#however; you ask me which scene i would use for a character trailer/introduction...

[boleynqueenes]

Dramatis Personae (spoilers-light and corrections-light) of Nowe Thus, "" descriptions from Hunting the Falcon

Anne Boleyn, daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn and Elizabeth Howard; wife of Henry VIII

First Introduction: Chapter 1

Henry VIII, King of England

First Introduction: Chapter 1

Sir Francis Weston, gentleman of the privy chamber

First Introduction: Chapter 1

Elizabeth Howard, daughter of Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey and 2nd Duke of Norfolk; wife of Sir Thomas Boleyn, mother of Anne Boleyn, Dowager Countess of Wiltshire

First introduction: Chapter 2

Henry Norris, gentleman of the privy chamber, groom of the stool from 1526

First introduction: Chapter 2

Katherine of Aragon, youngest daughter of Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon; married (1) Arthur, Prince of Wales; (2) Henry VIII as his first wife sister-in-law

First introduction: Chapter 2

George Boleyn, brother of Anne Boleyn; later Viscount Rochford, Warden of the Cinque Ports, Earl of Wiltshire

First introduction: Chapter 2

Mary Howard, Anne’s cousin, daughter of the 3rd Duke of Norfolk; wife of Henry Fitzroy; lady in-waiting; contributor to the Devonshire Manuscript

First introduction: Chapter 3

Jane Seymour, gentlewoman, third wife of Henry VIII

First Introduction: Chapter 4

Edward Seymour, elder brother to Jane

First Introduction: Chapter 4

Thomas Seymour, elder brother to Jane

First Introduction: Chapter 4

Margaret Douglas, Henry VIII’s niece; only child of Margaret Tudor and Archibald Douglas, and a leading contributor to the Devonshire Manuscript

First Introduction: Chapter 4

Jane Parker, wife of George Boleyn, daughter of Henry Parker, Lord Morley; one of Anne Boleyn’s ladies-in-waiting, Countess of Wiltshire

First Introduction: Chapter 5

Thomas Cranmer, Cambridge scholar and early protégé of the Boleyns; Archbishop of Canterbury from 1532

First Introduction: Chapter 6

Margaret Butler, wife of Sir William Boleyn and grandmother of Anne Boleyn; daughter and co-heir of Thomas Butler, Earl of Ormond

First Introduction: Chapter 6

Hugh Latimer, one of Anne’s chaplains; later Bishop of Worcester

First Introduction: Chapter 6

Sir William Paulet, courtier and privy councillor, Master of the Wards, comptroller of the royal household from 1532

First Introduction: Chapter 7

Princess Mary, daughter of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon

First Introduction: Chapter 7

Lady Anne Shelton (née Boleyn), Anne Boleyn’s aunt, mother of Mary and Margaret Shelton, custodian of Princess Mary

First Introduction: Chapter 7

Sir Thomas Boleyn, son of Sir William Boleyn and Margaret Butler; father of Anne Boleyn; later Viscount Rochford, Earl of Wiltshire, Lord Privy Seal

First Introduction: Chapter 8

Thomas Cromwell, self-trained lawyer and servant of Wolsey; parliamentary manager, Master of the Jewels and principal secretary to Henry VIII; later Vicar-general and Lord Privy Seal

First Introduction: Chapter 12

William Cavendish, gentleman-usher to Wolsey

First Introduction: Chapter 12

Lorenzo Campeggi, Cardinal and papal legate

First Introduction: Chapter 12

John Husee, court agent to Viscount and Lady Lisle

First Introduction: Chapter 12

Margaret Lee, Thomas Wyatt’s sister and mother of Elizabeth I’s Queen’s Champion, Sir Henry Lee

First Introduction: Chapter 12

Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond, Duke of Somerset, Earl of Nottingham; illegitimate son of Henry VIII by Elizabeth Blount; married Mary Howard

First Introduction: Chapter 12

Sir Nicholas Carew, gentleman of the privy chamber, diplomat, supporter of Princess Mary; brother-in-law to Sir Francis Bryan

First Introduction: Chapter 12

Anne Stanhope, wife of Edward Seymour

First Introduction: Chapter 12

Dr William Butts, royal physician

First Introduction: Chapter 15

Margaret Gamage, gentlewoman; later married Lord William Howard as his second wife

First Introduction: Chapter 18

Mary/Margaret Shelton, Anne’s cousin, gentlewoman, contributor to the Devonshire Manuscript

First Introduction: Chapter 18

Lord Thomas Howard, lover of Margaret Douglas; a leading contributor to the Devonshire Manuscript; younger brother of Lord William Howard; stepbrother of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk

First Introduction: Chapter 18

Elizabeth "Bess" Harvey, gentlewoman, Henry VIII's mistress

First Introduction: Chapter 19

Mary Boleyn, sister of Anne Boleyn; married (1) William Carey; (2) William Stafford

First Introduction: Chapter 19

Thomas Grey, Yeoman of the Bottles

First Introduction: Chapter 21

Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk; married (1) Anne Browne, daughter of Sir Anthony Browne; (2) Henry VIII’s younger sister Mary, widow of Louis XII; (3) Lady Katherine Willoughby

First Introduction: Chapter 22

Philippe Chabot, Seigneur de Brion, Admiral of France

First Introduction: Chapter 24

Catherine Carey, daughter of Mary Boleyn

First Introduction: Chapter 24

Philip Calthorpe, vice-chamberlain to the Princess Mary, husband of Jane Calthorpe, sister of Thomas Boleyn

First Introduction: Chapter 27

Elizabeth de Vere, Dowager Countess of Oxford

First Introduction: Chapter 27

Sir Francis Bryan, cousin of Anne Boleyn, gentleman of the privy chamber and diplomat; later known as the ‘Vicar of Hell'

First Introduction: Chapter 27

Henry (or Harry) Algernon Percy, eldest son of 5th Duke of Northumberland; 6th Earl of Northumberland from 1527

First Introduction: Chapter 28

Gertrude Blount, second wife of Henry Courtenay; close friend and lady-in waiting to Katherine of Aragon

First Introduction: Chapter 28

Elizabeth Carew, gentlewoman, sister of Francis Bryan, wife of Nicholas Carew, supporter of Princess Mary

First Introduction: Chapter 28

Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, Anne Boleyn’s uncle, brother of her mother Elizabeth Howard

First Introduction: Chapter 28

Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, former governess to Princess Mary

First Introduction: Chapter 30

Edward Neville, cousin to Henry VIII, supporter of the Princess Mary

First Introduction: Chapter 32

[cordycep-creations]

Ah shit here we go again

Hey, you guys remember that this blog used to have a big focus on the trailers, leaks, and rumors for Steven Universe Future? I forgot about that too but I had a tendency to go on somewhat long-winded analysis of very short collections of clips with very little actual material to work with, taking the individual scenes and pieces and trying to extract whatever I could from them... I would sorta like to think I've come a long way since then, with my own pieces and AUs becoming somewhat more prevalent here when I actually am able to work on them. Anyways I'm gonna do that exact same thing with the new TOH opening now.

The first ten seconds of our new intro feature our main cast showing off their skills, with a bit more of a focus on magical tools than we've seen before. Luz (as always) casts with a glyph, Eda is now completely reliant on her staff and easily gets thrown off the spell she's trying to cast by king popping out of her hair, and Gus summons illusion doubles from a book. In contrast, we see Willow's eyes glowing as vines well up behind her reminiscent of her introduction. However this time around she seems fully aware and in control of them, smiling in a way that isn't unsettling at all. She's followed by Amity, who summons a wall of abomination ooze with a smug smirk and confident demeanor. What's importnat to note here is that nobody uses a spell circle in this scene. They've been established as the foundation of casting spells but here we don't see a single one. Even Amity, who uses no tool in this scene and hasn't been shown casting circle-less before like willow has, doesn't seem to need one. Instead her hands glow on their own as she holds them outwards at her sides.

Next up we see the frame that previously held our side characters now present an array of antagonists, surrounded by the symbols for the coven leaders. I see this as a sort of "Then versus now" scenario; First Lilith glares angrily, reaching out towards the screen. It's hard to tell if her eyes are the ones from before or after the curse though... Regardless, the operative stands mysteriously, mask up and holding out a staff that strongly resembles the one we see Belos use in YBOS. Kikimora clutches the color of her cloak, hiding her face and positioning the side more covered by her....hair closer to the viewer. Then the cards flip, showing Lilith reaching out with a lamenting expression. Her eyes are downcast, and her other hand seems as if it may be wiping away tears. The operative has taken their mask off, eyeing the camera with suspicion. Kikimora looks absolutely pissed, all composure we've seen her hold previously completely out the window. Her eyes are wild and mismatched, veins in her hand hair bulging. Everything about her card reads frantic and angry on extreme levels.

Then Belos's hand pulls it away as these cards burn, in what @anistarrose quickly identified as yet another piece of symbolism paralleling him with King.

I don't notice many differences in the remainder of the intro sadly. Eda's eyes are now mismatched to show her cured of her curse. The lighting is visibly darker, which several have pointed out likely clues into the show itself taking a darker turn. The end card is much more ornate, now with a border and symbols along the top and bottom. Though I'm not sure if they decode to anything yet I'm sure we'll find out soon if they do.

I'm incredibly excited for what this season has to bring, in all honesty I needed some good news today and that's definitely what we got. Please please send me asks about predictions or ideas, (or Raven Lady maybe?) I'd love to yell about this more. I eagerly await the inevitable Rebecca Rose analysis, can't wait to see where the story goes.

[dahniwitchoflight]

wait. Can you talk about that namine and terra thing

https://www.khinsider.com/news/SPOILERS-A-special-conversation-before-KINGDOM-HEARTS-0-2-Birth-By-Sleep-revealed-during-First-Breath-concert-6805

Sure! So, sometime in Japan around 2016 ish, there were the official Kingdom Hearts "First Breath" Concerts, and there were 3 conversations that happened during the concert that were spoken out loud:

Here have a Nomura quote:

(Nomura was replying to a question asking about why Terra was seen with Aqua in the RoD in a trailer for KH2.8 before its release)

“Nomura: For details please look forward to playing the game. By the way, at the Official Kingdom Hearts "First Breath" concert, we had a conversation read out vocally to the audience involving Namine and Terra. The Terra from the scene you mentioned is from events following that conversation.”

So, onto the dialogue then! 

(Note the original dialogue was obviously in Japanese, but it has since been recorded and properly translated, I’ve copied and pasted the English translations, but most of it is ingame dialogue we’ve already heard before anyway)

1) The first conversation is one we've seen before, Namine and Sora's conversation from the end of Chain of Memories:

"Naminé: Don't worry. You might forget about me . . . but with our promise, I can come back. Yes. One day the light--it will be ours, and it will bring us together. 'Til then--I'll be in your heart.

Sora: Right. Forgotten--but not lost."

2) Second, is the words that the Lingering Will said to Sora right before their secret boss fight in KH2FM, which previously had only ever been silent subtitles, so it was exciting to hear them voiced! But also something we've seen before

Lingering Will: Aqua . . . . Ven . . . . A Keyblade? Who are you? I know you. We've met before, way back when. No, that wasn't you. You're not the one I chose. Where is he? Xe . . .ha . . .nort . . . . Is that you? Xeha . . . nort . . . . Xehanort!

Lingering Will: That's it. Your Power That's what I felt within you. The power that connects to Aqua. And to Ven's heart.

3) Finally the third one was a completely brand new conversation between Namine and Terra (Apparently as the Lingering Will) of all people, so it was super interesting that new canonical material was coming from a concert piece of all things! 

(*Edit: the initial translation I pasted here was back when this was still new and so apparently it was rough/somewhat inaccurate, I’ve edited in the newer modern translation which seems to make it pretty clear this is Namine from the Remind DLC speaking to the Lingering Will, who I guess just also happens to be the version of Terra that Aqua met and spoke to in the fragmentary passage, since their meeting happens directly after his Namine conversation)

----

Lingering Will: This place, it's...

Namine: This is a world of your memories. You're the only one the people of this time don't know the whereabouts of. I made it this far by following the links of those connected to you.

Lingering Will: Who are you?

Namine: Nice to meet you, I'm Na.. I'm a witch who manipulates memories.

Lingering Will : A witch?

Namine: Right now, you're bound by two sets of memories. One is your own memories. The other is that of a very dark power.

Lingering Will : Master... Xehanort...

Namine: Soon you'll be touched by a familiar light. Please guide her, so that she isn't confused by the darkness.

Lingering Will: She... Aqua! But I can't do anything, the way I am now...

Namine: Everyone is fighting in the the ways they can. I want you, too, to believe in yourself and fight so that your heart doesn't melt into the darkness. We will all make it to the same place, you see.

Lingering Will: Aqua... Ven... Someday, I'll... no matter what, I'll...

~The Unknown plays~

Lingering Will: I've never forgotten what happened on that day. I'll make it here and show you, no matter what.

----

From Lingering Wills/Terra's point of view, this takes place a little bit before he speaks to Aqua in the realm of darkness during BBS 0.2 A fragmentary passage, but from Namine's point of view it's taking place during the ReMind DLC right after she tells Sora that she will try to trace the connection to Terra's heart to see if she can lure the Lingering Will over to the final battle.

Time works funny in the Realm of Darkness as we all know

---Interview Excerpt---

Interviewer: In KH0.2BBS, the story is about Aqua as the main character in the Realm of Darkness? And the story would be talking about Aqua traveling in the Realm of Darkness for about 10 years? (Immediately after the Secret Episode of KHBBSFM ~ Meeting Ansem the Wise at the Dark Margin)

Nomura: That’s right. Because Aqua is the main character, it will become a story where she progresses in the Realm of Darkness. However, because time flows differently in the Realm of Darkness, it’s not simply 10 years. The beginning of the story will immediately begin after the secret episode of KHBBSFM. Since it is at the end of the story that may become spoilers, I can’t talk much about it yet. In the beginning of this story, just before we start our new journey in KH3, The King talks about reuniting with Aqua which has been kept secret, which will be the introduction.

---

Sidenote: I guess this sort of proves that the power that Namine has over the Light in People’s hearts is pretty much an equivalent to an innate Power of Waking? (Does this mean she can feature in Verum Rex and be important? Since she has the power to go through the portal and she’s been to the Final World before? I’m so close to getting my hopes up too high lol)

But yeah! Kingdom Hearts is one of those fun series that loves to throw 100% canonical material into very very odd places sometimes lol

[ageoldamateur]

Introduction to my OC (part 2)

It is getting way too late, so I need to turn in. I can finish writing this tomorrow.

TW: Soft/Safe vore, Pre-vore

-----------------

But, this was another one of those times where he could hang out with Rose, so he popped it out and slid it into the player. He hopped back as Rose began working on some gummies. Spartan chose one for himself and began munching; he wasn’t much into sweets on the regular but hey, he could treat himself if he wanted to.

The movie was actually really good, alternating perspectives between the race of Giants and humans. The main character was known as a Shifter, which meant they could alternate between the size of a giant or a human. It was their duty to solve the conflict between the two races with the help of several side characters.

Both Spartan and Rose were invested, Spartan resting on Rose’s throat, only slightly distracted by her swallowing. Eventually, the movie reached a close, the Shifter and their friends having almost finalized a treaty before a full fledged war happened. However, the main villain triggered a trap that sparked the war to happen in earnest. Just as the Shifter and their allies were about to head off again, the movie ended.

“Oh, are you kidding me?!” Spartan shouted, falling off of Rose in the process of reacting to the abrupt ending of the movie. Rose didn’t react to the same effect, she wasn't as invested in films like Spartan; yet she did utter a grunt of annoyance.

Rose watched as Spartan fell off the couch, thudding onto the ground and lying there splayed right beside some fallen Gummy bears. “I don’t know about you, I really enjoyed the movie.”

“Same here, but my goodness, there needs to be a sequel made immediately!” Spartan said, grabbing one of the gummies and hugging it to his chest. “The Shifter was the best character! They were so wholesome and adorable; the moments where the movie decides to slow down and let us watch them just cuddle their friends were perfect breaks in between all of the combat scenes!”

“I agree,” Rose said, reaching down to grab the gummies around Spartan, “they were the ideal hero. Though if I am to be honest, I grabbed the movie because of one scene shown in the trailer.”

“What scene was that?” Spartan extended his arms towards Rose with the Gummy in hand.

Rose smiled. From the floor, Spartan suddenly got worried as he saw his friend from a very different perspective. “This one.” She said.

Her fingers reached past the extended Gummy and grabbed Spartan’s chest, wrapping gently around him. Popping the other Gummy bears into her mouth, she raised Spartan over her head and gave him a good view of the inside of throat. She swallows, Spartan watching as they disappear down her gullet. He dropped the one he was holding, it landing on her tongue and then joining the others in her stomach.

Spartan knew the scene of which she was referring to. A giant monster had nearly eaten one of the Shifters' friends much like the predicament he was in currently. However, Spartan assumed that no hero was going to be saving him from this maw.

With no more gummies to eat in her mouth, Rose closed her mouth and locked eyes with Spartan. She smiled at him and Spartan returned it, though a bit confused as to what was happening. She lowered him down towards her mouth, still smiling. Spartan closed his eyes.

And Rose gave him a kiss, her lips almost sucking his face off before she pulled him back. “Oh, don’t worry yourself, I won’t be doing anything to you. After all, you are the only man who has ever cared about me.” She set him down on the coffee table and let her arm hang off the couch.

Spartan, still a little confused at the sequence of events that had just happened, sat up and watched Rose settle down and cover her eyes with her right hand. He crossed his legs and listened as Rose spoke.

“Before you scared the living daylights out of me, I hated my life. My job felt like it was draining me of energy and there was only Chilly at my home which felt more like a burden than a blessing. I had no one who I felt like cared about my interests, checked to make sure I ate, and accompanied me when I went out. I honestly felt like there was no reason for my life.

“Then you appeared, asking for my help. And once I got over my shock of your appearance, I realized that I could help you, I had a purpose again. Now whenever I get home, I can look forward to hanging out with you to read my favourite book or play chess or just talk and chill. It was like having a boyfriend that never demanded sex or asked for favors. It was like a dream come true.

“In more ways than one…” Rose mumbled.

“You are into vore?”

Judging by the silence of Rose, Spartan thought right, though her example kind of gave it away as well. Spartan stood up and hopped back onto the couch, crawling onto Rose’s stomach. Rose raised her arm to look at him.

“Rose, I have been so blessed to have been able to meet you. It boggles me to think that if I didn’t cast this spell I would not have met you or even be able to get to know you. I wouldn’t have been able to know that you enjoy mystery and steampunk stories, or that your favourite colour to wear is red because it reminds you of Autumn. I wouldn’t know that you were mistaken for a boy all the way up till grade 11 and you learned how to cook from your older brother.” Spartan said, walking up towards her head.

“You said your life got a purpose once I entered it. Well, I didn’t know what I was missing until I began to live with you. I found that I was capable of love and was worthy of affection. I was allowed to be weird and helpful and now that I have learned that I have helped you? I feel like I have actually done something for you now.” Spartan allowed himself to fall forward onto Rose’s cheek, giving his giant friend a hug to the best of his abilities.

Rose closed her eyes, feeling the closure of her tiny friend. She allowed her mind to wander and thought about a scenario where she could have met Spartan when he was the same size as her. Rose probably would not have spared him a second glance at a man just going through the motions. But because of a happy little accident, she had a person who shared feelings with her sitting on her face.

“Soooo… this vore thing.”

“It’s nothing, it’s nothing! Forget about it!” Rose said quickly, picking up Spartan and setting him down on the couch, sitting up as well.

“No, no, I am sorry if it is too awkward to talk about it!” Spartan said as he was set down. ‘It’s just… I also might be into it.”

Rose froze, mouth slightly opened. Spartan continued, “Of course, I have only used my imagination, so I have no clue if I would actually enjoy being swallowed, feeling the warmth of someone I love surrounding me.”

[carols-review-box]

My Thoughts on Ginny & Georgia: Season 1 

These are my thoughts.

Right off the bat, I want to address that this is, by no means, a comprehensive review. I’m not even sure if it can be called a review. These are just my thoughts on the show, and it may or may not cover everything (in fact, it most certainly won’t cover everything), and I’ll try my best to write it out in an organized manner, but I can’t make promises. (Though, in all fairness, this is just a blog for my own entertainment, and I don’t expect anyone to actually read it.) 

Now, moving on. Ginny & Georgia, season 1. Where do I begin? 

First Impressions 

I first encountered Ginny & Georgia on Netflix when the website decided to auto play its trailer while I was scrolling through it. I watched--almost begrudgingly-- a short, 1 minute clip of Ginny complaining to her teacher about how all the books on the curriculum were written by white men. While I understand where Ginny was coming from, and while I understand that a lot of high school literature is written by authors who sometimes are not representative of their audience, Ginny’s introduction just came off as obnoxious and annoying. I thought, “Imagine moving to a new school, and that’s the first thing you say to the teacher.” I rolled my eyes, wrote the show off as another try-hard feminist woke piece (or something like that), and didn’t think I’d watch it. 

Well, at some point, I obviously decided to give the show a try. And by the middle of the first episode, I was actually really surprised when Ginny didn’t turn out to be insufferable in the beginning. I say in the beginning-- because her character really slides downhill past a certain point.

Plot 

Throughout the entire show, I was probably a thousand times more interested in Georgia’s plot than Ginny’s. 

It makes sense-- Ginny’s plot is... well, pretty much a generic teen soap opera that I’ve seen hundreds of times before. There are some unique themes to her story that I’ve rarely seen portrayed in other shows, like her experience as a biracial person, but other than that, it seems to be your run-of-the-mill drama. 

On the other hand, Georgia’s plot is fresher. I haven’t personally seen any black-widow narratives (if Georgia could be called that), so I was intrigued and curious by how her story would play out. Not to mention, I liked Georgia’s love interests far better than Ginny’s, but maybe that’s just my personal taste.

