#and again ‘poorly written’ is a shit excuse for a series with poorly written characters

[resizura]

something pissed me off today i was on that godforsaken app and someone was discussing how there are complex characters in re and people dont understand them and they used chris, wesker, ada, and luis. they claimed to like chris and wesker (as evidenced by the multiple comments dissecting chris’s ‘character’ in the series. they claimed to not like ada or luis but “understood their characters” yet didnt explain further why they didnt like them.

what gets me is that i see this same thing on tiktok where its basically people hating on ada but disguising it as wanting better writing for her.

like im sorry but re characters are not well written. theyre written by multiple different people throughout multiple different games, movies, and comics, and no one can agree on anything. most of the characters are essentially blank slates with no discernible personality traits. which is why it pisses me off so much.

whenever it comes to ada she doesnt get the same treatment as other (male) characters. i saw one person who disliked ada but they loved chris, wesker, luis, and leon. and liking luis but hating ada is always gonna baffle my mind because theyre so similar to each other. no, ada never gets an explanation as to why shes disliked other than “she needs better writing.” hey guess what. everyone in the series needs better writing.

i have my own 300 paragraph essays about ada because just like the other characters, there is barely anything to her in canon. most of my interpretation of her is literally in my head because capcom gives us jack shit. but her bad writing is used against her for people to dislike her character, but despite being slightly expanded on in re4make and separate ways its still not enough for people to latch onto. people latch onto the damn cameraman from re7 for crying put loud.

and i know this too because theres tons of people who like ada just like me and have the same interpretations, or different ones, but ones that still expand her character. hell, this can apply to any female character too, sheva, claire, ashley, mia, manuela, jill (although she’s not as much of a victim to this as other characters). like sorry but why is “poorly written” only a characteristic i see for the female characters.

idk i just think fine like whoever you want, write your essays, but dont complain about a badly written character when you yourself like a badly written character. we’re all in the same boat here

[katshelluvacritic]

Charlie Morningstar is probably one of the worst written characters I’ve seen in the series.

(This one’s gonna be a long one…)

Ok…. So I watched all six episodes and to be honest I’m pretty much pissed off by this character specifically. This might be more of a rant rather than a critique, so I do understand that not everything I say in this will end up being as constructive exactly but I genuinely need to get this off my chest, especially since she is a character I’ve specifically and recently been hyper fixating on before the show released…

(Side note: I realized the post was very long so, to have it be easier to read I added titles for each section! Hope this helps)

!!WARNING FOR SPOILERS FOR THE SERIES BTW!!

> Charlie lacks the qualities of being a main character.

Now besides the piss poor excuse of an introduction for her (and the rest of the cast) in the main series, I honestly question why exactly Charlie specifically is the “protagonist” in the first place (and I say protagonist with the biggest of quotes here, you’ll see why).

In the first episode of the series “overture”, we don’t really see much of her character, most of the time we’re shown screen time of Vicky (a nickname I made for v*ggie since I’m not gonna call her by her genitalia thank you) trying to make an ad for the hotel and even when we do get the screen time of her, she’s barely doing anything other than hearing viv’s self insert- I mean- Adam just go on and on about whatever he’s talking about.

And when Charlie does go on to explain her plan to redeem sinners she’s just interrupted and then stands there when they start singing hell is forever, she doesn’t “go off” like the hazbin Twitter says, she just stands there and then tries to say something only to get interrupted again and again and then gets pushed out of the meeting room before going back to the hotel to see it’s spread across in the news that the next extermination happens in 6 months.

Now although one might argue “Well didn’t Charlie at one point said in the show that giving orders is so mean?” Well yes but again, Charlie is literally the princess of pride ring, you would think that since her parents are literally rulers of pride, they would’ve probably teach her how to stand on her two feat, especially if your RUNNING A HOTEL. And the thing is, she has stood up and did so in episode 6 and the goddamn pilot (which is at this point is probably canon due to Charlie calling it the hazbin hotel instead of happy hotel), even going as far as to fight Katie Killjoy because she thought it was stupid.

Not only that but the episodes after overture, her screen time lessens until somewhat in 5 and 6. She doesn’t really appear that much in the between these episodes to the point where she feels like a supporting character rather than a protagonist. And when she does get screen time, she’s either forgettable at best and infuriating at worst.

> Charlie’s character is poorly written and just dumb.

In the episodes past overture, she’s literally rock solid stupid that I literally screamed in real life multiple times “you’re a fucking idiot” because of how frustrated I was from what she was doing, In episode 2 she literally trusted sir pentious to go to her hotel even though he almost destroyed her place and in episode 6 thought it was a hunky dory idea to let a person who literally exploded buildings to take charge of giving her employees a “good time”. Yes it could be played off as her being naive but if she’s that naive of a person then maybe she shouldn’t be a boss of a hotel to rehabilitate sinners.

Heck, in episode 4, Charlie gets pissed off and turns into her demon form because val literally started hurting Angel when he followed him into the room (and rightfully so) but when angel tells her to leave and drags her out of the studio, she’s just in her normal form and fucks off??? Reminder she’s literally the princess of hell! She could beat the shit out of val if she wants to, why did she just fucked off after angel had her leave?

“But Kat, what if something bad happens to angel if valentino dies?” Like what? If it was explained that if an overlord dies then the sinners that made a deal with them die too or something like that then yeah, that would make sense but we don’t know that whether or not that’s the case, if anything angel could be just fine after Valentino dies but we don’t know that.

And even when Charlie had the opportunity to go out there and apologize to him herself after he stormed out of the hotel, she and Vicky just send Husk to do it. And I have to ask, WHY? HUSK didn’t know what was happening to Angel earlier. HUSK wasn’t at the porn studio that Angel was working at. CHARLIE WAS….

“Well Kat, what if Charlie was scared about making things worse?” Fair enough, but again sending Husk is a stupid idea, I feel like it would’ve AT LEAST made sense if she sent Vicky out there. Because Charlie didn’t know if husk could fight (if you could even call it that, all he did was throw cards at people), BUT SHE KNEW VICKY COULD THOUGH. But nah we gotta do it for the ship right?

And then Charlie had the gull to be crying that angel forgave her after she fucked up, like shut the fuck up… it’s like if viv looked at a bunch of chars that had the optimistic care-free ‘ish personality and thought that meant making her as pathetic as a baby crying that they didn’t get a lollipop from their mommy.

Like I’m gonna be honest with you, it’s literally gone to a point where I think Orel Puppington (aka the 11 yo Christian kid who worships Jesus and gets harmful lessons from other Christians) makes a better Charlie Morningstar than the Charlie Morningstar herself!

And that thought is justified when he tried to go help people in Sinville, “Kat he ended up turning into a pimp at the end of the episode” yeah but AT LEAST HE TRIED TO ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING! Which leads me to another question….

> How is Charlie gonna redeem sinners exactly???

Like honestly, I’m serous with this one. How is Charlie gonna redeem these guys?

I ask this because in the series, she barely does ANYTHING to help these guys, she and the rest of the characters just sit around and then do an activity that is the equivalent of something you would do in kindergarten except it’s with ADULTS.

I don’t know about you but If your idea of helping people is doing just that and nothing else, then the only thing the people around you are gonna get is them being annoyed at first and eventually walking out with thinking your not helping them but rather just treating them like a baby who doesn’t know anything, and the only thing your gonna get personally is nothing because you did dick all.

Like other than that she pretty much just whines about sinners not going to her hotel and oh gee I wonder why, it’s not like your not doing anything to help these sinners not committing sins anymore, oh definitely not, your absolutely being helpful.

“Oh but Kat! Charlie was born in hell, how can she know how to help people? She’s not from the human world so, she wouldn’t exactly know how to help these people!” I would tell you to look at the world building for the series and it’s spin off but that’s a whole other can of beans that I don’t wanna cover today and this is already getting to long, so y’know what? We’ll go with that.

If Charlie didn’t know how to help people and was trying to figure out what she can do to help sinners get better, then why didn’t she just ask her employees for suggestions? Y’know, the other sinners who were from the human world and had experiences while they were alive and such?

Yeah, I get that not all of their advice would be exactly good or healthy (since they’re sinners who’ve done many bad things after all) BUT ITS AT LEAST SOMETHING FOR FUCKS SAKE!!!

She literally does nothing, she just expects you to immediately get better after some improvisations or whatever other activities she does and once you’ve done one nice thing then boom you’re close to redemption.

> Conclusion.

Charlie Morningstar is (like I said in the beginning) probably one of the worst characters in the hazbin hotel series, she at best a stereotype of the “everything is sunshines and rainbows” character tropes and at worst is a pathetic excuse of a main character and is nothing but a rotten shell of her character from the pilot.

I would go on about how her design’s also bad but I’m sure millions of people have already said the same issues and I’ve already posted my redesign of her before the show dropped.

I might plan on posting a rewrite of her or maybe explain my problems with another character or episode but I don’t know.

But until then, I’ll see y’all later!

[ilikekidsshows]

"Miraculous has a brand identity as a small kids’ show by now, the more actiony cartoon you upgrade to from Paw Patrol."

Ironically, Thomas Astruc loves to shit on Paw Patrol for lacking moral complexity compared to his show.

---

See, when people point out lore inconsistencies, Miraculous is a “simple show” and we need to keep our ideas simple. But when someone tells him he's literally written abuse apologia, it's “too complex” for our simple minds to comprehend. Astruc is a liar and his editor Thibaudeau is a scam artist.

I had to say this once to a Pink Diamond stan, but, “this person has done awful things, but we forgive her with no repercussions or assurances she’ll stop doing this because we love her” is not a complex solution. It's the most simplistic and a downright insulting representation of people who stay in toxic or abusive relationships, using them as justification for why the abuser should get off scot free. Just because the person harming you is a human being who feels bad about it doesn't mean they deserve not only forgiveness but vindication of their misdeeds. Newsflash: most abusers in personal relationships care about their victims, they just also feel a need to exert power over them. Showing abusers get vindicated for the bare minimum of caring about their victims is abuse apologia.

“Moral complexity”. The only “complex” in Miraculous is whatever excuse Maripologists are gonna slap on Marinette's next misdeeds, because the moral complexity this show is teaching is excusing everything the writers' favorite characters do as long as they feel bad about it after the fact. A single “moral code“ where the comfort of the party doing harm is placed above all concerns their victims night have. "Marinette did nothing wrong because she cried a bit." I’m sorry, but that sounds more simplistic than any conflict you might find in freaking Peppa Pig. And Astruc claims it's more complex than Paw Patrol.

Paw Patrol can juggle multiple main characters, while Miraculous can only manage one.

Paw Patrol can have multiple competent girl dogs without making the boys incompetent, while Cat Noir just “tells jokes” and acts as the Akuma punching bag, sorry, I mean “distraction”.

Paw Patrol has the characters fix what they broke through their skills and make amends for mistakes, while Miraculous has degraded into Marinette running away from her mistakes by turning into Ladybug and magicking broken things okay again.

Paw Patrol has its main characters be considerate of others, while in Miraculous, the main character treats others poorly every other episode but it's supposedly okay just because she will feel bad about it later.

Paw Patrol’s primary nemesis character is a rich man abusing his position of power, while Miraculous' primary nemesis character is the neglected daughter of a rich man abusing his position of power lashing out at others. (Maybe Tommy the Clown hates Paw Patrol because they hold Mayor Humdinger accountable for his actions).

