#just because it seems like it's the least important story-wise (i could be wrong)

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

When I first saw a Miraculous Ladybug salt post it was the usual Lila takes away all of Marinette's friends Adrien does nothing Marinette becomes super successful Lila gets exposed blah blah blah

When I see posts like the ones you post where people give actual constructive criticism about the characters and not favor one character over the other has made me realize that these are fictional characters and its not their fault they are the way they are. Also they're 14 what kind of 14 year old makes good choice's? Especially when they have the fate of the world/universe on their shoulders

If anything the character I really blame is Master Fu. He was obviously meant to be some sort of mentor figure for them or at least Marinette's mentor. He was the one to tell and encourage Marinette to keep everything a secret from Adrien. Comparing him to other mentor like figures in the world of superheros he isn't really all that helpful.

Compared to DC Ladybug and Chat Noir do not have any adult superheros to help them. In DC younger superheros have entire superhero families to help them out and if not that than they have other adult superheros to help them or they have an actual team. We know that other miraculous holders exist and the order is back I have a vague idea as to why they can't help but I still find it weird as to why they are around if not to help. Like phones and the internet exist do they not?

Sorry for they rant, I want to know what your thoughts are on this?

Your rant was fine! I don't think that I've talked in depth about mentors as a concept and I should both because I love mentors and because Miraculous has completely failed to give us any good ones. This is a writing failure not because good mentors are required, but because the show chose to have mentors characters and then not use them.

Before I get into the topic at large, I want to start with a brief discussion of mentors in shows aimed at young children as Miraculous' intended audience is young children and that fact is worth keeping in mind when discussing what Miraculous did wrong and some of the ways that you can fix it.

Shows aimed at kids generally avoid adult characters in major roles for the very obvious reason that the intended audience is kids, so you want the kid and teen characters to be the stars. This doesn't mean that adults aren't allowed to save the day or have important roles. It just means that they should be used sparingly. This is why mentors are a great addition to kids shows. They allow adult characters to be deeply involved with the plot without anyone expecting them to intervene because that's not their role in the story. They're not here to be the hero. They're here to guide the hero.

One of the powerful things about this setup is that it allows the writers to give the real kids watching at home real advice about real life problems. For example, if Marinette comes to Fu to talk about feeling alone and overwhelmed, then he can give her real, practical advice that would apply to anyone who is feeling alone and overwhelmed, but no one expects him to directly intervene because he's supposed to say hidden.

A lot of these elements apply to mentors in media aimed at older audiences, the rules just apply for different reasons, so I'm going to stop reminding you that Miraculous is for elementary school kids and focus on the failed mentor issue as it would be an issue no matter what Miraculous' intended audience was.

When it comes to bad mentoring, a lot of people focus on Fu and I get why. At first glance, he's the classic wise old Asian man who is supposed to be there to guide the protagonist on her mystical journey (not getting into the racism issue here, just know that I'm aware of it and that Miraculous dropped the ball on this in a lot of ways even though they absolutely could have made it work.) But Fu isn't the main focus of my ire because, while the writers seemed to have designed him around the mystic Asian trope, they never actually wrote him like a mentor.

He doesn't train Marinette and Adrien in the ways of the miraculous. He just sneakily gives them their miraculous and then disappears from their lives for quite some time. So he's not around to get them properly started on their hero journey. That's strike one for the mentor role.

Strike two is the fact that we never actually see him mentoring Marinette. I don't think that she ever went to him for advice? If she did, then it wasn't a big element of their relationship. When I think of Marinette and Fu, I picture her going to him to grab a miraculous or two before booking it back to the ongoing fight and that's about it. The guardian training she supposedly had was all off screen, so we have no idea how close they were or what he even taught her outside of potion making. Even that wasn't really him teaching her something. It was them working together to figure out a puzzle because Fu never completed his own training, making it impossible for him to properly train a successor.

Strike three is the fact that - outside of the King Monkey incident - Fu never gets directly involved in helping team miraculous. He's never gives them feedback on fights or works with Ladybug and Chat Noir to strengthen their bond. He doesn't even help them track down the two missing miraculous or hand out the temporary miraculous on Marinette's behalf, a choice I still find super weird. "This fight is super hard and we need help, so I'm going to leave Chat Noir to fight alone while I go get said help!" is absolutely nonsense logic and one of the many examples of the writers desperately needing to let Marinette hand her responsibilities off. Why wasn't this Fu's job?

This brings us to fix one: if you want the guardian to be a mentor - which is a role they arguably should have - then the guardian needs to be actively involved in Marinette and Adrien's lives in an on screen way. For this to work in the context of Miraculous - a show that really wants to focus on the teen characters - then the guardian probably needs a teenage apprentice who isn't Marinette and that apprentice will be the one doing the mentoring.

My pick for this is Luka for two big reasons. The first one is that his calm personality is perfectly suited to a mentor. The second one is that it seems insane to me to have the snake be a temp holder. The snake should be watching every fight, but staying out of the actual fight so that they can use their power whenever it's needed. That's the perfect role for a mentor character to fill. Someone who is active in the plot, but only ever as a support because their power stops them from getting more involved.

Moving on to the bigger issue.

As I said up above, Fu doesn't actually get my ire. While I wanted him to be a mentor, he never once filled that role and he didn't really need to because the show already had mentor figures that it was actively using and using poorly. Those figures are the ancient magical creatures that follow our heroes around, dispensing terrible advice whenever they feel like it. That's right, as much as it pains me, Miraculous' biggest mentor failures are Tikki and Plagg.

The miraculous did not need to have magical creatures associated with them. They could have just been magical jewelry that Fu handed out and explained. Instead, the writers chose to give us the Kwamis and I don't disagree with that choice. I like the Kwmais! The problem is that they're used in the most lackluster, asinine ways you possibly could.

The Kwamis are not presented as oblivious to the world and unable to give advice. They give lots of advice! The problem is that advice tends to suck! I can think of many examples of times where the Kwamis made everything worse, but let's look at the one that grinds my gears the most: Plagg's actions in season four.

In Rocketear - the episode where Nino gives Adrien an incredibly inaccurate picture of why he knows Alya's secret identity - we get this:

Adrien: I still can't believe Ladybug entrusted Alya and Nino with those Miraculous. Plagg: Of course she did. She's the Guardian. Adrien: But they're a couple and they know each other's secret identities. Plagg: So...? Adrien: So, why does she make it a rule that we can't know each other's identities but it's okay for them? Plagg: She's the Guardian, the Grandmaster Cheese Ripener, and you and I are just cheese on the platter. She decides what's on the menu.

Hey, Plagg, maybe don't tell your clearly upset and vulnerable teenage holder to just suck it up and deal with it when he's feeling alone and betrayed? Maybe encourage him to talk to Ladybug about his feelings so that he can get the full story? Knowing that they learned their identities during the Scarlet Moth incident would probably do a lot to smooth over Adrien's hurt feelings.

What's even more rich is that the episode Kuro Neko lets Plagg go off on Marinette for not appreciating Chat Noir:

Ladybug: What's gotten into him? I didn't do anything. Plagg: Didn't do anything? Well yeah, you did! You've been neglecting a very classy piece of camemebert on your plate for too long! And as a result it got runny, and moldy! Ladybug: What? Cat Noir never gave me any camembert. Plagg: Of course not, Cat Noir is the camembert! For a while now, you've been neglecting this camembert— I mean Cat Noir, and going on adventures with the all other cheeses! Ladybug: But he should be happy about it, it gives him more time off. Plagg: Cat Noir doesn't wanna have time off, Ladybug! He is in love with you! And your persistent calling on all the other heroes has broken his heart.

Dude, if you saw all of this going on, then why didn't you say something??? You and Tikki are in the same location for multiple hours five days a week. Go tell her how your holder is feeling and figure out how to fix the situation! Or be an actual mentor and encourage Adrien to talk to someone about his feelings! At the very least, cut up a wheel of cheese, sit down, and listen to your kid so that he feels less alone!

Also what exactly do you want Ladybug to do to fix the problem you presented? Let Paris burn until Chat Noir decides to show up to today's fight? Refuse to use the temp heroes even if it means losing a fight? None of those are valid solutions when the problem presented in the episode is Chat Noir missing fights. Especially when we know that he's doing it on purpose. Why are you yelling at her instead of working with her to come up with an actual solution? You are such a terrible mentor...

To be clear, I don't think any of this is intentional. I don't think the writers want Plagg and Tikki to come across as actively hurting their teenage charges via bad advice. I think Plagg and Tikki are supposed to be seen as good and helpful, but they can't fill that role because they're tools of the narrative and the narrative has really wacky views on what good advice is. Thus nonsense like the example I discussed above or Plagg and Tikki picking new holders instead of guiding their holders through an identity reveal.

I personally adore letting Plagg and Tikki be good mentors in my own stuff. It falls under the same category as Alya and Nino being terrible friends on screen. I acknowledge the problem and then delight in fixing it by writing the exact opposite setup because what is fanfiction for if not heavy self indulgence?

[kurosagileo]

alrighty its post mortkranken thoughts time! under a cut so that spoilers are easier to avoid

(did one for obscuary here)

for a spoiler free thought first off, though, i think the time between episodes both works for and against the story. it's a good pacing so far imo, even if it's disappointing there's not much to do in the game between episode drops. there's enough time to let people analyze the most recent episode and secrets revealed, come up with guesses as to how things connect, and when that starts dying down, there's time to hypothesize about the next episode because teasers have started dropping. Game wise, there's time for people who have been playing for a while to get farther in cases so that once the episode does drop, it's easy to go through whenever you're ready. On the other hand, the time inbetween, the teasers can possibly hype a episode up a bit too much, i think that happened with obscuary and may have contributed to how the episode felt unbalanced (at least to me). High expectations mean there's a lot that could go wrong when things end up differently. I don't think they should release the episodes sooner, that would be an overload, just something i've been making note of and trying to not expect too much from a new episode so that i enjoy what comes out rather than being disappointed with what didn't

spoiler wise, i'll follow the format i had for obscuary!

jiro is winning the idgaf war and i absolutely love that for him. I think the writers did a good job of makng him the straight man to yuri's antics and thoroughly enjoyed scenes with him

yuri... is so silly i love him sm i want to kiss his cheek so that he bluescreens on the spot. i love that he seems like he's gonna be a scientist with questionable morals leaning to the evil side but then he ends up being so expressive about every little thing. he's smart but not manipulative mastermind ike if he's thinking something you Will know it

there's an interesting dynamic between the two which I'm looking forward to learning more about. Some of the few times where Jiro outwardly emotes are during interactions with Yuri. (Also with pc with the body lmao)

now for the story content, not an analysis of what things might mean but just overall storytelling

I think this did well with bringing the standard back up from the obscuary episode. for my thoughts on that, feel free to check out the other post i made. it was far more balanced with the investigation driving things, mc getting closer to the two ghouls, and the progression of mc's curse for the overarching story. the cameos from all of the other characters was exciting to see while going through, and was great for showing how different characters interact with each other. I think each of those small moments showed a lot about the characters.

for a few examples: alan's regrets for not saving naoki, highlighting how much he values being able to save people and blames himself for not doing enough even when he couldn't stop it; leo taking the documents, seeming to just do it to be antagonistic, but actually genuinely helping out both mc's investigation and alan's ass if the files went missing; ren and ritsu talking about ramen in the store, they're getting closer despite ren not liking working at his job and always complaining that ritsu is there, clearly they're starting to become friends; the three vice captains meeting and the absolute tension there

i could go on, each of those little cameos was meaningful imo, not all of them served to progress the main story, but they're important to see, to show how the ghouls are interacting with each other and how they act when mc isn't investigating their house

I think the investigation portion was a little rough near the end. The case wrapup wasn't as satisfying as I'd like, I think the best two episodes for that so far were vagastrom and sinostra, but the framing of it makes sense considering yuri's stigma. (specifically the part of the wrapup where we found the patient was behind things, the fight at the end was something i really enjoyed) It's something that lets yuri process everything instantaneously, so it makes sense that the answer is just given in a monologue, even if it ends up being somewhat unsatisfying. Yuri is a character who likes his monologue, and he's found everything out and is confident in his answer. I don't think that he would present the information in another way

The foreshadowing in this chapter was...... well it could've been more subtle. I kinda wish that while Jiro was leading mc through Mortkranken, there would be more attention drawn to multiple things, aside from exactly what would be relevant. I think that may have also led to the unsatisfying reveal

the very ending with the assembly was also well done, imo. it reiterates that the faculty want mc to gain the trust of the ghouls and is doing so. but it also calls into question where that request is coming from. right now, mc is very much being used by the faculty. she was pushed into the investigator role, pushed into being a student, pushed into earning their trust, threatened with a possible punishment for not being able to prove it. it serves her as well to grow close with the ghouls and be an investigator, and she clearly is, but I really don't think that's anywhere near the reason the chancellor put her in that position. we always keep the spy thing in the back of our minds while reading, while she's essentially also advertised as a spy to the ghouls

the phone call between hyde and sho was both surprising to see, but also not. Sho has a campus chat with hyde where he says that he's using hyde to get ahead any way he can. Learning that hyde is giving secret missions, it's unsurprising that Sho is one of the students he's using. I think this would be too obvious for the whole spy/traitor thing, however... there was one other campus chat that came into my mind, the one between subaru and leo. Subaru's waiting for MC for lunch, Leo approaches and sees he's got food from Sho's food truck, and comments on how Sho is really good at the friend act. Acting like he's a friend to customers to convince them to buy more. While the likely reading is Leo just lying to mess with Subaru (and honestly I wouldn't doubt that), I think it could also be that it's a true analysis of Sho.

