#like 'iron man reverting back to before he got character development'

[lilydvoratrelundar]

sometimes comic writing is silly in that “they’re all shooting off one-liners while they punch each other” but the thing is when its done badly you NOTICE. the reaction isn’t "oh yeah i guess this is media for children but also this is spider-man.” when its done badly the response is a) about five seconds trying to understand what the joke is meant to be, b) a slightly baffled “is that meant to be... funny?” and then c) they would NOT say that they would NOT

[crowswithize]

Random DPXover Interactions 5

Characters: Jack Fenton and Klarion

“For the last time, I am NOT your son!” the black-haired boy shouted, trying to squirm from the man’s tight grip. He had been unceremoniously plucked from the ground and dragged for about a mile. The entire time, the man ranted off about ‘ghosts’ and ‘Danny my boy.’

Frankly, Klarion had enough of men kidnapping him. At least this time (Klarion could only assume) he wasn’t being sold into slavery. 

Finally, the father heard him. He stopped in his tracks in a desolate part of the city. He brought Klarion in front of him, staring at his face. Klarion scowled at the attention but it did not dissuade the fool at all.

“When did your hair grow like horns, Dann-o?” the man asked.

Klarion’s scowl deepened. “You should invest in spectacles, mortal.”

Teekl, where have you gone? Klarion questioned, hoping to escape with his familiar. 

I am here, Master Teekl responded. In the corner of Klarion’s eye, he could spot his orange-furred familiar hanging on top of a lamppost. The damned werecat stared down with a, ironically, Cheshire grin. Klarion’s frown only deepened. 

The man in front of him laughed loudly, freeing Klarion from his grasp. Unsurprisingly, Klarion dropped on the cement sidewalk with a thud. His legs clattered against each other as if they were porcelain. He swore he could hear Teekl giggling through the mind link.

“You sound just like Jazzy-pants!” the man boomed. “And the traffic officers. And the government officials. And Maddie. And-”

A hex was ready on Klarion’s tongue but, like a valve, his magic went dry. His head swiveled to glare at Teekl, now sitting right on top of the headlamp. 

Let me take my vengeance Klarion seethed.

The man has done no wrong. Teekl climbed down the post, staying at the base.

Did you not watch him drag me? I pity the boy who he fathered. 

Teekl licked her paw. Perhaps you could help him in a non-destructive way, Master.

That’s no fun, my familiar. 

To this, Teekl walked behind the lamppost, disappearing to the other side. Klarion rolled his eyes at the theatrics. 

“And, most of all, the Coast Guard!” the man ended. He stared down at Klarion as if expecting a standing ovation for the number of crimes he must have committed. 

Klarion does stand up, though he did not clap, and dusted off the dust on his trousers. With one elegant swish of his hand and a few magical words, the man’s eyes glowed a light blue. The man blinked, clearing up the light and really looking at Klarion.

“You don’t look like Danny,” the man said, dumbfounded. Klarion resisted the secondary curse. Teekl, though not visible, stayed an observer of this interaction.

The spell corrected the man’s eyes, in a sense. What it actually did was revert his eyes to an earlier form of development. Klarion hoped the man was born with poor eyesight so that the eyeballs would be marbles in the adult skull. To his disappointment, the man developed his poor vision much later. 

Klarion rested a hand on his hip. “Evidently. I’m sure you must find whoever this Dann-o is-”

“I should’ve known! Danny’s never this pliant when we go ghosthunting!” the man laughed. Klarion, for a moment, admired this mortal son’s ability to resist his father. The man leaned down, with his hands on his knees. Klarion despised the height difference. “Do you still want to go hunting, boyo?” 

Klarion paused, his turn to be shocked. “I- I’m not sure I follow.”

“Well… what did you say your name was again?”

Klarion readjusted his cufflinks. Teekl would’ve called it a nervous habit but he simply wanted to look tidy. “My name is Klarion. I am a witch boy, yet to attend the trials to be a witch man.” He ignored how he never gave his name before this point.

“Well, Kul-air-eon the Witch Boy, I’ve got an ecto-signature for a natural portal and I’m sure a kid your age wouldn’t mind shooting some ectopuses down. Like all those video games you play!” He laughed again, hitting Klarion’s back with a hard slap and jolting him forward. 

Klarion scowled at the contact but made no motion to withdraw from the conversation. He could, if he wanted to, leave without saying a thing. The misunderstanding had cleared and the offer the man made was ridiculous. Klarion was his own person and he could do to the human world as he saw fit.

He caught Teekl’s red eyes, the shadow of her on the man’s back.

“It is Klarion, mortal. Neither am I the witch boy. There are plenty others of my town who are witch boys themselves-”

“I’m Jack! Jack Fenton of Fenton Works!” the man - Jack - once again interrupted. He seemed to do it not for the sake of being rude but because he lacked complete social awareness. Klarion was surprised at how little it annoyed him. “I’ve never met a witch boy before, Klary-on, so I’m pretty sure you’re the Witch Boy!”

The logic was faulty and the pronunciation of his name should not be this difficult. 

Klarion eyed the man. “...What does your hunt entail, Jack Fenton?”

“GHOSTS!” Jack yelled with childlike excitement. Seconds passed as he did nothing more to elaborate.

 Teekl continued to watch him with a sort of expectation. Klarion sighed. Teekl had been haggling him with about attending mortal rituals. Perhaps this ‘ghost hunting’ would give insight into the above-world practices. 

Klarion stuck out his hand. “I will temporarily join you, but do not expect me to stay.”

Looking back, Klarion should have known not to lend his hand. In seconds, Jack led him on a secondary dragging across town. This time, Teekl’s laughter had no barrier stopping it.

[enteringdullsville]

Sylvester Oreon, the Grey Claytonian

Be a Hero

Rank: A- (Major Character)

Visual Inspirations

Mini Martial Moon Man

Sylvester Oreon III is a Claytonian sent to Palette to keep tabs on the main cast after Chloe, eh, blew up the sun. He got hired by ICT entirely by accident, but his higher ups on the moon are forcing him to stay in Dullsville until the threat is neutralized.

Sylvie’s the height of professionalism, for a given definition of “height”. Given that he’s basically a genius and is strong enough to jerk the others around like dolls, you’d think he’d be the single most rational person on the planet, and he probably is, but since he’s ludicrously polite, he tends to assume everyone on Palette is like this and thus goes along with whatever Violet says.

Granted, he’s not entirely wrong.

Fun Facts

Sylvester’s name is a pun on “silver”, while his surname is derived from a portmanteau of “Oreo” and the constellation Orion. Ironically, he’s the first character to have his name derived from a trademarked sweet despite being an alien.

Sylvester’s design is derived from the archetypal grey alien.

Sylvester in his resting size is the shortest character introduced in Season One by a ludicrously wide margin.

Sylvester is one of the few characters to revert to a previous design during development. In the jump to ICT, he was meant to grow from his usual height and proportions to one of the tallest characters (as shown above, with Skye and Tanner for comparison). He ultimately reverted to his design with pupils from RS’ mid-late Season Two (not pictured), with the addition of sunglasses.

Sylvester is the only non-Drewman of the main cast, being Claytonian, hence his lack of an outline.

Sylvester speaks with Received Pronunciation, hence most of his dialogue being spelt with the British English spellings, right down to his own color (“grey” instead of “gray”) and the series title (“It’s Colour Theory”).

Sylvester is the only Season One ICT member to still be an adult in his RS incarnation.

Sylvester’s shades, specifically the light reflections, tend to follow his eye movements.

Sylvester was originally designed as a villainous character, having a drab color scheme and hating the brightly colored inhabitants of Dullsville, akin to a Nixel. Noah and Whitney rendered this idea pointless, and he was lightened up into “merely” being a jerk before becoming an outright heroic character in Rough Sketch and It’s Color Theory.

Sylvester was also designed as a foil to Gordon. Sylvester is dull grey and named after silver, Gordon’s bright yellow and named after gold. Sylvester’s design heavily incorporates circles, Gordon’s incorporates squares. Gordon towers over the cast, Sylvester could fit in one’s hand. Gordon has beady eyes and eyebrows bigger than them, Sylvester also has beady eyes, but his shades mimic the effect of big eyes and he’s one of the only characters to lack eyebrows on his resting face.

Sylvester, during RS, was the first character to receive full voice acting, having two voices provided by me and laid over each other. One was deep and growly (Syl’s natural voice) and one higher pitched (modulated over his usual voice). Season Two went back and forth between the deep voice and the two voices. In ICT, he lacks the voice entirely.

Sylvester is my favorite character design of the Season One cast.

Sylvester’s clay based body can cause a lot of impact damage to the drawn landscape of Dullsville, so he doesn’t really need any of his combat training on Palette. This irritates him.

[justatalkingface]

it is deeply infuriating to me how bakugou can say things like "[Izuku] never thinks of himself" with ZERO self-awareness about why he's like that

Yeah. It feels like Hori is trying to do the bullet points of a redemption arc, without putting the meat of it in between each point.

Like, if you looked a really simplified summary of MHA, you'd think he got better right? After all, he: learned not to look down on people, learned to work together with others, moved without thinking to protect Izuku, apologizing, and... I-

Alright. I can't figure out to dryly sum up 1A vs Izuku and his... speech to SFO while making them look actually positive, but the point is that Hori put up the framework of a redemption arc, but the key is the moments between those points:

When, right after learning not to look down on people, he promptly starts calling everyone extras again. When, before saving Izuku, he threatened him, and then shrugged off being impaled to make his 'sacrifice' empty basiclly seconds later because clearly it didn't do all that much, and then following up by going back to treating Izuku the same.

When his teamwork with his pseudo-friend group (composed of people he constantly insults) is largely him just barking orders.

When his apology is empty, one-sided, devoid of context, and in front of an audience, with Izuku physically and emotionally unable to reply and topped by him saying it won't change anything.

When he goes to 'heroically' rescue Izuku by hunting him down with a mob to start attacking him, ironically mirroring his completle lack of growth by repeating the scene from chapter one of him heading a mob to attack Izuku, only it's with his friends and classmates randomly somehow brainwashed to follow Bakugou and attack him, and it being portrayed as a good thing (and Bakugou looking ferally delighted at it, no less).

When his 'heroic speech' to SFO is just about himself, and doesn't nothing to actually address to societal concerns SFO brings up.

The piece of resistance: when he correctly identifies that Izuku has absolutely no self-worth, like you said, only to promptly blame All Might for it (and wow. All Might just isn't allowed to win anything, is he? Or to be able to do anything at all competently, really. God, why did Hori make this man so important if he just seems to hate him so much?), someone who, while influential to Izuku and others was not at all involved in his life until the beginning of the manga, even though said empty apology happens maybe two chapters later.

And all those time in-between those moments of development where he yells at everyone he sees, attacks Izuku for being happy or talking about his Quirk, insults dead heroes, and just in general acts like as much of an asshole as usual, only it's portrayed in a positive light, with everyone tolerating it like he's about to blush and call them 'baka', instead of... not doing that, attacking them, and continuing the behavior. The behavior that was shown, from the very beginning of the story, to be bad, but we all like Bakugou now, so it's fine!

Pro-tip, Hori (not that you'll ever read this): character development is more than a character showing just a few, scattered scenes of different behavior, only to revert back to normal afterwards. Just like in real life, it's a marathon of steady effort, not just a few preformative displays. Development means the character actually changes consistently, and shows said changes in their behavior on a regular basis, which increase in frequency as their development progresses until it has replaced the old behavior, not just sugar coated it for the audience, because then you'll only make your character seem like a pathological liar, actively deluding themselves, or an idiot.

[deans-haunted-baby]

Okay I see there are those who are confused as to why most of us are pissed about 15x19 I will gladly explain in depth:

Let’s start off with our boys Adam Milligan & Michael. These characters have not been seen for 10 fucking years. During that time there were Adam stans like myself campaigning like mad to have him and the infamous archangel return for some much needed closure. We had to content ourselves with headcanons, fanfictions and metas based on what we briefly knew of Adam and Michael as people while they unfairly sat in Hell. You might have seen the “Adam’s Still in Hell” memes that circulated. WE WAITED OVER A DECADE FOR THIS. And finally SPN answers our prayers and returns these boys back into the story for the final season. None of us anticipated what their arc and dynamic would look like. Before we could only imagine who these two characters were/are after having been trapped in a cage so long; what their personalities would be like and if they’d be antagonistic to TFW. 15x08 was a surprise because not only were Adam and Michael likable right out of the gate but the writing for them and their dynamic was damn near flawless! And Jake fucking stole the show he killed it as these two. It’s a crime they were not featured in more episodes because the chemistry between these characters is amazing and they’re played by the same dude.

We were given so much background into both Adam and Michael’s psyches in just a short period of time. Their motivations, interests and how they viewed those that wronged them (like the Winchesters); how Hell affected/changed them both and how they viewed their families. We got to see them banter, cooperate with one another and most importantly their different personalities. With Jake Abel appearing in only a handful of SPN episodes, he still fleshed out Michael and Adam beautifully; giving them layers and complexities that most side-characters (who’ve appeared more times than they have) didn’t. The way Jake played Adam’s anger and resentment towards his brothers was brilliant because it’s more under the surface compared to his angsty teenage self in 5x18. He’d become somewhat restrained, laid-back, gentler and wiser which works because Adam displays traits similar to Sam and Dean. He’s kinder and has a sense of humor but none of that distracts from rational thought as he’s quick to analyze and dissect situations. Man, he would’ve made a great hunter/Men of Letters recruit. We know right off the bat Adam’s pissed at his brothers for abandoning him in a thousand-year-prison-sentence and didn’t lift a finger BUT that ironically doesn’t compromise his willingness to help them unlike his past self in 5x18. Jake gets the point across with this character without saying much and that’s what made him so compelling to watch in this episode.

Now Michael was even more of a mystery onion since he wasn’t onscreen as much as Adam had been in past episodes so Jake got to really build on top of this character. Going from the uptight, cold-blooded merciless celestial warrior/dutiful son of God we saw in 5x22 to someone whom despite his arrogance and regal princely demeanor was very human, intelligent, fair, mindful and compassionate. He trusted Adam and respected his opinions even if he didn’t agree 100%. Whereas most angels take over the vessel completely from their original occupant; Michael chooses to share his vessel with Adam as a mutual agreement which says a lot about who he is. He’s fascinated with humanity and wanted to explore it instead of returning to his throne in the clouds. We know that Michael was created specifically to be Humanity’s protector and guardian of Heaven and Earth so these quirks he’d demonstrated in 15x08 aren’t too far off. He holds a lot of pain inside from his abandonment issues with his father whom he loves to a fault and grief over the death of his brothers. On the surface there’s very much an abused child syndrome thing going on with him though he masks it with a domineering presence. And above all this we saw that he was capable of forgiveness. Whether or not Michael always had these traits inside to begin with, its very evident that his friendship with Adam influenced the person he became post-Hell. And that was someone who, like Castiel, chose to rebel for the sake of free will by aligning himself with the Winchesters after witnessing the evil his father had committed. He actually cared about saving the world. This is what we call character development.

What does 15x19 do? It shits all over that. We don’t get to see Adam and Michael’s dynamic at all; and this was perhaps one of (if not the first) most healthy portrayal of a relationship between an angel and its original vessel occupant in the history of Supernatural. Adam is just killed off-screen Thanos style without so much as one last word and Michael barely reacts like he gives a crap. It was just established to us in 15x08 that he’d developed an emotional bond with Adam through years of inhabiting the same body. He protected Adam while they were trapped together in Hell. They were each other’s only friend and source of comfort. They’d developed a certain co-dependency on each other while respecting one another’s space. They’d both made peace with their joint situation. All they had was each other and the writing in 15x19 basically tells us their relationship meant absolutely NOTHING to Michael based on his OOC actions in this episode. He shows up much darker and shadier now that Adam is gone and its like all those years of friendship, things like that independence, newfound strength and humility he’d gained from living with a human for so long are erased. Michael just reverts back to Chuck’s 5x22 bitchboy persona in the most ridiculous 180 shift I’ve ever seen in my whole damn life. And all because his little brother called him mean names. Pitiful. Just when he lectures Lucifer about standing up for what’s right; he betrays his own words, his allies and the rest of humanity in T-minus 2 minutes. That is total character assassination. Nothing about this motivation makes any sense.

