#the handling of this part of the conversation was a mistake IMO

[lets-all-calm-down-a-bit]

feeling really down rn cause i dont handle fights well in media (because i have to deal with those too often irl) so heres some happy/domestic thoughts i have about house and wilson:

first of all, from what we see of house in relationships/when hes openly (or privately) in love with someone, hes caring. hes protective, hes caring, and well, hes gentle. i'd like to think if he and wilson actually did get together, he would be like that with him. not in public, but in private where no one could pin him as a sap- he would be compassionate, and kind. its a big stretch to think he would act like that in front of other people. he has a reputation to maintain, dammit! but i think when they're alone, he would make sure wilson knows he loves him.

and thats not to say he would drop the bitchyness. he would still be a pain in the ass. thats just house! but i think he would have more genuine moments through the sarcasm. and if wilson needed him to be serious, he would be. because the main thing keeping house from being sincere with wilson is the fear of vulnerability. if house and wilson were together, then he would have had to already break down that wall, just like he did for stacy.

i also think he would have a lot of guilt. a lot of guilt for the years of mistakes he made simply because he couldnt open up. he still doesnt open up to people, but now that hes opened up to wilson, it feels like all those years he spent building his carefree, sarcastic persona, were wasted.

wilson would be the same as ever. selfless, sappy, unafraid of showing affection. but he wouldnt always give in. amber taught him to take care of himself, and i really think if house passed that stage of repression with wilson, he would be doing the same thing. i think there would obviously be moments where house exploits the fact that wilson is a pushover, but it wouldnt come as often. because once house crossed that line into the vulnerable area, he knew if he fucked up and went too far it would ruin everything.

i love their canon dynamic when living together. house loves wilson's cooking, we already know that. we ALSO know house loves bragging about wilson's cooking. i think house would use their changed relationship status as a way to piss off his fellows even more than usual. he wouldnt be genuine at work. he wouldnt show real vulnerability or softness. but he WOULD play up the cheesy gross pda, and disgusting pet names, and ridiculous sex jokes just because he knows it drives people nuts.

it would just be another layer of insincerity imo. he wouldnt actually flirt with wilson at work, or kiss him and say something sappy. what he would do is say the most annoying, toothrottingly ridiculous things just to get a reaction out of him, and everyone around them. it wouldnt be real, it would be sarcastic. but it would be so fucking annoying.

wilson is a pda person. i do think hes probably very repressed, so that part of him might be a bit hidden. i think he would be really annoyed by house's shenanigans because they embarrass him, but also because he wishes he had the confidence to actually be cheesy and open and affectionate like house pretends to be. He was always a pda person with his wives and partners. he wishes he could be like that with house but is honestly not ready for that yet, and he doesnt know if he ever will be. (it takes maybe a year. then hes fine with full on making out with him in the hallway lmao. he just needed time to adjust)

the first few days no one even knows. because they act exactly the same as they always do. house only starts with the stupid jokes once it's let slip somehow, either through a leaked email, an overhead conversation, or a suspicion from cuddy. he wasnt about to say anything on his own, but in order to make sure no one would DARE mistake him as CARING, he now has to make a joke out of it and be as annoying as possible. never let them see the real you.

those moments when wilson does get to see an unfiltered house, are the world to him. they always were, even before they were together. when house is genuine, its like seeing a rainbow. cherish it while you can. it wont last long, and its not something you can fully do justice to when describing it to someone else. those moments, to wilson, are the reason he keeps going. he's always had a positive outlook on life, but seeing someone like house able to smile, and show real compassion, gives him hope.

[evilsoup]

netflix three body problem is ok. I ended up staying up late watching it to the end, so i can't say that it's badly made or anything. it's a perfectly fine bit of television, if you like sci fi in general then you'll probably get along with it.

the decision to change the setting from china to britain is of course artistically bankrupt. It's 2024, surely western audiences can handle a tv series set in china, come on. And changing everything from this big co-operative international group of the best people in their fields to five friends who know each other already carrying all the plots was weak.

Spoilers below the cut.

the weakest part as an adaptation is the cultural revolution stuff. in the book there was just more of it, this huge buildup of stress and betrayals that make it plausible for the real heart of the novel: Ye Wenjie's decision to betray humanity to the trisolarans. The tv show just didn't manage to sell that moment, because there wasn't enough time given to allow enough buildup. I think these flashbacks needed to have gone on a lot further into the series, with more time given to the piling-up of events on her shoulders until it becomes convincing that she would actually do what she did (imo the rest of her actions from that point are driven by a desire to avoid thinking about the obvious mistake she's made -- if she were to stop helping the trisolarans then that would mean admitting to herself that she's unjustifably doomed humanity).

i think they also removed the dark forest hints that should have peen in one of her conversations with one of the protagonists, the "cosmic sociology" stuff. Are they feeling the need to dumb it down or something? I dunno.

Anyway. It's good enough that i'll watch the second season. It's just not as good as the adaptation which exists in my head.

[anghraine]

I finished some grading, so I'm celebrating by actually finishing my monologue about why my ideal adapted Darcy would be a fusion of two unpopular versions—Laurence Olivier's (1940) and David Rintoul's (1980).

I already gave my rationale on the Olivier front here; the short version is that Olivier!Darcy leans into the smiling, snappy, polished banter from Darcy that is so often overhauled into brooding. It's not all that there is to him in the book, obviously, and the Olivier version definitely gets way off track, but I do think it catches something about the character that is often lost.

The Olivier post ended: But there is also a whole other, subtler side to him that I think is really important, and that one is far better represented (IMO) by Rintoul’s Darcy. So onto my actual favorite Darcy, the infamously peculiar Darcy of the 1979/1980 P&P mini-series.

For context, I'm going to back up a bit and talk about something I've discussed many times before, but which is particularly relevant to this version. For all of canon Darcy's assurance in other ways, I think there's a distinct strain of awkwardness in his character—not shyness as such, but discomfort and difficulty in a wide range of social situations.

He avoids dancing whenever he can manage it, except with Elizabeth. When he becomes interested in her, he hangs out nearby and pays attention to her conversations with other people to work himself up to talking to her himself. He feels ill at ease around strangers and finds it difficult to identify their tones and expressions.

His own default, public expression seems to be quite low-affect. For instance, when sensible, observant Charlotte is looking for signs of interest in Elizabeth from him, she can't tell if Darcy really is interested in Elizabeth or simply absent-minded. Elizabeth completely mistakes his expressions on multiple occasions in the last third of the book as well as the earlier parts. At Rosings, Darcy says it's difficult for him to show interest. Even when he's not trying to be off-putting, he intimidates a number of other characters, from early in the book to the end of it. When he's actively being pleasant and successfully trying to make a good impression, the Gardiners still notice a certain stiff formality about him.

His early position seems to be that his discomfort negates his obligation to treat those outside his circle of friends, relatives, and dependents with courtesy. He evolves to putting in the effort to at least try to be pleasant and courteous—but the attempt does not always succeed. At the end of the novel, he remains uneasy around most of the Meryton community, and his manner towards them is easily read as stiff and cold (even to Elizabeth).

Significantly, Elizabeth evolves from wholly dismissing his discomfort to trying to shield him from the people who make him the most uncomfortable. IMO, this is part of her movement away from projecting what she wants to see onto people (Bingley, Charlotte, Wickham, Darcy) to trying to understand them in a more honest way.

Darcy was too quick to excuse himself, but I think these situations are hard for him in a way that Elizabeth initially dismissed. She ultimately comes to understand this about him, to the point of becoming actively protective of him—which reads really differently if he could handle these situations perfectly well with zero real awkwardness or discomfort if he just tried harder. But a) I prefer not to see Elizabeth's arc culminating in her becoming a doormat and b) I think Darcy's sense of unease and formal awkwardness is quite clearly established throughout the novel.

Okay. The point of all this is that the Darcy who can be stiff, formal, who struggles with expression, who is so uncomfortable that he makes everyone else uncomfortable, too—that's all there in Rintoul's Darcy, dialed up to eleven. It even pervades his demeanor at Pemberley, when he's clearly putting in effort with the Gardiners, but there's still that awkward rigidity and reserve about him.

I don't feel like Rintoul's Darcy is shy per se, and he's not awkward in the sense of being clueless like Mr Collins—I think there's a certain sophistication about Rintoul!Darcy's formality, excessive though it is. But damn is he uncomfortable. It's so relentless and so intense that he's uncomfortable to watch, because the 1980 P&P doesn't feel the need to make him relatable or a familiar romantic type. He's just this kind of peculiar person who ended up as the main love interest, and only really opens up at the very, very end, after Elizabeth accepts his proposal.

To be clear, I do think it goes too far in this direction and does lose sight of the Darcy who is clever and gets caught up quick, smiling banter. But I do respect the disinterest in shoving him into a typical male lead box and the willingness to let him be odd, even unappealing at times.

So while it would be difficult to combine these—I realize that—my ideal version would fuse the quick-witted, articulate side of his character that we see supercharged with Olivier's Darcy, with the uncomfortable and formal side that we see dialed up with Rintoul's. It's complex, but I don't think it's so complex that it couldn't be done, especially in the traditional mini-series format.

[purpleheartskies]

"I don't need a spotter"

This is one of those lines in s4 that gets overlooked. A spotter is someone who you have to rely on to help you if things go wrong with the weights. A spotter is someone you have to trust. But Robby didn't trust anyone anymore.

Robby's inability to trust isn't some petty teenage rebellion. A significant aspect of Robby's story is that the "caring" adults in Robby's life (Johnny, Shannon, and Daniel) have caused him some of the most trauma. These adults who Robby should have been able to trust, especially Johnny and Shannon, are the ones who have broken Robby's ability to trust.

I'm going to focus on the two scenes when Robby was at his most vulnerable and the outcomes of Robby putting his trust in these adults those two times.

s3

After the school fight and being on the run for two weeks, Robby went to Shannon on his own. Shannon immediately passed him off to Daniel. Neither of them really cared about Robby's state of mind, what his side of the story was, or how he'd been affected by what he'd been through.

Shannon: "It's gonna be ok, Robby. We'll figure this out."

Robby: "But you were right. It was a mistake trying to help me because I can't change."

Daniel: "We all make mistakes. But our mistakes aren't who we are. You could learn from your mistakes. And I'll help you with that. I will."

Daniel: "I was trying to help you."

Daniel's empathy came off as empty manipulation so that Robby would trust him, even though Daniel's actions made it clear that he didn't trust Robby. Daniel had also said that Robby's mistakes don't define him, yet Daniel's actions said otherwise.

This is part of the help they gave Robby. Neither of them did more to be there for Robby, and Daniel had promised that he would visit him.

Robby had had good intentions that day in school. He had been trying to stop the fight and protect Sam when he had been attacked. What happened at the end of the fight had been an accident after he had been attacked and antognized to his limit.

This "help" was not what Robby needed. He needed an adult who would truly care about him, listen to him, fight for his defense and for his side of the story, and be a constant, reliable support no matter the outcome. But, Shannon passed Robby off like she usually does when she can. And, Daniel became too wrapped up in his anger at Johnny after seeing what Johnny had almost done in the garage and had been more focused on doing damage control to even consider what "help" Robby really needed.

(I've said it before, and I'll keep saying it: I would have fought like hell for Robby if he were my own. Also, Mr. Miyagi would have never handled it this way if it had been Daniel, and Daniel would have never handled it this way if it had been Sam, but Daniel handled it this way because Robby is Johnny's son.)

