#I also had a theory Lucas might get killed by mistake but then I remembered Grayson was a first name so I hope not

[silvermasquerade]

Also I’m noting this for the golden raven in advance

Based on a comment in the book, Jeremy’s (Step?) Grandfather has is a huge role in whatever drama happened. Or the fall out Jeremy had with the family.

It’s the one clue I don’t seen brought up a lot. I see the police, the aversion to the last name, the hatred of their stepfather, the possible loss of a sibling to suicide etc. but never specifically this scene! If I had to guess, that’s where the money comes from. The (step) grandfather. Generational wealth. The “ don’t ruin my future” bit from the sister clues me in there.

[unexpectedreylo]

Yes, It’s Been Half A Decade Since TFA Was Released

Five years already?  Geez!

If you’ve been following my humble Tumblr blog since the beginning, you’ll know I was not truly a Reylo until I saw TLJ.  Before then, I was dealing with a movie that left me with a lot of mixed feelings.  Why?  I missed George Lucas for one thing.  He has an indelible style that few can match and few really cared about that universe and its characters as much as he did.  I was very unhappy to hear a month before TFA’s release that Disney tossed out his story and came up with something he didn’t really like very much (as later confirmed in Bob Iger’s memoir).  As a long-suffering prequels fan I didn’t like either the vaguely anti-prequel tone the pre-release hype took.  Whatever you do in life, don’t disrespect the man who created the GFFA. 

The post-release hype probably annoyed me even more.  Remember the doofuses screeching on t.v. that it was the best SW movie since TESB?  LOL.  (No, that would be ROTS and the only thing that came close since was TLJ.)  I hated that a movie I felt was flawed not only got passes from the media that really trashed Lucas and everybody who worked on the prequels, but also got lavish Best 10 lists and award nominations.  I was one bitter chickie for a while and later got a good laugh out of the backlash.

I thought it would be funny to post what I thought at the time, with added commentary:

Oh yes, the movie. My mother called it…it’s good, we all enjoyed it and were entertained, but Lucas’s touch is definitely missing. The romantic epic sweep of Eps I-VI, the goofy and whimsical touches, the feeling of being immersed in another galaxy, and Lucas’s gift for aesthetics aren’t there. The visuals don’t have that beauty and some of it is kinda ugly. The creature designs just aren’t as good. It’s not the kind of movie you watch dozens of times to catch little things. Even John Williams doesn’t have a knockout track like “Duel of the Fates” or “The Imperial March.” But it’s hard to think of how this was ever going to live up to any of it any more than I’d expect Suzanne Collins to write a Narnia book as good as C.S. Lewis. We lost those things when we lost Lucas.

I like the visuals a lot more now but TLJ’s cinematography rules the ST.  Still feel the same about creature design; I see better aliens and creatures on The Mandalorian.  One weird thing about the ST is how the filmmakers seemed to have avoided putting in anything at all that we’ve seen before.  No Jawas, no Togrutas, no Twi’leks, no Zabraks, no Quarren, etc.. Just Chewbacca and Admiral Ackbar.

The music didn't leave much an impression on me at the time but now I love “Rey’s Theme,” “Kylo Ren’s Theme,” and “March of the Resistance.”

As long as we’re on that note, I’ll get to the film’s flaws first. The movie has a lot of snappy, arch, and funny dialogue but you can tell the script was cranked out in a hurry. It lacks the careful structure of its predecessors and cribs a little too much from ANH. Poe disappears and you are led to believe he’s dead then he suddenly shows up healthy and hale with no explanation. Abrams’s first Star Trek film was riddled with unbelievable coincidences and unfortunately this movie has some of those too, such as when Han and Chewie just happen upon the Falcon in space. The film does very little to set up what’s going on and why, such as why the hell is the Republic fighting the same a-holes after all of these years. Abrams prefers instead to keep the action going instead of doing much exposition, which is pretty much what he did with the Trek films. Those little moments in Lucas’s Star Wars films don’t happen much here. Things must always be occurring, which dumps all of the responsibility for character development and world building on Rian Johnson and Colin Trevorrow. I have no idea why they decided to be all teasy-weasy with who Rey’s parents are instead of just telling us. (I suspect Luke is her father.)

LOL!   I guess the adoption by proxy thing at the very end of TROS proved me right or...did it?  Yes, my first assumption after seeing TFA was that Rey and Kylo Ren were cousins.

As for the rest of it, I still feel the same.  Rushed script, borrows too much from ANH, precious few explanations/set-up, not as good structure but still full of humor.

BB-8 is a charmer, Finn and Rey (who are so going to hook up) HA!  But remember I thought Rey and Kylo were cousins! have some charm and potential growth as characters, and it was great seeing our old crew again even if not under ideal circumstances. (Personally I would’ve preferred NOT to have broken up Han and Leia.) Hux had some mustache-twirling moments and Abrams was at least smart enough not to kill off him, Ren, or Snoke just yet. Finn and Poe have a good rapport (maybe they’re going to hook up).

Stormpilot definitely pinged the slash-dar.  It was completely unsurprising to find fans shipping them.

Abrams seemed to have avoided the mistake James Cameron made in “Avatar” when he killed off his most threatening villain while planning sequels. As you might have guessed, I was really shocked at Snoke’s death in TLJ.  I wasn’t expecting that until IX.  I was also really shocked at the casual, quick-get-rid-of-him ways both Hux and Ben were killed off in TROS.

The most compelling aspect of TFA for me was the Skywalker family drama, which made me wish it was more up front rather than a subplot. Ben Solo/Kylo Ren is a conflicted guy with a huge chip on his shoulder and it makes you wonder exactly what happened to him because I think he may have mental issues. Leia knows there’s still good in him but can a guy who commits patricide be saved? (RIP Han…I so knew this would happen because I figure it was the only way Ford would’ve done another film). Can his cousin/half-sister or whatever Rey save him? Would she want to? With Luke back in the picture and Artoo activated again, what will happen next? Even though they split up Han and Leia I liked the banter between them; it’s sad because they clearly still loved each other.

This is still true for me.  A few days after posting this it struck me just how nihilistic TFA was because I found Han and Leia’s split unnecessary (had Han gone out for Chinese food or on a mission for the Resistance instead of just being a loser smuggler, it wouldn’t have changed anything that happened in the film) and what I thought was Kylo’s certain fate to be a narrative bummer.  TLJ made me think they weren’t going on that direction only to be proven right in TROS (sadly).

I’ll dispense with the stupid Snoke is Plageuis theory and my dad wondering if Finn was Mace Windu’s lost son or something, though I’ll give him half a point for Finn turning out to be Force-sensitive after all.

I don’t know why people have said this takes them back to the ’70s because the film really is a 2015 movie made for an audience reared largely on the MCU, YA flicks, and other staples of contemporary geek culture. It is what it is and we aren’t going to get back the films of George Lucas and his influence. TFA might not be an awesome Star Wars movie but it is at least a good sci-fi action flick.

I still stand by most of this.  Time and TLJ made TFA a better movie in my eyes.

[hawkinsschoolcounselor]

Were we Gay-Baited? The Issue of Will and Byler/Byeler, a Discussion of Apophenia, Identification, and Empathy

I’ve been struggling with my own feelings since finishing Stranger Things 3. Curiously, I find myself being overcome with rage and disappointment, which isn’t how one is usually meant to feel about a TV show. It wasn’t a bad season by any means, though I do think it was the weakest of the three so far. The one biggest point I find myself stuck on is the treatment of Will Byers, not just as a character, but as a reflection of my own experiences and feelings. Identification happens all the time when we engage with fiction. Sometimes we are meant to do so, while other times it is due to how we interpret otherwise ambiguous aspects of a character or story. It’s an aspect of empathy, as we’re feeling the emotions (or at least what we believe to be the emotions) of a character.  I identified with Will back in Season 1. It looked like they were building, slowly, but surely, towards Will being gay, and I let myself build this idea that his struggles with the Upside Down and the Mindflayer were a metaphor for him coming to terms with these feelings he had for his best friend. I saw the Upside Down as an allegory for being in the closet. A dark, lonely, scary version of the real world. I don’t know if Barb was meant to be seen as a lesbian, but I latched onto that as support for my theory. It was after being left alone by Nancy that she is captured and killed by the Demogorgon. She felt alone and rejected, and subsequently was consumed by the despair that comes with hiding. Will, however, was able to get out due to the overwhelming love and support of his friends and family. Was I wrong to make this assumption? Possibly. Then Season 2 happened, and I don’t know what else we were meant to think.

