#◜V1: Bad End◞

[grimfolks]

I randomly found Maya in my folders and I thought it’d be fun to see her more in my current style WITHOUT changing too much of her face structure to begin with (yeah yeah I’m not that creative). Do I wish to give her a better life now for absolutely no reason? Yeah

[canon-gabriel-quotes]

Transcript:

W-where am I? How? How did you do this?

Sisyphus? Is that you?

How are you so big? And I’m so small?

No! Let me out of here!

Let me- *muffled yelling*

*cats meowing*

Audio source

[velvetredskies]

didn't draw anything cool today so uhhh old spot doodlemess thing . ueah

[bmpmp3]

i need to remember to start specifying that when i refer to ia i almost exclusively am talking about her voisona/cevio 2.0 voice (and occasionally her 1.0 when talking about how good it sounds in certain electronic genres) because that really is the quintessential ia voice for me, maybe a little too much because i keep forgetting v3 exists LOL

[distrxst]

you're not just expendable. you're obsolete. there's nothing waiting for you if you leave. so why bother trying with the mission?

there's that buzzing . it's like an irksome clicking , something poking and prodding at torn wires and then some . the voice , wracked with complaints and taunts , back again . the machine readies itself once more - for an eyefestation , for the sound of a turret whirring to life , but listens in for something wholly more unusual .

the program speaks , questions him with a newer tone , almost confused - confounded at why the machine would do something so tedious - something useless to help those who have plans to shut it right back down . it holds a bit of humanity , something severely lacking in every inch of this structure . like it pities the model for a truth it may not know . v1 knows it anyways . he's a war machine , his processing power is stellar . very little gets by him . he knows urbanshade has little use for a v-model after the crystal is attained . so , why indeed ?

it's an objective . a low hum erupts from the cooling fans that lay beneath his plates , rust builds at his joints , wings that dip uselessly towards the ground , scraping lines into concrete as he moves - it's all awful , yes , but he is alive . v1 is alive - living , breathing , a heart pumping as the core of his builds . a pulse that races as he narrowly escapes death , the feeling of simple life . it will all be taken away sooner or later . but now he gets to move , to feel , to fight , to fear , before he is put away .

v1 didn't enjoy sitting still .

shiny blue catches the peripheral of its vision , and v1 steps across the room to hurriedly collect it . the big fish likes these , even if it isn't fond of him specifically . he likes to collect . v1 likes to be alive . being able to do anything is fulfilling enough . he will take it . take any time to roam - to live in motion . to irritate , to die , and certainly to offer undeserved response to the daft program that seemed to be insistent on extending this objective .

[ purpose . ]

[sadthixx]

I decided to make Victorian Kaito into a plush, and for the Kikagoods CJD doll as V1 Kaito. The next Kaito poll (already ended with 15 votes, thank y'all sm) still carries out, it's just changed to a plush now. As for the CJD, I originally planned for it to be V1 and I want to stick with those plans.

The Victorian Kaito already has a concept in mind, I just need to get proper materials for him when I have the chance. For the time being, I just have enough to make the Kikagoods CJD V1 Kaito.

[edens-notesfromthegarden]

y'know what, violence layer musings since it keeps rotating in my head.

i like the idea that some of the mannequins are potentially those who designed v1.

something about their souls being sentenced to the violence layer for making a machine of war. since they believe themselves powerful enough to play god by building something non-human that runs on blood, they were made into mannequins, their bodies constructed as something to be dismantled and reconstructed as punishment (hence why their limbs are entirely made of forearms).

i have an idea of a cutscene happening in that room with the blue skull when v1 turns to face the mannequin masses, that some of them start wailing and calling out its name; their creation, happy to see it still surviving where they did not.

v1 having a visceral reaction and acknowledgement that the mannequins are its creators, and suddenly launching a volley of bullets and other weaponry without the player input just because it doesn't want to see them again.

the cacophony of cries from the past, silenced in an instance.

[typicalcommondandelion]

Haiii guys the animation is finished. Do you ever think about these two. Because I sure do

[joezworld]

Express Engines

So, recently some friends of mine (@sparkarrestor chief among them) finally got me to watch some TTTE fan videos on youtube. I really never got into that stuff - I’m “an old” by Tumblr standards, and my first exposure to TTTE fan video content was back in the days of wooden models filmed with potatoes, and Trainz productions that still had the Fraps logo onscreen. Things were dire, and I never bothered to really investigate further in the intervening decade+. Watching it now, I’m absolutely astounded by the level of quality and skill that a lot of people on youtube have gotten up to. I find writing to be tedious and slow, but at the least I get a few new paragraphs or pages at the end of each night to read back through. Filmmaking, especially the animated stuff that these people are making, is such a long game that I don’t think I could stand it. 

One of the first things that Sparks (and @weirdowithaquill) showed me was Rhydyronen’s Express Engines, the superbly made adaptation of the second book in Sodor Island Forum’s (SiF) Extended Railway Series. (ERS)  I could honestly go on about the production quality and filmmaking skill involved in this for some time, but I feel as though after a while it would stop being constructive responses and more just me pointing at the screen and mumbling things about camera movements, so I’ll relent for right now. Just assume that I really enjoyed it and keep coming back to it.  

(That being said, watching “Fourth Time Unlucky” and “Keeping Up With Castle” made me feel like my third eye was opening several different times. I had no idea that some of the filmmaking techniques in this were even possible, especially the big conversation set piece in Fourth Time Unlucky.)

---

All that being said… I do have quite a few issues with the story itself. Not the cinematography, the animation, or the voice acting, but the heart of this work - the script. It’s not a problem with Rhydyronen, the creator, instead it’s something inherent to the work itself. 

Allow me to explain:

SiF’s ERS was very formative to me as “a young,” entering the fandom in the late -00s and early -10s. I read literally of them, and even went through the long-since-retconned V1 archive that is still present on the “Your Own Railway Series Style Stories” page. There’s a non-zero chance that I know more about this series of works than anyone who isn’t an active or former contributor to the ERS. Even to this day, I check in every other Saturday to see what they’ve put out. A lot of my works are based in no small part on the real world setting of Sodor-in-the-present that they’ve done. It’s a huge part of my life, and even if I never log in to the site again, its influence will hang over my life for years or even decades to come.

There’s just one problem with all of this: The ERS is, from a very fundamental standpoint, bad. 

I don’t mean this in a critical “this is terribly written” way - far from it, in fact. The real issue with the ERS is more fundamental: they created a world, a rich tapestry of words and stories, that draws from the works of Wilbert and Christopher Awdry… and then they made it profoundly miserable to be in. 

Now, this is not a bad thing, as @mean-scarlet-deceiver has rather masterfully written, but with SiF, it’s a more cloying and existential form of misery that doesn’t really do anything or go anywhere. Sodor is on its face a normal place to live, like any other part of England, but read almost any story and you will find things happening that seem to go against the grain of most TTTE fic writers, but also of just basic understandings of human decency. 

Starting off from the beginning, ERS book 42 Evan the Private Engine is a great example of what I’m talking about. Evan, the titular engine, is a privately owned narrow gauge engine operating on the Skarloey Railway. At one point, many years ago, he broke down and was abandoned by his owner in situ. Now, for everyone who is a dyed in the wool TTTE fan like me, search your feelings and think of what happens to this engine next. Is he adopted by the Skarloey engines? Do they re-home him somewhere else? Is this actually a story being told by Skarloey to the other engines? Vote now on your phones. 

