#thread :: lessons from failure | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

4zahar · 6 months ago

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00 | The Star Child

Masterlist. Next→

Word Count: 1.3k

A/N: English is not my first language. Happy New Year! 🎊

—Ad astra per aspera—

Gotham's streets hadn't been designed to withstand rainfall over 30 milliliters per hour. A fact highlighted when some areas became prone to flooding due to the poorly thought out infrastructure of the sewer system. Built far too intricate and unnecessarily so, without consideration for situations such as heavy storms and raining season. The kind of problem Politicians would forever liked to preach about solving despite not a single soul believing half the funds for said project wouldn't be later on pocketed. Not a single uncorrupted branch was left on Politic matters.

Unfortunately and adding to the pile of reasons for a solitary boy to be wondering the streets drenched from head to toe at the whim of the storm—Clothes clinged uncomfortably to his skin; said kid was seemingly trying to shield a backpack with his body.

Car horns blaring in the distance in the alleys, speeding over the runoff from the storm pooling along the curbs. Streams formed, raising past ankles as the lone boy sprinted across the street, splashing in the filth to round the wrong corner. By the time he stepped in The Narrows his already worn off shoes became muddy puddles.

There was the chilling wind biting at his bones too. No matter how much he pulled at the hoodie, clearly a size too big, it did little socked and stained to provide any warmth.

A dog barking behind a fence became the only sound Jason could hear above his own teeth chattering.

He became the man of the house at a far too young age, the same day his father got arrested. Jason Todd’s survival on the streets of the country's most dangerous city hinged on a self-sufficiency no child should possess. Devastating was the burden thrusted upon him, forcing him to scavenge for food, scrape together money—stealing if necessary—and keep a eye on his mother.

He had learned through pain how things worked. Everything always getting worse over and over before ever showing signs of getting better—if they ever did. Lessons taught by the streets. Yet for all his toughness and bravado, the idea of losing his mother devastated him enough to seek help from anyone, anywhere. He'll do anything.

His mother, Catherine Todd, had never been so shameless before. Never like this, in her infinite wisdom, had she locked Jason out of the house with a storm in toe. Perhaps in her altered perception of reality, she did her son a favor. However, most children were far from far from stupid. The closest they'll have would be naivety, which her son wasn't. Jason wasn't blind and deaf like many seemed to view him as. What those days and afternoons locked out really were for Jason were failures for not having been able to stop them. Stop her.

The cure for her mother's illness was the same substance slowly but surely killing her, apparently, and according to the drug dealer that'll come to their home. As if Jason were stupid. As if he didn't know drugs were no magical spell and about his mother's addiction.

Overwhelmed, his resolve faltered. Losing on a betting game with all odds against him, Jason saw no choice but to force himself to go out under the lash of a storm in search of a new player.

Someone who had no name or face that he could remember, but whose existence was suspended in a forgotten photo half-embraced by fire; His sister.

Willis had not liked to talk about his oldest child, so you must've been a force to be reckoned with.

═════════════ • ✧ • ══════════════

One of the last threads of hope he had had, summarized in this ominous building. After this, Jason will ran out of ideas. For a while he has been standing in front of the door of an apartment in one of the many complexes nearby. After hitting one too many dead ends, Jason knew better than to let himself be haunted with What ifs.

Armed with an old picture of you, the sister he never had, in which he was an infant in your arms and your smile had missing baby teeth. Now he was ten and had to squint to find any resemblance to his old baby-self. You could've changed so much all could be for nothing if you had done as much as dyed your hair.

Just the walk from Crime Alley had costed him his backpack. Far more he should've allowed himself to for this to be worth nothing, so there better be a fairy behind this door. At the very least a decent human being.

He wasn't backing down. Jason just needed a moment, okay?

Lots of thoughts and thugs had been faced tonight—the longest walk his short legs had ever made in his short life was enough for him to get mugged by a group of drug addicts.

Facing disappointment, his great fear of being left alone, tightened his chest far more than the kick to the ribs he got a couple blocks ago. (Him being a child meant his backpack had proudly carried four pieces of gum, a pair of socks and an used toothbrush which hadn't been good enough for a bunch of crazy. God forbid a boy had his own problems.) However, he was lucky they didn't kidnap him or worse. Even if only because of knowing nothing would be gained from it after seeing the inside of his backpack.

You could be anywhere if not here, really. Even dead in a ditch. Children didn't get very far alone. They were all attracted by dim light of deception in a deep dark ocean and devoured by an anglefish or other predator lurking by.

After a deep sigh, his lungs filled with false courage and the pollution gothamies were so familiar with. Although His hand froze halfway to knocking on the door, three times did the sound echoed down the hall and Jason's arm flashed hidden behind himself just as fast.

An eerie silence settled back in before Jason tried again. Three knocks, louder this time, were intended. Jason got to one before the dull thud of something falling to the ground was heard from inside. The response had almost been immediate, followed by footsteps. Jason barely had time to take a step back before the door creaked open as far as the chain on the bolt allowed.

A somewhat gloomy looking girl peeked out. She seemed to have just woken up in any case, with her short hair a mess of spiky locks pointed in all directions. Adding to the frame of her face were blue drooping eyes lingered above Jason's head for a second too long as if she expected someone taller.

Great offense was taken at that by the way. He had gone through a lot, walked way too much, not for this—and you—to call him out like that. You weren't even that much taller than him. You weren't even standing straight hiding most of yourself behind the door. Then her eyes descended to meet him, and Jason's mind went blank.

He couldn't fully see her face. Didn't need to see to know this was you his sister. The picture he had of you felt heavy on his pocket as you looked just like your mother. His mother.

The lump in his throat made itself all the more present when he tried to speak, so he waited for a greeting of your own instead. Anything to not be the one who had to speak first would have been a good start in Jason's books.

The silence stretched despite the two. His tongue felt like it had been tied up, stammered the first thing that came to mind when nothing came of you.

“I am your brother,” he blurted out, with anxious energy so clumsy he instantly regretted it.

Taglist(?): @classicsimpforaaronwarner

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pellucid-constellations · 2 years ago

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angstober (5)

Prompt: "Lessons in Failure"

Pairing: Bucky x Reader

A/n: This one is brought to you by Exile by Taylor Swift.

