#plot important details and characterisation

[randomnameless]

I think there was a misunderstanding with my point during the "Corrin age" ask; i said that you can only get Corrin to being 6 when Ryoma got jealous of them if you use a EN-only line in Camilla and Hinoka's support, with there being no implication anywhere else in the game or the artbook that they were a young child when that happened. I must have yapped too much during my explanations, so sorry for that.

As for the Deeprealms, there actually are optional maps where Anankos sends Vallite soldiers to try and invade the MyCastle and you need to rout them, so the game's claim that the parents sent their children to the Deeprealms because MyCastle wasn't safe due to invasions is pretty well-supported and set-up by the game itself; still, you make a good point that it's weird how no one questions who or what the Vallite soldiers are and where they're coming from.

No worries lol,

Sometimes I read too fast and miss some stuff!

Bamboozled by the lolcalisation again then, it sucks but damn if Fates has really been warped by the lolcalising team... I guess the negative feedback regarding FE14's lolcalisation was sort of taken to heart, given how FE16's lolcalisation isn't as far off or added as many random details that completely destroy the plot as FE14 did, but it still missed, imo, sort of, the point of that feedback...

And yet, given the sales of FE16, I really wonder if a non-lolcalised version of the game, aka, a localisation à la FE7/8 would have sold as much as Pat's Fire Emblem Treehouse. We will never know!

Anankos'n'pals are trying to invade My Castle... but I thought we also had to fight Faceless in the Deeprealms when we recruit the children characters?

I'd have said even if MyCastle is under attack, at least the parents/the group is here to protect it, but sending baby!Siegbert in another realm where his dad cannot protect him or look after him would have been more risky... Ditto for Corn and the Kanas (we were not attacked by Anankos but by random bandits iirc?).

[deception-united]

Let's talk about misdirection.

(Requested by @voiceless9000. Hope this is helpful!)

Misdirection in storytelling, through foreshadowing and other techniques, is a powerful tool that can enhance suspense, surprise, and engagement in your narrative and make plot twists more unexpected.

Remember to maintain coherence and avoid contrivances that may undermine the integrity of your storytelling.

Here are some techniques you can use to effectively misdirect readers:

Red herrings: Introduce elements or clues that suggest a certain outcome or plot direction, only to later reveal that they were misleading. These false leads can divert readers' attention away from the true resolution.

Selective detailing: Highlight certain details or events in a way that implies their significance, while downplaying or omitting others that might be more relevant to the actual outcome. By controlling what information readers focus on, you can steer their expectations.

Character misdirection: Use characterisation to mislead readers about characters' true intentions, motivations, or identities. Create multi-dimensional characters who may behave ambiguously or inconsistently, leaving readers unsure of their true allegiances, motivations, or goals.

Foreshadowing: Employ foreshadowing to hint at future events or outcomes, but do so in a way that misleads interpretation. Provide clues that could be interpreted in multiple ways or that lead readers to expect one outcome while delivering another. (See my previous post about foreshadowing for more!)

Misleading narration: Utilise an unreliable narrator or perspective to present events in a biased or distorted manner. Readers may trust the narrator's account implicitly, only to discover later that their perceptions were flawed or intentionally deceptive.

Subverting tropes: Set up situations or scenarios that seem to follow familiar narrative tropes or conventions, only to subvert them in unexpected ways. This can keep readers guessing and prevent them from accurately predicting the story's trajectory.

Parallel storylines: Introduce secondary storylines or subplots that appear unrelated to the main narrative but eventually intersect or influence the primary plot in unexpected ways. This can distract readers from anticipating the main storyline's developments.

Setting: Manipulate the setting or environment to create false impressions about the direction of the plot. For example, presenting a seemingly idyllic setting that harbors dark secrets or dangers.

Timing and pacing: Control the pacing of your story to strategically reveal information or developments at opportune moments, leading readers to draw premature conclusions or overlook important details. (See my post on pacing for more tips!)

Twists and reversals: Incorporate sudden plot twists or reversals that upend readers' expectations and challenge their assumptions about the story's direction. Ensure that these twists are logically consistent but sufficiently surprising to catch readers off guard.

Happy writing!

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[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Just curious on your opinion on this: Do you think twst's writing in terms of storyline/plot and overall characterisation of the characters has gotten better or changed in any way over the years? Or would you say it's stayed relatively the same? Or maybe varied?

***Disclaimer: Everything I say in this post is just my opinion and is NOT me imposing my views onto you or insisting that my views are superior. Nor in no way, shape, or form am I demeaning those who enjoy the things I did not or did not enjoy the things that I did. Me not personally liking certain books or events is also NOT me dismissing any characters’ experiences or trauma.

Let’s remember to remain respectful.***

<_<

>_>

*leans into the mic*

Look, I love Twst and all, but I also think that Twst's writing quality has proven to be pretty inconsistent and is actually painfully mediocre most of the time.

When I sit down and really think about it, the main story has 3 books I actively dislike. That's basically half of the main story, seeing as book 7 is so darn long just by itself. Even if I minimize my own bias, there are just objectively bad narrative decisions made in many places, such as setting things up and not letting them get proper payoff later, obvious plot holes, or going for 100+ parts without allowing two major characters in the book to appear.

(I go into more detail about how I personally rank the books here. Here is also a graphical depiction of that ranking yes, I am breaking out the charts:)

Book 7 was especially egregious… It has its monstrous length as well as the tonal whiplash, inconsistent pacing, lack of urgency, and overexplanation of the dreams that take up a good 2/3 of the book. So much was happening and yet so little also happened.

(Here’s how I feel about the major story points in 7:)

In terms of events, I'd say they improved how they're organized over time. In the very early events, Twst failed to separate stories into Episodes like they do now, meaning you'd just get one long stream of story (ex: Beans Day II is 39 parts) instead of it being broken up into more easy-to-digest chunks (ex: GloMasq has 5 Episodes, each ranging from 15-19 parts). Hometown events also took on a predictable formula, with Episode 1 being the set-up to venture elsewhere, Episodes in the middle dedicated to exploring the area, and then Episode 5 having the crew resolve some minor issue. However, this doesn't always mean the pacing of events is good. For example, Stage in Playful Land Episode 3 has a paltry 11 parts whereas Episode 2 has 21, which is almost DOUBLE the length of Episode 3.

Many events have nothing of real importance or excitement happening (Tsumsted Wonderland, Lost in the Books, Master Chefs/Culinary Crucibles, Sam's New Year Sales, etc.) or mainly involve eating food and souvenir shopping (looking at you, hometowns). The events that are good do something unique and does it well (or at least is funny) OR actually advances a character's development/growth. Because so many Twst events are middle-of-the-road, it makes the few solidly written events (like Glorious Masquerade) stand out. We remember these solid instances more strongly as a result, which then projects over the other events (which were mid) and boosts them in our minds.

(Here’s where the events stand relative to one another:)

Vignettes have more liberty with character writing because most of them are not canon to the main story. Sometimes characters regress into their old ways (Epel going back to his pre-book 5 personality is pretty guilty of this), but that's usually fine since I treat vignettes as essentially "what ifs" or transitive periods of growth between major story beats. I like that vignettes are oftentimes very mundane and can take their time to explore the unique relationships and dynamics between the boys. It often feels like so much other stuff is happening that we don't get to slow down and just... enjoy the boys as they are.

Looking at the overall trend lines, it unfortunately looks like Twst is, as I suspected, hovering around the “could be better” to “okay” range in most cases. When Twst does well, it’s great. (To this day, I still believe GloMasq was peak for Twst and no event since had topped it.) When Twst fumbles, it fumbles HARD. (Playful Land and book 2 infamously have many plot holes.) But when Twst is mid, it’s… well, absolutely unremarkable 😭

I think the issue for me is that Twst tries to be ambitious with its stories but has limited success in executing those stories. Maybe it’s the fault of limited budget or assets (as a mobile title and not a console title), maybe the writers just aren’t that skilled, maybe it’s a time constraint or not a lot of research done, whatever.

[deesea-ao3]

Fun Lore Ideas for Fawcett City

I've been sitting on these concepts for ages and need to get them out of my system. For my current WIP, it was important that I have a strong concept for what kind of city Fawcett was going to be. While the plot isn't technically taking place in Fawcett, a huge amount of my lore interpretations/characterisations rely on there being a solid original setting to draw from. Also, it's super fun to extrapolate history and economy for a fictional magic city to try and make it feel as plausible as possible.