In comparing these two plots, I do feel like the writers did Ginny wrong. Georgia is given an interesting storyline with a relevant backstory and plot points that actually make sense, whereas Ginny’s story is mediocre, we rarely get to see her side of the past, and half the stuff that goes down in her life is either unrealistic and overdramatized or it just makes no damn sense. 

Characters 

I could probably talk a great deal about the characters in this show. I have the most to say about Ginny (75% of it is criticism, honestly), so I’ll dedicate an entire section to her later. For now, I’ll start with these characters:

Georgia: Georgia, oh Georgia. To put it simply, Georgia is a psychopath hidden behind a large smile and a buzzing Southern accent. For the first 5 episodes, I was so fooled by her act (and her beauty) that I forgot she’s a literal murderer and most likely not a good human being. But I guess that’s, in part, what makes her very interesting to watch. 

Hunter: I literally felt nothing but a mixture of boredom and pity whenever Hunter was on screen. For the first 8 episodes, he is just an extraordinarily boring character-- and his boringness is used as a justification by Ginny to cheat on him (that’s where the pity part comes in). I enjoyed how how he got more character in the ending episodes, and I could understand his struggles when he fought with Ginny (in that scene). But if he wasn’t dating Ginny, then he would’ve been a completely forgettable character.

Marcus: Marcus ALWAYS looks like he’s high. I don’t think there’s a single scene in the show where he doesn’t look like he just smoked something. He also has little personality, other than being the “bad boy.” I guess his hotness makes up for it, or something?

Maxine: While I enjoy Max overall, I think she can be really annoying, talkative and insensitive at times. Emphasis on the last part, because she does this irritating thing where she says something racist, and then asks if she just said something racist. 

Abby: Out of the friend group, I feel like Abby is the most dramatic without being overdramatic. She experiences things that a regular teenager would. However, she can be a bad friend at times, and I don’t like how the characters gives her a pass on some questionable choices she makes. 

Paul: I like Paul. It is a little bit hypocritical of me to say Paul is a good character when he basically has the same exact personality as Hunter, but I’m going to say it: He’s a good character.

Zion: Zion is smooth, and I enjoy his little wisdom bits with Ginny. But he was introduced too late into the show, and I can’t see him being a good fit for Georgia. 

Joe: I love Joe. Just like some of the other characters, he is kind of plain. Kind of vanilla, daresay boring, but for some reason, I love him. Maybe it’s because of his adorable connection with Georgia. Maybe it’s because he offers some much-needed comedic relief in this overdramatized show. Maybe it’s because he has attractive qualities, like running a “successful” business, or maybe he’s just my type. For many, many episodes, I wanted Georgia to get together with Joe the most. 

Austin: I forgot Austin existed for half the time. Like, I know the kid stabbed someone, but in the grand scheme of things, he’s just so forgettable.

Character: Ginny

Ginny. Ah, where do I even begin with Ginny? 

First, I’m just going to say this: I know the writers intended to depict a biracial person’s experience in America through Ginny. I’m not biracial myself, and I don’t fully understand the issues that biracial people go through, so I’m not going to comment too much on how the authors managed to fuck up. I say “how” and not “if,” because a lot of biracial people have said that Ginny & Georgia is kind of a bad example of their life, and also because even I can see the problems with the show from a mile away. 

Getting that out of the way, I’ll start with Ginny’s overall character. 

One would think that a character who is depicted as-- for a lack of better words-- as “woke,”... as in, a character who is supposed to have better moral values than others (the definition comes from the word’s general connotative interpretation from leftist media), would be a good human being. But time and time again, we see that Ginny is everything but. 

These are my biggest issues with Ginny’s character:

1) She acts like she’s better than everyone else, but also like she’s super oppressed. I know these two personality traits aren’t mutually exclusive, but they’re not a good combination either. 

2) She thinks she’s the only person in the entire town who has real issues. Other characters confront her about this, and she eventually mellows down, but it’s astounding to me the amount of people she had to offend before she got the point.

3) She can be really ungrateful and rude towards her mom. I know Georgia is not a perfect mother-- not even close-- and she can be genuinely crazy at times, but Ginny is very rarely appreciative of her mom’s efforts. 

4) Despite Ginny’s intelligence, she is not smart. She commits a bunch of dumb mistakes. Now, some of these can be attributed to her just being a teenager-- like having unprotected sex, sending nudes, being peer pressured into stealing, etc. Whereas other choices-- most notably cheating on her boyfriend-- are just a product of her shitty personality.

5) There is a really bad implication concerning Ginny’s views on race. I can probably talk a lot about race in this show, but true to my word, I’ll keep this short and talk about the one thing that really bothered me: Ginny ignores the black kids. There’s a line in the show where Ginny says she’s too white for the black folks and too black for the white folks... and she uses this to justify never having any friends or not fitting in. But when she gets to Wellsbury, she’s accepted by everyone, including black people, yet she chooses to ignore them. She only sits with them near the end of the show when her friend group kicks her out. And she looks miserable. 

Ginny likes to complain a lot about her white side, but all things considered, I think she has an issue with her black side instead. I don’t know if this is representative of the biracial experience, but I imagine this can’t be a good thing to portray on screen. 

I know it’s crazy of me to say this right after I just ripped Ginny apart. However, despite everything, I actually like Ginny as a character. Do I like her as much as I like Georgia or Joe? No, but she swings more good than bad. What can I say? She’s entertaining (in the same way that Cheryl from Riverdale is entertaining). She’s at least somewhat relatable, and I wouldn’t have watched the entire season if I truly found her to be unbearable. 

That being said, Ginny does have a lot of potential to grow, and I sincerely hope the writers do her better in the next season. 

Themes 

*At some point in the future, I may add more to this section.  

Family: Despite a significant portion of this show being terribly unrealistic, I appreciate the show’s overall depiction of family and separation. For one, the show represents families who aren’t stereotypically nuclear. Our main protagonists are a single mother-daughter combo. The Bakers next door have a deaf father and a mother who doesn’t fit into a perfect mold. There’s a biracial family (Hunter) who connects far more with their American side than their Taiwanese-- so much that Hunter and his sister don’t even speak a lick of Mandarin. The small details and nuances which are added into the show makes them far more representative of the general American population. 

Conversations: This show gives conversations that are far overdue in media. While Hunter and Ginny’s fight scene is 98% pure cringe, the remaining 2% of it is an important reminder on being biracial (or a person of color) in America. Many of us struggle with our racial identity, and it’s unproductive to compare who has it worse. 

Overall + Rating 

To me, the first season of Ginny & Georgia is a 6.5/10. (Five being the average; so this would be a little better than average). While it showed a lot of potential at the beginning, the show eventually devolved to nothing more than a standard melodrama-- even on Georgia’s part. It tried hard to be another Gilmore Girls but ended up falling quite short. I am looking forward to its second season though; and hopefully, it’s much better than the first. 

[probably-writing-x]

Introductions

Itzan Escamilla x Reader

Request by anon: Heyyyy!! Love your imagines so much tbh they make me MELTTTT ❤️ I was wondering if you can write an imagine about Itzan Escamilla (as himself, not as Samu) where the reader is coming to visit the Élite set and then she meets everyone and Itzan falls in love with her at the same moment and he gets shy so Danna helps him out to ask her out on a dinner the same evening which ends up by Itzan & the reader kissing at the end of the night. Thank you & I hope you’re well! Much love 💕💕💕

Gif is not my own

Requests are open🤍

“Girl I’m so happy you’re here!” Danna exclaims when she sees you, hurrying over and wrapping you in an embrace, “I’ve missed you so much.”

“It’s so crazy here,” You laugh, watching as another golf cart passes across the set to quickly transport something else.

“Oh don’t worry, I’ll show you around - it will feel like a second home in no time,” She jokes, linking her arm with yours as she starts leading you through.

You had been one of Danna’s dancers for a while now and you’d become close friends ever since you first started working with her. Now she was on the elite set, she’d invited you down to meet everybody so that the two of you could have a long awaited catch up.

“I’ll make sure I introduce you to everybody, they’re all nice so don’t worry,” She explains, “We’re kind of busy filming different stuff today so I might have to leave you a bit but there’ll always be someone around.”

She drags you over to one of the trailers and knocks quickly on the door.

“This is Mina!” She beams and a young woman opens the door with a bright smile.

“You must be (Y/n)! It’s so lovely to meet you!” You instantly recognise her as Nadia from the show and you’d heard Danna always speak highly of her.

She engulfs you in a hug and you instantly relax into trusting Danna when she’d said everyone was lovely.

“Hey!” A boy calls from behind you.

You turn around and see the two boys you knew as Ander and Omar from the show walking toward the trailer.

“(Y/n), right?” One of them smiles, walking straight toward you, “I’m Omar!”

He hugs you instantly and you knew Danna was right when she said he was one of the most extroverted on set.

“I’m Arón,” The other boy offers you a wave - Danna was also correct when she said he was a lot more introverted.

“It’s nice to meet all of you,” You smile, “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“All good things I hope,” Omar nudges her, “How long are you here for?”

“I’m in town for a couple of weeks so Danna offered to show me around, I’m just waiting for her to finish filming so we can start performing again.”

They laugh and it makes you feel even more at ease.

“Speaking of which, they were calling you to set Danna,” Arón comments, taking a sip from his water bottle.

She looks at you and sighs, “Are you going to be okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be fine,” You glance around, “I’ll wait for you.”

“Here, I’ll show you around a bit if you’d like?” Mina suggests, “They don’t need me for a while anyway.”

You thank her and she ushers you off through a maze of more trailers, asking you questions about your career and your friendship with Danna as you went through. You’re stopped when one boy comes out of one of the trailers and looks fondly at Mina.

“You’re Dannas friend right? I’m sorry I’m terrible with names,” The boy laughs, “I’m Miguel.”

“(Y/n) - and I’m just as bad with names so don’t worry.”

“(Y/n), I’ll try to remember that,” He grins, giving you a hug too, “Fancy walking down to set with us? I think Itzan and Ester should be around there.”

You agree and follow the two of them. Miguel was just as friendly - asking similar questions to what Mina had, also telling you a little bit about the set and what they’d been filming today. He’d asked for any secrets that he could use against Danna and mentioned that he’d seen you perform at a few shows before.

“Ah! Ester, Itzan!” He calls out to two other people who had their backs to you.

“Ahhh hello beautiful!” Ester grins as she sees you, hurrying over and enveloping you in her arms. You’d met her at a party before with Danna and had stayed in Instagram-comment contact ever since.

“Hey Ester!” You smile, returning her gesture, “It’s so good to see you again.”

“You too, girl! It’s been far too long,” She beams, “Oh Sorry, this is Itzan too.”

The boy looks about your age, fresh faced however to make him look as young as his character. He has sharp features and dark hair that make him seem a lot more mysterious than his bashful smile suggested.

“Hey, nice to meet you,” He nods, glancing down at his feet before glancing back up.

Was he always this nervous?

“Yeah, you too,” You respond, trying to stop yourself from blushing at his adoring gaze.

“Here,” Miguel gestures over to some black canvas chairs, “Take a seat and we can watch the scene.”

You follow where he’d been directing you and sit down in one of the chairs, the one that would be designated for Danna. Itzan takes the seat beside you.

“So how long have you kno-“ He begins, prematurely cut off.

“Silence on set please!” The director calls from their chair.

You offer Itzan a smile instead and turn to watch Danna in her scene with Jorge and the man who played their father.

- - - - - -

“They weren’t too bad were they?” Danna jokes as she walks over to where the group of you had been to watch the scene.

“No, no, not at all,” You shake your head, “Good job on the scene.”

“I find it so hard to not laugh at Jorge!” She exclaims, hitting his arm as he walks up beside her.

The boy laughs and shakes his curls, “Nice to meet you (Y/n).”

Danna turns her attention to Itzan who’s beside you with his eyes trailing the floor, “You okay Itzan?”

He glances up and nods, “Yeah, I’m okay.”

“You sure, buddy?” Miguel clasps his shoulder, “You look a little flushed.”

“No, I’m good,” He slips through the group, getting away from their attention, “I should probably get ready for my scene.”

“They didn’t even call us yet!” Ester laughs, “Whats up with him?”

Danna catches your eye contact and shoots you a knowing look, “I have no idea.”

- - - - - -

“So, they need me to stay for a few hours tonight to do some evening scenes,” Danna explains as she touches up her makeup in the trailer.

“I thought you said you were done for the day?”

“Well, plans change, don’t question it,” She responds with an evident lie, “But I did manage to find you a replacement companion for the evening.”

“What?” You laugh, “It’s fine, I’ll just head back to my hotel room.”

“Itzan wants to take you out.”

“Itzan?” You raise your brows, “He told you that or you forced him?”

She rolls her eyes at you, “He was just too nervous earlier, but he really wants to go out with you.”

You eye her suspiciously, “Okay, fine.”

You couldn’t lie and say that you weren’t excited. He was handsome to say the least and there was something about his offset nervous nature that made him intriguing to you.

“Where are we going?”

“You will find out later, darling,” She shoots you a wink, “There’s an outfit on my rail that you can wear, and I just need you to text me to let me know you’re safe,” She jokes.

- - - - - -

As Danna has promised, there’s a knock on her trailer only half an hour later and you find yourself checking your appearance quickly before opening the door.

“So Danna said you didn’t have plans tonight, and she didn’t want you to be alone,” Itzan explains, “Would you maybe want to go out with me?”

“Yeah, Id love to,” You smile warmly, “I’ll just grab my purse.”

You check your outfit again. Danna had left a pair of suit shorts with a black bodysuit with the matching suit jacket and you were relieved she’d actually given you something that you felt comfortable in.

“So where were you thinking of going?” You ask as you follow the path he takes through the set.

“Danna didn’t tell you? She said she’d already made a reservation when I spoke to her,” He frowns, “I thought you would’ve known.”

You laugh a little, “Looks like neither of us know. I’m sure she’s got a car booked.”

You’re pleasantly surprised by how easily you and Itzan strike up conversation. He was a good listener, you learnt. He was welcoming and easy to talk to and he remembered little details and asked you more about them. You had niche things in common and even started debating things you disagreed on - like your favourite Marvel movie.

It flows so well that you find yourself eating lukewarm food at the fancy restaurant after forgetting about eating for so long. Danna had booked a restaurant for you and she’d already covered the cost of the table. You’d thank her later.

“I’ve had a really great time tonight, thank you for keeping me company,” You smile as the two of you decide to walk back to set instead of taking the car.

He matches your pace as he walks beside you, “I did have to get Danna’s help to try to somewhat ask you out.”

You laugh, “Yeah I figured she didn’t have any scenes to film tonight.”

“Not exactly,” He scratches the back of his neck, “I’m not the best at stuff like this.”

“Well I’d say you’ve done a pretty good job so far,” You reassure him, wrapping your arms around yourself in the cold.

“You’re cold?” He frowns a little, tugging off his jacket without question, “Here.”

You turn towards him and let him drape the jacket over your shoulders. His fingertips brush the hair away from your shoulders and linger there for a moment. You’re pleasantly surprised at the delicate confidence behind his touch as his hand moves to instead cup your jaw and he slowly leans in to match his lips with yours. It’s soft and his lips still hold onto the sweet taste of the champagne from dinner. They’re soft and young and you find yourself practically melting under his gesture.

“Looks like your confidence is improving,” You mumble against his lips as he pulls away slightly.

“Maybe Danna should have a few more evening shoots whilst you’re here,” He smirks, hands sliding down your arms until one of them locks with one of yours.

“Yeah, I think I’d like that.”

[psyga315]

Prelude

With Volume 7 just beyond the horizon, I figured to look back at my thoughts for Volume 5 and, through more cooled down eyes, boil down why I consider it to be the worst volume of RWBY. When I wrote my review of Volume 5, it was literally the night the episode premiered, so I was boiling. But now? I’m going to look through the review with fresher eyes and clarify what sort of problems I had with RWBY.

First, a bit of backstory. There was an interview made during the summer in between Volumes 4 & 5 that had the cast say what sort of themes one could expect for Volume 5. Among these were stuff like “building yourself back up again”, “shouting ‘we’re not done here!’”, “solving problems on your own”, and lastly, from Barbara herself, “Strength” and “Growth”. For someone who was just starting to realize why people were turned off by the darkness of Volume 3, this was uplifting to say the least…

Shorts

The Character Shorts kinda hyped the Volume, though they sunk in their own way. Weiss’s Character Short effectively foreshadowed her loss to Vernal. This tough and talented girl gets her ass stomped rather quickly and needed to be bailed out. Winter’s line about how she “won’t be around to save her” was foreshadowing to her not actually being in the season, but when I first heard it, I thought she meant “Hey, I’m going to die this volume, lol!” and that’s without bringing up how the trailer fails to hype Weiss up like the other trailers did.

Blake’s Trailer was alright, especially in taking steps to address a problem regarding Menagerie, but it felt more like Ilia given the backstory dump we got that feels all the more like mandatory reading. The problem is that, and it’s perhaps the very first problem I’ve heard about RWBY, is that the trailers (and by extension, anything that’s a spin off of RWBY like World of Remnant) feel more like you need to watch this rather than you can watch this. It’s confusing, but let’s use Blake’s Short as an example.

Ilia talks about her backstory as it is contrasted with a chase between Blake and a random dude we never see again. Assuming you’ve never watched the trailer, you’d just get the truncated version of “MUH PARENTS ARE DEEEAAAD!” and not the bits where she was forced to resent her own race because it was easier to blend in to her surroundings, like a chameleon. It’s ironic, since RWBY would do the reverse problem with Adam, where his trailer isn’t mandatory but we barely get a backstory for him beyond “I got branded, but everyone will speculate that it’s because I did something bad and not that it drove me to do bad things”.

Lastly, there’s Yang’s short, which had the minor hiccup of contrasting what an interview said about running out of Aura means you can’t use your Semblance. The Aura thing is something that can be discussed for another day, but the basics you should take away from this is that, for some time, people didn’t know how running out of Aura is symbolized. Most people take the flickering as the signal as the next hit on those guys are usually the one that does them in. As such, you had this huge debate on what kind of flickering means Aura broken and what just meant Aura is low, which, personally, could have been avoided if the writers and/or animators just utilized that Aura dust thing (seen prominently in the Bumblebee vs Adam fight) as their definitive “aura broken” animation instead of just using it some of the time.

First Episode

The first episode proper promised a lot. In fact, a good chunk of the first half promised a lot. However, it became much clear in a second viewing that a lot of it was just padding at worst and showing us where the characters are at best. But what I think was done dirty the most in this episode was introducing Mistral. We were hyped in Volume 4 (thanks to World of Remnant) that Mistral was this dichotomy of rich, cultural people and the seedy underbelly of criminals and that, at least one of the elements would be utilized in Volume 5. Unfortunately, all we got were a few mat paintings that contrast what Lionheart was saying in regards to Mistral being in chaos.

And so, the most we get out of Mistral are those mat paintings and a perpetually raining downtown that we don’t see much of, even when it gets briefly revisited in Volume 6. We’re supposed to be invested in the city and yet all we get are empty rooms and 2D art. They took great steps to improve this in Volume 6 with Argus, though, so if there’s any consolation, it’s that they learned from their mistakes here.

But we now get into the biggest problem of why Volume 5 is disliked. Because of the situation, the group are left to basically wait until Lionheart convinces the council to get them some Huntsmen. The heroes. Wait. In a volume where the writers were talking about the themes of improving yourself and pulling through with your own strength.

Do you guys see the problem here? I know people have bitched about Volume 5 to hell and back and you’ve probably heard the complaints to high noon, but this entire issue is what rots Volume 5 to the core the most. Not the piss poor fight scenes, not the inconsistent characterizations, it’s that the plotting decides to take a back seat when the volume was meant to be about taking action.

As the episode goes on, you see the problem unfold. Ruby and friends hit a dead end until Oscar appears and has Ozpin exposit things to them, Weiss is denied a chance to save people and fight the Grimm until the Grimm come to her, Blake is hit with the dead end of the Albains deflecting blame, and Yang had the chance encounter with Bakugou where he knows the hideout of her mom.

The closest person who is taking action here is Yang, who established that she is actively looking for Ruby (technically Raven, but as we see later on, moot point). Blake’s situation is being handled by her dad, Weiss is sitting in the plane until the Grimm come for her, and Ruby is sitting on the couch that I’m pretty sure has her grooves molded into the cushion with how many times she’s sat there.

Episode 2

A minor complaint before we go to Episode 2, we had the Stinger repeat itself because the crew thought that people wouldn’t see the stingers. This is the show, mind you, that makes a point to include scenes at the end of every volume, regardless of how long they are or what point they serve in hyping the next Volume. Hell, one of the major complaints about Volume 2 was about the stinger not mattering. So why did they suddenly decide that the viewers might not see the stinger in a culture where the MCU exists?

Alright, cooling things down, we have three major scenes in Episode 2. Salem’s chat with Lionheart was meh at best and wtf at worst. I get the idea of Salem using different approaches to get people to do what she wants, but the cool aspect of Salem was that her approach was not what a villain would normally be. Instead of berating or choking her minions should they fail or talk back, Salem instead talks people down like she’s a mother to them. Even when Tyrian fails, she doesn’t hurt him, but rather tell him that he disappointed her. So, having her choke Lionheart, even when in hindsight it made some sense, is kinda an odd thing to do.

But not as odd as Salem’s whole “Not you, Arthur” bit. A lot of people drew points to that and the best I can explain is that it’s either a typo (she’s meant to say not yet or not now) or Arthur and Watts are some sort of Jekyll & Hyde thing. Unfortunately, it seems Watts is more a parallel to Watson rather than Jekyll, so that brings me to believe that it’s a typo and so, rather than have an easy explanation for a problem, we just have a compounded problem. One of many.

And there’s something funny to be said about Salem warning Cinder about Silver Eyes when Ruby barely learns about it this Volume. And also that she wants to speak with Tyrian but we never see what comes of it. At all.

