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golden-flute · 2 years ago

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No one asked for my opinion on The Sun and the Star, but I’ve been thinking of nothing else since I finished the book, and I have to write my thoughts or I will explode, lol.

Fair warning: Spoilers and long-ass thought dump ahead.

Gif Originally posted by riptides

On the Themes

I picked out a few different themes that I found carried through the book:

Self-acceptance

Living with trauma

Embracing change

What healing looks like

I thought they were brilliantly approached because there was a lot of nuance for each theme. Particularly when you consider that these are pretty heavy topics for middle-reader age groups!

The biggest theme directly relating to Nico was this idea that it's possible to embrace your trauma, to accept it, and to grow around it. In his case, it's literal, with the Cocoa Puffs hanging around him now like a little parade of Walmart Ghibli Sootballs, lol.

I think that Nico was working through his trauma well before he ever heard the prophecy. The fact that he was able to accept his darkness so easily once Nyx forced him to confront it was more a mark of how far he'd already progressed than it was a big moment where he was suddenly magically healed from all of his baggage. The entire purpose of the Cocoa Puffs was to act as a physical representation of Nico's existing trauma. They will always be a part of him, but they don't define him. He's simply accepted them and freed himself from them without avoiding the fact that they'll still be there. That's such a healthy place to be, particularly because I think a lot of people tend to fall into the same trap of toxic positivity that Will did....

Many people who are natural healers and problem-solvers often fail to realize that being healed doesn't always mean that pain has totally been eradicated, hurray. In their minds, there's always some way to fix broken people. And I think that's why Will's conversation with Persephone was so important for his growth. I think he always saw Nico as someone who needed to be fixed, and to Will, that meant that Nico must hide from his trauma, or ignore it. Will's story arc centered around his acceptance that he can't (and shouldn't) always try to heal people "his way." With Nico, he had to get on his level, see him, and accept his pain. I've known people in my life who tend to avoid negative emotions because they think it's totally bad. But hiding from the pain can often make it worse. Darkness only grows stronger in the shadows, after all.

Nico and Will's internal journeys were two sides of the same coin in that respect. I loved it. Nico was ready to accept his trauma, but in a way, Will had to accept it too.

By the time they reach Nyx, these internal struggles had been mostly resolved and simply need to have their big final moment to totally hit home. But there's another kind-of-subtle-but-also-not theme for Nyx that ingeniously ties into the idea of questioning gender and sexuality. Nyx sees things as black and white. Even her own children, who are more than their labels, have to fit into these perfect molds in her mind. She's the BBEG because she struggles to change or to accept others changing around her. Talk about a heavy topic, right? But then at the end of the book, this idea of change is also beautifully encapsulated in Nico and Piper's discussion about sexuality labels. Particularly from Piper's perspective, since she's still figuring herself out and just going with what feels right in the moment. People are beautifully complex creatures who are capable of being something new every day.

On Characterization

Over the years, I've discovered that I gravitate toward the reformed, darker characters--the gloomy cinnamon rolls, if you will. Nico. Laudna and Caleb from Critical Role. Hunter in the Owl House. Zuko. Kaladin from the Stormlight Archives. Riku from Kingdom Hearts. So on and so forth. Something about their stories is so compelling to me. Perhaps seeing them overcome their own trials is a symbol that light comes after darkness, which is a message I have clung to my entire life, because it gives me hope for myself. And that’s exactly one of the messages I got from TSATS. This time, it was Nico’s turn for a reprieve from his trauma.

Y'all. Nico's a fucking NERD. The moment we met him as a little kid, he was talking everyone's ears off about Mythomagic, and he revealed he had a pirate phase and... yeah, he's just a nerd. His carefree personality took a huge nosedive after Bianca was killed, and then he became this unrecognizable dark creature of vengeance. I know some folks felt that he was really out of character in TSATS, but I find the shift just harkens back to the themes of change. Nico's transforming before our eyes, guys. Though Apollo's series and into TSATS, he's come to a place of peace where he could let go of his anger and his darkness... or at least accept them. And that's given him the space he needed to kind of get back on an even keel. He's finally able to return to his natural progression as a hyperactive dork. That's what we saw in TSATS and I loved it so much for him.

I found Will's progression really interesting as well. He's always been seen as the intrepid healer with a sometimes-literal glowing halo around him. In this story, the tables were turned and he had to accept that he needed support sometimes too. But more than that, this is the first time we've really gotten inside Will's head. We've only ever really seen him from the perspective of Nico (his admirer) and Apollo (his affectionate father). But this time, we were able to get Will's thoughts, and he's... not as perfect as we expected. And I love it. No one is perfect, and I think that in the absence of more information on Will, people sort of developed headcanons of him that understandably made the TSATS version of him a bit jarring. But if he were this perfect pariah of a character, that would hardly be interesting. I really enjoyed that in the first half, he spent so much time complaining about the Underworld, because it just meant there were some lessons for him to learn as well. He's complex, just like the rest of the PJO cast.

Other Incongruent Thoughts

Guys, I'm dead. When we finally heard the fated prophecy, I was... really underwhelmed. It didn't feel like it was literarily as impressive in the same way the other prophecies had been. It just... wasn't very good poetry. But then Dionysus criticized the rhyme structure and called it "a bit forced" and I was like "Hang on..." Come to find out, Hades made up the prophecy to get Nico to go save Bob! Can you just imagine Hades sitting at a desk, surrounded by crumpled pieces of paper, writing bad poetry that's convincing enough to get Nico off his butt and into Tartarus? I'm deceased.

The reunion between Nico, Maria, and Bianca BROKE me, y'all. I was full-on sobbing and my eyes were swollen this morning when I woke up. I was confused by how they were there, since past books said that they'd "moved on," insinuating they'd tried for rebirth. But I saw another post someone made about how Hades (or Bianca?) mentioned that they were the barest of essences remaining. I'm not saying it very well, but it made a lot more sense, and I hadn't caught that insinuation in my read-through. But I absolutely loved that we didn't get this reunion until after Nico had already accepted his trauma. If this meeting had come before, I'm sure he would have fought to "save" his mom and sister--I mean, he even says it in the book. But by that point, all he needed was to say his piece and get some closure, and that was enough for him. It was a mark of how much he's grown, and I just... *chef's kiss*

I love Hades. He's genuinely a good dad. Well... sort of. Maybe not at the beginning of PJO. But he, too, is changing his ways and taking more of an interest in his children. Or at least Nico. I wonder if we'll ever get more Hazel/Hades content? But Nico pretty much confirmed that Hades was around when he was a kid, and Hazel said the same thing in a previous book, which is more than pretty much every other demigod can say, so there you go. By Olympian standards, Hades deserves that #1 Dad mug.

I was really surprised that it took over half the book for Nico and Will to make it to Tartarus! Don't get me wrong, there was still plenty going on, but I was so used to the idea of Percy and Annabeth dropping in at chapter 2, it surprised me!

Anyone else peep the really big typo on page 401 of the US hardcover? "My mother is Bianca di Angelo, and she loved me and my sister." I stared at that for a long time last night wondering if I was going crazy, lolol. From what I've heard, the typo has already been fixed on the kindle version of the book, but those of us with physical copies have got the OG mistake. Whoops, lol!

I'm having a hard time discerning if the "'Dam it,' said Nico." on page 352 is a typo or not, for the pure and simple reason that there were so many dam jokes in PJO. And somewhere else in the book, Nico actually says "Damn," so... was it a typo? The 'dam' joke didn't really have a purpose for being there, and it wasn't repeated later, so I feel more like it might have been another typo?

We got a little Percy and Annabeth action! And Sally and Estelle! I have to admit, I was a little disappointed that Percy and Annabeth had already forgotten about Bob. Especially since Percy's whole growth in the House of Hades was to realize how many people he'd left behind. I never expected them to join Nico and Will in their Tartarus journey, but they apparently brushed him off so fast I got whiplash! What was that about? I wonder if we'll get more on that in the short story that comes out later this year?

We got a little mention of Damasen in this story as well, and obviously if he hasn't regenerated yet, there wasn't much they could do for him. But... I'm surprised that Percy and Annabeth didn't mention him or ask Nico to keep an eye out for him as well because he was there at the Doors of Death, making the same sacrifice as Bob. Will there be another Tartarus rescue mission in the future? Nemesis told Nico that any future journies into Tartarus would be unsuccessful. While I feel like it's unlikely we'll get any more Tartarus field trips, those little asides made me wonder if Rick Riordan's got more ideas floating around that he wanted to leave open for later, just in case.

They used the words gay, bisexual, and lesbian! I don't think this book series has ever done that before! I have a sneaking suspicion that this was part of Mark's contribution to the book. RR usually tends to talk around those words--he'll make it obvious, like when Apollo talked about his love for Hyacinthus, but I don't think Apollo ever actually used the word bisexual to describe himself (correct me if I'm wrong). I think that it was a really good step forward for children's literature. If you're going in, go all in, you know?

Lil Nas X made an unbelievable appearance! Lol! Though I have to admit, the inconsistency of the timeline of references sometimes gets me. Like many books ago, some character probably dropped a reference from ten years ago, and a year or two in book time, we get a Montero reference. Like, it's a small nitpick, but that inconsistency always pulls me out of the story a bit. Yeah, you heard right--I'm totally fine with the issues everyone else had with the books, but the weird timeline of references messes with me, lol. That's where I draw the line! That's not the say the Lil Nas X reference wasn't spectacular, though, lol.

Do I... like Mr. D now? I love Dionysus from the mythologies, but Mr. D was always so... blegh. But he's like legit a decent person to Nico. He shared his popcorn! That. Was. HUGE. Hahaha.

We finally got the full scoop on Nico's first trip to Tartarus!

The nickname "Night-Light" is endlessly adorable. And then Will ruins it by turning around and calling Nico "Death Boy" lol.

The trogs were never my favorite mythological creature ever, but they grew on me in this story.

So... Menoetes and Geryon, huh? Menyon? Geroetes? What's our ship name? Lol.

Will having the hots for Persephone was not on my bingo card, lol! I did really enjoy their talk, though. It really set up Will's character arc very nicely. And I loved that Persephone seems to be taking a leaf out of Hades' book and trying to be a bit kinder towards her stepchildren. It's not their fault, you know?

I'm seeing a lot of reactions to Nico's coming out story. I agree, that's one part I felt was a little bit forced. Introverted people can have moments where they're feeling brave and don't mind an audience (Hi, I'm exhibit A), I wouldn't say it's out of character per se. But it was a little bit... shall we say out of context? Since we didn't get the actual scene, but Nico and Will's recollection of it?

I really liked Gorgyra. The random chapters of stories from Nico and Will kind of jarred me a bit, but I think they were a nice touch, but would have been too much if they'd all been told chronologically. I agree with Rick and Mark's decision to split those up.

Amphithemis was a trip! I wish we could have lingered a bit more on Nico being upset at Will for tricking him away. I was glad that Nico at least asked Hades to free Amphithemis.

I saw some complaints that Nico and Will were super cringey around one another. To that, and as someone who's ace, I say... most couples are cringey around each other, particularly young couples. Nico and Will are still feeling out their relationship, and they don't have the years of friendship that Percy and Annabeth had that made their relationship so easygoing. I think Nico and Will's relationship is a bit more realistic in terms of first loves.

I loved the frank conversations about PTSD. I eat stuff like that up, because when I read it, I can just imagine someone else who really needs that sort of representation reading this book and finding comfort in characters like them.

And I'm literally out of space. I had no idea Tumblr had a character limit, but I hit it, lol. But if you got this far, thanks for reading!

#the sun and the star spoilers #tsats spoilers #spoilers #sun and the star spoilers #tsats #the sun and the star #nico di angelo #will solace #percy jackson #hades #sun and the star

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welcometomy20s · 4 years ago

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June 30, 2021

Coco (and Lulu’s) Legacy

Coco wrote the book on how to be a Hololive member, from front to back. She plotted out how one can amass an audience, how to interact and build a worldwide fandom, how to integrate ideas of the audience to the grand narrative of the company, how to deal with tee-tee and pairings, how to cope when YouTube strikes you down in its impunity, and how to cope when Cancel Brigade comes to destroy your work, along with how to bring a more cohesive workplace, how to protect yourself from the unmooring of identity that is inherent in VTube, and finally how to leave when you are in a rollercoaster that is only going up. Coco wrote the book and now we follow.

AsaCoco was brilliant from its outset. Having a place to know the ins and outs of various members of Hololive was a great way to connect the rabbit hole. But there is a deeper reason for the brilliance. I talked before about how the major tension in VTube is one between the corporate back-end tradition of Japan colliding with the audience front-end tradition of YouTube. AsaCoco is something directly in line with that second tradition. The visual language of YouTube is different from those of movies. A jump cut in a movie denotes a different idea than a jump cut on YouTube. Movie critic complaining about jump cuts in vlogs is like a Spanish reader complaining about a sentence in English being awkward. Of course it is, it’s in a different language. Unlike movies, which come from theatre and literature, vlogs’ lineage comes from news broadcasts. Many of the early web successes were styled in a news format (rocketboom, Ze Frank, What the Buck and so on…) One does not complain about the jump cut between different presenters in a newscast, and so one does not complain when a similar thing happens in vlogs. But the point is that AsaCoco harkens to the audience-based tradition.

One might write off the ARK arc as an aberration, but I think ARK did add something constructive to Hololive and VTubers as a whole. I like to think of ARK as a training wheel for Minecraft. Minecraft is relatively challenging compared to ARK. Minecraft speedruns are mildly impressive, ARK speedrun less so. ARK is actually like the middle ground between Monster Hunter and Minecraft. You can play ARK like Monster Hunter, gather a bunch of friends to hunt monsters, or like Minecraft, build your own zoo or house or so on… And in that flexibility, one can easily learn how to tell a compelling narrative in an open-world setting. Pekora’s war criminal tendencies developed there, Miko’s ‘pon’ nature was crystalized there, and so on…

Holohouse was an underrated achievement. At first, the idea feels like the natural extension of their idol nature. Idols live together, so why not virtual idols? But having virtual idols living together comes with additional benefits that Nijisanji should note.

Stalking is an awful thing, I know since I experienced and have done something similar in my past, but stalking is also a desperate thing. And desperation tends to abate when people are more open about themselves. One of the articles talking about Coco’s graduation infamously notes the mystery of Coco’s identity, which is chucklesome since Coco’s identity might be the most open secret in all of Hololive. This was in line with Hololive’s more open policy, several of Hololive members do their own personal work on the side, while in many early companies, this was forbidden. Nijisanji’s background is less open than Hololive, perhaps due to the number and less mass attention, and that leads to stalking being a more adventurous one. One that livers have to deal with more alone, while for Hololive, it’s likely people would catch and perhaps even tar the perpetrator. More attention means more risk with less excitement.

Holohouse also protects aggressive fan behavior by introducing VTuber solidarity. With more offline collabs, the people would know each other more personally and therefore have a ground of contacts in which to alert suspicious behavior. Safety in numbers.

Holohouse also brought us KanaCoco, which was a lesser known pairing until the couple ring story, and now it has become one of three big couples of Hololive, the other two being NoeFlare and OkaKoro. The big three all have a different style of their tee tee. KanaCoco is the type of a longtime buddy. Both Kanata and Coco struggled with familial and economic circumstances, and they are both struggling under the same roof. And within that struggle comes comity and friendship. It’s not love in your typical sense, but it is a type that would lead to marriage and childrens… but the current LBGTQ+ status in Japan is pretty bad, so tee tee and hush hush it is.

In a sense, KanaCoco provides for an excellent cover. It is one of the most inspiring portrayals of woman-woman friendships in media and it would be one of the more enduring aspect of Coco’s legacy as it passes down through the generations.

[Note: This somehow became an apologia of the past week. Well, I do like to show my thinking with my behavior, perhaps to my detriment, so… just be warned.]

For the past week, I was hyping about the fact that Gura passed Kizuna Ai to become the most-subscribed VTuber. And I made the point, not through immaturity, but because I realized this coincided with Coco’s graduation. Without Coco, there wouldn’t be Hololive English, or Gawr Gura, and therefore this event would not have happened. This, therefore, was one of the last great accomplishments of Coco. An indelible mark of her foresight and perseverance. A realization of her plans. So, in a sense, this was one of my ways of celebrating Coco’s career, albeit in an admittedly twisted way.

But beyond Hololive English, there was the famous Meme Review, which has a weak lineage with the early meme review series from PewDiePie. Now for the digression, whoever ends up at the top gives us a flavor for that specific era, since one naturally assumes success means finesse and would try to emulate the style. Vlogbrother’s visual style and mannerism was largely lifted from Ze Frank. PBS Idea Channel famously emulated Ray William Johnson’s background to his own ends. And Kizuna Ai was famously inspired by PewDiePie at several points in her career. Which is why PewDiePie’s Congratulations felt right as a tribute. One of the big shared characteristics of the two was the lonely years at the top. PewDiePie is probably going to be longest reigning ‘King’ of YouTube for a while (of course, depends on if Cocomelon catches T-Series in due time) and at the time his reign was abnormally long. Most people hold onto the top spot for a year or two, so it felt odd that PewDiePie was untouchable for so long. Similar things must have been raised for Kizuna Ai as well. Many people must have felt that Kizuna Ai just did not represent VTubers at the current time.