There’s no build up to it, no foreshadowing in 15x08 or throughout 15x19 until they get to the lake. He’s completely deconstructed as a character in this episode and rendered weak. It’s like 15x08 never happened. Stripped of all his development for lousy shock value. Instead utilizing all of what he’d learned through Adam and sticking it to Lucifer by proving he could be more than what Chuck tried to mold him into; Michael becomes just another NPC in the story forfeiting the hero he was. And his reasons for siding with Chuck are never specified. Was it about about saving Adam? Was it about proving something to Lucifer (whom he’d already killed in anti-climatic fashion)? Was it all an act that he was in on with the Winchesters; cause there’s absolutely NO FUCKING WAY they could’ve predicted he’d flip on them like that for their magical plan to work. Not after everything Chuck’s done, killing Adam and Jack and leaving Michael to rot in Hell for eternity. And why would he suddenly go along with destroying the Earth when defeating Chuck would probably get Adam back (if that was his goal) which IT DID not to mention its his sworn duty to freaking protect humanity, hello? So his betrayal meant jack shit in the end as it got him killed by his fucking dad!! He’s brought back into the show only to be ruined forever and killed off in the stupidest fashion.

Moving on.

Jack Kline & Castiel. This iron-clad relationship has been in development for 4 in 1/2 years since before Jack was even born. And next to Adam & Michael its the other most healthy relationship on the show. Castiel, a million year old celestial being, spent the first 9 years of his arc on Supernatural following around the Winchesters, being torn between his loyalty to them and to Heaven. He rebelled when he was supposed to be a straight-by-the-book warrior of God. And he defied every rule in the process even when the odds were stacked against him. There was an endless rinse and repeat cycle of love, loss, betrayal and redemption when it came to his relationship with Sam and Dean. It made his character complex, interesting and layered but it still didn’t give him an arc that was his own. Castiel started out moreso being written as just the Winchester’s angel BFF/side-kick. Until Lucifer got Kelly Kline pregnant in 12x08 then things really took off. Before this, Castiel was a lost soul. His faith was broken, he was depressed, lonely, battered and rundown from years of being conflicted over the other angels and Sam & Dean. He felt he’d lost a sense of self and meaning in his life. And didn’t have a mission. Once he turned on Heaven’s orders, Castiel was a rebel angel without a cause so to speak. But like I said this changes the moment he meets Kelly.

Originally Castiel was suppose to kill Kelly in 12x19 because she was carrying the child of the devil and Nephilim are considered forbidden abominations. Told that if Lucifer’s kid was born he could unleash even more evil into the world. But instead of doing what he thought he should, Castiel decides to runaway with her. Choosing to protect her from all threats (Lucifer, demons, other angels, princes of Hell); this especially included the Winchesters. During this short time-frame the angel develops a strong, emotional bond with Kelly and her unborn son that stretches all the way to the S12 finale; to the point where it actually gave him a power-boost. From the womb, Jack appoints Castiel to be his father and protector and he’s given a glimpse into the child’s destiny that he’ll bring paradise to the world. A prophecy that the writers establish head on. This is an unusual circumstance because right here is where Castiel’s solo arc apart from the Sam & Dean takes shape. The journey of becoming a first time parent and guardian. Its a new kind of independence that for the first time has nothing to do with his friends or his family members/colleagues in the sky. Its his own personal mission that he willingly accepts, the second he connects with Jack from inside Kelly. Castiel immediately falls in love with him, before they even see each other; and adopts the boy devoting himself to keeping him safe. Making a promise to Kelly that would later become a vital plot-point in the seasons to come.  

Castiel literally risks everything (Heaven and Earth) to ensure Jack’s birth and ends up dead by 12x23′s startling conclusion. Leaving the newborn infant Nephilim alone in the care of the Winchesters going into season 13; scared, confused and aged into a seemingly 18 year old boy for his own protection. And Alexander Calvert who is a fantastic addition to the cast really brings something wonderful to this role; he’s like a breath of fresh air and a bright light in the middle of a dark room. Jack’s naïve, innocent and curious about his surroundings but also as Castiel once put it “remarkably intuitive”. Right when he’s introduced his arc is intentionally paralleled with Castiel’s. Their alien-fish-out-of-water beginning is practically identical as is their adorable stoic facial expressions. Like father like son. And this helps because while the angel is currently dead in the beginning of season 13, there’s an empty void he’s left behind. So Jack is kind of his temporary stand-in. Odd enough this type of switcharoo would’ve been considered very controversial but it’s handled quite well. Alex is so likable and charming I almost wish Supernatural had introduced him sooner. I mean I really thought I was looking at Castiel’s actual mini-me and not the son of Satan. But I digress Jack’s story in the first half of this season is pretty much about discovery and reuniting with Castiel. He’s a baby so everything is new to him but he’s also one of the most powerful beings in the universe destined for greatness which makes the Winchesters very nervous.

Jack remembers choosing Castiel as his dad which is why he already feels strongly connected to him. Its a bond so powerful that it actually resurrects Castiel out of the Empty the first time. Something Chuck himself was unable to do (that was until the mess that is 15x19). When they’re finally reunited the payoff comes so naturally. Misha and Alex have such a phenomenal onscreen chemistry starting with that first hug; they really play off one another so well that it doesn’t feel like two angels interacting but a genuine father and son duo. So much of what makes Jack and Castiel’s relationship so relatable, deep and endearing is because of what the actors bring to it. But they’re not just a fascinating relationship, they’re compelling on their own too. Both trying to find their way in the world and within the Winchesters’ lives. Death is no stranger to either of them (tragic being that Jack is only a toddler). They’ve each experienced their own personal pain, traumas, life lessons, mistakes and decisions. The biggest for Castiel would be his deal with the Empty to save Jack in 14x08. While for Jack it was the consequences of said deal that would lose his soul causing him to accidently kill Sam and Dean’s mom in 14x18 as a result (something that Jack struggles with immensely to the brink of depression from so much guilt and regret that he’d rather die). Repercussions that would follow into the shows final season. What’s interesting about this deal though is that Castiel made it on parental instinct alone not as a promise to Kelly. He chose to sacrifice himself for the sake of his son as a selfless act of love and kept it a secret from Sam & Dean until his death in 15x18. That’s the extent how much this child meant to him. The other great thing about their family dynamic is that it parallels nicely with the Winchesters. Castiel and Jack share this unconditional love that can never be broken. its even greater than their ties to the Winchesters themselves just as Sam & Dean’s love for each other is greater than any of their other relationships. They would do anything for each other. Castiel would go to the ends of the earth for the little nougat baby because that’s his son.  

Each time these characters were faced with danger or died, Castiel and Jack were overcome with extreme devastation and distress. That said its not just pain that binds these two its happiness. Jack is the best thing that ever happened to Castiel. Literally becoming a father to that child saved him. It brought him back to life, restored his faith and gave him a sense of self-worth and hope he’d long since abandoned. And for Jack, Castiel is the best dad he’ll ever have! He gave this baby comfort, wisdom, nurturing, strength. Was always there when he needed him whether it was to talk or to have his back. No other person in Jack’s life has ever made such an important impact nor made him feel more safe and loved than Castiel. Even when Jack had done such a horrible thing to Mary alienating himself from his family; it was Castiel’s unyielding devotion to Jack that ended up being his salvation. This was huge because once again he’d chosen over the Winchesters proving that no matter what (whether it be the world ending) his son comes first. So when Castiel’s pact with the Empty finally comes due in 15x18 you’d think it’d have an earth-shattering affect on Jack in 15x19. I mean for the first bit it does...until he becomes God. Then its like to hell with that relationship. Castiel is a complete afterthought to Jack and the rest of TFW in this episode. JACK DOESN’T EVEN GET TO GRIEVE HIM PROPERLY. And he just lost his dad because of a deal he’d made a year ago for him. A DEAL JACK HAS BEEN FUCKING DREADING WHILE HE WAS SOULLESS MIND YOU. And when he finally has the power to bring him back, he doesn’t? Jack just walks around with a conceited smirk on his face, bids Sam and Dean adieu and fucks off. I mean who gives a shit right, its only your dad that you love more than anything. This was extremely OOC given that time in 14x14 Jack nearly lost his shit when Castiel got infected with gorgon poison; the anti-venom wasn’t working so Jack resorts to using his powers putting his soul at risk.

I mean if he was so limited to helping Castiel in the Empty AT LEAST FREAKING CLARIFIY THIS TO THE AUDIENCE. This is not about shipping a certain pairing btw. Jack becoming God is not the issue its his characterization after the fact. His first instinct would’ve been to save his dad above getting in touch with the Earth. Yes we knew this transformation was coming it was foreshowed way back in Season 12. Does that justify bad writing or character assassination?? HELL NO.

This is what I’m talking about, episode 15x19 deliberately butchers these characters and their relationships. It shat all over them. No one is behaving like themselves. The pacing is wonky and inconstant. The script feels like it underwent several rewrites and I swear there were scenes cut out. The acting is off too and maybe the pandemic could be blamed for these things but it ultimately falls on the writer. Buckleming screwed up by showing us they don’t know who the hell these characters are, their motivations nor do they give a rat’s ass. And its noticeable on screen. I’ve known better fanfiction writers for SPN than these guys. It’s like they all came back to work but just didn’t care to put the effort into it. That’s why people like me are upset and we have every freaking right to be. Some of us have been with this series for the entire 15 year run. I at least expect these characters to be handled better and for things to make sense. 15x19 doesn’t and its not satisfying its just a cruel joke. The writers and Dabb should be embarrassed to have put this out there thinking we’d just swallow it and shut up. But far as I’m concerned the only thing this episode serves is to disrespect and ruin everybody while angering long-time fans.

MICHAEL. ADAM MILLIGAN. JACK KLINE AND CASTIEL DESERVED BETTER. And that’s the tea.

[sineala]

Do you think that without the series of events with Marvel licensing out their more popular IP’s and the resulting Iron Man movie that would probably not have been made had they had, like, Spider-Man to make their own movies, and it’s resulting success, post-post-CW they would have killed off/benched Tony’s character for years and/or made him like a full time villain-ish character? Like how they kinda benched Wanda or Jean Grey or how Namor or Professor X are kinda antagonists these days. Because without the movie I could have seen them go the route of, do a Big Thing with a second/third tier popularity character and just put them in a box after due to how big the fallout is. Or would they have made him more and more reviled in the Marvel Universe and not kinda hit the reset button once they were done with the CW stuff?

It’s hard to say what would have happened in, uh, this canon-divergent AU of reality.

My understanding of the history of Marvel’s finances is that they probably wouldn’t have survived, like, the year 1996 without selling off the X-Men and the Spider-Man movie rights. I don’t actually know when all the rights got sold off -- the internet is giving me conflicting dates -- but I do know that things did not look good for Marvel in 1996. Like, when you have to have Image, WildStorm, and... uh... whoever Rob Liefeld was working for make your comics for you, it’s bad. Like, “they had declared bankruptcy” levels of bad.

So it’s hard for me to imagine a world where they didn’t sell the rights because that would also be a world where the comics had ended because they ran out of money. I also don’t know when they started development of the MCU; it’s possible that it was already ongoing when CW was in the planning stages, in which case that may have been an attempt to push Avengers into prominence for the future MCU.

But I also don’t think that Civil War was trying to make Tony a villain. Everything I have read in interviews suggests that they were honestly trying to balance both sides of the fight and that they were surprised to find that a whole lot of readers were against Registration and came away with a bad opinion of Tony. And once Marvel figured that out I think they tried to course-correct and... didn’t do a great job at it either. But they did keep him in the comics.

And, I mean, seeing as how they have movie rights now to most if not all of the other characters you named -- I’m honestly not sure if Namor has reverted yet -- I don’t think having movie rights prevents them from making a character into an antagonist. I mean, they just made an entire TV show that was all about Wanda and 616 did not give us a conveniently-timed redemption arc or another volume of the Wanda solo. I am pretty sure that the last time we saw Wanda do something big in the comics was in the Empyre tie-ins when she decided to turn all the dead of Genosha into zombies and everyone was mad at her. And, I mean, Empyre was a run where one of her children got married! They could have focused on her in a big way! But the only thing I remember her doing is reanimating dead mutants. Tony and Reed got to save the world.

So, yeah, I don’t think that without the MCU Tony would have been a villain because having the MCU sure didn’t get them to redeem Wanda in the comics. And even with the MCU there are still a lot of comics fans who are not Tony fans, and it’s not like the presence of the MCU stopped them from having a run where Tony became a literal supervillain. I think that they’ve definitely ported MCU elements into the comics in an attempt to increase overall comics popularity but I don’t think they’ve deliberately tried to rehabilitate characters because of the MCU, except maybe Howard.

So I don’t think they’d have benched Tony if the MCU hadn’t existed. Before the MCU existed, he had a continuous solo run and he was pretty much continuously an Avenger, even if he wasn’t on the main team for most of the 80s and 90s. And he did some mean things in big crossovers over the years -- Operation Galactic Storm and The Crossing come to mind -- and, like, if even without the movies they were willing to put effort into cleaning up Tony’s image after making him murder a bunch of people under mind-control and then killing him off, I feel like they’d still have brought him back after Civil War.

[a-student-out-of-time]

Connections Review Part 3

Storm Maverick- Category 5

And we return! This will be the final part of the Connections Arc. I had initial plans for this to be 2 parts but sadly Maverick got too big and therefore he required his own part. This is by far the most divisive part of the Arc as everyone seems to be content with the time travel and harems, but as soon as Maverick ‘Motherfucker Hellspawn’ Storm got relevant it all went downhill for some. So, what do I think?

So, this is part is less ‘What is Maverick doing’ and more of what I think of Maverick. As you guys know, I am aware that Maverick is a lot older than people seem to recognize as he has his origins in Askthedespairkids. And in the context of that blog, Maverick is actually a pretty good character. You have to remember that the blog was saturated with OCs and a lot of them suffered from severe sueness or edgy syndrome. I will not make names and I will not say who made the worst OCs because that’s the easiest way to start an internet war, but the two big reasons I got bored of Askthedespairkids and quit reading is due to how poorly written a lot of these OCs were and they hogged a lot of the spotlight, and the canon characters ended up being regulated to the side-lines, which didn’t tickle my fancy at all. True, Maverick was very over the top and what he ultimately ended up doing to his former classmates in Class 75 is incredibly graphic and probably worse than some of the executions and murders canonically, but I would rather blame the general OPness of that blog. Now this is on the Mod’s terms Maverick can hopefully be hit with the nerf hammer a bit more so he isn’t as ridiculous as he was in Askthedespairkids. Furthermore, you can’t call Maverick a Villain Sue and not apply that to Junko Enoshima, because yeah, she is a Villain Sue, that’s why I don’t like her.

