#Summer’s our protagonist cause she deserves it :)

[maskyartist]

none of u are ready for when I go Extreme Autism™️ and make my Persona 5/Beacon Days crossover AU legit

[artist-issues]

Hello! Hope you're having a splendid day~♡

I saw your post about Halloween coming, and how it was a favorite holiday of yours, and it prompted me to ask you a question;

My best friend (who has been Christian for his entire life) recently stopped celebrating Halloween because he feels it has pagan and demonic connotations. I respect his stance, but it does sadden me because having a large theme for Halloween was always our yearly tradition.

So, my question is this: as you are a Christian who loves Halloween, what would you say to Christians who feel celebrating it is against the Word of God? Thank you for your time! 🥰

Hi! You're very kind to ask me; I’m not an expert, and it’s important that we note that this is a grey area: the Bible, as far as I know, does not command that we celebrate or don’t celebrate Halloween. So what that means is, it doesn’t really matter what I think; it matters what your personal conviction about this is after talking with God about it and studying the principals He is black-and-white on in Scripture.

I could be wrong about Halloween. Your friend could be right. It’s an area the Bible doesn’t lay out specific instructions on (that I know of. If someone knows a place in the Bible where it is a thing please reblog and add to the discussion.) So don’t take anything I say too seriously.

Here’s a post where I do ramble on in depth, where someone asked me about this once.

But basically my idea is this:

1

All the seasons of the year tell a story, symbolically, that looks a lot like the story of God in history. Spring = Bright beginnings and the promise of beautiful life; Summer = Settling into the new normal, growing/making choices; Autumn = the consequences (good or bad) of those choices, either harvest or decay; Winter = Dark, cold, quiet, deathlike—except for the celebration of the end of that season, which is a gift humans don’t deserve and cannot cause for themselves….and back into Spring = rebirth.

So if all the seasons tell a story, Autumn is the darkest hour. It’s Marlin thinking Nemo is dead in the dentist’s office. It’s the dad dying and the family hiding in the basement from the monsters in A Quiet Place. It’s Little Red Riding Hood getting swallowed by the wolf. But I like that because it’s specifically when the monsters appear to triumph, and they think they’ve won, and the protagonist finally takes a good hard look at his own life—-it’s that “darkest hour” moment—when the monsters are usually weakest. Because they think they’ve won or they’ll win, and the story isn’t over yet, the protagonist is about to finally “get it” in a way they couldn’t have if they hadn’t gone through the “darkest hour.” So I observe Halloween and I get that sense, symbolically, from it. And I think earlier generations of Christians did, too.

2

Biblically, Paul said to have no partnership with demons. In the context, he meant that Christians shouldn’t get close to anything that might have the appearance of allying with demons…because then it would be allying with demons. Here’s how: if an unbeliever thinks that’s what you’re doing, the result for them is the same as if you were: they assume Christians are hypocritical. Serving “gods,” like everybody else, instead of the one God. And that is one more obstacle in the way of that person trusting Christ. So indirectly, because you’re just thinking about you and the places you’re “free” to go and do in Christ, you actually hindered the Gospel just as much as if you’d abandoned it and started worshipping false gods.

So your friend can have a point. If an unbelieving world can look at your Halloween party or costume or favorite movie, and go, “I don’t know much about Christianity, but I do know it normally doesn’t line up with that sexy-witch’s costume she’s wearing and the song about black sorcery she’s screaming along to—I guess she’s not serious about her religion, I guess it’s just religion to her, doesn’t really affect everything she does,” etc., then there’s a problem. It’s hurting your testimony. It looks like your allegiances are with whatever fun you feel free to have, never mind the connotations…instead of your allegiances being to Christ and Good, first and foremost.

But. If you’re careful, and you’re careful to connect everything you enjoy about Halloween back to the Truth…well, your non-believing friends might find the way you “celebrate” to be cringey all of a sudden, but who cares, as long as your allegiance is clear?

Personally, I like the monsters, not because they’re cool and I have a celebratory penchant for gore, but because they symbolize the fact that evil exists. And evil is miserable, destroys things, and is defeatable. Not to mention, in the story of the Bible, we are the monsters. Then Christ sacrifices and makes us a new creation. And I like it when those facts are made clear.

I just have to work hard to communicate that to any unbeliever who will listen about all this, when Halloween comes around. I want to do what the Christians did for the pagan winter-celebration in Rome: I want to take those natural God-given human impulses, like fear and noticing darkness, which have been twisted—and I want to un-twist them. I want to give them their proper context. I want to fix Halloween and make it do what Christmas does, in its proper context. I want to make Halloween point to the Truth.

3

I mean just think about it for two seconds. A werewolf is a man who’s transformed into a beast every month. A beast. Something that can’t reason, can’t control itself, just moves and breathes and lives to crate destruction and pain; that’s its nature. It can’t help it. And it comes from inside the man, who wants nothing more than to be rid of it, who’s terrified of himself and what he can do to others…but there’s nothing he can do. Because it is him. He can’t stop himself.

“So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” Romans 7:21-24

But often in the old, classic monster stories it’s something pure, with an element of sacrifice, that finally fixes the monster problem. Like how the next verse says: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Really, truly, I love Halloween because I see the seeds here of a story that could point back to truth.

I’m the monster. I’m the scary, evil thing that can’t be overcome, that can’t stop doing what it does best—bringing death and darkness to the forefront of everything around me. The world’s all rotting, cursed, going through the motions of life but in reality, undead. That’s all the truth, and the victims are the ones who pretend it’s not all that bad. Who shut their eyes to the dark, scary stuff. But the ones who recognize it, who see the “darkest hour” for what it is, get to ride that darkest hour like Jack Sparrow riding into port on a sinking ship—the bad news is just your ticket to looking for, and finding, the Good News. Without a problem, there is no joy in a solution. Without conflict, there’s no story.

I’m the monster, the twisted being with the double-life, who doesn’t want to be the way they are, but can’t help it…but the monster’s powerless by the end of the story. What seemed so terrifying is actually not all-powerful, and won’t last.

So yeah, my plan is, dress up like a monster, but that makeup comes off, and THEN I get to eat candy, because yay, it’s off. Just like my life. In a way.

[chefdoeuvre]

Pushy

Jay Halstead & Will Halstead

Pairing: Jay Halstead x Sister!Reader, Will Halstead x Sister!Reader

Description: Some guys don’t know when to take a hint.

Words: 1,116

Requested: yes by anonymous; hey i have a halstead sister request? i don’t know if you’ve seen outer banks but there’s this scene with one of the female protagonists where she’s making out with her boyfriend (who’s sort of like the pushy controlling type) and she says she’s ready to have sex but then backs out and he gets mad at her and i was wondering if u could write an imagine where the same thing happens to y/n with her boyfriend (the girl in the show is like 16 so i’d love it if she was that age- u don’t have to write any descriptive smut obviously cause that’s not really the point) and then she gets home and is super upset but when jay asks what’s wrong at first she doesn’t say anything and tells him he won’t understand but then confides in him and he gets protective and caring? sorry if this is really descriptive but i also really want an imagine where it touches on y/n growing up without a mother or female figure in her life and how it can be hard to discuss some things with brothers but they love her so it’s fine? thx so much 💗

Warnings: mention of sex, an annoying Topper-like person, language, Will and Jay Halstead together (because they need a warning when they’re put in the same room).

A/N: I just watched Outer Banks last week (‘coincidentally’ after getting this request) and I might be a little obsessed. For anyone not familiar the scene this is inspired by is between Sarah and Topper in s1ep3. I apologize in advance for any grammatical errors.

—

Parties. They were all the rage with summer now coming to an end. Everyone wanted to get in their last huzzah before the school year started up once again. You and your boyfriend were at pretty much every single party this summer. Of course, he would drag you along with his friends with empty promises of a good time. You and parties never mixed well, especially because all you could hear in the back of your mind were Jay and Will’s voices harping on you being safe. You were currently sitting on a couch on the back porch while you nursed your first and only cup of beer for the night. Your boyfriend had soon waltzed his way into the seat beside you. He swung an arm over your shoulder and whispered a few words into your ear. His breath smelled of tequila and vaguely of lemons which were probably from the shots he had just been doing.

“Let’s head somewhere more quiet.” He gestured his head toward the door leading back into the house.

You nodded your head and followed him as he led you to the balcony upstairs. The balcony overlooked the backyard where most people stood, did a few shots, and chatted. The two of you took a seat beside each other on the small couch they had set up. After a few moments went by the two of you leaned in to share a kiss.

The kiss quickly became heated as his hands began to roam your body. Pulling at your top eagerly.

“Are you sure?” He pulled back with a breath after you gave him no sign of stopping.

“Yeah.” You nodded and leaned back in.

As the two of you continued to make out the overwhelming feeling you always got in this situation came creeping back. The feeling caused you to pull away as you shook your head.

“No, no I can’t.” You scooted a few centimeters away from him.

“Of course.” He huffed, “you always say you’re ready and then can’t continue. Make up your damn mind already.” He stood up and walked back into the house, most likely to find his friends once again.

You let out a sigh and ran a hand over your warm face. You laughed humorlessly at your luck in guys before standing up and making your way out of the house. Crossing your arms over your chest you started the short walk home to yours and Jay’s apartment building. Thankfully, Jay and Will would be home by the time you made it back to the apartment. Even with how overprotective Jay is he trusted you not to get shitfaced and throw yourself into trouble at parties. Of course, as long as you made it home by your curfew, which was decently reasonable. Your two brothers had already made plans to watch the game at Jay’s apartment together while they would wait for you to make it home.

After walking in through the door you threw your shoes to the side and flopped onto the couch in between Jay and Will with a huff. The two of them exchanged a confused glance before looking at your somewhat pouty and pissed-off face.

“What’s up, kiddo?” Will asked with concerned eyes.

You sat there silently seething while also feeling the need to cry your eyes out.

“Y/N, what’s wrong?” Jay turned to face you.

“You won’t understand.” You shook your head, your voice was clearly upset.

“All right, so it’s about a guy then?” Will considered.

The two men sat there blankly staring at each other, communicating with their eyes on how to approach this. They stilled when they heard a soft sniffle come from you.

“My boyfriend sucks.” You sighed.

Will and Jay looked up at each other with wide eyes, already assuming the worst.

“What’d he do? Did he hurt you?” Jay questioned.

“No. Unless it’s emotionally then the answer is yes.” You wiped your nose with the back of your hand.

“Emotionally, how?” Will tilted his head.

“I can’t tell you, it’ll be weird.” You scrunched your nose at the thought of telling your older brothers about your sex life. Or lack thereof.

“We promise we won’t be weird. Right, Will?” Jay reassured you as he glanced up at the oldest of the three of you.

“I’ll even pinky promise.” Will held out his pinky toward you, eliciting a small laugh when you connected yours with his.

“The floor is yours.” Jay gestured outward with his arm.

“No being weird.” You warned.

“No being weird.” The two men nodded simultaneously.

“So my boyfriend and I were at a party, as you know.” They gestured for you to continue, “and I said I wanted to do it but when I changed my mind he got all pissy about it. And he does this every time I think I’m ready but back out.” You explained quickly.

Jay pursed his lips as he shared an awkward look with Will who held a similar awkward expression at the topic of conversation. After a few silent moments, Jay cleared his throat before speaking up.

“Trust me when I say this is as awkward as it is for me than it is for you. Especially when Mom would’ve been better for this conversation, but we love you so I guess Will and I will have to do.” Jay laid it all out.

“Fair enough.” You nodded slowly.

“First of all, screw him. He doesn’t deserve you.” Will began which made Jay scoff, “damn right he doesn’t.” Jay added.

“Secondly, if you don’t feel like you’re ready he should be able to respect your feelings and your decision. But clearly, since he lacks functioning brain cells he was being an ass. Which no person should ever do to their significant other.” Will explained calmly after giving Jay a smack on the back of the head.

“Seriously?” Jay questioned as he rubbed the back of his head.

“Advice first, overprotective brother second.” Will narrowed his eyes.

“I can multitask.” Jay mumbled snarkily.

After both brothers offered you some much-needed and surprisingly helpful advice they squished you in between the two of them for a hug.

“Hey, even if you think you can’t talk to us about something I promise you we will do our best.” Jay pulled away to look at you.

“All right?” Jay asked.

“Yeah, I got it. Thanks.” You mumbled into Will’s arm, which he still had wrapped around you.

“Don’t worry, it’s our job to give you life advice.” Will rubbed up and down your arm comfortingly.

Who needs a mother figure when you have your annoying older brothers to help you navigate life?

[moomingitz]

I pretty much never do these 30 day challenge questionnaire things, but, I’ll make an exception for this one.

Jak and Daxter 30 Day Challenge:

Question 1: How did you discover Jak and Daxter?

I remember when the TPL first came out it was advertised out of the ass. It was the commercials and ads in video game magazines I saw first, and the Disney and anime esque art style and character designs immediately appealed to me. Also, my former tween self thought Jak was kind of hot.

I didn’t have a PS2 when it was first released, though, because I was obviously not old enough to get a job at the time, and my family was kind of on the low income end of things. The first time I actually got to play it was in the summer of 2002, when I was at a Circuit City(RIP). They had a PS2 on display and one of the games you could play was Jak and Daxter. During the time I played it while waiting for my mom to look at computers, I got stuck on Misty Island because I kept trying to catch that damn muse.

In early 2003, my mom surprised the family with a PS2 because Costco had special bundles on sale while she was there. Two of the games that came with our PS2 was Gran Turismo 3 and Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy.

It took me some time to get used to the game play, and to find all of the items and secrets, but once I did I was not only able to beat the game, but also %100 it no problem. I ended up loving the game. I loved it’s art direction, the environments, the character designs, and the characters. I wished the game was longer because I really wanted more- turns out I wasn’t going to have to wait much longer, learning that a sequel was on it’s way later that year.

I was very skeptical when I first saw previews of Jak II. With it’s whole shift to a darker and gritty tone, it’s setting changing to a futuristic dystopia, the heavier emphasis on vehicles and now gun combat, and then eventually learning that Jak would longer be a silent protagonist. When the game finally came out and I rented it first thing; I also ended loving it, much to my relief. I still stand by what I say about Jak II being one of the better examples of taking a more light hearted series in a more dark and gritty direction. It probably also helped that it came out just at the right time- when I was entering into my edgy teen phase, so I ate that kind of shit up. And if I thought Jak was kind of hot in TPL, oh boy, it was Simpy City for my former edgy teen self the moment the second game was released.

The Jak and Daxter series was also one of the very first fandoms I became active in, instead of just lurking around, during my super early internet fandom days. So this series in general is very near and dear to me.

Question 2: Which game is your favorite?

I guess it’s a tie between The Precursor Legacy and Jak II?

I really like the gameplay, the art direction, and the setting in general in TPL. Even now I think the areas are fun to explore and find neat details in them. The whole game feels like an action/adventure cartoon. Still waiting for an animated adaption that I think this series deserves.

When it comes to Jak II, it’s my favorite in terms of story and characters. Aside from the whole attempt at some love triangle/conflict that’s immediately dropped and never brought back up as soon as it’s introduced, I think this game nails the three act story structure. Every character you meet are not only likeable or interesting, but are all relevant to the plot. Nearly everything you do or encounter has a purpose to the narrative. Everything in the game’s story eventually comes together in the game’s third act and climax. The attention to detail is something I also really like, making you view things in a different light when playing through again.

Then there’s Jak and Daxter themselves in the second game. I think having Jak no longer being a mute protagonist was a good move. I think it really helped give him more of a personality and character, while at the same time you can still look at him and see that he is the same boy we saw in the previous game- he’s just older and traumatized, now. Where I think it was most beneficial is when it came to him and Daxter’s dynamic, especially now that Daxter was no longer the one having to carry everything.

Question 3: Which is your least favorite game?

I haven’t played Daxter’s spin-off game yet, along with The Lost Frontier, and I have yet to finish Jak X because it’s a game that requires more time to dedicate to(which I’ve recently not have had much of). So I’m going to have to say, Jak 3.

Now before anyone says anything, I don’t hate or dislike Jak 3, and I definitely don’t think it’s a bad game. I still enjoy picking it up and playing it. But it’s pretty obvious this game was made within a year, unlike the previous two games, with how shorter it is compared to Jak II, and some questionable writing decisions.

Despite this being the game where I enjoy it’s cutscenes the most, and I love the whole story surrounding Jak and Damas, there’s some stuff in the game’s story that’s either janky or it’s because I’m sure the developers didn’t have enough time.

For example, there’s this cutscene later on in the game where Sig is all, “Well fuck everybody in Haven City and their fight in some war they’re wasting their time on. You gotta watch your own back cause everyone fucked me over or something.” But then near the end of game he’s like suddenly helping Torn, Ashelin, and friends, with the war in Haven City. There’s no explanation or anything that would even hint why he may have eventually had a change of heart, or why he changed his mind in general. He just shows up and is suddenly helping in the war now.

Also, Jak II did much better in terms of story progression and build-up. In the previous game there was a gradual build up leading up to the climax, especially when the third act starts. There is a steady increase in tension as things are revealed and progress, until shit officially hits the fan with the Metal Heads infiltrating Haven City, and from there it doesn’t let off on the gas peddle.

In Jak 3 there is some build up with things like the Dark Makers coming to destroy the planet. But the climax just kind of happens when you get to the final areas of the game? I don’t exactly know how to describe it, but hopefully people get what I’m trying to convey.

Again, Jak 3 is not a bad game at all. But the things I just described in the game could have easily been ironed out if they were given at least one more year to work on it.

[wetalkinboutbooks]

New Year, New Review 🤩

A Sky Beyond the Storm by Sabaa Tahir

Summary: The long-imprisoned jinn are on the attack, wreaking bloody havoc in villages and cities alike. But for the Nightbringer, vengeance on his human foes is just the beginning.

At his side, Commandant Keris Veturia declares herself Empress, and calls for the heads of any and all who defy her rule. At the top of the list? The Blood Shrike and her remaining family.

Laia of Serra, now allied with the Blood Shrike, struggles to recover from the loss of the two people most important to her. Determined to stop the approaching apocalypse, she throws herself into the destruction of the Nightbringer. In the process, she awakens an ancient power that could lead her to victory--or to an unimaginable doom.

And deep in the Waiting Place, the Soul Catcher seeks only to forget the life--and love--he left behind. Yet doing so means ignoring the trail of murder left by the Nightbringer and his jinn. To uphold his oath and protect the human world from the supernatural, the Soul Catcher must look beyond the borders of his own land. He must take on a mission that could save--or destroy--all that he knows. (Taken from Goodreads)

Our Ratings:  

 → Geena:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

 → Kae: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Overall: The final instalment of the Ember Quartet had us crying in the metaphorical club. It’s exciting, terrifying, and probably the horniest book in the series and we loved it!

~Spoiler-full discussion below~

The Good:

→ Elias and Laia

Geena: In the final instalment of the Ember quartet, Sabaa deprives us of an Elias POV and slaps us with the Soulcatcher instead… He’s very much an ‘emotions are bad’ type of dude, the opposite of Elias who always had so many… but both of them are so angsty? The Soulcatcher really likes to beat up trees when his memories from when he was Elias resurface which was so emo to me. Despite being possessed by Mauth he is also such a coward, especially around Laia, because Elias’ feelings for Laia scare him and every single time he is like *running emoji*. We were surprised that Sabaa let him remain the soulcatcher for so long, every chapter I was like ‘Okay, maybe this is where Elias breaks through…’ but no.. Elias remained buried UNTIL their night in the cabin… the Soulcatcher was like ‘k I’m out’ but ONLY for ONE NIGHT and that still makes me scream.. The Soulcatcher was like ‘you kids are too horny for me, I’m gonna take a nap for a bit and let Elias take over bc Jesus.’ 

Despite it all, the Soulcatcher’s chapters were enjoyable albeit painful because this man was so duty bound, like even Elias wasn’t that dedicated when he was a Mask. But near the end, when we finally get the chapter that starts with Elias…. Ngl I cried a little, and immediately wanted to reread the whole series (I feel like Sabaa did this on purpose to torture us). I want to fight Sabaa though, like she did an amazing job showing how Elias’ conscious and the Soulcatcher’s conscious were constantly fighting one another, and how Elias’ memories of the people he loved ultimately fuelled the Soulcatcher’s actions… even though the Soulcatcher was like ‘I’m doing this for the ghosts’ like okay… no ghost told you to keep protecting and kissing Laia but you still did it…  

Kae: Okay, so Geena summed up my boy Ilyaas pretty damn well. Also, we LOVE HIS ETHNIC NAME IN THIS HOUSE. But um, YES. Elias was a sad boy ™ the whole time while fighting his emotions and ultimately losing. It was so PAINFUL as a reader, seeing all of  his chapters except the ONE say ‘Soulcatcher’. But when it finally said ELIAS again, I too, started to cry. Because he was BACK. 

You can all thank the power of Laia’s determination to seduce Elias back to himself, because our girl was NOT giving up. She said ‘you gonna get this coochie, dammit’ and in the cabin, Elias was like ‘well i’ll be damned. I sure as hell am. I am BACK BAYBEEEEE’

Geena: Sabaa Tahir said horny rights like ksjdnfdsjknfsdk

Kae: AUFVAHLHVKJ. BUT YES. In the end, love won. And so did sex because everyone was doin it or TRYING to do it. I guess when the world is ending, you only get one last time to uhh…. Have a good time. So they made sure they did lmao 

Now, let’s get into Laia. 

