#They literally made a clone of him just to do all the “protagonist” things that Adrien was set up for and shoved Adrien in a white box.

[actually-factually-anonymous]

I echo this sentiment quite fully, though I can say that I find Felix frustrating both because of how he effectively steals Adrien's agency in his own story and because he's a genocidal prick who never faces any punishment worth mentioning.

Felix does more or less everything that one might have hoped Adrien would have, from uncovering the secrets of the Agrestes, to facing off against Gabriel, even informing Ladybug of Monarch's true identity. Just about the only thing that he doesn't do is actually fight Gabriel with Ladybug because... well, I hope that at some point in the next season it will be revealed that he was off rescuing Adrien and Kagami but that doesn't explain why he even left Paris in the first place after spilling the beans.

The point is that you're entirely right: Felix occupies all the "active" roles that Adrien was seemingly set up for, leaving him left as a pathetically damselled side character with the same agency as a potted plant. I wouldn't even call him a Princess at this point, because you pointed out: most Princesses (especially in modern media) get to play some active role.

Adrien by contrast doesn't even get to use the eyepiece that Felix left behind in S4. Gabriel just inexplicably has it the next time it's seen. Everything that was set up for him, every bit of potential, growth and catharsis that had been established for him was squandered or neatly handed off to another character made from the same template to achieve in his place.

Also...

#i dont see how they can really salvage Adriens arc even when they will eventually bring Gabriel back

Have I missed a leak, or is this a dreadful speculation? Because if Gabriel were to return somehow, that would effectively render the one positive aspect of the S5 ending moot.

I can't imagine a future where Gabriel actually gets punished for his crimes- not with how the writing team have described their intentions with him- so him returning would be well and truly him getting off scott free for everything: except worse if you consider that he's been hailed as a hero...

I honestly wish I had an image to convey my horror and disbelief when I saw Felix for the first time. I knew right then and there Adrien was never EVER going to get an arc.

They really wanted Adrien to be a damsel in distress - a princess who needed to be saved by his knight. There really is no combination of words I can find to express how confused I was to see this writing choice be veiled as progressive for the first time.

Because here is the thing: In these stories, princesses still have more agency than Adrien. They will make choices that will guarantee a victory over the villain. Adrien's actions in ML do not matter and this was intentional.

If this wasn't intentional, then Felix would have never been introduced in the show. With his introduction, Felix usurps Adrien's agency from his own narrative. Like, it is so incredibly weird to see Felix have this level of influence in the story, because it's not like Adrien and Felix are the same character. From the audiences perspective, we know Felix is an older design of Adrien - BUT IN THE ACTUAL STORY Felix and Adrien are not treated as one in the same.

Felix zapping Adrien of his agency wasn't used as set-up to an eventual reveal of Adrien and Felix being two halves of the same whole. Felix is in this story JUST to make sure Marinettes and Adriens relationship doesn't become "toxic". Adrien can't be "mean" to Marinette - A.K.A he can't actually have any meaningful conflict with her. Which would naturally come about when you bring up the themes of agency with sentimonsters.

So, to keep any "toxicity" away from our main leads, Felix is given the agency Adrien should have had from day one.

I really don't have the words to describe how I feel when I see FELIX [who looks identical to Adrien] telling Marinette the sentikids backstory when this show could have just been written in a way where Adrien figures this out on his own and tells Marinette before they fight Gabriel. Adding Felix - who is literally an older design of Adrien - to this story just because they see ADRIEN exerting power over his own story as a detriment to his romantic development with Marinette is so odd to me.

[kalisseo]

clone high s3 comes out tomorrow!!

so uh, there's some predictions ?? and things i would like to see in the eps !!!

kahlopatra angst !?!?

ok so, in the trailer they seem very happy and all, but in the first teaser we saw on insta they were MAD !!! based off other things i made up a plot of why are they mad:

so, maybe there's a sports competition (that one with bikes that Frida loves but I forgot the name...💔) and obviously Frida wants to participate with Cleo!! and Cleo accepted but uh she doesn't really care, so Frida feels bad for that, also Cleo is being mean in front of Frida's dad so that makes the situation worse, and they FIGHT !!! (and I feel like maybe another person makes the situation worse just because they can...) but at the end, Cleo loves Frida, so she helps her and they WIN YAYY!!!

(I just noticed that in the new teaser, they have an award with a fish...)

JOAN AND CONFUCIUS!?!!

I think the name ep "money can buy me love: stupid is as cupid does" OBVIOUSLY talks about Confucius and Joan...so I think the EP would be something like this: Confucius can't get a date for valentine's day, so maybe he pays joan to fake to be her gf, obviously they do all sort of couple things just so Confucius can post pictures (maybe to make Harriet jealous??), eventually they genuinely fall in love

honestly, Confucius really cared about Harriet, and they were a cute couple, so i won't be mad if Joan and him are end game, I'm pretty sure he would be a good boyfriend

cloney island!!!

WE DIDN'T SEE ANYTHING ABOUT CLONEY ISLAND !!! maybe it would be the final ep ?? or maybe the ep 9

anyways, i think it's the PERFECT opportunity to talk about how the clones feel about their clone-parents!!! it would be so interesting, and the show never really talks about it

like, yeah, the clones have made a few comments about how they feel about their clone parents, but it has never been a major plot

cleo, abe and topher would be perfect as protagonists, they're the ones that have talked more about their relationship with being clones (and topher literally changed his full name), but Joan, harriet and Confucius made comments too, INTERESTING COMMENTS !! soy they would be good protagonist too

(also Frida, but she didn't bring it up herself so idk if it counts)

THE FOSTER PARENTS!!!

I HOPE WE SEE MORE OF THE FOSTER PARENTS THIS SEASON !!! specially about the foster parents of the old clones

do the old clones keep living with their og foster parents?? we know Joan lives with Candide now because toots died, but what about Cleo?? they used to live together, did her mother die too?? and the other old clones, do they have the same foster parents?? and if not, how they feel about it?? are they sad, angry or happy?? do they care or not?? we didn't really see how the clones feel about the time skip, so i hope at least we see how they live in their homes now

TOPHER AND ABE.....(specially Topher)

I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WITH THEM AFTER THE BLACKMAILING THING !!!! are they friends again?? they talked about it?? does Abe really care?? DO THEY EVEN REMEMBER???

we see that topher has a new group of friends, but in s2 Abe was his only friend, is he trying to fill the void Abe left ?? or he doesn't care about abe anymore?? because we always saw topher with abe, and when he was in the background he never interacted with the other clones (not even with Ivan the terrible)

maybe Abe tells him to never talk to him again, and Topher realizes he's a bad person and tries to improve (I'm delusional)

anyways, i just want to see what happens with these two, i specially want to see what happens with Topher

OKAY THAT'S ALL BYEEE

[justatalkingface]

There is a difference between making your characters suffer for story purposes, and just flat out torturing your characters for shits and giggles.

And Izuku Midoriya unfortunately falls into the latter category.

Because for whatever reason, Hori just flatout refuses to allow Izuku to have anything nice.

From a lack of supportive adults in his life regardless of his quirk status, lack of teachers actually giving a shit, lack of friends to confine in so he could be paired with the Cash Cow Triplets (Him, Shoto, and Bakugou), and just overall being the butt of many "jokes" that're not funny given his history.

There are even times where it seems like Hori wishes Bakugou was the main character instead of Izuku, and that's honestly sad to be honest.

You know, it's exhausting sometimes being an Izuku fan, because it feels like Hori took the standard shonen formula with him and just... made it worse.

Izuku starts off beaten down, bulled, and discriminated against, then he meets All Might and changes, and trains, and it's great! And then he gets the Quirk.

The problem isn't that he has problems using it, the problem isn't that it's even dangerous, it's that it's so dangerous that using it causes him instant, permeant harm, even with an OP healing Quirk. And when he tries to get help with it?

All Might: Sorry! I'd love to help, but I used up my entire quota of usefulness just getting you to this point. If I do anything more, God will literally murder me!

Izuku: ...What?

All Might: Being your mentor would have been great, I was looking forward to it, but sadly I must slowly fall apart, both in body and as a character, and grow more and more pathetic until little old ladies help me across the road!

Izuku: What?!

Then he goes to UA, and meets Aizawa, whose basic response to children half the time is to ignore them and the other half boils down to:

"Look at me one more time and I'll expel you so fucking hard your limbs will fly off!"

Beat.

"Psych!"

Beat again.

"Or not psych?"

And then finally, finally, we get to Gran Torino, and sure, he only knows how to express affection through causing physical pain, but he's the only person to just actually help Izuku, and he's so desperate not to kill himself he's pathetically grateful to be beaten up just so he doesn't pull a Deidara.

And the thing is? Izuku is hardly the first protagonist to suffer from power related problems. What makes him unique is how unusable his power is, and yet it's his only option.

Naruto, for example, has the Nine Tailed Fox, that big oogie-boogie, living hate, all that stuff. It controls him, drives him berserk, burns his flesh.

But. You know. He doesn't actually use it all that often. He has all these other options available to him, and even even if it ultimately boils down to 'More Shadow Clones' and 'Bigger Rasengan', and that's kinda boring, but it doesn't hurt him. It's a simple but serviceable combination that doesn't in any way, shape or form harm him, and allows him not to use his self destructive powers.

Izuku has OFA and... his brains. That's it. And, I think in a different version of MHA, brains alone could have been enough, hell, it was, for awhile. But you'd have to adjust the goals, is the thing.

Lets look at the Sports Festival.

Izuku did well in the Sports Festival, and honestly that should have been enough, but he had to win for All Might (for... some reason). Acting as an effectively quirkless person, he got to that final round, and even if he got stopped there, that could have, maybe should have, been enough.

But it's not enough to be 'enough'. It's 'Plus Ultra'. He has to be the best. If you look at the festival as a grade, Izuku, before fighting Shoto, had an A, maybe an A minus. He got to the final round where god knows how many other people didn't. But an A wasn't enough, he needed an A plus. And, honestly, that's a typical shonen thing, sure, to strive to be the best, but again, just brains isn't going to make you the best, so he needs more. He needs a typical shonen powerset to match those ambitions. And all he has is One For All.

Another example is Bakugou; I don't want to get into it too heavily (because talking seriously about Bakugou leads to you getting sucked down into the Endless Abyss of Bad Characterization he creates around him) but Bakugou has the formula of a typical shounen rival, but the execution doesn't match. Skilled, powerful, an opposite to the hero in personality and somewhat antagonistic to them... like Sasuke was. But Sasuke lost. He didn't just lose unfair fights, against vastly overpowered opponents, he lost against people on his level, like Rock Lee, or Haku, and critically to Naruto, his rival. There weren't secondary objectives confusing things, there weren't mitigating factors, he just wasn't good enough. Moreover, Sasuke had a reason for being who he was, a deep purpose that drove him that made him aggressive and unwilling to cooperate (immense psychological trauma!) that made his character make sense if you thought about it. And, honestly, and most damning of all, Sasuke, before he had about eight psychotic breaks and became a criminal, was nicer than Bakugou.

Sasuke fought with Naruto, true, but he never bullied him. Sasuke never hunted down to Naruto to tell him he has no parents, that nobody loves him, and that nobody ever will (though, ironically, I think Naruto actually did something like that to Sasuke early on, though that's digressing a bit). And the fact they weren't that antagonist, that their dynamic wasn't so one sided, made their rivalry so much more... palpable to read about, while it was still a rivalry (I'd argue that they stopped being rivals after he left and Naruto was the only one who cared, who seeked him out, while Sasuke was off doing his own shit and living his life without Naruto, and but I digress yet again).

I mean, hell; it's the final arc, and we had this big... friendship moment. All of Izuku's classmates are uniting, under the banner of working together to help each other. Sounds good, right? It's a classic formula. Except... they united against him. All of them, together, formed up under the banner of Bakugou, his 'rival', to hunt him down. Not with Izuku, against... Tomura, or AFO, but against him.

The thing is, I can sum up Izuku's struggles, ultimately, in three ways: he loses. He wins, pyrrhicly, in a way that either damaged the value of victory (or himself) immediately, or had lasting long term negative repercussions for him (or both!). Or, and this is a lot more common lately, he wins, but it feels like an empty victory because it doesn't feel like Izuku won, but Hori made it so he won, so that his victory feels unearned.