But things are different now. Maverick is standing on his own, against only a couple of other OCs and canon characters. Furthermore, the Mod’s writing skills have improved since the Askthedespairkids days so there’s a bit more pressure on Maverick. I think there are two issues I find with Maverick. The first is that I didn’t like him making a move during this arc. The arc was fine just focusing on time travel and the various harems and relationships of the characters, adding Storm just bloated the arc and made it much longer then needed, I feel like Maverick could have been revealed next arc and the next next arc would be the next arc we are currently getting into. This gives me serious Oncoming Storm vibes where an Arc is ridiculously long and a build up to a (hopefully) big payload. Now let me make this straight, this Arc is a million times better then Oncoming Storm, I don’t think any future Arc would be as bad as Oncoming Storm, as that was long and boring whereas the previous stuff was interesting, its just that adding Storm made the Arc very bloated and artificially extended the length of the arc making it tedious. Perhaps a forewarning to the Mod when they decide to include someone like Mikado and Junko into the story. The second issue with Maverick is…he’s basically a poor man’s Junko. At the moment I’m really struggling to find any meaningful differences between Maverick and Junko. With Juu being around we already have our big bad villain for the second Session and if I’m right, Session 3’s main villain is going to be Mikado and Session 4’s villain is Junko. I know Maverick is important to the backstories of Umeko and Kyoji, especially Kyoji, but aside from tying up those loose ends, what is the point of Maverick? Does he exist to give the Quantum Crew a practise run against Junko? And yes, his threat level is higher as he’s kidnapping an obscene amount of people and is able to block us Anons, but Maverick shouldn’t know we exist. I really, REALLLLY hope there’s a logical explanation for that because if Maverick is somehow able to sense the Anons and see how much of a threat we are, then the accusations of Maverick being a Villain Sue do hold water.

Overall, I will be more critical of Maverick now then I was back then because he enjoyed being next to poorly written characters but that safety net no longer exists and there’s too many glaring similarities between him and Junko. Now for his actions yeahhh…. I did warn you guys that Maverick is that special kind of evil but I don’t think it was until Nikei revealed about all his foster families committing suicide that it really hammered home. It’s basically vindication of what I said before. The stakes are a lot higher now because previously yes there was all the girls being kidnapped but it was just Tokyo and one demographic, but here lots of people all across Japan are vanishing and being brainwashed by Storm, so the pressure is on for the Quantum Crew to stop him. And some familiar names as well as Damian, Aiko’s pen pal and Hiroyuki, Kiroko’s younger brother have gone missing alongside Kanon. Kanon vanishing means I think Leon is going to be important next arc because we did promise Leon that Hajime & friends would help her and he’ll be willing to throw his lot in to save his cousin. And the pressure is even more on because Yuki’s been taken as well, having traded Mikado for Storm. This is going be big, especially for Sora as she’s been struggling with how much she cares for Yuki and this will be a real test to see where her allegiances lie. Especially as its unknown what happens if either Yoruko or Sora dies, because if Hajime dies, time rewinds and he uses a life but what if Yoruko and Sora get offed? They don’t have lifelines so what happens if Hajime resets, does Yoruko revert to her old self or does Sora get erased from existence as she isn’t supposed to be ‘born’ yet?

Kyoji also got some development as we see him bonding with Monaca and the newly reformed Kanade, and it’s a very ironic twist that the two characters who are often nicknamed as ‘Satan’ in the fandom are now more or less siblings. As good as a caretaker he is for them though, his recklessness and self-loathing issues are still there as it prevents him from seeing Miaya despite a meeting between them being sorely needed and thinking she won’t want to see him again even if that may not be the case, and wanting to deal with Storm ASAP despite legit concerns that it could be a trap. Thankfully Chisa and Chiaki were able to talk some sense into him and rein in some of his more destructive behaviour. Given how manipulative Storm is and we have not one but two characters who are willing to go off the handle, possibly three if Nikei jumps the gun again, its going to be a very intense arc coming up as not only do the Quantum Crew have to fight against Storm and his backers, but also keep some of the more hot-headed members of the team from being reckless. The new members of the Quantum Crew are pulling their weight though as Kazuichi offered insight into the tech that Storm could use, Chisa obviously helping to keep sanity in check and Ibuki had one of her lucid ideas and managed to suggest how Storm delivered all the VPN password codes to his victims in a way that isn’t unnoticeable which is just mailing them a vacation brochure. I’ll admit, this was really clever by the Mod as that went over my head when it was delivered, but I should know about Chekhov’s Gun, which is don’t include something if its not going to be relevant later. Lesson learnt and I need to be more alert to detail now.

And that concludes the Connections Arc as the QR Code was scanned and they saw the welcome message from Maverick and Kyoji cursing Storm’s name. And my ranking shall be a C-. It would be a solid C but the inclusion of Maverick bloating the arc out and the fact that now he’s not being propped up by terrible OCs means the writing flaws of the character are starting to become more apparent and his similarities with Junko makes me question if he is a necessary character in the story or not. I will withhold too much judgement until the next Arc concludes but I did enjoy the Arc until the Storm part so its not enough to drop into D territory so C- it is. Either way, I’ll be watching the next arc with great interest and hopefully my new method of cutting down on needless wavering is making this easier to read. See you once the Storm calms down! -Review Anon

//Once again, thank you for the reviews. And admittedly, yes, I do wish I’d held off on introducing Storm’s plans until the ongoing plot threads were resolved and everyone came home. I can see all this being the beginning of the current arc and it probably would’ve worked better. That’s definitely the biggest flaw I can see with the last arc, though it’s important for setting stuff up and my desire is not for preparations to drag out, but for us to get to what’s important.

//After the Oncoming Storm, I’m wary of writing any more long preparation arcs, especially when I’m stuck in a long depressive episode ^^;

//I’ve never claimed to be a perfect writer or even a good one, but I’ve tried to improve on my writing since my early days. I had very little idea of what I was doing back then and it really does show. I only ask that you all go into the next arc with an open mind and not let past experiences of bad writing color your opinions, which I’m sure you won’t.

//I won’t spoil anything, but this upcoming arc has what’s probably my hardest decision as a writer to date and I’ve decided to committed to it, even if it hurts to think about. 

//I do hope you look forward to what comes next ^^

[traincat]

I like MCU Spider-Man, but I agree with nearly all of your critiques. The 3rd film will have the same director and writers, so I don't expect the problems to be fixed, but I'm curious: do you think MCU Spider-Man is salvageable? If you could be completely in charge, how would you write the story and fix the problems?

Yeah, I don’t really expect the problems to be fixed in the third film, no matter how many times they promise it’s going to be something “different.” If I’m honest, besides the incredibly weak scripts, I think a big part of the problem is that Jon Watts is a bad director for a Spider-Man project. Which, to be fair, I think is actually why he was hired – he’s got a pretty short list of credits under his name. I mean, “Cop Car”? “Clown”? Nothing about his repertoire suggests he was going to give the studio the kind of artistic pushback they have a history of receiving from their more experienced directors. He’s basically the director version of Jell-O – easy to mold and bland to boot. The perfect guy to direct a car commercial I mean mainstream superhero film. 

This is actually part of the reason I’m disappointed that the Sony-Marvel rights deal ended up sticking after all. I think that if the film rights had reverted entirely back to Sony, there might have been some damage control. We know that they intended to keep Tom Holland, if not the whole cast, for at least one more movie even if the rights had reverted entirely back to Sony so I don’t really get what the raising of arms was about. The rights reversion would’ve cut the apron strings with the rest of the MCU which would have been good, forcing both this Spider-Man to stand on his own two feet within his own narrative and also forcing the movie to focus solely on Spider-Man and on his cast. Sony’s recent Spider-Man films as of the time of writing this (I no idea what the hell they’re gonna do with Morbius and I don’t really care) have dealt with some element of “corporations are evil” – Oscorp pulling the strings in TASM/2 and Venom’s whole entire deal – and I would really like to see this version of Spider-Man be thrust into a plot where that’s the reality and that’s something he has to deal with and where he’s actually forced to defend normal people not just against a costumed villain with a grudge but against an entire system that is set up to exploit and abuse the vulnerable. I think that would have gone a long way towards if not fixing the damage inflicted upon the narrative, then at least course correcting it for the future. But that’s not happening now so whatever.

I find it kind of hard to think of what I would do if I was handed complete control of MCU Spider-Man with the caveat that I had to go forward using the two previous films as my background just because I dislike so many of the choices they made so much. On the other hand, I do like money and inflicting my own opinions on a captive audience, so. I think I would want to scale back the stakes a lot – keep Peter in New York for the entirety of the movie’s plot and film mostly there if at all possible. I would want to cute the ties to all Iron Man cast members so sorry, Jon Favreau, but you’re out, while at the same time redirecting the film’s focus into something more oriented in Peter’s civilian community. Bringing in a character like Leo Zelinsky, a Holocaust survivor who works as a tailor specializing in super-clients, would be a really good way to give Peter and the audience a personal connection to Peter’s Queens community while also tying this Peter back to the Jewish subtext of Spider-Man, and it could work in a plot where cut the Iron Man cast – this Peter isn’t an experienced craftsman when it comes to creating his own costume, so bringing in Leo Zelinsky would make sense, and a costume created by the both of them could be quite meaningful if it was played out well. 

I would definitely want to give May Parker much more screentime and rework her relationship from the “big sister” role (the writers’ words, not mine) to that of Peter’s mother, someone who realistically worries about the dangers of Spider-Man but also provides a strong moral backbone for him. I’d want to establish the exact circumstances of Ben’s death – I don’t know exactly what I’d do, but given this Peter’s development has failed to track with most other Peters I would definitely want to switch Ben’s death up somehow to kind of shed some light on that. Peter and May would have to talk about him. I would definitely want to bring Peter’s classic college friends group closer together, starting with Peter and Flash since I really like Tony Revolori as an actor. I find this MJ to be an incredibly inscrutable character, and not in a good way, so I’d want to shed some better light on her, her family circumstances, and what makes her tick. I’d bring Liz back and give her some of her comic counterpart’s fire (perhaps literally, given Ultimate Liz’s Firestar status) and also I’d get Betty’s actress a brunette bob stat. There would definitely be a bigger focus on women and on Peter navigating complicated friendships with women, not just letting him have a romantic interest and that’s the end of that. I’m very conflicted on what to do with Ned Leeds because I think Jacob Batalon has some of the best screen presence of that cast, but I find it hard to get past the “Ganke Lee with a minor Peter antagonist’s name pasted on him” aspect of the character. Honestly? I might rework Ned’s role to go full villain, skipping directly to the Hobgoblin with the shadow of the Green Goblin and the Kingpin behind him. That would solve my problem of wanting to give Batalon massive amounts of screen time and a big role but absolutely detesting the reworking of Ned Leed’s into the best friend sidekick position. I would say I’d want Ned to then have a romantic subplot with a young Richard Fisk, who would be here for some reason (it’s not like it’s the worst continuity crime the MCU would have ever committed) but I don’t want yet another Disney’s first ever gay character spotlight moment to be given to the villains, so. It would take some finangling. Maybe I would reinvent Aunt May’s one time fiance Nathan Lubensky as a woman so we’d have some nice balance.

And we defend not one single bank within the movie.

Alternatively, I go mad with the power and reveal that this entire cast is made up of clones created by the Jackal, thus explaining all the Ben Reilly-inspired costumes, and subject everyone to my five movie Clone Saga adaptation dreams.

What I would really want to do given full creative control and being told I could wipe the slate clean and restart Spider-Man within the MCU, no questions asked, would be to have Peter as a retired superhero who was active underground years and years before Iron Man or the Avengers were ever on the scene, and have his daughter Mayday be the young teenage Spider-Man of the MCU, someone fresh and new who carries her father’s legacy while living in a world saturated by the Avengers legacy.

Or I’d just kill Peter and bring in a great team to do a Miles movie. I maybe think about this theoretical where I can get my claws into things a lot.

[lnarizakis]

haikyuu: sparknoted | all about hinata shoyo

masterlist

all about hinata shoyo

foreword: Hi, everyone! I’m so glad you’re reading this. I’ve always wanted to do an analysis series of Haikyuu!!, and I think now that I have so much free time on my hands, this is the perfect time to start. I decided to start out with a character analysis on Hinata Shoyo, since he’s the protagonist of the series. The three topics I will cover are: his character, his character development, and the final arc. The topics about his development and the final arc contain spoilers, so beware! Please enjoy, and everything I say is left up for debate, addition, and correction!

HINATA’S CHARACTER

NOMENCLATURE | Since we are talking about a character, we should look at his, well, character. This kid’s name is Hinata Shoyo, and according to the Wiki, his name means “Place in the sun/Sunny place” (Hinata), and “Flying heaven” (Shoyo). Part of his last name, Hina, means a chick or a baby bird. We should know by now that the meaning of his last name is intentional - multiple times he is referred to as the sun in the manga and anime. He is often compared to Tsukishima, who is referred to as the moon. Like Hinata, he was given that name also with intention. I’m pretty sure the story mentions this, but the reason Hinata was given this name was because of how much he shines. Not just because of his personality, because of course, he is a very bright person, but his whole character shines. He radiates - the effects of his “sunshine,” per se, is found in the character development of multiple people - Yachi, Kenma, Hyakuzawa, Kageyama, and even Tsukishima.

MOON AND SUN | I’m going to side-track and talk about the relationship between Tsukishima and Hinata for a little bit - the story mentions this, but it’s worth noting and it leads into what I’m going to say next. Tsukishima and Hinata are like night and day, respectively. Hinata is bright like the day - he shines and radiates the sunshine off on other people. They bask in his light and become better people because of it. Tsukishima, on the other hand, is more lowkey; he prefers not to talk to people rather than to interact, and, initially, he has no interest in improvement. Plants don’t grow during the night (I will refer to this analogy later). The point is: one can only see the moon when sunlight reflects off of it (I think that’s how the moon’s brightness works; all I know is that the sun’s light is involved lol). Therefore, the effects of Hinata’s presence and his “shine” has affected Tsukishima so much that he is able to shine even “in the night”. So besides Kageyama and perhaps Kenma, Tsukishima is one of the people to be most affected by Hinata’s personality.

APPEARANCE | Okay, now I’m going to talk about Hinata’s appearance. He’s short, he has orange hair, and always has the brightest smile on his face. Except when he has to make a point like “We haven’t won yet,” where he’s got that awfully creepy and sinister smile on his face. But I’m going to get back to that. First- his height. When we first get to know Hinata, the very first note of his height is where he stands at 162.8 cm/5’4 ft. (April 2012). He’s as tall as I am! But he’s not tall enough for volleyball, and he is constantly looked down (literally and metaphorically) for that fact. His opponents, and even his teammates, don’t realize the hidden potential that hides within Hinata. So it becomes ironic when there are people who are taller than Hinata, and they “look up” to him. Notably, Hyakuzawa. During the first-year’s training camp in Season 4/To The Top (AKA Ball Boy Arc), there’s a scene in which Hyakuzawa is sitting on the ground while leaning against the wall. He’s looking up at Hinata, who stands in front of him. He tells Hinata that he should have been invited instead of him, which is very ironic because when Karasuno played against his school (I don’t remember which school oops), he was seen as this very intimidating guy despite his lack of experience. Anyways, the point is - despite Hinata’ s height, he makes up for it with ability and talent, to which others who are much taller than he is are just in awe, and perhaps jealous, that he could go past this misfortune of his and strengthen his other skills instead.

ELEMENTS OF HORROR | “We haven’t won yet,” Hinata says, with the most sinister smile on his face. No, man, it’s not sinister. He’s just in the moment. Of course, he doesn’t mean to pull off that kind of scary face, it’s not in him. Yet the face he makes, along with the tone of voice he uses when saying those four words, just gets people. It chills them right to the bone because it’s so unlike Hinata yet it is so like Hinata. He is the type of person to persist on and encourage himself and others just by saying “We haven’t won yet,” but he doesn’t make that type of face. So… why does he make that type of face? The reason is the author’s choice. Furudate loves horror and drew Hinata’s face with a sinister expression. That’s the simple reason, but I believe there is so much more to that. Furudate could have based his entire style on a horror-like manga, despite it being quite out-of-place as it is a manga about volleyball, but if that’s what he wants, that’s what he wants. However, he chose to draw that particular scene with a horror-type feel because that’s what the others see. That’s what everyone who watched Hinata say those four words saw. His expression, his eyes… everything about it chilled them to the bone and Furudate wanted it to make it clear to the reader that that’s how we are supposed to perceive his words. Because if he drew it any other way, it would have come off as Hinata jumping up and down exclaiming with a super-happy voice, “We haven’t won yet! Let’s keep going, guys!” But no- it’s supposed to be creepy because everyone else saw it as creepy.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

SPOILER WARNING! | This section is very spoiler-heavy! Please don’t read this section if you do not want to be spoiled for the outcomes of the nationals!

