#and i'm getting conflicting thoughts and feelings and ideas from stuff i've seen about season 4.

[gregoftom]

GOD i am trying so fucking hard not to read into the fact that tom repressed the shit out of how he actually felt when he learned he probably won’t go to jail and then when he went to greg, he could. express it. you know. he could be himself. i really hate so much what i read into it BECAUSE I SHOULDN’T BC I KNOW WHAT HAPPENS LATER AND I SHOULDN’T TRUST THIS SHIT BUT ARHJARHA HOW CAN I NOT WHEN HE’S REPRESSED ASF PER USUAL BUT THE MOMENT HE GOES TO GREG OR IS ALONE WITH GREG HE EXPRESSES HIMSELF FULLY, HIS RAGE, PAIN, [MANIC] HAPPINESS, AFFECTION. I HATE THIS SO MUCH. AND GREG IS IN THE CORNER COWERING BC HE DOESN’T UNDERSTAND THAT THE REASON TOM ACTS THIS WAY AROUND HIM IS. no. i Refuse to read That into it. but yall get what i’m saying right. 

AND THEN THIS

are you fucking kidding me. like was that really fucking necessary.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

This probably isn’t the right place to ask, but is it normal to just feel a little uncertain about how you view the show now after hearing so much stuff about it or having seen a lot of fan material that elevate the source material?

It just feels weird to rewatch a little of the show that I kind of don’t do that anymore or let it play in the background.

That's super normal, especially in large fandoms where the fan content vastly outweighs the canon content. There are literally millions of words of Miraculous fic out there. You can read a new story a day and still have thousands left because there are currently 73K fics on AO3. That's over 200 years of fics! An episode a day will take you about half a year. If you're the kind of person who likes to read fanfic or participate in fan discussions, then it's not shocking that you're at risk of getting a warped view of canon because of the way fanon often works.

It's pretty common to see fanon go where canon never dared to tread. This can lead to an interesting disconnect between super fans and canon where popular fanon takes get treated like canon by fans as those takes just straight up consume the fandom. Then you go back to canon and it's jarring because you've spend so much time in fanon that you've internalized all that fanon, creating this alternate, idealized view of the source that has no real backing in the text.

You've got an Avengers logo as your profile pic and I was in that fandom for a while, so let's use that as an easy example. Avengers fanon is found family central! Fans love to bond the team because of course they do! Superhero teams generally should be found families! But canon never actually did that, so watching the movies after reading some fics can be disheartening because you're suddenly reminded that canon never gave us a found family. That's just in your head and the heads of many other fans.

Miraculous does this to an extreme with Ladynoir. Read some fanfics and you can internalize this idea that they're partners like no other with a close bond of love and trust. Then you go watch canon and it's like, oh, right, that never actually happened in the actual show. Ooops. Time to readjust my expectations for the new season.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's generally a reflection of people longing for something that the source will never give them so they go, "fine, I'll do it myself!" And can lead to wonderful things that bring us great joy because you're rarely alone in that longing! But if you're finding that kind of joy in fanon, I've found that it often - but not always! - means that you probably didn't like canon as much as you thought you did.

I know that I personally only seek out fan content when something about canon is lacking. I don't seek out fan content for works I adore because canon is giving me everything I want. Sometimes the thing that's lacking is pretty minor, sometimes it's a major flaw in the source. When it's a minor flaw, fanon is just there to patch a few cracks and I'm still happy to enjoy canon. When it's a major flaw or major flaws? Fanon is my canon now.

That "fanon is my canon now" take only becomes a bad thing when we start blaming the creators for not giving us the things we internalized from fanon, which can and does happen when the fanon disconnect becomes more extreme. Like when fanon takes a character and warps them into a new version of themself with only minor backing in the text. That's always an especially jarring thing to come across.

Miraculous isn't too bad about that one, but there are certainly popular fanon takes that don't come from canon like Marinette keeping the identities a secret because she's afraid that Chat Noir will be disappointed by plain old Marinette compared to the amazing and cool Ladybug. I don't think that's a huge stretch for a potential conflict, but it's got almost no backing in the actual text. Canon Marinette keeps her secret identity for safety reasons and she's generally pretty confident in her role as Ladybug. But if you've read a bunch of fics with secret-identities-only-exist-because-I'm-insecure Marinette and fallen in love with that concept? Then it's gonna be hard to watch canon and follow the actual conflict.

This was a bit of a ramble, but hopefully it was reassuring! I totally get where you're coming from and find it particularly hard for media that you genuinely loved at one point. I never loved Miraculous, but I had genuine hopes for The Avengers and still feel a little sad that the MCU never gave us any found family content outside of the opening of Ultron. It makes it less fun to rewatch even the good movies knowing that it will never deliver the things I was hoping for.

[wildgeese98]

I've seen a lot of takes about Celia's motivations, why she decided to go through with her plan to lure Sam to the Hilltop Center. Obviously it's complex. She's got a hell of a lot of weird stuff going on and personally I think she spent all of season one incredibly scared and conflicted. But I have seen a lot of people be weirdly dismissive of how powerful a motivation not wanting to be separated from your child is. To the point where I've seen some people outright dismiss it, essentially saying her actions were completely unjustified because someone else could raise Jack and he'd be fine. I'm not really interested in debating whether she was justified but I find that to be an wild take.