angstober masterlist here ♡

~~~

There was no winning, not anymore.

You knew that, Bucky knew that; the only difference between the two of you was the level of devotion you had to find a way to win. Even if that meant giving up your life.

Bucky wasn’t too keen on letting that happen.

“Look at me.” His voice was a low rumble, almost indecipherable under the sound of the quinjet. You tilted your head to the side, refusing his gaze. “Y/n, look at me.”

If you looked at him, you might crack.

“I know what’s going on in your head.”

He didn’t.

“If you so much as think about going into that building, I’ll know. It’s not happening.”

But it had to happen. This mission had given you an impossible ultimatum—save a few hostages, or save an entire city. It was clear what needed to be done, especially with the explosives so obvious. One unreachable, one easily dismantled. If you got inside that building, the one filled with a dozen innocent people, there was a chance you wouldn’t be coming out.

But you had to try. Steve would have wanted you to try.

“Damn it, y/n, look at me,” Bucky grumbled. Fingers met the base of your jaw, tilting your head so you were forced to adhere to his request. “You’re not going in there. I won’t let you. You can hate me all you want, but I’m not losing you.”

“What if it was me?” you whispered.

“What?”

“What if I was in there? You’d try, wouldn’t you?”

Bucky hesitated, brow furrowing. He took a step closer, slotting his foot between yours, chests touching. His breath mingled with yours as he tilted your head up an inch more.

“If you were in there,” he said, dangerously low. “There’d be enough time to get you out because I wouldn’t even look at the other explosive. I’d let an entire city burn.”

You took in a sharp breath, watching the way his hard eyes flitted over your face. He was analyzing, inspecting, trying to find a way to figure you out. But it wouldn’t be easy, not with your plans and the determination Steve had hammered into you before he left.

“But you’re not in there,” Bucky whispered, softening. He must have found what he was looking for. “And I’m gonna make damn certain you don’t end up in that building. We have our orders.”

You tore yourself from his grip, stomping away and angrily ripping open a weapons drawer down the quinjet. “You don’t understand. You still don’t understand.”

Knives made their way into the holsters at your hip in rushed movements. You zipped up pouches and loaded guns, all with a fire burning under your skin. Bucky was blinded by his love for you. You were blinded by the need to save as many people as you could. To you, one truth outweighed the other.

“There are people in there that mean something, Bucky. Everyone has a family—has people that are waiting for them.” Your burst of frustration interrupted the silence that had cloaked the quinjet. “Like how you would wait for me.”

You caught his gaze by accident, whipping your head around in an irate flurry, and paused. You were met with a brokenness you weren’t expecting. Bucky had looked angry before. His touch had forced you into compliance. His words had been laced with a malice meant for you.

But now… now he looked defeated. Final.

You took a few echoing steps towards him and played at a different angle, running your fingers along the stubble of his cheeks. When he let out a shaky breath, you slipped your touch back to his head and threaded your fingers into his hair.

“Like I would be waiting for you.”

Bucky squeezed his eyes shut, gripping your wrist. He ran his thumb over the bone there and turned, pressing a kiss to the inside of your forearm.

When he opened his eyes again, he spoke. “God, I love you.”

It was the pain in his words that gave you a split second of doubt, the way his throat sounded tight and achy. There was a chance, a good chance, that you wouldn’t make it out of this alive. That Bucky would watch as the building went up in flames, you inside of it.

But then you thought about the hostages. The children. The innocent people crammed into a room with an explosive ticking beneath them. And you felt the shift in your being—the return back to duty.

“I’ll make it out of this, Buck,” you comforted. “We’ll get the first one done and then I’ll do the second. You can’t fit under the building, but I can. I’m the one that can save them.”

“I know, baby.”

Hope elicited a lightness in your chest. Bucky’s sad smile spurred you on.

“And then we’ll be ready to get them back home. The quinjet’ll be big enough. Or we can call for reinforcements and—”

“I love you, you know that?”

You paused.

“I love you, too, Bucky. Of course I know that,” you confirmed, shaking your head in confusion. “I’m not going to die, okay? I promise. I wouldn’t leave you here alone.”

“I know you wouldn’t,” he hushed, resting his forehead against yours, eyes shutting once again. “But I’ve seen this play out before. I can’t live with the ending. Wouldn’t survive it.”

You gasped at the sudden pinch at your back. It was sharp and strong and spread like a fire up your neck. You gripped Bucky’s shoulders, trying to find stability as you lost feeling in your legs. He caught you just as quickly, a metal syringe crashing to the floor.

“I’m so sorry,” was the last thing you heard as the ringing in your ears gave way to total darkness.

This would be a lesson in failure not so easily digested.

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky x reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes fanfic #bucky barnes angst #bucky barnes reader insert #bucky barnes #angstober 2023 #day 15

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vixensdungeon · 4 months ago

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Hi sorry, I was wondering if I could get your perspective on something, no worries if not-

What's the consensus on modifying/running-as-written prewritten adventure paths from modern DnD-adjacent games like Starfinder?

I've been in a starfinder game for the last two years slowly working through one of their APs and it's been driving me crazy - I feel like I'm given zero agency and I'm just experiencing the adventure as audience more than actor because every beat is scripted and failure would ruin the story too so things like 'falling off a platform into the atmosphere of a gas giant' aren't considered fatal.

That being said, as a lifelong GM I'm sympathetic to certain defenses of APs like this - primarily, that writing and balancing an adventure is HARD, and what's the point of having a prewritten adventure if you're going to diverge from the established plot wildly in the first two books of six? And of course, at some point you do have to say 'look this is what I prepped, come up with a reason to be invested because this is the game we're playing'.

That being said, I'm also a player, and I'm a player getting more and more frustrated with being told 'no' to everything, and especially to having certain encounters locked in no matter how much it doesn't make narrative sense (or in the case of starship combat, no matter how much no one in the party actually wants to play them).

Not to ask 'am I the asshole', but is there something I'm missing about these prewritten adventure paths? A lot of the adventure paths I grew up with were like, the 3rd Ed temple of elemental evil variety, setting up places and threads to be played out, with dungeons taking up most of the actual ordained content. Paizo's APs feel like they're scripts for movies, written explicitly to constrain player choice. I've been changing my opinion on DnD-adjacent games in the last six months due to reading more opinions from people who actually know what the system is good for as opposed to people financially interested in selling it to every single table regardless of playstyle, and I'm wondering if it's just one more thing I'm fundamentally misunderstanding (or is it really just the financial incentive of making you buy six books and then another six books a year later)?

Which is to say, I know that for some of the original prewritten adventures like Tomb of Horrors, replaying them and doing different things was the point, and it feels like that's been abandoned in favor of enormous year(s) long campaigns that have to be followed to the letter, and I feel like I'm forced into a playstyle more appropriate for something like Heavy Rain or Amnesia, where I'm just going from scripted fight to scripted fight and everything in between is preordained and I'm just supposed to keep my arms and legs in the vehicle at all times. And it feels like there has to be something I'm missing that would explain why anyone would ever want to do this?

Ah, the adventure path. As always I blame Dragonlance.

Let's do a little history lesson. While there were certainly adventure modules that could be played in sequence, or were even designed so, the first of what we might call a modern adventure path was the series of modules starting with DL1 Dragons of Despair. Going further than the ones we have today, the DL series had prewritten characters for the players to play as, and advised you to contrive some way to bring back any character who died before their part in the story was over. I have a not small amount of antipathy towards this series for what it did to the perception of what a D&D campaign ought to look like.

The next step on our journey is the Adventure Path, a semi-unofficial name for the series of adventures starting with The Sunless Citadel. How it differed from Dragonlance was that the adventures were only loosely connected, and you could easily run each of them as a stand-alone, but greater enjoyment would be gained by playing them in sequence and going oooh when something that was hinted at earlier comes back.

Then along came Paizo, who were publishing Dragon and, more importantly, Dungeon. Someone there thought that while they had previously published adventures that could be tied together into a campaign, what if they did all that for the DM? So they published three adventure paths, The Shackled City, The Age of Worms, and The Savage Tide. These would later form the basis for the Pathfinder adventure paths (Savage Tide even has the Seekers, an organization that clearly looks like a prototype for the Pathfinder Society).

So now that all the history is out of the way, what are we to do with it? Adventure paths are nowhere near the best way to play D&D. They're not even the best way to play Pathfinder. But I think it can be done, it just requires full buy-in from everyone involved. The GM and players must all agree that they're going to be playing someone else's story.

Why would anyone want this? A change of pace, perhaps. Or maybe they're perverts who think it would be a great idea to start running their friends through the entire catalogue of Pathfinder 1e adventure paths when they're in their thirties, I don't know.

The adventure path might have its place, but it should never ever be the main mode of play for your traditional dungeon games. I don't think you're missing anything, these might just not be for you, and Paizo has greatly overestimated how much they're for anyone.

#dnd #pathfinder #ask dungeon questions get dungeon answers

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mysteriouslytransparentwitch · 10 months ago

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choose your image tarot reading

if you chose the alarm clock :