THE BALL BOY ARC | I will be covering Hinata’s character development all throughout season 4 because I think that this is the most important development to Hinata’s character. I’ll begin with the Ball Boy Arc, where Hinata must swallow his pride after entering the first-year training camp uninvited. Of course, Hinata had good intentions when he arrived, but he did not realize the consequences of his actions. Before, when he heard that Kageyama and Tsukishima were invited to these training camps, the first thought that ran through Hinata’s mind was “Why wasn’t I invited?” Yes, Hinata realizes his strength and the growth he has made throughout the time he had been practicing volleyball, but it seemed to him that he just wasn’t good enough. Upon arriving at the training camp, Coach Washijo immediately denies him to practice with the rest and so Hinata swallows his pride and announces himself as only the ball boy, nothing more. This is important because he is actually telling everybody there that he really just is not good enough.

KAGEYAMA’S SUPPORT | Coach Washijo tells Hinata that he is no good without the support of Kageyama. This comes across as a slap to the face for the poor boy, but I believe the coach told him this for two reasons. One, Washijo does not want to admit to the fact that Hinata is definitely strong and is an amazing player, but, two, Hinata is not strong without Kageyama and so he therefore cannot participate in a camp where Kageyama is not there to support him. This opens up Hinata’s eyes and he realizes that he must not rely on Kageyama all the time; after all, Kageyama is his rival. I don’t know if I’m right on this, but this is one of the two times where Hinata trains and learns without Kageyama’s help. The other time was when he practiced with Coach Ukai, the senior. If I’m wrong, please let me know!

HINATA’S COLLAPSE | Progressively throughout Season 4 we see that Hinata gains lines under his eyes. I saw two twitter posts that mention these- the first about how they could be “crow’s feet,” and the second about how they are lines of exhaustion. I agree with the second post. Throughout the season we observe how hard Hinata works and that sometimes he pushes his limits. He calls his coach to ask him about what he should eat, but I don’t know if we ever see him eat what Ukai tells him to eat. If we do… then, okay then. Lol. Anyways, not only are his eating habits being rearranged, it is also assumed that Hinata bikes home very late at night every day during the training camp at Shiratorizawa. He goes home with his heart pumping so he probably goes to sleep at an even later time. So Hinata also has a bad sleep schedule, and you know how hard it is to try and revert a bad sleep schedule… Hinata is also shown at times during nationals to be wide awake at night. With this, we can tell that he is exhausted. He is tired and in need of a rest. But he doesn’t give himself a rest, because all he wants is to prove to others, and himself, that he is good. And this leads to his downfall- his collapse in the middle of the Kamomedai VS Karasuno game. Hinata catches a fever all because he couldn’t take good care of himself. It’s so unfortunate, but it’s another wake-up call for Hinata that tells him that good things take time to come. He can’t magically hone his skills overnight.

THE FINAL ARC

THIS IS IT. IT’S REALLY THE END. | Ah, the final arc. We are so close to the end of Haikyuu!! and it makes me so sad to think about it every time. The final arc is the last match of the game. It is no coincidence that it is the last time we see Hinata use the restroom before the game. It is also no coincidence that many things that happened during Hinata’s first game are happening as well - Hinata meets Kageyama again at the restroom, he breathes in the smell of icy-hot spray, and, of course, he is going against Kageyama. That’s just awesome. But… he is not only going against Kageyama, he’s also going against Ushijima Wakatoshi and Hoshiumi Korai. This is no mere coincidence. These three people are all Hinata’s rivals. He declared one way or another that he would beat each of them and become the greater person. Hinata told Kageyama that he would, one day, beat him in a game. Hinata told Ushijima that he would beat Shiratorizawa and move onto nationals. I don’t remember if Hinata ever told Hoshiumi if he would beat him in a game one day, but we know for a fact that Hoshiumi did, at least in his mind. Let’s not forget how Hoshiumi really thought, “I’ve waited years for this day, Hinata Shoyo!!” Before the final game.

TEAMMATES: PAST AND PRESENT | I also want to mention the “commentators” for this match as well as some of Hinata’s teammates. In every game that we read/watch in Haikyuu!!, there is at least one person outside of the game who commentates on their perspective of what is going on in the game. We are not only getting the action, but also the analysis. In the final match, we are getting the commentary from Hinata’s teammates. We are finally getting their perspective in the game and how they perceive everyone’s actions. I just thought that was really cool since they were Hinata’s teammates- we never got the chance to hear their opinions about the game as an outsider. We also have some of Hinata’s teammates, Bokuto Koutarou, Miya Atsumu, and Sakusa Kiyoomi. I specifically want to talk about Bokuto and Atsumu, since the only reason I believe Sakusa was placed in the MSBY Jackals was so we could see his own ability because we never got to see him play in high school. Besides the Little Giant, I don’t know if there was any other person that Hinata looked up to more than Bokuto. I think it was great for Furudate to place Bokuto on Hinata’s team because it’s sort of a teacher-student moment where the teacher has to play with his disciple. I also think Furudate made the smartest choice to place Miya on this team as well because it shows that Kageyama is not the only one to perform a quick attack with Hinata. Having Miya on this team provides two things- it becomes a “battle of the setters” between Miya and Kageyama, and we see that Hinata has grown to adapt to perform well with other setters. It’s great character development on Hinata’s part because we see that he has definitely moved past the “he’s no good without Kageyama” thing back in high school. Good for him!

RIVALRY | Anyways, with a little analysis on Hinata’s team, we move on to the opponents. The big three opponents are, of course, Kageyama, Ushijima, and Hoshiumi. It’s a really good thing that Furudate placed these three on a team together (Talking about Romero makes their team even more OP so we’re just gonna set him aside for right now, haha) because it’s a test of Hinata’s ability. We get to see the rematch of the century, since each of Hinata’s rivals have wished for a rematch against him. Hinata lost to Kageyama’s team back in middle school, so now we wonder if Hinata could beat Kageyama now. We know that Ushijima lost to Hinata, but since he declared that he would beat Hinata in the future, we also wonder if Hinata could win against him, this time without the help of his teammates back in Karasuno. Lastly, Hinata collapsed in the middle of the match against Kamomedai, so we do not know for sure if Hinata could have won against Hoshiumi. All of these questions that we have for these three rivals will be cleared in this match; we get to see if Hinata will win in the end. We will learn if Hinata has truly become stronger. This match will let Hinata examine his current self and if his skills now can finally win against Kageyama, Ushijima, and Hoshiumi. It’s sort of like the “final exam” for Hinata’s strength.

Alright, that’s all I have to say! If you read all of this... then wow. I am in awe. Thank you for reading! I really enjoyed writing something like this. I was writing like the end of the world was coming. If you liked this, please let me know! Disagreed with anything I said? That’s fine, let’s respectfully discuss! Thanks!

[robertdowneyjjr]

RDJ on Off Camera #200: Highlights

excerpts from the interview under the read more

(you can buy the digital magazine with the full transcript here)

On his start as an actor, and getting to a point where he has more confidence in what he does:

[...] what’s important right now is that you know I am mirroring your physicality [points to Sam’s posture in chair], which by the way, I don’t know if I did it consciously or not. Son of a bitch...now I lost my rhythm. A lot of life for me is monkey see monkey do. Whether it’s development, or if you’re in a situation that’s very stressful. Like right now, I think if you took either of our biometrics, we would be in a really sweet zone because we have a love for each other. We’ve also created an ease by doing creative stuff together. We always like the result, but more so, we like the process. Whenever you engage with a new group of people in a process, it’s like you’re going to a new school.

And whatever part of my personality was set, it was fractured enough to be useful in a creative medium, but there’s also a work ethic born out of desperation that I would not wish on an enemy. It was just something that I was outfitted with. No matter how you slice it, as I was learning, going along, making mistakes, and noticing how Michael Apted or John Hughes operate, I would go, “Oh, I like that. That looks like it would feel good to be able to do it like that.”

On making the first Iron Man:

[...] I remember for the screen test, I was playing it a little straighter. There weren’t a bunch of funny lines. I was probably like half out- of-my-body hoping I got the part. And then, in executing the film, we found this tone that was really somewhere between mine, Jon’s, and Kevin [Feige]’s sensibilities. Gwyneth Paltrow would come in and go, “Oh, testosterone fest! Can we talk about what’s true north? What the reality of these relationships are?” And Jon would be like, “That’s right. Everybody stop and listen to her.” There was this great sense of each of us being corralled by passing the talking stick and deferring to each other like any good community. The amalgamation of all those little moments of thoughtfulness and open-mindedness are suddenly what this character is remembered for. I look back on it, and I go, “I don’t know how I did that. I don’t think I was in a good mood that day. I think I was really tired. I think my hair looked ridiculous.” And yet, the great thing about cinema, is you forget all of that as the viewer.

On rebuilding, Chaplin, and mentors:

[...] Which makes me think about the coolest letter I ever got. I won’t say where I was...prison. But I got it from Jodie Foster. This was years after Chaplin had come out, and she wrote me a letter about how relevant Chaplin’s life was. The precision, the dedication, what he had to do to be who he was in the epoch that he was. He was such an innovator, a genius. You can’t not believe that Charlie Chaplin was a genius. Some people would even say that he created pathos in cinema. That’s kind of a big deal. But Jodie wrote me this letter basically reminding me that, like Chaplin, I had already gone through the motions of understanding what kind of personality would preserve in a hostile environment. It was a new version of red scares, the public turning against you, and personal proclivities becoming public and almost damning you.

[...] And by the way, I was looking at an old mugshot of mine recently, and there was a bit of sadness in my eyes. There’s nothing like getting sent up the river, but I was okay. You know, like Figueroa Slim would say, “They got me. They got me, because I was there to be got, and I wasn’t doing the right thing.” And this is life. This can happen in relationships. This can happen at a stop sign with a stranger in a car across from you. You never know.

[...] Some people do things that you think are abhorrent and very difficult to explain. Those outliers are the first people who won’t make it very far if they wind up in a correctional facility, and people find out what they did to get there. But in the larger sense of things, it’s just...that was my life. There was a genetic predisposition. A signal wire got tripped, and once you’ve burned neuropathways repeatedly, it’s no longer a behavior. But I also know this, which gives me great comfort—if you’re fucked up or come from a fucked up family, if you get through it, you’re going to have a better chance of pushing our society forward in some way. It’s just the way it is.

On Saturday Night Live and Anthony Michael Hall:

[...] I came through the Weird Science country academy because a bunch of us met up on that John Hughes film. I was like, “Oh wow, I had a part in that.” I was starting to get a little notice. And then, Michael Hall was doing bigger stuff and making creative decisions about what he wanted the next chapter of his career to be, and we became friends. In a way, he was my first Jon Favreau. He was someone who said to me, “I’m going to go do SNL. I’m going to get you an audition, and I bet you’re going to get yourself on the show too. They’ll be lucky to have us.”

[...] I learned so much in that year about what I wasn’t. I was not somebody who was going to come up with a catchphrase. I was not somebody who’s going to do impressions. I was somebody who was very ill-suited for rapid fire sketch comedy. I was not of that ilk of The Groundlings. I had never been part of an improv group. I was kind of like, “Wow, this seems really hard. A lot of work.” But to this day, I would still say that there’s not a more exciting 90 minutes you could have...whether you are any good or not. It’s just amazing.

[...] In the 90-minute moment, you get such validation not because you’re the standup guy, not because they’re not going to say later on that you were the worst cast member they ever had, which is another lie, but because it’s such a difficult thing to try to pull off. You get a lot of cred just for being able to participate in that real-time stress and excitement.

On life after Marvel:

[...] I had an incredible ten year run that was creatively satisfying. It was very hard work, and I dug very deep. At the same time, you always have to recognize that everything has a price and a downside. For me, it’s that I’ve had to up my game and my focus. Also, first and foremost, having a family. But I have not been forced to explore the new frontier of, “What is my creative and personal life after this?” For me, it’s always good to get ahead of where you’re about to be, because nothing really happens when it happens.

[...] it’s always in the transitions between one phase and the next where people fall apart. So, just as a matter of me wanting to be a fit father, husband, and citizen...you know, roughly in that order, you’ve got to put eyes down the road and say, “I’m being irresponsible if I don’t start figuring out what is after that.” So, part of it is that there’s a dependency.

[...] The first thing you learn in theater arts is aesthetic distance. I am not this play I’m doing. I’m not Will from Oklahoma. I’m not that cop in a detective story.  [...] So for me, it just translates to this: I’m not my work. I’m not what I did with that studio. I’m not that period of time that I spent playing this character.

[...] the good boy note is not that I want to do what’s expected of me, it’s that I listen to feedback, and while that’s not what guides my decision making process, I sometimes get a little daunted. People are like, “Well, now that he’s done with this Iron Man thing, we look forward to what he’s going to do next and see him get back to...” And I go, “Alright, wait a minute. Does the good boy revert back to something he was doing before that, because that’s what people...?” No, what do they really mean?

On Susan:

[...] You want to talk about validation, mentors, and people who have been with me at critical times. I mentioned some male directors. All of them together could not hold a candle to the power of partnership, when you find somebody and without meaning to you just get each other. And then, you cash in all your chips and say, “We’re going to do this difficult thing, which is called relationship building and being in the same industry.” All that stuff. But it’s the greatest mystery in life, you know. All creativity is about the right relationship.

[...] Between the two of us, there’s been this creative engine of dialogue and discussion. For me, just self-betterment, because she’s the only person in my entire life and career who I can nail it on a take, and I look over at the monitor, and she’s just like, “You had gum. Take your gum out,” or whatever. It’s not that she doesn’t give me validation. She doesn’t do what everyone else has done; she doesn’t think I need to be taken care of, validated, compensated for. I need to this and that.

[...] Here’s what I’ll say. This is it, dude. This is definitive. If anything, movies saved my life, because she saw me in Weird Science. And at the time, I had a space between my teeth, and she had a space between her teeth. We wound up both getting them filled in, because that’s what you did in the late ‘80s. Everybody had to get their gaps filled or nobody was going to like you. But she looked at me in Weird Science, and her first thought of me was, “Oh my god, he’s like me! He has a space between his teeth. It’s okay that I have a space between my teeth.”

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

Anons wanted an explanation for the placements I had on my previous tier list, but upon going back and looking it over, I realized that I wanted to move a few characters around, so I ended up getting a new template and remaking it. 

I wrote little bits about each character [yes, each one] below the cut, but be warned, it’s long. 

SS  

“I love you so much that I would sell my soul to make sure you’re happy”

Lee Everett: Lee is a goddamn legend. He deserves to be at the very top. He’s one of the best protagonists I’ve ever played as in a game, his backstory is incredibly interesting, and his relationship with and dedication to protecting  Clementine never felt forced and is one of the highlights of S1. Even now, having replayed S1 a million times, seeing him get bit and slowly become weaker and weaker as he refuses to give up on Clementine still breaks my salt encased heart. Watching him die in the end never fails to put that lump in my throat. I love him.

AJ: I love this kid. I was so worried that they wouldn’t do him justice when the game was announced and I saw the trailer, but I was floored by just how much I grew to love him. He feels like my kid, my responsibility and I want him to grow up strong and smart, but also human. His voice acting is terrific, and I think he’s one of the best child characters we’ve ever been given in video games. His relationship with Clementine rivals Lee and Clem’s relationship and that’s what I wanted. This kid earned his place at the top. 

