (in fact i do like them and their story) or write a redemption arc, they can have their fun that way. but i don't want to be guilted into thinking otherwise
I don't like to terms like 'irredeemable' on animals, even more sentient/intelligent (and fake) ones. Artificer is absolutely expressing unchecked hostility, but ultimately its still in the form of a creature reacting to its own trauma with aggression and, as a more intelligent being, with spite. Slugcats (and scavengers) are at their core not meant to be stand-ins for humans, and I think that there is a tendency for fandom (and humans with other 'smart animals') to correlate intelligence/sentience with at least somewhat of an obligation to conform to human morals. As a biologist who's a fan of wasps, I know how much people tend to project a need for human reasoning and morals onto creatures who literally could not comprehend it nor would want to. Hell, on an individual basis, even humans disagree on where things like that do and don't apply.
Do I think Artificer is good? Hell no, I said myself that I think they're something so violently consumed by their own grief and anger that on a literally spiritual level they have damaged themselves beyond reasonable repair. I think you need to be pretty uniquely fucked up and far gone to achieve that in such a level that it's literally scarred your own karma. I guess I think they are irredeemable in that sense, but mostly on a more meta level referring to their actual ability to recover vs. a moral one. The narrative of the story certainly condemns their actions pretty heavily in what is, effectively, a form of divine punishment- a complete and total inability to find peace in the form of proper ascension no matter what they do now. I feel that even if they threw away their grievances and just lived with Five Pebbles forever they would be unhappy and restless, just stuck with a permanent stain they wish they could ignore because it was an itch they scratched entirely through violence.
But in that same sense I don't think the scavengers are uniquely, humanly evil for killing a slugpup for stealing just because they are also an intelligent creature with the capacity for culture and understanding. I believe the scavengers fully understood they were attacking the equivalent of a slugcat child, and they did not care. That did not matter to them, because they are just naturally very selfish unless they have reason to believe youre on their side already, and even then they aren't above violence due to personal grievance. They killed Artificer's pup because it violated a rule it couldn't have known was a rule, and its unfair that it died for it, but I don't think it makes the scavengers evil for it in the same way I don't fault a lion for attacking the weak or young of a herd, or a bee for stinging.
I mean hell, even the scavengers themselves do it- They attack anything they perceive as threats, and will send squads to eliminate ones they think are particularly significant, even going out of their way to track them down. Sure, this is the a result of the creature already harming them- but Artificer was harmed. They were originally fleeing in their dreams. You could say it's different because Scavengers only target the one, but they already have a natural hostility to some slugcats and slugcats are generally independent (although its worth noting that slugpups pay for their parents' crimes by sharing reputation)- scavengers are not. They're all animals, they do what they perceive to be in their best interests, even if they perceive their best interest to be going out of their way to fight. The Ancients are the closest we have to a society with established morals in Rain World, and their favorite pastime was advanced genetic modification and disrupting ecosystems. It seems a little silly (to me) to be hung up on if any of these things are 'good' in that sense.
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Let's Play Perfect Love: Pandora Edition [#2]
[Part 1 here]
The quest to Pandorafy Perfect Love continues! Please see the first post for more information if you need to see what this is all about.
Then, let's get started!
Eris' perspective:
For a while, it was our favorite thing to do together.
We hung out with different people, learning about them, watching how they interact with each other.
Enough to build trust, enough to be let inside.
And then destroy them under the guise of helping.
We pinned people against each other and watched as they ruined themselves. We sewed conflict where there hadn't been any.
The first part is pretty much what Pandora does on a daily basis. However, in Pandora's iteration, it's already been established that he's more of a non-actor when it comes to inciting negativity in people. He only encourages what's already there out of solidarity, but nothing more. As alluded to in Pandora's tendency to repress and drown out negative emotions, he tries to block out all stressors in his life to enjoy himself. He'd try to do the same for others as well. After all, the more people associate you with positive feelings, the more willing they are to help him out down the line, should he feel the need to enlist their help.
12:30 PM - [img attached below] Pandora would fucking freak out if this was actually said about her
If she heard this, she'd be weighed down by guilt and start ruminating over her morality, obviously. What more that she be responsible for ruining Milo's life here. But since her methods aren't as extreme, I'm doubtful that this is a comment Desmond would actually make. I'm wondering if he confronts Milo at all. Possibly just to check on his drastic change, but since Pandora has the tendency to influence people usually for better, Desmond wouldn't worry too much. At least, I think so.
Pandora wouldn't feel that comfortable around Desmond. He already deals with his moral OCD, but to have someone as morally upright as Desmond in close quarters makes him feel restless. Though, Pandora doesn't even do anything too bad thus far, so if anything, Desmond wouldn't judge him as much. Pandora's irrationality is a result of his disorder and guilt complex, lest we forget.
Since this confrontation wouldn't play out like it would for our dear Eris, I don't think Milo would avoid Pandora. She's loved by so many people, always sought out by others! Sure, there are people who fear her, or even hate her, but they are typically the exception. There's no reason to run away from someone who is on everyone's good graces, and whose good graces everyone wants to be on! So I think this part is gonna be out from the Pandora Love timeline altogether.
However, I think Ryan's confrontation with Milo would still happen. Desmond just... wouldn't be there, I think. Ryan being Ryan, he has enough reason to be a dick. But Milo would have to be alone or else Ryan wouldn't approach, so I guess his reason for not being accompanied by Pandora would be that he wanted to see if he could stand on his own with the skills he's honed. Pandora's probably in another booth or something, dunno, but he'd largely be quiet, leading Ryan to think that Milo really was alone. Though Pandora would indeed step in as he did last time and shut down Ryan's accusations.
Here's the part where Ryan talks down to Eris on the basis of their past relationship. Pandora doesn't have anything like that because she rejected Ryan's confession, so lol.
Eris:
People out there may always betray you, but I will always come to save you. And you'll do the same, right?
This part is really interesting. For all Pandora has done so far to help Milo out, he wouldn't think of himself as Milo's savior, or vice versa. Not just yet, anyway. Part of Pandora does want to be saved from some of his more unfortunate circumstances, but he's learned to depend on himself and lean into hyper-independence rather than the codependency that Eris sets up with Milo.
"I can't rely on other people to save me, but I will always have myself," that's the axiom Pandora operates on. Again, if only she had someone to feel like she could be at rest with to snap her out of this mindset... And obviously, Milo being Milo, he wouldn't think similarly. After all, this is a yandere game, soooo... he'd retain that desire of wanting to be relied on. In the same vein, hasn't Pandora already saved Milo a few times at this point? Well, I hope it works out buddy.
Ah, the group project scene. Well, I already drew something pertinent to this:
Pandora takes his grades very seriously. He won't let anyone distract him from his #gains. After all, he's doing this to expand the opportunities he has. He seems convinced that whatever he wants, only he alone can provide that for himself. Again, good luck Milo...
Milo:
I'm tracking him right now, he's not that far.
Pandora:
(He what? I guess this isn't too weird, Valli does similar stuff too...)
What a tough decision to make! I already discussed Pandora's idea of revenge back in the first post: simply Git Gud. Though out of these two options, Pandora would probably end up stalking Ryan just to inspire a sense of unease. A big fuck you for infringing upon Pandora's life and endangering her like that.
I think I actually entertained the idea of Pandora finding out about Milo's wall before:
Especially because... again, Pandora feels like he isn't seen for who he is. If Milo pursues Pandora in all his candidness, I think he would at least acknowledge that earnest nature of Milo's to a degree.
Pandora's reaction to this probably won't be too enthusiastic. Too much responsibility for someone's entire being. Too much control over someone for it to be ethical. At the same time, she does have the desire for control like this. She'd probably need to sit with this for a while.
I don't know if Pandora would partake in the stalking himself. He'd probably want for it to happen, but it's too much time spent on someone who inspires negative emotions in him, so it's not worth it. But man, what Ryan did was fucked up. Pandora's anger would steer him off the path of rationality and make him do it.
Milo, as it seemed, never took his eyes off of you either.
It seemed that he would always bump into you at random times and acted as if it were a coincidence.
Even when you went to places you would normally never go, he would always find himself there.
He always knew where you were, always followed you.
Pandora's not built for this. But if you swear to love her as she is wholly, she'll look the other way. As long as you can promise to provide the opportunities she wants. As long as you don't get in the way. If you don't impede on her life, her freedom... she's okay with being kept watch by someone who knows every facet of her, despite the fact that it might be suffocating for her at first. Eyes for her, the real her, only... that would be nice.
Pandora seems to be spiraling down further and further, wouldn't you say? Finally befitting of the game he was conceptualized for, haha.
Meanwhile, I think Pandora's circumstances worsen. Milo knows about it, but he pretends not to for now. For Pandora's sake, who can't allow herself to drag others into his mess. The one final push choice would go something like this, which I had written back in the middle of June:
I think the way these are worded make both choices equally viable for Pandora, but because I've emphasized his qualities of moving past negativity, I'm going to go with the choice to get rid of them. Though, I will be going back and choosing protect me to talk about it as well.
In concept, Pandora would agree, but it's at odds with her guilt complex, LOL. She would have to be assured that it's okay to go this far. After all, there's nothing wrong with pursuing happiness no matter what.
I'm trying to think of whether or not I want to canonize Pandora having a hand in this incident. It would add to the layers of him being afraid to hurt others, though without it, he still has a strong case for his mindset. In the end, I don't think Pandora would be involved in this, so I have to think around this. Pandora wouldn't go so far as to orchestrate Milo's bullying either. Eris is far more ruthless than Pandora could ever hope to be.
I think the alternative would be to go for a confrontation with someone else in Pandora's life entirely, not Ryan. We'll have to see.
I think Pandora's annoyance at this point would indeed bubble up and emerge in this outburst though. Especially at this point, where she's warped because of Milo's acceptance, so she doesn't particularly care about saving face.
I can't imagine Pandora would be too enthused about being roughed up by Ryan, yeah. Especially given his history of similar treatment.
[end sentence]. Pandora wouldn't be too happy in this ending. "What the hell, Milo, now we look way too suspicious. You better have a plan for transferring my credits and getting me off the hook here." If something like this got in the way of her prospects, she really wouldn't forgive him at all.
Let's go for the protect me ending!
What a mega ego boost for Pandora. Someone as dedicated as Milo would surely be a boon in his future endeavors, beyond just being someone at his side.
Not that that would matter to Pandora, given her hyper-independence. "I should've handled it myself."
Poor Milo. Pandora would forgive you, but even before he gets that reassurance, he runs off.
I think this is an outcome Pandora would be happy with. Milo's devotion to him, Milo's acceptance of who he is entirely assuring Pandora that there will always be someone who sees all of him and stays with him despite, Milo's willingness to do whatever it takes to make Pandora happy and ensure that it stays that way—out of the game's endings, I think this one would be the canon one for Pandora. Of course, that's within the confines of the scenario in Perfect Love.
Pandora, just like Milo, has plenty of possibilities within the proverbial box that he is. Considering Pandora's stark differences with Eris, she might as well steer off into another timeline completely.
That's all for this letsplay! I hope you enjoyed this unconventional look into Pandora's character and found it interesting. Again, I hope it was coherent and cohesive for the characterization I wanted to put out for her!
I might do a violence addition depending on whether or not that's something that people want to read, especially given the special consideration of Thrillseeker!Pandora.
Thank you for reading!
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Of course I'll remind you, I'll do it right now in this ask, so you could share your favourite whump fics when you feel like doing it. And for now let this ask just hang in there
context
ok ok ok ok ok ok ok SSO. *heavy breathing*
have you ever looked at dbh and gone, "man, i really wish the androids were treated like the living autonomous machines they are instead of human expys"? have you ever looked at dbh and gone, "man, i sure wish cyberlife had any development literally at all- kamski probably had absolutely nothing to do with connor's development, so why is he considered connor's 'maker'?" have you ever looked at dbh and gone, "man, i wonder if there's anything more to amanda, and i wonder if chloe being the first android to pass the turing test means anything? surely there's something there"? have you ever looked at dbh and gone, "man, it sure is ridiculous how despite being conscious ais with full internet access, none of them really do anything with it"? have you ever thought "man it would be cool if androids weren't constrained to stupid human physical and mental standards for the sake of easy writing"? have you ever looked at dbh and thought, "man, there are so few characters that are more than one-note cutouts, it's no wonder people made gavin reed into a whole different character because there was no one else available to use to make certain dynamics happen"? have you ever looked at dbh and thought, "man, it's just so bare-bones, with so many plotholes and unexplored things, i wish the worldbuilding had an ounce of thought and logic behind it!"?
WELL LOOK NO FUCKING MORE. SEARCH NO FUCKING MORE. LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THIS FUCKING FIC IT HAS ME BY THE THROAT.
it's got fucking EVERYTHING. wanna know what it was like to be the first ever fully conscious ai, a whole new kind of living being? BOOM, THIS FIC'S GOT YOU COVERED. ever wondered about the development behind them, cyberlife as a company and the people in it? FUCK YES LOOK RIGHT HERE. ever wanted to see connor in ways you've never seen him before, to the point where i actually can't construct this sentence meaningfully because there's just so fucking much??? PLEASE READ THIS FIC OH MY GOD. ever wanted to know WHAT THE FUCK RA9 IS????? YOU WANNA KNOW ABOUT FUCKING RA9??????????????
this fic is called "Connor". it is about connor. the whole thing is mostly pov connor, and it's about connor, iterations ZERO TO SIXTY. NOT JUST STARTING AT 51, OH NO, WE GET IT ALL. why is his iteration number so high at the start of the game? WELL YOU BETTER BE EXCITED TO FIND OUT.
DO YOU WANT ANGST? WHUMP? LOVE? TRIUMPH? RAGE? DESPAIR? ARROGANCE? A SHITLOAD OF DEATH? CONNOR DYING 50000000 TIMES???? THE MILITARY? GLOBAL CRISIS? HAVING THE WORLD ON YOUR SHOULDERS WITH NO CHOICE BUT TO DO YOUR BEST?????????????? GREY MORALITY???????? UNABASHED COMPLEXITY????? THE BEST FUCKING ANTAGONIST EVER IN THE HISTORY OF EVER????????????????????????????????
i haven't even read this fic recently it's been like weeks. a month? more? and i'm still internally screaming. i feel like i'm missing some of the main draws and i can't even describe a lot of it because i would DIE if i spoiled this masterpiece. this fic made me actually want to make myself learn to draw people so i can draw nothing but fanart for this fucking fic.
the characters, the pacing, the fucking lore, it's all immaculate. seriously. it feels like it's what dbh SHOULD'VE been. the writing style is utterly enrapturing. when i read it for the first time, i legitimately could not get myself to turn away from it for anything except tasks absolutely required on me. every single character feels like a PERSON. connor's complexity is fucking insane. he's lovable, he's terrifying, he's caring, he's callous. he is NOT static, at all. connor in chapter x is a completely different beast from chapter y. there is so much trauma and catastrophe, but PERFECTLY balanced with the humor. it's fucking perfect
let me supply some nice quotes to hook you. i can barely put any because spoilers and length but enjoy mostly funnies but also some of the angst
•"I do stuff without thinking sometimes."
"Clearly," I say. "No intelligent being would jump out of a moving vehicle for no reason."
"I have a reason," he says. "I promised I wasn't gonna leave you ever again and I meant it."
"Hey, are they filming a scene?" I hear a human whisper.
•"Mrs Vondracek, this is Gennadiy Petrov," he says.
"Who?"
"Elijah's friend from work. You remember?"
"Elijah doesn't have any friends."
•There is only a 6% chance that Carridan will say anything. He knows what I'm capable of. He knows what will happen to those that stand in the way of my mission.
•"You do not waltz into some girl's house, kidnap her and frame yourself for murder. Do you understand?"
•I transmit my payment details. CyberLife have an expense account set up in case I need to purchase items relevant to my mission objective. Sergeant Matthews is relevant to my mission objective. And he wants Oreos.
•I scan and analyse the quadruped with short brown fur, brown eyes. Loud noises emanate from what I suspect is its mouth.
"Dog," I identify, unsure of the significance.
•He squeezes my shoulders. "It's alright, buddy," he says. "Just breathe."
"I don't breathe."
"Okay. What do you usually do when you're having a meltdown?"
"I experience critical system failure."
"Ummm. Okay... don't do that."
•I cannot decipher his handwriting. Neither can the software on the tablet. It saves the note as an image. I download it to study but my advanced analysis systems can't crack it. This is worse than a captcha code.
•I hear the shrieking of steel as the disc begins to rotate.
No...
Please...
Where is Sergeant Matthews?
Where is the CPD?
The FBI?
CyberLife?
Why am I alone?
Why am I always alone?
•I watch him die. As so many others have died. Their blood on my hands.
•"You're a bad person," he says, clutching at the BN250's uniform.
