#i mean like. i LIKE vengeful villains. i like characters who are evil out of revenge or pettiness

[zzthekaiju]

Best of the Reptiles in Media - 01 - Godzilla (Monsterverse)

I figure that while I'm using this blog, I might as well post my ramblings on a subject dear to my heart: That being the representation of reptiles as characters in media. And not just villainous or vile ones like we're so used to. I'm talking about ones that inspire me. The ones that are legitimately compelling to me. And these posts are an excuse to espouse why.

Plus, it's just fun. You can thank the likes of @tyrantisterror and @bogleech for inspiring me to do these.

So who better to start with than with the lizard who's been an inspiration to me for almost my entire life. That being the one known as Gojira. AKA...Godzilla.

This is the one character in these posts who probably needs no introduction. Ever since his debut in 1954, the walking embodiment of the horrors of nuclear war, among other things, has been nothing less than an icon. This is the beast people think about when they hear "giant monster" or "kaiju". This is truly the King of the Monsters.

My introduction to Godzilla was a children's book called "Godzilla on Monster Island". It was a fun read full of neat monsters living together and teaming up to stop an evil plan. And it left me wanting more. I wanted more stories of these fantastic yet friendly beasts being friends and living together while having fun adventures. Little me was a bit disappointed to find that Godzilla spent more time fighting his fellow kaiju and trashing cities instead.

The truth, as I would find out, was that Godzilla is never just one thing. He is a fun defender of the Earth. He's the terrifying consequences of our tampering with both nature and science. And in recent memory, he's been a lot of other things. But most of the time, he's either hero or mankind's hubris on two legs. To me, he was a giant dinosaur that could fire thermonuclear breath, and that was all that mattered. It was after hearing about the historical significance of him that my respect doubled.

Back then, I would tell you that my favorite Godzilla from a design standpoint was the 2002 version. Personality wise, almost every Showa appearance post-1964.

But in 2014, everything changed. In came a Goji that seemed to have everything I could ask for. So, we're going to look at the one that resonates with me the most. The Monsterverse version.

That right there is perhaps one of the most awe-inspiring entrances I've ever seen in a cinema.

Before the release of Godzilla (2014), the franchise had entered something of a slump period. The last film was all the way back in 2004, and sadly, the kaiju genre was still something of a niche thing growing up. Here in America, you either liked superheroes or real-life celebrities as a kid. If you liked monsters, let alone giant monsters, you were one of the weird kids. That, or one of the kids who never lost their passion for dinosaurs. But those were rare.

Then Gareth Edwards unleashed this film, and while one could argue that Pacific Rim (2013) got the ball rolling, THIS ultimately resurrected the entire franchise of the Big G, and got him a degree of general respect from most film-goers (so long as you ignore the irritating internet drama regarding screen-time back then).

But let's get to the meat of this post. Why is this Godzilla so much better to me than the rest? A few things, really.

First off, there's Godzilla's role in the Monsterverse's narrative. For the most part, he is a guardian of the natural order, a means of bringing balance to imbalance. He is a metaphor for how nature is capable of righting itself, and how we either have to deal with it, or live with the consequences. In practice, Godzilla ends up going up against almost every monster, most of which are only a threat because we awakened them/created them. Yet despite this, he doesn't go out of his way to destroy us. He's not mindlessly destructive or particularly vengeful either. He knows we're a part of the world too. We just tend to grate a bit more on his nerves because of how much we screw up. If there's one thing this series isn't afraid to show, it's that...well, "the arrogance of man is thinking nature is within our control, and not the other way around."

Design-wise, this is one of the best Godzilla's around. He's bulky, has a killer stare, and there's something oddly endearing about how...well, meaty he is. He's like if my aforementioned previous favorite design, the 2002 one, put on both a lot of muscle and weight. It also ties into his fighting style, said to have been inspired particularly by bears. Even the sounds associated with him are amazing. From that hype-inducing charge of his thermonuclear breath to what might be the best rendition of the classic roar.

Then there is the body language. This Godzilla's usual gait is slow, almost plodding at times. He shows clear signs of exhaustion in some scenes. What he goes through is hard, and his job is even harder, but he still does it. It really helps sell his personality most of the time.

Part of why I like the Monsterverse so much is that, for the most part, the kaiju are treated as characters in their own right (that's not to say they weren't in previous iterations, far from it, but it's a bit more pronounced here than most of the post-Showa stuff). Sure, some films in this verse are better about it than others (more on that later...), but I like how you can glean what Godzilla is thinking of just by looking at his eyes. Of particular note is how they widen in "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" when Ghidorah gains the upper hand during the final battle, his absolute sneer of anger in the first movie when the male MUTO approaches him, or...this.

This scene. This one right here encapsulates so much of what I love about this iteration. Where Godzilla, dazed and thoroughly battered by both the fight with the MUTOS and having a building fall right on him, locks eyes with a tiny little soldier. You see a sense of tiredness, of pain, of acknowledgement, and maybe even a little wonder. This is not just some mindless beast fighting for its turf. It's a thinking being. And he's hurt. The most powerful creature on the planet isn't invincible, neither on the outside and definitely not on the inside.

And you know what? I've been there. There are times where I feel like I'm carrying the weight of the world, that there are things too heavy to bear, and its suffocating. Godzilla constantly shows throughout the Monsterverse that his job as a living balancing act is wearing on him. He gets put through so. Much. Crap. From getting buildings dropped on him to being personally dropped from a distance above the clouds to watching his symbiotic partner/mate die, it's almost unfair how we're expected to not really sympathize with him as much as...I'll get to that later.

But he never gives up. Despite all the pain and fatigue, he gets back up, and he fights. And he fights. And he continues until the deed is done. Someone has to rise to the occasion, and it might as well be him. If not him, then who?

That is the biggest reason I resonate with this Godzilla. His awe-inspiring design is one thing, but he gave me the strength to persevere. I don't give up, because he never did. Never before had the Big G been such a hero to me. Such that in 2014 I found myself silently sobbing to myself when it seemed like he was dead near the end even though that was clearly not the case. It's hardly a surprise that I based my personal Godzilla AU on him, albeit with the more sympathetic traits dialed up. Stuff like this made G14 and KOTM some of my favorite kaiju flicks...

...which made it more than a little disappointing when Wingard took the helm and basically said "screw that, this is about the monke now!" Yeah, GvK is the weakest entry in the series for me for a reason. Godzilla's more redeeming qualities are buried under a narrative that clearly is not interested in giving him the time of day or even the benefit of a doubt. Both it and it's successor, GxK, are Kong movies through and through, and that means poor Big G is put out of focus.

I cannot tell you how much I HATE this idea that the only way a monster can be relatable is if it either looks almost just like us or is really cute. Yes, I understand the universal appeal, but they had such a good thing going for Godzilla! And they throw almost all of it away just so that they can make Kong look better by comparison.

Credit where it's due, these issues are slightly improved in GxK. It's not only firmly established that Godzilla is an overall benefit to the world for keeping the other Titans in check, but we get some interesting bits with him like how he instantly responds and prepares to answer the call of the Iwi and help them. It shows that despite his tenuous relationship with humans, there are ones he clearly gives a lot of thought to. And there's also how he makes the Roman Coliseum his own personal bed. Not only is it kind of hilariously adorable, but if you remember how in KOTM he had his own man-made temple, you get the impression that he has a bit of homesickness. That's the kind of thing I like to see! More of that and less "he's only ever angry and he only ever fights, character is for primates only".

Also, while the Evolved design has nice details, I WANT THAT GUT BACK! it just looks weird otherwise with that disproportionately skinny waist.