Now, to start with, I had to establish where the city would actually be located. Fawcett is typically represented and/or thought of as being in the Midwest, so I was able to whittle down my options even more. I couldn't have it too close to Central City, Keystone City, or Smallville since I wanted Fawcett to retain its isolated feel. It'd be harder for it to get away with being magic if it was a stones throw from speedster stomping grounds, for instance. In the end, I looked up old maps of America DC Comics had officially released for inspiration. What I got were these:

The first didn't have Fawcett at all, and the second had it placed near the border of Wisconsin. The latter was serviceable for my purposes. However, I wanted something more to draw from. I wanted to make Fawcett feel like an actual city with history before I slapped on the magic superhero. It technically was just an ordinary city until Shazam placed a portal there after all.

My second go of looking for inspiration was much more fruitful. I looked at a few fan-made maps and eventually stumbled upon this one in a reddit forum:

Upon closer inspection, I realised something.

That's fucking Chicago.

The idea that then formed was brilliant, my best one maybe ever. If I don't want to write a 2K+ document detailing an organic history of fictional Fawcett City, coupled with local industry and culture to boot, I can just STEAL a real one!

The existence of IRL Chicago is not necessary for my story, and its absence would be barely noteworthy in the grand scheme of things. Functionally, it wouldn't even be gone. Its location and major historical events would still have occurred, just under a different name. It not only saves me tons of labour as a writer, it's also fucking hilarious.

The heart of ALL of magic lies in an abdoned subway station in downtown Chicago Fawcett, the Windy city that houses pagan subcultures, talking animals, cursed objects and people who still think it's 1945.

Southern Lake Michigan has freshwater mermaids. The flat lands of the city proper are surrounded by bluffs as old as the ice age, which thrum with prehistoric magic. The sunset is always pink, and moonbeams are brighter somehow here. In the river that flows through art-nouveau styled skyscrapers swim fish with rainbow scales. The people are happy and chatty and full of little secrets, kept close and safe for rainy days. The woman who dresses in leaves and sleeps on park benches is liable to be simply human, but the jolly old milkman who visits you every morning is fae through and through. Weird is normal and normal is weird.

All while in Chicago, Illinois, one of the most populous, wealthy cities in America since the 1870s. The mechanic who enchanted your car to not break down anymore was raised by regular steel mill workers. The politician who dreams of addressing the city's entrenched class divides is stuck doing paperwork to establish legal protections for the local gnome population's tree houses. When it snows in winter, Yetis clear driveways and salt the sidewalks. No one talks about it much because what is noteworthy about public servants doing their jobs? So what if they're Yetis? You got a problem with that?

Fawcett blows Gotham out the goddamn water for weirdness, but because they're so nonchalant and humble about it, Gothamites walk around smugly assured of their tolerance for insanity, unaware of the bigger fish, which is the average Fawcett citizen. When tourists come to visit, the very genre of reality changes the second they step foot within city lines.

Fawcett solos, tbh. DC writers are weaksauce for not seeing the vision that is mystic Chicago city, home to all of magic.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

hooo boy, i watched miraculous when five or six episodes of first season aired (i was aware of it when it was only two)! it was really cool to see magical girl superhero in Paris, who has a (semi-related) crush to his classmate, who's also a superhero and partner to her superhero persona - who said crush HAS A CRUSH ON SUPERHERO SELF! i remember when theories flew on identity of Hawkmoth and who could possibly be (wiki was also ambiguous on that, based on the factor of the same va, which - i mean, one va can do multiple voices, that was earlier practise for budgeting reasons)! it was nice to see heroes thru everyday lives (well, how much normal is up to debate), everyday strugles, akuma of the episodes, ways how the main heroine solves it, and (some debatable) lessons of the day - girl magical show, y'all! (even tho it was called Tales of Miraculous Ladybug and Chat Noir)

and then the lore at the end got complicated at the end of seasons! and we got a little more of lore building, and different vibes and dynamics according to that! we got more lore on some episodes, but still not rocking the main status quo story of the season!

and then S4 and S5 happened.

to me, the problem was there undefined, until, in your previous posts, you put the name on it: the writers are incapable of juggling and merging stand-alone episodes and overarching story. they started with stand-alones, but saw that the continuous plot had more success with older audiences (c'mon, scrambled episodes were partialy their tactic, whether the actual s1 scrambling was their intention or truly an accident of tv broadcasts).

and since most of the audience are online, they think that providing additional and vague explanations and lore can - let's be frank, cover their asses. (which, hello, one show with overarching plot did almost the same with their actual lore, and only the hardcores picked up on it - bad idea if you want to make deeper sense to the story)

they tried marrying the storytelling formulas (stand-alones and overarched) in S2 and S3, but it wasn't noticeable, remarkable, and didn't raise the fandom's ire too much - still not rocking the actual important boat, which is offline view on the actual show (kids stand-alone, just turn your brain off and enjoy!) (which, in fairness, Thomas worked on Totally Spies, and that show had some success). it was egregious when it became obvious and contradicting (bc tying all the episodes's lore details is REALLY the true detective work), WHILE STILL WORKING WITH STAND-ALONE FORMULA! (some speculation on my part: some leaks didn't help with the writing process; different writers for different episodes (good idea for brainstorming, bad idea for the core characterisation and story); and... well, they certainly aren't good, or at all, detectives, or long-time planners - i mean, you plan several seasons, but not the finer details? the devils are in them, not in investors whims and wishes in order to get money).

but the desperate hope, masochistic curiosity and the endless possibilities of lore and story are already deep in our brains and hearts that we have to see thru the actual chaotic dumpster mess of the show and how it ends - some love it, some hate the ride, some cope with fanfics, some with rants, and some left the train and are somewhere else. the rest who remain... well hello there! make sure you get enough rests, snacks, beverages of your choice and some meditations (any kind) to witness all!

anyway, that's my pov.

The writers apparently always wanted to tell a more complex story, they just couldn't early on because they'd sold the show as not having one:

So Sebastien sold the Miraculous series to broadcasters as a formula show. A person gets angry, is akumatized, then marinette transforms into Ladybug then frees the person from the akumatization and… The End. It's also for this reason that Marinette tries to confess her love for Adrien in every episode, but is unable to do so. But he tried to go against what he had planned with TF1, by slipping little extra stories into certain episodes. Audiences were receptive to these slightly hidden stories. The TV channel even asked Sébastien if there really were hidden things in the series, but he denied everything. Thanks to the positive reception from the public, TF1 agreed to develop the characters of Marinette and Adrien and flesh out the universe a little more.

My tin foil hat theory is that this conflict is at the heart of Miraculous' problems. The writers keep trying to make the show they want to make instead of the show they can make within the limits set by the higher ups and so you end up with the worst of both worlds. A show that's too serious to just turn off your brain and have fun with, but a show that's also too underdeveloped to tell a serialized story well. (Supporting evidence for this theory: the script for Chat Blanc getting rejected for being "too dark" leading it to be in season three instead of season two.)

I get the frustration of being held back from telling the story you want to tell, I really do, but I'm of the opinion that you should tell the best story you can within the limits you set instead of trying and failing to tell the darker grittier story that you really want to tell, but can't because no one will pay for it.

Context for that last bit;

So Sébastien started working with Thomas Astruc (the man who wrote and created the "Ladybug" project). At first, he didn't want to work on this project because he found it complicated. Thomas wanted to make a series for adults, but at the time, it was very complicated to make a cartoon for adults. What's more, they didn't have enough money to take on such a project. Sébastien finally agreed, but there were some changes to be made, which Thomas accepted.

(Note this is from the same interview linked above.)

[that-ari-blogger]

Complex Motivations (You Didn't Know)

Hazbin Hotel is about redemption, and a large part of that is the complexity of motivation. Sinners have unique reasons for what got them into hell, and that intricacy is explored in great detail with the main cast, but also everyone around them.

This is actually a mercy extended to the villains. Because contrary to popular belief, having a reason for doing what your doing doesn’t make you right. The Vees, for example, are characterised entirely by their dynamic with each other, and understanding their motivation means understanding just how cruel of a person Valentino is, for example. It doesn’t justify his actions, it explains them, and makes him a more complex character than “he does bad things because he is bad”, a mentality that the show criticises at every opportunity it gets.

Speaking of which, that reductive worldview is exemplified by the folks up in heaven. Specifically, by Lute, Adam, and Sera, and You Didn’t Know exists to show them on a sliding scale of villainy, and how their place on it doesn’t matter.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD: (Hazbin Hotel)

CONTENT WARNING: (Language)

“But she was right”

The first words in any story give context to what is to come. They set up the plot, provide a question or mystery, and establish pacing. Songs in musicals are parts of the story told in microcosm, and so they apply these rules. In this case, it is important to understand that each of these people has been proven wrong.

Their worldview is measurably false, and the question is, what do they do now?

