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alitgblog · 2 months

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volume V thoughts bc once again fusebox has got me intrigued

first of all omg wtf

I usually end up reading a few spoilers before I play bc I'm bored at work but don't wanna play the volume until I get back but I had such a busy day at work I didn't do that and wow ok I gotta avoid spoilers more often I was shook

so excess baggage was okay. like yeah makes sense we want the couples to be tense again before voting the couple superlatives thing, but also such a throwaway. (and also I talked about this in my post about last volume, but we have so many challenges in a row!! why)

since my MC did initially flirt with Oakley a lot more than Jin, I do think it's funny Oakley talks about how cool MC's secret is (like it's annoying fs but also something I've seen happen on love island to create small drama but then ultimately it's just talk so it's nice to have that happen here).

Also i was worried Oakley was gonna turn on us or flirt with us and abandon Emel, so I'm very glad he was just asking for advice. (I'm a big Oakley and Emel fan, what can I say?) I'd be okay if that led into a different storyline where you could pursue Oakley later, but with how fusebox has been making the seasons lately, once you pick you've made your choice and I do miss in for example s2 where even if you don't pick Lurik when they first become available you have a chance the next recoupling and it feels like it changes your route.

Jack is still mad at MC??

Couples game was fun. I wish fusebox formatted it so you discuss with your partner and then make a choice before everyone revealed their answers instead of people talking and explaining before the player picks their answer. Like we know the characters already, just let me pick and we can see who agrees.

Oakley's evening wear outfit 😍 best dressed boy fs

I of course could never bear to see Oakley and Emel go, but I surprisingly actually missed Sophie and Jack as soon as they left but like in a me missing Allegra and Miles/Jasper when they left. Like yeah they were irritating but they brought drama and I understand where Allegra/Sophie is coming from (and I support women's wrongs lol)

Jin going through his main character of S6 arc??? No but fr I can't imagine why the public would vote him out so he's either hiding something that's gonna come out when he gets back or he was voted most popular and is gonna come back soon. I hope it's not casa because (1) that already happened in s6 and (2) I want the chance to flirt around with new characters in casa lol. I've seen a few theories around and I have no idea which is true but if I could throw in another idea which is post casa, MC is finally with a bombshell, Claudia/Theo, or a casa boy and things seem good but Jin and Luna show up together as returning islanders and MC has to choose between Jin and her current LI.

It's so interesting for drama, like ik I'm here for it. But a lot of people like loyal routes so I hope yall are doing okay

I was like half hoping we could walk out with him even though of course fusebox isn't giving us that option but like I wish he said something like hey you just got here, enjoy your time at the Villa and I'll wait out there for you no matter what happens. just to explain why MC wouldn't leave. that being said, their goodbye was so sweet.

One thing that's different in the game than the show is the number of islanders present at once, which makes sense its hard to keep track of all of them (though they've done it before in s2), and it just is weird bc now the people in the Villa are MC (single), Claudia and Theo (who don't like each other), and Emel and Oakley (only one couple).

despite my complaint about the challenge thing this is great pacing/timing for a new islander. it's just a shame the screwed over Tyler coming in so soon after MC. I can't remember if I already wrote this in my last post but I almost wish he came in with MC and got a better chance.

#litg #litg s8 #rambling

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maverick-werewolf · 3 years

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On Werewolf Antagonists/Evil Werewolves

It’s that time of year when the things I love the most get noticed and celebrated at least a little by everybody else (even though corporations still hate creating typical Halloween products that actually include werewolves; seriously go check your local department store, it’s been this way since I was a tiny tiny child)...

Happy Howl-o-ween! Time for a special Halloween post!

(finally grabbed this game in a sale. Guess I’ll play it soon)

First off - welcome (again), new followers! I had a big ol’ followers flux, in part because my werewolf masterlist made the rounds and in part because of Overly Sarcastic Productions’ new video on werewolves! I communicated a lot with Red about research for it; be sure to check it out. You’ll recognize pretty much everything in there, if you’ve spent a lot of time on this blog (and if you’ve read my latest book, too)!

For a while now, I’ve been getting lots of messages and asks about werewolf stories and character concepts (and I always enjoy those!), but a lot of them have a something in common... an antagonistic or generally evil werewolf/werewolves or discussions thereof - or asking how to make a werewolf who isn’t an antagonist.

While villain werewolves are great and can be totally awesome, they are generally terrible, and on average, we do not like those or support or encourage them here on this blog. My goal with werewolf (and wolf) education is to encourage the creation of sympathetic and not evil werewolves and wolf-related characters. This doesn’t mean they have to be “cuddly” by any means (I’m not a fan of that, either), but it would be great to see werewolf characters that aren’t one-note villains.

Using them as villains is great, but I would so much rather see werewolf and wolf villains be done sparingly instead of the overwhelmingly “almost always” that you see today and have always seen throughout the history of entertainment.

Historically, werewolves (and wolves in general) are always cast in a bad light and as villains, often being pure evil and menaces that must be stopped (read: killed), and that needs to stop for so many reasons. If you want to hear more about that, though, you should read my book on how werewolves in folklore are not what they are in pop culture, how werewolves are nothing but misconceptions today, and why that isn’t a good thing.

All that being said, let’s move on to the meat of this post...

How do you make werewolves not evil?

There are many characters in stories. Not all of them have to be protagonists or antagonists. They do not have to be good or evil. Werewolves fit perfectly into shades of grey, whether they are directly cast as heroes or villains or not.

I want to emphasize something here: Werewolves are characters first and werewolves second. Essentially, werewolves are people, too.

It’s like any other character creation. If you create a character specifically to be “a female character” or “the love interest” or whatever, they are inherently going to suffer from that. If you make “the werewolf character” instead of making a character and then making that character happen to be a werewolf (or whatever other template you are applying), your character will never be as good as that character who was created as a character first and then the other element second. Do not let “being a werewolf” (or whatever other element is at play) dictate the character.

Almost all werewolf characters in media are werewolves first and characters second. They suffer for that. They aren’t really people - they’re just plot elements.

Werewolves are so much deeper than throwaway villains. At their core, werewolves are sill human, and they have problems and motivations and hopes and dreams like everyone else. Their lycanthropy affects that, not destroys it.

If you do not want the werewolf to be a primary hero or working with the primary hero, they do not necessarily have to be the villain, either. Werewolf characters can come and go like any other characters. Their motivations can be a mystery - they themselves can be part of that mystery. They do not necessarily have to be good or evil, but characters with their own motivations.

Being a werewolf does not have to impact them being good or evil at all. They could help the hero(es) directly or indirectly or only now and then, or they can be a looming threat the heroes hope they never have to face. They can be something that only helps the hero in their greatest moment of need due to the potential risks of doing so.

Werewolves can be a mysterious hermit, the wandering loner, the person who never lets anyone get close. They can drift in and out of a story and help the protagonists in only minor ways. They can be the Gandalf.

They can be literally anything in any story, if only horizons would be expanded. Werewolves are not a villain or antagonist, throwaway or not, by nature. They are characters, like everyone else. They just happen to also be werewolves, which only adds yet another very interesting layer to their characters - a layer that offers endless possibility and exploration, with so much character growth and development.

Werewolves are generally assumed to be villains. The natural line of thought is to make them such. That is exactly what I want to change.

The uncontrollable werewolves do not necessarily have to be the type to come charging out of nowhere, wanting to kill the protagonist and their friends for no reason at all. Give their animal side more depth, too. Why would it behave in such a way? What motivates it? Do you really want your readers to se your protagonist thinking that anything animalistic is an evil plague that must be destroyed, instead of just a part of nature that is trying to keep to itself? Or what if that werewolf was a hero, whether a hero or an anti-hero, instead of a villain - like all those other werewolves?

There are so many things one can do with werewolves. They can be enigmatic heroes, they can be the shades of grey. They could be a force of nature, they can be guardians, healers, sages, seers, shamans - they can be the thing that goes bump in the night, the thing you never see but know is there. They can be knights in shining armor with a dark side (my favorite and also my primary werewolf protagonist), they can be the absolute perfect anti-heroes - the possibilities are endless!

Werewolves do not inherently represent a force of evil or something to oppose the protagonists. They can take up any role in a story. Turn to folklore for ideas and inspiration! Read about them as great warriors, as heroes, healers, as simple wandering travelers - and as that friend you never expected could turn into a wolf and bring you a deer to eat when you got too hungry on the road.

Werewolves are not something that always has to be “fought” in a story. They can simply be a part of the world and part of the environment, a character someone sees in passing. They don’t have to be at the forefront as heroes and villains. They don’t have to be “faced” and “dealt with” in some way every time they are encountered. The fact that so many people write stories in which the werewolf must be immediately dealt with and is “evil” only highlights further the fact that werewolves have been put in this evil light because humanity feels it must destroy and restrain the forces of nature instead of letting the wild be free.

And if you want to have a werewolf who isn’t a hero (not all stories need werewolf heroes, either, after all), a great role for a werewolf is a red herring, since everyone does naturally assume a werewolf will be evil - but maybe that werewolf just wants to be left alone instead.

Werewolves are often at their best when they are only under suspicion - when the characters are wondering and worrying about it. Wonder if that thing behind them is the werewolf. Is the werewolf evil? Is it going to kill me? Are they even a werewolf? Like any horrific creature, werewolves are at their strongest when they are not front and center and tearing up everything, but when they are mysterious and a source of fear - when they are more characterized and less a monster encounter action scene that comes and goes in a hurry. When they are too powerful to be fought directly and are best just avoided.

This is why werewolves make for such great horror and mystery - and that can also help characterize them.

Maybe the protagonists cannot be sure if the person is a werewolf or not - and if that person is on their side or not. Maybe the werewolf doesn’t specifically help or fight them. And maybe ,at some crucial moment, the werewolf will appear and offer aid. Werewolves make for great enigmatic characters, especially when they are trying to hide their nature.

Most folklore werewolves are not necessarily heroes or villains (though they often came in a more heroic variety before the Renaissance, of course). Werewolves can take so many different roles, depending on what story you want to tell.

My favorite werewolves will always be those that have a dark side, not those that are sweet and cuddly. To me, if a werewolf is not in some way dark, it isn’t actually a werewolf (especially if they are just dog-people, which isn’t werewolves at all, but you’ve all heard me rant about that before). But that absolutely does not make them inherently villains - it makes them extremely interesting characters with endless depths to explore. Giving a character lycanthropy only gives them that much more substance. It should never take substance away - which is what tends to happen with a lot of werewolves in media, especially those one-note villain ones or the simplistic ones that are just a plot point in a mystery (and then are generally killed anyway).

So do not fall into that trap of making werewolves the villain(s) in your story/setting/etc. Think of them as you would both individuals and a force of nature - the most dangerous wild animal of them all... but not in any way inherently “evil.”

I hope this provides food for thought about making a character first and putting the werewolf element second - having that character you created react to being a werewolf the way a real person would, instead of existing solely as a plot element and/or a villain.

Expect more in-depth writing advice posts on this topic in the future!

And in conclusion... Happy Halloween!

(If you like my werewolf blog, be sure to check out my other stuff!

Patreon --- Wulfgard --- Werewolf Fact Masterlist --- Twitter)

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abumbledbee · 3 years

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Tubbo and Wilbur’s Parallels

tw/ mentions of death / suicidal ideations

“If I can’t become the next Schlatt, then you can’t become the next Wilbur.”

This is a quote from Tubbo, given just before the exile arc began, when he was arguing with Tommy. Tommy accused him of acting like Schlatt because he was putting the nation's needs before him. Tubbo, offended at the comparison, reminds Tommy that he is acting irrationally, and is reminding Tubbo of Wilbur.

When we speak of parallels between Tubbo and Tommy with Schlatt and Wilbur, we’re often inclined to compare Tubbo with Schlatt, because they worked together so closely during Schlatt’s reign, and the complicated relationship between them which ultimately ended up with Schlatt having Tubbo lose a canon life for his betrayal. And due to Tommy and Wilbur's close relationship before and up to Wilbur's betrayal, it's easy to draw comparisons between them as well.

But I think we often overlook a lot of similarities between Tubbo and Wilbur that are worth delving into more, and the farther Tubbo goes with his character the more comparisons I keep catching. At this point I think Tubbo's character parallels Wilbur's far more than Tommy's does.

Wilbur was the founder of L’Manberg, and its first president. It’s a nation he built from the ground up, which started as nothing more than a front for his drug lab but grew into something bigger and more meaningful than Wilbur ever planned for. While on the server he found love (?) and had a child, Fundy, and then things began to get rocky as they fought for their independence against Dream.

Ultimately Wilbur fails to protect L’Manberg and their independence is bought by way of Tommy sacrificing his discs in return. Wilbur ends up losing his country by way of being exiled when Schlatt wins office, and we watch his descent into madness as he realizes how much he cared for the country and how no matter what he does, what it once was is gone forever in his eyes. The Pogtopia arc originated with Wilbur trying to come up with a plan to secure his presidency again and to reclaim his country. It ends with Wilbur refusing his original role and ultimately destroying the very thing he created along with himself because he couldn’t bear to see what it or himself had become.

In Wilbur’s darkest moments we see them play out on screen, his button room is one of the most iconic scenes we got during this period of the storyline. Wilbur in an enclosed space, surrounded by the signs reminding him of what L’Manberg once was and what it would never be again. He's hounded by his thoughts, his mental state shattered and he no longer believes there's any other course of action.

Ultimately this is his final resting place, the room where he sets off the TNT that destroys L’Manberg for the first time. He begs his father, who had just arrived to the server because he was worried when Wilbur stopped sending him letters, to kill him. And Phil does.

L’Manberg’s story does not end here, despite what Wilbur did. It begins again, with Tubbo and a crater. We talk about Tubbo being president of L’Manberg as though he was just taking on the role and a nation the way Schlatt did, but in reality, he founded it again. Tubbo, along with Phil and others, REBUILT an entire city on the rubble of its former life. Tubbo’s L’Manberg is in fact nothing like Wilbur’s, except for the parts Tubbo purposely recreated, like the camar van.

