#alas she was doomed by her narrative

[greenqueenhightower]

did alicent not know that the council will reject her? what was she expecting? it seems to me that she kind of knew this would happen but she was willing to delude herself for aegon’s sake

Hi anon 💚

I think that Alicent knows her fellow council members very well by this point, and she knows that they won’t easily accept her regency claim. She is nervous all throughout the council meeting about it but she keeps her composure and shows her professionalism.

However, I don’t think she is expecting to be so blatantly rejected by everyone in her council. She is so shocked and crushed because her trust in her allies crumbles, her worry about Aemond’s decisions heightens, and she feels her power slip away from her fingers. It’s a tough spot to be in, and Alicent loses faith in the system she’s been upholding all her life. No matter how many times she tries, she’s still unable to escape the patriarchy and has to work in service to it instead.

I love your comment about Aegon, and I agree. Alicent vying for the regent position is surely about her ambitions, but it’s also about Aegon’s future. She doesn’t want him to lose his privilege in case he survives. She seeks to safeguard his position and wants to be in charge so that she regulates Aemond’s behavior and ensures that he doesn’t become a usurper. But alas, Alicent and Aegon are equally doomed by the narrative from the start that he has to experience the same fall from power as her.

[panther-os]

honestly I feel like the narrative would've doomed significantly less people if jgy, instead of going "well there's no way to save face but to make this worse", had gone "hey it's too late to call off the wedding but not only are we half siblings but also alas I am a gay little man romantically repulsed by all women how do you feel about being my beard and adopting a kid who will call us aunt and uncle instead of mom and dad that way it's significantly less weird and bad?" and qin su had gone "as long as you be my beard too and I can have a cute gf" and jgy had gone "deal" and continued making out with lxc after his marriage because it's not being like his dad as long as there's an agreement and good communication and he's faithful to his domestic partner in domestic matters and to his romantic/sexual/emotional partner in romantic/sexual/emotional matters and not leading either of them on or keeping either of them in the dark

anyways I feel like they should adopt a-qing she would be the absolute terror of carp tower esp with jgy teaching her courtly manners aka how to politely insult people to their faces and they can't do anything about it without ruining their own lives, she has two moms and two dads and they each individually teach her how to be a socially acceptable menace in different ways and that is everybody else's problem, their family is loving and supportive and perfect and not incestuous and eventually she eschews propriety and learns cultivation from wandering cultivators sl and xxc and their pet serial killer because they're significantly more fun than the instructors in lanling and now she can have four and a half dads and two moms (xue yang is the half)

and yeah this definitely doesn't solve every problem but most likely quite a few!

[numberonetacostan]

okay so like. There is an AU I have had for such a long time, its basically what if the contestants were not made by mephone and had families and shit and an excuse to explore taco's possible childhood. It was made before the revelation but I still love to think about it. This own idea of what taco childhood is like, is connected to my amphibia AU. Which is just taco lightbulb and suitcase knew each other before the competition, but lightbulb just like marcy scared to be separated from her only friends gets them trapped into another dimension with the help of a music box. For simplicity's sake its the amphibia dimension first and they go through most of amphibia events (taco instead of finding grime however finds some rogue shimmer that just becomes her friend and is basically grime as a shimmer lmao) until the episode true colors where they all ''go back home'' but they don't, they get stranded into the inanimate insanity dimension and this time they cannot find each other this time and they somehow have to live with the thought their friends are missing or at least death. So, basically. When the competition arises they do not recognize each other, suitcase was not on season 1 but lightbulb was, she doesn't recognize taco. The same way taco doesn't recognize suitcase nor lightbulb, she may find there is something familiar about them but that's about it. now getting to taco's childhood in the AU:

bonusthere is more especially with her parents and sisters, I call her dad and mom tacodad and tacomom. And well they are messed up. so tacodad is an alcoholic, he is a good man who loves his daughters a lot but so painfully flawed. He is not a perfect man and it shows yet he tries his best, but of course your best sometimes isn't enough. tacomom as well worries for her daughters and loves them to death. But, she keeps preassuring them as they grow older not realizing that the expectations and demands are only worsening her daughters (and especially taco's) mental health. She wants the best for them, but it comes with the cost of not realizing just how much she and her husband affects them tacomom and tacodad's relationship is messy. Its probably a reason of why taco wouldn't have a very good view of romance let alone things like marriage. To me they are tacomic if they were truly doomed by the narrative and never got better alas I love them both. there is more especially with her parents and sisters, I call her dad and mom tacodad and tacomom. And well they are messed up. so tacodad is an alcoholic, he is a good man who loves his daughters a lot but so painfully flawed. He is not a perfect man and it shows yet he tries his best, but of course your best sometimes isn't enough. tacomom as well worries for her daughters and loves them to death. But, she keeps preassuring them as they grow older not realizing that the expectations and demands are only worsening her daughters (and especially taco's) mental health. She wants the best for them, but it comes with the cost of not realizing just how much she and her husband affects them tacomom and tacodad's relationship is messy. Its probably a reason of why taco wouldn't have a very good view of romance let alone things like marriage. To me they are tacomic if they were truly doomed by the narrative and never got better alas I love them both. bonus for my pokemon AU where tacomom is lusamine:

for summary, taco was taught to live under facades her entire life. Her using a facade in season 1 is in my eyes weaponizing something that not too long ago ruined her and her identity. But then it happening again, and her losing who she used to be once more. bonus 2:

sorry if I am not coherent my brain is in another existencial plane

Hi Kiara!!!^^ Welcome back, and thank you for your submission!!! :]

AMPHIBIA MENTION NEURON ACTIVATION!!! hehe, I was really into amphibia during season 3- I had a whole other sideblog for it actually!!

Anyways, onto Taco!!! Thinking about the character's outside lives and childhoods is a fun thought exercise, even if they don't actually have them! I can see Taco having had a pretty rough time, yeah? I've seen one idea that she was in a gang, which I find quite funny to think about.

Those poor girls getting DOUBLE isekai'd (μ_μ)!!!! Did their memories get muddled by some exterior force, or did they just spend a very very long time apart? Anyways. I can see Taco as a youngest child, yeah, and her having had a strong bond with her Dad is sweet!! Even if he's an alcoholic and becomes too busy for her... And a Mother with high high expectations that wear her mental health down overtime? Taco is a very smart cookie, and this would align with a lot of her behaviors. Her starting her acting here is so sad :( My sweet angel who acts so much she has no idea how to be herself. Suitcase and Lightbulb would be such good friends I wish we could have seen them interact more!!! And adding Taco into the mix makes it so nice!!! They would be an good friend group I think.

Parents doing their best that still end up failing their children </3!!!!!!! Oughhhh ouch ouchie I love this trope!!!!! And them staying together for the kids even though that hurts the kids!!

Lusamine my beloved the worst mom of all time <3

Taco being uncomfortable with compliments because her Mom used to say those things and it grated on her! She might even get a sense of satisfaction from doing things she knows is wrong because she hates being called well behaved and good, yeah?

[szilverer]

gotta confess that although i decided to give reisz the amnesia trope beam just bc i wanted to start playing before having to settle on their background, i did have a barebones semi-canon backstory for them all along.

its just that. out of all the canon-compliant manners of messing with memories that i came across so far (mostly mentions of irrigo & bottled oblivion). the One idea that i like the most just had to be the most convoluted possible

it wormed its way on the back of my head from the very first week or so when i was thinking about making a seeking alt and came across random unmarked nemesis ending spoilers in the discord.

the idea is reisz as the returned loved one of a nemesis alt, yeah.

naturally, the whole thing didn't work out that well for the two of them in the end..........

(…whenever i make a new Main oc it's like a curse. it doesn't spawn on its own, no. it comes in twos and they always come with an unsatisfying enmeshed relationship from a shared past. so those nemesis spoilers made me point like the dicaprio meme and BOOM second doomed character materialised in my head instantly. and cuz im a simple cliche bastard, a sucker for foils and mimesis whose autism craves narrative patterns, these two would have had inversely parallel developments.)

nemesis is just about the perfect ambition for a seeking alt bc it seems like the natural next step for a ultimately compassionate person that decided to commit their life to a vengeance that did Not pay off (due to the whole. not remembering thing.) so if i do decide to canonize this idea the matter of her current whereabouts is already answered: NORTH. and now that reisz got their first (and last) weeping scar. well. they match <3

i'd be playing events from years past but going north means she doesn't get to do the railway or any of that other stuff, so it fits nicely in the phantom's timeline.

this also would give me two very good explanations for their memory issues:

somehow rebooted themself on purpose bc they simply Couldn't Deal (same reason the… avenger? scourge? went north. they got to watch the beginning of her self-destruction, of course.)

it's an occasionally reoccurring consequence of whatever the hell got done to bring them back to life (i do not know what it was . i know there's cider involved but idrk what cider is.)

the only reason im wary of canonizing this right away is that aside from vague ending spoilers i Do Not Know what happens in nemesis. i Do Not Know if this idea is viable for a pc or if the circumstances of being brought back this way would contradict what a pc can or cannot do.

am in a weird spot that i Need to know more spoilers to check if everything would fit in a way that makes sense, and bc i want to play the ambition someday i don't want to spoil myself by trying to look it up!!1 flops down on the floor.

alas. i promised myself i'd only make an alt once im way into the endgame with reisz, so this boutta be their Schrodinger's Past for a good while. and if i do get to the end of nemesis a year from now and find out it doesn't actually fit, well . that's a problem for future me

[dragonfly0808]

Why Stormy?

SPOILERS FOR A MAJOR PLOT POINT IN SEASON 3

The first of a few posts explaining some of my fave/most iconic moments in the series so far, some of you may wonder, why was it Stormy that died? Especially since some may believe Darcy might’ve been the ‘better��� option.

First off I will admit, I did pull a red herring with Darcy with a few conversations she has in s3 about maybe leaving and in general her always having been the ‘lesser evil’ of the Trix.

This wasn’t a straight up red herring but I did want to set up Darcy as the most regretful of the three, the one who’s willing to keep going as long as the witches stay together. Once Stormy dies, the three are no longer together and Darcy finally refuses to keep going, seeing that the path Icy is on will only end in Darcy being on her own.

Now, as for why it was Stormy, I knew the ends of each Trix when I was like, a fourth into season 2. I knew one would die, one would be driven mad and the last one would return to Light Rock, utterly defeated and alone.

I debated with myself on whether it should be Stormy or Darcy to die, but in the end, I chose Stormy due to the thought of escalation and liking the idea of Stormy’s rage being her undoing.

Stormy is the one without a proper ‘origin story’, she was loved, she grew up privileged and had the opportunity to chose whatever she wanted to do with her life. However, from a young age, Stormy has an inexplicable rage in her very soul.

I love my morally gray villains/antiheroes, but I also love when villains are just… evil, no real explanation. That’s Stormy, she just craved power and chaos, her mom saw that and, from very early on, tried to help Stormy, get her into therapy, keep her away from anything that might trigger that deep-rooted rage that she didn’t know how to keep at bay.

Stormy’s doom is that rage and impulsivity, she goes too far, starts a curse that she can’t truly control and the curse starts turning against her, which leads to Musa having to bring the building down, killing them both in the process, but only one of them comes back.