This isn’t a presentation of ideas, this isn’t a philosophical debate, this is an exploration of character in the face of challenge, and how it exposes a person's true motivation.

Starting with Lute, because she is, in my eyes, the simplest. She believes everything that she is saying with no one hundred percent certainty, and it’s almost refreshing in contrast with everyone else.

Adam and Sera are both fickle in morality, but Lute is rock solid. She is bigoted and evil, and she is owning it. She is, for lack of a better term, a paragon.

“What are we even talking about?

Some crack whore who fucked up already?

He blew his shot like the cocks in his mouth.

This discussion is senseless and petty!”

Why are we having this conversation? Angel Dust is a sinner, therefore incapable of making any points. Any evidence presented is invalid because he’s the one presenting it.

Redemption can’t be proven because redemption doesn’t exist.

It’s a flat, mindless understanding of the world that a lot of people carry, more than you think.

Dutch angle. These two make the scene unsafe. Standard filmmaking but worth pointing out.

This is called Doxastic Anxiety, according to the philosopher, Jenifer Foster. I recommend her dissertation, as well as the video by Philosophy Tube (@theabigailthorn), which discusses it in the context of deliberate ignorance, amongst other things.

Doxastic Anxiety is an aversion to forming new beliefs. In this case, Lute doesn’t want to believe that redemption is possible, so she, quite efficiently, doesn’t believe.

This isn’t an argument or a conversation, this is one side presenting evidence, and immediately getting shot down with “shut up, I’m right.” You can’t change the mind of someone who refuses to open it in the first place.

This is matched by the music itself. I’ve talked at length about Adam and Lute’s obsession with rock music and what I think about that, but there’s a gaping hole in Lute’s argument here.

The drums are doing something interesting, and I will come back to them later, but the guitar is remarkably restrained, which isn’t what you would associate with rock at all.

There's some colour symbolism here that I love. Traditionally, there is a correlation between good and evil, light and dark, white and black. Those three categories align and while there are implications there, it is storytelling standard. Except here, in this scene, the brightest part of the shot is the window into hell, and because of the shadows rendering lute in grayscale, the closest things in the scene to pure white are Angel Dust, and Charlie's hair. The filmmakers are messing with morality, so naturally, they can't resist a chance to mess with the imagery thereof. Also interesting here, the shadows are of the Angels own making because it is their architecture. They aren't just made to look bad by contrast, it's their own actions that lead to this symbolism.

Music is emotion, that’s why character playlists exist. Songs convey themes through vibes, and rock music is about big, unrestrained emotions. Rock music is fundamentally wild.

Consider Bullet With Butterfly Wings, by the Smashing Pumpkins. The song is about anger at an inability to claim freedom, and so the guitar evokes the pacing of a caged animal during the verses, then comes out swinging in the chorus only to, for lack of a better term, fumble it. The resolution at the end of each musical phrase is clumsy, like falling back to square one. The final chorus, notably, doesn’t do this, and is much more comfortable, evoking a feeling of catharsis that contrasts with the lyrics of the chorus.

“Despite all my rage,

I am still just a rat in a cage.”

Powerlessness. The character is trying to claim freedom and has transcended their anger, but it hasn’t worked. The finale is desperate, and the music thrashes against its bars, trying to break either them, or itself, all while repeatedly screaming the words:

“And I still believe that I cannot be saved.”

Maybe the bars are more than just physical. Maybe there is a psychological element to this kind of oppression.

Even Sweet Child O’ Mine, by Guns and Roses (they’re a small, up and coming band. But I think you should check them out. There’s promise there) which is calm and reminiscent for most of its runtime, is built on being dynamic. The iconic riff famously bounces between highs and lows to mimic the highs and lows of a life lived.

It’s messy in the way that memories are messy, and the solos are wild and meant to be experienced more than just listened to. They chomp at the bit during the lull at “where do we go now”, before climbing back into soaring expressions of glee and, for lack of a better term, raw power. It’s a very different emotion to Bullet With Butterfly Wings, and you don’t need the lyrics to understand that.

The point I am making is that rock music is intrinsically expressionistic and unchained, and when Lute sings, her portion of the song is anything but. Lute is angry, and appropriating imagery that is not hers to use to justify that anger. But what is the anger at? Being proven wrong.

Case and point, her guitar is simple and even. It rises, then stops, then repeats, then plays a nice little melody at the top, before resorting to power chords. She has tried to form a point, but has been unable to, and instead of examining that, has resorted to anger and displays of force.

There is something in that "stick it to the man" thing. People in power almost seem to fetishise rebellion, but when it actually happens, they get all upset. Adam likes to appear as the underdog, and I think he likes to feel like the underdog, but he isn't. He's the one the underdogs are fighting.

Moving on to Adam, who doesn’t believe anything he is saying. He is doing genocide for entertainment, and he doesn’t care about justifying it. There is nothing behind this man, he gets what he wants because he wants it. He is a man child.

He has also already had his views explained in detail, so this song gets to shine as a character beat for him, because of the aforementioned framing device. What do you do when you are proven wrong? Do you change? Do you shout down what the person is saying like Lute? Or do you get petty and start being an arse because you can?

This is where we see Adam’s vindictive side, and it sure is a coincidence that the guy who champions retributive justice has a habit of taking what he views as revenge and multiplying it tenfold. That’s probably not important.

Anyway, this is used to bring up Vaggie’s deceit, but it also exposes something interesting about Adam’s villainy. It’s innately self-sabotaging.

Adam could have kept his gob shut and this would have gone off without a hitch, but he didn’t. His villainy is based in retribution, and so he had to dish it out when he was slighted, even if it undermines his greater scheme.

Which, if I may get a bit soap boxy, is how villains work in the real world.

I get frustrated with the view that kindness is hard and that being awful is easy because it isn’t. Don’t let people tell you the world is naturally terrible, because if you believe them and expect the worst, then you don’t call people out on their nonsense. “Oh, the world is bad, it was the easiest choice to do this awful thing.” No! It took a choice to cause suffering, someone made that decision.

Evil is difficult and self sabotaging and will wreck you for doing it to the point where it stops being worth it. Truly evil people are those that make the decision to do what they are doing because they have weighed up the consequences and decided that they don’t care.

On a day-to-day level, kindness is easy. It costs you nothing. Don’t use the mundanity of misery as an excuse for your own shit behavior, and call people out on theirs because they are actively making the world worse, not prolonging the status quo.

But on a grander scale, this is where Adam comes in. I would argue that it would be easier for Adam to not do a genocide. Like, it would be easier to just sit at home, drink soft drink, be a tosspot. He wouldn’t be a nice guy, but it would be an improvement.

But to do what he is doing right now, he had to come up with the idea, something that probably took him a while. Then he had to persuade Lute and the other executioners, which probably took less time. Then he had to run it by Sera, and then he had to amass an army in secret and keep that same secret of genocide from an entire population.

But he did. He went above and beyond so that he could kill people for sport.

Adam actively made the world worse, and crucially, that directly led to his death later on in the series. He gave people motivation to want him dead.

I mentioned at the start of this post that the sliding scale of villainy doesn’t matter, and that brings me to Sera.

Sera isn’t evil. She doesn’t directly cause bad things. But that “directly” is doing a lot of heavy lifting, because Sera is an enabler. She doesn’t have a moral compass at all. She doesn’t stand for anything, so she lets everything happen.

She doesn’t do the genocide, she doesn’t want to be a part of it, and she thinks that makes her a saint. But then again, she had the power to stop it, and the choice to do nothing is still a choice.

General lump of ice for anyone who wants it. If you ever find yourself smiling like a maniac with literal hellfire reflected in your eyes, maybe reconsider your life a bit.

Sera could have said “no” and been done with it. But instead, she signed herself up for a lifetime of subterfuge because it seemed easier at the time. Theoretically, Sera isn’t as bad as the others, but in practicality, oh yes she is.

Sera’s lack of morality is actually what inspired me to analyse this entire musical, because her part in this song is so crucial to my understanding of the musical as a whole and I haven’t seen anybody else’s reading factor this in at all.

“I thought cause I’m older,

it’s my load to shoulder.”

“No”

“You have to listen,

it was such a hard decision

I wanted to save you

the anguish it takes to

Do what was required…”

Sera doesn’t defend the genocide; she defends her decision to lie. Even when called out on it, it doesn’t occur to her that the murder of civilians is what people are upset about.

There are two possible readings here, the first being deflection and the second being indifference.

Deflection is simple. She gets called out for murder and she apologises for lying. That’s not remotely the point, but if you can get someone tangled up in an argument that they didn’t sign up for, you can twist their words into something they didn’t mean.

