#RA 10

[kimberlyannharts]

LAST TIME ON RANGER ACADEMY - Sage has had enough of this education thing, especially when "who am I" and "is my dad gay" aren't part of the curriculum (food for thought - does Ranger Academy have a tuition fee? Will she be hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt for the rest of her life?). So we're ditching school and heading back home.

It's Ranger Academy #10!

= you know what, I'm just gonna come out and say it. Mathis should have been a Pink Ranger. Like I'll take their pink hair being inherited from Nadira but THEY HAVE A PINK BAG AS WELL. SAGE HAS A GREEN BAG. THEY ARE WAY MORE COLOR-CODED AS PINK.

= HOLY FUCK IT'S NUGGET

= oh hey Tula you're here too

= Like I already joked about, Tula basically ran to Sage's moon to be Rhianth's new daughter because she'd rather be at the planet she's almost died at than go home and face her actual family in the wake of her failure. She's just like me fr

= they are so rhahrhghrhrhhgghrhghgh. Something about single parents widowed by their Green Ranger loves and their daughters

= this is very Wes/Eric coded. You just know Rhianth tossed Zilan a note that said "get out of my school"

= I feel like this was pointed out somewhere else but this issue gives us the colors of Rhianth's friend group: Rhianth was Red, Zilan was Green, Nika was Yellow, blue-haired kid was Black, red-haired elf was Blue, and black-haired kid was Pink. Obviously the other members aren't as important as Rhianth, Zilan, and Nika; but it would be nice to know where they are nowadays

= cute little detail: baby Sage looking at a picture of the goat things she'll one day end up herding in the future. Sure hope nothing bad happens to her between now and then

= THAT THING IS A KILLING MACHINE

= so yeah this is fucked up but again, part of me can't help but wonder if there will be one last twist that the sabotage WAS someone else

= "Zilan, you're not a Blue Ranger!!!! You can't build machines!!!! Only Blue Rangers can be smart and solve problems with their tech!!! You're gonna mess up!!!!!"

= sorry that Rhianth had to be traumatized but this doomed yaoi is goddamn STELLAR

= also I think Sage gets that same staff weapon. I like that she has a piece of both her dads

= hey Mathis uhhhhhh I know no one's paying attention but....you good

(i saw #11's cover. I know they're not good.)

= tbh I like how Ranger Academy portrays Dark Specter. I like how he's kind of a demonic entity that no one can really figure out because his motivations are beyond our human understanding so we just have to make our best guess. It makes him a lot scarier and more unique to other PR villains. I feel like in the main series BOOM ended up trying too hard to prove that they were going to make Dark Specter into the threat he never was in the show that they took out a lot of his mystery and intrigue, so he just ended up like a generic supervillain

= as for why he's still here in the future when he died so long ago.....eh. I'm kinda forming a headcanon that he can't really die forever - he eventually reforms after a certain amount of time. That's why he looks so different here, because he's in an early stage of his reincarnation

= See? If Zilan was a Blue Ranger he wouldn't have died. Sucks for him

[akirakirxaa]

For absolutely no reason at all please reblog if you think grey or blue skinned Duskwight based characters can be Ishgardian.

[tanglepelt]

Dc x dp idea 97

Danny as phantom storms a justice league meeting accusing Batman of magically sacrificing his son to be his (little sister/daughters) husband. Like I’m picturing Danny portaling and slapping Batman. To make matters worse both Danielle and Damian are only 9.

He can only sense Batman as the father of his new (hopefully temporary) in-law. Who thankfully is still actually human and not dead. The pits cover Talia scent. So he doesn’t know about her. Stinky waters do that you know.

Danny rushed to conclusions the moment frostbite told him what happened.

Bruce is very confused. For starters he doesn’t have a 9 year old son. Secondly he just had not done that.

[wfa-is-my-only-canon]

I love how the biggest discourse in the DC fandom is how many apples tall Damian really is

[genericnam]

Yo yo, does anybody have any recommendtions for good western cartoons?

I watch some Anime, but it's generally not my preference, so please stick to cartoons.

