#The whole lore is just Pinocchio but with changes in the characters and story

[etinceelle]

I had some thoughts about Penny's potential revival that I wanted to write down tonight. Mostly this will be just me responding to some of the arguments that I've seen, coming from people who doubt or don't believe in this theory ! The intention isn't to be rude or anything, just to give my sincere thoughts on it :]

1 - Penny isn't special than any other character and as others like Pyrrha, she died as a human and won't come back

Ok so the thing is that Penny already IS special to me, but it's also a fact in the RWBY universe. Her whole story is different from any ordinary girl we know and she literally went through incredible experiences already. Was made as a robot, discovered her humanity, made friendships and gained magical powers, had a human body. Her existence is already special, and she came back once when she was rebuilt. Penny is already a big character in the RWBY universe to me and she also became really one of the main character and focus during the Atlas arc.

So Penny died as a human yes, but the thing is that she already went through magical and incredible things that I wouldn't be surprised if she experienced that as well. Gaining the Winter Maiden powers, then her soul being transferred into a human body... I don't think an ordinary character in RWBY experienced the fact of starting your life as a robot and becoming a powerful maiden and having a human body. I mean, every character is so unique in RWBY already and have unique stories or abilities. But this ? This is a first, this was never seen before.

Also, I just wanted to mention the fact that Pyrrha's character is based on the story of Achille, who tragically dies at the end. Penny's characters ? She's inspired by both Pinocchio who's revived after sacrifing himself to save his father, and she also have a lot of Astroboy allusions, who ALSO is revived after sacrifing himself to save everyone. Not saying that RWBY characters really have to be the same as their aspirations, but there are still a lot of coindidences, enough for me to think there might be more coming :]

2 - What is the point for Penny to come back ? If she doesn't have any Maiden powers anymore, wouldn't she become just a secondary character ?

Tbh, I personally hope for her to not have the Winter Maiden powers, so she could be free of that burden she never wanted in the first place. I just hope she gets the chance to simply exist, to be there, to be alive. She doesn't have to be a Maiden to be important. I just think Penny coming back should be allowed to live, to experience things, to develop herself, to get the chance to discover her Semblance, her particularities, and experience the world.

Even if Winter remains the full Winter Maiden, and Penny's revived and is just Penny, it would just be so exciting to see her adapt her weapons and features to her human body ! Idk, like her father making her rocket boots so she can fly, or some glasses that still allow her to see in the dark, to detect elements ! This could even be connected to her so she could control Floating Arrays from distance, just like she used to do. She would still be able to fight but without any burden, without any pressure because of this important role. Winter is a good choice for the Winter Maiden and she handles pressure pretty well.

Anyway, just to say that powers or not, Penny still have a LOT of potential, to explore herself and adapt, to simply live and protect people.

3 - Penny died again and will not come back

I thought the same after Volume 8, but Volume 9 changed a lot my mindset about this. I won't write anything more because I already wrote a few threads about this :] But I do believe the Ever After isn't just a plot and a realm that was just for Volume 9 or for lore or even just for Ruby's evolution. This set up big stuff for what's to come in RWBY's story. It could probably influence our characters there.

The thing is that before V9, we had this plot of life and death with the balance that comes with it that has to be respected. But Volume 9 completely changes that. Balance isn't about that anymore, it's defined in a different way by the Blacksmith (true God of RWBY aha) themselves. It shows that the two Brothers acting like they did were in fact wrong, even if their work is incredible. The way the tone about life and death shifted this volume isn't just for nothing and not just for Ruby's development.

4 - Penny coming back would invalidate her death and Ruby's suffering

That's why if she comes back, I don't necessarily see it happening in Volume 10. Maybe not just at the end too, but still maybe not right away. Also, Penny did come back in Volume 7 after being absent from the end of V3 to the beginning of V7. I don't think Penny's first death invalidated anything about Ruby's pain.

If I think about more stuff I'll add it !! These are the reasons I see most of the time in the fandom-

[minthe-lover]

Chapter 211 analysis

So yeah this chapter isn't that good... the only thing that I really like is minthe at the end cause fucking finally we are gonna learn more about what happened to her.

Though the thing that annoyed me the most during this chapter is right at the beginning with how much Persephone was "worried" for.. by mentioning her... uhhh once after she get turned into a mortal.. and then after the kronos fight it is explicitly shown that she forgot about Demeter. Also you know.. she was so busy after the kronos fight to come visit her.. you know.. all that bathing.. cuddling hades.. and skinny dipping... wow so busy.

You never see Persephone actually grieve about not seeing her mother.. or express any actual worry for her. You don't see her getting mad at zeus for making her unable to see Demeter. Nor do you see her mention wanting to see demeter... like christ it would be so easy to just have a few comments of Persephone being like "oh I'm really worried for my mother!". Lore olympus has alot of bad telling and not showing... especially around Demeter and persephone relationship.

Also the reason Persephone wasn't able to see Demeter again don't hold any weight. Repairing the underworld was basically solved by a single dance and we don't fucking see them interacting with the people in the mortal realms. I think alot of the time they spend having cute romantic moment would have been better spent showing them repairing the underworld and Persephone actually being a queen and that would continue as an actually good excuse for her not seeing Demeter.

