#like... okay? the parallel structure doesn't even work here

[veerbles]

almost a year past finishing trk, I'm finally ready to make a confession: I do not understand gansey's how do I know I love her metaphors, and I refuse to be made ashamed of it.

[alexanderwales]

I finished the rest of Save the Cat almost in a single sitting, not because it was particularly riveting, but because I had time to kill, so this pseudo-liveblog is at an end.

Chapter 6 and 7 are basically the same, collections of small tricks and tips. Neither of them are terribly helpful, and all the tricks have terrible shorthand names like "Pope in a Pool". There's very little in the way of any thematic cohesion to these bits of advice, and no grand theory of the Laws of Storytelling emerges, in spite of the laws being invoked a number of times.

The advice itself is, I think, generally good:

give the reader something to root for early on to kickstart investment

spice up exposition with something entertaining

only one kind of magic per plot

don't tell a story that requires too much setup

don't tell a story with too many moving parts

include a ticking clock

have character arcs

keep the scope limited to the characters we care about

make the hero proactive

show, don't tell

make the bad guy very bad

the plot should go faster the further in it goes

use the whole spectrum of emotion

make sure each character has a distinct voice

make sure desires are "primal"

give characters something that makes them stand out

I don't endorse this whole list, and I especially don't endorse the way that Blake Snyder talks about them or the examples that he gives. And if I endorsed the list, then I would include a lot of caveats, and some general principles of storytelling that should be followed, rather than these specific pieces of advice, which are all conditional. Like ... okay, here's an example:

Exposition is a broccoli that the audience doesn't want to eat. There are very different ways of dealing with this, but we can start with "minimize exposition" as the first "law" of storytelling, and from there, we have different strategies:

Spruce up the exposition, making it into a mini-story, delivered in an entertaining way, so that people aren't bored.

Run something alongside the exposition so that people aren't bored, like sight gags in a comedy or an action scene in a thriller.

Have the exposition delivered through implication and clues, rather than stated outright, like having a character limp rather than explaining to the audience that they were wounded in the war. This is show, don't tell, and it's harder than it seems.

But while Snyder lays out some of this advice, it's all in different sections even though it's dealing with the same fundamental problem, and I'm not sure that he really understands that. If he does understand it, then he's not making that clear for the reader.

My thesis is that to understand storytelling, you want to understand root issues and classes of solutions. I have not written a book on writing, nor do I think there's a market for that, nor do I think I'm qualified, but it's the kind of thing that I would strive to deliver. There are a lot of writing problems that are parallel to each other, and there are a lot of structural elements that are mirrors of each other, so why not try to put it all together that way?

But Snyder makes basically no attempt to put even very related problems together, it's just little bits of advice to gnaw at the most common problems, and ... maybe that's fine, but it felt lazy to me.

Chapter 8 was the final chapter, and was mostly about trying to sell screenplays. This was irrelevant to me, but kind of interesting, and also made me feel like Blake Snyder is a better marketer and salesman than a screenwriter, and also maybe just got lucky to be working at a time when scripts were getting huge bidding wars for no good reason. The efficient market hypothesis gets clowned on again, I guess.

I'll probably write up some overall thoughts, a short review: I think I am unsuited to liveblogging because I go long. But the even shorter version is that I think I picked up a few things that were interesting to think about, and while Blake Snyder is a hack, he's an entertaining writer.

[halfbaked00q]

terrible time to be posting cuz it's ass'oclock american time yes but. okay I gotta ask. I gotta poll the public., but.

do we think Quantum of Solace is actually about revenge? Cuz I'm watching/rewatching this video essay, and it's okay so far (I got as far as the point where the guy was explaining the short story), but it's veeery much predicated on the assumption that Quantum of Solace IS a "revenge plot" for Bond. Like, I don't disagree that the movie is structured as a "revenge plot" movie. But. ....I dunno, I do still feel like that for Bond at least. he... doesn't? seem like? he's on a warpath for revenge? at least not for me?

like. he very much is being framed as being on one. (literally within the movie too -- Quantum keeps framing Bond for a bunch of deaths he didn't cause lmao). And it's based on these deaths that M - and also the British gov't dudes - think or assume or come to the conclusion that he's on a revenge path/gone rogue.

But ultimately... having seen the movie... I think I DO in fact still find this video essay's argument more compelling:

which is that actually, Bond isn't the one on a revenge arc, Camille is. And Bond is like. hm. okay honestly lmao, joking not joking, I think Camille is the protagonist and Bond is the Bond girl here. He's her femme fatale. But also. I think it's interesting cuz imo. imo!! Bond almost acts as a sort of... frame story? for Camille's story. Like they're foils & very strong parallels (including some absolutely insane ones lmao... Camille's confession of sexpionage and she's like, does this offend you? and he's like no, not at all. and then. Dominic Greene. calling BOTH of them "damaged goods"? fuckin wild, dude. Ur Alpha Male Fantasy just got slut-shamed, bros!! Bond had a woman die for him but she wasn't fridged and also along with the 'she wasn't fridged' she wasn't just a backstory blip either, she was the story! and ALSO she's held against him? oh he's not just a Stoic Tragic Backstory Action Man, he's """"damaged goods""""? wild, okay. love that for us but, wild for the dudebros.) and also there's a kind of allegory in there for Bond, but also like........ do we really think Bond was on a revenge quest? or a fact-finding quest. a need-to-understand quest.

that first video essay argues sth like "we know he's on a revenge quest cuz he found time to grab the photo of the boyfriend" or whatever he said, and then sth about "it becomes pretty early on that we're not supposed to view Bond's pursuit in a positive light--" but we're also literally shown that M & MI-6 are being fed false info, they're being led to believe Bond is killing all of these people that he isn't?

And even when that first video essay was talking abt the director's words abt the movie... he literally quotes this!!!

this guy argues that the film pointedly juxtaposes Bond's stated objectivity and "increasingly aggressive actions--" but. does he though?? He literally kills a guy out of the gate - the guy he stabbed with the scissors - but the rest are?? deaths framed on him??

the ONE time I think he really gets worked up - when he jumps down on that car & is like "we had a friend in common" or whatever the exact phrasing it was -- this was for Mathis, right? who literally died in his arms?

anyway. I dunno. I just feel like. this video essay... misses the point? And buys too much into the supposed message - which is actually Camille's story and not Bonds - and makes the faulty assumption that Bond IS on a revenge quest.

Like. I guess an argument could be made that he didn't kill uhh Yusuf(?) cuz Camille had her moment of getting revenge and it leaving her hollow. But like....... I dunno. to be honest. I have a hard time believing Bond would have killed Yusuf even if he hadn't alternate-self/parallel-universe parallel-play/lived Camille's life. Nothing in how he ACTUALLY acted leading up to this moment. makes me think he would have killed Yusuf?? Like why would he. He would be shooting the guy in cold blood. It wouldn't be the supposed hot-headed passionate revenge shooting that this video essay seems to make Bond's arc out to be.

I DO find the argument that whether or not Vesper actually loved him or if she was ONLY using him - and him learning that yes she actually did - was a point of solace & closure for him, compelling.

But I'm NOT at all convinced that this truly was a revenge drive for Bond.

gonna make another post about this but Bond has this veeeryy interesting thing where he's like. so brutally practical that once someone is dead, they're dead. he's able to like. lock on excise sentimentality for brutal practicality (dumping Mathis' body in the dumpster and grabbing his cash). like he's not without feeling - jumping onto the car - but also it's soooo interesting that he's like. so sentimental in like, he can & does feel intensely (and falls in love easily/falls at least a bit in love with the ppl who have an impact on him). but not sentimental in, like, the more maudlin kind of sense. It's soo fascinating, but. this post is already so long & let's keep it focused.

But yeah. opening it to the class. So what do we think? do y'all think QoS is a revenge movie for Bond? Cuz. I still am Not convinced it is. It just plays one on tv/ppl Think it is.

[allwormdiet]

Arc 2: Insinuation, Concluding Thoughts

God, was this arc just one day? You're telling me it's only been like 72 hours since the start of the story and where we're at now? It feels like so much more somehow, so I guess let's get digging

Let's do the broad strokes and then go chronological through the chapter details, I don't have any kind of structure or template for this stuff but that's as good a way as any right here

I know there's so much fucking ground left to cover, but at this point I think I'm confident enough to say that I like Worm. I don't know if I'd recommend it to a friend, exactly, because I think it's rude to trick someone into reading more than a million words and also because the list of content warnings I'd have to provide up front would run longer than my forearm (I knew what I was in for going in but I also made this choice mostly independently), but I feel like there's a difference between liking a work and recommending that work to others. I think Midsommar is one of the best horror movies I've ever seen, but it also removed all the oxygen from the living room where I watched it via sheer oppressive malice so I don't really tell people "oh you should watch Midsommar," y'know what I mean?