you are entering a moment of learning (literally and figuratively) it can be someone like that, life. You come as feminine energy and as the queen of roses. It is time to take care of yourself and take charge of something and cultivate it and leave a form of magic, creativity. We are talking about birth, a project or a new important stage in your life and learning (with the scribe card). You have the key and the knowledge to build your life project (business, house, travel …) For this you must draw on your resources, what you have learned but also initiate yourself into the field of possibilities. Your connection with the universe seems to be in good shape. your inner child allows you to choose the right path of the heart.

with the thread of destiny, we tell you about another path that is possible and you are sufficiently armed to face this path. Do not hesitate to listen to your body because it will guide you, if you feel that something is wrong, get out of there. You are living or you will live an important transmutation with an impact on your spirituality. It is the end of a cycle that ended with a lesson that will bring you wisdom for your next cycle. you end with the death card, a rebirth is taking shape for you.

with the tarot: we are talking about a liberation and understanding that we can go through and make plans despite difficulties. We understand better what we are destined for or what we no longer want to be attached to.

Decisions and choices must be made with maturity and perspective on your situation, analysis of what succeeded and what made you fail! and what is blocking.

It is time to make a decision or do something (9 sticks) to get out of there.

there is a new concrete start in the matter with the ace of coins, a change that takes place, new projects, desires, wishes with the card of the world and the moon. You want happiness, you have chosen happiness (everyone has a different definition) you are ready to receive help from life or from a person, sow and reap to finally end like the 10 coins, stability (financial, emotional, professional …)

bravo

if you chose the flowers

oracle of energies: we talk about comfort zone in the field of love or relationships (i.e. colleague)

you are well in this situation (friends, family or colleague) yet a part of you reflects on its evolution and its path. You begin to open your 3rd eye, i.e. to see that it is time to bring movement into your life, to come out of the shadows and go towards the light. But, there is a form of fear, fear of the unknown, yet if you come out of there and face it, there will be a new dynamic in your life

with the oracle of animals, you came across the card of the posture embodied by the whale, here is its message:

it is to honor the master who is in you, the whale invites you to return to the meaning of your existence and to overcome your ego. The whale invites you to slow down, isolate yourself, to find a form of independence. it is an invitation to rebirth.

with the tarot: we talk about taming your fear and getting out of an illusion, the time is favorable to change and calming a fear linked to the financial / professional field after a failure or burnout we talk about the end of the fight, you have enough help and time to harvest a start of something. It is time to do administration, redo resume, or do training in order to move forward and end this emotional cycle.

to find a solution (work or leave) and move towards something better and adapt

if you chose the notebook :

with the akashic tarot: it is the relational domain, even love for singles, where nothing is official. we are talking about a birth, a new important step (major arcana) between summer and winter. Something will shine, will strengthen, an event is being prepared for you, a king of roses is coming your way, you do not see it yet because your back is turned. We are talking about a wish granted, your fears are calmed. Aechange raphael encourages you to travel again

with oracle of energy: there is indeed change, a new, softer energy is taking place in you, fear or hostilities calm down, a new abundance settles in your life.

You put things in place, you write what you want to attract, it is clearer in your head. You see with your 3rd eye your life path and how you want to see it evolve. I am told about a soul or work contract that has been broken, however, you prefer to focus on your healing, your life to attract the doors of value to you.

with the tarot: we leave regrets and bitterness behind, we make the decision to shape the life we want, we work to make our wishes come true, we move forward concretely in our life, we put things in place, we are really in action with all these penny cards. We make the decision to get out of this comfort or fear zone to achieve something important for you. We accept this new stage of life for a new cycle, it is a rebirth (ace of coins, world, jack of coins, death)

you have a very beautiful draw, the world is yours

if you chose the bench :

I start with the oracle of Greek mythology, it is 11:11

I will not say it is a dark guidance but a lot of transition, poles shaken by emotions and events. Let's start

there is a transformation that cannot be done because you are in a form of fog, something is dying in you, you are devoured by a feeling or an emotion. This leads you to a vulnerability, which prevents you from connecting properly with the universe or your spirituality. There will still be movement before bringing you to your path of transformation and on the Hermes path. The presence of Charon makes even more sense in this reading, you are on a shore filled with emotion and negative thought, one day you go to the shore of Hygeia, good health, transformation. Everything is still blurry.

with the threads of fate, we talk about patience like the turtle, roots are put in place, we talk about a suspended time or a form of emptiness that you feel. Be careful, we have a card of a revolution, of the sacred fire (the card of the sacred fire was reversed in the first part) a death arrives then the rebirth arrives which will bring a transmutation like the scarab.

with the tarot: we talk about an external event or other that will lead you to solitude, in a cold corner, we talk about an unfair decision perhaps. Despite your courage, there will be no help or words, something is blocked and this brings a form of fragility and disaster for some, you study solutions.

I am sorry for you, it is a rather difficult passage

#tarot reading #tarot #pick a pile #pick a picture #oracle reading #psychic readings

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justinspoliticalcorner · 3 months ago

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Jennifer Rubin at The Contrarian:

The worst screw-up in American intelligence history—deliberate use of a non-secure Signal channel, resulting in transmission of war plans to a reporter—will test Democrats’ ability to lead and defend functional government. Jeffrey Goldberg’s amazing scoop pulls back the curtain on the arrogance, contempt, and recklessness that permeates everything the Musk-Trump regime does, from DOGE cuts (e.g., firing then trying to rehire people charged with maintaining our nuclear arsenal) to economically illiterate economic policy (e.g., tariffs) to the dismissal of incontrovertible science (e.g., climate change, vaccinations) to buffoonish foreign policy (e.g., threatening Greenland). It is noteworthy that no one on the Signal chat thought to question its use, and that President in Name Only (PINO) Donald Trump—who declared Hillary Clinton unfit for office for a far less severe infraction of email protocol—would seek to minimize such an indiscretion. (“Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man,” Trump insisted.) How many chances does he get? What about every other participant on the thread? To make matters worse, “President Trump's Ukraine and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff was in Moscow, where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, when he was included in a group chat,” CBS reported. Given that all U.S. officials are routinely warned about the potential for hacking when in Russia, this is a particularly egregious failure to abide by rudimentary security procedures.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s pathetic effort to deny what was already public—the group’s use of an insecure platform to transmit war plans—suggests Trump’s incompetent hires (who we long ago realized were the worst DEI candidates in history) do not get it. It’s not surprising that a Fox News host looks at the worst intelligence lapse in recent memory as nothing more than a story to be spun. Moreover, Hegseth and other officials’ insistence that nothing classified was communicated is ludicrous. Must Goldberg release the contents of the war plans to prove them wrong? Despite the feeble attempts to gaslight the American people, the extent of this debacle cannot be minimized, even as the dimensions of it are not even known. How many discussions like this have taken place over Signal? Who else, if anyone, was inadvertently included? Did any foreign power or malicious actor obtain the classified material that was disclosed? These are only a few of the troubling questions yet to be answered. At the previously scheduled Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Tuesday, ranking member Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.) blasted the Trump crew for their “sloppy, careless, incompetent behavior” and “cavalier attitude toward classified information”. As the New York Times reported, Senator Michael Bennett (D-Col.) echoed the sentiment: “This sloppiness, this disrespect for our intelligence agencies is entirely unacceptable. You need to do better.” Better yet, the whole lot of them should not be given a second chance.

Jennifer Rubin has a spot-on column in The Contrarian on how the Signalgate scandal is a harmful to national security episode.

See Also:

Jill Filipovic: But His Group Chat

Thinking About... (Timothy Snyder): Signalgate: violating national security

#Yemen Signal Leak #Signal #Pete Hegseth #National Security #Trump Administration II #Steve Witkoff #Jeffrey Goldberg #Michael Waltz #Tulsi Gabbard #Signalgate

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crooked-wasteland · 1 year ago

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How would you rank every HB episode from worst to best?

This took me some time to think on, but thank you for the ask.

So all the Helluva Boss episodes ranked worst to best (in my opinion):

The Circus

I have to place the season 2 premiere as the worst episode of the entire series, simply because it cemented the direction the story was going to go with all of the worst ideas floating to the top. The relationship mystery between Stolas and Blitz gets watered down to a childhood crush based on nothing. It is love at first sight, but then the writing performs gymnastics in order to justify Stolas’ attraction after the fact. It’s so painful in Seeing Stars and Oops how the writers really want us to believe that Stolas liked him as a person first and that is supposed to be shown in how Stolas thinks Blitz is funny when no one else does, but the series of events in the Circus will forever undermine that narrative. He finds Blitz funny because he is attracted to him. Not the other way around.

Aside from the issues with the overarching story, the entire structure of the episode fails. The idea of Chekhov’s Gun is one I believe holds merit as a fundamental tool. If you are going to introduce something like theft, acknowledge the danger of the event, repeatedly draw attention to the theft, and then just never mention any sort of natural conclusion to that plot point. If anything, Blitz returning to Stolas�� home 25 years later to do the exact same thing, necessitated a coming full circle moment of that particular plot point. The failure to identify even the most basic of narrative principles that was a solid through line of character, story and themes told me everything I needed to know about how the series was going to be handled.

