#i've been wanting to make this comparison between these two characters for a while now

[alex-the-bringer-of-chaos]

I'mma make a comparison between Lottie Matthew from Yellowjackets and Geto Suguru from Jujutsu Kaisen, and if you wanna avoid spoilers, either one of them, I recommend not reading below the cut (I start talking about her immediately, but he only makes an appearance from the 3rd paragraph below/4th in this post entirety).

Lottie is quite an interesting way of exploring what could be psychosis on what may or may not be a supernatural setting (that or she's clairvoyant, but we don't know if the supernatural is to be interpreted as actually being real, partially real or something they made up and solely real to them - i lean on the last one more). I do think there's a lot about her that you can empathize with, and her character is very well played by both actresses.

At the end of the day, she doesn’t know if it's real or not, and we see her struggling with the possibilities in the past and present time. Regardless, she is aware of her growing influence on the group on the teen timeline, and it's very interesting to see how she acts back then. In the present, we see this dichotomy in how she acts with her psychiatrist vs her compound/cult, which is another way of getting an insight into the mind of this mysterious character.

I do still hate her for being a cult leader, like that's not gonna go away, similar to how I hate older Suguru Geto (the actual Geto, not the fake one) for being a cult leader, but I do feel for who they were before and the loses and need for control that lead to the position they ended at.

They are both people who struggled with "powers" that their family didn't understand, both were already not doing so great, were struck by a massive tragedy that involved death, and then things just kept getting worse and worse, until one of the bad things that keep happening finally lead to them creating a cult.

Despite these similarities, these two characters are still very different, and at the end of the day my ultimate liking of them falls on the "what they could've been" based on what we saw/see of good traits the had/have, the fact that they could've actually done good, and in a healthy way, yet that didn't happen. The person they became works great as character progress and provides very interesting arcs, but I still would hate them if they were real people, even if I can feel for their pain and wish they had gone a different path.

[cassandraclare]

*sighs a bit* Okay. Guys. I have been asked this question a lot, and answered it a lot. I don't know how to give a better answer — Dru & Ty&Kit share significance as main characters — so I guess I'll talk a little about comparison and structures.

First, all series have different structures. I don't think it's super useful or predictive to try to map an upcoming, unknown book series onto an existing series. In TLH the main character was Cordelia, everyone else was secondary to her, and people's roles and the significance of them altered from book to book. It was a big ensemble cast and they mostly stayed put in London especially in book 1.

TWP focuses on a smaller group of people. It also has a very different structure. In book one, Dru is not with Kit and Ty. They are in different places, both of which have their own stories that are significant to the plot. There is no way to see Place One without following Dru. There is no way to see Place Two without following Kit and Ty.

I know that TWP is a long way off. I know there are people who are very angry with me that there's such a gap, but there isn't anything currently I can do about that, or about the fact that I don't yet have the schedule for my upcoming books. That rests in the hands of several different publishers who must coordinate the release times and production schedules for four different series. I am not withholding any information about when these books come out. I simply don't know it yet.

I understand that TWP being a long way off makes for anxiety, and that those who are worried Kit and Ty will somehow be secondary are looking for tiny clues in microscopic details — micro-reading the of placement of the word "and" in my newsletter and such — that are meaningless, but I get that it all comes from anxiety. (FTR, those worried Dru will be secondary are equally anxious.)

I think there is only so much I can say. Because there's a big gap between TLH and TWP everything I do say or every image or hint about it is freighted with a weight of assumption it can't really support. Anxiety is always going to trump reassurance. And truly, at the end of the day, if you only care about Kit and Ty and find the idea of a Dru story tiresome, you will feel like they got shafted because when you absolutely hate a plotline, you will always feel like it's taking up way too much space. That's just how our minds work.

I've been doing this long enough that I know no book can survive a hostile reading. I know that Book Three of a trilogy is the one people hate until they don't. (When Clockwork Princess came out people hated it so much I considered quitting writing!) I know that it's wonderful to love a character but can also be a problem for people when I put out books that aren't about that particular character or dynamic. I know that for a lot of people, Sword Catcher and Ragpicker King are just tiresome things that have no business on my schedule because they're not Shadowhunter books. And I get it. But I also have to block it out, because I've been writing a long time, and I've gotten to a point where I know that I have to write the thing I want to be writing, because if I don't, if I sit down and try to force myself to write something I'm not feeling like writing at that time, I'll be making myself physically and mentally sick. And that's no good for anyone, really.

I suppose the positive thing is that, while this would not have been true five years ago, I am at the place where I want very much to be writing Wicked Powers. I missed these characters and am glad to be back with them. I consider this a story in which there are three main characters. And that is all I can say right now because it's all that I know.

(And this was much more of a general response to a lot of things than a specific response to this question, but I did feel like it was stuff that I needed to say. Creators are at the end of the day, just people. Sometimes we are powerless to reassure. Sometimes we are tired. Sometimes we are wrong. Sometimes we try things and they don't work. Sometimes we can't explain to you what our story is going to make you feel, because only reading it is going to tell you that. This may be one of those times.)

[ellestrade]

I've scrolled through your posts (maybe creepy but who cares im lovin em). Loved your posts about the Al Ghuls!

And I'm wondering what you think about the Dick/Talia beef? I personally find it hilarious that Dick has beef with the one who gave birth to Damian, one of the people he loves and cherishes very much

Hi anon, thank you for the compliment!

Anyhow, regarding your question, I don't think that Dick's hostility towards Talia doesn't revolve around Damian— not at first, at least. Of course, the hate could've been amplified when Damian came to light, though until then it was pretty tame in comparison. Or not, I don't know which would be funnier.

Also, I'm going to direct you to @rasalghul777 , again, because I believe that they're more adverse in this than I am when it comes to the complex relationship between Talia and pretty much all other characters, stressing on Brutalia. However, since this is in regards to my opinion, I'll try to put things into perspective. So take this with a grain of salt.

Anyhow, Dick has shown to dislike Talia early on. This is because, considering that she's an antagonist (her father is among Barman's Rogues' Gallery, if I'm not mistaken, as he was one of the main villains) Dick sees that she's a bad influence to Bruce— since this man was madly in love with Talia at the time to the point it's unhealthy for him (one of the main reason why Talia faked her miscarriage and gave Damian away in the original run of his appearance), and vice versa.

(BruTalia my beloved, BruTalia my Roman empire)

So much, in fact, that Bruce did not hesitate when it comes to choosing between her and his own ward, that being Dick at the time.

While I could be wrong, this is the context that I've gathered from this panel 🤷🤷 though I honestly doubt so.

It could also be read as the "Children not wanting to trust their parents' spouse" type of thing, which is hilarious on its' own accord.

It also doesn't help that they have fundamental disagreement from the get-go— their clashed beliefs makes it difficult for them to meet eye-to-eye.

Dick doesn't owe Talia anything, similar to how Talia doesn't owe Dick anything; he doesn't have to try to understand her, nor does she have to prove anything to him. He's entitled to hate her just as she's entitled to hate him. That hate was very much mutual between them.

(Which, when you think about it, is the same exact argument people brought up when justifying Tim's hostility towards Damian. But I don't want to go too off tangent, so that's a conversation for another day.)

However, when Damian came along, you could imagine that Dick's hatred towards Talia would be amplified ten-fold— while it's possible that he doesn't necessarily see Talia as a stereotypical bad mother (mostly for Damian's sake, and the boy insisted that she wasn't) it was difficult for him to see her as an actual decent one too.

I feel like Dick would be more inclined to blame Talia more on Damian's upbringing; even though it was (heavily, sorta) implied that Talia herself wasn't allowed to see Damian, let alone raise him back in the League.

It's worth mentioning that Dick isn't an all-knowing being. He couldn't've known, and having an actual conversation with Damian regarding his upbringing is a delicate process in itself, but he does recognize Talia as a parental figure in Damian's life and would, therefore, instinctively blame her for the majority of Damian's issues.

Though Dick eventually learns to distribute the hate equally on both parents 🤷🤷🤷 I found that to be more comical compared to a one-sided hate.

Dick: I hate both of you, I really do. You both belong together, because then the world would have to worry about two less horrible people.

Dick: But thank you for the child. I love him. He's mine now.

Bruce and Talia: ?????????

However, when push comes to shove, Dick would still (albeit begrudgingly) team up with Talia. Funnily enough, I always see it that Dick would rather side with Talia more than he would Bruce— because fuck if she doesn't have an actual reason to have a complicated relationship with Damian. Bruce has raised, like, 5 kids and couldn't figure out his teenage son? A 14 year old boy with crippling anxiety??? Get outta here.

All in all, I think both Dick and Talia would have that one relationship like two bitter grandma's who hated each other, but would still attend to the same tea party within punching distance if their beloved grandchild asked.

At least Talia would only suffer from glares. Dick would actually tackle Bruce.

[hanamukes]

To feel saved by your words (Taki and Uika)

While I believe you could compile endless comparisons between any two members of MyGO and Ave Mujica, something that's been on my mind a lot recently are the similarities found between Taki and Uika. Tomori and Sakiko are the ones who pull the story along, but I think Taki and Uika both hold a similar position within the contexts of their relationships with them that warrants a closer look.

This isn't a "complete" and cohesive analysis, so much as a collection of observations I've made as I've been combing through Uika's scenes again lately.

Small disclaimer, but given that Uika as we know her exists in approximately 10 minutes of It's MyGO footage, a lot of this will be my own interpretation of her few existing scenes. Your mileage may vary! I analyze Uika a bit more than Taki here, but this is simply because I honestly feel as if Taki's writing is more blunt and explicit―to "analyze" her almost feels more like a summary of the events and dialogue, whereas with Uika, all we can do is piece together the small crumbs that we have.

To start, I want to talk a little bit about their positions in their respective bands. In ways, they feel similar, but in many more ways, they feel completely different.

Uika is not the "leader" of Ave Mujica in any sense of the word. Sakiko is―Uika is figuratively and literally a puppet Sakiko is playing with. However, she is the "protagonist" of Ave Mujica's stage plays. This is an important distinction to make because while Uika is not the one pulling the strings as we've seen proven in the anime, it's not entirely unfounded for anyone to claim that she may have a special position within the context of the band (even ignoring the fact that vocalists tend to be the "face" of the band which many misconstrue to mean they are the leader).

Taki is an interesting case because she's not the front and center of her band, nor does she have "protagonist" traits, nor does she have something that draws people to her―but nonetheless, through her hard work alone, she has become the primary force that keeps MyGO held together (even if it, at times, feels like duct tape).

I like this distinction between them. Uika gets her special little place just by being popular and having had past connections with Sakiko, while Taki affirms hers by working harder than any one person would have to in order to keep a band together. One of them gets what they want with sheer luck alone, while the other must cling to this band as if it's the last thing she'll ever get the grace of doing.

Though, just what do Tomori and Sakiko mean to Taki and Uika?

Tomori's words save Taki and let her breathe, while if we're to interpret the Ave Mujica doll lore shown in their concerts as applying to their actresses, Doloris repeatedly talks about having a special somebody who accepts her for who she really is deep down, and how she wants to stay alone with them for an eternity―perhaps this is a hint as to how Uika views Sakiko (which has some support in the anime, as I think Sakiko's message to Uika has more to it than meets the eye).

I think there's something to be said about how Taki and Uika seem unhappy with their circumstances (Taki lives her life compared to her sister, while one of Uika's only solo scenes being her dropping the happy idol facade is telling to me), but it's Tomori and Sakiko's words that save them. For Taki, this is Tomori's songs (specifically Haruhikage), for Uika, this takes form in rereading Sakiko's consoling message from her idol debut over and over.

Notably with Taki, this is the happiest we ever see her! Tomori and Sakiko's words save them, and it's absolutely written all over their faces. It's not subtle at all.

Also, how we're (formally) introduced to both characters is in the context of their respective separation with Tomori and Sakiko: Taki is yelling at Anon for scaring Tomori away (after she finally found her again) while this text message scene is Uika's.