I thought of this as, almost a bit of a self-fullfiling prophecy, even if the term doesn’t fully apply here technically speaking. Because Stormy has every chance to not be this, to turn back, to stop. She has resources and help from a young age, she shows that she’s willing to let Darcy go, but she herself cannot let go of that hunger, even knowing that it’s not very reasonable.

In the end, there as no real reason for Stormy to die, she knew how dangerous the curse she attempted was, she wasn’t supposed to even be there. And, even being there, she wasn’t supposed to initiate a curse, only take it. But no, she makes bad choice after bad choice and it leads to her death.

It felt appropriate for her. And, I won’t lie, I did consider having Stormy’s rage wind up causing Darcy’s death but the story would have been VERY different that way and it just didn’t fit for the story narrative (it would’ve been a beautiful, tragic narrative for the Trix, but they’re not the main characters so they weren’t the ones I wanted to explore in such a deeply traumatic way)

So, I chose Stormy to be the one to kick the bucket as a way of showing a self-fullfiling prophecy ala Haunting of Hill House, all along, she would be the cause of her own death and she had no idea.

[zeledonia]

alright ill not torment that artist's post with extended musings about ew! shinryu so here goes, i have some… thoughts?? about shinryu in ultima thule and about zenos' presence there and… all of that.

I thought Shinryu was really neat in Stormblood. The whole concept of this primal born from the rage and despair of a nation that was conquered and destroyed and plundered, and then having said primal also be subjugated by the conqueror. The cruelty of how even the manifestation of Ilberd's sacrifice was stolen to be used at the whim of the enemy. How slaying the primal at the end of StB allowed us to symbolically lay Ilberd's despair to rest - freeing Ala Mhigo in the same breath as freeing his legacy from the clutches of the empire.

And there's something to be said about how Shinryu was born from Nidhogg's eye - yet another character doomed through his bottomless rage at his loss. And how we use Omega to hunt the primal down - an omicron, conquerors and destroyers of the Dragonstar.

It was one of the parts of Stormblood that worked for me, and I wasn't fundamentally opposed to the idea itself that Zenos draws upon Shinryu's power once more in Endwalker, but… idk, I feel like I am interpreting more into it than the narrative ever intended me to?

I feel like there's a lot you could read into the scene, and how it delivers proof that Zenos is hitting a fundamental limit to his character. But when i look at the way the game plays the scene out, it feels like I'm just too generous about it idk.

So like. Zenos spends most of EW chasing after the WoL and trying to get them to fight him again, blatantly admitting that he is trying to cause you as much rage and despair as possible, because he believes this to be the way to unlock your full potential against him.

He says it on several occasions. Tells you during the dinner that the final days are a gift to you. Tells you on the moon that he intends to see you consumed with hatred and despair.

And of course, during the aftermath of Alisaie's scolding when he's ruminating in the menagerie, he supposedly realizes that he's been going about this all the wrong way. Both his motivations for seeking you out, and his methods. So he appears to you in the Ultimatum, as Shinryu, and claims he's got it sorted out now.

But does he?? At the end of the universe, he tracks you down in the shape of a primal born from despair - a primal he effectively stole from his enemy-, born of feelings that never belonged to him in the first place. A feat he was only capable of by stealing the Echo from Krile, because Hydaelyn's blessing was never his to begin with either. And of course, he gets to this point by consuming what remains of Hydaelyn's aether, too. And then he fights you as a Reaper, and in post-EW we find out that even this power was stolen - Zero tells you she had no choice. She tells you (if your character unlocked Reaper) that your pact with your avatar is equal, but hers with Zenos was not.

Zenos never had the ability to reach Ultima Thule through his own merits, he still fell short of achieving what the Warrior of Light achieved. Where we make it to Meteion's nest by understanding despair, and overcoming it through hope that was created by understanding, such a path would have been barred to Zenos.

I was kind of disappointed that our dialogue options upon his arrival were just variations of "lol I won't save you", when really i wish the game had let me acknowledge how fucking wild it is that Zenos shows up in the despair realm, dressed up as the rage and despair primal, looks at the WoL and goes "lmao are you gonna fall to despair???".

I think it says a LOT about his character. He's had a good long thinking session about his issues, and made a commendable effort. But he still doesn't grasp the nature of despair, positions himself (and wants to position the WoL) as someone who cannot be affected by "such a banal thing", and… well, he dies.

The Warrior of Light understands despair and has the power to turn it into hope, and it saves the world and shows Meteion that it isn't the end. But it is the end for Zenos, because ultimately he doesn't understand how to create hope. He has harnessed a collection of powers he fundamentally does not understand, used them to speedrun the road to Ultima Thule, brute forced his way into the Ultimatum, and never walked the path that gave the WoL the strength to make it out of this ordeal alive. But the way it plays out ingame, it feels. Too triumphant? It's practically his big moment - he shows up to save the day in his own way, he's your reliable flying platform for the whole fight, and…. I don't know what I expected, but it feels like the game simply does not address a single implication of his choice to take Shinryu's shape again.

Maybe what I was missing was something, a tiny thing, during the battle? There's a moment in the battle where the WoL falters, and the scions are giving us strength. But I wish Zenos had faltered, too. I wish there had been a consequence, however brief, to him harnessing the power of a primal he never had a true connection with.

In the same way he got punished in Stormblood for stealing the Echo (by being brought back to life), I wish he'd gotten punished for using Shinryu, too. Maybe I would have liked it if the scions had saved us JUST in time because despair-driven Shinryu could not withstand the Endsinger's attacks any longer. What if we fell? What if Zenos' mockery of the Endsinger as "weak prey" was punished, and he found out that he does not have what it takes to conquer despair, because he was so detached from the majority of human emotion.

I feel like there's something missing from Shinryu's appearance in Endwalker that ties it back into what happened during Stormblood - Zenos forcibly taking control of this massively powerful primal, but losing.

I think if we'd gotten something, anything acknowledging how at the end of the road, he had still not managed to bring anything of his own to the table, I think it would have been such a good demonstration of why he died that day, and why we did not have the chance to save him.

Something about how he forged an empty existence for himself, and all his stolen power was indeed a sad, sad mirror to the strength the WoL gains from their genuine bonds with their friends, who lend it to the Warrior willingly. (Also something something limit break happening because it's the battle with you, the only person he does have a genuine connection with that he can draw true power from.) (Okay yeah that bit is very self indulgent)

[murfpersonalblog]

Claudia's Celebration of Life: Spark in the Dark - The Actress (Delainey)

As the title suggests, this event is to celebrate the wonderful Claudia; her personality, her aspirations, her journey. The heart for the past two seasons of AMC Interview with The Vampire. This is to take the narrative back to her, proving she's not just a shingle roof for us. 10. Aug 29th & 30th: The Actress (Delainey Hayles)

All of our different Claudias over the decades are iconic; she's a goated character, no matter what. But I absolutely love Delainey.

Claudia in S2 was a completely different beast; and just SO good to follow as she inevitably careened towards her inevitable doom. U_U Delainey perfectly delivered the raw pain Claudia was going through, not just in Paris, but her entire life:

Her frustration was palpable, trapped in her underdeveloped body, and how everyone infantalized her; to her resentment towards Louis and the "stormy romance of YOU TWO!," just sick & effing tired of Loustat & and the mess they put her in by making her. (It's not that she should've never been born--"you are a mistake!"--it's that LOUSTAT should've never raised her; they were unworthy of HER, not the other way around. 😤)

Ofc, Louis (& Jonah) going to Europe is a nod to the IRL Black Exodus of African Americans fleeing the racist homophobic "land of the free" and settling in France, etc. where it was (relatively) safer. But we don't talk enough about Claudia's racial perspective, and how Europe was idealized in HER head.

Her life in America was awful, rock bottom, and she thought it just HAD to be better overseas; that nothing & no one could be worse than "Lestat, Antoinette, the motherf***er, and YOU!" Life has never been easy for her; and she got NOTHING out of vampirism.

Even as a high-yellow racially ambiguous Black girl, Bailey's Claudia was STILL subjected to a barrage of racism in Jim Crow America (2 incidents with white cops calling her a devil & busting into her room on some Breonna Taylor mess; the racist white wenches calling her a "Darkie;" the other racist white wench calling her a "Swamp" Thing; letterman jacket George Zimmerman who wouldn't let her in the college; Bruce raping her after macroaggressively telling her to read a book about (white woman) etiquette; and Tom Anderson's "two-toned daddies" jibe at her being mixed-race). And ofc, her remarks that she & Lou are Massa Lestat's "slaves."

Delainey's Claudia in S2 is VERY candid about race & colorism. She's hyperaware of Louis' privilege as a lighter-skinned Creole Black man, now that both she AND Armand are darker-skinned than Louis/JA, (since she's not being played by a lightskinned actress anymore).

I was SO glad she said that. Cuz it points directly to her naivety & desperate hope that skinship = kinship. She thought leaving America meant leaving Bruce/Lestat/abuse/racism behind.

Alas, she swiftly got her Negro-wakeup-call in Europe; as German Nazis & Ukranian/Russian Soviets were barring Black people entry at every checkpoint; and Romanian white kids rudely poked her face, calling her a "cioara/crow" (Romania's N-word for dark-skinned foreigners X X).

Then Claudia & Louis get to Paris (a historical oasis for Black folk fleeing American racism). She hoped/assumed that the racially diverse Theatre coven led by a dark-skinned brown Coven Master meant that she & Lou would be safer & treated better there than they were in Lestat's coven--and America by extension.

So much focus has gone towards Louis' treatment in Trial, and Santiago & Armand's machinations against him; but we don't talk enough about poor Claudia's treatment, and the overtly racist way they treated her as well. She got her ultimate Negro-wakeup-call when the Theatre killed her in front of a laughing live audience, just like white Americans at Black lynchings.

“We got out and walked down the road, and we found a bunch of white men, women and children. There was no sign of terror in their faces. There was nothing but giggles and laughter as the blood dripped from the nose and from the bullet-riddled body of the victim." (Jim Crow Museum, Lynching Picnics)

I've seen dumb AF takes that the Trial wasn't about race, cuz there's Planche, Armand, Tuan & Quang Pham--1 Black man & 3 Asians. But being racially diverse doesn't make it NOT racist, LOL. "I'm not racist, I have 3 Bipoc friends~! This company's not racist, we hired 2 Bipocs! This country's not racist, we have a half-Black president!" 🙄 Euro-America's racist AF, and they've got PLENTY of minorities. Just look at the UK riots that've been happening all summer, DUH!

Regardless of how many Bipocs are in the coven, it's Black people who're still the ones being exploited & oppressed (Baby Lou Lou), and the ones Santiago wanted dead the most (Claudia & Louis). Lestat openly admitted to breaking Rule #2 and that he should be punished too, but they told him to STFU & stick to the script--STAY ON CODE, and reap the benefits of white privilege. (ONLY Madeleine was offered a get-out-of-jail seat in the coven. But when she rejected Santiago's coven & proudly declared "My coven is Claudia," she got the "Race Traitor" treatment when she chose to die with her Black lover--as we've seen historically (X X X) and even currently.)

(Also, your own people can betray you & sell you out, just to please white folk on the winning side. Planche was giddy as he stuffed Louis in that vault & carved his name on the door--why would he--the token Negro--go against the coven? 🙄😒)

As dark-skinned as he is, Armand never GAF about Claudia, "tell her she's beautiful." The coven painted Lou as a Black thug & sexual predator, but they depicted Claudia as a hideous MONSTER:

"You ain't a girl, you a DEVIL!"