I've also seen people saying she was more motivated by wanting to hold on to the sense of identity being a mother gave her after her identity was ripped away in the Spiral domain. While there's definitely something to that, I find it more interesting to think about it in conjunction with her mundane desire to be with her baby. The two aren't mutually exclusive. Honestly I kind of bristle at the idea that Celia acting out of "maternal instinct" or whatever is uninteresting or an insufficient explanation for her actions. That the terror at the prospect of losing her child isn't enough to explain why she would choose to doom another person. I don't have children, but "you might never ever seen the person you care most about in the world again" would be enough for me to do some pretty drastic things if I thought they would prevent it.

I don't know, this post is a little more directly pointed at other posts than I usual like to be, but this did get me kind of riled and it's been bouncing around my head for a few days.

I do think Celia's motivations are complex and they aren't just about Jack. She wants to stay with Jack and protect him, she wants to stay in this new life and identity that she built for herself from the ground up, she doesn't want to go back to the eternal torture hell dimension (that's a big one that's also kind of weirdly overlooked I feel). But honestly not wanting to be separated from her child is a big enough thing on it's own for me to understand why she did what she did, and I don't really get why some people are so dismissive of it.

[doublel27]

When we talk about character development for Carlos, all I want more than anything is for him to unequivocally fuck up. Where something is his fault and he needs to take responsibility for it and fix it. Where the show acknowledges that he did something wrong. Where TK gets to be mad at him without apologizing or calling himself crazy or a bitch for being mad. Where Carlos doesn't get to make snide comments like "I thought maybe we broke up" or "I thought you ate with Coop" when TK tries to fix things. Where Carlos has to be like "shit, I messed up, and I need to be the one to take the first step with TK". I know you probably don't agree with me on this, but every time they've fought or had issues, to the best of my recollection TK is the one to step up to start the conversation and fix the issue. I don't mind Carlos having major flaws or doing messed up things like hiding a whole ass wife (in fact I love hot mess characters), I mind that it's always treated as a) not a real flaw or fuck up, or b) equally or mostly TK's fault. I want to see Carlos show real regret, and not for things that are just his anxiety talking - like not having a fire extinguisher in the bedroom or not being able to forsee a plane malfunction - but real, actual things he did that were wrong. And I just don't think we've seen that, even if I suspect you disagree.

Here's the funny thing, sweet nonny, I don't disagree with you as much as you think I do.

I've been shouting from the rooftops alongside others that TK IS the better communicator of the two. TK always brings stuff up to try and fix it. He's the one with strong boundaries and clear communication because he has learned and practiced doing so. TK is always the one giving speeches. TK is always the one modeling solid communication and relationship skills. He is the one who knows how to pull information out of Carlos that Carlos would rather not voice.

Carlos...is not a talker. Oh, he'll sit and help TK talk through one of TK's problems. He's gotten better about sharing his feelings and concerns as the seasons have gone on, but Carlos is a doer not a talker.

We've seen it pretty consistently. When Carlos fucks up or is mad, he tends to shut everything down or he gets snippy. My man is very attractive and he's very acts of service driven and very clearly cares very deeply, but when he has feelings he doesn't want he shuts it all down.

He's also conflict averse and is prone to telling white lies to avoid conflict. He's been like that since day one. FRIENDS the man sent a "You up?" text that TK thought was a booty call and had a candleight dinner with a fish from the farmers market that he "knows it looks like a lot but it really wasn't that big of a deal" CARLOS YOU KNEW WHAT YOU WERE ABOUT.

This man said with a STRAIGHT FACE "I'm not trying to be your boyfriend, or even your friend if you don't want that." after the infamous red snapper dinner. SIR! You wanted to marry that man from the first moment you met him. Carlos, you damn liar. TK touched you in the middle of a rescue and you then went and mooned over him in a honky tonk until you asked him to dance and y'all got very busy in the bathroom...I JUST WANT TO POINT OUT THAT YOU ARE OCCASIONALLY A LYING LIAR WHO LIES.

I don't know if we're ever going to get a big verbal mea culpa out of Carlos though, Nonny. If that's what you're looking for, it make take awhile.

Carlos's mea culpas (when not things he didn't actually do like fire extinguishers or planes) tend to be actionable items that he does to show he's heard TK or he's sorry or that he's working to be better. It comes in the form of asking TK out or giving TK space in 1x10 when TK says he has no idea what he wants. I know we all wanted Carlos to do a little more fighting there, BUT the last time TK tried to throw out boundaries in 1x02 we had Carlos calling TK crazy. Backing off WAS growth and an offering, that they clearly figured out sometime in the midst of that call.

We see it in season 2, when in 2x08 Carlos absolutely doesn't even attempt to back away from TK after rescuing him, even after his dad shows up, and Carlos heads over there with his chin raised ready to hear something about his relationship with TK as well as his poor choices.