He is good a the friend act. Sho has no problem lying to someone to appear nice. He did it to an old lady looking for a train station in the vagastrom episode. Leo told her he had no clue where it was, Sho gave her instructions and after she left, Leo asked how he knew and Sho told him oh I didn't. A lot of Sho's flaws are looked over because he's nice, when he is kinda an asshole a lot. I don't think that he's using a friend act on Subaru, but it's genuinely hard to tell. The scene at the beginning of the episode was cute, but depending on how you read it, it could be Sho playing it up for the bet with Leo.

I doubt the phone call from the end will actually be how we learn about the traitor, but I also think that Sho has a lot more resources than most to be a traitor

[guardian5tiger3]

What does spirit want to bring to your attention?

Pick a group tarot reading .

Groups

1 2

3 4

Group one

You guys need to do more inner work. You need to look within yourself, identify issues and either come up with solutions or cope or grieve you know. You need to be strong and just deal with something. This is important for your destiny and being who you're meant to become. Don't stop, keep going. If you listen to your heart, you know what's right and what's wrong. Pick right. Ok.

Group two

Spirit wants you to see and or pay attention to what's right Infront of you. You may have it Infront of you but you might be looking past whatever this is. It will bring balance if you focus on this, though.

Group three

You all are being overwhelmed or having too much around you. it's causing a negative reaction from you. Spirit wants you to know and understand that there is a solution. This seems sort of like focusing one one thing. Just one thing. If this be picking one thing, focusing on one thing or one step at a time. Make it more simple for yourself. Maybe some of you either don't know where to start or don't know what the best option is. It's gonna be the one that at least most likely will benefit you the most especially stability wise possibly in terms of money or just some type of abundance and or possibly hygiene. It depends on who's reading this ok. Try to avoid just giving up or walking away from everything all together because of getting overwhelmed or overworked or something. Some of you very well could and should read a book.

Group four

Somebody might be talking to you or confronting you or telling you something, more likely masculine energy. I would take whatever they say with a grain of salt or you did or will do so. They might give you a few options , give you advice, and or confuse you in some type of way . Someone might try to put some type of spell on you so watch out seriously. Cause I thought of that story where the princess gets an apple from a witch or something and she takes a bite and then passes out I think or something bad happens to her either way. Someone might play some psychology trick or giving you multiple options that all suck but you feel like cause they're giving you options you have to pick one of those options but you can do whatever the heck you want ok they're doing that on purpose to make you have to pick something suck ass. Overall for all of you please make sure you are prepared to or are defending yourself in whatever way.

☮️

[neoncat666]

extremely long shadows over welde character analysis post

by extremely long i mean its fucking 3k words cause I go too silly.

Spoilers up to ep 8 and its mostly rambles so apolocheese. I also posted this on my twitter so if u saw it there here's an actual text version LOL

Argentum:

Oh my god. You are soooo…… First of all, in the story we’ve gotten this. Argentum is a strong headed, curious person who is a bit stubborn and holds themself at a bit of a graceful appearance on the outside. They are smart, witty, but also a bit of a temper especially when it comes to frankly a little stupid ideas. They are also kind and care for others. We were shown from the beginning that they enjoy their work and meeting fans and even with people they just met are willing to help them stay safe. Also they’re a little dumb. Sometimes curiosity overrides rational thinking and that was shown when they touched the weird fucking webbing in the cave and also that ENTIRE plan when there was the confrontation between Vhaeraun and Lolth which was fucking actually crazy. This isn’t even beginning to talk about the head friend. I am constantly thinking about that voice and who that could be. Brings us speculation around them. Argentum is not human, or at least fully human. Their eyes are def not human and Hayden is a silly lil guy who would pull a trick like that. There was one speculation on them possibly being a Kalashtar and I think it could fit but honestly for now it hasn’t been on my forefront. I also bought the inscriptor class finally and was looking at how possibly they were built. What stats what subclass ect. I don’t fucking know.. Now you might be asking “Hey why don’t you just ask?” CAUSE IM SCARED. But honestly cause I wanted to see if I could figure it out myself lmao. It boiled down to either Mystery or Historian subclass is what Snail helped me narrow to. Could be wrong tho. There’s also little tidbits about Argentum that have come from outside the sessions like when I asked if they had a canonical birthday cause “celebrating fictional characters birthdays is cringe” “fuck you happy birthday argentum” is funny. Still honestly wanna know if any of the party has canon birthdays. I got hit with the “Oh they don’t know their own birthday.” and then swindled. There was also the discussion on Hayden’s pcs never really having parents or family and Argentum was included in that list which more or less got confirmed in session this episode (7). I still don’t know their motives, still don’t know their relationships with others because it seems everyone is connected to someone except Argentum, and I still don’t know who their patron is and if that is the same as the voice in their head. Love the silly though

Phoenix:

Fifi….. Not much was known about you until today and holy shit did it rock my world. Before we had known he was the apprentice to Ipswich and was sent in his place as guest of honor. We also then found out he was a spy working on tailing Lolth and that’s kinda all we knew about Phoenix for a bit, at least heavy lore wise. He’s a sarcastic, witty, bitch and I love him so much. I could never surpass Snail as Phoenix Enjoyer but it’s close. We learned a bit more during the nightmare drink sequence where he met his patron and got his powers fucking zapped. A couple things stood out to me from it. How his patron looked and specific wording from Phoenix. We know Ipswich isn’t mortal anymore but Phoe had said something along the lines of “I’d get my ass kicked and be right back here the next day.” He is surrounded by death or even just the undead. His patron deals in undead magic and I don’t think if Phoenix gets knocked down he wouldn’t be back again looking all fine the next day. We don’t know his patron’s name which like. Fuck. but lmao. Anyways Ipswich is tracking him like crazy and says he has this important quest although we don’t know a lot of Phoe’s thoughts and feelings on what he’s doing. To me it almost seems like he’s a tool or pawn for others and idk if I can fully call him a good person. Doing a bit of research into his pact and such it seems that he’s just going to possibly lose more and more humanity as he gets stronger but also i couldn’t tell you how much he has already. There’s also the whole cousins and throne thing that got dropped this episode. It seems his family is also involved with this whole scheme but Phoe is the favourite of the bunch. The idea that he could possibly be royalty was also thrown around and i think if he was like secret prince it would be from a large family all vying for a throne or he is working with Ipswich and others to usurp the current ruler and take the power for himself. Although knowing Fifi it’ll probably be like a secret third option. Not much except he’s so 90s movie older sister to me and the fact Ipswich runs a school for swindlers which is kinda funny.

Sunder:

Babygirl. Pookie. Love of my life who I want to kill me. God. This is now my love letter to you. I saw you across the bar and thought you were sooo scary and I’ve been enraptured ever since. Anyways that’s a freak. He’s not the most talkative and seems more lonely despite everything. They’re funny, loyal, kind, and ruthless. We didn’t get much for Sunder for a bit until mostly the shopping episode. We learned a bit through Kelly and the nightmare drink of what makes up Sunder but it didn’t really culminate until the head crushing I would say. Honestly I don’t even care I just fucking love the way Sunder is played. Like I’m sitting here trying to find words that aren’t just I think he’s neat cause I do think analyzing him is intriguing. They’re going to get angry and they’re going to get violent and you are not safe. It’s something that was so surprising at first because of how much Sunder kind of fell into the background. The nightmare drink gave us the first look at this, that Sunder had apparently killed someone, a kid even, but a lot of their violence was played off as a joke by the community, I know I did. Learned today that the person in that nightmare was Ilmater and it shows that she wasn’t lying when she said that visions and nightmares of this accident are a plague. I believe them when they say it was an accident and idk how young they were but to harbor that from a young age will fuck you up. Their morals are something that intrigues me i would say the most. No trouble in murder although I assume that’s more or less towards people who piss him off or are generally bad people. He’s kind hearted and that’s shown a lot especially with this last interaction I’d say. I still need to like rewatch a lot of parts of it but “we were just kids” genuinely fucking rocked me to my core and it got me i won’t lie. We’re still very early in but idk, I want to see Sunder truly happy and not haunted by the ghosts of their past. I feel this was most likely the first step but it’s hard to say as we go forward. I think violence and blood will always follow it’s just how they choose to take it.

The Wall:

I think now Wall is the character we know the least about, at least to me. We know his duty to Eilistraee and his duty to Zephrael and also his little foodie quirks (love him dearly) but outside of that I don’t think we know a lot. He’s the character I have the least notes for now but I do know this. He is loyal to a fault, a little dense, kind, and revels in battle and violence. I think about his nightmare and the fear of losing her and the sword then what happened to this episode. He’s had this since he was a child and then he had this dream, this trip to the beastland plane and looked Eilistraee in the eye and fought her. I believe he still loves her, cares for her, but I also think it has changed since that episode no doubt. Rewinding a bit, I think a bit about him being told he has to be pure of heart in order to wield the sword. What does pure of heart truly mean? Wall loves fighting and murder. He actively committed torture. Also he’s the bodyguard for an objectively bad man. There’s the argument of his intentions are pure although I doubt you can do a lot of what he did and have those intentions be fully pure. It’s just something I think about more than probably a normal person should teehee. Anyways the conversation he and Rae had at the beginning of this session should classify as psychological warfare cause I genuinely do not think I’m ever going to recover. I have been talking about it for weeks how they are the chosens, favored, by literal enemies and seem to have some sort of hit on them by a couple of deities now. I thought about how it might affect relationships and how Wall views them. We know he’s very loyal but I always wondered how far he would need to be pushed before that is broken. Seems like an extreme amount. His morals are probably what intrigue me the most tbh. I’d kill to know what his alignment is LMAO. Most of all I just really love the Wall because he is goofy and silly but he also isn’t a stupid brick wall that doesn’t know anything and I really enjoy seeing the times he gets to explain things. Fuck it we Wall.

