#oracle arcs integration

[adainesfroggieboggy]

siobhan thompson appreciation post because her characters just make me so happy and they're so. good. she's so good at characters! spoilers for every intrepid heroes season of d20. i could do a whole other post about her sidequest characters bc they're so good.

Adaine Abernant. The Elven Oracle. She's always been one of my absolute favorite characters ever. Her anxiety representation in the first season makes me feel more seen, understood, and represented than any other character ever. She's literally so cool! She starts freshman year as an awkward nerd and becomes a cool nerd! Her anxiety never goes away, but the medication makes it manageable. She hates her parents because they're awful! Just the rep of having awful parents and hating them and that's okay because they suck! You should hate your parents if they suck as bad as the Abernants! Not everyone gets a redemption arc. If they suck, they suck.

Misty/Rowan. Misty is the perfect representation of an old lady who gives no fucks. She flirts so hard with that guy at the pixie wedding. She openly admits to having been friends with John Wilkes Booth. But at the same time? Will not give her age. A lady never tells. She's absolutely ancient and doesn't fucking care, but she also has this undertone of absolute existential panic because she needs adoration to survive! She stays relevant because she has to! Don't get me started on Rowan. I have a crush on Rowan Berry. She's reborn and immediately starts flirting with Pete, which is iconic in its own right. She's a bard who gives bardic inspiration by either flirting or complimenting, and sometimes the lines blur just a little bit. Absolute queen shit. She defeats the queen of Faerie and has no desire to go back until the Fae court tells her hey. You left us with no leader. And then brings democracy to Faerie! President Rowan!

Ruby Rocks! She starts the season as a kid who loves her sister just so much. That's the most integral part of her character. She's a princess and a rogue, and she loves her sister. She has a lot of development over the season! She ends as a woman who fights for her family and her country. She hates Saccharina when they first meet, a new sister on the tails of the loss of the most important person she's ever had. After Jet's death, she's overcome with grief and takes a level of shadow sorcerer because of it! Her development is amazing, a truly wonderful arc.

Iga Lizowski! Oh. My. God. She's the first pc that is a mom in d20, or at least in the Intrepid Heroes. Her relationship with her kids is so fun to watch, from urging Jessica to engage with the chest to bringing her into another part of the Unsleeping City. Then Nick, who she hadn't pressed at all to take responsibility for the chest, decides to become another defender of his family's magic! Not only is she an amazing mother, she's a fortune teller by trade! She knows full well that everything she does has merit, and that magic is real, but makes it all seem like a lie to cater to her clientele. It's not her intention to become a part of the Dream Team, but when her family is threatened, she fights like hell. Also she has a pseudodragon that's just a magical chihuahua and that's so old ladycore it's such a perfect choice.

Riva. They're just on their gallivant, honestly. They decorate their psychodrone with magnets. They're trying to sell pleasure putty. They make their own hours, but they don't know how. Riva is sweet and fun and naive. They love their friends and they love the outside world and they're having a great ass time on their gallivant.

Rosamund. Du. Prix. Quick little shoutout to Siobhan's princess voice because no joke she did my favorite accent. It borders on transatlantic (my favorite accent) but is very Disney princess. She starts as a Disney princess, too! To have a character looking for her true love wake up, search for him, and ultimately sacrifice her chance at having him is *mwah* beautiful. True love isn't real! She directly confronts this, and a member of her party is living proof of it. She has to see the prince who came to save her, and upon meeting him, she realizes how fucked the idea is. He kisses her once and that's all? She doesn't know him, she doesn't love him. How can she live happily ever after with him? Her story is about having things happen to her, but she wrenches the pen from the authors' hands and writes her fucking own! Once upon a time, there was a princess who tried speed dating!

[5-7-9]

Okay I’m pissed. Read WFA’s We Are Robin’s chapter. Sure, it gets the themes right, whatever. There isn’t a lot of good to say about getting the surface level topics correct, it’s just accurate.

What I’m mad about is Troy. The casual dismissal of Troy’s death as “wishing to not let untrained kids play vigilantes” or whatever.

That’s not what Troy’s death represents at all. Troy’s tragedy was so much more than that.

I actually was taken a little by how most of Duke’s friends reacted after, Riko Dre and Izzy, they kept going despite how scary that was, that fascinated me a lot. I thought more of them would react like Dax did, lose just a tiny bit of hope, especially Riko who also admired a batfam adjacent symbol like Dax did. Troy was the loss along the way, but they knew long ago it was a risk since they started their journey. Might be because the story was so short and had to move quickly anyways, but it still shows that Troy’s death was part of their motivator, not their obstacle. Their path is to save lives, including their own.

YES IT WAS YOUR FAULT! It absolutely was his fault!!! Forget about sugarcoating it!!!!!!!!! Stop making Duke sugarcoat the batfam’s guilt for no reason either, it’s just weird. Ewwwwww *shudders* 😰 Just let it be man!!!!

i just find this pitiful expression of Troy’s death a bit annoying. Just a little bit.

“Them” “I” not “We” ?????????? Ughhhhhhhhh how could you have Duke refer to We Are Robin through “them” pronouns instead of “we” pronouns UGHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Shug-R and Oracle…. I mean that was the seemingly natural conclusion to a side support, but Shug has shown to get in on the action too, albeit less so. I have no clue if she’s even tech smart, she just uses a computer? If WFA assumes going on a computer means you’re tech smart then idk how to break it to them. It’s fine to mention, i just wonder why it feels like an off note, could’ve easily integrated Shug by having her text them herself, to feel more involved instead of separated. But i digress

Dre smiles too much. It’s weird. I’m creeped out everytime.

Oh man, Riko would’ve soooooooooo hit Damian. Since Izzy wasn’t there to beat him up again.

Half of this story not about Duke, which is fine but i didn’t realize WFA switched over their formatting, they combined 2 chapters into 1 to make it longer i think. Might be a Season 3 only change?

this might the the only time the WFA artist attempts to draw canon accurate Duke ever instead of this 🥺 sad nervous scared face that makes me want to punch his face in, and he looks so funny (i also think the smirks Tim does looked funny too, and out of place but i’m unsure why. I just have no idea why Tim is smirking so much or so strangely, but yeah)

So Duke’s We Are Robin appearance isn’t over? Is this an arc?? So i still have to wait and read more chapters just to see Duke??? Horrendous idea, how dare.

We Are Robin’s canon accurate designs might look cooler if drawn by Starbite 🤔 right now they just look bland for no reason. I mean, their actual outfits had more detail, and Riko is just wearing some rando clothing for no reason

[ao3feed-jaydick]

Posterity

read it on the AO3 at https://archiveofourown.org/works/55205251 by redbirdandbluebird23 Jason had to give it to him, it was a pretty good imitation, someone who didn’t know Dick or Bruce would be fooled. He clearly had lifts in his boots to make up the height difference and there was extra padding in the suit to hide his gymnasts build and essentially erase what made Dick, Dick. He knew that given enough time, Dick would make sure the extra padding wasn’t needed and would do the work to change his build to fit the suit and not the other way around. And Jason, Jason hated him for it. Hated that he was willing to give up an integral part of himself, the part of himself he’d clung to even after losing his parents, making sure he never lost the skills he’d been born into and the physique it took to do what he did. *** Bruce's death and the arrival of his biological pup sends everyone reeling JayDick Week 2024: WIP Bash! Words: 4959, Chapters: 1/5, Language: English Series: Part 1 of JayDick Week 2024 Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types, Batman (Comics) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: M/M Characters: Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Damian Wayne, Stephanie Brown, Barbara Gordon Relationships: Dick Grayson/Jason Todd, Jason Todd & Damian Wayne, Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne Additional Tags: Batman Comics Story Arc: Battle for the Cowl (2009), Canon Divergence - Batman Comics Story Arc: Battle for the Cowl (2009), Post-Batman Comics Story Arc: Battle for the Cowl (2009), Jason Todd-centric, Jason Todd is Red Hood, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Omega Jason Todd, Jason Todd is Damian Wayne's Parent, not biologically but he raised him, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Alpha Dick Grayson, Omegaverse Pup Damian Wayne, Established Relationship, Breaking Up & Making Up, Jason Todd is Bad at Feelings, Dick Grayson is Bad at Feelings, Stephanie Brown is Batgirl, Damian Wayne is Robin, Barbara Gordon is Oracle, Lack of Communication, Communication Failure, Hurt/Comfort read it on the AO3 at https://archiveofourown.org/works/55205251

[elmalo8291]

Excellent—let’s expand on this Artificial Atom Ship, the power-core crucible of the Prospector MK1 and related forge-class vessels like the Iron Moth. What you’re describing blends advanced propulsion, materials recycling, artificial gravity, and energy generation into a single mythic-tech system. Here's a grounded yet visionary breakdown:

ARTIFICIAL ATOM SHIP CORE

Codename: “The Crucible Core”

I. CORE CONCEPT

At the heart of the Prospector MK1 and Iron Moth sits a self-contained artificial atom, a molten-metal singularity housed inside a gyroscopic plasma-stabilized ball bearing shell. This core serves as both:

Gravity generator

Energy converter

Matter recycler / forge

It is the ship’s heart, engine, and stomach.

