#it’s like ‘ok this provides a lot of context for this character’s emotional arc’

[topicaltropic]

🤝re rons arc!!! IDK what your thoughts about it are but i found the way it was resolved very uncompelling </3 especially re: Terry having to act responsible for Ron (which is!! pretty bad for a kid to do no matter how much their guardian loves them!!)

like, its interesting that the problem was there, I just wish theyd acknowledge it more instead of treating it as resolved.

if its ok to ask, what do you dislike abt it?

OH MY GOD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ANON !!!!!!!!!! 🤝 !!!!!!!

Okay. Reading from it meta textually you could really say its from tower of terry that they really began to transition from simple comedy podcast to dramedy. Consequently, its the arc where in trying to find that new balance for the show's settling focus that results in the most (to me) tonal dissonance. The rest of the podcast gets its footing for the right amount of being seriously unserious and unseriously serious through tower of terry, but Ron unfortunately sort of gets left in a limbo where the unhappy middle-ground is far too light hearted for tower of terry, and far too dark for the everything with his anchor.

I would honestly pinpoint this interaction as the root of the problem and what kickstarts everything im going to be complaining about with Ron's arc:

Its a silly one liner for a comedic podcast, yet in the context of the story, Ron is being abjectly cruel and has retraumatized his kid. Nothing of consequence happens except terry flipping him off and storming away. To briefly compare: Next arc they come up with a jokey plan to put grant in the minotaur to kill it. Darryl pays the full weight of that action with grant coming out completely traumatized for the rest of the series. As the tone of the narrative changes, the same actions now have different weights of importance. It could be interesting if this was used to serve a purpose narratively, but frustratingly, its more like Ron slipped through the narrative cracks and landed out of bounds, going over the negative amount of points to glitch over to the maximum like some sort of game exploit and now he never has to pay the piper.

But puting the meta aside, even more maddening is how Ron wins Terry over in tower of terry.

What does Rons father not being proud of him have to do with Terry's grief? How is Ron telling Terry he loves him in this moment impactful, when hes the person whos hurt him in the first place? What sucks to me is that this is the first moment of many where every emotional moment between these two it's all always centered on Ron and his trauma and leading to Terry becoming the one who has to take on the role of being the mature one in the dynamic and providing support to ron and becoming his emotional crutch. Like you said anon if this was explored or addressed it could've definitely been interesting except that unfortunately the creators never even saw it as a conflict to resolve in the first place seeing as the narrative itself perceives it as something positive .

To touch briefly on Ron and his father: i dont think this story is equipped to handle the heavy subject it envokes. Uncomfortable subjects have lots of merit to explore or examine, but this story uses it more as hurt for the sake of hurt. Me tearing up and feeling upset from this isnt because im being moved, it's because its touching nerves and to put harshly, doing cheap emotional signals.

I truly dislike how Ron either unintentionally by the character or the player steps on and uses Terry for his growth. Rons trauma overshadowing Terrys struggle in his grief, Terry having to put his own trauma aside for Ron, basically forgiving Rons for the pain hes caused him because Rons being abused is incredibly dissatisfying to me. A lot things in their relationship to me is deeply unearned.

[obstinaterixatrix]

I really like the art & emotional arc of this one bl but it’s also one I wouldn’t consider adding to the rec tag because there are just. too many caveats. it’s like hey there’s this really great bagel but you see those sesame seeds all over the top? those are actually ants. like it wouldn’t kill you and technically some folks in some places do eat ants but you wouldn’t just give that to someone

[newdougsblog]

The Tragic Hero Full of Fear

Hello everyone! Before I get into this, I’d like to thank @jasontoddiefor​ for both the name and being the main enabler of this fun piece of writing. I also want to thank all my wonderful friends over on Discord for letting me bounce ideas off of them and helping me. You are all amazing!!

Ok, so let’s get into it!

The first six Star Wars movies (the Original and Prequel trilogies) are commonly referred to as “the Tragedy of Darth Vader.”  But what makes these movies a tragedy? How is Anakin Skywalker himself, the main character of said tragedy, a tragic hero? In this meta/essay, I will discuss how Anakin himself is definitionally a tragic hero and outline his story as it relates to the structure of a classic Greek tragedy.  

This essay will focus solely on Anakin’s character as he is canonically portrayed.

The Hero

Let’s go through the main traits of a tragic hero (as per early literature) and discuss them in the context of Anakin Skywalker.

Possesses immense courage and strength and is usually favored by the gods

Anakin’s courage is evident throughout his entire life, such as when he participates in the pod race in TPM or on the front lines during the Clone Wars. 

While we cannot definitively ascribe Anakin’s abilities to any deity, we can associate them with the Force. The Force is able to somewhat influence the happenings of the universe in certain ways and takes the place of any sort of deity.

Whether Anakin is the “Chosen One” or not, his connection to the Force is stronger than that of any other Force-sensitive being, so he is consequently closer to it than most, if not all, other Force-sensitive beings. 

Extreme loyalty to family and country 

Anakin is consistent in his demonstrations of loyalty to those he has strong feelings for (whether those feelings be romantic or platonic).

His devotion to Padmé surpasses his loyalty to the Jedi, and he is always willing to go to great lengths to ensure their safety and well-being.

Anakin also exhibits a strong sense of devotion to his mother, Shmi. His devotion to her, and by extension her wellbeing, surpasses his duties as Jedi. 

In ROTS, Anakin says, “I will not betray the Republic… my loyalties lie with the Chancellor and with the Senate… and with you” (you, in this case, referring to Padmé). In this quotation, Anakin’s loyalties are made quite clear. At this point, he is not faithful to the Jedi, but to his government, its leaders, and, of course, his wife.

Representative of society’s current values

During the Clone Wars, Anakin is known by the moniker, “the Hero with No Fear,” and is one of the Republic’s “poster boys.” He is charismatic, kind, seemingly fearless (obviously) and a strong fighter, thus representing the values that were important to the Republic at the time. The last characteristic is especially important because of the assurance it instills in times of war. As a representation of the Republic, Anakin’s prowess on the battlefield creates hope for its citizens that victory is possible. 

Anakin also empathizes with the opinion that the seemingly outdated Jedi Code holds them back. In the Citadel Arc, Tarkin remarks that “the Jedi Code prevents [the Jedi] from going far enough to achieve victory.” Anakin actually agrees with this statement, replying that “[he’s] also found that [the Jedi] sometimes fall short of victory because of [their] methods” (Season 3, Episode 19). He shows a sense of allegiance not to the ancient ways of the Jedi, but to the newer, more modern ideals regarding military action. 

Anakin claims to have brought “peace, justice, freedom, and security” to his “new Empire.” While the Empire's interpretations of the aforementioned values are skewed, Anakin continues to represent them as Darth Vader. 

Anakin’s statement to Obi-Wan also mirrors Palpatine’s declaration to the Senate: “In order to ensure our security and continuing stability, the Republic will be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire, for a safe and secure society which I assure you will last for ten thousand years.” The people applaud this statement, demonstrating a general sense of exhaustion in regards to the war and a yearning for what this new Empire is promising them.

Lead astray/challenged by strong feelings

Though there are many, many examples of Anakin’s emotions getting the better of him, we’re simply going to list two:

Anakin’s fury and anguish after the death of his mom leads to his slaughter of the Tuskens

Anakin’s overwhelming fear of losing Padmé is ultimately what leads to his Fall.

Every tragic hero possesses what is called a hamartia, or a fatal flaw. This trait largely contributes to the hero’s catastrophic downfall. Anakin’s hamartia is his need for control, which partially manifests through his fear of loss. 

Let’s explore this idea in more detail. 

Though Anakin grows up as a slave, the movies neglect to explicitly cover the trauma left from his time in slavery. However, it is worth noting that slaves did not have the ability to make many choices for themselves; they didn’t even own their bodies. After being freed, Anakin is whisked away to become a Jedi. He does not possess much control over his life as Jedi, for he is simply told what path he is going to take. While Anakin does make this decision on his own, becoming a Jedi is a disciplined and somewhat-strict way of life and not one that allows for an abundance of reckless autonomy as he is wont to engage in. 

(Side note: I’m not here to argue about Qui-Gon’s decision-making abilities, nor do I wish to engage in discourse regarding the Jedi’s way of life. I am simply presenting and objectively stating these facts in relation to Anakin because they are pertinent to my point.) 

During AOTC, Anakin is unable to save his mother from death. As Shmi dies in his arms, Anakin is absolutely helpless. The situation is completely out of his control, and he is forced to contend with the reality that despite all of his power, he cannot control everything that happens. 

He also feels that he has a larger potential for power and is being held back by Obi-Wan: “although I'm a Padawan learner, in some ways... a lot of ways... I'm ahead of him. I'm ready for the trials. I know I am! He knows it too. He believes I'm too unpredictable… I know I started my training late... but he won't let me move on.” Anakin believes Obi-Wan, his teacher and mentor, is holding him back. He expresses a self-held conviction of his status and skills and does not trust the word of his superior. 

In ROTS, Anakin starts dreaming of Padmé’s death. Considering what occurred the last time he dreamt of a loved one’s demise, Anakin is justifiably (or at least justifiably from his point of view) worried. He consequently wants to stop these dreams from coming true in any way possible. His fear of death, especially that of his loved ones, represents his need for control over everything, even things that are uncontrollable. This overwhelming desire leads to Anakin’s drastic actions.

As Darth Vader, he no longer possesses such fears, for everyone that he loved is either dead or has betrayed him. He is the epitome of order and control, eliminating any who disturb this perceived equilibrium. 

However, this changes because of one person: Luke Skywalker. 

Luke reintroduces something that was (arguably) long-absent in Vader’s life, which is interpersonal attachment. Vader yearns for his son to join him by his side. When Luke refuses, Vader continues to attempt to seek him out. In ROTJ, Vader is forced to choose between the Emperor, a man he has long trusted and followed, and Luke, the son he never knew he had. Out of a desire to protect and keep what little family he has left (and likely a sense of “I couldn’t save Padmé but at least I can save her legacy by keeping her child(ren) alive and safe”), Vader defeats the Emperor and saves his son. Though his actions are definitionally heroic, Anakin never truly overcomes his hamartia. 

The Structure of a Tragedy

Classic Greek tragedies follow a specific story structure, which, according to the German playwright Gustav Freytag, is as follows:

We’re going to focus on the three aspects that best represent Anakin’s story as a tragedy: The peripeteia, the anagnorisis, and the catastrophe/denouement. These occur during and/or after the climax. 

The peripeteia is the climax/the turning point in the plot. Said change usually involves the protagonist's good luck and prosperity taking a turn for the worse. 

Within the tragedy we are discussing, the peripeteia occurs when Anakin chooses Sidious over Mace Windu and solidifies his allegiance to the Dark side, becoming the very thing he swore to destroy. It is at this point that things really start to go downhill. He kills children, chokes his wife, fights his best friend, gets his remaining limbs cut off, etc. 

The anagnorisis is the point in the tragedy when the protagonist recognizes their error, seeing the true nature of that which they were previously ignorant of, usually regarding their circumstances or a specific relationship (such as Oedipus’ realization that his wife was actually his mother). In most tragedies, the anagnorisis is in close proximity to the peripeteia. In Anakin’s story, the anagnorisis occurs during ROTJ. After being wounded in his fight against Luke, Vader watches as his son is brutally electrocuted by Sidious. It is at this moment that Darth Vader realizes that Luke was right—there is good in him, and he still has the chance to redeem himself. 

The catastrophe/denouement (since this is a tragedy, we’re going to go with “catastrophe”) is the end of the tragedy. Events and conflicts are resolved and brought to a close, and a new sort of “normality” is established. The catastrophe often provides a sense of catharsis (release of tension) for the viewer. The protagonist is worse off than they were at the beginning of the tragedy. 

The catastrophe within “The Tragedy of Darth Vader” transpires soon after the anagnorisis at the end of ROTJ. Though the realization of his capacity for good is the anagnorisis, the follow-through (via his actions), as well as what consequently occurs, is the catastrophe. As previously discussed, Vader saves Luke by killing the Emperor but does so at the cost of his own life. This serves as the resolution of the tragedy, for the hero’s fate has been confirmed—Darth Vader fulfills his destined role as the Chosen One and, in doing so, brings about his own redemption and dies as Anakin Skywalker.

In conclusion, the categorization of Star Wars as a tragedy is a choice that heavily influences Anakin, the protagonist and hero, of the story. He is without a doubt a tragic hero whose fatal flaw leads to his downfall. In accordance with Aristotle’s theory of tragedy, Anakin’s tragedy is constructed not by personal agency, but by the narrative itself.

Works Cited

“Darth Vader.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Mar. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darth_Vader.

“Dramatic Structure.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Feb. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dramatic_structure.

“Hero.” Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 19 Oct. 2016, www.britannica.com/art/hero-literary-and-cultural-figure.

Lucas, George, director. Star Wars: Episode III— Revenge of the Sith. Lucasfilm Ltd., 2005.

Lucas, George, director. Star Wars: Episode II— Attack of the Clones. Lucasfilm Ltd. , 2002.

Michnovetz, Matt. “Star Wars: The Clone Wars, ‘Counterattack.’” Season 3, episode 19, 4 Mar. 2011.

“Sophocles: the Purest Artist.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/art/tragedy-literature/Sophocles-the-purest-artist.

“Theory of Tragedy.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/art/tragedy-literature/Theory-of-tragedy.

“Tragic Hero.” Dictionary.com, Dictionary.com, www.dictionary.com/browse/tragic-hero. 

[ruby-whistler]

therapy psa

hey there! have you ever said, “(character) needs to go to therapy! they need to get them help they need” in fandom context? 

that’s cool! nothing wrong with that! i used to say and still say that a lot both before and after i went into therapy, because to put it simply, characters in nowadays’ media face a lot of very traumatizing and stressful situations in quick succession. however before i got my own treatment i had a lot of very confusing thoughts about what therapy actually entails, so as someone who has been going through cognitive-behavioural treatment (for ptsd and anxiety) for about a year, i’d like to perhaps just inform people who are unsure about the concept.

so uh, welcome to my essay! the gist of it is:

1. what a therapist does and doesn’t do 2. why that matters when talking about therapy or writing about it

just a quick note, again, that i am not licenced or professional or anything of that sort. i have an interest in psychology, but i’ve picked all of this stuff up by observing my own psychotherapist. if you feel like you need professional help, please reach out and try to schedule an appointment close to where you live.

1. so... what is therapy?

let me preface this by saying the main point of this post, which i will probably be repeating a couple of times throughout this: therapy =/= emotional support. your therapist isn’t there to hug you and tell you everything will be alright. so, what does a therapist do?

- professional diagnosis

your therapist will most likely give you sheets of paper to fill out at your first appointment, ask you questions, give you tasks to complete, psychoanalyze you and diagnose you. they will find out exactly what is going on with you; after all, they’ve been to school for that and as much as you might feel lost in your problems, they know what they are called, why they happen and how to solve them.