Anger is a volatile emotion, but it can be lead astray. Deceit is not an easy thing to justify, but it’s a lot less difficult than systematic oppression, so Sera might be steering the conversation to something where she is on slightly less of a rough footing.

The other reading is indifference. Sera genuinely doesn’t care about morality, and so she is trying to keep her public face. She is the leader of… is Heaven a country? Is it a city? What is Heaven? Anyway, Sera is in a leadership position, and so she has made the decision to maintain her image first and foremost.

She spins the genocide as something that was required and starts defending the lie, because that’s what she thinks is most important. To her, the genocide was required, but to that I ask: for what?

Like, what is the end goal here?

Adam has presented the idea that the genocide makes him feel good. Lute is of the opinion that the sinners deserved it. But Sera says “required.” For what?

Is she required to let Adam do what he wants? Is she trying to find a middle ground between “no genocide” and “yes genocide” and landing on “some genocide”?

Alternatively, does Sera think it is required to keep the population of Hell down, so they don’t rise up? Does she think this is needed for her own security? Is it for control? Because, if that’s the case, I think she is talking bollocks.

You don’t need to murder someone to not feel threatened by them, and there are better ways of coexistence than control.

Sera returns to what I said earlier about villainy being difficult. She didn’t need to go along with the genocide. It wasn’t required. But she chose to, and that makes her stand alongside Adam and Lute.

Before I finish up, let’s talk about the drums.

The song is dense, and has a lot of moving parts, so as a storytelling technique, the drums are really impressive. Not only to they separate the sections and make the story easier to digest, adding to the vibes of each part while keeping the momentum going, but they also join the sections with fills to ease the transitions between disparate parts of the story.

The song starts out with no percussion as Emily pleads with the court and specifically with Sera. Then Charlie brings some backbone to the conversation with the concept of fairness, and we get a steady, repeated beat, like boxers circling each other.

We get a fill into the marching beat that backs up Lute’s solo, before a chorus from a rock song follows Adam’s input in the conversation. So far, so good.

Then Adam ruins everything, and the song abruptly cuts back to Emily, who suddenly has percussion accompanying her voice. Although, it is off kilter and unsteady, unsure if it should be here or not. It’s uneasy as Emily tries to work out what is happening and how to feel. Something is wrong, and her music is evolving to keep up.

Sera’s section messes with this in a way I love. Starting off mimicking Emily’s exactly with the unsteady beat as if to say “I’m with you.” Although it adds some bass drum, specifically the rhythm played during Adam and Lute’s chorus.

Then, as she says the line about doing what was required, Emily’s rhythm cuts out entirely to show the falseness of this offer. Sera and Adam are entirely aligned here.

Emily is back, and her rhythm is gaining more and more confidence as she gets more and more angry.

“Was talk of virtue just pretention?

Was I too naïve to expect you…”

We’re building to a final chorus, and we get a quiet fill before a surprisingly understated chorus.

“If Hell is forever than heaven must be a lie.”

The perfect world is built on suffering, which means it can’t be a perfect world. Everything else falls away, including the drums, into short punches that are just off beat enough to feel natural. This is just brutality. Messy, unrestrained, hammering. This is the point; this is the centerpiece of the musical.

Then the drums cut out entirely for the final moments to underscore the revelation, and the song wraps up.

Final Thoughts

I’m about to spoil the rest of the musical, so be warned.

I want Sera to be redeemed so much, and I actually think it might happen, here’s why.

First, I think it would be funny. I think Sir Pentious being in heaven would be an excuse to torment her into changing. Like, she gets so frustrated by the snake boy who’s voice she recognizes for some reason, and who proves her wrong so entirely, but whom she can’t escape from and whom she can’t bring herself to dislike.

Drag the angel, kicking and screaming, into being a better person. Commit to the theme, damn it.

But I do think there is a chance of this actually happening, and that is because of the expressions that Sera makes. When Emily snaps, the show makes a point of showing Sera’s response, and it is abject horror and sadness. There is no anger or spite there, it is just shock and terror.

A sinner couldn’t convince her, but she is willing to listen to Emily, and that is the expression of someone who’s entire world just came crashing down.

Maybe it’s the fear that Emily will fall like Lucifer, or maybe it’s the fear that she won’t. I cannot wait to find out.

Next week, however, is Out for Love, and I have thoughts about that song. So stick around if that interests you.

Previous – Next

[briefobservationdreamer]

so about that hazbin hotel season 2 leak...

⚠️THIS POST CONTAINS MY THOUGHTS ON A PLOT SENSITIVE SPOILER FOR HAZBIN HOTEL SEASON 2. PLEASE DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED!⚠️

To begin with, I should say I have only seen some screenshots/thumbnails, lyrics and comments regarding the song. I have not heard any songs or watched any scenes in full, so I'm not fully informed of all the details. This is also the only post I intend to make on the topic before season 2 comes out.

As someone who really liked the endearing friendship Alastor and Rosie seemed to have in season 1 and the depth it gave them, it really stung to learn that their friendship not only didn’t exist (at least not as I and others in the fandom imagined it) but that Rosie was in fact the person who owns Alastor’s soul. It seemed to be such a jarring contradiction that came completely out of left field with no real foreshadowing that could be picked up on without hindsight. Now that I’ve had a few days to think, I’ve come to a somewhat stable conclusion about it.

Right now the narrative is essentially caught in having to reconcile Rosie's amicable demeanour and her seemingly friendly relationship with Alastor with the transactional attribute the deal creates and the high stakes it represents for Alastor, and all without contradicting anything set up in season 1. I don't think that's impossible, though. Despite the power imbalance, the sole fact that Rosie owns Alastor’s soul doesn’t automatically ruin their friendship (for example, someone could entrust their soul to someone close to them for safekeeping). The way she treats him is much more important. Having them be friends instantly makes Alastor's situation far less serious than if she were abusive to him - especially compared to Husk's and Angel Dust's situations - and the stakes could only otherwise be created by the deal itself and its consequences. It is true that Alastor may have taken a lot of damage to his reputation and position in hell and personally risked himself to protect the hotel multiple times. He clearly feels an infringement on his freedom and loathes his situation to the point of lashing out at Husk for bringing it up and having a mental breakdown in the finale, and it would be difficult for him to not project his feelings of resentment and desperation about the deal onto Rosie herself, but that doesn't mean he hates her or completely regrets the deal. We don't know exactly what Rosie ordered him to do, how short a leash she has him on, how degrading or teasing she was trying to be in calling him her "pet" (still seems very degrading to me though), how much she personally contributes to any danger or distress Alastor may be in, what her goals are and what they mean to Alastor, and a lot more besides that would help to put their relationship into perspective. We simply don't have enough information and context yet to know anything for certain.

Revealing that Alastor is owned by someone introduced as an overlord (someone no higher up the food chain than Alastor ever was) before the series is even half way through might also bring into question how much of his characterisation as a mysterious, cunning, fearsome and powerful overlord – traits that helped to make him as appealing and popular as he is - can remain intact, whether Rosie might end up overshadowing him in that respect, and how much this might humanise him. Especially if his situation isn't that bad and after season 1 already shed a lot of light on his insecurities and shortcomings. After all, being owned by an overlord is what cost Husk his own overlord status. Alastor is still a nuanced character who, while powerful, was never meant to be the most powerful being in hell, and I see nothing wrong with that as long as it is handled right and it doesn't undermine the gravitas he was still meant to have.

Another thing is that it implies a motive and level of power Rosie was never shown to have as just another overlord. One explanation I’ve seen is that she could be someone like Roo or Eve in disguise, who were originally much better candidates. I don’t think it is impossible, but I doubt Rosie would exist as a character in the show if that’s the case, just a false identity. If so, that would mean Alastor was either not as comfortable around Rosie as he seemed or was manipulated by an imposter – neither of which are good and both would mean that their relationship in season 1 was a complete fabrication. I’m not discounting it, but I’m not the biggest fan of it for those reasons, and there could very well be other explanations for it.

All in all, there are a lot of pieces that don't fit neatly together right now without a proper explanation.

I think the best case scenario for keeping their friendship is for Rosie to remain her own character who is powerful for her own reasons, and for them to still be fond of each other with Alastor being more resentful about the deal and the situation it puts him in than Rosie herself, and I see no reason why that couldn’t be the case - yet. There are many examples of friendly and even close relationships between people who make contracts (Jack Sparrow and Tia Dalma, and Lelouch and CC, for example). I still feel conflicted and nervous about this and probably will until we have answers, but we’ll have to wait and see when season 2 eventually comes out.

[wintersoulwitch]

i'd honestly loveee to hear you yap more about the film you wrote for the 48hr film thing (only stuff you're comfortable w/ sharing ofc)!!!!