Zephrael:

Okay so this will be the longest one cause I’m biased and yes Zephrael is my favourite. I always feel a little bad when it comes to that and showing that favouritism because I truly do love the entire party so much. This hit me the most when the show was just starting out and I did feel like I needed to show how much I loved each character and not just focus on Rae lol. I hope this thread can at least show that (if you even make it this far) Anyways Zephrael is a fucking freak and I love him so much. I’ve done multiple posts on him before and yeah Im gonna repeat some of it here i wont lie. Right out the gate we probably learn the most and yet the least about Rae’s past and present. He is an emissary for the reformed church of Lolth and an honored guest. He had known about Edo’s work before and talked about how it had helped with relations between the public and the reformed church. This means everything and nothing to us. But it does show that despite Rae’s… oddness, he is extremely well spoken when he wants to be and I think about that speech a lot. The next few episodes gave us some more information yet also a lot more questions. These weird pains that seem to predict disasters, the extreme phobia of spiders despite being a paladin of Lolth, and his both egotistical yet self deprecating attitude. It was fascinating to watch him because he clashed but never in a way that made him irredeemable and I’ll go more into that at the end section. A few early things I thought about a lot before the catalyst that was the nightmare drink were who the reformed church was, where did Zephrael come from, why was he chosen as this ambassador, and why he didn’t know undercommon but knew abyssal. These are still questions I have to this day LMAO. The nightmare drink vision I possibly overanalyze the most next to Phoenix’s. It stood out due to the fact that it wasn’t, bad. Rae could see again, he saw his father and best friends again, he got told he was going to learn the truth again. Why was this considered a bad thing? Everyone else experienced horrors and regrets yet Zephrael got sorrow. It jumpstarted the part aasimar Rae theory tho. Angel imagery Rae makes me clinically insane I won’t lie and his father having these large wings and bright white light did not help. There’s the big question of what he is and also how he joined the church. Hell, even how he feels about the church as well, truly at least. During one of the hiatuses fandom went crazy and Snail Snailmuds dropped out of nowhere that the runes on Rae’s body weren’t just random but fucking translated abyssal that said “PAIN CHAOS POWER” which first of all goes hard second of all what the fuck.

Theory crafting for Zephrael always feels like climbing uphill and also being constantly shot at cause every time something happens with that man it turns out to be a secret third thing going on oh mygod. Anyways I’ve discussed whether or not he was forced into this church, was kidnapped, born into it, ect because at the end of the day, he seems to very much be a tool or pawn for this church and/or Lolth. Also the whip being an artifact of Lolth or whatever they’re called again I forgot??? What the fuck dude. ALSO HIM SLEEPING IN BATHTUBS????? Grizzly has said this will make sense later but genuinely what the fuck there is something wrong with him. Moving on, revelation about the tattoos comes out and we get the torture episode. Well we get the holy shit they just killed those guys begining and then torture. First of all, I cheered louder than anyone else when Rae actually did fucking combat instead of running away and also the fact he can use his whip. Anyways dumb and dumber torture a guy and first of all the lay on hands to keep him alive during torture was insane and I hope to see it again in anything and it’s also where it’s learned that the tattoos on him were “forcibly engraved” which was honestly brushed off and a lot happened that I think most people forgot but I didn’t cause I’m crazy. Anyways moving on from THAT we get the typical Rae. Dodging questions when Argentum tries to interrogate him and also dunno if he’s just fuckin lying or not when he does actually answer them.

Episode 6 and 7 are where I think Rae slightly pivots. Not really noticeable but he feels a little more, close. It was also a change I noticed with the cast and I think that helped a lot of character dynamics as well. Rae’s stupid beef with Argentum was so fucking funny and I do think about him wanting to heal Sunder before himself after the Bulette because if he heals Sunder, how would that help him. Yes they’re his bodyguard but the monster is dead and it’s not like Sunder can heal him back. It was a decision that I think was the most different for Rae because he was shown to care deeply for Wall but not so much the others as much. He still doesn’t care for the others as much as he does The Wall but I do think he has grown a fondness or care for the others whether he wants to or not. And thats the thing, I could not tell you if he does actually wanna care for them or not. Yes they are allies and help but he seems to try and keep things at a transactional level or how much power it may bring him. He still does but like his dynamic with Argentum seems closer cause the antagonizing feels more like siblings getting on each other’s nerves rather than a growing distance. I think Sunder also displaying that brutality may have put him more into Rae’s good books too. Anyways he read a fucking book huge day. Now he has even worse mommy issues. Ep 7 killed me with hammers but that was spoken about. His relationship with Wall is something that fascinates me though. Rae is selfish, it’s not hidden at all, yet he does seem to care deeply for Wall and almost defends him more than he would defend himself. It’s nice to see for this bodyguard and his charge dynamic but ep 7 spread some light on it and I do think their bond will outlive the will of the Gods but what do I know, I’m not anyone at that table. Zephrael is rude, odd, egotistical but also masochistic and does care deeply when he wants to and you don’t see that kind of character as much I wanna say. He’s my favourite cause his weird gnc swag enraptured me thats all he is post over.

Not actually over cause there’s one last thing. These characters would not be these characters without the wonderful players behind them. Each episode brings out better and better performances that have me actually going crazy over them. I genuinely wouldve had nothing to write about if it weren’t for the fact everyone brings so much life into these characters and loves them so much that they feel so fucking real. They don’t feel flat or simple but very nuanced characters that I love to study and even be wrong about (i actually hate being wrong and every time im wrong i get so ashamed) but Argentum’s flourishes and talks to get out of situations, Phoenix’s wit and holy shit that dread form voice, Sunder during the market fight and then the softer scene with Varic, Wall’s humor and even talking about the more serious stuff, and Zephrael’s ability to balance harshness and endearing at the same time. That’s Hayden, Leizu, Juzo, Ben, and Grizzly and I genuinely cannot fucking talk about the performances enough. I’ve thought about making a post just about it but I fear I just wouldn’t be able to articulate what I wanna say enough. Then obviously it wouldn’t even be possible without the fucking amazing world building and npcs Jonah has provided. Everything is so immersive and I find myself caring for each and every npc we meet whether caring for their safety or caring too much cause I dislike them. Every npc sticks with me and I grow so attached so quickly because they feel so real in this world that also feels so fucking real. It feels like we are just peeking into another world and I actually can’t multitask when watching sow cause I get too sucked in. It’s really hard to do that and I talk about it a lot but never really publicly so I thought I would here.

Anyways for real this time post over, this ended up way longer than I thought it was gonna be so ur a real one if you read this all the way through lol. I’m off to go think about sow merch again as I wait for permission and stuff cause im crazy. See ya later

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Bengiyo's Queer Cinema Syllabus

For those who are not aware, I have decided to run the gauntlet of @bengiyo’s Queer Cinema Syllabus and have officially started Unit 3: Faith and Religion. The films in Unit 3 are: But I’m a Cheerleader (2000), Prayers for Bobby (2009), Latter Days (2003), Blackbird (2014), The Wise Kids (2011), Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party (2015)

Today I will be writing about

Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party (2015) dir. Stephen Cone

[Run Time: 1:27, Available on: tubi, Lang: English] 

Summary: Henry Gamble, a 17-year-old preacher's son, wrestles with sexuality, alcoholism and faith during his birthday party.

Cast: *Cole Doleman as Henry Gamble *Elizabeth Laidlaw as Kat Gamble, Henry's mother *Pat Healhy as Bob Gamble, Henry's father *Nina Ganet as Autumn Gamble, Henry's sister *Patrick Andrews as Ricky Matthews, recent suicide survivor *Hanna Dworkin as Bonnie Montgomery, the most miserable woman on the planet *Francis Guinan as Larry Montgomery, Bonnie's husband

(side note, I should start keeping tallies about how many movies on this syllabus come from Wolfe production company)

___

Well, we’ve reached the end of the line for Unit 3 with this one, and I have to say, I do think I like this piece from Stephen Cone better than I enjoyed The Wise Kids. (Though, honestly, I probably owe The Wise Kids a rewatch because of where my head was at when I watched that piece.)

Now, I am not religious, and I don’t have the kind of religious trauma that I think would make some of these films speak to me more, and the thing I kind of like with Stephen Cone’s pieces is that the queerness doesn’t intersect with religion as much as religion and queerness exist in the same space, if that makes sense. Like is there some internalized homophobia going on, there is some external homophobia going on, but…The Wise Kids and Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party have seemed more like stories where there are gay, religious kids, rather than the gays (or at least main gay character) suffering under the weight of religion which films such as Prayers for Bobby and Latter Days portray. [Do not get me wrong, gays suffering under the weight of religion is still present in both films, it just feels secondary to the main thread]. 

As such, I think I found myself connecting more, and being more interested in the plot of the mother and her daughter, Autumn as well as to the portrayal of the small town, white, religious adults. Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party is extremely legible in showing what the characters are feeling without really having to say anything about it. You can tell that Henry’s mother is Straight Up Not Having A Good Time Right Now from the first second we see her on screen, you can tell there is some level of tension between her and her husband, you can tell how tenuous Ricky’s stability is from the moment he walks in the door. 

I liked how there was cross talk, and how there were references to people and to conversations that happened that we were not a part of. It makes the film seem real and lived in, I liked how easily I was able to identify the queer kids, and how I suspect a few more characters (cough cough, Jon) are queer and either not aware of it or are hiding/suppressing it. 

But more importantly, I really enjoyed how much of this film was dedicated to water and to wine.

Like, every single time these kids jumped in the pool I could think of nothing else but baptism. Every time an adult poured themselves a mug of wine, and another adult complained about it I could do nothing but think about Jesus turning water to wine, and how the sacrament is taken with wine. Yet here, in the home, the wine must be hidden, the adults can’t be seen drinking around the children, etc. 

And maybe it’s cause I’m no longer 17, but while Henry’s journey throughout the film is important, I spent more time focusing on Kat, on Ricky, and on Bonnie throughout this film. Kat just seems to be going through the routine, stuck in a life it feels like she doesn’t want or possibly never wanted, and being mostly ignored. Ricky is the subject of a lot of conversation and gossip, but no one really knows how to treat him normally after a suicide attempt, and Bonnie is the most miserable woman to ever walk the earth. 

I think what is the most notable to me is how people change over the course of the movie. In water, Henry comes to finally accept his feelings for Logan, in water the very clearly bored adults get to have some fun, those who entered the water exited with change, and those who did not remained relatively the same. The same goes for the wine. The adults that drank wine went through some sort of change, while the adults who didn’t ended up staying relatively the same. By this I mean Bonnie, because she was the only person who did not swim or drink. 

With the wine, Kat tells Autumn a secret, you know the kind that mothers only tell their eldest daughters. With the wine, Kat and Autumn heal a part of their relationship. With the wine, Larry just gets real chill with queer people real quick. With the wine, Kat and Bob end with a separation. 

So I think that was the most compelling aspect. Bonnie is judgemental about sex, porn, etc. and thusly she does not approve of swimming, because of girls being in scantily clad outfits. Bonnie is judgemental about alcohol consumption and thusly she is annoyed that her husband is sneaking wine. Bonnie does not invest in earthly pleasures, and so she is just the most miserable person by a mile and she just spends all of her time making everyone around her miserable as well. She’s just an empty person who does not know how to get out of it, and her personal perception of religion is keeping her excluded from connection and joy. In my opinion at least. 

Ricky is just a kid I feel bad for. He’s trying to get his life back on track, he’s trying to get back some sense of normalcy and instead he is gossiped about constantly and kept in the dark about whether or not he is going to be a camp counselor again. You can see him just constantly trying to hold it together, until he just stuck in the bathroom and can’t get out. Where it all falls to pieces. Now. We hear a rumor about Ricky that we have no way to corroborate, but considering this is a film about faith and religion, let’s just say that the intense self harm that Ricky participates in feels very much like he is trying to absolve himself of sins through some form of self punishment. 

Overall, I think this film was a good one to end on and I am sure it would have a lot more to say to me if I had a better understanding of religion, but this is what I kind of found. 

For/By/About 

I think this one is a By and About queer people film. I don’t think enough of the plot revolved around queerness and religion to really be for queer people. This film seemed more of a rated E for everyone situation 

Favorite Moment

By far my favorite moment of the film is Autumn and Kat talking in the car. I loved this quiet moment between mother and daughter, where Kat allows Autumn to see some of her flaws and where Kat apologizes for any harm she may have caused Autumn over the years. It’s a very vulnerable moment that brought me both sadness and joy.

Favorite Quote

“No. We’re doing it all wrong. You, you’re gay, that’s fine, the Lord made you that way, fine. Fuck it.” 