S4 Clementine: This Clementine is my absolute favorite. While I love all the Clementine’s across the four seasons, I feel like she truly hit her peak in S4. I fucking love her, I’m proud of who she grew up to be, and seeing her journey to this point only solidifies that she’s my favorite. She’s strong and stern, but she has her softer moments with AJ and Louis/Violet, and what else is there really to say? She’s Clementine.  

Louis: ....Do I really need to explain this? I mean, c’mon. If you’ve been following me for a long time- shit, if you’ve only been following me for a few minutes, then y’all know how much I love Louis. I can say with 100% certainty that Louis is my favorite non-playable character across all four games. I’ve made numerous posts, answered over a hundred asks, written thousands of words about him. Everything about him from his character design, his personality, his traumas, his voice acting, his expressions, his relationship with Clementine and AJ and Violet and Marlon and everyone- He’s the best. I love him. 

Rosie: Rosie is the bestest girl in the world. ‘nuff said. 

S

“I fucking love everything about you.”

S1 Clementine: Alright, before y’all come at me with the whole “Why isn’t little baby Clem SS tier you monster??” let me explain: I adore S1 Clementine. She’s still in S tier, after all. However, after playing through these games several times over again, I realize that this really is just the beginning of Clementine’s character and her growth. She’s lovable, she’s cute, and I want to protect her, but she’s not... a compelling character? She doesn’t fully come into herself and develop a stronger personality until S2. Like I said, I still love her and I can’t deny the impact that she had on the characters and us players, but she’s not my favorite Clementine of the bunch. 

S2 Clementine: I fucking love S2 Clementine. I’d actually say that she’s my 2nd favorite Clementine. I give S2 a lot of well-deserved shit, but she is the high point of it all. Something about her character is compelling to me, like how she’s stuck with a bunch of adults who underestimate her yet want her to do everything for them and she just... is so done with it hahaha. But her growth is what it really does it for me. We went from little baby Clementine who whimpered at a small cut on her finger to a Clementine who fucking sews her own arm up, covers herself in walker guts with barely a flinch, can shoot a gun with great accuracy and take down walkers like they ain’t shit, and can survive and make her own decisions. Also, her instant connection with AJ is great. Love it. Love her. 

Javier Garcia: Yo, I love this beautiful man. This man is honestly the best part of ANF, and without him it would’ve been such a shitty game. I found his backstory as an ex-professional baseball player booted from the league for gambling a cool concept. He’s hilarious and charming, too. Honestly, he deserved a better game with better, y’know? The only reason he’s not SS tier is because of the writing and his nonsense with Kate when you don’t want to romance her. It makes it seem like he led her on and then was like “Wait nevermind lol” which is annoying, but other than that, he’s great. Love his relationships with most of the characters, and the ending he got was pretty good. 

James: I don’t talk about him as much as I should because I find James fucking fascinating. If they ever made a DLC or a mini-game for twdg, I want it to be about James and his journey in finding and joining the whisperers, his relationship with Charlie, and how he escaped them. His views on walkers, his survival and killing skills, his past traumas haunting his every moment for fear that he’ll revert back to what he was, his extreme pacifism that ironically turns violent- just what a cool fucking character. And while he has his wild moments [cave scene, anyone? “Oh ouch!” hahahahahaa] he’s still one of my favorites. 

Violet: Oh, Violet. She’s amazing. I love her so damn much. If there’s ever been a character that I see a lot of myself in, it’s her.... which is why I tend to be a little harsh with her sometimes, but I can’t deny that she’s one of the most well-written characters across the whole series. She’s not perfect [both she and Louis do have their tiny inconsistencies that I blame the writing for] but that’s a good thing. And while I don’t ship her and Clementine, I 100% get why a lot of people do. Their relationship is adorable and way more compelling than her previous relationship with Minerva. 

A

“I love you <3″

Carley: My beautiful girlfriend... you were taken away far too soon. Carley’s one of my favorite characters from S1. I wish we could’ve had more time to explore a relationship between her and Lee, but what we did get is enjoyable. She’s a badass, and I will always love the moment she tells Lilly off for being a little bitch, even though it results in her death. Not a day goes by where I’m not salty about that one. 

Molly: Molly’s a goddamn badass. She scales buildings like it’s nothing, she named her weapon Helga, and her backstory with Crawford and her sister is terrific. Also, she’s funny and I love her. That’s that.

Omid: This dude was literally a light in S1. He brought us some humor when we needed it [ “...You broke that dude’s face.” ] and his relationship with Christa was so sweet. Also, him and Lee bonding over being history nerds? Yes, please. It’s bullshit that he was killed off two seconds into S2 but hey... S2 had a lot of bullshit in it so...  Justice for Omid 2k19. 

Luke: *deeeeeeeep inhale* Big Brother Luke did not deserve that bullshit. Literally one of the best characters in S2 and y’all just.... did him dirty like that. And for what? To make room for Kenny and Jane? Bull. Shit. Luke was so damn good, and the only reason he’s not higher is because of what they did to him after ep3. He starts out so kind and supportive and seriously like a big brother character then SUDDENLY he’s stupid and “makes it” with Jane while walkers are trying to eat us and then he gets himself shot and then fucking dies and akjsjdlkjasdkjaslkjasdklerwedascasads- 

S3 Clementine: ...So, here’s where y’all will probably get pissed. S3 Clementine is my least favorite of the bunch. Don’t get me wrong, I still love her and she is still in A tier, but... how do I explain it? She’s in her 13-year-old, emo/angsty phase and it’s hilarious when it shouldn’t be. There are moments where I do become emotional for her, like when David takes AJ away and Javi hugs her, or when Gabe dies and she’s saying goodbye, or when she gets her first period, y’know moments like that! BUT... then we have moments where Javi goes to talk to her and she’s all “HAVING PEOPLE IS GREAT AT FIRST BUT EVENTUALLY EVERYONE DIES” or when she straight up shoots that guy who gave her faulty bullets OR WHEN SHE’S LIKE “IMMA KILL ME A LINGARD” AND.......... it’s too much for me! I can’t take her seriously when she’s this angsty, even when I understand why she is the way she is. Again, to reiterate, I still love her but in ranking all four Clementines, she comes in last for me.... and I can already hear the shit that’s gonna be thrown my way haha

Conrad: The most underappreciated character in S3 and it’s nonsense. Don’t come for me, but this dude is my favorite npc in S3. I love Conrad, and I wish we got more of him. He does have his own little arch if you keep him alive through the end. His grief over Francine is heartbreaking and his downward spiral that leads him to act out and threaten Javi, Clem, and Gabe so that he can get his revenge is wonderful. And btw, he does apologize for pulling the gun on them and makes up for it in the future. And y’know what moves him up into A tier? The moment you let him kill Badger. One of the best kills of the game. I prefer it over beating the shit out of Badger myself. 

Aasim: This boy is my son, and I’m sorry, but he’s really fucking cool. You’ve got this kid who was sent to Ericson for being a pyromaniac [according to Kent, it’s not actually mentioned in game] and grew into this guy who documents everything so that they’ll have a form of history to look back on and help not repeat mistakes. His banter with Louis is funny, and even though he gets fed up with Louis for not taking anything seriously, he still cares deeply about him given how he reacts when Louis loses his tongue. His crush on Ruby is adorable, too. I just love him, he’s great. 

Marlon: Now, originally I put Marlon in a lower tier [the “I like your role in the story” type of tier] but upon reflection I actually find Marlon to be a compelling character. He’s high on the list because of how well he’s portrayed. Marlon has some of the best voice acting across all the games. There isn’t a single moment where I don’t believe what he’s saying, which says something. There are moments where Clementine will say something and I go, “Really? That’s the take they went with? Okay...” but not with Marlon. For only being in ep1, he played his part really fucking well. I won’t defend any of the shit he pulled because it’s awful, but I understand everything he did. He is a coward, a sheep hiding in a wolf’s coat, pretending that he’s got everything under control and putting all the pressure of a leader onto himself and it eventually breaks him. I know they killed him off to further the plot and show how ruthless AJ can be as a child growing up in the world, but I wish he survived past ep1 so that we could really get into the meat of his character. I’ll say it: I love him as fake-friend-to-full-on-antagonistic-character and his role within the story. 

Mitch: I fucking love Mitch and the only reason he isn’t in SS tier is because of how goddamn dirty the writers did him. You give me this boy- this butterknife wielding, foul-mouthed, angry, hilarious, bomb-making boy and make me fall in love with him and THEN YOU KILL HIM OFF IN THE STUPIDEST WAY POSSIBLE. “Oh, lemme just run at the crazy lady with a knife and- OOF! It appears I’ve been throat stabbed bleh-”  I’ve complained about this since ep2, but lemme say it again: Mitch had so much potential to be an amazing character but never got the chance to because we had to add to the death count and make us more afraid of Lilly even though it didn’t do shit because it was a reaction kill rather than one made out of malice. 

Tenn: Tenn is such a tragic character for me. In my personal canon ending, he dies because he was “messing up again” and AJ shot him. This poor kid was so full of hope that the walkers would go away one day, he’s so genuine and never wants to hurt anyone, even if they’re trying to hurt him, and he’s so fucked up from seeing Minerva that he stops thinking and tries to go to her even as she’s being devoured right in front of him. Tenn is like this game’s Sarah, but done right. He deserved better, but he was a well-written character and I love him. His friendship with AJ was so sweet which makes it even more heartbreaking when he dies. Yet another terrific child character. 

B

“I like you and/or your role within the story”

S1 Kenny: This dude is such a chaotic topic. I feel like 90% of the fandom has an incredibly strong opinion on him, and of that 90%, 45% of people absolutely love him and if you say anything negative you’ll get a boat to the head while the other 45% loathe him. Then you’ve got the 10% who don’t have such strong opinions, and that’s where I fall. I like Kenny, and I like S1 Kenny more than his S2 counterpart. He has a great arch throughout the season regardless if you’re his best pal or not. He has some funny lines, some emotional scenes. I’ll never forget the first time I played the scene where Kenny’s crying over Katjaa’s dead body while Duck is laying against the tree on the brink of death. And I definitely will never forget the part where he finds the boy in the attic. Overall, I like him and what he brought to S1. 

Katjaa: She was really sweet and her death broke my heart. I don’t have too much to say about her, but I liked her a lot. She loved her family and met a tragic end. 

Ben: Fucking Ben, man. This poor kid. Another character with wasted potential. I’ve mentioned this plenty of times before, but I wish we could get an alternative ending where Ben was the only one who survived and became Clementine’s new caretaker. There was so much room for growth. He just wanted to help out but kept screwing up and it’s just.... sad. 

Christa: I’ll be honest, the first time I ever played S1, I didn’t like Christa. Something about her rubbed me the wrong way and I didn’t care about her as much as I did Omid. However, the more times I replayed it, the more I grew to love her. She’s strong but sweet, and you can’t deny how much she loves Omid. And while I wish we did get to know what happened to her in S2, I can live with it remaining unknown.  

Chuck: As much as I like our guitar playing hobo friend who deserved so much more, I would probably put him a tier lower if it weren’t for the advice that he gives Lee on the train. Because of him, Lee stopped treating Clementine entirely like a little girl in need of protection and cut her hair, taught her to use a gun, and furthered their communication by building a plan together. Without Chuck and his wise hobo words, Lee might’ve fucked both of them over. Also, Chuck’s pretty badass with that shovel, he got a lot of chuckles out of me, but his death was off screen and disappointing. 

Andy St John: Okay. Okay okay okay. Andy. He is so high here [and so much higher than his mom and brother] because to me, he’s the scariest of the St John’s. Why? Because he’s the most normal-appearing of the three. He acts and talks like any normal guy would. He’s someone that I could see myself running into in real life. He’s so good at hiding how fucked up he is from everyone, unlike his brother who you can just look at and go “hahahahaha no thanks” and his mother who’s character design is just awful. I find him to be the strongest of the three, the smartest and the most dangerous. And the final fight between him and Lee is amazing. I love how you can be so furious with him that you keep punching him even after the prompt goes away and then his face goes all purple and swollen. Easily the greatest antagonist in S1.

Eddie: This dude is the best character to come out of the 400 Days dlc. End of story. 

 Alvin: He gave me a juice box and that automatically puts him here. Real great guy but we didn’t get too into his character. Wish we could’ve, though.  

Rebecca: She grew on me tbh. Didn’t like her in ep1 when she was being all pissy and all, but for the most part, she’s pretty good. 

Mike: I will forever wish the writers went through with the concept of Mike being one of the guys who attacked Christa because then he could’ve had a better character backstory. Regardless, I still like him. He’s pretty funny. 

Nick: Nick? Oh, you mean PURE WASTED POTENTIAL. I mean, they really did give us this super flawed but sympathetic and interesting character and kill him off-screen. They really did that. Honestly, S2 really pisses me off sometimes for the way they treated these characters. It all goes downhill once everyone escapes. Yeah, yeah, blah blah not everyone gets a meaningful death blah blah but y’know what? You can do better than that. I loved Nick and I was so excited to see what they’d do with him in the end but NOPE! Justice 4 Nick 2k19

Pete: What a good dude. He stuck by Clementine’s side even when everyone thought she was bit. Love him. Wish we saw more of him. 

Sarah: Ha. Ha. PURE WASTED POTENTIAL 2.0. What else needs to be said? This girl had the foundation for a great character but again, NOPE! I really liked Sarah! I wanted to teach her to use a gun to protect herself! The loss of her father fucking broke her and it was hard to watch but I wanted more and just ahaklsdjlaskjdlkakjaskjsaadkljas ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh-

Ava: Yo. Ava’s a fucking gorgeous badass. Really liked her and how she was sweet on Clementine. Also, it’s interesting that she stuck by David’s side like that. 

David: I have a lot of mixed feelings about David. On one hand, the complicated relationship between him and Javier is good, even if it’s a little bullshit at times. On the other hand, David’s an asshole.  But he’s a great antagonistic character. I do love that about him. The shit with him and Kate was a little annoying, but only because they didn’t ever elaborate on anything. On what level was the marriage fucked? Was it straight-up abusive? What happened to David’s first wife? Why did Kate and David get married in the first place? I got questions! But, like Javier, I think David deserved a better game with better writing. 

Jesus: This dude parkour kills walkers. Pretty fucking badass. 

Tripp: I feel like I don’t like Tripp as much as some people. I like him fine, but I know a lot of folks gush about him. I think he’s a good dude, a little pushy with Eleanor, but he’s loyal and strong. 

S2 Lilly: I fucking hate Lilly. I hate her so goddamn much. She pushes every wrong button with her bullshit “Where's our new recruits?? Lee would be so disappointed knowing he taught you all the wrong things! You’re one of my people now, Clementine” AND THE GODDAMN “Yes, Ma’am” SHIT. Nothing irks me more than every time someone from the delta acts like Lilly’s the baddest bitch and call her “Ma’am” I HATE IT AND I HATE HER. SHE KILLED MITCH. SHE KIDNAPPED MY CHILDREN. SHE DARES TO TRY AND HURT LOUIS LIKE HE’S NOTHING. AND I HATE EVERYTHING ABOUT HER....... That being said, y’all are probably thinking “wtf if you hate her so much why isn’t she in F tier???” and that’s because no other antagonist in these games has ever gotten this strong of a reaction out of me. Lilly is a damn good antagonist. She’s not perfect, and there are definitely things I would change or add, but she does her job and makes me absolutely livid [yeah yeah I know ha ha ha ha] every time she’s on screen doing her bullshit. I hate her and that counts for something. She’s easily the best “villain” in the entire series. 

Ruby: I love my funny little hot-headed medic. Ruby’s amazing and I love her. 

Willy: This kid really grew on me. I thought he was weird and creepy at the beginning but I adore him now. His brotherly relationship with Mitch should’ve been explored more, and at times his voice acting is kind of jarring, but I still love him. 

C

“You’re fine, I guess...”