But thankfully, our prayers might be answered:

With GxK's roaring success (ha!), it's more than likely that the next Monsterverse entry will finally give Godzilla an overdue character arc that doesn't begin and end with "destroy everyone and act big and scary and nothing else". Just please make sure that he doesn't have to die to get that. There are plenty of ways you can make us invest in the guy's story without having to kill him. I WANT to see more of that emotional vulnerability teased across the movies. I want to see him come to terms with how he's been going about his job. And more importantly...I want to see a more explicit Mothzilla scene. A nuzzle and everything. But that's just me.

Whatever the quality of his current status, nothing is taking away how much I love this version of Godzilla. He's taken me out of some very dark places, and for that, I say long live the king.

Also, he brought Mothzilla into the public sphere and every Mothzilla pic made since is the cutest thing ever, so I just love him even more.

[perenlop]

i dont wanna sound like a person thats like “if a character is mean then theyre written poorly” but truly what makes or breaks a villain to me is whether or not youre supposed to find them complex and well intentioned deep down and they obviously arent

[iamafanofcartoons]

Reasons to love Cinder Fall from RWBY, by June / Blightmxb on Twitter

1. Her outfits.

She's had MORE wardrobe changes than any other RWBY character. she's a fashion victim and she looks GORGEOUS while doing every evil deed

2. Her story.

She's the survivor of an abusive environment in a world where nothing was given to her, she learned that taking the things she wants is the only way to survive. She's such a tragic villain cause there was never a kind hand that could've lead her on a different path

3. Jessica Nigri's VA skills.

I cannot stress enough how much i LOVE Cinder's voicing. Her velvety voice when she's being mean, her grunts of frustration, how raw she sounds when she FIGHTS. Jessica Nigri does a marvellous job for her volume after volume!

4. She's a girlfailure.

She has been defeated numerous times by a little girl, has been allegedly killed by another maiden, challenged by Jaune (affectionate), kicked by THE Blake Belladonna. The list of failures goes on and i support her ALWAYS coming back

5. Her powers.

She can materialize incandescent cristals, fire, make any given weapon on the spot and BREATHE FIRE. how absolutely COOL is that !!

6. How PETTY she is.

"Do you believe in destiny?" "Yes." // "Someone once asked me if I believed in destiny and I'm happy to say I still do" Cause after coming back from the dead (almost) she es yet again ready to commit atrocities to become even stronger, i respect her tenacity

7. She looks so awesome.

The atrocities look GOOD on her and she is a feast to the eyes when she's on screen

8. She is an overconfident, manipulative, intelligent, ruthless, cunning, villain who knows exactly how to get what she wants AND she's a woman.

Enough of morally corrupted men in media, I want morally corrupted WOMEN who are POWER-HUNGRY & not afraid to take what they want !!

9. If Ruby is the light of RWBY, Cinder is the shadow.

As the show goes on, Ruby & Cinder both face failure, loss, trauma and they both slowly lose parts of themselves. But while Ruby overcomes the struggles and becomes better, Cinder doesn't change her ways and becomes worse

10. Her Cinderella theme

i'm obsessed with how she's based on cinderella but she mirrors that entire tale and instead of becoming kind and forgiving and loving she becomes ruthless, cold hearted, and vengeful

11. She is the heart of the conflict in RWBY.

She’s the only consistent villain that brings conflict to the story. Grimm are background threats, & Salem & the other villains have less impactful scenes but Cinder is ALWAYS at the centre of the main events that further the plot

12. She would give it a shot to bisexuality.

And I think that's very cool of her to love women !!

13. Overall, I think she's a pivotal character in the RWBY universe who stirs things up and gives us such memorable (and painful) moments and I just love a complex and morally dubious villain !!

Disclaimer, cause I know you guys like to take things out of context. Do I condone her actions? No. She's done terrible things and she'll have to pay for them. Do I think she deserves a happy ending? I think she's too far gone for any hope of redemption, so probably no.

I personally don't want her to die, but knowing how RWBY works there's a slim chance she'll survive after what she's done. So. I would like her to hit rock bottom so hard she realizes she's neck deep in the wrong path, but she can still do One Good thing before she's done for(+)+) and that is sacrifice herself for Ruby. Or save her/help her in any capacity when all seems lost and she's too far gone to survive. Her own little redemption to all the terrible things she's done. That isn't enough but it's Something. I want her dark life to end with a light

www.twitter.com/Blightmxb/status/1652622432560111616

[jackoshadows]

Hi, so I watched GoT+ am on asoiaf 1 rn and I have a Q about Dany; why is her character so divisive? I read meta by pro Dany fans and its "Dany's compassionate, self critical, a good ruler, a political reformer, frees slaves she'll be a hero at the end" and the antis "shes entitled, vengeful, profiter of slavery, a coloniser and GRRM wont validate a foreign invasion with nuclear weapons; hes anti war!!" Like, wHAt? Surely her character cant be THAT ambigious?! These are popular opposites??

Alright, I'll try to explain this from my perspective as a Jon Snow fan. However, this will be spoilery if you have read only one book. I would suggest reading all the books before joining in on discussions about the character.

It's a combination of things.

One is most definitely sexism. I don't throw that word around lightly having been constantly attacked as a ‘sexist dudebro who hates women’ for simply critiquing a female character.

Sexism in fandom is when female characters are held to different standards compared to their male counterparts. When female characters are critiqued or disliked for doing the same thing that male characters are often praised for doing. Daenerys is subjected to a lot of this which is especially evident in the books because she has a parallel arc of leadership with Jon Snow over at the Wall - the two characters at the ends of the world. 

An example is right there in your ask. GRRM is anti-war and hence why would he validate Dany's invasion - She is therefore in the wrong. Okay. In which case why not extend that argument to every other main character in the series? GRRM is anti-war and therefore Robb Stark was wrong to wage war for Northern independence. GRRM is anti-war and therefore Jon Snow is wrong to help Stannis in his battle against the Boltons. GRRM is anti-war and therefore Tyrion is wrong to use wildfire and defeat Stannis at the battle of the blackwater. GRRM is anti-war and therefore Jon Snow is the villain of the battle at Castle Black.

I think the main thesis of GRRM’s argument in regard to his protagonists has been that there is no good or bad and instead they are all morally gray? Yeah war is bad and most of our protagonists engage in war and they are therefore morally grey characters. I mean, Jon Snow is over there taking child hostages that he has promised to behead - does that make him a baddie? Ned Stark took Theon as a child hostage. Is he a baddie? Our main characters all belong to noble houses in a feudal monarchy - a system of governance that GRRM relentlessly critiques in the books. Are they all baddies?

This double standard is particularly glaring when Dany's battles in Essos is about helping the little guy - the slaves who are under the worst kind of oppression. The WOT5K (War of the 5 Kings) on the other hand was about personal power, ravaged the land and lead to much devastation and suffering. However, for some strange reason when fandom discusses the books and the author being anti-war they focus particularly on Daenerys - that strange reason is sexism.

If you have watched GOT, I am sure you would have noticed those obvious  double standards yourself.

Tyrion standing there making sad faces makes it look like Daenerys is doing something wrong when she executes the Tarlys - two treasonous traitors. However every other House does the same! Jon Snow executed the mutineers at the wall - even a child. After the battle of bastards, he mentions the Karstarks and Umbers having been killed in battle or else they would have been executed. Sansa wants to punish even their children!! But for some strange reason [(i.e) sexism] a female leader executing traitors is evil. That she does so without crying (Something the show runner David Benioff points out in an BTS interview) means she is evil. Jon not crying when killing people = badass, Dany not crying when killing people = evil.

Daenerys in battle with Jaime Lannister to get the Iron Throne = evil. Starks fighting against the Boltons to get Winterfell = Yay! Awesome. Thousands die in both battles - in one battle they die, burned by dragonfire. In the other one they are hacked to death and die with their guts hanging out. In both cases, people die.