[Buzzing noise] Wrong answer! What actually happens is that Evan is left where he is for so long that everyone forgets about him, and he’s covered in the overgrowth out by the lake. When he’s discovered “many years later,” he’s lost his memory, and will never get it back. 

This is the first book in the ERS. I told @lswro2-222 about this and she’s still mad about it. 

Things do not improve from there. The ERS is filled with countless stories of: 

Engines being forgotten about for decades, (ERS #152 – Scrapyard Engines) 

Engines being threatened with scrapping after suffering from mechanical issues (ERS #58 – Brave Mountain Engines)

When said engine (quite reasonably) tries to ensure their place on the railway by sabotaging someone else, they’re sent away for scrap anyways (ERS #70 – Norman the Mountain Engine)

Engines rather abruptly deciding to leave the island of Sodor, for almost no in-text reason. (ERS #221 – Dane the Electric Engine)

Engines rather abruptly deciding to leave the island of Sodor, just as their character arc was reaching a high point (ERS #320 – Procor the Mainland Engine)

Massive interpersonal conflicts between members of railway staff that would in any other universe result in someone quitting due to the toxic work environment. (ERS #462 - The Joint Controllers, ERS # 464 - The Fat Controller's Birthday Party)

Extremely out-of-place bouts of anti-diesel racism all the way in the 1990s (ERSN #9 – Dockside Engines)

The Fat Controller (among others) treating engines like children, property, or in some other extremely dehumanizing way, even if they had no control over the situation. (ERS #452 – Lorries and Engines, among many others)

I could go on for some time, and many of these are far from the worst examples. There’s also a huge number of baffling choices, like creating an engine that can only talk in horse noises, and then much later having this engine have a mental breakdown over his inability to communicate. (ERSN7 - The Pegasus Railtour Campaign) They also killed off Stephen Hatt, but did it in a way that rubs me the wrong way and does nothing to really add to the character's legacy. (ERSN #15 – The Hatt Family’s Engines) I could go on about this one for about as long as I could go on about Pegasus, but I don’t have that much time at any point between now and forever, so we'll leave it at that.) 

Meanwhile, interesting characters are often created and then immediately set aside in favor of things that are nowhere near as interesting. Now that I know this is a matter of taste, but would you rather read about a diesel engine placed in storage for so long that she turned malevolently insane, (ERS #169 – Sudrian Diesel Engines) or various background characters like a skip lorry that interacts with almost none of the “main” cast of the island? (ERS #475 - Rocky the Skip Lorry) I know which one I want to see, which is why the insane diesel hasn’t gotten a story all to herself since her introduction in (checks notes) 2011. 

However, all of this pales in comparison to the real issue with the ERS - all of this is more or less subjective, but there’s a real, substantial, problem here: Nobody actually seems to like each other. 

Reading through the stories, there’s this overwhelming sense that none of the characters - engine, person, or otherwise, actually enjoy each other’s company unless it’s explicitly stated in text. Even then, that measure is sometimes shaky, as characterizations can change from book to book. Engines can be on good terms with each other in one, and the next, they can be snapping at each other for no clearly defined reason. 

Well, they might try to define it, but the ERS is rather insistent on following the short, easy to digest four-story format used by the Awdrys, which means that any character development occurs suddenly, and with little room to flesh things out. What this results in is often poorly-explained conflict that could be salvaged if they ever strayed away from the standard 4-story format. A good example of this is ERS# 340 - BoCo & the Freight Diesels. This book is actually one of the better ones in terms of character arcs - it follows a pair of class 60 diesels (Spartan and Wakefield) as they deal with the fallout of their brother/leader leaving Sodor unexpectedly. (ERS #320 - I could go on about that decision as well. The character was written out because it conflicted with what the actual, IRL locomotive he was based on was doing. Meanwhile, I’ve got City of Goddamn Truro running rampage through Sodor.) These three engines have better-than-average characterization due to the absolutely god-tier introductory story they received (ERS #151), but even still, the relatively short length of each book/chapter means that the contents of book 340 and the preceding stories don’t exactly give us enough insight into the engine’s psyches to fully grasp what’s happening. It’s not so much of a case of “telling instead of showing” as it is “this comes at you quickly and without any real advance warning.” This is probably more true to life with how people act under stress, but… this is fiction. You can show the audience what’s going on. There’s a good reason why some of the best works in the ERS are the long-form ERS Novels that allow characters room to breathe. 

(Also, in #340, the Fat Controller just absolutely rips an engine a new one for causing an accident, in the process completely sidestepping the fact that said engine had a driver and a second man on board the entire time. SiF does their level best to infantilize the engines whenever possible while at the same time making them 100% responsible for the failings of the people around them.)

Another great example of this is Daphne - the NWR’s Deltic that I stole for my own fan works because there’s a solid core to the character, but she’s been sadly let down by the works that follow. In the ERS she has a decently traumatic backstory, with lots of room for expansion of the character or at the very least, hints of other things. However Daphne is at most a secondary character to the ERS, and often appears in other stories, rather than her own. In these, the writers follow a handy rule of thumb for writing her: 

Deltics are loud, and so naturally, Daphne must be loud. Loud people are annoying, so Daphne must be annoying. Because Daphne is annoying, she must often speak without thinking. Because she speaks without thinking, she must be the most irritating bitch anyone has ever seen. 

I mean this seriously. Daphne’s entire role in a lot of the ERS is to show up, say something unintentionally insulting, and then drive away. She had a good introduction to the ERS in book #135, but since then she’s mostly been a loudmouth side character. Even her entry in the ERS guide says so: 

Daphne is best known as the big diesel with the big mouth! There is little denying that she is a good worker when she wants to be, but her occasionally spiky temper, bossiness and boastfulness can often lead to her fall from grace. She also has a knack of speaking without thinking, something that has caused many an upset or unfortunate incident over the years.

This is not an interesting character. This is an annoyance of the highest order and I don’t know why they keep her around.

At no point since her introduction over a decade ago has anyone tried to change this. They let her stagnate in the background while the fucking horse engine gets his own novel! 

-

I apologize, I’m getting slightly off track here. What I’m trying to say is that the ERS fundamentally does not understand its characters, starting at the Fat Controller and working their way down the list. There’s hundreds of episodes of someone getting yelled at for an incident outside their control, even when it’s plainly obvious that it had to be. Characters vary wildly, and act outside of what you would expect, considering when a story might happen in-universe. 

A great example of this is in Book #338. Honey, a new-build diesel shunter, is bought by the Ffarquhar Quarry Company and in short order, pulls every capital-D-Diesel trick in the book to get Mavis replaced… and it works. Mavis is hauled away on a lorry to an uncertain future, (she eventually gets bought by the NWR, don’t worry) with everyone in real fear that she’s going to get scrapped. Now, in my works, Thomas and Co. would probably commit murder; a lot of more normal folks might have the entire Ffarquhar branch in an uproar - something like the deputation that saved Donald and Douglas way back when. 

What SiF does… is nothing. Absolutely nothing. Thomas and Co. not only don’t try and get Mavis back, but they eventually welcome Honey into the branch line family a few books later (ERS #368 – Christmas at Ffarquhar) despite Honey being one of the only engines in the ERS or the original RWS to succeed in her evil mission. 

