#died or who changed a character's gender mid story because they forgot he was a she-cat or who lead to an entire fucking twitter discourse

[lildoodlenoodle]

Something we see as the noir comics progress is a return to or a bad forced reflection to the 616 universe, but the noir characters are fairly different, with different life experiences, and motivations than their 616 counterparts. By forcing the same relationships and dynamics onto these characters we get a picture that doesn’t make sense, because they are not the same characters, and, ultimately leads to, lazy and bad writing. This is most evident to me in the romantic relationships, specifically the noir spideycat relationship.

Ok so, they have Peter, who’s implied to be a teenager in the 16-19 range(likely on the younger end of that), and the writers have him sleep with Felicia Hardy, an adult, who is implied to be anywhere in the 30s-50s range(likely in early to mid 40s), his boss and sudo father figure’s (who died 8 months ago)ex long term partner/girlfriend. And this is how they draw Peter’s reaction to her coming onto him:

GIRL he looks HORRIFIED and shocked why why why. Ughhhhh. I genuinely cannot tell what type of emotion they were going for. And the only people I’ve seen talk about this specific reaction were like ‘That is the reaction of a panicking gay man’ which maybe, but also A CHILD.

Then, the reaction the morning after also kills me cause Peter’s like ‘so we’re boyfriend-girlfriend now’ because he genuinely thinks that’s how that works and Felicia laughs at him cause she knows damn well it isn’t. That really highlights to me the difference in maturity, vulnerability, and age inbetween these two and it killllssss meeeee.

AND ITS NOT EVEN IN CHARACTER FOR FELICIA! In like Ultimates(?), 20 smth her kisses masked teenage Peter but after he mentions being in high school she freaks the fuck out! And has a general reaction of disgust! Like ‘Ew OMG I cannot believe I kissed a High Schooler’ and then she leaves!(and her noir design and story was so cool, like she wasn’t the black cat she was the WHITE WIDOW and an entrepreneur and it was so cool and THEY DESTROYED IT ALL FOR A BAD ‘LOVE’ STORY(there’s also the whole MJ Felicia lover foil but different post same vein))

Cause I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, the writers either forgot what their ages were, didn’t care about the implications, or didn’t understand what the implications were of having a teenager sleep with a middle aged woman. And maybe part of it is the teenage boy and his friend’s hot mom or hot teacher gag/trope we see a lot in media that is considered to be more socially acceptable than if the genders were reversed. And I hate the general disregard for this sort of thing. Cause grooming and sleeping with older people as a teenager does cause trauma and does change how you build and handle future romantic, and especially, sexual relationships!

Tbh this one of the bigger problems I have with basically all of the Spider-Man Noir comics, they give Peter(and MJ) all this trauma and complicate relationships in certain ways and then they never talk about it or do anything with it as if it doesn’t affect them AT ALL or didn’t EVEN HAPPEN. It’s undeniable that a lot of, not only the trauma, but why the trauma isn’t talked about is because of the need for the 616 parallels.

[tasmanianstripes]

Redesigning characters is FINE. It's FUN. You need to fucking calm down if you think otherwise.

There's nothing wrong with that as long as it's not done to somebody's oc (without consent) or they don't imply it's "fixing" the characters.

Some artists like to see themselves as characters they love, so they'll change their skin colour or body type or ethnicity or something else about them. It's FINE, it's just done for fun, as long as it's not done for clout chasing (often done by people who, for example, are skinny but redesign characters to be fat just to seem progressive) and the artist doesn't say they're "fixing" them it's FINE.

Some media, like animation, are limited in the designs they can portray. Artists don't have the same limitations as animation or movies have, so it's fun to draw characters with more detailed designs! For example, MLP characters partly so simplistic in their design so it'd be easier to animate them, but when you don't have to draw them 25+ times just to make a second of animation then it's fine and FUN to make their designs a little more complex! Sometimes the designs that are intentionally simplistic for animation look boring or flat in drawing because it's a different medium, so artists might want to redesign them slightly so they look better for that specific medium!