In their one and only conversation in s5, Daniel repeated exactly what he had said in this scene above and what he had repeated when Robby got out of juvie, that Daniel had been trying to "help" Robby. Robby didn't even bother letting Daniel finish. Instead, Robby did what he started doing with everyone in s5: Robby apologized for his own mistakes. And imo he didn't owe Daniel an apology for not listening to him about Cobra Kai. I know Daniel was at his lowest, but he shouldn't have accepted that apology to feel validated that he'd been right all along for all of his decisions wrt Robby. Daniel wanted to feel like he hadn't failed Robby, but Daniel had failed Robby. Daniel had failed Robby in s3, and he failed him again in s5.

s4/s5

After the avt, Robby went to Johnny so vulnerable and earnest. Johnny said that he'd help him figure things out, but Johnny didn't do that at all.

Robby: "I screwed everything up. I had all this hate inside of me, for you and for Miguel, and I thought I could use Cobra Kai to control that. But it just made things worse, and now it's never going to get better... I'm sick of blaming you, dad."

Johnny: "It's gonna be all right. We'll figure this out."

Johnny: "I know I haven't been there for you, Robby. More times than I can count. But I've also failed Miguel. Hell, I'm the reason he ran off in the first place. I'm out here trying to fix my mistakes so I don't have to live with the regret of making them. If you're serious about making things right, you can start by helping Miguel. I know you have your fair share of regrets when it comes to him."

After manipulating Robby by tricking him to go to Mexico and gaslighting him about looking for him when he'd been on the run, Johnny minimized over 17 years of his own failures with Robby by comparing them to what was essentially his non-failure with Miguel. Johnny then told Robby that Johnny's only trying to fix his own mistakes so he doesn't have to live with regret. This shows Johnny doesn't care about how his mistakes have affected Robby but just about how they make Johnny feel. Johnny then guilted Robby to "make things right" with Miguel. This wasn't the first time Johnny had said something like that. Johnny had told Robby earlier in the van, "I thought this trip would help you and Miguel get over your shit." Johnny's intention had never been to truly help Robby "figure this out" for Robby's well-being and what was best for Robby. Johnny's intention was always to get what he wanted for himself: for Robby and Miguel to get along so he could have them both. Sadly, that wasn't going to happen until Miguel got his pound of flesh, and Miguel got it with Johnny's blessing.

This apartment fight was one of the most sickening things to watch in the show. This was Johnny's eventual way of helping Robby "figure this out".

All Johnny did was focus on himself and what he wanted (to keep Miguel happy) or thought was right for himself, so Johnny forced Robby to "make things right" with Miguel the way Johnny saw fit. Johnny used emotional manipulation and letting Miguel beat the crap out of Robby to do that. Johnny of course didn't care about Robby's well-being, his feelings, what he wanted/needed, or his side of the story. Robby had even told Johnny before this that Robby just wanted his space. Robby had wanted to "figure this out", in his own non-violent way, but Johnny didn't care. In their s4 scene above, Robby had told Johnny that Cobra Kai had made things worse for Robby, but Johnny forced Robby to use a Cobra Kai solution to "make things right" with Miguel. (Robby's suggestion to Kenny later to use a non-violent solution to his rivalry proves that Robby still doesn't believe in violence as a solution.)

Given how realistically Robby has been characterized, what happened after this fight is really sad. Robby folded. He gave in to Miguel and to Johnny. Robby stopped trying to "figure this out" for himself and stopped fighting for himself, even literally letting Miguel just beat him in the end while he stopped fighting back. I'm sure if anyone asked Johnny, he would tell them that he was only trying to "help" Robby. Johnny kept framing his attempts as if he cares about Robby, but again, all Johnny cares about is himself.

In s5, Robby's ability to trust didn't get any better. In fact, it got worse. If Robby trusted people now, he'd feel comfortable expressing how he truly feels instead of now hiding his emotions, people-pleasing, and being compliant to feel safe and accepted. If anything, his trust in people, especially believing that they care about him, seems non-existent. In s5e10, when Tory suggested they not break into the dojo so he wouldn't violate his probation, he looked surprised that she cared. That's probably the most caring anyone had genuinely showed about him in a while, especially after s5e5.

What's also sad is that none of these adults take the time to talk to Robby, really listen to him, and understand him, especially when he's at his most vulnerable and is looking to them for real help. Instead, they make decisions for him, like Daniel in s3 not letting Robby make the decision on his own to turn himself in or like Johnny and Shannon in s5 just deciding that Robby would stay with Johnny over the summer, and disregard his feelings and needs and what is truly best for him. Robby needs adults to help and support him (of course he does), but none of these adults who Robby should be able to trust can be trusted.

(Note: Please don't reblog or reply with any dismissive comment or tag expressing negativity towards the show writers, the writing, or the serious aspects of the show. Such comments/tags minimize the contents of the post. This blog (link) explains more about my general thoughts about posting after s5.)

[kfanopinions]

Taeyong Ideal Type (Astrology Based)

i will be looking into taeyong's moon and venus sign for this. as he has given some form of birth time i also looked into his house placements

Moon 6th House

caring for others taeyong may want someone who can take care of him. with moon in the 6th house he takes care of others so someone who can take care of him and remind him to rest and relax and take a load off (lord knows he deserves a break) will be good

also someone who likes animals as well ^^

i can see clearly now the bs is gone... -_- bubu just wants some attention. he may act out/whine/complain and even say he's not feeling well. with his moon in the 6th house this can lead him to being a hypochondriac, but for the most part it's just for attention. so again, someone who can dote on him would be nice

the key to a man's heart is through people's stomachs lol nah, just kidding. taeyong with his 6th moon placement probably watches what he eats. this placement can have digestive issues so he may be worried about his own health but of course his partners. so someone who eats right may be nice

"two, four, six, eight who do "i" appreciate? taeyong! taeyong! taeyong!" so with a 6th house moon taeyong may want to do various things within his career. so someone who is his #1 fan, who supports him and encourages him to — as Ms. Frizzle said, "take chances, make mistakes, and get messy [hopefully not]" will be a great partner for him

at home is at home taeyong has a lot of domestic vibes coming in with his moon and venus so someone who is a homebody will absolutely be good for him

Moon Leo

"i'm a hunter, i'm going hunting" taeyong's moon in leo likes the "hunt." so his partner shouldn't try to be captured to early on. playing a little cat and mouse will be good *wink*

"emotions taking me over" someone who can handle strong emotions. look bubu is a cancer (no offense cancer's) but this sign imo is really sensitive. that paired with his leo moon wanting to delve into emotions - he needs an emotionally mature person

lending a helping hand with this placement tayeong may want to rely on his partner as he does with his friends

be careful what you wish for his partner should be careful with how they act around him. if his partner is super serious and demanding him to compliment them his leo moon may want to bring them down a few pegs

quick on your feet taeyong's leo moon is always on the go. he may want to try new things so someone who can keep up with all his ventures of never ending inspiration and aspiration will be good for him

family means a lot he may want someone who is close to their family (take this with a grain of salt). with this leo placement it makes me think he's close to his family so he may want someone who is close to theirs

Venus 4th House

time at home again, taeyong will like to spend time at home. so he'll need a partner who loves being at home as much as he does

"don't rock the boat" a person who is not an attraction for scandal will be good for him. venus in the 4th house doesn't like scandals or negativity

"excuse me, but may i please have some attentions?" wants to spend lots of time with his partners so he'll need someone who doesn't mind a slightly clingy partner *wink*

Venus Gemini

mentally stimulating physical characteristics will come second. with his venus in gemini taeyong may want someone who can keep up with what he wants to talk about

playful banter someone who words things interestingly. who he can really feel this (like just stated) mental connection with

let loose and have fun with a venus in gemini, taeyong may want someone who can bring out their inner child and just have fun. someone who is enthusiastic about trying new things

design your character venus in gemini may want someone who is smart and beautiful (of course this is subjective so it depends from person to person :D)

"pillow talk...there must be a pillow talking boy for me" seriously venus in gemini loves to talk. so someone who can keep the conversation going will be perfect! as soon as one subject is dying down they can easily bring up something new to talk about will be a nice partner

a whole new world with a gemini venus someone who is open-minded, adventurous, and down to try new things will be good for taeyong

"i'm like a bird" with this gemini venus taeyong may have this "free-spirited" nature to him. so someone who trusts him and doesn't tie him down

(but since he's a cancer and imo will want to know his partner thinks of him as theirs as he sees them as his. so take the above with a grain of salt

"the lion, the witch, and lots of secrets" he will keep secrets from people and maybe his partner so they should be aware of this. but with his cancer sun and moon in the 6th house, I'd advise his partner to be as open as possible (cancer's are worried warts over the smallest of things...trust me -_-)

"it's your life!" as taeyong is living out his life with this gemini venus he will want his partner to live out theirs ^^

"L, is for the way you look at me..." gemini venus men may like passionate, smart women, who love to learn and keep learning new things/subjects. someone who wants to do things for fun. maybe shyness can be hard to get through to, so someone who isn't too shy - he wants someone who likes to talk about EVERYTHING no matter how weird. also, he'll want someone who can make him feel safe and secure

awe...bubu <3333

[lemonhemlock]

I actually deeply dislike that Alicent continued to try and maintain peace with Rhaenyra after Aemond lost his eye. I think the writers should have made it a pivotal moment, where the blacks don’t care about it and continue as they always do, but the greens have decided, it’s going to be all or nothing. I think the blacks not even noticing any change would have been absolutely a great moment to characterize the difference between the blacks and the greens

Hello and thank you for your ask! They could have done a better job by highlighting how conflicted Alicent is over this situation. After the maiming scene, it's implied they have not seen each other for six years, during which Alicent has turned to religion in order to repent for her (understandable) breakdown. When she regains clarity, she realises retributive justice isn't the way to go and turns to prayer to achieve some feeling of absolution. But, at the same time, she doesn't come across as someone who has forgiven Rhaenyra for how she handled herself either.

I think Alicent remains a kindhearted person despite becoming more neurotic over the years due to stress. Although it is implied she is regretful, I think she would have stuck to the plan and awarded Driftmark to Vaemond.

However, Viserys' walk changed everything IMO. He was a bad husband to her and a bad father to her children, but seeing him suffer through so much pain all these years, basically rotting while he was still alive, losing an eye, losing part of his cheek.... that is a very extreme and prolonged illness, so religious, merciful, compassionate Alicent might have reassessed the situation and considered that the gods themselves have punished Viserys enough, so there was no need from her part to be a bitch about it.

When Viserys literally dragged his decaying husk to the Throne to save Rhaenyra, I wouldn't say Alicent was pleased about it, but you could see that a lot of characters were impressed. It's hard not to be moved by a father's love for his daughter so publicly on display, regardless of past mistakes or grievances. It's a very humanizing moment for Viserys. So I could see her thinking that, even though Viserys never loved her or her children like that, he was a limited person but not incapable of altruim and self-sacrifice (to a certain degree) and, that, in his limited understanding of his family dynamics, he was genuinely trying to "set things right".

Of course, it was a complete miscalculation of several aspects: how he actually came across to his green children, how it was an abuse of power to House Velaryon, what a shit-show Rhaenyra's reign was going to be.... but that was the best thing his addled mind could come up with and perhaps Alicent genuinely appreciated the tangible humanity behind this attempt, both during the petition and at dinner.

After that, Rhaenyra's apology really solidified these feelings inside an already-mollified Alicent. The possibility of reconciliation was maybe not out of the question if Rhaenyra had returned to KL like she had planned and they could have hard a proper talk, airing out all their grievances. But, of course, Viserys had to die on that very night and the political reality and very real threats came crashing down on Alicent and she had to act quickly and decisively.