(I don't actually know if Worm is at any point going to fill me with the same kind of yawning dread that Midsommar inflicted, so this might not be an even parallel to draw, but I'm not going to completely dismiss the possibility)

More on topic though. No fight scenes this time, but that left more room for delicious and filling character interactions. I'm so on board with the Undersiders so quickly, I love them all, the things they're going to be made to suffer are going to agonize me for years to come I think.

It also left more room for Taylor's day at Winslow High, and... okay we'll get there. Let's do this chronologically.

The Hebert family feels like it's a broken heart in the shape of a house. I wish that they could reconcile with each other, but I don't know if they manage that, or if they even can manage it. I think Annette's death tore a wound between them that never fully healed, or maybe it was on the mend before Taylor started getting bullied and now that process has just stalled out

...Speaking of which

Winslow High is a fucking pit. Like Jesus fucking Christ that was so agonizing to read. Everyone at this school feels either useless or brimming with malice, and for the life of me I cannot puzzle out why. I mean, okay, I get the mechanisms at least, the main three girls are popular and Sophia is a Ward and with that together they can bend the students and faculty around like putty, people are often willing to go along with a heinous status quo if rocking the boat puts a target on their back, yadda yadda. But just. What the hell is going on with the main three girls? You could maybe read Sophia as some kind of sadist, but that doesn't explain why she's taking to this with such gusto, and I don't know if this kind of behavior wouldn't be caught out by the Protectorate if she's acting like this around other Wards. Madison I don't even know, so far I don't actually know if there's any meaningful depth there beyond acting as a complementary force to the other two.

Emma, though. Fucking Emma. I was just talking in an aside about how I distrust any argument that paints a mostly realistic teenager as some kind of soulless monster or evil mastermind, and I'm trying really hard to cleave to that, but I just don't get what drives Emma to behave like this, how she justifies it in her own head. She's torturing her best friend, she triggered her power's awakening for God's sake, and I just don't know what can happen in a week or month that could ever make this explicable or justifiable. Maybe I'll learn something that makes it all make sense but for now it's just some kind of incomprehensible monument of cruelty

That last twist of the knife with the line about crying to sleep at night is also just. God. Like, fucking credit to Wildbow, I feel some amount of stress writing about this all like the day after reading it, that was a really really well written sequence, I just also hated every word of it.

Let's change to a happier topic

Love the Undersiders, they're all great. I love that Brian works so hard to meet on a level playing field, to be open about expectations and show vulnerability to make Taylor feel more welcome, and I like how he seems to take pride in being The Normal & Responsible One even though I somehow doubt that's the case. I love Lisa being so friendly and so quick to assure Taylor about what's going on and what it all means for her, and I literally can't stop thinking about what she must be reading off of Taylor with her powers. Alec is a snarky little snot and I love that about him, I really want to see him open up further. And then Rachel... oh Rachel. You might end up being my favorite once we manage to move past the whole "siccing dogs on the new teammate" thing.

And now Taylor's a part of the crew, and she's immediately second-guessing this decision because she's realizing that it had deeper repercussions than she'd initially thought! Like she already felt betrayed by all of them over a slight from Rachel, even though her entire goal of joining them is as a means to take them down from the inside and hand them over to the Protectorate, and that irony is absolutely not lost on her! She's terrified of being found out as a rat but still lets herself be vulnerable around these people in a way she hasn't even allowed her dad to see, and before the Undersiders he was basically the only person she still trusted for anything.

This is like, either the best or worst decision of Taylor's life, I dunno which. I'd like to think best. I'd really like it to be best.

And I think I already said this but I could gorge myself on just reading about the Undersiders fighting and growing and bonding together for the entire length of this story, and I want it so bad, and I'm not getting it until I dig up the appropriate fanfiction to that end so I'm just gonna have to cope with that

Basically fell in love with Victoria the moment I met her, I wish her the best and hope she learns to cut down on the accidental spine-breaking (if she breaks a spine on purpose they probably deserved it)

Amy... at this point I mostly just feel bad for Amy. She's gonna do bad things and a lot of it's gonna be her own damn fault but somehow I doubt she was born a monster.

New Wave in general I get weird vibes from. Like the Protectorate are cops, yeah, and cops suck no matter the uniform, but New Wave does it with nobody watching over their shoulders to check their work except for each other, and we see in their first on-page appearance how that's kinda fucked up!

...Like the guy was a Nazi so fuck him, but I don't have full faith it'll be a Nazi every time, y'know? God knows there's every chance Glory Girl or Brandish or whoever else decides to play this kind of hardball with someone a lot less guilty and a lot more sympathetic

And then speaking of the repercussions of Taylor's actions, again I'm looking at the threat of destabilization and gang warfare facing the Docks and wondering how much of the story's escalating danger is going to be a natural response to her deeds. Somehow I don't think Leviathan's attack is going to be Taylor's fault, or that she called up the Slaughterhouse 9, but she keeps making calls that are good but have unintended and dangerous consequences.

Call me crazy but I don't think I'm gonna like what those consequences look like when she acts to save the world. I'd rather she be happy than the world's greatest hero, but she wasn't even happy before she became a cape, so. Maybe she gets a legacy in the doing.

If that falls through I guess I'll just go read more fanfic.

[nerdynikki94]

Guys...the comparison between Bryan & Aaron's relationship with Mac & Dennis' relationship just fed my fucking soul tonight.

When Mac says he's not allowed to talk and Bryan says 'Me, either' and nods his head in Aaron's direction, you instantly see the comparison in the dynamic.

Also, I think the point is to read Bryan's speech to be his true feelings. I did an immediate re-watch, and in the cold open I noticed how when the reporter asks them specifically about their alcohol, Bryan puts all intellectual credit/responsibility on Aaron, but in a playfully light self-teasing kind of way. Still, he does take removed credit.

But, as we see with the way Bryan acknowledges Mac, he's aware of how Aaron treats him. He's keeping everything low stakes for himself on purpose.

Macdennis brainrot and all that, but their relationship seems to be a main focus this season. If they aren't working as a duo, like in FSEMOTG & TGGC, then we are getting nods to Dennis letting go of secrets from his past and trauma dumps of Mac’s heroes failing him, (Charlie too, but focusing on Macdennis for this post) - Though, speaking of Charlie, his character is intentionally split off from them this episode, despite it being their collective pitch. He's absolutely hilarious, but even though they all were in sync about the original idea, the trio doesn't work in the narrative parallel with our celebrity business partners.

This is the episode after Dennis dropped the Johnny Betrayal Bomb. We see Mac and Dennis side-by-side throughout the entire bar scene, standing together as a unit, even in the damn bathroom.

The audience is forced to examine the dynamic of their relationship. The constant tension between them and their bitching is used for comedy, but it's also used as foreshadowing for the belittling that occurs from Aaron towards Bryan.

But the difference is that's Mac’s being shitty back; he's not letting Dennis tell him how he feels about his clothes. He flat-out accuses Dennis, 'the smartest guy he's ever met', of choking. He smirks when Dennis stalks off in frustration. He also recognizes and points out the 'abusive relationship'. He even goes all high-neck, absolutely entranced when Bryan gets in Aaron's face.

When Bryan sits down and finishes his speech, 'Who's really in control here?' Dennis looks at Mac and then down for a moment before Bryan has his and scene moment.

Sunny loves her metaphors and parallels, okay?!

Maybe I'm unhinged, maybe I'm feral. But...

This is everything I've ever wanted to see in a dynamic shift.

I literally kept popping back into my Macden memo note when I rewatched FVR, before watching CB:TUCG, I finally started to feel a bit of structure to my fic. There was some growth I needed for Mac's character, so I tried to explain his behavior and overall denial towards Dennis' revelation in FVR. I really went in on his character's history. And I came to a theory about him.

And, honestly, S16E5 did wonders for cat-in-the-wall-ing some serious relationship acknowledgments and comparisons.

Honestly, I'm feeling so vindicated with how well this season is blending comedy with acknowledgments to the trauma of these characters and the picking apart of their dynamics.

I may be wrong, but I feel like there are less jokes per episode this season, and honestly, I mean this as a compliment. This is the longest running sitcom and these characters have been to hell and back. Hell, they've all stabbed each other in the back. But at some point, it has to affect things. We can't wear blinders to what their realities are. The relationships have to be examined, but more importantly, they have to change, even if only a little; otherwise, there's no point in the longest-standing journey.

[thewomancallednova]

The Ikarus Factor

i really wanted to like this one :(

alas it sucks

and we're back to a/b story structure

so stuff i liked:

Pulaski having three ex-husbands and being on good terms with all of them is pretty awesome and i like that they are destigmatizing divorce

Riker gets offered a ship!

I guess I like in principle that Riker has a conflict with his father?

Picard is pretty decent in this episode, I liked that he didn't pressure Riker either way, and the scene where he layed out Riker's option was great. Sure hope he won't fuck all this new goodwill up in the next episode haha.

Seeing Geordi and Data work together on engineer stuff is always nice. I also liked Geordi's insistence that everything is going fine and then everything actually went fine.

The goodbye scene between Riker and Troi was amazing. Just nailed every bit of it. I really thought he was going in for a kiss at the end, but the hugging and crying and gently admitting your emotions is actually much better.