This is said by one of the older men at the party, Larry, who is piss drunk at this point. But has just witnessed Ricky exiting the party with his mother after a super massive self harm incident, and who I think comes to some pretty quick conclusions about the ways in which religion and faith can have an extremely negative impact. The scene itself does feel a little bit like when Nomi’s mother ate a really good weed brownie at Nomi and Aminita’s wedding and was suddenly cured of her transphobia in Sense8, but nevertheless it is another moment I think of showing transformation through the consumption of wine (aka Christ’s blood). 

Score

8.5/10

I enjoyed this film, found it compelling, thought there was some really great acting, and I absolutely loved how the film ends full circle with the same shot of Henry that we open the film on.

I am knocking half a point off for the fact that I had to watch a straight sex scene in this film (however brief) but there was no queer physical/romantic/sexual intimacy portrayed on screen. (Unless you want to count the masturbation scene at the very beginning of the film, but I think the jury is out on that one). 

And with this I move on to Unit 4: Heartbreak Alley, a section that I am certain will be nothing but sunshine and rainbows, and which I am unsure if I should start before or after the holidays.

[bohemian-nights]

Dumbnyra stans low-key be funny talking bout some "Daemon groomed/abused Nettles. Anyone who ships them are gross! She deserves better." And I'm like first of all they be calling Dettles this and that as if they don't be actively shipping UNCLE AND NIECE. Second if Dumbnyra isn't grooming (it is) it sure as hell is abuse because last time I checked choking your partner (non-consensually) is domestic violence which is abuse. But you know there right she does deserve better, not from Daemon but from there feminist girlboss can do no wrong in there eyes white insert Targaryen Queen Rhaenyra, who ordered her death but made sure to explicitly state no harm was to come to Daemon.

They out here trying to Jeyne Pool Nettles like news flash not only is Nettles important narratively, I wonder who’s going to tell them that without her there fave Daemon (at least show wise) is just an unredeemable asshole with no character development. Like hello HOTD writers you can’t say he was made up out of both darkness and lightness and then take away all his lightness (Nettles, Laena, his daughters).

Also that whole bullshit soulmate “we have always been meant to burn together” thing there trying to do with Dumbnyra is laughable.

Sorry for ranting 🙂 (I also love that you call Daemyra, Dumbnyra lol).

Never apologize for ranting about Nettles and Daemon. Lol, the math straight up isn’t mathing because if you wanted to protect Nettles from someone it would be little Miss Aryan who tried to put a hit out on her, not the man who was going to lay down his life for her🙃

And as much as I love to rag on Dumbnyra(can’t take credit for that cause I saw it somewhere else and started using it🤣) stans cause they are straight-up racist misogynist trash, it’s not just them who are doing this.

Some of Team Green or Green-leaning fans also seem to view Rhaenyra as this innocent white woman(when it comes to Nettles) who just had a little breakdown and maybe if her perverted husband kept it in his pants and didn’t go dilly-dallying with a young Black woman she’d be okay👍🏽

Daemon has to have abused Nettles because there is no way he could treat a poor young Black woman better than Aryan Valyrian Queenie 😀

In fandoms, people always look the other way for white ships even when there is actual abuse involved, but the moment a Black woman is involved her relationship has to be spotless otherwise it’s “abusive” or she’s being “groomed” or some other bull crap, and we must “protect her.”

This isn’t mutually exclusive to HOTD. No joke, I got hate for shipping Shuri x Namor, not because he literally killed her mother, but because Namor is 500 years old and Shuri is in her early 20s. Mind you this person was a Ten-Rose shipper and that couple has an even larger age gap than Shuri and Namor(Rose is 19 and the Tenth Doctor is 900) 🙃

Once again this “protection” is less about “protecting” and more like “No no no wait, stop. There is a black woman and she is being loved. This just can’t be. Alert the fire department. Call the police.”🙃

Circling back to Dumbnyra stans, they truly are the most delusional fans I have ever seen. Like they really believe that even though Daemon literally mentally, emotionally, and physically abused their self-insert somehow Dumbnyra is still going to make it🤣🤣🤣 Lol with or without Nettles your ship is going the way of the Titanic🤷🏽‍♀️ Epic soulmates they are not. The show showed them that.

And yeah while Daemon doesn’t physically abuse Rhaenyra in the book(s) it isn’t this great love story they are making it out to be because when crazy a** Rhaenyra needs Daemon the most, she straight up just wants him back with her and tries to kill Nettles to “free him,” this man says deuces, goes against her orders to save the “misunderstanding,” and possibly gets himself killed(we never saw a body so I’m holding onto the possibility he lived) rather than go back to her 🙃

Go read the sections of Fire & Blood where Rhaenyra goes on her racist tangent and then the part where Daemon reads her execution orders for Nettles if you don't believe me📖

They can’t read and cling to the fanon scenarios they’ve created in their head to prop up that sinking hellfire of a ship. They so desperately want Rhaenyra to be his light when she’s just not. Both in the show and the book(s).

In the book(s), his light patches are Nettles, Laena, and his girls. They’ve screwed over his relationship with Laena and their girls in the show so now it’s up to Nettles to show that the man is morally gray and they can’t stand that 🤷🏽‍♀️

[aces-and-angels]

I’ve loved reading your ILW playthrough thoughts, especially Matty! I did all his variants because I’ve wanted a villain romance story from PB forever. Matthias is so well written. I felt completely fed! I found the betrayal route with MC and Matty living together to be the most satisfying for me. If I was going to be bad I wanted to see it play out fully. It was intriguing to see the villain have one weakness and it be MC. Matty lived his whole life obsessed with the Power and alone because of it. Then he found the one being who made him actually sacrifice his obsession at times so they could live their best “Power Couple” life. When Matty was willing to literally jump into the fire for MC I was like “Evil Daddy really is whipped huh?!”. Lol! The team gave us such a perfect “us against the world” storyline, even tossing in the potential for a divorce because that was classic overly dramatic MC/Matthias, haha! I loved it. I loved all the toxicity that was their dynamic. I’m glad that one of his variants was them sipping cocktails on the beach because that’s what I saw them doing in my mind if they won against Loha.

ANON- YOU ARE GIVING ME LIFE RN; thank youuu 🥰🥰🥰

This was such a nice message to receive ♥ As much as I loved playing through the game itself, writing up my thoughts on the story was equally, if not, more enjoyable to do. ILW is such an engaging story made by very talented individuals who put their whole ass chests into making it possible. Since I can't legally give any of them money, I thought at the very least I could share my thoughts lol

I've had a bit more time to digest Matthias' route in its entirety and have come up with more things to say (even tho I had titled that post as my 'final thoughts'- bit presumptuous of me- I don't think ILW is getting out of my head any time soon lmao) Plus, this gives me the opportunity to do a deep dive on a successful betrayal route😊I'll add a 'read more' section bc I got a tad carried away while writing it lol

So for anyone interested:

an impromptu final thoughts on the ilw finale: matthias edition pt. 2

(ch 23 spoilers below... and I guess above too... just avert your eyes lol)

---

First, I'm with you anon- we were desperately owed a villain story from PB. I can't think of many choices books that give players the autonomy to determine an MC's status as a hero/villain. There are definitely choices that you can make throughout their books that are deemed 'incorrect,' but when boiled down, the MCs generally are the same flavor personality-wise. Not saying playing the 'good guy' isn't enjoyable- it certainly can be if the story is engaging enough- but when that's your only option, it's very easy to grow tired of it.

The amount of ways Matthias' route can turn out is in itself very impressive. The several ways you can interpret Rowan in each of these scenarios is just as satisfying. (The juxtaposition of a genuine!Ro with a character like Matthias is wild- I'm still not over the divorce lol)

Anon, you made very interesting point on Matthias choosing to give up his obsession with the Power. I'd like to counter and say that he never did. (not saying you're wrong at all anon- as I mentioned before in other posts- players are free to decide how the story ends however they want). It is certainly plausible that Matthias is truly happy with Rowan. The language seen throughout the epilogue displays a clear devotion and inexplicable bond between the pair.

Your hearts beat as one, and you feel him even when he's not around. His power calls to yours in a way that makes your heart beat faster and you always ache to touch him. There are no words for the feelings you have for each other. Even to call them feelings seem trivial, since your love is now a foundational part of both of you. It's there, as solid and necessary as your heart and soul.

I think it's important to remember who Rowan and Matthias are at the end of ILW (in this route): the Power itself contained within a human vessel. So I see it more as Matthias' obsession simply changing its form rather than him giving it up for the sake of being with Rowan. As I said in my previously, there are always strings attached when it comes to Matthias' love/devotion. Some sort of condition that must be met. Rowan just happened to turn into the thing he desired most.

In the past two 'finale thoughts' posts I've written, I speculated what I believe will happen beyond the epilogue with Ro and whoever they end up with. Simply trying to answer the question, will they last?

To briefly recap my answers in the posts I've made so far in case yall haven't seen those-

Abel x Rowan (mixed route): maybe

Amalia x Rowan (blood route): forever and evah bby (and then a little bit after that)

My answer for Matthias x Rowan: not. a. chance. Here's why:

Going back to your message anon- Matthias and Rowan's relationship is toxic. No ifs ands or buts about it. When I think of these two together, the words that immediately pop into my head are:

Destructive

Violent

All-consuming

Volatile

I want to highlight this scene at the end of ch 22:

You grin, wide and satisfied... but then a new thought comes unbidden to your mind. Why should you have to share this glorious power with him? What does he matter? Who is her in comparison to you? That Power, that euphoric beautiful endless Power, it could all be yours. You're everything, an endless raging sea of power. What does this pitiful creature matter to you? - You turn to fully face Matthias, a manic grin plastered to his face. - Matthias: Is it whispering the same things to you as it is to me? Rowan: Yes. Matthias: Are you going to kill me, love?

You can argue that his refusal to kill Ro for sole ownership of the Power is enough to prove his unyielding loyalty towards them. But Matthias is first and foremost a self-serving character. If he had the same thought as Ro once, there's a very good chance that thought could pop up again. No way can an eternity go by without that thought creeping up in either of their minds.

What is required to bring their relationship to life brings the rest of the world down to its knees. For the rest of the gang in ch 23, Rowan and Matthias are an unstoppable force. The only thing that can stop them is each other. I think the epilogue more than hints at their fiery end by showing the literal destruction of their newly 'purchased' mansion during their... ahem... well y'know 😏

Rowan: I can't believe we broke everything. Matthias: Really? Because I most certainly can. --- Rowan: Do you think there's anything in this room we haven't broken? Matthias: Actually, I don't think we ever made it to the couch. Rowan: That's too bad. Matthias: Just give it a moment, my dear. We'll soon fix that.

A mansion that Ro decides they want on a whim- destined to be reduced to rubble. What happens when Rowan and Matthias are left with the world at their fingertips?

It burns. And when the world burns, they too will burn with it. (If you can't tell, I recently re-watched the Hunger Games on Netflix lmaooo)

Ending on a quote from ATLA bc Matthias ain't ever beating these fire nation allegations:

"I had a pupil once who had no interest in learning discipline. He was only concerned with the power of Fire, how he could use it to destroy his opponents and wipe out the obstacles in his path. But Fire is a horrible burden to bear. Its nature is to consume. And without control, it destroys everything around it. Learn restraint or risk destroying yourself and everything you love." -Jeong Jeong

---

If yall are still reading this, what's good gang? ILW's main blog has an ongoing poll on which route players chose going into the final chapter. So far, it looks like the Blood route is winning. I'll be a bit nosier and ask a follow-up question. Good way to see how many people really made it to the end

[cvbullshit]

In (slight)Defense of Sweet Cap'n Cakes!

I saw that someone had called these three 1 dimensional characters and, I'm sorry, but I have to rant about it even if no one cares. If fact, I never knew that I cared about it myself.

To say though, I know not everyone believes this possibly but I just wanted to say this anyway.

Sweet Cap'n Cakes are not flat characters. To be honest, they do have traits sprinkled out here and there. I will say though, they are... sprinkled. Not much of and I can understand why they could come off as flat characters.