Tuan drew her that way, but ARMAND told Tuan what to draw, to make Louis & Claudia look as BAD as possible: GUILTY! DEATH!

Armand never had an ounce of regard, respect, or faith in Claudia.

Armand's physical abuse stands out, too.

It was bad enough when Loustat did it in S1, but just look at this SIZE difference--how dang TINY Delainey is, compared to Assad! 😩

Look how much she had to struggle to drink from that dude at the mansion--she's barely tall enough to reach his neck with him leaning back! XD

(Claudia's so dang adorable--even when she's being a total terror, lol.)

Delainey's casting just nails it--she's so effing SMALL & baby-faced, but her voice is HUGE; she hollers up a storm every episode telling these dumb vamps off about themselves. She has a raspiness that IIRC Delainey herself said is supposed to sound like an old woman chainsmoking cigarettes, just fed up as no one picks her, loves her, or even believes her or believes in her: the sheer embodiment of being a Black woman in the Western world--Old (Europe) or New (America).

Delainey was amazing all season, doing all those languages, simping for the Theatre, singing & dancing, telling Louis like it is, being so sweet with Madeleine, and reliving the trauma of what Bruce did to her.

She didn't take Bailey's cold hard steel approach; sharp as the edge of Louis' blade; an impenetrable fortress so that Lestat can't see her vulnerability & crack/break her. Instead, Delainey's take was soft and warm. She's child-like in her naivety around the Theatre, and determination to see herself as one of them & conform, just as Louis had to conform his whole life in NOLA.

Ofc, she learns otherwise when they turned her into a minstrel show, and killed the joy out of her.

She gets hotter & hotter until she finally boils over. Delainey's my favorite during the Trial (Ep7's my fave episode in S2). The Trial's such a massive moment, and I was so hyped to finally see it on screen for the first time ever (the film skips it, and in the book it's short & choppy since Loustat were both falling in & out of consciousness and didn't really remember wtf had happened). My heart was in my effing stomach when she got up and started tearing Lestat a new arsehole.

Delainey 100% sold me on how much AGONY Claudia must've been in, on her feet like that, determined & STRONG enough to stand up and defend herself, since no one else would/could. I was right there with her the whole time, like wtf, ohhhh I was PIIIIIIISED.

And this LOOK she gave Lestat when she was done!?!

Tired, but resolute & SMUG/satisfied all in one. She purses her lips & raises her brow like: kiss my whole entire 14-year old Black arse; I did more in 2 minutes than you've done in 200 years, CLOWN.

Best thing he ever did for her was let her CURSE y'all! Enjoy being effing haunted in Season 3, Lestat! 😜👻👻👻

So I PRAY Rolin does justice to Delainey's Claudia in whatever S3 holds for her. I DEMAND to see ghost!Claudia come back with a vengeance! The queen said she has unfinished business! 👸🏾😈

[frozenambiguity]

continued from here | @poswiecenia.

Heavy is the weight of the responsibilities bestowed upon the man. Run away no longer he does, though the girl's interpretation of events matters little to him. He holds a compromise towards many — that much is true —, regardless of how unwillingly concerted it might have been. A constant reminder from another is not necessary. Too many nights have gone sleepless for that duty to not be engraved in his mind and bones.

Alas (for her, perhaps), amidst all schemes and contrived plots to achieve turbulent goals, it is he who wears the crooked crown of a broken nation. Placed 'pon his head, it may at times glisten no longer, shimmer dimming by momentary hesitation and concern over those who have nothing to do with the events, yet seem to be dragged into this mess altogether. 

Two people, connected by the roots of a destroyed nation, want to see it restored. However, they differ in approaches. Motivations. Little does she know that he has gained strength. Matured with age. To the point where he wishes to bend fate with his own hands. No longer is he part of a doomed narrative, one he told himself over and over for so many years. 

«We are not allies. You'd do well to remember that». Voice is frigid, much like the sharp look in his gaze. There is no room for opinions to modify, unless she offers an irrefutable explanation or deal. Even then, perhaps he is willing to sacrifice it all. It is time to see his own plans blossom, without the interference of another.

«I will not have a nation rebuilt on blood and ash».

[iasmelaion]

what happens when you listen to three audiobooks in like a week and a half

We've been at trial for like the past two weeks at work, which means I have been alone in the office, with approximately 2 hours worth of work to do every day max, mostly just there to answer frantic emails and texts about "what exhibit number is [vague and potentially inaccurate description of email or other document]?" and occasionally file supplemental trial briefs. Anyway, it's all up to the jury now! Only not now now because it is a court holiday and because this case lives to torment me and never ever ever finish ahahaha it's fine i'm fine, we better win.

Anyway, all of that is to say I was bored as hell so I decided to finally finish listening to the audiobook of Gideon the Ninth, which I had started listening to LAST FEBRUARY. You can perhaps guess that, as good as the audiobook narration was, I was not entirely feeling the book. Ahaha. Ha. I was already mentally writing my Goodreads review, complaining about how yes, the narrative voice is great, and yeah, the set up and genre mashup are fun (lesbian necromancers in space! country manor mystery! slasher horror!), but there's just not enough context and the worldbuilding is so vague and what are the overarching stakes even. And then the last 1/3 of the book happened, and I listened to all three current books in the series in like a week and a half and I have spent the last two days rotating these characters in my head and reading meta and such. Sorry in advance about how in approximately two weeks time, my queue will be full of TLT shit.

Spoilers and assorted jumbled reactions below, because I'm not about to ramble like this on goodreads. But real talk, I have skimmed so much spoilery talk/fan art/etc about these books and absolutely none of it made any sense at the time so tbh I don't think it matters all that much if you're spoiled. The spoilers won't even make any damn sense most of the time.

I wish I could give this series some kind of pitch that would, idk, explain it or make it seem enticing, but lol I have no idea where I'd even start. I'll just say that if you are in need of Enrichment in your Enclosure, these books are like being tossed a very meaty bone full of delicious marrow which you can gnaw upon for a good long while.

Gideon's narrative voice is a lot of fun, and I do quite enjoy how she's basically a big lesbian jock, even if that did make a lot of the first book rough going for me because alas, Gideon, bless her, is not interested in much beyond hot ladies, swords, staying alive, and getting off her home planet. And Harrow, of course.

HARROW. For 2/3 of the first book, Gideon hates her passionately, they've been enemies their entire lives, they are vicious and awful to each other. Now, I knew Gideon/Harrow was like THE ship for these books, and I was like "...hm. Listen, I simply do not vibe with this kind of enemyship." But then that last third happened, and auuughhhhh. They're enemies, they were all the other had, they were two rats trapped in a barrel, desperate to get out, clawing and biting and snarling and hurting each other, they were each other's only solace, they were doomed from the start. They've been trapped in a cycle of terrible violence, and I have no idea if they can ever get out. And the love Gideon wants from Harrow is to be used and consumed and destroyed by love, and the love Harrow wants to give is to save her and keep her even if it means forgetting her. Like, y'all, I ship it, but I have no idea how there's any kind of future in it.

And then Harrow the Ninth happened, and goddamn, poor fucking Harrow. I felt for her already after the revelation in Gideon the Ninth, but Harrow the Ninth made me so desperately sad for her.

Good job on the soup though, Harrow!

Also the low key comedy of all of them stuck with each other on the Mithraeum was *chef's kiss*. Just like THE most demented and toxic workplace sitcom while poor Harrow is descending into a total mental breakdown.

The worldbuilding is so fascinatingly, complicatedly BONKERS. Also it's so SPACE CATHOLICISM that I don't even know what to say about it. I'm not qualified. But like. It is. It's so Space Catholicism, but also make it More Goth. And it's clearly concerned with religion and faith and all that, but not in a Narnia kind of way, and I am FASCINATED about where it's all leading to.

What a fucking villain this series has in John Gaius aka God aka Necrolord Prime aka the Prince Undying aka the Emperor of the Nine Houses aka Jod. Just absolutely skin-crawlingly horrible, the literal Worst Person Who Ever Lived, even as he's affable and funny and occasionally endearing and pathetic. And like I'm not even sure all of that stuff is a mask or a cover for his monstrousness! Like I think he genuinely is affable and funny and endearing and pathetic! He is just also quite literally History's Greatest Monster. I'm not sure if he was always like this, though I'm leaning towards him having been an awful man before he became god, in all those quiet, too-easily unnoticed ways men are awful, the moment they have any power over someone. And then Jod gets all the power so of course his awfulness becomes correspondingly greater.

I will say though that Jod's origin story is an actual horror movie, the stuff of nightmares. It's the end of the world because climate change and he and his team are frantically working on some way to save everybody but it doesn't quite work, not well enough, and no one is listening to him, and the clock is ticking down and of course the billionaires have a way out, of course they're gonna get on some space ships and bounce, but what about everyone else? Jod is sure he can save everyone else, if only he had the resources, if only they'd listen to him. And someone was listening, it turns out. Someone--something gives him power. Terrible, terrible power over life and death. And he becomes something else and makes choice after terrible choice, enabled by his friends, and then whoops not whoops! He's killed everybody on the fucking planet and ate the sun and the whole solar system too!! Absolutely terrifying reveal, and it's built up to so well. We spend so much time listening to Jod and so much of what he says is reasonable or understandable, but every so often there's a hint that under his commendable politics and goals and general hapless nerd vibes, there's something else, something much, much worse.

Actually, this whole part would make a truly great horror movie, especially if it starts off as an almost dark comedy that shifts genres as it goes: from dark comedy to suspenseful thriller to eldritch horror.

Also he gets, like, super weird about the cadavers he's been experimenting on. Like, deeply, horrifying creepy and weird about them.

Lotta people get weird about corpses in this series, if I'm being honest.

CAMILLA AND PALAMEDES. I am UNWELL about these two. I am UNHINGED. I am still rotating them in my mind, unable to do much but WEEP. "So...do you ship them??" you might ask. To which I say idk and idc, what does to ship these two even MEAN at this point, they are platonic, they are romantic, they are eros, philia, AND agape, and they're the Love that Is Perfected in Death. The absolute fucking pinnacle of insane codependence. Childhood BFFs who crawled into each other's skins and hearts and souls and never crawled back out. How much more codependent is it possible to get? NONE. NONE MORE CODEPENDENT. They have MERGED THEIR SOULS AND BODIES TOGETHER INTO ONE BEING. [actually, real talk, i am uncertain of the Soul Situation, I am pretty sure they've merged their souls together, but like. idk. they do also say they will be known as themselves "beyond the River" after death] I am WEEPING just THINKING ABOUT IT. That is not fucking hyperbole btw, the mere thought of them basically makes me cry, it's fine, i'm fine. They love each other SO MUCH. I CANNOT HANDLE IT.

Anyway, rather difficult to "ship" a pairing that has become...one person. Like, still willing to make a game go of it even during the period where they're sharing a body, but like. Now they are one person??? Because this is not a Steven Universe-style fusion where Ruby and Sapphire can unfuse from Garnet, Camilla and Palamedes are now one person, no takebacks while they live. I do love Paul though! Fucking adore that some of Paul's first acts as a new person were acts of kindness and mercy. Jod's lyctors are called saints, but I think Paul is the only one who is a saint in truth.