For reasons we never really find out, at least in the show itself, Will finds himself being stalked by the Mindflayer roughly a year after escaping the Upside Down. This creature wants Will, and apparently only Will. The simple explanation, I suppose, is that it wants what it sees to be his. Will got away, the Mindflayer isn’t ok with that, and this all ensures that our main cast are at the center of the story. I read into it deeper though, which was probably a mistake. This happens during an election year, and Reagan signs are prominently displayed. The AIDS crisis was in full swing, and still mainly seen as a gay disease. Will still doesn’t feel safe, and doesn’t even fully understand how he feels. He flashes back into the Upside Down, feeling targeted and watched. Mike is generally able to pull him back out, and Will seems to seek out the safety of his best friend. Mike is the only one he trusts. Mike is safety, comfort, and unconditional love. He’s special, at least to Will. 

It is again love that saves Will. Joyce, Johnathan, and Mike get through to Will by sharing stories meant to express how they feel about Will. Joyce loves her son, and is proud of his rainbow ship. This was unnecessarily specific if it wasn’t meant to be gay coding. Johnathan shares the building of Castle Byers, Will’s safe haven, after their dad left, The same dad who would call Will a fag. We see Will start to waver, ever so slightly, as they start to reach him, but the kicker is when Mike starts. Mike shares the story of when they first met. He remembers it in surprising detail, and it’s the oldest memory out of the three so far mentioned. Mike is barely keeping himself together as he relates walking up to Will on the first day of kindergarten. He’s so overwhelmed by the memory himself, repeating that Will said yes to being his friend, as if he cherished it immeasurably, and goes on to say it was the best thing he’s ever done. Despite the Mindflayer’s control, Will himself is barely holding back tears at this moment and we see emotion on his face for the first time since being fully possessed. He’s able to start with the morse code. Mike is the one who ultimately broke through. I read this as him being the single most important person in Will’s life, but was it that, or was it simply that he was the last to speak? It’s hard to tell the intent here, especially as Mike’s attention leaves Will as soon as Eleven returns shortly thereafter. All we’re left with is a look at Mike when Will is asked to dance, and his fake smile faltering as he glances at Mike dancing with Eleven. More curious decisions that could be something, or may be nothing.

This brings us to Season 3, where my confusion, annoyance, and anger boil over more with each episode. We start with scenes that I felt did a good job showing an emotional conflict set up by the end of Season 2: how does Mike find room for both Will and Eleven? Mike is shown obsessively attached to Eleven, which is reasonable given his age and his fear of losing her again, and we also see him going to the movies with Will, Lucas, and Max. The latter scene is oddly double-date like, to the point where they don’t sit together, putting Mike and Will separate from Lucas and Max as if to highlight the two separate couples. Lucas and Max get some playful banter in (pretty much the last we see of their relationship this season), and Mike is shown still harboring concern for Will. I found it odd when Mike asked if Will was ok, as Will hadn’t really done anything unusual. The suggestion, at least to me, was that Mike is still paying close attention to Will, and this made sense, as he would have a fear of losing Will the same as he does with Eleven. After this we see Will mope over the amount of time Mike spends with Eleven, but he has no complaints about his other friends. His obsession over D&D is over the top and jarring, and very much out of character. He’s a fully fleshed out character with multiple interests, but all he wants to do is D&D, why? I don’t really have a great answer for that beyond it being bad writing just to set up a later scene. That brings us to their fight, which fully ignited my hopes that they’d continue this build-up.

Will loses it when Mike and Lucas seem to mock his campaign. They don’t really dislike it, they just aren’t engaged due to girl troubles. His anger, though, seems focused on Mike. Will feels betrayed, and laments his loss of the Party due to girls, but he never blames anyone but Mike, even though Lucas and Dustin are similarly focused on girls. He calls El a “stupid girl”, and that wouldn’t be unusual given the situation had we been shown any interactions between El and Will or given exposition to inform us that the two of them get along. Indeed, I got the impression that Will still hasn’t had any meaningful interactions with her, since it’s implied she’s constantly with Mike and only Mike. The only time we see her out with the Party, before the crisis begins anyway, Mike bails with her very quickly. Will resents El. She’s stealing Mike away from him. That’s how I saw it anyway, and I remember feeling that way many a time at that age. At this point, you might still be able to argue it was just Will mad he’s losing his best friend, but then that one line comes. “It’s not my fault you don’t like girls!” 

This line could have been done in any number of other ways if the implication was anything other than Will is gay and has feelings for Mike (any maybe thought Mike might like him as well). Mike could have told Will he needs to grow up or that it’s not his fault Will doesn’t have a girlfriend. But, no, Will simply doesn’t like girls. Will’s reaction speaks volumes, despite him not being able to talk. Up to that point, Will had been jabbing Mike with accusations, but as soon as Mike says this he’s stone silent. Lips quivering and eyes watering, he stares at Mike in disbelief and fear. To his credit, Mike immediately realizes he crossed a line and softens his approach, something we never see him do when he fights with anyone else. The damage is done, however, and Will’s final words “I guess I did. I really did.” screamed of a breakup to me. Will thought it’d be him and Mike forever. He destroys Castle Byers in a rage, berating himself for being stupid. It’s no longer a safe haven for him, as it is filled with memories of his childhood. A childhood spent with Mike.

This whole scene is never addressed again by the two of them. Lucas is shut down in an attempted apology, and I saw this as Will not wanting an apology from him and not willing to discuss the situation. It still felt very aborted, as if that quick scene with Will and Lucas was meant to tell the audience that, nope, we’re not getting into that. He and Mike have no real significant interactions throughout the rest of the season, though Will is shown reacting negatively anytime Mike expresses his feelings for Eleven. Our attention is never really drawn to it, but it’s there. This takes us to the finale, where Mike’s goodbye to Will is oddly quick for friends as close as they were supposed to be. Mike expresses worry that Will would move on and replace him, and Will reassures him that such a thing would never happen. I like how they had Mike smile perhaps his most genuine smile of the season here, but it still felt odd. When they hug outside right before the end, it’s again quick and not indicative of the emotion that should be there. Will seems to linger in the hug a bit, but Mike staggers away to Eleven. Mike’s attention seems to be solely on Eleven as the Byers leave, though he glances back at the house that he shouldn’t really associate with her. The final scene is a near perfect mirror of Season 1 when he thought Will was dead. It was confusing, possibly intentionally so, but why? 

Mr. Clark brings up apophenia when speaking with Joyce. It’s the tendency for humans to spot patterns where there are none. As humans, we like for there to be explanations for everything. There are no coincidences, we just haven’t figured out how things fit together. Part of me wonders if this whole line of conversation was targeted at fans, such as myself, who read too deeply into Mike and Will’s relationship, and possibly Will’s possibly homosexuality. I could understand how it could be used to cast doubt on Joyce’s fears. However, it ends up having no real bearing on the plot, as Joyce is relatively quickly shown to be correct in her suspicions. 

In the end, I’m left to wonder if this whole idea of Will being gay, and possibly Mike and Will being subtextually written as a couple, was simply a case of apophenia. My empathy for Will and identification with him could have caused me to misinterpret things to fit my own personal experiences and unfulfilled adolescent wishes. The dissonance caused by what I thought and what I’m now seeing is what is causing my anger and disappointment. It’s having me relive what I felt so long ago where all I wanted was to see a boy like me happy on TV or in movies. I thought this was going to be what I never had, but, though we still have Season 4 yet to come, it looks like it was simply a case of seeing what we wanted to see. Still, the way they did it reeks of gay-baiting, and I feel used.

[aethuviel]

The Politically Correct Jedi

So here will be my thoughts on The Last Jedi. Spoilers galore!

1. Porgs, Luke milking the sea-sow, Leia's Mary Poppins-moment... common complaints, but I actually liked all of these. I loathed the porgs months ago for being so unoriginal (bring back Terryll Whitlatch), but they were cute and fine with me. Unlike some, I realize Star Wars is a family film and has always had something made to pander to ten-year olds (Ewoks, Jar Jar, even Darth Maul).

The Luke-milking-that-thing-scene and going fishing... I just don't understand the problem with, it's just a detail you either like or don't like, not some huge character or story problem, and I really liked seeing his "off-grid" life (being a big fan of such things myself, and hopefully going to move to Kerry, Ireland, just where his island is located).

Leia surviving space by Force-flying was perfectly fine with me. It may have looked a bit silly, and she should never have survived contact with the vacuum of space, but Star Wars has never been about hard sci-fi anyway, and at least they put SOME of her Force talent in there.

2. The donkey-dogs (fathier is the in-universe name). That was some cool creature design to me, I really liked them, if not what they did with them (more below).

I WANT ONE

3. I loved Luke’s island. So sick of the desert planets (Jakku was just discount Tatooine), I'm very glad they didn't simply stick Luke on Dagobah, but gave us a fresh habitat.