Now, separation is of course a huge theme with these bands in general, so what makes their examples special?

Where I think they differ from the others is in the way they approach these separations. Here's the thing: in a way, Taki feels as if her life purpose hinges on being around Tomori, but despite this, she never tracked her down in her absence. Uika always pulls out Sakiko's comforting message to her, so much to the point that she can recite it word for word on the fly, and yet despite having her phone number, she never messaged her. We can see the last message sent between Uika and Sakiko was that conversation from a year ago, and this has to be deliberate.

She probably wants nothing more than to see Sakiko again (when Sakiko calls her in episode 7, she literally blushes and shifts her hair in excitement about it, and I will also mention the director implied the reason she goes to the planetarium is because it reminds her of the stargazing she did on the island with Sakiko), and yet she respects Sakiko to be the one to take that step in contacting her first.

This is also something prevalent with Taki: Soyo exists as proof that if she really wanted to, she could have stalked or harassed Tomori into getting her back in her life, but instead she was patient. She valued Tomori needing space. She put Tomori's feelings above and before her own.

There's just this level of yearning behind their words and actions―of wanting someone in your life so badly, of thinking about them every single day, of looking back at all of your memories together and hoping and praying for the day they will reach out to you once more but not taking that first step yourself out of modesty for your own feelings―that I think separates them from the others. (Ironically, the closest that comes to this is actually Tomori herself but in regards to Sakiko.)

Another big theme they share is that they're rather open with their affection for Tomori/Sakiko, but the way they convey those feelings isn't always interpreted the way they intended for it to be.

(One could perhaps interpret Sakiko's reaction here as embarrassment, and I do think this is a part of it, but given this is the one interaction she's had this series that isn't someone trying to dox her or begging her to be with them, I think she'd be well within her rights to be confused at why Uika's also so obsessively fixated on her.)

Taki falls more under the "awkward" umbrella than Uika (so I'm not about to insinuate I think this will be as common with Uika and Sakiko going forward as it has been for Taki and Tomori), but they both share this trait of "I want to express how much you mean to me" and it being met with confusion.

The way they respond to said rejection is similar as well.

(This anime is very good at expression via a character's eyes alone, and I think this is conveyed really well with both Taki and Uika.)

And of course, because their intent was never to hurt and rather was the opposite (to cherish), they're not afraid to apologize, no matter how "insignificant" their offense may have been.

(The framing on these shots fascinates me, as if the camera needs to zoom out to capture the recipient of the apology in the frame in order for it to land.)

Everything is with Tomori/Sakiko's best interest in mind, but sometimes, just your thoughts and feelings isn't enough. You need to convey those feelings appropriately to the person you're saying them to, and Tomori/Sakiko are of course not the world's easiest people to get through to.

I think on the surface, Uika is presented to us as a character who Taki could aspire to be like. She's calm, collected, and she's able to get through to Tomori as a fellow vocalist. What was that planetarium scene for if not to point out that Uika could present herself as a threat to Taki? But on the other hand, we've seen Sakiko shut Uika down twice already; it's not like her one moment with Tomori makes her better than Taki at communicating with the one she cherishes most, even if she seems more sociable. Tomori is even a bit weirded out that Uika called her by name despite her never telling it to her. When you get down to it and look past their exteriors, they have the same struggles at hand.

Speaking of Sakiko's rejection of Uika, this brings me to what I believe is the most striking parallel between their scenes.

The last episode is fascinating because one of the two examples of Sakiko shutting down Uika is when Uika asks if she can go home with her on the train. We know this is something Taki does with Tomori as well, but that's not what I want to point out here (though that's also noteworthy in its own way):

Earlier in that same episode, Taki was also rejected when she wanted to walk Tomori home! The reasons of course differ (Soyo wanted to talk with Tomori so it's not as if Tomori herself rejected Taki, while I get the impression that at this point Uika still doesn't know of Sakiko's home situation which seems to be the real reason Sakiko said no fun side note though: a Sumimi commercial is very much on screen in the following frame of Sakiko on the train), but the framing of both scenes is very similar, and I honestly find this hard to ignore. The Taki one of course makes sense as it's a well-established thing between her and Tomori to ride the train home together, but Uika had no reason to ask to go home with Sakiko on the train. She got to the venue in a cab just fine! It feels very deliberate to me to have both of these happen in the same episode and to also put narrative weight on both moments as well. When I saw the Taki scene, I thought "Huh, so we're just not getting Taki closure?" and while the Uika scene was too late in the episode for me to really expect an actual scene even had Sakiko said yes, they're similar in that both of these scenes work to set up future developments in the sequel. We're still owed the closure Soyo pulling Tomori away from Taki robbed us from, and we're owed seeing Uika learn about Sakiko's home life.

Something else that I think about often is how Taki and Uika are involved in the songwriting process for their respective bands:

Taki and Sakiko are composers while Tomori and Uika are lyricists

Sakiko and Uika both read Tomori's poetry/ventings in her notebook and attribute it to being lyrical. (Taki does as well but this isn't a discovery she makes through having a one-to-one with Tomori)

Sakiko and Taki both feel inspired by Tomori's writing and do whatever they can to make compositions fitting for her words

While we don't know much about the Ave Mujica songwriting process as of yet, one of the interviews confirms that Uika does the lyrics for Ave Mujica songs. This leaves a lot to be considered regarding 1. why Sakiko wanted her for her band 2. what Sakiko would see in her writing and if it's comparable to how she feels reading Tomori's writing (as a note here: Tomori's writing makes her human, while Uika's writing turns her into a monster), and 3. Uika writes to other people's ideas, but she still feels as though singing is something that conveys her heart to others

Those are some general observations I have regarding this. To both Taki and Uika, they want to see out Tomori/Sakiko's musical ambitions, and they pour their heart into what they do. Of course all the band members are doing this (by playing their respective instruments, and Raana does contribute to MyGO songs in her own ways), but these two go above and beyond in their motivations.

As a much more subtle thing, I want to point out something interesting It's MyGO did: the various Sumimi shills throughout the series that happen during major scenes where characters are trying to communicate how they want to reconcile moving forward. Honestly this is a topic so fascinating I'd love to make its own post dedicated to it, but I want to talk about it here briefly as well because it does relate to Taki. Notably, I want to talk about the example of this in episode 5, because the framing of it felt the most deliberate there.

To set the scene, Tomori just expressed that she doesn't want to hold a concert because that'll end their band, which leaves Taki and Soyo hanging as they're unsure how to move forward from there if Tomori doesn't want to. The scene changes to Taki and Soyo, with Taki overlooking Sumimi's music video.

(The way the shots are composed makes it seem like Taki is staring at the music video, complete with the light of the scenes reflecting on her face, but when we get this zoomed out shot with Soyo in frame, it looks more like she's looking off to the side.)

As Soyo's talking about how unsure Tomori feels and how she's still thinking about CRYCHIC, Here the World is playing in the background. We can hear it pretty clearly; even more clearly than we heard it in the literal karaoke scene! The song continues until it fades out at this line:

The sudden silence almost feels deafening. Taki starts talking about how Tomori's words saved her, and how they made her feel seen. The MV is still playing in the background, we just can't see or hear it. But it comes back on screen to be a backdrop to these lines:

(Interesting how they chose this specific angle that captures the Sumimi MV in the backdrop, when they could have done a different one or turned the video off entirely since the song isn't even playing anymore. Also for the last line, Uika and Mana's silhouettes are no longer on the screen.)

What is the purpose of this? Is it to foreshadow that Sakiko would invite Uika to her band a few episodes later? Do Taki's words apply to Uika as well?

Soyo then continues on and says in order to avoid having things go south again, they need to communicate with one another. Then she says Taki needs to tell Tomori how she feels.

I think the most compelling shot in this scene is this one though.

Because 2 episodes later, this exact shot in the MV is what Sakiko scrunches her face at post-Haruhikage.

(Well, even if Taki's feelings didn't get through to Tomori, Uika did finally get through to Sakiko given she calls her immediately after this. Interesting.)

Taki is trying to express how much Tomori means to her and Sakiko is trying to get over MyGO playing Haruhikage, and there's Uika; happy, smiling, sparkling, and getting everything handed to her. It almost feels as if the MV is there to mock these characters, who are struggling so much to even keep a band together. She's an outsider who doesn't even know that Crychic has disbanded.

It's just one of those things that feels so meaningless, and yet at the same time, the Sumimi MV would not be playing during these scenes unless the writers wanted it to, for whatever reason that may be.

To wrap this post up, I want to mention that I find it very amusing how the director mentioned that Uika was actually not originally intended to be shown in a school setting (like Nyamu is), but when they were thinking about what school to put her in, they put her in the same classroom as Taki because of potential interactions between them. I am very eager to see those interactions in future content, and how Taki will react once she realizes that Uika (and Umiri) are in a band with Sakiko. It'll be interesting to see whether or not these two become proper foils to each other, as I see a lot of potential here given both of their respective relationships with our protagonists. Going back to what I said about Uika being presented to us as something Taki could aspire to be like, I actually hope it turns out to be the opposite: I hope that Taki sees Uika's relationship with Sakiko and learns what not to do with Tomori. This may just me being hopeful though (as in the Ave Mujica concerts, Oblivionis takes advantage of Doloris' dedication to her and turns her into a monster―I want to see something akin to this happen with Sakiko and Uika). We'll truly just have to see!

[curio-queries]

Are You Sure?!

Episodes 5 & 6 Notes

It was very fortuitous that I've been so busy over the last couple of weeks as I really needed both of these episodes together to make sense of my thoughts. This post is definitely far more conceptual than my last ones so if you're up for it, click on though the cut!

AYS's Main Character?

I would like to propose that AYS has a main character OTHER than the individual humans we're following along on screen. (I warned you, this post was going to be conceptual.) And the main character is the relationship itself, how each of the members relate to one another.

Here's Google's AI overview on what this concept means:

A story can center on the relationship between characters as the primary protagonist, with the dynamic and evolution of that connection acting as the main driving force of the narrative, rather than the individual characters themselves.

Key points to consider:

Relationship-centric stories: Many genres, particularly romance, often focus heavily on the relationship between the main characters, exploring its complexities, challenges, and growth throughout the story.

No single protagonist: In such cases, the "character" is the bond between the individuals, not just one person's perspective or journey.

Exploring the dynamic: The narrative would then focus on how the relationship changes, adapts, and reacts to external situations or internal conflicts.

Examples:

"Before Sunrise": The entire plot revolves around the single night encounter between two strangers, with the developing connection being the central focus.

"Brokeback Mountain": The story primarily explores the forbidden love between two cowboys, highlighting the complexities of their relationship in a restrictive environment.

"Steel Magnolias ": A group of girls in a small town in Louisiana experience grief together, including weddings, fatal illnesses, and the loss of loved ones.

Now before anyone comes for me saying I'm just pitching an argument for xyz fanwar, please note that I included the above just to illustrate the concept of a non-person main character rather than stating any of the above are comparisons to the individual member's relationships. We're talking about a show that was produced and distributed for entertainment, nothing further.

Episode 5

My main feeling after finally being able to watch episode 5 was overall unsettled. There was something sticking with me about that episode and I could NOT figure out what it was.

I knew I was feeling like the entire episode was stretched well beyond what the footage wanted for a complete episode. I'm all for getting to spend more time with our fellas but the Jeju trip would have benefited from being cut down to 2 episodes rather than 3, in my opinion.

There was just a whole lotta nothing happening. The guys eat, travel around a little bit, and eat some more. I had some vague thoughts about how I could quantify some data for y'all to explain this point but then it was time for the next episode...

vs. Episode 6

And what an absolutely lovely breath of fresh air this episode was. I know there have been some Run eps that I review with a smile on my face throughout the whole episode but AYS6?? That was 73 minutes of pure bliss.