So, a triumph or a tragedy or both that Camilla and Palamedes died to become Paul? Idk! I adored Camilla and Palamedes as individual characters, I adored how in many ways they're the certain, just moral center of this entire series, I love their intelligence and ferocity, and oh, after Nona the Ninth, I loved so much how they loved. Each other, and other people. I loved Camilla using truths like her swords, her dry humor, how she was still so kind even while being an absolute stone cold fucking badass. I loved Palamedes, his brilliance and how he bent basically all that brilliance into helping people. I loved so fucking much that he was the one who figured out that there was a better way to achieve lyctorhood than the way Jod and his lyctors set out for them. I loved that stuck in a bubble in the underworld, with nothing but a terrible erotic novel, he started having serious opinions about said erotic novel and undoubtedly wrote terrible fanfiction in his head about it.

Ahem. Anyway. Abigail Pent and Magnus Quinn were also delightful, and I was especially charmed by the lovely Welsh accents Moira Quirk gives them in the audiobook. Love that Abigail has immensely powerful, friendly mom friend energy while simultaneously being an immensely powerful Eldritch Speaker for the Dead. Gideon observing her all like "ah, her eye contact is...extremely very unsettlingly intense! but also she is wearing an apron and is cheerful so that's alright then."

God, this is really long, sorry to anyone who actually read it, possibly i will reblog with more disjointed thoughts.

[tortoisesshells]

top five doomed mariners go

in order not of significance, but of encounter:

(1) William Bush - the original Doomed Mariner, my copy of Lord Hornblower is still held together with duct tape from chucking the book across the room when I realized Forester was not going to pull a "if there's no body he's not dead" - rather, "if there's no body, it's because he was too close to the ignition point." A character whose defining trait is his devotion is actually something that can be so personal.

(2) James Norrington - the man, the myth, the legend. clearly takes up too much brain space for a [checking notes for comedic effect] antagonist secondary character from a twenty-year-old theme park ride movie. Hard to say at which point it became clear he'd never survive, but there's definitely a point at which he clearly thinks he's survived too long for anyone's good, least of all his own.

(3) Mr. Starbuck

“On this level, Ahab’s hammock swings within; his head this way. A touch, and Starbuck may survive to hug his wife and child again.—Oh Mary! Mary!—boy! boy! boy!—But if I wake thee not to death, old man, who can tell to what unsounded deeps Starbuck’s body this day week may sink, with all the crew! Great God, where art Thou? Shall I? shall I?—The wind has gone down and shifted, sir; the fore and main topsails are reefed and set; she heads her course.” “Stern all! Oh Moby Dick, I clutch thy heart at last!” Such were the sounds that now came hurtling from out the old man’s tormented sleep, as if Starbuck’s voice had caused the long dumb dream to speak. The yet levelled musket shook like a drunkard’s arm against the panel; Starbuck seemed wrestling with an angel; but turning from the door, he placed the death-tube in its rack, and left the place. (123: The Musket)

(4) Eyk Larsen - doomed by Netflix more than his own foibles, though that's not for lack of trying on his foibles' part. Even the men on his crew that like him are waiting for him to snap under the strain of his bereavement, alcoholism, and the demands of the new shipping company's changes (and the sudden appearance/disappearance of a ghost ship. and inexplicable deaths. and seeing things. and and and). Doesn't make it three whole scenes before staring moodily into the deeps of the Atlantic, musing on the impossibility of knowing what lives on the floor thousands of feet below. Kind of deserved that mutiny. Didn't exactly die in 1899, but. Well. Like his relationship with Maura, it was complicated.

(5) Bill Malloy - He never learned how to swim, he put together The Big Secret about the manslaughter trial quicker than any other uninvolved character, he's been in love with and trailing a respectful step behind Liz Collins Stoddard for 20+ years to no avail (but, hey, Carolyn says he's as good as her father, which?), and he's not the most helpful ghost but he is having a little too much fun getting revenge for his murder - did we ever hear him laugh when he was alive? I suppose we have to subtract some points for him never spending any time on a boat within the scope of the narrative, but then, he IS trying to go back to his job on the boats - and no one else on this list sings "What Do You Do With A Drunken Sailor?". I'm pretty sure the narrative is through with him now, alas. He'll always be famous to me.

[izar-tarazed]

What kind of tragedy are you?

Izar: doomed from the start

there was no way of winning, and you knew it too. but you still tried. you tried again and again and again to change it. you fought tooth and claw to change your fate, but she cannot be easily manipulated. it’s not your fault. the game was always rigged against you. from the moment you entered the narrative, your fate was sealed. you didn’t stand a chance.

Ensha: wrong place, wrong time it shouldn’t have been you. oh my love, you should have lived. if only. if only you had made a right instead of a left. if only your friend hadn’t had so much to drink. if only it hadn’t rained last night. then everything would be fine. a butterfly could have flapped its wings at another time and you would have have been fine. safety was so close, and yet so far. but alas, the stars just had to align.

(Love how both results are somewhat fitting! As a Tarnished, of course Izar "tried again and again and again". Fate sealed from the moment she entered the narrative; doomed to either continue along a path not wholly hers, or lose the grace and everything, both times without fulfilling the purpose she wished for. And while Ensha's "wrong place, wrong time" is fitting too, I still can't stop laughing about it. Yes, Ensha, if only you hadn't been in the Roundtable Hold and decided to go after that particular Tarnished! You could have stayed right next to the study door, but NO. (I think it's somewhat fitting for my canon-divergent Ensha who survived the ambush, too, but still.) Tagged by @necrophcge; tagging no one in particular, go ahead and do this for your OCs if you want to! Feel free to tag me so I see it. :)

[locke-esque-monster]

Miscellaneous (and by no means comprehensive) thoughts on Daryl Dixon tv show

The English major in me loves the narrative symmetry in making Daryl cut off the hand of someone who is a semi-redeemable dick after giving Rick so much shit about putting Merle in that position in season 1.

Likewise for whatever is happening with the symbolism of Daryl using the flag to kill a zombie. Or him fighting his way off the beaches of France as a reverse of his grandfather.

Did I almost instantly figure out that guy dying on the beach was an ancestor on Daryl's? Yes. But subtle storytelling has never been this universe's forte.

Good Lord, the abundance of religious imagery in this show. I don't hate it... but Jesus Christ (I'm referring to the exclamation - not who Laurent is the least subtle stand-in for him).

Ah, so apparently even in France they don't have haircuts in the apocalypse. Clearly the only people who knew how to give a haircut lived in Alexandria (Jessie, Enid), and now they're dead we're forever doomed to shaggy-haired children and trying to peer through a curtain of hair to read Daryl's expression. How the hell does anyone fight a zombie with all that hair in their face, and no hair ties? Or are the men like, incapable of cutting their hair without a woman handling it?

We need more fighting nuns on tv shows.

I have been inordinately stressed every time I see Carol's knife get left somewhere in France. I'm starting to wonder if it returns to your pocket ala Riptide from the Percy Jackson books.

I don't hate the possibility of Daryl/Isabelle the show is dancing around. It's like Daryl/Connie - it's got a solid foundation, I can see why someone would ship it and I respect that. But it's not the ship of my heart I'm (clownishly) holding out hope for - Daryl/Carol.

I love how TWD gave the remaining episodes of the last season a single "fuck" per episode and now Daryl can just sprinkle them into his conversation at will. It feels like justice or recompense for every character who should have always been saying "fuck" at will on tv (looking at you Dean Winchester).

Carol, my queen, my inspiration, my favorite morally gray woman on tv - God, I've really missed you.

Second to that, I've missed the hell out of that pixie cut from peak Carol era. Carol knows exactly what haircut is practical on a mission.

For all that I heard about a twist, all I could figure during the radio call was Rick or Michonne was coming back. Or even that broken-up line was a trick, and Carol was just asking Daryl to come back safely. Maybe the phone call was a set-up for a reunion of Daryl & Carol in the finale. It wasn't until the car chase and right around where it stopped did it snap into my head that no one was getting out of that car but Carol. Bless whoever did something to ensure Carol got her proper ending. She never would have let Daryl go off on all these adventures that long, or alone, without looking for him.

I can't help but wonder what Carol in France would have entailed and how the story would have played differently. How would she have dealt with her relapsed Christianity? Or addressing any history she may have with France (aspirations to go there, history with Ed's family likely being French with that last name)? Or was the story always meant to split them up?

That said, if I can't have a Daryl and Carol together show (because oh my god, they would have to avoid them talking about their feelings too much and they have decided to avoid this by separation), I will certainly take a whole season of Carol. Give me all of the Carol.

[calamari-minecraft-corner]

I don't have an ao3 account currently so I can't comment on the new penpal chapter but I just want you to know how absolutely feral I am going about it. It is delicious. Fucking "so wren how do you want to die" I am giggling and kicking my feet as well as screaming in angst and amazement.

Penpal!Dream is probably my favorite Dream I have ever read. I am actually feral about him I swear. I want to put him in a snow globe and shake him. He is my precious baby girl.

And Wren omg Wren, precious baby girl in an entirely different way. I love her so much. Girl got angst and I honestly maybe would die for her. I feel so bad for her though girl was getting by then some god decided to make her text an unhinged sheep boy, and it devolved into actual nightmare fuel. I now hate centipedes, thanks.

I'm sorry this is so unhinged but I need to put the unhingedness somewhere. Your writing is just so delicious and good it makes me unhinged about it.

On a more sane note, I hope you're doing well :)

I have been reading this ask for five minutes I’m so happy you love Penpal!

And i honestly love writing Penpal!Dream and his dynamic with Wren so much— he is an absolute unhinged sheep man and just needs loads of therapy, especially since it’s hard for him to know what he’s doing is inherently wrong or not because in his eyes he thinks what he’s doing is the best course of action.

And Wren I just- I just love writing her but she makes me so sad. Literally doomed by the narrative and roped into this mess that she really can’t escape from now, and the next few chapters will get into more of how she’s dealing with this while she’s going through another version of hell.

The next few chapters I’m really excited to write for but I’m also terrified since it’s going to be really dark and fucked up, probably the same level as the centipede scene if I’m being honest but in a different regard. I’m gonna add a warning in my notes though for it just in case when I do write the next chapter.

And also thank you for enjoying my writing! I’ve been having a hard time lately trying to fully enjoy it but the past week Penpal has been getting an influx of love and it makes me happy :) and I’m also doing well, just going through work. Hopefully I’ll get to work on it next chapter in the next few days— I miss when I was able to just write through chapters and update them weekly but alas, work and creativity be damned.

Also you can ALWAYS be unhinged in my ask box about Penpal or any other AU, it makes me so fucking happy and I’m always glad to answer questions without spoiling stuff 💖

[worldussysblog]

"Sanctuary in the Pages: Mira's Journey Between Worlds"

"A Short narrative story about a girl who does her best to escape the harsh reality through reading books"

Made by:worldussysblog and Htsbr25

Mira was curled up on her bed , the world outside her room was a distant hum. On her lap rests her favorite book that she often used to escape the harsh reality , the scent of an aged paper and it's ink had filled the air inside her small room. As she flipped through the pages of the book , she had found solace in the stories that had fueled her imaginations further more. Through reading stories , she was not Mira , the girl who often woke up with an impending doom , worrying too much and who has a little hope in life, rather she was Mira — a brave heroine , who fought dragons , sailing across the seven seas and discovering more strange hidden worlds.