4. It is a fairly okay, enjoyable movie, to see once or twice in the theater, especially if you're not a SW nerd and don't care either way what happens in the story or with the characters. Cheaply written and quickly forgotten, like a quick flick for one night, but it was enjoyable.

A common complaint is also the "these rich people are selling arms to both sides". I actually liked that when watching the movie, because that's something most people today still don't know, let alone that it has been going on for a very long time, and I don't think it's "forced preaching" like some other stuff (more below), but rather takes the film out of the "simple action" some prequel-bashers seem to want.

(Prequel bashers hate the prequels because it was "so political", but really it wasn't. It just explained the backstage of war, which is what goes on between leaders, politicians and bureaucrats, rather than simply battlefield action. THIS film was truly political with subjective political messages, and more on that below.)

And now for the less nice things. I will be talking about the trilogy overall too, so things from TFA will be mentioned.

1. The complete betrayal of character and story. Rule number one for a writer is that you A) Give your readers (or viewers) promises, and then B) You fulfill those promises. The Last Jedi did not do this in any way.

Snoke was dangled in front of us with huge excitement. "Who is this? Who is he? Where is he from? Oooh, we can't wait to see all your fan theories!" and two years later "Aha! He's NOBODY and this guy who we built up as the biggest badass, more terrible and powerful than Darth Sidious, gets taken out completely predictably in the lamest fashion possible!"

Rey, as well, was dangled in front of us like "She's the most special girl ever, everyone knows she's SO special, her parents and origin is SUCH a mystery, and we can't wait to show it to you!" Two years later "...AAAND she's a nobody." Like blowing up a balloon and pricking it with a needle, complete with fart sounds as it flies across the room.

2. I couldn't give a crap about (most of) the new characters. Rey is a total Mary Sue. I could develop this further but this would turn into a huge essay if I did. Finn at least has some SLIGHT personality, but he seems to be mostly there for diversity points, and goes off on a completely pointless sidequest in this film.

Rose... need I say more. A chubby Asian chick with absolutely no personality, who falls in love with a guy she’s only known 48 hours (or less), and stops him from doing his one brave and character-saving act (since he’s mostly been a coward inserted for PC:ness and cheap jokes), by crashing into his speeder. Why is this girl in the military, if she can’t stand seeing a guy she just met sacrifice himself for the ENTIRE CAUSE? She would rather see the entire Resistance die, than letting Finn go ahead and sacrifice himself. That is not cute or romantic, it is unforgivably stupid, and if I were Finn, I would be furious.

Poe is a discount hot-headed flyboy, because apparently we simply need one in each trilogy. I wanted to like him, but nope. I simply don’t care about any of them, except...

Kylo. Maybe I’m just a sucker for Skywalkers, no matter who they are (because Star Wars, in Lucas’ vision and that’s in the end what matters to me, is a family drama, and it’s about the life and legacy of Anakin Skywalker - my favorite character in any fiction ever, especially Hayden Anakin - his children, and in George’s own words, his grandchildren, in plural), but Kylo is also the deepest and most layered character in this trilogy. Not that it says a lot.

We knew from The Phantom Menace, immediately Anakin’s story and why he was troubled and split inside. We understood (if we were paying attention and didn’t just want *swoosh*bang*slash*) Anakin’s conflict in Ep2, whether we liked him or not. Kylo... just became evil? As a teenager? For no reason whatsoever?

We just know “there’s too much Vader in him”. Anakin became Vader for very specific reasons. He sold his soul to the devil to save someone he loved, and then killed that devil to save someone else that he loved. Anakin was self-centered (he cared about his immediate interests, such as his family, more than the galaxy or the big picture), Anakin was all heart, he was not “just evul”. If they’re saying Kylo “just went bad” because he’s like his grandfather, that... makes no sense whatsoever. Anakin was a very sweet child and a rebellious teenager, but not evil.

Kylo is also very twisted and "torn apart" as he says himself, he wants to be a great darksider but he can't be (neither could Vader, because he always had that light inside him), and that's why he's the "most character" of the characters in the new trilogy, but we have no idea why.

Leia says she lost him when she sent him to Luke. Fair enough, maybe he was (like Anakin) a mommy’s boy who couldn’t stand being sent away and got resentful over it, but that doesn’t explain why he got a dark side, AND:

Luke. Like many others have explained much better than I realized at the time, WHY IN THE GALAXY WOULD LUKE WANT TO KILL KYLO?

The Luke we know from the original trilogy risked his life, risked everything to save Vader. He looked at the most dangerous man in the galaxy, a dedicated SIth lord of 23 years, a man who had killed thousands of people by his own hand without a second thought (no, he did not destroy planets, that was Tarkin and co:), and Luke saw a man that could be redeemed. Vader killed Obi-Wan right in front of Luke, he tortured and froze Han to taunt Luke, and still, when Luke found out who Vader was, he was sure he could save him.

Because that’s the bright light and incurable optimist (and with a near-pathological love and loyalty of family) Luke was established as, over the course of three movies. Now, as a Jedi master perhaps some ten years before TLJ, Luke simply “suspected” that Kylo, his nephew, a child and the very beloved son of his very beloved sister Leia, “might” be getting evil.  And he immediately decides to kill this child, sleeping in his bed.

Granted, he changes his mind, but can you blame Kylo for basically thinking Luke is the devil? This is a complete betrayal of character, and not the Luke we got to know before.

People change, but fictional characters are bound by rules real people are not (or rather, their authors are), and if something this massive happens, the audience will be very disappointed and alienated, unless it has a REALLY REALLY good reason. It doesn't. They just needed it for story purposes, because they were lazy, cheap writers.

3. The animatronics. This was something I distinctly remember from watching TFA in theaters two years ago as well, and I felt it even more this time. It's like they're actively TRYING to make the "muh practical effects" seem like 1983 all over again.

We CAN make absolutely amazing animatronics today, but this was not it. It looked very old and backwards. Unlike many butthurt prequel-haters, I don't give a PIECE OF FECES if it's CG or "practical effects", I just want to be tricked into believing it's real. Bad CG stands out like a sore thumb, and bad animatronics... stand out like a sore thumb.

From baby porgs to Force ghost Yoda, a lot of it looked painfully 1980s. (Though I will say, not all of it was. I believe the fathier in the stable was an animatronic, and THAT was impressive and what I mean by "being tricked into believing it's real".)

4. Social Justice Wars: A Star Wars Story

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I don't know where to begin with you, so just ignore this point. I assume you understand exactly what I'm talking about. But basically, as the video below explains a lot better: Every white man in the story is an idiot, maniac or space-nazi, except for Luke (and he tries to kill his own nephew and student in his bed). And all space-nazis are white men, except for Phasma (so much for "diversity"). The top space-nazi, Hux, is a complete, raging idiot. Kylo and Hux bicker and yell at each other like children in a sandbox.

"The trio" in this film, since Rey is now with Luke, is a black guy, a latino guy, and a chubby Asian girl. I wouldn't care about this at all if it didn't feel forced. But it does. It's PAINFULLY obvious what they're doing. And of course, every single man in the film does something stupid or cruel, while the women are basically perfect and never make mistakes or do anything bad.

I was told before I saw the film that there was some animal rights propaganda in it. I saw it, and thought meh, it's not that bad. And it isn't, but it's still a political message that simply does not belong in a film like this (again, explained better in the video below).

Basically, Chewie, ever the huge meat-lover (remember him accidentally trapping himself and everyone else when he ran after a carcass like a drooling dog in ROTJ?), decides to not eat that porg he's cooking over the fire because the living porgs are SO CUTE.

Evil rich people beat and abuse animals for money and fun. I do hope this isn't meant as a prod against real life horse racing, because there are very strict rules on how much you can use the whip, and violent riders will be disqualified. I could understand if they aim it at the fact that in general, some sports still exist where we torment animals with electric prods (like some rodeos), but even that has no place in a film like this.

And Rose then letting the fathiers loose, saying "now it was worth it", because they were free, nevermind everything else they did that day and what they came there for. Bleh.

5. Destroying characters.

If I hadn't ranted about Luke enough already, I'll do so now. Namely his end. When watching it, I didn't understand at all what happened. His robes fell? I recognized this as what happened with OB1 and Yoda when they had died and passed into becoming one with the Force, but I did not realize at all Luke was dead.

When Leia and one of the other characters said "Luke is gone", I was like "wait what?" I had to go home and check Wookieepedia to get it confirmed.