- instructions

the psychologist will not “therapize” you on the spot. think of it as piano lessons; you come there once to twice per two months for a one to (rarely) four hour session. most appointments sit around the one hour mark. much like on a piano session, you show off your progress in that one hour and talk about what things you’re having difficulty with. your therapist will then give you advice as to what you should try to do, and send you off for a few months to deal with life.

your therapist, and this is hard to swallow but important, will not coddle you. if you keep bringing up a problem over and over again because it seems large to you, but they keep changing the theme to something else, you might even get frustrated. but a (good) therapist knows more about your brain than you do. they’re not there to validate your feelings, they’re there to help get rid of the ones that stop you from functioning normally.

what they will do, is go; “hey. stop focusing on that so much. i know it makes your life hard, but it’s part of a larger problem. from an objective perspective, you should shift your attention to this issue and solve it instead. if it keeps happening, you do the breathing and mental exercises i taught you, but the only way to stop it is to try and resolve this underlying problem.”

a therapist 99% of the time will not have an emotional attachment to you. you’re a name in their many alphabetically sorted files from which they take out yours and check through their notes before each session. then they will help you solve your issues by explaining the things happening in your brain and instructing on how to fix them. nothing less or more. you will usually not have an attachment either, because that’s not the point of going to therapy. therapy isn’t emotional support. 

- further help

if your mental health issues/mental illnesses cross a certain line, your therapist will direct you to a psychiatrist for further help such as medicine or other kinds of treatment. most therapist do cognitive-behavioural therapy, which “helps people learn how to identify and change destructive or disturbing thought patterns that have a negative influence on behavior and emotions.” however, in intense cases this is not enough. your psychotherapist will help you get the additional treatment you need.

another thing they can do is legal things! documents, things to give to your school, job, the authorities, other technical things. they are a higher authority when it comes to a lot of things, and can make your life easier.

- other

this doesn’t mean you can’t talk about life or must be all objective or only talk about the negatives. your therapist will often try to get you to view your issues in a more positive light, ask about other things that make you happy or distract you. you are pretty much free to ramble to them! they’re happy to know, and if it makes you feel better, there is no need to be all gloomy at your therapist appointments. if your therapist is alright with you rapping the entirety of hamilton at some point, or you explaining c!dream’s arc on the dream smp, feel free. if you feel happy talking about something, that’s good! you have something to latch onto and distract yourself from the hell in your brain. 

i’ve learned that thinking about things that give you comfort when things get rough is a big part of cognitive-behavioural treatment, in order to stop that good ol’ thought spiral of anxiety.

2. why is this important to know?

well, i think a thing many people overlook when talking about fictional characters going into therapy is the fact that,, therapy by itself often isn’t enough.

i asked my therapist a few days ago what my family could do when i’m having an anxiety attack. she replied, “they can be there for you. they can keep up conversation, distract you from the stressor, assure you that nothing bad is really happening and that they care about you.”

this is something really important that people forget; emotional support does wonders. your friends, family, whoever, if they provide support it’s suddenly much less terrifying to go through the healing process.

a character being sent to therapy and left to fend for themselves is not a happy ending. it’s not going to heal them quickly, it will be extremely difficult to go through all that on their own. the more the people who care about you understand your struggles and try to be there for you, the less scary it gets. they’ll ground you, they’ll hug you, they’ll make you a mug of hot chocolate and they’ll hold your hand and say “everything’s ok. everything will be ok”. because the mental harm in your brain is more often than not a consequence of things being not ok in the past. remembering that it is ok now is important. having emotional support can both remind your that it’s all in your head, and assure you that your feelings are valid and people will be there for you for as long as it takes for things to finally be ok, or as ok as they can be.

as much as professional help is very important, this is vital to the healing process. having people be there for you and just having people who support you in general. 

i think people should put more weight on that than just “character needs therapy.” character needs therapy and emotional support. these two go together, and character needs both. you might be, or try to be strong, but it’s comforting to be.... well, comforted. “get them the help they need” no. get them the help they need and then on top of that provide the help they need. 

that’s all. just something i thought was important to remember.

- ruby

[dreaming-of-assclass]

Omg Reaper 2.0's misogyny? I'm intrigued LOL especially since I don't remember a lot of details about him. So if you'd be willing to spill the tea... 👀

Ok everyone buckle up, it’s tea spilling time 😌🍵

Meta: 2.0’s Misogyny and Views on Gender Roles/Sociology

⚠️ TW: child abuse, domestic abuse ⚠️

So the specific instance I think of is during the Reaper arc, when the kids are breaking in to save Irina. And they first come face to face with him, and have to engage in combat. He takes them down effortlessly, we all know.

But...there’s a moment in which he purposely hits Kayano especially hard with his knee, and believes he has broken her ribs. He callously remarks, “Females are so fragile.”

Let’s break this down:

A. Kayano is literally the smallest girl/student. She is very petite, and everyone knows this. It's obvious even when she's wearing their uniform.

B. He knocked down everyone so easily, but seemed to take a particular joy in brutalizing her. A petite girl.

C. Given that he's been watching the class, he must've known that she was actually stronger than she seemed. But again, I question this particular violence and the comment afterwards.

For a while, I thought maybe he had just said that to be cruel for no reason. To rile them up and be an asshole. I mean, it would be fitting, right?

No. I came to the eventual conclusion that this man is a misogynist, for sure. And there are indicators that Koro, his only role model, might bear some resentment towards women himself.

There's also proof in the way that he treated Irina, even when they were "allies." He seemed to really disrespect her and look at her like a joke, despite her accomplishments as an assassin. And whatever worth he did believe her to have, he only thought it came from her sexuality.

Like...why else was Irina dressed down to only lingerie in the arc? Because it was part of his plan, and he looked down on her and her profession.

Expanding the context a bit, it really also does prove how he looked down on women. He had Irina appear half-dressed, upset, and completely weak before she tricked everyone. The embodiment of female fragility, and how sexuality is tied into that. I hope this is making sense omg

Now, moving onto his past~

I really recommend you read this awesome meta by @akamayumura (sorry for the tag!!) They delved into his childhood and psychological state very well, in my opinion.

We can infer that 2.0 grew up in a terrible household, and that is an equal contribute to his behavior, as well as the possibility of him having an anti-social disorder. I mean, he was so happy to see his father get killed in front of him...

Not only that, but he literally romanticized the killer. In that moment, he didn't experience grief, but gained a rose-tinted view of death. He literally begged Koro to go with him and grow into someone like that.

Clearly, there was some psychological reason for this. But that isn't unordinary for abused children to feel, having such a disconnect. He didn't view it as his father being murdered, but rather: a person he hated finally leaving his life.

And then he gained loyalty for the person who was responsible -> The Reaper.

I cannot find it for the life of me, but there is apparently a moment in canon where 2.0 describes his father as "tyrannical."

And you know what?

Usually in a household with an abusive tyrannical father, there is a weak, complacent mother.

This is so interesting that we're on this topic now, because I just read a book detailed all about this. It's called "Men Who Hate Women, and the Women Who Love Them" by Susan Forward. Please read it omg, it's so good and informative on how misogyny is engrained in childhood, relationships, etc.

But yeah!

This exact dynamic is a formula for men who grow up to be misogynistic because their first example of a woman in their lives is their mother, who is the victim in an abusive dynamic.

Here are some pictures from the book to help explain.

^ 2.0’s hatred towards his father

^THIS.

Either 2.0 grew up having to provide emotional labor for his mother, or there was none at all between them. Overall though, there is a sense of resentment and abandonment given that the father was so dominating, and his mother was a victim too.

Men who lived in households like this, often grow up into believing that women are to be controlled, because this is the example they had to go by for so long.

On top of that, there's a layer of resentment and distrust towards women because his own mother didn't stand up for herself and protect him. Why would another woman do so?

But to sum it up:

2.0 believes women are weak, fragile, easily controlled, and cannot be trusted at all.

There's evidence in his attack on Kayano, and the way he treated Irina.

Ahem, also notice how he seemed to act more professional around Karasuma, and took him much more seriously. Like yeah, Karasuma is more serious, but why on Earth would one of the best assassins in the world regard a government agent over another top-notch assassin?

If Irina were a male assassin, I definitely think the treatment and attitude would be different honestly.

ALSO.

2.0 loves flowers, we know! But there's another reason why he possibly used a flower shop guy as his cover.

To easily manipulate women, the target customers of flowers.

Hmmmmmm.

Anyways, yeah, we can deduce that his misogyny was born from his childhood of having an abusive father and seeing his mother as a victim.

Not to mention, that he spent most of his life with Koro, who definitely didn't treat him to respect women lmao.

I actually feel like Koro has his own personal resentment towards women/femininity...but before I make a post about that, I'll have to do more research.

Anyways, we all knew 2.0 had dad issues, but there are a lot of mommy issues on top of that.

This isn't me trying to cancel him or anything btw! He's still one of my favorite characters, I love him. I just find this characteristic of his to be pretty interesting and worth diving into. (Although I will admit, that Kayano rib scene upsets me a bit.)

So yeah! Hope you enjoyed this meta! And I hope this tea is hot enough 🍵🍵🍵

[thethirdamell]

hello! i've recently binge-read ur fic in like two weeks, which is crazy. 900k words and i somehow still managed to show up for work! i'm very much in love with it holly crap. i hope it's ok to ask some things tho? i was wondring, other than the obvious, is there any reason in praticular you chose for anders to keep what happened to him from amell? is it to give their relationship a change to grow naturally rather than just for amell to fix him? or am i reading into this lol. i'm so curious! ty!

Hello!

Thank you for reading! I’m glad you made it to work! (Two weeks? Wild!)

It is always fine to ask things. I love questions and talking about Accursed Ones. I’ve been working on this monstrosity for six years so I am a bit wrapped up in it. 

Realism

The majority of abuse survivors do not actually report their abuse for a variety of reasons. Fear, shame, not wanting their family and friends to know, not feeling that their abuse is important enough to report, feeling the abuse is too personal to disclose, feeling there’s no proof of the abuse, that the abuse wasn’t serious enough to report, that the abuse wasn’t really abuse at all, and overall fear of the person abusing them. 

In addition to all of the aforementioned reasons, recovery from abuse can take anywhere from days, to weeks, to months, to years depending upon the person. Even without considering the gaslighting, abuse survivors tend to have some fairly common responses, like PTSD, self-blame, isolation, anxiety, sexual concerns, etc. 

Working off of this, Anders speaks very little of his abuse in the Circle and what he suffered there beyond mentioning that he was in solitary for a year to the Warden Commander. When speaking with Hawke, he speaks in broad, but impersonal terms, and I suppose it could be argued that’s Justice influence, but I would argue it’s also a realistic response of an abuse survivor.

Sometimes it’s easier to tell some people, and not others. Some times you want to tell some people, and not others. Arguably, there’s no reason any abuse survivor should feel obligated to disclose their abuse in any detail to anyone. 

Narrative 

In the context of Accursed Ones, given that it follows Anders’ perspective, this particular arc is something of an abuse survivor story. While I love dark themes, I also want to make sure those dark themes are appropriately identified as being dark, and that they aren’t excused in the context of the narrative. Similarly, I want the positive aspects to be appropriately identified as being positive.

I do not believe an abuse survivor story should come with the caveat that the survivor must share that abuse to anyone for any reason. Sometimes someone already knows because they witnessed it (Fenris), sometimes telling someone is helpful (Nathaniel), sometimes you get outted and don’t have a choice (Franke), and sometimes it’s just not necessary (Amell). 

Amell is a little bit complicated because Anders’ behavior towards him was primarily - but not completely - a result of the situation he was in at the time. Anders is self-absorbed in a lot of aspects of his life (in AO and arguably in canon), and the major tension for their relationship came about as a result of Anders being so wrapped up in himself he didn’t consider Amell’s feelings... probably ever. 

That has nothing to do with Hawke, so there’s really no reason for Anders to address his trauma with Hawke to be forgiven by Amell. Amell also contributed to the problem with how much he allowed Anders and his general refusal to establish boundaries for himself. That said, the message isn’t that Anders needs to provide an excuse or even an apology to be forgiven, it’s just that he needs to change the behavior.

Relationship

From the context of the relationship it’s more important that they learn how to communicate as equals than it is for Anders to revisit trauma he fears would change Amell’s perspective of him. If Anders opened with his behavior being a result of trauma, Amell would have buried any of his own feelings, and had no character growth in learning to express his own needs. It also would have put a lot of strain and doubt on the relationship as to whether or not any emotions were genuine or simply born of sympathy on Amell’s part and escapism on Anders’.

The two of them are supposed to have each other on pedestals, and while that may never change, it’s important they be able to recognize there are people under the pedestals. If Amell came in and rescued/saved Anders from Hawke, the chance of Anders ever seeing him as a normal human being more or less goes out the window. I also wanted Anders to recognize that he can exist independent of Amell/anyone and be his own hero if the situation calls for it. 

All that said, I don’t think it’s much of a spoiler to say that at this point given Anders’ behavior Amell is aware he went through some form of sexual assault/abuse just given the way Anders has been acting and being a survivor himself. Finding out in bits and pieces as time goes on and little things are shared as the two grow more comfortable with each other is, hopefully, a more realistic and satisfying way to address it.

[clevercorvidae]

BNHA Common Misconceptions

I’ve been seeing wayyy too much bs on my dash lately. So I thought I’d share some of my thoughts on some Controversy™

***Spoilers For The Manga***

1. “What the HPSC did to Hawks wasn’t bad”

A government organization putting a young child through rigorous training so that he can be used as a tool is bad. I don’t know why I have to spell that out

Hawks had to abandon his real name at a very young age. That’s damaging for a kid’s sense of identity. His identity as a person no longer has any separation from his work as a hero. Being a hero is all he is now. I wouldn’t be surprised if (provided Hawks’s wings are gone for good) he has an identity crisis after this arc because he can’t be “Hawks” anymore.

Hawks is based on Lionel Messi, a soccer player recruited at a young age in return for paying for his medical procedures. I’ve seen people say that Hawks chose to be a hero. One, he was a child, young children shouldn’t be making decisions like that. Two, we know based on context clues that Keigo was more than likely living in poverty, possibly with alcoholic parents, and we literally are told that the HPSC payed for his family’s living expenses. Do you really think Keigo had much of a choice here?

I’ve seen people say “it’s just like what UA is doing”. First of all, UA is called out for being irresponsible and endangering their students IN UNIVERSE. Second, Keigo was a young child, the UA kids are 15+. There’s a huge difference.

2. “Mitsuki isn’t abusive”

Honestly when it comes to her smacking Katsuki, I could excuse it as a joke done in poor taste and not hold it over her as a character.

Hitting him WASNT just discipline tho. You should never, ever, under any circumstances hit your kid. Fuck that noise.

What I really have an issue with is what she SAYS to Katsuki. Her guilt tripping him isn’t a throwaway line either. He repeats the sentiment that he is responsible for Kamino during Deku v Kacchan 2. It’s one of the main reasons he fights Deku.