Again in season two, after the fight at the fire station, while TK tries to apologize for what seems like the second time, Carlos insists they've already discussed it enough and he's busy making TK dinner (which is a massive way that Carlos shows he cares - feeding TK. He does it all the time)

Again, in 3.04, we have Carlos move TK in without saying anything as a sign that TK is fully welcome home regardless of whatever transpired before. In 3.13 Carlos learns from his spiral of not being able to be the one to acts of service TK into being better (because love doesn't cure mental illness) and manages to correct his mistakes and get out of the way of TK accessing life saving treatment from Cooper and stops conflaiting it with the acts of service Carlos performs (like putting pizza in the oven).

He's going to DO things not SAY things. And I think Carlos gets a lot of that from his family. Specifically, Gabriel. AND I think he does several of the things that rub him the wrong way with his father in his relationship with TK. Like, his father's attitude with Carlos and the bomber in Bad Call was not that dissimilar to Carlos with TK in 4.03 (although Gabriel was calmer, if not more disappointed) and even Gabriel's ability to shut that shit down got to TK in 4.04.

Apples don't fall far from the tree.

Anyway, in summation dear nonny, I don't disagree that TK has done a lot of verbal processing, apologizing and communication in this relationship. I just don't expect that Carlos is going to respond the way TK responds, because they're two entirely different people with two entirely different backgrounds that fit together like puzzle piecess.

[spilledmilkfkdies]

I am sincerely asking you to rant under this ask about the Wizards 🥰 I would like to see it. -Jester

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Some of these things have been said before, some even by me, but I'm just gonna hGVHVhbb it all in here anyway-

The wizards were done DIRTY

And I'm not just saying that because favouritism, they were genuinely done dirty in more ways than one. I'm gonna try to avoid jumping from point to point and make it all cohesive and whatnot, but if it happens, it happens:

Their set up was good. Fairy hunting wizards who basically won and are the reason there is no magic on Earth anymore is neat.

Did there have to be a reason for that? Not really. But besides the messy 'if they thought Bloom was the last Earth fairy, why did they only come for her now?', it doesn't exactly harm anything either, at least it's not as egregious as some other things that were added over the course of the show imo-

Really, Earth basically had its own conflict kinda separate from the magical dimension, which is fine.

But this is more or less also where the problem starts? See, the conflict by itself is so very interesting and filled with potential, yet we don't get to hear a lot about it. Which honestly harms the season as a whole, but definitely the wizards as characters and villains. For when the exposition was scraped from the funky season lore blender, the majority of their motivation seems to have been left behind, stuck to the inside of the blender. And that is not good.

If we take a step back and look at the things we've been told- Not shown. Told- It seems to be a rough mix of them wanting to control nature, rule the planet, those things- But? Why? And?? Not really?

I think 'why' as a question speaks for itself, like what would make them try to achieve those rough yet basic goals. I don't feel like those goals are even what they were doing though lowkey? Because yeah, it's not 100% clear how much time has passed between them locking away the Earth fairies and them coming after Roxy, and you could argue that they were too caught up with the hunt to ever get to ruling the planet- But all of that aside. They're really just not. Ruling the planet. They are hanging out. Good for them but huh.

Y'know it's also interesting how, after mostly achieving the 'no more Earth fairies' part of their ''plan''- What, realistically, kept them from continuing their hunt on different planets? Was it Roxy? Would they have kept going after that? Would they even be able to?

Because when Bloom gets sucked into the portal and it doesn't work, Ogron tells the other wizards that "It's the universe spirits, the Circle has rejected her." Sir? The what? These are NEVER brought up again, and some might consider that basic first episode bs and it was simply written out- But in terms of reasoning why they only go after Earth fairies, it's more or less all we got. So is it safe to say there is some sort of entity connected to the Circle that rejects certain fairies? Then why would their fairy magic immunity cover fairies as a whole? Or is that not connected in any way for whatever reason?

It sucks because the scenario of the wizards not being able to drain any fairy that isn't from Earth, as well as the one where it's a conscious decision because their conflict is with Earth fairies and not anyone else, are good?? You could do stuff with either?? If the Circle does have an entity that limits them, does that mean they got their task from someone else? If the fairies of Earth are their only enemies, what's the reason for that? If the show wasn't so horrified by the idea of fleshing out the wizards as villains specifically, we could've seen more of that side of the Earth fairies that was ever so shyly hinted at when they got mad at humanity for ''abandoning them''. So really, a better season overall- But I digress.

Can we also acknowledge how there are no proper interactions between the wizards and the major fairies?? Like you can't just say "She hates us!!" then have the most normal conversation I've ever seen right after pls- Y'all have HISTORY. SHOW US. One little fight with a possessed Roxy does not count.

Moving on to the wizards as characters, in terms of personality and dynamic with each other- As much as I want to disagree with the pretty common take of them being bland and forgettable, there's a reason I've seen maybe 40 different character interpretations for each of them, and rarely having a moment of 'hey, that doesn't fit at all'. Because there is just so much room to add stuff. Pretty significant stuff. That you can just give them. And it would work. Which is fun, but I don't think it's a good sign per se.

Funnily enough!! Someone who doesn't seem to be good at doing this is Rainbow themselves!!