O'Brien is here :)

okay so before we get to the stuff i disliked I gotta preface it by saying that I got disrupted a bunch of times while watching the episode, so maybe that negatively impacts my feelings towards it. Honestly, it's funny, sometimes I put on TNG and I am completely disconnected from the human world for forty-five glorious minutes, and other times every fives minutes my phone rings or I get an important eMail or my partner and family want to talk to me or I spill something all over my new dress *resigned sigh*

ok so wtf where they thinking with "Klingons are genetically predisposed towards hostility"

i mean what

huh?

And I don't love how the Worf subplot went, like maybe it's my own dislike for surprise parties, but it seems a bit weird to do the anniversary as a surprise, when you know that Worf thinking he can't do it is making him actively sad. Like, Worf is miserable all day because he doesn't have a Klingon family around to watch him get beaten to death, and that was a solvable problem, the moment Wesley found that's a Klingon custom. Just go to him and say "hey, we looked this up on Wikipedia, we think of you as family and hope you see us the same way, we'd love to watch you get beaten with electroshocks for ten minutes?" Like, come on, it's not that hard

And also, I find it more than a bit gross how Data and Geordi talk about Worf like he's an object whose behavior is to be studied, only for Data to then go to Worf and be like "you seem lonely, do you need a friend?" Like, friendship is absolutely not your motivation here, and you're just lying to Worf. Your motivation is to add to the wikipedia entry of Klingon behavior.

And then on the other side the Kyle Riker thing.

I liked parts of it, the conversation between Kyle and Troi was good, I think most of RIker's conversations with Kyle are fine, but it really fell apart by the end. Like I guess their relationship is resolved now? I mean Riker seems happy I guess? yay? I genuinely don't get it? Did he only want to hear his father say "I love you son"? Like, I'm on good terms with my parents, so maybe that's just a huge deal and genuinely repairs broken child-parent relationships, but it seems a bit flimsy after all the shit Kyle put Riker through.

Also how is that related to Riker getting a promotion? Like, it feels like there is supposed to be some sort of parallel between his promotion and repairing his relationship with his father, or like the latter was inhiviting the former or vice versa or like something? But looking back, it seems more like two things that happened to occur in the same episode? I guess Picard is kind of like a dad? Is that something? This episode feels like it lacks a thesis statement.

Also the bioessentialsm.

There is this whole conversation between Pulaski and Troi about how men just are like that even though we're in a world with gender equality, and men just naturally chafe against their father's expectations and they never grow up and that's so hot abut them and ugggggghhhhhhh

And this is one thing I disliked about last episode too (but forgot by the end), about how in human families the women do the cooking, typically and like. I'm annoyed. Like, in season one's "Angel One" Riker said literally "In our society, we share the responsibilities and the pleasures equally" Which is neat. And now we're saying that women just tend to like cooking more and men want to hit their father's with sticks. Because that's just what men and women do. Innately.

You know, I was wrong about the lack of thesis statement, between this and the Klingons are just genetically like that, the thesis is bioessentialism.

Also, obviously the episode doesn't want us to think of Kyle as a good father, but requesting to resolve your conflict with a martial art that you have always beaten the other person in has to be one of the least honerable ways to go about that.

[dwellsinthebog]

Ooohhh oohhhh tell me about your how to lose the time war AU? Because I’ve not read that book but everything you’ve said about it sounds soooo interesting but I don’t have a lot of context haha but the relationship between kyo and akaza seems like it’s so messyyyyyy which makes me obsessed

Okay, so I think I little context from the book is needed here first before I get into things:

TIHYLTTW is a sci-fi fantasy about two time travel agents (Red & Blue) who serve opposite sides of a war fought across time and space. They fall in love with each other by exchanging messages! Blue works for the Garden, and Red works for the Agency.

This fic is pretty heavily inspired by the book, but it diverges from it in a lot of ways! Kyojuro (named Red) and the other Hashira (represented by different colors) work for the Garden, while Akaza and the demons work for what is just referred to as the "other side." They're also in a (very toxic, messy, secret) established relationship already. Jury's out on whether or not they're in love.

Now onto some worldbuilding stuff!

The Garden sends in agents in to basically be reincarnated into a particular version of themself at a particular time and place in order to complete some objective---usually something very small, as taking drastic actions can have catastrophic results. In one universe, for example, all Kyojuro does is plant a seed. Unfortunately, the agents don't get to have high-tech tools or weapons to help them, as they cannot under any circumstance break the illusion of belonging to that universe. If they do, they risk being hunted by agents of the other side (aka the demons) or even breaking the universe altogether. This means that each agent spends an entire lifetime within a universe secretly working to alter the possible outcomes of its future, but they have no tools at their disposal but their own wit and grit. Fun times!

The other side, meanwhile, doesn't really give a shit about protocol the same way the Garden does. their agents exist wholly separate of time and they kind of just wander as they please or as they are directed to. This is, predictably, pretty bad for the overall structural integrity of the space-time continuum :]

In emergency situations, the Garden miiiiight bend their rules and send agents straight in (no reincarnation, basically) but this only happens if, say, the other side decides to launch a full-scale attack on a universe or something. The upside is, the agents get to use some of the fancy technology from the far-off future universe where the Garden's base is hidden away because this is an all-or-nothing situation, and they'll probably instantly die otherwise!

Another important concept in the time war au is the idea that Kyojuro and his fellow agents of the Garden have "root threads." A root thread is a universe that only occurs once in all of time, forwards and backwards. It's something like a one true timeline.

Kyojuro refers to himself as Kyojuro because that was his name in his root thread (basically the KNY universe), but he's not....really that person? He's Red, agent of the Garden. His fellow agents aren't really the Hashira either; he just likes to think of them that way because of the parallels. None of them share root threads.

Overall, there's no real overarching plot for the fic. It's mostly just snapshots of different moments in their lives, with some fun life-altering revelations and body horror thrown in along the way.

Other things in the fic you might find interesting: Kyojuro dooms a universe to destruction, I accidentally wrote in a mildly concerning age gap but not really because they're both immortal, and Akaza, as is typical in my fics, suffers many memory problems <3

I also read a few papers on Brazilian persimmon production for this fic, which is not the most niche thing I've researched for a writing project, but is definitely pretty niche.

[jean47mclean]

HEY JEAN MCLEAN! For the WIP ask game:

The Star Tear AU! I've never heard of that au before so tell me more!

The Last fae: snippet pretty please!

PSYCH WARD AU tell me absolutely anything about it even the most random details

I hope ur day has been good so far :)

LUCKY HI!!! <3

Ahhhh okay so you know I love love LOVE Hanahaki fics, right? Well there's this one artist I follow who drew a really cool Hanahaki piece, and then did Star Tear right after and I was HOOKED. Annie and I are actually working on it together. It's a similar premise, but I feel like it's less known. It just feels like you can do a lot more with it! So in the AU I have planned, I'm giving it to Yuuji (because he doesn't suffer enough) and I'm planning on making some Satosugu parallels where Gojo had gone completely blind from the disease. It's a modern setting without curses. So the idea with the tears is that they're so hot and bright, that the more love you hold for someone the more they can burn your skin permanently and cause you to go blind due to the constant exposure of what is essentially looking at direct stars behind your eyelids. We're still working a lot out but that's the gist of it!

Oh I just talked about it but I will say that I just have the idea of the structure laid out, nothing written yet! But maybe soon I'll write a snippet just for you 🖤

Oooooooo I don't wanna expose too much here but I will say that a lot of what I've talked about on disc is pretty much all I have, I haven't been holding much back from you guys lol. Ummmm I guess if anything something I haven't talked about is that I might be writing a fight scene or two into the fic because you talking about fight scenes made me really wanna write them again

My day's been pretty okay! I hope yours was better though 🫶

[pencil-peach]

GWitch Onscreen Text: Episode 17 PART 1: PRE-DUEL

It is time. This is part 18 of my series where I attempt to transcribe and discuss all the text that appears on text and screens in G Witch. We have reached The Big One. Episode 17: "Precious Things."

HOWEVER....

This episode will be handled slightly differently. There is a lot to say about it, and a majority of it does not actually have to do with text.

AND SO. For the sake of keeping things organized, this episode shall be SPLIT INTO PARTS.

This first part covers the PRE-DUEL, primarily going over the parallels and symbolism to scenes in Season 1.

The next part will cover much the same, but during the DUEL itself. It will most likely be much smaller, but it doesn't hurt to keep things separate.

With all that said, the conclusion draws near.

<;< If you aren't ready, you can click here to return to Episode 15. Or, if you'd like, the Masterpost's loving arms can be found here.

But if you are truly ready, then let us begin.

PREFACE

(That's right this shit is STRUCTURED.) Episode 17 is probably one of my favorite episodes of the show (even if it's difficult to sit through) because of how utterly dense it is with its parallels to Season 1. For Miorine, Suletta, and Guel, it feels like nearly every scene is stacked with comparisons to past events, to highlight where the characters are now versus where they were back then.