The show quickly moves past Jaime Lannister, the Tarlys and their men massacring everyone of Olenna's men and piling their bodies high and sacking and looting the place. However, the show takes time to linger on Tyrion's sad face with the sad music and the men dying when Daenerys is attacking those same men on the battlefield.

I am not even getting into season 8 because it was so, so bad and full of puke inducing sexism that will need 10 pages to outline. I think you have got the gist of why sexism is such a large factor in how Dany's character is otherized and analyzed by fandom at large and made worse by Benioff and Weiss' rampant misogyny shining through in the show's writing.

I mentioned this in another post and I will say again - removing show Tyrion from show Daenerys' narrative would reduce the sexism in her story arc ten fold. He was D&D's mouthpiece in the series after season 5 - there to tell us that Dany was evil for doing all the things the male characters did.

And yes, Nuclear weapons are bad. Nuclear weapons can also be a deterrent and prevent war. Nuclear weapons can also be useful in a fantasy, magical world dealing with an existential apocalyptic threat. This is why I find one to one comparisons like these to be ridiculous. The Starks also have some fiercesome beasts that the author has indicated will be used in battle. Are we calling them evil?

The rest. Colonizer? They should look up what that means and whether it applies to Dany's story in Essos. Profiting off slavery? If one reads the books one knows this is blatantly untrue. Entitled and vengeful? No more than any of the other main characters who belong to noble houses in Westeros.

Daenerys has her flaws, not saying that she doesn't. That's what makes her a three-dimensional and relatable character. It's easy to criticize the character because she does self-reflect and introspect, is sometimes crippled by self-doubt and wants to do things differently and try different options - something that makes her human and real and very well written. Leadership is not easy and she’s 15 in the last book.

The other aspect is a flaw in the writing with respect to the setting of Daenerys' story in the series. She's the only main POV character in Essos until Arya and Tyrion get there in ADwD. And there is a lot of orientalism in GRRM's writing for Essos - meant to represent the East while Westeros represents the West.

There's much to say about how he writes the Dothraki as savage barbarians. While he gives POV characters for the Ironborn with Theon and Asha and characters like Mance, Tormund and Ygritte for the Freefolk, where's the equivalent of all that for the Dothraki? Oh but look, they are eating honeyed locusts! How exotic! There's lots of cartoonishly evil slavers who kill puppies! GRRM keeps otherizing their customs and culture as being savage and cruel and different - highlighted by the fact that we don't have a single Essosi POV giving us their side of things.

I do find GRRM's orientalism distasteful and off putting, especially as Essos is just a prop, a stepping stone for the characters before they move onto Westeros where the real story is happening. That is however a critique of the writing, not of the character. People tend to conflate the two. A middle aged white man writing in the nineties about a fantasy eastern world does not make Daenerys a 'white savior' or a 'colonizer' and it's clear from various interviews the author has given that this was not his intention either.

Daenerys is also the only Targaryen POV in the books. Think about that. The Starks have 6 POVs in the first book. The Lannisters get 3 by AFfC. The Greyjoys have 4, the Martells have 2. The only major house worse off than the Targaryens are the Baratheons with no POV characters.

We see Jon Snow through Arya and Bran’s POV. We see Arya through Jon’s. We get none of this for Dany. The Starks have a home and a loving family. Dany meanwhile is starting off the story at her lowest point - an abusive brother and forcefully married off to a Dothraki. While the Starks then end up losing that security, family members die, one of them is a hostage and the other is on the run - they still have memories of each other. Danerys meanwhile, slowly and painfully works her way to the top. 

Reminds me of a post I responded to the other day, where the OP said that Arya and Jon cannot be underdogs because they are winners (Whatever that means). That’s the attitude that a lot of fandom has towards Daenerys - now that she is queen and has power, she has it easy compared to the likes of Sansa and the rest of the Starks. Ignoring that when the books started Daenerys was in a way worse position than any of the Starks.

This is a fandom that thinks that Sansa Stark deserves to be Queen in the North because she’s beautiful, has good manners and is a Stark. And this is the same fandom who think that Daenerys, who worked her way to the top - with no family to help, no happy childhood, no teachers, no security of food and shelter, who were beggars and on the run at one point - the Daenerys who is currently spending an entire book ruling a city state, making trade deals, dealing with an insurgency and famine, engaging in marriage diplomacy to sue for peace for the slaves she freed, that Daenerys is entitled. Do you agree?

I am a Jon Snow fan and even I can see how utterly ridiculous the fan discourse around Daenerys is. When the show was on, I was only posting about Jon and there was so much anti Dany stuff on the Jon Snow tags I had to wade into discussion about the character. And the more I defended her, the more I ended up re-reading her chapters, the more I ended up loving the character. There’s so much hypocrisy and sexist double standards where the character is concerned.

And I have not even touched upon the obnoxiousness that is ‘Jonsa’ - group of morons who think Sansa is the main character in a book series called A Song of Sansa and Sansa and Jon is secretly in love with Sansa who is going to be Queen with executioner/personal spymaster Arya Stark and her consort Jon Snow who will sexually manipulate and murder Daenerys for his great love Sansa.

Sansa fans make up the vast majority of asoiaf fans on Tumblr and the majority of them dislike Daenerys and Arya or see Dany as Sansa’s antagonist - even though these two characters have no connection in the books and I doubt they would ever interact. If you look at most of the anti Dany posts on here, they will be made by someone with a Sansa pfp. There are posts about how Jon will kill Dany or how Arya will kill Dany, and if you look at their blogs they will be big Sansa fans.

These are the same people who write essays on how Arya is not a real girl or is ‘male-coded’ or who write essays on how Daenerys only uses ‘threats and force’ whereas Sansa is apparently a political genius who uses ‘Soft Power’ - a foreign policy concept - because she talked down 13 year old idiot Joffrey that one time. When in the actual books, it’s Daenerys who has used Soft Power in her marriage diplomacy with Hizdahr and Sansa has never engaged in any kind of politics with actual adults.

Notice that these kinds of ‘metas’ are popularized by fandom bnfs using blogs like asoiafuniversity. There’s this very popular idea that’s propagated in fandom that Sansa is kind and compassionate when in the actual books there are more instances of kindness and compassion from Arya and from Daenerys. This is once again an example of how sexism and misogyny in this fandom has worked to give the wrong impressions of these characters. Arya and Daenerys are seen as more violent compared to Sansa even though Daenerys’ entire arc for two books has been about helping an oppressed population. The mind boggles!

It’s the same when it comes to love and romance. Arya and Daenerys are not considered worthy of love, romance and marriage because they are the wrong kind of girls. And let’s not bring age into this considering Sansa is 11 at the start of the books and she is the fandom bicycle shipped with every Tom, Dick and Harry.

I am not even getting into the slut-shaming and victim blaming that Daenerys gets in the fandom. There was actual discourse in this fandom on how Dany was not a good rape victim like Sansa because she brought up her rape in conversation! Daenerys is somehow seen as less than because she can’t possibly have children - that apparently makes her less of a woman and a bad partner for Jon Snow unlike Sansa Stark who will surely have ten babies!

The worst part is that’s it women who engage in this kind of discourse and the same women who turn around and gaslight the fandom into thinking that Sansa is unfairly targeted because of sexism.

There’s also the usual dislike from the fans of other characters.

There are Jon Snow fans who see him as the prophesied hero and main protagonist, who don’t like Daenerys coming over and taking away main character status. I personally think there is no one main character. IMO, Jon, Dany, Arya, Bran and Tyrion are all tier one main characters, who will work together against the Army of the Dead. [Note: This works the other way as well. I have seen Dany fans who dislike Jon Snow as well and think he is unimportant in the grand scheme of things]

There are Stannis Baratheon stans over on the Asoiaf subreddit who will excuse everything Stannis does - including burning people alive for his God - and then nitpick every single policy decision of Dany’s in order to argue she is evil or a bad ruler. 

