#show off the characters shifting traits and priorities

[tiredspacedragon]

I love Kanohi so much. I love the concept of a customizable face and thus identity, I love that each mask has its own powers that carry their own significance in addition to its shape, I love that each mask has multiple shapes to show the wearer's identity changing or speak to what aspect of themselves is most prominent.

Have some concepts:

A Matoran with a Great-shaped Kanohi who becomes a Toa. Their new identity is an extension of their old self. They become a Turaga and their Noble-shaped Kanohi is a symbol of how they were fundamentally changed by their time as a hero.

A Matoran with a Noble-shaped Kanohi who becomes a Toa. Their new identity is a departure from their old selves. They become a Turaga and their Noble-shaped Kanohi symbolizes that their trials are over and they have earned peace.

A Matoran who becomes a Toa and wears a different mask than they did as a Matoran. Their new identity is a dramatic break from their old self, one they either chose to take on to distance themselves from their past or to embody their vision of heroism, or one that was forced upon them and to which they must now adapt. They become a Turaga and their Noble-shaped Kanohi is yet another change. A new chapter.

A Matoran or other character whose powerless mask is broken or lost, so they receive a new one. The change has no effect on their abilities, but their new mask signifies their character growth. Though the mask grants them no powers now, the character's potential has changed, a new path and new role is open to them.

A character whose powered mask is broken or lost, so they receive a new one. Or perhaps they willingly trade their old Kanohi for another. Do they choose the same mask they had before, showing their conviction and stability in their identity? Do they choose a mask with a power they think will be more useful, showing practicality or responsibility, and determination to get the job done, including a willingness to sacrifice their identity? Do they choose a mask worn by someone they admire, honouring them by trying to emulate them, but risking subsuming their own unique traits? Or perhaps they choose a new mask whose powers are a better match for them or who they want to be, showing commitment to changing and embracing themselves?

A character who changes their armour and equipment, but keeps the same mask. They adapt to the needs of the situations, but refuse to lose themselves in it.

A character who could use a Great Kanohi, but opts for a Noble one instead, to cultivate the image of a sage. Maybe it's deserved. Maybe it isn't. Perhaps they even wear a Great Kanohi that is merely forged to look like a Noble one, to achieve the image without sacrificing the power.

Two characters whose mask powers work well in tandem, but one or both of them change masks and the new powers conflict or are no longer related at all, marking a breakdown in the characters' relationship.

Or the reverse, two characters whose mask powers don't pair well, but one or both change masks and now they do, signifying a growing bond.

Just to name a few.

I love how this one single aspect of character design can tell so much of their story at just a glance, and again that it's the face, the part we look to the most for expression and understanding.

[yuissamidare]

I saw a lot of people questioning the appeal of lukahyuna/hyuluka, and I think that’s quite understandable. here are my two cents no one asked for! for me, other than the fact that they’re the perfect example of interpersonal horror, at least a big part of the attraction comes from my interpretation of the characters—both being people who struggle with control and autonomy.

Luka is someone who is controlled in every aspect of his life, from his daily training, to his health (canonly having heart problems and other congenital issues), and he was paraded around since he was young for his appearance and constantly made to be a spectacle — there is nothing that is fully his expect his emotions, to which he hangs onto hyuna with his love; then there is hyuna, who was completely aware of the encasement she was in and could still live freely, happily chaining herself to the parental role she placed herself in for her younger brother and later on, refuses to live anything but freely but except for being trapped by her feelings and memories of luka and her brother.

It’s a case of someone who has no independence finding a sense of sovereignty and control in regards to the feelings he has with another person versus someone who will carve a path of freedom and control for herself but constantly losing her footing as the only thing she has no control over are her feelings, and that contrast makes it very appealing for me.

Luka and hyuna were made with each other in mind, hyuna being stated to be a ‘YOLO!’ kind of girl while luka is the opposite and is careful—this is shown in their official merch stands as well, hyuna being a lunar eclipse that interferes with the path of the moon (luka) and luka being a solar eclipse that blocks the path of the sun (hyuna). They are complimentary opposed forces, however that does not mean that at one point they were not mutually attracted to each other, regardless of the intent of the attraction—in the prologue and old supplemental art, Hyuna and Luka are seen side by side while rehearsing and also spending their free time together (though Luka is glaring at Hyunwoo who is offscreen), and in all in as well, they’re shown to spend time together while Hyunwoo is not around, and Hyuna also allows him to encroach on time spent with her brother. (In this particular part of All-In, luka shows traits such as sucking on his sleeves which are associated with poorly socialized or developed children, which is something he seems to stop when Hyuna touches him for a sufficient amount of time)

— Anakt Garden Initially, i had thought what luka felt for Hyuna was not traditional ‘love’ or a properly developed crush but possession and desire to have hyuna act as a readily available and constant companion in a convenient social tie—something to have which a special relationship no one else can touch, having something that is truly his regardless of what he felt being considered as ‘love’—, which, while not completely untrue, had shifted when their supplemental comic came out and showed that he had genuine value in her thoughts and opinions (while making sure she had stopped looking at hyunwoo), and in a recent doodle, showed that he had genuinely sought her affection and validation (via picking fights with Hyunwoo and using that as a way to see her take his side over his, which is the second time she is shown to prioritize him over her brother, who calls for her and only her attention in the supplemental comic who she seems to put off for a moment in favor of acknowledging luka’s clinginess towards her and calling him cute).

While the form changed, the one constant of luka —> hyuna has always been: ‘this is mine, I want a relationship with her that gives me a level of exclusivity and control over her that others can’t have, one that includes priority over hyunwoo’

Luka is shown to value her opinions and use it as a basis for his own, as seen in a supplemental comic. he finds worth in her viewpoints considering and there’s a sense of mutuality there that makes him comfortable enough to share and talk about opinions with her and to use her as either a building block for his own ideals due to not having any strong feelings of his own, or to compare and contrast their ways of thinking and finding worth in the perspective that she has brought.

this comic is my second favorite piece of media involving them, with my first being the in the storyboards for all in…! (which i can’t talk about since it’s patreon content, but, you know) and it directly correlates to his character inspiration in which he finds value and a reason to be on stage due to the experiences he spent with hyuna, just like how his character inspiration finds value in their story of origin through experiences spent with others.

Singing makes Hyuna feel free, and through Hyuna, Luka attempts to find freedom and independence through singing as well, though the results are debatable as it seems he doesn’t inherently enjoy singing, but the feeling of closeness it allows him to feel for Hyuna and the privilege it brings him.

hyuna’s feelings for him at this point is hard to succinctly place on tenterhooks, as she was a character kept private and secret for much of the run, but i do think that she had fledging affection for him for several of the reasons i mentioned (re: the purposeful and conscious spent with him over others; the decision to spend time with both luka and hyunwoo and seemingly split her attention between them as they seem to fight when she’s not around, as in the supplementary comic hyunwoo only calls for Hyuna’s attention rather than calling for them both; once again taking Luka’s side when luka provokes others; the memory that sparks her panic is one of them being close—her playing with his hair while he looks at her.)

It is difficult for me to talk about hyuna’s feelings when there is so little about her known, I do feel like much of it will be my interpretation so please forgive the conjecture.

Personally, I believe that Hyuna viewed her love of others through her love for hyunwoo. She took on a maternal role for her brother which spreads through her interactions with others even if she acts like a wild auntie nowadays. I believe she took Luka’s side over Hyunwoo’s because she thought Hyunwoo should treat Luka more carefully since she had expected him to be more responsible to a child that seemed weak and delicate in comparison to Hyunwoo. I believed she split her attention between them both as Hyunwoo seemed to rely on her for her attention as much as luka did (re: only calling for her when he wanted to show off the space beetle.) and had acted as a bridge between them, despite them seemingly not having the best relationship—she could have always cut luka off when hyunwoo had grown frustrated with him, but again, she divided her time between them and had spend moments with them both apart and together because she had cared deeply for them both.

Since she viewed her relationships through her love of hyunwoo, she could not differentiate her feelings for luka being different or starting to develop as something different because she did not treat that as a possibility with her stubbornly placing herself in that motherly role—which is why things like Luka’s possessive statements had the red flags ignored then seemingly encouraged with petting and praise due to being flattered by his close attention.

And since luka is implied to have been artificially created, hyunas nature was something he found soothing and comforting (see: no longer self soothing after she had touched him) before the nature of his feelings changed as well, though his feelings changed sooner than hers did.

— Season 49 and present day: regardless of how hyunwoo died*, it is possible hyuna’s misery and potential feelings of guilt and regret give him a modicum of control over her—even after hyunwoo is dead, she’s going to need to live with luka all the way until season 49 starts and she escapes. she’s still going to have years and years of staying with him and having him cling to her or remind her what happened and she has been affected as a result (her looking so muted and sad when depicted prior to her escape, or having less vibrant expressions compared to all in; her potentially starting to smoke to deal with stress). he has, essentially, ruined her so thoroughly they’ll find his face carved into the darkest part of her heart and that’s sign of her thinking of him, and there’s ownership in that as well. i think the part in sweet dream where they show up and she’s hovering a knife over him while he’s holding her hip implies that he’d genuinely be delighted if she tried to kill or hurt him back, because that’s more proof that she’s still under his control. *While it is normally agreed that Luka’s actions caused Hyunwoos death, there is still contention as to what happen or led up to it, as some people from the start believe when Hyuna had pulled them apart, Hyunwoo hit his head (while originally theorized on the all in YT comments, it gained traction with the doodle comic as additional evidence for later on, but it’s been theorized since all in came out [while I have screenshots, I do not have the source for the original YT comment, magratbastard on Twitter has a great thread on it) or that Hyunwoo had just landed badly when luka pushed him off. Therefore I am using vague phrasing here as what happened is not agreed on in a unified manner as we lack context.

At this point in time hyuna is actively haunted by thoughts of hyunwoo, but seems that she’s conflicted about luka and battles her unhappiness, disgust, and past positive feelings under a vein of apathy, but seemingly falters (sweet dream) due to lingering attachment or being unable to truly know what happened that day, which leads to her passively allowing him near her despite her distaste. she needs to live with him and remember that he was involved in her brothers death, and that he is attached to her for some reason, and that displays itself in a way that could be taken as romantic.

In supplemental art where he is giving her a massage, unlike fighting or squirming away like till does with ivan, hyuna seems to reluctantly acquiesce to his touch despite seeming awkward about it (for many reasons). it seems to resemble parts of all in, and sweet dream—haunted by him, but is determined to shut out her feelings and move past him in order to benefit others (re: singing at the club; her surrounded by robots and his image, only moving forward and away from them in awe when mizi fights for her) seems to have settled into a more uncharitable view of him but still trips up when confronted with thoughts of him and actively fights his memory and positive association with him because she still can’t truly push him and thoughts of him away.

Note: as children in the garden are indoctrinated to think that singing while dying allows you to go to the in universe equivalent of a heaven, her feelings of being haunted by hyunwoo may be exacerbated by that indoctrination, even if she doesn’t believe in it anymore. May possibly be reluctant to kill luka due to three things: this, past affection for him, or feeling the value of other humans for the sake that they are human, despite not wanting him in her life. — present day: Romh, all in, love and peace, sweet dream cover:

ROMH: ruler of my heart is a song that was created prior to season 50 and is implied to have been written about Hyuna. I wrote my thoughts on it here: https://x.com/8bitdetective/status/1745091500789076201

SWEET DREAM: sweet dream generally parallels the luka and Hyuna’s story lyric wise, as luka and sua are diametrically opposed contrasts in their approaches to love and ‘self(ish/ness)’.

I made a rough comparison here: https://x.com/8bitdetective/status/1745110121108168870

hyuna and mizi are mirrors in how they live their lives, similar, I believe sua and luka mirror each other as well.

hyuna and mizi are both people who have experienced love prior to meeting their respective others and having happy experiences with their family—mizi was loved by her owners, who had gifted her toys and sent her off in tears, and in return she loved them as well—mizisua is a video about the people mizi has loved, who have ‘abandoned’ her, and I believe this was also her realization that her family left her alone to participate in a death game, the same way sua had consciously sacrificed herself despite not knowing what may happen in the future.

hyuna had also been given and received familial love in the form of hyunwoo, and that had been her everything. these are both people who had been secure in their love and therefore had love to share, and both luka and sua were addicted to that healthy affection—however luka seemingly refused to let anyone but hyuna in and has never willing spent time with anyone but hyuna, focusing all his feelings on hyuna and ‘the person who is intruding on his time with hyuna’ that he was jealous of—luka, being older than hyuna, was probably set in his ways and didn’t see a need to change, as such change would lead to detrimental effects on his life elsewhere. he did not change, nor did he want to—why would he have to, when hyuna would seemingly always take his side and put him before even her brother? instead, he selfishly wanted hyuna to have her world narrowed to only him, he wanted to own her and I believe wanted her to choose to ‘own’ him as well.

meanwhile sua was willing to spend time with others and talk to them, while mizi was her most important person, mizi wasn’t the only person in the world and mizi had allowed the universe to expand around them, and such varied experiences of being around people had allowed sua to develop a healthier relationship and way of thinking—even if she had become childish and jealous of till at points, she did not try and steal mizis from his company and allowed her to have her own friends, and then was allowed to make her own connections with ivan (as contentious as it may be at time) and had become a person who was more socially conscious and well adjusted compared to luka.