HELL, sometimes artists just like having artistic freedom and like to redesign characters because they prefer that type of design choice. Sometimes, like in book series designs, artists like to be more original with their depictions of certain characters. I'm gonna draw Mapleshade as a white cat with black and ginger freckles instead of a mostly black calico, who the fuck cares!

IT'S NOT A BAD THING.

[splashstar01]

142 REASONS MERTHUR IS REAL

HERE ❤

I wrote this list a looong time ago but life got in the way so I never finished it. It’s still unfinished but I figured I could share anyway, since I don’t think I’ll start on it again. 

Long live the Merlin fandom! 

(Document copy & pasted below in case link fails.)

Merlin said “I love you” to Arthur in 5.13

Arthur said it back.

Arthur pulled Merlin into an almost-kiss before he died.

They were holding hands when Arthur died.

In 5.13, while they were having a moment, the BBC Merlin romantic theme song played in the background. 

Arthur waited 1500 years in Avalon.

Merlin waited 1500 years on earth.

Merthur-haters hated the finale because they said it was too centered around Merlin and Arthur’s relationship and not the plot. 

They held hands four times in 3.12.

Arthur is going to rise when Merlin needs him the most (the dragon said for Albion, but after 1500 years, Merlin becomes the last remaining piece of Albion.) 

Arthur is basically rising from the dead through sheer force of will because of his love for Merlin. He won’t do this for his wife, his knights, Gaius, nor his kingdom. Just for Merlin. 

So.. Arthur loves Merlin more than Camelot. 

Arthur loves Merlin more than he loves himself.

Arthur loves Merlin more than he hates magic. 

Arthur loves Merlin more than he loves himself.

Arthur loves Merlin more than anything. 

These feelings are reciprocated. 

The creator said they “genuinely thought of the episode as a love story between two men… It absolutely is a love story,” 

...and also that their relationship was “the heart of the show.” 

So basically Merlin was all about their gay love story. Got it. 

Katie McGrath said that the creator had “confirmed” Merlin and Arthur’s love after he called them a love story (haters, don’t kid yourself, their platonic love didn’t need ANY sort of confirmation.) 

She also said that she was glad the big fandom debate was finally put to rest (hmm.. wonder what that was?? Oh right, the giant debate has always been whether or not Merthur was romantic..) 

Merlin and Arthur are continuously called a love story (by the creator, cast, official ads… the gay is strong.)

In the middle of season 5, when Bradley was asked, “Way back in season one, you told us that you thought Merlin’s bromance with Arthur was way more important than Guinevere’s romance. Given the changes, is that still the case?” he said, “For the show, then yes, the bromance is more important. For Arthur, I think when you find someone in your life whom you love more than anything, you’ll do anything for them. And I believe that Arthur would do anything for them.” Bradley avoids directly saying Gwen is more important, even AVOIDING USING GENDER-SPECIFIC PRONOUNS. 

Merlin is always looking at Arthur’s crotch. He’s a bottom.

Arthur is always looking at Merlin’s ass. He’s a top. 

Merlin moaned Arthur’s name in his sleep. 

Arthur moaned Merlin’s name in his sleep.

So.. they dream about each other. 

And their dreams are vivid enough that they say each other’s names out loud. Ok then.

They look at each other’s lips a lot. In contrast, I don’t even look at any of my friends’ lips, ever, and I don’t notice any other friends doing it either??? 

When Arthur pictures his perfect life, he pictures it on a farm away from everyone with just him and Merlin (worth noting: when he enclosed this, it was to his girlfriend… on their date.) 

He also wants to run away with Merlin to said farm. And yes, he told Gwen this, too. No, he didn’t imply that she would be there at all. 

When Arthur proposed to Gwen, he had to have Merlin with him but because it would be indecent, he had Merlin hide behind curtains.. 

Arthur forgot his and Gwen’s anniversary,

even though Gwen reminded him a month before. 

And even Merlin remembered his anniversary before he did and had to remind him.. 