That and I just... I wanna draw attention to this line cause it strikes me in a very odd way. Especially in the change with how Persephone wants the underworld to be.

The idea went from, there is no punishment ideal afterlife to... a final resting place for the most splendid of mortals.

I know this whole plot on the after life for mortals is probably gonna be very basic and not a focus.. but I desperately hope they don't go for a only "good" people are allowed to have a good afterlife.. especially when the alternative is being a slave or tortured.. plus adding in how with characters like minthe how there is a huge lack of depth with how the story views morality.

Anyway back to the plot, I feel like the whole scene with Cerberus while cute is eh.. kinda unnecessary, and feels like a bit of a waste of time especially during a very important emotional moment. Plus it sort of answered a none question... like.. it's pretty clear that kronos was the one that hurt Cerberus.. cause like... what else would it be? Though i gotta say this panel made me laugh far more then it should... like holy shit is drawing attention to hades weird Pinocchio nose a good idea?

So this chapter was lead by a chapter showing hades just.. objectively being a huge fucking asshole, and you know.. I was actually glad when Hades basically admitted he was worried about his impression from Demeter.. though that quickly went downhill will the whole 'confrontation' of Demeter.

So Persephone and Hades did the amazing thing of expecting that Demeter should know everything about their feelings, and never say.. tries to empathize with Demeter's feelings and worried to help and get to a common ground. Instead they basically just.. ignore Demeter's worries? So it all starts with Hades treating Demeter just passively mentioning that Persephone should come home, as some like.. huge shocking thing equal to like.. threatening to murder her.. like damn.

Like just be clear that you know.. at this point they haven't fucking told Demeter that she wants to say. This is a completely normal assumption.. not to mention that yeah.. after not seeing my kid for ten fucking years I'd probably want to spend more then an evening with them.. so no this isn't some horrible thing for her to say.

Also like... Demeter brings up actual proper worries about their relationship.. again instead of trying to show Demeter that she has nothing to worry about or have Hades actually apologize for his shitty behavior we just have hades standing there literally saying nothing and Persephone not actually talking about any of the points that Demeter brings up.. and just ignores her good fucking worries and just basically goes "hey I'm dating this man I knew for a month ten years ago and fuck the fact that he used to treat my own mother like shit, you gotta get on board and I don't care about your feelings"

Like most of her points are actually important to address, cause yeah.. Hades did use a 19 year old for emotional support.. which like he had a therapist and other friends he could turn to instead of a still emotionally developing teenager. Again it's shown that originally Hades was mainly attracted to Persephone appearance, along with how historically Demeter has seen women abused and valued solely for her appearance it would make sense that she's worried about this. Just look at hera.

Also yeah.. thinking that this is a phase makes sense.. think back to your last year of highschool/first year of collage... now imagine an attractive teacher you had... now consider not talking to that teacher for ten god damn year of constant pinning for that one teacher.. and again.. decided to spend the rest of your life with that teacher.

Demeter brings up understandable and worthwhile points about their relationship.. and instead of trying to have a open and heartfelt conservation with the mother she "missed so much" instead her worries are ignored and she is treated like she is overreacting and stupid. also again... rs.. please stop drawing hades face like this.

I think this chapter would have been alot better if they actually talked. Have hades acknowledge his past fucks up.. actually talk about the problems with there relationships.. talk openly about Demeter and her worries... Like Christ Demeter worrying her daughter may be abused being treated like a joke is terrible. Have Persephone talk about how she doesn't want to fully rush into like marriage.. but still wants to be with Hades.

If you still wanna play the angst have Demeter still be worried about the relationship afterword.. but like just.. don't dismiss the actually good points that Demeter brings up.

Honestly there are only two good things about this chapter.. one is Hades looking like he's gonna shit himself at anger Demeter...

Second is minthe and the scene with the nymphs.. them writing shitty over the top horny fanfic is funny.. and minthe just look a bad ass. like.. hell yes this is the women I love I am so fucking gay-

[spectre1]

finished visions here are my thoughts :P spoilers duh

liked it. the character design tho.. hm. but ronin very interesting. sith blade but he has all those kyber crystals not a jedi but not a sith SO interesting would love to see that theme explored more

youngling post o66😵‍💫 but this one was cute love temuera morrison as boba fett love jay finding a family and purpose for himself after the war.. could very much occur in canon. his lightsaber not working and it being unable to save his friend but his music being able to save him... . .. . . . . thinking thinking thinking also their song does bump like it was fun

the animation style so beautiful loved it and i liked the story i think my favourite so far. i love the concept of the evil twins. the fighting and rising up against the evils that you have grown up with. the unwillingness to give up on the people you love. imagine luke and leia. whewwwww

KAZUDAAAAAA hi christopher sean lol i liked the music in this one and the animation style as well . i take it back this one was my favourite.. i love communities that even though they are not like ~force sensitive~ they have an innate connections to the force and the world around them... the sacrificing of ones self to protect the people you care about.. the not going down without a fight... the battle droids <3 the i am a jedi line.... the yellow saber. yeah. yeah <3

this episode is 23 minutes i think it’s the longest. it was good besties. it had me hooked love kara and her connection to the force the way her saber changed colour was neat wld have also been cool if it just remained like a blank state. finding out they were all sith i was like oh???!?!!? the animation was so lovely and the last shot was pretty. a different take on jedi being lost in the galaxy but an interesting premise!! liked it!