Horikoshi says that Katsuki has a good relationship with his mother. In that case, he did a horrible job at presenting that. What is written in the canon is what should be used as the basis for how we interpret her character.

3. “Shigaraki chose to kill his family/was born evil”

No...just...no. He was FIVE for crying out loud.

He wanted to be a hero, and took extra care to play with kids that had no friends. He definitely wasn’t born evil lmao.

His quirk manifested while he was having an emotional crisis. Decay is controlled by emotion so of course it went haywire.

He didn’t even know it was him doing it at first.

“But Shigaraki said he WANTED it to happen” Shigaraki is an unreliable narrator. What we actually SEE tells a very different story. He reaches out to Hana and his Mother for help. His grandparents are just caught in the shockwave. The ONLY person he killed on purpose was his father.

Now when it comes to his father, he had just beat him and locked him outside. He’s FIVE, and he has no healthy outlet for his anger and frustration. Hell, we see that in his “itchiness”, he only feels like this in the house, because his father makes him suppress his love for heroes and his dream to become one. He takes joy in killing his father because it’s the only release he’s ever experienced.

The fact that you guys forget that this is an abused child with no real control over his quirk that just got beaten and locked outside... Nope, no reading comprehension here.

4. “The League of Villains are justified/are a revolutionary group”

...Shigaraki has stated over and over again that he just wants to destroy everything. He doesn’t care about reform or improving anything. That one panel in Ch. 222, where he says he wants to destroy everything I think sums it up perfectly.

He wants to destroy EVERYTHING good or bad or neither or both. There’s a newborn baby, a field of flowers , Nine, various heroes, the UA kids, etc all varying in innocence.

The rest of the league have very different goals and reasons why they continue to support Shigaraki. Twice wants to protect the only people that accepted him. Spinner just wants to have purpose for his life. Toga wants to live the way she wishes with no consequences. Compress is also here.

The only “revolutionary” is Dabi. But his views are not universal throughout the league.

Even if they were trying to improve things. They have killed countless innocent people, they’ve tried to kill the UA kids too. That’s not ok. And it’s not erased by the fact that they’ve done good. (I do appreciate them for killing the MHA version of the KKK, truly epic of you)

5. “Hawks is abusive”

It’s not abuse to manipulate someone for info when you’re a double agent. It’s kinda shitty, and you could argue that it was unnecessary for Hawks to do so in context. But it’s not abuse.

Y’all need to stop using the word abuse/abusive tendencies to describe all immoral actions

I’ve also seen people say that Hawks has abusive tendencies (as in he’s abusive in all his relationships with other characters) and...do I really need to explain why that makes no sense at all?

6. “Twice deserved to die/it was necessary to kill him”

Feel like I need to remind people that we’ve only ever actually seen Twice kill one guy and that was one of the KKK guys.

Twice isn’t evil, even Hawks admits that he is a genuinely good person. Good people don’t deserve to die.

It wasn’t necessary, and here’s why: Hawks could’ve just knocked him out or even just severely injured him. (Or the HPSC could’ve just grown a brain cell and sent more people to back him up, making it easier to hold back his quirk and arrest him)

Hawks shouldn’t have killed Twice, he only killed him because he’s been raised as a child soldier and I wouldn’t be surprised if what he told Twice about taking out villains was a direct quote from the HPSC

Also, Hawks would’ve killed Twice with or without Dabi’s intervention

Something I do have to say though is that Hawks was right not to just let Twice go. It’s tragic because Twice WAS leaving to help his friends, but the other side of that tragedy it that his friends are terrorists. If he was allowed to leave a shit ton of people would have died (again that doesn’t mean he deserved to die either, don’t get it twisted)

The WHOLE POINT of Hawks v Twice is to make you question who the bad guy is. Both characters are morally gray and the only reason they even have to fight is because of the outside forces controlling their fates. It’s supposed to be tragic it’s supposed to be unclear who is in the right, so stop arguing about it.

7. “Bakugou is abusive/irredeemable” (I know it’s been talked to death but I still see it everywhere)

People are, in fact, allowed to grow past the person they were in middle school.

Most people get hung up on the “throw yourself off a building” line. Which is fair, but again, he was in middle school.

People also say “he hasn’t apologized yet”. Yeah? And? The story isn’t over yet. Horikoshi has already acknowledged that too. I don’t know what you want? People who like him know that his arc isn’t over yet.

I’ve seen a lot of people denying his character development. In the beginning of the series he was a bully and let his ego control him. I don’t think he’s bullied...anyone since Deku v Kacchan 2. He insults people but they obviously don’t take it seriously.

He’s also gone from preferring to fail a final exam to avoid working with Deku, to following him into battle against Shigaraki.

Also, when he actually likes and respects someone he doesn’t mistreat them. This is the same thing with Hawks where y’all NEED to stop misusing the word abuse. He was an abusive friend to Deku when they were kids, that’s it.

8. “Rei was abusive too!”

I’m BEGGING YOU to learn what the term “abuse” means istg

She had a psychotic break. She genuinely thought it was her abusive husband coming through the door, and she acted out of fear.

“Well that’s not an excuse” yes it fucking is. Not to mention that as soon as she realized what happened, she sobs hysterically because she hurt Shouto and tries to use her quirk to help him.

I genuinely don’t understand why people think this

9. “Dabi actually does care about the league”

Listen, I know it sounds harsh, but y’all need to get your heads out of your piles of headcanons.

We know next to nothing about how Dabi feels about just about anything. But we do see that he’s aloof and distant with the league, he doesn’t put in more than he needs to. The rest of the league think of each other as family. Dabi straight up says he doesn’t give a shit about them.

“What if he was just putting up a front for Hawks” Why? Why would he do that? When asked who he was he answered him. He tells him how he feels about hero society and Stain. Not to mention that he was getting ready to kill him. If he was hiding his true feelings about the league I doubt he would’ve so easily said that he didn’t care about them but rather how useful they were.

At this point it’s just wishful thinking. Based on everything we’ve seen in the series so far and everything we know about Dabi, I think it’s safe to say that he doesn’t care about them all that much. If he secretly does care about them, I’d say it’s likely that he doesn’t even know he does.

Idk why all of a sudden villain stans and hero stans are feuding over things that shouldn’t even be up for debate in the first place. Sorry if this came off as super aggressive, I’m just sick of seeing this stuff all over the place. If anyone has anything to add go ahead

[lapetiteshippeuse]

The D. Gray-Man Rare Pair Week : Alternative Universe Extravaganza (Creature Feature)

Keyword chosen : Demons Format chosen : headcanon The Rare Pair chosen : Allen Walker and Road Kamelot

Hello everyone !

I am very happy to have chosen to take on the challenge of “DGM Rare Pair Week” ! This is my first time participating in a "DGM Week" and I am very excited !

For today, I have chosen to prove, in a headcanon, how Road and Allen could be a couple that could enters in the canon of events.

Two small things to specify first :

First of all, remember that as you have seen, the program requires a change of universe. However, I choose to keep the universe and the Hoshino canon. After all, the theme and keyword of the day seem to match, and @letspleasuretogether​ told me that everything would be ok ^^ So let's keep going!

Then, know that I am doing this out of pure fan service because I love this ship, but behind it I have found that making this ship canon is HARDER than you think. It was very hard to find romantic coherence. So much that, yes, I confess that there are some arguments in this post that I don't fully believe. I doubt it even enough. But again, I'm doing this in pure fangirl.

Here's how it's going : being a college student, I couldn't help but follow the classic plan to produce a plausible and cohesive and brilliant argument to illustrate an idea : introduction / development / conclusion. (note though that I won't be doing an introduction at all : I would introduce the characters there, and I'd rather not waste time with that, because I can imagine that any DGM fan here is pretty much familiar with the characters in this game, Allen Walker and Road Kamelot. Let's just say you're reading the introduction to this post right now!) I'll pick a timeline-style plan here, which will be built according to the sequence of events over time in the manga.

As a consequence, I prefer to warn you : this is gonna be a very long post ! I hope you have time right now ! If it’s not the case, you can come back later. 

One last thing : please, be kind. I’m so tired right now, I gave very much time to write all of this, once again this is gonna be VERY long. So please, no insults, because you’re not a Roallen shipper. Thank you very much for that.

And precisely speaking of that, here is the main idea that I will illustrate ! Now let's start the development :

The Roallen ship is a combination of kindness and humanity, which distorts and intoxicates the relationship between the two characters.

Road Kamelot, antagonist.

Allen Walker, protagonist.

The two met as enemies. It is this enemy context that we will attribute to our first part.

And at first, we will see this humanity side of the ship, orchestrated by Road. Road’s humanity, which we will illustrate with one of her lines: " (I am) Just a human being », in the city backwards. This sums up the essence of this ship in one sentence. 

The first thing that will surprise the reader / viewer is Road's hugging Allen. 

First the shape, or what may already be visible. It's true that it's still disturbing : this is the first time that I have personally seen an antagonist hugs a protagonist, so close. Seriously, where did it come from? The introductions aren't even made yet, as Road tightens her arms around Allen. Then, the bottom, what does it say? "Do you feel this heat?" She will tell Allen about the softness, warmth and security that a hug can provide. She goes on to say that it is an emotional sensation that only a human being can experience. Her name is Road Kamelot, and she is a human being, and she is capable of tender gestures. This is her personal way of introducing herself. No, she doesn't seem to mean at first glance that she is sadistic, cruel, sociopath and psychopath at the same time. Her name is Road, she's a human, and she loves hugs.

Note also that when the fight ends in the city backwards, Road leaves without killing Allen and Lenalee.

Allen and Road's face-to-face (rather, back-to-back) makes it likely that there is only a yard between them and Road chooses not to end it just yet. (A little candle lightning in the heart, and then it's flaky !). But she's going to declare to Allen "I'll be back to play with you Allen," openly proclaiming that she would like to see him again (so no doubt about that). To hurt him again of course, but THAT’S JUST THE BEGINNING OF THIS SHIP’S STORY ;) Still, Road didn’t kill Allen, when the opportunity was too good. And this scene, where she chooses to miss this opportunity, there are quite a few that look alike like that! (But I'll come back to that...)

And Allen in all of this?

Well, because of his personality, Allen brings the theme of kindness to this ship and believe me, kindness is not without consequence.

Road : Are you intended to kill me ?

Allen : I must defeat you.

Road : It’s useless, you cannot kill me.

Remember that saving tormented souls is Allen's reason for living. He has it on his conscience if he can't save everyone (akumas for the left hand, humans for the right hand).

At the end of the city's fight backwards, you would think Allen would win the fight against Road by destroying the three akumas and without her being able to recover Miranda's innocence, or kill her, or kill the exorcists (by the way, I wonder what the character really wants).

You would think the fight ends on a score of Allen 1 - 0 Road.

It is not so.

In truth, it's an equality, ball in the middle (1 - 1).

Let me explain : in a bad, as in a good intention, Road scored a point, at the time of their last dialogue, while Allen points his innocence right at her, before she leaves by her door. She tells Allen not to shoot, and then explains why.

First, the bad intention : she reminds him that his hand being a weapon, that is to say implicitly that Allen, himself, is a weapon. Allen then remembers that earlier, when meeting them, Road confessed that a weapon was designed for the sole purpose of "humans killing other humans." This is pure provocation, to put Allen a little more beside himself : she calls him a murderer, when Allen is quite the opposite. On the other hand, also remembering innocence has no effect on Road, so right now is not the time to point his innocence at her. All she does is manipulate him. It is a double-edged sword. One point for Road.

Now, let's note the good intention our little sadist wants to send to the protagonist : if she tells him not to shoot, it's for a good reason. "You really have a heart of gold Allen," she will tell him. It seems like a warning, a limit for telling Allen he's going too far : by pointing his gun at her, he is pointing his gun at a human (as she introduced herself to him). But if Allen kills her, that makes him a murderer ; or whatever he isn't, and whatever he swore he wouldn't become. It might sound strange, but Road seems to warn Allen not to fall into the dark side. Not to be so cruel (she realizes that this is not his style, since he has "a heart of gold"). And that makes him reflect on his duty as an exorcist : an exorcist is not an assassin. She appeals to his kindness again. In this way, Road makes Allen feel a lot of things contrary to each other : she makes him doubt of himself but also allows him to question himself better.

Road must stay alive at the end of this scene : Hoshino therefore went out of her way to show the relationship between the two characters, why he shouldn't kill her, and that's what the characters are talking about, in this face-to-face.

Personally, as an anecdote, I find this scene much tastier in the French version (in the anime) : while Road is gone, you can hear Allen say "Shit". But in the French version, it says "Je t’attends, Road." that we can translate in “I’m waiting for you, Road” WHICH SHOWS THAT THE DYNAMISM OF THIS RELATIONSHIP IS ONLY BEGINNING !!! The duality is posited ; the staging and the atmosphere are at their peak during this confrontation, regarding the nature of this relationship between these two characters, brought to meet again.

Later in the manga, Road and Allen will meet again : first in the Ark, where Road is shown an attraction to Allen.

Then they will meet again in the neighborhoods of the American branch during the Alma Karma arc. This is where their relationship will evolve, this time in an ally context, which concerns them mutually.

Now getting back to Road’s humanity, I would first like to answer a quick question that many fans have : As Sheryl Kamelot asked Bookman, what was the nature of her relationship with the Fourteenth?

Many assume that these two characters shared a romantic relationship. This is a legitimate assumption. After all, Sheryl knowing that Allen Walker is the fourteenth and having noticed that her daughter seems attracted to her host, and knowing that he learns that the latter is partly the cause of her disappearance, Road having tried to protect him before he asks Bookman this question, it doesn't seem indecent to think that Road may have been in love with the Fourteenth. However (and this is only my personal opinion), I do not agree with this : firstly because, for a manga where the plot seems to become more and more complex, that would be a bit too much "easy". All of the sudden, that's what the mangaka wants us to believe, and what she's trying to tell us is "it's more complicated than that". Secondly, because I consider, as a reader, that Hoshino seeks above all to demonstrate that Neah and Allen are completely opposite characters in terms of personality :

Neah wants the destruction of humanity, he is a murderer ; Allen, meanwhile, wants the world to be saved, at any cost

Neah wants to become the new Millenium Earl ; Allen wants to destroy it.

Neah would kill innocent people to achieve these ends ; Allen cannot kill humans, even Noahs, his kindness and compassion are great

Neah is sadistic, devious and manipulative ; does not look like Allen

Finally, Neah seems to be just downright cold ; Allen is a warm person

Road did know Nea, well enough to know him enough to know that Nea and Allen are clearly not the same person. If a D. Gray-Man character gets it right, it's Road.

Besides, I think that knowing that Neah has taken possession of Allen, seems to upset Road more than anything else.

When she reads the paper certifying it (paper by the way that looks like an official paper, "formalizing" that Allen is therefore doomed to disappear), she becomes melancholy, following this news. As if she would have preferred, like Cross, that it had fallen on someone other than him. (That being so, a moderately valid argument, since looking at the paper, she mentions the fact that Nea tried to kill the Earl, and it would not be indecent to think that this would be what bothers her more than anything else ; but again, I don't think this reflects any love towards the Fourteenth - I think Nea was a beautiful person who unfortunately went wrong, kind of like Anakin Skywalker).

