#also the characters are likable and not completely one dimensional

[sunuism]

watching the most toe curling feet kick-inducing bl drama rn

[pluckyredhead]

Hii I don’t know if you’ve been asked this before, but what’s your opinion on Gail Simone? On her work and as a writer

I am assuming you are asking this in good faith and this isn't bait! Don't let me down, anon.

Anyway, I generally like Gail Simone's work! I think it's hard for folks who have started reading comics more recently to understand how groundbreaking her work on Birds of Prey was. There were absolutely female writers in the industry before Simone, but I don't know if there was ever a combination of "female writer" + "female-led cast" + "superhero book that isn't aggressively pinkwashed." Honestly I can't think of another one until the current BoP run by Kelly Thompson.

(I cannot overstate how hard it was for women in comics in the 2000s/early 2010s. Iirc Simone was one of only two in the initial New 52 lineup, which famously consisted of FIFTY-TWO BOOKS. And then they fired her from Batgirl. (And rehired her because of the severe backlash.) It's still very difficult to this day, but back then...woof.)

BoP had been a good book under Chuck Dixon, but Simone made the characters and their relationships so much richer, more nuanced and three-dimensional. My Barbara Gordon will always be her Babs, who is deeply flawed, well-meaning but manipulative and controlling in a chess grandmaster way, a way that female characters almost never get to be - someone who is a good person but also kind of terrifying. Dixon had written Dinah as likable but admittedly kind of a bimbo; Simone wrote her as profoundly emotionally intuitive and one of the best fighters in the entire DCU. Her Helena adds such a fun element to the book, and Zinda! She didn't invent Zinda out of whole cloth but she might as well have; the character wasn't nearly as delightful before Simone.

I also really enjoyed Secret Six at the time, although it's not my typical kind of book. And I think it's worth noting that Simone either introduced a number of queer characters or wrote previously existing characters as queer - Savant and Creote, Scandal Savage and Knockout and Liana, Catman - and with the exception of Catman, who was confirmed queer in 2015, this was at a time when queer characters in comics were still very, very rare. (And a poly relationship!)

Have I loved every single thing Simone has ever written? No. (I thought her recent Action Comics story, for example, was a pretty lukewarm retread of Superman vs. Muhammad Ali without the, uh, Muhammad Ali.) Has she made some missteps? Sure. But much like her friend and contemporary Devin Grayson, fandom tends to scream bloody murder over those missteps while completely ignoring much worse writing and real-world behavior by men. GEE, I WONDER WHY.

Anyway yes, I like Gail Simone! And I will always consider her BoP to be a must-read.

[betryl]

Also I feel like we're using the term ~romanticize~ kind of randomly at this point because. There's a difference between ignoring a character's flaws to the point of basically mischaracterizing them because you like them and feel like you can only do so if they're totally innocent, and instead just trying to understand them on a deeper level. The Greek class aren't completely evil at all times, and by saying I find them also sympathetic I'm not automatically excusing their actions, I'm just trying to understand why they act the way they do because they're complex characters and have different aspects to them! You're supposed to like them because they are sometimes genuinely likable!! But I feel like when someone says 'Hey actually this one character here was kind of nice in certain situations' often people mistake it for ~romanticizing~ them and agreeing with / downplaying everything else that character has ever done. No I'm literally just analyzing the character who isn't a one-dimensional villain, it doesn't mean I agree to slurs and murder and domestic violence???

[bibibbon]

going anon bc i don’t wanna get doxed for this take. but i need to get this shit off my chest before i go insane.

i don’t really care about eri. NOW DON’T JUMP ME LET ME EXPLAIN PLEASE!!

my first thoughts when seeing her were “oh, this child is getting killed and brought back to life hundreds of times on the daily, i’d like that to stop.” and then when she gets saved i no longer had any feelings towards her. (it is absolutely adorable that she calls everyone their hero names i must admit)

she’s not really a character. she’s a plot device. her quirk is a plot device and she is the vessel for that quirk. she’s there as a landing pad for hori so that he can do crazy shit like have deku lose his arms and then he can just have eri magic it away.

she’s not rly compelling. i care more about the LOV and class 1-B than i do abt eri. she’s just so boring and i don’t really care about her thoughts or feelings. bc im too busy re-watching my villain academia to soak up any and every bit of LOV content i can.

anyway pls don’t kidnap my family

It's okay anon no one is going to jump you here!

I guess my main problem with Eri is just how one dimensional and flat she is as a character. Like I find Kota way moreee interesting than Eri even though it's eri that we get more of in general.

You are right Eri is a plot device and nothing more. One thing about her is that she is an overpowered plot device that can literally fix the narrative if hori let her do so. This is one of the reasons why he made it so that she literally mutilated herself for the sake of izukus arms and there is so much wrong with that.

It's a shame because my own feeling for Eri started to slowly drift away after she got rescued. I personally think that MHA should of focused much more on her learning about normal life and slowly entering society and the difficulties she experiences. I wouldn't be surprised if she had PTSD from overhaul and what he did to her and if she did that should be explored. Does this PTSD trigger her quirk? How does it effect her and so much more.

Eri is also (like izuku) a character that shares parallels with so many other characters these being:

Nedzu

Shigaraki

Shoto todoroki

Izuku

These few similarities that she has can be developed and if these characters were to interact especially if we get Eri and nedzu I feel like it would be beneficial for both of their characters. Also developing Eri and her goal of her being a singer should of been something introduced way earlier to make her more interesting.

Eri wanting to be a singer is actually completely incredible as it separates her from her quirk completely and actually a singer or songs are an abstract way of expression which is something that Eri used to struggle with due to overhauls abuse.

At the moment 1B, lov and almost any character is much more interesting than the one dimensional version we have of Eri. Heck even Kota is more interesting and likable.

[autumnteawithfriends]

Wait, Millie is bisexual? I don´t remmember Millie being bi, Moxxie yes, but Millie? Damn, when o where they said that? Jeez, poor Millie, she have a lot of potential and all her stuff but everything around it is just "telling", not showing anything. Even in the chapters where she was supposed to be the focus… they rob her of that development.

And, to be honest, why does she just feel like a medal or a decoration? True, as a bi, I don't consider my orientation as a personality, but it's not an "add-on" either.

Really, Moxxie and Millie's relationship feels like Charlie and Vaggie, where one has a personality and the other is just there for her partner.