I only have one new thing about Weiss vs. the Bees. Originally, the pilot was supposed to be gay, but held off on it because they’d be killing off their first revealed gay character, something that wouldn’t look good to the fanbase. Now, while I understand the reason behind it, I have to question the logic behind why they think it isn’t okay for their first LGBT character to be offed, but instead be someone who seemed okay with murdering her crush’s parents while sending said crush to her abuser.

But more on that later, we have Sienna to discuss. Now, there’s a lot to dissect. For one, RT has obviously realized that they’ve messed up and brought Sienna back for a bit (while taking the heat for “if she’s so badass, why did she go out like a chump”). However, in hindsight, what purpose did she actually serve outside of some cute nod to Shere Khan?

All she did was tell Adam that he’s going too far and that’s it. And really, it just seems hypocritical for the leader of the White Fang to effectively restructure the organization into a terrorist group, murder tons of people, and then suddenly back away and say “woah, too much” when Adam proceeded to help torch Beacon. It’s to the point where one question most people want to ask at cons is “did Sienna order the hit out on the SDC”, since we don’t actually know and that it could be a radical leader of that quadrant like Adam.

It felt more like Sienna should have been just the leader of Mistral’s White Fang faction instead of ruling over all the White Fang, which would make more sense as Adam would need permission to attack a kingdom that isn’t his stomping ground. Then there’s the introduction of Hazel, who at first is presented to be a pretty decent character, not wanting to kill people if he had no choice, but as time goes on, is basically your stock “big soft guy with a secret hulk side” character.

Unfortunately, this episode didn’t help enforce the theme of taking action when it’s the villains who are doing it and seeming to be two if not twenty steps ahead of the heroes.

Episode 3

Episode 3 has that whole speech thing I overlooked. Barring Ghira’s speech that the crew said is based off Obama’s “we killed Osama” speech (which, if it is, paints the whole situation of Sienna’s death in a rather dark light) before Ilia interferes. Now, I actually liked that Menagerie is hesitant to stand up for Haven. After all, humans hated their guts so much that the island was originally planned to be a place where people could dump Faunus on. There were lynchings and enslavements that are still going on to this day, just in subtler forms, Of course the Faunus wouldn’t want to fight.

Then Ilia swoops in and robs Blake of any agency she has with the scene. If RT wanted to not let Blake convince the people until three quarters to the end, they should have cut the subtlety and have some annoying kid go “IT’S TOO EARLY IN THE PLOT TO DO YOUR SPEECH!”. Hell, let Blake tell her story about her team, but the audience balks at the fact that she’s not only friends with a Schnee, but also a human who crippled a guy on live television. Remember that plot point?

We then cut to Oscar and this is perhaps the reason I decided to do this revisit of Volume 5. The way Ozpin talks of action and resolve, it felt like we’re going to the root of the themes of taking action. No more being subject to the events of the plot like in previous Volumes. Now? Now is the time to fight back! And that built up to… what? One training scene and Ruby learning headbutt?

Granted, we see later on that there was a bit more to the plan, but for the most part, it seemed like an excuse for “character growth” as opposed to actual character growth. A training arc isn’t just some short scenes of a person lifting weights and jogging up stairs. Its meant to be a sort of means of growth for the character. There’s a reason most training montages have the character suck at first, but then get better by the time the montage ends. It’s because it’s the quickest way to show growth. But even without that, you could get some serious mileage for a pulled off training arc.

Rocky IV and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back have some good examples of it. Rocky IV had the titular hero train and work out in the middle of a cold, mountainous range, while his opponent is simply given steroids. It shows the dichotomy between the two and how they view their eventual fight. Empire, on the other hand, had that masterful scene with Luke in the cave, where he has a huge moment of both foreshadowing and character growth.

Here? We just have Ruby learn headbutt like she’s nothing more than a Pokemon. There could have been a lot more done with it, like having Ruby put a lot more force in her punches, causing others to realize she’s extremely angry about what happened to Pyrrha and Penny, or, if the need to exposit about Semblances is needed, bring something new to the table that isn’t going to confuse the fuck out of people… Something like:

“Your Semblance might not reveal itself until you need it most” or something like that. Not “A semblance is someone’s personality, but not. Wow! Exposition!” or “Hey, remember how we said Aura was passive? Welp, not anymore!”

Not to mention that Jaune is seemingly cool with Ozpin suddenly coming back from the dead. Here’s the thing, last Volume had him upset with Ozpin about what happened to Pyrrha, something that didn’t seemed to resolve itself. Keep in mind that, for all rights and merits, Jaune believed Ozpin to have died. In fact, it was that confirmation that Ozpin had lost against Cinder that convinced Pyrrha to kill herself. Now here he is, seemingly stuck in the body of another kid and he just outright said this is a normal thing for him.

You’d expect him to have something more than “golly!”. The fact that he didn’t seem to have any aggression towards Ozpin until after he ran to his hidey hole in Volume 6 seems rather odd given that his entire character is that he’s angsting about Pyrrha and angry at Cinder for what she did. The group seem rather content to just sit back and let the plot happen, which is the opposite of what the crew was trying to convey with their themes.

Episode 4 and Episode 5

I still stand by what I said regarding how Episode 4 was a good episode, finally having a reunion between two members of Team RWBY, but it’s perhaps one of the last good things about RWBY we’ll ever see in Volume 5. Because Raven’s promise to tell Yang “the whole truth” turns out to just be regurgitated exposition at worst.

But first, we need to have Blake, the woman who doesn’t want her race to be labeled, turn out to have labels for her friends. Okay, granted, it’s not that dumb but it is kinda patronizing that we need to have a character tell us what another character is. While the rest of her speech is pretty effective in defining Blake’s character, making her perhaps the only character these themes of growth and strength actually apply to, it still is annoying that the most we take away out of this is her boiling down every character to a single word, then bringing up how Adam is going to ruin everything for the Faunus. You’ll see why this is a problem later. I liked the setting of Menagerie’s Shallow Sea marketplace thing and felt like Menagerie is wasted potential.

Ruby’s whole speech still feels like damage control, but with the added complaint of Ruby deciding to blame Salem for something Cinder did. Now, I heard the common excuse a lot: “Salem told Cinder to do it so it’s all her fault”, but that problem with that? Cinder told Emerald to kill Penny. So… Yeah. It is her fault. Hell, I wouldn’t have minded this if Ruby didn’t word it like Salem personally killed Penny and Pyrrha. Like as in, she just up and appeared out of nowhere and shot both Penny and Pyrrha in the head.

It still doesn’t fix the fact that Ruby is basically “hey, remember how I’m supposed to be upset?”

Lastly for Episode 5, we have the White Fang do the brilliant plant of murdering the chieftain who just spoke out against them. It’s dumb. Extremely dumb. What the hell do they think will happen after they murder the chieftain in cold blood? Menagerie is just gonna magically bend over and obey the White Fang? But perhaps the biggest waste is the White Fang in general.

You have these two sneaky fox brothers who seemingly oversee everything and even state that they’re only letting Adam do what he wants until he’s no longer of use to them, a buff bat dude, and a spider-lady… And they’re never seen again after this Volume. I get the idea, because RT is trying to wrap up the Faunus subplot as quickly as possible, but the problem that you can’t exactly introduce new characters or hidden depths if you’re just gonna throw them out with the bath water.

If they wanted to end the subplot, why did they put all the effort in some random characters that are just gonna be defeated off screen with a tea tray? Then again, this is a problem endemic to RWBY. Introduce this character, then quickly shoo them away before you’re committed to writing a plot for them. If you know you were going to half-ass the White Fang conclusion, why bother with stuff like more White Fang members or the SDC brand? In fact, why bother with the White Fang to begin with if you’re going to do so little with them?

Episode 6

Moving on before I lose my cool, we have Qrow aimlessly walking around downtown Mistral. Now, the crew said that Maria was supposed to be here… But… Why? What purpose would she serve? If she’s just gonna be a “hey, look, cameo to foreshadow Volume 6”, then that’s a horrible purpose. You know how most Cinematic Universes tanked because they spent more time hyping the next twenty movies when they should focus on their pilot? That’s what she would have been like.

Not to mention that she would have been caught in the crossfire of why Volume 5 was bad. “So here we have this random old lady who doesn’t matter at all to the plot so why is she even there” and then “Oh wow, she’s a SEW. They’re doing damage control to justify her unneeded presence in Volume 5”. And, don’t get me wrong, Maria is a fun lady and all that, but there needs to be a reason she was there beyond “hype for next Volume”.

What makes the problem worse was that they’re planning to include Maria so as to have a sort of Yoda to teach Ruby. This makes the complaint of “why didn’t Ruby ask about the Silver Eyes” even more of a complaint because now it seems like they decided “hey, we’re going to address it next volume, so let’s not bother bringing it up here”. Which is even worse than “hey, people noticed we didn’t address this so let’s completely invent this character for the sole purpose of addressing it!”

And then there’s Raven who is all “lol, I know more than you realize but I’m not actually gonna answer anything trolololololol” AARHG!

Okay. Okay. Before I completely lose my marbles, there’s one thing about the scene with Raven that’s stupid.

It’s the “there’s no such thing as magic” thing.

Okay. I get it. Turning into a bird is something that, in the world of RWBY, seems impossible. But there’s a ton of problems with this:

What makes summoning dead Grimm to fight for you so much more different than magic?

You’re willing to believe in magic rocks that augment your fighting style and are in fact part of a company that profits off magic rocks, yet turning into a bird is the messed up thing?

The guy who gave her this ability is currently inhabiting the body of a young boy and has said to basically devour his soul in due time, as well as create the magic that’s responsible for torching your school and your friend… And the BIRD is the most messed up thing!?

“But Raven made it sound like she was forced into it”. She didn’t seem to have any fucking problem with it though. Not only that, but it didn’t seem like a big dark secret that Ozpin wouldn’t want uncovered. In fact, he even said he gave Qrow and Raven the ability to turn into birds in an amused way.

Even more so when everyone but Yang seemed to respond to it with disbelief rather than outright anger. There’s a reason this whole bird issue was made fun of in Jello’s “So This is Basically RWBY” video.

Also, before we move onto Episode 7, I wanna bring up that the scene where Qrow visits the Shields is perhaps the reason why I hold Ozpin’s censorship of Lionheart’s role in the Battle of Haven to be one of the most scumbag moves he could have made. “Your mom’s dead, but don’t worry, the guy who sold her out is a hero!”

Episodes 7-10

Right, back to Episode 7. Okay, I’ll admit, it was a nice reunion scene all things considered, albeit with some rather unnerving things like Yang asking Weiss if she let the Boarbatusk skewer the trophy wife or even the dumb, patronizing “we haven’t made character arcs for us to go through so I’ll just say we had some”, since they had the great idea to use Ren, who is voiced by Monty’s brother, as the mouthpiece for that.

Unfortunately, this is the episode I always think back to when I think of Volume 5. The perfect epitome of a slow, monotonous Volume. The problem I have is that, yeah, it’s meant to be this breather episode, a calm before the storm, but this just feels like a long lull that’s made even more insulting with the cliffhanger. All it has is people dumping exposition that viewers have either figured out or weren’t even burning questions and I think the awkward silence that followed Ozpin saying how he was the wizard that gave the Maidens his power is the perfect epitome for just how boring the volume is. The dude just revealed a massive plot twist and it’s treated as nothing more than a “did you know” factoid.

While I liked how they addressed that Blake leaving Yang would have had some serious negative emotions in Yang, it felt rather half-assed that they basically resolved it with “hey, my mom’s drunk, so shut up and accept Blake the moment she comes back”, especially since it comes from Weiss, who told Blake at the end of Volume 1 that if she ever runs away again, she best let RWBY know. If they wanted to ship Bumblebee so badly, this would have been a great hurdle for them to come across instead of just “hey, let me resolve this plot for you”.

Now, the whole thing with Ilia… Let’s get the elephant out of the way. The way they revealed her sexuality, I feel, could have been done better. “You wanna know why I’m gonna kill your parents and bring you to your abuser? Because I wanted you to look at me like a lover!” There’s a reason why some fans label her as a “psycho lesbian”.

However, I want to bring up that Rooster Teeth did an excellent job at building tension during the climax of the Menagerie Arc. Sure, the cliffhangers were tiresome, but you couldn’t help but admit you were at the edge of your seat and it even did a good job at subversion. Even if they allegedly didn’t even intend for it to happen.

The constant dryness of exposition and dialogue exchanges is what made Episode 10 so much better than the other episodes. Not just because it’s action-orientated, but because it finally tries to get back to the themes that it was originally supposed to tell. Throughout the entirety of the middle portion of Volume 5, the group basically took a backseat and allowed characters and plots to happen to them rather than advocate for themselves. The closest thing we got to the theme of “building yourself back up” is Weiss talking to Yang about Blake.

In fact, the only actual characters taking action are the villains. Constantly roadblocking the cast, setting them in for a trap, and even aiming to screw each other over. These guys have more advocacy and agency than the main characters. The most any of them did was…

Burn down their own house and blamed everyone else for it, all while saying that the house is the message Adam wants to send.

Use a girl’s unrequited feelings towards them to their advantage, straddle them, and guilt tripped her enough for her to consider switching sides.

Cry about how things are not going their way until their hands start magically glowing.

Yelling at someone until they cry bitch tears and then have them run away without even bothering to close the door leading to the dangerous artifact everyone had been working so hard to keep out of enemy hands.

In the volume where the theme is “solving problems on our own”. Just because Yang drops the word strength a few times when bitching out at Raven doesn’t mean that the theme had been accomplished. In fact, they do nothing of their own accord and just follow a script. Even Ozpin, the supposed smartest guy in all of Remnant, doesn’t even bother to figure out a way to counter the trap. Just instead walk in. Hell, if Yang didn’t spot Raven, they’d be mulched.

But, back on track. Episode 9 was an entire waste that failed to pay off the expectations of what we had with the cliffhanger set up in Episode 7. “But it subverted your ex-” NO. There’s a good way to subvert expectations and being promised a fight after episodes of bland exposition only to have it be “lol, no, it’s just gonna be more talking” is not a good subversion.

No. Here’s a better way. Set up the cliffhanger like normal, but don’t show Cinder’s dragged out negotiation with Raven. Instead, have her “allying” with Cinder be a twist. That way, people’s expectations for what happened are actually, you know, subverted?

The Battle of Haven

But, you know where this is leading to… The Battle of Haven. Really, I don’t think I can say anything that hasn’t been covered by someone else. We all know it makes all the Vytal fights look like masterpieces by comparison, we all know the jokes about useless Weiss or Lionheart hogging the staircase, or even the plot holes of Raven knowing Cinder’s arm being Grimm but doing nothing about it or Blake, despite spending the past volume saying how Adam must be stopped, suddenly doesn’t care about him…

So let me cut it simply:

The reason this battle sucks might have to do with the crunch.

We don’t know how long this issue with Rooster Teeth had been going on for, but if it is indeed what people say it is and that animators don’t get paid for the last quarter or third of their work, then that might explain all the cut corners animators and writers made. Why the fights are broken up into one on ones or why fights are cut out entirely. Maybe they weren’t getting paid enough and thus, the quality of RWBY suffered as a result of it.

And that’s perhaps the shittiest thing about the Battle of Haven. It could have been this epic fight that would have made up for all the boring, drawn out scenes of exposition and chatting, but because Rooster Teeth got too greedy or even because of our own impatience (which, again, isn’t helped by the aforementioned long, drawn out scenes), we are treated to a final battle so broken and tiresome that the Battle of Winterfell manages to be a better final battle, with the only thing holding it back being that Haven had a better identity twist.

And if, for whatever reason, it isn’t due to crunch issues, then we have another problem. This was meant to be this hyped up rematch between the heroes and villains, who haven’t seen each other since the latter ruined the lives of the former. This would have been excellent to see how the killers of Jaune and Ruby’s friends would interact with them, how Yang would react to the person who framed her, even how the group had grown since their last battle…

But… if crunch wasn’t to blame for the quality dip and the writers intended for the fight to go the way it went… I have to say… What the fuck were they thinking!? So many moments could have been brought up here and yet they decided that they weren’t important enough to focus on! And now, with this battle over and done with, those moments lost their luster. If they decide to bring them up, it’d be too little, too late at best and “why the fuck are you bringing this up now” at worst.

I’ll deal with one commonly used example to get what I mean. Adam was established in Volume 3 to be a threat only made strong because he uses Blake’s emotions against her and has a Semblance that lets him dish out aura-breaking damage. Blake easily defeats Adam and has him on the ropes, only to let him run with a few excuses that some people have debated to death and back, when it would have been much easier for Blake to have to choose between apprehending Adam and helping Yang. Then, when he inevitably returns to haunt Blake next volume, suddenly he’s a threat that Blake is afraid of again despite Blake having “grown” to oppose him.

They wanted that “triumph” over him, but realize that by doing so, they’ve burned that opportunity to have the triumph be meaningful. Same goes with Emerald and Mercury. They had a good opportunity for Ruby to effectively call them out for their crimes like how Jaune did to Cinder, but instead she just headbutts Mercury. Yang had at least some closure on her arc with Mercury, but it was meh.

The Point in All of This

Hell, speaking of wasted opportunities, the reunion of Team RWBY, something that the opening had hyped and one that the fans had been waiting for since Volume 3 ended, is nothing more than an afterthought. They couldn’t even be assed to show Blake’s first fight back with Ruby and Weiss. That’s how little they cared. It’s like everyone was just wanting to get that paycheck but they needed to rush that final episode out the door and also need to make room for Gen:Lock and Nomad trailers. They didn’t even care about the stinger, as they basically ignored any sort of information relating to the stinger.

Perhaps the biggest reason why Volume 5 sucked so hard was that it was running off the heels of Volume 3. Everyone basically accepted that Volume 4 was meant to be a breather Volume, with lower stakes and lower drama (with the exception of possible death flags for Ren and Nora), but the moment they made Volume 5 the grudge match everyone wanted, then the stakes got raised back to the heights of the third Volume, only for it to fail to live up to the expectations. Sorry, I think I mean to say “subvert the expectations” in this day and age.

Though, I think the huge problem with all of this, and perhaps the biggest bottom line I can say, is that it might be due to Volume 3 going too over the edge. By killing important characters and even dividing the team, the villains had raised stakes up so high, that people began to take the show more seriously. When characters were vaguely hinted to die, be it through threats from the villains or even flashbacks, people fretted that they would die. When the villains go back to striking distance with the heroes, people desired a grand battle. When the show tried to deal with the ramifications that happened with RWBY separating, people wanted to know what was going through the characters’ heads.

And when Volume 5 failed to deliver/“subverted their expectations”, people considered it a bad volume.

But worst of all, it failed to live up to its own themes. Jaune was the only person to build himself back up again through deus ex hands, and we saw next Volume that it needed a statue for him to feel better. No one was in a position of giving up only to be defiant and shout “we’re not done here”, but instead cry “it wasn’t supposed to be like this!”. The big problem of Volume 5, make sure the relic is secure, is only solved because two characters had a catfight in the basement and the survivor didn’t bother to lock up because their daughter was too busy bitching at her. No one really grew or strengthened their resolve. The triumph… wasn’t theirs to have.

Although, it seems Rooster Teeth had learned from their mistakes, with Volume 6 being leaps and bounds better than Volume 5, regardless of what you thought of the latter half. Best of all, the themes promised in Volume 5 were shown prominently in Volume 6, albeit some of the scenes capitalizing on those themes feeling more like a child is having a tantrum because they couldn’t have the airplane.

To close out this rather long winded discussion, and to give people a tl;dr on the whole matter, Volume 5 failed to address the themes it had presented and instead just padded itself out, expecting people to accept it because it’s RWBY.

[littlemisssquiggles]

Some people say seasons 4 and 5 were weakest in terms of stuff happening for Ruby and character progress for her, compared to the focus of several episodes on Blake. Like Ruby doesn’t get that too much. What would you say to refute that? I’m just curious I like seeing people’s stance on things gives me a new perspective at times.

Hello again Sweet. Seasons greetings to you and your family. Whelp as I toldyou before, I didn’t exactly see V4 and V5 as Ruby’s weakest seasons. On thecontrary, this squiggle meister hasthe opposite opinion in which I think that V6was Ruby’s weakest season (with the current V7 potentially becoming a closesecond) despite her enduring quite a bit of focus and development during that volume.

Although much didn’t happen for Ruby during V4 and V5, I personally didn’t mindit . While the title of RWBY says that the storycenters around the adventures of all four RWBY girls, I’ve always had the greater impression that Ruby was the mainheroine of the story.

This was evidenced by the fact thatshe was the first character to be introduced to us both in her originalcharacter trailer and the first episode of the series. Not to mention that for a good chunk of the Beacon Trilogy (V1-V3), you can say that much emphasis was based onRuby, often by her own peers which made her stand out compared to her oldermore experienced teammates.

Basically what I’m saying is thatfor half of RWBY’s narrative, Ruby had been a focal character. So when V4rolled up and we got an opportunity to focus on the JNR members for a change,particularly Ren and Nora, for me, I actually enjoyed it. I know some Ruby stansdidn’t like that Ruby’s time with JNR involved her receiving less focus as opposedto the rest of her team (who were the focal characters of their own plots whilethe team were divided during the first 2/3 of the Mistral Trilogy). But like Isaid, I didn’t mind it coming off the high of the Beacon Arc which, in myopinion, had a good amount of Ruby development to satisfy me long enough untilthe PLOT was ready to resume fleshing out what’s next to come for her story.

To me, my biggest gripe with V4 andV5 had less to do with that. As a matter of fact, I actually disagree withfolks on saying that Ruby did receive focus during those two seasons. What wasproblematic for me was what the PLOT—here go the CRWBY Writers at the time(Miles and Kerry) chose to focus on as part of Ruby’s story for the Mistral Trilogy.