Paw Patrol is copaganda but at least it doesn't have abuse apologia, while Miraculous not only has abuse apologia, its copaganda where the primary cop character isn't even a cute puppy dog.

Once again, Astruc is just mad that Paw Patrol is so much better made and more well-known than his show. He’s been like this about Pokémon and Winx Club too. I wouldn't be surprised if he’d gone on some anti Peppa Pig tirade too. “They jump in puddles and make loud noises while doing so, is this what people consider good entertainment for children? (Unlike my hit series Abuse Apologia the Show, go watch that!)”

“Moral complexity”. Ha.

[hamliet]

I’m sorry but I can’t really believe that you’re a cult survivor yet you somehow only dislike Thea and not Jean or Kevin, who have acted more fucked up than Thea and have said stuff stuff way more fucked up than “old tricks”.

Uh... that's a fucked up thing to say to me, but okay. Don't throw someone's trauma in their face. I'm talking to you, Real Person to Real Person.

Thea, Kevin, and Jean are not real people. They are characters. Devices for the author to tell a story. I'm allowed to critique how successfully I think an author's doing that.

Thea is not a bad person. Thea is--thus far--a poorly written character in a story that's greatest strength is its complex characters.

See, there's a little thing called "framing." Framing tells us what to think of elements in a story. It's the author's way of drawing attention to things they want you to keep in mind, and telling you how to view something.

For example:

Kevin is introduced to us as someone Neil is scared of meeting again, but deeply admires and even fanboys over. Since Neil is our vehicle into the world, we are automatically intrigued by Kevin. Even when Kevin is rude to Neil, we also see how he is terrified. We see his weaknesses very early on. Readers like complexity.

Jean is introduced to us as an antagonist of Neil's. Yes, really. So we're automatically on guard against him, and his fucked up behavior is not excused. It's dealt with. He then has a "save the cat" moment--incredibly important in writing where he helps Neil get through his time at the Nest. "Save the cat" (someone helping another person when getting little to nothing out of it) is the number one way in fiction to make a reader like a character. It can be a very minor moment, even.

We also quickly learn that Jean is victim of Riko's via Kevin--whom we already know bears a broken hand at Riko's actions--telling us Jean isn't all bad. We trust Kevin by this point in the story, so we are cautiously open to Jean. We also see his weaknesses and ability to be open to someone like Renee (whom everyone except Neil trusts by that point lol, including the reader) very early on.

Thea is introduced to us as Kevin's love interest. She's barely there in the first trilogy, with the first scene we get of her telling us she's brash but also takes no shit from Kevin, which is frankly a good thing. I am betting Thea got a lot of hate for no reason after this. There's nothing to hate. And Kevin likes her, and again, we trust Kevin to a degree.

Then you look at the Extra Canon content which does raise some eyebrows. Not for the reasons often cited, though. I don't care about the age thing. I do care that if the entire series is about deconstructing the Perfect Court and Raven narrative, saying that she remains a Raven through and through yet she and Kevin end up happy together contrasts with the picture of Kevin we have in canon, so that's a bit odd. Still, benefit of the doubt; authors and everyone often word things poorly when it's actually much more complicated. Also, extra content doesn't actually count as canon imo. It's a headcanon of the author's that we can take or leave. So did Thea deserve her hate from the EC? Not really, no.

But.

Then you get our first intro to Thea in TSC, and it's her victim-blaming Jean. It's not unforgivable imo given everything else in this series, but it is weird that it's not framed as harshly as the other Ravens' complacency is, with characters like Jeremy blaming them (and the framing supporting Jeremy as being righteous in that) and characters like Kevin expressing they didn't know how to help.

If Thea expressed any of that, or even if she just said it to Kevin and someone overheard or whatever, that would go a long way to establishing her complexity.. If, like with Jean and Renee, we had another person talking about her or something to tell us that there was more, it'd be different.

We don't get that.

If the rules of AFTG's world hold certain people responsible, then Thea is also responsible. That doesn't make her irredeemable. It makes her interesting. But it's not dealt with. Her flaw is her lack of questioning the Raven narrative, The Golden Raven... doubles down on that.

Yes, there's an implication that her words at the press conference were part of Wymack's and Kevin's plans to expose the Ravens' abusive practices. However, three people literally died as a direct result. Her cruel words that shock even Jeremy couldn't be more negatively framed.

Jeremy, moral compass - upset.

Results in canon - three people dead by their own hands.

It's not "oh sad, but no one could have seen that coming." We had 1.75 books up until that point of repeated Raven self-inflicted deaths. And despite the narrative's willingness to let the deaths of abusers slide, Jean literally saved Zane from taking his own life after the man betrayed him, so we're not supposed to be cheering the Ravens' deaths. Besides maybe Grayson's, obviously, but that was prior to this.

"But Kevin and Wymack--" Yeah we have 4.75 books up until that point establishing Kevin and Wymack as characters we see as complex and likable. We don't have that with Thea. There's nothing there to fall back on besides that Kevin likes her. But by this point in the story, if even a minor character is introduced, we're given reasons to like them. We're still waiting for a moment of kindness or complexity, and 5 books in now is way too late.

There is no "save the cat," and if that was supposed to be "save the cat" somehow instead of a cruel way to hurt her former team, that needed to be directly stated in The Golden Raven. If it comes out in the third book, it's too late.

These are writing mistakes. I love these books, but Thea is not well written in a sea of characters that, for every plot issue, are well written. That's AFTG's strength: characters end emotions, hence Thea stands out in a poor light.

Edit: If we didn't know that the author wanted Thea and Kevin together, people wouldn't be so harsh, but because we do, people are for both unfair reasons (misogyny, racism) and fair ones (if every other character has to face the worst things they've done then she needs to as well. Which could happen. But the EC implies she doesn't leave that mindset, and if Nora has changed her mind on this aspect of Thea and I hope she has, she hasn't shown any signs of that in the books yet.)

That's all. I am very open to Nora pulling it off though and making me like her. I just think that her character is so poorly done so far that the problems with framing and timing are not realistic for an author to fix. I'd love to be wrong. Hell, I'd even love a Thea book at some point with or without Kevin that unpacks these issues and deals with them appropriately.

[genericpuff]

Hope you don't mind my asking but do you mind elaborating on why you don't like Mongie too much? I know all about why everyone dislikes Let's Play itself. There are various videos and post upon post online tearing it to shreds with criticism but I've not heard much about the creator herself like I do Rachel Smythe. Does she also run into the same issues that Rachel does or is her behavior different but equally questionable/annoying?

It's kinda equally questionable, kinda different. They both have the same issues of like, fetishizing youthfulness and creating unhealthy power dynamics. They also haven't done a great job at depicting POC in their comics, you can tell they're written by white women who don't understand other cultures but are trying to make their series more "progressive" by including stand-ins for representation.

That said, considering Let's Play is set in a real world setting, the POC characters (and the casually racist issues in their writing) are a lot more obvious than in LO (where you have to know the context that the neon-colored nymphs are based on POC to really realize that they're lower class POC people who are getting the shit end of the stick from the rich upper class main protagonists).

And I don't even mean in the usual "there aren't any POC in this comic" or "the POC in this comic are stereotypical/poorly written", I mean in the sort of white-victim-complex "I added in other ethnicities and people got mad at me anyways so what more do you want!" kind of way (paired with the "they're poorly written and stereotypical" aspect).

Dean is a good example of the stereotypical designing and writing, IIRC he's a Hispanic man but he's written like some Spanish soap opera character who flirts with every woman he sees and always has rose petals falling around him.

Even in that sentence he says "part Asian" which is weird because he's looking for Marshall who's supposed to be his best friend and it's been established in the comic that Marshall is half-Japanese, but that brings us to the other instance of mongie being casually (if not directly) racist and even more so than with Dean...

Apparently mongie thought it was a good move to say that it was "more inclusive" to make Vikki only vaguely Asian. Which is just... so not true LOL Asia is an entire continent made up of MANY different cultures and ethnicities and so generalizing all of them to just "Asian" is not a great take from someone who's trying to seem "more inclusive".

But of course, when her community called her out on this and asked her to elaborate, she and her mod team basically dug their heels in and made up excuses that made mongie out to be a victim instead of just acknowledging she made an error that didn't connect well with members of her audience.

And theeen in comes mongie ready to torch the place. Note that up until this point, it's basically been her mod team speaking up on her behalf and giving her benefit of the doubt, so when mongie DID get her chance to speak, she jumped right to:

"FINE, SHE'S HALF CHINESE HALF KOREAN THEN, STFU AND STOP ANALYZING ME WHEN I INCLUDE CHARACTERS FROM RACES THAT DON'T ALIGN WITH MY OWN !!!" (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻ is very much the vibe people got from this, understandably so. It's also odd (and extremely privileged) for her to say that she'd "rather focus on a character's personality and not their race" because it's very "I don't see color" which has been proven to be counterintuitive to understanding and celebrating different races.

And then we get a lot of self-victimizing "well I can't win no matter what so you people are ungrateful and actually it's MY feelings that are hurt" excuses:

Again it's weird because she had NO problem specifying that Marshall was half-Japanese and she didn't make him into any sort of weird stereotype like she did with Vikki. So I don't know why she's having such a hard time grasping that being vaguely Asian for Vikki isn't inclusive.

Although, let's be real here, the only reason Marshall is half-Japanese at all is because he's a self-insert of Markiplier, a half-Korean Youtuber who mongie apparently worked for on payroll as a graphic designer prior to Let's Play. Which is just a whole layer of ick that I think surpasses even Rachel Smythe and Mads Mikkelson. Like the Rachel and Mads thing is definitely creepy and weird because she's literally drawn herself - an adult woman nearing her 40's - being swept off her feet by a smoochy-faced Mads. But at least she didn't work for the guy or ever interact with him directly like mongie did with Markiplier. That's a whole separate level of "ew".

That said, mongie continues:

Which is just such a half-assed non-apology. Not "I'm sorry for misrepresenting a culture" or "I'm sorry I didn't do proper research", but "I'm sorry people think I'm being insensitive or that they need specific representation in my work that I'm claiming to be representation to be good". Completely shifting the blame from herself onto her audience for not being happy with the bare minimum that she gave them.

There's more though. Probably one of the worst parts and it's not even her, but one of her mods:

The fact that this is one of mongie's mods telling mongie's audience that her feelings - as a white woman who's just legitimately patronized her audience - are more valid than the people whose feelings were hurt by mongie being so insensitive... it's a real gross move and I can't believe they even pulled that.

Oh, and of course, as people like this tend to do, she goes on about "cancel culture" and how "terrifying" it is to her and then comes up with some imaginary scenario where a kid pays a hitman to kill her ?? as a defense for herself that really just further victimizes herself over her own misled actions ??

And this is something mongie does a lot, at least in this instance - she comes up with justifications for her decisions based on completely imaginary scenarios that she came up with and assumed, rather than just, idk, doing her research and being open to learning new things about cultures she's clearly not educated on. Shit like "well if I do xyz you'll be mad at me anyways so fuck you!"