There are house Stark fans who hate House Targaryen and see them as in opposition to each other. There are fans who believe in Northern exceptionalism i.e the North is special and Dany is a threat to that specialness because she wants the 7K etc. etc.

This turned out to be a long post. On the whole, the answer to your question on why Daenerys is such a polarizing character is mainly because of sexism. There are other factors like the setting and isolation of her story, the lack of other POVs etc. The main reason though is sexism and ship wars.

[thefaeriefeatherdark]

I have a question, I don't know if it was asked before but what, is your top 10 Superboy rogues?

Okay... this list is going to be a little controversial.

1.Travv/Cyborg Superboy.

I know he's only really gotten one story but he's an excellent rogue, he's got a lot of potential, and I hope we see him again.

2. King Shark

I'll note here when I say King Shark I mean King Shark as the more classic serial killer demigod. King Shark should be intelligent, willing to lure people into traps, or capable of figuring out weaknesses (like how he realizes Superboy can still drown and focuses on drowning him).

3. Stinger

Stinger is a "this guy is only in two stories" guy but I actually really like him so much. He's a fun mercenary. He's actually sort of decent at his job. He hasn't got a massive ego propping him up.

4. Knockout

This is going to be the controversial one. Frankly. Knockout is a whole series of fucked up stuff. She absolutely SA'd Kon, and I think DC could and should deal with that. I don't really know how you do that without doing massive damage to the Secret Six stuff, but also it's been like half a decade since the last Secret Six stuff came out so maybe in a couple years that won't be as big a deal? I think she's a great villain so long as we are willing to face her origins and cruelty head on.

5. Amanda Spence

She should be Kon El's arch nemesis. Functionally. She killed his girlfriend, her father is Kon's creator (and his original DNA donor). She's obsessively out for revenge against Kon. Obviously she's the clear Archnemesis and I don't get why everyone stopped using her.

6. Kindred Grim

I'm counting Superboy and the Ravers by the way. Yeah. He's a creep, there's elements of his character that are clear metaphors for committing SA. He's pure evil. And to some extent that sort of works? His main issue is that he gets torn apart by the Predators (Emotional Entities for the Star Sapphires) in the final issue of Superboy and the Ravers, but I could even see bringing him back as a major villain for Kon especially if I was doing a relaunch of Ravers (I'd probably even keep his original ending but state that he eventually managed to escape the Predator's Prison Dimension and give him the name Incubus).

7. Match

Early Match is way higher. He's a rad Kon clone with even weirder powers, he does psychic blasts and is intelligent and cold and calculating and in every way is a sort of reverse of Kon. Later Match sort of sucks and is just a slightly younger Bizarro.

8. Technician

I think there's a lot of potential in a guy who steals tech, reverse engineers it, and then sells it to Supervillains for use in weaponry as a bigger overarching villain. Especially if we wanted to give Kon a more permanent home, he'd be a great villain if Kon's city was on the West Coast where he could act as a Silicon Valley villain character.

9.Scavenger

I love this guy sad I ranked him so low. He's great for a fun story or two, but he's not really a major villain we could keep bringing back. His main deal is that he's got an ancient enemy he's gathering weapons to fight and is incredibly paranoid about it. It's not clear whether his enemy is even real or if he's just delusional.

10. Neon

He died in his first story. He's Roxy Leech's obsessive asshole of an ex. He tries to kill Kon to get Roxy back. I think there's a lot of stuff to do with him as a vengeful maniac with a supersuit who hates Kon and is obsessed with Kon's sister (Roxy).

Some other cool villains.

Black Zero:

Basically what if Kon-El became Magneto and there's a lot of fun in that concept.

Loophole:

Depending on who uses the tech and title either a serious hyper competent threat, or a middle aged loser going through a midlife crisis who dedicated himself to crime in response.

Sidearm:

Kon's recurring fail-rogue who has a robot arm usually with a brand new (and still ineffectual) gimmick every time he shows up. Unfortunately he died while working for Amanda Waller's Suicide Squad.

[wutheringskies]

I find this interesting in mdzs posts on Tumblr. Once the profile pic or background pic on their blog is either Xue Yang, JGY, or CQL pictures, then the post they wrote must be "The MC of mdzs is not morally that good, the reason is bla bla blah. To make flaws in the MC they went to the extent of victimizing the Perpetrators mainly Wen Chao and QishanWen Cultivators who'd chosen to join the war, a war to oppress other sects and slaughter them if they were to defy.

Don't you think that pattern resembles MDZS world? If you find someone spreading rumors and distorting facts about WWX it must be from the Jin. After the war ended, The Mobs actually accused WWX of killing too much (Wen Cultivators) during the war, in the occasion of talking about WWX freeing the real innocent Wen Remnants from LanlingJin's true war crime. The Irony and Ridiculousness are so thick. But that actually came into being in real life on their fans. How amusing was that?? Like Idols like fans. There really are people like that in real life...even MianMian can't put up with such mobs.

Excellent point, anon.

I always feel that MXTX's stories - specifically, MDZS and TGCF do a great job at presenting in the bounds of fiction, a real society. In our sort of society, those who are kind, are also often foolish. Those who are brave, are treated as rebels. In our world too; minorities are treated with suspicion and hostility. Systems aren't set down in rules; the rules can be changed by those who hold power; those who constitute the majority. Most of the people in this world listen along to the flute of him who is most powerful. Most people are mob-like. They don't help, but they criticize those who do for not doing enough. They don't like putting themselves into difficult positions. Even if they feel sympathy, they never act on it. They treat outliers as scandalous; they just wish to be accepted in any community, and put down all voices of reason, and pleas, to act like a banded group; like a bunch of 'teen mean girls.'

That is the sort of world MDZS is based in. In such a world, there are two idealistic people with solid morals - Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian, and this is the story of coming to peace with such a world and finding each other. I strongly feel that if one tries to justify an antagonist's actions; they rob themselves of the experience of reading a book which subtly, yet strongly pokes at how corrupt power structures, social hierarchies are; and how terrible it is to not examine the information you are presented with.

We are well aware that Jin Guangyao is a villain. Yet, saying that he is just evil at the root, two-faced and a vengeful, lying snake isn't enough. We must consider into account the nature of society - the untouchability that he faced; the humiliation, the rejection, the plea of a boy to buy out his mother's freedom. But note, that these difficulties aren't meant to free him of his guilt, but rather to add nuance to his character. Jin Guangyao is a victim of society, and on gaining power, he is one of those who stand atop the social ladder and cause harm to those below; and when he falls to the bottom, it is the same people who once held him as powerful, kind and benevolent that spread truths, rumours and secrets about him. Thus, the people probably had hints of what he does; yet they considered him of good standing until it was no longer beneficial; until they could turn the tables around and throw him down. Then they turn into his enemies.

This is not to absolve Jin Guangyao of his guilt, but to make us uncomfortable with how society is. I recall this line by Wei Wuxian - "How cheap is your hatred, and how cheap was your admiration."

Similarly, Jiang Cheng is an antagonist. He's a safe sect leader; never taking fights he can't win. Thus, he turns a blind eye to all injustice that would harm his position by putting him at odds with other powers and even encourages it. Social hierarchy allows him to whip up innocent people and not pay back his debts. As he's in a more privileged position than many others, being the literal sect heir of a major clan, he can retain the right to be upset, angry and hurt over whatever he chooses, whether or not his feelings were drawn on valid instances.