Laia. My sweet little cupcake. My mug of tea with too much honey. This girl has been through literal hell and back, and yet, she kept going. She NEVER gave up. Laia woke up in book 4 like ‘Today i will commit crimes. Helene and I crave violence’ and they both just started kicking ASS and I LOVED THAT. I was really happy to see the progression of Laia and Helen’s friendship and how they genuinely grew to like one another and see each other as besties. They both deserved a girl friend and I’m glad they found a friendship within each other. 

Laia is the bravest character in this damn book. She went from poor scholar, to slave, to hero and she was brave because she had to be. Laia is strong and took on their entire world. She had help, but she did a lot of it alone and that takes some real guts. She is the most genuine, sweetest, bravest girl and I love her. <3 

Laia also single handedly brought the Ilyaas back from his Soulcatcher shit. During this whole book she was just like ‘You know what? I think I’mma go mess with Elias’ emo ass today to see if I can get him to kiss me or something’ THEN SHE PROCEEDED TO SHOW UP AT THIS MANS HOUSE (realm or whatever) BUTTASS NEKKID. And he saw her and immediately flew the hell out of there it was TOO MUCH and he LIKED IT but couldn’t admit it. 

Geena: You know what I love about that whole scene was like earlier she was like ‘He’s a lost cause idc’ and then Darin was like ‘Elias wouldn’t give up on you if that happened’ and Laia was like ‘you’re right, he would show up stark naked and try to seduce me back to my body’ and she did just that...

Kae: SHE DID. SHE SHOWED UP AND SHOWED OUT! Like, her entire mission was to bring Elias back while also planning on taking down the Nightbringer. But she was straight up like ‘okay but not before i get my man back through SEDUCTION’. Ugh, the mango scene?  Superb. 

Geena: Laia is hands down one of my favourite book characters to exist. Her journey from the first book being a scared girl with a missing brother, to being the face of a revolution… like the GROWTH. Like Kae mentioned, she and Helene end up as BESTIIEESSSS, and I was surprised at how natural they seemed. Because we went from them hating each other to close friends, but despite not seeing their development, it came off so natural? So, I loved that! 

Kae covered Laia’s character pretty thoroughly, she was both a horndog and a bad bitch. Like this girl has pretended to be a Slave for the Commandment to travelling a desert by herself and facing off a squad of Jinn… In retrospect, Laia is a unique case, she’s allowed to be kind and caring and doesn’t have to be a fighter type to be strong. She’s not the chosen one, which this book made clear, it could’ve been anyone to fight the Nightbringer… but only Laia was strong enough to love him AND defy him. And I just love her a lot… she was very much an anime protagonist with the power of love, family, and friendship… anyways I love her and that’s all I have to say

→ Helene 

Geena: The way I ended up liking and rooting for Helene this book? Came out of left field. To be honest, in previous books I didn’t feel much for her other than ‘stop chasing after Elias and Laia pls.’ But this book I wanted her to win, especially with the fight against the germanic-esque invaders. She goes through substantial development, no longer seeing Scholars as slaves and taking their opinions seriously.. Like Laia, Musa, and Darin were all a part of her crew. A stark difference from Book 1 Helene, who thought Scholars only had one role in the world and that was slaves. 

Helene… like Laia… really has the Ember equivalent of hot girl summer with Harper… all the time she spends denying it she is like *jumps on him the chance she gets*. The bath scene… Helene’s power was turning her tortuer into her MAN… But also Sabaa said that ‘yes she has changed, but she has to repent for her sins’ and that’s why Helene is basically left alone at the end (save for Laia, Elias, and Musa). 

Kae: So not gonna lie, I never actually disliked Helene. I saw her as the flawed character she was in the beginning. During her cat and mouse chase with Elias and Laia in the beginning, she would piss me OFF because like, that’s your BEST FRIEEEEEND. JUST STAAAAHP. But also, it was him or her and her family's death, so I get it. But I always saw potential in her to be better. And thank GOODNESS she went through all that character development. Because she was a damn menace in the beginning. 

Also like Geena mentioned; Helly and Harper finally hooking up? I swear the heavens opened up in that moment because EVERYONE could feel their tension. LIKE JUST DO IT ALREADY. You can’t fight love, baybeeee

Watching Helly grow as a person was really rewarding as a reader. Like Geena said, she went from hating scholars to being like ‘hmm, maybe my opinions are shitty?’ and straight up changed.  I also feel for her because she lost her ENTIRE family and like, honestly? I would’ve given up. BUT SHE DIDN’T. She’s a literal fighter, bred for this shit. So she FOUGHT. And I was really scared she was gonna get murked because y’all know Keris’ tiny evil ass doesn’t have a chill button. And when they were fighting? I was like LAWD PLS DON’T  TAKE HELLY. But instead he took Harper *upside down smiley face* SO THAT WAS FUCKED UP AND I WASN’T READY FOR IT. But a piece of me knew it was coming. 

The Bad:   

→ Darin and Harper

Geena: As Kae mentioned… Harper kicked the can in this book :’( His eventual fall came from loving and caring for Helene too much, which left him open and gave Keris the chance to stab him. Harper was basically Helene’s heart outside her body, and when he went down so did Helene. I had had a feeling when Book 3 ended that Harper wouldn’t make it, but I WASN’T HAPPY ABOUT BEING RIGHT FOR ONCE… Harper had finally met his brother (Elias) and hadn’t even had a chance to meet the real Elias and talk to him about their father or other sibling stuff. LIKE OF ALL CHARACTER DEATHS… AND THERE WAS A LOT… The other one that came out of left field was fucking Darin of Serra… DARIN… THE ONE DUDE WE SPENT TWO WHOLE BOOKS SAVING… DEAD WITH A SNAP OF HIS NECK!! I WAS SO MAD

LIKE SABAA HAD US THINKING HE WAS GONNA BE SAFE, SHE GAVE HIM A LIL GIRLFRIEND AND EVERYTHING BUT THEN SHE GOES.. AND KILLS HIM?? JUST LIKE THAT?? Then we had to read the scenes where Elias helps both Darin and Harper pass over into the afterlife and I was just *cries angrily* 

Kae: Well, THAT was sad. Have you ever just like, felt your heart break into a million tiny irreparable pieces? That’s how I felt when Darin and Harper died. Because like, they were both trying to save the women they loved. Darin to Laia, (foolishly so against the Nightbringer) but I would do it for my little sister too. And Harper with Helene against evilass Keris. Dude, that shit just sucked. It hurt to read. It hurt to imagine the girls feeling the pain of their deaths. They were both such good men. And DARIIIN. 

Darin didn’t have to go out like that, man. It was such a harsh death. No last words. It was just over and his body was just gone. I wish Laia would’ve been able to talk with him at The Waiting Place at least one last time. But it is what it is. I hated to see both of them go. Especially since Darin pretty much sparked this whole series. 

Sure, Laia, Helene, and Elias were the main characters. But Darin was the spark that started the fire. And he didn’t even get to see it’s flames extinguished. 

Geena: He was the ember in the ashes… literally like Sabaa uses that for Elias and Laia but it applies to Darin the most

Kae: LITCHRALLY gonna get teary eyed over here. Our boys deserved better :( 

Conclusion 

Geena: This was not at all a disappointing end to the series we’ve followed closely for so long. The different plot points and character arcs were tied up nicely, and Sabaa Tahir showed us once again why she’s one of the best fantasy writers on this side of the Milky Way. We didn’t even bother including a ‘The Ugly’ section because we loved it too much ksfmsd. The only qualm I’d have with the end was the empire remaining, Helene recognized the Scholars as equals but centuries of pain isn’t easily forgotten you know? SO THAT’S WHY I THINK WE DESERVE A SEQUEL SERIES… BUT I DIGRESS… OVERALL, I loved this book and the ending for all the characters ESPECIALLY FOR OUR GIRL LAIA <3

Kae: YES. I AGREE 100% WITH GEENA. It was such a beautiful end to the series. Sabaa is  GENIUS and her storytelling is phenomenal. I loved every little surprise she’s hidden in all of the books. ESPECIALLY WITH COOK BEING ALIVE? I DIDN’T SEE THAT SHIT COMING AT ALL. LIKE HOLY SHIT? So Laia had some remaining family afterall, and I think that’s very sweet. I’m really sad to see the series be over with and Geena and I are both *~HOPIIIING~* for an epilogue or some little crumbs or SOMETHING with the gang and how their lives ended up into middle adulthood or something. 

Geena: I would literally take a single paragraph… Ms. Tahir…. Blease…

Kae: But yes, in conclusion, Laia has a heart of gold and we LOVE HER. She’s brave and strong and smart, and was the only one out of THOUSANDS to stick for herself and defy the Nightbringer, and save the whole world. Helene has come a long way and she developed beautifully as a character. And Elias. Ohhh, Ilyaas. His continued self sacrifice and bravery and love still helped him live in the end and I think that’s beautiful. 

[gunnerpalace]

The Hueco Mundo Arc was Bad and the Beginning of the End for Bleach

(I am here lumping the Arrancar and Fake Karakura arcs into Hueco Mundo because they all sort of form a set, whereas the Early Karakura and Soul Society arcs are just Soul Society.)

Since I have now completed one of my magnum opuses by explaining how seemingly nobody has really read the Hueco Mundo arc correctly for like... 10 years... I want to generalize some observations from it about how people also take away the wrong things about the characters too.

Chad is... a Chad. He is Ichigo's bro for life. but he’s also frankly kind of a bad friend and person as a whole. He'll go and die for Ichigo, but he doesn't believe in what he's dying for. He does it out of obligation because he doesn’t really believe in Ichigo either, as both the Xcution and TYBW arcs make very clear. He does this over and over again throughout the series and you’re left with the sense he’s really just kind of purposeless and nihilistic. He is almost looking for a cause to die for.

Renji is also a Chad. Also sort of a puppy. He basically does the same thing as Chad, except for Rukia. And much like Chad does nothing to really build Ichigo up or support him, Renji does nothing to really build up or support Rukia. He’s just there. And he’s driven by his guilt over Rukia and his own attendant sense of obligation. He’s self-loathing and also seems to basically be looking to die to atone for his sins against her.

Orihime is incredibly selfish. I previously linked it, but @hashtagartistlife​ has already done a great write-up on this. Orihime inserted herself into Ichigo’s affairs for selfish reasons (to get close to Ichigo), she went to Soul Society for selfish reasons (to “protect” Ichigo when he never asked for it), she allowed herself to be taken to Hueco Mundo for selfish reasons (same), and she goes on being selfish in later arcs. She does not learn. She does not advance. She does not improve. She ultimately does everything for her own sake.

Ichigo is also incredibly selfish. Sera also has done a write-up on Ichigo, but I will take a somewhat different (if related position). She characterizes Ichigo as self-centered rather than selfish, and I feel that is painting with too broad a brush. I would say that Ichigo becomes “merely” self-centered by later in the series. To begin with, he is also selfish. His desire to protect is for himself as much as it is for those he wants to protect. He is always trying to make up for the death of his mother and his inability to save her, but on his terms and his terms alone. At first, he wants to protect only when it is convenient to him (and tells Rukia as much). Later, he wants to protect even those he shouldn’t (who are trying to kill him). It is only much later, in the Xcution arc, where he will compromise his values and desires for others (by killing Ginjou). I would say that even rescuing Rukia was as much for himself as it was for her (and he admits as much, with his “I made a promise to my soul!” line that Renji parrots to Byakuya). It is only the events of the Hueco Mundo arc and fighting Aizen that cause him to grow up and behave maturely in the Xcution arc.

Rukia is selfless to a fault. She will blame herself for things that are not her fault (e.g., Kaien’s death, Ichigo’s suffering during the Soul Society arc) and give effusively charitable interpretations and leniency where it isn’t deserved (e.g., to Orihime for her role in her rescue). At the same time, she is also scarcely less prideful than Ichigo and will likewise make equally dumb decisions in the name of it, as Sera points out, if for different reasons.

Uryuu is the only one whose priorities are fairly well-adjusted. He tried to save Rukia from Renji and Byakuya because it was the right thing to do (despite his posturing about hating Shinigami). He went to Soul Society to save Rukia. He went to Hueco Mundo to save Orihime. He generally did his best in the Xcution arc. But he is also a loner self-sacrificing dumbass who tries to take on too much, as he demonstrated in both Xcution and TYBW, he too has his fair share of pride like Ichigo and Rukia, and his well-adjusted priorities are sometimes a poor fit for the crazy situations he winds up in (almost getting him killed by Full Hollow Ichigo Zangetsu for showing mercy when he shouldn’t, among other things).

They are, all of them, idiots.

And the whole point of the Hueco Mundo arc was to show you that, and to show you how their idiocy could go wrong. Their idiocy worked for them in Soul Society through luck (read: deliberate narrative construction) and then when faced with an eerily similar (read: deliberate parallel) situation in Hueco Mundo, everything went the other way (read: deliberately deconstructed).

Hueco Mundo was designed to tear our protagonists down through the exact same mechanisms by which Soul Society built them up. It was designed to undermine them. In some cases they grew from it as characters. (Ichigo, Rukia definitely did, Uryuu and Renji sort of did, and Chad and Orihime did not at all.) But this is why I characterize Hueco Mundo as a “dark mirror” of Soul Society. It was designed specifically to subvert everything Soul Society showed, by inverting the results. (Compare with “subverting expectations” for the sake of it, a la The Force Awakens vs. The Last Jedi, wherein things were not inverted but simply discarded, for good or ill. This is much more “stylistic” in comparison, and is designed to serve a point beyond itself.)

So... why?

I recently said this in response to another one of Sera’s meta posts:

I would argue that Bleach is only superficially more cohesive [than Naruto]. It starts with Ichigo as a nobody who tries to change things (to save Rukia) because nobody else will, and ends up with him being shoehorned into everything by everyone else as the chosen one while they all abdicate any real responsibility or role. It completely inverts itself in almost every capacity for no real meaning or reason.

Bleach really only makes cohesive sense to me as Kubo longform refuting the Monomyth in various ways; at first by splitting up his protagonist, then by inverting and mirroring the first effort, and then finally through this weird repudiation and assassination of his characters. “Fuck your hopes, beliefs, and dreams,” is one of the few arcs I can discern to the whole series.

Let me unpack that second statement.

The monomyth, or the hero’s journey, is a template of framework for understanding tales. The most commonly cited form was developed by Joseph Campbell in 1949 in The Hero with a Thousand Faces. It has a structure sort of like this:

There are some variations (e.g., Campbell puts the Gift of the Goddess much earlier). Let’s use Campbell’s structure and see how it fits early Bleach:

The call to adventure: Rukia's arrival.

Refusal of the call: Ichigo refuses to do her Shinigami duties.

Supernatural aid: Rukia turns him into a Shinigami with her glove. He goes on to learn the basics with her at his side, using various supernatural tools.

Crossing the threshold: Rukia's abduction by Renji and Byakuya (the guardians of the threshold). (Yoruichi is the helper, Kisuke is the mentor.)

Belly of the whale: the dangai and the kotetsu, and the entry into Soul Society

The road of trials: Ichigo running around Soul Society, then fighting Ikkaku, Renji, and Kenpachi.

The meeting with the goddess: Literally Yoruichi, Flash Goddess, giving Ichigo the flying wing and later the cloak, and also later his tenshintai training.

Woman as temptress: again, also literally Yoruichi, in the nude and tempting him.

Atonement with the Father/Abyss: Literally Ichigo fighting with “Old Man” “Zangetsu” to learn bankai.

Apotheosis: Learning bankai.

The Ultimate Boon: Rescuing Rukia.

Refusal of the Return: Staying in Soul Society for a week, not really wanting to leave Rukia there.

The Magic Flight: Having to run back through the dangai.

Rescue from Without: Kisuke saving them from plummeting to earth.

The Crossing of the Return Threshold: Ichigo going back home.

Master of Two Worlds: Taking his body back.

Freedom to Live: Having summer break.

Well, would you look at that? It’s basically beat-for-beat a perfect match. (You could interpret 12-17 a bit differently but you would get essentially the same overall result.)

If it’s such a perfect match, then how do I claim this is a refutation of the monomyth? Because Ichigo is only one half of the protagonist. Rukia is the other half. This hero’s journey... is really the journey of two people, and it is really a quest to find self-worth. That alone makes it a subversion of the monomyth.

Then we have the Hueco Mundo arc, which subverts and undercuts all of this. Not only was the victory incomplete but the journey will be repeatedly darkly, “first as tragedy then as farce.” As I said, all the behaviors that worked in Soul Society fail in Hueco Mundo.

The point is to drive home that having 16-year-olds save the world is stupid. Relying on teenage child soldiers is stupid. They got lucky the first time. Because teenagers are idiots. (Rukia and Renji, despite being somewhere between about 70 and 150 years old, certainly don’t act their age, so they can be counted too.)

Now, lest you think I’m being ageist here, it is rather obvious that Bleach is unreserved in its criticism: adults are idiots too. (Real life certainly bears this out.) But it’s harder to see that in the Soul Society and Hueco Mundo arcs unless you actually pay attention and think about it.

The arc that makes that explicitly clear is the Xcution arc, where we are again relying on 17-year-olds (whom almost entirely fail) and a bunch of absentee adults who shirk their obligations and responsibilities only to be pretty stupid when they do finally engage and continue to refuse to accept responsibility. (Isshin is a fine example, but by no means the only one.)

Then we have more of the same with TYBW, and it ends with nobody getting any satisfaction and everyone doing what they hate, in direct contradiction to their stated desires and their characters in general. (I could find many more analyses of this by myself and others but I can’t be bothered at the moment.) Literally everyone’s character was assassinated, including Aizen’s, Isshin’s, and Ryuuken’s.

So, we have a subversion of the monomyth through splitting the protagonist, we have a dark inversion of the monomyth to undercut it, and then we have the thorough destruction of our protagonists and authority figures which ultimately ends with them all being absolutely and completely compromised.

Add this on to my constant observations (the most recent being in a post on Yoruichi) that no one is allowed to be friends in Bleach, that no romantic relationships are allowed to exist in Bleach without death, and that family structures are always strained and estranged within Bleach, and what do you get? A treatise on the absolute and total breakdown of all bonds and connections, and the forsaking of all ambitions and dreams. Bleach is not a heroic tale, but a cautionary warning to make your peace with your lot in life, as everyone in it does.

It is the anti-shounen. It is the anti-monomyth. It is The Big Downer Series. It is designed, very carefully and thoughtfully, to make you feel bad, mistrust authority, and give up hope. No one and nothing is reliable, not even yourself: the world will betray you until you betray yourself too.

That... is the only consistent and persistent theme of Bleach as it actually exists as a whole. It was Kubo spending 15 years telling you to go fuck yourself.

And it really started terminally on that trajectory with the Hueco Mundo arc. It didn’t have to be that way. The Soul Society arc’s clever subversion of the monomyth could’ve been just that: a clever subversion and nothing more. Hueco Mundo is when Bleach started to suck because it’s when Bleach became about beating its readers down and making them feel bad. Surprise, it’s also when the readership started to drop.

(Now you could still save Bleach after Aizen’s defeat, but it’s messy because you’ve got that much more baggage again to deal with. But it ends sufficiently abruptly that you can do it, which is the whole point of like, Demons of the Sun and Moon, even if my thinking at the time I started that was not so explicit and clear as it is now. The question is: why would you want to when you can just cut back to earlier?)

tl;dr Bleach from the end of Soul Society onward is just Kubo increasingly desperately jacking himself off onto the rest of us about how much the world sucks, and everything from Hueco Mundo onward is compromised shit designed to push that agenda ahead of everything else, including telling a good story.

[daddyd0nt]

my 100 ideas

Most of these totally suck but i wrote 100 of them so let me know if any of them sound like something you would read or have any ideas for how to spice them up with blood and gore and how to get the most shock possible out of the idea.  