When in reality? No one would have been mad at her if she didn't have any non-white characters in her comic. Would readers be disappointed? Probably. But - and I can't speak for everybody out there obviously so this is just my opinion - I know I'd much rather representation from someone who wanted to represent my respective groups and identities and put love and effort into it, than get it from someone who was just doing it because they made up a scenario in their head that they would be cancelled for not doing it. No one really has any tangible ground to stand on if they get mad at you for writing a cast of all-white characters you wanted to write, there are plenty of webtoons like that on the platform. We do need more stories that uplift and represent POC voices, but it shouldn't be from white victim complex people who only do it to virtue signal and ensure they don't get "cancelled". You know what WILL get you cancelled? Attempting to write other ethnicities and racial groups purely based on stereotypes for the sake of "representation" and then getting mad when people ask you to be a little more specific than "Asian".

Oh yeah, and then have your mods censor/delete any mentioning of educational resources regarding Asian cultures, and then essentially dox one of your community members by revealing their Twitter to the entire Discord group to boot!

oh boy mongie, if you think THAT'S drama, wait until you see the shit I do here LMAO

[im-out-of-it]

PSA KIND OF A RANT BUT ALSO JUST A GENUINE QUESTION BUT LIKE DOES ANYONE FEEL WEIRDED OUT THAT THE SHADOWHUNTER SERIES ARE KIND OF TARGETED FOR TEENS (I mean, aren’t they though)

I know I hate and shit on the shadowhunter series (SORRY IT DESERVES TO BE CRITICIZED) and y’all, I’m seriously okay with having characters have trauma and being complex (seriously I’m all for it!!!! I love those fascinating characters) but make these people young adults or something. because this should not be targeted for teens!!!!! LET ME REPEAT MYSELF!!!! THIS SHOULD NOT BE TARGETED FOR TEENS!!!!! I just don’t like the message it sends. I think it’s probably the worst in TMI.

oh if you’re abused or have a shit childhood, it’s okay to put that on others and make it their problem. oh if you’re boyfriend is toxic and emotionally abusive, it’s okay because y’all are soulmates apparently and your whole identity is about him!!!!!!! I don’t mind insane fantasy romances!!!! but don’t target it towards teens!!!!! I still get amazed that this incest toxic fantasy is for teens???????

I don’t know, it’s just weird that a 50+ year old woman is writing about teens having sex. like does anyone feel Cordelia was extremely sexualized????? there’s just so much problematic shit CC writes. and once again, I don’t believe that fantasy books should be “real” “make sense” or whatever excuse people want to use to defend misrepresentation, incest, or heavy topics (abuse, trauma) that are written poorly.

I don’t care if clary and jace aren’t actually siblings- they thought they were and they’re both toxic to one another, also the fact that clary is there to serve jace’s happiness is wild. so like if you want an outrageous fantasy world, that’s absolutely valid but don’t have it targeted for teens. this is my whole beef with the shadowhunter series (and more let’s be obvious) is that teens pick up these books and maybe they don’t understand (doesn’t a brain fully develop at 25 or something?????) and thinks the type of stuff that is in this book is okay or to be admired.

maybe I think too much of this (I’m a very heavy and emotional thinker/person who feels A LOT) and maybe teens don’t actually think this???? maybe they can differentiate that this is fiction and not to be admired? but it’s just weird reading about teens and all the problematic stuff they do. I’m in the young adult ish category so it feels uncomfortable at times for me. make them young adults or something!!!!!!

I’m probably just thinking too much into this lmao but does anyone else feel this way about the books???? and before someone says OmG dOn’T rEaD iF yOu DoN’t LiKe It- the only reason I read these books was because of show Malec and I stupidly thought it was going to be the same masterpiece and I was sorely mistaken- and then I read about the insane stuff CC has gotten away with (plagiarism, how she treated people in the Harry otter fandom, how she treats her own fans when they criticize her, like I think she’s actually insane) and I just feel like this fantasy world and some of these characters deserved better treatment and should’ve been put in the hands of an author who actually cared more. I’m just tired of problematic authors and writers ruining shit for us

[scary-senpai]

Would love to hear more about you & me & a high balcony!

Gahh! Thank you so much for the ask. (Original link is here, if anyone wants to join or reblog.)

So, “you & me & a high balcony” is one of the fics I drafted when I was teaching myself to write again. So it's awkward and striving (mostly in the right direction), and still pretty rough--I started writing it in 2020, I haven't really touched it since 2021, and I have learned a whole lot since then. At the same time, it is a fic that is near to my heart and I'm grateful for the opportunity to talk about it! <3

“you & me & a high balcony” is about Genos taking Garou home for the first time--why? tbd! I wrote probably about 100k words of various interconnected fics without fully committing to the unifying concept or plot and I will never, ever do that again. Probably.

Anyway, Genos takes Garou home and neglects to fully inform Saitama. You are getting my draft in its fully unedited glory.

Saitama’s cactus is on the balcony and it is a very, very painful experience for him. In keeping with running canon gags, Saitama is absolutely powerless against this ickle, stationary cactus and he finds himself in an ongoing fight with it, almost immediately. He also gets totally entangled in Genos' camping gear, but put a pin in that, we'll come back to it.

What follows is a series of interspersed scenes between Genos and Garou inside the apartment, Saitama making strange noises outside, Genos fabricating excuses and lying (poorly), and Genos occasionally stepping out on the balcony pretending to be Genos (because, again, Saitama is wrapped up like a sad sandwich in an unpitched camping tent.) In retrospect, it's very clear how much I miss writing for stage, because it feels a bit like an homage to Noises Off (but, you know, prose).

In the spirit of adventure, I am sending an unedited screenshot. With comments boxes! I haven't re-read it in years because I'm too nervous, but you can!

“CW” doesn’t necessarily stand for content warning but I guess it certainly could? CW is an abbreviation of my name so it’s how I highlight “shit I need to go back and figure out.” Being older and wiser, most of my drafts are now just bullet points for me to come back to later, when I have a coherent, unifying thought for the story/fic/series. It has saved me a lot of screaming and tears.

Anyway, Saitama keeps moving the cactus into the apartment. Garou keeps moving it back. Genos has no idea what the fuck is happening, but it’s the least of his problems. Eventually it leads to Saitama and Garou having a heart-to-heart (and agreeing not to tell Genos they met) and, idk, man, I love writing Genos x Garou a lot, but (Platonic) Garou + Saitama scenes are my absolute favorite. I just give them my ideal relationship, which is All of the Hijinks and None of the Sex with someone who finishes your sentences, but all the sentences are puns.

I started drafting the story in 2020, and anything I wrote in 2020 chronicles my descent into madness— inadvertently & indirectly. Suffice to say, quarantine was hitting me very hard and a lot of my behavior was centered around making myself laugh. My serotonin starved brain had a tendency to overload scenes with jokes. Even if they didn’t fit, even if they threw off the pacing. But stories and scenes need to have cohesive plots and it’s silly, to the point of being out of character. Sometimes that's part of the process, though. There's always a lot of love in the first draft of a story, I think, because it's a leap of faith.

I had written a litany of things that embarrassed me about this draft, I deleted it. So I'll share one of the things that I am proud of coming up with--I don't play a lot of video games. I needed a fighting game for King and Saitama to play during a stint of dialogue (the outcome of which involves King lending Saitama Hatoful Boyfriend so that Genos can practice dating (and also he does not trust Saitama with any of his beloved Doki Doki sims). So I thought of the one game I played a lot as a kid (Super Smash Bros) and combined it with something I do know really well (literature) and came up, um, this:

The Body Electric is near to my heart because it was a major part of my writing journey. It was also a major part of my writing journey where I learned a lot, mostly by making mistakes. Granted, it remains largely unpublished so I failed in gracefully private but it is really important to me to finish it one day.

Thank you so much for the ask!

[geoffreytoday]

Star Wars and Me, and You, and Ourobor-Us... Another one.

Hey, it's 2025 and everything has gone straight to shit. The fascist take-over of America is in full swing, and things up here in Canada are not significantly better. Now is as good a time as any to indulge in the explicitly anti-fascist fantasy world of Star Wars.

Since I last revisited the ouroboros, another production has come and gone, the Goonies-esque pirate adventure "Skeleton Crew". And so it is once again time to revisit the franchise and reassess the standings.

As always, I am including all Canon Star Wars movies and shows that I am familiar with on this list, and of course a number of classics that have been excised from the canon as well. Now, as before, and as it ever shall be: I have not watched Resistance :p

The opinions expressed on this list are solely my own and should in no way be considered authoritative*. Your mileage may very, and my opinions are in no way meant to reflect poorly on your own. Different strokes/different folks.

*except, of course, that I'm right.

Ranked in order from Worst to Best:

Number 32!

Attack of the Clones.

AotC sits securely in its throne as Worst Star War Ever. It is one of the worst movies ever made. AotC is shockingly bad, and it has no excuse to be such.

"What about The Room? What about Manos: The Hands of Fate?"

Here’s the thing: Those were never going to be good movies. They had nothing going for them. AotC is a Star Wars movie, made by the creator of Star Wars, with essentially an unlimited budget. It's one of the worst movies ever made because it should never have been allowed to be this bad.

Number 31!

Revenge of the Sith.

Marginally better than AotC, with more naturally delivered dialogue and acting, RotS is probably the easiest of the prequels to digest. However, while an easier watch than The Phantom Menace, it does the most lasting damage to the saga. Taking that into account, it must be ranked lower than TPM.

The monumental mishandling of Anakin’s fall to the dark side, the betrayal of Padme’s character, and the sheer laziness of the writing all come together to make a truly disappointing entry in the Star Wars saga.

Number 30!

The Phantom Menace.

TPM is a pointless movie. The story is bland and uninteresting, the performances and writing are wooden and dull, and the way the Jedi Order is depicted just makes me sad. If you can honestly tell me this is what you had thought the Jedi would be like before the prequels were made, well... I don’t have a good way to end that sentence. You could skip TPM entirely and it would not impact the rest of the series.

Number 29!

The Rise of Skylwaker.

TRoS is a mess. For a movie that is nearly two and a half hours long, hardly anything happens. The pace of the movie is much too fast, and feels like an attempt to hide the lack of coherent narrative. The hope seems to be that if we zip past all of this stuff fast enough, no one will notice that it makes no sense.

The film does not live up to the final trailer, nor does it deliver on the potential of The Last Jedi. The Rise of Skywalker feels like it was generated by AI. It lacks any legitimate understanding of the material, and instead relies on remixes of familiar imagery and scenarios to pacify the audience.

Number 28!

The Star Wars Holiday Special.

The holiday special is bizarre beyond reckoning. I love it, but there is no doubt that it is a truly ludicrous thing. I watch it two or three times a year around Xmas time. It’s like The Room, but for Star Wars fans.

Number 27!

The Great Heep - Star Wars: Droids – The Adventures of R2-D2 and C-3PO.

This is an hour long special that takes place within the timeline of the Droids animated series. It’s an odd thing. Distinctly kiddier than the rest of the Droids animated series, it’s most interesting feature is that it was written by Star Wars sound designer Ben Burtt, who also has story credits on a number of other Droids episodes.

Number 26!

Ewoks.

This is an animated series about, you guessed it, Ewoks. It’s cute. It follows the adventures of Wicket and his friends on the forest moon of Endor. The series, if it is to be fit into the chronology, takes place between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. It lasted for 2 seasons and is a perfectly inoffensive addition to the Star Wars universe. Not truly worth seeking out unless you are an absolute die hard fan, and even then you’re likely to think it’s worth passing over.

Number 25!

Star Wars: Droids – The Adventures of R2-D2 and C-3PO.