So, when competition showed up, of course people were excited. It felt like it was time. I believe PewDiePie’s Congratulations was not a simple diss track, although it’s formatted like one, just due to the culture at the time. So the hypothetical Kizuna Ai version would be extremely light-hearted. The ‘diss’ would be your typical “she’s short”, “she’s hydrodynamic” and so on… it would be clear there is no actual bad blood, and the song would be welcoming of the new era. Era, as I said before, brought on by Coco.

Back to the Meme Review, meme review was great as it centered reddit as the base for the fandom, rather than twitter, which is a horrible platform to bring a sense of communal welcomeness. Reddit is probably the best functional place for stuff like this, even though we all know it has its host of problems that needs to be resolved.

What is the most important stream in Hololive? Well, some people would point to Aqua and Coco’s The Raft stream, which is a poignant encapsulation of a stream. The dramatic counterweight to the other greatest stream in Hololive, Korone’s all-english Mario stream. Aqua and Coco are always the odd pairing, but it could have worked, and it might have been beneficial. Aqua is one of the most shy people in Hololive, and Mio is already busy with Ayame and Subaru, so the best person might have been Coco.

But China. There were two big beneficiaries from China in Hololive, one was Fubuki and the other was Aqua. While Fubuki, in Coco’s last months, famously went out of her way to intertwine herself with Coco to directly redirect her audience, like the mensch she is, Aqua always struggled with her audience retention, therefore played shy with Coco.

Edit: Well, my initial final impression was… what a wonderful finish. The interview portion was well-meant, but honestly a little formal. When the 4th Gen went together, is when the stream turned into something special for me, and the final performance was actually really well-done. Coco went out like an idol, which makes sense. For whatever provocation Coco perpetuated, Coco only did them out of love. And ultimately Cover knew that. Coco’s final month was a warning and a reminder.

Can I talk about all the different tributes lately? In some sense, Usaken Summer Festival is part of this… for an organization that is immensely popular, I just adore how Cover and their talent always has this drive to throw everything and see if it works. I noticed this during Golden Week. Golden Week in Hololive was jam packed. There were great events, Mio’s morning stream was astounding, leading to one of biggest growth spurt for Mio. Miko’s drawing collab was absolutely hilarious, for such a simple and seemingly hastily put idea. One of the people in a forum commented on this and affixed something that left my mind… what did Nijisanji during the same week? Even I was surprised by how little Nijisanji did that Golden week. They barely did anything!

The innovative spirit does give them trouble, more than it is worth, but Cover never really stopped its momentum, even when most other companies would have stopped a long time ago! This is the greatest thing about Hololive and Cover, the most redeeming feature. One that would serve them well. Coco wrote the playing book, let us pray that Cover sticks to them, because the fall of Cover comes the moment they stray.

The Pre-Coco era was about a company struggling to get their idea through. The Coco era was about writing the playing book. So the Post-Coco era will be about remembrance, it’ll be a struggle to keep the memory of what the playing book is. It’ll be about them being Hololive as they become part of the global zeitgeist.

#vtuber #hololive #kiryu coco #web talk #Thoughts

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metawish · 4 years ago

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Family x Hunter: My mini analysis about family relationships in HxH

I am a HUGE sucker for found family troupes and family-oriented stories. There just aren't enough stories to explore the nature of those relationships and how influencial they can be to our development as people. For those of us who's primary relationships are our families, we're left out of the dialouge.

So imagine my surprise when Hunter x Hunter ended up being the anime I can't stop thinking about precisely because of the MULTIPLE family relationships and psudorelationships that happen throughout the plot. Imagine my double surprise when it turns out those family relationships are prioritized and emphasized in the anime over others like the all too popular friendship.

Written for the Carnival of Aro’s Jan 2021 Theme: Stories

Take the premise as a starting point. Gon decides to become a hunter, not because it's cool or because he wants to find some rare cool thing he's never seen before. No, instead, he wants to become a hunter to get closer to his absent father. The ENTIRE show only happens because Gon is driven by a desire to connect with and forge a relationship with his father. I think I can safely say that the family aspect of Hunter x Hunter is embeded into it's core.

Then take a look at the reasons the other main four choose to become hunters. Kurapika is hoping to avenge the massacur of his family clan, a clan that does not interact with the outside world. His entire character arc and development is based on this goal of seeking revenge.

Killua is at the Hunter exam because he heard it was easy. But then we learn, he left home because he wants to REJECT his family obligation to take up the family business.

"Okay, fair," I hear you all say, "but what about Leorio? He just wants money."

Let me help you connect the dots here. First, he claims he wants to become a hunter because of the money. Then we learn he wants to use that money to become a doctor and then provide free medical treatment for those who cannot afford it. THEN we learn that this motivation STEMS from a childhood incident where a best friend of his ended up dying from a treatable illness because he couldn't afford the medical treatment neccessary. Leorio decided then that he did not want anyone else to experience that, tried to go at it the normal way, and realized that it would be nearly impossible for him to afford it. Any average person might end up giving up on this dream, but Leorio was so dedicated to his goal that he ended up training to become a hunter, a physically and mentally strenuous task. JUST so he can get access to more money.

If anything, Leorio's the one who's most motivated by platonic relationships! While Kurapika,Gon, and Killua's motivations are based on obligations to family, Leorio's motivation is only suggested. It isn't like this friend is still alive and Leorio is obligated to save him. No one but Leorio is beholden to the completion of his mission. The strength in that bond has to be strong for him to go to the lengths he did.

AND THIS IS ONLY THE VERY BEGINNING!

Gon's arc goes from becoming a hunter to finding his dad. Kurapika disappears from the story precisely because he is off getting revenge. Killua's development as a character entirely rests in the way he navigates between his family, with entire plots surrounding the Zoldyks. Leorio reenters the narrative JUST to show how deeply he cares for Gon and Killua, and serves as a nice foil to Ging, Gon's father.

I physically cried during Killua's final arc, when he apologized to his youngest sister, asking for her forgiveness after being a "bad big brother." Killua went from essentially running away from home rejecting his family, to asking for forgiveness from a cherished family member. And the nuance inbetween! Freeing himself from his oldest brother's mind control. Finding common ground with his father that, at least in the anime, never gets used against him. Rejecting the family business without rejecting the family. While it still feels incomplete, the joy at seeing him reconnect with a family member and promise to always be together forever made the little shrivelled starved heart of mine swell satisfied.

Killua is a perfect example of the story focusing on his family relationships over his friendships, or at the very least, implying that those family relationships are more important than those with his friend. Does Killua leverage the fact that he made a pact with his dad to never abandon a friend? Yeah. But the fact is that he still went to his family for help.

In the last episode, he tells Gon, his first and only friend, that they have to part ways since he has to protect his little sister. He even says that she comes first before Gon. After struggling to understand if Gon is as committed to him as Killua was to him, he finds closure in his little sister's dedication and wholesome affection. (When he asks Alluka if he was the only one in the whole world that loved her, would that be enough, her response was that she couldn't stop smiling. Because the answer was yes. And perhaps, it was also a question for Killua. Is Alluka's love for him enough?)

And Leorio. LEORIO. As I said, he disappears from the narrative, largely because his mission and Gon's are not the same. But when Gon is out of commission, Leorio comes back into play. The PLOT is affected by this decision and MOVES because if this. Leorio was simply trying to find a way to help his friend, and decides to publically ask his father where he is during such a critical time. Leorio's emotions at Ging's lack thereof ends up putting him in the spotlight, a spotlight he uses every time to seek answers for Gon and to reaffirm his commitment to saving Gon. As much as I HATED the slowmotion, the reunion between Leorio and Gon after Gon's been healed was felt deep in my SOUL. Contrast that QUITE LITERALLY with Ging's reaction and we have the potential for some major character development and storytelling about what a family relationship really is about.

Do we have to earn those familiar relationships? Are we expected to commit to people who are not committed to us simply because they are blood? Can we reject them? Is Killua's reject of his oldest brother over their younger sister a conflict that cannot be solved? Can we form them with strangers? Who is more of a stranger to Gon; his absent dad or the guy he met on a ship headed to an exam? Are we obligated to our family duties like Killua and the family business or Kurapika and his life destroying hunt to avenge his dead family?

Kurapika's story felt a little flat, which is a shame because there is so much potential to explore! The struggle to avenge his clan stems not from his clan, but from his own trauma and pain. His family was ripped right under him, leaving him no one to rely on. Instead of form new relationships, he rots along with his family. In a sense, his disappearance from the narrative represents his character regression, fading from existance like his family.

From a family taken away, to a father who was never there in the first place. Gon's story feels incomplete. Feels a bit like Gon's growth as a character is secondary to the advancement of the plot. Feels like sweeping major issues under the metaphorical rug and calling it a fun show. This man never once visited his son. When leaving a recording for his son, he flat out told Gon he did not want to see him at all. During his time in the hospital, never once did he visit. Sure, we see him remain confident that Gon is alright, but is this confidence misplaced? Is this even true confidence in a person he's never met before? I feel like I am missing a giant piece of the puzzle explaining why Gon, a 12 year old boy who had no male figure in his life, easily accepts Ging.

Let's not forget how Gon didn't even WANT to learn more about his birth mother, a mystery that we will never solve. Just another example of trying to answer what family means. Mito is an aunt, but to Gon, Mito is his mother. (Yet Ging can still be his father? Why not Leorio? A far more deserving man of any affection whatsoever.)

How the story should go. After meeting up with Ging, he continues to go on an adventure with him. As they travel through the far more dangerous continent, Gon faces death multiple times. All this while Ging continues without regard for his safety. Gon reflects, thinking back to his friend Killua, who would attack Gon if it was to protect him. Who called him the sun. Back to Leorio, who hugged Gon like he mattered. Who said he was sorry for not being there for him. As they continue on, he reflects on who really matters. A call for help from his friends. Does he answer the call or remain by his father's side?

What makes a familiar relationship? Blood? Obligation? Depth of affection? Trust? Who makes or breaks those ties? How much do we grow from those relationships?

Hunter x Hunter exceeds my expectations, but also fails to live up to the story it sets itself up to be. I never thought I'd see such an incredible character development that centers on family. I hoped for something on the Ging & Gon front, perhaps as a means of exploring my own thoughts on the matter. Sorely disappointed. I think about this anime often because there is still much left to the imagination. A story unfinished. Perhaps that's what makes it a good story; especially one that decides to kick the standard and focus on a relationship that all of us have dealt with, but many of us overlook.

Is this show good? Debatable. What isn't debatable is how important family is to the plot and character development of the show. Maybe, in an alternative world somewhere, there is a satisfying ending where Gon acknowledges his own family trauma. He realizes how important his friends are, maybe seeing them more as his own family. Kurapika's revenge slowly fizzles out, instead replaced by the need to protect what's still alive. Killua resolves his family issues while remaining true to himself and Leorio adopts Gon.

Maybe the real family is the one we make along the way.

#hunter x hunter #hxh #gon #killua #leorio #please give me more gen content

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traincat · 4 years ago

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I’ve read Waid and Hickman’s FF runs and am currently reading Zdarsky’s 2 in One. I’m planning on eventually reading the Lee/Kirby run. Can I ask, what other runs would you recommend? Is Claremont’s good? Sorry for bothering.

I LOVE Waid and Hickman’s Fantastic Four runs, and Zdarsky’s Marvel Two-In-One was excellent to the point where one of my lingering disappointments is that Marvel brought the Fantastic Four back in a way that prematurely cut off Zdarksy’s 2n1. I know I said I wanted them back but wow did we all get monkey’s paw’d on that one. Zdarsky did really excellent stuff with both Ben and Johnny and the multiverse hopping was honestly fun and interesting. Lee/Kirby is also, in my opinion, just a really terrific run -- it lays the groundwork for not only the future of the Fantastic Four but a lot of big concepts for the Marvel Universe in general, and I think it holds up really well by modern day storytelling standards. Lee’s sense of humor works well with the retrofuturistic vibe and Kirby’s art is always wonderful. In particular I think it’s interesting to look back on The Galactus Trilogy (Fantastic Four #48-50) as the granddaddy of all event comics, for better or worse.

Claremont -- okay, I love Claremont’s run, let me start off by saying that. Claremont’s run follows on what is in my opinion one of the worst periods of Fantastic Four canon, and I mean bad to the point where the literal canon at that point was that to get things back on track the Fantastic Four had to be put in a bubble universe. Claremont’s run kicks in one or two issues after their return to the main Marvel universe and it’s so fun. I think Fantastic Four is one of those series that kind of flourishes in adversity and Claremont’s run starts off with the Fantastic Four trying to regain their footing in a world that had assumed them dead, their Baxter Building gone, living in a warehouse property. Claremont, in my opinion, also has one of the best if not the best handle on characterization for a lot of key Fantastic Four figures, including Johnny, Reed, and Sue. His Ben is also very good, but I think Ben in particular tends to be an easier sell for a lot of comic book writers -- the outcast, the gruff man, the comic relief. He’s easier to identify with than Reed, the Smartest Man on Earth, or Johnny, defined by his youth and beauty and queercoded since the ‘60s, or Sue, by sheer factor of being a woman. So I think a lot of writers identify with Ben first and foremost and put the most love and care into his depiction, whereas the others are a little easier for them to leave by the wayside. Which isn’t a bad thing -- I love that one of the most beloved comic book characters is also one of Marvel’s few canonically Jewish characters, but there is a wealth of truly excellent Ben canon in comparison to the other three. Especially with Johnny, there’s no one else who has written for Fantastic Four who has put nearly as much thought and detail into Johnny’s relationship with his powers, both the positive and the negative, as Claremont has, even reworking the origin story from Lee and Kirby’s joyous scene of Johnny flaming on for the first time into a deeply traumatizing incident -- being sixteen and traumatized and bursting into uncontrollable flames.

(Fantastic Four v3 #11) There’s also a lot of women in Claremont’s run! A valid criticism of Fantastic Four canon is that by its initial core team makeup it tends to be lacking in female characters compared to some other big Marvel staples, but Claremont brings in a ton, from Reed’s college friend and fellow genius Alyssa Moy (who has been done dirty by pretty much every other writer who’s ever touched her, including Waid and Hickman) to multiversal bounty hunter Bounty to the most platonic of Johnny’s gal pals Caledonia to Valeria Von Doom, a “time dancing” teenage incarnation of the baby Sue lost back in Byrne’s run, who sets up baby Val’s eventual return. Claremont is also king of Reed vs Doom setups -- if you haven’t read his Fantastic Four vs X-Men miniseries, I highly recommend it, and he brings a lot of the two sides of the same coin energy from that into his Fantastic Four run.

The downside of Claremont’s run is that the plot is always there and always running and I could not explain half of it if you paid me. Things certainly happen! Like all the time! For seemingly no apparent reason! Stuff gets set up and then it’s not resolved and now we are in Latveria! I don’t think this is necessarily all that detrimental -- the run is still massively fun and the characterization is always fresh and interesting. It’s just that sometimes you have no idea what’s going on and you have to roll with it. And then sometimes you do know what’s going on but in the way where you know Claremont was just writing it because it’s his kink. Which is like, whatever. As authorial ids go, you can pretty consistently do worse than Claremont’s, I’ll give him that. So I do recommend on it the whole, as long as you’re not going into expecting the kind of plots either Hickman or Waid brought the book. Claremont’s is kind of like “stuff happens and it’s either weird or fun so just don’t pay too much attention to it.”

Aside from Claremont, I feel like I generally like far more Fantastic Four runs than I dislike -- but also I don’t hate Millar’s run, which is honestly bad, so it’s possible I’m just very forgiving with the Fantastic Four. I really like Robinson’s run, which is the last run before the Great Fantastic Four Drought of 2015-2018. It’s short, self-contained, and devoted entirely to one story, so it’s pretty tightly written, with good characterization and some very shiny art by Leonard Kirk. Straczynski’s run is decent enough for the fact that it intersects with Civil War -- I think he does his best to get into the heads of the characters re: their actions in Civil War -- and it leads directly into Dwayne McDuffie’s run, another brief one where Black Panther and Storm take over for Reed and Sue. Very fun. Marvel Knights 4 is also a fairly recent run that’s got some strong moments in it, although I feel it’s a little inconsistent in its handling of the characters. It’s still fun, though. For an older, longer run, I like Simsonson’s -- the art is very dynamic, even if the storyline kind of gets too involved with itself.

(FF #337)

I recommend Byrne’s run with the caveat that there’s plenty to dislike about it and plenty of reasons to avoid it, not the least of it being Byrne himself as a creator and a person. It’s heavily sexist in how it deals with Sue, it retcons a huge age gap into Sue and Reed’s relationship, and Byrne’s early departure sets up my all time least favorite Fantastic Four story. (Though that one is Roger Stern and later Tom DeFalco’s fault.) It is historic as Fantastic Four runs go, though, and there’s a lot in later runs that’s built over it or references it or borrows from it. So it’s a rec with a lot of caveats and I also understand why people might give it a skip -- I think it’s more important for an understanding of the greater body of Fantastic Four canon and the impact it had than for the actual run itself. I do think Byrne has some very interesting subtext with Johnny, although it never come to fruition, and while his Sue falls victim to a lot of sexism, I really like what he does with the character of Frankie Raye, who like poor Alyssa Moy I don’t think has ever gotten really good treatment ever since.