Okayyyy I didn’t want to go on and on about it, but seeing as both you and @yonderghostshistories have asked for more plot details then fuck it, here's an illustrated breakdown with some director's commentary 😁

We start with some kind of broken down desolate post apocalyptic industrial complex. (Actually an abandoned airbase a few miles out of Newcastle). A portal appears - because it’s sci fi! And because the DoP said she could animate portals during our initial brainstorming sessions so I was like: Right, we’re using that!

Our two leads emerge from the portal… Dawn is a badass action hero type. Chris is the anxious tech nerd. They both wear leather jackets, because post-apocalypse. Chris fiddles with a handheld Device - a sci fi tech prop we made by hotgluing a lighting gel frame to a broken camera remote - and announces that the cameras have been disabled, which gives them 5 minutes to find the server room and set off the self-destruct sequence. 

"I was also at that briefing, thank you," sneers Dawn. We’ve got exposition, characterisation and interpersonal dynamics within the first 30 seconds, fuck yeah efficient storytelling! 

The two of them continue on their way. Chris has the feeling that they’re being watched. Dawn dismisses her as just being paranoid. 

But then! Evil henchman dude appears and tries to steal The Device from Chris. This bit didn't turn out so good for a couple of reasons that really all boil down to not having enough time. So anyway you're not getting anything from the "action" scene itself, but we do get a badass film still of Dawn and a dramatic gif of Chris.

Also the poor guy who played the henchman was left lying in the long grass while we continued filming the scene and ended up getting a rash from nettles. At this point we also attracted the attention of a group of youths who wanted to know what we were doing and whether the film was gonna be shown on TV. And then an elderly dog walker was concerned about our henchmen guy lying down in the grass and it took a while to convince him that everything was fine (I was put in mind of the TLOG S3 outtake of Mark Gatiss lying on the pavement as Phill Proctor and that confused passerby asking if he was OK.)

And then the police arrived! Because the youths were setting fire to things.

Anyway, back to the story. Dawn picks up The Device and scolds Chris - "If he’d got hold of that, we would have been stuck here." Aha, more exposition! The Device Must Be Kept Safe so they can portal outta there. Seems like that bit of information might be important later 🤔

Absolutely love the next bit - Dawn tugging Chris’ arm and leading her along.

Chris: There wasn't supposed to be any security left in this complex! Dawn: Well your intel was wrong, wasn't it?

Yeah, Dawn is fucking done.

We hear a speaker sputter to life and a sexy AI voice (ahem guess who did the voiceover?) starts broadcasting.

Then we come to one of my absolute favourite shots: This lovely focus pull from Dawn to Chris...

And my favourite bit of Dawn/Chris interactions: Their argument as Dawn finally snaps

Chris: She knows we're coming Dawn: It knows we're coming. It's a computer, not a person. Let's not get sentimental. Chris: She was MY partner and MY friend Dawn: It's not Sarah! It's a machine!

(Friend, eh, Chris? Special friend? Maybe you were roommates?) 

Dawn has had enough of Chris’s shit. She needs to get this mission over and done with. Find the server room, initiate the self destruct sequence, get the fuck out. C'mon, we've got an Evil AI to blow up!

We have a lovely tracking shot following Dawn into the bunker. It was tricky to do but DoP was very pleased with how it turned out!

We'd pretty much wrapped all our exterior shots so it was time to head to the location for our bunker/server room (ie the DoP's garage). We had an annoying moment where the owner of the brown leather jacket that Chris wears wouldn't let us keep it for any longer. We filmed some scenes of Chris taking the jacket off before entering the bunker for continuity purposes but honestly they looked shit and didn't serve any narrative purpose and were distracting. So we cut it and just trusted that the interior shots were dark enough that no one would really notice.

OK, so we go into the bunker and hear some lovely atmospheric buzzes and hums. Green lighting courtsey of a neon sign the DoP bought for her son's birthday party.

They reach the server room and… What’s this? Sarah? 

Yes, Chris’s friend/partner/ex(?) has become one with the machine! It’s Cyborg Sarah the Evil AI! 

We were up til 1am filming in the DoP's garage, I wrapped this poor girl in a bunch of cables and kettle leads and we had her precariously balanced on some broken tiles. Delirium had set in, we were absolutely shattered, and the garage was an absolute health and safety nightmare of dodgy electrics and trailing wires.

Chris realises that if they set off the self-destruct then Sarah will be blown up and she'll truly lose her forever. In a state of grief/panic/bargaining she tries to free Cyborg Sarah from the machine. 

Dawn: It almost looks real… Chris: She is real! Dawn: Chris, no... Chris: We can't leave her here! We have to take her with us! If we leave her here, she'll die!

Chris, you idiot, can't you see it's too late? She’s One With the Machine! Dawn and Chris have a scuffle, a tube is pulled out of Cyborg Sarah and sprays engine oil/cyborg blood over the wall. In all the commotion, the Device is shattered on the ground.

Uh oh! The AI voice taunts them: Your portal device is destroyed. There's no way for you to leave the complex. If you activate the self destruct then we will all go together. Ha. Ha. Ha. 

Chris falls to her knees in despair and Dawn takes a moment to weigh up her options... Complete the mission and sacrifice herself, or save herself but let the Evil AI continue its unspecified reign of terror?

We have a lovely shot of Dawn wiping the cyborg blood off a mirror and smearing her reflection. You can't really see the "blood" in the gif but it took fucking ages to get it to spray across the mirror without getting anyone's hands in shot.

Dawn makes her decision... "Guess we're all going together, then."

She enters the access code, and the AI voice speaks: Self destruct sequence initiated… Music selected...

The sound of a piano begins to play...

Dawn leaves a sobbing Chris and goes outside for the last time. She looks up at the sky, takes a deep breath, and accepts her death... 

🎼When you attend a funeral / It is sad to think that sooner or / Later those you love will do the same for you / And you may have thought it tragic / (Not to mention other adjectives) / To think of all the weeping they will do / But don't you worry / For if the bomb that drops on you / Gets your friends and neighbours too... / There'll be nobody left behind to grieve

The bunker explodes in a blaze of white heat and Dawn, Chris, and whatever is left of Sarah are all incinerated. 

But the Evil AI is defeated, so yay? 

[crimsonphantasmagoria]

As time goes on, I'm starting to soften on the narrative of Veilguard, in broad strokes. Yes, I do think it's a narratively less interesting move to keep the Veil, rather than take it down and have to deal with a new status quo in the subsequent games, but I can get over that I guess. If I must.

However, the execution was horrendous. The worldbuilding was badly or unnaturally presented (or established parts missing entirely), the characterisation was shallow, important story details/plots were seemingly abandoned with no good explanation, I've played rpgs with a set playable character that let me roleplay more in depth, the list just keeps going on... I guess most of it comes down to development hell, with potentially some higher up laying down word of god about what you can show in a modern video game, but sometimes it feels like they didn't even try. They could have at least toned down the extremely modern speech patterns, this is fantasy for Andraste's sake...

[lostcauses-noregrets]

As a veteran fangirl who only got into aot 2 years ago. I have been a massive fic reader for many fandoms over the years but the sheer number of long, detailed epics in the eruri fandom needs to be studied.

The number of long cinematic fics with indepth world building that are crafted with sheer love and respect for the characters in this fandom is incredible. Usually a fandom is lucky to have few that becomes classics but there seems to be one in every corner here.

I am very grateful for your Tumblr which has been a massive archive of knowledge and guide to navigating this fandom.

Thank you so much Anon ♡ I didn't originally intend for my blog to become the Eruri archive when I first got into the series in 2015, but 9 years and 23K posts later, here we are!

You're not the first person to be struck by the sheer range of incredible writing in the Eruri fandom, to say nothing of the fanart. We've been blessed by so many amazingly talented writers over the years, and one of the most amazing things is that they just keep coming. Many people predicted the demise of the Eruri fandom when Erwin died, when the manga ended, when then final anime episode aired, but the fandom is still thriving and new writers are posting fic every month.

However as you rightly pointed out, it's not just the quantity of the fic that's remarkable, it's the quality of the writing, the characterisation and the world building. I have a few of my own theories as to why that should be. First of all the canon material is a gift. Erwin and Levi are both mature adult characters with considerable depth and nuance and their canon relationship (regardless of whether you view it as romantic or not) is intertwined with the plot. It doesn't hurt that both of them have tragic backstories and then of course there's Erwin's internal conflict, heroic sacrifice and Levi's determination to fulfil vow. Honestly what more could you ask for from a ship?? It's no surprise that 3 of the 5 most popular manga chapters chosen by readers of Bessatsu Shonen manga focus on Erwin and Levi's relationship. They really are just that good.

