#I really do like this aspect of the main character's development and didn't know how else to express it

[princechaikka]

"Mr. Protagonist, you've been doomed by the narrative!"

Happy March 5th ❤️

[picturejasper20]

The missed potential of Vlad Plasmius

Danny Phantom is an animated series that is known for having good elements and ideas that a lot of times they don't feel properly executed and explored as they should have been. One of best examples of this is Vlad Masters/Plasmius as main villain of the show.

For those who have been following for a while you know that i have been critical about the way Vlad as character was written in the show. It is something i have discussed with other people about, how different aspects of him that could have explored better and rewritten in other ways.

What i want to do in this post is explain more in depth why Vlad, while having some really good things, fails to be written as a villain and character in a way that satisfying and how this is something that hurts the show in general.

Something i want to highlight is that this is going to be more than the problems his character has in Season 3 and it is more in the series as a whole.

What are priorities? Can i eat them?

One of the main problems i see in Vlad through the show is that the writers didn't seem what they wanted to do with him as character. There didn't seem to be a real goal with they had planned for his character and the more you analyse it the worse it gets.

A good example of this is his relationship with Valerie Gray: In spite of being one of the main relationships in the series and Vlad being the person who gave Valerie the equipment to become a ghosthunter, there are only two episodes that explore the relationship between the two- Reign Storm and D-Stabilized.

Near the end of Shadows of Gray it was revealed that Vlad was the one that had been sending Valerie all the packages with ghost hunter equipment for her to use it yet it wasn't until around fourteen episodes later that Valerie got to learn about this in Reign Storm.

Then the series doesn't explore this relationship again until Season 3 episode D-Stabilized, which is the last episode before the series finale, leaving all the things this episode explores answered.

Another problem is that the show doesn't seem to know what Vlad's main goals are and he is constanly chaging them for some inexplicable reason.

A lot of this comes down to Valerie not appearing more episodes because of some weird network restriction but stil, it is weird how Vlad's dynamic with Valerie wasn't properly explored.

If you think about it, it had a lot of potential in showing how manipulative Vlad could be and maybe him even growing a bit of a mentor-pupil bond with Valerie over time. It could have brought a lot of tension to Valerie and Danny's relationship with Danny trying to make Valerie see that Vlad is using her and Valerie denying this. This could have helped with Valerie getting a lot of more of development than she got too.

In Season 1 his goals remain quite consistent with him trying to get rid of Jack Fenton and make Danny and Maddie become his ¨family¨. This gets explored in his three main appearances from that season and even when he is goal is different like in ¨A Million Dollar Ghost¨, it still manages to be tied to getting back at Jack.

However, in Season 2, the writers seemed to forget about Vlad trying to get his revenge on Jack and instead constanly change his goals or just drop them when they get introduced.

The most clear case of this is that Reign Storm has Vlad getting the Ring of Rage and Crown of Fire from the Ghost King. These items were treated as something that was part of a huge plan for Vlad later on- only to never get addressed again the rest of the show. We never got to see why Vlad was looking for these artifacts and what he was planning on doing with them. It doesn't help they don't get any mention in later episodes too.

In ¨Secret Weapons¨ and ¨Kindred Spirits¨ he returns more to his original goal of having this twisted idea of ¨perfect family¨ that he has but it is jarring that the ring and crown from ¨Reign Storm¨ don't get any mention.

Vlad trying to get revenge on Jack isn't brought up in these episodes neither. I think it would be easy to assume he just gave up but if this was the case, it could have easily been addressed in a scene from these episodes.

And in Season 3 it just becomes a whole mess in terms of directions with his character with almost not having a consistent plan at all aside from what it looks like it is to be becoming more powerful and giving up on the idea of trying to make Danny join him.

...Except it doesn't because D-Stabilized explores again this idea of how he still wants to have Danny as son by cloning him. Something that had been hinted it wasn't the case anymore from previous episodes.

Lack of backstory

All this is tied to the problem of how the writers and, mainly Butch Hartman, lost focus of what they really wanted to do with Vlad and what type of villain they wanted him to be.

Which goes to...

Another major problem that can be easily picked up when it comes to Vlad is his lack of proper backstory in the series.

Vlad Plasmius is a character that at his core is defined by being obsessed about his past and the ¨what could have been¨. He believes that Jack stole the life that he thinks should have been his if the protol portal accidental hadn't had happened.

And yet we barely know anything about his past and his relationship with the Fentons. It is something that barely gets explored when it should be given more importance since it is the main reason most of the main plot of the series is happening in first place. The series leaves a clear correlation between the proto-portal accident and Vlad becoming a villain... so why we don't get to see more about his backstory aside from a short flashback?

The fact we know so little leaves the whole situation between Jack and Vlad uncertain because it never gets explained what really went down between the two and what happened to them after the college incident. This on itself is frustrating since we don't know if Vlad pushed Jack and Maddie away, if Jack and Maddie didn't try reaching out or something in between.

It is something i simply can't understand why the writers didn't bother exploring it. I mean, after all there are secondary villain characters that do get their backstory explored, yet not Vlad, who is supposed to be the main antagonist.

Then around Season 2 the episode Masters of All Time appears and tries to give the idea that ¨Vlad was always evil¨ by showing an alternative timeline where he didn't got hit by the portal but he is still as terrible if not worse than his version from the main timeline.

This writing decision is just so weird because Vlad's introduction episode established that he turned evil after he got blasted in the face by ectoplasmatic energy and was left hospilatilized for years, losing some years of his life trying to recover. As i stated, his main motivations are him trying to get back Jack since he blames him for what happened at college, there aren't exactly any indications that ¨Vlad was always evil¨ before Masters of All Time episode.

Some have pointed out that this idea has its implications as well, as it feels like it is trying to potray as Vlad more evil than necessary to lessen the damage that Jack caused by accidentally leaving his best friend in the hospital for years, probably even trying to justify such terrible thing under the logic of ¨he was always evil anyways, he probably deserved it¨

It feels that the writers were trying to made excuses for what Jack did and didn't want to acknowledge the fact that Jack did something bad and Vlad actually has a reason to angry at him. They didn't want to explore the complexities of said situation and instead choose it to turn it more black and white.

While we know that King Andrias's backstory doesn't excuse the terrible things he did, it does give a lot more depth to his character and explains his psychology well, putting him a bit in the role of a ¨tragic villain¨ in the story. It also gives us the idea that he wasn't always like this, something that had been hinted and build up in previous episodes to this one.

For contrast, in the animated series Amphibia one of the main antagonists, King Andrias, does get his backstory explored in an episode from Season 3 called ¨The Core and The King¨.

In this episode it explored how he used to be part of a trio of friends until one of them betrayed him and how that event completely changed him as a person. From that point on King Andrias became someone bitter, manipulative and cruel, obsessed with chasing a past that never happened just like Vlad did.

Much like Andrias from Amphibia, Vlad Masters could have had an episode exploring how his life was like before and after the proto-portal accident; how was his relationship with Jack and Maddie, how his actual family was or if he had one. We could have seen what other events lead him to become a villain too.

At the same time this could have been a great way of using the established parallels he has with Danny Fenton, as he was created to be a foil for him. Vlad's relationship with Jack and Maddie could have been a good contrast to Danny's with Tucker and Sam. For example how Vlad's fell apart after the ghost portal accident while Danny's friendships didn't.

There are a lot of interesting things that could have been done with Vlad's backstory and it is very frustrating that the series didn't do anything with it.

What type of villain is Vlad supposed to be really?

The lack of priorities for Vlad's character and the super weird handling of his backstory in the show made me question: what type of villain was Vlad intended to be for the series?

Because on one hand it seems they wanted for him to be this Lex Luthor like character who was superior to the main protagonist in every way and did what he wanted because he could. He is just supposed to be read as a bastard, nothing much else in between.

This doesn't mean the character can't have backstory or some postive traits, but at the end of the day he does what he does because it is just the way he is.

However, this doesn't fully work because a lot of Vlad's characterization feels quite contradictory to that since he has more of a tragic backstory and he is motivated by desire of getting revenge and to be loved and have a ¨family¨, something he becomes more and more desperate to accomplish as the series progresses.

If he was intended to be just someone who does evil for the sake of lols, then it fails in doing that because he doesn't see himself as a villain and feels justified in doing what he does due to his own past.

On top of that the writers wants to make us believe that ¨Vlad was always evil¨, so that kinda cancels out the idea of how he is supposed to be a ¨tragic villain¨ because he was bad from the start. This means that this idea fails in execution as well.

And if he is supposed to be a ¨tragic villain¨, then the series also messed up with that since it refused to explore and elaborate on his backstory and psychology further, not showing how he became the person that he is today and making it this take feel shallow as result.

The series wants us to believe that Vlad is lonely and miserable but it doesn't do much of an effort of showing us that and instead we are told by the characters that how is we are supposed to see Vlad.

We don't get any scenes of showing if he avoids making any other friendships or how empty his own mansion feels. I think the closest to this would be the scene at the start of Infinity Realms. Outside of that there isn't much else.

In the end it is unclear what type of villain Vlad was intended to be, leaving a character that suffers from some bizarre identity crisis that the writers didn't seems to know what to do with him, specially in Season 3. We don't know what Vlad is supposed to be due to the show lacking priorities and a proper plan for his character.

In conclusion

As someone who really likes Vlad as character, it quite hurts me to see how messy his writing as villain and character can be. A lot of times it is contradictory and other things feel like they were done in poor taste.

There are secondary villain characters that feel more consistent than him like Spectra and Technus. It just baffles me how bizarre his direction in the series is since he is the main antagonist of the show. He should be better planned but for some reason he wasn't.

If this series have had better direction and continuity then maybe Vlad would have been a lot more consistently written and a lot of the aspects i mentioned would have been explored properly.

Vlad Masters is a villain character that has a lot of potential that deserved some better direction and someone that had a clear idea of what they wanted to do with him.

[mythicalartistx]

I know now without a doubt Kingdom Hearts is L—

No actually I think Kingdom Hearts is honestly purposely censored.