The stolitz, or well, Stolas, literally devoured the show. Visually the show is beautiful, when the colours aren't killing the eye, but the script (and the character and world building) is a rollercoaster with very dangerous holes.

Thanks for the ask!

Yes, she was confirmed to be bisexual

Honestly, the main reason why she feels like a decoration is because Viv likely wants strong female characters in her show, but doesn’t actually want to commit to making them interesting because that requires actually writing them as people, and you can’t do that when your a misogynistic fujoshi stuck in their 2010s Wattpad phase that just wants to see gay men have sex constantly

Also that’s been a recurring problem with the romances Viv writes. She gives one a surprisingly likable personality only to give their partner a two dimensional love interest who’s only personality trait is being their partner. It happened with CherriSnake because Cherri legitimately has nothing going for her aside from her romance with Pentious. Chaggie ups the ante by retconning Valkryie as a former exterminator and her keeping it a secret…yet that revelation somehow doesn’t cause actually meaningful relationship conflict between the two. Moxxie and Millie are by far the worst because these two don’t have any type of development.

Stolas can get kicked in the balls for all I care, calling him a bitch feels pretty weak right now and Blitz deserved to completely cut ties with him. The fact that Vivziepop wants us to sympathize with a classist rapist racist asshole is insane

[thatoneguyletoturnedintoafrog]

just finished season three of The Magnus Archives and I am Losing My Mind 💚

some thoughts:

-So Much Happened this season ??????? like we start with Jon living with Georgie and everyone else trying to solve Leitner's murder and we end with The Unknowing and an explosion

-Jon got kidnapped twice, set on fire, choked multiple times, almost shot ? and more my man is STRUGGLING

-TIIIIMMMMMMMMMMMMMM AAUUUUUAGGAHSHHAH 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

-in all seriousness. I am glad that Tim went out in a way that was fitting to his character- he made an unfunny joke and then got to destroy the circus in the most dramatic way possible. and I'm glad that Tim and Jon got a bit of closure, even if it wasn't complete or neat. but that's life, I suppose- oftentimes we don't get the closure we truly desire. but still, I'm really going to miss Tim, and I'm especially going to miss his season 1 self :(

-now I see why people say they miss the season one cast... My sillies are dying at an alarming rate

-Martin is Not Doing Well and i have a very strong feeling that this is going to continue

-the fact that Basira and Melanie's gossiping about Jon recorded and Jon listened to it later 😭 I could SEE him turning red when he mentioned "office gossip" in MAG 117

-ALSO! Canon ace Jon !!!! YIPPEEE

-Elias... got arrested ? ? I think it's cool that Martin was able to surprise him mainly because Elias had taken to underestimating him

-um hi Peter Lukas ? I love how he not-so-subtly tells Martin to find a therapist

-I absoluteu love how the women in this podcast are written!! a lot of times in media I feel like people don't really know how to write their women characters as People and instead try to make a one-dimensional "girlboss" that ends up just being a female James Bond without any personality or likability. but! TMA is definitely an exception here. the recurring women (Basira, Daisy, Melanie, and also Georgie, though she's less focused on) are flawed, generally realistic people who are all powerful and also a bit insane in their own ways and it's so refreshing!!!

-BASIRA AND DAISY!!!!!!! I love the snippets that we've gotten of their relationship, and I love how completely they trust each other!

-so. so what happened with Daisy in MAG 119 guys. I don't think that was a normal Murder and Subsequent Disappearance on her part. yk with the. uh the hound sounds and the coffin

-I like how we got more Melanie moments this season!!!

Sigh. this podcast has altered my brain chemistry

[hustlerose]

my Big Homestuck Opinion is that act 6 shoulda been about as long as acts 1-3, at the most. making it fully half the comic is unjustifiable, especially when much of it gets retconned anyway

if almost all of act 6 was removed and cut down, hs might actually be enjoyable (and feasible) to read all the way thru, but instead it adds another entire novel-length portion of plot, during which the comic basically spins its wheels while any narrative cohesion that existed before just completely falls apart

also the alpha kids are pretty shallow and one-dimensional as characters. they're about as deep and likable as the dancestors. they're not interesting enough to hold up for the full length of act 6

[ripaxed]

shed tell me all of your opinions on the tdroti ladies right now. this includes svetlana if you skip her i will scream. /lh

Oooh the gen 2 gals

Staci: She’s a fairly funny character in canon! I get a good chuckle from how other characters react to her (especially Dawn. I think it’s so funny whenever they get mad or annoyed). Also I think it’s cute that she styles hair :]. Though more of my affection for Staci comes from fanon. I greatly enjoy the idea that Staci is insecure socially and uses her lies to try to find validation from her peers. She’s sadly my least favorite of roti’s cast but that’s much more about of how much I like gen 2 than anything else.

Dakota: Dakota is genuinely one of my absolute favorite characters in all of total drama. I love her character concept because of just how popular Total Drama is in-universe of course a teenager would look towards it for fame. The additional idea of her returning as an intern is genuinely creative and well executed. I think genuinely all of her jokes land and they capture her personality perfectly to make her flawed and in need of growing but still completely likable throughout. Her and Sam’s romance is well developed and genuinely sweet, and love that it actively makes both characters better in my opinion. I have some mixed feeling about Dakotazoid, but I do like how plays into her character arc and I think her being a wrestler and living her dream of being famous through a new angle is delightful.

Dawn: TD D&D SWEEP Dawn is such a unique and funny character. I think she could interact well with basically any other character in the series. I absolutely adore how the writers used her as a tool for the audience to learn more about other characters. They’re a fun little oddity to think about. Easily one of the most memorable early (or earlish) boot characters in the show. My thoughts on Dawn that aren’t just rambles are rather concise but do not think that means I adore this character any less.

Anne Maria: Anne Maria is a very funny character that I think is under appreciated in a wide sense! She has such a fun little personality and I like this line she balances between being either very sweet or brash. It makes her a rather well rounded character in my eyes! She has so many memorizable lines More like Queen I’m-A-Dorka! and just moments in general. This is rather small I do like how Anne Maria sticks up for Cameron and Brick, it’s very sweet to me. Speaking of Anne and Brick I also like how she took his early position as being Jo’s opposition! They have a fun back and forth. Anne Maria is a very fun character that I wish had a bit more focus in the season proper. Also her and Vito are cute :>

Svetlana: Svetlana is an entertaining character! I have a notable enjoyment of athletic td characters that can dominate challenges. I wouldn’t say necessarily say she’s my favorite of the system but she does have my favorite moments of them I think. Svetlana helps you now. Yes, I am knowning this! Svet steals the show whenever she shows up and I like that its a genuine character trait. She’s a showboat! She knows she’s talented and is going to make sure others know!