So I started thinking about what must be different between the two eps. The guys eat, travel around a little bit, and eat some more...wait, that's exactly what I said about ep 5! Lol

But I think the main difference between the two is episode 6's plot points continually focus on the relationships between the members, while 5 falls a little stagnant.

Some examples:

JM/cat & JK/dog. I'm ALWAYS down for more footage of BTS with pets but this is frankly too much time spent on these scenes. It's honestly footage I would have expected in the bonus content instead of the main product. It's not just an establishing beat or a setup for a callback, this is supposed to be a scene but since it doesn't contribute to the journey of the main character aka the relationships. It could maaaybe work if they'd cut it to highlight the juxtaposition of how JM is calm with the cat vs JKs energy with the dog but that would have shortened the time it occupied and they were clearly trying to keep absolutely everything in that would lengthen the episode.

JKs stew. The ONLY thing that ties this plot point into the narrative of this show (other than it happening while he's in Jeju and Jimin is nearby) is the offhand comment he made that Jimin would like it while he was in NY. I'm going to talk more about this footage below but this was absolutely crucial for this whole beat making it into the episode. This is also why the footage of JM eating it and randomly taking off his shirt was kept in. The cut they chose is actually pretty bad story-wise but they used it anyway. We hear JM saying how much he loves it and how glad he is that JK is a good cook. It ties all of this time we spent watching JK do something alone back into the real main character of the show (the members' relationships between eachother in different circumstances).

Anyway, I won't belabour the point any further. With Tae constantly disappearing from scenes and the slightly diminished lack of focus on the member's relationships, episode 5 left me on an odd note.

A Little Production Note

I was completely thrown by the footage of JK in NY that we got this episode. But not for the reasons you may be thinking. (I do wonder if the anon that was sending in asks about the financing behind the documentaries is still around because we're getting into some of tidbits finally.)

So, all along we've been trying to sus out as much as we can, just a few details about how AYS came to be. We've had some hints but the inclusion of this footage may be another indicator.

The facts as we know them:

AYS is distributed by Disney.

Jungkook's documentary is being distributed by Trafalgar Releasing NOT Disney (at least not now, maybe it'll make it onto streaming after cinematic release but who knows?)

Questions due to the footage of JK in NY:

Was this footage captured as part of JKs documentary?

If so, when was it pulled to be utilized for AYS? Did the editors find it or were the writers involved?

We know that HYBE gathers behind-the-scene content without always having a full plan of how it will be used. But there are times where it did seem intentional for a specific purpose. Where did JKs Golden footage fall in?

Once upon a time, production houses would make deals with distributors about quantities of projects that would be delivered. Was that the case with the Disney deal or has every single project been negotiated separately and we only heard about it once there was a confirmed quantity. Somewhere in the middle perhaps?

And that's all I've got to say for now. I do have some more thoughts about things I've gleaned during these last couple of episodes but it'll likely keep until the end.

Anyway, this footage bumped me because it broke the rules of cross-project production. They got away with it for JKs SEVEN footage in ep 1 because they likely were using the same production crew since it was literally the same day so it doesnt feel like they're'breaking the wall'. But the NY-Jeju crews could have been completely different.

Editing to add further clarification to this point in this ask.

On a sidenote, do y'all remember the last time we got footage of jikook in a hotspring?? I'll jog your memory if not, it was in BV:4 and they 'washed each other's faces'. I can't even imagine what we're about to see in episode 7.

Link to my AYS MasterList

[ninjagobythenumbers]

Season 18 Bechdel Test

I gotta say. This was not a great season for women. (That is, if you only go by the Bechdel test, which is really only useful as in aggregate for getting somewhat of an overview on representation. It is not a test that accounts for any sort of nuance. It is just for fun.) Here's the rest of the seasons for comparison. Full spreadsheet here.

As you can see, this season had more failures of the Bechdel test than any season since Crystalized. More than one of the episodes that succeeded would have failed if not for an exchange between Rox and Kur. (As I've been saying since Sons of Garmadon, having a female henchman to a female villain makes passing the Bechdel test easy. Super catchy saying.) This season also only had 2 named women introduced. Much less than prior DR seasons, but I will chalk that up to overall reduction in new characters. Just guessing off the top of my head, 5 men were introduced. At least. So hmm, I hope DR isn't losing one of its key Bechdel success factors - not having men be the default. That would truly be a regression. Aside from that, I don't think that this season's failures demonstrate any sort of destruction of the show's female characters or anything like that. It failed primarily because of two simple factors.

The main female characters were split up.

The characters' primary goal was to find two male characters.

Elaborating on these points, for the majority of this season, Sora was the only woman in a group while Nya and Wyldfire were in a group with Kai. You'd think that the Nya & Wyldfire group would save us, but both characters tend to only talk to Kai because that's the character they have a close relationship. Similarly, you'd think PIXAL joining the Sora group would help, but the two characters never end up speaking because Sora spent this season mainly speaking to Arin, Frak, and Lloyd and PIXAL primarily speaks to Zane. And I mean, this issue of female characters only speaking to male characters could be indicative of a larger issue in which they're really only accessories to a male storyline (ex: just a sister/girlfriend/mom). However, I think it's more due to this season's group breakdown. I'll also point out that Zane primarily speaks to PIXAL. They've always neutralized eachother in interaction data. I think she actually spoke to more people this season than him. I also think, more than anything, the lack of interaction between female characters at the moment is of an age gap thing. As demonstrated by Nya's line "My brother and his clueless friend," there's sort of an interesting dynamic in the show right now where the adult Ninja don't really know the young Ninja at all unless they're mentoring them. I kind of like it to be honest. It's pretty realistic that they're not all close and that they'd discuss more serious issues (ex: the loss of Jay) with their long-term friends rather than some teenager. The characters' goals are also of course an issue. Nya's looking for Jay. Sora's worried about Arin. Wyldfire's trying to save Roby's life. Thus, whenever they speak to each other it ends up being about the man they're looking for. This, naturally, could also be indicative of a larger problem. We don't want female characters' storylines to always revolve around men. Still, provided this isn't a consistent problem, I'm inclined to think it's just a quirk of the story as it stands right now.

My reverse Bechdel of Crystalized actually suffered from the exact same problems. They were trying to find Nya and they spent much of the season split up into heterogenous groups. You may notice that the split was the bigger issue. Same case for Chaos Rising.

Thank you for reading all this! I'll reiterate that I just do the Bechdel test on Ninjago for fun because it's interesting to see how an kid's action cartoon (something that would be exclusively aimed at boys in the 2010s) has changed over time in how women are represented. If you want to see this chart clearer or the rest of my spreadsheets go to this link. Please let me know if you have any other ideas for Ninjago charts!

[lucystark12]

what are you thinking, finn wolfhard?

everything i'm about to say aligns with my finn wolfhard is a genius agenda.

it was just made apparent to me that not only did finn wolfhard film it 2017 before season two, but he filmed his scenes as boris in the goldfinch literally DAYS before filming season three. this is extremely hard for me to conceptualize. but it also makes me think about finn wolfhard himself who obviously knows the truth about mike wheeler's sexuality. if byler is as deep seeded as we want it to be, odds are that finn knew what was up from the beginning. which makes a girl think- did he know the same about richie tozier when he first played him in 2017?

lets look at richie a bit.

richie is obviously gay. i will not be taking arguments on this. i'm reading a reddit thred right now where people are debating it and i'm like- are you kidding me. but he wasn't gay in the source material. stephen king has stated as much in a vanity fair article. though he calls andy muscetti's choice "genius" (which it is, btw), he makes it clear that it wasn't his intention. it's explicitly clear in it chapter 2, and being wired like a byler shipper, i was able to suss it out in the first movie, but was that andy muscetti's intention to begin with?

there are many ways this change can be interpreted. assuming that it wasn't something that was explicitly written into the original character description for richie in the first movie, you could see this as something that was put in as a sign of the times, a statement if you will. it chapter one was written in 2015-2016 while we were still under obama's presidency, one that saw drastic improvements for the quality of life of a gay person in america. it chapter two was written during trump's presidency and could have been trying to brand itself as a statement of sorts. i only say this because as far as i can find (and PLEASE tell me if i'm wrong) there wasn't nearly as much evidence hinting at richie's sexuality in the first movie as there is for mike or will to use a relevant example.

the idea that finn wolfhard could have gone straight from it filming (summer of 2016) to stranger things filming (early november 2016) just having played a character who he knows was in the closet and in love with his best friend in the 80s could open up new interpretation to mke in season two. oddly, the reason i bring this up is because richie tozier to me is the mirror image of a kid i was friends with in middle school. they acted the same, they even weirdly looked and dressed the same. the only time i've ever made the comparison between middle school kid and mike wheeler was during season two, specifically in the scene where max leaves them the note, which leads me to believe that he could have carried other things over from other aspects of the it production.

season two isn't what really concerns me though. i'm looking more at season three. the goldfinch only moved to production in albuquerque in april of 2018, which is obviously where finn wolfhard filmed all of his scenes. however, stranger things 3 started production on april 23rd, 2018, which means there might have even been crossover between finn's shooting dates if not at least a very short gap of time between them. it chapter 2 was filmed that same summer likely with some of it's own crossover with stranger things three dates. finn wolfhard's lack of scenes in the second movie are probably what made this possible, but the scenes that he did have tackled very delicate topics that had to be handled with care. most actors get their scripts for minor roles like this a few weeks out from filming, which means that finn could have had his scripts for it chapter 2 that very explicitly make it clear that he's gay during filming for stranger things 3.

so here he is with one gay character right before season 3 and one right after. he knows how to handle these things, which means that every move he's making, especially in season three, is most likely intentional, especially if he knows this far in advance about mike's sexuality. i think it's totally feasible that he does. i'm fifteen and i understand what was happening between byler during the fight scene, finn was sixteen and, being a part of this show, probably understood what was going on too even if he wasn't outright told. doing justice to a season like this when he was also having to figure out scenes like the boreo taxi scene or the arcade scene with henry bower's cousin or r + e was probably at the forefront of his mind.

in conclusion, i just have one question:

what does this mean, finn wolfhard?

[ravensvirginity]

Titans #15 Review

Oh my god. Where do I even begin.

To start with my one and only positive: the art is gorgeous. Lucas Meyer is the best artist the Titans have had in ages, and his new Raven design really delivered. I'm so sad that it appears that the artist who'll be taking over for him in #16 is undoing his design changes, I think it's a massive shame. I did appreciate the detail of Raven's white cloak design having rings on her index fingers, but it feels a little pointless without the lore of Azar's rings to back it up.

Now, the negatives: literally everything else about this comic. This comic fails to deliver on an eight issue arc in any kind of satisfying way, has a bizarre and out of character tone, and severely misunderstands the lore of its main villain. They literally defeated Trigon with the power of friendship. Maybe that could work in Teen Titans Go, but in a main timeline DC comic? What?

First, the demon Raven stuff. Gar saying that demon Raven and regular Raven aren't two different people--yeah, obviously. The severe degree of separation between demon Raven and regular Raven has been one of the big issues of this arc, and this conclusion is as unsatisfying as the rest of it. Raven and her demon side being able to talk face to face isn't new, but them being two separate people with separate physical bodies who can operate completely independently of each other--while there is some precident for this, to me it's a very strange writing choice and misses the point of a demon Raven arc.

The original idea of Raven and her demon side was that her demon side is her. It's all the worst instincts she inherited from Trigon locked up and carefully controlled. When Trigon takes control of her and turns her into her demon form, everything she's repressed, both good and bad, is released. Raven still having a soft spot for the Titans in her demon form makes sense; she's still Raven, just corrupted by Trigon into something she isn't. Raven deciding to stop being evil (not that she even really was) and going back to normal from one brief conversation with her teammate does not, and is really anticlimactic.

It's just such a waste of the story's potential. If you don't want to commit to Raven being the villain of the story, don't do a demon Raven arc! It's possible to do a Trigon story without Raven being evil, I don't get why they didn't just do that. None of the drama with Raven being evil was particularly well executed, and all it seemed to do was drag the comic on longer and longer with nothing actually happening, because they were unwilling to make Raven actually do anything villanous.