this animation style so cute so round and it has swipe transitions <3 tobi my beloved i don’t have much to say i was making rice while i was watching it lol but i liked it did remind me a little of pinocchio and i liked the ending very cute

on my knees praying and begging star wars to give people of colour brown eyes. they're dark at least which if i squint or the shot is zoomed out looks like black eyes but djdkdkdkdk. liked this episode as well... do not forget your training and your kindness... yeah yeah .... yeah exactly.........

loved this episode. star was is about family!!!! and i thought it was nice to have lop be adopted... yk family isn’t just the one you are born into... and again like the twins.. the unwillingness to give up on your family when they leave and make choices divergent from your own. the lightsaber not as a weapon of the jedi but a symbol for their family and using it to try and save their family. whew loved that i rly enjoyed this episode another one of my favourites <3

going to be honest with you besties. i was making brunch as i was watching this so some of the details were lost on me but it was neat, maybe my least favourite dunno if that’s bcos i wasn’t rly paying attention or bcos of the plot but i did think it was 😳😳when he joined the sith after saving the princess

i think my favourites were the village bride + lop and ochō <3 general thoughts as a whole i rly liked it loved to see the various animation styles and the stories. i don't think the episodes are considered canon and that would make sense as they all follow different stories especially regarding the jedi but it was just so nice and so lovely to watch and adds so much more to the overall lore, will be rewatching later in the week and very glad i had a day off to watch!!!!

[silver-stargazing]

Storytime with Joel and The Bots

My submission for @aggressivelyarospec AggressivelyArospecWeek. I wrote about Joel Robinson from Mystery Science Theater 3000, who I headcanon as aro/ace and also as someone who, at one point in his life, wanted children of his own.

Please note that this is entirely a headcanon and that you are more than welcome to have a different headcanon from mine. Draw a picture, write a song, compose an awesome play, make a goofy post, whatever it is that helps you express your important headcanons! I’d honestly love to see more headcanons about these wonderful characters!

And for context: this takes place a few days after Women of the Prehistoric Planet, so this would be very early in the show’s run and only a few months into Joel’s captivity. The only thing you need to know is that they had a couch briefly on the bridge.

AO3

Word Count: 2572

“C’mon, Joel! Hurry up!”

From the Satellite’s kitchen, a slightly muffled voice responded.

“One more minute, Crow! My hot chocolate’s almost done.”

“How long does it take to make one cup of Swiss Miss?” Tom Servo shot back. “It’s like you’ve been in there for hours. Did you fall into the stove again? Do we need to call LifeAlert?”

“You keep up with that sass, Tom, and there’ll be no RAM chips for any of you guys. Now I said a minute and I meant it.”

The Bots both groused for a moment. Then the bridge of the Satellite of Love fell into a restless silence as its robotic crew waited impatiently on their big comfortable couch.

The past few days had really tested the patience of the Satellite’s crew, both robots and human alike.

They’d had to sit through a particularly dreadful film called Women of the Prehistoric Planet and deal with a doomsday device that did nothing but aggravate them even further. Then, once the experiment was finally over, they ended up flying through a nasty solar storm that resulted in a brief black-out, shorting out many of the Satellite’s essential functions including the heating.

According to Gypsy’s calculations, the Satellite would return to normal after a few days of system updates and reboots. Until then, though, no heat.

To compensate for the coldness, warm blankets and pillows had been dragged out of every nook and cranny and stockpiled onto the bridge. The Bots had their built-in heaters, but the chill of the Satellite mixed with the general frigid coldness of space was more than enough to get everyone to bundle up. Crow and Tom were wrapped up tightly with several multi-color afghans, Gypsy had a bright pink shawl tied up around her head and body, and even Cambot had on a little winter hat made from spare fabric.

Joel Robinson, the sole human occupant of the SOL, walked into the room holding a small stack of books and his coffee mug. He looked to all the world like he’d just come out of a blizzard. He had three different layers of Gizmonics sweaters on over his regular jumpsuit plus a cozy wool jacket. His hands were covered in several gloves, each with a built-in heating unit of his own design. His face was barely recognizable under the length of scarf covering it, but from the warm crinkle lines around his eyes, the Bots could tell that he was actually enjoying the change in climate.

“Peculiar weather we’re having for June, huh?” he joked. “Reminds me of those summer days back in Minneapolis.”

He placed the pile of books down in between Tom and Crow and set off to the far opposite of the room where Cambot lay nestled on a pillow.

“Sure you don’t want to join us, little guy?” asked Joel softly while adjusting the bot’s tiny hat.

The bot narrowed his lens and nestled even deeper, indicating he was comfortable where he was currently.

Joel nodded and gave Cambot a little pat on the head before returning to the couch. The little bot had always been a bit more standoffish by nature, anyway. Always happy to simply be around his family but not directly interact with anyone. Joel could understand that.

Grabbing a heap of blankets, Joel settled himself neatly between Tom and Crow on the couch. He cradled his hot coco in his gloved hands, cherishing the taste of chocolate and appreciating the warmth. It was so warm, in fact, that it was almost enough to put someone to-

“Hey, don’t go to sleep yet!” Tom called out, jerking Joel straight out of his daze.