The major difference in their takes on presidency is that Tubbo did this for Tommy, for Wilbur, for the original citizens. He took on the role of President out of duty to Wilbur who passed it down to him when he felt unfit to rule again. He did his best on behalf of everyone who fought on Pogtopia's side, to reclaim a nation they all had lost. In the end he lost it one final time, chunk errored by way of Phil, Techno, and Dream.

And from here on we see a new Tubbo. The bright-eyed, president-elect is no more, and instead he begins to isolate himself from the main server. He retreats to a snowy biome separated by water, and builds a house and gives it a name. Snowchester. Now, most people wouldn't give just a house a name. Even from the start Tubbo was creating a new community, without even realizing. Eventually Snowchester grew to be a legitimate colony of its own, with Jack Manifold, Foolish, and Puffy all moving in and setting up shop. He declares independence, and in doing so, decides he must ensure it any way possible. He's seen what happened to Wilbur's L'Manberg, how helpless the other man was in keeping it safe. He knows he failed his own L'Manberg, and he will not let it happen again.

He hatches a plan with Jack, and the answer is.... Nukes. A bomb, in other words. But instead of using it to destroy his nation, it'll be used to protect it. Tubbo designs it, and they ensure it works with a test launch before decommissioning the remaining two. Time passes and eventually, he's opening up to people again. Tubbo marries Ranboo and they adopt a child together.

Suddenly it's not just Tubbo, it's Tubbo and Ranboo, Tubbo and Michael, and then Tommy is gone. It's shocking, and unexpected, and he doesn't believe it at first. He's been so beaten down under Schlatt's regime he no longer openly shows his emotions, the closest we get to seeing his true grief during this time is when he stares at the memorial he just finished for Tommy in Snowchester. Then comes the anger.

He wants to know how this could've happened, he tries to investigate it, but before he can get too deep into it, Tommy's back. Revived, and Tubbo has had to experience losing him and gaining him back again twice now. Inevitably, like with most of Tommy's plans, Tubbo is roped into his next one. And it's a doozy. Tommy reveals that he wants to kill Dream, to ensure he can never revive anyone else, and Tubbo reluctantly accepts.

One of the most troubling moments during his investigative time was when he made a room for him to fill with his notes and evidence. At first glance it is deeply reminiscent of Wilbur's button room, the walls covered in signs and his lectern in the middle of the room mimicking the button. Because Tommy returns before he can get further in his investigating we'll likely never see this room again, but seeing him make it to begin with filled me with unease.

Tubbo has lost his fear of death. It's first noticed at Doomsday, when he defeatedly jumped in front of Techno's rocket launchers over and over again. We see inklings of it again and again, such as when he scoffs at his chat begging him not to investigate Techno for the TNT at the prison, saying he'd die. Tubbo just replies with "So be it." and continues on. We see it again when he and Ranboo investigate the Eggpire and get caught, and he continues to fight with them until he's only got a few hearts left. He mentions feeling exhilarated, full of life from almost losing his last. It's a reminder of the violent life he's had til this point, his time in the SMP filled with war and bloodshed since the very beginning. He's not afraid to fight despite being on his last life, in fact at times he seems almost ready to end it all.

Yesterday's lore stream was unsettling in a few different ways. The first being Tubbo casually mentioning how his eyes play tricks on him. It's a throwaway mention towards possible hallucinations or paranoia. He also refers to himself as paranoid later on when he's worried someone's hurt Michael, and it bothers him so bad that the next minute he rushes over to ensure Michael is safe. He is willing to do whatever he must now, to ensure Michael can grow up safely, much like Wilbur wanted for Fundy, with no Dream to terrorize the server any longer.

Wilbur's initial wish for L'Manberg once it was fully formed was for it to be a nation his son could grow up safely in, with all the possibilities at his fingertips, until their independence was threatened and he had to focus on leading an army instead of being a father.

But even more upsetting than that, is Tubbo's admission to how he designed the nuke. He tells Jack after one is stolen that there is a manual detonation option, a dead man's switch. He designed the bomb to have a suicidal solo detonation option as a last resort, so if he ever needed to use it and Jack wasn't there he could take matters into his own hands. Tubbo was so ready to ensure if something happened to his self-made colony he could deal his revenge even at the cost of his final life. His reasoning for making the nukes was not for self-defense, it was so he could finally take a swing back at whoever took from him again. He'd seen L'Manberg destroyed twice by people who initially sided with it, had 2 canon lives ripped from him by way of betrayals. He might not have thorns on his armor but by god will his death have them, and heaven help whoever is on the receiving end of his suicide-start nuke.

This mimics Wilbur's final steps but from the logical, more level-headed mind of Tubbo. He's created a bomb, a weapon of destruction he's willing to die with. Wilbur wanted to die with L'Manberg, Tubbo is willing to die for Snowchester.

#tubbo #wilbur #wilbur soot #c!wilbur #c!tubbo #meta #character analysis #trigger warning #tw #suicidal ideations #mentions of death #dream smp #vilbur #tommyinnit #ranboo #jack manifold

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marcspectrr · 3 years

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Omg intrigued by the mixed thoughts on the season two wardrobe

Ahdjdk this is one of those things that I'm not sure people will agree with but I'll try to explain :)

First off, I think Emmie (the costume designer) did an amazing job on season 2. I think if the show keeps up with consistency in anything it's in the wardrobe (for the most part). There are certain things that carry over from the first season and it's really fun to fixate on analyze. We see Sarah wearing some of John B's pieces to expand on where they're at in their relationship (a great show-not-tell) as well as some of JJ's wardrobe, which I'll get into in a second.

The thing I love about wardrobe is that if it's treated right, it can tell just as much of the story as any narration or dialogue can. Emmie has said in an interview how one of the challenges she faced in s2 was creating the new looks as far as the different weather and the Pogues going back to school. In s1 we have them lounging around in the sun, presumably some time around the beginning of summer after Hurricane Agatha caused a power outage, leading to a lighter wardrobe. She wanted to symbolize this transition (getting the power back and going back to school) into the clothes, with more colors and patterns and I think it definitely showed.

I thoroughly loved John B's wardrobe mostly because of the attention to detail, I'm pretty sure his was my favorite this season. Both Emmie and Chase were supposedly inspired by the early 90's and Kurt Cobain for his character, which translates very well into John B. I love that the patterned shirts and bandana making a comeback, along with the doodles on his shoes and even the sweater, they're just all very in-character. I also loved this hat for some reason (also, highly recommend this blog as well). Some of my favorite looks...

Out of all of the characters, John B and JJ are seen cycling through some of their wardrobe (their shoes, their hats, etc) which I really like because it's realistic for kids like them to be doing this, especially with being in the lower class.

Kiara's clothes was where I started getting picky. Her wardrobe was inspired by the 70's and overall I think it did her character justice. I liked how they kept the headbands/bandanas going, along with her friendship bracelets while adding in new jewelry that I think fit her character very well (the moon ring and the ying yang necklace, etc). And I absolutely LOVED the reappearance of her sweater from the pilot. These were my favorite :)

I hc that her mom really liked going shopping with her specifically because they had similar taste, she never pushed her into getting clothes that were trendy but instead took her to little thrift shops on the weekends and helped her pick out outfits she could tell Kiara liked. I didn't personally like too many pieces from s2 (s1 is where it's at) but, again, I think they fit her. The main thing that I couldn't move past was the layers. I understand it doesn't really get that "cold" in the obx so wearing crop tops/bralettes under jackets might make sense but to me it was a little confusing. Sometimes I can't help but feel, even though it's a summer teen show, that the clothing on the female characters is just to objectify their bodies.

I think they stayed true to Popes wardrobe too, for the most part. We still got the patterned button ups and I loved the choices on his shoes this season. There were a few shots that felt a little Kooky to me though lol I feel like there's a fine line between what the show has est as the clothes of a Kook and the clothes of Pope (both wear light button ups with maybe boardshorts, very clean looking) but I think the difference lies in the shoes. I also wish he had an accessory like the rest of the Pogues have -- they all have different variations of the bandana and friendship bracelets but I still feel like he could use something that just makes me think 'that's so Pope'. Some of my favorites from him were these.

JJ's wardrobe holds a lot of context for his character and ironically that was part of my problem. He still had his rings, his bracelets and his necklace, and he had his boots for most of the season, occasionally switching to sandals. He still had the bandana hanging out of his back pocket and still wore cut off shirts and ball caps and various T-shirts that have clearly taken some damage. My favorites this season were these.

My problem doesn't exactly reside within the wardrobe choices as much as it does with the shows writing and how they neglected to show/address where he was living. He makes a comment about how he didn't have a place to stay (which is impossibly hard to believe with John B back in the Chateau but whatever this show loves throwaway lines agdjfk) so we're assuming he's homeless after his dad went to jail. That would have a lot to do with what he wears because again, wardrobe should tell a story, and I think for the beginning it was evident he was wearing old clothes as opposed to Kie and Pope, who could've gotten new clothes for school and whatnot.

Overall I think I liked the wardrobe, I just have weird opinions on things and think they're a big deal when they're not. I obviously love the Pogues in plaid any time and I adore when they share clothes (hoping to see some of that with jiara).

#obx #obx s2 #outer banks season 2 #john b routledge #kiara carrera #pope heyward #jj maybank #i am glad you asked thank you!!#i love the details in the wardrobe so much #jiara #jiara sharing clothes is truly perfection

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itsonlystrange · 3 years

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Stop saying “(insert character name here) has never done anything bad in their life. They’re babie and are so innocent.” Or “(insert character name here) did this so they’re the worst most selfish character and deserve to die next season!!”

news flash! Every. Single. Character. In . Stranger. Things. Has. Made. A . Mistake.

AND THATS OKAY!

All characters have flaws. If they don’t it makes them boring characters. I’ve seen FIVE. F I V E people say today that will is the most selfish character of stranger things and deserves to, and I quote, “die next season, #killwillbyers .” No. I’m not kidding.

For starters: Will may have been inconsiderate last season but reminder!! 1. He’s a 14 year old boy 2. Him wanting to play d&d doesn’t make him a bad character it makes him a DIMENSIONAL character. Stop expecting him to be perfect. He’s learning. He’s growing. He doesn’t deserve to die just because he wanted to play D&D. Him calling El stupid was a throwaway line. Mike didn’t even care that Will called El stupid because Mike understood Will didn’t mean it and that he was frustrated, so you shouldn’t either. I admit, calling El stupid wasn’t cool, but neither was El assaulting Max but apparently that’s justified. My point is: EVERY CHARACTER IS FLAWED. Every one. Stop pretending like Will is the worst thing that’s happened to the show and stop pretending like (insert character here) is the most small harmless bean ever:

This is coming from an EL STAN aswell. I’m just pointing out the hypocrisy in this fandom. Because it’s insane. Apparently Will calling El stupid (which I’m not saying wasn’t bad- I’m just saying you can’t seriously hate a character for making a realistic mistake and refusing to acknowledge all of the selfless things Will has done and only pointing out the one thing he’s done that makes him flawed.) but point is, apparently Will calling El stupid makes him the most selfish awful person ever but El assaulting Max and completely not being understanding in some elements of seasons 2 and season 3 and in ways being a brat, it’s fine because “it was a mistake”, which it WAS! El doesn’t deserve to be hated for those things because she’s a dimensional character and I love her. But stop ridiculing others for things you wouldn’t ridicule your fave for.

Every character has messed up. Stop expecting characters to be perfect. I’ve seen people say Will was worse than Billy. Billy, the racist abuser. Exactly.

These characters need to have flaws to be good and entertaining characters. And remember, the party members are KIDS! They’re brains are still developing! They’re children! They’re learning and developing. They aren’t the Pope or Obama. They say and do mean things. Doesnt mean their actions shouldn’t have consequences, it just means that you have to understand that your fave isn’t going to be unproblematic all the time. Deal with it.

Every one of the party members has made a mistake or multiple.

MIKE: made out with el for 6 months straight and ditched his friends. Can be a complete asshole. Ignored the “best thing that’s ever happened to him”, tried to control El, is an ass to Max

LUCAS: was wary of El and insulted her. Can be too blunt and can forget about his surroundings and about others feelings

DUSTIN: kept dart despite knowing it was from the upside down. Can be selfish

WILL: was inconsiderate of Mike’s break up, called El stupid.

EL: assaulted Max, spied on mike despite knowing mike hated it, was very blunt and rude in ways, can be a brat and doesn’t understand some things that are meant to keep her safe

MAX: Can be a total asshole. Very set in her ways. Doesn’t like to understand peoples point of view

THIS DOESNT MAKE THEM BAD CHARACTERS! Instead of paying attention to their bad traits start recognizing all the good things they’ve done. All of their GOOD traits. This fandom can be so pessimistic at times.

Every single member of the party has made mistakes and have done morally incorrect things. But they’ve also done very good things too!!! 97% of the things the party members have done have been GOOD. Stop paying attention to that 3% that isn’t morally correct or selfless or kind. You’ve made mistakes and I’m sure you’d hate being ridiculed for the rest of your life over one thing you did months ago. Or one mistake you made when you were younger and more naive or when you were still growing.

Instead of pointing out the bad things each party member has done and holding them up to impossible expectations because they are CHILDREN, take a minute to appreciate all of the good things they’ve done, which include (but aren’t limited to)

MIKE: Loyal, kind, patient, understanding, puts his friends needs infront of his own, will do anything for the people he loves, trustable

LUCAS: rational, leaves no man behind, defends his friends no matter what, brave, fights for his friends

DUSTIN: Patient, uplifting, funny, always will be there for you and will listen to you. Super smart, can get you out of any scientific or mathematical situation. Unapologetically himself

WILL: loyal, kind, a great listener, the mediator, peaceful, selfless, loves you unconditionally, puts his needs behind everyone else so he won’t worry his mom or the party

EL: selfless, brave, would sacrifice herself for her friends and family. Kind hearted and genuine. Always forgives people for their actions

MAX: will beat someone up if she found out they bullied you. Very uplifting and encourages you to be independent and to love yourself

AND THATS NOT EVEN ALL OF THEM!