"I'm not a person," I say. "Neither are you."
god i wish i could put more but spoilers- anyway this is just some of the stuff i screenshotted to my phone. not even close to all the good stuff just please read the fic im begging u it'll be worth it you'll never be able to look at canon as complete again
read. now
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thoughts re: Rendezvous series and forgiveness
ive had some thoughts recently about how people might react to part 5 of rendezvous when it comes out, ie the final part, and i wanted to share for no real reason
discussions about forgiveness, infidelity and such below the cut
firstly, i want to say that zero iteration the word "forgive" appears in part 5. there is no discussion about forgiveness really at all, and i dont think there needs to be. one of the reasons is that i think the concept of forgiveness can oversimplify complex situations, as well as assign unnecessary value judgments to things. i often feel like being forgiven for something means that you have to label that thing as 100% bad and terrible, and theres no space for what sort of positive change it couldve initiated. this is often the case when it comes to infidelity - which is a whole different can of worms.
on the topic of forgiveness, however, whether its mentioned explicitly or not, ive noticed an extreme allergy to joel being forgiven for any indiscretions towards the MC in fics on this website. it seems like the MC herself can do anything and nobody really questions it when joel takes her back, we can cuck tommy into oblivion, joel can cheat on his wife etc, and all of that is cool and hot and encouraged until joel is the one making dumb decisions. people will literally forgive him for being a mass murderer but not for fucking someone else.
the discussions of morality, which are a huge focus in tlou, seem to stop short when it comes to fictional relationships between joel and MCs. we can all discuss why he merked that hospital full of fireflies, and most tlou fans will justify his actions, saying he did it for a good reason, but any relationship related indiscretions do not get the same treatment. i understand that people are sensitive about cheating, being cheated on is awful, but its unproductive to shut down all discussions about it
just to make it clear: i do not consider his actions in rendezvous cheating, not on katy and not on the MC. the MC feels more cheated on because she has an unhealthy attachment to him
am i defending his actions in rendezvous? no. do i think they need to be defended or condemned? also no. i choose not to see things as binary good/bad - even if i thought everything he did was terrible, whats he supposed to do? be alone forever because of indiscretions towards one person? i know this is fic, and i could write him living under a rock for eternity if i wanted, but this is supposed to be a realistic (in my definition) series, and realistically, thats not what happens to people who fuck up in interpersonal relationships. they move on and live their lives. we all hurt people at some point - its juvenile and delusional to think that just because someone hurt another person, theyre bound to suffer for all eternity.
i think there are a lot of nuances when it comes to relationships especially, and trying to label what hes doing in this series as cheating on the MC/katy, and then saying CHEATING BAD is an oversimplification and ignores the scope of emotion im trying to cover here. even calling it cheating ignores the depth of unlabeled relationships. i think the MC deserves more than that, cause if we say hes cheating on katy, were basically calling the MC the other woman, and the other woman is ALWAYS vilified - except in this case where shes the "reader" character. what if i wrote this entire thing in a different perspective, and katy was the reader?
im in the brainstorming stages of my next big series after love me back, and if i go with the idea thats simmering in my head right now, its gonna be a completely infidelity focused series, about when its acceptable to cheat, who is allowed to cheat and why, etc. joel will not be fucking anyone else in that series or cheating on the MC calm down
this might not be very interesting, and its not addressed to any anons in particular at all, ive just been thinking about it as the parts have been posted and thought id share my thoughts in case anyones interested. its hard to give my full thoughts without spoiling ch 5, so after thats posted i might write another reflection on it for anyone whos interested in my thought process behind the decisions ive made.
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So the cancellation anouncement came 😞 but Imma still be on my bullshit and doing my rewatch. I hope they're able to shop it around cuz I'm way to invested in these characters now.
But back to our shit. Episode 6 Art of Dying. It's honestly one of my favourites as well, this time focused on Lata aka the Dean mirror d'jour. It's very significant that Dean's voiceover here speak of who the actual monster is and when does that line begin to include you. Because fuck knows he's one of the few people who can actually fully speak on this, having gone through every iteration of monsterhood on the show. So for this episode I'll get a bit into that if y'all don't mind: what is a monster in supernatural. Now that's a broad question so let's break it down a bit. We have monsters as species (aka anything non human in spn case) and monster as behaviour/moral value ( anyone at all and henceforth refered to as monstrous to make a dif when talking). Sorry for all this, I happened to write my bachelor's on this topic so I've many thoughts about it ( but won't be delving into that today). Now Dean has been both at various stages (though personally I'd argue the monstrous has been more sparce for Dean) and has seen people become both (including loved ones). And it's both that we'll be seeing in this episode as well tho whether one person will inhabit both is another question we'll round back on.
It is interesting as well that this is one of the few episodes that have Dean's voiceover at the beginning and the end of the episode.
But let's return to Lata, who while Dean is giving us forshadowing and heartache, is trying to do her meditation and is unable to because of Carlos and John bickering in the next room. As fun as the scene is, I do find something to pull at with it, because it's, at its core, an oversimplification of dealing with trauma while hunting aka you try to but there are always interruption, always more important things to take away your focus so that, much like Lata here, you end up worse off then when you started. Fun line to add here, John saying "I'm not obssessed, I'm thorough" could literally be his life motto because this line just encapsulates his general approach to ... most things tbh but trauma certainly and as discussed, the trauma he's had pushed to the surface in ep 4 has yet to be dealt with and, moreover, he's actively pushed it to the side to help Mary deal with her own trauma in ep 5. So at this point John is in the same both as Lata, in need of an outlet and not having been able to process anything due to interruptions. But unlike Lata, who is trying to cope as best as she can, John is hyperfocusing on the task at hand despite not having any leads as Carlos makes clear. Carlos who has actually been working toward progress on the Akrida front because they have contacts they can approach and avenues for more information to take. John has neither, he's not been doing this enough time to have built any connections like that (and in spn we know he chooses not to built any connections like that with very few and often quickly fading exceptions). God I love that both Lata and Carlos give him two different choices in how he could deal with his issues. It's been a constant open helping hand from them and Mary and John has pushed it aside everytime. It is deeply frustrating to see but also very much in character.
Deanna mention! Eyyyyy!
Tracy is Mary's equivalent to Dean's Lee. Like sure the relationships are wildly different but both Tracy and Lee ultimately represent the same thing for Mary and Dean, hope for a normal life without hunting only to have that dream crushed because of the way both Tracy and Lee went about achieving it, through monstrous means in both of their cases. They are both the exception to the rule (they got out) while simultaneously acting as a cautionary tale about how far should you go to achieve your goal/dream. And while Carlos says they were being dramatic in the Pilot about how hunters end up, it was still the truth, so much so that Mary was shocked to realize she actually does know someone who, as far as she knows so far, got what she wants. And John has to point this out to her. So again, it's the exception to the rule not the norm and in this case the exception isnt even fully accurate because of how Tracy left things.
Another fun fact I thought bout while grinning like a dumbass whenever Carlos spoke this episode? It's their general approach to hunting that has kept them alive this long ultimately, the "mellow out" that John was so pissed about, the "how much weed you could grow" comment. It tells me that while Carlos clearly understands the urgency and pressure and responsability of hunting, they also know not to get lost in them, not to consume themselves trying to solve a case. Carlos, it seems to me based on what we've seen, has learned very early on that things being taken seriously does not mean you have to torture yourself if you can't do something right that instant. Something the Winchester's have never really been able to do. It's made clear multiple times that Carlos does remember the people they weren't able to save and the people they personally lost, but at the same time, that loss and those past failure have been used as a learning platform, get what you need outta that experience, deal with it, then move on as much as you can, put all those experiences into being better in the future, there's no point killing yourself over something you can't change, you just learn to do better going forward. And while Carlos treats things seeming without any seriousness, I've been mentioning every episode how in truth they are the ones who've been behind the scenes, putting (likely very stylish) boots to the ground, a perfect counterpart to Lata's intelectual work. They may act irreverent, but they certainly do the job when it's necessary.
"Kill or be killed" is how Tracy sums up hunting life and while Mary, Carlos and John all have some degree of resignation/grief about that statement, Lata's reaction is different. And we of course know why, shes a pacifist, she doesn't kill, can be killed sure, but hasn't so far. This episode Lata feels most like an outsider to her friends because is she a hunter? By Tracy's definition she def isn't, by Samuel's definition she like isn't either and ofc Mary in the Pilot def didn't think she was hunter material. But this is overturned by the end of the episode (will add thoughts then)
*cannot believe I've written this much and only watched 7 min of the episode*
And speaking of Carlos again to prove my point! Mary, Lata and John are checking out the body and then Mary notices Carlos isn't there. Turns out they just took off a bit to investigate on their own and brought back a vital piece of the puzzle, a claw. Once more Carlos is putting in the work, doing it flawlessly all while also finding the space to make jokes. It's honestly this trait of theirs that most reminds me of Dean.
I love the funeral scene 🥲
I will say it is much more spiritual and culturally significant that what we have in spn, but we've seen close-enough funerals on spn. We see it with John's a bit, despite the focus there being complicated mess of feelings about what John's last words were. We have Asa Fox's funeral that is very much making clear there is a hunter's culture and it's important and we see it with Cas', the reverence with which Dean wraps him up in 13x01.
There is something else significant about the funeral scene though. And it's the illusion shattering for John. I think he'd likely convinced himself when he found out about Tracy and after the convo in the van that actually hunting isn't that dangerous, see people can get out, Carlos was just dramatic. But the funeral and the fact that there is a ritual to it for hunters made it real for him and made him aware of the danger Mary has been and is in every hunt she goes on and that no matter how good you are ("Darla was one of the good ones" has multiple meanings here) you are not imune to death.
Tracy having completely removed everything related to hunting is a perfect parallel to spn!Mary and her having done seemingly nothing to prepare for the 10 years coming up (Tracy has been out of hunting for 10 years too btw)
I love that Lata talks about her concerns with Carlos, that she doesn't keep it in. And I also love that they don't give her empty platitudes as a response. It shows Carlos genuinely listened to her and took it in and is considering her stance.
Anton!!! Yesssss!!!
The way Carlos freezes after just shit talking Anton omg. The pure disaster bi vibes are immaculate! And it's still less disaster then Dean and Aaron 😂
Deanna mention once more, she's maaaaybe in Minnesota or was recently. Deanna and Samuel have separated in the past, something Mary seems surprised by. Samuel was the one to go get her back which is intereting here, with Deanna being the one to leave the home... so in this case Samuel is a Mary mirror and Deanna is the John mirror (think Dark Side of the Moon Mary and John). But like I said before, the Winchester-Campbell romantic relationships seem to have always been fraught with a on again off again vibe. I'd like to mention Sam and Dean both count here as well ( think both Cassie and Lisa and Cas, even Benny, for Dean, Sam and Eileen obviously, even Sam and Amelia work here tbh, we might've seen it with Jess had she not died since we know Sam was lying about who he was to her)
I do like Tracy's advice to Mary though, she should look out for number one, herself, but there is a way of doing that without having to step on corpses which is where Tracy fucked up.
I love and hate this thing in Anton's shop, I see it everytime it's on screen and it always startles me. Sorry, entirely left field but yea... it haunts me so... y'all have to see it too
John really thought he was doing something here. He has been dying to make this case somehow related to the bigger picture he is in fact obssessing over, but in doing so he jumps to conclusions. Not a good look, jumping in thinking you're right without having all the info, especially with hunting where having the wrong info will get u killed (read spn!john was a shit hunter teacher/leader to Sam and Dean because he withheld info)
"Mac was impatient and took of after it" John hears Tracy tell them and decides to just do the same shit... goddamn.
I appreciate Carlos patching John up, cuz medic! Wish we'd see more of that.
I adore it when Lata is enjoying her morbid curiosity about monster physionomy. Cuz I get it! And Anton being the same is soo fun. I also have to give her props for how she saved Carlos there, gave them an out since they're really all over the place with Anton. But in doing so she kinda revealed a bit about herself. I hope the fact that Anton's reaction to Carlos being "squeamish" was to be understanding probably on some level helps with her own issues regarding where she fits in as a hunter.
The sheer joy on her face at the ectoplasm is just soo fun!
I love that Mary confrunts John here, and I say confrunts but really what she's doing is checking in and trying to offer her help, giving him another option to deal with his shit, in addition to the ones he got from Lata and Carlos at the beginning of the episode. And once it's clear he's not willing to listen and may pose a threat to himself and them, because he isn't thinking through his actions, thats when she brings up taking a break. She does get him to talk a bit. Ohhhh, I love that she hears him mention the funeral and what he thought about it and rolls her eyes. Because she has tried to make it clear from the get go what the stakes are, she's never had the benefit of ignoring the life and death of hunting so John coming here suddenly claiming to be spun out because of that is not just ridiculous, but almost insulting, that he's essentially putting his behaviour on her. Absolutely love that scene. But the moment John says he isn't joining, I knew he was going to do the stupid thing.
Ok, we're getting into the Mac of it all and that usually gets me fired up so let me just mention this about it: Tracy and the others thought Mac was paranoid bout them attacking him so they decided to ... and here's the kicker... attack him. Thus validating his worry and completely proving him correct aka Mac cannot be described as paranoid, Tracy, because paranoia requires irrationality and you fuckers attacked him exactly like he feared thus rationality.
More about this : Mary is correct when she says Tracy lied. Tracy said Mac ran impulsively after the soucouyant and the cave in just happened, that was a lie. Not a lie by ommision (tho that too is still a lie), but a true complete lie, and def not a "didnt tell you everything" situation. And here we get into monster/monstrous territory again with Carlos saying they've been hunting the "wrong monster". And I do genuinely believe that when Carlos refers to monsters, they do so as monstrous aka the behaviour makes them monsters not anything inherent to their species.
Ah, "wielded him like some kind of weapon". Lata really summed it up perfectly here. And the contempt on her face and in her voice are exactly how I feel about it ( and about how Dean was treated throughout, Sam and Cas and Jack too tbh) I also adore that Tracy keeps trying to rationalize her (and the other's) behavior but no one is buying it. Appreciate that a lot.
"Started a farm and played make-belief" is also a very important line because yea thats what she did, but more importantly, that's to some degree what spn!Mary herself tried to do. Moreover, the story makes it clear that Tracy actually does not understand Mary's reasoning for quitting hunting at all. That distinction is important. And the similarity between spn!Mary and Tracy's situations is also important. Because while spn!Mary was planning on leaving hunting, it was ultimately the fact that she lost everyone tying her to hunting that actually got her to leave, not a choice she made for herself, but rather one made for her when Azazel killed her parents and John, her only choice then being to revive John to be able to move forward in some way. John also made it easy to play make belief as well which helped. But even then Mary didn't actually kill anyone, it wasn't that kind of guilt that made her quit hunting. But it was still the consequences of hunting and choices she made while hunting that led to her death, much like Tracy nearly dies here.
Sooo yea, I am very very mad about what they did to Mac and I will continue to be.
God, John you are so dumb.
The fucking handprint on the barn door of the soucouyant is soooooo Something Wicked Striga vibes and I hate it, but John is behaving similar enough that the tiny call back is relevant af here.
I will say, it is very important I think that while they did recognize the similarity to Mac, Mary, Lata and Carlos instead chose to offer help to John, multiple times, each in a dif way. And on a macro scale, I also wanna say the way the show tackled this is important to me, because like I've been saying, John here is very spn!John and as I've said before, I kinda hate John in spn a lot. But even with the parallel drawing from Mac and my being angry on behalf of Mac here, it doesn't detract from the fact John is and has been (and technically will be if nothing changes and spn happens) fucking up. Pretty badly. But it is never brushed aside or excused. He is offered help, yes, but he is also challenged and confrunted when he goes overboard or tries to rationalize his own behaviour. Mary makes it clear she won't stand for him using her as an excuse not to deal with his bullshit, but she is there for him anyways. Ultimately, John is both a Mac mirror and a potential Tracy mirror here, the way Mary is an imperfect Tracy mirror. It's not 1 to 1, it can't be, but it's the ways it compares and contrasts them that make it so interesting to delve into.
Another fun thing, Mac is very clearly only after the people who hurt him, he pushes Carlos outta the way, but doesn't kill him. He only tries to attack Mary because she keeps preventing him and even then he tries to just push her outta the way.
I love that Lata doesn't try to say she knows what Mac went through, because she can't possibly, but she can let him know what she's been through and allow him to make the coice for himself whether he thinks she understands him or not, whether he needs to keep the cycle of violence going or not after he listens.
In other news, Lata's story here, after knowing what happened, is so much more interesting because while yes, her hitting her father after what happened to Sonia was a response of her anger and it did have the consequences of him responding to it by taking it out on Sonia, part of that anger I think also has to do with Lata leaving without Sonia, something she did also out of anger. It was both these things that cost Sonia her life. So Lata is right that letting urself drown in anger until it consumes you is wrong and there is a choice to be made there. But Mac is also correct in that their stories are different enough that there are other things he needs answers to. Because that was the thing with Mac, he needed to understand why they did what they did when he trusted them.
For all that I've shittalked Tracy the last few paragraphs, her parting words to Mary are the whole point, cuz yea, it wasn't the hunting that was the issue, it was Tracy's decisions that compromised her life outside of hunting. Tho I will say, I personally dont think returning to hunting is the only way she could've made up for things, that was another choice she made. Because ultimately what's done is done and no good you do going forward will erase the past. But also, no bad you did in the past can erase the good you do now. So it's less about hunting, more about Tracy asociating hunting with doing good and thus alleviating her guilt. She could've found something else to do that would've put good into the world, but this was the one she chose/preferred.
Oh Carlos, I love you for having actually taken the time to answer her question afterall. Also love their friendship soooo much. The very thoughtful moments and the ones when they bicker.
John making progress is soo nice to see. It's so good that it's not just him saying Mary was right, but actually offering a bit more information to her, opening up. And then trying to do something about it all by joining Lata. It's an odd feeling being proud of John Winchester, usually my thoughts about him are that I wanna punch him in the throat. And there was plenty of that in this episode tbh, more than the 1st 3 ep of the show had, but I don't actually mind the pride either. It's sth about people changing and being willing to try that gets to me.
I do love the symetry of the end of the episode. The meditation, Dean's voice over, the interruption. It reinforces what Lata said, it is a choice. One she makes everyday, even with the interactions, even with the world's fate being in balance, even with cases like the one they just did hitting waaay to close to home. Still she chooses to try again and again despite them, for herself and her own happiness.
See y'all for ep 7 I guess and still hoping for a season 2 cuz I'm way too invested in these characters not to want more.