-Two girls become drifter killers to fund the abortion of father-daughter incest

- Zombies like EDM and converge on a rave, replacing the drugged up crowd with nobody noticing

-human farming and a cannibal restaurant

-girls discover fairies and torture them

-two pageant stars become pro-ana superstars

-people earn points in an online game called “Calligula” by committing crimes and filming them

-A boy befriends a vampire trucker and reminds him of his last mortal love

-mall goths murder a “poser” in the woods

- De sade as a transcript of a hurtcore chatroom

-neighborhood kids who congregate at “dirt Hill” bully a child to death who comes back and haunts them in their teens

-A suicide club starts at a highschool

-Oliver twist remake where they are prostitutes instead of thieves

-A glitch in time leaves a rapist turned into a child and lands him at the mercy of his victim

-killer caterpillars

-Aliens that can only get you if you think of them

-A bulimic girl vomits up a baby

-Monsters live in the sand of a beach

-Experiments done on kids to turn them into weapons

-A pedophile on the run with his victim writes a fake memoir supposedly penned by the victim about murdering his family to escape

-Women storm the white house to torture/kill a rapist president

-An exchange studentl living in germany is called upon by the ghosts of a murdered jewish family to kill the family next door who are descendants of the nazis that killed them

-addicts at the end of the world trying to stay high

-anti-aging cream is made of dead 3rd world babies

-Bigfoot, our protagonist, tries to befriend a group of campers but accidentally kills them all off

-Prtending to be underaged, a girl traps a sadist pedophile in his own BDSM dungeon

-An american pedophile in asia becomes possessed by the ghost of a little girl killed in a brothyl

-a girl mutilates herself in her room in an attempt to look “beautiful” by cutting off all the features she finds ugly

-Satanists overtake a christian summer camp for SRA rituals

-A girl who is being molested’s dolls com to life in order to kill her stepfather, told from the POV of her favorite teddy bear

- A girl falls in love with a ghost who she can only see when she asphyxiates so she becomes hooked on duster

-A mute autistic girl befriends a demon who gets vengeance on her bullies

-Two DID alters fall in love and write love letters to each other in a diary even though they can never exist at the same time, plan revenge on church gardner who abused the host and caused the split in an attempt to be whole

-A child who killed another child is released from prison upon turning 18.  When another child goes missing he must solve the mystery to clear his name with the help of his murder victim’s sister (who turns out to be the real killer)

-An adopted girl, upon turning 18, searches for her birth family only to discover a human puppy mill

-Two little boys abduct and murder another at a carnival and watch the panic unravel as the adults search for him

-A cult leader drives his followers to mass suicide

-A mother and daughter break a murderer out of jail and fight for his affections

-a school adopts lobotomies for problem students

-A human trafficker crosses paths with a telekinetic child

-An adopted girl finds out she is the blood heir to an enormous hurtcore ring

-A woman becomes aware that she is a character in a story and begins fighting the writer, who plans to write her into a tragedy

-a rich girl who has spent her life in a self sufficient high rise accidentally hits a lower-floor elevator button to discover that the zombie apocalypse has been happening for over a decade

-The son of a truck stop stripper living motel to motel comes across a magic pack of cigarettes that each grant a wish when smoked.  In the end he gives his last one to his mom and she wishes he was never born and he disappears.

-An abusive troubled teen camp in the wilderness combats a masked slasher

-Activists free elephants at a circus but are captured by sadistic clowns

-Patient zero of a zombie virus goes around infecting hundreds of people through her work in a fast food chain because she cant take paid time off

-A vigilante caring for her murdered best friend’s infant has to take out a chain of criminals while still keeping up with the overwhelming task of motherhood

-A new club drug goes around the rave scene, highly addictive, eventually turns you into a zombie but so addictive people cant stop using it

-A girl wakes up and lives the same day out 100 times, with each day becoming more gruesome and out of control as she tries to stop the death of her best friend from happening

-A woman with no memories is arrested for involvement in a hurtcore ring

-Teens in a mental hospital after a rash of suicide attempts begin to die in strange accidents around the hospital

-A girl singer rising to fame realizes shes being prepared to be sacrificed by a death cult

-A boy who accidentally murdered his sister as a child becomes obsessed with a local girl who looks like she would have grown up to and stalks her, killing everybody close to her to “get his sister back” for his dying mother

-after trying acid for the first time a college girl is dragged back in time and witnesses the slaughter of the natives by settlers and is taken in by a native family fighting back

-A conscious zombie takes out a white supremecist stronghold

-Teens at a christian youth retreat battle a tentacle monster that feeds on virginity

-A haunted house bonds with the family that it is killing after falling in love with the lonely teenage daughter

-After abuse in the industry, a porn star seeks revenge against the producer who abused her, rendering her infertile

-A little girl who lives in a funeral home forms a bond with a senile old man who believes her to be his dead wife reincarnated

-A cursed school play production where the creepy theater teacher has a deal with the devil to sacrifice the lead girl, who grows a thirst for blood

-Upon puberty a girl starts to gruesomely turn into a mermaid despite her family’s assurances that these changes are beautiful and special

-a homeless prostitute forces her son to be her daughter in order to scam and kill pedophile men

-somebody nearby dies whenever a child sucks her thumb and she tries to break the habit

-after discovering her beloved guide dog is a demonic hell hound who needs human flesh to survive, a blind girl goes about finding deserving victims for him to eat

-A band of punk rockers find themselves set upon by nazis after one is killed at their show, the nazis have super-meth

-Everyday life in a small town is disrupted when the residents awake to find themselves living with grotesque cartoon physics

-A date-rapist catches an STD that turns his penis sentient and against him

-A boy who has never seen the sunlight is identified as a kidnapped infant and returned to his family, who have no idea how to handle his PTSD

-A tween popstar’s lyrics contain satanic messages that make his fans killers they kill their families and go on robbing sprees to afford his concerts

-A prim and proper young woman crosses a zombie-infested city to reunite with her (female) childhood best friend who she is in love with

-A chubby loner girl suddenly becomes an asset to her girl scout camp when it is set upon by monsters that only she knows how to fight from reading about them in horror books

-A kidnapped boy realizes he is outgrowing his captor’s attraction and sets out to eliminate the competition of new boys brought into the house

-A redneck boy and his incestuously abusive brother are the lone survivors of a monster attack on their family farm and the boy has to decide if he wants to help his abuser survive or take his chances on his own

-A school for poor children where children are farmed for their organs for the rich

-a young junkie discovers one day that he has the power to regenerate lost body parts

-An interracial group of rich friends finds themselves lost in a bad neighborhood overnightdurring a full moon where the occupants of the neighborhood come alive as werewolves

-A small Amish-type religious community is completely cut off from the world during a monster attack and carry on business with no idea that the outside world has collapsed other than that they’ve stopped receiving letters and newspapers.  A team is sent out to scout the damage

-A girl who has her driver's license for the first weekend is held hostage as a getaway driver for two sadistic maniacs on their crime spree

-At a sleepover, two elementary school girls decide to kill another

-An ex-amish girl assimilates herself into society right when a monster attack begins to crumble it and must get back to her family to warn them that the world is ending

-Desade’s 120 days rewritten in the modern day hamptons

-a new diet pill causes moths to take up residence in somebody’s digestive system

-a group of white people go to film the “horrors” of a supposedly cannibal tribe, but when their racist notions are false, they force the people to conform to what they expected to find so they have something for their film

-a “murder circus” where participants pay to torture victims runs into a clash with protestors

-fights to the death like dogfighting but with human children

-a young man gives himself up to a sadist to pay off his sister’s drug debt

-A young woman working in the crime scene clean up business tries to shelter her own daughter from the horrors of the world by locking her in their apartment and becoming more and mor agoraphobic

-A home invasion turns the tables when the serial would-be-rapists/robbers break into the home of female vampires

-In the aftermath of the end of the world, a small tribe of hardened cannibalistic survivors now have to face forced assimilation back into society

-Trapped in a building with an active shooter, a group of elementary school kids fight back with school supplies

-An international tour group of study abroad students become stranded in the alps with a snow monster

-a team of serial killers/lovers is put to the test when one of them gets a woman pregnant and decides he wants to quit killing and become a normal person

-A teenage punk with a specialty for giving piercings turns into a back-ally abortionist in a wealthy suburb

-Twins who share a body and each have a head get into a feud over a lover and attempt to separate

-A group of racists find themselves cursed by a flesh-eating virus that starts with a change in skin pigment

-Racists hunting illegal immigrants come up on the wrong side of a desert spirit after destroying water left out by humanitarian groups

-A police force in a poor city is hit with a curse that transform them into flesh hungry pig-monsters and the local youth must take them out to protect their neighborhood

-A massive flood turns into a struggle for survival for a dorm building full of art students

-A woman is convinced that her son, conceived through a rape, is a demon

-A mental hospital during a zombie outbreak

[ambitionsource]

hello lovely humans, what is your favorite season and why? and who is the most fun character to write?

Esther: Bold of you to assume we’re all humans.

Maggie: SHHH. Es! They’re onto us!

Esther: We’ll tackle the writing part first. For me, in terms of writing dialogue and scenes, my faves that jump to mind are Maya, Farkle, Dylan, Dave, and Valerie (may she rest in peace).

Maggie: Yes, totally. They were on my shortlist too. It’s because I think they have the most distinct dialogue, where it really pops off the page when you read it (and thus, that makes it fun to write). I also have Lucas on that list, because writing his snarky asides or deadpan lines is so much fun. Like I still laugh when I reread 211 and he answers the phone and when Jack asks what he’s doing he goes, flatly, “crystal meth.” Like he cracks me up, but not in the same way as the others where it’s more elaborate.

Esther: Yes, exactly. Just yesterday I was talking about how funny Valerie is and how much I miss her insane dialogue.

Maggie: Then in terms of like, storytelling, my favorites are Charlie and Farkle. I think they have the most complex stories, at least so far, and that’s a difficult competition since we work really hard to give everyone development. There’s just such a... *clenches fist* narrative richness to Charlie’s story, and then Farkle has always been our protagonist for all intents and purposes. He has the longest overarching development.

Esther: Then honestly, in terms of relationships, Jack and Eric’s dynamic is quite fun to plot out.

Maggie: Oh don’t get me started on relationships. I could not try to pick favorites for that. Like I can’t even process it.

Katie: My favorite season... oh, what a tough call. Guess I can't say three-way tie? Though I think the third season is REALLY exciting and has a lot of plots I'm looking forward to, and nothing can really beat the high of the first season, the second season holds a special place in my heart. The Farkle arc of that season, the RL arc of that season, the ZC arc of that season... genuinely hearing about the ZC plot from Magsther was breathtaking. Not to mention Cruel Summer! As for favorite character to work with, I cannot stress enough how amazing Charlie's development is. You should see my notes for season three. The little intricacies to his story are literally so personal, and I love working with him and all of the places Magsther are taking him! His development is incredible, and is being treated with the respect and nuance it rightfully deserves, and that's why he's been so fun to get to know over the past three seasons.

Divine: I think my favourite season might be season 3, just because when Es and Maggie started writing for AMBITION, they had notes about this season already and it’s so exciting to finally see it come to life. Like I feel like I’ve been waiting all this time lmao.

Maggie: It’s true. When we were all suffering through season 2, me and Div were in our private messages being like so um anyways, RL in season 3?

Divine: And I enjoy reading about Dave. Just spices things up a little bit lmao.

Maggie: I’ll hold my tongue until we’re officially done with season 3, because I feel like any season we’re actively writing is my favorite in that moment. But I have to say I don’t think anything will ever truly top the emotion of season 2. Like that was the true start for me and Esther, the moment we locked onto Farkle’s arc and how we wanted to get to that place with him... like that was the lock-in. Everything else that came after that only elevated it. So I think that will always be special to me in a way that can’t be beat. But Katie said everything perfectly, and I’d add that watching Dylan and Asher grow into mains over that season was great too. But Farkle... and his arc... he is the true narrative heart of this journey. Without him, we wouldn’t be here deadass. So everybody say thank you, Farkle.

Natalia: Ty Farkle.

Katie: THANK YOU FARKLE!!!!!!!

Natalia: I'd say my favorite season has to be season 3, because we have more happiness to go with the angst and we get to see the result of all the development of the previous seasons. My favorite character to read... is a tie between LJF and Charlie. What can I say? I love two repressed white boys, it's no surprise that they're my faves cause they are sooooo similar. They both have such interesting, complex arcs and they really grow a lot during the show, they have this deeply humane appeal that just drew me in and won't let me go.

Esther: Every season is my baby and it’s cruel of you to make me pick between them. My favourite right now is season 3 but most likely because we’re in the middle of it and I’m so excited about all of the stories and performances and just everything about it. It’s also just so fun, which I love. But I also adore season 2 and am very emotionally attached to the stories in that season. Season 1 of course is very special too, as we’re getting to know all the characters and building those dynamics and everything, but I think my favourite (so far) is between 2 and 3. I honestly cannot pick between them for the ultimate top spot, though.

AMBITION Creative Team Takeover !!

[just-another-digital-media--blog]

Gather around the bonfire, and let me tell ya about “connective blogging!”

"I couldn't even explain it to myself. All I knew is that Barrens broke something inside of me. It warped the needles on my compass and turned the south to north and lies to truth and vice versa."

Hey y’all! It is finally summertime, and you know what that means, it’s time for beach trips, hiking, maybe finding some summer lovin’? (can someone queue the Grease soundtrack, cause I’m having a blast!)

My favorite part of summer has to be the summer nights- yes, I’m using another Grease pun- because they have everything; you’ve got stars in the sky, friends coming over for movie nights, and of course everyone huddles around a bonfire!

Synopsis:

So now I didn’t want to risk downplaying, oversharing, or just not accurately explaining the plot of Bonfires so of course, I turned to my go-to website for book recommendations, reviews, and book nerds haven Goodreads.

“It has been ten years since Abby Williams left home and scrubbed away all visible evidence of her small town roots. Now working as an environmental lawyer in Chicago, she has a thriving career, a modern apartment, and her pick of meaningless one-night stands.

But when a new case takes her back home to Barrens, Indiana, the life Abby painstakingly created begins to crack. Tasked with investigating Optimal Plastics, the town's most high-profile company, and economic heart, Abby begins to find strange connections to Barrens’ biggest scandal from more than a decade ago involving the popular Kaycee Mitchell and her closest friends—just before Kaycee disappeared for good.

Abby knows the key to solving any case lies in the weak spots, the unanswered questions. But as Abby tries to find out what really happened to Kaycee, she unearths an even more disturbing secret—a ritual called “The Game,” which will threaten the reputations, and lives, of the community and risk exposing a darkness that may consume her.

With tantalizing twists, slow-burning suspense, and a remote, rural town of just five claustrophobic miles, Bonfire is a dark exploration of the question: can you ever outrun your past?”

Goodreads is a great tool for everything because it where everyone can contribute any and everything book related information to novels and written works. Whenever I need a new book to read as if I don’t already have enough TBR, or what others are saying on the books I’m reading or plan to read.

I always loved nights spent around a bonfire with my friends. Whether we were talking about our hopes and dreams, roasting marshmallows, laughing about everything, or plotting murder and covering our tracks… Oh, is that not a normal activity at a bonfire? Well, it was in Krysten Ritter’s debut novel Bonfires. A psychological thriller mystery novel, and it is both a great starter novel for that genre, simply a new to mystery type, or a new reader novel. Bonfires is perfect for all these situations.

As I always like to include other people’s opinions of my book because I feel like that gives both perspectives, kind of applying the old saying “there are three sides to a story; his story, her story, and the truth.” Well, my opinion is the truth. (Well, it is at least my honest opinion of the novel.) But I have my dislikes and points of highlights that’ll address using their opinions.

There were good reviews

Larry, author of the blog “It's Either Sadness or Euphoria…” gave the story of raving review, of course coming from a predetermined bias of being a Ritter’s fan, he explains the very agreeable positive sides of Bonfires. One of my favorite parts of his review is actually what inspired the quote I mentioned at the beginning of this post because it is so relevant to the story and struck at my heartstrings.

"I couldn't even explain it to myself. All I knew is that Barrens broke something inside of me. It warped the needles on my compass and turned the south to north and lies to truth and vice versa."

And honestly, I’ll let you get more of Larry’s opinion by going to his page and get back to my opinion because it is why you are on my page:)

This quote literally is my own personal journey. I had such a similar story as Abby Williams, Bonfires protagonist, of having my hometown make me dread the place that I avoid it like the plague. The only difference between Abby and I, besides the fact that I haven’t gotten a law degree and unearthed a population scandal, is that I had an extremely blessed, supportive, loving family. They are the only reason I go home ever.

This quote also is a perfect summarization of Bonfires because Abby William’s experienced growing up in Barrens, shaped and scared her permanently for good and bad. And that is what your hometown is supposed to do, but never in such an abusive way that is done for Abby.

Now nothing is without negative reviews, and Goodreads critique Emily May ripped into Ritter’s book. Some highlights and points I wanted to comment on were Emily May’s opinion of Ritter’s conclusion and engagement with the readers. She says,

And isn't this a story we've seen a thousand times? Maybe it's just me, but I feel like I've read countless versions of a woman escaping her smalltown life, only to grow up and become a detective or lawyer or whatever and return to solve a mystery and face all the people and unresolved issues of her past…”

May doesn’t stop there, continuing into the conclusion and characters of the novel saying,

It was also just very unconvincing overall. I couldn't understand why Abby was so adamant that the pollution took place when even those who got sick claimed it wasn't true… And Bonfire relies heavily on Abby conveniently remembering, forgetting, or deducing (quite incredibly) as needed. Abby makes many tenuous connections between some clue - that fell into her lap - and the truth, whilst jumping to conclusions that I doubt anyone would have made… There is a moment at the climax of the novel which is easily the most thrilling of the whole book...The climax leads into an extremely rushed ending-- we discover the villain, witness a face-off, and wrap it all up in the last fifteen pages of the book. Messy and disappointing.”

That last sentence is the biggest part May and I agree on; I hate rushed and what I call “conclusions without consequences” type endings; we see no love-lost between friends of Abby who didn’t believe her, we see no characters fighting for her to stay, and we see no reason for her to still feel so driven to get back out of Barren as she has quite literally slain all of her hometown demons. And all of this was done with no equal or greater reaction! We have no vengeful exes, no changed timelines, and no ancient rituals accidentally activated signaling the end of times.

Some argue with me that “this is a proper ending, all loose ends are tied into a neat bow.” well it is a bow on a piece of bullshit. I hate “perfectly finished endings” I want plot holes, I want wiggle room, I want theories of “Wait! What about this? Or why didn’t they address this?” Ugh, I hate it.

Now here are some additional links to some news articles that definitely gave the novel the proper recognition it deserves. I hope you enjoyed reading my review and critique of Krysten Ritter’s debut novel Bonfires. It is a great recommendation for a good summer reading. Can’t wait to update you’ll about my continuous reading for this summer, but make sure you like, share, and most importantly subscribe!

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/12/books/krysten-ritter-novel-bonfire.html

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2017/11/06/krysten-ritter-bonfire-book-review-marvel-jessica-jones/829604001/

https://www.elle.com/culture/books/a13795415/krysten-ritter-bonfire-interview/

[lilithderayne]

Ten Songs Playlist Tag

Like both @notanotherhour and @deadlyessencewhispers, (I was tagged by both of you, thank you) I don’t have a specific playlist for any of my WIPs, but I do have a playlist for when I am writing. Thus, a lot of my scenes and characters are influenced by these songs. So here we go. I’m restraining myself just to The Others Book #1, because #2 could get...odd.

Adding a “keep reading” CUZ FAM THIS GOT LONG.

Tagging @qchromanite, @undinisms, @mellow-stories, @ruins-of-gold, @silas-fenderson, and anyone else who wants to!

1. Ariana Grande-God is a woman

I'll tell you all the things you should know So, baby, take my hand, save your soul We can make it last, take it slow, hmm And I can tell that you know I know how I want it But you different from the rest And boy, if you confess, you might get blessed See if you deserve what comes next I'm tellin' you the way I like it, how I want it

I think we all know that this is Bane, Caleb and Divinity. Those kinky little shits worship the ground she walks in. She is as close to god as they can believe in.

2. Lorde-Magnets

Never really felt bad about it As we drank deep from a lie Cause I felt melting magnets babe The second I saw you through half-shut eyes

Okay this is a spoiler I’ve never given, only hinted at with Divinity’s last names, but...Nathaniel Gray and Divinity. Just sayin’ fam.

3. Lindsey Stirling & Peter Hollens-Skyrim

There are no lyrics, well not in English or that I could spell, but it’s just a really good action and battle song. I listened to it and others when I wrote the final boss battle between Marcus’ army and Divinity’s army.

4. Two Steps From Hell-Victory

Omg yay so this is another lyricless song but again it is SO. FUCKING. GOOD. ORGASM FOR THY EARS. I listened to this too, while writing the final battle.

5. Ellie Goulding & Kygo-First Time (R3hab Remix)

We were lovers on a wild ride Speeding for the finish line Come until the end of our time, yeah Started off as a wildfire Burning down the bridges to our empire Our love was something they could admire, yeah

.........Fuck I’m not even gonna go there. I’m not going to cry over my own characters. Suffice to say, there’s a certain pairing this makes me think of.

6. Selena Gomez-Wolves

Your fingertips trace my skin To places I have never been Blindly I am following Break down these walls and come on in

I wanna feel the way that we did that summer night Drunk on a feeling, alone with the stars in the sky

Same couple as before.....whom shall remain unmentioned. I’M SORRY.

7. Evanescence-Lies

Honestly, the whole song is just pure Darkling. But I choose these lyrics, even though the whole thing is just...perfection. And dark as fuck.

You will never be strong enough You will never be good enough You were never conceived in love You will not rise above They'll never see I'll never be I'll struggle on and on to feed this hunger Burning deep inside of me

8. Xandria-Nightfall

Here it comes, the story of mankind´s final glory Into the nightfall The showdown now has come, this will be the last curtain Before the Night falls We are rising higher, closer to the fire Let the final dance begin

This fits Book #2 a bit better but I listened to a lot of Xandria through all my WIPs so... Another Marcus vs. Divinity song.

9. Danny Lohner-Death Dealer’s Descent (from the Underworld soundtrack)

No words, but a badass song. Always helps me write those boss-protagonist-strutting-into-battle scenes.

10. Halsey-Hold Me Down

I sold my soul to a three-piece And he told me I was holy He's got me down on both knees But it's the devil that's tryna Hold me down, hold me down Sneaking out the back door, make no sound Knock me out, knock me out Saying that I want more, this is what I live for

Well that ended on a dark note... probably a Divinity song just because...well, Divinity backstory.

