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allnewalldifferentwildspider · 3 years

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Zuko & Katara's Relationship Dynamic

This is like the third or fourth time I've tried to write up this post so please bare with me.

Oh wow. That video. Hopefully everyone has seen it now. Not only did it articulate arguments I've been making for years, but it also brought up ideas I had never thought of or noticed before. Watching that and watching the second half of Book 3 again (because it's my favorite) made me want to redo my zutara dynamic post.

I'm going to be using the tiny bits and pieces the show gave us to see how Zuko and Katara's relationship looks and how it would look if they gave us more because...Bryke really fucking hated zutara. I mean, I guess they did.

Katara is compassionate; Zuko is empathetic

A lot of anti-zutara arguments have said that Zuko and Katara could never be together because they would constantly fight and hate each other and it end sooner than later. Not only does this actually describe maiko, but that argument would need to ignore the characters' actual character.

One of Katara's biggest character traits is how compassionate she is. She has a drive to help others and ease their pain. Whether it's getting Aang out of the iceberg or healing a Fire Nation fishing village, Katara will go out of her way to help someone in need.

Katara: No. I will never ever turn my back on people who need me.

Zuko is very emotional and passionate person. As much as he tried to hide it to appease his father, Zuko does want to open up and connect with people. Unfortunately, aside from his uncle, most of the other people he knows are like Zhao and Azula. Not the most understanding of crowds. But because of this he can pick up what people are really thinking and feeling. Think of it as a defense mechanism he developed growing up around people like Azula.

Get these two kinds of people together and you get the crystal catacombs scene. Katara lashes out at Zuko until she breaks down. When she does Zuko opens up with empathy since they have something in common. This creates the beginning of an understanding between the two. Zuko uses that to finally open up to someone who isn't his uncle and Katara listens and reaches out to help. Contrast to the first episode of Book 3 when Zuko tries to voice his thoughts and concerns to Mai and she...doesn't really care.

Something similar happens during The Southern Raiders. Zuko figures out that Katara is taking out her anger of being separated from her father by The Fire Nation onto him and even connecting her mother's death to him.

It's not the first time Zuko has done this either. He easily figured out that Sokka was planning on going to The Boiling Rock. He does it again during Sozin's Comet when he tells Katara that Aang needs to figure out what to do about Ozai by himself.

There's a noticeable pattern of behavior by the time Sozin's Comet arrives. Zuko voices his concerns about meeting his uncle again and Katara is right there to help him through it.

Zuko's empathy combined with Katara's compassion creates almost a cycle of understanding and emotional vulnerability that the two can't really get with anyone else. One notices the other having concerns or problems and goes to give comfort by words or by actions.

Zuko still has a temper but so does Katara

Even after Zuko's fever dream character change thing, even after The Day of Black Sun, he still has it in him to yell at anyone who commits even the slightest transgressions against him:

Aang: That one felt kinda hot. Zuko: Don't patronize me. You know what it's supposed to look like. Aang: Sorry, sifu hotman. Zuko: And stop calling me that!

Sokka: So all we have to do is make Zuko angry. Easy enough. *pokes him with his sword* *annoying laugh* Zuko: All right! Cut it out!

Maybe it's the firebender in him or maybe he really is just like that. Basically if you annoy him, he'll let you know. What people sometimes overlook is that while it takes Katara a bit longer, she also gets worked up when people upset her.

Toph: What's the matter? Can't handle some dirt, Madame Fussy Britches? Katara: Oh, sorry, did I splash you, mud slug?

And remember, it was Katara getting angry at Sokka that even broke the iceberg that revealed Aang.

Katara: Ugh, I'm embarrassed to be related to you! Ever since Mom died I've been doing all the work around camp while you've been off playing soldier! Sokka: Uh... Katara? Katara: I even wash all the clothes! Have you ever smelled your dirty socks? Let me tell you, NOT PLEASANT! Sokka: Katara! Settle down! Katara: No, that's it. I'm done helping you. From now on, you're on your own!

The point is that it is both Zuko and Katara that are very passionate and emotional people. One of them isn't emotionally dominating the other because they both wear their emotions on their sleeves.

This also comes in to play when they set goals for themselves. When Zuko sets a goal, he puts everything into it. Katara is the same way. The difference is that Zuko's drive sometimes gives him a one-track mind while Katara is more flexible. Like for example Zuko being so focused on finding Aang before Sozin's Comet that he ignores Toph's story about her childhood versus Katara wanting to go to the North Pole but taking time to stop and help whoever they come across.

This passion also fuels their values and how strongly they stand by their beliefs. I already put The Painted Lady quote up above but Zuko's morality is what is making him so angry at himself during The Beach. He knows what he did was wrong, but he couldn't face it yet.

Sometimes their emotions get the better of them, but it's only because they are passionate about what they're doing.

Their natural teamwork is amazing

I can't provide a lot of clues in this bit because it's more of a visual thing. Just consider how flawlessly their plans worked during their attack on The Southern Raiders. Especially when you consider that it was a stealth mission so they barely even said anything to each other during and it still went incredibly well.

You could see it again during their mock battle with The Melon Lord. Sokka must have noticed because he paired them together to deliver some "liquidy-hot offence." And they pulled it off, again, without having to say anything.

They've only been a team for a few weeks(?), days(?) but they act as if they've been doing it for years.

They trust each other's judgment

Piggybacking of the previous point, Zuko and Katara have only been a team for a while but there seems to be a level of understanding in terms of judgement. They both know that whatever the other chooses is going to be a well-thought out decision. Maybe it's because they see each other as the mature members of the group even though Sokka is the same age as Zuko? I don't know.

Aang disappears right before they embark on their fight against the Fire Lord, and out of nowhere, Katara puts Zuko in charge.

Zuko: Get out of the bison's mouth, Sokka. We have a real problem here. Aang is nowhere to be found and the comet is only two days away. Katara: What should we do Zuko? Zuko: I don't know. Why are you all looking at me? Katara: Well, you are kind of the expert on tracking Aang.

and that wasn't the first time in that episode that she went along with one of Zuko's decisions

Katara: Aang, don't walk away from this. *She begins to walk towards him as a hand touches her shoulder to stop her from doing so.* Zuko: Let him go. He needs time to sort it out by himself.

As a lot of people have pointed out during the entirety of The Southern Raiders, Zuko never gives a suggestion on what he thinks Katara should do. Aside from making it a stealth mission, he follows her lead the entire way.

Katara teases Zuko (and he lets her)

The fun one. This one has two parts: pre and post The Southern Raiders.

Before The Southern Raiders, Katara was tolerating Zuko. She was still angry with him about the betrayal at Ba Sing Se. Getting little jabs at him was the only thing that was really helping her from loosing her cool around him.

Katara: I'm sorry. I'm just laughing at the irony. You know... how it would have been nice for us if you lost your firebending a long time ago? Zuko: Well it's not lost. It's just weaker for some reason. Katara: Maybe you're just not as good as you think you are. Toph: Ouch.

He just finished yelling at Aang and Sokka but all he does is glare at Katara. She does it again, but to be fair, he kind of set himself up for it.

Zuko: It's a sacred form that happens to be thousands of years old! Katara: Oh yeah? What's your little form called? Zuko: ...The Dancing Dragon.

Then comes post The Southern Raiders and...yeah, she's still picking on him and he still lets her. Granted it's a lot more playful this time around.

Zuko: They make me totally stiff and humorless. Katara: Actually, I think that actor's pretty spot on. Zuko: How could you say that? Actor Uncle: Let's forget about the Avatar and get massages. Actor Zuko: How could you say that?! (Cut back to Katara wearing a satisfied grin on her face and she looks to an expressionless Zuko as he slouches in his seat.)

I love pointing it out every time. She teases him and he does nothing about it.

Katara: Er, no. I was looking for cooking pots in the attic and I found this. Look at baby Zuko! Isn't he cute? Oh lighten up, I was just teasing.

And she admits it!

So what can we take away from this? From what little time they were given together (thanks, Bryke) it seems that Zuko and Katara really understand each other on an intimate emotional level. They can sense when the other is distressed and offer comfort. They're both passionate in and out of combat, for better or for worse. They're comfortable with each other as if they've known each other for years even though it's such a short time. Katara also likes to add a little bit of playfulness in there with Zuko letting her have her fun, again, showing how comfortable they are with each other.

I do think their relationship could have gone to romantic sooner than later if you would have given it a bit more time. Like first half of a hypothetical Book 4.

To me, at least.

#zutara #zuko #katara #anti kataang #anti bryke

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writingquestionsanswered · 4 years

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Could you please explain a bit more about stakes?

Stakes: What They Are & How to Raise Them

Have you ever heard someone say, “I can’t take that risk. I’ve got too much to lose.”

Well, the things that person is afraid of losing, those are their “stakes.”

Have you ever heard something like, “The CEO refused to engage in the sketchy business deal because his company’s reputation was at stake.”

Stakes are also “the worst that can happen” if your character makes a bad decision or fails to achieve their goal.

Your character’s stakes are the things that motivate them, too.

Let’s look at The Hunger Games for example. At the beginning, when Gale proposed they run away into the woods together, Katniss scoffs at the idea because she doesn’t want to leave her sister, Prim--the only person in the world she’s certain she loves--and because she knows her family and Gale’s rely on the food and supplies the two of them provide with their hunting and trade. What does Katniss have to lose by running away with Gale? Her family, their safety, perhaps even their survival. Katniss’s sister and mom are her stakes, and they’re her motivation.

How do we raise the stakes? We increase the risk. We put more pressure on the stakes. On an average day, the biggest risk Katniss faces in terms of caring for her sister and mom is failing to provide them with food or resources they need on a given day. But, when the story begins, it isn’t an average day. It’s the day of the Reaping--the day when this year’s Hunger Games tributes will be chosen out of the district’s pool of residents. Katniss does what she can to mitigate the risk of her or her sister being chosen, but Prim is chosen anyway. What’s at stake? Her very survival, the thing that is most important to Katniss. That’s why Katniss volunteers to take her sister’s place, because she knows she has a better chance of surviving than she does. But by putting her own survival at risk, the stakes are raised. Not only is her own life at stake, but if she dies, she can no longer provide for her sister and mom. This becomes the thing that motivates her to survive, because if she doesn’t survive, they don’t, either. With every decision she makes and every risk she takes, her life and their survival is at stake. What’s the worst that can happen if she makes a bad choice? She risks being killed. What’s the worst that can happen if she’s killed? She can no longer provide for her family. What’s the worst that can happen if she can’t provide for her family? They could die of starvation. Every time you can add a new level to this thread of “what’s the worst that can happen” questions, you’ve raised the stakes.

I hope that helps! :)

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lutbys · 4 years

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Gift Wrapping

MIND YOU THIS IS VERY UNEDITED IT IS REALLY JUST A BRAIN DUMP OF A FIC ILL EDIT IT ONE DAY JUST NOT TODAY TQVM

Draco Malfoy x Slytherin reader

Summary: Thinking you were going to be alone in the common room, Draco sits in the corner by himself, struggling to wrap his gifts for Christmas

You hear the last doors close and the hallways were finally quiet.

“Wher’you going?” you hear your dormmate mumble, seconds to slumber. “I’m going to go read, clear my head a bit” but you didn’t hear a response, only the small whistled breaths to indicate the they were fast asleep.

Your feet tapped on the stone stairs lightly, book in hand as you led the way to the common room.

There were always candles lit throughout the night in but that didn’t contrast with the fireplace as its brightness roared through the room, lighting up even the smallest crevices.

The fireplace was the best part of the common room, it always amazes you with the blazing fire it brings and the crackling that bring peace, almost like white noise.

Your feet tapped on the stone stairs quietly, book in hand as you made a bee line to the common room. it was dark, any surface the light of the fireplace didn’t touch was dark enough to be considered non-existent.

The fireplace was your favourite part of the dungeon. It blazing fire glowed beautifully, and the crackling of wood provided you white noise for nights like these, nights were your mind is awake and unwilling to let yourself into deep slumber.

“For fucks sake.” You heard someone whisper-grunt. You jumped out of your shoes, who could still be up this late?

Your head snapped towards the voice and it led you to the table on the farthest corner of the room, a small lantern being the only source of light that illuminated the voices features.

“Malfoy?”

The boys head snapped up and his face glowed orange, accentuating the small bags under his eyes.

“What you do want y/l/n?”

“That’s not how you greet a fellow sixth year.” You chuckled. Its only been the fifth time you’ve talked to the boy, having only had to create conversation whenever you were with pansy. You weren’t as close as one would think, what with having the same group of friends and all. “Whatcha doin’?”

The table he occupied was covered with layers upon layers of wrapping paper and gifts, to the far corner sat three messily wrapped gifts, wrapped was an understatement. “Wrapping?”

“Seems like you’ve answered yourself y/l/n”

“d’you need any help?”

“Wouldn’t need it if mother didn’t have a no giftbag rule.” He rolled his eyes, struggling to peel of the tape that had miraculously stuck itself together. “This is bullshit!” in anger, he balled up a the piece of wrapping paper he used and tossed it behind him.

“Let me help you. Good thing, I know how to and don’t possess anger management issues.” To that, Draco glared but nevertheless pushed the gifts towards you.

With elegance, you wrapped a book, its edges crisp and the ends tucked neatly with a single piece of tape. “See! It’s like folding clothes, but not so much.” “Atypical for you to know how to wrap”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” You moved on to the next gift “I mean, all these years I’ve known you, I’ve never seen you fold anything.” He leaned back in his seat; his eyes glued to your hands as they reach out for the tape.

“Technically, there should be no room for you to comment since you know so little of me.”

To your surprise, the conversation flowed well. Considering his witty remarks and rude sarcasm, Draco was actually good company. With your book long forgotten, the only story you acknowledged were the ones coming out of the blonde boys mouth.

“How about animals. What d’you like?” he asked, fingering with the crisp corners of a cylindrical wrapped gift.

“Snakes. Typical for a Slytherin but there’s just something about them that’s intriguing.”

“Care to elaborate?”

“Like, the flowerpot snake which are made up solely off of females and doesn’t need a mate to reproduce yet, they are the most widespread terrestrial snake in the world or- or the fact that a decapitated head of a snake can still bite and hold more venom than usual.”

Draco eyed you as your eyes gleamed from the thought of snakes, subconsciously gesturing with your hands passionately.

“But I guess the real reason I like snakes is because we used to own one when I was little. Scales. The sweetest little thing that changed my mind completely about them.”

The boy let out a small chuckle, “Scales? Come on y/l/n, there are better names.”

“Hey! I was young and the privilege to get to name her got to me okay.”

“So where’s Scales now?”

Your head ducked, the biggest secret of your life close to slipping from your tongue. “I. It’s- it’s complicated.”

Taking it as a sign, Draco quickly averted the subject knowing he himself wasn’t comfortable with death, -if that was- the case.

The night went on until event he fireplace couldn’t keep up with their company, the fire slowly dimming to a faint, faint glow.

“I should start packing I doubt I can bring much home with all this occupying the space.” He lifted the big bag of presents neatly wrapped because of you. “Will I be seeing you again at the train?”

“No, not this year. I’ll be celebrating it with the elves and most possibly Almost Headless Nick. He pretty good company once you get used to his same performance.” You both giggled at the thought of the ghost boring the students with his same act, only satisfied at the inexperienced first years.

Draco’s heart sank. He tried to push the thought away but after the past couple hours, he regretted not talking to you sooner and now, he had no excuse to use the long ride back home to get to know you better.

“Alright then, I guess I’ll see you after break. Goodnight.”

“Draco wait-“ he barely turned around before your arms encircled around his neck, pulling him into a tight hug. For a while, your heart stammered from his lack of response but instantly relaxed when his hands finally found their way around you. “Thank you for tonight. Like snakes, my perspective changed about you.”

“Glad to know y/l/n. I’d say the same.” You both pulled away with a smile, neither wanting to end the moment but the quiet whispers of dawn approaching did. You slept that morning with the same smile, completely ignoring the loud shuffling of your dormmates rushing to the station with the bliss you felt for your new acquaintance.

Christmas morning felt lonelier than usual, what with barely seven people staying back at Hogwarts, the only sounds coming form the great hall being the quiet clatter of utensils and the elves sweeping the floors.

You sat alone at the table, book in hand. The same book you had that night with Draco, the same book you could never finish because you got distracted every few sentences thinking of the same boy.

Finding it useless to finish the chapter among the small distractions, your feet padded back towards your bedroom, the mound of pillows and blankets ready to sink you in the plush.

Instead, your eyes caught on your once vacant bedside table that now occupied an envelope with your name neatly written on top.

Your hands quickly fiddled with the seal and a small box dropped onto your lap. Opening the letter you read:

The thought of you spending Christmas alone gutted me so here’s my gift to you. It’s not much but I think you’d like it. It symbolizes how I feel about you. Like snakes, you intrigue me. Looking forward to see you again. Draco. p.s. Tell Nick that his jokes aren’t funny for me. That’s my gift for him.

Your fingers found their way to the box. Sleek with the company’s name engraved on top in gold emboss. As you opened it, the sight of the necklace took your breath away.

Accompanying the silver chain was a delicate snake pendant, its details giving texture as you grazed your thumb around it, completely mesmerized by the thing like it was treasure. You sat there for what could have been hours just staring at the beautiful piece of jewellery before you had the nerve to put it on, the snake sitting beautifully on your chest.