LOVE & PEACE: depending how you look at it, LOVE&PEACE can reference both luka and hyunwoo at the same time, or either/or. For this, I’ll mainly talk about how it can possibly apply to Luka.

if you consider sweet dream to also be applicable to his character, luka says the morning (hyuna, who is compared to the sun) won’t come for him, but to hyuna even if time marches on and she can find the sun (new experiences) it still feels like she’s fumbling in the night (Luka) after everything, because luka is always associated with the night and darkness and hyuna being his brightness, feeling trapped by lukas influence even if she’s mentally aware she’s not under his thumb anymore, because he always pops into her mind.

while luka was her friend, hyunwoo was the other half of her heart—no matter what luka did, it doesn’t change that hyunwoo is apart of her, that he’s still inside her as her blood, and that’s something luka can never take away. That’s the interpretation I got from the cover art, at least. every time she bleeds, he’ll be split on her skin and that is something she will always have to live with, and something she always has to acknowledge being stolen from her.

This also contrasts their ways of loving: luka wants hyuna for herself and lives for the sake of having her, but hyuna lives in order to express her love for hyunwoo by rebelling against the system that has taken her brother away from her, and to keep loving hyunwoo and for that sincerity to reach him someday—to live on for the part of her that couldn’t, despite seemingly not taking good care of her body by drinking, smoking, and getting hurt on her rebel mission. She’s a character that claims to live for herself while taking care of others (again, contrasting with luka who lives for others while taking care of his own self preservation.)

Because Hyuna is a character that constantly thinks of others, she can’t forgive herself when she thinks of Luka fondly, or that she still has memories of them being affectionate after everything, even as she confesses in LOVE&PEACE that she didn’t think the ‘night’, the peace and safety she felt in the garden in the times spent with him, would be stolen from her and would have her reevaluate everything about him.

— re: the kiss

luka is a character with no control or autonomy in his life, he is chronically ill and he is consistently put in high stress situations that he doesn’t enjoy being in. luka is a character who is meant to be subservient and obedient to his owners and ‘betters’ while being treated like a showdog for a majority of his life for his own appearance, in an interview, he mentions ‘being made to sing in a variety of situations to be made sure that he can sing perfectly at any time’ and is someone who is meant to control his own heartbeat consistently and manually. He’s always hunched in and doing things like sucking on his sleeve are traits of neurodivergence and abused/highly stressed children (to which he only stops when hyuna pets him long enough) which reads as him being poorly or under socialized.

I believe he thought that hyuna wouldnt have reacted badly as she had always reacted positively to other things he has done (openly claiming ownership of her or when she takes his side, earnestly as seeing his questions and giving him physical affection) and had showed that she had prioritized him over everyone else. Luka is a character who is calculative and doesn’t do anything unless the move works in his favor, he’s made to be hyunas diametric opposite in that way, which is why he picks on hyunas brother to get him to lash out, to see if she will put him first.

I do not believe* have made a move if he didnt think there was an investment there, because that would risk losing her, and luka has always been someone who has ‘known his place’ and what he has to gain and lose. Even if there was not ‘love’ there, he had probably expected some positive reciprocal action.

*on the case that lukas actions were out of impulse, i think it would be spurred by insecurity and envy. while luka and hyuna hold mutual respect for one another, he does get annoyed when she calls him cute and reminds her that he’s older, despite always going to her when hyunwoo hits him back for her defense. if this wasn’t a gesture that was calculated, it was most likely one used to have her categorized as as something other than something to just be taken care of as the nature of his feelings started to change.

i believe the collar is used to track—rather than negative emotion—level of emotional intensity or dysregulation, which may correlate with heartrate but wouldn't always? for example, there’s supplementary art of mizi and sua that shows sua getting flustered at the sight of mizi’s body, which usually wouldnt indicate discomfort but rather suggests a sudden fluctuation in emotional state, if that makes sense, meanwhile since till is often shown with a green collar around mizi despite being shown heavily flustered when thinking about her, since he’s a very intense person that kind of status would be normal on him, however since sua is a very low intensity person, her red light signals an abnormality.

I think Hyuna’s light changed because she was startled, this was something that was new to her and an out of character action for luka. I do not think she expected him to kiss her as these things would not be on her mind as she has always given priority to others.

In the days that followed it is likely that hyuna had decided to put space between them and luka had ached for her attention again after startling her, and probably decided to get it again in a way that seemed to work over and over again probably provoking hyunwoo (either seeking him out or letting him come to luka and seeing a chance) and getting into a fight with him in hopes that hyuna would defend him, knowing that he was weak and sickly, however hyunwoo had died in the process and that had driven the rift further, if that makes sense?

Luka also purposely provokes Mizi in ROMH, leading to him being protected by a stronger force who will protect him while playing victim—this potentially stemmed from repetition of Hyuna’s defensive behavior when he was young, and had continued using this technique until the present day.

Tldr: I don’t think luka understood that he came off as too aggressive at this point, regardless of what led up to the kiss, and that hyuna was startled being approached in a blatantly romantic way as, while she always liked him, she could not differentiate what made her feelings for him different from anyone else and it had shocked her

—comparing and contrasting ivan, sua, and lukas affection and actions:

luka, ivan and sua all start exhibiting quiet and subdued demeanors, characterized by introversion and a sense of resignation. they all appear passive and reserved in their interactions and behaviors which makes a contrast with the seemingly more assertive nature of the rest of the cast.

ivan, sua, and luka are all self(less/ish) in different ways, they all show different aspects of the weight of being saved by love and ‘marking’ their respective interests in different ways. — sua quietly plans her end and goes out with a smile, fulfilling mizis dream of singing with her while knowingly sabotaging herself with the hopes that mizi will live and remember her, even if she’s not there; ivan forcing himself onto till and choking him in order to lose and make sure till survives, despite having sneered at sua for the same thing; though luka, without a doubt, is the most selfish, as he has nothing but his feelings for hyuna and the stage that hyuna claimed made her feel free. their object of affections affect them by changing their perspectives and motivations in the future, and as a result they’ve been changed and they changed the person who became their object of affection.

all three start the same their respective apathy for life until meeting their assigned partner, but while the former two set aside their lives for love, luka cannot let her go because that is probably his only proof of ‘self’.

first we have sua, who appears to have given up on life, living a subservient existence without expectations of a better chance at life or ever breaking the norm, full of resignation and apathy but the moment Mizi enters the scene, it's like her life is something worth living, like the colors, smells and all of her senses suddenly come to life, she starts becoming more open and expressive infatuated by Mizi's carefree existence—she becomes envious and emotional, she starts to smile brightly, and due to these experiences sua believes she's lived what she thought was worth living, and now what's truly important was preserving Mizi's existence, as life was not worth even being in without her god and the person who had made everything animated. Sua was only able to enjoy ‘living’ with her company, though she had still ‘selfishly’ marked mizi in a way where she’d never forget her.

then we have Ivan, who possibly attempted to unsuccessfully escape his caretaker as he was shortly captured back up again leading to him having a very similar sense of resignation but with a glimpse of mundane contempt. life isn't necessarily worth living but it's also not worth losing, it is comfortable enough even if just as lifeless as it had always been. however this changes when till makes a scene and not just once but multiple times- making him infatuated by the constant refusal of the conformity he had deeply fallen into. this sparked interest and curiosity in ivan who had until then, had nothing to ‘live’ rather than to ‘survive’ for until he met someone with the qualities he lacked—and those are qualities he wanted to have preserved as well, even if he had to hurt till by forcing a kiss on him as a tool for assured survival, and die in front of him, ‘inflicting’ his emotions onto him. Luka’s emotions come from a desire to have and to own due to being taken care of conditionally (due to his looks and talent) and seemingly being treated like a toy. there seems to have been a mental separation between him and other children that excluded Hyuna because she either was able to nurture him in a genuine way that he lacked the support of elsewhere AND she was able to catch his attention in ways that other people could not—whether it was due to her singing talents, her natural charisma that seemed to make her suitable to be a rebel leader, or, similarly to ivan, he was curious after spending close proximity to her due to the time he was forced to spend with other kids that brought him to her and had become curious about someone who seemed to be his diametric opposite, but still had the maturity to realize that she was a prisoner under anakt; however, unlike ivan, luka was not content just watching and provoking reactions out of hyuna, he wanted to own them as well and keep them all to himself- and once again, harming the object of his affection by forcing intimate proximity, and then leading to hyunwoos death.

if ROMH is written about hyuna (which it likely is) then all three share the sentiment of ‘I want the person i love to live’, though lukas sentiment has the caveat of *‘with me’. ivan was always aware that his feelings were not reciprocal, and had contented himself by watching and being in his presence. sua had mizi’s love and affection, and then was willing to be ‘let go’ and die loved. luka can not be happy just observing hyuna, nor does he want to let go or be let go—theyre all very different aspects of love being displayed, and i believe luka and hyuna have a lot of complexities and depth to them that make them appealing even outside of what’s on the surface! theyre all very different aspects of love being displayed!! its really interesting! It’s a really fascinating and intricate dynamic… tldr its neat!

[amesliu]

so disclaimer: I haven't read the book yet so I don't have the full context + i'm not USAmerican so I dunno how relevant this would be to pjo

Also so sorry for the essay... do ignore this if you don't want to go into this further! I just get rambly about cultures and cultural differences haha

In my family it really depends on who the guest is on what is acceptable behaviour? I guess? Closest to percy and annabeth would probably be my sister and her long term boyfriend (5 -ish years, they're early twenties). He isn't expected to help out, but he's allowed to and does regularly help set the table. In this case he also eats at my parent's at least twice a week. Sometimes he and my sister cook, sometimes they clean etc. (he also helps us host at birthdays sometimes! like offer other guests drinks that kind of stuff) Different example: close family typically helps out in the kitchen. My grandma refuses to let us do anything without her help no matter how insistent we are that "You're our guest! Let us do the work!" she'll just tell us that it would be rude of her to let her (grand)children do all the work while she sits and watches. We also always offer our help when we're over at family. (my mom's best friend, who she has known since college, is the same way btw. She also insists on helping us and we always offer our help when we are visiting her and her family) Now, if the boyfriend's parents came over to eat dinner my parents would not let them lift a finger. Same with neighbours, colleagues and other more casual acquaintances.

If I went off of my own experiences and no further context i'd say that rr is trying to show that percy, annabeth and their friends are very close

I totally get that and I agree it’s context sensitive. HOWEVER. My issues with this scene are as follows:

1. Percy appears to be not doing much of anything in this scene? Like the page I read is just him standing there narrating the scene…….? It literally says “Grover and juniper were setting the table which is usually my job” maybe I’m wrong and I’m missing context but that’s what it read like. But this isn’t rlly my main issue with the food stuff so oh well

2. I have a huge contention with Rick’s push to make Annabeth into a character that is like. Good at and interested in cooking and food handling in general. His justification for her learning to cook appears to be “she’s smart and so ahead in her classes she just decided to” which goes back to my point that I made on my side blog about the poor representation of Annabeth as a “smart adhder”. It feels like a retroactive and lazy justification for a character trait that he has already decided for her when her upbringing and personality has given me no reason to believe she would ever need or care to learn to cook. Her doing so could be an interesting way to explore the way her priorities shift as she gets older as Jules discussed on my post about sohaes last chapter but it’s not being used that way and when he randomly starts pushing his one female character in his main trio to start cooking when both his male characters have a much better characterization for it it also feels somewhat misogynistic and “mommy-ifying” with how heavily the cooking focuses on Annabeth being so so good at cooking

I don’t want this to come off as me saying a female character who cooks is inherently misogynistic but this sudden addition to her character says nothing and does nothing when it can and should. Either she remains not good at cooking and we see food as a medium for care and affection with Percy and Sally as caretakers expecting nothing in return or we see her learn with Sally as a symbolic representation of her gaining smth she lost as a kid. But learning to cook in a class bc she’s just so smart and good at school is… not it.

And even then. What if she does learn in an academic and STRUGGLES with it. How does that interact with her pride? Her personality? Etc.

I think this is a huge issue I have with a lot of the ideas he brings up where they could be incredibly interesting things to explore but he will never take it there so it just feels random. We’re not at a point where we’re supposed to be teaching an audience about a character we’re at the exploring their depth stage and he just. Doesn’t act that way.