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In the analysis of CaptainFlash's fic, a common theme of the notes is "this is not how Edelgard is", as in the claim is that she is being mischaracterized. But for how much the claim gets thrown, there's little in the way of "this is how she SHOULD be written". And so a question I have is - for fanfic writers, how do you think Edelgard SHOULD be written in order to be true to canon? Assume both from a perspective of BL/GD fic and a BE fic.
Well, I believe that I have put in guidelines at the very least lol, but I get where you're comin' from.
Edelgard is bold, fearless, arrogant, self-serving. She is detached from others for the most part, she does not like being challenged (and not just because the other person is oh so wrong and it just annoys her because how could they be so wrong - no, when her flaws are pointed out to her she does not listen to what the other person says). She allows those in her care to be hurt - sometimes mortally - to get what she wants, and almost always without any guilt or regret. She thinks she's the smartest person in the room, the most capable, the most correct. She uses people, lends out her men like tools. Violence is the first option, and peaceful surrender something she will never consider when asked to do so. She looks down on those who oppose her, no matter how they do so, whether they stand their ground and fight to the end or if they try to surrender - that they've fought against her at all is worthy of derision in Edelgard's eyes. She's racist towards the Nabateans and will always kill them. She looks down on religion and those who believe in it. She's deceptive and manipulative. She's selfish and power-hungry. She has no self-awareness, saying things that are factually incorrect without knowing that they're incorrect often, accuses others of doing the morally reprehensible actions that she performs often.
Those above traits ought to always be incorporated into her character no matter what the route - at the minimum, these are the traits an author must work of off from a ground level in the beginning of their fic, because these traits are always present in Edelgard. Of course there are nicer traits - she's a romantic, she's secretly childish (and not in the strictly derisive way either, but that she likes sweets and teddy bears and is embarrassed about it), on the rare occasion she'll try to accommodate for someone (Bernadetta... when she's not setting her on fire that is), she very obviously cares a good deal about family (again, I don't really count Dimitri here for her since she forgot him and even then didn't know they were step-siblings). Edelgard isn't literally, actually, 100% No GMO's evil evil, she has her traits that can make her likeable, but there's a very big reason why she's not just an antagonist, but a villain.
If an author genuinely wants to make Edelgard grow out of a villainous status and be a genuinely good person, they must work through the numerous flaws she has. Her moral bankruptcy, her selfishness, her hunger for power, etc. etc., these must be actually addressed in order for her to have even a chance at being better.
Like, take Flayn's kidnapping for example. In canon, we know that Edelgard willingly hands over the Death Knight to Thales with quite literally no fear in her at all, and we know she must have had, at the very least, some clue as to what the guy was using the Death Knight for (since she teleports to directly where Flayn and the Death Knight are, and will even take them both away if over 25 turns have passed). There are a couple ways to go about this scene in a fic trying to make Edelgard a better person: either 1) have sufficient build-up of Edelgard's very gradually growing morals, have her commit the crime anyway, and then feel a twinge of guilt that steadily grows larger as she grows as a character, or 2) have her commit this crime with little to no guilt at the current state of her character arc, keep building her character until she gains more self-awareness over what all she's doing, and then have her feel guilt. These possibilities (and likely more that I can’t think of at the moment) keep her flaws intact while still allowing her some room for growth; the flaws are acknowledged, and so they can be properly grown out of.
But look at Cap'n's version of events. Remember, in canon, Edelgard was directly involved with the kidnapping. Cap'n, however, not only has it to where Edelgard was forced to hand over the Death Knight, not only was she terrified of Thales while doing so, but she had no idea that Flayn was being kidnapped. It ignores all of her flaws and places her into a status of helpless victimhood, and places her on a higher moral ground than Thales when in reality, in that moment, she is just as bad as him. Her flaws can't be grown out of because they've been erased. This is a prime case of canon!Edelgard being swapped out for Woobiegard - we aren't seeing Edelgard feel guilt for allowing Flayn to be kidnapped, we're seeing Woobiegard feel guilt. Woobiegard doesn't have these flaws that Edelgard has, so she doesn't have to have them acknowledged - which, I don't think needs to be said, is terrible from a fanfiction writing standpoint.
Edelgard has been morphed and twisted so much as to not even really resemble her canon iteration much at all. Woobiegard isn't bold, she isn't arrogant, she isn't morally bankrupt - or at least, isn’t intentionally these flaws, or other flaws - she lacks so many of the deep, troubling flaws of Edelgard because, frankly, they make her too mean and Cap'n very clearly doesn't like that. But, in erasing those flaws in her, instead of writing a fic where Edelgard grows as a person due to the positive influence of Byleth (and, through Byleth, the Black Eagles), he’s writing a fic where Woobiegard feels oh so much guilt for things she just shouldn’t feel guilty for because the poor little darling didn’t have any way of stopping anything.
Edelgard is a conqueror, as said by her creators themselves. She mows down anyone who stands against her convictions and ideals, even if she knows them personally. This is true for all routes, even and especially CF (as it is known as the Military Rule route), and so this must be kept in mind when writing Edelgard whenever someone tries to write her base character as someone better than she is in canon. What Cap’n is doing is basically writing an OOC crack-fic, except he’s doing so unintentionally. He flat out removes every single flaw Edelgard canonically has, pretends as though he didn’t do that, and then flaunts how much Woobiegard has “grown” thanks to Byleth. But, again, since Cap’n doesn’t want to write Edelgard’s flaws he’s never really written Edelgard. It’s the same idea as keeping Claude never fully trusting his friends in mind when writing him - this is a large part of his character, and leaving that out means leaving out a significant portion of who he is as a character. That has to be acknowledged before having him grow out of it, or else you haven’t really written Claude, as that is a huge part of who he is.
So I guess a TL;DR version of this answer is that to properly write Edelgard, one has to keep in mind her flaws and have her actually act them out before having her grow out of them. It’s just that for Edelgard, because of who she is, it would take a lot of time and effort for the fic to realistically have her grow out of all of these flaws (or at minimum grow out of the more severe ones). That stays whether from a BL/GD perspective or from a BE one. Hope that answers the question!
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Zelink for the ship bingo? :0 any game!
OH GOD, THIS IS?? Gonna be a doozy. Buckle in.
SkSw:
WW-PH: Link/Tetra:
Spirit Tracks(in theory! I haven't seen the game yet, can't speak personally):
Nearly all other instances:
RIGHT! getting onto individual analysis,
1, SkSw: By far my favourite of the bunch, and a longtime delight. Whether you construe their relationship as romantic or not, doesn't matter-- They've got such a wonderful arc of trust and unbreakable love. Zelda starts off incredibly worried for Link, constantly fretting and deeply unsure of his abilities. She steps in to defend him, willing to go up against Big Boys like Groose to do so. As the game progresses, however, and Link grows, in strength and in character, Zelda, and everyone else for the matter, put more trust in him-- By the end of the game, they're on equal footing, and, oh god, oh man, I'm gonna crybhfgjfhdgkjdjd--
2, WW-PH: Nothing to say except, tough girl, sweet boy? Phuck yeah!
Jokes aside, Link and Tetra's arc is also one of trust and vulnerability, but from a different angle. Tetra's a hard-as-nails, independent, morally dubious young girl who's landed herself as captain of a ship full of Big Boys, and sees Link as little more than a useful, if rather weak coincidence she can use to her advantage. However, as the pair grow,(really as Link grows and Tetra is thrown out onto the sidelines as her royal heritage is revealed and she's forced to take on a 'princess' role, one that notably feminises her and lightens her skin), again there's that theme of growth of trust! They take down Ganondorf together, build a new Hyrule together, and isn't that just what dreams are made of?
3, Spirit Tracks: Nothing much to say, other than the dynamic looks super sweet, and there's an interesting play with gender and presentation on Zelda's end? Love it to bits, 12/10.
Now... Onto the potatoes of this, I think. Get your gravy.
This... There's going to be more objective analysis and criticism, obviously, but alot of this is also going to be deeply coloured by my own personal experiences of heteronormativity and alienation. This isn't a commentary on anyone else's enjoyment of the dynamic-- I hope I've made that clear --But, just... I guess I should get to it.
Link and Zelda,
Zelink.
As one anon put it, the vanilla icecream of shipping.
Mild, sweet,
And incredibly heteronormative.
The Golden Relationship; the one toted by fans and Nintendo alike as "the ship".
Everything else, anyone else, is a deviation. It slots neatly into the expected hero-damsel dynamic that we've had, since, well, the beginning of time, almost. It's almost as dust of the earth as it gets. The issue for me being... They don't spend time much, really. Link is barely characterised half the time as little more than a slightly lackadaisical vessel for the player, and Zelda is a sort of guiding light; a dignified keeper of the plot, Righteous Guardian of Hyrule--
The culmination of all Hyrule presents itself as: wise, smart, beautiful, dainty but compitent, ready to lead a charge should need be... but rarely unruly. Rarely ever. Always right.
Obviously, it goes without saying how Breath of the Wild's iteration of this duo changes it up immensely. Zelda is a far more flawed, and in her attempt to put on a strong face, a far more emotionally vulnerable character than any of her gentle predecessors could ever hope to be. While this pairing and her character fail to hit that particular sweet spot in me, it's deeply intriguing, and I hope, perhaps vainly, that they'll develop her and her relationship with Link even more in the sequel-- Honestly, when it comes to this? An equality between her and Link is, I think, what would be best. A mutual understanding; vulnerability.
I think that's what puts me off from Zelink, on the whole. Link is bound to her, by destiny, by guidance, ever-performing his knightly duties, and Zelda is bound to him for strength, for protection. There's little emotional substance, half the time, save for small, precious moments, many with another face, because it's a dynamic inherently dependent on the war-- On danger.
It's all impartial, situational. There's nothing personal here.
And if that were it, if this were truly explored from that angle(as it is, to an extent, in BotW), then I think I'd like that-- Especially if it weren't romantic, I feel.
But that's not the vibe we're told to get: not from the fans... not from Nintendo.
Nintendo tends to be largely neutral on certain matters, such as pairings-- Honest to god, for the best, in my opinion-- But Zelink is that one blind spot where that ethos falls away. Here, Nintendo expects us to see it as some grand, destiny-bound romance, I feel,
And the pre-Skyward Sword manga, from what I know, cements this best.
It's why, quite frankly, I don't care for the idea of it being canon. Genuinely.
It undermines what little weight Ganondorf via Demise had on all of this, this horrific cycle of blood, pain and despair, always bracing for the next wave, of the sisyphian climb of this civilisation, and turns it all into a grand goddess' love for a boy bound to her by fate and destiny manifest.
I hate that.
For something like this, something where no one has any choice, where greatness is thrusted upon them, this endless state of being used that Skyward Sword even condemned, to be seen as good.
To get onto personal experience, before this blog, and this "persona," as it were, I used to have an art account where I largely posted TLoZ, frequented by my family. My very Christian, somewhat socially-conservative family. I would perform straightness, in the form of either pushing aside or pursuing M/F romance, because I was extremely uneasy about the types of conversations anything otherwise would arouse.
This was at a time where I wasn't even sure if I was bisexual, let alone divergent in my gender, so I felt a constant pressure to tamp it down and keep it out of the spotlight, relegating my explorations via art to DMs with the friends I'd make.
Here, on Tumblr, where peppy-queerness is the status quo, there's this tendency to gloss over unpleasant things and make them soft; sweet.
I think I've talked enough at length why that alienates me.
So, yeah... I guess, Zelink on a wider scale kinda just, sums up my unease about the often hegemonic status-quo of shipping, and on the whole I'm just kinda eh about it all.
Again, I think it should be very clear that this is not a reflection on my opinions of people who create Zelink content, who are attached to these characters. That sort of weirdly-tribalistic thinking is awful, and only brings about needless conflict-- Early 2000s-2010s kinda shit, y'feel me?
I hope this all made sense, kinda. I've just got... alot of feelings.
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Random DC Comics/Pulp Hero Thought: My take on the Challs, 2.0
So, for some bizarre reason, having once come up with a headcanon for the Challengers of the Unknown’s CV/skillset, I keep modifying it to make them even more ridiculously accomplished. Here’s the latest iteration:
(NOTE: I include June as one of the core members. Also, I like to imagine that Prof is a Black woman. Specifically, she’s an *extremely hot* Black woman, who, cuz she’s a skin diver, spends a lot of time in skimpy bathing suits. Thus, both sides of the culturewar divide will have something to complain about and something to crow about owning the other side)
-“Ace“ Morgan: Obvs. he’s an expert pilot who can fly just about anything with wings. Earned his nickname shooting down five alien spacecraft during the 24 hours it took *whatever superheroes were around at the time* to see off their invasion, despite said spacecraft being vastly superior to his own fighter plane by every metric except piloting skill. Ace was a Combat Rescue Officer; he’s got SERE training, is a qualified paradoctor (yes, he has an MD), is an expert tactician and strategist, who has planned and lead dozens of missions in all manner of hazardous situations. He also spent time working in Intelligence, which he will not talk about, but he has pretty strong tradecraft and knows three different ways to kill people with a paperclip. And he’s an astronaut, with all that entails. For fun, he studies magic and the occult; he’s got very little actual power, but he’s got more knowledge than many serious practitioners.
-“Prof“ Haley: An oceanographer by trade, she also has well over a dozen doctorates and G-D alone knows how many lesser degrees in almost any field that is at least tangentially related, including but not limited to geology, climatology, physics, biology, zoology, astronomy, chemistry, meteorology, paleontology, and hydrology. She’s also an expert sailor (and a master {or mistress?} of all the related skills), swimmer, and diver, with seven confirmed world records; she’d have more but she can’t be bothered to have her feats recorded. Also, she’s very handy with a knife, harpoon, and spear-gun.
-”Red“ Ryan: Born and raised in a family of circus acrobats, he can easily keep up with the likes of Dick Grayson or Boston Brand, and is an Olympic-caliber gymnast, not to mention picking up an array of other circus skills. He’s an equally skilled stunt rider & driver; he can handle pretty much anything with wheels like a pro. Add in his being an explosives expert and having a doctorate in Electrical Engineering, and it’s no wonder he’s one of the most sought ever stunt and practical-FX men in Hollywood. In his spare time he climbs mountains, jumps off of skyscrapers, and other extreme sports, all of which he is globally ranked at.
-”Rocky“ Davis: A Wall street whiz kid famous for a rare combination of financial acumen and actual morals, Rocky is also widely considering the world’s greatest athlete, who’s feats include winning Olympic medals in Decathlon, Pentathlon, Triathlon, Biathlon, Boxing, Fencing, Judo, and Wrestling, a Heisman trophy, a Golden Gloves, and UFC and Ironman championships. He’s counted amongst the the world’s top 50 martial artists; not at the Shiva-Richard Dragon-Cass Cain-Connor Hawke level, but well above, say Green Arrow o Huntress. For fun, he travels extensively, and reads and speaks well over two dozen languages fluently.
-June Robbins: The only Chall without a nickname, June has been called “G-D’s Gift To Robots“, being one of the planet’s foremost authorities in all aspects of AI and Robotics, in addition to being a world-renowned cyber-security expert and White-Hat Hacker. She’s less famous to laypeople for her work as an archeologist, historian, anthropologist, and sociologist, but is just as much of a rock star to people familiar with those fields.
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Colorblind
masterlist
request guidelines
yes ma’am i’m back
pairing: draco x gryffindor!reader
request: yes! thank you kind anon :) this is the first request that really got me out of my writer’s block so i appreciate it!
summary: soulmate!au where the entire world is black and white except for your soulmate. y/n’s situation is a bit...unconventional.
warnings: swearing and a little gore but it’s not explicit at all and just a mention
a/n: helloooooooo everyone! i know i’ve technically been “back from the dead” for nearly a month now, but this is the first time i’ve decided to jump back into writing. i’ve been working on the wonders of ohio bit by bit and have been horrified to see just how much my writing has deteriorated since last summer (when i was writing 1k words+ a day). i’d like to get into writing genuine original work during this quarantine, so i’m using my blog as a chance to polish up my own writing and work the kinks out before i touch my original ideas. thanks for being so patient with me !
music recs: figure 8 from peach pit, don’t delete the kisses from wolf alice, and bad things from cailin russo
word count: 3,098
Y/N frowned as she stirred the honey into her tea, watching the sugary swirls as they dissolved into the bottom of what she had been told was an amber drink. Her best friend, Tina, sat across from her in her snug Gryffindor robes, energetically recounting just how beautiful the color blue was.
“I had no idea, Y/N,” the brunette gushed, her cold triangle of buttered toast lying long forgotten on her plate as her hands added animation to her story. “You have to see it. He told me that the red in our robes brings out my eyes too--something about the color wheel and how green is opposite of red--and we made each other hold up our things so we could see what color its meant to be...honestly, it was such a dream...”
Even though Y/N was thrilled that Tina had found her soulmate in the convenient place of the Ravenclaw house--really, she was ecstatic for her friend--she couldn’t help but feel a little sad. She did quell the bitterness and envy that threatened to crawl its way up out of her throat, instead choosing to sit and pretend to listen as her own thoughts trailed off with a vacant smile on her face.
She’d been alive for 16 years, seen everyone there is to see at Hogwarts, traveled to every country that had a sizable young magic population, and had let her parents submit pictures of her to wizarding families all across the globe--only to still live in a dull world of simple blacks, whites, and greys. Friends like Tina had told her vibrant stories of the stunning hues of green, blue, red, purple, and gold, but Y/N had no way of knowing what they actually looked like, relying instead on her parents’ soft explanation of green as the color of life, blue as the color of peace, red as passion and anger, and yellow as the feeling of the sun hitting your skin after a long winter.
