#get some critical thoughts

[mohntilyet]

caterina's datamined character description calling her korean-italian and early lucanis designs having him look east asian . i'll just do everything myself i guess

assorted thoughts: caterina is fully 'korean' or whatever the thedas equivalent would be in this design, and clawed her way to the top of the crow food chain after years of work. their armor is something caterina forcibly incorporated to distinguish house dellamorte from the other crows, and a symbol of their status because they get it custom made or imported. of course race-equivalents do not really exist in thedas or this world but i also will never forget how gaider just implied (east) asian people don't exist in thedas because it just so happens that there are no asians on the continent of thedas (guy who forgot about boats) . explode and die. there's not the same kind of discrimination as exists irl ofc (and the dellamortes are actually treated fine, much better than a mage or elf) but a level of xenophobia against foreigners from a different continent. illario looks the least like her, and passes for being fully antivan, which changes how he is recieved by the other crows.

and sorry if the korean is bad please actually let me know if it's horribly translated i relied on google translate . if you are one of ten asian dragon age fans feel free to talk to me at any given moment.

[sukibenders]

When other Yellowjackets fans, majority who are poc themselves, talk about how weird and frustrating it is that the writers introduced a random yte character and gave them a storyline when there were two (technically three but they killed off Lottie even when there was an opportunity for more) woc, who have been around since s1, that could've fit the mold instead (like Mari) and have actual personalities outside of building up/being the lapdog for another character. Or how often times many of the, limited, poc characters are often either treated poorly and killed off, or pushed to the side (Simone, reduced to the disposable black girlfriend trope and is nearly killed by her partner because she's in the way of a ship; Travis, since s1, had his trauma dismissed or ignored and was overly hated but no one talks about how he was SA'd by the girls he's now stuck with on top of having to eat his brother and not be able to grieve over it). How Taissa's whole storyline is just revolving around Van even with all the potential, especially given she's fighting to be free from her own mind, how Lottie's mental illness is treated so poorly as if it's not the butt of a joke then it's met with heavy criticism (and the only time she is met with sympathy for it, it's through the lens of a yte character embodying her and having an emotional conversation with her father). How you can have all of these reasons (and more) for being annoyed by Melissa's character or the direction of the show, and be met with #those fans downplaying these concerns, or just being overly antagonistic just because they find yte character #243 entertaining so obviously these conversations don't have merit. But this fandom has always had an...."interesting" way in which it discussed the poc characters on the show, so I'm not surprised.

[benevolenterrancy]

("Always. Continuously. With increasing apprehension, and decreasing hope. I will love you if I never see you again, and I will love you if I see you every Tuesday. I will love you as a corpse loves the beak of the vulture. I will love you no matter what happens to you, and no matter how I discover what happens to you, and no matter what happens to me as I discover this." -- paraphrased from The Beatrice Letters, Lemony Snicket)

[peace-hunter]

tfone au where OP is created as the last of the primes but way after them, a sparkling born at what were thought to be the last days of the war against the quintessons, the beginning of a new generation of peace after eons of war. a child meant to be loved and raised knowing nothing of war nor sacrifice.

he's kept mostly out of the spotlight by his siblings, who don't wish to expose him to everyone's optics so young, and want to wait until the war is done and over to properly introduce him to their people.

except of course the primes are betrayed and murdered by sentinel, the war is lost and everyone who knows and cared for the truth is either banished or outright killed in order to suppress it.

and the high guard, the ones the primes trusted the most, the ones that were supposed to protect them, the ones who failed in their most important duty, have to make a choice. to take the last prime, their last hope, with them to the surface, a hostile environment where there's little to no supplies and where they'll be hunted down by both sentinel and the quintessons as the biggest threat to their regimen.

or hide him in plain sight. place him where sentinel won't think to look for him. one more sparkling among many. and hope it will be enough to keep him alive. pray to primus that he'll protect his last child long enough for them to come back for him when it's safer (even if most of them have already lost their faith on him when he allowed the rest of his children to be massacred like that)

they almost lose their resolve when they realize they will have to take the little one's cog away in order to make him blend in with the rest of the newborns (and oh do they burn with murderous intent when they see what sentinel has done to their people but it's not the time yet-) but in the end they decide an impaired little prime is better than a dead one.