I've already watched: Amphibia, Adventure Time (Fionna & Cake included), The Owl House, Gravity Falls, Over The Garden Wall, Avatar: The Last Airbender (and Korra), Wander Over Wonder, The Midnight Gospel, Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Hilda, Murder Drones, Centaurworld, The Amazing World of Gumball, The Ghost and Molly McGee, Ben 10, Phineas and Ferb, Kipo and the Age of the Wonderbeasts, Glitch Techs, The Amazing Digital Circus, We Bare Bears, Disenchantment, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Edits: Shows I forgot to list/have already started

Milo Murphy's Law, The Hollow, Invader Zim, The Last Kids on Earth, Miraculous Ladybug, Regular Show, Bee and Puppycat, Dead End: Paranormal Park, The Cuphead Show

[tumblingxelian]

Near Uniquely RWBY - Main Characters

I was chatting with my sibling the other day and we were joking about the fact in 90% of the media I consume I generally don't like the main characters.

Not in the sense I necessarily hate them, but I generally don't find them to be the most interesting, engaging or enjoyable person on screen or page. Instead I tend to gravitate towards secondary or minor characters and even minor antagonists before any of the big names.

Some of this is rooted in my often rooting for what tends to feel more like a real underdog or characters that feel like they got dealt a bad hand by the author unfairly. But its also that in a lot of media the main characters tend to immediately, slowly or quickly go into personality lockdown.

Becoming less a personality and more the embodiment of expected tropes and themes, or they lose their unique edge or circumstances because the plot demands one benefits or personality changes be heaped on them to keep the tone and story going.

Some examples of this would include say:

Ichigo from Bleach, with him and his supporting cast being very unique and super interesting during the initial arc. But as Soul Society came in, he became a much more standard Shounen determinator a the expense of his personality and his supporting casts were largely watered down & left behind.

Or how in Naruto or Dragon Ball the whole underdog/hard worker aspect of the characters felt undercut by legacy power ups and an endless wellspring of natural talent, alien biology, ETC.

I know these are just two examples, but they cover the general gist of what I mean.

So, what makes RWBY different?

Well, off the cuff, is simply that the four main characters are women.

I've often felt simply putting anyone other than a cis-het guy into the main character slot of say, a battle Shounen, or Isekai stands a good chance of making it more interesting by default. Even if the author does nothing with it the audience reaction would be different because the MC would be an exception to the norms.

In that vein, while one can call RWBY some sort of Shounen or adventure fantasy or magical girl show the main four are unique in how they manifest on screen at the very start. From how they participate in action, to how said action is structured and framed and the kind of adventures and topics they tackle.

But being unique alone is not enough, that would simply make it more interesting than the bog standard but what elevates RWBY is the execution and exploration of such elements and its characters.

Going into every aspect would be difficult, but in light of what I said above would be how each of the main four are initially presented as familiar archetypes, only to subvert or deconstruct them.

Ruby is a peppy goth who just wants to be normal but has inborn powers from her mysteriously vanished mother and serves as a beacon of optimism to others.

Except Ruby's version of normal still involved fighting death monsters with a sniper rifle scythe and she is actually one of the more ruthless characters. Her peppy persona obscures that she can have a pretty vicious temper when pushed and has displayed strong bloodknight tendencies.

Her unrelenting optimism and desire to fix the world is a complex mix of true beliefs, coping mechanism for trauma and her grappling with positions forced on her against her will. Her inborn power is potentially useful but also not that much of a game breaker outside specific contexts & said power sure as hell didn't save her mom.

Weiss Schnee is the Tsundere heiress of a powerful family, with a haughty attitude that hides her loneliness.

Except the "Tsundere" is more of a defense mechanism born of coming from an abusive home where every member of her family manifested a different trauma response. Freeze (Mother), flight (Sister), Fight (Weiss) Fawn (Brother).

Despite her upbringing & some projected trauma, she's far from ignorant as to the worst excesses of her nation early on, and her journey was more about overcoming the impacts her abuser had on her and finding a family in her team that let her be safe enough to let down her walls. Also despite being "The ice queen" she's actually one of the characters least inclined towards more ruthless actions and is extremely empathic.