The bulk of the parallels are contained to events that occurred within the first 6 episodes, which makes sense, as those 6 episodes are when the characters were living their most "normal" school lives. So we'll go through the episode piece by piece and I'll highlight comparisons I've found and what they mean as we go along. I might miss some, or maybe I'm reading too deep for others, but if you're this far in, I'm going to assume you have at least a LITTLE faith in my judgment, even if it's not always super clean.

With all that said, let us begin.

PRE-DUEL

Episode 17 opens with Miorine confronting Prospera (Left). This parallels Episode 2, where Miorine confronts Delling (Right). In both cases, Miorine is confronting an adult regarding Suletta's fate. But unlike in Episode 2, where she's the one making a demand (to allow Suletta to duel for the right to be her fiancée), in Episode 17, a demand is being made of her. (To become President and take over Quiet Zero, and to facilitate a final duel for Suletta.)

Whereas Delling admonished Miorine for daring to speak without power, "I am vested with power. You have none." Prospera is demanding that Miorine accumulate power. "Make me a promise. That you'll become the next president."

The parallel of Miorine making a promise with Prospera in this Episode as opposed to the one she made with Suletta in Episode 3 is obvious, but did you notice that the hallway they're in (top left) is structured almost identically to the room Prospera was waiting in on Plant Quetta in Episode 11 (Bottom left), and where she convinces Suletta it's okay to take other's lives in Episode 12? (Top and Bottom Right)

In the next scene, after the opening, we see Miorine waking up in her room (Left). Season 1 also had a scene of Miorine waking up from sleep in Episode 4 (Right), but it's a lot different.

In Episode 4, Miorine is woken up by Suletta staying up late to study, and asks her why she's working so hard. When Suletta responds that she's doing it for the sake of the Mercurians, Miorine responds that that's "a drag," saying that she shouldn't have to carry that kind of burden and should only live for herself. Suletta responds that it's what she wants to do, and Miorine sardonically responds, "How noble of you," before silently heading back to sleep.

Compare that with this small, silent scene of Miorine slowly dragging herself out of bed, clutching her head because she clearly spent hours yesterday and long into the night trying to figure out how to free Suletta from her mothers clutches AND fulfill all of Prospera's demands. She's running herself ragged all for the sake of someone else, going against her philosophy in Episode 4.

There's also the fact that Suletta isn't with her in 17's scene. We see in Episode 4 that Miorine and Suletta are comfortable sleeping with each other, but she's chosen to sleep alone, with Suletta waiting patiently outside the door. (Oh, and also, did you notice that Miorine's room is clean?)

Following that is a scene where Miorine and Suletta discuss Miorine's Birthday, Suletta's wish list, and their marriage. This is reminiscent of a similar scene in Episode 3 where they discuss much the same thing. Both scenes open up the discussion with Suletta denying a proposition from Miorine:

In Episode 3, Miorine is telling Suletta that she must win the rematch against Guel, to which she shyly mutters that she doesn't want to (Top Right) causing Miorine to react in shock. In Episode 17, Miorine asks Suletta what she would do if she asked her to get rid of Aerial, to which Suletta confidently responds that she wouldn't do it, (Top Left) to this, Miorine silently continues walking up the stairs.

The major difference is that in Episode 3, Miorine continues trying to convince Suletta to agree to the duel, explaining to her why it will be fine, but in Episode 17, she is silent. She doesn't explain or discuss anything. She just moves ahead.

When discussing their marriage, the roles have shifted. In Episode 3, (Bottom Right) Miorine is explaining that they won't actually be married until her birthday comes, in order to calm Suletta's fears about them being actually married.

In Episode 17, (Bottom Left) Suletta brings up Miorine's birthday, specifically because she's decided that she actually wants to marry her. It's now Miorine who is reluctant, due to the burdens she's carrying.

Next is a scene with Shaddiq attempting to enlist the Peil Witches into his bid for President. It's similar to Episode 7's opening scene, where Sarius is enlisting the Peil Witches for his plan to expose Aerial as a Gundam. The Parallel comes from the contrasting intentions of each Zenelli.

Sarius is enlisting the Witches in order to expose Aerial as a Gundam and get it scrapped, re-burying Gundams forever. He is staunchly against the existence of Gundams, and this will never change. Whereas Shaddiq is enlisting the witches with the explicit promise of making Gundams core to the Group's business. They are at opposite ends of the political spectrum in this regard.

But in both cases, Peil agrees, making use of the plan for their own ends. Also, in Shaddiq's meeting, a Jeturk is not present.

Okay time for the first Biggun. This scene starts off with parallels to episode 5, in that Suletta is upset by Elan in both scenes. In 17 (Left), she's accosted by 5lan, demanding that she give him Aerial. In 3 (Right), she's upset by El4n when he calls her annoying.

Unlike in Episode 3 though, where Suletta cries in response to El4n's harsh words, she responds to 5lan by shoving him away, showing how she's grown more confident in herself and her faithfulness to Miorine.

Following this, Guel Jeturk shows up and asks Elan what he's doing to her. In Episode 3 (Right) he showed up mostly for his own pride, but switched to a more protective tone when he saw that El4n had made Suletta cry. But in this scene, (Left) he showed up because he saw she was in trouble.

Guel and Elan's roles are completely reversed here. Whereas before (Right), Guel was flippant and emotional in response to El4n's calm demeanor, the opposite is true for Guel with 5lan. Guel (Left) maintains his composure, and 5lan loses his cool when Guel asks him what he's so afraid of.

It might seem like the Episode 5 parallels end here, but did you notice what kind of weapon 5lan is using in this scene? It's a taser.

An electrical weapon that causes paralysis.

Unlike before, Guel keeps a steady head, and he wins this duel against 5lan, pinning him to the ground. At the end of the battle, Elan isn't holding his hand up in victory (Right) but in defeat (Left).

Guel also says, "Cut it out. If you ruin this place, no apology will get you off the hook." Paralleling his behavior in Episode 1. Instead of being the one destroying the greenhouse, he's the one protecting it this time.

Following this, Suletta and Guel have a 1 on 1 conversation. This is the 3rd time they have one in the series. They have one in Episode 3, (Left) when Suletta tells him her mother's motto. They have a second one in Episode 9 (Middle) where they talk about how Guel's father has forbidden him to duel, and finally they have this one in Episode 17 (Right) where Guel discusses his desire to rebuild the Jeturk company, and protect the things precious to him.

The parallel is obvious in the sense that in both prior discussions, Guel is learning something from Suletta, and now he's finally putting those lessons to use, but did you notice that all 3 conversations have a shot of Guel's hand?

In Episode 3, when Suletta is talking about her mother, Guel holds his hand up to his cheek before closing it into a fist. In Episode 9, he brings his hand from his pocket, but doesn't close it. He holds it out limply. And in Episode 17, he once again brings his hand up and closes it. Each scene is representative of his current conviction.

Episode 3 is titled "Guel's Pride." He brings his hand up to the cheek his father slaps him across before closing it. It represents his current conviction: His pride. Proving himself as worthy in the eyes of his father. Episode 9 is titled "If I Could Take One More Step Towards You." The obvious allusion is to Miorine and Shaddiq's relationship, but it's also about Guel's relationship to Suletta. Their conversation ends with Suletta running down a lighted path, with Guel watching her go. He brings his hand out to his side, but DOESN'T close it, because he no longer has a sense of purpose: He's lost his conviction. He's scared of facing his father, and thus can't follow Suletta. Episode 17 is titled "Precious Things." After everything that's happened, Guel has returned to Asticassia with a new conviction: To protect the things precious to him. After losing his way, he's found the path forward, and once again closes his fist, confident in himself and his sense of purpose.

There's also the parallels between both confessions scenes. When Guel confesses and is rejected the first time (Left), he becomes spiteful and mean, but now (Right), he's understanding, and even happy for her love with Miorine. He's truly changed.

Miorine then comes out from behind the greenhouse, and demands a duel between Suletta and Guel. (Left) This is an obvious inversion of the scene from Episode 1 (Right). Where she demands Suletta NOT duel Guel.

The following scene, where Miorine requests Guel's help (Left) is also an inversion of the scene from Episode 4 (Right) where she offers to help Suletta with the Threat Detection Makeup exam.

Both scenes take place in her room, and both scenes see her kneeling over her plants, gently pushing upon the leaves as she speaks. The fact that she's talking to Guel and Suletta respectively is an obvious inversion, but in Episode 4, she's telling Suletta that she can take care of both the Mechanic and Spotter positions herself, saying she doesn't need help, but in 17's scene, she's specifically ASKING Guel for his help, because this is something she can't do on her own.

The next scene in the Dueling Comittee Lounge (Left) is, obviously, paralleling the similar scene in Episode 3 (Right). Down to this shot of Secelia seemingly being reused from that episode. In both scenes, Secelia taunts Guel, but as opposed to Episode 3, where he becomes enraged and fickle, in Episode 17 he confidently disregards her, saying, "The Jeturk emblem is the lion. So call me a lion, not a dog," much to her surprise.