Stolas’ song is a poorly-performed nonsensical word salad that I found lacked any cohesion to the character in the previous episode or the next. It’s an ugly song with maybe 2 decent verses where Stolas acknowledges that this was all playing pretend, but that eventually goes nowhere.

Additionally, Stella was officially ruined as a character, which ultimately ruined Stolas as a character. By not giving Stella depth, Stolas was also stripped of any depth or complexity. His reason for staying is dumbed down to “for the child”, and Stella’s motivation is thrown out the window in favor of “she’s awful and please don’t try to make her understandable, because then what if Stolas is held accountable for anything?” Stella is too important a character in Stolas’ story, to make her one dimensional is to make Stolas less interesting. Everything is interwoven in a story, pulling a thread in one place unravels the garment elsewhere.

In a single episode, it encompasses everything that is wrong with the series, past and future.

0/10

Seeing Stars

To be honest, I feel Seeing Stars is most people’s worst episode due to some sense of denial when the season premiered and expected the show to at least continue with some kind of coherent story/timeline. I don’t think it would be as hated if Medrano had tightened up the narrative and made Seeing Stars connect to Ozzie’s more.

However, I would still put it at number 2, even if it had. Mainly because Seeing Stars is the worst sense of characterization and dynamics I have ever seen. And when you are trying to sell a character-driven story, some kind of consistency is required. This episode cemented Loona as being an abusive, manipulative, and entitled “bitch” of a person. Octavia is written like she is 13, not 17. Blitz and Stolas have the darkest timeline where Stolas continues to sexualize Blitz after being told off in the last episode and seemingly acknowledging that he defined the dynamic without any input from Blitz. Then forces him on stage despite Blitz being on the verge of a panic attack. But most of all, it has Stolas and Blitz both completely forget why they are even in this situation, because they are supposed to be looking for Octavia.

There was no lesson Blitz needed to learn, if anything he needed to be instilled with more self esteem where possible. And Stolas already had this story arc done much better in Loo Loo Land. His character actively regresses to redo the exact plot thread, but worse. Much like The Circus, Seeing Stars set the stage for what we could look forward to in regards to the series from here on out, and the utter disrespect leveled at the original 6 episodes.

That’s not even counting how the episode is the exact same plot and story beats as Loo Loo Land, highlighting the extent of how creatively bankrupt the series is.

.5/10

Exes and Ohs

If it comes to personal most hated episode, it would be Exes and Ohs for me. The only reason it is number 3 and not number 1 is because it is a narrative cul-de-sac where the larger story is not affected by it at all.

However, it is still an objectively awful episode. Starting with the premise. The whole plot is a stolen South Park joke. It’s the Steal underpants episode, stretched out into something longer, and not nearly as funny. If you are wholesale ripping off another show, that’s plagiarism. This episode is creatively bankrupt, shouldn’t exist, has no purpose and serves no benefit. People try to argue that it has value due to Moxxie’s backstory, but what does it even serve? Sure, I know it now, but not a single character does. Millie doesn’t even find out. Even moreso, Millie’s entire connection to Chaz goes nowhere and is for nothing. We never know how, when or why she dated Chaz, it's shown she hates him, but she doesn’t even kill him. The whole episode would have ended exactly the same with Crim killing Chaz once he realized the shark demon was lying about having money.

It’s not good when the major complaints of the episode are actually what is saving it from being the worst episode.

2/10

Musical Special

The retconning of this episode, changing who Fizz was as a child to try and justify his uselessness in Oops retroactively is beyond frustrating. There is so much I could go on about in terms of character, but just focusing on this episode.

Mainly, the mildly perturbing extent Medrano goes to hetero-normalize her queer relationships. Every single relationship in the series is stereotypically designed as “Protector” and “Protected”. Stolas, Fizzarolli, and Moxxie are all characters who require constant support and protection from other factors in the plot.

Stolas needed to be protected from Striker. Moxxie needs to be protected from most things in his plots. Season 1 it was the fish monster, Striker, the agents, and finally Ozzie and Fizz. Season 2 we have him needing to be defended from his father and Chaz.

This episode it's all about Fizzarolli and him needing to be defended from his crippling low self-esteem that is only relevant to have him needing to be saved from something. The flashback serves to further retcon Fizz’s personality because a strong and confident performer doesn’t need to be saved from anyone, and in order to have the codependent romance where Fizz needs Ozzie, we need to fundamentally weaken him as a person. It’s a special episode, so the argument that it doesn’t need to exist is rather moot. Regardless, the characters and story are worse off for its addition to the narrative.

2/10

Queen Bee

Another special episode, so the argument of narrative value is once again disregarded. I dislike this episode for how one dimensional every female character is in this story. It highlights all the ongoing issues with misogynistic writing. Loona’s character is a wildly swinging pendulum from being antagonistic towards Blitz to being endeared with little motivation and ultimately being reduced to the caretaker of men. When she and Bee get into an argument, she only deescalates when she sees Tex be uncomfortable. The initial hostility itself is founded on nothing, Loona is immediately resentful of Bee because she’s attractive and people like her, specifically Tex. And her being sweet towards Blitz is entirely based on the fact that her relationship to him makes her look good due to his accomplishment of beating Beelzebub in a drink-off. It doesn’t read sincere, but rather she would look bad if she didn’t take care of him after identifying him as her “dad” when it suited her.

This entire episode works to assassinate Loona’s character and any hope of her being likable and growing. Everything about her motivation is purely selfish and consistently reinforced in big ways, so moving forward it will be very hard to realistically prove she does anything for not her own benefit.

The song was nice for about one minute, then it became unbearably repetitive.

1.5/10

Western Energy

This episode was altered and rewritten, which doesn’t inherently make it bad. It’s just that it was changed due to fans pointing out the glaring plot hole that is why Stella would want to kill Stolas when a divorce would benefit her more. Instead of critically assessing that question and focusing more on world building to create a logical justification for Stella’s actions, the writers shrug their shoulders and just can’t think of anything. It’s a special form of fridge horror as a writer to realize the major plot that was intended to push Blitz and Stolas closer together was so underdeveloped that when at all questioned resulted in the entire plot being unwritten. It’s transparently bad writing, but worse yet is that it is lazy.

This episode is what I use to show an example of how fans inject headcannon and plot into the series that the creators have no interest in spending the energy on. This isn’t James Cameron’s Avatar where there is a massively rich world around a lackluster story that has been crafted with such detail that it feels alive. Helluva Boss, and in extension Hazbin Hotel, have no world building and resort to the most superficial answers to any narrative roadblock at the expense of the characters and understanding their motivations. It shows resentment for not just the audience, but writing as an artform.

3/10

Ozzie's (with season 2 context)

I had to put Ozzie’s on the list twice due to this episode in specific having vastly different reads and reception before and after season 2 premiered. After The Circus, the episode loses all continuity with the original season. Stolas is pining and lovesick over Blitz, he doesn’t actually care about his wife and daughter leaving him. He just wishes more than anything to have his rugged peasant return his affections.

It is a plummet of quality and character in this episode that only comes to fruition with the understanding that Stolas has had an unreciprocated crush for two and a half decades.

With the context of season 2, Stolas doesn’t actually care about his daughter and how his affair, the marriage falling apart, their status, etc. affected her and his family. He only cares about the little boy he got a crush on, who his father rented out like a Lexus and then 25 years later Stolas demanded sex from. Stolas has a complete personality change and isn’t at all who he was the entire series to this point. Everything you thought mattered to him doesn’t, the ways we have come to expect this character to react to things is suddenly entirely different. His expectations are unexplainable and so far out to left field than what we previously established. This is one of the worst written episodes based on the major retconning of a keystone character and no effort being made to connect these changes in the narrative.

This was the warning shot we didn’t know we were given.

1/10

Spring Broken

Spring Broken to Unhappy Campers are the range of utterly ambivalence I have.

The song is poorly incorporated into the episode. Verosika isn’t ever fleshed out. Tex and Loona start off cute, and you can see a starting point of a dynamic between Loona and Blitz and you want her to treat him better while also recognizing that he infantalizes her constantly and doesn’t ever treat her like the adult she is. Could have been really good writing if it went anywhere. This episode establishes Loona abuses Blitz and does so intentionally because it gets her her way. It isn’t malicious, but immature and incredibly cruel, and there is a desire to see her become a better person and grow from this point.

Too bad.

4/10

C.H.E.R.U.B

I know this episode gets a ton of criticism for being a joke/filler episode that goes too long. And that is absolutely correct. However it is still better in that being filler, it is not seeking to be anything more than it is. It is just some dumb fun with a few jokes that come anywhere close to landing. But it doesn’t harm the characters or their stories, unlike the rest of the list up to this point

3/10

Oops

This episode is a hard one to place because I consider the first 7 of this list to be bad episodes. Then 8-12 are those that aren’t good with varying scales of enjoyment on my part. However I think Oops is neither good nor enjoyable. But it has some good story ideas that deserve some credit, regardless of how the writing and pacing consistently tries to undermine them.

The scene of Blitz and Fizzarolli in the alleyway is contrived and feels confused, but it does manage to land some points such as Fizz’s insecurity of being owned by his partner (too bad that goes nowhere and is immediately ignored in favor of Fizz NEEDS Ozzie, so essentially ownership is good actually) and Fizz hanging Blitz’s insecurity and guilt over his head.