I used to be like well I don't think it's inherently the translators faults, Japanese is a tough language for people to know what it's referring to and likes to Americanized certain things like adding heteronormativity and romanizing things. People like romanticizing thingz so I can't exactly blame them it's part of westerners.

Like when you think of relationships most think of straight relationships so that probably what they thought of it's probably about even though the relationship doesn't really develop that much.

A lot of Action movies have the same problem when there is a male main character, there is always a forced romance with some side girl character when it's not a developed or good relationship it's just there to mark of the love interest category.

But now realizing how much Kingdom Hearts censors things, maybe they had an idea.

Some lines are WAY off from the original made to romanticized so much when the original wasn't even anything remotely like that or about a character in that way. And some scenes take out movements and edit it.

They change the entire meaning to censor things for American Audiences.

Nobody knows why.

And all I can think of is to make it have things that American Audiences would rather enjoy having romance in places unnecessarily or censoring things to be "safe"

I made a post about the Dream Drop Distance scene which gotten a crazy amount of attention only on the first few days it's at 300+notes, but the post was essentially about how when Sora was sleeping he tells Donald and Goofy it's his job to keep him on his toes and he puts his arm down in a fist. Then Riku moved his arm slightly to the left and put it in a fist again?

But the scene actually had Riku telling Donald and Goofy how he slapped Sora awake whenever he fell asleep on the beach and it shows Riku moving his hand in a slapping motion, not whatever that awkward motion was.

The thing is DDD was one of the side games and I thought they didn't pay much attention to the censoring in those. And given how gay DDD is and it wasn't as censoring their dynamic.

However, it got censored and it's like why? Did they think Audiences couldn't handle it?

Like it just seems like a silly thing he would do. It's kinda like how some people would pour water on someone to wake them up.

Like a teasing thing which he does A LOT and it probably wasn't that hard.

And other times I heard about how the language had some swearing or words that could be translated that way but of course since it's Disney the western version had to censor that.

The novels and manga actually still have more language in it.

And I think the main problem is Disney. They censor things a lot now.

They used to be more open to this kind of thing, but now they are soft and never take risks. I also heard how their team would edit things that would be in their original movie to tone it down for KH players.

It's kinda sad because there is definitely a lot of meaning to KH that is lost in translation. The battle with Vanitas is one in particular I had realized it's meaning is a bit more than the western version. The western version also simplifies things and tries to condense aspects as well. Xehanort's reason for everything is also worded very differently in the western version.

One of the reasons I look at fan translations is because it gives more meaning to certain events, not only because of dynamics and possible ships that are lost, but also explanations that are no longer there.

I'm so grateful for everyone who tries to retranslate things accurately and sometimes I use a site for certain things I'm curious but by no means do I speak their language and I get translation is hard, I really hope their future installments don't do this especially with KH4 and ML coming up in the next several years.

[poisonousquinzel]

my main issue with Harlivy not being monogamous is that the idea exists solely because DC is homophobic. I think, in some worlds, they could have a healthy poly relationship, obviously I love harliva (Gotham City Sirens), I stand by that this would be a wonderful dynamic if ya know written by competent and skilled writers who actually understand all their characters.

And frankly I dont feel like Harley is one who typically would be okay with sharing the person she's in love with. she's just not. maybe in a case where she and the person she's in love with / dating are both also in love with another, who's equally into the both of them.

But

That's not what's happening in Harley & Ivy's comics right now. That's not what's ever happened with this "open relationship".

I think Mason was healthy and sweet for Harley, from what I remember, but Ivy didn't love him and he didn't love Ivy. It's understandable to a degree, Ivy's reasonings and such, and in a different world with better writers I think that aspect could have been explored and developed.

Because Ivy does, truly, deeply, love Harley, and the idea she would be okay with Harley having hookups, etc, could be explained in a way that would make sense. Particularly during the part of Harley's arc that the 2014/2016 comics were, well, were supposed to be, dealing with.

She's freshly broken up with Joker, not really fully into a healing phase either, and isn't in the right mindset to be like settling down and thinking of Forever again. Harlivy's relationship is strong and built on friendship, so even in the beginning there while their relationship isn't Platonic, it's not "Officially Dating", Ivy knows how deeply Harley also cares about her. She also knows Harley isn't in a good place, and neither was she.

So her being okay, or outright happy for Harley, being loved by other people would make some sense because all Ivy's tried to do their whole friendship is prove that she deserved better, that she deserved to be loved and cherished. And as long as whoever is the pick of the month for Harley is someone who makes her feel happy and loved, then Ivy wouldn't feel jealous over it because damn, good for her being so happy messing around with someone who isn't as nasty and cruel as Joker. And it wouldn't take away from the real underlying feelings the two women have for one another.

But, again, that's not what this is. And it is now a "dynamic" that's bled into both Poison Ivy (2022) and Harley Quinn (2021), and has ultimately (due to the sheer lack of shown conversations or anything) devolved to borderline cheating.

In all honestly, this isn't a thing that'd exist if she was still with Joker and him alone. 1000%.

She would be with him and him only and would be depressed, insecure and jealous if he had a "friend" like Janet who he'd fucked before and continued to keep around.

This concept was only introduced because DC wouldn't allow for Harlivy to be openly in a monogamous relationship in 2014/2016. This is the company that in 2013 lost both the artist and writer for the Batwoman comic (artist: JH Williams III and writer: W. Haden Blackman) due to the company refusing to allow them to show Kate get married. It's not ooc for them to have refused to let them be monogamous, especially since Harlivy wasn't even allowed to be shown kissing on the lips at the time.

cause forbid sapphic women are allowed to be shown being outright loving and romantic with each other and doing something as ridiculously simple and mundane as a lip kiss, but having Ivy grab her ass in front of two dudes is totally okay cause it's hot.

it's so hot in fact that they needed to add in Tool dude, a fucking loser ass creep, saying "homina" in response to getting to see these two hot ladies like this. It seems like this is supposed to be a version of "Hummina"

Wiktionary: used to express that one has a strong reaction that cannot be expressed in words, especially when expressing embarrassment or sexual attraction.

Urban Dictionary: gibberish used to convey excitement or immediate sexual attraction to someone that takes your breath away.

Or the definitions for "Homina" itself

Urban Dictionary: A word, normally repeated three times, to express shock, befuddlement, or general speechlessness. Often when looking at a particularly attractive member of the speaker's favored sex

-

A sound you make when you see someone very attractive and beautiful. Similar to "hubba-hubba" or "a-woo-gah a-woo-gah" or "rwaaaarrr!"

[AND! I think the dynamics with her relationships with Joker and Ivy during the Mad Love arc is ridiculously complex and cannot be boiled down to "she cheats on him with Ivy so its in character for them to not be monogamous" because it takes away all context of both relationships and the mental state she'd have been in during that arc that was directly caused by him.

Her hooking up with Ivy while still being on / off again with Joker, a man who had broken her mind, her bones and her self esteem, is not at all similar or equatable to the pointless, ooc strange plot threads that've been published recently that frankly are just starting to feel like it's playing into biphobic stereotypes]

anyyyhoo, those are my thoughts<3 I have to finish cleaning my room now I sporadically wrote this on a short break SKDJSJKSKSKS

[nekohime19]

Macaque study # S1

I've seen people arguing that Macaque's redemption was rushed and didn't feel natural and while I never felt like that myself I also wanted to re-watch the show to really see how this redemption plays out and have more insight than just a “gut feeling” about it.

So this is just me analyzing Macaque redemption arc more deeply and how Macaque character is handled in the show 😁.

It's gonna get very long, I’ll go into details. Of course everything stated here is my opinion and you can totally disagree, and maybe what I'm saying is like crazy obvious idk, I just wanted to share it.

Also, I'm gonna cut this in multiple posts, one for each season, cause if not the post is gonna get so long 😭.

First, what I think is important to consider before delving into the episodes and dissecting them is the format of LMK.

LMK is a ten minute episodes series with approximately ten episodes each season and four specials. It's important to consider this because ten minutes is NOT long and it means one season is basically 2h30 which is a very short frame of time to build and develop something. With this being said, what you have to pay attention to is the purpose of the episodes. With the episodes being this short, LMK have to be very direct with the purpose of their episodes and get to the point.

You cannot have multiple episodes focusing on Macaque, his hatred for LBD, why he's doing all of this. Everything has to be decisive. Moreover, even if Macaque is a very recurrent character he's not the MC, his struggles and arc will obviously take a backseat to MK own story no matter how much you wish otherwise. LMK is not a show about redemption, it's a JTTW adaptation following a young boy discovering his powers/destiny. Macaque is a side character, and thus we have to accept that eventually his redemption arc will always take backseat over the main story arcs. And that's probably why it'll always feel as fast-paced or incomplete.

Now with this in mind let's see the episodes and how is Macaque's character portrayed.

Season 1 ep 9

LMK season 1 is basically an introduction to the characters and MK's powers. In each episode we either get the time to know a character or the time to know one aspect of MK's powers. For example, s1 ep3 (“coming home”) is focused on Mei and her relationship with her family and through that we get to understand her character better, the way she grew up and her struggles (not fitting in her family).

S1 ep9 is Macaque’s introduction and that's very important to keep in mind. What is the purpose of an introduction? It's to make the audience see a character and get something out of it. Hero? Villain? Confusing in-between ? The purpose of the introduction is to give you a frame of the character, a first, often one-dimensional frame that can evolve later on. While first impressions are often striking, we always have to keep in mind that characters can evolve and are not defined by their first appearances.

So what does s1 ep9 tell us about Macaque?

First thing you notice is the name of the episode. S1 ep9 is the only episode in season 1 that is eponymous. It might seem like nothing much but I think it's a very important detail considering we're in the introductions season! Even our first taste of LBD is not an eponymous episode despite her being a main villain. Our first taste of LBD appears in “Skeleton key”, s1 ep8, which focuses on what is most important about her character right now : her release.