Like it belonged there.

a/n: anyone else made big writing goals prior to the month and burnt out early + didn’t consider the other responsibilities they have so their whole project just complete failed :( bc IT DO BE ME DOE.

#Draco Malfoy #Draco #draco malfoy x plus size reader #draco malfoy x muggle!reader #hogwarts #christmas at hogwarts #christmas

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danganronpasurvivoraskblog · 3 years

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Mod, who are your top 10 favorite characters and top 10 least favorite?

//I have actually been wanting to discuss something like this, so I’m glad someone brought it up to me.

//I’ll go through with this, but I won’t be discussing my least favorites, since I don’t want to bring any negativity, and to be honest, I enjoy writing pretty much everyone in this blog. I also fear if I share who my least favorites are in the main series, said characters won’t get as many asks, and I don’t want any unfair bias. I can definitely admit to hating Haiji though, because...well...he obviously won't be receiving any questions anymore. Besides, I doubt many people will disagree with me.

Honorable Mentions:

Makoto Naegi

Mahiru Koizumi

Kirumi Tojo

Kaede Akamatsu

Tsumugi Shirogane

Shuichi Saihara

Iroha Nijiue

Mikihiko Koyasunaga

Yoruko Kabuya

Tsurugi Kinjo

Uchui Porosen

Kibin Hatsudoki

//Though to be honest, everyone may as well be an honorable mention because I love writing every single one of these guys. Also, like I just said, don’t let this top 10 affect your asks. I love every character in this blog and I’m happy to make asks for each and every one of them. It was really hard to narrow it down to 10

#10: Tenko Chabashira

This might seem a little surprising, given that Tenko hasn't had a whole lot of screen time and story relevance so far. She's only been prominent in two arcs, Deadly Harmony and Novoselic Revolution, both of which she didn't have as much screen time as most of the other characters. However, not to spoil anything major, I have big plans for her, and what I've pulled out of her so far is something I'm proud of. My main goal is mainly to give her a bit of development, and tone down on the sexism element of her character. Not remove it entirely, mind you, because let's be real, Tenko unfortunately isn't Tenko without it, but basically to not do what the DR dev team did and make it the forefront of her character, while her other exceedingly good traits are just at the back until later on in the story.

#09: Kokichi Ouma

Kokichi is one of, if not, my favorite character in the original DR series. My main goal of him in this series is trying to grapple with his constantly changing attitude, mainly towards the DRV3 cast besides himself. At first he's glad to see them, then he turns spiteful towards Shuichi and Kaede when they try to fight him, then he straight up just abandons them and attempts to cut off contact. As he is right now, he's conflicted about how to feel about everyone. Sure, they all still hate him, but during Cabaret Kyojin's they came to his defense when he most needed it. That whole arc might've seemed pretty pointless and acted as needless filler, but my true intention of it was to flesh out the characters involved, mainly Kokichi and Kuripa. Speaking of which, that's another plot point that I'm looking forward to branching upon: the little companionship those two have going on right now.

#08: Monaca Towa

Monaca is a character I actually tend to struggle with in the grand scheme of things. The reason being that, arguably, she in canon is the second biggest antagonist in the series behind Junko. What I tried to do with Survivor though, is not make her an antagonist, but make her slowly become more and more redeemable, despite her actions. The reason why I went with this approach is mainly due to Monaca's last appearance in the series, where she states to Toko and Komaru that she's kind of just done with everything to do with Junko and Despair. I don't think it would be easy to bring her back as an antagonist because of THAT fiasco, and that is legitimately one of favorite scenes of her...which is funny because it's from DR3 and I kinda hate the anime. Her whole presence in Survivor is based around the idea of trying to seek redemption, but she doesn't outwardly want to admit this, nor does she really think she's worthy or deserving of said redemption. She's an adult now, and she grew a conscience. A guilty one that weighs her down and makes her come back to earth to basically settle things and make peace, and though it's been difficult, I love how she's turned out so far.

#07: Akira Tsuchiya

I understand many have their reservations about Akira after what he did this arc, but he's still legitimately one of my favorite villains in this blog because despite the fact that he's a psychopath who kills and ruins people all just for causing Despair, he's just kinda super relatable. He constantly lives with the attitude of just being done with everyone's shit, and I know a lot of DR fans can relate to that. He's also the kind of guy who marches to the beat of his own drum, which is obviously a very slow beat. He rarely ever does what Tsumugi tells him to do, unless the plan interests him or gives him something to do, and his character in general is based around the idea of "Shut-in NEET who just so happens to have a power complex." Overall, what makes him unique to me is just how normal he is, especially when he's compared to the chaotic sea that is the Danganronpa Villains.

#06: Mikan Tsumiki

Novoselic Revolution had the very important role in the story of mending Mikan. Without her efforts and the sacrifices she made in that arc, there's a high chance that the group would have failed to retake the kingdom from Angie and Mikihiko. It goes without saying that the screentime Mikan got in this arc was some of my absolute favorite moments on this blog from a writers perspective. A lot of people in DR dislike Mikan for her actions and character change in the third case of the second game, which I really don't think is fair. Mikan was just the character chosen to be afflicted with the Despair Disease. Nothing else would have been changed had it been a different character, so her role early on in Survivor is mainly her trying to come to terms with her actions, as well as things like making things right with Hiyoko (and Ibuki by extrension) and reevaluating whether or not she's a good person. Mikan is an emotionally and mentally broken child, and it's my full intent in my writing of her to heal her wounds like she does for so many other people.

#05: Narumi Osone

Easily my favorite Zetsubou villain in the blog. During Novoselic Revolution, I really buttered up how much I enjoyed writing Mikihiko, but in reality, I was just waiting for the Rebirth Duo (her and Akira) to burst onto the scene. She didn't make for as great a twist villain in Life and Lies of Akeru Yozora as I would've liked her to be, but even now, I still feel like she left an impact. I mean, she committed quite the number of atrocities. The main reason why I like Narumi though, is how she diverges from the rest of the Zetsubou group. While most of them are doing their evil things for reasons that constitute to causing as much Despair as possible, she does it for almost the complete opposite reason. She absolutely despises Despair, and the only reason she's with Organization Zetsubou, is so that she can patiently await and watch as the Hope that stems from the people fighting back. It's also plays into her ideal. Narumi is so obsessed with Hope that she believes that anyone and everyone who is without hope, and gives into Despair, doesn't deserve to live (and ideal that also allows her to easily hit it off with Nagito). To name the best example: The UUV. Their revenge fantasy is based around the Despair they feel post Ayumu and Marin's deaths, and not around the Hope of their goal of reforming society, even if by force. When Narumi notices this, is angers her so much she murders all of them in cold blood, believing them to be beyond redemption. As a final note, Narumi's violent nature and lust for bloodshed (and lest not forget her weird obsession with Makoto) is also made all the more tragic when you remember she's literally just a 14 year old kid with not a lot of life experience. For someone to be this far gone at such a young age is pretty depressing, but it also provides me with a lot of great writing opportunities, and god damn it she isn't a fun character to write.

#04: Mukuro Ikusaba.

I could pretty much just copy/paste the basic things I said about Monaca's personal conflict for Mukuro, but on a much more extreme level. This is something that I plan on actually branching on later down the line, but Mukuro's backstory and reason why she has a presence here is briefly mentioned by Sayaka in one post. To sum up what she said, when the Foundation were first starting to use the machines to bring back the victims of the first killing game, Makoto was the one who suggested possibly bringing Mukuro back, something that understandably, his classmates initially were against. However, at the time, Kyoko was still new to being the Foundation Chairwoman, and Makoto very much pressed the issue with her. Kyoko eventually agreed to the resurrection, but in exchange, any and all actions committed by the soldier, most notably any treacherous or bad ones, would subsequently be Makoto's responsibility. Of course, as you can imagine, Makoto accepted these terms, and Mukuro was resurrected. For a while afterwards, many were very wary of her presence, and most didn't outright accept her as a member of the Foundation, even when the Remnants of Despair officially signed up. What you have to remember is that Mukuro wasn't really brainwashed into helping Junko, at least not in the same way that the Remnants were. Most of what she did for Junko is what she did willingly, but Makoto felt that in reality, Mukuro was just another one of Junko's victims and she'd never known Hope in her life, which is why she turned out so chaotic, so his whole intention of reviving her was to redeem her honor, of which he was pretty much successful. The main trait of Mukuro's though that I tend to focus on, is arguably her most serious: her PTSD. Of all the characters who could have been hit hard with PTSD, it makes the most sense for it to be a soldier, and since the beginning of her revival, Mukuro has been cursed by the lingering ghost of her dead Despair sister. Junko's presence in her mind less drives Mukuro insane though, and simply makes her doubt herself and her presence, wondering if it was worth being revived, or whether or not she truly deserves to live. But regardless of how she feels, she's duty bound to the end, and still supports everyone unquestionably, especially towards those in her own branch being Makoto, her boss, the man who saved her, and of course her undeniable love interest, and Kuripa to whom she disciplines, but also acts as a mother/big sister figure to.

#03: Hajime Hinata.

It might just be me, but I feel like Hajime in particular is the fan fav in this blog. I feel he's shown up in more posts than any other character, which is fine by me given he's also one of my personal favorite characters, and is probably my favorite protagonist (it really changes depending on my mood, honestly, I think they're all as great as each other). The remnants of Despair's conflict is an obvious one that you commonly see in post-game fics such as this one, and in Survivor, and my personal opinion, Hajime is undoubtedly the one who has it the hardest. However, out of all of the characters in the series who HAVE trauma (and let's be real, that's undoubtedly a LOT of characters in both DR canon, and this blog) he's also undoubtedly the one who handles it the best. However, there is a limit to how much pressure he can take, and that causes him to lash out (like he did with Mahiru during Misfortune's Revenge, which I know we don't like to talk about but its the most notable example). He's been through a whole load of shit and the pressure is constantly crushing him like a gigantic boulder, yet he still forces himself to carry it. Outside of my own writing, Hajime has so many conflicting thoughts and trauma in other fics, and in Survivor, I don't intend to flat out copy them, but I do desire to live up to them. The reason why Hajime has so many burdens placed upon him, and as of Misfortune's Revenge now has double as many, yet is still able to keep going strong, is because he's no longer allowing himself to be weighed down by events that are in the past and out of his control. What makes his ideal unique, is that he has power, almost limitless amounts of it, but instead of focusing on what he can do with it, he's more conflicted and focused on what he CAN'T do, and changing the past is one thing he can't, and as of such doesn't focus on it. He only ever focuses on the present, and the future, and worries about that. And you've got to hand it to the guy, while it's definitely been better, his life is actually super good right now. He has at least 15 really great friends/found family members, a home on an island resort, an AI companion in his phone who will always help him out and support him, a smoking-hot red-haired girlfriend, a pretty good job and a lot more. For him, it's not simply a matter of abiding by the Foundation and fixing the chaos that he indirectly caused. It's also about the fear of losing what he has, and wanting to protect it.

#02: Ayumu Fujimori.

I've said this one or two times before, but I think Ayumu turned out spectacular, and when I eventually had to kill him off, I felt really bad about doing so. The main reason why I removed him, and why I currently don't have any plans to bring him back, is due to my future plans, having him around would make little to no sense. He serves mainly as a catalyst for the new phase of the story, a much darker one, and with his death, we enter that phase. I know many people are worried about it, but it's not just Ayumu's reason for being in the story that makes him great. While it isn't obvious right away, the main character that I was trying to portray with him, is that he's basically the darker side of Hajime. The two of them share very similar traits in character, personality and backstory. Some notable points would be

Both of them are incredibly self-doubtful, and that self-doubt caused them to become Ultimate Hopes.

Both of them once held huge admiration for a powerful group of people. For Hajime it was Hope's Peak and for Ayumu it was the Japanese Government

Said power called them useless, which led to their transformation

Both have pretty sad backstories, which involve two different types of cruel parents and family's.

They both have a best friend who likes to sleep.

Said best friend ended up dying horribly right in front of them, with them both unable to do anything about it, which eventually leads them both to go insane and make some bad decisions.

Though their methods differ, ultimately, they both want the same thing: a brighter future for their friends and the people they love

Ayumu might be a threat, and an antagonist, but he doesn't really count as a "villain" per se. At the core, he's basically just a misguided young man, who the world treated like shit, so he just wants to get back at it. He's also an influential figure, pulling many people into his fight, and gaining many supporters outside of his friends in the UUV. For the short time he was on the blog, he was an absolute BLAST to write, and you can damn sure bet I'm going to miss him.

#01: Kuripa Kurafto.

This is undoubtedly the riskiest part of this list, especially since we're talking about an OC here, but I also think a lot of you guys saw this coming. I can understand why some of you might disagree with me on this placement, but I'll tell you now, if you're unimpressed, trust me, I am barely scratching the surface of Kuripa's character. As of such, I have to go on this based off of what's already known about him. His whole character I feel comes full circle at the end of the Ultra Despair Gang arc, in which the first monumental event in the blog actually happens: him killing Haiji Towa by stabbing him in the gut and sending him falling to his death. This is then followed by a speech to Makoto, Komaru, Toko and Byakuya, which basically lays out the key part of Kuripa's character, being his ideals. Every protagonist in Danganronpa goes by a certain ideal that contrasts that of their enemies. For Makoto, it's Hope, for Hajime, it's Future, and for Shuichi it's truth. Kuripa is the complete reverse, being a protagonist that represents Despair. He's not outright a villain, or even a generally bad guy, but he definitely has some apparent darkness to him, and is also incredibly violent when at the peak of rage. Of course, it all stems from a huge event in his life, the murder of his little sister Kotoko by the hands of Matta Gyalusetsu, which has led to his over-arcing conflict: his desire to find Matta and kill him as revenge. I tend to hate characters in stories who have the "My Sister is Dead" archetype or trope, but the main reason is because most characters who have that JUST have that, and for Kuripa that's something I'm trying to avoid. One of the most important parts of Kuripa's character is the contrast between his dark, almost psychopathic side that believes murder is a suitable way to indefinitely solve a problem, and his regular self, who to put simply, is a complete and total clown. He's like a walking meme, and makes a total fool out of himself, either through just being a mindless tomfool, a playful perv, or a loveable idiotic otaku. Still, his presence is indeed important to everyone around him, especially seen through his interactions with Makoto, Kibin, Mukuro, Uchui, Kokichi, The Kyojin's and the High Roller staff. This is another thing in regards to Kuripa's conflict that is quite saddening to. Similar to Hajime, as things currently stand, Kuripa has an excellent life. He's a successful animator who makes a lot of money from his work, he enjoys his time at the Future Foundation and really looks up to both Makoto and Mukuro who both treat him with a reciprocated amount of respect, he gets to work in tangent with his best friend, he has many pals, some of which are part of an anime club, and on top of it all, he has a cute girlfriend who playfully flirts back and forth with him all the time. He has everything a guy could possibly ever want, but due to his one track mind, he can never be satisfied knowing Kotoko's killer is still out there, and he will do whatever it takes to avenge her...even if he needs to cut a few people down to get it...

//Doing this kind of self-reflective character analysis is pretty refreshing and fun to be honest, although, doing it makes it sound like I have a big head, and am complementary of my own writing where I know many might disagree with my techniques and opinions. You're free to, believe me, but please keep any criticism constructive.

-Mod

#tenko chabashira #kokichi ouma #monaca towa #akira tsuchiya #mikan tsumiki #narumi osone #mukuro ikusaba #hajime hinata #ayumu fujimori #kuripa kurafto #self reflection

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fantastic-rambles · 4 years

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Ahhh yaknow what you’re right. I just went back and looked over some of the rod, and I didn’t see Langa explicitly agree to not to skate with Adam. He promised that he wouldn’t quit skating with Reki, but he only acknowledged Reki’s warning to not be reckless. It actually makes a bunch of sense why Langa would be confused by the distancing and argument. I see now why you were upset with Reki’s behavior. It feels kind of like a ‘secret contract’ sorta thing where Reki got upset over a broken rule Langa never realized he was supposed to abide by. And not only is that unfair like you said, but it flipped the situation as if Langa was being untrustworthy to his word when really Reki didn’t trust Langa not to quit skating with him just because of danger/injury. And especially since I’ve seen people make solid arguments for Langa being neurodivergent or neurodivergent-coded, it’s really not a stretch at all for him to see the situation like you did. Langa most likely saw the issue as solely reckless behavior leading to quitting. But clearly Reki’s own jealousy/insecurities added Langa preferring better skaters as potentially leading to them not skating together without ever discussing it until Langa was blindsided during the argument. I would’ve looked a better apology from Reki where he fully explained why he was upset when they were making up. It’s human for his feelings on the issue to change, but that should’ve been better expressed to Langa. Although Langa did a great job of accurately smoothing over what was bothering Reki without that. Maybe that’ll be rectified if he apologizes to Miya. I think Miya deserves one especially since Reki physically shoved him after he opened up about why his actions were such a sore spot for him. I actually thought Miya’s words would help Reki see the other side of things so seeing Miya get pushed was like a “Bro wtf??” moment for me. Again it’s understandable that people act out when they’re angry and Reki was obviously already struggling with his emotions, but it should be acknowledged again how wrong that was. Boy are you opening my eyes to a lot of problematic stuff lol.