Blake Belladonna is a mysterious and silent rougish woman, something of a shrinking violet even, but she carries with her a wounded heart thanks to her old flame, the edgy Adam Taurus.

Or more accurately, Blake is the daughter of activists and politicians who represent the worlds main discriminated against minority. She spent her youth on the road as a protestor and where even her father could be nearly killed by a lynch mob. She was targeted & groomed by a man who claimed to want to fight the same injustice she did but who was only interested in using the movement to grow his own power.

Her initial aloof-ness was a trauma response to having spent years under his thumb and overcoming him and the idea she had to 'save' him was one of the main corner stone so her character. Also, despite the "Revolutionary fighter" backstory she like Weiss is much less inclined towards ruthlessness than her team in large part because her past experience with it.

Yang Xiao Long, introduced as the fun loving big sister of Ruby & boisterous bruiser of the team who loves to party & flirt.

Except no, Yang was parentified as a child and forced to raise her own sister as their family unit fell apart. Her "Party girl" persona was outright framed as judging a book by its cover in her own trailer and something she put on or took off as she needed.

She became disabled over the course of the series run as well as entered a Sapphic romance with her partner Blake. Unlike the stereotype of characters with her design, Yang is actually an excellent student, fighter and engineer/mechanic. Plus much like her sister she tends to be of the more ruthless and pragmatic persuasion despite being from the "Normal" background.

Character Conclusion

So, all the characters break out of their initial archetypes, which already makes them more interesting. What's more, these sorts of characters just being oput together and made the main characters rather than circling a dude is in of itself unique.

But there are other aspects of the writing which endear me to how it handles the main characters and what keeps them interesting.

Anger & Violence

See, while in various media women do express anger at times it is still often far less so than men. What's more, often women's anger tends to be presented in... Less flattering lights.

With the anger obscuring fragility while in a man it conveys strength. Or implying a sort of hysteria rather than an appropriate or controlled response. Or worst of all being demonized in general unless its rooted in or coming from traditionally feminine places.

The same tends to be true when it comes to violence with a lot of media either trying to find some way to make women in battle less... Brutal than their male counterparts. (More more like fanservice) Along with rarely letting women fight men, unless they are a special exception to the norm.

RWBY does not do this.

The main characters, hell, all the women in the series express a multitude of different forms of anger and violence. They battle men, they battle each other, they battle monsters all with no distinction nor fanservice shot in sight.

What's more though is that said anger and violence are not presented as, for lack of better words, wrong. The writers don't draw overt attention to this fact, they don't hang a big sign up saying "Girls can fight & shout too" or the like.

They just present these women with a range of emotions, motives and actions that are treated according to what fits the theme of the show rather than hewing closer to gendered lines.

This isn't to say anger & violence are lionized, but more that the experience and usage of them is not demonized or undermined because of the characters gender.

I suppose what I am saying is that CRWBY by and large lack double standards when it comes to exploring these things that I see so often in other media. The women in the main cast, among the villains, both sides respective allies and beyond can be flawed, or angry or do both good and terrible things.

But the writers are always treating everyone's pain as equally valid regardless of gender or situation. Which means that the situations that cause anger exist within a tone of respect that forms the depiction and framing of anger itself.

Which is just something I really enjoy.

Thanks for reading!

[drag00ni]

scales are cool

[girl4music]

Catra said that Melog responds and reacts on people’s emotions. But I’ve only really ever seen it respond and react to Catra’s emotions. Actually, it seems to do more than that. It seems to influence them significantly. And Melog is made of magic so,… it’s sort of like a familiar.

Catra’s familiar. Even though Catra is not a witch or really of the supernatural at all, she’s still part animal and animals do imprint on other animals as well as humans. But it seems like Melog has imprinted more on Adora than it has on Catra - likely because of Catra’s feelings for Adora of which she won’t express outright.

It’s just something I picked up on because I really paid attention to Catra’s body language in those moments. It’s unexpressed affection for Adora. But then Melog is there to make a move at the exact moment Catra feels.