During the Beacon Trilogy, Ruby’s arcwas her starting her journey to become a huntress and most of her story fromV1-V3 was about her training to live up to that aspiration of hers whilelearning to be a leader as part of a huntsmen team. It was an establishedaspect of Ruby’s story that remained pretty consistent until the conclusion ofthe Fall of Beacon.

However at the end of V3, the CRWBYWriters introduced this new element of intrigue to her character—her being aSilver Eyed Warrior. After the end of V3, I was hoping that the nextinstallment in Ruby’s development would’ve involved her unlocking the mysteriesof these mystical powers she alone seemed to possess, learning about its strangeorigins in connection to her mother and even Ozpin who seemed to be the onlyperson at the time who knew any info on the Silver Eyes, as revealed by QrowBranwen back during the finale of V3.

I thought Ruby learning aboutthe Silver Eyed Warriors and potentially starting her training to become a fullyrealized one was what the Writers’ had next in store for her story.

But rather than watching three seasonsof Ruby learning about the Silver Eyes, instead we spent two full seasons—V4and V5—feeling as if the PLOT had forgotten this new part of Ruby’s story asthey had her focusing on other things. 

At the time, I previously chocked upRuby’s lack of interest in learning more about her Silver Eyed heritage as her concentratingmore on the upcoming Battle of Haven and the acquirement of the Relic ofKnowledge since that was the main objective of the Mistral Arc at the time. Howeverthe more I thought about it, the more I started to think that it probably would’vebeen a better idea if the PLOT had spent more time providing the groundwork forthat side of Ruby’s story.

Even if it was as small as Ruby simply askingfor more information on who the Silver Eyed Warriors were, I would’vetaken that as opposed to having her not care about it at all for two seasons.Especially since it was tied to her relationship with her mother as well aswhat happens later in V6 after Maria Calavera’s debut. 

This also illustrates my biggestpeeve with the treatment of Maria. As much as I really, really like our veteran pocket abuelita,right now she feels like wasted potential.

The Writers had an opportunity tomake Maria a significant character in Ruby’s rise to Silver Eye status as theold lady is the first and only other Silver Eyed Warrior that Ruby has met inthe story thus far.

Instead, the PLOT practicallyrendered Maria’s character irrelevant bythe finale of V6 after rushing Ruby’squintessential ‘magnumopus’ moment with her Indomitablescene against the Leviathan Grimm.

They still had a chance to redeemthemselves by progressing Ruby’s relationship with Maria for this season. Butfor the second time since V4 and V5, the CRWBY Writers have once againabandoned focusing on building up Ruby as a Silver Eye in favour of forcing development onto another side of her character.

What do I mean by that, you might ask?

Back in V5, it was said that Ruby’s so-called‘problem’ was that she needed to learn hand to hand combat…in spite of her alleged ineptitude forhand to hand never being a key liability to her fighting style inprevious seasons. I mean yes we saw Ruby struggle without Crescent Rose duringher brief altercation with Mercury Black during the Vytal Festival back in V3however we’ve also had moments when Ruby was able to hold her own without theneed for her trademark weapon as shown back in her last fight against Torchwickand Neo in the same season.

So the Writers making the choice to alter that trait in Ruby’s character to suit the PLOTfor that respective season honestly came off as a minor retcon for our little red rose .A retconthat was ultimately made pointless bythe end of V5 entering V6 since Ruby was never seen using or even needing to use hand tohand combat ever again; making me ask the obvious of question of whythe Writers chose to have that be a point of focus for Ruby back in V5 sincethem dropping it a season later  madethat aspect of her story from the season before quite meaningless.

Now this squiggle meister is starting to get a weird sense of déjà vusince I’m seeing a similar pattern being repeated for Ruby’s character for V7only now it’s with her semblance.

While I understand that one’ssemblance is capable of evolving withtime and proper continuous training as mentioned by Ozpin back in V5, however Ican’t tell whether Harriet’s remark to Ruby in V7CH3 about “there being more to her semblance than sherealized” was an indicator that Ruby’s Petal Burst semblance might be evolvingwithout her realization or not.

I mean that could very well be thecase going on with Ruby. However instead I’m left feeling like it doesn’tmatter or that it’s not really that important since Ruby herself has been shown to notthink about it at all; in spite of characters like Harriet and later Oscar inCH6 pointing out that there is something different going on with her signaturesuperpower. 

Instead I’m left thinking that thewhole thing with Ruby’s semblance for V7 is just another example of the PLOT forcing attention onto another aspect ofRuby’s character that’s didn’t really need it.

Back in V5, hand to hand combat didn’tneed to be an obstacle Ruby needed to overcome since a) scythe-wielding has alwaysbeen her signature combat style since her introduction and most importantlyof all b) she never needed to learn hand to hand since it’s never been a  liability to her as a huntress in the line of combat prior to V5.

And now for V7, I’m seeing a similarthing with Ruby’s semblance seeming to be getting some focus but I’m leftfeeling confused by this choice since Ruby’s semblance had been consistent(mostly) for many seasons and honestly didn’t really need any focus at allsince I wasn’t expecting Ruby’s semblance to be developed moving forward.

I was expecting it to be her SilverEyes especially coming off of the end of V6. However it appears that onceagain, Ruby the Silver Eye plot thread has been dropped for yet another season whichunfortunately makes all of progress back in V6 (as small as it is) feel …well…kindof pointless.

Now the impression I’m left with, asa viewer and Ruby Stan, is that the CRWBY Writersdon’t have a clear blueprint or treatment for what Ruby’s Arc is supposed tobe.  While it’s evident that they do haveIDEAS for what they can do for Ruby’s story, a proper PLAN of how they intendto go about executing said ideas per season isn’t there and it SHOWS in the show.

Case in point, Ruby being a SilverEye. Despite presenting the allusion that Ruby being a Silver Eyed Warrior mightultimately play an important part in her story with Salem, the implementationof them building up that side of her story has not only been sloppily handled butit’s also been very fickle with how they flipflop with other things they claim to be important to Ruby’s development.

And as someone who was very excitedto see the progress of this stage of Ruby’s character, seeing the way the PLOThas been handling Ruby in that regard has been a disappointment. Nonetheless, inspite of the oddness in choices made for her writing, this squiggle meister still likes Ruby as our protagonist. She’s stillmy second all-time favourite RWBY character.

If anything, my feelings for Rubyironically match my other favourite character: Oscar—Still one of my favs howeverthe treatment of their side of the story within the series has been so questionable that it’s made it hard toremain invested in whatever the showrunners have planned for said character.Granted that there even is a clear plan which I’m left feeling like there isn’tone based on what I’ve seen so far. However, this is only my opinion.

If anyone reading through myresponse respectfully disagrees withme since they’ve been satisfied with Ruby’s story up until this point then that’sperfectly fine. Like I said, this is my stance onthis subject matter and I hope no one is offended byme taking it this way.

That being said, my verdict isn’tthat Ruby doesn’t receive a lot of focus compared to other characters. As I’vestated throughout my post, I think she receives a good amount as the leader ofour main four. It’s just what the PLOT decides to be the focal point of Ruby’sside of things and the execution of those ideas. This has been my issue withRuby for the past three volumes and even as we’re in V7, it’s unfortunatelystill a problem with the writing for her character for me.

It’s as I said. During the BeaconTrilogy, Ruby’s story was that she wanted to become a huntress to protectothers and a pivotal part of her arc back then was watching her grow into thatrole while proving herself in the eyes of other characters who either doubtedher abilities (such as Weiss) or rose to challenge her on her ideals (such as RomanTorchwick).

It was great watching Ruby grow intoher own as a huntress back in those early seasons because it was a stable part of her character writing that grew withevery season that followed the last.

It’s why I’m having issues followingRuby’s development into a Silver Eyed Warrior (or anything the PLOT has donewith her after V3). The consistency thatwas present with her development has been lost a bit and thus, I’m left feelinglost on what Ruby’s story moving forward is going to actually be.

This isn’t me trying to throw shadeat the Writers or the writing for RWBY in general. It’s just an issue that I’vebeen noticing over the past few seasons, especially since I did my full recapof the whole series last year in preparation for V6.

It’s an overarching issue that, forme, began a bit back during V4 until it was made more apparent by V5. While V6and V7 have shown improvements andsteps in a better direction for the series, unfortunately I’m still noticingthe same lingering problem that has impacted the overall treatment ofcharacters such as Ruby.

Don’t get me wrong. There has been plentyof material dropped by the last few volumes from which I can see the PLOTworking off of to further strengthen Ruby’s story and character. But just likeher treatment back during the Mistral Arc, I’m concerned for the execution of those said ideas and that’s where I mostlystand in that regard.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)

[flibbertigiblet]

Episode 1: FORESHADOWING GALORE

Was it a perfect episode? No. The pacing is still a bit iffy, the dialogue bland, and important scenes felt rushed/undeveloped. But did it give me hope and/or satisfaction? Yes. Light on action, but heavy on foreshadowing, this episode lays the groundwork for three of our favorite theories – Dark!Dany, Political!Jon, and Jonsa.

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I never thought that we would get all our theories openly confirmed in the first episode. The showrunners are giving us the last moments of calm before the storm, and it makes sense that they allow the viewers to enjoy Jon’s homecoming and the various reunions between several beloved characters before they hit us with the major twists those theories entail. What they do instead is pepper the episode with strong hints of these outcomes. In this post, I’ll be highlighting the plot points and dialogue that support these theories, rather than going through the premiere scene by scene.

Let’s jump right into it. This is a long one.

Arrival at Winterfell

After a heartfelt hug with Bran (and thank the gods that we finally get a semblance of humanity from the Three-Eyed Raven in this), Jon turns to Sansa, who had been watching their reunion with a small but fond smile on her face. As Jon rears up to embrace his “sister”, the camera makes sure to cut away from them to focus on Daenerys and Jorah, watching them from a distance. Bran is kept in frame, observing their reactions. Sansa too, turns her gaze on the newcomers, even as she wraps her arms around Jon.

I will admit to being disappointed that the reunion hug between Jon and Sansa was much briefer and less intense than what we got in the HBO trailer, but in retrospect, that fact makes me go “hmm”. After all, they chose that particular sequence to be the first and only snippet from S8 to show in that trailer, despite the episode’s truncated version of the hug (or any other scene from the season, really) being a possible option. A photo of this scene shot from yet another angle from a Spanish(?) publication was circulating the internet only days ago. D&D want us to pay special attention to the relationship between Jon and Sansa.

Podrick Dany certainly is.

Dany and Sansa eye each other from across the courtyard, before the former approaches the Starks. As Lyanna Mormont and Lord Royce stare at her with suspicion, Jon makes introductions.

“My sister, Sansa Stark, the Lady of Winterfell.”

“Thank you for inviting us into your home, Lady Stark,” Daenerys says with a fixed smile. “The North is as beautiful as your brother claimed, as are you.” (You know, one way of interpreting this line was that it was Jon who told Dany that Sansa is beautiful. Because, well. She is.)

Sansa is not impressed by the transparent attempt at flattery. She looks Dany up and down and leans back slightly in thinly-veiled disdain, but her words and voice are perfectly civil. “Winterfell is yours, your Grace.” Take note: neither she nor anyone else in the courtyard bends the knee to their would-be queen.

Daenerys doesn’t buy Sansa’s act for a second, but Bran doesn’t have time for this catfight and tells everyone what’s what. The Wall has fallen, and the Army of the Dead (+ dragon) are marching to Winterfell. That sobers them up quickly.

Meeting the Lords

Everyone is gathered in the Great Hall. Pay attention to the framing. At the head table, Sansa has been relegated to Jon’s right, where Davos, as the Hand of the King, used to sit. Daenerys has taken up Sansa’s former seat to his left, where the Lady of Winterfell typically sits. In this first shot, however, Dany is standing by the fireplace, leaving a visual and metaphorical gap between the Northern pair and Team Dany, represented by Tyrion, who is seated at the far end of the table.

As acting leader of Winterfell, Sansa is the one running the meeting. She establishes the fact that she has called on all the banners to retreat to Winterfell, and asks for an update from Lord Umber, last of that once-mighty House. A young boy no older than Bran was in season 1 pops his head out from behind one of the nameless Lords. He is small, and cute, and has been singled out by the script, so clearly he is doomed.

He addresses first Sansa - “We need more horses and wagons, my Lady,” – then Jon – “and my Lord,” – who flashes him a quick smile – “and my Queen.” – and only then Daenerys, who does not love being third on this list. “Sorry,” apologizes awkwardly. His business is sorted out, and he is sent off.

Jon instructs Maester Wolkan to send ravens to the Night’s Watch to summon them to Winterfell. “At once, Your Grace,” says the man, out of habit, probably, but it’s all the excuse Lyanna Mormont needs to stand up to sass Jon for renouncing his crown (mostly because D&D have designated her the improbable mouthpiece of the North and have not bothered to introduce us to any of the other lords).

Jon tries to make his case, but nobody is convinced, not even when Tyrion tags himself in. As he tries to sway the Northern lords, the camera cuts to the other three – Jon in between the two women, Stark and Targaryen, black and white. They really couldn’t be more obvious about the symbolism here, but in case you missed it, the showrunners give us more evidence that we’re not about to get The Hair Braiding That Was Promised.

Sansa is facing the lords, addressing Tyrion, but is clearly speaking to Daenerys when she asks just how Winterfell is supposed to feed Team Dany’s massive armies and the dragons. Like the responsible leader that she is – take notes, kiddos – Sansa had spent the past few months stockpiling supplies to help her people through winter. Was the North expected to support these newcomers too? “What do dragons eat, anyway?”

“Whatever they want,” says Dany.

The two women look at each other with no further pretense at friendliness. Battle lines have been drawn.

(Jon sits there, pretending not to notice.)

A Proposed Proposal

Davos, Varys and Tyrion are discussing how to salvage the alliance between their respective sides. Davos tells the others that Northerners do not trust easily, that this trust needs to be earned. But he is hopeful that it can happen. “On the off chance that we survive the Night King, what if the Seven Kingdoms, for once in their whole shit history, were ruled by a just woman and an honorable man?”

He is talking about a possible marriage between Jon and Dany, but at this point the audience knows the truth of their relationship, and by the end of the episode – spoiler – Jon does too. Whether or not the GA realizes it yet, this makes the conversation equally applicable to the Jonsa side of the triangle.

Plus, le gasp! A Stark-Targaryen marriage? How dreadfully romantic.*

*Okay, I am actually strongly anti-Rhaegar, but the show plays them as some kind of grand romantic pairing so I will try to contain my antipathy for the purposes of this review.

A Darker Turn

Down at the courtyard, Daenerys is feeling somewhat put upon.

“Your sister doesn’t like me.”

Jon tries to mollify her. “She doesn’t know you. If it makes you feel any better, she didn’t like me either when we were growing up.”

“She doesn’t need to be my friend. But I am her queen. If she can’t respect me…”

WHAT, DANY? IF SANSA CAN’T RESPECT YOU, WHAT WILL YOU DO?

We’ve been saying it for a long while now, but guys. Dark!Dany is coming. While certain elements of the fandom persist in denying the obvious trajectory of her character arc, the foreboding undertone of this line is hard to ignore. What made this even more chilling was that she said this to Jon, a member of her family, who doesn’t yet know at this point in the episode what Dany’s extreme reaction tends to be for insubordination.

(Oh, but we know.)

When Sam learns of what Daenerys did to his father and brother, he could barely hold it together long enough to excuse himself from her presence before falling apart. Despite what Dany stans would have you think, this is a perfectly human and normal reaction to hearing such dreadful news. Also human and understandable? Mistrusting the kind of ruler who would execute a man for not bending the knee. Especially since Sam has personally seen a more humane sort of leadership before in Jon, who he later urges to take up his birthright as the true heir to the Iron Throne.

Other metas have discussed Dany’s approach to leadership and her increasingly draconian (an apt word, no?) attitude towards what she feels is her rightful position as Queen of the 7K. That she can and will take what is hers. A sense of entitlement not dissimilar to that which she attributed to her dragons earlier in that public display which did not endear her to her Northern subjects…

Side note: We’ve seen the indiscriminate destruction that an unchecked dragon can reap before when one of them – then only half-grown – killed the young daughter of a goatherd in Meereen. We even received a handy reminder of this straight from the mouth of Dany’s staunchest supporter and ally only in the episode before this one: “Dragons don’t understand the difference between what is theirs and what isn’t. Land, livestock, children…letting them roam free around the city was a problem.” – Jorah Mormont, S07E07.

And because it hasn’t been hammered into our heads enough, we are reminded of this again later on, when her Dothraki riders list exactly how much her dragons had consumed just that same day (“only eighteen goats and eleven sheep”, which apparently means “the dragons are barely eating”). This is followed by a powerful shot of said dragons surrounded by the charred bones of the livestock that could have fed dozens of people.

The same people who cowered as the dragons flew over Mole’s Town, and whose fear she appeared to relish.

Foreshadowing much?

That Dragon Flying Scene

Oh boy. I’ll be honest. I wasn’t excited to see this one at all. In the end it was both more and less awful than I imagined it would be. The dragon riding scene is bound to be controversial. Thrilling to some, pandering of the worst kind to others. To me, it smacks of fanservice, but let’s give the show the benefit of the doubt and try to parse its storytelling purpose in the greater scheme of things.

Despite Daenerys’ unsubtle threat towards Sansa in the previous scene – which Jon was conveniently prevented from addressing due to the interruption of the Dothraki – and the sight of Drogon and Rhaegal apparently sulking whilst surrounded by the remains of the food they are “barely eating”, the showrunners made the odd decision to play this scene with a note of levity.

Out of nowhere, Dany oh-so-casually encourages her lover to try riding her dragon, a foolhardy decision based on what, exactly? The one time Jon had a moment with one of her “gorgeous beast(s)”? Dany teases him about his initial reluctance, and laughs at his ungraceful attempts to hang on as the two dragons freewheel over the snow-covered lands of the North before landing in front of a beautiful waterfall for a “romantic” moment.

In dialogue calling back to Jon and Ygritte’s famous cave scene (listen, are D&D just going to troll us by recycling  all of Jon’s best hits?):

“We could stay a thousand years, says Daenerys, looking back at Jon. “No one would find us.”

“We’d be pretty old,” says Jon with uncharacteristic humor.

I believe Jon’s lightheartedness stems as much from his being home with his family at long last as the thrill of dragonriding with a pretty girl by his side. The two flirt using cheesy lines straight out of bad fanfiction before sharing a kiss which I suppose will please the stans.

Not me, though. Romantic music playing in the background or not, like in boatbang, the supposed passion of the moment is interrupted by a third party which makes the whole thing awkward. The final shot of Jon’s eyes widening as he sees Rhaegal staring directly at him as he kisses the Dragon Queen made me snort, but it is unclear whether it was played for a laugh, is meant to underline the awkwardness of this romance, or be an ominous portent of the revelations to come.

And Now For the Good Stuff

That terrible unnecessary Disneyfied brightly lit, panoramic, even mildly comedic sequence contrasted sharply with the scene between Jon and Sansa only minutes later. We are treated to a Jonsa staple: a warm, candlelit scene full of tension, fluttering eyelashes, and heaving bosoms. This time, the air is shimmering with a new emotion – jealousy.

The two start off by discussing a message from Lord Glover, who “wishes (them) good fortune but he’s staying in Deepwood Motte with his men.” This immediately sparks an argument between them about Jon having bent the knee. They’ve had variations of this fight before, and to be honest, it’s a little tired. While I fully understand Sansa’s reservations about the presence of Dany and her armies in the North in terms of logistics, I tend to be more sympathetic to Jon’s insistence that the discussion on Northern independence needs to take a back seat for the moment given the gravity of the threats they are facing. But Sansa clings stubbornly to this old argument, and she (rather unfairly) lays the blame for Lord Glover’s desertion at Jon’s feet (let’s blame who is really at fault here, Sansa – the disloyal lord himself).

But of course, that’s not really what they’re fighting about.

“You didn’t tell me you were going to abandon your crown,” she says, voice shaking with anger as she turns her back on Jon.

Jon, frustrated, moves several steps closer. “I never wanted a crown. All I wanted was to protect the North. I brought two armies home with me, two dragons.”

Sansa spins around. “And a Targaryen queen?” she spits out.

Ah, and here we come to what appears to be the true cause of her wrath. Jon reminds Sansa that without Daenerys (and her martial strength), they don’t stand a chance against the Army of the Dead. Sansa is silent. She cannot argue the need for the armies and the dragons, but she takes particular exception to the woman who leads them. Why, Sansa? TELL US WHY.

It’s in their eyes as much as their words.

Jon heaves a deep sigh, closes his eyes. “Do you have any faith in me at all?” (Y’all, this line just about broke my heart cause he just wants her to love trust him.)

Sansa’s eyes are soft and slightly glassy. “You know I do.”

Jon takes another step or two towards Sansa, never breaking their gaze. “She’ll be a good queen. For all of us.” His eyes move away briefly. “She’s not her father.”

Sansa looks down, gathering herself with a deep breath. “No, she’s much prettier.”

Jon gives a pained smile of acknowledgment. It is his turn to avoid her stare.

“Did you bend the knee to save the North?” Sansa asks him, her eyes unfocused. “Or because you love her?”

Jon glances up at Sansa, but doesn’t respond.

END SCENE.

(Let’s give a standing ovation to Sophie and Kit for acting the hell out of this scene. I want a hundred gifs of this, people. Please get on it.)

The subtext is rich, rich, rich, my Jonsas. The dream is still alive.

One Last Thought - The Importance of Sansa Stark

Nothing made me happier than seeing our Queen in the North Lady of Winterfell given all the credit and respect that is her due after seasons of anti bullshit. See:

The people’s deference to her position and the role that she plays in the North

Tyrion’s acknowledgment of her survival skills - “Many underestimated you. Most of them are dead now.”