For some reason, this fandom falls into the same cycle of reading the book as if they're a civilian in the MDZS world, rather than a reader, containing an omnipresent point-of-view and analytical skills to understand whether the information presented is reliable or not. Perhaps, it is due to their in-built classism, where they are born and raised in places where they are allowed to exaggerate their pains beyond necessity. Perhaps, it is because they are readers who grew up on a bunch of material that is targeted at being 'relatable.' Since MDZS is similar to our world, there are plenty of people who hold sympathy but never act on it, care but not enough, cannot show it, or people who grow resentful. On the other hand, moral ideals like Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian are rare. Thus, they cannot relate to these two. What they can't relate to, or cannot understand - they make up narratives to bring them down to 'their' level by framing their righteous actions as wrong, morally incorrect or selfish to make the characters 'more complex' and thus, relatable, and thus, digestible.

Another reason for condemning the main leads comes from the more genuine lack of understanding of the setting and the themes. I've been raised with Indian literature and I found Chinese literature sharing similarities. The protagonist isn't someone you should 'relate' to but someone whom you can idolize, and hold in high regard; someone from whom you can learn to become better. Society isn't generally kind, and love isn't what the characters are after; whether it be platonic, familial, romantic or parental.

Thus, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian are fine with just being together, despite their feelings being reciprocated or not. Of course, when you're a child, you are prone to jealousy and anger. But when you mature, it isn't like that - they aren't possessive of each other. Their love lies first and foremost in sharing the same ideals, the same path, the same search for truth and knowing each other inside out even when the world frames you as this or that. That is the greatest act of love for them. Just like that, Wei Wuxian didn't give his core up due to brotherly love, but a sense of responsibility. Love isn't something that exists; but something that is borne, something that grows between two characters.

Yet people don't even understand things like this; they make Lan Wangji petty and Wei Wuxian some sort of manwhore flirt. They don't understand that in xianxia and wuxia, the dead are an entity, just like the living. The body, the soul, the resentment - all are different parts of the same being. Not all souls can be liberated, thus the end result is having to kill those souls, but Wei Wuxian's cultivation uses their resentful energy to do his bidding, and liberate them. Instead of mindlessly killing, he kills with aim. Even highly resentful fierce corpses can be neutralized. Yet, people think it's his cultivation that is his dissent. They say he killed Wen Chao wrongly. I only feel that they haven't read much Asian literature. If you let vermins go then they will come and bite you in the foot.

Honestly, there is so much wrong with fanon interpretations. It is literally a different book that they are reading. If these were only fun, fanon comics, it would be fine, but these are their actual interpretations upon reading the novel. How far are interpretations valid until you literally ruin the book? It's like being in a fandom where the author wrote a book about cats being lovely, but instead of that, people debate which cat character was more evil.

But, well, I always just think such people are Sect Leader's Yao's followers. Haha. I have no issue with those who like XY, JGY, or JC - but at least like their canon selves, lmao? Or even if you wish to make them more sentimental, that is okay, but don't drag the actual moral ideals to their level, you know?

Well, this got pretty long! But thank you anon for this wonderful ask. I got to rant a lot.

[aemiron-main]

Bruh what if Henry is really gay just like Will. I mean the parallels between the two aside, that whole deal with the lab and Virginia seeking Brenner to 'fix' Henry has some conversion therapy vibes. And we already know Virginia and Lonnie parallel each other and Lonnie was homophobic. So what if Henry is really gay?

I mean people are like ''wdym the big bad is gay, isnt that homophobic?'' and I'm like... sure it is but do you guys honestly think he is straight? Aside from the fact that he is paralleled to Will and is his narrative foil, Henry's whole deal and character is him hating normalicy and normal things, bigots etc. Henry being straight is weirder than him being gay. Also mostl likely Virginia was homophobic towards him Lonnie style.

Oh I completely think that Henry is gay. Like genuinely I 100% believe that Henry was written as gay and that’s it’s a core part of understanding his character and how it folds into the narrative and metaphors of ST + how queerness has been interwoven into this show from the very start.

I’ve seen jokes about about “Henry draws the line at outing a gay kid and that’s why possessed Will hesitated so much when saying “that’s my friend, Mike” because Henry, who was controlling the mindflayer, was trying to sort out the relationship between them, realized that Will was gay and hand feelings for Mike, and didn’t out him.” but I actually completely unironically believe that WAS the case. Henry is absolutely awful, yes, but he believes that he is in the right, he has a plan, he HAS his own, albeit deeply skewed, moral compass. I genuinely believe that henry is fine with murdering teenagers but draws the line at outing a 12 year old. Why do I believe this? Because Henry’s attacks are rooted in getting people to “join him,” OR to relieve them of their suffering, because he sees existence in the world as it is as being inherently painful and awful + he sees himself as freeing them from that. He’s still wrong and terrible, don’t get me wrong, but he’s not just killing people for funsies/because he’s awful. He’s doing it for a reason. He HAS his own fucked up moral compass. And his whole schtick is about being upset that the world treated him so badly for being different, that if he outed Will, it would go against his own morals because then he would be just like the people who treated him badly for being different- he would be exposing Will to the very pain of society that he claims hes trying to save kids from.

And I don’t necessarily think it’s homophobic for the big bad to be gay because the hero is also gay. That’s the thing. Will is also gay, so it’s not just “all the bad characters are gay,” because the majority of the bad people in the show/antagonists (lonnie, Jason, the bullies, etc) are homophobic or otherwise bigoted in some way. I don’t think that having gay villains is inherently homophobic because I think it boils down to the way it’s approached (ie are they evil BECAUSE they’re gay and “gay people are bad” or are they gay and happen to be evil OR are they gay and evil because the world treated them horribly for being gay?) that last option seems to align with Henry the most, but imo that storyline only works if you have another gay character to balance it out, to show that not all gay people become vengeful and evil towards the world despite how its treated them. And ST has that! They have Will! I don’t think Henry being gay is homophobic in the slightest. In fact, I think that it strengthens the ST narrative as a whole and demonstrates that people of all kinds are capable of terrible things but also capable of good things, and plays into the parallels but also the differences between Will and Henry.

Like Henry is described as a “sensitive child,” which is the EXACT wording that Joyce used to describe Will specifically in the context of him being gay when talking to hopper + talking about why people like Lonnie thought that Will was gay.

I think the lab itself, especially when couple with Virginia’s intolerance and desire to change him, is DEFINITELY representative of conversion therapy in many ways. I think it’s a mixture of conversion therapy and institutionalization for mental illness, which are two things that often went hand in hand.

Brenner and the imagery surrounding him reminds me quite a lot of Robert Galbraith Heath, an absolutely horrible conversion therapy “scientist” who was active throughout the 70s and 80s, who specifically used brain implants to deliver electric shocks to try and “cure” people of homosexuality (the way that Brenner talks to kids like Henry as if they’re ‘sick’), which reminds me of the shock collars + soteria implants used at the lab, as well as how Brenner electrocuted Terry Ives to prevent her from speaking out against him.

Robert Galbraith Heath also used LSD to experiment on prisoners, much like the LSD experiments tied to MKultra at the lab, although the lab’s lsd experiments were seemingly done by initially willing participants like Terry, the children of those experiments (El) end up becoming prisoners to be experimented on. 

Henry is also somebody who is unable to break the cycle of abuse, unlike somebody like Will- Henry was abused by his mother and by Brenner, and so he goes on to abuse others, killing the kids int he lab, tormenting El and everyone in s4. Henry is representative of people who continue the cycle of abuse. Will, on the other hand, despite being abused by Lonnie, does not continue that cycle, he does not become a bully like the people who have bullied him, he does not become an abuser. Imo he will NOT have a villain arc because he is a foil to Henry, similar but different in the end.

