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tearsofgrace · 4 years

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endings are hard... but they aren’t impossible

tldr; the good place fucking nailed the finale, supernatural completely and utterly bombed it.

tags: wc--4.5k, gif heavy, spn meta, the good place, supernatural finale, spn wank, all gifs are mine, if you read til the end there’s a pretty gif

so i recently finished the good place (i was watching w my family and we finally had time to sit down and watch the last season) and god fucking dammit that ending is FLAWLESS. literally flawless.

and because i’m, well, me… i spent most of the time during that hour long finale thinking about how supernatural could have had even a fraction of that and avoided so much heartbreak.

anyways. i decided to compare them. to REALLY compare them. to get into the nitty gritty of why the fuck the good place ending left me feeling, as the finale is all about, sated and complete. and why the spn ending left me confused, lost, broken, betrayed, unable to even enjoy my comfort show at all until a dear friend finally just watched an episode (8.08) start to finish with me.

so without further ado (always wanted to say that) here’s the good place/supernatural finale meta that no one asked for

comedy

we’ll start small. both these shows have excellent comedy. in extremely different ways… but still

in the good place finale, the comedy was perfect. whether it was jason reappearing in the forest, michael trying to get through The Door, tahani reversing the “hot bod” bit on eleanor, every comedic moment was actually pretty emotional and added something to the show. they deepened characters’ meanings, added to their relationships, and made the audience think as much as they made the audience laugh.

in the spn finale… the comedy was the pie gag. the whole sam shoving pie into dean’s face. beyond this being… like meta as hell (the whole prank thing) it doesn’t have any depth to it.

and to add salt to the wound, this “hilarious” thing happens RIGHT AFTER salmondean have a conversation about missing jack and cas that is equal parts flat and infuriating. the brothers, in particular sam about jack and dean about cas, should care more. this is their family. and family is everything to them. but, no, by all means pie dean in the face.

last lines

this one IRKS me. okay.

the last line of the good place "I'll say this to you, my friend, with all the love in my heart and all the wisdom of the universe: Take it sleazy.” “All right.” is ICONIC. okay?

it’s a reference to season 1 that doesn’t feel fan-servicey. it’s kinda honestly emotional cuz it’s like a message to us, the audience. it perfectly completes michael’s arc. it captures the light-hearted vibe of the show while also somehow managing to be poignant. you can see it coming like the second before it happens but it’s also not the obvious choice. it’s just. goddamn it’s good.

the last line of supernatural…. is… “and cut.” not even said by one of j2. i mean i know it’s a meta show but COME ON ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME??????????

now i hear you shouting wait but that’s just the end of the thank you message. okay fine whatever. in that case the last lines are “Hey, Sammy.” “Dean.” (i couldn’t bring myself to gif that moment)

i’m sorry but. that’s predictable. that’s obvious. that’s boring. that’s flat. sure, it celebrates the bond between the brothers. but like… that’s not what this show is about anymore. it’s not just about sam and dean winchester it’s about what they’ve created. it’s about the world they’ve saved, the family they’ve made, about how they always keep fighting but nope we get bland, boring, coulda seen ‘em coming from miles away lines for the very end. that’s fine.

montages

the spn finale is like 50% montages that don’t make sense and are poorly done and not emotional

the good place has a montage of michael being human that brought me to tears

timing

here’s another short section. the good place finale was 53 minutes long as opposed to the usual 20 minute long runtime of every episode. granted, the fandom of the good place is very different, but STILL there was no documentary telling the fans things they ALREADY knew (there was a short special after the ep, but the episode itself was still far longer than normal). it was 53 minutes of plot. of really fucking good not rushed plot.

the supernatural finale was… what 36 minutes long?? as opposed to the normal 40 minute runtime?? granted, we did get an hour long documentary of things we’ve all heard in cons and interviews a billion times so hey. take what you can get i guess.

character arcs

this is most of the meat of this meta. one thing we’ve all been harping on a TON is how they RUINED character arcs. soooo let’s go through and juxtapose some character arcs shall we

eleanor

eleanor shellstrop starts the show completely self-obsessed. she died getting hit by shopping carts while picking up margarita mix and let’s be real she’s a total icon. love her to death. she grows a ton, becomes one of the most selfless characters on the show, and starts to actually (jack forbid) CARE about things. it’s one of the most satisfying and relatable character arcs i’ve ever seen.

it’s not just her selfishness either, her character is super multi-faceted and complex, and i feel like even in the end we’re getting to know her better. she’s afraid of commitment, always worried about what others’ actions will do to her, loves the trivial side of life, is queer as fuck (as acknowledged by the show in a way that’s not harmful at all but also isn’t explicitly bi/pan/unlabeled/omni etc, allowing queer fans to see their own identity in her), and is all around a HUMAN BEING. her ending at the beginning of the show was her death. her stupid, trivial, meaningless death where she was, as she puts it, all alone. and her final ending ISNT that. yes, everyone goes before her. and i think that’s purposeful. to show that she’s grown enough that being alone in some sense is okay.

but she’s never TRULY alone. and in the end. the REAL end. janet is there. the whole time. because eleanor asked her to be!! she got over her crazy need for independence and simply asked for help. and eleanor dies an amazing person that has become selfless, has found joy in philosophy while still enjoying trashy content, has fixed her relationship with her mother, and has found a sense of completion. eleanor’s life ends on her terms, and it’s beautiful.

dean

alright. now just as you’re feeling all warm and fuzzy let’s look at dean winchester’s ending. you’ve heard it a million times, so i’ll be brief. dean was raised to be a hunter, a soldier, a killing machine with no feelings and no purpose. he was raised to die scared on a hunt, his life over because of some mistake he made because he will NEVER measure up. at least that’s what john and everyone else told him with the exceptions of some of his family (and family don’t end in blood). he started to accept that he didn’t have to have this. he started to realize that he could CHOOSE what his ending was.

the beautiful thing is, we never truly got to see what that was. i personally like to think it’s similar to the roadhouse michael locked him in while he was trapped in his own mind. a safe place for hunters, somewhere he (and cas in my opinion, but that’s not important) could settle down and still be in the life. it would be an amazing tribute to jo and ellen, and just all around a great ending. he wouldn’t have to be scared, but he wouldn’t have to conform to some apple pie facade of normalcy. and ya know what?? say that he died so he could have peace i dare you. because dean doesn’t find peace until sam is there anyway so i beg of you WHAT WAS THE FUCKING POINT.

dean winchester died scared. dean winchester died on a hunt. dean winchester died on one of john’s old hunts. dean winchester died not directly at the hands of a monster, but at the hands of a mistake. his mistake. dean winchester died without ever working through the trauma of his best friend in the entire world confessing his love in a final act of self-sacrifice. dean winchester died in a way that leaves a sour taste in my mouth and does not at all show the audience what he’s been through and how much he’s grown. dean winchester did not die on his terms, and he deserved better.

chidi

okay back to happy. chidi anagonye. by far my personal favorite good place character (don’t tell anyone i always say jason cuz he and i are very similar). chidi in the last few episodes is SO DRASTICALLY different than the chidi we meet at the beginning. he’s decisive, confident, self-assured, and it’s amazing to see. he’s not afraid of life anymore. he’s not afraid to make the wrong decision and forever alter his reality, because he’s okay with failure.

at the beginning, chidi was so petrified of life that… it killed him. and in the end, he’s completely at peace with every decision he makes, even the final one. yes, he considered staying for eleanor, but that just shows how his moral code and his compassion for others is still very much still intact. it shows the audience that you can be confident and decisive without being a selfish asshole.

chidi leaves the good place knowing that it’s the right thing to do. knowing without a doubt that his time has come. the old chidi never would have been able to fathom being that sure about something. it’s beautiful. it’s a development that can give the audience peace, can show them that this drastic of change is possible, and that chidi became a better person for all of it. chidi went on his own terms, and it was beautiful.

sam

… this one might be controversial… but sam winchester. god i hated sam’s ending. at first i was kinda okay with it. like, okay fine he got his normal life. but, really, in the end that’s not what sam wanted. he started to realize that he didn’t need that apple pie, white picket fence life. he didn’t need the wife and the kids and the backyard and the barbecues because that is NOT sam’s personality and i will throw hands on that.

that’s not to say he doesn’t want some sort of romance, maybe even kids, but not in that way. he lets himself see that he doesn’t need to be defined by his rebellion to john. doesn’t need to be defined by going to college or any of those “normal” smart kid things because it doesn’t fit him. and that’s okay! but how does sam’s story end? it ends with a wife (that isn’t even important enough to show her face). with kids. with a goddamn white picket fence. we think he’s still hunting to some extent… but it’s not the arc we were led to believe would happen. it’s not this amazing leader sam that we see in season 12-14, uniting hunters and organizing them.

he had SO MUCH potential and they throw it away on a vanilla ending that shows only surface level pain at losing his brother. he doesn’t even invite the rest of their family to the wake for fuck’s sake. jared did an incredible job. pls don’t think i’m saying he didn’t. but that script…. sam winchester’s arc was cut short. he didn’t go on his terms, and he deserved better.

jason

jason mandoza. the only character that has ever embodied my complete dumbass energy to the insane extent that it exists. he went to hell for his impulsivity. he never thought before a decision. i aspire to be as reckless as jason while on earth. but he LEARNED. he got better, just like they all did. and by the end of the show, jason doesn’t need to be impulsive anymore. much like eleanor being left “alone,” the show does a masterful job with making him be the first one to go, capturing his old impulsiveness. but he chooses to leave. he takes his time in deliberation, waiting until a feeling of peace, of completion, of well, ‘true happiness’ (sorry cas stans, i’m right there with you) has settled over him.

the ending of his story is one of growth, just like all these characters have been. and the best part? the show makes it comedic in the most poignant and beautiful way, because it’s jason, it had to be funny. we learn that jason has been in the woods for like, eons, just waiting to go through the door because he wants to give janet a necklace. he’s learned to simply wait. to be at peace with… nothing. his torture was being a monk, but in the end, jason embodies those ideals. his arc comes to fruition in an extremely satisfying way. jason goes on his own terms, and it’s beautiful.

castiel

this one is gonna hurt like a bitch. castiel is my comfort character. he’s my role model. he’s me in a lot of ways. i love him. so fucking much. so excuse me if this is slightly incoherent. i’m actually okay with cas’ ending… in a way. because his actual ending as an on-screen character? perfect. self-sacrifice while coming out and professing his love to dean winchester. a little bit bury the gays, but let’s be real, it’s supernatural. and “happiness is in just saying it” has to be the most powerful way to think of coming out. it takes away the fear, it takes away so much of the pain that can follow. because the joy is in just saying the words.

it’s how this was treated on the show that makes cas’ character arc terrible (and we haven’t even gotten to 15.20). YOU CANNOT JUST IGNORE A LOVE CONFESSION. that is god awful writing and i will never change my mind on that. cas deserved his family to care about him. to at least address and be sad about the fact he was gone. jesus fucking christ after everything castiel deserved at least that. and then we go to 15.20. cas is in heaven. cas is serving god. cas is right back where he started. now, i’m coming off a little strong.

if the show had decided to show us cas and jack in heaven makin’ the world a better place… i woulda come around to it. i woulda realized that that’s not REALLY erasing 12 years of character development and cas realizing that his whole identity isn’t just him serving heaven and isn’t just him being an angel and that he’s so much more than all of that and he could still be happy as a human… because really he’s with his son. but they didn’t show us that. they barely even mentioned him. and to me. that counts as a bad character arc. and i’m sorry if you disagree. castiel may have gone on his own terms, but they treated that beautiful sacrifice with disrespect and disdain, plus resolved his arc by putting him back where he started. he deserved better.

tahani

*deep breaths guys this is a long post i’m sorry* anywayyyy tahani!!! we love tahani obviously. let’s talk about her arc, because it always kinda bothered me. throughout the show, we see all the other character’s growing and expanding their knowledge of right and wrong. and, don’t get me wrong. we see tahani grow a lot. but she makes a lot of the same types of comments and shit like that. but it’s how she treats the reactions to those comments. by the end of the show, she laughs at the caricature of herself that the others see. she isn’t looking for vindication in name-dropping, she just does it. she is far less self-absorbed, and is genuinely interested in those around her. she fixes her relationships with her sister and her parents in a way that doesn’t feel forced and actually feels like a beautiful, healthy family reunion.

she has a list and she does everything on it. it’s worth noting, that the things on her list are not at all what they would have been at the beginning of the show. most of them are humble “labor” type tasks, and all of them are in self improvement. tahani’s end on the show is not the same as everyone else’s. she realizes that she doesn’t need to be done. that there doesn’t have to be an end to self-improvement. and she becomes an architect. the writers perfectly embody her transformation from a self-obsessed rich girl who has never done a thing for herself and laughs at the lower-class to a down-to-earth worker that simply doesn’t want the journey to end.

it’s incredible how perfectly the writers were able to close off these character arc’s without it feeling forced, and without ignoring their character development. imagine that. tahani chooses her own way, and it’s beautiful.

jack

jack’s ending may be the only one that i’ve actually somewhat come to terms with. it’s not terrible. it’s not great. but it’s not nearly as bad. because ignoring that awful monologue about every drop of rain and shit, jack really does end up helping people. he ends up doing something that he loves and that makes the world a better place. and he doesn’t lose his personality in it. but. i dunno, that’s still his destiny, right? to create paradise. and this is a show about ripping up the rule book, about choosing free will above all else… so to have every single character just fulfill their destiny is cheap.

still… i’ll try to be unbiased. because really at the beginning of jack’s time on the show, he’s unsure what he wants. and at least, in the end, he’s sure. he has a wisdom that he’s always had but he’s now using. and i’m good with that. but what’s NOT okay about jack’s ending is the lack of on-screen family. jack learns that family is important. sam, cas, dean those are the people he cares about. and you’re telling me he would just NEVER see them again? and be okay with that? i know he rebuilds heaven with cas, but we don’t even get a story about him rescuing cas from the empty. and he seems in 15.19 to not be that concerned about it (after the amazing emotional scene at the beginning). jack should have cared about his family. he did. but they ruined that for him. so jack kline deserved better.

michael

oh man where do i start. michael’s growth is the biggest on the show. i mean. he starts as a literal demon and ends a human. he gets better, he falls in love with humanity (*castiel fan in me sobbing again*) and he chooses over and over to be good instead of bad. his whole arc is a classic redemption arc, and every single beat just gets better. he chooses selfishly to side with humans but in the end it turns out to be the best decision he could have made. because he develops emotions, he develops compassion, he develops a moral compass.

and his end reflects that. because to complete this arc of a demon becoming more human… he literally becomes human!!!! it fits so well. and he’s allowed to make mistakes and be happy and gain all that humanity has to offer. this just shows that human!endgame for cosmic beings that become more human WORKS SO WELL (and it shoulda happened for cas and jack that’s all i’m saying). michael went on his own terms, and it was beautiful.

eileen

oh boy… this one stings. because they brought her back, used her up, and we never saw her again. eileen was one of the best side characters on the show, and they rarely addressed her arc. she comes onto the show as a hunter seeking revenge, and gets that revenge in the same episode. her s15 arc is focused on what’s real and what’s not, with her relationship to sam admittedly being a central part of her character because… it’s supernatural and women can’t exist without that. but still! eileen grows throughout the show and in the end… we don’t even know what happens to her. it’s as if her arc wasn’t important enough to even glance at.

it’s as if the connections the boys make outside of each other mean nothing when in reality they mean everything. they prove that the co-dependency is behind them and that family doesn’t end with blood and that real connections can be formed between people that last a lifetime. eileen was a disabled hunter that was shown to still be one of the best in the business, and they didn’t even give her the courtesy of a goodbye. eileen didn’t go on her own terms, and she deserved better.

janet

this is gonna unbalance my list but goddammit janet’s ending was perfect. she was a not-robot, not-girl that should have been incapable of feelings. but throughout the series we get to watch as she learns first-hand about human emotions and processes them. she cares about the humans in her charge and fights for them on multiple counts.

in the end, we see janet come to terms with both her cosmic being side, and her human side. she never stops being with the “cockroaches.” she sees them all leave, she’s there for them while they’re there, and she also continues to speak her mind and live autonomously. janet was a non-human character done right. she lived on her own terms, and it was beautiful.

some honorable mentions

spn ignored (in the finale) chuck, amara, stevie, charlie, jody, donna, garth, bess, the other angels, claire, kaia, patience, alex, and the list goes ON in favor of focusing on JUST sam and dean. did none of those characters at least deserve a quick goodbye??????

the good place wrapped up multiple arcs i had completely forgotten about in a totally natural and not forced way. mindy, doug forester, (the mushroom guy, i know, it took me a second), pillboy, donkey doug, kamilah, tahani’s parents, eleanor’s mother, eleanor’s friends, chidi’s best friend, vicki, shawn, glenn, simone and so many that i’m forgetting all got satisfying ends that they totally deserved.

they even fucking resolved FROG GUY’S arc and gave him a real frog. that’s right. frog guy (jeff) had a better character arc resolution than dean motherfucking winchester.

