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itsclydebitches · 3 years ago

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Do you find any similarities between Qrow and Clover's writing and Jaune and Pyhrra's? I was a huge Fair Game shipper way back when and the reason was because a lot of their relationship hit a lot of Arkos' beats: character with something main character lacks(luck, competence) spends 90% of their screentime with MC and their relationship grows exponentially in a short amount of time until character is handed the idiot ball and dies. 1/2

FYI I took psychic damage from hearing Fair Game shipping described as “way back when.” How has it been three years since the beginning of Volume 7? 😱

Anyway, I’d need to re-watch more of the first three Volumes to give a really solid answer, but the tl;dr is yeah, I can definitely see the parallels you’re talking about. The “character with something main character lacks” also ties into RWBY’s tendency towards romantically pairing opposites. Yang is the sheltered, extroverted party girl dressed in vibrant colors while Blake is the introverted activist dressed all in black. Nora is super duper energetic while Ren is so quiet he barely speaks outside of his arcs. Pyrrha is an insanely talented fighter that everyone is eager to befriend and also an open book whereas Jaune is a newbie that others often dismiss (with the contrast seen most strikingly in how Weiss treats them both) who is hiding a pretty big secret.

Clover is an optimistic soldier who puts his responsibilities first and wields good luck as a weapon. Qrow is a pessimistic freelancer (for lack of a better word) who has little regard for other’s expectations and wields bad luck as a weapon. There are ways their dynamic fits into our expectations for written couples—or potential couples—even outside of the obvious flirting moments like the Clover-waitress wink parallel which means that yeah, by default they end up reflecting Arkos to a certain extent.

As an example, that wink is a moment that I think mimics Arkos in some ways. In that both appear to be a pretty overt indication that the writers are setting up a couple, relying on a bit of humor to get that implication across. In Jaune’s case he says, “Where am I supposed to find another nice, quirky girl to talk to?” and as he walks away we see Pyrrha watching him go.

She is, quite obviously, the nice, quirky girl that Jaune will get to talk to soon and later behavior—saving Jaune despite fending off Weiss’ desire to partner up with “I was planning on letting the chips fall where they may,” immediately following that with an admission that she wants to spend time with him: “Jaune! Do you… have any spots left on your team?”—reveal that Pyrrha was always interested in Jaune despite not knowing him. It was instantaneous interest/attraction, a love at first sight sort of deal, and absolutely no one questions that because we are so used to m/f couples following that pattern. “Where am I supposed to find another nice, quirky girl to talk to?” is humors code for “They’re going to start a romance.” As people who have watched television, film, and webseries for our entire lives, we know how to pick up on these established patterns.

(Oh shit the wink looks horrifying in a screenshot SORRY LOL)

I’d argue that Clover’s initial behavior is code too, but viewers are more inclined to dismiss it because it’s occurring between two men. But answer me honestly: if we were to watch a man catch a woman from falling, talk about his talents, wink at her, and say, “Lucky you” would we really, truly think, “Oh yeah, they’re 100% platonic and there’s no chance at all that a relationship will develop. The fall, bragging, wink, and flirty dialogue are in no way tropes and popular short-hands for romantic interest. Nope. Not at all. Neither is someone staring in amazement at the person who just saved them and effectively changed their life in a single moment.”

From the light-heated moment to the idea of falling in love (or at least developing interest) simply from looking at someone, both Arkos and Fair Game pull from this established coding at the start of their interactions—and later with the screams of rage, the lost love, the revenge quest—it’s just that RT claims to have honestly not realized they were doing it the second time around. Their intentions matter in regards to the question of queerbaiting, but they don’t matter when it comes to reading these scenes as their own, artistic presentation. Strip away the homophobia (“Badass, skirt-chasing Qrow can’t possibly be into guys!”), the preferences that color analysis (“I’m personally not into the ship so I’m going to insist there was never anything there”), and the presumed authority of the authors (“We didn’t intend an attraction so it doesn’t matter that we ended up implying one anyway. The same way it doesn’t matter that there’s no evidence for Ironwood’s semblance because we did intend for it to be there. Prioritize what we tell you in interviews, not what ends up in the actual show, please”) and I’d challenge anyone to persuasively hand-wave away everything attached to Fair Game. Much of that does parallel Arkos, but I think that’s more because RWBY is just drawing (intentionally and otherwise) from a lot of established romantic tropes, not because there’s meant to be a parallel between these two specific relationships (obviously not given that Fair Game isn't canonical). RWBY pulls from everything that’s already popular, so when we see pieces of all these classic romance dynamics—the non-consensual kiss, the death, the revenge quest, the opposites attract, the jealousy, the blushing, the love triangle, etc.—of course there are going to be similarities across the board. It’s just that some of those tropes went to canonical relationships, others went to “What do you mean people think there might be a relationship??” and others went to “I think they’re supposed to be a couple but, uh… what counts as confirmation?” and therein lies the problem.

Also, random visual parallel to end on, but both pairs also start with one person quite literally being at the mercy of the other. Pyrrha pins Jaune to a tree and is the only one willing to get him down (Weiss deliberately walks away, Ruby is too happy to be partnering up with her to care what happens to Jaune). Clover traps Qrow along with the rest of the group and, as the leader performing the arrest, likewise decides when and if Qrow gets set free. Both seem to enjoy being in this position of power, with Pyrrha coyly asking Jaune about teammates while he hangs there (is he really going to say no when he's stuck?) and Clover twirling his horseshoe with a smirk (an accessory that never shows up again?) There are obviously other, distinct differences between these moments—Pyrrha pins Jaune to save him, Clover pins Qrow to (he thinks) keep the people safe from him; Pyrrha chooses to get Jaune down, Clover chooses to keep Qrow in bonds—but it’s just a moment that struck me while looking back through some of their interactions. Even the cinematography emphasizes a height difference with Pyrrha look up at Jaune and Clover looking down at Qrow.

#rwde #rwby #mymetas

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kitkatopinions · 3 years ago

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What about Freezerburn for the game.

Alrighty, Weiss and Yang aka Freezerburn for the shipping ask game! I'm biased towards Freezerburn lol. XD

What I think works about the ship: So much, tbh. First of all, they're fire and ice. Yang is the vibrant hothead who is surprisingly emotional mature and likes to have fun, and Weiss is the cold and quippy perfectionist who is always pushing herself. But like, despite Yang being the hothead, she's also more chill and relaxed, and despite Weiss being the ice princess in the relationship, she's the stressed out one. I just think that's a fun dynamic. Yang is willing to call out Weiss (which is something that early on she desperately needed,) but give her grace, and we also see them getting into cute low-stakes spats over their different ideas of party planning. Plus, despite their very different upbringings (which is always fun to explore in a ship anyway,) they can connect to each other on feeling lonely in their home lives, and masking their insecurities and fears. And also I personally like to have Weiss actually love Whitley so much and just have complicated feelings and lash out and find it really hard to communicate with him, and so Yang being the resident big sister is perfect to help her navigate those feelings. Also also, with Yang ships, it's important to me that Ruby isn't left out and that she's close with (or has the potential to be close with) whoever Yang winds up with, and Weiss and Ruby have a solid relationship and the show went out of its way to give Yang and Weiss meaningful moments that include Ruby. I just think that's really special.

What season I think they were best in: Season five, baby! Their reunion is so cute, Weiss is there for Yang when she's dealing with all of Raven's shit, they spent enough time together and had a good enough progression in the first three seasons that their closeness in season five felt natural and earned, Weiss rides on the back of Yang's bike, the hug with Ruby was so important, and they had that deep talk about Willow and Yang's past and her struggles with Blake... It was just good.

How I would get them together in canon: Okay, I know MKEK isn't having any of the main four girls go through a time skip on the Island, but if I was completely in charge of RWBY from here on in including V9, I would have Yang go through a time skip of at least two years. She would have gone through some changes, becoming more of a leader role among the other people who'd been knocked off the bridge, and getting more cynical and realistic (which would contrast post-volume five Weiss's more seemingly optimistic and hopeful beliefs.) Yang and Blake would decide to take a break (despite the fact that they weren't officially together anyway,) and explore how they feel with all the changes, while I'd have it so that Weiss has harbored feelings for Yang since volume five that she's kept unspoken because she saw how Blake and Yang felt for each other, which she might confess to Ruby. When they get back to Remnant, I'd have the three of them (four probably actually including Sun who is in Vacuo too lol,) be in this complicated love square, but then I think Yang would kiss Weiss in a heat-of-the-moment er, moment, and be kind of apologetic, but Blake assures her that it's fine, and so Yang and Weiss are kind of together after that. And then I'd have them shown living together at the end of the series.

How I would get them together in an AU or re-write: I'd keep everything pretty much the same until volume six, where I'd obviously not have Yang have romance coded moments with Blake (though they'd still talk through their own strained friendship, this would not be any sort of anti Blake AU,) and instead I'd have Weiss talk about having some feelings for Yang with Ruby. Ruby would encourage her to make a move, but then they'd get busy with a bunch of plot stuff. Once they got to Atlas, though and became Hunters, I'd have Weiss awkwardly ask Yang out to dinner and they'd go to some fancy restaurant Weiss knew, and then have Yang insist on taking Weiss to a nightclub after they finished with their dinner. And it'd be this whole thing where Yang didn't really have fun at the fancy place despite the fact that she had fun with Weiss, and Weiss didn't really have fun at the nightclub despite the fact that she had fun with Yang, and so they start doubting whether or not they'd be able to make it in a relationship together and confide in Blake and Ruby about it. They'd tell them that they just need to find a happy medium, so during some downtime in-between action, they'd talk to each other and agree to meet in the middle more and Yang would kiss Weiss on the cheek.

What struggles I think they’d have to work through: While I love that they grew up in such different environments, I think it'd still cause some conflict. Weiss isn't exactly down to earth and can also be insensitive, and Yang isn't the type who would let it go without a fight if Weiss started being even vaguely classist, even on accident.

Some songs that I can connect to this ship: Ur So Beautiful, by Grace VanderWaal. Line Without a Hook, by Ricky Montgomery. Lonely People, by Orla Gartland. Sad Beautiful Tragic, by Taylor Swift (this one makes me think about Weiss and Yang because of a specific fic where - for reasons that don't need explained - Weiss becomes immortal and non-aging and Yang can't give up her own mortality, so despite the fact that they both have feelings for each other and want to pursue a relationship together they can't because they know it will never end well.)

Do I think they’d stay together: Yes! Freezerburn is one hundred percent an endgame relationship to me (outside of the aforementioned AU, lol,) where the two of them would probably end up married and adopting a kid or at least a cat together.

How I personally feel about this ship: I love Freezerburn, it's my top Yang ship and tied for my top Weiss ship. There's just so much that's good about this ship!

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onewomancitadel · 3 years ago

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I figured something out about Oscar

So for a while I have been like, yeah, Ruby, Cinder, Jaune, and Oscar are the Four Protagonists, and their characters are connected. I kind of thought the Jung mapped psyche stuff was only really being done with the main four (Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang) since otherwise it's kind of unwieldy, but I think it goes for JNR as well considering they're part of the main cast now too. Plus Ren and Nora are animus and anima so that's kinda obvious.

Jaune is Oscar's Shadow and this explains so much lol:

Why he's the most Ozma-coded (and Cinder, Salem) - Ozma and Salem are the two biggest moral challenges to Oscar and Ruby, as well as... romantic

Why he gets so angry with Oscar - by extension, why Jaune is one of the most alienated against Ozma

Why Jaune/Cinder and Ruby/Oscar hypothetically reflect each other (Shadow/Shadow, ego/ego)

and like... so much of Jaune's role in the story, I feel like it explains some of the tone of his character, and also why he's darker than the rest (no - you might think Blake is a Shadow, but she's not).

It's so annoying, I'm so annoyed right now, I feel like this was staring me in the face the whole time ('Right beneath our feet... she was right about you. Such arrogance').

It also explains some stuff for Oscar, most prominently why he's on a path of spiritual/emotional development sooner than Ruby (he's integrated his Shadow sooner).