Long story short: imo Henry is undeniably gay, was written to be gay, and we are gonna see gay on gay violence in s5.

[theslowesthnery]

magpie-come-east:

I hope it’s alright to reply, but this is really spot on. I love Morgott and Mohg a ton. Personally I see just about every other month some hot take ‘discourse’ that basically goes: “Morgott is ugly and and gross so anyone that finds him attractive is a degenerate”. He’s not ‘niche’. Liking him isn’t ‘odd’. It’s degenerate behavior. And I’m sure it’s worse for Mohg. But I can’t even get tooo deep into fandom spaces for him because I’ll have to wade through defensive jokes about how hate-able he is

wow, i had no idea morgott got that as well - i thought everyone liked him! like i've seen the occasional "lmao why is morgott so popular with women, what do they see in this dirty old hobo" comment but they haven't been like super mean-spirited, mostly just confused. that sucks, i will never understand this need to put someone down for liking a character you personally don't. like why do people care so much that someone likes a character they personally find ugly? how is that any skin off their back? ughhh

and yeah, to like mohg you have to have a pretty thick skin (which i most definitely do not always have) and have to learn to just ignore the shit people are constantly spewing his and your way. morgott at least, regardless of what one thinks about his appearance, is perceived by pretty much everyone as a good, noble, and admirable character, whereas mohg doesn't even have that going for him (and appearance-wise he's even more inhuman-looking and uglier than morgott)

frostfall24:

unfortunately i dont know any mohg-dedicated fics, but rowa berries and royal blood and ageless bond are morg/tarnished fics that both include/are going to include some very loveable mohgs. neither are miq/mohg but they are friendly with eachother in both

thank you for the recommendation, unfortunately canon character x oc (which i consider the tarnished to be) stuff really just...isn't for me. like all the power to people who like and create that stuff, they're awesome, it's just so very much not my cup of tea. and to be completely honest, i just don't want to wade through 50-chapter fics of stuff i'm not interested in for the occasional mention of my fave, especially if mohg's clear canonical love for miquella is going to be erased (and as is the case of ageless bond, if not only is his love for miquella erased, but he's then paired with a woman. i'm not saying mohg can't be bi/pan but if you both erase the love he has for a male character and then also give him a female love interest, i'm gonna be a little 🤨 about it)

also i. i don't really know how to put it into words in a way that makes sense to anyone else, but i don't want mohg and his actions to just be whitewashed - i want there to be conflict between him and morgott, for example, i want mohg to be angry and bitter and vengeful, i want him hating the golden order and wanting it to be destroyed, i just want him and why he is the way he is to be understood and not just waved off with "he's evil because he just is, he was just born that way and has always been that way, that's all there is to it". i want people to try to understand why he turned out the way he did, what things might have happened in his past or how he might've been different from his brother as a child to choose such a completely different path from morgott. i want people to stop assuming that mohg was always the bad child, that mohg is personally responsible for everything bad happening and for him and morgott having gone separate ways, and for their relationship having gone sour. i want people to try to understand why mohg would choose the formless mother besides just "he wants power duh", how the formless mother might be using him for her own means. i want people to stop portraying him as a one-dimensional cruel, uncaring villain who just wants power for power's sake, and who treats everyone - including the people he loves - like shit. and i want people to stop having the solution to the mohg issue to always be "he's evil, kill him". he's just as traumatized and deserving of kindness and understanding and healing and love as morgott, and i want people to have the same compassion and understanding and wish to heal him as they do for morgott.

tl;dr: i don't want the solution to "stop writing mohg as one-dimensionally bad with no nuance and no compassion" to be "sand off every edge of mohg's and erase everything difficult about him"

but i also realize that i don't get to make demands, that people are gonna write what they want to write (as they should), and most people just don't want to write a nuanced mohg. so i'm just gonna sit here and wish that i could write, so i could be the change i want to see in the world ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[tobiasdrake]

The Jataro boss fight!

Fresh off of Taichi's death, Komaru isn't having it. He was a good key and she's mad that Jataro broke him-- I mean, the heartbreaking death of this character who was definitely important and definitely left feelings to be felt is still fresh for her. She's in a state of absolute Fuck These Murderous Kids.

Komaru's moved out of the insecure phase and into the vengeful phase. She's going to defeat the Warriors of Hope with the power of friendship and this cool gun Byakuya gave her!

Traditionally, the audience is meant to agree with the hero. The villain drives the plot while the hero sets the tone. The hero is the lens through which we experience the story, and we are meant to more or less be in-line with their interpretation of events.

If the hero says, "I believe there's still good in that person," then we are meant to believe that there's still good in them, even if all we've seen is that character being a total monster. Conversely, if the hero says, "You are a monster and I will never forgive you," then we're meant to take away that the person they're talking to is utterly vile, beyond any hope of redemption - at least, according to information that the protagonist has at this time.

However, this is not always the case. Some protagonists are designed to, themselves, be an unreliable witness. Someone whose opinions and perspectives are more communicative of their own warped personality than of the events and people and things they're commenting on.

And, more relevantly to this particular moment, sometimes the audience is aware of key pieces of information that the protagonist is not. Information that drastically changes the circumstances that the protagonist is trying to understand. This is what's called "dramatic irony", where the protagonist must react in the moment based on limited information and is lacking key details that we already know.

So it goes with Jataro's initial confrontation. He explains his particular trauma, how he was forced to wear a mask because his mother hated his guts and verbally abused him. How she made him wear the mask to atone for being born ugly - And we're already starting to piece together that there's probably nothing wrong with his face at all.

But Komaru doesn't care. These kids are monsters and she just wants to take them down. She's making a lot of sense, too. And. Then. He drops the bombshell.

Three words: Big. Sis. Junko.

These words fly right over Komaru's head. Like water off a duck's back. They mean less than nothing to her. She's never even heard that name in her life.

But we have. We literally just came from a game about deprogramming the victims of Junko's cult-like influence. We're now seeing layers to this conflict that Komaru can't possibly understand. In this moment, the coalition between protagonist and audience fractures.

We know. We know that this isn't as simple as "The evil children must be destroyed." This is Junko Enoshima. This is another round of her sinister games continuing to haunt us from beyond the grave. This isn't a war; This is a city-wide Mutual Killing Game. When we saw those images of global violence in DR1 and wondered what she could possibly doing to the Earth, this is the answer. This is what the Tragedy is.

Too bad Komaru was shackled under a rock for a year and a half and doesn't know a single goddamn thing about it. All she can think right now is "Defeat the bad guys."

She is on the road to despair.

[wooglebear]

I made Esther, Mariana, and Rosalie's future selves along with a bonus OC.

TW: Child abuse, captivity, and implied transphobia

Estherdroid is basically Cy-Eleanor's daughter.

For why she's a mess, once, her chestnut hair was that beautiful color.

For why she's a mess, once, her chestnut hair was that beautiful color.

After her mother's tragic accident, Future!Esther was kidnapped by Cy-Eleanor and turned into a cyborg, too.

Estherdroid spent months in Cy-Eleanor's lab, during which she had to submit to abuse in exchange for food and water. Estherdroid couldn't face making the exchange, and, you know about that trope of "character's hair starts to prematurely grey out bc of a disease/injury"? That's what happened to her.

On five separate occasions, Cy-Eleanor was scolded by her boyfriend Melvinborg, who found the treatment of her daughter abhorrent.

Estherdroid is as evil as her mother, though her past causes her to hold back. By the way, the red flower was given to her by Melvinborg.

What Future!Esther looked like preborg. As you can see, she went from a meek girl to an outgoing, friendly and assertive individual during college. She was thrilled when she was asked to officially open Piqua's library, and be its librarian. She had a belief that all librarians should not wear glasses. And she wants everyone to be happy with their favorite books...