Jo: What a standout character Jo is! Easily one of my favorites in the season proper. She’s such a bulldozer she easily directs the whole season into how it turns out. I realize I’ve. said this multiple times but Jo is genuinely such a hilarious character, I love her nicknames and I think she has an amazing va! Jo has a plethora of amazing rivalries between Cameron, Brick, and Lightning and I think that’s apart of why she’s so vital to ROTI’s dna! And I do appreciate an episode dedicated to showing off her insecurities! It makes her so much more two dimensional and an interesting character to think about! Jo’s amazing.

Zoey: What an odd character Zoey ended up being. A character that was presented with often conflicting personality traits that were quite possibly made unconsciously by the writers. Still however, I find those conflicting personality traits to be exceptionally interesting and makes Zoey a more complex character to a degree. I do find it disappointing her label as the Indie Chick wasn’t always used to its full potential, there’s elements of it in Zoey’s scenes of course, but she doesn’t wear her stereotype on her sleeve like her castmates do. Over all, the best way I can say how i feel about Zoey is that she’s an enjoyable character when not in the presence of her love interest. Which is unfortunate of course. However, I’d rather not leave this on a poor note so I’ll say this, I do really like Commando Zoey. I like that Zoey realized her own vulnerability in the game and did something about it. Her frustration with Scott and even with herself possibly manifesting in a hardcore challenge beast. She gets so in her head about surviving the competition however, she loses herself and puts Cameron into harm’s way. I like that she snaps out of it and effectively abandons her place in the game for her friend. I like Zoey when I think about her, but I don’t think she was used to her full potential in the season proper

[otakween]

Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01 - Disc 4

There's some random art of Daisuke on the inside cover of this volume? What could it mean!?

Ch. 25

-Lol, awfully hard to take the name "Sigma" seriously nowadays. He kind of looks like the Utawarerumono dude

-Engrish strikes again! Sigma has an attack mode called "Masks square." Very difficult to decipher what they were going for with that one...

-Very lucky that the "Gabo" pun worked in Japanese and English. I really admire these clever translation moments ("Gabby" in English "ga-ga-" in Japanese).

-Pretty weird to see a Piemon with a human partner after seeing him as the big bad in the anime. Especially weird since he looks like an adult man being commanded by a kid...

-Not sure I follow what Sigma/Alias III's scheme is here, but it's probably generic anyway (like world domination/power/etc.)

Ch. 26

-In this chapter they explain what "chat" is and how addictive it can be. Awww, the baby internet era. They had no idea what was ahead.

-Typical incel dude, experiences rejection once and then spirals and joins a cult. Glad they hinted that he's capable of changing in the end.

-The art style in this manga kind of reminds me of Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life. (Mostly the eyes and big heads).

Ch. 27

-Onto the next Alias, Mari and Rosemon! Rosemon kinda looks like the LadyDevimon to Lilymon. I like both new characters' designs. Their stupid antics were funny too.

-RIP to Sigma's Piemon :'( that was pretty brutal. Arkadimon was creepy looking

-Neo's army looks OP AF. He even has a Venom Vamdemon!

Ch. 28

-I was a bit disappointed to find out that Mari's dumbness was an act :'( that was what made her likable tho...

-That was interesting when Leomon was like "what about me?" when his students were like "don't worry! Zero will save us." Sorry buddy, you're not the main character...

Omake - Double Tamer!! The Great Super-dimensional Battle!!

-Ooh, an extra long cross-over special. I love gimmicky stuff like this :)

-The mangaka explaining that the concept of parallel worlds is like a cheat code that let's you get away with a lot from a story-telling perspective was pretty funny.

-Don't really like how the mangaka were blushing over Hikari in bloomers...>>

-Parallelmon's powers remind me of America from the newest Doctor Strange movie. It's a fun concept. Interesting that they described him as "cool-headed." I guess he's kind of a neutral force?

-The fact that Taichi and Daisuke are both 11 but one of them was born in 1988 and one was born in 1991 kinda hurts my brain. I guess this implies that parallel worlds can also exist at a different point in time?? I thought "parallel" usually implied the same time but different versions of everything, no? Weird...

-They acknowledged the fact that digivolution works differently in Daisuke's world which was nice to see. Really shows the difference in mediums (since they probably keep the digimon in their rookie forms in the anime for ease of animation).

-Lol classic big Digimon boss battle, Daisuke's friends all get sucked into a void and the only way out is the power of friendship. How many times are they going to use that...?

-Kinda bugs me how Daisuke is so focused on the "fake Taichi" but barely acknowledges the fact that this Taichi has a completely different partner. (lol @ Taichi having an existential moment when Daisuke calls him fake).

-I don't really get how the digimental of miracles works...the other tamers "sent" it to Taichi, but I thought he already had that? What is it single-use or something?? (My memory for 02 is already fading, but I feel like Magnamon didn't make a ton of appearances.

That was fun, I think I would have liked to see characters other than just Taichi and Daisuke interact. Taichi and Daisuke are juuust different enough, but they're still both kinda generic shounen protags, so there's only so much you can do with this crossover. I guess this manga was released much later than I thought? The mangaka referenced Tamers in this omake too. I kinda assumed that this manga was pre-season 1 for some reason.