Also, I’m very curious as to why you hate Shadow. For me, it’s because I can’t move past that comment in ep 1. I know ppl brush it off as just an (unnecessarily misogynistic) act for his persona, but that woman literally didn’t say anything to him and he insulted her for no reason by using her body as trophy to be defaced if he won. Ew. And just because he’s super nice to the flower shop lady, he does not get a pass. If he’s only respectful to women he’s attracted to and jumps at any other the opportunity to degrade women, he’s still a misogynist. And I’m pretty sure that he already new flower shop lady when the series started, so I don’t think you can argue that his character developed to be better towards women as a whole because of her or that he wouldn’t do something like that again at this point in the story. Especially since the goal of proving yourself as a “strong man” has not historically worked out to men being compassionate with women. (Tho within a vacuum devoid of his other actions, I can appreciate his commitment to a makeup routine)

Oh! And I would totally wanna read that fanfic if you write it!! I’m not even as gung-ho about Adam going to jail as most fans and Adam-haters tbh. Mainly because it’d probably be for political corruption via money bribes which is already kinda common and I don’t think the show has stated him to be doing anything particularly bad with it I don’t think so?? Like it seems to be mainly for the purpose of keeping S secret which is indeed a waste of money and effort when he could just buy it, but on the other hand, there doesn’t seem to be any ill consequences on the citizens the politician represents. So yea, it’s illegal so the jail time is technically deserved. But also like... no harm no foul🤷‍♀️ If he would be getting charged for assaulting other skaters than I definitely think that’s fair, but I doubt that’ll happen in the show just because I feel like no one will actually say anything when the time comes partially due to the shock of his arrest if they’re even involved. And I mean, Cherry was pissed at Adam for getting skaters hurt but still rolled out the hospital and joked like he was fine, so I just don’t particularly see anyone calling him out on it to the point of it being apart of his sentencing. The end of ep 11 with Cherry and Joe arguing about one of them going against Adam just doesn’t sound like condemning him to battery charges to me XD

But yaknow I’ve been loving hurt/comfort type fics lately, so I’d be really interested in seeing Adam truly work and change himself for some type of redemption in that setting. I can see hitting rock bottom as being really good for him given it may provide a reprieve from having to manage his image. Adam is underrated in complexity so it’s always cool when people try to flesh him out more and dive into his inner world. And of course Tadashi is kind of my fave (if you couldn’t tell) so I love anything healing for him as well :)

Yep, I was majorly pissed at Reki for how he treated Langa and Miya. His behavior is absolutely problematic. Not as bad as Adam, obviously, but with everything I’ve said and you’ve realized... yeah. I’m glad he made up with Langa and will probably make up with Miya, but it doesn’t invalidate everything he’s done before. Yes, he’s still an immature teenager, but I don’t think he realizes how messed up his behavior was, even after making up with Langa (the resolution seems to be based on him accepting that he’s not an ace skater, rather than recognizing how toxic his behavior was), so I’m still not satisfied. But hey, it’s probably just me being hyperfixated on trivial details that nobody else even cares about. /shrug

(I’m glad to know that I wasn’t misinterpreting the “promise,” or lack thereof, though!)

And I have two major problems with Shadow. My first--and biggest--problem is, as you’ve pointed out, that he’s an enormous misogynist. At “S,” people have the freedom to be exactly who they are beneath the facades that they show to the world. For example, Adam is someone desperately searching for someone who can understand him, not the perfectly put-together politician Shindo Ainosuke. Cherry and Joe are more true to their “real life” selves, but there are differences in their behavior on the track and off. And then there’s Shadow, the overcompensating “strong man” who threatens to make a guy tattoo “Dumpster Slut” over his girl’s name. So I 100% agree with everything you said about Shadow. He’s a chauvinistic pig.

The second problem is that I honestly think his actions when he’s racing are worse than Adam’s, and the only reason it’s not made out as such is because he’s the buttmonkey rather than the villain. I believe that, as problematic as Adam’s antics are, he does not intend to cause severe physical harm to his opponents. I’ve discussed this idea in more detail in other posts, but in short, even in the most extreme case--Cherry’s--his injuries were far lighter than they would have been if Adam had seriously wanted to hurt him. Death, coma, etc. were all highly probable outcomes of that situation, so the only reason they didn’t happen was because Adam was holding back. Or anime logic. But even anime logic can only stretch so far. And against lesser opponents like Reki, he generally holds onto them to ensure that they don’t accidentally hurt themselves when they’re panicking.

Of course, Shadow doesn’t intend to cause severe physical harm to his opponents either, but he does not exert any control over the situation after he throws fireworks at his opponent or shines a laser in their eyes. We’ve twice seen his opponents fall off the course as a direct result of his actions: Reki in the first race, Harry in the quarterfinals. They could have just as easily fallen off the cliff or slammed into a wall (at full speed) and been badly injured. If Shadow were an actual villain, I fully believe that he would have an actual body count of people who died racing against him (as opposed to Adam’s trail of injured opponents). So it bothers me that people shrug off what Shadow does while screaming for Adam’s death.

As for the scandal subplot... I’m *pretty* sure it’s a lot more serious than Adam bribing the police to leave “S” alone. I think he’s actually involved in some majorly shady/illegal activities politically. Like, in Episode 7, when the other Diet member gets pulled over, arrested, and has his house searched... there’s no way that has anything to do with “S.” At the very least, the two of them were collaborating on something really bad, something serious that Adam lied about under oath, and that’s enough for Adam’s staff to worry about what’s going to happen, especially Tadashi. We don’t know what it is specifically, but it’s definitely a lot more than just passing out bribes to hide “S.”

Lol, I’ll have to see how it goes. Probably won’t start it until after the anime finishes at the very least so I can see how it turns out for Adam and Tadashi, plus I have another half dozen WIPs at the moment and nowhere near enough time to work on them all. xD

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aros001 · 3 years

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Read through light novel vol. 16. Random thoughts.

"Who is this OC looking f**kboy?"

Those were genuinely my first thoughts upon seeing the art of Takt on the throne. And it would seem my immediate dislike was not unfounded.

Seriously though, everything about him is like someone's self-insert original character for their shitty power fantasy Shield Hero fanfic.

"He dresses really cool, like all modern with jeans and pockets, and he can use all the holy weapons and vassal weapons, and his level is above 300, and he has a harem of totally hot powerful women, and he's the king of his own country, and he can counter everything that people use against him, and he can steal powers he doesn't have, and he can beat Naofumi and all the other heroes with, like, no sweat at all!"

I want All For One to come in and kick this little twerp's ass. Show him what a real OP villain who can steal powers is like.

This isn't a critique of the writing by the way. It feels like Takt is supposed to feel like that kind of character who plays to those tropes and is REALLY easy to hate.

I both do and don't like how Naofumi is acting in the prologue. Obviously I don't like specifically what he's doing because it's creepy and uncomfortable, but I really like the reasons for why. The dude is fried from everything that's happened and unlike Itsuki it's not because of a curse. He's grieving from a heavy loss, easily the biggest he's had since coming to this world, and unlike with Ost's death he has no one he can yet focus his anger on, so he's feeling completely lost and mixed up. Another great moment from Sadeena in helping him regain at least some of his sanity. Sex is a common way people try to find comfort after a terrible loss and if that had been the case I think she would have slept with him or even encouraged Raphtalia to be the one for that. But she could see pretty clearly that wasn't the case. Naofumi wasn't looking for comfort. He was practically a zombie, just going through the motions.

“It seems that from among the four holy heroes, the Shield and Bow have been most active over there. Based on their level of activity, there’s also a bias in the legends about the seven star heroes. They mainly talk about the Hammer, Claws, and Whip.” A bias. The Shield and Bow did complement each other well, that was true.

F**k that! Sword and Shield, BroTP!

“Putting that together with what we learned in Kizuna’s world, it sounds like the effects of the fusing of worlds,” I pondered. There was a wave that had combined the Shield world with the Bow world, and then the Shield and Bow world had been fused with the Sword and Spear world to create the current one. It was only natural that a bias in the legends would arise.

"Worlds lived, worlds died. And nothing will ever be the same."

I've talked before that I'm a big fan of the concept of a Multiverse in fiction, especially in superhero comics. Right away I liked that the four Holy Heroes came from different parallel universes and then getting Glass and L'Arc showed that there were also parallel fantasy universes also fighting the waves. And now we get this theory from the characters that Raphtalia's universe is an amalgam, made up of other previous universes that fused through the waves. It's very Crisis on Infinite Earths and JLA/Avengers.

Reading Queen Melromarc describe the king of Faubrey and I'm just remember a scene that I and many Overlord fans love to the depths of our hearts, of Sebas the butler encountering a naked little fat man who got his sexual thrills off beating the women the brothel provided him. Sebas, like any true gentleman, kicked him in the dick so hard he exploded. Is there some to hope that a similar fate befell the king whom apparently married and killed (and probably even worse than that) 9,999 women? Not even Witch deserves that. Nobody deserves that.

Even though it'd probably take him to a dark place he shouldn't go, part of me was hoping for some karma to occur when Witch revealed herself as Takt's ally to Naofumi. He no longer had the shield, meaning he could attack her like he never could before, meaning he could kill her with his bare hands. I'm glad he used the defense rating attack on Takt, because there's been great long-time set-up for that, but yeah, I wanted Naofumi to at least get to break Witch's nose after everything he's been through. And if Witch wasn't irredemable before, she most certainly is now, proving she has no loyalty to anyone other than herself. She used Naofumi and the other heroes from the beginning for her own goals. Her mother had enough control that she couldn't just do whatever she wanted. And Melty was standing in the way of her getting the throne. She's still a terrible person but there were at least reasons for her to be against these people. But Trash? Her father, who has been loyal and on her side since the beginning, who doted and spoiled her from a young age because of how much he loved her? She had no hesitation in ordering him killed along with everyone else. There was no reason behind it. It was just pure cruelly, greed, and self-satisfaction.

And then...there's the Queen. ...F**k. Y'all bastards were really good at keeping that spoiler hidden. I was accidentally spoiled that Alta was going to die but not through this site. I had no idea the Queen was going to die. Of course Naofumi couldn't have the Shield during that part. If he made Mirellia into a shield like he did Ost and Alta he probably would be unstoppable, because she was just that f**king awesome.

We're pouring one out for you, your majesty. May your youngest daughter inherit your great wisdom and unbelievably hilarious slapping ability.

I'm really glad with Trash's development in this book. Like I've said in past posts, I can feel basic empathy for him given his backstory, but feeling sorry for him was not enough to actually put me on his side, because he was not putting in any work to actually be better or redeem himself. He was just acting angry and crazy and then just sad and withered. Here? While he had to be shaken and roused into it (can't blame him for that as he just lost the love of his life), he puts in the effort to make use of himself and holds himself accountable for his past actions. I really like that he wants to continue being called Trash. That is his penance. Not more feeling sorry for himself or blaming the rest of the world. It's time for him to be the man he knows he's supposed to be.

With all that though, Melty was definitely the person I felt the worst for after the death. Of all the younger characters, despite being royalty and mature for her age, she is the person who feels the most like a real kid, and her crying her eyes out while clinging to Naofumi hurt just like it should, because this little girl just lost her mom. No idea what the expectation is in Melromarc for when Melty should take the throne but for her it's always going to feel too soon, because how could it not?

“Daddy . . . thank you for approving my marriage. You’ve finally agreed to let me marry Ollie,” she said dreamily.

“I’ll make you forget this ‘Ollie’ soon enough, although his keeping you a virgin for so long is something to be thankful for!” Takt cackled. It was clear that he was using some kind of illusion to make her think he was her beloved. “Those who don’t give proper thought to their daughters’ happiness have no right to live!”

Oh good! He's a rapist too!

So Naofumi was the Shield's first choice and the other three were the Bow, Sword, and Spear's third choices. I like the credit that's given that the first choice is not guaranteed to be the best, as they can become just as corrupt or egotistical, or the third choices are not guaranteed to be the worst, as they can grow into real heroes. I'm just wondering how the selection process worked and why they all couldn't get their first choices. The Holy Weapons apparently have some sway over the universes they pulled them from, given the promise of granting wishes if they want to return to them. My immediate theory is that the weapons all set up paths that'd lead their choices to being summoned but just through sheer coincidence and randomness all the first choices, save for Naofumi, kept missing the path. Going down the list, the weapons become more desperate and thus are more willing to use more extremes to get their choices, thus why Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki had to be killed in order to be summoned. They missed their window with their first and second choices so now they absolutely have to guarantee they get their third, even if the methods are less than ethical.

With the big final boss, the World Eater as Naofumi called it, I'm theorizing that he/she/it is using the waves to fuse multiple universes into one so that he/she/it can eat it all in one go.

I only have two issues with this volume and they're both kind of nitpicks. The first is with Trash's plan, specifically with the Glawick ore. I don't remember it ever being established before in the series. I really liked the Rucolu fruit being used in the Cal Mira wave battle because it was set up way beforehand, so it feels like a lot less of a Deus ex Machina. Same with Naofumi using defense rating attacks after his battle with Glass. That's good set-up. The ore doesn't break the story, it just feels very convenient that such a thing happened to exist. If I'm mistaken and it was set-up before and I just forgot, please let me know.

The second is Naofumi and Raphtalia being separated again after a trip into another universe. The story next volume seems like it'll be very different from last time but that part does feel like a repeat of what we've already seen. Plus, with the new status quo of Naofumi knowing how she feels about him, I want to see their interactions now that he's recovered a bit from the loss of Alta. Again, it's a nitpick, since I'm certain they'll find each other again, but I don't like feeling like I'm being deliberately kept away from what I want to see.

“The source of your power, the one true hero, now orders you. Reconsider the state of all things once more and bring down a storm of flame upon my target! Drifa Firestorm!” Takt completed the spell.

...

“The source of your power, just a hero, now orders you. Reconsider the state of all things once more and scatter the storm that would burn its target! Anti Drifa Firestorm!” I read the magic Takt had incanted and activated magic to nullify it. With that, the fire tornado scattered into nothing, as though it had never existed.

Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitch!

“I’m here to destroy everything you possess,” I menaced quietly. “Your pride, your dignity, everything you treasure. I’ve already half-destroyed your composure and your arrogance. Now it’s time for the other half. False hero, possessing six of the seven star weapons and the shield from the four holy weapons! Now face the reality of being defeated by a regular guy who holds none of the legendary weapons!”

No wonder Raphtalia couldn't be in this part. After hearing that line I don't think she'd be able to hold herself back and would have tackled him like a wild Albedo in heat right then and there.

I am so looking forward to when this volume's final battle is animated, especially the part where Naofumi gets his shield back. That is going to feel like such an epic, heroic moment.

So Rishia unlocked Pay-to-Win. ...I don't really know what to say to that. What do ancient magical relics care about money? ("What does God need with a starship?")

So the person Malty had Ren give a sword lesson to back in vol. 11, was that Takt, King Faubrey, or someone we don't know yet, like the mastermind behind everything?

Is Kizuna marked for death now? From how Fitora made it sound to Naofumi, when a Holy Hero dies a new one can't be summoned if the others are still around. If Kizuna's world works similarly, she might have to die or there'll be no Holy Heroes other than her.

Naofumi really likes his Dragon Ball Z, doesn't he? Which is appropriate given I just realized that the Energy Blast from the Spirit Tortoise Shield is almost literally the Kamehameha. Seriously, Kamehameha translates to "Turtle Destruction Wave".

So...what the heck do I do now? I've spent about a month reading through 16 volumes of Naofumi's rise and I know there are at least 6 other volumes that haven't been translated to english yet. I'll probably go find another LN series to read until vol. 17 comes out in July. Though I am curious if RoTSH has a fan translation site like Overlord and Konosuba do.

Original Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/shieldbro/comments/fot3tj/read_through_light_novel_vol_16_random_thoughts/

#rising of the shield hero #random thoughts #reddit repost

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blackfemmecharacterdependency · 4 years

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BFCD Reviews by Nesha: Grace Monroe & The Infinity Train on HBO Max

Disclaimer: Post includes spoilers and also, this viewer does not deem Infinity Train as a children's show and my views are not subjected to the idea that this is a children's show, but I do regard the characters as children.

I’m not a psychiatrist. I haven’t taken a psychology class in many years. My work with children has been primarily trauma centered children, and I haven’t worked with typical children for a decade, so most of my opinions are from my personal life experience, my work experience, my children’s rights advocacy and activism, and the guidelines from my childcare specialist work for children in the system in the state of Texas. I don’t have a lot of information these days on typical children and I don’t know the culture of children all over the country or world, but I basically know a little something about traumatized children.

And as always, be nice, because I can be mean too (and will). 😉

Special thanks to @i-am-a-passenger for listening to me and being a SOUND sounding board for my thoughts through this experience that was season 3 of Infinity Train.

To be honest, I thought that it was extremely brave of the creators to go the route that they did with the story line. Not everybody can be saved is a take that we don’t see nearly enough, and whenever we do, usually a POC, oftentimes a Black girl is on the losing end of the tale. That didn’t happen here and despite some problems with some of the way that things played out in front of us, it was STILL a monumental moment for many fans and Grace’s redemption arc was valid and reasonable, so I loved it and I live for it. Now, I’m gonna give my review of the season and what I noticed about the characters...

First off, I think that the writing of this season was phenomenal. The style of the way the story was told impressed me from start to finish. There were moments that I didn’t expect, but I understood from a writing standpoint and for the characters presented. I’m not a professional writer, but it’s been a passion since I was 7 years old, so I have some experience with passion for writing and stories and a great narrative is my WEAKNESS, and I do believe that Infinity Train provides great narratives.