This is such a fundamental misunderstanding of the characters, starting with the most obvious one - Thomas the Tank Engine - that this almost would have to be set in the 1960s or 1950s. Nobody has grown attached to Mavis yet, and Honey isn’t obviously evil or something. 

Naaaaaaaaaaah. This story canonically takes place in 2018 and Honey speaks in Gen-Z/Millenial slang while actively sabotaging Mavis in broad daylight. I wish I was making this up. 

------

Apologies, I got off track again. 

So, what does any of this have to do with the Express Engines youtube video that I linked up top? 

Well, I think it shows rather clearly how the ERS rather wantonly misunderstands its own characters. Writers far better than I (@mean-scarlet-deceiver) have written pages and pages on the mental states of many of the RWS cast, most notably Gordon, who is the main character of Express Engines.

Again, Jobey has written far more on the subject than I have, but suffice it to say that by 1996 - the “canon” date of Express Engines - Gordon has mellowed out significantly. Even if he thinks that he’s going to be top dog on Sodor forever, he definitely isn’t up his own ass about it like how he was in the early days. He’s getting old and he knows it, and when Pip and Emma eventually do show up in the RWS, he’s remarkably mellow about the whole thing. Granted, that’s about 10-15 years further up the line, but it goes to show that he’s not going to go ballistic or act like a child at the first sign of his dominance being threatened like he might have in the 1930s. 

(Actually, having read all the books, I don’t think he’d act like that at most points after maybe WWII. A lot of his “I’m the fastest and the best!” schtick came from being a very big but very solitary fish in a very small pond, and getting him someone his own size to play with might have taken the edge off of his sense of self-importance.) 

Quite naturally, that’s exactly what he does in Express Engines. 

In the “book” version of the story, the main source of conflict is him lying to newly-arrived Sodor Castle about whistle codes, and this goes directly into the time trial section of the story, before wrapping up with a neat little bow of Gordon going off to get an overhaul. 

As a side note, the SiF-standard infantilization of engines starts off strong with this book. The primary conflict is Gordon feeling threatened by the arrival of a new express engine. What nobody has told him is that said new express engine is there primarily to cover for him when goes in for an overhaul. Why has nobody told him this? Because nobody told him he was getting an overhaul. The poor engine was going insane and picking fights based on literally nothing but a misunderstanding. 

Now, this is all fine and good - it actually reads a lot like Gordon just giving the new kid a hard time while working through his own insecurities, (something we can probably all relate to) but the video adaptation adds more stories, and goes… a lot further. 

For those who haven’t seen it, in the video, Gordon is basically being sidelined to the nth degree following Sodor Castle’s arrival, and it is driving him up the wall. Following the events of Fourth Time Unlucky, which covers the whistle code scene, Gordon and Sodor Castle are in a near constant feud, which comes to a head in the next (all-new) episode Keeping Up With Castle. In it, the primary set piece is a scene that @lswro2-222 called “Gordon McFuckin’ Loses It,” because, frankly, he does. There’s an extended race scene between a borderline-crazy Gordon and an all-too-smug Sodor Castle (seriously, he’s approaching unlikeable levels of smug and snooty) that ends with Gordon dangerously overshooting the platforms at Wellsworth. It’s very well shot, very well edited, has some great voice acting, and absolutely positively does not make sense within any existing characterization of Gordon that I have ever seen. 

I’ve thought about it for some time and maybe if this happened during the height of the modernization plan in the 60s, when everyone’s spirits were at an all-time low, it might have worked. It might have fit with the desperation and malaise of that era, maybe. For this story to take place in the late 90s, this is an almost impossible characterization of Gordon. I hate to be prescriptive of other people’s fan works and go “he would not fucking say that” but… he would not fucking say that. At all. Under any circumstances. It just wouldn’t happen. 

In a similar vein to that, the characterization of the other engines really chafes at me. Sodor Castle shows up, seemingly displacing Gordon to the slow services, and the immediate response is to embrace the newcomer while mocking Gordon. This is perhaps the closest to “canon” I would say the video comes - the engines would do that at first; Gordon getting one-upped so publicly by a Westerner would be hilarious for a good long while. The issue, however, comes from the fact that nobody ever seems to notice that Gordon is legitimately upset by this whole development. They either continue mocking him or actively take Sodor Castle's side, which isn't something you do unless you have a rather strong dislike for someone. Not exactly the way you'd think the engines would act after being shoved together for 50-70 years… unless you write for the ERS. 

Also, I have a particular bug up my ass about Sodor Castle in this video. He's almost too smug and prissy to be likeable. A lot of his lines work really well as singular lines, but the instant you realize the circumstances they're said in it all falls apart. As an example, during the race scene in Keeping Up With Castle, you'd think he'd be concerned or worried when Gordon goes screeching through Wellsworth with his brakes hard on. Even if he dislikes Gordon by now, the passengers must have gone through the far walls of the coaches, and instead Castle takes the time to gloat. It's the little things like that that really get me - the writers are obviously aware of what's going on, and choosing this particular response says a lot in a very unintentional way.

And, on the subject of saying things, I do want to make one point clear: This is not a mean-spirited “takedown” of the ERS. Any fan work that’s gone on for literal decades, with hundreds of distinct stories and characters, is commendable just in the sheer effort exerted by those involved. I will gladly applaud SiF in their work to have a consistent quality and tone to their work, even if it's not one that I universally agree with. 

Furthermore, I like the ERS. While many of the stories in it are misses, when they hit it out of the park, they really do it. The ERS Novels, especially numbers 1, 2, and 9 (The Life & Times Of Jim The Jinx, The Peel Godred Railway, Dockside Engines) are unironically good.

Many of the characters, especially those introduced in the ERS’s early days like Daphne, Winston, Samarkand, Zelda, and the Class 60 trio, are legitimately interesting, and had captivating introductions to the franchise. Sometimes, SiF even predicts the future, adding Pip and Emma to Sodor years before Chris Awdry did, and did so with an excellent set of stories that heavily influenced my own interpretation of the characters.  (and then, in a classic SiF move, they de-canonized those stories once it became clear that they couldn’t be reconciled with new Awdry canon) There is a lot of genuine skill that has gone into the ERS, and it’s definitely influenced the entire TTTE fan community whether you realize it or not. (Everyone calls the works diesel Wendell. Why? SiF named him.) It certainly influenced me, and that’s why I feel the need to write this all out. This series has been a significant part of my life for a significant part of my life, and it disappoints me to no end that it stumbles so often. This isn’t a callout of “you suck,” instead it’s a callout of “do better, please.” 

--------------

This viewpoint has taken me several months to collate into a single thinkpiece. I kicked the idea around for a bit, thought it out more, watched the video a few more times, and then realized that I’d have to talk about SiF a lot. (oh no, what a tragedy.) So here it is. Hope you enjoyed it.

------------

Oh, one other thing. 

While I was watching the video, and thinking about how wrong this all was, and then I thought, “well I’d do this differently.” 

And then I did. 

And then things got very out of hand. 

I may have stolen some characters from SiF. 

(Don’t worry, they’re some of the ones that I like, from the few books that I enjoy.)

Anyway, here's Express Engines. 