Or so it seemed, until the whole thing with their mother happened.

This here is a vengeful Future!Mariana. Unlike Rosalie, Mariana knows of the tragic tale of her sister who poked around where she wasn't wanted and paid an awful price. She knows a bit of archery, and she now wants revenge against Cy-Eleanor. The scar is from Cy-Eleanor by the way. After all, the girls’ mom is transphobic at times. College means new hairband. Also, trans colored clothes :)

Unlike Mariana, Rosalie is unaware of her ill fated sister. She's having fun chilling in college, with an art degree. She doesn't know how evil Cy-Eleanor is. In her eyes, she's Evil Cyborg Mom and she definitely has NPD (Cy-Eleanor doesn't). She did consider dating Melvinborg back when he was out of the hospital, regardless of age gap. They had a thing going for like, maybe a day or two. She broke up with Melvinborg because she was sick of that spoiled, entitled brat of a cyborg!

Clare has no future self.

So have her frenemy in college, a British Exchange student, that goes by the name of Harriet Brown. You'll get a digital cookie if you correctly guess where I drew inspiration from.

Harriet is a teen who is completely and erroneously convinced that she's a real witch. She also likes to wear very witch like outfits (most of them in pastel colors). She's also a bit evil and michevious. Harriet's wicked ways have such a reputation that she's also known as the Forest Witch in reference to her tendency to hang out in the woods and larp in her own corner of the playground, jokingly saying she can warp reality, call forth lightning storms upon her foes, shield herself from harm with a forcefield, and summon the spirits of her ancestors for guidance and wisdom, among other things. Rumor has it that she tortures people. Harriet denies these rumors. As she puts it, Clare may think they're treating her poorly by putting her in the villain role, "demonizing" her even. Clare has a love-hate relationship with Harriet. But Harriet may be a bit cocky, she's a good college student at heart. This is why we barely see any of her at first, then she becomes a supporting character. She ships Yewh x Lavatore.

[jimmycarterghostland]

Why I hated Vengeful by VE Schwab

1 It ruined Victor's character by making him into someone who murdered innocent people. This sequel made him just like Eli, and I absolutely hated that. The appeal of Victor was that he was truly gray. Not evil, but not all that good, either. Unfortunately, VE Schwab ruined him in the second novel. That's the biggest reason why I hated Vengeful.

2 Victor didn't even get to kill Eli. Sydney did it. That huge interpersonal conflict was ended by someone who had less of a reason to kill Eli. It should've been Victor who killed him.

3 Marcella was frustrating. All she did was whine about how bad she had it. And the high heels thing with her was repetitive. Not to mention she seemed like a self-hating, misogynistic woman. She wasn't even an interesting villain.

4 June was an unnecessary character. And her unexplained attachment to Sydney was creepy and out of place.

5 Mitch wasn't utilized enough.

6 Victor was mean to Dom as he died. Victor was never unnecessarily cruel. He never would've insulted an ally like that, especially after that ally saved his life. Why would he insult a man who just rescued him? This book turned Victor into an unlikable character.

7 The whole book read like a badly written fanfiction. No, I don't want to know about Marcella's sex life.

8 Marcella and June were unnecessary characters. They made Vengeful more bloated than it already was. Too many characters who didn't deserve the spotlight.

9 I didn't have anyone to root for in this novel. It was so bad that I actually ended up looking forward to Eli's chapters. And I hated the guy in Vicious! Eli is a cruel murderer, but he's supposed to be. Victor ended up being a disappointment, and I couldn't cheer him on anymore. Such a shame.

10 There were too many cop-outs. Like the mad scientist guy making that anti-power serum, which wasn't foreshadowed at all. How convenient that this scientist made a serum, and used it to get rid of Eli's powers near the end of the book. The serum should've been foreshadowed more.

11 The book was a mess, simply put. The characters were unlikable. Victor became unlikable, murdering innocent EOs like Eli did in the previous book. Too many unnecessary new characters. Too many cringe coincidences, like Victor bumping into June at the strip club.

12 Expectations were subverted in a bad way. What's up with fiction nowadays ruining their characters and plots by subverting expectations in a horrible way near the end of the stories? Vengeful was Game of Thrones season 8 level bad. That show and this book ruined their once likable characters. I can't stand it.

13 The character arcs in Vengeful were awful. Victor became just like Eli. And it wasn't even Victor who killed him. Victor killing Eli would've been predictable, but it was thematically the best way for Eli to die. Their conflict was too deep for Victor to not kill him. It had to be Victor. But nope, what we got was Sydney shooting Eli in an effort by Schwab to subvert expectations. It was horrible. Victor had more of a reason to kill Eli. He hated him more. For Sydney to kill him was another disservice to the fans. Victor killing him would've been way more satisfying. Plus, Eli killed him in book one. How fitting would it have been for Victor to kill Eli in book two? Eli was Victor's "Frankenstein's monster". Victor needed to put him down. After all, Victor made him into what he was. An EO and then a murderous monster. Sydney killing him had zero thematic value. Not to mention it wasn't satisfying, because it wasn't Eli's worst enemy who took him out.

14 The time jumps were even more confusing and jarring than the ones in the first book, which were actually easy to follow. Especially because of the smaller cast.

I can't remember everything, because I only read the book once, a few years ago. But these points are the main reasons why I couldn't stand this book, with Victor being an actual villain as the top reason why I despise this novel.

Vengeful isn't a good book. It has a high rating, but just because a novel is popular, that doesn't mean it's a great one.

[joysmercer]

☕️ + rank the villains and why (you choose if victor is really included in this gfnkf i'm thinking rufus, rufus/vera, denby/rfs, sofia etc.)

ooh in terms of Evilness (ie morality) from worst to best:

rufus. this guy tried to directly kill the kids more times than i can count, and also will not stay dead.

senkhara. same as above but she’s also pathetically reliant on the kids, even more so than rufus. actually i think i compared those two in an ask game ages ago and switched their rankings so maybe they’re tied for first rn

denby. ok listen out of all the villains, she’s really the one that was the most scary. like we all know someone like her, someone who appears nice until she’s not, someone who will twist and lie and manipulate everyone to get what they want, someone who will gaslight you so deeply you’ll fall for it despite knowing better. but in terms of motivation, i think she can use a traumatic past as an excuse (it’s clear her dad neglected her etc) and that bumps her down—maybe if she went to therapy or something she wouldn’t have tried to bring a vengeful goddess out from god-knows-where to destroy the earth idk

sophia. i know she’s not really a kid but the fact that she had to pose as one for decades and was literally never successful until tor just has me 💀

rfs. man just stole a bunch of shit and didn’t even feel sorry for himself or anything. s3 au where kt gives him a kick in the head at the end

vera. she’s Not Good but v much giving wannabe-mean girl and it’s funny to me. also tbh the fact that she lived just shows how unimportant she is to the world

victor. he’s not evil by any means but besides tor, there is one (1) time he shows the kids any sort of affection or even just plain-and-simple concern, and it isn’t when they’re crossing the crocodile bridge or trying not to get stung in the spiderweb task or getting branded for death by an dead queen out to get them or begging any adult to not go through with a ridiculous plan to wake up a dead man. no, it’s when the kids may actually be dead and thus put his job is on the line. victor is so selfish and focused on being immortal that it ruins any good traits he could potentially have idc idc BUT like denby, he’s very much a product of his environment and i do like to think pre-s1 was more just a gruff old man than anything else.

jasper. not a bad guy but really has a talent for making some horrendous choices. at least he didn’t directly try to hurt the kids??

in terms of how compelling of characters they are, from best to worst:

rufus/victor (backstory)

denby (like i said, she’s so humanly scary, you can’t tear your eyes away)

rfs/vera (why were/are they Like That)

sophia (she’s just meh to me)

senkhara (same, except she’s also annoying as fuck)

jasper (i kinda hate this man and how he knew everything and did nothing. pitiful. wonder how he explained fabian’s decision to never visit anymore to uncle ade later)

send me a ☕️ and a topic and i’ll give you my opinion!