3. A cultural issue I guess but my partner would never be allowed to do the work at my parents house but we are sort of a fist fight for the bill type of culture so 🤷‍♂️

Side note: the tangent about Percy being like “wow I’d never think to ask if salad was okay for juniper” followed by the immediate tangent about how hard he’s thought about the feelings of fish and whether or not he eats them was like… something. Idk what but it ticked me off LOOOL

[gingeragenda]

Get to know your mutuals

Thanks for the tag @gauntletgirlie

What's the origin of your blog's title? A random comment from my husband circa 2018 that I no longer recall the context of other than me being a ginger

Favorite Fandoms: I have a lot, but Tolkien, Star Trek and Buffy endure

OTP(s) + shipname: Currently all about Adar x Sauron (Maidar)

Long time appreciator of Melkor x Mairon (Angbang)

I’m going to totally scattergun some ships I’ve been into over the past 20yrs:

Spangel, McShep, Face/Murdock, Sam/Gene (uk life on mars), Rickyl, MCU - Darcey x anyone, Loki x anyone

Favorite color: Burgundy

Favorite game: RDR2, Shadow of the Colossus, Vice City, Skyrim 4-way tie

honourable mention to: Monkey Island, Simon the Sorcerer, Doom (1993) Wolfenstein 3D

Song stuck in your head: The Tempest by Pendulum

Weirdest habit/trait? Unintentionally mimicking the accent of whoever I’m talking to

Hobbies: Writing, cross stitch, visiting tombs

If you work, what's your profession? Teacher

If you could have any job you wish what would it be? What I do now but for only 3 days a week and still pay my mortgage

Something you're good at: Making people laugh

Something you're bad at: Housework

Something you excel at: holding grudges

Something you love: linguistic pedantry

Something you could talk about for hours off the cuff: C5th Athenian Drama, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Something you hate: lorries overtaking each other on a two lane motorway

Something you collect: Lego

Something you forget: The way to places I have been many times before

Favorite movie/show: Can never really choose today will say Kind Hearts and Coronets / DS9

Favorite food: peanut butter

Favorite animal: cat

Are you musical? Can just about sing, never practiced instruments enough to get any good when younger

What were you like as a child? A pleasure to teach but needs to socialise more

Favorite subject at school? Drama

Least favorite subject? PE, Geography

What's your best character trait? Overwhelming desire for equality, justice, peace and love for all humanity in the abstract

What's your worst character trait? Despising all people in person

If you could change any detail of your day right now what would it be? Not having to be up early in the morning

If you could travel in time who would you like to meet? Mary Shelley

Recommend one of your favorite fanfics (spread the love!):

Big fan of Shifting Priorities by @admirably-abhorrent

Top quality smut ❤️‍🔥

Last but not least, show your favorite fanart of your favorite character(s) (please remember to credit/add links!):

https://www.tumblr.com/kneekooh/762724528048701440/ocean-of-color?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/arianwen44/761691219376095232/why-do-i-hear-tiny-evil-whistling-noises?source=share

I like getting tagged in these games but it makes me weirdly nervous to tag other people in case it annoys them, but if you see this and want to play I am very nosy ❤️

[escavpism]

✦     𝒊   ,   the   student file   . daphne heinrich , junior undergraduate , majoring in drama , with baby outlaw by elle king blasting through the doors , can be alluring yet vitriolic , member of the theater club , plays tennis singles , and school events columnist at grey wolf gazette. wanted connections , wc tag.

✦     𝒊𝒊   ,   the   statistics   .

full name   :  daphne amélie zhou - heinrich   ,   nickname   :  daphne to many , daffodil to some out of spite ,    age   :   twenty - one   ,   date   of   birth   :   10th of august   ,   zodiac   sign   :   leo  ,     hometown   :  hartford , connecticut ,     gender   :   cis   woman   ,   pronouns : she / her , orientation   :   pansexual  ,   languages   :   english   ,  german , chinese , slight french , major : drama ,

positive traits   :   analytical , resilient , forbearing , loyal , passionate , neutral traits : sensual , protective , sybarite ,   negative traits   :   elusive , self - serving , inflexible , greedy , manipulative ,  aesthetics   :  playing coy , fear of commitment but has 7 tattoos , always has the knack to say the right words , criticism bouncing off cemented body , eyes that mesmerize , the sly smirk of triumph , change threatening sense of stability , soft touches with manicured nails , never a hair strand out of place , overcooking sunny side up eggs , confident of sensuality , character inspo   : amy dunne from gone girl , circe from the odyssey , selina kyle from batman , margaery tyrell from game of thrones , daisy jones and the six ,

✦     𝒊𝒊𝒊   ,   the   backstory   .

daphne's father was part of a rising band in the 90s , toured all over small venues in a couple of cities that the group slowly rose to a known local name in united kingdom. her mother on the other hand was a proper english woman , and was finishing a degree at oxford when they meet. while they may have been sickeningly head over heels with each other , everyone seemed to have been against the relationship. he was no proper lad , her mother's parents said , and she was a mere distraction , her father's bandmates countered. their liaison only strengthens however when daphne's mother left her life and cut ties with her family to join his tour.

it is where daphne was conceived , london that is , while her father's band toured around the bigger cities. and it had also become her upbringing— from the chaos backstage to the unpredictability of life on the road that it almost felt as though she was born to understand how it was to live a life with no structure. this life however did meet its problems , and the band members weren't seeing eye to eye , their priorities shifting especially daphne's father. eventually , the band broke it off by the time daphne was about to start school and finally decided they settle someplace where daphne wouldn't be under scrutiny.

america was an enormous adjustment for her parents , but daphne has instantly grown to love it especially when her father brings her to his gigs around new york. it wasn't the music per se , but rather the spotlight that interested daphne , and since then she knew she'd love to be on stage one day.

daphne's mother had hoped she would pursue something else other than something so ... unstructured. acting began as a hobby , still a quite harmless obsession , until she began skipping classes for shows and abandoning home for days for potential gigs which was very reminiscent of her father , a realm in which her mother has started to openly regret.

she had become quite the defiant child , very reckless and never thought of the possible consequences of her actions as long as she secures what she wants. she grew distant from her parents , and especially so when the divorce rolled in so suddenly and she moves to connecticut with her mother.

✦   𝒊𝐯.   ,   the   character notes   .

college was more than just pursuing her dreams , it's freedom , and she's intoxicated. daphne's known around school for her reckless behavior and her rampant involvement in school events. she's that girl everyone is familiar with as her gregarious persona relishes in mingling with anyone and everyone.

daphne's not one to be shy about her sexuality , and has slept with a number of students regardless of people's opinions. there's something very liberating about getting the attention she'd always been dreaming of since younger , and she takes advantage of her good looks to get what she wants.

genuinely loves writing , hence writing for the school paper , but since she exudes the common conception of a dumb blonde , people get quite shocked that she writes for the grey wolf gazette — and it only made sense for her to report on events where she's always found at.

[dragonfly0808]

Hello.

First of all, I'd like you to know that I'm a fan of your story.

However, I don't want to sound mean at all, and maybe it's just my own interpretation, but I get the impression that you've somehow taken certain traits from Layla/Aisha and put them in Flora? As I said above, I don't mean any harm, it's just my point of view, it's just that as a Winx Club fan, I find it a bit sad. For example, Aisha/Layla is a dancer, which you've kept, but you've mainly given the role of dancer to Flora. Although she's a ballet dancer only and you kept Aisha/Layla dance talents quite diverse, in one season we very clearly see her dancing ballet if my memory serves me right.

The same goes for combat and training. I may be wrong but, in the fourth season, when the Winx are doing their Winxology course, Aisha/Layla is the only one not doing magic and Tecna says "Layla is showing us that magic isn't everything. Training and healthy lifestyles are the secret to facing any challenge", so I think it's really sad that you're removing that aspect of her. Of course, I'm aware that this is your rewrite of Winx Club and that you don't always follow the elements of the show, but Layla/Aisha, from the moment she arrived, had shown that she was a resourceful girl and that she wouldn’t take sh*t from people. I'm going to say it again, but this message isn't meant to be mean, far from it. I tend to be defensive towards Layla/Aisha as I've seen plenty of people disregarding her or simply ignore her or dislike her for arriving after the first season (yes, just for that). Obviously I know you're not one of those people. I was just wondering why you decided not to let her have those aspects of her.

Also, sorry about the name changes, I grew up with Layla so I'm used to it but knowing that her real name is Aisha, it feels a bit weird not calling her that.

Sorry for the long message too… 😅

Anyway…. Happy Pride Month!!! 🏳️‍🌈

Hi!

So, tbh, the dance thing is just smth that I decided to give both of them. Maybe I’ve given Flora a few more scenes actually dancing but due to Aisha’s plotlines there hasn’t been a lot of time to show her dancing, but that should change in s4 since it will be a lot calmer.

S2 was to introduce Aisha and establish all of her dynamics with all of the girls and the guys so that was my priority for her character in s2, not really showing the details of her personality, just the overall traits of loyalty, overcoming trauma and becoming confident in herself and her place in the group

S3 is just packed to the brim with plot, there is shit constantly going down, dynamics shifting and just so much going on I haven’t gotten the chance to include a lot of more quiet moments and when I have quiet moments, I tend to focus on friendships and relationships to have some breathing room, due to that I haven’t gotten the chance to show the interests and those kinds of things of… really any character, or if I do get to show those interests, they are very much in passing unfortunately. (Also a lot of Aisha’s quiet moments in S3 have been to deepen her bonds with Flora and Brandon and for her blooming relationship with Nabu)

So between those 2, I haven’t really gotten the chance to give Aisha more quiet moments to show off her passions.

That’s what s4 will be for. Not just for Aisha but for all of them. There will still be quite a bit of plot happening in s4 but it won’t be nearly as crazy as s3 has been. Also it’s going to be a very big part of s4 to have the gang starting to figure out what they want to do with their lives (since they will be on their second-to-last year at Alfea/Red Fountain) so we will get to delve more into all of their interests and passions and life crisis in s4. Which includes Aisha!

As for the fighting thing, I never really saw Aisha as a physical fighter if that makes sense. To me she is a dancer and the reason I made Flora a fighter was mostly to have a little activity that was solely hers and Riven’s. It has to do more with their friendship (Riven teaching her to set her boundries and Flora teaching him to be more vulnerable) than with Flora herself if that makes sense.

I hope that all made sense!

Happy Pride Month to you too!

[shannonsketches]

I’m gonna be an ego apologist real quick I’m so sorry fjdjd I didn’t like it at first, but I’m a huge fan of it now because:

Like instinct, the form is highly reflective of its teacher — Vegeta’s purple hair and heavy hairless brow are a direct reference to Beerus’ influence on his trajectory into that form

Ego is not a pretty thing! For Vegeta especially, it’s been a historically ugly and destructive (wink nudge Beerus coding wink) trait that has only harmed him and the people around him, which are things that come back to him surrounding his use of it in the way he attacks Goku for trying to help (that’s Ego, baby)!

On top of that, the form requires harm to be done to Vegeta in order for it to be fueled, so it’s not just destructive, but also self-destructive. Like a callback to Majin Vegeta, seeing Vegeta trying to weaponize a relapse should be scary to witness, and the choice to make him look unlike himself while he’s in that form is a great choice imo.

Having Vegeta’s Ego form be unattractive is really nice visual storytelling for his growth as a person — Even though it exhausts him and even after he’s upset that Goku calls it freaky, he still hops right into it to help the second that strength is needed, which is a great way to display the shift in his maturity and priorities from back when he first appeared, and hesitated to use his Oozaroo form because he thought it was ugly, frightening, and draining.

(4.5?) Vegeta being so put together, guarded, regal, and proud — then letting himself off-leash and getting feral and beastly and Buck Fucking Wild is a perfect foil to Goku’s typically emotionally-driven and reckless style now having to master absolute control over himself the way Vegeta always has. Their forms are very fun ways to show that the things that hold them back are the key to their strength, but they’re also the biggest challenge to maintain.

Goku changing his instinct form to suit his whole and earnest self might serve as a prelude to Vegeta learning to do the same thing at some point! His happy apology to Beerus when he can’t revert back to his villain era self to fully tap that power, but still being able to use it to the point that he can, has really cool potential for him to consolidate his Ego with the more humble, balanced, and grounded work he’s been putting into himself and his training. The “ugly” part has to be bled out acknowledged and worked through first, then it can be healed honed into something more tailored and true, which we already saw him begin to work on in that arc because our geets is a quick and clever boy.

tl;dr: I genuinely really like Ego’s browless freaky face! I think it’s great storytelling and character development (and obviously fantastic for comedy jfjdjd Vegeta immediately getting roasted for and embarrassed by it is everything to me).

MY ONE ISSUE with it is that I wish T&T chose to push it JUST a little further into Beerus/Oozaroo territory and given him

The Teeth™️

feral forms deserve feral fangs im jUST saying

I personally enjoy that Vegeta's vanity lives on in the fact that you won't catch him dead in SSJ3

[shinygoku]

Oh I see! How about Thomas?💙

Apologies for the delay, I had both lots occuring in the week and many, many thoughts, so that actually stringing them into a readable form was a thing of it's own! I've got another Thomas ask from Jobey and thus another essay planned to appear after this, but here we can go in the nice orderly template ;3

First impression

Ah yes, it’s that Train Character popular with Children. I’ve heard of him :)

Impression now

Darling Baby Boy! Big Son Energy Little Engine! My charming, beloved rude sweetie~ 💙💙💙

He’s such a wonderful and enigmatic blend of personality traits wrapped up in a shiny blue metal box! He’s so faceted and nuanced that even characters within the universe misread him or don’t see his depths.

His personality is so delicately balanced, it’s all too easy for inferior writing to tip the scales way off, and the shoddy reconstruction doesn’t have things in the right place and some notions have rolled under the sofa and get missed entirely, and That’s Not Thomas! But sadly, it’s the false doppelganger who is in the HiT and most (if not all) of the Mattel era.....

But Peak, Core Thombo? [chef finger kiss] 👌😸

He has 0% Filter and 100% Honesty. And maybe 5% Ego Cushioning because wow, that guy does not take slights in good grace! He feels things hard and fast and his mood changes faster than the signals. Thomas is temperamental!

Truly, he’s one of the very best Jerk With A Heart Of Gold type characters. Because yeah, he certainly has moments of being a Blue Meanie... But also that sincerity and urge to do the right thing, and as harsh as he can be I think he generally lacks malice, but his priorities are a bit askew from human / a lot of the other Engine’s standards. Like, his hilariously callous moments are said when he’s already irritated and he takes certain aspects of his life extremely seriously, like running his train on time. He seems inclined to Doubt(ing Thomas) any type of excuse even when it's totally valid.