I cannot say with full certainty when some of these things were written, maybe they were made as the characters were created, I don't know- What I can say however, is that it was released separately from the show and some of it simply does not work. Whether it was sadly forgotten about during the writing of the season, or it was created afterwards in an attempt to add some characterization, not all of it clicks. It's a shame watching some of this stuff be reduced to fun facts that nobody who doesn't already somewhat care for the wizards would ever go looking for, when it should've just been in the season itself to begin with.

Can I also just mention how I find it funny that they took one of the few things people generally seem to like about the wizards as a group, that being how they really seem to care about each other, and decided to just write over that? Lmao?? Like you though they were friends? Wrong <3 Ogron is using them <3 And Duman hates Gantlos and Anagan so they decided to just hate him back <3

Anyway, I really would have liked some solid personality when it mattered most, but asking that when they were written to suddenly not care about the death of one of their own, and were referred to as 'Ogron and his men' so often that people don't know/want to know the other wizards' names, it's probably too big of an ask. But this ties in with the motivation point-

I want to know who they are!! Why are they hunting fairies!! What are their thoughts about the past!! Which major fairy did they struggle with most when in battle!! Why do they keep hiding in the smelliest places when Duman has sensitive animal senses!! Last one I'm extra curious about tbh, it feels cruel.

Idk how to smoothly transition to this point, I'm sleepy and not sure where to put it- But why do the wizards fight so poorly? For people with as much experience as them, of course. That's like one of the few things we are told about them all the time, they're supposed to be experienced. They got foiled by an actual dog btw. It's so obvious the Winx were written to be weaker at the start of season 4, like the issue was with them and it was bad. I know it's probably hard to make any enemy feel like a proper threat after the delicious meal that was Valtor, but surely there's a better way to do it than this? Insert situational transformation point, kinda-

Do not let their experience be a lie, is what I'm trying to say. You did it in the show, you did it in the comics, you did it in the games- Stop it. You want 4 successful war lords that have been around each other long enough to work well as a team and have become a no no topic on other planets because of how much of a threat they are? It sounded like that's what you wanted. So why didn't you commit? Cowards? Is that what you are? Are you cowards?

I'm not sure if I said everything I wanted to say but this ask has been awaiting an answer for a good while and I'm very sleepy. If I think of anything else or suddenly remember stuff I'll throw it somewhere mwah <3

[bronanlynch]

this week's media roundup has even more incoherent rambling about gundam than last week. that's where my brain's at I guess

listening (podcast): once again still listening to the Wing episodes of Great Gundam Project but I listened to their ep on the finale today so I just need to listen to their Endless Waltz ep and then I will be finished with that and move on to uhhh probably their 0079 episodes sorry I am So gundampilled right now. anyway. this makes me feel so much better for being confused & frustrated by the politics at the end of Wing but also kind of excited to rewatch it with my roommate (who's never seen it) at some point in our Gundam marathon because I really do think that watching 0079 first at least helps you understand what they're calling back to. like the answer to 'why is Zechs like that' is 'because he's based on Char' and I, watching Wing for the first time before any other Gundam, did not know who Char was yet

listening (music): I am perpetually just a little bit late to listen to new music but at least I did listen to new music this week. my fave thing about Mitski's I'm Your Man is how jarringly nice & pleasant the guitar accompaniment is for the first half, contrasted with the kinda eerie echo-y quality of the vocals and also like, what the lyrics are saying

reading: same things still. Rule of Wolves remains kind of mid and does not do anything particularly anything with any of the ideas it raises. Water Outlaws continues to be extremely cool and Imo does an extremely good job of expressing what would be very cool action sequences in a wuxia drama in a different medium. but also sometimes I wish I could see the cool fights because I like good fight choreography

watching: my parents visited this past weekend and one of the things we watch together is Ted Lasso, so I've seen a few more episodes of season 3 and honestly I'm kind of underwhelmed I guess? I have extremely mixed feelings about the handling of both of the queer plotlines (Keely getting a girlfriend & Colin's whole arc) that I'm not sure I care enough to type out. I like that Trent is around more though, I do like to see him

we've been watching the current season of Bakeoff (me & my roommate, not me & my parents), but it's not far enough for me to have strong favorites so I don't have much to say here other than that I do like the new host, she's fun