But yet Arthur remembered exactly how many days it’d been since his best friend smiled. 

Oh, and on the anniversary date, Arthur brought Merlin along. Of course. (You’d think he’d try to make it as romantic as possible since he y’know, forgot about it. But he can’t stand to be away from Merlin for even a second.)

They’re canon soulmates.

It’s also canon that Merthur is destiny. 

Merlin routinely sees Arthur naked. When his girlfriend did, he reacted quite negatively. 

Everyone in the castle treats Merlin like he’s Arthur’s mistress, and he gets the castle mistress privileges as well. 

Arthur thinks Merlin is gay (in his mind, Merlin has the stereotypical gay traits-- feminine and a crossdresser-- and then in a scene that wasn’t played off comically, Arthur asked why Merlin was walking with a limp after going out with a “girl”-- he emphasized “girl,” not me), therefore Arthur must have known Merlin’s feelings for him, yet he continued to let his very gay best friend see him naked and dress and undress him. 

Even when he thought Merlin was gay AND a horny virgin (“You have led a sheltered life, you have no social skills whatsoever, and Catrina is, I admit, an attractive woman. I understand completely”), he still let Merlin see him naked… knowing full well that Merlin, this apparently horny gay virgin, cares about him more than any other guy… Arthur’s basically asking to be boned. (C’mon Merlin, get the hint!!)

The night Merlin thought he wouldn’t see Arthur again, he missed him so much that he made a Pendragon dragon out of fire at his camp. 

Merlin almost admitted his feelings to Arthur, saying “I know it’s hard for you to understand how I feel..” and it was only after Arthur made a very shocked and dismayed face, did Merlin quickly change tack and made a joke out of it. 

Arthur admitted that Merlin could break his heart. And Merlin was crying. And it was super romantic. 

So Arthur basically admitted he loved Merlin, because a heart can’t break if it never loved.

Arthur said that the knights were like his friends and brothers, but then he also said that Merlin was his only friend, in which he was effectively putting Merlin above the knights, above friends, and above brothers… So… what’s the spot above all that in which Merlin apparently inhabits within the King’s heart? (hint: g-a-y-l-o-v-e) 

Arthur stabbed Merlin’s first love to death.. I sense some jealousy. ;) (Ok fine, I admit, he didn’t know who she was when he did it but it’s still kind of funny in a weird dark sort of way that’s actually really sad and not actually funny at all when you see Merlin crying. ;u;)

Arthur’s father said that Merlin and Arthur’s bond went “beyond the line of duty.” That’s so gay. 

Arthur always listens to Merlin when he tells him not to marry someone, even if it’s last minute and the bride is literally waiting at the altar. I’m 10,000% sure if he’d wanted, Merlin could’ve easily convinced Arthur not to marry Gwen as well. Even when his Gwen was consistently upset about him marrying Elena, he was going to until Merlin told him not to. It’s almost like he doesn’t care who he marries as long as Merlin’s by his side and approves of the wife. 

In the finale, Arthur had to choose between his wife or Merlin, and he chose Merlin, even giving Gwen back their wedding ring. 

About that scene, the creator said, “There goes his heterosexuality.” 

Arthur’s uncle asked him to give up on Gwen, so he broke up with her. Arthur’s uncle asked him to give up on Merlin, and he shut his uncle up mid-sentence. Gwen asked him to give up on Merlin and he said “You’re not going to change my mind.” No surprise there.

Arthur barely spends any time alone with Gwen and when he does, he turns almost every conversation they have into something about Merlin. Obsessed much?? 

All their sexual innuendos. 

One time Merlin implied that he was Arthur’s true love (he said Arthur was a toad but that since magic was outlawed, he would never turn into a handsome prince, and we all know the toad gets turned into a prince only by the magic of true love’s kiss,... and Merlin was implying that he would have been the one to turn Arthur back.)

Merlin fondly calls Arthur “cabbagehead,” and in modern language that roughly translates to “sweetie-head.” 