Appreciate the good traits your favorite characters have! I’m not saying you aren’t allowed to dislike a character but it’s complete bullshit that you’d create some personal head canon that so and so is an awful person or make up lies about a certain character just to get an excuse to dislike the character.

These kids have trauma. Stop expecting them to deal with their trauma in 100% healthy ways. This is the EIGHTIES. They can’t just go find a support group online or go on Quora to find the answer as to why they’re acting a certain way.

These kids are misunderstood and they really just need a hug. Stop making a certain character out to be something their not.

And for the love of god, El and Will are both great characters and are my 2 favorites so can we stop this war it’s pointless

AND ALSO:

If you wish death upon ANY of the party members I will personally kick you into orbit. They are 14. who wishes death on 14 year old children?! That is disgusting.

Anyways, have your faves. Enjoy the show. And I’m not telling you NOT to dislike a character but instead of hating on them, level with them. Put yourself in their shoes. Reason with them and ask yourself, “Well maybe I also would act like this if I went through what they went through.”

Character are going to have flaws! Don’t let that stop you from appreciating the parts of their character that are good and lovable.

I’ll say it again: a good character needs to have flaws to he entertaining.

So no: the statement “(character here) has never done anything wrong in their life ever.”

Because they have. And that’s OKAY! Normalize having flawed yet lovable and enjoyable characters. That’s why I love ST so much. The party is REALISTIC. The kids ACT LIKE KIDS. Stop expecting them to be and act like 45 year old men or women. They’re learning. Growing. And developing.

PS: this does not go for the characters that have no good qualities and simply are villains *cough, Brenner and Lonnie cough*

#stranger things #stranger things 4 #mike wheeler #will byers #st4 #dustin henderson #lucas sinclair #el hopper #max mayfield #the party

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theshinobiway · 4 years

Text

I Fix Team Gai’s Endings:

CAN I GET SOME LITERARY PAYOFF PLEASE?

Might Gai

How it Ended:

Gai fails to defeat Madara despite having the ‘best chance’ as a Taijutsu master.

Gai narrowly escapes death and his leg is shattered, disabling him for life.

One of his precious students is dead.

He’s forced to retire from the career he’s spent his whole life attempting to build.

Well, be does get to spend his time with Kakashi (who is also in retirement), so he does have some silver lining.

What SHOULD have happened:

Gai defeats Madara, cementing his reputation as the legendary Taijutsu Master and gaining respect for Taijutsu users worldwide OR

Gai narrowly fails to defeat Madara, but Rock Lee avenges Gai by surpassing him (Possibly inventing a new level of Taijutsu that surpasses the 8 Gates).

Even if Gai is disabled, he gets the fame he deserves by being the most renowned Sensei in history. He becomes the model for all future Jounin instructors, and his training methods and philosophies (and by extension, Duy’s) become ingrained in Konoha’s teachings.

Might Duy receives the honor he deserves post-mortem because of Might Gai’s heroism.

People from all over come to battle Might Guy in his dojo, who still manages to defeat all of his challengers despite the lack of mobility in his leg. He accepts students who show particular grit, and it’s considered a badge of honor to receive tutelage from Gai.

Gai still spends retirement with Kakashi, going on trips and leaving his dojo to Lee and Tenten when he’s gone.

Rock Lee

How it Ended:

Rock Lee is an Average Dad

Despite being a romantic, his wife is nowhere in sight. He was never shown with a happy marriage with someone who loves him for who he is.

He has no particular fame or renown for his part in the war, and he has no major fights in the final war arc.

Lee doesn’t get a rematch with Neji OR Naruto.

We find out in the final war arc that Lee has a…CLAN? And then it’s never mentioned again.

What SHOULD have happened:

Lee needed way more screentime during the war. This would cement him as someone important and give us a chance to finally see Taijutsu at it's most advanced‐and I don't mean just the gates. I'm talking sheer technique and will of the human body that simply decimates.

Lee would either team up with Gai in the final fight (or attack) against Madara. If Gai gets defeated, it's Lee who steps up to the plate, delivering this badass monologue: "You all thought Taijutsu had its limits. You all thought I had my limits. Well, let me say this now: I, Rock Lee, have finally pushed Taijutsu beyond what you thought impossible. And how did I do it? Simple. You decide your limits from the beginning... and I reach them."

Lee, to the witness of the entire world, defeats Madara. No one is sure what to make of it at first, but it's clear: he's unlike any other Shinobi in history. He's created something they've never seen before and it's strong. And now, they believe in him like never before.

In the post-war, Naruto is approached with an offer about about a path to becoming Hokage. At the same time, he learns that the village is banishing Sasuke for the time being until they can sort out what to do. Naruto realizes political corruption exists so our precious war hero chooses going/being with Sasuke/his team. It's unintendedly a major political statement that has the elders clutching pearls and clamoring to pardon Sasuke. In his sendoff amid the uproar about him leaving, Naruto loudly nominates Lee in front of all the other Kage and drops the mic.

When finally confirmed after much drama, Lee makes for a FAR better Hokage. His arc goes from disadvantaged, talentless youth to the most impressive Ninja in existence by sheer hard work, the guiding theme of the series. No one worked as hard or stayed as humble as Lee, and Naruto recognized that.

Naruto can be his ‘War-Hero’ right hand when he returns. The "Hand of the Hokage." He still gets the “heroic” validation he REALLY wanted without the responsibility of governing.

Shikamaru is nervous about working with Lee since he's the opposite style in terms of, ahem, "actually working," but after a few early riffs and some honest communication, the two actually learn to balance each other out: Lee teaches Shikamaru be more diligent, Shikamaru teaches Lee to pace himself.

This also frees Naruto and Sakura up to actually accompany Sasuke on his redemption journey, be more present in the series, have relationships develop naturally, and explore the political repercussions of the war and everything that led up to it. It's a point of humility for Naruto to admit he wanted love and confidence over the real responsibility of governing, and let's just say the most effective ruler is always the one who never asked for the job. Naruto is better suited having his own squad as a jounin.

Shikamaru gets exasperated by the shenanigans Lee sometimes pulls in the office to train while doing paperwork. Lee often overworks himself too much and Shikamaru feels bad on his behalf, eventually encouraging him to delegate work. He has a much easier time guilting Lee into going home, though, because Lee would never choose to miss time with his family when it comes down to it.

Lee Clan? Don’t know her.

Lee surpasses Might Gai to become the most renowned taijutsu user in existence, paves the way for taijutsu specialists in shinobi culture.

Lee happily lives with his wife and Metal, who were definitely introduced either in a stand-alone novel or earlier in the series. They are the quirkiest, but most loving family in Konoha.

Their love story is meant to be cute and has the theme of “loving someone for exactly who they are.” I would love it if his wife was also disabled but excelled in her own field and Lee admired her for it.

Lee invents a new style of Taijutsu techniques that he uses to defeat Madara. These techniques are on-par with some of the most legendary jutsu in existence.

Lee finally defeats Neji in a match, completing the arc we started in season 1. It’s a legendary fight that's still talked about to this day.

Lee’s condition is finally explained as being from a sickness he had as an infant that almost took his life. Gai had the same illness, but not as bad.

He spends his adulthood looking for information on this sickness. He doesn’t want a cure for himself, but he has research done so it can save the lives of other children.

Lee does a training routine every morning. Academy students who idolize their Hokage eventually join in and try to keep up. It’s also endearing to the village that their Hokage makes time for the kids.

Even if they can’t finish the routine (and none of them can) Lee congratulates them every morning on doing their personal best.

Often, Lee teaches valuable life lessons at the end of his morning training sessions–just like Gai.

Tenten

How it Ended:

Tenten sets out to become a Legendary Kunoichi, but only manages to be legendary because she wields/owns all the Sage Weapons.

Tenten is never given a thorough backstory.

Tenten ISN’T the head of Konoha weapons research.

Tenten finally accepts that she isn’t like other girls and doesn’t want to have relationships or get married, her friends support her.

Tenten embraces her goofy side, becomes more like Gai and Lee and is heavily involved in their lives.

What SHOULD have happened:

Tenten originally sets out to be like Tsunade–the woman who could heal an entire army. She isn’t great at medical jutsu, but later discovers that her abilities mirror the Fourth Hokage.

Tenten vows to be legendary like the Fifth, powerful like the Fourth.

Tenten rediscovers and revives the Uzumaki’s sealing jutsu. This, coupled with her mastery of Minato’s jutsu, make her untouchable.

Tenten acquires all Sage weapons, gains fame for using them in battle to turn the tide of the war. Minato meets her and recognizes her as his successor. He gives her his blessing to revive the Uzumaki techniques as her own.

Tenten instead becomes the “Legendary One-Woman Army” In the war arc, she can teleport entire platoons of shinobi in an instant. She rains destruction down on the Zetsu army.

Tsunade comments that her “strength of a hundred″ seal would have been wasted on Tenten; Tenten has the strength “of a thousand.”

Tenten’s mastery of seals lets her identify and rig the reincarnation seal; All deceased Shinobi that were forced to fight have their free will restored. Tenten has your army now.

Post-War, Tenten, at Hinata’s command, finds the way to remove the Caged Bird seal from the Hyuga clan.

Instead, a new seal is given to EVERY member (starting with Hinata) that functions to protect the Byakugan after death but has no other effect. It effectively halts all attempts by outside forces to steal the Byakugan.

Tenten keeps her weapons shop only because it suits her and her down-to-earth personality. She also likes the freedom to travel as she pleases, exploring the world and discovering more about the Uzumaki.

Tenten is famous for being Konoha’s #1 desirable single, but she will never settle down. It’s not what she wants.

Tenten deflects suitors with sharp objects as a gag. Everyone, though they may not understand, supports Tenten being exactly who she is, and they protect that. It remains a quietly apparent choice her character has made, and doesn't act as a challenge for the plot to fix.

She eventually becomes the sensei of Metal (and Neji’s child too, if he has one.) She pulls pranks on her team to both train them and remind them of who's in charge.

She still is involved in the lives of Gai, Lee, and Neji.

Neji Hyuga

How it Ended:

Sigh.

He begins his arc by cursing the fact that he’s going to die for the main branch and then…dies for the main branch. (And Naruto, I guess.)

Neji does not see his clan unified.

Hiashi’s throwaway comment during the war meant nothing. Neji and other branch members still had their seals. The Hyuga clan still went into the war with “head” and “branch” families.

Neji does not get a rematch with Lee.

Neji doesn't speak to his father during the war.

What SHOULD have happened:

Hiashi dies for Neji, proving beyond a reasonable doubt that familial love comes before the hierarchy and reversing the old narrative.

Hiashi declares Hinata the new leader of the Hyuga with his dying breath, and tells her she knows what to do. He cryptically hints that Neji will lead the Hyuga to a brighter future. Hiashi knows the elders wouldn't accept Neji as head right off the bat, but he knows his daughter will stop at nothing to fight for her family.

This is also Hiashi’s redemption, finally repaying his brother’s sacrifice.

Neji gets to speak to his father during the war. It’s one of the most heart-wrenching scenes in the whole anime.

Post-War, Hinata stands before the elders and abolishes the status of head and branch families. She also has Tenten abolish the seal, as well as create an entirely new seal that goes on every member to completely protect the Byakugan from thieves but serves no other purpose.

Neji is the first to have his seal removed, Hinata is the first to have the new seal.

Hinata then declares Neji the new head of the Hyuga while she finally gets the quiet, peaceful life she’s always wanted. If the opportunity did present itself, however, she may have her own squad with a similarly shy kunoichi. She comes to Neji often for advice on how to best train them.

Neji leads the Hyuga through major reform, abolishing harmful training methods and teaching the younger generation about the importance of family.

Neji is rightfully respected and hailed as the greatest Hyuga as he single-handedly creates new techniques that we see used in the next generation.

The Hyuga clan now selects their future leader from the most capable in the family. Hanabi is fine with this because she ‘knows she’ll be the best anyway.’ Neji teases her by saying he ‘isn’t so sure’, which pushes Hanabi to work harder.

The Hyuga are one of the most fiercely loyal and loving clans. Any affront against a single member will bring the wrath of the others. It's like one giant, close-knit family. Make fun of a Hyuga kid and now you’re getting drop-kicked by their third cousin.

Neji loses to Lee in a rematch, but warmly acknowledges his growth from when they were children. Neji is the first to officially support Lee becoming Hokage and is the one who gives him "the talk" that convinces him to accept Naruto's nomination of him to the council. Neji becomes Lee’s confidant and closest advisor.

Neji is an amazing uncle who is sometimes out of his element when it comes to dealing with his energetic niece and nephew. It’s all fluff.

When no one is looking, Himawari will stare intently (threateningly) at her uncle, who will slowly grimace and hand her a piece of candy from inside his sleeve, glancing around to make sure no one sees him complete the exchange. No one knows where Himawari gets her spontaneous candy and stash from. It's a mystery as to what he seems to be paying her off for, but it'd probably be a delicious secret to find out..

Neji’s relationship with his niece is heartwarming. He constantly threatens Naruto to be a good husband and father to his niece and nephew OR ELSE.

Neji trains Boruto and Himawari. He’s strict, but as kind as he is firm.

Neji teaches Boruto to have a closer relationship with Himawari, mirroring the relationship he had with Hinata. If he has children, they're the "cool older cousins" to the siblings and have their dad's clout for sure.

Neji might get married or have children. If he does, it’ll be the subject of a Gaiden novel. Perhaps also a quick throwaway scene in the epilogue post-war where he meets someone that catches his eye. His child(ren) will be on the same team as Metal, where they will also be rivals.

