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goddessofdandelions · 4 years

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Dark Academia Suggestions For Women

Books that are also movies:

Anne of Green Gables 1-4 by LM Montgomery (BBC’s Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Green Gables: the Sequel)

Orphan Anne Shirley is adopted by bachelor Matthew Cuthbert and his spinster sister Marilla Cuthbert in edwardian Canada and must learn to reconcile her romantic and imaginative nature in this coming of age story

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (Little Women (1994) or Little Women (2019))

A coming of age story following 4 sisters and their mother while their father is off at war. The main protagonist, Jo, is an especially romantic figure

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman (Practical Magic)

Two sister witches must cover up the murder of one of their abusive ex boyfriend while an agent is investigating his disappearance

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (Hugo)

Orphan Hugo befriends Isabelle who helps him unravel the mystery of his father’s automaton

Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield (Ballet Shoes)

Three orphan girls are taken in by an eccentric explorer and his niece, but once he’s gone they must take up performing arts careers to fend for themselves

Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day by Winifred Watson (Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day)

Miss Pettigrew, a governess, is accidentally sent to the wrong address by her agency and befriends a night club singer

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice (2005) or BBC’s Pride and Prejudice Mini Series)

Elizabeth Bennet and her sisters attempt to find love in Regency England, but Elizabeth and her love interest Mr Darcy make things more difficult than they need to be

Emma by Jane Austen (Emma (1995) or Emma (2020))

Emma Woodhouse fancies herself a matchmaker in Regency England, but quickly finds she knows little about love.

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (Sense and Sensibility (1995)

A coming of age story for the Dashwood sisters, who have lost their home but find love in Regency England

Other novels by Jane Austen

All of her novels have been adapted to screen. While all of her novels are good, I highlight these three because of their emphasis on female friendship and romanticism

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre has a troubling childhood but grows up to become a governess and fall in love with her benefactor in Regency England

The Help by Kathryn Stockett (The Help)

A white female journalist records the stories of two black women who work in white households during 1960′s America

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (BBC’s Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell mini series)

A historical fantasy following the last two magicians on earth in Napoleon-era England

Legally Blonde by Amanda Brown (Legally Blonde)

Attempting to impress her ex boyfriend, Elle Woods applies to and gets accepted to Harvard Law School where she tries to prove herself as more than just an airhead blonde.

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (A Little Princess)

Orphaned Sara finds herself adjusting from a life of wealth to a life of poverty and abuse working at a boarding school and comforts herself by imagining she is a princess.

Matilda by Roald Dahl (Matilda)

Young Matilda is a prodigy in an abusive household, sent to a school with an abusive headmistress. But when she discovers that she has magical abilities, she uses it to seek justice for herself and her friends.

A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket (Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events)

In an indeterminate time period, three orphans get moved from guardian to guardian as they are pursued by the villainous Count Olaf who wants their family fortune. Along the way they find themselves wrapped up in a secret society that has split into factions and gone to war with each other.

Movies:

The Mona Lisa Smile

When Katherine Watson takes a job as an art professor in a conservative town in the 1950′s she tries to teach her female students to become more assertive

Whisper of the Heart

Shizuku is a Japanese student at the end of her summer break who befriends an antique shop owner and his grandson after following a cat through the city. Inspired by the events she attempts to write a novel

Shakespeare in Love

A fictional account of a noblewoman who poses as a man in order to perform in a Shakespeare play, only to fall in love with the playwright and inspire future plays

Miss Potter

A hyperbolic account of Beatrix’s Potters life

Becoming Jane

A hyperbolic account of Jane Austen’s life

Ever After

A retelling of Cinderella set in renaissance era France and without magical elements, replacing the fairy godmother with Leonardo Da Vinci instead.

The Bookshop

Widowed Florence Green follows her dreams and opens a bookshop in the 1950s but unexpectedly finds herself at odds with the queen bee of the town who wanted the property for her own project.

Kiki’s Delivery Service

Coming of age story that follows 13 year old Kiki who, according to witch tradition, goes off to live on her own for a year to practice her magic. She sets up a delivery service but learns things will be harder than she anticipated.

Books:

*Some of which have movies that I either haven’t seen or didn’t personally like

The Girl with the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

A fictional account of the servant girl who inspired the real life painting by Vermeer

The Awakening by Kate Chopin

A truly bleak tale set in New Orleans at the end of the 19th century following Edna as she begins to have an awakening about feminism which affects her daily life. This is regarding as one of the first novels to primarily focus on the concept of feminism.

Agatha Christie Mysteries

Agatha Christie was so good at what she did that her books are still used today in toxicology classes and she largely helped define the mystery genre

Nancy Drew Mysteries by Carolyn Keene

Though written for children, the Nancy Drew books follow the amateur detective and her female friends as they solve mysteries in mid-20th-century America and the character has become a cultural icon.

Gathering Blue and Son from “The Giver Quartet” by Lois Lowry

Books 2 and 4 in the Giver Quartet. While books 1 and 3 are also good, books 2 and 4 are featured here because they have female protagonists. The books are part of a series, but only loosely connected and can be read as standalone books if desired. Gathering Blue follows Kira in a dystopian future as she makes a place for herself in her village through her ability to dye cloth, a skill which helps prevent her from being cast out for being disabled. Son, meanwhile, follows Claire who is looking for her son after he was taken from her.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

Follows Kit who moves from the Caribbean to Puritan Connecticut where she befriends an elderly spinster woman who is accused of witchcraft

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

A staple of dark academia, it tells the story of Victor Frankenstein who creates artificial life and is immediately horrified by his creation, who swiftly grows angry and vengeful towards his creator.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Another staple of dark academia, follows six students who study the classics. The narrator is an adult version of one of the students reflecting on the events that led to a murder.

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquival

Taking place in Mexico, Tita is being kept from her lover by her traditionalist mother. Tita expresses herself through her cooking which takes on magical properties.

The Inkheart Series by Cornelia Funke (Inkheart, Inkspell, and Inkdeath)

Follows Maggie and her book-worm father after she discovers her father has the ability to bring to life any book that he reads aloud. They are quickly swept off into the narrative of a fantasy novel.

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

Though part of a trilogy, the first novel is the most appropriate for dark academia, following a female protagonist (Lyra) in a historical fantasy setting as she unravels a mystery.

Music:

Florence Welch

Lana Del Rey

Lorde

Hozier

Enya

Alice Merton

Regina Spektor

Lenka

#dark academia #studyblr #romanticism #new romantics #light academia #aesthetic #feminism #dark academia women #reading list #movie list

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yikesola · 3 years

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Thanks for the tag @capriciouscrab 🥰

This was lovely! Just a heads up like I was a super voracious reader before I got sick and I still strongly identify with literary sensibilities, but my brain has made concentrating on written word soooo hard— I’ve been enjoying poetry and essays and short stories, and audiobooks, but yes ,, these book questions will be a little out of date lol

1- how many books are too many books in a series?

A trilogy is the perfect length I think, anything longer than that ought to really have a Reason (she says, fully loving narnia and anne of green gables and little house on the prairie and ASOIAF and hp 😭✌️)

2- what do you think about cliffhangers?

Fine at the end of chapters, if the like tension demands it. Terrible at the end of books, truly cruel

3- hardback or paperback?

Either, also good w ebooks!

4- least favourite book?

The Ladies of Missalonghi — you’re gonna have the audacity to rip off The Blue Castle and not even have the decency to keep the character motivations and ethics the same??!

5- Love Triangle, yes or no?

Eh not if played straight. I think love triangles can be interestingly approached— polyamory, or the two competitors falling in love while vying for the third person, or the triangle point choosing neither person— but idk…. I don’t mind tropes on sight, it’s all about how they’re Done y’know?

6- the most recent book you just couldn’t finish.

sooooo many aksjdks like I said, brain broke! So it’s not these book’s faults I haven’t finished them, I’m just Trying— Titanic Survivor and Today Will Be Different and Sick: A Memoir and In All It’s Fury

7- book you are currently reading.

Ahh wait, see above✨

8- last book you recommended to someone.

YWGTTN 😭 recommending it to all my non-phannie friends who I think could really benefit from the exercises

9- oldest book you read.

The oldest book I have on my shelves is “The Battle of Bunker Hill” a poetry printing from 1830, but the book that has been in my collection the longest is the copy of Holes I stole from my 4th grade class :)

10- the most recent book you read ?

again YWGTTN lmao Danny’s sure winning this round!

11- favourite author?

Alive and writing, I like Morgan Jerkins and Alison Bechdel quite a lot. Dead and gone I like LM Montgomery, Sylvia Plath, and Bess Streeter Aldrich

12- a book you dislike that everyone else seems to love.