heaven and hell

obviously in very different vehicles, both shows explore in depth the realities of the afterlife. and lemme tell ya, at the end of the day, one sits a whole lot better than the other.

the good place finale ends this quest for the perfect afterlife by saying that everyone can improve and that an eternal paradise shouldn’t keep you from eternal rest. they pretty much make me wish that this is what our afterlife looked like. they handle everything with care so it’s balanced precariously in a way that doesn’t give you anxiety looking at it but instead fills you with peace and faith in humanity.

supernatural addresses this series long battle between heaven and hell by creating a heaven where you drive for forty years without seeing the people (cough cough cas and jack not his parents) that matter to you and drink beer that tastes like shit. a place you can’t be happy or find any sense of peace until your brother has died and he’s there too.

and hell… well they barely even address it. there’s a new queen of hell i guess? but so what. it’s still very much heaven and hell in a way that’s the worst and hey plus to them… makes me wanna stay alive thank you very much. oh and purgatory is in shambles and not functioning properly cuz all that eve bullshit.

loose ends

whenever something is ending, you gotta tie up the loose ends. not in a “oh, we must wrap everything up and leave no stone unturned” kinda way but in a “wow, we should probably try to make this unambiguous because this is the last time we will ever see these characters” kinda way.

the good place does that. so fucking masterfully. all these side plots with all these different characters were taken care of all while focusing on the main six characters. we get to see how their intervention has changed everyone else. for example, mindy’s arc is wrapped up perfectly, with eleanor going to save her.

plus different running jokes like “take it sleazy” are wrapped up, we revisit really old callbacks like the original neighborhood, and all of it feels natural and in the moment. it feels like full circle in a way that doesn’t erase growth.

supernatural, on the other hand, left a million loose ends open. what happened to the boys they saved? where the fuck are jody, donna, etc.? did eileen make it back? cuz sam was pretty upset about that. what happened to it “being loud” in the empty? hell, what happened to the empty? what happened to hell? what about chuck? it woulda been nice to see just for a second what became of him. did charlie and stevie make it (i’m very invested in that relationship)? if we’re taking the original ending… why the fuck is jimmy there? did kansas just all,,, die?

i’m not saying they needed to address everything… but god a few wrapped up storylines besides the brothers wouldn’t have hurt

coloring

can i just… real quick… as a giffer lodge a complaint

the good place has beautiful vibrant coloring in the finale

spn has like bland washed out whatever the fuck that is coloring. it’s not even the dark early aesthetic cuz they dropped that it’s just… ew. so. do with that what you will.

conclusion

first… while writing this i realized just HOW MUCH it’s not about destiel… like believe me. i knew i wasn’t just pissed about destiel. but holy shit it’s not destiel at all like did i even mention destiel that much???? this was never about a ship. this was just a trash finale.

in the end. the good place writers knew what they were doing. they knew their fans, they knew their characters, they knew their world, and they knew how to wrap it up in a way that was satisfying and sad and perfectly fit the tone of the whole show. it wasn’t out of character or rushed, basically every loose end was tied up without the audience even realizing that’s what they were doing, and i feel happy and complete having watched it.

the supernatural ending was a betrayal. flat out. to the audience that has stuck by it in a way bigger way than the good place fandom. to the characters that have helped so many people. to the actors that have given so much of their lives. to the other members of the crew, to certain writers… all of it was just a slap in the face.

we deserved better guys. there are better endings possible. so i’m sorry. i really am. but i guess… that’s what fanfic is for, right?

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x0401x · 4 years

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Hi there! Just want to thank you so much for translating for the VE fandom! I've been looking through your VE posts and noticed you mentioned how anime!Gil is completely different from LN!Gil. I agree with you and was wholeheartedly disappointed in the anime. I was hoping you could elaborate more on your thoughts, where you thought anime!Gil and anime!Violet went wrong and how they were different from the anime. Sorry if you've already made a post on this previously. Thanks again!

Hi! You’re welcome!

This reply took me long enough, lol. I haven’t gone too much into detail, or else I’d just end up writing a bible. It still turned out long as hell, though, so I’ve put it under a cut.

I really didn’t know how to begin with this. “Where they went wrong” kinda implies that those two were going right until some point, and that’s just… not the case. They were a trainwreck from start to finish. And it’s kind of impossible to really discuss this without touching upon the massive fails in the writing of the entire show. It does try to convey important messages to the viewers, but mostly with visuals and repetitive lines, never with the actual plot or the characters. You get an inkling of what the story was attempting to do with them, and that initial idea is what seems to stay with most people, because there’s nearly nothing beyond it.

As director Ishidate has stated more than once before, he made changes to the story because he thought the novel was, in his words, “too orthodox”. But watering it down meant watering the characters down too, Gil and Violet more than anyone else. And this results in a show that ironically fails to grasp its own themes and cast — the personalities and conflicts get lost in the details and have to be patched up with excuses that end up displaying how little the show trusts its own audience. It keeps spelling out plot devices and character traits in an almost robotic manner, with very scarce effort put into actually showcasing them in the situations and dialogues. Everyone is too one-dimensional and the main plot line is repeated over and over instead of being alluded in parallels or even just slightly more intelligent exchanges. Animators like Ishidate have grown dangerously used to committing a grave narrative suicide: to give vague and unconvincing reasons for things to be the way they are and expect the audience to take it all as is simply because it was stated there. Everything is oversimplified because they clearly want the viewers to get invested in the emotional baggage of the show, and only the emotional baggage, because they think that’s all we get invested on. They forget that details are necessary for the whole experience.

These problems are recurrent in Violet and Gil, and they never stop. I’ll start with Gil, since he was mentioned first.

Gilbert Bougainvillea is a very complex, humane and multi-faceted character in the novel. What’s interesting is that he doesn’t look like it at first, so he surprised many readers in volume 1 with how caring and endearing he can be. And I mean caring for real. Anime!Gil seemed like a poor excuse for what he was supposed to represent, which in turn made him into a walking contradiction. In the novel, Gil is by far the person that emphasizes the most with Violet, because the two of them are two sides of the same coin. This is where the anime falls short most frequently. They at first look like polar-opposites, but are absolutely not, yet the show portrays them as such. Novel!Gil is gratuitously kind and righteous, and he’s brave and pure-hearted enough to stand by his values no matter what. He’s used to giving up everything for the sake of other people, but he has morals that he holds to the roots of his very being, so he always chooses to donate himself to what he deems as good causes. And once he has his mind set on an objective, he doesn’t mind playing dirty to achieve it, as long as he’s not hurting anyone. That’s exactly the same as Violet, and Gil isn’t the only one who sees himself in her — Hodgins and Dietfried also notice how alike the two are. Novel!Gil relates to Violet on a spiritual level, and he knows first-hand how she must feel. He’s been there and done that. And that’s why she’s his number one priority. His purpose in life is to protect her and keep her in a healthy lifestyle within a blessed working environment and a loving family. Quite literally, all he wants is to make sure that she’s happy, and he’s active and vocal about it. He’s also an unapologetic and unabashed feminist, so he completely approves of her doing anything for a living — she doesn’t need to live her life like an ordinary woman and whatever she wants for herself is fine, as long as it’s not too dangerous.

Apparently, his personality is one of the book aspects that Ishidate believed to be “too orthodox”. He depicts Gil the way you’d expect any male creator to depict a man — a brooding martyr figure who only has a heart of gold in fleeting moments that get replayed again and again in flashbacks to serve as justification for Violet’s undying love. He makes very little strides and there’s a lot of flawed reasoning behind his affection that makes it oddly disconnected, which is the fact that said affection is barely ever there. Gil hardly treats Violet like a person, let alone an equal. Violet is ready to give her life for him anytime, and as we see in the last battle at Intense, he’s ready to cling onto that to save his own life. Ishidate doesn’t shy away from making very evident that he thinks it’s okay for Gil to do only the minimum to earn Violet’s respect and trust, like it’s a given and all he’s required in order to earn her love is to exist. This is very visible in scenes like the one where they first met. Gil seems to shield Violet from the abuse of his brother, but shows next to no distress or even interest over it as he doesn’t even question where she came from or why Dietfried was treating her that way. There’s also the scene where he takes her to one of his family’s residences, and she has his jacket on, just like in the novel… yet he’s letting her walk barefoot in the snow without giving a single flying fuck. He then leaves her side as soon as he instructs the maid what to do with her, not looking back. I also hate that scene where he gets back home and she bumps into him and falls on her butt. He just stares at her and makes no effort to help her back up. But the one I hate the most is that festival scene where he nearly thanks Violet for fighting so well in battle. I mean, she’s killing people for him. She, a literal child, is in the frontlines of a long-lasting war, risking her life and committing mass murder for his sake. That’s literally nothing to be grateful for. Especially not when he’s supposed to love her. And I despise that he only stopped himself from finishing the phrase because he noticed the bruises on her.

Another major defect of the anime was changing Gil’s backstory. Anime!Gil was, by the looks of it, just a rich kid who enlisted simply because that’s the family tradition. And if you take away Gil’s backstory, you take away the viewers’ reason to empathize with him. Why? Because that means he’s morphed into someone who can make choices. Erase any factor that binds Gil to doing what his family and his superiors make him do, and what you have is a grown man with his free will intact. And he uses none of it to help Violet. Anime!Gil was always given the opportunity to say no. He could’ve said no to Dietfried and sent Violet straight to the Evergardens, he could’ve said no to his superior officer and not taken her into the military, or he could’ve at least said no to assigning her to the men’s troops. He didn’t because there would be no story otherwise. Novel!Gil is always attempting to save Violet from the war and from herself, while anime!Gil’s actions beg to differ. And so, anime!Violet’s obsession with Gil stems from the fact that he was the first to treat her remotely like a human being and that, for a long time, he was all she had. None of that fate thing, because it’s also “too orthodox”. But without the fate element and without Gil having no control whatsoever over how he feels about Violet, he’s straight-up a pedophile. If he feels regular romantic love for Violet, who is in her mid-teens, that’s pedophilia right there. This one is my biggest beef with anime!Gil, and I don’t take criticism for it.

Now Violet. Not to be rude, but I see so many people talk about how interesting her anime counterpart is, yet I rarely ever see anyone going in-depth on it. It’s like the way the fans talks about the show. Literally every single person who comments that they liked it always says the exact same thing: “I cried during every episode”. I sort of feel like most of them are just reproducing what they see other people say out there, which is probably what got them interested in watching it in the first place. I don’t mean this with ill-intent; it’s just seriously the impression I get from looking at the tag. I’ve accompanied it since the novel came out all the way back in 2015, and when the show was running, believe it or not, I didn’t really see much of those comments. It started becoming a habit to say it after episode 10, which seems to be the highest-rating episode (the irony being that it was the closest the anime ever got to the novels). Hence why it feels to me like some people just say it on automatic, and I get the same vibe from the fans of anime!Violet.

I’ll just be blunt here: the main difference between anime!Violet and canon!Violet is that canon!Violet was made to be liked by girls and women, and anime!Violet was made to be liked by men. I have already said this before, but Violet is the very definition of independent professional woman in the novel. She’s educated, confident, strong, reliable, altruistic and overall well-versed in at least a little bit of everything. Half of it is due to luck and half of it is her own merits, but all in all, she was created not just to be relatable but also a character that people could look up to. Meanwhile, anime!Violet was clearly made to be waifubait.

I can’t really stress how little thought was actually put into her portrayal and development. We never truly see her internalizing the lessons that she supposedly learns in each of the self-contained episodes. We only ever witness her displaying sudden significant hints of emotion at convenient times, paired to her either repeating what she was told earlier by one of the characters or taking an extremely obvious conclusion to a question that was already half-answered by someone else. Because of this, Violet’s growth process has an unsteady pacing in the anime and mostly feels disjointed. In comparison, novel!Violet is usually not the point of view — she’s often in the role of observer, and we notice through the solutions she comes up with for her clients’ issues that she does have a very humane connection with them. We also notice through the clients’ opinions on Violet that she shows subtle changes at certain specific points, such as smiling just a little when she manages to not only accomplish her duties but also help solve their problems. This makes her more real and believable because, unlike the anime, it presents no abrupt alteration to the essence of her person. She’s growing in her own way, but it’s still easy to tell. It’s also very clever to have Violet be disliked or misunderstood by her clients at first because she’s so aloof and apathetic-looking, but then she grows on them after they actually understand her, and the readers can absorb that from them. I’ve seen many people complain that they can’t really empathize with anime!Violet, but in the novel, the author takes care not to let this happen, and it really doesn’t.

What upsets me the most is that anime!Violet is overly infantilized. We all know that director Ishidate loves her like a father loves a daughter; it’s been said by himself and his colleagues quite a lot. That’s cute and all, but it made her depiction extremely shallow. The biggest problem was making her 14 in the anime. I still struggle to understand what would’ve been so bad with keeping her as a 17-year-old. Sum that up with removing many of her merits and adding forceful childish traits, such as being okay with changing clothes anywhere in front of anyone or pouting when she’s frustrated, and you have the perfect recipe of what waifu junkies like to be spoon-fed with. In my opinion, anime!Violet was a downgraded tragic heroine played in a cheap and boring way to attract tearjerker lovers.

I hope this has covered enough of my take on the matter. ✌️

#violet evergarden #gilbert bougainvillea

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motheatenscarf · 5 years

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ANYWAY, before I got, uh, COMPLETELY DISTRACTED by the return of a certain character (also Kira, hi, I missed you too, you’re great, my Jedi literally named her son after you but that was the son she had with Scourge SO... I’m sorry) I was gonna talk about how much I fucking love the little posse you’ve got developing in the Republic faction?

I mean, let’s start off strong here with Tau and Arn. I already fucking loved Tau from Ossus and she only continued to endear me with what a great teacher she is and how much she already clearly adores her padawan. She’s fantastic with him and props to Gnost Durall for having the smarts to bring two wounded, questioning people together to help heal each other and build on one another, goddamn I love them so much. Individually they’re great on their own too, I’ve talked about how much I love Tau’s conflicted feelings about a Jedi’s role in conflict and her own use as anything other than a killer. And now Arn is just a SWEET BABY BOY, I’m so glad we get an actually decent depiction of trauma through him for once. Yeah, I could do without the whole “cybernetic character is MAYBE GONNA GO DARKSIDE” cliche AGAIN but it’s nowhere near as egregious as I thought it was gonna be. He’s not some bitter, broken, hate fueled “morally gray” character, he’s sweet and thoughtful and unsure of himself and even timid- he just has hella PTSD and lashes out in his trauma when he’s literally triggered like a war veteran. So to put him under Tau’s tutelage, where she knows that EXACT feeling and can help him through it, is brilliant.

And I LOVE how good she is with him, I cannot stress that enough! When he fucks up she doesn’t yell at him or talk down to him or lecture him, she helps him through it and you as the player get to do the same. It’s absolutely pulling on my goddamn heartstrings. She’s SO KIND, I love a Tau, I love the her so much. I want to romance her so badly. If my track record post-Scourge holds true, I just have to wait until about 2026 for that Tau Romance. I specifically made Vane to romance Tau. Sometimes a family can be a beat up old Colonel, a sad wise beautiful statue of a Jedi, and their fully grown baby boy son.

Also Arn sends a message about how he immediately spotted how he could ease some of Jakarro’s discomfort but didn’t want to presume to tell him his business when he doesn’t know him so he passes the message onto you and asks if you can tell him. He’s such a good!! What a sweetie. I love this boy, I want to protect him.

I continue to love Gnost Durall and even his interactions with Lana were surprisingly endearing. I hate to see how much happier Lana is in the Republic than Theron is with me even pretending to still be loyal to the Sith as a saboteur.

Also I really like the new Chancelor! And that Senator on Onderon. And honestly, even the 3 new Dark Council Members (well, they’re not NEW, they’ve been established, they’re just new to their seats of power). Bioware, writing a sensible woman in power who isn’t power hungry or “insane”????? What universe did I walk into?????

And of course Daerun continues to be an absolute fucking delight, I like his odd little friendship with Gnost Durall and he’s the perfect flamboyant, devastatingly tactical foil to Vowrawn. Jake compared him to Iroh earlier and that’s exactly the kinda vibes I get from him, it was a spot on comparison.

They did a fantastic job with making all of these characters likable and memorable, I am genuinely fond of all of them and their interactions only make them seem like stronger and even more endearing characters. I know everyone keeps talking about how “The Sith have changed, the Sith have changed” but they don’t seem to show any real change except that maybe they aren’t actively committing resources to screwing each other over the way they were the last time they invaded Corellia. Meanwhile, the Republic has somehow gotten its fucking shit together and created not only a functional government with a competent military structure (the SIS aside, Jesus fucking Christ Jonas why did you call my Warrior IN THE DARK COUNCIL CHAMBERS?) and a Jedi order committed to supporting each other through their darkest times without fear or judgement???????????