“Yeah, remember?” said Crow, nudging the pile of books with a small golden claw. “Stories?”

“Stories!” Gypsy exclaimed excitedly.

Storytime was a relatively new tradition on the Satellite of Love. A week ago, when Joel first found the couch in the loading bay, he also came across an old box full of fairy tale and folk lore books. Why they were there in the first place, he never knew why (then again, he’d learned by now to stop asking too many questions when it came to the Satellite anyway).

Originally, he read the stories to test the Bots’ comprehension skills and experiment with how much information they could retain. Overtime, though, storytime turned into less of a lab test and more of a nightly gathering for the residents of the Satellite to take a break. To hear stories that were designed to lift their spirits up rather than break them down. Sure, their evil overlords down in Deep 13 would probably take away both the stories and the couch as it would mess with their data, but for now, everyone on board appreciated their time spent together.

“Well, all right. We’ve got storytime and then a letter from Earth to read after that.” He began to flip through the stack of books. “Which story should we read tonight? We’ve got Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Pinocchio-“

Tom shuddered.

“Never again with that one. Way to traumatize me away from show biz, story.”

“Not me!” said Crow enthusiastically. “Hollywood ain’t seen nothing ‘till they sees the likes of Crow T. Robot! I’ll be up there with the legends. Steven Spielberg, Billy Wilder, Francis Ford Coppola…”

“Yeah, more like Ed Wood, Coleman Francis, and Sandy Frank,” muttered Servo.

“Hey!” Crow squawked indignantly.

“Girl!” croaked Gypsy, distracting everyone from the brewing fight between Crow and Tom. The purple robot pointed her head in the direction of the book stack.

“Do you want us to read a story about a girl, Gypsy?” asked Joel, proud of her for taking the initiative in choosing a book. She was usually so shy and introverted around the rest of the Crew during their nightly storytime.

She nodded her head vigorously. Both Tom and Crow groaned.

“A girl book? Aww Joel? Do we have to?”

“Hey, you should have said something before Gypsy. Besides, I happen to recall that you, Mr. Tom, have chosen the last three stories in a row.”

Servo sighed.

“Alright, we can give Gypsy’s story a try.”

They silently rummaged through the story books, occasionally showing a book to Gypsy only for her to reject each offering.

Crow waved a book in front of Joel’s face.

“Ha-ha. Hey! She looks just like how you used to look!”

On the cover was a young woman with impossibly long blonde hair. Rapunzel.

“Very funny, Mr. Smart Guy,” replied Joel dryly. His right hand ghosted over where his old hair length used to be. That extra hair probably would have helped to keep him a little bit warmer, he lamented.

“What do you think about this one, Gyps?” asked Crow, holding the book up for Gypsy. “She’s got really long hair just like you’ve got a really long coil.”

“Yeah! Yeah!” she responded, nodding her head eagerly.

Crow passed the picture book off to Joel, who then held the book up for Cambot to see.

“You all right with Rapunzel, Cambot?”

The bot’s lens widened and his whole form whirred with excitement. Joel smiled at the quirky response.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

He quickly drained the remaining dregs of his hot chocolate and set the mug aside.

Cracking open the book, he gave a dignified “Hem” and began:

“Once upon a time in a far-off kingdom…”

And so, Joel recounted the tale of the maiden Rapunzel, of the evil witch who imprisoned the young girl in a tower, and of Rapunzel’s noble prince. He paused occasionally to address any questions and allow for riffing from his captivated audience (that was, after all, what the Bots were originally designed for. To make jokes at stories no matter how good or bad they were. Joel found no point in discouraging them from what they were built to do).

“And Rapunzel and her Prince rode off to the Prince’s kingdom where they lived, happily married and with several wonderful children, for many long and loving years. The End. So, what did you all think of the story?”

“Yay!” exclaimed Gypsy, enthused by the story’s happy ending. Cambot similarly buzzed with delight.

“Thought the second act could’ve been stronger. And that ending? Is it believable in that era that a peasant would marry into nobility? The whole kingdom would be thrown apart by scandal! It would be like Wallis Simpson and King Edward all over again!” Tom argued before adding hesitantly “It was nice that the Prince got his eyesight back, though.”

Crow, meanwhile, seemed to have his focus elsewhere entirely, his ping pong eyes darting everywhere in concentration.

“Crow, buddy, what’d you think of Rapunzel?”

“Wait a second…Joel!” Crow finally cried out. “Joel Joel Joel Joel Joel! Remember how I said you looked like the lady?”

“Yeah, I remember. And I should really have a talk with you about-”

“Oh, I was joking then, but Joel! What if you did grow out your hair long enough so that it could reach Earth? We’d be saved!”

The human could only chuckle at the Bot’s suggestion.

“I don’t know if that would work too well,” was all he could respond before laughing again.

“What? Why not?! We’re all basically stuck in a tower like Rapunzel anyway. Let your hair grow out, toss it out the airlock and wait for a wayfaring prince to come and rescue us! C’mon, it’s foolproof!”

“Crow, space and human hair do not work-”

“Oh yeah, and then maybe you and the prince could get married and we could all live in a castle!” Servo chimed in. Joel could honestly not tell whether Tom was being serious or not. “Get ourselves some servants, a few butlers, a swimming pool, the whole nine yards!”