He might have twin boys if we really want to go hard with literary parallels, but it’s not necessary. He'd name his kids after his father first.

There, I fixed it.

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oz-corp-uplink-t · 3 years

Text

Good evening. I figured it would be a good idea to describe our area in detail, both the one we're in now and the one from whence we came. This will be in chronological order, from first discovered to most recently discovered. I hope you all don't mind the formality. This is simply how I normally converse, and I do not see any reason to be any more or less formal than normal.

--Homeworld: GemsGoldia--

Our Homeworld was a unique one, compared to the more Earthly planets of most other universes. It was an entire planet made of crystals and gems, and the general climate of an area depended on the gemstone that comprised the most of an area. Green Emerald areas were usually perfectly warm, red Ruby areas were much hotter and had a tendency to contain magma geysers, blue Sapphire areas were more or less frozen wastes, and a few other, more unnatural climates, such as constant lighting storms over yellow variants of gemstones, and complete and utter darkness in Obsidian areas.

When I first appeared here, I was the only one. I saw the Creator soon after, and he told me what I should do. The Creator's form in our worlds is quite odd, actually. He's two hands and a head, and he tends to change size often, though he's always bigger than me. His hands have white gloves, and I'm certain I've seen they are connected to his head by fishing line or puppet strings. His head is just a black sphere with extremely triangular teeth and large, red eyes. It's more intimidating than it sounds.

Anyway, the factory/research lab we started with was already built when I showed up, along with quite a few houses, all made of the Emerald the ground was made of, and there were exactly enough for those that would appear soon after. There was an unfathomably gigantic generator in a basement within the factory, which I was told created an artificial atmosphere around the entire planet. Evidently, this was true, as it was destroyed in the destruction of the planet, and we have recorded several corpses of beings that need an atmosphere to survive.

--A strange new land: Mirrold--

I had escaped the destruction of GemsGoldia, and I had to find my way back alone. I went through several places, most of which seemed familiar and sparked... Memories, of past versions of myself. My first iteration looked similar to the creator, but I had a pale skin tone, my eyes were humanoid, my hair was green, and I had some nasty claws. I was a throwaway, used to add plot to a normal 'roleplay' (Which, as he told me, simply describes writing a story with more than one person, which I find to be an interesting concept) between good friends. I was to stop a wedding by killing the bride or groom, the bride being an original creation, from his friend, and the groom being another one of those... Skeleton characters. I think they called them Blueberry. I mortally wounded them, and was destroyed in revenge.

My next iteration was similar to the 000 model. I can't remember what I did as them, but I do remember that the Creator and his friend made fictional children for fictional versions of themselves. Apparently, this was my longest running form.

Then, we're at what I am now. A product of His creativity, depression from a long-passed break-up, of which he has told me was his own doing, and fantasies of escaping His world, and coming to ours. His mental state has left our world in ruin, and it seems like he may want this one to have a similar fate...

...Oh, right. I need to be talking about Mirrold. Forgive me, I tend to get far off-topic if I think about our home...

Mirrold is a mirror world, which I found in an apparently magical mirror in the ruins of GemsGoldia, which acted as a portal to here. This place consists of four islands and a deep pit under them, which we call Lower Mirrold.

--The glass shatters: Shatternia--

Shatternia is the only entrance to Mirrold that we know of. After you enter the mirror, you come out onto a catwalk suspended above Lower Mirrold, which looks like pitch blackness. This catwalk ends at a concrete building, where the Brokem, Ozwald, and Cordial base models reside. This is at the southernmost area of the island. To the west of this, there is a thick forest with various weak monsters within. The foliage on this island is always colored in a mix of reds and blues instead of the normal green you'd expect. To the north of the building, there is a toxic lake, and a bridge leading to a canyon with a large gate at the end, leading to the only town in the area, Shardini. If you go east from the building, there is a tram station, which connects to the next island over, and allows for transport between them. North of this is a mansion under constant snowfall, which is reminiscent of the home the Creator had imagined being in when with their friend. The Creator put a copy of his past self, specifically from the period of major depression over his relationship, in Mirrold, and they occasionally show up at this mansion and cry to themselves. They are hostile to any trespassers, but reminders of this failed relationship will stop them in their tracks.

I do recall, now that I think of it, there was another skeleton who became partially Corrupt, but never fully turned, and who lived with the models in the concrete building. Actually, they may have been an alternate version of Blueberry. I think the models that live there called them "Grape".

--A major downgrade: Junkedville--

It's much larger than Shatternia, but it's mostly empty desert. There is an exception: Salvagius. This is the one town in Junkedville, near the northern edge. Our factory rests at the northernmost point, and the rest of the place is houses and establishments made of sheet metal. The pub here is highly popular, mainly because it's impossible to die from overdrinking, as they add special ingredients that prevent death or impairments from extreme amounts, without lessening the actual enjoyment of it, including the drunkenness. This isn't completely effective, unfortunately, as you can tell from my entire workforce being in alchohol comas.

I did say that Shatternia was the only entrance, but that isn't completely true. In the factory, we are very capable of transporting people using the multiversal portals we have. We also considered opening them up to other creations for this uplink, but we aren't sure if it matters much anyway.

--Eternal war: Magicant--

Magicant is a small place, and there's not much left by now. Mages populated this place quite heavily before the Corruption followed us here. They have allied with us for the destruction of the Corruption, but they have blown half their island out of the sky trying to fight. There isn't much left to speak of...

--Mixed up anomaly: Lower Mirrold--

Lower Mirrold is... Difficult to understand. It's split into five sectors. These five sectors change randomly into portions of different worlds, bringing buildings, landscapes, and people with them into our own. This has caused many visitors to suddenly show up without intending to, and many strange scenarios where multiple characters and worlds combine in strange ways, causing strange situations. One we have documented in particular is still in progress, and the events until now are as follows.

1: Subject A ( Short/overweight/male, generally known as a thief, wears yellow and purple clothes, a cap with his first initial on it, and cyan eyeliner) receives a message from Subject B (Literally a fucking sponge) that proposes an exchange for taking B's job for a day in exchange for a stockpile of treasure. Subject A accepts, drives into ocean and finds Subject B's workplace.

It should be noted these two should not have known each other at all.

2: Subject A falls asleep on the job, establishment burns down. Subject A flees and finds stockpile. Subject B fires a nuclear bomb at his neighbor to threaten the arsonist who burned down the establishment. Subject A is transported to an unknown location for approximately 7 hours, before Lower Mirrold shifts again and any further events cease.

We have reason to believe whatever's been happening here is still happening now, but we have been too occupied with everything else we can't be certain.

--Core of Corruption: Corrupti--

Not much is known of Corrupti, other than Sally currently resides there and controls the Corrupted from it's core. It rose from Lower Mirrold some time after the event above had ceased. We don't know what to do about it, all we know is that it's ruining everything we worked so hard to achieve, and that we must end it... But we do not know how.

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

A few closing statements...

Firstly, I have been informed the Creator has documented the Lower Mirrold events mentioned above. I haven't been told where, though. Just that it's "On my tube", or something. If you happen to figure something out there, that would be helpful.

Second, I'm not completely certain the Creator has fully gotten over what happened with his relationship. I don't know if that's why he seems to be reluctant to help us, but either way I'm sure he'll figure himself out sooner or later. I hope, anyway.

Good night to you all. I hope you haven't forgotten us.

Oh, and to those of you in bad times, (lookingatyourox) just know your pain doesn't last forever, and all wounds can be healed with help and time. Also, do not try to end your pain early. It will only spreas your pain to others, and, if there is a place after life, give you a worse pain in your ghost.

...Sorry, if I'm being a bit too grim here. I'm in quite a grim mood, unfortunately. I think the Creator is, too.

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itsclydebitches · 3 years

Text

Welcome back, everyone!

We’re now on Chapter Eight and once again the story is told from Velvet’s perspective. So our starting question is: why is she getting the most attention so far? If memory serves, the PoV order has been Coco, Velvet, Sun, Fox, Yatsu, Velvet, Scarlet, Velvet again — meaning that in a text balancing eight main characters, so far four of them have received a single chapter, two (Sage and Neptune) zero chapters, and one three chapters. That seems rather imbalanced. I suppose it makes a certain amount of sense if we factor in RWBY viewers’ familiarity with Velvet, but I’d wager we’ve gotten far more screen time with Sun overall. My only point being, why Velvet? It’s not that you can’t make her a focal point of the narrative, I just haven’t seen anything to explain that choice in the first 100+ pages. Her perspective hasn’t brought anything unique to the story, something we couldn’t have gotten from the seven other characters involved in these events… but here we are, back with Velvet for the next six pages.

Yeah, this chapter is short. Silver lining?

We learn that Team NOVA is on their second mission — why bother showing us the first when they’re an entirely new, volatile team, right? That would be silly! — escorting a technician “through the Grimm-infested mountains just outside of Oscuro Combat School.” So Shade students regularly conduct real huntsmen work but throw a fit over having to spar with one another? Interesting. See, if I were a civilian who got even a glimpse of what goes on inside these schools, I would not trust these kids with my life.

Lo and behold, things go horribly! We learn right off the bat that “The technician had been knocked unconscious in a skirmish with a band of Dromedons.” For those of you with an iffy memory like mine, these are the camel-like creatures that spit acid and… that’s about all we know about them. That’s really all we need for this scene though because this grimm nailed the tech in his leg, a wound which now requires “serious medical attention.” Great. Gus Caspian, who I learn is a younger friend from the previous novel, is trying to treat the wound as best he can, clearly a little freaked out about being here, “but apparently Oscuro teachers didn’t coddle students any more than Theodore did.”

Do you expect them to? Despite Atlas being the only one who combines their academies with their military, we can’t pretend like these schools aren’t teaching teenagers to wield deadly weapons and kill things with them. There’s no institution on Earth (or Remnant) that should “coddle” those looking to take on that responsibility. I mean yeah, we had moments where Ozpin encouraged them to be kids, like after the food fight and during the dance, but he still took a hard stance whenever there was an actual lesson in the works: “No. You will be falling.” Based on the age of the students, the academies are akin to colleges. In real world college if you don’t do your work or don’t pay attention in class, well… nothing that bad happens. This is by no means a call to not do you work, merely an acknowledgement from a formerly grade obsessed student that individual test scores really don’t have the impact on your life that it feels like they will at the time. Trust me on this. So yeah, some leeway is great in the real world… but when the students are fighting monsters and defending others from death? Then the schools should absolutely discourage any slacker-esque attitude. The concept of any institution “coddling” huntsmen is horrifying.

Note though that the chapter starts after all the action has taken place. We skip the rest of reinitiation. We skip NOVA’s first mission. We skip the attack that landed Velvet in this predicament. It’s not automatically a bad technique provided you’re skipping over boring parts to get to the interesting bits… but this isn’t interesting. We learn almost nothing new from this scene: Velvet misses her old team, her new teammates don’t believe in her, Nebula is mean. Those are the emotional beats here — things we’ve known for at least three chapters now. The only thing that’s introduced is the advertisement on Gus’ scroll, which could have been been added to any other scene.

Let’s revise a bit:

We get to see the battle against the Dromedons wherein Velvet uses her camera, revealing her weapon to Team NOVA and earning more of their respect. Information about Gus’ improvement is shown through his combat abilities as he’s unexpectedly chucked into this battle (perhaps with him using his semblance to further his growth there too). While taking a hit he loses his scroll, slightly damaging it. In the aftermath Velvet retrieves it for him and finds this ad displayed, growing curious. Over the course of Gus’ explanations the rest of Team NOVA is clued into Velvet’s worry and suspicion. What’s wrong? It’s just an ad. But you’re clearly hiding something… Now, does she tell her new team about the Crown, or keep it silent and risk the tenuous trust they’ve just created?

Why is Myers skipping over all the action and potential growth?

Instead we get the boring stuff. Velvet admires Gus’ uniform because of how it’s built for the heat and recalls that “Coco had been messing around with new outfit designs for Team CFVY.” I swear though, 95% of my enjoyment with this novel comes from the throwaway details. I would actually like seeing how Coco combines her personal love of fashion with the necessity of designing combat gear appropriate for the environment. Maybe they frame it as merely a hobby outside of their huntsmen work, giving them an excuse to keep helping their former teammates. That could be cool!

Though of course, this is the series where Cinder, Neo, Hazel, and Emerald all walk into the ice Kingdom with skin bared, so...

(You all are going to freeze to death, have fun.)

“Velvet’s ears swiveled around, listening for danger.” That’s anything detail I like. At the very least Before the Dawn remembers that Velvet is a faunus and frequently incorporates that into her character. She’s on the lookout because other than Gus tending the unconscious technician, she’s alone “on the sidelines.” It’s framed simultaneously as the group rejecting her and as an unavoidable necessity: “it wasn’t like she didn’t have an important task of her own [repairing the relay], one that none of her teammates had the expertise to perform.”

Wait. Why does Velvet have this expertise?

The justification is that she’s “handy with electronics” and “Anesidora was incredibly complicated, and she’d designed it herself,” but that’s like saying “I built a computer so I’ll come fix your refrigerator. That’s easier.” I don’t know, maybe someone with the ability to build a computer from the ground up could figure out a refrigerator on the fly, but they feel like different skill-sets to me. All electronics are not built the same and claiming that because you understand one you automatically understand all others — even supposedly simpler pieces of tech — seems a little suspect. If that were the case, we’d have no need for experts who fix your phone, your television, your toaster, and your watch. Surely if you understand one you understand the others, right? It’s the same assumption here: If Velvet can understand building a hard light weapon, then she must understand relay communications too!

…right.