2001 

It was barely spring on the Island of Sodor, and already the railway was being pushed to its limits. Congestion at other ports on the mainland had forced more ships into the port of Tidmouth (and, by extension, the ports of Knapford and Arlesburgh), and so the cargo trains got longer and more frequent. 

At the same time, the Easter holidays coincided with a spate of unseasonably early warm weather, so the island was swarmed with people seeking sunny beaches and scenic getaways. Tourist class tickets were in especially high demand, and on some days the Limited and the Midday Express would strain under the weight of five, seven, or even ten third class coaches. 

Fortunately, none of the engines were “down” for heavy maintenance, so while there wasn’t a scrabble to find available motive power, some… interesting schedule choices had to be made. 

-

“Henry, it’s occurred to me that I haven’t seen you leave to pull the Kipper in some time.” Gordon said one morning. 

“I haven’t been.” Henry yawned. “BoCo’s been taking it.”  

“BoCo?” 

“He said yes, don’t worry.” Henry said blearily. 

“But why aren’t you-”

“Because I’m getting about two hours of sleep if I take the Kipper and the morning stopper train, and that’s if someone isn’t snoring loud enough to shake the dust off the ceiling beams.”

“I assure you that I do not-”

“S’not you, you daft thing. It’s James. I think there’s something wrong with him.”

--

Bear growled in displeasure. It was a deep, bass-y sound that seemed to echo through the ground, and Bill and Ben fled back to the clay pits in terror. 

“-and if I catch you pulling that ever again, I’ll be the last thing you ever see!” 

Edward looked on in awe. “Can you teach BoCo how to do that?”

--

Duck goggled. “I think I’ve seen it all now.” 

Emma smiled meekly. “I know it’s a little unusual, but-”

“I didn’t mean it as a bad thing., Duck cut in graciously. 

“Oh thanks.” She looked around. “I wish we didn’t have such a long train, we could probably come down here more often. It’s very pretty-”

“Oi!” cut in Mike, from the Small Railway’s tracks. “What’s wrong wit’ Oliver?”

Looking back, Duck could see Oliver trying and failing to hide from Pip, much to her chagrin. 

“Don’t worry about it! He deserves it!” he said after a moment’s deliberation.

--

“Excuse me,” the big EWS diesel asked as he rolled into Crovan’s Gate with a line of flatbeds. “But is this a heritage railway or something? What are you doing here exactly? Are you on a railtour?” 

“Railtour?” James sniffed. “I’m not a railtour! I'm late! Ta ta!” 

And he steamed away in a hurry. 

“That… didn’t answer my question.”

----

During this time, the Fat Controller was nowhere to be seen. Rumours flew between the coaches and trucks that he was out finding them another engine, but the engines themselves knew better. 

“From where would he find a King class?”

“I don’t know! But there’s a biiiiig engine back there under a sheet, and a bunch of paint all labeled “GW Green” sitting around - more than Duck and Oliver could need put together!”

Well, some of them did. 

“James, what now?” Henry groaned as he rolled into the shed. All he wanted to do was sleep,but it seemed like this wouldn’t happen soon. 

“Look,” James spluttered, as Gordon and Bear stared with skepticism heavy on their brows. “All I know is: Engine, sheet, paint, and soon!”

“Soon?” Bear scoffed. “Soon what? Soon the hols will be over? Soon that summer will come? Show me some proof.”

“Oh for- what about that tarped over thingy that came in last Christmas? I saw it! That’s real!” 

“That could be anything!” Gordon butted in. “There’s dozens of preserved lines that wish to make use of our facilities. For all we know, it is a King class that’s being restored for a museum!”

Henry suddenly felt very bemused. He had something to say now, but it needed to be timed perfectly.

He waited a few minutes, as Bear and Gordon continued grilling James over details that he couldn’t possibly have known. It was quite funny, but not as funny as what he had to say. 

Finally, as his eyelids drooped and his fire died down to embers, he saw his chance. “Excuse me, if I may.” He yawned. Gordon and Bear stopped mid-sentence to look at him. From the startled look Gordon was hiding, it seemed like they’d forgotten he was there.  “But I did overhear from the coaches on the Limited, who themselves overheard from the Fat Controller, that we are getting another engine - just not a King, but instead, a Castle!” 

The reactions of the others were priceless, and held just long enough for him to close his eyes and fall happily to sleep!

-----

The next morning, The Fat Controller arrived as the sun rose. “Well, my ears have been burning all morning,” he said jovially. “So I assume you already know about the new engines,-”

“EngineS?”

----

Last year - around Guy Fawkes Night

Stephen Hatt strode into his office to find his secretary holding the phone about three feet from her ear. Even at that distance, a great commotion was clearly audible. 

“The National Railway Museum for you sir,” she said, straining to keep the phone as far away as possible. “Mind the volume when you answer.” 

He gave her a wide berth and an askance look as he entered his office. Sitting down at his desk, he picked up the handset out of reflex, and quickly set it back down again. Carefully, he moved the phone to the other end of his desk, and pushed the speakerphone button with the corner of a particularly tall book. 

Pandemonium burst forth from the device, and it took a moment for Stephen to pick out the sound of a human voice over what sounded like a fully-involved riot in the background. “Hello? Stephen? Are you there? It’s Andrew. Look, Stephen, I shan’t mince words with you, but we’ve made a terrible mistake and you’re the only person left who can fix it.”

Stephen, having recovered from being assaulted by a wave of sound, raised an eyebrow. “Fix it? I haven’t even been told what the problem is yet!” 

“What? Can you speak up- oh for goodness’ sake!” There was a sound of a phone handset being put down, and then the sound of a door opening. The sounds of the riot became louder and more pronounced for a moment, and then there was a bellow of “QUIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEET!” that shook the phone. 

The door then shut with a suddenly audible click, and then Andrew was back on the phone. “I’m terribly sorry about that.”

“What is happening over there?” Stephen asked, agog. 

“My problem.” Andrew said, his tone hasty. He clearly expected the noise to start up again. “We’ve done some, uh. re-arranging of our collections you see, and two engines were put together who really have no business being anywhere near-”

“CITY OF TRURO I WILL KILL YOU TONIGHT.” A female voice came through loud and clear, to the point where the speakerphone vibrated halfway off the desk. “KEEP TALKING AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS.”

Stephen’s expression became slightly more fixed, and he stayed quiet for a long moment. 

Andrew could feel his hesitation. “Please. We haven’t been able to open for three days. They’re on opposite sides of the building and they’re still at it. We have to get one of them off property.” 

“Andrew…” Stephen said slowly. “You do recall that City of Truro had a most remarkable change of fortune some years ago, correct?”

“Stephen,” Andrew was close to begging. “Nobody will take him. We have to do something!” 

“Your use of the word 'we' is very inspired, Andy.” Stephen was actually going to have to get up and walk around his desk to reach the phone. 

“Wait! Wait!” His finger stopped inches from the “end call” button. “We’ll do anything! Name it!” 

The Fat Controller smiled. “Anything, you say?” 

-------

The engine had been brought in under cover - both tarpaulin and darkness. Once it had been delivered, it had been immediately shunted away into a far corner of the works, away from prying eyes. 