The more she kept on reading , the more the lines and barriers between reality and fantasy collide and soon fades on the background— as she was too immerse on the story she was reading. Her dull eyes and the ache she felt on her heart each day on her life faded with each turn of the page, it was replaced by the vivid colors of far-away lands and the warmth and affections of the characters who understood her in the ways no one ever could— Not even her own parents . Here, she was strong , brave , loved by many and mostly importantly, here she felt safe.

Alas , all good things had come to an end , as Mira neared the last page of the book , a cold dread crept in and the dull ache on her heart had slowly return. She knew ,she would have to close the book soon and return to the harsh world she had desperately tried to escape. But for now, she had clung to the empty words , letting them be her refuge , her escape from a reality too hard to face.

The word "Mira" means Mirror in Japanese but in terms of name , it meant "Beautiful , Female Ruler, admirable , peace and Ocean". I named the character Mira because in mirror we could see our reflection therefore the character "Mira" in the story could also mean us or our reflection — especially if you could relate to her.

[some-old-psyker]

Rogue Trader CRPG AU

*Definitely a shoo-in for Iconoclastic/Dogmatic conviction*

*Probably worked for an Inquisitor of the Recongregator creed for a while in her youth*

*Sanctioned psyker but not a perpetual*

“Let the servant speak please”

*Regularly conducts small social experiments on the companions to see how they react to certain minor acts, such as being offered an unopened pack of fruit snacks. If she recruits Marazhai he is certainly not safe from this.*

*Probably with Heinrix in spite of her better judgment (he ends up being a sweetheart damnit). Possibly trying to break down Yrliet’s walls too.*

“No Cassia you may not cut out the servant’s tongues”

*Definitely sympathizes with Idira a bit and tries to help her break out of her Doomed By The Narrative arc. Alas, she probably won’t succeed*

“Abelard? Get his ass.”

[abracazabka]

I went out of my way (not really) to watch this movie TOGETHER WITH OP so I could read this monster. 

I'm sure like 5 people have watched this shitty lil movie. But it doesn't matter. I shall read this essay of my friend's insane I mean enlightened prose. 

Alright starting now:

In case one Showdown wasnt enough. Oh god there are two of them

These amazing shots of cinematography: NO MORE MERCY. KILL YOURSELF.

Omg i didnt notice he smoked the stolen pack i thought that was his own pack. Thats funny ngl

EVERYONE DOES LOOK AT LEAST 24 YEARS OLD

Yeah fr the vibe is so rancid there's no narrative at all about preventing violence, just which violence is intolerable (it clearly takes quite a bit to be intolerable) but I guess that makes sense…cop character…

NO FR THEY BRIEFLY MENTIONED, NOT IN THESE WORDS, THAT CAPITALISM LEADS TO VIOLENCE. THEN NEVER AGAIN. BROOOO

doomed by the narrative not for any compelling reason but because everyone is psycho crazy violent 

Nobody else will talk about this - you sure are right about that 💗

It is kinda funny the shitty nature of everyone doing crap for money, like some of the teen fighters and Kate, are a large part of the film and considered bad - and Ken's last name is Marx, implying a critique of capitalism. YET Ken fights in the ring while everyone makes bets and the teen fighters aren't mentioned again. Ffs

And no yeah fr Ken was not just dumb about trying to get Julie but also unapologetic about it when his Oh Lets Just Be Friendssss thing didnt hit

Our holy cannoli, Daniel/Ralph

WAIT CRYING I DIDNT REALIZE THAT. SORRY EDDIE 💔

Julie/Ken/Mike truther over here thats me thats right

Making me mad again with that unelaborated scene with Billy. But mostly confused. Literally why show that when it has no further purpose

Literally there were two or three montages you couldve characterized Billy more in that time 😐

Sorry what? What? Dude I did not register Lee knew Billy at all. Where the hell was that mentioned in the movie. I didnt get the revenge thing at all

Yeah I saw the picture but. Man lets be honest all these random white guys look the same. Didnt register that shit at all. Guess that makes more sense now 

Omg Kate is kind of like the Silver to his Kreese youre rignt…I wish she wasnt so erotically weird about high school boys. Haha nooo dont engage in predatory behavior youre so sexy…

I do like that point. They really do seem like partners, like no one has more power than the other. And yet theres no boss controlling them. They genuinely have their system as co-leaders of this thing. Thats actually a refreshing dynamic for a male and female villain haha

I mean yeah its mostly professional but there is that weird moment where Lee moves her hair off her shoulder. I didn't like that haha…

She has a bit of a mean streak but the movie doesnt know FRRRR but to be fair id be kind of an ass too having to deal with Tom

Reading through the bits about Julie and Kate accidentally merging in your mind makes me so disappointed again. It wouldve been so good!!! Alas a plot such as that is ahead of Showdown's time…

The first photo in the Tom section makes it looks like he's in a poly relationship with his friends which. Mightve saved him. Poly dynamics really would have saved all of them actually. 

GINA GINA GINA. Youre such a cutie pie. And a bitch. I want you.

Literally Tom barely pays attention to her but then is like DONT TALK TO ANOTHER GUY OR ILL KILL HIM like Tom Jesus christ maybe SHOW SOME AFFECTION THEN

To be honest maybe Julie looks so similar to Kate for the exact reason i said before. Shes a stand in. And Tom abuses her because he cant abuse Kate who makes him feel so powerless and small. 

Like whether I'm right or not I still fucking hate Tom. Lee's treatment of Tom also explains Tom's treatment of Julie but again, fuckin whatever. Tom can suck my dick and choke

Literally if Kate was a man and Tom a girl and the movie ended without punishment for Kate for being in a relationship with a minor, everyone would grab their pitchforks, hello???

Yeah the end with Tom is so dissatisfying. At least Johnny dissociates 

I HATE THIS MOVIE TOO. Compels me though.

HELD TOGETHER BY SHOESTRING AND DUCT TAPE LMFAO. YEAH. YEAH.

Oh I'll tell you about it…again.

The basic premise of The Karate Kid (1984) — down on his luck new kid learns how to defend himself and ultimately triumphs over his bullies with the help of a wise, old mentor — is far from unique. But since its release, a wave of movies in the 80s and even as far as into the 90s, clearly inspired by Daniel and Mr. Miyagi, came in with fists raised, ready to dominate late night television and home media.

There's No Retreat, No Surrender (1985), The Power Within (1995) (whose villain is played by none other than William Zabka), and my personal favorite of this niche genre: Showdown (1993), directed by Robert Radler

Also known as American Karate Tiger, for a reason that I could only assume has to do with the fact No Retreat, No Surrender is also known as Karate Tiger (no relation to these films however, besides in genre and story)

Anyway, make no mistake: this is not a good movie. I say it's my favorite, not because of its quality, but because there's just So Much About It that wouldn't leave my mind. This is besides the fact it's transparently derivative of The Karate Kid (hell, the main character in the movie references it in a scene! I was so mad!) — the way it's different (and worse) delights me to no end that the others hadn't achieved somehow.

tldr; a LONG assortment of words with some analysis because I need to tell people about this movie ahfkakfaf. NOT a coherent essay (or an essay at all really)

Part 1: Boring stuff like BACKGROUND or THEMES

First thing to know: there's another movie with the same name that was released in 1933 too, but that one's directed by Leo Fong. In case one Showdown wasn't enough.

Now, Showdown never calls it karate, and I'm not going to pretend and say I could easily tell from one type of martial arts to another by glance, so I'm going to refrain from calling this movie strictly any certain type. Anyway, Its fighting content is more reminiscent of another film that came out in the same year and that'd be familiar to Karate Kid fans and lovers of William Zabka's filmography: Shootfighter (1993).

Like Shootfighter, an underground, illegal fighting ring plays a significant role in Showdown, albeit being less fatal and a local scene. A group of teens and young (?) adults, led by their bloodthirsty criminal sensei, in a dojo make up some of its participants, which naturally incentivizes the high schoolers in the dojo to be aggressive in school — bullying, intimidation, cultish significance in aggression and domination blah blah blah blah we all know the type. Regardless, the high school the new kid moves to certainly doesn't need any help throwing him into the deep end of trouble. By the first five minutes of introduction, his new schoolmates are seen stealing, driving motorcycles on school campus, and contributing to these amazing shots of cinematography:

I'm sure they've all got their reasons and such for their misbehavior, or not because they're nothing more than dressing for the background when they aren't the Cobra Kai lookalikes. One thing I can assume is true for all students is a distinct sense of parental neglect, considering the only parents we see is five minutes of the main character's mom, who's job hunting is never quite resolved by the end of the movie and whom I could only guess decided to fit in to the new place by also abandoning her son to travel to the next state or two for a job.

In addition to this, the members of the school staff are either struggling to do their best or instead doing the bare minimum. The most effort disciplining and guidance we see is a pack of cigarettes taken away by the vice principal... before he's smoking it himself behind a building. Honestly, I don't blame him.

Including those involved with the illegal fighting ring, the only barely respectable adult figure around is the janitor, who is — you've guessed it — the "Mr. Miyagi" character of the movie. But considering we've first been introduced to him as a former cop who quit after having accidentally killed a teen (apparently? Everybody looks at least 24 years old) during the job, it's hard pickings around here.

Why am I introducing this all firstly? Well, it's not a deep movie at all, and yet the first thing Showdown introduces to the audience is this oddly grim mood that makes up a major theme of the film: the inevitability of violence. Even when the main character learns how to defend himself, it is with the sense of precaution to be prepared to fight, not for finding a way to end them. The aura of aggression never truly leaves the scenes to let the main character be in peace for long, and he eventually falls into the illegal fighting ring himself out of his own volition — only, it's the Mega Ultra Battle in the end so it's badass and not treated as bleak at all. Hell, the main tagline of the movie is literally "There is no other way."

It's interesting that the main character learns to defend himself because of the efforts from the former cop turned janitor. And while he busts the operation in the end, the janitor ultimately returns to the force, as well as takes up a job to teach the (now arrested) sensei's former students as his own. Sure, they wouldn't be strung into illegal fighting rings anymore, but I question how much the inevitability of violence is enforced because of the expectation of its existence in the first place. Even in the finale, when the main character and his mentor get their happy ending and defeat their respective rivals, it's not with a new future promising radical change for nonviolence and reconstruction, but a grim determination that they could rise to the challenge of the eventual call to aggression.

There is some effort to try and answer the question: "Why do people commit violence?" For example, the main character learns that many teens involved in the fighting ring are trying to pay for college. He himself empathizes, with his mother expressing frustration about being unable to find a good job. Nevertheless, both the main character and his mentor ultimately condemn the practice as exploitment and bust the fighting ring. While this frees the participants from any more physical harm, the question of how the teens fighting for money could support themselves (the reason that got them into illegal fighting in the first place) is never asked again.

This is not even to mention the actual physical — and even psychological — consequences of illegal tournament fighting that are barely portrayed, if at all. Most attitudes surrounding involvement by the teens are blasé, if content with the gigs they got. It's not hard to imagine that they've been manipulated by an intimidating sensei into what is essentially a cult of violence, but Showdown does not dwell on that. This is not the only thing it does not dwell on.

I'm not necessarily saying a former cop janitor and a high schooler in his midtwenties could singlehandedly rid their society of the deeper, insidious causes that breed the cycle of violence in communities. And frankly, this is a lot to ask for a movie that was never made to answer such questions, and it knows itself. I can recognize that. However, Showdown's fatalistic attitude towards violence feels particularly dooming in an otherwise stupid movie.