This series follows our favourite mechanical odd couple in the period between Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars. Like Ewoks, it’s pretty cute, and I loved it as a child. It holds some nostalgia for me, and it has a certain charm, but like the other animated efforts of the 80′s, it’s not terribly noteworthy.

Certainly there are some interesting parallels between Kea Moll and Rey, and it can't be a coincidence that one of the villains is named Kybo Ren. For the hardcore fan only, more here to enjoy than Ewoks, but still pretty forgettable.

Number 24!

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Movie).

A mediocre entry in the Clone Wars animated series. It should never have been released to theatres. It’s not bad per se, it’s just several episodes of the series cobbled together into a single film. They weren’t the best episodes of the series.

Number 23!

Ewoks: Caravan of Courage.

A made for TV movie that came out in the years following Return of the Jedi. It’s pretty silly and the acting is mostly awful. Still, this movie has more charm than all of the prequels put together. I can’t truly recommend it to anyone who isn’t a die hard fan, but if listening to Burl Ives narrate a Star Wars story is the kind of oddity that piques your interest, this has that.

Number 22!

Ewoks: The Battle for Endor.

Somehow, this movie is even more ludicrous than the original, which is probably why I like it. It’s much more fun than the first attempt, and it stars Wilford Brimley! That’s weird enough to be worth the price of admission right there. Some fun creature effects and a surprisingly dark opening make this one kind of worthwhile.

Number 21!

Star Wars Rebels.

I truly wanted to love Rebels, but I don’t. It has a lot going for it: Excellent designs, great villains, terrific ideas, but the problem is execution. The writing on Rebels is a mixed bag. When it's good, it's very good. It's just not good as consistently as you'd want. A frustrating series that had the potential to be so much better.

Number 20!

The Bad Batch.

A sequel to The Clone Wars, following a squad of "defective" clone troopers after the fall of the republic. I've never been much of a fan of the clones or the clone wars, so this series did very little for me. Like Clone Wars and Rebels, the writing feels uninspired and contrived. Episodes stop rather than ending, and it leans heavily on standard storytelling tropes we've seen countless times in Star Wars at this point. If you dig the clone wars, you'll probably enjoy this series, it just wasn't for me.

Number 19!

Star Wars: Clone Wars (Micro Series).

Clone Wars was a micro-series commissioned by George Lucas to fill the gap between AotC and RotS. It is slightly cooler than the CG animated series that would follow years later. On the down side, Anakin is pretty much as terrible as he is in the films, so that’s a major strike against it. It would almost beat out the full animated series on the strength of the Mace Windu short, but shitty Anakin is too great a hurdle to overcome.

Number 18!

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Series).

TCW did an admirable job of trying to salvage the ruined foundations the prequels gave us, turning them into something marginally workable. They made Anakin a nuanced and actually likeable character. They made the friendship of Anakin and Obi-Wan feel believable and warm. Unfortunately, there is only so much that can be done with the dumpster fire of the prequels.

Number 17!

The Book of Boba Fett.

Not as well written or thought out as The Mandalorian, but still relatively fun. The series would have benefited from considerably more clarity regarding the timeline of its events. It definitely divides fans of Boba Fett. Personally, I think Boba Fett was ruined back in AotC, so I'm not really invested anymore.

Number 16!

Rogue One.

Rogue One is pretty. It is also an endless parade of continuity errors and fan service, stretched over a thread-bare plot. The movie needed at least 3 more drafts before it was ready to film. It’s okay, but it’s not great.

My personal head-canon is that Rogue One is an in-universe propaganda film made by the rebel alliance to sway people to their cause. Viewed through that lens, all the cheesy moments, musical cues, continuity and plot inconsistencies all make sense. It saves the movie for me.

Number 15!

The Acolyte.

I was hopeful for this one. I'd been curious about the High Republic era, so getting a show set there was quite appealing to me. In the end, it's just okay, not great, but not bad either. I've never been happy with what the prequels did to the Jedi, and it was a downer that somehow the High Republic Jedi were even worse.

The series is supposed to take place during the golden age of the Jedi, before their fall. You would never know it, based on how truly awful most of the Jedi are.

Normally I'm all about stripping away copaganda from cop shows, and the Jedi of The Acolyte are very much the ACAB portrayal of the Jedi order, but that's not what I come to Star Wars for. Star Wars is fantasy, and I'm here to see noble Jedi knights fighting the good fight against the forces of darkness.

I'm also not a fan of the force being transformed into standard fantasy magic. The night sisters, force witches, the mortis gods, and all that bullshit are absolutely not what I want from my Star Wars. It's been cropping up more and more frequently though, much to my great disappointment. The Acolyte is probably the least offensive version that I've encountered (up until episode 7 that is), so that's a small plus, but I'm still not a fan.

Number 14!

Ahsoka.

Ahsoka is pretty mid. Visually impressive, the writing is unfortunately shallow and uninspired. It's reasonably entertaining, but it's nothing special. A more accurate title for the series would have been Sabine.

Number 13!

Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Kenobi is decent enough. It does some interesting world building. The actress playing a young Leia Organa is terrific, and it's always a joy to see Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan. The series failings are largely a matter of padding. This was originally meant to be a movie, but after the box office disappointment of Solo, it was retooled to be a streaming series, to its detriment.

Number 12!

Star Wars Visions.

A series of animated vignettes from famous anime directors. Visually impressive, very stylish, and more often concerned with being fun and interesting over being strictly adherent to canon. I fully approve of that approach. Worth checking out if you're a fan of anime, or animation in general.

Number 11!

The Mandalorian.

A solid show with a lot going for it. It plays things pretty safe, but I don’t mind playing it safe so long as the product is good, and this one is for the most part. Season 1 is good, Season 2 is better. Season 3 is a disappointment and fails to maintain that trajectory.

Number 10!

Tales of the Jedi.

A six episode anthology series that follows a few characters from pre-clone wars through till establishment of the rebel alliance. This series is a little looser than the Tales of the Empire series which came after in its narrative structure, jumping around more and involving more characters. Still, it's a very solid effort. Nothing in it quite lives up to the last episode of Tales of the Empire, but it's still pretty good.

Number 9!

Skeleton Crew.

Skeleton crew is charming and loads of fun. Its major strength is that it's a self contained story. It's not trying to be part of the larger mythos, it's not trying to be "lore". This is a simple adventure story based in the Star Wars universe.

Skeleton Crew is a pirate adventure in the vein of The Goonies, with a smidge of Atlantis lore, and the faintest hint of Brigadoon. The level of sincerity and quality in the writing is something most Star Wars shows should be aiming to match.

Number 8!

Tales of the Empire.

A six episode anthology series following the stories of two characters. The first three episode follow Morgan Elsbeth, the second three follow Baris Ofee. I have never been a fan of the night sisters, or the inclusion of standard fantasy style magic into Star Wars, so those first three episodes weren't really for me. They're fine, just not to my tastes. The Barriss Offee storyline is considerably better, and the final episode is terrific, exactly the kind of stuff I'd like to see more of in Star Wars.

Number 7!

Solo.

Nonstop fun from beginning to end. Alden is perfect as a young Han Solo. He may not look like Harrison, but he looks like Han, if that makes sense. Unlike Rogue One, the fan service in Solo is rooted in the characters and feels natural. Now I just need a Calrissian movie and I’ll be all set.

Number 6!

Return of the Jedi.

Gasp! One of the sacred Original Trilogy NOT in the top 3?!?! “Blasphemy!”

Listen, I sincerely love RotJ. If you had asked me when I was 8 which was my favourite Star Wars movie, it would have been Jedi without me even thinking about it. But then I grew up, I learned about storytelling, pacing, editing, production design, and a million other things that, sadly, lowered RotJ in my esteem. It's still great, it's just not the greatest.

Number 5!

The Force Awakens.

I love TFA. Where RotJ’s reuse of tropes from Star Wars felt clumsy, lazy, and too soon, TFA’s homages to the themes and beats of the original trilogy work beautifully. The whole film feels simultaneously familiar and fresh. It’s not without it’s flaws, but none of the missteps can diminish the joy it brought me.

Number 4!

Andor.

Wow, now this is some quality Star Wars content! Atmosphere, drama, sharp writing, and great performances. This is the level of quality all Star Wars content should be aspiring to. Considerably better than the movie it's technically a prequel to. A story of rebellion and political intrigue, cool stuff.

Number 3!

The Last Jedi.

TLJ is a movie that took a while for me to warm up to. I was initially torn: I loved a lot of it, I disliked many other things. I liked the movie, but I wasn’t as in love with it like I had been with TFA. My experience since has been that the more I watch TLJ, the more I like it. I love that I never knew what was coming next. This movie constantly surprised me, which I loved. And that final act… Wow! Luke Skywalker is forever my hero.

Number 2!

Star Wars.

Star Wars is a terrific movie. Some have called it a perfect movie, and it’s hard for me to disagree with them. The only thing preventing Star Wars from taking the number one slot on my list is that, for me personally, the pacing drags in a few places. Star Wars was the first of its kind though. This movie literally changed everything. The impact of Star Wars can not be overstated.

Number 1!

The Empire Strikes Back.

I’m sure I’m surprising precisely no one when I add my name to the impossibly long list of people who think ESB is the best movie in the Saga. This is what I call a perfect movie. ESB is Star Wars firing on all cylinders.

And once more we've reached the end of the line. Some new stuff, a few shuffles, but not dramatically different than the previous update.

As always, future adjustments to come as needed.

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

Hey! Don't know if you've seen the latest article from The Direct, but it says Marvel Studios reveals that Sylvie is not genderfluid like Loki.

Well, according to the Loki series writers and director, Loki himself isn't genderfluid either! Oh excuse me, I mean the other Lokis "haven't got there yet". 🙄

You know why I think they're erasing genderfluidity from Loki's identity? Because they want the fact that Sylvie is female, the only female Loki, the only "good" Loki, to be what makes her so superior and special. That's it. That's all they've got. Oh, and the fact that she has the most tragicest backstory that a team of writers have ever made up as they went along, and that somehow gives her an element of "specialness" that dumb ol' inferior Loki could only dream of achieving.

I wish with all my heart that they had just let Loki be genderfluid, instead of forcing this poorly written, slapshod "original character" to be the most special thing ever, just because she's female. I honestly wish that Sylvie just didn't exist. I don't know if it's because they think Loki is just a shit character, and that's why they need Sylvie to be so special, and created her with a mix of Enchantress and Sylvie Lushton because being just Loki or just Lady Loki isn't enough? I don't understand why but I don't think I've ever despised a character more than I do Sylvie.

Of course I don't mean this in a misogynistic way. They want us to think that what they're doing is feminism and that it's empowering to girls but it's really not. It's a patronizing pat on the head. It's insulting. The whole "oh baby you're so superior" thing is crap, and it's costing us dearly. It's costing us the characters we love, and it's ruining the potential of other characters.

Anyway, thanks for reading. I just needed to unload after seeing that this morninng.

Hey that's alright. I understand the frustration, believe me 😉

And please, don't worry about the so-called "misogyny". You can dislike as many female characters as you want, in fact, if anything that's what is truly feminist here: to like or dislike fictional characters without a care in the world as to whether they're men or women or everything in between.

I hate the "she's superior because she's a woman" trope too. There's nothing empowering about that, quite the opposite, and I couldn't agree more with you when you call it patronizing.

They give us a woman, tell us she's perfect and she's the only woman that matters (wow, that is so feminist, huh 🙄) and of course she has a tragic backstory because they want her to be complex but they won't ever put in the effort to write that complexity, so the easiest way to go about it is to claim she has a rough past.