Here you have one of the biggest characters in cinema EVER, and they take him out like that. Force-projecting himself onto another planet, then dying from exhaustion. If that Force-projection was meant to save him, that clearly didn't work. Luke was not just completely betrayed by the writers and turned into a completely different character, he was also wasted utterly.

I know not everyone can get everything they want in new movies, and it's 100% impossible to please a Star Wars fan, let alone many fans. I get that.

But Luke was now in his fifties, and had had thirty+ years to train since we last saw him. He was already really powerful by the end of ROTJ, he was the son of the Chosen One, should have a crazy high Force power in him (or midi-chlorian count, which I don't mind at all).

And since unlike his father, he was never severely mutilated, and he lived a much longer life as a Jedi, he should be CRAZY powerful by now. At least Yoda level. We should have gotten some really amazing Force battles (like Yoda vs Sidious, but much more still) between Luke and Kylo, Luke or Snoke, or just anything.

Which brings me to... the Knights of Ren. They were mentioned (and seen briefly, in Rey's vision) in TFA. And it is to be assumed they were Luke's former students who followed Kylo. Why were they not seen? Why was there not a single true lightsaber duel in this film? (AND HOW IN THE FLYING FUCK COULD REY AND KYLO BEAT ALL THOSE GUARDS? They cut through them like butter.)

Kylo is supposed to be "Master of the Knights of Ren", but we're 2/3rds into the trilogy, and he seems to be in a vacuum, just a lonely frightened boy disciplined by No-character Snoke when he isn’t yelling at Hux. Where are his knights?

6. Betraying Lucas

Kathleen Kennedy promised to honor Lucas' wishes and use his story treatment. Kathleen Kennedy lied, wiped her ass with his story, and threw it in the garbage in favor of "The Force is Female!" and the almighty $$$.

Lucas has spoken for decades on how the next trilogy (which he asked Mark Hamill if he would be interested in filming, back in 1976, supposed to be filmed in 2011!), would be about "Darth Vader's grandchildren". Emphasis on children, in plural. And he wanted the characters (the respective kids of Luke and Leia) to be teenagers.

Fine, if Kennedyfilm thinks teenagers are too young and childish for their audience, make them older, but they didn't just do that. They threw his entire story and ideas in the toilet. Mark was completely alienated and disgusted by their decisions for Luke, which he has expressed at length (as well as his deep admiration and loyalty to Lucas, while he always does this in subtle ways, to not piss anyone off or get on the wrong foot with anyone).

In Legends, which was all Lucas-approved, Han and Leia had three children and Luke had one (then Han and Leia's youngest son died tragically, and even more tragically, the daughter ended up killing her other brother years later, but that's for another time).

I get if this is too many characters, or too many Skywalkers for Kennedyfilm (numerous characters in books are often squeezed into two or one in film, since instead of weeks, you only have a couple of hours to get to know all the characters), but they just gave us ONE Skywalker grandkid. Kylo, who's completely messed up and unlikely to carry this legacy on (and the Skywalker name is officially dead with Luke).

They teased us with Domhnall Gleeson, who looked like an obvious Ben Skywalker. They teased us with Rey, so similar to Padmé "there is no way they're not related", and tons of hints in TFA. But nope. Just Kylo. And thus ends the Skywalkers.

And no Skywalkers, no Star Wars.

[iscraptoomuchwritting-blog]

KENDARE BLAKE - THE THREE DARK CROWNS.

Three Dark Crowns

There will be spoilers in this one. Like a lot of spoilers.

You have been warned.

Aside from being absolutely horrific the book is fantastic.

I love the growing relationships with all of the characters but even more so with Jules and Joseph. They are absolutely adorable. I also am loving getting to know all of the different Queens and all of the side characters that come with them.

One thing I am loving is how all of the characters have a purpose and a distinct personality which I think can sometimes get lost with any character but even more so with side characters.

I will say I have managed to get lost between POVs as to who is who. That being side it is completely my fault not the Authors under any circumstances. That is what I get for reading so late at night. Sometimes things get lost in translation.

I also tried to listen to an audiobook of the same genre and that was a mistake. Any way,Back to the horrific elements of the plot line.

Wow, so your telling me these 3 girls grew up together until they were 6 then separated and now as they start to turn 16 they each have to try and kill the other two to gain the crown just to live for a little while have another set of triplets and leave the kingdom. When they either have a happy time or are instantly struck down by the higher power for having served their purpose.

That’s terrifying

Oh and apparently the fact that Mirabella is remembering her sisters is of course just a dream and not real. To Luca’s defense she is trying to make things easier for her which I understand.

Moving on

Apparently in history there has been the occasional 4th child and this child is seen as so sacred that she must not be allowed to live?

What the crap.

Oh and if they happen to be born a Oracle/ with the sight gift they should be killed as well.

Horrific is what this plot is but also very entertaining and intriguing. I am loving it so far.

Shout out to Elizabeth and her bird. She is such a nice person and I hope both her and her bird survive.

This review is coming from page 161 and will be updated as I read more. So my personal favorite characters as of now might not survive. I am going to put this out here if Camden or Jules or Joseph die I will lose my mind.

So I keep reading and now Joseph and Mirabella have slept together multiple occasions in one day after she saved him from a storm. What the crap Joseph.

I swear he better be honest with Jules or I’m going to kill him.

Now I am on page 301 so an update is in order.

First odd Joseph was honest with Jules so I am not nearly as mad at him as I was. Their relationship seems to be going on now though it is strained and that is to be expected.

Katherine and Pietyr are very cute and I want them to somehow end up together.

As for the rest of the plot. I am not quite sure what is going to happen.

I really want to know what is going to happen. At the moment my theory is that Katherine is going to win the crown because it is called Three dark crowns so my theory is the reign of Arrons will continue. Though I’m not sure of that. She dosen’t have a gift. The only one who has a gift is Mirabella though Hers is not very strong.

So we will see what happens and I’ll update once I finish them book.

Once again Joseph screwed up and kissed Mirabella. Are you kidding me.

Ok

Book is finished

I have so many questions

How did Kathrine get out of the pit?

Why did Pietyr push her there?

What is going to happen now that arsinoe is a poisoner?

Does that mean That Kathrine is a naturalist because she has had no luck in being good at taking poison?

What is going on here?

And I don’t have the second to read. So that’s frustrating

But it’s a great book and I recommend it highly. I’m currently freaking out about it but it’s very good.

[thecharlesdilaurentis-blog]

Maya and her part!

**WARNING SUPER LONG IM SORRY**

Recently a fan tweeted Marlene asking if mayas storyline was over and she replied saying their may be a bit more to it. So I went back and tried to see what I could make out of the maya clues and how she fits into everything. 

I always love maya and emaya but her character always seemed a bit sketchy at times kinda like alison. (remember this)

when her and emily first meet she seems REALLY interested in getting to know emily, she was asking tons of personal questions about ali and herself, answering questions with a question, and she was being super friendly and almost choosy with her words, almost as if she had other intentions when she met her. What if she was told to get close to her? (Kind of like ezra & cece already knowing who all the girls were and jenna already knowing alison) 

In S1: “The jenna thing”, maya meets spencer and when her and emily go back to her house she says “I get your connection to spencer, you both like to win.” and emily replies “well winnings great but usually if I do my best im happy with the outcome.” and maya chooses to move the topic to spencer by asking how she feels about winning which always kind of stuck out to me. Emily tells her spencer HAS to win.

I just never quite understood why Maya only really asked questions about spencer, I know you could argue she was just trying to get to know emily but throughout the episodes maya’s in we don’t really see her interested in knowing about all the liars to me it seemed like she asked about spencer only because she reminded her the most of Ali.

& then maya moves the conversation to Alison again saying how she seemed like she was always the center of attention. Then tells emily she usually runs from those girls. Em says “you don’t look like the type of girl who runs from anyone” and Maya moves the convo to something else. (WHO U RUNNIN FROM MAYA)

Also later in the night when emily turns around maya immediately goes and cuddles with her almost like she KNOWS emily was in the closet. She said she had a boyfriend & i dont think it was something she just did in her sleep. + the A alerts afterwards were right on time, something was up. 

this also happens again when they kiss in the photo booth and A steals the strips right away. & maya tells emily not to worry about it that it there was probably just no more paper & drags her away. MAYA WAS IN ON IT THE WHOLE TIME. She was used to bring em out the closet and let A use it against her. 

Also in S2: “I must confess” Maya is scene wearing the exact same tory burch boots -A ordered online. (couldnt find a pic though)

But I think somewhere along the way maya started to really develop feelings and wanted out but A/AD or someone connected to them had stuff on maya forcing her to stay in it so she chooses to run away but A gets her first and kills her before she can get far.