[catboyebooks]

it wouldn’t be fair not to also do a post about nanami, and i actually do have a lot to say about her. i’m going to have a lot more to say about her once we get to dr3, though, and for now i want to leave the dr3 stuff out of it. earlier i think i said i was unsure whether the dr3 reveal that there was a real living shsl gamer chiaki nanami who went to school with the rest of this group was a retcon or not, but i’ve looked it up since, and it is a retcon. (it’s a retcon i completely approve of and will defend, for the record, and i think i might actually have a bit more to say about this once we get into chapter 6, but that’s getting ahead of myself.) so this isn’t going to be about nanami (virtual) vs nanami (actual), we won’t be talking about nanami (actual) at all. Yet. It will happen

anyway. (under cut again, this is like 1500+ words)

there’s something a little bit off about the way nanami is written. it can be hard to put a finger on, i think, because there are plenty of other characters being much more overtly weird at virtually any given moment — nanami actually tends to come off like the only sane woman a lot of the time. she’s the moral compass of the group, the voice of reason, the mediator, etc. on top of that, she’s a cute gamer girl who gets adorably excited over nerd shit, is kind to everybody but particularly close with the protagonist, dozes off a lot which i’m sure we all find relatable, sometimes does wacky things like eat glue off a door… my point is, nanami’s likable, she’s easy to trust, and she tends to come across relatively normal compared to the rest of the cast. there aren’t really any glaring red flags with her. and yet something is clearly Not Quite Right. i almost don’t know how to describe this except that to say that nanami feels curiously two-dimensional compared to the rest of the cast, like there just isn’t much to her. 

it makes sense in light of the reveal, of course, but before you know what’s going on it does create a strange impression. on the one hand, when it comes to the investigations and trials, nanami’s a big help and comes across as intelligent and levelheaded. on the other hand, in any situation less high-stakes than a murder trial, nanami spends most of her time dozing off and demonstrates a profound lack of knowledge about anything not directly pertaining to video games. and sure, it doesn’t seem weird that the shsl gamer acts neurodivergent about video games or that she’d be sheltered and awkward about relationships, but this goes beyond that — nanami doesn’t know milk comes from cows. she falls asleep standing up on a regular basis. whenever she talks about her life prior to the killing game it’s in the vaguest possible terms and it doesn’t even come across like she’s being evasive, it’s as if she literally has no backstory beyond “my dad was a programmer.” 

ages ago i remember reading some interview with kodaka where he said something to the effect of that when he wrote danganronpa, he wanted to avoid the common thing you see in detective fiction where certain roles in the story are filled by stock character archetypes — the tragic victim, the deranged murderer, the stoic detective, etc. — because if the characters are flat, their purpose in the story is obvious and the mystery is spoiled. he wanted the entire cast to feel well-rounded no matter what role they had to play in the story. overall i think danganronpa does well at this, even the more minor characters / those who die early on feel like they have some depth to them, and it makes the way nanami is written even more glaring. she’s not a minor character, she’s part of the main trio and plays a critical role in this game, so it’s strange that she feels like such a flat character compared to the rest of the cast. makes sense once you figure out she’s not real, though.

at this point, much like we haven’t gotten the reveal that they’re in VR, it has yet to be revealed that nanami is an AI, but i think this is the point where it becomes obvious to the player, if it wasn’t already. there really isn’t any other explanation for why she couldn’t tell them she was the traitor; she makes it clear she was unable to, and could only help hinata figure it out via implying it. in fact, looking back over how she’s behaved during investigations/trials throughout this game, nanami never directly solves the mystery herself — she raises relevant questions, drops hints, and urges the group to think it over more when they’re getting off track, but she never directly states what she thinks might have happened or who she thinks might have done it. i think it’s safe to assume that this is because her programming literally did not allow her to take a more active role in solving the mysteries; she’s not really a participant in the killing game, she’s not even a Real Person(™), just a moderator AI.

i didn’t get to complete all nanami’s FTEs before she died, unfortunately, and i’m going to complete everybody’s FTEs after i beat the game so i won’t get into it too much right now, but i do want to talk about her FTEs broadly because i think it’s important to my point here. if you do all nanami’s FTEs (and we did do most of them, so i think you get the general vibe) they play out like a dating sim route that meanders awkwardly before ultimately dead-ending. in fact, as revealed in her final FTE, nanami is bad at dating sims. i think this has to be a joke about the nature of her role in this game; nanami is essentially a dating sim route that can’t be completed. every other character in this game lives, and none of the time spent getting to know them was “wasted,” but this nanami never existed in the first place and hinata’s attempts at becoming closer with her were doomed from the outset. 

HOWEVER. and this is a big However hence my use of all caps. i think it’s overly reductive to say that this nanami is just a nonsapient computer program, and in fact that’s the opposite of what the game is implying. the question of whether an AI/robot can be considered a person / a friend comes up repeatedly in danganronpa (regarding alter ego in dr1, and regarding kiibo in ndrv3), and it’s never definitively answered but overall leans towards “yes.” the characters in dr1 view alter ego as their friend, which is used against them when junko “executes” alter ego by destroying the laptop, but alter ego still managed to save naegi in chapter 5 and did so acting of their own volition. we’ll get to kiibo later but he manages to act out against his programming in a way that suggests he’s his own person, even though he’s designed to act based on audience input twitch plays pokemon style. in nanami’s case, she figured out how to indirectly confess to being the traitor, thus defying her programming for the sake of saving everyone else. there’s actually another moment where she seems to be acting against her programming, too — it’s during her final FTE, and, again, i won’t get into it too much now since it’ll be the subject of another post, but the gist is that nanami attempts to have an actual date with hinata despite previous implications that she can’t date him thanks to her nature as an AI program. 

unless i’m extremely mistaken, we haven’t actually seen the last of nanami in this game; i’m nearly certain she shows back up in chapter 6 during the final trial. i’ll have more to say about her then, so i’ll wrap this post up. closing thoughts:

issues of identity and of past vs. present/future are a recurring theme in this game, most prominently so with the main trio. komaeda relies on his ideology regarding talent/hope to understand his place in the world, but has that ideology repeatedly challenged and learns he’s a former terrorist before anyone else here does. hinata can’t remember his (lack of a) talent and this makes him feel as though he doesn’t know who he is and can’t trust himself. nanami, by contrast, has very little identity and personality beyond her gaming talent and some references to a now-deceased programmer father… at least initially. but as the game progresses, as she becomes closer to the others (to hinata in particular) and as their situation becomes even more dire, she begins to push back against her programming in a way that suggests she might be developing a sense of personhood beyond her moderator role. unfortunately, the nature of her existence doomed her no matter what, as even if she hadn’t been executed she can’t exist outside of this VR program (something nanami herself is fully aware of).

i’ll talk about this more when i cover the rest of her FTEs but for now let me just reiterate: t4t hinanami real

[hannahhook7744]

Wasted Potential in disney descendants part 1;

Okay, so I think we can all agree that despite the fact that we love descendants, it had tons of wasted potential. Mainly because of the writing and limited time they had to show us everything but also because of the bad/incorrect representation it gave some characters. The fact that they decided to state that the sequels, shows, and books to the og disney movies (as well as the ones in the franchise) weren't canon really didn't help. We will be talking about some of that today. Thank @eahravinqueen for giving me the idea in her ask. Okay, let's start with the core four first.

