I’m rereading Po3 and despite its flaws I really enjoyed the introduction to the three. Jaykit isn’t mentioned to be blind in the first few chapters and instead they chose to show how much MORE capable he is compared to his littermates; until at the end of chapter 3, he brings up his blindness on his own. It makes forcing him to be a medicine cat SO much more frustrating because it really feels like they’re setting him up to be a warrior and choose his own fate (note i haven’t finished the reread this is just my first impression)
I like how you seem to take that path in BB regardless! It makes his arc so much more enjoyable
His arc in canon is super frustrating because he's such an independent character who clearly wants to make his own decisions in life, but then he just gets shoved into the medcat den. I LIKE that he ultimately goes there and that he enjoys it; but it was still really fucked up that they stripped away his autonomy in the process.
Re: they are not real, they are writing choices. Taking away the choices a disabled character can make over their own life, forcing them into a celibate nun role, and then going "awwwww dont worry see? he likes it! This was the best thing for him :)" was fucked up.
And imo it didn't have to be that way! You wouldn't have to go the FULL route I did with big changes, he could just be more involved in the descision to stop being a warrior apprentice and it would be fine. Minor change that would make a world of difference.
I do also have to interject to say though... blindness should really not be an extremely severe impairment for a ThunderClan cat.
I'm dead serious.
Whiskers are built-in sensors that tell you the exact position of everything within several inches of your head, ears swerve to pick up sound, and the jacobson's organ provides a sense of smell so keen that I have an entire Clanmew expansion draft because I needed to make WORDS describing the power of this sense that humans do not have. I cannot stress enough how delicate their other senses are, felines do not rely on their sight like primates do
ThunderClan lives in a mixed-oak woodland, where sight is already often obscured by foliage, objects are close together (for whiskers to feel), and nearly every movement makes noise against the leaf litter. RiverClan and (moor-running) WindClan cats would have a harder time with this disability than Thunder or Shadow.
Cat sight SUCKS to begin with. It sucks BADDD. They don't have color vision, they're significantly nearsighted, and they can't track up-and-down movements well. WC doesn't write realistic cats (more like small fuzzy people really) and I also work with more humanesque eyesight, but the only thing Jay should really lose is an ability to rapidly track a small animal swerving fast. Blind cats are often still excellent hunters in spite of that!
So it's an extra big waste that they railroaded him into a position he didn't choose, saying he couldn't be a warrior. This is the perfect disability to write, if you want to explore how ableism can impact the characters in this society who ARE legitimately still capable of nearly full independence, but still need to find accommodations for what they can't do.
In the same arc they're doing the dumb Cinder Reincarnation Plotline, no less!! Where SHE is also feeling like she has no choice over her "destiny," and gets a conflict over a potentially disabling injury
"Oh nooo if cinderpaw breaks her leg she wont be a warrior!"
"What the f-- Im Jaypaw and im reporting live from the scene where a Category 1 Idiot Moment is taking place. Woman breaks leg, suddenly everyone believes she is a horse, more at 11."
One of these days I should really make "herb guides" just covering how various sensory disabilities impact the lives of Clan cats and some tips for writing them as warriors, especially between Clans. Stuff you wouldn't usually consider, like how much noise deaf cats tend to make, how RiverClan would get a ton of sinus infections and lose their sense of smell, being blind in Sky vs Thunder, etc.
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I know for sure you made a most showing all of Hunter's official scars from crew art and whatnot, and I straight up cannot find them anywhere, do you happen to have reference photos??? I've looked in so many places (art reference struggle)
OOF. okay, lemme... make like an entire reference post lmaokxjsk
first of all, we've got the Cheek Scar. we all know this one:
(aw he looks so happy. i'm sure it'll stay that way!)
secondly, there's this scar on his left ankle:
it's on the outer side of his leg, located slightly above his ankle, and it seems to kinda "curve around" his leg too, since we can see the scar up-front as well as from the back.
then, there's the scar on his left upper arm. we can see it in the show, in dana's art, and in color design refs for the episode:
(cannot stop thinking abt him wearing the vet clinic t-shirt btw... he definitely voluntereed at camila's clinic at some point........ he must've been so happy. just helping out, taking care of little creatures.. ough. he'd love that..........)
BUT ANYWAY, the scar also seems to kinda curve around the outer side of his arm (similar to his ankle scar) and it's a little bit diagonal.
next! we also see a scar on his right upper arm, although it's only in this scene, so there’s a slight possibility it’s actually an animation error, but nevertheless! it is there, so:
it’s curved around the back of his upper right arm, horizontal.
then we have scars that dana has drawn on him but that aren’t actually drawn in the show:
an x-shaped scar on his right knee, a scar on the outer side of his left calf/on the back of his leg, as well as a diagonal scar on the top side of his left lower arm (peeking out from under his glove).
AAAAAAAANNDDDDDD...... then we’ve got the new scars, too. ow.
so............ he basically got new scars in most places belos’ goo was; probably wherever it was long enough to, uh, literally eat through hunter’s skin.. considering every animal belos had possessed before ended up being a skeleton....... SO..
new scars:
- a scar on his left cheek (similar to his previous cheek scar but mirrored + slightly smaller/shorter).
- a scar on his left ear (it goes allll around the back too), around his ear nick.
- a scar on...... a BIG portion of his right body: it has rather “jagged” lines and it starts and goes over his nose, his entire right cheek (covers a bit of his lower eyelid too), then it continues down to his neck (probably covers the entire right half of it, up-front and from the back), it probably covers his entire shoulder.. at the Least, and then it continues on and ends at his right upper arm....... uh
- a scar on his left arm. it extends from his wrist to mid-upper-arm (and also has jagged lines).
.........so! i’m in pain, i’m in agony, i’m in agony and pain and i just want him to be hAPPY.
but yeah! these are all the scars. i think
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