#and even the way they're expected to be regarded; ARE we assumed to dislike him / think his feelings are of less significance

[ask-mortarion-the-death-lord]

headcannons about mr spoiler in space marine 2

chaplain leandros headcannon i fully expect to be debunked if/when they do anything more with that.

given what i've heard, namely that apparently the line for how titus and cato can both exist simultaneously is that titus spent 100 years in stasis and then did his 100 year stint in the deathwatch, leandros very well could be older and more experienced then titus at this point in a practical sense if he spent that entire 200 year period not only alive but working/undertaking the training of a chaplain.

well it is indeed suspicious as fuck whats going on with titus in space marine 1 from leandroses perspective, i imagine it would be just as suspicious to arrive to an isolated group of marines to find one of them dead and the captain having been carted off because his junior filed an official acquisition with the inquisition. as such i would not be surprised if some form of investigation happened as to whether or not leandros himself was on the level. ultimately it works out in his favour i would imagine.

spends some time serving under cat sicarius, getting some more experience under his belt in the wacky campaigns of the 2nd company. i feel like he would either really like or kinda dislike cato sicarius and i'm not sure which.

given that leandros likely participated in and lived through all the shit that happened with the 13th black crusade, the ultramar campaign, the trip to terra etc. unless we assume he underwent the rubicon voluntarily, its probably around here we can assume he got his shit pushed in hard enough to warrant undertaking the rubicon surgery. as a consequence i also feel around here is when he'd likely start taking on the path of a chaplain, both to recouncil everything hes seen and probably because he would regard his survival as a "being by the emperors mercy, i must repay him by doing his work as a chaplain" kinda way.

he and acheran didn't talk much, and well leandros is a judiciar they talk even less but being "one of the only other people he knows from before the return of guilliman who survived all the shit that accompanied it" i imagine they're probably fairly close as far as space marines get. i also really like the imagine of them becoming friends after a judiciar leandros saves acherans life on the battlefield.

calgar initially was angry, but given the entire affair was effectively over and finding titus would have likely been more important to him, i imagine he just kinda went with the "pretend he doesn't exist" route of things at first. since guillimans return however hes likely worked more closely with leandros due to leandroses role as a chaplain, and in general i would say game calgar trusts leandroses judgment and capabilities now. pre graia leandros would have effectively fanboyed out at the notion, but modern leandros more so focuses on keeping things professional.

guilliman breathing and walking again also contributed to leandroses interest in chaplain duties. after all, the blessed primarch walks and leads again. i imagine guilliman regards him the way he would any other chaplain.

his chaplain mentor regarded leandros as a bit too soft hearted in his capacity as a chaplain, and as uncommonly forgiving. ironically. its part of why calgar and acheran trust him, especially when it comes to handling sensitive matters because he tends to have a "nuanced" approach.

spends so much time wearing the helmet and doing his job, that a lot of the younger ultramarines only know him as "chaplain" much to acherans amusement. its not really a penance thing on leandroses part, he just finds it more comfortable that way. it also partly stems from a deep rooted distrust of camaraderie that formed after graia, and he tends to keep even his few friends at arms length.

has come to appreciate the nuances of what was happening with titus on graia due to his own experiences over the past centuries, and his chaplain training. still regards titus with suspicion because of those same experiences and training however, but is willing to give titus the benefit of the doubt. for now.

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s5 ep15: Dark Frontier

Ughhhh two hours of Borg crap. Ngl, this one was a struggle, I kept falling asleep and couldn't make it through in one go. It's not even bad, per se, it's just kind of... blah? I wanted them to explore Seven's trauma more, but I just don't feel like this did it very well, nor that it handled the Borg very well either.

Whenever they try to delve into Borg stuff, they always end up making them less formidable and mysterious and scary, and it makes them a lot less effective as villains. The Borg Queen in particular I think is the concept that does the most damage in that regard. Much of the Borg's horror lies in that they're a big, anonymous, faceless monolith that can't be negotiated with or connected with on an individual level. Giving the Borg a human face that thinks and acts as an individual is much less scary, and trying to make her seductive is even worse. It was the one element I disliked in the otherwise very good First Contact movie, though at the very least, Alice Krige had an aura of menace that made her seem more formidable than Susanna Thompson on Voyager. She's just too soft-spoken and serene, and having already seen her without makeup in that DS9 episode, it makes it harder to see her as the character when we already know what she really looks like.

Speaking of makeup, there were several close ups where the seams in her makeup on her chest where her suit is supposed to attach were clearly visible, and it was really distracting. Voyager isn't even remastered, so it isn't even high definition, so that's a pretty glaring faux pas for the makeup department, who are usually amazing. Maybe they were pressed for time, but still.

Most of the visual effects were fine, the ships and space battles and stuff were great, as usual, but the scene recreating the Borg queen getting put into her suit was just kind of like, why? Obviously a TV episode doesn't have the money and time that the movie had, so why recreate something we've already seen on the big screen? It's never gonna be as sophistocated, and it's gonna make anything they do on the show look clunky and amateur by comparison, and it did. On it's own, if the movie didn't exist, it would have been a perfectly ok effect, but comparing it to the movie, it just looks cheap, which it surely wasn't. (And it's not like everyone who watches Voyager hasn't also seen First Contact, c'mon.) Just seems like a waste of resources.

But my biggest problem was just the story and treatment of the characters themselves. Janeway seemed very out of character- she was acting like an emotionally constipated macho guy rather than the usual heart-on-her-sleeve Janeway we know and love. They had her being all weirdly obsessed with Seven, and it's just like, why?? Janeway would go out of her way to rescue any member of her crew, they don't need to make her weird and passive-agressive about it. Feels like a room full of male writers transfering their obsession with Seven onto her tbh.

Then the whole deal with asking Seven to read her parents old logs, like, are you kidding?? She's the last person they would have or should have asked to do that! You're really going to ask someone to delve into the greatest trauma of their whole life during an important mission?? And then when it affects her exactly as any idiot would expect, they act surprised?? Nobody's that clueless, come on.

While it was interesting to get more backstory with Seven's (frankly awful) parents, there were a lot of odd little plot holes. Why did everyone assume her parents died?? The Borg assimilate people, why would anyone think they weren't assimilated?? And if they're all connected to the Borg hive mind, how could Seven be surprised that her dad was still a drone if the whole collective's thoughts were one? And why didn't they try to take him with them when they rescued Seven? If it's so easy to disconnect drones from the collective and rehabilate them back to being human again, couldn't they have tried? Since he was an adult, it should be even easier than it was for Seven. But having an ex-Borg character who isn't a hot blode chick who looks like a Barbie doll wouldn't be as much fun for all the dudes, I guess. To say nothing of the incredibly ugly messiness of Seven confronting her dad for his horrifically reckless parenting that led to her life being stolen from her. Honestly I would actually like to see what Seven and her father would have to say to each other, and how they would deal with each other after their experiences, but that's an entire can of worms that nobody on that writing staff actually would have had interest in. Seven is there to be eye candy, not to be meaningfully confronting family trauma. (But hot damn I would pay to see that story! They could have killed him off after a few episodes, I just think it would have been way more interesting than what we got.)

And then all the dumb stuff with the Borg queen wanting Seven back, and how she wanted her to be disconnected to get experience with individuality. What?? Every single drone in that collective had been an individual before they were assimilated, so Borg Queen has all the knowledge she needs in that regard, unless she's admitting that assimilating knowldege doesn't work and that the Borg are fundamentally flawed, which I don't think a Borg would do. Also, the Borg Queen has individualty herself, so why does she need anybody to explain it to her? (Although I don't know what keeps her so in love with Borg-ness when she has individual will and thoughts- why wouldn't she just be like 'fuck this, being Borg sucks, I'm leaving??' Also seems kinda antithetical that the collective needs an individual to control them. But like I said, the Borg Queen is just a bad concept to begin with, and the more Borg lore they invent, the more they fail as a concept and cease to be formidable as villains.