There are a few things I could expand on here, but I don't want to get muddied in the details, and I think this is enough so far. People unused to Jungian psychoanalytic storytelling: it doesn't really need to be that complicated, and certainly I would say it's more important than 'above text' e.g. Jaune is angry about Pyrrha, and then he learns not to be; it's not 'just' that he's Oscar's Shadow. It's simply complementary and foundational. (Btw: it's very common storytelling language and is almost definitely being gestured at in R/WBY, if not outright, say, following the stages of anima or animus integration).

Anyway... in other Knightfall news, i'm mildly shocked at how similar the Dojo and Haven scenes are. The differences are really the most interesting, I feel like that's another post (I have read RG analysis of the Dojo scene alone before, and I'm not sure I want to throw my hat on the pile, but that is there...).

There's more I could add to this post but yeah like there you go. Quite literally, Knightfall is Edgy R/osegarden.

#I don't have an oscar tag #so this will go under #do I need to add a tag for RG or something #or knightfall #idfk #jaune arc sadsack tag

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hamliet · 4 years ago

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when does a relationship become queerbaiting? theres a book that i really like and the 2 male leads characters have a lot of storylines and arcs where they get closer and i think some of the tropes used can be similar to the typical romantic tropes, neither of them end up with anyone at the end of the story since its more about found family and the long journey the whole cast goes through. they even get shipped by another character as a running gag. personally i always saw it as being open to interpretation but recently the revised edition of the original novel came out and there were several lines those 2 characters had about each other that were kinda toned down, i didnt think much of it but i saw a post about how it was clearly baiting and the author was being homophobic for toning it down. i didnt think it counted as baiting since as far as i know, the novel was never advertised as anything with romance and the author never pretended they were gonna end up together. i am definitely a little weirded out by the decision to change those specific lines but a lot of the story stayed the same, including a lot about their relationship so idk what to think.

i guess im more confused on if it counts as baiting, or even substext??

Sooooo I am not the best person to ask about this, because I’m a cis woman who has thus far in life only been attracted in a romantic sense to cis men. I can talk a bit about baiting as a general concept in fiction, but you should definitely take it with some grains of salt.

Baiting, for me, is like deliberately playing up an aspect writers have no intention on delivering on. Usually this is done for ratings, to tease fans, fanservice, etc, but without payoff, it is just bad writing. Red herrings are good in writing, but only can be successfully used if the actual result is more satisfying than the herring. This applies to writing in general, not just to romantic ships. However, when the baiting involves historically underrepresented groups for no reason other than to get fans to spend money consuming the story, I think we can all agree that becomes something more grotesque than just bad writing: it’s insensitive, socially irresponsible, frankly hurtful.

Some common examples are Bridgerton which has a gay character, who is extremely minor, yet they played up this character in advertising. Also, Rizzoli and Isles I think actually had its producers mention deliberately playing up the lesbian subtext to hook the audience without ever intending on following through.

That said, context also matters. Like, there are aspects of the culture of the work’s author, the target audience, and such that come into play here also (so like, romantic tropes differ by culture. For example, enemies to lovers is common in Asian stories but less in the west, and the “girl who pursues a guy” is extremely common in Japanese shonen in particular, while it is very much a cringe trope that almost never results in romance in American fiction. So if a writer reads, say, tropes that are common in America into a Japanese work and says it’s baiting, that’s quite possibly not the intent even if it may have been the experience of the reader. So even if there was no intent, there can still be hurt, and that hurt can be real, if that makes sense.

The definition of what constitutes ‘baiting’ varies. I do think that, in true Tumblr fashion, the term gets thrown around a lot and loses its intended meaning, or is so rigidly defined that creators can meet the letter of the “not a bait” requirement while ignoring the spirit of it.

To start with the latter: regarding something hitting the letter of what most wouldn’t consider baiting yet not really the spirit, let’s look at The Rise of Skywalker. This movie had a genuine lesbian kiss in it... between two characters we’d never seen more than a glimpse of while others are celebrating around them. Since it has a kiss, it’s not baiting, right? Well... the director deliberately said in the lead-up to the film that he included it because he “wanted LGBT people to see themselves in the film.” If “see yourselves in the film” is like a nanosecond of background, then, like... idk. Baiting or not, it feels icky, and I know some people consider it baiting and some don’t even if they don’t like, love that representation. But I think this is more queerbaiting than like, Nobara and Maki, who don’t have explicit romantic coding.

Going back to the former, in terms of ‘queerbaiting’ losing its intended meaning... I think there are a lot of really poorly written romantic ships out there, often het, while a lot of same-gender relationships are really well written regardless of whether there’s romantic coding within the text. The main emotional energy in stories with 90% male characters (as frankly many if not most stories are, great job world) is probably between two men. There’s just so much more potential with well-written characters who share a lot of screen time, so of course people are going to ship them. In my opinion, this does not inherently make it baiting, but it certainly creates an environment that lends itself to baiting even if the writers aren’t intending to do this.

Like, you could say the main emotional energy in BNHA is Bakugou and Deku. However, Bakudeku is 100% not queerbaiting. It’ll never be canon romantically (I don’t even ship it lol). There has been nothing to imply romance between them even if the main emotional message can be seen in their development. Deku/Ochaco is likely to be canon, but there is a significant lack of genuine emotional energy between them (the story’s plots and themes don’t coalesce around their relationship), so it’s probably going to feel forced. In contrast, Naruto/Sasuke had an actual kiss in canon, which while played for laughs is a lot more direct romantic coding than anything between Bakugou/Deku. I actually don’t think the majority of Narusasu is baiting, but I definitely think that one moment in chapter like 3 was really poor fanservice for yaoi fans, and has not aged well at all.

It is also the case that fans can confuse headcanons with what is actually in the text, and that just never ends well. For example, Clover and Qrow’s ship in RWBY: a lot of people read Clover as gay, which led to “bury your gays” outrage when he died. A member of the crew stated explicitly they had never intended for Clover to be a love interest for Qrow, and truthfully here was nothing strictly romantic in their relationship--nothing like a kiss or a declaration of love or a parallel to another romantic couple. Hence, I don’t personally consider it queerbaiting or bury your gays, but a lot of fans felt that it was and their pain is legitimate even if I think textually the argument isn’t there. The one thing I do think is true about this in particular is that there was also no strict platonic coding, which encourages headcanons. Clear writing, yo. It can help.

Note the word “can” not “will,” because strict platonic coding doesn’t always fix things, either. In what was probably a reaction to the outrage over Clover’s death, you had extremely blatant platonic coding of Ruby and Penny’s relationship this season leading up to Penny’s death. Ruby refers to Penny as “our friend” three different times, wherein “friend” sends a platonic message and “our” sends an even stronger message that it’s not about the two of them despite the fact that their friendship is one of the sweetest and most interesting in the show. A lingering Ruby-Penny hug then is followed by a lingering Penny-Weiss hug, then Yang, then Blake, etc. The writers went out of their way to hit people over the head with “platonic” and yet they have still gotten accusations of bury your gays and queerbaiting because people will see what they want to see in a story.

Seeing what you want to see in a story also isn’t inherently bad. People who are underrepresented are going to have to read themselves into stories because Lord knows writers ain’t incorporating them well enough if at all. It’s why “Mary Sues” are common in fanfiction, which is primarily written by people who are not straight white men: because where the hell else are we to see ourselves in fiction? So essentially the macrocosm of culture creates this problem, both in terms of baiting and the misuse of the term, and the only fix is a shit ton more good representation.

#ask hamliet #writing stuff #Anonymous

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silverswanqueen · 4 years ago

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give us an unpopular rwby opinion you’ve been dying to say!

Ooh, an unpopular opinion… hmm, well I don’t want to parrot what other bloggers have said, but I don’t think I’ve seen posts with this topic: JNR should have stayed in Mistral.

Don’t get me wrong, back when I still was a fan of the show I loved all three of these characters, and originally, I worried they were going to abandon these characters once the original trek across the kingdoms was done, but now… they don’t know what to do with JNR, and it shows.

Jaune was pretty consistent throughout Atlas arc, which I thought was great! He didn’t take up screen time and really thrived as a deuteragonist. However, what little scenes we had of him weren’t particularly awe inspiring in V7, and in V8, Jaune suffers because the writers know his semblance is greatly overpowered and no one can feasibly die with him around. Of course, they could have just wrote him to lose his aura, or fall into the void earlier than he did, or to just go to Vacuo in place of Nora since his semblance makes a lot more sense there, but with the lose aura option, they’ve established Jaune has a bucketload of it, so how much pummeling could Jaune take before it broke? Jaune could have fallen in a attempt to save one of the RWBY girls, but there’s still the issue of him falling into V9, which I thought was a bad call. Lastly, going to Vacuo? Well… I like that option more, but what would Jaune do in Vacuo? What is his purpose, what is his goal as a character? Jaune doesn’t have one beyond “defeat Salem,” and that makes him very uninteresting. We don’t need Jaune anymore.

Ren and Nora were horrible in the Atlas arc. Their priorities switched between V7-8, their relationship was bungled, and all the sudden they are not together-together when I didn’t even realize they were together-together in the first place. Another unpopular opinion: I’ve always been apathetic toward romantic Renora. They were cute, but any romantic coding of them I was wholly uninterested. Now, ever since Nora forced a kiss on Ren in V7 for all the wrong reasons, I’ve hated it. This situation happened to me once, so that’s why I hate it. I was in the friends-but-maybe-more area with a guy, we were at a dance, and then all the sudden he yanked me into a kiss, and I was mortified. I wasn’t ready, and it killed any chance of a relationship with him. Now that Nora is saying she needs space after Ren expressed it and got subjected to that, I absolutely hate the ship. They should have stayed in Mistral because the only reason Ren is around is for his semblance, and Nora is and always will be his plus one.

You might be wondering why I’m saying to write them out of the show completely when they could just find other purposes for their characters. Well, it’s because abandoning Haven Academy and Mistral doesn’t really make sense? It’s another kingdom on the brink of collapse and the crew left behind a skeleton. What if JNR, along with the new White Fang and SSSN, stayed there to rebuild and act as Mistral’s new protectors? That way, Mistral would be a viable location for Ruby to suggest when drafting her plan to evacuate Mantle. She knows her friends are there, a strong organization is there, and the kingdom is in good shape compared to Vacuo, the harshest kingdom that already has bad relations with Atlas. That solves the surplus of Atlesian citizens they’ll have to deal with in Vacuo, the entire plot point of Grimm attacking the citizens that took away from the main battle, and Jaune doesn’t have to take the limelight with Penny’s final scene so her death, at the very least, would make some level of sense (though if you’ve read my previous posts, you know I absolutely hate Penny’s death as well).

This would have trimmed down the cast bloat a bit too because we could have focused more on specifically team RWBY, which, when these four are isolated and together, the writing is actually okay. Not great, but good. The Apathy episode from V6 was actually one of my favorites from V6-V8 because it specifically explored the dynamics of Team RWBY, and we got a smidge of conflict between Blake and Yang that was unfortunately never addressed again. Also, it gives RWBY a good reason to check in on the Mistral gang to see how the White Fang, Ilia, and the rebuilding of Haven is going before they continue on their quest. Granted, RWBY falling would put a wrench in that idea, but Oscar and Emerald would still be able to act as the audience’s eyes, and for JNR to suddenly see Emerald pop up with sweet boi Oscar? That’s a violent confrontation just waiting to happen, and if executed correctly, it would’ve been a interesting scene.

So, I guess I poured out four or five unpopular opinions at once to make one big idea? Lol. But anyway, that’s my unpopular opinion on the JNR conundrum. Thanks for the ask, this was a fun one to think up :)

#rwde #ask response #silver rambles #team jnr #jaune arc #nora valkyrie #lie ren #I guess this isn’t really rwde #this isn’t really anti jnr either #because I like them but I think they’re not doing much rn

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toooldforfandom-liveblogs · 6 years ago

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RWBY V07E02 - A New Approach

Aaand we're back! Last episode a dangerous band of vigilantes was arrested by the valiant Ace Ops. You can rest easy, citizens of Mantle, your streets are safe again. Or are they? Let's do this!

He was arrested for dumping world building on unsuspecting people.