“Marriage? Now that’s the most far-fetched thing you guys have said yet!” snorted Joel, before realizing what he had just said.

He awkwardly coughed and gave an outwardly light laugh. Scratching the back of his head, he hoped for something, anything to change the subject. He really didn’t feel ready to have this conversation yet (if ever).

“What’s so odd about you and marriage, Joel?” Tom inquired innocently.

“Yeah, are you already married or something?” came the follow-up question from Crow.

“Wife?” asked Gypsy.

“No, not married. It’s just, I’ve never considered getting married before. Well, actually…at all. Just never been for me, I guess.”

“How do ya’ figure?” said Crow.

Joel opened his mouth, paused and closed it again, considering what to say next.

To him, it had always been so simple. He had long accepted that he would rather be in a lab cooking up a new gadget or planning his next invention than pursuing any sort of romantic relationship. Romance was about as appealing to him as an arsenic and hamdinger sandwich.

But how do you explain that lack of attraction? The Bots only had a scant understanding of human behavior, most of which came from awful B-movies. Joel would have to choose his words carefully.

“It’s like…some folks have lives and stories a lot like Rapunzel and her Prince,” he finally said. “They find someone who they deeply love all romantic like and they hopefully live happily ever after together. But that’s not everyone’s story.”

“Some folks, myself included, have stories more like…more like Geppetto.”

“What? The old geezer from Pinocchio?” Crow responded incredulously.

“Yeah, does that mean we’re going to get a cricket infestation and Crow’s beak is going to grow longer than it already is?” joked Tom.

“No no. Just that Geppetto is so full of love but not in the same way as Rapunzel is for her Prince. He has more of this wonderful platonic love. A love for his craft. A love for life,” Joel reached over to pat Gypsy on the head. “A love for his creations.”

“Aww,” she said.

“I think the word they were using for that back on Earth was ‘aromantic’.”

“Well, I always thought you smelled lovely,” said Tom.

Joel smiled at the word-play.

“That’s ‘aromatic’, you goof. And I don’t remember installing any smell sensors in you, either.”

“Wouldn’t be opposed to an upgrade,” Tom quickly replied. “You know, my vocal box still keeps glitching on me from time-to-time.”

“I’ll see what parts I can scavenge to build you a new voice box. Might take a while but we’ll fix it.”

Joel paused and looked upwards.

“Hey, Magic Voice. How are we doing with those system updates? Any estimates?”

“Five more hours, Joel,” chimed a light mechanical but still recognizably female voice over the Satellite’s intercom.

He gave a weary sigh.

“Thanks. Looks like I’ll have to make some actual coffee this time. It’s going to be a long night.” He shifted, getting ready to stand up. “Maybe I’ll sniff out some RAM chips while I’m in the kitchen. Gypsy, honey, you want to help me search for some?”

“But-but Joel?” Crow finally said, still processing what Joel just told them. “If we can’t marry you off, how are we going to convince a wandering prince to save us?”

Joel could hear the worry in the golden bot’s voice. He placed a gloved hand on Crow’s shoulder.

“We don’t need any Prince to save us. Crow, you just came up with an escape plan in minutes! Why would we need a stuffy old prince to get us out when we’ve got a couple of expert jailbreakers right here? We’re all smart enough to get home safely together.”

“Well…” Crow started, reconsidering his plan. “We could always modify the plan so that I climb down your hair to Earth.”

“There we go!”

“Yeah! And then, in a thrilling conclusion to our epic odyssey, I’ll lead an expert commando squadron of elite ninja warriors to infiltrate and bring down Deep 13, getting you all back to Earth! I should really check to make sure my ninja contacts are all up to date…”

“Give me an outline of the plan in the morning and I’ll see what I can do for you, buddy” said Joel, getting ready to return to the kitchen. He stopped, suddenly remembering the letter in his jacket pocket.

“I almost forgot, the Mads sent us a letter before the black-out earlier. There’s not going to be an experiment this week until they get the projector fixed but we can still read it.”

“Who’s it from, Joel?” asked Tom.

“From a Mr....Isaac Asimov? From Minnesota, Earth?” Joel looked at the address then back at the Bots. “You guys didn’t have anything to do with this, did you?”

They all shook their heads, even Cambot. The human still suspected otherwise.

Joel opened the letter and smiled wider than he had in months.

It was a crayon drawing of a red jump-suited person being hugged by a red gumball machine, a golden bowling ball pin, a purple snake, and a camera on a wire.

The SOL crew.

Joel felt a tear leak from his eye. Years back on Earth spent in misery, coming to terms with the fact he’d never have a family like he’d often wished for. All that felt immediately shut down by this letter

Here was his family all along, sticking it out together on a satellite orbiting the Earth. An unconventional family? Sure, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

The letter simply read:

“HAPPY FATHER’S DAY JOEL ROBINSON!”

Joel’s honestly really important to me in regards to headcanoning him as aro/ace. Here’s a cool and relaxed man who I see as aromantic who has a family and is a wonderful parent to his kids. As an aro/ace person who might like to have kids of her own one day (maybe), it’s kind of reassuring to know that Aromantics can make for great parents.