There’s an anime called Fate’s Stay Night where the main characters are King Arthur (a woman) and her male lover Shiro. In it, Arthur waited thousands of years in Avalon before seeing Shiro (BBC’s Arthur waited 1500 years in Avalon before seeing Merlin) and Shiro (again, Shiro is the lover, even though Gwen was also in the anime) was doomed to hopelessly search thousands of years for Arthur (ahem MERLIN)! This makes me wonder if BBC Merlin’s ending and the Merlin/Arthur love story (instead of Arthur/Gwen) isn’t all that uncommon in Arthurian myth.. Merthur coincided a little too perfectly with Arthur/Shiro. 

Merlin would do anything Arthur says. Anything. With emphasis. (That scene is so filthy-sounding i can’t even rewatch it with parents around.)

Arthur can recognize Merlin by just his eyes but not his own sister whom he grew up with. 

Merlin splashed pee into Arthur’s mouth and his only punishment was an “i will so kill you for this but will never actually do anything about it” glare. If that’s not true love, I don’t know what is. 

They’re always doing super domestic stuff together. 

Arthur associates flowers with romance, yet asked Merlin where Merlin’s flowers for him where.. 

And then while they were talking about these flowers, Merlin did magic in front of him and a scroll FLEW OFF THE TABLE, fell to the floor, made a pretty audible ‘thump’ noise, and Arthur (trained alert knight) didn’t even notice despite it happening inches away from him because he was so engrossed in this flowers talk. 

When Merlin pulled Arthur’s pants down, he didn’t just pull down his pants, he (very unnecessarily) pulled down everything. 

And unlike what he usually does, he didn’t need a spell to pull them down.. Almost like the act of unclothing his King came naturally to his magic? 

After he married Gwen, Arthur began sleeping with his shirt on instead of off like usual.. Decidedly not the actions of a straight man. 

But then whenever he’s with Merlin, his shirt just comes right off. Even Bradley said, “I’ll find myself setting out to do a scene and it’ll be a scene where I’m just having a chat with Merlin, and then one of the script editors will come down and say, “We’ve had a message from production: Bradley’s going to do this scene with his top off.” That’s what I call good writing. 

Most of Arthur’s kisses with Gwen are super chaste, and even the longer ones aren’t all that passionate. Instead he keeps staring at Merlin’s lips. 

Arthur is always staring at Merlin, especially when he thinks Merlin isn’t looking. 

Merlin does the same thing.

And they have tons and tons of eyesex. 

Sometimes they’ll look away really quickly when the other catches them staring. 

Sometimes when they’re having a moment, it’s so powerful that Merlin is near-tears with the depth of his feeling. 

Aithusa is basically their daughter. 

Merlin and Arthur are really touchy-feely. 

And they have lingering touches. 

Arthur’s mind is in the gutter a lot. 

Even when Arthur is told to go on quests and missions alone, he brings Merlin. Probably because he doesn’t see him and Merlin as a separate being. They are, after all, two sides of the same coin. Soulmates. 

Merlin and Arthur are scarily co-dependent. 

Which makes their waiting/separation even more depressing. 

The entire series was only the prologue of Merlin and Arthur’s eternal love story. 

The deleted scenes were mostly all Merthur stuff. Almost like their own mini-series in the behind-the-scenes. 

When Arthur was dying, it seemed like he didn’t even remember Gwen. He didn’t mention her or ask Merlin to get a message back to her, nothing. In his mind, it was just him and Merlin at the end of it all. 

Bradley and Colin purposely, intentionally played Merlin and Arthur as homoerotic gay closet cases. Some things Merlin and Arthur did was attributed to Brolin, but there are other things that were just in no way not intentional, because Bradley and Colin are PROFESSIONAL. ACTORS. They know and control every little part of the slightest twitch of the lips to a crinkle in the eyes to match their characters. Some things are Brolin, but other more obvious things (like staring at lips for example) were likely done purposely, because I think Bradley and Colin are good enough as actors to know exactly what they’re doing. 