and now the most important part of this post, we've been watching Zeta Gundam. man. we're 17 episodes in and I'm having so much fun. I love Kamille, I love it when the main characters are doing armed resistance against the military hegemony even though I wish I had a better understanding of the scale of any of these factions, I love Quattro's stupid obnoxiously shiny gold mobile suit, I love the concept of Cyber Newtypes because it emphasizes the stuff about exploitation and dehumanization that I wanted more of in the discussion of Newtypes. I have many complex thoughts about gender (wish it wasn't always the women who are the most outspoken about peace and/or want to settle down to raise their children, or that women got a few more options besides that and dying in battle immediately after kissing the nearest man, but also I think there's something interesting in how many of the Cyber Newtypes and honestly also Newtypes are women like so far it's mostly women and protagonists and also Char). I miss Sayla. I hate that 26 year old Mirai dresses & styles her hair like a generic 45 year old housewife, please let her keep her style & personality even though she's a mother now I am begging you. I love Quattro's extremely 80s outfit. my head is very full of thoughts about how the child soldiers from 0079 are now a little older but still stuck in the same patterns because they're stuck as the people they were forced to become during the war and now they're perpetuating that on the next generation of kids forced into the conflict. thinking about Quattro trying to mentor Kamille and turning him into a soldier, and how Char & Amuro are both so shaped by the violence they've done that neither of them can conceive of themselves as anything else, with Amuro resenting/fearing his role as a soldier but not seeing any options for what he can be instead and Char leaning into it, again because he doesn't think he has any other options. tasty narrative foil situation. they should kiss about it. also I'm obsessed with how much the Beltorchika-Amuro-Char situation feels like a love triangle. Tomino didn't have to make Amuro's love interest a blonde in a pink normal suit with a comet-related callsign but as someone who is constantly thinking about Eve Kosofsky Sedgewick's writings on triangulated desire I'm very glad he did. this section is a mess, I'm so sorry, shout out to Zeta Gundam, I love watching teenagers bully Char and I hope Kamille gets to punch more cops

playing: still working on Ace Attorney 5, still on 5-4. just met Aura Blackquill and I love her already <3 unethical science lesbian <3

making: continuing the autumn theme that I've had pretty much every week, we made an apple pie, except we ran out of flour while making it so we couldn't sprinkle the crust with enough flour to make the filling thicken so it had the soggiest bottom imaginable. still tasted good though

more importantly, we are in our gunpla era and made the Michaelis from Witch from Mercury, a suit that everyone else on the internet seems to hate but I adore. I like it when robots are purple and look like they're wearing high heels, and also Shaddiq was one of my favorite GWitch characters which I realize is also a uhhhhh fairly unpopular opinion but anyway here it is

also because I think it's funny, here's what it currently looks like on display, leaning against the wall because it doesn't stand super well on its own but we don't have a base for it yet, and it looks So short next to the Pharact & Darilbalde

drinking: Thirsty Robot Brewing's key lime cheesecake sour, a beer that tasted so good I had to restrain myself from saying "wow this fucks" in front of my parents. it had lactose in it so it was a really nice amount of smooth & creamy, and the key lime flavor was really strong

also had a cocktail that had the most tailored to me list of ingredients imaginable: lemon vodka, creme de violette, elderflower liqueur, butterfly pea flower simple syrup, lemon juice, & lavender bitters. it truly is a shame that I cannot be bothered to acquire most of those ingredients on my own because wow that was tasty. I love it when drinks are citrus-y & floral, is the thing

writing: once again thwarted by not being able to write while watching Gundam (not a complaint). I swear I'm going to finish a fic again at some point

[give-soup-please]

i feel really dang conflicted about aziraphale. spoilers below

the whole 'making crowley into an angel again' didn't sit well with me at all. it felt really gross to me that he'd think that would be something crowley would want. crowley's comfortable with being a demon, even if he isn't happy. he recognizes that heaven is not good in the ways that matter. so this idea that crowley could just reascend and- and then they could be together...

if we look at it from az's point of view, crowley gets a 'redemption arc' of some kind. if we look at it from crowley's point of view, it feels like a spit in the face. after everything the two of them have been through together, does aziraphale think crowley wants to go back to heaven? even with the offer of them becoming an 'us', that would mean crowley would go back to a different flavored bureaucracy than the one he escaped from. different aesthetics, but same moral core (or lack thereof)

aziraphale has seen up close the lack of care heaven has for humanity. (job, the flood, jesus' crucifixion) so is he just going to ignore all of that? it felt to me like aziraphale wanted to get rid of all the stuff that made crowley... crowley. smooth out all the rough edges that make him so wonderful. morality once again becoming a two-toned binary with no in betweens. and that's really damned disappointing. obviously the story has to be taken in a specific direction, or there is no story. at the same time, aziraphale being my favorite fictional character not just in good omens, but of all time-

well? i don't know what to do. i find myself at a complete loss. in season one, his naivety felt charming. his desire to believe in the good of heaven so much was lovely, frankly. how could someone like me not love someone like him? i've always been a sucker for soft, sweet characters, and az fits the bill exactly. but what he did at the end, taking on the archangel position...

it didn't feel like naivety, it felt like cowardice. he just... ran away from everything. not just crowley, but earth itself. the one place he swore to protect. and the lack of bravery was such a contrast to how he protected the humans inside his bookshop.

ON THE OTHER HAND

we're talking about a character who has been subject to heaven's propaganda since the beginning. someone who has been emotionally and mentally abused by the beings he has so much faith in. he thought he was going to hell for protecting job's children. he's always worried so much about doing the right thing, running in dizzying mental circles just to be good. and he's been lured back into heaven's grip by false promises. and take it from someone who knows- those false promises are always so sweetly delivered, and in just the right way to try and rope someone back in.

he's always worried. almost inbuilt anxiety. and i can't blame him for that, as much as i'd like to. if i could blame him for his actions entirely, then... well, i'd probably be in the wrong. he made some (by my reckoning) really dumb decisions at the end there. but from the beginning, he has always tried to do the right thing, even when it causes him to suffer. and there's something noble about that too.

i'm mad at him, but my heart breaks for him as well. this poor, sweet, absurd, stupid angel...

i imagine crowley is devastated by all of this. not just not being able to be together, but the whole 'angelic conversion' thing. i mean- yikes. it reminds me so much of a 'you can come home for christmas, but you have to not shove your identity in our faces'- which is something i've dealt with myself. the sort of stripping away of some core characteristics so you can fit in with everyone else... jeez.

there's so much swirling in my head right now.

