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thanksjro · 4 years ago

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Dark Cybertron Chapter 11: The Word “Logic” Doesn’t Even Mean Anything Anymore

Our issue opens up with a flashback to establish some things. 

Because despite the six literal issues of prelude, and all the ham-fisted exposition we’ve gotten throughout the “Dark Cybertron” event, we still don’t have all the information we need to understand what the hell’s happening.

I have a feeling this won’t quite cut the mustard, either.

Anyway, back during the events of MTMTE #1, when Rodimus was making his call to action to his fellow Cybertronians (and by “Cybertronians” I, of course, mean “Autobots”, because prejudice is a hard habit to kick, even for the best of us) Brainstorm was doing science on Hardhead. He was doing this science to make sure that the Dead Universe hadn’t killed him without him realizing. This is a very common issue in the world of IDW2005 Transformers, considering that zombies are a part of canon, so it’s just best to be sure. Nova Prime’s lifeless body sits in the corner like the world’s worst coffee table book.

This will take some explaining, because this is Phase One related.

In Spotlight: Sideswipe, Nova Prime beefed it, except he didn’t, because his “essence” returned to the Dead Universe. This is because he was chosen by the Dead Universe to enact its will on the other, much cooler, Not-Dead Universe. In short, he’s a weird robot zombie-ghost with a save point in the Dead Universe.

Brainstorm has his corpse in his lab to make sure this bastard is true and proper dead, or that the body he left behind is at least. That, in combination with Hardhead proving to be very much alive, means that today can be counted as a win for everyone! The “Alive-People-Counter” machine proves it!

…This is why we can’t have nice things.

Brainstorm being undead does have some precedence within the narrative, given what happened in MTMTE #3.

Though I can’t help but wonder what the guy’s been doing for the last year and a half, that he didn’t notice being dead, when his soul is a large, glowing orb with physical presence. I dunno, he just seems like the sort of guy to keep up to date on that sort of thing, if only for scientific purposes.

In the present day, in the beautiful city of Iacon, everything’s gone to shit, and Whirl’s gotten hot for some reason, as billions of Ammonites fall out of the sky.

Who friggin’ drew this-

I should’ve known.

Up on the Lost Light, Ultra Magnus is breaking out the fancy swears, as a… tornado, I guess, of Ammonites hits the underside of the ship. Bumblebee wants to evacuate the friggin’ planet- which, I don’t know if you know this, would be a little difficult to do, even with a ship the size of NYC. Unfortunately, that’s not gonna fly, however, because all the stars in the sky are blue-shifting.

Wikipedia tells me that this is probably a bad thing, and Perceptor agrees, calling it “the end of everything.”

Over in Shockwave’s Lair of Villainy and Magical Bullshit, everyone’s favorite purple science gremlin has stabbed a “time drive” into his chest. Galvatron is laying dead on the floor in the foreground, but this isn’t about him. Shockwave orders Jhiaxus to activate the time drive, I guess because he doesn’t have long enough arms to do it himself. Jhiaxus warns Shockwave to be mindful, lest he lose himself in time, and then we get a return to a Roberts writing staple that we haven’t seen in quite a while.

Waxing poetic on the nature of time- this time, in a visual medium!

Awful lot of fixating on your ritualistic amputations there, Shocky-boy. I suppose this is ONE way to try to cope with a lack of control in your life.

Of course, to those on the outside of Shockwave’s brain, this doesn’t look nearly as impressive- it actually just looks like him screaming really loud at the ceiling. Bludgeon isn’t sure that this course of action is a healthy one to take, but Jhiaxus is too busy being sapiosexual to worry about that.

I-

Sure. I’m not even going to bother trying to understand this anymore.

Jhiaxus orders Monstructor to go keep the Autobots away from Shockwave.

Also, Galvatron isn’t dead. Good for him, I guess.

Over inside Metroplex, Windblade’s face seems to be stuck in the generic “I am a nice, nonthreatening female character who is also pretty” position, as Ultra Magnus tells her that the universe is ending. Chromia watches in the background as this happens, likely wondering if being relevant in modern media again is worth this bullshit.

Hearing that Bumblebee plans to take the fight to Shockwave is enough to get Metroplex back on his feet, which is good, because I don’t think we have a lot of time to convince the guy to do anything- this event ends next issue.

As Metroplex windmills his arms through swarms of Ammonites, the Lost Light lands, and Bumblebee, Megatron, and all their experts disembark. Bumblebee makes an unsolicited comment about Megatron’s body. They go to meet Soundwave, who isn’t terribly thrilled with Megatron having become all buddy-buddy with Bumblebee. Megatron mentions that the Decepticons are going to have to rethink their strategy once this is all over, with the implication being that they’re going to- gasp- work together with the Autobots.

Then Starscream shows up with Metalhawk, Skywarp, Rattrap, Waspinator, and Scoop for some fucking reason, in tow. Skywarp is going to teleport everyone into Shockwave’s Bastardization of the Concept of Science House, even though he pretty clearly isn’t feeling too well. What a guy.

Starscream and Megatron have a bit of banter that won’t set your hair on end with how awful they are to one another, Metalhawk tries to apologize for attempting to kill Bumblebee, and we really don’t have time for this shit right now. The narrative knows this, because it shifts to focus on Prowl and the Constructicons. Things are looking real rough just about everywhere, and it’s coming down to the wire, so they gotta do the thing.

The thing Prowl really doesn’t want to do.

The thing he said that he wouldn’t do again.

So anyway, they form Devastator.

As Monstructor gets ready to get punched in the face by a bunch of construction workers and a cop, everyone down below is firing off laser blasts and gearing up for a teleporting adventure. However, there’s a small problem- there are too many people to teleport! Oh no! The only solution is for Soundwave and his cassettes, Scoop, Getaway and-

Excuse me, Hook?

Hook, my dude? What the fuck do you think you’re doing? You’re supposed to be a leg right now, motherfucker, why are you here? GO HOME, HOOK.

Anyway, I’m really glad we wasted the time establishing that Soundwave and his band of merry little men were coming along on this trip, only for them to not come along after all. Love that shit.

I don’t actually love that shit. I’m sorry for lying.

With the load lightened, Skywarp teleports the rest of the gang to where they need to be, and Waspinator is immediately stabbed with a massive raging poisoning sword of doom. Bludgeon’s here to greet everyone, and Metalhawk is gonna try his damnedest to get the guy to come around to their side.

You remember when Metalhawk did things like connive, and scheme, and actually had more depth than a sidewalk puddle? Because I remember. Now he’s just... Beast Wars Silverbolt, but he’s not even attempting to be charming. I bet he wouldn’t even call his evil girlfriend “my soul’s delight.” Lame.

Bumblebee, Megatron, and friends book it for Shockwave, while Magnus and Skids get ready to kick some ass. Brainstorm isn’t feeling so hot, but this isn’t about him.

Starscream is having a minor crisis over the fact that Scoop stayed behind in a literal war zone for Starscream’s sake. I dunno that he did it specifically for Starscream, but Starscream seems pretty convinced that he did, and who am I to argue with the leader of a whole friggin’ planet?

The gang makes it to Jhiaxus’ ship, where they find-

I swear to god, if there’s not a fucking explanation for what the shit is happening right here I’m going to scream.

…So anyway, Metalhawk and Jhiaxus start beating each other up, Starscream gets bent out of shape by Jhiaxus’ trash talk, and we get an explanation for his new look.

Which, y’know, thank fucking god.

Jhiaxus has new reactive armor, which takes anything thrown at him and adapts it to his own body for personal use, which feels like some Grade-A Kids Playing Pretend bullshit, but WHATEVER.

While this is going on, Megatron and Bumblebee have run into the center of Shockwave’s Laboratory of Morally-Abhorrent Mystical Buffoonery Masquerading as the Scientific Method. Dreadwing tries to make a case for self-defense of his property, but unfortunately he doesn’t understand how property rights work, and gets blasted for his troubles. Galvatron reveals himself to be alive to Megatron, who immediately grabs the dude by the throat.

Galvatron’s feeling pretty down about having inadvertently helped end the universe, and is throwing himself a little pity party. Megatron’s not having it, however, tossing the man into the ground and revving up to fusion-cannon him to death. Bumblebee stops him, for some reason, and then starts rambling, I guess STILL trying to be Optimus Prime 2.0.

Bumblebee, you put bombs in people’s heads to make them fall into line. You don’t get to talk to Captain Warlord about moral nuance. And weren’t you also berating Metalhawk for trying this same thing not five minutes ago?

Bumblebee’s words reach Megatron, and instead of annihilating Galvatron, he offers the dude a hand up.

Then Bumblebee gets shot and dies, while Shockwave just… stares menacingly, I guess.

Cool.

The death of his very best friend in the whole wide world sends Megatron into a rage, and he punches Shockwave in the face. This doesn’t really faze him much though, as he bats Megatron across the fucking room like he’s made of papier-mâché and dreams, going on about how the universe will save Cybertron by being its power source “in an endless forever.”

Shockwave, you’re a man of science. You ought to know that “forever” as a concept, doesn’t fucking WORK scientifically. It’s nonsense. You’re nonsense, and I hate you.

Back with the Bludgeon Ass-Kicking Squad, Brainstorm’s having a bad time, while everyone else sort of awkwardly poses. Skids gets stabbed. Skids falls down. Brainstorm falls down. Ultra Magnus is concerned, but he’s too busy not being stabbed to help anyone.

Brainstorm’s in a lot of pain, and then a hand bursts out of his chest and-

GODDAMMIT JAMES.

Fucking- Team -Imus burst out of the Dead Universe from Brainstorm, who I will remind you, is undead thanks to Dead Universe lightning bullshit, making him a link between it and the much cooler Not-Dead Universe. Everyone is posing, even Cyclonus, who absolutely should think that sort of thing is beneath him, but whatever.

That’s the end of the issue. Go home.

#transformers #jro #jro punches me in the face #dark cybertron #issue 11 #rid #exrid #issue 27 #maccadam #Hannzreads #overthinking about robots #incoming analysis #text post #long post #comic script writing

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lettheladylead · 4 years ago

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avoid the unhappy ending (ch7)

ships/characters: Goldie, Della, Scrooge/Goldie words (ch7): ~2100 summary: Goldie comes to town to see Scrooge. Instead, she somehow manages to run into literally everyone else. ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27108943/

[1 & 2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Chapter 7 under the cut:

Avoiding Beakley was a little more difficult than anticipated when they were on the same floor of the same house. In retrospect, Goldie realized that Bentina probably knew she was there. How could she not? The red triplet knew a lot of things he couldn’t have known unless the kids were texting each other all afternoon and surely she was on some kind of text chain.

Eh. If she knew, Goldie would probably be the hunt of the day. Instead she was able to wander about freely, making her way towards the garage where Scrooge kept a lot of his treasures. Everytime she was there it seemed to be missing things that were there before. But at least there were always new trinkets to look at!

She looked around as she stepped down the hallway, taking in all the photos and paintings lining the walls. Scrooge was so narcissistic. How many times could someone commission their own face before getting tired? And did he pose for all of them? Absolutely ridiculous.

A certain painting caught her eye and Goldie paused in her walk to really take a look at it. She stepped closer and brought a hand up to the image, feeling a nostalgic warmth in her chest as she rubbed her finger along the edge of his face.

It was Scrooge back in the Klondike - probably only a few years after they’d first met. Not too different from the photo she kept in her wallet.

He was very handsome back then. She hated to admit how much it struck her, that underneath all that dirt and grime and sour roughness he had the cutest face she’d ever seen - but Goldie was taken the first moment she saw him. It didn’t stop her from drugging and robbing him, sure, but he was the only sourdough that made her hesitate.

It’d been a few minutes before Goldie realized she was just standing there, staring at this painting and reminiscing like an old fool. She blushed, glad no one was around to see, and continued on her journey down the hall.

This house had so many distractions. No wonder Scrooge just wandered around, lost in his memories all the time. Her place was kept much neater - things she wanted to remember were kept in a box or her wallet so she would have to seek them out if she wanted to reminisce. Just another in a long list of reasons why she didn’t like being here for too long.

The door ahead of her was open wide and Goldie could clearly hear the sound of someone struggling with...something. It didn’t sound like Scrooge, but she wasn’t sure who it was.

A few steps forward, a turn around the corner, and three steps down the stairs and Goldie was inside the cramped little room. There weren’t as many treasures in it as last time - maybe Scrooge moved them somewhere else? - but directly in her line of sight was a duck she hadn’t seen in a long time trying to move a heavy-looking box by pushing it with her back.

Goldie smirked, feeling a sparkle to her eyes that she was very embarrassed about. Before Louie, she’d never gotten attached to any of Scrooge’s kids. He specifically asked her not to, several times, because he didn’t want her hurting them. A painful insinuation, but he was right. She would’ve treated them just the same as him, and kids can’t handle that kind of drama.

That being said, she always liked Donald and Della. They were funny, they were different, and they were very annoying. But in a good way! Donald was whiny and loved to complain about his family. Della was crazy and high-flying and always took her jokes too far. Goldie didn’t imagine they thought very highly of her, considering the way she treated their uncle. But despite their lack of closeness, Della confided in Goldie when she first realized she was pregnant.

“You’ve known Uncle Scrooge longer than anyone,” she’d said quietly. “...do you think he’ll be mad? Disappointed?”

Goldie had barely known what to say to her then, mostly feeling bad that her mother wasn’t around to help in this kind of situation (or any other adult women, really). She knew what she would’ve done herself and what she would’ve said to the girls she used to work with back at the saloon. But this was different. This girl wasn’t her friend and wasn’t scared of motherhood - she was just entering unfamiliar territory.

“He’ll be more excited than you’ve ever seen him, trust me.”

Shaking off another spell of nostalgia, Goldie hurried over to help the younger duck with the big box in her hands, tugging at it while she pushed. Her shoulder stung at the pressure, but she wanted to make a fun entrance.

“Hey, thanks!” Della said, without looking back.

Goldie wondered who she thought was helping her. “No problem, Fly Girl.”

“Heh,” Della stopped for a second. “No one’s called me that since -”

She stopped and finally turned, taking in the smirking face staring right at her. Her fingers gripped at the top of the box tightly and her eyes started to sparkle. And then they stopped sparkling and she glared. And then they sparkled again.

Goldie raised an eyebrow. Internal dilemma?

“Aunt Goldie!” Della yelped, lifting herself over the box and slamming into Goldie - knocking them both to the ground.

Goldie took the brunt of the impact, letting out a loud OOF! as Della squeezed her tight and made her poor shoulder flare up. She didn’t get a chance to hug back before the younger duck pulled away and stood back up, her metal leg clanging on the hard floor.

“Sorry, sorry,” Della said softly, standing back up. “What’s up? What’re you doing here? What are you stealing?”

Goldie sat up straight, taking a moment to stare at Della’s leg. She knew she’d returned, but no one had really shared any details. This seemed like one of those big details that deserved to be shared, but maybe everyone was just used to it already. She started to push herself up when Della leaned over and helped her stand.

“Hey, hey,” Goldie brushed her hands off. “I’m not that old just yet.”

Della laughed and pulled her hands back. “Oh no, of course not! You’re a million years old, but somehow younger looking than you were before I disappeared.”