This season has been my favorite thus far. I would have appreciated it for the story content, even if they had switched the characters’ arcs or went in a different direction with the redemption arc, but the fact that I was able to see an example of a Black girl being able to BE HUMAN, at my age - 38 - is still such new content that I was honestly overwhelmed by the simple fact that the creators decided that this Black girl was worthy of not only redemption, but the attention to detail and consideration was enough for me to love this season.

The girl in question: 18 year old Grace Monroe, whose been on this train for something like 7 years.

It’s rare to see a dark skinned, brown skinned, Black girl with natural hair be shown in anything but stereotypes and/or plot devices for other characters. This character has a story of her own. A beautifully written and fully realized story of a child who got confused, made bad decisions, did terrible things, learned the truth, and sought to change.

Whenever we first meet Grace and Simon, she’s announced as the leader of the Apex, and Simon is announced as her second in command and given the credentials from her, “I trust him with my life.” Something that is later a bittersweet thought as he becomes the biggest threat of her life since she got onto this train. They’re clearly very close and only seem to disagree on how they respond to negativity.

One of my favorite things about Grace was that she was given layers. One of my LEAST favorite things about Grace was that she was given unfair head canons by the fandom extremely early on (all of which nobody ever proved but remained diligently devoted to believing).

In this season, when the two are taken out of their comfort zone and traveling with outsiders, Grace and Simon are faced with lives that they haven’t thought about previously and wind up choosing very separate paths. Honestly, these paths they went on made perfect sense to me. I see both of them as traumatized children without any guidance and while one of them is very careless and reckless (Grace), the other is deliberate about what he does and has goals and plans.

The biggest influence, I think, was their interactions with denizens prior to forming the Apex. Grace admittedly never got to know any while Simon was betrayed by one whenever she left him behind to potentially die. Simon carried this rage inside of him while Grace had nothing but apathy to guide her attitude of the denizens. Grace needed attention and she was able to get that from Simon and the Apex, so she made a life built on what that gave her.

While Grace tends to seem to try to sweeten the issue or charm people. Simon is more short with others and a bit rude. They handle things much differently, though they have created a lifestyle together and formatted a society of children that they lead.

All too frequently, if a character looks like Grace, she is there as fodder for whoever her (usually white) counterparts are. But Grace has a unique situation in which she shares center stage with her white male counterpart and we watch them develop together from two peas in a pod to mortal enemies. It is a sad separation, but one that felt necessary for the direction of the story. But here’s why Grace matters so much, despite the fact that she and Simon built a child army and killed we don’t even know how many denizens:

Grace changed for the better. When both of them met and got to know a denizen, she began to change. She didn’t understand it at first and took some time to admit to herself that she was even changing. She thought that something was wrong with her because her number was going down and that wasn’t supposed to be how it was. What she thought was that it made her look weak and she didn’t want Simon or the Apex to see her that way.

And saying that Grace changed for the better is sort of shaky, too. Because Grace wasn’t a bad person to begin with. She was a child who got on the wrong track. Going from being extremely alone to having one friend to having hundreds or however many Apex kids of followers changed her for the worse, but she was a good kid at her core. She was lonely in the real world and she acted out, then wound up on this train, had a life changing event by having to see “The Conductor” and translate what happened to her as someone saving her, and she went on to help save others, or so she thought, to some degree.

Whenever she saved Simon, she had literally no reason to, other than she saw a kid in trouble and she knew she could help.She had just as little life skills and social skills as this kid in front of her, but... he was crying and she reached out to try to make him feel better, reminding him that even though life on the train was hard, he was alright now. Then, another life changing thing happened - Simon noticed that her number was higher and asked her how she got it so high. She knew just as much as him, and said that she was really good at life on the train, and the way she took that ghom out - she wasn’t completely wrong, but them being children and having only time and their limited views started a cult.

What I found interesting about this memory was the fact that Simon was telling Grace’s story for her. She tagged her charm onto it, but Simon (the writer of their laws and apparently a trilogy that not even Grace, who likes to read things wanted to read while they were besties) is telling the story to the kids. Probably embellishing, and Grace loves to be noticed, so she keeps this up until they’ve formatted an entire belief system. It was basically just I presumed whenever I questioned the reputation this fandom gave Grace as a manipulator who filled Simon’s head with hatred for denizens and Apex theology.It confirmed that people were wrong about her, which unfortunately didn’t make them change their minds, but they ain’t gotta. Grace lived and Simon died and that’s how this turns out sometimes.

I was able to at least acknowledge that his death was atrocious and it’s very unfortunate that he didn’t change for the better. He wanted control. He wanted power. He wanted to reign. Those things were more important to him than believing anything that went against his ideals. They were more important than Grace and his relationship with her. Meanwhile, Grace, up until even after he was gone cared about him. She defended herself whenever he attacked her, but she tried not to hurt him. She even tried to talk to him and he once again refused to listen. She saved his life AGAIN, and he still tried to kill her. Despite it all, when he was gone, she cried. Her friend was gone. Another life had been taken, and life meant something else to her now.

Even paper birds mattered now, and thanks to that difference inside of her, she didn’t die. But, I expected her to. Not even because it would’ve made sense or helped the story in any way, but because that’s how it usually goes for characters like her, characters who LOOK like her. The fact that it didn’t brought tears to my eyes. This season was amazing. This ending was amazing. This character was amazing. I’m so pleased with it and it was more than I expected, because instead of setting expectations, I let them tell me the story. They did an excellent job.

I've been asking people since she first appeared in season 2 why they thought that Simon was some helpless and she was this dominating figure that bossed him into this lifestyle and mostly it came back to her higher number. i didn't think we were being shown that, so I've been suspicious every time someone has suggested that Grace got Simon started in this or taught him this and now that it's been debunked, I'm even more irritated with the suggestion that her redemption doesn't make sense or wasn't right.

The thing about Simon was that he seemed fine. He seemed innocent, at times. He seemed like someone to sympathize with... What a lot of his fan base doesn't seem to realize is that is the case with every abuser. That is the case with many killers. Bad backgrounds and hard times coming up don't make for an excuse. Just because I GET his personality, doesn't mean he deserves respect or consideration. But then, we have Grace, on this other end who can't even get the recognition she earned through her decision making when she literally had the same childhood as him whenever they got there. Idk. Shit feels suspicious to me to not acknowledge Grace's redemption as well written. And the idea that Simon was doing these things for or because of Grace was proven as untrue, so there should have been a shift in her favor and there wasn't and my god that's some top shelf bullshit to me...

People frequently speak of Grace's manipulating Simon, possibly because they haven't had to try to use what you have to smooth someone over. The fact that Grace has been consoling Simon since they were children (THEY WERE CHILDREN), Because I see "Simon is a child" everyday, and always speak of his trauma, like Grace had none and like she's not the same age or near it. But, that's another thing that gets done to Black girls - they're aged up in people's prejudiced minds and expected to be more accountable than their peers. This GIRL has been repeatedly blamed for the issues of her friend.

And her "betrayal?" A lie she told to preserve life.

Simon proceeds to use her tape against her, leave her trapped inside of it (knowing it was dangerous, because the cat told him), sow lies about her in the Apex, pressure children that she knew to kill her, literally tried to beat her up and murder her, and kicks her as hard as he can after she saved his life AGAIN... He still gets more grace than Grace from the audience. I don't think people see Grace's humanity. People even assumed that her number was higher because she killed so many denizens... Like literally every wrong move doesn't affect numbers. And when faced with the story, which gives us a vulnerable Grace with flaws but also compassion, she's still been sidelined by fans of the show and nobody has given me any good reason as to why, so you already know, like we been knew. 😒

People have even tried to downgrade Simon's toxicity towards her because she led the Apex (and these people pretty much had similar things to say as people who didn't believe that my ex sexually abused me because of some examples of me being strong while arguing with him)...

THIS was triggering as fuck, but I've barely seen a PEEP about it. I'm going to presume that problematic takes of Grace are from a place of discrimination and dehumanization against another Black girl character like fandoms usually do.

But that just makes her matter more.

Good job, Grace. I knew there was good in you all along, and I didn't have to make up anything about you in my brain. ♥️♥️♥️

*Grace mourning a man that just tried to destroy her multiple times for telling a lie to keep him from killing a small child...

SPEAKING OF... The man double kicked her off that damn train in front of the kids AFTER they all saw her rescue him. Them kids might be messed up because of the Apex, but you can't tell me that Simon ain't further fuck them up with his reign. At least we know Grace was always nice to them. I'm glad they'll have each other to figure it all out.

#BFCD Reviews by Nesha #Infinity Train #Nesha Watches Infinity Train #Grace Monroe #Nesha Watches

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borhap-au · 4 years

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Joe Mazzello: the fluffy chronicles.

Comforting Joe.

It’s been troubling two years for Joe, since his dad – his hero, his best friend, his role model, passed away. He still sometimes caught himself wanting to call him in times of trouble, and only when he couldn’t find his dad’s number on his contact list had he realized he will never be able to call him again. On daily basis Joe was caught up in other things, too busy for too much thinking, but around the time of his dad’s birthday or the anniversary of his passing, the thoughts come back again. You never dismissed his troubles, always let him cry on your shoulder, talked with him long hours about it if necessary. He confided in you, not scared of letting you know about any of his little secrets. You were generally someone who was able to lift him up, but those current times were really troubling for him. Not only did he lose his dad, but also in times of the pandemic the entire movie industry shut down, with him not being able to find a job. He didn’t star in any movie for two years, and it was hanging over his head, because he wanted to be able to provide for his family that he wanted to start with you. From all the troubles in his personal life and his career, he has experienced a writing block, not being able to write or edit any of the scrips for his future movies. Once, while checking his Twitter, he came across a thread of people hating on him, and that broke him a little. He didn’t talk much, he was rather quiet and wanted to spend more time alone. You let that go for a few days, hoping he will open up to you when he will be ready for it. Unfortunately that didn’t happen, so you decided to come to him and ask him directly about his troubles. He was hesitant at first, but then decided to let you know what was going on. It started off as usually, with him telling you how much he missed his dad.

“And you know, I should visit my mom more often. I don’t want to miss any moments with her, I’m done playing the adult role in my life, I’m done pretending I don’t need my parents and their guidance from time to time. I wanted everyone to see how independent I was, how I could handle everything on my own, and because of that I missed some of the very important moments with my dad. I should’ve visited him all the time when everything was still good,” he muttered quietly and laid his head on your legs, and you softly pet his head and shoulder. You understood him. You also lost a family member and you knew very well how that regret creeps in from time to time. At the same time you were very proud of Joe, for being able to talk about his loss, for the fact that he didn’t close it all in, and also that he let the entire world know how amazing his father was, in his posts on social media. Not many people were able to talk about their loss with such honesty. Moreover, you supported his charity work, also inspired by his father.

“So we will. We will visit her on the weekend, okay? And any time you need it,” you smiled and he looked at you. He reached his hand to your face and pet your cheek, smiling slightly. He felt your support and that was very important to him, especially in those moments.

“Are you sure about this? Those trips may be boring for you, I know you’re not really in for family meetings…” you shook your head, confirming what you’ve said before.

“Whenever you need me, I’ll go there with you. I like our little road trips,” you took his hand and laced your fingers. He pet your hand with his thumb.

“I’m happy to hear that then. I like when you go there with me. I hate not having you close. I always miss you. A lot,” you smiled, but before you could add anything, he continued. “But I also don’t want this to be a responsibility for you. We should both enjoy it equally.”

“I like going there with you. I like your mom. And I like to spend the nights in your old bedroom,” you smirked, letting him know what exactly you meant by that, also reminding him of a few very nice moments. He smiled as well, especially since you reassured him about certain things. “Even if you went alone, I’d follow you. I hate when you’re not around. Especially at night. I need to have your arm around me to feel safe, even at home,” he knew what you meant, because he also hated when he went to sleep and you weren’t there.

“Sounds like you love me,” he gave you a little smile and you immediately nodded.

“Of course I love you. With all my heart,” after all, you knew each other for a while and you were even planning the future together. Your feelings towards him didn’t change, if anything, you loved him more than before.

“Even though I’m a loser without a job?” after hearing that, you immediately hugged him tightly.

“You’re not a loser. And you have a job, your job is acting. We are just in a middle of a worldwide pandemic. Once it’s all over, you will have the Duck movie, and many more,” you smiled to him and quickly added. “And if they don’t consider you for the next Jurassic movie, I will sue those motherfuckers,” you joked and he immediately chuckled, because it was too funny for him how innocent you sounded while cursing. While he was still laughing, you continued.

“You’re one of my favorite actors, but not because I’m biased. You have a great range. From dramatic roles to comedy, you’ve nailed everything I’ve seen you in. And you’re a director too! Not to mention you write awesome scripts. If you want to, we can later do some brainstorming, maybe we will come up with another wonderful piece such as Undrafted.” He smiled when you mentioned that. He was really happy to hear that you enjoyed his movies, after all, he decided it’s you that he wants to impress for the rest of his life.

“You’re a blessing, you know? You’re amazing and gorgeous,” he smiled, petting your cheek. You chuckled quietly, because in your opinion, it was way too far-fetched to call you all those things. But he believed differently. “You make me feel better, not only about all of this, but also about myself. Seeing you always makes me think: how did I get so lucky to have you all to myself? And then I start thinking that maybe all the flaws I see in myself, maybe they don’t really matter to you. And that’s a very important thing to notice. That something that to me is a big problem, something that I believe is too visible for anyone not to notice, the same thing for you is either too small to be a problem, or not noticeable at all. It always makes me feel better.”

It was really everything you needed to hear. It was your goal to be your boyfriend’s biggest supporter, not only in a way that would be visible to others, but also to him. You wanted him to feel appreciated and loved in the relationship. You wanted to always lift him up, instead of putting him down. Life was already miserable enough in itself, and you wanted to be able to bring happiness into the life of your biggest source of joy, your man, Joey.

“As an actor,” he continued, “I am aware of every little part of my body that may not appear flattering on screen. That’s also why I turned to comedy, because it doesn’t matter how you look like on screen as long as you make others laugh. But around you, I feel like I could be right there on screen alongside all those Pitts and Goslings, and compete with them, and even win. Of course that will never happen, but I just wanted to put into words the things you make me feel,” he smiled, sat up and kissed you softly. You put your hand on his cheek, kissing him back.

“In my heart, you’ll always win with them. I don’t care about any Pitts, Goslings or anyone else, as long as I have my Mazzello. To me, you’re amazing, and handsome, and overall attractive. You’re my supermodel, my Oscar-winning actor and director, in my mind, you deserve everything that’s the best in the world, because you make my life better. And not only mine. You read all of those messages from girls telling you how much they love your movies, your comedy, your YouTube channel. You to them are what Brad Pitt is to others. Not everyone has the same taste, and to some of them, you are the perfect man. I know you are to me. You’re funny and you care about others. I don’t know what can be more attractive than a good heart. Not to mention, you really step out of your comfort zone to make others laugh. You’re such a dork sometimes. God, I love you for it,” you chuckled and you both instinctively hugged each other. There was no place better than right there, in his arms.

“You like my comedy?” he muttered, petting your back. You smiled and kissed his shoulder.

“I love it. Anytime I hear you have an idea for a new YouTube video, I literally want to see it right there and then, even if you haven’t finished it yet. I just love every single one of your projects, no matter how small. And that one video, in which you told us it was okay to make fun of you or even insult you, as long as it will make it easier for us to get through quarantine? That was so selfless and amazing, I had tears in my eyes just watching it. You’re my love, my idol, my hero, my everything, Joey. I hope you feel it every day.”

“Oh, I’m your hero now, huh? Good to know, will annoy you with that for the rest of your life,” he joked, because he didn’t really know how to respond to that. It was beautiful and overwhelming to him, but he felt happy after hearing that. You could see it in his eyes. “And since I’m a hero, then you must be my princess,” you nodded when he said that, because you always loved the pet names he had for you.

“And I can promise you, my knight in shining armor, my prince charming…”

“Your king…”

“Let’s not go that far,” you both laughed. “I promise you that everything will be okay, as long as we have each other. I’m here for you and I always will be. I swear.”

“Thank you for it. I love you, Princess,” he pet your cheek, smiling.

“I love you too…”

“King.”

“No,” once again you chuckled, and you knew that when Joe was able to crack jokes like that all the time, everything will be alright.

#joe mazzello fluff #joe mazzello x reader #joe mazzello fanfic #joe mazzello fic #joe mazzello imagine #joe mazzello headcanon #joe mazzello au #joe mazzello x you #joe mazzello x female reader #joe mazzello x y/n #joe mazzello fanfiction #bohemian rhapsody fic #undrafted #joe mazzello the fluffy chronicles #joe mazzello is bored #joe mazzello girlfriend #joe mazzello x oc #joe mazzello blurb #joe mazzello masterlist

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tea-mew96 · 4 years

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Analysis: TFP Optimus Prime and a Discussion on Revenge

Disclaimer: This post is going to be a long vent about my frustrations with TFP Optimus Prime, specifically with the advice he gives to Arcee and the audience in regards to revenge. So if you’re someone who does likes him or hold similar views to him, you are probably not going to like or agree with what I’ll say in this post and that’s completely ok. The whole point of this post is to provide another perspective and open discussion with me and anyone else about this (But do so respectfully, please).