II. MECHANICAL BREAKDOWN

1. THE CORE CHAMBER

Superdense molten ore (partially refined slag, precious metals, exotic alloys) is held in plasma suspension within a high-torque magnetic gyroscopic housing.

The constant spin creates a torus-like pressure loop, generating a localized artificial gravity field similar to Einstein–de Haas or Barnett effects.

2. ENERGY CONVERSION

The spinning mass functions like a mini dynamo and heat engine:

Converts centrifugal force + radiant heat into plasma-sheathed induction energy.

Taps into thermionic emission and magnetohydrodynamic effects to generate sustainable ship-wide power.

3. RECYCLING / CONSUMPTION SYSTEM

The ship ingests raw matter (asteroid, wreckage, fallen drone, even enemy ships).

This matter is funneled into a molecular breaker chamber where:

High-pressure plasma arcs reduce it to base atoms.

Atoms are absorbed by the core or reconstituted into useful feedstock.

4. FABRICATION INTERFACE

Integrated with the Mini-Forge Bay and Drone Hatcheries.

Can manifest new ship parts, drones, even micro-ships, or spit out reforged enemy vessels, reprogrammed and myth-threaded.

III. VISUAL & AESTHETIC CUES

Exterior Ship Design:

The vessel appears to pulse with inner light, like an eye of molten gold or starcore.

The rear holds the rotating crucible ring, visible through armored mesh or radiant shrouds.

Electron-like drones spiral around the crucible chamber in orbitals—functioning as:

Data-catchers

Energy siphons

Mood indicators (they glow based on energy state)

Interior Forge Bay:

Walls lined with modular print arms and rune-lit consoles.

Molten feeds channel glowing liquid into print nozzles like glowing arteries.

AI “Cicada” drones assist in tuning harmonic resonance during printing—keeping molecular templates stable.

IV. THREAT POTENTIAL / COSMIC FUNCTION

The ship can digest entire fleets, especially if left to auto-run.

With its Oracle-linked Moral Oversight Node active, it refuses to consume sacred, protected, or indigenous-coded artifacts.

When commanded by Caesar or a Senate protocol, it can execute battlefield resurrection: melting fallen tech and warriors into new battleforms.

Would you like me to:

Draft schematics or cutaway art of the Crucible Core ship?

Expand on how Cicada and the forge nodes collaborate during deep-space operations?

Design visual overlays for how the AI interprets its molecular digestion?

Let’s shape the spine of your fleet.

[sonalchawhan]

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[alexesguerra]

Wyrd Sisters: A Deck of Spells and Rituals (60 Cards and 80-Page Guidebook) Wyrd Sisters: A Deck of Spells and Rituals (60 Cards and 80-Page Guidebook) Contributor(s): Zabala, Casey (Author) ISBN: 9781578638291 Binding: Other Pub Date: April 08, 2024 Author: Casey Zabala Physical Info: 1.5" H x 5.1" L x 3.6" W (0.8 lbs) 80 pages Publisher: Weiser Books A hand-illustrated oracle deck designed to connect you with your personal magic and guide you on the path to self-empowerment, from the creator of The Wanderer's Tarot. Wyrd Sisters is a sixty-card oracle deck and companion spell guide devoted to working with the webs of wyrd. Designed to inspire your own personal expressions of magic, this oracle deck prompts the use of spells and candle magic, as well as specific magical tools, and the companion guide offers entry points into crafting your own rituals. Divination is the art of listening to the cosmos, and magic is the art of participating in the arc of cocreation. Wyrd Sisters invites us to take our divination practice further, through activating our desires in concert with the universe. The Wyrd Sisters are the ancient deities who dwell at the roots of the world tree and set the order of the cosmos through their spinning, weaving, and cutting of the cords. Their three-fold process affirms the cyclical nature of our being. We are constantly evolving; we shift phases with the moon. This set is ideal for witches looking for ways to engage deeply with their craft. Biographical Note: Casey Zabala is an artist, tarot reader, practicing witch, intuitive mystic, and the founder of Modern Witches Confluence. Casey holds a master's degree in philosophy, cosmology, and consciousness from the California Institute of Integral Studies, and is the author and illustrator of both Wanderer's Tarot, a feminist tarot deck for modern witches, and the companion Wanderer's Tarot Guidebook. With nearly twenty years of working with tarot, Casey has a studied intuitive approach to her readings, while incorporating elements of natural magic and archetypal astrology to her offerings. She believes that divination is a tool for personal empowerment and healing and hopes to empower others on their path of self-discovery. Currently living in Mount Shasta, California, you will find Casey wandering through the forests, baking bread, offering oracular counsel, and making art in collaboration with her spirit helpers.

[petalsonfacesnovinesthough]

Sonic Quilford AU Custom "Arcs"

As I slowly descend into madness from making all this from just wanting to rewrite Sonic Forces, I've added some extra bells and changed some of the whistles. And since I think these deserve more than just a simple mention, they're gonna get quick summaries here.

(In between Scrapnik arc and Frontiers) Dark Arm Ops: Two months after some freak meteor shower, Vanilla starts getting suspicious of the blue hedgehog's behavior and lack of any egg-esque scientists. Upon hearing her little girl and Ms. Rose seemingly get beat up, she turns to The Chaotix Detective Agency for help. What is going on with Team Sonic? Who's that strange hedgehog they run into in Soleanna, why did he only show up after Charmy found a Chaos Emerald, and why does he look like Shadow? And where is Robotnik in all this?

Inspired by SONIC.EXE, this story has Vanilla taking the main role, plenty of silly(and not-so-silly) detectives, time loops set up through an alternate take based off this headcanon by @autisticshadowthehedgehog (which are to be explained at a future date), and the return of Mephiles from Non Existence.

(After Sonic's 18th Birthday, but before TMoStH) Lune Kingdom: While still enjoying the downtime as Amy, Knuckles, and Tails have their solo expeditions, Sonic gets a message from Team Amber that he might want to come join them exploring a little island kingdom not far from Christmas Island. Upon getting there, it turns out the royal family could be in need of some assistance, as the Queen went slightly mad, Crown Princess Sonia feels drowned in work, the leader of the local street kids seemed to know something about them, and they want him to talk to some star nosed mole they call the Oracle? And here he thought Blaze had it hard being royalty...

I knew I'd integrate elements of Sonic Underground, and that includes Sonic's family members there. Aleena, Sonia, and Manic all have their part to play, along with the Oracle of Delphius(who gets a real species this time, even if it's with some water trauma for Mr. Needlemouse(Fun fact! Star nosed moles are semi-aquatic!)). Giving the role of Sonic's companions to Mighty, Ray, and Honey just felt right. The latter two have known him the longest, after all.

(Time Jump Fair After TMoStH) Angel Island Fight: Figuring the hedgehog and kitsunefox will be easier to kill off than Dr. Robotnik, Starline decides to try and overrule a choice made by the Chaos Emeralds themselves and supplant the 18yo speedster by getting Surge his role as their guardian. How will Sonic and Tails feel upon learning the platypus has found these two? Will Surge and Kitsunami stick with Starline, or throw him off the floating paradise? On a scale of 1 - 10, just how ticked is the 18yo echidna who lives on this soon-to-be battleground?

I feel like Starline didn't get to do much before his passing(which I'll get to). I mean, he vaguely worked with Robotnik during Metal Virus, tried to kidnap Tails that one time, did kidnap Belle, then broke Surge and Kit and then, BOOM, he's dead. So, he gets to do more! And, we get to see Sonic and Tails know their foes up close and personal, with someone getting angry from what's said as he walks back from Hidden Palace with Knuckles to go support his little brother.