[la-pheacienne]

Rewatched the finale and I dont understand peoples comparison between rhaenyras look to danys angry look in season 8? Rhaenyra doesnt look angry, vengeful and ready to take action in that last shot, she just looks upset and helpless which would fit with their narrative of women not having any agency and we'll probably just keep getting more of this. More men being violent and interesting and having importance to the plot and more women crying and simply reacting to the men while more and more of the audience grows to hate or ignore them for their passivity. And now with the interviews from ryan basically saying they're going to start villainizing the blacks? Which will just feed into the green fans misogynistic idea that rhaenyra shouldnt be queen. Like honestly I dont have any hope left for this show

Yeah nonnie personally all I saw was an extremely sad face. I wanted more from Rhaenyra in the finale. There is no comparison between that and Dany's angry look in season 8 but I would personally rather NOT think about Dany in season 8 because I will go insane.

American writers of GRRM's work adaptations can write three types of arc for women 1) torture porn arc (Sansa, Alicent) 2) evil psycho whore arc (Dany) 3) girl-boss/cool girl arc (Arya). There are variations, not every woman falls into one of the categories, but the main female characters do, so I think in Rhaenyra's case we go from a torture porn arc into an evil psycho whore arc. Except if they keep the torture porn arc for at least one more season while showing Daemon decapitating everyone in his vicinity and beating the shit out of his wife for fun, which is a probability.

Ryan's interview was absolutely AGONY to read and has convinced me that season 2 is going to be horrible. They really fucked everything up. I'm considering laying off, I know many fans who support the Blacks will, and the Tumblr fanbase of HotD will become like a bunch of Tumblrinas preaching ✨💖 DUTY AND SACRIFICE 💖✨, glorifying women crying as a personality trait and screaming 😭😭ALL THAT MISERY WAS FOR NOTHING THERE IS NO POINT IN THIS WAR😭😭 when what they specifically mean by that is that there was no point in Rhaenyra even trying to claim her throne because she's a woman so she should have left the throne to her brother.

But then I'm like, no, actually, I'm not ready to lay off just yet, I will continue reminding people of their stupidity for a little longer.

[300iqprower]

Since Septem was mentioned a week ago I have an excuse to say that Lu Bu was the one utterly screwed by it. Darius is glorified in Fate, and at the very least has a decent-ish role in Septem. Boudica had her time in Solomon’s Temple, as well as some event appearances. Lu Bu in Septem is all we fuckin get, ever, and he only shows up for two sections one of which involving him dying instantly to Altera.

He’s actually one of my favorite characters so it brings me so much pain to see him actually ignored, even when we go to China in lostbelt 3 where Chen Gong and Red Hare are featured we summon Mordred instead for some reason.

He doesn’t even get any attentions in events, his most iconic role was that time he adopted Fran in the knk event and even that has been taken over by Moriarty.

While I wouldn't consider anything Darius and Boduica got “content” - I don't even remember what Darius did in Septem and Boudica’s “moment” in Solomon was pretty blatantly them trying to retcon and excuse away how badly she was written - I do agree that Lu Bu has had even less attention. He’s barely above whatever tier Proto Cu and Erik are on, and I know that’s accurate because I actually only a few days ago realized he was in Septem at all after thinking “wait, is Lu Bu the only non FSN f2p unit who’s never been in a story chapter?” (side note, that’s actually Salome. If you’re picky it’s also Proto Cu and KoGil)

Honestly rather than replace Mordred with Lu Bu (they should have cut Mordred entirely and given proper focus to Nezha) they should have left Chen Gong and Red Hare out of SIN and make one of the serious events (Sea Monster Crisis, Little Big Tengu, Case Files, Ooku, etc) about the three kingdoms. Like a singularity where something throws it off to turn it into an eternal conflict and china and never truly unified. Make it so we go around with Gao as our ‘advisor’ with a focus on working with Lu Bu and Chen to end things. Due to his role as the Wild Card of the Three Kingdoms so to speak, Lu gets a conceptual advantage and becomes our trump card in putting a stop to everything. Red Hare can be the comic relief as per usual.

For new servants we can have: -SR human Guan Yu or SSR deified Guan Yu, either as lancer. -Cao Cao as SSR Saber/Rider. -We can also put in Diaochan as the obligatory new waifu, presumably a caster or assassin. -Zhurong if there’s a waifu quota to be met, Archer or Saber? -Caster Zhong Kui

All of them also work as a villain depending on how it would play out, from Deity Guan Yu being a sort of reverse Quirinus to Cao Cao gone mad to Diaochan being evil and sewing chaos like Lu Bu without caring about him any more, or Zhurong being an envoy of the god she takes her name from/some sort of evil revenge driven version of Lakshmi. OR it could be that Zhong Kui is our welfare, and what’s happened is that legions of vengeful spirits created and fueled by all the bloodshed of the warring states have possessed those like Guan Yu and Cao Cao and created an endless cycle of warfare. 

...but see also: Da Ji. Since they decided to fuck up Vitch’s plotline that at least means we could get a true Da Ji servant, something like she made the conflict eternal so she could terrorize china forever. Though I suppose that’d make it weird to not bring Jiang Ziya into things...but then again, Lu Bu is established as despising Tamamo sooooo-

Welfare could be human Guan Yu, Diaochan, Zhong Kui, or Zhurong, again all depending on exactly what the focus is and how it’d play out.  Other servants who could appear for more minor things: - Quiche, i’m sure he’d loathe how many potential rulers of china there are lol - Xiang Yu, for pretty obvious reasons both in regards to historical and nasuverse stuff - Zhuge Lliang, especially if Zhurong is involved. A good chance to finally have Zhuge take control for once. - Iskandar, i’m sure he’d have a field day with this “infinite lands to conquer” - Lakshmi/Trung Sisters due to both their proximity and similar struggle. - Wu Zeitan and Scheherazade, Agartha was Agarbage but that doesn’t mean they can’t make use of that similar experience to properly build on them, especially with Wu being a chinese servant and Scheherzade's parallels to the novelization of Three Kingdoms - Yang Guffei particularly if Da Ji and/or Wu appear. -Geronimo and Robin for both their guerilla warfare and if Zhurong is there their representation of underdogs trampled on by war.

Honestly stupid as it is the 6.5 Lostbelt has me wondering if we might still one day get a three kingdoms event. It seems like such a major thing to skirt around for so long, which is exactly how everyone felt about the Holy Roman Empire and we got that. Meanwhile while there’s chinese censorship and stuff they still went with Lostbelt 3, so ya know ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

[taichissu]

Reni for the character ask game

character: hate them | don’t really care | like them | LOVE them | THEY ARE MY PRECIOUS

ship with: nobody really, love me some one-sided unrequited though if you know what i mean (yukio bc i'm basic af)

important friends: i didn't know how much i needed that until liber gave us reni interacting with the og troupe leaders, god

general opinions: he's such a good villain i can't even express it in words, he's evil he's fancy he's vengeful AND he's the worst person on the entire planet what's there not to love about him, obsessed with how much spite he holds for a girl who's half his age just bc she has the same genes as yukio, he was out there gaslighting gatekeeping girlbossing before it was even a thing (that's what it's called Godza), i find it super interesting that in the flashbacks his goals are not at all absurd and i can totally understand why he did what he did, but at some point his passion for beauty became an obsession to the point he stopped caring about people he worked with and used them as pawns, also i share his love for religious imagery, in short stream eternal theater