This is also actually my very first fanfiction and probably my first time writing creative fiction since I was 14 (discounting any songs that I’ve written as writing those feels like a completely different experience). So I apologize if the characters seem OOC. Never was the best with dialogue, so it was probably a poor decision to have my first fic be comprised largely of dialogue...

[bluezey]

Dissecting the old, beginning from the new

So something happened today. I was watching random internet videos when I came across someone who was rating the five worst animated films of 2016. Among them was Trolls.  That I can see, though I haven’t seen the film the trailer does look super bright and sugary and playing on common clichés.  Then the interviewer said that he was worried Trolls is part of a trend that began with The Lego Movie, that a film about an existing property did so well that everyone is gonna try to make a film on a property because they think that’s what sells.

That kind of makes sense, until something happened while I was watching Nostalgia Critic reviews while playing Fallout 4.  NC is doing Sequel Month: The Sequel and I’ve noticed he has reviewed Alvin and the Chipmunks 2, Smurfs 2 and will be reviewing Garfield 2.  Do you see a comparison between these three movies?  They are all movies based on an existing property that were released BEFORE the success of The Lego Movie.

So it made me wonder, why is this person noticing this now if Hollywood has made films based on existing properties before?  And the only thing I could think of was, because The Lego Movie did it right.

Think back on the existing property films of the last few decades.  They all take a property, look into how it works, then for one reason or another they write a film based on film clichés and dated trends that were popular at the time.  What you get is a jumbled mess that either flops or makes some kind of profit one way or another.  But The Lego Movie was different.  It took an existing property, looked into how it works, then wrote a story around it with memorable characters, funny jokes, and made their own jokes and clichés in the process.  They made a success over effort.

Then I began thinking what film has made a success like The Lego Movie?  What film was based off an existing property AND did well, just like The Lego Movie?  I thought very hard, thinking back as far as I could, even back to toys from the 1970s and… I couldn’t think of anything.  Maybe I wasn’t trying hard enough, or maybe I wasn’t that into a specific toy line that had a movie that did do successfully well like The Lego Movie.

But then I realized that there are films that are not based on toys or cartoons, but are based on existing properties.  In fact, almost every film they made is based on an existing property.  Hell, even their first movie was based on an existing property.  That company is Disney.

I mean, look into it. Their very first film was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, based on a fairy tale.  In fact, most of their films are based on folk lore, stories fairy tales, with an occasional step into mythos, books and history puffed up by fiction. Sure, there is a rarity here and there like Lilo and Stitch or Home on the Range, but every other film was based on something that has existed.  I mean, really think about it, before we had toys and cartoons, you could consider fairy tales and stories existing properties.  It’s just that now in the day we think of toys, cartoons, comic books, video games and now apps and emojis as existing properties.

Now here’s where it gets interesting.  Snow White was just a telling of Snow White, they didn’t do anything new to it.  Same thing with the other earlier works like Dumbo, Cinderella and Pinocchio.  It’s almost as if they didn’t try when it came to story.  So how did they succeed when today’s movies that don’t try fail? Because, based on the time they came out, they did try.  No one made a full length animated film before, so Snow White and the films that came after it were fascinating and amazing to the audience.  They didn’t have to try a lot on story, because just seeing the story move on screen through ink and paint was more than enough effort.

However, even Disney can get caught on following trends.  And I know what you’re thinking, timeless Disney films can be dated? Well, let me tell you about the Disney films of the 40s and 50s.  First, there were two films about Donald Duck visiting South America and Mexico, how odd is that?  Well, this was a product of the time.  Due to some things I can’t delve into properly because I’m not a historian, Disney was set to make two films to teach American movie goers about South America and Mexico’s culture, basically sell the country and continent.  So, due to the time period of the forties, they did something fascinating but dated.  Then there’s two films called Make Mine Music and Melody Time.  These two films were a collection of shorts told through story and music, from Peter and the Wolf, Pecos Bill, Hatfields and McCoys, Johnny Appleseed, just to name a few.  But among them were also shorts told through jazz music, a popular musical style at the time, but is now considered dated today.  

Now I know what you’re thinking, wasn’t there a movie before Make Mine Music and Melody Time that was also about music and wasn’t dated by popular music during the 40s and 50s? And yes, Fantasia, it was the third film Disney made.  But despite being the third film they put a lot of effort and originality into it!  Fantasia was not only ground breaking by being a movie about music, but it traveled trough road shows introducing something ground breaking that would basically become surround sound.  Something that is above and beyond and definitely shows they did more than try, and even shows they can try something new and innovative! Fantasia flopped.  I’m not kidding.  What was considered a classic today did not make a profit in its first run.

So, long story short, even Disney themselves have had original ideas that flopped, and have followed popular dated trends that still pulled in a profit.  Basically, they’re doing what any other film today could do.

So, what’s the correlation? What’s the formula that can make a movie on an existing property work?

Well, I don’t think there is a formula, and I think it stems on the fact that practically every idea has been done before.