and so in the chaos of thirteen dead primes and a sudden energon crisis, a little sparkling who very few mechs really knew about and even fewer had seen completely vanishes. and in the depths of iacon a mech in charge of a new batch of newborns scratches their helm in confusion as they realize they must have miscounted the first time.

optimus prime is quietly erased from any official records by sentinel, written off as dead when they find a sparkling's frame mangled beyond recognition after an attack on the base of those rebels that insist on being a thorn on his side. killing the sparkling hadn't been precisely in his plans, he probably could've found some use for it after all, but he's not particularly upset about it either.

and orion pax grows up with an ache on his spark that tells him he's missing something far more important than a t-cog and dreams of gentle and loving hands, cradling him against the frames of mechs he cannot recall the faces of.

[sunlight-shunlight]

it does still make me wonder how the bioware writers managed to throw in "anders was in solitary confinement for a year" as like an offhand line, rather than something that should shape his entire character and that other people would react to. and then frame solas being put in a similar state at the end of vg as... uhhh... optimistic and plausibly sustainable...

like the ENTIRE veil hinges on this one guy not getting depression too badly after [indefinite number of years] in forced isolation? and no one thinks this is both really precarious on an objective level, and a morally fucked up thing to do to begin with?

weird ass game. unsettling implications. i don't usually like to assume anyone's political views from their work in that way, but do the writers think people in solitary confinement are just chilling? especially in the sort of medieval dungeon type of thing anders would've been in/whatever torment nexus solas is supposed to be in?

[eshithepetty]

"Haha Dream BBQ is so random and incomprehensible" "did they take drugs to make this lol" "you're actually not meant to understand anything in this series it's ok" "Joel G just makes up stuff on the spot based on what would be funny" "it's just random for random's sake" "is this AI" "stop theorising, it's not that deep" SHUT UPPPPPPPPPP

[geminicafe]

if your first reaction to someone sharing an opinion about sunrise on the reaping that differs from the majority is “oh you’re falling for propaganda!! you’re just as bad as a the captiol!! you just don’t understand it at all!!” maybe you should take a closer look at what propaganda is.

[luna-loveboop]

I find it funny that Wild, who has basically a couple years ish of full life experience, comes up with the most insane theories for everything

He assumed that the only other explanation to Four being able to split in Four was. That he was quadruplets who'd been hiding this whole time???

Also apparently he believed that his wolf companion Twilight in botw was a diety (and felt very uhh shocked upon finding out that he was not)

Malon made things worse, telling him about her aliens theory

What's even FUNNIER is that every time Wild expresses any sort of confusion at magic stuff that he's never seen before, everyone else in the chain acts like it's crazy for him to be weirded out by it

Honestly maybe Wild's the only one with his head on straight, rather than everyone else who are just like 'it's magic bro' like no he's right this is weird

I appreciate this because it's very considerate of the fact that he woke up with no memories not too long ago, so he doesn't have much experience to explain the stuff that's 'normal' for the chain. Plus the explanations he comes up with are funny.

:)

.

Art and comic and adorable character by Jojo @linkeduniverse au :D

[nellasbookplanet]

Here’s the thing:

I want Predathos to get out.

Not because I hate the gods or want to see them killed or driven off (in fact, I find the 'the gods are tyrants' arguments to be laughably incorrect and deeply hope c3 ends with the pantheon still present) but because ending the campaign without facing Predathos would be a huge anticlimax. If Bells Hells simply kill Ludinus and go back home, it will feel like killing the minion but never actually getting to the big bad. What if c1 had ended with killing the Briarwoods but never getting around to Vecna. What if the m9 had actually managed to kill Lucien with their trap in Aeor before he made it into the Astral Sea to set off his plan. We wouldn’t have gotten to see the nature of the somnovem, the horrific flesh city or the peace of putting it to rest, the wild creativity that was the final battle of imagination. If c3 ends without showing us what the fuck Predathos actually is I will go lie facedown on the floor for a week wondering what we missed out on.