Also, there are going to be spoilers for Transformers Prime in this, so skip this post for now if you don’t want the show to be spoiled for you.

So without further ado, let me explain why TFP Optimus Prime’s stance on revenge is wrong.

For those who aren’t familiar with Transformers Prime or don’t remember everything, one of the biggest subplots of the show was Arcee and the loss of her partners, Cliffjumper and Tailgate. Throughout most of Season 1 and Season 2, Arcee is on the hunt to find out who killed Cliffjumper and to get revenge for Tailgate by going after Arachnid.

Everything with this arc was going ok...until Season 1 Episode 20, Partners.

During this episode, Arcee ends up following Arachnid, much to Optimus’ distaste. After Optimus saves Arcee from Arachnid, he tells her that seeking revenge for Tailgate is a bad idea. Later on in the episode, Starscream lets slip that he was the one who killed Cliffjumper, and Arcee reacts accordingly by attacking him. She almost kills him, but is stopped when she realizes Bumblebee is watching them and she lets Starscream go. The episode ends with Arcee saying that she thought settling scores would allow her to move on but that her actions instead lead to the Autobots losing an ally. Optimus comments that wisdom is gained, not automatically earned. This arc continues in Season 2 Episode Episode 10 Armada, where Arcee ends up trapping Arachnid in a stasis pod, ultimately ending their rivalry. The pod is taken back to base, where Ratchet says Arachnid “deserves worse”. Arcee responds that she “intended worse, more times than you know” and Optimus responds that Arcee is “stronger” for her choice.

These series of events are what ruined both Optimus as a character and Arcee’s arc for me.

Optimus tells Arcee that seeking revenge is bad and that she’s a “stronger person” for giving Arachnid a fairly merciful fate of being put in stasis. There’s one problem, though: he’s wrong. And apparently no one on the writing team knew that.

What Optimus ends up implying is that Arcee’s anger at both Arachnid and Starscream is not justified, that being mad at them for hurting her makes her a “bad person” and wanting them to suffer consequences for it is not the right path to take. Except none of that is true.

I think it’s fair to say that Arcee is victim of murder, and has a lot of trauma and emotional damage because of it. She has lost two partners that she clearly cared for and were close to, with one of them (Tailgate) dying right in front of her optics. She displays signs of depression throughout the series, and if the flashbacks in Season 1 Episode 12 Predatory are any indication, Arcee probably has a good case of PTSD too.

The thing about people who have been severely hurt and traumatized by others like this is that they need closure, and there are many ways that this can be accomplished. Forgiveness is only one way. Sometimes closure comes in the form of having the aggressors be given jail time or the death penalty. Sometimes with bullying, a victim will find peace by seeing the bully getting in trouble with the teacher and being suspended. Some find peace through therapy. Sometimes, people can only find peace by taking matters into their own hands and punishing the aggressors themselves (victims fighting back against their bullies and the story of Gary Plauche are good examples of this one). The point is that victims and their friends/family members affected by murder, rape, bullying, or any other hurtful acts is that they don’t have to forgive the ones who committed the crime, nor are they required to. In fact, many people don’t.

This is something that Optimus Prime simply doesn’t understand, and many adults don’t either.

I want you to take a quick read at these statements that people often give as solutions to bullying:

“Don’t react, just ignore them. They’ll go away.” “Don’t fight back, that’s stooping to their level” “Tell them to stop saying/doing those things, they’ll listen”

On the surface, all of these statements sound correct because these are all very tame, non-violent solutions. They’re all moral high ground statements. But almost any victim of bullying can tell you that none of this advice ever actually helped, and if you ever told a teacher someone was bullying you, you at best got ineffective solutions/similar advice to the above and at worst did nothing about it.

Optimus Prime’s statements about not seeking revenge come from the exact place that the above quotes come from: a place of wanting to appear moral and above-it-all but having none of the experience or knowledge to actually back it up.

Optimus wasn’t as close to Cliffjumper as Arcee was. Optimus didn’t see Tailgate’s gruesome death first-hand. He may be older, but being old doesn’t automatically make you right. And I find it ironic how Optimus states that wisdom is earned at a cost yet he’s the one who is clearly is struggling with that concept when it comes to Arcee.

It upsets me to no end how Optimus is contantly tellling Arcee that she’s the one who has to be the more moral, bigger, stronger person. But Starscream and Arachnid? You know, the ones who caused all of Arcee’s anguish to begin with? Naw. Arachnid can continue to tease Arcee by asking if she’s lost any more partners and Starscream can pretend to feel bad about killing Cliffjumper and then immediately brag about it the next day. Yeah, those two don’t need to change. ARCEE DOES. CUZ REVENGE BAD.

Remember how Arcee said she intended a worse fate for Arachnid and Optimus praises her for it? While the show treats that as “closure” and the end to that rivalry, I’m not convinced. For the longest time, Arcee wanted Arachnid dead. So for her to all of a sudden switch to being merciful to Arachnid seems off to me. And thus I began to wonder: Did Arcee decide to not kill Arachnid because she had a genuine change in morals, or did she do it in order to make Optimus Prime happy? Or in other words, is this a genuine change of character or this just the writers’ last-ditch attempt at pushing the “no revenge” narrative into the audience’s face? I don’t know for sure (although I’m pushing for latter in both questions) and the show doesn’t address this. And this is bad because depending on this answer, this could mean that this arc was never truly finished. If Arcee still didn’t believe or feel that having Arachnid in stasis was good enough closure, than the story isn’t fucking over. But no one of the writing team thought this far. No one was willing to put this kind of depth into the show.

Furthermore, I’d argue that this constant talk about Arcee being a “better person” is causing her to be critical of herself over things that aren’t really her fault or that she wouldn’t be able to predict the outcome of.

One is Arcee blaming herself for Smokescreen’s “death” in Season 2 Episode 21 Alpha/Omega. The other is Arcee regretting her attack on Starscream and losing a potential ally. But the reality is that Starscream is extremely fickle and having him join the Autobots wasn’t guaranteed to end in success to begin with. Even if Starscream did join the Autobots, there’s no promise that he would side with them forever. Almost all of his decisions are based off his own goals, and many times that can go against the ideas/goals of the group he’s in. Actually, Starscream does end up betraying the Autobot’s trust anyway in Season 2 Episode 23 Inside Job where Starscream uses the Autobots’ (ok, most Optimus Prime’s) trust to steal the Omega Keys and use them in order to gain Megatron’s favor again. Unsurprisingly, trauma victims in the real world also blame themselves for what happened to them too.

There’s many things about TFP Optimus Prime I can forgive. Boring characterization? Fine. An intriguing characterstic (lack of outward emotion) that has potential to be interesting but the writers never decided to explore it? Whatever. But I draw the line at shitty advice presented as a good lesson, especially when your audience is young kids who don’t know better and may need desperate help.

Kids get bullied and abused. Kids need to be told that fighting back against bullies and abusers who have hurt them doesn’t make them a bad person because the “lessons” and “solutions” that many schools and adults teach or tell rarely work. And telling them otherwise because it sounds right isn’t going to help. If anything, it’s only going to hurt those kids in the long run.

TL;DR Arcee is a good girl who deserves hugs and therapy, and Optimus Prime is a self-righteous moron who deserves to be thrown into a smelting pit.

#transformers prime #tfp #arcee #optimus prime #bullying #philosophy #revenge #tf critical #tf analysis

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cptsdstudyblr · 4 years

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I got a new planner!

[Image descriptions are available at the bottom of the post.]

[Image description after text because it is very long.]

This year, I’ve really been struggling with the digital planner system that’s gotten me through the past 4 years of school. Honestly, I think the fact that all I ever do anymore is stare at my laptop has made that planner less practical for me to use. So, today, I was out and about trying to find a specific size of envelope (which I did not find) and I ended up at YP Books (영풍문고), where I found this planner (the Color Point Study Planner). I honestly picked it up just because it was there and it was cute, but when I opened it I was struck by how well-organized this planner was for someone who likes to plan the way I do. To plan, I need a delicate balance of structure and leniency, because if I tip too far one way or the other, I’ll never accomplish anything.

It’s got this really cute monthly page (which can be customized for any month). You do have to write the days yourself, and as you can see by my scribbles, I momentarily forgot that not every month starts on a Sunday. However, this page is super versatile! I write my assignments and exams here and color code those days, and I use the unlabeled checklist at the bottom right to make a brief to-do list for the month. Once I finish something, it gets marked off or highlighted! I think this is a really helpful way to visualize my schedule and make sure I don’t lose track of any due dates.

Each month also comes equipped with daily pages. Once again, you do have to customize these yourself, but that’s part of what I like about it. I can skip days if I need to and I can make sure that the page handles what I need how I need it. These pages are quite complicated, but I’ll give you the basics of how I use them.

At the top, there are 3 blanks after the date. One is labelled “D-Day,” but I instead use this to label the day of the week as I find that much more useful for me, then I fill out how many hours I plan to study (I do this at the beginning of the day so that it motivates me), then I put my general goal or plan for the day to the right. Below that, in the “Check Point” space, I put the two biggest goals I have for the day task-wise. These are usually my highest-priority tasks.

Obviously, the bulk of the space is used for a checklist, which I use to outline all the tasks I need to do that day, both school and otherwise. To the right, in the schedule space, I plan my day to make sure I can get everything done that I need to get done. There’s also a space at the bottom that I use to write events and extremely important tasks (such as exams and due dates).

Overall, the point of this post is that it’s really important to find an organizational system that works for you, whether it be digital or paper. My personal suggestion for figuring out your best system is just trial and error. Unfortunately, trial and error can be quite expensive, so I’ll include below some tips to find a good system for you without breaking the bank:

Try digital first! Most digital platforms are free (or at least have free trials), so this is a great place to start to save money. It’s also a great way to figure out what elements of different systems work for you - even if digital isn’t your thing, you might realize that you prefer a to-do list over a calendar, or that you work really well with a super structured study schedule. That info can help you find a paper planner that will work well for you.

Go to the store and look at physical planners. Once you have an idea of what you’re looking for in a planner, go to a physical store (or multiple) and spend some time looking through a bunch of planners. Once again, even if you don’t like any of them, this might help give you an idea of what you do and don’t like.

Print out (or draw) planner pages. If you want to test out a style of physical planner without buying it, find an online PDF or create your own and print a few to test out. You can also draw it (just make sure to take a photo in the store so you can do so accurately) in a regular notebook for testing purposes.

Do research. There’s lots of different methods of planning schedules, keeping track of due dates, and journaling besides the typical Google calendar and to-do list or the standard paper planner. A great example is bullet journaling, which allows you to create your own planner and change it up as you want.

Eventually you’ll figure out what planning style works best for you, and you’ll find the perfect paper planner to purchase if that’s what you decide is your best option.

[Image description after the read more:]

[Image description:

Image 1/4: There’s a pink notebook. On the cover are a man and a woman holding smiley face signs over their faces. Below them, text reads “Anything is good if I can do it with you. Whether it’s laughing together, studying together, or playing together, everything is twice as wonderful when you are doing it with me.” In the top left, a blue sticky note covers the user’s name and on it is written “@cptsdstudyblr.”

Image 2/4: This is a two-page notebook spread. The pages are white with a purple outline. The page is titled “How to Use Study Planner.” The two pages detail how each page of the planner is intended to be used, but most of the text is in Korean (transcription note: according to Google, the Korean alphabet would not work with English screen-readers, so I haven’t included this text). There are 7 steps labelled in English for using the planner.

About my goal

Time table

Monthly study plan

Daily study plan

Exam plan & result

Internet lecture check

Mock test record & graph

Transcription note: I’m happy to provide the Korean contents of the page for anyone who is interested, but I don’t want to break everyone’s screen readers.

Image 3/4: This is a two-page monthly calendar spread. The pages are primarily white, with a yellow bar across the top. The number 10 is circled in the top right to indicate that the page is for the 10th month. The days of the week start from Sunday and go to Saturday. The month is labelled from date 1 (a Thursday) to date 31 (a Saturday). Below are listed dates with special notes:

October 4 - Micro HW. This date is highlighted purple, and the text is highlighted yellow to indicate that the assignment is complete.

October 7 - Networks HW. This date is highlighted purple, and the text is highlighted yellow to indicate that the assignment is complete.

October 8 - Critical Thinking Paper. This date is highlighted purple, and the text is highlighted yellow to indicate that the assignment is complete.

October 10 - Korean HW. This date is highlighted purple, and the text is highlighted yellow to indicate that the assignment is complete.

October 11 - Micro HW. This date is highlighted purple, and the text is highlighted yellow to indicate that the assignment is complete.

October 15 - Micro HW. This date is highlighted purple.

October 18 - Micro HW. This date is highlighted purple.

October 22 - Comp Pol Exam. There is a bubble around the words and the date is highlighted pink.

On the far right is a cute, colorful drawing of a woman studying with her dog and the quote “It’s more fun when you study together than alone!” Below that is a checklist with the items “Vote!,” “Student ID,” and “Midterms.”

Image 4/4:

This is a two-page spread consisting of two daily planner pages. The pages are primarily white with a yellow outline. The leftmost page is as follows:

There are two columns on this page. The left column’s top row has three sections - “Date - 12,” “D-Day - Lun,” “Study Hours - 5.” (Transcription note: The “D-Day” blank is used for the day of the week instead of the proper use, and the days of the week are labelled in French rather than English.) The second row of that column is labelled “Check Point” and has two bullet points “catch up on micro” and “be ready to vote.” Below that is a small slot to put a song of the day, which is “SKZ (Transcription note: SKZ stands for Stray Kids) - Slump (Japanese ver.). Below is the checklist for the day. It includes both the priority and the item as follows:

HI - buy envelope

HI - micro lab video

HI - Korean class

MED - micro lecture

LO - micro HW (lecture)

MED - grocery shopping

HI - Korean HW

Below this checklist is a doodle of a woman studying.

The right column of this page starts on its top row with the slot “Goal,” which is filled with the phrase “catch up.” Below that, the user has indicated that they woke up at 11:30 and went to sleep at 1:30. Below that, they have colored 4 water drops out of 5 and given the day a score of 4 stars out of 5. Below that is a timetable for the day, which is filled with “Shop” from 13:00 - 14:30, “Study” from 15:30 - 17:00, 20:00 - 20:30, and 22:00 - 23:30, and “Korean” from 18:00 - 20:00. The right page is as follows:

There are two columns on this page. The left column’s top row has three sections - “Date - 13,” “D-Day - Mar,” “Study Hours - blank.” (Transcription note: The “D-Day” blank is used for the day of the week instead of the proper use, and the days of the week are labelled in French rather than English.) The second row of that column is labelled “Check Point” and has two bullet points “vote” and “micro HW.” Below that is a small slot to put a song of the day, which has been left blank. Below is the checklist for the day. It includes both the priority and the item as follows:

HI - drop off ballot

HI - comp. pol lecture

MED - micro HW (lab)

MED - micro HW (lecture)

HI - Korean HW

LO - religion series plan

Above this checklist is a doodle of a man sleeping.

The right column of this page starts on its top row with the slot “Goal,” which is filled with the phrase “micro HW.” Below that, the user has left the wake time, sleep time, water consumption, and daily score fields blank. Below those is a timetable for the day, which is filled with “Vote” from 9:00 - 11:00, “Study” from 12:00 - 14:00 and 14:00 - 18:00. The bottom of the page has been censored with two blue sticky notes that read “Plans for the day! Censored for safety reasons.”]

#university #college #high school #studying #study #study tips #studyblr #planner #planning #to do #todo #to-do #image description #accessibility

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bronyinabottle · 4 years

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Starlight Glimmer/Post-Secrets Of The Dragon’s Tear Thoughts

So now that Secrets of the Dragon’s Tear is finished. I can now sort of put some reflections on some of the things that I did. I did a lot to expand the lore of I Dream of Twilight Sparkle and/or give my sort of interpretation of where some characters could go after the final two-parter and tried my darndest to fit it in a way that wouldn’t be too farfetched if some details were actually canon. From Scootaloo helping out the Wonderbolts expand, Sweetie starting her music career, Dragons not having marriages, Moondancer having had a crush on Twilight, Where Spike’s egg was found and who his dragon mother was and what happened to her along with how his egg ended up in Equestria and get linked with Twilight in such a way given there was not any other Pony/Dragon companionship in the show ever. And of course all of the lore expansions that was revealed with Twilight speaking to Jennesis and Jinn, plus Applejack and family reuniting with her deceased parents (Obviously FiM is the kind of show that doesn’t let you say death. But there’s absolutely no way they’re alive judging from some of the faces and even a few subtle lines in the episode The Perfect Pear.)

But funnily enough, one huge part of the story that I didn’t quite expect to have. Was the entirety of Starlight’s part of the story. You see, Starlight Glimmer was a character I was always… kind of lukewarm towards. I could never quite get past how quick her redemption was plus from what we are told… she almost rebooted the timeline… just because her friend got a cutie mark and left (Which by that logic, Moondancer should have become a villain too. She’d probably have even connected more as a villain since at least she had a connection to Twilight. I’m not saying I would of preferred Moondancer be a villain as I like how she actually is. But having her episode where she only become a shut-in after Twilight didn’t show up at her party and moved to Ponyville sort of become detrimental to Starlight’s story that she went as far as she did after Sunburst moved). We never got any more details about that other then Starlight felt sad about that and it was somehow enough to start her turn to darkness not to mention never got an explanation for why she was so magically powerful. Even besides ridiculous stuff like turning kitchen utensils into a cake, she’s able to levitate herself without wings which we can assume is something Twilight can’t even do.

