I know I’m *checks watch* twelve years late coming to this realization, and two years late to talking about it when it would’ve been at all relevant, but godDAMN
Young Justice wastes NO time being good after season 1. The producers really just said “hey, y’know all the characters and relationships you’ve loved seeing develop for the past 26 episodes? Well actually, fuck that, fuck them, and fuck you! Everything’s different now, everyone’s developed in new ways that you won’t get to see, but not even in a way that makes sense for a FIVE YEAR TIME-JUMP!”
Take Robin for example; in the five years that take place offscreen, Dick becomes Nightwing, Batman recruits Jason Todd as the new Robin, Jason Todd gets killed, and Batman recruits Tim Drake as the new-new Robin (oh and also Barbara Gordon becomes Batgirl). I love the Batfamily, but I can barely call it the Batfamily when we don’t ever actually see them becoming a fucking family! We don’t get to see Dick struggle with his mentor’s legacy, we don’t see Jason struggle to live up to the Robin that came before, or Barbara picking up crime fighting despite what Bruce tells her to do because fuck that guy. We don’t get to see any of them grieve Jason, we don’t get to see Bruce go off the deep-end, only to be brought back by a young Tim Drake, who shows him what makes Batman, well, Batman; helping those in need, saving people.
INSTEAD, we’re introduced to two characters we knew that are now wildly different with ZERO explanation as to why, and one that we’ve never seen before and is (so far in my watch) severely underwritten, but because they’re the characters we love from the comics we’re supposed to love them here. It’s using the iconography of the characters to get us invested without putting in any of the actual work DEVELOPING them as people. It’d be one thing if this was the first time we met any of them, but we’ve already been introduced to Barbara, and we’ve spent an entire season with Dick, but now both of them have undergone massive development we aren’t made privy to.
I read an interview with Greg Weisman talking about the time jump, and he says this;
“We wanted a big time jump between the first two seasons to truly illustrate what our series was about, i.e. GROWING UP. After that, honestly, it’s more about what feels right. There are always things we want to skip, so that they become reveals.”
Man, I wonder if maybe allowing the audience to actually watch the characters grow and change might illustrate that growing up thing better than just skipping ahead so you can make it a reveal??? Imagine a show where we get to see these characters grow up together, maybe even grow apart, some leave, some stay, some are replaced, some come back. Like, imagine getting to see Dick reckon with the fact that Batman REPLACED HIM, only to watch that replacement die! Imagine getting to see Tim Drake come to Dick for advice, instead of just skipping ahead to the point that they’re already an established team. Imagine getting to see M’gann help Gar learn to use his powers for the first time. Imagine the team throwing a goodbye party for Wally and Artemis! Imagine seeing Wally and Artemis continue to develop their relationship instead of just jumping to them being fully moved in and together! WE WERE ROBBED!!
Like I’m still gonna watch it (not in the least because my roommate’s already seen it) but I need everyone to know I’m doing it under duress. I love these characters, and they did not deserve this lazy bullshit. I do not understand how Greg Weisman made Spectacular Spider-Man because HOLY SHIT the writing decisions made on this show are pissing me off, and don’t even get me STARTED ON CONNOR AND M’GANN BECAUSE WHAT THE FU
46 notes
·
View notes
Ironically, "Marinette is dumped by Adrien, then gets into romantic relationship with Chat Noir" is more or less beginning of "Chat Blanc"
It's basically as if (some) MariChat shippers want first half of "Chat Blanc" (where Chat Noir has "happy romantic relationship with Marinette" after finding out that she is Ladybug and deciding to don't tell her about it) to happen, but without "second half" (where Gabriel finds out that "Adrien = Chat Noir" and exploits it to akumatize Chat Noir into Chat Blanc)
There's a really weird double standard in the fandom, and a lot of people infantalize Adrien and are weirdly protective of him. So, I think a lot of people are taking the secret keeping personally, but the thing about it is, it shouldn't fall on Marinette to reveal all of the dirt on his family. Nathalie tried to have Gabriel tell him two seasons ago, but they never did and never pushed it again. I think if anyone should tell him, it should be Nathalie. Ya know, an actual adult in the situation who knows more than Marinette does.
Marinette has had her own share of trauma the past few seasons and has had to deal with way more than she should have. I think one telling moment to me that a lot are overlooking throughout this whole discourse is in Migration when Adrien is talking to the blue boy about Marinette keeping secrets from him back then. He wasn't pressed about knowing the secret; he just didn't want her to feel guilty about it. Because he has secrets too. I can maybe see a similar situation happening in s6 where she feels guilty about it, and maybe it does cause some contention in their relationship, but it doesn't necessarily mean they have to break up over it. They could and probably will work through it. I doubt she will ever tell him, at least not as Marinette bc that would mean a reveal, and we know the writers are milking that for all it's worth, so I doubt the secret is going to break them up necessarily.
The main and most plausible threat I could see is Lila/Cerise/Iris/whoever the fuck. But we will have to see.
5 notes
·
View notes
I feel like there's a solid group of fans (in all fandoms) who forget that there ARE differences between fanfiction and traditional publishing.
Transformative work is great about allowing you to explore secondary POVs and characters who aren't the focus of a text.
But traditionally published books are by their nature more constrained in their format. The physical nature of books + the publishing system means they only have so many pages. And those pages need to serve the central narrative of a story.
It can be fun to puzzle out 'man but what about the implications of x'? or 'oh, I feel like there's a connection between A and B, that's fun to think about!' or 'okay, but from Character M's point of view this is so tragic, even though they literally only exist in three scenes'. That's why transformative work is transformative, and for me, it's the fun part of fandom!