The only thing popping into my head rn is The Night Circus but I feel mean saying it ;__; I’m sorry!

13- buying books or borrowing books?

Both! Public libraries are a saving grace in this world where places you can go and not expect to pay money to be are increasingly less and less available, and buying books means I get to have them on my shelves and revisit whenever I like :’)

14 - bookmarks or dogears?

Eh both, but usually I just grab like a spare receipt in my bag and use that

15- The book you can always reread?

So many but my mains are The Bell Jar, The Blue Castle, Fun Home

16- can you read while listening to music?

Oh it’s not can, it’s must 😭

17- one POV or multi POV?

Both good! Depends on the story itself

18- do you read book in one sitting or in multiple days?

Pshhhh multiple days, I did swallow YWGTTN whole but that was an exception and should not have been counted

19- who to tag

Im like a day late and a dollar short w this aksnfks so if you haven’t yet, and want to, please this is me tagging you! 💞

#tagged #friends

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isfjmel-phleg · 3 years

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December 2020 Books

Little Women, Little Men, Jo’s Boys, Eight Cousins, and Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott (reread)

This reread gave me a new appreciation for LW and its strength in depicting lifelike, complex characters (and as much as its romances have dominated adaptations and public perception, at its core it’s a novel of character development). The characters start to lose their realism in LM, and JB’s cast primarily feels like they’re filling roles more than living. I had forgotten how soapboxy Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom can be, but some of Alcott’s compelling characterization is still present (Mac Campbell a notable example).

Nomad by R. J. Anderson (reread)

I had forgotten a lot of this one and loved rereading it in preparation for Torch’s publication. Knowing now what I do about a certain character opened some foreshadowing and hints in the later chapters.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (reread)

I try to reread this every Christmas. Every year Dickens impresses me again.

The Girl with the Glass Bird by Esme Kerr

I wanted to love this one (ordinary child obligated to be a sort of servant to a more privileged child at a boarding school--I am literally writing this plot), but while I didn’t dislike it, it didn’t quite live up to my characterization expectations.

The Star of Kazan by Eva Ibbotson

Ibbotson’s depiction of turn-of-the-century Vienna is beautifully immersive--she makes me want to visit while simultaneously making me feel present there. Most of the plot was compelling, but I’m not a huge fan of Ibbotson’s approach to antagonists (rather Rowling/Dahl-esque, if you follow me) and would have preferred a more nuanced approach. (Accidentally-on-purpose causing someone to fall down stairs and having no remorse when that person is thought to be dead is okay if the victim is nasty???)

Enchanted Glass by Diana Wynne Jones

Not my favorite of Jones’s books but a fun read. Although I’m still trying to process the unfortunate implications of a twist at the end.

Mixed Magics by Diana Wynne Jones

While I didn’t love every short story in this collection, getting to see more of Chrestomanci and the various children he acquires (especially Cat and Tonino’s relationship) was the best part.

There is a villain named Master Spiderman. No, really.

Greenglass House by Kate Milford

Gorgeous setting, fascinating premise, but I can’t put my finger on why this one was rather a slog to read. And I’m not sure if the twist feels sufficiently credible for the book’s established world or not.

The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery (reread)

Reread on a whim while I was waiting for my ride to the airport and ended up accompanying me on the trip.

Octagon Magic by Andre Norton

Atmospheric children’s book involving a lonely young heroine, a mysterious old house, and a dollhouse that somehow enables time travel, with some surprisingly mature treatment of themes about interpersonal connection--in short, my sort of book.

The Velvet Room by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

Comparable thematically to Octagon Magic (without the time travel/magic element) and written with no less depth and atmosphericness. A book I wish I had could have read as a child.

Peppermints in the Parlor by Barbara Brooks Wallace

Has all the Victorian gothic melodrama that my child self would have eaten up. While it’s not the most plausible plot in the world, Wallace pulls off this sort of story so well that I as an adult reader enjoyed it as much as I would have years ago.

Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography by Laura Ingalls Wilder, edited and annotated by Pamela Smith Hill

So. much. fascinating information about Wilder’s life and how it informed and differed from the consciously fictionalized version she creates in the Little House books. I especially loved all the photographs of Wilder’s characters’ real-life counterparts.

#random personal stuff #thank you so much for staying with me on this project of reviewing everything read this year

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batrachised · 29 days

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i realized tonight the blatantly obvious conclusion of how neatly Katherine Brooke's life parallels Anne's - she's orphaned at a young age, before being placed in a different home, is called an ugly child, studies at Queen's while boarding - if you look at the significant beats of Anne's life, Katherine's match to a tee except for the fact that Katherine is not loved. There's even a direct callback to the end of Anne of Green Gables in this quote from Katherine to Anne, which like every Katherine Brooke quote, is heartwrenching:

I've laughed at your 'bend in the road.' But the trouble is there aren't any bends in my road. I can see it stretching straight out before me to the sky-line...endless monotony.

Anne's imagination and ability to infuse life with romanticism is globally famous, but here we have an example of someone who did not have that ability or essential support, and the result was a bitter struggle for survival. Anne is someone who finds the magic in the every day, who soars on the wings of her imagination, and who revels in living. Katherine is someone without hope whose soul is raw from existing.

Anne of Windy Poplars was the last book published in the Anne series, written significantly after a good chunk of them. And looking at these passages, I can't help but wonder if they represent older LM Montgomery talking at her younger self. Anne of Green Gables, written by a young LM Montgomery, dreamily talks of bends in the road; Katherine Brooke, written by an older Montgomery, sees life as nothing but endless monotony.

#katherine brooke #aogg #lm montgomery

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ghostofbambifanfiction · 5 years

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Hi Sarah! If it's no trouble could you tell me which named AWAE characters were not in the books and are show-only?

Hi anon! I hope you’re ready for an involved answer!

Characters who are NOT in the books at all

— Cole

— Bash

— Mary

— Elijah

— Ka'Kwet and her family

— Jeannie (Matthew definitely NEVER had a romance in the books, Marilla did but she and John Blythe parted over an argument, not because her mother died)

— Nate and Mr. Dunlop

— Miss Rose

— Matthew and Marilla's brother Michael

(I have omitted others, like the grouchy reporter Anne and Diana converse with in the pub because he’s less important and tied into the gold scam storyline which never happened in the books either, hence Nate and Mr. Dunlop)

There are several other characters who are mentioned or feature in the books but who differ greatly in the show. Apologies if I leave anyone out or forget.

— Matthew hires a boy named Jerry Boute in the books but he is rarely featured and does not have much dialogue. We can assume that Jerry Baynard was born from this minor character.

— Miss Stacy is a lot more outgoing and progressive in the show than in the books (I prefer her in the show!)

— Aunt Jo is written as an old spinster but not as an LGBT character (the first book was published in 1908). She does, however, dote upon Anne.

— Diana’s parents exist but are rarely mentioned.

— Billy Andrews in the books is essentially a silent, round faced farm boy who is hardly ever mentioned and is generally quite amenable. He proposes to Anne once via his sister who asks her at a sleepover, even though he like, never speaks to her it’s hilarious. Definitely not the monstrous Billy from the show!

— Charlie Sloane, who (it’s obvious from previews etc) will definitely have a crush on Anne this year, has seemed nice enough in the show so far. Mostly he blends into the background. In the books he also has a crush on Anne but he’s a pompous little turd who Anne finds very unattractive (whereas the kid who plays Charlie in the show is a cherub-faced sweetie). He could still turn out to be a pompous turd but I’m suspecting he won’t. Who knows?

Other characters like Anne, Diana, Matthew, etc have been fleshed out a lot in the show. Book!Anne’s trauma is rarely touched upon, and even dismissed as essentially not a big deal in her adulthood by a character named Miss Cornelia (who I otherwise adored, but that line will forever piss me off). Book!Diana does not have any particular aspirations besides getting married. Gilbert has two living parents and never leaves Avonlea to work on a steamer. He does deliver many babies over the course of his life, including all seven of his children with Anne, but never as a teenage softboi on the sun-drenched streets of Trinidad.

This was a lot, haha. But I would recommend the books to anyone!! They were as progressive as I believe they possibly could have been for the time in which they were published! Anne’s education, career and female friendships are major points of focus throughout the series, not just her relationship with Gilbert. The show is very different but I also truly believe that it is in keeping with LM Montgomery’s spirit. Were she alive today I have no doubt that there would be Coles and Bashes and Ka’Kwets in her stories.