So Starlight kind of became a rather frustrating character. I never hated her per se, but it’s easy to see why she was sort of a divisive character when she’s sort of shoehorned as a recurring character with a rather weak turn-to-villainy story combined with a magic power that without the proper explanation I’m sure got her cursed out as a Mary Sue. And some of those actually had a point, unlike the people who thought Twilight getting her wings would instantly make her a Mary Sue. And even with some episodes coming up that might of promised some more Starlight backstory, it never exactly went that way. I am sort of thankful for that now, given it gave me free reign to do what I did for Starlight in the story. But stuff like Parent Map certainly only gave really small details like Starlight had a goth phase and didn’t even show a mother for her (Again thankful for that now since one of the big plot twists of the story depends on almost no one knowing who Starlight’s mother is aside from obviously her father who had a reason to keep her a secret)

When Starlight was dropped from being Twilight’s student in Season 7. That was something of a relief because the fear was that Starlight was going to become an Alicorn and she still wouldn’t enough backing to really support making her a Princess. Even if you weren’t a fan of Twilight becoming an Alicorn, there’s no denying that prior to Magical Mystery Cure we didn’t really know the ultimate goal of Celestia mentoring Twilight for. It didn’t seem right that she mentored her just to free her sister, save the world some more on occasion before, as she just spends her life with her friends. Even Lauren Faust’s vision was Twilight to succeed Celestia at some point, and in that context seems like it makes sense that Twilight became an Alicorn. Starlight becoming an Alicorn however risked being everything people feared about Magical Mystery Cure but worse since with how quick and with lack of explantation they did with adding Starlight as a recurring character that even has two-parters that star her instead of the Mane 6, that Starlight’s ascension was going to be when Twilight feels she is ready despite having never given the audience everything we should want to know about Starlight, not to mention many of us still not quite forgiving her for nearly rebooting the timeline over… and I’ll repeat… a friend moving away.

So then, Starlight become a counselor in the school and had a few episodes involving that. And later, she is promoted to be Twilight’s successor to be Principal of the school. Which currently is how the show decided to keep as her canon role even up the more then a decade long timeskip in The Last Problem. Being a Principal of the School of Friendship is still a rather big deal. Though with the school only having been around for two seasons before the series ended it never really felt like it had too much of an impact so it kind of seemed like it gave Starlight a pretty mundane role that cools the fears of those who were afraid they were going to give a role to Starlight she doesn’t feel like she deserves without enough information about her. Though I imagine it may have been somewhat of an underwhelming choice for anybody who did like Starlight.

So Starlight’s legacy as a character goes like this: She’s Season 5’s seasonal villain that got quickly reformed in that season’s finale. Got important episodes in Season 6 and even gets to save Equestria alongside Trixie and Discord in Season 6’s finale. In Season 7 she’s stripped of being Twilight’s student to do whatever she wants. Though it was generally just slice of life with her own batch of friends whether it was Trixie, Sunburst, or Maud. And then she becomes a counselor in Season 8, promoted to Principal near the end of nine. Throughout her time on the show she’s sort of both an important protagonist throughout Seasons 6 and 7, but she never reaches quite Mane 6 or even CMC level in terms of working towards a clear goal or occupation. Other then I guess being tutored on the values of Friendship by Twilight we have no clear direction on where Starlight was supposed to go. So upon the School of Friendship, she’s free to essentially get employed under Twilight again but as a counselor throughout all of Season 8 and some of 9 until she’s given the reigns of the school after Twilight’s own promotion to sole ruler in Canterlot. So we’re left with a divisive character in the show that was never given enough to really tackle doubters, and perhaps underwhelming to her fans. So now the question becomes, is there perhaps a direction that could of been taken where Starlight could of possibly been fixed to a point where she may have worked into a more important role then she actually got that satisfies her fans that also at the same time has the backstory/information necessary to placate those skeptical of Starlight after her fast reformation?

As someone who just wrote Secret’s of the Dragon Tear where at least 7 of 32 chapters are centered around exploring something in regards to Starlight’s character and/or her family. I think I can say firmly: Yes. After writing this story, Starlight’s no longer a character I feel lukewarm/don’t care for. She quickly became… perhaps one of the biggest missed opportunities of the show. I believe now that Starlight could have been a great portion even if her turnaround was rather quick. What I did in the story I feel like provides a good baseline for not just making Starlight more sympathetic/understandable. But maybe even have it make sense that she perhaps eventually reaches an important role… even possibly becoming an Alicorn Princess in the future. Which is something of a turnaround for myself, since I would of groaned if she had been put on a path to possibly become a Princess in the show… but with what I came up with this story…. I couldn’t find it myself to stick with the idea that she only decided to stay a Principal and that’s it. Now, I’m not going to say that everything I did in the story would of had to been followed to make it work. Even just the concepts being similar or at least only a few of these being applied in some fashion could of worked to make Starlight better. So I’m going to sort of bullet point some things that come up in the story in order of which we first learn about them. Starting with…

I. Starlight’s relationship with her father/Firelight

Now obviously, Firelight is a father that loves Starlight very much. That’s obvious in the episode The Parent Map. Perhaps to the point where it’s overbearing, still calling her childish nicknames despite being grown-up. But nonetheless we can plainly see Firelight is a loving father… that said a loving father doesn’t necessarily always mean a good father. You can still have a complicated relationship with a parent that loves you. They treat you as well as you can, but perhaps they keep secrets from you. Or they’re naive to your intentions and/or what you’re doing. Even putting aside Secrets of the Dragon’s Tear for a moment, despite Firelight being so loving Starlight still became that vengeful pony that took over a town with a cult and would reboot the timeline just to get revenge on ponies for foiling her plan that she concocted all because of Sunburst’s moving away. Obviously, something went wrong if her father couldn’t have told her daughter what was right or wrong. It’s likely Firelight was just too naive to even see what his daughter was planning. Firelight should have been the first one to at least try to help Starlight out before she did anything related to that cult. But unless he was utterly complicit in Starlight’s plan, which we’re given no evidence that he was… clearly Starlight was able to hide much of her turn to darkness to her father. I have to imagine that at the very least Firelight may have had to at least see a hint of Starlight’s disgust with cutie marks, (More on that soon) But either Firelight perhaps just naively thought Starlight would eventually understand cutie marks on her own, or something about her cutie mark he knew about but he decided to attempt hiding Starlight from it as what happens in Secrets of the Dragon’s Tear.

But once again putting aside the story for a moment, it might of been interesting to learn what was Firelight’s role in Starlight’s past. Exploring that would have been an interesting direction for the show to take to give a little more depth to her backstory. Now it isn’t just that she turned to darkness because of Sunburst getting her cutie mark, but also she had a father that while he still loves her, didn’t quite inquire enough to try to stop her early on. Obviously the danger in that is telling to keep too much of a watch on your daughter to the point you helicopter them over all the time. But also it is imperative for a father to help out if their children are feeling some sort of resentment about something before it snowballs into something later. And without a mother (More on this soon as well), it’s possible to get to maybe Firelight’s side of the story in that being a single father was hard for him. On a side note we’re not even sure if Firelight is even aware of what Starlight did with the town or the time travel. That could of been an interesting thing alone to explore.

II. Starlight’s Cutie Mark

Seriously, we never got Starlight’s cutie mark story ever. That felt like one of the most important things to learn even if it was understandable why the staff didn’t want deal too much with family issues for Starlight (After all it took 7 seasons before we saw Applejack’s deceased parents, and even then they still had to go for a “Do not say death” sort of thing). It even seemed like Season 5 had like THE perfect set up for Season 6 once there was more Starlight episodes: Having the CMC who had just gotten a group talent of helping others with marks including Troubleshoes potentially being the big foreshadowing episode that would indicate the CMC would be capable of helping adults too with this seasonal villain who’s motivations were cutie marks.

But… we just never got it. It might be perhaps the biggest reason Season 6 mostly fell flat for me. Some say Season 8 is the worst season of the show and I can kind of understand why, but it feels like the School of Friendship actually does something by the end of the series that’s sort of worth it and the Student 6 were generally fun characters. While Season 6 fails at what should of been easy lay-ups from what Season 5 seemed to be setting up. It’s probably fair to say Season 6 had more interesting/quality episodes perhaps, but in terms of the general over-arching part of the series. Season 8 felt like it had a purpose while Season 6’s job was to endear Starlight to us after the Season 5 finale… and it feels like it failed at that for the most part. At least in my opinion, I know obviously Starlight had fans and still has them now and I don’t mean to stomp on any valid reasons for liking Starlight even back then for one reason or another. I just felt like I needed more to really understand Starlight’s role. And it took until writing this story and filling many of the holes left by Starlight’s part of the show to understand that Starlight had potential, she just never quite reached it I feel. And even fans of her I feel like may feel underwhelmed with what they overall did with her. Starlight telling how she got her cutie mark should of been the priority of the first two-parter if not the next Starlight episode after or at least near the end or even the Season 6 finale. But instead we never get it despite how relevant it feels like it would of been to find out.

The first priority of whenever the writer’s meeting were when they started pitching ideas for Season 6 should have made showing how Starlight got her cutie mark as the #1 priority. They reformed a villain who’s entire motivation for villainy was a friend who moved away because they got their mark. It’s almost hard to believe that the writer’s chose to ignore the entire time to the point that maybe behind closed doors for some reason Hasbro didn’t want Starlight’s cutie mark story for one reason or another. It should have been as clear as day that the next course of action was to share that story cause the idea of a pony who does’t like cutie mark but getting a make that perhaps refers to their high talent would have been interesting to be explored into. And potentially gives the CMC after getting their Cutie Marks their most important scene in the show in letting us understand Starlight’s motivations and/or how she felt about getting her cutie mark and even a better understanding of what she thinks it means and whether it’s dissonant from what it actually means or not. I hate to sound like the demanding fan, but it just should of came up before stuff like Starlight meeting Trixie, saving the world herself, all her new friendshipping episodes in Season 7, and her counseling/school episodes in 8 and 9. Those stuff had a right to happen but for some reason we just never got the single thing that felt like that was important to know.

So I definitely went to rectify it even if it’s rather simple and a little bit of a copycat since it’s similar to how Twilight got hers and kind of too convenient that the thing that would give her cutie mark was also with the book that would introduce Starlight down the path of her ideology on Cutie Marks. Though coincidental timing of Cutie Marks happen quite a bit so it wouldn’t be farfetched. But I understand if perhaps I have it a little too simple for someone who complains about the show never getting to it. But even if you feel I did Starlight’s cutie mark story wrongly. I wanted to at least give a good try at it that the show never took the steps to.

III. Starlight’s missing Mother / Sunset Shimmer’s role in Secrets of the Dragon’s Tear

Now, obviously the show would of never gone with the direction my story went with Sunset Shimmer being Starlight’s missing mother. Sunset had been already established in Equestria Girls, and even though arguably Sunset should be quite a bit older then Twilight if say she had went through the mirror sometime before Celestia discovered Twilight. Her being in high school would of made the issue of Sunset being Starlight’s mother… VERY, VERY, Awkward without having to explain complicated time discrepancies between portals to kids or more likely parents who may think the show is promoting teen motherhood. Luckily, the events of the Equestria Girls movies have never been canon to Genie Twilight’s universe outside of Genie Sci-Twi in a blog entirely about genie MLP characters in different universes meeting up. So it entirely freed up not just to give Sunset a role in this story, but plausibly old enough to be Starlight’s mother. I think of the Mane 6 of at least around 25 or so by the end of the series. So keeping in mind that in Secrets of the Dragon’s Tear. Sunset disappeared about 8 or so years before Celestia discovered Twilight and how Sunset was about Twilight’s current age at the time. If Sunset had been still alive in my story, she’d have been at least close to her 40’s. Plenty old enough to have been Starlight’s mother.

It really felt like an eureka moment in about October when I found out I could possibly link Sunset and Starlight in a way that’s feasible enough to make her Starlight’s mother. Cause it’s an entirely unique relation between the two. When Sunset and Starlight are in the same conversation or sentence. It’s often about which character is better in fan arguments (With Sunset generally being more popular since she’s probably the most well-liked thing about Equestria Girls where as Starlight has always been a source of divisiveness in the main show), the one time that Starlight appeared in an Equestria girls special, or… shipping… (Which I know anybody who reads my story is about to make every single art and/or fan fiction about Starlight and Sunset hooking up very, very, very, very, VERY, awkward). But Sunset being Starlight’s mother would at least give a plausible explanation for why Starlight’s so good at magic since she likely inherited the strong magic genes from one of the few other ponies to catch Celestia’s attention enough to make them her protege. Plus, it’s fun to think of a family that decided to rhyme their last name, I naturally wrote that as something that Firelight proposed to Sunset. So that’s why at least in Genie Twi’s universe, you have Shimmer and Glimmer. In most Alt. universe fics involving Sunset being a family member of another known canon character it’s usually either she’s Celestia’s daughter, or Sunburst’s sister. I did have to make it so she is related to Sunburst, but she’s far too old to be a sibling to him in the story. And that’s when I decided to connect Sunset to Sunburst’s father… Sunspot… who was also coincidentally missing from The Parent Map. Though apologies to any Starburst shipping fans for sinking your ship in my story by making Starlight and Sunburst cousins all along.

But anyway, I’d even say if you look at Sunset and Firelight together you could kinda see why they could of made Starlight. I guess to be fair, it doesn’t really look like Starlight got any of Sunset’s physical traits. As appearance wise it definitely looks like she got a lot of her father, though maybe at the very least Sunset’s genes lightening up the purple into the pink/light-purple Starlight is. But I think at the very least there’s some similarities personality wise that worked such as their temper. Now, the Sunset in Secrets of the Dragon’s Tear was never a villain so they can’t relate in terms of feeling guilt for what they’ve done. But perhaps another trait they share is empathy, in that Starlight’s past experience allows her to personally talk to others as a sort of comfort that someone once felt like them about some things, which is probably at least part of the reason she’d made counselor. And as for Sunset, her whole flashback power from Legend of Everfree and onward is how she finds out motivations and is able to talk to them to understand them. And the EQG staff have even said that if Sunset had an element, it’d be the Element of Empathy. Obviously part of that is Sunset having her own experiences as a villain, but I still kind of applied it to SOTDT’s Sunset when she hears Starlight admit everything about her time travel incident where she’s at first quite disturbed that her daughter would do such an act, but hearing how the fact her death had such an impact on Starlight where there were quite a few things outside of Starlight’s hooves that if even one thing changed might of made it less likely she did what she did. And the cult thing is partly Sunset’s fault for leaving the cult book in the house (Even if she did kind of do good at hiding it by having it randomly behind a wall she couldn’t have known was ever going to be broken into) allowed her to understand the circumstances of Starlight’s life to get to that point of desperation.

As she says, it didn’t make what Starlight did justified but thanks to Starlight being able to come clean and willing to become a better pony is enough to get empathy, especially from a perspective of a mother to a child who would of likely been able to stop Starlight if she had been around. Everything Starlight did is now found out as an unfortunate circumstance from the rather bad luck she had in life in things she could not control. She couldn’t have prevented her mother’s death, her father refused to tell her who her mother was that would of probably gotten her to go to Celestia’s school had she known at the time she got her cutie mark thus reunited with Sunburst and having less of an issue with cutie marks when it would of turned out it was indicative of her potential in magic skill, but instead without a single mother figure and boredom of being alone in the house she accidentally discovers both the book that would indoctrinate her for years to eventually starting the Our Town cult and her mother’s spell book that would give her the cutie mark she received, thus begrudging her own moment of gaining her mark when it should of been a good day for her and with an overprotective father afraid of Starlight following a path he doesn’t want her to go on, for fear of Starlight going missing at some point too. It just deepens Starlight’s road to darkness. So instead Starlight’s raw power was set on a path to endanger Equestria, rather then potentially becoming at least a powerful ally if her father had allowed her to go to the school. Again, doesn’t make almost rebooting the timeline justified but at least made it more understandable why she fell so far to almost do it rather then it seemingly only be about the fact a friend moved away.

But anyway, ignoring Sunset in the story for a moment. If there was an interesting idea for Starlight’s mother it certainly would of possibly been a very interesting episode of the show. If Starlight’s mother is dead, then you have kind of have a way for Starlight to bond with Applejack over. I naturally had to have them talk about it even at the point of the story where it was still unknown who her mother was. Cause whether it was a missing or a dead mother, they both don’t have a part of their lives that their friends do. So having Starlight bond with a part of the Mane 6 other then Twilight would of certainly been interesting. Of course, if Starlight’s mother is still around. Perhaps part of Starlight’s story could of been about a messy divorce, and/or even a rather rough relationship with her mother akin to Diamond Tiara and her mother. This is of course assuming that Starlight wouldn’t have just had a normal mother that just happened to not be there for the Parent Map which might of been the way they went if they went ahead with showing who her mother was. But yes, Starlight’s mother is another part of Starlight that could of had plenty of potential to help endear her to fans. As for me… I just ended up making myself if not anybody else look awkwardly if I ever see shipping stuff between Starlight and Sunset in the future knowing that in my AU, that would be incest. Oof.