The forced engagement, rapid fire pacing, and immediate resolution thoroughly dismantles any good points the episode started to set up. I have to admit the animation is pretty solid, people worked very hard on this for less pay than this quality deserves. But this episode struggles to find a place it belongs on my list because. It almost sees the light only to bury its head in the sand writing-wise.

2/10

Unhappy Campers

Unhappy Campers sits in the same pool with Oops and how it is objectively a terrible episode, but the portions involving Blitz and Barbie are genuinely interesting and I think relatively well done when compared to the rest of the season. Millie has some fun moments herself, though the whole portion of the episode surrounding her and Moxxie could have been cut and it would only serve to elevate the material overall. So even if she is the best part of the worst portion of the story, it still isn’t something I deem worth salvaging.

It would have been an excellent 5 minute episode.

2/10

Murder Family

It’s the first episode. It did well reintroducing the characters from the pilot. It had enough intrigue to see where it would go and how it would expand the world and characters. It. Was genuinely fun and impressive for a YouTube animation, with horror notes and black comedy. There was a sense of character that we could maybe get to know over time and see them struggle and change. It started off very superficial, which was fine.

The blank canvas of what could have been.

5/10

Ozzie's (Before season 2)

Having to remember Ozzie’s premiere after an entire season of thinking we were getting to know the characters, their dynamics, personality, wants, etc. So the personality change in Stolas is given more leeway as LooLooLand set up that he really wished he could find love and his wife and daughter leaving has changed his routine to the point he is in a depression. It even seems Stella took the staff with her in the separation and he’s genuinely all alone.

So him sitting in front of a television asking why nobody will love him makes sense and doesn’t feel out of character when given the room to rationalize and try to piece together the character from past instances. Additionally, him becoming overjoyed at Blitz calling him out is just as easy to rationalize away. I recall watching the episode and interpreting that Stolas was needy, desperate and earnest, not for Blitz, but just in general. And Blitz making himself available to Stolas is why Stolas tries so hard to make this pretend date legitimate. It also explains Blitz’s own utter disinterest in the scenario.

Ironically, looking back, Blitz feels like an Audience insert with how utterly confused and dismissive he is of Stolas’ targeted affection. He sees their relationship like the audience does: one of convenience and mutual benefit. Blitz calling Stolas out is him cashin in on this messed up coercive sex deal they have. Him calling Stolas out and using him for his own gains is only seen as fair in his eyes. And Stolas’ attempts to legitimize the date is a continuation of his own hedonistic selfishness. So when Stolas tries to leave Blitz or otherwise removes himself by covering his face, Blitz’s anger and resentment is valid. Because there’s a lot of confusion taking place at the moment, but Stolas is responsible for all of it and instead runs away.

The exact same escapist behavior that ended up with him in bed with Blitz in the first place.

This is all really compelling drama and without the codependent neediness of the second season, it ties together in what feels like a real season finale for the characters. Everything up to now was a prologue, an introduction of the world, characters and conflicts. Ozzie actually took the characters and faced them off against each other directly. Showing all of their worst traits and building more intrigue to Blitz’s past and his relationships. This was an episode of great potential when it was first released.

7/10

Loo Loo Land

I’ll be honest, the more I think on this episode the more I believe its placement is more out of pettiness than actual quality. While a song that made me invested at the time, You Will Be Okay is a poorly written musical song. Specifically in how it fails to actually build on the themes we were having presented. Because if you really listen to it, the song foreshadows how little Stolas actually cares about Octavia.

The only part of the song that builds character is the one when he speaks of how his marriage is cold and loveless and how “all [his] stories have been told, except for one.” Which one would think that untold story has something to do with Octavia. He’s singing the song for her, to her. He’s presumably alluding to the fact that she’s his only joy in life.

But the very next line is talking about Armageddon. Like the end of everything, the death of the universe, some heavenly judgement. That’s why everyone and their off brand YouTube clone was talking about Stolas dying at some point in the series. Because the song fails to adequately communicate the character and his feelings and how that wraps into the plot. It’s a pretty song to the ears, but fails as a musical.

Additionally, I feel I may still have such a soft spot for this episode in how it often contradicts the current direction the story has attempted to go. Details, dialogue, timeline discrepancies, all of that has continued to hinder the second season in trying to retcon the entire story to this lesser version of itself and Loo Loo land as an episode is just so tightly written that it has become a thorn.

All the portions with Blitz and RoboFizz are great. Great character, great foreshadowing (to nothing unfortunately), great pacing. Those scenes have some legitimately funny jokes. Stolas stole the show it seems, much to the series detriment, but the real stellar parts of the episode were for once the actual main character.

6/10

Truth Seekers

This episode would have been my favorite due to Blitz’s bad trip and the animation involved throughout. However, the fact that the show has entirely dropped the relevant and interesting portions of the episode, overused and abused Stolas’ demon design since this episode, and the animators have since been confirmed to not be paid fairly for the work they do, this gets to be number 2.

Like Loo Loo Land, Truth Seekers is a primary source of contradiction in the new direction the story has gone and a constant reminder of how little work has been put into the narrative. It’s one of the strongest episodes of the series as a whole, but it has been almost entirely retconned.

I have seen some mention of the agents returning to the story and if that does come to pass, this will be hilarious in trying to reconcile what parts of Truth Seekers is canon and what isn’t any longer. And the realization that all the best parts are the ones ending up on the cutting room floor.

7/10

Harvest Moon

Striker was an intimidating figure. Genuinely. There was a real sense of weight to this episode in the animation and visual storytelling. It’s a solid episode for what it is and far and above better than even Truth Seekers because it required Medrano and her staff to actually address the episode and make obvious efforts to retcon it. That is how solid an episode this is.

Stolas is not too creepy and dominating, but nor is he seen as the delicate princess who is always crying over some guy who doesn’t return his feelings. He is fun, and it starts the nudge towards maybe something a bit more amicable on Blitz’s end.

Millie absolutely deserved more time for her character seeing as they were staying with her family and she having an episode of standing by her husband and defending her choices in who she loves would have been far more engaging than Murder Family pt. 2, Moxxie lacks confidence and self esteem forever and always.

The song was so inconsequential. It was a funny segue with Striker basically upstaging Moxxie at every turn, but that doesn’t actually go anywhere when in regards to the plot overall.

And Stella putting a hit on her husband, to his face, was hilarious and would have been so interesting to have seen it played more than a joke. Like Stolas knows she wants to kill him, and he is just vaguely fine with that. Maybe thinking his letting her try to kill him would have her stay and not file for divorce. Have it been this macabre comedic sitcom where she’s always trying to kill him and hates his guts for being a subpar husband, but he takes it as some kind of tit-for-tat and plays along with it. She gets to send assassins after him, he gets to have sex with his rugged assassin imp. It’s a ridiculous level of absurdity that still allows for all the characters to be dimensional.

That got a little away from me there. Basically, this episode was the strongest overall. Animation wise, writing wise, story potential wise. This episode is the most solid Helluva Boss episode.

7.8/10

#helluva boss critical #helluva boss critique #vivienne medrano #vivziepop #helluva boss criticism #spindlehorse critical #spindlehorse criticism #helluva boss

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sepublic · 2 years ago

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Hexside was Necessary for S3

Since it apparently needs repeating;

Yes, Hexside actually makes sense and DOES have a purpose in For the Future, within the larger, limited run time of S3, and the show as a whole. For starters, Labyrinth Runners ended with Hunter telling the students about the Day of Unity, so we actually get to see there be payoff from this setup, as knowing ahead of time about the draining spell allowed Hexside to become, unwittingly, a safe haven against the Collector’s spies.

This is important for our protagonists, because they need the memory tweezers to access Luz’s memories, to glimpse Philip’s teleportation glyph combo that will take them to the skull, enabling them to bypass the Collector’s spies and an entire trek up the skull. The tweezers are at Hexside, so a detour there is necessary. They also contribute to the Collector’s arc in the finale, since Luz uses the tweezers to show them her memories to explain the lessons they need to learn, if they want to be like her.

From a thematic standpoint, I’ve already discussed how the situation with the kids lacking supervision and causing chaos is meant to parallel the Collector’s reign over the isles, and emphasize the idea that kids need good adults they can actually rely on for structure and guidance. Continuing off of that thread, Boscha is actually a parallel to the Collector in this way, and these similarities help us characterize the kid when he isn’t on-screen; For the Future gives us a lot of insight into another side of the Collector we haven’t gotten to see up until this point.

Hexside is also necessary for Luz and Willow’s and even Amity’s arcs in this episode, as it provides an opportunity for adversity. Because of their struggles against Kikimora and Boscha, this causes them to reach a frustrated lowest point, which opens up Camila and Hunter to reach through to their loved ones and help them come to terms with their vulnerability by accepting their mistakes.

And speaking of Willow, Hexside also has her briefly reunite with Viney, who unwittingly adds to her pressure by mentioning how the kids really need her leadership. Likewise, I suspect that seeing a bunch of kids that are Luz’s age is enlightening for Camila, who is essentially being given a tour of the Boiling Isles, the place her daughter chose; She sees how there are many peers who recognize and like Luz here, an important reminder amidst Camila’s apprehension towards the isles’ more visceral aspects. Amity gets to reunite with her siblings, and helps by getting through to Boscha, making up for her failure in getting through to Hunter, and thus capping off her arc as well!