Her ship? Winter? Ooh, that guy is dead.

I'm not sure I like the introduction of something as good as "better conditions in Mantle" coming from someone who the show is not taking seriously. Even the music is lighthearted.

...they are not being subtle about Robyn Hill being a reference to Robin Hood, huh?

Again, I'm not sure what's up with the tone. Why is _this_ the first impression we get of Robyn Hill's movement? Is it because Ironwood is coming and we need to see his side before Hill's thing is presented as something more serious?

I haven't commented on it but background Nora has been a delight.

The second time Blake speaks to Ruby this season. Ah, how times change.

This could be a "you're a making a great mistake" moment but I have faith in Ruby.

I was prepared to not see Penny again for _episodes_ but here she is. The RWBY Gods are generous today.

She missed her! I think? She's surprised but her expression doesn't exactly scream happiness... but then, she has smiled maybe twice in the show.

I like how Ironwood's both metallic and human side are represented by Penny and Winter. And how their demeanor usually represents the opposite, with Penny being a lot warmer and open than Winter's cold nature.

Aw, she really was worried about Weiss. And Ironwood in the back wondering what's wrong with his usually ice-cold, professional to a fault right hand.

Weiss's hugs are incredibly powerful, as seen in Volume 5.

They can even defeat Winter.

There's something very suspicious about how they in shadows. Penny looks almost menacing with the way her eyes shine.

Uhm. About that.

Huh, so she got attacked too?

Many volumes ago I thought that Penny was a candidate for being the Fall Maiden, but if the Winter Maiden has been in "stable condition" since before the Fall of Beacon, it'd make sense for her to actually be a candidate for that.

I just had a dumb thought. What if Pietro transferred her aura to Penny (with a scene somewhere saying how creating aura from nothing is impossible) because she was dying, and now the Winter Maiden is for all purposes brain dead. So, the Winter Maiden is "alive" but Penny maybe could have access to the powers?

It feels too complicated to be true but who knows.

Oh, she's old. For some reason I thought they were all young-ish but it makes sense that at least one would survive to an old age.

lol, too late

"Indeed. Also, who is this small child and why is he here in this classified meeting"

Okay, that's a _great_ idea considering how unbelievably vulnerable the old system was. But... doesn't Dust stop working in space? And, doesn't this smell like an orbital supervillain laser waiting to happen?

Ironwood wants to trust humanity when Ozpin didn't. Is the show going to validate Ozpin's beliefs about how the knowledge would only hurt humanity? Knowing could help everyone prepare for a future attack by flying monkeys and it could unify them against a common enemy... Huh, I'm not sure how to feel about this. It really could go either way depending on the writers.

I think she's lying because of the "destroy Salem" thing but I'm not sure why. Does she think telling everyone is the right idea and doesn't want to discourage Ironwood? Is she trying to dissuade Ironwood from using the relics until things are clearer? Maybe she's still reeling from everything that happened in Brunswick and doesn't want anyone to give up?

Her motivations are a bit of a mystery right now since we don't even know what their current goal is.

That sounds like Ironwood didn't quite believe Ozpin. Without the code word there's nothing he can do though.

A gesture of goodwill? But is it sincere or is Ironwood trying to get into RWBY's good side for a reason?

In theory he doesn't need them for any of his plans so I feel he's being at least partly genuine.

It's also a good way to keep RWBY in the inside track of the plot since they will continue being directly tied to it as long they have the lamp.

An excuse for the outifts change!

Okay, I love that woman.

The opening has a lot of scenes with RWBY fighting random Grimm so I was expecting something like this. It was either this or being hired as unnofficial huntresses.

AO3 is going to go nuts after this.

...is Tyrian inside that bag? Please tell me he is.

The hacker equivalent of calmly walking from an explosion.

That was a hell of an episode considering it was all setup. But what a setup! The show continues to give us pieces but there's still no way to know what they are going to mean in the future.

Robyn Hill moves from poster cameos to the hero of that dude who nobody, not even the show, takes seriously. I'm still not sure why _that_ was the tone they took for the introduction of what looks like a valid social unrest movement.

It feels too obvious if it was only to sell Ironwood's image as someone who is willing to make the hard decisions.

It'd be easy to go all paranoid and say the guy was planted by Ironwood to generate an early bad impression of the "opposition", only including everyone in his highly confidential plans and returning the lamp to Ruby as demonstrations of trust just to get their trust back for reasons unknown. But I can't see Ironwood playing the necessary 4D chess to get there. He seems genuine, even if he places too much trust in Atlas's military superiority.

And we don't know of any reason why that kind of subterfuge would be necessary since in his eyes RBWY are just a group of ragtag students that never graduated. They are not unique... unless he needs Ruby's silver eyes? Oh. I hadn't thought of that. Uhm.

Anyway, his plan is based in the assumption that they _can_ destroy Salem. Ruby and everyone else knows that's false. She _lies_ about Ozpin to cover up that fact. Which I think was the right choice, even if everyone else is probably going to have words with her at some point in the future (do the walls have ears in Atlas Academy?)

Ozpin's main problem is that he didn't trust anyone fully, not even his closest allies. Ruby trusts her friends and allies, but Ironwood is not that (yet?). There is a parallel between the two of them, but I feel it's more to show the difference between them than the similarities.

Unless Ironwood finds out (or already knows) they are lying and goes nuts, confirming that in the show honesty trumps all. Which I don't really agree with.

I'm curious about how the plan is going to work. Restoring global communications would be invaluable but Atlas having total control of that antenna feels like it's going against the spirit of the post-war agreement. It doesn't help that orbital stations always feel like they can host weapons.

Telling everyone about Salem could be the next "Fall of Beacon" if it's not handled well. Maybe Watts's plan is exactly that, manipulate things in such a way that the plan succeeds but it all ends up strengthening Salem's position instead of humanity's chances of survival.

This episode dropped so much information and possibilities! And we don't even know what's up with Jacques! Or the election!

I can't wait for the next one, until next time!

#rwby #rwby liveblog #rwby v07e02

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askhappyhealthyvegan · 5 years ago

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Shoot! We were so proud to unbox the April Snack Box from Vegancuts on time, and yet here we are posting it on May 1st. LOL. This month had a huge collection of sweet and savory snack foods and beverages from companies including U Luv Foods, Plant Snacks, RIND Snacks, Riverside Naturals, Skout Organic, Bakery on Main, Aloe for Life, Love Good Fats, Split Nutrition, EarthChimp, and Blake's. Which were our faves? Find out in this fun unboxing and review video! #stayhome #vegansnacks #subscriptionbox 🌸🌸VEGANCUTS for MOTHER'S DAY 🌸🌸 Vegancuts are offering FREE expedited shipping in the USA! Have them ship your mom something fun this year. Beside the snack and beauty boxes, they also have single box items with jewelry, household items, chocolate, breakfast cereal, hot chocolate, juice cleanses, chips, date syrup, kombucha starters, cookbooks -- all kinds of stuff -- plus the new Essentials Boxes designed for quarantine use! 🎁For $5 off any subscription box — snack, beauty or makeup — use coupon code HAPPYHEALTHYVEGAN at vegancuts.com 🎁For 10% off any single box or item from their Vegan Marketplace please use coupon code HHV at https://ift.tt/2PJZ6ra VEGANCUTS QUARANTINE ESSENTIALS: 📦Build Up Your Pantry Box: This oversized box contains 16+ shelf-stable snacks/foods. 📦Essential Toiletries Kit: This oversized box contains 10 personal care items like toothpaste, soap and lotion. 📦Quarantine Pantry + Toiletry Essentials Box: A combination that includes all of the 16+ snacks from the Build Up Your Pantry Box plus a different selection of 10 personal care items than those included in the Essential Toiletries Kit. Check them all out at -- https://ift.tt/3cdAwsH 👩‍🎤🎤 🎸 🎹 🎧 OUR MUSIC: Featured this episode is "Free & Easy" by Lovespirals Buy digital downloads or CDs from https://ift.tt/1hexYZB Stream music from Lovespirals or Anji Bee on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, Google Play, or Pandora. Links via https://ift.tt/3cdNTJe 🍌 🍓 🍑 🌽 🍚 MY COOKBOOK: Get my oil free, whole food, plant based, 99% gluten free cookbook, 'Keep It Carbed, Baby!' in ebook format for just $6.50 (half off the list price) via our website to help you come up with affordable and easy to make meals focusing on pantry staples. https://ift.tt/1TdKzQa 👕 👚 📚 📦 📬 OUR MERCH: Support the channel with a Happy Healthy Vegan tee or tank -- or Anji’s Keep It Carbed, Baby! cookbook in print or ebook format -- at https://ift.tt/1TdKzQa 🛍 🎁 📦💓💸 OUR SOCIALS: https://ift.tt/1TdKzQa https://ift.tt/1do4mtE https://ift.tt/1do4mtG https://ift.tt/2pSaEPZ... PO Box 391 • Seal Beach, CA • 90740 • USA AFFILIATE LINKS TO HELP SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: ======================================= * THRIVE MARKET: 25% off your first purchase with link: https://ift.tt/2J5YJo2 * VEGANCUTS: $5 off any subscription box with coupon code HAPPYHEALTHYVEGAN at http://vegancuts.com or 10% off any single box from their Vegan Marketplace with coupon code HHV at https://ift.tt/2PJZ6ra * CLEAN MACHINE: Save 10% on your entire order of plant based protein with coupon code happyvegan (all one word AND lower case) * KARMANUTS: Save 15% on any order of their delicious cashews with code 15HHV at karmanuts.com

#IFTTT #YouTube

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gideonaceleigh · 5 years ago

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Book Roundup 2019!

I’ve read a lot of really amazing books this year so I thought I’d give a brief ‘review’ of them and my recommendations!! I know it looks like I’m a light reviewer, but I’ve decided to not waste my time on books that are lackluster to me so I’m more than willing to give up on a book halfway through lol

5 Stars

1. Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim YA Fantasy

ahhh!! I’m so obsessed with the book. The cover art alone is insane!! Basically a mix of Mulan and the fairytale about spinning straw into gold. Has sorcery, magic, and shapeshifting!! A proper OTP <3

2. The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden Fantasy

A spectacular end to a spectacular series. Russian fairytale retelling. Another amazing OTP. Magic!!

3. The Tiger’s Daughter by K. Arsenault Rivera Fantasy

Lesbians on horses with swords! What more could you ask for! Demon slayers and Gods!

4. The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi Fantasy, maybe YA?

oof. Got this in one of my OwlCrates and did not expect it to hit as hard as it did. Based in Paris. A beautiful burlesque dancer who can ‘read’ an objects history. A character who’s been robbed of his proper inheritance. A flower artisan. A rebel. A arguably autistic coded Russian girl who’s a little to into making things explode. And an ‘antagonist’ who isn’t really an antagonist and who I may be a little in love with. Super beautifully done! Excited for the sequel!

5. Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan YA Fantasy

Heart wrenching. Powerful. Painful. There are three castes: Moon caste are demons who each take on animalistic features. Steele caste are half human and half demon with a few animalistic features. Paper caste are pure humans. Every year the Bull Moon caste king brings in about a dozen Paper Girls from the different regions. This is the year one of girls brings in a rebellion. Primary characters are lesbians and I love them <3 tw: for sexual assault. there are warning at the beginning and resources given at the end

6. We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal YA Fantasy

oof. My boy Altair isn’t a ‘main’ character but not a ‘main main’ character but I love him and his flirty, flirty ways!!

opening line is: “People died because he lived.” second chapter opens with: “People lived because she killed.” and the dichotomy between the two characters is amazing!! beautifully well done!! Arabic inspired!

7. Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake YA Horror

a wonderfully intense and engaging horror!! the characters are amazing and very well developed. Kendare is one of my favorite authors <3

8. Shatter City by Scott Westerfeld YA Scifi? Dystopian?

A continuation of his “Uglies” series and just as engaging and powerful as the others! A long time favorite series and author!