So why an eponymous title? Why not “The other mentor” or “Focus” to make a call back to the reason MK defeats Macaque in the episode. Why “Macaque”? All other episodes have titles that are centered around either an event or a struggle so why not this one? Even Mei's episode is not titled after her, “coming home” as a title reflects more her struggle than herself. I think having a simple “Macaque” as a title is already very explanatory. It's just Macaque. No indication of good and evil. Just raw unadulterated Macaque.

In this episode, Macaque is the event, Macaque is the struggle, it's about Macaque. What are you gonna get in s1 ep9? You're gonna get a plate full of Macaque. We haven't seen the guy yet and we already know he's gonna be very important later on. You do not get an eponymous episode centered around you in a short 10 episode series without being important.

Also, what is interesting to notice is that Macaque episode is in between two episodes focusing on LBD (ep 8 and ep 10 are about LBD release and possessed DBK) . Guys, the Macaque episode is already circled by LBD's episodes. Considering our knowledge of what will happens to Macaque, I think it's interesting to see his episodes being circled by LBD's episodes. The placement of the episode is also important, we're this far in the season (ep 9 in a 10 episode serie) and we get a new guy? Nah, you know this guy will reappear later on. That's why his episode comes so late. Obviously as an audience you're gonna remember the later episode of s1 when you begin s2. And the later episodes of s1 are Macaque's and LBD's.

Now let's delve into the episode content.

Story wise, I was always a bit confused as to why Wukong is telling MK to destroy a mural of the pilgrims? Maybe it can signify some sort of renewal? But if you put into perspective that it's Macaque's episode then oh boy this gets a whole new meaning.

First scene of the episode? Macaque is not even there and yet you can already tell he's gonna be trouble.

Having close shots of the pilgrims being all covered in cracks. Having shots of Wukong like this in Macaque's episode? Boy, not even one minute in Macaque's episode and we already get drama. Destroying the pilgrims in Macaque's episode is I think a really powerful symbol, especially since in JTTW Macaque symbolizes the side of Wukong that wants to do the journey alone. Obviously this is not JTTW, this is LMK, and we have to separate the two at times but I also think as the source material JTTW should not be completely ignored either. Having the mural destroyed in the beginning of Macaque's episode could be a symbol of how Macaque wants to destroy this image of "the perfect hero Wukong" that is portrayed in the mural with the pilgrims. Mayhaps this is me reading too far into this, but I like to think it is.

The first scene is also a direct confrontation between MK and Wukong on teaching. You have two opposites. The young, impatient mentee. And the inflexible, silent mentor. I say Wukong is silent because our golden guy isn't really good at explaining the purpose of his lesson.

Two very opposite forces that will clash if the wedge between them widens.

So in the first minutes of Macaque's episode, you already get a confrontation between Wukong and MK and Macaque is not even here yet. You can tell this episode will bring trouble between the two, maybe even a wedge. And that's exactly what will exploit Macaque later on. He will use this tiny crack and expand it tremendously.

What is the first appearance of our guy?

This is the very first clear shot of Macaque. And boy I was not ready for it. You got a yellow-colored shot which is generally Wukong color pallets. Obviously, since MK confuses Macaque with Wukong the color of this shot is here to also confuse the audience. But make no mistake. What you have behind Macaque is very important and something I did not notice before rewatching this. This is clearly an eclipse. You got something reassembling the moon before the sun. This is not a meaningless detail especially with the Shadow play episode in s2. First shot of Macaque in the entire series and you already got the moon and sun imagery. Even better, the moon is obscuring the sun, it's overshadowing it and in turns it makes Macaque shine.

First shot of Macaque and you got the sun being obscured by the moon while having Macaque still basking in Wukong's colors. Basically you got the guy whole trauma in one single shot. This is not the moon and the sun being in harmony, this the moon overshadowing the sun. This is Macaque wanting to surpass Wukong, wanting to defeat him but still basking in his colors, so still Macaque following Wukong leads and not his own.

Maybe I read too much into it. But this post is basically me reading too much into things.

Wanna points out that Macaque rarely uses his staff in the entire series and when he uses it, for his introduction, it's when he's trying to trick MK and appear as a hero? Macaque imitating the only hero he knows, which is Wukong, to trick MK is at the same time very ironic but also a testament of how much Macaque's life was and is still centered around Wukong. He's obsessed with him.

What I like in meeting between MK and Macaque is the unsettling feeling you got about Macaque. But yet, he act sin such a compelling way, you can't help but see him as somewhat geniune. MK is the one to approach Macaque, to ask him his name, to question him, to ask him to be his mentor. MK is the one who initiate the contact, which creates the illusion that MK is the one in control, he's the one leading the dialogue with his questioning. At the same time, Macaque doesn't jump at the opportunity of being MK's mentor, he points out that “Monkey King” is already MK’s teacher (by the way this episode is one of the rare time in the entire series that Macaque calls Wukong “Monkey King”, obviously a way to not appear familiar with him to MK).

So in theory he seems good right?

But then you got this very unsettling shot :

Macaque : “But you can't have too many teachers right? I'm sure Monkey King would agree. It's not like he wants to hold you back.”

This dialogue with this particular image is why you are thinking : this is a shady guy. First, the shadows are in a very strange twisted angle and only in one corner of the frame. This gives an unsettling feeling, especially since they are on the edge of a building. Twisted angles are used a lot in this episode to give Macaque an unsettling feeling. The music, those low notes, are also a bit unsettling.

Then you look at what Macaque is saying and you realize, yeah, something is up. He begins with an affirmation to explain why it's good for MK to have multiple teachers. Then he uses Wukong's name to give credits to his words and ends with something that appears genuine but in reality is really manipulative. Saying “It's not like he wants to hold you back” is implicitly saying that if Wukong doesn't agree with MK having multiple teachers, then Wukong wants to hold MK back. And MK, idolizing Wukong, would never think this of Wukong and thus, with his own desire of wanting to know cool techniques, will agree to Macaque proposition and convince himself that, no, Wukong doesn't wants to hold him back and thus even if he doesn't ask Wukong permission, Wukong has to agree with this.

At the same time, this is the first seed of doubt Macaque plants in MK minds. Does Wukong want to hold MK back?

We got classic manipulation here.

At the same time, it's the first appearance of Macaque and even if he's not here Wukong is mentioned a lot. MK confuses Macaque for Wukong, the whole colors of the scene (except for Macaque and the monster) are yellowish, Macaque mentions Wukong multiple times, the staffs are shown (both Macaque's and Wukong's). Then you got Macaque replacing Wukong's symbol on MK's jacket with his own.

Okay. They're not trying to hide it, this is not MK’s enemy, Macaque is Wukong's enemy. It shows. Everything is about Wukong. Macaque is about Wukong.

By the end of the scene, you know Macaque is not to be trusted and everything about him is unsettling. What you got is essentially : a shady guy who's somehow linked to Wukong.

And really, the unsettling feeling doesn't stop there.

The next scene is the training scene with Macaque.

He feeds on MK's insecurities by telling him he expected better of THE Monkie Kid and thus pushes MK to overwork himself. MK wants to be recognized and Macaque knows it and uses it to his advantages.

There are cool parallels between Macaque's training and Wukong's training.

You got Wukong who's very far from MK and lounges on his cloud, not training with his mentee. There is a distance between them. Meanwhile you got Macaque training alongside MK, doing the gestures with him. You might think : does this mean Macaque is a better mentor? But then you see that Macaque training alongside MK is once again a shot with only their shadows and it unsettles you, because shadows are not really you, they're reflections, a lie of some sort. And Macaque is lying in this scene, he's pretending.

Then you have MK confrontation with Wukong and you got this :

Like, this is unnecessary. If your plan is to defeat Wukong, why the hell would you reveal your existence to the guy like that? It's because more than defeating Wukong, Macaque wants to torment him. He's taunting him. Erasing Wukong’s symbol and replacing it with his own. Even the symbol face is taunting, mocking Wukong. Because what Macaque wants is to get Wukong's attention, to taunt him, to torment him, to upset him.

The next scene is the battle with the Shadow monster and Macaque just cannot stop being unsettling. The camera is slightly shaking (re-watch the episode to see it) and this is so twisted, having Macaque not even fully in the shot, pressing down on MK, then pushing him forward :

He's doing a pep talk, trying to lift MK's spirits, but you know his true intentions with the shots. He's not genuine. He's manipulating him, pushing him.

And then the betrayal, which I think is really interesting when you catches some details :

First, you got the monster becoming Macaque. Literally. The moment of the betrayal the monster MK was chasing becomes Macaque. Pretty telling imagery about how Macaque was the true enemy all along

But even more interesting :

The Macaque that was with MK since the beginning becomes the monster. I didn't catch this at first. You can see in the first image there are two Macaques, the one at MK's side who's been with MK since the beginning of the episode, and the one holding the golden flame who is the monster turned into Macaque. But then, the Macaque we know since the beginning leave MK sides and turn into the monster (second image).

Pretty cool imagery of the monster was at your side since the beginning.

Does this mean the Macaque who's been with MK all this time was a clone???

Macaque overshadowing MK, having his shadow looming over MK like this, you cannot have a more telling image about MK's feeling in this situation. He's helpless and he has been in Macaque's shadow since the beginning of the episode despite being the MC. And this shows, because the fight just after is between Wukong and Macaque and MK is on the side until the end of the episode where he takes the spotlight back from Macaque.

The dialogue of this interaction is also very telling of the relationship between the two :

Then Wukong arrives and the two monkeys talk/banter.

Macaque : Monkey King! It's good to see you bud.

Wukong : Are you ever going to get sick of living in my shadow? It's time to get back what you stole.

Macaque : You are such a gem. It's gonna be so satisfying killing you with your own powers.

The taunting on both sides is so heavy you wonder why even they're doing this. First you got Macaque emphasized on bud ( a nickname we know Wukong used with Macaque in the past) to imitate Wukong and mock him. He uses Wukong's title, Monkey King, as a taunt, an insult to wound Wukong's pride. Wukong doesn't have to respond to the taunt and yet he does with a taunt of his own, calling out one of Macaque's insecurities we learn in season 2 (the shadow play episode, being left in Wukong's shadow). We know Macaque is affected by this taunt because despite him smiling his eyebrows are twitching. Then Macaque answers by sarcastically praising Wukong (wonder if the use of gem is because Wukong is a stone monkey) something he might also used to say in the past and end with literally “I'm gonna kill you” which in a kid's show is surprising. I think the fact Macaque found it satisfying to kill Wukong with his own powers is a testament of how Macaque primary goal is not to kill Wukong in itself but to take revenge, to humiliate him, to upset and torment him.