[suwaid-popculturedaily]

God of War (Video Game) Genre : Action Adventure and Mythological Fiction Just a few years back creative director Cory Barlog wasn’t quite sure whether he’d be forced to pull the plug on this project that just won Game of the Year. He was taking some big risks. The likes of EA believed that single players games were dying and fed this narrative across the gaming media. Companions in games hadn’t always worked very well, with Bioshock Infinite and The Last of Us changing that a little. And surprisingly this re imagining of the franchise would have us engage with a older and more reserved Kratos inhabiting a new pantheon. It wasn’t as gratuitous as the original series and for the better. It shares similarities with the original series but this re imagining took a very different direction dramatically. The game took some creative leaps as well with a third person, over the shoulder free camera like 2014’s Birdman. Now, it’s won all the accolades cause of its narrative which is driven by the two protagonists, Kratos and Atreus. The concluding chapters of the game might suggest that this is a story about Atreus as opposed to Kratos. It also follows a mystery box setting, were the player is pulled along by the startling revelations about this new world and our characters. My only objection would be that we didn’t get a variety of boss battles. I’ll give the creators a pass cause they’ll need to save some of the big battles for later releases. I couldn’t stop gushing about this game when playing it in the summer nor could my mom who watched me play the entire story on a personal note. She absolutely loved boi. Let me know if you feel God of War was deserving of its big win while you enjoy this clip. #godofwar #gameoftheyear #dadofboi #kratos #atreus https://www.instagram.com/p/BrRzAG3lQ55/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=3o6h5eatfk00

[dolgelo]

[ hello darkness my old friend. you should talk abt mitsurus thoughts and feelings on shinjiro. we've gone thru a little bit of that ic, and in chat but. never too much yknow. so basically, anything from first impression to their time together in SEES in the beginning, to the tragedy, to the time they were more distant, to when he joined again and yet again another tragedy. and anything additional if you wanna. also why she always goes (gasp) aragaki! in the cd dramas whenever he's brought up ]

♕ ♕THIRST  FOR  KNOWLEDGE||      always  accepting    

[ you asked for a book. you also get an actual encyclopedia (i wish ahahaha!) ]

[ you asked the questions of the century, congratulations. also get ready, this talk will have lots of trio feelings, which are, by now, one of our primary causes of heartache and screams and distress and ahhhngst and other lovely things of that kind !  

i always say how both Akihiko and Shinjiro were the first real friends she ever had  ( after Kikuno, which has become a maid and that occasionally tried to protect her in all the wrong ways possible, like adding drugs into her tea to make her sleep the whole next day, while SEES was going to be killed by some guards– so yeah ), and I seriously doubt anything or anyone will ever make me rethink of that at this point. since  atl us  is an as s??? as we all know already, we have discussed some problems of years and timeline, sure, but that doesn’t change a bit what those three lived through together and what brought them closer.  it’s funny to think both the orphans  ( Akihiko more than the other though, perhaps )  were probably followed around by the Group or even Mitsuru herself, in an attempt to find their potential and recruit them. not to mention those three all attended the same junior high, they must have met once or twice in the hallways - not to mention they’re all of the year 1991, it only raises possibilities.

i think chances of first recruiting one first, instead of the other, were basically the same. 50 : 50. maybe the boxer was first proposed to join because of his afternoon clubs and activities, aka sports club. we can’t be sure of it, but we know for certain that after Akihiko accepted to join the newly born SEES, he told his best friend / basically twin brother ahah. Shinjiro, as you said multiple times, might have felt entitled to protect and keep an eye on him. something that might have also affected his power of heart, persona or resolution to fight such supernatural enemies. and i can’t see Mitsuru be displeased by this fact. the more the merrier !  especially if you want to climb up a tower full of Shadows. yet she grew closer to both of them, way more quickly than how she did in the game for example with Yukari, Junpei or the protagonist itself… and I think it was, indeed, for friendship. a genuine sentiment she might have never felt before !  the boys were already closer for all the years spent together, she was the stranger in there. but again, she had offered them a mission and a new reason to be useful and powerful.

bound by their powers, it was inevitable for her to get curious. she must have yearned for friends since forever, yet she was seen as the spoiled and powerful daughter of Kirijo, an heiress, a brilliant student, “lonely throne” – as naive as she appears during that time, she might not even be able to recognise evil intentions from apparently good ones, when relating to people or trying to approach them  ( she tried to hit on some yakuza thugs on the beach, he saved her ), maybe because of her upbringing. she might have at first seen Shinjiro as the nosey guy, the one asking to join to stay with Akihiko… but nothing actually negative or that would have made the girl take her distance actually. trust is eventually built, and with trust, then, also respect, admiration and way lighter feelings. controlling as she wants to appear, she might have tried to get the upper hand of the situation of the dorm, sometimes, acting all mighty and firm. even with bad results, ahah, but she was the leader back then. it was her job. he’s always been kind to her, strict at times – but it’s their nature. their. they are similar, under that specific light; they often try to act like the older one of the situation, try to help when needed. he might be a little bit calmer than her - he doesn’t strain himself too much, when fighting inside of Tartarus and gets worried when the other sound tired after a battle - suggesting vacations even !  and I’m sure she saw that, in him. positive vibes, good impressions. he might have been a bit rough or direct while talking or while scolding her or anyone else actually, but I can’t imagine mitsuru being scared/irritated/annoyed/frightened by such a thing. again, because that’s pretty similar to what she sometimes inspires too, in people, and she’s aware of it. 

the rest goes under a cut or I’ll break tumble.

often, mitsuru recalls how she was the one often stopping the boys from fighting like children throwing a stupid tantrum at their age. to devolve into four-years-old, ready to turn every small thing into a hugely important challenge and fight. that’s her merely trying to be the older sister of the situation, an opportunity she never had - but then you also have the girl getting into trouble at the beach and presenting herself on the sand and under the hot summer sun with complete uniform and high heeled boots, and poor Shinjiro thinks maybe she’s not that brilliant and perfect as people depict her. it’s a complicated and interesting kind of friendship, and that makes it even better. i am positively sure they had started, at some point, considering SEES their second family. and its members their dear brothers and sisters. it might not have taken them a lot of time, because of their age, their stories and the will of fighting together for something special, something that made them special !  not to mention those years are the most important years of mental and emotional development, too; that could have only helped the bond grow stronger than a common one between two or three students of their age. yes, because they also attended the same school, the influence they had on each other and the impression of unity they might have given, even unintentionally, with the formation and hidden truth of the Extracurricular Squad, on other boys and girls must have been very important and hard to ignore. not to mention Mitsuru is, basically, the daughter of the one basically founding the school. the prestigious name and possibly influence might have also helped the two boys, as well. which can only be positive. 

and so times pass, and responsibilities only pile up for those gifted kids, y’know. and this double life they got keeps on repeating itself as day and night alternate each time; they don’t get the attention and recognitions they might deserve but at least their power is used for good purposes and to save more innocents from Apathy. I do think this reality would have continued anyway, with no complications if the infamous accident of Ken’s mother hadn’t actually happened. although having described by her POV many times what her feelings for the horrible things happened that night are. confusion, depression (the birth of her bangs on the eye) and fault. as she blames herself for the many things that happen to the protagonist and the other members of SEES in the game, she can’t help to find herself to blame for their situations, like it happened when accepting, for example, Yukari’s accusations with little intentions of defending herself, in July 2009. same goes for Shinjiro: they could have read some signs - they were certainly there, with Akihiko too and prevented, in some way, that a life was lost because of a Persona – the mean that allows them to fight and the entities she personally needs to eliminate the Hour and atone for her family sins. and so, SEES fault, too. after all, he was a Persona user, part of the group backed up from the Kirijo Corporation as a whole. 

once it happens, it’s over. we discussed this too, she’d give up at some point. forcing people to make something that important for her is not in her style: she’d prefer filling the void and missing presence on her own. distant, yes, I believe they’d still be friends but of course with no more frequent contacts at one time. maybe he kept on going to school, given Akihiko mentions Shinjiro to be in his last year of high school but not atteding it anymore, in 2009. on her part, an attempt to reenstablish dialogue might have happened but I believe Akihiko to certainly be the one that would have gotten closer to him during that diffciult time. first, because they’re way closer than Mitsuru and Shinjiro might have ever been before – second, due to, as always, the sense of guilt they complete trio, one way or another, had the misfortune to taste and experience more than one time. they keep the room for him though, untouched if not just cleaned up for necessities and hygiene, and years pass.

given i still know not a lot about the novel Owari no kakera I’ll refrain from saying a lot about the years that separate the tragedy of Ken’s mother to the arrival of the protagonist in Iwatodai. except that Mitsuru and Akihiko can’t keep fighting alone. not only 2 kids and their personae in Tartarus, fighting against flocks of Shadows already sounds like a suicide mission, but the arrival of Yukari doesn’t really help given she still has doubts summonning Io by the start of the game. force is required and they don’t have it anymore. I still doubt Mitsuru would feel something comparable to hate in the boy’s regards,though; maybe regret, hard feelings of minor importance. she’d still see him a friend and ex member - she’d give him support if he asked for it. and so, of course, she’s happy, glad and relieved on having him back in the ranks, to fight Shadows. but can you imagine the pain Akihiko and her had to endure, in knowing they had dismissed completely the matter of the anniversary of the tragedy? in the movies, it’s still very clear that they DO NOT want Ken to join SEES; they give in under the pressure of the other members. they look not convinced. and have no peace when, on Oct 4 they remember of the fact happened 2 years prior. I guess that, whatever might have heppened, even with Shinjiro returning back in shape the next spring, it would have been still pretty hard to forget the mistake, the fact they hadn’t ONCE AGAIN read the signs that could have stopped, let me say this, drama from happening once again.

The gasp! In the cd drama, all we we get is some playful moments… telling us just how close close and special they were and still are for each oth–A FEMINIST!! ]

[jessica-goldenstars-blog]

[ENGTRANS][Analysis] ‘My two cents on Jessica’s exit from SNSD’

Original Author: 墨武 (Zhihu)

Eng-Trans: RI + Hannah97, Yee and CAI

Source: https://www.zhihu.com/question/25626185/answer/179775847

Please take out with full credits.

‘My two cents on Jessica’s exit from SNSD’

I came to know SNSD in 03/2016 and started being interested in K-Pop. I didn’t know much in the beginning, so I gathered more information as time passed. I’m a law student in university, so I suppose my logic and common sense can be considered acceptable. I compiled my information over a period of time. Why am I bringing this up? Because too many fans are very biased when it comes to this incident. Judging from the replies I got, it seems not many can reply without prejudice. Of course, this is completely normal, you’re too emotionally-invested in a person, and the situation became so complicated. Towards someone whom you’ve loved for so many years, how can you stop loving them just like that? You won’t trust other people’s words that easily too. Many fans can’t achieve it, the ability to be impartial, and to look at this as an onlooker.

I ask that you put away your prejudice for once, and face the truth.

-Revised on June 14-

This is not a zero-sum game; I posted this analysis with no ill intent, but to encourage healthy debate, and also to share my opinions with everyone. Perhaps I was too long-winded; many people didn’t have the patience to finish reading. Some got defensive and began interrogating me in the replies. This kind of people who reply without even finishing the article are unreasonable, let’s not even start on if you respect me; it seems you lack respect even for yourself.  You spent so much time leaving a reply that has been repeated excessively (like a broken record) by others. All you did was parrot other people, you do not have a mind of your own, and such debates are meaningless.

Two points to take note:

1) Not everyone who speaks up for Jessica is her fan, I was assumed as Jessica’s fan for the past few days, but in actual fact I am just a casual fan of SNSD. I’m not young anymore, and started getting into K-Pop late, by the time I know about them, SNSD was already incomplete. I wrote this article because my principle in life makes me want to get to the bottom of everything, and with my cautious observations, I finally posted this.

Since this article is strictly an analysis on motive and reason, I have left out the professional terminology. If you are only convinced by professional terminology, then I am sorry to disappoint. My analysis is just words from an ordinary person.

In my eyes, they (idols) are just like us, just that they are slightly older and survive in a more vicious environment, so they are ordinary people who are (supposedly) more mature. It’s not like they are politicians or moguls of some sort.

2) Not everyone who speaks up for Jessica assumes she is as innocent as a lamb. Some people who didn’t even bother to read the article started barking in the comments “Only Jessica is an innocent lamb, only Jessica can do no wrong, you think the whole world wants to harm her?”. Regardless of whose side you are on, my approach is that nobody is completely innocent. People who take sides are fans. To prevent people from ignoring my analysis, which defeats the purpose of this article, and also people who tries to steer everyone in the wrong direction, okay, I hereby provide a glossary, just scroll to whatever you want to read.

1- Was she forced out or did she leave on her own accord?

2- Why was she forced out? Political reasons vs. She deserved it vs. Member conflict vs. Agency’s motive?

3- 930 Protagonist and antagonist role in this incident, what triggered 930?

4- 930 Onlookers, analysis of Chinese SONES, and common misconceptions.

Lastly, happy 10th anniversary to SNSD, and happy 10th anniversary to Jessica Jung.

Note: I saw a comment saying they are OT8, and will always support all 8, then went on to say SNSD should disband since their future has already been hindered due to this incident, and they feel discouraged. Here is a verse for you (from The Quatrain of Seven Steps):

People burn the beanstalk to boil beans,

The beans in the pot cry out.

We are born of the same root,

Why should we hound each other to death with such impatience?

1- Was she forced out? Vs. She left on her own accord?

Firstly let’s compare the official statements from both sides; any declaratives and statements not from the persons directly concerned cannot be assumed as legitimate material. Timeline of the published official statements as below:

Sep 30, 2014 at 5:00AM, Jessica made her stance on her WEIBO.

Sep 30, 2014 at 1:00PM, SM’s PR department released their official statement.

Oct 01, 2014 at 10:00AM, Jessica released her official statement.

In both Jessica and SM’s official statements, even though they focus on different points, both includes a fact that  coincides across both statements and cannot be ignored, as Jessica stated “without a proper reason, I received a one-sided notification to leave SNSD”, SM’s official statement stated “the agency had no choice but to pull up SNSD’s activities as 8 members earlier than planned”.

Everyone should have heard of ‘Rashomon’ (Rashomon 羅生門 is a 1950 Japanese film that is known for a plot device that involves various characters providing alternative, self-serving and contradictory versions of the same incident.), the same incident, with different people of different standpoints have contradictory ways of saying things, but things like fundamental truths can neither be changed nor erased. We received the message loud and clear on September 30, the agency did serve a notice to Jessica informing her that SNSD will move forward as an 8-member group, this is a fact.

So why is it that the fans in Korea curse with hatred at the mention of Jessica, instead of blaming the agency for breaking the group apart? Why did they not continue to support Jessica in her entertainment career?

That is because someone misled all of us by shifting the blame and the source of the problem for this incident onto the members and Jessica. SM’s official statement stated “this coming Spring, she notified us she will halt her team promotions”. Shortly after, ‘Korea’s #1 Paparazzi’ Dispatch released the infamous ‘insider Q&A’, 2 persons (allegedly close to Jessica) who were unwilling to disclose their identities, were interviewed. They revealed that Jessica is no longer part of the group because she said she intended to leave the group on 2 occasions with plans to get married. Those who are familiar with K-entertainment all know that K-fans detest dating scandals the most, there are many cases where they stopped being a fan and backstabbed the idol in return. Hence, the image of a selfish person who only cares about developing her own career and intends to get married to her boyfriend was formed in Korean citizens’ minds. The extent of the damage caused by this ‘created image’ is severe, 3 years later and Koreans are still leaving comments citing this ‘selfish person who only cares about her own career and intends to get married to her boyfriend’ as an excuse. Did everyone realize something? That’s right, it’s been 3 years, and they still come up with the exact same arguments, because the accusations failed to come true, so the rumors are stuck at where it started. But why do we have people taking 2 different sides, 1 group sees eye to eye with the Koreans, and the other group thinks that she was indeed a victim who got forced out. I’m not sure if the comments represent the majority, but my friends have the same conclusion as me, that Jessica was indeed forced out.

Here are a few reasons, firstly why are there different opinions in 2 countries? Because we (China) don’t have SM, we don’t have the Big-3 agencies that dominate and monopolize the market, we don’t have controversies formed by a powerful agency that refuses to let you off easy even if you dissolved your contract amicably. As I mentioned earlier, if someone like Dispatch, a top paparazzi with high publicity, reports negatively on an idol , will you believe them? Honestly, fans excluded, onlookers will likely go along with what Dispatch reports, this is also why many fans keep clarifying matters in the comment section of such reports. Fans persevered and continued clarifying even if it’s counterproductive, because by doing so, there is still a 1% chance that people may be enlightened and have a clearer grasp of the situation. If you stay silent, you have a 0% chance of turning things around. Which means, it may just be true for those who say “you think a local like me wouldn’t know our country’s celebrities better than you, a foreigner?”, you are right, you really don’t. The Korean society is weird, they condemn a person without even giving them a chance to speak up for themselves, and fans have no platform to explain matters. They only have one-sided information released by a big agency to the media, and with such ways of handling matters, it’s hard for me to not think you are the villain here. This leads to a repeated rumor being taken as truth, and this is dreadful.

Moreover, having the intent to kill but not actually fulfilling the act does not make you guilty legally, but in the vicious entertainment industry, even having such intent equates to the death penalty. So there must be a purpose behind this intent right? Before we discuss about the purpose, I discovered another interesting point, SM stated “This spring, Jessica said she would stop group activities”. Spring could be either March, April, or May. In Dispatch’s famous ‘insider Q&A’, they mentioned that Jessica said she wanted to leave the group twice, once in January, and a 2nd time in July. Here comes my question, so which month was it exactly? Was it Spring, or was it Summer? Or SM’s idea of Spring stretches from January to July? No? So who was lying? Was it SM’s official statement, or was it the ‘insiders’ invited by Dispatch who were lying?

We should all agree on one fact, either a person actually thinking of doing something or a person actually acting out on their thoughts, are driven by a purpose and motivation. Let’s assume that since Jessica had intended to quit the group, or even mentioned about wanting to quit the group, means she must have the desire to do so. How did this desire come about in the first place? Such desires usually entail benefits to oneself, and I believe nobody would desire something that causes harm to themselves. Then was there a dire need for Jessica to quit the group that year? What caused her to have a desire to quit the group that year? I personally think she had even more reason to want to stay in the group that year.

I hereby provide 4 pieces of evidence, the first 2 will focus on Jessica’s personal reasons, the other 2 will focus on external factors. Firstly, Jessica belonged to the bottom half of the group in terms of personal schedules she had since the second half of 2011, even the leader of TaeTiSeo mentioned during their subunit interview that Jessica had  only been “practically living in the photoshoot studio”. You can find the comparison chart for personal schedules of all 9 members in freesouls bar. In comparison, the amount of personal schedules Jessica had in 2014 was more than her past 2 years’ combined. Not forgetting to mention the Jungsis subunit that SM had wanted to promote but was shelved, such important projects couldn’t have been put together within a week or two. So what reason does Jessica have to take such a huge risk now, to discard all the benefits that she was about to reap, to the extent of quitting the group no matter what? Some people say she doesn’t care, she just felt like quitting and so what, she is such a person who doesn’t care about anything. But the audio from their dance practice was leaked proving that they did record a song together, preparation for a season 2 of Jessica & Krystal’s reality show was also reported in the news. Will a person who simply don’t care be so enthusiastic in a project? Will you put in so much effort to practice again and again, only to give up on the actual day of the exam? I am sure you will not be happy at the thought of it, after all everyone loves to measure success based on results.

Secondly, in terms of career development, Jessica launched her brand in August after a series of preparation, she also mentioned in her official statement that she had informed the members beforehand, including all her future plans. Hello people, launching a brand is not a piece of cake, she must have prepared for a long time and her company only just started, and this is just an ‘insurance’ for her idol career. When you are part of a top girl group like SNSD where you can reap the fruits of your labor, she chose fashion as her future ‘insurance’, something she is familiar with and good at. Honestly, this ‘insurance’ is still at its early stages, so was there a need to sever all ties with such a strong backing when nothing has taken shape yet? Realistically speaking, even the most powerful backing does not belong to you in the end. In the real world, you can work with others but never ever rely on them completely. She is not an underaged teen who thinks the world is filled with only good people, she has lived for 25 years and survived in the entertainment industry for 14 years (2014), will she be such an idiot to sever all ties with a powerful backing and have nothing to fall back on, just to go start on a new venture?

Thirdly, in terms of SNSD’s career development, 2014 marks SNSD’s 7th year in the industry and they can be considered an unbeatable girl group, even though I think they are already on their decline, everything that goes up must come down. Anyway their decline is not that obvious and it doesn’t matter even if they are on their way down, since they have found success thanks to the contribution of all 9 members, what they need to do now is to take their share of the pie and have their taste of success. A group that has seen success internationally and reached their peak can only do so much now. Many people say SNSD still has potential but I beg to differ, because you have already reached your peak and so the public no longer anticipates what other surprises you can bring. Their only concern is that this group is at its peak. This is a dead end for many superstars, how much popularity is enough? Where is the peak? When the public no longer look forward to what you can achieve, when they are no longer curious about what you can bring to the table, the so-called popularity will start to wane, and what you are left with is only the nation’s approval. Perhaps you will say that I am contradicting myself but think carefully, are the younger generation and the previous generation supporting the same idols? The people that the previous generation supports has attained the nation’s approval, and the younger generation go for popularity, what matters is “volume”. SNSD’s potential has been gradually declining since 2014, but this works in the members’ favor instead, this means the members can begin distinguishing themselves from the group since the group has already reached its peak. They can have their own identity and not just be SNSD’s so and so. This is what I meant by tasting their share of the pie. It is obvious that SNSD is already going down that route, and we hardly see group performances by SNSD anymore, partly due to commercial and personal reasons. Since they have endured the early days where their articles were filled with malicious comments, where their every move was being monitored and scrutinized, does it sound logical to you for someone to leave the group when it’s time to enjoy the benefits and honor that the ‘brand name (SNSD)’ gives? Put yourself in this situation, you suffered 6 years of cursings, and people finally start to compliment you, then out of a sudden you tell everyone that it’s better if they continue to curse you, you can take it. This is impossible. (What in the world???)