Duck: He’s fine. I like Duck. I like the “what if” scenarios we’ve come up with surrounding his character, and his death always puts a lump in my throat, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to say I love him, y’know?

Doug: Again, he’s fine. He has some funny moments when you save him, and he’s got a cool little panda bear on his sweater but... yeah. He’s okay. 

Mark: Oh hai Mark. He’s cool, and the reason he’s not lower is because the iconic moment of finding him in the hidden room with his legs chopped off choking out the words “Don’t... eat... dinner” forever haunts my nightmares. 

Russell: I’m not a big fan of most of the playable 400 Days characters, but I think if I had to pick a favorite, it’s Russell. His backstory of being with the group that believed in the power of 7′s [I think it was 7 I dunno going off of memory here] was cool and his weird thing with Nate was fun and disturbing. He’s a pretty cool character. 

Carlos: I’ve made posts about Carlos before and how I think he had a lot of potential, but looking strictly at his role in the game and I’m left underwhelmed. I did get a lot of shit for where I placed him in my previous tier because he was [and still is] above S2 Kenny but I’m not going to lie and say I like Kenny more than him because... I don’t. I just think Carlos should’ve been given more development.  

Carver: A cool antagonist who was defeated waaaaaay too early in the game. They were doing a fantastic job at making me hate him with his treatment of Clementine, beating the shit out of Kenny, murdering Alvin and pulling all that shit with Rebecca, but killing him off so quickly didn’t make it feel as satisfying. Again, underwhelming. 

Sam: This pup betrayed me and he ain’t no Rosie, but we played frisbee so he gets a C I guess

Gabe: Y’know, Gabe could’ve been so good. But every time I play through ANF, he ends up annoying me more than Ben. What does that tell you? He’s fine, but he could’ve been a lot better. 

Mariana: I’m not so much “meh” on Mari because I think she’s sweet and likable! The problem is I don’t want to put her any higher because really? What did she do? She died horribly because Badger’s a piece of shit. 

Abel: Meh this guy’s garbage. I only put him up a little higher because the scene with him in the basement is really good. 

Brody: Brody is like the Mariana of S4 for me, just a bit better. I do like her. She had some development but her whole purpose was to die by Marlon’s hand and get the plot going. Would’ve loved to learn more about her, but I couldn’t give her anything higher than a C. 

Minerva: Controversial opinion but........ I don’t like Minerva as much as a lot of people do. If I could be brutally honest, if I were ranking these characters solely on how I feel about them without looking at their roles in the games and character development, Minerva would be in E tier at the highest. However, I can’t deny how tragic and complex her character and backstory is. It’s similar to how I feel about Lilly, but different. I think she’s just so fucked up from the delta that she’s become a husk of who she was and it results in her constantly pissing me off with all her shit. Also, the bridge scene alone bumps her up. That shit was crazy in a good yet tragic way. 

Omar: At one point, I forgot Omar existed until he got shot in the leg...... but he’s also God so y’know. I like him but I also had to make up my own little backstory for him so...

D

“Meh”

S1 Lilly: I don’t care about S1 Lilly in the slightest, she’s awful. They made her way more compelling in S4. And she killed my girlfriend which is bullshit on it’s own.

Jolene: If I could rewrite S1, I would’ve thrown out the Stranger and had Jolene be the kidnapper. As Danny said, “What a waste.”

Bonnie: She’s pretty disappointing, tbh. I didn’t like how the game help pushing her onto Clem and overall she’s pretty forgettable. 

Vince: He’s okay, I guess. He killed a dude one time. And shot a guy’s foot off.

Wyatt: “Meh” hahaha Eddie was a cooler character than he was

Jane: I wish Jane had been the Molly of S2 and stayed gone after she left the first time. I like that she taught Clementine some useful survival tactics and that’s what puts her on this tier, but I think we all know how I feel about the whole Jane vs. Kenny thing by now so... 

S2 Kenny: This Kenny actually moved up a tier because I fully took in everything he’s been through thus far and.... “Meh.” I don’t think he’s good for Clementine, I think she and AJ need a group like Wellington. I recognize that he’s a lot of people’s favorite, but like I said above in his S1 counterpart, I’m the 10% that doesn’t have that strong of an opinion on him. I’d much rather discuss other characters over him. 

Sarita: Forgettable, really. Except for when you get the chance to cut her hand off. That fucking scream of hers is anything but forgettable, yeesh. 

Walter: Again, mostly forgettable. His death was sad, and I do think he’s a good example of what happens when you’re too trusting in this world, but overall he doesn’t stand out to me. 

Kate: I probably would’ve liked Kate more if her romance wasn’t so damn forced. She has some funny lines, but she’s also pretty selfish and fickle when it comes to a lot of things. And I will forever be annoyed at her inability to keep her mouth shut about her and Javi’s relationship [or lack of] in front of David. 

E

“I don’t like you but you’re not the absolute worst, I guess...”

Danny St John and Brenda St John: I put these two together because they have the same issue: They’re fucking creepy. Where Andy was normal and deceiving, these two look like they want to cut my legs off and eat them. I think they’re much weaker in character than Andy was, even with Danny’s weird sexual fixation of his gun and Brenda talking about her husband. 

Vernon: He’s not the absolute worst because I do feel a little sympathy for him losing his daughter, but everything else just makes me not like him. 

Shel and Becca: Easily my two least favorite characters in 400 Days. I had no real interest in either of them. 

Arvo: This guy. I didn’t put him in as the absolute worst because of all the unnecessary shit Kenny put him through. No wonder he wanted to get the hell outta there. 

Clint: I literally couldn’t give a single shit about this dude or what happens to him. 

Eleanor: I don’t like Eleanor. I found her annoying. Her one good quality is her want to help people, but that want didn’t do much to help Tripp now did it, Eleanor.

F

“The absolute worst”

Larry: Did you expect anything else? Fuck this guy. 

Stranger: Worst final antagonist ever. You’re telling me I have to fight this Mister Roger’s tootsie pop? I’ll bet you $1 I can do it with one hand. Fuck this guy. 

Troy: Fuck Troy. All he does is smack Clementine around and then get shot in the dick. 

Joan: This lady is a laughably bad antagonist. The worst fucking “villian” jfc...

---

There ya have it. Do you agree, disagree? Maybe a character I found boring you really liked! Maybe you want to tell me why Kenny is the best/worst again!  We can discuss it. 

I’m always open to talking about these characters!

[killervibe]

Cisco happy with the decision to eliminate his powers regresses his character arc...An Essay.

 Note: This essay isn’t perfect, and it is riddled with some speculative theory, just trying to wrap my head around season 5 and what exactly was it that they’ve done. I’m emotional. There may be some mistakes. I wrote this kinda all in one sitting. I didn’t edit. We may agree or disagree on some things. That’s fine. But this is my take. 

I need to to just to talk about something.

Cisco happy with the decision to eliminate his powers regresses his character arc.

Now, if he took a break from being Vibe, that, I could potentially understand. He had gone through a traumatic experience. He wants to date, wants to try and start a family. Okay. Maybe superhero-ing on the side can cause some difficulty with that. Then hang up the suit. Use your powers instead of your car instead of pew pew machines for a few months. But he’d come back to it. Or at least…In a crisis. They’d be there. That’s his decision. But to completely eliminate that? That’s drastic. It’s never something he had said he wanted to do. Should Cisco want to maintain close ties to Team Flash, which he claims he does “You’re not the problem. You guys are my family” (5x17), he’d be at a bigger risk to threats. In order to properly keep his safety, he’d have to separate from all of them and start somewhere fresh. He’d have to do what Ronnie wanted to do with Caitlin in season 1. To move away completely. It makes no sense! No sense at all! And @nintendo-sixtyvore has pointed out so correctly that every time Cisco has been in serious danger, specifically kidnapped, it had nothing to do with his powers. It had to do with his intelligence!!!!!!! This isn’t going to go away by removing his powers! Read their post here. 

Besides, superhero-ing, and being part of Team Flash, although stressful, weird, sometimes crazy is something Cisco LOVES. It’s what holds him together.

He has said so many times, not only this season (“You’re my friend, my family (5x06)” and 5x05, 5x07 5x10) to Caitlin, and to everyone on Team Flash throughout the series.

In fact, after the particle accelerator explosion, having Barry be a coma patient, and later find out a meta-human Is what jump started Cisco’s excitement, his career, and his life again after such a terrible event. Cisco was the one on board with Barry from the very start.

We learn in 3x19, in the 2024 that was dissolved, that Cisco was the only one who remained in Team Flash. Barry was depressed. Iris was dead. Wally was paralyzed. HR skipped town. Julian became Killer Frost’s glorified zoo keeper. Caitlin as Cisco knew it was dead. He had lost his family, his purpose, his passion. He was depressed. He stopped taking care of his hair.

And he had lost his hands. He had lost his powers. “No hands. No Vibe,” he says brokenly.

I mean, first of all, that shouldn’t make all that much sense. His sensory vibes aren’t linked to his hands. He’s had vibes without touching anything, and he has stated that he sometimes gets them randomly (2x11,1x23) but apparently here they’re all gone the moment his hands are lost? Well. Okay. So lets take that for how he said it. No more hands means no more vibe blasts. It means no more breaches. No more Vibe. He can’t be the same hero, he can’t use his hands, he can’t make things the way he used to. He can’t feel any longer. He can’t thrust power from his hands, can’t open the world to the multiverse. But he can still have Vibes because he told Barry “I had a feeling” he’d be there. What does this mean? It means his Vibes are still there. He’s heartbroken over the other half of his powers being gone. 

Killer Frost did that purposely. She could have killed him. She could have frosted his feet, his hair, his head…Anything else. But no. Cisco was the link to her humanity, and she wanted to squash it. She knew what would do that, what would officially make Cisco turn her away. Doing the unthinkable. Hurting him the most. Taking away what he loves. His powers.

So she did. And it worked. He understandably withdrew from her, grew sad, despondent, but even then even then he wanted to still work with Team Flash. Even when everything was up in flames, he was the last man standing.

Because he’s strong. He’s strong and he’s a hero. He loves to be a hero.

And Team Flash is his family. Its what he loves to do. Its where he belongs.

Team Flash being his family starts to disintegrate around 5x10. I have another theory that this is elevated by a continued resentment against Frost (explicitly Frost. Not Caitlin. Never Caitlin—which makes things complicated) that has never went away. You can find that here. 

His vocabulary about “us” and “we” and “our” has changed to “me” and “my”. When he talks to Frost, he says: “Barry, Iris, Nora, they have a family. Even you and Caitlin have your weird little family. But what about my family?”

He automatically blames his powers as preventing him from having a family (which two episodes before he repetitively said with joy was Team Flash). Preventing him from being safe.

Cisco doesn’t know that. That assumption isn’t quite logical. Doesn’t it make more sense to discuss this with a potential partner. He didn’t make it about his powers there. He never said that “I hate opening breaches.” He never said “I find dimensional hopping repulsive.”  He has said he was scared, that he was nervous, that he didn’t understand his powers in season 2 when they were developing, especially his vibes, because they were confusing. But the thing that was the most confusing to him were the visions he saw. The fact he could see other timelines, the fact he could see the future. It didn’t have to do with his hands.

5x22 was Cisco’s first showdown with Thawne since season 1. The Thawne who killed him. The Thawne he knew. But it wasn’t his very first encounter with a Thawne since then. This leads to something that sat badly with me. The conversation between Eobard and Cisco. Yes, Eobard is an ass, so he probably mentioned killing Cisco for shits and giggles because he knew he could, and because he wanted to pull it again with Nora, but…Using this to enhance Cisco’s reasoning for taking away his powers? No.

In fact, in 2x11, called, oh, I don’t remember…Oh yes. THE REVERSE-FLASH RETURNS. 2x11’s B plot was all about Cisco developing his powers, and confronting his fear. Giving himself agency.

At the end of the episode, they have Reverse Flash contained, and Cisco goes up to him and says his killer piece:

“My name is Cisco Ramon. I want you to know that I’m the one who figured out you were back. I helped stop you. Me.”

“And how’d you do that?”

“I have powers. And I helped track you down and I put you in here.”

“That’s quite the ability you have.”

“And here’s what’s so ironic about it. You gave me these powers. Have fun thinking about that while you rot away in this cell that you helped me build. Bye, Felicia.”

Cisco was so proud about that.

Soon after that he had a seizure (the result of Eobard being in their time, not because of anything Cisco did) but even after waking up, asking what was happening, Harry replied “We think you vibed one dimension too many.”

Cisco started to laugh. Not an afraid one or a nervous one. It was genuine, to which Joe joined along, as it was contagious and immediately accurately assessed that “Yeah, I think he’s going to be fine.”

In season 3, Cisco said he was afraid about using his vibrational powers against Caitlin because he was afraid of hurting her. But that was because he loves Caitlin. She’s his best friend. He didn’t want to kill her. And Cisco at the end of season 3 did exactly that. He was able to help Caitlin, fight Caitlin, and do it safely without hurting her. Without killing her. He grew. In season 3, Cynthia told him he could do a lot more with his powers. That she could show him. This was never continued on screen.  

Season 4 reveals Cisco spent 6 months as the meta field leader of Team Flash and worked with Wally (which we only got 1 episode to see…Nice.) He did a good job, and was shown being great at it. He was in a really good place, despite the circumstances. He missed Barry. He missed Caitlin. But he had his powers. He had Star Labs. He had Cynthia. He had his purpose. 

We know that Cisco was knocked out in the crossover in s4 oh so conveniently because his powers would’ve made the Crisis much less of a threat (…). By 4x16, Cisco purposely pointedly avoids shaking Matthew’s hand because 

***“No offence. I like my powers.”***

 At this point, Cisco’s powers were a part of who he was.

When Breacher offered Cisco a job at the collection agency, he refused because he wanted to stay. Stay on Earth One. He wanted to stay with Team Flash. He wanted to be Vibe. Before he got the job offer, he had to explain to Breacher that he wasn’t going to get his powers back because they had gone from old age. He explains why he lied because “I know how special our powers are.” 

That’s the Cisco Ramon progression we’ve had. That’s where he was.

To have Cisco….Revert? To, what? To Pre 2x11??? It retracts all of this.  

Another thing. Cynthia having the same powers as him? He liked that. It added a lot to his attraction. Now, how does that translate after the break-up is curious. It’s possible he’s grown an aversion to them following the split. “If I can’t even make it work with the girl who has the same powers as me, then what’s the point?” But see, even this logic is a relationship issue. Not anything about his ability, exactly. This arguments fits better with why he was so keen to jump ship with Kamilla. “She’s normal!!! No more inter-dimensional long distance!!” Cisco is muddling two separate issues here, pinning them on being a metahuman. Cisco and Cynthia’s relationship didn’t fail because of Cisco’s powers.

By season 5, he was drinking. He was trying to avoid pain. He was feeling down. Caitlin tried to help him. Ralph tried to help him.

Cue 5x03.

He was almost killed in 5x03, and had dark matter sliced into his palms which had remained for several weeks.

Now what other main characters had dark matter wounds? Orlin. Grace. Nora. Cisco. What did they all (except Nora, which I’ll get to in a sec)have in common? The moment they got these wounds, anti-meta sentiments emerged to varying degrees. This degree is in correlation with their wounds.

Remember Grace? The dark matter in her wound was in her head, it was so bad it warped her judgement, her mental state grew dark. Grace's was in her head, so it was the most intense. This was confirmed (By Caitlin’s Doctor-ing/Meta-science-ing) in 5x22 when the cure was in fact being neutralized by the dark matter inside young Grace and it was difficult.

The same thing happened with Cicada I. His dark matter wound in his chest changed his perception as well, going as far as to want to commit suicide once his war on metas was over.

Nora was stabbed in the back, paralyzing her and also taking away her speed. But, she has fast healing, and she eventually returned to normal (debatably. Remember she’s under the influence of negative role models, and later on the negative speed force later on).