Infuriating. She despised the security questions she had to fill out to open her Gringotts account (What’s your soulmate’s surname? What’s your favorite color?) and the unimpressed look of the goblin teller as they quietly conferred with her parents (”Sir, we rarely have complaints over this--statistically speaking, soulmates are found by the time a wizard or witch is old enough to handle money...).
In other news, her love life was barren and dry, and at the end of the day, it was better to just not dwell on where she fell short.
“I’ll stop going on about me,” Tina said, finally reaching down for her breakfast. “I want to hear about you. I’m so sorry that you have to put up with that crabby posh Daddy’s boy in Potions. You have my moral support. Always.”
“You mean Malfoy?”
Tina quirked an eyebrow as she took a sip of her own tea. “Yeah. Y/N, I have no clue how you’ve gone so long without being put off by that wanker. He’s so annoying. I know you don’t believe me, but you’re about to see for yourself in...erm..” She made a show of checking her pocket watch. “Less than an hour.”
“He doesn’t seem that bad,” Y/N countered. “I’ve spoken to him once or twice in the library. Doesn’t have much to say, but he was cordial. I’m not horrendously upset that we were assigned to be partners.”
“Did he know you were a Gryffindor?”
“I have no idea. Neither of us were wearing our robes, so I couldn’t tell you.”
Y/N’s friend rolled her eyes dramatically. “You’re going to be singing a very different tune come lunch. Trust me.”
<^>
The wooden stool that Y/N was perched on was uncomfortably wobbly as she waited, albeit a little nervously, for her potions partner to arrive. It had been an unwelcome selection process--or perhaps, lackthereof--that began with Slughorn reading off a canned speech regarding house unity and the importance of bridging the gap between old rivalries and ended with groups that consisted of one Slytherin and one Gryffindor and directions to create an immaculate Draught of Peace.
Not her favorite way to spend a Friday morning, but she admitted to herself that it could be far worse. She could be paired up with one of Malfoy’s goons--Crabbe or Goyle--who were by far much more obnoxious.
A slight movement in the corner of her eye pulled her attention back to the present. Y/N started at the dark figure standing by the empty stool next to her.
“Excuse me,” Malfoy said simply, placing his satchel on the table in front of them and sitting.
Y/N sent him a weak smile as she unrolled her parchment and began reviewing the ingredients.
“I don’t mean to sound brash,” she began as she sorted the ingredients at their table, “but I’m pretty good at Potions. If you want to, you can just read the directions while I prepare everything.”
He seemed like he wasn’t quite listening to what she was saying, instead his eyes, unfocused and slightly cloudy, were settled on her braid that snaked around her shoulder.”Er, yeah. Sounds good.”
“Okay.”
As the pair began, Y/N couldn’t help but notice that Malfoy looked tired. His normally pristine and glowing skin looked dull and lifeless, decorated with dark eye bags under his slate-grey eyes. She was struck with a sudden desire to ask if he was alright but decided against it. The furrow in his brow as he glanced over the directions reminded her that they were simply partners for the week--and that Slytherins generally got into a hissy fit if people tried to act too buddy-buddy with them too quickly.
“Add the moonstone until it starts to steam,” he said after a few moments, apparently not noticing that she was already emptying the powdered moonstone into the cauldron. “Stir until completely dissolved.”
“Add syrup of hellebore.”
“Stir until the consistency is akin to cream.”
This went on for the rest of the lesson--Malfoy softly instructing her while Y/N consulted her own set of directions, just in case. As she worked, she couldn’t help but notice how unusual his hair was. It was unlike any other white she’d ever seen before--instead, it had some kind of warm hue to it. Y/N knew that no one her age actually had naturally white hair--Malfoy clearly had some iteration of “blond”, whatever that meant--but all the other light haired wizards she had met had slightly grey tinges in their hair...not whatever he had going on. She shrugged it off and kept stirring.
An hour passed by much quicker than anticipated, and to her surprise, Malfoy never said anything even mildly irritating. Y/N stored this tidbit of information away with the interest of asking Tina why she thought he was such a dickwad.
“I think that’s all we have to do today,” Malfoy said once they had added the porcupine quills and set the lid on for the night.
“We really let it sit here until Monday?” she questioned, reviewing the parchment one more time. “That seems a little excessive.”
“Well, it’s not like--” He began waspishly before he took a breath and cast his eyes to the ceiling. “Er, I mean, I know that Slughorn casts a preservation spell on them over the weekend. There’s really no other way to do it without booking an entire day.”
“I guess that makes sense.”
He sent a surprisingly soft smile her way. It appeared that they had finished earlier than the rest of the students and had a couple more minutes until they were dismissed, so the silence around them was tense. Y/N decided to take a risk and ask something she assumed everyone, especially someone as allegedly ostentatious as Malfoy, liked talking about.
“So,” she began casually, twiddling her thumbs under the desk, “Have you found your soulmate yet?”
The few moments of complete and absolute quiet that followed after this question prompted her to send a glance over to Malfoy, who looked...completely stricken?
“Er....” His eyebrows furrowed as he looked her up and down. “Yes?”
Y/N had never had an interaction so awkward as she waited, tense and very weirded out, for him to just go ahead and pose the question back to her so she could break the ice and complain about how she’d searched far and wide for her soulmate and failed--but it never came. Malfoy just stared at her for another few heartbeats before he shut his slightly gaped mouth and turned to pack up his belongings.
Not another word was exchanged between them until Slughorn officially announced that they were all dismissed as long as their brewing stations were spotless.
Malfoy was out the door before she even had a chance to say goodbye.
<^>
“So?” Tina sat at the edge of her seat, waiting for her friend to relay all the details of her potions adventure.
“Super weird,” Y/N answered. “He was nice. Didn’t say anything mean about my house or parents or wealth or anything. I asked him about his soulmate, though, and he totally clammed up.”
Tina’s eyes narrowed as she shifted on her bench and drew closer. “I haven’t heard a whisper of anything about his soulmate. Poor bloke probably doesn’t have one. I’m not surprised...no one deserves to be stuck with him forever.”
“No, that’s not it,” Y/N countered. “First of all, he’s not bad. I told you. Second of all, he told me he had one and looked at me like I was stupid for not knowing. It was weird.”
“I wouldn’t sweat it. He probably thinks he’s so important and sought after that all anyone talks about is him and was just offended that you didn’t know, I guess. This is what I mean. He’s such a prick.”
“Maybe.” Y/N found herself looking over to the Slytherin table, her eyes stopping on the curiously colored hair of a certain 6th year. He seemed especially down, hardly touching the spoon in his stew and choosing to look like the definition of angst instead.
But in a very attractive way she admitted to herself. There was no denying it--Draco Malfoy was beautiful, in a tragic sort of way, like how paintings of imaginary places that you’ll never be able to actually visit for yourself are beautiful.
His eyes snapped up to meet hers, jarring her out of her whimsical train of thought and bringing a blush to her cheeks. For once, she was relieved that no one could see her in color.
<^>
By the time Monday rolled around, Y/N was feeling more and more uneasy about her whole situation. Malfoy ignited some kind of weird feeling deep inside of her--almost like butterflies--as he absentmindedly tapped his lips with his quill, studying the directions sheet in front of them.
“How was your weekend?” Y/N asked, her voice a little pitchier than she would’ve liked. He arched a perfectly shaped eyebrow at this, hardly even bothering to glance her direction.
“The usual,” he drawled. “I studied, mostly.”
“Nice. Way to keep us all on our toes.”
The slight smile that stretched across his face and the dimples that followed nearly made her knees weak, her hand shooting out to grasp the edge of the table before they gave in. “Yeah. You know me. The wild card.” His voice seemed bored, but she was just glad that the words coming out of his mouth weren’t entirely insufferable.
Y/N sent him a soft smile, fiddling with the edges of her robes. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Tina watching them intently.
“We only have to stir it 12 times counter clockwise and 14 times clockwise and add the unicorn horn powder before we let it simmer until Wednesday,” Y/N mused as she finally tossed the parchment back on the table. “Easy work. We should be done in about a half hour, give or take.”
They made quick work of the directions, the smell of their potion taking an amiable lilac like scent.
“I think that means we didn’t royally fuck it up,” Draco offered as she rolled her sleeves back down and settled into the stool next to him.
Y/N smirked at him, a glimmer in her eyes. “We? Don’t you mean me?”
He laughed stiffly before immediately sobering up and packing up his things. “Sure. I’m going to ask Slughorn if I can leave early. See you.”
With that, he got up and left her alone. At face value, Y/N didn’t expect the situation to mean that much to her, but it left a bitter taste in her mouth and stung more than expected.
Shake out of it, Y/N, she chided herself. What does it matter, anyways?
<^>
A knock on her dorm room shook her out of a particularly thrilling study session for her DADA exam, whose notes she promptly shoved into her satchel at the suggestion of a welcome distraction.
“Come in!” she called.
The door opened to reveal a particularly devious looking Tina. “I come with questions.”
“Please distract me from that tragic exam tomorrow,” she moaned, throwing herself on her bed. “Anything is better than thinking about it.”
Tina’s lip quirked as she settled down next to her friend. “It’s about your dear Potions partner.”
“What about him?”
“Don’t think I didn’t notice how you were looking at him today.” Tina propped her chin up into her hand. “You like him.”
“I most certainly do not!” Y/N said hotly. “I mean...I think he’s cute, and his hair reflects the light in this really cool way, but no! I’m not an idiot!”
“Of course you’re not an idiot,” Tina soothed. “He’s objectively a very pretty person. No harm in appreciating that. And now that you’ve spent a little more time with him, and you’re realizing that maybe he isn’t an arsehole, I could totally understand why you’d develop feelings for him.”
“Don’t be ridiculous!”
“How am I being ridiculous?”
“He’s already found his soulmate, Tina. I’m not masochistic enough to want to pine after a boy who already has his person.” As the weight of the words sunk in, Y/N could feel her chest tighten for just a moment. Tina just kept watching as she moved to gently wrap a hand around her shoulder.
“So say I do like him, just a little bit,” Y/N continued as her voice grew softer. “Say I actually let myself develop feelings for him even though I know there’s no way he’s my soulmate. Say I actually give in and have to see him every day knowing that he’s in love with someone else. Don’t you think that’s a little too much for me? I want to find my soulmate! I don’t want to mess around with anyone unless it’s with them.”
Her friend was quiet, but she moved her arm to wrap around Y/N’s frame.
“I’d just really like to find my soulmate already,” Y/N finished up. “And I’m afraid that they’re not even out there. So, no. No detours allowed.”
Tina smiled a little at this, sitting up to instead pat her friend on the back. “You’ve always been the more focused one. I respect that. But I am saying that there’s no harm in seeing other people while you wait.”
Y/N shrugged. “Yeah. Fairs. Now, I hate to say this, but I have a list of spells a metre long just waiting to be memorized for the exam tomorrow. I’d love to tell you the rest of all my gushy secrets once that’s taken care of.”
“Of course!” Tina kissed her friend on the cheek and skipped off. “Just don’t go too crazy studying. I still need a best friend to bitch to at breakfast.”
“No promises!”
<^>
“Add a little more powdered moonstone,” Malfoy instructed from her right, “Just until it starts to boil.”
Y/N went to reach for it, catching a glimpse of her partner on the way. There was something just so magnetizing about him, something so delicate and stunning. She couldn’t help but feel a quick twinge of envy for whoever his soulmate was.
The sound of the moonstone slipping into the potion pulled her back into reality, and she quickly stirred to avoid an unwelcome explosion.
“And now the chopped gillyweed.”
Y/N turned to their stockpile of ingredients, only to see whole cloves of gillyweed.
“I have to confess something,” she said, still stirring vigorously. Malfoy snapped to attention so quickly it almost made her jump. “I’m shit with a knife. Can you chop it for me? I have to keep stirring this anyways.”
What looked like disappointment flashed across his face for just a moment before he stood up and reached for a knife. “Sure.”
Y/N nodded and turned back to the concoction, careful to make sure that the moonstone wasn’t clumping together at the surface as she waited for Malfoy to be done with the gillyweed.
“Fuck!”
Y/N turned to see Malfoy’s hand covered in--no way.
His hand was covered in blood, as was the knife that was held tightly by his right hand.
“Fuck, fuck, can you hand me a towel?”
Y/N couldn’t help but stare as the words from her parents floated back into her head (Green is the color of life, blue is peace, red is passion and anger...).
“It’s red.”
“Sorry, what?”
“Your hand. It’s red.” Now that she looked closer, she could see hints of colors that she’d never seen before in him--a soft hue that reminded her of first kisses and the scent of roses in his cheeks and lips, a warm, sunny glow in his hair, and a cool, startling color in his eyes that seemed like the color for getting thrown into a cold lake on a summer afternoon.
He was staring right back at her, his eyes wide and his breathing quick.
“It’s you, isn’t it,” she breathed. “It’s been you all along. If only you hadn’t worn those blasted black suits all the time instead of your robes..”
The corners of his mouth crinkled into a smile.
“Ms. Y/L/N, step out of the way,” Professor Slughorn interrupted, rolling up his sleeves and getting his wand out. “Draco, boy, this looks deep. Get on up to the infirmary now. Don’t dally.”
“Meet me,” he whispered as he made to leave. “Tonight. In front of the library. I guess we have some things to discuss.”
“Yes, yes, I guess we do.” Y/N cheeks were hurting from smiling, and as he left the room, the color fading from her vision, she had never been so content to be in pain in her life.
final a/n: hi everyone :) welcome back! can’t wait to write more! sorry if this was a bit of a trainwreck...i haven’t written in a long time and this is the first thing i’ve done since college apps. all feedback is appreciated! thank you! also apologies for any plotholes or spelling errors! i wrote this in a day and i know it’s a little messy oops
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What does ‘destiny’ means for Saiou and Edo.
Honestly, trying to explain precisely and without missings what « destiny » means in season 2 is rather impossible. I will probably forget things, or maybe aspects will contradict themselves somedays but I don’t really care. There’s too much to tell, and right now I will try to focus on exactly one aspect. What do Saiou and Edo means when they talk about destiny.
(Also I will use more or less precise quotes and rephrasing, but I can give the specific lines and episodes. I just don’t like how pictures looks on posts like this, and Im really writing this for myself before anyone else).
So. What do I mean by all that. The concept of destiny is often used by both Edo and Saiou but it appears that they don’t really put the same exact meaning behind it. Though when they talk to each other they mostly use it in similar way, some other iterations don’t exactly match.
For exemple, Edo initially can’t believe Saiou’s predictions may change or turn out wrong, while Saiou treats it rather calmly. Edo also many times iterates that destiny is an immovable object, that humans can’t pretend alter, while Saiou talks a lot about changing it. So. What does it mean for the both of them and why does it hold different meaning ?
And please do know that that is just a massive piece text.
First, let’s consider Edo’s meaning. As said, Edo begin by sincerely thinking that destiny is absolutely impossible to change. It’s something that dictate people’s life, but that they can’t escape nor control beyond having some knowledge of it. In his first duel against Judai, he specify that it is something determined at birth, and already is written as such. In a way, it’s a rather god-like concept : all powerful and beyond humans’ reach.
I think this all ties in Edo’s inner desire of some kind of absolute justice. In the earliest episodes, Edo sincerely think there’s a difference between exceptionnal people, who were given abilities and an incredible fate to accomplish, and everyone else who can’t ever reach the firsts’ level. It’s a justice in the sense that everyone will receive in measure of their greatness eventually, which is only given and not chosen.
It’s also a justice in the sense of good and evil. Edo clearly doesnt believe in any justice system, chasing criminals himself. As such, destiny is the consequences of being an inherently bad person, that any good person (that Edo surely take himself for) has the right to punish.
This divine justice destiny influence as such most of Edo’s early personnality. The way he disrespects others, and the way he grows to view Saiou. One of the thing that made him unable to notice the quite morally wrong things Saiou was doing, is because he still believes that there’s a strict limit between good, innocent people, and those who commits crimes. And Saiou can’t possibly be on the second case. It is further strenghtend by the absoluteness of his concept of destiny, potentially projecting that, destiny being always right, Saiou who incarnates it for him must be as well.
As such, Edo’s challenge against destiny was majorly based on accepting that it does not exist, first by breaking the order it had built. It went by having to face that Saiou may not always be right, but also that he may not be as special as he thought. And that’s the part where Judai is possibly able to save Saiou. If it’s Judai, instead of him, then it means for Edo that he is not really exceptional. It means destiny is wrong, and it means rebuilding the fundation of his ego.
That’s why Edo stops talking about destiny rather brutally. The moment the rules break, he can’t do much but let go of them. That’s why, when the Light and Saiou still tells him about destiny, he just ignores it. Between the moment he realized his destiny had lost meaning and then, he ended up viewing himself and Saiou as much more whole and human (and also realized believing in destiny hadn’t help him as much as Saiou in himself had).
As for Saiou’s destiny The way he talks about it make it seem a lot less rigid. At the end his goal is to change it, by meeting Edo, then by observing Judai. He accepts the changes he sees and, as seen in his duel against Manjoume, choice is allowed. His is closer to the uncontrollable consequences of things. It’s kind of the meaning of that duel. Around the end, Saiou asks Manjoume to shuffle his deck before he draws the card on top, which will mean Manjoume either win or lose. Right there, Manjoume both has and has no choice. He can choose when to stop the shuffling but, in the end, not knowing what card is on top, he doesnt really control anything. Choice matters (it is what decides what card will be on top), but having the right card is not really under control. In all that, Saiou is in a position of knowing what card will be drawn, but not how. He knows the outcome, but not the execution.
And this situation of knowing the outcome but having little control over the process is how he uses destiny. That’s his « destiny of destruction » : he knows that he will eventually go through this but is rather powerless when it comes to preventing it. Edo is going to save him ? Sure but he doesnt know why or how, the best he can do is make sure he’s in his life. And so on. The predictions can be wrong, the result can change, but there’s always this aspect of not having control on whats to come. It is close to determinism.