🐉Let's start with Mal 🐉; her entire character is full of wasted potential. And there is one simple reason: they gave her way too much screen time and made everything about her. Which ruined her character in more ways than one. They made her into a spoiled, entitled brat who showed absolutely no remorse for her actions at all. They completely threw away the fun artsy vandal who we loved and sympathized for, and turned her into a woman who was willingly gonna lock the isle kids forever simply because Beast, Belle, and Fairy Godmother wanted her to. They could have taken her character in so many different directions other than making her into what they did. They could have made her into an artsy vandal queen who was struggling to learn how to control her demigod and fae powers. One who wanted to make up for her past actions by apologizing and doing whatever was necessary to prove she was. They could have had her further her relationships with her boyfriend, her friends, and her friends' partners. But they didn't. They could have made her into an awesome Fae-demigod queen who was a perfect role model for little girls. But they didn't. They absolutely wasted her powers and talents and did not push her motivations further, making them and her less likable and one dimensional. Which is a damn shame. They didn't even show her relationship with her cousin and brother. How were we expected to like her when they kept giving us reasons to hate her? Oh and what the hell happened with her outfits? They use to be so cool and now they're kinda bland. They really watered down her character and made her into one who couldn't have a simple fricking conversation with anyone that would fix the majority of her problems. I mean come on, but moving on...

Jay got very little screen time and they hardly developed him past 'Thief', 'tough guy', 'jock', 'flirt', and 'protector' and I feel like they just could have done more in general. They didn't give him more hobbies and they didn't give him enough screen time to ,ya know, further his relationships with his friends and cousin Jade and possible love interest, Lonnie. And that's just a damn shame. They could have done so much more with his character. Like giving him genie powers and allowing him time to explore them. They could have shown where his infatuation with his bike came from and shown him exploring much earlier on than in d3. But they didn't. They didn't show any of that and made him play 2nd fiddle to Mal and that's just sad.

They wasted alot of good opportunities with Evie. They could have delved into her love for fashion more than they did, showed us more of her business, and some of her other interests. They could have done more with her love for chemistry and gave her, her mother's powers. They could have given her more power than she had. Delved into her relationship with Doug and others more. Done more than turn her into a side character who couldn't tell her friend was struggling. Hell, they could have even delved into who her father was and who Jay's mother was, but they didn't. They focused on Mal and wasted a perfectly good character. We didn't even see her role in helping Ben's isle initiative because they focused on Mal too much. They could have done more with her. So much more. She didn't have to play second fiddle to Mal but the writers' forced her to. And it's a travesty.

They wasted Carlos the most out of the core four. He was a techie and an animal lover and a fashionable guy who knows how to sword fight. He has a half fairy girlfriend and a big family, including 3 cousins he would get along splendidly with yet we never see his relationship with anyone outside of his mother. They don't develop his relationship with Jane that much nor do they do that with his friends or dude all that much. They could have used him for so much more. They wasted his brilliant brain so many times and didn't do alot with him. And it's quite the shame. He was just reduced to Mal's friend and not much more and it is very sad. Our brain boy could have changed the world and they killed him off, and reduced him to nothing but a secondary character. And I do not like that. Not one bit. Especially since he is wonderful with children and others, and especially since he is the smartest out of his friends and family. And I wish it wasn't that way. He could have had his own tech company or something. He and Jane could have become veterinarians together or something. He could have had a happy ending. But nope. They couldn't even give him that reason.

[strawberry-sticky-autism]

Ideas for Precure Fanseries/Precure series in general

- Boy Cure who's a Cure for more than 1 or 2 episodes. - Physically disabled Cure (wheelchair-bound, prosthetics, cane-user). - Mute Cure! - Multiple boy Cures. - Another black Cure (either skin tone or theme colour). - Another white Cure (theme colour-wise, we've got plenty skin-tone-wise) - Nonbinary Cure? - Genderfluid Cure. - Another robot Cure (Ruru was good but we need MORE). - Puppet/doll theme. - Circus theme? - CLOWNS? - More redeemed villains, always. - Mentor figures that actually know what they're doing. - Less morally ambiguous royalty. - Space out the arcs. - Macguffins that have a purpose. - Worldbuilding~! - Do we need to make merchandise? - Even focus on each Cure. - Maybe we don't always need Macguffins. - Even focus on all characters, actually. - Don't make your villains feel one-dimensionally evil. - Complete. Your. ARCS. - You can make your villains irredeemable, but that doesn't mean you have to. - Cover heavy topics, but don't make it too dark or melodramatic. - Make up your mind on a tone. - Keep your main leads likable, but don't be afraid to give them flaws. - Blind/deaf Cure? - Alien Cure (Lala was pretty good so let's have MORE). - Give mascots focus too! But don't make them overshadow the Cures. - No more Plot Device/Deus Ex Machina Babies. We've got more than enough of those, just let the babies be babies. - Don't ship the Cures with the mascots. Just don't. - Don't ship the Cures with the villains, also. - Actually, don't ship the Cures with anyone below or above their age range. Seriously. - Don't shove heterosexuality where it doesn't belong. - Technology theme. - DON'T SHOW A CURE GIVING BIRTH ON-SCREEN I SWEAR TO KOTOHA- - Mama Cure! - More Trans Cures! - Art theme? - Dark Cures/Psycho Rangers? - Asexual Cures. - Jester? - More autistic Cures! - More autistic characters in general! - Autistic villains? Maybe? - Foreign Cures, better than the last time they were used.

Feel free to add on!

[travllingbunny]

They really cut Lady Stoneheart out of GOT. What if they do the same with Alys River? 😣

"They" were Benioff and Weiss. Who, fortunately, have nothing to do with House of the Dragon.