9. The Kingdom by Jess Rothenberg 5 stars YA Fantasy

Holy shit. This book absolutely knocked me out. The style is unique and fresh. The story is told through a series of court transcripts, police interviews, surveillance cameras, and the POV of Ana. Ana is a ‘Fantasist’ in the Kingdom basically Disney World. The Fantasists are incredibly lifelike androids meant to make your wishes come true! But then she gets accused of murder and is put on trial. Absolutely amazing!

10. Five Dark Fates by Kendare Blake YA Fantasy

A solid ending to a spectacular series!! Spent a little too much time on a lackluster romance but overall a favorite <3

11. Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson Horror

Horror from the 50s!! Pretty much nothing like the netflix series but still a wonderful read!!

12. Girls of Storm and Shadow by Natasha Ngan YA Fantasy

Sequel to Girls of Paper and Fire. Not quite as enthralling as the first, but that’s not out of the ordinary. Moral of the story: everyone’s gay! Has the same TW as the first, along with recovery, self-harm, addiction

13. Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake YA Horror

Sequel to Ana Dressed in Blood. A great follow up! I was worried about how it was going to end but I was pleasantly surprised!

14. Crown of Feathers by Nicki PauPreto YA Fantasy

Phoenix riders!! Warrior Queens! Quite a few great plot twists. Two sisters ended up in a civil war against each other for the throne, animage queen vs magicless queen. Afterwards animages were hunted down and forced into servitude. But there’s a small underground rebellion forming of new Phoenix riders!! I’ve already preordered the sequel for feb!!

15. The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones YA Fantasy

A nice little standalone. I believe it was Welsh based? Ryn is a gravedigger near a forest rumored to house magic. Magic that brings the dead to life, but very few people believe this. When the dead start to rise in greater numbers and attacking the nearest villages Ryn and a map maker out to make his name set off to find the source and return the area to normalcy. Well done and cute <3

16. Grace and Fury by Tracy Banghart YA Fantasy

Similar to Girls of Paper and Fire in that every year the king brings 6ish (?) girls to court to be his consorts. But it’s for life instead of just one year. One of the girls gets convicted of reading and sent off to the female prison island just off the mainland where the women there get split into different ‘tribes’ and are expected to fight for resources in a gladiator type ring. She manages to convince most of the others to band together against the island guards and is determined to find a way back to her sister on the mainland.

4 Stars

17. Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan YA Fantasy

A religious country with a paladin vs a magic country with blood mages. The paladin is forced to align herself with a blood mage in order to save her country. She struggles with her faith throughout the novel while trying to find a way to align what she beliefs with what she’ll have to do to save her people. Some of the blood mages go super far to the point they’re no longer human and become howl-esque bird monsters w/steel teeth, fingernails and wings.

18. Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson YA Fantasy

Another cute standalone!! Sorcerers and magic books! Elisabeth wants nothing more than to be a warden in one of the great libraries, taking care of the grimoires. When the head of the library she’s studying at is killed but a rampaging grimoire she is the prime suspect and is forced to travel with one of the ‘evil’ sorcerers. In her quest to prove her innocence she is forced to question her beliefs and the morality of the sorcerers.

19. Queen of Ruin by Tracy Banghart YA Fantasy

Sequel to Grace and Fury. Very cute. A little lackluster. The endings a little cheesy but heartwarming.

#book roundup 2019

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kizo2703 · 6 years ago

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One fantastic, stolen comentary:

"Or is the show’s inability to admit the slow burn relationship that they are exploring to blame for Bellamy Blake’s romantic life not feeling valued enough?" Bingo. Let's be open about it. Yes. Clarke and Bellamy's relationship has been *obviously intentionally) written, acted and directed as a slow burn love story since at least halfway through season 1. I binged the show over a couple of months, and maybe that makes it all the more obvious. But really, I don't see how anyone can deny it without sticking their heads in the sand and really being in denial. Their interactions never looked "platonic", blatant hints about romantic love were thrown every season, their relationship and their scenes together are very romantically coded. By season 5, even the storyline doesn't make any sense if we try to explain their relationship as "just friends"'. "platonic" "bros' (LOL). The only things that are apparently a no-no for the show: no making out; no sex; no explicit "I love you"s said to each other. Because they supposedly are needed to make a relationship "canon" - or so the fandom and apparently the reviewers think. Which is a silly view, IMO, and requires me to believe that viewers are dumb and need to be everything spelled out. People used to be able to follow romances that didn't start with people having sex and/or swearing eternal love 2 hours or 2 days after meeting each other for the first time, What happened? Another funny thing is, Bellarke is not really a "slow burn" if you take into account the show's timeline. The entirety of seasons 1-4 lasts about 7 and a half months, before Clarke and Bellamy get tragically separated by circumstance and her presumed death (classic romantic trope). Then, in season 5, which lasted just a couple of weeks in-universe, we get a love triangle (another classic romantic trope). (I have no idea how anyone can deny it is one, when every love scene Bellamy and Echo have had has been either 1) a shock reveal at the end of an episode focused on Clarke surviving on Earth while calling Bellamy every day, or 2) a scene that ended on a shot of Clarke, and focused more on the heartbroken expression on her face, than on Bellamy and Echo themselves). And it's still going on, leading into season 6. About 7 and a half months of development, out of which they only spent half the time around each other (due to separations due to circumstance or Clarke's depression)... that's really more like "normal burn" by real life standards. Then a tragic separation, epic reunion, problems and conflict and getting back together emotionally over the space of a couple of weeks. It's just that 1) it lasted 5 seasons, and 2) The 100 otherwise tends to have a lot of ridiculously rushed and poorly developed relationships - the kinds where people are supposed to be in "love" after knowing each other for a couple of episodes, or anything from 2 hours to 2 weeks in-universe. Or, they get developed off-screen (as has been the case with Bellamy's 'serious' relationships, and some others between secondary and tertiary characters like Miller/Jackson). There are exceptions (like Kabby or Memori), but they are in the minority. And The 100 sure isn't adverse to romance, seeing how it can't go more than 2 seasons without giving any of the major characters (except Jaha) a love interest, or how it often it goes for romance as a way to cause a character's trauma and dark arc (e.g. Jasper. Octavia). Let's look at the characters other than the two leads: Octavia - brief fling with Atom in the first couple of episodes of season 1, ship-tease with Jasper, then an epic romance with Lincoln (which started pretty much the moment they met) until his death in season 3 - which was a major motivation for Octavia for the next 1.5 seasons. Then she got a new love interest, Ilian, in season 4, who helped her start to get out of her darkness and trauma. He got killed, too, because Octavia had to have a very dark arc in season 5, where romance wouldn't fit. And that's the only season she has been without a love interest. Raven - Finn in season 1, Wick in season 2, then she did go two seasons without a love interest (though that's just a few months in-universe), but season 5 gave her a new LI, Shaw. Abby - while memories of Jake were still often invoked, her chemistry with Kane was obvious since season 1, and they got together and have been together since season 3. Kane - had a girlfriend in the Pilot that the show quickly wrote out of the show; after that - see Abby, above. Murphy - no LI in season 1, when he was a tertiary character and an antagonist; Emori has been his LI since season 2, and they've been together on and off since season 3. Jasper - had a crush on Octavia in season 1, then a tragic romance with Maya in season 2, and her death was his catalyst for his depression and emotional breakdown, an arc that lasted two seasons. In season 3, the only brief sign of hope was his interest in another girl, who also then died and dashed the hopes of Jasper getting better. Monty - no obvious LI for the first 2 seasons, got together with Harper in season 3, they were a couple for the rest of the show Finn - initially Clarke's LI, then part of a love triangle with her and Raven, then got a "Love Makes You Crazy" storyline in season 2 and was used to cause Clarke more pain and romantic tragedy. Wells - died after 3 episodes, but that was enough for his romantic love for Clarke to be heavily indicated. Echo - Bellamy's LI. Miller (not a part of the main cast) - has had two long-term relationships, with Bryan (season 3-4 - presumably an old relationship from the Ark) and Jackson (season 4-ongoing). Roan is another exception, but he was killed after lasting less than 2 seasons on the show, 1 as a main cast member. And Clarke had two romantic relationship that lasted extremely short in-universe (especially taking into account the actual time when they were actual romantic/sexual relationships - which was just a few hours in both cases), but were both developed on-screen and portrayed as epic and tragic romances. The last one was... in the first half of season 3. So... either the show's lead is the only character who hasn't had a real love interest for 2 and a half seasons; while the show's second lead/male lead (who's also a fan favorite and male sex symbol) only had 1 love interest in the first 4 seasons, who died after a couple of episodes, and both of his relationships were developed fully off-screen (and everything else pointed out in this article)... while the show, for some reason, gave him a totally platonic relationship (which constantly looks romantic for some reason) with a woman that it focuses on, even though he already has a platonic relationship with a woman - his actual sister- that the show also focuses almost just as much (and they are the only characters in the show who have living siblings)... which would make The 100 the show with weirdest storytelling and writing decisions ever... --- or, you know, Clarke is Bellamy's love interest, and Bellamy is Clarke's love interest. Which suddenly makes all of it make sense.

http://disq.us/p/1yp0yyf

#the100 #bellamy blake #bellarke

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idealisticrealism · 8 years ago

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Blindspot 3x04 recap

Aka ‘You probably should have just watched 3x03 again, Laura’

Okay, clearly I don’t do well with deadlines. Despite having 2 weeks to do it, I’m still doing this last minute, so it’s gonna be a fairly short one. Not to mention that this wasn’t exactly my favourite episode, so I may have fewer thoughts about it than others... but there’s definitely a few thoughts I do wanna share, so here goes.

At first I thought that little girl was Alice but then realised all the many reasons why that made no sense. Instead we get introduced to a bomber guy who is clearly gonna be relevant to the ep despite just seemingly blowing himself up...

Oooh Jane came out with the truth about Roman calling her. Nice, honey. I’m proud of your openness. I wonder if Weller noticed she was acting weird last night, since it’s morning now? Also dude she gave him yet another perfect opening to tell her about Berlin and he didn’t take it!!!! Literally no matter what happened in Berlin, his staying silent about it is bad enough in itself. Dude you are setting yourself up for a big fall here!

Naww I love that Zapata is always checking in on Patterson. Ugh, these sisters. And instead of forcing her to take a break, like all the others would have tried to do, she just asks how she can help. I just love these two. I love that Zapata helps her see things from a different angle and gives her a plan to follow. Poor Patterson is so determined to make it up to Stuart and she needs all the help she can get

God I love Hirst’s accent. But dude what is happening with this scene. How have she and Reade been on such close terms that they had a bet that involved potentially shaving her head?? That’s the kind of thing you agree on whilst drunk. Have these two gotten drunk together?? What is going on. Also she legit takes the ugly jumper thing and agrees to wear it to a meeting?? At work, at the FBI?? With executive people?? That just feels very unlikely. Also dude she basically just said ‘hey Reade if you’ve done any shady shit make sure it’s buried deep because we’re gonna have people looking into us’. Wow.

Anyway my lil genius has cracked a tatt, which relates to the bomber guy we just saw before. Lol the guy’s ex wife nailed him by recognising his handwriting and tipping off the cops. You go, girl. Now though Patterson’s smarts they’ve found a van in some particular car park in Brooklyn, and lol Weller’s doing the bombsquad thing for some unknown reason. All that’s in the van is a letter though-- to the bomber’s daughter, from the bomber. He’s not really dead. Dun dun dunnnnnnn (lol get it bc his last name is Dunn haha)

Oh boy we’re actually seeing the wedding video. I don’t know whether to roll my eyes or melt into a puddle, but tbh I’m a little more leaning towards the eye rolling. I like that Zapata and Reade are doing theirs together, because I imagine they were both like ‘you go first, no you go first, no you go I don’t know what to say’ so they just went in together. And lol ‘what do you even do in Colorado’ (right tho??) and ugh they’re so looking forward to being part of Jeller’s future and Reade even tells them he loves them (sidenote I like his earrings) and they say ‘don’t screw this up’ which kinda just hurts to hear because man did they screw it up real bad. Also Patterson ‘videobombing’ is the best lol. But I wanna know what happens in between the cuts! Where’s the director’s cut of this vid? haha

Lol Zapata giving Weller shit about the bombsquad thing (right tho????) and then also giving Jane shit, saying that she was surprised she didn’t squeeze into the suit and go with him. Ugh Zapata is so great this season already, can she just be like this forever? I’m still confused about Hirst’s ugly sweater sitch and why this is even being included. Is it to show her bond with Reade/the team? To show she’s a good sport?? Why Gero what are you trying to sayyy. Also they found the bomber’s daughter (who has had some trouble with the law herself) and they’re gonna bring her in to try find the bomber or whatever

Roman is looking dapper and heads into some fancy event as his new Tom persona. And then he meets Blake, the gorgeous hostess of the event, and who was also another former ‘LA Complex’ character-- fun fact she played the long-lost sister of Jonathan Patrick Moore’s character, so technically her and Roman’s siblings kind of dated. Ish. But ugh he’s being all cute and charming and weirdly Australian and she’s clearly liking it. She has such a great smile, it lights up her whole face. Aaaand the moment she walks away he’s off doing something sneaky, bc of course he is.