#Anne with an E #Anne of Green Gables #awae spoilers #spoilers #Anne with an E spoilers

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kanadabiscuits · 4 years

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2 & 19

Yay! Thank you!! From the book meme

2. top 5 books of all time?

Oh gosh.... I am SO bad at definitive lists!!! But here goes (in no particular order because that is just not something I can do to my babies):

The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien. Going with the full series here, but if forced to chose, my favourite will always be The Two Towers. Tolkien was my first love when I started to read for myself. Mum read me the Hobbit when I was six or seven and that was it. Tolkien’s words and imagery runs through my veins, it is everywhere in my timeline, it is a common ground with all my friends... it is at the top of this list because that is where it belongs.

Foucault’s Pendulum, Umberto Eco. This book has stayed with me so strongly over the years and sparked a long-standing appreciation for the intelligence and wit of Umberto Eco.

The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern. So lush and descriptive, the magic woven in her words captivated me as no other book had in years. The story and the atmosphere of her world lingered with me like the filaments of a dream. I adored this book.

Anne of Green Gables, LM Montgomery. This series was my everything growing up, I loved the books, watched the musical repeatedly over the years in Charlottetown, was in the musical a couple of times, but mostly I remember being maybe eight or nine, old enough to read by myself, but curling up with before bed on the big floor cushions in the living room with my mother as she would read and the characters would come to life, made more beloved by the fact that it was something that was ours.

Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams/The Narnia series, CS Lewis. Calling this one a tie because I’ve read them both so many times I have lost count. I was obsessed with the Narnia books as a child and they are very much part of the fabric of my being (in much the same way as is The Lord of the Rings). Hitchhikers is filled with savage wit, rampant anger at deadlines, and abject lunacy of the finest kind. It makes me laugh as no other book has before or since.

Honourable mentions: Last Chance to See (Douglas Adams), Come, Thou Tortoise (Jessica Grant), Anne McCaffery’s PERN series, oooohhhhh so many others. But I will stop there. :)

19. most disliked popular books.

OH THIS ONE IS SO EASY!!

The Da Vinci Code and The Fifty Shades trilogy.

Fifty Shades is self-explanatory and a bit of cheat since although it was popular is was also popular to revile. But I still think it is the biggest pile of money-making dross I have ever had the misfortune of reading excerpts of. My friends used to torment me by sending random snippets in blind messages so I would read them without knowing what they were.

If an AI had been raised on nothing but porn and books comprised of randomly generated words, it would still struggle to write a book as terrible as these ones.

The Da Vinci Code, on the other hand, was just such a schlocky regurgitation of several other previously published books and a dollop of conspiracy theory mixed with genuinely interesting history, and when it came out I got very tired very quickly of people treating it like gospel truth and using it as platform from which to preach their newfound expertise.

One of my very favourite novels of all time is Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco (written years before TDC) and there is a passage near the beginning, in which bored editors at a publishing house that deals with self-published conspiracy theorists, where they sum up the entirety of TDC (not specifically, just eerily predictive) and then discard it as too awful and banal to publish. I used to say I was grateful to Eco for inoculating me against everything Dan Brown.

#book meme #spaceorphan18

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courfeyracs-swordcane · 4 years

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Hi yes hello: 7, 13, 14, 17, 18? 💙💙💙

7. Which character that you’ve written is most like yourself?

HIGHKEY Milton from the lesbian vampires is just. Mood if I was allo he’s really just out there Doing His Best and not noticing anything ever

13. Which authors or styles do you try to emulate in your writing?

Depends on which thing I’m writing? The lesbian vampires has some kind of vibes that I don’t really know what they are? And there’s another one that is VERY L.M. Montgomery on purpose but it’s mostly just characters and vibes rn lmao

14. Would you want your books to be made into a TV show or movie? Why or why not?

I mean. Yes? But I also very much wanna do the making if I can? I just think that would be fun

17. Is there a specific category or genre your writings generally fall into? Which?

Found family and absolutely ridiculous/overconvoluted shenanigans! That’s basically all I know how to do but it’s fun and funky

18. Would any characters from one of your works go well with your others?

Okay so the LM Montgomery one originally started as an Edwardian au Peab but it’s evolved so much since then I think it would be very funny to see how everyone would react to their counterparts?? Like Natalia is Victoria but like. Functional, and Finian is Elliot and Chaffinch combined with a spear, and Jim is somehow a stupider but also more functional Jack, and Richmond is Ben who’s just. An edgy dumbass Younger Sibling ™ lmao. Elise is also Chaffinch but Celia she’s BABY and would highkey look up to Celia

#<3<3<3 #but yellow #everydayatleast

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dragonofyang · 5 years

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From the Sock Puppet’s Mouth

Well folks, good news and bad news.

Good news: the ABTV interview on March 4th confirmed for us that WEP is the reason for the last-minute changes and that certain things were fought tooth and nail for until they came down and axed it.

Bad news: WEP is still using the EPs as their meat shields to hide behind, and despite not being really able to refuse, Joaquim Dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery still said some fucked up shit in this interview and the one before. And we probably should gird our loins for the next interview with Let’s Voltron!

But Yang, why in the fuck are we not going after the EPs, then?

The answer to that and why this is happening is three little letters, my friends.

NDA.

Non-disclosure agreements.

AKA the bane of your existence. And ours. And almost certainly JDS, LM, voice actors, animators, and literally anybody who has to comply with the season 8 we got back in December and the resulting fallout.

These are fairly standard in lots of situations where you’ll be working with confidential material, stuff like stories, military paperwork, movie production, that sort of thing. They generally tell you that you can’t spill the beans until a certain date when the contract expires, or when the information becomes public knowledge and the need for secrecy is lifted. Pretty standard in the entertainment business, keeps people from getting spoiled to trade secrets or important plotlines and ensures that you can trust your employees with whatever you need done for the project in question.

One other thing that these pesky little pieces of paper do is give your employer (say, the owner of a franchise or a superior officer), the ability to order you what to say just as easily as what not to. Don’t believe me? Look up interviews with the people who were in The Last Airbender (yeah… THAT movie). During production and when it was new, they all said how excited they were to work on the movie and be a part of it, but once those magical dates came by to free them of their legal obligations, they spilled more tea than the American revolutionaries did back in Boston. As soon as they wouldn’t get sued, they changed their tune about working on TLA.

Sometimes you just don’t like a project, sometimes your boss is a dick, whatever, but the fact is, if you sign one of those little things titled “Non-Disclosure Agreement”, you are bound by law to say whatever your boss tells you to. It’s very much a “they say ‘jump’, you say ‘how high’” situation. The only time this sort of shit doesn’t apply is if it implicates you in a crime. So like, your boss can’t embezzle money and then tell you to say you did it, or that you helped, or whatever. If it means you’ll get pressed charges, then you’re free to stand up and say “fuck this noise” and leave.

But JDS and LM aren’t being forced to admit to a crime, as heinous as some of what they’ve said in the past two ABTV interviews was. I’ll admit, I saw red the first time I heard the interviews on February 25 and March 4, but ya know fuckin’ what? That was the goal. Those interviews were meant to be a targeted blow against those of us in the VLD fandom who want the real s8 and for the characters to get their stories told correctly, rather than the slipshod stoic nonsense that ultimately created a story with zero meaning.

WEP/World Events Productions/Bob Koplar holds the Voltron intellectual property. JDS and LM are their puppets right now because unless they’re ordered to admit to a crime or otherwise break the law, they could be ruined legally, financially, and closed off from their trade. Would it be nice if they stuck to the scruples they displayed back when the show first started? Fuck yeah. I’d love it if they said, “screw it, here’s the real s8 with the heroine’s journey and the parallel storylines and the ending you deserved to see and get catharsis with.”

Fact is, they can’t, but we, who have never signed an NDA with WEP, DreamWorks, or Netflix or whoever the fuck else is involved, can.

They’re lying, yes, and they said despicable things that would make anybody’s blood boil, but the fact is they’re just the unfortunate human shields that will let WEP get away scot-free and it sets a very dangerous precedent about what happens when a story is being told and someone up top doesn’t like what they see. The narrative LM and JDS are being told to spin is that when the writers left, they went ham and ruined the story and that the real season 8 would be worse than the concoction we got on December 14. LM and JDS have said awful shit as WEP tries to demoralize fans and chase them off from going after the original season 8 and deflecting blame off where it should be aimed. But why would they have to write a story that’s animated and would have been completed before the writers left? LM said it herself that animation is extremely ahead of schedule compared to releases, and if you’re a fan of HTTYD like myself, you’ll know that the third movie’s release date had to be pushed back multiple times to account for the animation schedule because they failed to accurately project when it would be complete, and so pushed it back as opposed to releasing a shoddy product.