Now, this doesn't mean I want the hells to purposefully let the beast out of its cage. I would prefer the campaign not end with the heroes finalizing the villain's plan and setting off calamity 2.0, thank you very much. But if Ludinus still has an ace up his sleeve that makes Predathos' release all but inevitable (which I honestly expect)? Maybe even if there’s a party split and one or a couple of the hells take the decision into their own hands (looking at you, Ashton)?

I'd love that shit. Show us what Predathos truly is. Let it eat Ludinus maybe. Give us a glimpse of the true end if it’s let loose on Exandria. Have there be a horrific realization of oh, this is what the Vanguard was arguing in favor of. And then kill it.

[sukunas-play-thing]

This photo of Sabo isn't talked about enough

Like, the black leather pants, the white tank top, showing off his scandalous tits and collar bones, the leather jacket. The smirk.

Mmm 🫣🫣🫣🫣🫣 fanning myself like a woman sweatin in church.

~~~~~~~

It's Like. Seeing a woman's ankles for the first time. Clutching my pearls. I'm pregnant now.

Oi Vei

🎵feels like the very first time🎵

🎶it feels like the very first time🎶

I'm done rambling.......................

Or am I?please don't read my tags

[flowersforvax]

I've read some very good meta on the looming ending of campaign 3 and why it does or doesn't work and- still after all this time my main issue (and I believe the root of others!)  is that we didn't get enough time with Bell's Hells.

Does that sound ridiculous after 120 episodes in the span of three years? Obviously!

But if we look at the in-game time it's been barely four months. We don't know Bell's Hells outside of the main plot and worse they don't know each other.

Between Imogen and Fearne and Orym's connection to the Moon Plot from the start there was very little low-stakes low-level fuckery. No downtime, no long travel, no filler episodes.

Even during high-stakes arcs Vox Machina used to take the time to talk and play and fuck around in the evenings before their long rests. (Cannonball contest in the mansion hot tub anyone?) But they took that initiative because they had already done the bonding and enjoyed spending time with each other.

The Mighty Nein as well! And they had the added bonus of nobody counting on them for anything at first- everything they did they wanted to do. And even when the seeds of their last enemy were planted very early on - they didn't know it would be the endgame. The emotions were high but the stakes were lower. There was no constant pressure to go go go, time's running out!

They got time to grieve. Bell's Hells never got that.

And who knows if the Mighty Nein in their early days would have felt compelled to do the heroics late-game Mighty Nein did! I don't believe so! But they had the time to become characters who would, characters who would make the decision to follow that thread, to put their lives on the line to save the world.

Additionally to the in-game time constraints I think the idea that this third campaign is the CULMINATION OF A TRILOGY put a lot of pressure on the players to always make the Right Choice so they won't ruin Matt's story. That includes both following the narrative to its conclusion whether that made sense for every character or not and- no deviations from that loosely held leash. No "Hey, Matt, nice story you got there, what if we become pirates instead?"

... The first time I really connected with Bell's Hells was during one of their very few night watches (a thing that was a staple in MN bonding time!). I loved when they were goofy, when they turned a break-in into a fake haunting for no reason at all. When they got to be ridiculous and pretend they were livestreaming porn.

My favorite moments of Bell's Hells were the few minutes they as characters got to breathe.

[p0rk-guts]

Yapping about The Stolas Animation™️ everyone's been in a tizzy about because this is MY blog and I get to treat it like my personal diary.

Not going into the surrounding drama of the video because i hate drama and it's always a fucking headache. I'm gonna talk about the content of the animation, the song, and my interpretation of them together!!! (Contains discussions of suicide. Obviously)

First off. THE ANIMATION IS AMAZING. But you already knew that. The portrayal of Stolas we see for the first two thirds of it is clearly something dissimilar to his portrayal throughout the entire series thus far—much more callous and cold than playful and cheeky like we knew him to be—so to me it seemed like a portrayal of how Blitz sees Stolas and how he thinks Stolas truly felt of feels about him. Especially since each of those scenes was interjected with clips of Blitzo staggering through that white empty mind scape with the golden feathers like we saw when he was tripping and imagining him in truth seekers.