Fourthly, Jessica’s agency SM, SM’s background and history, an agency that blocks even artistes who dissolved their contract amicably. Why is SM so harsh towards their previous artistes? Of course it’s just so they can demonstrate their power. ‘In this entertainment industry, I am God, you want to leave me? Don’t even think about it.’ You must be joking if you think Jessica didn’t anticipate SM’s tyrannical ways. She was a trainee for 7 years and had been in SNSD for 7 years, she clearly knows what happened to members who left H.O.T, Shinhwa, DBSK, and Super Junior. Even a person in any normal situation knows what risk assessment is, and when the risk is obviously greater than the benefit for whatever you want to do, any sane person would either give up the idea, or wait it out. Why is it that most Koreans renew their contract with SM? You have already been warned, ‘if we are not going to be in the same boat, then you can prepare to sink.’ Even if you are not contented, but as long as you still want to survive, you have no choice but to continue with this agency. What can you do? Of course you have to learn to forgive them. Because if you refuse to, they will not let you off. You can’t say that their staff and their management are heartless, you can only blame the agency for being ruthless. In this economically-driven world, to maintain their dominance, they will only continue to be so oppressive. You should have expected this when you chose them in the first place.

With such a powerful backing (or threat), and with her future shining so brightly, the argument of her ‘wanting to leave the group’ is no longer valid. Nobody would want to leave without tasting a bite of the pie they (spent so many years to) bake. Jessica, a member who contributed to SNSD’s success obviously wants to enjoy her share of the pie.

Therefore, saying she left the group on her own accord is completely ridiculous. Of course, such excuses started from the Koreans who were brainwashed by the media. Actually most of the SONES in China agreed that she was indeed forced out. Like they always say “I really don’t understand Golden Stars, your idol was fired and you still have the cheek to keep bringing it up”. It’s true that being forced out is somewhat like getting fired, but they are of different nature. I can’t help but feel bitter whenever people say that, because they are implying that SNSD are just colleagues rather than friends. This is as far as their group spirit goes, and will be evident in their future comebacks.

2- Why was she forced out? Political reasons vs. She deserved it vs. Member conflict vs. Agency’s motive?

Even when everyone agrees that she was forced out, why do people keep bringing this subject up? What I have listed are the more plausible reasons, I chose not to list some of the more ridiculous arguments that are obviously from brainless antis. I advise everyone to just have a good laugh and let it go when you come across those people with such great imagination.

Firstly, some people said that ‘930’ was a deflection for political scandals. I will like to call someone out.

“Politics!”

“What?!”

“There’s a (scape)goat for you, please acknowledge it.”

“Go to hell, I don’t want it.”

Politics: “I don’t want to be the scapegoat, thanks.”

Korea is undoubtedly small, let alone South Korea, it’s nothing out of the ordinary for politics and entertainment to cross paths, but not everything from drunk-driving to drug-abuse to small issues like leaving a group or dating scandals are always used to cover political scandals. Think about it, if you are a Korean, would you care more about the news of an idol (who holds a lowly status in Korean society), or a political scandal? We are talking about a country who has the guts to impeach their president and put her on trial. Everytime I see a fan say “‘Pinocchio’ was used to cover a political scandal”, “You are siding with the wrong party”, I just want to laugh. You think you are the only one who watched ‘Pinocchio’, you think you are the only one who watches the news, you think you are the only one who knows whose side they are on? Even the 5 leading organizations will not dare to take sides easily, let alone entertainment agencies. Whose side did Samsung take? I realized something when I read the ‘Twenty-Four Histories’. The typical scenario of an aristocratic family was that the elder brother would be the proposition, and the younger brother would be the opposition, they would always be at loggerheads. Why did that happen though? That is to prevent a genocide. (Author quoted a scenario of Zhuge Liang from ‘The Three Kingdoms’, research if you want to know more) Using the same logic, a company in our economically-driven society is only interested in a mutually-beneficial business relationship to ensure the company does not collapse.

Can’t you see, the South Korean president has gone through multiple setbacks, but yet the 5 leading organizations are still standing strong?

No doubt the Big-3 entertainment agencies are tools, but if we are talking about taking sides politically, then I’m sorry to tell you they are not that influential. So for those who said the series of incidents that happened to SM in 2014 were actually collateral damage to cover up political scandals, then perhaps you are overthinking this.

Why were there multiple dating scandals from SNSD that were reported that year? First and foremost, they are indeed no longer young and innocent girls, so it’s not surprising that they are in relationships too. On the other hand, media and entertainment agencies  have always had a love-hate relationship, whoever has the most lucrative offer wins. Since they are no longer the young and innocent girls like before, it’s only natural that SM loosens their leash and gives them a little more leeway. Anyway they are already the nation’s girl group, and scandals like these are not going to jeopardize their position. So they no longer see the need to bribe the media in order to stop them from publishing such photos. This is a moneymaking agency who is very realistic and calculative, so they find no need to make such ‘investments’(bribery) anymore.

Since the ‘political reason’ excuse is busted, does that mean Jessica paved the way to her own downfall, and that she deserved it? There is one reason that was stated in SM’s official statement that makes me not know whether to laugh or cry, and it is no wonder Jessica found it unreasonable as well. “No-show for events”, I have seen the information compiled by fans with regards to Jessica’s attendance for all group events, and from the start of 2014 to the month of September; this may sound embarrassing; but their accusation is completely unfounded. Perhaps SM realized they messed up too. We are talking about public events here, and everyone can see for themselves. You can’t make it go away simply by saying it doesn’t exist. Afterall, fans are not blind. So SM came up with a befuddling reason in an attempt to confuse people. “Personal schedules clashed with group activities”, this leaves an extensive room for debate because it includes practices, and how can fans possibly verify their attendance for practices (behind closed doors)? It’s not like you can follow them around as if you are their assistant or manager. Who knows they might even practice after meeting up for a meal together, so by missing the dinner gathering, they can say you were absent for practice too. Such befuddling reasons misled people into thinking Jessica deserved whatever happened to her because she was asking for it. Blindly assuming she ignored group activities and only cared about her own business, that she is so selfish, and it’s a good thing she left. Even if she did not leave the group voluntarily, thank God the agency forced her out, she deserved to be kicked out. Okay, let’s take a moment and use our brains now, what was the message that SM’s official statement was trying to convey?

“Yes, I intended to inform everyone that SNSD will proceed with their activities as 8 from now on, but I didn’t expect her to speak up first, so you can’t blame me, blame it on her for thinking about leaving in Spring, I advised her against it but realized it was futile, so I kicked her out, yes it was a decision by both the members and myself, so don’t blame this on me alone.”

SM’s official statement was actually saying; members of boy groups can go on a hiatus for 2 years (due to the need to serve in the army) and not get forced out, and members of girl groups can skip group activities due to their participation in musicals, tv-dramas, or because of health reasons, and a plethora of other excuses; their attendance is dependent on their personal schedules that could last a day or two or could even be as long as 3 to 4 months, it is alright to skip activities because I will just overlook it. BUT dear Jessica, within the span of 1 month from the day you launched your personal business, you have missed practices, take note it’s just practices since we didn’t witness Jessica missing any public events, but my apologies, please withdraw from the group, you are no longer a member.

You said Jessica was going to leave in Spring, what was your motive for advising her against it then? To make sure SNSD stays complete, am I right? But within the brief span of 1 month, you changed the course of direction for the person whom you painstakingly tried to retain, and discarded the whole idea of a complete group, oh, with such a huge loophole, tell me, are you even serious?

(It will be perfect if they were to release such an official statement 1 year later (after putting her on hiatus), because Jessica would have played straight into their hands and missed many activities, and then it would seem more rightful for them to withdraw her from the group, citing ‘no-show for multiple activities’ as a reason. There could be another frightening possibility, and that is the official statement was meant to be released in 2015 but Jessica spoke up first unfortunately, which explains the part where they said Jessica was going to leave after 1 more album in the ‘Dispatch Q&A’. Because that will make perfect sense since <Catch Me If You Can> was released in the later part of 2014 and that will seemingly be Jessica’s final single with the group as planned. SM certainly put a lot of thought into it. It seems like they failed to edit the ‘Dispatch 18 Q&A’ though, no wonder it didn’t make any sense when I came across the part where they said she will leave after releasing 1 last album with the group.)

The above bracketed paragraph is solely based on the author’s own logic and conclusion, it is up to you to believe it or not. It’s a pity we failed to notice SM’s schemes.

SM’s official statement was actually very short, because the ‘Dispatch Q&A’ had spoken everything on their behalf. What they wanted to portray was that they had tried everything they could but failed to salvage the situation, and they wanted people to believe that “Jessica’s withdrawal had absolutely nothing to do with them.”

This is a very common PR tactic; all we wanted was an explanation, but they had to drag you into the gutter, honestly, did you think all of us are as gullible as a 3 year old kid, I explicitly asked you about the weather today but you tell me the weather forecast indicates that the weather is beautiful in Spring so the weather is not bad today? Where is the correlation?

So what was SM’s role in this ‘930’ incident? In my opinion, they were the mastermind. But I feel that they are the executors and not the initiators. Firstly, all members renewed their contracts in August 2014, even though they are one of the biggest entertainment agencies, SNSD is still their top girl group and it consists of 9 women who have clawed their way to the top for the past 10’ish years. What if they decide to up and leave together if their demands are not met? It is during this time that Jessica wrote up a new contract with SM. It is impossible that SM wouldn’t evaluate her brand first. So what should they base their evaluation on? Obviously it will be evaluated based on the brand’s future value and revenue. Jessica had indeed paid the necessary fees to SM and in other words, they reached a mutual agreement. This also meant that SM expected to reap profits from Jessica’s brand. The bigger her brand gets, the better for SM, and they can reap profits without having to move a finger. This is an additional source of revenue for them, and if all things go well, they can even invest in her brand and become a shareholder at a low-entry price. Who wouldn’t want that? It would be such a waste not to. Businessmen are opportunistic and will never let such an opportunity slip away, it’s in their nature. So for those who said SM got frightened after learning how Jessica intended to scale her business, you probably thought SM is the fruit stall near your house that got their guts eaten alive. There was a legal agreement, do you take SM’s lawyers for fools who didn’t analyze the potential profit before letting SM sign the contract? Seems like you are undermining SM’s capabilities. Jessica’s ‘Blanc & Eclare’ shades also appeared in a movie produced by SM, which further proves that they did enter an agreement.

During that time, the person who held the authority to make decisions caused the ‘930 incident’ to happen, to a certain extent. The person in power at that time was Kim Young Min who was appointed the president a long time ago, but the soul of SM has always been Lee Soo Man who is also the biggest shareholder. But the docile president was finally given the chance to make a decision on his own in 2014. Lee Soo Man’s wife was critically ill then, and due to the inevitable internal power struggle, he was left with no choice but to loosen his tight reign over Kim Young Min temporarily. Kim Young Min would obviously do whatever he deemed fit against better judgement. Their artistes has no affection towards Kim Young Min, unlike for Lee Soo Man whom they address as their ‘seonsaengnim’ (teacher) because they were brought into the industry by him. If Lee Soo Man had been the one in power instead of Kim Young Min when conflicts occurred among members, he might have held the respect and ability to appease their anxiety, so that they would have waited patiently instead of making rash decisions. He would have taken a better approach and advise Jessica more appropriately when she asked for the go-ahead for her business, giving possibility to a positive outcome with regards to the earlier negotiations that have reached stalemate. Most importantly, Lee Soo Man would have had a better grasp of Jessica’s temperament and know that she is different from his other money-making machines who are obedient and whom he has wrapped around his finger. He would have known that Jessica is no pushover and cannot be easily influenced and accused for breach of contract, instead of simply devising a ‘perfect’ set-up (first citing health reasons; then absence from group activities; then dating scandal; end up leaving the group) thinking Jessica will comply obediently and they can get away with it.

Everyone should be familiar with this set-up. Yes, Sulli went through it. I am not going to judge Sulli but I just think such a set-up works indeed. At least in our hearts, f(x) should be a group of 4, the perfect 4. If Jessica hadn’t spoken up first, will the outcome be different with a similar set-up? SNSD would be a group of 8, it would make sense and everything would seem fine. Of course Jessica will still be the scapegoat, and SM will continue to profit. This outcome is absolutely perfect.

The upper management’s role here is to watch them attack each other, then turn the tide in their favor. This will be the best of both worlds for them. SM always has a fall back plan. In their official statement and subsequent arrangements, their intention was to make Jessica stay so they can share the profits equally. Honestly, SM would have been the biggest winner if Jessica had stayed in the company (after being forced out). They would have rights to Jessica’s personal fashion brand, and they could have benefitted from all the publicity from the ‘930’ saga. SNSD would return in a new form as 8 and bring a breath of fresh air to the public eye. Jessica would continue raking in revenue and they can get free publicity by mentioning Jessica - a former SNSD member, every now and then, with no consequence. Even though they are doing it now, it’s still rather inconvenient. For example, a MV conveniently leaked by an anonymous fan (e.g. Catch Me If You Can). They would have violated Jessica’s rights if they had spread that MV via their official platform instead, and Jessica would have to be compensated.

But Jessica was adamant about leaving and SM lost the opportunity to enjoy the best of both worlds. Nonetheless, Jessica was made the scapegoat successfully and she didn’t sue SM for breach of contract, so the company still won. The reason why SM was so confident was because Krystal is still under SM, and it was impossible to go hostile with SM as long as she still wanted to pursue an entertainment career, and also unless she couldn’t care less about Krystal’s future anymore. Some people said that Jessica was able to dissolve her contract with SM amicably because SM didn’t want her anymore. You must be horribly mistaken because SM still cared enough to assign a team of staff to Jessica even for her personal schedules, right until her contract was dissolved. So rather than saying SM didn’t want Jessica anymore, the more logical explanation would be that the contract was dissolved because a mutual consensus was reached after much deliberation that by doing so was the most mutually-beneficial approach. SM agreed to dissolve her contract because they were the ones who breached the contract this time. The reason why SM persecuted the people who left their company was because this group of people did violate their contract. Whereas for Jessica’s case, SM was in the wrong and since they did not have the upperhand, they were wise to not pursue this issue because the possibility of them winning this lawsuit is slim. And Jessica chose to end the contract amicably because she didn’t want to remain in such a company and also because Krystal is still under them. I am not mentioning Krystal on purpose but because it shouldn’t come as a surprise for real sisters to spare a thought for each other. If Jessica’s departure from the group didn’t affect Krystal at all, she would have appeared in SMTown’s ending stages. 3 years later today, after multiple SMTown concerts, Krystal still has not appear a single time. You can consider it a coincidence if it’s once or twice, but not if it’s everytime. It’s simply because she can’t bring herself to.

Finally, let’s talk about whether conflicts occurred among the members. As the saying goes “to stay together through thick and thin”, this is easier said than done, and hard times will always reveal true friends. It’s true they have gone through hard times together before, but it’s a different situation altogether now that they have reached their peak.

Imagine this scenario: 9 girls who reached their peak through mutual support; everyone starts to plan for their own future, and upon discussion some say they will work even harder to become the number 1 K-Pop idol; then Jessica tells the members about her grand plan, “I want to start a company, and I’m going to overtake you guys by working twice as hard”. This is definitely shocking news for the rest, “Eh, but you didn’t have any ambitions before? Why are you so motivated and driven all of a sudden?”

“Yes I’ve changed, you guys have a problem with it? I’m going to start working much harder. I’ve spent year after year without jobs allocated to me, this cannot go on anymore, can’t I start living my life without regrets from now on?”

“NO. Absolutely NOT.” I’m not sure if you have experienced it before but it happened to me. I’m generally an easy-going person and it’s not because I don’t care, but it’s simply because I don’t want others to feel threatened by thinking I’m trying to snatch anything away from them. Call me stubborn but I want to be appreciated by my superiors based on my own merits. Jessica was in SNSD for 7 years, it’s hard to believe she has no ambition at all. She trained for 7 long years, and she wouldn’t have been able to persevere if she hadn’t dreamed of success. Would she have been able to persevere if she didn’t have the passion for singing? But when she didn’t make the cut and was not selected to be part of SNSD’s subunit in 2012, her position as 2nd lead vocalist was clearly threatened. TTS comes to mind whenever people mention SNSD’s vocal line, but where was Jessica? There was no Jessica. If I put myself in her shoes, knowing that I obviously love singing, knowing that I obviously should have gotten it, and knowing that I obviously should have been acknowledged, but I was forgotten instead. You can only imagine how dejected she would have been. I can completely understand her reason for wanting to work something out for herself, but that doesn’t mean everyone else would understand or even see eye-to-eye with her.

Take me for example. I was lazy during my high school days, but suddenly realize I couldn’t go on like this during my 3rd year, so I started working very hard. But my best friend turned against me and her reason was, “why did you become so serious suddenly? I feel uncomfortable being around you, being your friend makes me feel so stressed out now.”

I was disgusted. You were always working hard whereas all I did was laze around previously, and now that I’ve started working hard, you suddenly think I got too serious? You already feel threatened even before I started working hard?

I experienced this first hand so I can understand the situation perfectly, and especially after I read Jessica’s official statement. I’m not trying to point fingers, but we tend to evaluate our friends. We are used to having friends being worse off or equal, but never better than us. Especially if said friend used to be a lazy person who suddenly decided to work hard. The anxiety and fear caused by this sudden revelation is enough to send you into a state of panic.  

That is exactly what Jessica did, she sent her 8 members into a state of panic, and they could have kept their annoyance to themselves, but someone decided to aggravate the issue. Once it was brought up and pondered over, the situation turned for the worse. They convinced themselves that her decision would affect the group instead of it being about their own fear of knowing she was going to have a brighter future than them. It’s easy to come up with a bunch of bollocks as excuses since you can’t speak about your toxic thoughts. Like my friend who said “You’ve changed, you didn’t used to care about your future”. Of course I needed to change, because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have a future. Are you telling me this was what my friend wanted me to be? A useless bum?

Jessica must have been so traumatized when the members made her choose between SNSD and her business. “We reached a mutual understanding after discussing about it, you guys even congratulated me, so why is it that you guys are forcing me to choose now?” Jessica has her ‘character flaws’ and it shown at this time, she is too iron-willed, stubborn, and it feels almost impossible to get her to back down. The more you threaten and force her to yield, the tougher she becomes. Her inability to come to terms with their sudden change of mind and the members’ unwillingness to compromise led to this fight. SM chose to watch silently and not act as a mediator in this fight since they will anger the other party if they were to pick sides, so they let them work it out among themselves.

It’s such a shame that something like this happened to SNSD when it’s time to enjoy their success. The members probably held numerous meetings among their respective cliques. The more they thought about it, the more ridiculous it seemed to them. The more publicity her brand got, the more absurd it felt. The more they understood the scale of her ambition, the more panicky they got. This kind of panic wasn’t jealousy, it was simply because they couldn’t get used to this supposedly ‘new and improved’ Jessica, and also partly stemmed from their own selfishness. “I can stay beside you forever, but, you cannot ever surpass me, especially not materialistically.” When the members demanded Jessica to stop all her plans, Jessica said she already invested heavily and there was no way she could drop everything just like that. Everything came to a standstill. On one hand, the members felt like Jessica has changed, “you didn’t use to be like this, you were never this driven and ambitious”, while on the other hand, Jessica felt threatened, “We have been together for 10 years, shouldn’t you guys support me unconditionally?”

So did they try to work it out? They did. Jessica continued posting material related to the members in September, but the members began to take an even tougher stance. I believe the situation wouldn’t have reached such a terrible state if someone didn’t aggravate the situation. Lee Soo Man would have attempted to appease everyone and not let any malicious person cloud the members’ judgement. The reason why any malicious person would succeed in driving a wedge between them was because the 9 of them were no longer like before, they have their own cliques now, their own circle of friends, and have their own career paths to take. There is no way to know who the malicious people who instigated them were, but they definitely existed. The success of Jessica’s brand may not have a significant impact on the members, but if Jessica succeeded in both entertainment and fashion industries, it might have a strong effect on the people behind the team. This fight looks like a 1 vs 8 from the outside, but in actual fact, it’s a conflict of personal interests that involved many others. It’s a shame they didn’t manage to keep their promise of being together forever. After considering the future revenue and benefits of 1 vs 8 without Lee Soo Man helming SM’s management team, and taking Sulli’s incident as a guide, it was easy to use a similar setup for Jessica’s dismissal. So they acceded to the 8 members’ demands, and then informed Jessica she was excluded from all future SNSD activities. They were going to use health as a reason for Jessica’s absence, and let her slowly fade away.

All 3 (Jessica, members, SM) parties were at fault.