It’s simple enough to realize that the story being spun is just logically fallible and factually untrue, but because so much of what’s been said has been attacking the fandom, it’s easy to believe it. I almost wanted to believe that, too. It’s easy when there’s already a face and a name to blame. It’s harder to dig through stinging nettles, even if you know there’s a pot of gold under it all. Luckily I brought work gloves and have friends who know how to wield gardening shears.

We knew before that there was last minute edits to season 8, and @leakinghate did an excellent breakdown of that here in case you want to settle in for a nice read to see what should have been. But the interview on March 4th confirmed multiple times that the problem with the changes and story didn’t come from the EPs or even Dreamworks. The pushback came from the IP owners. JDS says so right toward the beginning, about 12 minutes in when he’s talking about Adam and Shiro’s romance. JDS and LM both discuss how it was the IP owners who gave the order to change an already-storyboarded and approved plotline for Shiro, which directly negates their tweet on March 1 claiming that the store has no creative control and the letter Bob Koplar wrote to a few fans, also written March 1, which claimed the same thing and seemed intent on absolving him as a responsible party for s8. Sure, the person tweeting and the person handling orders might not have to approve things, but that account and the store are both owned by WEP, which is easily proven if you dial WEP’s number. But the IP holders got discussed multiple times throughout the entire episode, more towards the first half than the second, which is when what they’re saying gets really screwy in terms of logic and what they’ve said before and general bullfuckery. Until JDS and LM are thanking the hosts for the unprecedented two hour interview and JDS says, “I don’t agree with myself” at 43:03, they were thanking the fans and apologizing for what happened and explaining that it wasn’t them or Dreamworks, but rather the IP holders who were pushing back.

Don’t believe me?

Click to 12:10 of the March 4 interview. JDS talks about Adam and Shiro’s relationship and how it was originally meant to be portrayed, and at the 12:50 mark he says that they got pushback about their relationship, not from Dreamworks, but from “other controlling parties with Voltron.”

Click to 18:52, where JDS mentions how they didn’t have the position as being creators of the IP. He also points out that, “We were, for all intents and purposes, like, started as a show for boys 6 to 11 to sell as much toys as possible.”

Does that phrase bother you as much as it bothers me?

Because it should.

Ever since VLD ended and the fans started pushing back against what got published as season 8, the EPs have been silent, at least for the first two-ish months. They didn’t say a word anywhere publicly about the show or if they liked it, because their NDAs probably had an “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all” clause. Generally, that’s the case because part of your job is to build good PR and hype up your project. Don’t believe me? Look at how they were after literally every other season, they came out immediately saying how much they loved it and how much they hoped the fans would too, and when there was pushback about Lotor’s abuse and the colony plot they were like, “please trust us, we want to do his story justice” even when it probably would have served them better to remain silent.

Not with S8.

Until these interviews, nobody talked. And when they finally did start talking?

They all kept saying the same things.

“This is a show for boys and their dads” and “this is a show meant to sell toys to little boys.”

At no point before this did anybody on the production team say anything even remotely related.

You can look for yourself, but I guarantee you won’t find anything. “Boy toy show” has been the go-to phrase for everybody ever since the silence around season 8 broke, and it’s not their words.

It is, without a doubt, from the IP holder.

We were promised that Lotor’s arc would continue and that “there’s a lot that is at play in his brain and his mind,” in the GeekDad article about him. Narratively, Lotor and Allura were meant to foil Zarkon and Honerva/Haggar. We should’ve gotten an alchemist-versus-alchemist showdown and a cool Lotor and Lance arc. Many things that were built up in seasons 1 through 6 were dropped, and if you refer back to Hate’s meta “Seeking Truth in Darkness”, you’ll find her analysis on what was cut, why, and the plot she pieced together based on the inconsistencies in the details of the season 8 that got released. In the latest interview, JDS said, “We were just trying to break the trope, our own trope. You know what I mean? Like Voltron was its own trope and the sort of little nook that we inhabited was, like, sort of boys toys was its own weird tropey situation.”

And despite all this talk of family and love and complexity and breaking barriers, we received two things from December 14 and on: VLD season 8, and silence.

Complete and utter silence.

The VAs were trotted out to face the wrath of the fans at SAC Anime 2019 and there was nary a word to be heard from the EPs, Dreamworks, WEP, Netflix… Nobody had anything to say about the final season of Voltron. The VAs even commented that there were things they were and weren’t allowed to say. And if they wanted to say anything, their NDAs and general social etiquette prevented them from saying whatever was actually on their mind, because I guarantee you nobody happy about the season would have kept silent. Even when all the season 7 backlash happened, JDS and LM asked us as a fandom to please wait and see, because there would be narrative payoff.

Which is why the latest two interviews with ABTV are all the more rightfully infuriating.

In the February 25 interview, LM specifically says that the initial pitch was to kill everybody, everybody would die and that would be the end of it, and that they had to back off from that. After the broken promises of season 8, that’s pretty damn believable to a fandom who’s rightfully hurting and grieving what could have finished a great show. But then with this March 4 interview, she says that she wanted to go Sailor Moon with it and have Allura come back as a baby after sacrificing herself. Kind of hard for those two stories to mesh when the person LM says would raise Allura would also have been one of the ones to die in the initial pitch.

So what exactly is the truth there?

Frankly, I think neither of those ideas is the truth. At least completely.

Why? A) It sounds like a super early pitch idea and B) because their general behavior disagrees with every interview leading up to season 8. Because if LM and JDS were proud of this product that got released, they would have said so and behaved as normal, if maybe a little more reserved due to fandom backlash. Because they wouldn’t be silent and only coming out with interviews after two months and several of #TeamPurpleLion metas that poke massive holes in what exists of season 8, CallVoltron has been sending letters, and #FREEVLDS8 garnered over 30,000 signatures. WEP has been trying to do damage control ever since we as a fandom started putting two and two together about where these disastrous last-minute changes came from, and only when the petition got updated to include WEP as a point of focus did WEP start trying to discredit the fans and meta writers who were coming too close to the truth. Here is a complete list of everything that’s happened since December 14, to give you an idea of just how wild of a ride this has been.

One main consistent thing throughout everything that’s happened since season 8 dropped is that everybody from the EPs up is lying, whether by omission or outright or through someone else, people have been lying like mad. WEP doesn’t want you to know that they own the IP and have strong input, despite confirming it by liking a tweet on February 13 and how you can be directed to their store if you call WEP’s phone number. WEP doesn’t want you to know that they gave the original season 8 the axe. WEP got scared that we got close and so they trotted out their EPs after two months of silence to try and break those of us hunting for the truth. These two interviews, which, mind you, came after what was scheduled to be the last one.

The official story continues to fall apart with every word of these last two interviews, too. JDS says that they were crafting the epilogue for season 8 during the aftermath of season 7, but according to him they completed season 8 back in June.

Again: which is the truth?

I stand with @leakinghate and the rest of #TeamPurpleLion and think that the original season 8 was completed back in June, but that the backlash from s7 and the general disapproval of a story of empowerment caused the truly-eleventh-hour edits to s8. The EPs are being forced to lie to you due to their contracts, WEP wants to keep hiding and lying and calling their customers liars and mocking them. But the funny thing is that the more intricate the lie, the harder it is to keep it straight versus the truth, as evidenced by how JDS and LM seem to be confusing what was in s8 versus what was pitched versus what they were told to say.

So what’s it all mean, then?

It means you should be watching and writing letters and calling WEP and calling them out publicly whenever WEP and Bob Koplar lie to the consumers and customers that express dissatisfaction with their service and their products.

WEP forgets that there is more to fandom than diehard dads and young boys.

The more they ignore the majority of their consumers, the more money they lose, the more faith they lose, and the less people will want to follow their future projects (like if they decide to do an MFE spinoff). Let’s Voltron is coming up with a new episode with JDS and LM, and they’re hoping to get it up soon. I’d just like to remind y’all that it’s scripted and pre-recorded, it’s not live, and it benefits from being the official Voltron podcast and has to keep good relations with WEP in order to retain that status. So don’t stop calling, write letters, hell just leave a Facebook or Twitter review of the business to express your satisfaction or lack thereof with how WEP treats customers and its show and everything. After all, the road to s8 is paved with honesty.