All that pales in comparison to how they defeated Trigon. I don't think I've ever seen such blatant disregard for previous canon. As Raven, powered up by the other Titans, fights Trigon, Gar narrates as follows:

"I doubt Trigon has ever been in a fight. An actual fight. With someone his own size and power level. Never had to face someone like Nightwing one-on-one. Never tried to stand while being pinned by the power of Donna Troy's will. Never been blasted... with a giant-sized Apokoliptian blast from Cyborg. And never, ever... felt the full force of a Tamaranean hit powered by the stars."

WHAT?

This comic canonically takes place in the same timeline as the New Teen Titans. There are many homages to the New Teen Titans. It has been made very clear that the team started as the New Teen Titans, and then after many, many years of crazy comic book history the team reformed as the Titans of this run.

The first ever Trigon arc that introduces him and Raven as characters takes place in the first six issues of the New Teen Titans, and culminates in Trigon being defeated by the Titans and thrown into an interdimensional prison. I can't stress this enough: literally every single one of the things Gar said have never happened to Trigon happen in that fight. Donna uses her lasso to dampen Trigon's will, in combination with Raven and Arella's empathic abilities. Wally rips a hole through the fabric of reality to throw Trigon into, and Kory and Vic connect their powers to amplify their blasts to throw Trigon into the interdimensional rift. The whole thing is coordinated and managed by Dick Grayson (who was still Robin at the time).

Gar was there when all this happened. There is no reason for him to not know that this happened. The only explanation is Tom Taylor doesn't know, or he doesn't care. This would be disappointing for any comic book run, but it leaves an especially sour taste in my mouth for this to happen in a run that's so built on NTT homages. It's clear that the writing could not care less about the comic it was inspired by.

And then Garth causes Trigon to have a heart attack. Okay, that was just stupid. Admittedly, I did think the page of Raven stabbing Trigon was cool (again, the art is really the only saving grace here), but her saying "Fuck you, Dad"? Seriously? An ongoing problem in this run has been the dialog feeling janky and too much like lines from a generic superhero movie, and this line embodies that very well. I'm not opposed to swearing in comic books, but to me, this is not the right time for it. It doesn't fit the moment, and I think it's quite out of character for Raven, even if the sentiment behind it isn't.

And then Trigon isn't even dead? What does "Demons don't die. They just fade away." even mean?? Is he dead or not? Will he come back tomorrow or in a thousand years? It's such a strange, confusing letdown of an ending.

I didn't have high hopes for this issue, but it was somehow worse than I could ever have imagined. I'm so glad that this run is getting a new writer. Here's hoping that the coming issues will actually feel like a team book, and that the decades of lore and characterization of these beloved characters will actually be considered during writing.

[vadertyrannus]

The lightsaber duels in the Original Trilogy weren't meant be "worse" then the Prequel duels

This ties into my earlier post debunking myths about Darth Vader's power level (an addendum to my Darth Vader is the most powerful Sith in Canon post), but I thought it was worth it's own post.

Sometimes, when I state canonical facts about Darth Vader's skillset, (primarily that he's the best lightsaber duelist)...

...people will try to cite the differences in the fight choreography between the Originals and Prequels as a counterargument.

The lightsaber duels in the Prequel Trilogy are more extravagant then the Original Trilogy. They're faster paced and more acrobatic, the Jedi and Sith are doing all sorts of flips and spins.

Most people chalk this up to the respective times in which the films were made. They weren't able to make fight scenes as "epic", back then.

As such, they are more then willing to buy Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, and Ben Kenobi being portrayed as more powerful and skilled in other Canon material. It’s downright disingenuous to insist otherwise (at least, if we're talking Canon).

We even see that in Star Wars: Galaxy of Adventures, the Vader and Luke duels are given more gravitas, emphasizing the narrative intent.

Even in the old EU, Vader is an excellent duelist. He is, after all, supposed to be 80% as powerful as the Emperor, according to Lucas.

Despite this, Lucas purists will sometimes point to quotes in which Lucas insisted a narrative reason for the choreography differences:

"We've actually never seen real Jedi at work, we've only seen crippled half-droid half-men, and young boys that learned from these old people. So to see a Jedi in his prime fighting in the prime of the Jedi, I want it to be a much more energetic and faster version of what we've been doing."

But once one does their research, they'll realize that this explanation isn't true to the narrative intent at the time the OT was made.

While it's clear Canon amped up the OT characters back up due to love for them, I believe there's legitimately good reasons to favor this interpretation for the story.

And while “it was originally intended that way” isn’t actually the best argument for why something is a good storytelling choice (after all, Vader being Luke’s father is a retcon, and it’s the best storytelling choice in all of Star Wars), it’s still important to establish this. People often try to cite "George Lucas' Vision" to give their arguments more legitimacy, so it's important to establish how fickle this "Ultimate Vision" actually was.

Now, I want to make it clear, when I say the OT duels are "worse", that's not reflective of my opinion of them, but rather the idea that the OT duels are more tame because the combatants are less skilled.

To divulge into discussion of personal preferences for a moment: I've come to prefer the OT duels far more. The two Vader vs. Luke duels in Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi are the peak of Star Wars lightsaber duels for me.

They're ferocious, yet still grounded enough to feel the stakes. There's weight and power behind each and every lightsaber strike. Far more emphasis is placed on the dynamic between the characters.

The characters were still doing cool lightsaber moves and acrobatics, but it felt balanced. These feel like fights between two badass warriors with supernatural abilities.

The Vader vs. Ben duel is alright. It's not as bad as people say it is, it's sometimes awkward, but there's still cool moments.

In comparison, I find the Prequel duels overstimulating to the point where they actually become boring. When there's 100 lightsaber strikes a second, suddenly each of those strikes become weightless noise. Sometimes I lose track of what's even happening. Who am I supposed to be looking at here?

This doesn't happen with any of the OT duels, in which it's always clear what character is meant to be the focus of the shot, as they're far more character-driven.

But enough of that, let's actually investigate the intent for how skilled the combatants of the duels in the OT was they were being made.

Darth Vader vs. Ben Kenobi was intended to be epic

One need not to look any further then this excerpt from the script.

The amount of flair given to the descriptions of the battle speaks for itself. Lucas goes out of his way to describe the duel in animated ways: "[...] a lightning movement of The Sith. [...]," "A masterful slash stroke by Vader is blocked by the old Jedi [...]," and "The two powerful warriors [...]."

This proves that George Lucas wanted this duel to be fast-paced and powerful.

And keep in mind, the words "masterful", "impressive", "powerful", "skilled", etc. are not used in the context of "for the OT-era". They just are. We're talking about a time when the Prequels didn't exist. Because the script is describing these actions within the context of the sci-fi world established by the film itself, they are impressive within the scope of the Star Wars universe.

This makes sense within the narrative framework of A New Hope: this is the ultimate battle between good and evil. The sinister Dark Lord of the Sith (the Master of Evil) and Master Jedi Knight (the Master of Good). Darth Vader is the ultimate adversary that Luke must aspire to defeat, and Obi-Wan is the ultimate good that Luke must aspire to be. The Bad Father vs. the Good Father.

George Lucas even says this:

"This confrontation with Obi-Wan and Vader— it works just as a confrontation between the good guy and the bad guy. I mean, he’s— Obi-Wan’s, at this point, the strongest good guy. He’s the one that has the most knowledge— the father figure that has taken on Luke. Then you have the bad father figure who is the evil father."

Vader killing Ben is a testament to his power to legitimize him as a threat to Luke, and build-up to that inevitable confrontation where Luke must conquer Vader.

For this to be a pathetic duel between two has-beens drains away all narrative power. It's also just plain dull, conceptually. It wouldn't make sense for Lucas to intentionally make a "lame" duel for audiences in 1977, free of any context from non-existent Prequels.

However, as with many things during the filming of A New Hope, he ran into problems on set. Most prominently, the lightsaber props were incredibly fragile, requiring the actors to not even actually collide them, but stop right before they hit. Once you know this, it becomes somewhat obvious how awkward the strikes are. Even as they cover it up with flashes added in post, you can see Guinness and Prowse are striking cautiously, as if the sabers are made of glass.

Additionally: this fight couldn't have been intentionally "bad" partially because Vader is a cyborg (which is dumb; I don't know why a sci-fi franchise would present cyborgs as incompetent), because Vader wasn't even intended to be a cyborg during the filming of A New Hope!

Originally, during the writing and filming of ANH, Vader was envisioned as a character more like Doctor Doom in Marvel Comics: his face was burned in a volcano, so he wears a frightening mask.

His suit was envisioned as an armored space suit decorated with Sith robes. This suit serves to keep him alive when he moves between ships, in addition to being armor in battle.

In post-production, Ben Burtt created Vader's iconic breathing sound effect. Lucas loved it, and realized it made Vader appear cybernetic. It is then, during the post-production of ANH, that he came up with the idea that Vader is a cyborg. This is when the imagined volcano backstory was revised so that Vader received far more injuries, requiring him to use a life-support suit. So while this iconic backstory was come up with by the time of ANH's release, it took time to develop behind-the-scenes.

This is the primary reason for the subtle changes to Vader's design and presentation between ANH and ESB/ROTJ. The shinier finish, placement of the armor above the Sith robes, additional electronic lights, iconic electronic flange effect to his voice (added to ANH in the special editions) were done to emphasize the newly-imagined cybernetic nature of Darth Vader.

And yet, even then, none of this was done with the intent that his cybernetics made him weaker in the Force or hampered his skills with a lightsaber. Or, at least, this is never mentioned, in any of the pre-PT sources I've read.

This is further proven by the fact that Vader fights better in the next two films then he does in this one.

Simply put, the duel between Vader and Ben was not intended to be a "bad" duel showing how far they've fallen. It was, in fact, intended to be the exact opposite: an epic duel between a master Jedi and master Sith.

The Improvements of the Vader vs. Luke duels

Something that was always apparent to me, which made me immediately see through Lucas' explanation, is that the Vader vs. Luke duels show a noticeable improvement in the quality of the choreography.

It's pretty awesome.

Sometimes, it really feels like when people say "OT duels" in a derogatory sense, they just mean the ANH one. While these ones aren't as "flashy" as the ones in the Prequels, they're still fantastic, and I find them more badass, personally.

There is plenty of evidence, too, that this was intentional. The filmmakers were aware of the shortcomings of the prior duel and wanted to up the ante. Hence the implementation of the usage of telekinesis in the fight, originally planned to occur in the first film.

This is also why they got professional swordsman and stunt actor Bob Anderson to play Vader during the duels. One of the reasons the Vader/Luke duels were improvements upon the ANH one is because Prowse didn't have the proper experience.

Additionally, it's important to note that, unlike the prior fight, Vader is holding back, as he isn't trying to kill his son. He wants him to join him. It is made clear several times in the fight that the Sith Lord is only toying with Luke, testing his abilities, and wearing him down.

"Don't make me destroy you." "Join me and together, we can rule the galaxy as father and son!" -Darth Vader, The Empire Strikes Back

"The challenge with the confrontation between Luke and Vader was to play it like a seduction, a temptation; the audience knows that Luke is not gonna die, so the ultimate hook is the fear that Luke might turn to the dark side." - George Lucas, Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays

"So it's a slightly one-sided sword fight, where Vader has the advantage over him. Luke didn't know that Vader was his father, for the fight part, so what was happening is he thought he was fighting his bitter enemy, so he was fighting as hard as he could, he thought he was fighting the man who killed his father, fighting the man who killed Obi-Wan Kenobi, fighting the man who would, y'know, personify evil in the universe." - George Lucas, Star Wars Featurette: The Birth of the Lightsaber

The ESB duel was also meant to show that Luke had become a skilled and powerful warrior. He's still below Vader's league, but not as much as fans and Lucas would have you believe, post-Prequels.