Ryan Condal is a huge fan of the books and makes everyone on the staff read both ASOAIF and F&B if they haven't (the opposite of what D&D were doing) and so far we have seen evidence that HotD isn't cutting any characters of note. (Even Ryam Redwyne was there.(

Aside from that, Alys was never in danger of being cut. She is 1) Aemond's love interest, 2) the main person he interacts throughout his Riverland arc and the only one he interacts throughout it (the only other notable character he would have interactions with is Criston Cole, and it can't all be about their dynamic - and then they part, too), 3) their relationship is one of the most interesting things about Aemond in the books and the only thing that can make him likable once he is in the Riverlands, and without it he gets no character development, 4) very interesting in her own right and a character who brings new perspectives as a lowborn bastard wet nurse, Old Gods worshipper, someone connected to Old Gods/weirdwood/Harrenhla/Isle of Faces magic, and 5) has her own storyline after his death, as a widow/Witch Queen ruling Harrenhal and defying the new regime during the regency.

The only way you could cut her would be if Aemond was made to be a side character once he goes to the Riverlands, or if the showrunners hated Aemond so much and wanted him to be a one-dimensional villain so they wanted to remove any romance he has and anything that might make him sympathetic. (Or maybe those imaginary showrunners would've rewritten Alys as someone he rapes after taking the castle and that would be it.) Or they would have to be completely disinterested in telling women's stories. I think there's no need to point out that this is definitely not the case with HotD.

She wouldn't even be cut if D&D were in charge. But they would, no doubt, take the most sexist possible interpretations of her, take every misogynistic rumor about her from Fire & Blood as accurate (they would completely miss the irony) and make her something like show!Melisandre 2.0 only worse. Also not something I think I should be at all afraid of with HotD, based on what they've done so far with the female characters and the things they have said about the portrayal of women in Fire & Blood.

The "Alys Rivers will be cut" speculation seems to be simply wishful thinking from people who ship fanon incest ships, got into them so much that they are starting to forget they are not canon, and were upset to learn about Aemond's canon love interest from the book. With possibly some support from the folks who are really upset that Alicent does, after all, have a confirmed living grandchild at the end of Fire & Blood, which doesn't fit with the "ha ha her bloodline is dead and this is what makes our side superior" narrative.

I doubt that any of them really believe it, because that would require believing that Condal and the rest of the writing staff are genuinely into the idea of Targaryen blood purity and are trying to promote it by eliminating every non-incestuous romantic relationship from the book, and that they value that over good and compelling TV. If they believe it really... they need a dose of reality. Maybe they think the showrunners will try to fanservice them, but they forget that the general viewership is not the same as the "blood purity" incest-obsessed Targ stans on Twitter.

[bimboficationblues]

What's wrong with Xorn-magneto?

for the uninitiated:

Grant Morrison's New X-Men relaunched the series for the 00s after a period of creative floundering. Morrison used a lot of surrealist sci-fi concepts, gave the series a more modernist theme and tone, and deconstructed and challenged most of the core cast's prevailing beliefs and self-image. New X-Men is mostly well-received but is still a controversial run, both for the artwork (Frank Quitely, Chris Bachalo, and Phil Jimenez do great work, but there are a couple bad artists on some arcs and issues) and the writing (highly esoteric dialogue and concepts, and questionable characterization).

Probably Morrison’s most controversial decision revolves around the character Xorn, a Chinese mutant kept in a prison his whole life because he has a miniature star for a brain. Early on in Morrison's run, Xorn is recruited to the X-Men as a healer and teacher. He's a likable pacifist who struggles with the horrors of mutant oppression.

Except, flash-forward forty issues to the "Planet X" storyline, Xorn reveals himself to be Magneto. He recruits the high school losers of the Xavier School as a new Brotherhood of Mutants, engages in a exterminatory fascistic takeover of New York, gets royally owned by the X-Men, murders Jean Grey, and then gets his head cut off by Wolverine.

Later on, in other X-Men books NOT penned by Morrison, it's revealed that Xorn was not in fact Magneto, but an actual person masquerading as Magneto while under the influence of the experimental drug Kick. So, to be clear, “Xorn” was disguised as “Magneto disguised as Xorn.” This is because Marvel Comics editorial decided that having Magneto be quite that evil would make the character completely unusable/irredeemable for the future.

The reason I describe this as a massive failure of authorial intent is because Morrison insists that their creative vision was for Xorn to always, exclusively, be a masquerade for Magneto to carry out his subterfuge against the X-Men, and never an actual person. Unfortunately, following this assumption makes the story much worse.

It really undermines the character and threat of Magneto, loses a more interesting potential character in “Xorn,” and has little to say thematically. Magneto’s plan here (“today the geeks’ lunch table, tomorrow the world”) is extremely dumb and his aggressive, raving characterization is impossible to take seriously. We’re left with a caricature who is ludicrously arch, highly incompetent, and fundamentally insecure in himself, all of which is pretty “OOC” for Mags. Morrison doesn't think highly of Magneto as a character, and that's their prerogative, but the choice to revert Mags to the one-dimensional megalomania of the Stan Lee era, is at the expense of the more nuanced and thoughtful depiction that Chris Claremont had introduced who had a lot more to say about violence, power, protest, etc.

If Morrison always intended Magneto to be Xorn, they did a bad job setting up this twist/mystery. Backfilling “his star-brain thing is an excuse to use an anti-telepathy helmet” sort of works, but Wolverine never noticed the scent of the man who ripped the metal off his bones? Then there’s a whole chapter dedicated to Xorn by himself, where he behaves nothing like Magneto and engages in actions that Magneto would be incapable of. Magneto’s scheme here also relies on him doing elaborate yellowface, which is both practically and ethically questionable. It’s just not a very well-conceived twist as Morrison intended it

As written and intended by Morrison, it’s actually very easy to assume this twist is a put-on. There is literally a point in the final fight where the X-Men keep calling him Xorn and he impotently screams a denial, which makes it inadvertently seem like he’s lying. He is literally hearing “the voice of Xorn” in his head. The final battle revolves around how fraudulent this "Magneto" seems. He gets easily clobbered by the X-Men even though every previous time they’d fought, Magneto was nigh untouchable. If Morrison wanted Xorn to be just a disguise for Magneto, their writing inadvertently leaves a lot of ambiguity and doubt hanging over that conclusion. I doubt editorial had a hard time figuring out how to make the retcon stick - it’s practically in the text already.

It’s kind of up its own ass in the way Morrison’s worst moments are. There's a bit where "Xorneto” claims the concept of a man with a star for a brain is inherently silly and the X-Men should have known it was Magneto (though, if he believes it’s so dumb, why use it as your cover story?). This is the same comic run where one of the main antagonists is a sentient bacteria colony masquerading as a New Age televangelist and organ trafficker, and another is a psychic parasite that attached to and attacked a fetus in the womb. Hell, the Phoenix Force (New X-Men has by FAR my fave depiction of that entity) is on the same level of cosmic weirdness as a star-brained man. It’s not that strange of an idea!