The bomber’s daughter is being recalcitrant, naturally. Goes with the territory. Weller and Reade are interrogating together which is nice, I like my good boys playing together. Glad to see Weller isn’t being such a butt. Anyway turns out her dad doesn’t drop the letters himself but has someone do it for him, and there’s an emergency signal for if she needs help. So they go to the park and they’re so cute all loitering about ‘undercover’. And I like that Jane can tell from across the park that Weller isn’t happy with the situation. Naww, so married. Based on Weller’s gut they all move out, looking for the drop guy. Of course it’s Jane that spots him-- and does he spot the daughter, or Jane?? I can’t tell which he’s looking at. She loses him momentarily and then next thing he’s got a gun on her-- only he recognises her, his tone surprised but not hostile when he says ‘Remi?’ So they knew each other in the Sandstorm days?? He’s definitely not pleased to see her working with the cops though…

Oh boy. Now Weller is on the wedding vid and okay it’s pretty damn cute. And ugh he said the thing about her being his starting point AND end point and ughhh how many of us included a line like that in our fics?? But ugh he loves her so muuuch and he’s so emotional and amazed and happy to be marrying her ugh

Okay after that brief interlude we’re back to the suspect guy. What has this guy been in? I recognise him. And he seems to actually like Remi/Jane, which is why I think she is able to get the jump on him. I always love Jane being a badass. I wanna know what happens right after this tho-- like does she radio/call the team and be like ‘hey guys come to the house across the street I’ve incapacitated our suspect’ and Weller is all like ‘are you okay?????’ while the Reade is hoping that she managed to do it without drawing attention or injuring him too badly, and Zapata’s just miffed bc she didn’t get to kick any butt lol. Back at the lab Patterson fills them in-- he’s a dude that’s wanted in like seven countries for “like, all of the crimes” hahahaha. I love the way she said that. Zapata’s kinda impressed with him since according to the CIA he’s the go-to guy for forged documents. Then Reade sends Jeller in to do the interrogation and tbh I’m kinda getting used to Reade giving the orders. It’s pretty much like hearing Weller’s voice come out of his mouth lol. And then aw their suspect is kinda sad that Jane doesn’t remember him, bc he was like an uncle to her? And then omg he says “that summer, in Kalispell, up on Flathead lake” and dude I was literally just there in July??? My friend has friends like an hour from Kalispell and we all went rafting together at Flathead. Yayyy Montana. I love when slightly more obscure places I’ve been get mentioned haha. Jane tries to get him back on track and he just keeps reminiscing. Clearly he knew them when they were pretty young-- he says he did her adoption, so however old they were when Shepherd took them in I guess? Sounds like he wasn’t a huge fan of Shepherd tho which I approve of haha. Too bad he won’t tell them anything about the bomber guy.

Again Patterson and Zapata are having one of their little vibing moments and they realise the suspect must have had a ‘go bag’ somewhere. And Zapata being the kickass FBI and CIA trained badass that she is, realises that it’s hidden in the seat of his car. Lol she even uses the CIA lingo. And then omg Patterson just whips out a butterfly knife from her pocket?? Lord that is so damn cool. I wish I could be cool like her and carry one of those around but alas carrying knives is illegal in my country. Ugh then they find his stuff and high five over it and I just love them so much

Hirst is arguing with some bigwig guy who wants to take away their suspect bc of his other crimes and ugh I could listen to her talk all day. I’m proud of her for saying ‘you all’ and not ‘y’all’ to him haha. Lol Weller tries to tell the dude he can’t take them and errrr Weller I think he’s a little above you on the foodchain, buddy. Anyway Patterson calls them into the lab-- they stuff they found includes a coded ‘black book’ of his transactions. I love that she calls Zapata ‘00Z’ haha. And then they figure out from the cypher thing that the bomber is in Ithaca, bc Patterson is a genius, of course

Uh oh. They’ve arrived at the place in Ithaca and the local fuzz are all over it instead of keeping the perimeter-- they apparently found a bomb which has also supposedly already been disarmed. Well that was quick. Also omg the guy calls Tasha darling and her face is all ‘bitch please’ and Weller shoots her a look like ‘please don’t kill him, please don’t kill him’ lol. And Reade puts a hand out to settle her lol. They get in and it’s a pretty basic bomb, then as the dudes go to lift it Weller realises it’s a decoy and yells for everyone to get out-- and good thing it’s a room with a lot of exits bc Weller and the main cop go through one, Zapata pushes another cop through another, and Reade and Jane go through another. Not sure about the last cop, but he’s probably fine bc ~magic~

Oh now it’s Jane’s turn for the vid. And omg she immediately makes a sex/dirtytalk joke??? Wow girl, you’re really opening up, aren’t you? But ugh she never thought she would have this and she’s so emotional about it and she’s like halfway through a sentence when Weller walks in?? And I know this should be adorable and all but I’m kinda mad about it? Like he already had his chance to share everything he felt without being interrupted, but now whatever she was gonna say is lost bc he felt that he was entitled to butt in?? And then she jokes that he thought she’d run away and he said he’d never let that happen bc he’d ‘never let her out of his sight’ which tbh I do not like??? Firstly it hurts bc she DOES leave, but also it feels kinda weird and possessive and like a ‘you will never be free of me’ kinda thing? Feels more stifling than romantic. But whatevs just gonna let that one slide right on past

Back at the bomb house, Weller is immediately searching for Jane, and belatedly remembering to check on everyone else haha. Zapata emerges, lookin kinda fine with all those soot stains, then a cop stumbles past and Reade stands up. Assuming the other cop who was saved by Zapata gets out fine, then that just leaves Jane. Who is unmoving on the floor, and ugh Weller’s voice gets all small and wobbly and he’s all ‘no, no’ and goddammit writers can you not? Then she miraculously regains consciousness under his touch and he cups her face in his hands as she tells him she’s okay and then he hugs her to his chest and nope I do not need this in my life please stop

Why do these guys all look so great covered in dirt and soot?? They’re back to the NYO with the news that their bomber guy has a bunch of bomb stuff (surprise!) and is likely planning an attack. They split up and Weller finds Jane in the locker room icing her bruised ribs, and he knows right away that it’s not the injury that’s bothering her-- it’s Roman. Nice hubby senses, Weller. Ooh interesting she says that she doesn't care about her past bc she finds nothing but pain in it, which makes me feel like this Rossi guy is going to reveal something big and kinda positive to her about her past. And then ugh she says that right now, them, is what she cares about and ughhhh why they gotta be so cute? Tho again I take issue with Weller-- this time with calling her perfect. Jane knows she’s not perfect, so why not say that he loves her as she is, imperfections and all? But whatevs. He promises her a lifetime full of perfect moments though and okay that’s pretty sweet with the heart eyes and the hand kissing and ugh he loves her so much and yet he’s STILL lying about Berlin and I haaaaate it

Oooh we’re back at Roman’s charity event. And ugh Blake is so cute and she’s a good auctioneer and she auctions off a little bracelet and she clearly knows the little girl who made it quite well, and cared about her particularly, I think? And her jokes are so sweet and I love that she gets them to start bidding and then bam here’s ‘Tom’ with a $20,000 bid and says that he ‘likes wishes’ so cutely and omg the way she’s looking at him rn is just so-- Oh no I ship it. Why do I ship this I mean it’s like a terrible idea but wow I do. Oh noooooooooo

Patterson called Zapata to the lab even though their tests re the bomber are still ‘marinating’, because she wants to talk to her about Operation Cuttlefish (aka their investigation into Stuart’s murder) and lol she tries to give a nerdy explanation of cuttlefish’s camouflage ability but Zapata is like ‘good lord just show me’ lol. Turns out a bunch of things have been meddled with and now they both wonder whether there could be another leak in their taskforce. Man, this office is leakier than a damn sieve….

What, Hirst even made a video entry? Really? Ok, I guess. I do love listening to her talk. And lol she says ‘y’all’ this time. Patterson again videobombs with shots and also to inform everyone that she met a guy named Jonathan Walker Blue and that they’re in love and I was literally about to make a comment about how that’s a weird name and that I wanted to hear more about this guy, when I suddenly realised that I’m an idiot and she was referring to Johnnie Walker Blue. The whiskey. Lord that went right over my head the first time haha. Then Hirst goes on to say that they’re an amazing team and even though they’re gonna have hard times, they’ll lean on each other. “To the good times and the bad, may love rule mightily over both” and lbr that’s totally gonna be a theme for the season (and the show as a whole) isn’t it

So they’ve discovered that the bomber is planning to bomb a university in the city within the next hour, and while they were about to waste a lot of time evacuating all the campuses, Patterson discovers that the colours on the materials that the bomber had on his workbench were the same as the colours for the metro university so he must have been making an ID badge for there, giving them their target. And lol Weller is giving all the orders and then is just like ‘okay you heard the boss’ (meaning Reade) and it’s like well I think we all know who is really running the show here…

Aaaaahhh Blake comes to deliver the bracelet personally to Tom bc she has the epic hots for him and omg THIS FLIRTING IS SO FREAKIN SMOOTH I CAN’T. And then she gets all earnest and is trying to ~understand~ him (because she liiiiiiiiiikes him) and ugh they move in closer and there’s more flirting and then he tells her about Tom’s backstory of fighting in Afghanistan and inheriting money from a friend who died and wanting to use it for a good cause and oh god she’s falling like a rock for him and I DIG IT. FOR STUPID MASOCHISTIC REASONS. Seriously gimme more of this, Gero. (Ship name: Take?? Blam?? lol). And then ugh he asks her how the wish bracelet works and then when she explains he ties it on HER wrist and tells her she deserves the wish more than he does and I’m????? So into this???? Which is ridiculous bc it’s all a total lie but damn it’s just so cute and she’s basically swooning and then she offers to buy him a drink and they joke about the open bar and ughhhhhhhhh why. Why must I want this. And then he says he can’t because (sadly) he has a plane to catch and ughhh I’m bummed about it. But then again, the old ‘leave em wanting more’ thing does have merit, so maybe we’ll see…. Oh aaaaand he’s tracking her with a GPS he planted in the bracelet bc the whole thing was a ruse. Of course. Dammit, Roman, why you gotta crush all my dreams

Back at the lab, Patterson realises that Roman gave them the clue to crack the bomber’s manifesto, because all the older manifestos use the same code. Also literally how was anyone meant to crack that code without that very random and specific picture?? But eh. So now they know that the bomb is under the medical building at the university and man that’s just mean. You know how hard it is to evacuate a hospital??? That crap takes forever. But anyway damn Zapata and Reade are looking like a really badass team rn. Zapata gets slammed into the wall by the bomber guy (rude) but Reade shoots him just before he can shoot her. Phew. Unfortunately now this means that Jane and Weller are disarming the bomb on their own….