I have mixed feelings on both Millar and Fraction’s runs, not in the least because I think they end very similarly -- and that Millar did it better, which doesn’t say great things. Millar’s run is kind of like a trashy popcorn flick version of Fantastic Four; it’s not actually good, but I can’t say I don’t like the terrible eldritch monster in Scotland Christmas arc (Fantastic Four #564-565) and I’m sort of into future Sue. Fraction, on the other hand, takes a space road trip and makes it boring, which is the greatest Fantastic Four sin of all. He’s one of the rare writers who I think actually writes a bad Ben Grimm -- not the least because his run goes out of its way to try and label it Ben’s own fault that he was transformed into a monster. I do really like his FF (just the initials) though.

The only Fantastic Four runs I can say I really truly dislike are Tom DeFalco’s and Dan Slott’s, which sort of unfortunate because DeFalco’s is both long influential (I have no idea why because it’s honestly terrible like in terms of storytelling) and because Slott’s is happening right now. DeFalco comes onto the book on Fantastic Four #356 and stays on until Fantastic Four #416, at which point Marvel hit a literal retcon button to get out of the mess he’d made. (This leads into Fantastic Four v2, which is largely skippable -- it’s basically a mid-90s retelling of a bunch of early Fantastic Four stories that leads back into the FF heading back to the main universe.) DeFalco’s responsible for the Skrull retcon in the JohnnyAlicia marriage and for dragging that out for over 50 issues, the entirety of which feel like he was writing without a plan or outline or literally anything, and I have never felt like a comic book was attempting to gaslight me through its own incompetence or refusal to commit to things it set up itself as badly as I do with DeFalco’s run. (I like other non-Fantastic Four Tom DeFalco runs. I just hate this one.) Dan Slott’s run is just 25 issues and counting of badly written emotionless unfunny pages blandly stapled together and I so badly want Marvel to kick him off the book for its own good.

#almosteverythingnerd #fantastic four #traincat talks comics #comic recs #long post/

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nellie-elizabeth · 5 years ago

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Supernatural: Our Father, Who Aren't in Heaven (15x08)

I'm screaming.

Cons:

Buckleming episodes usually piss me off, but this one was actually really great. It was still plagued with the same pacing problems I always see in their episodes, though. A lot of great stuff happened here, but it didn't necessarily have a ton of room to breathe. Some of it did - the Cas and Dean stuff, the Michael and Adam stuff. And maybe that's the most important. But it might have been nice to have a longer beat with Rowena, or a bit more buildup with Eileen and the case. For an episode written by these two chuckle-fucks, though, I'm honestly really, really impressed.

Donatello is an okay-ish character, but his presence here felt mostly unnecessary. Didn't we have enough to juggle, without introducing him into the mix? Eileen, Cas, Rowena, Chuck, Michael, Adam... there's a lot going on here. It probably could have been done without him.

Pros:

I really don't know where to start, so let's start with Eileen. Just the fact that she's in this episode warms me from head to toe. She's... actually in the show. She's here, in the mid-season finale, where important Plot Stuff is happening. She's a real player in events, and after she came back from the dead, she stuck around in the bunker. Like she's... really in the show, you guys. Three episodes in a row!

On a more specific note, I love that Sam followed her and Eileen called him out on it... this could have been really creepy but I think they played it right. Eileen died and came back to life, and Sam is just starting to develop this relationship with her. It makes sense that he might be a little overbearing. And Eileen's reaction was pitch-perfect. She's a little annoyed, a little amused, but also maybe a little touched? And Sam takes the criticism to heart, realizing that he's probably overstepped. Later, when Eileen has a case that she needs to go on, to help an old friend, she goes to Sam and tells him, and he tags along. This seems like a good arrangement - Eileen isn't being stupid and running off by herself for no reason, but Sam is also respecting her boundaries and letting her approach him if and when she wants help with something.

We've also got Dean giving his seal of approval to the relationship, telling Sam that if he wants to do the family and relationship thing, Eileen is probably a good way of going about that. She's a hunter, she gets the life. And, as Dean says... Sam could do a lot worse. And Eileen could do so, so much better. I honestly think this little conversation was important to include. It's not like Sam needs Dean's blessing to start a relationship with Eileen, but... let's be honest, guys. Yes he does. Not literally, but can you really imagine either of the Winchester brothers being able to foster a healthy and lasting relationship with someone who didn't meet the other brother's approval? The codependency issues here are clear, and not to be discounted.

So then let's move on to Rowena. I loved her return here. It was totally unexpected, and totally brilliant. As I mentioned above, I really could have used more of her. The brief moment where Sam wants to hash out their last moments, and Rowena brushes him off, could have felt weightier. But the fact that we even got to see her again was such a gift. And what a natural end for her character! Queen of Hell. It fits, especially since I think we've pretty much confirmed that we won't be seeing Crowley again before the end. She got to show up looking like a boss-ass bitch, save Sam, Dean, and Castiel from getting their asses handed to them, shout orders, try to help them find Michael, assert her dominance and her happiness in her new role, and even try to kick Dean and Cas into gear, as she notices that they're clearly in some sort of "tiff." As brief as her return was, it certainly packed a punch, and I loved it so very much.

Cas and Dean's strained relationship right now is giving me life. This is the most Destiel-adjacent content we've gotten since Season Eight, and with the two of them returning to Purgatory, we're bound to get a lot of material in the new year, as well. The thing that I like so much about their story arc this season is that... there is a story arc. Dean has been cruel and dismissive of Cas in the past, and Cas has made mistakes, and circumstances have conspired to keep Castiel out of episodes as he goes off on his own quests... none of this is strictly new. But what is new is the narrative weight being placed on it. This is a slow-burn conflict that's going to have to have meaty screen-time to resolve. They had a serious fight, and it's actually affecting both of them in their actions.

Both Jensen and Misha are pulling out all the stops in giving this conflict the weight it deserves. There are so many delicious moments. They make their plans and discuss their options, but they can't even meet each other's eyes. There's the moment after Cas forces Michael to confront the truth, and Dean comes in and says "maybe you went too far." It's a gentle remonstrance, and he's clearly trying not to ruffle Cas' feathers. I loved the way Jensen played that, like he needed to talk to Cas about what went down, but he wanted to be careful not to antagonize him. When Rowena confronts them, they both do the typical thing of pretending everything's fine, still refusing to look at each other.

But the moment where my heart just squeezed in my chest was obviously when Dean cut his hand in order to do the spell to get to Hell, and Cas healed him, his hand hovering over Dean's fist without touching. Dean's hand unfurls and for a moment their fingers are centimeters apart, but they never touch. Many a meta has been written about the intimate way that Cas has always healed Dean, and how that juxtaposes to the way he heals other people. And in this moment, they don't touch, and it speaks volumes. I seriously have to ask the question - why was this moment in the episode? Sam could have been the one to cut his hand, or Dean could have, but then could have wrapped it up and moved on. It's not like we haven't seen Sam and Dean brush off wounds like this and ignore them before. This was a weighty, intentional moment. We lingered on it. I am alive, y'all.

Now let's turn to Adam/Michael. This is so amazing, and not at all what I think anyone was expecting when we found out Jake Abel was returning. Sure, Adam is a little pissed off at his brothers for leaving him in the cage, and sure Michael is still going on and on about being God's favorite, but even as so much has stagnated for these two characters, we've also learned what they've been up to in the cage for the past decade. They've made an arrangement. Only one body, but two brains... so they agree to share, more or less peacefully. Sam and Dean were shocked when Michael let Adam come to the forefront to say hi to his brothers. But the two of them seem to be... buddies. Adam is able to speak freely to Michael, to express his opinion that the Winchesters might have a point. Even though Michael can't quite listen to him in this instance, it's clear that he gives real consideration to Adam's opinions.

Adam was introduced on this show such a long time ago, and it would have felt disingenuous and annoying if we'd spent too long on the whole "you let me rot in hell" business. Of course that's something Adam would be thinking about, but it's not like Sam and Dean really knew him all that well. He doesn't seem to place much weight on his status as their brother, and I can't really blame him for that. He's had to forge his own path, and he's done so by becoming friends with the angel who is possessing him. I love that glow-up for Adam.

And Michael... he has to have his heart broken the same way Sam did when he found out that Chuck has been playing them all along. I loved the moment when Cas forcefully made him confront the truth, because of course it was too much, of course it was overwhelming, but ultimately it pushed him to understand that his loyalty to God is not worth the pain and suffering he's been through. And so, in much the way that Chuck knew how to cage Amara, Michael knows how to cage Chuck. He's willing to help by passing that information along. It's a spell, of course. And the most vital ingredient is something that can only be found in Purgatory. What with Sam and Eileen dealing with Chuck elsewhere, it's going to be up to Cas and Dean. They must return to the place where their epic romance really took off and began to slowly murder us all!

Chuck has Eileen and Sam right where he wants them, and even worse, Dean and Cas don't know. This is going to create great drama, as well as opportunities for our two couples (shut up and let me have this) to spend time together as we go in to the back half of the season. My heart is really starting to break, thinking about how little time we have left with this show!

I feel like this review could get out of hand very quickly. In many ways, this felt understated for a mid-season finale. Nobody died, the status quo didn't really shift all that much. But I actually liked it better for all that. Things are in motion. Character dynamics are being explored. This is a good season of Supernatural, y'all. Fingers crossed they can stick the landing!

9/10

#review #supernatural #supernatural review #spn #spn 15x08

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ice-cream-nekogirl · 5 years ago

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Amy Martinez (Character Sheet TV Tropes Style) A-E

Amy Martinez is my BNHA/AHS OC!!

She is a young girl from New Orleans and a witch from Miss. Robichaux’s Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies who transfers into UA and earned a spot in the Hero Course. She currently resides in a very lavish mansion that belonged to the former Supreme Fiona Goode, and as it turns out, Amy originally lived in Japan but her parents were murdered by witch hunters who infiltrated Japan in search of her mother. The pro-heroes, unable (and unwilling) to take care of a young witch, had her transferred and placed under the care of Fiona and the New Orleans coven, where she was later taken in by the current Supreme and her godmother Cordelia Goode. Despite her appearance, Amy is very hyperactive, eccentric and mischievous by nature, isn’t above doing immoral and wicked things and has an offbeat sense of humor that tends to be off-putting to her new classmates. However, that doesn’t mean Amy is all bad, and in fact does have a compassionate and empathetic side that comes out when she’s with friends, especially her childhood friend Shinsou Hitoshi, ally Midoriya Izuku and later, her new best friend Ashlen Kyanse.

Speaking of which! Ashlen Kyanse is NOT mine, she’s my best friend @ashleigh-luvs-14cats‘s OC! :D :3

TV Tropes About Amy:

A Girl and Her Dog: She adopts a Northern Inuit Puppy that she and Ashlen name Dakota and he becomes her loyal animal companion and emotional support dog.

A God Am I: Not really, but her words to Midoriya during her rampage resembled something of a god complex (at the time at least).

Amy: You can’t beat me Izuku... One For All couldn’t defeat Fiona Goode, the reigning supreme at the time, you can’t beat me now, even with One For All, you can’t beat me either! None of you heroes can! I’m a goddamn witch!

Accidental Murder: She accidentally kills Aizawa by giving him an apple she didn’t know was poisoned and charmed to look perfectly normal by Madison. Which resulted in Madison having to bring him back to life with Vitalum Vitalis.

Action Girl: Amy is always ready for a fight, and knows HOW to fight as well as she’s proven to be a very valuable and proficient student in the Hero Course.

Adoring The Pests: A tanuki once got into the dorm building, because Amy let it in since she found it ‘adorable’ and even named him ‘Shadow’. And although Iida told her to stop feeding the tanuki’s, Amy continues to do so because she thinks they’re too cute to not feed.

Amy also states that she would feed the possums in America because she thought they were adorable.

Adorkable: Despite her many eccentricities Amy’s a dork at heart a shown through her love of singing, dancing and making silly puns, and then there’s her girlish excitement when she’s around animals and toys as well as her oddly endearing fangirl reactions to Brendon Urie, Melanie Martinez and Stevie Nicks. Further displayed whenever she dances and sings with Shinsou and Ashlen.

Affectionate Nickname: “Ames” by Kaminari, Shinsou, Ashlen and a majority of her classmates. As well as “Witch Bitch” by Bakugo, it was initially used as an insult but became his term of endearment for her.

Her ex-boyfriend Damien called her “Amzy”, albeit as a means to manipulate her.

Ashlen also fondly calls her “Witchy”.

Fiona tends to call her “Sweet Amy”

Marie Laveau also affectionately refers to her as “Baby Witch��.

All of the Other Reindeer: Much like Midoriya, Amy was picked on and teased by other kids because she and they believed that she was quirkless and mocked her for it to the point of calling her ‘Powerless/Quirkless Amy’. It backfires tremendously when Amy supposedly gains a quirk, but has to pretend it’s only a Telekinesis quirk. The kids didn’t stop picking on her, but she really didn’t bother making any other friends other than Shinsou because of the bullying.

And this even extends to other witches, while Amy found a new family in her sisters Zoe and Queenie (after Misty, Nan and Madison died) Robichaux opened up to hundreds of other witches around the country. Amy was initially ecstatic and eager to make new friends just like her, only to realize that being a witch didn’t stop other witches from bullying her and thinking she’s weird even for their standards, which just added to Amy’s evergrowing sense of loneliness.

Ambiguous Disorder: Has a crippling fear of being abandoned, extreme overreactions and outbursts (taking All-Might and Aizawa’s criticisms of her powers very strongly, screams at Midoriya over a disagreement), indulges in risky behaviors (drugs, shop-lifting, partying at college parties despise being underage), is highly impulsive (Iida has to stop her when she performs in combat too recklessly), prone to emotional meltdowns, shows can occasional lack of empathy and has unstable relationships (Bakugo, Midoriya, Aizawa, etc.). All of which are signs of Borderline Personality disorder or Bipolar Disorder, two of these Iida speculates she may have. However, some of her these behaviorisms also resemble Complex Post-traumatic Stress Disorder due to her inability to control her emotions, feelings of emptiness and worthlessness, and moments of hostility towards her peers to the point of avoiding her friends and relationships. And then Shachath also mentions that she tends to have regular ‘songs’ of suicide which act as a further indication that Amy might have CPTSD.

Anguished Declaration of Love: During a fit of pure rage, she fights with Midoriya but when he pins her down, her psychotic exterior breaks a little bit as she breaks down crying and tells him that she loves him. However, because of Midoriya’s insecurities and familiarity with Amy’s mischievous nature, he doesn’t believe her and yells at her to stop playing around. Needless to say, it goes all downhill for him from there...

Animal Motifs: It’s subtle but she has a fox motif as her handle online is ‘KitsuneGirl’ and she has black tips on her blonde hair, a mischievous and sneaky personality, her tendency to act as a trickster both during and out of combat, and her witchcraft and magic also alludes to the kitsune and their various magical abilities in Japanese culture.

Anti-Hero: She’s self-centered, obnoxious, aggressive and occasionally breaks every rule she wants as she believes she can make her own rules due to her powers, but this is her being a troublemaker at best as she tends to take a radical approach as a means of standing up for what she believes in: Love.

Anti-Villain: At her worst she outright sides against her class and does immoral things whether it’s stealing, murder or even attacking allies, although she has no plans to become a villain and merely indulges in her worst impulses when she’s in a bad mood and isn’t above being cruel to her own classmates should they cross her.

Arc Villain: In a way, and relatively minor. As the Culture Festival arc comes to an end, Amy’s overwhelmed by the realization of how the pro-heroes could have taken care of her but didn’t, along with being kidnapped by the villains and her and Midoriya’s dissipating relationship. It becomes too much for her to bear that she flies into an ultra-tantrum and attacks Aizawa, the other teachers and puts her classmates into a slumber (to spare them her wrath) and destroys some of UA’s property and Midoriya has to stop her. But in the end he doesn’t win, instead, Shinsou has to talk her down.

Arch Enemy: Amy has made several enemies, but of all the foes she feels a tremendous hatred towards and desire to destroy once and for all is Scathach, the wicked witch of the Roanoke forest who she aspires to kill and free all the souls she trapped in the forest.

Attention Deficit Oooh Shiny!: Amy is very, very easily distracted by things, especially if there’s a cute animal involved, music she likes is playing or if there’s food. She CAN learn to focus but it’s… a challenge.

Attention Whore: Almost always desperate for attention regardless of whether it’s positive or negative and always performs outlandish things or says bizarre things if it means having other people’s attention on HER.

She even goes so far as to sometimes wear Madison’s inappropriate undergarments in hopes that someone will flip her skirt all for the sake of attention.