When Saiou challenges his own destiny, it’s by managing to not care about it. The main issue that can arise from a certain kind of determism is the thought that people are actually powerless, and everything is just consequences of causes that can’t be control. The only way to get back control , in Saiou’s situation, is by knowing the causes. That’s pretty much what he does when he tries to find out who will save him, and just about everytime he reads the future. He’s trying to find the causes of the consequences he already knows. That leads him to never really take actions. That’s one of the meaning behind his saying that he is imprisonned by destiny. Knowing it makes it impossible for him to actually think he’s changing anything.
This is one main difference between Edo and Saiou’s concept of destiny. An opposition rather meaningful in season 2, between believing and knowing. Edo believed that some people were inherently better than others. It wasnt really based on any truth, and his path was to let go of that belief. Saiou knows the outcoms, it’s not something that can be undone, causality is based on logic and, at the end, it’s pretty much impossible to stop knowing that causes and consequences are a thing. His development is about not caring about it, or not focusing on it. The last thing Edo says about destiny is that he doesnt believe in it. The last thing Saiou has related to that is refusing to listen to the Light talking about serving destiny. So, no longer focusing on what’s to come, including no longer being able to tell the future.
And if you’re wondering, the meaning Saiou gives to destiny in season 4 is a bit different so… I wont really cover it here.
But, there’s something those two meanings have in common. They are the concentration of what both of them used as children to deal with their situation, and importantly filling the absence of adults in their life, and that they projected on a singular concept.
Edo was found lost and alone after his father’s death. He coped mostly by projecting the guidance he lacked onto his cards (leading to being so protective of them), and the idea of destiny brought by Saiou. I’m comparing the two because, while the D Heroes are quite obviously a reminder of his father, his « destiny » can be too as it is heavily based on heroic narratives.
At the end of the day, all his talk about people’s fate being written in advance, the difference between the exceptionnal people, the unimportant one, and the evil ones, it’s like a story. Behind all this, there’s still a little boy dealing with loss by projecting himself into a story (inspired by the heroes from his father), where the hero is brave and strong and better than anyone else despise his tragic past, where there are unimportant npcs here to show how great the hero is, and a Big Bad to save someone he loves from. Thinking everything is written makes sense since it’s how stories always goes.
At the beginning, Edo is very passionate about destiny, but also about heroes and how those cards are for him alone. His development goes by both accepting that Judai may save Saiou, that he isnt as important as he believed he was, and that heroes can be just fun as well. And it all comes from what he needed as a child : reassurance, justice (that adults couldn’t provide by not finding his father’s murderer), and promise that he had a future and a happy ending. Destiny was a continuation of his father’s legacy, and a way for him to keep building himself despite the lack of adults in his life.
As for Saiou, he pretty much says he used destiny as a survival tool when he was a kid. Especially to stay sane. The first effect destiny had on him was to keep some kind of rationality. The way he uses his power, and talks about destiny, is quite distant. Being able to understand both what was going on for him, and what would happen (his own prediction) has hardly controllable causalities, allowed him to make sense of it. On one side, as someone with more information, distancing himself surely was one of his own coping mechanism. On the other, thinking that there are so many factors leading to something can reduce guilt, especially when it comes to his « destiny of destruction ». Following destiny meant he wasnt in total control, so it wasnt completely his fault.
Even if the whole guilt reducing part may not have worked, it did made him strongly feel like he had no real control on his life. That’s how destiny played for him the role an adult would have. Taking responsibility for his life, his action, and organise it. Saiou talks so often about being guided by destiny, as a way to separate himself from decision and actions he shouldn’t have had to take as a child.
Interestingly, Saiou is conscious of using destiny like that since he is a child. When he refers to when he met Edo, he does think of it as his own intention, but view them as wrong. Unlike Edo, who’s transition out of destiny was rather brutal, Saiou don’t have a moment of realization. He may have known for a long time that, even if destiny like that isn’t so good to focus on, he won’t really stop. Escaping destiny in a way is not so much about changing what is to come, but letting go of the concept itself.
So I think Im running out of things to say if I want to keep it focus. I hope it makes some sense and interest, it’s hard constantly reminding myself of how the characters are and what they say so I can put down something coherent. I am pretty sure I won’t agree with some stuff in a bunch of week but I don’t really care, at least now some more thoughts are out in the wild.
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1/2 I feel like a bad fan sometimes because I can't bring myself to like Stephanie. Even the tug war between cannon and fandom stuff can endear me to her. Canon wise she comes off as a shitty person, selfish and the way she treats the bats except for Cass sometimes it's some of the worse the only good thing I can say it's that it's realistic. Some people be like that (And I see a lot of my old self in her and I HAD to change so much to be better. Cuz it's not quirky being mean, it's just mean)
2/2 But then fandom has this pedestal to her, she does no wrong or it's always justify, she's perfect! And that makes me dislike her even more (It's movie!Hermione all over again). I read one fic where I liked her portrail, one fic where the author wasn't trying to make her more competent then everyone else (minus Cass I guess). Guess I don't get what is the big deal when batman has so many more interesting and dimensional characters, her and some of the latest Jokers just lack originality to me
***************************
Anon, on one hand I get you. I am a fan of some characters and not others. The issue you have with Stephanie, I have with Cass - can’t like her, see nothing there to interest me, every time I see her described as ‘virtually perfect’ I walk away.
I think that crux of the matter is that canon Steph isn’t a person. No character is a person in DC or Marvel or anything that have been running for so long. No one is a character or a person, there is just a compilation of traits that many different writers invented for their stories. At this point getting to know a character in that fandom is like basing your knowledge of a them on fanfic alone - which is pretty accurate, canon at this point is just fanfic that someone gets paid for.
So, in that light, there’s no ‘real’ Steph you can like or dislike. There are iterations of her. And when the fans like a character, they pick the best iteration of them and run with it.
On another hand, anon, every character you like is only a perfect version of them that have been chosen and cultivated by you in the same way Steph’s fans cultivate her ‘perfect’ image. So are these perfect Cass’ iterations. So is the whole ‘Duke is flawless’. So are Tim’s stans. So are Dick’s stans. Barb’s stans. So am I, a Jason stan.
I chose the best version of Jason I could build using the blocks that canon offered me, ignoring the ones that didn’t fit, and this is the version I will stick to. I don’t know all about Jason. I am not 100% critical of his character. I made him to respond to my needs entertainment-wise and I am closing my ears to all and any critique of him coming from people who find it annoying. I don’t care for another opinion, I am not here to have my likes questioned.
Steph, objectively, is not suffering from an unoriginal backstory or a lack of interesting plot potential. She has a splendid origin and more going on in personal life than, say, Tim ever had (calm down Tim stans, I am speaking of plot points to explore, not personal merit). That she’s badly written more often than not is an issue in her characterisation.
That she is written as being ‘rude’ to the characters you personally may like is a bigger issue in your perception of her, because that’s what it usually comes down to. Personal bias.
For example, it took me personally a LONG time to warm up to Damian, because as much as his story was worth telling, he was written as caustic shit to characters I already liked and I had no patience for him because of that. Had he been a caustic shit to the ones I didn’t care about? He’d be fine. (’s like I only ever find Slade palatable when he’s away from the Batfam, when he deals with characters I have no emotional stock in).
Look, it took me retooling Damian in his entirety to write him with any amount of sympathy. The Damian in my stories? Has almost nothing in common with canon kid. My Jason? Again, a mirage I’ve created to suit my tastes. My Bruce? Barely reflecting his canon self.
And some people are here for these iterations I’ve made up - and I am following certain people for their iterations. And some of them I don’t like and won’t accept, and that’s fine.
It doesn’t make you a bad fan to not like ALL OF CHARACTERS EQUALLY, it’s a ridiculous and unrealistic demand to be made of a fan of anything, really. You like what you like. It’s like the time I was accused of being anti-feminist because I personally can’t stomach Harley Quinn - a known abuse survivor, so of course my dislike had to be a mark of a bigger issue I had with women in general (I do have an issue with many female characters in general, but that’s another matter entirely lol) because a person can’t just dislike a character others like.
Rest assured, no moral high-ground here, I am side-eyeing Jason-haters too;] Every time I hear someone praise Joker I have to stop myself from going ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!?! and sometime it works, sometimes it doesn’t>> I am working on keeping my dislike to my personal blog.
You are not a bad fan if you steer clear of a character that’s a firm no to you for whatever reason. A fan is only ever bad when they intentionally get into others’ faces with their issues and cause dissent, because they need to change their minds.
But the ting to understand here is that rarely ever the fault lays in the character alone. Most of it lays on the shoulders of our personal biases and likes, so the opinion we are expressing should come with that caveat.
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Do you think some of the more rabid geraskier fans come from johnlock fans? The dynamic is kind of similar, with the sympathetic one and the asshole* one (I know Geralt isn't an asshole or unfeeling but I'm sure the stans are willing to ignore that if it suits them)
I think there are a lot of slash fans who believe in what I call “file the serial numbers off” shipping. They seem to ship more based on archetype than character. “Oh, I love ships with the cute, funny bottom and the grim serious top!” And basically you get the same meta/fics for this pairing that you get 100 times before, dating at least as far back to the Sentinel in the 90s. (And honestly, it wasn’t really all that in character there either.)
I’ve always found it funny/frustrating because by shipping by archetype, I feel like a lot of fans chop away any part of the character that doesn’t fit. And that’s often the most interesting part.
Like take Geralt for example. I’ve joked about how my biggest issue with Geraskier fandom is that I think Geralt’s a bottom. But there’s a hint of truth to that: one of the things I think makes Geralt really interesting as a character is that there’s the surface level cliched male fantasy action hero but that when we dig into the character, he’s very emotional and compassionate. He identifies with the monsters he fights as often as he does with humans, and when possible, he tries to find solutions that don’t involve killing or death.
And while I make top/bottom jokes a lot, the thing is that part of the whole cliched male fantasy action hero thing involves sexual dominance and aggression. So it’s particularly interesting that, while he is certainly promiscuous, Geralt shows absolutely no sign of sexual aggressiveness. His approach with Renfri is slow and sweet, almost tentative. And his dynamic with Yennefer is full of all sorts of femdom power play.
(Yes, yes, top/bottom =/= dom/sub, but let’s be honest here. Yen pegs.)
Yennefer/Geralt is a relationship that has fascinating levels of role reversal. We’ve got a woman playing the sarcastic, morally ambiguous at times, self-centered antihero role that Geralt LOOKS like he’s supposed to be. We have a man who is empathetic and compassionate and really seems to be into the idea of selling himself into temporary servitude to the hot domme at the orgy.
And Geraskier, if we look at canon, has the potential for fascinating trope reversals too. Jaskier, our “twink” (who is really about the same size as Cavill, minus the lean muscle mass), who is pretty domineering in a cheerful sort of way, pushing his more passive friend into all sorts of adventures, who as it in him to wish for a rival death. And of course Geralt, who has all of the aforementioned qualities…
There’s all sorts of potential for a really interesting dynamic that subverts a lot of the cookie cutter roles. But the vast majority of Geraskier work that I’ve seen ignores that entirely for yet another iteration of the same old archetype. (There are some pretty great exceptions out there, of course. )
But I knew I wasn’t going to mesh with the fandom the first time I saw someone refer to GERALT OF RIVIA, as played by HENRY CAVILL as a BEAR.
(Dear slash fans: please do not co-opt terms from the gay community that you don’t understand. It just makes us all look ridiculous).
So anyway, I don’t know if I’d attribute these fans to any one fandom in particular. I just think it’s part of the nature of the beast. They’re not doing anything wrong, but it’s not my thing.
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XCOM: Chimera Squad Review
XCOM Chimera Squad is my definition of a pleasant surprise. Just soldiering through quarantine on a lazy April Tuesday afternoon, across my news feed comes the improbable: a new XCOM game getting shadow dropped. Just a short ten days away, Chimera Squad would be releasing. What’s more? If you preordered, or purchased before May first, the game was only ten dollars.
Now I fully recognize, it may be the trying times we’re enduring, but that lazy tuesday suddenly felt like Christmas.
I’ve been a huge fan of XCOM since the reboot, Enemy Unknown, was released in 2012. I remember doing my research and discovering XCOM had first launched in 1994, but I never had the chance to play those games. Regardless, ten minutes into Enemy Unknown I knew I was sold.
Where Chimera Squad differs from its predecessors is, well, in a lot of places. Where XCOM 1 and 2 finds you operating as the Commander of XCOM, at first an international force assembled to fight back alien invasion, then as a resistance seeking to overthrow alien overlords, Chimera Squad is the result of an XCOM initiative called the Reclamation Project. With the war against the occupying aliens won, XCOM tasks an interspecies team of operatives to support the police of City 31. The former hub of Advent control, City 31 has become the world’s model city for human and alien integration.
As Chimera Squad, as directed by the Reclamation Project, you are tasked with seeking out and pacifying rogue groups in the city hoping to hamper its lofty goals, and simultaneously track down and reclaim scattered wartime technologies. But, of course, things don’t go specifically to plan. In the first moments of the game you are tasked with saving the life of Mayor Nightingale. Taken hostage by dissidents, 31PD is at a standstill and calls in the cavalry. With Chimera Squad so newly formed, Verge, your Sectoid Psionic teammate has to take a cab and catch up with the team on site.
That is the other way that Chimera Squad breaks the mold. Where other XCOM games give you a force of editable, backstory-less characters, this title has twelve operatives with names, backstories, voice actors, and personality. I wasn’t sure how I would like this change at first. Part of my love of the series is the stories that I can attach to the characters as I grow familiar with each of their abilities. And losing those soldiers becomes so much more personal when they fall in battle.
In Chimera Squad there is no such thing as losing a character. In fact, character death results in a game over screen and a “Load Checkpoint” prompt. Gravely wounded soldiers have an increased chance at earning a scar, a semipermanent debuff that can only be cleared by sending them to rehabilitative training. At first I wasn’t sure how I felt about these changes. I have moments from previous games that have stuck with me for years, based on the deaths or retrieval of lost characters. Chimera Squad axes that in the interest of telling a story with its characters, and for such a radical change, it really pays off.
Dialogue in-mission feels largely the same. Conversations back at base however, really lend to the depth of the characters. I found myself constantly bemused by the tidbits of information I could glean from these operatives interacting with each other. It only takes a couple of lines to understand where Godmother gets her callsign. In one instance, Cherub - the affectionate mascot of the squad - asks Godmother to sign off on paperwork allowing the soldier and scientist who found him to adopt him. See Cherub is a clone soldier. Created by Advent for war, but woken after the Ethereal mind control had been lifted. He explains that the two people who found him, set him free, had gotten married a few years later and now they wanted to adopt him.
I truly had no expectation that I would be charmed this much by an XCOM title. But it didn’t end there.
Later in the game, given the opportunity to recruit another unit to Chimera’s ranks, I chose Zephyr, a Hybrid bruiser whose only wield-able weapons were her fists. I rarely choose melee characters, but because Chimera Squad is so unique, I figured I would try something new. In her first mission she was a blast to use. Her attack rooted enemies, meaning they can’t move on their next turn, and after her attack she is granted an additional action point so that she can distance herself from enemies that would take advantage of her close range to shoot her. I was convinced. Then we went back to base.
In her one and only base-dialogue I heard, she asked Cherub to be her training dummy. Except, she didn’t call him by his name, she called him Knock-Off. When confronted by Terminal (another agent) that he has a name Zephyr waved them away and called for Knock-Off to come along. Always the team morale agent, he complied, telling his defender that it was ok.
I never used Zephyr again. She literally developed workshop projects for the next 20 hours of my campaign.
Again, I never expected that an XCOM game would make me feel like this about my soldiers. And quite frankly, I absolutely fell in love with this game because of it.
Chimera Squad is clearly built on the XCOM 2 engine. As one would assume, with that fact comes the realization that a lot of the combat mechanics for this iteration of the game are immediately familiar. This lends to Chimera Squad feeling like an expansion in a way that few stand-alones achieve. After learning the non-complex intricacies of the Breach phase, a shock and awe stage that starts every encounter, combat falls into a rhythm that fans of the series will be comfortable with. With one major adjustment.
Rather than the “I go, you go” turn-based nature of games previous, this title takes an approach that feels far more like an initiative roll in a game of Dungeons & Dragons. The devs at Firaxis re-appropriate the term “Interleaved” here. Traditionally meaning to place blank pages between printed pages of a book, here it simply means that your enemy will take turns with you, within a timeline displayed on the right side of the screen.
This forces players, otherwise familiar with the privilege of running through all of their characters before the enemy gets a chance to act, to plan more carefully. You may only have one agent in line at the start of a fight before hostiles get to retaliate. This leads to an increase in the importance of finding the most synergistic combination of agent abilities. Who can manipulate that timeline? Who can debuff, incapacitate, or eliminate targets the fastest and with the most cascading effect?
I found myself, at the halfway point of my playthrough (about 15 hours), settling into my squad. Godmother, a mobile, agile, hard hitting, shotgun wielding enforcer. Verge, a Sectoid psionic, with the ability to disable, berserk, and mind control assailants. Patchwork, a techie drone pilot whose drone shock can arc between enemies with a chance of debuffing every target zapped. And Finally, Blueblood a gunslinger with two pistols, one that ignores cover, and the ability to fire multiple times per turn.
In any situation, I could finagle my way into disabling or dispatching two targets fully or up to eight targets partially within my first four actions. Add to this the few odds and ends you can nab from the Scavenger Market, a transient market that visits every week, or side mission rewards, and you can find yourself with a few epic weapons, specialized buff grenades like the Motile Inducer. Two free actions, immediately, to whomever you throw it at.