So yeah, Aerasuni went back to the Republic. I was actually very surprised that they were willing to grant full citizenship and ignore the criminal records and wartime activities of my underworld and formerly Imperial characters which... holy shit? Just makes me honestly that much angrier about the Saboteur route.

Having played both, the only thing I liked better about the Imperial Story was that it starts the player out as an active protagonist, you’re sent to Onderon on the mission that starts the fucking plot. Republic faction, you go there just because Arn needed someone to drive him to meet Tau and you know Tau and are nice, so why not let it be you, I guess, and then plot happens around you and you just sort of fall into it.

I was okay with the KotFE/KotET/Iokath/Traitor arc stuff because it was all stuff that was very relevant to Tallia, who is my main and whom I adore, but I think going forward I’m just kinda gonna have to handwave uh, everything, if the Republic stuff continues to just run laps around the Imperial content. And the Empire stuff wasn’t even bad! It was just sort of okay. I imagine if you’re playing a loyalist it’s immensely satisfying but that’s not my jam, I’ve been playing lightside weenie reformists since 2013 (I say, even as they lop the heads off of slave trading Sith on the Dark Council jesus FUCKING christ that was intense). Ain’t gonna change now.

I’m gonna think on how this might affect Tallia’s story, I’ve been toying with the idea of her defecting for realsies and just saying she does the Republic story stuff with Aerasuni, but wasn’t sure how I’d even handle that. Because I mean, no way in hell they’d ever welcome all these ex-Imperials into the Republic, not without some heavy strings, and oh wait, they did. They did... exactly that. Huh. Welp. I guess that’s that then.

I’ll have to think on this next week though because we have a Halloween one-shot in D&D this week where the theme is undead maffia so I’m obviously going to be playing a shambling charismatic zombie with cinderblock boots named Jimmy Coffin.

#Caitlin Plays SWTOR #SWTOR spoilers #Onslaught Spoilers #6.0 spoilers

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jess-the-vampire · 5 years

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1. I know we're already beating a dead horse with this, but I call bull-crap on the justification of spending unnecessary time on the love polygon between Star, Marco, and literally every character that has the misfortune of dating them. No teenager would do the mess that Star and Marco made (at least, not to that degree). The writers just assumed that's how teenagers behave which is asinine.

2. They're not the smartest and most stable group to do so, but most teenagers do have some morality and common sense in that field. Instead of wasting our time writing about how you think teenagers would act in a relationship, how about you write how they should. That way, kids would at least know that a healthy teenage relationship is possible without the cheating, the drama, and the act of selfishly hurting others to get what you want. My goodness, these writers don't know what they're doing.

that is something to think about.

Because the reason they give is “Oh, we want teens and messy teen relationships to be represented truthfully”, but there comes to be problems with doing something like that.

for one, teen drama is rarely written well, mostly because media teens to portray teens all as whiny selfish jerks and that all teen romances are complicated messes. And in return, most people teen to see all teen drama shows to be overall the same and overall....don’t take it seriously.

Which doesn’t work in a show, where they clearly want you to care about this stuff and take it seriously.

teen relationships aren’t always like this, it’s more that drama makes for more interesting and easy stories to write for and teens and kids are well....it’s easier to excuse them for being this way because that’s the media’s typical way of portraying teens.

daron sorta seems to think what she was trying to do was a new thing, but it’s...really not, most teen media tends to do the “Messy relationships” thing, sometimes less messy and sometimes WAY worse. She explains even that people don’t usually fall for the first person they meet and stay together forever.

Which is true, but i personally never felt that was a big problem....in media.

maybe this is different for some people but i’m used to seeing shows where characters date other characters before having an endgame with another character.

Even Kim Possible, which people keep comparing this show to, the main characters were in other relationships before they got together, so i don’t really think the whole “First person you met is your true love” is an established problem outside of....classic disney films?

i dunno, unless they fully establish their endgame love interest as their first and only relationship, i never got the vibes she meant personally from shows.

I think the “Main female and main male always have to get together” is a more problematic thing she could’ve dealt with, that being best friends with someone is normal and it doesn’t mean romantic interest or you always have feelings for every opposite sex member you meet. But she instead leaning full force into that stereotype then anything.

Like, I've seen exs before in shows, i rarely see shows where boys and girls who are friends....remain friends. Not to say they aren’t out there, because there are examples, but people are very used to the concept of a F/M relationship serving for a future romantic plot whether in movies or shows these days.

but being back on track to your main point, the show seems to treat teens like they’re dumb it’s normal for them to do dumb and selfish things, and while anyone at any age can do dumb and selfish things.....this is still a show meant to entertain us, it’s still meant for kids.

so i don’t know why they don’t allow star or marco to become better for their mistakes as teens, when they do bad things for the romance drama, neither really learns squat for it, they just do a bunch of kinda awful things and apparently daron’s reason is....”Teens do this?”.

I don’t care if teens do this or not, doesn’t mean it makes star and marco likable characters, heck, tom is a great example of a character in this show. He starts off having issues but he changes and gets better and actually serves to be a good example for teens.

why can’t we make star and marco be better examples for teens like he is? Learning what’s not ok to do in relationships instead of ignoring them to be “Realistic”?

You’re writing a show here, where, intentional or not, your kids are supposed to be taking away some kinda of moral from what they’re seeing. This show clearly set out to have important messages in it about racism, and what’s fair, and what’s right.

But there’s not much of a moral to be said for the love plot other then....”Be honest”? and “Date your best friend”? and “It’s totally ok to be awful to your boyfriend and leave him for his best friend the next day, it’s valid”.

the show leans in star and marco’s favor by the end, but neither have learned anything really, they were never given time to be better partners and learn before the show kinda shoved them together. There’s no lesson here that’s strengthened by them getting together.

“They’re finally being honest about their feelings!”.

They’ve been honest several times already, and none of that diminishes either getting away with how they treated their partners.

They establish star is a bad partner to tom, but they never have her apologize for any of her actions, and then say it’s perfectly ok because it’s apparently not her fault at all that she treated tom like a third wheel and gave him serious anxiety issues.....that’s all completely valid and tom doesn’t deserve an apology at all.

Nor does he deserve an happy end with someone when the show closess, because clearly, star and marco....who have barely improved at all in relationships and have made very little effort to be good or caring partners....are the ones who deserve it.

And what’s the excuse?

“Teens are messy”, so that means star and marco can get away with anything because it’s “Accurate”.

Stop writing teen relationships in these messy ways that make characters look bad for the sake of being “relatable”, focus more on writing a good show with good characters who be better and be good examples for kids.

Less “Star and Marco’s” in media who are allowed happy romantic ends because they’re the main characters and nothing else about how they handle relationships or even if they’re willing to do better.

And more “Tom’s” who have gone through pain but have earned their way to being a successful role model that kids should take away from because they’re improving and wanting to better themselves for them and the people they love.

Stop treating teens like idiots in cartoons and excusing their actions “Because they’re teens”, and start treating them more like actual characters who evolve and earn the end for their characters.

This show tried to be a “Coming of age” story for star after all, and yet, somehow...in some way...they managed to both make her grow....and not make her grow...at the same time.

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bluerosesburnblue · 5 years

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Your Jacob’s Character by @hufflepunk-asfrick and (spiritually) MC Character Challenge by @cptaincarswell (neither of whom will actually be tagged because the ship sailed on these months ago and I don’t want to clutter their notifications)

Rules: Make a collage of characters that summarize what you headcanon your MC’s brother, Jacob to be like! Tag who you want to see do this

and

Rules: Choose five characters (movie or tv show) that represent your MC/ MC’s different layers.

So uhhhhhhhhhh... here’s the thing. I was tagged in the Jacob Character Challenge by @wilhelminafujita and indirectly by @batgirl-87 a long ass time ago. I was also tagged by @batgirl-87 in the MC Character Challenge but I don’t... watch enough TV or movies to actually do that one all the way! So I’ve gone ahead and merged the two challenges into just a collage of five characters for both of them

Explanations for the choices below!

We’re going clockwise from the top of each collage

Jacob Caradoc Dwyn

Ephemer (Kingdom Hearts series)

I made a direct comparison a long time ago, but tell me if this is familiar: an overly curious boy goes missing while investigating a huge conspiracy and you spend most of the prequel mobile game he stars in hunting his ghosting ass down while he occasionally sends you vision messages

The similarities go way beyond just their roles, though. Ephemer is a big conspiracy theorist who hates not knowing things and will do whatever it takes to hunt down the truth

Most people thought he was absolutely crazy, as you do when someone tells you that they think you’re all secretly being sent into holographic simulations when you go on missions (but he was also totally right)

He’s also notoriously overconfident in combat. You meet Ephemer because he decided to take on a monster way stronger than he was and got seriously hurt. But at least he’s self-aware enough to admit it (but also... is really gung-ho about fighting things in the current arc...)

He’s a genuinely nice guy but not above needling people to get the information he wants from them

Loyal as hell to the people he cares about and protective of them. Like, he really doesn’t know your Avatar all that well but still rushes out onto a battlefield to save you and volunteers himself to go on a potentially deadly mission with you just so that you won’t have to go alone

...buuuuuuut he’s not above going off on his own without telling anyone in an attempt to keep them “safe” and then getting into serious trouble for it

Is currently having a panic attack because he was placed in charge of a gang of teenagers and has to be The Responsible One™ but clearly hates it, which is what I imagine Jacob would do if you ever made him a leader in any capacity

Messy hair and an adorable smile

Honestly it’d be easier to list the things that Jacob and Ephemer don’t have in common. I didn’t intentionally base Jacob off of him but I won’t deny that a lot of Ephemer probably influenced Jacob’s character

Sokka (Avatar the Last Airbender)

Sokka’s on here mostly due to his relationship with his little sister, Katara. Jacob’s relationship with Seren is a very strong mirror to the Southern Water Tribe siblings

He’s really smart, but because he’s also very goofy a lot of people tend to overlook just how much creativity and ingenuity he brings to the table

No, Sokka’s seriously one of the smartest members of the cast. There’s a reason they call him “the ideas guy.” He knows when to get serious and break out the logic and reason. It’s never stopped him from being a loud, boisterous goofball, though

Cursed by the universe to a lifetime of misfortune

Sokka is very loyal and protective to his younger sister, but because she’s generally more emotionally measured it comes across like she’s taking care of him. And he knows that and really loves her for it, but it just makes him want to take care of her more, since that should be his job

They bicker a lot, but in the end they’re completely inseparable

Ellie (Up)

A bit of an unorthodox choice, but Ellie really is the physical embodiment of Jacob’s excitement to travel and Hufflepuff hard-working nature in a lot of ways

Ellie has huge dreams of exploring distant lands and she goes at it with such gusto that it’s completely infectious

Some people would argue that it’s overwhelming, but Ellie doesn’t really care about their opinion. She’s doing it for her own satisfaction!

When she falls in love with Carl, her goal changes to having both of them go on the trip together in much the same way that Jacob would really prefer traveling with his precious little sister, Seren, than by himself because they’re a team

She saves up her whole life for this trip. She never once gives up on it entirely. Despite the setbacks, despite the fact that she passed away before ever even accomplishing her goal, she was always working towards that great adventure

Sherlock Holmes (Ace Attorney Series - The Great Ace Attorney/Dai Gyakuten Saiban)

I am... so glad that I didn’t make this until after the fan translation for DGS came out because hoooooooo boy does Ace Attorney Sherlock give me mad Jacob Dwyn vibes

(I was always going to make Jacob a huge Sherlock Holmes fan so this worked out way too perfectly)

Ace Attorney Sherlock is legitimately very perceptive and good at picking up on minute details, but because he’s so overzealous about his detective work he has a tendency to jump to conclusions a little too fast and usually ends up having to be redirected by his more calm partner

Once you get him on the right track, though, he’s an unstoppable crime-solving machine (with the bonus ability of being really damn good at sleight-of-hand stuff)

He’s also hugely eccentric. Would Jacob Dwyn just hang from the wall by a hook while wearing an expensive tiara for the hell of it during an investigation? Ooooooh yes

Jacob’s a lot less wildly inaccurate, though, because he does genuinely want to solve the crimes to the best of his ability

I am absolutely certain that Jacob wouldn’t hesitate to tell everyone he knows about all of the mysteries he’s solved with his sister because guys. Guys it was so cool. Yes, I am THE Jacob Dwyn of the Dwyn Detective Agency please pay attention to my cool job

Sherlock is a Good Dad and Jacob is a Good Brother. Case Closed.

Ant-Man/Scott Lang (Marvel Cinematic Universe - Ant Man)

By this point you should be seeing a pattern. Smart, creative guy who’s also pretty goofy who has a younger female character that he loves greatly

Scott, though, isn’t above doing a lot of really sneaky stuff and taking unscrupulous jobs to get to his (admittedly pretty noble) goals. He adds that slight bit of moral edge we were missing from the Jacob equation. Not much, but some

Like I just think of the scene where Scott uses a bunch of creative methods to break into Pym’s house. Methods that require a lot of knowledge of security systems and science

He also does not let the rules stop him from doing what he thinks is right. It’s how he ended up in prison in the first place

Jacob Dwyn would unironically get very excited about a “Time Heist” and you can’t convince me otherwise

Also, the snark and quips. Can’t forget that Jacob’s an incorrigible sarcastic doofus

What can I say? Scott’s undying loyalty to his daughter matches Jacob’s undying loyalty for his sister perfectly

(We are all very lucky that Jacob wants to solve crimes because he would be way too good at doing crimes)

Seren Aisling Dwyn

Saoirse (Song of the Sea)

It wouldn’t have been right to make this list without including one of the characters that inspired Jacob and Seren in the first place and Seren fit Saoirse better than Jacob fit her brother, Ben

Song of the Sea is an Irish film about the two kids of a Selkie mother and a human father, who hides their heritage from them when their mother disappears (note: Jacob and Seren’s mom does not disappear). This hidden heritage causes Saoirse a lot of physical problems (i.e. rendering her mute, making her physically grow weaker the longer she’s apart from her seal’s coat), just like Seren’s hidden Siren heritage causes her to completely fail to address her additional needs that leads to a lot of unintentional illness in her Hogwarts years

Ben and Saoirse have to try and get back home so that Saoirse can sing the Song of the Sea and sent the Fair Folk home. That’s where I got the idea for Jacob and Seren to go wandering off alone as kids and encountering a bunch of magical creatures during their adventures from

Ben totally hated Saoirse until later in the movie, which inspired Jacob hating Seren after she’s born but warming up to her in a few months

Personality-wise, Saoirse may look sweet and quiet, but she’s a huge ball of sass. It’s just easy to miss because she only conveys it in her facial expressions, which is something that Seren’s always done, too

She also doesn’t follow their grandmother’s rules well. She’ll go along with things to a point, but the second she doesn’t agree she’ll strike off on her own and get it done by herself despite how tiny she is

(A lot of younger!Seren was inspired by Saoirse)

When given the opportunity to leave with the Faeries and her mother, she chooses to stay behind with her brother and father because she loves them, and while Seren isn’t fond of either of her parents, she would stay behind for Jacob

Yew Geneolgia (Bravely Second)

Okay... look, I promise that I didn’t just base Seren off of Yew because I made her before finishing Bravely Second but...

Playing Bravely Second was an experience after making Seren

So my boy Yew Geneolgia is the youngest member of a noble and prestigious house, was never expecting to inherit it because he had an older (half-)brother so he went to magic school and ended up being, like, the smartest student there, to the point where they had to give him a secret special ranking on the school ranking system because he was tooooo smart at magic (*cough* Seren singlehandedly winning the House Cup every year *cough*)

Of course their father doesn’t want to let Yew’s brother inherit anything because he’s not a pureblood noble (and the Dwyn siblings aren’t pureblood wizards). Yew’s brother disappears hunting down a sword in order to earn his way back into the family

Yew goes hunting the sword down to try and bring his brother home and surprise surprise it’s CURSED

(The Geneolgia siblings are not a perfect match to the Dwyn siblings but there are a LOT of similar elements there)

After his brother goes missing again after finding Yew with the cursed sword, Yew decides that he’s just going to try and be his older brother by taking up his place as a swordsman despite sucking at it. In Year 4, Seren decides that everyone just wants Jacob and not her, so she starts modeling herself after him more until she can’t keep it up anymore in late Year 5

So a small, young magic nerd who’s extremely awkward in social situations whose story revolves around a missing older brother that they attempt to emulate, unsuccessfully

Also, Yew is the one making all of the Bestiary entries. He’s clearly got an interest in Zoological stuff and he’s a very good artist since he does all of the illustrations in there, too

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III (How to Train Your Dragon Series)

Hey speaking of Zoology did you know that Seren was into Magizoology and is very good at befriending creatures? It’s true!