As a conclusion to this point, here are the opening words to Showdown as the first thing the audience learns about the film, with a sense of finality in its belief:

Part 2: You would think I'd introduce the characters first

Like the premise, the characters of Showdown share many of the same archetypes as the ones in The Karate Kid. The 1984 film however has a more nuanced and colorful cast, and I will be the asshole comparing the two films and their respective characters shamelessly. Admittedly, this section is the most like a summary, so I won't go through every single person but those I find interesting enough to talk about. I do promise to share whatever cool trivia I learned of the actors however, because nobody else sure will.

Firstly, let's take a look at the main character. Unlike Daniel LaRusso, who looks 12 but was played by a 22 year old at the time, Ken Marx looked as old as he did portrayed by someone who definitely was too old to be in high school.

'"I get it. When this is all over, I'm gonna know how to do all kinds of karate blocks, right? It's like, uh, wax on wax off, paint the fence, sand the floor..."

Ken Marx/Marks is a fine protagonist. New kid from Kansas, he's nice enough (especially compared to his new schoolmates) and has a strong sense of justice, but Ken seems to lack the same young, vulnerable angst as his predecessor Daniel about loneliness in someplace completely new. He, like any other supposed ordinary kid in high school, is embarrassed by the slight coddling of his single mother (who moved with him so she could find a job eventually), yet is understanding and wants to help her with money. Unlike Daniel, I could say with absolute certainty that Ken was trying to steal the girlfriend of the very guy who'd make it his mission to beat Ken up at every opportunity the minute he set foot in school. Arguably deserved some of the shit he got. Dick move, Marx (or Marks? Different sources say one or the other, but there's something funny imagining this All American guy with a name that's a little reminiscent of something... revolutionary).

One of the most notable differences between Daniel and Ken is in their state of origin: New Jersey versus Kansas. Not to profile, but I absolutely think it makes for more than just a minor change in their characters. Ken certainly doesn't have that "East Coast swagger" (as Ralph Macchio himself amazingly puts it) as Daniel does. His Midwest origins reflect through his easy kindness and endearing naïvete, but I've gotta admit that it doesn't do much to help him stand out as a protagonist. Still, even if I'm not especially invested in him, Ken's easygoing personality and humble origins are only boring and forgettable at worst, and I can admire his dedication to learn how to defend himself. That being said, Ken certainly could not be confused for Daniel and his Jersey Fire. The best example of this is Daniel versus Ken's reaction when their request to learn self-defense is first denied; while Daniel is openly upset and petulant, Ken is quiet but aquiesces with understanding. Ken is a nice kid sure, a little more mature and respectful than his predecessor, but that also makes him quite average. To further steal analogies from Macchio himself, it's like the difference between a cannoli and an apple pie.

Ken is played by Kenn Scott, an experienced martial artist. It's incredibly funny watching him throughout the movie be swamped in big jackets and whatnot to hide the guy's ripped abs, pecs, and biceps until it pays off at the end when he takes off his shirt in the big fight. Funnily enough, Scott is also in Shootfighter as Eddie, aka that guy who didn't want to go back in the ring and got killed for it.

RIP Eddie. We hardly knew ye.

Honorable mention goes to Ken's mom, whose name is only seen briefly on her shirt tag from work: Shirley. I can still hear her sighing about a job in her giant coat and 1989 Ford Probe to this day.

Ken doesn't feel as lonely as a character as Daniel does in The Karate Kid. While he is like Daniel in that they both quickly latch onto an older man who displays them a little bit of kindness, Ken finds himself another friend at school to keeps his company from feeling too lonely.

"Well listen, I just remembered I left my cat in the microwave."

Mike (played by John Asher) is meant to be funny and awkward, the wimpy but harmless guide to introduce Ken (and the audience) to his new setting. Mike even has a lackluster Clique Tour Moment à la Mean Girls of a couple distinct students or student groups to demonstrate his knowledge of the school populace to the new kid. He wears clashing patterns, says something funny for a moment or does something silly in the background, throws a few flimsy kicks and punches during a training montage, breaks the fourth wall, and walks away with the hero and his love interest in the most throuple-coded way ever.

Unfortunately, this is the most boy best friend Mike gets with Ken in the movie.

Mike has subtle growth throughout Showdown admittedly — from a cowardly goofball who shrinks away at the barest glare from the bullies and lets the new kid eat dirt on his own, to Ken's best friend that joins him in training a little, stays by his side til the end when he needs the most support, and even helps subsue one of the bad guys.

Of course, the real duo in Showdown — their rendition of the Daniel and Mr. Miyagi relationship — is between Ken and the janitor at school, who saves kids getting beaten up to make up for the fact he accidentally murdered one seven years ago.

"No, this is called toilet cleaning. It teaches humility. Then, I want you to startover here on those urinals."

Billy Grant is riddled with guilt for killing someone on the job, so much that he voluntarily quit the force afterwards — except, Billy expresses thoughts about coming back after being told by Ken of the illegal fighting ring, and eventually does return, so here's hoping Billy learned something in the seven years he "fell off the Earth" (according to his old partner at least, which I find highly doubtful. Guy's only left the force seven years ago, stayed in the area, and found a job as a janitor, but apparently disappeared?? Come on). Nevertheless, he's a Good Guy™ who saves Ken's ass at least three times — just as many times as Mr. Miyagi does Daniel's. This version of Wax On, Wax Off is just making Ken clean toilets, wash off graffiti, throw away trash, etc. — janitorial stuff — to help build his endurance. Let's be honest here though, this is infinitely more like child labor than whatever Mr. Miyagi had ever done.

One moment in the movie I find odd, because they never touch on it again after introducing it, is when Billy saves Ken from two of his bullies. In the end, he puts one of them in a headlock, which lasts for several seconds. It's strongly implied Billy would have continued holding it, if it weren't for Ken's cry for him to stop. The bully drops to the ground as he coughs for breath, and Billy literally runs off in horror.

Ken: Stop! Billy, don't.

It makes it seem like Billy could have some reason to lose control, like unresolved anger issues, his trauma, or perhaps a dark and hidden inclination to cruelty (if the movie wanted to go there). However, Ken never brings this up to Billy, and this lapse in judgement never occurs again in the movie. There isn't even a moment for him to reflect in solitude of what he almost did to those teenage boys to imply there is something more to his internal conflicts. And this loss of control is also absent in Billy's big fight against the criminal sensei.

I'm not even sure it makes sense at all with the trauma Billy actually has that influences his actions? He accidentally killed a kid by tossing him aside onto the floor, which had led to his head making contact with some stairs and killed him upon impact. This was a poorly decided action, but a quick one made in the heat of the moment nonetheless. How on Earth does this translate paychologically to losing control while holding someone in a chokehold? If the implication is that his trauma causes Billy to lose control when caught in a fight, not only does it not make sense, but it also never shows up again in the movie and thus makes the moment where he almost chokes a teenager too hard irrelevant. It sticks out, especially when Billy for the rest of the movie is otherwise unmistakenly altruistic and heroic.

Unfortunately, Billy just doesn't get to have the same room for depth as Mr. Miyagi does. Billy is kind, brave, strong, and wise, but there just aren't enough scenes in Showdown that reveal much of his human, vulnerable qualities to complement the heroic ones.

Billy may be the first major character introduced in the movie, alongside his guilt and regret, but Showdown doesn't dwell on how it's weighed Billy for long; his anger and efforts to bust the illegal fighting ring are all but stated outright to be fueled by a desire to make up for accidentally causing someone else's death years ago and wants to make sure no more young people are senselessly hurt, but the film does not let Billy open up about it. At Ken's question asking if that's the reason, Billy is silent before stoically taking a moral stance on the issue. He spins the topic back to Ken's training, and that's the end of Billy being allowed to be more than an archetype, instead a flawed human being who's been personally affected because of his mistakes:

Ken: Billy, I knew you always weren't a janitor. And I want you to tell the truth. Billy: Ken, I used to be a cop. Then I killed a kid. It was a mistake. Ken Did you have to quit? Billy: No, I couldn't handle it anymore. But I'm thinking about getting back into it. Ken: You want to bust the guys that are running the fights? Billy: ...They're hurting kids to make money, and that's not right. These people are dangerous. If you refuse to fight for them, it could be real trouble for you. Ken: Well, we'll just keep training, right? Billy: Yeah, go warm up.

Following this scene, Billy calls his old partner in the force to help him investigate a way to bust the illegal fighting ring. He's ultimately driven to action by his guilt, but do we as the audience get to see Billy afterwards emotionally open up about his choices, both in the past and the ones in the present made to rectify his mistakes? Nope.

It never feels like Billy's character could be anything else but Ken's mentor, or the big ultimate hero. For all we know, he's been dealing with the guilt of his wrongdoings all on his own for seven years, and he jumps into action the moment he thinks he could do some real, good change. But Billy's internal shift gets streamlined in order to prioritize training montages or cool cop shit. He is kind, brave, strong, and wise, but he does not get to be three-dimensional.

Of course, I have to acknowledge that no one in Showdown is. This isn't a movie that's meant to be beholden of dimensions. As I continue to compare it to The Karate Kid or lament about flatness or whatever, it's imperative to remember that Showdown is a stupid movie.

That being said, I nevertheless cannot help but feel especially disappointed by the flatness of Billy's character — not only because he is one of the most major characters of the movie, if not the most important, but also because Billy the most prominent person of color in the movie, and a Black character at that. Billy's role does not soley revolve around the White male protagonist, and he does have his own drives and motivation, but Showdown falls short in depicting Billy as a nuanced Black character with depth and vulnerability.

He's played by another actor who shares the same first name as him, Billy Blanks, whom I'm actually not that familiar with even though he is arguably the biggest name involved with Showdown. He's been in a bunch of other martial arts films, so that's cool.

Shoutout to his former partner Officer Spinelli, who gets a special shower scene in the beginning of the movie. Amazing.

Here's the crazy thing about Billy's accidental murder that haunts him: that kid was none other than the younger brother of the main villain, the "Kreese" character, who soon is driven to revenge upon laying his eyes on Billy again after seven years.

"I woooon..."

Lee is batshit insane. First of all, he's the ringleader, or at least the main attraction, of the local illegal fighting ring that occurs somehow secretly in his dojo with huge crowds of people. Second of all, he has his own version of the Cobra Kai mantra to drill into his child soldiers: "Success is control, control is success." Third of all, he hires his goons to, not only try and kill Billy, but also to make sure it's done on school campus so everyone could see the body, because this guy evades authorities so easily already. What the fuck is wrong with this man. The only trait Lee has that doesn't make him into even more of an aspiring supervillain is the protective love he has for his brother Max, and even that soon enough becomes revenge fodder for Lee when he witnesses his brother die in the prologue.

Max (left) and Lee (right), ready to take world together by storm...

Lee is played by Patrick Kilpatrick, who I can tell is having the time of his goddamn life playing such a Ham and Cheese PLATTER of a character. His performance plays jump rope with the line that splits between 'menacing' and 'ridiculous', and I love that for him. Kilpatrick was also on an episode of The Equalizer (though not an episode with William Zabka haha)! Patrick Kilpatrick wasn't the only choice to play Lee, however. Another was Bolo Yeung, but he would later turn out to have a role in another 1993 martial arts movie: Shootfighter (a William Zabka project again).