They definitely could have gone with ambitious!Alicent, like in the books, and it would have been justifiable and great, but I also personally like this reading as well. We already have the ruthless Dowager Queen typology in Cersei and now Alicent has this further dimension that sets her apart and makes her her own character.

That being said, the show did wiffle-waffle on Viserys's last words being misunderstood. They should have given Alicent a better trigger than the confused words of a dying man. A conversation with Otto in which they both discuss Rhaenyra's failures as a political actor so far and her faulty judgement would have gone a long way to explain why Alicent went against Viserys despite having been receptive to Rhaenyra earlier at dinner.

[imakemywings]

How about Galadriel and Celeborn for the ask meme?

Ooh yes okay let's see

Galadriel:

Galadriellllll what young girl did not watch the LotR trilogy and come away a little obsessed with Galadriel? Honestly one of my favorite things about her is that she's not unambiguously good? Like...Galadriel is shady af. That's only more true if you've read Silm. Did she partake in the Kinslaying at Alqualonde? Who's to say? She very explicitly sided with Feanor about leaving Aman because she wanted a kingdom of her own to rule. She was apparently willing to take the Teleri ships even after the kinslaying. She sits at the foot of Melian the Maia for probably a few centuries and then fucks off into the ether only to reappear in the Second Age with that realm she always wanted to rule.

And the pride! I don't totally remember if we get canon reasons for her sticking it out in Middle-earth but I enjoy the idea that she refuses a pardon to return to Aman after WoW because she thinks she doesn't need a pardon and she cannot handle what she perceives as the shame of returning home and admitting they made mistakes. So instead she stays in Middle-earth until the end of the Third Age when she has finally matured enough to set aside her pride and accept the offer to go home and she is so excited. I'm not sure Galadriel ever really came to view Middle-earth as home...it's possible, but I prefer the idea that it was other things that kept her there.

Galadriel is someone, imo, who enjoys power. And she is aware of that, at least by the Third Age--we see that in her conversation with Frodo about why she can't take the Ring. She can't be trusted with it. Galadriel likes having power. Which I also think adds an interesting element to her relationship with Feanor, who also enjoyed power in his own way, mostly related to the "mastering" of minds and his desire to out-argue everyone in everything all the time. Perhaps there was an element of pride clashing between them.

I'm not super enamored of the "always right always morally correct about everything" take on Galadriel that crops up sometimes. To me, that flattens out one of the most interesting things about her which is her moral grayness. By the Third Age, where we see her in LotR, I think she has grown a lot as a person and she is more likely to be right in both senses, but particularly when she was younger, I prefer a more ambiguous, less morally-correct take on her. It gives her room to change!

Celeborn:

Celeborn my man I am so sorry I have never had a thought about you in my life. Galadriel's boytoy.

Is it canon that he stays behind when she sails for Aman? That is interesting and I'm deeply interested in this take where his romantic relationship does not trump all other considerations for him--that Middle-earth is home for him, and he isn't willing to part with it, even for Galadriel, even to save his own life.

I've also talked about this before but I always snicker a little at the idea that he and Thranduil do not get along at all despite both having been Doriathrim (which stems mainly from the fact that Thranduil does not like or trust Celeborn, but at this point, it's grown to be rather mutual).

I tend to think he and Galadriel left Doriath well before the Second Kinslaying and likely before the fall of the Girdle. Just seems like it would've been mentioned if they were there?

Has to start introducing himself as "Galadriel's husband" at some point because that gets more recognition than his actual name.

[here2bbtstrash]

Honestly your lmdlt mc seems like a mean bitch to me. Like those man girls on movies that are so ungrateful and lead people on only to hurt their feelings at the end.

Sorry it’s your story I know but the way she treated Jk in this chapter completely made me despise her. Like who does her ass think she is to treat him like that, like he take so much shit for her, helped her be accustomed to the hectic and demanding work environment and that’s how she responds to him just cuz she’s dickmatized by Yoongi??

I wanna see her suffer. And what she said about herself is so true, a selfish brat.

well first off, not sure what you were trying to achieve in sending me this? but i'm amped up on an energy drink atm so.... let's go over a few key facts, shall we?

reader has very clearly stated to jungkook that she wants to be his friend, and his friend only. i really don't see how you can accuse her of leading him on when that was stated FROM THE JUMP, and he very clearly agreed to it! and said he was fine with being her friend!

in addition, if you reread you will find multiple instances of jungkook very gently pushing on her boundaries in a way that is honestly not great and needed to be nipped in the bud before it got any worse. there are multiple times where she specifically asks him not to do something (ie: don't come with me when i go get more drinks, don't walk back to the restaurant with me) and he disregards her "no" to do it (or try to do it) anyway. that's not nothing, and reader was right to feel strange about those small moments, because while they could be nothing, it could be an indication that he is not good at listening when someone says "no"

finally, and most importantly-- jungkook is not, in that conversation, acting entirely selflessly. it has been made VERY clear by this point that he carries a torch for her, and he even implied with his words that part of the reason he wants her to not be into yoongi is so that she can be into him instead. considering she has expressed sooooo straightforwardly to him that she wants to be just friends, i really don't think it was cool of him to continue to let this crush fester in the hopes that she might maybe change her mind and pick him 🤷‍♀️ that is a shitty thing to do and is pretty dishonest to reader imo

yes, jungkook has been very kind and i would argue, a very good friend to reader. HOWEVER it does not make him faultless, nor does it make her anger towards him unfounded. did her tone and attitude in how she actually addressed him leave WORLDS to be desired? yes, absolutely. is she going through a really fucking hard time right now and struggling with a lot of big conflicting emotions and things she doesn't know how to handle? also yes!!! was she literally written, on purpose, to be an imperfect person who struggles to communicate because that's the story i'm trying to tell? ALSO ALSO yes

finally and most egregiously - it makes me REALLY sad that you think someone who has point-blank admitted to struggling with their mental health and dealing with a boatload of trauma should "suffer" for making a mistake. i truly hope you don't treat the people in your life, or YOURSELF, this way. people fuck up, especially when they are struggling, and punitive justice is not the answer. it's just not.

while i really do appreciate you reading and taking the time to send in your thoughts, i just can't let this take stand unchallenged. if reading the series is making you this upset, perhaps it's not the one for you 💜

[idkhowtopickausername]

2, 7 and 17 for utena?

Yaaay thank u for indulging me! 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

2. My favorite thing about it is actually like a dozen interconnected things I really love how it critiques the idea of saving someone and the savior/saved dynamic (and how poignantly it does so) and also how it deconstructs the idea of the pure innocent victim vs. the conniving evil manipulator, and how complex and real Anthy is as a character, and how it shows that other characters perceiving her as one or the other is self-serving and contributes to her pain and denies her full humanity. I also really like how in Utena’s character arc she starts out with a goal that depends on success within the current system but is also doomed to fail both as a means of helping Anthy and as a means of being who she wants to be because success within the dueling system leads to Akio who enforces a level of conformity and complicity that goes against who she is. And the way that she really has to confront that she was complicit in hurting Anthy in a way that I rarely see ‘heroic’ characters forced to self-examine. But that despite the power of these structures and the suffering they lead to, they are neither natural nor inevitable but constructed and upheld by lies and illusions and authority and preying on people’s pain and insecurity. And the fact that Utena’s idealism wasn’t intrinsically wrong or naive, just misdirected, and they needed to let the structure crumble and walk away from it to create something new, despite how terrifying that prospect was!!! Anyway in short I think it manages to confront a lot of pain and disillusionment in a very real and nuanced and brutally honest way but still offer a form of genuine hope that doesn’t feel fake or ignorant or patronizing. Sorry that was long.

And my least favorite thing is that I think despite providing really meaningful, insightful, and gut-wrenching critiques of the sexualization of underage girls, it’s not totally exempt from doing the same thing at certain isolated moments (that would be easier to overlook if it weren’t for parts of the movie and marketing + and the fact that I’ve heard it’s sort of a problem in Ikuhara’s other works as well). And I think also, while incest plays a really important thematic role in the story and is handled really well textually, I don’t feel as confident as some other fans that the choice to focus on it was purely for reasons of criticism despite how insightful and worthwhile that criticism is (mainly because the bathtub scene with Kozue and Miki in the movie was…very weird and unnecessary imo). Additionally I think the way it handles race is not great either. In short my least favorite thing about it is that the things that bother me about it are in such close proximity to the things I think it does well and that I love about it 😞

Wow that was a long-winded response to one number.

7. Character that feels like home: Hmmm maybe Utena. Anthy is my ultimate fav but there’s something very homey about Utena and the way she chatters about things.

17. Line I quote most: I wouldn’t say I really quote anything from rgu that much (although “It’s a big mistake to think you’re the only one who can turn into a car” is pretty funny to bring up) but quotes I really love and think about a lot are:

“We’ll be living happily in the castle…but what about Himemiya?”

“Himemiya you don’t know, do you? The only time I’ve ever been really happy was when I was with you.”

“You really don’t know what’s happened do you? It doesn’t matter. By all means stay in this cozy coffin of yours and continue playing prince. But I have to go now…She isn’t gone at all. She’s just vanished from your world. Goodbye.”

Plus the whole rooftop conversation and cantarella scene. Also I think, while being perspectives that are critiqued later and don’t fully reflect the message of the show, the “in the end…all girls are like the rose bride” quote and Utena saying “I’ll become a prince and save her” in the flashback in episode 34 are incredibly powerful in context.

[whatsnothappening]

Part 1.

So, I want to spout off about suicidal thoughts and hard times. About your mid to late twenties. Dude it is amazing but horrible all at the same time. What the fuck am I doing? That’s what i say to myself at least once a day. I asked my husband last night if he could do me a favor and keep his guns in his safe and to not tell me the code anymore. Here lately I have been having these wild dreams. And they all end with me putting a bullet through my skull. Now, I am not reaching out for help from anyone if anyone reads this. I have a support system. I have a husband who is my safety blanket. He knows to keep his distance as I am one to fly off the handle if i feel like I am being babied. But he knows when he is needed. Here comes the same cheesy sentence almost every married couple says. He’s seen at my worst and he’s seen me at my best. It’s the damn truth. He’s seen me at times where I would never want anyone to see me. And he is still there. I have a father who is my best friend. Now he may not be the father figure I exactly needed but he is the best friend I needed. He had is mistakes but he is here now to give me the fatherly advice and best friend advice I need. And to be honest….I need that now more than I needed it as a child. I am extremely blessed to have the friend group that I have. Especially at my age. I still have my two grade school friends by my side and I have amazing friends I have made through college and work. I am supported. But even with support. (IMO) I feel you still need to speak to yourself… via, diary hand written, typed, voice notes, videos etc. i feel it is very healthy to talk to your self. So this is why I am doing this. I do not see this going anywhere. As I’ve said in my past daily thoughts… if anyone can relate to this that’s beautiful. But I don’t need help. But thank you for reading. ANYWHO. these dreams. They are graphic. And they horrify me. Most nights they wake me up as a jump scare, randomly they do pull on the old heart strings and bring out tears some more hysterical than others. And I have random thoughts when things get tough where I think god it would be easier to just give up. Or I say to myself I can’t handle this anymore. I know I’m going to wake up tomorrow and do the same thing again. Go to work, enjoy time with my coworkers and clients. Come home, love on my dogs. Enjoy some time with my husband. I’ll get up and enjoy getting ready, enjoy my first sip of Dunkin’. Enjoy my first conversation with a new client. Enjoy my drive home, no traffic. I get to hit my pen and get a little buzz. Sing my favorite songs. I mean my days are good. The thing with me is, I have an issue of not being able to slow down. I have seen a couple tik toks that’s I really relate too. I can’t remember the song, but a song plays and the person looks so happy in this picture or video, and then all of a sudden the music cuts and it’s just hectic sounds and a bunch of pictures come in and out quickly and they are all over a time period of months to a year or over a few years… and it’s all very hectic, and then there’s the same person. But you sometimes barely recognize them. And they just stare of blankly and the tik tok is done. Those are very dramatized..obviously. I mean it’s tik tok. But the concept of that video is seriously how you feel if you’ve gone through a time period of that sort. There’s one day where you just randomly “wake up” from that trance of just going through the motions of life. And for me what happens with that is that I am just going through my daily motions that I forget to do the side work of self care and keeping my life together. I realize I have countless doctors appointments that I have missed and need to get to, I have bills piled up. My dogs haven’t been groomed, I am all of a sudden living in filth, my hair is sad. I haven’t told my husband I loved him a while or reminded how handsome and how I am so infatuated with his personality and his way of thinking. I haven’t called my dad in months, I haven’t talked to mother in forever and I live with her.