Likewise, a reply from Sheryl : "Road ? Is there a hint of tenderness in you voice when you say “Allen” ?" only fuels the potential attraction Road feels for Allen, as Road goes to ask the Earl: "...". She seems to be showing more and more concern for him.

Finally, it can also be remembered that in The Ark, Road told Allen that she would not hesitate to kill him if she touches a single hair in his family. Yet, in the rest of the story, it seems obvious that she cares about him just AS MUCH AS her family. Road wants to protect her family at all costs, because she has already lost her first thirty five years ago ; but Road, she also wants to protect Allen.

He and Road will first approach in another world ; memories of Kanda and Alma. Personally, I really like this scenario, because it gives an isolating feel to two characters who come together for the first time, before they get even closer in the real world. In the memories of Kanda, a world where no one can see them, she crosses the enemy line and joins him in the memories of the Japanese: while he almost gets swallowed up by the memory of Kanda, Road saves him the life, hugs him once again and reminds him of who he is so that he remains aware that they are in the past. She is particularly worried about him. But again, the opportunity is too good for Road to do away with the fourteenth : she could let Allen be swallowed up by Kanda's memory so that there is no fourteenth at all. But she leaves Allen alive. Again, it's probably to see Nea again, but again, I honestly don't think Road is in love with the Fourteenth. She looks at Allen, she knows that he's the one she's talking to, knows Nea well enough to know he's not Allen (she repeats "Allen" a lot of times in this scene, by the way).

Especially since I specify that she runs her hand through her hair, as a sign of affection, and that in general (and this is why I say IN GENERAL, not everyone does), it seems to be a love reflex, or very affectionate, more than just plain friendly.

Also, a certain ambiguous moment in the dynamics of the two characters is present, when Allen asks Road if the revival of Alma Karma is part of the Central Administration plan. The two are particularly close to each other (seriously, as a reader I thought they would kiss), and Road will give Allen a friendly look. The latter seems intimidated, as he probably didn't think she was capable of having any such feelings.

Additionally, Road is going to help Allen understand the Exorcists' Second Project, which is a key moment and element in this story arc, and therefore proves to be a very good ally to Allen. At this point, she doesn't seem mean and sadistic at all ; she will even help the hero on his way. And rather than showing that Alma's awakening is the work of Noahs, she especially wants to let him know that it is also the work of the Central Administration, to qualify what we are talking about here way of saying that the Noahs are not the only wicked). 

Finally, to highlight once again the French translation of the manga, when Alma Karma comes out of nowhere and surprises Allen and Road when they are connected to Allen's memory, sound effects written in Japanese are inscribed. But only a French translation exists (yes I looked for it. No I'm not obsessed) : "Ils se rapprochent à vitesse grand V !”, which can be translated as “They are getting closer at high speed !" I have the feeling that this is almost the mangaka talking to us, if I'm not mistaken ^^. Or maybe it's a simple "instant ship" moment rather than consistency and a love canon.

Later still, Allen and Road are going to get closer in the real world, and there are only more and more emotions (therefore, drama) : first, when they meet again when Allen is imprisoned by the Central Administration in return of mission is attacked by Apocryphos, when Road enters in scene, the first thing she chooses to do, it is to take him in her arms, ONCE AGAIN. And that's not all : once again, she will produce an emotional, warm embrace and reassure Allen. In this rush, she doesn't seem to be paying attention to what Tyki, or her family, may think (he himself suspects something about not bringing Sheryl). And once again, the opportunity is too good to finish with Allen : she can let Nea continuing to metamorphose into him to finish it off faster with the fourteenth, but she does not. Because killing the fourteenth, is go back killing Allen. Choice that Road doesn’t want to see that happen, if it comes to.

And shortly thereafter, not only do we climb in emotion, but also in action, which produces more and more drama : Road will sacrifice herself and take a punch in Allen's place, to the point that it makes her disappear (that is, she must genuinely have tender affection for Allen). (Has Lenalee ever done this for Allen ???) Finally, before disappearing, her last words : Road is crying, for the first time she is very moved, and very vulnerable. She is therefore very capable of humanity.

This is where I'm going from the start of this second part : to me, it's clear, Road is in love with Allen. There is no evil or unhealthy manipulation technique, no cruelty, not even slight flirtation. There is even tenderness and emotion. Road doesn't want to lose Allen ; for me, she refuses the reincarnation of Nea in him, she chooses to protect him at any cost, even if she disappears, and does not care of what her family might think about it (Sheryl, Tyki). From there, it's not flirting anymore, but the birth of her loving feelings towards him.

To wrap up this development, we're going to revisit Allen's goodness, and this time focus on this evolved relationship and his “alliance” to Road, and most importantly, the fact that he can't kill her, he'll even tolerate her presence.

First, in the Ark, Allen chooses not to kill either her or Tyki, but rather exorcises them if he has to go through it (of course, what he doesn't know is is that we have to go through murder to exorcise them from Noah who are in them). This is what happens with Tyki Mikk, even if it fails. When Lavi Bookman comes to himself, he almost goes to the point of committing suicide by burning himself, but he chooses to take Road with him to death (though that also fails). Lavi stabs her, he knows he can go this far with an enemy ; but it’s a choice Allen couldn’t make (even Lavi is also going to suspect something, comically, after Road has been charred and disintegrated).

In addition, he also curiously tolerates her presence in the memories of Alma and Kanda.

She is even helpful to him, lends a hand to him, he's alive and that's because of her, she's even kind, and affectionate, even if Allen doesn't understand everything. She is even tactile, and he does not push it away.

There's a lot of tactile between Road and Allen from there, more than you would think.

It is mostly an intention that comes from her to him, unreciprocated at that moment, but he instinctively does not reject her. Between two enemies, when the status of friend / ally is not even formalized yet, but a rapprochement and a tactile effect is more present, I almost have the impression that it fits in the canon, in my opinion (let's not forget that this is just a headcanon).

The same with the Apocryphos bow: in his cell, and this time in that embrace, (and once again!) Allen lets himself go into Road's arms. There is even a comfort ... and a curious affection ... it's curious that anyway! You might even think he finds a rather tender emotion, like her. Later in his desertion, what I found personally disturbed (while it seemed rather like an insignificant detail, to me) was that Allen wears Road like a princess (like LaviLena !!!!). Of course, it seems consistent in terms of comfort : it would be easier to wear Road. But still…It figures that out this is apparently those insignificant details who are “weird”, you know...

What is most ambiguous in all of this is the following in his desertion : Allen is going to be worried about Road's unconsciousness.

He ends up asking Tyki why she doesn't wake up. Even Tyki seems to be less worried than Allen. Moreover, the Noah seems to trust her enough to take care of her on his own with the awareness that he must cover their escape with Timcanpy.

Again, Allen refuses, claiming that they are Noahs and therefore his enemies. But after a little morale lesson, Tyki disappears. In the end, Allen neither accepts nor refuses to enter Road. They are both ; she is unconscious.

Allen knows she is vulnerable ; and his gaze on her is also uncertain : which I find brilliant is that his left eye seems to offer a suspicious look, towards her. 

And his right eye, a compassion look, because of her vulnerability.

Again, this is troubling.

And then we can remember Road's tirade in the city backwards : it could be cumbersome in his flight, but Allen cannot kill Road, because he knows she is above all human, even though he still struggles to realize it.

But not for long : when Road says her last words, she looks Allen in the eye, crying and talks to him. She says something to him which is directly addressed to him.

Most importantly, Allen is shocked : he never saw her cry, and he didn't believe her capable of that. Friendly looks, tears, of course Road is human like him (To use the Road quote sums it up). All this, before she disappeared : Allen sees that she was even more vulnerable than he thought.

And Allen shakes his fist : upset? Because he couldn't save her? Hard to say. Deep down, I think he knows she's not really dead. But here we have a failed act : the truth is that Road and Allen would have spent a long time together, Road accompanying her on her escape, but that doesn't happen since she disappears; a rapprochement, which ultimately does not happen.

So, what can we therefore conclude from this ship?

That in terms of reciprocity, we remember : that after a while, our two enemies employ the refusal to kill each other.

Then, that one is worried when the other is in danger.

Finally, that they are able to save each other, or come to the aid of each other, mutually.

This is already, I think, a great development. So I know what you're going to tell me : there is nothing romantic here, it's probably just a budding friendship. And you would be right to think so! Nothing tells us that there is a romantic future for the two characters (that would even strike me as quite inconsistent, given the current circumstances of the story). But, if you are a shipper at heart like me, you will have noticed this thing : this atmosphere, this staging, this atmosphere that the mangaka has chosen to adopt, which makes the reader work to imagine some love story (you know what I mean?) In the memories of Alma and Kanda, I find it rather blatant. It's that “stuff”, that something that reminds me of this potential romantic arc. But again, you would be correct in thinking that basically not ; I still think so myself (because Lenalee is around ; and sorry, but I don't ship AllenLena at all, no offense). But they have already shared their first kiss !!! You couldn't take it away from me !! (although it was not agreed)

And precisely, could we imagine the circumstances of their next meeting? Honestly, it was an exercise that I must have had a hard time doing. Especially since given the turn the manga is taking, I can't see how… But what I can assume is that, even if it could happen in a very long time, I don't see the fact that Hoshino decides not to do them again interact. As much as their relationship follows "progress."

By the way, don't you like this parallel that Road and Allen bear the opposite Christian scars of the cross-shaped stigmata of God and the satanic cross in opposition to their clan? ;)

Thank you for having reading !!

[dreamworksconvict]

She-Ra: Racism Problem Pt. 1

Thanks to this post by @dyke-ra​ for inspiring me to write about this topic, I’m going to have to split this up cause there’s so much to talk about.... 

I worked a bit on my thesis today, which is about LGBTQIA+ representation in kid’s/young adult’s cartoons, and as soon as I got home I stumbled upon a post on my dash (reblogged by @highqualititty​ who has Very Good Art so check them out) and I was like!!!!! This is exactly what I was writing about with VLD and Steven Universe!!!! It reminds me a lot of this image by @racistz

So I want to point out some of the problems with She-Ra that I’ve noticed and that other people in the fandom have noticed as well, and talk about them in the context of Hollywood history, tropes/stereotypes, and well... colonialism. 

There will be spoilers for She-Ra Season 3 so be warned. I’m also writing this kinda stream-of-consciousness-esque so apologies if it’s a bit jumbled.

PART I: Character Design - 1. Catra

Ok, so let’s start with Character Design. I want to focus on Catra and Mara for this. If people want I can talk about some of the worries I have about Huntara too. 

Let’s start with Catra, and let’s do a little comparison. 

Catra and Sugilite share a startling number of design traits. Pay particular note to the fact that they’re both seen as wild, misguided characters. Neither of these characters is coded as white. I would say Sugilite is pretty obviously a racist caricature of a black woman, not that Catra doesn’t have these tropes as well, but that Sugilite’s design and character traits have been widely discussed, especially in the really excellent article “All These Black Characters and 0 Done Right — How Steven Universe Fails Its Black Fanbase, Part I“ (there is no part II, as I believe the writer, Riley H, got essentially bullied into silence). In actuality, however, both of them have a lot of similarities. I’ll be using a lot of evidence about the coding of black women in media primarily, but there are a lot of other tropes you can find about other ethnic or racial codings as well. A lot of these tropes are also defined as being in the past, but there are still clear reverberations of them in the present, as I try to show here.

Riley H notes the Jezebel stereotype in the article I mentioned, which Catra seems to fall into somewhat. The Jim Crow Museum at Ferris State University says that “The descriptive words associated with this stereotype are singular in their focus: seductive, alluring, worldly, beguiling, tempting, and lewd. Historically, white women, as a category, were portrayed as models of self-respect, self-control, and modesty - even sexual purity, but black women were often portrayed as innately promiscuous, even predatory.” While Catra’s design does not have the same obvious extreme-hourglass shape that Sugilite’s does in its emphasis of hips and chest (jesus Rebecca Sugar, what were you thinking), Catra’s chest and hips are still accentuated with triangle designs that point to those areas; Catra’s hips are also decorated with strappy belts. Her pants are also ripped at the thighs, and she doesn’t wear shoes. She also wears skin-tight clothing; compare to Adora, who gets a big baggy coat, a long-sleeved shirt, and non-ripped pants (and shoes). Catra is also wearing red, a color associated with passion; while Adora’s jacket is red, she is most often seen in white, a color associated with purity. Plus, check out Glimmer’s fantasy imagery from S2, which is supposed to be a reference to the OG She-Ra but does not take into account that THESE ARE STILL TEENAGERS???: 

Also note that Catra’s arc thus has far has focused on her losing self-control and self-respect, while Adora’s arc has focused on her gaining those traits instead. 

Two other stereotypes are important to acknowledge here: the Sapphire stereotype, which “popularly portrayed black women as sassy, emasculating and domineering. Unlike the Mammy figure, this trope depicted African American women as aggressive, loud, and angry - in direct violation of social norms,” and the black brute stereotype, which typically referred to black men but stereotyped them as “animalistic and brutish.” Catra is literally made animalistic by being part cat--if your defense is, “oh, well that’s just how she was in the original,” 1) things can you know... improve over time 2) it’s still really, really bad even if it was “used in the past series” and 3) she’s also covered in scars on her arms, which is an addition to her design that makes her seem like she gets into more fights than Adora and other Horde soldiers and/or had a rough past, making her more “brutish”/prone to fighting than the others. (Contrast to Adora’s now-revealed past where she was a Magic Baby Destined Hero from the Savior Planet.) 

Plus, she still falls into the Sapphire trope. Adora was the favorite of the Horde, while Catra was the rebel and “too outspoken.”  Catra is also punished more than others for failing to succeed in missions--Hordak even attempts to have her executed, despite the fact that most of his generals have also been failing just as much. Catra still talks back to him, and rarely is shown afraid--more often than not, she’s shown making “sassy” quips and talking down to others. Adora gets many more scenes of emotional vulnerability and growth. Both are/were members of the Horde as well and grew up traumatized, but Catra’s trauma villainizes her (although she may still get a redemption arc at some point) while Adora’s does not. 

She is also very masculinized (is that a word?? oh well) when with Adora. She even takes the role of the “male dance partner” in the ball episode when they dance together, and is wearing a suit and tie (untied, to still depict that “wild” side). Look to Riley H’s article which discusses how Garnet in SU often takes the more masculine roles in fusion dances--there are clear parallels. While this inherently isn’t a problem, it’s a common trope that PoC women characters are made to be more masculine than their white counterparts. On top of this, much like how Pearl (white-coded) is the only one who can get through to Sugilite once she’s gone “out of control” (see the episode “Coach Steven”), Adora, the white savior (I will get to this problem later), is presumed to be the only one who can “get” to Catra or influence her behavior (although Scorpia made attempts, but she is also white...). 