But there is a fairly obvious Sweet side that’s on show sometimes. He always tries his hardest, even when he’s not enjoying it, and he tends to learn his lessons quickly. Whenever he sticks up for one of the others he does so in an aggressive way but there’s no doubt it’s from the right place. 💖

Favourite moment

This is a very difficult question lmao, there’s a lot!

I feel like re-asserting my fondness for Thomas and the Trucks and that it’s so very underrated! It does the laying down of loads of foundations that are later built on, and giving us an insight into Thomas’ experience (and lack of!) in general and regarding what he was used to. That he's tired from implied years on end of him doing the same tedious Coach Fetching, and that just moving goods to the nearby station is such a big step on the route to Thomas the Branch Line Manager lol

Idea for a story

Not to sound too much like the TV producers lol, but Thomas is pretty adaptable to a lot of potential plots! (I say this cause Awdry seemed more intent on keeping him moored to the Ffarquhar line once that was established, for better and for worse)

In any case, it could be interesting if, due to his fame in the books and TV series, some inept crooks tried to steal him [in their defence it does seem that the engines are a bit comically helpless if they don’t have crew and/or a fire burning....]. Thomas gets Very Cross and makes their lives hell. This is more a plotless short film than an actual fic idea, but it amuses me anyway :P

Unpopular opinion

When Thomas said he wanted to See The World™, he was speaking in hyperbole. For him, the next station down the track is new and thrilling!! He wanted to see further than the one Big Station he wasn’t allowed to leave! Not go on a half baked stereotype tour as the ultimate fulfilment of this comment made by a frustrated young lad.

Also that my favourite Voice for him, by a long shot, is Ringo. Whenever it’s not Ringo it should at least sound like a Liverpudlian Young Adult, not a widdle kid and not too posh and weird sounding. He may’ve been ‘born’ in Brighton but he’s lived on Sodor for decades on end, he wouldn’t keep any Southern Accent if he ever had time to develop one in the first place! The voice he was supposed to have in Magic Railroad was great and the Focus Groups ruined it!!

Favourite relationship

Still him and Edward, and probably never shifting from that! B3

Honourable mention goes to Gordon though, for reasons I went into on his ask. They’re Rivals and also Allies who both won’t admit they have sooo much in common~

Favourite headcanon

Jobey’s lore that he wasn’t actually Steamed for the first time until he was already on Sodor is so embraced by me that I keep having to stop to remind myself that it’s not technically canon lmao (It could be in RWS and the Model era...! CGI does shoot it down though, another reason I Do Not Vibe with it :T)

I also like to toy with the notion of him explicitly being an E2, but one who got modifications that worked very well in the long run but made him noticeably smaller than his siblings who did stay in The South...

[gale-gentlepenguin]

ML Analysis: Alya Cesaire: Best friend or Plot Puppet?

Thank you to @cakercanart for commissioning this analysis.

For this we will be discussing Alya Cesaire

This is a LONG POST, so I am posting a read more. I would love to hear your thoughts on this analysis. Do you agree? Do you disagree? Did you want to include something? Let me know.

I think in order to organize this post I will be splitting it up as follows.

How to write a best friend.

Alya Cesaire the Best Friend

Alya Cesaire the Plot device

Canon vs Salt

Final thoughts

So lets get to it

_______________________________________________________________________

How to write a best friend.

In fiction, the best friend is best known as the main characters's closest non-romantic associate and confidante in the story. This role is very important when the show, book, game or other type of media needs a character to help express the main character’s motives and actions. Now writing a best friend always ends up coming off as trope heavy and this makes a character come off as less real and more of as a plot device. For a best friend character to be a good best friend character they must follow 3 important rules. First, they must have their own rules. Second, Give and Take, friendship is a two way street.  Lastly, they must be more than just the company they keep.

The Best friend must have their own rules. Now this is important because you need to establish what this character values. What does this character think is most important? Do they believe Loyalty is more important than honesty? Do they think stealing is wrong under all circumstances? It is important that we as a viewer understand what makes the best friend tick, we need to already have an idea of where they are going to go with something before the main character goes to talk to them. In a way, they. are more rigid than the main character, since we spend less time with them, we need to have their character more realized than the main character. Now this does not mean a character can't change over time, but there needs to be a solid reason on WHY the character’s opinion on something flipped, it needs to be something clear, like having them learn a lesson on screen. Think of the Best friend’s rules as Pillar in solid ground, they need to be strong and apparent so the Main character knows what side they are standing on in a situation.

Friendship is a two-way street. This is something that needs to be apparent in the relationship between the best friend and the main character. Do they spend time together, are they able to hold conversations outside of the main character’s problem of the day?  What has the main character done for them lately? Does the MC value their friendship? Are there rough patches? The relationship itself is important to the dynamic as the best friend, and really is it a friendship if only one person benefits?

The Best friend character needs to be more then just the best friend character to the protagonist. The BFF needs to have a life outside of that bubble, like real people, they need to have other priorities at times, but they will do what they can to help. If this character suddenly stopped being friends with main Protagonist, will this character be able to develop outside of that. They need to be something a kin to a friend you could have in real life. Do you know someone that could match this person? Do you feel that they could exist? 

These 3 are the main guidelines in writing convincing best friends and are crucial in establishing the best friend as something more then just ‘Plot device number 1. This criteria will be what we use as a gauge to measure Alya Cesaire. Now we move to the next section.

____________________________________________________________________

Alya Cesaire the Best Friend

Alya Cesaire is the canonical best friend of Marinette Dupain Cheng. She is also the person that runs the Ladyblog, the source for all things Ladybug related. She is a headstrong, confident, can do gal that will do anything to get the scoop. She is Loyal and wants what’s best for her BFF. But the question is, based on the characteristics, how does Alya fair?

The best friend has their own rules. Alya cesaire believes in loyalty, good triumphing over evil, and the truth. As a fan of super heroes it would make sense that she would have a more paragon approach towards things. In that regard, Alya is rigid, but she is willing to bend the rules if it helps her get the truth. To be honest, Alya is a loyal friend, does seek the truth, and believes good should always triumph over evil, but the problem is that she is not consistent on what she values more. Depending on the episode’s need, Alya would be gunho, loyal BFF to the max, like in Befana, Startrain, Origins, but then other times, she puts having evidence and truth over her own best friend’s take, Like in Chameleon, Oni-chan, and Volpina. Its a bit of a mixed bag with her, though I do say that her loyalty and support of Marinette is more of her more common traits. But this constant shift on what she values more is concerning.

Friendship is a two way street. This is where I find Alya does shine brightest. Her relationship with Marinette is very consistent. The two hang out, talk, and enjoy each other’s company. Both have helped the other when needed, and they take time to listen to each other. Sapotis, Stormy weather and Ladybug are the best examples. I will say that Marinette and Alya do not have a one note friendship, Marinette and Alya do talk about things outside of Marionette’s relationship status, Alya and Marinette do debate about things, even going so far as to even tease and joke with the other. In terms of friendship being a two way street, Alya and Marinette have a pretty good friendship going.

Alya as her own character is a bit more solid then one would anticipate based on all the salt surrounding her. She does have a strong character, she has her own relationships, her own actions outside of Marinette. She does have a boyfriend, does have hobbies that don't always involve Marinette. Alya is more then willing to put her needs into view. She has a unique dynamic with her family, she has a developing relationship with her boy friend. She even is friendly to someone Marinette is not the biggest fan of, and still maintains her friendship with Marinette in spite of it. Alya could exist without being Marinette’s Best friend, but it is good that they are friends.

Overall, Alya has a very good dynamic with Marinette and has her own character outside of that friendship, her main flaw is that with inconsistent writing her standing as ‘The pillar’ is not very effective, she can appear to be at the whim of the writers at times because of this inconsistency. But to determine if she is really more Plot device then Person, we head to the next section

_____________________________________________________________________

Alya Cesaire the Plot device

The Concept of a Plot device is simply a literary device (a character, an outside force, etc) that helps move the plot along in some way shape or form. The problem with Best friend character’s is that  if they aren't the ones with the super powers, they are often put into the position of being the plot progression button in one of two tropes, the Plot voucher or the Quest giver. The plot voucher is the character that gives the lesson or solution early on and tells the MC that they should do something and often its what the character needs to do in order to solve the problem. Think Chekov’s gun. The Quest giver is the character that states what the character needs to do, often propelling the character into the situation. whether intentionally or not.  Alya cesaire is often criticized as being a plot device since she is often the one pushing marinette to do things. Now to be fair, characters in the show can still be their own character while being used as a plot device, but the problem occurs when Plot is prioritized over the character. In order to judge if a character is more of a plot device, I have come up with 3 solid criteria. In order for a character to be more plot device than character they must achieve all three of the following, contradict their own morals on more than one occasion, Formulaic role writing, and P.R.E.G.O.  These three criteria are crucial in judging one’s character.

To start off, contradictions in character. What this means is that the plot of an episode will do something that will make a character do something that would go against the core attributes of a character without explanation. Like having a vegetarian character eating meat. Now there are times when writers make a mistake and if it happens once then it is more like a mistake and not a constant trend. An example of Alya having a contradiction in character would be in Chameleon. (This is where a lot of the salt started so this is understandable), where Alya tells Marinette that she would need proof on her accusations. Now this is a case where additional dialogue would have made this NOT a contradiction. If Alya showed self awareness, like if she said, “I have learned my lesson about making accusations without solid proof.” That would have probably been fine and also a good moment of character development. But the expression (without that addition) comes off without context. Alya does show another moment of hypocrisy in Oni-chan, when she tells Marinette to ignore Lila when she was talking with Adrien, but at the end of the episode then questions why Marinette isn't spying on them. Now in the context of the episode, its to show how Marinette learns a lesson, but in this case (which I find as MORE egregious than Chameleon) this makes Alya look like a massive hypocrite. There are a few other times in season 3 where Alya has shown a few bits of hypocrisy which makes me say that Alya has matched this first criteria.

Formulaic role writing is a criteria that is less on the character of Alya, but on the show’s treatment of Alya. So to explain Formulaic role writing is where a character is put in a show to always do a specific thing for a character or for the plot. This is very common in episodic shows, like how in the original Power rangers, Zordon is the one that calls the rangers to fight a monster, he is basically the ‘Alert system’. In Alya’s case she is often regulated to 2 specific parts, Wingwoman and Lore finder. In her role as wing woman, she is basically trying to help Marinette out with Adrien, in whatever way she can. This results in plot progression and getting Marinette from point A to Point B. The second role is Lore finder, she is the one that goes searching to find out stuff regarding the heroes, because its for her blog. Now Alya has shown times when she is not in either of these roles, such as in Anaisi, heroes day, Stormy weather 2.0, Timetagger, just to name a few. It has Alya living her own life and existing outside of these roles. This helps because these examples are not in the character contradictions category, which helps us evaluate that Alya does not completely conform to this trait.

The final criteria is P.R.E.G,O or better known as Plot Relevant Exposition Given Only. What this means is that a character is only given lines that help further the plot, character development of the MC, help solve a problem, or cause a problem. P.R.E.G.O is the epitome of finding out how one-dimensional  a character is. If you can fit all of the dialogue into a category covered in P.R.E.G.O, then it is simple to determine if a character is simply a plot device for the author’s to utilize. To put it simply Alya does break out of the P.R.E.G.O model as she does develop as her own character and has moments where she is doing her own thing. Both in canon, and on the Instagram. Alya has a boyfriend, a strong relationship with her sisters, her own goals and hobbies, and even her own insecurities. Alya as a character, while not correctly utilized is not fitting of this criteria.

Overall, Alya is more then simply a plot device, but she has been used on occasion to further the plot in ways that would contradict her character. The writing for her can be vastly improved and while she does have her flaws, should not be dismissed as simply a mouth piece for the shows plot.

_______________________________________________________________________

Canon vs Salt

Alya cesaire is often found to be one of the few characters (ever since season 3) to be heavily criticized and bashed by a chunk of the fandom.  Now with how the fandom reacted to her, I was curious on what brought such unfettered hate onto her. It was sort of surprising to see how far the fandom went with not liking her. So after careful analysis, I managed to isolate the two main reasons on why she is so polarizing to the fandom. These reasons are, poor Writing and projection.

The writing on Alya has been inconsistent at times and in early season 3, with episodes such as Chameleon, Oni-chan,  Oblivio, and Reflekdoll. The salt for her really started to rise. The most common assertion by the salters is that Alya is completely inattentive to other people’s needs and will prioritize her own desires above all else. Like in Oblivio, when Alya posted the photo of Ladybug and Chat noir kissing when Ladybug stormed off after seeing it. Now in the context, it seems rude, and it kind of is. Sure Ladybug didn't tell Alya not to put it on the blog, and she wasn't even mad at alya who took the photo, so the argument could be that alya would have not posted it if Ladybug told her not to. But it is still something alya should have asked before posting. Not that all journalists and reporters ask for permission before posting things, its common curtousy. So in this regard, criticism towards Alya is warranted if one wants discuss terms of improvement. However, in alya salt, she is often depicted as someone that would throw marinette under the bus and dismiss her, that is something Alya has yet to do and would likely never do. Alya has disagreed with marinette at times, but she has never (while in control) insulted or dismissed her friend.  The salt/bashing of Alya’s character in that regard is inaccurate and is not warranted.