They both know each other and they know how to hurt the other with their words. They know how to get under the other's skin.

The fight between the two monkeys is just full of parallels between the two. When one uses a power, the other will use the exact same power. They're equal in this sense, two faces of the same coin. I'll go back to this idea of equality between the two monkeys in the later seasons.

Once again Macaque's dialogue is very interesting when he's fighting Wukong :

Macaque : seriously? You fell for that? (laughing/ after he take MK appearances to trick Wukong in the fight). Sorry kid, nothing personal.

Okay, first using MK appearance is so dirty Macaque but he's already been introduced as a very manipulative guy so no surprise here. The fact he says “nothing personal” really speaks volumes about how all of this is truly about Wukong and how Macaque doesn't have any grudges towards MK in particular. In a way, we can say Macaque truly has nothing personal against MK as an individual, this whole mess he's causing is because he wants to rile up Wukong.

Macaque : Come on! Show me the real Sun Wukong! The whole you would have leveled this whole mountain range to stop me! But you're scared of hurting some kid? Pathetic!

This is gold, because it subtly shows what Macaque really wants. He wants the old Wukong. At the same time he wants to torment Wukong but he also doesn't like the change Wukong endured in the pilgrimage (who likely caused their fight). He wants to get Wukong back to his old ways, perhaps to prove that Wukong never changed, that him being a hero is nothing more but a scam.

I can see how after being brought back to life seeing your old buddy so wise and changed, being so different from what you knew, is unsettling. Personally, I think there is a form longing there. Macaque wants his old bud back. But there is also a twisted need to prove Wukong never changed, perhaps because Wukong being a hero is, in some ways, what marked the end of Wukong and Macaque's relationship (we'll see that in the Shadow Play episode).

In the end, Macaque is defeated by MK, which I think is a nice way to round this up and give MK his spotlight back as the MC.

The sunlight piercing the clouds, the more soft yellow colors after Macaque's aggressive purple, and the two of them hugging is a nice way to solve the struggle of Macaque's episode.

The wedge between MK and Wukong being one of the main plot points of Macaque's episode is really symbolic. In a way, maybe Macaque sees himself in MK, or more precisely sees himself in MK and Wukong relationship. As such having MK and Wukong mending their wedge is a nice parallel of Wukong and Macaque which never truly mended their own wedge and instead kept widening it.

So we got our first taste of Macaque and oh boy it was something. Of course, the introduction doesn't define the character for the rest of the series, character development often happens. I think a lot of people stay stuck in their first impression of Macaque. Especially since Macaque has such a strong and appealing introduction in terms of imagery and symbolism. The shadows shots, despite being unsettling, are really cool, the imagery is unique and weirdly appealing. Macaque’s theme is also not like any other of LMK's themes, it's more somber, more quiet. I'm vibing everytime Macaque's theme begins. Macaque introduction marks you but it doesn't mean the guy doesn't get any developpement afterward.

So, after Macaque introduction, the audience have one thing in mind : villain confirmed ✅. Even if you don't catch all the details, you know this. Macaque is also more scary than the other villains. He's more manipulative, smarter, he can go toe to toe with Wukong (in this episode), at this point he's the most terrifying villain of LMK (LBD not being fully introduced yet).

Okay, so this was my analysis for Macaque in season 1, of course you can disagree. I'm not a professional in terms of animation nor in analyzing stories, nor do I claim to be and every theory is welcome and worth it. I just wanted to do it and I thought some people might be interested in it 🤷.

I'll post the analysis of Macaque in season 2 in another post.

Next

[aroaceleovaldez]

hi

tyson's actor has been announced

thoughts on that? i remember you talking about tyson's down syndrome coding and the way there's a big chance of being portrayed in an ableist way

I already talked about my main thoughts on Tyson's casting [here] but in summary - yeah, no, confidence is not inspired right now. I had mentioned before that if they didn't cast an actor with down syndrome for Tyson I cannot see it going well no matter what, and given how s1 handled disability themes (aka erasing the majority of references to adhd/dyslexia and other disabilities, turning Sally into an autism speaks mom, etc) I doubt they're going to reference Tyson's down syndrome coding at all, which is disappointing on multiple levels.

A.) His entire character and the arcs relating to his character, particularly his relationship with Percy and Percy's character development in SoM are ALL surrounding Tyson having down syndrome and themes of grappling with ableism. SoM is supposed to be where we solidly establish Percy as a character who stands up for other marginalized kids, particularly other disabled kids, and if you remove Tyson's down syndrome then that entire aspect of the story goes up in smoke - which is a problem because disability themes are central and core to the entire series. You can't remove them without ruining the basis of the entire plot, because it's disability metaphors all the way down. If by some miracle they do try to keep his disability coding, the casting right now at all levels point to it turning out horribly - firstly they've cast an abled actor to play a disabled character - not cool! Especially given down syndrome is not usually an invisible disability - like I give leeway to adhd/dyslexic casting because it really doesn't affect anything at all. It'd be nice but ultimately nothing is different really - But something like this is significantly more important. Secondly, because we know from the casting call that they're keeping the "Tyson is 'actually' a little kid" (< actually part of his down syndrome coding - it's an outdated medical concept from the 2000s which is very ableist so already not looking great that they kept that) them casting a nearly 30 year old for a character who is supposed to be in Percy's grade (Percy being 13) just sounds like a horrible set-up for a very ableist portrayal.

B.) Based on how s1 went, recent books in the franchise, and this casting, the more likely route is they're going to erase Tyson's disability coding entirely and likely replace it with Tyson being a "himbo" character. I was talking with the TA server about this and apparently according to some of them Daniel Diemer in The Half Of It very much gave off the vibe that with his Tyson casting they're going to go the "himbo" route. Which would make sense given in like TOA, TSATS, and CoTG it seems like Rick learned what a "himbo" is and has been trying to shoehorn that character archetype into everything. Also in recent books Rick has just completely started erasing or ignoring disability themes, including applying ableist tropes to characters instead (Percy being a goofy lazy idiot who dislikes school, Nico being infantilized, Annabeth's disabilities basically being entirely erased, etc etc). Suffice to say it's not looking good I'm not happy about it! :T

Like, in all, I'm sure Daniel Diemer is a great actor. I'm not accusing him of being ableist or anything. (Now, Disney? maybe.) But I am really disappointed in this casting and there is literally no way Disney can justify it. Like, what, "he's tall and Tyson is supposed to be tall?" Character height has literally never been a factor for any other casting and it absolutely is not relevant at all for Tyson. The majority of casting so far has been blind casting (save for age for the most part) - why is it suddenly so important now for Tyson's height of all things? When there are SIGNIFICANTLY more important aspects of his character to be casting for? So far it seems the only casting they've actually paid attention to disability with is Hephaestus with Timothy Omundson, which is nice, but one out of A Lot is not great given this is the disability series! We really should not be getting this many abled actors playing disabled characters (and DEFINITELY not be getting this much erasure of disabled and disable-coded characters - Grover's muscular disease, lack of references to adhd/dyslexia, erasure of Percy's PTSD, etc. Chiron's disability being brought from coding to explicit is nice, but they couldn't be bothered to actually cast a disabled actor for it too? Honestly I wouldn't even mind some of the abled casting as much if they actually bothered to acknowledge the disability themes at all!). And this is a trend so far because Disney has also completely neglected casting plus-sized actors for plus-sized characters in the series (INCLUDING TYSON). It generally just reeks of Disney being afraid to cast anybody but able-bodied skinny actors as much as possible, or at the very least being completely unwilling to touch upon the disability themes of the series - which is stupid, given it's the entire basis of the series.

tl;dr: I have exactly zero faith in s2.

[aeithalian]

On Apollo and fatal flaws

Vague question for my fellow apollogists out there: what do we think Apollo's fatal flaw is? I write this realizing that, in all five books of the series, all told from Apollo's point of view, we never actually have it explicitly stated, either from Apollo's knowledge and refusal to share (which, strangely, seems to me like something he would tell us), or from him not actually knowing, either.

Simply stated, a fatal flaw is any kind of weakness of a hero, god or mortal, that can be exploited and can cause the downfall of that character. That being said, we already know some that generally scope out the larger range of what they can be:

Percy: excessive personal loyalty

Annabeth: hubris/pride

Nico: holding grudges

Thalia: ambition

Leo: feeling inferior

Piper: low self-esteem

Luke: wrath

Jason: hesitation and excessive deliberation

And we are certain that immortals have flaws like these, too. Although it isn't explicitly stated in canon what Zeus' fatal flaw is, it's exceedingly obvious that it's paranoia and hunger for power, as well as his sexual infidelity.

I feel like we can easily knock some flaws off the list already:

Holding grudges is off the list for the main reason that, if there's one thing Apollo oozes, it's forgiveness, and the fact that he is always ready to give second chances to people who have wronged him and the world (Lityerses, Luguselwa, Meg, etc.)

For the same reason, I'm going to knock off wrath. Yes, he has moments of rage, but so does everybody else! It's human nature, and, as stated before, it's usually overshadowed by Apollo's choice to let go of that anger and choose forgiveness instead.

Ambition is an interesting one, but it's not at all something that really comes up in the series to the point where it ends up being powerful enough to be his fatal flaw. He rarely seeks power he didn't already have before, especially when you consider he is Zeus' most powerful son, and one of the most powerful gods period. Why would he need more power? Unless, of course, you choose to point out that one time he tried to overthrow Zeus, but I'd argue he was acting more out of a place of 'hey please be better at your job' than 'I want your title and position', which actually falls more under Poseidon's motivations in that myth.