HOWEVER, if you take Marvel editorial at their word instead, I actually think the plotline works pretty well overall!

[narrativelysignificantturtleduck]

so a while ago @volkswagonblues left a reply on this post saying that jeong jeong was an example of "someone who is ideologically 'right' but whose character is absolutely not likeable, or at least not in the mainstream fandom-popular way". i started writing this response, but i totally forgot it was in my drafts until i wrote my iroh analysis. it doesn't seem right for me to have an iroh analysis post and not a jeong jeong one so here it is, the jeong jeong character analysis nobody asked for:

volkswagonblues's response hits on exactly why i find his character so fascinating - he's good, but he's absolutely not nice or well-adjusted about it. and he's definitely not mainstream-fandom "likable". it's rare that i see hate for one of my minor character faves (one of the benefits of having them), but i have actually seen people say they don't like jeong jeong. mostly, it centers around him being "wrong" about firebending, as opposed to the sun warriors. i can see where that comes from. jeong jeong has the noticable accent and proverb-y speeches of the ~mystical asian master~ trope, but his viewpoint comes off as pretty harsh and simplistic. this can confuse an audience expecting easy answers from a kids show - are you supposed to see him as wise or not? for me, i think asking "are jeong jeong's beliefs wrong?" is the wrong question. instead, you should ask: "why does jeong jeong have those beliefs?"

and the more you think about that, the more you see that he isn't actually wrong. firebending is the only type of bending where the bender produces the element from their own body rather than using their surroundings. it is someone imposing their will on the world, even more so than the other forms of bending. iroh sums this up nicely:

"Fire is the element of power. The people of the Fire Nation have desire and will, and the energy to drive and achieve what they want."

there's nothing wrong with that in theory, but in the show, this drive and power manifests as the fire nation's imperialist conquest, and the goal they're trying to achieve is world domination. as a former high-ranking military official, jeong jeong has seen firsthand the ways firebenders use their power to hurt people. the culmination of the fire nation's ideology is a plan to burn the entire earth kingdom to the ground - exactly the kind of wide-scale destruction he describes in his first cautionary speech:

"Without the bender, a rock will not throw itself! But fire will spread and destroy everything in its path if one does not have the will to control it!"

you could say that firebending is misused by the fire nation, but that feels like a No True Scotsman fallacy ("that's not true firebending!"). the fact is, firebending's unique qualities fall in line with the nation's imperialist ideology. jeong jeong hates his bending because it is inextricably tied to the war he hates.

like many, i once thought a trip to the sun warriors would be healing for jeong jeong, but i've since realized that's not what he needs. jeong jeong is perfectly aware that firebending isn't always destructive - he counsels restraint and control, not total suppression, and he even alludes to sun warrior beliefs:

"Feel the heat of the sun. It is the greatest source of fire. Yet, it is in complete balance with nature!"

going to see some dragons who tell him that firebending is about the sun and life won't change his mind. 'of course it's not inherently evil,' he'll say. 'but it has been used in terrible ways'. his feelings aren't about firebending in the abstract. they're about firebending as it is used. that it has the capacity to support an ideology of conquest, that he and others have given into its destructive side and committed such atrocities with it. he's right to hate that. (i also feel like he'd resent the sun warrior civilization for their isolationism. i mean, i would, if i'd put my life on the line to fight against my nation and it turned out there were a bunch of people who agreed with me but did nothing about it.)

so if jeong jeong and the sun warriors aren't philosophically opposed (except re: their involvement in the war), why does his view of firebending seem so much harsher? because - and here we come back to the original point - he's not likeable. he's a strict teacher and plenty of us (especially if we were kids when we watched the show) have a knee-jerk negative reaction to that. his speeches about the danger of fire are grandiose. but here's the thing: the speech where he says the most derogatory things about firebending is not one where he's teaching. it's one where he opens up to katara:

"I've always wished I were blessed like you - free from this burning curse."

this reveal that he wants to be a waterbender means that everything he says to her about his bending is less about what he believes about firebending in general and more about his own personal struggles. and in that context, it's heartbreaking:

"It forces those of us burdened with its care to walk a razor's edge between humanity and savagery. Eventually, we are torn apart."

this is the core of it all - jeong jeong doesn't just hate the fire nation and its war, he hates himself, hates that he holds that destructive power inside him. he doesn't seem to struggle with the act of bending (another reason why the sun warriors wouldn't necessarily be any help) but he clearly doesn't want to do it, probably because it reminds him of when he did terrible things with it. no wonder he calls it a curse.

and so here's what we're left with: jeong jeong leaves the fire nation military because he is right that the war is wrong, and he counsels control and restraint in opposition to the imperialist ideology of constant expansion and conquest. however, he is severely traumatized and full of guilt from his participation in said imperialist conquest, and that means he comes off as harsh and overly negative. right, but not likeable.

while i was writing this post, i was rewatching a lot of clips from the show, and i got curious about his voice actor, who i suspected was actually asian (unlike most of the voice actors). it turned out i was correct - his name is keone young, and he's had a very long career - but he's hawaiian and doesn't have the accent that probably made me guess that. he has this to say about how he portrays the one-dimensional accented characters he often plays:

“I want to portray that person with an accent who is real instead of a stereotyped version of it," he said. "I’ve always wanted to see myself as the one the story revolved around so that it was my story not your story. I always try to convey I have some kind of philosophy or point of view.”

(read the full interview here)

i bring this up because while i think jeong jeong's memorability can partially be attributed to the atla writers giving him a cool backstory and dramatic lines, what keone young says here about taking a character who's a bit of a stereotype and making them seem real, with their own philosophy and point of view...well, that's exactly jeong jeong. despite his limited screentime, we get a clear picture of who he is and what he believes. and who he is is someone who fully embodies his radically anti-imperialist politics, who has come to his beliefs from traumatic experience that's made him bitter. as the atla renaissance pushes us to reevaluate these children's cartoon characters with older eyes and modern-day politics, it's worth looking at a striking minor character like jeong jeong, who might not be fandom-likable but who has a lot of depth to offer and a perspective worth considering.