IV. Starlight as Twilight’s Student / Starlight’s Future

Now after talking about Starlight’s cutie mark and family issues. Kind of going back a little in Starlight’s first role after being reformed in becoming Twilight’s student. Naturally, this is the thing that got people worried that they were going to put Starlight on a path to become an Alicorn because naturally Twilight picking a student would have you believe that’s where things are going since that’s where Twilight ended up. Though once Season 7 rolled around, Starlight actually graduates in some fashion and is just no longer Twilight’s student. Which while it came as a relief personally, it also kind of makes the whole thing weird to just cut out Starlight’s role as Twi’s student after she was for literally only one entire season. Without the proper backstory, it just became a lose/lose situation. Either Starlight gets a role she doesn’t feel like she’s earned or her role as Student just underwhelms in comparison to the other two times we’ve seen an Alicorn teacher and a unicorn student (Whether that was Sunset which ran away from Celestia’s guidance started a spin-off series and became a well-liked character in her own right from Rainbow Rocks and onwards or Twilight naturally having earned her status over saving the world a few times and getting better at magic.) Though the former also has other problems like it’s just hard to think of how to fit Starlight in with the Princesses on her own without the proper history to back it up.

But that’s where I get back into my story, where in the epilogue. And also the post this thoughts is being linked, after having met her mother which has helped made her realize who she is. She realizes that she may have been in fact destined to be in some sort of duo with Twilight. Cause going by the timeline of events: Sunset wasn’t too far from possibly one day ascending to Princesshood, however she stepped down before then, and thus Celestia had to look elsewhere. Before she found Twilight, she concluded that perhaps Sunset’s foal (Which she noticed Sunset was probably pregnant) might inherit Sunset’s power and she can begin anew from there as it would be when that foal is grown up when her sister’s banishment would end. But in a twist, Celestia goes to Saddle Arabia and gets a dream of getting the right pony to hatch Spike’s egg. Leaving it as an exam at the school first in case there were students there that could hatch it, but if they all failed she would seek out Sunset and hope she’s willing to let whoever her child would be to try hatching the egg. But instead, Celestia discovers Twilight first. But with Starlight receiving a mark that recognizes her raw power similar to Twilight from her mother’s spell book. If she had known about her mother and/or didn’t have a grudge against cutie marks to understand what her mark means, she might have gone to the school where waiting for her would be Celestia who already had Twilight. Perhaps leading to an intense magic duel between two gifted fillies, before ultimately it’s broken up to where Celestia can’t let go of Twilight because of the dream she had. But if Celestia is aware of Starlight’s history, she would of been nice enough to keep Starlight around in respect for her former Protege, especially if Celestia had known that she was deceased or even still just missing. Thus sort of having Twilight and Starlight grow up as co-proteges under Celestia. Now from there, it’d be hard to really figure all the what ifs of Twilight and Starlight being co-students from the very beginning and whether it’d change up the whole Elements of Harmony deal. Perhaps similar to how Celestia and Luna were able to harness the Elements just being two ponies. Maybe there wouldn’t be a Mane 6 at all and Twilight & Starlight would each carry 3 of the elements. Or the Mane 6 still happen, but Starlight being the sort of junior student is not one of the Elements though she still helps however she can when Nightmare Moon returns.

But of course this is a hypothetical situation that doesn’t happen at all with many things getting in the way, but kind of thanks to the idea that Luna is retiring at the end of Season 9 too it offers a sort of opening where it seems weird that Celestia and Luna is just dropping both the Sun and Moon on Twilight’s shoulders as a sole ruler. There’s no doubt Twilight would be capable, as the Last Problem shows. But nonetheless while there was a period of 1000 years of Celestia being sole ruler after Luna was banished. It wasn’t the norm, so to go from the beginning of the sisters reign with 2, down to 1 because of banishment, back to 2, but then 1 again since both sisters were retiring may seem a bit odd. So in a scenario where perhaps Starlight feels compelled to use her strong magic for the good of Equestria alongside being able to follow in her mother’s footsteps she’d want to be the student of who’s ever going to be the reigning monarch for a long while, and while she certainly doesn’t want to force it and let Twilight decide, whether she’s a student for life or eventually is chosen to sort of be Luna’s successor in terms of being the younger Alicorn. And with Celestia and Luna both retiiring, that means falling under Twilight’s tutelage once again but a bigger scope then the one throughout Season 6. She could still be Principal even as she has the status of Twilight’s student, as we saw Twilight did plenty of things, while known as Celestia’s student. And like is pointed out, being a Principal in a school where non-ponies are allowed to attend is actually somewhat the perfect warm-up for if Starlight eventually becomes a co-ruler with Twilight. She would have basically seen what are multiple ambassadors in terms of students from other nations, their parents, or whatever guardians brings them along to attend the school.

So, it gives a legitimate reason for Starlight to perhaps become Twilight’s student once again. There’s still going to be a due diligence in Starlight learning from Twilight for a good amount of years. In fact it’s likely I won’t explicitly share the result of going back to being Twilight’s student until whenever I decide I feel it’s time for me to close down I Dream of Twilight Sparkle (I don’t know when that will be, it will probably at least go until the end of 2022 Where perhaps I’ll end it officially after what will be 10 years since the blog began. Though also may depend how G5 is). Likely for the rest of the time until then Starlight will only be a student again. I don’t think I plan on showing Starlight’s moment of ascension if it happens as I’d like to think that Twilight and Starlight both mutually agree to make sure enough time has passed and Starlight has the experience after years of being the Principal of Friendship and/or enough missions that Twilight might send her on. And while Starlight hints she’s likely not to, it’s also Twilight giving time for Starlight in case she wants to back out if say she finds herself with a feeling like her mother to instead raise a family.

Basically after going through the effort to give Starlight such a role she has in the story. It didn’t feel right to leave her as just the Principal of the School of Friendship and that’s it. Another shot at being Twilight’s student I feel makes sense in a scenario where to honor her mother’s legacy and use the magic she inherited to it’s fullest potential is to once again be a faithful student to the ruling Alicorn.

And this is a rather huge step for me since I used to just not care too much for Starlight. And some of her episodes kind of made it harder since for one or another they were sort of problematic from No Second Prances where I feel Twilight probably should of been more lenient with Trixie, To Change a Changeling where Starlight messes up but it somehow works out anyway, and then there was A Matter of Principals where Discord might have been at his most infuriating yet Starlight actually forgives him near the end. With episodes like those and with the lack of more details about Starlight’s past it’s easy to see why Starlight was divisive. Though with this story, Starlight seems to me now like a pretty mishandled character that could have worked with the right direction, but just could never meet the potential that she could of had. Obviously maybe part of it was that the staff maybe knew Starlight was sort of shoehorned so they wanted to make sure there was still plenty of space for episodes about the Mane 6 or other characters that the fans have watched since the first season, as well as whatever ideas they wanted to do for each season until they got the word that Season 9 would be the last. But even considering that it feels like it could of been plausible to replace the more slice-of-life Starlight episodes with something that explains her a little more then we got. As besides from the Season 5 finale the only things we learn about Starlight’s past is a little more of her friendship with Sunburst, where she grew up, who her father was, and she had a goth phase as a teen. If I’m missing anything else they hinted or shared about Starlight’s past let me know, but there just wasn’t a lot for a character that feels like she needed it.

I’m not saying my story is the only way for Starlight to have been fixed. But just at least mentioning some key elements that would have helped. Change a few things around of the keys I laid out even if it of course it wouldn’t be the exact same or couldn’t be the exact same for obvious reasons (Most big of all Sunset who once again despite it probably making sense that she’d be old enough in the pony world if she was grown up when she went across the mirror the first time, is still a high schooler in Equestria Girls) and either way it certain would of helped. While I’m sure there’s probably many fanfics about it already, even something as simple as turning Starlight and Sunburst’s relationship into a shipping story (Obviously not in Genie Twi’s AU though, since they’re cousins) where Starlight reuniting with Sunburst makes her rekindle a little more then just their friendship. Where it shows that perhaps Sunburst leaving was secretly a little more then just Starlight being heartbroken about her only friend leaving. Even if that’s the only change it would of helped. So in a way, I’ve come to like Starlight Glimmer much more then I used to but kind of in a way that she’s now a disappointing character if you don’t have anything to fill in the gaps and only go by what’s shown about Starlight in the show. But when those gaps ARE filled by some sort of fanon, suddenly she can actually be quite interesting and now I have a Starlight that I feel like I can get to like and shape for myself where even if she did all the same things the show Starlight did, it at least feels to me I thought of a satisfying enough reason for why it all happened. She doesn’t have to be completely forgiven about the Time Travel thing as that’s probably her biggest sin, but the important part was that Starlight could feel shame and remorse… which gets into my last category

V. Contrasting Starlight with the Villains Post-Reformation

With Starlight no longer a villain after Season 5 and on the side of good, it will come time for her to face some villains of her own. Though the first thing she faced wasn’t exactly a villain but just some dangerous winter storm that would envelop the Crystal Empire if the Crystal Heart isn’t fixed in time. Which is understandable since that episode is generally about Starlight reuniting with Sunburst after having been told him leaving was Starlight’s motivation. They again unfortunately go too deep on that, though still least shows Starlight has some kind of almost PTSD-like feeling prior to seeing him again. It wouldn’t be until the Season 6 finale before Starlight faces her first true villain with Queen Chrysalis on a revenge plan after Canterlot Wedding. I think generally Chrysalis and Starlight was a pretty good rivalry, that lasts for the entire rest of the series even after Starlight tried to have her own moment of reforming a villain in a similar reaching-out-the-hoof fashion to her own. Only for Chrysalis to just slap it away.

Though Chrysalis is actually the only one Starlight ever gets to directly fight besides of course the big final fight where there is an entire army of ponies who attack the trio of Cozy, Chrysalis, and Tirek. Starlight only gets manipulated and trapped in the ball of magic by Cozy, Starlight is one of Sombra’s hypnotized army and in the final two-parter she gets a brief fight with Chrysalis where she’s defeated by the much more powered-up Chrysalis before she’s the first one Discord tricks Tirek into freeing to help the Mane 6 escape. Perhaps it’s another disappointment in that while it was kind of still interesting to have Starlight have this rivalry with Chrysalis. Starlight didn’t have much of a connection to the others.

And this is the point I again get to a part of my story, where I actually made Cozy Glow perhaps one of the central figures of Starlight’s past being a part of the family that are responsible for the death of her mother (Even though of course they didn’t come out unscathed since Cozy’s parents both died in that confrontation too, and Cozy was sent to the future by the unpredictable effects of Sunset firing magic with a broken horn). I’ll kind of admit it is sort of stretching things to just try to tie things together as much as possible, but Cozy Glow is a character we know even less about then Starlight. And despite being a little filly, she’s treated like this ultimate evil on the level of Tirek since she’s sent to Tartaurus. Which confuses a lot of fans who are used to this show usually reforming the villains. Which is probably why it was a good idea to actually sort of make it so that she definitely did deserve the fate she got by revealing her upbringing would make it impossible for her to be reformed. Just outing her as a complete psychopath that no friendship lessons were going to change her, as unfortunately there are people in real life that just can’t be changed and the only proper answer is some kind of justice for them that discourages others from following their path. Cozy’s just a filly, but when she’s indoctrinated by those just as psychopathic, at least in the Genie Twi AU it would take outright brainwashing.

Having Cozy have a role with Starlight’s Mother’s death also sort of makes the moment Cozy seeks counsel from Starlight with more hidden sinister background to it all. It’s partly Cozy’s fault Starlight ended up doing what she did since after manipulating Sunset into believing she’s not like her parents, she drops a rock that breaks Sunset’s horn, nerfing Sunset’s ability to do much against Cozy and her mother. Cozy gets some form of comeuppance in that she gets the ultimate bad luck in being sent through time by Sunset’s blast, but injuring Sunset’s horn allows Cozy’s mother to grab Sunset and put them in a suicidal free-fall that’ll kill them both since she doesn’t have the wing power to save herself and Sunset would have to hope she’s lucky enough with her injured horn. Resulting instead of both getting exploded after Cozy’s mother tries covering the hole of Sunset’s broken horn before they even hit the water. Though Cozy is likely sent conveniently at around Season 8’s time chronologically where she probably somewhere caught wind of the School of Friendship and started her manipulation on the CMC and of course Starlight. We’re also never given an explanation for how Cozy knew what she would do would happen in the Season 8 finale except I guess we have to assume that in canon it was something she learned from Tirek. But in the Genie Twi AU, it’s also a plan that her parents wanted to do and what Sunset aimed to stop before she retired for good. As we shouldn’t forget that removing the magic from Equestria is still a devastating move, we can debate that Starlight’s time travel is arguably worse and in some ways I’d even agree with that but nonetheless has a huge impact. And in a story where it’s states that all life is Magic too through their souls, that doesn’t just make Cozy a power-crazy psychopath but a GENOCIDAL psychopath.

Cozy’s magic sucking thing can’t actually suck in soul magic since otherwise Cozy herself would fall under her own plan most likely, but without usable magic the world would quickly become unhappy and dark magic would spread everywhere. I even made it so it’s particularly related to Starlight by implying that the wasteland we saw in the Season 5 finale was if Cozy succeeded. Obviously Cozy hadn’t been met at the time of that but given we saw the futures where Chrysalis, and Tirek won. Even if at the time Cozy didn’t exist conceptually, it was the perfect thing to apply to tie Cozy into the overall arch of the series. And while Sunset sending Cozy to the future just before Season 8 may be a little forceful in trying to tie things together it does result in the idea that time travel really messes up Starlight’s life in how it brings her unknowingly face to face with one of her mother’s murderers and how she’d end up using it in her most infamous scheme. I doubt Cozy in the Genie Twi AU knew for sure that Starlight was Sunset’s daughter but it does still sort of retroactively make any meeting between Starlight and Cozy in Season 8 more sinister and/or tragic with Cozy almost sending Starlight away with wherever all that magic was going to go in the Season 8 Finale. But if Cozy were to ever escape from being in stone and found out, she’d no doubt flaunt her role in ruining Starlight’s early life. The lengths of which psychopathic people go to torture the people who get in their way knows no bounds. Cozy’s effect on Starlight’s life implied in Secrets of Dragon’s Tear making her overall the central figure responsible for what Starlight ended up doing. Cozy and her parents confrontation with Starlight’s mother caused her death and in a fashion where no pony would know what happened thus causing the domino effect of Starlight’s fall into darkness and delaying her finding her destiny of being in a duo with Twilight.

Thus many of the events of Seasons 5-7 in the Genie Twi AU are now retroactively because of Cozy’s actions, giving her a much broader effect and really outs her as actually among the most evil the ponies have ever come across even though (Alicorn ascension aside in the final two-parter) she’s really not that strong herself compared to the likes of Chrysalis and Tirek. It’s even implied that if the trio had won, there would of likely been a situation eventually where Tirek and Chrysalis would have to team-up together to fight Cozy. In a bleak situation where any remaining ponies would likely have to side with Tirek and Chrysalis for the best shot at taking Cozy down. These revelations bubble up the anger in Starlight so much, she almost decides to kill Cozy despite having been told that killing the villains is a bad idea. As for at least a brief moment, she falls under a little more darkness just because it was Cozy’s fault she fell into darkness in the first place. Twilight and Sunset manage to prevent her from doing so, but it makes Cozy more central to Starlight’s life then Chrysalis. With the benefit of both Starlight and Cozy getting an upgrade of the overall part of the timeline then they ever had in the show.

VI. Conclusion

If I may to back a bit to the teacher/student thing with Twilight. It sort of makes it that Seasons 1 through Season 4 is the tale of Twilight’s rise to becoming the Princess of Friendship. Season 5 is this transition period where it gives some of the aftermath of Twilight’s rise while introducing Starlight who does some awful things for a seemingly weak reason but actually hid something a bit deeper. While Seasons 6 through 9 if you include the events of Secrets of the Dragon’s Tear into the timeline into Starlight’s portion of her own even if that includes a few oddities related to the show’s handling of Starlight having to return to being Twilight’s student, and nothing much of importance happening aside from becoming Principal of the School of Friendship with Starlight until after the events depicted in the show. I would say that if much of the stuff that is revealed in the story was at all canon it probably would of come up sooner then they actually did so I understand that if there’s any criticism’s of the story in trying to tie things together too much is including stuff that perhaps characters would of certainly talked about them sooner then they actually did. Though to be fair much of the subject matter is something a little too dark for the show after all again it took 7 seasons before we got to see who Applejack’s deceased parents were and even then they had to kind of skate around the fact by not saying how they died, they still did a masterful way of sort of implying they were deceased without telling us how in The Perfect Pear. I’m sure that if some of my stuff hypothetically was vetted by Hasbro execs they would outright reject the whole part of Cozy Glow role in the death of Starlight’s Mother (Whether it was or was not Sunset). But as is I feel like I did a decent job at fitting in much of the lore previously established that’s exclusive to the blog with answerig many questions that were left unanswered after the show. Starlight in particular I’m glad I was sort of able to turn into a character I previously didn’t care too much about, into a pony I could root for even if that’s kind of cheating since I wrote her myself in the new direction I had many reasons for wanting to write this story, bud I was just super surprised at just how invested I got into expanding Starlight’s part when I was steadily always having concepts thinking about when I’d eventually write in this story expecting to be mainly finally giving the Dragon’s Tear more of a purpose then just the miracle item that saves Spike and the others in Return to Saddle Arabia. I really went ambitious with this story to include as many characters as I wanted including each of the Mane 6, Starlight, and the Saddle Arabian OCs each having their own chapters that provide a direction I think they could go for after the events of the final two-parter.