Arya’s steadfast defense of her - “She’s the smartest person I ever met.” - when Jon (Jon???) himself was expressing frustration towards her (check out @athimbleful 's recent ask for an explanation for Jon’s behavior in this scene)

Even Dany’s behaviour towards Sansa (first with that cringey introduction), and later when she singles her out for not “respecting” her, despite the fact that none of the Northern lords were showing her any warmth is an indication of her awareness of Sansa’s alpha status, which is right and just and exactly as it should be.

As recent promo materials, cast interviews, etc. seem be strongly pro-Sansa, I am reasonably optimistic that this all bodes well for our girl. For that alone, I will breathe a little easier...

...at least for one more week.

[marshmallowgoop]

Goop Plays Kill la Kill the Game: IF (Satsuki Episodes 9-10)

What.

Episode 9

Okay, before I get into the episode, I do have a confession to make: I did know some kinda spoilery things about the story mode before I started playing.

Me being me, I couldn’t help but read into every little thing that review copy owners said about the plot of the game prior to release. So, when my note about Hiromi Wakabayashi stating that IF was canon to the anime at last year’s Anime Expo seemed plausible enough to Globku that he even mentioned it in his review of the game, I figured something was up.

In a Discord group for IF, I wrote:

I think Globku was actually referring to a comment I made [in his review], where I noted that Wakabayashi said the game was canon at AX last year ^^;

But apparently it could fit into canon

Which....

mmmm

Dunno how to feel about that

Globku later responded:

@MarshmallowGoop correct

I was referring to your comment

that's the first I heard of it

I had thought "this could actually be canon" at the end of story mode

so hearing that made sense

And I answered:

I'm famous! :D

The thing is, though, I had thought it was a misspoken statement, given that the story was later stressed to be an AU. But here is the source:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nFRRTHkfwM&feature=youtu.be&t=45m2s

Or to sum it up, from one of my millions of articles: "We first got story details at Anime Expo’s Kill la Kill the Game: IF panel back in July, and the crowd there didn’t waste any time in asking if the game would be canon to the anime. Studio Trigger’s Hiromi Wakabayashi answered in the affirmative, prompting applause from the audience. 

'Yeah,' Wakabayashi said. “I consider them [the game and the anime] to be in the same universe, as part of the same story.'” 

I elaborated some more:

Takeshi Yamanaka, the game's producer, also said in a recent video, "Nakashima-sensei is going to be the one drawing the storyboards. As you might expect, there were parts of the story that he wasn’t able to tell in the anime, so he’s putting a lot of effort into writing a side story that wasn’t able to be told in the anime. It takes place before the point in the anime—before the Naturals Election takes place, so around episode… 8.5? It’s less of an alternate universe story and more a story that happened, but there wasn’t time to depict it. It wasn’t shown in the anime, but these events actually happened in Nakashima-san’s head."

Which... I thought was really curious.

source: https://marshmallowgoop.tumblr.com/post/185751744432/crunchyroll-on-twitter

And then I concluded by saying:

In any case, the confirmation that this "alternate story" could fit into the anime's story... kind of explains some things

Globku went on to warn me that “they really use a popular gimmick to make it all fit together” and I shouldn’t “get [my] hopes up,” and when Timodus, another review copy owner, shared the trophy list for the game, I immediately took note of how the achievement for beating the final boss in Ryuko’s story is called “Lost in a Dream.”

“inb4 the whole game was just a dream,” I said.

So, tl;dr, I was kind of expecting something like what happened in these two final chapters of Satsuki’s story.

But I’m still very, very lost.

Ragyo’s completely right. I’m not sure I can hope to understand!

Ragyo: You cannot hope to understand, dear.

I mean, what?

Ragyo: I suppose, though, that your obliviousness is what brought this situation about in the first place. A distorted world such as this can transcend space and time. One such as this can even be spun into a single yarn with the Primordial Life Fiber.

I suppose I should have seen something like this coming when it was stated in episode 4 that Life Fibers can transcend space, but I’m... very confused. Is this game a whole ‘nother universe that somehow ends up merging with the anime’s universe? Or is it just Satsuki’s dream, as the ending sort of implies? Or is it a “dream that’s more than a dream,” as is so common in Magical Girl stories (of which Kill la Kill takes many cues from)? Why does Ragyo refer to the world as “distorted”?

I’m sure Ryuko’s story will explain things more, but right now, I’m kind of scratching my head.

Trying to understand how this game fits into the anime aside, the battle with Ragyo in Shinra-Kouketsu is so much more difficult and more enjoyable than the final boss (as much as I enjoyed Junketsu-Shinzui). Once more, I really loved all the cute introductions as other characters joined Satsuki for the battle; Satsuki saying that she’s counting on Gamagoori and that she never imagined fighting with Ryuko by her side is so sweet. Satsuki’s comment to Nonon that she shouldn’t hold back also caught my interest, as it implies that Nonon might have seen Ragyo as a much kinder figure and wasn’t aware of her horrible abuses against Satsuki.

Hey, I know the consensus on this game has gone from generally positive to really mixed, but, uh, could we please get a Kill la Kill prequel someday? I mean, Little Witch Academia is getting another game despite the first one basically being a critical failure, right?

All that said, this episode really hammered home that I was definitely hoping for too much depth from a short story in an anime tie-in game. I kinda had the same reaction as Ryuko. That’s... it?

Ryuko: That’s it? It’s over?

And, uh, relating to my discussion of the last few episodes, Rei is totally dead, but is Ragyo? And Nui? I wasn’t completely sure, but if they are, is everyone just kinda “whatever” about that? They’re all teenagers who just killed a bunch of folks, nbd?

O... kay.

More positively, I loved the bit where Satsuki saw visions of the anime. All of those visions are about being with Ryuko, my heart. And the first one is her apology on the Naked Sol. My heart.

The style on these images is also really nice, too.

Can’t say I know at all what’s going on—does Satsuki end up just standing still after this because she realizes that the world is all fake or something?—but I was kind of expecting to dislike a gimmicky dream plot or whatever, but I actually... like it?

At least, so far, anyway.

Episode 10

Speaking of stuff I was expecting to dislike, I wrote a whole essay years ago about how I didn’t think Junketsu-Shinzui would be thematically fitting. In another essay, I argued, “Their [Satsuki and Junketsu’s] destructive “bond” is likely why Junketsu-Shinzui, the super-mode Junketsu version of Senketsu-Kisaragi, is never used. In a series quite literally about the power of friendship, having great strength come in the form of the exact opposite simply doesn’t work.”

But having Junketsu-Shinzui come from absorbing the uniforms of the Elite Four⁠—much like how Senketsu-Kisaragi came from absorbing other uniforms—made it work for me. It’s about friendship overpowering the monster that is Junketsu, not about power coming from domination, hatred, and control. It’s actually pretty sweet.

And Satsuki looks so beautiful.

However... I will say that I was hoping for a lot more from this story than what happened. There was none of the Senketsu and Satsuki bonding that I was dying for (sob), and Satsuki doesn’t grow at all as a person from the storyline here. She never realizes her mistakes and vows to be better as she does in the anime. 

Initially, I was really bummed by this lack of development. But as I thought about things more, I... didn’t mind so much. If this dream or universe or whatever is something that Satsuki “experiences” before the events of the anime, of course she won’t grow as a character here. Maybe this game is kind of the Kill la Kill prequel I’ve been begging for for over half a decade.

And as much as I didn’t get anything, I thought the ending bits between Ryuko and Satsuki were so good. 

Like, I suppose Ryuko’s absorbing the Life Fibers or something?? But wow, pretty.

And the part where they talk before Satsuki disappears? That’s my kinda anime bullshit. It’s the kinda anime bullshit I wanted from the OVA between Ryuko and Senketsu. 

You know that scene in Wolf Children where Hana and the Wolf Man talk in the end? I have a lot of problems with that movie, but I just love things like that. Good shit.

Satsuki: Thank you. I am sorry for all the trouble.

Ryuko: Huh! Don’t get all mushy. Besides, there’s a few things we still gotta settle.

Satsuki: Indeed we have. Until we meet again.

But, okay. My questions are endless.

Where the heck did Ryuko and Senketsu go in that last battle? How the heck can Senketsu-Kisaragi happen in Ryuko’s side of the story? What the heck happened to my boy, anyway? (I’m assuming he died, but....)

And what’s the symbolism of Satsuki needing to cut herself in half to “wake up”?

And why do all the ties between humans and Life Fibers have to be severed when Ryuko and Senketsu are so lovely together? Not to mention that Ryuko still has Life Fibers in her, right?

Satsuki: The ties between humans and Life Fibers... shall be severed!

And I thought I was expecting too much from those ominous trailer lines, but apparently not?

Ragyo: All of this is because of you, Satsuki. Because of who you are.

You cannot hope to understand, dear. I suppose, though... that your obliviousness is what brought this situation about in the first place.

But what does it mean????

Why is Satsuki having this “dream” or whatever in the first place? Did the Life Fibers ultimately want the ending of the anime, and this “world” is to help Satsuki and co reach that ending? I mean, why else would the Primordial Life Fiber baby show Satsuki all those bits from the anime?

Also, what is the significance of the final boss basically being a big baby.

I just. I don’t even know.

I do also have to wonder how much of this “world” that Satsuki remembers in the end. I tend to forget my dreams (when I actually have them) really quickly, and that’s honestly the only reason that I can make sense of this story. Satsuki experienced all of this stuff, but all she really remembers about it is that girl with the red in her hair and one half of a giant pair of scissors...

It’s kinda poetic. Nakashima is a playwright, I suppose.

The story also reminds me of a fanfiction I’ve wanted to write. In the story, I too wanted to use some BS Life Fiber explanation to justify time travel of sorts. The idea was that Ryuko would continuously go back to the past to try to prevent Senketsu’s death. But she’d only remember previously living through the events of the anime close to its ending, and no matter how many times she’d try, she’d never be able to change the fact that Senketsu had to perish.

The final time she tries, she’d confess everything to Senketsu, and he’d say something about how some things are just meant to be. The future is as set in stone as the past.

I don’t think I’ll ever write it⁠—especially after I just revealed the whole plot, lol—but I dunno. I kinda liked seeing something a bit reminiscent of my idea in an actual “canon” Kill la Kill story, and Senketsu’s line in the preview for Ryuko’s half of the game makes me curious if there won’t be some more similarities coming up.

Senketsu: When humans realize the world they desire is a fleeting thing, will they be able to accept it?

Maybe the world Ryuko desires is a world where Senketsu lives, but that kind of world would be fleeting—but that’s enough for her.

Orrr I’m probably just being too optimistic for more stuff about my babies. 

But, c’mon, Senketsu says he’s getting more action in Ryuko’s story! So! Let a girl dream!

At the end of the day, I think what I’ve wanted most from this story is more respect towards Senketsu. And... since I didn’t see Imaishi’s name in the credits, I’m hoping that at least that much happens.

But speaking of the credits, I’m sad I didn’t get mentioned, lol. Playing the game at Sakura-Con and Anime Expo apparently didn’t count!

[willsff7rthoughts]

[REVIEW] Final Fantasy VII: Remake

WARNING: This review contains spoilers for both Final Fantasy VII (1997) as well as Final Fantasy VII: Remake (2020).

Introduction

Before I get into things, I feel like this review deserves a little bit of context. 

Final Fantasy VII (1997) is my favorite video game of all time. As a kid, I liked my Game Boy games; Pokémon Red and Link’s Awakening were good fun as I passed summer days at my grandparents’ house. However, it wasn’t until I played Final Fantasy VII that I fell in love with video games and realized the platform’s potential as an art form. The game packed a full and impactful punch – a vast and varied world to explore, an engrossing and gripping story, characters whose lives are changed forever, stunning graphics (at the time), a simple yet deep combat system, and a new way of keeping things fresh at every turn. All of this spanned across four discs and fifty hours of a completely riveting gaming experience. 

Video games have been my foremost hobby and passion since my first foray into this wonderful adventure, and thus it isn’t a stretch to say that Final Fantasy VII helped define who I am as a person. So, let me be the first person to say that I was nervous when Final Fantasy VII: Remake was announced. I wasn’t one of those people who obnoxiously kept asking for it, nor did I even really want it. The odds of this remake meeting the sky-high expectations set by the original were astronomically low, and the thought of recreating my first love in a modern gaming culture where games are more popular, more culturally relevant, and more heavily scrutinized than ever before was downright terrifying. Imagine that the thing you loved and championed for the most was vilified in the social media era. Indirectly, the part of you which that thing helped to define would be vilified, too. If, in the middle of the remake’s development cycle, Square were to suddenly announce that the plug was pulled on the project and it would never see the light of day, I wouldn’t have been upset because I was so fearful of being disappointed. Nothing could have eased this fear – not the news of the old guard getting together to make this game, not the breathtaking visual previews, or the overwhelmingly well received gameplay demo. I needed to see for myself if Square could re-capture lightning in a bottle.

The point that I’m hoping to illustrate here is that this isn’t a Kingdom Hearts III (2019) situation where Square could have put prison gruel on my plate and I’d still eat it up like a well-seasoned filet mignon simply because I’m happy it exists. Quite the opposite, in fact. Upon popping the disc in, I went in with a strict and critical mindset because this game had to be absolutely stellar; anything else would be a massive disappointment.

With that set up, and a thirty-eight hour escapade from the Sector 1 Reactor to the highway out of Midgar in the books, let’s get into it. I’ll be covering and assigning subjective scores to each of the following categories: Visuals, Sound, World, Gameplay, Characterization, Story, Ending. At the end, I’ll deliver concluding thoughts and attempt a final subjective score.

Visuals

We’ll start with the bells and whistles. Visuals, and then sound.

I’ve always been one to say that graphics are a low priority in the world of video games, that the “game” part is what should grip you moreso than the “video” part. In fact, I haven’t adhered to this more loudly than when defending the 1997 original because no game has been subject to more “polygon graphics” and “Dorito hair” memes.

All that said, good graphics are one hell of a cherry to have on top. And this game’s cherry is a sweet one.

Square Enix has always been at the forefront of graphical prowess for pretty much their entire history; they tend to set the bar in this department when it comes to a new Final Fantasy installment and this remake is no exception.

It’s pretty simple here: Everything. Looks. Fucking. Amazing.

We’ll start with the character designs. All stay true to the original; the biggest liberties that Square decided to take were Barret’s sunglasses to highlight that renegade, demolitionist aesthetic (he may or may not wear them indoors a bit too much, but I digress) and Tifa’s new stockings and sports bra underneath her iconic white tank to give her more of that sporty, martial artist look. Both are welcome additions. Zooming out and taking a look at the entire cast, everyone looks absolutely brilliant in their 2020 self. 

Facial expressions, lip syncing, and body language are of course impeccable and life-like for all characters throughout the game’s entirety. It’s important to note, too, that Square pushed the envelope so much on these character models that it’s often hard to distinguish whether or not in-game models or pre-rendered models are being used in cutscenes. 

Animations both in battle and out of it are extremely fluid and well-done. Battle particles and visuals are flashy and distinct without being overbearing or stealing the limelight away from the gameplay itself. Between Kingdom Hearts III and now this game, it’s probably fair to say that all of the chatter surrounding Square’s adoption of Unreal Engine 4 can now be put to rest. 

I’ll cover the visual quality of Midgar itself in the “World” section, but as you can probably imagine, I was blown away by that, too.

Visuals Score: 10/10

Sound

Let’s begin with the voiceover quality (I played in English). This is actually a harder obstacle for Square to tackle than people realize, I think. These aren’t brand new characters. People know them already. The original game’s dialogue was done completely in text, so if you’re Square, you face this challenge where your players have a distinct voice in their head for these characters based on their appearances, backgrounds, personalities and choices of words. Can you capture that exactly?

I think Square did a great job, for the most part. You can hear Cloud’s fake apathy, the sincerity underneath his front of not caring. There’s a distance and mysterious quality to his voice that I think is so essential to his character. Barret is likely the weakest in terms of vocal performance; when he gets loud, I can’t get the Internet’s early comparisons to Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder (2008) out of my head. However, when speaking at a normal tone, and especially when speaking at a somber tone, I think he’s absolutely perfect. Gruff and tough, yet absolutely empathetic and passionate. Tifa likely has the strongest vocal performance, perfectly capturing a character who is pensive and struggling to identify what’s right amidst the chaos around her while being put in the position of needing to be the voice of reason. Aerith’s voice is higher pitched and carries more whimsy than I had imagined, but I also really like this version because it paints Aerith as this ordinary, innocent and playful woman which is true to her initial characterization before we find out that she is connected to something much, much deeper. The rest of the characters are voiced beautifully, from the Shinra crew, to the entirety of Avalanche (shoutouts to getting Badger from Breaking Bad to play Wedge, how absolutely perfect), to the random scared citizens we meet amongst the slums.

Moving onto the soundtrack... just wow. Nobuo Uematsu, you brilliant son of a bitch. 

I’m of the opinion that Final Fantasy VII boasts the second best soundtrack in the franchise, second only to Final Fantasy IX (2000), and I really didn’t see where it had room to improve. Imagine if all of The Beatles were alive and said today, “Yeah, we’re going to remake Abbey Road, and make it even better.” Like... how? How do you improve upon a masterpiece? The potential and possibility is just outside of our comprehension, right? And yet, they would probably find a way.

Similarly, in a 2020 landscape in which Nobuo has a lot more tools, tricks, and experience up his sleeve, he managed to churn out a reimagined soundtrack that builds upon the core strengths of the original to create something new and grand. For example, from the jump, we can compare the Bombing Mission tracks. The original is fantastic, and a classic – a spunky baseline combined with anxiety-inducing synth horns create the perfect ambience for the mission at hand while setting up Midgar’s feel of a grungy, electric city. Nobuo’s version for the remake utilizes a sweeping orchestra to create the exact same feeling but with a much fuller sound fitting for a modern game. 

Of course, plenty of new tracks were created for this game as well such as the score for the Wall Market sections, and certainly deserve their place amongst the old songs that we fell in love with before. Because of this, no two areas of Midgar felt the same (which can happen in a world where everything is called a sector and a number), and areas from the original took on that received their own theme took on a life of their own. Finally, the collectible jazz tracks were an amazing touch that provided an alternative look at the game’s iconic themes without breaking the immersion of the world too much.

A few of my personal favorites from throughout the game:

The Airbuster – A remake of Final Fantasy VII’s boss theme, and it just... slaps, as the kids say.

Critical Shot – An alternate battle theme that we first heard in the trailers which was simply a lot of fun to fight to

Tifa’s Theme – Seventh Heaven – The iconic piano track blossoms into a wonderful and iconic orchestral experience. Beautifully done.

Aerith’s Theme – Sector 5 Church – This one’s a bit of an outlier; it’s not actually listed on the FF7R OST and is in fact original to Nobuo’s Final Fantasy VII piano collections, but it’s the perfect example of music tying a ribbon onto a scene. Cloud falling into the Sector 5 Church and meeting Aerith is something I’ve seen countless times, but I was still moved to tears by how beautifully everything comes together. 

On Our Way (Collectible Jazz Track) – We get the Kalm theme early with this one. Man, oh, man that saxophone.

Sound Score: 10/10

World

To be honest, it was basically a given that Square was going to nail the bells and whistles. Square-Enix games rarely, if ever, disappoint in the audiovisual department. With those out of the way, we can start moving to the meat of the review: How well did Square-Enix recreate this iconic world? In the case of this edition of the Remake, did they manage to bring Midgar to life in an acceptable way?

I’m going to make a confession. After the bombing mission, I felt bored. In fact, I turned the game off and called it a night. This isn’t to say that the bombing mission wasn’t recreated beautifully – it certainly was – it’s just that I've been conditioned by the original game to associate Midgar with being this slow, uninteresting opening act of the Final Fantasy VII story and that the bombing mission is just the first step to leaving Midgar so that I can start the real adventure. 

And then, I got to Sector 7.

Holy shit.

I hadn’t really put much thought into how many levers Square had at their disposal to bring Midgar to life. Sector 7 served as the first of many slaps to the face that absolutely nothing was off limits, and whatever Square was going to touch was turning into gold. What in the 1997 edition was simply one screen with the bar, a couple shops, and an apartment or two we could enter was transformed into a full-on city. A grid of streets, avenues, and alleyways littered with townsfolk whose conversations about recent plot points we could overhear as we passed by, which created a pulse within the slums. A bevy of different stores and buildings to explore. A fresh cast of characters and NPCs to converse with which deepened our connection to these slums. And the plate. I could talk for hours about this – in the original, such a big deal is made of the two layers of Midgar, and how the top plate on which the privileged live blocks out the sky and pollutes the air for the slums below. But we literally never see the freaking thing because obviously, how could they show it in a top-down view? And yet, in this remake, it’s very much omnipresent. The steel sky of dread and inequality spans omnipresent across the slums we traverse (I unashamedly spent a legitimate five minutes just staring up at it, like “Holy crap. There it is...” as if I were a kid catching Santa Claus on Christmas night). 

And of course, Sector 7 was just the tip of the iceberg. Sector 5 got a very similar treatment in addition to perfectly recreating Aerith’s house while capturing its vibes of being a diamond in the rough. Shinra HQ was downright gorgeous and more grand than we could have imagined. Something that stood out to me was Square’s ability to expand on areas from the original Midgar that were total afterthoughts – the journey from Sector 5 to the Sector 7 playground which in the original was a couple unremarkable screens became a winding stretch worth hours of exploration, puzzles, and battle. Other originally miniscule areas like the train graveyard, the sewers underneath Wall Market, and the climb up to Shinra HQ all got a similar treatment. Square didn’t stop there, either, introducing new areas such as a brief foray to the suburbs topside of the plate which showed new light upon this electric city. Honestly, what floored me the most was just how much life there was in all of Midgar. The conversations that the city’s inhabitants in virtually all areas that we pass through served to not only give Midgar a heartbeat, but also to make us as the player truly feel the gravity of our actions.

Truly, Square’s brilliance shone bright here – the bland and boring original Midgar only served as a blank canvas for the city to be invigorated in grand fashion for this remake.