She even goes so far as to say that they “probably should have left the technician at Oscuro—she could have done this on her own” yet just a few minutes later it’s, “Velvet double-checked everything. She didn’t know what was wrong. She glanced back at the technician, Gus still at his side. The guy was out cold. He’d taken a pretty hard knock to the head. Well, she had tried.” So she’s confident enough to think that the technician is unnecessary one moment and then looking to him for help the next? Which of course isn’t followed by any sort of revelation. Velvet doesn’t acknowledge that her knowledge isn’t as specialized as she had assumed it was, or that huntsmen rely on non-combat experts for other things. She just shrugs and…

…kicks it.

Yeah. Velvet’s skill amounts to kicking the box until it works. Which, of course, it does.

I can’t with this novel.

More seriously though, that’s terrible characterization. Not only does it undermine Velvet’s actual skill to reduce it to being “handy with electronics” — isn’t every huntsmen “handy with electronics” then, considering they all build their gun/energy/dust weaponry in school? — but it adds another layer of supposed uselessness to the adult professionals around her. Theodore doesn’t teach them anything because, as their headmaster, he’s removed from everyday interactions. Rumpole can’t be trusted now and every lesson she tries to impart is rejected. The unnamed technician who is referred to only by his professional title is deemed unnecessary, knocked out, and then indeed proves useless when Velvet magically does his job for him. So why are any of them in school? Why aren’t they just running the world with their superior knowledge and skill-sets? Every time the RWBY franchise puts its characters in a position where they might actually learn something through failure, it pulls back at the last second. ‘Never mind, they actually knew this all along!’ Or, ‘Never mind, the things they’ve been taught are stupid, so best to forget them!’ I struggle to understand what kind of story I’m reading — or watching — when the characters are already framed as perfect. Or rather, flaws absolutely exist (as these recaps attest), but the story pretends they’re not there.

I hesitate to use the term “Mary Sue” here due to its origins and history. Meaning, the Mary Sue was conceived of as a parody, a deliberate exaggeration to comment on the types of characters written in the Star Trek fandom. Then people began using “Mary Sue” as a catch-all term for any female character that people deemed too talented (regardless of how talented their male counterparts might be), we started acknowledging the sexist undertones of that, then started reclaiming the term as something to celebrate and embrace… but we haven’t quite gotten there yet. “Mary Sue” is still a pretty loaded name to force on a character and it carries a lot of implications that I absolutely do not want to attach to Velvet. Yet it’s also the closest term I know to describe the act of an author giving a character what feels like a badly justified skillset. Such as “handy with technology” actually meaning “can fix anything powered by electricity or Dust as the plot needs.”

Velvet is the action movie hacker going, “I’m in” is what I’m getting at. It’s not a compliment lol.

During all this grimm watching and relay fixing, Gus wants to know why they don’t just high-tail it out of there. Especially since the person they brought to do a specific job can no longer do that job. Mission’s a bust. Velvet gives what sounds like a decent explanation: “Retreating from Grimm isn’t an option when you’re fighting this close to a settlement. If we leave without destroying them, the Grimm will just look for another target.” AKA the settlement itself.

Thing is, by this logic any grimm that are currently close enough to attack them are already close enough to the settlement to latch onto those people as the next target. They’d pick up on the civilians whether Velvet’s group was there to kill them or not. The group is there though, so they feel responsible, but why not just head to the settlement anyway? If the grimm follow you, fine. You can still fight them AND you now get the additional benefit of any other huntsmen/students who might be there. If they don’t follow you, great. If they were close enough to the settlement all along… again, this was always going to happen.

Which, to be clear, isn’t the worst stance to take. I understand them wanting to avoid any potential risk by leaving/leading the grimm towards anyone else. I only want to point out the additional stupidity of fighting them when you’ve already got an unconscious civilian in your care, a barely trained student, and the whole reason you came out here might now be for naught. Yeah, Velvet gets the relay working with her magic kick and yeah, the rest of the team handles the grimm just fine, but none of them are able to see into the future and know that both these events will occur. Gus’ ‘Why are we staying here? It’s dangerous and pointless’ question has merit.

But of course, no one in RWBY would ever consider retreat. It’s a very iffy characteristic at this point.

We learn — or at least I learn now — that Gus’ semblance is the ability to enhance others’ emotions, so basically the opposite of Ren’s. That would indeed be incredibly handy provided he has good control over it. We get another reference to Yatsuhashi’s “meditation exercises” that helped Gus’ grandfather in the last novel. Velvet theorizes that his improved memory has more to do with Yatsuhashi’s semblance than any generic meditation: “No one knew for sure what Yatsuhashi had done with his Semblance when he’d tried to heal Edward’s mind … even Yatsuhashi wasn’t sure. His ability was to erase memories, but it was possible that there was more to Yatsu’s Semblance than that.” Um… subtle yikes? Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad things have turned out well for the guy, but if I were the grandfather—or a family member of his—I wouldn’t really want a student messing around with my mind when he “wasn’t sure” what he was doing. Especially when the base skill is to erase memories, not recover or strengthen them. Honestly, I love taking a good look at fantasy series because half the time you realize how horrifying things actually are, once you strip away the common place aspects of these skills. An equivalent third year college student is running around experimenting with peoples’ memories to see if he can achieve something other than erasing them. Great!

The good thing is that Yatsuhashi is just as suspicious of this power as I am. Velvet things that he “hated messing with people’s minds.” Understandable, bud. I’d hate the ability too.

While they’ve got this time alone, Gus mentions that he had planned to contact Velvet soon anyway. Two of his classmates have gone missing and though his school has told Shade about it—there’s at least some of that additional info that Rumpole mentioned—he wanted to let her know too because remember, no one in this franchise trusts the professionals to fix problems. It’s a mindset I’d better understand if the professionals were actually inept. Or the protagonists weren’t training to be those professionals. It’s still exceedingly weird to me that there’s so little respect and trust for huntsmen while they desperately try to become huntsmen…

Something something broken systems, but RWBY isn’t interested in exploring that.

So yeah, Gus ropes Velvet in with the hope that she can help. He says that they were last seen attending a new club called Mirage that hosts one-on-one fights for a championship title. So… it’s not really a club, right? Sure, sure, we’ve all seen Fight Club, but generally that’s used to describe dancing, not fighting. It’s a rather misleading term for what they were actually looking for. No one else finds this odd though. Nor that the information was sent out to select, powerful individuals. Nothing shady about this, folks! Velvet obviously recognizes all these details—a club, powerful semblances, a crown in the advertisement—and asks Gus to pass it along to her.

Our plot forwarded ever so slightly, their conversation ends as Arslan calls Velvet on the now fixed connection. One of the first thing she says is that Octavia used the other students as bait for the grimm.

At least Velvet shares my reaction: “What?!”

Octavia then takes an already bad situation and makes it that much worse. Listening in, she defiantly says, “That’s right. And it worked. It’s called strategy.” She confirms that the students are “mostly” okay and taunts Velvet about inviting them to her “Baby Brigade and you can all cry about it!” I hope I don’t need to take up precious document space by explaining how awful this is. Overlooking the fact that these would-be huntsmen are willing to put their younger peers’ lives in danger like that—and then mock them for needing mental health resources after the fact—why is Octavia the one pulling the murderous Mean Girl act? Yeah, she was an asshole during reinitiation, but wasn’t the whole point of that to demonstrate that she and Velvet got a little closer? Even if she won’t admit it? She saved Velvet from flying down that hole, but now she risks the lives of students at least three years her junior? If anyone should be this violent and antagonistic towards Velvet, it’s Nebula. The most she’s done for Velvet is offer a hand up, otherwise we just watched her express glee in getting to fight her and mock her for not abandoning Beacon… the same sort of behavior we’re seeing from Octavia now. Does Myers think that these two characters are interchangeable? That he can just pick one willy-nilly per chapter and let her play at being Velvet’s Mean Girl?

As a lovely anon reminded me recently, these are also the girls that were created and backed by fans. If I had put money and creative energy into these OCs, I’d be pretty frustrated with how the RT team has been treating them.

Arslan at least is complimentary towards Velvet for fixing the relay—“Truly, great work today”— and Velvet herself is appropriately shocked at Octavia’s behavior. That’s more emotional consistency than I’ve come to expect of this book, so I’ll take whatever little bits I can get.

Arslan signs off with plans to meet back up soon and Velvet thinks about how “everyone was safe after the mission, which was no small thing.” I’d agree… except for Velvet’s early thoughts about how easy this mission supposedly was and Octavia’s decision to put her teammates in danger. It sounds like if anything did go sideways, it’s in part because you chose to enter this overconfidently and then actively made it more dangerous.

Finally, the chapter ends with Velvet believing that she might be able to make her new team work with time. Our final line, in its own paragraph is: “If they had time.”

Am I the only one who finds this weird? The line reads like an omniscient bit of foreboding. Velvet thinks about how she just needs time and we, the reader, hear that this won’t be possible. Except this chapter is told from Velvet’s perspective. So why does she think they might not have time? Because of the Crown? I assume there will be an attack towards the end of the novel—can’t have a RWBY story without the final, epic battle—but right now Velvet has no reason to believe that an attack is imminent, or that the teams will change back, or anything else that would interfere with her hopes of strengthening this relationship… so why the rather confident sounding pessimism? I don’t know. I don’t pretend to know anymore lol.

At least this chapter was short? As said, silver linings. We’re still treading water though: Velvet’s bond with her new team seems to have regressed after two missions, rather than improved, and Gus didn’t reveal anything we didn’t already know, just further confirmed it. I assume that next chapter Velvet and the others will visit Mirage. Let’s hope something actually happens then.

See you! 💜

[Ko-Fi]

#rwby #mymetas #Before the Dawn #BTD Recaps

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leslieannefusco · 3 years

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Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace The New Batman Superman Adventures

Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern chase a time-traveling villain to the past, where they team up with the greatest heroes of the Old West.

The Justice League's adventures in time take them to a futuristic Gotham City, where they join forces with that era's Batman and his super team: The Justice League Unlimited.

When the evil Trade Federation plots to take over the peaceful planet of Naboo, Jedi warrior Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi embark on an amazing adventure to save the planet. With them on their journey is the young Queen Amidala, Gungan outcast Jar Jar Binks, and the powerful Captain Panaka, who will all travel to the faraway planets of Tatooine and Coruscant in a futile attempt to save their world from Darth Sidious, leader of the Trade Federation, and Darth Maul, the strongest Dark Lord of the Sith to ever wield a lightsaber.

The evil Trade Federation, led by Nute Gunray is planning to take over the peaceful world of Naboo. Jedi Knights Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi are sent to confront the leaders. But not everything goes to plan. The two Jedi escape, and along with their new Gungan friend, Jar Jar Binks head to Naboo to warn Queen Amidala, but droids have already started to capture Naboo and the Queen is not safe there. Eventually, they land on Tatooine, where they become friends with a young boy known as Anakin Skywalker. Qui-Gon is curious about the boy, and sees a bright future for him. The group must now find a way of getting to Coruscant and to finally solve this trade dispute, but there is someone else hiding in the shadows. Are the Sith really extinct? Is the Queen really who she says she is? And what’s so special about this young boy?

I’ve never experienced such delay in cartoons airing on TV as I have with the DC Animated shows. Ever since Superman: The Animated Series massive delays started it, it seems to have spilled over into every DC show since. Batman Beyond had it’s “Unmasked”, Justice League had it’s last half of Season 1 and almost all of Season 2 delayed for what seemed like forever, and now Justice League Unlimited it hitting every bump in the road: schedule changes, generic delays and problems with the episodes themselves, resulting in send-backs to the animation studios. “The Once and Future Thing” has been nearly every fans most anticipated story arc this season, and we’ve been waiting ever since June since the loglines were released. So was it worth the wait and agonizing speculation? Nothing ever is; fans over hype things to the point of exhaustion and by the time the episode airs everything’s been inadvertently spoiled via a careless lack of a spoiler warning. Nothing in this first part of “The Once and Future Thing” surprised me; things that would’ve excited me was the re-appearance of Jonah Hex (not seen since Batman: The Animated Series “Showdown”), Batman Beyond, Future Static and Warhawk’s appearance and the whole “Dad?!” line (I know I read somewhere that was going to happen). The Return of the Joker Jokerz gang did surprise me though, albeit if they are a bit changed (more on that later).

Where was I? “The Once and Future Thing” starts off with our first look at Future Gotham since Static Shock’s “Future Shock” crossover, bringing an already exciting mood to the episode (Batman Beyond is one of my all-time favorites, so I may be biased); we then meet the mastermind behind the episode, Chronos (“David Clinton” for those who are picky since “Chronos” was never directly named in the episode, aside from a quick throwaway comment on his suit). After a humorous scene with his verbally abusive wife, we’re thrown into present where he’s attempting to steal Batman’s utility belt from the Watchtower. The first odd thing in the episode occurs here: if an “intruder” alarm is sounded on the Watchtower, a supposedly impregnable fortress, wouldn’t more than just three heroes run to investigate? Batman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman bolt right as the alarm sounds, while everyone else in the surrounding lunch room just sits and gabs away. I realize that’s probably an unavoidable hole due to only wanting Batman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman to be the time travelers, but it’s still a bit odd, none the less. Before you sit down to watch this episode, you have to keep in mind that not all things are going to make sense; it’s time travel and that always manages to screw something up. We have mechanical Pterodactyls and Raptors with Cowboys riding on their back, robots dressed up as Old West Gun Slingers and a main villain who had a six-pistol gun. If you want to make sense of that…be my guest, but it’s really best just to sit and enjoy it as it plays out. Granted, you could justify everything that happened since Tobias just kept jumping into the future and hijacking this stuff back, but…dinosaurs? I don’t see the purpose for those, unless he wanted to scare people into doing his dirty work (ten foot robots and massive guns would do that for me anyway); regardless, they were fun to see, even if they were completely random. Heroes in the episode included El Diablo, Bat Lash, Sheriff Ohiyesa Smith and the aforementioned Jonah Hex. They were all great to see in animated form and I couldn’t help but laugh every time El Diablo talked, as his voice actor (Nestor Carbonell) played “Batmanuel” in the live-action The Tick! series (I think I’m one of few who loved that show). Jonah Hex was awesome to see again and Bat Lash was fun to watch as well.