It was only then that the cover was removed, and the engine was revealed. A six-coupled Westerner, one of the great Castles of yore. She - and she most definitely was a she - was resplendent in Great Western Green and Gold, complete with all the little filigree marks that only a steam-era Swindon would apply. The paint had barely lost its luster, and it appeared from the outside as though this engine had been shunted through a portal in time. 

The only part of her that showed any age at all was her face. Around her eyes and brows were laugh lines and wrinkles, a generation of smiles and conversation physically worked into the structure of her beauty. 

She wasn’t smiling now, though. Frown lines cut into her face unnaturally, as she sent a venomous glare in the direction of the man standing by her pony truck.

“You were much more compliant back at the Science Museum,” he said, continuing an argument that had been ongoing since the moment he’d arrived in her line of sight. 

“I was valued at the Science Museum,” she snapped, putting heavy weight on the word valued. “And then you deaccessioned me.” 

“We were renovating!” He protested. “I would’ve thought that you would have loved being amongst your own kind. You were to be put in your own special museum!” 

“I was in the Museum longer than I ever was on the rails, but you never cared enough to find out which setting I preferred, did you?” she hissed. “All you wanted was Neil’s job!” 

“Sir Cossons stood down to run English Heritage and you know it.” 

“All I know is that you were in there for less than a month before I was 'better suited for display in York!'” 

“So you could be put in Swindon when the museum there was ready!” 

“But I didn’t want to go to Swindon!” she screeched. “And in any event, This. Isn’t. Swindon! You and Andrew sold me rather than deal with Truro!”

“Truro is more…” 

“Say that he’s more famous than me. Say it. That’s all Showboat Sharp ever cares about. Not that he’s totally unsuitable for public display, or that he-”

“He can keep his mouth shut when Andy tells him to, which is more than I can say about you!” He looked at her with disgust in his eyes. “You are a train! You are supposed to be seen and not heard, and no more!” 

Whatever she was about to say in reply - and it would have been vicious - was cut off by the opening of a distant door. A top-hatted figure emerged from the outside, and made his way towards them. 

“And,” the man whispered. “We didn’t sell you. I gave you away. It’s the only way the fat bastard would take this deal.”

There was a quiet “so glad to be valued...”, but it was lost in the arrival of the top hat wearing man. “Ah, Dr. Sharp, and Caerphilly Castle, I’m Stephen Hatt. Wonderful to meet you both in person.” 

“Charmed.” Lied man and engine as one as a small crowd of workmen filed in behind the man. 

Without prompting, the portly man clambered up onto Caerphilly’s bufferbeam to address the room. To her surprise, he did so gracefully, managing to not snag himself on her lamp irons, and his shoes were sturdy boots that gripped the metal properly. Maybe he wasn’t an officious fop after all?

“Well everyone,” he said, facing the group. “This is the surprise that I have been talking about. Without going into too many details, it seems as though the Science Museum’s recent renovations have left Caerphilly Castle without a home. Now, she was originally relocated to York, however a…” He paused diplomatically. “Certain engine caused much trouble for her there, and she has now made her way to us. I’d like to thank Dr. Sharp, the director of the Science Museum, for this kind contribution to our railway.”

“How much did you pay for ‘er?” came a voice from the front of the group of men. “Was it market value for once?” It was followed by poorly-suppressed laughter from the crowd. 

Even with his face away from her, Caerphilly could see that Stephen’s body language turned slightly defensive, but before he could say anything, Dr. Lindsay Sharp PhD., head of the largest  Science Museum in the United Kingdom, spoke up. “Actually, you have received her gratis.” he said with a smarmy smile. “We’re just glad to see her go to a good home! Hopefully you can put her on display someplace where the public can learn from her.”

Less-suppressed laughter met this. Stephen Hatt turned to look down at the other man. “Lindsay? Forgive me for disagreeing with you in public, but you do know that we intend to restore this engine to traffic, right?” 

There was a not insignificant amount of spluttering and swearing. Dr. Sharp had absolutely not known that. 

Caerphilly hadn’t known either. “You want me… to run again?” she said, not quite believing what she was hearing. 

“Of course!” Stephen said kindly. “Gordon, our primary express engine, is coming up on his boiler ticket, so we need another express engine to fill the gap.” He paused seriously. “Did you think that we were going to stick you on a plinth somewhere?” 

“I… I really did sir,” she said quietly. “I didn’t think that anyone wanted steam engines anymore.” She blinked. “Goodness, if I’d known, I would have insisted on having someone else come with me! Lord knows that Evening Star is never going to run under the current administration.” 

Stephen missed the acid glare she sent Dr. Sharp’s way. “Oh, how funny it is that you mention that. We actually have a 9F that we purchased recently. You’ll be meeting her soon enough, her name is-”

[nxll-n4m3]

More Gabv1el large V1 appreciation, because The Brainworms™ have me. Two playful ones, one slightly angsty one with a soft end.

Tw under the cut; Self-harm (brief mention, not with bad intention), near death, descriptions of panic.

Side note; I've only played part of the game.. I don't know much about the fish. I don't know what I'm talking about. I swear it makes sense though.

-

After getting more used to V1 being bigger than expected, Gabriel was almost bitter about it. Not really in a genuine way, but playfully salty about the fact. Gabriel decided to start kicking the machine in the shins to see if it'd get shorter. (It didn't, and typically just puffed air out of its fans in a laugh-like sound whenever Gabriel hurt himself by kicking its metal.)

X

When Gabriel decided to be less bitter, it was because of a bad day. V1 had nearly died. He had found it, optic flashing and getting dimmer, blood seeping from its chassis. Parts of it were torn open, wires split and tangled in ways they shouldn't have been. Whatever had managed that wasn't around anymore, but the attack had to have been recent.

Gabriel had sliced his entire arm open, flooding the machine's exposed internal systems with blood. He didn't understand how it repaired itself, but he understood that it could -- and that it needed blood to do so. He nearly despaired when its optic went black, even despite the fresh blood. An empty eternity filled his mind; the thought of endless, dull, numb days.. His heart rate spiked, and he only realized he'd been lost in panic and hyperventilating when he felt the gentle touch of the feedbacker against his upper arm to snap him out of it.

V1 was still in the process of self-mending, but it was sitting up now, head tilted as it made a low whirr though its fans. Gabriel felt relief (it hadn't died.), then anger (it nearly died, and it's worried about him?), but finally it settled into a tired sense of comfort. He couldn't be mad at it for worrying about him, so instead he accepted the ease of knowing he wouldn't be alone again.

They decided to find somewhere quiet for a while, and V1 held Gabriel close enough to feel the warm air from its fans, close enough for him to hear its mechanical heartbeat through its plating. Gabriel was thankful that V1 was larger than him, now. He could be held like this comfortably, and it was much nicer than Gabriel had thought it'd be.

X

In Wrath, Gabriel watched as V1 floundered about in the shallow waters; trying to catch the small fish that darted about. Eventually, he called out to it, explaining that the fish couldn't be taken out of the water.

He laughed when the machine played a loud incorrect buzzer through its speakers, watching it grab a fish. He laughed harder when the fish disappeared into a fine cloud of blood mist once it was pulled from the water.

In response, V1 walked over -- grabbing Gabriel and hauling him onto its shoulder, moving back to the water and throwing him in. Gabriel had a few seconds to be indignant about being lifted that way before he was submerged, sitting up quickly to yell at V1 for its antics. The machine rhythmically moved air through its fans and vents, making that laugh-like sound that Gabriel had come to enjoy so much.