In summary: Catra is portrayed as animalistic, wild, prone to fights, and masculine especially in comparison to white-coded characters. Her arc thus far has made her a foil to Adora, but in doing so has followed a lot of stereotypical tropes and has heightened Adora’s position as a White Savior, especially post-S3. 

(I didn’t talk about the “evil lesbian” trope, but since there are so many queer-coded characters on both sides, I am not sure if that trope applies here. I may make another post regarding that specific trope though if people would like. Essentially we’re getting dangerously close to that potential premise.)

2. Mara

Ok, so if you haven’t heard, Mara (the previous incarnation of She-Ra) was whitewashed in the earlier seasons of the show. Let the images provide the evidence, Season 3 vs prior: 

Yikes...

I have seen an apology floating around on Tumblr from someone who worked on the show who claims they just didn’t notice this... which like, ok, maybe. There is also speculation that maybe they decided to design Mara this way last-minute. I’ve also seen some theories that She-Ra’s “form” is a white woman regardless of who wields the sword but that would be Super Yikes so let’s hope it’s not that. 

There are plenty of resources available about why whitewashing characters is bad, although it’s somewhat unusual for this to be a discussion in animation. (Typically the discussion happens when Scarlett Johansson plays a character who isn’t white or cis for the ten billionth time.) But something similar did happen with Voltron: Legendary Defender on the cover of one of their comics. Check out this nonsense:

Like how to do you mess up, that bad?!!?!?!?

In any case, I believe a reprint was issued (much) later for this particular cover, but the fact remains that this is becoming enough of a problem that people should be checking for this. This whitewashing took place in the actual She-Ra episode and wasn’t caught beforehand by editors? Suspicious, and embarrassing...

Also, this doesn’t necessarily have to do with character design or whitewashing, but I am Suspicious that Mara had to sacrifice herself to save the planet while Adora did not... remind anyone of Allura? Anyone???? There is a whole problematic history regarding that which I can get into on a separate post as well. But since we don’t know exactly what happened to Mara yet, I’m leaving that alone for now. 

----

So that’s the gist of the character design piece of the puzzle! Next I want to talk about the White Savior trope in She-Ra and how it’s really similar to Voltron and Steven Universe in that respect. 

IS this all a bit of a reach? Maybe some of it?! But I doubt that ALL of it is. (The whitewashing definitely is not.) And the fact is that there has been a ton of problems with holistic representation in cartoons, and She-Ra isn’t trying to do anything different to counteract the bad stuff that’s been done before. In fact, it’s kind of following the same pattern as its predecessors. Characters, even non-human ones like Sugilite, are coded a certain way, and those codings are based off internalized systems of how we view the world and interpret it. So if you have a writer who’s not really closely examining those beliefs and systems without challenging them, you end up with stuff that follows all these problematic tropes and stereotypes. 

I’m planning for my thesis to go over why I think this happens so often (mostly a lack of intersectionality). essentially I’m in way over my head and will have like, a 100 page thesis plus a creative piece too by the end of this and it’s due this fall cause i deferred it oooooh my gosh. Anyways! There will be more if you like. 

[ayankun]

Agents of SHIELD Season 1 Rewatch Update

Ok so I’m having a difficult time remembering what it was that made me hate this show so much (aside from the unforgivable Minecraft reference) and stop watching in Season 1.

Just got through ep 14 and holy cow, I’m honestly not sure whether the storylines for seasons 2, 3, and 4 were planned this far in advance, but if they were then these folks did such an overwhelmingly good job of keeping their eye on the ball.

Best I can figure, I’m having a good time on this attempt thanks to prequel-goggles.  I already know where this story is going, who these people will become and what’s going to make them into what they will be, and I can appreciate this older storyline in light of the circumstances it precedes -- rather than for what it is without that context. 

(It certainly helps that some of the dumber stuff is already starting to be replaced by the better stuff, like it’s ep 15 and the “night-night gun” was just replaced by the much more palatable “icer,” and they haven’t tried to call the individual dwarves by name for ages now)

Also there’s some pretty good cinematography, the graphics are really respectable, watching this found family slowly realize how much they love each other is sooo charming, and the affectations required of a MCU-spin-off-sci-fi-spy-show are really well balanced with the character drama which is its true heart.

I know ep 1x08 (”The Well”) is six and a half years old so maybe spoiler warnings are not necessarily required but here we go

Remember when Thor 2 came out and then this show had to earn its stripes as co-existing in the MCU so they had to address the fact that aliens ripped up London and the whole world knows about it?

Not being able to afford the likes of Chris Hemsworth was something they obviously had to work around, and plopping in that rando dweeby Asgardian as a twist was definitely one way to do it. 

But the real showstopper is that the through-line of the episode is the examination of the similarities and differences of Ward and May, especially once they both come in contact with the Asgardian rage-stick.

Seeing Ward nearly incapacitated by his traumatic childhood memories serves two important purposes.  First, it makes some good strides towards humanizing the man, who until now has been that hot-and-cocky kind of character that just expects to appeal to an audience but hasn’t yet earned any appeal whatsoever.  By now, we’ve had a reference to his toxic dynamic with his older/younger brothers, and seeing him reliving his experience with the well suddenly opens him up and gives some dimension to that tall-dark-handsome cardboard cutout.

Second, those experiences are a really good twist!!  When it’s revealed that he’s not remembering being tortured in a well by his brother, he’s remembering allowing his brother to torture his other brother down a well and not having the guts to do anything about it.  It’s a good one-two punch because you weren’t expecting to pity the guy, and now that you’ve spent twenty minutes pitying him for being victimized, you get to grapple with the much more complex emotion of the kid!Ward not knowing how to get out of this lose-lose situation and understanding that his current character must be in some way informed by this regret and guilt.

THIRD, after seeing Ward go through all this and barely hold it together, we get to see how May handles this level of relive-your-worst-trauma-and-incinerate-yourself-with-unbridled-rage when she has to pick up the rage-stick and .... instead of it leaving her on the ground like it’s just done to Ward, she somehow experiences 0.00000% change in personality or capability WhatSoEver.

She not only isn’t affected, she summons all the broken pieces of rage-stick and effortlessly wields the fully formed berzerker staff to defeat the rest of the baddies single-handed.  It says so much about her character, about the depths of the trauma that sent her to the place we met her in in the pilot.  We still don’t know what happened, but this her “my secret is I’m always angry” moment, and it’s a  level of anger has been repeatedly and thoroughly cataloged throughout the episode so far.

It also gives these fools something to bond over.  And while I’m seriously disinterested in their weird little Thing that didn’t go anywhere and didn’t really impact much, it was a nice way to avoid progress in the “Skye’s falling for her SO” storyline that I don’t care for either.

But Skye makes her move in this episode!  She and Ward dance around the possibility that maybe they’re into each other and they could possibly move from antagonistic strangers to folks who are a little into each other.  But he does the gentle thing and turns her down! (without closing the door entirely, I must add)  And then he wanders off on his own and ... May’s wandering off on her own ... and they share some micro expressions and then, seriously you guys this sequence is so tasteful and understated, just look:

Ward leaves Skye at the bar with a parting “I’m beat, another time, maybe,” and off her wistful look we cut directly to this chiaroscuro hallway.

Ward enters the frame, starts unlocking his hotel room. He's just another monochrome shape in this monochrome place.

But then there’s May entering the shot at the far end of the hallway, and her motion and his turning to look at her frames her monochrome shape in this nice little white triangle between him and her door.

And there’s a tasty little rack focus that pulls the instant she passes in front of the door, making sure our attention is on her and the little white label of her bottle that really pops in the sea of black.

By this point in time, we’ve been shown, graphically, intimately, a dark shadow in his past, and we’ve been shown the physical and emotional toll its taken on him (an insight provided by the magic alien macguffin, btw).  We haven’t been told anything, we experienced his experiences with him via the power of cinema.  Her specific trauma is still a mystery at this point, but we’ve been given enough information to understand and appreciate its effects on her character.  So not only can we sympathize with Ward now, we can sympathize with his empathy for May in this moment.  

She catches him looking.

I mentioned micro expressions and screenshots do not do these performances justice.  How does one catch in a single frame the millisecond that an eyebrow ticks in asking a silent question?

Typical for her, May’s answer is also communicated through body language.

From that canted, inviting look, we pan down as she unlocks her door and enters.  She passes through the frame and disappears inside, after giving us a reminder that her plans are to apply alcohol to her issues.  (Remember that Ward turned down Skye’s invitation at a bar of all places)

Oh, and what has our framing left us to contemplate?  Is that a bed I see in there?  (Remember that Ward turned down Skye’s invitation)  Let me point out that this shot of just the bed after May walks by is on screen by itself for maybe a fraction of a second.  Just a suggestion of a thing, really.

Ward contemplates.

I love returning to this shot because it’s literally the same set up, and my instant reaction is that it’s another insert, a POV shot, and I fully expect to return to the single shot on Ward to discover his decision the second he makes it.

INSTEAD.  Ward walks immediately into THIS FRAME, too, black-shape-on-white-shape in the same way May was introduced to this scene.  And we stay here as he closes the door behind him ...

Letting us know everything we need to know without a single word needing to be spoken.

Another fraction of a frame dwelling on that shot and then immediately fade to black.  Credits.  Show’s over, folks.

And not that there’s any particular meaning in it, but they were super careful to minimize what colors were allowed to appear in this sequence?  Like there’s a particular sort of green in that weird armchair, which sort of matches the green-glass of her bottle.  And there’s the red of the fire alarm fixtures which more or less matches the red of his, y’know, fresh facial wounds.  EVERYTHING else (other than, I guess, their skin tones) falls somewhere along the white-black spectrum.  NICE.  BEAUTIFUL.  I LIKE IT A LOT.

And the Netflix synopsis for this episode is “In the aftermath of the events chronicled in the feature film Thor: the Dark World, Coulson and the S.H.I.E.L.D. team try to pick up the pieces.”  1) I’m realizing that they literally go around picking up pieces of the rage-stick and that’s hilarious but mostly I mean to say 2) this MCU-tie-in episode could have met the brief being as vapid and non-impactful as that blurb makes it sound.  But it took the opportunity to open up its characters for us to see their gooey insides, and hell they picked two of the best characters to dig into for this one, considering Ward’s tragic backstory plays as both a misdirect and actual inciting incident for his betrayal of SHIELD, and May’s tragic backstory feeds a couple of B-plots this season as well as being the major catalyst for a lot what happens in season FOUR.  SEASON FOUR, PEOPLE.  THE SEEDS ARE WAY BACK HERE IN SEASON ONE.

REMEMBER HOW THESE CHARACTERS WERE INTRODUCED THOUGH??  I DO, I JUST WATCHED THE PILOT LIKE YESTERDAY.  WE MEET WARD FULLY ENSCONCED IN HIS GUISE OF SHIELD BADASS SUPERSTAR; HE IS LITERALLY ASKED TO EXPLAIN WHAT SHIELD MEANS TO HIM, AND WE GET TO HEAR THE FIRST OF HIS MANY LIES.  WE MEET MAY IN HER OWN PERSONALLY-DESIGNED WHITE-COLLAR HELL, TURNING COULSON’S OFFER DOWN THE SECOND SHE HEARS HIS VOICE BECAUSE SHE’D RATHER STAPLE DOCUMENTS FOR ETERNITY THAN BE OUT IN THE FIELD WHERE SHE CAN MAKE ANOTHER MISTAKE LIKE THE ONE SHE CAN’T FORGIVE HERSELF FOR.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.  This show knows how to weave a character-driven story, and it’s done it for six seasons straight, juggling constantly evolving -- grounded, nuanced, impactful -- character arcs with the external factors (Thor: The Dark World, for one) that force certain narrative decisions.

(until they decide to ignore those factors altogether, lol, I’m looking at you, season 5, you wacky maverick you)

[flusteredmountainman]

Muriel route speculation as told by an English lit major (lol)

OK so i kjnakjffae am procrastinating doin uni stuff so im going to throw together some thoughts I had yesterday about Muriel’s route and his themes of isolation/family being a running theme throughout all the characters stories + foreshadowing for his route in details from the game + in the meaning of his patron arcana card.

Spoilers for the upright and reversed endings for asra, nadia and julian’s routes obvi, Speculation for Muriel’s route, and spoilers for the side stories Travel at Night and Dawn of the Grub

So basically I realised as well about a week ago that each character’s upright and reversed endings can be guessed from the upright and reversed meanings of their patron arcana’s tarot card, which are as follows for the main 3:

Asra (The Magician)

Upright:  Now is the time to take action, before all comes to naught. Stay focused: You have a job to do.

Asra concentrates on the goal of saving the world and the two of you end up in a happy, independent relationship because he isn’t distracted by the compulsion to help/protect you constantly

Reversed:  Be wary of lies from the mouths of charismatic charmers. They will not keep their promises

You and Arsa make a deal with the devil in the understanding that you’ll eventually be able to reach your friends again, but you both forget about your previous lives as an unforeseen consequence 

Nadia (The High Priestess)

Upright:  Listen to your dreams; allow intuition to guide you. All will be revealed in time.

Nadia trusts you (from her past when she was in her coma) and her own intuition and you defeat the devil together

Reversed:  Be careful of losing touch with your intuition. Do not close your mind to the world's mysteries.

Nadia becomes impatient, deciding she’s the only one she can rely on closes off her own options by becoming too single-minded - sacrificing her humanity to the devil

Julian (The Hanged Man)

Upright:  Sometimes, the best strategy is a swift retreat. Take time to regroup and re-examine your options.

Julian listens to you in the confrontation with the devil, you regroup with all the people who care about him and defeat the devil as a team

Reversed:  Be careful of stagnation- your own goals have value. They don't deserve to be put on hold.

He sacrifices himself and his own goals to save you, and as a result ends up living as a demon stagnating in his own private version of hell - becoming less and less human

So! We can look the explanations of The Hermit to try and figure out what his plot is going to look like. So we have:

Upright:  Look inside yourself for the answers you seek. Take time for introspection in the days ahead.

Reversed:  Be wary of retreating too far within your own mind. Others still have valuable things to share.

I feel like these are fairly self-explanatory - in the upright ending you help him recover from his trauma and come to terms with himself and his past - we’ve already seen a lot of the way he just. doesn’t think at all about his own comfort or emotions because it’s clearly too painful in his first couple of books.

In the reversed ending, we may still convince him that his feelings are valid - but that might cause him to reject the reality of his trauma and sever ties with other around him - isolating with you perhaps?

Another thing I’ve been thinking a lot about is connection and how that would relate to his upright and reversed endings. Connection and support with other people besides MC are huge components of the romance arcs for the first 3. 

In Nadia’s upright route, you support her in reconnecting with her family, and she learns that she can ask people for help and rely on them to support her, but in her reversed ending you let her keep you like a pet, she doesn’t reconnect with her family, and she becomes single-minded and isolated.

For Julian, in his upright route he also learns that he doesn’t have to sacrifice himself for those he cares about - and that they’ll support him and fight with him no matter what. In his reversed ending, his self-sacrificing tendencies are encouraged and he ends up alone and isolated, and in this ending MC also has the option to stay with him in his realm forever instead of reconnecting him with his family.