@felixazrael @leakinghate @crystal-rebellion @voltronisruiningmylife

#dragon's ramblings #vld #voltron: legendary defender #TeamPurpleLion #FREEVLDS8 #free vld s8 #vld meta #strafe

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iristial · 4 years

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I liked LM Montgomery’s works while growing up, but I never really finished any series she wrote, so I decided to finish them. I don’t think I’ll ever be too old for her books

While Anne of Green Gables is one of my favourite books for its spirit of relentless optimism and heart, Emily of New Moon is raw in quality - never flinching from the fact that Emily is just as flawed as any other person in the world, but just because she has pride, immense spunk (which can translate into rudeness, sometimes) and other little nitpicks doesn’t mean she can’t be a character I like

There’s some phrases I didn’t like, but those were values from the time period the book was written in, so I can mostly look over them. Mostly (it rubs me in the wrong way about how a “woman’s place is at home”. A woman can be way more than that - but given that Emily goes on to make her own living through her writing and her spirit isn’t something to be “tamed”, I’ll accept the phrase as one being thought of by the far too traditional and narrow-minded members of the Murray family)

Maybe I’ll know once I get around to the other two books, but I don’t understand why Emily is taken to Teddy, even if I were to say “she’s free to like anyone she wants”. Teddy has this image of an ideal that doesn’t get very elaborated on. Sometimes it feels like he’s the reflection of Emily’s artistic qualities, others he feels unattainable. There are hints of what he’s like, with how he isn’t upfront in emotions like Perry and Ilse, and this one moment I didn’t like (I understand he was a child at the time, but drawing Perry on a gallows can hardly be considered funny)

On the other hand, I like Perry a lot more. He’s fiery and ambitious and the first to march in for a friend. Also he has his own share of faults (like not knowing where to stop, and his determination outrunning his actual ability at times), but since when did a perfect person exist in the world

Just reading and knowing that Emily doesn’t end up with Perry makes me want to write fanfiction for them. It’s a crime that only one piece for them seems to exist

#14shyx #emily of new moon #western media ramble #this doesn't encompass all my thoughts for this book - i'm just pointing at the major ones #i didn't mention this in the above but i rather dread the dean/emily part in the last book #imagine having a man who's the same as your father telling you - a twelve year old girl - that he 'might wait for you' aka he's thinking of #marrying you - also he says 'your life is mine' just because he saved her from falling off a cliff #...dude. romance doesn't work like that. nope nope nope

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kcwcommentary · 5 years

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VLD8x09 – “Knights of Light Part 1”

8x09 – “Knights of Light Part 1”

The first time I watched this episode, I spent most of the episode being nothing but confused. This time, there is still a lot that confuses me, but I’m able to focus in on what does so. This episode retcons what has previously been depicted as the Lions’ consciousness. Now, the void that Shiro spent seasons three through six in is no longer the Black Lion’s consciousness. It’s just a miscellaneous realm of connectivity between everyone in the universe’s minds. In the style of how what was previously described as the Black Lion’s consciousness was animated, now similar appearing locations exist inside Honerva’s mind. The way universal consciousness is depicted in this episode is so uncontrolled that the episode has the Paladins arrive at Honerva’s mind twice during their attempt to get to her, or if the first mind they get to wasn’t Honerva’s then it was someone that isn’t identified. They get pulled into Honerva’s mind, but then the things characters say indicate that they’re not in Honerva’s mind. Basically, this episode’s production couldn’t keep clear about its locations. Maybe that’s just a problem with writing disembodied, nebulousness like this: you lose sense of the logistics of the action.

I’m also super annoyed that this episode now adds a second level of blamelessness to Honerva and Zarkon. The show has long been pushing the idea that neither of them are to blame for their actions because they were externally influenced by being poisoned by quintessence. But now, this episode says that they weren’t to blame because they were possessed by rift entities. I am not okay with a story telling me that it’s not the fault of abusive, torturous, genocidal dictators that they abuse, torture, and commit genocide.

The episode starts with Allura having another dream, floating in darkness. There’s a voice calling her name, I think it’s Honerva? Allura wakes up, Coran and Lance by her bed in the medical bay. Coran asks her about the entity, and Allura says, “I did what needed to be done. […] This entity, it is connected to Honerva in some way. I believe we can use it.” Coran goes patriarchal, saying, “I swore to your father I would look after you, but I fear I may have let him down.” Because how dare a woman make her own decisions.

Coran says, “This is the path of darkness.” We get lots of supposedly ominous statements like this in this part of the story, but none of it really amounts to anything. It’s certainly not foreshadowing, nor is it used as set-up to be undermined. It’s not as if the story is having it seem like the rift entity is dangerous only to reveal, as I suggested last commentary as having been a potential better story, that the entity isn’t dangerous, just upset at being imprisoned and hurt by Honerva. Nothing like that happens in this story. It’s just the entity is miscellaneously dangerous, and then the danger to Allura never happens.

I still think the way gravity works on the Atlas is odd. Shiro floats through a hallway up to a door, and once at the door, he steps down onto the floor. There’s no gravity in the center of the hallway, but there’s gravity along the sides of the hallway. It comes off to me as nonsense. Shiro opens the door and inside are the Paladins and Coran. “You wanted to see me?” Shiro asks. This again emphasizes how Shiro is not part of the team. The rest of them had this big conversation without including him in it until now.

Keith says, “We think we might have a way to find Honerva.” Allura tells Shiro, “The entity has bonded me to Honerva. The link is there whether we use it or not.” I guess this is just more miscellaneous, unexplained space magic. The entity isn’t really defined in this show. We’ve seen the entities in the past be aggressive, we’ve seen it merge with others of its kind to fight. That was presented as being a threat (3x07 “The Legend Begins). Now, we’ve seen it having been inside Tova, but precisely what it did in him wasn’t explained. I guess maybe the show is saying the entity is just there to let Honerva control and kill the Colony Alteans? That doesn’t make the entity really seem inherently threatening in and of itself though. That’s just using the entity as a mechanism to say this is how Honerva can control people. That’s Honerva, not the entity, being threatening.

Allura says (and Lance looks super angry while she speaks), “I believe if the Paladins connect using the shared consciousness of Voltron, we may be able to travel through the void and into Honerva’s mind.”

I have a huge problem with this. This is feels like a massive retcon to what “the void” has been shown as in the past. This is connected back to 5x03 “Postmortem,” in which all five Paladins used their bayards in Voltron. In that episode, Voltron is being attacked by a plant-virus and Pidge says, “Listen, this virus is affecting Voltron on a submolecular level. To drive it out, we have to tap into the quantum energy that binds us all to Voltron.” Allura then responds, “The bayards, they amplify each Paladin’s life force. They might provide enough power to drive out the virus.” The five of them put their bayards in their respective Lions’ bayard slots, and then they all appear within “the void.” The void is in “Postmortem” and in every instance that has dealt with Shiro and the Black Lion’s bond, like 2x07 “Space Mall” and 6x06 “All Good Things,” been about the Paladins and Voltron. The void has not been some otherworldly location separate from the Lions/Voltron. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever for the void to now be connected to Honerva. Honerva is not a Paladin. She has never been a Paladin. The psychic space of the Lions/Voltron should have absolutely nothing to do with her.

I can totally understand why people would see this episode and, on this alone, think that this is evidence of a massive change in the season’s plot really late into the season’s production. I can see how there’s a suggestion here of a revised story where originally the Paladins went into the psychic space of Voltron having something to do with Shiro and his having been stored by the Black Lion in her psychic space. If the void is now just some nebulous otherworld that does not belong to the Lions, then it completely erases the previously stated fact that the Black Lion kept Shiro in its consciousness. But the show’s use of the void in the past has been fairly explicit that that is what was happening. So, this episode contradicts severely with past episodes.

That’s not to say that the executive producers and writers of this show would have any problem with writing this story to contradict previously written story. They don’t seem to have any real desire to maintain continuity and consistency in the writing for this show. Since most of the plot of this series seems like the EPs and writers were mostly just winging it as they went along, I don’t think they cared that this violates what’s been established in the story. Sometimes, I honestly don’t think that Joaquim Dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery were even interested in telling a story. I think they just wanted to do story-less animation. So many times, this show feels like they were trying to do nothing more than to make some Voltron: Defender of the Universe AU fanart. They certainly did not construct a coherent, cohesive narrative. Maybe that’s part of what angers me so much about VLD. I’m a writer. I love storytelling. I love animation, but I come to animation as being a medium through which a story can be told. JDS and LM saw this project as animation first and foremost, and storytelling was only secondary, at best. The story of this show was only something they were forced to do in order to be allowed to make animation. I don’t think they really cared about telling a story.