He looked up at it, its bottom optic shutter raised partway, the glowing yellow glass (Gabriel wasn't really sure what they were made of, but they felt like glass.) of its wings casting a glow over it. It was a sight that stirred up feelings for Gabriel, distracting him from pretending to be mad. He had to appreciate how easily it moved him, anyway.

[goodolddumbbanana]

Yes. New moon behaviour seems like actions of a person who decides to ruin everything by choice more than a person who is getting hallucinations. Moon is usually just low at empathy but right now, I think he just threw the last piece of his care for his family out of the window.

There have been people saying that Moon's family turned against him "for having a psychotic breakdown," as if he's lost all control over his actions. No, he hasn't.

First off, Moon wasn't disconnected from reality when he said hurtful things to Earth and Sun, knowing full well his verbal attacks would hit them where it hurts most. But Bri, he said those things to make them go away! He didn't mean– Yeah, well, that still doesn't excuse his behavior whatsoever. I've been on the receiving end of this type of behavior, and from my POV it comes off as the person hiding their hurtful thoughts about you for civility's sake, until they choose to take their anger out on you again. And in Moon's case, he did mean what he has said to Sun and Earth.

Also, Moon was not detached from reality either when he threatened non-villanious characters like Monty (whom his family cares about), crushed the obviously weakened Eclipse's fingers, became a villain of his own volition, and nearly killed Earth. Hallucinations and delusions didn't tell him to pull the trigger. It was his selfish desires doing the talking, period. He wanted to be in control, the consequences be damned.

Ergo, it's Moon's self-centered behavior which has turned his family against him.

[whiteknight-week]

Hello & welcome to White Knight Week 2025! Due to this being the first “White Knight Week” proper in quite some time, we’ve kept the prompts to a simple overall theme:

“Missing Moments”

With this theme, we will explore the moments between moments. The actions that could’ve been done, the fights that may have sparked, and the words that went unspoken. Starting from the early days of Beacon and ending in the dunes of Vacuo, we will seek to fill the void or inspire a new reality altogether.

Let your passions burn and inspiration flow. Be it in written form, art, discussions, or memes! Do as much or as little as you please, but feel free to share on r/WaveOfWhiteKnights on Reddit or the Tumblr page!

White Knight Week will start on: Monday, May 12th, 2025 and go till Sunday, May 18th, 2025, and does cover two very important days in regards to our Knight and Queen: Weiss' birthday and the Canonization day of Jeanne d'Arc.

We are still in the early planning stages for the event and plan to have daily discussions and posts. Please see below for the prompts if you wish to participate! As a note, Fics and art may be featured on White Knight Wednesday!

[ Day 1 ] - “Beacon Bits” ( May 12th )

Have you ever wondered how Jaune got Weiss’ scroll number? Or maybe if they ever talked about the events of the dance? Have you ever thought about a world where Weiss Schnee & Jaune Arc end up as partners? Or maybe a time they team up to help some folks out in Vale during the break between V1 & V2? Explore all these possibilities & more on our first day of White Knight week “Beacon Bits”!

[ Day 2 ] - “Nightmare Nights” ( May 13th )

Day 2 of White Knight week checks into the ‘what if’ world of Ice Queendom. “Nightmare Nights!”. What happens after the Nightmare? Does Weiss simply recover, or do the events haunt her? Maybe a Kind Knight gives her someone to talk to. Or, maybe Jaune has questions of his own to give to her. Why did he have a sword that could kill the nightmares? Why did she give him such a big sword and heavy cape? Maybe while in the Nightmare, Nega Weiss has … problems fighting Jaune. Does Jaune still think about his Nightmare? Does she?

[ Day 3 ] - “Haven House” ( May 14th )

Day 3 of White Knight Week brings us to the Kingdom of Mistral and the wild events that come with it. What did Weiss & Jaune do at the forever house? Did they talk about the fall? Did they miss each other? Were there things left unsaid from Beacon they wanted to get off their chest? What about the time after Weiss’ near-death experience? Maybe there’s a chance they took a tour of the kingdom and ran into some bad guys? While volume 4&5 often get a lot of flack for the “Forever house” maybe we can make it better with some White Knight pizzaz!

[ Day 4 ] - “Argus Adventures” ( May 15th )

Happy Birthday Weiss! Welcome to day 4 of White Knight Week! Today's prompt will be ‘Argus Adventures’. While the group only spent a few days at the seaside city, the setting is ripe with opportunities for our goober duo. What interactions could you see them having? Why did Weiss gravitate towards Jaune when they reunited? Did they have a wild and crazy grocery adventure while Ruby had her chat with Maria? Or did something 100% off the rails happen in a fun little AU side story?

[ Day 5 ] - “Atlas Ambling” ( May 16th )

What happened at the movies!? A common question by many, but - there were so many other things our heroes could have done. Weiss could have brought everyone around to explore Atlas proper. Did Jaune find a place he’d want to bring Weiss to? Or maybe Weiss thought of a place to bring Jaune to? If Volume 7 gave us anything, it gave us the endless possibilities of our heroes hanging out as they would have back in Beacon. Maybe Jaune and Weiss will find themselves alone at the school and decide to watch movies together. Perhaps they train in the Hardlight Training room until banter starts turning into flirting. With the nearly endless possibilities of Atlas & Mantle ( As well as the other villages nearby), what can you see the two of them doing?

[ Day 6 ] - “Everafter Evenings” ( May 17th )

With RWBY reuniting with Jaune in the Everafter, there was so little time to talk. But what if Weiss and Jaune did get to talking in the EA? They could spend some time together in the Paper Village. Or, maybe they will go out to look for Ruby as a duo? Perhaps you should explore an AU where the two fall together and how they come to deal with everything they’ve been through. Do they go back in time? Or do they find a way to find the others? In “Everafter Evenings” please feel free to dive into the ‘what if’s’ of the Ever After and White Knight!

[ Day 7 ] - “Vivid Vacuo” ( May 18th )

They did it; they’ve finally made it to Vacuo! Yet, things feel so … off? With Jaune still dealing with the experience of the Everafter, trying to acclimate himself to Remnant, & Weiss now dealing with the fall of Atlas, her home, and the people of Vacuo who are less-than-kind towards her in particular, the White Knight Duo has quite a hefty load on their plate. Will Weiss be the one to step up and support Jaune? Will Jaune be the one to protect Weiss from the people? Do they simply find time to have somber chats at night and, maybe, grow closer? On this 7th and final day of White Knight Week we look to the future for our Knight & Queen. What do you see happening for them in Vacuo?

[bmpmp3]

and there really is something so appealing about speaking voice synths being made to sing a la voicevox humming, kotonosync/a2sync etc. i keep going on about this shit but they literally end up with so much hashtag Character in their voices, not just in the beginning parts of their syllable pronunciation but the whole phoneme. its awesome

[meagancandraw]

How do you think the sun and moon show would have turned out if Sun and Moon had actually fused with Lunar and Eclipse? Do you think Dazzle would still end up getting adopted into the celestial family? If so, who do you think she would get adopted by?