Arthur are Merlin are listed officially as tsunderes on tvtropes.org… and 99% of the time, tsunderes are people who treat the ones they’re in love with badly in order to hide their true feelings (Arthur is a Type A tsundere-- which is the typical type-- and Merlin is Type B, meaning he is generally sweet and friendly but his hidden angry side is triggered by the love interest.)

On the site, it says that Type B tsunderes tend to appear in a relationship of the “Belligerent Sexual Tension” types. Those relationships are defined as such: “There’s a couple, usually a sometimes sweet, sometimes grouchy female paired with a secretly-kind jerk, who are not able to admit their feelings. At the top of their lungs. Despite the conflict, there is an attraction. This is usually obvious to everyone around except the couple. Confront them with the obvious, they’ll deny deny deny. Sometimes they will progress to admitting their friendship but insist they are "just friends.” Eventually, they can admit their feelings to practically anyone except their loved one. It ends up where both characters dance around admitting their feelings as if the words “I love you” are some sort of death curse, much to the frustration of the audience and the other characters. If there is a Love Epiphany with one of these characters (hmm…such as when Merlin and Arthur held hands?), expect it to change almost nothing, at least in the short term. Expect this couple to be popular with the fandom.“

No matter how many times Merlin saves his life, Arthur never knights him, probably due to thinking that Merlin is only tiny and always wanting an excuse to have to protect him and never let Merlin out from under his wing. 

Wanting an excuse to protect him is probably why Arthur usually doesn’t give Merlin a sword on their quests. 

Merlin once said to Arthur, “Look what we’ve got.” Arthur asked, “What..?” And he replied, “You and.. (long pause for dramatic gay effect).. me?” 

Under Arthur’s character on wikipedia, it says, “There are even indications of him being in love with Merlin although the writers denied it throughout the filming of the show.” 

The gay in Merlin isn’t played off as comical. 

And it isn’t made fun of.

And characters always acknowledge their beautiful relationship.

After seeing them together for only a couple days, Merlin’s mom told him she thought they were soulmates and needed to stay together. Merlin agreed. (This was freaking season one.)

With the creator’s final comments and with everything we know, it’s more than safe to say that Merlin and Arthur had a happily ever after, had lots of mind-blowing sex, got married, and all that other good jazz. 

It’s kind of telling that the first time Merlin disguises himself as a girl, he immediately takes this opportunity to flirt with Arthur. 

That’s pretty solid proof that if Merlin had been a girl, he and Arthur would’ve gotten together so fast. Haters that say otherwise couldn’t be more wrong. 

When Merlin and Arthur were stuck in that net together, they probably had boners for hours, which would be the only explanation as to how they both forgot Arthur’s sword could cut rope until night time. 

And when Merlin said, “Don’t put your knee there!” it was probably on his raging boner, because then right afterward he was moaning pretty sexually. 

And then they fell asleep in each other’s arms. 

In the night, Arthur was faced towards Merlin, and Merlin was facing front, but in the morning they were both curled in towards each other. Awwwww.

Merlin and Arthur are a lot gayer in the books, where you can actually read their thoughts. Sadly the books don’t go past season 3. So basically, imagine everything and all the feelings you know they have for each other x50. 

Merlin can literally get away with anything when it comes to Arthur, including punching and slapping him, throwing poop in his face, splashing Arthur’s own pee in his mouth, calling him all varieties of names, give him orders and make him obey them, and so much more. 

Arthur has never actually tried to hit-hit Merlin. 