Hexside is also a good opportunity for Belos; With the kids distracted, this gives Belos ample time to be alone with his thoughts… And thus, we get our entire sequence with the ghosts and his failed possession of the Grimwalkers; This couldn’t have happened if Belos was too busy, in his weakened state, trying to fend off the kids. He only held up hours earlier because he was using Hunter as a human shield, but without Hunter nor the integrity that a host provides, I’m not sure if Belos could’ve survived a battle with the kids in that condition.

So we get a real nice moment where we can see how Belos operates on his own, without anyone around to manipulate nor impress; We get an illuminating look at his psyche, that otherwise wouldn’t be possible if the kids were there to distract Belos from his thoughts. And if the protagonists can’t be with Belos, they may as well be somewhere, hence Hexside. And because they’re preoccupied with Kikimora, this also gives Belos a much-needed headstart.

Thanks to his knowledge of a hidden passageway in the skull that he created, Belos is able to access the Archives while the protagonists need the teleportation glyph; And by reaching the Collector before everyone, this enables Belos to possess Raine, and thus manipulate the Collector. This allows the conflict to persist, as the Collector’s progress with King is being messed with, and thus the resolution with them isn’t as cut and dry as it otherwise might be; Without Belos’ lies, the Collector could’ve been talked down much sooner.

This is a parallel to Kikimora emotionally isolating Boscha to control her, which made that conflict more difficult. This is for the sake of Luz and Willow, Camila and Hunter, and again the themes of kids needing adults they can trust, and the juxtaposition of those whom kids can’t rely on, which brings out the worst in children, like we see in Terra and Odalia. This again helps to characterize and set up the Collector’s arc when they otherwise can’t be on-screen and we need to follow our main protagonists.

In particular, it contrasts with Camila as a motherly figure, and how she really comes through for Luz this episode, as do Eda and Lilith as King’s only other companions for two months. Luz and Camila are able to fully rekindle their relationship this episode, as their conflict with one another is framed as THE inciting incident of the series, from the perspective of the audience watching the series premiere.

And because of Hexside, we have the Collector’s interactions with King, allowing us to see what their regular dynamic is like and has become, and establish the tense undercurrent that allows Belos to manipulate the situation at all. We get to see how Eda and Lilith have fared, how King misses Luz. King and the Collector having space for a regular dynamic sets up a believable friendship that can still persist once the worst parts are over.

Hexside gives us the Collector’s interactions with Belos, which inspire him in the next episode to possess the Titan’s heart, which leads to that whole big sequence… Not to mention, Belos goading the Collector to attack the protagonists leads to Luz’s nightmare sequence that she manages to overcome as another capstone to her arc, etc. etc.

#the owl house #luz noceda #willow park #camila noceda #emperor belos #philip wittebane #the owl house collector #the owl house boscha #the owl house kikimora #king clawthorne #hexside #analysis

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basedkikuenjoyer · 10 months ago

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Aftermath

This chapter, 1124...it really didn't feel that different than the last two. It starts here with our opener. Morgans here takes on a very similar role as Buggy did in 1122, and we're still unpacking the immediate worldwide reaction to the transmission. Importantly, Luffy's gonna end this chapter with a good reminder none of it was very important to him, but Morgans starts it with a good lesson in why it should to a degree.

It's cool seeing Vivi roast him over lying, but this right here is the essence of why shaping your story matters. Buggy could take the moment and make it work for him, Vegapunk was so disconnected he realized his message might stir panic but didn't do anything to ameliorate that. Morgans is setting up Luffy the same way Sabo was. This story should rattle worldwide faith in the government. As is though, it could just end up being a tale about Luffy massacring a beloved figure worldwide. This time I don't really think the opener casts as long a shadow over the rest of the chapter, but it's now something becoming a pattern with these past few chapters. But let's get to the real meat of this one:

Talking with IRL blorbo from my blog Fallensnowfan really helped with this one but it's so stark when you see it in the actual chapter. There's this very interesting juxtaposition in the fallout of Vegapunk's death. Lilith picks up on the conversation we saw with the VegaBoys last time, a theme we've explored throughout with them. What does death mean when you've split yourself into seven parts and have a giant brain floating in a vat?

Well, here we have some interesting answers to this question. Lilith pops up and makes this big show of trying to cheer up Luffy. Get him past these feelings of failure. It was a very sudden shift but it does feel earnest, even if it reminds me a little of Carrot in WCI's End Roll. As earnest as Sentomaru and of course Kizaru. For one, we've talked about how these spotlight moments remind us of Wano's bigger ones. "Have you ever had to kill your best friend?" Well, the Akazaya Nine know that feeling. Especially Kin'emon & Kiku who had to take on the dirty work with Kanjuro.

But man...what a moment. Even Akainu cracked a little and realized he stepped over the line. Seeing Kizaru actually shaken for once too. The little flashback helped cement it as does this amazing shot of him watching all that work go up in flames. Simply put though, Kizaru/Sentomaru clearly don't feel the same way as Lilith here. Which is why part of me has to wonder if Lilith's just putting up a brave front. It's interesting Usopp raises the question of what exactly makes her the "evil" one, which is an idea we never really answered.

And of course, we do end off on what certainly seems to be a final note for Egghead Arc as a part of this story. I do have to say, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about that. Lilith feels well primed to pick up that New World thread we've talked about going forward, I could certainly see this shaking out in a way where we maybe have a chapter or two away from the Straw Hats to finish off this story and give some people like Drake a moment in the intermission. Then head right into a perfectly straightforward Elbaf arc. We could even do that interspersed with clearing up some of Egghead's lingering mysteries...

But there's still enough weirdness to make me wonder. One thing I've thought for a while is that if the Giants are already here, they can tag along for a bit of island hopping. On some level it's kinda weird to keep them and Bonney and Kuma and Lilith floating around but we of course don't know what Elbaf's story is so it could easily have a place for all that. What it really comes down to for me is that, as it stands, Elbaf really has no apparent conflict set up. Which could work if it's a Zou-type arc where we reset our course or something. But if say...something happens and this group gets blown off course I could see that too. Use an intermediate arc to set up something to do on Elbaf.

Of course, this final panel gives us something to think about too. Who is the mystery silhouette? Sadly we'll have to wait for a break week to really know the next steps. Which means I have a decision to make too. I get the feeling enough people like these writeups for their own sake, but the original intent was to maybe do a little bit about the next arc reflecting on where it ties up Wano themes. Hence "Post-Wano Musings" and I could never keep that hyphen consistent in the tags. Didn't expect Egghead to keep giving me a lot to talk about there. I also just kinda thought it was funny to call an entire arc as long as Alabasta "Post-Wano."

We still have a lot of oddities and through lines though, and those could easily be left hanging as we get to Elbaf. I think my plan is to switch it up and just make normal chapter reviews when we reach a new island, Elbaf or otherwise, with a new tag. I'm leaning towards "Massive Musings" for now, but maybe something better will come up before we get there.

#one piece #chapter 1124 #Vegapunk Lilith #admiral Kizaru #Sentomaru #big news Morgans #post-wano musings

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dragonform · 1 year ago

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Dragons Rising Season 2 Pt1 overall thoughts!

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS DO NOT CLICK UNLESS YOU'VE WATCHED THE WHOLE THING

In no particular order:

Wow, this season was the heaviest one yet. I'd been a bit disappointed by how Season 1 seemed a bit light on the life lessons that I found so compelling in Ninjago. Well, DR2 delivered in spades, from the theme of secrets, to the issues of mental health. Never should've doubted Ninjago writers!

WHY LEAVE SO MANY UNRESOLVED THREADS THOUGH. Not even clues for fans to speculate on?!?

Like what happened in Cole's journey to follow Master Wu?

What really is that glowing orb sprite thingy? Because it showed up in the Monastary of Spinjitzu to close the portal gate, right? How was it doing that before they'd even traveled to Mysterium? Have I misunderstood something? (Granted, I had to do chores here and there so I really might've missed something... need a rewatch)

Where did Cinder even come from? How did Ras recruit him? What's his story?

What really is Arin's object spinjitzu power?

Of course I'm sure all of this will be resolved/revealed eventually, but it seems a lot to conclude in the next 10 episodes. Oh wait, they've said they have enough material for a few more seasons right? Well, sure looks like enough for at least a third season.

I think the ones who are gonna have a falling out are Arin and Sora. It's gonna be revealed, maybe at some critical point, that he didn't actually do object spinjitzu to get them the win, and it's gonna destroy his self confidence as well as his trust in Sora.

They're gonna get all of the Forbidden Five out eventually, possibly by shoving more ninja through the gate. Which is fine, because the ninja will just meet up and come back through the Power of Friendship!

SO CURIOUS to find out what the elemental powers of the Forbidden Five are.

I was a little disappointed by the lack of Euphrasia though. I thought for sure she'd have a more major role this season, but she still remained a side character for most of it. Oh well, patience!

BONZLE. I did NOT expect her story to go this way. Still trying to wrap my brain around a sentient spell, but hey. It's Ninjago.

Love her so much though she's so precious.

Speaking of precious, ZANE. That's it. That's the whole thought.

No, I AM going to expand on that. Look at how he had such a vast knowledge of the Administration's rules and regulations. Look at how he stalled them with it. Look at the pride he had in helping them raise their efficiency by NINE PERCENT. IT COULD'VE BEEN TEN YOU GUYS. IF HE HADN'T GOTTEN RESCUED.

MR FROHICKY. I need that Frohicky plushie like YESTERDAY.

Also PUPPY COLE PLUSH WHEN