Back to this episode. Pidge says, “That could in theory give us access to her physical location as well as key information on how to defeat her.” I’m still stuck on how they would see entering Voltron’s psychic space would have anything to do with Honerva. This is just feels forced.

Keith says, “Honerva is capable of creating galactic komars, wormholes, Robeasts,” I know this show doesn’t do logic, but Honerva’s “galactic komar” was dependent on the Robeasts. How many Robeasts did she create from the statues at Oriande? I know, the show doesn’t show us so that it can have an endless supply for whenever the writers want to pull a new one out of the bag and not have to keep track of the logistics of them all. All of the Robeasts used in 8x06 “Genesis” should be out of the story. Oriande and the white hole went boom, so none of them there should have survived (though since Merla pops up again, I guess they did). The ones used as part of this “galactic komar” though have been found; that’s where the four of the six Colony Alteans now onboard the Atlas came from. So, did the Atlas just leave those Robeasts laying on those respective planets? Are they just sitting there waiting for Honerva to reclaim them? Otherwise, how is the “galactic komar” still a threat since it was built out of tech (the mechas and the Olkari cubes) that are destroyed or no longer functioning?

Keith continues, “And now, Lotor and his mech are out there somewhere.” Again, this show presents this story as if Lotor is actually alive, but we’ll soon be shown that he’s a melted corpse. It does make the season feel like it was re-edited. If it wasn’t re-edited, then this is absolutely the creative team for this show repetitiously manipulating the audience. If they hadn’t already proven themselves to be more than willing to engage in audience manipulation, especially when it comes to Lotor’s part in the show’s story, then I might be more willing to give more weight to the possibility that this was re-edited. I can see JDS, LM, and the writers in a meeting saying to write the season’s story to make it look like Lotor is alive only to surprise twist! he’s been dead the whole time. They wouldn’t care about the inconsistency that writing this season that way would have because their goal would be to create the surprise twist! that they seem to think is how you create a story. And it would make sense that they would think that that is how you create a story if creating that story was always secondary, at best, to their goals with this project.

Keith says, “We don’t have any other leads. It might take lifetimes for another opportunity like this to come around.” Are you kidding me? Keith thinks that Honerva is going to sit out and do nothing for “lifetimes?” Remember, they’re saying they need to do this in order to find Honerva, that’s the opportunity of a lifetime: a chance to find her. But if Honerva’s not done doing what she plans to do, then she’ll show up again, thus they will have found her by her just continuing whatever it is she’s doing. This line of dialog is just not written well.

Shiro speaks. “I spent a lot of time in the infinite void.” Yes, you did, and that void was inside the Black Lion, not some otherworld that is connected to Honerva. “And if you face Honerva in the void—” They shouldn’t be able to because how is Honerva able to be in the Lions’/Voltron’s psychic space?

Lance says, “We’re messing with powers we don’t fully understand.” Unfortunately, the writers of this show don’t fully understand those powers either because they didn’t bother to define those powers.

Coran says, “It’s been a long time since it was only the seven of us in a room together.” That’s because the writers didn’t bother to continue to write you guys as the main characters.

The Paladins get in their Lions. Allura has a flash of Honerva’s face and screams. She then has a vision of Honerva and Merla floating in a hallway. It makes me think of how the Shiro-clone had visions of Honerva going to Oriande in 6x01 “Omega Shield.” Unlike with Allura, it couldn’t be that the clone had a rift entity in him. I’m still wondering why exactly the clone was able to see Honerva in that episode. The initial blast of Allura seeing an outline of Honerva’s face made it seem like Honerva was directly trying to access Allura, but then the vision of Honerva floating down a hallway would suggest Honerva was just doing her thing and Allura was eavesdropping. Even within just a couple of seconds, this show seems to contradict itself.

The show then cuts to a total tonal dissonance by having Veronica and Iverson discussing Shiro’s win at arm-wrestling while having a “robot arm.” I really like (the barely included) Curtis in the background turned in his seat and listening to this conversation while having an adorkable smile.

So, Voltron forms, the Paladins do their joint bayard use. The animation team was clearly lazy and just reused a shot from the animation in 5x03 “Postmortem.” You can tell that it’s reused animation because Keith is currently the Black Paladin. Keith, though he has the black bayard, wears red armor. In the animation of the bayards being used here in “Knights of Light Part 1,” the user of the black bayard has black armor, just like he did in “Postmortem.” So, in this particular shot here in “Knights of Light Part 1,” that’s Shiro’s arm, not Keith’s.

Everything glows and then turns dark. Then the Paladins enter the void. Allura declares that they “must travel through that light.” Generic, but okay. She says, “The entity draws me toward it.” That implies that either the entity has some agency or that for some reason the entity is unwillingly attracted toward Honerva. (I really hate that to continue to discuss this episode, I have to accept the retcon that the Lions’/Voltron’s psychic space is not the Lions’ consciousness but some otherworld that Honerva is connected to.)

The Paladins use their suits’ jetpacks to move toward the light. I know it’s a minor matter, but they’re not physically in this location right now; they’re sitting in their Lions. So, why write them to look like they’re using their jetpacks to move through space? They get to the light, which fills the screen, and then dissipates into normal looking space. Lance says, “What is this place? It’s like I can hear what the universe is thinking.” What? This show is going to write the universe itself to be sentient? I imagine that this line really is nothing but the writers thinking they’re being profound when really it’s just them being nonsensical.

Pidge invokes the Olkari having said everything is made of the same energy. Hunk replies, “So, thoughts are linked across some kind of, what, cosmic connection?” I’m so uninterested in this. The psychic space used to seem special, that it was a manifestation of the Lions’ consciousness. Now, the void is just some generic overmind of the universe. The implication of this is that the Black Lion didn’t save Shiro’s spirit at all. If the void is not some psychic space of the Lions’ consciousness but instead is just a universal overmind, then Shiro’s spirit wasn’t being stored in the Black Lion. Shiro’s spirit was just where spirits are.

Allura has another flash headache, and then everyone else does too. They see Honerva and Merla somewhere. It looks like Oriande with how the mechas are standing in the background. Cut to Voltron’s eyes glowing.

Back in the overmind. Allura explains that “that was Honerva. The entity inside of me is connected to her.” This dialog is getting repetitive. Allura says that they now have a psychic link with Honerva. “The closer we are to her, the stronger that link.” But of course, they’re not physically closer to her, so I guess this “closer” is referencing their being psychically closer to her here in the overmind? In which case, this line of dialog becomes a tautology. Lance worries that Honerva will use this link the Paladins now have with Honerva’s mind to find them. Then they will have achieved their goal; remember, they’re doing this to find where Honerva is. Also, Honerva has enough space magic already, I doubt she needs this link to find them.

It feels really weird for Keith to say, “This isn’t just on you now, Princess.” They haven’t interacted with Allura in recognition of her as a princess in a long time. It feels strange hearing him do so now. It actually sounds kind of condescending when he says it. Keith tells them all to miscellaneously focus on Honerva’s energy. They glow. The Lions’ eyes glow. Each Paladin is shown associated to their Lions. And then the Lions are flying through space.

What is happening here? I guess the Lions aren’t actually flying anywhere, that this is somehow now them in the overmind going with the Paladins through the overmind to Honerva’s mind? But then, they fly into the distance and there’s a flash of light and the Lions are back together in Voltron. So, is this actual Voltron or some Voltron in the overmind?

This is a huge part of why I hate this episode: It so too damn confusing. I can imagine the creative team had certain specific ideas in mind when they were doing this, but they failed to tell this story clearly, and I don’t know what they were trying to tell.

Voltron looks like it’s travelling through space. There’s even planets and moons. Because Voltron actually travels through space, there’s nothing visually that allows for this to contrast with actual space if this is supposed to be Voltron traveling through the overmind.

Hunk says, “I can feel something, like an energy inside me.” And Allura says, “It’s the entity.” The entity is now in Hunk? In all the Paladins? Keith says, “It’s like a dark realization washing over.” This line does not mean anything. It’s just miscellaneous spew that the writer thinks sounds profound and ominous. It doesn’t though. Pidge says, “It’s like we’re begin pulled by a tether connected to our souls.” Again, this is nowhere near as profound as the writer thinks it is. It also places the locus of action on the entity, pulling them, rather than on the Paladins actively traversing through the overmind. It’s sort of depriving the Paladins of agency. It also doesn’t explain why the entity is being drawn toward Honerva.

They come upon what looks like a black hole. Everything goes dark, then every looks like neurons, which I assume is supposed to be Honerva’s brain. Then Voltron looks like it comes out of a light, like it’s left the neurons behind. It’s so confusing. I’m really trying to understand what this animation is actually depicting, but I don’t really know.