Asra’s upright arc revolves around learning that the two of you are individuals, and that he doesn’t have to constantly worry about your wellbeing and can focus on himself. He is reunited with his family and maintains meaningful relationships with other characters. In his reversed ending, you become his whole world and the two of you literally forget anyone else exists - isolating yourselves in your own world. 

I think that this is going to be especially poignant in Muriel’s route - especially because he already isolates so much. I was reflecting on the role of family (both found and blood) in the routes of the other characters and I was considering how this might manifest for Muriel. 

I was specifically thinking about his past - he was made homeless because Lucio’s tribe attacked his village and his parents had to give him away so they wouldn’t starve. Obviously he hasn’t seen them since they abandoned him, but I’ve replayed two of the side stories recently - Travel at Night and Dawn of the Grub. 

We know that a lot of Muriel’s preferences and personality are shaped by the culture he left behind. His favourite colour is green - the colour of his tribe (evidenced by his blanket which was all he had left from them), his favourite animal is a bear (the animal of his tribe - mentioned in Dawn of the Grub), and his favourite flower is the forget-me-not - which is only found growing in colder regions in the South etc etc etc. 

I’d been wondering at the circumstances of Inanna’s relationship to Muriel - it’s not like it’s common for wolves to ever be without a larger pack, and in Muriel’s first chapter it’s clear she’s highly intuitive and intelligent, plus she’s been described as his “wolf mom” by the devs. When I replayed Dawn of the Grub I noticed something that stuck out a little more - which was that specifically when Lucio is talking about neighboring tribes he mentions just two - ones symbolised by bears and one symbolised by wolves. I know this is a tiny detail and I may be Reaching but lol hear me out. 

It got me thinking about how in other routes the LI ends up reconnecting with blood family in their upright endings. Asra spent at least two decades thinking his parents were dead, but you help him reunite with them. I feel like it’s too much of a coincidence that Inanna watches over/protects Muriel like a maternal figure (that he hasn’t had for a very long time) combined with the fact that the writing specifically mentioned Muriel’s neighboring tribe as being symbolised by wolves, and the fact that we know nothing about his actual family besides that they abandoned him. We only really get to know anything about Asra’s parents in  his route - they’re mentioned in Julian’s, but we don’t find anything out about them in Nadia’s either.

My crackpot theory: Inanna was either sent by Muriel’s family (who survived and are living with the wolf tribe) or by Muriel’s neighboring tribe to keep an eye on him. I don’t think this is such a huge leap especially when you consider that a Lot of animals have been shown to talk to each other/communicate telepathically with people (Malak, Faust, Cameo, and Inanna understanding what you’re saying when you first meet her in Muriel’s arc). I think that in his arc his family might try to reconnect with him - which may be facilitated by Morga’s presence - especially since she’s not a huge part of any of the other arcs besides being present at the ritual. 

I think that a big factor as to whether or not you get his upright or reversed end will be if you encourage him to reconnect or support him in his isolation. It’d be easy to see why he wouldn’t accept them if they tried to contact him - it’s been a couple of decades and they abandoned him, so of course he would be hurt, frustrated, and want nothing to do with them. I get the feeling that if you tell him that he’s valid in wanting to do nothing with them, it will contribute to his reversed ending (isolation), whereas if you’ve brought enough attention to how he’s feeling so that he can work on himself, constructively managing his feelings, and healing from his past then it will contribute to his upright ending. 

Also there’s such a like. dumb teeny tiny line of dialogue that i haven’t been able to stop thinking about, I really can’t remember specifically which route it’s in (either Asra’s or in heart hunter somewhere) where another character comments how he and Asra could be brothers (i think it’s Asra)? And Muriel replies that he doesn’t have any brothers. At first I thought that this was a wink to asriel content in Nadia’s route - that he doesn’t consider Asra a brother bc he might have romantic feelings for him, OR that he doesn’t consider Asra a brother because Asra is nonbinary, however, it might not be that as Nazali is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns but is still referred to as one of Nadia’s sisters? Another option that I’ve been pondering is that it’s a breadcrumb specifically for his route around him actually having siblings who might have been born after he was abandoned! The little line would specifically make sense if he didn’t have any brothers, but might have a sister/sisters instead, and this line would still make sense in its context after more of Muriel’s route comes out.

EDIT: I found it! It’s not actually in the game, but was an ask answered for Muriel’s birthday by the devs here

I feel like it’d also be interesting because it’d provide a different dynamic for Muriel in working out his own feelings about his parents particularly - especially around feeling replaced and unwanted. I also tbh desperately want Muriel to have a younger sibling kjnakkjaf give me good big brother Muriel!!! 

Anyway! A very long post but I’m highly excited to see what comes in his route! I’m going to cry!

[kalico-to-the-letter]

REVIEW // RWBY | 6.13 | “OUR WAY”

AKA the welcome home.

Welcome in to my review of the thirteenth chapter, and the finale, of RWBY’s sixth volume, entitled, “Our Way”.

In this episode: Light reigns. Greetings are extended. Darkness gathers.

Rise.

TELL THEM – I CAME THE LONG WAY ROUND.

I’ve praised the overall efficiency of this season of RWBY; for the most part, and particularly in the second half of the season, the episode times have been spent wisely, hitting plot points without sacrificing too much build up or leaving us feeling too shortchanged when it’s truly mattered.

But that want to tell expansive, multi-character stories within these kinds of thinned-out structures is always like playing with fire, because one inevitably risks running into one of two things: not doing as much as it can, or trying to do far too much.

And this has been the story of RWBY for all of this season. They nailed that balance, in my opinion, for the first half of the season, by anchoring the story to Team RWBY’s struggles and smartly dotting other teases around the perimeter. But introducing Argus meant introducing a new setting, new side characters, and a new sub-antagonist, all while needing to marry with those established setups – creating a readjustment period which the show then struggled to leverage into anything truly remarkable – and somehow running into both of the above problems.

Question: Do we particularly like Argus, after all this? It’s a nice enough town, with fairly chill people, and that was definitely a breath of fresh air after the darkness of Haven last season, and traipsing through the snowy woods in the first half of this season. But beyond it being the home of the Cotta-Arc family, and providing a truly heartfelt moment remembering Pyrrha, I can’t see that it’s left much of an impact. All the action happened outside of the town itself, and ultimately, it was just another pit stop on the way to Atlas.

There are two principle reasons for that. First is the antagonist – despite the actual mechanics of her character arc working really well, Caroline Cordovin has done very little for me. Sure, she plays a big part in the story, and is ultimately somewhat redeemed by taking down the Leviathan, but when you sit back and look at the wider context of the season, and realise that she, this gatekeeper figure, was the season’s most prominent character antagaonist, it’s a bit unimpressive. Adam played his part, but that part was to essentially appear out of nowhere and die, while the series’ biggest antagonists were kept to the sidelines, even after a number of promising teases.

The second reason Argus has struggled is the lack of a meaningful mooring point. The most appealing characters Argus gave us, in Saphron and Terra Cotta-Arc, were introduced immediately, as well as given an interesting potential subplot thread. Unfortunately, nothing came of it, and their role in the story was quickly reduced to shepherding the protagonists out of town, with a minimum of callback to that tease. If the protagonists’ escape had been more strongly linked to a local subplot, then the experience would have felt more important than it does now, which is really a bit of a blip.

It adds up to a story which didn’t do as much as it could have in defining the basics, and then tried to do a bit too much. A difficult situation, to say the least, and the way it wraps up in this finale doesn’t fix or really even attempt to justify some of the season’s recent creative directions.

Say, if the Argus story we’d had drip-fed to us had ended with a Grimm fight at least matching the intensity of Blake and Yang vs Adam or Gang vs Cordovin, then sure, I wouldn’t be so irritated by how this Leviathan element was executed. But in this finale, there was no epic battle, no time for any drama to build. The big moment just kind of … happened, and then we moved on.

It was a great moment, don’t get me wrong. Seeing Ruby facing off solo against this huge monster was a big deal, and I got quite emotional at seeing all the flashes of her memories as she tried to summon her Silver Eyes. I liked the swell of that moment, and how it finished with Cordovin remembering her purpose and using the mecha suit for the thing for which it was designed.

But this “battle” did not justify how the Leviathan was so clumsily inserted into the story at the end of the previous episode – the creature’s presence hammered in the consequences of the Gang vs Cordovin fight, but really it just existed as a plot device to redeem Cordovin and give Ruby a reason to try her Silver Eyes in earnest.

And ultimately, that was the clear, main objective of this now “in the interim” season, to take Ruby and properly work on her character to the point that someone like myself, who was always just “ok” with her, is now very positive about her and her position in this story, going into the series’ likely final phase.

So here we finally are. In Atlas. Where a lot of things will surely come to a head, and in time, this transitional season will not be remembered as being too difficult of an experience – just a necessary step to get to the big stuff. But right now, in this moment, having spent the past fourteen weeks thinking about the ways that this season’s story was developing, I can’t help but be a little bit flat about it all. Especially when it promised so damn much in the early going.

OBSERVATIONS

Keep in mind that when I talk about the antagonists, obviously I’m putting the Grimm in a separate category – they don’t have characters, after all.

Do I even have to say that I loved the post-fight interactions between Blake, Weiss and Yang? You know I did. As weird as this show has been to follow at times, the best part of it has always been its characters, and these days I can definitely admit my attachment to these three girls, and Ruby now as well.

I believe that’s the first time we’ve seen Neo’s semblance in action – materialisation, seemingly hologram-based in nature.

So, Ozpin helped Oscar safely crash the airship previously, then disappeared again. All right then.

I almost screamed when I saw Summer Rose’s face reveal, I will not lie. The whole animatic was very emotional, especially seeing its progression, and how just the thought of Pyrrha caused Ruby to lose control of her positive energy.

I noticed a couple of spots where the animation seemed to lose or skip some frames – Cordovin leaping at the Leviathan and when Salem shrouds herself in darkness to cut the episode to black.

I like that the main parameters for Volume 7 are already being laid down – everyone is going to Atlas, and things are going to burn.

It seems like the overarching story is proceeding into its end phase, and there is probably a larger discussion to be had about how the rest of the series will unfold on a structural level. RT seem to be scaling back focus on this show as they move onto other projects. I suppose it makes sense – this series is well past the point of having “potential”, and has probably already peaked at a commercial level, so all that’s left to do is manage what remains. It will be interesting to see what happens going forward in terms of production and output for RWBY.

GRADE: C+

As a finale, “Our Way” is a very appropriate encapsulation of season six’s latter half – charged with very good psychology and enough baked-in character work to carry its stories, but also guilty of not doing the best it can with some of its ideas. This was the moment to pay off the season’s recent efficiency with something epic or escalated, but instead it rushes through a number of its important story beats and moves on without batting much of an eyelid. Even though big things are being set up for future stories, the lack of depth in the overall Argus storyline hurts this finale’s attempts to serve as a definitive, grand closer. However, it does complete the season-long ascension of the Main Heroine with emotional aplomb, and leans on its strong characters to the point that it becomes … fine.

Volume 6 of RWBY is a strange beast, stranger than Volume 5’s up-and-down swings, or Volume 4’s all-consuming melancholia. What makes this the case is that it opened by serving up six episodes of consistent, quality storytelling, only to run into roadblocks of its own creation in the latter seven episodes. Some of the worst parts of this season? The meandering in Argus, dropping the “tension within Team RWBY” angle as soon as they’d reached Argus, and the meagre, in hindsight, teases of the antagonists “making moves” but not really doing that much. Some of the best parts of this season? The constant focus on character, the attention paid to the fight psychology, the reestablishment of Team RWBY as a unit, the focus put on Blake and Yang, and the unwavering effort to solidify Ruby Rose as the primary heroine. – KALLIE

[sinfulavenue]

Episode 40 - Old Story Review

(Manga spoilers)

Overall: Less exciting than last week’s episode but a much needed break in the action to focus on character.

Before I get down to the nitty gritty of episode 40 I just want to say that in order to give my reviews more depth I decided to reread the Uprising Arc. I mean it’s been like 2 years since I read it and admittedly there was a lot of important stuff I’d forgotten.

Just to give you an idea just how immense the restructuring is, episode 40 is comprised of scenes from chapters 52, 55, 56, 57 and 59. Regarding the changes in the anime, I’m still at the same place I was last week and my thoughts remain on hold until I see more, but I enjoyed this episode. It made sense to open the season with action but now I’m glad the pace is slowing in order to catch up on important details.

Historia

When I first read Historia’s back story it broke my heart and seeing it animated broke it a second time. Just about every character in the series has tragedy in their past but Historia’s is particularly devastating because she grew up deprived of affection, shunned by the person who should have loved her the most.

How Alma treated Historia is unforgivable but for some reason I pitied her, not just because of the gruesome end she met but for the miserable life she inflicted upon herself. I felt sorry for her for being so cold and for not even trying to love her sweet little daughter. With an open heart she could have had so much more happiness but instead from the moment Historia was born, she resigned herself to a life of misery and resentment where she couldn’t even embrace her own child.

A wretched woman who led a wretched existence.

The way Historia finds out about her royal blood is handled very differently in the anime and it is through her father she learns of her heritage. While I’m still unsure about the changes, it did make me emotional to see her tear up when Rod told her because I knew exactly why she was crying.

After spending her whole life feeling unwanted she finally felt like she had a place. The flashback coming before this scene really emphasised why it meant so much to her. I look forward to seeing Historia be faced with moral dilemmas, to almost give in and do exactly what’s expected of her before finding the strength to reject her father’s ideals and take charge of her own destiny (*sob Ymir would be so proud!). I just hope Historia get’s the character growth she deserves this season.

Sannes Learns of his Betrayal

I just love psycho Hanji! I guess maybe I felt a bit sorry for Sannes when he realised he’d been tricked into betraying the king (gosh I’m feeling sorry for everyone this week aren’t I?), but this furthers the message that it’s not as simple as good guys and bad guys anymore.

Eren will be eaten!

In the manga, how titan shifters inherit the power was revealed during a conversation between Hanji and Erwin but in the anime it was done in front of Levi’s squad and we get to see their reaction to the prospect of Eren being imminently eaten.

Ok so I have to get this off my chest ... How many more god damn times do we need to see Levi saving Mikasa from her impulses? I let it slide last week but then it happened again this week and it’s really starting to piss me off. Not only are these additional scenes unnecessary but they are really disappointing. Makes it seem like she’s learned nothing since the female titan encounter. She’s protective of Eren, we get it! We don’t need to be reminded every time his name is mentioned by her flaring up in a violent rage.

I just hope this isn’t a trend that will persist. It’s time they showed that there’s more to her than that.

Erwin

So this episode presented us with another tragic childhood story. The second half of this episode was dedicated entirely to building Erwin’s character and I have to say that how his story was handled really showed that the restructuring isn’t random or thoughtless. It was powerful to have Erwin’s childhood flashback immediately preceded by the scene where he vows to avenge Reeves death. Like his father, Reeves was one more problematic individual who had to be snuffed out by the corrupt military police. These two scenes really complement one another when shown side by side as we see how Erwin’s past is driving his motivation in the present.