But there's actually some more interesting parallels here.

Firstly, Episode 3's Oath is officiated by El4n (Top Right), whereas Episode 17's Oath is officiated by Rouji's HARO (Top Left), two characters that are considered to be robotic and emotionless.

In both duels, Suletta requests something of Guel for the sake of others. In Episode 3, she asks him to apologize to Miorine (Bottom Right), and in Episode 17, she asks him to help stop the harassment of Earth House (Bottom Left).

Ah, and did you notice? Episode 3's duel takes place in the 7th tactical testing sector, a lucky number. Episode 17's duel takes place in the 13th tactical testing sector. It looks like Suletta's luck has run out.

In both episodes, there's a scene following the oath with Guel speaking to Miorine and Suletta respectively. Both scenes even share multiple shots. Both scenes are also conversations involving, to some extent, Prospera. And both scenes, interestingly enough, has Guel end the conversation with a statement that calls into question the respective girl's belief (intentionally or otherwise).

In Episode 3 (Right) Suletta says, "My mother is always strong and kind," to which Guel asks, "A good parent, huh?" In Episode 17 (Left) Miorine says, "I want that girl to be happy. She needs a world where she can be free from Gundams or anything else," to which Guel mutters, "There are no worlds like that."

In both cases, he doesn't elaborate on what he means, but in both cases, his intuition is right.

Perhaps some of this is a pushing it, but prior to the duel, both Episode 3 and 17 share two similar scenes. Both episodes have a scene in which Miorine has installed something on Suletta's phone in reference to the duel, and both scenes also have a scene where two characters discuss their intent to interfere with the upcoming duel.

In Episode 3 (Right) This entails Miorine installing her contact info onto Suletta's phone without her permission, and Vim and Lauda discussing the arrangement of the sprinklers to go off.

In Episode 17 (Left) This entails Miorine installing the "Victory Charm" on Suletta's phone, and Miorine and Prospera discussing when to deactivate Aerial during the duel. It's yet another inversion in that now, it's Jeturk house who's playing fairly, and it's Miorine who's working to ensure Suletta will lose.

When Guel is asked by Kamil about the decision making AI, in Episode 17 (Left) he says he doesn't care about it, and to leave it in. Stating that "Pride alone won't defeat Suletta Mercury." This parallels the scene from Episode 3 (Right), where he gets incredibly mad about it, yelling, "Am I not skilled enough to win?!" Only to be slapped by Vim once more, telling him that "There's no room here for childish pride."

Guel also cuts his hair. The Jeturk family's hair are all based on lion manes, and Guel cutting his mane short is emblematic of discarding his prideful nature. It's also to show how he's brought himself closer to his father, who's hair was also cut short.

The following scene, where Guel apologizes to Lauda in front of the Darilbalde (Left), parallels the scene in Episode 4 where Lauda apologized to him under similar circumstances (Right).

In Episode 4, the Darilbalde was destroyed, emblematic of the strained relationship between the two, but now it has been repaired. Even still, will it be maintained?

As the MS suit containers roll into position, we get this shot of the Dueling Committee, both in Episode 17 (Right) and Episode 3 (Left) It's much emptier now, huh? GRAAAAAGH And that's all the parallels I can find for the Pre-Duel segment of the episode. Houuaauhhh there was a lot here and it was a lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun, and it really goes to show how tight this season's script is. Every scene feels intentional.

Anyhow, that's all for this part. Next time in part 2, we'll be discussing the Duel's parallels. If you've made it this far, thank you so very much, I truly appreciate it. I'll see you next time!

Click here to go to Part 2 >> Click here to go to the Masterpost.

[lurkingteapot]

Last Twilight ภาพนายไม่เคยลืม Ep 9

This episode was a LOT. I found myself thinking "wait, if this is episode nine, what's going to happen in episode 11?!" but then I thought, well, if we compare the structure of Last Twilight to Bad Buddy (which I invariably do because those are the two 12-ep-shows of P'Aof's that I've watched), this is the … hit a snag, get past it, hit a LARGER snag part of the story arc, isn't it. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Liveblog:

guys, can you not make a scene at someone else's wedding??

so Night, what, caused the accident?

did Day see something he shouldn't have?

okay this is … like. I see why Night would blame himself, and it's convenient for Day to blame Night, but. It's not Night's fault. It's like … sure, this might not have happened if Night hadn't had to throw up, but that doesn't mean it's Night's fault? When he got in that car, I honestly worried he might've drunkenly thought it'd be funny to hold Day's eyes closed or something, but this? Day, I know you were on a toll road or something, but even so I was yelling at my screen for you to pull over from the second Night made the first retchy noise. And for Day to resent him for getting out of it with his sight intact and with, y'know, character growth? that's … unfortunately realistic but also. Oh Day. Oh Night. Boys.

OH wow so Day has that much insight at least?

he said เด็กเดียว there, right?? gotta rewatch and check

wow Day WOW you've got some things to work through here

the "sorry" bit is food for a LOT of "ways in which siajai and sorry aren't identical" commentary and I once again salute GMM's translation team

OHHH good job apologising

oh so she didn't start out rich and famous? sorry for misjudging, P'Mon

love these not-so-subtle "travel to southern Thailand, we have great food" plugs here

oh not AGAIN with the product placement

the way Day looks, I bet this smells the same

a museum?

an ARTIST so that's why the hair?

Day, you're an ass, you realise right?

I mean it does sorta feel like he's just hanging on to all the resentment towards Night so he doesn't have to deal with the fact that it was random and could've happened in a million different ways?

ahaha see! Long hair = artist!

oh I love the angle they shot this from here

is Pla teaching Mawk to make southern food??

is Mawk gonna move on to actually being a chef, too? is there anything he can't do? (for real though I love that Mawk is getting to see that there's options for him)

are they both gonna move South in the end?

you can SEE him thinking about whether to ask if there'll be a next time

HAH

… so much for three months, huh

I love the touristy stuff in these few eps

the music is creepy af

OH

random white guy a named David

phuak-you GOD I love neopronouns

Cherry Guest, huh

adfasdfads the MANY FIRSTS convo, what a BBS ep 11 parallel (sobbing)

there we gooooo

you're so far apart, boys, c'mon

THAT'S MORE LIKE IT

(I have many thoughts on the way they set up this scene in regards to Day's agency, none of them coherent, and just. Good job folks.)

I LOVE them oh they're cute

Mawk already trying to start something again 😂

I love how they keep making a point in how there's no knowing the ending before it ends

kinda re: point a few minutes back, but it's wonderful how Mawk has … idk, Mawk has seen he has talents and OPTIONS (which is something I don't feel like he really ever felt he had) which allow him to risk his current job in order to take Day to see the last twilight on Mt Khuha

Mawk is so annoyed by the weather's non-cooperation, I love him so much

honestly I love the view as is, but I also get Mawk's disappointment/upset

oh I love this

it feels very final episode-y though which WORRIES me

is he gonna bring this back to not having seen Mawk's body-- yeah

"last picture" that's a theme song call back

oh Mawk, so touched, huh

ilu Jimmy but you're still not the best at pretending to cry, though I guess the smiling through tears is pretty close

annnd that's it, his sight has gone, huh

I know the blocking probably is done for ~reasons but I still wish they'd moved closer to each other here

oh no, the preview REALLY worries me

I'm so glad my hunch that Night didn't actually actively do anything to make Day resent him that much played out as correct. Now for shit to hit the fan next week when their mum gets involved.

[mangocheesecakeicecream]

So I think that in order to prevent psychoanalysis to operate under a normative and adaptational logic or even as a justification for oppression it is absolutely necessary to be aware of the political and ethical edge that is always at stake in writing but especially in our practice that is to say that there is no possible psychoanalysis for from a neutral or pure position the confirmation of the subject is political family is not a bubble isolated from the social world and perhaps the main idea from which I'm positioning this work is that we have no reason to think that the unconscious could be structured under an economy less immersed in power relations than the economy in which we move in everyday social life so I'm proposing a parallel of libidinal economy and political economy okay now when addressing the question of subjective  emancipation I think the first thing we should ask ourselves is which subject are we talking about who and what is this subject we pretend to emancipate and liberate on this I follow Foucault I also follow Butler and Hegel and Lacan but let's stay with Foucault  which means we are talking about a subject formed by power now this don't this not only means to break away from the classical subject of philosophy the subject of knowledge the one from Decartes and Kant to do so particularly regarding the political world is not just that because what Focault  proposes goes further he is posing the productive characteristic of disciplinary power I read this disciplinary power as deeply capitalist not only because of the historical context from which it springs but because of the way it uses time space and many dispositives in order to produce individuals that are both docile and useful now this productivity means that that power is not something external that executed its force on body subjects that were previously or already there but rather that by subjecting bodies to discipline it forms them by subjecting individuals to certain processes it produces them the body subjects are both an object of discipline and its effect here we encounter a double face to the subject on the one hand to be subjected and on the other to be an agent to be capable of action we are subjected to power it is in many ways inflicted upon us along Our Lives causing discontent most of the times it subdues us but it also sets the conditions for our existence and the possibilities to act it frames Our Lives whether we like it or not power Channel the course of our desire it sets what is desirable worthy valuable valid and what isn't Focault insisted in the fact that we tend to think of power as something negative that is like a set of prohibitions when actually power is positively productive it produces reality it produces objects it produces rituals of Truth it produces criteria for normality health and functionality and also for abnormality but again keep in mind that this is not something external we don't choose the conditions of our existence but we recognize ourselves in them these conditions are imposed upon us and yet we feel they belong to us this leads us to desire the conditions of subjection and to reassert them over and over because we want to persist in existence even if it's under subordination in part that's why emancipation or Liberation may seem as something directly threatening to the subject I'd rather be subjected than not existing so my idea of emancipation is not that that there should be no law nor that we should push for the dissolution of the subject I'm not with Deleuze and Guattari  on that rather I aim to think on how to reconfigure the socio symbolic field that supports the subject that frames its possibility of agency and guides the trajectory of its desire… subjection and subjectification are necessary to operate in the world we need language we need certain rules and conditions in order to be subjects but that doesn't mean that we need THESE rules and conditions nonetheless it's worth asking ourselves if that means there's nothing at stake nothing to lose when pursuing emancipation 