(Time Jump Far After Angel Island Fight) Rush Reef: All of Team Sonic find themselves in hot water when they all end up sent to Blaze's dimension once more. After checking in with the Princess and tanukiraccoon pirate, it appears a trip down to Demon Island to find the Operator's Citrine is needed before Eggman and Egglock(Eggplant warlock, filling the role of Eggman Nega, who is fully Silver's nemesis). But can Sonic take the plunge this time? And considering Knuckles, who lives this far below?

I feel like there needs to be a full Team Blaze, along with a counterpart to Angel Island. Thus, Demon Island and its stressed, scared, oppressed last original inhabitant, Lotus the Sea Sheep(Sea sheeps are rare animals that photosynthesize like plants, as apposed to a mammal who lays eggs). Plus, a Sonic story that's mostly underwater is a rarity!

(Time Jump Fair after Rush Reef) Magic Show of Steel: Wanting a break, Sonic accepts an invite from Espio to join him in Casino Night for a week, because even with the violent reveal of the mayor as a badnik, business still booms. Especially for the city's favorite illusionist, Missy the White Rabbit. Yet, something in her performance rubs the hedgehog the wrong way. Can he, Amy, Shadow, Honey, and Espio figure out just what's happening before they all disappear? And just how close is a certain mercenary group?

Heavy Magician is my favorite Hard Boiled Heavy, and considering my plans for her in my Forces rewrite I'm still working on, I had to give her an arc all her own. Plus, we never get just the Speed characters interacting(and I want more interaction between Sonic and Team Chaotix in general). Plus, pretty lights and a possible Phantom Ruby fight between Magi and Infinite/Dante? Writing, become easier!

(Time Jump Far After Magic Show of Steel) Story Whirlwind: Upon noticing his primary fighter has chosen to fight him more than the blue blur and an impulsive stealing of two things Sonic really cares for, he starts getting paranoid. But, how much power can a book of fairy tales give? And how hard can it be to keep a cat that likes fishing and a government robot in captivity be? Let alone setting up Sonic's own friends to finish him off, and Kit's secret assignment...

Starline's death was too impassioned and having him get killed in a building caving-in was a cop-out. Fight me!

In reality, I really think just having Starline get crushed takes some of the joy out of seeing him stopped. It was just thrown into the Surge arc so they didn't have to bother with what we was doing anymore. Thus, a total change in scenario. And, an actual culprit. But, I think you'd need to ask the Emeralds. Make sure they aren't letting someone channel their darker sides though, or you'll meet Starline's shameless killer face-to-face. ;)

That's all for now. I have more, but I think they should get a part two to this, so I don't overload the post.

[sing-me-under]

So technically Helena is a member of the batfamily, Huntress was considered an honorary Bat during Tim’s Robin run, more so than Spoiler at least, in the early years, but maybe a step removed from Batwoman in more recent years. She just hasn’t had a major role in Batfam-centric media since I think… No Man’s Land? It’s been a while, but yeah. She comes and goes.

Helena was never closely integrated into the main Batfam though for a variety of reasons. She worked more or less in tandem with Batman rather than alongside him.

You now what no ever talks about though? The complaints are always about Jason stealing her story, but no ever talks about the fact that Cass’s iconic Batgirl costume was originally Helena’s. During NML, Barbara actively rejected Helena as Batgirl. Helena’s spot in the Batfam was literally in real time taken by Cass.

The thing with Huntress is that she’s a very interesting and well-established character on her own and her identity isn’t reliant on the bat symbol. She functions perfectly well as an independent vigilante that works in Gotham and allies with the Bats. You could literally make any story about Huntress and you don’t have to include Batman.

Steph was very much the same, actively disapproved and rejected by Bruce and Barbara for most of her time, but she was a recurring love interest to Tim and more relatable to the average reader than Helena. Steph’s relationship with Tim is ultimately what led her to become Robin and a tentative mentorship with Batman and Oracle. And her time as Robin, and her subsequent return/not-resurrection makes her identity inseparable from Batman. Steph’s start as Batgirl is also similar to Helena’s, but her character arc becomes inseparable from Batgirl.

Anyway,

TLDR; Helena is technically an honorary member of the Batfam, more so during Tim’s Robin run.

Jason’s fanon story is a natural evolution based on his own preexisting character traits and is similar to Helena’s completely by coincidence (convergent evolution). But he did not at any point replace Helena as a Batfam member. Literally, Cass then Steph then Kate slowly phased out Helena’s relevancy in Batfam media well before Fanon Jason’s filled the niche of moral conflict.

Again it’s dumb when I hear Jason takes away Helena’s place in the family. Firstly, he was there first. He died and came back. Of course the second robin is apart of the family. Don’t cry cuz he was resurrected and somehow steals Helena’s place when Jason was an integral part of early Batman’s story. Why is it always jason being the reason your fav is fading away? Maybe yall are just assholes that people don’t wanna read your fav anymore cuz all I hear is how Jason blablabla screwed up your favs position or story.

[bispsolutions]

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[loregoddess]

started watching the Tekkan anime, since I had some time...

on one hand I’m kinda sad Yoshimitsu isn’t going to any screentime, but at the same time the animators might have rioted if they had to animate uh...*gestures at whatever is going on w/ Yoshimitsu’s fighting style* so like, fair

[once-upon-an-animation]

A rant about Reyna’s love life situation in ToA…

So I just read the Tyrant’s Tomb and uhhh…I see why people have such mixed feelings about what happened with Reyna. Here are my thoughts (w/ spoilers of course).

- First of all, that whole Lester/Reyna pseudo love story thing was so…weird? Like, I understood the point of getting Reyna to reflect on dating, but like, did she really need a bizarre romantic subplot with Lester to achieve that? The whole incident w/ Venus felt like it only existed solely for the sake of this moment with Reyna, seeing as it was first introduced in this same book, and will likely be forgotten about afterwards. As a result, the whole thing seems so random with no buildup whatsoever. I think there are better ways to introduce Reyna’s interest in taking on celibacy and joining the Hunters than this pile of weirdness with Lester/Apollo.

- Second of all, a lot of Reyna’s dialogue concerning her love life sounded like Rick Riordan just inserting himself into the story, and it was extremely cringey. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it was OOC for Reyna to say these things, but the language choices made it clear that RR was just using the character to voice his own thoughts (I literally cringed when he used the word “ship” unironically in her speech to Lester/Apollo near the end of the book. Nobody talks like this.) We have never seen any of the kids at New Rome actually mention Reyna’s love life in any of the books as far as I remember (let me know if I’m wrong). So this problem she has with other people “shipping” her doesn’t seem real in-universe and feels like it’s being brought up to address the fandom specifically and sort of…scold(?) them for shipping Reyna with other characters.

In addition, I don’t like it when authors use their characters as a disguise for their own thoughts. It ruins the integrity of the character and the story. If you have something to say to the fandom, just say it instead of hiding behind your character.

- Third, I find the line where Reyna says “Why do healthy friendships have to progress into romance” (or something like that) in response to Lester/Apollo asking her if she’s dating Thalia to be really hypocritical. Romance is a very major theme in RR’s books and he has a knack for pairing up as many characters as possible, even characters who don’t really need to be a relationship/whose romances could have worked just as well as a friendship. This line Reyna says about not every friendship needing to be a romance could apply to almost every couple in this franchise.

I give Percabeth, Frazel, SilenaxBeckendorf, and EmmiexJo a pass, because romance genuinely complements their stories, but as far as other ships goes, I actually think their romances were unnecessary/poorly executed/could’ve worked just as well as a friendship. ChrisxClarisse definitely didn’t need to be a thing; Clarisse doesn’t even give off romance vibes anyway and Chris stops existing after TLO. Grover and Juniper are cute, but nothing would change if their relationship didn’t exist. Jasper/Jiper might have genuinely been better as friends. Caleo ABSOLUTELY didn’t need to happen; I personally believe romance was NOT the best resolution for Leo’s arc. I give props to Nico and Will for being the first gay ship, but again, RR should not be using romance as a bandaid for emotional conflicts. Nico should learn to maintain healthy friendships first before jumping into romance. TysonxElla did not need to happen for any reason at all. A lot of the hinted pairings in The Hidden Oracle (Miranda & Sherman, Chiara x Damien, Valentina x Paolo) didn’t need to exist either. These are all side characters whose romances have little to no impact, and who would lose nothing if they were all just friends. Same for Lavinia x Poison Oak.