Overall I just didn't like all the plotholes that raised too many questions that went unanswered, nor the weird vibe of Janeway and the Borg Queen fighting over Seven like they're divorced parents fighting over a kid, or like macho jerky guys fighting over a hot girl. Also didn't like that the whole crew was just like 'well, I guess Seven decided to rejoin the Borg! Oh well!' after she'd been part of the crew for over a year. I have to believe that after that time they'd have grown attached to her on some level, and would feel at least slightly skeptical that she'd go back so easily. I don't even like Seven that much, but I really did like when they actually had her make friends and bond with members of the crew. I hate when they had her be rude and mean and fight with everyone, because then it just felt like, well, why should we care about her? Why does she even want to stay if she hates everyone and everything about Voyager? They started forming those connections with her at first, and then the writers just abruptly turned in the other direction for the hell of it. It makes the show worse to have a main character who hates everyone else, who everyone hates in return. And it just doesn't make sense when they all have to live and work together at close quarters for all this time that she wouldn't make friends with at least some of the crew.

And then we have another instance of shaving off more years from their journey- if they shaved 15 years off with the transwarp conduit here, after the 10 from Kes, the 10 from the slipstream, I think 5 from Q at some point, aren't they down to like, 35-30 years by now? They're halfway home at this point. Which is still a long time, but it's within their lifetimes now that they'll get back. It's not as dire as it was before, but they still act like it's just as desperate after this, even though it's kinda not.

Even the little character bits that are usually nice felt off here- Chakotay says that Janeway always fiddles with her combadge when she's about to drop big news- but she's never done that even once in any episode in the entire series up till now. And then another scene where they have Tom say he's glad they blew up the Borg ship and that it was doing the drones who died a favor (he's not wrong fyi), just to have Seven walk in and act like he's being insensitive toward the Borg. What was the purpose of that? Does Seven still think she had a great life as a Borg? Does she really not understand why people would rather die than live as Borg, even now? It just seemed to be there to make Tom look like a jerk for no reason. And then Janeway yells at B'Elanna for reading Seven's logs after they think she's returned to the Borg for good, but if she hadn't, they might not have figured out how to adapt the Borg tech to Voyager, and it's not like Seven didn't do the exact same thing without so much as a peep from Janeway. Seven literally hacked into Janeway's personal logs and read them that one time, but we never saw her get in trouble for it, and she certainly wouldn't have been sorry, so what's the difference if B'Elanna does the same thing to her? I guess Seven always gets to do things the rest of the crew doesn't, because she's the writers Janeway's special pet Borg, or something.

Tl;dr: A big Borg episode that somehow managed to make the Borg seem less formidable and scary. I still don't feel like Seven's character gained any more depth, or that we learned anything more about her, despite the story focusing on her and Janeway almost exclusively. Janeway was sadly mischaracterized though. Kind of a disappointment overall.

[unproduciblesmackdown]

this is really mostly just here so i can potentially reblog later with a verbose mini essay of more in depth grievances but for now the tl;dr re: Latent Cumulative Frustrations 5x08 Has Stoked For Me Concerning Winston is pretty much just that i'm now back to "is he really Only here to, at any / all times, be a plot device &/or specifically a joke" after 5x05 through 5x07 assuaged me by thinking he was being treated As A Character where his feelings where handled in earnest for their own sake in some serious emotional arc setup. which i am now in more doubt about, so i am no longer assuaged, and old [head in hands & yelling] about winston which has genuinely antagonized me in the past is now Active again, unabated

[lovee-infected]

Your character analysis posts are really accurate! I like how you want to show that a character is a lot more than they show. It kind of angers me that there are people who headcanon the boys as something they're not, or they saying that they're this one personality trait only. What other characters from twisted get mischaracterized, at least in ur opinion?

THANK THANKK !! XD

I really enjoy going into depths of characters' personalities because damn- there were some big brains behind their creations!

This question was rather important so I couldn't decide on any specific characters to talk about, so I decided to list all of the twst characters and how they'd often get mischaracterized.

Mischaracterization isn't bound to twst fandom because as long as a there's a fandom, fanon interpretations of characters exist.

Almost any character in any fandom can be mischaracterized at some point, but it isn't always that noticable or important. Mischaracterization often becomes noticable when pretty different interpretations of rather 'popular' characters exist within a fandom, which causes many to argue over what the correct interpretation is.

For now, I'm dividing all of twst characters into "5 groups" to explain how each of them might often get mischaracterized.

Group A: Complex personalities

It's simple, these characters can be quite hard to understand. It's either because of having too many features at the same time, which makes them quite hard to read because we'll need to achieve a balance between all of their different personality aspects, or being quite secretive and mysterious which awfully bounds our knowledge regarding these characters and their personalities.

•Malleus Draconia: We previously talked about Malleus; the main reason of him getting mischaracterized is having plenty of spine-chilling features while having considerably childish and innocent hobbies at the same time. This opposition often makes it hard to decide on what the cannon Malleus is like, because it can hard to choose one between his darker side and softer side. What we need in order to achieve a rather cannon interpretation of Malleus, is a balance. Just as I previously said: Malleus isn't a baby, but he isn't a monster either.

•Lilia Vanrouge: Even without going into depths, you can tell that Lilia's personality is complicated as hell. Though I can't really tell that he's being Mischaracterized because the cannon Lilia himself can switch into a totally different personality in a matter of second, one moment he's a 90+ year old father trying to lead his children into he right path, one moment he's an unraveled neon teenager playing the ear-scrathing heavy metal with that guitar of his, and the other second he's an absolute monster which can creep the heck out of you with a simple "Boo". Lilia can also get plenty of different personalities through fanon interpretations:Yandere Lilia/Vampire fae/ Papa Lilia/ Daddy Vanrouge many other details which I can't go through now,but let me just say: A Lilia analysis would be rather long, and interesting one.

•Jade Leech: Speaking of reading characters, better know that this mister eel Leech is an absolutely tough one. You'll never know what he's hiding behind that friendly yet evil smile, or what intentions might be behind his extreme will to play the role of the butler and help everyone out. Understanding this Sebastian Michaelis complex is an absolute challenge and this is probably one of the things that makes him so Interesting, you always know that he's hiding something dark on the inside, yet you can't really tell what it is.

•Cater Diamond: This might be rather hard to notice, but there's a lot about Cater which is left untold. Despite his sweet and positive appearance, his personality is actually a bitter-sweet complex of too many emotions and a pretty well-written background. The amount of info found through his voice lines and personal stories is rather amazing as if you're reading a real boy's life story! But this amount of detail and considerably dark aspects of his personality can make it really hard to understand what's going on in this mysterious mind; especially because of how he seems to be hiding a second face under that friendly smile.

•Jamil Viper: Jamil can be quite hard to read. He isn't really emotional and hardly ever expresses his true feelings. Even NRC students agree that he can be quite a mystery, from his past life and daily struggles to how many of his true feelings and intentions remained a secret until chapter 4. Jamil is a complex of pain, power, hatred and patience. His background is perfect example of a villainous story and how a child can grow to be a villain, which is quite interesting! Jamil's story is worthy of a detailed analysis and some time for all of us to understand what this guy has been going through.