Mariana Hernandez Urias

[rayclubs]

Ever since watching Live Action One Piece, I can't stop thinking about how good the writing is in the actual show, so I'm going to seriously analyze it for my own fun and pleasure.

OP is kind of notorious for being nonsensical, whimsical, goofy and not particularly loaded with themes and heavy-to-grasp concepts, so a lot of people think of its arcs as mere sequences of events without an underlying thematic structure. This is what the Live Action gets wrong, but to the original show's credit, the formula is so intricately woven that you can't easily define it like in other serialized media. It's also a bit more... Nebulous? Okay, I can explain.

At least four of the earliest arcs follow the same formula. I'm sure it applies to later arcs too but they get longer and things become muddled down the line - not in a bad way, the core concepts still apply, just differently, so I'm only going to talk about the first four important ones. The formula is this:

The main character, Luffy, is introduced to another character who, in one way or another, displays a character flaw that prevents them from achieving their goals and dreams.

They encounter a foe who displays the exact same flaw in a different way.

Luffy confronts the foe on moral grounds and demonstrates a virtue that overcomes and overpowers the villain, leasing him to victory.

The newly introduced character, inspired by Luffy's example, experiences a change of perspective, which helps them overcome their own flaw and take a step towards their goal.

If you're thinking that sounds about right, then holy shit, our wavelengths. If, more likely, you're thinking "this is kinda far-fetched", then oh boy do I got proof of concept for you.

It's incredible how clear and well-executed the parallels between heroes and villains are. Like, okay, listen, here's Zoro's arc.

The villain, Axe-Hand Morgan, is a self-assured, self-centered tyrant who treats his comrades and subordinates as expendable tools and has no loyalties except to his own greatness.

Zoro isn't a tyrant, he's kind-hearted and has a strong moral compass, but he is still flawed: like Morgan, he doesn't have any loyalties except to himself. He's self-assured as hell. We learn later that he used to have mercenary friends but they went their own separate way at some point, and when they meet again, Zoro shows no clear loyalty to them - he's kind-hearted, so, of course, he cares, but he was never bound by their alliance and obviously considered the three of them to be drawn together by coincidence.

And to be clear, in the world of One Piece that is a flaw. Most characters swear allegiance to factions - pirate crews, marines, revolutionaries, other groups - and draw strength from them. Villages and towns are shown to survive hardships through unity and companionship.

Even Zoro's ultimate goal, the person he swore to defeat in mortal combat - Mihawk - although he appears solitary and not "bound" to a crew or a cause, we learn later that he is affiliated with the government. But that's a bit off-track.

While trying to save Zoro from execusion by Morgan, Luffy demonstrates a stubborn determination to work together. As soon as he recognizes that an injustice has been done to Zoro, he works not to solve the problem by himself, but to help Zoro deal with it. While another character tries to free Zoro from captivity directly - literally untie the ropes that are holding him - Luffy hands him his swords first.

Notably, Zoro is the only main character who defeats the main villain of his arc, all others are defeated by Luffy. I say "notably" because Zoro specifically is ony able to achieve this through cooperation with Luffy.

As the show goes on, Zoro's loyalty quickly becomes one of his core traits.

That's just one of them, so let's do Usopp's arc next.

The villain, Kuro, is a pirate captain who gave up his name and title. He is trying to turn away from who he is, remake himself into someone new through deception and trickery.

Usopp is doing the exact same thing, albeit in a decidedly more innocent way. He lies about his heroic feats and achivements, about his strength and the size of his crew, about practically everything. His lies aren't a flaw per se, as he never stops lying in the future. It's not his cowardice, that doesn't change much either. It's his conflict with himself. He's a pirate but he isn't. Pirates are coming but they aren't. He's proud of his heritage but he doesn't really get to be proud all that much until Luffy comes along.

Luffy defeats Kuro by being a better pirate, or by being better at being a pirate, or by being a pirate at all. Luffy has simple, clear-cut views and ambitions, he knows what kind of person he is and what kind of person he's trying to be, and he lives by it. That's the virtue.

As Usopp says his goodbyes before leaving his village, he gathers his little "crew" of kids together and makes them state their ambitions - one wants to be a writer, another dreams of owning a bar, etcetera - this is him imparting a lesson he just learned himself, on knowing who you want to become and living to be that person.

Usopp's best friend Kaya, inspired by him, resolves to become a doctor.

All this is also a showcase of Usopp's legacy, but don't get me started on legacy in One Piece, we'll be here for an hour.

So there we go. Let's do Sanji's arc next, it's way easier than Usopp's 3D chess pirate-gender.

The villain of the arc, Don Krieg, engages in malicious dishonesty to secure advantage in battles because he doesn't believe himself to be prepared enough for the journey he's undertaking.

Sanji is exactly the same but without the trickery. He justifies his inaction with the vague concept of being indebted to his mentor, even though his mentor considers the debt fully paid and sincerely wants him to live his own life.

Luffy defeats Don Krieg via stubbornness, bravery, endurance and ingenuity. It's similar to his other fights and not emphasized enough, which is probably why it's always been one of the more boring parts to me personally, though it's still wonderfully executed.

More importantly, Luffy reduses Sanji's mentor's journal, stating he wants to have his own adventure, not follow in someone else's footsteps. This is almost word-for-word the lesson Sanji needs to learn. Get out of there and do your best, you're ready, you'll never be more ready than you already are.

And finally, Nami's arc.

The villain, Arlong, believes himself to be inherently superior to those around him. If he recruits help, it's out of convenience, not necessity. If he forms bonds, they're business, not camaraderie. He does care for his fellow fishmen but that has more to do with the extended fishmen backstory and politics than anything so I won't touch on it.

Nami is equally flawed by hubris. She thinks she's better, more competent, more capable than the people around her, she has that complex you get when you don't have any friends in high school and end up doing all the group projects by yourself.

While fighting Arlong, Luffy makes a point out of stating and showing his own reliance on his own crew, and even lists off the skills they excel at that he himself doesn't possess. It's very on the nose but still awesome to watch.

He then absolutely fucking wrecks Nami's old prison-slash-workshop, demonstrating symbolically that, while her skill is great and important, it's not the main reason he values her as a crewmate and friend.

Nami gets over her hubris, begins to rely on others as allies more than assets, and relaxes a little about her paranoid hypercompetence. Good for her.

Okay so hopefully this convinced you. This was also going to be the part where I go on a long tangent about why Live Action One Piece fails on so many levels but then I realized I'd need a whole separate post for that, so I'm just gonna state the main point and leave it at that.

Netflix screenwriters seemed to have watched One Piece (roughly up to episode 130) and decided the arcs did not have any thematic uniting element even though they clearly did, as per above. They proceeded to rework the plot to introduce what they thought would work as unifying elements (introducing Baroque Works early, having Coby in every episode, cutting out Don Krieg and replacing him with Arlong) which inadvertently undermined the story structure and ruined the show.

Anyway, there's more. One of the earlier arcs is Buggy's arc which follows a different format. It doesn't see any new additions to the crew but it does see Luffy's worldview challenged by an outside force. This is an early example of a Luffy arc. Other examples include Loguetown, Jaya/Skypiea, and Foxy's arc (regrettably). Also Marinford and the events prior but that's, like, self-evident, I think. This story format borrows from classic romance literature and is way more straightforward. Buggy being an early example of it in the show, while being a comedic element himself, also introduces a lot of these story concepts. His journey could also be considered somewhat parallel to Luffy's, but that's a bit of a stretch, to be honest.

I completely forgot how I was going to end this analysis but hopefully reading it was worthwhile anyway. Live Action One Piece sucks. Cheers!