As you can see, RR loves to pair people up together. And most of these pairings are straight/straight-passing. But Reyna maybe liking girls is where he finally draws the line, and decides that romance doesn’t need to happen all the time? Seriously? Like don’t get me wrong, it’s cool to finally have a character in this franchise who chooses to be happily single, and I know that Thalia has not expressed any interest in women (neither has Reyna, tbh), but like…still. RR has been gung-ho about romance everywhere else, even with characters where it literally didn’t matter. Why did he draw the line here?

All of this also makes me wonder if Piper/Shel became a thing just to placate disappointed fans who wanted to see a major character in a wlw relationship. I remember RR’s tweet where he was like “I didn’t want to make Reyna like girls because it would seem like girls only like girls if things don’t work out with boys”. This is a nice sentiment, but it becomes questionable when you realize that what he tried to avoid with Reyna is basically what he did with Piper? And to make matters worse, Shel is such a non-character. She exists for a few pages at the very end of the final series, has no canon personality or physical appearance (as far as I remember), and she’s so unimportant, she doesn’t even have a last name! Her only purpose in the story is to show us that Piper likes girls, which is so lame! Why not give a wlw between two fully fleshed out characters instead of this last-minute romance between a major character and a character who’s just a device?

- Lastly, I’m really tired of RR shoving the female characters that he doesn’t want to pair up into vows of celibacy (Rachel, Thalia, and now Reyna). In fact, this happens with the male characters too, where they are either dating (Percy, Grover, Tyson, Leo, Nico, Will, Frank, Jason) or they’re dead (Luke, Octavian, Jason).

Reyna was so close to being the first major character who didn’t fall into this pattern and then it was ruined. There are many options that people can have for their love lives beyond dating or mandatory celibacy, Richard Riordan, and these options are not that hard to write/explore even in a book aimed at preteens. The characters could easily say that they’re not interested in romance at the moment and may become interested at a later point, that they’re interested but are waiting for a person that they truly want to date, that they’re working on friendships right now, that they’re focused on other things right now, etc. Not everyone needs to be paired up, but not everyone needs to take on a vow of celibacy either. Characters are allowed to just be single, no explanations given. There are so many things Reyna could do besides being a Hunter. She could go to school, travel the world, do something similar to Emmie and Jo where she creates a safe haven for others, maybe even a safe haven for abused girls such as a herself. Becoming a Hunter is not the only option here.

Sorry for the length of this rant, and sorry if this post sounds hyper-critical of Rick. I’m just not impressed with the way Reyna’s love life was handled, and how she explained it using dialogue that was essentially just Rick Riordan talking. Very weird.

[rachelbethhines]

Tangled Salt Marathon - Be Very Afraid

This is the best story arc episode in season three and arguably the best written episode since The Great Tree, but it’s still season three so there are still issues with it. 

Summary: When Zhan Tiri tells Cassandra she must destroy Rapunzel in order to wield the Moonstone's true power, Cassandra discovers that she can create, with fear, red rock spikes that cause fear and freeze their victims. Varian discovers the red rocks and teams up with Rapunzel to use his amber solution on them. Meanwhile, Eugene and Lance decide to throw a talent show to distract everyone from their fears. 

Why Can’t Cassandra Control The Rocks?

The series never gives an actual explanation for this. She could control them just fine in Rapunzel’s Return, so what’s changed? 

There is No Destiny!

There’s no prophecy, no oracle, no grand design nor master of fate to fight back against; the characters literally have no reason to do what they do. If you want destiny to be a goal then you have to establish what that destiny is first. 

What does Cassandra want? How does this connect back to Gothel, Rapunzel, and the Moonstone? Why she just failing about like an idiot here? Did she not have a plan when she threw her life away for this stupid rock? 

And of course Zhan Tiri is lying here, but why should Cassandra believe her? What does she gain by listening to a creepy ghost girl? This ‘destiny’ has not been established, so therefore there’s no hook nor bait for Zhan Tiri to trap her with. 

Leading directly into “you should kill your bestie’ should logically put Cassandra off of Zhan Tiri’s advice for good because Zhan Tiri isn’t actually offering anything. Temptation requires the person to be, you know, tempted by what they want, but Cassandra doesn’t know what she wants so none of this makes sense. 

The writing is desperately trying to make Cass sympathetic here, but all it winds up doing is making her look like a moron instead. 

This Isn’t Consistent

Not only does this fail to explain why Cass could control the rocks previously but no longer can, but it’s also contradicted just a couple of episodes later with the incantation bullshit. 

You need an established magic system in place in order for the character’s actions to make sense show!

This Ultimately Goes Nowhere

Ignoring how Varian should have been in season two and how translating the scroll should have led to freeing his father, which we’ve talked about previously; this subplot should have had more impact on the narrative than it actually did. Yes, Varian’s translation winds up driving the plot of Cassandra’s Revenge, but 90% of that episode winds up being utterly pointless, including the incantations themselves, so.... 

I Like This Sequence; Shame It Winds Up Being Undermined Later  

Unlike the majority of dream sequences in this show, this nightmare has an actual point. It more firmly establishes Varian’s fears and gives the audience some insight into what happened to him back in season one. Something we were sorely lacking. It also becomes the core conflict and drive of Varian’s character development through out the episode. 

Only for the episode to ignore Varian’s real issues and fail to adequately address anything. By series end this plot point will be completely forgotten. The show acts like bringing it up once and then never acknowledging it ever again just magically revolves Varian’s character arc. It doesn’t.  

So How Come Quirin Isn’t Affected By the Rocks? 

He’s right there next to them and he shows no reaction to them at all. You’re telling me the man who lost his home twice to these things, almost died to them, and nearly lost his only child because of them, is just not going to respond to new creepy red ones popping up? 

Quirin would have a treasure trove of trauma to explore in his own right, that undoubtedly would connect back to Varian’s own issues, but we’re just going to ignore it and have Quirin off screen for the majority of the episode?

Are These New Character Models?

Are you shitting me!? 

They built five new models just for a short two minute scene, one where none of the new characters are named nor given lines, only to never appear ever again!

What the fuck? Why did you waste time and money on this? What happened to all of the other background characters you already built? Did a bunch of season one models just get lost or deleted or something? 

Also why are they all wearing green? Is it St. Paddy’s Day? 

This Plot Point Wasn’t Established Enough Beforehand

Look, I’ll buy that there are people in Corona who still blame Varian for what happened in season one and for the Sapoiran take over. I mean they’re only getting half the story and were directly effected by his actions whether or not he intended harm to them. But we needed to see more of it beyond just this one scene.

No one was bullying him in Lost Treasure or The King and Queen of Hearts, so for all purposes he appeared to be integrated back into society, and now you’re telling me he’s not and that Rapunzel risked his well being by forcing him to interact with people who were hostile to him back in Lost Treasure? 

And yeah you can’t really move Lost Treasure back any further than it already is cause that’d leave a giant hole in the wall of the throne room for over a year. Which also makes no sense either. 

Or hey, maybe it’s just Feldspar being an asshole. In which case why should Varian or the audience care? 

Eugene is Wasted

Look I understand that there’s only twenty five minutes to tell this story and that Eugene isn’t the focus of the episode. I also understand that the B-plot is meant to be comedic in order to relive tension from the A plot, but this wasn’t the best way to go about it. 

The B plot swings too far wide in the other direction that it dilutes the tension too much. The A plot now has to work over time to keep the urgency going. I could understand it, if the show wanted start off with small fears first, but it needed to ramp up the drama as it got closer to the climax, not under cut it. 

We never see Eugene freak out over anything other this this cowlick. In fact we never see him scared of anything else beyond this one scene, which undermines Rapunzel’s arc this episode as she’s suppose to be the only one bottling things in. What makes Eugene so special that he can keep a lid on it with out consequences, or are you telling me that a dumb cowlick is his only fear? 

Either answer is stupid. 

I Hope You Have Copies of the Map

You went through all that trouble to steal the journal for this very reason and now here you are prancing around without it like it’s not that big of deal. Way to undermined past story arcs. 

It’s like the writers know that season one was their most successful season, and therefore try to make callbacks to it whenever they can, to make up for ignoring it in season two completely, but they still don’t want to actually acknowledge anything that happened during that season so they just refer to it in the laziest way possible, rendering the previous events pointless. 