'how could someone as clever as you be so stupid?'

and

'oh god, that's too relatable.'

and

'you poor bastard.'

and

'you asshole!'

and

'i forgive you.'

and

'that's completely unforgivable.'

and yeah i have a lot of feelings sdklfjdslkfjdsklf

it's probably going to be some time before everyone cools off and we can have some decent discourse. and we gotta wait for season 3 now, if that day ever comes.

[castlebyersafterdark]

my cousin watched ST for the first time recently and she's a huge m/leven shipper. she said that she liked them better in s1-2 but she still likes them now. I watched final episode with her and she literally squealed over mike's monologue. when mike said, "you were wearing that yellow benny's burgers T-shirt", she was like, "awww he remembers everything 🥹"

she actually explained to me that she likes m/leven so much because she always roots for the main couple. with byler, she picked up on will liking mike during the desert scene in 4x05 and she feels really sorry for him. she wants will to find love and move on from mike in season 5. she believes that mike's aware of will's feelings and that's why they "lost their connection".

I wonder if this is the way GA usually perceive m/leven/byler situation. but also, I have another cousin who watched ST4 last year and she didn't pick up on will being gay at all. she asked me, "why was will crying in the van scene?" and when I said that will's in love with mike, she was shocked (she rewatched the whole show later and told me, "will really is in love with mike. but mike loves el")

it's just, I think it's funny that we discuss the possibility of an implied sex scene in season 5 while there is a huge number of people who believe that will's love is unrequited or don't even realise that will's gay. so my question is, do you think duffers should have made it more obvious that mike has feelings for will? I'm afraid a lot of people will be saying that byler came out of nowhere.

Being exposed to different perspectives like this is so jarring, like I can barely comprehend loving Mike's speech? Truly baffling to me but I know so many people ate that up!! Tough to even sit through it on a rewatch! That's so odd that the mindset is to just root for the main couple no matter what, just because they're on screen? Weird! But is that how most casual watchers of movies/tv consume media? Consume is the key word. Maybe it's a lack of deeper thinking or caring to dive deeper into what's happening on screen. And of course there are people who in no way ever look for the underlying truth, even well-intentioned their mind never jumps to thinking anyone is gay. Straight as default. Not even straight as default, actually, just a non-thought at all.

That's why it's such nonsense that within fandom there's infighting and discourse over head canons and theory interpretation and arguing whether it's ok to even imply anything sexual about characters etc. Because there's a big broad world out there watching the show that watches passively to the point of non-retention. Like the people who've sat through all four seasons and don't retain character names!? How!? I know I get hyper invested in stuff more than the average person but... come on.

I'm conflicted on how I think the show should have gone, because I love it so much and I'll admit part of me bristles when too much criticism is posed towards it, and I know that makes me a little naive or annoying and sensitive, but it is what it is. I think that in an ideal world, maybe this show would have flourished with more time. As in, more episodes per season. I've seen people say that's a bad idea, because storylines could be ruined or the lore could be over complicated and I've seen other people point out that television traditionally for years followed the longer format. The binge limited episode model is modern. But, advanced effects and more expenses over time - less episodes and runtime overall. Look at something like Lost with the characters and lore and supernatural and timelines. Imagine what we could have had with a format like that with Stranger Things. So, I think we're getting what we're getting based on the runtime we have. I think the Mike arc and Byler arc is being treated as part of a twist, part of a big reveal for the most impact the final season. I think looking back it'll be more obvious for people who care to rewatch to see the Mike journey play out. But not everyone cares to rewatch shows. And so be it, that's not who the shows are made for. In the immediate - the show is for everyone. In the long term - the shows are made for people like us.

[somestorythoughts]

Narrative Role vs Personality

There was something that felt weird to me when I watched the 1st season of the clone wars, I thought I figured it out and now that I've seen a few more seasons and haven't changed my mind I'm gonna post about it and hopefully make some sense in the following ramble.

It feels like there's a bit of conflict between the writers giving the clones a narrative role and making them actual characters. Yes all characters have a role in the narrative that's not the point, the point is that, from the outside, the clones' role in the story is just to be an army. You need bodies to make up an army to show the audience that this a war, and the audience isn't supposed to really invest in them past wanting the good guys to win.