Now lets go back to what I said earlier about her kind of acting like Alison

In the pilot maya asks emily if shes ever smoked and em replies No. Maya says this and the way she says it for some reason really just reminds me of something Ali would say. 

& then later in the episode Spencer sees who she thinks is Ali in Mayas room (ali’s old room) 

But what’s odd is that this person is wearing the same tank Maya was wearing the whole episode.

now this can be explained in a couple ways, either:

1. maya found a blonde wig while looking through the dilaurentis house and tried it on to pretend to be ali.

2. that was really or ali or maybe an ali twin and she was talking to maya & wearing a similiar top? (this one seems too much but wouldnt be surprised if the writers went this way.)

3.maya bought a blonde wig & was really trying to pretend to be someone maybe a trick she learned from a real blonde she knew who liked to wear wigs & be someone else.

       - i’m thinking its this last one! (or i hope it is)

In S2E12: “eye of the beholder” Jason tells em & spencer that maya found some of Ali’s old things in the attic, “Like they were hidden” he thought they threw everything away but maya kept some things, maybe b/c she knew what they were for.

Another thing I wanna point out is maya has mentioned on more than one occasion (1.02 & 1.12) that she has trouble sleeping. I mean I would have trouble sleeping too if I was worried my secrets may catch up to me.

Now I know there a lot of maya theories & some have even said they think she’s A. I don’t think I could really hop on board with maya being A but I do think when mona said “MAYA KNEW” she really meant maya fucking knew, like she knew the game & knew what was going on & just how dangerous A could really be. 

Okay so, we all know there seems to be a couple different teams when it comes to PLL and their alliances. Theres, 

AD & Cece (& maybe someone else? idk yet still looking into this)

Theres the Liars 

Then theres AD’s pawns (Jenna, Noel, Lucas, Shana, Alison (sometimes), Garrett, Mona etc.)

Well i think maya started off as one of these pawns but like all the people above at some point they wanted out and like I said above its likely so did she. 

It’s possible that maybe Ali and Maya knew eachother prior to her disapperance maybe they met on vacation… at cape may.

I saw this picture when I searched up maya clues on google and I almost screamed! I think this Analyzing A tumblr acct found it so i’ll put her link:

http://analyzinga.tumblr.com/post/44225287853/major-clue-possible-spoiler-alert

Could this mean this is Maya’s unnamed brother? Did she also hang out with Ali, Cece, & Melissa during that summer? Or was she scared of them like she mentioned to emily about attention seeking girls like Alison?

Now I heard from twitter it may be fake but still why would they make the mistake of putting it in the credits? Idk I just think it would be a nice twist for maya to have a deeper connection to Ali than just living in her house. 

UPDATE: MARLENE SAID WE’RE MEETING AN UNKNOWN RELATIVE OF MAYA’S! Some people meationed that reporter Aria went off on in 7.12 may be her brother but I couldn’t find a pic and I didn’t wanna sit through hulu commercials to find out so if someone finds the pic reblog it cause I wanna knowwww!

I mean we find out they had to have known each other either way or at least met before b/c they were both staying in the kahn cabin around the same time!

Also when Ali and Maya’s body are found the scene is so similar they even play the same song.

I think at first Alison gave Maya the idea to fake her death & Noel, Garrett, & Jenna helped her carry it out. 

Marlene also posted this pic on insta w/ 2 dolls that w/ the hashtag #emison but to me the 2 dolls look more like ali and maya then ali and em. Idk I just think there’s alot more to their relationship than we know right now. 

Now lets talk about the night mayas body was presumably found:

Maya trys to call emily but she cant get service so it never goes through, I don’t think this was maya b/c her phone was already stolen by this point. I think A just was trying to distract emily to mess with hanna.

Jumping ahead to when Mona falls off the cliff, we get a zoom in on her watch that says its 12am. The girls then go back to their houses and the cops have a body they think is Mayas.

BUT we later see this video of Maya at the kahn cabin at 1:14am

So are we just really gonna believe it took the liars OVER 1hr & 30m to get to thier houses?? B/c maya had to have got kidnapped and then dragged over to emilys back yard from the cabin and murdered. Which just in my head doesn’t add up with the timeline.

In addition to this I noticed when Maya gets pulled out of the cameras view it doesn’t necessarily mean she was captured by A, I think theres a good chance it was Ali who pulled on her to take her out of view and talk to her. We know Ali was staying there too so maybe she already knew where the cameras were and didnt wanna take any chances being seen seeing as this was before A supposedly knew Ali was alive. 

Now lets talk about after her “Death”:

We find out Maya went to the kahn parties often and met holden before, she was also friendly with Jenna, we see her get into a car with garrett the night she died (But we know he didnt kill her because he was arrested at 12am) & its when Nate (lyndon) is introduced and he is accused of being the one who killed Maya. 

Nate never openly says he killed Maya, in fact some of the things he says when he tries to kill paige kind of indicate he thinks emily has something to do with her death. 

He says “Im gonna do to you, what you did to me. Im gonna take someone from you & you are gonna watch me do it.” 

Its also been speculated that Maya was involved in the night em dug up Ali’s grave b/c they used her bottle of pills to drug her (which was also prescribed after she died) & flashbacks she remembers having + jenna lies to her saying she found her on the street drunk when spencer asks why she lied she says b/c she’s protecting a friend.

This was also one of the flashbacks she remembers having,

LIKE COME ON WHO ELSE WOULD WRITE THAT???

Most of me really does believe Maya did end up really dying sometime later before the end of season 3 or in the beginning of season 4 

The girls do find this carved into the dollhouse in S6 maybe AD found maya & took her to the doll house to be his Ali for a while before Mona got there.

But idk i’ve also read alot of theories w/ extra clues and reasons she could indeed still be alive helping out emily and hiding from AD or might even be bethany young herself. So theres that lol. I’m just excited to know that Maya still is relevant b/c her character had so much potential, hopefully mar doesn’t fuck it up!!

Reblog & tell me what you think, do you think maya’s still alive or dead? & if she wasn’t the person in the body bag in 2.25 then who was? 

[tumblunni]

For the salty ask meme: 16) -If you could change anything in the show, what would you change?and 17) -Instead of XYZ happening, I would have made ABC happen… (feel free to choose a fandom lol)

If you could change anything in the show, what would you change? 

Sinnoh: TEAM GALACTIC REDEMPTION ARC, TEAM GALACTIC REDEMPTION ARC *banging fists on the table*Also either give the main rival more of an actual role or just remove them. There’s a reason nobody ever remembers npc lucas/dawn and we all just classify barry as the main one instead! Npc lucas/dawn was like all the worst parts of npc brendan/may and none of the good. its been all these years and i still cant pin down a single personality trait for them!

Uhhhhmmm Steven Universe?: BISMUTH REDEMPTION ARC BISMUTH REDEMPTION ARCI just felt REALLy uncomfortable with how she was treated so unsympathetically after the reveal of her mistakes, even though steven’s talked down two other gems already who were misguided evilness. And I felt bismuth’s misguided evilness was way more complex and debateable if its even evil, it was a topic people still dont have an answer to in real life; what is ‘going too far’ when it comes to fighting against oppression?And like.. people say that she was handled sympathetically cos of the rest of the episode, but I say she wasnt handled AS sympathetically as the others. Like.. I don’t know how to explain it. She was introduced as a nice guy and then it was meant to be a twist that she’s ‘evil’ and then you’re meant to be SCARED of her! And it was just really unfortunate that they decided to do this plot with a character who’s heavily coded as black, yknow? And until Topaz we hadnt had ANY butch supporting gems who weren’t super evil and scary and violent. Like seriously its just an unfortunate THING that bismuth’s particular form of evil was the ‘oh she’s too violent and cant control her emotions’ kind of plot. I dont think they intentionally did any of this though, i just think they didnt think about how it’d come across in the wider context of what the show had already done. Like, it VERY MUCH would have not hit the same sort of nerve if this plot happened with any other kind of character design.Also i just FUCKIN LOVE BISMUTH and i DO NOT AGREE that she was 100% morally wrong here. There are situations where ‘kill the enemy to save the lives of innocents’ is a tough choice that actually has to be made. And even if I agree that she took it way too far, i dont think she was evil. i think she was just fuckin feeling the mental impact of war, and its hard to keep steven’s more rational ‘even some of the enemies might be redeemable’ mindset when ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS ARE DYING AT THE HANDS OF THOSE PEOPLE. And she just woke up and found out even more of her friends died! And all she has left is our heroes! And her last memory is of one of her best friends and mentor figures NOT EVEN HEARING HER OUT, and bubbling her cos she’s apparantly too dangerous to live! And then steven just bubbles her again! Nobody even tries to show her that she’s wrong or anything! Seriously, give me a plot of her coming back and getting to meet lapis and peridot and it leading to redemption.And.. like.. seriously...Can we go back to the fact that she’s VERY HEAVILY CODED AS A BLACK WOMAN? She’s a gem but she’s a gem with a black voiceactress and dreadlocks, yknow! And the whole damn SUBJECT of this episode is something that would have been very personal to black fans at the time. Its basically the whole ���policeman preemptively shoots a black child over a gun he didnt have’ thing but framed with a black woman proposing that policy. Its so.. unfortunate. I dont think they did it on purpose but it REALLY dropped during a bad time, seriously! Its like how Gem Harvest upset a lot of people cos it happened RIGHT AFTER trump got elected, and people thought the uncle character was meant to be like ‘republicans arent so bad!’ even though episodes are made months in advance and it was just a coincidence. This is why you need to be more clear about stuff just in case, yknow? I mean, black people facing ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ was already a problem even before these high profile news cases about so many shootings, and people having a racist, sexist republican uncle who uses ‘family values’ and ‘i hate change’ as an excuse was also a thing before trump was even born. Its not impossible to predict audience reactions, yknow!Anyway, I just miss Bismuth a lot. And I’m glad later episodes at least showed that steven is guilty about it and is continuing to think about it, so she might someday come back and continue her plotline. It just raised so much salt at the time cos the framing of the episode made it seem like this was thefirst and last time we’d ever see bismuth, and a redemption was absolutely impossible when every other villain so far had either got a redemption or had a big chance of getting one soon. Nowdays we have more irredeemable baddies too, so at least its not as big of a disparity anymore!