The Atoner: After her brush with the apocalypse which allowed her and Mallory to go back in time to stop it, Amy realizes how cruel she was to her classmates and resolves to apologize and become a better classmate and friend to everyone. And she felt horrible when she needed to repeat history (including acting like a jerk) in the new timeline as a means to keep time flowing the way it needed to be but still lived up to promising to be better to her friends. It only gets better when Ashlen comes into her life and inspires Amy to keep living up to this promise.

Ax-Crazy: Shows a disturbingly homicidal excitement when annihilating her opponents in battle, gleefully murders when given the chance and is a little too happy when talking about horror stories that include serial killers such as the Axe Man or Twisty The Clown.

And then she goes off the deep-end once the Culture Festival ends by attacking her teacher, classmate (Midoriya), beating her other teachers with little effort and causing destruction around UA, until she’s eventually subdued by her own merit and Shinsou’s influence.

The Baby of The Bunch: She’s the youngest witch of the original coven of Miss Robichaux’s Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies consisting of Cordelia, Zoe, Queenie, Madison, Nan and Misty, with Cordelia being in her late 20′s at the time while the other girls were at least 17-24 while Amy was only 11. Even as she’s gotten older, her witch sisters still look after her as the ‘little sister’ of the coven.

Back From The Dead: Amy is momentarily killed and impaled by witch hunters in her first year at UA, but is revived by Misty and returns to her distraught and relieved classmates.

She dies again in her second year but by her ex-boyfriend Damien who made a deal with Papa Legba by trading her life for his own life and drowned her in a bathtub. Only to be revived by Madison.

The Bad Guy Wins: Sort of. She takes on a more villainous role after the Culture festival ends and all the stress, realizations and Midoriya’s growing impatience with her makes her go berserk. And so, Amy attacks her teacher, other teachers, causes mayhem and destruction around UA (although she does spare all of the students), knocks out her classmates so she doesn’t hurt them and then partakes in a big fight with Midoriya. However, while he manages to pin her down, Amy gets the upper hand and beats him to a bloody pulp when he ignites more fuel to her raging Sentio Compassios and although her rampage was put to an end, it’s only because she stopped herself and Shinsou (and later All-Might and Cordelia) managed to talk her down. Ultimately, Amy still defeated Midoriya and UA faced some damage from her rage, and in the end, she faced no real consequences as Cordelia urged the school to pardon her while giving them a The Reason You Suck Speech. While Amy was pardoned of the damage she caused, she ended up withdrawing with UA for several months.

Badass Adorable: Cute in appearance, generally endearing and funny with her classmates but also hella strong in combat with amazing powers that she knows how to use very well and make her opponents fear her. This is showcased during her fight with Todoroki in which she gets him to realize just how strong she is.

Badass Boast: Can’t help but go on about how awesome and powerful she is at times in battle, but at times it can also be scary when she’s angry.

Amy: You think you can control me? Is that what this is? That’s how Hero Society works doesn’t it? (bursts into laughter) You... really think you can control me? Wow... you know... this is why witch hunters emerged... they were afraid of witches and their power... you might not be a witch hunter... but the fact that you think you can control me? Is priceless... (suddenly screaming) NO ONE CAN CONTROL ME! NO ONE CAN DEFEAT ME! NO ONE CAN KILL ME, NO ONE!!!

Bad Powers, Good People: It varies on her fluctuating morality but Amy is usually a good person who has the ability to control people not unlike Shinsou’s Brainwashing, except she can actually harm them by frying their brains should they attempt to resist her.

Balloon Belly: Always has one after eating too much, which is every day. Especially when she went to Pizza Hut with Shinsou and Ashlen, much to Shinsou’s disgust and Ashlen’s amusement.

Because You Were Nice To Me: She and Shinsou became friends for this very simple but pure reason in daycare. She was just coloring and when he wanted crayons she happily gave them to him, and when he called her coloring ‘pretty’, she started following him around and vice-versa.

Similarly, her reasoning for becoming best friends with Ashlen is also simple but pure as they met online during the period where Amy stopped attending UA and isolated herself in her mansion. Amy is just as opinionated online as she is in real life, although she also loads up her feed with silly things that she likes along with stories and drawings, but Ashlen genuinely liked her content and complimented her and started talking to her. Which drew Amy closer to her until they meet up in real life and Amy is overly friendly to her, but it’s all because Ashlen was kind to her and listened to her whenever she vented.

Belligerent Sexual Tension: She and Bakugo have been bickering and fighting with each other since they first met as children and never stopped when they met again in high school, but they’re very passionately in love with each other as Amy says that he’s the one she’s truly in love with and Bakugo can’t easily let her go even if she gets on his nerves, he’s clearly in love with her.

Berserk Button: She has quite a few…

Any sexist remark is bound to set her off into a tirade but if it’s directed towards her or God forbid her female friends, she WILL hurt you.

Taking her hat (if she’s wearing it) off is a quick way to piss her off.

Taking her food, whether accidentally or intentionally, WILL provoke her into violence, if you’re a child she’ll hurt you emotionally, but if you’re her age or an adult, it’s fair game as Izuku learned the hard way.

Tampering with her possessions is a VERY fast way to piss her off into a tranquil rage as she maimed a group of college boys (that she didn’t invite) when they trashed the bottom floor of her mansion at a party.

Don’t say anything bad about Brendon Urie. She shares this with Shinsou, who both call it ‘blasphemy’.

Don’t tell her to “Shut Up”.

And don’t yell at her for that matter, although she gets more emotional and upset when yelled at rather than angry.

Frozen. Let it Go. That is all.

Not being appreciated, remembered or neglected is probably her biggest one with her least comical reaction as she’ll grow from irritated to enraged in seconds should she feel that someone is unappreciative of her, has forgotten her or neglecting her for someone else.

Don’t call her ‘stupid’, but never, ever call her ‘selfish’ or ‘crazy’, mostly because she’s self-aware plenty and hates being reminded of it.

Hurting ANY of her friends is the fastest way to get on her bad side as she will BURN you alive if you hurt her friends. If you’re lucky though, she’ll just hit you with an empty Dr. Pepper liter.

Beta Bitch: When she and Madison are together, Amy essentially becomes her right hand bitch.

Beware The Nice Ones: She’s not always sweet but is occasionally kind-hearted... until you piss her off that is... and then you’ll wish you didn’t.

Beware The Silly Ones: Very comical and extremely silly and fun-loving, but her classmates don’t underestimate her abilities or her temper as Amy becomes a force to be reckoned with in combat or when properly provoked.

Big Bad Duumvirate: She and Madison aren’t evil per se, but considered two of the nastier girls who use their magic for pranks and are even dubbed ‘The Sin Sisters’ by 1-A.

Big Sister Mentor: Despite her being older than her, Amy (17) is quite sisterly with her witch friend Coco (25), as she teaches her how to do laundry and other household chores with the help of Iida.

Big Brother Worship: In a way, Shinsou’s only eight days older than her, but Amy still regards him as like her brother and she adores him very much and believes in him the most in his quest to become a pro-hero. And was heartbroken when she had to leave him for his and her own protection to Robichaux.

She absolutely adores her adoptive witch sisters Zoe, Misty and Mallory. Zoe especially because she was the first that she instantly became closest too when they met at Robichaux, and then she became very fast friends with Misty and wanted her to come to Robichaux, so she was overjoyed when she started to live with them. Finally, she and Mallory hit it off quickly due to being close enough in age but Amy still acknowledges Mallory as her senior and looks up to her like a big sister.

Downplayed with Madison. As Amy notes that Madison was a bitch to her as well as a horrible example in New Orleans and still is, but it doesn’t stop Amy from following her bad example from time to time, as well as still showing respect to Madison because of her undeniable power and occasional acts of kindness towards her and her friends at UA.

Big Damn Heroes: During the Stain Arc, she shows up just in time to hold off Stain off to keep him from seriously harming Todoroki, Midoriya and Iida and even distracts him for a brief moment.

Big Fancy House: Amy lives in a rather large mansion, while it’s not as big as Yaoyorozu’s it’s still pretty large, spacious and glamourous. It actually belonged to Fiona, but when she died Cordelia gave it all to Amy so she could have a house upon returning to Japan.

The Big Girl: Of 2-A, despite being one of the shortest girls, she’s certainly the strongest one due to her array of powerful abilities.

Big Eater: Amy loves to eat and can clear a whole table due to her voracious appetite as she ate all the desserts in the dorm-rooms the first night, can eat a whole pizza as well as she cleared out the entire table during her’s, Shinsou’s and Ashlen’s first outing as friends and then ate dessert afterwards.

Big Sister Instinct: She took this attitude towards Kota. She wanted to bash Muscular’s head in once Midoriya knocked him out but the latter stopped her and Amy only reconsidered when she realized that Kota shouldn’t have to witness death a second time.

She’s also somewhat protective of Midoriya despite everything as she once dumped Bakugo for 2 months when she found out that he told the former to commit suicide in middle school.

She also displays this attitude towards some of her female friends especially Yaoyorozu, Ashido, Hagakure and Asui. And extends this towards classmates such as Kouda, Aoyama and Kaminari.

Likewise, she’s extremely protective of Shinsou, who she regards as like a brother to her, and Ashlen, her best friend who she also regards as like a sister to her.

Big Stupid Doodoo-head: Since Amy isn’t very mature, her insults can easily delve from vulgar to very childish such as ‘stupid-head’, ‘dum-dum’ ‘fartface’ and ‘butt-head’. Her arguments with Shinsou tend to delve into this very quickly.

Amy: I would have had him if you actually covered me stupid!

Shinsou: It’s not my fault dum-dum, you should have paid more attention. Instead of waving your magic around all over the damn place.

Amy: Yes it is! You know what? Instead of brainwashing you should wash your dumb face and your stupid mouth because stupid words keep coming out!

Shinsou: Your face is dumb and your insults are even dumber you jabbering bat.

Amy: No YOUR face is dumb and your hair looks like a rat’s butt!

Bi The Way: Amy shamelessly expresses her attraction to the same sex, is very much enamored with Yaoyorozu and goes on about how ‘beautiful’ and ‘smart’ she is. Likewise, she’s very attracted to some of her fellow witches in her coven such as Mallory and even Madison as she calls Mallory a ‘fairy goddess’ and Madison a ‘sexy bitch’. And as she received a love letter from Monoma, she believed it was from a girl and seemed pretty excited by the thought of it.

Birds Of A Feather: She and Shinsou became fast friends in their childhood due to similar senses of humor and then when Amy discovers her witch powers and she found out she could control people just like Shinsou. Even as they grew up and reunited they still share things in common such as witty, sly and clever personalities and tastes in music.

She and Bakugo of all people discover that they have a lot more in common than they thought once they started bonding and it shows through their fierce tempers, desire to prove themselves, unwillingness to show weaknesses and somewhat abrasive tendencies for that matter. This is despite Amy and Bakugo trying to claim that they’re ‘night and day’, nobody buys it.

This is also how and why she became fast friends with Ashlen via internet, while they didn’t meet each other face-to-face yet, they bonded over similar tastes in music, movies and penchant for puns. Although their personalities are drastically different when they DO meet face-to-face their friendship doesn’t deteriorate as they still get along and still share those things in common and indulge in their pillow talk just like any best friends.

Blackmail: Not at first, but when she gets angry at Aizawa she starts making constant threats to tell Cordelia on him for menial things as a means to get him to buckle due to his fear of the Supreme.

Blessed With Suck: Sort of. Amy loves having all of her powers, but Sentio Compassios, her unique power, tends to leave her emotionally exhausted whenever she uses it too much, and she can feel everyone’s pain and feelings if they are strong enough and Amy becomes instantly affected by them, which she says is not always pleasant since it’s something she can’t quite turn off.

Blood Knight: Amy is VERY eager to fight and spar with her friends because it gives her free reign to use her magic and overall just enjoys the thrill of it all.

Blue and Orange Morality: In a way, due to being a witch and coming from a more neutral side rather than the Heroes or Villains side as Amy would rather be supportive of others’ impulses and desires than operate on a normal morality the heroes follow. For example, she’s fine with Madison wanting to kill Aizawa, but is offended by Mineta’s perverted antics, and she was also perfectly okay with Shinsou talking smack about Tokoyami (their own classmate and her friend) but crossed the line at Bakugo dissing Brendon Urie.

Book Dumb: She’s not the best student, but managed to score relatively high in exams as she ranked 11th out of the 21 students at the time. However, Amy is obviously not stupid despite showing some naivete and is in fact quite crafty, just not motivated in school or homework as she frequently needs her friends such as Shinsou, Midoriya, Ashlen and Bakugo to help her.

Boomerang Bigot: Despite occasionally boasting about how witches are superior to normal humans with quirks, at the same time even she’s exasperated by other witches as she often says “other witches are bitches”, although is partially due to the fact that she’s had the misfortune of meeting other witches her age who are just as exclusive and snobbish as the kids she grew up with who picked on her for her lack of a quirk. And then it increases when she meets two other witches (Blair and Laura) in Japan who are somehow WORSE than her as they mock her friends and Amy quickly fights them off.

Bratty Teenage Daughter: Certainly, acts the part at times whether she’s putting up a whining fuss or showing an apathy towards things, especially towards Aizawa and Iida, the former who acts somewhat fatherly towards her and the latter who acts like an older brother towards her. It helps that she’s Cordelia’s goddaughter and she treats her with respect but has little towards the former two.

Amy: Oh Ms. Cordelia I love you! Mr. Aizawa I hate you! Hitoshi I need you! Katsuki, hey fuck you!

Brilliant But Lazy: She’s a powerful witch, knows many spells, potions and is very talented with magic and knows how to creatively use it in combat but has zero motivation in working and academics and would rather rely on her magic to do all the work for her or simply use it to cheat off of her more academically inclined classmates.

Broken Bird: Watching her mother being burnt to the stake, her father being lynched and finding her puppy killed by the witch hunters shattered her innocence. And then her experience in New Orleans added to the tragedies as she still felt hunted and hated by the same witch hunters as she was forced her to watch even more people get killed, including new friends and family such as Nan, Misty, Madison, Zoe and Myrtle. Although some of them got better, Amy was still traumatized by watching her new family all get killed, and then Fiona’s intention to kill her and every other one of her new sisters and her new godmother completely broke her. While the coven was able to restore itself and Amy emerged as a strong young witch, the events still broke her and she follows her sister’s example to avoid looking like she’s broken and instead forces herself to maintain an excitable and cheerful façade as a means to convince herself that the events didn’t break her and instead made her stronger.

Brooding Boy Gentle Girl: She’s the Gentle Girl to Todoroki’s Brooding Boy despite not being together, but they are good friends as Amy’s oddly sweet nature can encourage Todoroki to be a little more outgoing.

Likewise with her and Bakugo as she’s often gentler than he is when it comes to expressing affection and sympathy while Bakugo just angrily broods. However, they can reverse the roles at times where Amy is bitterly sulking and Bakugo shows his softer side by attempting to comfort her.

Brutal Honesty: Amy is outspoken by nature and won’t hesitate to tell someone how it is or how she’s feeling, however she’s fully aware of how it can hurt people’s feelings, she just doesn’t care if it does. However, she CAN and WILL hold her tongue depending on who it is she’s talking to and depending on the situation she does know when to be more sensitive and delicate.

Bully Hunter: While not the nicest girl in the world, Amy really doesn’t care for bullies as she defended Shinsou from bullies when they were growing up and even first met Bakugo by pantsing and pushing him to the ground when he was bullying Midoriya, and also tells off bitchier witches whenever they taunt Coco for her naivete.

In fact, she hates bullies so much that she dumped Bakugo for several months when Madison told her that he told Midoriya to jump off the school roof in middle school and said that she couldn’t be with a bully.

Amy also attacks some nastier girls at the mall when they look at Ashlen funny.

Bunny-Ears Lawyer: She’s an oddball, by and far, but she’s a very skilled witch in and out of combat, shows a cunning side and is very knowledgeable in politics, sociology and human relationships.

Shinsou even imagined her as his lawyer during a nightmare he had.

Burn The Witch!: Nearly suffers this fate as a child right after watching her mother get burnt until All-Might and the pro-heroes save her just before they can light her up.

Calling The Old Man Out: Despite not being her father, she calls out Aizawa for being an unfair teacher to his past students and for not taking her in when he could have after her parents died since nothing stopped him and the other UA staff teachers from adopting Eri, but allowed Amy to be shipped off to America with people who ended up indirectly exposing her to even more bloodshed that further traumatized her. She also chides him by saying that he’s not good at even looking after his other students and calls him ‘the wrong person’ to look over anyone.

Cannot Keep a Secret: While she CAN keep an important secret, she deliberately at times tells some secrets as she freely blabs whatever secret she’s supposed to be keeping or should keep a secret for the sake of not embarrassing her friends.

Amy: Sorry I woulda arrived earlier but Hitoshi had some really bad jock itch so I made sure he was feeling okay after.

Can’t Take Criticism: Amy CAN take some criticism, but at the same time she can’t take certain criticism, particularly about her character and actions.Any criticism or disapproval she gets, often irritates her because she takes it all very harshly.