I also think that because Erwin and Levi are both adults, rather than typical teenage shonen protagonists, that they attract a slightly older fanbase. That's not to say that younger fans can't be amazing writers of course, many are, but I think older fans often have a range of life experience that they can bring to their writing. Also I know for a fact that there are many Eruri authors who have successful professional careers and are published authors in other fields including technical writers, academics, researchers, historians, poets, journalists and more.

I've lost count of the number of times I've heard fans say that the Eruri fandom has spoiled them because of the quality and range of the fic and art, and honestly, it's hard to disagree. I regularly re-read fics that were written a decade ago and the characterisation is still pitch perfect. Some of them even pre-empt canon events that appeared in the manga years later. At the same time, I'm discovering new authors every week who are writing heart breaking fics that provide new insight into these characters who I've loved for so long. The Eruri fandom really is one in a million and I'm very grateful it's been such an important part of my life for so long. I'm glad you're able to enjoy it too ♡

[laura1633]

Hi, I associate this blog with a safe space, and I have a need to talk about receving a comment on my fic, you are such a kind person and I guess I need a pick me up of sorts after this (so sorry for spamming your inbox, just .. yeah)

So, it's a lestappen long fic, the longest thing I've ever written and it takes so much time and effort, and I know the most important thing is to write for/me/, but I like feedback, I love when people notice details and tell me what they liked or what was interesting ect, I like questions when someone is curious about what happened and why, where the story is going

What I don't appriciate is a comment that says smth along the lines of "I like your fic but absolutely HATE how Max is in that fic, he's so stupid, why does he act like that, Charles should be with someone else, why max's friends even bother with him, he's boring and I would stop reading the fic if there was only his pov and not other characters"

And I was like, dude, if you don't like it, if it frustrates you so much, go and read smth else! it was like this person missed the whole point of the characterisation and what Max had went through in the fic. And why this person even thought to write it like that? They can feel however they want, I read books when I was frustrated with the main character actions or I had trouble empathising with them but I never thought to write that to the authors face! It was like someone was giving me a compliment on everything else but not the main focus of the story. How the hell am I suppose to interpret that? "Oh, it's great but change everything about the main character becuase he's annoying to me"

It's just so discouraging sometimes. Especially because I tag everything and I always try to make characters motivation belivable so yeah...

And it's so stupid because that person comments on every chapter since the beginning and it was always nice and now like 4 comments about how they don't get how anyone could like Max in that fic lol

It isn't the first time this happened, on my other fic there was a comment similar to that to like "oh, the actions of the main character made me not enjoy the fic, he was bla bla bla and it was a dealbreaker for me" ok, then don't leave kudos and don't freaking comment! I tagged everything, I tagged the conflict, if I wrote it like you wanted there would be no fic because there would be no plot! If you want a character writen a certain way do it yourself! Ugh

Sorry for the long rant, I had to get this off my chest somewhere and I don't anyone to vent to about fanfics.

Thank You so much ❤️ I love your blog 💕

Hi anon, 

I’m glad you felt able to send this ask and there is absolutely no need to apologise for ranting about this. I completely understand your frustration. Always feel free to come and vent here. 

I know that we all say that the most important thing to do is write for yourself but I also one hundred percent agree with you that given the amount of time and effort we put in it is only natural to want some engagement. It’s always fun when people pick up on little things you add into a fic or enjoy it so much they want to discuss it further. Seeing a nice comment on a fic is an amazing thing for an author. 

Sorry that you’ve received a comment like that. Its clear they love a lot about your writing otherwise they wouldn’t be reading the story so its so odd that they would want to focus on a negative. I am the same as you, there have been characterisations I don’t like but I know that that is just a personal preference so I don’t feel the need to put that on the author. I think the process of writing and reading and sharing fanfics is all about joy, even when the topics are dark. Its about someone spending the time crafting something and putting it out there for free for others to enjoy. I don’t think its ever the place to leave negative comments. 

I really hope that this doesn’t discourage you. I think some people get very clear ideas in their heads about what they expect a character to do and what they want to happen and then don’t like it when that character acts differently than they expect. Especially when it comes to real people. It sounds like you like to craft more complex characterisations which is what people are like in the real world, people have aspects of them that can be difficult to understand at first. I think thats a really interesting thing to try and get to grips with in fics. It might not make all the characters easily accessible but it adds depth to the story and gives them room to grow. It’s nothing that you are doing wrong.

I’ve seen a few authors receiving comments about readers wanting the story to go the other way and not being happy about the author’s vision but at the end of the day it is the author’s vision that they are bringing to life and they shouldn’t feel compelled to change that because it doesn’t fit what someone wanted. I am sure there are other people out there who understand and enjoy your characterisation.

I agree whole heartedly with you about people writing stuff themselves if they have very clear ways they want characters portrayed rather than leaving negative comments. 

Fanfic writers write for free and people spend a lot of time on their fics. They are just trying to share something they have created in the hopes someone else will be able to enjoy it. Fanfics don’t require critiques or reviews, they are all about enjoying and celebrating something together. 

Best of luck with the rest of your fic anon <3

[tenosit]

On bit of "early and missed worldbuilding" aspect of 2001 Bionicle, there are the very fun interactions in MNOG in the Onu-Koro, between Whenua and representatives of Ussalry, miners and traders (last one doesn't get as much representation further down the line).

First one, is how Ussarlyman describes the sudden dense layer of stone (which, as we belatedly know, is Mata Nui's surface): he calls it "with high organic levels", and even elaborates for Whenua.

Depiction of GSR appears fairly mundanely robotic, so organic traits to it make it very interesting - its also a Bionicle! IIRC it has been described as organic-like in Hapka books around Bohrok, but more concrete mentions benefit that.

Before that, he also suggest moving Onu-Koro to other Wahi. This is a really cool detail - perhaps, Onu-Koro has evolved from an aboveground settlement (as it could have been in 2000 story bible), or moved from another location already.

Since miners compose the actual tangential events of the chapter, it is the third Matoran who falls into interest - evidently, a Guildmaster of the Trade Guilds.

(there is a much stronger focus on Toa "descending from heaven" in 2001 than in subsequent retellings 2001 plot; you can tell they expected to wrap it up sooner, and it is something 2016 reboot tried to play with)

The Guildmaster, expectedly, is worried about both the sudden unbreakable layer and stalling of Le-Koro route. Onu-Koro trades Protodermis to Po-Koro, where goods are finished, whereas Onu-Matoran recieve stone (? Perhaps it is higher quality, or easier to work with aboveground). Evidently all Matoran engage in trade, which is why Le-Koro route is important (Le-Matoran can access Onu-Koro, but with much difficulty); he dismisses proposition to travel by sea, as it has even more Rahi than the unlit tunnels (according to him). He even tries to drag in Onua, asking if the fabled hero is unable to help do the trade route faster.

There is a really cool characterisation to Saffire's Onu-Matoran; there is a very strong current of them being workers and traders. Later depictions sort of sidestepped that, with their former Metru Nui culture being that of miners and scholars. I wish there was more of a dedicated source to culture of Matoran of Mata Nui; it is a topic that is fraught with complexities of not exoticising oppressed cultures, but if care would be given to it, I imagine it could be a really great piece of worldbuilding.

[joltai-showa]

have u seen the new naruto mobile game vid of obito?? when i did i was just reminded of ur obito lol pathetic evil yearner

Hi!

I mean, I did see the screenshots and fanart floating around, but never actually watched the thing, mostly because I've also seen that Rin is also supposed a part of that video... or at least I presume her to be.

Anyway, I dislike canon Rin (it is truly impressive how this nothing burger of a character manages to destroy some of important characters' characterisation, the actual plot of the manga and the bigger lore of the world, all at the same time🤩) too much, and I really don't wanna be flashbanged by any Obirin adjacent content created by people contractually obligated to go along with Kishimoto's writing of them, so I am content with only enjoying the dramatic poses with ronin Obito on the screenshots, lol.

Also... I have a confession to make...

I don't like the look of Sharingan/Rinnegan Obito. I think it's because the Rinnegan needs to be mirrored on the face to look cool (cases of Nagato and Madara), and when it's just one eye, it's kind of too much on one side, and it just looks messy, too many details (cases of Obito and Sasuke. tho to be fair adult Sasuke just looks ass in general). Obito in particular suffers from "too many details in one place" syndrome a lot, because he's also got his scars on the other side, so for me he looks like some 12 year old's first attempt at a Naruto OC.