Projection is the action of placing issues onto another that are not applicable to one’s character. This is where all of the bashing of Alya’s character comes from. Alya is often projected as being one of Lila’s main enablers and the one that makes marinette feel awful. Alya is often portrayed as one of the worst people in salty au’s because she is the one closest to marinette. Her ‘Betrayal’ makes the pain Marinette feels much worse. Alya is being used by salters to place their own issues of broken friendships from the past onto her. From the few au’s and fics I have read with Alya salt, the betrayal that alya often does seems far more personal when described, as if the author was pulling from personal experience. Alya, according to the salt community, has become the perfect character to project the agony of betrayal because of the massive salt that has been piled on from chameleon onward. 

In conclusion, Alya is critiqued because of poor writing from the show, and is bashed because of fan projection. Alya is a character with faults and suffers from poor writing but she is not deserving of the unabashed hatred she has received.

_______________________________________________________________________

Final Thoughts

Alya Cesaire is a character that could use some better writing and could use some better establishment on her traits, but she is still good on her own merits and I conclude that she is more than a tool of the plot, she is a multifaceted character that will hopefully improve in season 4.

[shihalyfie]

Daisuke’s characterization in V-Tamer is actually out of character

This is a post rather different from the usual content I do for this blog, and to be honest, I’m a bit hesitant about it, since it’s hard not to make it sound like some kind of scathingly critical negativity about the relevant chapter. It’s not intended that way -- V-Tamer’s crossover chapter with 02 lies firmly in “Bandai-commissioned spinoff” territory with what was most likely very little input from the anime staff, and with these kinds of things, right hand very rarely talks to left hand, and you see it in things like Tag Tamers having major contradictions with the anime despite how ostensibly important it is to 02′s story. Izawa and Yabuno were busy with V-Tamer production, and it’s very likely Toei and Bandai only provided them with very scant details of 02′s base premise (especially since the chapter itself doesn’t refer to any major 02 plot details besides XV-mon’s and Magnamon’s existence). I really do not blame them for not necessarily having thorough awareness of Daisuke and his character arc (especially since he himself is a rather deceptive character), and having to make a lot of assumptions while writing.

In the end, I decided to write this due to personal request from an acquaintance, who pointed out that there are a lot of people out there who like to claim things like "Daisuke got more character development in this single chapter than he did in 02 itself” (which is another manifestation of the constantly repeated fanbase mantra that Daisuke was lacking in that department when he really wasn’t). The thing is, this chapter’s interpretation of Daisuke is so far removed from the character he was even at the start of 02 that this “development” only works by artificially engineering a conflict that shouldn’t have even happened with Daisuke in the first place.

Again: This is not something meant to criticize this chapter as something bad (personally, I do think it’s rather entertaining in its own way) as much as, simply, out of character is still out of character, and I'm mainly just writing this in the hopes of making a case that this version of Daisuke should not be reflected back on the original series.

(Screenshots below are from the DH translation of V-Tamer, and PositronCannon’s 02 subs.)

The issue here is that the whole plot of the chapter itself is based on the idea that Daisuke is the kind of person who likes fighting for the sake of fighting, and has an impulsive urge to charge in aggressively to the point of even looking down on his friends for denying him. Certainly, on the surface, it does seem to match up with Daisuke still having difficulties adjusting to these new kids being his friends at the beginning of the series, and generally having an abrasive, rough-around-the-edges personality, but...

Ah.

The above screenshots are from 02 episode 7, which is a very early episode -- one that clearly takes place before Magnamon’s appearances in Hurricane Touchdown and 02 episode 20-21, and XV-mon’s appearance in 02 episode 22 -- and one that’s still part of Daisuke’s early bout of “shallow” episodes, in which he’s still instinctively lashing out at Takeru due to his perception of having something going on with Hikari. And while he does initially lash out at them for wanting to turn back, the moment everyone else makes a good case for them turning back (especially when their own Digimon run out of energy), he -- rather easily -- grits his teeth and actually calls the retreat himself.

On top of the fact that Daisuke is very capable of pulling back when he practically understands it’s necessary (even if he hates it), some important points need to be made about his behavior here: Daisuke does not push forward on fighting because he likes fighting and attacking things, but because he practically wants to see the Dark Tower destroyed (and the Dark Tower is causing problems for everyone everywhere right now). He hates the Kaiser, and wants to fight everyone under him, because he’s hurting others. Only one episode later, Daisuke vocalizes that he’s even okay with losing a soccer game as long as he gets to play someone who’s inspired kids all over the country and enjoy the match.

The other problem is that it actually implies that Daisuke would be able to do anything without his friends’ approval. Despite Daisuke’s ostensibly rough surface demeanor, he gets strung along easily. It is absurdly easy to shut him down or override his opinions just by being assertive enough. There’s a very good reason why he’s been described as “prevented from doing much in the first half”. Daisuke spends the first half of the series largely unable to make his own decisions because his friends keep making them for him, and part of his character development involves him becoming able to actually put his foot down and do what he wants when it’s something he cares about, which is something that very much does not set in until the second half.

In addition, the implication that Daisuke would be actively belligerent to the point of having the priority of “destroying enemies” instead of “helping others” is very contrary to the whole point of his character arc:

In 02 episode 20, the first time Daisuke does truly put his foot down against the wishes of the others in the group, it’s because seeing Chimeramon destroy so many things hurt him that badly that he hates sitting around and doing nothing. Again: Daisuke is a person who does things because he cares about and wants to protect others, not because he necessarily likes fighting. It’s also important that he makes this statement that he’ll go in “even alone” -- he does not look down on the others or show distaste for them for choosing to recuse, because they’re understandably exhausted, but simply says that he’s frustrated at the idea of giving up this one chance, and doesn’t want to squander it. (It’s also consistent with the way he treats the mortified Ken in 02 episode 48 -- he reminds him that Jogress won’t work if Ken’s not feeling up to it, and says that he’ll do it alone if he has to because something has to be done.)

And speaking of Ken, this trait of Daisuke’s is why that whole character arc of him reaching out to Ken works in the first place! Because, again, Daisuke hated the Kaiser because he was doing horrible things. The moment the Kaiser stopped doing horrible things, Daisuke didn’t feel up to kicking him while he was down, actually urged him to do the first thing he could do to make amends -- “go home” -- and ultimately chose to reach out to him because he thinks in terms of moving on and creating positive things, not for destruction for the sake of destruction. Because Ken seemed to not be hurting anyone anymore, and he’s actually doing something to help, so why not believe in him and let him help?

Again: with the exception of episode 48 (which is just reinforcing something from before), all of these episodes are before XV-mon’s first appearance in 02 episode 22. Daisuke had always been this kind of positive and supportive person from day one; those traits had just not been very easily visible because he was still trying to deal with his initial awkwardness and being rather rough around the edges, but they’re still traits he’d always fundamentally had.

The chapter continues with Daisuke actually looking down on his other friends and protesting angrily against them trying to pull him back. Beyond the fact that (as stated above) the anime’s portrayal of Daisuke would make him very unwilling to fight back against opposition at this point of the series, the idea he’d actually be condescending about his friends is a little...hmm. Because, again, in 02 episode 7:

Daisuke does momentarily lash out at Iori and Takeru in a moment of emotional compromise when he’s stressed over Hikari getting trapped in the Digital World, but he actually takes it back. Incredibly quickly. He apologizes to Iori, and decides to not let Takeru put the blame on himself, even though his emotionally-compromised moment had initially gotten him to instinctively try to pin it on him. (Which is important because, yes, even when Daisuke’s inclined to lash out at Takeru for his perceived existing relationship with Hikari and be jealous of him, he still cares about Takeru himself to the point he doesn’t want him to load himself with the guilt.)

Daisuke’s brashness is portrayed during this early part of 02 as him very, very badly needing validation. This means that going out of his way to push aside the people he calls friends would be the last thing he wants to do, because he actually wants their approval, and for them to like him, and therefore he’s willing to apologize quickly and try to make amends because he plays badly with actual confrontation.

While this line isn’t quite off, it does rather clash with the way Daisuke actually portrays himself, which is that he doesn’t really have this much of an ego. The literal translation of this line is that he calls himself “your cute little junior”, but even the more liberal translation used here doesn’t quite work with Daisuke’s character, since it’s not implied at any point that Daisuke thinks Taichi actually cares about him back the way he adores Taichi.

Again, Daisuke is an extremely deferential person who craves validation, and this is especially in the case of Taichi, who arguably is the one who creates the easiest mood shift in Daisuke for the early parts of the series. Whenever Taichi is nearby, Daisuke immediately becomes deferential and respects literally everything he does.

Observe Daisuke’s very resigned and very deferential facial expressions and attitude in 02 episodes 8 and 10, whenever it comes to Taichi (and note that the third screenshot here also comes from a situation where Daisuke wanted to advocate for pushing forward instead of retreating; it was that easy for Taichi to shut him down). For all it’s worth, Daisuke’s never really shown to have a lot of pride in himself (beyond the occasional joke), and it’s heavily implied that he sees Taichi as so amazing that he’s not even remotely in his league. That’s why it’s such a big deal that Daisuke puts his foot down and protests against what Taichi wants them to do in 02 episode 39, and it’s not even rudely or aggressively (he still uses polite Japanese!) as much as just firmly “I have a friend and I need to help him, I’m sorry.”

During the chapter, Daisuke claims that he doesn’t want to go back and meet his friends, because he doesn’t think they care about him, but, well, again: Daisuke is someone who craves approval. It’s somewhat understandable that he’d maybe have some degree of insecurity that they don’t like him as much as he wants them to, but the series by this point (remember, we’re talking episode 22, given XV-mon’s appearance) makes it very clear that Daisuke is well aware that his friends like him this much, and he has no real grudges against them.

This is one of the reasons it’s so important that 02 had so many scenes of the kids just...bantering in the computer room, or having tons of “free time off hours” that had nothing to do with Digimon fights, because although Daisuke is brash and rough around the edges, otherwise, the group of friends here get along perfectly fine. Once the stress of fighting is removed, these kids are part of each others’ social circle and love hanging out for the sake of hanging out, and even someone as dense as Daisuke should know very well that they do at least like him this much.

And, more importantly, whatever Daisuke might think about what his friends think of him, he himself likes them a lot. He cares about them a lot. Even all the way back in 02 episode 10 and 11, with Miyako and Takeru (whom he ostensibly banters and gets touchy with a lot), he still makes it clear he likes what Miyako’s doing and wants to check on her (without prompting), and later, when he gets in a fight with Takeru, he blames himself for not understanding Takeru’s feelings instead of feeling inclined to blame it on him. (In fact, this so-called hostility with Takeru is really overblown here, because there’s no reason Daisuke should think everyone takes Takeru’s side; when they did get in a fight in 02 episode 11, everyone was more concerned about getting them to calm down than they were about taking sides, because both of them did have a very reasonable position.)

And while Daisuke getting set off by the Takeru and Hikari issue might have been in-character at one point, it’s not for him at this point in the series, because 02 episode 22, the very episode that introduces XV-mon, has him take a completely different view of the situation:

Daisuke had already gotten over a lot of it by this point. The last time he shows any indication of Takeru and Hikari having ~something going on~ to the point he suspects Takeru of being an obstacle is all the way back in episode 17, which oh-so-coincidentally happens to be the same episode where he later learns about the truth of his seniors’ great adventure in 1999, and therefore receives the full context of why Takeru and Hikari knew each other beforehand (which they had been absolutely terrible at elucidating for 17 episodes). By the time we get to this epsode, Daisuke does not hold anything against Takeru himself, and he doesn’t even accuse them of having a thing, just moping that they “get along so well”. He’s not angry about it, he’s sad about it, and it’s heavily implied that he’s really just sad about being third-wheeled more than anything.

It’s also important to realize that this is long past the point where Daisuke would have shown any outright hostility towards Takeru at all. At worst, he maybe scoffs “do whatever you want!”, or ends up a little sad that they’re leaving him out, but he ends up putting this on himself more than he ever lashes out at others about it anymore. The grudge against Takeru had already gone long under the bridge, by this point Takeru is just a friend that he likes reasonably well and is sad to be third wheeled by, and it’s only 13 more episodes before he’ll stop bringing his crush on Hikari into the issue for the rest of the series.

And, remember, Daisuke has always been someone who does things “because other people are being hurt”. He’s not actually that selfish! Whenever people are really in trouble, he goes in to help them -- remember, back in 02 episode 8, he was crushed because Ken turned out to be the Kaiser, and someone indirectly trampling on the dreams of all the soccer-playing kids in the country. Had this been Daisuke from the anime, he probably would have immediately wanted to go back the moment he realized there are people in need and hurt left behind, regardless of his own feelings on his relationship with his friends.

The rest of the chapter is fairly on-the-nose, with Daisuke managing to create a “miracle” through the power of his feelings by remembering what it meant for Taichi to give him his goggles, and for managing to connect to his friends despite them being trapped, with Daisuke and Taichi eventually parting on good terms and Daisuke even getting the honor of doing the victory dance with him. This is why I want to emphasize (I’ll say this in bold) that I do not think this is a “bad” chapter just because it’s not compliant with Daisuke’s anime characterization. Given what the chapter sets out to accomplish, setting up a story of someone who feels neglected by his friends and eventually decides to reach out to them with his own feelings, it’s thematically solid and well-plotted out as a story, and the crossover and thought experiment of how Daisuke would react to an alternate version of Taichi is very entertaining. Plus, Izawa’s writing and Yabuno’s art is charming, and it’s lovely to see the 02 kids in this style.