That's not a bad thing, it's normal when you have sci-fi/fantasy armies. That's the role these guys play:

We love the dramatic charge of the Rohirrim, we take a solemn moment to acknowledge the bodies in the aftermath, and that's it. We mostly feel actively sad for the characters we know, or sometimes background characters who are there for emotional impact. The role of an army in these shows/movies is to look good, die, and win or loose. It's the same kind of role characters in adventure movies like Indian Jones or the Mummy play, those people who get caught by lethal traps. You can expand that into "it's messed up that they're being used as test subjects for booby traps" outside the film but their only role in the narrative is to show that the traps are dangerous. Again, not a bad thing narratively. In a story, someone's gotta show that the 1000-year old knife trap is still sharp somehow and yes the evil scarabs are alive. And sometimes those are also minions or bad guys but it still applies.

I think horror movies do the same thing but it's not my genre so not certain how their deaths work.

And in aotc and rots, the clones are pretty much pure plot device. They've got a narrative role and they fill it. They're an army, they do the fighting the dying and the killing, we get very little personality out of them. Been a while since I've seen rots so I can't say if they get no characterization, but I'm pretty sure it's VERY low. We know the basics of their background, we don't know them.

And then the clone wars came around and it gave them personality. It gave them characterization. And sure the series seems to be largely focused on the Jedi, but they still took the time to give the clones some character beyond just being bodies to fill the ranks.

And it's not like you can't kill characters the audience cares about, everyone knows that isn't the case. But if you give characters personality, the audience is more likely to care. If the care, they might be upset that they're dying over and over so easily without much in story mention. And people really latched on to the clones.

It doesn't help that their backstory is kinda fucked up. I have no idea how much of the shit they go through on Kamino and in the wider galaxy in fanfics is canon and how much of it is fan-based (I haven't finished the clone wars series and I'm not quite invested enough to track down the comics right now) but even without that you're talking about millions of people cloned and raised for war by trainers that are at the very least unfriendly, a genetic donor that selected one for a son and does seem to care at all about the rest, and the war they're fighting is entirely engineered. They're made to fight a war and then wiped into blank slates by a bunch of mind-control chips (even if we look at the movies without the show since that was later, there's still plenty of messed up stuff in being bred and raised solely for war). It's messed up enough that people are gonna be interested in that backstory and that might be part of why people latched on to the clones in general instead of only individual troopers though I can't be sure. It's one thing if you've got people who's narrative role is to kill and be killed and look cool while doing it. It's another thing when that's their purpose in the story.

And the clone wars gives us these occasional episodes that show first that some of the clones actively don't want to be here and second that there are some even among the jedi that see them as inferior. Their reactions in the Umbara arc to Krell using numbers instead of names are strong enough that even without them saying something like "we don't like being called by numbers its dehumanizing" that idea still comes across clearly.

Umbara also tells us that they can be ordered to kill their friends, and they will have to comply.

One of the things the clone wars tells us is that this is a really messed up situation. That the story of the clones is a tragedy. But I don't think it always acts like it.

The thing that was bugging me was Plo Koon's declaration that the troopers mattered to him and Windu taking the time to rescue a trooper and later on Ima-gun Di's last stand with his troopers, juxtaposed with the casualness in the series as a whole with which entire ships are destroyed. And I know, its tricky to talk about this kind of thing when you're making a kids' show and you only have 20-odd minutes on top of that. I'm not really blaming them for treating the troopers the same way you treat an army in any fantasy war story. It's fiction. Explosions on a screen are fun. We all like a badass fight scene. I'm probably not the intended audience for this show anymore and that means my perspective isn't the one the writers are trying to hit.

I guess what I'm trying to get at is that it feels a little like the writers gave the clones too much character for their narrative role. And if you as a writer say in-universe that these people's lives matter, sometimes it might feel a bit weird when a ship full of them is blown to pieces and never remarked on again.

I want to end this by acknowledging that I am WAY overanalyzing a kids' show I KNOW so if you're going to criticize this analysis feel free but please criticize about a different point because I recognize the overthinking hell this took like three times as long as I expected to write I have no fucking clue where the time went.

[beautifulterriblequeen]

B2:S - Chapter 3

Much of this series will be about the differences and additions in the novel version, and how they contribute to my understanding of story canon. But there will be character appreciation, the odd theory and headcanon, and suchlike as well.

Here be Lujanne, Callum, Rayla, Ezran, Bait, and Soren goodness!

Spoilers for Book Two: Sky below.

Lujanne having excellent fitness for all her walking around the Moon Nexus, and she's so energetic that Callum has trouble keeping up with her! She seems like those active grandmas who almost never stop moving, who have a lifelong supply of endless stamina. It makes me wonder if Lujanne will need that level of fitness for some upcoming conflict.

Callum feeling really hungry over not eating grubs and then still deciding he'd rather be hungry. It makes me wonder all over again how Lujanne got to the point where she eats grubs, considering that other Moonshadow elves we know of back in the Silvergrove don't. I still love my hc that the giant leech ate all of Lujanne's moonberry bushes and she's taking her revenge. Whatever's going on there, Callum is definitely not at that point yet.

When Lujanne asks Callum how he knows she's real, he thinks to himself that he'd put up with just about anything from someone who was going to teach him magic. That's a great parallel and foreshadowing for Viren's student/master relationship with Aaravos! And it's telling that neither student gets exactly what they hoped to get. Lujanne doesn't actively teach Callum any spells, because she believes he can't learn Moon magic at all. Aaravos does offer Viren power, but it takes him to some very dark places - literally and figuratively - and the cost is terribly high.