Merlin gave Arthur his blue cloak as a temporary disguise all the way in 2.02, and Arthur kept it throughout the whole series, despite initially complaining about its smell and also being aware that Merlin barely had any clothes. (Perhaps it had some of Merlin’s natural scent and Arthur just couldn’t give that up? ;))

no but let’s honestly talk about the fact that arthur heard merlin warning him of morgana’s attack ~in a dream~ and he still sprang out of bed and took action. let’s talk about the fact that arthur trusts merlin that much, that he holds merlin in that regard. let’s talk about the fact that he didn’t even question hearing merlin’s voice in his head, guiding him to make good choices. let’s talk about the fact that arthur probably just thought it was his own voice of reason. let’s talk about the fact that arthur’s voice of reason sounds like merlin. Let’s talk about the fact that he ditched his wife because he heard Merlin 

Arthur gave Merlin a comfort blanket. http://splashstorm.tumblr.com/post/86506542798 

In a deleted scene, Arthur shows his rampant homosexuality by saying that Princess Elena is “too girly” for him despite the fact that she is a tomboy. As http://hunters-in-the-sherlocked-tardis.tumblr.com/post/85503085327/are-you-seriously-telling-me-merthur-isnt-real put it, “she’s manly yet not manly enough for Arthur.” Maybe he needs a… real man? 

Because we’ve already seen it. The beautiful scene in ‘The Wicked Day’ where Merlin waits all night is exactly what will happen. And all though i’m upset we didn’t even get the tiniest hint of Arthurs return in the finale, if I think back to that scene, I just have to place it in the future and it is Arthurs return. http://splashstorm.tumblr.com/post/85231927358 

in 2x08 Uther locks Arthur in his room and has some guards watch the doors and Merlin walks in in the middle of the night and helps Arthur get away through the window. and in the morning Uther tells the guards “you’ve been guarding an empty room!!!1!” and doesn’t it make you think though.. they just see Merlin come into Arthur’s chambers at 1 AM and time passes and the sun is raising and Merlin hasn’t come out and they just exchange this knowing look and smile a little http://splashstorm.tumblr.com/post/81567225997 

Arthur talking about what should we do when he asks merlin about things that concern the kingdom #IN OTHER WORDS #MARRIED http://splashstorm.tumblr.com/post/80662558768 

Merlin watches and gives Arthur baths and routinely sees his cock. 

Arthur never believed Merlin was a sorcerer because he thought sorcerers were evil and Merlin was the nicest purest thing he knew. 

Our boys pine. A lot. Google “pining fic” and they’re all over the front page. 

Arthur uses his body to shield Merlin during times of danger. He is subconsciously saying, “NO DON’T HURT MERLIN’S LITTLE BODY, HURT MY BODY INSTEAD, MYYYY BODY.”

Merlin can heal without contact but puts his hands all over Arthur’s body anyway. http://splashstorm.tumblr.com/post/128837955978 

When Uther died, Merlin waited up all night for Arthur. Not the girlfriend. Not his knights. But Merlin. 

A new study that came out in 2015 says you should marry your best friend. Merlin is Arthur’s best friend. 

There’s not as much meta for Merthur as there are for other slash ships… because a lot of things are just so obvious there’s really no need to meta them to see it. 

Arthur probably watched Merlin from Avalon counting the days between his smiles.. http://splashstorm.tumblr.com/post/110726596038

When Gwen and Merlin went missing for a few days, Arthur was more happy to see Merlin. 

Merlin always said he’d die for Arthur but in the end he lived for him. http://splashstorm.tumblr.com/post/102764131518 

Arthur ruffles Merlin’s hair. ‘Nuff said.

They caressed each other’s faces. http://splashstorm.tumblr.com/post/98476166938  

Merlin gave up EVERYTHING for Arthur. It was probably really unhealthy but so gay. He was willing to put aside everything, including himself, and even at the expense of others, all for Arthur. 

Arthur could’ve dressed himself. He just didn’t want to. Even as his wife dressed him, he was complaining about wanting Merlin instead. 

Even though he gets to see Arthur naked all the time, it’s clearly not enough because Merlin still keeps sneaking looks at Arthur without his pants or without his shirt. And Arthur totally lets him without ever saying anything about it. 

Despite saying that with Gwen, he can just be himself, Arthur stays super polite and super formal with her throughout the entire series. Anyone would think they had an arranged marriage or something. But with Merlin he shows all sides of himself-- even when he’s being rude, overly boisterous, annoying, nervous, weak-- every side, Merlin has seen and Gwen hasn’t. Gwen loves him for who he acts like with her. Merlin loves him for who he is. 