[gt-ridel]

Okay, okay... So I know the entity in episode three of The Sounds of Nightmares likely isn't connected to Mono at all. There are too many plot holes and it perhaps has better parallels elsewhere. But I don't think it was entirely by accident that so many of us latched onto the idea.

For starters, Noone begins her recounting of the dream in this way. "In the dark... A hand let go of mine." This statement doesn't seem to connect to anything that was happening before or anything that follows. Hand-holding was a pretty significant aspect of Little Nightmares II. Mono and Six would give each other boosts to reach high places, catch each other when making a long jump, or if you were so inclined (and I was because it was cute) just hold hands as they walked along. Until of course that last scene. You know the one. In the dark. When she let go of his hand.

The second major connection is the Mall itself. A living structure, able to bend space and time, and give you exactly what you want if it means you won't try to leave. I believe that's what happened to Six in LN2. It gave her back her music box. How would it have known about that? Perhaps it saw into her mind. Saw something she wanted. After all, when we first find her she's sitting alone in the Hunter's basement just playing with it. Not trying to escape or anything. perhaps it would be enough to pacify her? (It's my theory that Six has been in Nowhere longer than Mono, and is, therefore, closer to the monstrous than he is.)

In the case of Noone, if we imagine it's the same entity, it seems its tactics and vocabulary have improved since Six's imprisonment. The illusions are more complete, less dreamlike. Perhaps as a side effect of being able to keep Mono. Learn from him. (Total headcanon here, but I like to believe that eventually Mono and the Tower begin to work as one.) It's also the only non-hostile entity (not counting the Nomes) we have met in Nowhere. It's just lonely. So terribly lonely. And who can blame it? If it grew from one little boy, abandoned in a deep pit by his only friend. (Maybe that's why his purpose as the Thin Man was simply to abduct children and bring them back to the tower. But I digress) But let's get back to Noone. Once she enters the projection booth, she comes face to face with the true nature of the building. A giant eye working as a projector, and a pulsating mass of flesh. The building is literally alive, and the image is instantly familiar to the listener.

The illusion even begins to tear itself apart at the seams when she tries to run. The same as it did for us in the game. Anyway, I'm not sure to what end these similarities exist. I don't think it was the intention of the showrunner that Noone meet Mono. But hey, I think we all felt like we'd gotten socked in the gut when we finished Little Nightmares II. So is it any surprise that we're desperate to see him again, in any form? To hope that he finds some kind of solace, even if only for a short time? I mean, I do. So even though it's not strictly true (unless stated otherwise by the developers) this is a headcanon that I hold near and dear to my heart. Like a beloved bootleg plushie. This is not to say that I disagree with, or even dislike other interpretations. Basically, It's just that Mono is my poor sweet baby child and I wuv him. 🥺

[transmutationisms]

okay i will say the number one problem with a robert eggers film is that robert eggers is not a very good filmmaker. like i really and truly hate how he moves a camera and this one doesn't even have the wider static shots with interesting composition that the lighthouse benefits from so you just have to look at these chronically centred slow aimless pan shots for two hours-plus. he also flat out refuses to learn how to light anything, or how to block a shot that someone else has lit for him (why is every lit shot backlit! and hazy!), to the point where you actually cannot see things like the number of rats swarming orlok's ship... there are ways to light a scene that convey the idea of darkness and nighttime without just being physically dark and muddy. i also fucking hate how eggers writes 'period' dialogue it's like he knows the rhythm of the language is different but nothing else so you get this combination of stylised and formalised sentence structure with anachronistic and very clichéd overused turns of phrase. and then he doesn't trust his audience to understand that so he has another character repeat back the information in plainer english. i truly do not mind if a period film just uses anachronistic language for the sake of intelligibility, nor do i mind if some of the lines are confusing at first & have to be figured out from context provided visually. but i do not like this thing of using language in the most worn out ways possible to achieve a superficially 'old' effect that strips the lines of both naturalism & style.

however again i repeat. what other dracula is thematically trying to accomplish what this one does. this read on orlok makes clearer the parallel between mina/ellen and renfield/knock: ellen has had doctors treat her 'condition', she is explicitly pathologised as weak minded (her 'epilepsies'), she and renfield are both under orlok's hypnotic influence & are reviled for calling to him / cooperating with him. i don't think any of this is particularly new commentary on csa but i think it works well enough, and links up elegantly with victorian anxieties about women's sexuality as a site of social contamination.

this is also the only dracula adaptation i've seen that really reproduces stoker's anxieties about scientific modernity via the van helsing character. reactionary yes & i think draws out that the problem with orlok is not really that he's this anachronistic aristocrat figure but that he's that while racialised/eastern: when the van helsing character wears the same anachronicity on his sleeve he saves the day. the view here of the kind of enlightenment holdover physician-philosophe is obviously very rosy but i was kind of just tickled by eggers committing enough to book accuracy to actually reproduce stoker's own attitude consistently and coherently. most adaptations don't clock this or care about it lol

yea that was pretty good. i dunno what people are complaining about that "eggers doesn't bring anything new to the table" i must have missed all the other dracula adaptations that are textually about child sexual abuse

[vashtijoy]

Do you hc akechi as a momma’s boy? I’ve always found his relationship to his mother kind of unclear, like he seems like he really cares but also it definitely doesn’t seem like his main motivator but most definitely the cause… idk

Okay, let's start with what we know. First of all, here's Ren's image of baby Akechi from the Proof of Justice OVA:

He's not very old. If he's the same age as the kid Ren was watching, he's what, six? Seven? Eight? And already, he doesn't look like a happy kid. Doesn't he look kind of nervous and worried and too old for his age?

In the OVA, he says he didn't have friends to play with even then—something separated him from his peers even before his mother died—and that pretending to play hero made his mother happy. Like he was already responsible for her that young, as she faded and died. Like he was already putting up that perfect front before she was gone.

Of course, that's present-day Akechi talking, and I'm not sure he has much investment in thinking about times when he did dream of being a hero—if they ever existed. But I think we can conclude that his relationship with his mother was difficult. In the engine room, he says she became unhappy after he was born (不幸になる fukou ni naru, to become unhappy) and eventually died—she fell into depression because of him, he believes, and died. He played not for himself, but to please her—presumably because she wanted him to play, because watching him suffer compounded her misery. He talks about putting frozen meals in the microwave for himself as a kid. He talks about wanting an apology for his mother, from the father who abandoned them.

The picture is really bleak—a young elementary-school age kid in a single-parent household, neglected by a depressed mother, burdened with her care and his own, determined to be so good and so perfect and not cause problems and just be whatever she needs. A kid who thinks maybe an apology from his father will put his world to rights. No friends. No family that he knows yet, or would want to know. His mother, and his obligations, are his whole world.

and then mom dies

Akechi remembers his mother being in the sex industry (waiting at the baths for her clients to leave), but he also remembers that she left it—presumably to give him a better life. Moving into headcanon, I wonder to what extent that may have isolated her—cut her off from support structures she had, and the people she knew, contributing further to her depression.

She's working longer hours. She has a kid she wanted—I think there's no question of this; there are many ways to get rid of kids you don't want—but maybe can't cope with, who watches her with huge, too-old eyes and poorly-hidden expectations she never meets, so that she breathes guilt at the sight of him.

She lets him down at every turn. She's a burden on him. She's destroying his childhood. He'd be so much better off without her, wouldn't he? And one day she just... doesn't come home. She's just not there when he gets back from school, or she never arrives back from work. He microwaves his dinner, does whatever he does alone at home, and waits, and waits; he goes over his planning for what he'll do when she doesn't come back, the kind of plans kids make when they can't rely on their parents. But he still waits for her. And when someone does arrive, in the early hours of the morning, it's not his mother; it's the police.

and then

OVA Akechi says that he "bounced around his relatives" after his mother's death, that they passed him around like a parcel. It's a popular HC that he spent time in orphanages etc, but I don't think this was the case; his situation closely parallels Futaba's, with her succession of exploitative relatives who didn't care about her and only wanted money. Akechi describes this himself: his desperation to be good enough that someone would want him around.

Remember, he's been putting up that front with his sick mother, long before she died, and now that he's with relatives who don't want him, he keeps going. Anything inconvenient, anything ugly, he buries deep. He gets better at it. He becomes polite and perfect and cheerful; he gets perfect grades; he tries to be the sort of kid you can't help but notice, the sort that makes you proud.

On the outside, at any rate. Because it never does a damn thing. We can speculate about whether and how Akechi's caregivers were outright abusive to him, but one thing seems crystal clear: none of them wanted him. Nothing he did ever made them love him. The only person who ever needed him was his sick mother, and she's gone.

And what do people who need to be needed do, when they don't have anyone? What do people do when they're desperate for love? They do anything, and find anyone they possibly can, who will need them and love them. Which is how Akechi ends up working for his estranged father, believing with every part of his being that he hates the man, while being led around for words of praise that would have meant nothing to him if he was truly as indifferent as he thinks. Like Cognitive Akechi insists, "you wanted him to love you, didn't you?"

but why does he do that and where's mom in the equation

At eighteen, Akechi still blames himself for his mother's death. He uses the wording 生まれる事を望まれなかった子供 umareru koto o nozomarenakatta kodomo, "a child whose birth was unwanted; a child who should never have been born"—rendered "cursed child" in the localisation.