Let's start with, in my opinion, the least developed seeming, Cap'n. He, admittedly, comes off as the most flat of the three as the most traits he shows, independently, is being sneaky/scam-y and liking girls. That's really it, still has traits, but pretty.. Low.

Next is K_K, the second most developed in the trio. Now, K_K is interesting... From what I can tell, he seems to have a maximum of 1 trait, which would technically make him the least developed... If he didn't give vibes of being on the Spectrum somewhat. I'll be honest, to me, he seems like he's somewhere on the Spectrum or other alike things, idk why, he just does. Gives the vibe. So, number wise in number of traits, he'd be the least developed but if you think he's on the Spectrum then that bumps him up to be more interesting than him just seeming more out-of-touch/stupid.

Lastly is Sweet, the most developed in my opinion. Unlike the other two, he seems to have a clear-cut goal, a decent goal at that. He seems to genuinely sorta want help in some aspects, he wants to make a few things better at least for himself, he's stubborn and always believes he's on the right/good side even if he's oblivious to some stuff around him. He tries to keep the other two on track and seems actually somewhat determined to get what he wants out of everything. A decent guy really.

I think the reason they come off as flat is because of two reasons. Reason number one, they seem to be those type of friends who, when separated, you can tell who they are and what type of people they act like, but when together their personalities just meld together so they come off as having almost the exact same personality copy and pasted. The second reason is because of how little screentime they got, do I expect them to get more screentime? Not really, maybe cameos. But, if they were important to the story more, then we'd probably get a chance to see their real selves shine. It doesn't help if you combine my two reasoning either because their fight, aka one of their main important appearances and their shop scene legit has them all together.

That's all I have to say about this. Am I completely right? Eh, debatable. Did I miss a few things? Probably. Did I research this topic to make a full compelling defense? Fuck no. Again, like I said, I didn't expect to care this much and even what I did care about wasn't much. This was all made based off of my poor ass memory of them. So please correct me if I got shit wrong and add in whatever I missed, please, I'm not here to fight that I'm right and people who correct me are wrong, I will not die on that hill because I will lose.

Other than that, feel free to give your own thoughts and opinions, again, this was just my half-thought-of rant.

What type of characters are they if not flat?: Static, they are static characters.

[chipsncookies]

Ep 14 sorta review (copied on twt and i post this here since im shadowbanned on there 😢) pls excuse the grammar and the length i have too much thoughts

Ok i finally watched it with subs!! Now I understand things better.

First things first we have new reaction image

Roy's part is straightforward, im glad he's so supportive and helpful to wattrell, and eventually captured it. murdock giving him a pokeball to catch it is so sweet, he knew it was coming!! Also him and liko going shopping and having ice cream together is cute, and him thanking her for letting Dot make sandwich is heartwarming :'). But never thought his comment about wanting a certain spice will backfire...

In last ep i thought spinel was ready to act when he came out in disguise, but no he was still trying to gauge the rvt's strength. I wonder if he's trying to lull friede into a false sense of security since the signal problem has been addressed (speaking of friede, rant incoming)

Friede oh my gosh. after watching the ep i can't blame friede 100% since liko went to town on her own without company, but it's still irresponsible for friede to not tell his team what happened.

He knew something was wrong but he chose to ignore it in favour of focusing on takeoff. If he'd told the team about it they'd be on high alert and less likely to do things on their own. It reflects badly on friede's leadership (and cpt. Pikachu as well?). Him not telling liko he's hired by her mom was funny before but it's harmful now. And given how he just met liko's parents.. this stings more 😬

That said it's also a risky gamble for spinel to attack friede because what if friede is responsible and told his team to be on alert instead, did he know friede won't tell? 🤣 and Liko really need to be more careful, i think she's been under protection so much she got careless. If there's a silver lining i think this incident could be a learning opportunity for rvt, they've been getting Ws so much they got overconfident.

Onto Spinel, DID HE REALLY NEED TO ASK THIS?? THE AUDACITY?;"?#!'

He just love mocking people isn't he? Even in disguise his personality shows through 🤣😭 alternatively he could be making sure liko actually lost her memories, but knowing how smug he is it's hard not to read it that way.

He succeeded getting the pendant but it's clear he didn't care about liko, going as far as wiping her memories (he's being safe but it's overkill imo) and leaving her in levincia.

Did he not know the pendant won't activate without her?

He saw what happened back in arboliva forest since he's been spying on them, but it seems it didn't register to him (possible spinel L?). I think now is a good time to confirm if that testament is true.

Also reminder, it was amethio who made this observation and decided to get her along with the pendant, at the expense of his time and gibeon's patience (lol). He made this conclusion right as it happened. So both spi and ame have seen the pendant react to liko, but only ame made the connection (possible amethio W?). This also highlights amethio and spinel's difference, ame is more observant and will deviate from orders if he deems necessary, meanwhile spinel is more focused and follows orders as is. I love this tbh it makes them more interesting.

Liko's memories got wiped right after the ep where she reminisces and being thankful about her adventures and new friends feels kinda cruel lol, poor girl... Not only liko, sprigatito also lost its memories, but seeing the preview, they somehow stayed together until night and then they saw the moon together. This is a callback to the scene where she trained with sprigatito back in ep 1! I think this is an important milestone 🥹💖 i hope they remember.

Overall, it's insane how the story goes from high (roy helping wattrel and catching it) to low (likos pendant got stolen). We (or at least me) were on a rollercoaster of emotions the entire ep, it's amazing. Story-wise I love that this anime is constantly challenging the status quo by having the pendant actually got stolen and liko got attacked. It keeps me on the edge of my seat bc i don't know what to expect, because anything can happen!!

Ok i think I've finished talking abt ep 14 dang that was long🤣 That said, in next ep preview...

Is this spinel? Is spinel still there ?? I thought he leave already??? He's risking his position if he stayed there for long, what's stopping him from leaving already? He didn't need to worry about them finding liko anyway since she's not important to him, he already got the pendant so why is he preventing them from finding her? But maybe it's not spinel but someone else. Maybe even pokemon, we can never trust previews 100% lol.

The ep title doesn't really give a hint since apparently it focuses on Dot and quaxley? Iono will also appear, but I can't tell what's the correlation between the two, other than they're both influencers. They're definitely going to find liko, so maybe dot will ask for iono's help? Her gym test does revolve around looking for people after all. But 'someone getting in the way' makes me feel nervous.

That's all my thoughts, this was a great ep, explorers fans are fed well, see you next week!!

[daringdarlingdt]

curious to know your thoughts about GFA if you feel like sharing some more

ok ok ok I always feel like sharing more so i will blabber about it for a while but I will preface this by saying that it was. a lot. and I don't think I've had time to really internalize it and distill my thoughts and feelings into something cohesive and intelligent yet so this will be messy. and also very very long. you've been warned. but also thanks for asking lol :)

firstly, i found the relationship between Sidney and Hawkeye while he was institutionalized really interesting. Everything about those scenes seemed really well done to me. I mean I've never repressed a traumatic memory and then had a breakdown about it to my dear friend/therapist after spending a while (a few weeks? a month? multiple months?*) trying to get out of one intolerable environment and back to an equally, but more familiar and comfortable intolerable environment,,, so I can't say authoritatively what that should look like, but I thin Alan Alda did a really fantastic job of portraying it and the dialogue in those scenes was convincing to me. Like the sort of verbal tic of glossing over the actually traumatic part of the story and avoiding dealing with those feelings where hawkeye goes "and so and so and so..." all made that process of forcing him to confront it feel pretty real to me. Also the way Hawkeye antagonizes Sidney even though in the past he's been pretty open and cooperative when he thinks there's something wrong with him (Hawk's Nightmare, Bless You Hawkeye), and gets defensive, lashing out at Sidney, and insisting he's fine, even preferring to go back to the 4077th than stay there and actually work through the problem. I thought that made it more convincing that there *was* something wrong with him because taking his frustrations out on wise, mild-mannered, friendly Sidney would have been out-of-character otherwise, but because it was clear he was avoiding something else and on edge it worked really well to actually get that point across. I feel like I could talk about all of the details of these scenes forever so I'm gonna move on but there were all sorts of little moments that really stuck with me as saying a lot about both characters and the tension between them and whatever it is that's making hawkeye act this way, up until the tension breaks and hawkeye remembers and there's a release and the process of getting better can actually start to happen.

*it wasn't particularly clear to me how long hawkeye was there, both before the episode starts and throughout the episode, although the latter couldn't have been too long because BJ only sticks around for a few days after he gets his travel orders right? but then in the time between getting the letter and coming back, BJ visits Hawkeye which leads to the breakthrough and then it's (presumably) at least a few days after that that Hawkey goes back to the 4077th and BJ has just left. idk the timeline of the episode seemed a bit jumpy to me. It's also not clear how long they're at the bug-out location before they return to the 4077th at the end. not that that's really important--timelines have also always been inconsequential on this show so why start questioning it now?

I loved the scene where they all talk to him on the phone and are so uncomfortable and walking on eggshells and don't know how to respond when he tells each of them, relatively crudely, how desperately he doesn't want to be there while also revealing the depths of his denial. Margaret calls him 'Hawkeye' which she literally never does and it just sounds so wrong coming out of her mouth because she's obviously trying way too hard to be casual. they just so clearly don't know how to handle it because it only makes it clearer that he does have to be there and while it breaks my heart and I, from a more watsonian perspective, wish BJ or Margaret or someone could've really shined in that moment and said something to actually make Hawkeye feel better or at least distract him and get some banter going, that awkwardness just adds to the overall tension surrounding Hawkeye's stay in the psychiatric war which makes sense.

moving on, the BJ-and-Hawkeye energy episode in this episode was so weird to me. I don't know how to explain it. I think know I'm not the only one absolutely insane about everything that goes on between them in this episode but it felt especially shocking to me, I think, because I finished the rest of season 11 about a week before watching GFA (i had a bunch of school work and exams to worry about and wanted to wait till I could afford to sit down and watch the whole thing and sit with it for a while) but in the meantime I've been rewatching season 1-3 episodes for shits and giggles. So the off-kilterness of BJ and Hawk in this episode felt especially stark against Hawk and Trap's easly synchronicity. I generally am not a huge BJ fan so his like I-have-a-kid superiority moments didn't sit well with me, as usual and there were a bunch of them but that's fine; I liked how BJ talking about little Erin, as he literally *always* does set Hawkeye off and how clearly afraid of/for Hawkeye BJ was in the scene where he visits him. I liked that he does pick up a pen and paper to write a note to Hawkeye but doesn't have the time to think of what to say. I feel like that was a redeeming moment for Trapper almost-- it's also parallel to Hawk not knowing what to leave for BJ in Where There's a Will There's a War (if I loved you less I could talk about it more vibes)--he even tells Margaret that there's too much to say. but I also like Hawkeye's annoyance at it when he comes back and mentioning Trapper too and that little moment of insecurity saying that maybe there's something wrong with him. even though he's overall a very self-assured and confident person, I like the moments we get to see that he has a very human response to specific criticisms or rejections from the people that he's closest to; Hawkeye loves deeply and wholly and I feel like this is him being worried that their friendship meant more to him than to BJ, and the same for Trapper. Plus it's indicative of him not being back to 100% post-breakdown and there. actually being something wrong with him.