Lol it’s finally time for drunk!Patterson to get to have her say on the video, and of course she mentions D&D. Apparently Jane is an elf paladin and Weller is a dwarf monk. What’s the bet that Ashley herself chose those characters? I kinda wanna look up their abilities and characteristics now. And ugh she just loves them and believes they can do anything and she’s just the sweetestttttt

And now Jeller have 80 seconds to disarm the bomb, which has an anti tamper device which requires them to work as a perfect team in order not to set it off haha. Symbolism, symbolism everywhere. Also lol Weller, saying ‘steady’ over and over doesn’t really help buddy. And then they pull each of their wires (as advised by Patterson, bc no one would get through anything without her) at the exact same time, staring at each other as the timer hits zero. Sidenote but anyone here used to watch Castle?? Can’t help but think of the scene in S3 where Caskett hold hands in front of the bomb and then Castle disarms it by yanking out all the wires. Anyway, different OTP, different time. Then Jane is giving Weller a look and tells him that disarming the bomb with him was kinda hot and he pulls her into his arms and lol they’re getting off on this and Patterson is like ‘Mom! Dad! Stop, I can hear you!’ hahaha. But they don’t care bc they’re already making out haha.

Ooooh the fancy schmancy dude from the other organisation is back to tell them that Rossi escaped from his custody, which they’re all pissed at him for, bc now they have to help fix his screw up. But I only care about Patterson not-very-subtly pulling Zapata away from the bullpen mouthing ‘CUTTLEFISH’ lol. And lolll Zapata's like ‘god I’m the only adult in this place’ haha. Patterson has discovered that the anonymous tip from their last case (the one from Karen about the train crash, I assume, not Rich’s sneaky fake tip lol) was wrongfully marked as low priority on the database-- so someone in the FBI is doing this tampering? Idk I don’t think I’m following along very well lol

Ugh I’m actually mad at Weller for fast forwarding through Patterson’s message on their wedding video??? Like clearly he’s watched it before (probably many times, whilst drunk, and always laughing bitterly at the part where he tells her he won’t let her out of his sight, and ouch I made myself sad) but Jane clearly hasn’t seen it since she asks how long it goes on for. And then they basically ignore the rest of what Patterson’s saying anyway in favour of having a little chit chat. Sigh so rude. It is cute though how Jane is teasing Weller about not ever saying lovely things like in the video. And dude clearly I am wired a little bit oddly but for the split second when he moved fast I almost thought he was going to hit her, which makes no sense at all and once that tiny fraction of a second passed I was like ‘aww he’s playing around with her and being cute and silly, how adorable’ and then I’m sure he was gonna say some more sweet things and then demand apology kisses, but instead suddenly there’s Roman on the screen. And mmmmmm isn’t it symbolic that the two of them, having been all tangled up in each other, suddenly separate when Roman appears?? I see what you did there, Gero. But okay I literally cannot get over Roman’s little decorating effort. Like I know this is supposed to be a grim moment but I am almost wheezing over his lil fairy lights and flowers and handwritten sign?? He could have just appeared in front of a blank wall but nope he is just that Extra. I love him. Not cool of him to tell Jane she’s broken and tell Weller that their relationship is built on lies, though. But omg he literally toasts them with what I assume is champagne and lol this is hilarious. Err, I mean, it’s terrible, sorry Jeller….

Oooh Zapata wants to hang with Reade for drinks but he tells her he’s already home-- only for her to see him a moment later with fancy schmancy dude from before, and immediately gets all suspicious. My head says we’re supposed to suspect there’s dirty dealings going on but my heart says ‘gay love affair’. Though lbr there could be some dirty dealings involved in that, too lol

A mysterious envelope has been slipped under the Jeller's door. And Jane, seasoned FBI consultant and ninja warrior, just goes right ahead and picks it up with her bare hands. Really? No thought for fingerprints or anthrax or anything? Fine, whatevs. But hold up, it’s from Rossi, about some secret that he thinks she deserves to know. Weller comes over just as she pulls out some birth records-- and BAM, turns out Rossi organised the adoption not of Remi and Roman, but of Remi’s daughter, 18 years ago. Ohhhhhhh boy. I feel like Gero is actually literally Oprah rn-- you get a daughter! And YOU get a daughter! Daughters for everybody!!!! And as legitimately terrible as this plot decision is, I hate it somewhat less given that Weller’s spawn also exists. I mean, at least instead of just one of them having a child outside the relationship, then now both do, which balances things out a bit? I literally can’t believe I even am in the situation of having to write that sentence but this is where we are now. This is what you did to me, Gero. Ugh.

Well. Interested to see tonight’s ep. Here’s some spoilers you might not have caught yet: Reade’s estranged twin, Duane, comes demanding that Reade donate him his kidney or he’ll die; Zapata falls into a brief coma after a rollerblading accident and awakens only able to speak German; Patterson turns out to be a chihuahua piloting a very convincing android; and Hirst admits that she is actually Canadian and not from the South at all, eh. Can’t wait!

#Blindspot #Blindspot recap #Jeller #*sighs eternally*#That Blam tho

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itsclydebitches · 5 years ago

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Wait what was the mess with Ilia/queer representation? I don't usually look into these things so I probably didn't hear or see people talking about it

Happy to explain! First, the obligatory disclaimer: Ilia is a complicated case and, like anything else in RWBY, her place in the show is very much up to interpretation. I think her character arc, particularly in relation to her status as a queer character, is an absolute mess but I know others are of the opposite opinion. Many of the “flaws” I point out are perceived as her greatest strengths. So it’s subjective.

That being said, I wrote a little bit about this during Volume 5 when it was all going down. A simplified list of the primary issues includes:

Introducing your first, long-awaited queer character as a villain (even a sympathetic one)

“Redeeming” her in the span of one episode in a way that provides no punishment/responsibility/growth in the face of the horrific acts she committed

This character is left behind by the story at the end of the volume, presumably never to be seen again outside of, perhaps, a final battle that includes the whole cast

Tying her queerness directly to her villainy

It’s this last point that I take the most issue with. See, the fandom is right to point out that Ilia has motivations for her actions established throughout the volume, namely the death of her parents and the general racism that is still pervading Remnant. Ilia says multiple times throughout Volume 5 that this is why she’s going after Blake and her family. Because she honestly believes that they are a threat to the faunus’ progress. However, just because a character says something doesn’t make it true. Take Yang in the same season. She says she doesn’t want/care if Blake ever comes back to the group, which anyone with even a cursory knowledge of the show knows is BS. Rather, Yang’s emotions are functioning on multiple levels. A part of her really doesn’t want Blake to return because she’s still furious with her, whereas a larger part of her wants them to reconcile. Now, apply that logic to Ilia. It’s absolutely true to say that she’s motivated by activism and the death of her parents, however, her confrontation with Blake reveals that this isn’t the only reason for her attack. It is, arguably, not even the primary reason. Ilia gives a speech about how they need to be doing more for the faunus, how she doesn’t like to hurt people but she can’t deny that it has gotten them results. Yet when Blake challenges this part of her identity - you’re not a killer - the conversation unexpectedly takes a turn. When pushed to explain how she became this way Ilia does not reiterate her thoughts on racism or the trauma of her parents’ deaths. Instead, she starts talking about her unrequited feelings for Blake:

Suddenly, Ilia’s motivations have changed. Or rather, they’ve become more complicated. Both sets of motivations exists, but this is the one she admits to under duress, framing it as more “true” than what she’s been saying prior to this conversation. Now, Ilia shows personal motivations rather than just the generically good rhetoric of I Want To End Racism Because It’s Bad. Having Blake down on her knees, shipping her off to Adam, and killing her parents is explicitly connected to the (perceived) problem of, “You didn’t love me.” Blake is positioned as responsible for who Ilia became: You want to know why I’m like this? You were too busy looking at Adam. I wanted you to look at me that way but you didn’t. That’s how I learned that we can’t always get what we want. So now you don’t get to have what you want (your parents’ safety, distance from Adam). You get to feel what I felt when you didn’t love me back. When Blake poses the question of, “Why are you like this?” Ilia’s answer is “Because I’m queer, have unrequited feelings, and that taught me that life sucks. Now I’m returning the favor.”

Suddenly, Ilia’s actions are removed from the (already ethically dubious) logic of treating Blake this way because she believes it will help the faunus in the long run and instead are implied to stem from a desire to punish her for not reciprocating those feelings. In this moment Ilia moves from a misguided activist-turned-terrorist and instead becomes a misguided lesbian seeking revenge. She might not admit it - she never explicitly says that she’s punishing Blake for not loving her - but that’s the implication by taking the conversation in this direction; by having Ilia answer with her sexuality rather than her activist views. By drawing such an overt connection between these actions and Ilia’s admission, these things - the impending death of Blake’s parents, kidnapping her, sending her back to her abuser - are framed as things that she “deserves” according to Ilia. If you’d just looked at me with love from the start we never would have ended up here. This falls into a number of horrible tropes including, but not limited to, The Predatory Gay, The Psycho Lesbian, and The Queer Character Falling For Their (Presumably) Straight Friend.

Now, the takeaway here is not “You can never write villainous queer characters.” More often than not any statement beginning with “You can never write ____” is going to be a bad take. Indeed, there are tons of queer/queer coded villains who I adore. That doesn’t mean I want media to perpetuate that long, stereotyped history though. “But Clyde,” the world says. “That doesn’t make any sense. How can you both want and not want this setup?” To which I respond with the iconic words of Jane Lynch:

People’s identities are made up of multiple parts and those parts can read the same writing choice in different ways. As a queer person who loves the ~drama~ of a flamboyant villain I want that entertainment (like Watts). As a queer person who is disgusted by the implications tied to that trend (you’re evil, you’re unnatural, you’re sick, you deserve to be punished, to be killed) I don’t want to see our only queer character be a villain. Which is what Ilia was at the time of her reveal. She was all we had and we didn’t know if RT would ever going to give us anyone else. That was just awful to watch and worry about. It didn’t make me happy. Which sounds like a shit thing to say - This isn’t your story! It doesn’t cater to you! - but after years of waiting for queer rep it felt like a kick in the teeth to get this character in this way and leave her behind when we had a cast of five main women right there, any of which could have been queer. Ilia’s reading was made worse by the lack of rep surrounding her, but to be frank things haven’t improved much. I adore Saphron and Terra, I think they were really well done as characters, but they’re still very minor characters and we can’t ignore that, like Ilia, they were left behind by the story. Blake and Yang are not canon yet, leaving all the hints at their relationship sitting in the limbo of, “Is this just queer baiting?” If you’re someone who pays attention to queer coding, a lot of queer-coded men have been killed off in this show (Roman, Ozpin, Clover). We supposedly have one trans character… whose identity thus far only exists in a tweet.

Kudos to RT for hiring a trans voice actor - they absolutely deserve recognition for that - but it’s still not enough in this day and age. It’s 2020. Queer coding, queer minor characters quickly shuffled off screen, and queer “rep” in the form of paratextual info simply doesn’t fly. We decided that in the most vocal terms possible during the Harry Potter era, a fandom that took over most of the world and, thus, had one hell of an impact on media going forward. No, it’s not rep if you say Dumbledore is gay in an interview but never work that into the story. It’s not rep if you say May is trans on Twitter but don’t work that into the story. Not unless both characters are supplemental additions to a canon already filled with a variety of queer rep. “It’s so cool that this character is also queer! I get why you didn’t have time to work that in, so it’s a good thing we have those five other characters to identify with.” RT might do that in the future. Blake and Yang might become canon in Volume 8. May might be confirmed in the show. Saphron and Terra might unexpectedly arrive to become a part of the story again. We simply don’t know. But as of right now Ilia is one of only three in-canon queer characters out of a cast of ten bajillion (approximately lol) and out of those three she is the only one who was developed into a well-rounded character. That means nearly the entirely of RWBY’s rep rests on her shoulders. I think her queerness is fine for a cast already full of queer characters. There it functions as good diversity - “Some lesbians do join extremist groups and blame unrequited love for their murder plans!” - rather than representation for lesbians/queer people as a whole - “It’s a good thing we have these three other heroic lesbians in RWBY to balance out the message Ilia sends!” But since we don’t have that the takeaway is just what we’ve seen for decades: Queer characters are villains. Queer characters are violent and predatory. Queer characters are written out of the show.