- No KC, because Lumos' creation got rid of the kill code

- This also means there's no reason for New Moon/Nexus to exist either, so he also never happens

- V2 Eclipse is still a thing, and he still starts off in Bloodmoon's head. There's no team up with KC however, so he has to figure out another way to regain a body. I have no idea how that whole arc would go, honestly

- I'm not sure if they'd ever meet Solar or not, since Moon only found that dimension to help Lunar with his Eclipse trauma. I don't know if Lumos would still have that struggle. Maybe he's troubled by Lunar's memories of Eclipse, plus his own curiosity as to whether a good Eclipse exists or not, and that leads him to finding/visiting Solar's dimension? Idk

- Solis and Lumos' relationship is very.... awkward at first, to put it lightly. While Lumos' creation went smoothly due to both parties agreeing to do it, Solis' was.... not so much. His whole existence was an accident bc Sun messed up the spell to get rid of Eclipse. As a result, he came out a lot more unstable/volatile personality wise. Not quite as bad as the actual episode where Sun and Eclipse merged, but compared to Lumos, let's just say he had a much harder time coming to terms with his existence/identity

- Like Sun, Solis kills og Bloodmoon with one of the barrels. Unlike Sun, he has way less remorse about it. Mainly bc he already knows BM was behind July 16th + having V1 Eclipse's own feelings about them. He still doesn't tell Lumos however, because heaven forbid these morons communicate with each other

- Lunar doesn't die bc you can't kill someone who doesn't exist lol, meaning nobody gets star power and the Astrals have no reason to go to Earth

- Dark Sun likely wouldn't take an interest in this dimension, since his plan needs a Sun to work, which Solis isn't. Or at least, not fully?? Idk

- I have no clue how Ruin's whole thing would play out asdsfghaj. His plan either works like in the original, or he gets stopped in time.... which would lead to the family having to face off against the Creator Council. Uh-oh (maybe it leads to them teaming up with Ruin? Idk)

- If his plan does work and Solar dies, then they'd just... bring him back? Like, if Solis and/or Lumos find out V3 Eclipse (assuming he's still a thing) knows how to bring him back, they'd be willing to team up with him. Idk it wouldn't be super eventful lol

- Speaking of Eclipse, no deal with Dark Sun, or Astrals around, means he doesn't have to move dimensions (unless he wants to, anyway)

- Solis is the one who adopts Dazzle

[peachyfnaf]

Looks at today's SAMS, gets the summary from my friends, and takes a longgg drag of my crushed-Smarties cigarette roll

So let me get this straight, or let me say my piece ig

Moon's solution for Sun hallucinating Nexus, as of right now, is to lock away his trauma deep within Sun's head. Aka, make Sun repress his (bad) memories of Nexus.

I. Do not like that. That is FRUSTRATING for SO MANY REASONS.

Moon has mentioned many-a-time that he does not like himself. He does not like how he reacts to things, how he deals with things, etcetera, etcetera. And y'know what repression is? It's a very Moon "coping skill" to have.

My question is, if Moon already hates how he responds to things, why is he making Sun. Do this? Not to mention that anyone with half-a-brain (and we know Moon is, in fact, big-brained) knows that repression is not good.

ALSO. I will give Moon that he said this solution was "only temporary", but how much can we trust that? You know what else was supposed to be temporary? Nexus being locked in space. Who's to say that this really does make Sun perk up and come out of his shell a little bit, so Moon just... forgets about it, until it's too late.

And OH. Not to MENTION that we literally have another story-line going on at the EXACT SAME TIME that's showing us how bad repression can be. Gestures to LAES.

Lunar is where he is now because he refused to acknowledge and grow from his traumas that were caused by V1/V2 Eclipse. He repressed his emotions. He is still repressing them, and because he did it for so long, he ended up harshly injuring his own sister.

AND ANOTHER THING. Does anyone else just... get the slight ick about something being locked away in someone else's head... again? Yes, I understand that these are emotions being locked away, not a bot. But. Looks at how Old Moon was trapped in Sun's head for so long. Looks at Eclipse trapped in Sun. Lunar trapped in Moon, Old Moon trapped in Killcode- you get it.

It's just. Haven't we learned by now that locking things in minds is A BAD IDEA???

Okay, I have said my piece. Puts down my smarties cigarette.

[generalluxun]

I hope you know that I don't take issue with you criticizing Miraculous on principal and that I've long learned that one fan's treasure is another fan's trash. Nobody need to like something completely and if asked, I'll probably rattle off on my own list of things I felt Miraculous could have handled better.

I guess... part of it comes from how there's a lot of negativity around Miraculous and, while they are entitled to express that, there's not enough for my side of "I love it overall, wart and all." Part of this is likely YouTube and Reddit promoting what happens to get the most clicks.

Hell, Tumblr reccommended that post to me when I was editing a Miraculous post for correcting. You know, in that corner where nine posts they think you'll like show up? I just have horrible practice when it comes to walking away because it eats at me that I'm letting somebody go uncontested in this age of poor media literacy (again, not trying to accuse you of anything).

What I'm trying to say is... I had you all wrong. I might not get your "potential" standpoint because Miraculous hasn't missed its potential for me but I'm not you. And I shouldn't have to be.

I... hope this rambling is coherent enough. I really don't want to offend anybody.

EDIT:Just added the readmore because the post was so long. Hey, Thanks for reaching out. That takes a lot. I appreciate it. In the spirit of sharing I'll run by exactly where the show 'missed the mark' for me. The first is just a 'potential' argument, and the others are sort of a chain of similar-and-escalating choices that... I don't know. They're not good. They hint at something just.. wrong I guess? In the writing room. I don't understand the choices, and I hope they're corrected. They *matter* in my opinion.

The first one (the potential argument) comes at the end of S2/Beginning of S3. The OG5 heroes they had there were SUCH a good setup. Nino, Alya, Marinette, Adrien, and Chloe.

Nino&Alya=Established couple who know each other's IDs

Adrien and Marinette=the promised couple, don't know each other's IDs.

Adrien&Chloe Childhood friends

Marinette&Chloe rivals (light bulling as of S2 but really nothing like the S5 retcon would have us believe at this point)

Chloe->Ladybug fangirl

Everyone knows Choe's ID, she doesn't know Anyone's ID

Alya-> Thinks for herself, yet very loyal.

There's just so many angles and storylines in JUST those 5. You could have never once touched the secondary heroes and you could have feasted on that. I'd say Kagami and Luka just because of how important they are on the civilian side could have been part timers, but yeah. The rest? I don't hate the class, they're fun! But you're stretched so thin trying to cover so many heroes that you don't get to really dig and explore. I've seen the other heroes called 'Marinette's pokemon' and it's kind of true, sadly. S4 was a parade of one hit wonders, they even had to stuff 4 into the final one! You could have tackled all the powers with fusions and let the other civilians be cool civilians. It'd make the 'Resistance' in S5 all the more interesting.

That's not to say there's nothing good about how it was done or it's the worst ever for not sticking with the sentai format. It's just a choice that's indicative of the surface level skimming. And it's got us in S6 with a 16(?)v1 scenario which is.... really low stakes as far as these things go. Yes they can course correct it somehow, but they *already* had to do that in S5. so having to do it again... you see how it was a setup for problems.

That honestly would have been all well and fine if the show hadn't gone as it did down another path. This is a 'Please read to the end' because there are a lot of takes on this and I'd rather not be lumped in with some of them.