•Rook Hunt: We often tend to know him as Pomefiore's "dramatic stalker", and he surely is! The fanon interpretation of Rook doesn't usually go against his cannon interpretation (Expect for the times that people get salty over his appearance or attitude- Which leads to the creation of countless Rook memes-) While it's true that he's more than just a French stalker, it can be hard to talk about anything else when it comes to Rook, because the cannon Rook tends to hide a lot about himself, leaving us with a considerable lack of useful information to use. He really got us all there, huh? Even as he's a fictional character and we're living in real life- he tends to control what we know and think of him-

characters that can also belong to this group: Leona Kingscholar, Idia Shroud, Vil Schoenheit , Floyd Leech

Group B: Ignoring important features:

This group can get easily mischaracterized, mainly because each and every of them has an specific feature that really makes them stand out. (Ex: Riddle's short temper, Azul's soft and sensitive side, Sebek's obsession with Malleus,...) But paying to much attention to that one specific feature often leads to ignoring everything else about their personalities, and gives them a pretty simple and fanon interpretation which can sometimes be the total opposite of the detailed and cannon one.

•Azul Ashengrotto: Azul's fanon picture had an extreme change after chapter 3, mainly because of how his background and breakable side was revealed; the cruel and heartless mafia boss turned into the soft and emotional baby. This sudden change in perspective stole the hearts of many fans and the fandom in general came to appreciate Azul even more, but at some point it caused his most important feature to be forgotten: Azul tends to be strict about hiding that sensitive side of his, so the Azul we get to see in general is the fearful picture of the mastermind who's taken the magics of many away, not that baby Octopus who used to cry whenever other kids bullied him because he was different. Getting to know his background and true feelings made us forget about his professional and strict side which is indeed the most important side of his personality!

•Idia Shroud: Baby boy, soft child, sweet tooth cutie, pretty little emo,...and hundreds of other nicknames to appreciate Idia and his iconic nature. But in contrast to what many assume based on his appearance and social anxiety, Idia is way different from just a shy yet adorable nerd; this guy is seriously hiding some evil inside. If you go through his stories and get to the points where he's thinking with himself, you'll see how different he can be. While he can't really get to tell these properly through his main lines, you can find him secretly insulting and nagging at how annoying some people are several times. It isn't just about being shy, Idia obviously dislikes many of the people around him. Focusing on his social anxiety and awkwardness causes us to forget how different he is when he isn't forced into a face-to-face conversation, also note that there are many thoughts going through this guy's brain that you probably hadn't thought of.

•Floyd Leech: While Jade's personality is obviously a pretty complicated one, Floyd's character is even more confusing because of his playfulness and seemingly childish manners. But it's important to remember that deep inside, floyd is just as mysterious as his brother. Describing Floyd as childish and dumb is equal to falling into Yana's trap, because Floyd is designed as an extremely smart and somewhat of sadistic character. It's so important to know that he's way more than just a chaotic eel or an playful idiot, Floyd literally has anything needed to be ranked among the most dangerous characters of the game, his personality along side his magic and genius can be quite deadly.

•Sebek Zigvolt: To be honest, many of us are just doing him dirty. Look, it's true that Sebek's often caught praising and talking about Malleus but please do not forget that Sebek as well has got his very own personality! Associating Malleus with whatever he says or does (especially through fanfictions) is somehow fading his character because most of the things I get to read or hear about him involves Malleus. Come on! This is Sebek that we're talking about, not Malleus! I understand that talking about Malleus is legit something he often does but while you're writing a fanfic, please remember that Sebek has got hundreds of features and personality manners to talk about other than talking about his "Waka sama". So instead of just focusing on his Malleus appreciation habit, try to get to know his very own features and personality! In many of fanon interpretations, Sebek is bound to doing nothing but talking about Malleus and only him which is pretty unfair! We should all take some time to talk about Sebek himself, not his obsession with Lilia or Malleus.

•Riddle Rosehearts: I understand where this is coming from, but I want to see something more than an angry Riddle shouting and screaming about the importance of rules and harshly forcing others into following them whenever I read something that involves Riddle. I see how being angry and turning as red as a tomato is his rather famous feature but we shouldn't ignore everything else about hum because of it. Other than his background and mentionable talents and abilities as the greatest dorm leader Heartslabyul's history, keep this in mind that Riddle did decide to try and change his way of leadership and reduce his obsession with rules after his overblot.

Characters that can also belong to this group: Vil Schoenheit, Rook Hunt, Kalim Al Asim, Silver, Epel Felmier

Group C: Ignorance/Lack of information

The reason with this group is obvious, we need to talk about them more often! While they're all great characters with interesting designs and personalities, it's somehow rare to see anyone doing a proper analysis of their characters, either because of not going through their details or stories, or even going through them but not finding anything special.

•Ace Trappola: Both Deuce and Ace are characters who have appeared through all of the chapters so far, which means that we've had the chance to get to know them better than any other character in the game! But their fanon interpretations are pretty simple and sometimes, boring. Most of us don't even realize that we're mischaracterizing them-! I often see them being pictured as either stupid or loud and troublesome. Ace for example, got a really strong plot about how he'd go through a relationship and his past experience in the ghost marriage, which can be a strong guide to how we should picture Ace in reader inserts, but sadly we're just sticking to fanon interpretations and don't give his personality the detail and cannon depth he deserves. Let's note that he can be quite evil, smart, logical and unpredictable too at the time.

•Deuce Spade: Deuce's case is pretty similar to Ace. I'm not saying that he's a totally different one from how the fandom is characterizing him, but come on, Deuce isn't just a chicken dummy! We've learned a lot about his relationship with his mother, his past life, his relationship with his close friends, his hobbies and his will to become a great magician so there's a lot we can say about him! Instead of just sticking to his clumsiness and sometimes, stupidity it's better to consider those features and details to describe him. Not only will it make us have more of a cannon interpretation on Deuce, but it'll also inspire us to create newer and more creative content for him!

•Silver: Look, while many of us love this sleepy guy, we need to understand that he isn't just a sleeping beauty or Lilia's cute son! Let's admit something, we're facing a lack of Silver content and even as we go through most of the existing Silver fanfics and content, it either has something to do with his sleeping issues or his relationship with idia, maybe some arguments with Sebek as well but it's rare to see anyone talking about anything else than these when it comes to Silver. His relationship with Lilia and Malleus, he way he appears in others' side stories, how he handles his tasks and the way Malleus and Lilia describe him is telling us that there's a LOT about him which we often ignore!

•Trey Clover: It's true that the cannon Trey isn't that different from the fanon one, but I can tell that the fanon Trey lacks quite a few of the cannon features. We're giving him a rather solid and sometimes boring personality of Heartslabyul's calm and collected mum who treats everyone nicely regardless of how reckless or annoying or rebellious they are. But the real Trey does express annoyance and uncomfortablitiy from time to time, he can even be quite sarcastic. If you come to get a close look, you'll see that Trey isn't always as nice as he seems to be.

•Ruggie Bucchi: I genuinely adore Ruggie's personality design, especially how he mostly comes of as a mysterious troublemaker but at the same time, he's being a tiny family man on the inside. Watching how he can be quite reckless toward other students in NRC (especially the first years) and on the other hand, be a pretty caring and protective sibling who really loves and cares about his poor family and is working his hardest to support them really brings the tears of joy to my eyes. Ruggie's story has got a lot to tell and this interesting design and personality really deserves more attention and supporters!