[miggydiaz]

You know, overall, I really support what Lili is doing. I think her having dialogues with Black voices and Latinx voices is super important, and I actually love that she’s talking with them and not just giving them space on her platform because I think that that’s more meaningful. It says, to me, that she’s trying to educate herself in real time. That she’s listening to these experiences and trying to understand them. She says things like “I didn’t even consider that” and I think as white people (or white passing people), those are some of the most pivotal moments in our growth — when we have those instances that make us stop and realize that our experiences are not universal. And not just with police, but even with things that seem simple and every day for us, like haircare.

So in all, I think Lili is using her platform in an incredibly constructive way, and I’ve never once felt that her concern in all of this was disingenuous. It seems (at least to me) that this is an issue that she has recently taken an interest in, most likely because something in her perspective shifted. And that’s okay! Just because she wasn’t a BLM activist 6 months ago doesn’t mean she’s using her platform performatively now. It just means that she had what I like to refer to as her “moment of clarity” — where she either heard something or saw something that made these realities that BIPOC face ‘click’ in her brain, and now that it has, she wants to do something about them. She learned and is continuing to learn how to listen. And that’s a good thing!

But I gotta admit, her comments about the show and Roberto fell a little flat to me. Not even because I don’t believe Roberto for a second (but to be clear — I don’t. If Josie and the Pussycats come back, it’s 1000% because KK is being cancelled, and in fact, him saying anything, even through Lili, to me indicates that he knows KK is being cancelled...)

But what bothered me is I think Asha made it incredibly clear before Lili made her comment that this isn’t a Riverdale specific problem. What I took away from what Asha said is that we need to normalize the reality that black people do not share one experience across the board, and so limiting ensembles to one black voice that is supposed to represent the entire black community, and limiting that character to the “sassy black friend” trope or the “angry black person” trope is really harmful, and as a black actor, she struggles with this dichotomy between offering the black community SOME representation versus not taking roles and thereby decreasing diverse representation overall because it’s not GOOD representation.

(Note: Good representation is not to be confused with “nice” representation here... although black characters are disproportionately villains or antagonistic in television and movies, but that’s a... tangentially related different rant).

But Lili following that up with “Well this is what Roberto is planning to do!!” just kind of... missed the mark completely for me. To be honest, it felt a little like she was just waiting for her chance for Asha to be done talking to... pseudo-defend Riverdale. And that really bothered me.

And I get it to some extent. This is Lili’s job, and even though Riverdale would quickly cease to exist without her, she still has to be careful. Even white actresses have had their careers tanked by biting the hand that feeds. She doesn’t want to lose her job, or the momentum that she has built, and that’s okay! To be honest, it’s that momentum that has made her such a good ally in this because she IS using her platform to amplify voices like Asha’s. So it’s important that we consider she has the opportunity to do this in part because of the show, because of her position of power and privilege afforded to her by the show.

That being said, I still don’t think it was the right move. It seemed a little narrow coming from Lili who has been so good at dialogue in these lives, like she missed Asha’s point about this being a wider issue for black characters and the black actors that play them. And I can’t speak for Asha, but her demeanor and the fact that she RE-emphasizes that it isn’t just a RIVERDALE PROBLEM right after? Kind of tells me that Asha also felt like Lili didn’t really listen to what she was saying and just patiently waited for her opportunity to chime in and sorta-defend the show.

I hope she really does reflect on what Asha was saying there. I hope she actually DID hear her, and listened, and wasn’t just waiting to talk like it seemed she was. I hope as a producer going forward, these are things she thinks about. But in the meantime, I think people criticizing this portion of the conversation are valid, and if you don’t see anything wrong with how Lili handled this particular part of the exchange, then... I don’t really know.

Anyway, that’s just my two cents. Also, casual reminder that Roberto is also a known liar so like, take everything he says with a grain of salt, even if it comes from Lili’s mouth, and don’t hold it against Lili when he doesn’t fulfill that promise (although most people will). That’s not her fault.

[perfectarmony]

There seems to be a fair amount of promo trying to sell Nadia & Arman. Not expecting Thony & Arman to have an easy time of it early in S2 but it seems like there is a shift suggesting that Arman's biggest concern will be losing Nadia. If so, at some point it starts to undermine the main love story, which was clearly Thony & Arman in S1. It would be a big mistake IMO for the show to drop/back burner Armony for too long. What are you hoping/expecting to see? Thanks.

Hey anon! 😏

Before I lose myself in my thoughts here is a quick sentence that resumes it all: I am not worried one bit about Arman and Thony.

Warning! Honest thoughts incoming, and probably more than you asked for anon, but let me try this anyway. 😅

I made points so feel free to skip some parts if you just want the answer to the question. I lost myself again. Sorry.

ARMONY - SEASON 1

I'd like to start with this: season 1 had me floored with how well they handled Thony and Arman as a ship. Did not expect them to kiss this soon AT ALL. I had seen promos going around and was still like ''meh..they'll stop as soon as their lips touch, don't get too excited girl'' and then HE FREAKING PICKED HER UP. And still, as fast as it all happened between the two, everything felt so right, so easy and so real.

From my point of view and experience based on other tv shows I watched that had me frustrated at times - most showrunners almost seem to be intimidated by their ships. Like really. And it's fine most times, you'll get a nice slow burn, then finally something happens - but what do they do next when they give the audience what they wanted? Turn around in circles with the endless I love you/I hate you? Happily ever after?

With TCL, they got that out of the way right away. They knew the audience craved for Armony and when no one really believed physical contact was going to happen that fast, well here it is. And honestly I love them for that. We don't have to worry about the will they/won't they anymore - it's clear they feel something for each other and it's only a matter of time or circumstances until a kiss (or more) happens again. 

And because of that, we can just enjoy the ride, appreciate the little details between the two and watch the emotional connection grow instead of having to desperately wait for them to finally barely touch hands, kiss or have sex. Don't get me wrong - I would love to see them get in bed together but I'm much more interested in watching their relationship grow.

Season 1 had Thony and Arman build a bond that in my eyes is now almost unbreakable at this point. They care about each other, they trust each other blindly, and let me put that out there now - they consider each other as family at the end of the season.

Let me develop that a little. Thony and Arman had both justified their actions in their heated conversation in the 3rd episode the same way: they are ''helping their family''. Thony using Arman's resources to save Luca / Arman using his violence to protect Hayak and the organization.

BUT throughout the season, Thony went out of her way to protect Arman (even with Fiona, who means the world to her, detained in the Icebox) - and that even before she told him she was in contact with the FBI. 

She told Garrett she couldn't do it when he asked her to put the necklace on to get Arman to talk in 105. Not because she was scared, but because she cares and as she tells him later, doesn't want to hurt him. Same goes for Arman, this is more than just him keeping the promise he made to her in the pilot.

Each of them will take a bullet for the other. They really are partners, a team, a family.

At this point I don’t see anything strong enough that could tear them apart. And Thony is supposed to guide Arman out of the darkness he’s slipping into in S2. I mean...THOSE TWO WILL GET AMAZING SCENES WITH THIS STORYLINE.

And I don't feel like this is the kind of show that will mess with Armony unless a storyline really justifies it.

NADIA vs ARMONY

Eva has been promoted as a series regular, so she needs her own storyline now, and of course they need to promote it. We only really know Nadia’s character through Arman, and her ex being in the show will bring us a much needed backstory that will develop her character. And to be honest, I’m excited for this, I love Nadia but I had trouble understanding some of her reactions in S1, and this will give us a chance to see where she’s coming from and see her in a new light.

Once again, not worried at all for Armony with this. Of course Arman cares about her, and will get confused and maybe fight for her, but here again, we will learn more about those two characters AND...just look at it from another point of view - what does all of this mean for Thony? How will she react? Will she support him? Retreat to give him some space? Maybe get a little jealous? And then how will Arman react depending on her reaction? 

No matter what happens, this storyline affects Armony and this is what's fun too, and it will make them grow as a ship, and somehow, I feel like this storyline will push him even more in Thony’s arms as the episodes go by.

What am I interested to see and maybe a bit worried about is how they will handle so many new storylines and addressing them in every episode 👀 there's not only Nadia's ex, but also Garrett's former case and informant/lover coming in, and how will that play out if he still is on the Barsamian/Arman case and on Thony's back.

THONY - ARMAN IN SEASON 2

I agree completely, things won’t be easy for them. And to be honest I’m more worried about Thony right now, because she is the one that decides how far things are going between her and Arman. And like I said in previous posts, the scariest part is the consequences of Marco stealing Luca.

But, but but Arman and Thony are linked with everything. Business, family, emotions.

I mean just one example: Arman almost cares about Luca like a father, just think about how he will react when he finds out that Marco took Luca (will he feel guilty? if so will Thony reassure him?) or will Thony feel guilty and he will give her space? So much to explore with those storylines.

Another example that just dropped on Twitter ⬇️

With everything we know (and it’s not much so far given the amount of storyline they have pilling up), there is no way and I mean really no way, that we won’t get plenty of direct and indirect Armony scenes! 😏

THE END

Okay I think I'll stop here and go to bed. 

Thank you for this Anon! ❤️ Hoping I didn't bore you to death until you finally got a somewhat answer to your question 😏

Also..sorry no bonus this time, I unfortunately don't have anything in store concerning Nadia 😔

[johannas-motivational-insults]

@ericamzdm I’ve read all three parts of your 5x06 pick apart and I think you made some interesting points. I’m going to respond to all of the posts at once (really just the first two, though) for the sake of clarity, and because a lot of the themes carry over and my remarks on them are more general. I’m doing this in a seperate post to avoid highjacking yours and so I’m not sending a huge ass post onto my followers’ timelines. (But interested readers should check out the original posts here: part 1, part 2, part 3.)

First of all, while I disagree with a number of your conclusions, I want to say thank you for putting into words why this episode (and in particular the fandom’s reaction to it) makes me really uncomfortable. I’m not actually sure how much of the problem is in the episode itself vs. the way people talk about it, but I agree said framing issue is there and the writers could have made it better with a few small changes.

I wouldn’t call Adora’s behavior in this episode abusive, with the possible exceptions of the mattress flip and backing Catra into the corner and pinning her arm. And even with those, you gotta remember that these two have been friends since they were little kids, and scrapping and physical aggression is just part of their relationship (remember Catra scratching Adora in 5x03?). Of course, it used to be playful/childish and now the context is different, so there’s room for disagreement there. Even if it is abusive it’s clearly unintentionally so, but Adora does have a very bad habit (we saw it in Promise too) of getting up in Catra’s face and using her superior size to intimidate, which is super uncomfortable to watch given how many times we have seen Shadow Weaver do the same thing to Catra.