"In Empire Strikes Back, it's the first time that the antagonist and protagonist actually fight each other, so that it is a very big fight, and Luke, now, has become proficient enough to be able to face Darth Vader." - George Lucas, Star Wars Featurette: The Birth of the Lightsaber

"During story meetings George Lucas and Leigh Brackett decided that it would be important to turn Luke into a very good swordsman and that that would pay off during his fight with Vader." - Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays

"[...] because [Obi-Wan and Yoda] think [Luke's] the only one who probably has the power to kill Vader." - George Lucas, The Star Wars Archives: Episodes IV-VI, 1977-1983

The implication of the Originals is that Jedi training doesn't take decades, like shown in the Prequels, at least for someone as Force-sensitive as Luke.

Luke is supposed to be a powerful, skilled saber duelist, not just a novice.

This is especially egregious when there's literally a point in the fight where Vader points out Luke's skills are "most impressive" (when he super-jumps out of carbon freeze), when, in comparison to all of the stuff the Jedi do in the Prequels, it's hardly so.

Furthermore, lightsabers were originally intended to be heavy. Lucas stressed a rule that one must always use two hands to hold a lightsaber, in combat.

"George was adamant that these things were really, really heavy. That we couldn’t take a hand off [the hilt]. We always had to have two. It was like Excalibur, 40 to 50 pounds of weight." - Mark Hamill

"They’re very powerful and have a lot of energy in them… so you worked with them as if they were heavy." - George Lucas, Star Wars Featurette: The Birth of the Lightsaber

Vader is an intentional exception to this rule, so as to show just how fantastic he is.

This nuance is now unfortunately lost, as the Prequels completely went away with this.

A once intentional visual cue testifying Vader's incredible skill was turned redundant, and context is robbed to make what was once far more impressive appear less so.

While Vader is still meant to be more powerful then Luke and is holding back, this is still meant to be an epic duel between two powerful, skilled warriors.

This robbing of context is also true for the ROTJ duel.

It's emphasized throughout that Luke has grown more powerful between the two films to a substantial degree. This is part of the narrative purpose of the sail barge action sequence.

Vader also places great emphasis on it in their scene together on Endor.

"I see you have constructed a new lightsaber. Your skills are complete. Indeed you are powerful, as the Emperor has foreseen." - Darth Vader, Return of the Jedi

If Luke was actually not all that skilled compared to the Prequel warriors, Vader would have no reason to compliment his abilities or call them complete.

This is the return of the Jedi, not a weak imitation of the Jedi. Luke's skills are complete.

It's also heavily implied within this line that building your own lightsaber is a sort of right of passage for a Jedi Knight, and a testament to one's power. Meanwhile, in TCW08, younglings are shown constructing their own lightsabers.

Additionally, while Vader is now emotionally conflicted, thus his skills are hampered, he's still very powerful. For the majority of the duel, he is either winning or at a stalemate with Luke. Vader is fighting just as fast and ferociously as Luke is.

This is meant to be a great climactic duel between two masters of the Force and lightsaber combat.

However, once again, these lines, as well as the fight itself, are now dampened in impact because of the Prequels.

Luke isn't meant to just be a novice, nor Vader just a "crippled half-droid half-man". At least, not originally.

"So what's the problem?"

While this kind of thing might be alright for fans of the super extra (and IMO, ridiculous) duels of the Prequels, to me, and likely a lot of other people who prefer the OT and it's characters, it just comes off as insulting.

It's retroactively undermining the OT and it's characters to the point where it damages the storytelling and the stakes.

There’s a massive difference between a good and a bad retcon.

Darth Vader being Luke’s father is a great retcon. It adds drama and tension, and gives both characters way more depth.

Telling us the fights and characters in second trilogy actually suck in comparison to the first trilogy… doesn’t.

First, it’s really dumb from a general story structure standpoint. You don’t make everything in the second half of the story lamer then the first. Investment is gonna tank. Escalating stakes is important. It'd be like if Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame came out before the rest of the Infinity Saga.

Second, again, it’s insulting to the second half of the story, the characters within it.

These films were designed for Darth Vader, Ben Kenobi, and (eventually) Luke Skywalker to be badass, capable warriors.

They're designed for you to be terrified of Darth Vader, intimidated by his mighty power. The ultimate instrument of the dark side of the Force. His cybernetics make him superhuman. Not to be like, "Awww, poor cyborg, he's only a shadow of what he could've been."

He's the villain of three whole movies for a reason, and it’s not so you can only feel sorry for him. There's a tragic element to his character, yes, but it has nothing to do with his power-level. He's tragic because he sold his soul for power, became a monster, and lost everything he cared about because of it.

They're designed for you to think of Ben Kenobi as a wise, experienced master Jedi, a relic of the height of the Jedi, and the idol that Luke must strive to be. Not be like, "Lmfao, look at that lame old man trying to do a spin, he's so much worse then he used to be."

They're designed for you to be in awe of how fantastic a warrior Luke Skywalker has become. His training is the legitimate training of a Jedi Knight, and he finally becomes skilled enough to face the mighty Darth Vader. Not be like, "He's alright, but not as cool as those other dudes from the Prequels."

It's like if you're playing on a playground as a kid, you've got your great characters and storyline, and some other kid comes along and is just like, "Yeah, you like those characters? Well mine are actually way betterer and strongerer then yours in every way! And if you think otherwise you're just coping! So suck it!".

I'd far prefer it if the OT characters weren't retconned into being lame. Especially if it's to prop-up characters that I, frankly, don't care as much about. And even if I did still like the Prequels (I was a fan of them, once), I still wouldn’t like the idea of dragging the OT characters into the mud.

People don't like to be told the characters they love actually suck. And it seems Disney caught onto this and is rectifying it.

[ghostfire]

I finished Veilguard about a day ago, and I have some *thoughts*. I'm coming at this as someone who first played Dragon Age: Origins in 2009 and has loved the series since then. I've got the novels, the artbooks, and I've got two nugs and a mabari plushie guarding my desk right now. It's safe to say that I am a long time fan. I did a full replay of Inquisition immediately before playing Veilguard, so I would have the comparison back to back instead of colored by a decade of shifting memories.

If parts of this are somewhat disorganized, I'll blame covid brain, and hope I at least mostly make sense. There are spoilers for the full game below the cut.

I'll start with some things that I genuinely enjoyed. The number of animals you can pet: A++, no notes. The voice acting, with a few exceptions that I think were simply due to working with the dialogue and timing the actors were given, was excellent. Gareth David-Lloyd (Solas) and Joseph Capp (Elgar'nan) both notably went above and beyond there. The majority of the environmental design - especially Arlathan and the Grand Necropolis - was solid. The stability of the game itself was perfect. In just over 100 hours of gameplay I experienced zero crashes, which is amazing in itself. Unfortunately, this is not a long list for a game of this magnitude.

About the gameplay - I didn't really see it as modernized, just changed. Every time an RPG franchise becomes more of an action RPG I'm saddened. It's not the play style I want. Not what I'm looking for. I think it was an okay example of the play style they went with, but I found myself completely neglecting certain aspects of it, and I think some of it might be that they would feel more natural played with a controller, while I use mouse and keyboard. If this were a different game, in a different series, I wouldn't be disappointed by the gameplay, however, so I guess I have to rate this as neutral.

The music, except for a few tracks that were more clearly playing into themes from previous games, felt somewhat more generic than I'm expecting from Dragon Age. Again, not bad, but still disappointing. Tracks like "Leaving Earth" from Mass Effect 3 or the Dragon Age: Origins theme will bring out the goosebumps and instantly plunge me back into memories with just a few notes. I don't think I got hit hard with that in Veilguard until the Solavellan ending began.

As for the character and creature style - even by the end of the game, I never got used to or liked it. The cartoon tinge to the characters that just doesn't fit Dragon Age world felt distinctly uncomfortable. The new darkspawn and most demon and spirit designs were awful in context and would have ben better in something from Blizzard.

The quality of the writing of various companions varied *wildly* - often toeing the line between character and caricature - just as often falling short as overreaching. One that fell especially flat when it could have been so interesting was the Lucanis/Spite duo. None of Spite's appearances had the emotional impact of Justice, crackling with power when confronted with injustice and becoming part of a greater whole with Anders, riding the line between Justice and Vengeance. While some of that could be put down to Spite simply being a less powerful demon than Vengeance, or Lucanis somehow having a better hold over a demon that was forced into him than Anders had with a spirit that he invited in willingly, neither of those explanations feels satisfying. Spite taking over Lucanis and sleepwalking to the Eluvian felt mildly irritating, not terribly alarming.

Picking still at the writing, I got the impression that this was a young adult game grafted on top of the bones of deep and dark and yawning lore. The out of place tone to the language chosen made some parts feel very "Guardians of the Galaxy" style whacky, with far too many modern colloquialisms. Characters don't have to be serious all the time, but whether they're acting funny or acting stern, the way they do it should fit the world and feel genuine.

Emmrich, whose whole story line is rooted in existential dread of mortality, did not seem like he was sacrificing anything to save Manfred in the way that he reacted. There should have been a real opportunity for him to break down, either in the moment as the decision is made, and an opportunity for Rook's decisions up to that point to influence him, or afterward, in private, and to need real comfort from his friend or partner.

No one should have ever described Veilguard as being Bioware's "most romantic" game. My experience with romance was, at best, "okay". Many of the "flirt" options felt like they were the only way to acknowledge that certain things were happening. Either choose the heart, or feel like you're ignoring something important. After flirting hard with Davrin, Bellara, and Emmrich, I chose Emmrich. His romance is supposedly one of best, but the romance specific scenes there were felt shallow and brief. I liked that characters got together as couples outside of Rook, but can see why people drawn to Lucanis or Neve are complaining.

Plenty has been said about whitewashing some of the darker and more uncomfortable aspects of the Dragon Age world, and I agree to varying levels. The Crows, for instance. I'm well aware of Zevran's efforts over the previous twenty or so years, and maybe this is the best of the houses, and you don't see much of other houses or fledglings, but *someone* on your team should express misgivings over working with brutal, child abusing assassins, even if Rook is unaware. There was plenty of opportunity for Lucanis (or Teia and Viago) to explain the change over time or between houses if asked. Not acknowledging this more obviously feels wrong.

Slavery in Tevinter - it's not true that it's completely glossed over - you see a few among the Venatori, and you rescue one in the Grand Necropolis, again brought in by the Venatori. But where the slavery common in Tevinter, practiced by citizens and normalized, could have been used as a parallel with the slavery perpetuated by the Evanuris, it was instead largely downplayed as an issue. The few lines talking about Dorian and Maevaris's failed political movement is such a tantalizing glimpse at acknowledging this tremendous injustice, but it's easily lost, and if you didn't already know the background, wouldn't have much of an impact.

Lords of Fortune - absolute shit. My Isabela ran away with artifact and learned nothing, but it's not like other past decisions you've made in the games made any difference either, so... The whole way it's presented reeks of out of place modern sensibilities. Could it have been explained in a different way somehow? Maybe. But still, shit.

Diving deeper still, the "Elven Gods" are cartoon villains with no subtlety. While some degree of this has been a common thing with Dragon Age villains, it's usually easy to see their side or at least how they got there. Corypheus wanted to raise himself to fill what he thought was an empty godhood and restore the "glory" of Tevinter. Meredith's experience with her mage sister lead her to see magic as a dangerous threat, justifying her cruel measures in the name of safety for all.

Ghilan'nain felt somewhat understandable because at least she was teetering on the edge of satisfying madness. She genuinely believed her creations and blighted nature were beautiful - so much so she altered herself accordingly.

Elgar'nan had real opportunity to be a deep complex villain, but instead he is wishy washy, confused, watered down. Where was his rage at modern peoples over the loss of his other fellow gods? He seemed to genuinely care about Ghilan'nain, but they aren't really mentioned, and it's not as if the passage of time soothed any of his other perceived slights. He could have been a persuasive Satan figure. The times he was in Rook's head were some of the most interesting in the game. Rook was becoming powerful, and that's one of the few things Elgar'nan respected, because that is an aspect of himself. More persuasively tempting Rook would have been nice. There should have been some way to give in, to fail. A chance to fall to corruption if you're not strong enough, maybe. A bad end if you've been an asshole, but you can't be an asshole because this is a young adult game.