Seren in her early years at Hogwarts is very similar to Hiccup from the first film. She’s shy, but undeniably witty and sarcastic. Her self-confidence is extremely low because she keeps getting compared to more successful family members. Her strengths come from her intelligence and being able to look at things from angles others might not, like extending empathy to creatures that most would hate

She’d never be able to hurt a dragon like Toothless come on. He’s too cute. Too sweet

As she gets older she still matches up with Hiccup, though. He finds himself being thrust into a leadership position and having to adjust, but doing so gracefully and with emotional maturity in much the same way that Seren steps up to lead the Cursed Vault crew when she needs to

You have to be pretty fearless to step up to a dragon that could bite your head off and then learn to fly on it, and when it comes down to it Seren is just as fearless in anything that is not a social interaction

I’m sorry, did I just hear SELF-SACRIFICIAL TENDENCIES? Why yes, yes I do believe that I did

And Hiccup will never, ever give up on Toothless no matter what. No matter what the dragon does (or is forced to do in the second film). Just like Seren will never give up on Jacob. No matter the cost

Ema Skye (Ace Attorney Series - Apollo Justice)

I know that Ema was in Spirit of Justice, too, but I don’t know anything about that one so I’m only covering her appearances chronologically up to Apollo Justice

I didn’t realize until watching someone’s blind playthrough of Apollo Justice recently just how much Seren was like Ema

So Ema starts off strong already as A Very Devoted Little Sister who absolutely refuses to believe that her older sister is guilty of a crime despite her sister confessing to it

(She ended up being right and her sister was blackmailed into covering it up which was honestly my default situation for the Dwyn siblings before the Portrait Vault chapter came out. Ema’s sister was being blackmailed with evidence that could implicate Ema with murder, Jacob would have been blackmailed with Seren’s safety. Which is still true, I suppose, but we’ll see how this holds up later)

She’s very passionate about forensic science in the same way that I imagine Seren can be in her own interests like Magizoology and later on the development of forensic magic

Almost a decade later, though, and Ema is... super jaded and grouchy. She’s sarcastic and kinda rude, but lights up again if you get her talking about her interests

She also doesn’t have her dream job but is instead... a detective. though Seren’s a lot more content as a detective than Ema is because she’s got Jacob and a license to do creature-related cases

But just the progression from the innocent kid to the jaded adult detective is... such a good match that I just had to put Ema in here

Katara (Avatar the Last Airbender)

And just like Jacob had Sokka, Seren gets Katara to round it off

There might be something to be said about the Southern Water Tribe siblings and the Dwyn Siblings both being linked to water as an element

I already covered a lot of this in Jacob’s section, but they have a similar dynamic

Katara is a Mom Friend extraordinaire who obsessively takes care of everyone in the group, even when it’s not her place to. A lot of them find it overbearing sometimes

While she’s generally fairly mature and level-headed, when she gets mad she gets absolutely furious and cannot be stopped until she’s satisfied

“You can’t knock me down!” is such an iconic line and very much embodies Seren’s stubbornness and determination to get back up and keep trying no matter what

She loves her brother. She’s not above criticizing him or the occasional jab, but she also knows when to give him credit for the incredibly smart things that he does. Nobody will defend him quite as hard as she will when she has to

The lovable, goofy, intelligent, protective older brother and the equally intelligent, mature, caring, stubborn younger sister. There’s no better way to describe the Dwyn Siblings than that

#harry potter series #harry potter hogwarts mystery #hogwarts mystery #hphm #hphm jacob #jacob's sibling #jacob dwyn #seren dwyn #my god i'm so sorry this took so long i really wanted to do it #but i also REALLY wanted to finish the picture of them as detectives to use IN it #and well... we can all see how well that one went

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pokimoko · 5 years

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STEVEN UNIVERSE: THE MOVIE - Personal Commentary

I wrote this to send to a friend, but I decided I might as well post it on here. I did a large portion of this while I was watching the movie, but I did go back and improve on some parts after I was finished, so forgive the inconsistent tenses. I apologise for the length as well, which is a result of me getting completely carried away and analysing a lot of the movie (I bet my English teachers are cheering). Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy my personal thoughts on the Steven Universe movie. (Also, spoilers if you haven’t already watched it.)

- The opening....wow. Not only is it pretty but it's just so dramatic. It reminds me quite a bit of old fashioned Disney musicals (I’m guessing that was their intention). Even the layout of the credits are giving me that vibe. But especially the music. Very fairytale-esque.

- 16 year old Steven, yeah booiii! Now he’s only a few years younger than me. I do like his older voice and design. Bet Zach Callison is relieved that he doesn't have to pitch his voice up high anymore. And I personally really love the pan flag colour scheme of his new outfit. I wonder if they’ll keep it for the season(s) following the movie.

- Aww, the Diamonds are learning. Sort of. They’re maybe just a tad clingy, but that's still improvement. I really love how Steven Universe never makes the 'villians' completely evil, only misguided, and that everyone is capable of changing their ways. Such a great message. (Edit: Ooohh, I unintentionally called what I'd say is the moral of the movie. Noice.)

- Naaww, Steven and Connie are so cute. Steven's happy little grin after the kiss was just adorable.

- Oooh, I like the 'Here We Are in the Future' (Edit: 'Happily Ever After') song. It just shows how much they've all grown over the course of the series. And it’s a great way to recap the journeys of each of the original Crystal Gems to the audience.

- "PEW PEW" Yeesss. I love their handshake. And oh my god, he really is so tall compared to Amethyst now.

- Oh my god, they're reenacting the running sequence from the opening. Love me a parallel. Just shows how far they’ve all come.

-Okay, why do the 'bad' guys in musicals always get such cool songs? Spinel's song was so catchy. Now I'm super curious about her relation to Pink Diamond. Oh cool! A scythe. That's awesome.....AH! Okay, nevermind. Nooo.

- 'Losing your powers' angst. I love it (yes, I know, I'm terrible).

- Greg: "Holy shhhhhheee really got everybody" Me: 😏 I see what you did there.

- Steven: "I have no idea what's going on." Greg: "Well now you know how I feel most of the time." Greg is so relatable sometimes. Kindly stop being my spirit animal, sir.

- AHHH! They've all been reset. Craaappp! And I was just going on about growth and everything! But I'm excited to see what happens because I love angst, god damn it. It always helps to make the happy ending all the more satisfying. (And...admittedly, the amnesia narrative device has always been a guilty pleasure of mine. I’ve always enjoyed how it allows you to so clearly see how a character has evolved over time and how much their experiences have defined their identity.)

- "Something is clearly wrong," Pearl sings happily and bug-eyed. Excellent and relatable. That's how I react to most things in life, honestly.

- "I could have lost all of my character development." Ha! Never subtle, are you Peridot? But also nooooo, not Peridot. Don't you dare touch her. She's grown so much and I love her dearly (and also Lapis' top notch dark humour. Perfect.)

- Sad song reprise is sad. I totally understand what Steven is feeling too. Things you’ve gotten so used to (hell, maybe even become dependent on for your emotional welbeing) can disappear so quickly that it can be quite a whiplash to have it gone, so it's completely normal to struggle to accept it, and to yearn for what you had not so long ago.

- Bismuth saying “We are the Crystal Gems” has watered my crops and cleared my skin. And I love her singing voice; the roughness in some parts suits her character so well.

- Rupphire Rupphire RUPPHIRE GAAAARRRNNNEEETTT, yiissss! Wow the fusion animation is really awesome. It's like a behind-the-scenes on how it works from their perspective. But I love how the two of them fusing together doesn't fix Garnet's memories or make her exactly how she was before losing them. Garnet isn't just an experience; she's also a product of her experiences.

- Lil' trumpet salute! Naww, Pearl, that's adorable.

- ....is Onion....immortal? He still looks exactly the same. 😟 I'm unnerved by that child and whatever power he had.

- Oooh, tap dancing. I love tap dancing! Even if Steven is wearing sandals while doing it. Oh boy, I love the friendship between Amethyst and Steven. It's always been one of my favourite things in the show. It's kind of like the sibling interaction I've always wished to have myself: supportive and wholesome. And I also love how their fusion shows that platonic and familial love is just as powerful as romantic love. Oh, YAY Amethyst is back! Like I said, friendship is a powerful thing.

- Oh my god, Steven and Greg are going to fuse. Ahhhh! Oh wow, it's basically Elvis with a six pack! Hehehe, so weird. But not bad either. And, oh wow, what a great song! Individuality is my kink.

- The ANGST is making me feel emotions. Steven looks so ragged, and the high pitched whining in his ears definitely added to that. And having felt that terrible myself a few times, I know how much it frigging sucks. And just like him I brushed other people's concerns off, so I'd be a hypocrite to tell him to take care of himself. (But I am a hypocrite. Take care of yourself, Steven!)

- Yep, here's the tragic backstory to make me sad about Spinel. Hit me where it hurts why don't you. Gosh, Pink Diamond really did some messed up things when she was younger (but thankfully she evolved from that and changed to become Steven). Leaving someone behind without giving them closure or even a reason would mess someone up for sure. You'd feel completely worthless. And unfortunately, being noticed for any reason⁠—good or bad⁠—is generally a way to cope with that feeling. Spinel is doing what she can to deal with what Pink did to her, and that unfortunately involves lashing out and hurting others.

- The 'True Kinda Love' song! Knew it'd turn up at one point. Knowing the context makes it so much better too. And hell yeah, Garnet is back!

- Blood? On this Christian Server? It's more likely than you think.

- “This is the story of my life.” Ahh! Steven's just a kid, and he's gone through so much. But, I gotta say, he is absolute proof that having a rough childhood and being a flawed person in the past (*cough* Pink Diamond *cough*) doesn't condemn you to being a wicked person forever. Anyone, regardless of their circumstances and experiences, can be a good person. Your early years don't define your identity or what will become of your future.

- Spinel: “When you change, you change for the better. When I change, I change for the worse. I used to be just not good, just not good enough for Pink. Now I'm not good at all!” Damn. That's powerful. Trauma can be such a difficult thing to overcome, and some people lose their way in their attempt to leave it behind. Sometimes, though, growing doesn't mean changing yourself and erasing the past; sometimes it means accepting the parts of your past that made you who you are now. Showing the importance of past experiences through the Crystal Gem's recovery of their identities is such a smart way of showing this concept to the audience. Such a great analogy. Now, let's hope Spinel can accept that though she has been changed as a result of her trauma, that doesn't make her ‘bad’ or unworthy of love (because that’s just not true!)

- “There's no such thing as happily ever after”. Sad but true. And also turning the whole Disney vibe the movie began with in on its head. Very smart.

- Steven: “I'll always have more work to do”. Then, Spinel: “I've got work to do. Friendship isn't going to be easy for me. I'm gonna have to work at it”. Exactly. That's how it is. ‘Happily ever after’ is a stagnant concept, and staying the same person for the rest of your life isn't healthy. And deciding to work towards improving yourself can sometimes be the hardest step to take when it comes to overcoming trauma. But change can be good; you should always keep working on improving yourself, no matter how comfortable you are with who you are and where you're at. Evolution is a part of living.

- Ooooh, White Diamond got sassy. She even has the hand gestures down. She’s making up for all the years she spent T-posing.Good for her.

- Oh my gosh, the focus on the Diamond's hands! Instead of destroying, their holding a hand out in a gesture of friendship. Seriously, that's frigging growth. That's such a cool parallel too. Rebecca Sugar and her crew are just brilliant.

- I'm so glad the Diamonds got someone to love and help them through their grief, and Spinel got someone to love her unconditionally, regardless of the flaws she thinks she has. They all got someone to help them heal. That’s wonderful.

- “I can make a change.” 👏Yes👏you👏can! That's your superpower.

Damn, that was so wonderful! I've always loved the message of personal growth, and the movie did it so well. In my opinion, Steven Universe has always been great at analogies to explain real life things (ie. Malachite being a metaphor for toxic relationships) so I really like how they used to amnesia narrative device to show not only how much someone can change and grow over time, but also to show it's our experiences, good and bad, that shape us as a person. Lots of people have traumatic experiences in their life that can inadvertantly shape a lot of their personality, and it can be hard to leave that behind, especially if so much of your identity is dependent on those experiences. Sometimes they can lead us to becoming ‘bad’ people, but they can also help make us good people too. Just look at Steven! He was able to accept his past traumas and use them so as to help others heal their own.

Trauma isn't something you can erase without erasing a large part of your identity. It can be tough to live with, nonetheless. Sometimes, like Spinel, you just need a helping hand in accepting the scars life has given you; to help you grow beyond it and maybe even eventually be able to help others who are going/have gone through similar experiences.

And there's no shame in trying to be better and failing over and over again. At least you are trying. Because trying to be good against all odds, against the whole world doing its best to destroy you, shows just how strong you really are.

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Sorry for getting flowery (and maybe just a tad projective). As you can see I just really like the moral of the movie, as well as pretty much every other aspect. I'm sure there's a lot of little intricacies I missed, but this is what I took from my first viewing of it. And these are just my opinions; you might have got a whole different vibe from the movie. You are completely welcome to add you own thoughts and improve upon mine (because I am by no means an expert).

So, to summarise my own thoughts on the movie, I’m just going to say: Personal growth for the win!

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salvatoreschool · 5 years

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Exclusive Interview with Actor and Musician Quincy Fouse

Musician and actor Quincy Fouse just dropped a new music video for his single, “I Know”. I got the chance to talk to him about how Hugh Jackman pushed him to start making and releasing music, his single “I Know”, what it was like shooting his first ever official music video for this single and so much more! Keep reading to see what he had to say!

Tell me a little bit about how you first got into making and performing music.

Okay, this is a good story. I was actually on set for my first movie Logan and I was beatboxing on set. I used to beatbox a lot in high school and I used to do a bunch of indie shows around my hometown. So Hugh Jackman hears me beatboxing and then he asked me, “Are you making anything?” And I was like, “Nah. I’m just having fun on set.” And he goes, “Well you know will.i.am produced most of the beats on the ‘I’ve Got a Feeling’ track while he was working on set with [me]. Maybe you should look into that.” We went on hiatus, I got a computer, I downloaded Logic and was looking up how to produce. So ever since then, I’ve just been producing music and then I got back into writing and rapping and it just kind of snowballed from there.

So making music and releasing it was never something you actually thought about until Hugh Jackman told you that it’s something you should consider.

Literally yes. I was just kind of chasing the feeling with acting. So I had just gotten used to the fact that acting was something that I could really live off of and then Hugh was like, “You should produce music” and I was like, “Okay” [laughs].

That’s so funny. I know you use the stage name Soul Fro when you release your music. What made you want to use a stage name and why Soul Fro?

[laughs] Well when I was in high school, I was kind of a really shy kid and when I started beatboxing – I guess I can’t say when I started beatboxing because I had been beatboxing my whole life – but so when high school [classmates] got a whiff of what I could do, I noticed I got people’s attention and I made people feel good and people would come out and start rapping while I was beatboxing. I kind of just became this kid with an afro that beatboxed in high school. I believe there was some upperclassmen who named me Soul Fro and it just stuck. I was like, “You know what, I’m going to make this work.” Now since then, the name itself has received a lot more meaning from me just because it’s kind of one of the first markers of me coming into my own self-confidence in high school. So music Quincy will be [known as] Soul Fro.

Gotcha. Something I’m always genuinely curious about is what artists want to convey to listeners with their music. If you had to describe the music you create without using genre names, how would you describe it?

I’d describe it as love in a vibe. I think when I make the beat and I build a chord, I’m looking for this feeling of being carried by the music; then, when I write, I’m just expressing the truth that’s on my heart. And all of that, in the process of essentially writing away and being my whole self, that’s what I define to be the equation of loving oneself.

Very cool. Kind of going off of that, who are some of your musical influences?

My biggest ones – and I’ve got millions – are Childish Gambino for sure and then Erykah Badu. Growing up, I’d say beatboxing was the first thing I did to get confidence, but the sparking moment that led me to even attempt to believe in myself to do these indie shows was watching Donald Glover on Community and seeing how weird and how awkward he can be in his comedy but still have a successful and secure place in society. I’ve been listening to Erykah Badu’s music and there’s always something so comforting and something that reminded you that you’re home within this breadth of culture in her sound. So both of those things coming together just kind of really defined my vibe of inspiring the kids that were like me and then also just giving that sense of love that isn’t finite to that kid.

Gotcha. So let’s talk about this new single, “I Know”. What’s the story behind that song? What inspired it?

The story behind that song, I was just working in LA and I met this girl. She was amazing. I was in the moment of falling for her, but knowing that I didn’t really have a destination and I didn’t really have a concrete place of wanting something for us together. I didn’t necessarily want to marry her. I’m too young for that. But I wanted her; I wanted her in so many ways and I just started writing and essentially just talking to her [through the song]. “I don’t know what exactly I want but I feel like you got it, whatever it is.” Just that place of confusion and yearning.

What was your songwriting process like for this song? Was it something that came pretty easily to you or is it something you kept coming back to and working on?

I literally wrote that thing in one day. It was just that intimate conversation. That’s why there isn’t a second verse. I just kind of used my producing chops to give some color to the rest of the song because that was just really authentic. It was straight from the heart and it was a message to her.

In general, though, when you write, do you tend to write by yourself or are you someone who likes collaborating with other artists in co-writes?