I was a fan of how sort of distant Hawkeye felt to everyone when he got back as well. I'm a bit foggier on this train of thought so I'm not entirely sure if this was intentional or not but there weren't a lot of scenes with Hawkeye and the rest of the characters after he returns and they don't really ever talk about the fact that he was literally in a psychiatric hospital and it also felt kind of appropriate to me. I think, again, it would have been nice to have a heart-warming open conversation about feelings and such after this and Hawkeye generally is pretty big on sharing his feelings and telling his stories and I think he would have if asked, but the fact that no one really wanted to linger on the issue makes sense both for the time (~stigma~) and for the characters who don't want to be reminded that they could theoretically have had the same reaction, and who just want things to go back to normal. They do express concern for him in small ways but mostly they just pretend like nothing happened. I think Margaret was the least like this, she was worried before Hawkeye operated for the first time and I really loved the small scene between them after bandaging a kid up when she says they can take a break and asks how he's doing. She's really making an effort to be there for him check up on him and since I'm a sucker for a Margaret/Hawkeye bestie moment I really appreciated that. But we do sort of get to see that hawkeye gets gradually better, from his extreme shakiness first time back in the operating room to operating on the young girl despite being a bit freaked... but also in terms of slowly re-integrating himself into the social flow of the camp. He seems pretty isolated when he first gets back, not really present in a lot of group scenes, leaving the party, and then by the party at the end he seems pretty much at home again. I do like, though, how he never really returns to the energy he had before. he just seems a bit muted and while that breaks my heart, it's another example of how both he and the narrative can't just bounce back after seeing the extent of the war's toll on Hawkeye and pushing him basically to his breaking point.

some non-Hawkeye-centric drabble:

I really wish some time had been put into developing Klinger and Soon-Lee's relationship, as well as Soon-Lee as a character on her own, before GFA. I think we do get a good sense of what kind of person Soon-Lee is and I like her a lot and I think GFA handles that storyline relatively well considering the minimal set-up it has but it would've been nice to see Soon-Lee more involved in the camp before the episode and know what she's like beyond her desperate need to find her family, as well as how she's interact with other characters besides Klinger--like Margaret is bridesmaid at the wedding and they have a very sweet goodbye moment but we don't see them talk to each other once before that. that could have been an interesting friendship if they'd had the time. I also have mixed feelings about Klinger staying in Korea as an ending for his character overall. Like it's very sweet and is a meaningful choice within the Soon-Lee plot because he's sacrificing returning to the home he adores so much for her which shows how much he loves her but selfishly i feel cheated out of the satisfaction of Klinger finally getting to go back to Toledo, after 9 seasons (I don't think they mention he's from there before Adam's Rib in season 3) of him waxing poetic about it .

I liked Charles' arc in the episode too. He had the two things going on with the Chinese POW musicians and tiff with Margaret. I don't have much to say about it except that it all felt very in-character for him and sort of encapsulated the gradual breaking down of his walls that'd happened over the past 5 seasons within those two hours just to really remind you of how far he'd come. I don't have super strong feelings about Charles as a character but David Ogden Stiers' performance was phenomenal, as always.

I kind of wish more had happened with Father Mulcahy i think. All of the characters were so isolated, actually, not just Hawkeye. Aside from Margaret, Charles barely talks to anyone, Klinger and Soon-Lee are their own thing and Mulcahy relies on BJ and God alone in regards to his struggle as he comes to terms with being deaf. I feel like he doesn't really have much catharsis.

I really liked that Margaret decided to work in a hospital as a nurse instead of stay in the army after the war. I love that she decided to make a choice based on what she felt was most important instead of just to get approval from her father; and also her priorities have changed. She always took nursing very seriously and was concerned with being competent as well as compassionate but early seasons Margaret would not have made that choice regardless of her father as a factor. It seems self-evident that a main character in a supposedly anti-military show wouldn't want to be promoted in the military but by season 11.. who knows it could have gone another way. but that wouldn't have made sense for Margaret's character at all so I'm glad that they actually showed how much she grew and let her have a happy ending with herself at the center of it instead of the army, or her father, or a love interest.

The actual goodbye sequence at the end felt a little bit stale to me actually. Maybe because it was just so formulaic and practical like with them each taking off individually on different modes of transportation after saying an individual goodbye to each person. It felt a little bit hokey in that way, although i guess it did make sure that each character duo got a proper parting moment. Still sweet though and there were things I liked about each character's departure. the Hawkeye/Margaret kiss moment i have mixed feelings about. I really hated BJ and Hawk saluting Potter. and with all its faults I did like the Goodbye sign from BJ to Hawkeye.

I liked that it was actually kind of bittersweet because of BJ promising Hawk that they would see each other and that the note was "just in case" except Hawkeye doesn't hear any of that, he just sees the note. He doesn't hear the promise. but he got the goodbye he wanted. but maybe he thinks it's just BJ admitting to what he already thought which would be sad. just. so many feelings. so I guess it kind of works for me idk. I will also say that despite being a staunch piercintyre defender and generally disagreeing with most beejhawk theories, the final goodbye between them did more to convince me of repressed BJ than the other 8 seasons combined. Idk what it was about Mike Farell's performance in those few moments but i Got It for a minute before they hugged and Hawkeye ran off.

ok I think that's all I have to say for now. sorry for how long this ended up being but I did warn you lol. I'd love to hear any thoughts you, or anyone on mashblr reading this, have on my thoughts or just about GFA in general although I absolutely do not expect anyone to respond to everything I talked about here because it was kind of everything about the episode.

[euleweis]

Art is a Journey

Please note that I write about my own experiences and thoughts. I don't want to claim that this is true for everyone. But I think that reading about other peoples experiences can be helpful sometimes, that's why I want to share mine.

In retrospect, it was probably a good thing that I started drawing long before I had access to the internet. I think that comparing yourself with other people (not just in terms of the artwork quality but also number of follower and likes) can influence your attitude towards drawing, your motivation, as well as how you perceive other artists in a negative way - maybe even before you start learning how to draw.

I started drawing as a kid because it was fun. I loved creating my own characters, for example. Except for a few professional artists I liked at that time there were no other artists I could compare myself to. No social media, not algorythm. I worked on my skills and was proud of every little improvement. When I started uploading my artworks online as a teenager my skills were not great, of course, but my drawing experiences up to this point were not influenced by competition and numbers and stuff. 

Blessing and curse

Please don't get me wrong. Seeing other artists online can be a big motivation and inspiration boost, of course. It's just that I think that it can be a blessing and a curse at the same time. 

Sometimes I see bitter posts of people who gave up drawing. I don't know it for sure, of course, but I have the impression that some people want to draw for reasons that are not connected to passion. Maybe they want to impress other people. Maybe they want to be as famous as other artists with X followers. I don't know. Once you see all these things online every day it's hard to not wish for more followers or likes. I totally understand that. 

That's why I believe that it was good that I started drawing before social media came up. In my opinion, it's important that your motivation comes mainly from your heart. From the inside, not from the outside. In order to develop skills, you need to practice regularly for a long time. You will need a strong motivation, but motivation tends to weaken over time. No matter how you define it, but I think that you will need passion to keep going despite all difficulties.

Keep going and growing

For me, passion is a strong connection to something (drawing for example). Maybe I sometimes don't have time or energy for drawing, but I always come back. I can't remember that I ever seriously thought about giving up. Why should I? There is no reason to give up. When I started drawing as a kid, I didn't have a concrete goal in mind. I didn't want success. Or fame. Or money. I just enjoyed creating my own characters and stories.

Goals change over time, of course. There's nothing wrong with the goal to become a professional artist. But I'm not sure if this goal should be the first and only reason why you want to learn how to draw.

I mean, what do you do, if it seems like you won't reach your goal? What if it's much more difficult than you thought? There will be always people who are much better than you. How much does this matter to you? Would you give up your big goal but keep drawing (as a hobby)? Or would you give up drawing altogether if you are not as successful as you would like to be?

I'm drawing manga for several years now but I'm still not a professional manga artist. I don't earn money with my manga. Instead, I have a full-time job and draw in my free time. Maybe I'll be a professional artist in the future, but I can't imagine a future without being at least a hobby artist.

What I mean is, if drawing is your passion you will always come back no matter if you are a "successful" artist or not. And as long as you keep going, you will grow as an artist.

Before you work towards a big goal I think it's better to have a strong foundation. Not only skill-wise, but also mentally. Building (and maintaining) a healthy relationship with drawing should come first, in my opinion. This is the base for everything else.

By building a strong foundation first, you'll make sure that you won't give up long before you reach your goal. If you can't imagine yourself drawing even without having "success" (becoming famous, earn lots of money, having a great number of followers, etc.), I think it will be hard to keep yourself motivated over a long period of time (=long enough to improve your skills to the desired level).

Learning is a process

Why is this so important? Your drawings won't be great in the beginning. And, to be honest, they won't be great for a long time. Don't worry, it's not a matter of talent. It's only natural. Improving your skills will need lots of practice over a long period of time. You can't force it. It's a learning process and effort is part of the process. It's a life-long cycle of trial and error. As long as you don't give up, you can always learn something new and improve your skills.

If your motivation comes mainly from your heart (passion) it can help you to overcome phases of frustration. Yes, you can experience frustration even if you usually enjoy drawing. But this doesn't necessarily mean that you want to give up. In my experience passion is what makes me always come back to drawing - despite all difficulties.

Without passion, however, your motivation becomes weaker and weaker. The risk is high that you finally give up because you don't see any reason to keep drawing. That's why I think that the reason why you want to draw can make a difference in the long run. Some people keep drawing and growing and other people give up along the way (for different reasons).

Don't get me wrong, giving up is not a shame. If drawing doesn't spark passion in you, that's fine. Move on and look for something you really like doing. But it's a matter of fact, that you can't improve a skill like drawing if you give up.

In the end, it's not about 'talent' but about persistence. Keep working on a skill and this skill will improve. Focusing only on the end goal is contraproductive, in my experience. That's why I recommend to focus on the question "What can I do to make this journey as enjoyable as possible? How can I build a healthy relationship to drawing?" Try to find something that helps you to keep going in the long run.

If you really want to improve your drawing skills you'll need to do it for a long time. If you make enjoying the journey your number one priority it doesn't matter when you will reach your goal. The more you draw, the more you'll improve. Eventually, your skills will reach a professional level but try to see this rather as a byproduct. Enjoying what you do should come first in my opinion.

And you really don't need to pressure yourself to becoming a professional artist. There's nothing wrong with earning money with your art, of course. But it's nothing wrong with being a hobby artist, either. Either way is fine. If you like drawing as a hobby don't listen to people who want to tell you that doing something without monetizing it is worthless.

Don't get me wrong: Earning money with your art is great and if artists do commissions or offer books or merch they absolutely should get paid properly! Work deserves a proper payment. Period.

If people are interested in a print version of my manga, for example, I'll try to make this possible and of course these books won't be for free since print and shipment costs money. Money is not unimportant. Everyone needs to pay their bills, and this is true for every artist, too. But what I mean is, money is not what makes drawing worthwhile for me in the first place. I work on my manga project because I want to bring my ideas to life. This is what fulfills me.

As long as you enjoy what you do it's never a waste of time or energy. Maybe that's hard to believe for some people but you really can enjoy drawing at any skill level and without having great success.

I know it's hard nowadays, but please don't put too much pressure on yourself. Give yourself time to grow as an artist and do what feels right to you.

[nelwynp]

I have a lot of Feelings about the new Willow series and no one to speculate about things with, so I guess that means I get to brain dump into the void!

Spoilers for episodes 1&2 ahead

One of the things I loved about the movie is that one of the key anchors was characters who are already established in their life choices being asked to question it - Madmartigan as a selfish rogue deciding to follow someone honestly for the first time, Sorsha as a military princess deciding to turn against everything she was raised to believe, and Willow; simple, family man who has always dreamed of being more but never dared to reach for it until now. This new series is clearly geared more towards the traditional "coming of age" storyline, with characters who are much younger and who are just starting to figure out what is important to them. Nothing wrong with that, and it's a decision I can respect from a production standpoint because those stories are pretty common in media because they are successful, and of course we want this franchise to be successful. At the moment though only Boorman seems to be “established” versus "growing up". I am sure that is a big reason he is my favorite so far, and I understand that my particular tastes in the type of character arcs I am drawn to are in the minority.

There is so much I love about Boorman. From his first interaction with Sorsha in the dungeon to little hints we get about his past - what is the ring he keeps playing with, how did the Bone Reaver know his name? When he tells Silas,”Boorman’s a good name for a dog” just ow, my heart.