It’s just, well, the entire premise of this chapter relies on a conflict generated by Daisuke being a character he is very much not. And, again, it’s not something that I can really criticize Izawa and Yabuno for; Daisuke’s quite the deceptive character, and it really doesn’t seem like Toei and Bandai gave them a lot to work with, especially since this chapter only works within a very narrow range of 02′s timeline, between 02 episodes 22 and 25, when V-mon can evolve to Adult but Ken hasn’t formally joined the team yet. (And in fact, I’d generally apply this sort of caveat to things relevant to Daisuke that come from the Bandai side instead of Toei side; too many things out there seem to only really be working with the base details of “Taichi’s junior who has a crush on Hikari” with no regard to the actual nuances of his character.) Personally, it seems that Izawa and Yabuno did their best with what they had to work with, and they even made it a fun chapter while they were at it! -- so I would simply say that it’s probably best to enjoy this chapter without thinking about the lack of canon compliance too hard, but also not to judge the actual anime version of Daisuke too much by this portrayal.

[julianxhawthorne]

"Yelp.. Google.. Can't say I ever left a review anywhere." Good to know he was outdated, just so he could feel that much older. But at least Haven could joke about it, so he only let it bother him for a slight second. Julian followed her, making sure to take in every detail of her frame before they entered her office. It was out of his control, he was but a man. "No problem. Lil bud deserves it, great kid." And it became sort of a character trait for him to spoil children and their single mothers. Guess he had Beyza to thank for that, she was the one that started it after all. Who knew he would've ever been a funcle? "Really? I like it." He'd never received a basket before. Come to think of it, he had never received a gift outside of his birthday, holidays or job related. There were sponsor gifts, but those always had ulterior motives. He showed them off, they got more purchases. He studied the basket, looking up at her with a smile slowly creeping up his lips. "Thank you." He spoke before sitting down, shifting in the seat but pausing momentarily at her words to process if she had actually said them. "Careful, Miss Sinclair. Give me your hand and I might just take your entire arm.. And then some." He teased her, adjusting his leather jacket and finally found his preferred sitting position. "The youth centre would have the biggest priority, so that one. It has to be in Maple Hills, it's closest to the schools, that way they wont have to travel far if they're coming after school. The biggest lot you can get me, I want it. Money's not an issue. Within reasonable bounds, of course." He might be a millionaire, but he knew when something was absurd and when something was reasonable. "An architect is currently drawing out the plans. The sooner I can have the lot measurements, the better. I've told him seven-thousand square feet for the first draft."

"Oh fantastic. That makes me feel even better." she smiled, laughing at his comment about yelp. "I think you'd be the only five star review I have on Yelp." she admitted. "Most of my reviews are through Google these days." The silence in the office was different for Haven, and something she'd been trying to get used to over the course of the last few weeks. She was used to back to back appointments, scheduling showings or FaceTime calls for meetings, but, there had been less of that these days. So when Julian had scheduled his appointment, she'd not only been shocked to hear from him but also relieved that she was getting some business. She hadn't expected him to show up with a gift though, and she certainly hadn't expected him to remember Lake was taking up baseball. "Oh, wow, Julian, thank you." she smiled, closing the door behind them as they made their way into her office. "That's kind of you; he'll be so happy to see that he has his own set. I appreciate it." She motioned for Julian to take a seat, a complimentary snack basket - complete with a small notepad, a pen, and some snacks that she handed out to every client that came into her office - placed on the desk across from her. "The basket is for you. It's just a little token of my appreciation for all of my clients." she spoke, though, the blush in her cheeks formed a moment later. "Though, I guess it's a little silly to have assumed you were coming for business, but, either way, please, take it." she smiled. "It's the least I could offer after your generosity." she smiled. "I'm thrilled you came to see me. Not only because you're also quite the catch to look at but, primarily because you need help and I'm the person for you." she smiled, winking back and then looking at the pad of paper on her own side of the desk. "What are some things you're looking for? Which project do you want to get finished first, and what are you looking for for it?"

[djemsostylist]

This is not Eda Yildiz's Story...

With SCK’s return in season 2 and this highly polarizing plot, I’ve seen a lot of talk and debate about plot and character and the direction of the show. I’ve complained enough on my tumblr that I think it’s pretty obvious where I stand, but lately I’ve been thinking less about what I hate and rather why it doesn’t work. Like it or hate it, I think we can all agree that the plot and direction of the show is strange. The story has been a mess, arguably, since the early teens. Once we’d finished Ayse’s initial arc, it was clear we were moving into “plot” controlled territory, and that trend continued. I don’t think anyone can deny that the new story follows a similar narrative “shift” that seems to have dominated the story since the 30s. It feels different, and I think that feeling has continued even with the return of the original writer. It sort of crystallized for me when I was watching one of summer’s new show, Cam Tavanlar. 40 minutes in and we had yet to meet the male lead, and it was then that I realized that’s it.

I’ve seen a lot of talk about how feminist SCK is, and how this is “Eda’s” story. Fans have long asked the question “when is Eda going to graduate?” and it’s a valid question if Eda is our main character, since that is one of her two primary motivations. It's worth noting before we begin that I like Eda--I loved her for the first 28 episodes, her portrayal by Hande is excellent, and she is a fun and easy character to love. But rewatching the early episodes of the show and then watching Cam Tavanlar made me realize the issue at hand: this isn’t Eda’s story, and she is not, nor has she ever been, the main character. The story of SCK is the story of Serkan Bolat--I just don’t think anyone realized it.

Let’s think about Eda for a moment. When we meet Eda, she is a down-on-her-luck college drop out. She’s lost her scholarship and is stuck working at her aunt’s flower shop until she figures out what to do with her life. From the first episode, we learn a few things. She has two main goals--graduate, and be with the man she loves. We also learn a little about her character--she is determined, strong-willed, stubborn, impulsive, kind-hearted, and loving. She believes in seeing the best in people (unless their name is Serkan Bolat), and she values family and friends above almost everything else. Her introduction shows her as slightly frazzled, a little overwhelmed, and very young.

Over the next 11 episodes, we learn surprisingly little else about her. These are the things we know:

She lives with her aunt after her parent’s untimely death which affects her to this day.

She blames her grandmother for their death and is scared of her control.

She and Melo have known each other since they were children.

She works with orphans and loves the idea of helping children.

She loves plants and flowers.

She likes dogs.

She has plans for two children someday.

She wants to study in Italy.

She used to own a charm bracelet.

She is claustrophobic, which is likely connected to her fainting when she is stressed because of a claustrophobic situation when she learned of her parents’ passing.

What we don’t know could fill books. We don’t know exactly why she blames her grandmother for their death. We don’t know if Eda actually knows/has met her grandmother after her aunt took her and left. We don’t know how she met or knows either Ceren or Fifi. We don't know why she wants to be a landscape architect, or what drew her to want to study in Italy. We don’t know why she never pursued any other options when she lost her scholarship. We don’t know how she got the scholarship in the first place (grades, essay, project, some combination?). We don’t know her long term goals other than graduate and get married. Does she want her own company, is there a project she really wants or a company she would love to work for? We don’t really even know her feelings on relationships and marriage. How long did she date Cenk? How did they meet? What did she hope for their future? We don’t know anything about her childhood or how she was raised, and we aren’t even that clear on her relationship with her aunt, since it vacillates from almost no guidance at all to extremely controlling and manipulative. The point is, Eda is still, even 39 episodes in, more a collection of traits than a fully realized character.

Eda starts Episode 1 as a headstrong, independent, impulsive, kind, strong-willed, determined woman who wants to graduate and be with the man she loves. She ends episode 12 exactly the same--different man, same goals, same traits. She ends the way she starts.

The next 12 are the same. Eda starts as a headstrong, independent, impulsive, kind, strong-willed, determined woman who wants to graduate and be with the man she loves. She ends episode 24 the same way. This time, everything is the same as it was 12 episodes ago--same man, same goals, same traits. Again, what changes does Eda truly go through in these episodes? Any? Does she learn to think before she acts? Does she learn to temper her stubbornness? Does she define her future goals?

Let’s look at Serkan Bolat. When we meet Serkan, he is the successful CEO of an architecture firm returning from a business trip. His main goal--his only goal--is to achieve success and recognition in business. We also learn a little about his character--he is a stubborn, strong-willed, independent, closed-off man who prioritizes work over everything. He believes love is a fairy tale, and that all relationships are ultimately contracts no different from work contracts. His introduction is calm, cool, collected, and in control.

Over the next 11 episodes, we learn A LOT about Serkan. We learn:

He had an older brother he was very close to. His brother was the golden child and the center of his family, who was a musician. We learn that Serkan was very close to him, and that his brother’s death rocked the foundations of his entire family.

He was sent away by his father to boarding school at an early age because his mother had a mental breakdown and couldn’t cope and his father wasn’t capable of handling it.

A lot about his relationship with his parents, their goals and expectations for him, and why he is so closed off and has a hard time making meaningful connections as a result of how he was raised.

That he has wanted to be an architect since he was a child, which is how long he has loved magic and the stars.

He studied astronomy in college.

He believes in supporting the education of young people.

He rescued his dog.

He moved home to be close to his mother who suffers from agoraphobia.

Where he met all of his close friends and enemies.

His feelings on relationships and marriage.

His fears and insecurities.

His hypochondria.

His various talents (horseback riding, car racing, swimming, guitar playing).

In fact, there is very little we don’t know about Serkan Bolat.

Serkan starts episode 1 as a strong-willed, closed-off, business minded asshole who believes all relationships are contracts and doesn’t believe in love. He ends the first 12 as a more open, giving, softer version of himself, who believes in love and the importance of a relationship and whose goal is no longer just to be a businessman, but to prioritize the needs of the woman he loves over his own.

Over the next 12 episodes, we see Serkan learn to navigate what it means to be in a relationship--to learn to trust, to give and take, to let go of control, or let his feelings guide him, and to be open and honest with what he feels and how he loves. We go from a Serkan who couldn’t say the word “love” when talking in private to his best friend and thought apologizing by email was the best choice, to a man who can sit in a room full of people and declare openly his love for the woman beside him. When the series comes to a close in 28, we have a Serkan Bolat whose priority is love and family, and whose main goal is to become a husband and father.

Serkan, from episodes 1-28, experiences an entire arc, from consummate businessman to family man. He goes from closed and cold to open and warm. From a man who can’t even bring himself to explain that he doesn’t love his ex-girlfriend, to a man who can openly sit and talk about how much he loves his fiancee. He goes from a man whose friends drift around the periphery of his life, to a man whose newest friend is a former business rival. He grows and changes and develops, and each of the storylines, from the fake contract in 1-12 to the breakup in 13-24, to working towards marriage in 25-28, all bring this about.

Even the story is shot to show us Serkan's pov. How many times do we see Eda through his eyes? How many times do we get to focus on Serkan and his reactions, whether it’s to Eda, to news, to his feelings? Think about it. If the story is really about Eda, then all the focus in the teens should be on Eda. And while we certainly see her reactions, the story is squarely centered on Serkan and his feelings. 13 is about his relationship with his father, dealing with his company in crisis, and making the choice to go to Italy with Eda. 14 is about him coming to grips with the news and deciding what he wants to do. 15/16 are watching him deal with the fallout and the loss of Eda in his life. 17 is about his fears and hopes for children and a family with Eda. 18/19 are him coming to realize how desperately he wants and needs her in his life. Eda gets reaction time sure, but she’s not the focus--Serkan is. Think about the episodes I just described--what does Eda really do in any of them?

Even their family and friends. Eda’s life is filled with people who are less characters and more set dressing for her story. Ayfer begins and ends our series as a character who seems to be whatever the narrative requires--she has no real defining personality traits, and her backstory is nonexistent. She has no life beyond Eda and the girls, and it isn’t even until after Ayse is gone that we start to see hints of her maybe becoming a real character. The results were disappointing, but I give props to the writers for giving Ayfer some kind of plot beyond “the flower shop is suddenly in a monetary crisis”. Fifi, Ceren, and Melo don’t fare much better. Ceren we know has the desire to be a shoe designer and has a rich lawyer daddy. She at least gets a side plot with Engin where we can see her as more of a person than Fifi, who was basically never a character at all. Melo fares the best, although much like Eda, she is boiled down to a few basic traits that don’t change. Eda’s life is otherwise devoid of color and life--no neighborhood friends or acquaintances, no backstory for her childhood. She seems to spring into our story like a fairy fully formed, and there is no real effort made to develop her at all.

Contrast this to Serkan’s family, where we get to watch not only his parents, but also Engin and even Piril and Ferit, grow and change. We see Aydan go from a stubborn, nasty, judgmental woman to a woman who is kind, open, and supportive of her son and the woman she wants to be her daughter. We see his father is more than merely an absent dad, but a man who is so stuck in his ways he is unable to open up--until Eda. (That his story is ruined is neither here nor there). Engin goes from a goofy sidekick to a competent husband and. Even Piril learns to unclench, Ferit goes from a doofy, hanger on to one of Serkan’s greatest supports.