Oh I mean if I’m featuring on another song, we definitely sit down together. I create with my brother Darin Blaine Wilkens and then my other brother Colah, whose name is Noah Alexander Gary. I was recently featured on their newest album, How Was Your Day?. But yeah, when I’m writing with those guys for a feature on their music, we definitely talk with each other to make sure that we have the cause of the song down. If someone writes verse and it kind of goes against the message of the song, then we will all work together to kind of alter it. But other than that, if I’m working on a standalone project or it’s my song, then I’m writing the verses myself.

So for “I Know”, were there any major changes that happened once you got into the studio, whether it be in the lyrics or something sonically?

Nah. No. It was all pretty straightforward. And because I produced the beat for “I Know” as well. So right after I made the beat, sitting there in the studio session – I like to have like my family around me as I’m making stuff just because sitting in love makes me perform better – so while I’m sitting there, I make the beat, they’re like, “Oh that’s hot” and I just started writing the song. It’s one of the perks of being the producer and the lyricist and the performer.

I know you also shot a music video for this song. What was that experience like?

It was so dope. I worked with my good friend Barry Galperin, who is the director, and he created the music video for me. I called him up after the song came out and I was like, “Look man. I know that you kind of process art the same way that I do and I know that you could hit this feeling. Can we work together?” And he was like, “Sure.” It was so great because we were so in sync the entire time, so it was a beautiful experience.

Was that your first time shooting a music video or had you shot other ones prior?

No, that’s my first music video. I’ve shot little promos before. But yeah, that was my first official music video.

Was it everything you thought it’d be or was it completely different than what you thought it be?

Oh it was amazing. I think for me, I never have a template of an expectation. I have more of a specific goal or something to accomplish rather than expecting any type of experience. So when I just got on set and saw that we were accomplishing each little goal, you look at the end product and it just kind of made sense. But it was definitely beautiful all throughout the process and that’s something I definitely take away from the experience.

In terms of new music, what’s on the horizon for you? What are you working on?

[laughs] OK. I recently just sort of hinted at this on my Instagram so I can talk about it now, but I have a single that I wrote with Kaylee Bryant and she plays Josie on my show, Legacies. I wrote a little ditty for season one and we talked to Legacies and they let me keep the rights to it so I can make a song. So I’ve just kind of like expanded upon that scene and we’ll be releasing that.

Other than that, I have a couple of other singles that I got coming out and I’m going to be re-releasing my first album Soul Space. I had to make a few little edits to that and I also wanted to add a bonus track to it. Then, after that, I have a prospective future album called Son of the Ronin and that’s the album that I’m getting ready to go work on and kind of delve into the magnum opus of sorts.

Very cool. You’ve got a lot music wise coming up.

[Laughs] Yeah, I do.

What are some of your music industry related goals for your career over the next couple of years?

Like I said, I’m very goal oriented so I kind of stay away from the template of “I want to take over the game and be the best rapper ever” blah, blah, blah. I want to be able to just do live performances where the audience knows the words to my songs. And I just want to be able to express myself honestly. That’s pretty much the one mark that I want to hit. As far as the ascension and the gears that are the entertainment business, you know we’ll deal with it when we get there.

Last question – our website is called Talk Nerdy With Us because we all have an inner nerd, so what is something you are currently nerding out about?

Something I am currently nerding out about is Miles Morales in general because that’s always been like a dream role of mine [laughs]. I fantasize about that character, man. So I’m excited to watch the new Spider-Man coming out and I wonder if you can expect like maybe he’s in there; that would be really fun to see.

#Legacies #MG #QuincyFouse #Vampire #LizzieSaltzman #JosieSaltzman #HopeMikaelson #RafaelWaithe #LandonKirby #PenelopePark #AlaricSaltzman #Triad #SalvatoreSchool #MysticFalls #JuliePlec #TheCW

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purpledragon57 · 5 years

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Dragon Reviews: Tokyo Mew Mew

I recently finished watching the magical girl anime Tokyo Mew Mew. I’ve been meaning to get into the habit of writing reviews for things I watch, and I had quite a lot to say about this show, so it seemed like a good place to start. Full review under the cut. Apologies in advance for any misspellings - the subs were incredibly inconsistent.

I’m going to break my thoughts up into categories, starting with the characters and ending with the overall plot and themes:

The Magical Girls

I like the overall visuals of the magical girls. The outfits, transformations and attacks are all good looking and mostly well animated. The outfits hit a good balance between uniformity and individuality, which I like.

Personally I didn’t enjoy the girls very much as a group? The best magical girl teams are fun to watch even when they’re just hanging out, but the Mew Mews’ dynamic just didn’t click with me. Most group interactions consisted of arguments and running jokes - they barely seem like friends half the time. This also made it hard to feel invested when things get emotional or during battles

On to the girls as individuals:

Ichigo was a perfectly fine magical girl protagonist. I liked the focus on how her magical girl and regular identities affect each other, and how this wove into her romance plot.

Minto was my favourite initially because I love Tsunderes, but ultimately she was more annoying than anything else and her arc wasn’t particularly interesting to me. She still has the best transformation though.

Retasu is the Shy Nerdy One, which made me like her initially, but there wasn’t anything that really stood out about her most of the time. I think maybe she was supposed to be a ‘straight man’ to the others’ wackiness (esp. Bu Ling), but her demeanour is too reserved to really pull this off in an entertaining way. I liked that she provided a side romance, but it never really went anywhere, which was disappointing.

Bu Ling is best girl. Her childish behaviour and Wacky Antics can get a bit annoying, but she’s cute and genuine enough to avoid being grating. I like her incredibly friendly and determined attitude. Also her focus episode was great and made me cry a little bit.

Zakuro is great just for having punched Kish in the face. 10/10 most satisfying scene in the whole series. On a more serious note, I think Zakuro was the most unique character on the team, but I’m not really sure what to make of her. She’s kind of cold and distant with high standards but occasionally soft, but I don’t really understand why she is this way. There’s hints that she has some kind of tragic backstory and possibly ulterior motives but I feel like this is never properly explained??? Maybe it’s something that didn’t translate well from manga to anime. It’s weird.

The Villains

This segment is gonna get spoilery so skip it if you care about that. The tl;dr is that the villains just kinda suck.

I just have to say it, this show had the ugliest villain designs I have ever seen in a magical girl series. I hate their outfits and the massive ears just look weird.

The Aliens have the theoretically sympathetic desire to return Earth to it’s old state now that their race is dying out on another planet - though doing so will wipe out humanity. This could be an interesting motivation, but unfortunately they are way too self-righteous and hypocritical about this and it just gets annoying. It’s possible this was the point but it’s still tiresome.

The most grating example of this is when Kish gets wounded in a fight and the other Aliens have the audacity to get angry at the Mew Mews for hurting their ‘friend’, even though neither of them showed anything but dislike for Kish, and they’ve been hurting the Mew Mews all the time.

Thoughts on the villains individually:

Kish is the most complete character of the lot - he at least succeeded in getting me to hate him with a burning passion. When he’s not busy being disturbingly possessive of Ichigo, he’s an obnoxious brat but largely a fairly competent villain. He also has the most braincells in the group, being able to come up with almost successful plans and figure out the big bad’s true intentions before the others. I think if his arc had been better paced he’d be a pretty solid MG villain over all.

Tart is just the ‘bratty child’ villain archetype, which I always hate. His relationship with Bu Ling is cute and actually has a satisfying payoff though.

Pie is just confusing. He has a ‘priorities orders over morality’ thing going on but it isn’t made very clear why he’s like this, and his last minute redemption-by-'death’ comes out of basically nowhere. The other villains are annoying but Pie is boring, which is even worse.

Deep Blue is just a generic pure evil villain once he actually becomes a character and not a voice in a void. He also had a possession plot line, which is a trope I like, but they didn’t do anything particularly interesting with it.

The Supporting Cast

Quick shout out to the Blue Knight for being the first time I’ve seen a mysterious ally character get introduced without their secret identity being immediately obvious. It’s fun to try and figure out what’s going on alongside the protagonists instead of knowing straight away.

Masaya was my favourite secondary character. His relationship with Ichigo felt a bit flat at first but after we find out what it is specifically that they like about each other I was sold. Cute and wholesome.

Ryou was an ok character. I feel like his story lines were kind of underutilised?? Feels similar to Zakuro in that he had hints at being a deeper character but couldn’t get me to connect to him.

The other guy felt like barely more than a background character. I can’t even remember his name and most of what I remember about him was ‘makes cake’ and ‘gives exposition’

Presentation

Besides the magical girl designs, I didn’t really like the visual aesthetic of this show. The colours are mostly either too saturated or too bland and the way the characters are drawn is not appealing to me.

The animation mostly ranges from passable to janky, besides the transformations. I remember some of the late-series fight scenes just consisted of awkward loops and quickly cut together stills and it looked more hilarious than intense. Intense facial expressions are sometimes so exaggerated they become laughable.

The voice acting is mostly fine, and sometimes really good, but sometimes it gets really overwrought. The amount of screeching in the last few episodes made me want to slam my head against a wall.

Plot & Themes

I thought it was interesting how much emphasis they put into the puberty metaphor. The Mew Mew powers come with a bunch of uncomfortable side effects (acting more like an animal, sprouting animal parts at inconvenient times, etc.) and the show spends a lot of time focusing on Ichigo’s emotional reactions to her body changing. I haven’t really seen other magical girl shows explore this aspect as much.

Obviously one of the biggest themes in the series is the environmentalist message. This theme gets pretty heavy handed at times but since it’s a children’s show I’m willing to give them a bit of a pass. I think it would have added a bit to show the girls being more environmentally conscious in their day to day lives or something but it’s fine.

Like I mentioned in the character sections, some character arcs and story lines are just kind of left hanging and it’s weird.

The plot about the aliens’ families back home is just flat out ignored at the end????? This was the most bizarre to me because they spent the whole show trying to reshape the Earth into somewhere they could live but then at the end they just leave. You can’t just ignore the plight of a slowly dying alien race like that, what the heck.

For some reason at the end they pull out of their bittersweet ‘powers are gone forever’ ending and have the girls randomly transform and leave to fight some unspecified enemy. I don’t know if this was supposed to be sequel set up or the staff decided it would be too sad or what but it was weird and dumb.

Conclusion

Tokyo Mew Mew is a weird mixed bag of genuinely good ideas but unsatisfying execution. I will say it isn’t really bad, it’s just that I’ve seen most of what it does done better in other series, so it doesn’t really stand out to me for the most part. My experience may also have been skewed by the long breaks I took between episodes at times - perhaps the pacing just seems worse to me because of this. Though on the other hand the fact that I had so little motivation to watch it quickly is a bad sign in itself. If I’d watched this show when I was younger perhaps I would have enjoyed it more.

Overall Rating: 6/10

PS - I get a vague impression that some of it’s flaws may be adaption problems - perhaps I’m wrong but it sometimes gives that ‘weak adaption of good source material’ vibe.

Have you seen Tokyo Mew Mew? What did you think of it? And if you have read the manga, do you think it’s better than the anime?

#dragon reviews #tokyo mew mew #putting thoughts into words is hard but I think I did ok #idk if this is too harsh sounding compared to my thoughts

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digikate813 · 5 years

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My Little Pony Re-Watch: Episode 51 & 52 A Canterlot Wedding

*I’m just going to be up front here. This is the episode, that made me a brony. This is the episode that made me realize how great My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic really was. For a long time, it was my favorite episode. So of course it’s one of the most divisive episodes in the whole series. So we’re going to approach this differently. Rather then go over events individually, I’m going to stick to talking points more in the style of my video reviews. If i didn’t we’d be here all day. So let’s do this.

*A big complaint about this episode is how Twilight’s brother, Shining Armor, kind of comes out of nowhere. Maybe it’s just because I grew up with a lot of sitcoms, where siblings kind of appear out of nowhere with no previous establishment, but I just kind of accepted Shining Armor’s existence. Though it would have been fairly easy to introduce him sooner. Between the Grand Galloping Gala and Twilight holding her birthday party in Canterlot, it is weird in hindsight that he was nowhere to be seen during all of that. But again, it doesn’t really bother me.

*And i like the touch that his cutie mark is a shield and his most powerful spell appears to be a protection spell able to encase the entire city of Canterlot. It just adds more to my working theory of how talents and magic work.

*Twilight does have a bit of a right to be mad that she wasn’t told about this wedding until days before it’s supposed to happen. But hey, maybe that message that got burned in “Dragon Quest” was the announcement, idk.

*You want to sum up Pinkie Pie in one moment? The confetti sneeze. That is all

*Another criticism of this episode is the other character that appears out of nowhere, Princess Cadance. Now i don’t think the existence of another alicorn comes completely out of nowhere like many claim. Because there was that illustration in “Hearts and Hooves Day” that shows us other alicorns exist besides Celestia and Luna. And as far as we know, they’re all princesses. So this doesn’t break the lore necessarily, but I will agree that this at least was poorly established.Then again the show was never great at presenting Cadance’s role in the world, as we’ll go more into in the next episode.

*I will admit that her supposed love spell is both underutilized and morally questionable, but that’s not a discussion for this post. I think Silver Quill has covered everything on that topic.

*I used to hate the “Sunshine Sunshine Ladybugs Awake” rhyme and dance, but now that they don’t do it anymore, I feel a bit nostalgic towards it watching this again. Is that weird? It feels weird.

*And personally, I think the mystery behind why Cadance is so different from how Twilight remembers her works. Because while Twilight may know Cadance, we don’t. And therefore we can’t really tell what exactly is wrong even when the show tells us something is off. It’s not obvious what’s going on on your first viewing is what I’m saying. We’re just taking Twilight’s word for it that, if nothing else, Cadance has changed a lot. Being dismissive, insensitive, and hypnotizing her fiance to stop asking questions. But that last one probably isn’t that big a deal.

*The rest of the girls may be a bit too dismissive of Twilight’s feelings on the matter, especially after what they learned in “Lesson Zero” but Twilight does have a tendency to exaggerate and be paranoid. So I do get why they wouldn’t just take her word for it. It’s something that they could easily brush off as Twilight being Twilight and not as a red flag.

*Plus not Cadance is pretty good at being manipulative. Getting rid of her old bridesmaids so the Mane Six could fill in. Such a gesture makes it easier for the girls to get wrapped up in the planning and see Cadance in a better light instead of listening to Twilight.

*Lyra speaks! That is all, but when a famous background character finally talks, you acknowledge it.

*I love this episode, but Spike playing with the cake toppers constantly is a really lame way to keep him out of the story.

*Twilight confronting Cadance the way she did might seem like a dumb move, and maybe it was. But keep in mind. Twilight has tried alternatives. Her friends wouldn’t listen to her, the princesses are busy guarding the city, and when she tried to talk to her brother about this, she saw Cadance put a spell on him. She’s in crisis mode here, and wants something done to stop her. So she takes action into her own hooves. The only problem with this plan is that Twi doesn’t really have, proof that Cadance is evil.

*How much this plan backfires is kind of devastating. Even Celestia scolds her for this stunt! By the way the facial expression on Twilight when that happens is one of the saddest faces in the series.

*Then we get a really sad reprise of the previous song, but all anyone cared about was the cute little pointy pony style. It’s crazy how popular this style became! Some fan animation series are made just in this style. It is really cute, I’m just always blown away at just how popular it got, and still is.

*One of the best things to see reactions to in regards to this episode is when not Cadance engulfs Twilight in a ring of fire and sends her to the depth of Hell to cover her tracks! Okay it’s not Hell, but still. It was the best cliffhanger from the show for a while.

*How has the show never used these caves beneath Canterlot since this? I know there’s a line where they say that most ponies forgot these caves even exist, but could you imagine if maybe, the Diamond Dogs wanted to get down here or something? There’s potential to use these caves again, and I’m shocked the show hasn’t.

*And here’s where we learn what’s going on. That Cadance was replaced by an imposter. Now I knew what was going on because I knew who Queen Chrysalis was. That’s what led me to watching this episode. But the story is clever at revealing this twist. There are hints to fake Cadance’s true identity, but since we don’t know Cadance, we wouldn’t notice things like her magic looks different, unless you were paying very close attention to the flashback.

*Ah, This Day Aria. I’ve said that this is quite possibly the moment that sold me on the show for good. And i stand by that. The Disney Renaissance vibes you get from this gorgeous duet are powerful. Between the villain celebrating maniacally and the hero racing desperately, it creates tension and an amazing contrast, performed by the same voice actress. There’s even this clever bit in the melody of contrasting between an Authentic Cadance and a Deceptive Cadance. Everything about this song is marvelous! It’s a beautiful moment to watch play out, and a great way for us to see what the real Cadance is like. I love everything about it!! Obviously.

*I don’t think the way Twilight and Cadance escaped the hypnotized bridesmaids should be as funny as it is, but it is. It’s so funny.

*Queen Chrysalis’ reveal is epic! Her design is incredible and eye catching, her voice s sinister and distinct (I really miss that modulation though), and the introduction of Changelings into this world is such a great concept! The only part that’s kind of weird is that they never say Chrysalis’ name in the episode itself.