•Jack Howl: It's true that Jack doesn't really get mischaracterized , but he deserves to be talked about more often! Most of the fandom captured his personality really good and I can feel his tsundere-ish and protective vibes through most of the fanfics that involve him. He's got a rather calm and collected nature which gives him a more balanced personality compared to the rest of the characters, and can make it easier to understand the cannon Jack. He used to get really mischaracterized back in twst's pre-release, but after the game was released and we got to know the cannon Jack, most of those misunderstandings were solved. Perhaps the only thing that I wish to mentioned more often are the adorable details and his background, especially his relationship with his family and siblings.

Characters that can also belong to his group: Silver, Deuce Spade, Ace Trappola, Rook Hunt

Group D: The healing type (Iyashikei)

Look, the cannon interpretation isn't always the happiest or the sweetest. This group usually get mischaracterized because their fanon interpretation is presenting something better, something that more fans would accept and love. 'Softening extremely dark and unapproachable personalities' or 'spreading adorable and wholesome headcanons' are two common ways of the healing type. Characters with extremely bitter personalities usually belong to this group, because their stories can be too sad for the fandom, so many decide to go for a softer yet untrue way of characterizing them, which is sometimes good but going too far with the softening process often leads to creating a character that's nothing like the original.

•Leona Kingscholar: While I was working on my Leona analysis, I came to understand why some fans prefer the fanon Leona over the cannon Leona. Cannon Leona is quite dark and unapproachable, and you'll find his background and personality in general quite painful and sometimes depressing if you try to study the cannon Leona. Within all of the twst characters, he's got the darkest design therefore it can be quite hard for fans to accept his cannon interpretation. That's why some try to give him more of an affectionate and soft nature to make his personality seem less painful to go through. This sometimes create a totally wrong interpretation that goes against everything that the cannon Leona is, but at the same time many fans agree that cannon Leona on the other hand is just too dark to accept. We can tell that this fandom's favorite Leona is a balance of cannon and fanon Leonas, something neither too dark nor to childish and wholesome.

•Ortho Shroud: There isn't much we know about Ortho and his background, and I can't say that he's being directly mischaracterized either. Sometimes all we have to use in order to capture his personality are the fan- theories, which can really complicate stuff. Best way to know him is by paying enough of attention to his voice lines and hidden details, but it can end up being quite dark if you dig too deep- His background with Idia isn't directly mentioned but there are some dark details hiding through the story that can seem quite scary when you actually think about them, therefore many of the fans decide to ignore those details, and since there isn't much of Ortho content (mostly fanfiction) either, many (including me) decided not to mention anything about those dark aspects...

•Epel Felmier: Cannon Epel is quite different from the fanon Epel. Not saying that Epel is a meanie because he surely does have pretty cute and adorable aspects but the cannon can Epel can be quite reckless, mean and rude at the time while the fanon Epel is always described as a shy, cute boy(which is exactly what the cannon Epel hates to be described as). Going through his ghost marriage stories and voice lines, we can realize that Epel's rather bad with romance, and for now, he doesn't really seem to be interested in any love-related issues either. Writing reader inserts especially can be really hard if you're going to stick with the cannon Epel, therefore many choose to use the fanon Epel instead, a cuter and softer Epel who's quite acceptive and approval of being in love. A considerable majority of fans prefer this soft and cuter Epel, and this is why Epel mostly gets mischaracterized in reader inserts.

Characters that can also belong to this group: Malleus Draconia, Azul Ashengrotto, Cater Diamond, Ace Trappola, Lilia Vanrouge

Group E: Mischaracterized on main

Spreading false headcanons, not paying enough of attention to official details and simplifying complicated personalities are often counted as general ways of mischaracterization. Unlike the previous groups, this group doesn't really have a proper excuse for their mischaracterization, especially as we see some fans are being attacked and offended by some who tend mischaracterize characters in this way.

•Vil Schoenheit: We previously talked about Vil and how there's a pile of wrong information about him spread all over the fandom, from the one saying that he's trans and his pronouns are she/her (Many fans were attacked and forced to use She/Her for Vil) to the ones that are picturing him as a selfish character who cares about no one but his very own beauty, and is bullying Epel just because he envies Epel for being more beautiful than him. Look, regarding his relationship with Epel I must say that he's trying is hardest to make Epel be more mindful of his appearance and manners, he cares to help each and every around him look their best and isn't just focusing on his very own beauty. I meant to add him in group B because how many consider him to be obsessed with beauty and ignore everything else about him like his remarkable skills in leadership and other abilities in general, but considering the great amount of wrong information that is being spread around the fandom and is causing misunderstandings and arguments, I thought it'd be better to put him in this group.

•Kalim al asim: One sentence, four words: He is NOT stupid! While I insist that everyone in the fandom is free to have their personal interpretation and ideas regarding the characters and their personalities, keep this is mind that it's okay as long as it doesn't offend anyone else! How does it feel when Kalim stans are just watching others making fun of their favorite and calling him useless and stupid? Even worse, how does it feel when they're being told reckless stuff like: "Hey, you know that your favorite is the dumbest character in the game?" Let me clear 3 points right here: 1)Even if one's favorite is stupid, you do not have the right to insult them because of it even if you mean it as a joke 2)Nope Kalim is not stupid, generosity and caring for everyone around him with genuine kindness makes him a good and pure person, not a stupid one. 3) People who are saying that he's stupid because of not doing that great in school are just as funny as those who told all of us that you won't be any successful if you don't get good grades in exams. Lmao, dude this is the 21st century.

Characters that can also belong to this group: Floyd Leech, Epel Felmier

Well, I guess that's all? I couldn't talk much about any of them otherwise this would've gotten too long- So I just put a small intro of how each of the boys often gets mischaracterized instead. Okay it's awfully late lol I leave this now-

[nerajaana]

Rhaegar (a married man and the father two children) kidnapped Lyanna and raped her to fulfill a prophecy, not even caring about what was going to happen to his family. Robert fought a war in her name trying toget her back. What did he do, sleep with women? Rhaegar did the same and he already had a family

Are you....are you expecting me to admit both are equally worse or something???? did you not get the memo that i like neither but my hate for robert, who's character is adequately fleshed out for me to violently despise the dude in comparison to rhaegar, whom i dislike for the actions which are CANON??? Or are you expecting something else here?

Listen, i don't care about how many women rhaegar slept with (which was TWO according to the canon, btw. not the whoring type i'm afraid. sucks for you) but if the two were REALLY in love and it was absolutely mutual and consensual, i wish he had went about it in a manner that wouldn't have resulted in the deaths of Rickard and Brandon but instead, an alliance which could have resulted in a war with him having more allies than reach, dorne and crownlands. Aerys (with viserys as his heir) vs Rhaegar should have happened, but it got all messed up and that pisses me off the most.

Also, the rhaegar/lyanna business isn't clear cut enough. was it consensual, did it start off consensual but later got complicated, or was it outright kidnap?? We won't know until the books come out, or that play- whichever comes first.

What i DO care about is how he went about it.....the crowning of lyanna in front of all the lords of the continent indirectly lowering the political power of his wife- which, given how the feudal society works, depends on her husband's regard for her. Which over time, could've been restored. but at that moment, it was an insult to her in front of the people. Next, the elopement. She was still in Crownlands while he took off to Dorne, his wife's homeland. How the personal dynamics were between them, we don't know. I doubt we'll ever know. It's all speculation and headcanons and fanfics nonnie.