And he shares the same name as the villain of Shootfighter, Mr. Lee haha (played by Martin Kove, aka Kreese in The Karate Kid)

The greatest thing about Lee is that he has a right hand woman running the operation alongside him — almost like the "Silver" to his "Kreese".

"Relax! I don't bite — not unless you want me to..."

Kate is undeniably the brains of the of the two. While Lee uses his physical prowess, skill, and intimidation to dominate others into following, Kate smoothtalks and negotiates it all out to work in their favor with intellect, charm, and often times sex appeal. Kate is the most stylish of the cast, and probably the one with the most money, as she's seen reguarly with styled hair, classy jewelry, sleek dresses, and is in possession of a Mercedes Benz (as well as a Chysler Lebaron convertible, but who am I to judge).

Kate and Lee's relationship is professional, for the most part. He lashes out at her once, but she easily snaps at him back, and it's never clear if one is working for the other. Regardless, Kate and Lee have got their respective strengths they use to their advantage, so they each play a different role in their collective business. There are hints to some affection between the two business partners, but it's not a major focus at all.

Kate is also creepy as fuck. I'll cover more of her in the next part.

She's played by Linda Dona, whose role was initially invented when Bolo Yeung was set to be Lee. Since Yeung could not speak English, Kate was to be his translator. Of course, this was no longer needed once Kilpatrick took on the role of Lee, but Dona stuck anyway when the writers rewrote her role.

In these type of movies, it's uncommon to see more than one significant female character as part of the story, and so Kate stands out, especially compared to the love interest of Ken.

"You know, I thought you were on the track team or something. But you're not, you're working out with the janitor."

Julie doesn't have a lot to work with, besides being an object of affection for Ken and part of the source of the conflict between him and her boyfriend (the "Johnny" character, obviously). She's blonde and innocently pretty like Ali (unlike Kate's mature seductiveness), but Julie lacks the same assertiveness as the Karate Kid character. While Ali plays a pivotal role in helping Daniel and Mr. Miyagi understand the rules of the All Valley Tournament, Julie is reduced to the typical helplessness her type of character is often confined to, being pushed to the side as a spectator of the big fight in the end.

Julie does what she can in the plot — she tries to speak up against her boyfriend's actions several times, and she even stops (or at least delays) one of his attacks on Ken— but Julie, like Ali, is pacified by the narrative to do much of anything else besides express disapproval and side with the heroes. Julie also has a bit of a mean streak, but I don't think the movie knows that lmao.

Now, I am not the greatest with differentiating people, especially those with the same general look. So upon first watch, I had accidentally thought Julie and Kate were the same character, especially since Kate's introduction offered no close ups to differentiate her as someone new. AND IF THAT HAD BEEN TRUE, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN CRAAAAAZY; sweet and innocent high school girl secretly a greedy, manipulative, femme fatale in charge of an illegal fighting ring? IT BLEW MY MIND.

I WAS SEEING JULIE IN A WHOLE, DIFFERENT LIGHT. Her introduction for one thing made sense to me why it was so strange! Ken first lays eyes on her when he jumped onto the ground at the sound of firecrackers he thought were gunshots, which made the crowd of students around Ken to laugh at him. Julie is among the students shamelessly laughing at this kid, and it isn't until when they lock eyes does she stop laughing and walks away.

The scene cements to the audience that Ken's new peers are cruel, delinquent, and indifferent to his confusion — but Julie is part of that crowd! It's incredibly strange to frame Julie as the love interest by the language of cinematography, someone the audience is meant to invest in to pair off with the main character, when her behavior is indistinguishable from the callous mob, besides being pretty. She doesn't apologize for this in the scenes talking to Ken for the first time either.

Another moment that made me look back was how Julie was smart enough to calm her boyfriend down the first time he confronted Ken for trying to talk to her by alluring his attention away.

Julie: Leave him alone... Please...[...]He didn't know about you...! He's new here...

While Julie had good intentions, this demonstrates a level of manipulation towards people that she'd readily use if it meant getting what she wanted. As Kate is later introduced, this shared quality between them made me further convinced in my confusion that they were the same character — only, I thought Kate being manipulative was Julie's true colors being as sinister as they actually were.

Now, a teen girl laughing at some guy for jumping to conclusions (pun intended) and thinking gunshots in the middle of the hallway and using her attractiveness to turn her boyfriend's attention away from someone he intended to hurt are aren't glaring signs of evil or criminal behavior. But that is EXACTLY why I confused Kate for Julie and thought these actions in retrospect were subtle clues to her being more than just the bland love interest that the protagonist wins in the end.

In addition to this, Mike's first words to Ken about Julie would have been almost perfect foreshadowing:

Mike: I see, you have a death wish. Ken: ...Excuse me? Mike: The blonde, Julie... She's beautiful. She's elegant...! I mean– just forget about it. She's trouble.

Mike afterwards explains to Ken that Julie's boyfriend is dangerous and that's why she would be trouble, but if it would have been almost genius writing if she turned out to be a secret villain. The audience wouldn't think twice about that comment, especially since Mike himself only believes Julie would cause trouble for Ken because of her boyfriend specifically. There'd be no reason to think deeper about his warning!

Julie's grimacing apology the following day to Ken for her boyfriend's behavior transformed into being SLIMY, IT WAS AMAZING. I was so excited to watch him fall for someone who wasn't at all like what he thought she was — and then I figured out Julie and Kate were two, separate female characters. Damn.

You may recognize Julie's actress, Christine Taylor, because she was involved with another film William Zabka was in: To the Ends of Time. He just keeps being relevant somehow.

But speaking of William Zabka, what about his character's equivalent in this movie? I talked about the protagonists, the love interest, the villains — but who's the guy in the story that's actually the most prominent threat to Ken? Who's the third player next to Ken and Julie in their teenage love drama? Who's the student trained the hardest by Lee and treated as the best of the best, his strongest fighter, who falls at the end and almost dies at the hands of his sensei for it?

Part 3: We need to talk about Tom

warning for discussions of abusive relationships, as well as physical abuse, psychological abuse, sexual abuse, unhealthy power dynamics, and grooming

I'm dedicating a whole section to talk about the "Johnny" equivalent, because I've got so much to say about Tom, the others around him, and parts of the film around his character.

"It's payback time, needledick."

So, Tom. I had briefly shown his character earlier when covering Billy, as well as Julie — kind of hard to talk around him when he's causing so many of the issues for others, little shit. Like Johnny, Tom is tall, blond, aggressive, and does not take kindly to the new guy being too friendly to his girlfriend (ex girlfriend in Johnny's case, but still). Like Johnny, Tom is the most formidable fighter training under his sensei, and his sensei also punishes Tom ruthlessly after losing in the ending fight, before being saved by the protagonist's mentor. Unlike Johnny, Tom looks well into his adulthood — but hey, so does everybody else in this goddamn high school.

He's played by Ken McLeod, who is a real life martial artist with a black belt in karate. Honestly, he's probably doing the best job acting in this film — that, or he's just so entertaining that his performance stands out by that alone. In general, the antagonists are just much more fun to watch than the protagonists. In McLeod's case, he gets the honor of spitting in people's faces with a mean smile or scowl, huffing and puffing when anything pisses his character off, and having his momenta to act with vulnerability to show some versatility in his performance.

White the picture may imply differently, Tom has his own group of loyal friends, Showdown's version of the Cobras.

If Rob on the left is familiar, that's because he's played by Michael Cavalieri, who would soon later play Ned Randall in The Next Karate Kid (1994). I don't know how much of it was in the script, but Cavalieri adds these small, humorous quirks to his character if you pay attention, and it's great. He's the most prominent of Tom's friend, who joins in on much of the bullying, but shows an surprising honorable side near the end. Rob is seemingly Tom's closest friend, as he is almost always by his side and encourages him the most of the group. However, even Rob has his limits, as Tom's worsening behavior almost drives him away. Nevertheless, Rob can't help himself but still support his buddy in his final fight when he fights against Ken. When Lee starts to beat on Tom for losing, the other characters have to hold Rob back from jumping in to defend him (which, is so weird??? Like, HELLO THAT GROWN ASS MAN IS TRYING TO KILL THAT GUY???? WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE GONNA HOLD BACK SOMEONE TRYING TO HELP HIM?????)

Gina (played by Seidy Lopez) is the second/third most prominent female character in the movie, so that means she has to have at least one scene alluring a male character to get him to do what she wants, joy. Gina seems to be the calmest and most levelheaded one of the group — she reminds others that the best place to pick a fight is anywhere but the classroom — but even she coldly revels in terrorizing like the rest of those training under Lee. Gina may be the least troubled by his hyperaggressive leadership in fact, as she is the least visibly disturbed when Lee attacks Tom, and she is the only (former) student not to join in on the others when they start cheering for Billy after he defeats Lee at the end (she does however cheer when Billy accepts Rob's offer to teach them, so maybe Gina just ain't picky with who teaches them how to fight). We never see Gina do any fighting, unfortunately. It's clear she's not a girlfriend who hangs around the boys, as Gina not only attends the class but is seen practicing with a punching bag. Feminism win! This violent dojo is for all genders! So where's Gina's moment to give someone a shiner?

The Bill Skarsgård lookalike's name is unfortunately never said in the movie, but I'm preeeeetty sure it's Bob (credited as being played by Jeremy Duddleston)? It's the only male name in the credits I cannot easily attribute to another character, so I'll just call him Bob. It's hard listing another characteristic of his besides Loves To Fight, since he never utters a single line. While Rob may be Tom's closest friend, Bob is seemingly less significant to Tom, as there's a moment when Tom tosses his book/folder behind himself dismissively, before Bob catches it to carry it for him. But besides that uhhhh. Not a lot with this guy.

It should come to no surprise that Tom is an asshole and a bully. His introduction makes sure the audience knows that when he threatens a class monitor for daring to remind Tom that bells are a thing, before treating his girlfriend Julie with the big ol' triple three of Terrible Boyfriend Qualities: Neglectful, Controlling, and Uncooperative. And this is all before he even sees Ken! But don't worry, his behavior is just as terrible once they do meet.

I may have given Ken shit for his actions, however that does not justify the full extent of Tom's vigilance in making sure he gets violently targetted at every corner. While it gets hard to take the high school drama seriously because of how grown everybody looks, thus making their actions more comical than intended, there are times when Ken gets overpowered or made to feel smaller by Tom that could genuinely get you feeling bad for him — call me a softie, but even when Tom has his funny moments, he sure can make the audience feel as miserable as Ken does.

Tom: It's not about money Kenny. It's about respect.

Tom treats people badly when he doesn't respect them, and this includes a lot of people. In fact, he's consistently shown to be the least respectful towards his girlfriend.

It's undeniable that Tom is a godawful boyfriend to Julie. As you already know, he is infamously possessive and jealous; in addition to saying in her face that he owns her — word-for-word and in public — Mike makes it a point to warn Ken about Julie because of Tom specifically. The warning is justified too, because we know Tom spends the rest of the movie utterly despising Ken for "encroaching" on his "territory" (literally just talking to Julie). In addition to all this, Tom ignores plans he has with Julie because of his own minor reasons, and even forgets to talk to her for weeks, and yet has the gall to insist Julie must compromise and listen to his desires when she has an iota of a backbone.