I mean, Disney has made movies mostly on stories and fairy tales that existed before even movies existed. And, looking at Dreamworks, Prince of Egypt was based on an existing story from the Bible, and Shrek was not only based on the idea of mixing up fairy tales, but it was also based on an existing children’s book.  I’ve seen videos comparing Toy Story to a Jim Henson’s Christmas special about toys coming to life, but isn’t that because toys coming to life have been done before? Hell, kids think about it!  And come to think about it, let’s look at those conspiracy stories about films ripping off other films.  We can exclude Antz and A Bug’s Life because we know the behind the scenes about that fiasco, so let’s look at some others.  Like, Finding Nemo and Shark Tale.  Despite different stories and different ideas, people think one is a copy of the othert because they’re about talking fish.  But, talking animals have been done since way before Aesop’s fables.  Some people think Monsters Inc ripped off a film called Little Monsters because they’re about monsters that live in closets.  But, even kids have thought of that idea.  Hell, I’ve even heard people say Despicable Me and Megamind are the same film because they involve super villains that become super heroes.  First, Gru didn’t openly become a super hero until Despicable Me 2, in the first one it ended with him as a father and his alignment unknown.  Second, I’m pretty sure comic books have had story arcs about heroes become villains and vice versa.

Basically, if you cut it down to its basic ideas, every idea has been done.  We all think about what toys and pets do when we’re out of the room, that’s why Toy Story and Secret Life of Pets sound so similar.  Talking animals have been done so many times, that’s why Flushed Away and Ratatouille sound similar to people just because they both have talking rats.  Cars and Doc Hollywood sound so similar because we’ve all heard of the same stories of people getting lost and finding themselves in a small town.

So, what’s my point in my rambling that we’ve done everything?  Well, think back to The Lego Movie.  They could have done clichés and trends and be every other diluted film based on an existing property.  But, they didn’t.  They took an existing property and did something different with it.  That’s what made it stand out, that’s what made it fascinating, and basically that’s what made it successful.

Another example is Inside Out.  Now when we heard of the idea of personified emotions in a person’s mind, we thought at first it was an original idea.  Then we looked back and realized it wasn’t.  We’ve had Osmosis Jones, which is personified cells running a body like it’s a city. We’ve had shoulder angels and shoulder demons, little cartoon imps dressed like angels and demons that persuade us to do right or wrong.  We’ve had Herman’s Head, a TV show about a group of personification of feelings running the mind of a person- holy crap I just repeated the idea of Inside Out by reading the premise of a dull 90s sitcom!  It’s been done that much!  So, what made Inside Out such a success?  What did Inside Out have that these ideas didn’t?  It did something new with the pre-existing idea.  While the previous ideas were just personifications of emotions, Inside Out used the personification of emotions to explain how the mind works, how memories work, and even something as complex as how life changes can affect and change your personality to kids, as well as explain to kids and adults in a society that is afraid of anything other than bliss and happiness that it’s okay to feel sad.  It’s similar to how The Lego Movie was a success.  It made likeable, relateable characters, funny jokes, a unique story that looks original but has probably been done before, to only pull a fast one on us by showing us this whole story is about a father-son relationship becoming strained, a story that we know for a fact has been done before!  But then it does something original by showing us that, even as adults, it’s okay to drop your guard and become a kid again, just by using another overused trope of saying how everyone is special.

I think the point I’m trying to sum up is we’re seeing trends we’re tired of seeing in movies because, even before movies were invented, everything has already been done. From storyline to the basic elements of a story, we’ve all heard it before.  What makes a success these days with movies is to do something different with them.  Use the same tropes to tell a different story, use unique advancements to tell the same tropes in a different way, or use the same ideas to explain something in a way that hasn’t been seen in that way before.  It’s why Zootopia is the same old movie about talking animals, but it explains something as controversial and complex as racism and society.  It’s why Frozen took the same princess story and explained the complexity of anxiety as well as making fun of old Disney tropes while making new Disney tropes. It’s why Sausage Party not only draws a crowd because we still haven’t done enough animated films about cartoons dropping four hundred sexual innuendos and f-bombs in under a running time yet, but it uses the cliché of non sentient things having sentience under our noses to explain the complexities of living with faith versus living for the day.  Dammit, I can’t let that go, that’s too damn clever!  So, to sum up, I don’t think there’s a trend of bad movies based on pre-existing properties.  I think we’ve just become so self aware of everything already been done that we should keep dissecting and reassembling some things old until we come up with ideas that make them new again.

[pendulum-sonata]

Top 5 things in Arc-V AND it's fandom

Oh anon you just had to didn’t you? but first…

Alright I’m ready, let’s do this: (From 5 to 1 in both of them):

The Series:

5.- Rewrite everything related to the Xyz dimension (characters, arc, etc.)

Ok I bet none of you is surprised that I’m including this on the list, I mentioned time and time again how I’m not a fan of anything related to them, and no despite what many of you may think it has nothing to do with my dislike of Ze//xal, I’m an adult and perfectly capable of separate the fact that Arc V is written by different people and I was actually open to the idea of a reinterpretation by one of my favorite directors:

Too bad it seems someone in the writer’s room (or several someones, there are more than one people that room you know?) seemed to have no interest on them whatsoever.

I’m not going to list every single issue with the writting but the most simple thing that made me lose interest in them is the fact that there is a very simple question regarding them that never got answered, at least not properly 

Who are they? What type of place was Heartland? 

All of their indentities as character revolves around the Resistance, their hatred for Academia and… that’s it! Oh well some of them got retconned as Yusho’s students in the Xyz arc but it was the same problem, we never get to know them as people beyond any of those things.