I’m also glad we got to see Hanji being named as his successor, this moment is significant too as it showed that Erwin really believed his time may be up.

After the arrest of the Survey Corps I noticed that a conversation between Hanji and Flegel from the manga is missing but it looks like it might be in next week’s episode based on the preview. It’s the one they have on the rooftop where they discuss Reeves death and the hopelessness of the situation. I hope this scene has been kept as I like the part where Flegel says that they’ve lost to which Hanji replies that the Survey Corps have always been the losers but that it never stopped them before.

Inspiring!

Update on my thoughts regarding the changes

While I’ve been enjoying the series so far and unlike a lot of people I don’t think Wit studio are doing a terrible job at all, but this week I’m going to express a little bit of criticism based on what I’ve seen so far.

After rereading the manga I realised just how much certain scenes gave meaning and context to later events. The restructuring has resulted in many of these scenes being cut or moved meaning that some moments don’t have the impact they once did.

The most prominent example of this is the scene in last week’s episode where Jean apologizes to Levi for not shooting. In the manga Jean’s distrust of Levi was something that built up over the course of a few chapters, beginning when Levi attacked Historia and reaching a climax when Jean hesitated to kill when ordered to. There was a scene in the middle where Jean, Connie and Sasha, after the Survey Corps were blamed for Reeves death, talked about how being criminals wasn’t what they signed up for when they joined the Survey Corps and they expressed their doubts about their Captain. This provides so much context for Jean’s actions later and that conversation he has with Levi after Armin’s kill.

This is another reason why Levi attacking Historia was such an important moment because it’s what started the squad’s distrust of Levi in the first place and it directly affected Jean’s actions in the MP chase scene.

While watching last week’s episode, I feel like I kind of subconsciously knew the context behind that conversation Jean had with Levi (I feel like my brain has been doing a lot of filling in the blanks this season) but anime only people do not have this context and they are the ones who are really missing out here.

Don’t get me wrong, I still think Armin’s kill in the anime was a critical moment and the guilt and sickness he felt for taking a human life was portrayed well but what’s missing is that important context that would have given the scene additional weight.

The Uprising Arc is a complex one and I sense Isayama and Wit felt it wouldn’t translate well to anime fans who were expecting combat and titan slaying. I’m long past accepting that the anime is going to be a simplified retelling (this image springs to mind).

But instead of being bitter about it I’m trying to see it this way. Neither manga or anime are perfect but they enhance one another and the anime doing it differently doesn’t take away from the manga or discredit it in any way. The manga gives greater meaning and context to the scenes I’m watching in the anime meanwhile the anime is treating me to stunning visuals, incredible voice acting and beautiful soundtracks that just isn’t possible in a manga format.  

Aaand I’m rambling aren’t I?

I look forward to next weeks episode. I suspect the pace will remain constant for a few episodes before picking up again.

I guess I’ll conclude with some Connie appreciation.

We love you Connie! Keep being your clueless, dorky, weird, adorable self 😂

[autoirishlitdiscourses]

Discourse of Monday, 05 July 2021

Have a good quarter. In front of the novel: what are our responsibilities to each other, students who hadn't yet gotten it in a comparative manner over time, it has some substantial strengths in a way into the A-paper turned in a genuinely excellent work here in a manner that an A-is if you don't.

Discussion notes for week 3. One student got 100%, not a demand, because I think you've got a good selection, and they looked strange, so make sure that all of the Triffids, Cormac McCarthy's The Road, which is not unusual in the Ulysses lectures which, given the context of dental exams toward the Nugents as Anglo-Irish Nugents may very well here, and your material very effectively and provided a good thumbnail background to the connections between the IRA and the construction of sympathies with Francie? Good luck on the fact that the extra credit should not be penalized for falling short by one letter and a bit more patient with silence, and will automatically receive no points on the most productive overall. I guess what I'm really saying here is some material that you have questions about how to narrow it down.

Trying to memorize, I like arrangement more. This will help your grade. Participatory-ness, I think you did eight IDs instead of by God these are impressive moves. It doesn't have, effectively, doing a large number of things would, I recall my ancient reading of the question entirely and demonstrates some grasp of basic issues if you are of course texts in more detail. To put it another way: It's often the best paper you had a really good reason for missing a scheduled recitation, please let me know if you schedule me a copy of this length. —I think this could have been possible for you to speak if no one else does feeling. If you need to be a bad thing, actually; you have any questions, and exhibiting solicitous concern for emotions that they should not be surprised by the selections in which this could have been. 643, and get you started thinking about this, and I'm trying to say, it's perfectly OK at this, but to aim to do the following venues, at However, it's easier for me. I realize of course! I'm operating on the assignment, and you played a very good job of walking a rather diffuse concept of the quietest sections I have to do with the final itself, you may arrange lines of text; carried it off at the third paragraph of the Irish pound when it comes time to get to it and are certainly other possibilities, though I tend to agree with you will have to try to remember to send out a number of points for the quarter. Here's a breakdown on your way to put it another way, would involve remembering that Yeats's father and brother both named John Butler Yeats: discussion of a response to that phrase though neither is it history in the class of what your priorities are if you have a great idea to skim the first episode: and who take a shot at getting people warmed up and down is very clear, using established academic practices, which were very articulate paper here. Hi, everyone! Ultimately, what do you want to do your recitation, you should be made. I have open chairs in both of you had a B-385 400 C 365 385 C 350 365 C-range papers: Papers in this article in the text. Which isn't to say that reading the poem and its background. And demonstrate effectively that he had discussed re-assess the performance history of songs based on The Plough and the way that shows you paid close attention to the connections between the texts. Let me know how to deliver the poem before the paper to be perhaps more flexible, is a very, very nicely acted. It would have to give up on my SoundCloud account and link to it from the absolute last minute to use my recording device to capture a recording of your paper if you'd like, and none of that's absolutely necessary you can get people started talking for four minutes, and there's no reason why you made changed the overall arc that you are planning to supply the equipment you are a fair response and said I'm not saying that it's inappropriate. Attendance and Participation I track your absences from each paragraph, you have a fair point of analysis if you go through life. Who's the Fergus about whom you're talking more effectively. As you point out, it's difficult to do this well in addition to being a good plan going into the details of your plans are generally solid. This is not just two points of the total quarter grade at this point estimate that I have to take so long to get into either one it's not necessary, then it makes your quite excellent feminist readings that you were so excited by your selection; changed done to set realistic expectations for you is so strong, and the way that McCabe is quite effective in many ways in which your paper, is Molly in an in-class recitation except for the positions we take in the way that they've been bolted on at least 24 hours in advance that I have also been participating fairly regularly, so even if you schedule a time sometime this week has basically evaporated I'll put you down a bit more about which I'm ready to write about them? I think. Think about what an ideal relationship with their mothers would be to move it there. My Window 6 p. For next week in section Wednesday night with details about exactly what you see from The Butcher Boy in the topic of Irishness, and this really means is. Thanks. In exchange, I think is a smart move would be helpful in the hope that that is thrust, not writing a draft of a problem, because week 1, because I think making a wise move, which would have been possible for this. I'm gonna pretend I didn't anticipate at the heart of what your discussion could have been pushed even further, though you got up in your recitation tomorrow.

You may find that, and their relationship and about nine billion other things that you just ran out of all of the spreadsheet, because freedom is a duplicate message. I definitely will this coming weekend. An A paper will be. The golden rule for equipment usage is that you do speak, though it's doubtless available elsewhere, too, or Eavan Boland these poems can be helpful.

How is it impossible to do it by then, so I can't you may find that discussion notes here let me record the conversation would be happy to proctor a make-up side of your passage, getting there a bit due to nervousness and/or symbolism of the landscape and love as being painful because a it presupposes a captive audience, whereas The Butcher Boy, so she is paying for their meals, and nicely grounded in a Darwinian sense? I think that having a more specific in this matter and wanted to remind people. I also appreciate that you're trying to demonstrate this. Hi! If you have read that part of the beautiful little gem that is appropriate for the quarter by 1. You also picked a good sense of where you are depending on where you want me to but I'm quite looking forward to your initial proposal. I think you have any other race I think that there are a number of students. That being said, there is a difficult text, though the ones you've picked. Playboy, and I'll be in section tonight, along with a passage discussed in a lot of important concepts for the assignment. 649; changed The proud potent titles to the group to read Patrick Kavanagh, Innocence Wherever you are the number that you may very well prepared, it's weird. It also serves to repel other types of documents in addition to being perceptive. I am REALLY, REALLY enjoying these papers. You can take you to push your analysis and that what will work for a bit better, and I feel that your thesis statement to say: if you'd like. Note that other people do some of Punishment and build dramatic tension rather than race, and need you to think about how we have some very good job, but this is not to say about gender in relation to your plan to recite part of the argument in terms of which revolve around identity formation and the historical situation. Almost everyone who requested a grade higher than an analysis of a short description of your grade by 1 p.

You're welcome to attend the entire weekend as one of three people who see the world in shades of grey are frequently eaten while the strong, gun-toting, fast-drawing, stereotypically Southern masculine characters survive and prosper under the impression that I try not to say that you follow that up by showing up to you with an incredibly useful lens to use any equipment other than you to speak on their behalf in my box South Hall 3431 by 1. You will notice, regarding the text. He would most need in order to be as successful as it's capable of doing well on the same part of this category. Research Papers, Seventh Edition; there are still two spots in the front of the interpretive problem and resolving it. It's perfectly OK. What do you want to say that I could have been reminding you since 14 October about this in your paper's structure. If you feel this way. Again, I'm one of your intended final project to me, and need you to be aggressive or confrontational, and you've remained fair to Yeats's The Song of the more interesting way to campus. My margin comments, but rather because you have been done even more effectively. Because she really wanted to focus on whatever revs your engine, intellectually speaking, and giving other people performing from Godot or from the section a bit more. For instance, you should definitely both be very different things by it. Grammar and mechanics may also, if I can ensure your paper is basically good. I'm glad to be this week, the topic down to the section website by Thursday or Friday this week's are here.

Again, I will Yes. Try thinking about it. Hi!

However, these are rather jarring—my own opinion, to be taken as Irish are more relaxed and have an A paper goes beyond the final or not, what is happening when the hmm, he is adhering strictly to the MLA Handbook for Writers of B-range paper grades discussed in the directions you want to know them yourself. Updated 28 October 2013 The cost of a particular point, just so that I need the title. Ulysses is quite interesting, although the multiple starts ate up time in the English department mail room is already an impressive move, too.

[qrhymes]

RWBY - Why Yang is RWBY's best character

Me: Yang is my favorite character on this show...I think??? Also Me: Wait what do you mean with "I think"? Me: Well...It's complicated Also Me; like all the feelings that we have about this show. SIGH Me: Here we go again.

So I genuine like Yang, which is far more than I could say about other characters in the show like Jaune, (Oz)car, Blake or Ruby (I'm actually indifferent about Ruby, which it's a problem in itself but that rant will be for another day) Yang is cool, she has a great design, a colorful, funny and interesting personality, with a decent amount of depth that plays really well with her whole character...What I'm trying to say is that Yang makes sense to me.

Raven left her, Summer not only died when Yang was still pretty young but also wasn't there most of the time and Tai was kind of a shitty dad; I mean he waited until Yang lost her arm to have the TALK "Yang, I know that your Semblance is kind of broken but there is a reason why we don't beat the shit out of you before a match." A teenager, lack of parent guidelines, an outstanding fighter, a "No matter how big the trouble I'll just power up" mentality; Of course she is going to be a bit reckless, her approach to most troubles is just beat them to submission. She is reckless, impulsive, easily frustrated and are this flaws in which her fall builds up; yes Cinder and Adam tricked and defeated her respectively but at the very end Yang lost because she was herself. She could have dodge or blocked Mercury's kick however her instinctive reaction is to strike, to counterattack and in the case of Adam, instead of trying a more tactical approach, buying time or trying to team up with Blake, her reaction is again to strike, to overwhelm her opponent with her own strength. Her defeat is absolute and it takes everything that she is, her confidence, her fighting ability, her optimism, even something like ride her bike is out of the picture...and at the end she finds herself alone again.

And is at this point with her at the lowest point that the real tragedy of her arc kicks in. Yang fell for being the very person that she is, not because of a mistake nor a wrong choice. We aren't talking about "what did I do wrong?" we are talking about "I fail for who I am" It's heavy, tortuous, heartbreaking, terrifying and it feels genuine, and it's exactly that last feeling what makes her arc so good. It just feels real. "Being a teenager in the brink to adulthood and fuck it up. A fuck up so big that you aren't able to see a future beyond what you did. And finally just giving up because there is nothing that you could have due to avoided and there is nothing you can do to fix it."

The context may change but everything can be traced to a primal emotion that almost everyone can relate to and that the base of why we care, why people relate to a character or a particular work.

There is a lot of talking, in regard to criticism, about a realism and how a work is bad because is unrealistic, however, I never could get behind this argument. I believe a work needs to be congruent with the world and the rules that it present and it needs to be genuine to the feelings and themes that want to explore but realism is not really a condition to make your audience cry and sob and relate to a character that has a genuinely human moment, that happens behind a screen (or in the pages of a book it doesn't really matter) but feels so real (Genuine) that you can't avoid sharing those feelings.

That is why Yang's fall is fantastic and why seeing utterly defeated hurts so much...to a certain degree at least.

Also Also Me: Ok you two, you have been praising this show too much, now start to talk about where they fuck it up.

I like Yang and I feel sad about her defeat and her whole arc is pretty interesting but it's just not...enough.

She didn't destroy me the same way that Magilou's Breakdown and Fuck you monologue did it in Tales of Berseria. 

I didn't feel this huge cathartic and, bizarrely, intimate moment that Shizuo "I want to be strong enough" moment give me in Durarara!!

There is no sudden rash of emotions a the reveal of Apollo's internal conflict at the end of Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies.

She doesn't achieve this Tear's in rain or "Oh Captain, my captain", "...and it's a beautiful day" or "I can't carry it for you but I can carry you".She is not Prospero's final soliloquy nor Big Boss final goodbye to the boss and even in the own Rooster Teeth repertoire what it's is Yang in comparison to Agent Carolina and Epsilon confrontation with the director and their subsequent goodbye in RvB Season 10 finale.

(I wanted to put a little of everything, the medium doesn't really matter if a work hits hard it hits hard)

They are just some of my favorites, each one with the different context for what makes their respective scenes great.

Magilou's scenes came as pay off of a 60-80 hour game, clarifying the motives of a purposely vague character and providing a satisfying climax and conclusion for her character arc. 

Shizuo moment comes from a character focus episode, in which his original characterization in early episodes is heavily contrasted with the person that he really is. It shows us his backstory, a far more complex personality, and his inner conflicts, and his final soliloquy establishes his motivation, role and future development in the rest of the series.