Really, I think the crux of this matter is that neither Catra nor Adora is abusive towards the other, but they were raised in an abusive environment and picked up a lot of their tools for handling conflict from that environment. Further, I disagree with your assertion that Adora was abusing Catra back in the Horde. However, you are right that she picked up bad habits there and I think in a way Catra feels like Adora abused her because she was part of the system that abused her - while she tried to protect her from Shadow Weaver we know she also did some victim blaming. Adora wasn’t in a position of much influence and was trying to help, but I can understand the resentment there and why Catra felt the need to cut ties earlier in the show.

One thing you’re very right about, though, is that in this episode Adora did loom quite a bit and used intimidating body language that made me (and Catra) uncomfortable as an abuse survivor. I disagree Adora’s holding Catra prisoner but I think to Catra it might feel that way anyway, which is really the issue. As you noted there is a huge power imbalance here with Catra recovering from basically dying and being in her PJs and with no allies. And Adora definitely violates Catra’s boundaries again and again, so set on smoothing things over that she fails to realize her insistence on fixing things is making them worse. As is often the case with her, her intentions are good but she completely misreads what the other person needs from her and barges on with her way instead of listening to them. Adora’s complaint that nothing has changed is her fault as much as Catra’s imo.

I also agree the part where she is stomping around huffing and kicking things and complaining that Catra is a brat is a sign of her emotional dysregulation and Not Great behavior. Someone asked once if I found that behavior abusive and no I don’t because it’s not directed at Catra, but it is still hard to watch. I agree Adora’s categorization of Catra as a brat while lashing out physically feels a little Shadow Weaver (intentionally or not) and that specific word choice does imply that she looks down on Catra and doesn’t respect her agency/isn’t putting in the effort to understand why she is not being ‘convenient’. It’s not a good look, and it’s not clear enough that she’s in the wrong here. (Catra is in the wrong too, the issue is that Adora’s behavior is also problematic but is not sufficiently framed that way.)

This could have been such a pivotal scene if Glimmer had taken a bit of a different tack with Adora. In fact, I think that was what made the episode just not quite work the way it’s supposed to. Glimmer is a lot like Catra, and she has had a lot of similar conflicts with Adora. If Glimmer had done more to discourage Adora’s overbearing behavior and told her she needs to give Catra space and respect it could have done a lot for Glimmer’s character arc as well as the arc of this episode. Without that, you’re right, the moment when Adora backs off and gives Catra the space to choose lands more like bitterness and giving up as opposed to making a choice to respect Catra’s agency in the way she needs to if she wants Catra to feel safe to open up.

(Of course she does agree later on to trust Catra’s judgement and let her connect to the hivemind and that also shows development, but as you said it felt a little unearned.)

So yeah I disagree with your assertions that Adora is an abuser and that she’s holding Catra prisoner, but I agree with a number of your observations about the episode itself. I also agree that the framing of the episode made it seem more like it was Catra being the problem rather than Catradora having a hard time renegotiating their relationship and its boundaries. Adora is absolutely being overbearing in this episode and I don’t think it was properly addressed, i.e. it wasn’t clear enough that those problems they were both having were problems on Adora’s end too. And I think a different conversation with Glimmer could have fixed that, just a few lines. The episode showed both of them struggling but I think it does come across like more of the onus is on Catra, like she’s being unreasonable as opposed to being defensive for understandable reasons.

But like I said, some of this is actually more about the fandom’s reaction to the episode. Maybe the writers were hoping to get across that they both needed to work on their bullshit but the fandom has excused Adora because she’s the hero. To be fair, Adora’s mistakes in this episode are very in character for her, in line with her faults/insecurities in general, so maybe they expected us to understand she’s not handling the situation properly.

The fandom reaction to Adora flipping Catra’s mattress and backing her into the corner reminds me of the reactions to DT obliterating Catra with that speech in 4x13. I think on some level we like seeing these drastic actions because watching Catra spiral is frustrating and we want to see something get through to her. It’s satisfying in a way. But on the other hand, both those situations left her with this kind of body language:

And idk, I’m not sure that’s something we as a fandom should be celebrating. Especially considering that DT’s speech left Catra wanting to die and that this bullish behavior by Adora wasn’t really what flipped the switch. It’s pretty significant that the moment Catra asks Adora to stay is once she backs off and says she won’t force her to give her a place in her life. And I think we the fandom tend to overlook that.

So op, I wish you hadn’t come to some of the conclusions you did with your analysis, but I am grateful to you for starting this conversation. I was having a hard time putting it into words other than “it sets off tons of alarm bells in my head and does no one else hear that??”

[kitkatopinions]

(Rabbithole Anon) Y'know, I was going to send in an ask about just they could have made a compelling way to show how some people may have become hunters through pressure rather than an age excuse if they wanted to say some people weren't ready (joining to protect a friend who wanted to be one, wanting to travel for a variety of reasons, it being a general expectation but the person being hesitant) but it led to me wondering wait, would certain careers require a hunting lisence?

Okay, I love this rabbit hole. XD It illustrates a couple of RWBY problems here and it's the fact that they often are lacking in the character development/character journey department, and that they're often lacking in the world building department.

We actually have plenty of characters that can serve as examples for people who maybe should've thought twice about entering the Academy (when they did.) There are people who entered the Academy for the wrong reasons/not noble reasons, people who entered the Academy during a time they might not have been ready, and people who would be full on dangerous with a Hunter badge, and most of our mains fall under one of these categories (though mostly the first two.)

Ruby - Two years below the standard age of her class. Whether or not she was at the skill level of a first year (she was,) and whether or not she'd received special training from Qrow (she had,) Ruby was still essentially a kid, and her mind and body both hadn't developed completely. Ruby should have been traumatized after the Fall of Beacon and been allowed to show that more as a character, she should've had straight up PTSD, she should've been allowed to have emotion in Volume 4 than Jaune's sidekick who makes sad eyes when she sees him grieving. Weiss - Her main motivation for joining Beacon was to reclaim her family legacy. Yes, her desire was to reclaim it and use it for good, but it was still arguably more about personal and familial glory. On top of that, Weiss has been blatantly anti Faunus and has never so much as addressed that. Weiss's character journey should have reflected more personal growth, and either her unlearning much of her Faunus racism and clearly changing priorities from her name and family legacy and onto the actual people in need, or her flaws should've led her into being more of a morally gray character who displays her selfishness and pride (in a way that's actually addressed and treated like a flaw.) Yang - She expresses admiration for people like Ruby who want to help people and be kind, but her main point in becoming a Huntress was getting thrills and going where the wind takes her. She didn't join Beacon for any sort of serious purpose, and even when she rejoined Team RWBY in volume five, it was to be with her sister and not because of her own morals (not that I think she's lacking in morals, just that her main motive was different.) This could lead to her having to figure out a lot of what she actually wants, being unsatisfied with being a Huntress in Atlas, being in over her head when things get serious, being more mentally exhausted than the others after long days, etc. Jaune - Wasn't ready to enter Beacon. Idk if he just wasn't allowed to go to a lesser combat school like Signal or if he flunked out, but he wasn't up to scratch to get into Beacon and cheated his way in. On top of that, he lacked in the emotional maturity department as well when he entered. Jaune was a little more invested in his own appearance than Ruby was, but still seemed to have similar good reasons for wanting to be a Hunter. And he did grow a lot. But he was much less prepared, skilled, or equipped to deal with the training or the career and it's a miracle he didn't die in the initiation. Granted, Jaune was handled arguably better than anyone else, since a lot of this was addressed, but these days it feels like it isn't actually playing a part in his character anymore that he's way below the people around him, and I feel like it should still be impacting him. Penny: Honestly, Penny seemed very newly born during the Beacon Arc. She might have been combat ready, but she also started spilling secrets to the first person who was a little bit nice to her, and was clearly naïve and childlike. Imagine if it had been Emerald that had befriended Penny instead of Ruby. Penny dying and then getting resurrected should've been deeply traumatizing for her and it should've made her undergo some major changes and been treated with importance in the show. Qrow: Literally wanted to be a Hunter in the first place to try and learn how to murder Huntsmen. He might have changed later and it’s not exactly relevant, but he arguably shouldn't have joined when he did either. Meanwhile, Nora's just one big mystery, because we don't know why she joined, and Ren likely joined for good reasons, but neither of them have ever actually talked about their motivations. The only character we can safely say joined for noble reasons and who was up to scratch and ready when she entered is Blake, who also had good reason to not fully trust the system she was working with, so there could've been complications and character interest there as well.

Please don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean I don't think the others should've been in school, I love that they were! I just think the writers should've explored the various ways they might've been not fully ready, not completely well suited to the job they took. The characters are allowed to be flawed and to flounder and it'd make them more full, nuanced characters imo.

On top of that, we have other Hunters to look to as well, outside of our main cast. Cardin, for example, was a terrible person, still in school and already abusing what little power he had to target a member of an oppressed minority group and blackmail other kids into doing his bidding, while plotting revenge on someone for correcting him on his anti-Faunus answer to a question. People like him should not be Hunters, and he was arguably our first sign (of many signs) that the position of Hunter can and will be taken advantage of and misused by bad people. And although the After the Fall/Before the Dawn books aren't canon, while reading BTD (I haven't finished it yet,) Coco and all her team members but Velvet also struck me as people I wouldn't want to be Hunters and wouldn't want to wield any sort of power. Coco is proudly described by one of her friends as sadistic, lets her unfounded opinions of people cloud her judgement, shows respect and admiration towards criminals, and enjoys her classmates being afraid of her. Fox is self-described as sadistic as well and is a bully who tried to use a classmate's phobia against them in a brute-like interrogation. And Yatsuhashi is leagues above the two of them, but also bullied Neptune despite saying the words 'I don't want to be a bully' and threatened him.

There are so many ways the writers could've explored people who went to Beacon too soon, weren't ready, or entered for the wrong reasons. Instead, outside of one conversation in season two about the girls’ motivations and Ren exploding that Jaune cheated his way into Beacon all the way in season eight, it seems like the only take away we're supposed to get is 'all these kids are officially the thing they wanted to be in the beginning and they're all amazing at it, woo!' No acknowledgement of the fact that they could use higher education still, that some of them are still immature or naïve, that some of them are still below the combat level they should be in, that some of them kinda haven't done super well since they left Beacon (cough Ruby cough.) It's all just... Flat, lackluster. And meanwhile, characters like Cardin were written out of the show easily. We've had plenty of examples of corruption in the Hunter business, but the show hasn't paid any attention to that and still is treating being a Hunter like the only true noble goal and the only good and non-corruptible way to defend people, despite the fact that it clearly isn’t. Being a Huntress is not better or safer or more noble in-universe than being an Atlas soldier/Ace Op/Atlas hunter. I’m not saying that all of this needed to be featured, but exploring the differences in motivation and how the Hunter lifestyle affected the various mains could really flesh out their characters. Instead, by the time everyone is heading to Atlas in volume six, they all pretty much have the same reactions to everything and the same motivations and the same beliefs. The rare deviation - like Ren in volume seven and eight - is treated as bad and a mistake that must be rectified, rather than... A natural consequence of the group being full of different people with different upbringings and different motivations that result in different opinions. That sort of thing is only ever explored as a problem that makes someone lacking, and it’s really weird and it makes the show feel... Juvenile, and lacking in nuance or depth when it comes to the characters, which is a really big shame, since the characters have a huge amount of potential and exploring the differences between them and their reactions to being in way over their heads would be - I think - the natural place to take their characters? Especially because so far their storyline has been... Not the highlight of the show.