“Hilarious.” She crossed her arms over her chest, not really offended. “You sound exactly like one of your kids.”

That immediately brought a sparkle to Della’s eyes. “Yeah? That’s what Donald says, too!” She leaned on the box and smiled. “And Uncle Scrooge.”

Goldie smiled despite herself and Della felt a warm nostalgia brush over her. “So are you here to see Scrooge? I’m kind of glad you guys are still doing this whatever-it-is-you’re-doing thing. So many things changed while I was gone, it's nice to have some consistency!”

Ignoring the question, Goldie leaned against the shelf behind her. “I didn’t come around too much while you were away. Scrooge was always so depressed, it wasn’t any fun to tease him.”

Della grimaced and sighed, turning away. “...yeah. So I’ve heard.”

There was an awkward silence for a few moments that Goldie fully acknowledged was her own fault. She bit the inside of her cheek and cleared her throat. “Well, um. Yes, I guess we’re still doing whatever this is.”

“No labels, yet?” Della’s mood did a 180. “But you didn’t object when I called you Aunt Goldie this time! What’s that about?”

Goldie scoffed. “I was a little distracted by you plowing me into the ground.”

Della just smiled bigger. “Still not objecting!”

Goldie didn’t look at her and opted to focus on playing with her hair. She hummed. “...I’ve never really minded it that much. It’s cute.”

“Do the kids call you Aunt?” She lifted herself up, sitting fully on top of the box. “You said I sound like them. You’ve spent time with them, then?”

“Don’t get too excited.” Goldie pushed herself off the shelf, standing up straight and stretching her arms. “I spent a day with Sharp-, er, with...ah, Louie. But not the others.” The name felt foreign on her tongue.

Della excitedly tapped the box lid. “Were you going to call him Sharpie?” She laughed. “You’ve gotten a lot less creative with nicknames over the years.”

“I don’t know if Fly Girl is all that creative, either,” Goldie said with a smirk and walked closer to the box, leaning against the side of it.

There was a light clang as Della swung her legs back and forth. “No one appreciates my great names,” she said proudly. “The boys were supposed to have much cooler names! And they’re calling my Cloudslayer the Sunchaser? Like, what’s up with that?”

“What were those names?”

“Jet, Turbo, and Rebel!”

Goldie silently blinked at her. “Um…yeah. Fantastic names.”

“Thanks!” Della smiled brightly, still not accustomed to sarcasm after being alone for so long. “Donald’s picks are just so old-fashioned.”

“Personally, I’m a fan of old fashioned.”

“Yeah, well, when you live through it, it makes sense to get attached!” Della laughed and swung her legs again.

The metal sound caught Goldie’s eye and she glanced down again, though this time Della took notice.

“You haven’t asked me about my leg yet.”

“I was trying to be polite,” Goldie said with a frown. “What happened?”

“Lost it on the moon,” she responded, looking off at nothing while she spoke. “It was the second most painful experience of my life, and I’m lucky I knew enough about robotics to build myself this sucker in only a few months. I don’t know how well I would’ve done if I wasn’t able to move around, y’know?” Della reached down and twisted off her prosthetic, holding it in front of her to point at different parts while she spoke. “This joint was the worst, took me almost two straight weeks to figure out what I was doing wrong. And now that I’m back, Gyro’s been offering to tweak the design, and he kind of owes me for the stupid licorice gum, but I like how I made it! And, of course, according to Junior Woodchuck Rule #42, something made right doesn’t need any tweaking. Though some upgrades might be cool.”

Goldie stared down at the metal limb and hummed. “I’m impressed. In all my years adventuring, I’ve never lost a limb, but I don’t know if I’d bounce back from that the way you did.”

“Yeah, well, I had to get back to my boys!” She twisted her leg back on and stretched it out. “You know how it is.”

“I really don’t,” Goldie said with an eye roll.

“Hmmm.” Della adjusted herself, moving her legs on top of the box and sitting on them. “Don’t you have anyone in particular you think about during life or death situations? That’s the feeling I had. That I couldn’t die ‘cause I had to get back to them no matter what.”

The blonde stared down, looking at the gray concrete of the floor and thinking. Of course there was a person - one particular person - who her mind drifted to when she thought about survival. But it wasn’t just about seeing him again...she was inspired by him and his ability to make it through anything thrown his way. He survived so much on his own and she struggled to accept when he started needing help. Della’s lovey dovey family monologue was just reminding her of how long it took her to adjust to Scrooge’s family suddenly being a part of his life.

She stood up straight and put a hand on her hips. “I don’t know if everyone can identify with that. But I’m glad it helped you come back in one piece.”

Della smiled, completely aware of the long pause Goldie took before answering. She always liked Goldie - didn’t trust her, would never fully trust her - but she liked her a lot. Even when she showed up just to ruin things or piss Scrooge off, there was always a little spark of warmth at the knowledge that she’d be back eventually.

“So…” Della tapped her hands against her thighs. “You never said why you’re here.”

“Right,” Goldie sighed and brushed some hair out of her face. “Looking for your uncle. Have you seen him?”

“As expected,” the younger duck responded with another bright smile. “Did you check his study?”

“His study?” Goldie frowned and thought about the path of her day. “Of course I...er…” Did she check his study? The most obvious place he could possibly be? “...right. Thanks.”

Della laughed again, patting Goldie on the back. “Don’t sweat it! And hey, let us know if you’re staying for dinner! I’m sure Mrs. Beakley will be happy to make you a plate!”

Goldie grimaced as she headed back out the door. “Oh, sure. She’d love nothing more.”

“Okay, great!” Della waved as the door closed again.

#scroldie #ducktales #goldie o'gilt #della duck #fic #fics #avoid the unhappy ending

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recurring-polynya · 4 years ago

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What are your thoughts on Bazz-B? He and Renji seemed to have developed a good rapport and I feel that they would’ve been good frenemies had be survived. I can imagine them exchanging fashion tips which would have interesting results!

I imagine that in another universe, they could have been friends, but I feel like the fact that Bazz grievously injured/ambiguously killed one of Renji’s best friends would put a big damper on that.

I really, really, really do not like the Sternritters. I don’t even like them as villains. Out of them, Bazz is probably the least objectionable, but I still don’t like him.

Here are a few thoughts on why, but I’m gonna put them under a cut, because that’s my policy when I say critical things about characters. If you like the Sternritters, I’m glad for you and please feel free to skip the rest of this post!

One of the major themes of Bleach has always been about moral ambiguity, that people are rarely pure heroes or villains. In the earliest episodes, Rukia warns Ichigo to kill Hollows from behind, to never try to glimpse the person they once were, advice that Ichigo roundly rejects as he’s constant turns enemies into friends/allies. This works really well at the beginning of the series and... less well each time we got through this.

My understanding is that Kubo’s original plan for Bleach ended after the Soul Society Arc, and that makes sense to me, because it seems so well plotted out to me, and then the subsequent arcs just seems to try to be recapturing the magic. The thing that is coolest to me about this arc is that the shinigami characters have real depth, and that our initial impressions of them are insufficient. The Gotei is going through an existential crisis, where an injustice (Rukia’s execution) is being prosecuted, and in addition, Aizen has laid a groundwork of mistrust and misinformation. You have characters like Renji, Kira, and Hinamori, who are torn between their orders and deep personal feelings. You have bystanders like Hisagi and Komamura, who don’t really have skin in the game, but feel a sense of unease about the way things are going. You have characters who seem sympathetic-- when Aizen comforts Hinamori that Renji won’t be fired, and the fact that Tousen seems to be someone who would be on the side of justice if only he had the full story, that turn out to be disingenuous. Then you have characters like Kenpachi, who, at least in the second half of the arc, is on Ichigo’s side, but not really for any noble reason, just because he likes Ichigo and also he wants an excuse to fight other captains. There’s Kurotsuchi, who is nominally on the side of the good guys, but is not, in fact, a good person. By the end of the arc, I feel like Kubo has done a really good job of presenting a diverse group of people who live in a flawed system and who were played by someone who took advantage of that. I have no objection at all to the idea that Ichigo considers many of the shinigami his friends afterward, including a very strong friendship with Renji, who is presented as a villain initially.

The Arrancar arc, is more of a mixed bag for me. I still think it mostly works. Arrancar are not humans. They follow Aizen, but in some ways, they are also his victims-- post-Arc, I don’t find myself begrudging any of the surviving Espada for having gone along with him. They are Hollows, and they come from a life of violence and anger and brutality. They have risen above that, which means different things to the various Espada. Harribel, Starkk and Nel are all sympathetic, even tragic characters. Nnoitra and Szyalapollo are monstrous, but in the way that terrible humans are monstrous. Grimmjow is an interesting character, because he falls somewhere in the middle.

I read a fair amount of GrimmIchi fic, because a) it often features Renruki as a side ship and b) there are a lot of really, really talented GrimmIchi writers, but I do not love the ship for it’s own sake, and it’s mainly for one reason: Grimmjow purposely hurt Ichigo’s friends in front of him, and I do not think that’s a thing Ichigo would take lightly. Now, one of the things that make GrimmIchi writers so good is that they are often willing to do the heavy lifting of examining Grimmjow’s brutality, and way Ichigo views the Hollow within himself (for some people, this is even one of the attractions of the pairing). We get a lot of canon scenes with Grimmjow in various situations-- when he backtalks Aizen, when he “rescues” Orihime from Loly and Menoly, when he tries to get her to heal Ichigo just so he can fight him again, when we see him willing to fight his fellow Espada. He’s a meaty character and there’s a lot to dig into. I would still, someday, like to see Ichigo say, “Hey Grimmjow, y’know, you badly hurt my friend Rukia and it messed me up a bunch and I am having trouble getting over it,” and for Grimmjow to have to deal with that. (Polynya, you say, didn’t Rukia kill one of Grimmjow’s Fraccion like 5 minutes earlier? Yes, she did, and whether Grimmjow would respond with “yeah, well, Rukia killed my friend and it hurt my feelings too!” vs. “yeah, well, Rukia killed my friend and you don’t see me crying about it!” are both really interesting ways you could take this)

ANYWAY, getting back to the Quincy. From our earliest introduction to Uryuu in the series, we know that Quincy ought to have a legitimate beef with Soul Society. For starters, there is their underlying philosophical difference: Quincy don’t think that the shinigami do enough to protect the Living World, and they have taken matters into their own hands. They want to see Hollows annihilated, rather than purified. Then, on top of that, the shinigami eradicated their people, and treated them like lab rats. You could spin a lot of gold out of this, but instead, we got the Thousand Year Blood War Arc.

The Quincy are, basically humans with powers, and yet they are extremely bloodthirsty and cruel. We see Bambietta killing people to blow off steam, they take glee in killing lesser opponents (both Hollow and shinigami), As Nodt tortures Byakuya rather than just killing him cleanly, Giselle takes over Bambietta’s body in a horrifying way. Yhwach chastises Yamamoto for having “gone soft”, and says “you used to be cooler when you were a murderer.” The Vandenreich isn’t about justice or improving the system, it’s just about revenge and power and proving racial superiority. Are y’all ready for the hottest take I have ever had? Here it is: The Bount Arc, which is bad and should feel bad, provided a more well-characterized and relatable set of villains than the Thousand Year Blood War Arc.

I mentioned earlier that out of all the Sternritter, Bazz is the best of a bad lot. He gets some good flashbacks and his story evokes both Renji and Rukia’s childhood relationship as well as Gin and Rangiku’s. He's shown hating Yhwach in his youth, but then it’s never really followed up on. Nothing about this works to make me like Bazz, though, it just makes me feel like Yhwach is terrible, a person who ruins lives in both big and small ways.

I honestly hate the scenes where Bazz and Renji banter. Up until this point of the story arc, we have been slammed over and over with how much worse the Quincy are than previous villains. They cause massive destruction, they maim and kill beloved characters. Then, halfway through the arc, Kubo suddenly tries to start walking this back. Byakuya and Kenpachi were supposed to never fight again, but, uhhhh, Byakuya got healed in the Royal Realm and Kenpachi... got better? Look, we fixed Kira! Mayuri brings everyone back as zombies, that’s cool? Let’s have some banter, ha ha, the Quincy are fun! I don’t want to blame Kubo on this because he wasn’t feeling well and also, all of this smacks of editorial pressure, but it doesn’t sit well with me. It seems out of character to me for Renji to joke with someone who has hurt his friends and destroyed his home, and I sometimes justify it in my mind by saying that Renji probably doesn’t know that Bazz was the one who hurt Kira, but in some ways that makes things worse.

To be honest, a much better way to humanize the Quincy would have been to do so through Uryuu. One of the huge flaws of this arc is that there is so little focus on him, the character who ought to tie all this together. Uryuu has been harping for years that shinigami are his enemy and that he’s proud of his heritage. This is literally exactly what he has always says he wanted, and the fact that I, the reader, never believed for a microsecond that his loyalties were divided speaks to how awful the Quincy must be. How did Yhwach first approach Uryuu? It would have been cool to be introduced to the Vandenreich via the narrative device of Uryuu’s introduction. Was anyone nice to him? Do the Quincy have any redeeming value? What if there had been a scene where Bazz-B is goofing around, maybe training with someone, and Uryuu says to himself, “He reminds me of Renji and I hate all of the feelings that are currently in my body”? That would make a cool fanfic, actually, and anyone who wants can have that idea because I will never, ever write fanfic about the Sternritter.

Finally, on a note about fashion, the Sternritter uniforms (along with all their other symbolism) skirts way too close to “Nazi” for my tastes, and one more thing I hate about them is that they have retroactively ruined Uryuu’s aesthetic for me.

#tybwa #sorry i am sure this is not the answer you wanted

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shinygoku · 4 years ago

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Thunderbirds (2004)

A review by me, CutCat! This is 8-ish pages long!

Spoiler for the end of the film warning: Alan is in International Rescue. What a twist!

Totally Turbulent

Soooo, Tbirds ‘04 is one of those Infamous Adaptations, at least among those who enjoyed Thunderbirds (’65) and of more recent times, Thunderbirds are Go (’15). It’s one of those Bad Live Action Adaptations to a near sacred property, making it dubious contemporaries with Dragon Ball [Evolution], Avatar [The Last Airbender] and suchlike.

But wait, is it really That Bad?? Why is it as divisive as it is? What caused the film to be the way it is, and quite unpopular at that?

First I’m gonna make a long story very short by saying that a Live Action Thunderbirds movie was on and off production for many years, and that the script we ended up with is apparently better than another one that was pitched... but there are reports of cooler scripts further back that never made it, for various reasons. It’s almost a story of it’s own right but I’m only going by 2nd hand information at best, so I’d rather just link them at the end for Additional Reading if y’all felt so inclined.

With that out of the way, we have the Takes from the Andersons to look at. Sylvia had a very favourable reception to it:

"I felt that I'd been on a wonderful Thunderbirds adventure. You, the fans, will I'm sure, appreciate the sensitive adaptation and I'm personally thrilled that the production team have paid us the great compliment of bringing to life our original concept for the big screen. If we had made it ourselves (and we have had over 30 years to do it!) we could not have improved on this new version. It is a great tribute to the original creative team who inspired the movie all those years ago. It was a personal thrill for me to see my characters come to life on the big screen."