I also love how the lyrics so perfectly line up to what's happening—"who's gonna rescue you when you're lost at sea? Who's gonna love you if it isn't me?" These lyrics precede clips where Moxxie and Millie— who HAVE rescued him and who WILL love him even if Stolas won't— showing us how Blitz is so deep in his self hatred that he can't even see that despite thinking he isn't loved or worthy of loving that he IS.

The clips of Stolas are more than just Blitz's mind fucking with him though, for us we see just how ironic it is that Stolas could be saying any of this in the FIRST place. "Who's gonna rescue you when you're lost at sea": Stolas NEVER rescued Blitz in any way! (Headcanon here but) Stolas' obsessive yearning for him just made Blitz mirror those feelings of affection in late season 2 (because there were NO signs of Blitz reciprocating or feeling anything other than disdain and ANNOYANCE for Stolas initially)! He wanted that equally returned love and not to once again miss expectations and miss what he saw as his fleeting chance for love!

Anyways anyways ranted and got off topic. If anything Blitz was always the one rescuing Stolas. I also think it's interesting that that lyric fell on a clip of Stolas mocking at one of the goetia parties despite the fact that he was always miserable at them. You could even say that Blitz trying to steal the book -> their night together -> Stolas divorcing Stella was some roundabout instance of Blitz "rescuing" Stolas from his loveless marriage. But that's more of a crazy take I think Stolas would have floating around in his head

And my FAVORITE line of the animatic (and probably the whole song)— "And who's gonna love you if it isn't me?". Obviously. Like we said. He has love surrounding him already! Even in Loona too I guess! Pairing this lyric with Stella wrapped around his arm looking withdrawn while he stands front and center not even acknowledging her?? From the fictitious Blitz perspective we're shown, I saw this as Blitz seeing himself as an unnecessary stain in Stolas' perfect pristine life. Technically, he's married, or was (does Blitz even know they're divorced??? Lol I don't remember), and his entire presence just detracts from this fictitious image of high class excellence and composure he had.

Meanwhile, Stolas did try to maintain their marriage the best he could, but he never loved Stella at every point in the story we've seen so far he doesn't consider her at all. Tbf, she's pretty abusive and insane, but he really did jump through hoops to excuse his cheating and later on didn't even consider how her presence in Octavia's life could affect her (these are all tied to greater issues with the show ignoring Stella's existence but I digress).

Stella is just a prop in this image. She was just a tool for Paimon to get Stolas to produce an heir and keep the goetia conveyor belt moving, and likely even a tool to her own (largely) absent family so she could be used to grow familial wealth and status. Beyond her "liking to torment him", she's never shown to have ANY other feelings about. Anything really. Other than what, liking parties? Her reserved portrayal alludes to her having more feelings and thoughts about everything happening around her but whether it's to keep up appearances or to deny her own emotions, she stifles it all. 100% get how everyone's been saying her .2 seconds of screentime here characterize her more than the entire show does.

Then we switch gears to the real Stolas, getting dressed in something very similar to Paimon's clothes (which someone else pointed out I did NAWT notice that on my own). I have two (ish) theories on what this was about but I'm not sold on them so feel free to tell me what you think this was all about.

Maybe Stolas was putting the clothes on for some unrelated event—some goetian responsibility he forgot he was supposed to attend to— or maybe it was something like him reminiscing on all he's lost after the divorce and the trial (if this takes place post trial. Not sure). One of these maybe, or he got dressed up specifically for his suicide. I could see his romantic and fanciful nature driving him to do something like that.

(didn't have much to say on the portraits around him all turning into Blitz. It's a pretty straightforward showing of his mental decline and destructive obsession. Overall fantastic detail I missed on the first watch)

Then, when he kills himself, he chose to do it in the middle of the street, directly across from and FACING I.M.P.'s place of residence. Which is. Insane to me. Placing it there felt so purposeful with the light glinting off of the horns on the building. Was it meant to be a "look what you made me do" type deal? Some sort of final "fuck you" for all Blitz had done ("""making""" Stolas love him and then not reciprocating)? A last desperate attempt to be seen and acknowledged?

Well who knows fr but that's all my analysis for the animation. Dwinni ate down idc. This was a peak fandom event honestly. But yeah uh what do YOU 🫵🏾 think