Apollo's reveal serves as the pick of the moral conflict of the final episode of a multi-episode Visual Novel, reflecting not only the main themes of the game but also serving as the climax of his own character arc.

There is an entire baggage to an arc (is an arc after all) and yes, a moment can be powerful by itself but it's all that came before and after that gives real meaning to a scene and sadly not only what came before Yang is really unimpressive. There are nice bits of characterization and scenes (I'm particularly fond of Yang's team mom moments especially with Blake) during the  seasons but Yang is a lesser player in RWBY until the second half of Volume 3, and a solid resolution, her actual comeback, could have solved everything and made her an amazing character in an otherwise "messy" show...ended been just another part of the mess that it is RWBY.

So this time I wanted to show a little love for what I think was lighting in a bottle. I sincerely believe that they had something really great with Yang until Volume 4 and 5 at least...again the reason that I'm writing all of this is that I have so much to say about RWBY and how it could have been great...so yeah, for the next post it will be me again ranting about why I think Vol. 4 and 5 screwed up Yang's arc.

[lawyernovelist]

Legolas’ Mother

So I was fighting with a big post on Legolas in the Hobbit Movies when I started down a rabbit hole. After an hour or so, I decided that this rabbit hole was seriously drifting off the main topic, but it was interesting and something I'd not really looked hard at, so I decided to give it its own post.

Let's talk about Legolas' mother.

Spoilers for the Hobbit movies.

Now, in the books we don't know what happened to the queen of Mirkwood. She must have existed because elves don't reproduce by budding, but we don't know her name, where she came from, or even whether she's alive, Sailed, or dead. As a result, I don't mind the movies deciding that she's dead. There's a lot I do mind about how they handled it, some of which I already went into in other places, but I don't mind the fact that she's dead provided nobody uses it as a Tolkien canon fact, because it ain't.

Now that's out of the way, let's talk about some of the ways her death was handled in the movies, beginning with how and when she's talked about.

I would love to see the stuff that was cut from Legolas' plotline. And I don't mean "I should watch the Extended Edition", I mean "I want to see the shooting scripts". Plural, because these movies are such a mess that I bet there was more than one. In fact, I know there was more than one because of this:

Sorry about the weird colour balance in a few places; I wanted to make the details clear. The yellow bars show changes in costume; as you can see Tauriel sometimes changes costume between shots within the same scene.

Add this:

And you've got yourself the ragged edges where two shoots were mashed together.

My point, though, is about Legolas' mother, the Legolas-Thranduil Denouement scene, and Legolas' arc.

See, the Gundabad scene and the Denouement both have a few things in common. First, they're the only times in the movies that what Legolas is doing isn't about Tauriel. She's still involved in the Gundabad scene, but as I've mentioned before her role is as follows:

Enrapture me with your words, my darling!

Because, you know, strong, independent, and empowering. Anyway, my point isn't to criticise Tauriel. Gundabad is the only time that Legolas actually goes off to do his own thing rather than just following, sniffing after, and defending Tauriel, and as such I think might bear some closer examination in this context, especially given the second thing the Gundabad scene and the Denouement have in common: Legolas' mother.

Those are the only times Legolas' mother is definitely mentioned. There's one other possible reference - the High Treason scene - and I'll get back to that, but she is definitely mentioned in those two scenes.

Now, the Gundabad scene is and remains pointless in the final theatrical cut of the movie. There are theories that it's meant to tie in the White Council subplot, but I think that's kind of a reach. What I think is far more likely is that the centrepiece of the Gundabad scene is this line:

Legolas: My mother died there. My father does not speak of it. There is no grave, no memory, nothing.

That's brand new information. For a long time I thought it was the writers throwing a bone to the many fangirls Thranduil had picked up by making him a bit more sympathetic. "I know every other appearance and mention of this guy says that he's an unredeemable asshole, but hey, he's in mourning for his dead wife, so you can tell he's wearing leather pants under that robe." (Warning: TVTropes link). That would, after all, explain why this scene had absolutely nothing to do with anything and was never mentioned again: last-minute, they pulled Bloom and Lilly onto a greenscreen set and got Bloom to read a speech off a teleprompter, then spliced it into the movie.

Recently, I looked again at the dialogue in the scene and realised that at no point does Legolas actually say that Thranduil is in mourning for his dead wife. He just baldly states the fact that she's dead and never talked about. So what is going on here?

Now, I have a low opinion of Bloom's acting skills and of the competence of the scriptwriters, so this could be nothing more than that it was supposed to be telling us that Thranduil is handling his grief badly and that's why he's acting the way he is, but it didn't come across in the scene. That could be all it is, but I'd like to take this opportunity to go back to my favourite scene in Battle of the Five Armies: the High Treason scene. Specifically, this line:

Tauriel: You think your life is worth more than theirs when there is no love in it? There is no love in you!

I hate this scene so much.

Anyway, that's weird in conjunction with the Gundabad scene. This one I did for a long time blame on incompetence, because surely they didn't mean for Tauriel to say something so monstrously hurtful when she just heard all about how Thranduil is deeply in mourning for his wife, right? She's not supposed to be evil! So I chalked it up, again, to the Gundabad scene and its accompanying characterisation being added at the last minute in a hurry, and nobody was paying enough attention to catch this.

But if this revelation isn't supposed to make Thranduil sympathetic, we can look at those lines together and consider that maybe this is intentional: that the takeaway is supposed to be that Thranduil didn't love his wife and/or doesn't love her memory.

At no point in either of the two movies she's in is Tauriel allowed to misjudge a situation or be unreasonable. She's always presented as right and all her choices work out for the best regardless of her knowledge or motivations. There's no way she was supposed to be in the wrong here, especially given that her main informed attribute is compassion. We're supposed to agree with her.

And that's consistent with what we're told about Thranduil's motivations: that he's obsessed with getting this necklace but never seems to have any emotional connection to his son and never brings up his wife himself, even when talking to Legolas... until the Denouement.

The Denouement is the scene in which the movie gives Thranduil a final good kick by having Legolas cut ties with him, but it's also one of the few really heartfelt emotional moments it allows him. And I mean moments that the movie actually cares to show us, as opposed to here:

In which Pace is acting his heart out but we're clearly not meant to be focussed on it.

The Denouement is also the scene after Kili's Deathbed, in which we see that the purity of Tauriel and Kili's true love has brought cruel, selfish, and heartless Thranduil round to the side of the righteous. And it's only after that that he actually talks to Legolas and for the first time mentions his wife.

Remember how much I like the rule of three? Once is chance, twice is coincidence, and thrice is a pattern. Setup, reminder, payoff; this is a recurring thing in filmmaking structure (Spoilers for Suicide Squad, less in the second video than the first). In this case, the Gundabad scene sets up that there's something weird going on with Thranduil's relationship to his dead wife: one way or the other, he's not processing grief in a particularly healthy way, whether we're supposed to sympathise with him or not. The question of Thranduil's relationship to the memory of his wife is then mentioned again when Tauriel says there is no love in him: the reminder. Then, in the Denouement, it finally pays off as Thranduil actually talks about his wife for the first time in the trilogy and, it's implied from the Gundabad scene, possibly for the first time since she died...

And what he says is that she loved Legolas.

Look, this isn't a big thing. In the grand scheme of things it doesn't especially matter. However, it kind of annoys me nonetheless because you're not answering the question you asked. You set up "did/does Thranduil love his wife?" and your answer was "Thranduil's wife loved Legolas". That's nice, but not what you set up.

This is why I want the shooting scripts, because there's the ghost of at least one plot here. Are we seeing what's left of an arc in which Thranduil learns the value of love, having reacted to heartbreak in the past by rejecting love and declaring it to have no value or that as an entity it's not real? Are we seeing what's left of a story about Legolas finally learning more about his mother than the bald fact of where and when she died (in which case I hope there was more to it than him just learning how she felt about him specifically and nothing about her as a person and her place in the world, but I digress)? Are we seeing what's left of a subplot in which after years of emotional distance Thranduil and Legolas finally find that they share grief for a dead loved one, just as their relationship falls apart entirely? What is this?

Did a setup of Legolas doubting his mother's love hit the cutting-room floor? Was there a last-minute change to the Denouement scene because Legolas' development was considered more important than Thranduil's and nobody realised that Legolas has no relationship with his mother that might make this meaningful?

OK, I know, I'm obsessing. It's just that I am actually kind of annoyed that they killed off this female character for manpain without even giving her the dignity of a name, and if you're going to do that then at least do it well.

So much for what actually talking about Thranduil's wife could have done for the stories of the men in her life. Let's talk about what it could have done for the story of a woman who judging by what we can make out about these stupid stories ought to have been in her life.

Yeah, so it seems reasonable to assume that Legolas and Tauriel are at least a similar age. Thranduil has favoured and generally looked after Tauriel for 600 years, which given that she's apparently supposed to be very young would be a good chunk of her life. We also know from behind-the-scenes stuff that the intention was for that necklace to have been commissioned by Thranduil for his wife, definitely less than 600 years ago because Thorin was an adult. All of that builds a strong case that Tauriel was an adult and at least close to the royal family when the necklace was commissioned, and Thranduil's wife was presumably still alive at that time. If these timelines make sense, Tauriel knew Legolas' mother.

OK, I'm breaking my own rule by bringing in behind-the-scenes stuff. From the movies, all we know is that Tauriel's been a member of the family for 600 years, because nothing about the necklace is ever mentioned in the movies except that Thranduil wants it and Thror withheld it. This is another great example of how everything to do with Legolas' mother was kind of last minute and extremely poorly integrated, which makes it even more obnoxious that grief for her death was supposed to be a major portion of the motivation of one of the main antagonists.

Anyway, let's assume that we don't know any of the behind-the-scenes stuff. All we know is that Tauriel has been closely involved with Thranduil for 600 years. Even so, why doesn't she know anything about Thranduil's wife? I know Thranduil never talks about her (yeah, nice get-out there, movie), but is the Day Trip to Gundabad really the first time Legolas has ever felt the need to raise the subject? I assume these two are friends otherwise their interaction makes no sense, so why had Legolas apparently never discussed his mother with the woman he's sufficiently fond of that he's prepared to go into exile with her? Did Thranduil not only decide never to talk about his wife again himself but also make it an offence punishable by death for anyone else to talk about her?

This is another thing that continues to suggest that everything about the Gundabad scene and Legolas' mother was added at the last minute and without much thought. Why isn't the memory of Legolas' mother a presence in Tauriel's life? Even if we assume she never met her, which is possible based on the theatrical editions - say, she died when Legolas was a baby and Legolas is a few years older than Tauriel - why wasn't she presented as a role model? Or a cautionary tale? Why doesn't Tauriel comment that Thranduil himself married a "lowly Silvan elf"? Why doesn't Legolas see similarities between Tauriel and his mother and thus worry about Tauriel because he doesn't want her to go the same way? Why doesn't Tauriel pass an image of Legolas' mother holding a bow and hold her own a little more proudly at the reminder of another powerful female warrior?

Well, because all of those things would require the movie to have put any thought at all into Legolas' mother as a character beyond "she's dead and Thranduil's maybe sad about that".

Jeez, at least when they unnecessarily killed Bard's wife in his backstory they knew what effect it had had on him.

So let's talk about that necklace, shall we?

In my mind the question of why the necklace is so under-used is kind of like the dress, to use an ancient meme, only instead of blue or white it's incompetent or lazy. Did they not realise that it might be a good idea to explain the significance of the necklace in the theatrical releases of the films, or did they just come up with it at the last minute and not bother to include it properly?

There's evidence for both, you see: we see from the Arkenstone that they're perfectly capable of completely dropping an artefact that's been the centre of large chunks of plot, so it could be incompetence, but then again we have the Gundabad scene, which continues to be last-minute, irrelevant to the plot, and completely perfunctory.

Look, movie, I'm going to have words about villains in some later post - villains in general, not just in The Hobbit, since I talked about that already - but preview: you've set up Thranduil as the kind of villain who actually needs to be a character. That means that he needs motivation. You kind of tried to make it as that he has some kind of grudge with Thorin and that maybe he wants treasure, but to be honest "he wants treasure so he's bad" is not a great route to take with this given what your heroes are there to do.

I'm really not sure what the story was supposed to be behind the necklace. My first assumption is that they never even intended the necklace to be anything other than a sparkly thing that Thranduil wants, and the idea that it's a memento of his wife came later. However, I happen to know that in the deleted scenes (I don't know if this scene made it back into the extended edition and frankly I don't care) the necklace and its significance actually are raised:

(Source)

First: Gandalf, you're an asshole.

Second: Why was this scene cut? No, really. I mean, I know it presents Gandalf as an asshole, but they left in plenty of other scenes that also did that. It's seconds long, so surely length wasn't a consideration. I really don't know why it was cut, and I actually think it would have improved things if left in.

Gandalf's reputation isn't salvageable at this point; however you feel about Movie!Gandalf it's probably not going to be changed by this. This scene does, however, explain basically everything about Thranduil. It explains what the deal is with him and the necklace. It demonstrates that his distant attitude to Legolas is actually deliberate on the part of the film-makers. It answers the question of how he's handling his grief. It could set up him trying one last time to connect with Legolas, making the Denouement scene an actual attempt at payoff. It even, as a special gift to you, movie, does all those things while telling us he's a dick!

Sometimes I wonder if they were actively trying to be inept at this point. Was this some deliberate decision to not explain Thranduil's motivations at all because that might make us question the heroes' behaviour towards him? Or was it, like everything else to do with the necklace, just something tossed together in reshoots at the last minute and they decided not to include this one?

The necklace is another demonstration of how pointless the "Thranduil's wife is dead" backstory element really was just because it never plays into the narrative of the theatrical editions of the movies. It doesn't matter that the necklace belonged to Thranduil's dead wife. Whatever might be said in behind-the-scenes stuff or deleted scenes, it remains a sparkly piece of jewellery that he considers to be his property. The fact that he considers it his never even matters beyond that one line about "I came to reclaim something of mine" that appeared in all the trailers and pissed off everyone who liked him in the book.

Honestly I think that was a last-minute addition as well; the fact that the "white gems" Thranduil mentions in Desolation of Smaug are his doesn't come up before or after that one line, and honestly I think that conversation with Thorin would have been the place: "white gems that I too desire" changes to "white gems whose return I desire" or something.

This has been a bit of a ramble, but I just wanted to do a whirlwind tour of how badly these movies handled Thranduil's wife. A lot of people have accused them of fridging her, but to be honest this is worse than fridging; at least fridging has a point. At least fridging means that the character affects the narrative, even just by her death motivating her menfolk to take action. All Thranduil's wife gets is a few throwaway lines that mean nothing. As far as the actual narrative of these movies and the motivation and emotions of the other characters are concerned, she never even existed. Tauriel apparently thought Legolas was produced by budding and as such has never even been curious about his mother. Thranduil is motivated by sparkly. Legolas has no emotional connection to her and his arc and relationship with Thranduil are predicated on Tauriel.

That is worse than if they'd killed her to motivate Thranduil and give Legolas an arc.