Whereas Gerry had a considerably blunter response at the opposite end of the scale:

"the biggest load of crap I have ever seen in my entire life."

As for me, a mere fan of predominantly the TAG series with limited but fond memories of the 90’s TOS reruns, I’d been inclined to ignore it and write it off as a DBE or TLA lost cause. But the combined effect of me deciding to check out unpopular media for myself, namely Dragon Ball GT and the live action Super Mario Bros. movie, and thoroughly enjoying both; and the other effect of TAG finishing but my fixation reawakening with the need to consume More, I dived deeper into the fan base than I had dared to before, in which I found more reasons to watch it and make up my own mind fairly.

Find out what I thought, and a review of the movie itself, below the Cut! ✂

Stormy Story

Ok, enough teasing, I see good things in the movie but not enough for it to be a secret masterpiece, not by a long shot.

1/3 Stars from Me. That’s Poor. (Compare with 2/3 being Good, and 3/3 being Excellent)

My main beef is unfortunately kinda the crux of the whole story, so while there were aspects I really liked, it had permanently set the bar low, and other issues were not helping matters. I’ll go into the problems after I sum up the plot.

[sitcom harp music]

14 Year Old Alan Tracy is stuck in a stuffy school with only his nerd friend to confide in. Something’s eating him up, and it’s jealousy over how his family are International Rescue, the secret rescue workers whole pilot the Thunderbirds, impossibly cool craft with capabilities vastly exceeding standard technology. Even when he’s allowed out of school and back to the Island, his envy and barely repressed resentment over not being a member himself causes him to go off and sulk and to try taking Thunderbird 1, the hypersonic jet plane, for a joyride.

His father and the leader of International Rescue, Jeff Tracy chews Alan out for almost compromising the need for the organisation to remain secret, lest their advanced technology falling into the wrong hands. Alas, said wrong hands are already working against IR: The Hood, a diabolical, cold blooded criminal with psychic powers and a grudge against Jeff. After successfully tracking the location of Tracy Island, he launches a missile towards Thunderbird 5, the Space Station where IR monitor potential disasters to prevent as much damage as possible, manned by John Tracy.

With TB5 crippled and John injured, Jeff and his other three older sons all scramble to the disaster zone via Thunderbird 3, the Rocket Ship. But with Tracy Island largely unmanned, The Hood moves in and aims to use the Thunderbirds to rob bank vaults while simultaneously smearing International Rescue’s good name. As the only Tracy brother left on Earth, it’s up to Alan and his 2 friends, Fermat and Tin-Tin, to foil the Hood and save his family, proving himself worthy in the process. He is also assisted by IR’s London Agent, Lady Penelope, and her driver/butler/lockpicker, Parker.

...

Ok, so that’s a summary you may read on the back of a DVD box, maybe it’s a bit long but whatever. Do you see what’s wrong with the story? The massive rift in the formula that should be within a template set by the hugely popular TV Series?

Critical Crux

For me, the main issue with the movie is that the Tracy family are thrown under a bus, or perhaps it’s more like being locked in a closet, in order for Alan to rise up and be The Hero. A show that was about each of them having different roles and personalities to the others, and the movie sees the best way to adapt the premise is to reduce 3 of them to cardboard cutouts who aren’t allowed to do or say anything meaningful, with the exception to this getting the dubious honour of getting a missile and exploding space station to the face.

I can’t clearly express how much this pisses me off! It’s downright insulting and baffling as well. They had pre established characters right there for the taking but go NO! Let’s make OCs to fill this newly created void instead and make the main Message of the film Friendship Teamwork.

Why does every child-skewed media hafta have the Friendship message? It’s a good one, sure, but nothing said in this film about it was fresh or original. Y’know what I see far, far less? Not just in Kid Flavoured Media, but all sorts? The importance of Brotherly Bonds between actual brothers!! I don’t subscribe to the massively misunderstood message version of ‘Blood is thicker than water’, but a story with the siblings actually pushed and stressed and coming out stronger at the end would have ruled!!

[For what it’s worth, the actual saying is “The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb”, i.e. the bonds you choose to forge are more important than happening to be born to certain people. This correct message is still compatible with literal siblings though!]

The other, somewhat lesser Large Issue with the movie is simply that we don’t see much in the way of Rescues with the titular Thunderbirds. We only get the tail end of the Oil Rig in Act 1, and then the ‘Birds are used predominantly to get to London and save 1 Monorail Car with TB4.

Watsonian Woes & Doylist Dilemma

When looking at Media, there’s 2 main angles to consider; Doylist and Watsonian. Doylist is the “real life / meta” angle, the structure of the story or interests of the author being in the plot, that kinda thing. Watsonian is the reason given within the story.

All stories have Watsonian and Doylist reasonings, the trick is to blend them in and not use a weedy Watsonian reason for something stupid happening.

Why bring this up? Because it’s still part of the Huge Problem I have with the film; the Doylist reason for all of IR being incapacitated so easily is so Alan can shine without fighting for focus in a large group. I don’t like it, but let’s go along with it for now.

Believe it or not, but I can accept that a Movie format isn’t going to be the same as an ongoing series. There’s way less time and you gotta hit certain beats. Ideally you also condense the essence of the show into the film while being more than just a long episode. They didn’t hit this note in my opinion...

But other than ‘It has to happen for he story to work’, there’s no damn reason for all the Non-Alan Tracys to be cooped up in the crippled TB5! They put all their eggs into one basket when a considerably more sensible choice woulda been to have a small crew, and the others remain on base. Because even without factoring in a worst case scenario where another missile hits them while in space, killing them all, which totally could have happened for all they know, there’s also the part about them being International Rescue! They gotta be ready to respond to other disasters should those develop. TB1, 2 and 4 were still available for use!

If I was Jeff making the boneheaded decision, I would have taken a second to think about it and have 1 of the Bros come up in 3 with me. Seeing to John shouldn’t be something 4 people are needed for, it would just get more crowded and the oxygen would be used way faster! Considering they all come close to asphyxiating, 2 less people would mean things weren’t so damn close to the wire! (Granted, the movie also has them falling into Earth’s atmosphere and burning up as a hazard, but the whole crew being there doesn’t affect that.)

Jeff! You’re the patriarch and supposedly most experienced dude in the whole movie! Why didja run into that trap with both eyes open? Stressful situation, sure, but in the Rescue Business you need to be able to listen to the cold, clinical angle. You’re risking more of your sons’ lives making such a rash judgement!!

Character Conundrums

This is the part of the review where I begin to really emphasise the differences between TOS and this movie. I’ll hold off TAG for now in the interest of fairness.

The movie is a mixed bag when it comes to the individuals within it. Some have been refreshing updates to stuffy 60′s tropes, but several draw the short straw, feeling even stiffer than their marionette precursors.

Alan - Hoo, boy. The plot follows Alan.... for the third time if you’re factoring in the Supermarionation movies, which was quite the baffling choice as Puppet!Alan is quite the obnoxious jerk. But whatever, new movie, new canon, new Alan. While the Alan of the 60′s was a bizarrely whiny brat of a character considering he was supposed to at least be in his early 20′s this Alan at least makes more sense to be annoying. But yes, he starts off as a sullen jerk with unclearly defined jealousy towards his own brothers and seemingly a lack of grasping the stakes behind International Rescue, viewing being one of the crew as a Cool Job rather than a gruelling, life-risking ordeal. Over the course of the movie (mostly Act 3) he becomes less of a berk and a better team player, even going as far as to save the Hood personally.

Jeff - One of the stronger characters in the movie, even with this poor choice I’ve gone on about already, haha. You get the real impression the job means the world to him, but still secondary to his sons. An update and improvement to the sometimes stodgy and holier-than-thou character from the 60′s, plus his proactive role makes him way less of a backseat driver.

Lady Penelope - Best character and a splendid update to the 60′s Socialite. This Penny is always a delight to see, although her ability to change clothes offscreen sometimes pushes plausibility, haha. She and Jeff also have very natural and endearing chemistry, so for this iteration at least, I’m up for shipping them, something I can’t say for TOS.

Parker - Remarkably true to the beloved puppet version and another highlight. His interplay with Penelope is some of the best dialogue in the whole movie, and was written by Richard Curtis in an uncredited role, or so I’ve read.

The Hood - A shockingly sadistic and cold blooded so-and-so. His Psychic powers have been given a huge boost, and the depths of his spite generates all the tense scenes the movie has to offer. His performance may be the best in the whole film, simultaneously over the top while also completely deadly.

Tin-Tin - Y’know, Tin-Tin is a funny character, in how she’s very different in all versions. I enjoy her in TOS, but her potential as an engineering assistant, mathematician and member of IR are quickly discarded to make her a secretary, which is further demoted to bringing coffee. Ahh, The Sixties! One of her other defining features was the sometimes bickering sexual tension with Alan. Movie!Tin-Tin is still the implied love interest [and the same age] with him, but she’s also an Action Girl extraordinaire, with abilities bordering on metahuman. She can trek through the jungle without slowing down, she can dive underwater for prolonged sequences, and has a variation of her Evil Uncle’s Psychic capabilities, but used for good. Notably, the Kayo of TAG takes significantly more from this Tin-Tin to the original, sadly sans Telekinesis.

Fermat - The only OC I’m gonna dignify with a section here lol. He’s basically mini-Brains, complete with the way he t-ta-tal- -distinctive speech patterns. But yeah, as the hypersmart and nerdy pal, I feel that his role is pretty superfluous, though his performance in the movie got me to soften up, he’s a good kid. Just one who, like, is part of the deal breaking issue I have with the whole film. In a way I think he’d have made a better lead than Alan lmao

Brains - Not much to say here, he’s also a dude in distress for a majority of his screentime. Seems to be older than his TOS self and a bit less subservient to Jeff, but also a father ....or Fermat is his clone. They never make that clear. He’s hit on by the Hood’s Female Scientist and it’s played for comedy, more on that later.

John - In TOS, his role was infamously minimal, as Gerry Anderson took such a strong disliking to the John puppet and the TB5 model that he exiled both into space with a few token shots per episode. So in comparison, this movie is far kinder to John! He has a nice, genuine chat with Jeff, without any mission to initiate said videocall. The movie is also quite mean to John in how he gets bombed by the Hood, his space station in tatters, his arm hurt and then near suffocation with Jeff and most of his brothers. Ahh, the conundrum of being John.

Scott, Virgil and Gordon - No, they don’t even get their own paragraphs in my review. Their lack of presence and importance in the movie is my giant gripe (have you noticed yet?) and it got to the extent that I feel they could have been combined into one character to save casting money. They get maybe 5 lines each, if that. I literally can’t tell Scott and Virgil apart (I know they have name tags on their uniforms, but in most scenes I couldn’t even read that) other than knowing 1 of them is taller. Which that one is, is a mystery.

The only one with a slightly distinctive appearance and air is Gordon, which is another can of worms because he seems to be the designated Doubtful Jerk Brother and that drives me mad!! In TOS he wasn’t as main a character as Scott, Virgil or Alan, but he was still a defined person with his own abilities. And his personality was as a slightly mouthy but the most lighthearted character! Why didn’t they carry that over?!

And yeah, Scott and Virgil are pretty much the Main Two of the brothers in TOS, so their roles being reduced to 1 token act during the oil rig rescue each [Gordon didn’t even get that!] is all the more mind boggling.

Hood’s Minions - Can’t be assed to write their names out, I refer to them as Heavy Dude and Science Woman. Heavy Dude is the Heavy, and his character consists of Dumb and somewhat Sadistic Muscle. Science Woman is first objectified (we see her ass first. Yes, really.) but then it’s ‘revealed’ that as she has Austin Powers level teeth, she’s uuuuuglyyyyy and her otherwise genuine attraction towards Brains is played for laughs with this angle. And that’s still female on male sexual harassment, which doesn’t fly with me. Eeeesh. Bad writing! She does Science Things for Hood.

The Rest - Kyrano and his wife are in this. Wife is Original but basically Grandma’s role, though she doesn’t even get a single word to say. Rip. Also the Hood has a few more generic mooks from somewhere, but seemingly only for part of the movie. Kyrano didn’t do much in the show except get bullied by the Hood and little has changed.

Tone Trouble

I feel like the movie has a bit of an issue with balancing a consistent Tone. Again, let’s look back at TOS. It was a Family Show, designed to not just appeal to little kids, but to also keep their parent and other adult amused. Maybe some of it was also the result of the times, but striking to me is that they allowed the characters to get pretty hurt, complete with red paint being applied to look like realistic blood. Some of the criminals, including the Hood himself, would be very vicious, how he treats Brains in Desperate Intruder comes to mind. There was even firefights resulting in death, like the memorable climax of Operation Crash-Dive, where Gordon has to shoot a saboteur in the back, into the open sea below the compromised plane. He then proceeds to hold the cut wires together with his bare hands. Don’t try this at home, kids!

So while I can understand some of that being removed from the Movie (and TAG), there’s still the irritating going down to a perceived kid’s level for the majority of the film, which is probably also a large reason for the massive structural change. But then, there’s shockingly dark implications here and there, and the haunting sight of the crew trapped on TB5 floating lifelessly in the dark, asphyxiating. But then, again, we have goofy choreographed fight scenes with juvenile stock cartoon sounds. And then, we have Hood force choking Alan?! It has been mostly consistent until Act 3, then the tone goes up and down more than the flying machines.

Revamped Rockets

I’m mostly talking about the main craft here, though I know the Pod vehicles got modified too, I’m not sufficiently a TOS Pod Buff to go over them.

TB1 - Looks real nice! Maintains and even enhances the sleekness, and the idea of a glass cockpit is much better than having 1 tiny window and a dinky TV screen to see by. Oddly dark inside the cockpit considering how much glass there is, though. Probably my fav of the Movie Fleet.

TB2 - Oof. Looks bad, man. Like, really ugly. What have they done to the glorious design that was the Original Big Green? The unofficial mascot from her importance and unorthodox style? They turned her into a stubby, too glossy, chunky bar of green soap. The thick ass legs are a good idea but it sure ain’t enough. Also, she carries 3 smaller pods insteada 1 big one.

TB3 - Like TB1, pretty much the same design but streamlined a little. Docks with 5 sidewise instead of like pen going into its lid.

TB4 - I’m mixed. I like the idea of giving her a glass canopy and extendable arms, but the movie’s version is so boxy she looks more like a small yellow Greenhouse with the rear half of the old Four, haha. The arms also look a little stiff, can they bend? Now, if there was a sleek, glass hulled, variable armed, demolition charges-loaded Four, that would be my favourite possible version ;3 Four is my fav craft in TOS and TAG, for what it’s worth.

TB5 - I say it’s quite a visual improvement over TOS and the odds and ends jumbled look that had, though I do appreciate a bit of Chunkiness. This one really needs to have better defence too, TOS 5 may’ve been able to tank that missile lmao

FAB1 - I know that she would have been a Rolls Royce in the film, but BMW said no, so that’s not a point against the movie. And failing the classic image, it’s cute that it’s a Ford Thunderbird, though I’d have preferred one with those 50′s/60′s stylish fins personally lol. Her ability to fly is new here unless you count the Dream Sequence in Are Go (’66) and the water mode was also seen in that before this, and she gets the job done, though we don’t get to see as many gadgets and gizmos in the course of the film.