But, as for how semblances and Hunters should impact the world building, there’s a lot to say about that! They don’t explore a lot in RWBY outside of what’s relevant to the mains, leaving the world building feeling flat and like the world itself doesn’t matter much. RWBY often feels more like a video game world than anything else, which I believe @why-i-hate-rwby-now has pointed out, so credit to them for helping me realize it. There’s one large location per continent and a couple small villages where they only really talk to a town leader and village blacksmith, or encounter a fight, relevant NPCs and characters only going to certain locations that can further the plot, characters only mattering through the ways they interact with the protagonists and seemingly getting benched with nothing to do if they aren’t currently plot relevant, health bars that can be monitored over scrolls, every weapon and semblance has a name even if that name isn’t ever mentioned in show or might not really make a lot of sense, frequently encountered enemies of various threat levels who the characters can plow down without remorse because they’re not sentient or don’t have souls... The list goes on. But one of the ways that it feels very video gamey is that the magical powers actually don’t seem to impact the world.

We know people can have auras even if they don’t have semblances (Mercury, Torchwick, Watts,) and we know lots of even grown people don’t have auras (the citizens of Mantle in danger of dying of cold while our aura having mains aren’t,) but also that auras can be unlocked, by well trained seventeen year olds (Pyrrha,) and we also know that semblances can be unlocked from a very young age due to trauma (Ren, Neptune in EU) but some people are born with their semblances (Qrow and notably Blake use language suggesting they were born with their semblances,) and some semblances are passed down or hereditary (the Schnees.) Semblances can be passive (Qrow, Clover, Ironwood in word of author,) and uncontrollable, or active (almost everyone else,) and some semblances have carried personal negative effects like in the case of Qrow who was even named for being bad luck and Robyn who said people were on edge with her because she can sus out the truth via skin contact when she wants to. Also Mercury’s father was able to somehow take away his semblance.

That’s... Pretty much the extent of our knowledge and it doesn’t tell us much. What RWBY does is give each character abilities that make them iconic and different from each other as fighters, with a shield function that wears down slowly to explain how they can take certain hits and keep going while also allowing them to eventually suffer higher damage when that shield wears down. They had a character get this shield ability unlocked to explain the existence and function of it, and featured some characters who didn’t have the super powered abilities like Roman, an early enemy meant to herald in new, harder enemies who are more plot relevant, and Mercury, who makes up for it by having higher speed and functions exclusive to him through his prosthetics. And then they seemingly built a regular world unaffected by these powers. It sounds like a video game. Civilians just don’t have this power or the shield because they act as non-playable characters. In a way, it almost makes sense to me in conception, because when RWBY was originally created, it was high on visual appeal, fight choreography, and character design. The plot elements were small and the character stories seemed to be pretty simple, the only real complication to this being the White Fang plot, which has always been a major blight in RWBY. But one of the reasons why this video-game feel kinda worked at the start of RWBY was because the story and characters weren’t meant to be the focus of the story, so although the world building at the start was definitely lacking, the audience knew that things like auras and semblances were meant to hype up and add interest to the main highlights of the show: Design and fight choreography. At least that’s what I assume. But in volume three, they started to lay the groundwork for more, bigger plots, more focus on the story, the characters journeying to the outside world, undergoing personal arcs, and that’s what V4 and onward started focusing on.

To be clear, I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. I started really liking RWBY for its potential and concepts after getting through the first couple episodes of V1, but I actually really enjoyed quite a bit of V4 and V5 even though the design drastically changed and the fighting had gone way down in quality because I found some of the new focus on characters and the plot to be compelling, interesting, or to also have a lot of potential (though I was let down over and over in regards to pay off later.) However, with the new focus on the characters and storyline rather than design and fight choreography, they really needed to do some legwork on fixing the aura and semblance systems and paying attention to world building and making sure the world felt well put together, nuanced, and real. And I don’t feel like they ever did that.

Why is Pyrrha able to unlock auras? Well, because the writers wanted to explain the concept of auras and used Jaune - the unprepared - to do it. But now, auras are actually an important part of the story - for example, the people of Mantle don’t have unlocked auras, so will die of cold, but it doesn’t affect our heroes because they do have unlocked auras. So who can unlock auras? Is it a learned skill or is it hereditary? If it’s a learned skill, why isn’t everyone eager to learn it especially in places where it’s life or death if they don’t like in Atlas? If it’s a hereditary skill, why aren’t the people who have that skill put on a pedestal and being pressured into using that skill to save civilians in places where having an aura is the difference between life and death? In either case, why aren’t there people who professionally unlock auras? Why aren’t they on the pay roll in Atlas and Mantle? If it’s a skill that all powerful hunters have, why aren’t our heroes (who we’re supposed to think are now more powerful than Atlas’s best) unlocking auras for dying children in Mantle? Why don’t specialists and longtime fighters with Qrow, Winter, Robyn, Maria, or James have this ability if it comes with skill, time, or talent?

Why are semblances unlocking or morphing in times of trauma so rare? Why didn’t the Fall of Beacon unlock loads of new semblances and new semblance abilities? Why didn’t Ruby get a new semblance upgrade when she saw Weiss getting stabbed? Why didn’t Weiss unlock a new semblance ability when her plane was crashing? Why didn’t Pilot Boi unlock his semblance during the same occasion? Why is it that Jaune didn’t get a semblance upgrade when the light bridges were disappearing? Why didn’t Blake get a semblance upgrade when Yang fell into the void? Why did Ren get a semblance upgrade because he was upset while with the Ace Ops after Oscar got captured, but Nora doesn’t get an upgrade while she’s electrocuting herself? If semblances sometimes unlock in times of truama, why is it that some characters like Oscar and Torchwick and Jaune pre-V5 who we know have encountered lots of trauma just still don’t get semblances? If you can train your semblance into upgrading, why is it that we don’t see long time hunters and fighters unlock more semblance abilities, like Qrow, Winter, Robyn, Maria, or James? It just doesn’t make any sense! And I get that stories always have things happening just because the writers want it, but in RWBY, the hand of the creator is so obvious that it’s ridiculous.

And then there are other questions. Do people avoid bad labor practices out of fear of causing a semblance awakening? Well, from what we see of the SDC, the answer is no. So why not? Why weren’t they worried about an uprising? Work rights becomes a lot trickier when you have to add in tons of qualifiers. Maybe it’s illegal to use a semblance at work, but the SDC also has a history of child workers like Adam who can’t always control it (like Neptune couldn’t control his,) so are there laws protecting child laborers? Perhaps not, since you know, they were already child laborers, so were already suffering unchecked. Are there laws forbidding the use of semblances in government buildings, non-combat driven schools, or parks and libraries? And meanwhile, how would any of this apply to people with a passive semblance? How do you figure out that someone has a passive semblance? How do people know if they’re born with a semblance? Are there people that spend their whole lives having semblances that never get discovered? Do people have semblance detection... Semblances, that they get paid to use or do so out of charity? Did the Schnees rise to power due to their powerful and hereditary semblance, perhaps? Are people discriminated against if they don’t have semblances or pressured to become Hunters if they discover they do have semblances? Shouldn’t civilians in Mantle and Atlas be joining combat schools in droves in the hopes of unlocking an aura so they can better survive? And shouldn’t there be discrimination against people with certain semblances? Outside of Robyn saying she’s personally experienced mistrust, and Qrow’s self-hatred, we don’t see any real prejudice against certain semblance types, or for that matter, any praise or extra significance pointed to certain other semblance types. It would go a long ways towards world building if there were things like people having to divulge their semblance or lack thereof before entering Beacon, or for people to have to register a semblance evolution, or for Emerald to have lied about her semblance because “everyone knows illusion semblances automatically draw suspicion,” or for Qrow to comment that he’d never seen Clover in a Vytal Tournament, only for Clover to say his semblance was deemed ‘cheating’ back when he was in school so he hadn’t qualified. And on the flip side, you could have things like semblances being judged as better and more powerful based on how useful it might be, Pyrrha keeping her semblance on the DL because it’ll just bring more unwanted admiration on her, Sun keeping his own semblance on the DL too because it always make people put a lot of expectations on him, while Neptune’s semblance leaks and he deals with people treating him like he’s selfish and cruel for not wanting to use his own “gift of a semblance.” And people like Jaune could be bullied extra because he doesn’t have his semblance yet, and people in the stands at the Vytal Tournament could be chatting about “when are they gonna pull out their semblances?” and get annoyed and pouty when people don’t. To be fair, we do get things like Mercury’s father having declared his semblance a crutch, but... Still. why isn’t there more of this?

And we see the need for Hunter protection in villages like Kuroyuri and the village that Team RNJR stops to help on the way to Mistral. Small villages outside of the four kingdoms fall to Grimm, or are in danger of falling to Grimm. Ships get attacked by large and dangerous Grimm, we see (corrupt) Hunters on the train to Argus, accompanying for safety, and we see that with a rise of Grimm activity in Mantle, Hunters are dispatched to help kids travel to school. In a world like RWBY, fighting is essential for survival outside of the Kingdoms, and became very essential in the kingdoms as well once schools started going down. You’d assume there should be Hunters accompanying everyone traveling outside of the Kingdoms, resident Hunters living in villages outside the Kingdoms as their on-hand protectors (and more than one Hunters seems to be needed.) Hunters also could be extra protection for anything that’s definitely going to increase negativity, like hiring Hunters to bodyguard funerals seems like something that could be normal in the world of Remnant, and for visiting graveyards (we see Ruby get attacked by tons of Grimm when she visited Summer’s grave in the red trailer.) On top of that, celebrities and rich people hiring Hunters seems like it’d become pretty common. But all that we see outside of Dee and Dudley are traveling Hunters stopping to help people out of the goodness of their heart while they go place to place, and Kingdom Hunters who are assigned to things like border control, clearing out Grimm near or in the Kingdoms, and things like that. What we see is a Kingdom-centered morality complex our protagonists are one hundred percent invested in, Hunters are Kingdom driven and anything outside of that is a kindness, a job they can take or leave in passing. And on top of that, it seems like there aren’t a lot of people in the Hunter profession, and I feel like there should definitely be more. There are people like Jaune who didn’t make the cut but accepted that, we can only assume that there are drop outs too, so like... How many kids are there actually in a year at Beacon? I mean, look at where the Relics were found in the forest during initiation at Beacon.

This gives us a rough idea of how many people are in each year at Beacon. Assuming everyone graduates school and there’s no drop outs and no deaths, that’s a graduating class of twenty. That’s a very small number, comparatively. The job of a Hunter is dangerous. We know of Hunters that died (Summer, Pyrrha, Amber.) We know a lot of Hunters that have other jobs that take a lot of their time (Glynda, Ozpin, Robyn,) and lots of people who quit being Hunters too (Maria, Tai, Raven,) and Hunters who aren’t always on the field like Qrow who was a teacher for a stretch and acted as Ozpin’s spy, the Ace Ops who became part of Ironwood’s inner circle and therefore had a bigger picture, and even all of Team RWBYJNR, who got their Hunter licenses but are also more concerned with bigger picture stuff (if you don’t believe me just look at volume eight where JRY stopped defending Mantle to go rescue Oscar, and Team RWBN + Penny, who were involved in big picture stuff like launching Amity and then saving Penny the Maiden/their friend.) So out of a class of twenty, how many of them are even staying on the field? For a show pushing the narrative that Hunters are the ultimate saviors who are the only true good defense for the world, that condemns even the notion of an army... Like they villainized sending Team FNKI onto the battlefield while also treating it like proof of Ironwood’s evil when he didn’t want to stay and fight when Team RWBY said to, and also made Ironwood’s desire to move into having a robotic army to get soldiers off of the battlefield part of his... Over reliance on machinery, which is full on suspicious considering their ableism towards Ironwood and the fact that he literally has to rely on machinery, but that’s a topic for a different post and this one is already so long. But yeah, my point is that we’re meant to see the army as bad. So if we’re meant to see Hunters as the only true and pure form of defense (which is already off because we know it’s corrupted,) there ought to be way more people in the Hunter field.