Now, Cisco’s hand slices were the most superficial. He was also stabbed in the back but apparently the Flash writers forgot all about that and thought that a stab wound to the back that needed a brace would heal faster than two sliced palms, but alas, I digress.

His hands were sliced with dark matter, and the moment they were…. “The Death of Vibe.”

Cisco wasn’t in 5x04. But he was back in 5x05. And this is when he started to develop a RANDOM CONFUSING dislike towards his powers. Towards being a meta-human. He no longer wanted to be Vibe. 

But here’s my thing. He had dark matter stuck in his hands. He’s had them in him for a long time. They were only taken out by 5x10. Caitlin even said, the reason why they took so long to heal was because of the shards stuck in his skin, infused with dark matter. Enough to let this idea about having a cure grow in his mind. Enough to start hating his HANDS. His HANDS were bleeding. HIS HANDS were the source of his sudden self-hatred. Enough to start making him dislike metas. Not to a “let’s kill them all off!” extent. But a “Let’s make a cure for this thing that I’m responsible for (Me: ?? Caitlin: ??) and I’m not sure I like even anymore!”

It’s almost like, this negative cloud took over. Interesting. Isn’t that arguably the same thing that has happened to Orlin? To Grace?

Everyone is complaining that CIsco would never do this. That this is out of character.

That’s right. This isn’t Cisco.

Cisco in season 5 had very little agency. Remember? Agency. That thing he had in season 2. In season 3? Season 4?

Most of the decisions he’s made were through pressure or suggestion by other people. Caitlin and Cisco never had another conversation about the cure following 5x10 with the exception of 5x15 (but that wasn’t about him. Only Shay) until 5x22. Like at the end of 5x10 she offers to help make the cure with him because he wants it. And doesn’t question his feelings again. But then in between those episodes, everyone else is pressuring him to do things he isn’t comfortable or putting negative thoughts in his head.

Sherloque in 5x21, enhancing his insecurities, trying to convince the viewers Cisco never liked being Vibe. Ralph in 5x12, trying to get him to go out and meet people when he didn’t want to. Barry in Elseworlds, insisting on him using his powers. Cisco is bleeding after his vibes on the Monitor and only Kara asks if he’s okay. He says, very strained “No! No I’m not!!!” Nobody checked up on him after this?!?!??!?!?!!?!? (Also He GOT HIT BY A CAR AND JUST WALKED IT OFF?? —Whoops wrong essay). Ralph in 5x14 trying to get Cisco to use his Book of Ralph to impress Kamilla on his date. And Iris and Caitlin pushing Cisco to try again after he said he felt by the 53rd failed first date he shouldn’t bother trying.

Until 5x22 when Caitlin Injects him because he asked her too.

Also, to quote @manjehaal: What’s with him wanting to work on it alone all the time?

Anyway. All this to say.

Let’s go back to 5x03. They called it the death of vibe. But Cisco ended up getting his powers back in that episode. He lived. He was dampened but he survived. BUt. This isn’t about the death of Vibe. This is about the death of Cisco. The death of the part of him that loved vibe. His passion. His excitement. Him.

There was no reason to do that. WHY DOES THIS SHOW LOVE TO KILL CISCO SO MANY TIMES. 5 TIMES THEY’VE KILLED HIM NOW, BECAUSE YOU BETTER BELIEVE I’M INCLUDING THIS. 

And!!! And!!!! To make Cisco so badass in that final fight. It was hurtful. To see him so confident. So strong. To see him be Vibe. The Vibe we could have seen all along. 

If he doesn’t want to be Vibe. He doesn’t have to be (Also, Cisco was going to lose his powers with age anyway, something we learned through Breacher). It’s painful. But to take a cure. To make it sound like Cisco thinks he’s diseased. There was nothing to warrant that. Nothing. They just destroyed something that so many people love. People love Cisco. They love who he is. They love him as Cisco and they love him as Vibe.  They love him as as a latino hero. Watching them axe Vibe like that. Emphasizing its permanence. It was gutting. 

And I’m pissed.

[zcldrizes-a]

idk i just want to know how you feel ,,, do you also think that narratively what was done to dany made no sense because it completely throws away the fact that she was 'special' in the sense that she had dragons for the first time in hundreds of years, aside from the character assassination? like dany being the dragon queen and the unburnt & mother of dragons is thrown away when it seemed like it was supposed to ... mean something?

honestly nonnie, i feel a lot of things right now and let me try my best to explain them as much as i can, because i have to be honest, i spent most of yesterday very empty following that finale, and now i think i’m finally ready to begin putting some of it into words.

the first is that i just feel like d&d missed the mark entirely when it came to her characterisation. if she was always meant to go mad - why did they have to spend the entire season isolating her from everyone in order to make this happen? it’s made very clear to us that she has no one - she’s at odds with half her advisors, and when that’s not the case, do they make much attempt ( outside of jorah ) to talk to her in a capacity that isn’t related to “my queen”? even jon himself ignores her and avoids her, and then after the reveal that he is her last family, still manages to isolate her but now it’s worse because we know that she was already aware she would be betrayed for him to be king by sheer fact that he has the rightful claim. a storyline which now, in the end, makes no sense other than narrative use to push her closer to madness, might i add? we see her lose her oldest friend, followed by her second dragon to die at the hands of an enemy, we see her lose missandei, we know at this point her army took the hardest hits ( until they respawned in the season finale because where the fuck did they all come from ) and the only thing she wants at this point is to be recognised as something other than “queen” because she’s realising that’s the only thing that she’s seen as, and we get literally none of it.

this was a woman who was loved beyond the narrow sea - a woman who earned her loyalties, even ins how canon. we only need to look at missandei in season 7 - “she’s not our queen because of some king we never knew; she’s the queen we chose” - or tyrion in season 7 - “she protects people from monsters” - to see that her actions were revered there because they were selfless. and suddenly we get closer to this goal that she’s wanted all her life, and in the space of the last few episodes, she physically takes hit, after hit, after hit, on top of the mental trauma of her isolations all through her time in the north, and it just felt so forced as a justification for her going mad so that they - the writers - would cop less critique,

a lot of people keep saying that in the books there’s many more hints for it, but for as many hints of the targaryen madness ( and can i just say on the “madness” - what the fuck is this madness meant to be? clearly targaryens aren’t born bad - viserys took the final loss of giving up his mother’s crown for him to be cruel, and we see they literally have to force it on dany to trigger her “madness”. let me pose a question: is this “madness” or is this just grief and anger and the desire to hurt someone who hurt you, and if so, why do we conflate the two? ) we get as many hints of the opposite. ( Dany had no wish to reduce King’s Landing to a blackened ruin full of unquiet ghosts. She had supped enough on tears. “I want to make my kingdom beautiful, to fill it with fat men and pretty maids and laughing children. I want my people to smile when they see me ride by," ) so for this to be the ending to all of the special things she did, just...? i have to be honest, i thought her destiny books wise would be to die as per the nissa nissa / azor ahai prophecy, and i would have been happy with that.

i would have been happy seeing her dying trying to make a better world, but instead we get a forced death because the show wanted to convey that she “wasn’t done” and wanted to continue her fights elsewhere in breaking the wheel, and it just made no narrative sense to me beyond needing to continue being the final trigger in her descent to “madness”. she is used as a plot device to justify jon still being good, and to justify how good and selfless these men are - did tyrion not kill his lover in jealous rage, after her betrayal, with his bare hands? his own father? did jon not also kill innocent people?

and no, i’m not justifying her acts at king’s landing, it’s more of just a question that even before her acts there, she was already being questioned as going mad - why is it ambitious women are “mad” but ambitious men are “fulfilling their destiny”?  and on that, let me reiterate, we went from two competing female power claims in cersei and daenerys, to a council of mostly men who literally laugh at democracy as an ideal, before placing a man in power - and their justification is that he has a good story to tell? that he won’t succumb to emotion? wasn’t the critique on dany and cersei that they were cold and calculating, and yet simultaneously, that they were hysterical, and deranged, and mad? why do we punish women for being emotionless and emotional simultaneously, but we don’t critique their male counterparts? yes, it’s a feudal world and gender roles are still a thing - but this is a show divergent of those books, where we’ve seen modern ideals thrust in before, and at a time where we need women the most, we reverted back to men being the heroes of the story. already, i’ve seen posts and comments on videos from men literally laughing about dany’s rape and saying she deserved it, after what she did. i’m sorry, what? this is 2019, how are we still using sexual violence to hurt women even in retrospect, i’m?

and finally, literally just, i fucking hate the message behind it all. this was a survivor of rape and abuse, who in the end, was a victim to her own mental state and paranoias, and who died yes loved, but unaware of that love. what does that say to so many of us, who resonate with her story? how am i, as someone who has been through my own traumas similar or different, who saw her as someone to look up to, as someone who was special and strong, meant to reoncile that? she wanted to break the wheel and build a better world - is the wheel not in place, still? the iron throne is gone, but we still have a king? we still have lords and ladies deciding who will take the throne next? we have privileged people on the council - and for some of them, underqualified but chosen just because they happened to be there? if the dragons were born for the first time in years, what for? the war against the dead? because she got no acknowledgment for that. what was the point of daenerys targaryen, except for to rid the world of cersei lannister? how did we come from villains like joffrey and ramsay and euron to the ultimate villain being a victim of rape and trauma and abuse? how could the writers even back that development and turn her into that?

and maybe that’s why i’m so bitter at everyone who got their happy endings. i can’t cheer about sansa as queen of the north, because it’s such a sharp contrast to what dany lost. i can’t cheer on jon coming back to the wall, because the only way we got that ending was to destroy dany’s. i can’t be happy about the new council, or the king, when daenerys got so destroyed. and the thing is, i can’t justify her actions or support her, because what she did was wrong, and there’s no explanation behind it, and they’ll never be canon on this blog for that reason alone, that i can’t comprehend why she’d do it - but i also can’t abandon her, or hate her, and i don’t think i’ll ever be able to. one of the writers for the show said now whenever you watch the show, you’ll see her story as the rise of a villain instead upon rewatch, and it just fucking breaks my heart that she’s reduced to that. it’s a time for wolves, but they killed the dragons to get to that point, and i fucking hate it. so in summary nonnie, i don’t understand the point. and i’m hurt, and i’m sad, and i’m numb, and at this point, i have nothing else to say except that i hope george takes the overwhelming backlash from her developments this series and gives her the ending she deserves.

[constantlyirksome]

Review: All Good Things Must Come to an Endgame. (major spoilers.)

Capping off phase three of the Marvel cinematic universe was always going to be a monumental task. It had to be a film that worked both as a sequel to Infinity War, while also tying together buckets of plot and development from over twenty movies over the last decade. The Russo brothers had to juggle actors contracts being up, coming up with a believable fix to The Snap, while subtly hinting at what might come next for phase four. For the most part they managed to create a thrilling, satisfying movie that had me cheering in my seats, but definitely had me thinking about certain (mostly inconsequential) details that didn’t feel quite right.

Review under the cut.

The Time Heist.

We knew that somehow, no matter what, the remaining heroes from Infinity war would find a way to get everyone back. It’d be a crap end to the franchise if they didn’t, and also confusing considering there are movies planned that depend on certain characters, you know… existing. Time travel was the prevailing theory for a lot of people, and it makes the most sense. Still, the way that idea was used, to go back to key times in MCU that were both infinity stone locations, and places were each character could grow and reflect on the past was beautiful. And it was entertaining as an audience member seeing characters that have grown so much over the years encounter younger, stupider versions of themselves (looking at you Starlord.) The heavy emphasis on the original avengers film in 2012 was important; as that was arguably the first movie that proved a shared cinematic universe could work. As the present day Scott, Tony, Steve and Bruce scurry around the 2012 battle of New York we get a look back at the original six heroes kicking ass, as well as a sneaky view into what happened after. The way they all just took the tesseract, scepter and time stone felt very easy but was enjoyable nonetheless. In fact, the collection of all the stones, barring the soul stone guarded by Red Skull were all collected incredibly easily, so the focus was more on nostalgia than a complicated heist plot.

(A highlight was definitely Tony perving on “America’s ass”.)

Not All Hero Arcs were Created Equal.

With the destruction of half all living things the movie was able to zero in on a smaller core cast, and luckily the first six Avengers, the people who have been on the journey the longest, it was a final chance to give them a thoughtful, meaningful farewell. With the addition of Rocket, Rhodey, Nebula and to a lesser extend Carol (more on that in a bit) the original cast were able to close out their storylines. Some of these were more successful, Hawkeye getting his family back, or Bruce finding a balance between beast and man were nice. The Hulk thing was strange and could be written off as a joke, it’s hard to take Bruce or the Hulk seriously as the weird mash-up they ended up as.

Some of the storylines ended, in my opinion, kind of sourly. As soon as Hawkeye and Black Widow rocked up to the soul stone planet, you knew one of them was doomed. Scarlett Johansson rose to the occasion in a big way, as she sometimes falls flat. First as the tired warrior trying to hold down the Avengers after the snap, which was a cool evolution to a character who used to be a loner, then as the sacrificial lamb. It was a truly heartbreaking thing to watch Clint and Nat try to save each other, a final ode to their relationship, which was one of the best in the MCU. When Clint returned to the present without her it felt heavy, so I was frustrated she didn’t get as great a send-off or the same emotional response that the other major death got.

Thor’s fate is already one of the most contentious outcomes on the internet. I hate that basically any development made during Thor Ragnarok has been undone, I wish that the Russo’s had been more faithful to the ideas Taika Waititi and Chris Hemsworth made. But I do believe his current state, as a drunk, overweight recluse, isn’t totally out of the realm of possibility. He did lose everything and blamed himself for The Snap, so to want to spiral, to break down and lose hope, isn’t beyond possibility. The weight gain could be seen as just a punch line, (making fun of people who gain weight isn’t funny or cool) but it’s also a conscious step away from “perfect man, perfect body angel pirate” thing. He still got to play around with Meek and Korg, which was great. I do not believe for a second he would just leave New Asgard and the people he fought so hard to join the Guardians. That’s dumb, but when an actor wants to put a character to rest concessions have to be made. The big issue will be explaining his absence if he’s not in Guardians 3. (He could and should replace Chris Pratt.)

Tony and Steve, Captain America and Iron Man, were always going to be the two characters with the grandest ending narratives. They have led and been the leaders of most movies. They got, in my opinion, very suitable and bittersweet endings. Cap has fought and fought, slowly inching away from the patriot of the 1940s, to see him go back and get the ending he was robbed of when he went into the ice was really nice. The rules of fictional time-travel, not just in Back to the Future, say he shouldn’t have been able to do this. To totally change his past things would change in the future but whatever. Would he leave all the friends he’s made the last decade, to revert back to a more difficult time? That’s for the message boards to debate. He got a happy ending, which is fitting.

Tony Stark has had one of the best character arcs in movie history. From “the merchant of death,” to a hero who was still an emotionally stunted lone wolf, to a team leader who has tried to sacrifice himself at least once in every movie he’s been in. The hero that started the entire franchise in a cave with a box of scraps. He sort of got his happy ending and then didn’t. He got to spend four years happy with a family which is what a lot of people wanted for him. But in the end, it was him that made the ultimate sacrifice. There’s the idea that to have a character suffer for so long to only die at the end isn’t entertainment. But it was fitting, it was emotional and it was beautiful. He had the strength to do his own snap, and then he got to be with his wife, his best friends and his adoptive son Peter one last time. (I thought I couldn’t cry harder than when Peter turned to dust, but the sequel hurt, where the two roles were reversed, way more.) Robert Downey Jr's work, his acting in not just those final scenes but in the whole movie was a master class. Hopefully, Peter and the rest of the world will be able to move on… But I doubt it.