Unlikely Uniforms

I really don’t understand these. Why are they off white with minimal accent colours? What was wrong with the blueness of their suits and the broad stripe of a secondary colour? I sure ain’t saying the 60’s costumes were practical or even that fashionable, but they were very distinctive and striking!

Not only that, but for some strange unexplained reason, their uniforms all correspond not to their own speciality, but to which craft they’re currently piloting. Even if they’re all in the same Bird...! So like, four out of five are wearing identical looking red accented suits while locked in TB5. I already find the elder brothers to be the Similar Squad, and their microscopic name tags don’t help!

Why don’t they wear their own coloured uniforms all the time? Then ya don’t need the name tag at all! And the silly implication from the way there’s apparently a whole set of Craft Specific uniforms is that there’s piles of clothes that ain’t getting used in all of them, like the tiny TB4 probably having 6 whole sets on board at the end of the film.

Between that, no blue and the outfits looking like Generic Sports Wear, the only nice thing to say is the THUNDERBIRDS down the sleeve is a cool touch. Which should really say International Rescue or IR...

Mingled Misc.

Yeah, The conflation of Thunderbirds and International Rescue is a tad irritating but it’s actually something I can overlook. It’s not a dealbreaker and it makes sense the Dumbass Public would misunderstand and call them the wrong thing.

Jeff refuses Alan early access into IR and cites “No shortcuts”. Then at the end he echoes this when he is making Alan an official member, saying he did it with no shortcuts. The whole faffing scenario was a giant shortcut!!! Fuck training and being a suitable age, am I right?!

Amazingly I didn’t cover this already, but when Alan shortcuts his way onto the team he’s made pilot of ... TB4. That’s why he’s in yellow accents in the pic. Gordon is seemingly the main pilot of TB3 instead, but the movie doesn’t deign to make that clear. While I appreciate that the 14 year old with no Astronaut training isn’t put in charge of 3 instantly, I resent the careless removal of characterisation. Obviously movie Gordon never served with WASP or won the gold medal in swimming or had a massive hydrofoil crash to nearly kill him but ggggghgggaaahhhhhhhhh

Also what’s with the implication that Four is the Babby’s First Machine? She’s a highly specialised craft that would require different training to flying or Space shit! How dare you?! The most charitable link is that Alan stood around in 4 as Tin-Tin did most of the work herself, but I guess it coulda as some level of experience.

Ford Sponsorship - Gets a bit much! It’s one thing for all the cars to be Ford, but them seemingly owning the News is like an unpleasant look into a world where corporations run everything.... hahahaahaaaaaa........

Marvellous Music

Something the movie really excells at is the tunes! The remix of the Thunderbirds March is good in it’s own right and very welcome, and the new music is all solid. Special mention to Busted’s outro song for slapping so hard even people who hate the movie leave warm youtube comments about the song. I have a habit of listening to it set to TAG footage myself, haha

Sincere Summation

Look, I’ve come off negative in this, but I honestly have a lot of respect for a lot of the parts of this picture. Hood, Penelope, Parker and Jeff are fantastic, the physical models and sets have a lot of care and loving detail poured in, the music is all bangers and other little nods and homages to the show shine brightly. The director got a lot of good work in and I hold him no ill will.

I think the problem is in the Writing and probably Studio Mandates, I’m not 100% sure, but things often get snaggy when the studio you’re working under gets bought out by a bigger company partway through. Again, I’ll refer to the info I’ve seen instead of trying to relay it in my own words.

And they made a real bad call snubbing Gerry as a Creative Consultant. Some of his venom towards the film may be from that, as well as his alleged preference to Team America: World Police as a theatrical homage. And I’ve seen that before and wouldn’t really say that’s true to the spirit of Thunderbirds, but yeah...

I’d be interested in any future Thunderbirds Movies, if that’s ever on the cards again. I’d probably be even more up for continuation of the TAG series, or newer new Captain Scarlet with International Rescue involved. Either way, I want new footage of the Birds taking off again, be it puppet, people, CGI, or something new~

Extra Reading

https://securityhazard.net/2017/05/19/thunderbirds-2004/ Full movie review, warm reception. Contains photos of set pieces and costumes.

http://groovyfokker.blogspot.com/2013/02/thunderbirds-arent-go-unfilmed-versions.html Insight into some of the past issues developing a Movie, but gets some basic information wrong (Since when is Gordon the youngest and TB3 orange??)

Thanks if ya’ve been reading the whole thing! <3

#Thunderbirds 2004 #Thunderbirds #Thunderbirds TOS #Thunderbirds Movie #Movie Review #can't really tag it with TAG because I deliberately kept that minimal lol #I care so much about Tbirds so I had much to say #I hope the links don't mess up it appearing in the tags :v

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darisu-chan · 6 years ago

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Marco’s Feelings (Or How He Lied to Himself Almost the Whole Show): An Analysis, Part 1

Alright

So I said I was going to write an analysis after Marco’s confession back in Here to Help and what it means about his feelings for Star throughout SvtFoE. Now, I’m sure some people have said this before, others might have refuted this already, but I’m going to start by saying I knew Marco had feelings for Star back in Blood Moon Ball. I wasn’t really in this fandom back then, so I didn’t make any posts about it. I honestly thought it was obvious, but season 3 and 4 showed me that a lot of people take things at face value, so naturally when Marco confessed, well, some things I’ll be analyzing in this post, a lot were confused, others misunderstood. I’m here to clarify some things.

So, let’s go!

(Long post ahead)

Disclaimer: although this is my opinion, I’m basing it on the subtext of the show and not on what I just want to believe. I know I’m a starco shipper, but, honestly, the plot made me like them and not the other way around. I’ve shipped Star and Marco with other people, although, ultimately, I do prefer them with each other because of what I’m about to explain in a bit. So take that in mind.

Anyway, let’s start with what Marco actually said, and then I’ll be analyzing it part by part:

“Marco. You told me you love me.”

“Ah... Okay...” marco.exe stopped working

“Maybe it was just a fragment of your subconscious mind, but─”

“No. It’s not a fragment of anything. That’s... the whole Marco. Y’know, the whole Blood Moon Curse? That ordeal? Well, it’s bologna. I’ve felt like this since the beginning. I mean... I’m not a little boy... I know that you just don’t fall in love at first sight! The way I feel... it’s just gotten more intense since we first met. And it was intense at the start and I know it’s in the way.”

“In the way? Marco, why does it have to be bad?”

“It is bad if you don’t want it.”

“Okay, can we kiss?”

“Uh... please”

“Marco, I want you to love me because I love you.”

Okay, the part everyone misunderstood is the following: “I’ve felt like this since the beginning.”

How could this be if Marco had a huge crush on Jackie-Lynn Thomas and even wanted to be Mr. Lynn Thomas?! There’s no way he fell in love at first sight with Star! They’re just trying to push Starco! Marco didn’t even like Star!

And, yeah, but that’s not what Marco exactly said. Most people ignored what he said next and, honestly, that’s the part which is more relevant: “ I mean... I’m not a little boy... I know that you just don’t fall in love at first sight! The way I feel... it’s just gotten more intense since we first met.”

Marco knows it was not love at first sight, precisely, but more of an intense feeling. And, yes, as we know, Marco did not like Star the moment they met:

He was scared of her magic and what it could do, because let’s face it, Star had no control over it at the start

He was also pretty much annoyed at her

He didn’t want to show her around school or live with her, and he didn’t even like the laser puppies!

So what changed?

If you remember on Star Comes to Earth Ludo attacks her at the end, right in front of the Stop & Slurp. Star attempts to fight him, she’s even raising her wand, when Marco steps between her and one of Ludo’s minions and attacks him with his awesome karate moves. Star is very impressed with his abilities and together they defeat Ludo and his minions:

@isaackuo has said before that Marco bonds with others through shared fighting, and the first time we saw it was with Star.

Think about it, when you’re fighting someone with another person, you need to trust that other person completely, trust that they’re going to cover your back, as you’re going to cover theirs. It also involves teamwork and learning to understand body language. Never mind the fact that there’s obviousy an adrenaline rush, which helps with the intensity of the feeling. In the fight, both Star and Marco are in sync and, most of all, they are having fun.

On the aftermath of the fight, Ludo leaves and they are alone. Marco says that “It was amazing! You were amazing!” excitedly. Then Star is sad cause she believes that after all of that Marco won’t want to live with her, but he says that he doesn’t want her to go, that he wants her to stay with his family. Then Star, who is a very affectionate girl, hugs him for the first time.

This is the actual start that Marco is talking about. This is when he felt that intense feeling. It’s not the moment when they first met, it’s the moment when they became friends. Or the moment when they truly met each other. Starco is heavily linked with the idea that true love is born from a great friendship, which is why this is the moment Marco first felt it.

It’s not love. I want to clarify that. Because love comes from turly knowing someone, flaws and all, and still trusting them, accepting them, wanting to be with them, and caring for them. This wasn’t love then. But it was the spark.

It’s hard to explain, but I’m going to do my best to do it. Sometimes, you meet people and you don’t click right away. In fact, it can take years for a friendship to blossom between you and this other person, let alone a relationship. It can also happen you meet someone and you don’t think anything about them at all. If they become important to you, it’s through a serious of secondary meetings when you get to know them. Other times, you are attracted to someone right away physically, and you intend to be more than friends (this is what happened with Tomstar when they dated for the first time). Finally, there are times when you don’t know what it is, but there’s a feeling that a person is going to be important to you. Maybe it’s not love, maybe it’s not even physical attraction, it’s just this intense feeling that this person is important to you. What will happen next? Who knows. But you want to be by their side, getting to know each other better. Because you feel it in your very soul that you won’t be the same person you were after meeting them.

I’ve been through all of the above situations with the guys I’ve dated/liked/fallen in love with. I’m an adult, I’ve lived through a lot romantically, and I can say that, although I’ve appreciated every single instance of falling in love, especially since it’s so rare as an adult, the one that marked me the most is that moment when I first met the guy who would later become my first love. I knew even then that he was going to be important to me. And he was. More important than I could’ve ever imagined. Easily the guy who has changed me the most. And it’s this feeling the one I’ve been craving ever since. That spark, that intensity, is like nothing you’ll ever feel. It’s not rooted in attraction or lust, it’s more about your very being saying “Hey, looks like I find you.”

This is what happened to Marco.

It’s not that he necessarily felt attracted to Star in the same way he was to Jackie, but there was this intense feeling that only got even more intense as time went on, as they bonded by living together, going to school together, and going on adventures together. And Star probably felt it too. Why do I say this? By Party with a Pony, Star already thinks of Marco as her best friend, and the sentiment is mutual. From then on, as they become closer and closer, so do Marco’s feelings.

So why didn’t he say anything? And why did he still have a crush on Jackie?

First of all, Marco had crushed on Jackie since he was in preschool, maybe even younger, as we can see in Freeze Day. Being 14 and all, it was unlikely for Marco to suddenly accept the idea that he liked anyone other than Jackie. But here’s the thing, Marco liked the idea of Jackie, he didn’t actually know her, as he himself admits in Sleepover. We can’t say, as of season 1, that he was in love with her. It’s easier to keep crushing on someone you don’t know because there’s nothing to lose. Marco could keep on just liking Jackie without any commitment or rejection.

Marco is deathly afraid of rejection. We have seen it numerous times. At the start of the series, Marco had low self-esteem and tried to be someone he wasn’t. He didn’t want to be known as the Safe Kid. He didn’t want to be known as this nerdy guy who never takes risks. He wanted to be a Misunderstood Bad Boy, which translates to being a daring guy who takes every risk, and that the girls as cool as Jackie fall head over heels for. That’s what Marco thought would get him the girl and take all of his problems away.

And who’s even cooler than Jackie?

Oh, I don’t know, maybe the magical princess from another dimension?

And Marco knows this, as he said in Cheer Up, Star

He also is very much aware of the fact that Star likes bad boys. She has a crush on Oskar, Mr. Skips-classes-to-play-the-keyboard and Guy with a Record. And Marco also knows all about Star’s ex demon boyfriend, Tom, as it’s made clear to us in Blood Moon Ball. These type of guys are cool, mysterious, dangerous and, yeah, hot. Guys so far removed from who Marco thought he was that he didn’t stand a single chance. Star did like the Misunderstood Bad Boy bit Marco tried to play. Because, back then Star was a rebel princess. She didn’t want to become queen and have responsibilities. She wanted to go on whacky adventures and live her life with zero attachments and commitments. Oskar, and even Tom before all his development, fell under this category. Marco didn’t. He never has. He’s always responsible and always worried about the future and the consequences of his actions. It’s not that he doesn’t let loose, but he knows when to and how to. Star didn’t back then, and she wanted a guy who was as rebellious as she was. If indeed, Marco had tried anything during the first season, he would’ve been ultimately rejected for these reasons... and he was, but I’ll talk about that later.

I’m not going to talk about every single interaction between Marco and Star, but just know that from the moment they fought together, they became closer and closer enough that Blood Moon Ball made a difference.

Honestly, when that episode aired I was surprised they had put in the minds of the audience the idea of romantic Starco. I had already known they would probably end up together, mainly because their crushes were untanaible and the kind you get before you actually mature and can fall in love for real. I just thought they would wait until the second season to explore that side of their relationship. But, nope, Daron Nefcy said “to heck with it” and boom! We had this episode. So, to dive into this, I could start with Tom and Star, but we’re not analyzing them. We’re analyzing Marco. So, to begin with, we’re made aware of the fact that Marco knew all about Star’s ex-boyfriend before Tom even made an appearance. I’m guessing that at some point they got around talking about their love lives, as teens will do, and Star vented about Tom. It hadn’t been that long since they broke up, or at least I got that idea from Lake House Fever.

Anyway, when Marco first met Tom, he saw him and Star together in the parking lot, and he immediately attacked and put himself between them, in a protective manner.

Then, when he finds out Tom wants to take Star to the Blood Moon Ball, he doesn’t want her to go with who he assumes to be a predator. And, throughout the episode, Marco does not want Star to go. I assumed before a certain scene when watching this episode for the first time, that he was just being protective of his friend. Friends don’t let friends go out with their exes, especially when they have hurt them. It’s not explicitly said, and I believe it also has to do with the way they turned Tom from abusive to an actually misunderstood guy with anger issues, but I always thought he had hurt Star a great deal by the way she refused to see him. However, Star liked bad boys, and was rebellious to a fault, so when Marco told her “hey, maybe this isn’t a good idea”, of course she wanted to go. And she went even if Marco didn’t want her to go. Up until this point, I wholeheartedly believed Marco was just a worried friend, he even says that he will have his own Blood Moon Ball in Star’s bedroom with blackjack and h**kers and then freaking Alphonse the Worthy says:

“Blood Moon tonight... The moon of lovers...”

That’s when Marco stands up and has the idea to go to the ball to save Star.