Interestingly, there's a certain aspect of Apollo's character in the myths that totally screws the pooch in terms of this discussion, and that's the fact that Apollo, throughout the stories of Ancient Greece, is a typical example of perfection. Literally, he's written to be virtually flawless, the paragon of young men, and (in the context of Ancient Greek culture) doesn't have many moments of rage, selfishness, or paranoia, or at least, not as many as other gods (looking at you, Artemis).

HOWEVER, as much as the myths seemingly act like he doesn't have a glaringly obvious flaw, we as a part of Apollo's inner circle/audience know he's got one - I mean, look at him! It's in there somewhere, nobody's perfect, and I don't think anybody's pretending as such for Apollo. What irks me is that we know Apollo is not lacking in general character flaws, but there is one, beyond a doubt, that shapes his inner core irreversibly. And we don't know it.

Thankfully, though, we've got five books of content that might help us come to a conclusion.

The Hidden Oracle, being the beginning of the story and the beginning of Apollo's character development, is where we would get an inkling of what Apollo wants us to think his fatal flaw is. To us, Apollo appears vain, self-centered, and, frankly annoying. And he does these things on purpose. Or at least, he tells us these things.

That's the thing: if you look past all the fluff Apollo spits out to the audience throughout the first majority of the book, before his children are taken into the forest, you'd find that his dialogue, aka how the other characters of the story hear and see him, doesn't really reflect that. Most of the annoying, self-centered brattiness is only on the page, and not as obvious in his personal interactions (not saying they're not there, but it's so much worse in his internal monologue). So, what does this tell us?

That those aren't his fatal flaws. He's very good at pretending that they are, probably because, as I've read several other metas very cleverly explain, that this is what gods are supposed to be, and, Apollo, in his desperation be his father's golden child again (or, also to avoid his wrath, take that how you will) has built up a very elaborate mask for thousands of years, because that is what he is not. He's trying to be glossed over in the vast sea that is the gods, and it's not really working because, well, he got turned into a mortal. Again.

As we pass through books 2 and 3, we're still not quite past the whole "pretending to be petty and self-serving because this is what I am supposed to be as dictated by the laws of my immortal people and my father". That, almost certainly, doesn't come until the latter half of The Burning Maze. So it's further safe to assume that our best guess as to his fatal flaw probably coincides with his more honest moments with the audience, eg. books 4 and 5.

Now, I know a popular common answer to this whole question is that it's his ego and his pride. But here's the thing: as we move on to the second half of the series, we get an interesting revealing of Apollo's perception of himself. To put it plainly: Apollo is not a narcissist, as much as he pretends to be (see the above points). Honestly, he might actually hate himself and what he's become as he learns to take a more critical view of himself as the series goes on. Drawn in direct antithesis to his moments in the first two books, when he tells us that he assumes that anybody he meets is willing to help him, after the peak of his development (marked by his promise and Jason's subsequent death), this isn't the case. That's why I'm pretty okay with putting pride and ego towards the bottom of my list of possible fatal flaws for him.

Honestly, if I didn't know any better as we reach the end of the series, I'd say Apollo's fatal flaw might fall somewhere closer to poor self-esteem, insecurity and self-doubt, but for some reason, that doesn't quite fit. I'd argue that a lot of those feelings probably stem from being stuck in the inadequate body of a mortal with a tiny fraction of his usual power - of course he's going to feel like that. That, and it's almost the direct opposite of what his flaw is perceived to be by other sources, so it feels like too large a leap to me.

I'm deliberating from my point, which is this: I still have no clue what his fatal flaw is.

It's not:

narcissism

pride

OR on the other side of the spectrum:

low-self esteem

self-doubt

OR the list of things we knocked off earlier:

holding grudges

wrath

ambition

And when you compare to other characters he might also be like, I would argue he's a totally different animal. The only character I could see a similarity with is Percy. But, again, it's just not the same. Percy's flaw, excessive personal loyalty, still doesn't really fit because, while I'd argue that Apollo's never really put in a situation where he's had to choose to save the life a mortal friend over his task of restoring the Oracles, I do believe he has a strong sense of duty. No, I don't think he would sacrifice Meg's life to do that job, but it's not something we see him forced to pick between (that I can think of, at least). I like to think that, on one hand, Percy would flat-out refuse to do his duty to save the life of a friend out of principle, whereas Apollo might find a clever loophole to save the friend, do the duty, and end up doing harm to himself. If anything, while Percy would be ready to burn the world to save a friend, Apollo would be ready to burn himself first.

That, I think, is our biggest indicator. Apollo loves his friends and the world. He wears his heart on his sleeve, this is something the Triumvirate exploits to no end.

Athena tells Percy something in the PJO series (the Titan's Curse, I think?) and says that the most dangerous fatal flaws are the ones that are good in moderation. And, of course, Apollo is a main character, so naturally his fatal flaw will fall under this category.

I think Apollo's fatal flaw is of the same breed as Percy's, but isn't really the same creature. I'm sure there's a more eloquent way to put this, but it seems to me that his fatal flaw has something to do with his tendency to be self-sacrificing, easily forgiving, and empathetic. He's been stabbed in the back several times and every time chooses instead to show trust and camaraderie, to see the best in people, and give them another chance to prove themselves: with Meg, Crest, Lityerses, Luguselwa, Meg's adoptive siblings, and many, many more. That seems very dangerous in the wrong situation, yes? Especially someone in Apollo's position - there are plenty of bad people who would be ready to take advantage of this.

And what is a story if not the hero learning to overcome their fatal flaw? And, really what is the Trials of Apollo all about? How do we end? What choices does Apollo make for the future at the conclusion of the Tower of Nero that directly contradict his overwhelming urge to choose forgiveness and let others try again?

The Tower of Nero, Chapter 36

At the end of any good epic story, the hero learns to overcome their weaknesses and flaws and do the right thing regardless. For Apollo, this comes when he refuses to forgive one person: Zeus. Apollo ends his pentalogy with coming to an understanding of himself and his relationship with his father, learning to overcome that tendency see the best in everyone, and realize that not everyone can choose to change for the better like Apollo has.

EDIT: a masterlist of my other metas

[stagefoureddiediaz]

ugh this is horrible news tommy is still around, hope to god he's gone in the finale. v

Maybe in your world Nonnie, but not in mine and I'm not entirely sure why you felt the need to come and complain about it on my blog, but here we are!

It makes perfect Narrative sense for Tommy to still be around in the back end of the season, and even possibly into the start of season 8. The show is telling a story of Bucks bisexuality, so why woould they get rid of Tommy so quickly? To do so would do a disservice to that story - a massive disservice. I'm guessing you're hating on this relationship becasue you see it getting in the way of Buddie, rather than viewing it as a vital step on the route to Buddie.

Lets put it into simple terms - Buck figures out he's bi and then begins to explore that newly discovered aspect of himself. The show has also taken the time to move Buck from someone who didn't really do relationships (of the long term variety), into someone who is looking for love and looking for forever. But in amongst all of that, he hasn't really had a healthy long term relationship, the closest he had to that was with Ali and that one didn't last especially long and she wasn't around for most of it

Buck isn't ready for an endgame queer relationship right now - he is still to immature from a relationship perspective - especially a queer relationship perspective. If Eddie was available and he and Buck got together - as they are as characters right now, they wouldn't last - they're not in a position to do so successfully. And this isn't me suggesting that they need to have figured everything out before they get together - to have fully healed etc, because thats neither realistic or something I would want to see - what it means is that they both need to get to a point where they are in a healthy enough place to put in the work together, understand each others flaws, and their own flaws and proactively work towards overcoming those things together and as of right now, neither of them are - they are getting their and moving rapidly in the right direction, but Buck needs to learn a bit more, and in many ways learn how to be with a man, before he will be ready to start anything with Eddie.

The growth we're getting to watch Buck go through right now - in the aftermath of the lightening strike, his reckoning with his mortality etc and the fact he's now off the hamster wheel and moving forward - in a healthy and faster way than we've ever seen from him, speaks volumes.

Tommy is also a far better developed love interest than any other love interest we've seen Buck (or indeed Eddie) with (Abby excepted but she was a main, so had her own purpose on the show)- I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling like I know Tommy more after 3 episodes plus what we got from the begins episodes he was in, than I managed to ascertain about Taylor or Ana or Nataila etc!

Not to mention, him figuring out he's in Love with Eddie as part of this process is going to be fun to watch. The show has made no bones about re-enforcing at every. Single. Opportunity how close, how entwined and how important Buck and Eddie are to one another - the show has quite literally been prioritising that over anything else Buck and Eddie related - Buck was there front and centre - placed very much on an equal footing with Shannon and even Eddie himself in 7x01, and then Eddie was the centre of Bucks bi arc in 7x04 and in his coming out in 7x05. They are literally moving chess pieces into place to tell an amazing story of queer love in later life and creating an epic slow burn for the ages.

And finally, Eddie is, as far as we know at this point in time, still in a relationship with Marisol - why shouldn't Buck get to explore who he is and what he want's within a relationship rather than sitting pining on the sidelines - that isn't healthy in any way shape or form. Eddie still has stuff to figure out about himself.

Even Tim and Oliver have stated in interviews that this is about a happy and joyful queer experience of figuring out bisexuality and therefore within that is giving the narrative a romcom vibe. But they have also stated that Tommy isn't going to be around for that long - that he is very much a narrative device.

It is worth pointing out that timelines on various aspects of the narrative may have been shifted because of the season 8 renewal - but that is only going to help tell the story because now it doesn't have to be rushed. I'm still fully expecting some form of feeling realisation from one of them by the end of the season (my money is on Buck), setting up for season 8 and Buddie going canon either 8a finale or early into 8b.

You have every right to dislike Tommy if thats you jam - have at it, but don't come to my blog and expect me to agree with you. I'm not a multi shipper by any means - I'm a one ship kind of gal and I will be a Buddie shipper until the end of time, but within that, I am here for amazing storytelling and amazing queer storytelling - the like of which I've not had the privilege to watch on my screen before - especially one that hits so close to home. Its a really important story to tell and I'd rather it not be rushed.

And if you had to pick - I'm pretty sure you'd rather have Tommy around for a bit longer that Marisol!!!!