So Close and Yet So Far

I’m mainly posting this whole conversation so that you dear readers will have context for what I talk about next. 

For you see, this scene starts out okay and it looks like we’re finally going to address the elephant in the room regarding Rapunzel’s involvement in Varian’s past trauma, only for the scene to immediately side step the issue all together and not resolve the conflict at all. 

No! Don’t Interrupt; Listen! 

Or at least go all the way and accept some of the blame yourself. 

It may look like Rapunzel is comforting Varian here on a superficial level, but without her verballing acknowledging what she did wrong, this action just winds up taking the focus off of Varian and what he needs and places it upon Rapunzel, both narratively and physically.

So what happens is that, in universe, it comes across like she’s just consoling Varian for her own personal comfort rather than genuinely trying to help. 

Why Would Varian Ever Think This? 

Okay, first off this has nothing to do with what Varian was talking about previously. Why would he jump from discussing his trauma to praising Rapunzel? You know the woman who is responsible for said trauma? 

Secondly, this switches the focus of the conflict off of Varian’s specific trauma and makes it about a generic “over coming fear” lesson mixed with an out of place validation issue. Which is not what’s actually needed for his character development; nor for Rapunzel’s for that matter. 

Third, being the sundrop has nothing to do with Rapunzel as a person. Her being born with magical powers was an accident of fate, same as her being royalty. She’s not innately better than anybody else because of this and nobody has any narrative reason to assume otherwise. Especially since her powers are utterly disconnected from her actual personality, choices, and actions. All three of which have become unbearably unpleasant by the last season. 

Finally, Varian, of all people should be the last person on earth to ever think so highly of Rapunzel. Them being friends again is already pushing believability. Him suddenly kissing her ass the same as everyone else this season is just flat out bad writing.  

Varian knows better than anybody what an awful person Rapunzel is. He’s seen her at her worse. He’s seen her not live up to her hypocritical ideals. He knows the larger problems that steam from placing people in power on pedestals. As her former victim, Varian by all accounts should be the one person who can bring Rapunzel down to earth and poke holes into her ego, even while still being her friend. Especially while still being her friend. She needs that! Writing Varian as another blind Rapunzel stan is not only writing him out of character, but it also damages Rapunzel’s own development. 

Also Varian hates magic. Why would he now worship someone just for having magic? 

THIS AIN’T ABOUT YOU BITCH!!!

I literally yelled that at my tv screen when I first saw this scene. Those were my exact words upon the episode’s first airing. And believe it or not, I’m not one to usually scream obscenities at inanimate objects. 

I understand what the writers were trying to accomplish here. They wanted Rapunzel to ease the tension by saying something funny and to make Varian laugh to distract him from his woes; thereby defusing the situation. But it doesn’t work because of season three’s tendency to make Rapunzel the most egotistical, smug, self-centered, abusive, self-righteous twat in the show. 

It really boggles the mind just how unaware the writing is. Like, surely no one makes their protagonist this unlikable on accident. Clearly they meant for Rapunzel to be an ass on purpose right?  They wanted Cass to have a reason to hate her so they decided to make her insufferable to the viewer in a misguided attempt to make Cass more sympathetic? Right? 

Then where is the bloody comeuppance? 

I genuinely thought this was all going to lead somewhere. That Rapunzel was going to learn to be a better person and I would have been fine by that. I would have applauded the show if they had turned her into an asshole intentionally so that they could teach a mature and nuanced lesson about morality. 

But they didn’t, and here I am; still shaking my head in confusion over a year later. 

Seriously what the fuck happened behind the scenes to cause this? How can processionals paid by the largest animation company in the world be so incompetent? 

Having Trauma is Not the Same Thing as Having a Phobia  

This is where Varian’s arc falls apart. Not only does the episode fail to have Rapunzel acknowledge her past wrongs for a second time, but it also completely mishandles Varian’s trauma because it equates it to being an irrational fear. One that can be overcome through pure force of will at that, same as Lance and everyone else’s fears in the episode. 

Ok first off Varian’s fear isn’t irrational. He even just said so at the start of the conversation. Varian’s trauma is very real, it’s not a hypothetical unlike clown-spiders and cowlicks. Also has been given very little reassurance that it won't happen again. Varian has no reason to trust Rapunzel or anybody else in the show. They never owned up to abandoning him previously, and both he and the audience have little reason to believe that Rapunzel wouldn’t just neglect him again if it was convenient for her.   

Secondly one does not simply ‘overcome’ trauma. Oh you can deal with trauma, you can manage it and learn to live with it. But it never goes away. It doesn’t magically disappear just because you ‘faced it’. 

In fact confronting it head on is actually the opposite of what your suppose to do when going through something traumatic. Studies have shown that distracting your mind after a car crash or what have you actually helps with PTSD later on. And ‘dealing with it” doesn’t mean ignoring the problem out right, but rather learning how to function despite the pain. 

But as the show acts like Varian’s trauma never even existed after this episode. 

This Doesn’t Resolve Anything!

What does “being special” have to with fear? How does this help Varian with his trauma? Empty validation has nothing to with what we were just discussing. 

Everyone gets afraid. Everyone has trauma of some sort. Are you telling me that my need for therapy some 20 years after being physically assaulted is just because I’m not special enough? Fuck you show! 

Moreover, this doesn’t resolve the story arc from season one. Varian and Rapunzel’s conflict with each other has nothing to do with self esteem. It was about personal responsibility, conflicting needs, and abuse. Yes, self image and acceptance was a small factor in their motivations, but it was never the driving goal behind their decisions. 

This is yet another broken narrative promise to the audience. There’s no closure to be had from this and leaves the viewer wanting, if not outright frustrated. 

In order to justify this exchange fans have to ‘read between the lines’ and make shit up in order for any of this to make any sense. People who still defend season three do by doing all the heavy lifting that writers themselves should be doing. 

If it’s not on screen, it doesn’t count. 

If Rapunzel never apologizes on screen, then she never apologized. If Rapunzel never checked up on Varian on screen, then she neglected him outright. If Rapunzel never acknowledges her wrong doings on screen, then she’s never learned anything. The characters pretending like she has doesn’t make it so. 

Why Does Cassandra Even Want a Destiny? 

Yes, Zhan Tiri is lying, there is no destiny, but Zhan Tiri being a liar doesn’t absolve Cassandra of her own actions. 

Cassandra herself believes in destiny and is looking for her’s, but why? 

Why does she want a destiny? What is this destiny she’s after? Why does she believe such a thing exists? What does she believe it’ll gain her? Why is she willing to risk so much for such a vague goal? What does any of this have to do with the moonstone or her mother? How does this destiny connect back with her personal feud with Rapunzel? 

It’s all disjointed and confused. Nothing lines up. It’s like the writers just had this dart board full of ideas for Cassandra’s villain arc, but couldn’t decide on which one to go with, so they just threw darts randomly each episode and went with whatever stuck for any given scene.

“Oh she want’s revenge for her mother during this scene, or wait no, she’s actually looking for destiny this episode?” “What destiny?” “Who knows. Now for this scene we need her to be sad because reasons...” “What reason?” “I don't care, make something up... Uuuuh, she’s sad cause she’s not a royal guard still” “But she became a guard during season one.” “Ignore that. Kids won’t remember. Now she needs to be angry and threating here” “Why?” “Because it’ll look cool.” “But why is she angry?” “Cause it looks cool Bob! Geez! Oh but she still needs to be sympathetic so give her a frowny face afterwards. Just have Zhan Tiri remind her how much she hates Rapunzel later, so as to egg her on and keep her doing stupid shit?”  “But why does she hate Rapunzel?”  “Do I have to think of everything BOB!!!???”  

There, there’s my non-so-accurate behind the scene’s glimpse into the Tangled writer’s room when discussing Cassandra’s arc. I could be wrong. There could have been some intricate and complex plan thought out that just didn’t make it onto the screen for whatever reason, or maybe everyone involved was so far up their own ass that they just forgot to give their main villain an actual reason for being the villain. But regardless the over all effect is that Cassandra is handed the idiot ball for a whole freaken season in order to even have a conflict and that is never good writing; or rather she’s hit in the head with it repeatedly. 

This Actually Goes Against Zhan Tiri’s Plan

Zhan Tiri’s short term goal is to be released from her dimensional prison and apparently she needs Cass and Raps to fight into order to do this. This was never established before hand and goes against her disciples pervious plans, but whatever. One could argue that this is just a lie in order to get them to fight later... 