Which is why I don't have anything against rhaegar stans/rhaelya stans. Now, had their attitude towards the critics been deplorable, (i didn't have to start shipping r/l btw to be friends with them) I wouldn't be interacting with them. They're a hell lot more accepting than the "we're the only ones right here, if you don't agree with us you're cancelled. Also #RadFeminism #PseudoActivism" crowd. As long as you have the basic decency and decorum to accept the opposing views of obscure af aspects like the issues among these three (because let's be fucking real here, we don't have the entire picture yet) and, idk, focus on the shared love for the main characters, who, y'know, are the ones actually driving the plot and who's heads we're very much acquainted with? over five whole books??? it's pretty easy to bond with people with whom you don't agree with on everything i would have had exactly four people to talk with if i had to avoid everyone i don't agree with on everything jfc

And now, let's talk about the actual, canonically proven rapist in the discussion, Robert Baratheon(derogatory). I'm assuming you didn't finish reading the books because i doubt anyone with a working braincell who's read the very extensive Cersei Lannister povs would woobify that motherfucking dumbfuck criminal but, my guy, he IS a rapist, an abusive piece of shit who beats his wife, and doesn't care for jack unless he can eat it, drink it, or fuck it, and also Jon Arryn and Ned Stark. That's all. He may have been a dear friend of Ned, but that means jackshit when he's, well, the way he is. He's disgusting, period. He deserved getting killed by that boar, period. I only wish Cersei had a son with him (because, politics and political stability, wars ain't good for the commonfolk) and had him die years before. A betrothal with Margaery to secure the realm further. and dany & viserys being brought back to the country by the very honourable ned stark and dubiously honourable Jon A and betrothing her to robb because pact of ice and fire babey ohmygod i've gone off topic i'll shut my trap also send viserys to the Watch to secure the line honestly those motherfuckers could have done many things to secure their rule without having to kill children that's on their fucking heads where's your rage for them all nonnie?

Also, newsflash. The fucking war happened because Aerys illegally murdered the Lord of Winterfell, the Warden of North and his heir very brutally in front of the Court. He killed off many heirs illegally. The motherfucker broke all sorts of laws that exist between the monarch and his feudal lords. On top of it all, he demanded the heads of Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon from Jon Arryn. That was the final fucking straw. Bitch was in the middle of the rebellion because his life would be forfeit otherwise. He could dress it up in whichever fucking way he wants to years after the events but that's the gist of it. The war would've broken out either way, that's the reality of unstable regimes with piss poor monarchs as the heads. The speculations and conjectures that you've employed to confirm that Rhaegar's a rapist could've been applied to understand the political scenario of it all, it's not rocket science.

[star-wars-trash]

Putting this behind a cut because it's long and although it's not specifically spoiler-y, it does mention my opinion of Kenobi so far and I would generally tag such reactions as a spoiler just to be safe. But here are my long-winded thoughts on Moses Ingram and racism

(and in the interest of full disclosure, most of you are probably not going to like what I have to say)

Still here? Okay, here we go

First of all, I really like Moses Ingram's performance so far. I have some hang ups on the idea of Inquisitors in general (which goes back all the way to Rebels) but Reva specifically is great. I have a feeling I know where they're going with her character and I am intrigued. And I am very curious to see how she knows about... well, that.

As much as I personally have enjoyed Ms. Ingram's performance and her character so far, my opinion is my own and I don't expect anyone else to share it. If they do, great. If not, okay. I would certainly hope that critics remain civil and decent and keep their opinions off of her personal social media and I would absolutely expect them to leave her demographics out of it, as they have no bearing on her ability to deliver a strong performance.

I do however think that it is reasonably likely she was cast or written at least in part for demographic reasons. It seems pretty clear to me that there is a deliberate effort to bring more female and non-white characters into Star Wars. Disney Lucasfilm has said as much specifically in regards to their choice of directors so I have to assume that extends to the on screen talent as well. And I don't blame fans for being concerned about that. I don't personally think that Star Wars has suffered for it, but I understand why fans would rather talent be the primary reason for hiring an actor.

However, I think it is unfair to say that all criticisms of Ms. Ingram or her character are based in bigotry.

Much to my personal dismay, this is a fandom that has a long history of being truly nasty towards actors when we are dissatisfied with the final product, regardless of their demographics. Jake Lloyd was bullied so badly he left acting behind and is still dealing with the trauma of growing up surrounded by all that. Hayden Christensen was ostracized for nearly twenty years before fans eventually decided to embrace him. Adam Driver has been the subject of more cheap mockery and vitriol than I would have ever believed. They're all white men. Jake was a child. No one in their right mind would say the attacks they received were based in race or gender. Why is it impossible to believe that the same fandom that did all that couldn't possibly find reason to dislike anyone else's performance without it being about race or gender? I find it laughable to suggest that Star Wars fans of all people wouldn't be able to find something to criticize without racism. We are known for never being happy with anything!

I spend a lot of time on the "whiny manbaby" side of this fandom too and yeah, they've got a lot of opinions. A lot of them negative. And to be fair, before the show aired, I saw some people post about concern that Ms. Ingram might have been cast for reasons other than talent. I will say that those people shut up pretty quickly after the episode aired. They seem to be pretty happy with her since they got to actually see her in action. The criticism I've seen since then has been reasonably fair and civil and no different from their criticism of any other actor on the show.

I don't doubt that there are genuinely racist and sexist people among fans. Star Wars is perhaps the largest fandom in the world and any time you get a group of people that large, there are bound to be some shitty people among them. But to say they are the majority or even a significant minority is absurd. But it is profitable.

I don't want to get into too much detail about my day job, so let's just say I deal with media and public relations quite a lot. Advertising is expensive so one thing everyone tries to do is get what we call earned media. Very simply, this is any time you can make yourself newsworthy enough that the media wants to talk about you and your product without you having to pay them to do so. One of the easiest ways these days to get yourself some free media is to create a controversy. This is part of why politics seems so hyper polarized and nasty lately - everyone is going for that free media coverage and trying to be the most outrageous in order to beat out their competition for that prime time slot. But sometimes there isn't really anything controversial happening so a particularly devious PR team might get a little creative.

Back in the day, you might hire a group of people to picket outside your office, which would draw media attention. These days, you don't have to. Social media has you covered. You can create a few fake accounts if you need to, but if you're big enough to start with, you can probably find a handful of people saying whatever you want just with a couple quick searches. Hell, if you have a good enough poker face, you can probably get away with just responding with righteous indignation to something no one said at all.

Disney is very good at this.

That said, I don't doubt Ms. Ingram. I don't doubt that she has received inappropriately nasty messages and comments. I don't doubt that some of them were explicitly bigotted. I don't doubt that she is genuinely and understandly upset by them, especially if she is not used to being the center of so much attention, positive or negative.

But I do not doubt for a moment that Disney would be glad to capitalize on that. In fact, I think there is a very good chance they planned it in advance. And it was timed beautifully, I'll give them that - right when the hype from Celebration starts to quiet a little and just in time to remind people that a new episode airs tonight.

Maybe I'm just an old cynic. Probably I am. But I've seen this routine from Disney a few times now and it's starting to look scripted. The really cynical corner of my brain wonders if Disney manufactured and sent those messages to Ms. Ingram themselves, but I don't want to think they would stoop that low. And I don't really think they would have to. I do believe there are shitty and racist people and I believe that Star Wars is certainly big enough to draw the attention of anyone who might be looking for an excuse to be a garbage human. But I truly, honestly don't believe they are anything more than the fringiest of the fringe and I don't put it past Disney to elevate them for the sake of free advertising and the opportunity to discredit run of the mill critics.

And really that's probably the shittiest part.

Moses Ingram and all of the incredibly talented people who work on Star Wars deserve better.