[sewermageboy]

Alright, so. I like the Lucanis romance in general. But there is one major complaint I have, and it's this scene right here.

This is the romance lock-in scene.

Now, you'd be forgiven if you didn't catch that when watching the video, because literally the only indicator that this is the lock-in is the dialogue wheel telling you it is. Nothing happens narratively in this scene that would indicate the beginning of a relationship. If anything, there's gratitude and some light flirting.

The next time I took out Lucanis and Neve with me, Neve congratulated him on his relationship with Rook. Taash told him to take Rook flying on a date. And I'm just there like: "That's very sweet guys, but how the fuck do you know we're even together? Did the dialogue wheel tell you, too?"

My complaint about Lucanis' romance isn't that it isn't "spicy" enough or whatever, or that it's a slow burn. It's that it genuinely feels like an entire scene - the actual start of their relationship - is straight up missing. And honestly? That kinda sucks.

[crash476]

Thoughts on Andor and Spy Fiction

I want to preface this by saying that I appreciate the aims of Andor, and I do think that the first season succeeded in breaking away from Joseph Campbell's monomyth, while being a clear-eyed examination of how a fascist regime works. Especially from the perspective of ordinary people. But... I am a Rogue One fan first and foremost. And the second season was pretty bad. It was a four season story in one and that's the tip of the iceberg.

I was always bothered by the changes made to Cassian's backstory; they didn't feel right and contradicted what was established in the film. One gets the sense that Chris Weitz, Gary Whitta, and Gareth Edwards had a very different concept of who Cassian was and were likely pulling from different spy fiction than Tony Gilroy. @ruby-red-inky-blue made a good point that Rogue One Cassian is a John le Carré spy, while Andor Cassian is a James Bond/Jason Bourne type. There's a really good book about 1960s British spy novels called Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang by Mike Ripley. One of Ripley's observations is that spy novels of the period could be divided into "spy fantasy" as established by Ian Fleming, and what I call "spy realism," who's king will always be John le Carré.

Bond is the embodiment of post-Imperial British male fantasies. Fleming was an intelligence officer in the Royal Navy who spent WWII as a desk jockey. He was the guy planning the missions that his cousin Sir Christopher Lee (an agent of the Special Operations Executive) would go on. Bond was born from his frustrated desire to get into the field. Thus, Bond is a power fantasy. And Jason Bourne is an American equivalent. I haven't delved deep into Robert Ludlum, but from what I gleaned, he seemed to be a more conspiracy minded writer. Bourne is clearly a product of the revelations about MKUltra. Even then, Bourne plays into American male power fantasies. Bond longs for the days of Empire and sophistication, Bourne embodies the hyper individualism of America.

John le Carré (born David Cornwell) was an intelligence officer like Fleming, but a generation younger - his superiors at MI5 and MI6 would have been Fleming's peers. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold was considered wildly subversive in 1963 because Le Carré wrote characters who were "breathtakingly ordinary." His spies are humans, first and foremost. They don't do any impeccably choreographed fight scenes marred by shaky-cam. There's no gadgets. If anything, it's a lot of detective work - espionage and mysteries are genre cousins, imo. Le Carré spies are good at their jobs, but are world weary and exhausted. Being as spy is presented in the least sexy way possible. Other writers like Len Deighton with his working class heroes would follow, along with tv series like Callan and The Sandbaggers. Bit of a tangent, but the creator of The Sandbaggers, Ian Mackintosh, disappeared in the Gulf of Alaska and there's rumours that he was Soviet of Chinese spy. If you want to learn more, Diamanda Hagan has a great video on Mackintosh and The Sandbaggers.

Unlike the spy fantasies, the appeal of spy realism is the promise of a peak behind the curtain. A lot of these books trade on the author's credentials as an insider and knowledge of how the intelligence world works. Now this can cross over with the spy fantasy realm - I would say that's one reason why The Bourne Identity was so popular was because it had the aesthetics of a spy realism film, but was a spy fantasy through and through. It's a have your cake and eat it sort of franchise. But spy realism isn't meant to be glamorous like spy fantasy. Spy realism doesn't really spectacle the way spy fantasy does. Spy realism simply isn't blockbuster fare, but if done right it wins awards. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney was sold a Bourne style series because, not to be insulting to the Americans, but that approach does appeal to American male power fantasies even more than Bond approach. And definitely more appealing than pure spy realism.