*Celestia finally gets to do something and fights back! Only to be immediately defeated. This is one of the most controversial scenes in the episode and i get why, but as far as the moment itself goes, I don’t really feel the same way. In the moment it’s a way to show just how much of a threat Chrysalis is while giving Celestia some agency. For the sake of tension, it works. No what bothers me is the larger trend this started of Celestia getting her flank whooped whenever possible.

*And I get why Chrysalis was surprised it worked. She would have had to take on Celestia eventually, but she might have figured she’d have her army with her by that point. So being able to get the job done herself gives her more of an ego boost in this grand plan.

*And do I even need to comment of the Mane Six battling the changelings? It’s AWESOME! The combat is exciting, there are a lot of funny moments, and between the return of the Party Cannon and using Twilight as a weapon of mass destruction, Pinkie is a master on the battlefield.

*This episode is also unique by being the first two part episode where the major threat isn’t defeated using the Elements of Harmony. Giving a great twist on expectations that I think gets taken for granted.

*Another major point of contempt with this episode is that Chrysalis just stands there and lets her enemies plot to defeat her. And I get that too. I do, but to me it’s not, completely unjustified. After all, Chrysalis’ plan has gone without a hitch. She’s managed to stop anyone in her way at every turn. Now that she’s taken away all major power, why should it be any different now? She’s deluded by her success and doesn’t see a way she can be stopped.

*The only way she is defeated is by something she wouldn’t expect. True and pure love. The changelings manipulate others to gain power from their love of the person they’re impersonating, and Shining Armor was their latest victim. Not believing his own sister because he’s literally being controlled by someone who says they love him. And it’s not Twilight or any of her friends who break that curse, but Cadance. The one who truly loves him. Simply by being there and expressing how much she cares about him. Add to the fact that Cadance’s magic centers around love, something Chrysalis might not have known, and you get an even bigger power boost. It’s pretty cool when you see it at first and beautiful when you think about it any deeper.

*Plus I love cheesy stories where love and friendship and bonds that make us stronger save the day. It’s really my jam and why i stick with the show. And this is one of the best demonstrations of it’s power.

*And the fun little trope twist of the princess saving the knight in shining armor. And then it’s both of them together that stops the villain.

*I know everyone’s made this joke, but because one of my most well know loves is Pokemon “Looks like Team Rocket’s Blasting Off Again!!”

*Hey Twilight and Shining Armor’s parents are back! And they still don’t get any lines. Hooray!

*Props to Dashie for pulling off a Sonic Rainboom so flawlessly!

*Luna?! Where the hay have you been??!! Okay this is another complaint about the episode but this time I have to agree. Where were you??? The only props I’ll give here is that at least they acknowledged she exists. Unlike Return of Harmony.

*I personally think Twilight should’ve gotten more of an apology from her friends, but at least the message still comes across. Not only is there the power of love in it’s toxicity and purity, but also Twilight journey to persist even in the face of doubt. If something seems suspicious to you, especially when it effects the ones you love, pursue it. Investigate and see what you can do to help. And it’s because of Twilight’s actions that she’s able to reunite her brother with someone who genuinely loves him. You might not be able to save someone you love from someone who is just using them on your own, but you can do your best to find someone who can help them. Twilight may not have technically saved the day this time, but she played a very important part.

*Ending with a fun reception with a really catchy song and the reveal that Vinyl Scratch’s eyes are magenta and not red. Breaking the hearts of fan artists the world over... And isn’t that what we should really take away from this episode?

Screw the haters. This episode is amazing! I should really do a full video on this one because I truly love this episode. If anything, the criticisms has made me realize in other ways why I love it so much, and why it sealed the deal for me on this whole magical pony thing. So I suppose I should be grateful for that. There were a lot of other things I could have mentioned, but again, these are just supposed to be short thoughts. Like I’ve said, this is the episode that made me understand why so many people loved this show for little girls, and i will always be grateful for that. Next Time: The Crystal Empire!

#My Little Pony #MLP Rewatch Marathon #canterlot wedding #My Little Pony Friendship is Magic Review #analysis #MLP:FIM

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howamidrivinginlimbo · 6 years

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The endless cycle of Radiohead’s Kid A and Amnesiac

I’m a huge Radiohead fan, they’re my favorite band and the album I love the most is without a doubt Kid A, followed by Hail To The Thief and A Moon Shaped Pool. Amnesiac’s probably in fifth place, which means I still find it an exceptionally good album. The reason I love Kid A so much is because I’ve always thought there is a story behind it, evolving with every song. I can clearly see the storyline and that adds extra depth to the music. Recently, I listened to Kid A, and the day after to Amnesiac. I started looking for a story in Amnesiac as well, and I think I can say that I found one. But what I found blew my mind away a little: I always thought the story was a chronological one, going from Everything In Its Right Place to Motion Picture Soundtrack. But in my opinion, it goes on in Amnesiac, and after Life in a Glasshouse, it just goes over in Everything In Its Right Place again! I’m aware this must sound very vague and maybe it’s something only I have experienced. That’s why I want to share this story with you. It’s quite depressing, so if you want to keep your happy experiences with these albums, you maybe shouldn’t read further. (But I can’t imagine these being happy albums for anyone, haha) Furthermore, these are my personal opinions and I’m telling these as facts, because I would get very tired of saying ‘in the way I see it’ etcetera every sentence. Warning: it’s a long read (>2000 words) and English is not my first language, so there will be mistakes. Let’s start with Everything In Its Right Place. An individual is introduced, details don’t matter, let me call him ‘he’ to make it easier. He lives in a very organised/controlled society and works in a factory, to do boring work with an assembly line. You could ask if they really need people for that, but he is actually more of a machine than a human being. He speaks in a robotic way and is clearly programmed according to the rules of society, in other words, he is extremely indoctrinated (on the level of authority, laws and morals). Kid A: he goes back home, a small place, and there he actually starts to question if the allegiance and happiness he experiences, is based on real things. That’s the ‘white lie’ he talks about. With ‘ventriloquists’ and ‘heads on sticks’ he realizes how similar machines and human beings are, because morals, emotions, maybe even free will, aren’t natural, just learned when coming of age. And he is only part of a giant system, a robot who doesn’t have anything to say. Of course this makes him depressed. In the end there is even a rebellic sound in the form of leading the kids, who aren’t that indoctrinated yet, away, because they are the ones who can still be saved. (As for the rats, I think that’s just a reference.) But the sound in the end is one of helplessness, he does nothing and/or can’t do anything. The National Anthem: He goes outside and because he is not that indoctrinated anymore, he is shocked of all the people who do all exactly the same thing. There’s even a gathering on behalf of the state and he experiences agoraphobia and social anxiety being surrounded. Suddenly horns (maybe the voice of the Great Leader) come in and make everyone completely obedient and in sync. He puts his fingers in his ears and somehow manages to evade the same effect. Towards the end of the song the other people leave and he is alone, suddenly startled by the horns swelling on again. The government has noticed he isn’t controlled well enough and the horns make him feel terrible pain, the blood coming out of his ears and nose. At the end of the song he has collapsed and is lying at the front of his house, crying. How To Disappear Completely: Pretty much a continuation of the previous song. He deals with the fear and especially sadness that come with being locked up in this society, no freedom. He wants to be somewhere else. On the top of this anti-society message I get, there is also a nihilistic view coming on. At some points in the song, he has some ‘it all doesn’t matter anyway’ vibes coming off him. Near the end, he decides to actually escape (although it’s not made clear how and IF he escapes). Treefingers: The scenery has drastically changed. There is the North Pole, the Arctic Sea, and there are endless blocks of ice, and weird blue light coming out of the ice. There is no creature around him, and he seems to step out of his body, and forget himself. There is just the endless emptyness of the north, the ice that comes back every ice age, the sea that rises and goes down again. Cracks in a glacier and looking in those, seeing a cold, empty world. Little caves in enormous ice blocks. Diving under the frozen surface of the sea and being in a dark blue nothing, with white light coming from above. Seeing aurora borealis there. Ice bears. Orcas. All you feel, he feels, there is, is fascination. Optimistic: A taste of what it feels like living outside of society. The ‘he’ is gone, we are millions of years earlier, and it’s the end of the dinosaur time. A small herbivore dinosaur and his friend try to survive, but snow is already falling, and the sky is black. When trying to find some food, his friend gets wounded and some time later is left to die. The dinosaur tries to keep walking, evading enemies, that are everywhere, but the snow is deep and there are no plants left. With the words ‘dinosaurs roaming the earth’ he sees a dead T-Rex and dies himself, marking the end of the dinosaurs. In the last tones, when Thom starts singing ‘ooh ooh ooh ooh’, we fast forward in history, with mammals evolving, animals like saber tooth tigers, and human apes, and there, finally human beings, who go from hunter societies to industrialized cities and at the end a dead person is shown, marking the end of the human race. The extra bit is showing how every process is a cycle, even stars, and complete parts of the endless universe are destroyed before new stars etcetera are evolving. The feeling here? For the individual, there is only pain and fear, but taking the whole universe into account, the individual experience doesn’t matter that much > nihilism. In Limbo: This is my favorite song (maybe of all time) and it’s very hard to describe. The ‘he’ is back and he is lying on his back on a raft in the middle of an endless sea and there is no one around him. The most important are the feelings here. First there is the fear. He knows he is lying there, with the risk of falling into sea. He knows there is no one to help him and he will die of thirst on that raft. The only other thing he can do, is drown himself, which he isn’t exactly eager to do as well. Secondly, there is the sadness, because of his coming death and because of his loneliness. The last ‘emotion’ is the lack thereof, the nothingness, the nihilism. With ‘come back!’, for example, the emotions are coming back, but that is for a short amount of time. He stays lying there apathically, forever, dying and not caring, maybe even giggling about it. The most depressive thing I can picture, ever. This is a song that doesn’t make you cry, but just makes you staring in the distance. Idioteque: He wakes up, in his bed, in his house, in the society. He never escaped at all, it was a dream, because you can never escape. He is confused at first, but then he panics and is deeply depressed. He is again in the cell of society and has obligations he doesn’t care about. He ends up going to bed again, lying there in the dark, hiding himself. Morning Bell: It’s morning, surprisingly, and he needs to go to the factory, but he stays in bed. Of course this song is about the wish of being somewhere else, being back on the Arctic Sea of In Limbo perhaps (which is not where you actually would want to go, but maybe total freedom and no safety is better than no freedom and total safety). And again, this song falls into emotionlessness (‘walking walking walking walking…’). Motion Picture Soundtrack: Still in bed and it seems our man hasn’t eaten or drunk for a while. The first verse is about lamenting this society, maybe even this life, where there is nothing to be happy about (if ‘happiness’ exists). The second verse makes everything a little more relative, the ‘white lies’ part of society isn’t spoken sadly of, it’s just that way. This song seems to be about acceptance, but he doesn’t accept life this way: he dies at the end, or thinks, hopes he’s dying, all because he hopes there is something better to come, a next life, perhaps something like heaven. Also important to say, during the second verse he starts to imagine an ice cave with high ceilings, and minerals that are glowing, and endless corridors and rooms and great halls, white and blue. He hopes that is his next life, just walking there forever, always moved by the beauty. It is not clear if he gets a next life or not. I thought the story ended here. I am an atheist and I don’t believe there is something like a next life, or heaven. But Amnesiac could be a resumal of that story, and has definitely more supernatural vibes than Kid A. Amnesiac as a resumal of Kid A could mean two things: there is either a next life, or the suicide didn’t succeed. I’d like to go with the last scenario. Our story continues! Packt like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box: The individual is alone, in a dark place, most likely a cave. He has been there for a long time. The cave is where he went with his mind when he entered the ice cave, he went deeper and deeper and travelled through different sorts, all underground. He’s not sad or happy, quite numb there. One thing is clear: this is not what really happened with his body, this is just where he imagines he is. I personally think the State has prevented him to commit suicide and his body is just lying under their watch somewhere. Pyramid Song: Still in the cave, but now on a river. This song seems to confirm that he didn’t really die, but he soothes himself. He wished he was dead and imagines the river Styx. The dream is beautiful, unhappy, but peaceful. This is all the individual wants, for life can bring him only misery, he imagines death as the best thing that could happen to him. Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors: This turns the image in a scarier place. Maybe because the State can do with his brains what they want. Doors seem to be about choices in life. For this individual, there are only closed locked doors, and of course the trapdoors. If we are speculating, it could be possible that the State prints the image of open doors in his head, so that he thinks he has any influence on his life. But the image stays scary and weird, because of the State and because everything is in life. You and Whose Army?: The defence of the individual against the State. He makes them ridiculous and suggests there are not enough of them to stop him. He wants to overthrow them with the powers of.. what? Nothing. He fights, but he has no power. The State heard this and decided to mess with his head further, as they do not like opposing persons. I Might Be Wrong: Still in the cave, but now by an underground waterfall. It is very beautiful and glides out of the cave, which means out of the coma he experiences now. He now has a more positive look on things, he has hope, which is a great contrast with the last few songs. There is no question that the State does this. Knives Out: Again a very different song. The individual is placed in a new home, maybe with others he considers as family. He is brainwashed, and he doesn’t remember much. He is amnesiac. But the State has punished him for his treason: the environment he lives in is awful. Everyone there is constantly bickering with each other and has to deal with constant hunger, fear and coldness. The only option left is cruelty and cannibalism, in order to survive. He is of course confused, but he sees himself several times as the victim he eats. He knows he is not any better than who he is eating. Morning Bell/Amnesiac: A song we’ve already heard. That time it was about wanting to stop everything, and thinking you could succeed in that (suicide). But you have no freedom, so you can’t commit suicide. This song is hopeless. The individual doesn’t stop working, but he is hopeless and emotionless. Happier tones tune in, but it’s too late. (Not my favorite song of Amnesiac, but this is, if I think it through, very sad and beautiful) Dollars and cents: Because of his good behaviour, he is placed into a better home with a job. He pretends he does his work like others and have an interest in the capitalist ways. Very soon, he hears of his coworkers and the State that everyone must be quiet. He does, but protests a little (maybe in his head). He stays quiet, but the State is crushing all people, all animals, the whole planet, all the places he went to in his head don’t exist, just battleground. The money is the only thing that’s important for the State and it destroys everything. Hunting Bears: It’s like he starts living in his head again (escapism), because it’s the only thing he can. He can’t find his cave anymore, or any beautiful landscapes, but just empty fields with mud and bombs everywhere, crows looking for left-over meat and bones. Fighting is the only thing he knows. Like Spinning Plates: A song about the prosperity and greatness of the State, and the little, poor, hopeless person he is. This is totalitarianism, the opposite of individual freedom, and thereby a stark contrast with songs like Optimistic and In Limbo. Now it’s pretty clear that living in freedom in constant danger is still better than with all your means under the control of a regime. Life in a Glasshouse: The individual lives in a house. He is aware of all the misery in life, but he starts to forget these things a little and decides to just do what he is ought to do, because he knows the State sees everything he does. As we approach the end of the song, he becomes more and more obedient and turns into the robot he is at the beginning of Kid A. This is only because of fear, and he isn’t well programmed that way, the reason it depresses him every time so much. He weeps himself to sleep and goes to the factory everyday, until the tears have disappeared and his face is blank.

And then we go on with Everything In Its Right Place again…

Thank you for reading this analysis of Kid A and Amnesiac! I hope your experiences don’t differ much from mine, as I enjoy these albums tremendously.

#radiohead #music analysis #alternative #kid a #amnesiac

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laberintos-espinas · 5 years

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The Scientific Literature of Dream Problems

Sigmund Freud was an Austrian nervous system specialist who established the psychoanalytic school in brain research. He was conceived on May 6, 1856 and kicked the bucket on 23 September 1939. During his life time of 83 years, he has discovered numerous novel speculations in numerous fields. Dream examination is one of the most fascinating lessons among them. As it is a gigantic subject, this article is about what we can fundamentally comprehend about the logical writing of dream-issues by perusing his book "Understanding of dreams" which was distributed in1913 mơ thấy voi đánh số gì At the point when we hear "dream", an inclination that can't be communicated in words strikes a chord (mental procedures). It is something that we can't feel in reality or in our waking state. There is a secretive inclination about dreams. Thus, we have gotten extremely inquisitive about recognizing what really makes us to see dreams and how it occurs.

Individuals who were in the past likewise had this mystery about dreams. They had their originations of universe and of the spirit. By blending dream in with these sorts of originations, they accepted that fantasy is something extraordinary which predicts the future and furthermore trusted it as a message from god. They thought of two classes of dreams. One is the fantasies which impacted distinctly by the present or the past. The other one is then again, the ones which decide what's to come. This conviction was there for a long time.

In any case, in the later periods, the logical enthusiasm for the marvels of dreams was improved.

There is an issue about the connection of the fantasy to the waking state. After we woke up, we feel like the fantasy we saw is from a different universe, however it isn't. We feel like that on the grounds that the fantasy is something completely unique and outsider from the things that we worry in the waking state. Or something bad might happen, there can be somewhere in the range of scarcely any components we had in the waking state. Our typical conduct and the cognizance are totally lost in the dreaming state, subsequently the fantasies draws out the total unrestricted separation of the mind. Additionally at any rate a little piece of it must be some place in our genuine encounters.