Izuku can't win. He can't get respect from anyone, including himself. He can't have his issues be discussed in a meaningful way, and it's just... exhausting, sometimes, to read this, and realize that he's just... suffering. He's suffering all the time, and there just doesn't seem to be an end in sight. After this is over, assuming he's still alive, assuming he still has a Quirk, and is still able to be a hero (all of which I could easily see not happening), do you think he's going to be any better? Is he going to respect himself now? Because I can't really see that happening, anymore, the way I could early on.

[tarisilmarwen]

Rebels Rewatch: "Heroes of Mandalore"

Some familiar TCW faces as we close up the darksaber arc.

Live reaction version.

Sabine's transformation into co-protagonist is nearly complete, as it's the end of her darksaber arc that starts us out this season.

Also, you know, the Season Four trailers framing the whole of Rebels as the story of "A boy who was lost and a girl who was broken".

Not that I minded as it meant that Ezra and Sabine would be spending a lot of screentime together. :D

After not really touching on it in a while, Fenn Rau's courtesy hand on Kanan's shoulder to let him know he's signaled a stop was a nice little way of demonstrating Kanan's blindness and the accommodations other characters make for him.

Ezra finally has that jetpack he's been wanting lol.

I reserve the right to be giddy about the fact that Ezra is literally Sabine's right-hand man. And also that she painted him another Scout Trooper helmet.

Kanan showing off with the Force Leaps there, which Fenn Rau lampshades.

And now we're introduced to Tiber Saxon, Gar's less interesting more fanatical brother.

A+ mid battle banter. I do distinctly remember being delighted by all the playful quipping and snarking back and forth when this first aired, and it's still cute now.

Once again all it takes for Ezra to surrender is someone threatening Sabine. <3

I... I'm sorry, apparently I'm going to be Obnoxious Obsessed Sabezra Shipper for this rewatch, let me attempt not to comment on just them and their stupid faces and every time they interact.

Lol is one of the Kryze Mandos Naruto-running?

That was an awfully quick search of the base there, guys.

"Bo-Katan was made regent by the Jedi before the end of the Clone War." For all of what, one day? Lol.

I do have quibbles about Bo-Katan's characterization here in Rebels, at times it seems like it's assuming more character development than we actually see happen, when we eventually get back around to telling the story of the Siege of Mandalor.

I do find it kind of funny that SO many people were expecting Sabine to have an arc where she becomes Mand'alor when literally the second episode she actually had the darksaber she was immediately like, "Nope it's not me, I'm just holding it for whoever will be the true leader." Course I guess they expected that in this episode she would take up the mantle.

No dice and frankly I am not interested in that kind of plotline unless Ezra gets to be an accessory to it. (I uh... I have a thing about the Royal Maiden/Steadfast Knight dynamic.)

Ezra playing therapist again. <3 Nice to see it go over better than in "Trials of the Darksaber", Sabine is learning to be more open with her thoughts and feelings.

Kanan attempting the playful teasing banter he usually has with Hera (that Ezra and Sabine are suddenly very adept at now, what) but she shuts it down. This is another quibble I have about Season Four, I do not understand Kanan and Hera's sudden awkwardness and Will They/Won't They? when previously it seemed like they had been depicted as already a settled matter. Not really overt but comfortable and resolved. This weird walkback feels like a way to add drama and tension to Kanan's eventual death, and I really don't think it needed that?

The way I usually reconcile it is by headcanoning that Hera conceived Jacen in the three weeks between S3 and S4 and she's been standoffish and cagey about it because she doesn't quite know know yet and she's being anxious and worried and preoccupied and prickly as a result. I headcanon this because it's been my own experience when the husband and I have, ahem, not exactly been careful and had not had more kids in the plans.

Anyway.

Sorry is this not how the scene went? Lol.

Alrich immediately knows it's his baby girl aww.

Huh, I'd forgotten the side pockets on these transports could be used to stick extra troopers. Neat.

This is pretty nicely staged, a lot of fast smooth movement with the jetpacks, Sabine using the bike as cover was a clever touch. The speed of everything is really on display.

Love this hero cue when Kanan ignites his saber and enters the fray. Every character gets a nice little moment of being awesome.

Even Chopper gets to be a flying menace, clonking that one Trooper on the head with a blaster lol.

IF NO SUPPOSED TO SHIP LITERALLY WHAT EVEN IS THIS "SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND." MOMENT?

And ooop, show just stabbed me with Sabine's frantic worried, "Ezra! Get out of there!" and my brain went straight to the finale you guys really need to stop doing this to me.

<3333333

Little shit even gets in a cheeky, "Was wondering where you were." I love him.

And Kanan and Ezra look so happy for her awww.

Tiya's acting when Sabine realizes her weapon is on the battlefield is very nice. Sabine sounds horrified and heartbroken and scared.

Sabine's theme drawing out in long slow mournful notes here.

I'm actually really glad they didn't kill off Ursa and Tristan. It would have meant basically nothing since neither of them were developed enough characters for us to care and also I really didn't need another How To Train Your Dragon 2 Stoick/Valka gutpunch in my life.

Never kill off your characters unless you can tell more story with them gone than you can with them there.

Sabine's showing more emotion than we've seen out of her since "Trials of the Darksaber" oof.

Sabine getting a little bit distracted in her anger and grief and needing a nudge from Kanan. She's going to struggle with this a bit this episode.

It's cute how Bo-Katan kind of implies that Ezra should fly out with her to take down the TIEs.

This poor boy looks so consternated with all these crazy Mando shenanigans lol.

Yeah no, watching the Dutchess in action does not get any better.

Thrawn being all Villain Admirer of the Spectres again, while also picking at Tiber Saxon's logic here. It's basically the same logic and line of objections he has to the Death Star, that it's a bloated and inefficient waste of resources and will create more Rebels than it can kill. Thrawn is trying to point out, "Yeah so this literally insults the honor of a hot-headed quarrelsome proud warrior race culture how exactly is this supposed to quell them from rebelling again?"

Awww.

Ezra immediately gearing up to fight Bo-Katan to protect Sabine. <3 And then the other Clan Kryze members a minute later. <3

"Down boy."

You know something I haven't commented on is just how washed out Mandalore looks. Like, Lothal is covered with brown plains too but there's so much more life and color in them. Like the difference between Kansas farmlands and a nuclear testing site.

There's some kind of unspoken history here between Rau and Bo-Katan in the way they interact which... intrigues me. They talk like old friends and I would definitely like to know more about how they know each other.

With Bo-Katan's little speech here, I do see how people were expecting Sabine to be set up to be Mand'alor.

Something darkly ironic in Sabine naming a superweapon after a pacifist.

Tiber channeling his best Imperial fanatic here. What an ass.

This shot was apparently a visual shoutout to a similar one in TCW's "The Lawless", with Obi-Wan Kenobi. Not the last time Ezra and Obi-Wan would be paralleled.

Tiber really shouldn't have let Sabine have access to her own weapon, that was a stupid move.

Ooooh there's more on that theme of "We make deals with the Empire to survive." Tiber honey that never works out for anyone.

Sabine modifies the weapon all right, but Tiber's eagerness to use it after she warned him not to is hoist by own petard poetry.

BOY IT SURE IS A GOOD THING SABINE DIDN'T SET THE WEAPON TO FULL POWER OUT OF REVENGE. JUST IMAGINE WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED IF SHE LET HER ANGER DRIVE HER TO DO THAT?

OH WAIT I DON'T HAVE TO IMAGINE, TVTROPES HAS ME COVERED.

THANKS TVTROPES. THANKS FOR THAT BIT OF FRIDGE HORROR.

Sabine does still have a very mean vengeful streak in her even after all her years living with Jedi so it takes a bit of prodding from Bo-Katan (of all people) to talk her down from this wrath moment.

We can count that whole Star Destroyer as Sabine's kill right? Lol, she's catching up to you Chopper, better murder some more capital ships.

"The Empire will send everything they have to crush Mandalore." Haaaaaaaaaaaaa. *cringes in The Mandalorian's account of The Purge*

Honestly I think the reason they had Sabine give Bo-Katan the darksaber was because they didn't want to have to write around Sabine being absent again lolol. Having to stay and be the leader of a whole planet would have definitely taken Sabine away from the front lines of the wider Rebellion and more importantly taken her away from her crew and family and like hell were they going to let the Spectres go back to Lothal without her.

Ngl, I ship it a little bit.

This could have been a little more earned, not gonna lie.

IF NO SUPPOSED TO SHIP LITERALLY WHAT EVEN IS THIS??!!?

I'll be honest I'm not really invested in the Mandalorian side of things in fandom so while a lot of these action sequences were pretty cool visually I didn't have much emotional connection unless characters I already knew and loved were onscreen. I'm at least happy we got the arc done and over with and cleared up the rest of the season for other, more interesting (to me) things.

I've got no real thoughts on Bo-Katan, she's fine in this episode but like I said, inconsistent with her other appearances, I don't mind her being leader and having the darksaber but I would have liked her characterization to have more of a coherent throughline from TCW to Rebels to The Mandalorian.

Let's be honest I'm mostly just here for the Ezra/Sabine bits. <3

Next up, field trip with Crazy Uncle Saw!

[saltwukong]

Your Volume 9 Finale Recap

"Oh, not only was it not funny, but you wasted my time." -- Queen Willow Pill

Ultimately, the volume ends exactly the way most of us anticipated: Ruby just decides to be okay, to be enough, or whatever it is she needs to be, with nothing said as to the people being eaten by Grimm in Vacuo as per the norm.

Jaune gets the Cat out of Neo's body by burning parts of the tree so they inhale Vision Quest smoke and Neo can take over again. The fact that the tree is on fire kind of gets dropped after this.

Ruby gets to keep her memories after ascension because fuck you, we don't care.

The end of the episode tries very hard to connect the volume with the actual world of RWBY we've had established up to Volume 8 but that just means trying to give the Brother Gods a backstory. Basically the Ever After is their original home, and they outgrew it and ran off to make other worlds on their own.

The cat gets a very ugly end by being eaten by Jabberwalker clones. Neo doesn't die die but gets to "ascend" die, so either way, we're still reserving the redemption-esque aspects for women and chunking anything that doesn't have appealing titties in the garbage.

Funnily enough, the cat actually does get some screentime in that infodump about the Brother Gods, in which it's basically said that they created the Cat and then dumped their responsiibilities of fixing shit in the Ever After onto it, but forgot to program ascension nonsense into him (or something of the sort) and so the Cat had no means of dying ascending healing changing becoming something not evil after it got its heart broken by Alyx's betrayal. So basically, the Cat and Neo were both stuck with broken hearts and no therapy and both turned evil, but the chick got a second chance and the cat got to be gorily eaten by monsters.

There's a very moralizing air about it all, as usual, with much ado and nonsense being made about the power of self-direction and balance and harmony and god, just kill me. You can go read Kerry's nonsense on Twitter for yourself if you want to.

Following this, Little comes back but is now named Somewhat, because "I'm not one thing, I'm somewhat of a lotta things" and I fucking died of blunt force trauma from the force I was hit with that overarching theme with.

Alyx's knife turns Jaune young again (but with white anime protagonist hair streaks) because We Quite Literally Don't Care To Explain This So Fuck You.

The blacksmith dumps RWBYJ out in some desert with the very strong implication that there was also time travel involved, pretty much casting off any remaining expectations that they might try to address the shitstorm that happened at the end of Volume 8. Why do that when you can just write it out of the story?

[scarletlotus182]

Ok so now that it’s had time to marinate in your brain: Unicorn thoughts? Also how’s 00 going?? Don’t forget the movie!

Fuck, where do I start with Unicorn?

Uhhhh, I really loved it, of course. It's definitely one of my top Gundam series. If CCA was the ending to the "main" UC series I think Unicorn was the perfect epilogue and it perfectly represents the heart of what the series is about. People still face conflict, and yet there are those you strive for peace and understanding no matter how naive or idealistic it might be.

Banagher, as a protagonist does a great job embodying this too, imo. He's not particularly strong or talented like the other UC protagonists before him but he's honest in a way that the others aren't.

Mineva also being a main character is great given how she was a catalyst for a lot of really big events in Zeta, and I just think it's cool that a small scene in the original MSG would end up paying off with a plot point like, 30 years later. And honestly, the entire cast is great. In particular I got really attached to Marida and Zinnerman. The only character I'm kinda ehh about is Riddhe, he's just.... kinda there, and his arc feels really out of place.