Jessica was overconfident thinking the members would never go to the extent of kicking her out, so she used the delay-tactic and hoped the conflict would work itself out with time. She also over-estimated Kim Young Min’s trustworthiness by thinking she could disregard the members’ opposition by gaining Kim Young Min’s word of approval. As we all know, Jessica got played. If she hadn’t gotten his word of approval, she might have taken the members’ state of anxiety into consideration and not daringly leave the country to attend to personal matters. But Kim Young Min was definite and gave her his word, then he turned his back on her the moment she left the country. He broke down her defences and caught her off guard. Jessica’s overconfidence caused her to overlook the immediate danger and she was caught in an awkward predicament, like a drowned mouse.

As for the members, they cracked under pressure and gave in to their anxiety by blowing things out of proportion, thinking their conflict with Jessica was beyond repair. It escalated from simply not being used to seeing your friend become so driven suddenly, to the road of no return, because there wasn’t a mediator to alleviate the situation, and they were played by the people who used their emotions against them by clouding their judgement. I think there were neutral members who kept their opinions to themselves, and by keeping quiet they were inadvertently agreeing to whatever decision was being made. I think the neutral members were YoonA, Seohyun, Hyoyeon, and Sunny. YoonA is known for her high EQ, she is not the sort to take an active role especially in situations like such whereby she would likely offend either party. During a rehearsal around the time this fight was going on, she didn’t dare to interact with Jessica openly but they still made eye contact. In a Hong Kong interview around mid-September, she blatantly said she wasn’t the one who started or instigated this matter. As for Seohyun, she had always been cordial with Jessica, being the youngest in the group, her words didn’t weigh as much. When Jessica attended the <I Love that Crazy Little Thing> presscon, a reporter asked if she knew Seohyun was in Beijing too, and she answered “Yes”. This was a huge contrast to when she was asked if she knew Yuri was in Hong Kong, where Jessica replied “Oh she is? I didn’t know”. When asked if they were going to meet up, she replied “I don’t think so”. Her attitude was very different. Another possibility could be that her anger has slowly dissipated with time. Perhaps Jessica simply doesn’t care as much anymore, so her approach to such questions have changed too. As for Sunny, she remained passive since there wasn’t a need for her to instigate anything, because she had nothing to gain from this fight due to her special status. Nothing can change the fact that she is Lee Soo Man’s niece, and her attitude after 930 says it all. She seemed like she got sick of this supposed sisterly bond. Lastly Hyoyeon, being one of the less popular members aside, most importantly, her life motto is “it’s okay, everything’s going to be fine”. She tends to make peace with whatever situation. Jessica once said Hyoyeon gave similar advice to her before. There are similarities between these 4 members, they are neutral by nature and are not good at expressing themselves. Perhaps they have minimal conflict of interests with Jessica, or perhaps their family backgrounds are not too far off from Jessica, or perhaps their talent and field of interests are different from Jessica, so they don’t clash.

But it’s such a shame because everyone has grown up, so their way of thinking and doing things won’t be what you always see in fairytales, where they will thrive and survive against all odds. They can only obey the majority, obey the most outspoken people. Because of the fear of being singled out saying they are antisocial by not following the masses, and also the fear for their future, most importantly the fear that they will not get to enjoy their share of the pie, their share of the success that was made possible by the contribution of all 9 members.

On the morning of 930, Jessica completely gave up hope and did not follow through with SM’s plan (to say her absence was due to health reasons) when the members made such a grave and heartless decision. Let’s imagine, if any of the members had cried and threw a fit, 930 may not have gone down the way it did. Well I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt and think that they didn’t waste 14 years of their lives for nothing.

Reality is cruel, even though most fans understand, they don’t want to accept reality. But we have to admit that idols hide all their problems behind their smiles, and behind their smiles is a world of pain that even they themselves don’t want to confront. It is best to not let such darkness and negativity swallow you up, because once you let it get to your heart, you will definitely crumble.

As for SM, their mistake was taking Jessica for a fool thinking they could pull the same trick twice without her figuring out how it’s done. You used the same tactic on Choi Sulli, and then you go tell Jessica, “Hey, Jessica babe, we intend to use the same tactic on you, so please don’t show up for the fanmeet today okay? Don’t show up for future SNSD activities too because you are no longer a part of the group, but please keep it a secret and don’t tell anyone, let’s take it one step at a time.” Can you guess Jessica’s reaction and next course of action? As the saying goes, even an angry bunny bites back, moreover Jessica is a cat. \(-_- )/

With Jessica’s character, she was definitely not going to be a sitting duck just waiting to get slaughtered, and this was also the reason why she was not made the leader. Her life motto is “follow my heart”. A popular artiste once said that no agency was willing to sign him and their reason was that they needed their artistes to be obedient so they could exercise control over them easily, and they should be someone who can’t survive in the industry upon leaving the agency. But he is a highly intelligent man of many talents who can survive on his own even if he leaves the entertainment industry. Jessica will never fall for SM’s tricks like Sulli did because she doesn’t do things against her own will and conscience. Perhaps Kim Young Min didn’t have a good grasp of every artiste’s personalities and thought he could use the same trick on Jessica. So the situation turned into a farce. Drama ensued and Jessica revealed the truth so everyone can have a clear view of what really went down.

3- Backstabbed her former members? Backstabbed by agency and former members?

I think Jessica got backstabbed, so she retaliated and gave them a taste of their own medicine. Let’s be logical, what would you do if you got backstabbed? Smile and let it pass? This is what a monk would do, not how commoners like us would react. The reason why I said Jessica got backstabbed: firstly Jessica posted on weibo at 5am when it wasn’t too long after she got informed of her dismissal. She was absolutely infuriated at this time, perhaps she witnessed the members carrying on with their preparation for the Shenzhen fanmeet as if nothing happened after notifying her of her dismissal. Or perhaps she didn’t even get to see the members after receiving a message for her dismissal, and all the members were not contactable. No matter what happened, it definitely had significant impact on a person who thought there was still room for negotiations. Moreover the people who informed you (be it in person or by written notice) had been your friends for more than a decade. Both scenarios are unthinkable and unbearable but unfortunately, either of this scenario must have happened. I have this conclusion because in both of SM’s and Jessica’s official statements, "company and members" were mentioned. If the rumors are real, it could be less hurtful if Jessica was notified face-to-face, rather than simply receiving a written notice to leave the group, and then go on to find out that all members were uncontactable. Jessica deserved to be treated with at least minimum respect, and granting her a face-to-face settlement is the proper way.

Regardless of what went down, the person who received such news would feel absolutely helpless and angry, and it is no surprise that it led to Jessica’s post on Weibo. Perhaps you think you can handle such news without getting into a frenzy, then good for you, but that doesn’t apply to everyone. What about Jessica? She was once asked about Sooyoung and YoonA’s relationships and she said, “if the members were not informed beforehand and only got to know when the news break out, then that’s rude.” This was exactly what happened to her, and the sheer anger she felt was a tell-tale sign of who the real backstabbers were. Long-time Sones will tell you Jessica is cold and not to be trifled with, something they derived from media reports and the image that SM tailormade for her. I feel that she doesn’t have an overly vibrant personality and is also not easily fooled. She doesn’t accept being shortchanged. How can we be all smiles after being backstabbed repeatedly unless you are Mother Mary? Some would say she did that because she anticipated SM’s actions and wanted to gain the upperhand. Guys, this is not the way to do it. It doesn’t always mean you have the upperhand just because you did something first.

The《Old Book of Tang》has two examples on “take the initiative is to gain the upper hand”, but two different results, positive case - Tang Long coup and negative case - Li Chongjun rebellion case, in the concept of time they are both the first, why they had different fates? Because Li Chongjun at most was a person with a temporary meaning of indignation, and ignored the definition of the first start is " to surprise the enemy". However, Li Longji's “take the initiative is to gain the upper hand” was way better because his "sudden attack when enemy aren’t prepared" such steady ruthless behavior style.

So let’s take a look, did Jessica’s behavior really was “strikes first and gains the advantage”? In fact, from this point in time, you can see, Jessica has no wisdom as Li Longji when she was in the middle of such situation, my analogy may make people feel funny, how is an idol comparable to an emperor of Tang dynasty? Of course not. Return to the matter, what I mean is that 25-year-old Jessica Jung failed with her “strike first”, and it even created dangers for her future situation.

Jessica’s statement was posted at 5:00 AM, but SM released the official statement until 1:00 PM, I would like to ask, is it really “strike first and get advantages” that you gave your opponent such a long time difference? Do you all think that after informing Jessica to leave the group in the early morning, SM’s PR all went back to sleep? Obviously no. Not to mention at 5:00 AM the rest of the members must have got up and got ready to go to Shenzhen in the morning for the fan meeting. We can also see what SM was doing for up to seven hours from the trend of news later. Yes, they began their fancy performance of manipulating the media and news, if you are interested, you can search up, they really calculated every step well.

Since SM informed that Jessica to leave the group, SM must have prepared to solve the aftermath. SM is the No.1 of Korea showbiz and deals with this kind of things for many times, its PR is the strongest and fastest among the three big entertainment companies, you have to admit that inside of SM there’s a complete PR crisis management mechanism model, and this is why the artists who are blocked by SM will never enjoy the status that other artists have. Isn’t there JYJ Law? Yes, but do you see it works? No. We can understand these common senses, as a member of SNSD, a senior artist under SM, wouldn’t Jessica understand all these? She does, it’s just she has to release her emotions.

It is a normal thing, but Jessica react without any time difference, it gives SM a chance to twist the truth and catch breath which gets her into a bad fix, we’re all familiar with the story of “three men talking makes a tiger” (repeated rumor becomes a fact), when most of the media of the country talk about something in a certain way, as someone who does not know the facts, will you believe the media or a litigant who was smeared? To a great extent, the media is the eyes and ears of civilians, people will trust everything the media report, I have watched a Korean movie “Defender”, the lawyer in it was actually defending for the children who got framed, but the media twisted the facts and call the lawyer a bad guy who is bribed, from this, we can see that media can really so someone wrong or even put them to death.

That is why I say that Jessica is actually not the people who catch all the ball before the bound because she posted this statement under her impulsive anger, she did not think too much nor did she prepared anything to protect herself, and that gives the opponent a perfect chance to flip the card.

If I was Jessica, and I really wanted to ruin SNSD like some people said, I would announce publicly that it was the company and members forced me out and wanted me to take the blame when everything is ready, on the evening of the SNSD fan meeting, when the members who attend the fan meeting followed the script and say that I cannot make it to the fan meeting because of sickness. What do you think? I would call that perfect.

Come, everybody, let’s take a minute and think, is the situation that I suggested “pre-emptive”, or post the news at 5 AM and give the company and PR plenty of time to get ready “pre-emptive”?

“Isn’t mentioning members means that members knew about it and even pushed it behind?” Many people who saw Jessica’s Weibo posts thought like that. Of course what we think is not important, what matters is what Korean people think and how they choose. Alright, even people believe this statement and know it is not Jessica’s fault, so what? Because it is impossible for them to condemn their bias, it is also impossible to condemn a party of eight because of a party of one, and it is impossible to allow SNSD - the name card of Korea - get dirt on it, so, sorry we have to blame you. So we see a very funny thing that under the news about Jessica, in the Korean comment section, as long as there’s a news about Jessica, they always leave negative comments and hates, but the only exception is when she releases her album, people comment with good word to affirm her singing skill, is it her singing skill that good, good enough to overcome all those hates before? All the people who always comment her with bad word suddenly stopped on the day? I don’t think so.

Compared with the announcement came later from SM, the content of Jessica’s Weibo posts are really simple and clear, it’s just like, “I can’t meet you at 10:00 PM tomorrow because my friends don’t allow me, I can’t go now”, such a casual and normal message, I feel so funny when I see those “betray” arguments.

“In the end, it is just whose fan you are, you stand by whom, isn’t it?” Yes, I agree with that, but it’s obvious there’s right and wrong between standpoints, and I feel right to stand on the standpoint of Jessica to make sense of this issue. We may as well imagine it, if Jessica only mentioned the company and did not mention members, will her ending change? No, SM had already prepared many public notices for her, say that she is just selfish and wanted to leave, sooner or later, fans of SNSD will believe this allegation and turn to condemning Jessica. But if Jessica didn’t mention members, will rest of the members and fans end differently? Yes, because like that, the reputations of other eight members would not suffer a bit, and their fans can continue to follow their bias without any guilt, meanwhile, criticize Jessica who got kicked out from time to time.

Can people be so selfish to such great degree? Just for your self-interests, you can step on other people’s genuineness and yell at other people said that he or she is setting you up?

Apparently in today’s society, speaking the truths is betrayal, and telling lies and empty words is honesty.

4- Prepared to leave the group? Whom to blame for losing group spirit? (SNSD fans)

Before I get to the main point, I still want to emphasize, the truth is the more you debate about it, truer you will find it is, put it anywhere works the same. Started with this post, fans from every side started to put on a show, both sides hold strongly to their arguments, looking back, the truth is actually crystal clear. 

Here I want to introduce the background of both sides, first, Jessica’s side, obviously her bias fans. And another side, are they really group fans, I don’t really think so, at least official SNSD fansites didn’t state they are OT8, and I believe, those who separate Jessica and SNSD from the beginning are definitely not group fans, I asked those who were group fans back then, they struggled inside for a long time, didn’t know whether to believe Jessica’s post or not, but they never publicly showed which side they chose. But at that time, bias fans with their hearts belong to someone have already started to choose side, what did Jessica’s leaving exposed, it exposed the inside structure of SNSD’s Chinese group fans has already turned from mostly group fans to mostly bias fans, I see that some people who become SNSD’s fans later or just became a group fan a while ago complain that Jessica made SNSD’s fans lost their group spirit, I want to say that you misunderstood, SNSD’s group fans were already losing to the bias fans of the three popular aces (Tae, Yoon, Sic), the only difference is to see it falling apart on the surface or storming under the waves.

So, at the beginning both arguing sides’ backgrounds, put it plainly, is just three popular aces’ bias fans divided into two sides and fight, only this time one side picked up “group fan” such noble weapon. Group fans’ noses got pulled by others, this is why someone became nobody’s fan, because group fans have no enough strengths to fight three aces’ bias fans, the purpose of one side is to explain the issue of Jessica leaving the group, another side wanted to shame about Jessica’s leaving, group fans were forced to choose a side, some people chose SNSD for a more certain future, some people chose Jessica for their reconciled minds. Some people didn’t choose because SNSD died after 930, eight people are still SNSD is just nonsense, what you like is it just the brand of SNSD, SM’s strategy? Let them say whatever they want to say, let them manipulate whichever way they want to manipulate? So after that, OT7, OT6? Till there’s no one left? Looking at those people who chose the side right after and desperate Jessica out of the group but also claim themselves as group fans, I feel chilly at my back, since when the meaning of group fans became following the brand and the name? What is more disappointing, that those people became OT8, and for proving their choice are correct, they started to seek for excuses.

First, “unexpectedly, got informed suddenly” this point got griped by every bias fans group led by SNSD’s two big aces bias fans and zoomed in, they found that before and after the middle of September, some words said by some of the leaders of Jessica’s fans, they think that Jessica leaving the group is well-known among people, but herself didn’t know about it, it is such a show. About this, I want to use a metaphor don’t know if it is appropriate. I remember in 《西窗法雨》(a Chinese book about law) there is a famous case in England, 19th century, the “crew murder” case, it’s about a ship crossing ocean and the ship got into shipwreck, there were only four people left, a kid drank sea water and was about to die, and there’s no more food left on the ship, so the captain had an idea, egged other people to kill the kid and save himself. This case is a very famous case in Case Law, I alter it a little bit, for example, there are three people on the ship, the ship is leaking and they have to through one people out, at that time, the other two have already decided to through A away, but the A who got chosen to be through away do not comply, he grabbed onto the ship, he is negotiating with the people on the ship, maybe there’s some other way to solve the problem instead of having to through him into the ocean. This is a survival instinct, everyone is like this, someone asks how can he be so stupid, that’s because you are not on the ship, you don’t know for A now, leaving the ship means death.

People around who cares about the ship are watching, too, they got to know about the situation a little earlier than those who were watching from the shore far away and waiting for the ship to return, but due to their love for the ship and their respect to A, they didn’t send out the information that they know about beforehand, they just turn around to those people on the shore who cares and complain, “maybe this time when they come back there will be no more A”, because they knew that A may not pass this difficulty, but meanwhile, people all have some hope, A had hope, he thought that people on the ship may consider his suggestion, they will take him back home together, people who care about A, thought that A has the ability to make things turn around. All of sudden, someone on the ship found a tool and threw A into the ocean, what a clean cut. This is way beyond the expectation of A and people around who cares.

May I ask, for A, is it the suddenness and panic that he felt at that moment he got through away conflicts with the idea that he knew he may get through away? This moment that A got through away caused people around who knew about the situation anger and indignation, is it conflicts with the action of telling people on the shore “don’t wait, A may not make it” when they saw A struggling?  

So, got informed all of a sudden conflicts with there were disagreements among members and leaving the group was about to happen? No. Is it the anger and shocking they have when actually see a confirmed statement of having to leave the group conflicts with that some head of fans knew some inside news in the middle of the month and complain about it on Weibo? No.

So, where did the argument of premeditation come from? Form the mouths of OT8 who purposely making a clearly “got forced out of the group” issue into “leaving the group on her free will”, why do they do that, because they couldn't face the fact that “my idol was involved in this act of forcing someone to leave”, what’s funny is that a lot of smaller/younger fans got pulled away, followed such idea and believed in it, yelling about that Jessica wanted to leave, making me a new fan feel embarrassing. An argument can be so easily laid bare, surprisingly got make into the truth for so long. This really fulfills those OT8’s purpose of saying such thing.

Second, I remember that I have read some Jessica’s Weibo posts about parting the group, at first on Weibo there weren't so many complaints about “8 others”, and then I verified about it, this argument was brought up on that afternoon, why needed verify, because when I came into the fandom this actually became a main point of such debate, what can I say, this just makes me laughing me tears out. At first, when I encounter such argument I even thought about it carefully, this can only blame the word “others” which wouldn’t be controversial in any other language besides Mandarin. This is not that I am boasting Mandarin and despising English, this complaint about “others” really need to blame that Mandarin is so broad and profound, one speaking tone has one explanation, whatever you want to think, whatever you want to say, you can always find a version. In addition, Jessica also posted Korean version, this time about how to translate group members nobody seemed to care. OT8 tirelessly bring up “8 others”, make me feel confused. The word “others” upsets who? Does it really have so many deep meanings that they need to bring that up every time talking about parting the group? It is necessary to make up explanations and twist her words just to make it fit into the meanings you wanted it to mean when she didn’t even know about the Mandarin translation of that word?

But soon after, when I see more and more such arguments, I realized even though such argument seems very unreasonable but how smart it is, this is just an ulterior motive, how many others doesn’t matter, what matters is that Jessica mentioned members in her statement, why keep following a group if it is not what you sign up for any more? It is that Jessica mentioned members in her statement made OT8 angry, no other reasons just because she broke the “my idol is innocent” image in their minds, because it would make their idols get involved. The best solution is to draw in those group fans who were swinging, create a “Jessica is the villain” image, don’t allow you to rethink why Jessica would mention members, what was the background story, just a simple word “others”, drawing those swinging group fans whose bias was not Jessica, and also got Jessica fans attention, it was a righteous and clear statement, after that they keep grabbing onto that word and make up explanations.

Seriously, fandom wars are most splendid when comes to crisis PR.

Today, I return this strange argument about “others” back to OT8, also advise Jessica’s fans no need to explain so many grammars or translations, this is just a tool they use for brainwashing, how possibly they don’t know about those. Also, among all those whitewash reasons, only this one works the best, because it will not be refuted as time passes, it is just a word, no need for proof, all they need to use is their hypocritical whiny to blame her.

Third, why Jessica posted on Weibo, my idea since I got into the fandom has not changed till now, although there was some intention to come develop in China, but that intention didn’t develop just then, but in 2013, this intention was developed not only because Jessica herself wanted to come to China, but the whole SM had a strategic incline to China after 2013, our country’s market is huge and strong, and K-POP market was not saturated, it was in its heyday, it was a wonderful choice for SNSD which needed to develop a new market, so we could see that after 2013, SNSD had more and more activities leaning towards China, also in 2014 tested the water on TV shows and national tour, so someone needs to open up the popularity for SNSD as pioneer, SM needed Jessica’s intention to be the pioneer, so there could be a signal that she’s developing in China. Why choose Jessica, is to balance the 3 top aces, especially Jessica and Taeyeon, they have similar positions, both are main vocals, but there are only so many resources, if you got it, I won’t have it, if I got it, you won’t get any, competing for so many years, put Jessica to China in an appropriate way, is a strategy to ease the conflicts a little bit. SM did some good calculations, it is the same reason later putting Yoona to replace Jessica’s position on opening up Chinese market, it’s always choosing paths for SNSD’s future consumption, if it wasn’t for the Korea’s ban, with Yoona’s fluent Chinese, leading SNSD to gaining more fans in China is no problem. Meanwhile, to keep aces conflicts from happening, Taeyeon have never entered the Chinese market.

Also, she did not have any other social media back then, it is unrealistic to make a new account just for posting this thing, getting verified would take a while, she would not have the mood to set up a new account, and the first post is, "excuse me everyone, I am no longer a part of the group", no one would do that, unless their brains not working, serious face.