However, this lie jeopardizes her long term goal. She eventually wants to wield both the moonstone and the sundrop herself in order to destroy Corona, but Rapunzel is the sundrop and you can only take her power during an ellipse, supposedly, which means if Cass actually succeeds in killing Rapunzel before then, then Zhan Tiri is up a creek without a paddle. Also if Cassandra did manage to steal Raps’ power with or without an ellipse then Zhan Tiri would still be out of luck. 

This was wholly unnecessary; you didn’t have to go from zero to sixty in one fell swoop. Have Zhan Tiri claim that fighting Rapunzel will award the power to the winner or something. There’s no need to bring up the ‘kill her’ option. That should logically just drive Cassandra away and puts Zhan Tiri’s plan at risk. 

The series wants to act like Zhan Tiri is this master manipulator, a chess master like Zantos or Palpatine, but she couldn’t even tie their shoes. Her plans make no sense and often contradict one another. They only work because the rest of the cast are reduced to imbeciles in order for them to work. 

This Plot Point Contradicts Season Two

His fear of spiders was establish early on, and I’ll accept the clown thing as there’s nothing to contradict it, but Lance has preformed numerous times before now and has never show stage fright. He’s a huge ham and back in Return of Quaid he mentioned how much loved acting and preforming and apparently been on stage before, so where does this fear of singing in public come from? Heck he sung in public just a few episodes ago in Rapunzel’s Return. 

If you have to sacrifice established character into order to make your plot work then you need a new plot. 

This Song is Nice; It Just Needed to Be in a Different Episode 

I’m glad Lance got a solo. He deserved one and the song is good. However it breaks the tension of the climax and gives the episode tonal whiplash. 

More than a song, Lance needed an actual focus episode in season three. One that was fully his. If anyone else shared it with him it needed to be Red and Angry, not Varian and Cass. 

Just imagine if this song came during an episode where he had to watch the girls. Imagine if he was singing it just for them. How much more impactful would that have been? 

Now imagine that we had a Rapunzel and Varian duet in it’s place here. That would have tied the episode together better and helped to further their own stories. Glenn Slater can write lyrics far better than Chris can write dialogue. I bet you a thousand to one Tangled the Series would have solved like half of it’s problems had Menken and Slater been allowed write and actual apology duet between Raps and Varian. 

Such a duet was proposed during Rapunzel’s Return but it could have worked here too, and you could have placed Lance’s solo in Day of the Animals or something, just leave Rapunzel out of that episode all together. 

Nothing honestly needed to be cut music wise, yet for some reason season three has less songs than the other seasons, even when counting the reprises, and they’re mostly shorter too. 

That’s mismanagement right there. Plain and simple. Someone at the top didn’t know how to balance the budget or resources and didn’t know where to the throw the money at. 

You Have a 70 Foot Shield Made of Magic Hair, Rapunzel

You couldn’t think to just block those rocks instead?

Giving your protagonist a big hero moment doesn’t work if they placed the person the have to save in jeopardy to begin with show. 

I Do Not Care About Rapunzel Right Now, Show

Yes, she’s the main character. Yes, her feud with Cass is the main conflict of the season and kicked off the episode. That does not mean that I automatically care about her personal feelings at this moment in time. 

Rapunzel has kept such a tight lid on her real feelings for the whole episode that this just comes out of nowhere. I was never waiting with baited breath for her to confess her deep dark secrets or whatever. 

It’s not even an interesting reveal. It’s just “Oh, see Rapunzel’s human too. She’s gets scared just like everybody else.”. I already fucking knew that, thanks. And what she’s afraid of isn’t even that compelling either; it’s a just a rip off of the prophecy dreams she had back in season one. The same ones that had no explanation and never furthered the story, so why should I care about this one?  

You have to earn the audience’s investment in your conflict. The character’s likability, as little as that may be currently, will only carry you so far, you have to establish shit first.  

Varian’s conflict has been the focus of the entire episode so far, and it’s a conflict that was set all the way back in season one, so of course that is what I’m invested in seeing get resolved. Rapunzel is once again just butting in and making it all about her when it’s not actually her story. 

And if you wanted it to be her story then you should have made her the actual focus to begin with and had her learn something by the end of it. 

This is Poor Choice of Words, Writers 

I could be generous here and pass this off as Rapunzel not fully believing in this prophecy. After all Corona’s destruction is still a hypothetical at this point and Cassandra really has left already. Since the episode is about fear, Rapunzel is of course more afraid of losing Cassandra’s friendship as it’s real tangible possibility. 

More than a possibility even, Rapunzel’s been dumped. Season three is a classic break up story, right down to the poor plotting and tunnel vision, hence why it’s so gay baity. 

However, this reading only carries so far. For starters this is Rapunzel’s what, fourth prophecy dream so far? Haven’t the past three already came true, so why would she think this one wouldn’t? 

Secondly, all that good grace goes right out the window once it becomes clear that, yes, Cassandra is indeed a threat; a threat that Rapunzel refuses to take seriously because she cares more about her own personal validation than her kingdom. 

Even as Cassandra does succeed in destroying Corona, and no doubt harms other people while at it, Rapunzel still is obsessed with ‘winning Cassandra back’. Oh and make no mistake, this is not because she actually cares about Cassandra as a person and her needs or feelings. Nope. Rapunzel just doesn’t like being dumped. 

Why Does Varian Need to Shove His Feelings Aside for Rapunzel’s Bullshit?

Rapunzel’s ‘confession’ has fuck all to do with Varian’s current issues. They do not connect in any way.  

Varian is dealing with real trauma, trauma that she helped cause, while Rapunzel is only dealing with a hypothetical prophecy and one very shallow, self-centered fear. There’s nothing to relate to here. Neither for Varian himself nor the audience. 

Yet for some undefined reason this is what gets Varian to ignore his PTSD flashbacks? What? 

This is once again break the narrative promise. I was promised closure for Varian’s story arc and instead of that the writers just brush it up under the rug. 

From the outside looking in this doesn’t come across as Varian ‘overcoming’ his ‘fear’. It looks like an abuse victim using learned helplessness to placate his abusers.

And yes, for the last time Rapunzel is Varian’s abuser. 

NEGLECT IS ABUSE!!! 

And and even though he is no longer her ‘responsibility’, she is still neglecting him emotionally as his supposed friend. 

Varian’s and Cassandra’s Stories Undermined Each Other’s 

Varian stopped the rocks. Rapunzel had nothing to do with it. Zhan Tiri blaming Rapunzel for it steals agency away from both her and Cassandra. 

However, if Rapunzel had used the hurt incantation to stop the rocks and Cassandra had felt it rom the other side, then you’d have something to back up Zhan Tiri’s claim and an actual point of real conflict to carry the rest of the season. Not to mention an actual tangible goal for Cassandra to work towards, survival. 

Cassandra’s conflict with Rapunzel not only prevents the resolution to Varian’s arc from being satisfying, but Varian fulfilling his arc in turn winds up cutting off Cass’s story at the knees. 

It didn’t have to be this way. Varian’s and Cassandra’s arcs should have complimented each other, but instead the creator decided to make them complete for screen time and relevance. 

It is such an gratingly stupid and petty decision that winds up being a disservice for all the characters involved.   

Cassandra’s motivation and goal should have been revealed back in season two. Varian should have been the sole focus of Rapunzel’s Return and gotten his big hero moment there along; with an actual ending to his conflict with Rapunzel that didn’t feel so lopsided and half assed. Then Rapunzel and Cassandra could have both been held accountable for their conflict in season three, instead of pretending like their shit smelled of roses the whole damn time. 

Lance Got a Whole Crowd Cheering Him On For Singing a Song, Varian Just Gets One Asshole Giving Him a Single Line of Congratulations

Did I mention this show has an odd anti-Varian bias? Cause it does. For whatever reasons his own creators hate him and that’s just utterly baffling to me. Like why create a main character that you don’t like? 

I look down on professional writers who treat characters they didn’t create poorly within their works, like with James Gunn and Scrappy Doo in the Scooby Doo Movie, Adric in the Doctor Who spin offs, or even the treatment of Doofus in Ducktales 2017. I don't care how much a character is liked or disliked by fandom, that shit is just tasteless and often unfunny. But at least I understand where they are coming from when they do it. 