And of course, in these cases the woman needs to be compared to a man because no matter how much they try to tell us the woman is the most perfect creature in existence, she still needs to be evaluated against a man so that she can earn her place in the story (you never see this with men). So she's superior to the male lead in absolutely everything -- but she's not going to show that (we know the writers don't really give a damn about her to write her as complex) so that superiority will be spoken, said by those around her and especially the male lead, who will do everything in his power to remind the audience time and time again of how perfect she is -- lest we think a woman has any value until a man decrees it. What of all this doesn't sound feminist...?! 🤦‍♀️

They were never going to have Loki as genderfluid because the entire purpose of the series was to 1) belittle him and abuse him, 2) retcon him to be the most palatable, basic and normative character of all. Genderfluidness would have ruined that. Just look at what they did with his bisexuality: he comes out, Sylvie says not a single one of his relationships were ever real, he falls in love with her and he's then beaten in the time cell. That's what you get for coming out in Disney.

But what can we expect from people who do this...

LaufeySON for a woman (they changed that in the series so bonus points for that, I guess) and they write her race is Asgardian but her birthplace is "unknown". She's the spawn of Laufey, she confirmed she was adopted, how the fuck is her birthplace unknown?!

[masterthespianduchovny]

The Poor Development of the Marauder's Era

I've recently been listening to Binge Mode and, even now, I honestly believe the Marauder's era is some of Rowling’s worst writing of the series. When I say Marauder's Era, I'm simply referring to characters and events pre Harry.

The Marauder's era isn't poorly developed because I didn't like what happened. It's poorly developed because of how Rowling handled the characters, the events she put them in, and the reaction to said events.

As a kid, I respected Lily and thought she could do no wrong. As an adult, I find her decisions questionable. For transparency purposes, I read these books in real time and was a similar age as the characters. So, I don't want to hear anything about me being "unfair." Of all of the Mauraders era kids back then, I was the most generous to Lily. It's only when I reflected more about her role in the series that I realized how lackluster she is as a character and as a friend.

Rowling relies on Lily being seen as the moral compass to signify who and what is right or wrong during this era. The problem with this is that Rowling undermines Lily in the process. Minus being flat out called Mudblood by Snape, she has no proof that Snape has done anything her friends accused him of doing, but she unequivocally views it as the truth. Despite Lily listening to Snape, it's not really in good faith because she already has her mind made up about Snape's guilt.

Now, this is important to note because since Lily hasn't seen any of Snape's alleged bad behavior for herself, why would she definitively accuse him of these things? Lily claims she was in denial about this when she ended their friendship, but it's quite obvious she does believe Snape is guilty.

What makes Lily's beliefs and choosing to side with others over Snape is that none of the Marauders have ever mentioned ONE instant of Snape doing or saying some fucked up shit. As a reminder: THEY HATED HIM. They never mentioned anything about him bullying others, calling muggles mud blood, or any other troubling behavior. It was merely because he existed. They couldn't even tie him to being a Death Eater.

Also, let's consider the fact that kids like Snape have rumors made up about them all of the time. ALL OF THE TIME. Not even Snape's own bullies could attest to Snape doing the things Lily's friends claimed Snape did, yet Lily believed their words?

And, maybe I'm being nitpicky, but the fact that Lily says "my friends" in reference to defending Snape has always rubbed me the wrong way. Snape IS her friend too. Her best friend, in fact. Why wouldn't she have said, "my OTHER friends." My Gryffindor mates or whatever? IMO, that implies that Snape is just some weirdo she talks to and not the person she's known the longest.

HOW ROWLING COULD'VE FIXED THIS:

Have Lily overhear Snape calling one of his peers Mudblood. Have the Marauders be incensed that Snape called someone a mud blood. Have them call out Lily when she tries to intervene on them confronting (confronting NOT bullying) Snape. Hell, even have Snape fucking bully someone.

Because as far as canon goes, Snape was a bystander as death eater wannabes bullied people and presumably did nothing about it. We don't see any of his alleged wrongdoings and the people who hate him can't even recall that this happened.

There shouldn't be an ambiguity or readers relying on the word and opinion of Lily to guide their opinion.

Some may say, "she's only a kid." To this I say, "You're right." Lily was a teen and teens don't always know how to handle complex situations, I will give her the benefit of the doubt. However, this means we shouldn't hold her as the moral standard.

Lily essentially says that the difference between the Marauder's bullying people and the death eater wannabes doing it is dark magic. I'm sorry, but that's weak sauce. Dark magic is such a vague and broad thing depending on what you're talking about, so nah...Also, is there something not dark about James choking Snape with soap? I mean, that could've traumatized Snape to the extent of him being triggered by soap. Isn't that dark?

HOW ROWLING COULD'VE FIXED THAT.

Jut have Lily acknowledge that behaviors by the Marauders and death eater wannabes are both bad, but for different reasons. Problem solved. She can even emphasize that she takes so much issue with Dark Magic due to why it's being used and what it ties into.

We hear how great Lily is and that everyone loves her, yet Harry meets literally NOT ONE FRIEND of Lily's. He meets James' friends and a former teacher of hers. We don't see Lily hanging out with anyone else. We hear examples of Lily feeling sad for people, but no references to her actually helping people or supporting others somehow.

HOW ROWLING COULD'VE FIXED THAT.

Maybe instead of Lily talking about the bad thing Avery and Mulciber did, she could've intervened, even if it was too late, and "saved" Mary. Hell, we could've had Lily hex James rather than just threatening it. I'm sorry, after literally reading the many ways the Golden Trio are there for each other even before big shit started to happen, Lily threatening to hex someone who is actively bullying her friend doesn't cut it.

And give her her own friends for Harry to meet.

Lily is said to be smart and empathic, but how she deals with Snape and his issues don't exactly support this.

HOW ROWLING COULD'VE FIXED IT.

Have Lily genuinely listen to Snape's grievances about the night he was saved. Don't have her be so dismissive about the Lupin thing. Maybe have Snape set up by the Marauders and the big reveal is a flop.

I know Rowling wanted to tackle people having shady pasts and how they can change, but 1. Either she needed to commit to it being a rivalry or 2. She needed to appropriately deal with the bullshit the Marauder's did. Snape is justifiably angry and distrusting of the Marauders due to one almost killing him as a joke and the other publicly humiliating him. This doesn't even account for YEARS of bullying, which remus admitted happened.

We cannot say that bullying is wrong, and then excuse the bullies because they were on the right side of a war.

HOW ROWLING COULD'VE FIXED THIS.

She should've had Remus flat out acknowledge they were wrong for what they did and that there was no excusing it. Then, have Sirius and Remus privately talk about this where Sirius admits it too. OR, despite loving them and his dad, Harry realizes how flawed they were and that their reasoning is simply to protect their dad not necessarily because James grew up. OR Rowling could've not written James and Sirius behaving as psychopaths AS WELL AS show instances of Snape starting shit with them.

SHOW US Snape deliberately starting shit with the Marauders and James trying to apologize. Show us James' growth outside of that. Don't tell us that James is secretly hexing Snape behind Lily's back because it has her looking like a dumb ass.

Also, all of this James stuff is important because Lily ending up with James is such a bad fucking look. IMO, it makes her disgust at his behavior seem performative. It says that she didn't really care about him bullying others, but rather, the perception of her being with someone who bullied others. And, no, having Lily smile as Snape was actively being bullied, and then poverty shaming him isn't a good look.

"BUT, BUT SNAPE CALLED HER A RACIST SLUR!!!"

It doesn't matter how much you want to give your friend the benefit of the doubt, if you believe he's calling others racist slurs, you need to confront it. And, if you believe it to be true, you need to end it. You don't wait until he calls you the slur to say, "hey, maybe he really is this racist person people claim he is."

HOW ROWLING COULD'VE FIXED THIS.

After James saved Snape's life, this is where he could've matured and his big head lessened. He still hexes others, but leaves Snape alone because he realized that they went to far with him even before Sirius' "prank." Instead of James being the antagonizer, it should've been Sirius. Once again, James breaks this up and he and Sirius gets into a small argument. Snape is let down as Lily runs up and Snape says his mud blood remark.

Snape then tries to hex Sirius and James steps in once Snape refuses to stop. It gets out of hand and Snape accidentally harms Lily.

I won't lie, I'm a HUGE Snape fan. However, because of how Rowling handled this era, there are many ambiguous things, situations that don't make any sense, not enough development of characters, etc which undermines the story she tried to tell.

Yes, I do love the series, except I don't like any of the Marauders or Lily. I don't hate Lily, but she grates. Remus really was a coward and irresponsible as hell. Sirius was childish as fuck and, no, him being in prison doesn't excuse or justify all of his behavior. James saved his peer's life, and then publicly humiliated and sexually assaulted him. He didn't stop bullying, he just stopped how he did it.

This doesn't mean I believe that Snape was faultless, but I believe this era was so poorly told that by default, I believe and sympathize with Snape.

Although I believe Rowling wanted readers to do this, I don't think she planned for some readers such as myself to hold the positions we do. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Snape as is, but I do believe Rowling didn't intend for me to hold the views I do about Lily and the Marauders.

I don't understand her laziness during this era, especially since it's so key in Snape, Lily, and James' stories.

Lastly, she could've developed James and Lily better.

I know she only has so much time, space, pages blah blah blah. However, the best writers find a way to make it work with what they have.

[thankskenpenders]

Enerjak Reborn: Epilogue

It’s time to answer the question on everybody’s mind. How did Ken respond to Ian killing off Locke, one of his pet characters?

Well, the answer, as you should expect, is: poorly

Now, it’s important to remind everyone that Ken has not actually read the arc. He never read any of Ian’s run, to my knowledge. But his fans were sure to tell him all about it and ask him how he felt

Eventually, in 2010, two years after this issue dropped, we got a response from Ken talking about how he felt about Ian’s run. (Again, even though he wasn’t actually reading it himself.) Said response is worth reading in full if you’re interested in all this drama and Ken’s mindset. You literally get to see the guy brag about how he actively ignored what Bollers was doing when the two were sharing writing duties, as if this is a good thing that makes him a better writer. He also criticizes Ian for using the previous writers’ characters instead of introducing even more characters to the bloated Archie cast in his first few years on the series. But the relevant part to the discussion of Enerjak reborn is here:

“I especially don’t consider anything either does with any of the echidna characters – especially Locke – to be canon as neither created the characters nor established them in stories as the viable fan favorites they’ve become. No matter what Ian writes, he can never alter the fact that in MY universe, the events of Locke’s passing as depicted in SONIC #143 is canon. Anything he writes can easily be counter-written by a better story with an alternative solution.”

Let’s just brush past the very funny part where he calls Locke a “viable fan favorite”

So yeah. Penders was VERY unhappy with the way Ian wrote Locke, and the way Locke’s death in Enerjak Reborn meant that the timeline depicted in Mobius: 25 Years Later wasn’t the one true future of the series. He’s also gone on record saying that he thinks Ian didn’t get the relationship between Locke and Knuckles. When asked about Ian’s work, this has always been one of the major things that’s bothered him

On a broader level, his ramblings here are reflective of how he views comic franchises in general. A particularly illustrative quote from him is provided in the comments section below the article I linked:

“The only work I consider significant to any character is the work done by the original creators. Anything done afterwards by anyone else pretty much doesn’t count. For example, I consider the original issues of FANTASTIC FOUR by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby to be the only stories that matter in the entire run. Anything being done today is by writers and artists who are simply building off the work Stan and Jack originated. I apply this standard to just about every character I ever enjoyed over the years.”