On top of that, why not posted within Korea, I am wondering about this, too, within Korea itself, why don’t they design their own social media app? You just making celebrities have no choice when they want to announce something, got no sense of privacy that it is exclusive to my country, everyone uses INS, once it’s posted the whole world know about it, so not low-key. All right enough sidetrack, you guys all know that Korea doesn’t have its own social media, then someone says, isn’t there some official website comment section? Oh so you got kicked of SNSD, and then you went to SNSD official website and leave a comment saying that I got kicked out, how awkward and embarrassing is that. Jessica was angry, but not ruthless. Or tell the media, let them publish news overnight, but is media any good? Your statement is just about that I got forced out, but media which always likes to add oil onto fires, their news may be like “Shocking! Jessica got pushed out of the group by members, members shouting ‘if you’re going then I’m not going’!”

Last but not least, also the most understandable reason, why posting on Weibo, because she needs to inform Chinese fans, originally she was going to Shenzhen fan meeting that day, but she could not go now, who else should she tell besides Chinese fans? Tell Japanese fans? Sorry I couldn’t come to the Shenzhen fan meeting tomorrow. Japanese fans would be like: where is Shenzhen? Of course you tell the fans in that country what is going on about me within that country, such simple reason, still got many criticisms, I even feel sorry for her.

5- Fans turn into haters VS. Tool career?

A few days ago, Korea had a vote about fans turn into haters on DC, I saw that Jessica gloriously got listed again, the reason is still the one I talked about in the beginning - marriage blalalala, selfishly leaving the group blalalala, really, if this is not called love, what else is? In fact, if a fan being fan for a long enough time, he or she will become the head of fans, get to know a lot of things that people would not know, but also have to keep a lot of secrets that people do not know about, because to some extent, your relationship with this idol is difficult to unbound, your love towards them may not be as strong as before, the reason why you stick to it is because you can make profits out of each other. According to group fans and individual strong-biased fans, before the whole thing of parting the group, all the fansites higher-level managements received some signals. What does it mean by received signals? I found the answer later in a Korean Sone’s statement. Received signals means that after the Dispatch’s eighteen questions once was released, they immediately published a "why we do not support Jessica" statement, yes, immediately, the speed of writing is so fast that makes me feel that they didn’t even struggle inside, makes people really sad, when fans in China or other countries are still swinging between OT9 or OT8, Korean Sones have already given out a statement, told Jessica, they no longer choose to support her, I don’t want to post all those logic errors of that statement out here to have you joke about them, I just recommend everyone do not take it serious about the group spirit and statement of Korean people, in their eyes, what idol really is, do not matter, they can support them today and against them tomorrow, It seems very easy for them to issue a “stop supporting” statement, because the status of Korea idols is just too low, and they are not actually loving the idol, is that brand, is the kind of marketing only.

When Jessica Jung leaves you can do that, you can do it again when Jessica Zhang leaves, all that you will ever publish is only "Why don't we support xxx".

Forget about justice, what we want is to a definite career of following idols, just the brand a company created, as for who is a member in there, how she’s vividly alive, it doesn’t matter.  

This is K-POP, the individual appears insignificant under the flow, they are just tools, they are just some dispensable parts which made up the whole valuable industry.

6- When is the end of “you” and SNSD? Is the argument of exploiting childish or not?

Before the talking about the argument of exploiting, I want to talk about some facts that I got “brainwashed” heavily after I got into SNSD, and later I find out those sayings are not true.

1. Jessica invested 40 million dollars into her company, but there is no official statement proving that.

2. Jessica was back to Korea in the early morning, it was in the early morning, but it was the early morning of 29th, not the 30th as SONEs said.

3. Yoona and Taeyeon scapegoat for “Lan Kwai Fong”, in Korea there was no any public comments on that, the news of Yoona and Taeyeon came from Hong Kong Apple Daily, there was one version stated Jessica went to Lan Kwai Fong, but the most news was pointing at Yoona and Taeyeon. The “scapegoat” argument was just nonsense. Because that back-view never matched a front face, you can not say that the main character was Tyler Kwon and now he is close to Jessica, and you just inferring it was Jessica, such way of interpretation is, emm, unintelligible. Or here’s another example, one day the police came and arrested you, the reason is that your friend killed someone, the murder crime that your friend did three years ago just got solved, now you and your friend are so close, then you guys must be complicity and did that together. If such interpretation got put onto your head, do you think is reasonable?

So in the whole K-POP fandom, come to convincing, I was convinced most by SONEs, like for me I didn’t know, a lot of things got carried away by their comments, if I didn’t have a brain which likes to think, maybe my standpoint could have got lead astray.

And in SNSD, there are three people that I admire the most, one is Yoona Im, very high EQ, if she did something, she would tell everyone in the world obscurely that she did it, if she tried, she would tell you she tried without revealing she’s showing off. Also, she never be the one in the whirlpool center, no matter who fell down, she is always still and steady, in SNSD, she actually never wanted to be the thorn in everyone’s eyes, always trying to desalinate that she is in the ACE position, as you all know from interviews, Yoona has always emphasized the saying that “popularity is like seasons.” So many people say that her EQ is high, she is an idol who packaged herself very exquisitely, if you want to follow someone without getting any negative energy, personality setting never falls, always positive and upwards, this person is definitely the best choice, she will never show you the negative side, because she never reveals her true self.

Another one is Jessica Jung, what characteristic that people most afraid of a person, it’s tenacity, is resurrection after death. Maybe someone would say what’s the big deal of it, here here here, the keyboard is yours, you type. Not everyone would be able to face the same “out of group” thing and then come back up again, somebody may go down the wrong pathway. You may not want to admit, but it is true, that she is too notionate, making her road very rough and meandering, she lives very real, she exposes her real “follow my heart” to the public, some people can accept it, some people gnash their teeth in hatred, in the end, it’s just because she can live according to her heart, but most of us, can’t. If you want to follow someone who can help you cultivate yourself and become godly, toughen your personality, and polish your nature, this one would be a good choice. After all, so many blame since debut, but Jessica’s attitude is: no explanation. Never explain, got wronged and got blamed, but she never uses explanation to solve problems. Living in such attitude for long, no wonder becoming godly.

Here I want to say something, actually I do not so agree with Jessica’s way, but seems like she doesn’t have other option. Korean media making her their stunt, after she knew about it, she didn’t say like “hey, my agent company, let’s do a classification or something”, but like “you guys like change my words, right? OK, I will never accept your interviews.” During the first album, because she let Korean medias interviewed her, Jessica suffered on the first day of coming back, later during the second album, she chooses to not taking any Korean media’s interview, no explanation+no intercommunication, even though she’s living by following her heart, but it is a heartbreaking response.

The third one is Taeyeon Kim, this one no doubt should get praise, from background perspective, her family situation is relatively bad among SNSD or most trainees, it’s not like if your family owns a glasses store then you are rich or in middle class, if your civil teacher sees it he or she will criticize you. We (Chinese people) yet care about social status and family class, not to mention Korea is a Capitalism country with our ancient Confucianism influences, over there the class differences are absolutely obvious. But she could use such natural family advantage to make her stand on a winning ground. Some people say she is sensitive, that’s true if it was you, can you not be sensitive? You are not the most good-looking one, not the richest one, there’s plenty of people in the company with excellent singing skill, if one thing that makes you stand out, it is the pureness and obedience, follow company’s decision unconditionally, as I just talked about, SM likes some “nobody” who would listen, she totally qualify for that, no wonder she gets to promote a lot. Also, compared to Yoona Im, Taeyeon Kim would rather show her vulnerability, you would think she’s real, she needs your attention and love, such realness makes her go further. If you want to follow someone who inspires you, who has big dreams, recommend you follow Taeyeon Kim, absolutely an encouragement machine.

OK, now let’s talk about the argument of exploiting, actually “exploit” is pretty much fans’ wishful thinking, whether is the fans of SNSD right now or Jessica’s fans, are using this argument tirelessly, but in fact, technically no one is being exploited. If there is someone (something) is being exploited, is the big pie.

No matter it’s nine or one people, they all have the right and they are enjoying the big pie. Subjectively or objectively, the big pie is the subject of exploit.

Why there’s “former SNSD” title before Jessica’s name from time to time, why in the interview she always got asked how it is after leaving SNSD? Because the band of SNSD is so grand, the brand that those nine people built is so controversial, it’s so necessary for gossips, you think Jessica would really want to hear about these questions? I don’t think so, but you think the media would really never mention it? That’s definitely impossible because it is a stunt that could be dug out from Jessica, it is the point of entertaining of an entertainment industry star, don’t mention this, do you want to ask Jessica what did you eat today? Even if they ask that, will the volume of sales and attention be greater than mentioning the stunts or gossips that people interested in? No.

Same reason, why every time the 8 people SNSD has something happen, Jessica would be mention, accompany them without physically being there? Because in everybody’s heard, they still did not forget that this group is nine people. Everyone is treating this issue with a mindset like “it’s OK, we can still dig out something from it.” So CMIYC nine people MV got leaked out before SNSD’s comeback, Sooyoung Choi used lyrics from “Guardian: The Lonely and Great God” to answer the question about Jessica apart the group in the interview of SNSD 10th anniversary, if no surprise, before the 10th anniversary there will be a series of practice room video being released, all from unofficial channels, but the officials are behind it. As I said, “exploit” is naive children’s idea, their interests are related is the reason why they can not leave the other side alone.

Do you guys remember what it was like during Jessica first solo come back, this side Jessica just announced that she will be coming back in the middle of May, the next day SM daddy is telling everyone, “hey guys, Tiffany is coming back on May 11th. Surprise or not? Unexpected or not?” Well done my SM daddy, you can bump someone so confidently and give others an illusion like they are the host instead of the guest, if I was Jessica’s company, I would be so offended that I will be vomiting blood for three gallons, obviously it was us announced first, now you making us so passive. But SM daddy didn’t just stop there, they saw your teaser, and hired the same American backup dancers as you, backup dancers is just doing business, no big deal, but have you consider Tiffany’s feeling? Win or lose, what’s the point? That’s two old friends who fought together for 10 years, pulling them out and making them opponents, is it really delightful?

No, but the company is just company, they don’t care about your personal feeling. So we saw that before and after the time of Jessica releasing her album, the dance instructor of SNSD posted such words on her social media, “I am drunk so I don’t know what I am talking about, in my heart, you nine girls have the same importance to me, make my heart hurt.” Oh, so this is a side proof that SM hires those dancers on purpose.

So that’s why when Jessica releasing her winter album, only announced it one week before it came out (I probably remember it correctly), and her MV and everything (He probably mean the teasers) kept confidential until three days before the comeback, just because she didn’t want to bump into Seohyun, this behavior really slapped some people’s faces, those who said that she is definitely going to bump Seohyun, if like the first album, build the publicity first to get people excited and then come back, then maybe Seohyun’s album would be released before or after her comeback time, according to SM daddy’s habit, should be before her, this way creates an illusion that I released it first, you followed me, you are taking advantage of me, but this time Jessica made a sudden come back, very little pre-publicity, SM couldn’t finish producing Seohyun’s album within one week, so there was no second bumping, some people got slapped on the face, and then said that it is intentional, she is just afraid to bump into Seohyun, err, so for people who hate you, no matter what you do, you don’t even have a way to make them not hate you.

Some people ask, Jessica, when will be the end of you and SNSD?

Probably when SNSD has no one left, or Jessica leave the industry.

Or as long as Jessica is active, and SNSD is still there, the entanglement will never end, and keep going on and on.

7- My feelings

I just want to tell those restless people: she is no longer a member of SNSD, the fame and profit of SNSD belong to the eight people, but she is the one who was forced out, and the one who bears the pain, please stop accusing someone who literately burst into tears when reading “she’s crying every day” in her sister’s letter that she wanted to leave the group, if someone’s crying just because of one sentence, this can only prove that the scar is way too deep.

I really understand this feeling that you will cry when people mention something touched your heart, I am from a divorced family and always behave strong, everyone thought that I am mature, that’s true too, I have worked really hard to go to college with my efforts, however, whenever someone mentions my parents’ divorce I will cry out loud, just that word “divorce”. Later, I found out a truth:

Everyone has their own scar, people don’t touch, doesn’t mean that it is no longer exist.

I believe that there is some true affection when members of SNSD cried, their relationships last for 14 years at the most, the shortest would be 9 years too, no matter what they would be touched by the scene. But please think about Jessica who has no chance to catharsis the same feeling, since they are on different paths now, if you can’t forget about her, then please don’t act like you care about her but at the same time discrediting her in order to proof that 8 girls are innocent, don’t even say it out loud like you are right, “even though I know that she did nothing wrong, but I would rather follow someone who pretends that everything is peaceful and fine than to forgive someone who exposes her true self.” Such moral is horrible and difficult to understand.

In the end, I want to use the words from Krystal’s letter as my conclusion:

“When I see my sister crying so hard in pain every day,

I wanted to cry, too, I felt so, so sad and heartbreaking.

My sister is such a vulnerable person, will people ever know?”

END.

[littlemisssquiggles]

RWBY Musings #15: After seeing the title for Chapter 8 of RWBY Volume 5, I’m seriously hoping that part of the episode focuses on Ruby and Oscar.

I told myself I wasn’t going to share another musing for this week til the next episode premieres. After my last musing, I said I was done for the week but damn, the title of that Chapter 8 brought me back. I gotta talk about it.

Speaking of which, before I get into my usual spur of words, I’d just like to humbly thank all the awesometastic people who liked, commented on and shared my ♦last RWBY Musing. Thank you guys so much! It truly means a lot that you take the time to read my jibberjab for real so thank you bunches.

I especially want to give a shoutout to @miraculouscorazone who shared my post with AfterBuzzTV via Twitter. It was quite a pleasant surprise (and by that I mean holy-shizznuggets was that a shocker) to learn that my musing was briefly mentioned and even discussed a little bit in this week’s episode of their RWBY AfterBuzz show. If you tuned into the podcast and remember the part with the hosts mentioning a shared tumblr post with a theory about Oscar’s outburst from Chapter 5 being intentional. Surprise, that was my post they were talking about!

So that’s one of the highlights of my week. Thank you precious star kids and fellow RWBY lovers so much!

 Okay, on with the musing now.

Guys, the title of Chapter 8 is ‘Alone Together’. Where do we even begin with this?

Whenever I see a title like this one, it can only mean one thing: A story with two characters who don’t normally spend that much time together suddenly thrust into a dire situation where they only person they have to depend on is each other.

It’s the perfect set-up scenario to force two characters who don’t normally socialize to socialize. It can also be the ideal way for a story’s protagonist to learn more about a centric secondary character whose story is still a mystery to them and the audience after the two suddenly end up...well alone together.

And if RWBY is doing this kind of story, I’m really hoping it’s an Oscar and Ruby focused episode or at least, an episode where we finally learn more about Oscar as instigated by Ruby. I can’t see what other two characters this title can allude to.

Unless it’s involves Blake ending up alone with Sun or maybe Illia as she is separated from her family, then this episode has to be Ruby and Oscar. It just gotta be this time.  

I’m worried I may be gearing myself up from some bitter disappointment in that department. I know not everything in RWBY is about shipping but this is one of those moments where I’d like the CRWBY writers to make an exception.

Purely for the fact that they began the season strongly hinting at something between Ruby and Oscar.

You can't give us four episodes of them socializing and then stop. The well has to start flowing water again at some point and I’m eager that this episode will provide an opportunity that they will take. Plus there really needs to be an episode where one of the focus in on Oscar and getting to know more about him.

It would be interesting if we get the reverse of Chapter 5 and have Ruby ask Oscar some deep questions that enlighten us more into his character. If Ruby and Oscar are alone together where it's just them I can definitely see the potential of this happening. We only got 7 more episodes left.

I’m starved for the precious farm boy to get some well-deserved development. I’m starved for my ship to get some development. Don’t start something you don’t intend to continue, CRWBY, especially within the same volume.

I’m hoping this episode presents a case where Weiss and Yang probe Ruby for details on Oscar, probably out of curiosity for the young farm boy but mostly as a means of teasing her about possibly having a crush on him.

They do this only to discover that despite being together for several weeks, Ruby still honestly doesn’t know that much about Oscar.

According to Ruby, other than training together under Ozpin’s watch and what happened in Chapter 5, she and Oscar haven’t exactly gotten any alone time to truly get to know each other.

This will then give a mischievous Yang an idea and long story short, she hatches a plan which results in Ruby and Oscar ending up alone together.

Whether it’s somehow managing to get everybody out of the house for the day so that it’s only Ruby and Oscar alone in the house by themselves or gives them the ole parent-trap and tricks them into meeting each other in the same spot in Mistral and Ruby and Oscar enjoy a day of exploring the town together.

Do you know what would be funny and cute at the same time? What if...Ruby and Oscar bonded over videogames, of all things? Books would be a worthy second choice but videogames is the definite first.

I remember way back in Volume 3 after Qrow was first introduced, we got a scene where he was playing a fighting game against Yang using their scrolls as controllers. It’s been a while since we’ve seen something like that in the show.

Since Oscar was given a grand-spanking new backpack (as evidenced in Chapter 5. Don’t think I didn’t notice the new duds for our little stud muffin in the baking), I wouldn’t be too surprised if he was also given his own personal Scroll. After all, how else was he supposed to communicate with everyone? So if Oscar has a Scroll, Ruby can introduce him to the mystical world of videogames and the two can converse over a few rounds.

Like imagine, Ruby asking Oscar what to do while the two were alone. Oscar, being the diligent bean he is, suggests they should possibly continue their training regiment and spar together in a rematch however Ruby denounces that option by slyly encouraging the farm boy to join her in a spirited round of *Insert RWBY-verse videogame*.

Oscar is, of course, skeptical as he’s never been one to be good at videogames nor has he ever played a videogame before (he strikes me more of outdoorsy, all work and no play book-worm type). This only excites Ruby more as she eagerly exposes Oscar to the fun of videogames.

Not only do the two have their rematch on the gaming platform but the hype and distraction of the game disperses any initial awkwardness between them and the two are actually able to hold a decent conversation between them, discussing everything from their favourite hobbies to foods to family; no talk of any impending wars at all.

Just a nice tête-à-tête between two teens with zero interruption from Ozpin.

We have yet to see Oscar just relax, have fun and truly be a kid. As a matter of fact, the first time fans saw Oscar debut to the story was with him waking up early in the morning to work.

If Oscar’s life was a song, it’d probably be Work by Rihanna. All he does is work, work, work, work, work, work.

He went from working on a farm to working to become a huntsman. Not a day’s rest.

Hard to believe he’s only fourteen.

Can I just have one episode or at least a moment in an episode where Oscar can just be a kid? I want so many things for this precious young avocado bean.

One of them is for him to just be a kid for a day or at least an afternoon and just have FUN. Enjoy the good ole fun times before everything goes to shit in the coming episodes.

And if Oscar can have fun while spending it with Ruby; opening up to her about himself and his life before Mistral, that would be beyond amazing. Let’s face it, Ruby is closest thing to a best friend Oscar has at this point, minus Ozpin (that ancient fart) but he literally lives inside his head so I don’t think that counts. At least if Oscar learnt to genuinely like Ruby and forms a true bond with her, it’ll be of his own choice (the first one he’s made since he became Ozpin’s successor).

I’ve had this cute little idea in my head of Oscar describing his past home life on his aunt’s farm to Ruby, who’s never been on a real farm and the young huntress is surprisingly fascinated by it all, practically bombarding Oscar with questions about what it’s like growing up on a farm. Because Ruby loves the idea of his aunt’s farm so much, in a spurt of confidence, Oscar sort of blushingly invites her to spend the summer with him on his aunt’s farm after making mention of how much more beautiful the farm is in the summer (y’know with flower fields and shit).

Of course, he only meant it as a shy joke at first, not expecting Ruby to take him seriously. However when she does, happy accepting his offer with a flushed face of her own, the two then make a promise to each other; a cute little pinkie-swear pact to spend the summer together on Oscar’s farm after defeating Salem.

I know this will NEVER happen in the show (cause my poor shipping Oscar Pine development pining ass is not the one writing for RWBY) but damn, oh how I wish Miles and Kerry could see this and at least consider tossing it in for us RoseGarden fans.

Do you know what would be interesting?

What if...Volume 5 concludes with the Mistral gang being forced to vacate the citadel and go into hiding somewhere out of Lionheart’s view after that they’ve learnt of his full alliance with Salem?

They can’t go to Atlas because they still need to stay close to Mistral in order to safeguard the Relic of Knowledge and prevent the Fall of Haven Academy.

So what’s a good place for them to lay low and come up with a better plan of action? A place that’s not too far from the city but still pretty far enough and more likely to be in the middle of nowhere where the chances of Lionheart finding them are quite slim?

I’m not making any big speculations here. I’m just saying. Oscar’s aunt sure did look like she had a lot of land on that farm of hers...with a lot of big trees...and two barns...probably more than one which would be the perfect cover to house a couple of people hiding from the law.

I’m just saying. The Walking Dead did an entire season and story arc where the main characters were refugees on a farm. Not saying the CRWBY writers are Walking Dead fans either but...we never did get to learn more about Oscar and his family background now, did we?

Volume 4 gave us some good insight into Ren and Nora’s past, though. Blake and Weiss too. We finally got to meet their respective families in the last volume as well. I’m just saying. Oscar does house Ozpin’s soul. He’s practically a main character now, right? Right.