Historically, Ilia’s characterization has problems on its own, but those problems were very much exacerbated by making her the first and, at that point, only queer rep. I - and no doubt others - would have been far more receptive to her as representation if we’d already gotten queer heroes prior to her introduction. And again, that’s a preference. Some fans want more queer villains as a way to say, “Anyone can be queer.” For me though, I’ve seen enough Ilias throughout my life. I’ve seen enough versions of my identity painted as unwanted and dangerous. I was expecting RWBY to do better and I hope that they will do better in the future.

#Anonymous #rwby #rwde #mymetas #LGBTQIA

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kitkatopinions · 4 years ago

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The ethics in RWBY are really weird. I mean, I’m not a professor of ethics and I don’t know much past what I’ve seen on Wikipedia and the Good Place (such a great show,) but it’s so weird to see a show that seems to switch between virtue ethics and consequentialism at random.

(Virtue ethics) may be identified as the one that emphasizes the virtues, or moral character, in contrast to the approach that emphasizes duties or rules (deontology) or that emphasizes the consequences of actions (consequentialism). Suppose it is obvious that someone in need should be helped. A utilitarian will point to the fact that the consequences of doing so will maximize well-being, and a virtue ethicist to the fact that helping the person would be charitable or benevolent.

Of course, it’s a lot more complicated and in-depth than just that, but I’m not going to get into specifics (again, I’m not qualified to do that lol.) But let’s look at some examples of these two ethical beliefs in RWBY.

“Stealing is wrong no matter what,” sounds like virtue ethics at play, and that’s how Blake saw things. That was one of the reasons that she left the White Fang, that was always framed as one of the many things that made it so they were villains, that had to be taken out. Blake regretted her acts of theft in her early life no matter how justified they were. The message is that stealing is always wrong even when you’re stealing from oppressors.

“Stealing is justified in circumstances where you feel you have no other choice,” sounds like consequentialism, if your actions are justified and have good consequences, they’re good. This is put into practice when the group illegally stole the airplane in Argus (although this is actually badly portrayed consequentialism, considering that they didn’t need to do that, but I think we’re intended to perceive it as necessary, but I’ll keep talking about that later.)

“Violence is wrong, even when it’s precautionary or reactionary,” sounds like virtue ethics, and once again, that’s directed towards the White Fang. Despite being oppressed for centuries, even Sienna’s more minor violence is framed as completely wrong, and the Faunus are lectured about how they need to stop committing acts of violence if they want equality. The Ace Ops fighting Team RWBY is meant to be perceived as wrong, despite the fact that Team RWBY had broken the law, proven themselves untrustworthy, and were trying to stop them and Ironwood from doing something that would save people.

“Violence is justified in circumstances where it’s precautionary or reactionary,” sounds like consequentialism. Since the White Fang is hurting others, it doesn’t matter what their goal is (Faunus rights,) it’s totally fine to rip them to shreds, throw them off moving trains, even kill, etc. Since Team RWBY thought it was wrong to move Atlas, they were perfectly justified in beating up the Ace Ops for trying to arrest them. Qrow is perfectly justified in fighting Clover for the same reason.

“You always need to be honest, no matter if you don’t know if you can trust someone or not and no matter if you have good reasons to lie,” sounds like virtue ethics. This is applied to Ozpin in the show, his lying is deemed one hundred percent wrong, full stop, no excuses. He isn’t treated with any sympathy and has to apologize, which is seriously and begrudgingly accepted. Our main characters forcing his secrets out of him is framed as right, their angry responses are framed as totally justified. The message is clear. Lying and mistrusting is wrong. Honesty and trust is right.

“Lying is understandable and even right if you think you have good reason to lie and if you think you can’t trust someone, and Ruby was right about Ironwood, therefore her lying was fine,” sounds like consequentialism. Ruby’s lying is framed as reasonable and understandable. She didn’t have to be honest because she was reacting cautiously instead, putting a virtue on the back burner because she thought being honest might hurt people and wasn’t sure if James could be trusted - as in, she acted in mistrust. Although Yang suggests this was wrong, the show quickly hastens to tell us that Ruby was very right, having Yang walk back on her statements, and having Ironwood turn evil. The message is clear. Lying and mistrusting should be done if you think it will hurt less people. Honesty and trust aren’t always good.

“It’s never okay to willingly sacrifice a life, you must do whatever you can to save everyone no matter the cost,” sounds like virtue ethics. This is the central conflict between Team RWBY and Ironwood in volume 7. Ruby and co considered it wholly wrong to sacrifice the remaining people of Mantle in order to save Atlas and the Mantle citizens already evacuated, they considered the idea unacceptable and we (the audience) are meant to believe they’re entirely right and that Ironwood is - with this action - turning into a villain. The Ace Ops are also seen as wrong for wanting to destroy the whale even though they know that Team JORY is still inside it, because despite the fact that it would save thousands upon thousands, it would result in the deaths of four people.

“You have to do what is right, even if it requires sacrifice,” sounds like consequentialism. Pyrrha goes to fight Cinder despite knowing she can’t win, which is framed as heroic and good. Jaune, Nora, and Ren leave their mission defending the non-evacuated people of Mantle in order to try and rescue Oscar. Our group of protagonists trap a city full of civilians in Salem’s direct line of fire and cause many soldiers to die so that they can try and evacuate the citizens of Mantle. The show frames this as the right choice that the team made in the pursuit of saving everyone they could, and the dead soldiers are a sacrifice that the protagonists couldn’t avoid and therefore aren’t responsible for.

“Being a good person who tries is the most important thing,” This feels like virtue ethics. This is applied to Team RWBY and Ruby particularly all throughout season eight. What really matters is that is that they’ve been trying. What really matters is that they’ve had good intentions. What really matters is they’ve stuck to their guns, stuck to their moral code. The morality of their actions is judged by who they are, what virtues they embody, and what they intended. Ruby is constantly assured by the people around her that she hasn’t really done anything wrong because she’s a believer, she’s kind, she’s brave, she’s optimistic, she’s well-intentioned... She - and we as the audience - are assured that she was still good, even if nothing she did was effective, even if nothing she did even helped people This is also applied to Robyn. She might steal from the government, start fights, and not fix the wall with her stolen resources, but she has good intentions and wants to help, so she’s a good person.

“Your intentions and effort aren’t important, what matters is what you do and if it helps people.” This feels like consequentialism. It’s obviously applied to Ironwood - It doesn’t matter that he’s trying to save Atlas and the evacuated people of Mantle, it still doesn’t excuse what he did even pre-bomb threat. Hacking Penny, shooting the councilman, shooting Oscar, all of that is treated as horrible in the narrative whether or not he’s doing it to try to save thousands upon thousands of lives. Even the things he was doing in V7 were considered not good enough because they weren’t helping enough people. But it also applies to the White Fang yet again. Sienna Kahn might’ve had good intentions (ending Faunus oppression,) but her actions are judged by the harm they do to others. Ilia might’ve had good intentions (again, ending Faunus oppression,) but her actions were considered firmly bad and she had to decide to change her ways in order to be redeemed. On top of this, let’s add Whitley to the pile. Whitley is treated dismissively and coldly by Weiss, but then when he does something good that helps people, Weiss is affectionate with him and starts treating him well.

This is all very contradictory and weird. It doesn’t matter if you lean more towards virtue ethics or consequentialism, the story keeps waffling between the two and expects its audience to do the same. When they want Team RWBY to do something that might be considered wrong in the terms of virtue ethics (stealing, lying, using violence, etc,) they use consequentialism to justify it, but whenever they want Team RWBY to be morally superior to the people around them even if those people aren’t evil (Ironwood, Oz, Ilia,) they use virtue ethics to do that. Stories that include both as points of contention between characters, but both are framed as justifiable can exist and can be really good, but that’s not what we’re given. Stories that make it clear that they prefer one over the other can exist, but that’s not what we’re given either. RWBY is full of whiplash moments, where you have to go “Wait, wasn’t this framed as wrong just an episode ago?” and “Wait, wasn’t this framed as right and justified just an episode ago?” Because RWBY as a show doesn’t bother to believe in either of them. RWBY as a show is only concerned with saying what they can to make the protagonists look good, which is hard.

When you look at it, they’re bad at being consequentialists.

Let’s look at the first relevant consequentialist action I noted, where I used the example of stealing the Atlas ship to establish that the protagonists considered stealing justified and necessary, therefore morally sound. This was not only avoidable (Cordovin had given them the option of sending Weiss through and she could’ve contacted Winter as soon as her scroll was able to reach her,) but it caused a dangerous Grimm attack. As far as I know, no civilians were hurt. However, this was still an avoidable act of theft that caused negative consequences. Looking at them trapping Atlas is even messier. They do it to save the remaining people of Mantle, putting the people of Atlas (and the evacuated Mantle citizens) at risk so they can save the most people despite the soldiers lining up to die facing Salem and the possibility of Grimm getting in the city of Atlas and killing civilians before they can finish the evacuation. But you quickly realize that they literally can’t evacuate the people still in Mantle because they have no resources to do so. Then they start moving the remaining people of Mantle to the Crater where they won’t freeze to death (logical,) and JORY and the HH start trying to defend them (logical,) but then they don’t send Penny to move Atlas. They know that they can’t evacuate the people in Mantle to Atlas, have a temporary solution to the cold, and know they aren’t going to get more help in defending the civilians in their care and must take care of it themselves. But they continue to keep Atlas trapped there despite knowing that the consequence might be thousands dying. Looking at launching Amity and sending out the broadcast is even messier than that. The broadcast is ill-planned, sloppy, confusing, and hits several of the beats of Cinder’s broadcast, which kick started the Fall of Beacon. This could have terrible consequences in a world where the Grimm are drawn to negativity. People could panic, it could launch Vacuo (the last remaining fully functioning kingdom) into a state of emergency, it could cause people to lose all hope in the establishments or the Hunters themselves, it could make people go out looking for ‘maidens’ to help them. And no one should be able to just travel to help Atlas within a couple of days anyway, which Ruby seems to fully understand at times in how she frames things, but she also asks for help that logic says can’t come. This was something that might endanger people and cause mass panic and Grimm attacks, that didn’t actually do much good. In terms of consequentialism, this was a failure, this wasn’t the Right thing to do.

But when you look at it, they’re bad at virtue ethics too.

Of course, there’s the obvious. They lie, they mistrust, they steal, they’re violent. They point their weapons at Qrow in V6, Weiss points her weapon at Whitley, an untrained teenage civilian, Weiss throws a man in a dumpster for being anti-Faunus to Blake, Qrow punches a teenage body for lying to him about something important. But there’s also the fact that in V8, Ruby and Weiss and Blake don’t do much to help anyone. Ruby sends out her hopeful sounding message that could do very little (if logic means anything in this world,) and then sits in a mansion drinking tea, waiting for Nora to recover. Of course this is wrong from a consequentialist mind frame, the consequence of sitting around doing nothing when you can help save people is that those people might die. But from a virtue ethics standpoint... This action is selfish, maybe even cowardly. Ruby is meant to be selfless and brave, and remember that she’s the one who made it so Atlas civilians and the evacuated people of Mantle couldn’t escape, and then despite the fact that she’s a powerful fighter with a rare super power that can take out tons of Grimm at once, Ruby sits in a mansion and despairs that no one is coming to save her. Look, I’ve heard every excuse. It doesn’t matter if she’s wanted by the Atlas police. It doesn’t matter if she’s trying to take care of her friend. It doesn’t matter if she has no plan. The virtues Ruby is supposed to embody like kindness, bravery, resolve and selflessness would dictate that all of that has to take a backseat when she can save human lives.

This is a big reason why I’m so frustrated with RWBY. They keep waffling between these two conflicting ideas of what’s right and what’s wrong, and they’re failing to make our heroes properly fit into either category. They just then tell us that they fit. They always do what’s right for the most people and don’t look behind the curtain to see them fail to do just that. They always follow their virtues and don’t look behind the curtain to see them make excuses over and over for themselves while they expect everyone else to adhere to the standards they won’t reach for.