I have some issues with how Marida's arc "ends", it again feels like a long line of UC tropes that just rub me the wrong way the more it happens. I think the fate of all cyber newtypes/puru clones is kinda lazy but I'll admit that I think Marida's death was handled a lot better than previous incarnations of this trope- in at least the sense that it had actual impact and felt like she had more of a presence in the series, rather than a lot of other cyber newtypes feeling like they were made to be disposed of by the narrative. That said, Marida's death hit me the most and I actually cried during that scene while I was at work. The only other character who came close to that impact was the original Puru, and I was more mad when that happened.

As for non-narrative stuff, the presentation of Unicorn was amazing. Soundtrack by Hiroyuki Sawano literally does not miss, and I think a lot of the CGI holds up pretty well. There are a couple sequences that look kinda off but none that really stand out to me. The MS designs all fuck supremely, I love the Delta Plus and the Jegans, especially love the Geara Zulus and their very "wolfenstein" look. The fact that they carry Mobile Suit STG-44s is also rad as fuck. Unicorn even manages to make a lot of the older suits look really good and have some moment to shine, like the scene with the old Zeon suits raiding the EFF base before the Byarlant of all things taking them down.

I think my favorite scene in the series though is when Banagher uses destroyer mode to hold onto the tether and the Sleeves' carrier. That scene was actually Peak.

I'll probably talk about 00 when I finish season2 and then again when I finish the movie, but I'll say I'm loving it a LOT. I can see why a lot of people recommend 00 if UC is too daunting of a starting point.

[griseldabanks]

I'd like to introduce you to the main characters of my dragon rider story, The Ambassadors, and I decided a nice, low-effort way of doing so would be with the OC bingo I made a while back.

For starters, meet Shard, the protagonist and sole POV character of the story:

His name has secret significance: Waaaaay back in the day, my brother and I started to develop the concept for a video game. It was a fantasy game, basically a Zelda clone, where you would play as a young man named Shard who would go on a quest of some sort. I don't remember much of it, especially considering we never got very far with it before we realized we were, like, ten and had no idea how to make a good video game. So we scrapped it, but I kept the name Shard and tucked it in my back pocket to use for another fantasy protagonist sometime. The fairly traditional fantasy setting of this story seemed like the perfect opportunity to put the name to use.

I am so sorry, my child: All this poor kid wants to do is live a calm, peaceful life like a normal person, but I dropped the Plot on him, ripped him away from his comfortable life, and threw him way out of his comfort zone. Worst of all, though, I put him in situations where he has to deal with trauma and anger issues that were never a problem before, to the point where he loses hope and almost takes his own life T_T

I would love fanart of him: Once upon a time, someone did make fanart of him, and it was the most amazing thing ever <3 Unfortunately, due to some worldbuilding changes I've made since then, it's no longer quite accurate, so I'd need new art made anyway. But I would be thrilled.

I would want to be his friend irl: Shard would make such a good friend, guys. Kind, thoughtful, happy to let others talk and just listen, strong moral compass. Due to the events of the story, he has both a reawakening of his childlike wonder and playfulness, as well as a growing confidence and assertiveness when the chips are down. He ends up as a quiet kind of leader - the kind who listens to everyone's input and assigns tasks to people based on their strengths.

Made specifically for a relationship: I mean...the whole point of this story was "a dragon rider story, but done right." So yeah, Shard was created to be a dragon rider, which meant he was made to be in relationship with a dragon from day one. I don't know that I consciously did this, but the way his dragon's personality developed certainly informed his own character development, because they needed to be foils for each other.

Vital to the plot: He's literally the protagonist, so yeah.

I can see so much of myself in him: As I said a while ago, there aren't a whole lot of fantasy protagonists as quiet and mild as Shard. At least, not in fantasy that's more or less centered around adventures and quests and battles and things. Shard is mostly reactive, running away from danger rather than towards it, with no desire to get involved in any greater adventure beyond simply keeping himself and his dragon safe. Eventually, he can't just sit back any longer, and he does get involved in the epic climactic battle for the fate of the world, but if he had his way, he would just settle down somewhere quiet, away from any sort of excitement. Fantasy protagonists tend to be much more attention-grabbing than that, but Shard is much more like me. So I guess it's no wonder that I naturally began to write him that way. Even the trouble he has with anger later on in the story is a sort of mirror of my own fear. One reason I'm mild-mannered myself is that I fear the consequences of letting anger get away with me.

Could be the protagonist of his own story: And he is! XD

I love him, Your Honor: I really do. Not just because he's a lot like me, or because I get to vicariously live out a lot of my dragon-related dreams through him. He's also the character who has most violently and abruptly wrested control away from me while I was writing him. There's one scene where it was like he came alive and started doing things I hadn't even thought of, and all I could do was watch. His actions helped reveal the main theme of the story, but I hardly feel like I was the one to write them. That never happens with me, so I would treasure him as a character for this reason only, even if none of the other reasons were true.

He gets so much page-time: Again, he's the protagonist and only POV character. He's on every page.

Free space: Can I gush about Shard's armor and sword? The human Ambassadors (the dragon riders) each have a suit of scale mail in a color that matches that of their dragon. Shard's is black, so he cuts a striking figure when he goes into battle. The hilt of his sword is shaped to look like a dragon, with the head lying on the flat of the blade, the wings forming the crossguard, and the tail curled around the pommel. In my mind's eye, it looks sick <3

[supremechancellorrex]

Funny thing is, the main point I was making wasn't Shaak Ti slander for that scene, more the fact that the Republic owns slaves and that is canonically the status quo.

I like live let live too, but I also believe in dialogue, especially on how the Republic buy and own slaves and the Jedi support the Republic in the canon. If you don't want to reply, okay, but you did so... guess I'll reply.

So you've essentially just said that "Technically, Fives is 'property' of the Republic", thus owned by the Republic, which is my point. You bring up the character context, but it's irrelevant as I already know Shaak Ti as a character is keeping Fives from Nala Se's clutches, I'm talking about the system, the system she is leveraging, the system the Jedi fight for regardless. I actually think it's more a "bad faith" argument (as you call it) on your part to say Fives is the person I'm talking about a potential rejoinder from, when Nala Se is clearly the other person in the argument. If it wasn't true that Fives was "property of the Republic", Nala Se would have said so in her cold and clinical terms.

Riyo Chuchi: "There are those that only view clones as military assets. But I'm working to change that, to ensure [you clones] all have the same rights as any galactic citizen."

As for your misunderstanding about what I was saying about the narrative, the narrative across canonical media does communicate and confirm that the clones are slaves. There are literal quotes of their lowly status. Riyo Chuchi talks about the clones having no rights in the Bad Batch, which makes them slave soldiers logically. I disagree with the notion the "Jedi and clones together have a job to do", because the clones didn't get a choice in that job, hence they are enslaved. Jedi can leave the Jedi Order and thus the army, it's what Ahsoka does and what Anakin talks about doing frequently, meanwhile if Clones leave the army they are hunted down. Cut literally had to fake his own death. And with that difference in privilege, the Jedi do bear responsibility in how they act with the clones as part of the "shady" Republic military command.

Ah, the "It's a kid show" response. The semantics don't need to be argued, they're already there, Shaak Ti wins the argument by talking about how the clones are "property of the Republic". TCW has the continued gaffe of having their protagonists command sentient slave soldiers to get all blasted for the state, and has a ton of adult topics from clones having no rights, to massacres to corporate and political corruption. The Zygerrians are slavers, and much distaste and anger is hypocritically shown to them in the show. It's clear the writers believe their writing isn't just in the realm of Spongebob.

The problem is that the writers mishandle these topics and draw attention to how unethical the Jedi Order is all while trying to avoid talking about it. Slick vocally blames the Jedi for his enslavement, and Anakin and Obi-Wan don't respond. Shaak Ti calls Fives "property of the Republic", gaming the system to save him from Nala Se, and yet no one talks about the fact of whether that fact technicality should even exist in the first place and should the Jedi really be supporting a system where their clone soldiers are lowly "property" of a state. All the while the surface-level 'niceness' of the Jedi is a failed attempt at a shield from criticism.

Ironic. As for your talk of "same values", the clones were brainwashed into those values, while the Jedi made a choice to believe them. Since they were foetuses in tubes, the Clones have been force-fed an education full of Republic propaganda. It's why they start out believing they should be canon fodder for the Republic because of this. The Jedi never acknowledge that a lot of loyalty of the clones to the Republic, that makes them throw themselves into battle for it and get blown up, is indoctrination in canon, nor do they confront how complicit they are in that by steering the ship from the upper decks where as you say the clones are "drowning" on the lower.

You make references to the Jedi being essentially 'nice' on average when speaking to clones and wanting "less casualties", but that kindness seems rather superficial when the system they patriotically support is the problem. The Jedi just about tell the clones their lives have value, try to mitigate some loses here and there out of 'compassion', but never confront that the problem is that the Republic they are defending is sending these men, who never had a choice in life, to death by the thousands. Men who were grown to be canon fodder and yet are so much more, even by their own words. So, they shouldn't be just against the war, but against clone enslavement to a pro-active degree.

And, it's funny how you've talked about the Jedi having no power in the situation. They literally try to overthrow Palpatine, and nearly succeed with their actual superpowers if not for Anakin's turn at that moment. It's just Palpatine being a Sith Lord that was the step too far, not the slavery, the slavery was fine apparently. So, they made choices throughout the war to as you put it be "Friggin' enablers" and not really talk about the fact there are literal slaves under their command, "drowning". So, "they suck because they didn't just take control of the government and make them do what's right" is actually correct, although not anything after it.

A forcible occupation/overthrow to induce reform on humanitarian issues and a redrafting of constitutions is not out of the question. It's happened throughout history, and actually worked. Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan were briefly occupied for this purpose. Do you honestly think the Jedi Order were going to be an "Ubermensch dictatorship"? If so, you have even less faith in their morality than I, because I don't think they'd be willing to expend the effort. And, again, they were going to overthrow Palpatine on him being an evil Sith bad leader anyway, yet something as morally reprehensible as slavery apparently wasn't good enough.

Despite their devotion to the Republic, the Republic clearly isn't worth supporting to anyone with common sense. Yet the Jedi Order never come to this realisation. Slave soldiers aren't ringing enough alarm bells for them it looks. If a serfdom like Tsarist Russia can be overthrown by literal peasants mid-war, I think the allegedly-educated, superpowered Jedi could do better.

Damn, so they're just bad writers who wrote themselves into a corner and don't want to deal with the world they created beyond the odd reference. Shame. But the plotline is already in the "ethical quandary", so the fact they think they can still avoid it when it's too late really shows they don't understand anything about the topic of slavery, what they've already wrote and how the silence reflects on their characters. How Star Wars deals with slavery is quite frankly insulting to the topic, especially when they try to brush it under the rug despite it obviously being there.

"Tough spot" doesn't cut it. Neither does it being a "kid's show".

Debunking more myths in the GFFA: the Jedi and the clones.

I wrote a post debunking the various myths about how “the Jedi condone slavery”, a while ago. Something I had omitted (because it’s such a big topic) was the following two statements that concern the clone troopers’ relations with the Jedi:

“The clones were genetically bred to have accelerated growth, so they’re technically child soldiers.”

“The clones were slaves of the Jedi.”

Both the above statements are inaccurate, let’s explore why. 

“The clones were child soldiers”

Let’s get the easy one out of the way first, because it’s a logic that cuts both ways. If age is our only determination of the maturity of a Star Wars character, then Grogu is not a baby. He is aged 50, and is thus a middle-aged man.

Who cruelly eats the babies of a woman…

… and knowingly tortures animals for his own sadistic pleasure.

Of course, I’m kidding. Grogu’s none of the above things.

The narrative frames him as a cute baby who does innocent baby stuff. Him eating the eggs is played off as comedic, as is him lifting with the frog. To this day, some fans still call him “Baby Yoda”.

Conversely, despite the clones being 10/14-years-old, their actions, behaviors, way of thinking, sense of humor, morals etc, are all those of an adult.

Like, Ahsoka is technically older than Rex in this scene.