The Caretaker: Shinsou and Ashlen are normally the ones looking after her, but Amy can easily return the favor when they’re upset. As whenever Shinsou is depressed and feeling low, Amy opts to take care and look after him by giving him space, a “Happiness” kit of junk food and caffeine, and a playlist for sadness and anxiety. Likewise, Amy is more than happy to take care of Ashlen whenever she is distraught as she stays with her the entire day, gives her tender, love and care and also gives her ice-cream to add to the comfort while also showing her some of her favorite movies or shows like Friends, The Office and Brooklyn 99.

Catchphrase: Has a habit of cheerfully saying “Oh Mylanta~!” and asking “So what’s the T Christine?”

And her favorite way of describing something unappealing is calling it “a bag of dicks”.

Character Development: During her first year at UA she had no true intention of becoming the hero Japan’s society would have wanted her to be and had no real desire to be a team-player with her classmates and only wanted to return to Shinsou, however, she grew to really like her new friends and changed her attitude and became a lot friendlier to the point of opening up and sharing her wealth with everyone and going out of her way to provide them laughter and entertainment. She did relapse into insanity for a while and had to quit UA for a short time, but still managed to slowly overcome this because of her friend’s influence. And by the beginning of her second year, she’s on better terms with her classmates and becomes increasingly kinder when her new best friend Ashlen enters the picture and inspires Amy to be more compassionate, sympathetic and helpful towards her class.

Child Hater: Downplayed, while she’s annoyed by anything centered around children and when people talk about children, she’s actually more jealous of the attention children get and doesn’t genuinely hate children themselves as she was actually pretty fond of Kota and bonded with him over the loss of their parents.

Played straight though in her case with Eri, who she disliked, but later warmed up to her.

However, ultimately her aversion to children stems more from the fear that she won’t know how to properly care for them but she claims that she DOES hate only children who are “nasty little shits”.

Chevalier vs. Rogue: She’s the Rogue to Ashlen’s Chevalier as Amy uses her magic to fight dirty and play tricks on her opponents while Ashlen relies primarily on her stealth and combat skills while maintaining a noble, honorable approach in battle.

Chivalrous Pervert: Amy is an unabashed pervert (but nowhere near Mineta’s level) as she likes to stare at her male classmates’ butts and tends to be a flirt, but she’s a good person at heart and never does anything without consent.

Clingy Jealous Girl: Amy is a VERY jealous person by nature, but especially towards the people she’s in love with, as she grew to dislike Uraraka when she realized the latter also had a crush on Midoriya, dismissing her as a basic, boring girl with nothing going on. And then she displays this same jealousy towards Camie after hearing that she had to take a remedial course with Bakugo, Todoroki and Yoarashi as Amy referred to her as a “skintight slut”.

Cloudcuckoolander: She’s clearly off her rocker, has an odd way of thinking, randomly breaks out into song and dance and seems to be pretty much be in her own world.

Combat Pragmatist: A dirty fighter by nature, Amy uses whatever she can get her hands on if it means success, often through the use of telekinesis to make people lose their footing.

She used a stone to bash Midoriya’s face while using her telekinesis for speed, knowing her own physical strength won’t do much damage, and used a piece of heavy debris as a blunt weapon during a battle to stun him and swat him away from her and then into the ground.

Once again, she uses her telekinesis beforehand to steal sweat from Bakugo to use his own explosions against him in a battle.

When in a bad mood and ready to lash out, she surprises Aizawa by blinding him with a potion to give her the chance to attack him, as well as attacking him from behind and using his capture weapon to cover his eyes and entrap him.

Likewise, she always uses Shinsou’s capture weapon against him to trap him or cover his mouth so she can get the upperhand.

Comedic Sociopathy: Downplayed but it’s clear she finds it hilarious to see other people get hurt whether physically or if a joke’s made at their expense. Even though deep down she doesn’t truly like to see them actually hurt.

Comic Trio: With her witch sisters she’s this with Mallory and Coco, with her UA classmates she’s this with Shinsou and Kaminari.

However it’s downplayed with her, Shinsou and Ashlen. Amy is always taking the lead by getting her friends to do something wild and fun, and although Shinsou is far from stupid, he does nothing to stop her and simply follows her lead, while Ashlen is always trying to reign Amy in when she’s going out of control.

Companion Cube: She’s rather fond of her broomstick ‘Brooke’ to the point of talking to it like it was an actual person, and Shinsou even jokes that it might as well be her lover.

Amy: Ahhh I love you so much baby... I’m going to take you to my room and stroke your bristles...

Conditioned to Accept Horror: Due to seeing her parents die before her eyes AND every other horror she witnessed in New Orleans with the witches, voodoo witches and witch hunters, she’s able to go through every horrific thing that occurs at UA without being fazed much. She even tells Bakugo that when enough horrible things happen to you, you’re bound to get used to it.

Cool Big Sis: Takes up this role wherever Kota is concerned as she frequently takes him out for ice-cream, lets him ride with her on her broomstick and took him to an amusement park.

And when she got over her initial dislike of Eri (but retains her jealousy sometimes), she somewhat became this to her, stating that Eri “needs a woman in her life” and becomes that “woman” in an odd, albeit irresponsible way as she lets her play with her dog Dakota, also gives her her favorite Disney movies to watch, taught her how to sing and let her bake cookies with her, but she also let her have her first soda, gave her candy and chocolate and let her buy any clothes and toys that she wanted while also encouraging her to be sassy.

Corrupt The Cutie: Already broken from seeing her parents die, when 11 year old Am is taken to America and attends Robichaux, guardians like Fiona, Madison and Zoe (to a lesser extent) slowly corrupt her into a morally ambiguous young witch who’s not above murdering and deception if it means achieving a goal.

Creepy Child: Her experiences at New Orleans with her witch sisters turned her into one as she began making much more morbid jokes about death, ghosts and demons, and then smiling at inappropriate times and generally making adults feel uncomfortable. She was only 10 at the time.

Creepy Shadowed Undereyes: Not visible but that’s because she hides them with make-up. They’re not nearly as bad as Shinsou’s, but when she’s angry, going crazy or depressed they’re much more prominent.

Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: She’s very much a comedic girl, but also very much a dangerous girl with a LOT of powers that she’s very skilled with in combat and WILL use them to rip someone a new one.

Cry Cute: When Amy drops her guard and sheds tears, she’s surprisingly more sympathetic and endearing even though she claims to be an “ugly crier”.

Cuddle Bug: Amy is a very affectionate girl who craves the affection in return and loves to hug her friends, especially Shinsou, Ashlen, Midoriya, Mallory and Todoroki.

Curbstomp Battle: Played Straight in her fights at some of the thugs at the USJ and her two fights with Kaminari and Iida at the Sports Festival. As Kaminari attempts to flirt with her, Amy is flattered but quickly pushes him out of the ring with her telekinesis within a matter of 10 seconds. Similarly, she taunts Iida with her teleportation and pretends to give him an opening to get her out of the ring, only to teleport right at the last second and then push HIM out of the ring again with her telekinesis.

Downplayed in her fight with Midoriya. She picks a fight with him after the Culture Festival when he provokes her, and while he doesn’t want to fight her he still gains the upperhand and pins her down. However, it’s Played Straight when he tries to get her to calm down and instead pushes her buttons with a poor choice of words, which reinvigorates Amy’s rage and awakens the full extent of her Sentio Compassios as she gets big and utterly dominates him.

Also played straight during her fight with Aizawa, although she cheated by blinding him with a potion, she still beat the hell out of him with her telekinesis and Sentio Compassios and only stopped when Cordelia intervened.

Curtains Match The Windows: Sort of. She has blonde hair and amber eyes.

Cute and Psycho: Amy’s endearing and sweet but also straight-up insane and cheerfully talks about murder and death while expressing an excitement when the opportunity to kill shows up.

Cute Witch: Eccentric as she may be, Amy is fairly cute for a powerful witch.

Cuteness Proximity: Amy ALWAYS gushes whenever she’s with adorable animals, especially if it’s puppies, kittens, foxes and ferrets. It’s one of the few times we see her acting like a normal teenage girl.

Daddy’s Girl: She was one to her father Hiroshi, and despite the way she occasionally abuses and disrespects him, it’s clear she has a strong attachment to Aizawa as he is the only fatherly figure she knows after her real father died.

Dark Is Not Evil: While she has a mean streak and a wicked side, Amy is truly not a bad person at heart as she decides to remain on the hero’s side so she can protect the people she loves and had no true intention of going to the villain’s side.

Deadpan Snarker: She might be flighty, but she’s very quick-witted and knows how to make clever insults and puns towards others, but especially at Shinsou, Madison, Bakugo, Iida and Aizawa.

Then again, two of her closest friends are Shinsou and Madison, and then FIONA was the one looking after her so she picked up some snark.

Death Glare: Since she’s often seen smiling, she can give one hell of an effective death glare. It’s so intimidating that the minute Shinsou sees it, he encourages whoever is in the vicinity (whether his classmates OR teacher) to leave as fast as possible or apologize if they angered her.

Death Seeker: Shachath occasionally comes to her as she says that Amy tends to ‘sing’ to her which implies that she’s contemplating suicide often.

Defrosting Ice Queen: Towards her classmates as she goes from insulting and pranking them, to more buddy-buddy with them, particularly with Iida and Bakugo. Also, while she freezes Midoriya out for a while, his kindness and patience with her allows her to defrost back to him.

Later, because of her friend Ashlen’s encouragement, she defrosts towards Eri as well.

Determinator: Sure Amy’s a slacker, but when she’s determined to do something, she gets down to it and won’t stop until she gets what she wants. To the point of even sacrificing dignity and being her most stubborn self if it means achieving a goal.

Dissonant Laughter: When Aizawa is scolding the class for knowing of the plan to rescue her and Bakugo, she bursts into sudden, uncontrollable and mad laughter, BEFORE Bakugo even made Kaminari use his quirk to get a laugh out of everyone...

Disproportionate Retribution: Midoriya drinks her lemonade and eats her fruit sandwich, not knowing it was her’s, and she flies into a rage and even goes so far as to get a plastic plate and start beating him with it and chasing him out of the room.

And then again, she nearly crushes Midoriya in her Giant Sentio Compassios form because he called selfish and cruel.

Iida tells Aizawa that Shinsou (during a depression) drew a line into the wall with a sharpie which got him in trouble, and Amy ralles a group of students to protest against him to the point where he broke down and cried according to Midoriya.

Aizawa gives her a bad grade on an essay and tells Cordelia about how she’s misbehaved in class, and Amy quickly retaliates by threatening to burn his sleeping bag. She didn’t actually do it, but she nearly did.

Distracted By The Sexy: She utilizes this tactic against some of her opponents and wears Madison’s crotchless panties and ‘accidentally’ flashes them to Shishikura during the Provisional Hero License arc to get him to back off. It works..

Double Standard: Very fond of finding these and pointing them especially when it comes to gender and topics involving humans and witches.

Drama Queen: Whenever Amy gets excited she tends to break out into song and dance, and when she’s upset she tends to go into a ‘woe is me’ mode and exaggerate her misery.

The Dreaded: Shinsou knows better than to provoke and/or push Amy’s buttons and is quick to warn people when he can tell she’s in a bad mood and even goes so far as to alert others from doing or saying certain things that WILL anger her or simply tell them to quickly apologize should they provoke her by accident. And it becomes more apparent to the rest of her class the more they learn of her unpredictable temper, mood swings and array of powers and begin to go to great lengths to avoid provoking her.

Even after their fight and even after Amy starts to become a better, saner person, Midoriya is still terrified of her.

Dreadful Musician: Loves to sing but tends to go off-key at times, and is an absolutely horrible violin player to the point were even Present Mic and Bakugo can’t stand it.

Drowning My Sorrows: Non-alcoholic example as she drowns in soda (Dr. Pepper or Big Red) whenever she’s really sad or lamenting after a failed test.

Drunk On The Dark Side: Spending time with the witches of New Orleans has encouraged her to embrace her darker impulses and be willing to do anything to get what you want and need. And by the time she goes to UA, Amy’s very self-indulgent and not above doing immoral things. However, she does start to stray away from this for the sake of her new friends.

Dude Magnet: Despite her quirky nature, she’s got Bakugo, Todoroki and Monoma all holding some kind of torch for her.

Dumb Blonde: Subverted. Amy seems and acts like a flake and can lack common sense, but she’s actually very sly, crafty and manipulative several times and has shown to be able to really think ahead before she springs into an action plan.

Easily Forgiven: Shinsou will ALWAYS forgive her for anything she does no matter how amoral or messed up it may be, and that includes murder, manipulation and deception or even going on a rampage throughout his school. And he tends to quickly comes to her defense and excuse her actions by saying that she’s been through enough and that she shouldn’t be judged for what she does.

Midoriya also forgives her pretty quickly even after she attempted to crush him with her Sentio Compassios form and destroyed his apology gift (but fixed it later). Aizawa also forgave her fast despite the fact that she blinded him and attacked him.

Shinsou: (to Aizawa, after Amy’s rage) Okay... look... I now you’re not happy with her now, but here’s the truth sensei, Amy is not bad at all, she just grew up in an environment that showed her a lot of bad things. She never wanted that life, she was forced into it, it’s not her fault...

Emotionless Girl: Amy becomes withdrawn, surly and apathetic after she leaves UA, and it’s much more prominent when she interns with Endeavor alongside Midoriya, Bakugo and Todoroki, all of whom are unnerved by her new demeanor.

The Empath: Her father had a quirk called “Feelings” that allowed him to feel what others felt, which Amy is revealed to have inherited from him when his quirk manifested in her unique power “Sentio Compassios”, an extremely powerful form of divination that allows Amy to feel and see what others are feeling, as well as their auras. As such Amy can empathize with the people around her and it makes her feel the need to help them out with anything they may need any help with.

Enfant Terrible: Upon going to New Orleans and entering Robichaux, being exposed to all the bloodshed and betrayal with her fellow witches turns her into this as she easily gets corrupted by the new lifestyle and doesn’t hesitate to help her sisters kill their enemies brutally as she happily joined them in stabbing the Axe Man to death. She just turned 11 at the time.

Even Bad Women Love Their Mamas: She’s a trouble-maker at best and a sadistic bitch at worst, but no matter what, she never loses her love for deceased parents and loves her godmother Cordelia dearly. In fact, Cordelia is currently the only adult she hasn’t insulted or disrespected.

Even Evil Can Be Loved: Amy’s not truly evil by nature, but even when she’s at her most psychotic, her friends still love her regardless of the madness. Shinsou in particular still holds a lot of platonic love for her even when she’s lost her mind, and her new best friend Ashlen has embraced even Amy’s less than savory qualities because she still loves her deeply and regards her as her best friend. And then her coven still loves her deeply, especially Cordelia, Madison and Zoe.

Even Evil Has Standards: Amy’s an anarchist who loves the wicked side of things and has no issues killing people, manipulating them for her own gain and stealing, but even she’s appalled by things or other villains have done.

She was quite unnerved in the presence of All For One and claimed that she’s never been that afraid since Fiona.

She also turned down the offer from the League of Villains because she didn’t want to abandon her friends at UA as she realized that the students there are good people that she doesn’t want to harm.

She sympathized with the League of Villains stating that she understood them and stated that Society is messed up because she would never ostracize someone for being different.

Despite her (occasionally) rocky friendship with Midoriya, she dumped Bakugo for 2 whole months when Madison tells him that he told Midoriya to kill himself in middle school and Amy was absolutely disgusted by such cruelty.

Amy will not hurt anyone innocent, even when she becomes homicidal she only attacks people who are attacking her, and even if it’s her classmates (such as Iida, Tokoyami, Jirou who attempted to stop her) she merely knocks them out via telling them to ‘sleep’ and does nothing to hurt them or the rest of 1-A.

She respected Fiona but disapproved of how she treated Cordelia, and likewise, despises Endeavor for what he did to Todoroki and the rest of his family.

Amy’s all for dirty tricks and humiliating others for fun, but will stop when she sees someone getting legitimately hurt.

Even The Girls Want Her: Her witch friend Darcy has an obsessive, mad crush on her.

Everyone Has Standards: Amy’s something of an airhead and not all there but even there are things that bewilder her or ‘ick’ her out.

She’s a pervert but even she was appalled by Mineta’s lack of shame in his perversion.

Even when she hated Eri at the time, she still tossed Mineta into the stratosphere via telekinesis for making an inappropriate comment to her.

For all that she and Iida despise each other’s contrasting quirks, Amy sees from his point of view when frat brothers trash her mansion and act very uncouth even for her liking.

She finds it amusing to point out things she knows about people while they freak out and wonder how she knew that, but crosses the line at stalking and obsession because that ‘icks’ her out.

Despite her childish nature, even Amy is baffled by her older witch sister Coco’s inability to take care of herself and perform simple tasks such as laundry and cleaning.

Evil Laugh: Gives off one hell of an effective one akin to the Wicked Witch of The West, it’s so wicked sounding it genuinely disturbs her classmates and even Aizawa.