At times we can see the fantasies which we feel that we have never known in reality. It tends to be about a spot or an individual or anything that we can't think back that we have known in the waking state. That, yet in addition there can be such an extensive amount information in the fantasies that we can't recall in our genuine life. That is the information and the memory of our obviousness. The things which we find in our fantasies can be the materials which were entered to our memory in our youth. A large portion of them are caused to item fascinating "hypermnesic" dreams.

While worried about the boosts and wellsprings of dreams, it says that a fantasy is an aftereffect of such an unsettling influence which strikes upset our rest. Dream is a response of our psychological procedures against that unsettling influence. There are four classes of upgrades.

1) External tangible upgrades.

It implies target upgrades. For a model, a solid light may fall upon eyes while we are in a decent rest. As it upsets to our rest, it very well may be a boosts for a fantasy. In our fantasies it very well may be made us see as we walk alone the sea shore in a radiant day.

Now and then we can see various dreams for similar upgrades. It is on the grounds that there are some memory pictures in our psyche at that specific time we get the improvements and the most reasonable picture which goes with the target boosts is taken to deliver the fantasy.

2) Internal tangible upgrades.

A fantasy can't be delivered distinctly by the outside tactile boosts, in light of the fact that the whole outer tangible improvement which comes while we rest, can't make a fantasy or backing to begin a fantasy autonomously. There must be some inward certainties as well. In this manner we need to consider about the inside tangible improvements moreover. Emotional sensations which we see or hear in our waking state are significant in dream fantasies. The abstract boosts are autonomous of outside mishaps. They are, so to talk at the transfer of the understanding at whatever point they are required. The primary confirmation of this upgrades is that the hypnogogic mental trips. They are exceptionally obstructive however variable pictures which individuals see while nodding off. Some may wait for some time significantly after we opened our eyes. In the event that somebody awakens soon after having that sort of an encounter, it will be oft conceivable to follow in the fantasy pictures, the ones s/he saw before tumbling to the rest. It likewise can take as a "hypnogogic" mind flight. That, yet additionally sound-related visualizations may likewise happen and afterward can be in the fantasies.

3) Internal (natural) physical upgrades.

Our inward organs are reminds us their reality. That likewise foundations for a production of a fantasy. On the off chance that there is a malady, it can turn into a wellspring of most difficult sensation. Mind become more aware of its physicality than the waking state and it gets some invigorating which are beginning in the pieces of our body. Infections of heart and lungs might be dependent upon the bad dreams. Boosts continuing from the inside of the life form, from the sensory system, apply all things considered an oblivious effect on our state of mind during the day time. In any case, around evening time, that impact of the impression which was had at the day time is never again dynamic. The impressions that surfaced can drive themselves to stand out enough to be noticed. They are suffocated by the other outer effects at the day time.

4) Psychic wellsprings of excitation.

Individuals long for what they do in the waking state and of their intriguing things. That intrigue isn't just a clairvoyant bond, yet in addition joining the fantasy into the reality. On the off chance that an intrigue which we have during our waking state, together with the inward and outside tangible improvements that happen during rest, enough to cover the entire etiology of the fantasy. Be that as it may, the interests in our waking state are not exceptionally compelling to state unquestionably that each one who dreams are proceeding with these interests of the waking state.

We as a whole have encountered that fantasies are overlooked in the wake of waking. They blur away when we woke up. We can review it in the wake of waking yet the vast majority of the occasions we can't recollect the entire complete careful dream. Once in a while we realize that we have envisioned during the rest yet don't recall what we longed for. In any case, the fantasies show an unconventional capacity to be in the memory. A few dreams are rearward in the memory for quite a while, for example, for a long time, without being overlook a little piece of it. And furthermore without losing the freshness of that fantasy.

This overlooking is an unpredictable wonder. The elements which cause to overlook in the waking state are can be the reason to overlook the fantasies moreover. In waking state, we overlook such a ton of things, might be on the grounds that they are slight to recollect or there can be a slight measure of enthusiastic emotions. Be that as it may, we can recollect the solid significant things clearly. This is valid for the fantasies too. In dreams, the vast majority of the scenes are absence of request and absence of sense. This additionally causes to overlook since we effectively overlook the things which are not in a request and absence of sense. The relationship of the fantasy to the waking state is likewise significant in overlook dreams. In the event that that fantasy has an extraordinary connection to the waking state, it won't be overlooked. Additionally when we are waking, our consideration abruptly races to the vibes of this present reality. Accordingly, just scarcely any fantasy pictures are fit to be in the memory forcibly with that surge. In any case, the individuals who are exceptionally keen on dreaming, can recall the fantasies more effectively and furthermore they dream more than others.

As we probably am aware, the hypnogogical mind flights (even in their substance) they are indistinguishable with dream pictures. Change of a thought into a visualization isn't the main takeoff of the fantasy from the comparing waking idea. It can make a reasonable circumstance from a visualization. It gives us something as in genuine.

In this book, "Understandings of Dreams", Freud talks about the moral sense in dreams as well. He considers about the fantasy as a sub issue, to what degree the emotions and the ethical obligations of the waking state influence the fantasy life. A few essayists state that there is no impact to the fantasy life from the ethical commitments. In any case, a few, then again accentuation that the ethical bond which are identified with man persevere even in the fantasy life. Obviously there are such shameless dreams that nobody denies. In any case, we need to know how they start. Every one of the ones who consider about this issue, have perceived an extraordinary mystic hotspot for indecency of dreams. We are not liable for our fantasies. Dreams take us to the truth of our lives. In any case, in the event that somebody can rinse his/her brain ethically before s/he rest, that individual probably won't see unethical dreams.

Since dreams have become something organic, there were numerous inadequate hypotheses about dreams, for example, "Dream is something which was sent by god to the man..." Scientists' and therapeutic scholars' most supported hypothesis is that solitary a part of mystic movement deadened by rest discovers articulation in dreams. It very well may be distinguished as the most famous hypothesis of dreams.

The connection among dreams and mental sicknesses is another significant segment that Freud has talked about here. At the point when we talk about this connection, we need to worry around three things.

1. Etiological and clinical relations as when a fantasy speaks to a maniacal condition.

2. The progressions that the fantasy life experiences in instances of psychological instabilities.

3. Inward relations among dreams and psychoses, analogies that point to a close connection.

Subsequent to having a thought regarding these things, an irregular horrible wonder can be considered as an expansion every once in a while repeating typical dream state. The unequivocal understanding among dreams and mental maladies goes to trademark subtleties too.

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akokosblog-blog · 6 years

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Check this new published post on https://is.gd/5U3qXE

Falz Moral Instruction Album Review

Falz Moral Instruction album amidst much controversy is released. Falz highly anticipated album was released on the 15th of January 2019 with the hashtag #moralinstruction rolling on social media.

One of the notable figures that greatly influenced Nigerian music is Fela Anikulapo Kuti, professionally known as Fela Kuti, or Fela.

Fela was a talented musician, composer, pioneer of afrobeat and he played multiple instruments.

He was known to be a staunch activist as he stood up for the people and resisted oppression back in his time.

There were multiple cases of him being persecuted for his beliefs and what he stood for.

In a particular instance, he was jailed for 20months but still, he pushed on and stood his ground.

Over time, the music industry in Nigeria has evolved and experienced tremendous progress and changes.

Different artists have contributed to the gallery of music and the number keeps increasing by the hundreds every day.

Many artists have been called Fela because they have tried to emulate Fela as regards his style of music and activism.

Artists like Wizkid, Burnaboy and a host of others have been labeled the new Fela.

So, Folarin Falana, popularly known as “Falz theBahdGuy”, a rapper, released a 9-track album titled Moral Instruction.

Falz extensively and outrightly expressed his dissatisfaction at the state of things in Nigeria.

Falz has always been vocal about the state of things in the country maybe because of the activist blood running in his veins.

Prior to the release of the Moral Instruction album, he released songs like Child of the world, which is a story of a moral upright girl that got corrupted when she got raped by an uncle and eventually, she became a sex worker and ultimately, she changed and became a new person.

Social media went agog when the song was released with different individuals voicing out their opinion.

Falz has always expressed his dislike for girls that place a value on sex and internet fraudsters popularly known as Yahoo-Yahoo boys.

Last year, Falz also released a controversial video, This is Nigeria.

The video depicted the current state of the nation including, the Fulani killings, the snake swallowing 36-million-naira scandal, the sorry state of Nigerian politics, the harassment of citizens by FSARS and a host of other issues in the country.

All these conveniently paved ways for the new album Moral Instruction.

Falz Moral Instruction Album Review

Moral Instruction Album Review – Falz

Falz channeled the spirit of Fela’s activism and this was outrightly visible from the album art as designed by the talented designer, Lemi Ghariokwu who designed many of the cover images for the recordings of Fela.

He teamed up with producers like Sess, Chillz, Willis, and TMXO to create this beautiful body of work. It is important to also note that he sampled some of Fela’s songs in the album.

Each country in the world has an artist or group of artists considered to be the G.O.A.T (not the pepper soup type, G.O.A.T stands for Greatest Of All Time) for that country.

In America, most believe this is Tupac Shakur, while some think Michael Jackson or Elton John should have that title-depending on who you ask; Jamaica has Bob Marley, Ghana is fortunate enough to have a living G.O.A.T in the person of Sarkodie and so on.

In Nigeria however, the greatest artist of all time is without any doubt FELA KUTI.

In a country with divisions in tribe and religion and even subdivisions within the aforementioned groups, it is very surprising that FELA’S title of G.O.A.T goes unchallenged.

To many Nigerians, Fela is a physical embodiment of fearlessness.

He spoke the truth everybody knew but were too scared to speak, he fought for the weak, he challenged the oppressors of Nigeria at the risk of his own personal safety and the safety of his family.

This is why to say an artist is “like Fela” or “is the Fela of our generation” is the highest compliment that can be paid to a Nigerian musician.

Falz theBahdGuy is the latest artist in a long list of artists currently contending for that spot and many feels he has earned it with this new album #moralinstruction.

His album talks about every single thing wrong with Nigeria.

He literally “dragged” the whole country-pastors, church members, politicians, citizens, sex workers, child abusers, everybody in Nigeria was dragged and this is the major reason why the album is on everybody’s lips.

Since everybody was mentioned on that album it means every single Nigerian relates to at least one song on the album with majority of Nigerians relating to all the songs.

Track by Track breakdown of the Fela Moral Instruction Album

Johnny

The first track on the album contains samples of Fela’s song “Johnny just drop”.

TMXO infused a hip hop beat into the afrobeat song. I think Falz used this track to start a chain reaction and set the pace for the remaining tracks.

This song transports the listener back to 1980 with the Fela type of instrumental.

Falz tackles the issue of police brutality by telling a short story about a Nigerian youth – Johnny, who just completed his youth service and was shot when he went out to celebrate with friends.

On the track, Falz talked about the alarming rate of insecurity in Nigeria.

He stated the different levels of insecurity in the country ranging from the cultural and religious killings in different parts of the country.

He questions the lack of punishment for the officers involved in the act and is baffled that the government thinks an apology is enough to sate the bereaved parents of the deceased.

It depicts the savagery and recklessness of the Nigerian police force as different reports of “trigger-happy cops” fill the headlines every day.

He ended the song with the Yoruba words, “if Johnny continues to drop, eyanmelo lo maku, eyanmelo lo maku” which means, how many people will die and how many people will be left.

Follow Follow

This track is based on Fela’s Zombie, and Sess smoothly blended it into a hip-hop groove. This immediately reminds the listener of the popular Fela song “zombie” and the message is very clear.

Fela sang the original song which talks about how soldiers are bound to follow orders.

Falz built on this with how he likened the enslavement of people by social media to people being zombies.

The song addresses people that are ready to do anything for validation, people who don’t have any goals of their own and people who jump on wagons simply because other people are doing it.

Different individuals try to be what they are not and imitate what they see on social media.

He talks about how people have lost their self-identity and caved into peer pressure.

The song emphasizes the craziness and the extent people go, to please other people and also get likes and followers on social media.

Hypocrite

This particular track is one of my favorite tracks on the album. The song started with piano chords which transitioned into a groovy beat.

Falz teamed up with Demmie Vee who delivered a sonorous hook to the verses of the song.

The first verse started out with Falz singing a little bit before he went hardcore and the second verse, the same way.

The song addresses the hypocrisy in the society ranging from the government to the common man.

Falz theBahdGuy in his usual bar spitting nature dissected matters affecting Nigeria (fake pastors, overzealous Muslims, child marriage, pedophiles in the church and politicians that starve their fellow citizens to their purses).

He talked about how people have two faces; the face they put on the outside and the real one.

Talk

This track was released a few days before the album was released and it is also about all the ills in society.

The song slowly progressed in a call and response manner until Falz went on a spree of another marvelous spits of bars.

“Anything I talk make you talk am again”

Addressed the situation of MURIC suing him, stating that they didn’t show up at court.

Falz TheBahdGuy didn’t hold back in this particular track as he rapped about a wide range of things including transactional sex, late payment of salaries by the government and the bad situation of things in Nigeria.

The song ended by him taking responsibility of the words spoken and he said, “na me talk am o”.

Amen

This particular one was built on the track “Coffin for Head of state” by Fela.

Falz has made it clear over and over again that hypocrisy in religion upsets him.

Amen attacks religious leaders that have successfully commercialized religion, he laughs at the irony of religious leaders using the money of their followers to build a university that the followers cannot afford to go to.

This song is a plea to the listener to open his eyes, mind and to think for his/her self.

Brother’s keeper

The family is very precious to Nigerians; Fathers kill for their daughters, sons go to war for their Mothers.

If we thought of all our neighbors as brothers would there still be hate in the country?

Would we still be divided because of ethnic and religious differences? These are the question’s this song is trying to ask.

Falz talks about individuals at different levels not looking out for each other and emphasized what he has been saying on the previous tracks.

He believes love is the answer; if you love your neighbor like your brother you cannot cheat him, you cannot seek to do him harm.

Sess did justice to the track as both the producer and the singer of the hook.

I also love the fact that the backup vocals sound like a choir singing giving the track a very unique vibe.

The song has one message for its listener-be your brother’s keeper.

Paper

What’s money worth? The breaker of tables once again comes with his hammer to do an honest day’s work.

He condemns parents giving out underage children because of money, he expresses disappointment at ritualists, drug smugglers and politicians who are ready to do anything to get money.

This particular track is an extension of the previous tracks.

In his own words, they commit all these crimes all because of “just paper”.

E no finish

Here he questions the purpose of speaking out about the injustice in the society when the issues that Fela talked about are still not resolved till today.

Fela talked, people applauded him and continued wallowing in their filth.

He tries to let the listener know just how bad the situation is in the country if we are still trying and failing to work out the same problems since independence.

It ended with Lemi Ghariokwu saying few words about the state of things in Nigeria.

After all said and done

In this short poem, Falz theBahdGuy admits that he knows he has no right to throw blame around, admitting his own faults and weaknesses, since he is also a human with flaws of his own.

The track is in form of a poetry rendition.

He believes everybody is guilty – through action or inaction and only by accepting our guilt and striving to be better can we move forward as a country, together.

He finally encouraged people to be conscious and not keep quiet about the happenings in our society.

In conclusion

Falz may have dropped what promises to be the most controversial album of the year but regardless of your opinion about the Falz Moral Instruction album you have to admit that all he said is nothing but the gospel truth.

It’s great to see an artiste devote a whole album to talk about the state of affairs in Nigeria and taking the path of activism and walk in Fela’s footsteps.

Fela has become more than a person. Fela has become more of an ideology and a way of life.

I think anyone that decides to stand for what is right and stare into the face of adversity can be called “A Fela”.

It is safe to say Falz theBahdGuy is “A Fela”.

The greatest criticism of the album is that the lyrics became monotonous at some point but a good message cannot be overheard and we don’t even care about the critics and criticism.

Falz took a stand with this album and I hope he does not deviate from this path.

Written By Leon Chuks and Moyo Oluwatuyi

#Falz Moral Instruction #Featured #News &amp; Entertainment

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reallyveryclueless · 6 years

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Thoughts on Doctor Who Season 11 Episode 1

So the new season of Doctor Who started recently and I’ve been excited for it. I was glad we were finally getting some new blood, I was excited to see myself represented in a female doctor, and I was glad we were going to have a consistantly larger TARDIS team. Unfortunately I ended up struggling with this episode. I didn’t really like it, and at first I couldn’t tell why. I felt bad that I didn’t love it because it seems like everyone else can find no faults in this episode. I’ve now watched it multiple times and I think I’ve figured out why it didn’t click with me.