The scene doesn’t portray them as peers, though. This isn’t written as “a teen and a tween talking”. No, Rex looks, acts and behaves like a grown-up and is thus framed as such by the narrative.

You can make the argument “they’re child soldiers”, but (unless you’re doing so in bad faith) you’d also have to argue that “Grogu’s an adult”.

“The clones were the Jedi’s slaves”

Nope. For all intents and purposes, they’re in the same boat as the Jedi, who George Lucas stated multiple times had been drafted to fight in the war.

Again: both the Jedi (monk/diplomats untrained for fighting on a battlefield) and clones (literally bred en masse only to fight) are being forced to fight by Palpatine and the Senate.

Though, on paper, the clones were commissioned by Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas, it was actually done by the Sith (who either manipulated or assassinated Sifo-Dyas then stole his identity, depending on the continuity you choose to adhere to). The rest of the Jedi had no idea these clones were being created.

So while the clones are slaves… they’re not owned by the Jedi.

They’re the army of the Republic, they belong to the Senate. This isn’t exactly a scoop, they refer to the clones as something to purchase…

… and manufacture.

As far as the Senate’s concerned, clones are property, like droids. 

Like there’s a whole subplot in The Bad Batch about this very point: after the war, the clones are decommissioned and left out to dry because they literally have no rights, they served their purpose.

The only trooper to ever canonically blame the Jedi for the clones’ enslavement is Slick, who the narrative frames as having been bribed and manipulated by Asajj Ventress into betraying his comrades.

Also, the only canonical Jedi shown to ever be mean, dismissive or mistreating the clones in any way, is Pong Krell.

And it’s eventually revealed he’s in fact a full-on traitor, hence why the story frames him as an antagonistic dick from the moment he’s introduced. He doesn’t represent the Jedi in any way.

We know this because the other Jedi we’ve been shown are always prioritizing their clones’ lives over theirs, if given the chance.

Finally, if we wanna get even more specific… as Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), the clones belong to Palpatine. 

Palpatine who is a Sith Lord. 

Palpatine who arranged for the creation of the clones and had them all injected with a chip that would activate upon hearing a code-word…

… and forced them to murder their Jedi without hesitation or remorse.

When you bear all that  ⬆️  in mind and when you read this quote by George Lucas…

“The Jedi won’t lead droids. Their whole basis is connecting with the life force. They’d just say, ‘That’s not the way we operate. We don’t function with non-life-forms.” So if there is to be a Republic army, it would have to be an army of humans.”    - The Star Wars Archives: 1999-2005, 2020  

… narratively-speaking, everything falls into place.

Sidious knows that:

If he orchestrates a war designed to thin the Jedi’s numbers, corrupt their values and plunge the galaxy into chaos…

If he wants to draft the Jedi - peace-keeping diplomats who’d never willingly join the fray - to fight in his war…

… then the only way they won’t resist the draft and abstain from fighting is if they think joining the conflict will save lives.

So he creates a set of cruel, sadistic villains for them to face, opponents who will target innocent civilians at every turn…

… and instead of lifeless droids, he prepares for the Jedi an army of men… living, mortal people who, despite being well-trained, will be completely out of their league when facing the likes of Dooku…

… Ventress…

… Grievous…

… Savage Opress…

… or the defoliator, a tank that annihilates organic matter.

Thus, in order to save as many clone and civilian lives, the Jedi join the fray despite knowing that doing so will corrupt their values. 

And as the war rages on, a bond of respect is formed between the two groups.

Clearly, the Jedi don’t like the fact that the Republic is using the clones to fight a war, but for that matter, they don’t like being in a war, in fact they advocated against it.

However, it’s happening regardless of their issues with the idea or personal philosophies. Said The Clone Wars writer Henry Gilroy:

“I’d rather not get into the Jedi’s philosophical issues about an army of living beings created to fight, but the Jedi are in a tough spot themselves, being peacekeepers turned warriors trying to save the Republic.”

And bear in mind, the Jedi are basically space psychics, the clones are living beings that they can individually feel in the Force… 

… so the Jedi feel every death but need to move on, regardless, only being able to mourn the troopers at the end of every battle.

We see this in the Legends continuity too, by the way.

(that is, when the writers actually try to engage with the narrative)

Also, if you ask the clones, they’re grateful the Jedi have their backs.

When Depa Billaba voices her concerns about how the war is impacting the Jedi’s principles, troopers Grey and Styles are quick to make it clear how grateful they all are for the Jedi’s involvement:

So the clones aren’t the Jedi’s slaves. If anything, they’re both slaves of the Republic (considering how low the Jedi’s status actually is in the hierarchy).

Only I’d argue the clones have it much, much worse. 

The Senate sees the Jedi as “ugh, the holier-than-thou space-monk lapdogs who work for us”… but a Jedi has the option to give up that responsibility. They can leave the Order, no fuss or stigma. 

A clone trooper cannot leave the GAR! If they do, they’re marked for treason and execution. Again, they’re not perceived as “people”.

And it doesn’t help that the Kaminoans, the clones’ very creators, see the troopers as products/units/merchandise. A notion that the Jedi are quick to correct whenever they get the chance.

How The Clone Wars writers describe the clones’ relationship with the Jedi.

Keep reading

[astriiformes]

ask for bad brains: convince me specifically to watch owl house. not your normal "sell people on watching TOH" script but me. why should i watch owl house.

Hmmmmm okay, I will give this my best shot

One thing I like about it that I know you also enjoy in a series is that it feels like there are a lot of threads to pull at as a fan. Some of this is because they laid very good groundwork for certain reveals -- it's absolutely a show that feels different on a rewatch because of worldbuilding and character details that come into play later -- but some of it is also because it is an all-ages show on the Disney channel that the creator originally wanted to pitch as a darker, more horror-focused adult series, and it shows, and it's very possible to reach inside those inner working and pull something interesting out. Like, the aesthetics of the show are explicitly inspired by Hieronymus Bosch paintings (there are in fact multiple characters named after him), from what I understand the original pitch involved literal, actual Hell and had to be softened to "the Demon Realm," the primary villain is a huge dig at Christian extremism even though they can't quite say it out loud...... in some ways the fact that they had to dial down certain elements has made it extra fascinating to be a fan of, because it feels like getting handed the baton to go wild with the things the creators couldn't quite take all the way given network restrictions but are still in the DNA of the show.

--Also it is really, really funny to see them try to write a villain who is a Puritan whose motivation is a result of being a Puritan without being allowed to outright say anything too negative about Christianity.

The other thing is that one reason all that shows is because they still crammed a lot of it into the show anyways. The primary antagonist's evil plan is... genocide. There's a whole horrific subplot about one of the main characters turning out to be the latest in a line of murdered clones and at one point you see a fucked-up clone graveyard full of the skeletons of dozens of other dead clones. The main setting is the dead, mostly-rotted body of a giant god-like being that has since turned into a chain of islands. So for people interested in the darker and more mature side of the storyline, there's plenty to work with.

And all of that is a backdrop to a very solid cast of characters and character relationships, because you know, an interesting setting and premise alone does not a compelling piece of media make. It takes a little while for some of the darker and more complex elements of the plot to emerge but by the time it does you have reasons to care about it, which is of course the kind of thing that makes higher stakes really work. It's genuinely a very funny series and I think the sense of humor would gel with you, and I like that it actually explores the impact certain things would actually have on the characters -- not the least of which is that it handles its portal fantasy premise in a way that feels like a direct answer for everyone who was very dissatisfied with the Chronicles of Narnia, with a protagonist who is constantly struggling with the whole "Well, I ran off to a cool fantasy world and have developed close and loving relationships there and really grown as a person, but I do have another life I don't think I can run away from forever" question. (And I really like how they've been handling it!)

--And okay, I know that you, like me, are not one to be sold on rep and rep alone but it feels like a travesty not to at least mention that there is a (very cool, would have been one of my favorites regardless of gender) nonbinary character who is like, a real, grown adult even though a lot of the cast are teens, and it's just so refreshing to see a like, fairly major, late 40s nb character handled well and heavily involved in the main plot and the life of one of the main characters. (Although they don't show up until S2).

Obviously like any show it's not perfect, and it's especially frustrating that the plot and writing had to take some visible hits as a result of S3 getting mostly axed (turned into three double-length episodes instead of a full season; we hate to see network meddling), but I do think you'd enjoy parts of it a lot!

Also they poke fun at Harry Potter sometimes (due also being a series involving a magic school) in ways that are very satisfying, and I need more people at the intersection of the TOH and TLT fandoms to understand why me comparing the Emperors in both series is funny. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[cienie-isengardu]

@blue-mint-winter​ commented post:

Your welcome and I completely agree about TCW changing important characterizations, especially Anakin's. Also Barriss, I will never forgive that shit. They definitely did that. That's why my favourite eps were about Jar Jar LOL

I spent the whole day debating with myself should I go on and scream about the unfairness done to Barriss and Jedi as a whole or not since talking negative about TCW at times feels like opening can of worms, but my frustration with current star wars content already hit acceptable limits and is waaay past them so I decided to screw all consequences, it is time for a mini-rant. I hope you don’t mind me bringing that up as separate post (or if you don’t wish to be tagged in that post, lemme know :))

Okay. Where do I even start? Anyone who would sort posts through my blog will know that I love analyzing stuff and more often than not, I’m critical toward the Jedi Order (especially Order as the institution) and that through the years I have a lot of critical things to say about the new canon, with the emphasis on The Clone Wars.

TCW has literally been a thorn in my side for years and although the show had its good moments (storyline wise and artistic effects/music) that I want to acknowledge, the longer the show was run, the more it felt to me as the Triumph of Form over Substance. The creators needed to go from point A (post AotC/clone wars) to point B (RotS / Order 66) but as it was proved, they did not need to actually keep Legends (old canon) elements in the original form and things were used or discarded as they wanted. Some choices made more or less sense, some were turning our knowledge totally 180 degrees with various effects or fan reactions. Like I will never agree with chip in clone brains storyline (x)(x) nor implying domestic abuse toward Anakin and Padme (they were meant to be tragic, doomed lovers, not being in abusive relationship for Force’s sake) or erasing Prequels/Legends characterization of Anakin for the more common action macho idiotic one (something that creators themselves admitted to do, which is why Skywalker is more mix of Han & Luke because apparently some people aren’t capable of accepting introverted / emotional man as main hero? Riiight). At the same time, I’m willing to defend changes done to Mandalorians,  because the story has a great potential but sadly the show focused mainly at the pacifism vs. terrorism angle. Which I guess makes sense from U.S.-centric perspective, but for someone like me, whose country/nation actually lost its independence for over 123 years (1795 -1918) and then suffered through the Nazi occupation (1939-1945) and survived the communist regime (1945-1989) before finally feeling like free country again, then Death Watch, however brutal or incoherent at times, rings a different bell. It is not about nationalism itself but wanting to have your culture back despite all the damage done through the years of forced expulsion / displacement or warriors (those not fitting into New society) and be independent from Republic / Empire. And this hits me more closely as a Pole than terrorist narratives done to DW (and Bariss). 

But the thing that irritates me the most is how characters and their powers aren’t incoherent in a sensible way. They can use Force for great action and dueling, but Anakin can’t feel Obi-Wan’s presence when the man worked undercover (sorry if the show actually explained it for I do not remember it was ever addressed?).  Anakin at first was shown as a self-sacrificing type of person (e.g. Jedi Crash) but for some reasons sometimes doesn’t do anything to save clones from certain doom even if he could use Force to stop them from falling down into lava or whatever it was in Citadel? And it is not just him? Ahsoka killed clones infected by worms but didn’t kill Bariss because they were best friends or whatever? But she is the bestie with clones! She cares! She is after all the protagonist who acts smart and all while all adults suddenly lose their brains. Like Anakin, a Jedi General, does not study maps before an attack on an enemy position, but Ahsoka did and saved the day. What a hero! And whatever she will do, it is all right at the end of day. Bo-Katan willingly supported Pre Vizsla/DW who destroyed the whole village and killed an innocent girl (whose Ahsoka befriended) but does it matter? Nope. Because she is now besties with Bo-Katan, a beloved freedom fighter, a noble lady and all the jazz.Pre Vizsla? Anyone remember him? No? No wonder, a persona non grata who would drag Bo-Katan (and Ahsoka by extension) in bad light so the show and other current sources are literally erasing him from the Mandalorian storyline. Because it is better to not remember the past than face a consequence of characters (creators) choices. 