And honestly, fans do the same thing the show does, which is one reason why it’s so frustrating to talk to mega-stans that won’t recognize the main casts flaws while they refuse to see that Oz deserved better or that Ironwood wasn’t evil pre-end of volume 7. “Of course Team RWBY lied to Ironwood, they didn’t know if they could trust him!” “Whether or not Oz knew if he could trust them, he never should’ve lied to them.” They’ll say these things even sometimes in the same posts or comments and not even realize the problem. The show and the fans will use anything and any justification to pretend that Team RWBY was right and inculpable, but they’ll use anything and any justification to make anyone who opposes them - friend or foe - seem entirely in the wrong and at fault. That’s why Oz apologized to them, but they didn’t apologize back even though they treated him horribly. The show runners don’t care what Team RWBY did wrong, they’ve already jumped through all the mental hoops to pretend they were right.

Looking at Team RWBY through the lens of virtue ethics, they fail to meet a good standard, and looking at Team RWBY through the lens of consequentialism, they still fall short. And the show needs to stop acting like they’re inherently better than the people around them when they’re not. The show writers are using the excuses of consequentialism and virtue ethics whenever they think it can distract us from the fact that behind their fancy feel good words, they don’t know how to write good protagonists.

#rwde #rwby hate #rwby criticism #anti-rwby #anti rwby #long post

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brokenmusicboxwolfe · 8 years ago

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I saw:

Wonder Woman- I admit I was almost nervous about seeing this film.

Wonder Woman was a key figure in my childhood. I had the Ms Magazine book reprinting golden age Wonder Woman comics, held together with packing tape from my carrying it everywhere, that I read and reread. My best friend and I got in the sort of heated debates only five or six get in over what Wonder Woman’s starting pose for “bullets and bracelets” should be. My best friend going with the then running tv show’s crossed wrists seemed silly when you gotta be ready to move, and it wasn’t like that in the original story. We played at being Wonder Woman and made up stories usung our dolls. The only Halloween costume I still have is the Wonder Woman one from back then, an object I take great care of. ** Heck, I still have my dolls, pencil sharpener, puzzle book and the rest of the Amazon Princess gear I gobbled up...

My Mom, whose father never approved of comics, had secretly read them as a little girl back in the 1940s, so approved whole heartedly. In fact Wonder Woman related objects have been a sort of running theke for gifts between us (me giving her a Wonder Woman plush bunny at Easter and her giving me a mug at Christmas being the most recent).

So if both my mother and I have waited most if our lives and through scores of Batman and Superman movies for a Wonder Woman feature film, why the anxiety?

Well, because despite my love of the concept of Wonder Woman, I have really disliked some of the takes on the character over the years. As a little girl adoring the ‘40s comics and the ‘70s tv show (though the Superfriends take was fine for something so “childish”...I was a mature little tyke! LOL), , I’d tried the comics at the newstand and went “This is stupid!”. I ended up for some years buying it just for the Huntress back up stories. At my first comic store trip at 14 I tried some very cheap battered old copies from like around 1960 and....Ick! NO! But then along came the George Perez run, and here was MY Wonder Woman. I loved the comic during his years, but unfortuantely it wasn’t forever. The new creators had a vision of the character, both in personality and increasingly over appearance, that was dramatically different than me. Over the years tales of her have been a roller coaster...here feminist, there sexist, here a figure of peace, there a snarling war monger.

So here is the thing, I admit my image of Wonder Woman has been rather specific. I saw her as someone that can kick your ass, but would rather not if she doesn’t have to. Her first interest is peace, despite being prepared before. If talk fails, she will use force out of a need to protect, but that force will be the minimal necessary for the job. As in she would prefer to restrain you than beat you to a bloody pulp. My Wonder Woman would kill as a last resort, shows compassion and kindness and has a sense of humor. She smiles as often as she glowers. I realize this is a reflection of my basic moral code. Did Wonder Woman shape my world view, or did I take to depictions of Wonder Woman that reflected what I believed?

Which ever, my anxiety came from all those other Wonder Woman versions. The ones that were grim and brutal concerned me more than the old fashioned sexist ones simply because in the modern age the idea of “strength” seems to involve the ability to kill. The recent DC films hadn’t filled me with much hope. Bystanders should matter to a hero (Looking at you “Man of Steel” city smasher, when you could have taken your fight with Zod to a cornfield or the moon or...). A “gritty” Wonder Woman wasn’t something I wanted.

Luckily it looks like I wasn’t the only one. Not that there isn’t plenty of violence and our heroine does rack up a body count.

It begins by telling us of Wonder Woman AKA Princess Diana’s childhood, with the only little girl on the island if Amazon’s running off wanting to learn to fight. And OMG! Isn’t the woman chasing after her trying to catch the little scamp Dayna from Blake’s 7?????? Wow! Yep it really was Josette Simon!*** We get to see the child’s over protective mother reluctantly allow her demigod of a daughter get trained. We also see Diana embrace whole completely the legends and ideals of her people. These things always turn out to be a lot more complicated when you grow up...

And grow up she does. A WWI pilot crashes lands at the island, followed by pursued by Germans, leading to bloodshed and a corpse strewn beach in paradise. Finding out about the World War in progress, Diana wants to take the pilot (Steve Trevor, of course) back into the world, partly because he’s gotten a hold of info about a new a deadlier than ever before gas cooked up by a German scientist, a woman with an interesting bit of mask work covering her experimentation damage. Her main reason is the belief that such a war could only be the result of Ares, god of war, and that as an Amazon she is duty bound to stop him. Naturally, her first step in growing up us to defy he parent and go off to do what she believes is right.

Once out in our world Diana is a fish out of water, coping with a world where women don’t even yet have the right to vote and fashions are most definiately not conducive to battle. She is also incredibly innocent, with a sort of adolecent passionate belief in the world as a simply place. Just go to the battle front, kill Ares, and the world will be at peace. And so, through the story, she comes to learn the world is more complicated, but comes through quickly from the dark disillusionment that brings to find again the hope deep within, only now with a more mature understanding behind it.

Or, you know, lots of fighting and CGI work as Wonder Woman leaps over tall buildings in a single bound...oh wait, that’s the guy in blue tights...But she does leap, off the charts strong. There is a detour for brief romance, much to my mother’s annoyance. (My mother grimiced and muttered as the kissing started.) ****And there is the pyrotechnic superbeing versus superbeing ending, plus the emotional blow of a tragic sacrifice. That sort if thing.

I liked the choice of WWI, not simply because WWII has been done by superhero films already and we are in the anniversary period for that war, but because it was a particularly messy, large and ugly war. It works thematically, both for Diana to assume Ares is behind all of it and to realize humans really are capable of such horrors, without the more simple good guy/ bad guy dichotomy of WWII.

On the other hand, I was a bit uncomfortable with how once Steve showed up he became more of the driving force in the story. In a way it makes sense. He has the experience in our world and knows how it works. He would seem the adult to her not yet fully mature personality in this sort of coming of age story. Yet, a few times I was a bit bothered and had a fleeting “SHE is supposed to be the hero of this story!” moments.

Over all I really enjoyed it. It can’t live up to the hype, but that’s okay because nothing ever does. My mother, who is notoriously hard to please when she has an idea of a character, gave this Wonder Woman her endorsement, saying that this one got the kindness as well a strength. But really, I don’t know if I can give a proper verdict when I have so much emotions tied up with the very existance of the film. Watching the first few minutes of the film I noticed I had tears on my cheeks. After 76 years there was FINALLY a Wonder Woman movie, so for now my feeling is just ....“YES!!!!”

**There are no photos of my wearing it. On fact there are no photos of me wearing ANY Halloween costume! What’s up with that? I dunno, but it just sort of happened. Talking about the costume with Mom she said there should be photos and was shocked when I pointed out the only Halloween pics I have are with jack o’lanterns, and many of them. My folks just didn’t even realize they weren’t thinking to take pictures of us growing up......

***I have a story about my best friend in high school reacting to a pic of her...but that’s for another time...

**** Since this week was my parents’ anniversary and Pop was called “Steve” I think it was reminding her of her grief too.

#movies #wonder woman #wonder woman 2017

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rocky-the-earth-dragon · 8 years ago

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RWBY AU

AHHH! Two of my favorite things- RWBY and Ninjago! I’m pretty sure plenty of people have their own au, but I just really wanted to make a post to showcase my headcannons! Maybe someday I’ll add a plot to this au, but for now we’ll leave it at this~

-Backstories-

Zane was created by one of Atlas’s smartest engineers (Dr. Julian) he was built to protect those who cannot protect themselves. After losing his father he vowed to fulfill his purpose and joined Atlas Academy to become a huntsman.

Cole was born in the heart of Mistral, the most cultural place in all of Remnant. His dream was to apply to Haven academy and become a huntsman. Though his father was not happy with this and tried to get him to appreciate the arts and pursue a career that wasn’t so life threatening. The two never got around to seeing eye to eye and Cole ended up choosing to run off and become a huntsman. He and his father haven’t been on the best of terms since then.

Jay grew up in Menagerie. He was always fascinated by the warriors of his village and the incredible stories they had to tell about the grimm they fought, the beautiful sights they got to see, the people and faunus they met. It was what lead him to choosing the path of a huntsman, his dream was to become one of the heroes he heard about in all those bedtime stories.

Nya always wanted to be just like her mother and father- the greatest duo of Huntsmen ever to step foot in Shade. Kai though, always felt that he had to be like his mother and father. For Nya, it was about bringing honor to the family name and proving herself worthy of the huntress title. For Kai, it was about training to fight the mightiest of grimm and rid the world of their presence. Both wanting to make sure their parents’ sacrifice does not go in vain.

Lloyd, son of the late Headmaster Garmadon, and the top of his class at Signal Academy, was born with the rare trait of silver eyes. He was trained by his uncle and raised by his mother on the island of Patch. For as long as he could remember, there’d been a voice in the back of his head, the voice of reason- he believed it to be. For it always knew what to do, what to say, and when to butt in. It was like a third parental figure in his life, a father-figure to be more exact.

-Faunus-

I don’t really know who should be a faunus, but Jay is from Menagerie (a place where everybody is a faunus) so maybe he could be one. As for what kind, I don’t know, but I have always liked the idea of a bird faunus. Picture that: Jay with fucking bird wings. Also I’m biased so… Cole!faunus maybe lol, he could have lil’ cat ears like Blake :3

-Semblances-

Zane, Jay, Cole, and Kai are the latest generation’s season maidens. Their semblances relate to their seasons, and their aura colors are the same as they are in the show.

Zane - Winter - White

Jay - Spring - Blue

Cole - Autumn - Black

Kai - Summer - Red

Nya’s semblance is hydrokinesis (which is just the professional term for waterbending). Her aura color is maroon or light blue, your choice ; )

Lloyd has all the abilities as someone with silver eyes would have, and what exactly are those abilities? I hear you ask. Well, to be frank, I have no clue. Grimm freezing??? It hasn’t been explained in the show yet sadly. His actual semblance though is Ergokinesis (basically what he can do in the show). His aura color is green.

-Weapons-

As you know there are the golden weapons (in ninjago) that the boys use. (In the au) the weapons will be the equivalent of the four relics in RWBY. Each combat school will guard one. I guess the main four could gather them and adopt them as their own personal weapons.

Also, do you remember the little color-coded gemstones that were embedded in each of the weapons? Yeah, well in the au they actually have a purpose- they’re dust crystals. The dust crystals allow the weapons to do the cool elemental shit they did in the show. The nunchucks emit lightning bolts, the sword can ignite on fire, the scythe can cause mini earthquakes, and the shurikens will freeze anything it comes in contact with.

Nya’s weapon: well, she doesn’t actually have an assigned one in the show but I could see her using something like miló, gambol shroud, or even ember cilia. She had something like silenced tear (Rinoa from Final Fantasy’s secondary weapon) when she was the samurai. I think that could be something she’d use.

As for Lloyd: well, he doesn’t have a weapon in the show and tends to prefer it that way, but this is Remnant and only an idiot would walk around without a weapon. So, maybe he’ll wield a sword and a retractable shield, like… Jaune. Update: I just checked the wiki and it said katana, so there you go- Lloyd wields a katana.

So that’s all I have so far! Hope you’re just as interested in this au as I am!

#ninjago #ninjago zane #ninjago cole #ninjago jay #ninjago kai #ninjago nya #ninjago lloyd #ninjago au #ninjago rwby au #liver and toads

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