Thanos in Infinity War said to Strange during their first battle “You never used your greatest weapon” which back then was the time stone, but this time it was Captain Marvel. The excuse that she was in space explained why she never helped the Avengers before pretty well but to use that again to explain how little she was in Endgame was a cop-out. The first ten minutes, where they fight Thanos the first time and she put him in a chokehold was so satisfying. The second time when she took the full brunt of a head-butt and not flinch was even cooler. Imagine if she’d had the opportunity to travel to 2012 or even to go collect the power stone. I understand that she has solo sequels pretty much assured, but she definitely should have been in Endgame so much more… and her haircut made her look like Hillary Clinton.

The next generation, Valkyrie, Wanda, Carol, Sam and Bucky all have bright futures, and I think it’ll be very exciting when Disney releases television shows starring some of them.

Fight!

Finally, I wanted to mention how perfect, how epic, how breathtaking that final fight was. Starting with the big three against a no gauntlet Thanos, that almost would have been enough. We got the fan service of Captain America holding you know what, Thor fighting with long hair again. But when Thanos’ army comes over the hill, and then Doctor Strange opes up a hundred portals I screamed. Why neither of these armies showed up in Infinity War is a mystery but it was beautiful all the same. And that sequence, all the female heroes of the last decade (Including Pepper in some dope blue armor) lining up and going ham on their enemies was my favorite part of the movie hands down.

Final Verdict

So the overall feeling as I left the theatre was lots of excitement, and that the journey that the movies and the audience had been following for so, so long had come to a pretty satisfying conclusion. Any problems audiences may have so far seem to be subjective, and could be debated, about Caps goodbye, Thor’s weight, or whatever else. Endgame did an amazing job of celebrating the old movies, and was full of amazing action and fight sequences and left the door open to the possibilities for more movies with some fan favorites.

[wits-writing]

Earth’s Mightiest Retrospective Ep 19: “Widow’s Sting”

(Directed by Vinton Heuck, Written by Kevin Burke & Chris Wyatt, Original Airdate: December 19, 2010)

Here’s one that almost made me re-think my watch/recap order for the series. Wikipedia and a couple other places where the episodes of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are officially hosted put this right before the trilogy of Kang episodes, but other hosting sites and the Blu-Rays I’m using list it after. This is likely due to confusion around the original airdate, which was placed before that story arc. It honestly doesn’t matter that much, as the parts of the EMH’s overarching plot “Widow’s Sting” interacts with have little to nothing to do with the Avengers battles with Kang. Since it could easily take place before or after that storyline, I decided to go by the order on the Blu-Ray.

Developments in this episode revolve around two things, the partnership of Hydra/AIM and Hawkeye’s on-going hunt after his ex-partner Black Widow. Clint enters the episode by interrupting a deal between the two about the research AIM is putting into creating the Cosmic Cube for Hydra’s purposes. MODOK’s asks for more money from Grim Reaper, so AIM’s work can continue right as the archer ambushes them. Hawkeye manages to disable several agents on both sides of the deal, but not before their respective leaders can retreat. He faces Nick Fury’s anger for his trouble, since the Director of SHIELD doesn’t want an ex-SHIELD agent busting up every Hydra operation he comes across. Fury knows all about Hydra’s ability to rebuild after minor incidents, so he’s planning and biding his time until he can make the move that takes down all of Hydra at once.

Much to everyone’s surprise, Iron Man agrees with Fury and tells Clint to stop his hunt for Widow and keep to Avengers business. Hawkeye does what’s rapidly becoming his go to move in this series, deciding to go off on his own if no one will help him with his personal mission. Captain America and Black Panther end up deciding to join him despite what Fury and Stark had to say on the matter, plus further help from SHIELD agent Bobbi Morse, codename: Mockingbird. However, the three Avengers quickly reveal that they know Fury sent her in to spy on them. They tell her they know exactly where to find Grim Reaper before she has a chance to send them on a wild goose chase for random Hydra ops.

Mockingbird’s a good character pull from the comics, since she’s been paired with Hawkeye there even more often than Widow, they were even married for a while. While no relationship near that level gets built between Hawkeye and Mockingbird here, there is a sense of flirtation between the two as they go on to compliment each other in combat once they start going after Hydra. The pair puts up a decent fight against Reaper and his goons until they let themselves get captured, leaving Cap and Panther to track their signal, until they disappear thanks to Hydra’s stealth tech halfway to their destination, Hydra Island.

The time the episode spends on the island gives us a brief look into the scope of how Hydra has been operating since “Breakout.” Viper (aka, Madame Hydra) and Black Widow report to Baron Strucker about the various crime and government organizations willing to make deals with them. Reaper brings Hawkeye and Mockingbird into Strucker’s throne room, only for Viper to suggest that an Avenger would make a better bargaining chip than a body to add to the pile. While Clint and Bobbi are being kept in Hydra’s holding cells, Widow comes to talk to them. Hawkeye justifiably has zero patience for anything she has to say to him, since she’s the one that framed him and got him kicked out of SHIELD in the first place.

Once Black Widow’s gone, Hawkeye immediately breaks Mockingbird and himself out and start busting heads. This sequence mainly consists of them dealing with the overwhelming odds against them, alleviated once Panther and Cap finally manage to track them down. There are two moments of note amidst this otherwise repetitive brawl. First, Hawkeye having a clear shot to finally take down Black Widow, but instead using it to save Mockingbird from Viper. Second, when Clint goes back to his pursuit of Widow, he gets caught in the grasp of Strucker’s life-draining gauntlet. Before the Baron can finish him off, Widow shoots him in the back and tells Clint she’s truly sorry for what happened between them. The fight on the now self-destructing Hydra Island ends with Widow carrying Strucker away. It’s not a complete loss for the heroes, as they’ve managed to arrest Grim Reaper and Viper.

Fury’s wrath isn’t quelled by those pieces of minor victory, since all it did was again interfere with his own plans to take down Hydra strategically with SHIELD’s resources. The closing moments of “Widow’s Sting” end up going through one moment of deception after another. Widow lies to Strucker about how he was knocked out on the island. MODOK comes to meet the two of them in order to return the money Hydra was giving them to develop the Cosmic Cube, saying the project was a failure. Thanks to an earlier scene, we know AIM realized the Cosmic Cube could be made to work, rather than serve as a project to entice Hydra into funding their experiments. It’s a deception Strucker easily sees through as MODOK cordially admits to their failure. Finally, Nick Fury and Mockingbird go to look over Viper’s body (I guess she died earlier, I must’ve missed it on my watch) now reverted to its true form, a Skrull infiltrator.

This is a decent episode to push Hawkeye’s character further along his arc for the season by giving him the first hint that not all is as it seems regarding Black Widow. It also marks the first major tension between the Avengers and SHIELD since the series began, we’ll have to see where that goes from here.

Next time, the Avengers are given a cold taste of how vast the powers of Asgard’s magic can be.

If you like what you’ve read here, please like/reblog or share elsewhere online, follow me on Twitter (@WC_WIT), and consider throwing some support my way at either Ko-Fi.com or Patreon.com at the extension “/witswriting”

[skylights422]

Ok, so having binge-read Vanitas no Carte late in the evening/night when I was tired, I have decided I need to write about it before I can focus on any of my other hobby-related duties. If I forget/misremember any details, feel free to let me know!

Let’s go through the Big Stuff one at a time, shall we?

1. Noe, his oath to Ruthven, weird crap with his teacher

Noe is a very good-natured, honest fellow, but also pretty naive. He doesn’t seem to realize fully how bad/scary/etc his teacher is, fondly writing letters to him while everyone else who knows him - including his own grandchild, Louis - hate and/or fear him.

Not a lot has been revealed about Teacher other than he is called the Shapeless One and is enemies with Ruthven, which is a point I find interesting because of how suspicious and manipulative Ruthven is. Is that part of why Teacher hates Ruthven? Is it a moral conflict, a political one, a personal one? I’m hesitant to say its a moral one because honestly they are both incredibly shady and manipulative, cold people from little we’ve seen of them. So then its probably personal and/or political, the nature of which would be far easier to guess if we knew either of their motives more clearly. But I suspect their conflict will eventually become, in someway, central to the plot, and that it might possibly have something to do with the curse/oath put on Noe? I can’t see Teacher being thrilled that the man he hates has control over his pawn. (as he would see it)

And speaking of the oath, why does Ruthven want Noe in a position to obey his command, but only once? Is it a precautionary measure because he knows something about Noe’s position/powers, or does he have a specific event he’s planning on using that command on? This whole time I’ve been thinking the command is going to involve Vanitas some way, and it still very well could, but what if it involves Teacher in some way instead? Will it be used in conjunction with whatever power Ruthven has over Jeanne?

And another thing on Noe, I don’t think he’s come to terms with what happened to Louis as much as he acts, and I definitely think  that even is gong to come back to haunt/cause trouble for him in some bizarre, horrific way. The stakes as a gift were made too significant to not show up again at least symbolically, but also perhaps literally, and I think there’s probably a lot we don’t know about Louis, Teacher, and the exact plans the latter had for the former. Like sure he was studying him because he was a curse-bearer, but was that it? What info did he hope to acquire? What was his conclusion at the end of said experiment? Whatever it was, I think its eventually going to become a Big Deal.

2. Vanitas, his character arc, his deal with Vamp!Vanitas and the blond kid, etc.

We recently got a pretty great Vanitas-Backstory-Centric arc and I have a lot of thoughts/feelings on the matter. Learning about Vanitas’s past somewhat and watching him confront some of it was absolutely fascinating and of course gut-wrenching, but as usual, it left me with a million questions.

First, I’m wondering about the blond boy, ‘no. 71′, who I usually just call Blond Boy or Creepy Kid. For this post lets say BB for short. We know he was a brother to Vanitas, but did they get along? BB seemed fond of Vamp!Vanitas, while we know Vanitas deeply hates her, so there must have been some conflict over that, right? What happened to him vs what does Vanitas think happened to him? Whenever Vanitas thinks of him, he’s accusatory and upset, was that actually how he acted or is that just Vanitas’s guilty conscious talking? I’m inclined to say its a little bit of both, because while I think Vanitas could have been fond of BB, and BB may have at least seemingly ‘died for him’. I can’t see them having had a perfect, conflict free relationship either.

And what was the promise Vanitas made to him? Was it to protect him since they were both in horrible situations, but he failed? Was it to free him? Kill him? Why couldn’t Vanitas keep the promise? It could have been because of what happened to BB, or  because of some interference from Vamp!Vanitas, or because Vanitas couldn’t do it due to some personal failing (too scared, too indecisive, etc.). Each of these options have different, but equally interesting repercussions on Vanitas’s character arc. For example, if it was because BB died for him or was otherwise killed/removed/lost before the promise could be kept, it would emphasize Vanitas’s hate of being/feeling powerless and not in control, while if it was because of Vamp!Vanitas then it would be part of why he hates her so much now. And if it was due to his own failings, it would feed a hatred/fear of failing or not being able to decide, as well as increasing his self-loathing possibly even more than the first two options would.

And then I have like a hundred questions about Vamp!Vanitas. Why did she take in BB and Vanitas? Was there something inherently interesting about them to her? Did she want to free them, or was there an ulterior motive? How did she treat them and how long were they with her? I feel like she must have been cruel and/or manipulative, at least towards Vanitas, for him to hate her so much, but that says nothing about how she treated BB. Also did she actually go around killing red moon vampires at all? Is she really responsible for the curse-bearers or is it a coincidence that her book can cure them? Is she dead or alive? I’ve been assuming dead, since Vanitas took her book and name, but if she’s still kicking and comes back, what would that mean for Vanitas?

And of course I could go on and on about Vanitas’s reaction to everything in the last few chapters, but I’ll save most of that for chapter-reviews and character-specific posts. But basically, the fact that he hates Vamp!Vanitas even more than Morreau, and that it was BB that made him completely freeze up more than seeing his previous abuser in person again, says a ton about how bad things got under Vamp!Vanitas’s care, since that’s when whatever went down with BB went down, and i am worried about my trashy noodle for when he has to face BB directly. (I’ve also been wondering how he’s gong to react to that, will he freeze again? Revert to how he used to talk to him? Something else?)

3. Jeanne

Jeanne is one of the main protagonists I might have the most questions about, especially with the 2-Jeanne’s theory floating about. For starters, I really want to know how she came to be working for Ruthven. Is her service entirely part of the oath? Or was she working for him before that? What exactly was she forced to swear to, and how much does she remember about making the oath? When did she become so attached to Luca?

Of course I’m wondering what the end goal is with her with Vanitas on her side of things as well; for Vanitas the point is more obvious, this shows his misogyny and manipulation and allows for discussion on his perception of ‘love’. But what about for Jeanne? She’s being harassed by some wack human who she has promised to only drink blood from, making her dependent on her harasser. I’d say later it has developed into a way for her to explore feelings of attraction (towards his blood and on their date his faux kindness) as well, but I’m not sure what the conclusion to that might be. I also think it could be compared to how she’s also under Ruthven’s control, possibly leading to an arc about her freeing herself from her oath and from Vanitas? Ironically making her a parallel or possible foil for Vanitas who also has themes of imprisonment/freedom/individuality in his character arc? I think that could be a pretty interesting route to go.

And then there’s the ‘second Jeanne’ theory. We know Jeanne is extremely skilled in combat, offhand I can’t remember if she fought in the war or not, but she has the reputation as the ‘hellfire witch’, which I really want to learn more about. And if the Original Jeanne and Current Jeanne are different people, are their personalities significantly different? And with Jeanne showing up in the ‘past’, which version of Jeanne is Vanitas being saved by? I don’t offhand have any theories about this, but I find the idea has potential and leads to a lot of interesting questions.

Also I really love her interactions with Dominique so far and hope that develops into something or another, or is part of her growing independence/her future grab for free will.

4. The Chasseurs

Between Roland, Olivier, and Astolfo alone, there is quite a bit going on with the Chasseurs. For starters, Roland is a character that interests me a LOT. He’s not your normal ‘indoctrinated cult member who’s beliefs are unwavering to the point of seeming one-dimensional’ character; he changes his beliefs based on evidence, but is a firm believer in himself as a holy messenger. So its not so much the specifics of any one religion he’s attached to, its the idea that he’s doing holy work. But what I’m wondering is what does he want to do with that position? What is he trying to achieve? He’s researching vampires now to get more information, but what does he plan to do once he’s finished? Will he actually fight the other captains and abandon the church, or will he continue to blend in with the others while secretly pursuing his own agenda? I’m looking forward to finding out what his end goal is, because I find him a very interesting (and very intimidating) character.

And then there’s Olivier. I really wonder what his position is, why he became a captain. He was shocked but not angry when Roland said he was questioning that vampires were evil. He mainly seemed concerned with Roland’s well being, making me also wonder what their relationship is like. I’m not sure what to make of him yet, but I’m very intrigued.

Finally, Alstolfo. Is he the only higher up killing humans? Does he have his own agenda? Or is this a secret plot involving the Chasseurs as an organization? I’m not sure which I’d prefer; if it is the organization then I wonder why Roland, who is also a captain, seems aware of it. And if it is just Alstolfo...then I have a dozen questions as to why he’d join an institution all about protecting humans if he wanted to kill them. Perhpas this is a new goal, or there are only specific humans/kinds of humans he wants to kill? There’s been too little of him so far to have any concrete guesses, but I’m looking forward to finding out more.

Final Comments:

I would like to just throw in here how much I love Noe as a character. He’s sweet and naive, but not stupid or slow-witted; he’s a good fighter and quite good at analyzing a situation when he puts his mind to it. And I love his enthusiasm for everything, and how he’s so blunt about speaking his mind/opinions. So often the Naive Character is timid/shy, and seems much younger than they are in a bad way, but not Noe. Noe is just awesome and optimistic and a bit oblivious from leading such a sheltered life until recently.

Also, I didn’t get around to discussing Dominique much in this, but I really really like her and want to see how she comes into the plot more, and learn more about her relationship with Veronica and Teacher.