As presented, Rook is the blandest hero in the Dragon Age series. Either that, or the most railroaded. Even though I came to like my Rook, a lot of that was pure, behind the scenes, headcanon character building. Often, all of the dialogue options felt the same - like I was being forced to play her one way. After a certain point, I had to imagine that she was lying her way through a number of scenes, because I had no options that felt even remotely close to what I was looking for. When pulled into the prison of regret, it was like the writers couldn't imagine a Rook who did not regret their part in the loss of their companions - who was proud of them for their sacrifice, and who, if they have rage and sorrow, direct it at the gods who caused the harm. This lack of agency was especially egregious when it came to Solas. I wanted the option to say I understood and agreed with a lot of what he did and wanted, even if I couldn't let him go all the way tear down Veil. Nearly every option came across as some degree of antagonistic. Once it came down to some of the endgame lines, talking directly to him, any amount of judgement on Rook's part felt wholly unearned and inappropriate for the way I was playing.

If I hadn't played the previous games for context, I don't think Veilguard would have given me a fraction of the perception I needed to see how things have changed, including the awful conditions of elves and mages, and despite directly seeing his memories, Solas would seem so much less sympathetic in his desire to fix his mistakes.

I could write this much again, just on Solas, but there was clearly a deep and compelling story there, a promise that was imprisoned just as surely as the character. It's painful to see hints of what could have been.

[wrinkly-fucking-qtip]

“I kind of earned my space or whatever... just don't move your shit is all I'm saying.”

If I think about this scene longer than a minute I might just fucking McLoose it. You can count with half a finger the amount of times Ian has asked for help. You can count with two hands the amount of times Ian has avoided asking for help.

"Name a single time I've let you down."

I have always loved the Lip and Ian dynamic because of how perfectly flawed it is. There's a lot of comparison between Lip, Ian, Monica, and Frank, so let me raise you this situation. Remember how in s2 Monica wanted to do better by signing herself for more days at the psychward? Trying to get her psyche under control but Frank wanted to keep enabling her in the wrong ways? Telling her that she's alright, she doesn't need the help? Well, how about Ian reaching out to his brother for a helping hand, because he is feeling overwhelmed, needing help now more than ever, and Lip just basically denies him the help... in a somewhat patronizing way?

So it's like, two people that for different reasons, and different circumstances, are seeking that help or support, and the other person who claims to care outright attempts against it? Monica always did what she wanted, never really accepting her illness and ignoring the repercussions of it, and the effects it has on her family. And the few times she tried, Frank always intervened in heinous ways. Ian has been going through a difficult time, and the one time he asks for help, it is denied because his brother, who has claimed to never let him down, achieved a status, something that inflates his already overgrown ego. Nevermind that this is his brother, and he is visibly depressed.

Ian had goals of his own, always on the lookout to achieve. Lip didn't care about that for a while, and practically forced himself to care, only to throw it all away. And I'm sure he didn't outwardly intend for it to come across as that, but it did. Ian wanted to make something out of his life, but shit hit the roof and he didn't. And I'm glad he found a job as an EMT, he really needed that job. And he worked hard for it, he earned it. Lip fucked it all up.

This is not a Lip hate post though, he's in my top 5 favorite characters, I love that mother fucker, and I hate him as well, and his high moral that only pretends to give him BDE.

But yeah. Ian needed support. And I know that each of the Gallaghers had their own shit going on this season, I know, but there is already a recurring theme of Ian being entirely dismissed by his siblings, except for Debbie in s4 and her attempts to help him in s5. She did more than was expected of Fiona to do in those seasons, given that she is the legal guardian and all.

I am also not hating on Fiona, she is a fantastic character and stepped up for her family obviously. But by stepping up at such a young age with a lack of tools to maneuver herself through this chaos, good parenting is unobtainable.

It hurts me to see that he reached this point. All he ever fucking needed was support. S6 Ian, you have my heart and soul, and I wish you weren't hurting as much.

[shakingparadigm]

Not only Till and Ivan, but it seems like Luka parallels with almost every ALNST character in different ways. I mean, I think this applies to everyone in how they parallel each other in some form, but I find it interesting that Luka’s character in particular seems to have adopted/inherited specific traits from nearly every character. I say nearly because Mizi seems to be the only exception, but maybe if I squint a bit harder I’ll find something they can relate with. For now nothing comes to mind lol.

Luka and…

Sua: Similar in demeanor, appearance, and in their mysterious narrative role. Both have a strange ethereal “vibe”, wear empty doll-like expressions, are dressed up like dolls with white frilly clothing adorned with a bow, their owners objectify and present them to the universe to be leered and gawked at, their birthdays are one day apart, and they both covered each other’s songs despite having no known direct relation to each other.

Till: Similar in background, talent, and onstage presence. Both artistic geniuses, overwhelm their opponents on stage, and are physically abused and exploited for their skills by their segyeins.

Ivan: Similar in personality, execution, and reputation. Both are seen as perfect “princes” in their respective audiences, calm and consistent, smart/calculating, psychologically twisted, and put on a mature charismatic facade around others.

Hyuna: Similar in their motivations. Both share the same rooted desire for freedom and control over their own life and gain a sense of catharsis in finding that autonomy/independence on the stage.

Luka’s character seems to have no real sense of identity. So, in a way, it’s as if his entire identity is built off of every other character despite being the most alienated (ba dum tss) of them all. He’s a blank canvas who’s been painted in the other characters’ colors. Actually, everyone was originally a blank canvas. Sua is the stemming point who’s painted everyone in color, then everyone painted Luka in their respective colors. The author has stated that every ALNST character originated from Sua. In contrast, it seems like Luka was originated from everyone else.

This is a fantastic observation, anon! I agree! I find that Luka is a rather omnipresent character, almost to the likes of Sua but not quite. This might not make as much sense, but I feel Hyuna is on this level as well.

(Long post ahead! Sorry, I ended up rambling and maybe going off-topic...)

Something that has always intrigued me is that Hyuna and Luka are set apart from the rest of the cast. Unlike the main 4, who's story is rapidly unfolding in the present, Hyuna and Luka's inciting incident has already passed. What they're doing now is dealing with the aftermath and attempting to lay their demons to rest (for Hyuna, at least). Bits and pieces of these two can be found within the main 4, and several comparisons can be made (and often they are made canonically, whether it be implied in the content or directly stated by Q and V).

Mentally, I've always split the main 6 in half. Hyuna with Mizi and Till, Luka with Sua and Ivan. The reasons are obvious, of course.

Luka, Sua and Ivan make up what is essentially the perfection trifecta. Dressed in pure white (eventually, for Ivan), charismatic personas, camera-ready marketing stars. An important part of how they cope with expectations and lack of control is by separating themselves into the persona they put on for the audience and the person they actually are. They're passive and obedient, playing along with whatever the segyein want them to do, top students at anakt (Luka was number 1 during his time, while Sua and Ivan often alternate between 1st and 2nd place, essentially a tie in a way), and often perform to perfection. However, Sua and Ivan still retain a part of themselves that is theirs and no one else's. It's obvious in the way they allow themselves to indulge in certain things, the way Ivan makes room for personal time and how Sua refuses to disclose more information than absolutely necessary, protective of her privacy. While Luka gives himself to the audience completely, it's safe to assume that he's doing it out of necessity and not exactly by will (is there an identity behind the success? what is he if not a winner?). There are the sides of them that will happily present themselves in front of a camera, and the sides of them that are cynical and scornful of the life they were forced into. For the most part, they act logically. The obedient pet act ensures their safety and although it is excruciating, they've weighed their options and decided that this is the best way to take advantage of their circumstances. Smart, well-behaved and proper pets.

I like to call the trio of Hyuna, Mizi and Till the rebels because that's essentially what they are (at least eventually). As the other half, they're meant to be the opposite of what is considered "perfect". It's established that Luka, Sua and Ivan are careful and calculated when presenting themselves to an audience, putting forward only their best and hiding their true imperfect selves under this mask. Hyuna, Mizi and Till however are largely characterized by their authenticity, their genuine display of self. When they perform, there is no mask. They offer themselves fully on stage and present their genuine emotions, whether or not it's palatable enough for the audience to take. Their actions are less calculated and moreso driven by the heart, for better or for worse. Mizi and Till are openly dejected and upset in their respective second rounds, while a more careful pet like Ivan would attempt to hide their true feelings and put on a brave face (which he does during the beginning of his part in ROUND 6). Hyuna's rescue of Mizi leans less towards logical reasoning and more towards her own emotions, her personal need for self-consolation. There's also the rebellion factor, Hyuna is a literal rebel, Mizi becomes a rebel and Till is described as a rebel. Unlike their counterparts, they are able to act more freely and don't carry the same heavy sense of responsibility that the others do. They are themselves unabashedly, either because they fought tooth and nail for it (Hyuna & Till) or because they were raised in an environment where they never had to (Mizi).

You've already done a great job at pointing out the parallels between Luka, Sua and Ivan. To further add onto your points, it's commonly believed that Luka so easily and uncannily mimicked Sua in ROUND 5 because of the fact that he was already so similar to her. It's also directly stated in Luka's character design logs that Luka and Ivan's characters were incredibly similar, with the only difference being the personality of the mask that they put on (calm and doll-like for Luka, cool and cheerful for Ivan).

Hyuna can be seen within Mizi and Till as well. The fact that Hyuna sees herself in Mizi is the main reason as to why she saves her in the first place. Once full of joy and blind optimism, innocence shattered at the loss of a loved one. Till bears resemblance to Hyuna as well, both physically (their eyeshapes are strikingly similar, and Hyuna's eyecolor, brighter as a child, is quite close to Till's teal during specific moments), personality-wise (rebellious, fighting for freedom) and in terms of singing style (Hyuna was originally described to be "rock-and-roll", both perform with strong, loud and energetic voices).

Luka's similarity with Till is a special instance. I've said this before (and you've already brought it up), but I believe they're both essentially two very different people who were put into very similar circumstances. Till is overflowing with emotion and a desire to protect his individuality, bearing "quirks equivalent to 10 people" as Ivan says. Luka, on the other hand, seems to have a rather fragile identity. We don't know anything about him besides the fact that he was created to be a winner, trained and conditioned under extremely brutal means. The only times we see him exhibit any semblance of free will and desire is when he's vying for Hyuna's attention or exerting control over others. While Till and Luka are different fundamentally, they're both put through abusive training and experimentation in order to fulfill the goals of their power-hungry guardians. Unrivaled talent at a steep price.

It's interesting how even Hyuna, who was created to be Luka's exact opposite, is able to parallel him in a certain way. Thank you for pointing that out! As their lives are constantly dictated by their owners, the stage is their only escape, a playground of sorts where they finally have the opportunity to control their circumstances. The difference is that while Heperu is overly-invested in and nearly obssessed with Luka's victory, Phan does not care for Hyuna at all. In fact, Phan does not particularly care for ALNST in general, only participating as a sponsor. They care so little that they couldn't even be bothered to watch the show. As Phan lacks any investment in ALNST, Hyuna's life is much less restrictive and ruthless than Luka's. Hyuna loves performing because it allows her to feel free, a form of self-expression that liberates her from the monotony of segyein routine and allows her to feel like her life is hers. While Luka is essentially the same, his means are much more intense. His life is managed right down to the minute, basically a puppet on a string. Since every other aspect of his autonomy has been taken from his control, the stage is genuinely all he has. Unlike Hyuna, who has a strong personality and set of beliefs, Luka does not have much to express. Instead, he finds his identity and sense of control in dominating others, exerting force and pressure onto his opponents. This can be seen in ROUND 5, where his performance is the least emotionally charged and instead calculated to intimidate and provoke his opponent, Mizi. Hyuna's love of the stage stems from the fact that she is brimming with emotion and energy that she wants to express, parts of her that feel restricted by the way her life is led by aliens. Luka performs to dominate, to assert himself as the most powerful force in the arena, which is a privilege he will never get to have outside of it. Both Hyuna and Luka find their strongest sense of self on stage, however the ways in which they go about it are very different in nature.