Now, again, that could have been misunderstood as the actions of a worried friend fearing their friend was about to go back to their ex. And yes, to an extent that is true of Marco. But listen closely to Alphonse’s lines, and you’ll notice there is an emphasis on the word lovers. It wasn’t put there as a mistake. That, paired up with Marco’s immediate reaction, leads me to think he was also acting as a guy about to lose the girl he likes. He was jealous of Tom. Of the fact he got to spend time with Star at the ball, but knowing that it was meant to be an incredibly romantic event, as the word lovers suggest, was the last straw. He didn’t go to stop the Blood Moon from happening, Marco didn’t even know that it’d bind the souls of two lucky souls together. He went there to get Star.

Although the beginning of the dance was incredibly romantic, I believe that Marco’s actions of wanting to get Star out of there speak more than the dance itself. Even after the dancing and escaping Tom, Marco believes he did the right thing and even goes as far as to say “I hate to say it but I warned you about Tom.” All of his actions don’t really speak of just a worried friend. A worried friend would have tried to stop her, but, ultimately, let her do what she wanted. Marco didn’t do that. He reacted to the word lovers and flipped. It wasn’t a coincidence. But what cements this argument the most is that, when Star explains why she’s mad at him, she says the following:

“I know you’re trying to look out for me, but you have to let me figure things out on my own. I don’t need a hero. I need a friend.”

A hero is the person who saves a damsel in distress and, normally, gets with her in the end. Star didn’t want to be saved. But, knowingly or unknowingly, she also shut down any possibility of romance between her and Marco. Because what she needed back then was for Marco to be her friend and nothing more. And Marco has a dawning realization during this scene, you can see it on his face:

So that’s what Marco chooses to be, Star’s friend:

However, the episode ends with the note of “but maybe they could be more” with the final scenes, not only showing that the Blood Moon has, indeed, bonded them together, but that their relationship is what is important:

I never, not even for one second, thought it was suppossed to be a curse. Just a traditional soul mates take on a pairing, as it’s been done before. In fact, by the way it barely even appeared in seasons 2 and 3, I don’t think it was that much of a curse, but they had to make it a curse and retcon it so that Starco seemed more legit to the audience, because they probably knew the fandom had begun calling it a curse, and the more they dragged out Tomstar, the more Starco seemed to be invalidated by the fans. I could go on and on about CotBM but I’ve done my ranting before. But this explains why I was not even surprised when Star said:

“What if it was never the Blood Moon?”

Because of course it was never the Blood Moon. The two of them already had feelings for each other. Star’s feelings for Marco are more hidden in the first season, and are mostly found on her diary entry “My thoughts on Marco.” But now we know that Marco started feeling something for Star back when they fought together with Ludo on the first episode, and that Marco went after her on BMB because the feeling got more intense and he was jealous. The Blood Moon chose them because they had feelings for each other, and not to force them to fall in love. They already liked each other, it was a matter of time before they actually fell in love. That’s why Marco says the whole ordeal is bologna, because it is. It had no real influence on his feelings for Star, because it didn’t start them. We can argue they intensified them, but that’s confusing because there were only like two instances in which we can say “yeah, definitely his actions were being intensified” and those were on Booth Buddies when he and Star kissed, and CotBM, at the beginning when he’s crying to Eclipsa about how adorable Star is. I also don’t believe he went back to Mewni solely because of the curse, but I’ll talk about that later.

This also explains why when they broke the curse with the severing stone, their feelings didn’t stop, because I’m going to argue there is no one memory of the moment they fell in love. Marco, and most likely Star too, developed an intense feeling after fighting Ludo and during that hug, but Marco says that, though he felt something from the start, it just got intense from then on. In another post after CotBM I said that, in reality, there’s never a moment that makes you fall in love with someone. It’s the little moments you share together that make you fall in love with someone. The Blood Moon Ball wasn’t the moment they fell in love, it was just one of the many instances in which their feelings started growing for each other. I’m going to go ahead and say that the decisive moment for both of them was Storm the Castle. That episode was the game changer not only plot-wise but in their relationship. Their hug at the end was the longest that season, and it’s one of their most important ones.

Resuming the events of BMB, after Star told him she needed a friend, Marco did an amazing job repressing his feelings and just being the best friend he could be. We weren’t shown Marco feeling anything romantic for the rest of that season, and even the first half of season 2. He acted like a friend to Star and he fooled not only the audience, but he also fooled himself. And it’s not like the two didn’t share very important moments together, they did!, but they could be interpreted as purely platonic. And you’d be alright with that assessment. Marco continued crushing on Jackie and Star on Oskar. The status quo wasn’t broken.

Of course this couldn’t last forever, which is something we’ll be tackling on the next part of this analysis.

I hope you have enjoyed this read so far. As it is getting extremely long, let us stop here right before season 2, and I’ll be continuing in another post. If you have any questions and comments, feel free to ask, my inbox is always opened.

If you disagree with anything I’ve said or you have something to add during the first season, also feel free to tell.

I will not, however, accept any curse words and hate in general. I am not claiming you all should like Starco or like the ending for that matter. I am just trying to explain the fact that his feelings did not come out of nowhere. The writing in this show has not always been the best, but the writers are professionals, so let us give them the fact that a lot of the show was foreshadowed in season 1, including Starco.

Anyway, this is it from now.

I’ll see you guys again in Part 2.

#starco #marco diaz #starco analysis #long post ahead

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littlemisssquiggles · 5 years ago

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Little Red Headcanons: Ruby’s Big Bad Boyfriend II

Okie dookie, so I guess I’m writing headcanons for Ruby Rose now too. As some of you might know, I recently shared a headcanon post highlighting the prospect of Ruby gaining a love interest inspired by the Big Bad Wolf from the Little Red Riding Hood fairytale.

It was met with some good reception. Thanks everyone! Including an essay response by @yellow-eyed-green-crocodile This sequel post will be my response to Yellow’s comments.

Yellow Comments:

“…Rather than him being a coward like that, and since you made him up as a frend of Neon’s, wouldn’t it be cooler if he was actually a good person, even if he does have that pimp attitude? This is just my opinion, though, but it makes him more human, in a way. Plus, we already had the traitorous coward, and that was Lionheart.

The Big Bad Wolf, in all of his stories (that I know of) would use charisma and trickery, though, so wouldn’t it be better if the show would highlight how those traits could be used in a positive manner?

Like, charisma can be his personality trait, that he uses to get chicks, but he also uses the qualities of the wolf in his figjting style, like using words and comments to distract his opponent, and planning out and using different moves in order to make his enemy think that he is about to do something, but actually have something completely different in mind.

Dante’s flaw could be his overconfidence. He is so used to getting what he wants, that, when he is put in an unexpected situation (for example, Ruby Rose), he doesn’t know what to do an puts up a front, but, if the scenario gets too uncertain, he becomes angry and may lash out, just like the Big Bad Wolf.

I think you said that he is a mix between the Big Bad Wolf and the Huntsman, so I think that we could give a bit of an idealistic side to him, almost naive. What I mean is that, while he likes women and to pick them up, he is not just some perverted brat, but someone who genuinely cares about the people he meets. I’m thinking the main character from Outlaw Star, if you ever heard of or watched that anime. The main character is a big pervert, but with a heroic heart. In Dante’s case, couple that with some light anger issues (because Big Bad Wolf) and we have a lovable character (in my opinion). He could be a big tsundere for Ruby, and his every interaction with her would make her laugh, which would get on Oscar’s nerves. That would be kind of cute, kind of like the comedic scenes from old 90s anime.

I’m sorry for overwriting your character like that and I hope I didn’t seem rude for doing it. I just wanted to give my two cents on a character like him…”

Squiggles Answers:

‘Sup Yellow. Nah you’re fine m;dude. You didn’t come off disrespectful or rude at all (you never do to be honest so hakuna matata). You’ve certainly humanized the Dante character a lot more than I did and I like quite that.

Usually the Big Bad Wolf is the villain of the Little Red Riding Hood fairytale. So to see a version of him in another medium that’s actually more of a good guy would be a fascinating twist. Your idea actually makes reconsider an alternative concept I had for the Dante character that I didn’t include in the original headcanon post. So I guess this goes out to you, fam.

Let’s say… Dante could be your titular bad boy womanizer type with a hot streak. The type of guy fathers warn their daughters to steer clear of since he’s known to be a ruiner of the sweet girls and a breaker of hearts, y’know what I mean? A problem child. The local attitude problem. Another beast to be tamed through the care and appreciation of a kind hearted beauty like Ruby Rose. Maybe.

I can see Dante characterized as a younger watered down version of Adam Taurus WITHOUT all the elements that made him problematic to fans and the detrimental unhappy ending to his story. Let’s say, despite being a prince at Atlas Academy and a strong huntsmen, Dante secondarily exhibits all the warning signs of a master manipulator fueled by his own selfishness and greed. Like there are two sides to him and the one he normally gives off in public is the side that causes others to become intimidated by him.

It is this side that raises many red flags with Blake Belladonna. And out of concern for Ruby (since Dante has shown interest in her), the Faunus girl tries to warn her about Dante’s ‘type’. So right out the gate, Dante is labelled as a bad person. The big bad wolf.

But in a surprising twist, Dante, like you imagined, isn’t such a bad person. He’s just another child from a very privileged background who is forced to act a certain way as a means of adhering to the responsibilities and burdens of someone with his family name.

Let’s say the Alarick Family are a long line of powerful men who grow up to become influential leaders who govern their respective fields with an iron fist. Dante, as the current heir, is no exception to his longstanding rule and he’s constantly placed under heavy pressure from his grandfather to be the type of man he believes all men should be.

Tough. Charismatic. Analytical. Calculating. Knows all the right ways how to get others beneath him to bend to his whim since the Alarick philosophy is that all men are pawns to be used to get them ahead.

Long story short, Dante is often usually misunderstood due to many things about him from his family prestige to even his blatant anger management issues he suffers with (which his family refuses to get him treated for; preferring to cover it up most of the time).

That’s one version of this idea. If not the troubled rich kid concept then perhaps Dante could be a troubled kid who bares old skeletons in his closest since he was stripped away from his abusive family household as a kid and has been bounced around foster care for most of his life until deciding to join the huntsmen academies in an attempt to make something of himself.

What if…growing up, Dante was mostly treated as a ruthless, conniving monster given where he came from. So he sought the huntsmen lifestyle since huntsmen and huntresses are seen as heroes. Good people. And that’s what Dante desired to be seen as. Someone good capable of doing good things in spite of his crappy start to life. Huh. Now that I think about, I’m sort of making a case for Dante to have Qrow’s approval since he knows what it’s like to be young and dealt a poor hand. Whether that means he’d be open to his youngest niece dating a guy that reminds him too much of himself especially at that age. Hmmm…that’s a curious question to ask.

Moving on---let’s say, like a wolf, Dante is a loner at heart. Despite being one of the most dedicated students at Atlas Academy, Dante is often seen alone. He even refuses to spend time bonding with his teammates since he prefers to stay far from others; out of fear of possibly being hurt or hurting them,

Now this is making me consider Dante being one of the two unknown members of Team FNKI as a small fanon headcanon. I know I already gave him the surname Alarick in his other counterpart but since this is a different interpretation of the Big Bad Boyfriend Dante character, let’s give him a different name so there’s a difference between the two ideas.

So Dante Alarick would be the wolf in sheep’s clothing version of the Big Bad Boyfriend from the original post and this new version----the more humanized Big Bad Boyfriend will be named…let’s stick with the first name as Dante but change his last name.

This version shall be dubbed Dante Ingouf. ‘Ingouf’ is a name meaning ‘the wolf of the God Ing; a warrior’.

So let’s say…in this new interpretation, Dante Ingouf is one of the remaining members of Team FNKI. That ties into my original concept of Ruby meeting Dante through Neon Katt.

Dante could be the lone wolf of Team FNKI who Neon notices might have a little thing for Ruby and she tries to set the two up or something like that. And since Dante is meant to draw inspiration from the Big Bad Wolf, let’s make this version of him a wolf Faunus.

One of my headcanons for Team FNKI is that Flynt is the only human leading a predominantly Faunus team.

Perhaps it could be part of the Faunus discriminatiory culture of Atlas where, even at the huntsmen training academies, the Faunus weren’t allowed to be leaders of their own teams. So it’s an awkward situation where Flynt was only made leader cause he’s human; not cause of his own merits.

It could even be a thing where Neon is the only Faunus on FNKI who actually gets along well with Flynt. So basically Neon is Flynt’s best friend and partner on the FNKI team since she’s the one who looks out for him the most in their group.

This helps tie into the fact that I totally ship Flynt and Neon which fits into my headcanon about the two secretly being a couple but are forced to keep the true nature of their relationship under wraps since, despite being genetically compatible, human and Faunus interracial-interspecies relationships are heavily frowned upon in Atlas; as much as the Faunus themselves.

Neon is indifferent about it since my theory for her is that Neon comes from an interracial household with Faunus and human parents. But Flynt, on the other hand, is very hesitant about going fully public about his relationship with Neon especially since he isn’t sure about how his very ole school father, born and bred in the pinnacle period of Faunus discrimination in Atlas’ history, would react to his son having a Faunus for a girlfriend.

Anyways, getting back on track with Dante Ingouf. He’s a wolf Faunus and his Faunus features are his wolf tail and sharp fangs and claws that only appear when he’s enraged. I remember reading somewhere that once upon a time, Ruby was originally going to be a wolf Faunus before her concept was changed. I also remember many Pineheads playing around with the thought of Oscar being a dog Faunus (since he’s got the cute puppy dog eyes already).

So…making Dante Ingouf, my version of Ruby’s Big Bad Boyfriend a wolf Faunus is…actually quite perfect!

The Big Bad Wolf falling for Little Red and becoming her love interest for a while.

Huh. Wasn’t there a cute animated short based on that idea?

Anyways, so to reiterate--- Dante Ingouf, in this version of the character, is a wolf Faunus who is a member of Team FNKI and he becomes a love interest of Ruby’s who ends up being her first boyfriend for a brief period of time while she’s in Atlas. More on that in a minute.

Do you know what I just realized that’s funny? Ruby’s Big Bad Boyfriend could be the equivalent to my Oscar’s Other Rose Pinehead headcanon. I talked about Oscar having another Rose in his life who could challenge his relationship with Ruby, drawing inspiration from the Rose, Fake Roses and the Fox from the Little Prince Story.

Now I’ve created another character like that with Dante. Just as how my Rosaline Fox is the antithesis to Ruby Rose, Dante Ingouf is my interpretation of the person meant to challenge Oscar’s for Ruby’s affections or at least be the catalyst to make him realize his true feelings for her.

Huh. It may seem that I have a habit of creating physically attractive third-wheel love interest characters whose sole purpose is to both challenge my OTP on their relationship with each other while simultaneously helping them to realize what they, my OTP, really mean to one another.

Huh. How does that Britney Spears song do? Oops I did it again.

Since I did it with the Rose Fox character, I might as well do the same with the Dante Ingouf character.

If I had to picture what Dante would look like, it’d be like this----

Since he’s meant to challenge Oscar, giving him physical traits that contrast starkly with Oscar’s can be fitting.

Since Oscar is a small farm boy born and raised in the farmlands of Anima near Mistral Kingdom, Dante would be a big bad city boy brought up on the streets of lower class Atlas Kingdom whose been passed around the block many times due to being in foster care.

Since Oscar is two years younger than Ruby, Dante would be two years older than Ruby. Dante would be between 18-19 years old. Let’s say 18 going on 19 to put him closer to Ruby’s age.