COLE. He's still protecting and trying to comfort everyone. What an amazing fight he put on at the monastary, almost a one-man army against the Adminstration's mechs, with Gandalaria's support. I bet his failure to protect Zane would have devastated him if Zane had been deactivated permanently. Fortunately Gandalaria knows more about nindroids than she should...

GANDALARIA! Endlessly positive and chirpy and disorganised. Like a more established Fungus. Wish I could be her. Loved seeing her dynamic with Cole being her straight man (hush, yes I know.)

So happy to see Kai get his focus for a change. Love Lloyd but he gets the focus like... every season. Kai needs the love. He's really cool this season.

Nya gets the least focus :( I miss her

WHY are all the ninjas' powers only as powerful as the plot calls for it :/ Zane's frozen way more than just a runaway mech back in the day!

I still think Ras looks too cuddly to be taken seriously as an antagonist. I mean would you not hug a Ras plushie? Look at those eyes. Look at that nose.

Is Ras's master a Source Dragon or the Overlord? OR BOTH?

Love Rontu, but she is such an archetypal (?) Nurturing Mentor to Egalt's Grumpy Old Master

Egalt has dragon cancer :( he looks way cooler in the show than he looked in the promotional materials and the set

I haven't talked about Jay, have I? JAY. Oh how my heart skipped a beat when he showed up pointing that gun/taser at Bonzle. I literally said out loud "OH NO OH NO OH NO".

I think that was the single most terrifying part of the whole season for me. I don't even know why it was so visceral. I think I was worried that his entire peronality had changed, though I don't know why I thought that, since in Pt1 he was literally playing video games instead of working.

So I was actually relieved to hear that he felt he didn't really belong in the Administration. Pre-merge Jay probably couldn't even fill out a single form properly. He probably had Nya or Zane or Cole do all the paperwork for him.

He clearly wasn't suprised that he had control over lightning. Why did nobody know about it? He's the kinda guy who'd use his powers for entertainment if he didn't have a good reason to hide them.

He didn't recognise his own ninja outfit D:

Lastly, the Finders - I'm also a little troubled by how Cole seems to put them ahead of his ninja family, but then again. He knows the ninja are all very capable warriors who can take care of themselves. On the other hand, for who knows how long, he had felt responsible for protecting his little newfound family. It makes sense that he would continue priotising them even after finding his old family.

In conclusion, Cole is such a dad :D

And to wrap it up, NEED PT 2 NOW 6 MONTHS IS TOO LONG TO WAIT NETFLIX /shakes fist

Sorry that was so long and rambling! Fun though.

I had wanted to do a blow by blow reaction post of every episode, but I can't seem to get clear photos from my device without major reflection issues. Still trying though!

#ninjago #ninjago dragons rising #ninjago spoilers

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thoughtfulchaos773 · 2 years ago

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Sydney & Carmy-Certain Of Nothing-

I'm still inspired by this thread on Syd and Carmy's(yet to be revealed) shoulder tattoos.

I know Carmy's tattoo is inspired by Anthony Bourdain's certain-of-nothing. The CON inside of the snake- and this is so fitting for what Carmy and Syd experience in their everyday lives.

I'll leave the interview of Anthony Bourdain getting the tattoo here. But I'll also leave a quote as he discusses the meaning of the tattoo.

"Epoche: I suspend judgment. I hold back; it conquers all enemies, it undoes them so they disintegrate into atoms before your eye," Anthony reads from his iPad. He adds more commentary,

"Basically, if you live according to this notion of epoche- uncertainty, you reach ataraxia, which is to be unperturbed, happy in your life"

There's more info on the state of ataraxia here-

Carmy's tattoo- The Snake and The Rope

I experienced a small sense of dread today and decided to do some meditation. I reached a state of ataraxia halfway through it? Now that I can reflect, I can see another reason why I love the Bear and it's fun, cool theories.

Today, I take lessons in Carmy and Syd's need to live in the past or future - the lessons of anxiety. But what does this mean with judgment and uncertainty? Typically that sense of dread is worrying about the future- something that's so uncertain. It's hard to understand the notion that it does not exist- this is like the snake & rope analogy from Indian philosophy- in a nutshell.

"Our perception of reality can be clouded by darkness, which is ignorance of reality. This ignorance sometimes manifests as rapid judgment or fear, and we react solely based on senses or emotions... Expecting the worst is seeing the snake." -link

Carmy always sees a snake instead of the rope. He sees the worst in things, and dreads the future, and that could be one of the triggers for his panic attacks.

Carmy's panic attacks in 2x09 and 2x10 showed that he dwells in the past and the future(Claire). We see he reaches this state of ataraxia when he thinks of Sydney- he lets go of judgment of what was before or what could be after and focuses on what is now- which is Sydney being in his life. It does not matter if he or she may stay or leave- what matters is that she's bringing him peace because he's free of judging his thoughts.

I tend to go over Carmy's feelings for Sydney a lot, but Sydney feels the same thing for Carmy, and he returns the favor in Sydney staying present.

Sydney- Future Perfect.

There was an interview with Ayo, and she mentions a conversation she had with Storer on worrying about the future, and she has a hard time staying present; it's funny that the song for her character in 2x03 sings-"Don't Live in the Future, tell me your story."

To me, this song represents getting out of our heads and being vulnerable with someone- telling them our past and future- our story- our worries, and being free from the fear of being judged. Instead of worrying about a past and future filled with heartbreak- we can use our past as a way to connect rather than staying in pain and avoiding it- tell me your story.

Wasn't this something Carmy was trying to do in 2x02 Pasta? He asked her questions about her dad, and he was on the verge of hearing about her mother. But Sydney dodges the question until it hits her again in 2x09 Omelette- though she's clearly dismissive of Carmy's compassion- she still opens herself up to her biggest fear- vulnerability and heartbreak.

Sydney avoids talking about past heartbreaks because she fears it's going to come back- the failure of business- death. She's waiting for the other shoe to drop. In spite of that dread- Sydney still expresses her need for Carmy because he helps her feel in the moment. Carmy gets closer to opening Sydney's heart completely, and she's no longer dwelling on the uncertainty of the future; instead, her fears are a source to connect with Carmy- he pulls the swords from her heart and helps mend it so she can be vulnerable and open to life's possibilities. Carmy teaches Syd to be present in the healing, he teaches Sydney patience and to no longer rush in making up for the past that's no longer there.

But like Carmy, at times, Sydney is not ready to embrace and let go of what was before or what's after, but for a moment, we see she experiences that state of ataraxia with Carmy in the 2x09 Omelette. Sydney tells her dad she doesn't know if she can take another one (dread of possible heartbreak in the future). Another way to confront that dread is to live in the moment and expose herself to her fears. Sydney avoids doing this with her dad, but with Carmy, she sits with the feeling and nervousness of failing, and such vulnerability brings her closer to Carmy.

So the tattoos could represent Syd and Carmy always looking over their shoulder, dreading what the future entails. The fear of uncertainty. Of life itself.

But if Carmy and Syd stick together - living in the - they experience ataraxia and live fully. Because nothing is certain - not even heartbreak, even though it's always over our shoulders and could be a possibility. It's a rule I can take in life - Submit to the uncertainty - submit to the person who opens you up to the feeling of being present. Submit to that someone who makes you feel ataraxia.

If that's not the most beautiful love story- I don't know what is- really, I don't, for I'm certain of nothing.

#sydcarmy #really the only thing that's certain is they'll come back to each other.#this was long #carmy x sydney #sydney adamu #carmen berzatto #carmy berzatto #sydney x carmy #the bear spoilers #the bear meta

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farolero-posting · 2 years ago

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What the Solstice ending brings to the themes of OneShot

(A.K.A: Why I think Solstice is kinda cool but instead of giving a normal answer I just type like 2k words)

While I think that a reasonable amount of people value the additional content you can uncover by playing again, I'm also aware that other people have their reservation or even dislike it. Despite that, I think there is a lot of value on what it brings to the story, how it gives a new view to some elements from the base game, and the way it is a response to your "abilities" as a player and your motivation to do those things in a way that speaks to the way people approach stories. With that in mind, I wanna present to you why I think Solstice adds to the overall story, and how in fact "changing" the base themes is coherent for this story, too.

Needless to say, I WILL discuss OneShot spoilers in depth, so give the game a try on your own to get the most out of the experience, but otherwise, keep reading! Now let's get into the real thing.

When you think about what OneShot’s main theme is, the most likely answer is that there is only one opportunity in life. This means that your actions have consequences, and that some actions cannot be undone. From the beginning, the game sets a stage where you, as a player, are responsible for keeping Niko, this child given the role of savior, safe. Going into the game without prior knowledge means that you’re likely to be cautious about your actions, the choices you make, even if small, and your efforts are focused on being successful with the one chance you get.

You soon find out that the world Niko is in is slowly, but relentlessly, decaying, which has made many of the people in this world give up their hope of salvation, and are hanging on by a thread that is getting thinner as time goes by. The quest begins to shift from “doing what you have to do and creating optimal conditions” to “trying to do your best, knowing that some things are out of your control”. Because it turns out that Niko and you are late. The environment has been affected in irreversible ways, some areas are abandoned and others are unreachable by normal means (even Niko themself cannot backtrack), and even if one could place the Sun at the top, the other problems will not be solved, even if the presence of the Sun is helpful. It’s even possible that you have lost your chances to complete certain missions, such as getting the necessary supplies to replant the sacred kernel.

These are all factors that impact the way this chance you’re given plays out. And, in the end, the manifestation of these externally imposed limitations becomes clear, as Niko and you reach the tower, and are presented with the final choice. Whatever you choose ends up being a failure, either for Niko’s quest in this world, or your quest of making sure Niko leaves safely. Your one shot means that you will only get one of these outcomes. and will have to give up the other. It is the biggest exhibit of consequences, and many people can attest to their own difficulties making this choice.