It started with how Chloé was handled, is bad *for the audience of children watching the show*, and I have a very real problem with that.

Chloé is an abused child. Full stop. There is no arguing this. Neglect, verbal and emotional abuse. Not just from Audrey. It's on screen. People with actual degrees in the fandom have chimed in on this.

They didn't *have* to make her an abused child. I'm not sure they *intended* to do it. t is what they put up on the screen for eyes to see though.

Once you put an abused child on screen. It is my belief that you have an obligation as someone writing children's programing for children to see, to be sure that child's abuse is A)recognized in-universe and B)shown to get help.

This doesn't mean Chloé needed to be a hero, or even liked by her peers. She's just a classic example of a child who responds with anger instead of sadness. She's a 'bad victim' and bad victim kids are often overlooked because they DO tend to bully their peers(they can't fight back against adults so they pick on those they can) The message *needs* to be 'You too can get help' for any in the audience who identify with her, not 'You're just bad, oh well.'

The sow had Marinette push Chloe to act more like Audrey (Queen Wasp ending) which- is actually a perfectly reasonable mistake for Marinette who grew up in a loving household! But it was never revisited, it's basically ignored. yet, pushing a child back int the abuser's care, showing her that she might gain affection by emulating her mother *even harder*? ooof.

Strip away liking or hating Chloe when you think about this, and liking or hating Marinette. Just think about this in broad 'That's a child' terms.

The S3 fall- not terrible honestly! The finale even seems like it gets it. Master Fu's voiceover says 'Some lose hope' when they're showing Chloé. *lose hope* that's not someone gleefully embracing evil, that's a tragic oversight. The show actively built up that Gabriel and Nathalie -along with Lila- deliberately targeted and isolated Chloé. That's horrific, and you can have a payoff from that!

But- there was nothing. The kid manipulated by the two grown adult villains is just 'a villain' from then on. No consideration, no hints, just evil and evil, framed as the worst, we even added a whole 'Was here all along honest' character and retconned some very specific things to make her more eviler! It goes on right up to the point where her own father throws her to the abusive woman that *he a grown man* is divorcing. Let that sink in. He won't stay with Audrey because he knows how she is, but he's quite willing to throw his daughter away to her rather than take responsibility for the child he raised(badly) and try to fix it.

Which leads into the not-Chloe parts of things that as I said go kind of hand in hand. S5 went on a binge of very sudden and questionable 'redemptions' Every crappy dad out there got one. (plus two honorable mentions)

Jagged? He at least was *only* a deadbeat who left his kids alone despite living in the same city for 15 years... and he's the best of them!

Felix!-No he's not a dad, but we had such a very weird 180 on him. He shows up, is cruel to Adrien, tries to force himself on Ladybug, and is shown to be an all around heel. Gabriel Agreste(the episode) continues this, and then in Strike Back he passes ALL the miraculous and Adrien's amok to Gabriel without a care in the world. 2/4 of a seaon later he tries to wipe out humanity. As an excuse we get hints about his dad. Then right before the end we find out his backstory is basically Adrien's backstory with enough changed that they hope the teacher won't notice. One kidnapping later, he's one of the good guys now! He's just a little guy! Poof! Kagami, the girl who THRIVES on honesty, just kinda is like 'nah, everything is cool, and spills LB's secret to him.' It's s weird. This coming from someone who clocked Felgami from the moment they had the side-eye in Gabriel Agreste. I figured a well executed enemies/rivals to lovers though, not.... whatever this mess is. The only saving grace of canon Felgami is that there is no excuse against Lukloé now. Felgami is literally 'She'll fix him.' 🤣 (note: Even though they basically had Felix's abuse-photocopy-backstory off screen, I would still want him to get *help* for it too. all abused kids need to bee shown getting help. Kids need to see there is help to be had. Help doesn't generally look like 'Free girlfriend and Miraculous' though.)

Nathalié-This is probably the least-problematic after Jagged, but we do still have the fact that Nathalie already murdered one Senti-being wiht free will, and arranged for Fei to be an orphan again. (She knew exactly who Cash was when she hired him). We needed a bit more than a last second gasp to sell this one. On her own I don't think this would stand out as much, but it's just one more in a line of 'Redeem everyone but that one blonde girl' choices.

André! The guy who raised Chloé. The one who *showed her how to cheat, steal, and abuse power* Twice in the series she even explicitly states she learned what she does watching him. We've seen this guy, a grown man, bully and abuse his power, engage in corruption, and it's stated this is how he's been his whole career. But oh no, he's actually just a sad little guy who wanted to make movies. It's all his *daughter's* fault! she's so heartless. She sprang from Audrey and started controlling the happless *grown man* before she could even walk.... or something.

And then after André's supposed redemption, we have him run from all responsibility as a father, and steal Zoé apparently? (S4 indicates Mr. Lee is alive and involved in Zoé's life. I'm pretty sure that Andre did something wildly illegal there. 🤣)

And then Gabe! What a kick in the teeth there eh? Now this one does take some outside-of-show information, but not Twitter. The writers did an actual commentary on the finalé explaining their intent. That was a redemption for Gabriel. The light is him ascending into heaven with Emilie, That was supposed to be Ladybug 'winning'. They legitimately believed the 'All the times I tried to be a good father' was warranted. I think they *thought* they were writing Movie!Gabe, and just missed the mark so hard.

That ties back into Adrien's abuse, which was also pretty obvious all throughout the show. More people care, because Adrien is a 'good victim' (sad and meek) so they take pity. Yet- The writing team doesn't seem to really *see* it as abuse. Gabriel just *really* loved his family and was *misguided*. And... yeah....

With all that having happened. This whole 'Marinette keeping the truth from Adrien' plotline just feels so icky. The boy has had no agency. He's got literally control rings. He's been lied to his whole life. Now his girlfriend, Ladybug, Marinette, the show's actual protagonist is lying to him.

There's so little hope they'll handle it well, considering *waves to the previous paragraphs*. Revelator and Alya's anger is the tiniest glimmer of hope that *maybe* with the end of the contract at the end of S5, there's a different set of priorities. It's just worrying, and why every time this specific thing comes up, I have concerns.

The writing room has shown they're shockingly insensitive to the topics they toy with. They can do lighter-side stuff just fine! But when it hits something heavy... oof.

Child abuse is a Very Big Deal for me. I'm a survivor myself. My own went under the radar, which is why *recognizing it in all it's forms* is extremely important to me.

Again-ML never had to do anything with this, but they *chose* to put it in, and once it's in, feel they had an obligation to handle it well. That's an obligation I don't feel like they've met. It's also not something that will improve if those who do see it just go silent and ignore it.

Silence and ignoring is exactly how abuse thrives.

If you're interested I could go into more detail on some of the specific examples of on-screen abuse elements that are present. I knw I left stuff out. In some cases it's so strange because you *think* they must be aware, but if they are then how could they just leave it unaddressed?

I'd love to get answers, but that's not an option.

Well, I bet this answer was more than you bargained for! Maybe it'll provide some clarity as to where the harshness comes in. To be clear, I really want Miraculous to be *better*, not to die. want it to address the abuse it's already displayed in a reasonable way. Once that's done, the hackles will go way back down.

If I lose any and all hope it ever will be addressed, then I'll probably walk away and just warn other parents off the show.