The point is, the story of SCK is the story of how Serkan Bolat learned to open himself up to love, family, and the possibility of a life beyond work. That Eda is an essential part of that story goes without saying, but it is, ultimately, his story. It’s funny, but I remember at the end of 28 saying that I missed Serkan Bolat. My friends laughed at me “he’ll be back next week” and while at the time I was being dramatic, I realized it’s true. Because Serkan Bolat’s story was done at the end of 28 episodes. When he made the decision to get married to the woman he loves, to prioritize her over everything, to become a husband and father, his story came to a beautiful and natural close. Their love story was really his story, the story of two people who came together and loved each other, and the ways in which that love allowed him to live a full life.

Any story that would come after centered on Serkan wouldn’t make sense. At best, we could have a few episodes of Serkan as a married man, but really, he doesn’t have much else to give us. So, if the story was going to continue, something had to change. And that means finding a new character’s story to tell. Eda, naturally, fits the bill. Since her story and growth has taken a back seat to Serkan, it makes sense to pivot and make her the main character. At the end of 28, one of her goals has been fulfilled--be with the man she loves. Therefore, naturally, the next part of the story, the story she will now be telling, will be the other half of that goal--graduate and become a successful architect.

As Eda steps into the lead role, we no longer have a need to focus on a story about two people falling in love and how that love grows and changes them. That story was Serkan’s story, and the new story we are telling has Serkan in the supporting role, while Eda learns to navigate the corporate world. Her story is that of a woman who must balance work and life, motherhood and the job, family and friends while also running a successful business. In this new story, we have a time jump (5 years, which is necessary both because with covid we can’t have babies on set and also because they have found the perfect actress to portray their daughter). Serkan is taking more of a backseat role, having already achieved so many of his professional goals, so while he still is a successful CEO, he also has time to take care of their child and run the minutia of day to day business life while Eda stretches her wings and becomes the business woman she has dreamed of being.

In the final episodes, we would watch as Eda goes from a headstrong, willful, stubborn, impulsive young woman, to a strong, smart, business savvy boss who continues to put her family--her husband, children, and friends--in the forefront of her life. Their love story is now merely a backseat to Eda’s growth and journey.

Except, that’s not what they did. They made Eda the main character but then tried to retell a love story that had already concluded. And to do that, they needed to reset. Everything. After all, how do you retell a love story that has already finished? How do you retell a love story that we’ve already seen playout? How do you tell a love story between two people that has had a beginning, a middle and an end? The answer, it seems, is to start over. Scrap all previous growth, character progress, and storytelling from the first arc with one of your characters, and set him right back at square 1. Or, as it appears, square -10. Take your new main character, and change her. Tweak her just enough to make her work for this new and improved story by removing enough of her core to fit in the plot. Then, move forward from there, and pray the audience doesn’t see what you’ve done until it’s far too late.

So there it is. The fundamental problem with SCK. It’s not about liking or hating it--people like what they like, and this isn’t a judgement on anyone who is fine with the new plot. I’m hardly an expert writer, and perhaps I’m overlooking some missing nuance. But I don’t think you can argue that this new direction is good. It may be enjoyable, which is always subjective, but it’s not good. I don’t think it’s the sort of thing people will look back on and say “Oh, what an excellent piece of writing and characterization!” Hardcore Ayse stans will, I think, they seem impervious to critique or critical thinking, but a read on the fandom at large seems to indicate that most people accept that the plot itself is nonsensical, but they are here for Hande and Kerem and a cute little actress and not much else. To them, having Hanker on screen for another 10 episodes is enough, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I just think that it could have been so much more, and that’s what makes this so strange. But I guess maybe that’s what happens when not even the writer realizes who her own main character truly is.

[graffitiskies]

━♡ guess the 26 year old july baby just arrived to dallyeog! it makes sense, because jeon yooseul is just as wild as the month of july. wait, why do they remind me of bae suji? beyond that, they seemed audacious and impartial upon first glance. i heard someone say they’re sort of stormful and brusque though. i hope they get acquainted here in complex #3 / apartment #0722 / floor # 2 ; she seems to have a lot going on with her job as a rideshare driver.

tw: missing persons

hey everyone!!!! ;u; i’m so glad to be joining you at this ungodly hour (it’s literally after 4am here SMH!!) but hey when the muse hits you IT HITS YOU LIKE A CINDERBLOCK and i for one love when i get a weird burst of sudden muse for a new character hehe :> anyways, that character would be jeon yooseul, a somewhat asocial rideshare driver who’s been living at dallyeog for about a year now :0 pretty much all the info i have for her is below, but in case you’d rather not read a big stretch of text all together, here’s some individual page links: x, x & x :)

profile / stats basic

full name - jeon yooseul nickname/s - yoo, yoojwi ( from her aunt due to her quiet nature ) age - twenty six dob - 07/22/1994 gender identity - cis female orientation/s - pansexual / demiromantic blood type - o born - gyeonggi-do, south korea  grew up - pohang, south korea nationality - korean occupation: rideshare driver languages: korean, conversational japanese, very basic english

personality

label - the thunderstorm traits - audacious, stormful, impartial, brusque, enigmatic, aloof aesthetics - long drives with no destination, concealed crying fits, lonely shadow puppets on the wall in the waning sun, wind and raindrops in your hair, smudged lip balm, beat up messenger bags, the jingling of keys, continental drift, being left on read western horoscope - cancer chinese zodiac - dog alignment - chaotic neutral mbti - the logician ( intp-t ) enneagram - the philosopher ( 5w4 ) disc type - the architect ( Dc )

appearance

fc - bae su-ji ( bae suzy ) hair - deep brown and usually worn naturally, with little effort put in. eye color - black build - slender clothing style - simple, aimless - lots of blacks, earth tones and neutrals. owns a few leather jackets. piercings - both ears in multiple places tattoos - a small heart on her left ring finger, a heart topped with a cross on lower part of the back of her neck

familial ties

mother - jeon hyesun ( status unknown ) father - jeon soonil ( status unknown ) siblings - younger brother jeon yoohwan ( 20, currently in university ) aunt - im darae ( 49, living in pohang ) uncle - im jongho ( 52, living in pohang )

biography

yooseul was born in the muggy, oppressive heat of july to two very kind, yet very naive people. they were both young; barely 19 when they had yooseul, and were in no position to take care of a child. however, they still took on the challenge, as it was simply the kind of people they were.

while the pair meant well, they were always leaving yooseul with her aunt and uncle before traipsing off on another adventure. they loved traveling the world doing all kinds of thrilling, but reckless activities. climbing infamous mountain peaks, visiting the sites of active volcanos, boating down the amazon river with scarce supplies. the little girl would overhear pieces of arguments between her aunt & uncle and her parents. yooseul’s aunt and uncle tended to look out for her even more than her parents did, and were adamant that all the traveling was actively harming yooseul’s development. her mother and father remained steadfast that their daughter wouldn’t even remember this stretch of her life, due to how young she was.

when yooseul’s brother was born, everyone was a bit hopeful that yooseul’s parents would slow down with their jet-setting lifestyle, but if anything, it seemed to kick them into high gear. it was as though having a second child made them feel as though the clock were ticking on their lives, and off they were again on another adrenaline rush.

as yooseul grew enough to truly comprehend and lament her parents’ absence, it was only then that they seemed to finally understand the effect they were having. then again, anyone would probably start listening when their young child is on their knees, begging and crying with an intensity of someone’s whose heart was truly breaking. the trips slowed to a crawl and became every once in a while, rather than every other weekend. yooseul grew passive about them by age seven, as they were so infrequent, so when her parents told her they’d be going on a hiking trip to the south korean evergreen forests, she honestly didn’t think much of it.

she hadn’t seen her aunt and uncle in months, and she and her brother could fly kites in their spacious garden. it was a handful of positives, or so yooseul thought. ( tw begins here ) the days stretched on at their house, and it seemed to be taking a bit longer for her parents to return than she’d anticipated. she could tell something may have been wrong by the hushed conversations her aunt and uncle had, coupled with teary phone calls to people that yooseul couldn’t seem to make out.

she learned the truth while eavesdropping on a news story about her parents; apparently they had gone out hiking as planned, but they had never returned back to the hotel they were staying at. several searches had been conducted in the forest, but only scant, inconclusive traces of the couple were found.

as she was just a child, yooseul knew only hope. her parents would come back one day. why wouldn’t they? they’d been hiking before. they knew what they were doing. days turned into months, and optimism turned into doubt. the evergreen forests were so large and covered so much ground - and who knew if they were even still in there?

( end of tw ) her aunt and uncle did what they could for her and her brother, as the two had gained custody of the children due to their frequent care of them. while her brother was able to develop at a relatively normal pace, yooseul withdrew inside of herself for the most part. the hope she had once known had shifted into stinging pessimism. she loved the family she had left of course, but she was terrible at opening up about what she was feeling, and she was so reluctant for people to see any weakness in her. she had to be the strong one, and it was so much easier to be strong when you let emotions roll off your back entirely.

yooseul had difficult focusing on the things that went on around her, especially in school. she never really made socializing a priority, and her grades were abysmal. it was honestly a wonder that she graduated at all, but her aunt and uncle didn’t want her to be without a secondary diploma, so they refused to let her fall back irretrievably far.

trying to enter the workforce was even worse. she’d sworn off university, and all the small trade jobs she got never seemed to last more than a couple of months, mostly due to her lack of interest. she simply drifted from one meaningless wad of money to the next, either saving it up in a jar for goals she didn’t have or slipping it into her aunt’s purse when she’d refuse to take it directly.

having no prospects might have seemed like a downer of a life to live, but yooseul didn’t really think of things in those terms - she was solely focused on existing in whatever moment she was in and doing whatever she wanted to do. after her aunt and uncle surprised her with a fairly nice kia k8 (as they knew it was something she’d never buy for herself), she leaned into late night drives for comfort. there was something about being alone, feeling the wind ruffling through your hair, some mindless song on the radio recorded solely to push false emotions, watching the lines on the road come at you like knives when you push the limits of the car’s engine. it felt free.

after hearing word of a new rideshare app launching from her uncle, yooseul decided to apply to be a driver. she had nothing else going on at the moment, and those late night drives she enjoyed so much could actually make her some money.

she’s been doing it for a few years now and enjoys it as much as yooseul can enjoy something. the social aspect of it can be a bit awkward, so she loves nothing more than when her passenger keeps their face locked on their phone in silence. she’s since moved out of her aunt and uncle’s place and intro her own apartment at dallyeog. she figured it was finally time to move on, as her brother was now entering college and hadn’t really needed any help taking care of for some time now. maybe, deep down, she’d stuck around so long for sentimental reasons, but she’d never ever admit that.

wanted connections ( first come first serve )

anniversary of an uninteresting event ( open ) - yooseul never talks about it, but y/m saw the story about her parents on some exploitative talk show where they launched a ton of conspiracy theories about what happened. you want to set the record straight, but she doesn’t really wanna hear it.

be quiet and drive ( open ) - y/m orders a ride from yooseul with no set destination in mind. they’ve just had a really awful day and want to zoom through the city towards the sunset without looking back. lucky for them, that is just yooseul’s vibe.

needles and pins ( open ) - y/m and yooseul knew eachother before she moved into dallyeog, possibly even dating back to childhood. they actually know her better than most of the people she’s around now, which makes her mighty uncomfortable. she feels as if they hold some sort of key to a past she thought she’d locked away forever.

cherry waves ( open ) - nobody knows how y/m and yooseul came together, but every time they come into contact, they both immediately lose themselves. sitting on the beaches of busan with a bottle of whiskey, tiptoeing on the edge of dallyeog’s rooftop hand in hand, or ending up a tangled mess of flushed skin and kiss-swollen lips in the back of yooseul’s car; wherever they are, time doesn’t seem to exist.

battle axe ( open ) - yooseul can be a little abrasive when she’s irritated, and maybe that’s why y/m likes pushing her buttons so much. maybe they just like to challenge her attitude of not caring about anything. 

passenger ( open ) - somehow, every time y/m orders from the rideshare app, they end up with yooseul as their driver. it’s not that she doesn’t get them there safely and on time, but she can be...rather scary. maybe all it would take is a few conversations, and they’d see she’s not so bad, and maybe even bump up her rating to three stars?

hole in the earth ( open ) - yooseul did the unthinkable when she and y/m were together a few years ago: she actually opened up. she told them things she never thought she’d tell anyone, and y/m didn’t really understand the weight of that decision for her, betraying her trust. seeing y/m again now is just reopening old wounds and pouring on the salt.

digital bath ( open ) - for whatever reason, it is way easier for yooseul to have lengthier conversations over texts, snaps and other various digital means of communication. perhaps it’s not having to see the person’s reaction in real-time and therefor not having to process any of her own emotions. y/m is one of the only people who actually indulges her on this, and now they have become somewhat friendly as a result.

this is all i have for the moment, but i am v enthusiastic about brainstorming things based on chemistry and character traits or of course scooping up one of your open plots! 

[where-all-the-time-went]

no one can stop me; here’s a robin scherbatsky theory that’s not “the robin theory”

if you follow the himym tag here, you’ve seen it in every language: 

“𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓻𝓸𝓫𝓲𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓸𝓻𝔂: aesthetic post about how women are complicated” that i never finish reading because i’m lazy

then again, i doubt enough people follow the himym tag to know what i’m talking about. well, it lead you here if you do, so i wanted to talk about robin a bit differently. there’s stuff about her character arc that always drew me in, even if it may very well have been unintentional. (spoilers ig)

Robin is often looked at as your typical will-they-won’t-they female love interest: a woman who is focused on her career often to an unhealthy extent. However, I thought there was something to speak to about how her childhood affected this aspect of her personality.