The Wild West portions had their fare share of camp to them, but they were a fun little romp. Bruce refusing to carry a gun and then using his utility belt as a “Go on, I dare you” type move the cowboys used when reaching for their guns, Diana taking her time in deflecting the bullets (“These are the biggest, slowest bullets I’ve ever seen”) and John’s “Green Lantern” Ghost looked like something pulled from a Scooby Doo episode, were fun to watch. There were some nice character moments in this one, but honestly, I think we’re all just waiting for the second part. Speaking of the second part, we got a nice little teaser end to the episode. Landing in the future after chasing Chronos again, the League come up against the Return of the Joker Jokerz gang; descending immediately is the Future Static, Batman Beyond and Warhawk. Static appears much older than his “Future Shock” appearance and Batman seems to have lost the red on the interior of his wings, but Warhawk remains the same. The episode ends with the clinching “Dad?!” from Warhawk as he looks at Green Lantern, who then looks like he just saw Future Shayera in the shower. It was a great ending and created a session of out loud “I gotta wait a week to see the conclusion!?” cursing. Perhaps the most debated part of this ending was the reappearance of the Return of the Joker Jokerz gang; Bonk died on-screen (in both versions of the film, though one more graphic than the other) in the movie, while everyone else seemed to simply get taken away by the cops. One other thing to point out is Woof’s mechanical arms; definitely not on the original model and Chucko’s new look (different color shirt and is now carrying some sort of round object, similar to Ghoul’s pumpkin bucket), all suggest that the gang may be different. If they aren’t, I refuse to believe that one of the story writers of Return of the Joker and producers of Justice League Unlimited simply glazed over Bonk’s death or forgot; the gangs there for a reason that will have to wait for another week to find out. It’s sort of sad that all of the work that was put into the first twenty plus minutes of this episode are overshadowed by the ten second closer, but it’s to be expected. People have been hungry for more Batman Beyond and now that we’ve got him again, it’s gonna be hard to let go.

That was, bar-none, the most mind-twisting and blowing DCAU episode I’ve seen. It’s not that it was “crazy” or “kooky” or all together “spooky,” but trying to get everything straight with the Matrix code flying across the bat-computer screen and Bruce spouting off stuff about the “space time continuum”…just…ouchie. Confusing nature aside (and that will pass upon a few more viewings, I’m sure), this episode was pretty much what I expected it to be; not in plot points and twists, but just in that we’d get a fun romp through future Gotham City. I’ll be damned if it didn’t seem like time flew while watching it this though; commercial breaks came as soon as they ended and I had a goofy grin on my face the entire time, seeing the Jokerz back and Terry cracking one liners again…it was really was one of the biggest fan-moments I’ve had while watching Unlimited. The story itself, as previously mentioned, was quite the confusing experience. The first time I watched it I was just entertained by everything; by the second time I finally got a grasp on why Hal Jordan was appearing (other than to make everyone’s eyes bug out) and why everyone started to disappear. In the end, this trip to the future also ended up being an “alternate” trip to the future, as in the end everything was switched back to normal, albeit with Batman and Green Lantern only remembering what went on and Chronos stuck in a constant loop with his wife’s abusive language constantly recycling. D.R. Movie Co. threw in some new effects on the future Batman’s jet boots; instead of dissipating right away, they left swirly trails; though you only saw this once it was a great bit of animation. The city looked as dark and futuristic as ever and the Jokerz new designs were great as well. Chucko on a rolling ball, Bonk with a massive mallet, multiplying Dee Dee’s, a mechanical arm-enhanced Woof and a spinning saw blade on Ghoul. Anyone who didn’t get flash backs to Batman Beyond’s “April Moon” episode must’ve been delirious; then again, Chronos said he traveled into the future to get those upgrades, so either the doctor in “April Moon” didn’t exist yet or…ah hell I’m getting confused again. Regardless, it makes me long for more of Batman Beyond…but I’m sure I’ve said that enough by now.

Static was enjoyable as well; I never was one to watch the show much, sans the special appearances of other DCAU heroes, but an adult Static is definitely who I prefer. He’s got the wit of Flash and the strength of John Stewart and it was great to see the two interact as “old friends.” Warhawk’s “I’m shocked! Shocked! Well not that shocked…” revelation that he is Shayera and John’s kid and that they may have even gotten married (“Stewart” is his last name; he was named “Rex” after Green Lantern’s childhood friend, Rex Mason / Metamorpho) was nice to see extended upon. Even if we didn’t get much (due to the three Batman’s interrupting) else out of the two, it was fun to see where things progressed (and the look that John gives Shayera at the end of the show). The undisputed and best moment of the episode, however, was the scene with Bruce/Batman/Batman—we get the wise and old Wayne saying hello to his younger self and them both telling Terry to shut up in which Terry emits a “What’d they used to call it? Stereo?” quip. It was the things endless fan fictions are made of where the past meets future… I enjoyed this episode much more than part one; animation was awesome, music fit well with every scene and the characters were all handled nicely, even if there was an over abundance of them. Some may trash McDuffie’s writing, but I’ve enjoyed nearly everything he’s written on Justice League and Justice League Unlimited and this was certainly no exception.

Create sci-fi characters with this dress-up game inspired by the Star Wars movies, mostly the original trilogy with Luke, Leia and Han, and also with many items inspired by Padme, Anakin and Obi-wan. There are four themes in the game to approximate outfits from the show, and create new ones: Jedi martial artist, rebel, queen or princess, and slave. Complete her look with weapons, other types of accessories, body customization and a wide hair section. Also, to make the weapons brighter and the image altogether more dramatic, you can play around with the darkness setting!

This game inspired by the Star Wars saga lets you dress up a male counterpart to the original Sci-fi Warrior! Although the woman has more diverse clothes and some alien features, the man is more narrowly focused on the clothing style of Jedi and Siths (and restricted to humans). The religion of the Jedi, and this is reflected in their fashion style, is itself inspired by the Eastern martial arts and monastic orders such as the Shaolin monks, which combine a deep commitment to a spiritual path with the lifelong study of self-defense. While Jedi and Siths alike are warriors trained in combat, the difference between them is their power source: while Siths align with forces of destruction, and derive power from intense emotions especially anger and hatred, the Jedi curb their emotions and do not feel hatred for their enemy. The genius of this philosophy is that it holds the key to ending the cycle of violence: self-defense against an enemy who is not hated.

#Star Of The Universe

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littlemisssquiggles · 4 years

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A Squiggle Meister’s Blunt Ramblings: So…I’m just going to come right out and ask…have the Writers forgotten Ruby being Silver Eyed Warrior…again?

…Or rather, are they going to ignore all of her development as a Silver Eyes from last season in favour of having her focus on another aspect of her huntsmen training that Ruby up until this point has shown to not really need…in spite of the fact that there’s still more for her to learn and master regarding her becoming a fully-realized Silver Eyed Warrior?

So I’ve been thinking about V7CH3 and I couldn’t help but recall the little moment where Ruby used her semblance to catch the last radioactive dust crystal before Harriet. This then led into Harriet giving the implication to Ruby that there is more to her semblance than she believes.

So…you would think that the Writers would continue to progress Ruby’s development as a Silver Eye. While we did see Ruby have her big (and completely unearned) ‘Indomitable’ moment back in V6, it doesn’t excuse the fact that Ruby still has more to learn when it comes to mastering her abilities.

Especially when you recall the little detail where she didn’t successfully petrify the Leviathan proving that she definitely has more to learn...

Especially when you compare it to a younger Maria Calavera in her prime successfully killing a Nevermore with her eyes in a previous episode...

And ESPECIALLY when in the very same finale episode, Ruby was shown to still be struggling to get into the frame of mine needed to call upon her power and that the only reason she was able to even do anything short of becoming the Leviathan’s next meal was because of Jinn miraculously granting her a one time pardon. How convenient.

So yeah…bottom-line is, Ruby still needs to focus on honing her Silver Eyes. That being said, that should be a point of focus of hers continuing from last season, right?

WRONG! According to the Writers, apparently that isn’t the case anymore for Ruby in V7 since thus far, Ruby hasn’t even used her eyes...despite encountering Grimm at least twice for this season so far?? Huh??

I know what you might be thinking now:

But Squiggles, Ruby doesn’t really need to learn more about her Silver Eyes since last season showed her using it to defeat the Leviathan right? Remember? Ruby is Indomitable! That was her big moment, right?

WRONG! As I shall repeat with conviction, Ruby has not mastered her eyes as yet. As we saw with the Leviathan, she failed to successfully petrify it completely especially when you compare it to Maria petrifying the Nevermore back in V6CH7.

Therefore Ruby still has more to learn. Besides if Ruby had mastered her Silver Eyes then why didn’t she use it against the Centinels and the dust-infused Geist Grimm in V7CH3?

It would’ve definitely saved Team RWBY’s group with Marrow and Harriet some time if Ruby had just blasted the Grimm with her laser beam eyes, instead of everyone dicking around with their weapons, right?

Ruby went on a mission with the Ace Ops where her Silver Eyed training would’ve come in clutch especially against the ancient Geist.

But instead of having Ruby use her eyes or at least have the episode highlight again that Ruby still has more training to do, Ruby…sort of forgot about her Silver Eyes?

As a matter of fact, the closest thing we got to a reference to Ruby’s eyes is Yang’s throwaway line from that episode.

“…Wait till they see what she can do with her eyes.”

I’m sorry…WHAT! What do you mean wait till they see what she can do with her eyes? If that’s the case, Ruby should’ve used her eyes in the mines? But she didn’t. Not to mention that, may I repeat again, Ruby hasn’t mastered control of her eyes as yet!

Instead of Ruby furthering her silver eyed training being a continued aspect for her side of the story, once again, the Writers are ignoring Ruby’s eyes in favour of focusing on another aspect of her character that was already previously established.

Her semblance.

As far as we the fans understand, Ruby’s semblance has always been speed or at least a type of speed semblance. We’ve known this since V1 and like I said, it’s been an established part of Ruby’s character that’s remained consistent throughout past volumes.

But now…the Writers are trying to imply that Ruby’s semblance isn’t speed. That there’s more to it than what she knew and I am sorry but…NO! This squiggle meister is not buying this.

“Thought you said your semblance was like mine.”

“It…is?”

“I’ve seen other speed semblances before but…that was different. I think there is more going on than you think.”

…The F*** YOU MEAN THAT WAS SOMETHING DIFFERENT?! WHAT DID RUBY DO THAT WAS SO DIFFERENT THAN HARRIET’S? THE GIRL WHO LITERALLY MOVED SO FAST, TIME SEEMED TO MOVE IN SLOW MOTION AS SHE ZIPS ACROSS THE SCREEN WITH NOTHING BUT LIGHTNING IN HER STEP??

WHY IS THIS A PLOT POINT? BETTER QUESTION, WHY IS THIS A PLOT POINT FOR RUBY?!

They are doing it AGAIN!

This is exactly what they did back in Volume 5.

Dear CRWBY Writers, you did this already and it didn’t exactly work last time. Remember? Remember how back in V5, Miles and Kerry said that Ruby didn’t need to focus on her Silver Eyed training because…her lack in hand to hand combat was her biggest shortcoming and that needed to be the focus of her development for that season. Remember? Remember how much the Ruby stans enjoyed that?

YES, Ruby definitely needed to improve her hand to hand combat skills…even though Ruby lacking in hand to hand has never been a previously established liability to her…

Especially when you remember the fact that she freaking sucker punched Roman Torchwick and drop kicked a Griffon Grimm straight into the fiery pits of hell back in V3; proving that Ruby is just as capable of fighting without Crescent Rose when the plot needs her to be.

And more especially when this plot point is eventually dropped right after V5 in favour of the one fans have been demanding for Ruby since V3---her being trained to become a full-fledged Silver Eyed Huntress.

It’s the exact same thing again. We back ya’ll. We back on that same ole shit.

Ruby needs to learn more about her Silver Eyes but once again, the Writers have chosen to ignore this fact in favour of focusing on something else about her that didn’t need focus. Last time it was Ruby needing to learn hand-to-hand combat, now it’s her semblance?

Why don’ the Writers just retcon Ruby as a whole because I’m starting to see a pattern here. Each time these chuckleheads write themselves into a corner in regards to her Silver Eye story, they then try to ignore this development by having the plot focusing on something else for Ruby…but it doesn’t work. At least not as well as it should.

So…that being said, we’re probably going to have Ruby focusing on her semblance for V7, as opposed to her receiving more proper training from Maria in becoming a Silver Eyed Warrior? At least, not until the plot needs her to be a Silver Eyed Warrior again, right?

I feel like this should be a running meme within the RWBY community. We don’t get certain things in RWBY…BECAUSE PLOT. Things happen in the story even if they’re done in the most contrived way possibly… BECAUSE PLOT.

Our favourite characters don’t get proper on-screen development in certain moments where it would be expected for them to get said development… BECAUSE PLOT.

We don’t get to see plot points previously established in other seasons being continued for the next one...BECAUSE THE PLOT FOR THIS NEW SEASON DEMANDS IT DOESN’T NEED FOCUS!

That’s gonna be my new RWBY gag. I’ll add it to the pile next to Jauntus.

But jokes aside, this was my concern after V6. This was why I didn’t particularly like Ruby’s Indomitable scene. If I’m being frank, Ruby’s Indomitable moment was my least favourite part of the V6 finale because it wasn’t earned. Instead of watching Ruby actually train and hone her abilities over the span of the last three-volume arc culminating in this grandiose moment where she fully masters her powers---it felt as if the Writers only shoehorned this to add some zest to an otherwise boring season finale (since they has already wasted most of the action on the Cordovin and Adam fights in the previous episodes). The moment honestly fell flat, at least for me.