Melog acts on the feelings Catra is unwilling to act on because unless Catra is pushed to act on them, she won’t. She outright refuses to allow her love to show. So Melog represents the medium with which to do that until Catra gets to a point where she’ll do it for herself and she’s no longer hiding behind her own repression.

[manic-sapphic]

[ben-talks-art]

Is there a better source of drama than watching a character be pushed to their breaking point?

Like, I joke about it but it really does feel like the secret to make a good story is just "Make a character -> Throw challenge after challenge at them -> See how they react."

There is something...

...just fascinating about knowing how to challenge your character without making it feel like a misery fest and actually making an exploration of how people respond when they reach their limits. How do they reach it? Why do they reach it? Can they make it back? How do they respond? Where do we draw the limit?

This is why the conflict is such a crucial part of a narrative. The walls that you make for your character to face and hopefully overcome is what will test your skill as a writer.

You can't make it too easy because then it becomes anti-climatic, and you can't make it too hard either because then it will feel like you're just torturing your character, and if the breaking point doesn't feel earned it will be like the writer is just trying to force the drama instead of journeying through it.

I've seen a few cases where a character will snap for very mundane reasons and it makes me go "You just wanted to have your cool 'I'm going Super Sayan' moment, you don't really care about this character's emotional struggle." 😑

You gotta find that right balance of what you're gonna throw at your hero and how you're going to explore it for your story.

It's tricky, but if you manage to pull it off, it can lead to some really great storytelling, character study, and theme exploration.

[sirwhiplash]

Excluding anime, here are 20 animated TV shows you should absolutely watch in your lifetime:

1. Avatar the Last Airbender

2. Gravity Falls

3. Over the Garden Wall

4. Adventure Time

5. Steven Universe

6. Star vs. The Forces of Evil

7. She-Ra and the Princess of Power

8. Voltron: Legendary Defenders

9. Hazbin Hotel

10. The Dragon Prince

11. Phineas and Ferb

12. Hilda

13. Invincible

14. Teen Titans

15. Arcane

16. Ben 10

17. Rick and Morty

18. Star Wars: The Clone Wars

19. Miraculous Ladybug: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir

20. Batman: The Animated Series

What did I miss?

[kimberlyannharts]

some notes on Ranger Academy #10 -

= So the explanation for what happened with Zilan and everything works and makes sense, though I guess it should be noted that the original Green Ranger that got possessed and infiltrated Ranger Academy seems to be a completely different person than Zilan? The Headmaster's story made it seem like the person who first got possessed was Zilan and he did all the terrible things until Rhianth killed him, but now it seems to be some random Green Ranger got possessed and died somehow -> Dark Specter jumped into baby Sage -> Dark Specter was forced out of Sage and jumped into Zilan instead, where THEN Rhianth killed him. I guess we'll have to see why Headmaster left that part out when telling Sage about it

= I am a little disappointed that my theory that Ranger Academy caused the shuttle crash to try and take out the possessed student didn't end up true but there is a special kind of fucked up to the reveal that baby Sage did it. (Though part of me has to wonder if there will be another last-minute twist that the Headmaster DID orchestrate it but blame fell on Sage.)

= Speaking of baby Sage, I was kind of right that she was an orphan picked up by Zilan and Rhianth. It's just that the whole orphan thing uhhhh happened a little later than I thought. (She also doesn't have green highlights in her hair like she does in the present, which considering how Zilan's machine has green vials attached to it, feels significant.)

= I'm not sure if that green-skinned person in my preview image is significant or just part of Green staff that would have been let go after the Green Campus shut down. Because remember we still haven't gotten answers about that head in a tube in the Green Campus, and their face is always obscured here

= Yes guys we get it Lindy's going to end up blue

[ser-corviknight]

Behold! A beautiful piece of my WoL, Tsol by @daddyschlongleg! I absolutely adore how he turned out!!

[ouella]

Hey remember this meme? This is it now!!! Feel old yet?

[astrovian]

Richard Armitage in Fool Me Once

[dougydoug8797]

Happy Valentines Day 💝 💘 💌 From Lumity, Huntlow, Raeda, JunexMarcus, DannyxSam, JakexRose, JennyxSheldon, Entrapdak and Gwevin