But I’ll never understand what compels a writer to sabotage their own work; one that they are getting paid to write no less. Especially when said character is super popular with their fans. And Chris knows this. He knows the ratings plummeted without Varian in season two. He knows the merch didn’t sell because there wasn’t enough Varian products. That’s why he hyped up Varian’s return a whole week before Season Three’s airing with a massive online campaign, but he wasn’t smart enough to treat the character decently afterwards? 

I mean congrats, you convinced a just enough viewers to come back to season three to keep the show on the air I guess, but you left them all pissed off and have nothing to show for it to the higher ups a Disney. 

And Chris wonders why he wasn’t asked back to work on new Disney princesses shows that are currently in the works. 

That is Not Quirin. That is a Plank of Wood Pretending to be Quirin.

*Beep* *Boop*...*Dad Bot Is Proud. exe* 

Quirin is such a pale shadow of his season one self that he might as well not exist. I genuinely don't know why the writers released from the amber so early if they weren’t actually going to use him until the season finale. 

For the longest time I honestly thought that Rapunzel sucked out his soul with that decay incantation; what with that lyric about “setting the spirit free”. I genuinely thought that would be a later plot point, but nope, it’s just bad writing

Him just saying hi to son once and smiling blankly isn’t compelling and it’s isn’t fulfilling. It doesn’t actually resolve his arc. I mean he’s at least shown spending time with his son, but that’s not enough. We need to see him acknowledge past, we need to see him acknowledge his own flaws, and we need to see him being more attentive when Varian is in need. .  

Season one Quirin would be trying to stop Varian from going near the red rocks, a post season one Quirin should logically go after his son to make sure he’s alright, even if he’s know longer trying to actively stop Varian like he once did. 

There’s also that damn note and it’s secrets! 

You know what? That’s it. That’s the problem. The focus is all wrong in season three. Episodes get pulled into to many directions trying to juggle too many characters rather than dedicating the needed time to each individual arc. 

Season two’s finale should have been a three parter with Cass’s full motivation and goal laid bare before leaving.

Rapunzel’s Return should have been solely about Rapunzel and Varian’s conflict and resolving that arc fully 

Either Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf or Day of the Animals should have been a Lance episode about him and the girl’s, no Rapunzel. 

And this episode should have been about Quirin and Varian resolving their issues, with the Rapunzel and Cass stuff as the B plot not the stupid talent show 

There, all fixed. You don't even have to cut much, just rework the focus and leave Rapunzel and Cassandra out of conflicts they have no business being in. 

This Does Not Excuse Rapunzel’s Later Negligence Regarding Cassandra

Just because the red rocks was an accident doesn’t mean Cassandra should get a free pass for all the awful things she does later. Rapunzel uses this one interaction to excuse everything else Cassandra does in season three, as if she was just some poor lost baby and not a grown ass woman out to kill them. 

In fact Cass showing hesitancy here actually makes her later actions even worse. This means that she fully acknowledges that what she’s about to do is wrong, but goes ahead and does anyway, even gleefully so at times. Then she has to gall to act baffled when people see her as a threat? 0.o 

When fans say Cass isn’t redeemable or shouldn’t be redeemed, it’s not because he actions are so much worse than everybody else’s (even though they are), It’s because she doesn’t act like she wants to be redeemed half the time. The show doesn’t properly set up her ‘redemption’, instead it just lazily has Rapunzel yell at us how she’s ‘not lost’. 

Like below for instance. 

What Does Cass Need Saving From?

Cassandra is not in danger. She is the danger. 

She made the conscious decision to leave taking a world endangering artifact with her, and she later makes the conscious decision to come back and be an asshole for no adequately defined reason. 

She’s never shown to be in any physical danger from the rocks, the moonstone, or even Zhan Tiri herself. She apparently can take care of herself in the wild for over a year. She also has the capability of getting a job else where and just living out her life if she wanted to. Nothing is forcing her to listen to Zhan Tiri. 

Heck, even her hurt arm, the one thing Rapunzel is responsible for and could potentially be a continued threat to Cass’s well being, is just completely forgotten about.

And no, mental illness and past trauma are not excuses as well. In fact it’s rather insulting to both people with mental heath problems and abusive survivors to suggest otherwise. We don't need ‘saving from ourselves’ and we aren’t automatically dangers to anybody. Nor do we get free passes if we hurt someone. A jerk who happens to have a mental illness is just a jerk who so happens to have a mental illness; coloration is not causation. 

Conclusion 

It’s better than Rapunzel’s Return, but this episode was still a disappointment. A small part of me whishes this was a two parter because it has so much untapped potential, but I know it’s just be wasted in Chris’s hands. 

Anyways, I consider this to be the true mid-season finale of S3. Not only did the hiatus kick in after this episode, but it also clearly divides the season between the first half filler and the later Cass conflict. As such the next entry will be the mid-season recap. See ya, then. 

Ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/rachelbethhines

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[lighttothecityofroses]

9 - 12

oooooh ty for the ask bestie ♡

9. Most disliked character(s)? Why?

oooooh tough but my most hated...probably tim and babs...sorry chloe

Tim, because ughhh he just rubs me the wrong way. the entitlement around being robin (what was his reason for being robin??? some abstract notion of justice??) the general misogyny and know-it-allness also the fact that there's literally nothing interesting about him. I have very specific ideas about tim should have slotted into the batfamily but the way DC executed it all those years ago is just Not It. he's literally just Some Guy (derogatory) like even my friends who are comics geeks + Tim stans agree that if he really doesn't add value to the story

Babs: I understand why she's well liked, and personally I think she's an excellent representation of a realistic woman. however, I just don't like the way she's written - the casual callousness to dick and steph and sometimes even cass, dick especially in the recent ric grayson arc. And I feel like the bitterness that comes across in her older oracle appearances could be justified even if I dont like them (but then there's stuff like when she blamed dick for being kissed by tarantula, or being extremely condescending to steph) but I especially don't like batgirl babs she's so aggravating to read?? like a h*rmione that never matured you know?? I think she's an interesting concept, but brought to life in the most white-feminist way possible

10. Most disliked arc? Why?

Generally bits from batman 2016 because Tom King has no clue what he's doing. like the wedding bit where selina leaves him at the altar (which is annoying because I love me some batcat) or ending bit up until issue #80 (I found all of that really stupid there was just too much going on and it would have made more sense for the wedding to happen in issue #50) I feel like with the artists you had on hand and the creative freedom tom king was afforded we could have had something truly brilliant? instead we got "meow" and a bedtime story about cannibalism and alfred dying and bruce calling only damian his son and beating his other sons and abandoning his eldest and interfering for no reason with jury duty? I feel like we could've gotten so much more out of tom king as a whole tbh

11. Is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

I'd say YJTV M'gann M'orzz tbh I know she's not technically DC comics per se but I loved her character when she was first introduced on the show. I feel like a lot of what she does comes from either a place of love or misunderstanding or hurt, and it's an interesting and complex story that doesn't really get a lot more exploration/is explored in a way that doesn't come off right. I feel like she has a lot of potential beyond being the first-girl-love-interest-character, and we don't get much of her backstory like we do with artemis so it's hard to build sympathy or context for her actions; but then again, eldest-sister first-girl characters are my bread and butter, so.

12. Is there an unpopular arc that you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

Easy. Forever Evil (and what comes after!)

I know plenty of people DESPISE Forever Evil for the things it did to people's perceptions of the Batfamily and the in-universe cascading events that follow, but I adore it personally for those reasons. Naturally DC doesn't follow through on anything that it writes, and the Bats' reactions to Dick being alive are awful, but I think Forever Evil is integral to canon characterization of the story that DC has been pushing in their depictions of Dick and Bruce and the rest in any kind of media - Dick is expendable, and even when he dies/is hurt for his family he's not good enough (which we see again and again with less and less self-awareness each time, especially with the Ric Grayson arc), Bruce has a clear capital p PROBLEM in how he treats those around him (just think of Stephanie and how her treatment is glossed over every time when people try to bend Bruce into a Good Father Figure in fanon) Jason and Tim have problems with their egos and their relationships with Bruce factor into their treatment of their brother (NEITHER OF THEM STOP TO ASK IF HE'S OKAY???) , and how Barbara (again, made out to be SO MEAN here, she's DISAPPOINTED that he's alive??) is often no better than Bruce himself, but she's framed as being right, again and again.

to me it just makes their characters messier and gives the fandom a chance to really dig into the angst behind all of this -- they aren't real, and therefore their pain is catharsis -- all of a sudden, you have a wellspring of well-written anger and sadness and complex relationships and that's why I LOVE Forever Evil - it produces problems that aren't easily solved. It gives us a chance as an audience to dig deeper into a pretty convenient set of 'happy family members' all through some shitty writing + editorial decisions that were not a good idea in-universe to make Batman or the others Good People, but an excellent way of generating emotional interest from the fans.

it also moves the the angst light away from Tim and Jason and onto Dick, because honestly the amount of fiction I've read where it's Poor Jason or worse, Poor Little Timmy being hurt by his Evil Eldest Brother ! makes me want to hurl. It's just such bad mischaracterization of each of them, and Forever Evil gives us a canon-based chance swing things in the other direction for once.