[bibibbon]

You know, the loV stans complaining about shig and dabi and toga's ending is a tragedy "poor meow meow" and with a rare dose of people not blaming Izu (it's rare super rare) but forget how....they didn't want to be saved, Ochako, Izu and maybe Shoto(through I think Shoto's case makes a bit more sense) were on a fool's mission.

Izu suffered, suffered, suffered for absolutely nothing.

He didn't saved Shig.

Shiga and Izu don't know each other...it's almost laughable how they are strangers really

Izu get nothing. Monoma gets a statue (not a hater, but come on! Why he get a state and Izu not even a thanks, oh sure lil kids thank him once in a full moon)

Izu has no friends.

And the likelihood of bk being the #1 is still a thing.

Bk won

Izu, the mc, the underdog lost.

If the mc can't have a good ending. Why the fuck the LoV stans thought shig and dabi would have a happy ending?

Just mad...not with the story, but with the fans.

MHA is a shitty story ...with a fandom which has no media literacy

Hi @mikeellee 👋

It's hilarious how underdeveloped the dynamic between Izuku and shigaraki is it's almost like horikoshi forgot about them and then tried to do something to try and fix that in the last war arc by using the whole memeoru sharing thing that mainly shared Shigaraki's memories and barely none of izuku's. The two characters haven't interacted enough to even understand eachother and izuku is still stuck in chapter one (Izuku doesn't actually develop he is an incredibly static character) so how do you expect a static character to save another when izuku can't even save himself?!?!

Iam incredibly critical of both shigaraki and izuku and at least shoto and Dabi or toga and ochako were given slightly more justice than what the main duo was given.

However, even when it comes to the other characters the villains weren't given proper arcs to be saved. I have touched on that aspect a lot on other asks but its incredib easy to make them tragic characters who end up proving a point or characters who end up becoming redeemed but they also need to be properly humanised and developed.

Iam not trying to say that the only characters that can be saved are those who are perfect victims but Iam saying that it's quite difficult to save a character who says they will continue to harm/kill or destroy even after being given another chance.

In the end everyone who isn't bakugo got a bad ending.

[jisuto]

On the topic of game reception, what are your thoughts on the current state of pokemon?

OK THIS ASK WAS SENT BEFORE THE HUGE LEAK LOL but I have a lot to say:

I watched VHS tapes, played the games, and owned merch since a young age so the series is very special to me. But I don't like the current direction at all and it's not because of the designs or nostalgia. The quality and game performance plummeted so how can I enjoy playing when there's mad lag or low frame rate that hinders my progress and worsen the experience??

It took too many years for them to realize they need to put quality over quantity after the SWSH mess, seeing that they can get away with pretty much ANYTHING and still make huge profit. You see people say that Pokemon should've never went 3D and stay 2D but tbh, it's a series that improves it's graphics as technology advances so it's not a surprise for them to finally go 3D and personally I think that's fine but just keep it looking good and fun (though I would love a 2D/3D hybrid). XY introduced a lot of new features but still lacked in some aspects that still haven't really been solved or added.

Reusing assets is common in the industry but only to a certain extent. They claimed that SWSH was taking a while to make because they were making brand new models which turned out to be a lie and they look like bootleg figures with the new lighting. The 3DS models were ripped from Pokepark, including some animations, but a lot of them still barely have any character. They have their own in-house team (Creatures Inc) so they made the decision NOT to have pokemon properly animated or look alive.... Also they made spin-offs like Ranger, Colosseum, Pokepark, and Pokken which look AMAZING

FRLG took only one year while HGSS was being developed at the same time as Platinum and took 3 years to finish that turned into one of the best games and remakes ever made. As the franchise expands, the team also needs to add more manpower but Game Freak can definitely afford to get more resources to help them?? They can't continue having a ragtag team of like 20 people to make a game back then and do the same now then expect good results... Hire more people who know how create with current gen consoles IT'S COMMON SENSE PLS also I can't believe they had a different company create BDSP knowing how beloved and groundbreaking DPPT was?? No redesigns like the previous remakes and thought it was a good idea to keep it looking a carbon copy to the DS style...

Also it's shocking to see how fan reception can change how the devs direct the next gen ESPECIALLY when it's not even real constructive criticism?? When Unova came out, I remember seeing all the online outcry about "OH THEY HAVE AN ICE CREAM CONE POKEMON AND A TRASH BAG, THEY'RE RUNNING OUT OF IDEAS EW" then actually hear it being repeated at school.... I WAS TRYING TO SURVIVE SINCE DAY 1 IN THE TRENCHES DEFENDING THIS GAME IT WAS ALWAYS GOOD AND DIDN'T NEED 10 YEARS TO AGE WELL. It's crazy how these are the same people who want another Kanto when Trubbish is Grimer (garbage waste) and Vanillite is Voltorb (based on literal items) then you could not catch any other pokemon from different regions in the main game. And the leak confirmed that the disgruntled hate from the west made the devs not release new pokemon in B2W2 and move them over to XY instead AND NOT GIVE A SINGLE GEN 5 MEGA EVOLUTION. So we were robbed because of genwunners who were fixated on the wrong things and ignored all the great content Unova brought us. It's strange how players keep complaining they want a different and fresh game, but want it to continue being super formulaic and binary like wtf do you want make up your mind

None of the switch titles really got me invested and I always end up replaying the older games but hopefully PLZA will break the curse and finally give us a nice game. Also why don't we have more spin-offs on the switch if there's so many of them floating around like the DS had a bunch??? STOP BEING COWARDS I WANT A POKEMON NINTENDOGS GAME OR THAT FIRE EMBLEM CROSSOVER WE WERE SUPPOSED TO GET. I JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN AGAIN ;w;

[nix-moon]

✮⋆˙✮ V𝔦𝔯𝔢𝔫'𝔰 𝔳𝔦𝔩𝔩𝔞𝔦𝔫 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔯𝔢𝔡𝔢𝔪𝔭𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫 𝔞𝔯𝔠𝔥 ✮⋆˙✮

(𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕨𝕙𝕪 𝕀 𝕝𝕠𝕧𝕖 𝕚𝕥 𝕤𝕠 𝕞𝕦𝕔𝕙)

SEASON 6 SPOILERS AHEAD ⚠️📢🚨

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I'll start by saying that this is my personal analysis based on nothing more than my own experience watching "The Dragon Prince". Anyway, long text ahead!

•°•°•°•°• ☆ °•°•°•°•°• ☆ °•°•°•°•°•

I really like how Viren's story was built throughout The Dragon Prince/Mystery of Aaravos. I enjoy villain narratives that bring some elements which, in my opinion, give the character development a little bit more of a "real humanity" you know?

Like for example, a character that makes mistakes, regrets them, and then go and do something totally apposed to their beliefs, take hypocritical actions, such as humans do all the time! I love when the idea of a perfect character falls apart, showing contradiction.

I think TDP brings that to the table all the time buuut talking about Viren I think it makes total sense that he used dark magic again after giving it up on previous seasons, exactly because of contradiction in actions, because things change and so does the circumstances and his whole beliefs/regrets.

Another thing, and this might be totally MY gone-too-far analysis, I feel like there's a lot of attention to detail and symbolism in Viren's relation with dark magic, which is basically, you know, the main "element" that makes him a villain somehow. Whether this was on purpose or not, I'd like to point out some of my observations towards this:

𓏲⋆ ִֶָ ๋𓂃 ⋆ Dark Magic and Viren's ascension and fall ᯓ★

Viren's plot started and ended with dark magic. As his "villain era" started when he used it to cure Soren, as shown on season 6, he also died from its use. TWICE if you think about it, because the turning of events in previous seasons were mostly led, in my opinion, by the fact that Viren, being someone very ambitious (thinking that he would to anything to get what he wants, either the cure of his son or power) found in dark magic the instrument he needed to materialize his desires.

𓏲⋆ ִֶָ ๋𓂃⋆ Someone who was served, someone who claims to be a server ᯓ★

Before dying, king Harrow "humbled" Viren by pointing out his place as a servent of Katolis, which wasn't taken so seriously by the High Mage at that time. In my opinion, we was already taken by the idea of getting almost everything he wanted from dark magic, or, being served, since magic creatures were literally serving to his purposes. As his journey continues in the "after-resurrection" times and he starts to be more reflexive, he comes to a point where he, himself, goes back to the place he sort of turned his back to (Katolis) claiming not mercy, not forgiveness, but that he is a servent of that kingdom. ~CHILLS~. This is one of my favorite moments by far! It shows to me a true redemption, where the character isn't looking to a scenario of "feeling better" about the things he did and regretted, he is actually assuming the weight of his mistakes and willing to pay the price.

I understand that people wanted some sort of reconciliation between him and Soren, or some kind of gathering with Claudia, but I like the way things went in the story by far. I'm glad Soren didn't get that letter, because to me it brought even more real-life aspects to the narrative: where you may not be ready to say some things and back up, where there's angst, where forgiveness is so hard to achieve when someone you love takes a path that hurts you so bad! Soren goes to see Viren on the dungeons, and then doesn't want it anymore, he is fighting contradictions of feelings he doesn't even know how to name - is there something more human than that? Being confused and wanting to do AND not do something at the same time?

𓏲⋆ ִֶָ ๋𓂃 ⋆ The heart: corruption and salvation ᯓ★

The last topic leads me to this one: the heart. During the series, we constantly see the narrative of the "corruption by dark magic", the "it will consume you inside", and at some point the heart is used as the main corrupted "element", let's say, which is already symbolic enough for me to think about. BUT WAIT!

Not only Viren was corrupted by dark magic, which means his heart was taken, but it was his heart that "saved" Katolis. That old heart, broken by the idea of losing his child, broken by his wife reaction to his use of dark magic, and then consumed by it, stopped by it more than once, who was used in a spell made not anymore by the High Mage Viren, but by the humbled servent of the kingdom.

And more: Soren wanted him to take his heart. In his place, Viren decided to take his own, even though he had to use dark magic again, even if he would die doing it.