And I am going to call out the officials right now: stop fucking yassifying Obito. Stop drawing his scars with a pen half a tone different from his skin and a size of 1-2 pixels. This guy got 50 tons of crush force on his face, the scars ARE NOT gonna look pretty. Stop feeding people the bishonen agenda, you got the main cast for that, this is a war criminal and a war veteran, make him rough, make him gritty, make him look like someone who followed the batshit crazy plan and sacrificed the lives of a few million people for it. The scars are a major part of his identity, and trying to yassify him is a cheap and lazy trick to increase the merch sales.

Ahem, anyway, I got off topic. Overall, I really like ronin Obito's look, he's really fucking cool like that. The fanart for his is just... mmm... belissimo.

Also, I snorted really loudly when you said it reminded you of my Obito🤣🤣🤣🤣 a pathetic evil yearner indeed. Thank you for your ask

[crownedwithstars]

Galadriel in the Rings of Power: Conclusion

This post is the continuation of my analysis of Galadriel as she is portrayed in the Amazon series The Rings of Power - and why I think it is so very bad. Part 1 focused on the the portrayal of her being a warrior, and the many problems it creates for her character and possibly even for LOTR, whereas part 2 argued that what is supposed to be war trauma is actually just an awful personality. Part 3 focuses on the ways ROP undermines Galadriel's story as a woman, wife, and mother, and part 4 argues that the character we see in ROP does not have the mental capacity or abilities that she should have.

Part 1 x Part 2 x Part 3 x Part 4

This is the final part of the analysis, concluding what was argued in the earlier posts and pointing out some additional observations that aren't strictly about Galadriel.

As before, the tags #anti rop and #anti rings of power will be used for the benefit of those who may want to filter my posts.

8. In conclusion and some additional observations

Galadriel of the Rings of Power is a terrible person and she does not have a single likeable thing about her. The characterisation that has been given to her has nothing to do with the character Tolkien created, erases parts of her story that are specifically about a woman's experiences of motherhood and fellowship between women, and may actively create plot holes for The Lord of the Rings. Galadriel's connections to the Elves of Middle-earth, and her affinity with Doriath that would make her a viable option as a ruler of Sindar and Silvan Elves, are entirely absent. The show creators try to justify their decision by obsessively referring to the few lines about her "Amazon disposition" and "athletic pursuits", although these don't really prove anything beyond the fact that she used to love sports, and ignoring the overwhelming textual evidence of Galadriel's role as a politician, leader, wife and mother. The way a character's story is told and the qualities chosen to represent them also reveal what are the values of the artist/creator: that Galadriel's feminine traits, her learning from another woman and adapting that specific model to her own rulership, the evidence of her being a wife and a mother and powerful all at the same time, are downplayed so that she can adhere to masculine ideals is incredibly telling, and sadly quite misogynistic.

If this character of a wandering warrior was so necessary for the show, this role should have been given to Celebrían, Galadriel's daughter. She is almost a blank canvas with few known details, and would be more believable as a young and temperamental warrior who means well but sometimes blunders it. Her motives and her failures could be explained by a fierce desire to live up to her famous and powerful parents and to rise out of their shadow. Celebrían would be an entirely new character to the audience, but still entirely canonical, and with a very close connection to the well-known and beloved character of Galadriel. For a more intelligent plot than what ROP has come up with, the relationship of Galadriel and Celebrían would provide much content, enabling female representation (the lack of which Tolkien is often reproached for), and even creating an opportunity to discuss the themes of death, immortality and mortality which are so important for Tolkien. Celebrían's love for Elrond would be a great chance to discuss the nature of Half-Elves (often unclear even to the fans of Tolkien), and the dangers that lie in her loving him from the Elvish point of view, as any offspring by him may choose a mortal life (thus allowing references to Arwen and Aragorn). When you really start to think about what the inclusion of Celebrían could have brought to the table, you can't help but sigh at the terrible waste Amazon committed by going the incredibly simplistic route of making Galadriel a very middling action hero. If the show dared to show Galadriel as she is, an ancient Elf already wise and experienced at this point of the history of Middle-earth, then ROP could have established the longevity of Elves and how they witness the ages of the world passing by. This I think would have been more interesting for the viewers of a fantasy show rather than  make Galadriel some "young version" of the one we see in LOTR.

Some of the problems with Galadriel, I will admit, are exaggerated by the show's larger problems, which are in some ways linked: the compression of timeline and the poor handling of the Elven characters.

As we know, the events of the Second Age take place over three thousand years, and there are about 1500 years between the making of the Rings of Power and the Fall of Númenor. However, these things overlap in the show, apparently because the audience would not be committed to a show that changes most of its cast every season?

This is not as good a solution as it seems on paper and it creates problems for the plausibility of characters' actions and the events of the story. I suspect this will become more and more glaring with the Númenor thread, because the show's creators have already shown themselves not to be very good writers. But with the story of Galadriel, the implication now between the first and second seasons is that during a very small amount of time, she will experience a 180 degree change in her personality and become the wise, powerful, dignified Elven queen that we see in The Lord of the Rings. (Apparently she is also supposed to be able to live with - and be forgiven! - the fact that she is indirectly responsible for all the death and horror Sauron will inflict on Middle-earth.)

The show starts with Galadriel obsessively hunting for Sauron - a quest she has been pursuing for the whole of the Second Age. Apparently, she has spent an entire Age, over three thousand years, in this perpetual state of anger, aggression and restlessness. Not only does it make her look an incompetent fool and a complete maniac, but creates a contradiction: she can spend thousands of years in a rage about her brother and whatnot, but then suddenly, in a span of a few years, gives up the personal vendetta and becomes an entirely different person? It also raises serious questions about why would Gil-galad keep such a volatile individual as a high-ranking officer for centuries. Apparently even with the very violent history of the First Age, Elves don't have tools for dealing with war trauma even after centuries have passed, and nobody thought of trying to help this very unstable woman recover and get on with her life. If the show began closer to the start of the Second Age (and nearer to the events that supposedly left ROP!Galadriel so traumatised), and we saw her working through her issues over the course of many years, this characterisation would not be so infuriating - or make her and her superiors look so bad. Moreover, with the passage of time her need for vengeance would start to run cooler and she would let her guard down around the disguised Sauron, making her look less stupid for falling for his deceptions - although it still is seriously out of character for Galadriel to be so easily fooled. It is true that we should have more stories about angry women who make mistakes and are no saintly figures, and these stories should be treated with as much compassion as any male revenge fantasy. However, it is questionable to do this like ROP has done, erasing Galadriel's original story and her agency, removing the meaningful female relationships she has, downplaying her feminine attributes so that she fits a more masculine ideal, and making her motives all about men.

This ties with the show's handling of Elven characters. In ROP, Elves are essentially enhanced humans, who can do cool stunts and don't die of old age. Outwardly, they are not even noticeably different from humans, except by their ears. The Elven characters are not ageless or beautiful and the actor of Arondir is maybe the only one who looks the part. That the Elves (particularly those who saw the light of the Trees) lack the Otherness that would set them apart as a different race makes the world of ROP!Middle-earth lose much of its depth, wonder and magic. The worldbuilding of the script seems to lack any consideration of what the psychology of these immortal characters would be, and how they are different from Men. At the end of the Second Age, Elven societies of Middle-earth are already old, they have seen much loss and sorrow, and so the tone of their mentality should be reflecting more of this. Tolkien makes it very clear that with age, the wisdom and sadness of the Elves grows greater. That the Elves are just enhanced humans, not distinctly different from Men by their physical or psychological qualities also poses problems over the Fall of Númenor and the hubris that leads to it - although at this point, I have lost any hope I might have had that this show's creators possess the ability to effectively discuss such a complex theme.

This compression of time and poor handling of the Elves will cause troubles for the character of Galadriel, or so I guess. Earlier I already pointed out the change that she will apparently go through during the events of the show. If the aim of the story is to show how Galadriel became the wise, otherworldly sorceress and queen that we see in LOTR, then this change will happen in an extremely short time, and it ignores the fact that Galadriel always was these things, though perhaps to a lesser degree. This is simply poor writing and unbelievable, and it rather gives the impression that the creative team has not given much thought to worldbuilding - and that they really believe that for Galadriel to be relatable to the audience is to make her suit the idea of a "strong woman with a sword". This is a trend you see a lot in popular media, but if you are adapting a timeless story like Tolkien's legendarium, then you should not be too eager to add in your own agenda or trends that don't suit the original story or are actively detrimental to it. Same goes for how the Númenóreans' prejudices against Elves seems like some attempt to discuss contemporary US politics and much less a discussion of human hubris and the Fall of Man. As I have argued in my posts, ROP!Galadriel is not an improvement: the way Tolkien wrote her is infinitely more complex, compelling and powerful.