Obviously Twilight and Spike still generally have the biggest portion of the story especially after the Spirit summoning gets introduced since it couldn’t happen without Spike at that current moment but Applejack also has a pretty large role in the story in that she has that heartbreaking meeting with Grand Pear at the end of Chapter 2, invites 2 of the 5 performances at the ball, somewhat debates with Twilight about the dream, bonds with Starlight over having no representation in the club of mothers meeting at the ball, and then finally having a dramatic moment to seeing her parents again and introducing her friends to them. Which then sets up a more quick way of convincing others that this spirit summoning stuff is real being she’s the element of Honesty. Twilight and Spike learning about how their paths became entwined, Starlight finding her mother who’s very identity also held the keys to her destiny, and Applejack’s lamenting the lack of her parents but eventually seeing them are perhaps the big 3 parts of the story and I’ve sort of proud of the way I sort of entwined them all together with the Spirit Summoning part which could potentially have some interesting ideas that could be explored upon with enough asks afterward. With the show over, there’s no more main source to respond to at least until G5 starts but this certainly could help not just bridge the gap till’ then but have a sort of interpretation of the events of Friendship is Magic in a unique way that I hope others enjoy. I certainly had fun writing it, and there’s enough left open to still continue on as the sprite comics return. I even went ahead on improving the Starlight sprite that I admit I sort of half-assed before, along with sprites for Sunset along with Pear Butter & Bright Mac. Jinn as well too! Thanks to anyone who read the story and/or read my thoughts out here. Seeya!

#Starlight Glimmer #My Little Pony #secrets of the dragon's tear #My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

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musical-chick-13 · 4 years

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Melisandre too please

OKAY STRAP IN MY FRIEND BECAUSE I WANT TO SCREAM ABOUT GOT WOMEN TODAY

• Did they live up to their potential? / In what ways was their potential unachieved?

I’m going to stick to the show because, again finished when the books aren’t. So, I really love Melisandre with my whole heart. You know, you have this mysterious woman who easily manipulates a powerful man, but it’s not just a standard femme-fatale I love power kind of thing. She grew up enslaved (at least in book canon, I can’t remember if this was ever mentioned in the show), and she’s in, essentially, a codependent relationship with her religious faith. It’s not for some sort of fake demureness or quest for purity, it’s because she thinks it’s genuinely the only thing she can do to save the world. She’s not a corrupt pastor, she’s an extremist who truly thinks she’s doing the right thing. But she’s not quite a competely-brainwashed, naive young victim, either. Obviously being sold into slavery and trained in the priesthood since forever ago influences her beliefs. But she reflects deeply on the nature of morality and owns up readily to the fact that sometimes she engages in acts of violence in the name of what she believes. It’s not an accident, people’s lives simply come at the expense of her service to R’hllor and faith in the coming of Azor Azai. She balances a very fine line between two extremes of the religious zealot morality spectrum, and I think she does it very well. The one thing I will say is that the show couldn’t seem to make up its mind on whether or not she was a fraud or whether she actually had Special Magic Powers. And not in kind of a “We won’t show you all the details of what happened, judge for yourself if she’s legit” way. They had her whole conversation with Selyse about using potions for desired fire effects, but she gives birth to shadow assassin babies and then literally brought someone back from the dead. If you’re going to make it ambiguous, keep it ambiguous. If not, make a decision and commit to it. Being completely shrouded in mystery; being a complete, unapologetic fraud; and being a supernatural entity entrusted with magic who sometimes misuses it “For The Greater Good” are all much more interesting than flip-flopping back and forth on characterization because you’re afraid to commit to a concept. Also, for some reason, in season 7 her main objective was to bring Jon and Dany together? Why? They should have explained how she got to that point and why she thought it was necessary. Also her death, but I talk about that in the last point.

• How they negatively and positively affected the story.

Positive: She brought Stannis into the story, leading to a discussion about whether or not the concept of justice is born from conformity to rules or a desire to put more good into the world. We are introduced to another religion in Westeros that helps enrich the worldbuilding and leads to a moral compass that is centered so differently from the other characters that it provides a fresh way of interpreting the story’s events and keeps us engaged. We are introduced to Davos aka Onion Dad through her and I love that guy.

Negative: She brought Stannis and Davos into the story, to the point where show Shireen died FOR NO REASON which COMPLETELY RUINED STANNIS’S CHARACTER IN THE PROCESS. Stannis wasn’t supposed to be The Irredeemable Bad Guy, he was supposed to be another link in the chain that encompassed all of the different ways of looking at morality. Instead, they used his multifaceted, complex relationship with Melisandre to flatten out his characterization, make him the resident Pathetic Game Player We Are Supposed to Laugh At, and ultimately left off all degree of nuance by making him burn a child alive for shock value. I’ll never forgive the show for that. (Also, what with Brienne’s smiting of Stannis, Davos being the All-Around Good Guy and the fact that Mel’s death was so...anticlimactic...we’re also apparently supposed to see Stannis as the one primarily responsible for Renly’s death? Just? Ignoring Mel’s (and Davos’s) part in that? Sounds fake and narratively inconsistent, but okay.)

• What my favorite arc for them is.

-I think, probably after Stannis’s death (how said death came about notwithstanding, see above), when she realizes that she was...wrong? About her faith? She thought she knew how the world was supposed to work, like she had finally figured it out and unlocked some big secret, and then it just wasn’t true at all. And (kind of similar to what I said about Cersei) she has to rebuild herself. She and Davos have reversed their ways of thinking, where Davos believes-maybe not in R’hllor or any god(s), but in the existence of inexplicable and superhuman things-and now he has to convince her. And only then does she (and the audience) learn of her true power. (Which, as I mentioned above, I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this. Her being a charlatan strikes me as a character choice I would want more in a story I was writing, but I’m not writing these books/episodes, lmao.) Her priorities become more skewed toward “Fighting the White Walkers and making sure whoever Azor Azai is has a world left to save,” which WE LOVE ORGANIC SHIFTS IN PERSONAL MOTIVATION WE REALLY DO Y’ALL

• What I think of their ending.

-Ugh. I don’t think I’ve ever actually talked about this, but her just going, “Well, my goal is done, bye” and then going out into the snow and just laying down to die is...how do I put it...utter bullshit. There was never any true payoff in her ongoing conflict with Davos, no resolution to her (weird, creepy) relationship with Jon or how he felt about her doing awful things but still being the person who brought him back to life, she didn’t even get a moment of dying in service of a cause she believed in (like, for example, Theon, whose ending I also hated but for much more personal reasons that have less to do with narrative structure and more to do with my feelings). She legit just said, “I’m out” and instantaneously died. Also...she, Davos, and Jon have been through a LOT. The fact that there was barely any mention of her or what her death meant save for that one conversation Davos had with Tyrion??? for some reason???? seems like a waste. If someone has been with you through multiple traumatic experiences, it doesn’t matter if you hate them, you’ll have some sort of feelings after they die. Davos never got retribution for Shireen, doesn’t that bother him?? How does Jon feel knowing he owes his life to the killer of an innocent child? How does Davos feel seeing yet another person die right in front of him, but intentionally this time?? *sigh* Emotional through-lines are a thing, people!

• When I wish they had died. / If I think they should’ve died.

-Ultimately, my biggest beef is that there was...nothing I saw in the show that suggested this was how she wanted her story to end. If you’re going to make a character feel hopeless upon resolving a specific problem or tie their entire reason for existing to one conflict, you have to have them talk about it or personally reflect on it? You can’t just stick that on as an afterthought to justify...whatever it was D&D were trying to justify. Melisandre has always had such a complicated relationship with Westerosi morality, and she NEVER got to see any direct consequence of that (and by consequence I don’t even mean, like...punishment or something, I literally just mean a result that happened because of it). She, again, legit just walked in the snow by herself and insta-died. It 100% felt like they just didn’t know what to do with this character so they just scribbled something in so they wouldn’t have to spend any time on her later because they didn’t care about her. (Which, obviously, they’re wrong. I love her and she’s so interesting this is a fact. Shame on you, D&D.) I do think, for her, it makes sense based on her religious ties to kind of...have a last-minute swerve toward penance. Not guilt or redemption, per se, but a way to honor the world she’s trying to save by way of choosing to die through a selfless act. Whether that be sacrificing herself as a distraction for the White Walkers or putting herself in the line of fire (ice?) for Jon because she thinks he'll help heal the world or (my personal favorite) fighting off a White Walker to protect Davos because she has finally come to sort-of understand his nuanced take on morality and that although he has some bad/dark parts, he is genuinely a good man and deserves to make it out alive. Let him have the life that Shireen didn’t get to have. Davos would be SO CONFLICTED because She Did a Good Selfless Thing For Someone Who Wanted To Kill Her But She’s An Awful Person What Do I Think About Good And Evil Now and the introspection would be delicious.

#melisandre #got #asoiaf #meta #tw: suicide mention #davos seaworth #stannis baratheon

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theda-rison · 4 years

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Camp Nano July 2020 - Results, Discussion, and Conclusion

the Like, wow, Scoob!

Camp Nano July 2020 is done, and here are some thoughts:

I always knew that writing a comic script was going to be a learning experience - I’ve never written a comic script so it really couldn’t be anything except for a learning experience - but hoooooo boy, was it ever!

Before starting I couldn’t find anything on how long comic scripts normally are; I don’t know why, that just seems information that isn’t really shared? (If anyone knows of a resource, please send it to me!) I’m guessing it has a lot to do with there just being less comic writers than there are say, book writers and movie writers. That’s probably what happens when your interests are niche in some way, it’s just harder to find anything about them.

FORTUNATELY, I have the fancy library-bound volumes of The Sandman, and there’s excerpts of the scripts in the back. Which like… thank you @neil-gaiman, or whoever made that decision, because being able to look at an actual script and see how it’s formatted and what’s included has been the biggest help. Even the “How to Write a Comic Script!” videos I found on YouTube didn’t have example scripts which... I don’t know, I don’t get it. Please include examples, comic YouTubers. I am confusion.

Now is the time for a sexy graph, because we are the kind of people who keep Excel spreadsheets of word counts and make graphs for fun.

Anyway, let’s look at…

youtube

[Good. I was listening to As The World Falls Down by David Bowie over and over, and now this is stuck in my head again. I don’t know why I do these things to myself. Also, I love Peter Tork’s face during some of the “AAAHHHH”s lol]

I can’t remember if I stated this before or during Camp at any point, but my goal was 60k words. I dislike aspiring for un-round numbers like “1667″ every day. Any number I could possibly pick is arbitrary, but for some reason the classic Nanowrimo number of 1667 seems even more arbitrary. “2000″ is a much better number. And, I can generally write 2000 words in two hours before running out of steam, so it works out well. It also divides better.

Having said that, you might be thinking, “Theda, the end Actual number on your graph is a lot closer to 90k than it is 60k,” and you would be right, good eyes. Were I Brandon Sanderson and you were one of my students, I would toss you a gummi bear. As it is, you’re not my student and I have no gummi bears and I’m not even Brandon Sanderson… so life is just upsetting I guess.

[But I am back to listening to As The World Falls Down, so I suppose it all works out.]

Back to the graph: The Actual. Look at this wavy-fucking-scalloped-fucking progression. Look at it. I can’t tell if it makes me happy or angry or what, but I know it gives me some kind of feeling. I think I like it from a purely aesthetic point of view, but from the point of the view of the person who made it, it annoys me.

I had a couple of days where I - in my infinite stupidity - didn’t really elaborate on what was supposed to happen in some of the scenes in my scene list and so I spent my “Writing!” time (as it’s labeled in my planner) not writing, but looking at the page cursing myself for not having written any directions for me, a directionless person.

You may also notice that the Goal bars suddenly jump up on the 24th day,. That’s because - in my infinite wisdom - I redid my goals after reaching 60k. It just makes more sense to me to be like, “Well, I punched that goal in the face. Let’s try and go WAY overboard,” because I have the Too Much gene and as Henry Rollins says: “Don't do anything by half. If you love someone, love them with all your soul. When you go to work, work your ass off. When you hate someone, hate them until it hurts.” I wouldn’t say that’s a personal philosophy so much as a Thing I Am Compelled To Do Or I Will Die.

But that’s just me.

As for the trend line, I prefer it looking more steep because that’s way more gratifying, but that’s what I get for writing parts of my scene list like, “That’s okay, Future Me will take care of it!” Past Me, you are a dick and you need to stop doing these things. You are a bastard.

Now for the table!

[I’m sorry if that’s very small.]

And this time I’m showing you the actual table I use to write down my words. Complicated? Yes. Sexy? Very yes. A little annoying? Also yes. Do we get a little worried that she works too hard and refuses to take a vacation? We do, but we also know that she does it because she loves her work, and we love and support her and bring her snacks throughout the workday to keep her going. What a great table.

First of all: Yes, my first writing block is at 4am. It’s because I have a day job and if I write from 4-6 I can use my brain right when it’s freshly slumbered instead of using it for nonsense at work all day and being unable to write and aggravated because my mental capacity is nil and I no longer know what words are. In an ideal world I would be able to write all day but, here we are.

You might notice there’s a lot of 0’s in the 4am block, especially in the fourth week, and that’s more so because - in my infinite infiniteness (infinity?) - I am secretly an ice giant (but like, smaller) and it’s summer and the northern hemisphere is Too Hot and I literally will not be able to sleep at night until about December. Until then, I am forced to understand what it’s like to be a jacket potato for half of the year so I can empathize with their starchy pain because this is, for whatever reason, Important.

It me. (Recipe)

Anyway,

My record day was 7519 on the 10th, which is just sexy and fun and cool and everything we want, and my lowest was a big fat 0 on the 16th.

I felt super motivated for reasons I don’t remember on the 10th. This is because I didn’t have my planner yet and was not keeping notes anywhere else at that time. (It’s an undated Daily Passion Planner, in case you’re also a slut for planners and wish to know ;) ). I think I was trying to do a 10k day just for funzies? Which, technically, at 2k words in 2 hours I should be able to do 10k in 5, but cell phones exist (and are too distracting), and until I shed my corporeal form I still have to do things like “make food and eat it,” and “get up to pee,” and “experience all the vagaries and horrors of human existence.” I’m hoping it clears up soon.

The 16th was the day that Future Me took Past Me by the hand and said, “My good bitch, you need to stop doing that thing where you leave shit for me because you run out of motivation or executive function or whatever the fuck is happening where you decide you don’t want to do something anymore, seemingly at random. You deciding to leave school before the day even started because you were bored may have been cute when you were a kid - and also annoying for everyone around you, and just alarming that time they had to pry your hands off the door molding as you held on to it and screamed - but as an adult you are both the cause of and the person who has to deal with this bullshit, and you need to stop.”

On the 16th I went to the Shrine of the Self (sorry, I’ve been reading a lot of manga lately) and made an offering for forgiveness, and then hunkered down and added a TON of notes and partially written scenes to my scene list. You can see how much that helped; it’s almost like having direction is actually useful, lol.

BUT, despite all that direction and despite punching my goal in the face, breaking it’s glasses, and taking it’s lunch money, the script is not finished!

Here’s some math as of the 23rd:

There are 124 points in my outline On the 23rd, I had completed 44 of those points, at 363 pages or 59,601 words 124 / 44 = 2.81 Now we check: 44 * 2.81 = 123.6 (close enough) So as of the 23rd, the projection for completing the script was: 363 * 2.81 = 1,020 pages 59,601 * 2.81 = 157,479 words

Now, I don’t know what the fuck that means because I don’t really do numbers, but at the time of the 23rd it looked an awful lot like I wasn’t going to finish this Camp project. And uh… hey, that was correct.

So I’m going to be continuing Camp Nano July 2020, but also in August 2020, over about 20 more days (providing I hit my goal every day.)

So:

IF -> I need to get up to 158,000; 158,000 - 86,000 = 72,000 words need to be written. (I'm rounding the total up because I canNOT imagine this script being somehow smaller than that at this point, and I’m rounding my Camp total down because who cares about 72 words?) I divided 72,000 from a few numbers until I got a word goal I was okay with, that I think I can do, here’s that one: 72,000 / 20 days = 3,600 words a day (This would mean I can either do 2k in the morning and then 1600 later, or the reverse. You know, whatever way I feel spicy that day.) THEN -> I need to write 3,600 words a day for 20 days to (hopefully) finish this script before work picks up at the end of August.

And then I’ll chill from the end of August - October (except for maybe some short stories or essays. I have a lot of Thoughts and they need to be purged from my brain for my own good). And then I’ll use Nanowrimo Classic (November) to edit this fucker.

SO… that’s some stuff.

As I said at the beginning this endeavor was only ever going to be a learning experience. Having to write 158k words total doesn’t scare me, the longest thing I’ve written yet was something like 190k words. Trying to finish it before the end of August is the daunting part. Especially since being able to be creative right now just keeps making my brain puke out more ideas, and then there’s too many ideas and I’m just writing them all down and hopefully I can get to them later.

Anyway, good job on Camp Nano July 2020 everyone! We did it!

And if you didn’t do it: don’t worry, you’ll do it next time :D

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