I'd like to genuinely thank you for this ask, you make a lot of good points and I find the idea of Luka being a canvas "painted" by everyone else very interesting! While I agree with that idea in terms of his character conception, within the story I find him less affected by others and more as if he's the one affecting them. Just as Sua changed the trajectory of Mizi's life, Hyuna would not be where she is today if not for Luka.

[acesw]

some thoughts on shipping (with verneider analysis on the side)

a random personal rule that i have that when it comes to shipping is considering age, dynamic, time, and character. yes, this goes in order.

age = are they a pair of consenting adults? teens? are they at the very least close to age?

dynamic = what are their roles in a story? are they both currently in a work setting or in an educational institution?

time = how much time have they spent together in the story? how much time have they spent getting to know each other?

character = what are their characters like? what's their trope as a pair?

Let's take verneider, for example. I have a particular dislike about this ship for their mischaracterization as well as how they tend to be sexualized in some fan media. But I want to analyze them from a sort-of-objective lens; a means to connect their characters and see if they can work.

Vertin and Schneider are 16 and 18 respectively. They are relatively close to age.

They are characters who are actively employed, and independent of any oversight besides that. This makes their pairing work because there is this balance between them.

If they were, let's say, school students, the dynamic drastically changes. A sophomore and a senior/college freshman. That would create a dynamic imbalance and thus makes their pairing a bit weird. But that's not the case.

In the main story for R1999, they've only gotten to know each other for very little time in one day. They've mainly gotten to know each other through their direct interactions (which was also not that much mind you), and otherwise from information provided out of necessity of their jobs.

And their characters. Both of them are outwardly cold characters with a high passion towards their goals. With Vertin it's to grant freedom and a way out for everyone, and for Schneider it's to survive and guarantee her and her family's lives throughout struggle. They both care towards those around them but put little care for themselves since they're very closed off.

They're very parallel to each other because of those. When together we see that Vertin is very quiet and non-expressive while Schneider takes up most with her flirty and deceitful yet humble personality. When it comes to relationships, they're both very protective, but neither are ones to be incredibly obsessive.

The time is what gets me with their whole ship. They've barely known each other, but a lot of people are very hellbent on their pairing because of their generally heated and somewhat intimate interactions with each other.

Another point that gets me is how greatly mischaracterized both of them end up becoming. Vertin is not a cold-but-obsessive person and Schneider doesn't easily open up. Had they spent more time together, it could have worked so much better. They are in no way problematic, however.

Maintaining the idea that Vertin is stuck in her grief in losing Schneider greatly hurts her character since her whole story is built upon loss. Schneider is one of the many people she did lose in the course of her lifetime, but it can't exactly be treated as one that greatly traumatized Vertin. In comparison to Schneider and her friends in SPDM, the memory of the latter hurts her more.

At the same time, the idea of Schneider falling in love with Vertin so fast is also really iffy. She may be flirty and affectionate, sure, but she still doesn't entirely trust Vertin in the end. Her main goal has always been to survive with her family, and how could she put her entire trust in someone associated with an organization that left her family behind to struggle in poverty?

This is not to say that I hate them as a ship. I don't really mind nor judge when it comes to that. I want to point out that their characters tend to be greatly mischaracterized based on their personalities shown in the first two chapters.

Now that I've settled on this, this is why age, dynamic, time, and character are really important to me in shipping. All four of these make structure for a ship and establish how it can work. I can disregard at least one of these parts (time) when it comes to certain circumstances like crackships or rarepairs.

It's like how I have a polyship in R1999 that I really enjoy exploring the dynamic of despite none of these characters rarely ever spending time together in canon, much less with one of those characters.

Yet again, these are all personal points for me. So do whatever you like unless I catch word that the age gap or the dynamic is imbalanced.

[a-chicken-with-adhd]

This has been on my mind for a while, I've talked to myself about it a lot to work things out and the wording. Here it is.

I think i have a really cool narrative or idea for a red hood/Jason Robin comic run. Correct me if I'm wrong but from the knowledge I have. Jason's run as Robin was short in comparison to Damian, Tim's, and Dick's. I've seen a lot of year one Batman and Robin, Batman and Robin, Batman and son. Where it's Dick Damian or Tim, but not Jason. I've noticed a lot of comics focuse of Red Hood Jason and not Robin Jason or they have robin jason as a haunting narrative for redhood Jason. (I might be completely wrong but this is just what I've noticed from my visit to my local comic book store weekly)

I propose an idea.

A semi decently long comic run of Jason as Robin and Jason as redhood. It's a somewhat non-linear storyline. It's first introduced with Robin Jason year one, there's two narrators- Robin Jason that speaks his mind in present tense in the moment kinda like normal comics on what hes dojng what he found out and what he needs to do, but there's also a second narrative a second monolog that doesnt appear as often.

Their color box is a darker richer red, they speak in past tense and their text box speaks more on reworking their view of what happened and what they felt(kinda like in therapy where you review? Reconstruct? Put a different lense? On the memory) that monolog box belongs to Redhood Jason todd and it doesn't appear often.

The comic run will take on a more detective comic style, where it's not action! Action! Action! And you have a whole ark done in 6 issues, but where it takes its time, building feeling, the world, the situation, the stakes, the characters. You get to see Jason out of the Robin costume and in the Robin costume. You get to see some of his habits change as he grows into his new environment, how his Morals change the longer he's Robin. But I don't want the comic to drag as some arks in detective comics does. I want good pacing.

I want the struggles and story ark that Jason Robin has to go through really make him struggle or touch on a moral he has, causing inner reflection and change.

Then I want the comic to switch to the true present time. With Jason as redhood. I want the monolog boxes to then change with redhood being the main voice now talking in present tense abou the situation , what he found out, what he's going to do. While Robin Jason's voice is more background. Not talking in past tense but rather future tense.

I want their issues(the problems they are facing) to parallel each other. They are facing similar a situation but now in different times, I want then for Robin Jason's monolog box to talk in future tense about if he came across a similar situation what he would do. Only for present redhood to not do it. To show how different Jason Robin and Jason redhood are.

I want there to be mirrors between Bruce and Jason's relationship while he was Robin and while he is redhood. His relationship with Dick etc. I want there to he parallels between Jason out of the Robin costume and Jason out of the redhood gear, parallels on how they are nothing like each other but exactly the same. Their habits are similar but slightly to the left of each other.

I want the story to be haunting, inner reflective, and bittersweet.

Maybe the comic ends with redhood Jason looking at the mirror and seeing Robin Jason looking back. They stand face to face, looking each other in the eye, their monologs overlap and for once in the entirety of the comics run, they are thinking the exact same thing in the same tense because they are the same the person. they are one, nothings slightly to the left of each other.

But, because they are on each side of the mirror, it shows how separate and different they are.

[alicelufenia]

I've finished up reading book 2 of Pale Lights

And with that, I'm officially caught up with ALL of EE's writing! It took about 3 months (I think I started and finished on the same day - the 27th of December and of March respectively) but it feels like no time at all at the same time.

Thoughts time, and anticipation for book 3 and what lies in the future for ErraticErrata.

To start off, for anyone interested in the series but hasn't heard the news, Pale Lights will no longer be updating on WordPress, but will instead live on the (functionally more friendly to read on) Royal Road site. Which is fine by me, as it means cover art to show off, and @gwennafran's gorgeous designs. [book 1 and book 2] I love the choice of scene for book 1, probably Tristan's best chapter in Lost Things, while book 2's cover is a brilliant visualization of the Great Orrery, and our main setting for the series (probably).

Getting into spoilers below:

I'm just gonna lead with this: words cannot express how VINDICATED I feel to have been in Angie's corner since the very beginning, despite all the hate her character gets! Huh, it seems like now EVERYONE in the Thirteenth Brigade is a Problematic Fave.

Shame, that.

Except Izel, maybe, he's shaping up to be Just a BigLittle Guy like Tristan pretends but for real. I'm watching you, Coyac. You'll get your time, lad.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I was totally on the money in calling Scholomance Murder Harvard in my book 1 thoughts. I like that we've reached the point that "fantastical school designed to train Elite Badasses in the most unethical way imaginable" has become such a solid trope, there's no need to make comparisons to any hypothetical wizard schools that would remain unnamed or I'll block you on sight. I know that I was imagining book 1 as a really ambitious Blades in the Dark campaign with some custom rules for contracts, but now I'm picturing in my head a full on Pale Lights-flavored hack that introduces the 7 different covenants as the playbooks, corruption rules for aether entity possession, gloam exposure and sainthood—as much as I've waffled between systems to place the Guide in, I think Pale Lights fits nicely into the Forged in the Dark family of games. Especially since, by book 2's end, everyone in the Thirteenth has leveled up their capacity for intrigue and skullduggery, and not just killing/blowing shit up. More on that later.

Something I've noticed EE does regularly is he'll write one "book" that is technically two in one, as the plots on Tolomentara and at Scholomance are pretty neatly separated from those on Asphodel, such that I could see them being divided up in a hypothetical future publication. I've gotten a look at his latest AMA, and it doesn't seem like that's in the plans, aside from tightening up the part 1 pacing, but I can't be the only one who feels this way, and not just because the Guide is getting this treatment.

Not that it's a negative in any way, I enjoyed both sequences immensely, and how the characters changed and grew over even this single book is honestly really impressive. You can really tell he's gotten everyone to where he wants them to really start rolling on this series (assuming it's going to be as long lived as the Guide and not wrapped up in 3 or 4 books total).

That being said, phew it was really touch and go in that first part, huh? The thing they don't tell you about Bands of Misfits, is that they're often Misfits for a reason, and won't necessarily work well with each other just cause they're all equally anti-social/unhinged. And man, the way this team fights with each other, UGH, it gets BRUTAL at so many times. Like, Hakram and Catherine's fight was cathartic and rough, but things get ugly between members of the Thirteenth, and they don't really get better until they've all been reforged in the fire of Asphodel's revolution.

And speaking of one of those fights, uuuuh so this was probably real funny for anyone reading my book 1 thoughts and was caught up on this one, when I laid out how there's no way Song could have been the one to have shot Isobel back on the island. And no, "Song and Ferranda both shot her" doesn't change that, the intent and attempt was there and she'd do it again. Damn. So two things about that; my biggest reason to disbelieve it originally was because if that was the case, it was a phenomenally stupid thing for Song to do if she intended for Angharad to remain an ally. And not only was it still a terrible idea, not coming clean about it at the end of the trials when all was revealed was what sealed the betrayal, as far as Angharad was concerned. Which, yeah, that would have been the time to come clean, but sadly the Song from Dominion is not the same as the Song from Asphodel in terms of lessons learned. In her attempts to keep her "hand on the chisel" as she puts it, she treated those around her as her hammer, her tools, and that's something she had to learn not to do the hard way.

The second thing about that is, since we've now confirmed that, since she did in fact shoot Isobel, then we all can agree she definitely also shot Lan later on when they were all escaping the battle with the devils, yeah? She was down and wounded, Angie charging into danger after her, only for Lan to then be taken out in the exact way she thought Isobel had been shot (spun from the impact to account for her facing). Which is immediately followed by Song shouting for Angharad to come back out of danger. In fact that also answers how Isobel died facing Song and Ferranda, as it wouldn't have made sense for her to turn back to face them while they were all running from hollows; shot went through her head from behind and spun her, making it appear from Angharad's perspective that she was shot from the front and spun around (I guess muskets don't leave obvious exit wounds compared to entrances? I have no idea.)

That second thing hasn't actually come up yet, as only Tristan seems to remember Ju and Lan, but if it ever does, I called it.