Sure would be swell if he got some development that explored his family ties just like Ren and Nora...and Weiss...and Blake...and Ruby...andYang...and Qrow! We also got to see Qrow’s family ties last season too. So, when’s Oscar due for his, huh? Jusssst saying.

If Chapter 8 is to be all about Oscar and Ruby bonding but still end on more grim terms, then let Salem send Tyrian to exact his revenge and collect the girl.

May I remind everyone that Tyrian Callows has been surprisingly absent this volume? The last mention of him was in Episode 2 when Salem ordered Watts to create a new tail for him.

As revealed at the end of the last episode, Watts is currently with Cinder and her squad on a mission to attack the Branwen Tribe for Spring Maiden which means that Watts must’ve finished his work on Tyrian’s new tail.

They wouldn’t send Hazel after Ruby since he’s busy babysitting High Leader Adam Taurus. While he may be in Mistral and could offer some assistance if Salem saw him to do so, still, the point is that he’s on his own assignment at the moment that has nothing to do with crossing paths with the Mistral gang.

This only leaves Tyrian and seeing as he has his own personal beef with the silver-eyed girl, I wouldn’t be surprised if Salem has been saving him for now to strike Ruby at her most vulnerable.

Things have been pretty comfortable for the crew during their stay in Mistral so far. And I find it oddly peculiar that we haven’t heard or seen anything new from Professor Lionheart in some time. Since the second episode actually. That’s an awful lot of time to be quiet and quietly waiting lions can be quite deadly. Lionheart must know where these guys are staying in Mistral and wouldn’t be surprised if he would be involved in a sudden staged attack on them.  

Oooh you know what? Remember back in the first episode, how Oscar showed up on the gang’s doorstep asking for Ruby cause of Qrow? Imagine a parallel of that same scene where Lionheart surprisingly shows up, all nervous-looking on the gang’s doorstep asking for Ruby Rose and it’s Oscar who answers the door. Of course, he and Ruby are all alone and Oscar becomes especially suspicious of the Headmaster’s sudden presence at the group’s home, even more so when Ozpin warns him to be on his guard like he did with Hazel.

Turns out Lionheart was just the decoy/distraction as Tyrian suddenly comes out of nowhere and goes after Ruby off screen while Lionheart takes care of Oscar. It’d be funny to see Lionheart attempting to subdue Oscar, thinking he’ll get the upper-hand over the boy given his experience even with his rustiness. Much to Lionheart’s surprise, Oscar holds his own pretty well, putting his training to good use.

I want Oscar to fight Lionheart but only in a brief moment for two reasons.

One, I want to get a glimpse of Lionheart’s weapon of choice or at least his fighting style/semblance if possible and two, if a scene like this is done then we can get a sneak peak of Oscar fighting in addition to the look of complete shock on Lionheart’s when he realizes that Oscar is Ozpin.

Admittedly I like Lionheart. His character design is a favourite of mine from this season.  However while I’m wondering if there’ll be a chance for him to be redeemed somehow, I can’t help the part of me that believes the CRWBY might be shaping him up to become the Peter Pettigrew/Wormtail of Ozpin’s so-called ‘most-trusted lieutenants’.

Imagine if...Tyrian attacks Ruby during his and Lionheart’s assault on their threshold and though she fights back valiantly,  Ruby ends up getting captured this time around as a result of Tyrian’s newly improved tail which come with an added upgrade---A venom that renders its victim unconscious, perhaps?

What if...part of the build up to this volume’s epic conclusion revolves around Ruby being abducted by Tyrian who escapes with Lionheart to be taken to Salem.

I can actually see the build up to the finale of Volume 5 going three ways:

In Menagerie, we could have the ultimate showdown between Blake and Illia as she and Sun fight to protect the Massacre of the Belladonna Household. I figured this moment is too important to Blake’s side of the story and the side of the Battle of Haven with the Faunus for it to be glossed over in just one or even two episodes.

In the Branwen Tribe, it’s Cinder vs. Raven as she attempts to protect Vernal. At first I pegged Vernal and Raven’s relationship as a secretly romantic one.

Not really my ship but the thought did cross my mind. But then I thought that maybe Vernal and Raven have a mother-daughter type of bond and Vernal is Raven’s substitute for Yang, to make up for the fact that she missed out on her own daughter’s life for whatever unexplained reason in the series.

Someone theorized that Raven is bonded to Vernal so that’s how she’s able to teleport back immediately to the tribe campsite with her semblance. So if Vernal and Raven are close, it’d make sense if Raven might sacrifice herself to protect Vernal. Like perhaps Raven is captured by Cinder but before she is taken away, she uses her semblance to send Vernal to Qrow in Mistral.

In Mistral, it’s Vernal who informs Qrow of his sister’s abduction by the enemy around the same time the team learn from Oscar that Ruby has also been captured by Lionheart and Tyrion. This forces the gang no choice but to divide and conquer.

While she would much rather do it herself, Yang entrusts Oscar along with Team JNR to go after Lionheart and Tyrian to save Ruby (my guess is that she’d be held captive at Haven Academy) while she, accompanied by Weiss, Qrow and Vernal would go after Cinder and her forces to save Raven.

The intro did tease Yang fighting Mercury. If Raven was captured by Cinder to lure out the Spring Maiden, it would make sense if we got a rematch between Mercury and Yang after she comes to rescue her mother.

It would be cool to see all these things happen in the series. But, I’m no psychic so who knows how the next few episodes will play out.

One thing’s for certain, I’m really hoping that Chapter 8 is about Ruby and Oscar this time or at least have them be a vocal point at some instance in the episode. Seriously. Then again, while I want to remain hopeful, the CRWBY have stood me up at this dance before.

*shruggity shrug* I guess we’ll see tomorrow then.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2017)

[yangingaround]

Going through your archives I noticed you mentioning that Yang has a lot of sun/light imagery? That's interesting given how you have Salem with darkness so you'd be expecting Pyrrha, Jaune Ruby or possibly Oscar to have that imagery. Not the "normal" member of RWBY that's frankly ignored/suffering from lack of screen focus. Doubly so because nothings been done with it yet but the imagery appears to be shoveled on repeatedly.

yeah, her name literally translates to ‘Sunny Little Dragon’, the character used for her name on the Akira-esque official t-shirt design translates to ‘sun’ or ‘light’. she’s also deliberately contrasted with Blake (who has thematic imagery based on shadows), commentary talks about how Yang just being around Blake has made her a little sunnier (and that ties into their whole Yin-Yang dynamic)

even Armed and Ready; “i am the golden one, who burns just like the sun”

it’s a big part of her theming and reflects her character

it’s interesting then that she’s paralleled but ultimately contrasted with a lot of the villains - she’s got a backstory that’d work for any villain origin story, yet she’s still a good person, because she went through trauma and still chose to be a good person, while everyone else just became an asshole - she gets paralleled with Mercury, CQC style, weapons mounted on limbs, prosthetic limbs eventually, single parent that was abusive in Merc’s case and neglectful for a time in Yang’s. but Merc’s an apathetic asshole and Yang is a loving, caring person who wants to help people and would do anything for the people she loves

parallels with Adam - semblances have similarities, glowing is involved, partnership with Blake, and the similarities Blake brought up that were actually false because Yang was made to look bad - Adam is an abusive, violent monster that only cares about Blake in the context of himself and has no problems throwing her into danger to serve his ends, who went off the deep end in a major way; Yang is a deeply caring person who cares about Blake for Blake’s own sake, imploring she take care of herself, and she doesn’t willingly hurt people outside of fights and/or deserve it if she can help it and she doesn’t try to kill people

parallels with Cinder - both associated with fire, both possess strange, un-semblance-like abilities (Cinder’s fire powers were revealed to be magic, Yang’s haven’t yet but are weirdly separate from her semblance both in terms of physical tells and power, and given the members of her maternal family we’ve met all demonstrate weird powers that are way too OP to be semblances, it’s certainly a reasonable possibility), they both spent a volume out of action in the company of a parental figure after receiving grievous injury to one side of their bodies at the hands of a rose-themed individual with a black and red colour scheme. and as of the end of volume 4, they’re both going after Ruby. ‘revenge’ is also a common theme between them, but Cinder is going directly after Ruby for her revenge, while Yang is only out to get (well-deserved) payback against Adam if the opportunity arises, she’s not deliberately seeking him out. again, it’s a matter of contrast - Yang’s focusing on the good things that matter, not obsessing over revenge and payback against someone who hurt her, while Cinder is clearly being driven by that

parallels with Salem - now this one’s a little harder because we’ve not got much that’s concrete, but we can make some reasonable deductions. first off, Divide has Salem accusing Ozpin of manipulating and using people (a theme that has been brought up since the second opening), and there’s a big implication that at some point he screwed her over and she’s out for revenge against him (”take back what’s ours”). so we’ve got that, and she’s obviously tied to Grimm and darkness and fire (”and i can’t wait to watch you burn”). then consider Yang, who’s birth mother abandoned her, then her step-mother went on mission and never came back, her maternal uncle was hardly around and her dad shut down in response to repeated heartbreak, leaving her alone to take care of a child only two years her junior for an unknown length of time. and then later in life, Yang lost a place she called home, friends and loved ones died or left her. And a common theme these all have is that Ozpin can be rooted to a lot of them. we can assume Raven used to be part of Ozpin’s inner circle given her knowledge of Salem and the Maidens (and her weird abilities, those portals’d be very useful for Ozpin), along with Summer and Qrow (because why else would Qrow know about Summer’s silver eyes?). and then Raven left - given Ozpin already has a history of manipulating and using people, maybe that was part of the reason. and then Summer died on mission, and implication we get is that she died fighting Salem’s agents, suggesting it was on a mission for Ozpin. Qrow outright states he’s away near all the time because of Ozpin. and then the Fall of Beacon all relates back to Ozpin’s complacency, lack of action, and manipulation of Pyrrha - because of his inaction until it was too late to stop what was in motion, Yang was publicly disgraced for something she would never do, she lost Beacon, she lost her arm, she lost friends (to death or just leaving) and eventually even Ruby left her, on suggestion of Qrow, who was looking to continue Ozpin’s cause. so a big common element to a lot of Yang’s suffering is Ozpin, and his using and manipulating people screwing her life over as collateral damage. and while we don’t have anything concrete and Yang’s unaware that Ozpin is the common element, Salem’s still vengeful and evil while Yang is primarily loving and good

so Yang being light themed just makes a lot of sense, because she has all that similarity with the darkness (even having an ability that is associated with darkness from one of the creation myths), but she’s still a good person - she’s a foil, and proof that a tragic backstory doesn’t have to make you a villain (and so those villains are not sympathetic because they’ve chosen to be murderous scumbags). characters like Ruby don’t get all that (Ruby is instead symbolic of hope), and Jaune, Pyrrha and Oscar aren’t the central protagonists (regardless of Jaune’s extensive screentime), so it wouldn’t make sense for them to have that theming, and i’ve a feeling that when Yang’s story finally takes center stage, her theming is going to be a big part of it

[cromulentbookreview]

NeverDarkGodsNightGraveDawn

Never flinch.

Never fear.

And never, ever forget.

Oh shit, I flinched. Sorry. Can we start over?

I’m a huge fan of Jay Kristoff’s collaborations with Amie Kaufman - The Illuminae Files and Aurora Rising are some of my most favorite books ever - so it seemed weird that I hadn’t read any of Kristoff’s other stuff. I’d heard of Nevernight (it’s kind of hard not to if you hand around on book twitter) and I had the first two books on my Kindle, I just hadn’t read them yet. When I snapped up the eARC of Darkdawn and thought to myself: maybe I should actually read these and see what all the fuss is about. People on the internet seem very, very passionate about their love for the Nevernight Chronicle, after all. 

Also, if there’s a nerdy bandwagon, I’m bound to join. I like to be included.

So - The Nevernight Chronicle! I just spent the past couple of weeks binge reading through all three books (yes, weeks, I’m slow, OK?), and...holy shit. Like. Really, holy shit. 

There is a pretty basic litmus test I’ve devised to determine whether or not someone will like The Nevernight Chronicle. If you want to know if you’ll like The Nevernight Chronicle, ask yourself this: do you like Game of Thrones? Does all the gory violence, graphic sex, and foul language of Game of Thrones not faze you? In fact, does it - gasp! - lend an aspect of realism to the fantastical setting? In fact, do you have a Game of Thrones shaped hole in your life right now now that the TV series has ended and the wait for The Winds of Winter seems endless? Well, then, I’ve the book series for you, Gentlefriends! There is less rape, incest and violence against women in these books, too! 

And if you want blood n’ guts n’ gore galore, you shall not be disappointed. Our protagonist, Mia Corvere, hardly goes five pages in any of the three books without stabbing or slashing or punching or otherwise causing someone some form of grievous bodily harm and/or death. While swearing. And smoking. And displaying a general bad attitude.

These books are definitely not for everyone. If you don’t like blood n’ guts n’ gore and foul language and snarky characters, then you won’t like The Nevernight Chronicle. That’s fine, you don’t have to read anything you don’t like and I’m not going to make you. 

You’re missing out, though. Seriously.

So! The Nevernight Chronicle! The three books are essentially the tale of the roaring rampage of revenge of a girl named Mia Corvere. When she was ten years old, her beloved father, Dairus Corvere, was hanged as a traitor to the Itreyan Republic. Counsel Julius Scaeva, leader of the republic, then had Mia’s mother and baby brother thrown in prison, where they later died. As for Mia, Scaeva had her put in a barrel to be thrown into a canal, but not before his lackey, Justicus Remus, brutally murders Mia’s beloved cat, Captain Puddles. RIP Captain Puddles, you deserved better even though you weren’t a real cat.

(What I imagine Captain Puddles would’ve been like, had he not been tragically murdered by a mad Australian).

Mia, of course, escapes the barrel, with the help of a living shadow taking the form of a cat, whom she names Mr. Kindly. She takes refuge with a foul-mouthed, foul-tempered shopkeep named Mercurio, who happens to be a member of a church of assassins. Once she’s old enough, Mia heads off to join the Red Church and become a blade (assassin) so that she can acquire the skills to get her revenge on Julius Scaeva. 

That’s the main plot of Nevernight, poorly explained and in a nutshell. I’ve mentioned before that I’m not big on assassin stories, but I enjoyed Nevernight mainly because both the writing and the characters were so full of snark. I’m willing to overlook a great deal if there’s a high level of snark involved.

Anyway! In the second book in the series, Godsgrave, Mia discovers that the Red Church and its cohort of assassins isn’t all that she thought it was, so she hatches the world’s most insane plan: she’ll sell herself into slavery, become a gladiatii, and fight her way to the ultimate championship where, if she wins, she’ll get a chance to murder both Scaeva and his partner-in-crime/frenemy, Cardinal Duomo, at the same time.

Of course nothing goes according to plan. Which leads us, finally, to book three: Darkdawn!

It’s tough reviewing the last book of a series if you’re not certain if anyone reading said review has read the first or second books*. I’m just going to proceed as if you’ve already read the books, because, otherwise, there’s a ton of shit I didn’t cover in those “in a nutshell” descriptions of Nevernight and Godsgrave. Like the whole Crown of the Moon thing, the conflict between the goddess Niah and god Aa, or the fact that Itreya has three suns and night only falls once every two and a half years. Or, really, anything about Mia and her Darkin powers or the nature of Mr. Kindly... 

But if you’re already a fan and are desperate for some Darkdawn details, you’re probably already eager for me to just get on with it already.

Right-o, then.

So, with all the worldbuilding and anticipation Kristoff built up with Nevernight and Godsgrave, does Darkdawn give us a satisfying conclusion to the story of Mia Corvere? 

O, yes, gentlefriend. 

Yes it does. 

It delivers all that and more. I wonder just how much preparation Kristoff put into these books because every lingering question you have from the first two books is answered. You’re not left hanging.

Yes, basically.

And, let us not forget, that this one of those series where the author promised on page 1 that Mia would die. And thanks to Jay “Meet Your New Favorite Oh Wait They’re Dead” Kristoff, there are plenty of moments in Darkdawn that feel as a little something like this:

Darkdawn absolutely lives up to all the promises made in the first two books - there’s plenty of action, plenty of blood and violence and tastefully written smut. And footnotes!** The book starts right where we left off in Godsgrave - no weird time-jumps, no flash-forwards followed by flashbacks like the first two books, we begin with Mia immediately after the Magni. 

After the maps and Dramatis Personae, of course.

In all honesty, though, there’s not much I can say without spoiling everything. But if you’re a fan of the books, rest assured, you will not be disappointed. Everything you’ve been wanting out of a finale for this series you get. Answers, action, pirates, stabbings, sexytimes, pools full of a God’s blood, angry camels, undead ex-lovers, eye gouging, treks across the Ashkahi Whisperwastes, cigarillo smoke, Mr. Kindly and Eclipse bitching at each other, and, you guessed it, more stabbings! Because this is the grand finale of Nevernight we’re talking about. Truedark is here, people. Prepare yourselves!

You are in for one hell of a book.

Oh, hey, by the way: are you aware that the Nevernight Chronicle is not YA? Because, even though it’s very popular with the YA crowd and Kristoff does write other books that are YA, Nevernight is not YA. As Jay Kristoff will tell you, over and over and over and over and over again, it’s not. These are adult books for intended for adults. It’s why, when I go to Powell’s, I find them in the Gold Room, not the Rose Room. If you are an adult with teenage children and you don’t want them reading Nevernight, well, then, you need to do a better job of policing their reading material. You’re the adult in this situation, after all.

To review: if you don’t want your children reading certain books, whose responsibility is it? Mine? No. Yours? Absolutely. And if your kids start checking out forbidden books behind your back to read on the sly, well...that’s your problem. It’s not the librarian’s problem, or the bookseller’s problem and it is most certainly not Jay Kristoff’s problem either. Ask yourself: why does my kid want to read these books so bad that they’re willing to go behind my back? Perhaps its the allure of the forbidden combined with teenage rebellion? 

Seriously, my parents never policed what I read, and I turned out just fine. In fact, the only thing my unhindered book consumption led to was a master’s degree in Library Science and a dumb tumblr blog. Don’t worry, neither of these conditions are fatal. I knew kids in Junior High who were reading Stephen King books and, gasp shock, they turned out fine. None of those kids who read It at that age started killing children in rural Maine while dressed as a clown. I’m sure most teens who read Nevernight won’t immediately start smoking cigarillos and run off to join an assassin school, either. Calm the fuck down.

Also, you should watch Black Books. 

Back to the review - if this can even be considered a “review” anymore - if I have any complaints about the Nevernight Chronicle it has mostly to do with the world itself. How are there still colors? How can you have color in a world with three - three! - suns? How does everything not immediately become sun-bleached? I mean, with three suns there must be a massive amount of high energy photons pouring down from the sky all the damn time, and eventually violet and ultraviolet light will disrupt chromophore bonds and, well, bleaching anything of color. I mean, American flags on the moon turned into white rectangles pretty quick (before being destroyed by time and being on the moon, of course) and I’ve had to learn the hard way not to shelve books in front of my window, even though there’s shelf space right below said window and it looks real nice and oh shit what happened to all these books’ covers??

Luke Skywalker should be careful staring at those two suns.

Also, how would anyone still have milk pale skin in a world with three suns? Wouldn’t everyone’s skin be much darker? I mean, for all the time Mia spends out under the suns without a hat, she should have freckles. Or melanoma. In fact, everyone in Itreya should have melanoma. And white hair. My hair turns several shades lighter every summer. How can Mia have black hair? Also, having black hair in a world with three suns sounds super uncomfortable. Three suns? Jesus, I’m super pale and have a hard enough time under the one. I’ve got seasonal freckles. Seriously, they appear during the Summer then fade away in the Fall. I got sunburned just reading about Itreya’s three suns. Granted, I was reading the books while outside, sitting under a tree and then the tree’s shadow moved with the sun and I didn’t...

And! AND! How would anyone be able to see? How would you even survive being exposed to that much sunlight? How can albinos like Adonai and Marielle even exist in a world with three suns???

See, this is what happens when I start thinking of things in terms of science when I should just be like “you know what, it’s a story, I’m just going to sit back and enjoy it.”

Also, who am I kidding, Library Science isn’t a real science.

RECOMMENDED FOR: fans of violent, foul-mouthed teenage assassins who solve their problems by stabbing them; people who don’t mind a bit of gore followed by some smut followed by snark followed by more gore.

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR: If you don’t fall into any categories mentioned in the “recommended for” you should probably read something else.

OVERALL SERIES RATING: 4.5/5 (minus .5 for all those times you get your heart ripped out)

DARKDAWN U.S. RELEASE DATE: September 3, 2019

VERY ACCURATE MIA CORVERE GIF: 

CAT RATING:

* Ahahahaha no one reads this blog, I’m kidding myself.

**All those bitching about the use of footnotes in the Nevernight Chronicle should check out Susanna Clarke’s amazing Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. She has footnotes that go on for entire pages. She has entire plotlines living in those footnotes! The footnotes in Strange and Norrell make Nevernight’s footnotes look like citations in a high school book report. 

Also, if you don’t like the footnotes, go with the audiobook. The narrator (Holter Graham) manages to blend the footnotes into the narration in a way that kind of freaked me out at first because I just started listening to the audio, and didn’t realize the books even had footnotes. This is what I get for not even bothering to flip through a physical copy of the books before starting the audiobook at work***

***Inappropriate places to listen to the Nevernight audiobook: work. Especially during the scenes featuring sexytimes. I was wearing headphones, but still!