Gwen’s first choice isn’t Arthur and Arthur’s first choice isn’t Gwen. 

Bradley agrees, saying, “The two pairings I suppose that are destined to end up together in a..you know in a different way. Lancelot and Guinevere. And Arthur and God forbid Merlin.”

Merlin and Arthur made each other better people.

Merlin and Arthur are pretty obsessed with each other. 

Merlin sees himself as Arthur’s caretaker. Arthur sees himself as Merlin’s caretaker. 

When Merlin got his first battle wound, Arthur did the romantic boyfriend thing and ripped a piece of his own clothing to tend to the wound. 

Arthur likes putting his fingers wayyy too close to Merlin’s face…

Nothing could come between them. 

Merlin asked Arthur to buy him a drink. And in a different episode, he did.

 And last but not least, just all of this.

[zenosanalytic]

Reply-Replies to Purified-Zone: Wonder Woman Replies

purified-zone said:

I don’t think her destroying a church was necessarily pro-pagan or anti-church, it was just a casualty of warfare like any other because the setting was that: everything is being destroyed anyway. This is why I was fine with there being so much killing unlike in BvS where it’s not really “justified” at all  

Yeah they probably didn’t mean it that way but I just got a bevy of chuckles out of the sheer preponderance of imagery in that direction. I mean: sniper hiding in a church being a danger to the whole community, literal(in the movie at least, I’m pretty sure she’s not in the comics though I don’t really follow them) Olympian goddess smashing said church to rid the community of danger, then standing atop ruins of said church as the towns people cheer her and heavenly light streams down from behind her. That’s bordering on heavy-handed.

all the Olympians being “dead” (or better—never actually existed, the TRUE mythology being a mystery instead) would be more interesting than Ares being responsible for WW1

Ehh. Though, yeah, I agree with the idea of Ares being responsible for WWI being pretty asinine. Though the movie’s a bit confused here too: he says he’s not responsible for the war and he’s not making people fight, only suggesting weapons and tactics that they can choose to use to make it more horrible, but then the moment he’s dead those German soldiers pull off their masks, surrender, and everyone stops fighting. So which is it: was Ares just capitalizing on human nature to suggest ways people who’ve already decided to do terrible things can be worse, or was his influence actually causing people to fight, and by defeating him Diana ensured the armistice would succeed? Diana’s conclusion is that people suck but they can also be pretty great too, and you’ve just got to believe in that pretty greatness, and work to promote it, not that Ares was behind it all and that without him the war wouldn’t have existed. Like I said, I think they could have done something more interesting with an Ares storyline, but the movie would have been more consistent if there was no Ares, or if “Ares” as just war-itself, was the real villain, and preserving the armistice that allowed WWI to finally end the real victory she achieves. I get that Ares is her actual nemesis in the comics series, but how they included him here just didn’t work for me, and he looked just silly in that final fight.

Speaking of the brainspace part, the entire time I was hoping for a Nolanian (for lack of a better word, I don’t know film very well. Insert appropriate synonym for psyche-out) mindfuck where it turns out the entire battle was a hallucination. I was hoping Ares was a hallucination the moment he disappeared from the window in that one scene

I don’t think him being a hallucination would have worked, but that fight did feel kinda weird and off. Like, nobody but Steve and his team seemed to be paying any attention to it and they’re setting off these massive explosions and tearing the place apart. I kinda felt like the Germans were interpreting it as a bombing raid or sabotage or something, which how could you do that when there’s two people flying around flinging stuff at each other and telekineting the runway into projectiles? So the idea of it being not entirely physical, or something slightly outside mortal comprehension which people not in the know couldn’t entirely perceive almost seemed a bit implied with how it played out, to me. Who knows, maybe they batted around an idea like that but then decided to go for a conventional superhero final showdown, or maybe that sort of reaction was just convenient plot-wise.