[aot-snk-4238]

AOT No Requiem Fanfic Review Part 2

Disclaimer: I am not a supporter of ANR myself, so I knew that I probably wouldn't like most of what this fanfiction is putting out there. That being said, I decided to check it out anyway because I was interested in seeing what changes these people were planning on making. This review is not meant to bash the work or the team of artists and writers behind it. These are just my own personal opinions, and I will try to express them as professionally as I can without coming across as aggressive or rude, as that is not my intention.

After a four month hiatus, it looks like the popular fan fiction Attack On Titan No Requiem is back in action. I'm glad to hear that their creator is doing okay. Since this fan fiction covers the final three chapters, I'm splitting my review into three parts. The first one can be found here so if you haven't read it, you can check that out first. I kept it short and to the point and I intend to try and do that with the rest of these as well, so without further ado, here are my thoughts on the second installment of this short series:

This chapter opens up where the previous one left off, with a clash between Eren and Armin's ideologies, their discussion getting more heated by the minute. Armin still believes in a more peaceful way out of the situation that involves more talking and less bloodshed, whereas Eren sees no other options other than the path he is currently on. Fuming with anger now, Armin grabs Eren by the shirt and this is where the scene transitions to the rest of Eren and Historia's conversation from chapter 130. I still can't believe we were deprived of this in the canon universe, so I was interested to see if any of it would play out in a way that I wasn't already expecting. As it turns out, it did not. I was fully prepared for them to confirm or at least imply that Eren is the father of Historia's baby considering what theory this whole thing is based off of and that's exactly what happened. To their credit, they didn't make it as cheesy and overly-romantic as I was afraid they might, but it still could have used a bit more exposition and time to develop. I didn't care for what appeared to be a brief elopement scene in the woods, though. And was that supposed to be Floch officiating it? That's...just too weird for me. Sorry, but a secret wedding in the woods with Floch as the priest felt more like a joke to me rather than a serious event. I remember when most fans used to hate him, but that changed at some point and now he's quite popular. I can't tell if it's for the sake of memes or if people really had a change of heart. And just to be clear I have no issues with people liking him, I'm just a little confused as to how it came about. As for the whole pregnancy subplot in general, I don't think there's anything that can done to make me like it at this point. It came out of nowhere and it led to nowhere. It looks pretty clear to me that making Eren the baby father is the only solution that people can come up with to have it actually mean something and have relevance, which only serves as further proof to me that it never should have happened in the first place. Even if this team has something clever up their sleeve, I feel like there's only so much they can do to make it better, especially considering that they're only changing the last three chapters. To me, a much better handling of Historia post time-skip by Isayama would have involved giving her a chance to actually be queen and exploring her thoughts on Eren's actions and whether she would have allowed the Yeagerists to take over the island. We saw in the end that she did let them take over, but we're not clearly shown why. We also never found out why Eren was able to change her mind so suddenly regarding his plan and what made her decide to have a child. Not to mention that not once did we get to see her interact with the rest of the cast, which it doesn't look like will happen in this fan ending either. It was just her in that stupid chair and then the baby is born and that's it. I appreciate the AOTNR team's attempt to breathe some life back into her, but it still doesn't make up for all the missing screentime she had from chapter 90 onwards.

Moving on to the last part of this chapter, we see that after learning Eren's secret, Armin has had enough. He calls Eren a hypocrite for hiding what he did with Historia from everyone and how things could have been better if he just trusted them, but Eren is still unfazed. Armin asks Eren why he was brought back into Paths if it wasn't actually going to fix anything, and this is how the rest of the chapter plays out:

I like the way this cliffhanger is depicted. It shows Eren and Armin both as children this time facing each other, each with a determined look on their face while their adult faces shine in the background. It serves as a good visual representation of just how much things have changed between them since their early years and prepares the audience for a huge face-off outside of PATHS where everyone else is still trying to fight off Ymir's horde of ancient titans. Speaking of that, these two fan-made chapters have not given much focus to what's been going on on the outside, unlike Isayama's chapter 138. It looks like their three biggest priorities here are giving us Eren's POV, which we didn't get until the very end, Historia's POV, which we never got at all, and a final boost of character development for Armin. As a result, other important plot points are put on hold, such as what's next for Zeke and the rest of Eren's friends. This, paired with a lack of action sequences, causes the pacing to feel slow. Seeing where we are now, though, I'm assuming that it will pick up next chapter. And now that they've given Historia some much needed attention, I'm interested in seeing if they have any plans for Mikasa. There are a lot of people who strongly dislike her, so changing that perspective into something more positive looks like it's going to be a big challenge and I'll be very impressed if they pull it off. Overall, I thought this chapter was okay. It's very good for a fanfiction, though, and I'm glad that other people are enjoying it. I'll be grateful if it brings at least some level of peace to this fandom in the end, so until next time, thanks for reading ✌.

[littlemisssquiggles]

So I recently sent a response to Shannon McCormick, Oz's voice actor: "I know you said the group is gonna trust Oz again and reconcile, but I'm not feeling very hopeful. They're still so bitter towards him and not trying to understand him... and are doing the same things they demonized him for, yet it's being treated like it's okay. I know you can't give spoilers and I don't expect you to, but it's something that's got me really down." He responded with: "Keep the faith."

Hey Miki-chan. Ah yes, good ole Shannon coming in clutch with that boast of optimism. I’m actually curious as to whether or not, we will even get to see Oz return for V7. The opening certainly didn’t give any indication of it; sadly to say. If I’m expecting Oz to return at all, it’s probably by the end of the season.

While I do want Oz to return and reconcile with the group, I’m skeptical about having it go back to the way things were before with Ozpin constantly taking control of Oscar’s body and more or less eclipsing his development. I miss Oz but I don’t miss that. This is why I liked how they showed him as a more of guiding voice for Oscar at the end of V6 with the airship crash.In my opinion, that’s what I initially assumed their dynamic was going to belike until the show revealed the soul swapping technique in V5.

I want Oscar to shine on his own, if possible, for V7. If Oz were to return to the story, I hope his role is relegated to being more of a literal voice of reasonand guidance taking up full residence inside of Oscar’s head; not really takingover as much as he used to but lending instructions to Oscar on how to moveespecially in combat while allowing the young boy to think on his feet and makeuse of that good ole muscle memory he is expected to inherit. If Oscar isbecome Ozpin’s successor and successful one to boot, Oz can’t keep holding his hand. He’s got to let Oscar grow into the role and I think he’s being goinggood so far. But he still does need Oz to be there to help. Hence why I’mhoping that, if Oz is to return, I really wish for Oscar to be the one to go inafter him to bring him back.

Since Oscar was the only seen to show Oz a bit of sympathy last season, I wish for this to continue as it can definitely push the growth of the bond between the Two Souls. If there is one person I’m expecting to vouch on Oz’s behalf at this point, it’s Oscar. Ruby was another character I was hoping would certainly join him in that court. However…things are a little complicated right now with our little red rose and the path she seems to be taking this season.  I’ll discuss this more under thread.

While we’re on the topic of Oz’ reconciliation with the hero group, I’m really sorry to hear that this development has had you disappointed and feeling down, Miki-chan. I get where your frustration is coming from but at the same time, I also agree with Shannon on keeping the faith.

Similar to how Oz’s skeletons coming out of the closet was a narrative slow-burn that’s been churning since as early as V5, I feel as if it’s going to be the same forhis path to redemption with the team and regaining their trust. The only thingI dislike about this plot point is how we still have everyone more or less sharingthe same opinion of Oz with little indication on whether or not anyone isreally starting to consider that the other side of the coin where Oz wasjustified in his actions.

When this plot point first dropped back in V6, what was fascinating about it was how divided it made the fandom. It opened the grounds for discussion and debating with everyone sharing their different outlooks on the scenario and that was quite neat.