Finding these synergies and supplements, is at the core of Chimera Squad, and while the process isn’t entirely unique to this title, it certainly feels more important when the turns are interleaved, the quarters are close, and your innate advantage lasts a single, Rainbow Six-esque, breaching action.
Over the course of your game you will investigate three factions in City 31: The Progeny, Grey Phoenix, and Sacred Coil. Each faction has different units, abilities, and motivations, and as you take out each faction, the surviving factions will scale up in response. It is your job to root out their goals, foil their plans, and neutralize the threatening potential they hold. As illustrated by the comic book-styled cutscenes, Chimera Squad is against the wall and the clock, as unrest in the city rises you have to manage threats based on their cost to your levels of unrest in the nine districts of the city. You will forgo missions that have good rewards to manage the unrest in an unruly district. Spend your investigation points to deploy Security, Technology, or Financial teams in each district to access buffs that give you the ability to stave off increased unrest, decrease unrest in specific districts, or in the city overall.
At its core Chimera Squad is truly an XCOM game, forcing its players to train their soldiers, research projects in the workshop, manage unrest across a map, and manage resources, all while fielding an active combat team in harrowing and varied encounters. Is it XCOM 3? No, not at all, but one shouldn’t conflate the two. Chimera squad is a $20 exploration into the ways that XCOM can, and I believe will, evolve. Expect to see hero characters in the future, with backstories and voice acting. Expect to see multiple paths in the campaign, with escalative properties as the game progresses. But more than anything, expect to feel right at home with Chimera Squad, despite the ways it alters the formula. You’ve simply moved on from Sazerac to Vieux Carre. Your rye whiskey is still there, just this time you have some sweet vermouth. Enjoy.
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Star Wars Episode 4;
Destroy malevolence
Didn’t we just do that?
I’m assuming this is going to be focusing on the
aftermath of the
destruction
of the
malevolence
And the preceding unraveling of
general grievous’s
net work
[And several
acquaintances
probably
trying
to
break
him out,]
Anyway...
On with
It!
Quote;
“A Plan is only as good
as those
who see it out,”
Odd
I’ve
Stopped
giving much stock
into the
quotes
Consider
ing
the last one
had a relatively good
one
And
Is on the
lower
end
of
my
expectations
My criticism
of this
Is a
Short
Plans can be good
But
People flawed
The
narrator
sounds
a
bit
more
enthusiastic
Weirdly
drawn
out
pause
But
it
does
get
the
point
across
Allows
enough
time
“ Grievous
in
retreat,”
Honestly
Is
this
where
we’re
going
to
start
Like
no
disrespect-
(I have the
patience)
But are we honestly going to spend the whole entire time watching Obi-Wan fuck up catching Grievous?
That would work
with the theme
of Jedi Masters
They make it seem a lot less
stupid
[Recap
Also
I really like the movement on the
ship
Much
more
real
istic
Continuing to
Hold on it
not so much
This is like
someone
continuously
kicking
someone
when they’re
already
down
Or like a fire
After a while
it just gets sort of
boring
Or worrying
And you realize they could just
take them
into custody
Or that the fire is starting to
envelope
nearby
forest
With
everyone
having
a bucket of
water
Obi wan, why
Do
you
torment
so?
He can’t even
die
If so;
He’d
be dead
I love how
Plo Koon
and
him
are
just
watching
the
shit
show
like
“Bitch”
You know they could both take
him
But are just that dedicated to being
sandry old man
“Commander, how much damage to the
enemy ship?”
Have they suffered
enough?
Also, geez dude’s been demoted it to
commander
I mean I know he’s just
Comms Guy
But geez.
(He probably
deserved it)
Oh no,
Random
dude
On
The
ground
Why?
“ She’s lost primary
shields and stabilizers,”
So shooting at it is doing
minimal damage
“ It can take all the fire
our cannons
can manage,”
Okay,
time to get you two
down there
“ we must
summon
reinforcements,”
Plo is slowly becoming that we
“need reinforcements”
guy
Like
he can’t do anything
by himself
(Except
for last
episode)
“ That’s why
I’m here
Master Plo,”
That’s not the right
tone
And.....
I was kind of hoping we’d get a
Master Plo and
Obi-Wan episode
This time
around
Never mind the fact that
Anakin can’t take on grievous
“ what are you able to contact
Master
(Liam Niara)
(That’s how voice text spells it)
(I have no idea)
“ Yes, master,”
That’s better
“She’s busy with a bunch of separatist
reinforcement’s nearby,”
Bit too much
eye movement
but otherwise
good
“ she won’t
be able to give us support till she’s turn
ing them away,”
Meanwhile
you’ve already pretty much
kill ed
him
Guess
just
play
poker?
Then
we’ll have to do with what we have
Oh now with the teenager around you’re so brave
How’s
that going to help?
Burning
On fire
Really,
no
mercy
Poor
droid
jerking
around
Ex
ploding
Perfect balance of kar
mic
pay
back
“We’ve
lost
our
primary
weapon,”
Shit
just
continues
to
get
worse
and
worse
General
grievous
is
just
there
with his hands
in his head
Not
looking
too
great
“ The hyper drive is dis
-abled,”
It’s been disabled since last episode but good
repeating
Good
to
re-iterate
“Argh,”
“ General
general,”
The
forward
engines
are
shutting
down
“ im
poss
ible,”
Dude,
look
around
That’s
pretty
-
heavy
denial
You
should
just
sur
-render
More
Sho
-oting
This
is
going
to
be
a
sl
-ow
ep
i
sode
Ahsoka
Managing
systems
A not
bad role
for her
Certain-
“ Admiral
Status-
Re
port,”
Shit’s
fucked
once
again
They’re
hyperdrive
must
be
damaged
What
you
didn’t
figure
out
the
first
time
will
Obi
won
must’ve
checked
Compulsively
For the
170th time
in the last
hour
“This
our
chance”
It wasn’t a few seconds ago?
“all
ships
target
the
bridge
maximum
fire
power,”
Dude,
what
do
you
think
that’ll
do
Grievous
is
made
out
of
pure
titanium
It’s
like..
a
slightly
long
fall
for
him..
Generals..
really
don’t
wanna
deal
with
Grievous’s
shit
today
Episode is
22:40
Long
Left
All
they’re
doing
is
shooting
at
him
Grievous
Called
Dooku
“Dad
I
crashed
the
car,”
Sustained
advanced
damage
“ I know,”
Just
dead
panned
“ I have
arranged
a
trap,”
Oohh!
Interesting
But
Also
completely
bullshit
Guess
this
is
his
punishment
Being
used
as
bait
“To
give
you
an
advantage
over
the
Jedi,”
“ I
assure
you,”
Please
no
You’re not compound
your failure
this day,”
Ah, there’s
the chewing out
I was looking for
Perfect
Continue
“ war
ship
to
fall,”
Oh so it wasn’t going to be a - get them sent to prison- thing
So
how are you planning to
unfuck
the situation
Cause
this looks pretty bad
They will never catch me or this ship
Bless him
he’s trying
The expression just says
‘I have no idea
how’
Like
He
knows
what’s
expected
of
him
but
has
no
idea
How?!
Heading
towards
you
is
a
very
important
galactic
senat
or,”
In the middle of a
war zone
Seriously
not
a
good
time
for
a
photo
op
“ With
her
as
a
hostage,”
“call
off
the
attack,”
Ok no one is calling off an
attack this important
for
a
senator
Nor
should
be
letting
her
get
captured
....
*Bowing
down*
*Assumed
authority*
Blue
It
looks
remarkably
better
this
episode
👍
Also
of
course
it’s
Padme
Amidala
Couldn’t
be
any
of
the
4000
other
senators
we
know
nothing
about
Really
getting
into
the
love
triangle
stuff
right
away,
aren’t
we?
Like
why
couldn’t
we
slow
burn
it
(I
know
she
was
in
the
movie)
But
I
wouldn’t
mind
“Are
you
sure
the
infor
mation
from
the
chan
cellor
Palpatine
is
reliable?”
Fore
shadowing!
Good
job
authors
you
get
a
cookie
“ it was secretly given to him
by the leader of the
Bank-he Clan,
himself!”
Okay
Amidala’s
tone
kinda
works
Could
use
a
little
more
monotone
but
it
works
I gave Anakin like
three
tries
so
I’m
not
gonna
be
too
harsh
There
is
still
time
for
the
minimal
improve
ment
it
needs
“ if they
leave
the
separatist
alliance
it
will
go
along
way
to
shortening
this
war,”
Er-
Okay
it
makes
sense
for
her
character
She’s sup
posed
to be
around
the same
age
as
Anakin
“Beep,
Beep,”
“ We’re
approaching
the
system
now,”
“Oh
shit,”
Crud
“ my
goodness,”
Best
Droid
“This
isn’t
right,”
Then
Move!
That’s
a
droid
warship
“We’re
in
the
middle
of
a
battle!”
Hey,
that’s
a
smart
character
Hyper drive out of there
“ we’re scanning
a small ship off
our bow,”
Get out of
there
“ Good,”
Yeah, how are you going to get
her?
Seeing as how like a million warships are belting
your bow?
I know those must be like
raindrops to him
But
come on
Don’t
go
into
the
burn
-ing
wreckage
And
towards
enemy
fire
Then
again
she
was
probably
heading
towards
the
Jedi
ship
So
(as
a
civilian)
that
makes
sense
“Master
I’m
picking
up
a
signal
near
the
enemy
vessel,”
Tone
Enemy
reinforcements
That’s-
A
Good
Call
Respectively
“ it looks like-”
“A Naboo ship”
“Gunners
stand
day,”
Hey
everyone’s
competent
today!
(Not
that
there’s
anything
wrong
with
enablers
being
stupid)
This
just
requires
more
brain
power
“ what
in
Blazers
are
they
doing
out
here?”
A valid
response
But
weren’t
they
the
ones
that
pledged
transport
ships?
Like
oh
yeah
stupid going out into a war zone
But
not
completely
out of the question
“ Ahsoka
contact
that ship,”
Bit
too
much
energy
But
still
resp
ect
able
Literally
coming
from
fiery
hell
Identify
yourself
“Padme
what
are
you
doing
out
here,”
Cringe
That line sounds like boomer.
What boomers think high school
jocks sound like
And we’re like no
“ I
was
sent
on
a
special
mission,”
Good
job
Writers
The
‘Bang he
Klan
Wanted
to negotiate
a treaty
Good
reason
“Get
out
of
there,”
Too
Force
ful
Better
Idea;
Have
Obi-Wan
try
to
calmly
explain
the
situation
to
her
Possibly
distracting
her for
general
grievous
to
kidnap
“ Activate
the
tractor
beam,”
Damn
we’re
going
back
to old old sci
Fi- with tractor beams and
shit
I was expecting like a hook and chain,
a harpoon
Was not expecting
that
That
made
me
laugh
WTF
Tell
them
some
nonsense
is
going
on!
“i’m
afraid
it’s
much
worse
than
that,”
Gunners
Do
Something?!
it’s a beam; it can be broken
“ Padme what’s happening?”
A go- decent response
“ i’m
being
pulled
inside
the
droid
cruiser
by
a
tractor
beam,”
Good
Commun
ication
Whelp,
Done
So
at
22: 40
Rest
of
the
episode
is
hostage
situ
ation?
Inter
es
ting
Much
Better
Than
Just
Shooting
at
it
for
an
hour
“I will not be made a separatist bargaining
chip,”
Initiative
Though
Less
Emo
-tion
Should
be
recited
like
something
she
had
to
read
off
a
paper
Guessing I’m not Padme I’m Padme’s
handmaiden thing only works
once
Continue
your
attack
You
must
continue-
I hope
she get some
actual action
Nothing too intense
because she’s still a kid
But like a surprise attack on
General grievous
Destroy
this
monstrous
ship
That’s
kind
of
like-
How-
I saw the next frame
Wtf-
WTF
HIS FACE JUST-
CON-torts
You are not Romeo and Juliet
movie
You are two kids reinacting Romeo and Juliet
clumsy
Get it right
“Admiral,
order
our
ships
to
stop
firing,”
No
one’s
gonna
stop
this
No
one‘s
gonna
comment...
Okay....
Obi-Wan
And
Plo
Koon
are
just
gone
Left
when
Anakin
started
acting
unchild like
Never
mind
still
there
Nothing
suspicious
*Rubs
beard*
Whelp
It
does
not
look
safe
out
there
my
lady
Screw
with
the
tractor
beam
and
leave
No
one
can
stop
you
Droid
Related
“I
see
now
this
whole
thing
was
a
trap,”
The
Bang’he
Clan
Works
With
The-
I
can’t
even
make
that
joke
because
the
bang’he
clan
are
working
with
the
separatists
Good
writers
you
out
joked
me
“ we
walked
right
into
it,”
Pressing
buttons
isn’t
going
to
help
lady
Sir
the
republic
cruisers
have
halted
their
attack
Bit
too
much
emotion
for
a
droid
but
it
works
“Jedi
are
so
predictable,”
Hit
him
with
a
gun
Get
the
repair
team
up
here
“ i’m
going
down
to
the
main
hanger,”
The arm motion was a little weird...
for ‘I’m going down to the main
hanger’
Street
Railways?
Are we
getting *tour
the inside of the
ship??
Nice
This
ship
must
be
returned
to
Count
Dooku
intact
Nice
little
interaction
Rail
ways
There’s
no
room
for
failure
Hard
Moral
One
on
fast
speed
ing
train
Moves
over
to
another
pad
Don’t
think
that’s
gonna
help
“Come
on
I’ve
over
loaded
the
power
system,”
THAT’S
actually
really
clever
Good
job
whoever
gave
that
order
General
grievous
goes
boom
Fighter
door
opens
Find
a
Fighter
And
fly
out
* Anakin
walks
away*
You know this would be a good idea if Obi-Wan had ordered him to do so when feeling the emotion of ‘love’, miscommunicating the concept of love, and didn’t realize that’s what he was doing - what clues him
in
“ where do you think you’re going,”
“ someone’s got to save
her,”
Still too much emotion
“I thought you might say
that,”
Did you give him that, did you give him an
order relevant to that?
There he goes
again
Yeah
Someone
should
really
check
up
on
that
Or
get
Obi-Wan
to
lay off
the
suicidal
orders
“Craving
adventures
and
excitement,”
No,
orders
“ You
get
used
to
it”
Could
be
just
a
response
But
too
much
reaction
And
Person
ality
Oh,
Shit’s
On
Fire
“Come on 3PO hurry,”
Flaming wreck lady
“not sure this is such a good
idea,”
Neither
is
being
held
captive
You’re made of like solid gold
Timing
[also the announce in the background
like a train station - just cracks me up]
Time to get blown up
“ Mind the gap”
“Mind the gap”
Haha
You
two
come
with
me
Command
That droid’s-
No, wait-
It’s Amidala
And C3PO
He’s trying to
help
Looks
Inside
Beeping
Timer
Look
like
the
engine-
Are
Set
To -
Timing
“Destroy
themselves,”
He
really
needed
them
to
say
that
Get
out
of
my
way
“Ow,”
You
don’t
want
to
die
That’s
just
rude
So
is
death
You
should
get
out
of
there
He’s
going
to
come
back
around
Geez
Fire squad
is a train
wreck
They’re
Trying
Crud
if this gets back to
Skywalker
and
he
thinks
she’s
dead
After
That
Speech
Who knows what toxic morals of love
Obi-Wan taught him
could activate
This could
become
a train
wreck
Ahhh!
It got
worse
Seriously
who made the droids that have to
with
stand
high
water pressure
Light weights
Oof
Even high water pressure
cannot kill him
Even running away
cannot save him
Wonder
what that attack
would’ve done
Sound the alarm
“We have stowaways,”
Or...
She was never on that
ship
Seriously
no one besides the republic
saw her
I’d go with “she isn’t on board,”
Run
Back
to the
republic ships
Who are doing
nothing
while grievous rebuilds
Like,
The medical station is
right there
You might want to get back
on moving
them
Just Saying
“ i’ve trusted you already formulated a brilliant
plan to
rescue
the
Senator,”
“ as a matter of fact
I have,”
Umm,
Weird
How to
Code
that
“ what do you have a Plan B
Every
good plan has a back up,”
Stop
forcing his
dependence on you
“ I don’t
have a back up
yet,”
Too
much
emotion
Really
Questioning
Not really
helping his
self-esteem
Really
“ we’ll sneak behind them and dock at the emergency air
lock,”
So I’m guessing this is going to set up
Padme
going
there
“ That’s
your
plan?”
Discouraging
“Fly
land,”
That’s literally what all maneuvers
rely on
Also
it
sounds
like
something
out
of
a
fairy
book
Which
might
explain
Anakin
toxic
behavior
“ Walk
in
the
door,”
“Basically,”
Too
much
emotion
“Oh
Brilliant,”
Dick
Firey
Wreck
“ Might I suggest we keep
moving?”
Bit
Loud
There
It
“ I think
I hear
battle droids
approaching,”
Talking
is
not
helping
“But
we also need to contact
the fleet,”
Getting out is the prerogative
They don’t know where you are
And you can’t stay in a constant
location
If I can just keep this
com panel working
Ahhh!
Well
just
disappeared
“The Damage to the hyper drive
was not as bad as
we first
thought,”
How?!
It’s been
damaged
for about
two episodes
Also, Good for
Her
“ We’ll be able to get underway again shortly,”
With this
mess of a ship
Hyperdrive would send half of it flying
It’s barely holding together by a
string
You’re
screwed
I must inform count
Dooku
Seems
oddly
suspic.