As for the schools, we only know of a couple of schools that exist outside of RWBY as combat schools that seem to act as basic training before people go to Beacon. We know of Signal, the school Ruby and Yang went to that Qrow was a teacher at for awhile (I have lots of teacher Qrow headcanons, but sadly Qrow being a teacher wasn’t very well explored,) and we also know of Sanctum in Mistral and (in the EU) Oscuro in Vacuo, presumably one of these existing in Atlas as well. I personally headcanon that there are a lot of these smaller combat schools littering the whole of Remnant (but then again, I also headcanon that the Kingdoms of Remnant are bigger than just one very large city, lol) and that a lot of people attend these schools even if they don’t go on to join one of the Hunter Academies, but this isn’t necessarily supported by canon, I think. But as for other schools...I think it’s fair to assume that there are at least elementary schools, since everyone can read, write, and presumably do basic math, and what we do know is that Ilia went to a prep school in Atlas (which was info dropped in Blake’s pre-V5 trailer, not even stated in the show proper,) so we can probably safely say that people who don’t go to the Huntsman academies go to some form of high school, but you’re right that we don’t see this actually in action. I personally always headcanon that Whitley had a tutor, since Jacques wanted to avoid too much outside influence.

I am so sorry that this response got so away from me and I myself got into so many rabbit holes as well. XD I just have a lot to say about the world building in RWBY (or sometimes lack thereof.) Although I admit that I’m not as into or as good at analyzing as blogs like why-i-hate-rwby-now, but yeah, this is... A very long post. Sorry!

[rainbuckets8]

Why you should watch RWBY

TL;DR:

Summary: RWBY is an epic fantasy with themes like found family, the struggle to remain hopeful, the younger generation growing up, villain redemption, and systemic evils.

Strengths: RWBY has unique and memorable characters. The show is smart. It has excellent cinematography and animation. It has representation. It tackles hard topics. It’s got incredible music and it’s free on RT’s website.

Weaknesses: RWBY has some early growing pains, specifically volume 2’s finale, as well as budget and polish. Later on, volume 4 is weaker than the rest. Volume 8's finale is extremely distressing for a lot of viewers (and we haven't seen the follow up to those events yet). The fandom can be bad at times.

Misinformation: The early volumes being bad, the racism plot line, and the animation (not the same as “budget and polish”) are not as bad as you may have heard from YouTube.

Suggested viewing order

Red Trailer, White Trailer, Black Trailer, Yellow Trailer

Volume 1

Volume 2

Volume 3

Volume 4 Character Short

Volume 4

Volume 5 Weiss Character Short, Volume 5 Blake Character Short, Volume 5 Yang Character Short

Volume 5

Volume 6 Adam Character Short

Volume 6

Volume 7

Volume 8

(I did my best to make this spoiler-free. When there are spoilers, they’re worded ambiguously enough that someone new to the show would never guess what’s going to happen just by reading this.)

What to expect

The world of Remnant is filled with monsters called the creatures of Grimm. Warriors called Huntsmen and Huntresses defend humanity. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang go to school to become the next generation of heroes. Together they make Team RWBY (pronounced, “Ruby”)! Joining them is team JNPR (“Juniper”), made up of Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren. But evils even more dangerous than the Grimm are ready to make their move, and school quickly becomes an afterthought…

(I mention these next two topics specifically bc they can immediately turn someone away based on bad expectations.) There is a fantasy school setting, but RWBY is not a show about school. School topics are not a dominant idea: it seems to resemble a setting like Harry Potter, but the actual focus of the show rarely touches on things like classes or homework or tests, and we quickly move on. There is romance and it has a role in the plot, but RWBY is not a romance show. On the scale of romance in FMAB to She-Ra, RWBY falls somewhere in the middle.

What is RWBY about, then? RWBY is like an epic fantasy or high fantasy, despite first appearances. Perhaps not every genre convention is followed, but at its core, RWBY is about an epic struggle of good and evil.

RWBY contains themes such as found family, the struggle to remain hopeful, the younger generation growing up, villain redemption, and systemic evils.

Strengths of the show

The characters are unique and memorable. One of the cool things is that they all draw inspiration from a real life fairy tale, myth, or something else. They designs are all top notch. One character who died with extremely little screen time even got so much fandom love, they included the character in a mid-hiatus short later. The characters have unique weapons, too; in the world of Remnant, a weapon is an extension of ones’ soul, and they reflect the variety of their owners. They’re also just plain cool; Monty was famous for following the “Rule of Cool.” And their individual stories are all compelling and interesting.

The show is smart. As a fandom, we generally pick up on the narrative hints the creators are dropping. And our predictions usually come true, but not in a way that makes the show predictable and boring. We very rarely guess exactly what will happen, but we have some similar idea of it. It’s just excellent foreshadowing.

RWBY also likes to play with tropes, as an extension of this. Often it will challenge them, or subvert expectations. In other cases, RWBY uses tropes to avoid showing us what we already know will happen. This occurs in both characters and plot. For example…

SLIGHT SPOILERS FOR VOLUME ONE FOR THE REST OF THIS PARAGRAPH: Jaune’s entire character arc is about trying to be the anime protagonist, and learning that he doesn’t have to do things alone, and it’s ok to be a support main. The show sets up the narrative in a way that looks like, oh of course the direction it will go is him becoming the main character, but then it destroys toxic masculinity instead.

Our characters are smart, too. Plot-induced stupidity generally doesn’t happen. (A few big mistakes or errors in this regard aren’t actually the fault of the narrative, either, but animation and miscommunication and failure to execute. And those aren’t common.) It goes beyond just “not being dumb,” however. The villains’ plans are incredibly clever, and our heroes sometimes even guess at the usual “plot twists.”

The cinematography is just incredible. There are numerous freeze frames with extreme attention to detail that reveal character motivations or arcs or foreshadowing, there are many effective cuts and moving parts, there are soooo many parallels and callbacks, and visual cues such as lighting and color all are used appropriately to convey emotion and assist the narrative. It is one of the biggest overlooked strengths of the show, imo, simply because a lot of people in the fandom don’t notice these things as much for whatever reason, or else don’t give as much praise about them.

The animation is extremely good as well. Budget issues and technology issues aside (which means a lack of polish), the actual animation? The fight choreography, and all the other parts of animation that aren’t just “expensive CGI” are all wonderful. You can have very shiny, polished turds after all, and RWBY is like the opposite: not very polished, especially early on, but very well animated. All the trailers, volume 1 episode 8, the volume 1 finale, the volume 2 penultimate episode, and basically everything else hold up extremely well even today. If anything, the worst fight animation was in volumes 4 and 5 because of Maya growing pains, and those are an example of being more polished, but not necessarily better animated. Animation of faces has always been good, animation of characters has always felt lively. Aside from a few small actual hiccups (that one person running across rooftops for instance), it’s well done.

There are LGBTQ+ characters. The treatment of one of the recent trans characters, in volume 8, was nothing short of amazing. They worked with a VA who was trans. The moment of canon confirmation was important to the character for backstory, because of course that affects the character’s life, but not the only important thing about the character. The representation is not in-your-face or pandering. And there is a split of representation among the main cast and the minor characters, with promises of more to come (notably they’ve said they’re working on more mlm for future volumes, too).

RWBY is not afraid to tackle hard topics. It deals with things like mental illness, systematic racism, and cycles of abuse. It’s not because the show is trying to earn “gritty and dark” points, it’s because those are some of the topics that real people have to struggle with as well. And the show handles most or all of them very well, in a way that shows respect and an honest attempt to depict these things as best they can. (NOTE ABOUT VOLUME 8: THERE IS A VERY DIFFUCLT CONVERSATION CURRENTLY HAPPENING. I am on the side of, let’s wait and see what happens next because the story isn’t over, so we haven’t really seen the fall out. But I understand why this paragraph feels really difficult to agree with if you've seen the volume 8 finale. I trust the track record of the rest of the show, personally.)

As an example, the show has a theme that villains are rarely evil just because. A lot of villains choose to do bad things because they were hurt in some way. Some lived in poverty; some were hurt by racism; many of them are victims of abuse. But the show doesn’t make excuses for them. It’s possible to be both sympathetic and still choose evil over and over again (that’s called tragic). The ones who eventually do try to do good again are not always forgiven, either.

The music is amazing. I can probably count on my hands the number of times I’ve heard someone say otherwise, which is astonishing when you consider this fandom.

It’s also free on RT’s website. (A paid, “FIRST” subscription removes ads and lets you see new episodes one week early, but they all eventually release for free.)

Weaknesses of the show

Early volumes’ growing pains exist, much like most or all other shows. (Even some of the greatest were not immune to this, like ATLA.) In this case, however, it’s a little bit rougher. A large reason why is that this was kind of the first big thing from RT to ever come out. If you remember back almost a decade ago, their only other big thing at the time was RvB, which was machinima. They pretty much started from scratch with everything, from assets to VAs to animation to writing. Imagine if a random twitch streamer, like Ninja (idk who’s popular these days) said one day, “OK let me just direct something that’s intended to be the next great movie series of all time, like Star Wars, with a $4 bill and an iPhone camera.” Then went out and actually made something. Of course it would be rough…but then it turns out the movie is actually really good. And then you get to watch over the next several years as everything gets better and better until it’s honest-to-god comparable to the MCU. That’s kind of what happened with RWBY.

One specific growing pain was the volume 2 finale. Pretty much everything else up until that point, I love about the show. But the finale just fails to deliver on the build up of tension from other episodes. Some of it is because of later plot developments that we didn’t know at the time; some of it is because of just not great writing; some of it is because of just not great animation; and yes, some of it is budget. Regardless, it’s a low point for the show.

Speaking of, the budget for the early volumes is super small. The infamous volume one shadow people, the infamous person jumping across the rooftops in volume two, and just production quality isn’t high compared to a major release from some established studio. These are real weaknesses of the show that for some people, make it unwatchable, and if that’s you, that’s ok.

One last weakness of the show, the screen time per episode, especially early on, is NOT a full 20 minutes like you may expect of an anime (or anime-inspired-western-media, for those of you who will die on the “RWBY is not an anime” hill). This is a trend that has stuck with the show, a shorter run time per episode, for generally the entire lifetime. On one hand, it means it’s a little less daunting to catch up or rewatch than the number of episodes might imply. On the other, early on, some episodes have a little weird pacing. It also means the writing had to adjust for this, so while RWBY got really good at telling a story within a shorter amount of time, there’s also challenges with that too. Perhaps one of the notable ones is the pacing, with slower moments sometimes feeling like it takes up too much screen time, or not enough. Volume 4 was a particular struggle for the crew, both because they switched animation engines and also for the story.

Common complaints that I don’t agree with

I don’t agree that the early volumes were actually bad overall. Growing pains, yes, but not bad. I attribute that complaint to overly focusing on one character’s storyline, back when it wasn’t clear there was so much more to come and before people realized the show would challenge the tropes instead of falling into them. It’s pretty much just volume 1 when people say this anyway, most of them I’ve heard admit that volume 2 was a lot better (except the finale) and almost everyone loves volume 3. And looking back on it, I do think volume 1 holds up.