#tv tropes #amy martinez #bnha ocs #mha ocs #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #bnha original character #mha original character #american horror story #american horror story coven #ahs coven #AHS #ahs crossover #bnha crossover

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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Why You Should Watch Black Summer on Netflix

https://ift.tt/2ZPlmpu

After a decade of The Walking Dead, Fear the Walking Dead, and The Walking Dead: World Beyond, I should be over the classic version of zombies. Most of the zombie media that have emerged from The Walking Dead’s long shadow have been things that have broken the mold. Anna and the Apocalypse is a coming-of-age musical. One Cut of the Dead is a heartwarming, hilarious take on what goes on behind the scenes of a movie set. Train to Busan adds claustrophobia to zombie proceedings, giving the survivors nowhere to run. Z Nation carved a niche for itself by having an actual sense of humor unlike the series it inspires.

So what makes Black Summer (which comes from the folks behind Z Nation) stand out as one of the best streaming horror shows? Like The Walking Dead, the human characters of Black Summer are both capable and dangerous in their own respects. Unlike The Walking Dead, however, Black Summer’s zombies remain the biggest threat. There is no sanctuary for the survivors in Black Summer, and even in the safest of situations, it’s only a matter of time before something goes wrong.

Better, Faster, Stronger Zombies

A fleeing survivor trips over a tree root, or their own two feet, and topples to the ground. The pursuing zombie falls on them, snarling and snapping. After an appropriate amount of MMA-style grappling, the survivor grabs a chunk of rock and with a well-aimed swing of the arm, smush goes the skull and the threat has ended. This is how zombie attacks typically play out on The Walking Dead. Other methods of establishing zombie danger include turning the undead into traps, or throwing walkers in bulk at the survivors and seeing whether that individual is overwhelmed.

The zombies on Black Summer are something else entirely. In much the same way as 28 Days Later, Black Summer’s zombies aren’t slow dummies with paper skulls, they’re people turned feral. Black Summer’s zombies aren’t traps or annoyances, they’re hunters, and they don’t sneak up on anything. Black Summer’s zombies charge onto the screen, taking advantage of the huge canvases painted by directors John Hyams and Abram Cox and cinematographers Yaron Levy and Spiro Grant by running into view at the rear of the frame and charging for a hundred yards or more before characters finally engage in shooting at them or fleeing from them.

Shooting at the charging zombie is easier said than done, since most characters (even with the aid of scopes), are trying to hit a fast-moving target. If the zombie reaches someone and they’re left with no other choice but to club them, it’s going to take more than one or two hits to put the zombie down; these are human beings, and human beings are tough to stop because skulls don’t magically stop protecting the brain from blunt force trauma at the moment of reanimation.

The Walking Dead: Why Are Zombies Called Walkers?

By Ron Hogan

Games

The George Romero Resident Evil Movie You Never Saw

By David Crow

One zombie against one person isn’t a cakewalk; multiple zombies against one person tend to be a death sentence. These zombies don’t get bored and walk away from a feast; they batter defenses until they break through. These zombies do not limply slap at a piece of window glass, they smash through with full-throated fury, and they tend to be smart enough to work around obstacles in pursuit of their meal. Fireworks and thrown rocks don’t distract them; only another meal coming within earshot or a hiding place gives someone a hope of escape. If zombies or bullets take someone down, they don’t take their sweet time getting back up. A person goes from shot to zombie within their last heartbeat, so any gun battle or Mexican standoff has a tendency to get messy in a hurry.

No Plot Armor Necessary

The Walking Dead has given certain characters plot armor, ensuring they survive any number of difficult situations until the actor’s contract negotiations fall through or their arc is neatly resolved. Black Summer epitomizes drive-in movie critic/horror host Joe Bob Briggs’ main rule for a good drive-in movie: Anybody can die at any moment.

Throughout Black Summer, characters are built up as being survivors that will stick around for the long term only for them to be killed off. Other characters who seem destined for the scrap heap inexplicably survive, popping back up later or in different episodes. That unpredictability means that there is no chance for the viewer to take a breath, even when it seems like the characters themselves are able to slow down. Reuniting with an old friend from the before times is less a fun walk down memory lane and more like a tense feeling out process. A hot shower is less a soothing experience for a battered body and more of a moment of achingly painful vulnerability. Even a good night’s sleep only serves to emphasize just how bone-weary and vulnerable characters are.

The only character that’s safe, seemingly, is Rose (played by the brilliant Jaime King). With every close escape and betrayal she experiences, the character’s psyche only seems to grow more fragile. A respite from the outside world only heightens her paranoia and anxiety. Her safety isn’t due to plot armor, but due to her willingness to do anything necessary to survive, an attitude that only grows throughout Black Summer’s 16 episodes. She’s like a Terminator, with only one mission, and unlike Rick Grimes, all that high-minded stuff about building a new world never enters into her through process. Rose cares only about Anna (Zoe Marlett). Everything—and everyone—else does not matter. Friend or foe, Anna is Rose’s sole focus to the point of obsession.

The Directing of John Hyams

The material itself is nothing novel. It’s all stuff that’s been done before in various iterations; zombies are hard to have a fresh take on. However, where Black Summer excels is in the way it packages and presents these scenarios. It’s not your average zombie show shot with commercial breaks in mind. This is something designed from the ground up for streaming and binge watching, with a compulsive, theatrical energy that pulls the viewer into the story.

Most of the credit for that belongs to series co-creator John Hyams. Action fans will know that name from two of the best DTV action movies of the 2010s, Universal Soldier: Regeneration and Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning. For those unfamiliar, the formalist Hyams style is instantly recognizable and sets a tone for the series from the opening moments of the first episode. Hyams deals in long single “oner” takes, with an active, participating camera that puts viewers in the middle of the action. The camera will track actors moving through a scene for minutes at a time, then have them stop to deliver dialogue or perform some specific actions, then go back to moving without any visible cuts. Expository scenes may feature one actor speaking to the camera, uninterrupted, for pages at a time, or multiple rack focus shifts between two characters in the midst of fraught conversation.

The long takes feel deliberate and thoughtful, and when combined with heavy use of deep staging give scenes a woozy, dream-like state. Spoken lines are given time to breathe, to build, and the minimal score is just enough to tickle at the edges of perception and ramp up the inevitable tension that comes with someone not responding to a conversation cue. The violence, when it comes, tends to be sudden and shocking, shattering the ethereal tableau.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

If a less nihilistic Michael Haneke did a zombie movie, it would feel a lot like Black Summer. It has enough action to satisfy die-hards, but it’s more than just titillation. The tension is aggressive, the fear real, the emotions bigger, and the characters more realistically broken than anyone from Robert Kirkman’s comic book adaptation. Even from the outside looking in, Black Summer gets under the skin in a way most other zombie media doesn’t. Survival is the goal, but the cost is higher than anyone could imagine in a world where death and life hinge on the pull of a trigger.

Black Summer seasons 1 and 2 are available to stream on Netflix now.

The post Why You Should Watch Black Summer on Netflix appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3gS4WFT

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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makku-ruko · 5 years ago

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Magic School mains

Miandre family:

History: Children of Jenissent Miandre and Glory Bayweiver.

Their mother was a sweet, benevolent and weak individual. Frail whereas the father was brutal and reckless yet he’d soften greatly for his wife. They all inhabited a small village to the North northeast of said famous magic school. A quaint village by the name of Reisse.

Mahogany was the firstborn and the only child to have been raised by both parents. Makurai came after. However, at the age of four, Jenissent fell gravely ill whilst pregnant with the third child. Come the full moon, she went into labour in her sick bed and by then everyone was sure it’d kill her....but it didn’t. Once the child was born, Glory forgot himself, quickly dashing out to find a doctor leaving Mahogany to name him.

Believing the saviour of his mother to be the blessings of the moon, he decided on: Tsuki. He’d plucked said name from their neighbour who frequently spoke and chanted blessings of the Moon god. Nobody could understand her yet she was old and wise with her words—passionate. ‘Tsuki’ was all Mahogany could recognise from her speech and so stuck with it. Villagers would smile genuinely and nod in acknowledgement when she spoke. She passed away shortly after Tsuki’s birth.

A few years later, Omo was born and he was named collectively by them all. This was influenced by the neighbours’ granddaughter who took over with her chants of wisdom yet her speech was more casual. She spoke in her mother tongue as a benevolent guardian much like their mother. However, that same night, their father was killed by a creature of unknown origin. An outbreak had occurred and they had no clue that this was the beginning of a rogue attack.

The loss of their father left both Makurai and Mahogany devastated yet Tsuki was always taken aback and focused on Omo. None of the coming minor attacks to the village would faze him as he only remained concerned about Omo. That was all he could see.

Finally, at the peak, when Omo was 12 months, it happened. The final attack that would decimate Reisse and leave it unrecognisable—Arson. The night of the new moon following Omo’s 12 month consisted of a fire attack that burned down the village. Once alerted of this, Mahogany was informed to take the children and leave. Of course he was defiant at first but Jenissent was already sick and dying. He had to...and so he did.

This escape was how they found the current village they inhabit. Pfera.

The kids:

“Botashi wa omoshiroi hito desu!” Omo.

A whimsical and imaginative Child. Omo is a rather hyperactive ten year old that can turn anything into a game with his ability to think obscurely. This is why he was branded ‘Omo’ as in ‘omoshiroi’: Interesting/funny. He hasn’t yet been kept up to speed with the details of his past due to his age but no matter what, he’ll always be looking to play and cheer up his older siblings.

“Soreto boku wa, Usotsuki desu!”

Liar(Tsuki):

Excitable yet untrustworthy. Shitpost and honest? He loves to tease and torment his bigger brother (Maku)— the classic imp. He came to the bar to collect a fallen Makurai but ended up staying due to the conflict. He’s taken interest in Nephilim and John the wanderer as they bring the most conflict. His temperament is unknown. His weakness is cute things such as: Sprinkles.

He and his siblings are the guardian monster hunters of the village. They go by different names as said heroes. He is “The Liar.” His favourite armour is a cloak of invisibility but it glitches out often.

On the inside however, he’s mentally unstable and very sensitive. For a while now, he’s used this ‘alter ego’ as it were to protect himself from being harmed by people. His only safeguard is his family in which he doesn’t need to explain as they know him well enough to tell how he is feeling.

He’s also developed a need for power and a complex of sorts in which he strives to gain power so that he can be important due to his discomfort towards his own identity. He’s aware that his façade will always hurt other people but sometimes will still feel guilty enough to apologise. However, being so self aware of his corrupt moral compass has left him opened to the unexpected, namely being loved unconditionally by his current peers at the magic school. That and the transition of falling in love with two people is now something he must adjust to and finally get comfortable with accepting another family into his life that loves and cares as deeply for him as his biological one.

“M-...murihito desu.” Makurai:

He’s rather shy and suffers from asthma as well as fear of blood and monsters. He’s easily frightened and has a weak heart so hunting monsters is his hell. As a result, he tends to run away often and as he’s branded a coward, he often gets bullied by those of the village. His nickname is ‘Impossible’ Because he’s a pessimist.

At a young age, he wandered off and got trapped within a monster’s nest. There, the babies hatches and one found it’s way into his ear. It nestled itself into his brain and has laid dormant ever since until that one fateful day he ran away to the bar. The chocolate milk producing serotonin ended up waking the creature up. That was his first instance with the beast that sleeps within.

Generally he’s rather calculating but too much of a coward to be upfront and/or abrupt. As such, he tends to be the secondhand to his Older brother who leads the whole team without question.

“Masta Kurai.” Mahogany.

From a young age, he’s always had the urge to help those who could not do it for themselves. From his mother, to his siblings and now leading them as a team. He takes all burdens on his shoulders as the sacrificial substitute in the hopes that nothing will befall his precious siblings. He almost never thinks of himself, catering to analysing the needs of his family instead. None of it is ever a bother. Though he may be considered strict and critical, his siblings never doubt for a moment that he loves them dearly. As such, he will openly display affection towards them and ‘mom’ them in public just because he cares so much. His siblings are his life and he would gladly give his life to protect them– they of course will never let that happen.

He was given the nickname ‘Masta Kurai: Master Dark’ as an homage to the dark authoritative yet protective aura he gives off.

————

As the boys crouched over the new burial of their Mother’s remains, sobbing, a voice appeared to glide on the wind. Caressing their ears.

Mahogany could feel as though delicate hands were cupping his face.

“*My darling....you’ve done such an exceptional job raising the boys...do not weep or fear...you’re a natural born leader and I’m so proud of you...I will continue to watch over you...my little warrior...*”

The voice then shifted to Makurai. He had covered his face, tears dripping through the cracks of his fingers. The sorrow. Such profuse sobbing. The gentle tone of her vocals made it through however. He felt a soft grip on his wrists.

“*Makurai....my sweet child....to struggle so much and still remain standing...I know you don’t think you support Mahogany enough but you do...I’ve seen everything...you will continue to bloom and I will be watching...you’re doing fine..*”

Her words then shifted to Tsuki. His own grief lost within lack of memory. Her face was so blurry...this place...so dear yet he could only feel it within himself. Nevertheless, he clutched his chest. Tears pricked at his eyes. A single one falling yet his eyes remained screwed shut. He trembled.

A light hold graced his cheeks. “*Precious little Tsuki....you don’t need to remember me...but I’m also proud of you...you’re ambitious....you’re strong...yet troubled by so much...it has pained me to watch you struggle...but I know that you’ll be okay...you’re capable of so much...please remember that...your mother and father both believe in you to the fullest...my beautiful boy...*”

Little Omo, his face drenched by the watery pain of realisation. He’d known his mother was not of living...yet the picture of her remains imprinted in his mind...

A delicate embrace to the small child followed by a gentle hush.

“*Ssssshhhhhhh...I know darling...but I have never left you...you have never been alone...my quirky little Omo...I love you so much and have enjoyed watching you grow as well as you are growing...do not be afraid...with a heart of a hero....you will do great things...and your brothers are always right behind you...*”

As if taking place in front of them all, her voice followed through into their ears. Clear yet soft.

“*My precious boys....thank you for returning to me...putting me to rest...As I’ve said...I have never stopped watching over you. Your father and I couldn’t be prouder of the men you are all becoming...we are with you always...until we meet again...I love you all more than words can convey...please...stay safe my children...farewell for now...*”

And with that, her presence vanished. The subtle warmth of love fading appeared to break the hearts of the boys. They broke down further, uncontrollably sobbing. Tsuki and Makurai weakened to kneeling to which Omo started wailing. This triggered them all.

After having cried their hearts out for their losses, they instinctively gravitated towards each other. Huddling upon the grave. There, they fell asleep.

————

Liar’s arc progression:

-Villainous Joker (comic relief)

-anti-hero (Mikhail added)

-Lovestruck (double realisation)

-suffering sanity

-grief

-Cursed darkness (kidnapped saga)

-Last chance for good= empty/acceptance

-Chosen Darkness (final resolve)

-Questioned existence. (Need for power. Under the Goddess’ light)

————

“Ye of holy white. The tides. moon. The night. *

I summon you on behalf of my faith.

Grant me your power. I give my being in return.

Blood to Blessing. *

Bloema, heed my call.”

Bloema’s prayer.

—————

Bloema: demi-Goddess of the Moon. Pale water only works when she’s around her sister, Tsula. She was created by the corrupturer and normally goes for impish individuals. They normally obsess over her due to how quickly she can get into your mind hence why her following became a cult.

Personality wise, she’s much like Enoshima Junko in erratic personality. She can go from lazy mom to bumbling little sister in seconds.

When she and her sister are around, pheromones start to fly.

-Off-white pink tinted eyes. Her aesthetic is basically the reflection of a full moon’s night sky in water. Her fringe is loose yet the top is up and the rest is down. Pearlescent hair with a lilac tint.

#my ocs #my ocs stuff #drawing archive #MAGIC SCHOOL

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trisscar368 · 8 years ago

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Death in spn: support characters (Ash and Rowena)

So, season 1 of SPN there was a character gap. The boys had no mentor or support person (by this, I mean a character that exists to provide information and expertise) as they were traipsing about the country looking for John. The mentor (John) was missing, and instead of a support person they had John’s journal. Now this shifted around in the last act of the season, and we were given Bobby: he filled both the mentor and support roles.

And yet, he didn’t; most of season 2, Bobby isn’t present. The roadhouse crew filled in, with Ellen being a mentor and Ash being the key support character. (Jo functions as a foil/mirror to both Winchesters.) Ash is the one who puts together the impossible information trails and helps to track down Azazel’s movements.

But Bobby didn’t actually go anywhere. He was a hunter; as a support character, he was hands on and mobile, whereas Ash was basically an Oracle. That meant there were two characters with the same essential roles, and one of the rules for writing is not to duplicate roles. Someone had to go, and the Roadhouse crew ended up on the chopping block. Ellen and Jo survive and are written out of the plot until season 5. Ash, though...

One of the other main reasons to kill a character is to up the stakes or increase tension. Ash had a critical piece of information to give Dean; the implication at the time was that he held the solution, or a part of it at least. So his death does three things; it increases the stakes, it propels the plot by removing the easy solution, and it simplifies which character has which role. Rather ironically, he’s left as a pile of ashes in an offscreen death.