Voltron flies through space some more, and then everything turns dark again. And then Voltron is flying through that darkness with little bits of quintessence? floating off of it. Then Voltron separates into little colored dots. From the wide shot, you can’t tell if they’re the Lions or the Paladins. They float through blackness with more quintessence-bits floating from a glowing event horizon. The camera reorients, and the glowing Paladins land on the black surface.

I don’t know why Voltron was involved in this traversing of the overmind. What did Voltron actually do for the Paladins in this process? And why is Voltron now not part of the process? Why did it poof into just being the Paladins in the overmind again? Also, the animation already had Voltron enter what looked like a black hole, which I assumed was Honerva’s mind, but then they left it, floated through space some more, and now have arrived at what looks like another black hole. So, why was there a first black hole if that wasn’t Honerva’s mind? Whose mind did that first black hole belong to?

They stand on a surface, and Allura says that Honerva’s mind is “on the other side of this wall.” There are streaks of black with streaks of red or orange for eyes moving under the wall. Allura says, “It feels like that these are the souls that Honerva has defeated and corrupted.” Why has the show not shown us that Honerva could corrupt souls before now? (Or is corrupting a soul what she did to the clone to be able to control him? That would make it even more offensive that the Paladins described the clone as evil.) Honerva corrupting souls just comes out of nowhere. There is nothing in the show prior to this that sets-up this reveal. And, if Honerva can explicitly corrupt someone else’s soul, then how did the writers think it’s acceptable for them to expect the audience by the end of the series to view Honerva as absolved of her horrible behavior?

The show here says Honerva can corrupt souls, it has been saying for seasons now that Honerva was corrupted by quintessence poisoning, and in this episode says that Honerva was corrupted by a rift entity. It’s all a mess that does not locate motivation for character action within the character.

Spectral hands come out of the floor-wall and grab Allura first and then all the Paladins. There are a lot of hands, so there are a lot of souls that Honerva has corrupted. The Paladins, with the exception of Keith, are pulled down into the floor-wall, into Honerva’s mind. Why wasn’t Keith pulled in?

First Pidge opens her eyes and the way the place she is looks, she’s in a greenish version of what had been depicted as the Black Lion’s consciousness in 6x06 “All Good Things” when Keith spoke to Shiro’s spirit there. But Allura just said that “on the other side of this wall” was Honerva’s mind. But the visuals of this would suggest that this is the Green Lion’s consciousness. So, how is the Green Lion’s consciousness inside Honerva’s mind?

A green-outlined shadowy person with a polearm weapon appears and attacks Pidge. Cut to a yellowy-orangey area where Hunk is being attacked by a similar figure with a staff. Lance in a red area fighting one with a sword. Allura in blue and fighting one with a bow. Keith meanwhile is still on the surface of Honerva’s mind.

Pidge says, “I can’t even feel my Lion.” I still don’t understand why the animators chose to have the environments the Paladins are fighting in resemble what “All Good Things” presented as the Black Lion’s consciousness if here the Paladins are, as Pidge says, disconnected from their Lions. I don’t know if the executive producers and animators in making this episode either didn’t remember or recognize the significance of this background from when it was used in “All Good Things,” but that’s hard for me to accept as a possibility. Or if they instead thought that assigning meaning to animation like they did for this background style from “All Good Things” just didn’t matter and that they could just port over the background style and ignore the previous meaning.

In Shiro and Keith’s conversation in “All Good Things, Shiro said, “somehow the Black Lion retained my essence,” to which Keith asked Shiro, “Is that where we are, in the Black Lion’s consciousness?” So, this background style has most definitively been established as being that of the Lions’ consciousness. But now, Pidge says she “can’t even feel [her] Lion.” I just don’t know what to make of this episode. It seems so disconnected from what has come before. No wonder people think this is the result of shattering some original story and reconstituting the pieces into this confusing mess.

Allura’s attacker shoots an arrow at her. She holds out her hand, shadowy wisps float off her hand, and the arrow stops. Her eyes turn black. She screams an inhuman scream. I guess we’re supposed to think this is the rift entity acting through her?

But then glowing, spectral versions of the Lions show up in each of the four’s combat area. So, they’re supposed to be inside Honerva’s mind, though it looks like the visual style previously used to depict a Lion’s consciousness, Keith can’t get inside Honerva’s mind with the other Paladins, but the Lions can enter into Honerva’s mind to join their Paladins? The Lions roar, and the dark wisps are blown by the wind of the roar off of Allura’s eyes. The shadowy figures the Paladins have been fighting have their shadow blown off of them revealing them to be the past Paladins.

So, we’re supposed to understand that Honerva somehow corrupted the souls of the Paladins. How did she corrupt Alfor’s soul? When did she corrupt Alfor’s soul? We saw in “The Legend Begins” that Alfor was killed by Zarkon on a bridge with no one else around them.

Allura’s eyes go dark again and she screams her inhuman scream and attacks Blaytz. The Blue Lion roars again and everything goes white. Then we see Alfor giving the other old Paladins their armor and their bayards. This scene depicts Zarkon pre-quintessence poisoning, and he says, “With this much power, we will be unstoppable.” So, his being a dictatorial, genocidal conqueror was always a part of who he was. He didn’t become bad because of quintessence poisoning. So, the show using the poisoning to excuse his behavior is just offensive. This flashback scene of the old Paladins unintentionally emphasizes Zarkon’s lack of presence in this fight so far, emphasizes Keith’s exclusion from the fight.

Allura stops short of stabbing Blaytz. “It’s really you,” she says. Pidge says, “Your soul, Honerva must have—” and Hunk continues, “—trapped you here somehow.” Of course, that makes me ask, how did Honerva do this? Especially with Alfor? We’ve seen his death. When did Honerva trap the Paladins’ souls inside her own mind? And why has that never been part of the story until now? Honerva has been active in this show’s plot for the whole series. Why is it only now that her having done this is relevant? This has never been a part of anything in the story until now. It clearly was not planned as part of the overall story arc. This really is just coming out of nowhere. And that, beyond this part of the story being super confusing, is why I don’t like it. The idea that the current Paladins would have to fight the old Paladins is a really interesting premise, but there’s been no set-up to lead to this fight. There’s nothing to this that makes it feel the inevitable outcome of the events prior to now.

Like too much in this show’s story, this is a set piece. It seems conceptualized wholly independently of the story and then the story is what was written to try to force connection between set pieces. It’s why the reveal of the clone and resulting battle between Keith and Shiro had a certain grandeur to it, but there was no reason ever given in the show for why Haggar had hundreds of clones of Shiro made. That fight was a set piece that was forced into the story rather than grown out of the story. Similarly, this fight with the old Paladins doesn’t come out of the story, it’s wedged into it, the story is forced to accommodate it, and that’s why it is so disconnected to what has come before. And in being so disconnected, the moment is deprived of the emotion it could and should have.

The Lions roar once again, the souls of the old Paladins and the backgrounds fracture and light pours out of it all and everything goes to white. All of the development in this conflict comes from the Lions, so if the Lions could clean the Paladins’ souls of corruption, they why have they been sitting there in this fight waiting instead of just doing so from the moment they came into this space?

Cut to a flashback with Alfor, Gyrgan, Trigel, Blaytz, and Coran discuss how Zarkon is going to come for them. Trigel wants to fight Zarkon, but Alfor doesn’t want to risk Zarkon getting the Lions. Alfor says they’ll use the other Lions to seal the Black Lion and then send the other four to where they were until they were found at the beginning of the series. Alfor tells Coran to use the Castle of Lions to take Allura and the Black Lion away. But then, Gyrgan says, “Then it is decided: We go into battle together one last time.” Of course, that doesn’t match Alfor’s having rejected fighting when Trigel suggested it first.

Cleaned of having been corrupted by Honerva, Trigel asks, “Where am I?” Hunk answers Gyrgan, “You’re in the void, just outside of Honerva’s mind.”

One, the backgrounds still look like the Black Lion’s consciousness, but Hunk doesn’t say they’re in their respective Lions’ consciousness, he says they’re “in the void.” But then he says that they’re “just outside of Honerva’s mind.” Keith is, the rest of them are not. The rest of them were dragged under the barrier into Honerva’s mind. This show really cannot keep this straight. So, which is it? They were pulled into Honerva’s mind, but it’s outside her mind. They’re in the void, but it looks like the Lions’ consciousnesses.