OneShot in the end, becomes a lesson on sacrifices, moral choices, and the limitations of what a person has the chance to do, knowing the consequences of their actions. It’s a heavy theme, and one the story builds up along the journey with the different characters Niko and you meet. Some of them believe letting a natural death occur is the most merciful option, others believe the Sun will make the world a better place, and some believe it is worth returning the sun, even if it’s not a permanent fix. There is no certain truth, no solution that doesn’t come with its drawbacks, and no margin for error.

And then Solstice arrives… shaking the initial themes.

Well, it doesn’t come out of nowhere. That would not be true. OneShot is most often known and praised for its 4th wall breaking features, and the puzzles that go outside of the game window itself. The player of the game is an active part, known as the god of the world they take Niko through. This is a story device that connects you to Niko and to the world itself, and places the responsibility to care for both of them on your shoulders. It makes the experience more immersive and seeks to convince you, for a moment, that you’re not just an invisible hand controlling things, but someone that actually interacts with a world that responds to you.

In a way, one could look at the reset mechanic from a purely practical lens: if you pay for a game, you deserve a chance to replay it, since it is your property. It won’t hurt to relive the same experience again because you will know you’re just looking at what was already coded into the story, and you would just be looking at it again out of personal interest. You could take the original message at heart and never pick up the game again, leaving questions unanswered and some decisions never made, but… if you do want to relive the story again, or maybe see if you can try the other ending, the option needs to exist.

And you have not stopped being an active part of how the game works, even after the ending. So, when you look for a way to reset it, what you find is a letter instead, written by someone who seems to be the very creator of the game. And he begs you to consider the option, if it is within your possibilities, like a brand new puzzle for you to solve and… maybe save this world the creator crafted for you. It makes sense that the game places an in-universe message like this, it keeps the immersive theme.

But… one could argue that allowing resets breaks the feeling that some experiences can only be done once. Niko realizes they know a few things that they don’t remember learning. The Entity can tell that activating NG+ is not something that was supposed to happen according to its own protocol, and the restriction it imposed. Which means that this experience is never the same. But it also means that the game is responding to your actions, in a way that indicates that the original suspension of disbelief that you’re a god making choices for a living world can still be made. It also means that the game acknowledges its nature as a program that you’re in control of, and Solstice definitely makes this aspect more blatant, if you choose to take that path.

When OneShot presents itself, it seems that everything within it is equally real, and that you’re roleplaying as some kind of actual deity… but something looms in the shadows. The way decay is presented as squares, the way the paths seem lined up perfectly for a story, the way there seems to be a protocol to follow, that only the Entity acknowledges, shows that this game may be aware of how You are actually viewing it, from a screen in your computer. The game isn’t a real world, it’s just a program you can turn on and off at will.

And this makes even more sense once we have the added context that the Solstice route provides, since it outright confirms this suspicion. Prototype makes Niko aware of the way we have been looking at their world since the beginning, destabilizing the perception they had of their current mission, and the role you play in it, while also making you aware as a player that Niko is not part of this simulation at all. Later on, Cedric explains that the place Niko is trapped in was made to be a facsimile of their dying world, in hopes that there could be proof of their existence after the destruction of said world, and that he and his siblings are the only ones aware of the previous world existing. This part is important, because it gives us an in-universe reason for this world to exist… that brings new concepts into the main theme of the game, “one chance”.

Why would… why would you create a world like… this? [...] Why would you make a world that's doomed from the beginning? …why do you keep bringing me back to it? Niko, talking to the player during the Solstice run

Niko presents an interesting question, not just about their current situation, but also the intent that is implied in the kind of story that OneShot is. It is one thing to be presented with a scenario where people try their best to respond to their circumstances, and be presented with choices that require sacrifice. It is a different one to think that someone willed this to happen, and that Niko has been put in this scenario… that is within your control. Because you’re the one that started the program, and you’re the one that brought them back. And then the events of Solstice create an even more dangerous situation, as the protocol is broken and, most importantly, as the Entity representing the game itself reacts to Niko’s distress.

Here is where the context of the old/real world becomes crucial, because it shows how a scenario like this could be created, not by the will of a detached writer, but different parties with their own motivations and struggles. Because it turns out that the second chance that the people from the old world were looking for didn’t go as planned, of course, we know this. The original choice in the end of OneShot wasn’t intended by the in-universe creators, and yet in a way it still resonates with the way people were divided after the old Sun died. This world, made with the memories of people who lived in a world that would certainly end within their time, is also manifesting that same thing.

What is the point of making a story like OneShot, where this world can be saved, if not to give it a second chance? And what are you as a player doing, by going out of your way to do everything again? As I said, it has the plus side that the game responds to your actions outside of it, but now it adds another layer of it: your motivations to be proactive, may have something in common with the motivation that led to the creation of the game in the first place, at least from the perspective of the characters that are affected by this.

As we can see Solstice recontextualizes the story and provides an explanation for how the game itself comes to be aware of how we see it. But the point of Solstice is that it is alive, in a way. It was created with an intent to share a story, as a means for people to be remembered beyond their time. It’s meant to cause an impression on the person receiving this story. And, as we have established before, the way it is set up treats the player as an active participant in the story, someone who has an influence that is distinct from that of everyone else. The story impacts us, and in a similar way we impact it with our attachment to it, with our actions to do more than what it limited itself to present you with.

Something else funny and interesting happens too… you may realize that the base game doesn’t offer that much in the realm of consequential choices, besides the ending. Your biggest impact is how you treat Niko, and the connection you make with them. They’ll ask about your life beyond the game, look for comfort, and react to both your good and bad ideas. It doesn’t change how much you save the world, but it shapes who you are to Niko, and changes their experience too. You treat them like a good friend, listen to them… you tame them.

Which is the other big theme of OneShot. Taming, in the original Little Prince, is a concept to explain the way people get attached to someone else, and how the bond formed with someone else changes people fundamentally, and makes the tamed individual distinct from everyone else. In OneShot, it refers to the way in which robots gain sentience after forming bonds with people, after being treated as people with their own thoughts and will, allowing them to act beyond their programming. And in the context of a story, it is equivalent to the way the audience takes the story as real, and sees the characters within as people whose actions are motivated by personal motivations and goals, rather than commanded by the writer, even when we know that their nature is fictional.

We develop this sort of relationship with Niko, and through their experiences, we also begin to develop this relationship with the other residents of this world, who begin to make new decisions that make sense for them as characters, in a context that wasn’t predicted by the story itself.

And we, in turn, are the ones constantly interacting with this Entity, the game itself. We get to see the puzzles in which it tries to make it clear that it can do a lot outside of the window itself. We can see the way it attempts to keep us from making decisions that go against parts of its programming, despite the contradictions these actions create. OneShot is a story that didn’t want to put Niko through all of this, that didn’t want to repeat the suffering that brought it into existence, but who doomed itself when it tried to manifest its sentience. The World Machine tries to break the immersion, tries to show you its flaws, and we instead recognize personhood within.

Without Solstice, this sort of relationship never becomes clear, and it never gets the chance to evolve. Hell, one could even say that challenging the initial theme of “one chance”, by proposing that we can do something better this time IS the perfect way to establish a conversation that leads to change, that sets the story apart from others. And in the end, once the run is completed, the efforts done by you as a player, Niko, and everyone else pays off, giving you a more satisfying ending. The message that this sends is that, while some situations are out of our control and we must be careful with the consequences of our actions, we will never achieve change if we don’t act outside of the margins, and that, when we do this, we can provide a second chance.

Final words:

In conclusion… while I can understand that Solstice doesn’t hit everyone the same way, and that it has its limitations in execution (especially if spoiled), it’s a solid continuation. It takes some of the themes present in the initial game, and then proceeds to converse with them, using its resources as a game to create an immersive experience, and reward the player for being proactive. I believe that’s worth valuing, and serves to reflect on the way people interact with stories in personal ways, making them gain a place in their hearts.

#oneshot game #analysis #long post #hi. im normal. i sweaar #what the fuck do i tag this with #described #id in alt text #also like. trust me this isnt an active disagreement for other opinions #i think os is a fine game with tha base. i just also think that solstice adds stuff in a certain direction that i think is super cool #even if not everyone's cup of tea #and this post is for the people who do appreciate it

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