I just wished that the Writers had mimicked that in the series; y’know? When I first saw the V6 volume poster, art with Oz and Oscar at the centre while Team RWBY were all divided around the two of them; I figured that that was what the season was going to be like more or less.

With the team being divided on their overall trust Oz and growing trust in Oscar with some folks, such as Ruby and possibly Blake standing in the court that defended both souls whereas Weiss and Yang weren’t as convinced.

It would’ve been great to see everyone sharing different outlooks and reactions to the news about Oz’s past with Salem and her immortality; Team RWBY’s as well as JNR’s.  

It would’ve been great to see that because it could have even leant itself to paving the road towards Ozpin’s eventual reconciliation in this new season or whenever the showrunners decided to have it happen down the line.

However, instead, thus far it’s mostly been everyone sharing the same opinion—Oz was wrong and is not to be trusted anymore.This is now made even worse by the notion that the heroes are currently committing the same action of ‘deceiving and/or withholding vital info from your allies’ as Oz once did with them.

However what’s almost comical is how the narrative—the PLOT—is trying to get us as the audience to think that the heroes are in the right when really…they’re not?

At least to me, they’re not. I’ve seen examples of other FNDM fam members taking a supportive stance for the actions of Ruby and the other heroes’ deceit with Ironwood and their Atlesian allies. This squiggle meister, on the other hand, has not been that easily convinced. Sorry.  

I think what bugs me the most regarding the execution of this subplot is how much the heroes are able to get away with when it comes to their actions. I understand that the Writers are more or less attempting to show a parallel between our gaggle of heroes and Ozpin by having them take greater risks for the sake of fulfilling their mission while additionally making questionable choices. 

That idea is fine and I like that they’re doing this with them especially since I think it could still lend to them eventually making up with Oz by understanding why he did the things he did since now they’ve been in his shoes. That part of it is good. Great even.

However, somehow, I dunno—for me, our heroes’ recent actions don’t have the same kind of impact on me as Ozpin’s did. I guess where I’m really getting at here is that when I learnt the truth about Oz last season, my main reason for staying in his court was because I understood his reasons for doing the things he did.

While I’ll call Oz out for his wrong in lying and keeping his secrets from people he believed were his most trusted allies, I was still sympathetic towards Oz because I genuinely felt that his actions were justified especially following the events of the Lost Fable.

The PLOT wants me to believe that Oz is this morally grey type of man and he is, to some degree. However the PLOT also wishes for me as the audience to believe that Oz has been nothing but this deceitful person throughout history and that the heroes are perfectly in the right for choosing to never trust in him again. But here’s the thing with that—I see Oz as being more…smart than fraudulent.

Yes Oz told lies and half-truths and kept important secrets that could shake the world of Remnant—but what some people seem to be forgetting is that there was good, valid reason behind the way Oz chose to do things. Oz was careful. Meticulous with the kind of people he chose to disclose the truth to as well as the information he chose to tell them and the right time to revealsaid information as well.

I’d like to think that this is how Oz was able to successfully keep things under wraps for so many lives as a means of more or less keeping the peace. Because of how careful he’d chose to move along with the kind of people he decided to place his trust in. Oz was cautious and as he explained in V6, his vigilance was backed up mostly by his experience over the centuries especially his first one with Salem

This is the issue I’m having with our heroes. Although they are committing the same actions as Oz, especially the part of choosing to hide the truth from Ironwood—their actions feel reckless and unwarranted in my opinion and I can’t get behind it as well as I did with Ozpin because I personally don’t feel the heroes are as justified in their actions as Oz was.

Even though the PLOT is trying to paint this picture that James shouldn’t be completely trusted and our heroes are in the right in not trusting him fully with the truth about Salem, for me, I honestly felt like our heroes jumped the gun on that one, just like how they jumped the gun back in Argus in choosing to illegally commandeer an airship to Atlas as opposed to trying any other means that could’ve rendered them the same results with less repercussions involving trouble with the military and the safety of the citizens of Argus.

According to the PLOT, Ruby was correct in making the call to not reveal the whole truth to Ironwood given how he and his forces have been treating the poor people of Mantle; not to mention our heroes upon their arrival in Atlas. This isevidenced by Ruby in V7CH3 in her response to Yang’s questioning.  

“Can we talk about that again?”“What about it?”

“We’re really not going to tellIronwood about what happened to Oz? What we learned about Jinn? About Salem?”

“…We are! We…will. But you saw howthings looked when we flew into Atlas.”

“The General’s heart seems to be inthe right place but…that doesn’t mean we should trust him yet.”

“Why don’t we play along for a whilebefore we make any major decisions?”  

I’d like to highlight Ruby’s indifference to her own actions again. Just something I pegged noteworthy since it reminded me of her attitude towards revealing her true feelings regarding the Aftermath of the Fall of Beacon—how she nonchalantly seemed to shrug away Oscar’s attempt at telling her that it’s alright for her to be open with him about how she’s truly feeling… right before Oscar switches his approach and firmly calls her out on his indifference which in turn finally forced her to come clean and be straight with him.

While I understand that the whole Mantle situation is a complicated matter, to me, that still doesn’t rule out it being a good reason for the heroes to lie to Ironwood.

I’d understand it more if it was a matter of Ruby being strategic in the information that she discloses to Ironwood but that’s not what the case is here. It’s not to saythat Ruby told James some of the truth and was very careful with what she chose to disclose and how she worded said information. It’s that she flat out liedand then repeated the same lie that Oz had fed them about the Relic ofKnowledge back in Mistral.

I know Ruby is trying to say she can’t trust Ironwood 100% because of how things are looking in Mantle and Atlas because of his actions. But on the other hand, I’m surprised it didn’t inspire her to be more upfront rather than the opposite take.

Based on what Pietro said in the first episode, Ironwood has been paranoid and on higher maintenance since the Fall of Beacon. That being said, why chose to withhold information from a man who is already fearful of being betrayed again by those closest to him since it was mentioned earlier in the season that it was one of his Atlas’ own—someone who worked closely with Atlas’ security and the military (Watts)  that contributed to the destruction of Beacon Academy and so much more in chaos in Vale?

“The Fall of Beacon took a toll on all of us. James was no different. I couldn’t tell you exactly what it is he saw there, but it changed him. He’s—”

“…He’s scared.”

“Paranoid would be the more appropriate term. You have to understand, it wasn’t just the Grimm. Someone completely dismantled Atlas’ security code. Made it their plaything and made us look like traitors to some and buffoons to everyone else. Whoever managed to do that is either a genius or one of our own. I fear the answer may be both and so does the General.”

Again, with that thought in mind I ask again, why did Ruby think it was a wise choice to lie to Ironwood given what she learned specifically from Pietro regarding his frame of mind right now?

See why the hero’s actions are having the opposite effect for me?

While I get why it’s a possible motive, I still think what the heroes are doing with James is unwarranted. As a matter of fact, I feel like they’ve only made thingsworse for themselves by withholding info from Ironwood given his current frameof mind.

I’d like to think that Ironwood’s experience in Vale has made him more than just paranoid. He’s become more…I wouldn’t say soft but emotionally vulnerable than he was when we first met him.

This is why I don’t wish for Ruby’s mistrust of Ironwood to come back to appear as if she took advantage of Ironwood in his vulnerable state. Because I feel like that could easily feed into Ironwood’s paranoia—to learn that he couldn’t eventrust the people he placed fate in and showed kindness to. To show that heextended them his hand in reliance only for them to not do the same of him.