Tom's behavior runs deeper than being an asshole, though. Because of him, I can confidently categorize their unhealthy relationship as being abusive, without exaggeration. The extreme control he expects to exert over Julie, her actions, and whom she interacts with taints every interaction they have together. Julie does what she can to assert herself, but it's difficult for those times to feel cathartic when Tom looks like he wants to beat or bully her into submission afterwards. Tom contantly uses his natural height against her, looming over Julie like he could intimidate her into listening, and even grabs her if he feels like it. If his treatment towards Ken is tough, it's nothing compared to how Tom abuses Julie.

Tom: I don't want you to ever talk to [Ken] again. In fact, if I catch you hanging around him, I'm gonna beat the– Julie: You can't control my life! Tom: Yes I can. You are my girl, and you'll do exactly what I say.

Besides feeling entitled to Julie as a possession than as an equal, Tom's mistreatment hits its peak when, after he approaches her like she didn't dump him the last time they spoke, Tom's rage overpowers him when Julie says Ken could beat him in a fight — Tom grabs Julie by her hair, calls her a slut, commands her to stay away from Ken, and slaps Julie. In the middle of campus. Ken soon comes to defend her, so it's not clear how far Tom would have gone to hurt Julie. However, several characters (including Julie) note Tom's worsening mental state since the their first interaction on-screen, which had been worsening before the events of the movie, and it's not impossible to imagine him sinking even worse towards Julie — in addition to the emotional abuse Tom was already subjecting her to.

While Julie ultimately finds the courage within herself to ends things with Tom, it wasn't without any conflicts, internal and otherwise — not only was Tom in denial, but Julie had her own reasons to stay with him. When Ken asks her why, she gives an explanation, and had given more:

Julie: It's just that I've been dating Tom for a long time, and... I just think he's a little confused right now... He kind of got involved with some– Ken: Look, pardon me, I'm not sympathetic where Tom is concerned, okay? Julie: No, I don't expect you to be! It's... Sometimes, I think about calling it off. But it's like I feel trapped... kind of like I have to stay with him for now. Ken: But you don't have to if you don't want to...! Julie: No, I do.

Julie's attitude insisting she has to stay because of a sense of duty towards her abuser is a common experience among many abuse victims, and so are her thoughts of feeling trapped. However, Julie recognizes that Tom's awful behavior is new. That does not excuse the abuse, but it does offer important context to his and Julie's relationship. According to her, they've been together long enough that she knows Tom's normal isn't as violent and controlling as it is now. Julie is hoping Tom reverts back, that she will see him get his sense back, and that she has a good idea who's been influencing Tom.

Julie: God. I swear, every day you sound more and more like that jerk, Lee. Tom: Listen, Lee's my sensei, don't talk about him that way.

We never see any of these kid's parents, and so they're next to nonexistent, thus Tom's most present role model and parental figure in Showdown is his sensei, Lee.

The respect Tom has for his sensei is only matched by his fear. The movie builds suspense for his reveal by having Tom be insistent in being on time for class, lest he angers Lee, a character the audience at that point could only assume is a little bit of a bad influence. They'd soon be affirmed by that when watching Lee's blaringly evil (re)introduction, giving a lesson that's half drill sargeant, half cult indoctrination. It's unclear for how long Tom has been around him, but it's been enough that it's started to affect his behavior and life in harmful ways. Tom however doesn't see it like that. While Julie makes excuses about him to Ken, Tom doesn't even consider that what Lee does is anything wrong. In fact, he takes pride in having "learned a few tricks" from him, and always defends the man whenever someone (Julie) so much as criticizes him. And of course Tom would, since Lee openly considers him to be his best fighter in the dojo, ruthlessly training him to be the undefeated champion in his illegal fighting ring. Tom is 17, 18 at most, and his involvement in crime is reinforced by the hand Lee has on his life.

Lee may care about Tom deeper than just as teacher-student, even calling him "my boy" during the final fight, but it is a relationship built on ruthlessness, domination, and abuse that easily turns violent the moment Lee is dissatisfied with Tom. He thinks of Tom as the best among his students, but Lee never hesitates to tear him down mentally, nor to physically beat him as punishment, going so far as to threaten Tom's life:

Lee: What have I told you about weakness? It's disgraceful. And when you disgrace yourself, you disgrace me. You do not have control, you have brought shame upon yourself and my dojo. Humiliation. The pain I give your outside should be nothing compared to the pain you feel inside. We are winners at my dojo. We do not let others control us, ever. If you fail again, you will be lucky if I decide to let you live.

Lee wants Tom to believe that his life is literally at the hands of his sensei, that he deserves any beating (psychological or physical) that Lee delivers because Tom's failure is justification enough, according to himself. He believes so strongly of this dominance over Tom's life that Lee does try to kill him after losing to Ken, in front of a giant crowd of people. He's a madman with full conviction that he could make a teenager his killing machine and murder him afterwards if that kid does not live up to his standards — his boy or not.

Even in the rare moments of tenderness, they're never soft. Lee always performs them in the shadow of violence; if he calls Tom "my boy", it's when Lee commands him to kill Ken. When he cradles Tom's jaw, it's so Lee can strike square in his face. The paternal role Lee has in Tom's life is poisoned with cruelty, and it's corrupted Tom into manifesting the same abuse onto others.

Tom becomes more and more like Lee, an aggressor losing his humanity in his descent towards fighting and crime, because of his sensei's own abusive influence. Lee makes Tom feel powerful, but like a tool to be used and sharpened — and inversely, Lee makes Tom feel powerless even more. And he isn't the only one that makes Tom feel powerless.

Lee and Kate are a team, so they're both invested in the careers of the former's students for the illegal fighting ring. Kate's whole business depends on them, making sure there's an abundant money flow as long as there are good fighters. She, like Lee, has a special interest in Tom — his best fighter.

Kate's mistreatment towards Tom is rather distinct from her partner's. For one, Kate never resorts to threatening his life. She does physically disclipine Tom, but it's with harsh slaps across the face, like a stern mother to her son. What she does threaten in his future in the fighting ring. Considering Tom is completely dedicated to his involvement, certainly encouraged if not groomed by Lee for it like a fighting dog, it's an easy method of controlling Tom. While Kate doesn't entertain the thought of killing him like Lee does, it doesn't make her behavior okay, because it still sends Tom the same message: Kate is the one in control of him, he isn't.

What stands out most about Kate's abuse towards Tom though is that she better manipulates him by other, insidious ways. Kate's age is never specified, but it's clear she's older, more confident, and capable of inflicting certain harm in ways teenagers can't. Kate has no qualms using her sexuality to get what she wants, and that includes preying on teenage boys. With Tom, she doesn't just disclipine him like a mother, but Kate coerces him into a sexual relationship as well. This, in addition to times when she treats him like more of a mother back-to-back, contribute to something truly appalling to watch.

To best explain the scene, here's a video of Kate's introduction, where she pulls Tom aside in the middle of instruction to take him to a dark room alone with her:

Just seconds after Kate hits Tom, she pulls him into a deep kiss, practically forceful. Note how limp Tom's arms and hands are as he's made to kiss her. Later scenes in Showdown depict Tom as more "consensual" in their relationship, but this is notably different in their first moment together on-dcreen. This is not to say that it would have been a healthier relationship if Tom enthusiastically kissed Kate back, but his passiveness as she assaults him only highlights the uneven power dynamics at play — in their first scene introducing their relationship at that.

(Remember when I thought Kate and Julie were the same person? Yeah, Kate stands in the back the whole time, only getting a little closer to the camera but not enough that it would distinguish her as someone new. In addition to them shrouded in darkness and the intimacy on-screen after, that's why I thought Julie was secretly evil and was abusive to Tom back. I became so quickly convinced that they were Evil4Evil, that it took me until several scenes later to realize that they were two different people and that something worse was going on.)

What concerns me as well is how easily Kate was able to pull Tom away from sparring, without much of a second glance from Lee or his students. How much did the other students question whenever she pulled him aside alone? Were they allowed to question? Or even worse, how much were they led to believe it was okay? Is Kate coercing more several teenagers, or is this a way to have more power over Tom to ensure he'd stay her and Lee's cash cow?

Powerlessness defines Tom's most prominent relationships with the two adults with abusive control of his life. With that in mind, it explains why Tom has gotten worse, lashing out and losing control of himself. It doesn't excuse his wrongdoings, but there is a direct, blatant connection to Tom's worsening mental health and the authority figures around him either encouraging his violent attitude or are the main causes of distress in Tom's life.

In addition to that, Tom's bullying and abusive behavior is an unfortunate expression of what he's internalized from Lee and Kate; he only treats a person well if he respects them. Due to Lee's influence, that simply means if they have power. Otherwise, Tom feels he can intimidate, belittle, and hurt them all he wants. In Julie's case, Tom mirrors the same mistreatment that plagues him and causes him to treat her badly, because Tom views Julie something he owns. Tom ultimately believes that he is allowed to abuse those that are less powerful, because those that are more powerful than Tom are allowed to abuse him.

The most alarming thing about Tom's sexual abuse is that... Showdown seems to be unaware of its gravity? Female-on-male sexual abuse and uneven power dynamics aren't often treated with the same severity as the opposite, if it is portrayed. Like I said, the later scenes with Tom and Kate show him receptive to her attraction. But even if Tom played along, Kate would have always had an uneven power dynamic over him. In the end, Kate never receives punishment for her abuse — she's presumably arrested for her involvement running the illegal fighting ring, but Kate's strongly implied sexual relationship is a total nonissue by the time the credits roll.

This is the same with Lee's own physical and psychological abusive behavior. He gets arrested for running the illegal fighting ring, and I suppose Tom could press charges afterwards, but he's oddly okay by the end of the movie, without any meltdown over losing or being almost killed by his sensei. It's not cathartic at all to see Tom calmly congratulate Ken and Billy in the end, as well as say a nice goodbye to Julie. Seriously? He's still got issues — we're just supposed to believe that Tom reverted back to being a normal kid just like that, without any psychological damage to work though?

And in the end, I suppose we are meant to believe that. Showdown is a stupid movie. Of course they weren't going to dwell on all that with sensitivity and nuance. But what if I wanted Tom to get therapy? I don't think he should date Julie anymore, when she shouldn't have been saddled with the responsibility and burden of having to stay with him. Tom should absolutely have some support system though, alongside professional help to guide Tom in processing how to live his life past Lee and Kate's abuse. I dedicated a whole section on him, dear god!! Why did Showdown do this. I hate this movie.

Conclusion: This movie is a hundred minutes long and none of it was worth it, and yet I keep coming back

Showdown is not a good movie. It's highly entertaining, completely laugh-worthy, and full of little pieces that I keep rotating in my mind to complete the puzzle, but it's held together by shoestring and duct tape. I don't recommend this movie to anybody, not Karate Kid fans, and certainly not cinephiles, except for those who want to have a quick laugh, preferably with friends to mock together — or inversely, want to be driven to madness like me. There are a lot of things I didn't mention about the movie, none of it interesting; Brion James plays the vice principal, they repeat the same song over and over again in the movie, there's a sick ass chase and fight in a theater set (because Lee hired hitmen to kill Billy at the school, remember), and so much more.

The Blu-ray Special Edition disk is like under $30, basically half off during the holidays, and contains a "Making Of..." documentary, alongside supplementary videos of the fight featurette and interviewed of various people from the cast and crew (including the director Robert Radler and Billy Blanks)! I need it.

Don't watch the movie. But if you do, tell me about it