Since Oscar is short and small in stature, Dante is tall (as tall as Jaune who is the tallest of our heroes) with a muscular built. Picture Sosuke from Free!

Since Oscar is considerably dark-skinned with his tanned complexion, let’s say Dante is a white wolf Faunus with pale skin (as light as Ruby’s).

This is matched by his short, messy artic snow white hair to contrast equally short and messy Oscar’s sunny countryside black hair.

I also want to play around with the idea of Oscar and Dante sharing at least one trait, similar to how Ruby and my Rose Fox character shared the name Rose in their name.

I wanted to give Dante freckles just like Oscar but…maybe not. However I do dig the idea of Dante having green eyes to match Oscar’s. I know Oscar’s eyes are essentially hazel or more specifically hazel green eyes. So let’s give Dante’s green eyes the same shade of green as Oscar’s.

So if Oscar has avocado eyes then Dante would have olive eyes---green with a small hint of red at the centre. Though the red becomes more prominent whenever Dante is angry. Probably something like this:

I made this quickly with Rinmarugames.com, just as rough starting foundation of what Dante might look like. It’s not the final idea but it’s something I could work with to make one if I wanted to, y’know what I mean? Something to play off of along with all the other descriptions I gave for Dante’s key features. I would’ve liked for his hair to be much messier than this (like in the Kaneki Ken example) but that’s as much as I could do on the site. For now, this will do as a rough idea. Starting to remind me of another character named Dante but for now, let’s work with this.

So Dante starts off as this troubled lone wolf type who prefers to stay far from others since he has a lot of baggage to him. He’s been rumoured to date a lot of girls when he feels promiscuous but most of them are just that--- rumours and for the ones that are true, the relationships ended so badly that that’s how the rumours were sparked; basically.

So Dante falls for Ruby but, as you said, doesn’t know how to properly talk to her and ends up treating her in the same manner he’s treated other girls which results in turning Ruby away from him. At first. It isn’t until Dante loses his big bad boy demenour and starts being real with Ruby, when she finally gives him a chance. The two grow as friends until Dante asks Ruby out again. The last time Dante tried asking Ruby out, she refused. But this time, she said yes. The two go on their first date. It goes well and...from there, they agree to go out again eventually becoming boyfriend and girlfriend.

But...since it's basically a first time for both of them, neither feel like they know what they’re doing most of the time. Even though he’s the more experienced once in their relationship, Dante is surprisingly just as clueless and anxious as Ruby is. He’s had many on and off flings with girls in the past but nothing serious or promising. Ruby is the first girl he's ever had those types of feelings for and Ruby, in term is experiencing all this as something entirely new to her.

For most of her teenage years, her main ambition has been becoming a huntress. For some time, she's been apprehensive about forming bonds due to her awkwardness at first interactions. She's had one or two friends in the past but her time at Beacon has been the most open she's ever been.

While she learned to appreciate and ultimately came to love the friendships she's grown close to since Beacon, a romantic relationship is definitely something she's a complete novice to.

Most of the time she panics and worries about if she's doing certain girlfriend-y things right. Like I can definitely picture Ruby Rose being the type to be in a relationship but often forget that she has a boyfriend since she's such a dumb-dumb to the whole spiel; y'know what I mean?

Nonetheless, Ruby likes Dante and wants to give their relationship a fair try regardless of her clumsiness in all of it. But despite being in a relationship with Dante, my idea is that Ruby’s increasingly close friendship with Oscar is a factor that becomes a thorn in that.

Like y’know those stories where you have two best friends who are really, really close and it can even be hinted that one of them might have a crush on their friend. But then the friend gets in a relationship and it’s this awkward thing where the other friend has to watch and listen to his friend talk about their relationship and you think it’s bad for the other friend since they’re the one with the crush. But then you get the flip-side where you learn that the other friend talks a lot about her best friend with her boyfriend causing them to become jealous of their relationship since the boyfriend desires to become close with friend but the friend’s best friend is already filling that role. Y’know what I’m talking about.

That’s how I see the Rosegarden + Big Bad Boyfriend love triangle going. Ruby and Dante would be in their relationship trying to figure things out however at the same time, Ruby has her strong bond with Oscar also developing. Dante takes notice of how close Ruby and Oscar are and becomes suspicious of whether or not Ruby and Oscar are together-together or have feelings for one another. Especially when he learns that Oscar has a crush on Ruby too.

However Dante doesn’t want to accuse Ruby of anything. Given how awkward she is in their relationship as a first-timer, he can tell that she’s not the cheating type or the type to mislead him like other girls. That’s part of the reason why Dante gravitated toward Ruby. She was genuine at heart.

Still, Dante could sense something unique about the way in which Ruby values Oscar compared to her other friends. Long story short, let’s say Dante comes to the conclusion that Ruby loves Oscar but, due to her own naivety when it comes to her feelings, doesn’t quite realize it yet. But the signs are there.

This makes me think of a small scene where…let’s say, Dante plans on confessing his love for Ruby but the conversation takes an interesting turn into a fight about Ruby’s friendship with Oscar. Something like:

Dante: Can I ask you something? That Oscar kid, what is he to you?

Ruby: *smiling* He’s my friend.

Dante: I know that’s what you keep telling me but…is that all he is to you?

Ruby: *naively* What do you mean?

Dante: I mean…when it’s just us, it’s great. I feel like you really do care about me and I love that a lot. But even when it’s just us, you also talk a lot about Oscar too.

Ruby: Yeah well…of course, I do. Cause we’re friends. Great friends. Best friends. You know that.

Dante: *pressing* Yeah but I never see you act this way with all your other friends. I mean, you may mention them once or twice but for the most part, it’s him. It’s always him. Even when he’s not here, I feel like he’s constantly coming between us because you keep bringing him between us.

Ruby: *defensively* What does that mean? Oscar isn’t between us! He’s my friend. One of my best friends. I care a lot about him and if you have a problem with him then...we might have a problem. Do we have a problem?

Dante: I dunno? Do we?

Ruby: What? You’re confusing me.

Dante: You’re confusing me!

Ruby: ...What?

Dante: *sighing exasperatedly* Look, I'm your boyfriend. I know...this is a first for you but usually when two people are a couple, they're supposed to feel like they're in a relationship. I may be your boyfriend but when it comes to Oscar, even though he's the friend and I'm the boyfriend, I feel like it's the other way around. Like I'm the friend and he's your boyfriend.

Ruby: What! Oscar... as my boyfriend? *snorts* No that's....not...We're not like--- I mean yeah we've definitely gotten close but...it's not like we're together like how we're together.

Dante: So then why? Why is he so important to you? You don’t act this overprotective towards any of your other friends. You don’t bring up your friends every minute. You don’t check in on your friends every minute. You don’t care about your other friends the way you care about him---

Ruby: That’s not tru---

Dante: And you certainly don’t invite your other friends on your date with your boyfriend.

Ruby: Is that what this is really about? Because I invited him to the concert with us?

Dante: It was meant to be a date! Our date.

Ruby: … In my defense, I didn’t know it was a date. You didn’t tell me.

Dante: *incredulously* Because it was a surprise! Surprise date night. What’d you think I meant when I said I scored us tickets to see Nevermore?

Ruby:*innocently* That… you were inviting me and… all my friends?

Dante: But only Oscar conveniently showed up?

Ruby: Yeah cause I only invited Oscar since he's my only friend who likes Nevermore as much as I do. That’s why he was with me.

Dante: I was with you too. I’m here with you. I like Nevermore too. Not like you care. All you care about is Oscar.

Ruby: *crossly* Okay, that’s enough! *sternly* I know I’m the big dummy here when it comes to being in a relationship but that doesn’t mean I can’t tell a jealous boyfriend when I see one.

Dante: That’s not---

Ruby: *angrily* You are! You don’t get to yell at me and say confusing things to make me feel bad and you don’t get to do that by using Oscar.

Dante: …Ruby I…

Ruby: *furiously* NO! Oscar is my friend. You don’t know anything about him or what he’s going through right now where he could really, really use the support of a friend. Someone he can actually trust. That’s the thing. You don’t know him at all but I do. So you don’t get to use him to bring up problems you’re having with me. You don’t get to use his name like that and make me feel guilty about my relationship with my friend. That’s not fair Dante!

Dante: …I…*guiltily* You’re right. That…was uncalled for. I’m sorry. You’re right about me not knowing Oscar like you do. And I guess that’s the part that’s really bugging me. The why. I don’t need to know what kind of trouble Oscar’s going through right now since I’m sure it’s something he probably told you about in confidence so it’s not really any of my business to pry. But can I at least know why do you care so much about him? Please.

Ruby: …Did I ever tell you my story? What happened to me and my friends after what happened at Beacon?

Dante: Well...you told me you that you guys split up and you and that Jaune guy and his team paired up for a while. Made the whole trek to Mistral on your own.

Ruby: Yeah. Let’s just say travelling to Mistral on our own wasn’t as easy as we’d hoped. But, against all odds, we made it. Once inside the kingdom, I figured things would be better for us and for a small time it was. But all Mistral did was remind me of how broken things were. Sure, during the day time when everyone was together all happy and safe with big bright smiles, things were great and for a moment, you’d think things were normal again just like the good old days.

But at night, when the lights were off and the doors were closed and my friends were together in the other room, I was alone. Completely alone. And when I was alone, that’s when it would all hit me. My team was broken. My friends had died. My school was gone. I was far away from home with no real idea of what we were going to do next. That’s when I would finally remember that I was... hurting too. But it’s not like I could’ve just fallen apart then and there, right? I had to be strong both for myself and my remaining friends. We didn’t know what we were going to do. Didn’t know how we were going to get there but…my friends decided to join me to go to Mistral. Despite their own grieves, they chose to follow me because I’m the one that gave them the strength to move forward. That’s what Jaune told me. I had to be their leader. Their strength. It was a badge and burden I had to carry. I had to be strong because a team is only as strong as their leader. So I would push whatever bad feelings I had back then away. Bury them as deep as I could. Hoping that no one would notice my pain. And y’know what, it worked. No one ever suspected it.

My friends were none the wiser. But that didn’t stop me from feeling the way I did. The pain hurt but I kept it down and do you know what that felt like?

Dante: … *shakes head silently*

Ruby: It's like…being cast out at sea during a terrible storm. When you're trying to swim but the current is so strong that you keep getting swept under the water.

I tried to be strong for my team. My friends were broken up and I had to be the one to do everything I can to keep them together. I needed to be because that's how we were going to get through this and make it as far as we could.. Everyone was drowning in the storm and I needed to do what I can to help them stay afloat. But… I was drowning too and… no one noticed I was.

But...somehow... he did.

Dante: ...Oscar?

Ruby: *nods slowly* This fourteen year old farm boy who just showed up at our door out of nowhere…who knew nothing about me. Who had no business yelling at me about my feelings. Somehow he's the one that saw me drowning out of everyone else. He saw me.

Dante: …And let me guess, he helped you out of the water.

Ruby: No. He drove the storm away.

A little drabble of a script there but I think you can get the impression of where I was sort of going with this.

I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of bringing up the V5 Dojo scene. As a Ruby moment, it was significant because it highlighted the moment where Ruby finally disclosed her true feelings over all the events that took place after Beacon. It’s the first time we saw her profess her true feelings that wasn’t on paper. We know she mentioned it in her letter to Yang (which I’m still unconvinced she actually got although V5 did a poor job of showing that she did) but Oscar is the first person she came clean about everything to. And judging by the fact that that moment with him was in her fondest memories, it’s a moment that meant a lot to Ruby since Oscar genuinely helped her out.

My hunch is that Ruby must've been really lonely during the V5. I mean sure she had Jaune, Ren and Nora and for a while her Uncle Qrow.

However Qrow left for a bit and JNR were a team who had lost a member but still had each other to lean on. Ruby lost her whole team who were torn apart by the events of Beacon.

Sure JNR are Ruby’s friends and her secondary family. But they weren’t Ruby's core family. Her team. And at the time, Ruby wasn’t sure if she’d ever see Yang, Weiss and Blake again. This could also justify why Ruby looked out for Oscar so much during V5.

Technically he was basically alone too. I mean, sure he had Ozpin in his head. However I’d like to think that Ruby started chumming up to Oscar so much during the Mistral Days because she saw a lot of herself in him.

A young kid with an unexplainable force inside of him that he now has to learn to control while juggling responsibilities placed on him (ironically by the same dude who enrolled Ruby into Beacon despite being younger than the recommended age who also made her leader of her own huntress team).

I’d like to think that Ruby gravitated towards Oscar since she saw him as another person for her to help and support. But what she didn’t expect was what Oscar did for her.

She didn’t anticipate him seeing right through her facade of indifference over her own grief. She didn’t expect for him to call her out on it either. I’d like to think that the dojo scene was the moment that solidified to Ruby that she can trust Oscar. I’d also like to think that Ruby’s bond with Oscar would be seen and treated differently than her other bonds with her friends since their rapport is different.

Oscar has proven himself to be the type of supportive comrade to Ruby who wouldn’t hesitate to drop everything and immediately bound to Ruby’s aid if he noticed she was in danger.

So, naturally, she’d do her best to reciprocate this when she’s looking out for him too. These two kids share so much in common that naturally their bond would be different and unique to each other since their predicaments is unique to them and done in a way that only they can understand.

Ruby and Oscar can relate to each other in a way that no other character in the show can so the prospect of these two rosebuds growing close on the basis of those shared similarities is almost inevitable.

I can even see Ruby and Oscar ultimately falling in love with each other as a result of how much they can relate to one another. After all, not to say it in a cheesy way but…it’s like they were made for each other. It’s almost like it’s their destiny to come together in some shape or form. Whether that turns out to be romantic or remains close but purely platonic, who knows? But since this is my headcanon, I’m hoping it turns romantic.

This is why I like the idea of third wheel characters (like my Rose and Dante) being introduced to help these rosebuds realize their feelings. In the Little Prince, the Fox taught the Prince to see what his Rose truly meant to him. That he was responsible for his Rose. I cannot wait for this to be incorporated into Oscar’s side of things for when he realizes how much Ruby means to him as his one true rose.

As for Ruby, I would like to see a Dante incarnation for her too. I still stand by my hunch that Ruby and Oscar would fall for each other at the same time but Oscar would be the one to realize his feelings first and possibly confess first. But Ruby would feel the same way. It would just take a little longer for her to realize. That’s why I dig a Dante Big Bad Boyfriend character to sort of give a nudge.

Like I can picture Ruby having a Big Bad Boyfriend based on the Big Bad Wolf but the wolf isn’t such a bad guy. He’s actually a Big Good Wolf who falls hard for his little red rose. The wolf and the rose start a romance---it’s an awkward once since it’s a first for them both but they try to make it work. And for the most part, it’s great since the wolf and the rose do care about each other. However the wolf also takes notice that his little red rose also shares a unique bond with a little prince.

At first the wolf becomes envious of the rose’ connection with the prince. But soon the wolf comes to see that what the rose shares with the prince is special and true. The wolf knows that the little prince is in love with the little red rose. Their love for the rose is what they share.