Instead of XYZ happening, I would have made ABC happen… 

Sinnoh: TEAM GALACTIC REDEMPTION ARC instead of NOT TEAM GALACTIC REDEMPTION ARCAlso: more actual something happening with the Charon backstory. Instead of it being in a weirdass wifi event, put it in the actual plot. Instead of no redemption arc and no rotom hugs, give sidequest of rotom hugs.FEED MY ADDICTION TO REDEMPTION ARCS, NINTENDO!

Hoenn: Instead of no character customization, character customization. I really hope if we get sinnoh remakes they keep character customization! Even if its just dressing up the preset character design!

Alola: Please remove any hints that Lillie is gonna forgive her mom without lusamine doing anything to deserve it yet, geez. Also I really REALLY hope the theory of ‘lusamine used to be nice and was just brainwashed by nihilego’ was never intended to be canon. Seriously it is SO RARE to see a plot of someone calling out their abusive mom and escaping their abusive mom, can we not pull any bullshit to lower the impact of that. ‘She wasnt really abusive, she was just mind controlled’ is THE single worst pokemon theory I’ve heard in a million years of shitty pokemon theory.I have no chill for the topic of abusive moms.ALSO: give plumeria more screentime, I love plumeria. Instead of no plumeria: plumeria.

Persona 5: Instead of dating your fuckin 30 year old teacher at age 16, let us have a gay option. Seriously atlus you’re clearly fine with putting ‘taboos’ into your games, why did you go with one that actually has a friggin MORAL REASON to not be in games??? Its so hypocritical of them to have a bunch of ‘lol gay men are so gross’ jokes when they’re having actual gross shit in the damn game...Also kawakami was a really good character once you got past the cringe factor of her horrible plot. Rescue her from the plot! She could have been a perfectly fine heartwarming friendship route! Even if you only go friends with her, she still has to be part of this gross demeaning maid service plot and say a bunch of suggestive nonsense and then if i wanna get all the social links i have to take advantage of her overpowered skill to give you extra time which TAKES THE FORM OF A CREEPY MASSAGE. Seriously, why???? IM SO SORRY KAWAKAMI IM SKIPPING THRU THE SCENE AS FAST AS I CAN

[analysis-by-vaylon]

So far, Ludo is the only character to undergo a full-fledged hero’s journey.

This revised analysis owes a nod to /u/Malthus1, a redditor who commented on the original post, for pointing out that some episodes of Star vs. the Forces of Evil feature self-contained, miniature versions of the hero’s journey. Nevertheless, Ludo is the only character who has the opportunity to undergo his hero’s journey over the course of several episodes.

Before I begin the analysis, I should introduce Joseph Campbell's theories and their relevance to the show. Campbell's monomyth, or hero's journey, is well-known in literary circles and in popular fiction: George Lucas famously borrowed Campbell's ideas in order to provide a mythological framework for the Star Wars films. The influence that Campbell has had over storytelling -- especially with screenwriters -- for the past several decades has been considerable, to say the least.

I did a little digging and discovered that a writer named Christopher Vogler, working for Disney, wrote a now-famous seven-page memo summarizing Campbell's theories; he later turned this memo into a textbook for screenwriters and taught at various California universities in the Los Angeles area. I have a hunch that the Star vs. the Forces of Evil staff are familiar with Vogel’s work, if not the memo itself, and may have used it while writing the series; therefore, my analysis will use Vogler's original seven-page memo as the particular guide for dissecting Ludo's heroic journey. It's a short read, so I would encourage you to read the entire thing for yourself.

With that out of the way, let's take a step-by-step look at Ludo's development. Remember, I'll be using the memo's outline as a guide for this analysis.

1. The Ordinary World. At the beginning of Star vs. the Forces of Evil, we are treated to the status quo: Ludo tries to steal the wand, Star beats him, of course, and Ludo retreats only to try the same ineffectual thing over again. This pattern is not only how cartoons classically play out (the villains are always beaten but never learn their lesson), but also taken directly from Vogler's memo: unless the hero learns from his mistakes,

he’s doomed to repeat the adventure until he does. Many comedies use this ending, as a foolish character refuses to learn his lesson and embarks on the same folly that got him in trouble in the first place.

That certainly sounds like season one Ludo to me. It isn't until Ludo undergoes a life-or-death struggle that he begins to learn from his mistakes.

2. The Call to Adventure. After having finally reached the limits of his patience, Ludo decides to hire someone new to manage his team in "Fortune Cookies." Toffee proves to Ludo that, with a good enough plan, obtaining the wand is possible, and that potential renews Ludo's interest in stealing it. (As an aside, I wonder if the fortune cookies themselves are a kind of meta-joke poking fun at rigid social structures -- or screenwriting techniques.)

4. Meeting with the Mentor. This one occurs slightly out of order, but I believe that, over the course of season one, Toffee acts -- unintentionally -- as a mentor to Ludo, teaching him a different way to do things: how to become a true remorseless villain. Indeed, in "Storm the Castle," Ludo begins to imitate Toffee, discarding Buff Frog as soon as he no longer has a use for him:

But then Star showed up, and I don't need you anymore, you big old meatball!

If the popular theory that Toffee inhabits Ludo's wand is correct, then Toffee also acts as Ludo's mentor in season two as well. I don't know whether or not this is truly the case, however; the presence in the wand might be someone new altogether. We shall see.

3. Refusal of the Call. Unfortunately, despite his desire to obtain the wand, Ludo hesitates in taking it in "Marco Grows a Beard," and it's this failure which proves to be the start of his downfall, getting him ejected from his castle by Toffee.

It's important to note that Ludo is shown to have a tremendous fear of hair; he overcomes this fear later on, growing out his own beard in a symbolic display of growth and wisdom.

5. Crossing the Threshold. This takes place in "Ludo in the Wild." As Vogler's memo puts it:

The hero fully enters the special world of the story for the first time. This is the moment at which the story takes off and the adventure gets going. . . . The hero is now committed to his/her journey and there’s no turning back.

Instead of showing mercy to him after he's left with nothing, Star carelessly throws Ludo into a portal leading nowhere. I say "carelessly" because Star is the one who unwittingly enables Ludo's character development: due directly to her actions, Ludo is thrown across the threshold and into his adventure, where he learns from his mistakes and comes back stronger, eventually besting her. This isn't the first time (nor will it be the last) that Star's rash behavior has unforeseen consequences -- and that itself is a running theme of the show.

Some versions of the hero's journey call this stage of development the “descent to the underworld” or the “abyss.” Abyss -- now where have we heard that before? Oh, yes -- here:

Star: Ludo! You're back?! Marco: (gasping) Ludo's back! Ludo: Yes, I am! Star: I tossed you into the abyss! Marco: She tossed you into the abyss! Ludo: (menacingly) Yes, you did.

Star and Marco aren't aware of the true, full meaning of the word "abyss," of the physical and spiritual hell that Ludo goes through, but Ludo is, and so are we -- and that's irony.