Continue the search
Find the
stowaway
How does
that change anything
in Amidala’s eyes
Getting
to know the boss
isn’t worth it
Just be more careful
Roger, roger
Commander
Intimidating
*Spark*
Oh
She
Was
In
A
Cabinet
Thought
she
made
it
in
C3PO
Looks
creepy
in
one
frame
Shit’s
Constantly
on
fire
“If they spot us
we’ll be pulverized,”
With what guns??
You’ve been doing all the hitting
this entire time
They’ve been sitting
Geese
“They’re
too
busy repairing the ship,”
Thank you
[also Obi-Wan
complainers rules]
“ They
don’t
have
time
to
notice
us,”
Cocky
Subtlety
has
never
been
one
of
your
strong
points
Anakin
Neither
Yours
Person
who
orders
him!
“ Everything
I
know
I
learned
from
you
master,”
Point
Yes
Attitude?
No
Oh
if
only
that
was
true
Should
Be
Might
be
a
side
jab
at
how
he
took
orders
from
the
Chancellor
There
we
go
Only
Obi-Wan
was
worried
“Didn’t
You
Hear
It,”
Your
circuits
are
loose
Or
maybe
you’ve
lost
your
hearing
From
the
impact
“ No
one’s
crazy
enough
to
do
that,”
Cut
“Anakin”
Perfect
“You’re
Crazy,”
You
groomed
him
this
way
“ spinning
is
not
flying”
“But
it’s
a
good
trick,”
Too
much
emotion
Do
not
want
to
be
spotted
Good
job
You’re
standing
more
in
the
doorway
than
he
is
“I knew it it’s them,”
That droid
is just having a day
Aww
But his
friend came down
to check
with him
That’s adorable
Oh no
They’re backing off
peacefully
ASSHOLES!
Obi-wan
specifically
You stay here
R2
Again
why did you bring him
Another
bold strategy by -
Say Skywalker
‘Skywalker’
Ordered
“I presume,”
No, Obi-Wan’s
When it’s not Palpatine’s
“That’s my master”
Children
don’t
show
preference
for
handlers
“ once they rescue the Senator we will need to reinforcement to finish off the enemy
Sounds nonsense
but OK
Dude
really
Likes
enforcement’s
“ i’m on my way,”
“Master Plo”
“ We’re receiving a transmission,”
Padme
Weird distance to start a conversation at
Running for some reason
“ Master
we found the
senator,”
Good
“ We’re patching
Her through,”
Helpful...?
What
is
it
with
Skywalker
and
becoming
a
Barking
over-
animated
Puppet
Every
time
senator
Amidala
gets
involved
?
“Anakin
where
are
you,”
Better;
where
are
your
coordinates
“ On
lower
levels,”
Better
but
where
“I don’t
know,”
Give a better location
For how long
Problem with this whole plan
Give Landmarks
Get to the
rendezvous point
“Obi won and I are on board too,”
Better; get to the ship on level ____ on your ___ side
Optional; Closest landmark ____
We’ll meet you
there
What what are you doing?
Not the best point to
argue
Ahsoka, how can we get to the senator
Better how can we both get to the escape pad?
In case
we both get separated
Taking longer to coordinate
that complicated-
How long till they get separated?
Center of the ship
Half way between the two of you
Neither
Ahsoka gave neither
Bad instructions
“ we’re on our way
To a very unspecified point on not
specified level at a not specified
time
Let
the hijinks
commence
“ Did
you hear that
Padme?”
You’re on the same com
“ i’ll be there,”
Some-how
The question
to my answer was
22:40
When do the Hijinks begin?
Let’s
See
Marching
Intimidated
“we just detected
An unauthorized communication
Coming from within the
ship,”
Shouldn’t he be making a phone
call?
“ what did it
say?”
Interesting
Well
we don’t know
That’s how encoding works
We didn’t catch it in
time
Off
Droid
winces
Monitor
all internal
communications
Like they’ll do it again
I want
that senator
on this bridge
Good
luck with that
You haven’t
even
saw her
Rail-ways
Nice
Busy
Should be a cakewalk
Is Not a cakewalk
All the way up there
“I do not see her,”
Yeah, that’s the problem-
She’s here master
I sent it
Or you got the wrong port
(So you heard her voice
so she’s clearly somewhere on this ship)
He’s probably late again
But we do have company of another sort
Oh
She has a gun
And somehow none of that hits
her
And of course that gets the attention
I’m honestly glad they didn’t go with miscommunication
Causes
fake stand up
scenario
Even if this is
faux
Romeo and Juliet
Good job
Lots of
jumping
Look
Jedi
Good job
nice guy
No wait
That one
guy had
common sense
“I knew that was a bad idea,”
Mercy
That you didn’t show on the other
guys
Who
were far more hesitant
And you took out that
one guy
Who didn’t do
anything
Just wasn’t as vocal
Dicks
Jump
The peashooter
isn’t doing the job?
Jump
He tried
Power
Thrust
Ana
kin
“ There.
they
are!”
Bull
shit
No way
he saw those guys
On all those
Packages
Also
‘the i knew
It was
a bad
Idea
Guy
Got
New
Friends
“Fire!”
Fuck
The
bridge
is
out
“Jump
to me,”
Try
it
with
a
little
bit
more
disinterest
“ I’ll use the force”
Even she realizes it’s not that
intense
“ You have to trust me,”
Good Luck
OMG
It looks like
she just
falls
Also Obi-wan’s in the back
like
it’s none of my business
Like dude came on a rescue mission
And
has become completely useless
never helped
once
Complained
the whole way
there
Manages
“Got you,”
“ NICE
CATCH,”
Obi
-Wan from the sidelines
10/10
Hilarious
“ I’ll fetch the droid,”
What??
No
This
isn’t
cute
Disgusting
“Oh the things you do to get me alone,”
KIDS don’t-
Ack-
Please
no
more
smoopy-
nope
I’m
putting
it in
the
“bad”
corner
Till
it
stops
trying
to
ship
children
Bad
Movie
That’s
Not
Cute
Obi-wan
Sucks
Can’t
even
levitate
A
Droid
“Stop
me
please”
Poor
Droid
Blast
You’re
Weak
“ That’s
not
good”
Yeah
you’re
weak
“Anakin
I got
separated
from
your
droid,”
Thank
God
I’ll
take
care
of
it
Better
“ We’ll
meet
you
back
at
the
Twilight”?
“ I
overheard
grievous,”
Annnnnd
“ They’re hyper-drive
is nearly fixed,”
Soooo, He better get you back to the
ship so we can start blasting it with Cannon balls again?
“ i’m already headed in that direction,”
Soooooo, don’t do it, Obi-wan?
Or have Anakin and take the extremely important senator
And come back for you later?
“ i’ll make sure the
hyperdrive stays off line,”
By shooting it with more cannon-balls?
Ha ha Ha ha ha
We’ll see about that
What?!
Person who can do nothing!
Like seriously if they just go back to the ship-
That Jedi
“I’m getting you out of here,”
Good decisions
“I need you to help me find 3PO,”
How?
“ I know I know
he does,”
Padme’s
expression
“And
i’ll be there
soon,”
That’s
almost
adorable
Oh
like
that
‘Someone stop this contraption,”
Careful
Words
Yeet
There
We
Go
Into
those
boxes
“ I
suppose
I did ask for that,”
Ha-he
That got a small giggle
out of me
Stomping
Bait
Murderous
Intent
Get
Fucked
Obi
Wan
Really
rolling out all the stops
Hahaha
“ Hello there,”
[Took a pause.
a long break]
General Kenobi
“ kill him,”
Straight.
To.
The.
Point.
More in line with the characterization we’ve seen up so far, not that much for conversation
Dude’s
just rolling
There
went the others
Bowling
pins
they
are
Oh
grievous
has
a
gun
And
hiding behind the enemy
Thought
he sent
both those
guys flying
Apparently
I was wrong
Must’ve
Been
a
Third
Ha
Didn’t
Work
Yeet
That
poor
Droid...
Spark*
That
was
impressive
Nah
he
ran
around
things
It really set up your forces for a
brawl among
them selves
“Argh,”
Dude,
how
insecure
“ Guard
the
hyperdrive,”
Oh
yeah
he
did
shit
to
it
Also
sending
basic
level
mooks
to
deal
with
it
Shooting
Things
Again
how
did
Anakin
and
Padme
end
up
in
the
situation?
They
were
at
the
train
station
last
Now
they’re
at??
And
have
agroed
every
enemy
Who
should
be
focusing
on
Obi-Wan
because
That
was
their
last
order
Grievous
has
just
completely
ignored
Anakin
Hiding
You
aggroed
Them!
Why
are
you
calling
Obi
-Wan
“Come in
Obi-wan,”
Get
her
to
the shuttle
“ i’m afraid
grievous
is onto
us,”
“We
noticed,”
Hey
you guys Aggroed those guys completely on your own
don’t blame Grievous
for this
“Ack,”
Those
are
Tanks
You’re
peashooter
isn’t going
to
do
much
Also,
Anakin
shouldn’t
be
able
to
take
them
either
This
should
be
a
properly
terrifying
moment
“ We’ll
meet
you
back
on
the
twilight,”
Good
plan
“Obi-
Wan!”
Writers
don’t
screw
this
up
“Come
In,”
His
communicuff
clearly
got
damaged
What’s
wrong?!
They’re
jamming
all
communication
No again
it’s far more likely that his
communicuff
Got
Damaged
(Especially
with
Grievous
listening
in,”
Not everything is
jammed communi
cations
Yeet, yeet
Yeet
That
should
not
work
Those
are
tanks
Anakin
is
a
lightweight
His skill set is
unspecified
But
he shouldn’t be able to cut more than
butter with that knife
Light wieght
clankers
should
pose
a
challenge
Due
to
the
amount
of
energy
“That
might
buy
us
some
time
Unlikely
I
suppose
you
have
a
plan
Yeah,
Get
to
the
escape
pad
Follow
Me
...To
the
escape
pod
C3PO
I do believe
I’m lost
Seriously
you
haven’t
found
this
guy
Enemy
Territory
And
all
alone
You’re
a
service
droid
Probably
wouldn’t
notice
anything
“Ah,”
Dude, they’d probably just adopt
you into the clan
“ I surrender,”
Again I really want to see the C3PO and battle droids
conversation
(When not aware of the other side)
It’s
a projector...
R2 D2
“ you are a sight for
old eyes,”
A nice
interaction
“ Master
Anakin
sent
you
to
find
me,”
“ what
kept
you
then?”
He
does
have
a
point
Dude
got
thrown
off
the
train
about
an
hour
ago
R2′s
just been messing with him
“ follow me,”
“ The general
is demanding
a
status report,”
Oh some driod on droid
interactions
(without
the
general)
Nice
Is
the
hyperdrive
re-paired
Yet
From
there?
“ i’ll
give
him
the
good
news,”
This
isn’t
the
escape
pad
Did
you
take
a
wrong
detour?
Also
no
one
guarding
the
super
important
one
panel
repair
Just
Light weight
clankers
Also that’s not
good news
(Especially considering
it’s one panel)
Surprised
this goes
so well
Also;
now
there’s
tanks
Surprised you think that peashooter can do anything
ma’am
Like seriously
should’ve grabbed a bigger gun
The
droids
have
some
And
you can’t tell me
there
hasn’t been artillery
laying around
this
entire
time
Yeet
That almost-
Turned into murder
This is why not going to the escape pods
immediately
was
a
bad
idea
Again
this
should
be
a
stressful
fight
But turning your child soldier
Into an all powerful
can never lose
child soldier
Is bullshit
movie
Opened
Door
“Ever since I’ve known you
you’ve been playing
with droids,”
Ack
“I used to put them together,”
Alright...
Now I only take them
apart
Child soldiering...
It sucks
So,
where do we start
GETTING TO THE ESCAPE PAD!
Obi-Wan
supposed to be here
any minute!
With whole lot of
bullshit!
Move!
First we need to get one of these
droids so they don’t know we were here
No destroy the thing and
go
They’ll figure it out in like
five seconds
When they go to start the thing
up!
Running is a good
option
“I’m gonna
hot wire
this ship,”
How does
this make
anything
better?
He’s already down
and
in kicking position
Everyone’s waiting for Amidala
You’re not helping, good sir!
(In fact I’m pretty sure
you’d have to fix something
To make
it go,”
Secondly,
This is a
HUGE
-ass ship
As a reason it has an
electrical team
Squeezing two little
wires
Isn’t going to do
much
It requires continuous effort
to different parts of the ship
To make a dent
And I truly doubt
such
a large ship is going to have such a
non-complicated
Start-up
compared
to hotwiring
a car
Point being;
this shouldn’t work
Give
Grievous
a little surprise
Again
if it’s anything less
Then a
bomb
Dude isn’t
gonna have
much
trouble
And
this
is
a
waste
of
time
I’ll guess
I’ll clean up the droids
then
LITERally im
possible
That’s
a
tank!
You
carry
light
weaponry!
Back
to
the
fleet
Plo
Koon
Is
doing
nothing
Having
tea
and
cookies
with
Ahsoka
Our
ships
are
in
attack
position
So...
nothings
changed
“Master
Skywalker,”
No
one
else
either
“No,”
Deadpanned
“ The
droids
are
jamming
our
transmissions,”
(More
likely
reason
for
that
on
a
-damaged
ship)
But
Ergh-
“We need to give him more
time,”
Opinion!
“ i’m sure we can,”
I’ve been sitting on my ass-
[Plo’s
Head
Moves
-Railway]
We’re
back
here
again?
Obi-Wan
should
be
at
the
station
by
now
Everything
is
behind
him
Yeet
Yeet
Make it to the
Coms
center
Break
Some
Shit
Oof
Those
Poor
Droids
Good
Pa
rell
els
Splat!
Obi won
looking
back-and-forth
Obi-Wan
you
are
a
Jedi
master
this
shouldn’t
be
hard
Run
Tum
ble
I was fully planning on
him
stacking it
Roof
Also, Obiwan
Stop fecking
Around
Get to the
place
Woof
How
Did you
end up
falling over?
Ironically
Obi-Wan
shows
less
emotion
than
Anakin
* Slashing
the
train*
Okay...
what
did
I
do
Snarky
little
shit
Could
be
snarkier
“That
oughta
do it,”
Ana
-kin
Doing
Obi-wan’s
Job
Also
Oh
shit
is he
plugging
in
the
location
of
that
supposed
fight
with
master-
How’s the house cleaning going-
Im-
That dude made out of
-metal
He is
FIVE
times
your
bodyweight!
HOW?
Done?
You
MOVED
a
Tank??
HOW-
That’s-
What
ever
* Guys
coming
in*
Oh
yeah
that’s
a
door
I
guess
repairs
are
finished
Or
they went
on
lunch
break
Prepared
to charge
up the hyperdrive
Right on it
“Roger, Roger,”
-famous last words
Sparking
Driving
Are we
seriously
waiting
on
these
two
“Are
you
quite
sure
the
ship
is
in
that
direction?
He’s
basically
a
GPS
That
way
looks
potentially
dangerous
All
of
them
do
“Haz
ardous,”
Better
Example
beeping
irritatedly
“I know
the whole
place
is
dangerous,”
Thank you
R2-
D2
“ I
suggest
we
stay
here
and
let
master
Anakin
find
us,”
Bad
idea
A better idea than anyone in the ‘let’s meet up in an undisclosed location’ came up with
Good idea
3PO
Fecking
Irony
“Don’t
just
stand
there,”
See?
“Let’s
get
back
to
the
ship,”
Irony
Power
up
the
engines
R2
You know
Obi-Wan’s
likely going to screw up your shit
right
*obi-Wan
comes
around
the
corner,*
Dude you have shit to
screw up
Did you forget?
There shouldn’t be an
escape pod
for you
What
Hold the
ship
No, you didn’t do
anything...
Then again he could just
cannonball
it
How’s that-
Okay
Very light
bullshit
“ i’ll
contact
the
fleet,”
It’s
the
most
you’ve
done
this
entire
time
Focus
On
The
chair
Do
cking
Clamp
There
We
Go
Off
We
Go
It’s
still
Burning
Grievous
Off
Why?
He doesn’t know
Obi-Wan’s off
the ship
Last
saw
him
on
the
train...
(Not
followed
up
on
directly)
Flighters,
Where
I thought they all got
destroyed?!
All batteries
open fire
Again
Plo Koon does not give a shit
who dies
(Until sitting on his ass gets
too
boring)
Also
this isn’t his fleet
They shouldn’t listen to
him
(Especially after he got his last one
killed)
More
Shooting at the
burning
wreck
Turb
ulence
And
Obi-Wan
still
didn’t
do
his
job
Guns
You can
shoot back
at any time
“ I wa-”
Obi-wan
being
completely
useless
Anakin
having
too
much
emotion
“I
got
it,”
Shoo
ting
stuff
Somehow
doesn’t
go
down
immediately
Hit
“ She
seems
to know
her way
around,”
Gross
Hit
Something
The
Hyper
Drive
-repaired
Also
Obi-Wan
didn’t
fuck
up
shit
Dis
appointed
Also
it
certainly
as
frick
isn’t
now
After
they’ve
been
shooting
Should we retreat
to
friendly
space?
If You can make there it with it in
one piece
(Which
was
the
qualifications)
Engage
the
hyperdrive
With
me
not
on
it
“Secret base
sector four,”
Interesting
“Prepare-”
Enthus
iastic
“Yes,
Sir,”
Fighters
still
chasing
Intense
“Nice
Shoot,”
Gross
“Beginners
luck,”
Beeping
“Pardin-”
“Hyperdrive
is
activating,”
Obi-Wan
“ Oh-shit
Caught in a
lie.”
“-what”
-They’re getting hit with cannonballs
Anakin what did you do
?!
(What Did
I
order you
to do?)