Trigel says she’s glad that “someone so connected to the world around her is piloting the Green Lion.” I still don’t think this show has actually shown Pidge to be connected to nature. “My race believes observation to be the most revered attribute.” As I’ve said before in my commentaries, I really don’t like when science fiction writes aliens to be monocultures. Trigel’s race doesn’t believe anything because it was made up of a bunch of different people, who like humanity, all have a bunch of different thoughts and opinions and beliefs, or at least her race should be like that if it was written realistically. Sorry, that’s just a peeve of mine.

Blaytz tells Allura, “People often overlook me because I was,” there’s a very slight hesitation in his voice, “different.” I very much imagine that this is supposed to be a reference to Blaytz being gay. Unfortunately, this phrasing sounds to me like how a straight person would write a gay person to speak. Using the word “different” as a stand-in functions like someone who doesn’t want to get personal, which you have to do to write dialog well. It’s seems clear to me that the word “different” was chosen to avoid actually, openly talking about Blaytz’s being gay. It makes the character’s experience generic, which causes it to lose emotion and meaning. I can imagine the writer defending this dialog by saying writing it this way gives it universality, but that’s a thought that comes out of unexamined privilege. By excluding the specifics in favor of claimed universality, you deny the cause and content of the discrimination and exclusion you claim to be rejecting, and so cease to be actually rejecting anything.

Blaytz then continues talking about the Blue Lion picking him. “But the Blue Lion recognized something in me, something others couldn’t see. It saw the greatness within that even I did not.” Imagine this dialog but instead of Blaytz talking to Allura, he was talking to Lance. It would be totally fitting in theme as another step in Lance’s struggle to recognize something great within himself that even he could not see. Lance had, until it was abandoned by the writers, serious issues with self-confidence and believing himself to have value as part of the team. Even this episode hints at that abandoned element of Lance’s character back at the beginning during the meeting with Shiro when Lance expresses pleasure that calling him “the sharpshooter” is now something the team does fondly. It would have made so much more sense for Blaytz to have said this to Lance. But instead, he says, “You, Allura, have greatness within you as well.” This isn’t something she needs him to tell her since she’s hasn’t wrestled with feeling fundamentally worthless, especially once she learned Altean alchemy at Oriande. She has doubted her ability to succeed, but not her inherent worth. “You’re so much like your father, and yet so different.” This line is so cliché and so meaningless.

Lance, with his long history of insecurity, gets nothing from Alfor that supports him as a person. Instead, the show returns to having patriarchy as the governing influence of Lance’s relationship with Allura. “Through the Lion’s bond, I could feel your love for my daughter,” Alfor says. “I could feel yours as well,” Lance says. Why is this show juxtaposing the love of a father for his daughter to the love a guy feels for his girlfriend? It’s just gross. It makes Lauren Montgomery’s claims that feminism has any influence whatsoever in this show seem absolutely absurd. But then, LM thought killing Allura at the end of the series was feminist. I still cannot get over how she considered having Allura reincarnated as an infant, literally infantilizing Allura, and have her then raised by Lance. It’s so creepy.

Alfor tells Lance, “We face many quests throughout the cosmos, but the most amazing journey is that of life. And the biggest question you face is who to go on that journey with. I’m glad my daughter chose you.” So, Lance receives nothing, no personal support from his Paladin-parallel. The others tell their respective Paladins something supportive of them, but all Lance gets is Alfor’s patriarchal approval of Lance as a suitor for Allura. This is such an absolute disservice to Lance’s character.

Keith remains on the surface of Honerva’s mind, unable to get through. Then suddenly the Black Lion is there. Why did it take so long for Black to show up for Keith when the other Lions had long showed up for their Paladins? Keith gets no special moment of affirmation with a previous Paladin. It feels absolutely like he was excluded, but for no reason other than they wanted to save a conflict with Zarkon until later. But if Zarkon was corrupted the same as the other old Paladins, why wouldn’t he have attacked Keith the same as the other old Paladins attacked their current counterparts? Almost as soon as the Black Lion shows up here with Keith on the outside of Honerva’s mind, the other Lions show up here too. The other Paladins, both old and new, show up here on the floor-wall to Honerva’s mind.

Allura runs to and hugs her father. Alfor says, “It is fitting that I would find what is brightest to me in the darkest place.” This feels a bit cliché. Allura says, “All that I have done, I have done to make you proud.” Trust me, I know what it feels like to want to make a parent proud, but this is so limiting. This is Allura defining herself by her father’s acceptance rather than defining herself by her own self. It’s very patriarchal to write a young female character to define herself by her father. I just don’t like it.

There’s a headache flash, and they see Honerva looking at a mecha, one that matches the one Allura saw Lotor piloting in her vision last episode when Lotor said, “Follow me!”

Alfor says to Allura, “You hold a dark entity within you! Don’t you know how dangerous that is!” Thank you so much for your patriarchal judgement, Alfor. Allura is so stupid that she couldn’t possibly know about something being dangerous unless you chastise her for it. Also, ignore the fact that this supposed dangerousness never manifests in the story.

Alfor says, “That’s what led to Honerva and Zarkon’s end!” So, not only were they poisoned by quintessence when they went into the quintessence field in “The Legend Begins,” now the show is saying that Honerva and Zarkon became who they are because they were possessed by a rift entity? The show is really doubling down on absolving Honerva and Zarkon for being abusive, murderous, genocidal dictators for 10,000 years. Not only is it supposed to be not their fault because they were poisoned, now it’s also not their fault because they were possessed. I do not find the-devil-made-me-do-it stories even remotely interesting. This is just the creative team of this show being too cowardly to actually have their villains be villains. They don’t mind retaining their proclamation that Lotor was evil all along because declaring him to be evil was their big, desired plot twist. But they were too scared to commit to having Haggar and Zarkon as villains. For so long, both characters were written as just generic, maniacal villains. Then, I think the creative team thought they were making Zarkon and Honerva be more complex villains by saying they did the horrible things they did because of an external force (quintessence). Now, the show is just creating another way with which they can absolve the characters of the horrible things they did. But it’s not like Honerva and Zarkon just said hurtful things. They abused their son. They enslaved people. They tortured people. They murdered people. They committed genocide, murdering the population of whole planets. This is not something to forgive them for. And it’s offensive that this show is telling us to do so.

Also, if Honerva is supposed to be absolved for her actions because she was being controlled by a rift entity, how is it that the show simultaneously has Honerva affecting others through the rift entity? She was trying to kill Tova last episode through the rift entity in him. So, is the rift entity controlling Honerva, or is she controlling rift entities?

Allura says, “I am not going to be afraid to use the power I have.” She says, “We need to continue,” and someone, Lance, I think, says, “But how do we get past the wall?” Well, the spirits of the old Paladins dragged everyone but Keith beneath the wall earlier, so, try that.

Allura says, “It’s like I can feel her thoughts. The way through is with the darkness.” I don’t know how these two sentences are supposedly connected. Is this the extent of what the entity is doing for Allura, just getting her inside Honerva’s mind?

Alfor says, “Honerva went mad—” it’s annoying that the show equates mental illness with dangerousness in this line of dialog “—obsessed with darkness and power.” She was obsessed with quintessence. So, is the show now calling quintessence “darkness?” I thought quintessence was supposed to be life energy.

Allura does a touch-hand-glow and the surface beneath them glows. A light line streaks through the surface and the geometrics like that which appear around wormholes and like the ones Honerva created on Oriande when she retrieved Sincline appears beneath them all. Everything starts glowing white and they disappear from the surface.

This episode is a mess. It’s ambitious, but it’s so unwieldly. It significantly contradicts previous parts of the show, and that really, really bothers me. I don’t like how it takes what felt special (the idea that the Lions had a psychic space created by their consciousness, and that that is where the Black Lion kept Shiro’s spirit after he died) and now just makes it all be some generic universal overmind.

And I really hate that this show is now saying Honerva and Zarkon’s horrible behavior is the fault of being possessed by rift entities. Before it was the result of being poised by quintessence. Did the show forget that they had already assigned one thing to blame for their behavior other than themselves? And that is the ultimate thing that angers me about this. Both quintessence poisoning and rift entity possession are cheats. They reveal a fear of letting villains be villains. They refuse to seriously deal with the reality that these characters are horrible people. By assigning blame to an external source, now two external sources, the show prevents the villains from having to confront their behavior, and the protagonists lose the ability to condemn the behavior as the narrative manifestation of their final confrontation with the villains. The same way that these episodes keep telling us the rift entities are a threat without ever really resolving that, the series, by locating the blame for the villains actions in external sources, never resolves the villains’ actions.

#voltron legendary defender #voltron #vld #voltron criticism #vld criticism #voltron critical #vld critical #vld season 8 #vld 8x09 #commentary

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