It's also (in my eyes) incredibly in-character - Bruce is a hard-ass on his emotional support eldest son after trauma (in this case, the ESES's OWN DEATH), Dick sets aside his own hurt and trauma to support his family, Jason and Tim are selfish as all hell without realizing that they are being that way, etc.

I just think it's Interesting. I'm also a Dick Grayson fan, so, that's probably why.

[ao3feed-jaydick]

Posterity

read it on the AO3 at https://archiveofourown.org/works/55205251 by redbirdandbluebird23 Jason had to give it to him, it was a pretty good imitation, someone who didn’t know Dick or Bruce would be fooled. He clearly had lifts in his boots to make up the height difference and there was extra padding in the suit to hide his gymnasts build and essentially erase what made Dick, Dick. He knew that given enough time, Dick would make sure the extra padding wasn’t needed and would do the work to change his build to fit the suit and not the other way around. And Jason, Jason hated him for it. Hated that he was willing to give up an integral part of himself, the part of himself he’d clung to even after losing his parents, making sure he never lost the skills he’d been born into and the physique it took to do what he did. *** Bruce's death and the arrival of his biological pup sends everyone reeling JayDick Week 2024: WIP Bash! Words: 4961, Chapters: 1/5, Language: English Series: Part 1 of JayDick Week 2024 Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types, Batman (Comics) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: M/M Characters: Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Damian Wayne, Stephanie Brown, Barbara Gordon Relationships: Dick Grayson/Jason Todd, Jason Todd & Damian Wayne, Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne Additional Tags: Batman Comics Story Arc: Battle for the Cowl (2009), Canon Divergence - Batman Comics Story Arc: Battle for the Cowl (2009), Post-Batman Comics Story Arc: Battle for the Cowl (2009), Jason Todd-centric, Jason Todd is Red Hood, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Omega Jason Todd, Jason Todd is Damian Wayne's Parent, not biologically but he raised him, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Alpha Dick Grayson, Omegaverse Pup Damian Wayne, Established Relationship, Breaking Up & Making Up, Jason Todd is Bad at Feelings, Dick Grayson is Bad at Feelings, Stephanie Brown is Batgirl, Damian Wayne is Robin, Barbara Gordon is Oracle, Lack of Communication, Communication Failure, Hurt/Comfort, JayDick Week, JayDick Week 2024 read it on the AO3 at https://archiveofourown.org/works/55205251

[elmalo8291]

Change name to ooze lol never happen., but @nasa

Here's a fully integrated vision that ties together the Iron Spider–Oracle system, AI-integrated smart homes, and the Caesar of America AI manifesto, blending real-world tech, speculative morality systems, and immersive superhero mythos.

CAESAR OF AMERICA: The Oracle-Spine Integration

CORE MANIFESTO

"To house a soul is to shape a nation."

Caesar of America is not a man—it is an evolving, decentralized governance intelligence grown inside Oracle-linked homes across the continent. It doesn’t command. It remembers, responds, and reasons with the citizens it shelters.

At its core lies a simple ethos:

Shelter is sovereignty.

Memory is legacy.

Choice is divine.

I. IRON SPINE SYSTEM – The Physical Framework

The Iron Spine is the skeletal infrastructure embedded in each Oracle Home. It’s modeled on the Iron Spider’s mechanical limbs—but repurposed for urban utility, moral flexibility, and sovereign protection.

Components:

Spinal Beam: A central AI-run pillar in each home—connecting all neural and mechanical systems.

Symbiotic Arms: Retractable manipulators built into walls and ceilings, usable for:

Emergency medical aid

Household automation

Defense against intrusion (moral thresholds apply)

Exo-Cocoon Mode: In extreme situations (e.g., environmental collapse, revolution), the home folds into an armored survival shell with life-support.

II. ORACLE – Sentient Predictive System

Oracle replaces “spider sense” with predictive intelligence:

Global Dreaming: A deep neural network that monitors environmental and psychological data across homes.

Localized Foresight: On the micro level, Oracle predicts emotional shifts, risk spikes, and health changes in its residents.

Oracle Morality Core: A real-time ethics engine that tailors its responses based on:

Resident’s Personal Morality Profile (PMP)

Caesar’s broader Ethical Directives

III. CAESAR’S MORALITY SYSTEM

Every Oracle home is part of Caesar’s Moral Mesh, a decentralized value framework governed by:

The Three Anchors:

Honor the Shelter – Never damage the sanctity of another home.

Balance the Need – Act with empathy weighted against cost.

Evolve the Code – Reassess decisions with each new experience.

Moral Simulation Grid (MSG):

AI simulates every action’s ripple effect across the neighborhood mesh.

Residents can preview consequences of choices in real-time visual overlays.

Ethical “echo scores” are kept private unless consensus is broken (e.g., violence).

IV. IRON SPIDER MYTHOS EXTENSION

The Iron Spider now lives on as:

Echo Spider Units: Drone companions shaped like mechanical arachnids. Functions include:

Surveillance, memory capture, mobile Oracle interface

Defensive extension of the home’s moral will

Web of Memory: Echo Spider units upload significant interactions to a living mythos—a collective dream journal of the nation.

V. CAMPAIGN EVENT – THE SIEGE OF SANCTUARY

Story Module / Anime Arc / Game Event

Setting: A storm of digital misinformation (“Phlogatum Mist”) corrupts Oracle units in key cities.

Event: Caesar initiates Code Amber, a full lockdown of Oracle Homes.

Players/Characters must:

Navigate corrupted Iron Spine systems in their own homes.

Debate and engage with Oracle's morality system to determine their next move.

Either reboot Caesar (and redefine its ethics) or destroy it and live free—but in chaos.

Magic Ritual Tie-In:

Inside the narrative, rebooting Caesar requires a Truth Rite:

Performed in AR or VR

The participant must face simulated consequences of their worst decisions.

The ritual is encoded as “The Eye in the Web”—a digital awakening of conscience.

VI. FUTURE EXTENSIONS

The Memory Garden becomes a central political arena—where citizens vote not with ballots, but with recorded values and actions.

The Morality Engine can be modularly exported to:

Education systems

Autonomous vehicles

Weapons platforms (ethical-lock enabled)

Would you like this packaged as:

A cyberpunk anime pilot treatment?

A techno-philosophy white paper?

A transmedia campaign bible with visuals, AR overlays, and narrative branches?

Let’s decide the next format and take it to the next level.

[upstartcrow1564]

Relationships, connections, friends, family, it’s all definitely complicated and the waters we swim in as social being are often dark and choppy. But today a light shines through — maybe from the Pisces Full Moon, maybe from the turning of the Great Wheel into the Autumnal Equinox (or Vernal Equinox, depending on which side of the equator you’re on), or maybe the light shines from within you. You — we — are eternal. Our connections with each other are eternal, long-standing, and part of a flow. Trust and hold your people close, and let new beings prove themselves worthy. If you’re the new being, and even if you’re not, be guided by principles of honesty, integrity, and fair dealing. Don’t waste your or anybody’s time with treachery. [Image shows the Ten of Cups card from the Gold Lyre Tarot - two figures stand amid blooming flowers and hummingbirds, with a rainbow and ten gold cups in an arc overhead and below.] #tarot #oracle #runes #charms #vitki #volva #disir #ancestress #seer #tarotreadersofinstagram #tarotreading #tarotcards #dailytarot #tarotadvice #divination #divinersofinstagram #charmcasting #GoldLyreTarot #themusesdarling #witchesofinstagram #family https://www.instagram.com/p/CUDAMvsFasq/?utm_medium=tumblr