But what that doesn't mean is that the author is being mean or cowardly for not exploring those things in the source text. An author's focus has to be ultimately on the story THEY want to tell, and what makes that narrative or those themes work.
They do not have the luxury of including every digression your brain might have fun exploring, and it doesn't make them bad authors if their narrative focus isn't the one you would have personally chosen.
"But such and such character was robbed! They only appeared in x scenes and then-"
Okay, but did the scenes they were in serve their purpose? Did we get a sense of how they meaningfully impacted other characters, the plot, or the themes while still having a sense of personhood?
You can critique whether or not an author was successful in using their characters for story purposes or whether they successfully communicated their underlying message or whether the author unintentionally/intentionally included a bias that weakens their writing.
But an author not chosing to spotlight your particular minor character favorite does not make them a "coward" or bad at their craft.
2K notes
·
View notes
“there is never a moment in which i do not adore you” — g. satoru
established relationship, gn!reader, tooth rotting fluff bc i love him terribly and sickeningly, the title quote is from marie antoinette’s letter to axel von fersen, dividers by @/cafekitsune
it is way past midnight when the door clicks open. your ears catch on the barely audible sound of keys being carefully placed on the counter.
satoru is home, finally — after a long day of duties, teaching, meetings and missions, he made it back to you.
and he is being quiet, stepping lightly and silently sneaking in — he doesn’t want to wake you up.
but you are awake anyway, curled up in your shared bed. the shirt he slept in last night clutched against your chest; it smells like him still, and it brings a sense of safety and comfort knowing that he was here this morning, wearing the cloth hugged between your arms; that he took it off and placed it there, on the bed, to wear again tonight.
you know before he makes his way to the bathroom for a quick shower to wash the weight of the day off his body, he will come to give you a kiss. he always does. his lips trace the skin on your cheek ever so delicately, in fact so delicately one could barely feel them even when awake.
but you know, you can feel his breath on you. because you are never sleeping when he does this — just pretending. and part of him knows it — he can easily tell if you’re in slumber or not based on your breathing patter alone that he came to know in his marrow — and his lips curl into a silent smile, soft and loving, grateful to have you wait for him. thankful that there is one person looking forward for his return. that there is a home he can go back to. that there is you.
maybe he also knows that you can never sleep without him. and that the bed feels like an unfamiliar place, the emptiness on the mattress — unnatural. that it makes you restless. that you toss and turn, similar to when you are laid on a new bed you’re not accustomed to, perhaps in someone else’s house or at a hotel, and you can’t fall asleep because it’s not your bed. that you wait, for him to come and make the bed familiar and warm, make it yours again.
maybe this is why he’s been coming back home earlier, or at least trying to, but it’s not always up to him.
“you’re back”, you mutter, turning around to catch him just as he was about to plant a soft peck on the side of your face but paused to take your scent into his lungs. your nose nuzzles against his, arm snaking around his neck and pulling him closer to draw his lips near yours, and the kiss both of you have longed to taste all day finally comes to light.
if yearning was a sound, it would be that of the air you both breath in from the closed space between your faces just the moment before the kiss. the air that enters through your nostrils and lets the scent of the other in, and once it reaches your senses it births a moan in your throats. like that of a thirsty man in the blazing hot desert tasting water for the first time in days.
“you are awake”, he pulls away, but remains connected with you. forehead glued to yours, blindfold off and eyes gazing softly into yours in the dark. he can see you perfectly, and he is afraid to blink. because anytime he does, it robs him of the time he could spend looking at you.
“i just happened to be”, you tell him, fingers gently scratching at his undercut, earning a soft hum from him followed by a “you’re a bad liar, but keep practicing”
you chuckle. he always sees through you.
satoru is leaning over you, avoiding to even sit by your side in his work clothes. the idea of possibly bringing residuals of the curses he’s exorcised that day into the place that he considers closest to heaven is just unacceptable to him. not that he’s ever admitted this, but it’s a pattern you’ve noticed.
but to you it doesn’t matter. you love the mess in him.
you wrap your other hand around him, an attempt to drag him into the bed. “come closer”, you coo.
he is resisting. “i need a shower first — i am sweaty. i smell bad”
“my satoru never smells bad”, you correct him.
he giggles. “you say that because i am your satoru”
“first, there’s no way you can ever be someone else’s satoru. second, please do not ruin my romantic moment — it’s rude”, you pout with a heavy sigh, but playfully.
this time he laughs — he’s missed this banter with you all day.
you can tell by the way his body shivers that he is wavering. his conscience might be in a dilemma right now whether he should break his rule just this once or not, but his muscles aren’t — they always lead him to you by default, like muscle memory. the fight is pointless. this one, he will lose. and he knows it.
and he caves.
the mattress sinks down as his massive self lays himself next to you, taking you into his arms. your forehead buried in his chest, his lips glued to the top of your head — you stay unmoving, in silence. in the dark, but in the warm — just breathing together.
a sigh breaks from his throat when you shift away from him. only slightly though — just to look at him.
“so— where was i before you interrupted my lovely speech”
“you were saying that your satoru never smells bad”, caressing your cheek he reminds you.
“right”, you nod, and then continue — “of course, it is because my satoru is mine — what a silly thing to state the obvious. but also because—“, you pause, charging your lips towards his, not to kiss. but to feed him your love, to pour it from your mouth and into his — “…because, there is never a moment in which i do not adore you”
a smile grows on your lips, but it isn’t your smile — you can feel his lips softly stretch against yours, curl up from the corners — it belongs to him.
and then the smile grows into a kiss, swallowing the love you give him. all of it, hungrily.
“i’ll take the day off tomorrow”, he pulls away, barely.
you smile, “i’ll make breakfast”
satoru thinks he got too lucky with you. and maybe he did.
but so did you, with him.
2K notes
·
View notes