I was worried that after V6, the Writers were going to side-line Maria and make her a background character as opposed to continue to build her up as another mentor character for Ruby. Or rather, THE MENTOR for Ruby.

Sure enough. This is exactly what happened; at least thus far. I know I’m only making this assumption based on 4 out of 13 episodes but nevertheless... Where is Maria?

Maria literally walked off the scene in the first episode and apparently right out the plot and into the black abyss of the pit of obscurity since she hasn’t been seen since she conveniently transported our heroes to Atlas and also conveniently took them to Pietro.

I don’t even know what Maria’s purpose for this season is going to be. At this year’s RTX, the CRWBY Cast teased “Sassy Granny Highjinks” as something to come for Maria this season and while that’s fine, I can’t help but still feel a little disappointed in hearing that especially given how the first four episodes have shaped up.

As much as I like Maria as our veteran ‘pocket abuelita’, I was more looking forward to the side of her character that was secretly a wise old sage who could train Ruby in the ways of the Silver Eyed Warrior (like Yoda to Luke Skywalker).

But if she’s just going to be there for poops and giggles and more random senior citizen jokes then…why even create a character like Maria in the first place?

One of my issues with the third act of V6 is that it almost singlehandedly made Maria’s character useless by CH8. I was looking forward to Maria being the one to shed light to Ruby on the mysteries of the Silver Eyes since she was one herself. I even pegged her a better exemplar than Ozpin since while Oz has only heard of the Silver Eyes, Maria has lived it.

She’s walked the path of a warrior as a Silver Eye. She was even trained by one. Her father was a Silver Eyes too and it wouldn’t have surprised me if whatever teachings and legends of the origins of their powers that Maria’s father learned from his mentor, he would have passed it onto Maria. And now she in turn would’ve passed it on to Ruby.

I was hoping for Maria to be a beacon of answers for Ruby. To shed light on that mysterious side of her powers that she never got to learn from her mother who was one before her.

Instead...NADA! Turns out, Maria doesn’t know anything. She has no more answers concerning the origins of the Silver Eyes as Ozpin did and that just…that just bummed me out so much. It really killed some of the intrigue of her character for me.

But then you’re like, okay. Okay. So Maria doesn’t have all the answers. She doesn’t know the Origins of the Silver Eyed power. That’s cool. That’s fine . At least she can still train Ruby. Help her to master the frame of mind needed to summon her power, right?

WRONG! The Writers kind of ruined that too with the Indomitable scene from V6. I mean sure, they left things on a good note with Ruby still clearly needing to be trained. But where does things go from there?

You would think we would get to see more instances of Ruby trying to using her eyes only to possibly embarrass herself by failing in the field, resorting to her going to find Maria wherever she was staying in Mantle to receive more proper training, right?

WRONG AGAIN! Instead…Ruby acts like that part of her arc last season never happened? She doesn’t try to use her eyes again nor does she even bring up the subject of eyes herself. Instead its treated as a throwaway line from Yang for her, Blake and Weiss to giggle over.

Because that’s what Ruby’s Mastery of her Silver Eyes is now. A joke.

I just…I don’t know what else to say man. I know I complain about Oscar’s mistreatment mostly. However he isn’t the only favourite of mine that gets the short end of that PLOT stick.

Next to Oscar, Ruby Rose is my second all-time favourite character in RWBY and it kind of sucks that even she gets the shaft at times from the Writers since....well…SHE’S THE PROTAGONIST!

How can fumble and bumble with the MAIN CHARACTER OF YOUR OWN SHOW? THE ONE WHO STARTED IT ALL?

I don’t get it.

But then again, perhaps I am jumping the gun too far here. Like I said, it’s only been 4 episodes. We still got 9 more episodes to go so who knows? Perhaps things might change over the course of CH5 to CH13 and my assumptions for Ruby’s arc this season as well as Maria’s role are proven wrong.

This is one of those instances where I’m actually hoping that I am proven wrong. But we shall see.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)

#rwby #rwby remarks #ruby rose #maria calavera #squiggles rambles: rwby

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themosleyreview · 4 years

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The Mosley Review: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Here we are at the end of the Skywalker Saga. As a massive Star Wars fanatic, I was looking forward to this day and at the same time I dreaded it. It is the end of over 40 years of storytelling that was created by the brilliant mind of George Lucas and to see it come to an end was tough. After the prequels, the nearly impossible task was put upon J.J. Abrams to bring Star Wars back to the big screen and give the fans a reason to return. He wonderfully excelled in bringing us all together again. Now he has the unbelievable job of finishing what Lucas had started way back in 1977 and I believe he did in a way that was okay, but still had gaping holes and open ended questions that may be never answered. Fear not my followers, from hear on I will not spoil anything because that would just be mean. I will say that I felt that underneath all the action and awesome moments, the story was rather crammed, thin and rushed. Believe me when I say that there is alot of things that just happen with no explanation. The first 45 minutes are just run and gun and I felt dizzied by it. The film did feel more like a sequel to The Force Awakens while still acknowledging and fixing the mistakes of The Last Jedi. I just wish there was a planned out story instead of this mixed bag of a trilogy. What needed to happen is that the film needed to slowdown and let the story breathe instead of shoving all this noise and action to cover up all the wounds the story has.

The cast all return and this talented group do the best they could with what they had. Daisy Ridley continues to champion a stellar performance as Rey and she gets put through the ringer in this film emotionally, physically and psychologically. I loved seeing her powers naturally be explained and we finally get all of her secrets revealed in a shocking and fun way. John Boyega is just as fun as a newly established Finn, but I did get annoyed how many times he is constantly chasing after and screaming for Rey like she's a new born child everytime she goes off on her own. Just let the girl figure stuff out man, because you're just getting in the way. Oscar Issac brings back the fighter and headstrong nature I liked about Poe Dameron and gives him a new dimension. He takes on more responsibilities and naturally becomes a leader. Adam Driver delivers yet again a complex and great performance as Kylo Ren/Ben Solo. At times he was one note in many scenes, but he brings more depth and heart to the character in the second half of the film. Naomi Ackie is a welcomed addition to the Star Wars Universe and as Jannah, she makes a good impression and she was very useful. I liked Keri Russell as Zori Bliss and loved her scenes with Poe, but she wasn't given much to do. Richard E. Grant is always stellar in anything he does and I thought he was fantastic as Alligant General Pryde. It was interesting to see a sort of tension between him and Domhnall Gleeson who returns as General Hux. Now onto our Legacy characters.

With the passing of Carrie Fisher, it was truly a task to splice together unused footage from The Force Awakens and incorporate it in this film without it feeling cheap or off. J.J. Abrams and team pulled it off in true magical fashion. Carrie delivers a heartfelt performance. Billy Dee Williams returns as Lando Calrissian and he hasn't skipped a smooth beat. The man still has the charm and wit and I wanted more, but I was happy with healthy serving we got. Joonas Suotamo delivers an amazing performance as Chewbacca and I guarantee Peter Mayhew is looking down and smiling. Anthony Daniels does his best work as C-3PO and I loved his arc in this film. This is NOT a spoiler because of his name being in the credits and voice in the trailer. Mark Hamill returns as Luke Skywalker and he is the Luke that we all loved and he is even more wise. Ian McDiarmid returns as Emperor Palpatine in the most interesting and darkest performance I think I've ever seen for a Sith. He actually creeped me out, but it felt like he was just thrown in there with no explanation of how he is alive. There's a bit of a throwaway line that basically says, "I'm here. Accept it.". That irked me so much.

If there is anyone that has never faltered, it is the hero of Star Wars, composer John Williams. The man has given us 3 different eras of Star Wars music and in this film you hear 40 years come together as he continues to elevate and create. This was a fantastic score that held everything together and if this is in fact his final score for a Star Wars film, myself and the fans thank you for all of your generation defining work. So now that this trilogy is complete and answers revealed, I have to say that the Sequel Trilogy does wrap up well, but it is a prime example of how to not make a trilogy. It truly was a mishandled, unfocused and an all out mess of a trilogy that clearly was not planned out like it should've been. I applaud J.J. Abrams for his hard work in bringing it all home. This film had me cheering with some amazing moments, I shed a tear, I gasped, I had fun, but in the end I was shaken to my core and left questioning myself if I liked this film or not. Well, I did like it, but I would not call this a satisfying end to the Skywalker Saga. This was a shaky and decent end of the Sequel Trilogy. So should you still see this film? Yes. Was there some serious issues and things that weren't earned? Yes. My final thought, this film made me appreciate the Prequel Trilogy for its structure and I would say The Last Jedi was the last good Star Wars film we'll ever see.

#star wars the rise of skywalker #daisy ridley #john boyega #oscar issac #mark hamill #adam driver #kelly marie tran #Carrie Fisher #billy dee williams #anthony daniels #ian mcdiarmid #dohmnall gleeson #naomi ackie #keri russell #richard e grant #Disney #Lucasfilm

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the1rei · 4 years

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Little Moments: Reboot Chapter Fifteen: This Means War By Ericobard and shadows59 Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Fandom: Ben 10 Series Relationship: Ben Tennyson/Gwen Tennyson Some Additional Tags: Bullying, No proofreading, Family is Drama, Long burn

People sometimes make mistakes. People sometimes answer those mistakes with mistakes of their own. Eventually, this can lead to a downward spiral of destruction that will take everything with it. Tragedy can break the cycle because no matter what, people need to lean on each other during a tragedy.

Read my review below:

So the chapter starts in a place so charged with magic/mana that Gwen is having trouble containing herself. Then Ben openly snubs her in his mock duel attempt and takes off when Max points out Gwen's interest. Then he snubs the event that he knows Gwen was excited to come to, as was he, and takes off. Then Shadows59 reminds the reader of the events of the last chapter and the negative effect it had on both kids. Then Max puts pressure on Gwen to be nice to Ben. Which she does by getting him a weird smoothie she thinks he'll like. Once more, we are reminded of the last chapter and Gwen's fears of Ben abandoning her. Then she comes upon him bragging to a girl about being the best in their dojo, even complimenting his skills as she scoffs at his lie. Then he's intentionally hurtful and dismissive of Gwen. Gwen notes the girl is interested in Ben. Then Ben plagiarizes Gwen's advice to him about kicking. Then we are reminded again of the fear and drama the Poodle created. Ben shows he's intentionally doing these things to upset Gwen. Then Ben makes fun of the smoothie Gwen got for him and shares it with the girl instead of Gwen, like he normally does. Then Ben and the girl almost share an indirect kiss, something Gwen and Ben have only done once, and she is clearly jealous Ben is doing with a stranger. So after all that Gwen still does nothing except get ready to scream, but without her direction, her magic causes the smoothing to explode out of the cup. In the original there is no drama from an otherworldly horror, Ben isn't mean to Gwen in any way. A girl does sit down next to Ben after the demonstration starts, and he does start talking to her, but he does so for altruistic reasons that will be discussed in a later chapter. Gwen is simply jealous at this and accidentally-purposefully knocks over her drink, which the pair sit in, making it look like Ben peed himself. In the original, even Max indicates that he thinks Gwen may have done it on purpose, but here he doesn't, he's completely in the dark about what happened. As much as one might want to say the situations are the same and Gwen shares blame in both, that's not true. If Ben hadn't been so cruel to Gwen, it wouldn't have happened. Shadows59 is taking something that is at least partially Gwen's fault and gives all the responsibility for what happened to Ben.

There is a part where Ben is about to say that Gwen is the best at the dojo but is cut off by Max's call. The problem is that Gwen mutters to herself after hearing Ben say, "the best fighter in our dojo is-" but before Max calls out, there is no way Ben couldn't have finished the sentence in that time. Ironically this doesn't even need to be a problem, as rather than writing the sentence as being cut off, Shadows59 could have just ended it there, inferring he was talking about Gwen the whole time.

Why is Max sudden completely oblivious to just how upset Gwen is getting with Ben and the girl talking next to her?

It was seen as an incredibly hateful thing for Marci to called Gwen a slut. However, it seems that if you get Gwen a little jealous, she's not so averse to calling other people the same thing.

In the reboot, the chapter perspective stays focused on Gwen; the reader follows her horror and regrets at what is happening through her eyes alone, only gleaming Ben's through her empathy. In the original, the perspective swapped back and forth with each prank, giving both fears and regrets about the situation. This only makes it harder to empathize with Ben, so why change this?

Additionally, Ben's first prank against Gwen, the first real prank of the story, is done reactionarily, in the spur of the moment. In the reboot, he waits days before he acts, having plenty of time to reconsider his actions, and it even happens in what should have been a moment of levity, where they were bonding as heroes. He also does something disproportionally humiliating to her, worse then what she did to him and not even comparable to what he did the original. It too is a bit of a reversal, where in the original Gwen spilled drink made it look as if Ben had wet himself and in the reboot Ben makes it look like Gwen messed her pants. Ben is also the one in the reboot to pretend like everything is okay before pranking Gwen, whereas, in the original, it was Gwen that did this. Why change these things? Again, it seems obvious that Shadows59 is doing this to show Gwen in a much better light than Ben. Perhaps this is not his intention, but that is still what he is doing.

Even if Ben isn't trying to be mean when talking about Gwen's friends being all online, that is still how he comes across, whereas in the previous scene before his prank, she was nothing but nice. This adds to making Gwen seem like the better person. She even reconsiders her prank, but because Ben continues to be mean to her, she goes through with it.

Has Gwen's magic ever not manifested without her hands glowing? If not, then how could she cast in the dark without being seen? Also, if she is drinking from a straw, as people normally do in theaters, her grin wouldn't be hidden.

Shadows59 takes more time to show that Gwen is emotionally vulnerable due to what happened with the Poodle.

Ben pranking Gwen by turning her hair green was the crux of their eventual making up, which will likely be given over to Gwen instead in the reboot. That is bad enough, but to regulate something so key to the original to a throwaway line is hard to read.

Ben can't even prank Gwen without getting caught in the reboot, Gwen never gets caught.