Tying into this, the racism plot line is another common complaint. I don’t think it’s actually executed quite that badly. I think it makes sense for there to be regional differences in the amount of racism we see, it just so happened that we only saw a very small and isolated environment, Beacon, for much of the early volumes. (Incidentally, that’s actually similar the environment I myself grew up in.) It’s not perfect, though. But there’s no doubt that the later volumes do a better job portraying this. Again, I attribute it mostly to people not knowing how long the show would run for at the time, so of course if that’s all we saw, it would’ve been bad. But it’s not. I have a lot of respect for Miles and Kerry for even attempting to handle the racism topic in the first place. And for the faults that DO exist in this plot line, I credit them for learning and growing past that too, and doing better in later volumes.

The animation is not bad. I’ve already touched on that earlier, but people confuse “budget and polish” with “animation.” Give me RWBY any day over Michael Bay’s Transformers: no matter how much polish those robots have, they’re still a confusing mess to try and follow. And the polish isn’t even an issue once we get past the growing pains of Maya and get a bigger budget, because wow does this show look good now.

Between these three complaints I hear about often, I think those are the biggest ones. And they’re all generally done in bad faith, based not on just those but on other more provocative statements people also make with them. That’s part of my issue with the fandom, specifically the vocal but small parts of the fandom, because they’re just repeating these things from early days that aren’t true. But YouTubers gotta get those rage and hate clicks somehow, right? Unfortunately it discredits the show a lot and influences other people’s opinions into not giving it a fair chance, because it’s become a narrative of “RWBY IS BAD” when they all won’t shut up about it. So yeah, fandom can be bad, join at your own discretion. (Of course, all fandoms have annoying parts, and my interactions with the fandom have been good overall, otherwise.)

Onto other complaints, some say the cast is bloated. I don’t agree, but I don’t think this one is in bad faith. I think we get the important characters as much screen time as we can, and the minor characters don’t actually detract from that; one of the differences between good minor characters and bad ones, is that bad ones take up too much time. RWBY has a ton of characters but many of the minor ones don’t actually take up too much time. So it appears bloated, but actually I don’t think it is.

Finally, a small word on the no-no topics. Adam, and Monty. Adam is like the champion of the Monty topic. Which essentially boils down to “Miles and Kerry are ruining Monty’s vision for the show.” Toxic fandom is truly awful and I have no respect for anyone who says anything like that. Shame on all of you. This isn’t really anything negative about the show, but the fandom, and tbf all fandoms have toxic parts. But toxic fandom can be a real and valid reason to not watch a show. Thankfully they seem fewer in number these days, but I think they’ve evolved into hiding behind other characters or topics, so you know. Beware. Again, it's not too hard to avoid them or block them, and my interactions otherwise with most fans have been good.

[nightswithkookmin]

Imo there is enough to support the possibility of a romantic relationship, but you are writing full on narratives with impossible specificity. You know what confirmation bias is but some young impressionable people dont yet . Forgive me but misleading with ' alt facts' can hurt someone even if you dont mean it. I think you are a good person not looking to hurt anyone. But the way you postulate without any evidence makes your actions a little but like those of a charlatan. Peace and kindness

All these kind words you spew...

It feels more like an advice than a question so I'm not sure how to respond to it...

Let me just say thank you? I never quite understood what the brouhaha was about with my posts but after talking to a few people, 'on the other side' lol and reading your Ask, I think I'm starting to get a better sense of what the problem is.

Something about young impressionable minds or people?

Let the council of elders know, those are not my audience please. I cater to a much more mature audience- at least so far. The people that I interact with and engage with on my posts on and off Tumblr are very mature and not impressionable at all.

They are People with brains who can tell an opinion from fact and can engage in deep complex controversial conversations without throwing up, shedding tears or cussing through to the heavens.

If there are 'impressionable people' reading my blogs- they do so at their own risk. If you know any such people or they run to you with my theories kindly point out to them it's just theory because that's what my opinions are.

I think the best thing you can do is to advice such people to grow up if they are going to sit at the adult table or not read my posts at all. I think you need to learn to hold the right people accountable for their actions.

The best I can do in this case- to hold myself accountable, is to put up a disclaimer on my posts to let people know what it is that they are reading- something I do quite often. But I will make conscious efforts to put up those disclaimers each time henceforth. Thank you.

That I write full on narratives with impossible specificity:

Is this Latin for, 'you write fiction get the fuck outta here?' Chilee.

I don't even know what you mean by this exactly so I may not be able to respond to it to your satisfaction. Bare with me.

So what if I write fiction? What is wrong with writing fiction? Do you hate fiction writers? I don't get what the hate is with these complaints honestly. Do you want me to put up a disclaimer stating my blogs are fiction? Would that help? I would glady do it.

If it helps you sleep at night think of my blogs as fiction- a rose by any other name. I've been keeping up with Shakespeare. Lol.

I don't think it's that deep. Listen, you gotta understand that just because we both 'ship' Jikook don't mean we are on the same team...

Most alt shippers I know and who read my posts and engage with it are not even Army to begin with, for your information. They could care less about these shipping politics of yours. Have you thought about that?

Some simply ship JK and JM and support them because they believe they are members of the LGBTQ plus community not because they are part of BTS.

There are different communities out there who are also into Jikook- for very different reasons. You gotta respect that.

To you, Jikook is just a ship within BTS that may or may not be real, but to some of us they have very much outgrown that description...

They are a brand of their own, a power couple and members of the LGBTQ plus community- Gay Icons extraordinaire. I think we take very different stock in Jikook. So stop trying to fit us all into one box.

It's disrespectful to try and control the way that people perceive their OTP and support them. Jikook don't just belong to Army Jokers, they belong to different communities outside Army. Are you aware of that?

And please don't confuse the intersect. I am an alt-shipper yes but I just so happen to be an Army too. But if I wasn't an Army, I'd still pretty much 'ship' and support Jikook- make no mistake. There are quite a few of us running around these streets, you know?

So you have every right to want to gatekeep your Army Jikook- but you have to do that without infringing on other rights of other 'Jikook communities.'

Throughout my blogs I have tried to shed light on what altshipping is because I thought it would help bridge the gap but clearly that hasn't worked. Sigh.

Misleading alt facts

Do you not know what it means or you are just being ironic?👀

Why is it ok for you to believe and proclaim that JK and BigHit lied about JK dating the Tattoo artist but it's not ok for me to believe JK is telling the truth when he says he didn't date her and that BigHit saw an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone- hence why they didn't press charges against the shop for breach of privacy like they had said they were going to do. Instead, they had asked the shop to keep calm till the scandal died down on it's own?

You start your piece off with the whole, 'there is enough evidence to support a romantic relationship' between JK and the tattoo shop lady- I assume.

For context, this Ask by this anon is in response to my recent post/ answer on the tattoo girl scandal where the topic of discussion was on BigHit, JK and the tattoo artist and not Jikook perse.

A statement that is in direct conflict with JK's statement, BigHit's and the lady in questions, all denying that there was a romantic relationship between her and Jungkook- and somehow I am misleading who- who now with my theory??? Chileee.

Do you see the problem here? Double standards- the hallmark of bigotry. Lmho. You are literally doing the very thing you are accusing me of. Making confident assertions and claiming you know more about JK and the Lady's relationship and even have 'enough evidence' contrary to BigHit, JK and the Tattoo artist's statements denying the rumors- at least when I theorize I admit I'm being delusional. What's your excuse? When you say charlatan are you referring to yourself? You must be. Lmho.

Now I'm confident in my comprehension skills and intelligent enough to know when you make an assertion like this- it is your opinion and you are just stating your opinion. If you are not then honey you'd be opening yourself up to some serious litigation... goodluck I guess. Lol.

You are allowed to form an opinion about a topic. There is nothing wrong with that. If to you, JK and this person dated that is fine. I am not going to cyber bully you, stalk you, throw slurs at you, harrass you, dox you, slid into people's Dms to spread hate and lies about you just because I don't agree with your opinion. And for the record, I don't agree with your opinion. Hehehehe.

I have stated my opinion on the matter. I said I think JK and this person did hang out, go on dates but that there was no romantic sexual relationship between them because I believe that would have had much serious consequences and effects on Jikooks dynamics no matter how much they tried to keep a cool facade. Whoever felt cheated on would have acted more insecure than usual post the incident- how does this make me a charlatan? Are you saying it's wrong it have an opinion? Chileee.

Now if you can produce 'evidence' of them having sex or even kissing, then I will gladly change my mind on the topic and not sweat it.

Jikook have done way worse questionable things in 7 good years and people still don't believe they are dating. Jk hangs out with a female friend a few times in less than a month and suddenly he is dating her? Lmho.

You don't need me to tell you people are more eager to accept a heterosexual relationship than wrap their heads around the fact that two male idols are gay and in a gay relationship with eachother. Don't you just love it when homophobia meets heteronormativity and stinks? I do. Lol.

I mean this is a fandom that thinks JK is 'too touchy' and doesn't respect his boundaries- they practically swear JK is cheating on Jimin with every member any time he hugs, kisses, wings at within the group. You think they will be 'objective' about JK hanging out with a girl? Even if it happened once?

You said something about confirmation bias.... I will not touch it. Lmho.

This is not the first time JK has gone on a date with a girl. This is not the first time he has 'dated a girl', he has hand girls on his laps or whatever- what is a back hug? I think people need to stop defining Jikook's lives by their own standards. If a backhug is intimate to you. Thats you. If you think a grown ass man cannot hang out with a female friend, that's equally you.

You think if he thought it was inappropriate and risky he would do it 'in public?' Get with Kpop Idol dating culture. Lmho.

Do you know the lengths they go through to keep their relationships a secret? Especially non celebrity girlfriends? Chen from EXO got married and where is his wife? They keep their flings tighter than Trump keeps his toupee on his head. Lol.

They hide them not out of shame but out of love and the need to protect their loved ones. These idols have family members who have their restaurants and businesses shut down because they want to keep their privacy.

You think JungKook's girlfriend would- on her own, issue a statement regarding a scandal that Jungkook's agency had specifically directed her and her shop to keep quiet about and lay low till it blew away on its own? And later, started liking couple posts about her and JK? If they were dating, certainly JK would have dumped her after that move. In my opinion.

You think JK would let his fandom drag the person he is in a relationship with to the extent she loses her Job- when in his Itaewon gay pub scandal BigHit referred to the issue as his private affair immediately it happened? They could have kept the same energy with her, no?

They handled his gay pub scandal much better, with much respect and consideration for his privacy- if he dated her sorry but she mustn't have meant much to him at all. And if I were her I would have dumped him for that shit and not stay liking couple posts about us. Damn- But do you.

Taehyung was in a scandal with a girl too- did you see her liking posts and shit and going out of her way to do the most? Did you see how BigHit handled that scandal?

Nothing wrong if JK is 'dating' her or had 'dated' her and whatever person he decides he wants to be in a relationship with I will support him- that's why I support Jikook.

But your opinion is equally valid my guy. Just don't call me a charlatan for mine. You believe they dated, I believe they didn't- and to your impressionable young minds, I hope you are not selling them anything contrary to BigHit and JK's statement. That would be very irresponsible of you. Lol.

What else did you say?

Oh postulating without evidence...

Next time I write a theory based on my observations about Jikook, remind me to break off a piece of my brain and attach it to it- I guess that way people would finally understand when I say things like 'I think' 'in my opinion' 'I feel' 'I believe' that these are just my thoughts and opinions and not facts.

Let me leave you with this:

Peace and kindness. Namaste.

Signed,

GOLDY.