Surprised at how much I like Airk for how little screentime he has - he is definitely the embodiment of his father's charm. He comes across flighty but sincere, and I can only assume he is taken for Bavmorda's blood. Though why him and not Kit is an interesting question in of itself. From what we've seen so far, Kit seems more likely to feed her frustrations to darkness, which on the outside would seem like she would be a better choice for the Withered Crone to choose as a lackey. Was this a production choice due to actor availability, or just that the writers wanted to focus more on Kit's journey over Airk's? That could be circumvented by showing what happens in the Crone's domain - Will we get insights into what is happening with Airk in future episodes? (I hope so)

Kit is my least favorite character, though that does afford her the most opportunities for growth. I’ve been a few other comments people have made about how important it is that she is allowed to be so flawed especially as she is also queer representation and I think that its a very good point. I look forward to growing to love her.

I am particularly intrigued by Grayson and his ability to read arcana, coming from Galladoorn as one of the kingdoms under the Barrier where magic has supposedly been outlawed? Or is Galladoorn outside the Barrier?

I was not surprised by the Elora reveal, though mildly disappointed because I loved her baby red hair and was really hoping that Jade would end up being Elora. I'm also not terribly surprised by the projected character arc that is set up for Elora, though I do hope that we will get some unique twists to the traditional "chosen one" storyline.

There are a few things that I don't think were good choices. I am bothered by the way Willow handled being High Aldwin though. The more I think about it the more upset I become. In the movie it was established that this was a position of great importance, and Willow himself clearly had a lot of respect for the High Aldwin since he desired to be an apprentice. Even when the Aldwin reveals through his hushed conversation over the babe that 'The Bones' are not a mystical item that reveals the secrets of the universe to him, it is made clear that the Aldwin makes decisions for his community based on an intimate knowledge of the people he governs, and what they need to grow into themselves. He is wise, he is clever, and maybe his magic is more showmanship than anything else, but he still does have a special magic. He is Granny Weatherwax.

What we see of Willow as High Aldwin is none of that. He's got the "showman" part down, but where is the careful calculations of his decisions? Where is the love of his community? He makes all these asides to Elora like the whole ordeal is just tongue in cheek and isn't that important when it IS and it SHOULD BE. He tries to manipulate the finger test, and why? If he is really concerned about how much magic Elora may have lost, he should desire to see how much confidence she has in herself to know where his instruction will need to begin. If he is so devotedly confident that she has all the power she needs, then even if she fails the test he should still be able to spin the result in a way that eases the fears of his people. Instead they jeer at him as they had in the past, which shows that he's doing a pretty bad job at being Aldwin.

Also! As a servant of his community the High Aldwin should not be leaving to go on another quest! He does say as much to Mims, but she implies he's using the title as a way to hide from duty when…it's not? I understand that narratively this had to happen, but he has an apprentice I would have liked to see him pass the hat.

I'm also bothered by the flashback of Sorsha telling Willow he will never be a great sorcerer, when the whole culmination of the movie is that he DOES have the potential and is clearly on his way down that path. Raziel herself has confidence in him, so what happened that made Sorsha stop believing in him? Perhaps something happened when Raziel and Cherlindrea 'went away' (as we don't know the circumstances of their absence, be it death, imprisonment or something else) but the whole exchange felt so out of character.

Choices I don't necessarily love but understand the necessity of:

Flashbacks & Exposition

I have spent so much time in my life analyzing the script of the movie for how they managed to get so much world building into such a short amount of time. I ADORE it. How real it all feels without having to walk the audience through every aspect of what this world is. Madmartigan and Airk having war talk at the Crossroads. Rool having a nightmare about rats and wearing a rat-skull helmet. Razel and Bavmorda and THAT whole history. I was really, really worried that the first few episodes would just be browbeating the audience with exposition and I am happy with the balance they struck. For new viewers unfamiliar with the movie it is necessary to introduce some key details, like "what exactly is the Barrier?"

But they didn't reveal everything right away! We still get to relish the anticipation of learning more! When Sorsha went down to the dungeons and started a casual conversation with a shadowed prisoner - amazing. Graydon's giant ass scar across his chest, and his dead brother who "fell out of a tree"? SO much to unpack and anticipate. The Kymerian Cuirass? A bit too much said about it imo but still plenty to let the audience theorize about.

The use of the 'peck' slur to denote that Ballentine has turned evil. Didn't like it. Understand the role it plays in the dialogue but wish it had been addressed differently.

The instrumental music has been decent so far, with some callbacks to the original score. Not loving the choice to have indie pop playing as the credits though, it pulls me out of the immersion. Also still salty that all the advertising used Madmartigan's theme because it was more 'adventurous' sounding despite Madmartigan not actually being in the show. And yes, I know that on the soundtrack it's listed as "Willow's theme" but as the motif is only ever used in the movie when Mads did something pinnacle and "Willow's journey" was used for Willow's big moments I maintain that the teaser soundtrack is truly Mads theme. They do use it when Kit does cool shit! And since they revealed Elora already I am surprised by the lack of her motif showing up in the music yet, perhaps to come when her magic develops further?

Wish we'd gotten some great Nelwyn festival music in ep 2, that was always my favorite and was my ringtone for almost a decade.

Other thoughts on my second watchthrough:

Hastur was adamant that nothing gets through the barrier, so how did the Gales? Was really scared that Sorsha was going to die glad she didn't. She's got a cane in ep 2 so she still may not recover but I have hope.

Point of confusion - if the Nelwyn village is beyond the barrier, that would mean that things beyond the barrier are outside of Tir Asleen laws yes? So potentially other sorcerers besides Willow?

How did Raziel and Cherlindrea decide where to put the barrier? And why wasn't his village included? What strange leverage does Hastur have over his son? Little details like Boorman chewing black root - a hint at his time with Madmartigan? What did Grayson unleash by reading out the bloody arcana, and what happened to the guard at Mother's Gate?

The pained silent looks Willow gets when Mims mentions her brother - what did happen to Ranon and Kiaya?

Elora Danon's titles - Okay nine realms and we only know of 3 so far (or are Realms different than Kingdoms, more along the lines of what was in the book trilogy), Last Blood of Kymeria so that makes sense that Mads would be looking for the Curiass?

It has to be intentional, "death cannot keep mads from you, only delay him a bit" call-out to the Princess Bride

Nockmaar Badlands - guess we know why Sorsha didn't inherit there

Love Willow reminiscing about baby Elora, so full of love

Watching episode 3 this weekend, can’t wait!

[kyuani]

Ok that Miraculous finale was.... a lot.... like a LOT... to take in. 🥴 (this is long & scrambled, my bad 🤪)

I liked Gabriel's battle w/ Bug Noir. And I think Gabriel stinging Mari at the last second was so shocking. 😭 Tikki & Plagg revealing their true forms and combining to that being was wow.... Giving his life for Emily & Natalie's was the only wise thing that Gabriel has ever done. I won't commend him for it tho, because he knew his time was done, and that there was nothing else he could do. Even tho he froze Mari and in this way "won", he knew that his wish all along was a false reality. Imagine if things had went his way just for Adrien to have been the price...

I wonder what the story of Emelie popping up completely healthy, and Natalie being healthy all of a sudden will be. 😵‍💫 Regardless, I can't be too upset at the idea of Adrien being in a great environment now with two people who'll value him, experiencing romance like the hopeless romantic he's always been, and having control over himself with the rings. 🌻

Gabriel getting a statue was gross to see and so was Adrien seemingly wishing to "be like his father" (not blaming him btw). But it's not unrealistic for a billionaire to have a statue & be remembered as a hero. That happens often irl despite their atrocities being known by literally everyone. 🙃 And the idea of "Gabriel helping Ladybug to defeat Monarch"... Maybe this is supposed to be taken figuratively, but ugh... I hope we don't see a huge theme of Adrien missing his father next season. 😮‍💨 Like yeah, that's his father who he never got to say goodbye to. But like... He put him in solitary confinement for not wanting to move from the only home he's ever known, plus force a relationship on him. 🥴 Arranged marriages between wealthy families isn't an uncommon thing, but ffs, they're just kids. Even w/o Marinette & Felix in the picture, Gabriel & Tomoe's obsession w/ having their children together - enough to put them in solitary confinement for escaping their controlled life - was truly predatory.

Adrien knows he's a senti-being now for sure tho... right? ?😭 I just feel like that's such an important part of himself that he should know by now. I mean, Kagami & Felix know, and now that "Lila" may know, that concerns me. 😥 Regardless, he deserves to know....

Speaking of Lila, idk how I feel about Lila being the new villain while knowing Mari's identity... Based on the ending, things seem a bit uncertain there too. Don't get me wrong - I fully enjoy her as a character and as an antagonist, and I want to know more of her background. How did she become so manipulative? Why is she so vengeful? So deceptive? Why is so unhappy, and thrives off of lying to random people over the smallest of things? We have at least two seasons left of this show, and I'd like to know so bad. 😭 She may only have the butterfly miraculous, but the amount of knowledge & history she has is abundant....

All the chosen heroes from before have their miraculouses, but will be full time heroes this time around. Now that Adrien will have a more stable home life + a true relationship w/ Marinette, life as Cat Noir won't be treated as the escape it's been prior. I mean, exploring his feelings for Mari, coming to terms w/ just being friends w/ Ladybug, and not having to model anymore somewhat changed that this season already. So I don't think we have to worry about a repeat of S4's Ladynoir distance happening at least. Them all being full-time holders and Adrien not feeling trapped nor abandoned in his civilian life should change that too.

Luka, Jagged Stone, and Penny being under the celestial guardian's wing wasn't something I was expecting 🤔 Idk how that came about, but it's definitely not bad for Luka at all as someone who knows both Cat Noir & Ladybug's identities still. Still kinda wish he had become more involved w/ the miraculous, but hey, at least the three will be back in Paris ig? 🎉

In conclusion, I have no idea what to expect for S6. 😭 I'm excited to see what Lila is like holding her own power w/ no strings. I'm excited to see Felix & Kagami's relationship bloom, to Adrienette bloom, and to see how our three senti children move while in control of their own lives (although Kagami might not be completely out the gate their w/ her mother around :/). Excited to see more interaction w/ the kwamis as most are free again. All but our baby Nooroo. Again. 😞

These are all just my initial thoughts directly after watching Re-Creation, before deep-diving into everyone else's opinions tho. 🤗 S5 may be my 3rd favorite season. Not the best, but not the worse. Just right in the middle. ✅️ The wait for S6 begins! 🎉

[asoulofatlantis]

At the end of Kai, we were supposed to be roughly 90% done with Trails - Kondos words, not mine - means we can not expect much more than one or two smaller (like Crossbell-small) arcs. And yet... we still have 8 Enforcers that we have yet to see (AND the last two numbers have not even been filled yet to our knowledge...) and there are also some Anguise we have not seen yet, including whoever it has been who was invited to join Ouroboros to fill the Steel Maidens place. I am not sure if Kondo truly knows what he is doing. Calvards Arc is 3 games big (could be 4, depending on the question of Kai ens with a Cliffhänger...) and has shown us 3 new Enforcers as well as the Twins that joined as one. (Technically we knew about Lucrecia already but we never met her in person before...) so I highly doubt they will include 8 freaking new Enforcer on top of all the still missing Anguise in two small Arcs. Not to mention, just like with Walter, there are some Enforcers whos story are still not finished, likes Cedrics, which means those also have to make a return at some point to give their characters a satisfying finish for their story. Not sure if Falcoms idea to use the Tarot-Card-System for the Enforcers was really a wise idea, seeing how many Enforcers there are and how little room we usually have for them because our Main-Cast (plus the many important side-characters) is often already big enough to fill half of Ouroboros ^^'

There are some rumors by the way, that someone from the current cast of the Calvard-Arc is secretly also a member or Ourobors in some shape or form. The only people my well honed traitor sensor have at least somewhat reacted to so far have an agenda that doesn't exactly would fit in a side-job at Ouroboros but I have been wrong before, so lets wait and see. (Kasim is high on the list of Anguis by the fandom lately, it seems... he is... odd... I must say... but uh... I don't know if I would assume he is the "Ouroboros" - kind of person... then again, before CS3/CS4 I would have said the same about Cedric ^^')

Speaking of which... I guess we finally knwo who is filling the Moon-Aracana between him and Shirley. I was... actually afraid of that when saw the first picture of that girl. I can not explain it but she looks like she fits the role ^^' I would assume she is kind of quirky, energetic and slightly mischievous (I have not seen the translation for her character description yet, I've realized... I just do that quickly.) Uh... I guess she is an... uh... influencer in Zemuria? WTF?!