World Score: 10/10

Gameplay

This is possibly the most important section. All the bells and whistles about this game are great, and the setting was recreated beautifully while capturing every vibe of the original and then some... but in the end, this is a video game, and aesthetics and soundscape don’t mean anything if your game isn’t fun.

Square-Enix had a monumental challenge before them when having to come up with a combat system for this remake. On the one hand, you have the classic Final Fantasy ATB system which longtime fans of the series absolutely love; this rewards tactical thinking, preparation, and methodically planning out and expending turns and resources to reach the outcome that you desire. On the other hand, turn based combat isn’t exactly premium gaming in 2020. I’m a Final Fantasy purist and even I can admit that. We’re just not as limited anymore. Developers have the ability to create these fantastic action-based games with better responsiveness, flow, and hitbox/hurtbox technology than ever before, and this style of gaming is obviously a lot more appealing and rewarding to a wider audience of players who frankly know better in this day and age.

So, Square did their best Dora impression and said “Why not both?”

And from it came perfection.

Yes, I said “perfection”. Square was somehow able to find a way to make old school and new school tango, and they are wonderful dance partners. 

A brief summary for those who are out of the loop: In a normal state, combat plays a lot similarly to a lot of action-based games we know and love today (think God of War, Kingdom Hearts, Dark Souls). You can move around freely, guard, dodge, and attack to your heart’s content. There are elements here that are absolutely necessary in a modern video game that were missing in the original Final Fantasy VII: Constant engagement. Real-time skill expression. 

The traditional Final Fantasy players don’t get left out either. By playing through combat normally – attacking, blocking, and dodging – the player builds up their ATB gauge. Once their ATB is full, they can enter Tactical Mode, which slows down time dramatically and allows the player to use their character’s skills, magic, summons, and items.

And the absolutely beautiful thing? You need both standard play as well as Tactical Mode to succeed in combat. The necessity of standard play is obvious – you need to be able to run around, attack, and defend to thrive in combat. But you won’t get anywhere with tougher enemies just by whacking them. You need to use your ATB gauge in order to pack a significant punch to enemies, to discover and exploit their weaknesses, and to heal up your party.

Speaking of the party, I deeply enjoyed being able to switch seamlessly between controlling the party members with the push of a button. AI-controlled party members’ ATB gauges fill up more slowly, which means constant switching, assigning ATB usage, and moving to the next party member are key to maximizing effectiveness. Hooray for even more avenues for skill expression!

And let me just take a second to gush. Perhaps my biggest criticism of the original Final Fantasy VII is that literally every character is pretty much the same in battle. Yes, their base stats vary slightly, as do their Limit Breaks, but aside from that, with enough materia and stat increase item shenanigans (and it doesn’t take much), every character plays and feels the same in combat.

Square completely shattered that criticism in this remake. Every character feels unique and satisfying to play:

What’s remarkable to me about playing as Cloud is how well Square nailed the speed at which he plays at. ‘Cause think about it, right? Dude’s holding a sword that weighs 80-100 lbs, so his attacks and moveset have to be able look and feel like they pack a heavy punch. But at the same time, we know that Cloud’s no rook, and he has some dexterity and speed to him. To find this balance, his combos from beginning to middle a great tempo and good flash, and they finish with a visible powerful and empathetic smash.

Tifa is far and away my favorite character to play as. Honoring her Final Fantasy monk inspiration, Square designed Tifa in such a way that she feels like she came straight out of a fighting game. Lightning quick, an emphasis on combos, and get this – you can animation cancel. As an example, I was fighting a boss and already had Unbridled Strength (damage boost) and Haste (ATB buildup boost) activated on Tifa. I dodged the boss’s frontal cleave with Focused Strike, strung some basic attacks together, threw in Overpower which links with your basic attacks, and finished by using Whirling Uppercut then canceling the landing animation by using Divekick. That’s. Insane.

Square nailed Barret’s awkward role as the supporty-ranged tank. His damage isn’t great, but he plays at a safe range and is your best bet to take down units at a far distance. He has some ridiculous HP and defensive stats and is a solid magic user so he was honestly great to switch to when my higher DPS characters needed a breather to get healed up. 

Okay first of all, thank God they gave Aerith a magic-based ranged basic attack. The sound of her whacking something in the original to the tune of, like, 12 damage will haunt my dreams forever. Aerith feels fantastic to play as well. I draw comparisons to the Final Fantasy XIV black mage – switch to Aerith, set up an Arcane Ward (doubles spellcasts!), don’t move, and watch as her ridiculous magic abilities burn enemies down. She’s also great to leave on AI-controlled standby so that she can attack safely from a distance and heal up the party as needed.

The battles themselves were great; each boss felt unique and had a weakness to discover and exploit. Seamlessly weaving in cutscenes and dialogue added a cinematic flair that was just another cherry on top of an amazing combat system. The typical monsters and trash mobs that we came across were all unique as well, and their variants encountered later in the game added twists of required tactical thinking.

I have only a couple points of discomfort with the new combat system, and they’re both very minor ones. First, the fact that skills/spells (and even Limit Breaks!) can be interrupted by enemy actions could be extremely frustrating – especially if there were larger amounts of enemies present, your character could get juggled quite easily. Filling up your ATB gauge and readying a skill just for it to be interrupted because some demon hound ran up and smacked you in the head has to be the least “Final Fantasy” feeling ever. That being said, this is easily where you can throw the term “skill expression” right back at me. The second point of discomfort is that enemies were very clearly agro’d to whoever you control as the player. This made playing a ranged character like Aerith annoying at times, because, dammit, I just want to DPS without hordes of monsters running at me! Again, “skill expression” is a double edged sword, but I found it a little strange that enemies would drop what they’re doing, stop fighting Cloud, and start running at Barret just because I switched to him.

Zooming out to other facets of gameplay! I really enjoyed how materia was implemented which may just be a derivative of how smart the combat system was that Square created, but I think Square really hit the mark of having to carefully plan out your party’s materia loadout and envisioning how it would execute in battle. The weapon level-up system adds an extra layer of depth and reminds me of Final Fantasy IX’s skill learning system, which is great. Finally, the large amount of minigames and side quests available added a good deal of variety to the game, without being overly complicated or time consuming.

This was probably the most enjoyable game in the Final Fantasy series from a pure “this is a fun game” standpoint.

Gameplay Score: 10/10 (would honestly be an 11 if such a thing were real)

Characterization

The Final Fantasy series is typically at the top of its class for its character building and development, but I was still slightly nervous heading into this remake that Nomura wouldn’t recapture that magic accurately. Maybe I was conditioned from Final Fantasy XIII (2009) and Final Fantasy XV, but I was especially worried about Cloud. “Please don’t make Cloud this typical brooding, angsty emo Final Fantasy protagonist,” I remember thinking to myself. Because that’s not who he is. Cloud Strife is a dork. He’s a dork who adapts incredibly poorly to new situations and puts on a front of apathy when uncomfortable, but he doesn’t hate the world.

I should have put more faith in the fact that the original game’s character designer became the remake’s director. For the most part, I truly feel like the cast’s Act I character arcs played out and were shown as they should be. Cloud starts out apathetic but that front really begins to melt after he meets Aerith. Aerith herself comes off as this fun and innocent girl but progressively drops more and more hints that she’s part of something much bigger. Barret begins as the loud and rambunctious leader figure which gives way to a total empath who’s still trying to process just what he’s been caught up in. Tifa is shown with her typical slow and steady struggle to come to terms with what has to be done to make things right in the world after traumatic childhood events made her averse to it all.

The rest of the cast’s characters were painted beautifully. Sephiroth made more appearances than normal in this Midgar section (more on that later), but we still don’t understand a word that’s coming out of his mouth. We see the distinct division in those under the Shinra umbrella between those who have morals and those who sip the Kool-Aid. We’re introduced to a new cast of characters in the slums who are working tirelessly to make life better for those around them despite being dealt a terrible hand, and they function to strengthen both the main cast and the story as a whole.

A particular gem that I was delighted by were the interactions between characters. The original was somewhat limited in this department, but we can visibly see the cast grow closer as the remake goes on. Cloud goes from being disinterested and saying “For a price” to any request that Avalanche have for him, to selflessly agreeing to help Barret search for his friends and family post-plate drop, to poking fun at his old self in front using his old “For a price” motto. Additionally, because the areas of Midgar to travel between locations were expanded immensely, things like conversations between characters with no other purpose but character development were added in as we made our way through these winding stretches. That’s a huge advantage that a modern voiced game has over the original that had to use text for dialogue – we had to literally stop everything in order for an interaction between characters to occur. Now, they can just be thrown in wherever. We see more high fives, cheers, ribs, jokes. hugs, and tender moments than ever before. And to me, what this establishes for the cast as a whole is such a beautiful change of pace from a classic Final Fantasy game. This isn’t just a collection of individuals with aligning goals. These are friends.

This in particular makes me really excited for future installments; we now have evidence that these characters are everything that they should be. That baseline allows for more interactions and development, and even the most hardcore old school Final Fantasy VII fans will get to know and enjoy these characters on a deeper level.

Characterization: 10/10

Story

Too often did I get one of my friends to try the original Final Fantasy VII, hoping they’d fall in love too, only for them to lose interest before leaving Midgar because that part of the game is downright boring. Everything is dark and dreary, we don’t really care about the people of the Slums so we don’t feel the empathy to want to help them, the story crawls along, the deaths we see are of characters we only knew briefly, and all of it seems for naught because we find out Sephiroth is the much bigger threat; not some greedy electric company.

But much like with the design of Midgar itself, I hadn’t really put much thought with just how much they can build upon that unexciting first act.

[lisinfleur]

so what do you think about the episode?

I was afraid someone would ask me that bc I have some controversial opinions on the last episode of Vikings… So, let’s see…

First of all: WHERE THE FUCK IS FLOKI? 

I really want to believe they wanted to leave us with the suspense. It is too stupid for me to believe Floki died that idiot way. Such a huge character, such a big person, dying that way was too stupid, even for me. Like Lagertha - who was supposed to be dead LONG AGO and has NO FUCKING AGE to be dressed to battle as she was in the fucking trailer for season 6 - he’s part of the old cast and I really wish to see Floki in season 6, having a better ending than buried in a mountain tricked by the Christian God.

Now… One by one, and the shorters first:

Ubbe Ragnarsson

The meeting with Hvitserk, in the end, was TERRIBLE. I was waiting for any kind of talk, even an angry one, anything. But they didn’t exchange more than glares and Hvitserk’s eyes were pretty confused, not letting me understand if he was sad because of Ubbe’s clear rejection or if he was mad for seeing his older brother there. A weak presence, strangely punctual, with no introduction and bad worked for something we wait through this entire season. I love Jordan’s acting, but in this episode, the script swallowed him.

Lagertha

What in the actual fuck is she still doing in this show? She’s old, tired and has no purpose but spoiling Björn by being alive.

For someone who started this war with a selfish behavior, for a crown that wasn’t hers anymore, placing brother against brother because of her impossibility to accept Ragnar’s current wife - and queen of Kattegat - wasn’t her, killing dozens of people for cowardly refusing a single combat against a crippled sixteen years old boy, and fucking with an entire lineage because of her need to be queen for a couple of months, Lagertha seems to be receiving too much attention and too much care from the writers.

Please, someone send this woman to Valhalla SOON. Love Katherine, but Lagertha was over THOUSANDS of years ago…

Magnus

Do I have to say something about this pitiful attempt to reintroduce the religious conflict into this series? This shit was presented with Athelstan (perfectly, btw), then with Ragnar (ok… good), then with Ubbe (fine, we got it, enough?), then with Hvitserk (what the fuck? Buddhism? And how in the actual fuck you just throw something you liked so bad away like he did with the little Buddha???), and Magnus…

Magnus was a TOTAL throw-away character, a total loss of time, with no real plot, no real participation, who did nothing but confuse the spectator and died without solving the mystery we all wanted to know: Was Ragnar telling the truth about sleeping with Kwenthrith or not? Think we’ll never know…

Amma

I thought she would be with Magnus and give him some plot. Now, idk what to think about her. She seems to be a strong character loyal to Björn, but also, a character who came just for this season finale. Let us see… I hope to see another strong woman in this show, at least.

Gunnhild

FUCK ME, WOMAN! I WANNA MARRY THIS GIRL! She’s amazing! Her battle skills were amazing! Her scene shooting straight to Ivar when everyone was shooting around was amazing! The way she fought EVERYONE to take Björn outta that place was amazing! I will fucking dry my stock of “amazing” with this woman. My favorite woman FOR SURE.

Harald

I have to say I was reticent with Harald since the beginning. I think Peter is a huge actor and gorgeous man and stuff, but Harald always got me with a foot behind… However, this episode showed me he’s trully a loyal man, who sticks to his word even knowing he could be a son of a bitch and warrant his crown by letting Björn die. He was intense in this last episode and I hope to see good things from him in the next season.

Now… The polemic ones…

Let us start with Björn…

I grew in hate for Alexander’s character since he started to act as Björn was when he was a child, showing himself an arrogant person, cheating on Torvi like fuck and doing things he reprehended his father for doing - for the ones who don’t remember, he was the one who reprehended Ragnar saying it was disgusting to know his father was fucking another woman that wasn’t his mother (when ubbe was made, btw).

However, I must admit in this last episode he was strong and intense. I would even be fallen for him if it wasn’t my analytic eyes who noticed since the beginning the enormous curve this season made to break Ivar and build Björn under the eyes of the public. So, I’m sorry Alexander - for his actuation is absolutely perfect and he’s good as fuck making Björn - but I still think Björn does not deserve the crown he’s wearing now and if it was to make Björn the king of Kattegat, Lagertha could only have waited until he came back from the Mediterranean bc Aslaug wasn’t denying his birthright and since Ragnar fell ill, she was collaborating with Björn to raise Kattegat into the great market center it became under their hands. So, no war would have been necessary and Björn would have ascended to King of Kattegat anyway. It was a stupid end, tbh. Sorry, sad, but true.

My baby, Hvitserk…

I love to see him fighting, but I’m tired to see Marco’s character being beaten in this show. This episode was a real beat down to his character who was beaten from the beginning to the end. From discovering his beloved Thora was dead burned alive by Ivar, to having his flank defeated in the war, passing by not being able to kill or even reach Ivar and going under his brother Björn’s shadow once again after all he did to prevail by himself, Hvitserk was knocked out in this episode and the last hit was Ubbe’s arrival, embracing Björn and twitching lips to him that disgusting way, causing me chills of anger for seeing such a bad ending for this relationship.

Hvitserk deserves better than live under his brothers’ shadow until the end of this series and the trailer for season 6 really made me have chills about this possibility, since we clearly can see Ivar is proposing Hvitserk to join him again - or forcing a dagger against his throat for a positive answer, which is just worse than just propose.

Hvitserk has been being treated as a game by the writers, being beaten from side to side, failing in finding his destiny whenever he jumps sides and extending a conflict that could have been already solved in his plotline. Every brother has its own side. It is passed time from Hvitserk to grown into an independent character.

Passing it by, the battle scenes with Marco’s growls and marvelous acting are amazing and I can’t wait to see more of his acting - which is actually the only reason why I’m still seeing Vikings.

I gonna be beaten for this, but… Freydis.

Everyone hated her from the beginning because of the bad acting Alicia gave for her. Fine.

Now let us take off Alicia from this show. Put anyone there, idk, anyone you like. Forget the actress. Let us look at the plot story that was presented to us and what it was really supposed to be.

Freydis was a slave girl from Viking people (not Christian origins), a woman who believed in the Gods and, more than anything, who believed deformities were a sign of the Gods’ favor. Period.

When she’s brought to talk to Ivar for the first time, she already knows who he is and she seems pretty fascinated for him - Alicia’s inexpressive face at this point kinda killed this fascination, but when Freydis says “I would do anything you ask me to do” she was supposed to sound fascinated, looking to someone she sees as a God. Ok? - and she says what she really believes about him: that he’s fated to great things since she knows he’s the son of Ragnar, from Odin’s lineage, a God, a man marked by what she believes is the sign of the Gods’ huge favor - since Ivar’s deformity is huge.

Forward, she’s seen looking at Ivar from the other side of his room entrance… As a free woman, she didn’t need to be there to serve him, which means she was there to see him. It gives us the impression that she was observing him, looking at him from some distance - what is proved if you remember the party scene when she’s also looking at him from far away. So, she was a woman with a crush on the new king of Kattegat, who was seeing her crush become everything she thought he would become. Freydis was a fascinated woman, who was noticing some interest from the man she was fascinated with over her.

Their interaction was supposed to be an innocent love starting. She was supposed to be shown as a woman who really was doing everything for the man she loved and believed was a god. Even fucking another man, giving up her own dignity to create an illusion for him to have the child he wanted so bad, just to warrant his dream. Killing to warrant his dream wouldn’t be broken. In her mind, she was really doing a huge sacrifice for Ivar. She was going down and far for him, for his love, for her beliefs. In her mind, when Baldur was born deformed, she received a HUGE gift from the Gods, for her son was marked by their favor and deformed like his foster father. In her mind, the gods were giving her their connivance, marking her child with a deformity so Ivar would never doubt the child was his and her illusion would give him his dreams forever.

She was a woman, in love, deluded and with a mind broken by her beliefs - someone recognizes it?

A man, wanting love, deluded about himself and broken by his legs’ deformity and disease???

That’s what I’m talking about!

Freydis was supposed to be a pair for Ivar, for real! We were supposed to have suspicious she could be manipulating him, but the acting of Alicia in this character gave us the total opposite, causing us to doubt there was any love in her actions when Freydis was completely in love for Ivar and deluded by his false divinity.

She really believed he was a god! And it all breaks when he kills Baldur for his deformity, showing her he never believed the same she does, her son was never favored by the gods, her sacrifice was nothing for him, and the illusion she fought so hard to create for him was shattered, for he didn’t want to be a merciful and loved god, but he decided to be feared and cruel against his people instead of following her advice.

Baldur’s death killed Freydis heart, her love for Ivar but more than that, her illusions and beliefs. She lost her faith, she realized all she believed about deformities and the Gods’ favor was a lie, and it brought her the realization that all she believed about Ivar was a lie. He was no god, he was just a monster in her vision, a monster who killed her little child and destroyed everything she created for them. She became a broken woman who was supposed to have shown in the end that the love of a mother surpasses everything, by betraying her “beloved” Ivar in order to avenge what he did to her son.

I’m sorry for Alicia’s fans, I have nothing against her, but her acting destroyed Freydis’ plot and she had a REAL GOOD plot in here! She was supposed to be loved, not hated. We were supposed to be mourning for Ivar’s way to kill her love. But here we are, hating and celebrating…

The poor woman deserved better and she really loved Ivar for good. The bad actress’ choice, in this case, swallowed a good plot after all. And I’m sorry for seeing this. With fewer scenes and less interaction, Eve Connolly was able to make us love Thora more than Alicia did for Freydis in an entire season… Sad, again, but true.

And, in the end, but not less important, Ivar

A complete deface. That’s what I saw in this season.

Ivar was built to be a dual character, Alex made a HUGE job to show us his duality and, in order to promote Björn as Ragnar’s little favorite, Hirst defaced Ivar’s duality, feeding his ego, causing him to become a huge motherfucking asshole to make us hate him and open our hearts to sweet Björn’s cause.

Let us put things right here: Ivar was RIGHT. His mother was killed in cold blood by a bitter selfish ex-wife, coward enough to not to accept a single combat against him, coward enough to put brother against brother and kill dozens in a war that could have been solved simply fighting him when his ego wasn’t that swollen and all he wanted was avenging his mother.

Now, the initial purpose completely vanished in the battle of egos this season became and a character who had a real valuable reason to make war is now just being a spoiled little boy crying because his toys do not want to play his game the way he wants.

Sad and ridiculous to see the exact opposite we saw with Freydis: in her case, a good plot destroyed by bad acting. In his case, a huge actor being swallowed into a vortex of bad writing and bad plotting.

Like Jordan and Marco, Alex is being swallowed by the bad writing of the series and even then, he still shows his huge talent, carrying Ivar in his back as a heavy burden, showing us emotions in his eyes, feelings, sensations, breaking the bad plot with his intense actuation and causing us chills whenever he raises his fierce blues towards the camera.

Defaced or not, Ivar is still one of the best interpreted characters of this series and I am sad to see in the trailers that Hirst will go for madness to finish the defacing of Ivar, putting him totally sunk in the role of a villain when he was clearly a dubious character that could have been saved by a better use for Alex’s heavy talent.

Hallucinating with Freydis, forcing Hvitserk to join him as if his brother was nothing but a dog, Ivar is going down and down with the only purpose to allow Björn to glow in the eyes of the public since in season 4B and 5A, Ivar started to carry the series in his back and it was never the intention of Hirst that Björn could lose the position of, in Horik’s words, “Baldur” among the sons of Ragnar.

A sad plot for such a marvelous actor and a huge struggle from Alex to deliver us a phenomenal work from the beginning to the end of this season. Applauses for him and someone please stab the writers or come to fandom for some more ideas.

As Alex said himself: Some theories and stories from fans are “better than what is written”, but he didn’t say that… “Obviously.”

That’s what I think, dear anon! I hope you enjoy!

[yensidwinters]

Dallas’ Breakdown of the Frozen 2 Trailer

It’s finally here, you guys! After waiting for five and half years, we have a trailer for Frozen 2. And Disney certainly did not disappoint! A lot of things have already started circulating around here, and definitely a lot of points out there to give some thought, but for right now I intend to do a FULL breakdown of the trailer and give the initial thoughts I had when I first watched the trailer, expanding on certain thoughts or points, and including a few things I’ve seen and my take on them. So, get comfortable! This is going to be a lot. I don’t plan to go into TOO much detail with some things, as those will be saved for other later posts!

There is A LOT going on in the introduction/opening scene right off the bat. With Elsa looking out over a storming, raging sea and seemingly completely alone on a shoreline.