This is why it makes sense to me he did it again. This time, he wasn't doing it for him, he was doing it for his son, like he did before. In the beginning, he used dark magic to save his son, and in his last moments, he did it for his son once again, and the way this was so beautifully built trough the narrative makes me actually feel butterflies in my stomach and scream cry throw up.

I love this FUCKING show so much.

∘₊✧────────────────────────✧₊∘

That was my super-freaky-super-long analysis of a fictional character. If you read all of this... Go get a life. JK, I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know what you think! ᯓ★

[imthepunchlord]

God, I REALLY hope Juleka wins the Butterfly poll when it’s time for it - she’s the only one out of ALL the girls whose main color is actually Violet (as opposed to Pink or Indigo), and I feel like her character development wasn’t handled as well as it could’ve been (NONE of the character arcs were, but she sticks out to me in that she’s one of the more recurring supporting characters due to being Luka’s sister yet is simultaneously forgotten by both the canon show and the fandom in how things would affect HER SPECIFICALLY instead of adjacently through the people around her). I also feel like she would be a good match with whatever you’re going to solidify for Bugettes!Nooroo based on the tiny hints you’ve teased about him, both in itself and compared to Roaar, with whom I feel there were existing avenues for it to work but could’ve been sold to us much better in-show. Plus, I’d really just like to see her in a hero suit that’s actually purple; it still bugs me personally that PURPLE Tigress is far more magenta in actuality, almost red even, and very much like REFLEKTA’S main color at that.

Yeah we will see, as ultimately it'll come down to how the polls go, and I know Marinette and Rose have also gotten mentioned for Butterfly.

Juleka will also appear in the poll for Mantis, as Indigo is that in between blue and violet. So it's all kinda up in the air on how it'll go.

I also do agree. Juleka is one of the classmates that does stand out to me in her potential, and yeah it's butchered. So badly. This is primarily on the writers, but one of the things I dislike about Luka is the factor that, for the Couffaines, he's the priority. You could cut out Juleka and you wouldn't miss much. Like, the worst aspect is learning Jagged is their dad, but it was more Jagged and Luka's story than Jagged with both kids. Like, what was the point of making them both his kids when only kid really got priority in this revelation?

And yeah... Juleka with Tiger isn't really my go to pick either. I get her whole thing is trying to find her voice, to be heard and stand out. And with a kwami named Roaar, that does technically work off that agenda, but the power is One Punch Man vs doing something tied to vocals or sound. Which kinda makes the kwami's name a little random (honestly all Zodiac kwamis have really strange names that don't relate to their powers or themes).

The other odd detail is that, when you think of felines that are about roaring, tigers aren't what immediately come to mind, it's the lion. They roar to establish territory, to be heard and say "I'm here!", unless Roaar is meant to be a sort of mix of a tiger and lion? As she doesn't have a body covered in stripes?

I know that, supposedly, there's a Lion Miraculous coming, but it's not official yet.

Either way, tigers I more associate with hunting, stealthy ambush. Not really speaking out. I'll give it, tigers can be tied to leadership which does involve being heard, but it's more military leadership. They're more tied to war, aggression, and strength.

As for the kwami, to me, Roaar came off a bit of a bully. Which maybe Juleka just needs that tough love/push to speak up, but I personally didn't really care for their interactions. Though I still say Mullo and Mylene were the worst paired characters out of all kwamis and humans.

And yeah, Roaar visually doesn't really match with Juleka.

Technically, she matches with Cat the most.

Her main color is black, with bits of purple and green.

While Plagg is meant to be a black cat, there are times he's purple. And of course he has them big green eyes.

I could also see Juleka visually working with Kaalki. I see a hue of purple in her gray, and there is the green eyes to work off as well.

There's also the intrigue that Juleka wants to be a model and Kaalki expects someone famous or wealthy, getting a holder who isn't but wants to be, Kaalki would have to work with them to get them to where they both want Juleka to be; though I do see them butting heads a bit as it's pairing two of high and low status, but that could be fun. Plus, there's the pun potential of Juleka learning to be a show pony with Kaalki's help (she could've also called herself Knightmare).

And yeah, with Butterfly, Juleka could've done well. You do have to communicate with others, so Juleka would have to work at talking with others, to express her thoughts and to be heard, and there's some pressure to be taken off as it's more long range communication vs close, but the option is there for close range communication whenever Juleka is ready for it. And Nooroo would be a gentle and patient guide.

We'll have to see if it happens though.

[aragarna]

Zorro Vive

And vive bien!

So, I've finished Season 1 of the new Zorro show (available through Amazon in the US and most Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries), and I really enjoyed it!

Without spoilers, I'd say that its main qualities are that it's fun and earnest and more cosmopolite in its retailing of the old story. It doesn't take itself too seriously, there's plenty of little homages to previous adaptations. There's many interesting and well-developed characters - of all genders and ethnicities.

It's (literally) colorful, with a comic/pulp feel that suits it well. There's been a true care brought to the action scenes, and OMG the night scenes are damn well lit. It's rare enough nowadays so points for that. Generally, the show is quite beautiful.

More spoilery thoughts under the cut.

I honestly wasn't sure what to expect from a new show. It's always hard to bring new canon to something so established and so iconic. And even though the Disney show is *not* the original canon, for a lot of people, it is.

But as a principle, same as for book adaptations or remakes, I'm not opposed to variations or changes. As long as they're good changes.

And I have to say, the vast majority of the changes in the new Zorro show, to me, were actually good changes, or necessary improvements for today's audience.

The most obvious is giving back a real voice to the Natives and not sugarcoating the colonization aspect. There's tension there. Natives are angry. But as years passed, people born there consider themselves "true Californians". Natives aren't just background characters or peons anymore. They're a driving plot force. They're shown in their own environment, with their own rites (I don't know enough about Natives of this area to know how accurate it is, but it felt a lot more authentic and respectful to me than other versions).

I do like the idea that the Zorro character comes from the Native culture, and that it's been passed on from one person to the next. Though it also brings my one big issue with the show: Diego becoming Zorro reads a lot like "a white dude steals a Native heritage." And yes, it's symbolic, and yes the fox spirit chose him, Diego didn't pick him, but still. Given that the audience is meant to support Diego (who really is a sweet guy!), that the narrative keeps showing us that Nah-Lin is wrong and should accept it, given the colonization context of that story, it's sitting a bit wrong with me.

This aside, I do like the exploration of revenge vs. justice, violence vs. a more measured response, in the face of adversity. When a few months back, the tagline "revenge is personal, justice is for all" appeared on the first poster, I wasn't sure what to think. I don't like revenge-driven characters. It's cliché and wrong. But the fact that the show precisely explored that, both with Diego and Nah-Lin, was actually quite interesting.

Diego, as I said, is a decent guy. A sweet boy really, vaguely immature originally but having to mature really fast, as the death of his father, the business of the rancho, the Zorro thing and Lolita's wedding are all dropping on him at once. Miguel Bernardeau is a clear departure from most of the previous Zorros, who were played by older actors, giving a more "adult" vibe to the character, but given he's supposed to be fresh out of college and out of his element, Bernardeau's more juvenile features fit the character well.

Nah-Lin is a lot angrier, and while in the context of the story, she's shown to be going at it the wrong way, all that anger *is* justified, and not something that can just be brushed off. Peace can't come easy when you anger people that way.

And you know who else I really liked? That damn Capitan Monasterio! Who would have thought LOL No, but seriously. Not sure why they named him that way. He was actually more of a Sergeant Garcia (or Mendoza from the 1990 show) than a Monastario. Obviously without the comic relief and cutely incompetent side of the character, but as the character who is a decent guy stuck between a rock and a hard place, serving a tyrannic boss and chasing a heroic outlaw that he may not hate that much.

I also really liked what they did with Lolita. An opinionated young lady that throws away all the corseting conventions of her time is always very relatable to me. Also, I just love her fashion sense. I wasn't sure what they were going to do with that impossible love triangle (I thought for a long time the wedding wouldn't actually happen). I wouldn't have thought they'd have Lolita figure it out, but I'm glad she did.

I'm glad they kept Bernardo, the mute confident. And I love Mei, too. The dynamic between the three of them (with Diego) is great!

Also, it's great to finally have a Spanish-speaking production, and have the characters speaking in Spanish, instead of having American actors put on fake accents.

I may have a couple of minor complains: namely that I didn't care about Samael nor Alejandro's first love. Not sure planting so early something that they're keeping for S2 is a right move. Feels like a waste of screentime. Also, I'm not particularly found of secret societies trying to rule the world, but it seems to be mandatory to any Zorro story... And the finale episode didn't actually wrap up that many plotlines - every major villain escaped! So that kinda made it look like Zorro didn't accomplish much, apart from breaking Lolita's heart, and his. But none of this prevented me from having a good time watching the show. I just really hope there'll be a S2 cause it'd be a shame to leave things there!

How about you guys? What did you think of it?

[fortheloveofarchons]

Been playing Love and Deepspace for the past few days and here's my take on this.....

Content warning though, it's gonna be a long post! And this is just coming from someone who only played the game a few days ago so this is just my first impression!

Let me just say this, algorithm...

It's your fault for making me download the game.

You knew I like hot attractive fictional men. You knew I like bratty boyfailures. You knew I like older, stoic yet kind men. You knew I like mysterious softboys.

YOU KNEW.

So you bombarded me with L&DS content on my socials, my home, my walls, and even my grass!!! I won't forgive you for dragging me into another gacha hole, especially when you knew that I promise myself to never spend a dime on any of these games!!! (I'm an f2p player)

Anyways-- Here's my take on this game as a newbie.

The VAs and character designs?

Amazing. I love the boys (including Caleb) and the MC customisation is really detailed. Though, I wish we could have short hair MC permanently but I'm glad we get to experience it on photoshoots. I do wish we get to explore more of the boys on the main plot cause it feels a bit underwhelming. Then again I just finished chapter 3 so we'll see!

I love the dates and the playtime mode since it gives us time to get closer to the boys and understand more about their past and their characteristics. (I'm convinced the claw machine gacha is so random cause one day Xavier won a lot and the next it was Zayne)

I will say tho for now I feel like Rafayel is more developed and interesting compared to the other two. I like Zayne in terms of how much he really cares about his patients and how he was closer to MC back then, but I wish we get more of him soon. For Xavier he's such a mystique as well and I really like him too! Overall, I wish we get more events dedicated to Zayne and Xavier.