The show may be pretty to look at at some points and apparently many people even find it entertaining. But if we settle for "good enough" and "entertaining enough", then that gives leave to companies like Amazon to keep on producing mediocre films and shows that do not contain the complexity of the original, and keep turning already rich female characters into bland action figures. It's not a good thing if the best you can say about a show based on complex source material is that it "looks stunning" or it's "entertaining". The inevitable outcome is that after a few bland seasons, the show will get cancelled and everyone will be unhappy. Just look at what happened with The Witcher Whereas the first few seasons of Game of Thrones proved that if you truly commit to the world, its characters and the plot, you can bring forth something that is compelling and widely liked both by those who were book fans first and people who are introduced to the story by the show. Yes, I'm aware of the problems that even the first seasons of GOT had and I'm by no means a fan of it, and I also know that GOT had entire detailed books while Amazon had little more than a timeline; whether it's a good idea to develop a show based just on that is another question entirely, but the point is that with care and good writing you can succeed with a fantasy TV show. (Even GOT works as a warning example: when you depart from the writer's vision too much and begin to think of your own writing as improvement, you're going to fail and leave a lot of people disgruntled.) For those of us who have long loved Galadriel, this character who is feminine and flawed and powerful, the way ROP has decided to portray her is just incredibly disappointing. 

It seems fitting to end this series with Sam's description of Galadriel:

"Beautiful she is, sir! Lovely! Sometimes like a great tree in flower, sometimes like a white daffadowndilly, small and slender like. Hard as di'monds, soft as moonlight. Warm as sunlight, cold as frost in the stars. Proud and far-off as a snow-mountain, and as merry as any lass I ever saw with daisies in her hair in spring-time. … But perhaps you could call her perilous because she’s so strong in herself. You, you could dash yourself to pieces on her, like a ship on a rock, or drown yourself, like a Hobbit in a river. But neither rock nor river would be to blame."

[cptn-m]

One Piece chapter 1141 review

Man, things are moving in this arc! I expected at least another chapter of transition and chapter before Luffy and Zoro even reached Loki, let alone freed him, but Oda's wasting no time at all on this one. And we're still in volume 112, with at least two chapters of it to go. This book is going to be stacked.

But despite the huge plot movements, this chapter finds time for fun and characterisation as well. I loved Nami's exaggerated and insincere insisting that she was only there for the treasure and wasn't involved in Luffy's Loki plan, and then a totally wasted Usopp going crazy at the party a couple of pages later. This arc is a long time coming for Usopp, so I'm glad he gets a bit of fun before it puts him through his paces.

We get a little more Adam Tree lore as Franky learns about the fallen branch of Haugen. This feels like some big, important setup. Fire and lightning being Elbaph's weakness has to be setup for the final act of the arc. It wouldn't be One Piece without a ticking clock to the whole island getting destroyed, and an out-of-control fire bringing down the tree could be exactly that, especially if Loki's big hammer is about to reveal some Thor-like powers. It's not my favourite way for things to go, feeling repetitive so soon after Onigashima turned into an inferno and Egghead burned under the Marines' bombardment, but we'll see what twist Oda decides to put on it. If some bits of the tree have to be lopped to stop a fire, will that maybe give Franky material for a final upgrade to the Sunny though?

I've seen the idea float around that we've just learned an unexpected weakness for the Sunny, but I don't think the threat is any greater than to any other wooden ship. Elbaph has a weakness because every part of it is interconnected on the tree, not because Adam Tree wood is particularly flammable or conductive. Not to mention that planks on a ship will be sealed and treated and constantly damp from the seawater, making them much harder to burn than a dry land tree.

Cut to the debate over freeing Loki. I'm not usually into the idea that Zoro is a substantially different character after the timeskip, let alone a worse one, but even for me he comes across way too harsh here. Anyone else remember his first big fight, where kicking a wounded man in the wound was a villainous act? Maybe if he had just prodded the wounds to test for a reaction, or he'd just been blase about Loki dying, or he'd just suggested eating the animals, it could have been a reasonable characterisation moment, but all three of them together just scans as a big much.

(Also did anyone else notice Loki's wearing gloves now? He definitely wasn't at first, but they show up around the time Shamrock attacks him. Wonder if the volume release will ink his hands in properly for the early chapters.)

Hadjrudin's arrival on the scene definitely feels a little rushed, and a little contrived, but it at least manages to be funny. I wonder if it'll be a factor that most of his group are now "severely injured" or if they'll shake it off when the time comes to fight. Probably worth noting as well that Sanji and Gerd both escape being hurt and should be going into any future battles at their top capacity.

The final spread is a banger. I've said it a bunch of times through Elbaph already, but I love the sense of scale in the art lately. Look at those details!

Some have questioned why Loki was imprisoned with Ragnir in the first place if it's so dangerous, but I don't think we know enough about how he was locked up in the first place to say if they had a choice or not. Look at the size of this guy - I don't think he was dragged down here; more likely he was knocked out against the tree and the chains hastily set up around him where he fell. It might have been too dangerous to try and get the hammer out from behind him first.

A lot of questions linger about what makes both Loki and Ragnir so dangerous. What Devil Fruit does Loki have? What makes the hammer such a big deal, and does it have an inherent power outside the DF/Haki power system? Does the timeline work out for Ragnir having a Devil Fruit (probably not)?

But hey! It's another no-break week, so answers may be coming very soon. And with the volume so close to its end, they should be big ones.

[bourniebna]

Blog Navigation

I am currently in the mood to gush about Raven (DC), thus decide to have an organised Raven-related tag system so that my fellow Raven enthusiasts who happen to come across my humble blog could easily search for my Raven content.

Every Raven post will be tagged "#Raven DC" as well as "#in this house we do not call her", "#Rachel Roth", "#or", and "#Raven Roth". The last four tags are mainly for expanding the reach of the posts, but I am serious about my distaste for the name Rachel Roth or even Raven Roth.

Then, depending on the material discussed, the post can either be tagged "DC comics" or "DCAMU", etc., along with the name of the material (if it is in my knowledge and if it is the focus of the discussion).

For the shipping tags, I will only use 5 shipdom tags, namely "#WallyRae", "#KFRae", "#DamiRae", "#JeriRae", and "#RobRae". I will kind of use the BBRae tag, but it will mostly be "#antiBBRae". For other Raven's relationships, the tag formula will be "#Raven x [character name]" for nonromantic relationships and "#Raven/[character name]" for (any potentially) romantic relationships, with the name being the full first name and surname of the character (for example, Richard Grayson, Joseph Wilson, and Wallace West). The character's name will also be tagged individually if their characterisation is discussed with importance. There is one thing to note about the "#RobRae" tag, though: It is actually an umbrella tag for all ships with any characters that have been Robin EXCEPT Damian, so posts about "#DickRae", "#JayRae", or "#TimRae". for example, will all be tagged with "#RobRae" in addition to "#Raven/[character name]". But the other 4 shipdom tags will not be tagged along with "#Raven/[character name]".

For my own types of Raven's content, at the moment, there will be 5 categories with the corresponding tags:

"#Commentary": Where I briefly and casually analyse and comment on a specific detail/plot/moment from DC comics or movies. If the detail/plot/moment alone is comprehensive or so major to the understanding of Raven as a character, the post will be a discussion in a more serious manner and tagged with "#Character Study" instead. Otherwise, if the detail/plot/moment is only a small fraction of a certain aspect of Raven's characteristion, the post will just be a "#Commentary" and only the compilation of details/plots/moments of that nature will be tagged as a "#Character Study" post.

"#Character Study": Where I delve into the canon characterisation of Raven, specifically, or Raven's relationships.

"#Fanfiction": Where I attempt to write fanfics, apparently; also the place for me to dump my fanfic ideas and prompts in general.

"#Character Concept": Where I suggest ideas or headcanons on how Raven or Raven's relationship(s) could be developed canonically, mostly using non-DC inspiration sources.

"#Meme": Simply where I make Raven-related memes, or jokes.

And that is all! This post will be updated as soon as my content plan has any changes. Also, to sum up the kind of Raven fan I am:

I am one of those 80s Raven enthusiasts. But I am fond of DCAMU Raven as well.

I am a multishipper, with my true pairings being the 80s WallyRae/KFRae, DamiRae, and JeriRae. The other ships are only for funsies, although I might be a bit too passionate about the potential of the 80s DickRae and New 52 TimRae.

Despite being a multishipper, canon BBRae really is not my cup of tea. But I do have my own interpretation on how BBRae should be, if for some reasons the pairing has to occur.

There is no fathoming the depth of hatred I feel for the name Rachel Roth or even Raven Roth.

Hope that you all enjoy my content!