Uh... uhm... I honestly do not know what to make out of her, with that Information. I was worried about Cedric being stuck between Shirley and someone like her. But now I am more worried about Shirley ^^' She is the kind of character who needs rebuking every now and then that is for sure. Well... I guess... we have to wait and see...

In the meantime... lets change the topic for a moment. The shipping discourse on my Twitter-Timeline is INSANE! "Van has to make a choice and some players won't like it" can mean A LOT of things without any doubt. The Japanese fandom, by the way, is much more divided between Agnes and Elaine than the oh-so-righteous western-fandom that has no more sense for romance. This means that while the Western fandom may think "some players won't like it" automatically means that they chose Elaine and the players' routing for Agnes will be unhappy that is very likely not automatically what it means. YES it still could but it doesn't have two. It could very well be the other way around. It could also mean that it might be players choice - there is no trophy for that tho - OR believe it or not Vans choice is not even between Agnes and Elaine per se, but rather if he wants/will be in a relationship or not. Meaning he might decide to not date ANYONE. This Devil is still inside of him and we do not know what the future holds for him under these circumstances and while we should be hopeful... we are speaking about the game that decided to give us the Aida-Plotline in the first chapter of the first game in the Calvard-Arc so it is not per se impossible that this will be the first game who actually canonically kills off their Protagonist. Van likes to sacrifice himself just as much as Rean does and there is always the possibility that we may not be able to actually stop and/or save him. With the possibility in the back of his head that he might be going to die for whatever is coming at the supposed end of the world, he might very well decide to not date anyone. THAT would be a really bad idea for the fandom because that would mean the shipping-wars will never end, because no one can scream "My ship is canon!" to end any argument ^^' I do have to say I would prefer Van making a choice. A canon-choice, no matter what his destiny will be. I get that my chances that he chooses Agnes are small, but I am very well prepared for him choosing Elaine and that will be SOMEWHAT fine with me as well... somehow. But I am stuck with Rean in Limbus and its sucks. Especially now, resurfacing with only 3 of his 12 Ladys around its driving me nuts! (Seriously, one picture with him getting a headpat from Fie and I see my ship suddenly sinking and that is NOT fun. I do not wish that kind of suffering for anymore Trails-Shippers - Lloyd fans have it just that rough too, after all... tho I guess they get spared this game) and this is why, no matter the outcome for me, I wish Van to make a choice without the player having any right to influence it. I will learn to live with it either way... and so will anyone else. So I hope you go for it, Falcom!

Now... we are only having two weeks left to wait. There is still no story-Trailer out. But I assume the live stream tommor will show the In-Game pictures that we usually get. Likely playing Märchen- uh... Grim-Garten.

[icharchivist]

Who in the FF VII gang do you think can bake? I've got cookies on the brain now

HELP

i think Tifa probably knows how to bake, with her running a bar both in canon and post canon, i think she probably got her hands in doing other stuff in the kitchen

in my heart i feel like Barret would be good or maybe was in the past before he lost his hand, but he would be a bit awkward with his prosthesis (especially when he was only having a gun there). But i think Barret would still try because it's important for him to be able to have those bonding moments with Marlene. So i think he probably wouldn't bake with ease but he'd help out as much as he can in the kitchen still.

(in fact i totally picture that when Tifa and Barret met each other they both teamed up to give Marlene as much of a normal upbringing in this chaos so they'd be in the kitchen with Marlene on Barret's lap, and Barret would whip the ingredients once they were all together, while showing Marlene how to do, while Tifa would help out for all the things Barret would be awkward with doing)

I also believe Reeve can cook pretty well because his mom taught him right (he's a real momma boy, watch On The Way To A Smile: A Denzel Story to learn more--), but he's always so busy that he keeps just feeding himself with energy drinks and food so much so he probably forgot how to cook. Save him.

the remake also leads me to believe Biggs would cook pretty well since he was very active at the Leaf House taking care of kids and the others folks there talk about how Biggs would effortlessly take good care of the place.

for the rest of the cast, i feel like most of them either are neutral or disaster in the kitchen. I don't think Cid ever set a food in the kitchen to help out. Nanaki cooking with his paws is out of the question. Cait Sith is a robot and probably inherited his creator's lack of focus on that. Vincent has been locked in a coffin sleeping for 30 years this man doesn't know how to even navigate in a kitchen anymore.

I feel like Yuffie is probably more used to survival cooking type to really know how to bake but who knows.

I don't believe Cloud, Zack, or Aerith would be able to not fuck something up in the kitchen. I genuinely believe Cloud and Zack would both have the idea of "if we need to cook 10 mins at 300° degree it'd be quicker if we cook it at 3000° right" "i'm getting out the fire materia brb" and then they would fuck it up, and for Aerith i believe she would try her hardest and all but something will go wrong somehow. I believe those three would be disaster in the kitchen, i believe in my heart--

oh and in the Crisis Core squad, i believe Angeal could bake quite well. Genesis would never dirty his hands with that but he'll be here reciting Loveless verses for mental support (his friends are not feeling supported there). Pre-Madness i feel like Sephiroth would help out but never be really good with it, since he was always made to focus more on war stuff anyway, and i feel like it'd add a layer to how his Madness was pretty much "well i'll be the monster they set me out to be anyway" by also reacting like "oh they think i can set a kitchen on fire? what about tHE WHOLE TOWN" (Nibelheim dying in the back)

Kunsel could probably bake but he's always busy with data collection so he's probably not having the head for it. Also Avalanche-wise i have no idea for Jessie and Wedge, could go either way.

and oh god there's the Turks too i can't forget.

before that: Rufus never cooked in his life he's a rich kid. I don't trust Reno in the kitchen at all, Rude, it's up for debate. I feel like Elena wouldn't be good either. The only Turks i'd trust are probably Tseng because he's a perfectionist, and Cissnei because she seems more put together at least

... so yeah in term of the main squad i really only believe in Tifa, and Barret is probably the closest to her because he makes effort damnit, else i include Angeal, Tseng and Cissnei on the list.

this is my final message--

[oldtvandcomics]

Queer Media Monday New Year Extra - 2023 Hall Of Infame

I was kind of supposed to do this at the end of the year, but missed the day because of Christmas, so it got postponed to New Year’s Eve. Which is a Sunday, but whatever. While I enjoy almost all the media I consume (I pick it carefully beforehand), there were three queer stories in 2023 that I just cannot recommend, but also are for one reason or the other too important to simply ignore. So, here is my 2023 Hall Of Infame. I’ll be more opinionated than usual, but let me have this, as a treat.

Loki (2021-2023)

As part of the MCU, alternate-timeline Loki escapes at the end of the 2012 movie The Avengers and gets caught up with a time-travel agency trying to keep the Multiverse in order. Notable for being the one that actually states Loki’s queerness on-screen. Well. At least his bisexuality. His genderfluidity, not as much.

This show had so. much. potential. Good actors, Disney budget, and a premise that can be taken in a million interesting directions. Unfortunately, they didn’t.

It seems like every time this show has to make a narrative choice, it takes the least interesting way. The new characters are shallow and Loki doesn’t feel like himself, probably because key parts of his backstory and personality have been simply ignored for no clear reason. Motivations aren’t established where they should be, and nothing is explored in depth. Interesting ideas, themes and concepts are brought up, just to be dropped immediately and never mentioned again. Oh, and that famous queer coming out scene? Was an offhand mention of Loki having dated men at some point. It never came up again.

This is not a good show. And not even in an interesting way, where we at least have a delightful trainwreck to analyze, but in a very boring, aggressively mediocre way. It’s nice if you want to watch something without having to care about characterization, themes or a bigger overarching story, or if you are doing what the entire fandom was doing and collectively hallucinate an entire different show. Otherwise, don’t bother. Go watch Doctor Who, Legends of Tomorrow or even Ministerio del Tiempo instead. The first two are very queer. The last one isn’t, but has great time travel bureaucracy and a cool morally gray lesbian as part of its main cast.

Le Premier Jour de Paix by Elisa Beiram

Read as part of my project to read more French books by French authors, this was sold to me with the promise of it being about living in peace and how to achieve it. Also, queer. It… Wasn’t entirely wrong?

So the blurb on the back is misleading. Aureliano is where the story starts out, but the book actually follows three stories, each on a somewhat bigger scale than the previous. Aureliano is the first, and the least important one. The second is a woman whose job is to travel around and solve smaller local conflicts, the third the lead negotiator for world peace. She is in contact with an alien, who uses neopronouns, hence the book’s classification as queer.

If you want an idea of a better future, this book is not it. It is very, very bleak, set in a world ravaged by climate change, where everyone still alive is just kind of carrying on with not much hope at all and a lot of resentment for the people in the past. There is also a discussion that can be had about aliens as queer representation and the implications of humanity needing alien intervention for the conflicts to stop. 

I must admit that the aliens were quite good, world building-wise, and that the author has clearly done research into climate change, conflicts and how to solve them, and was kind enough to include a list of sources in the back. She clearly cared a lot and did the best work she could. However, it feels like she’d been trying to write a hopeful book without being able to envision a hopeful future. 

Interesting book, and I wouldn’t recommend against it. But probably also not for it.

Fanfic (2023)

Fanfic is a Polish movie about a transgender boy coming to terms with his gender. It is a movie I very much wanted to like, because we definitely could use more Eastern European queer movies. Also, I love fanfictions as much as the next Tumblr user, and this is a subculture that definitely has not been explored enough on screen. Especially in relation to queerness, the potential is enormous.

Frankly, I don’t think the filmmakers knew here what they were talking about. They missed both the fanfiction and the trans aspects.

What the main character is writing here is not fanfiction. It is called fanfiction, but lacks the connection to fandom culture or even any recognizable source material. It appears to be about a band, or it is a band AU, and all characters are very obvious self-inserts. But like, what band?! It’s never elaborated upon. The story works well this way, but if you are going to call a movie “Fanfic”, then it does need to have some insight into actual fan culture, or it is just false advertising. As to the trans aspect, it feels strongly simplified, to the point that it seems unauthentic. I am not a trans man myself, but I have been in a difficult place at the age of the characters, and as such can say with certainty that this movie does not understand the amount of pain its protagonist is in. 

First, the transition happens very quickly. He pretty much goes from “hey, boy’s clothes, I like” to cutting off his hair binding his breasts and wanting to be called a boy within a day, with no signs of him actively questioning his gender before. As I said, I’m not trans, but based on what I’ve seen on the Internet, it definitely takes longer than this. Also, what bothers me more: This seems to magically fix all of his problems immediately. He becomes visibly confident and relaxed, has no trouble insisting on people gendering him right, and stands up for a classmate when she’s being picked on by the teacher. Coming from a character who days before was seriously depressed and drowning reality in self-insert fiction and stolen pills, no, I don’t buy it. What makes me the most upset is that one scene where a classmate calls the protagonist out for being so caught up with his own issues that he’s blind to those of other people, and it is framed as a good thing. As I said, I’ve been there. To this day, I have absolutely no idea what my classmates were doing around that time, because I was caught up in my own pain and my own need to survive and simply didn’t have any mental energy left for anything else. It sucks that Tosiek couldn’t be there for his friends, but given the pain he was in? Not his fault.

I repeat. This movie is doing its best, but clearly does not fully understand the subjects it chose.

So yeah. All three of these stories had a huge potential, and absolutely failed to live up to it. They are still worth knowing about. Loki, because it was a huge fandom phenomena, the other two, because they are stories by smaller, non-anglophone creators who clearly did their best. Eventually, they failed, but the stories could still be interesting conversation starters.

Happy New Year, everyone! Here’s to more good queer media!

Queer Media Monday is an action I started to talk about some important and/or interesting parts of our queer heritage, that people, especially young people who are only just beginning to discover the wealth of stories out there, should be aware of. Please feel free to join in on the fun and make your own posts about things you personally find important!