Now, I know many people have speculated that this could be her training and pushing herself, but my initial thought was: She’s trying to get somewhere/ to someone. And my thought on that still stands. The shore type is not at all anything we’ve seen in Arendelle. And, while yes, she could be somewhere else to do said training, I don’t believe she’d travel far enough for that sort of change to happen. Not to mention she seems rather ill-prepared for any sort of training, and not planning ahead is typically just not Elsa’s style.

And, seeing as she’s also with no one else on that shore, her goal being to get to someone (possibly Anna) to help them I feel is a more likely scenario. Now, the HOW and the WHY she’s there to begin with, not the slightest idea. Regardless, it’s clear she’s determined as all fuck to get through, and isn’t about to stop until she either gets where she needs to go, or dies trying. Although, even then, Elsa might not accept death as an option in the first place.

But, she’s definitely going through a process of trial and error. When climbing over the waves didn’t work, she went through it. And, when she was encountered a far larger wave, she tried going through it again, only this time with magic. Which, clearly didn’t work out.

I’ve seen a few people commenting on how it seems like her magic is weaker or not at it’s full potential as she could just ‘freeze the whole wave/ocean’. And, as a friend had pointed out to me, no. No, she couldn’t. Not because of a weakening of power, but rather simply a lack of power to go against the raw force of nature. Oceans during storms are insanely powerful, and how ice freezes on running water is FAR different than freezing calmer waters. But, its clear Elsa is sure as hell going to try to anyway.

The clip then cuts to Anna coming out to a balcony, in her nightgown, with...we’re going to call them Ice Floaties until further notice.

They seem to be almost literally everywhere. Outside, at least. And, just judging by the few near Anna, they don’t seem to be incredibly big. I can only guess what they are at this point, but they all seem to hold one of four symbols, which can be seen on the most recently released poster for the film.

My own thoughts were, if they do relate to the theme that seems to be continuing on in this trailer, they are referring to the elements; Air, Water, Earth and Fire. As to which is which, I couldn’t say. But, we’ve already been introduced to the water element from the very beginning, of course, being the storm and the ocean. We’ll touch upon the others as we go. Another small detail I noticed and thought was interesting is they seem to shimmer in a wave pattern, starting from the left side of the screen and moving across to the right side. Not sure if that’s anything important right now, or just the reflection of the moon, but I thought it was worth noting.

Next, of course, we get an awesome shot of Kristoff and Sven at the head of a reindeer herd. A true, valiant, pungent reindeer king. Now, from what we have seen, they do appear to be in whatever valley/new land/etc. the group seems to find themselves in. And, given that both of their expressions seem to be very similar/parallel to their expressions when they were retruning to Arendelle to help Anna at the climax of the first film, I can only imagine they’re again either racing towards something or someone important, or potentially charging towards an adversary. With a whole herd of reindeer to whoop ass.

There isn’t much more to take from this scene, however. The location itself isn’t ENTIRELY clear, and with no other context, it’s hard to take anything else away from it. Other than the fact that Kristoff seems to be sporting some sort of brown fur undershirt.

Once again cutting right on over to Anna! I’ve heard some people state she’s in a cave, but from what I can see here, I believe she might in fact be on a shore as well. The water on the left is far calmer than what we’ve seen, but the texture of the floor seems to be made up of those same rocks that we saw at the beginning. Which, if Elsa IS in fact trying to reach Anna, would make sense for her to be in a similar environment. I’m not sure what she’s currently holding in her hands but my guess would be a book, or perhaps the satchel she has in the next clip. Regardless of what it is, I believe inside it is what potentially could be what started this whole thing. Information, perhaps, they were either looking for or that they had used to bring them here in the first place.

Which brings us to Anna climbing up to a cave. Something I have found interesting at this point, is that with each of these clips, each of the characters have been shown alone. Whether it so happens to just be the shot angles or simply a brief moment where they are alone before another comes in, the fact that they are singled out and seemingly going against things on their own is rather interesting. Were the separated on purpose, or was it more a thing of bad luck that had they end up as they are?

It’s here, though, that I again bring up elements. As we saw with Elsa we had water, and here, we have Anna climbing a mountain, or as one could look at it, overcoming earth. A trail again made of an elemental force. It could be I’m reading too far into this idea, but worth prodding at every possibility. But, again, we have Anna still just as determined as the others to accomplish her task. And, I now also have to wonder the urgency of all that is happening, and what would have prompted this to begin with.

We now turn to yet another example of an element. Although, it’s clear this fire is no regular fire. Not just by it’s bright shade of pink and purple, but from the fact that it completely negates Elsa’s powers. The moment her ice touches that barrier of fire it melts, it evaporates. Which, at that current time and era, could not simply come from any fire. Which has me wonder further if perhaps there are other people who posses the ability to control certain elements. Which, if the themeing is truly a hint to us, is a strong possibility.

Especially when taking this scene into consideration, where air/wind seems to make a direct path to this boy and tosses him up into the air. Not much more to say on that aspect as now all four elements have been shown in one way or another in the trailer, but who the hell are these kids?

Is this a flashback for someone? Are these perhaps kids who are related to, or at least companions to other elementals? Are they perhaps just kids that happen to run into the group during their travelling? WHOMST?! That said, they are definitely kids. If anything, they seem to both be around the age of 14-17, so I don’t believe it’ll be anyone we know, nor will be related to anyone we know.

And then we have this beautiful scene. From their expressions and where they stand, my guess is this is the first time they may be looking over what they have to cross in order to get to whatever destination they’re aiming for. A look of amazement, and perhaps shock from Elsa, and something more of a determined, stoic expression from both Anna and Kristoff. We see Olaf with them here as well, which, given that we’ve only seen him twice in the trailer, there’s a nice question of where the hell is he during everything else? We see him only with Elsa in the fire, and no where else. Did he get taken? Did something else happen to him? Istfg Disney, if you melt this snowman there will be cONSEQUENCES!

Then, of course, we have this ending gem. Again, we don’t see Olaf, and oddly enough we seen nothing of Sven either. Are they perhaps together, then? Those two separate from these three? Or, perhaps are they just trotting up ahead before Anna happens to see...whatever is behind them. I don’t have much more thought on what it could possibly be, though. I know some have thrown around the idea that it could be Hans, but the only thing I could think of if it is him, is that he happened to follow them and is there to ‘offer’ his help. Not that I believe any would be very trusting nor excited for his ‘help’. But, who knows. What Anna is striking out at is as good a guess as anyone’s.

So, there are my overall general thoughts and wonderings on the trailer! As I said, I won’t go too into depth as of now with all points, but I wanted to get my thoughts out. Send an ask or reply, or even a reblog if you’d like to add anything or if I perhaps missed something! Thank you for taking the time to read this monster post, though! Stay lovely, snowflakes. <3

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY Recaps: Ruby Rose

This is a reposting from Sept. 22nd, 2017 in an effort to get all my recaps onto tumblr. Thanks!

I am combat ready! Or at least writing ready. For ages now I've wanted to tackle a comprehensive recap/analysis of each RWBY webisode and what better time to start then a few weeks before Volume 5? Though I'll mostly be sticking to plot points as they occur chronologically, any new RWBY viewers should be aware that recaps will include spoilers, mostly in the form of referencing foreshadowing and parallels. Read at your own risk. 

Let's get started.

Our series technically opens with four trailers (which you can no more skip than Doctor Who fans can skip Nine), but for the purposes of this recap we're saying that we start the show off with an origin tale. A fairy tale, if you will. Our very first shot is of a high tower decked out in green, beacon-like lights that I'm sure are in no way symbolic standing atop it.

Our narrator, an unknown woman, begins with a cryptic message:

“Legends, stories scattered through time. Mankind has grown quite fond of recounting the exploits of heroes and villains, forgetting so easily that we are remnants, byproducts of a forgotten past.”

Obviously not everyone has forgotten these legends, considering that she's the one telling us them, but right from the start there's a dichotomy set up. There are people, humans, who view the past as something that inherently includes them. Any myths that are passed down are about humans--they're the "exploits of heroes and villains." However, this woman reminds us that there was an existence long before mankind was created; that the world, its history, and its power is far more vast than we're willing to acknowledge. Or able to. 

We're small in comparison. We're just "remnants" of something far larger.

(Also, interestingly, note the "we" in "we are remnants." We learn a lot about Salem later on and no matter how she might look or act, she seems to view herself as human.)

From there on we're given the story of man's creation. Born from dust into an "unforgiving world" already populated by monsters, were it not for their discovery of certain elements--a power that they named "dust" after their own origins--they never would have survived, let alone flourished. Power allowed for civilization. As the story supposedly resolves, we get a change in animation style, moving from the story-book imagery to the real world. The focus on a shattered moon suggests that, despite humanity’s success, things are not all peachy-keen.

Also, enter these guys.

This is Roman and I just love his entrance. RWBY is a show that is very overt in its tropes and homages, and though there's complexity later on, for now Roman and his goons are pretty straight-forward. They're Bad. How do we know they're Bad? Because they're creeping out of the shadows late at night. We've got this guy smoking in an age where the habit is thoroughly demonized. All his goons are pretty identical in true, gangster fashion and Roman himself is the most flamboyantly dressed, drawing on a long (and very problematic) tradition of queer-coding villains. He's wearing a bowler hat for heaven's sake, which is basically just a step up from a fedora.

He's also a redhead. That'll be important.... later.

For now, Roman struts down the street (giving us a hilarious first-look at RWBY's silhouette background characters) and Salem changes her tone, suddenly sounding far more menacing as she lays out humanity's inevitable destruction. All lights "flicker and die" and we're warned that "there will be no victory in strength." The only thing that keeps the scene from becoming depression central is the introduction of a new voice, a man's that--if you're paying attention--you'll recognize later in the episode:

"But perhaps victory is in the smaller things that you've long forgotten. Things that require a smaller, more honest soul."

Pan down to this cutie.

Wow! I wonder who the small, honest soul could be? 

(Also take note of the ad on the back of the magazine: the Schnee logo with the tagline "The Finest of them All." Weiss, based off of Snow White, is therefore "the fairest of them all." Or at least she thinks she is.)

Roman barges in and starts talking about how hard it is to find a dust shop open this late which... raises a number of questions for me? Like why they're looking for a dust shop that's open at all. Why not just wait until everything is closed down and then rob the place? It certainly wouldn't be hard to break in. Given what we know of the villains' larger plans in Volume 3, it could be that they want to sow fear in the people of Vale by committing robberies in plain sight (recall the horrified background characters as Roman walks by), but if so why not actually attack in broad daylight? Overall it just seems like a strange comment.

We're given our first glimpse of Roman as an ambivalent villain as he refuses the shopkeeper's money. He's here only to complete his mission of stealing dust, not entirely wipe the guy out so... yay, I guess?

One of the goons notices our little red riding hood and pulls a sword on her, which is kind of hilarious. I'm not even sure why. Maybe it's because right after that a different goon pulls out a gun which is obviously the more logical weapon here. But no. Goon #1 needs his massive, red sword to threaten the small child with.

Small Child is not impressed.

"Are you robbing me?"

"Yes!"

"Ooooh."

And she proceeds to kick him from the back of the store all the way into the far wall.

Let's take a moment to appreciate Roman's dafaq face here:

This is a technique nearly two decades old. Everyone knows the story of how Buffy got started. Whedon wanted a stereotypical heroine--small, cute, blonde--but who, rather than getting killed by the monster in the alleyway, ends up being the very thing that the monster should fear. It's an oldie now, but a goodie. We're presented with this tiny, adorable girl who is characterized as a victim, only to find that she's the one with the most power. Not only can she kick a full-grown man across a room, she's got some crazy weaponry tucked away too.

This is, by definition, a badass moment.

As we see in the ensuing fight this little girl is very proficient with her scythe. There's a great moment as her headphones play "This Will Be the Day" diegetically, only for the song to move into non-diegetic soundtrack, and then back to diegetic music as she turns off her headphones and... they disappear? Presumably she has pockets.

Iffy animation aside, RWBY seems like the kind of world that would give its girls pockets.

Roman: "Okay... get her."

That little moment of confusion--Roman's disbelieving "Okay?"--seems a little like inconsistent world-building. Certainly he knows that Signal and Beacon aren't too far from here, meaning that there are lots of teenagers around, Huntsmen and Huntresses in training that are capable of kicking his henchmen's ass. Is he just thrown off guard by this girl's (even younger) age? Who can say.

Regardless, she handles all the goons with ease. Ruby (yeah, let's just use all names for simplicity's sake) has a direct and efficient fighting style. This is our first glimpse into the maturity hiding behind a seemingly immature outer shell. Ruby doesn't take the time to taunt the goons or get all flashy with her fighting, she just takes them out, pure and simple, something that young and confident heroes often struggle with. Roman proves a little harder though when his cane turns out to be a gun.

Lesson One: pretty much everything in RWBY is a gun. Cane? Gun. Scythe? Gun. Thermos? Gun! That lamp? Probably also a gun.  

As Roman escapes we get another glimpse of Ruby's priorities when she asks the storekeeper, "Are you okay if I go after him?" It's a small but wonderful moment that tells us Ruby isn't a hero who wants to fight for the sake of fighting, at least outside of friendly competitions. Had the storekeeper been injured or needed her for some other reason, Ruby would have held his needs above just catching the bad guys. That's important.

So, having gotten the a-okay, Ruby chases Roman up to the rooftops and we hear his annoyed (yet impressed?) mutter of, "Persistent." Just as they're about to duke it out again an airship arrives that Roman boards, throwing out a dust crystal that explodes when he shoots it. It looks like Ruby might have been caught in the blast, but at the last possible second Glynda Mother-F***ing Goodwitch arrives to save the day.

Why was she out in town this late at night? How did she feel seeing some tiny child fighting a notoriously wanted criminal up on the rooftop? These are questions only fanfic can answer. The point is that Glynda saves Ruby not once, but twice, all while exhibiting a truly impressive amount of power. It's here that we first get to see not just fantasy weapons, but what we might term magic (in what will quickly become a fairly convoluted magical system). It isn’t until later that we realize others don’t consider Glynda’s abilities to be magic, though given what we now know about semblances and their assumed connection to Humanity 1.0, it’s perhaps no coincidence that the audience is meant to think this is magic at first glance. But telekinesis--the ability to manipulate anything from objects to the weather itself--is staggering nonetheless and the show should really give Glynda something else to do with her power besides fixing craters and broken buildings. Or just bring her back, period. 

Glynda even makes a little "Humph" sound when she blocks the blast like, "Please. You'll have to try harder than that."

They do.

Roman yells to the pilot that they have a "Huntress" to deal with and we're given glimpses of a more important villain: fancy dress, high heels, strange tattoo on her back, and an affinity for fire. She's deemed important simply by the fact that the 'camera' always keeps her face hidden from view, inviting speculation as to who she is and what her motives are. Though she and Glynda seem pretty evenly matched (with Ruby joining in to help), Roman flies them out of there before things get more heated. Pun intended.

As a side note, it’s worth pointing out that, in retrospect, we did just see magic with Cinder... which we then assume for a very long stretch was her semblance given what we quickly learn about Glynda. You can see why this stuff gets muddled. The fact that Ruby, a bright and fighting obsessed girl, doesn’t seem to think it odd that someone can shoot fire just hammers home how not magic-y these abilities read to characters in world. Until the plot suddenly wants them to. AKA bird anger. 

Regardless, as the viewer cheers at the rarity of three women dominating a fight scene, Ruby has bigger things to think about. Like the fact that Glynda is a Huntress and Ruby just has to have an autograph.

Cut from this:

To this:

Humor aside, this actually does a lot for situating what a Huntress is in the viewer's mind. We might not have an exact definition yet, but we know two important things: they're on the side of our small hero (Glynda protects Ruby) and they're regarded as at least minor celebrities. In short, they're the Big Good to the mysterious Big Bad.

They’re also, as we’re about to see, subject to the law. 

But back to Ruby. See that spotlight? Glynda has this 15yo girl in an interrogation room, prowling about while lecturing that she "put herself and others in grave danger." Interesting. What others were in danger? Civilians? Looks like everyone else cleared the streets once Roman showed up. The shopkeeper? As said, Ruby was very careful about making sure he was okay. Normally I’d be 100% on Glynda’s side here, but I think Ruby actually acted very maturely given the circumstances. Especially considering that she’s right: they started it. Glynda’s generic reprimands might imply that there are many non-Huntsmen trained fighters out there making a mess of things (at least by Glynda's standards). Certainly we later see conflict between trained Huntsmen/Huntresses and those who learned to fight "outside the kingdom." 

Also... just reminding everyone... that Glynda uses a riding crop. Rooster Teeth had to know the can of worms they were opening with that little choice. If you don't want porn of the deputy headmistress and various other characters, don't dress her like a dominatrix and give her lines like, "I'd have sent you home with a pat on the back... and a slap on the wrist!"

Glynda is very serious that Ruby would be in big trouble if it weren't for the fact that a certain someone wants to meet her. Enter my trash fave:

Ozpin.

He's basically Dumbledore if he actually had better justifications for his iffy decisions and looked like a hot 30yo. My priorities aside, more fascinating questions start cropping up. How long has Ruby been held in this room? What was that conversation between Glynda and Ozpin like--Hey, I found this random child who nearly took out a whole criminal gang, that seems like your kind of thing? Why does Ozpin arrive with a full plate of chocolate chip cookies? Did he bake them himself? Does Ruby ever get Glynda’s autography?

These kinds of questions are the lifeblood of fandom.

As an aside, I'm a complete animation snob. I've been spoiled by too many great artists to immediately accept just anything you throw up on screen. When I first watched this episode and saw Crunchy Roll's review that RWBY is "lovely to look at" my response was, "...seriously?" This moment, when Ozpin gives Ruby the cookies and they proceed to just disappear as they approach her mouth was my breaking point for a while. I had to be talked into watching more... and I'm so glad I was. Now, after years with these characters, I have a much deeper appreciation for the art style and the beauty that RWBY contains. Now the cookie scene is just straight up funny to me.

Back to plot though. Ozpin introduces himself by introducing Ruby. We get her name for the first time and as Ozpin peers down at her he says, "You have... silver eyes," which confuses Ruby and has the viewer nodding sagely. Yep. That'll come back later.

Ozpin reviews Ruby's fight and wants to know where she learned all that. More specifically, he wants to know who taught her to use "one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed," which is another fascinating moment that I think is largely overlooked by the fandom. Ruby is living in a world chock-full of crazy dangerous weaponry. Already we've seen a gun-cane and a riding crop used as a wand. The fact that Ozpin labels Ruby's sniper-scythe as one of the most dangerous not only re-emphasizes her skill, but hints that the scythe may be a particularly powerful weapon... one even he might favor. Though we later get to see Ozpin fight with his cane and he clearly prefers that form, we've yet to get a full explanation for those gears in it:

In retrospect after Volume 6, there’s little evidence that his cane turns into a full other weapon, but it was an cool theory for a while. 

Ruby says proudly that her Uncle Qrow taught her everything and that she's currently a student at Signal Academy.

Ozpin: "And what's an adorable girl like you doing at a school designed to train warriors?"

Ruby: "Well... I want to be a Huntress."

Ozpin: "You want to slay monsters?"

Ruby: "Yeah."

Ruby launches into an excited speech about following in her big sister's footsteps, looking for a career that's more "romantic" than the police, and above all getting to help people. Watching Ozpin in this scene gives us a pretty clear view into his thoughts: his shock at Ruby's proficiency with the scythe, making sure he's reading the situation correctly (this small, adorable child wants to fight evil?), his look of approval as Ruby tries to explain her thinking. There's even what I read as a little test. "You want to slay monsters?" A major theme in RWBY is that people are the real monster, the biggest threat, and it takes Ruby a long time to learn that. To semi-quote Sirius, the world isn't split into good people and Grimm. Though Ruby doesn't realize this yet--she just implies that she wants to fight Grimm--her skill and pure intentions (which will come into play later during "Mountain Glenn") are enough for Ozpin to offer her a place at Beacon two years early. As we learn later, as an added bonus this also helps keep her safe. Those with silver eyes are hunted and Ruby has not been keeping a low profile. 

"You want to come to my school? Well... okay."

One of these teachers is happier about this situation than the other.

It’s pretty amazing though.

Yang thinks it's amazing too. We jump ahead an unspecified amount of time to meet Ruby's half-sister on the airship to Beacon. I adore their interaction here because so often media limits sibling relationships to arguing and competition. Not so with these two. Yang isn't at all jealous that her little sister is getting special treatment. Ruby is the only one with issues:

Ruby: "I got moved ahead two years... I just don't want people to think I'm special or anything."

Yang: "But you are special."

Ruby just wants to be a normal girl with normal knees. No bee's knees allowed.

As Ruby begins struggling with her new situation we get Roman's name in a news bulletin, along with a hilariously different art style.

We also get reference to people called "Faunus" who possess animal traits, their civil rights movement, and the violent organization called the White Fang that recently interfered in a peaceful protest. The bulletin is cut off by a holographic Glynda's welcome.

Yang: "Who's that?"

Glynda's hologram introduces herself immediately after, but I find it funny that Ruby doesn't even look like she's going to try and answer. As if she hadn't met and fought alongside Glynda just a little while ago. Also. Ruby knew exactly who Ozpin was. Didn't have a clue about Glynda. Poor Professor Goodwitch does all the work around Beacon and receives none of the credit lol.  

I actually really like Glynda's speech here though. She's welcoming to the students without coddling them. Like other shows with children entering combat, RWBY lets the viewer know that we can't always apply our real-world morality to these situations. These kids might be young--17 years old and 15 in Ruby's case--but they're going to be treated like adults for as long as that’s logical. As we’ll see later though, there’s a distinct difference between responsibility inside school and out... 

Right before our pilot ends we're introduced to Jaune, or the name we know him by so far, "Vomit Boy." The webisode ends on a light note with Jaune getting puke on Yang's shoes and the two sisters freaking out about it. We're also given our first, gorgeous look at Beacon:

Now that’s animation I can get behind. Everything is light and happy. Ah, they have no idea the horror that's coming for them. Just wait until Volume 3.