The fluidity of the animation and graphics?

Really good considering that I'm playing it on mobile, I set it to medium and its runs pretty smoothly without any low pixelated quality. I love how detailed the backgrounds and designs are, and I really love some of the cinematic shots the developers added during the date scenes. I can't wait to pull for more dates for the characters!

Combat wise?

It's fine for now ,and I really appreciate the proceed 10x button when farming for materuals considering that I'm more of a casual player rather than a combat one.

Though I'm still frustrated that one of the requirements of getting 3 stars for extra diamonds would be to win the combat within 90 secs and I'm like-- boy if that dragon didn't have that short animation I would've gotten it faster!!! If it had been 120 secs I would have gotten it easier... I know that the whole combat system will get a bit complicated the more you ascend your hunter level so I'll just farm for materials just to prepare the inevitable.

Also I wish there were more ways to gain more exps for your hunter level instead of doing the daily tasks. Imagine you are about to head to the next chapter get some main content and yet you can't bc your hunter level is just two level away so you have to wait for the next day...

The plot?

I would say its okay for now since I'm about to head to chapter 4 and even though I finished chapter 3 it still feels like the beginning. The worldbuilding is really interesting but I'm still a bit confused on some aspects of the story. Overall, I can't wait to finally see Caleb on screen (I already saw him on Youtube and I wish he's playable he's so pretty sksksksks)

Edit: I just finished chapter 4.... what in the sweet metaflux world... CALEEEBBBBBB!!!!!

So yeah this is my impression on the game as someone who only joined after a few days! I hope to see more contents for the boys and I can't wait for more chapters (I spoiled myself at chapter 4 and my god... I want Caleb to be playable plzzzzz)

I'm aware that as a newbie my opinions are probably flawed considering that it's barely even a week since I joined, I would love to hear some advices from you guys just so I can prepare myself in terms of combat and to understand more about the characters if I missed anything about them!

[bobbydagen24]

While I love World Tour something that's always Bugged me is The Hickory's Betrayal plot point.

Hickory is a stranger who they meet at a convenient time who seemingly sticks his neck out to help our main characters for no Reason other than Moral Goodness

and who Branch warns Poppy about Trusting but who she chooses to trust anyway and after a Journey where some trust is built up between the characters

Hickory is eventually Revealed to be a Bounty Hunter who was just getting close to them so he could find out where they had their string so he could give it to Barb

all in all not a bad plot point in the story personally it caught me by surprise the first time I saw it Hickory is a fairly likable character that from what I can understand most of the audience Grew fond of

and Poppy and even Branch Deffo built up a little bit of trust and maybe even friendship with him in the movie making his betrayal work on pretty much every level

a Twist needs to to work except the problem is the movie Really undersells it

after his betrayal he leaves the movie and is only seen again briefly at the end and its a little comedic scene where he proudly remarks about having taught Poppy the trick with using sweets as ear plugs.

my main problem is Poppy having no Real Reaction to his Betrayal as Hickory's turn is done seemingly just to get Poppy caught by Barb and that's it narrative wise

when I feel it should have been more of a turning point for Poppy's character as she's a overly trusting person

who in the last movie got betrayed by someone she trusted very much which Hurt her a great Deal.

and Despite warnings from Branch about Trusting Hickory she still chooses to keep being a trusting person only to get betrayed again

this should have a way bigger Reaction from her even tho she didn't know Hickory all that long she was clearly starting to view him as a friend

and she went out on a whim by trusting him but she got Burned yet again this should have either made her furious or emotionally Devastated her

instead she has very little Reaction to it and it Really didn't seem to at all change her character as in TBT she's back to being overly trusting such as

instantly taking Brozone's sides when Branch is mad at them going out of her way to make excuses for these total strangers

and comforting Crimp and trusting her as soon as she sees her Despite her being a willing accomplice in torturing her boyfriends Brother.

Hickory's Betrayal should have been used as a way to Develop Poppy into a more cautious person less Trusting person

that way the movie wouldn't literally be throwing away this likable character simply because they needed a way for Poppy to be captured for the climax

and his Betrayal would have a legit character Growth purpose so I feel Poppy should be more emotionally impacted by his turn

and he shouldn't just leave the movie after this he should Remain by Barbs side as a Remorseless Henchmen who is nothing but cold to Poppy when she tries to ask him how he could do this.

and Ideally the movies wouldn't just forget about this and Poppy would be a little more cautious when Trusting strangers in future movies

as Poppy's character Development seems to be undone in every movie making it very surface level tbh

so yeah Hickory's Betrayal has always Bothered me from a plot perspective for this Reason as he's an example of a Good Twist Villain in the way he's set up

( unlike someone else who I will be making a post on very soon ) but like I said the movie Really underplays this aspect and it makes it feel very pointless tbh

as there's a million other ways they could have had Poppy get caught by Barb along with the string without the Hickory Twist.

[alexandraisyes]

how much am i aloud to know about the Hunger Games AU :glancescutely:

TEE FUCKING HEE BITCH BUCKLE UP

And y'all this is gonna be so long but this is an AU I've been working on with Turbo for *months*. We love our TSBS hunger games.

So these are the tributes, this is just a sketch obviously

And here are the mentors, they haven't been sketched yet but have heights

And a few important people from the capitol (there will probably be a few more added later on as we work on developing the plot some more).

Each character will have several refs for the different parts of the story.

Information about the tributes. "Group" is the age group for the Games. In this world the age of maturity is 17, and once you are 17 you are considered an adult in the eyes of the law. Teens are between 12-16, Young Adults are 17-21, and just like in the States while they are adults there are a few restrictions on what all they can do, and certain jobs they can't work until they are 22. Adult is 22-29, and really the only difference between Y.Adult and Adult is that there's certain jobs you can't do when you're below 22 because young people aren't expendable like that according to this government. Elder is the last age group for the games, 30-35, and once you've crossed 35 you are no longer applicable for the Games.

(Poleart is supposed to say polearm)

Information about the Mentors. Then vs Now is how old they were when they won their games, and how old they are in the current narrative.

Tributes are selected by one female and one male tribute, in the lists for the tributes it says which group they represent in that aspect too. The government doesn't care what your pronouns are, they just care about if you're AFAB or AMAB because of tradition. The single exception is Harvest, who is lying about being AFAB and he was so vicious at the reaping about being with Blood that they didn't even bother to question it for the sake of their fingers.

We have done entire descriptions for the past arenas, but there's so much that I'm not gonna include here. Maybe in a separate post? Or when I open up a blog specifically for this AU since it's so convoluted. For an example of how long the arena descriptions are it's 5000 words. I will give you the description of the arena design for the one they're in during the story though.

72nd Annual Hunger Games Victor: Theme: **Apocalypse Forest** A post-apocalyptic wilderness where nature has reclaimed the remnants of civilization, turning it into a sprawling forest of tangled vegetation and decaying ruins. Set in the aftermath of a catastrophic event, such as a nuclear war or environmental collapse, this arena presents tributes with a harrowing landscape where survival is a constant struggle against both the elements and the remnants of humanity's downfall. The once-thriving cityscape has been engulfed by dense foliage, with skyscrapers now reduced to crumbling ruins and highways choked with overgrown vegetation. Tributes must navigate through the twisted remnants of urban infrastructure, facing hazards such as collapsed buildings, hidden traps, and radiation hotspots. The forest itself is a tangled maze of towering trees, dense undergrowth, and winding creeks, where tributes must contend with natural hazards such as toxic flora, mutated wildlife, and unpredictable weather patterns. The air is thick with the scent of decay, and the eerie silence is broken only by the distant cries of scavenging creatures and the creaking of rusted metal. Despite the desolation, pockets of life still exist within the forest, including desperate survivors, feral mutants, and rival factions vying for control. Tributes must navigate this hostile environment while also avoiding conflicts with other survivors, scavenging for resources, and deciphering the secrets of the apocalypse that brought about the forest's transformation.

There are ships, but they're not really a huge focus of the story. The main ones are surprise surprise, Blood/Sun/Harvest. If you've read my writing you should have expected this. There are a few background ships as well.

Unlike the uh canon Hunger Games, we're gonna give everyone the chance to talk to each other, hang out etc. Form alliances, friends, and rivalries. Instead of it all happening in three days before the arena, they get a whole month of training and publicity. Some parts of the story may be grueling for that reason, since we really want to give perspectives on all of the tributes. We're probably going to do a two or three-parter fic, before the games. The games. After the games.

We already know who dies, how they die, who lives, and how they live the rest of their lives after the games.

Oh yeah this is a bio-organic AU. Some of the characters are partially mechanical, like most of the celestial-based ones, but the rest are purely organic. The society is a mix of cyborgs, anthropomorphic animals, and humans.

Here's a few snippets of the plot that we have planned.

Sun and Moon are an oddity. Never has there been a set of (actual) siblings in the games before. Moon tried to tell Sun it would be okay when his name was pulled, and made sure to put on a brave face for the sake of Sun. He knew there was a 1/24 chance of him surviving the games. That was a risk he was willing to take. He would come back to Sun. You can only imagine the way his blood ran cold when they then pulled Sun's name and there was nothing he could do about it. He swore to himself he would find a way to get them free so he didn't have to see his little brother die in his arms. When Blood's name was pulled Harvest immediately pitched a fit. Blood had to pull him off of him so he could go up to the stage (and got bit for his futile effort). The second the female tribute was drawn Harvest volunteered for tribute. No one was going to kill his best friend unless it was him, thank you very fucking much. The guards tried to protest since he was coming from the male group, but they backed off after one almost lost a hand to sharp teeth. Ronty and Frank were from the same district but didn't know each other until they were both pulled for the games. Golden, Freddy's mentor, is his father. Freddy has two younger brothers who aren't old enough for the games yet. Foxy and Roxanne both have kids they need to win the games for to get back to. The Creator is the President.