But he never talks much about his mother, other than to dripfeed personal information to Joker and Futaba. She doesn't seem to feature overmuch in his thinking, like you say. I think what's going on is something like this:

Akechi's mother dies some time in his early elementary school years. Part of his thinking has been this idea that, if he could only find his father and get him to apologise, maybe that would make his mother happy; maybe that's something Akechi could do to help her. I think that "back then, Shido was on the Tokyo Assembly" line ("he was already a high-ranking official by then") is not referring to when Akechi got his powers, but to when his mother died.

And when she dies, Akechi knows, he knows whose fault it is. And it isn't his absent father's. It's Akechi's fault. He has not been good enough. He hasn't hidden his irrelevant little sadnesses well enough. He hasn't been independent enough, strong enough, supportive enough. He woke his mom while he was getting ready for school one time, I don't fucking know, okay. But all the things we tell ourselves when someone dies unexpectedly—if only, if only, if only—on the shoulders of a little kid. A kid with no support, because he's been passed to relatives who don't want him and see him as a burden.

Essentially: Akechi, at six or seven, has not done what Joker will do so effectively at sixteen. He hasn't hidden his messy reality, his messy little-boy needs and fears, behind what his mother needed him to be. And now his mother is dead.

So, first of all: he is very motivated to make that mask better, to be more perfect, more independent, less real. And second? If he doesn't find somewhere for all that guilt to go, somewhere to displace that secret knowledge to, he will break. And broken boys are not perfect. They are never wanted. Nobody ever keeps them around.

an apology just ain't going to cut it any more

This is Akechi's start of darkness. The father who used his mother as a plaything and cast her aside, never knowing her name—the father who left her with a child who destroyed her (and he'll just brush over that bit, if you don't mind)—the father who left them both alone with nothing—he murdered Akechi's mother. Her death was his fault.

This is how Akechi becomes the boy we know, consumed on the inside with hate that has eaten him up like acid. For almost as long as he's been a person at all, he's been obsessed with revenge on his father—first for the death of his mother, for Akechi's own suffering and aloneness as he's grown, and ultimately for all the indignities he's made Akechi swallow under his thumb.

Letting it go was never an option. Because if he stops thinking about what a monster his father is, if he stops thinking of all the things he wants to do to him and dreaming of a future where he can somehow bring him down, he has to face the fact that he, and he alone, caused his mother's death. It might be bullshit, but Akechi believes it. And—because the adults around him have no interest in him—he has no support in dealing with all of this in any other way. He's a little kid, who's dealt all his life with things that would tax most adults to handle.

so what does this ultimately look like

At eighteen, Akechi is still in a very real way that little kid who lost his mother. He doesn't really grow up. He's probably the one cast member whose dialogue most prominently foregrounds the divide between kids and the adults who exploit them, right from that first conversation in the TV studio. He still thinks of himself as a child, and of adults as this vast, oppressive sea of other—a sea he can navigate and control and oppress in turn.

But I don't think he remembers his mother. I've written him sometimes as remembering things like the smell of her perfume, or the sight of her hair from behind, but not her face; the rhythm of her voice, but not its sound. He remembers her as an anxiety, a burden; for this almost-grown boy who refuses to fail no matter the cost, the death of his mother is still his greatest (and possibly only acknowledged) failure.

I said further up that Akechi's motive has shifted over time. Avenging his mother made sense when he was seven or eight. Later on, as he stores up insults and rejections, the focus shifts to avenging himself. And after he's worked for Shido for a year or two? After Shido has, despite everything, never quite acknowledged Akechi or rewarded him as he deserves? Well, then the focus is going to be on getting Shido.

Because Akechi is essential to him. He made him. Shido needs him like nobody ever has. Not since his mother.

That's the core of the twisted connection Akechi has to Shido. He hates him, and he blames him, and yet Shido is his only true family, poisoned as that relationship is. He is the only one who needs Akechi for anything. And Akechi needs so desperately to be needed....

I dunno. Shido could have had a devoted assassin for life, and been lifetime dictator of Japan, if he'd been just a little smarter; I suspect that thought unsettles third semester Akechi more than almost anything. Instead, Akechi's hate somehow deepens, and deepens, and deepens until he drowns in it, in all the things he's done in its service. To be needed so deeply, and yet still to be neglected....

Well, that makes the death of his mother look like nothing at all.

[yvtro]

thoughts on task force z? I’m not sure if you’ve talked about it before but I’m curious what you think of jason’s characterization there

disclaimer: i’m moving blogs. still here to go through my askbox, but you will find me at @boyfridged most of the time.

it's been almost two months, but i've been postponing replying to this ask because i rarely read recent comics, and infinite frontier is a dumpster fire. but i finally got to it!! here are my general thoughts that i noted during that read-through:

so i know that i’ve been talking a lot about how interesting the cyclical nature of jason’s story is, and how it makes a lot of sense for him to be stuck in this loop on the peripheries of the narrative, but reading this series made me want to retract this statement purely because dc doesn't know how to make it work. stories about cycles like that require awareness of why the cycle occurs, research about the source material (how was it perpetuated before?) and a good idea about how the same storyline structure can be written to feel fresh and novel for a reader.

spoiler alert: the storyline did not feel fresh nor novel. it was incredibly dull. i think rosenberg just isn't a very good writer, you know? his dialogues are stiff, and i swear he has not heard in his life about "show don't tell" (and while i'm not even that committed to the idea of "show don't tell" in regular literature, comics entirely rely on show don't tell. not to take the rule too literally, but this is what you have pictures for!! use them to mean something, maybe?)

i think i get why i've seen people praising tfz though, and that's because rosenberg has a surprisingly good general grasp of jason's character (compared with zdarsky, for example.) then again, this is the bare minimum, the bar is on the floor or below, etc. and he could fit that comprehension of jason’s character in a tweet. no need for a 12-issues series.

so, let's take an overview of things that jason says: “you didn’t make me, you raised me” “i made mistakes because i was scared, and i was angry, and i was hurt” “i died trying to save someone i cared about. (…) i died a hero” all good points! all true. so what's the issue? well, to me it's that he would not fucking say that. why does he talk like he's in therapy? when did he come to all these conclusions? the thing about good storytelling is that characters very rarely have a clear picture of their own place in the world; and while it is the case that jason is interesting in the sense that he's always verging on a brink of that awareness, and he is quite vocal about his feelings, the thing is that nevertheless, he rarely brings himself to openly speak about things that matter; he deflects. and it makes sense for him to be quite repressed (it's self-preservation. it's the dialogical nature of identity.) why would a character suddenly start monolouging on their relationships and their status in the narrative (lol.) etc? the whole series is like that, and it's exhausting, because it doesn't mean anything at all. you can tell me all of these things, but how about you show me how and why he came to this realisation? where's the internal conflict? ever heard of symbolism? parallels? plot devices? figures of speech?

on the topic of talking like in therapy, i think the only interesting bit was barbara telling jason that he's basing his identity on his trauma. it has potential, and it makes sense it would be barbara to say it.

but since i'm on the topic of other characters already: every single other character acts like they're a cardboard cut-out. we see the same confrontation with bruce we've seen hundred times before (okay. maybe not hundred but def more than 10 times. hell, there was the same confrontation in cheer that came out the same year, i think?), and bruce sounds like a broken record. i have to stress that i do think there are good reasons for them to be stuck in the same place when it comes to their relationship, but once again, if you want to write about it, try to make a point about why this is the case. and atp, it's just so inconsistent with bruce's current characterisation, that it feels like he just appears in red hood stories as a prop. same with pretty much all the batfam really. since when is the whole batfam sooo eager to agree with bruce when it comes to every single one of his decisions? if you need to make everyone seem to be mindless to make your main character right, then you're doing it wrong. whatever happened to nuance? get off ao3, rosenberg, this is not a whump fic.

in general, i couldn't tell you what that story is trying to say. and i consider myself a very charitable reader. i've found elements in rhato that i thought were note-worthy. here?? there's no substance. at all.

my favourite part must be the ending and jay essentially saying that he wants to heal and start a new life, and steph replying that where he’s going is where the joker was last spotted. ok i see. a classic jason todd move: “starting a new life <3" -> doing exactly the same thing he’s done before but now isolated and even more mentally disturbed. go girl:) this i can stand behind.

btw i haven’t caught up with all of infinite frontier stuff (and I don’t even know if I want to) but why does everyone and their mother know jason’s identity? what is up with that.

also: amazing how you can write a whole series filled with harv & jay's interactions and never once mention that two-face got jason's father killed! but for that you would have acknowledge a storyline in which jason cares about willis and forgives a villain, right? and dc is not doing that.

in conclusion. it was tedious.