However, the wolf soon realizes that the prince is the true love of his little red rose and despite being heartbroken about this revelation, the wolf is understanding. Rather than becoming enraged and hurting his rose over her love for the prince, the wolf decides to set the rose free so that she may be with her prince.

If I had to picture Ruby and Dante breaking up, I can imagine it only ending on good terms. In spite of his anger at first, Dante would come to be understanding of Ruby’s bond to Oscar and he would be the one to end things between the two. It would be a break up of mutual understanding. I can imagine Dante calling out Ruby on being in love with Oscar but instead of saying yes or proving him wrong, all Ruby could do is apologize.

So…it’s almost like a yes and no. Yes she possibly feels that way but no she isn’t completely sure yet or doesn’t want to admit it because at the time she’s with someone else and dealing with the confusion of that. That kind of thing. So the only sure thing Ruby can do in the moment is apologize to Dante for not reciprocating the same feelings. All she can do is apologize and…Dante understands all of it.

Dante: The way you describe how you feel about Oscar, that’s how I feel about you. I came here to tell you that I love you Ruby. But…I think you’ve already given me my answer. I don’t know what he did or how he did it, but whatever Oscar did to steal your heart, it worked and it shows. Whether you’re ready to admit that yourself or not, you love him; don’t you?

Ruby: …I....I’m…sorry.

Dante: He’s the one, isn’t he?

Ruby: …I’m so sorry.

Or...something like that. Maybe. So Ruby breaks things off with Dante. She’s sad but not heart-broken. She’s more confused for the most part. Unsure of her own feelings. And ironically, the person she turns to in this moment is the cause of her confused feelings. Her little prince. Oscar.

And while he’s comforting her, Ruby gets a small flash of realization that what Dante said was true.

Oscar had grown on her in a way she didn’t imagine. She now cared about him in an unexplainable way that feels both different and unique compared to her other bonds.

Did that mean that she loved him? It could be. She’d honestly needed time to figure it out and make sense about it. But at least for that moment, she was just contented that Oscar was by her side. Supporting her as always in the way that made he appreciate his presence in her life. And for that moment, that was all that mattered…or something like that.

And that’s pretty much all that I gotta say to that. I went off of another tangent and…as usual, not quite sure if I actually answered you Yellow XD But in a nutshell, that’s what came to my mind after reading your essay comment. I guess you can let me know what you think of all of this now. I think you might like Dante Ingouf a lot more than Dante Alarick.

Alarick is the Bad Ending version of the Big Bad Wolf while Ingouf is his Happy Ending version. Heck I’m almost even tempted to make these two versions of my Dante character half-brothers or fraternal twins.

Like Dante Ingouf is the bastardized Faunus counterpart to his twin brother---Alarick who was left at an orphanage because his mother quote, unquote ‘had an affair with a Faunus’ since her snooty rich boy husband was infertile and the family was in desperate need of an heir.

So one of the babies, the first born of the two, turned out to be a Faunus but the family were racist and didn’t want their next heir to be of Faunus bloodline. Luckily the other twin was clean of any Faunus genes. So the family, being of prestige in Atlas, decided to keep it a big family secret. Discarded the twin that was a faunus and raised the other human one as a single child. Spoiled him rotten too.

That’s something I’ve wondered in RWBY. We’ve seen human twins and Faunus twins. But never a pair of twins where one is human and the other is Faunus. That’d actually be kind of cool.

Buuuuuuuuuut….I’m getting ahead of myself again. Plus I’ve jibberjabbed for too long. Hope you enjoyed the post.

More RWBY Character Headcanons

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)

#squiggles answers: rwby #ruby rose #oscar pine #rwby theories #rwby rosegarden #ruby and oscar #little red headcanons #squiggles' little red headcanons

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xavierscos · 7 years ago

Photo

:: Identification ::

Current Name: Foxface

Past Names:

Fox, Foxkit, Foxpaw

Nickname(s): Frogface

Gender: Trans Tom

Age: 20 moons (As of 9/30/17)

Sexuality: Gay

Current Affiliation: FloodedClan

Position: Warrior

Education History:

○ – Past Mentor: Morninglotus

○ - Current Apprentice: N/A

○ - Past Apprentices: N/A

:: Aspects ::

Brief Description: Dark ginger ticked tabby tom with crooked teeth; pretty face and stunning golden yellow eyes.

Body Build: Average height with a bit of chub; soft, messy fur; stocky tail.

Strength: 5/10

Endurance: 5/10

Agility: 3/10

Defense: 5/10

Intelligence: 5/10

Accuracy: 2/10

Medicine knowledge: 0/10

Scent: Moss and mud

Voice Headcanon:

:bulletblack: Amanda Palmer (Pre-T; this verse)

:bulletblack: Max from Sam and Max Hit The Road (Post-T)

:: Personality::

Bitter, reclusive, and snappy, Foxface is a bit of a hard tomcat to get along with. He’s long since lost that competitive cockiness he was infamous for when he was younger, and through his age and grief, has turned into a very confused, struggling tom. He often wonders about the idea of wandering off or joining another Clan, but his family keeps him rooted to FloodedClan. However, just because he struggled with loyalty to his Clan doesn’t mean he doesn’t value loyalty at all; he values loyalty to his friends and family above all, willing to put anything aside to see them happy (even if he does it begrudgingly). He can be quite the loving, affectionate tom once you break through his isolated exterior, and if you were a friend of his before his disappearance, he’ll be more than happy to reconnect with you.

Fears

Water, drowning, storms

Trivia

:bulletred: only known to close friends, :bulletpink: Admin facts!

:bulletred: Has a crippling fear of water (to cross the territory he rides on the back of the other warriors or wads through shallow water. anything that passes his midleg however will freak him tf out). It’s gotten better now but water still makes him super uncomfortable

:bulletpink: okay he was based off of something henna said

:bulletblack: He has anxiety attacks when he hears thunder/sees lightning

:: History ::

Fox was born in an unhappy union between Lady, a blackmailing former kittypet, and Chubtail, a scrawny, anxious caretaker from FloodedClan. Chubtail had initially left the Clan after Lady became pregnant with their first kit, Plum, but shortly after, Lady became violent and calculating, manipulating and threatening Chubtail into staying with her; afterwards, Fox was born, and Plum was old enough to give Chubtail enough time to escape back to her own Clan. After Lady passed away, Plum took care of Fox, and the young kitten looked up to his brother with all the awe in the world – “I wanna be just like you when I grow up, Plum! A brave, honor-bubble tom!” (Don’t blame him – he couldn’t pronounce honorable). And Plum doted on Fox just as much, travelling with him over vast territories.

When Fox was about five moons old, he and Plum heard rumors of three colonies of cats, settled down in the water-like areas, so Plum took Fox with him to go and investigate, hoping to find a new home for them. Unfortunately, a storm was raging when they got to FloodedClan territory; the lake had flooded, waters were swirling, and Plum dropped Fox off on the highest ground he could find. After spotting a group of cats making their way in the horizon to a safe spot, Plum ordered Fox to stay on the mound of earth and plunged into the water, trying to make his way to the group; he stood no chance against the stormy water. Fox had to watch on in horror as the only family he had ever known disappeared beneath the surface of the swirling water.

The next morning, Fox was plucked up and taken back to FloodedClan, where a sweet caretaker he had never seen before took him in, raising him and another tortoiseshell kitten – Spiderkit. The caretaker introduced themself as Chubtail.

Eventually, Foxkit grew to Foxpaw, and he had formed a happy little family on his own; he saw Chubtail as the mother he never had, Spiderpaw as the brother he lost, Slugkit as a sister he could boss around, and even bossy Lichenfoot. They were his family – and that little family branched out to other Clans too, starting with Kestrelpaw in RushingClan and Beetlepaw in MarshClan. Everything was going fine – until the war struck, and Foxpaw had to come to terms with two realizations: Chubtail was actually his blood-related parent, and Plum had not only survived his drowning endeavor, but survived and went straight to MarshClan. With no memory of who Foxpaw was.

Shortly after receiving his warrior cat name, Foxface was off, grieving and hurt, angered, frustrated – all the synonyms you can think of. He took off with the rest of his FloodedClan family, only to come back moons later, on the wish of Slugpaw. While the group had been travelling, Spiderstorm left to settle into a comfortable kittypet life, and Slugpaw and Foxface’s relationship began to strain; the young molly began to regret leaving FloodedClan, and, after a few heated arguments, convinced Foxface to turn around and head back. Now, the group is back in FloodedClan – Slugpaw received her warrior name as Slugnose, Foxface returned to his previous position warrior, and Chubtail retired to the elders den. Slugnose and Foxface, unfortunately, have yet to rebuild their family relationship, and Foxface has grown reclusive and avoided most of his Clanmates since arriving home.

Close Family

Mothers: Chubtail, Lady

Siblings: Plum (older brother, unknown)

Uncles/Aunts: N/A

Cousins and Other kin: N/A

Children: N/A

:: Sexuality & Relationships ::

Romantic Orientation: Gay

Status: Single(?)

Current Attractions:

Beetlecone

Shippings:

BeetleFox

EbonyFox

KestrelFox

::Relationships::

:bulletgreen: Friend

:bulletgreen: :bulletgreen: Close friend

:bulletgreen: :bulletgreen: :bulletgreen: Best friend

:bulletorange: Family (blood relative)

:bulletorange: :bulletorange: Family by choice

:bulletyellow: Respect

:bulletyellow: :bulletyellow: Admires

:bulletyellow: :bulletyellow: :bulletyellow: Role model

:bulletpink: Attraction

:bulletpink: :bulletpink: Small crush (unaware)

:bulletpink: :bulletpink: :bulletpink: Big Crush (aware)

:bulletred: Loves (familial)

:bulletred: :bulletred: Loves (platonic)

:bulletred: :bulletred: :bulletred: Loves (romantically)

:heart: Mate

:bulletblue: Pities

:bulletblue: :bulletblue: Regrets

:bulletpurple: Is intimidated by

:bulletpurple: :bulletpurple: Fears

:bulletblack: Dislikes/annoyance

:bulletblack: :bulletblack: Hates

:bulletblack: :bulletblack: :bulletblack: Wants to fight them/Wants them dead

((Not including Spider/Slug/Chub))

((most of these are the old relationships from before the hiatus and I didn’t really change them because nothing happened. Everything from before the Hiatus will be in a strike out. Recent will be not strike-out))

Plum | QueenVivi | :bulletred: | :bulletyellow: :bulletyellow: :bulletyellow: | :bulletorange: | :bulletgreen: :bulletgreen: :bulletgreen: | “<strike> Plum is sooo awesome! He’s super sweet and supportive and he always protected me against scary things! He’s absolutely great! The best brother! Well, I mean, he was. </strike>”

“You know… I don’t know what to think of you anymore.”

“Haven’t seen you around. I don’t know where you went off to.”

Rabbitpaw | FloodedClan | candykitty456 | :bulletgreen: | “<strike> She’s one cool cat! I hope we get to goof around some more. </strike>”

Fuzzypaw | FloodedClan | QueenVivi | :bulletgreen: :bulletgreen: :bulletgreen: | “<strike> Fuzzypaw’s AMAZING! Even if she’s a total birdbrain, she’s still surprisingly fun to be around! I’d do anything to defend this girl. Of course, I’ll always be the cooler one in the friendship, ey, Fuzzbutt? </strike>”

Kestrelcloud | RushingClan | :devturkfish: | :bulletgreen: :bulletgreen: | :bulletyellow: | “<strike> I can’t BELIEVE he was made a warrior before me! What the heckie! What the absolute heck! Ugh, whatever, besides that… I mean…he’s kinda cool. And, maybe I do kinda look forward to hanging out with him more, y’know. Even if he’s a loser! </strike>”

“I should see him again. I missed him so, so much. What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I just go say hey? I hope he’s doing alright…I wish I hadn’t left without a goodbye.”

Ebonypaw | RushingClan | QueenVivi | :bulletblack: | :bulletblack: :bulletblack: :bulletblack: (to fight) | :bulletyellow: | “<strike> What a JACKASS! He had the audacity to fight me when he was on FloodedClan territory? I have the right mind to kick her butt! In fact, next time, Ebonypaw, you better watch out, ‘cause I’m not gonna lose again! Just watch me! </strike> ”

Beetlecone | :devyellowsoui: | MarshClan | :bulletgreen: :bulletgreen: | “<strike> I guess we hit it off pretty well, mud-fight aside. But, honestly, if he calls me ‘Frogface’ one more time, I’m gonna learn to harness the power of all of StarClan and FLOOD HIM WITH MUD I SWEAR! I’M GONNA! </strike> ”

“I – oh geez. Shit. I’m so sorry I left things like this with him. I’ve missed him too much – I need to see him again. I just feel – I don’t know? Scared? He’s probably moved on, anyways.”

:: Roleplay ::

Availability OPEN

• {:bulletred:} Chat Rp

• {:bulletred:} Comment Rp

• {:bulletred:} Note Rp

• {:bulletgreen:} Other Sites: Skype, Kik, Discord (only on weekends). PLEASE. This is my only way I can actually do this aha.

Ratings

:bulletgreen: G

:bulletgreen: PG/PG-13

:bulletyellow: M (Depending on the content. Sexual themes must only be human characters who are 18+ :/,, )

Example

(Literary Example taken from a fic! Sikey belongs to me, Isabella to Henna, Baxter+Grey to Moe)

Sikey’s eyes snapped up to glare wide-eyed at Baxter, as if shocked by the verbal audacity he had to even utter such a sentence; her round, dark cheeks grew darker as an angry flush spread across them. She opened her mouth, as if to shout back at Baxter, before clamping it shut; she whipped around and stormed away, feet stamping loudly across the tiled floor as she stomped her way towards the table. Baxter watched as Sikey practically flung herself in the open area of the bench that was designated as her seat; she shoved her tray towards the center of the table, arms folding where it once was and her head dropping to hide her face under. The table’s mood shifted, faces growing concerned as they tried to reach out to Sikey – Baxter couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he could see their mouths moving. Isabella extended her arm across the table, one hand resting in Sikey’s black hair, while Grey scrambled around the table and settled in a seat next to Sikey, leaning her shoulder against the hunched girl’s shoulder.

Baxter felt a twist in his stomach – guilt? Why would he feel guilty? – but he didn’t harp on it, or he didn’t have the time to, at least. One kid behind him shoved him, right between his shoulder blades, and huffed, “Move forward! You’re holding up the line!”

:: Identification ::

Current Name: Slugnose

Past Names:

Slugkit, Slugpaw

Nickname(s): N/A

Gender: CIS Girl

Age: 15 moons (As of 9/30/17)

Sexuality: Bi

Current Affiliation: FloodedClan

Position: Warrior

Education History:

○ – Past Mentor: Lichenfoot

○ - Current Apprentice: N/A

○ - Past Apprentices: N/A

:: Aspects ::

Brief Description: Thick furred gray classic tabby molly with blind green eyes and a torn ear.

Body Build: Kinda tall; messy, unkempt fur; cuddly body.