Bobby continued to function as the main mentor and support character until his death in season 7 (which, again, functioned to increase the stakes, and also to hurt the main characters (which is... literally s7, isolate and beat up the Winchesters)). Garth stepped in briefly, then Kevin entered the scene; not too long after we get Kevin, the boys find the Bunker. The Bunker is home base and is also in essence a support character (all the knowledge and magical equipment you could want). After the Bunker enters, there is no main strictly-supportive character that’s introduced.

There is, however, a character that was reduced to a support role. Rowena started out as an antagonist in s10 and then ended as a reluctant ally in s11; but by the start of season 12 most of her active character goals had been resolved. She decided she didn’t want power, or to interact with Crowley, or even revenge on Lucifer. She wanted a ‘normal’ life (insert my usual grumblings about “normal” in the show’s context here), which means that the only way she would naturally enter the plot is a) running into trouble, and b) the Winchesters need her as a support character.

Which is basically season 12 for her. At a point in the show where it’s very difficult to justify having a stictly-support character, her storyline was narrowed down, and... just like Ash, she has the apparent solution to the current problem and she gets an offscreen death by immolation.

The last time Rowena died, her storyline with Crowley could have been over; she’d admitted to hating him because she didn’t want to love him, she’d betrayed everyone, and the consequences of her actions caught up to her. However, she was still protagging up until that point; she was actively interacting with and changing the circumstances around her, altering the plot. More than that, bringing her back was the logical step for Amara’s personal arc (Amara needed someone both to show her compassion and to illustrate what revenge looks like from the outside) and for the main plot of s11 (bringing all facets of creation against the darkness/having four stand-ins for the four archangels).

I can very easily see storylines that Rowena could fit into for season 13 (and she’s crafty enough that it’s a possibility). But I simply don’t have the materials to argue that she will come back. From a character role point of view she was no longer serving as an antagonist or a protagonist, and she didn’t have any large overarching plot that’s been left hanging. It’s also hard to currently say whether she’ll be needed for the s13 mytharc the way she was for s11. It’s very easy to look at her death as a simplification of extraneous roles, which just... makes me sad.

#spn meta #rowena #ash #character deaths #*throws thoughts at the void*#s12 #writer analysis meta stuff #*still in denial but...*#*cries over rowena*

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knightofbalance-13 · 8 years ago

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http://sssn-neptune-vasilias.tumblr.com/post/155896702298/i-guess-the-jaune-issue-is-really-starting-to

A bit older than what I am use to but I believe my point will remain relevant for now and deep into the future of the FNDM.

So let’s go!

“I guess the “Jaune Issue” is really starting to boil yet again. It’s happened almost every season and I can almost understand the need to want to protect him from people who’re being overly harsh on him, or those who just downright hate him, but at this point, four seasons in, if you can sympathize with Jaune more than the people who’re put off by Jaune, you’re missing something really important- something that people have been arguing is a really big issue with this show in general“

So in essence: if you think with our threats to painfully kill him, maim him, torture him and his writer, you’re wrong and this is why you are wrong.

Also, this is coming from the fan of the (by RWDE standards) womanizer Neptune? Yeah....

I just wanna start off with saying a lot of people feel cheated out of a different anime thanks to Jaune. All of the marketing during the trailers and most marketing today is about RWBY- four girls- and the audience this show gathered back then was obviously an audience who were hungry and starved for more shows that featured girls kicking monster ass. Jaune becoming such a prominent side character that he’s essentially one of the main protagonists now was something not many people wanted, and something the show or Jaune has never really earned.

Yes and those people are oversensitive idiots. I know this sounds hypocriticial of me considering my previous point but here’s the deal: I went through all of Volume 4 and counted the seconds of time were Jaune got the focus. This means that he had to be the one the narrative was focused on, things like the Kuroyuri talk does not count because the narrative is using Jaune as a mouthpiece to focus on RWBY. Jaune’s amount of focus? 5;44 minutes. Down to the second, Jaune does not even have enough time to make a Volume 1 episode, let alone compared to the girls. For reference, yang the one who was criminally underused had 16:32 minuets of time, nearly triple that of Jaune. He is not the “main character” as everyone keeps saying.

And then there’s the fact that Jaune along with the rest of Team JNPR ARE main characters, confirmed by Monty himself. There is no debate, there is no ambiguity: Monty wrote Jaune as a main character like Pyrrha, Ren and Nora. So that argument is even false at the base.

And here’s the thing: Characters like Jaune prevent RWBY from falling into a dangerous trap as female eccentric shows have a strong tendency to neglect the male gender as their distaff counter parts do the opposite. Even the manliest of these shows like Kill La Kill do not have a strong male cast yet RWBY is special in that it’s writing is good enough to support both genders thus making it feel so much more organic and real. And Jaune, acting as a foil to Ruby is an important element in that: the only reason that Jaune lost his focus didn’t disturb this balance was other male characters like Taiyang and Ghira picking up that slack.

“Jaune started off as an audience surrogate (a trope you can learn more about in the link provided, and I’m gonna be linking back to tropes like this as often as I can). Everyone else in the world that we’d met so far already knew what Hunters were supposed to be doing, what Beacon was for, etc, etc. Ruby or Nora wouldn’t ever need to ask about Aura or Semblances or weapons, because they’ve been training and fighting for years before Beacon. Juane is the character who needed this all explained to him, and through Jaune’s eyes, we were given crucial information about the world. In a show like RWBY, a Jaune is important, as it eases the burden of world-building and allows these really basic conversations that normally wouldn’t be happening with regular characters to happen with Jaune.”

And yet people have demanded that Jaune be removed entirely from the show and proclaim he does not and has never had a purpose.

And you talk as though Jaune as stopped being the audience surrogate. Many of his scenes in Volume 4 (Getting tossed around, growing in Pyrrha’s memory, his silent mourning of Pyrrha, his scorn of Qrow and his talk with Ruby) are reflections of the fanbase and it’s attitude or feelings. He hasn’t stopped being an Audience surrogate no matter how much you say otherwise buddy.

“Jaune then continued to evolve as a sympathetic character during Jaunedice. “I’m tired of being the lovable idiot stuck in the tree while his friends risk their lives!” That line to this day is still so fucking powerful, and Miles Luna is so fucking good at delivering those heart-wrenching lines with quivering voices about feeling inadequate. During season one of this show, people LOVED Jaune. “My baby” “My son” etc, were common terms of endearment for him because Jaune’s feelings of inadequacy were so powerful and so relatable. Despite the fact that Jaune Arc was basically the “Ordinary High School Student” main protagonist of every shounen anime ever, the FNDM loved him anyway because of his conviction. He desperately wanted to get better and we believed him beyond a shadow of a doubt.”

... No they didn’t. People ahted him back then for consuming a fourth of the first volume and for the most part rightfully so as episodes like Jaunedice and the Badge and The Burden were addressed in previous epsiodes and should have been longer running conflicts.

And Jaune is STILL relateable to this day as he is almost completely helpless to keep what little people he has left safe as he is so woefully underpowered, he is bitter about life beating them down and drew strength from another to keep moving forward. Just like real people.

“Despite all of this, Jaune took up an unearned amount of screen time during season 1. Jaunedice 1, Jaunedice 2, Forever Fall 1 and Forever Fall 2 was a four episode long arc based almost exclusively around Jaune. 4 episodes and 25 minutes spent on away from RWBY and the rest of the plot of the show just to showcase Arkos’ rocky start, reveal Jaune’s dark secret, and a bullying arc that all could’ve taken less than an episode to tell and ended up resolving itself in a self-defeating way: Pyrrha never told Jaune she helped him kill the Ursa in the forest. Despite the fact that Jaune was ready and willing to allow Pyrrha to teach him how to fight, Pyrrha never took the time out to explain to him how absolutely dead he would’ve been had she not intervened. Because of this, Jaune doesn’t get the growth he needed, he doesn’t actually get to understand just how dangerous this job really is. It spares Jaune’s feelings, but also puts him and everyone he’ll ever fight with in danger until he actually learns that lesson.’

Except Jaune knows how weak he is, never fights directly unless forced too (like against the Nuckelvee or the Grimm horde) and gives out orders like a tactician.

And then there’s the fact that Jaune’s arc benefitted Pyrrha heavily as well: it showed how much she cared about jaune, how close they are, her flaws (threatening Cardin) and her strengths (forgiving and understanding Jaune) as a character. It was done to her benefit too so it was not solely Jaune.

And I’ve already tackled all the bullshit surrounding Arkos criticism so I won’t repeat it here. Just because a ship is straight does not make it bad.

“Granted, if you’re unwilling to forgive a show for not-so-great pacing and a few loose ends during its first season, you probably shouldn’t have been following a start-up show like RWBY in the first place. The writers were so obviously just beginning to learn how to tell the story, and needed time to get better. So most people held their complaints and waited until season two.”

Judging from what I’ve seen, not one person held back about Jaune’s arc and even blow it out of proportion so much. So that’s not true at all.

“Here’s where shit absolutely hit the goddamn fan.”

Your shit and your fan, that is. and unfortunately for me, I have to mope it up.

“Jaune had a crush on Weiss since volume 1, while Pyrrha had a crush on him from before he’d even seen Weiss. The same Love Triangle trope we see all the time. It’s a bit tired, and Tumblr hates it for its heteronormative aspects, its potential to create abusive relationships, and for the simple fact that polyamorous relationships are an easy way to end the trope, but most people just shrugged it off because it hadn’t been to intrusive yet. Then it got really fucking intrusive. Jaune. Wouldn’t. Leave. Her. Alone. Over and over again she rejected him and he continued to pursue her. Walking to her dorm to harass her and ask her to the dance, harassing her during class, etc, etc. Now considering a lot of the FNDM were women, Jaune alienated the core audience RT had been marketing towards. So many women came forward feeling irked, annoyed, and even triggered by Jaune’s constant harassment. He was every guy that didn’t know how to take “no” for an answer to these women- and if you talk to them, almost all of them have at least one story similar. But for some reason the narrative painted WEISS as the bad guy here. With Yang ruffling Jaune’s hair with “Some day” and Yang again calling Weiss an “ice queen” after slamming their door in his face, the show had somehow made Weiss the antagonist to Jaune’s “lovable and charismatic dope.” Pair that weird framing with younger male members of the FNDM who related even more with Jaune because of this, and it was a disaster. So many posts from guys about how “girls just don’t understand how hard it is to try to flirt” and “if Weiss weren’t so mean to him then maybe he’d get the message” flooded the tag and it was just all around disgusting. Because of how the show had framed Jaune as the guy trying his hardest to earn what he wanted up to that point, “Weiss” just became “something he wanted” instead of an actual person who had no romantic interest in him whatsoever. Then the added conversation with Neptune sealed the deal and people outright despised him for his grandiose, accusatory and entirely hypocritical tone he took with Neptune. Most women were put off almost entirely by a character they used to identify with. Some guys identified with him even harder because they hadn’t yet learned that Jaune’s failures at love weren’t something to sympathize with, but to correct.“

... This is sexist as fuck.

Every instance of Jaune here can be used step for step against Pyrrha. Won’t leave lover alone despite not being interested? Check. Constantly shows disinterest and keeps going? Check. Only gives up when they see that they can’t win? Check and double check because unlike Jaune who stopped, Pyrrha kept going afterwards. And unlike Jaune who is treated as in the wrong with Weiss, Pyrrha is treated as in the right.

And you act as though that guys are the only ones who do this: Women do this too and guys don't get pissy when a girl can't take no for answer because most of the time it's a personal flaw, not a gender flaw. Jaune personally did not undertsnad that and again unlike Pyrrha, learned to move on.

... No, it wasn't. The narrative treated Jaune as being wrong. Sympathetic but still wrong as his positive resolution only comes by letting go. And again, I hear no one getting on Pyrrha’s case.

And the story clearly shows that unlike what Weiss and YOU PEOPLE thought, Jaune wanted to get to know who Weiss was, not what she is. He loved her for who she was, not what she was. And that is what seperates Jaune and Pyrrha’s behaviors form stalkers: They care about the other person and want what is best for them, not theirselves.

P.S. A friend of mine @tumblezwei alone said she didn’t find it offensive at all so you saying that alienated all of the women in the audience is wrong. In fact, I’d bet most women didn’t thin of it that way at all (especially considering I never found Pyrrha to be creepy in any iteration until recently)

‘So we ended up with this huge divide in the FNDM, and people on the left didn’t want anything to do with Jaune even if they’d previously liked him, while people on the right would go to any length to defend his actions and keep up the same “he’s just a teenager, he doesn’t know any better” attitude that Jaune himself had asked people to stop using on him.:

No, he asked people to stop thinking eh needed coodling, not that he wanted people to let them say things that would make Cardin vomit.

“Two other nitpicks from season 2 were Jaune reading comics while he was supposed to be studying, and Jaune’s reaction to seeing Pyrrha take charge during The Breach when he’d failed to. The first is just a minor character inconsistency- season 1 he’d been so willing to try to learn to be the best Huntsman he could be, why is he slacking off long before his first real test as a Huntsman? The second, though, was a bit more alarming. With RWBY in trouble, Jaune hesitates, unsure of how to rush in to battle. Pyrrha takes charge and rallies JNPR forward into the fight. Jaune- instead of running behind his teammates, instead of being glad Pyrrha helped him out, instead of being thankful- groans at the missed opportunity. Not only was that groan inconsistent with Jaune’s earlier promise to allow Pyrrha to help him, it was just downright childish. People’s lives are on the line and he wastes time from joining the fight to pout that he didn’t get to rush his team into battle? That’s good behavior from a leader at all.“

Was he the butt of a joke? yes? Then it is totally in character for him to gran that life is making him into a joke yet again. And you utright acknowledge these to be nitpicks and yet treat them as glaring flaws. Also, no one mentioned the fact tahthe Finale was anti-climatic that it neglected Nora and Ren, that Penny’s reveal was fumbled ect.? Really? I call bullshit.

“Two seasons in and there’s already a divide about Jaune. He’d taken up so much screen time and people were all around tired of seeing him. People were so tired of Jaune as a character, that he was the only character whose figure didn’t sell out at RTX and ComiCon. Again, here’s where I’m assuming RT got the hint- less Jaune please”

And then tehre’s the fact that Jaune has the most fanart and fanfiction around him that excludes shipping. Also, just because people didn’t buy a fucking figurine that means less Jaune? And people really liked the arc with the dance in Volume 2 for resolving the Love Triangle, developing Pyrrha, Jauen and Neptune so your argument once again does nt have a leg to stand upon.

“And they followed through! Jaune had so few lines season three and so much less screen time some of the people who’d been feeling alienated by him started to get over it. Jaune was finally being used to further Pyrrha’s plot- a plot with actual relevance to the overall plot of RWBY- instead of his own. He said all the right things, his characterization stayed consistent, and people genuinely felt bad for him when Pyrrha shoved him in the locker and blasted him off. The one thing Jaune hated the most, and Pyrrha did it to him to save his life. Granted, a lot of people took issue with the fact that Jaune never actually tried to get a hold of any of the professors Ozpin had commanded him to, and instead called Weiss before breaking his phone, but not everyone’s perfect. “

Here’s the deal: Qrow stepped into the spot light and picked up jauen’s slack, ergo why Jaune’s downplayed importance is fine here as a notehr male character picked up his importance. That and the fact that jaune was downplayed not because RT was cattering to you people but that’s how Jaune was built: He needed to step down personally, not out of fan outcry. Volume 3 was already written well before you started bitching so this doesn’t work.

“Season one Jaune was back during season three. Someone the original targeted audience could and wanted to relate to.”

Ironic considering jaune’s purprose as an audience surrogate was at it’s least prominate in Volume 3 and Ruby became the Audience Surrogate as she suffered the harsh reality crashing in like the rest of us. Jaune’s character was only liked when his purpose was mostly removed and he wasn’t seen or heard that much: Again, if not for Qrow, this would have been a huge problem.

“Unfortunately the plot is bending yet again to Jaune Arc’s shenanigans. Most people can agree the pacing for this season is god awful, but somehow the efficiency of Jaune’s alienation of the original FNDM has increased.“

And here comes the bullshit.

““We hit it, harder” was an absolutely terrible explanation to his actually somewhat decent plan, that required further explanation and precious time the others could’ve gotten seriously hurt during.”

It was a joke and the narrative treated it as such, not to mention this happened in Volume 3 with team BRNZ and you said not one word ergo you have lost the right to complain about this.

“Melting down Pyrrha’s shield and tiara into his armor seemed like an entirely inappropriate gesture- instead of being laid to rest, they’re being used to strengthen Jaune? The gesture would seem less inappropriate if Jaune actually managed to start becoming a better fighter, but no… no he doesn’t.“

Actually he was becoming a better fighter as he actually damaged the Nucklevee, didn’t get killed by Tyrian and has been shown to be training. You also talks as though a character whose purpose was to strength another is a bad thing: hear that? Kamina’s calling and he’s gonna make you griyt your teeth if you say that again.