It's also worth noting that at the end of "Storm the Castle," Ludo hatches from an egg after having been swallowed by one of this own minions. If this weren't enough symbolism of rebirth, consider the on-screen text in "Ludo in the Wild": Day 1, which the episode does to reinforce this notion that Ludo is now living a new life in the mythical underworld.

6. Tests, Allies, Enemies. As shown in "Ludo in the Wild," Ludo suffers from exposure to the elements as well as intense starvation, and he tries to survive in any way he can, even going so far as to eat the dripping blood of a slain insect -- truly his lowest and most desperate moment. He meets two characters who at first are enemies, Spider and Bird, and tries to learn from them whatever he can.

7 and 8. Approach to the Innermost Cave and Ordeal. Ludo sees his prize -- the golden potato chips -- taken away from him by Spider, which finally compels him to viciously fight her for what he believes is rightfully his. From Vogel's memo:

The hero comes at last to a dangerous place, often deep underground, where the object of the quest is hidden. . . . This is a critical moment in any story, an ordeal in which the hero appears to die and be born again. It’s a major source of the magic of the hero myth. What happens is that the audience has been led to identify with the hero. We are encouraged to experience the brink-of-death feeling with the hero.

Ludo enters the literal cave where Spider lives and has a life-or-death fight with her over the chips. Through a combination of trickery, luck, and perseverance, Ludo is victorious over Spider, taking the chips for himself. Instead of killing off his foe or selfishly eating all the chips himself, however, Ludo shows mercy to Spider and shares his prize with her, transforming her from an enemy into an ally.

9. Reward. As a reward for his victory, Ludo is now able to feed himself; he also gains another ally by capturing and taming Bird. While reflecting on his new life, Ludo sees a vision of Star, which leads him to the real prize: the missing half of Star's broken wand. Ludo realizes he's on Mewni, and the day counter, which had been at 90, resets to Day 1: Ludo's life in the abyss is over, and now, transformed by hardship and wielding a powerful new weapon, he can begin his journey back to the world he left.

10. The Road Back. The road back shows Ludo's adventures on Mewni and involves his learning to master his new weapon as well as gather new allies and resources. It takes place over several episodes: "Wand to Wand," "On the Job," "By the Book," and "Is Mystery" -- all of which show Ludo as not only having clear, serious goals but also competency in implementing them. Ludo's willingness to learn from his mistakes continues from his defeat in "By the Book," where he learns that Star has a book, leading to his greatest victory yet.

11. Resurrection. "Bon Bon the Birthday Clown" is all about resurrection; ostensibly, it's about Bon Bon's promise to come back from death, but it's actually about a metaphorical resurrection for Ludo, who, armed with reconnaissance and further mastery over his wand, launches a surprise attack against Star when she's at her most vulnerable -- a subtle callback to "Matchmaker," by the way -- and once again triumphs through a combination of trickery, luck, and perseverance.

Interestingly, Vogel's memo mentions the repeat of an earlier stage:

There is often a replay here of the mock death-and-rebirth of Stage 8, as the hero once again faces death and survives.

We do, in fact, get a repeat of a near-death experience for Ludo: Star uses Mystic Room Suck Transform in an attempt to once again banish Ludo. But this time Ludo survives the mock death-and-rebirth and escapes with the book of spells.

In this episode, trick candles -- since you blow them out, and they come back -- symbolize resurrection, both for Bon Bon, who does actually return, and for Ludo, who has now gained enough power and wisdom to defeat Star. Funnily enough, it's Bon Bon who is banished in Ludo's place as an unintentional sacrifice. The entire setup is masterfully-executed irony on the writers' part, taking something so frivolous -- clowns and trick candles -- and suddenly making it mean so much more. It's truly a stroke of genius.

12. Return with the Elixir. This is last stage of the outline in Vogel's memo, and he has this to say:

The hero comes back to the ordinary world, but the adventure would be meaningless unless he/she brought back the elixir, treasure, or some lesson from the special world. Sometimes it’s just knowledge or experience.

We know from the end of "Bon Bon the Birthday Clown" that Ludo escapes with Star's book. We also know a little more about what happens in future episodes thanks to the episode synopses -- which I won't mention here due to spoilers -- but you can draw your own conclusions, I'm sure.

I hope I've convinced you that Ludo's progression is indeed based on the hero's journey; as for what the significance of that is, well -- I think it's meaningful that neither Star nor Marco (nor any other character, for that matter) has gone through such lengthy and starkly-defined development on-screen. That's why I say that, despite being a villain, Ludo is the only character so far depicted undergoing the hero’s journey.

I can only guess at why the series writers chose to have Ludo of all characters go through such a development. Maybe they're making him more powerful so that defeating him will feel truly satisfying, or maybe there's something impressive -- something truly heroic -- in store for Ludo, or maybe they're trying to subvert the very idea of a heroic journey altogether. I can't say for sure. And it's still possible that any or all of these ideas will be subverted by the series writers -- but regardless of what they decide, regardless of whether they intentionally used the hero's journey or not, the cultural consciousness of mythopoeic structure has left an indelible stamp on Star vs. the Forces of Evil.

Thank you for reading this post; I hope you enjoyed it! Please feel free to send an ask to suggest something else in Star vs. the Forces of Evil that you'd like to see me write about!

[fragmentedimaginationcreator]

He Was a Natural Disaster Trapped in Human Form - Chapter 1/???

This is not happening in the same universe as the Fragmented Imagination but since I’ve decided to give shell at least one character (Protagonist) from this story anyway, I figured that I could use this side of my tumblr as generally posting my stories. (main focus still on fragmented, not to worry)Fragmented News: I’m gonna be posting a slice of Lucas’ life soon too as well as the fixed versions of the Prologue and Chapter 1, as my Beta finally fixed it for me ^^ And after I’ve finished with my current faceup/wig commissions I’ll start writing Chapter 2 for the Fragmented Imagination

Anyway. What is THIS story about?