Strength: 7/10

Endurance: 6/10

Agility: 2/10

Defense: 3/10

Intelligence: 7/10

Accuracy: 2/10

Medicine knowledge: 0/10

Scent: Smoke

Voice Headcanon:

:bulletblack: K.Flay – Blood in the Cut

:: Personality::

Bossy and loud, Slugnose may lack eyesight, but she doesn’t let that bother her! She knows how to take charge of any situation, and unfortunately, she can be quite hot headed – it’s either her way or the high way. She can be selfish, easily annoyed, and – as stated before - bossy, and she’s not one to let people slide on their mistakes; she’s undyingly loyal, however, and since she’s returned to FloodedClan, she’s devoted to working her tail off for this Clan. She’s diligent and hardworking, and rather clever. Slugnose is well aware that she can’t complete certain tasks the same way others can – her aim will always be a little bit off, no matter how hard she’s tried, but she’s learned how to work together. With her excellent tracking skills (she prides herself on her intense sniffer), Slugnose can track down anything – cat or pray – so she tends to take someone with her, lead them to the source, and work with them to complete the task.

Fears

Failure; isolation; what others think of her

Trivia

:bulletred: only known to close friends, :bulletpink: Admin facts!

:bulletblack: she’s blind

:: History ::

Long before Slugnose was born, a molly named Thistlecloud was constantly urged by her parents to settle down and bring kits into FloodedClan – not because they wanted to see her start a family, but because they wanted to ensure that their bloodline carried on and that FloodedClan still had another generation of future warriors or caretakers to defend their Clan. Thistlecloud didn’t exactly want kits – she wasn’t a mother, nor did she ever see herself as being a mother; one day, she met up with her MarshClan friend – Quailfoot – and caved, explaining everything that had been happening. The two came to a mutual agreement and spent the night together intimately, but not without regret. After Thistlecloud had become pregnant, as expected, the friendship between the two grew rocky, and eventually the young molly cut ties with her old friend due to the discomfort and awkwardness in the friendship. When she had Slugkit, she went straight back to her warrior duties – leaving the kitten for the caretakers; Chubtail took Slugkit in, nurturing her as if she were their own.

And Slugkit grew to be Slugpaw with their own family – Chubtail, Foxface, Spiderstorm, and Lichenfoot, her mentor, whom she viewed as a sister figure. But family sticks together, so when Foxface wanted to leave, Slugpaw sucked up her feelings and went with her older brother figure, staying with her family as they left; after Spiderstorm left the group, settling down in a kittypet life with a pretty feline they had met, Slugpaw began to grow restless and, more importantly, resentful. Arguments and fights began to break out between Foxface and Slugpaw about when they would be going home, and after one particularly bad fight, Slugpaw convinced Foxface to head back. So the group did.

She returned to FloodedClan – earned her warrior cat name shortly after, and now continues to work for the Clan as she did before.

Close Family

Mother: Thistlecloud

Father: Quailfoot

Siblings: N/A

Uncles/Aunts: N/A

Cousins and Other kin: N/A

Children: N/A

:: Sexuality & Relationships ::

Romantic Orientation: Bi (Heavy preference towards girls)

Status: Single

Current Attractions:

N/A

Shippings:

N/A

::Relationships::

:bulletgreen: Friend

:bulletgreen: :bulletgreen: Close friend

:bulletgreen: :bulletgreen: :bulletgreen: Best friend

:bulletorange: Family (blood relative)

:bulletorange: :bulletorange: Family by choice

:bulletyellow: Respect

:bulletyellow: :bulletyellow: Admires

:bulletyellow: :bulletyellow: :bulletyellow: Role model

:bulletpink: Attraction

:bulletpink: :bulletpink: Small crush (unaware)

:bulletpink: :bulletpink: :bulletpink: Big Crush (aware)

:bulletred: Loves (familial)

:bulletred: :bulletred: Loves (platonic)

:bulletred: :bulletred: :bulletred: Loves (romantically)

:heart: Mate

:bulletblue: Pities

:bulletblue: :bulletblue: Regrets

:bulletpurple: Is intimidated by

:bulletpurple: :bulletpurple: Fears

:bulletblack: Dislikes/annoyance

:bulletblack: :bulletblack: Hates

:bulletblack: :bulletblack: :bulletblack: Wants to fight them/Wants them dead

((Not including Spider/Fox/Chub))

“I’m SO GLAD TO BE BACK AND HEAR YOU AGAIN, I’m – Okay, don’t – I’m not crying but !!! I’m just…So happy to be around you again, man. You’re my big sister – I missed you.”

:: Roleplay ::

Availability OPEN

• {:bulletred:} Chat Rp

• {:bulletred:} Comment Rp

• {:bulletred:} Note Rp

• {:bulletgreen:} Other Sites: Skype, Kik, Discord (only on weekends). PLEASE. This is my only way I can actually do this aha.

Ratings

:bulletgreen: G

:bulletgreen: PG/PG-13

:bulletyellow: M (Depending on the content. Sexual themes must only be human characters who are 18+ :/,, )

Example

(Literary Example taken from a fic! Sikey belongs to me, Isabella to Henna, Baxter+Grey to Moe)

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courage-a-word-of-justice · 6 years ago

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Grimms Notes 1

Somehow, from the opening shot having an easy-to-draw-and-animate non-very-threatening monster, I can tell this is a game adaption.

…Likwise, when I have complaints about the birds in the OP being CG, you know this is an anime.

I think this “handing down the role of Red Riding Hood” thing is interesting. However, the humour Tao was going for at the time…was so not me.

I think all Tao said was that it was dangerous (in the audio). I think the subber was trying to insert a Zelda meme…what an evil agenda…(partially joking)

“…scary black thing…” – Do you mean the monster? If you mean the wolf monster and not the other clawed creature from the beginning of the episode, then that’s not black. That’s purple.

I think Brain’s Base is trying to make Red look creepy with her dead ahead stare, but…as much as I don’t like a fisheye lens, we could really use some right now.

Okayyyyyyyyyy…I knew anime could make anything a weapon, but a bookmark? That’s stretching credulity a bit. How is that badass??? C’mon, even healing was – kinda – badass in Merc Storia because it had a purpose. A bookmark is just used for keeping your place in a book. Unless it’s one of those metal ones that falls out of books all the time, they don’t hurt flies.

Seriously, doesn’t Goliath get defeated by David??? In better news, I thought Tao was vaguely hot, but Robin Hood…ooh…

I have no idea why Alice’s weapon is a sword, btw.

Waitttttt…wuh? “I’ll show you how to be a real lady”???? *eyes of skepticism* At least the other ones make sense and aren’t as gendered – but notably Cinderella is a healer when they could’ve done something cooler, like the Little Mermaid or something (to tie into siren mythology).

Obviously Evil Villain is Obvious. Nothing new to see here.

Well…that was mildly unsatisfying…

Spec Ops Asuka 1

For some reason, I call Magical Girl Special Operations Asuka “Spec Ops Asuka”. Well, at least it makes sense…*shrugs*

Karambit. Surprisingly, it’s a weapon I’ve never heard of before…

Exposition dumps have never been this clunky before! Oof!

Whiskey Charlie? Like…WC? Toilet??? (I’m not sure everyone will get that joke, but okay.)

I’d probably translate the episode title to “Comeback of the Magical Girl”. It starts with a relative clause, so it should be that way in English too.

The ol’ transfer student cliché. *sigh* Anime, anime, anime…why you do dis to me? Not that I mind it, I wouldn’t be so deep if I weren’t…

What’s the name of Nozo-chan’s friend again???

“Franz on the Waves” seems to be a play on “Kafka on the Shore”.

Le sigh…I get the feeling this was written by a dude to satisfy male fantasies by pretending to use girl power as a symbol.

Seriously though, if you thought Sailor Moon was bad at keeping identities…Asuka has it worse. I mean, Rapture Asuka = Asuka Ootori. It’s really obvious in English…

A thug man with a metal hand drinking tea from a tiny cup…now there’s a real source of humour!

(Trigger warning: prostitution discussion) - “…whoring yourself out.” – Err…that’s definitely not what I expected to see in an anime like this. I haven’t shied away from Shield Hero, but this I did a really big double take on for all the wrong reasons. Even with Sayoko to hold Nozo-chan back, I still think Nozo’s being really, really insensitive here.

Okay…the rules of long hair state you must pull your hair out from towels. They missed a good opportunity to do that shoujo sparkle thing with that, y’know, even if to create mood whiplash.

There is something to be said about bystander effect here, I think, and how people award proactivity rather than being passive...especially with magical girls and those other kinds of people who act as “heroes” during times of crisis.

Oh, of course, terrorism. Because we want our magical girls political now…*le sigh*

“Live your life for the sake of those who died.” – This reminds me of the situation with cian-aemilian all over again. I’m pretty sure I’ve said something of a similar nature in the past due to it. Update: my exact quote was “…what can the living do but keep those who have gone in their memory?”

…and of course, people who watch magical girls from afar use drones, because that’s going to outdate this show in a good 10 – 20 years. *le sigh*

Well, colour me impressed. I was about to jump ship due to the shoddy quality, but I think that quote at the end felt like a dig at me personally in the best (yet worst) way possible. I did laugh a tonne at how stupid the gore looked, though, which might be a problem…

Boogiepop 3

Is it just me, or has Echoes cleaned up now enough to be kinda…hot?

Waittttt…which of them is “Niitoki-kun”? Sorry, I just don’t think I’m 100% comprehending all the names being flung about here. Update: Niitoki is the class prez gal.

Somehow I knew he was going to stab Echoes with the pen, but I was still slightly surprised to see it happen.

Hmm…that episode was a lot more impressive than the last two. Things actually made sense, now that we know the background of them,

Price of Smiles 2

I see 2D mechs. They may be stationary, but I’m still impressed…they’re basically a dying breed these days.

Why do these mechs have shields, anyway?

I like how the twins poked fun at Joshua’s “passion and will” thing.

Oh no…judging from their reaction…did Joshua die???

End of episode segment…keep watching.

Kaguya-sama 1

This is my final premiere…so I’d better make this count. I read somewhere the narrator was overpowering and read the first volume of manga, but otherwise that’s all I know about this.

I think that shot that replays in the OP is part of one chapter of the manga.

Tori…Tottori…geddit? Oh, never mind.

20th Century Fox, much?

The weed was a good touch. I don’t remember that being in the manga. (No, I’m not talking about that weed…which you can smoke…)

“Who’s Hayasaka?” you ask. Good question. Even I didn’t know, so I had to ask Google. Hayasaka…is Kaguya’s valet! If you know that, then you can laugh about it!

If you want a sausage octopus, just go ask your team of chefs for one, Kaguya!

Mob Psycho II 2

I’m pretty sure Ura Sunday is where Mob Psycho is serialised…

Is this the real Junji Ito adaption (LOL)?

Mononokean II 2

Why is Ashiya good at finding metal objects anyway? (If there is an explanation…) It’s only metal items and not anything else, right?

So the Justice is this frumpy purple-haired dude? I think I outgrew this kind of dude once I got over Urushihara…

There are CGI tadpoles, but they’re kinda hard to see against the 2D background…

Come to think of it, Abeno may be the master of the Mononokean, but it seems he reports directly to the Legislator. Is there a guy/youkai like that for the Justice (and presumably the other dude) as well?

Moja falling into the water was too adorable!

Oh great (LOL), the Legislator is basically baiting Abeno with “that’s not water!” from Grand Blue…

I just realised Abeno’s so big in comparison to Ashiya…n-not that I mind of course…(lel)

Aoi? Who dat? Update: Oh yeah…that guy (?) was the first master of the Mononokean. Sorry, I may have watched the 1st series twice, but that was at the start of 2017.

Shield Hero 2

“…is diseased and has a mental disorder.” – Well, I thought it honestly couldn’t get any worse, between slavery and rape accusations. It just did. Again, I don’t condone this stuff, but a story’s a story, no matter how depraved.

Seeing a story about the pits of despair naturally means you can see people get better – I think that’s why we need to have both stories that are light and fluffy + dark and dreary.

I see Naofumi keeps a Balloon (<- how I’ll refer to balloon monsters from now on) at his side all the time now, LOL. By the way, when he bought that ball, I honestly thought he was going to offer Raphtalia a Balloon instead of getting her a proper ball…

Update: Not sure if Naofumi’s inability to taste stuff is because of the betrayal or because of the fact he changed worlds…or maybe even something else?

My Roommate is a Cat 2

I see Bliss wallpaper...either someone has good taste in default wallpapers or a very outdated computer!

Is it alright to feed cats bread…? I’ve never fed a cat.

They say pets are like their owners, huh? Subaru is very much like the cat.

Wait, why are all the pets that are out and about do-Update: Forget I asked. There are some cats outside as well…

I’ve never seen a Japanese word processor with genkouyooshi to type into vertically, come to think of it.

Talking to cats is fine and dandy, I think, assuming they understand you as well. Anyways, I think Subaru got the name “Haru” from “sunny” (hare).

Ah! Kitty too cute!...I wish that could be a review, but sadly…it can’t be.

Post-credits segment…keep going.

Oh, that post-credits segment was so good, even if it did need some explaining to an audience that only knows English!

Update: I read the character bios from the official site, and turns out Haru is a girl.

Girly Air Force 1

I’ve seen mixed opinions about this (as in, read too many impressions on it and they don’t neatly go one way or another), so I’m taking the plunge while I still have time to.

You can tell your protagonist is great when the first word he says is “S***!”

EGG? “Defective girl”? I know I’m watching something with a lot of context here…but seriously, this was definitely made for dudes. Jusssssssssssst saying.

See? What did I say? After your first kiss, it’s only a matter of time before-erhem. I’ll stop ranting now.

So…what languages does Minghua know, exactly?

Wait, so what was Kei doing in China? Better question! (sings in a teasing voice “Eloping, eloping, Kei was eloping!”)

As much as I think free tuition is a good thing…I’m with Minghua. Don’t go risking your life when you just escaped for your life not too long ago.

*sigh* Kei, Kei, Kei…what do you think you’re doing?

…and I LOL. I LOL so hard at how they tossed Kei into the boot but laid down Minghua like a baby.

But seriously, why the name “Daughter”???

Egao no Daika 3

I found and heard Huey! I can leave this show if I wanted to now…

The fact people are red or blue, and sometimes you can’t tell which is which, is powerful colour symbolism.

Spec Ops Asuka 2

Well…that (perception magic) explains one of my questions from last time.

I kep thinking that Sayako is the sort of girl who would become a magical girl…in the traditional sense.

Pigeon fight! The fight I never knew I needed…kind of.

I’ve watched enough anime to know the new transfer student is Kurumi…geez.

Mononokean II 3

For some reason, I didn’t realise this until most of the episode had gone…but Egen is a tengu, right?

Make sure you watch closely for the “like him [Ashiya]” bit…it’s funny when you find out.

I find it the most surprising that Abeno is calling himself an idiot…hmm.

#simulcast commentary #grimms notes the animation #the morose mononokean #Fukigen na Mononokean Tsuzuki #mob psycho 100 #Mob Psycho 100 II #Mahou Shoujo Tokushusen Asuka #Magical Girl Spec Ops Asuka #kaguya-sama wa kokurasetai #kaguya-sama: love is war #Girly Air Force #the price of smiles #egao no daika #doukyonin wa hiza tokidoki atama no ue #my roommate is a cat #the rising of the shield hero #tate no yuusha no nariagari #Boogiepop and Others #Boogiepop wa Warawanai

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