And whether you like one type of story or not, one type of character or another, when a writer fails to answer that about (supposedly) prominent and plot-related characters then is a basic fail at characterization and worldbuilding.

4.- Choose a VA’s for Reiji who was not busy all the time…

….Alternatively clean up Hosoya schedule before hiring him, because I like his performance a little too much and yes I realize that he’s a very requested VA and with good reason but… yeah it was a little too obvious that Reiji was supposed to have a much more involved role after the Battle Royale.

Basically Reiji’s character suffered from this decisions (I still love him, but again it was kinda too obvious at times) it’s seems to be a trend with Ono’s directing gigs (You know real life bleeds into your story)

3.- Lancers Bonding time!

Ok, I realize that dire circunstances - like being chased around by Evil Pinocchio - were in the way, but in my personal opinion there was no need to separate all of them from the very beggining of the Synchro Arc, if they wanted to add to the tension by having them split they could have:

1.- Arriving together to Synchro, walking around for maybe a day - an episode - where they could start discussiing what the keikaku was going to be about or how would they go about recruiting duelists for their cause and hey there’s going to be a tournatment, guess who particpates in tournaments? Strong duelists! And the winner gets to duel Jack Atlas? And talk to him? Maybe we can convince him and he can convince the City to help!

2.- Being ambushed and forced to split by the different groups of Security -  have Serena duel more btw - and by the time Crow arrives to save them, it turns out they either had been so separated them that he didn’t realize they were all on the same side  - and he focused on the group where Reira was on - or he simply didn’t have enough men to help them all. (Heck we could have seen Reiji mopping the floor with Security and call up the attention of Roger and then the Council right away) and Dennis would use his magic tricks to get Gongenzaka out and left Kurosaki to fight (the rest would be the same for IMO)

And yeah this is getting to long, but yeah the rest of the Synchro Arc would have been the same (mostly… see below for more)

2.- Give Serena a character arc.

Alternatively utilize the Bracelet Squad more as characters… Ok I know Rin and Ruri where captured by then so I’m not going to ask the impossible but I would have loved than as a change from the Standard Arc to the Synchro arc, Serena would have been the one going through her own side of the story after Yuzu had hers.

And before you accuse me of wanting me to focus only in her, I’ll remind you that character arc doesn’t mean that said character is the one and only important, there where a bunch of character that would have been there for her too: Reiji, Reira, Yuya, Yuzu ( not including Yugo because I’m happy with how they met in canon)

In case it wasn’t obvious I would eliminate the whole nerve gas bullshit too and have her fight back next to Reira and Tsukikage, that way if the writers needed her ot be captured at all costs then it would have been less hurtful story-wise.

1.- Have the Xyz arc absorbed into the Fusion arc…

…Alternatively like @seasaltmemories said a “Back to Standard” (to reorganize, rest a little bit, update everyone, etc) arc would have been good too.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: There was no point into going to Heartland, ALL the major things happening there could easily be extrapolated into the Fusion dimensions with very little changes and no continuity backlash whatsoever.

It would have given us more time to explore Asuka and the Academia defectors more before they turned into cannon fodder for Yuri, give some much needed breath for the Lancers and Yuya more time with his Dad and Yuzu before the inevitable happened.

Dennis would show up and duel against Kaito first then Asuka could have joined in (and have not just a heart to heart talk about Academia and treason between Dennis and Asuka, but also a bonding between an ex Academia soldier and a Resistance member)

Talking about Yuri, if they wanted us to care more for his backstory in ep. 123 they could have started using this arc to give him a wider range of emotions and his general personality, then have episode 123 mostly the same as canon (except he would use his normal deck, and Asuka would have dueled more by then and the insult would have been less felt ¬.¬)

(Then and only then the Parasite stuff could have been more explored and less shoehorned) 

BONUS: 

0.- Have Ray’s powers manifest through either the girls or the Bracelets before the reveal.

Get it? (Because her name means zero… ok sorry)

And when I mean powers I mean beyond the teleportation thingie, don’t get me wrong this is not a: “we wanted more lore on the Dimensional Counterparts!!” complain (What lore? They were not deities or anything of the like… sorry) I know that was impossible, but more on the line of:

If Ray made herself become Zarc’s equal in terms of power and being split over the dimension to keep him on check… then it makes only sense that she would give the girls some manner of defending themselves or to do some control damage if things got out of control (again beyond the teleportation thing) 

The Fandom:

This is going to be short because unlike writting (which is and objective reality) I would never be able to control the fanbase and their opinions:

5.- You wanna like the Xyz trio? Do it! but stop trying to convince everyone that they are the “Best charas evur!” Because they’re not… not even cose…

4.- Stop saying that the series have some “missing plot syndrome”, if you want a rushed plot there are tons of short generic seasonal animes that will cover up everything by the 3rd episode.

3.- Drop the Synchro Arc hate ok it wasn’t perfect but if you call it filler again I will call your bullshit.

2.- Stop believing Reiji is the most evilier, assholish person on earth and claim that he could have been “much better” if he would have been working with his dad secretely (That’s a cliche and you know it)

1.- For all that is sacred and good on YGO and fandoms: Stop shitting on Yuzu!!! Stop calling her abusive, stop calling her a tsundere, and stop calling her a “walking plot device”