It feels like yeah, Jedi care if the episode needs it but don’t care if the show needs some shock value or feeling of danger. Mace cares for clone troopers and even offers droids a chance to surrender but isn’t somehow bothered when 12 year old Boba was put in prison for the worst ADULT criminals. Sure, it is very reasonable. Anakin cares for clones, unless the show needs a high death toll or jokes (throwing Rex off the dam without warning). Jedi will literally jeopardize an important mission just to give one of them a proper burial but will not give a shit about dying or dead clones. And so on.

I understand that the show was made for kids, but if we go into dark themes - and the show went into pretty dark stuff, mind you - then at least it should be addressed properly. Slick accused Jedi of keeping clones slaves yet it doesn’t matter. What a bad clone! Totally forgotten for the rest of the season. Bo-Katan’s past crimes don't matter since you can just erase Pre Vizsla from her narrative. Does the story need emotional impact? Create female characters (Satine, Steela, Tryla, Teckla Minnau) to kill off, so someone else (Obi-Wan, Ahsoka & Padme) could use it for either development or making political statements and either turn dead ones into some saints or forget them all. Or just kill off clones, there is so many of them anyway, who cares how competent soldiers they were or if you make them act idiotic. Jedi lead an army made of people with no legal right, but the clones *love so much them they have nightmares about order66* so everything is right. All makes sense, right?

This doesn’t just influence how fans see Anakin (turned into a typical action male lead) or how Ahsoka is literally everywhere now. The show, as I’m seeing it, did a great disservice to Jedi. And Barriss… Barriss is just the tip of the iceberg. The authors literally twisted every established clone wars storyline around a new character - Ahsoka Tano - so there was no real reason to use Barriss since they could simply introduce us to original Ahsoka’s friend. She already interacted with so many original Jedi characters but instead the team took one of the most known Legends!Jedi Healers and turned into terrorist? Killing innocent people to prove Jedi lost their ways? It really feels disrespectful, both to fans and Jedi.  

And you know what TCW did not show us? Jedi Force-healing their troopers. Something that Barriss did on various points in Legends sources. She literally worked in various Republic Mobile Surgical Units (Rimsoo) as was seen in Republic comics series & Medstar duology or helping at triage unit(s) and as Jedi healers would not abbadon the wounded during enemy attack. Like when fire spread around them and cut away from safe way to evacuate, her first worry was about the injured people (Republic #65)

I’m really supposed to believe a person with such a mindset and compassion would decide to kill innocent people to make a point about war? Really? REALLY? Even more since there was no focus on why a Jedi like her could break and do something like that in the first place? This wasn’t a development or fleshing out for character, it was just shifting the blame on someone so Ahsoka could get out of Order before RotS/Purge. Which is unfair to Barriss. 

Oh, and by the way, remember how Luminara was talking to Anakin to let it go and accept that his padawan may have died or something along the lines? The mentioned Republic #65 has Mace Windu personally searching for survivors and not leaving enemy lines without checking first if someone survives even when he was told that enemy may attack at any moment:

 This is a proper Jedi. There is a difference between accepting that you did not manage to save someone and not bothering to at least try to save. Which is just another reason why TCW Jedi strikes me more as arrogant, manipulative and uncaring than the flawed people presented in Legends. 

Good Force, it is really bad if I'm going out of my way to rant about respecting Jedi characters...

[maxwell-grant]

Any thoughts on Terry Bogard?

I happen to be one of the 5 existing South American fighting game fans who actually isn’t that much of a King of Fighters fan. It’s not that I don’t like the franchise, not at all, I’ve obviously played some of the games growing up, mostly when friends tagged me along, I keep up with SNK news and there’s a lot of interesting things to talk about that they’ve brought to the table in terms of the conceptual development of fighting games, but for the most part, I’m not terribly interested in most of their characters sans a couple of exceptions, Terry obviously being one of the exceptions. I don’t like KOF enough to actively think about it the way I do Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat, but I like it enough to keep up with it and to get very excited when Terry was announced for Smash (the music was definitely the best part of his inclusion though), and to be baffled when gringos left and right were whining LITERALLY WHO like this was a nobody character. It was definitely the first time I saw how KOF is nowhere near as ubiquitous in popularity in North America as it’s in South America and Japan (or maybe I just underestimated how terminally incurious much of the Smash playerbase is). Anyway, on to Terry, 

I find it important to note that Fatal Fury/KOF’s position as a rival / brother to Street Fighter isn’t just a consequence of their popularity, it’s actually baked right into the inception of Fatal Fury. The SNK wiki notes that Hiroshi Matsumoto, one of the key developers of Fatal Fury along with Takashi Nishiyama (the lead designer of Street Fighter 1) remarked that the mysterious Caucasian man who punches through a wall in the SF1 intro was intended to be a character in the next game if given the opportunity, and that this character ended up being the model for Terry. In a sense, Terry is the first character ever depicted in the Street Fighter series, appearing even before we get a glimpse of Ryu, and it’s fitting too because, really, between the two, Terry Bogard is much more of what you’d imagine a street fighter to look like. 

The big innovation SNK brought over Capcom, in terms of fighting game character design, was it’s modernization of the character archetypes at play, so that, instead of traditional veterans or combat experts, it’s characters looked more like action superstars in street clothes (and KOF would soon pick up notoriety for it’s much more androgynous and fashionista protagonists). In a way, Fatal Fury was a very logical next step for Nishiyama and Matsumoto to take, following the design principles for SF 1 & 2, but breaking off to do something unique and new. You can pinpoint a lot of what worked so well about SNK’s approach by looking at the points of contrast between Ryu and Terry, characters that were pretty much born together and were developed and solidified within an identical time period, as Fatal Fury debuted only months after SF2. 

I mentioned in my Ryu post that Ryu was a far cry from the average karateka protagonist in video games at the time, and that the biggest reason why Ryu looks comparatively generic today is because Street Fighter set the standard that everyone else had to break. Ryu started out as a fresh spin on the karateka protagonist, with shonen influences that gradually turned into a distinct character and combination of real life legends with pop culture archetypes, Mas Oyama meets Kenshiro. As Ryu needed to break from the tradition established by the Mas Oyama clones that predated him, so did Terry need to break from the tradition established by Ryu. 

Unlike Ryu, Terry’s design bears little influence from any existing martial arts experts, as Terry’s intended to be an American warrior, and back in the 80s, Japanese game developers wouldn’t exactly have much of a reference point for American martial arts masters, as barring a couple of exceptions like Joe Lewis, few American martial artists made much of a name for themselves abroad. Instead, they used American media as the reference point (one of Terry’s original designers claims he was based on the Skid Row vocalist), which is part of why Terry’s design reads so much like a Japanese caricature of what a cool American action hero would look like, a muscular ripped blonde dude wearing a star-studded jacket and jeans and trucker cap and fire coming out of his fists like that other famous American bruiser who is too lame to wear a hat.

Nowadays, Terry’s broken yet infectious English catchphrases are one of the most famous things about him, but their existence is actually incredibly fitting to his design. He’s Cool Man Joe America Man who brawls FOR JUSTICE and rides motorcycles and plays basketball, his Favorite Food is Cheeseburgers, he’s got the moves on the babes and later a cool girlfriend, he cracks zingers and one-liners left and right, he likes rock and country music and he’s From The Streets, and he’s a Lone Wolf who’s out for Revenge against the Gangster SunofaBeetch who killed his Father, and he’s got fire coming out of his fists and he dances around and he’s got catchphrases for every super move. He’s got a super aggressive playstyle, flying across the screen and pulling spin kicks. He bobs and dances around like a boxer and flings himself at you like a linebacker and he shoots fireballs by punching the ground like a superhero.

I’m not saying this stuff disparagingly, I really like Terry and obviously breaking away from the SF2 mold and making such an aggressively hip and cool dude character as their protagonist was the right call. Actually, my favorite thing about Terry is that, while he talks a lot of trash and a lot of his one-liners are a 50/50 between mean and stupid (localization doesn’t help either), I like that he’s consistently a really nice character and one of the nicest of the SNK protagonists. Learning that he came to regret throwing Geese off a skyscraper, even tried to save him from death the 2nd time they fought, and went on he adopt and mentor the son of his great arch-enemy to try and break the cycle of violence between their families definitely won me over big time on the character on more than just his cool design and moveset.

Part of what made the Fatal Fury games stand out at the time was that they fleshed out their world and character backstories a lot more than Street Fighter 2 was doing, particularly in the rivalry between Terry and Geese, but despite being SNK’s mascot, I like that Terry isn’t really the main character of most KOF storylines, he’s always there but they get to constantly have new protagonists taking the lead, something most other fighting games had far less success in doing consistently. Again, I’m not super big on KOF in general, I don’t hold the non-Fatal Fury parts of the franchise in as much regard, but there’s definitely a lot of great and important stuff to look for within it, and Terry definitely deserves his spot as one of the fighting game greats.

Absolutely HATE fighting this fucker in Smash Bros though, but I play Kazuya so I’ll concede that I have it coming.

[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

THE BOX IS NABOO

That’s it, I’m doing it, I’m writing that stupid meta I’ve had in the works for two and a half years, I’m sharing it with the world. I promised it for last Thursday, my poll was forever ago, but whatever! I’m writing that freaking thing.

(super duper long post, press j to skip)

Enter my rabbit hole.

First thing to establish: the Box makes no sense whatsoever in-universe.

((EDIT: Something I forgot to mention. IRL, the premise of a giant murder cube and the aesthetic - wall patterns, light designs, etc - of the episode come from the 1997 horror movie Cube, (see the episode’s wookieepedia page). However, while the two are very closely linked visually, the Box does not follow the movie structurally or narratively, as you can verify by simply reading the movie’s summary.))

Recap of the context for the "Box" episode (s4e17): Palpatine is planning his own kidnapping. It was never meant to succeed, and while the plan would obviously benefit him (making the Jedi look bad, pushing Anakin closer to the Dark Side, making Republic citizens more afraid -> more docile, etc...) his actual goal is never explained, and it’s weird that he’d go to such extreme lengths for results so minimal that we’re never told what they are.

So Palpatine asks Dooku to kidnap him at the Festival of Lights on Naboo. Dooku hires Moralo Eval to design a giant box-thingy to test bounty hunters to hire the best of them to kidnap Palpatine. Moralo then gets arrested to alert the Republic that something is afoot, and hires Cad Bane to break him out. Obi-Wan - undercover to learn Moralo’s plan - goes with them. They evade capture and go to Serenno, and Bane and Obi-Wan have to pass the box-thingy test. The level of brainkarked logic here... Truly on par with Megamind, Gru and Heinz Doofenshmirtz.

Setting aside the insane plot holes and utterly nonsensical behavior of the villains, the Box itself is moronic from a plot perspective. It’s insanely complex, obviously incredibly expensive and would have taken months (more like years but it’s a short war) to make when it’s not even needed for the dastardly plot! Just hire some guys who have already proven themselves against Jedi! Throw cash at Bane and Embo and a few others! Maybe attack them with your saber and see how they do! 

And after all that, Dooku still ends up trying to kidnap Palpatine on his own. I can’t even... 

So why does the Box exist? Well, apart from being a nerdy callback to Cube, giving us a good thrill and being generally awesome to look at, it has actual narrative purpose within the SW universe.

The box is Naboo.

What the Box lacks in plot relevance, it makes up for with its heavily symbolic meaning. It very closely follows Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon’s experiences on Naboo - but only certain parts, which I’ll explain later.

We start with clean, sterile environments, SW’s favored way of showing villainy.

Then we have the protagonists locked in a room as dioxis, a poison gas, pours in.

And then they escape... this way.

(Okay, here the shaft is down, not up. And it’s not a ventilation shaft per say, it’s the designed escape route. Same difference).

We then skip most of TPM (namely, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon discovering the droid army, finding Padmé, leaving Naboo, landing on Tatooine, going to Coruscant, etc, etc) to come back to Naboo and go directly to the lightsabers and catwalks.

(Note: in both scenes, Obi-Wan has to propel himself from a catwalk.)

In TPM and TCW, the catwalks are immediately followed by ray shields

And we finally end with the last scenes. Now, they don’t look the same but they are structurally identical. 