Anyway, yeah I knew that Angie was gonna be mad about that. Emotion-manipulation contract or not, it still means Song executed someone she cared about but even worse, made that choice for supposedly her own good. Honestly I think Angharad took it pretty well despite how furious she was during their argument, if I had Angie's skills I can't say I'd trust myself with my sword at hand during that conversation.

I'm still glad it came out eventually, even though Angharad had to ask not once, but twice, for a straight answer from Song. Especially since that first time was right after Song was saved by Maryam's shade and woke up to the fact she needed to connect better with her squadmates, and then just didn't apply that to Angie. Needless to say I was not a fan of Song for a while there, but by the time of her dealings with the Yellow Earth and her dealing with the assassination attempt on Evander I was back in her court. In fact I'm gonna say everyone in the Thirteenth were lowered in my estimates at some point or another, only to rise back up and exceed my expectations.

Which I think is definitely something EE as an author is just amazing at; letting characters make mistakes, be genuinely flawed and at times unlikable people, and then put them through a crucible where they are forced into a position where they need to, not just trust someone, but put their faith in them. And come out the other end a somewhat better person, and better for it as well. I eat it up every time :D

Speaking of, the last few chapters were real standouts, it's kinda hard to pick a favorite, but by far the most impactful ones were Tristan and Maryam. Izel is here! And Cressida... is not a friend, but she's still in the story, which is good cause I like her. And Maryam! She has a sister, and she's her Stand! What? Okay! And their big moment was so cool, Tristan being willing to die by Maryam's side was barely a footnote in the same chapter by comparison, and that was also a moment of amazing sweetness.

So book 2 ends at pretty much the most cliffhanger cutoff point. How is everyone reacting to Angie staying on? How frigid are Maryam and Song toward Izel? Is anyone gonna ask about why Maryam now has a ghost popping out of her chest? Does Hooks count as a member of the Thirteenth? I have so many questions!

Speaking of new members, with Izel added on, EE has confirmed two more figures in the banner

So it now is confirmed to be Song - - Angie - - Izel - - Maryam - - Tristan - - ????

I have no clue on who the sixth member is. I'm not banking on anyone we know so far, it seems more likely to me they'll be someone introduced in book 3, same with how Izel was introduced to us and recruited in the same book.

I also notice the brigade membership cap happens to also be the same as the number of covenants at Scholomance. So far we have Academy/Stripes (Song), Skiritai/Militants (Angharad), Akellare/Navigators (Maryam), Krypteia/Masks (Tristan), and now Umuthi/Tinkers (Izel). All we're missing are Peiling/Savants (Scholars) and Arthashastra/Laurels (Diplomats). Hmmm. Given that Hooks has access to the Cauldron, were she to somehow end up in a separate covenant she could be Peiling with all that knowledge, but I have a feeling she's more attached to Maryam (being her Nav and all). So we have the potential for TWO more members from what are so far the two covenants we know the least about.

I'm looking forward to the next book taking place back on Tolomentara, I really liked that place and wanted to see more. A deadly school that's trying to eat you while you attend class is amazing, and there's still so much potential there. And now that everyone has been through their second major adventure, and, as I said before, seem to be at the place where EE wanted them to be so they can actually be a functional team for once, I look forward to what further intrigue they're going to get into.

So far it seems their skill sets have grown more broad rather than deep; Angie is slightly better at using her contract in a fight, but where she really excels with it now is information gathering, espionage that's nearly undetectable (able to know what's in a safe without opening it? Potentially busted when it comes to intrigue!). Song reading people better will make her both a better leader and tactician, if not any more deadly with a gun. Maryam and Hooks have a literal library in their brain(s). And Tristan has the potential to have gotten the biggest boost compared to any of them with his probability sight, but could lead to him taking more risks and leaps of faith, as he just did.

I feel like we're also gonna see what genre the book is gonna land in come book 3. We've broadened out from pure dark fantasy this time, but since what the team seems to be building themselves toward is getting deeper into intrigue and skullduggery, and then thriving in chaos when it inevitably breaks out, I can't really say we're gonna go full high fantasy again like in the Guide. Like Asphodel was the Thirteenth punching WAY above their weight class, and that was given circumstances lining up for them to even attempt it. But as a hint of what's some of the bigger threats out in the world? That was thoroughly demonstrated, and will likely have consequences for what further instructions/assignments they get now.

I have to say, it feels really nice to finally be caught up, and to actually be waiting on reading weekly updates instead of binging. This must be a fraction of what One Piece fans feel when they've caught up. I like it :)

Until next time (which shouldn't be too long, I may do more live reading highlights now that I can take my time)

[alexanderwales]

Movie Review: Upstream Color (2013)

I watched Primer when it came out on DVD. It's one of the few movies that, when I finished, I immediately watched a second time. I loved it. It was dense and opaque, and benefited greatly from a second watch, which made the whole thing slot together like a nice little puzzle. It was filmed on a razor-thin budget, with one of the main characters being a writer, director, producer, and editor. I immediately put Shane Carruth on my (then short) list of directors to watch.

So I've been meaning to watch Upstream Color, his second movie, for a full decade now. The reviews for it were never very good, and every Primer fan I knew of said that it was no Primer, and I guess I had other stuff going on for literally a dozen years. I keep a "to watch" movie list, which is usually 20-30 movies deep, and other stuff kept taking priority for one reason or another. I wanted to be in the right mood for it, that was definitely part of it. So I watch a movie every two or three days, something like 100 movies a year, and that means that since Upstream Color came out, I have watched more than a thousand movies instead of watching it.

Spoilers Follow

Let's start with the obvious: Upstream Color is no Primer.

I think that I could fit the story of Upstream Color into a single paragraph. It's not complicated. When we start any movie that my wife doesn't think she'll like, she goes to look up the synopsis and reviews and trivia and stuff, and she quoted me a review that said it was an "opaque mess", and ... I don't agree with that, but I can see where they're coming from.

Here's my plot synopsis:

A man (credited as "Thief") discovers some worms that can be used to induce a hypnotic state. He uses them to hypnotize a woman, Kris, and makes her give him her entire net worth while under hypnosis. When that's done, he leaves, and she writhes around under worm control until being summoned by some music by a different, unconnected man (credited as "Sampler"). The Sampler takes the worm out of her body, implants it into a pig, then releases her. She wakes up with no memory and her life is shattered. Later, she meets Jeff, who had the same thing happen to him, they fall in love, they have a psychic connection to these pigs, they gradually get more in touch with what happened to them, then they go kill the Sampler and rescue the psychic pigs.

I don't think that there's anything in there that anyone could be confused about. The movie spells everything out. There are one or two plot beats aside from that, but this is about it.

It's how the movie does this which is unusual. It's taking show, don't tell to its limits, almost never with dialogue that clarifies anything, and its scenes muddle into each other, with none of them feeling like they last more than a few seconds. There is essentially no grounding, even when it felt to me like there should be, and the movie doesn't ever really stop being a visual tone poem. I found this grating in the first five minutes, then got used to it, and eventually started to find it grating again. I guess my best point of comparison is Terrence Malick's Tree of Life, which I thought was more effective but also did grate on me a little bit.

When a moviemaker does something like this, particularly an auteur (or would-be arteur) like Shane Carruth, I always start by assuming that this is part of the point, that we're being fed the plot one way instead of another because it ties into whatever is going on thematically. And here ...

Where I thought it was most effective was the sequence when the baby pigs were being drowned, since we're almost required to have that whole thing be done with Kuleshov effect, cutting back and forth between the pigs and Kris and the pigs and Jeff. It's a nicely evocative little bit of cinema, even if I didn't think that it emotionally landed for me. Where it's less effective is when we really would have been better served by just having some straightforward exposition, or more standard filmmaking, but I guess if you're committing to the bit, you're really committing.

So what's the story about? What's the analogy, what's the theme?

Kris and Jeff are drawn together because of the psychic connection from the worms/pigs, but also (in my opinion) because they've both been victims of this horrible thing that's happened to them, their entire life having been torn down by some thief, then made to believe that they were somehow responsible. So they've got the psychic thing going on, yes, but they also have parallel traumas, and the same sort of gap in their lives. I think this what I'll call Thesis One, the shared bond of trauma.

Another major thing that struck me when watching the movie was that both our protagonists seem insane from the outside. They have this weird connection to each other that no one could understand (though they don't seem to have friends or family or anyone to talk to who could find it weird). They mix up their memories, and sometimes fight about that. They have bouts of irrationality, paranoia, anger, grief, with no explicable-to-them source. They feel like there's somewhere they're meant to be, but they try to follow that sense, and it leads them nowhere. To me, this immediately said "mental illness", so I'm going to call this Thesis Two, the terror of knowing that something isn't right with you, but having no idea what it is, having this internal feeling inside of you, patterns of behavior that make sense at the time. This movie is basically not shot like a horror movie in any way, and does not use the language of horror films, but I think it does share a lot thematically with the subgenre "mental illness horror" where the protagonist thinks they're crazy. That our two protagonists seem intensely codependent helps push that line.

Lastly, at least some of the movie is about personal identity and meaning, though I'm not sure that I would called that Thesis Three, mostly because I don't know what it's trying to say about personal identity. Clearly both Kris and Jeff are attempting to construct meaning in the wake of what's happened to them, and their identities bleed together with their overlapping memories, but this is just not fulfilled very much, and some of it is wrapped tightly in what I'd call the mental illness stuff.

Even if I'm reasonably confident in what literally happened in the film, and what it's about, there are a few things that don't really click for me.

In a normal film, I would expect that the sequence goes:

woman gets hypnotized and wormed

life is ruined

lots of strange thoughts and adventures with another man who is equally crazy

revelation that she's not crazy after all

revenge and catharsis

But in Upstream Color, the Thief and Sampler are implied to be operating entirely separate from each other. There's a little gap which can't entirely be closed through inference, but it's implied the Sampler incidentally pollutes the water with dead worm-pigs, the organism infects plants, those plants get (totally be coincidence?) taken up by exotic plant foragers, then bought by the Thief. So the Thief and Sampler apparently don't have any relationship with one another.

And yet, it's the Sampler, who removes the worms from people and puts them into pigs, that gets killed in the end. Yes, he was the one to kill the Kris-pig's piglets, but ... I don't really understand this narrative beat. Do they assume that he was the Thief? The Thief gets away with it, and all we see of him in the end is that he's sadly shaking his head because the magic worms are all gone.

I mean, yes, the Sampler is a creep who uses his psychic connection to peep on stranger's lives, and yes, most of these people (seem to be) victims of the Thief, and it's fucked up to not give them information or closure. But if the Sampler and Thief are unrelated, which seems likely to me, then it feels like the Sampler is taking bullets better meant for the Thief? Or is it just because he killed some piglets?

And what does that mean?

I am, moreover, confused about what the function of the Sampler is when compared to what the themes are. Does he tie in with the mental illness angle? No, not really. Does he tie in with shared bond of trauma? Only in that he's preventing people from getting closure, I guess. He's a voyeur, a failed artist, some of this ties to personal identity, but again, it doesn't feel like a strong thesis, it just feels kind of random, especially since we have virtually nothing to go on as far as the Sampler's motives or history. He seemed to me like he was mostly just an artist, with the sounds of nature as his primary art and the experiences of other people as his secondary "art".

I'm going to give my hot take on this movie now, which is that I would have liked it a lot better if it were more traditionally structured. The opening five or so minutes really made me think that I would have been better off leaving it on the to-watch list. The "piecing together the location of the Sampler and getting revenge" stuff was super rushed and kind of nonsensical, and offered no catharsis, only confusion.

Overall, I would say I didn't like the movie. I think it was trying too hard to be deep (for me this is a very high bar to clear), and didn't benefit from the experimental aspects, and would have been better if it at least had a stronger idea of what it was trying to say.

I will now go read some reviews, and maybe that will help something click for me. Hopefully I haven't missed anything major.