This odd mindset explains a lot about Ken. It explains why he hates that Ian kept using his characters, and why he actively avoided building off of the work of his contemporary writers at Archie. I can see what he means on some level, of course. When another writer comes in and adds more novels to a series after the original author dies, I generally tend to ignore those. And I skipped a good chunk of Twin Peaks season 2 because it had less involvement from creators David Lynch and Mark Frost, making a lot of it feel like filler. But we’re talking about a licensed comic, one that had been a collaboration between multiple writers based on the work done for the games and cartoons from the very beginning. Ken was never the sole writer--he wasn’t even there for the first year--and he was writing stories centered around characters he hadn’t created like Sonic, Sally, and Knuckles. He doesn’t take credit for creating any of those characters, but the hypocrisy still seems to be lost on him

But of course, we’re not just talking about Ian’s handling of all of Archie Sonic here. We’re talking about Locke. And as Ken has said himself, Locke was based partially on his own father. And that’s really the kicker here

As I’ve said many times before, I try to avoid psychoanalyzing Penders and digging into his personal life. I don’t know the guy, and that’s his own business. But it’s hard not to when he literally says shit like THIS to fans

Locke is emotionally abusive towards his wife and son. Locke is also based on Ken’s dad. Ken refuses to see Locke as abusive, even though that’s exactly what he wrote, because that would mean acknowledging that his own father was abusive. So there’s always an excuse for why father knows best. It was a different era! They’re not humans! He could see the future! He might have hurt Knuckles, but it toughened him up, and he was always there for him in the end! The dad is never, ever at fault. The moms, on the other hands, are mere bystanders to the child rearing done by the dads. It’s just sad, really

I get why Ken would be bitter that Ian took this fictionalized version of his late dad, went “hey, this guy’s an asshole,” and then killed him off. I get why that would upset somebody. He wrote a very personal story there. But it’s not like Ian was pouring salt in a fresh wound--Ken lost his father all the way back in 1982. I know this because Ken literally dedicated the M25YL story about his version of Locke’s death to his dad. It had been nearly 30 years when he wrote this response to Ian’s work. That’s plenty of time to see a goddamn therapist instead of projecting all of your baggage onto Knuckles the Echidna and writing stories for kids about how you should never question your dad ever

The irony, though, is that Ian’s different take on Locke is arguably way more nuanced than Ken’s ever was. In his final moments, Ian’s Locke turns into this tragic figure who only realizes too late that the way of life the Brotherhood had raised him to believe was a mistake, that he had failed his son by passing those beliefs on to him. But he’s still held responsible for what he did. He’s a horrible dad, and the characters around him call him out for his failures, but you pity him for only now realizing what he had done

Ken, on the other hand, gestures at Locke doing horrible things, then tells you to forget about all that and stop questioning him. Knuckles pretends he has a totally normal Leave it to Beaver-ass father-son relationship as soon as they reunite in the Knuckles series. As an adult he thinks back on how great a job Locke did raising him, even though Locke literally took him from his mother, raised him to believe that his mother and the rest of his species were all dead, and then pretended he himself was dead for six years of his son’s childhood (among MANY other things)

M25YL gestures at those very same themes of not repeating your parents’ mistakes that Ian touched on in Locke’s final moments. Knuckles is raising Lara-Su very differently from how Locke raised him, and Locke admits that he wishes he had raised Knuckles differently on his deathbed. But his decision to suddenly admit wrongdoing in this flashback to his death feels unearned and arbitrary. Locke is never at fault. We cannot question Locke. Knuckles turned out fine, so don’t worry about it. Locke might regret the way Knuckles raised him, but Knuckles is not allowed to hold any ill will towards his father or question his methods whatsoever. We’re allowed to gesture at the idea that Knuckles doesn’t want to repeat the mistakes of the previous generations, but those vague mistakes aren’t allowed to be anyone’s fault. That’s just “how things were”

Ken would do a lot more than just complain about Ian’s handling of Locke on the internet, though. Because you see, the way Ian wrote Locke is commonly cited as one of the main reasons why Ken started copyrighting his work, right up there with Bioware basing the story of Sonic Chronicles partially off of the Knuckles comics without his blessing. And those copyrights, of course, were what started the legal battle that would kill off the original Archieverse

[alertarchitect]

Honestly I understand being done with Halo after Halo Infinite. I personally enjoy it, as the gameplay is some of the best we've seen from 343i in my opinion (never played 5, but I've played every other mainline game. Could never afford a Xbox One when it was big), and mainly play it for the PvP - however, the campaign's story is a perfect example of a franchise backpedaling to its detriment due to listening to its fans too much. Let me do a little infodump on exactly why.

343's first original mainline game was Halo 4. Halo 4 had Issues, mostly pertaining to the gameplay as it was cribbing really hard from Call of Duty at the time with its loadout-based systems in multiplayer, where you'd build a loadout meant to get you to a killstreak that would let you just stomp the shit out of the rest of the lobby for the rest of the match. It pulled back from what made Halo's multiplayer feel unique in comparison to its primary competitors around the time of Halo 3 and Halo Reach's releases - it kept the even start based arena feel of old-school deathmatching from the Boom Shoot days. However, the STORY of Halo 4? Absolutely fantastic. It was like getting to finally see Chief and Cortana as they were portrayed in the Halo novels brought to life in a game. You felt things for everyone involved - you hated Captain Del Rio and his stubborn refusal to do what you so clearly saw as the right move, you feared the Didact and his powerful technological capabilities from being a living Forerunner, you cried at Cortana's sacrifice. Even the much maligned (and rightly, in some respects, due to it being co-op only and having no scaling for single or two-player playthroughs, and not exactly being the best replacement for the Firefight modes of Reach and ODST) Spartan Ops had a very well written, impactful story.

However, rather than looking at Halo 4 for the diamond in the rough that it is, a lot of the Halo fanbase decided they loathed it. The art style was bad, the writing was bad, the gameplay was bad, etc. etc. because it no longer looked and felt how the older games did - and in some respects, I get it. Again, the gameplay had issues... but that doesn't excuse the level of hate for it having the balls to write a death for Cortana. It was, quite frankly, my second favorite story in all of the mainline Halo games - second only to Reach, which is quite frankly one of my top 5 games of all time, possibly my favorite period, and thus high praise for 4's writing. It left behind the quip-based action movie feel of 2 and 3 for something impactful, where you felt that even though you won, something truly meaningful had to be lost.

Then we get to Halo 5. I'm not super informed on Halo 5, having never had the chance to play it, but my understanding of it and its story is that it was where 343 started to make some really bad writing mistakes. The gameplay was there - some competitive players still hail it as the best in the series. But the writing of the story felt... Misleading. We were advertised a deep, meaningful story being told once again, of a cat and mouse chase where Chief may not have even been the one in the right... Only for it to mainly be a story of backpedaling by reviving Cortana, seemingly invalidating her sacrifice in 4... But look! She's a villain now! That's character development, right?? In short, it wasn't great.

And now we get to Infinite - still a better campaign than 5's, but where it feels like 343 once again listened to their fans too much and decided they needed to backpedal on things. They killed Cortana again, this time offscreen, and for poorly justified reasons. They give Chief a new AI, who is literally played as "Younger Cortana" in a lot of respects. They over-rely on making the Banished, which had been played up until now as a fairly small mercenary group, the new big threat in town by having Atriox beat the fucking MASTER CHIEF, one of the most noted badasses in the Halo universe to an insane degree, like its nothing... And then rug pull that by having him be seemingly dead for most of the game, then rug pull the Banished being the big bad guys by having the Endless be the real villains in the last portion, and then rug pull again by showing that Atriox somehow survived Cortana detonating Zeta Halo's control room! Don't get me wrong - some aspects of Infinite's story are pretty damn good. The dynamic between Esparza - the pelican pilot - and Chief develops fantastically over the course of the game, and has great character development towards it. There's even some development from The Weapon, Chief's new AI, and some moments where you realize Chief's machine-like dedication to his mission might be a bad thing before it's invalidated by actually possibly being the right thing to do.

Again, I think Halo Infinite is a fun game, and the campaign's story is definitely better than 5's, but I understand being done with the series now. The main reason I'm still in is because it's one of my major special interests to a pretty heavy degree.

will you ever look at halo again? it sucks worse now and we haven't seen Fred in an Age, but you have good thoughts on many things, if you ever feel like suffering through something else

unfortunately no probably not 😔 halo infinite permakilled my interest in the franchise. I still reminisce about hunt the truth occasionally though. can you believe they got keegan michael key to do all that

[starknell]

"harry potter is my thing and i can't stand jkr even more than you can't." You can stand her enough to still support her and her work, though lol?

TL;DR: I hate JKR and her books. I do not support her. I enjoy shitting on HP and trying to fix it with what tiny kernels of promise live in its plot. I did not say I enjoy it and I very specifically chose not to say I enjoy it. My phrasing of "i hate her more than you do" was shitty and I will change it, as well as clarify that my enjoyment comes from pulling the books apart rather than what they are and what they stand for.

I don't support her in the slightest. JKR is a transphobic, homophobic, racist prick. She is a terrible writer who left dozens of plot-holes littered throughout HP. Part of my interest in HP is a determination to sort out her plot-holes and problematic tropes through writing fanfiction and fixing all of the disgusting and annoying issues with it because I'm spiteful and if I stumble into a special interest, I am going to puzzle it out and fix it wherever it needs fixing. Part of my sustained interest in HP is a determination to fix it.

I am deeply aware of all the ways HP is problematic. I am aware that Cho Chang, Seamus Finnegan, and to an extent Ron as well, are stereotypes of their races / ethnicities; I am aware that Rita Skeeter is "trans-coded" in the most offensive ways possible; I am aware that JKR has claimed lycanthropy is a metaphor for HIV when the only interactions we see with characters with lycanthropy are Lupin being alone with Harry [when a male educator being alone with a student could be scrutinized on its own; not that I'm condemning Lupin, because he's one of my favorites], when we see him try to attack children because he forgot his medication, and both times when we see Fenrir Greyback it is deeply implied that he is pursuing underage girls [never mind the fact that he was allowed to torture Hermione. the implications are clear when pieced together], and one could argue Lupin is q-eer-coded; I am aware that Snape asking Voldemort to spare Lily and 'give her to him' has very clear implications of potentially holding her captive and that otherwise he is a disgusting incel who bullies children; I am aware of the goblins being incredibly antisemitic stereotypes and the house-elves being racist depictions of slavery and how it was "necessary" and Black people were "happier" enslaved; of burying and/or straight-marrying q-eer coded characters; and more issues that I cannot think of at the moment.

I am aware—though I'm sure you're less interested in this, it's also important [though obviously less] to me—of the contradictory conversions of Wizarding money to Muggle money; of the mere function of Horcruxes; of the missing 24 hours after James and Lily's deaths; of the ridiculousness of sorting children into Houses based ultimately on what is social pressure and values they have been raised with as they are not old enough to have learned to be critical and develop their own; of the sharp decline in the already-middling writing quality past POA as well as a sudden inability to remove filler scenes; of the piss-poor gramnatical editing from OOTP onward; and, again, more that I cannot think of at the moment.