- - - - - I went out of town to meet a friend. We had not seen each other for a long time and – as a socially impaired piece of shit that I am – I felt extremely nervous to see them again. How come the more time I spend apart from my friends, the harder it gets for me to gather up the courage to see them again? My heart kept racing and I was sure that something weird would happen. Either I would make weird sounds with my mouth (that one could mistake as speech) or I would do something utterly stupid. Maybe I would meet someone new and they would throw my world out of balance. If only I had trusted my gut instinct and believed that it might not be that far-fetched theory, I would have dialed my friend (and actually pressed the ”call” button) and come up with an excuse to move our meeting to another time. If only I had known that I was about to meet the Hurricane that was about to turn my world upside down, I would have turned away, covered my ears, closed my eyes and began shouting until my lungs were sore and no sound was left – anything weird and/or new scared me shitless and I did everything in my power to avoid them. But now that I have met this natural disaster trapped in human form, I would slap my past self in the face if they tried to walk away. I’d rewrite history countless times and I wouldn’t care who I would have to write off or on in to my life if it meant that I’d get to see that person again - even if just to pass by them at the super market. However… It was a chilly afternoon when my buss arrived to the station in this weird town that I had never visited before. My friend had just moved there a month or two ago and had insisted me to come see her new house (I had ”a flu” when her house warming parties were held). My friend, Nelly was her name, was waiting for me in front of the station and waved me happily when she found me stepping out of the buss. We hugged. I was never a fan of hugging - I preferred to keep my personal ”my meter” -space – but I found that it was actually comforting to be hugged by her. We had lived together for 2 years when we were still students so it felt like it had only been yesterday when we spent hours just drinking tea in our kitchen – not 10 years. ”How was the trip? There has been this horrible wind lately and other buss was late for like 30 minutes. So I was a bit worried that something would have happened to you”, Nelly said. She was so talkative. I replied to her with simple ”Uhuh, no, it was all good.” ”So Anon, I hope you don’t mind…” she started. (Shit, I do mind, I hate surprises… Also she must be the only person who still calls me with that nickname) ”One of my friends is staying over at my place – He has had quite a rough year and he is currently homeless so I let him stay at my place…” she looked at me while buckling up her seat belt. She was trying to read my expressions since she knew that I hated people. New people more than anything else. ”I did tell them that you were coming and that you were bad with other people, so just tell me if you’re uncomfortable. We’ve arranged it with my boyfriend so that he can stay at his place if you started feeling… those feelings again…” Ah, but of course… Nelly remembered. I have had my fair share of horrible young adulthood/teenage drama and I even had intensive therapy/medication for that shit – Though I had not been on meds or seen said therapist for a couple of years now. Yet, I still felt uncomfortable around other people, especially with males (funny, since I was a male myself too). Nelly had been the first person I had opened up to. Not that I meant to at the time but since she was there to soothe me when my nightmares were making me insane, she just kinda learned it on her own. ”Then why is he not staying at your boyfriend’s in the first place…?” I muttered without being able to stop myself. I was expecting to hear some sort of explanation. I mean, the guy was homeless -  I was suspicious that he was not completely ”normal” in my books just from that fact. Horribly narrow minded, I know. I lifted my eyes and met my friend’s face. She was smiling with this odd expression that was pretty much the embodiment of ”you’ll see” if I had ever seen one. I was pretty sure she’d also say that out loud but instead she just made a hand gesture, indicating that I should also buckle up mine as she started the engine. It was maybe a 20-ish minute drive when she pulled out to the small yard in the area that looked so old that it was antique (”These houses must cost a fortune to live in”, I thought). ”We’re here!” Nelly exclaimed happily as she took the keys out and outstretched her arms (as much as the small car let her) to make me look at her house. Holy shit. That was amazing house. I had never seen one quite like it before. It was a small (green) dublex with so many details in the windows (white wood with decorative carvings), porch (how many hours had been used just to make that railing?) and steppings (not to mention garden, though it was already beginning to look a bit sad since the cold weather had killed most of the plants already). My jaw must have dropped since Nelly was smiling with even more pleased look on her face. ”My boyfriend’s aunt is living in the other apartment and I get to live here pretty cheap if I help her out with taking care of the building and her – since she is getting quite sick… Oh! But don’t worry! She never comes to my apartment without letting me know in advance! She usually just calls me to come to her side if she needs me!” Nelly said as I was making _the_ face (more people…?). We unloaded the car and I was still awestruck with the amount of wood carving and detailing. Nelly said something like ”Aunt’s grand father was a carpenter and had build this house with his friends and had made sure that the house would be the most beautiful in town” … or something like that. To be honest I didn’t pay much attention since I was in love with the building even without its history. I was actually so fascinated with the building that I had completely forgotten about the person I was about to meet. I didn’t remember or realize it even when I kicked my own shoes away and saw a pair of (filthy) army boots on the clean hallway. (they were so out of place there) ”U came already?” shouted unfamiliar voice from somewhere in the house and I completely froze. (Shit. I was about to meet someone new. Hell to the NO! I’m not ready! Abort Mission! D-A-N-G-E-R-! ABORT MISSION! Abandon the fucking ship!) ”Yeah! Oh! Did you put the meat in the oven when I called?” Nelly shouted back cheerfully, disappearing to the room that was probably kitchen. I was taking off my coat when she came back with a happy expression. She took my luggage and told me to follow her to the guest room. ”We’ll be having some slow-cooked lamb for dinner – I found this awesome recipe for the sauce and I’ve been dying to use it and I just know that you’ll love it!” Nelly had begun to resemble those loving stay at home -wifes with about dozen cats– so she was clearly excited when she got to show off that side of her. As we walked past the room that Nelly had just been to (I was right, it was the kitchen) I saw the back of a man and for a short while, I felt like the world had slowed down so much that it might just as well have stopped. Man had loose jeans which had seen their better day and he had black socks (he was scratching his calf with his other leg) He had dark brown cardigan that was  pretty long and had something that resembled a hood (or just a big collar). He was holding a cup of coffee in his left hand (he had rolled up the sleeves of the cardigan but let the black long sleeves down) and his hair was a mix of natural (ash blonde) dread locks, braids and it seemed like none of that hair was the same length – but somehow it looked utterly cool and stylish the way he had tied it up so carelessly Thumb. I had dropped my bag and didn’t even realize it before the sound but I was not fast enough to react and as the stranger turned around, our eyes met for the first time. He had very captivating eyes and even though some silent voice at the back of my head kept telling me to pick up my bag and run through the front door, I couldn’t turn my eyes away. He had dark green eyes that were framed by long dark lashes, he had thick eyebrows and some beard (or maybe he had not just shaved for a couple of days). He smiled and I saw his lips (pretty narrow) form words. He let his head tilt a little to the left and exposed his neck (so long and more slender that I thought) and he turned around, towards me and started walking closer to me with a bright smile on his face. He had his arm stretched out, waiting to meet mine. Wait… RUN! I woke up from my trance, time started moving again and I crouched a bit to take my bag and stormed away to where Nelly was about to take me. I didn’t look back, didn’t care about the fact that I would see them in a moment again. Okay, I lied, I was scared shitless seeing them again. I was desperately trying to come up with an excuse to leave the house immediately. And I had only been in there for 3-5 minutes. Tops. ”There is towel ready on the table and I’ve changed linens this morning so they are all fresh and ready for you so you don’t need to worry about that! There are also extra pillows in the cabinet so help yourself if you want more. My room right upstairs, first door to the right and -He- is sleeping in the next room! I’ll go to prepare the meal so just make yourself at home,” Nelly kept talking but somehow I had trouble understanding. My heart was still beating so fast. I mumbled and smiled at her and she left the room and closed the door behind her. I stood there for a while, just looking out of the window. Why did the thing just happen? What was that bizarre moment about? It was nothing like I’ve ever experienced before. Freezing on the spot like that and even making an eye contact with a stranger and not even realizing it before they were almost close enough to touch me… But then again, there was something simply mesmerizing about him for sure. He was clearly not like any other person I had ever met before. “That’s bad”, I thought while I began rubbing my arm. I felt bruises forming under my hoodie. Ah… so uhmm… I also have this extremely rare condition called ”Bruising”. It has a long and impossible-to-remember medical name as well as some fancy Latin name but I feel like this street name describes it way better - at least it gives you a good idea what is about to follow. Basically my body is attacking itself. It’s not fatal (well, doctors don’t really know WHAT it is but so far it has not caused any casualties by itself) but it’s more like my body is trying to alarm me about everything. Like normally people with… well for example tenosynovitis, would have to rely to describing their pain to the doctors. My body is showing it physically. I get these bruises and small cuts whenever my body is, in any way, ”ill”. It’s kinda handy, like if I get a food poisoning, I can tell since my stomach starts bleeding a bit. Or if I’m catching a cold, light bruises show up on my throat. And if my body was about to develop a cancer, I’d probably find out about it before the traditional symptoms would starts showing up. Of course, there is always a downside. Like how often adults thought that my parents were abusing me since I was always full of bruises and cuts. And even though I was born with this condition and I’ve always been “hurting”, practically 24/7, it still hurts. (Like I have my better days and then I have my absolute bottoms just like anyone else - some days it’s harder to understand why I must bear with this kind of condition but since in my case it literally makes it worse, I’ve had to learn to look past it). But the worst part is… If I feel emotionally or mentally hurt, it shows on my body as well (usually it shows as bruising in my hands and small cuts, but if I feel hurt enough, it might even show up on my throat or face). I rolled up my sleeve a bit and - sure as hell - a big bruise was forming on my arm. I sighed. I knew that feeling agitated and worrying just made it worse but it’d be hard to hide huge bruise like that for long. And I didn’t really feel like explaining my condition to a complete stranger anyway. I rolled my sleeve back down and decided to keep my hoodie on. Just in case. ”That was pretty rude of you…” said a cold voice from the door. I startled and turned to the source of the voice and I swear that all the color drained from my face as I saw those emerald eyes again. ”I mean, Ya. I get it. U’re shy, but running off like that… Ain’t it a bit much, eh? Not like I’m gonna eat ya up.” said the man while leaning to the door frame. I couldn’t even gather my thoughts and he just scratched the back of his neck. ”I’m coming in, no fainting, ya hear?” RUN! I hesitated and started looking around me, trying to find a magic portal or something like that. Anything that could get me out of the situation. I was trapped. Fuck. He is gonna hurt me!? How dangerous is he!?” ”Oh”, he said and stopped with a surprised expression on his face. He tilted his head a bit and lifted a finger and pointed at my face. ”So you really have it too?” Huh? I felt something dripping on my face and turned to look in the window (there was no mirror in the room) and to my horror, I saw some bleeding above my eyes and huge bruise darkening around the corner of the same eye. By reflex I tried to hide it with my sleeve - of course I knew it at that very moment that it was for vain since he was the one who noticed it first but I felt extremely… confused, to my big surprise. More confused than hurt. ”No point in trying to hide it now, ya know?” The man said with a grin that was kinda hard to interpret. Was he making fun of me? ”Shut up! What would you know…!” I shouted. To my even bigger fucking surprise it actually made his smile turn to a bit kinder, I think. ”Nelly didn’t tell ya?” he said with a cheerful tone. ”And here I thought it was the only reason you wanted to meet my ugly mug!” (He insulted himself yet it sounded like he was actually bragging?) He rolled up his left sleeve and showed how a big portion of his arm had turned blue. ”I get bruised ridiculously easy too…!” … What? - - - To be continued - - -