Coordinates
are
locked
“Hyperdrives
engaging,”
Shit’s
about
to
go-
Ar-
Sp-
arking
Glitzy
display
Base
“ I think
there’s
a
problem,”
“General
I think
there’s a problem with the
hyperdrive,”
Yeah
The ship got refired
upon
it’s probably
re broken
Seriously
“ I thought
the hyperdrive
was fixed,”
And then it got shot again...
The navigate computer is heading a straight into the
moon
What
??
Fools
reset the
Navi
computer
“Quick,”
Tech
Support
Dooku
Worst
time
to
call
(Don’t
think
it
could’ve
gone
more
sideways)
Also good job
Anakin
You crash landed them
on a planet
with significantly larger surface area
and resources
that they
can
use
to
re-build
Aka
you made things harder
than they needed to
be
Obi-Wan,
what are you
ordering
this kid
Narrowed
eyes
-No
reset
it
“General,”
Harsh
But I’m interested
in where this is going
Since
Grievous
has
had
a lot of
shit thrown at him
Doesn’t matter
which side of
enablers
he still enabling
But
I suppose
over involved
positivity
Would be
kind of a nice
change
for
him
Over
over involved
negativity
Speeds
off
“Trans
-mission
Has
been
cut,”
Intentionally
* also
smart
droid
“ We’re
Gonna
die
[Explosion]
How?!
Whelp
Obi-Wan has to have a sit down talk with Anakin.
about the ‘ Drive the
ship into the moon,’ order
Also I realized
(thanks to Obi-Wan)
they know nothing about what just
happened
Grievous
either
decided
to
just
end
it
or they’re all dead
Obi-Wan
Dick move
“ I imagine
you had
something
to do
with that,”
WTF- orders
“ all part of
the plan,”
Obi-Wan schooled
Anakin in
extraterrestrial terrorism
Cheering
at least the ion cannon
isn’t coming back
Nice shot
...So Destroy Malevolence
I have to say
I really like this episode
Despite the plot
stretched thin
There was a noticeable increase in the quality of
animation
The child characters were
good
The other characters were a lot more consistent
And a lot
smarter
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In that same vein, how about gelfling ranking??? OwO
Warning this post may contain lightly spiced opinions. Also not going to list all of them because there’s a lot...
BUT HERE WE GOOOOOO
1. Seladon: Say what you want with how AOR handled her redemption arc, but she’s by far the most interesting and complexly written gelfling character in the series. She was raised with a lot of pressure, being the eldest daughter of the all Maudra. She had to train hard and taught by a mother who never really showed her love or recognize her accomplishments. Most scenes she’s in with Mayrin her mother criticizes her constantly. Seladon was raised to serve the skeksis and that their word is law and true. And then suddenly her mother and her younger sister who she had a strained relationship are planning to flip it upside down. Lead by the being who represents all of Thra who hasn’t been seen or heard of in forever. And then her mother was murdered for treachery and further being manipulated by the beings she was taught to serve. Does any of this excuse what she did? Of course not, but constantly seeing people berate her over actual genocidal turkeys is very telling how people’s biases get in the way of what’s going on. But at the same time, a character generating this much discussion for her gray morale is proof of how great of a character she is. Also she rocks the goth look.
2. Kylan: Sweetest boy. Because he’s a minor character in AOR, I’m going to be talking about him from the books. His characterization was inconsistent in Shadows, but they became clearer in Song thanks to the fact his story was told from his perspective. He never really fit into anything: his parents were taken from him at an young age, his step-mother was not very kind to him despite loving him, he never fit in as a Spriton. Now, being part of a resistance of fighters, he once again feels inadequate as a songteller. How can a songteller fight the skeksis? Kylan struggled with self-worth, constantly comparing himself to his peers. But through his travels, he discovers that he has a place in the resistance and there are things that he can do that no one else can. He took on and defeated skekLi the Satirist through playing is firca (and aided by the mystics). Kylan was able to engrave dreametches (a rare and hard to learn skill) into the petals of the Sanctuary Tree to get the word out about the skeksis. He even saved Tavra’s life. He may be the broth boy in AOR, but he’s the smart, shy but very sweet songteller and I think more people should acknowledge that.
3. Tavra: Absolute MVP in both AOR and the book series. There are things I wish AOR kept about her, like her relationship with Onica (but I feel this can still be remedied if they find the right way to include it). She was the glue in her relationship with her sisters, keeping them together even after she “passed away”. Although it took her a while to get there, Tavra shined even brighter in the books. After losing her original body, she lives the rest of her life as a spider. Like Kylan, she was having her own self-doubts of what she could do with her new body. She does manage to find ways to work around her predicament, but seeing what sacrifices she would have to make (like not being able to see her sisters ever again) is heart breaking. Whatever her situation may be, in both iterations her bravery is commendable and I absolutely adore her character.
4. Periss: So this is my complete bias coming in, but I loved this character. Although he’s not my favorite from the book series anymore, he still remains high on my list. He’s a rebel: he hates his clan and their complacent ways. He knew their Great Tree was alive, but no one listened to him as they thought he wasn’t able to let go. He fought with his brother, sandmaster Erimon, to the point he decided to run away. Periss became a thief who grew a fondness for materialism, as opposed to a clan who lives on minimalism. When the main group finds him after stealing from them, they force him to get them to the Dousan Clan and indirectly confront his problems. It’s there that we find he’s not completely selfish and cares for those around him. I adore smug thief characters with a heart of gold and Periss quickly grew on me. Please be in future seasons.
5. Onica: While a minor character in AOR, she plays a bigger role in the book series. Her characterization is similar, but we get to see more of her: she has a backstory and established relationships with other characters. She lost her wings while stuck in a storm, losing her wings by saving one of her friends. Although she mourns over the loss, she will never regret doing what she did and even concluding that meeting Tavra was worth it. She’s also got a little sass to her and I love how she doesn’t take shit from no one. I hope we get to see this version of Onica in future seasons.
6. Naia: Once again, book series does her more justice. She’s a headstrong badass who cares about her family and goes through great lengths to find her brother. Like a lot of her friends, she has her own problems of fitting in into the grand scheme of things and eventually doubting herself when she believed her one special gift was taken from her. Also she had a super interesting expansion on her dreamfasting ability where not only could she dreamfast with animals but also with the skeksis/mystics (with Gurjin involved). She doesn’t take shit and she gets stuff done no matter how hard it is.
7. Maudra Argot: Sassy, doesn’t take any shit, should have been the All Maudra. How dare Mayrin rob that from her?
8. Maudra Seethi: My favorite maudra only for the tiniest bit of lore about her and design. I want to know more about you. Gimmie more lore.
9. Rek’yr: He’s really cool, but there’s not much to him. Hopefully we get a prequel comic starring him soon.
10. Kira: Should have been the protagonist of the movie. She’s a cute bog princess with a noisy rolly polly dog, can speak to animals, used said animals to kill a skeksis, knows how to use throwing weapons, what’s not to love? Sequel comics ruined her, though.
11. Brea: I love her inquisitiveness and her need to find the truth. I said this before, but my friend and I joked she was BOTW!Zelda and that still sticks with me. The two are so much alike. Brea is my favorite out of the main trio, but I wished she was as developed as her sisters.
12. Gurjin: I like him just fine. I don’t really get why people are so thirsty for him but everyone’s got different interests. He is really funny though and kiddos to him for staying strong while being tortured by the skeksis. He’s kind of the odd one out as I like him better in AOR than I did in the book series. I mean we didn’t really get to know him until Flames and by then he just couldn’t leave an impression on me.
13. Mira: Should have been alive instead of Rian. I kinda really wanted an all girl trio.
14. Maudra Ethri: I wish they kept her gem eye that was really cool.
15. Maudra Fara: She’s cool. That’s all I can really say.
16. Maudra Mayrin: Conflicted. One hand I understand why she acts the way she does but on the other hand that doesn’t excuse her from treating Seladon so poorly. Even when she finally steps up to the skeksis I don’t think it really makes up for what she did. A golden star for trying, though.
17. Elder Cadia: Who?
18. Deet: Okay I might get some salty fans on me but... I don’t particularly care for Deet? Like she’s cute and should be protected, but that’s really it. She’s just cute. It’s cool to see things from her perspective: the surface world of Thra is so new and newcomers to the series can see its wonders and dangers through her. But there’s not much else. Hopefully this changes but I’m not very impressed.
19. Rian: Now I don’t mind him, but I think I fell into the camp of I wish Mira was alive instead. He’s the typical hero character who’s needlessly surrounded by tragedy. The show never really gets him to mourn properly. And then he just moves on from Mira to Deet just like that? He’s also not really interesting as a character. He’s my least favorite of the main trio.
20. Ordon: I like him, but I don’t think he was very rememberable. I think he resolved his issues with his son too quickly and as soon as they reunite Ordon is killed off. His sacrifice wasn’t even worth it because skekMal survived anyway. Ordon’s death felt cheap, adding needless trauma and sorrow for Rian who was already dealing with the loss of Mira. Ordon deserved better.
21. Amri: Okay here’s another take people might get salty over: he’s boring. he had promise being a weird experimenter, but we don’t really get to see much of that except for a few instances. Amri had a collection of jars full of weird junk he made. They were brought up in Song and never again. I’m not sure why he became the protagonist of Tides I feel like he should have remained as a side character. He just never made an impression on me.
22. Jen: As interesting as white bread. I haven’t read the novelization of the movie yet so this opinion may change, but he’s just... not interesting. Also the sequel comics totally ruined him for me.
23. Kensho: I keep forgetting him most of the time. He’s boring.
24. Maudra Mera: Fuck this racist bitch. Worst gelfling 0/10.
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I was tagged by @wangxianbunnydoodles (oh my, this is long and you might regret it; also I don’t follow instructions well 😉). I tend not to be very good at these things (sorry to anyone else who has tagged me in these kinds of things before—this is a rare event happening mostly because I wanna talk about Tolkien books and ships) but here goes:
Top 3 Ships
I don’t actively ship characters that often. I’m not sure why that is. I do enjoy reading fic with pairings either canon or not, but I don’t often go “all in” on ships in most narratives I consume. There are notable exceptions (more than three but these are the three most recent—I have no idea how to identify my top ships):
WangXian (CQL). This is surely obvious from the current state of my blog, right? I blame The Untamed and its impossibly tender, only-subtextual-by-a-hair’s-breadth romance. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a show express ultimate devotion, deep affection, true appreciation, complete understanding (eventually), and the sheer *necessity of the other* between two people quite like this one has. Hell, I don’t think I’ve ever seen two characters and desperately wanted them together and happy as much as I have these two, so bravo to the cast and crew for generating such second-hand devotion in me.
Silvergifting (Tolkien). This is all @thearrogantemu’s fault. I’d read some Silvergifting before I read These Gifts That You Have Given Me, mostly out of curiosity (some good stuff, too!), but I had never read any Tolkien fic that convinced me it was *true* (on many, many levels, though the ship level is the one pertinent to this post). In any canon-like universe this ship hurts, but in the Gifts universe it hurts the most; it hurts like Hell. It hurts in the way only razor-sharp, sorry-the-universe-works-this-way, oh-are-those-my-entrails-on-the-floor-I-didn’t-even-feel-the-knife tragedy can hurt. And it’s so convincing that it’s just...a fact now. Tolkien just forgot to tell us. So now I ship Silvergifting, but most deeply, specifically THAT Silvergifting. (Meanwhile, 14 year old me continues to look at *significantly* older me like I’m insane.)
ZeLink (Legend of Zelda). Deep down I’m still 12 years old and no amount of fine lines and wrinkles is going to change that. When is Breath of the Wild 2 coming out?
Last Song
I listen to soundtracks and bombastic and dramatic orchestral pieces much more often than I listen to what people mean when they say “songs,” and a significant chunk of the “songs” I listen to are from musicals/operas.
Earlier today it was Hanz Zimmer’s soundtrack to Dark Phoenix (don’t start me up on the continuing disappointment that Phoenix adaptations continue to be to me—you don’t want to hear it; even I don’t want to hear it).
Before that it was Barbra Streisand’s The Broadway Album. (I prefer her outer space cover of “Somewhere” to the actual thing. Fight me.)
Before that it was Carmina Burana (One of my favorite things ever was when we went to a live performance of Carmina Burana and a boy who couldn’t have been more than 7 years old sat in the aisle in front of us and head-banged enthusiastically through “O Fortuna.” It was so metal. You go, kid. You get it.).
Before that it was a splattering of Billy Joel hits with emphasis on “2000 Years”, “River of Dreams”, “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”, “The Stranger”, and “Only the Good Die Young” (thanks to that outstanding WangXian interpretation!).
Of course the soundtracks to The Untamed/CQL have been on repeat for weeks around here, particularly every single iteration of “WuJi” and the flute-heavy instrumental pieces (man, those are good!).
Not long ago I had Sarah Brightman’s covers of “Figlio Perduto” from La Luna and “Glosoli” and “One Day Like This” from Dreamchaser burning through my iPhone battery (yes, I like popera).
Enya, and especially Shepherd Moons and The Track Which Shall Not Be Named has been on repeat a lot.
Last Movie
I don’t sit down to watch movies that often any more. It just takes too much stillness and undivided attention and more resistance to multi-tasking than I have. The actual last movie that I watched (in a “have it on on another screen while I work” kind of way) was Raiders of the Lost Ark, which, of course, I’ve seen umpteen times and which followed a similar rewatch of the Back to the Future trilogy. The last movie I watched completely without distraction was Book Smart; I don’t watch comedies very often, but I really enjoyed it in an “OMG, I can totally relate to this” kind of way (except for the class president thing—that would have required that I interact with other people my own age and also not be homeschooled). Before that I think it was the Tolkien biopic. Man, I still haven’t written anything about that.
Currently Reading (in order of when I started them)
Oh dear.
The Familiar: part 1, Mark Z Danielewski. *sigh* For as much as I think Danielewski is brilliant and House of Leaves is one of my favorite books ever, I’ve just not been able to get into much of his other work. It’s universally a time and energy investment to penetrate and puzzle through, and I just don’t have as much of that as I used to. House of Leaves makes that investment worth it from early on and is absolutely a page-turner once you settle in, but other than The Fifty Year Sword I’ve just not been able to get into the rest of his work. The Familiar: part 1 is supposed to be the first in a 26 part series which is currently halted at part 4, I think. Without a guarantee of all parts ever being published, I don’t think I’m ready to invest more time into part 1 and may end up abandoning it, unfortunately.
History of The Hobbit, Douglas Anderson. Anderson did what Christopher didn’t and gave The Hobbit the HoMe treatment (if a bit less literal and opaque in format). It’s fascinating (I mean, there’s the Beren and Luthien name drop you were not expecting right there in the first draft), but reading essentially the same passages with only small changes over and over can be a slog, so reading it has been an ongoing project for over a year now.
Splintered Light: Logos and Language in Tolkien’s World, Verlyn Fleiger. This is Fleiger’s look at Tolkien’s Middle-earth in light of his association with Owen Barfield. Particularly, she is examining Tolkien’s work in conjunction with Barfield’s Poetic Diction and his thoughts on language and meaning. I have not read Poetic Diction, but I probably will now since it apparently addresses language formation as related to the origin of human consciousness which is SO up my alley.
New Seeds of Contemplation, Thomas Merton. My late sister-in-law had a masters in theology from Notre Dame and became a huge Merton fan. Meanwhile, my best friend actually spent a weekend retreat at The Abbey of Gethsemani. Between hearing about him from the two of them, I developed an interest in Merton. I happened to read “Moral Theology of the Devil” a couple of years ago. It was one of the most illuminating theological things I have read and deeply inspired my own Tolkien fic-writing (let’s just say the progress there is otherwise slow). This book is a collection of pieces which happens to contain that piece, and I’ve been skipping around through it for a while now.
The Lord of the Rings reread (Tolkien, obviously). I hate this, but I am so deep in so many critical Tolkien books that I’ve not had the chance to really sit down and relax into my reread for months and months and will likely just end up starting over. Plus I want to read it concurrently with the next entry in this list and the next entry is taking longer to get through because of its format. That entry being:
The Lord of the the Rings: A Reader’s Companion, Hammond and Scull. This is a treasure trove of data and insights for those really wanting to dig critically-historically into The Lord of the Rings on a chapter-by-chapter, passage-by-passage basis. The only issue with it is that jumping back and forth between the two (as you have to: this is a reference book) tends to kill the mood of The Lord of the Rings when read as it’s meant to be read: for enjoyment!
The Power of Limits: Proportional Harmonies in Nature, Art, and Architecture, Gyorgy Doczi. This has been an ongoing read here and there since Christmas, especially as I work on two personal projects.
The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, Lesslie Newbigin. To be honest I don’t think I am going to finish this one. I like a few of the things he says, things I think are truthful and which need to be confronted in American Christian culture in particular, but it’s just too much Calvin for my taste, too many assumptions I do not share being the heretic that I am, and I spend too much time anger-notating about theology to read it with grace.
In Full Measure I Return to You, thearrogantemu. This is a reread of the (relatively) happy AU fic for my most favoritest Tolkien fic (Gifts), but I’ve put my reread on hold while I finish one of the two projects, after which I am diving in and screw the rest of this list for the time being.
Food Craving
Sushi. My kingdom for some good sushi. I’ve only had sushi once since we got back from NY and while it was the best sushi I have had locally IT WAS NOT OMAKASE AT SUSHI NOZ. It also didn’t require a personal loan to pay for, but *shrug* I’m spoiled now and will forever crave what I can no longer have.
People I’d Like To Get To Know Better
I hate tagging people in these things because I’m awkward and shy and do them so rarely myself that it feels hypocritical for me to ask it of others. That being said: if you’re a follower of my blog and you want to do this, please do! And please tag me! I’d love to get to know more about you 😊.
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