This leads me, ultimately, to where I think things went wrong with Cassian. A lot of ink has been spilled about the troubled production of Rogue One and the issues Edwards, and the rest of the writing team allegedly had with Gilroy. But Rogue One wasn't the first time Gilroy has had issues with other creative teams. He had a falling out with Matt Damon and Paul Greenrass over the Bourne films. It's why the franchise is the way it is now. Now Gilroy and Damon have buried the hatchet, but that doesn't seem to be the case with Greengrass. There was this sort of fragmentation in vision and really should have ended with The Bourne Ultimatum.

Looping this back to Andor, I have a hunch that even than playing with his new favourite character, Tony Gilroy really wanted another crack at Jason Bourne without the interference of Damon and Greengrass. Gilroy's famous for writing "director and actor proof" scripts after all. This is so apparent in the second season where Cassian becomes less of a human and more of a cipher. I will always love Identity the most because outside of his super spy mode, Jason is kind of sweet and dorky. I don't know, that's just my opinion. But as the movies progress, Bourne becomes less and less human. He becomes a force of nature no one can stop. And there's a lot of men who would love to be like that.

The spy who I think Cassian should have been modelled after is Alec Leamas of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. If you haven't read it, or seen the 1965 film with Richard Burton, you should. It's a gorgeous film with amazing acting, honestly one of the last greats of the black and white era. Like it's part of the Criterion Collection. This scene about the nature of spies is so good: "What do you think spies are?".

I have no idea if Edwards, Whitta, and Weitz ever read the book or watched the film when they coming up with Cassian. I'm far more certain they were influenced by The Guns of Navarone (it's another film that if you haven't seen it, you should). the version of him in Rogue One could easily be a Leamas in the middle of his career. Not quite cynical and burnt out enough to give Leamas' last speech, but getting there before he meets Jyn, Chirrut, Baze, and Bodhi. At the same time, Leamas has a great sense of humanity. There's a line early on in the book after Control talks about intelligence organizations needing to be as ruthless as their enemies, and while Leamas agrees with Control, it's for very different reasons. The paragraph goes, "Leamas saw. He saw the long road outside Rotterdam, the long straight road beside the dunes, and the stream of refugees moving along it; saw the little aeroplane miles away, the procession stop and look towards it; and the plane coming in, nearly over the dunes; saw the chaos, the meaningless hell, as the bombs hit the road."

Honestly, Cassian in season one had that sense of humanity, even if his instincts are telling him to run and hide. But the point of season one of Andor was that you can't run and hide from fascism. It's the same thing as that supposed Trotsky quote, "You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you." Season two seems to lack a point for Cassian. He's Cassian Goddamn Andor now who's biggest badass spy in the Rebellion. That Cassian wouldn't be able to get volunteers to join Jyn and the Rogue One crew to go to Scarif. That Cassian couldn't do that out of a budding love for Jyn that reminds me T. E. Lawrence's dedication to Selim "Dahoum" Ahmed, "I loved you, so I drew these tides of men into my hands / and wrote my will across the sky in stars / To earn you Freedom, the seven-pillared worthy house, that your eyes might be shining for me / When we came."

[dirtyassvoiceactors]

Dorian gets offended/jealous Orym is talking about working out with Beau, so he tries to show off, Imogen calls him out on poor execution, so he just walks off to help Caduceus (who also quickly kinda roasts him) kkkkkkk

i need next episode to after Dorian and Orym wakeup together, Orym goes workout with Beau and have competitions, so the whole time is just Orym and Beau showing off to Dorian and Yasha, like doing push ups with them in their back or sm, doing upsidedown pullups

[julietcpulet]

Jinshi’s armor: Expectations vs. Reality

So I’ll admit I’m in the camp that was super excited for the Jinshi armor reveal. That was only heightened by the visual release that looked incredible. The final result though was…less than spectacular. Some of this I think though is due to the high build of anticipation from people who have read the novels and also the release of said image that promoted a stellar look. Thought I’d break down some thoughts on why some people, me included, might’ve been a bit let down by the armor.