I don’t enjoy there being One True Pantheon (the greek one) because that’s less interesting than a world where all religious beliefs have some chance of being considered. it’s less interesting than a world where it is still a mystery where Themyscira REALLY came from 

similar to how it is more interesting for us not to know where the Space Jockey came from rather than they inexplicably making the Alien universe infinitely smaller by making them the creators of humanity                            

I’m not saying “One True Pantheon”. Never at any point in their history did the Greeks ever say their gods were the “only REAL” gods, and including them in a fictional setting doesn’t bar you from including any other god you like, or even making them something other than divine(or “top tier” divine) beings(ala Marvel’s Asgard... And their Olympus and Olympians, to be honest), so that you can leave space for an ultimately ambiguously Abrahimic/atheistic universe like DC and Marvel have conventionally done. I’m just saying I didn’t feel like having them killed off served any purpose storywise for the movie(and I’d add it also hurts her chances for solo sequels, since most of WW’s enemies are associated with myth, Ares, and the Olympian pantheon in someway or another). The same effect could have been accomplished in other ways, and the path they chose -getting close enough to WW canon to preserve aspects of her origin, throw others into doubt(like her fabrical creation), but veering away from it where it might suggest something other than a currently monotheistic cosmology- was just... Meh. And I fully realize that this is the sort of complaint very few people are going to have, so no surprise that the filmmakers didn’t give consideration for this particular sensibility pride-of-place in their decision making.

I forgot to finish my thought on the hallucination part! Whoops! The point I was trying to get to was that one part where Diana rewinds her memories mid-battle to what Steve said—I was hoping so hard that was a psyche-out retconning the battle as something of a mental projection by Diana meant as a mental battle of ideas To Learn A Lesson so as to change the outcome of Steve Dying

Oh! Ok. HHHHHHMMMMMMmmm idontknow. I feel like that would have been super gimmicky and led to a lot of “it was all a dream” complaints. And -though I guess this undercuts all such psychedelic conclusions like the one I mentioned- I don’t think the movie really established its world and setting as the sort of place that kind of thing would happen in.

also why did Steve have to die I don’t understand why that was necessary 

Honestly, I think it’s because Steve Rogers “died” heroically flying a plane away from where it could do any harm in First Avenger. It was such a callback. Like really, the whole ending was pretty superfluous, but that aspect was especially bad. Like, if the flammability of the gas allows them to blow it up safely with no poison possibility, then why couldn’t they just blow it up on the ground with a grenade? Why couldn’t he just jump out with a parachute after flying it high up? If it’s effective range of threat was 50 miles centered on the point of release, then why didn’t they all die anyway considering the atmosphere does not extend 50 miles up? Like I said, I feel like you cannot make a WWI movie that doesn’t deal with loss since SO MANY PEOPLE died in that war and the sheer volume of the dead was probably its most remembered impact, and in that context I can see justifying Steve’s death, but having him die a heroic martyr, and therefore a war-glorifying one, like he did in the movie wasn’t necessary, and also undercut his character. Like, the whole point of it was just to include your conventional war-story sacrifice glorification, and it’s premise is literally an anti-war one, so that’s kinda ill-done.

But, having said all that, I still liked the movie. It wove action and humor together excellently, and I enjoyed the sensibility of it a heck of a lot more than that found in most action blockbusters. It wasn’t a cruel movie in anyway, it didn’t make fun of or belittle people and, while I did feel the treatment of them was rushed through, it acknowledged the downsides of violence and conflict through Charlie, Chief, Sameer(I mean, it’s not stated, but he’s probably North African and in Europe because of how inhospitable colonialism made his homeland), and the suffering of the civilians we see. The camera work was non-skeezy, the bath scene with Steve was So Good, playing on the humor and awkwardness in the situation, and in Diana’s curiosity&lack of physical shame(and thus obliviousness to Steve’s), without being objectifying or creepy; presenting Steve as vulnerable without being creepy or denigrating or acquisitive about it(again, most other action movies when it comes to women).

It’s a good, entertaining movie it’s just that philosophically, and aside from its a++ peopleing and gender politics, it left me a bit dissatisfied.