Obi-Wan is faced with a challenge unsuited for his abilities (facing Darth Maul // shooting three moving targets when he’s far more skilled with a blade than a blaster) on a narrow space above a melting pit/pit of fire. 

He first watches someone die failing to complete the task...

 ... and has to do it himself, faring much better than expected (holding his own against Maul // shooting all the targets easily). 

He then almost falls to his death and gets saved unexpectedly.

And then there’s the final showdown.

In both scenes, Obi-Wan is angry. And in TCW Dooku eggs him on, banking on his anger. (More on that later.) In both cases though, he centers himself and is able to overcome both his opponent and his own unbalance. But in TCW, he doesn’t go for the kill, because he doesn’t need to. 

The Box, as a literal character-explorator ex-machina, thus shows us Obi-Wan’s growth.  

In TPM, Obi-Wan follows Qui-Gon’s lead. In TCW, he is the leader. He identifies the gas, makes the plans. He doesn’t fall from catwalks anymore - he runs atop moving ones. He doesn’t stay stuck behind ray-shields, he finds the solution. (Btw, how did Moralo know what blood type Derrown the Exterminator was? There was a 50% chance of him dying - thus killing all of the bounty hunters. Was that an acceptable outcome? TCW I need answers!) He doesn’t slay his foes, because he’s become powerful enough, skilled enough and wise enough to survive (and win) without needing to kill.

He’s grown - and, even more interestingly, he’s also stayed the same. In the previous episodes, we see some of the dark aspects of Obi-Wan. How he - like all Force-wielders, all people - could lose himself if he stopped maintaining absolute control.

But in the Box, surrounded by the worst criminals of the Galaxy, the most ruthless, worthless people, he’s still kind and tries his best to keep them alive.

The Box is a reminder and a reassurance for the audience that Obi-Wan Kenobi is still there under Rako’s face. He hasn’t lost his compassion, his restrain. He’s still a Jedi. And he’s an awesome, badass one. 

And now, for what it tells us about Dooku! 

It’s much shorter, don’t worry. Basically, Dooku considers that the best way to pick “the best of the best” of the deadliest people in the Galaxy is making them go through what killed his Padawan. There, I’ve broken your hearts, you’re welcome. 

More seriously, Dooku is a manipulative ass. It’s pretty clear that he knows Rako is Obi-Wan, or at the very least suspects it. 

He has an interesting reaction upon learning Rako’s identity, he keeps praising him despite his usual distaste for low-lifes, he smirks secretively after Eval says “I’ll show you who’s weak” (not included there because it’s a close-up of Dooku’s lips and no one wants to see that) and he tells Rako he’s very disappointed when he doesn’t finish off Eval.

[Later]

(Look at this smug asshole - I can’t. YOUR GRANDSON IS THE BEST, WE KNOW, STOP ACTIVELY RUINING HIS LIFE ALREADY.)

(Dooku... why...)

Now obviously Dooku couldn’t have made the Box specifically for Obi-Wan, because it would have to have been designed months before the Council ever decided to send Obi-Wan undercover, but he has no qualms trying to use it to push Obi-Wan to the Dark Side. Ffs Dooku, making your spiritual grandson relive one of the most traumatic events of his life on the off chance that he’ll join you (and desecrate his Master’s memory in doing so) is not okay!

Final tidbits of analysis: I mentioned that not all of TPM is mirrored in the Box. What’s omitted is the droids (even though Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon fight B1′s and droidekas between the dioxis and the ventilation shafts) and anything pertaining to Sidious (all the political stuff on Coruscant). You’ll also note that the fake lightsabers are orange.

=> The Box distances itself from anything that connects Dooku to Naboo. Red lightsabers are the trademark of the Sith, so they’re not used. The bounty hunters will be facing Jedi, so logically the fake sabers should be green or blue - and yet they’re orange, the color closest to red without being red. It fits with Dooku’s special brand of dishonesty - he always tells bits of the real story but twists them just enough to absolve himself of any fault and to justify his choices. 

(”We can destroy the Sith” -> could maybe destroy Sidious with Obi-Wan, but fails to mention he’s a Sith Lord himself; “the Viceroy came to me for help, that’s why I’m attacking the Republic” -> political idealism is a small part of it, but fails to mention he’s Sidious’ underling and is playing the Viceroy like a fiddle; “Qui-Gon would have joined me” -> maybe, still fails to mention he’s working for the man who ordered Qui-Gon’s death; “I told you everything you needed to know” -> debatable, never said that Palps was Sidious; “Sifo-Dyas understood, that’s why he helped me” -> partly true, doesn’t admit to killing Sifo-Dyas right after getting his help)

So we have a twisted version of Naboo, droid-free (as droids are now irrevocably associated with Dooku, even if that wasn’t the case in TPM) and with sabers that aren’t quite red. Keep in mind that Dooku had already fallen by TPM. (We know this because he killed Sifo-Dyas and created the Clone Army - part of Sidious’ plan - when Valorum was still Chancellor, as per the episode The Lost One.) That means Dooku was (in)directly complicit in Qui-Gon’s death. And the Box doesn’t (=refuses to?) acknowledge that. 

(Also omitted in the Box are the Gungans and Tatooine. It makes sense, because Dooku probably wouldn’t have the full details regarding those parts of Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan’s missio as they weren’t as public, and would see them as irrelevant if he did. He utterly despises Anakin, and Gungans are the type of people he always dismisses out of hand). 

Anyway, that’s my two cents about the Box. To quote Lucas...

“It’s like poetry. It rhymes.”

Thanks to @lethebantroubadour @impossiblybluebox​ @nonbinarywithaknife @ytoz​ and @kaitie85386​ for voting for this one. Next up is a compilation of the Jedi being casually tactile with each other (because they’re a warm and affectionate culture, dammit).

Also thanks to @laciefuyu​ for giving me gifs I ended up not using ^^; you rock anyway!

[captain-crackship]

This one’s gonna earn me some flak but uhh... Shinji Ikari from Evangelion.

Hey, you said unlikable and it was either Shinji or Gendo.

Gendo is a bastard so I choose Shinji  just like Rei in EOE.

A lot of people both inside and outside the fandom hate Shinji because he’s a crybaby and pathetic and “doesn’t get in the robot” except he does that’s literally the premise of the entire franchise but ultimately all of the Shinji hate comes from media illiteracy and toxic masculinity.

Shinji is not a hypermasculine anime protagonist by any measure and this is routinely pointed at within the universe itself.

Shinji is a child. He is a 14-year old boy who lost his mother at a young age and whose father abandoned him at the same time to clone said mother and build a giant meat mech powered by her soul (also the clone hosts the soul of the giant meat mech’s “mother”... it’s complicated). And then he was made to pilot said giant mommy meat mech against giant alien invaders who were actually the rightful heirs to the Earth and got usurped by humanity.

Being a soldier is traumatizing enough. Being a child soldier? His life was already deeply messed up before he had the role of anime protagonist pushed onto him. He is a depressed boy (not a young man, a boy) going through the motions of day-to-day life, who does what he’s told simply because it makes his life easier, and who struggles to connect with others out of fear of being alienated or abandoned. He is a traumatized child soldier who doesn’t bottle up his trauma or emotions. He cries. He runs away. He refuses to get in the robot out of a natural fear of the hurt and pain doing so will bring him.

What traumatized child wouldn’t want to avoid the thing that caused their trauma in the first place? What traumatized adult wouldn’t?

Shinji is a deeply flawed and troubled character barely holding on to his sanity and will to live (both of which are eroded over the course of the franchise and broken fully at the climax of NGE and the third Rebuild). That doesn’t make him a bad anime protagonist, that makes him a realistic anime protagonist. And I love Anno for writing him that way. Toxic masculinity permeates so much of anime and otaku culture, and mainstream culture besides that, and people hate Shinji because, for all their arrogance and bravado, if they were 14 years old and faced with the same circumstances, they would handle it the same way he does. Shinji doesn’t need to get in the robot, he needs to get into therapy.

Anyway this post ran on a bit long. I tag:

@pedanticat @zacs-of-rwby @nathaniel-zellos @too-awkward-to-interact @happter-n-friends @hadesisqueer @poisoned-sugar11

Who is your favorite unlikable character from a movie or show? Then tag 7 people

I'll go first

@howlingday @pilot-boi @dicknouget @true-king-of-monsters @notmaplemable @rwby-encrusted-blog @dragonotaku-justineverything

[ironwoodprotectionsquad]

You know, I saw someone say this on Reddit a while ago, but it didn't hit me until now. In literally any other show, movie, book, or other form of media, Ironwood would be the hero, or at least be written as an amazing character. James would fit so much better in war movies, anime like Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Warhammer 40k, Clone Wars, pretty much anything. He could play anything from a protagonist to a complex antagonist. Unfortunately, he got written into RWBY and ruined.

You hit the nail on the head their anon. Though I've only ever watched Clone Wars from your list, I have watched enough media that better handles complex moral dilemmas much better then RWBY that James would be considered a hero if he where written in any other media with similar issues he faces in RWBY.

The issue is, he's not dealing with these easy black and white issues, he's dealing with very much morally gray issues that often don't have a perfect solution to the problem. That's been a staple of his character since volume 3 with Amber and the aura transfer machine. Without any context, the idea of forcing someone else's soul in another persons body risking destroying their soul in the process is horrible. But with context, if this is not done then someone who wants to destroy the world and needs the powers to do so and will get them if nothing is done, things become much more complicated. If they don't use the aura transfer machine, their is a great risk of the world being destroyed.

A very similar dilemma is happening in volume 7, multiple in fact. The wall is damaged and Mantle is being attacked by Grimm but it is critical that global communications be restored and with Amity so vulnerable its dangerous to not focus efforts on fixing it. But (inexplicably in a conundrum that makes no logical sense but no one questions this so we have to assume it is true somehow) both projects use the same supplies so both cannot be worked on at once. What project do you work on first? Their isn't a right answer to this question. It's a complicated situation, one James had to make a choice in and he did. The end of the volume continues this with James being presented with a choice, guarantee everyone who has made it onto Atlas's safety and survival and leave before Salem arrives and risk everyone left behind dying, or stay and fight and try and save everyone, but in the process risk everyone dying and Salem getting two of the four items she needs to end the world. Again this isn't some black and white answer problem. Both sides have pros and cons. They just had to make a decision and again James made one. But the mains didn't like it and now suddenly it's this big moral issue and James is wrong despite this not really having a good morally correct answer.

RWBY takes a complex and difficult situation and tries to pretend that it is a black and white answer with the mains 100% right because doing otherwise risks people thinking about the fact that James might not have ever even been forced to make this decision had Ruby just been honest with him from the start and told him everything instead of spending months not only lying but not even trying to come up with some plan on how to deal with Salem. That was grossly irresponsible. If we're being honest Ruby's choice to lie is really the reason so many people died in Atlas, not because James tried to leave, not because RWBY wanted to stay and try and save everyone but because Ruby kept critical information from James. Yes ultimately Salem is truly the one to9 blame for everything that happened and all the death and destruction, but if we're going to insist on shoving the blame on someone who is only trying to help save as many lives as they can and stop the evil that is Salem, Ruby is far more responsible thanks to her deceptions and lies not allowing James to properly prepare for what was to come.

[ordinaryschmuck]

What I Thought About “Eclipse Lake” from The Owl House

Salutations, random people on the internet who certainly won’t read this! I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

If I had to take a guess at who's the most popular character of The Owl House, I'd say that Amity would be a pretty safe bet. And not entirely without reason. Her home life is something several fans can identify with, she wins representation points for being a lesbian, and her development is the most impressive out of every other character. Not to say no one else develops, far from it. It's just that with Amity, her growth is a lot stronger, to the point where the version of her we're introduced to is practically a different character. The rest of the core cast has grown and become multi-layered over time, but in terms of personality, they haven't changed that much as Amity has.

But here's the thing: Amity has grown exponentially all through the sidelines. Despite being in episodes that heavily involve her, there hasn't been one where she had the starring role. Except for now, in "Eclipse Lake," the first-ever episode where Amity takes command. Is the episode better because of it? Or was Amity better off in a supporting role rather than a leading one? To find out requires diving into spoilers, so keep that in mind as you continue reading.

Now, let's review, shall we?