I know one of the common FNDM theories is that Ironwood isn’t being completely honest with our heroes, however I’m starting to think otherwise. Up until this point in the plot, Ironwood has been upfront with JNR_RWBY and Qrow about everything. Every question they’ve asked of him, he’s told them in full confidence. So far, I haven’t gotten the impression that James has been lying to the heroes at all.

Since he returned the Relic of Knowledge to Ruby and reassured her of his trust,I genuinely feel like he’s been nothing but upfront with the group abouteverything including all that’s been going down with him and his kingdom—bothsides of it.

If Ironwood was shown to be shady as well then I could’ve easily bought into theheroes doing the same thing with him because then their actions would’ve beenreasonable. If Ironwood was the same man he was shown to be back in V2 and was shown to be withholding important information from our heroes especially when they asked him vital questions in need of clarification, similar to how Oz had done with them, then I could’ve gotten behind our heroes taking that mindful approach.

However, this isn’t what I’ve seen from the show’s execution. Instead I’m seeingIronwood behaving pretty trustworthy while the heroes are the ones beingdeceitful and it all feels so very wrong on the heroes’ part. Especially when you have some of them behaving that they were right in keeping secrets from James. What especially bothered me a little was what Qrow told Ruby in the recent CH4.

“I’m trying to do what I think is best but…I really can’t tell if what’sbest is what’s right or if I’m no different from Oz”

Then is an excellent question for Ruby to ask of herself. It’s great because it highlights that she’s taken into consideration what her teammates have toldher—particularly Oscar. It shows that Oscar’s questioning of her actions mimicking Ozpin’s has weighed on her mind-set. So I’m pleased with this frame of thinking from Ruby. However, this moment is short-lived for me by what Qrow says next in response to Ruby’s statement.

“…Ruby, Oz only trusted himself with the whole truth. You’re trusting others, making sure they prove themselves first. I think that’s a pretty big difference.”

…Okay….One thing admittedly right about that statement, yes. Yes; Oz did only trust himself with the whole truth. That is indeed correct. But, there’s also some clear wrong in that statement as well.

Qrow…I get that you’re probably still very, very upset that Oz deceived you and hurt you on a personal level. However, what I am in completely disbelief of is—how could Qrow say that Ruby is no different than Oz because she trusts in others, making sure that they prove themselves worthy of her trust before giving the whole truth?

I’m sorry…WHAT! But…but…Qrow; how can YOU of all people say that with a straight face? How can you remotely imply that at all? Especially the line about Oz only trusting himself and putting his faith in those he believes trustworthy. I’m sorry but that line comes off like utter rubbish to my ears.

Qrow Branwen—you are a living, breathing exemplar of earning Ozpin’s trust. Oz trusted you! He trusted James. He trusted Glynda. He trusted LeonardoLionheart. The entire Inner Circle of Oz only exists because Oz decided to place his trust in a handful of people he deemed worthy of knowing the truth.

While he kept the main truth about Salem’s immortality to himself; that doesn’t erase the fact that he trusted his Inner Circle with everything else. The Maidens. The Relics. Even his own immortality curse and reincarnation cycle. Oz told it all to this particular small group of people because he believed he could trust in them. Oz believed in the integrity of ALL members of his Inner Circle because he trusted each and everyone of them….EVEN when they stab him in the back. Right V2 Ironwood? Right Lionheart?

He even believed in Team STRQ! I’m actually curious to know how muchdid this team know about the truth. We know he trusted Raven and Qrow byturning them into birds with his magic. So I’m curious to know if Summer andTai were also fully aware of ¾ of the truth that Oz trusted his main peoplewith. I’m assuming they did and they kept it as part of their secrets as well.

Speaking of—Qrow, are you forgetting that you also helped Oz keep and uphold some of those secrets?  He entrusted you with ¾ of the whole truth and you’ve been sitting on it as well as your own secrets that you were keeping from your family; particularly your young nieces.

In a nutshell, Qrow’s statement to Ruby further highlight’s the hero’s hypocrisywith Oz. For me, this line didn’t serve to debunk the fact that Ruby is turningto Oz. It only embellished it for me. It affirmed it.

Ruby is indeed turning into Oz and what’s sad is that Qrow, her own beloved uncle and mentor figure, is oblivious to this fact because he’s currently too blinded by both his sustained resentment towards Oz and his love for his niece.  

And it’s pretty much the same for everyone else. Weiss and Blake are pretty complacent with following Ruby’s lead and backing her up on her actions with Ironwood. Yang shows uncertainty but is otherwise complacent too. We still don’t know how Jaune, Nora and Ren feel in regards to this. I’d actually like to hear them weigh in their thoughts on Oz and Ruby’s actions towards James. But I’mconcerned we might not get that since, as evidenced by the PLOT, I think it’spretty clear who are the key drivers of this subplot for V7.

I feel like it’s going to be mostly our veteran Rosebuds—Ruby and Oscar—presenting the two differing sides of this subplot with deceiving Ironwood and I feel like Oz’s reconciliation is prevalent on the results of it.

My theory is that Oscar will be the key to jumpstarting the path to Oz’s reconciliation with the team.

Moreover, I feel like Oscar is going to need Ruby’s support in vouchingfor Oz with the rest of the team; especially with Qrow and possibly Yang and Jaune.

Since the running thing is that most of the hero team follow Ruby’s leadership, I think it can be safe to say that so long as Ruby still shows uncertainty with Oz, it’s going to be mirrored by the others. I think if Oscar gets Oz to come back fromhis isolation in his mind and then gains Ruby’s full trust by helping see thewrong in what she’s doing now by doing the exact thing Oz did while alsohelping her to understand where Oz was coming from.

The only person I think this isn’t go to win over is Qrow. At least, I think Qrow might end up needing more time to work out whatever is going on with him before he can “forgive Oz” since his anger towards him is all wrapped up in his issues with himself and his semblance which encompasses his entire life thus far basically. 

Before, Qrow looked to Oz for validation in the good that he was doing which was why the revelation hit him harder than anyone else. So until Qrow works out his inner skeletons, I think he’ll still be resistant to facing Oz again. Thisseason teased Qrow sharing good “comradery” with Clover. I’m curious to seewhere that will go and whether or not it will lead into Qrow dishing out somedetails on what his past was like with Oz back when he met him as a student ofBeacon.

As a matter of fact, I’m intrigued by any info regarding what Oz’s relationship was like with all the members of his Inner Circle since I believe it can lend to Oscar’s turn with the Merge. 

Like I have a Tin Solider headcanon that Ironwood has actually known Oz from since back when he used to be old self—meaning the man I’ll dub Zoroaster Ozpin, nicknamed ‘Zo’ for short BEFORE he became the man we know as Professor Ozpin.

We know who Oz is but…who was Oz before he became Oz? Who was Zo and did Ironwood know him personally?

Ironwood’s remark to Oscar about Oz’s disappearance not being normal definitely gave me that impression. I think it could be pretty cool if one of Oz’s closest known allies actually knew him before and after the Merge. It could help shed some much needed perspective for Oscar on what the Merge entails for him especially if he heard it from the mouth of someone who knew Oz closely for basically two lifetimes? I’d really love to see something like that done for the canon.  

But that’s only my hunch.

I’d honestly wish to discuss more on this subject since there is surprisingly more I can say about this. However this is getting a little too long for a simple response post. Just another day, am I right? XD So I’m going to end it right here.

I know you didn’t really ask me a question Miki-chan but I still wanted to provide my take on the subject matter you presented and I hope you enjoyed reading it. Feel free to answer or inbox me another message if you’d like as always ^u^)b Peace!

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)