I do not LIKE Harry Potter. It is a poorly-written series littered with stereotypes and harmful tropes. I hate Harry Potter. I said it's my thing. I didn't say I enjoy it. In fact, what I enjoy most about it, even more than trying to work out how to better it, is shitting on it, particularly whenever I realize new issues. No. I do not support the series; I support what scraps of potential live inside of it. And I certainly do not support JKR.

I understand that this seems oxymoronic. And I understand that the following is going to sound like a bad excuse, but I'm going to say it anyway because it's true, and you can take it or leave it: four years ago, my best friend went through an HP phase (mostly of fanfiction, being again, the series sucks balls) and got me into fanfiction. It was a year and a half before I bothered to read the source material, because from what I remembered of the few books I read in elementary school, again, it sucked balls. I didn't read it because I liked it. I don't reread because I like it. I read it because I wanted to understand the context of the stories I was reading, and I reread it so that I can nitpick and have more fun dismantling it and find more problems that I need to fix. It has been four years. I understand the issues with HP. If I could pick a different special interest, I would have. But tearing it up and trying to rebuild it makes me happy. So that's what I do. That's my thing. I will alter my description to reflect this.

[aglassmenagerieofallergies]

Rant about Mystreet Season 6

Now I love Aphmau’s channel and series, have since I was 10, but this last season of Mystreet and parts of season 5 could have been so much better. This is meant to be no “attack” or “jab” at Jess and Jason’s writing, these are merely opinions from a long-time fan. I am gonna go on a bit of a rant about the parts I personally feel could have been MUCH improved on. I would like to preface this with saying that I really do not enjoy this season and therefore do not re watch it a lot. Its also 4:40 am my time so this might turn into a sleep deprived ramble but anyways, here we go...

SPOILERS FOR SEASON 5/6 OF APHMAUS MYSTREET 

Kawaii Chan/ Nana

I adore Nana. She has consistently been my favourite female character for all 6 seasons of the show and in diaries but holy she has done wrong this past season. Getting almost killed and then not having any involvement what so ever. The majority of her screen time, especially near the fight with the demon warlock, just felt like the writers forgot she was there and wanted to give Moeka lines. Her involvement with Zane was the only moments she seemed to have. Speaking of her and Zane... While I love them as a couple, I also despise the fact that Nana only ever got development or a backstory when it came time to ship her with Zane. I wish she could have been more explored earlier on aside from being the “annoying, shippy, meifwa girl”. She got the short end of the stick recently and I hate it.

Aaron 

I have really never liked Aaron. From him being a high school senior dating a freshman to him literally murdering people, I never liked him. This season really didn't help that. Aaron ended lives, we see him kill Blaze and is he punished at all for it ? No. Yes, he was blinded and lost his memory but that wasn't as a reprimand for his crime of I don’t know MURDER. Aaron and Irene’s constant interactions make zero sense to me. One man cant be brought back to life by God twice. I get a bad sense that through-out season 6, we are meant to be supporting or sympathising with Aaron but I just cant. We are treated to numerous flashbacks to Aaron’s past, inter-cut with scenes of him committing various horrid actions. His father raised and treated him horribly but that is no excuse for murder. The ending of season 6 seemed almost hopeful for Aaron with the “hope” of him and Aphmau reuniting and I honestly don’t feel it is 100% earned. 

Ultima/ Werewolf 

This point isn't so much a critique on season 6 specifically but on the series as a whole. Aaron and his family being werewolves, being descendants of the ultima werewolf no less, came out of no where. Werewolves being introduced into the main plot could have been cool but instead the majority of it came off being rather cringey, specially in Phoenix Drop High. Anytime a werewolf would call Aphmau or Aaron “Alpha”, I could feel my skin crawl. The dealing of almost species based discrimination in season 6 was down right awful and Im not even talking about Aphmau wanting to be turned. The whole ordeal with the restaurant denying the werewolf pack service was over and dealt with as soon as it happened, The werewolves being hunted in season 6 because of the possibility they were an ultima and Katelyns reaction to Aaron being a werewolf seemed to come out of no-where. The idea of discrimination based on something someone can not control in a minecraft story could have been a way to teach younger kids a great life lesson but the majority of story lines involving werewolves were so half-assed, you cant even make a successful anecdote out of them. 

MCD/MS Connection

In the last season of MS, they really tried to shoe-horn in this connection with MCD which honestly creates nothing but plot-holes. A MS/MCD connection could have been a really cool concept and piece to see but its so rushed and forced, it just comes across as awkward and last minute. If the writers really did want to merge the two series or at least have them canonically exist in the same universe, they should have been setting it up from the first season. Overall, the two series are so vastly different from their environment to the characters that a complete mash up of the two would be so jarring. Just imagine Zane from MS meeting Zane from MCD or all of the MCD characters in a world without Wyvern, common use of ships, lords, and being introduced to the technology. A series combining the two would be fun and it would be fun seeing the characters interact and meet each other but it would need to be well thought out instead of just saying “and now here’s Irene and the demon warlock” which is what season 6 did. 

Dante/ Laurence

The Laurence curse strikes again but this time, its not just him. Since season 2, there has been a “tendency” to forget Laurence in the shows events. He was absent throughout Season 2 and again for Seasons 4,5 and 6. Dante, however, was very present in the first 3 straight seasons of the show. No one expected for him to disappear out of the blue ;) like that. Laurence disappearing could make sense, maybe Sebastian was booked up at the time or other personal reasons but Kestin voiced Zane and Eric throughout the show. Season 5 of the show I will cut some slack for forgetting them, It already barely made sense for how characters like Kai or Nate were there, but forgetting Laurence in Season 2 seemed odd. Dante and Laurence not only could have helped the “gang” but they could’ve provided some great entertainment and story lines but instead we got Ein ... again.

Ein

Eins rant will be shorter as while his character in season 4 did not leave much of an impact on me, his story could have been written leagues better. Eins story line and subsequent death was insanely fast. We got the spotting at the end of season 5 and a poorly done B plot throughout season 6. Ein is a fairly good villain with some decent potential, he could have been much more utilised. Ein served only to kill Aphmau then die. His character got walked all over. Literally. He caused such shit in season 4 and his death was a simple *stomp*. Are you kidding ? Everything could have been just ... better. Not only in regards to Ein but for the entire season. 

Closing Thoughts 

Overall the season was not good, in my opinion. Mystreet works much better as a episodic show like a slice of life anime, as a story driven series like a shounen it does not. If the rumours about a season 7 are true, I really hope it is at least a bit better than this one. It as a whole was a mess. To reiterate, this is meant as no attack on the writers or BluJay Studios but as a critique on this particular season. I love Aphmau and the Mystreet series but this was its low point. Thank you for sitting through my incoherent rantings about a minecraft show. :) have a great day/night !!

[thinkingisadangerouspastime]

what do you think about the aang is possessive comment? about EIP ruining kataang? also about there being an implied (and nonexistent) love triangle thrown in nearing the end of the series as a tease?

I think fandom just likes to complain, lmao, but I’ll address each of these one at a time!

1) “aang is possessive”

This argument is honestly the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard because it’s just so obviously false?? Possessive is literally defined as “demanding someone’s total attention and love,” which Aang never does? Aang always respects Katara’s position in their relationship, especially after the EIP kiss, which everyone knows was entirely inappropriate and wrong of him. Aang recognizes her hesitation and makes no more romantic attempts towards her after that moment. Not one! Katara is the one who initiates them getting together in the finale because the war is finally over and she is no longer afraid of losing him. I beg people, do point to the “possessiveness” you’re referring to, because the closest we get to any character being possessive is Zuko in “The Beach”:

Zuko: [Side-view of Zuko and Mai walking.] He thinks he’s so great. [To Mai.] Well, what do you think of him?

Mai: I don’t have any opinion about him. I hardly know him.

Zuko: You like him, don’t you? [Mai sighs and walks away.]

//

Ruon-Jian: What are you doing?

Zuko: [Close-up. Angrily.] Stop talking to my girlfriend!

Ruon-Jian: [Side-view. Walks up to Zuko.] Relax. It’s just a party.

Frontal view of Ruon-Jian. Zuko knocks him across the room into a vase, which breaks from the force.

Yeah, Aang never acts like that. 🤷

Now, this isn’t to say Aang doesn’t get jealous. Jealousy is a perfectly normal and natural emotion, and honestly I’d go so far as to say that everyone has been jealous at least once in their life. What’s key about Aang is he doesn’t act on his jealousy. He doesn’t throw anybody across a room, for one. Sure, he doesn’t want Katara to kiss Jet, so he makes a little quiet comment about it. Pretty normal, and it ends there. Not dissimilar to Katara’s bit of snark about On Ji! Even the EIP comment, which everyone uses to argue that Aang is “possessive” (which again, blatantly untrue, because he does not demand or expect a relationship with Katara as a result of that scene; also all he does is nod lmao and tbh that’s such a healthy reaction to jealousy I mean he doesn’t grab Zuko and chuck him onto the stage like his name is Ruon-Jian, does he?) - Aang literally just gets upset about the implication from an imperialist play that Katara doesn’t reciprocate his feelings. Why?

Let’s be frank: Aang knows, or is fairly certain, that Katara does like him by this point in the series. That’s why he doesn’t ask her “do you like me”. Instead, he asks:

Aang: But it’s true, isn’t it? We kissed at the Invasion, and I thought we were gonna be together. But we’re not.

By this point the show, the viewers know their feelings are mutual. Katara knows how Aang feels about her, and Aang knows Katara likes him, too - he just isn’t sure about how ready she is for a relationship. So him getting upset about the propagandist, pro-imperialism play implying Katara isn’t interested in him, when he essentially knows she does like him, is honestly kind of understandable? Imagine if you were watching a really rude movie about your life and it included a scene of your best friend who you’re already kind of in a relationship with saying that they’re in love with the dude who used to bully you and only think of you as their sibling. Like, that’s kinda wack? I’d be a little upset - and definitely weirded out - too.

(I’ve also seen people argue Aang leaving Guru Pathik to save Katara also somehow demonstrates his so-called possessiveness, as if his love for her and her love for him wasn’t established mere minutes earlier to be the love of the Air Nomads reborn. I don’t think the show could have been any clearer about how mutual, powerful, and honest their love is through that scene. Also, he proceeds to let her go to enter the Avatar state at the end of what? The next episode? So again, any arguments that he was “possessive” and “didn’t let her go” are thus moot and entirely inapplicable points.)

Basically, Aang isn’t “possessive” and people who think he is are just looking for an excuse to hate on him, lmao.

2) “eip ruined kataang”

The only way EIP could have ruined Kataang would be if all the previous Kataang buildup was either terrible or near-nonexistent. And great news! Kataang was built up very well throughout the series, growing from a close, deep friendship to cute, blushy crushes to a true, lasting romance (pretty iconic of them). Even if someone doesn’t ship them, they can acknowledge that within canon, Kataang had a very strong foundation (it’s one of the core relationships of the show, the other being Zuko and Aang as narrative foils). The implication that one poorly written episode somehow cancels out the previous 56 episodes and the following four is embarrassing.