WHAT I LIKED

Belos Has Been to the Human World: Welp, I guess I'm tossing my "Belos was Philip" theory into the trash. As are many of you, no doubt. With that said, we still get a nugget of intrigue to know that he did, in fact, see the human realm at some point. Even more than that, he wants to go back. And from the sounds of it, he probably wants to return because it's significantly more pleasant to live there than the Boiling Isles. That bit of information interests me far more than him wanting to invade the human realm and rule it with an iron fist. While that last bit is not entirely out of the question yet, it's still pretty cool to learn as much as we can about Belos' grand plan.

Amity Taking Charge of Luz’s Recovery: Yup. That's about as much as I expected. We're barely into this episode, and already, it's established that Amity would go to great lengths to help her girlfriend. What more could you ask for?

Ghost: I want to pet Ghost. I don't give a s**t that they're a fictional being because I want to PET THEM! 'CAUSE I LIKE CUTE S**T DAMN IT!

Eda Learning How to Turn into “Harpy Eda” on Command: Cool concept for sure. Eda just figured out that she can turn into this thing, so there's going to be trials and tribulations to figure out how. What I personally enjoy is that to transform, not only does Eda have to talk to the Owl Beast, but at times she might have to make a deal with it. They made a truce, so the only way for it to work is for both sides to make compromises for it to work out. Like I said, cool concept. And I hope to see what else happens with it in the future.

Eda Using Anime as a Workout Tape: Well, that certainly explains the screaming. The fact that it was a Dragon Ball clone makes it even more perfect.

Eda calls Amity “Boots”: I love this. I don't know why I love this, but I do. So shove it.

Luz: Now let's take the time to talk about my favorite character. Luz may have taken the back seat in this episode, but the few moments she does show up, she's is on top form:

The way that she's all loopy and delirious from the common mold is hilarious.

The fact that everyone had to literally strap Luz down to stop her from going on an adventure is hilarious and admirable in terms of her character.

The fact that Luz does everything she physically can to warn the others about Titan's fools' blood is incredibly admirable.

And the way she just hurls herself at Amity when she gets back is just downright adorable.

The main protagonist being absent while the other characters go on an adventure is nothing new. But it's still nice to know that the quality of writing I expect from Luz didn't go away just because the episode isn't about her.

Amity and Luz using Tamagotchis to Text: I also didn't know what those things were until someone else pointed it out. I'm not that old...and so help me, I never will be.

Joking aside, I find it incredibly adorable that Luz and Amity have this way to communicate with each other that's only exclusive to them. Maybe Willow and Gus have Tamagotchis of their own, but we have yet to see them with ones, so it's plausible that only Luz and Amity can talk to each other through theirs. Which, again, is adorable. The fact that these two nerds found a way to text each other without Luz using a scroll or Amity using a phone fills my heart with glee and makes me extra happy that they're girlfriends now. Large in part because we get to see more cute s**t like this.

(Luz calling Amity pretty is also a bonus)

Amity Wants to be the Most Awesome Girlfriend: Just the very fact that I can write that is a win. Sidenote: Love the fact that Amity explicitly says the word girlfriend. No beating around the bush, no implications. The writers have her go for it with no looking back.

Loved it. Loved all of it. And I hope to see more bits like this in the future.

King Mentions the Dissection: Hey, sometimes the best and most defining relationships start off on the wrong foot, King. Don't have to call someone out for it.

Kikimora: I admire good comically incompetent villains, which is what Kikimora is to me in this episode. She might have her terrifying moments here and there, but when she's just screeching about how she hates Hunter and focuses more on showing him up, it's a ton of fun.

Coven Guard Captain: This character doesn't do much...but she's still great. She acts as a perfect straight man to Kiki's psychotics, has this weird respect for Kiki that I hope gets explored, and wins comedy points for instantly getting bored by guarding Amity and just ditching her in a hole. This captain may have had a short role in this episode and an insignificant one in the series, but it was fun seeing her give her all despite the short time.

Hunter Bonding with Bird: I prefer "Little Rascal," but I can live with "Bird."

In any case, it was pretty sweet to see these two grow more of a bond. Bird suddenly making himself Hunter's palisman isn't an easy change to accept as much as it is easy for Eda to figure out how to turn into a harpy. Meaning that there will be an adjustment period alongside moments of Hunter learning to trust Bird. And, yeah, it's charming to see Bird try so hard to brighten up Hunter's life. Whether it's leading Hunter toward people who are actually nice or trying to cheer him up when he's digging his own grave, there are so many moments that make Bird the closest friend Hunter could ever ask for. The bond can only grow further from there, and like a lot of things this week, I can't wait to see more.

(Which is basically a recurring theme of this episode. It makes me excited to see more)

Character’s Commenting on Hunter’s Annoying Voice: My favorite part about this is how Hunter suddenly becomes self-conscious about it. On the one hand, I want to go, "Ah, poor baby." But on the other hand, I can't help it when I say, "Haha! You annoying-voiced bitch!" It's just great.

Amity has Abomination Goo in a Bottle: We get it. Amity's VA also voiced Katara. You don't have to rub it in our faces.

(But, seriously though, I do consider this a clever workaround for how Amity can use abomination magic when in a fight. It's pretty cool)

Amity and Hunter: Whoever thought about pairing these two up for an episode...you're the best. You're just the best!

Because this is a brilliant concept. Amity and Hunter are so much alike in terms of personality and homelife that it makes way too much sense to have them interact at least once. What I'm specifically grateful for is that when Hunter tries to associate himself with Amity, the only other intelligent person there, she's quick to shut him down. The Amity in the past might have been slightly easier to sway, but not the one we know now. It isn't until he finds the one thing that can get to Amity that Hunter knows how to exactly break her. Even then, she just barely falls for it, only being swayed when in a panic or in a desperate situation.

But regardless of how much of a jerk Hunter comes across as, it's great Amity tries to reach out to him near the end. She knows how it feels to try and gain respect from family, only to learn what love truly is from someone who cares. It's a moment where even though Luz is absent, her presence still shines through Amity's actions. She is now the person who's willing to be kind for someone she barely knows, and it's fantastic. It's everything I could have ever wanted when these two interact, and it's all delivered so well.

Willow Owning the One Brain Cell Between Hooty and Gus: Ah, Willow. Even when you got severely screwed over this season, you're still the best...Yeah, I'll get to that in a minute.

Owlbert Cracking Apart: Don't mind me. Just having heart palpitations at the sight of Owlbert almost dying. NoThInG tO sEe HeRe!

Expectation Subversion to the Minecart Chase: ...I f**king love this show. I'm telling you, it's hilarious when it really tries.

Hunter Cracks: Yes, I laughed. A lot. But can we talk about the fact that Hunter would rather dig his own grave than disappoint Belos again? That alone says so much where despite having a similar situation to Amity's, it couldn't be more different. If Amity angers Alador or Odalia, she'll either get grounded and cry about it to Ed or Em. But if Hunter angers Belos? Well, I would like to point out how close Belos' weird goopy spear got to Hunter's face and how there's got to be a reason why Hunter has his scars.

You know what? I think I'd bury myself too if I was in Hunter's shoes at that moment.

King and Amity vs. Hunter: Three things!

One, this is the coolest fight scene of the series so far. And no, I will not take any arguments about it.

Two, Amity is right. She is an awesome girlfriend. Seriously, abomination magic is no joke.

Three, I genuinely appreciate these small moments where King actually does something beneficial when contributing to the fight. It makes him much more than a comedic Disney sidekick and someone who can be useful from time to time.

Overall this was an epic, incredibly animated fight that proves that this series is no joke when it comes to action.

Hunter Threatens Luz to get to Amity: I'm not too surprised by this. Amity doesn't care if someone threatens her because, if you couldn't tell from that fight scene, she can take care of herself. But Luz? Well, she's certainly formidable, but that doesn't mean that Amity won't worry about her girlfriend. She will do everything in her power to help Luz, made evident by how much Amity went overboard with a simple illness. So Hunter using that for his benefit is a pretty devious move executed phenomenally.

The Key Cracks: I like to think this was intentional on Amity's part. It's plausible that Hunter's words got to her so much that she accidentally broke it, but it's also likely that Amity knew she was backed in a corner that risked Luz getting hurt, so found a way where Hunter sort of wins but still loses. It's somewhat similar to how Luz destroyed the portal after giving it to Belos. The end result was a situation where everyone is safe but at the cost of delaying the inevitable for the villain's victory. They're both moments where everyone wins and loses, all to move the story forward at a slower pace than one would expect. And, for the fifth time now, it makes me curious about what happens next because of it.

Luz Calling Amity her Awesome Girlfriend: Yeah, my heart melted when this happened. After all of Amity's self-proclamations that she is an awesome girlfriend, followed by a brief moment of doubt, it felt nice to see that Luz explicitly said it too.

(King having hug envy was also a nice cherry on top)

WHAT I DISLIKED

Hey, I actually have criticisms this time...been a while since that happened, huh?

Belos Doesn’t Look All That Threatening: The green scar is cool, don't get me wrong...but this man doesn't look all that threatening without the mask. With it, yes, I'm quaking in my metaphorical boots. But making him look like a chilled-out old man with what looks like a skin infection just takes away all of the horror for me. I mean, look at him:

He looks like a guy who I can easily push over, and boom! The rain of tyranny is over.

I'm more than positive that this is a personal issue. That doesn't mean I won't take it personally, though.

Eda Acting like an Idiot: I get it. Eda wants to figure out how to make her powers work and will try literally anything to do it. My issue is that why does she have to act like a dunderhead at times to do it? I mean, Eda seriously never tried peacefully talking to the Owl Beast, which is what basically caused her to turn into the Harpy the first time? Remember? With the whole making a truce thing?

And why is she being so carefree despite being surrounded by coven guards and blatantly ignoring Hunter's warning, which was very clearly real? Yes, Eda can be reckless and carefree at times, but when a moment clearly calls to take things gravely, she still learns to tone things down a bit. So it pains me to see her act so...dumb!

Willow and Gus Getting Sidelined...Again: I'm not the first to mention this, and odds are I won't be the last, but it really does suck to see Willow and Gus get pushed on the sidelines so far this season. More so with Willow. Gus at least got half an episode to himself, where Willow barely contributes in the ones she's in. Although, in fairness, this is only the first half of the season, and there wasn't much Willow and Gus could do in the episodes we've seen so far. They may get more attention later, but here, it's just disappointing seeing them do nothing more than setting up an inadequate joke.

IN CONCLUSION

I'd say that "Eclipse Lake" is an A- for me. The jokes were solid, it makes me excited for more, and I love everything done with Amity and Hunter...I just wish that the rest of the characters were handled a little better. Most of my issues aren't really that big of a deal compared to everything else done right, but after three perfect episodes in a row, the small things tend to hit a lot harder. Sorry to say, but I can't always let the good stuff eclipse the bad.

(Now, if you don't excuse me, I have to mentally, emotionally, and maybe even physically prepare myself for the heartbreak that will inevitably be "Yesterday's Lie." Which I’m not ready for)

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

Master Fu: Master of Failure (200 Follower Special)

Mentors are some of the most important characters in all of pop culture, as they help the protagonist advance in his journey while helping them improve in skill and personal growth. Because of their vital role, mentors tend to be among some of the most memorable characters in their respective franchises.

Mentors can be a variety of people, from wise sages, to former soldiers, to just regular people with a strong moral compass. What matters is the impact they have on the hero, and the role they play in the story.

Master Fu does a poor job at accomplishing both of those qualifications.

Like, well, basically every bad thing in Miraculous Ladybug, the ideas behind Master Fu were interesting in concept. The problem was the execution, or rather, what little we got with Master Fu. Yet he still manages to be memorable (no pun intended) for all the wrong ways. But before we get into Master Fu, let's get into a problem with Miraculous Ladybug in general that plagues several characters and plotlines.

Order of the... What Exactly?

Despite being “the last known member of the Order of the Guardians”, Master Fu hasn't really explained much about the Order he's from. All we really know is that he was trained to guard the Miraculous and distribute them to worthy people. And the Order does this... why exactly?

This is a huge problem with Miraculous Ladybug, the underdeveloped lore behind a major part of the story. Despite being connected to the Miraculous, you know, the magical artifacts the show is named after, we still don't really know much about why they were formed in the first place, and what their connection to the Miraculous is.