First, some obligatory warnings

This isn’t an entirely negative post, a lot of it is just pointing out things that surprised me and it still remains to be seen as to whether these will be good things or bad things

I will still continue watching the show, maybe it just takes them a while to get their feet considering there’s been so much change and the direction they go ends up being great

Capaldi is my favorite doctor, so there’s probably some part of my struggle to connect with this new character that’s because I don’t want to let him go

Everything Has Changed

New Doctor

I really wanted to like Jodie Whittaker but she didn’t quite click for me from this one episode. There were a couple of moments when I really liked her (like making the screwdriver) but there were a lot of moments when she felt strange to me. Having never seen Jodie act before, I was a bit surprised. The way she handled the role wasn’t exactly what I expected from her announcement or from seeing pictures of her. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, there’s a lot of potential for her to be funny and develop her own portrayal into something unique.

It’s a bit strange to see that everyone instantly clicked with this Doctor while I didn’t. She was a bit more childish or campy than I wanted, and while I like that she’s a bit more personable than Capaldi, she hasn’t yet shown me that she can pull off friendly but still incredibly old and tired of people dying. I’m happy to let that develop though, I’m far more worried about how the writers will handle a female doctor (because if they make it too much of a big deal in story I’m going to scream) than I am at how Jodie’s going to handle this role.

We also have an entirely new cast of characters

I expect it will take a while for us to really get to know the new characters but it was still a bit weird to be starting with a completely new group of people. I did think there were some great moments hinting at who our companions will be as people so this didn’t really worry me much. I feel like I’m really going to like the group we’ve got. Yaz seemed awesome, and Graham’s practicality was a nice change.

There are new writers, and you can tell

The way certain things were written made me do a double take. The pacing and the jokes written into the script were a bit... different and some of it didn’t quite work for me. There were also some super convenient solutions to things that hopefully won’t continue for the rest of the series, I want clever writing.

I think the biggest choice of the writers that stuck out to me was not drawing out the time the Doctor spent clinging to the bottom of the crane trying to climb up. It did feel a bit unrealisitic to me because doing a pull up with that grip is actually super tricky, and from past experience with the show drawing out moments where the Doctor might fail I was surprised that they skimmed right over how she got up there and just continued on.

The new budget / cinematography is so noticable

You can tell just from the way the shots are framed and the blur of the background and the colour scheme that this is both a much bigger budget and a different team. I wouldn’t say I disliked this, but it lacked the Doctor Who vibe to me because I wasn’t used to it at all.

The music.

This is the first time in all of new who (well second but shhh) that they’ve used a different composer for the main sequence. From what we heard of it in the credits scene, I don’t like it at all. There’s something about the bassline being played on what sounds like a timpani that I cannot stand.

The title sequence

From what we saw of the background during the credits, it seems like they’re going to appeal much more to classic who vibe which is interesting. I don’t know quite what to think of it yet.

The “next time” preview

It was handled so much better than it has been the last couple of seasons. This is probably the biggest plus for me, I really liked how little they gave away about what was coming up. A bunch of people have complained throughout the past few seasons that the next time previews have been giving too much away, so this time instead of playing clips for the whole season they just used close ups of actors faces. It gave a little bit away, with some costumes / sets hinting at more historical episodes and some hinting towards more futuristic ones, but it didn’t give any actual events away.

The diversity.

I am so happy for the diversity growing in this show. Not only are two of our companions not white, but there was another side character (the guy who’s sister was taken) who wasn’t white when he totally could have been with no change to the plot. It made me so happy. And when they were showing some of the actors we could expect later, there was a full run where we went like 5 actors without mentioning someone white. I was really pleasantly surprised by that.

Figuring Out Who The Doctor Is

It did feel like this episode was written while the writers were still figuring out who the Doctor was. They grasped some of the broader stokes, but didn’t necessarily use them in the most effictive way. There were some scenes where it felt like the writers didn’t quite grasp who the Doctor was.

I get that the scene above is meant to be an easy way to show that the Doctor’s still against violence, but it kind of meant nothing. The knife part of a swiss army knife is rarely used for combat, it’s used to cut ropes or open plastic packaging.

There was also that moment on top of the crane when the Doctor had already pretty much killed the villain by getting him to detonate bombs that had been planted in his own flesh (which I do kind of question... you can’t just say “full physical transfer” and expect that to explain stuff away) but this villain was standing there with all his DNA being unwritten. So this other guy who is scared decides to shove him off the crane, and the Doctor has this whole “I’m the Doctor and I say no to violence” moment (”you had no right to do that” is the exact response) but it kind of lost it’s impact considering the villain was already dying. What’s the difference between them dying from having all their DNA unwritten and them dying from falling off a crane? Especially when the villain teleported away regardless. I just didn’t think it was the best way to show off the Doctor’s morals.

There was also the moment above which I didn’t really get... why would they have the Doctor say “I’m looking for a doctor.” The only way I can understand it was hinting that her memory was kind of a mess... but we already knew that. Otherwise it kind of implied to me that she wasn’t really the Doctor yet... which ?? Plus this scene, the whole “smart, biology” moment just didn’t work for me when Jodie Whittaker said it. I feel like it was a Tennant / Smith type line and for me it didn’t fit the sort of persona she had.

I didn’t really feel like Jodie Whittaker had a moment in this episode where she shone. Like in comparison to the complete sucess of The Eleventh Hour where by the end everyone was rooting for Matt Smith, I feel like this was a weak introduction episode.

There was also this whole speech that the Doctor gave, which was so obviously just a message directly to any fans that were doubting the new direction that the show was going in. The emotional tone of the speech didn’t really fit the rest of the scene, like I get the argument but I feel like the speech was far too melodramatic.

My One Big Problem

Tim Shaw. How does no one else have a problem with this? The Doctor I love would never refuse to correctly pronounce an alien’s name. Yet this alien repeatedly correcting the Doctor to try to get their actual name to be acknowledged is treated like a joke. I don’t find it funny at all. And I’m kind of shocked, because in a way this was meant to be Jodie Whittaker’s big funny moment but to me it read more as insensitive and a tiny bit racist. Anglicising a character’s name so that it can be more easily pronounced by other characters, fans, and media outlets (and yes, every single review I’ve read of this episode refers to him as “Tim Shaw”) is not okay.

I don’t know whether the writers are trying to justify this by him not caring about humanity or being the villain, but I’m not okay with it. The writers spend the whole episode unable to decide whether this character is actually a threat or whether they’re actually there to be made fun of, which is really confusing for the viewer. The previous seasons of new who have put a lot of effort into creating this feeling that no one is just “evil” because everyone has to make difficult choices and sometimes people make bad choices or even have bad intentions but that doesn’t make them irreversibly bad people. If this episode is setting the standard for how villains will be treated by the new writers, I’m not so sure that will continue.

Season Predictions

I think it would be really cool to have a third doctor inspired season where the TARDIS is missing / unusable and the Doctor has to deal with more small scale things on Earth, but I don’t think that’s the direction this season is going.

I have heard someone suggest that the Stenza may come back as a larger villain (which sounds a bit too similar to Class’s overarching unstoppable villain for my liking) because the Doctor mentioned “if I don’t stop you, you’ll just keep doing this.” While I agree that having the Doctor basically ignore / forget that an alien species is using Earth as a hunting ground doesn’t seem realistic to the character, I’m not that interested in having more Stenza episodes so I hope that doesn’t happen. I did enjoy the idea of them as a one time villain though.

I’m pretty sure the writers have hinted (confirmed??) that there isn’t an overarching plot this series which I am in two minds about. I actually really enjoy having the overarching plots, and while some of them haven’t been the best executed I do think it adds something interesting to the show. However I think if done right, having a bunch of stand alones could be good. And I’m glad there are no two parters because after it being all two parters in season 9 (most of which kind of feel flat for me) I am looking forward to some more simple plots.

I hope that there will be more unique alien species introduced, with a lot more unpredictability in the episodes. I feel like we kind of reached a point where a lot of the episodes were kind of similar (like Smile in season 10 felt a bit like a throw back to The Doctor’s Daughter in season 4, Oxygen in season 10 reminded me of The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit in season 2), and we could pretty easily tell who was going to die and what the plot twists were going to be.

#doctor who #doctor who spoilers #13th doctor #season 11 #jodie whittaker #thirteenth doctor #female doctor #doctor who criticism #the woman who fell to Earth

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momtaku · 8 years

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SnK Chapter 91 Poll

I’ll be closing the chapter 91 poll tomorrow, so this is your last chance if you’d like to chime in.

Take the Poll

I’ve gotten 350+ responses thus far and tbh these results are the most interesting I’ve seen in terms of lack of consensus. 134 people have left their chapter thoughts, I’ll share a bunch of those below the read more. My favorite is listed first :)

*patrick star voice* WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE

If Levi is taking down the beast titan and he finds out that not only is Zeke already dead, but his replacement is a weak-brows version of Erwin, I really hope it gives him pause. That could be such a heartbreaking, earth shattering moment for him and I hope Yams handles it right.

GABI! Just Gabi. She's perfect

Timeskips should be illegal

Seeing the extent of Marleyan brainwashing was exceedingly well done.

Imagine how the poor kid that inherited "Cartman" felt like upon learning that that thing was their award for winning the marleyan hunger games.

Very unexpected change of character view from our beloved heroes to their"enemy"'s point of view. But I also think it's come at a good time in the overall SnK storyline...let's not forget that the walled society probably has no records on how to build ships or sail on the sea.

Can someone just tell Isayama‚ preferably someone close to him so the message gets across‚ that this isnt how trench warfare fucking worked? WW1 didn't have pre-teen, half-naked Genki girls hopping over trenches, tossing dynamite sticks at armored trains. This chapter destroyed my suspension of disbelief beyond repair.

I liked we got more info about Marley, but the fact that Isayama isn't willing to confirm Ymir and Annie's fate is getting a bit annoying

I thought this chapter was actually pretty cool. I've fallen hopelessly in love with Gabi! Fingers crossed that Annie gets the f*** outta that crystal soon though!

The time skip was needed for story progression but a lot of important questions and interactions were skipped in terms of character development. I just hope we get some of them in flashbacks and not have them completely disregarded don't care about the new characters, but I'm okay as long as they don't take so much screen time and we can go back to our main cast soon enough

I honestly dislike how Isayama uses these new characters to show us what Marley and being a warrior is like, instead of showing us RBA and Zeke's past :(

I think the after-chapter freakout was a big overreaction. I mean we could kinda forsee the direction the manga was going to take after we learnt about the whole Marley/Eldia thing.

After reading the full chapter and talking to someone else about it, I feel better about the timeskip. This chapter made me feel for RBA more, because they must've started out like Gabi and the rest. I only hope that those kids don't have the same fate (but considering that it is snk, it's likely that they are going to suffer lbs). I'm just worried about the 104th and what's been going on with them. They've all grown, and Eren and Armin are closer to their death now :( I don't think I would've had a problem with the time skip if it wasn't for the 13 year thing. But overall, I'm pretty optimistic with where the story is going. I trust Isayama with his story telling. I just have to prepare myself in case of the worst.

Warriors were cool. That's what I consider to be AoT. But without actual Titans, it's just not as interesting. Neither are the WW1 vibes. I just want titans back.

I thought this was a pretty good world building chapter (despite the jarring time skip), especially since we've been waiting many chapters to see this place. I don't ADORE these new characters, I'm more intrigued, which is better then hating them. This is also a good set up chapter. I'm interested to see if Reiner will interact with these new characters. Since they look so similar to the 104th (design and personality), will he constantly be reminded of his past relationships with them? Plus, will he see some of himself in them (specifically Gabi) and through them reminding of himself we'll see his backstory? And is he going to just except his fate and get eaten, or be like "Screw this, nope, not dealing with it."

"WHAT" was legitimately the keyword for this chapter but I trust Isayama with the story and with our heroes+ I hope we'll get to see the Jaegers reunion before anything bad happens to Zeke...

Gabi is such a badass, omg, do you see it Eren? This is how you gettting out of horrible situations!

This chapter has really grown on the more times I read it.

Really enjoyed the way the characters were presented. It gives the reader the chance to see Marley's side of things without being forced to have a story-generated opinion on them (aka screaming at us to hate them) because quite frankly, I was rooting for those Warrior kids to succeed with their plan!

I think it is a very unusual way to tell a story, however I also feel this could work for the best.... I think this time skip can actually go a long way towards making the coming conflict realistic. Rather than our protagonists taking them on with nothing but grit, hope and friendship, we have the possibility of them having actual time to prepare. I think this might lead to a battle between Marley and the people of Paradis that will be more evenly matched, and most importantly, realistic in how that happened.

i like the much needed change in perspective

While this chapter was certainly not a bad one, I only wished that more of the spotlight was on the original characters, seeing that there's only a few more arcs before the end of the series.

Dammit you Gabi! Fresh Face, Fresh Outlook in Life and Cute! I want to cosplay as her!

Next chapter : Gabi's underwear vs Survey Corps hundred of casualties.

UGH. This is no longer the story I used to enjoy. It's deliberately shifted from inspiring, against-all-odds heroism to a pile of absurdist, everything-is-relative garbage determined to prove that our 'heroes' are no more heroic than their opposition. If I wanted to be slapped in the face with a message of humanity's grayscale depravity, I'd read the news, thanks. :( I'm probably done with new chapters at this point, this isn't what I signed up for :P

I understand why the story is going in this direction and why it makes sense to skip three years...but I feel like we're moving further from our emotional center of the series, like the characters we love and their reactions to recent events. I'm also concerned about the dwindling lifespans of Armin, Eren, and Reiner. So I'm excited but scared for the changes our kids have gone through in three years...wish we could've seen it but I get why it's not feasible. The world is cruel....:'(

if i pretend that this is a new manga i just started, it's interesting I guess. Wish we could have seen the warriors story from the Titan Trio's Pov. The fact that we get these new kids instead tells me that they will be sticking around. Not sure whether my investment in the story will ever go back beyond mjpopcorn.gif if that's the case.

I will like this chapter, but only if Isayama concludes this story with a good twist, that is. If not, chapter 91 will in my opinion be the beginning of the end (end in a bad way).

In the four year time skip, it could have been possible for the sc to build a ship (or multiple ships) which is good enough to cross the ocean with. Which leads me to think that the main characters will cross the ocean in some of the next chapters.

This chapter shows the bigger picture. what to come & what was in plan for years. This is the real thing now.

This was obviously a set-up chapter for things to come, but unfortunately I found it to be dull except for the part where they talk about the mission in the wall. That's all I care about, and this chapter did nothing to make me care for the plight of Marley and whatever stupid war they have to deal with.

Part of me wants to say that some key characteristics about Gabi not only resemble Eren or a younger version of him, but may also express some of the characteristics Isayama originally wanted to use for Eren when he considered making him female (I mean, Gabi even has nearly the exact same hair style as fem!Eren). But although they both are quite similar in a sense and could have had potential of being even more similar, until you reach a certain degree, they split in very different directions. Gabi tends to appear significantly more childish and carefree in the sense that everything is a game, while Eren has always been quite serious and often characterized as "angry". She and Eren both make similar reckless decisions and both speak similar dialogue, but they're quite different at the core based on assumable experiences and the environments they grew up in.

There are so much new good elements, I hope Isayama will do well 'cause the story is really interesting. Aside from that, the fact that Eldians (Gabi&Co) seem to enjoy fighting with their oppressor is disturbing, it's like a Stockholm syndrome...so different from Grisha and the revolutionist but to me they're all too radicals. Can't wait to knoe more about other nations

While there were definitely aspects that deserve creation (for instance we all know the amnesia thing was lazy writing) but overall I don't think the chapter was bad. I think the kids' unrealistic attitudes in battle was purposeful juxtaposition to the way our main cast has experienced war--it shows the extent of the brainwashing (I don't think it's that Isa is unable to consistently portray war's effects on people in a realistic way, like some claim). I'm wary but I think the story could be taken in some interesting directions. It would be really interesting to be reintroduced to our main characters through the eyes of the new ones, especially if our heroes come storming in like enemies--really playing into the moral grayness.

Time skip means we will see older version of the main characters and that's both exciting and terrifying af

One can only hope that Isayama graces us with Levi wearing a ponytail after this.

I was waiting for the story to explain what's going on the other side of the ocean. But not from these "copy and pasted" brats. Reiner is seen in just one panel and Zeke is barely mentionned. That's a shame.

I'm not buying the racial war yet. Grisha's sisters death was a stand out moment where I actually felt the horror of the war/racial conflict. So I have faith Isayama still has some gut punches left. But the clunky worldbuilding and shallow new characters are just not doing it for me. Isayama needs to invest in character moments because the human war narrative he has going right now doesn't have enough nuance or intrigue to stand on its own as of right now. This new outside of the walls world isn't immersive enough yet. Thanks momtaku for having these polls! They are always fun. :-)

I personally don't like Gabi that much. She put herself in danger, and I'm sure Marley would prefer to have someone much more tactical, or at least someone who doesn't put their whole life/operation in danger by pulling some silly stunt in hopes of getting noticed. I thought it was a very risky thing to do. But that's just my opinion.

meh

#snk poll #snk chapter 91 #snk 91

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