Robin’s father raised her to be a boy. In her household, femininity was a death sentence. Hell, she spent her 14h birthday fighting off wolves. There’s nothing wrong with nontraditional gender expression, but the common understanding of the advocacy on the subject is that everyone always have a choice. Robin was never granted that choice, because toxic masculinity made her father uncomfortable with raising a girl. 

Which brings me back to my opener: career-orientedness is a traditionally masculine trait. For Robin, who was never given a choice towards how she chose to express herself, it may very well have seemed the natural route. Robin does not want to focus on the traditionally “girly” romance the same way Ted and Marshall do, yet Ted and Marshall simultaneously have huge career aspirations. They are able to balance these goals because they, particularly Marshall, are comfortable enough with both of their traditionally masculine and feminine sides. Ted is a hopeless romantic and also a devoted architect, while Marshall is passionate and outspoken about the environment while putting Lily above all else.

Fortunately, as the show progresses, Robin’s priorities begin to shift. Sure, she still focuses on her career as a news anchor, and continues to push Ted away in part because of it, but her attitude changes. Some may think this is symbolized in season five by her relationship with Don: when she’s offered a job in Chicago, he ends up taking it, because she puts her relationship first. However, this decision is a low point for Robin, and ends in heart break. Here, instead of communicating with Don in order to balance her relationship and her career, she immediately chooses her relationship. Rather than learn the lesson from her poorly timed relationship with Ted, Robin flips to the other extreme, and loses Don. This turns out fine for her because Don’s own decision suggests and inconsiderate nature, but does not imply that she has truly learned her lesson.

On the other hand, in season nine, after Robin’s marriage to Barney, the two decide to travel together for her work. Robin allows herself to fall in love with Barney, and although the two do not “settle down” in the traditional sense, it is definitely not the masculine-like “casual” relationship she and Barney would have looked for in seasons one and two. Unfortunately, their relationship falls apart for this very reason, but it ends in a somewhat-amicable divorce. This was a decision I agreed with, mainly because it seemed to me like Robin’s internal conflict around her gender roles clashed with Barney’s own.

 @jmagnabo92​ (who I hope doesn’t mind me mentioning them) made what I consider a fantastic point about Robin’s timeline after breaking up with Barney. While she pursues her career, she avoids Ted until the time is exactly right. Robin has made the rational decision to focus on one thing she loves--her career--to protect the other: Ted. Thus, her character arc is completed when her and Ted’s implied relationship comes full circle. Robin has managed to find extreme career success, and later, romantic success. She does not have to be traditionally feminine, and act as a mother, but she also does not have to play to the extreme, and can be in a relationship with a man she loves. 

I do not know whether any of this was intentional, but I think Robin, as a character, is a perfect lesson about how forcing oneself to conform to one gender role or another hurts oneself and those around them. Robin hurt herself by denying herself romance, she hurt Barney by never being able to settle down, and got hurt by Don when she misunderstood her own priorities. Of course, she never had a responsibility to be the perfect woman for Ted or Barney, but she stuck around and continued to be friends with both despite her failed relationships. Her maturity in this sense is directly correlated with her maturity in her understanding of her gender. 

tl;dr robin’s dad SUUUUCKS but we all kno barney likes girls w daddy issues. its ok now tho shes all better

[scarlet--wiccan]

I don’t think Wanda’s mutant status actually matters nearly as much as it should for Billy and Tommy especially, mutants are born with their powers (though usually dormant), Wanda and pietro (currently) got their powers from the HE but the twins were seemingly born mutants. Either she made them mutants subconsciously bc she believed she was, or they’re the mutant children of a mutate (like Franklin Richards). Not defending the retcon and DEFINITELY not defending the way Wanda’s been treated and how weird that makes Tommy’s relationship status but I don’t think non mutant Wanda necessarily means Billy and Tommy aren’t. They should clarify, where Tommy’s powers even come from if pietro got his from THE especially confused me, but usually powered kids of mutates have been considered mutants.

That being said it probably doesn’t matter bc Sc*rletVisi*n is probably going to make all of them mutants point blank so the comics will shift to accommodate that. Apparently Peter from the xmen is going to come in and bring mutants somehow which sounds horrible (and though ATJ still shouldn’t have been playing pietro as a white man he was at least semi recognizable as quicksilver from the comics and Jewish. I hate xmcu quicksilver A LOT more than mcu QS even though neither is good) and ridiculous but the leak has gotten a lot of crap right so far.

I’m assuming the plan is to retcon the retcon with this krakoa event but they’re waiting until the big tv reveal because unfortunately the movies/shows are their priority now. I think the only good think is that krakoa seems so far divorced from any status quo (mcu or otherwise) that making the maximoffs mutants (again) will have to be completely divorced from the mcu so there’s a chance the storyline might not be terrible? I don’t want the whitewashed maximoffs to have any more of an impact on the comic characters, even though I know that’s impossible.

Well, for one thing, they just retconned Franklin as a "false" mutant, too. I'm not saying that was a good choice, but if we're talking about the current status quo, he definitely doesn't hold up as an example. The definition of "mutant" has shifted over the years, but, generally speaking, when we talk about X-Men mutants, we're talking about people with a specific genetic feature, the X-gene. I suppose that a child of a human mutate who inherits superhuman or abnormal genetic traits from their parents would be, by definition, a mutant, but if they don't have the X-gene, it's not the same thing. Are there a lot of other characters like Franklin, who were allegedly born with the X-gene because their parents are mutates? Because I can't think of any off the top of my head.

Anyways, this is a hard point to debate because the 2015 retcons were poorly executed and poorly justified-- it's, like, impossible to retroactively view Wanda and Pietro as non-mutants when, in the past, their mutant status was an integral part of their characters and a key plot point in several major events. House of M, Son of M, and AvX literally don't make sense if they aren't mutants-- Pietro was depowered by the "no more mutants" spell, and Hope was able to mimic Wanda's powers. Neither of these things would be possible if they weren't real mutants. The explanation can't just be that Wanda believed herself to be a mutant, and so her magic functioned accordingly-- if that's how it's supposed to work, the reveal in Axis never could have happened the way it did. Do you see what I mean? I'm running circles around myself trying to make it make sense.

That aside, Billy and Tommy's status as mutants has always been a little nebulous-- I don't think they're ever clearly identified as such in any Young Avengers titles, although they were definitely described as mutants in some of their other appearances-- Secret Invasion always comes to mind. You could argue that their powers are a factor of their magical resurrection, rather than being genetic, but, as I've said in the past, I do think that the twins are genetically continuous to their original incarnations. More to the point, their "mutations" match Wanda and Pietro's almost exactly. This is taken as proof of their connection to Wanda, so, based on that significance, I'm inclined to say the nature of their powers should also match, mutant or not. Plus, don't you think it'd be a weird coincidence if they had the same abilities, but from a different source?

[As a disclaimer, I do tend to think of/refer to the entire Maximoff family as mutants when I'm not directly addressing the retcons. This is because they were written as such for decades, so they are still mutant characters within most of the existing material.]

__________________________________

I have heard some of those leaks and rumors, and I agree that if the Axis retcon is going to be reversed, even partially, it will probably happen if and when MCU!Wanda comes to be known as a mutant. As I've said, I'm not invested in that character and I don't think there's any way, at this point, to fix the problems that she represents, so I don't really care where she ends up in the movies. I will say that I'm not terribly worried about the films influencing Wanda's appearance or characterization in the comics-- even after the Axis retcon, which was clearly motivated by IP concerns related to the movies, the changes she went through had nothing to do with MCU!Wanda and actually differentiated them even further.

That said, while Hickman's treatment of Wanda may be a red herring or set-up for some big reveal, I don't trust him, or Howard, with the character in any circumstance. More importantly, I care less about Wanda being a mutant than I care about the way Hickman, like Remender before him, is carrying on with the worst, most offensive aspects of her mid-2000s characterization. The levels of ableism and misogyny House of M, Disassembled, etc are too great to ignore. It is irresponsible for contemporary writers to refer back to those stories without acknowledging those problems, or at least attempting to shift the narrative for the better.

It's also really hurtful to me, as someone who sees their identity and history reflected in this character, to see her painted as pseudo-genocidal, or a race/class traitor, or a self-hating minority. Wanda has only become that character because gadjekane writers have chosen to project those those notions onto the image of a Roma woman. That sucks, and it sucks even more that so many fans, and industry pros, turn their ire onto the character, rather than reckoning with the real problem.

[firstagent]

Review: Digimon Adventure: (2020) Episode 29: Escape the Burning Jungle

In this episode, Taichi is absolutely determined to save Hikari! But first let’s help evacuate some random and probably meaningless forest creatures from being victims of natural selection.

We enter this one with an instant sense of urgency and a clear direction. Hikari’s been captured, so pursuing her needs to be the top priority over everything. Whether she cares about it or not, Taichi certainly does and he makes that abundantly clear at the start. So what will SkullKnightmon put Taichi and Agumon through to test their mettle and prove that they’ve earned the right to rescue Hikari? Nothing… Taichi gets lost in the jungle meddling where he really doesn’t need to meddle to help Digimon that we’re not sure will have any significance. In a situation where we finally get a real test of Taichi’s character, he continues to prove why he’s one of the weakest protagonists in Digimon’s history.

When we measure a character, we look at their strengths and weaknesses, and how one overcomes the other. Taichi’s strengths are evident: a relentless determination, an open willingness to accept any ally as a friend, and the occasional ability to do something clever in a fight. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before, honestly, and each trait is better defined by Takuya, Haru, and Taiki respectively. So what are Taichi’s weaknesses? As we get deeper into the mire and he finds himself on his own more and more, there are fewer opportunities for the kind of critical mistakes we want to see, and it becomes a harder question to answer.

At our most merciful we could say his biggest weakness is too much emotion when bad things happen to his friends and family. Losing Hikari is one of those events that could and really should bring out the worst in him.  He does need a short pep talk from Agumon to get back on his feet here, and that’s something. But it doesn’t drive him to desperation and costly mistakes. It certainly isn’t diminishing his willingness to take time to help others. If caring too much is supposed to be Taichi’s signature flaw, the show is rewarding him for it instead of punishing him like it should.

The show is certainly punishing us though! Instead of this gripping rescue mission where Taichi’s fighting tooth and nail to rescue Hikari, who may or may not actually want to be rescued, we get Taichi trying way too hard to save a bunch of Digimon he just met. It’s all one big distraction, and we don’t get any inkling of why this could be important. It might be though: Taichi’s willingness to abandon his sister to help out woodland creatures could have been a point of emphasis (even if it does the aforementioned character flaw), and Lopmon’s silence and general uselessness makes you wonder why they’re even there if not to set up something larger.

It’s also important to remember that these woodland creatures aren’t falling victim to the war between good and evil. The Tankdramon and Megadramon and Allomon aren’t bad guys. Their thirst for more power is the new normal in the Digital World, and it’s happening across the entire continent. Taichi saving a couple of the weaker Digimon doesn’t make a lick of difference, making his determination to stay and help seem fruitless. He pulls off some slick moves in doing this, but given the bigger picture, including Hikari, it all feels pointless. At least when Sora insisted on helping Neemon and company it was from the actual evil forces, and Yamato was around to push back on that and provide a hint of conflict.

Speaking of Sora, she gets to be the big damn hero bailing Taichi out when he’s inevitably surrounded and overwhelmed. It’s a big moment for Sora, potentially even a good character note if the reports of Taichi’s situation motivated her to find him faster. Still, her intervention does mean that once again Taichi isn’t able to win a battle without some miracle assistance. Without a surprise evolution, upgrade, or feather magic, Taichi’s record is surprisingly poor. In a season where the lack of character make these miracles feel random and undeserved, it’s a problem when the main hero struggles to win on his own merits. At a time when we’re already doubting his value as a character, his value as a fighter is equally suspect.

My Grade: C

Loose Data:

Taichi reacts exactly the way you’d expect chasing Hikari, and the others aren’t exactly surprising in how they respond, but it’s a little more varied, which is nice to see. Yamato has some warm words of support and Takeru shows genuine concern.

Joe still being stuck in the bath better have an amazing payoff because it’s starting to look like they just don’t want to write anything for him this arc.

Once again, Koshiro gets information that people in the appropriate positions should already be aware of. Orbital shift is a very serious problem that can render these expensive satellites useless trash. What Koshiro means when he says it’s not a threat is that they won’t explode, which is clearly all that really matters in this show.

He also mentions that the online discourse over the tanker crisis is already beginning to subside. It hasn’t been that long afterwards, and knowing how loud the conspiracy theories were at its peak and how quickly and quietly the whole thing ended, it’s hard to believe everybody just stopped talking about it.

MetalGreymon’s power keeps fluctuating based on his situation. Last time he couldn’t beat a single Volcdoramon on his own. Now he’s taking out two Megadramon in one shot, flinging Allomon everywhere, and holding his own against Tankdramon all at the same time.

They’re really playing up Taichi coming up with smarmy clever ways to beat tough opponents, but the tactic for beating Tankdramon is essentially the same as beating Groundramon and it’s not impressing anybody. 

See reviews of every Digimon episode at Digimon: System Restore! Support the site by joining our Patreon!