Oh wait, the origin of the Miraculous actually is explained... in an issue of the tie-in comic.

Someone seriously thought it was a good idea to explain that Kwamis are connected to abstract concepts like creation and destruction, and how the Miraculous were created, both very important things to learn, AND THEY DID IT IN A GODDAMN TIE-IN COMIC THAT ONLY LASTED THREE ISSUES! 

I shouldn't be expected to read supplementary material to understand the backstory of a show. You don't need to watch Star Wars: The Clone Wars to understand the tragedy of Order 66, so why would you expect your audience to read a comic book to understand the origin of the magical objects that give your main characters superpowers?

Even the explanation we got isn't that detailed. Okay, fine some guy created the Miraculous to give the Kwamis tangibility (which actually explains how they can phase through solid objects), but... how and why? How was this sage able to see Tikki, how was he able to create the Miraculous, and why did he do it?

This extends to the Order of the Guardians as well. How and why were they formed? What exactly do they even do besides guard Miraculous? Why do they even guard the Miraculous in the first place? We even learn more about their methods, and trust me, I'll get to that later.

In Xiaolin Showdown, the pilot episode of all things explains why Shen Gong Wu are so important, and why the Xiaolin Dragons dedicate their lives to protecting them, because they maintain the balance between good and evil, and if they fall into the hands of evil, the world could fall into 10,000 years of darkness. Yeah, the first episode actually does a good job at explaining the backstory of the show, who would have thought? And it's from a show that has a better representation of Chinese culture when this is what the main character looks like.

Overall, the Order of the Guardians is an underdeveloped concept that does very little to help out Master Fu as a character. If the backstory of a character is so vague, how can we even understand the character's motivations in the first place? And by God, are Master Fu's motivations confusing.

Master of Not Doing Anything

Before I started working on this, I saw a video review of Miraculous Ladybug by someone who had never seen the show before, and only did so because one of his friends said they would start watching One Punch Man if he did. Even though he only mentioned Master Fu a few times, he described him as “a dude with a jewelry box full of superhero bling”, and felt like that was all those unfamiliar with the show needed to know. As someone who is familiar with the show? Yeah, that's basically all Master Fu is.

Despite being classified as a mentor, Master Fu doesn't really do a lot of mentoring. Sure, he occasionally talks to Marinette, but whenever things get rough, all he really does is hand out a Miraculous for Marinette to give to someone else temporarily.

And I've said it multiple times, but the Rent-A-Miraculous system is a horrible idea. Not only does it require Ladybug to basically leave Cat Noir to fend for himself while she rushes over to Master Fu, she has to think of an ideal candidate for the Miraculous she takes, find said candidate, rush back to where the Akuma is, hope Cat Noir wasn't incapacitated by the Akuma, and then haul ass to Master Fu's place to return the Miraculous as soon as the fight's over.

The idea of introducing new heroes is interesting, but because we see them so rarely, they don't really feel that important. I get that the title is “Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir”, but I just wish the show would do more with the temporary heroes, like see how it affects their lives. Unfortunately, I can't, thanks to “Miracle Queen”, as usual. I'll get to that episode again later on.

Even when Master Fu takes out the Miraculous, he doesn't really help Marinette think of which one to choose. He just says something like “Take a Miraculous, but be sure to return it to me when you're done.” It doesn't matter, because Marinette apparently knows how all fifteen Miraculous in the box work. Hey, wouldn't it have been nice to see Master Fu actually teach Marinette how every Miraculous works? Maybe have him suggest which Miraculous to take based on the Akuma's powers? I'm just saying, maybe you can take time away from Ladybug and Cat Noir fighting a giant baby to actually give more focus on other characters.

Before that, he was just planning to do nothing and hope Ladybug and Cat Noir could reclaim Hawkmoth's Miraculous for him. According to Tikki in “The Collector”, Marinette isn't even supposed to see the Guardian, and only met Master Fu because she found the Grimoire. So despite being “Guardians of the Miraculous”, he doesn't even help out the random people he decided to give Miraculous to? It's a miracle Ladybug and Cat Noir survived an entire season without any real guidance from Master Fu.

The third season tries to do something by having Master Fu train Marinette to become a guardian, but all of the training is entirely offscreen, and by “Feast”, he just says that her training is complete, and then makes her a guardian against her will in “Miracle Queen”.

Then there are moments unrelated to the Miraculous where he fails to actually be a mentor. Everyone knows about how stupid it was that the writers wanted the audience to sympathize with Adrien for threatening to quit being Cat Noir while Paris is flooded, but this also could have been a moment where Master Fu helped him talk about his feelings, or maybe dispense some wisdom about how hard it is to understand if someone actually trusts him or not. You know, act as a mentor to Adrien?

But instead, they brush over this potentially interesting character moment, because that would actually imply that Adrien has flaws. Because we all know Astruc loves to show the audience that Adrien Agreste is basically the second coming of Jesus Christ, right? And even though the episode making a big deal about Adrien not knowing Master Fu, they really don't have any meaningful conversations outside of that episode, except maybe “Party Crasher”. Though the episode does have Master Fu taking action when Ladybug is incapacitated by the Akuma by giving a Miraculous... to someone he barely knows swimming in Adrien's bathtub. Even he regrets his choice a few minutes later.

And then there's the fact that despite it being his job to guard the Miraculous, he does literally nothing to figure out where the Butterfly and Peacock Miraculous are. Sure, he briefly talked with Marinette about Gabriel possibly being Hawkmoth in “The Collector”, but she did most of the investigating in that episode.

Hell, “Sandboy” establishes there's a way to contact Nooroo, the Kwami of the Butterfly Miraculous, on his birthday, but Master Fu turned it down, so they did it behind his back! For the love of God, this is a chance to figure out who Hawkmoth is and bring the conflict with him to an end, and you're passing it up?! In “Heart Hunter”, Master Fu says that Hawkmoth “talks a lot, but hasn't achieved much so far”, but you could easily apply that to Master Fu himself.

Outside of giving Miraculous to Marinette to borrow, what has Master Fu actually accomplished in the story? Maybe his backstory will shed more light on him as a character, and won't just make him look even worse.

The Bungled Backstory

One of the most frustrating things about Master Fu's backstory is that it actually has some pretty good buildup.

In “The Collector” we learn that Master Fu made a mistake that led to the destruction of the temple the Guardians operated out of, and the Butterfly and Peacock Miraculous were lost in the process. This does a good job at setting up the mystery of what Master Fu did to destroy the temple in the first place. It continues in “Sandboy”, where Master Fu's worst nightmare is him heing haunted by the ghosts of the guardians he accidentally killed, and then we see in “Backwarder” that Master Fu had confidants to help him keep the Miraculous safe from what are assumed to be the Nazis. Because I guess guardians get to share their secrets, but not Ladybug and Cat Noir?

And then we learned the full backstory in “Feast”. Much like how “Oblivio” and “Cat Blanc” killed any chances of me ever showing any sympathy to Alya and Gabriel respectively, I lost all respect for Master Fu after watching this episode.

We learn that Fu was chosen to be a guardian at a very young age, and had no other choice but to start his training. One day, he was assigned to watch over A Miracle Box as a test for twenty-four hours without any food, water, or sleep. He decided to use the Peacock Miraculous to create a Sentimonster to get him some food, but his anger corrupted the Sentimonster that made it go on a rampage to eat the Miraculous in the temple... and somehow set the temple on fire judging from this shot.

In my main blog, I had originally made a post calling out Master Fu for what he did, but since then, I've mostly softened up. This is just a fan theory you are free do disagree with, but I like to think that Fu was supposed to use a Miraculous during the test. Maybe he was supposed to use the Mouse Miraculous to get some food while one of the clones sat and watched the box, or use the Horse Miraculous to sneak to the kitchen.

My problem comes from how his backstory affects his actions, and makes him look like a complete hypocrite.

Even though he hated the fact that he was basically drafted to become a guardian when he was only a child, he saw no problem handing out Miraculous to children who weren't that much older than he was when he burned down the temple. I don't even think he should even qualify as a master. His title shouldn't be “Master Fu”, but something more along the lines of “Acting Master Fu” on account of the other guardians burning to death.

Say what you will about Zordon for recruiting teenagers with attitude to become the Power Rangers, but what makes him more likable than Master Fu was that he actually cared about them. He routinely gave them advice, never really lost his patience with them, and understood they had lives outside of their jobs as Rangers. Hell, he was even willing to let them retire to peruse major opportunities in their lives, like Jason, Zack, Trini, and Kimberly, because he knows what it's like to be trapped in a situation that prevents him from living a normal life.

In fact, if Fu really hated being forced to become a guardian, why did he have no problem doing the same thing to Marinette? If anything, Fu should hate the Order of the Guardians, but it's never really explained what really motivated him to continue their practices.

Usually, a backstory related to a supporting character is meant to be followed up by the main characters doing something so history doesn't repeat itself. Anakin Skywalker was driven to the Dark Side because he was afraid of losing someone close to him, with the Jedi Order giving him no support due to their rules against personal attachments. This ideology is subverted in the original trilogy when it's Luke Skywalker's compassion for his father that motivated Anakin to rebel against the Emperor and fulfill his destiny as the chosen one.

But instead of learning from past events, or maybe realizing the Order of the Guardians was never as noble as we were led to assume it was, Master Fu just upholds their tradition of enlisting child soldiers to protect these world-ending artifacts while barely doing anything to help them out. And nobody ever acknowledges there might be anything wrong with the Order.

The Cowardly (and Hypocritical) Turtle

Despite being established to be 186 years old (which still hasn't been explained), and the destruction of the temple happening when he was a child, Master Fu hasn't really done anything with his position.

Despite having all the time in the world, as well as a Miraculous that lets him teleport anywhere, he still hasn't found the missing two Miraculous that Gabriel managed to find at least 129 years after he lost them, give or take.

There's also the fact that, at least, according to the flashback in “Backwarder”, Master Fu may or may not have chosen to sit down and let several historical atrocities and conflicts happen because he didn't want to risk losing the Miraculous. You know, minor things like the Taiping Rebellion, the Crimean War, World War I and II, the Rape of Nanking, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Tienanmen Square Massacre and God knows what else. What did Master Fu even do while he ran around the world to keep the Miraculous safe anyway?

These both factor into the biggest problem with Master Fu as a character: He's a coward.

Whenever he's confronted with a tough situation, Master Fu's first instinct is to run away and hide. As soon as the Sentimonster that destroyed the temple returns, he takes back Marinette and Adrien's Miraculous and runs away. As soon as Hawkmoth finds out about his existence, he packs up his stuff and runs away. When he's captured by Hawkmoth and Mayura, he gives up his position as Guardian and forces Marinette to take on the role, so he can run away safely.

And once again, despite hating the Order for forcing him to train to become a Guardian, Master Fu has no problem with forcing Marinette, someone who was only a few years older than he was when he was drafted, to become the next Guardian of the Miraculous, all while conveniently losing his memory in the process, which implies that Marinette will lose her memory when she retires as Guardian. I once made a submission to Terrible Miraculous Ladybug AU's joking that he only made up the whole amnesia thing just to dump the responsibility of being Guardian on Marinette, but with his appearance in the Season 4 teaser, I'm genuinely worried that may be true.

And yet, despite every incompetent thing he's done, the show keeps trying to portray Master Fu as this wise old soul, because like with so many characters, the writers think if they keep saying things that aren't true, the audience will just give up and accept these ideas as fact. “Master Fu is a wise mentor”. “Alya is a good journalist”. “Ladybug and Cat Noir are equal”. “Chloe is irredeemable”. “Gabriel is a sympathetic villain”. “Lila is a good liar”. “Thomas Astruc responds to criticism like an adult”.

And I'm not against the idea of a flawed mentor either. I already talked about how complex Dr. K is as a character, and how her connection to Venjix makes her an interesting mentor. What I want is for the narrative to acknowledge that Master Fu is way out of his league. I want someone, anyone, to actually call him out for how poorly he's handled things. I don't want to be told he's a great mentor when the evidence clearly shows otherwise.

But it seems like we may never get that in the show, even though it looks like he's going to return in Season 4.

Let's just hope Master Su-Han is a better mentor, and actually appears in more than a single episode before being escorted off so Marinette can't have any confidants as Guardian. Who am I kidding? That's basically what's going to happen.