Now, I certainly wouldn’t have minded if there had been a scene dedicated to Aang and Katara discussing his poorly-timed kiss. I ship Kataang, so there is absolutely no reason for me to be opposed to more Kataang content! But A:TLA has a very clear trend of not showing such discussions on screen - example: Zuko never sits down with Katara and apologizes for using her mother’s necklace to manipulate her; Katara never apologizes to Sokka for her callous comment about their mother - so the fact that Katara is the one to initiate their relationship at the end of the serious clearly demonstrates that she has forgiven Aang for his inappropriate kiss and is ready to be with him. (And I’ve said it before - if she can forgive Zuko for all the shit he put them through, she can forgive Aang, her best friend and the guy she loves, for one poorly-timed kiss.) Narratively speaking, ’twas resolved.

Also, it’s incredibly important to consider EIP within the context of the series as a whole. If someone really feels entirely devastated by that one episode, then… their loss? I’m sorry to hear it? 56 episodes of near-flawless buildup - a slight dip + a healthy, logical finale where Katara chooses to be with Aang because she is at last no longer afraid of losing him = more than good enough for me. People can argue her decision doesn’t make sense all they want, but it actually makes perfect sense when you consider what has been built through every previous episode: she was in love with him! You can’t isolate a single episode and expect it to speak for the series as a whole, after all.

Basically, EIP gets blown out of proportion because some people like to pretend it was the only Kataang episode ever written, lmao.

3) love triangle

I always laugh when I see this because where?? The only love triangle in A:TLA was the one fandom invented. Within the canon narrative, Katara and Zuko were never romantically interested in each other. I don’t care about “shipping-goggle interpretations” or AUs or post-canon or early planning that didn’t make it into the final drafts. If you look at A:TLA, if you look at the creators’ intentions, it’s plain as day that Kataang and Maiko were the only romantic pairings planned for Katara and Zuko. And that’s okay! That’s why fanon exists. But people have got to stop whining about a love triangle and ship teases that just… didn’t occur. If they read Zuko and Katara’s interactions as romantic, well, that’s great and all, but it’s also on them, lol. That sounds so mean oml I’m sorry y’all 💀. I just mean that Kataang was very clearly written into the show from episode 1 and Maiko from Book 2 (or Book 3 if you really, really don’t like the flashback), so expecting Zuko and Katara to get together doesn’t make any sense (to me) when they never had any romantically-coded interactions.

Yes, of course I’ll admit there were a few Zvtara gags, but that’s exactly what they were - gags. There’s three primary instances:

- June calling the owner of the Water Tribe necklace (whom we know is Katara) Zuko’s girlfriend in Book 1. This moment is mainly hilarious because Zuko promptly redirects the conversation to Aang, lmao, but thinking about the context of A:TLA itself? The assumption of the Fire Nation crown prince being in a relationship with someone from the Water Tribe is honestly pretty concerning given how the Fire Nation is an imperialist conqueror and has all but destroyed the Water Tribes (and has certainly worked to sever the connection between the North and South). So, not exactly a great conclusion on June’s part.

- The EIP gag. I ALWAYS laugh at this one because their reactions are so funny? I love the little disgusted nose wrinkles and scooting away. That’s hysterical to me. But again, thinking about the show itself, EIP is an imperialist play full of Fire Nation propaganda. With that in mind, again, the implication that their crown prince was with someone from the SWT, a nation they brought to its knees by killing all of the waterbenders (but one) and thus eradicating so much of the SWT’s culture? Major red flags! People need to consider the implications of EIP as imperialist propaganda, basically, because that’s what it is. Ignoring that aspect means missing the entire point of the play.

- June part 2. What I said above still applies. Also, they both get embarrassed and hotly deny it, which is kind of the opposite of a ship tease to me? They don’t exchange like an “oh, but what if” glance or anything, lol. And June backs off immediately, so... 🤷

People who interpret that as serious ship teases are, bless their hearts, a little misguided. Those are just funny moments! It’s like Katara and Sokka dressing up as Aang’s parents in “The Headband”. It’s funny! It’s contextual! Sokka and Katara are not romantically interested in each other just because they dressed up as husband and wife (ew), just as Katara and Zuko aren’t romantically interested in each other because there were three jokes about it. I really don’t know what else to say lmao.

Now, I don’t know all about what Bryke did outside of A:TLA in regards to Zuko and Katara’s relationship and fans of it. I wasn’t here for that lol. But I do know that A:TLA built a beautiful, platonic bond akin to surrogate siblings between Zuko and Katara (highlighted by the final Agni Kai with Katara and Azula as foils). Not a love triangle. “The Southern Raiders” was an episode about Katara and Kya, not Zuko and Katara. “The Crossroads of Destiny” paints an aching, gorgeous parallel between Oma and Shu and Katara and Aang, not Katara and Zuko. “The Boiling Rock: Part 2” was an episode involving the loyalty and love of Mai and Zuko, not Katara and Zuko. Katara and Aang had romantic parallels, Mai and Zuko had romantic parallels, while Katara and Zuko - within canon - had strictly platonic development. And honestly, fandom should appreciate that more! How often do we get such an iconic relationship between a guy and a gal that isn’t shadowed by romance? (The answer: not often enough.)

Now, this doesn’t mean don’t ship Katara and Zuko. I don’t care what people ship lmao, and there are some interpretations of Zvtara that I really enjoy (post-canon Zvtara has so much potential,, I die a thousand deaths oml)! But insisting there was some love triangle thrown at the end of the series is a discredit to how well Aang and Katara’s and Zuko and Katara’s relationships were written in A:TLA, and I’m honestly tired of hearing such tomfoolery. A romantic relationship between Zuko and Katara within canon would have completely undermined his entire redemption arc, which further emphasizes that their canon bond was meant to be solely platonic, because why would the writers want to undo what most consider the best redemption arc in animated history? (Simply put, I don’t think they would.)

Also, A:TLA had a very clear history of staying away from love triangles. There’s no Aang x Katara x Jet love triangle. No Yue x Sokka x Suki love triangle. So why would there be an Aang x Katara x Zuko love triangle?

Case in point: there isn’t. Fandom invented it.

So that’s my thoughts, anon! It can be summarized as this: fandom makes up a lot of nonsense that simply rewatching the show can dispute, so maybe we should just start providing episode timestamps to people, lol.

A general note - people are free to disagree with this post, but I ain’t looking to argue, so… make your own post if you want to develop a “counterargument”, I guess? I’m just chillin™ lol I don’t want to fight with people. I can give you my PayPal if you’d really like to engage in a proper academic debate? Anyways. Much love! 💕

[blurrypetals]

A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas - blurrypetals review

originally posted feb. 22, 2021 - ★☆☆☆☆

This is not Sarah J. Maas's worst book, not by a long shot, but it is definitely her least fun, most unnecessary effort, and we're talking about an author who also wrote Tower of Dawn and A Court of Frost and Starlight. I have a terrible, sordid history with Maas. I started off as a fan of Throne of Glass who was then spurned for being a fan of the story and characters she started with and, ever since then, I have never been able to view her as anything more than an amateur stumbling her way through high fantasy concepts, leaving nothing but wreckage in her wake. I really hate what Throne of Glass became and consider it to be a pretty perfect What Not To Do guide as far as writing diverse yet consistent characters, writing a satisfying, sweeping narrative, and many, many other things. This series, however, seemed at first to be a strange outlier. The first three books might be overlong, trite, and have a lot of the same issues with diversity and tryhard feminism as Throne of Glass, but at the very least, they are fun. Despite all their flaws, and despite how much shit I enjoy talking about Sarah J. Maas, the first three books are an okay guilty pleasure. I think they are disgustingly overrated and too many copycats are trying to emulate it, but they're...fine. I think the novella is unnecessary and weird, but it's mostly just fanservice that seemed to wrap up Feyre and Rhysand's story, so even if I didn't like it, it at least was short and fluffy for the most part. I think there were a lot of critical mistakes made with this book, which is a shocker considering just how definitely totally competent our author is! But seriously, past the fact that this book exists at all, the biggest mistake Maas made was putting it in the third person. I think the biggest strength of the original three books was that we were in Feyre's head, experiencing things right alongside her. One nice trick of the first person perspective is that there's a sort of built-in empathy that's sort of difficult to fuck up and it really helped sell Feyre's journey. Here, we are not necessarily far from Nesta and Cassian's heads, so it genuinely confounds me that Maas decided to change that. Why not have an alternating first person POV between the two? I just don't understand. But let's get into the meat of things. What do I mean when I say this book feels unnecessary? Well, not only does it feel a bit like we're picking open a story that felt like it wrapped up pretty nicely, but everything new that does happen feels like a foregone conclusion. It was pretty readily clear from the middle of A Court of Wings and Ruin, perhaps earlier, that Nesta and Cassian are mates. I personally have never been a fan of the whole fated mates thing in this stuff, since it sucks out any semblance of romantic tension out of things, and while I never expect Maas to do the interesting or unexpected thing, it would have been nice to have maybe one couple get together who just got together despite not being mates. That said, it isn't as if the romance would have been made better by that. These two have a little bit of chemistry that isn't so bad, but it's overshadowed by their near constant and frustratingly repetitive fucking. It's actually insane how much unsexy sex is in this book. I mean, there's something to be said for Maas finally ditching the idea that she is at all trying to write for younger readers, but at what cost? Another plot point that carries a lot of the so-called tension in the novel is that of Feyre's pregnancy with her and Rhysand's son, the truly poorly named Nyx. Everyone is certain Feyre is going to die because the baby has wings and her vag is not prepared for it (I wish I was kidding) but this is another thing that feels like a foregone conclusion on arrival because A, we know Sarah J. Maas doesn't have the fucking guts to kill anyone off, let alone her precious Feyre and definitely not Rhys, who also dies if Feyre dies, and B, we already know that their son is going to be okay because of all the business with the Bone Carver. And, other than some business with a crown, a mask, and a harp, the rest of the plot centers around Nesta recovering from her PTSD. I'll begrudgingly admit, her PTSD is actually not poorly written. That said, it is very poorly handled. In the original trilogy, Rhys is upheld as this extremely kind and generous and wonderful dude who helps the broken, has trauma of his own to reckon with, and in this book, he is a fucking cunt. It is legitimately, truly shocking how disgusting and awful he is to Nesta. Yet again, we experience Sarah J. Maas's brand of so-called character development by way of performing a personality transplant that serves the half-assed plot rather than the established character. Now, where have I seen that before? Aelin? Tamlin? Chaol? Nah, can't be. Rhysand isn't the only one who treats Nesta terribly, though, it's the entire inner circle, even her fated mate, of course! The way they all treat this grieving, traumatized, abused woman is utterly sickening, and they all are treated as if they're in the right for it! It's absolutely nuts. Even though I've never cared for Nesta as a character, no one and I mean no one deserves to be treated the way Amren, Rhysand, Mor, and the rest all treat Nesta in this book. I've said this many times before, but I'll repeat what I said in my review for the last Sarah J. Maas book I read, Kingdom of Ash and it's this: Sometimes it is better to be spectacularly, hilariously awful than it is to be utterly boring and leave your reader feeling indifferent and, while this one did make me angry at points, I was mostly just bored and tired. Apathy is the worst feeling you can leave a reader with and this is not the first time Sarah J. Maas has done this to me. I know a lot of people think Sarah J. Maas hung the moon, but I am just so tired, I just do not get it. I once understood what made her books fun, but when she shits out trite excuses for romance and fantasy such as this, I can't understand why anyone could enjoy such a mediocre example of thinly veiled porn as this. Do us all a favor, Sarah, and do better. It's just sad at this point.