The Omnitrix is a device meant to facilitate communication between alien species. Why would it take an artificial creature and evolve its form way beyond its original state? Communication with its unevolved species would be impossible, and there is no species for it to communicate with. This goes completely against the Omnitrix's function.

Why is there this interjection of Gwen being chummy with her mom? Sure she was worried about her mom being sick, but before that the last thing we read about them that Lili had completely betrayed Gwen's trust by listening in on her phone call. If they moved past that, why wasn't the resolution to that conflict shown?

I do like that Ben takes everything and, instead of impossible hiding them, strings them up in the tree.

The whole bra thing comes across as another interjection of sex into this story about eleven-year-olds. It also makes no sense that Ben, who practically had a mental breakdown when he momentarily felt Gwen's bra under her unitard because it meant she was a 'girl' would now handle her girly bra so much to carefully hang it at the very top of the tree with no problems.

There is also this persistent motif of Gwen being devastated and saddened by Ben pranks, but Ben just howls like an enraged madman when he's pranked. His yelling even summons the cops once, which causes the chapter to almost have a theme of domestic violence to it where Gwen is the sad suffering wife, and Ben is the raging husband that the cops have to restrain.

The original ended with Ben tricking Gwen as a prank after the clothing thing had been done and the pair were thrown out by Max. During the fight, Gwen wasn't one loosely buttoned shirt away from being topless as they fought like animals, and Ben wasn't soaked to the bone. Who started the fight was left vague as they were equally culpable for what transpired. Whereas here, Ben starts it by grabbing Gwen as she excused her move on him as just intending to shove him, after he called her what her bully calls her. Gwen's actions being excused while Ben is left the bad actor is pretty much this fight in a microcosm. Even in the end, he is made out like the final aggressor leaving her to whimper sympathetically with a whole list of injuries and Ben with only one, that Gwen feels terrible about inflicting. In the original, however, it ended on even terms.

"he sounded just as sarcastic as she expected, but... There was something that almost sounded sincere" Ben can't be sarcastic and sincere at the same time.

In the original, the moment the fight ended Max arrived to tell them the bad news. In the reboot, Shadows59 gives Gwen time to try and reconcile, and she nearly does, which is exactly the opposite of what happened in the original a couple of chapters later.

-Erico The original didn't need a bunch of drama to start the war; just a single misunderstanding that was relatable, revealing, and eventually showed Ben's good character.

You're right Little Moments didn't have the characters going from "outright hatred to sucking each other's faces off" in the original. In the reboot, however, Gwen won't stop finding excuses to kiss Ben, and he's taken a liking to pinching her ass.

What you described was the original prank war, what has changed is in the reboot we are locked out of Ben perspective while he is being shown as less sympathetic and meaner. Case in point, it is Gwen who tries to make peace at the end when in the original, it was Ben. Why does Gwen need to be so lifted up as Ben is pushed down?

How does the added drama, the addition of sexual innuendo, and long rambling of the story facilitate them being kids longer?

(As always, please go leave Shadows59 a nice positive review he won’t delete.)

#ben 10 #bwen #ben x gwen #gwen x ben #benxgwen #gwenxben #ben and gwen #gwen and ben #fanfic #review #Little Moments

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echodrops · 6 years

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Sigh...

Look, don’t get me wrong at all, I am so excited for actual LGBT representation in Voltron and I’m so glad that they chose a beloved character like Shiro to be that representation--I am absolutely not ungrateful and you will never catch me whining that it wasn’t any of the other characters such as Lance. This is a great thing! Absolutely!

But I’m still a literary critic at heart. And I still can’t turn off the part of my brain that goes “Who is writing this stuff???”

Because like, getting representation is great, but well-plotted representation would have been... you know... even better?

I’m not going to comment at all about the building of Shiro and Adam’s relationship; I haven’t seen the whole SDCC episode and I don’t know what other flashbacks they have planned for season 7/8. Maybe it will unfold on-screen in such a charming, convincing, and well-written way that we will all be writing home to tell our parents how beautiful their relationship was. I’m not especially hopeful, but I can withhold judgment.

What bugs me, what really irritates me as a writer, is the lack of foreshadowing. The second thing that went through my head after getting hit with all the spoilers was “Did this show really need another new character?” In a show that can’t even handle the number of characters it currently has, the idea that there will be time to sufficiently flesh out YET ANOTHER background character enough to make me deeply care about them is just... not heartening. We have so many characters already who aren’t getting the screen time and attention they deserve, and now I’m supposed to find room in my heart and attention span for another? Yet another character who will exist in the spotlight for the one or two episodes he’s necessary for and then will be relegated to the background forever--if we ever even see him again outside of flashbacks?

There just isn’t time in this series for new people so close to the end. Hell, there wasn’t time for new people after about the end of season two! When I think of all the characters who were introduced and then criminally underused by the writers, the exhaustion I feel at the thought of having to weigh whether or not I should tentatively extend my investment into yet another character is crippling.

I’m just worn down, man. I don’t want another character. I don’t want another person paraded on screen to do his touching flashback scenes and then shuttled off to the corner to make room for big explosions and pretty space set pieces.

It didn’t have to be like this, and that’s what bugs me. If there had been any amount of reasonable foreshadowing for this character, the audience would have been clued in in advance, and we could have braced ourselves for another person coming in now, in the final arc. We could have been building anticipation to meet this character all the way up to this moment, so that by the time he arrived, we'd have been chomping at the bit to finally see him. The groundwork for an emotional connection between this character and the audience could have been laid out so far in advance that his finally appearing would have been like a bomb going off in the crowd...

And it wouldn’t have even been hard? Tiny throwaway moments could have done this--have Shiro mention Adam in any of his Champion/captured by the Galra flashbacks. Have Shiro mention someone back home when they were all visualizing the things they missed from Earth in season one. Have Kuron reminisce about Adam as he was flashing back while escaping from the clone facility. Have Kuron ask Sam to take a message to Adam on his way back to Earth. Have Kuron name his Monsters and Mana character Adam instead because of how much his ex still means to him or something.

Like... anything? Even a single mention of the name before now?

I’m supposed to believe that Shiro was almost married to this guy, had a tragic break-up right before leaving on a mission that his boyfriend explicitly warned him against going on because it might claim his life, and apparently still thinks of this guy fondly... BUT only when it’s plot convenient to do so???

Writers. PLEASE. Throw your audience a bone! We WANT to be emotionally invested in your characters. Why won’t you give us the means to do that?

I know some people might say “Dreamworks wasn’t settled on giving representation until late in the game”--but that doesn’t mean that Adam couldn’t have at least EXISTED before now. They could have passed him off as just Shiro’s best friend, his flight partner whom he was ride or die with thanks to being Garrison partners with so long... No one would have batted an eyelash at the idea that Shiro had--god forbid--A GOOD FRIEND back home.

This character could have been foreshadowed to build expectation and make the audience feel connected to him before his appearance, which would have more smoothly integrated him into the story and made for a significantly higher emotional impact upon revealing his relationship to Shiro. But like so many other things in this show, that degree of planning just wasn’t present.

Exhausting.

And of course, this just leaves aside the whole other point that introducing a brand new character to be Shiro’s boyfriend is actually MORE complicated than at least one alternative they could have chosen. Because I mean, hello? MATT IS RIGHT THERE. BEING CRIMINALLY UNDERUSED.

It would have been significantly easier, plot-wise, to give Adam’s role to Matt, who has been part of the plot since episode 1, was at least briefly implied to have good rapport with Shiro in season 1, whom Shiro is shown on-screen risking his life for, and who came crashing back in in season 4 to ascend to a fan favorite by virtue of a) being a great big bro in flashbacks, b) being hilarious and c) having taken a level in badass, creating a--at least by Voltron standards--fairly well-rounded and very interesting character that the fans were clamoring to see more of.

And then... the writers just dropped the ball on him completely, like they had no idea why he was even in the show in the first place. Is he even there with Team Voltron when they’re all shown going back to Earth? WHERE IS MATT?

Why did they bring him back into the plot, make him cool and funny, tease us with the idea of him being an awesome support for the Green Lion, and then let that all completely fizzle out?

If they really had nothing else exciting for him to do in the plot, they could have at least kept him relevant to the story by making him Shiro’s romance arc. That would have been a two birds with one stone situation where we both get the long-awaited LGBT representation and get to keep a cool character like Matt involved in main events instead of painfully shunted off to the side.

I’m getting a headache just thinking about the thought process behind Matt’s story line. Like which writer invested enough time to make this character that lovable to the audience and then agreed to just let him disappear?

And if, again, it was a matter of not having approval for the representation until season 7, why not just make it so that Matt was suspicious of Kuron and kept his distance from day 1? Then we get a situation in which Kuron being a different person than Shiro would have at least had an impact on the plot, Matt would have looked super in love with Shiro by virtue of being able to tell something was wrong with him without the writers having to do any real work, they could have had a real reunion at the beginning of season 7, and Matt could have helped to build a new arm for Shiro as a touching, symbolic way of repaying him for sacrificing himself to the Galra arena to save Matt in season 1...

I’m so tired, my dudes.

Yes, yes, you’re welcome to tell me I’m just unpleasable and nit-picking, but I’m not trying to trash on this show because I’m irrationally throwing shade, personally hate the creators, or some bullshit about Klance isn’t canon king--I’m just the kind of person who really, really appreciates good writing, and yes, secretly, I get really, really salty when I see people getting paid to make bad writing choices.

I love that we got LGBT representation in Voltron! But I hate that, like almost every other notable plot point in this show, it--so far!--appears to have been done without any attention to building up strong audience expectations in advance and more carefully investing in character development over time.

And seriously, if it turns out that Shiro and Adam don’t even ever reunite, and all we get of their story is Lauren’s off-screen comments about their “beautiful relationship,” I will not be surprised be so done with this nonsense.

#Voltron #voltron spoilers #Voltron critical #Shadam #shatt #takashi shirogane #voltron legendary defender #LGBT representation #is of course great and necessary #and I'm glad they got the go ahead for it finally #but bad writing is bad writing #making it gay doesn't magically make it good writing #no matter how much I wish it did #I wish I could sit down with the Voltron writers for just one day #and ask them every question I have about their thought processes #because there is just so much convoluted extra stuff going on here #I feel like they should have come to my MFA program to get this stuff workshopped #I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS

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douxreviews · 5 years

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Dredd Review

Dredd: "I am the law."

Brutal, bloody, and surprisingly good, this new version of an adaptation of the Judge Dredd comic series comes alive with unexpectedly excellent performances and some gorgeous artistic visuals.

Set in the future after a nuclear apocalypse, the entirety of the United States lives in a single Mega-City with a population of about 800 million people. Within this city are structures known as Mega Blocks which house upwards of 70,000 people. The chaos of that kind of society is protected by a law enforcement agency that gives individuals the power to act as police, judge, jury, and even executioner. These Judges are feared, and extremely deadly.

We are immediately introduced to Dredd (Karl Urban), a one man army with a single expression (a menacing scowl), and a monotone gravelly voice. He sees only the law, and the rules that are the only thing keeping Mega-City One from devolving into chaos. He is tasked with evaluating Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) to see if she is worthy of becoming a judge. She is the first person who's mutation, inflicted from generations of living in the radiation-impacted outskirts of the city, is a genuine gift. This mutation is a pivotal aspect of the character and used intelligently throughout the plot instead of as a throwaway character trait. She seems timid at first, and Dredd seems disposed to think of her as a failure, especially given her poor performance during training. But her quiet strength, determination, and innate goodness make her both a likeable character and an intriguing one.

Dredd, on the other hand, is a little harder to warm up to, but he is ultimately an interesting character that is more than armor deep. Which is remarkable because we never see his full face, and he never deviates from his monotone voice or single expression. I have to give massive kudos to Karl Urban for somehow bringing depth to what is essentially a true action archetype. He doesn't grow as a character, so I'm not sure how or why he becomes compelling as the story goes along. Perhaps there is something that rings true in the single-minded way he acts. This consistency of motivation makes him understandable, even if we never really learn anything substantial about him.

Dredd and Anderson chose to investigate a particularly nasty triple homicide that traps them in a situation that should be impossible to escape from. Dragging along an unwilling prisoner (Wood Harris – Avon Barksdale from The Wire) they have to figure out why they are being assaulted, and try to somehow survive an increasingly deadly onslaught of enemies. Leading the assault is a despicable woman named Madelaine Madrigal, nicknamed Ma-ma (Lena Headey). She is a former prostitute turned crime-lord who has created a highly addictive drug called Slo-Mo, which slows the user's perception to 1% of normal time.

This drug provides some of the most impressive visuals of the movie. The transition to super slow motion is simply breathtaking, because the image gets heightened with a unique glimmer that makes any source of light or reflective surface sparkle. These beautiful images are often amidst the most brutal violence, conjuring up a conflict of emotions upon seeing the sheer beauty of that unspeakably bloody violence. When these glacially moving moments in time speed back up, we are thrown into the gritty truth of that violence, but somehow it is never jarring. I don't think I've seen slow-motion used to such amazing effect before, and I doubt it could be pulled off in quite the same way again.

The plot wasn't exactly complicated, but it didn't need to be. It had just enough depth to it that it served the structure of the movie very well. Plus they never stayed in a single place long enough for the audience to notice that there might be any deficiencies. It wasn't perfect, but it had a level of tension and brutality most mainstream Hollywood movies would shy away from, unless they're horror. This movie is not a remake of Judge Dredd, the Sly Stallone bomb from '95, but because of that abysmal movie, I went into Dredd with almost no expectations. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this film, and found myself thoroughly entertained.

3 out of 4 Sparkly droplets of blood splattered against the screen in slow motion.

J.D. Balthazar is a confirmed nerd who loves most things sci-fi or fantasy-related.

#Dredd #Judge Dredd #Cassandra Anderson #Karl Urban #2000 AD #Doux Reviews #Movie Reviews #something from the archive

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