“Jaune getting all of the character development the loss of Pyrrha allotted the team is just bad writing. ALL of RNJR (as well as RWBY) lost a friend in Pyrrha. So far Jaune’s been the only person to have gotten any sort of growth from her loss (the recordings she left behind). Jaune wasn’t supposed to be a main character, why has he taken up growth that could’ve been spread evenly across RNJR or delegated to Ruby- the main protagonist of the story.‘

Yes, eh was menat to be a main character. Monty has confirmed it: Deal with it.

Oh really? Only Jaune? Jaune who devolved into a bitter cynic? And not Ruby who came to accept the world around her and still choose to fight, hwo had her values tested the most and who had most of Jaune’s mourning scenes (forest training nd Kuroyuri) dedicated to her and Jaune is only developing because Ruby gave him strength?

P.S. Don’t need to remind us that everyone lost Pyrrha, Jaune does a better job of it for you.

“Calling Jaune the “strategist” of the team always seemed so out of place. Even more so considering how quick-thinking and resourceful Ruby always has been, from opening Neo’s umbrella, to shooting Nora with lightning Dust during the Tyrian fight in such a way Tyrian entirely thought the shot had been meant for him and gave Nora a clear shot for what would’ve been a fantastic OHKO. A couple of ill-described plans does not a strategist make.“

No one else ever noticed the Geist was protecting it’s face, no one else noticed that the Nuckelvee’s sides were unprotected. Him being the stradgest makes perfect sense.

“Tyrian’s insinuation at being interested in Jaune for some unknown reason was- at least for me- the straw that broke the camel’s back. What exactly is so interesting about Jaune Arc? Well, we the audience don’t know- nor do most of us really care at this point- but RT will be sure to tell us eventually anyway. This pattern of giving Jaune unearned and undeserved attention stretches all the way to people who’re actively plotting the world’s demise. We’re tired of him, stop making him even more important without having him earn it!”

.... Dude, when someone like Tyrian says you interest me, it translates as “I am going to especially enjoy stabbing you.” It’s like if Freddy Krueger started making sexual advances towards you: Its suppose to freak you out. And considering Tyrian pulled off a rape face that would compete with fucking Yami Marik’s, I think he did a good job especially considering Jaune is the Audience surrogate as you said thus this is a subconscious attempt to directly creep out the audience: And it worked all because of Jaune.

“Jaune closing his eyes, entirely unimpeded and unencumbered while holding the melted down remains of someone who died to protect her friends as the first person to ever show him an ounce of kindness at Beacon was about to die was so absolutely terribly bad. Ren and Nora at least were trying to recover from Tyrian’s assault. Jaune closed his eyes and grit his teeth and didn’t even bother trying.”

Considering the last time someone made a Heroic Sacrifice it left Ruby with mild PTSD and made Jaune cynical, I think eh knew that even if he did die for Ruby that would only serve to amek her sadder. And again. he’s the Audience Surrogate: He’s helpless because we are helpless to save Ruby. I bet you everyone closed their eyes in defeat just as Jaune did when Tyrian was gonna introduce his stinger to Ruby’s innards.

“And after watching Qrow save Ruby’s life and suffer a pretty bad injury at the hands of Tyrian, begins to demean Qrow for the adverse effects of his Semblance. “Some load of help you’ve been.” Jaune’s talking down to a man who’s not only a father figure to Ruby, but a man who saved all of RNJR’s lives and who stepped in to save Ruby when Jaune was too busy trying not to watch“

Same guy who also forced Pyrrha into becoming a Madien, killing her and openly attracts Grimm like a walking talking steak. jaune has some right to be bitter.

“Last episode left off with Jaune being a huge dick to Ruby, who was only trying to comfort him. “They’ll be okay. “You don’t know that.” Jaune. Buddy. Pal. You’re kinda holding the comatose body of Ruby’s uncle, desperately trying to find medical help before he dies. “Our two friends who just split up probably won’t be okay” is not what she needs to hear right now. But for some reason, framing Jaune as more pragmatic was more important than giving Ruby and growth or emotion about the whole situation? Okay…”

*Sigh* SOmetimes trying to comfort someone does tehe xact opposite and it was more important considering it was to foreshadow the danger of the Nucklevee and red herring detah flags onto Ren and Nora. Also, you care about what Ruby needs to hear but not Jaune huh? I smell bias...

“Now- for the reason I’m writing this in the first place- the Great War WoR. People are already assuming Jaune’s weapon, Crocea Mors was the sword the King of Vale had used during the final battle. Whether or not it is, whether or not Jaune is a relative of the King and through that, royalty. Whether or not all of these theories are unfounded, I can say this. Through my observation of the FNDM, most people are tired of Jaune Arc. Making him an heir of the king or placing any more unearned importance on him is going to drain people“

People alos assumed Roman was going to be a long lasting villain, Raven was going to be a good mom, Qrow’s semblence was just shapeshifting, that yang would be all better by the beginning of Volume 4, that Blake didn’t have parents, that Sage and Scarlet were important characters ect. Doesn’t mean it will come true.

And from what I have seen, people love the shit out of Jaune and love him for who he is: You just refuse to acknowledge anything that doesn’t line up with your way of thinking.

And if people can still eb drained after listening to you, I commend their fortitude.

He will fight, he wil earn his spot as he has been doing and your compliants of “untapped potential” and over focus and bad writing will just be that: compliants. Meaningless, stupid, obnoxious complaining.

Learn to watch the damn show.

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kingofthewilderwest · 8 years ago

Note

When you are done with season 4 of race to edge what do you think are the pro and cons of the season and what do you hope for season 5?

Alright! I’ve just finished RTTE S4, and I would looooove to discuss pros and cons. I’ll make a list of some favorite small moments later, but here I will talk about big overarching pros and cons. Heads up to people that, because I’m talking pros and cons, I will get into both celebrations and constructive criticism. I’m not intending to rain on anyone’s parade by giving my comments on what I think could be better; I’m just being honest about the things that aren’t my favorite, and which I think are important to recognize… and I can at the same time recognize the show’s weaknesses and be a celebrating fan of the strengths.

Big Pros of RTTE S4

Book References Galore. I am always a fan of book references in the HTTYD show. This season contained a lot of instances which reminded me of the books. Whether or not that was intentional from the writers, it still gives book lovers a means of identify with elements they find familiar. In this season, we got book-like things including but not limited to:

A dragon which can only be birthed in the middle of a volcano.

Bat-like dragons.

Fishlegs calling Hiccup his best friend.

Snotlout feeling threatened by Hiccup’s role as a leader and trying to subvert it and become a great leader himself - be it king, or at least the leader over the other youths. Snotlout pretends to deliberate about killing Hiccup. He gets to be a little more antagonistic than usual when he’s trying so desperately to show that he’s great leader material, hoping so much that he won’t be overshadowed by the others. But in the end, he charges out and risks his life to save Hiccup.

An oft-used phrase in the book, “Easy peasy lemon squeezy,” came right out of Snotlout’s mouth.

Viggo and Ryker’s Relationship Splintering. I was hoping as early as S2 that the writers were setting up a fracturing between Ryker and Viggo. Ryker, after all, tells Heather that he listens to Viggo because they’re family. However, Viggo’s treatment of Ryker is poor. That’s good material for a set-up and character development… and we got it! We started to see hints of it in S3.

It explodes in S4.

Ryker and Viggo, and their character developments, were probably my favorite thing about this season.

As early as the first episode, we see Ryker smiling when Viggo’s plans are thwarted. Ryker sticks by Viggo, but with increasingly-seen ill treatment on Viggo’s part, and increasingly irritated responses from Ryker, we at last get a split in Shell Shocked. Ryker has had enough of Viggo, and Viggo doesn’t have enough respect for Ryker for this to end well. Of course we still don’t know all the details about what all was planned and what was staged, but it seems Ryker did go rogue against his brother. It was nice to see this character, who was often overshadowed by Viggo, take charge and have this development.

Not to mention how both of the characters ended in Shell Shocked Part 2? Me likey. That was really cool. These appear to be both real deaths, and they are “fitting” for what the characters were. Ryker was a man of violence and strength; he got pulled underwater in the midst of a battle he waged himself. Viggo sought to gain profits and control dragons through the Dragon Eye; him diving to try to save the Dragon Eye shows his own motivations leading to his end.

It’s also very fitting that the Dragon Eye got destroyed. I was talking about how the Dragon Eye had to become inaccessible to both the dragon riders and the dragon hunters at some point in time. There’s no way for the story to get resolved otherwise. And it happened! I was happy to see the Dragon Eye finally return to the plot, and for us to see why it won’t be in Hiccup’s hands by the time of HTTYD 2.

Hiccstrid. I’m not an active Hiccstrid shipper myself (as you guys probably have heard me say many times, I almost never ship anything, and I prefer to focus on platonic and familial bonds), so I’m listing this one mostly for you guys, haha. XD I know that Hiccstrid shippers are probably going to be happy with what happened in this season! Flirtations, words of devotion, multiple kisses, all that happened. Haha, Snotlout even said “Hiccstrid” on screen! The slow boil toward their relationship has finally come to fruit, and it’s quite relieving to see.

I think what I appreciate the most was Hiccup supporting Astrid in Blindsided. The words of support he gave her were wonderful, thoughtful, deep, considerate. We have often seen throughout the franchise Astrid supporting Hiccup emotionally. This is a key moment in which we see Hiccup demonstrate great love, devotion, and support to Astrid in turn. The words he chose were nicely done. I appreciated that a lot.

Big Cons of RTTE S4

Recurring Plot Devices. I know the creators were excited about some of their planned plot twists, but the truth of the matter is that they tend to reuse the same plot devices repeatedly.

Especially, one plot device they love is when Hiccup has to ally himself with the enemy. This has been done with:

Mildew in “We Are Family Part 2″

Alvin the Treacherous in “Cast Out Part 2″

Dagur the Deranged in “Enemy of My Enemy” and “Family on the Edge”

Krogan, soooooooort of, in “Midnight Scrum”

And now Viggo Grimborn in “Shell Shocked Part 2″

It is to note that the multiple redemption arcs - as with Alvin and Dagur - show repetition, too. I will say, though, it was nice for Viggo to not be completely redeemed. He still betrayed Hiccup in the end, and I appreciated that. But as far as the ally-with-the-enemy arc is concerned… that is starting to feel a little worn out, now.

Other recurring plot devices include Dragon’s Edge being attacked by dragon hunters; one of the youths being captured or kidnapped by the enemy; and, of course, a new dragon being first dangerous but then tamed.

Weak Character Motivations. It’s not that motivations are absent. It’s that they’re not neatly connected together or expounded upon to any realistic level. Character motivations move in sudden jerks forward rather than smooth progressions. Lots of the time the character motivations are explained weakly enough that they seem extremely unrealistic toward how a person would actually react in that situation.

Dagur goes from being an enemy with ASPD symptoms… to being a tentative ally with regrets… to being a genuinely good guy who cares deeply for his sister, the other riders, and endangered dragons. They do rudimentarily explain why he goes from one mental state to the next, but it never feels convincing. Part of that is that no one just magically drops an antisocial personality. Another part of it is that we don’t see a good, smooth progression from one phase to the next. The writers put in a little bit of transition material, but never enough.

Another example is Heather and her relationship with Dagur. There was not enough material for her switching from loathing Dagur… to being uncomfortable with his “death”… to being completely comfortable around him and welcome to deep physical touch. While we get the gist of why it happened, the way in which it is presented is very unconvincing and doesn’t at all feel like how people psychologically function. It’s pushing it at best. I’m not a fan of these sorts of things being misconstrued because it can have consequences for how we handle the dangerous and toxic people in our own lives.

We have other inconsistent character motivations on top of that, along with lots of weak plot devices arising out of this, but yeah. Character motivations are not as well progressed as they should be.

Sexism. This is nothing new to the show; it’s been present since Riders of Berk and onward. It’s been bothering me increasingly more with each new season released, likely because it hasn’t gotten better (the only thing that’s gotten better is no longer using “girl” as an insult). Especially for RTTE S3 and S4, I’ve felt distinctly uncomfortable with DreamWorks Dragons’ treatment of gender. It’s just come to a point that they should have fixed their mistakes by now, except they keep perpetuating.

Default gender in the show is undeniably male. The rule of how everything works in this show is “male until proven otherwise.” Seriously though. Essentially every single individual we meet is a man, be it human or dragon. Somehow every single new introduced dragon in the show is called a “he,” despite that being highly statistically unlikely. There are even several cases in which an obvious female has been called “he.” Given as we see no other Eruptodons around, it seems likely the egg had to have been laid by the dragon on the island. Sure, we can finagle around and give decently-conjured explanations for how this dragon could still be male, but by all accounts, it’s weird. We shouldn’t, in Defenders of the Wing Part 1, call THAT dragon a “he.” Even more clearly, Chicken is a chicken - a female member of that species, obviously so by the bird’s physical features. Tuffnut even hallucinates the chicken speaking to him in a female voice. Aaaaand yet both Stoick - and in this latest season, Tuffnut himself - call Chicken “he.” No. The chicken is female. That’s literally as bad as animating a cow with an udder and calling it a “he.” It’s that obviously female. How are we messing this up? Because the default gender of anything is male in this show.

Next, there are some stereotypes and unflattering tropes of women that sneak into the show. In so many movies, television shows, and novels, a woman is often only introduced when she has a romantic relationship with one of the male characters. While there are plenty of male characters who are not in a romantic relationship in media, it is much harder to find a woman who doesn’t at least flirt with a man and have that be a major point of her time on screen. It means that, as humorous as some people might find the Snotlout x Mala (Snala? Snotla? Malout???) dynamics, it’s not the most fun thing to see yet another female character’s role being heavily centered around whether or not she’s in a non-platonic relationship with someone.

Damselstrid happens a little too often for comfort. I know that many Hiccstrid shippers probably enjoy seeing Hiccup and Astrid caring for one another in precarious situations. I do admit that there were some good lines especially in Blindsided. Nevertheless, it is awkward to see the disparity between Astrid saving Hiccup versus Hiccup saving Astrid. This also have been around since forever, but it’s increasingly obvious with S3 and S4.

Astrid will save Hiccup in very short, quick minor moments in combat, such as by blocking enemy fire. But it’s never played up for drama. They’re gone before you know they’ve happened. In the one episode where Hiccup really needed saving because he’s kidnapped, it’s to note that the entire team (Stoick at the forefront) - not Astrid - save him. The other time Hiccup majorly needed saving because he was drowning… he was saved by a dragon. Astrid never gets the big save when Hiccup is most vulnerable.

By contrast, Astrid will constantly be in precarious positions in which she seems more desperate and in greater, longer danger. There have been two episodes dedicated entirely to Astrid being in a helpless situation and Hiccup needing to save her - Buffalord Soldier and Blindsided. Additionally, we can add several more instances of Astrid being in danger, like the very end of Shell Shocked Part 2, or when she’s about to burn up in Out of the Frying Pan. And when she is in these extremely vulnerable situations, we’ll often hear her murmur, “Hiccup.” It’s a suggestion that Hiccup is what is important and Hiccup is what’s going to save her. Even though Astrid is the best warrior of the youths, she is put into far more vulnerable positions than most of the other riders, and Hiccup almost always is the specific individual who gallantly saves her.

I could keep going about how there were also some outdated notions of gender sneaked in the show dialogue, too, but I’ll stop here. Essentially, sexism. It’s definitely in RTTE.

Season 5 Hopes

I don’t have too many thoughts on what I want for season 5 currently. Maybe ask me in a few months. At the moment, all I can think about is that we’re going to have to address that exploding volcano on Dragon’s Edge, and we’re definitely not done with Krogan.

In many ways, the end of S4 is the end of the big plot arc we got starting in S1. Seasons 1 through 4 are a unit, it looks like. It’s the story of Hiccup going against the dragon hunters. That ending has got to be the ending of the plot arc with Ryker and Viggo. So where season 5 turns? It’ll be a little bit of a new direction.

We’ve got some seeds planted with Krogan, I suppose, but really not much to work on. You could almost just completely end the show with S4. We got Hiccstrid together. Viggo, Dagur, and Ryker are no longer threats. The Dragon Eye is no longer around to investigate. It’s just that volcano blast and the fact the creators said there would be more episodes that means this is going to continue.

There’s a weird small part of me that wants Savage to come back. I don’t think they’ll do it, but I suddenly saw potential, and actually relished the small moment of Savage’s return. He had a wonderful return with great motivation. I’m assuming they’re just going to ride him off as inept, and this is the last we see of him. But there’s also a lot of potential for him to try to do something big. But I suspect we won’t see him, that it would detract from other plot stuff they would want to do, and so on and so forth.

So they’re likely going to keep sneaking toward Krogan and stuff with plot development? But how they’re going to do that without interfering with the plotline of HTTYD 2, I am not sure.

#bluestarsaber #long post #rtte spoiler #rtte spoilers #rtte #Race to the Edge #DreamWorks Dragons #analysis #my analysis #ask #ask me #why is his name Krogan #I just think about the Mass Effect creature #that's it #I can't stop laughing about it

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