[darkqueenofshadows85]

Why I Love the Dark Era of Sonic

Greetings, mortals! Today, I will be talking about my all time favorite era of Sonic games, the Dark Era (2005-2009).

I will explain in detail what I love most about this particular era, and why I consider this, along with the Adventure Era (1998-2004), to be the absolute best era of Sonic as a whole.

Please keep in mind, this is MY OPINION! You don't need to agree with it, but please don't complain in the comments section if you disagree with my views on the Dark Era as a whole.

Anyway, let us begin! ^^

Writing and Characterization

The writing and characterization of the Dark Era titles is some of the best in the entire series in my opinion.

For example, Sonic was at his best in Unleashed and Black Knight, and Team Dark was written exceptionally well in 06. The characters were more fleshed out and had depth and likability, as opposed to the one dimensional cardboard cutouts they became in the 2010's.

The Dark Era also introduced a number of great new characters, including Silver, Blaze, Marine, the Babylon Rogues, Chip/Light Gaia, Caliburn, Merlina, Mephiles, and most of all, my beloved Black Doom ♡

On the subject of writing, I consider games like Unleashed, Black Knight and Riders: Zero Gravity to be on par with SA2 as some of the best Sonic stories ever written. ShTH and 06 are two of my personal favorites, though they do have some minor flaws, and Secret Rings, despite being the weakest of the five main Dark Era games, still had a decent enough story to keep me invested.

Tone

I believe the Dark Era earned its name due to the dark, grim atmosphere and mature storylines. People can complain all they want about the games of that era being too "edgy" or serious, but I believe that darker storylines absolutely belong in Sonic games, and "they're cartoon animals!" is not a good enough excuse to say otherwise.

The Adventure Era and the Dark Era were the prime times for the villains, especially the latter. Another reason why I believe the Dark Era has its name is because it focused on the villains' motives to inflict fates worse than death: rewriting stories and history (Erazor Djinn), using mankind as an energy source for intense purposes (Black Doom), conquering time and space (Solaris), and even trying to create a world without death (Merlina).

So, just to recap: the "Dark" in Dark Era refers to the tone in my opinion, not the quality. ShTH, 06, Secret Rings, Unleashed, Black Knight, the Riders trilogy, the Rivals duology and Chronicles all have a dark tone to some extent. The Rush duology is the only one I know of that has a bright colorful tone, but I digress.

Multiple Playable Characters and a Wide Variety of Different Gameplay Styles

As someone who grew up in the 2000's, I can’t help but miss the wide variety of characters and play styles the series used to have. Like the Adventure Era before it, the Dark Era had plenty to offer in the gameplay department. The guns in ShTH, the Werehog in Unleashed, the hoverboard racing in the Riders trilogy and the usage of swords in Black Knight are among my favorite gameplay concepts. I also thoroughly enjoyed 06's Adventure style gameplay, and my favorite part of the Rush duology was playing as Blaze. Why SEGA decided to take the exact opposite approach in the 2010's and completely ditch any semblance of creativity in favor of bland, repetitive gameplay and making Sonic the sole playable character will forever remain a mystery to me.

Awesome Soundtracks

Sonic is a franchise known for having consistently good music, and to me and many others, the Dark Era soundtracks have great music IN SPADES.

From heart-pumping rock songs like I Am... (All of Me) and Knight of the Wind, to uplifting, inspirational songs like Endless Possibility, the Dark Era games, as well as 2000's Sonic games in general, all have a wide selection of unforgettable vocal tracks to choose from.

Creative Concepts and Overall Respect For Its Audience

Another reason why I love the Dark Era is because it took the audience seriously and it always tried something new with the franchise. Compared to the 2010's, the Dark Era had an abundance of life and creativity, and you could really tell Sonic Team was really trying and gave a shit. The CGI in 06 and Unleashed was amazing, the Werehog was a fun and very creative idea to try two different play styles, and Sonic literally becoming king, restoring an entire kingdom and commanding an entire group of knights is probably one of the most badass things this franchise has produced. They really tried. And it sucks that critics like IGN, who are ignorant and lazy when it comes to doing their jobs, had a huge impact on the series going forward into the 2010's, and it suffered because of it. And don't get me started on the classicist elitists. Not everything can be the same from your childhood, guys.

Complex Themes/Messages

I believe that themes/messages are very important to the Sonic franchise's storytelling, and the Dark Era games had plenty of strong life lessons to offer.

ShTH, the first two Riders games and Chronicles are about the search for identity, Rush is about learning to open up to friends, 06 has a moral we need now more than ever: the future might be bleak and the past might be traumatic but focus on the present moment to make the best of it, Secret Rings is about not being ashamed of who you are, Rush Adventure is about appreciation for foreign cultures, Unleashed is about the duality of light and dark, and Black Knight is about learning to live life to the fullest.

What life lessons do any of the Meta Era games have to teach their audience? I cannot think of one.

My Final Thoughts

I never understood why people hated the Dark Era so much. It had a lot of great things to offer, and from the way I see them, gameplay and console-wise aside, those games showed a lot more than some previous ones have. They gave some of the characters more depth and interactions between each other (especially Team Dark in 06), introduced some new characters so they would have their own arcs to grow (Silver, Chip, etc.), the CG cutscenes in those games were amazing, they showed the main characters interacting with humans more, they gave us dark, twisted and frightening villains who are even more menacing then Eggman and would later on transform into god-like monsters, they showed cool narratives of each game's story and taught us strong life lessons about the world and how to live life to the fullest, and best of all, they even gave the main hero Sonic more character depth and humanity. The Dark Era made him into a more fleshed out character with both good and bad sides of himself, and showed us that he's not just a cool signature teen hero, he's a very noble, loyal, kindhearted, free-spirited soul who even though he has flaws, he helps out other people in need and would do whatever it takes to make sure everything and everyone will be provided a brighter future.

Too bad the Meta Era had to throw all that out the window... :(

Overall, I hope the series comes back to its former glory. I will never forget watching the cutscenes from Black Knight and being astounded by its world and visuals. I will never forget the epic opening cutscene of ShTH when Shadow meets Black Doom for the first time. I will never forget the amazement I had when watching Sonic transform into Super Sonic in the beginning of Unleashed, and I will certainly never forget the impact the Dark Era had on the storytelling of the series. Great, underrated stuff that sadly didn’t go forward into the next decade. Regardless, I still have some faith left in Sonic, but as always, we'll have to wait and see.