Until then, 💚

[spn-ficfanatic]

Talking Hands

Summary: As an extra on the set you never expected to be noticed, least of all by one of the stars. But when Jared shows an interest in you, will your biggest insecurity stop you from following your heart?

Characters: Jared x Deaf!Reader, Jensen, Rob Setting the Scene: As I wrote this I imagined them filming the episode 11.20 “Don’t Call Me Shurley”, when Sam and Dean discover Chuck is God Words: 2532 Genre: Fluff and humour Warnings: Nil

You caught his eye the moment he saw you. The scene was difficult, there were a lot of people running around and a lot of distractions, yet somehow you still stood out from the crowd. You were so expressive, and during every take without fail you got the waterworks going which gave your fear all the more authenticity. He didn’t think he’d ever seen an extra get into character with such apparent ease, you were clearly a natural.

Once the scene was over he went to chat with Bob. Surely this girl should be front and centre, maybe even given a line or something. Bob nodded and admitted he agreed with him, however he’d already asked her if she’d like some dialogue and she’d turned him down with a simple shake of her head before patting him kindly on the arm and walking away. He shook his head in disbelief and turned back to his screen, getting ready for the next shots while everyone else took a break for lunch. Jared scratched his head and took a seat next to Jensen and Rob, who had already started to eat.

“Dude, what’s up your butt?” Jensen mumbled through his full mouth. Jared sighed and lay back against the tree he was sitting in front of, rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands.

“He’s been eyeing off an extra the entire scene, you didn’t notice?” Rob scoffed, taking a sip of his can of Coke.

“Oh really?” Jensen asked with a grin and a high-pitched voice. “Which one?”

Rob pointed her out, and Jensen slapped Jared on the arm.

“Dude! She’s fricking hot! Why the hell are you sitting with us, go talk to her!”

“What? She doesn’t want to talk to me, she’s obviously busy. You know. Reading her book,” Jared replied weakly, knowing the excuse was not going to get him out of this.

“That excuse is not going to get you out of this,” Jensen replied, and Jared laughed humorlessly at his own premonition. “Stand up and go talk to her, or I swear to this guy,” pointing to Rob, “that I’ll go over myself and tell her that my best friend thinks she’s super duper cute and was wondering if she’d be his girlfriend.”

Knowing he would absolutely 100% do it Jared quickly got up, holding his hands in surrender, and brushed the grass of his butt before taking a deep breath and walking over to you.

You were sitting on a chair alone, reading a book with headphones covering your ears. One leg hung loosely to the ground while the other was tucked comfortably under your bottom, and your hair fell loosely against your cheeks. You smiled as you got to a particular part in your story, and Jared felt his heart leap a little. Clearing his throat, he knelt down and gently put a hand on your knee so as not to startle you. You looked up and seemed a little surprised to find one of the shows’ stars sitting in front of you at that moment. The look passed quickly though, and when he gestured for you to take your earphones off you obliged. It was easy for you to forget you were wearing them and you didn’t want to appear rude; he couldn’t possibly know you weren’t listening to anything, and that you purely wore them to avoid talking to strangers. You’d absolutely make an exception for him though.

Your eyes instinctively fell to his lips.

“Whatcha reading?” he asked simply.

You smiled and turned the cover so he could see, and he grinned broadly.

“You’re reading Macbeth? On a TV set?” he asked with a surprised laugh. You smiled shyly in return and felt the blush creeping across your face as you nodded. “You’re not worried you’ll curse the set and something will fall down on the director or something?”

You’d become very good at holding in your laughter, and despite the overwhelming urge to crack one out you chuckled lightly. You couldn’t understand the look Jared was giving you, but you couldn’t ignore the fact it was a similar one every boy in secondary school and university gave you before they asked you out. And before they found out you were damaged goods. You saw him hold his hand out, and caught his lips just as he spoke.

“My name’s Jared,” he said.

Like he needs an introduction, PAH!

You cleared your throat and prepared yourself for the inevitable disappointment you’d both feel in 7 seconds time. Instead of holding out your hand, you signed your name and usual greeting, and you saw his mouth fall open in surprise.

Hi, my name’s Y/N. Do you know sign language?

You let your hands fall and frowned as he continued to stare. Sighing at your confirmation that he didn’t know ASL you picked up your book and prepared to sit back, but he grabbed your hand to stop you. You looked at him with confusion, already expecting him to be halfway across the quad and back to his friends.

“You’re deaf?” he asked, pointing to his ears. You gave a lopsided smile and nodded.

“You can read lips though?” he continued, pointing to his own. You nodded again, raising a curious eyebrow. No guy had bothered to get this far before, and you wondered how far he’d go before giving up.

“Can you speak?” he pressed on, and against your better instincts you opened your mouth before shutting it again. Scratching your arm nervously, you held up a finger asking him to ‘wait’ while you dug into your bag and pulled out your phone. Opening the app you sought you typed your answer and held it up for him.

“I can speak, but I don’t like to. I sound weird,” it spoke for you in its robotic voice, and he let out a little chuckle.

“If you can’t hear yourself, how do you know?”

You burst out laughing before quickly covering your mouth with your hand, embarrassed. With a gentle smile Jared took your hand in his and pulled it back, placing it on your lap. You weren’t sure if he was aware that he’d left his hand there, and you certainly weren’t going to do anything to stop it.

“You sound fine, I promise. You have a lovely laugh; Jensen laughs weirder than that,” he grinned, tilting his head to point in his direction, and you grinned back despite yourself. Taking a deep breath you put your phone down and cleared your throat, holding your hand out for him to shake.

“My name’s Y/N,” you told him, and could have died from happiness then and there when he didn’t frown and make an excuse to leave. In fact, he looked like he was resisting the urge to hug you, but for now he settled on the handshake. It was firm and tight, and lingered a few moments longer than was normal for casual conversation.

“It’s nice to meet you Y/N,” he told you sincerely.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“His trailer, it stank so bad they had to buy him a new one,” Jared laughed loudly, and you along with him. You’d gone out for drinks after the shoot and were currently sitting cosily in the booth of a gorgeous local pub. Cider in hand, you held it out and clinked his glass.

“A job well done,” you grinned at him, taking a sip of your drink and holding it in your lap. “So that’s why you guys don’t prank each other?”

Jared shook his head, putting his own glass on the table. “Nah, we’re better as a team for sure. You’re lucky we didn’t get you, we usually prank the ones we like,” he replied with a playful wink.

“I can only imagine the sorts of things you could do to me of all people,” you giggled. “Like putting a fart machine in my handbag or something.”

“Oh my God that’s genius!” Jared burst out with laughter. “I wish you’d hang around, I reckon you’d be a bit devilish in the pranking department.”

You sighed, putting your drink on the table. “Too bad the scene is over, I get to head on back to my boring old life in data entry.” You said it with a smile but Jared could tell it was strained and he frowned slightly.

“Bob told me that you turned him down for some lines in the episode.”

Your face flushed with embarrassment, and he reached over to take your hand which lay on the table next to your drink. Your heart skipped a beat at the gesture but you tried not to let it show.

“You know why I did Jared,” you told him quietly. “He wouldn’t have wanted me talking if he knew how I sounded.”

“Did you ask him? He didn’t even seem to know you were deaf,” Jared replied, tilting his head curiously.

“I don’t generally tell anyone. I keep to myself, I read my books and wear my headphones to keep people from talking to me. I’ve been deaf my whole life but even after all this time it still hurts when people walk away or don’t give me roles once they realise I can’t hear. It’s just better not to get my hopes up.”

You turned away as your eyes began to mist, not unnoticed by Jared. He gave you a moment, gently rubbing his thumb over your knuckles as a show of comfort while you composed yourself. You cleared your throat once you had, and took a drink to calm your nerves.

“Sorry, I don’t normally talk about this stuff with anyone,” you apologised. When you didn’t raise your head he did it for you, gently lifting your face to look at his so he could speak.

“But you do have someone to talk to about it, right?” he furrowed his brow in concern. You shrugged with a frown.

“Sure, I have deaf friends and my family gets it obviously. It’s hard in this industry though, no-one really understands why I want to act and it’s pretty hard to get roles that cater to me, you know?”

Jared nodded knowing all too well that desire, that drive, to be performing on stage or in front of a camera. He didn’t know what he’d do if he wasn’t given the chances he’d had, and he was grateful to be one of the lucky ones.

“You know, I’ve been in this industry for a long time,” he told you with a smile. “I bet if I made some calls I could-”

“No Jare,” you interjected. “It’s ok, I should figure it out for myself. It’s really sweet of you to offer though,” you added with a grin, giving his hand a small squeeze.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jared: Don’t hate me

The sms lit up your screen as you sat at your computer screen, typing away. It was your first day back at work and you were struggling to readjust to the monotony of the office, as you always did after a shoot. You smirked as you leaned back in your chair and picked up your phone.

Y/N: Uh oh

Jared: I MAY have spoken to Bob

You raised a curious eyebrow as you took a sip of your hot chocolate.

Y/N: About what?

Jared: About having you on the show

You gasped, sending your drink down the wrong pipe causing a coughing fit. You sensed the eyes of your coworkers watching you and you raised a hand to assure them you were fine, before swapping to a water to try and calm your spasming throat.

Y/N: I legit just choked on my drink, I thought that only happened in the movies

Jared: Please don’t be mad

You smiled at your screen, imaging Jared cowering in the corner of his trailer while he wrote this. The very idea of you being cross with him for wanting to help you was laughable.

Y/N: So what did he say?

Jared: He wants to meet with you. He has an idea of how to write you into the show :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“A deaf hunter?” you exclaimed with surprise, not too loudly you hoped.

Sitting in Bob’s office, he was giving you the rundown of the concept he had brewing for you. He seemed very excited by the character, the concept was of course unusual and would have its own unique challenges.

“Her name is Eileen. She’s a great fighter and she’s feisty as hell. We’d want you for 4 episodes to start with, and we’d be interested in seeing how the fans react to the character before discussing a future beyond that. We’d ensure everyone understands your particular needs, and if you wanted we’d be more than happy to hire a translator and assistant for you. So, what do you think?”

You could barely wipe the smile off your face as you processed what he had said.

“Oh, and there’s one more thing. We’d like to explore the possibility of her being a love interest for Sam, depending on your on-screen chemistry of course. How would you feel about that?”

You couldn’t help a laugh escape, and nodded quickly.

“Yes, yes to all of this. It sounds amazing. Are you sure you’re ok with my voice though?”

Bob raised a hand to stop you. “Jared said you were nervous about that but I promise you, we wouldn’t be having this conversation if I had any doubts about you pulling this off.”

You grinned in response. “Thank you. I won’t let you down I promise.”

Bob smiled too and outreached his hand which you shook vigorously. With a jump in your step you opened his door and stepped out, only to slam straight into Jared’s chest. He placed his hands on your arms and gripped tightly so as not to let you fall, and you looked up to see his smiling face shining back at you.

“Tell me you took it,” he begged, and when you nodded with a laugh he lifted you in the air and spun you so quick he made you dizzy. Before you had a chance to realise what was happening his lips met yours, and your eyes widen in surprise. He felt you stiffen and pulled back, looking at you concerned as he put you back down on the ground.

“I’m so sorry Y/N, I didn’t mean t-”

Before he could finish you wrapped your arms around his neck and pulled him to you roughly, planting your lips on his once again. He smiled and slipped his arm behind your back, pulling you closer. After a moment Jared pulled away and seemed to be distracted by something behind you, so without untangling your limbs you too turned to see what was wrong.

“Something tells me we’ll have no problem with on-screen chemistry,” Bob told you both with a smirk and a wink, before walking off in the other direction. You felt Jared’s body shake with laughter before turning back to see the grin plastered on his face. Joining in, you quickly realised this was the beginning of a new and amazing chapter in your life.

“Everything” Taglist: @angelsandwinchesters, @grace-for-sale, @growningupgeek, @iamnotsaneatall, @nanie5, @waywardasfudge, @ronja-uebrick, @im-dead-inside05

[timeagainreviews]

Those are excellent nose hairs

Hello friends! It's been a long weekend for yours truly, as I was in Nottingham for a convention. My hooves are very tired. This review is going up a bit later than I would like as the hotel I was staying at's TV's volume only went up to fifteen, which made it hard for me to watch the episode properly. Now that I'm home and have watched the episode with the sound full blast, I can give it a proper review.

When we last left the Doctor and her crew, they were suspended in space. Of course, none of us were actually worried, after all, they showed the shot of them being picked up in the series trailer! Also, come on, they're not gonna kill our friends. In true Doctor Who fashion, the cliffhanger was resolved in seconds. Graham and Ryan find themselves aboard a spaceship with a standoffish captain named Angstrom. She doesn't trust them, despite saving their lives. Yaz awakens aboard a different ship in a sort of stasis capsule to the sound of the Doctor and the ship's captain Epzo bickering. Neither one of them can agree on the best way to crash-land Epzo's ship- "Cerebos."

Upon landing on the planet, Ryan, Graham, and Angstrom begin walking toward a still unknown destination. From above comes Cerebos, like a comet falling from the sky, directly at them. Having never seen a science fiction movie, the three of them run in the direction of the ship's trajectory, as opposed to, you know, left or right. The ship skids through a ravine and it's not until the Doctor yells "Brakes!" does the ship stop, due to previously unseen wheels.

Happy to see each other alive, the Doctor and her new friends take a moment to appreciate the fact that they're on their first alien planet. They also learn that Epzo and Angstrom are familiar with one another as competitors. Suddenly, an alarm sounds, beckoning them toward a mysterious destination, which turns out to be a tent in the middle of a desert where the hologram of a callous wealthy man named Ilin sits like a king. Opulence drips from him despite his shabby digs.

We learn that Ilin is the facilitator of the last "Rally of the 12 Galaxies," or as the Doctor put it, "Paris-Dakar in space.” The prize is an exorbitant amount of money, enough to set the winner for life. Out of 4,000 entrants, Epzo and Angstrom are the only two left. The name of the planet on which everyone has found themselves is most closely translated to "Desolation," and it's the final leg of the race.

The racers final task is to navigate Desolation, a planet "made cruel," toward the titular "Ghost Monument." The Doctor being who she is, asks to know the appearance of the Ghost Monument. Ilin, annoyed by the request, reluctantly presents a holographic image of the monument. The Ghost Monument, much to the Doctor's delight, is none other than her TARDIS, which has been phasing into existence every 1000 cycles. Due to the nature of the time machine, it appears to have been doing so for a very long time. It's a moment in the episode that feels genuinely gratifying, as the pieces for our new Doctor are beginning to fall into place.

Ilin and his tent disappear instantly, leaving everyone at the mercy of this cruel planet. Strewn about are what looks like the remnants of a society. Structures are tangled with strange gauzy strips of fabric. Buildings are in ruin. The Doctor can't make heads or tails what happened to this civilisation. The water is full of carnivorous bacteria, the air is poison, and there are sniper robots. In a scene that evoked strong "Keys of Marinus," vibes, they must travel across a deadly body of water, aboard an abandoned boat.

In these moments, we're given a further glimpse into the motivations of both Epzo and Angstrom. Angstrom wants to win the race so she can save what's left of her family from tyranny, while Epzo is simply a very lonely man with a painful past ripped straight out of the movie Wetlands (of all places). On the other hand, we don't get much more of a glimpse into the Doctor's new companions. We learn that Yaz's family is a bit irritating, and incomplete, as she doesn't mention a mother. Ryan and Graham are still basically where we left off- Ryan won't call Graham granddad, and Graham still doesn't know how to reach him. Ryan still struggles with ladder-related dyspraxia, but it seems to disappear when he takes out a group of sniper bots with one of their own weapons. There seems to be a sort of fluctuation in characterisation present in this, and last week's scripts.

The Doctor is presented in a way that is meant to illustrate not only her competence but also her philosophy. This is where Chris Chibnall's writing has continually stuck in my craw. As with last week, where the Doctor denounced knives, despite having travelled with two knife-wielding companions in the past, she goes on about guns once more. We all know the Doctor is against guns, but why is it not okay to kill lifeless sniper robots with a gun, but okay to kill all of them with an electromagnetic pulse? The Doctor does these kinds of things all the time, but Chibnall has brought our attention to it.

The Doctor helps the racers and her friends through what looks like a dilapidated parking garage filled with sniper bots into an underground network of tunnels and chambers. While underground, the Doctor learns that our baddies from last week, the Stenza, had forced the scientists of the world above to create weapons of death to the point that it killed their planet. We also learn that both Graham in Angstrom lost their wives to the Stenza.

After the race is over, only the Doctor and her new friends remain, stuck on the surface of Desolation. The Doctor is at one of her lowest points, as even she is beginning to doubt herself. In a very sweet show of camaraderie, Yaz, Ryan, and Graham reinforce their belief in the Doctor. It is at this moment when a glimmer of hope is heard in a familiar sound. Last week I voiced my concern that the Doctor might have to "earn," her TARDIS back. Much to my relief, this was not the case. Evidently, it was a case that the TARDIS saw the Doctor was now a woman, and her whole “bachelor pad,” with candle wax dribble and books on the stairs was suddenly unsuitable. “Out you go, while I spruce up!” And I’m glad for it. Not only would a Doctor without her TARDIS story have been tedious, it would have also been a rather incomplete feeling series. With a new Doctor, it's good to have a bit of the familiar around, even if it looks a bit different!

In a line that is probably now my new sexuality, the Doctor pleads with the TARDIS and says "Come to daddy... er mummy." Our trusty blue box finally manages to materialise, and like something out of a Lassie movie, or even a love story, the Doctor runs to it. It's a truly beautiful moment that left me in tears. In my review for "An Unearthly Child," I talked about the first TARDIS reveal. It's seldom, however, that we get to see the Doctor have the same reaction to seeing the inside of her TARDIS, which is why this one is so great. Having been apart from what is possibly her oldest friend, she gets to rediscover her new interior alongside her companions. And like that, the show feels like it can truly move forward.

Now then, let’s talk about what worked, and what didn't. First of all, how about that introduction? Yet another one of my fears was that Doctor Who had gone the way of many modern television series, and dumped the intro, which would have been a crime! Thankfully, this was not an issue. I mentioned earlier the "Keys to Marinus vibe," I got from this episode. That intro is pure Hartnell era, through and through. After getting a better listen to Segun Akinola's theme tune, I must say I like it. Though I feel that some of the effects placed upon the sound seem to cancel out certain notes. While it lacks the high energy of some of the previous themes of the "new Who" era, it gains a level of creepiness and danger we've not seen since the 70's.

The story itself is pretty simple, but that's not any kind of judgement on my behalf. Simple can be a welcome break after Moffat's long-winded, and often unfulfilling story arcs. Though the bit about "The Timeless Child," was so Easter eggy, that I thought Moffat may have snuck into the writing room with a Chris Chibnall mask and monkeyed with the script. I'll be honest, I have zero interest in that storyline. It's called Doctor Who, not Doctor Who was Once a Little Kid Known as the Timeless Child. IDGAF.

One of the interesting elements of these past two episodes has been Chibnall's characterisation of the Doctor. In some ways, it's evident how well he knows the character. Simply in the manner by which the Doctor uses the sonic screwdriver, do we see her character come out. The sonic is often criticised as a plot-convenient deus ex machina, but in many ways, it is the Doctor condensed into an object. It fixes things and opens the doors to new possibilities. The Doctor tries to teach her companions her philosophy, not with weapons, but with hope.

I said earlier how Chibnall has also, a somewhat muddied philosophy of the Doctor. His sophisticated ideas, don't really stand up to their own scrutiny. When the Doctor and her companions have their backs against the wall, it's suddenly ok to destroy the Remnants (killer strips of fabric now animated under the night sky), with a blaze of fire. What was different between these and the sniper robots? The Remnants could actually speak, yet it's less ok to shoot the mindless robots because...guns? These aren't massive sins, but they are worrisome. As I've said, Chris Chibnall is the one element of the new series that has worried me. Even his one-off jokes can serve as tiny red flags.

In the previous episode, we learn that the Doctor has empty pockets, something that had come up more than once in "The Woman Who Fell to Earth." However, in this episode, it turns out that she has filled her pockets. It would make sense if the object she pulls out of her coat were merely a simple pair of sunglasses. But these weren't just any sunglasses, these once belonged to either Pythagoras or Audrey Hepburn. Which is fine, it's cute, right? But where did they come from? Her coat from her days as a white haired Scotsman was empty, and her new coat came from a charity shop. With no TARDIS, how does she get a pair of sunglasses from one of two dead people? Perhaps it's as River says- the Doctor lies. Or perhaps Chibnall just wanted a cute joke. Either way, Graham looks fabulous in those shades.

Evidently, Chris Chibnall's true talent lies in being able to recognise talent. He's found a wonderful group of actors and directors. Jodie Whittaker is a genius pick for the Doctor. Segun Akinola is brilliant in his musical direction. Even his vision for what the series should look like is inspired. The retro vibe suits not only the Thirteenth Doctor but also the concept of the first female Doctor. Something I had hoped they wouldn't ignore. While some of the cinematography has been frustrating, with close-ups cropping off 20% of actor's faces, and points of focus not always being properly framed, it's also kinetic and gorgeous. The new TARDIS control room is beautiful. I'm hoping the little spinning crystal TARDIS serves a function of some sort, as well as the hourglass, which was perplexing in its function (as well the TARDIS should be). My favourite bit was the little custard cream biscuit dispenser. Pure cuteness, that.

This episode has been particularly hard to review, as I didn't hate it, not by far. But it was also disjointed and frustrating at points as well. I'm still giving a lot of leeway to everyone involved, as it's early days. Neither Stephen Moffat or Russell T. Davies wrote a homerun within their first two episodes. Chris Chibnall has managed to breathe new life into the series again, which is a feat unto itself. The TARDIS has done herself up, and so has the show. And as the Doctor said, "I really like it."