1. This is what we thought were getting. As the meme goes, the pastels 😂 the excellent fit, him looking muscular and like a white knight with the glinting armor and hair whipping in the wind as he comes in valiantly to rescue Maomao. Expectations were set pretty high by the quality of this visual and how well they captured him as the Moon Prince in this image.

2. This is what we got. With expectations being what they were because of the visual and lead up, the letdown can be all the bigger. The armor looks too big on his body. Whether this was an intentional choice to show he doesn’t “fit” the role of Zuigetsu and the Moon Prince, I’m not sure but it looks puffy on him and as I mentioned to someone else it’s like he’s wearing a Power Rangers outfit. The colors are also fairly matte which makes him look like a static figurine.

3. It needed Lihaku’s perspective. In the novel Jinshi’s entrance in armor and his overall demeanor is more intimidating and awe inspiring but that comes down to being viewed not through his own eyes but through Lihaku’s.

He was just crunching his way over the filthy snow when he spotted someone entering the fortress. A man, his white cloak and long black hair lovely in the night. Lihaku, who had never expected to think of any man as “lovely”-let alone in the middle of a battle-smiled wryly to himself.

If they had started the episode from Lihaku’s pov and then done a dramatic pan to Jinshi entering the stronghold in armor, music swelling, that would’ve had a wholly different kind of impact. They could’ve then flashed back to the carriage parts. Instead the linear approach took away a bit of the drama when he appears.

The man’s hair, partially tied up, was held in place with a silver hair stick. Anyone who saw the design would have thrown themselves flat on the ground.

4. Anime design differs from the novel. In the light novel his hair stick is silver, not gold and it’s in the shape of a qilin, a mythical Chinese creature. He’s also wearing armor described as blue-purple with under-padding and a matching helmet.

Today, Jinshi was not the eunuch Jinshi. His hair was held in place by a silver hair stick, and he wore not his usual black official’s outfit, but armor and a helmet of bluish purple, with thick cotton underpadding.

Jinshi swallowed heavily and reached up to touch the hair stick on his head. It was sculpted in the shape of a qilin-a symbol of the Imperial family.

But that man, the possessor of a face as beautiful and delicate as a celestial nymph’s, clutched a willow-leaf saber and wore blueish purple armor to indicate to those around him who he was.

I can get the change to not have him wear a helmet, although I think there could’ve been a dramatic opportunity to having him remove it mid-scene to reveal its Jinshi underneath. Say during the addition of the speech scene if he takes off his helmet, that would’ve solidified the shock of the soldiers seeing Jinshi beneath the helmet.

I also understand having the hair stick be a red ball with the qilin on it but not in the shape of one, that could be hard to animate from different angles but I think it could’ve been silver without much issue. The purple-red-gold combo of his armor was ok in the visual as well and does make sense with symbolism but somehow in the actual episode looks dull and without any highlights or glinting off the armor has less visual appeal. Just a few tweaks could’ve made the armor closer to the original and also given that intensity he’s supposed to convey as the Prince amidst the soldiers during the ambush.

5. Shisui takes the focus. The goodbye between Maomao/Shisui taking up much of the episode caused compromises for time which is understandable but as such the impact of Jinshi’s arrival in armor and subsequent battle feels like child’s play compared to everything Shisui does. In essence his “hero moment” sort of felt stolen. She comes across as the hero and him as the boy playing swords. Much of her story has inadvertently given her main character focus when she’s still a side character to a long series where Maomao and Jinshi have bigger narratives. To me there could’ve been a way to split these points of the story where important parts like the goodbye and Jinshi’s storming of the stronghold hold equal weight without each fighting for control in the episodes.

Overall it’s not terrible, I get what they were going for and there are limits to what can be animated repeatedly so I get the design couldn’t be too complicated. But I think when people, or at least me, were expecting this big moment where Jinshi comes on the scene in his armor swooping in like a prince out of a storybook, the result was a bit of a letdown. It just lacks the gravitas. Also constraints on time are really starting to show which I think is making it difficult near this end bit of the season when there’s a lot fans are wanting to see.