Callum sees a moon shape among the ruins, and Lujanne explains that the Moonhenge layout is an intricate rune that uses the structures themselves as part of its symbols and power. That's apparently a thing even with ordinary Moonshadow villages like Hollow Wood in the east, which is the coolest idea I've seen in a while: city planning as magic runes!

Yes, that's the same shape as the pendants Ethari made for himself and Runaan. Protection? Home? Feelsiness? A sense of safety and belongnig for all cycles and seasons?

Wonder what this Moonhenge rune stands for, then, and how much of this landscape is included in that rune. I bet it's more than we think!

But it makes sense now, how toppling the stone pillars would disable the spell the druids would cast to connect with the Moon Nexus lake. Breaking the infrastructure of the Moonhenge breaks the rune.

There's a physical sensation involved with the visuals that Historia Viventem brings up! When that one ghostly druid walked through Callum, he felt icy cold. Like in ghost stories. I really wonder about what exactly Historia Viventem is doing when it activates. It shows truth, "what really happened here?", so it must have some kind of time-related element, maybe tied to how the moon always repeats the same cycles or something. But it also seems to draw on the spirits of any living people involved in the flashback, because Callum could physically feel that wispy shape passing through him. So very interesting!

Orrr... is that all wrong, and there's something else at work with this spell than time? Maybe the world beyond life and death can act as an imprint of the things that have happened in the living world, and the spell that Lujanne (and later Callum) casts taps into that place, with perfect recall. I'm looking really hard at the sentence that says "dozens of translucent elf ghosts" and "phantom Moonhenge" and "lost in their own world" here.

Lujanne says more here than in the show about the world beyond life and death, being her mysterious Moonshadow-mage self. She says that "beyond" and "between" might both apply to where this other plane of existence is, and she doesn't much care which. With all the relativity swirling around this place, and not much in the way of empiricism, it's sounding like perhaps multiple conflicting ideas might actually coexist in such a place, allowing more ideas to fit there than we might normally believe is possible. Which is a fascinating bit of worldbuilding. Basically, every headcanon anyone has ever had about the Moon Nexus could all be true at the same time, for all we know.

Oh oh oh, Callum coming in soft with a secret wish! He takes one look at the Moonhenge and immediately thinks of finding a way to see his mom again! Poor boy, my heart! I'd say that could be another interesting parallel with Viren, but then, who wouldn't hold that sentiment?

Oh my, is this another breath of life into Ye Olde Ley Lines headcanon? Lujanne mentioning the Nexuses again, so soon after talking about the runic design of the entire Moonhenge, makes me wonder if the six nexuses are in fact giant runes. On Earth, the places where ley lines cross are called nexuses, and there are those who believe those points got marked with ancient structures, like Stonehenge and many many others. If Xadia were crossed with magical lines which naturally formed nexus points where they met, and if powerful magical runes were built across those entire areas, well. That would be cool beans, fams. Can I smack a map of Xadia and release a spell like Luz Noceda does? Because ngl that is my first instinct here.

Lujanne has got to be missing some grandkids to spoil, right? The way she's always whipping out cake and ice cream for Callum, and she's so grandma-ish about it. Headcanon about her being Runaan's mom aside, she is canonically lonely and she's very sweet to Allen and Ellis and I think she's missing whatever family she once had in the past. She may never get to have that family back, so she's finding a new one among the humans who live nearby, and I think that's sweet. Found family isn't just for the young.

But Ellis is straight up gonna be her fave, I bet, because she didn't turn up her nose at Lujanne's illusion food!

Ezran and Bait have a lot more to their relationship than was visible in the show, and I'm so excited by it! Ez can tell by looking at Bait's colors that he's not truly jealous of Zym, even if he's really grumpy about the dragonling taking up his favorite human's time.

And Ez thinking a lot about his dad and the things he's taught him. They're soft leadership material, and I love that so much! "Pick your battles" and the importance of encouragement. Ahh, my heart. Ezran, you're going to be such a good king.

But wait a second: both times that Bait gets extra grumpy in Zym's first training session, Ezran has just mentioned something about flying. Guys, I think Bait wishes he could fly, really badly. And that's his biggest problem with Zym, and with Ezran teaching Zym to fly, instead of Bait who doesn't have wings so. Bait is so old that his secrets have secrets, and I'm really curious how flying fits into them now!

Rayla, Dramatic Assassin: "I need to patrol for dark forces." That's what Lujanne called the source of the purple wisps that found them. I wonder if that's an official term all Moonshadows know, or if Rayla is just taking her cue from a veteran Moon mage. And I wonder how far Rayla is falling into the apparent pattern of "one mage, one assassin", since she does spend a lot of her time patrolling without being asked.

When Callum tells Lujanne that he was bad at prince stuff, and she asks if he didn't give up and got good at those things anyway, it's an opportunity for Callum to embrace subverting his parents' expectations in favor of seeking his own path, which is a primary theme of the show. But Lujanne is a couple generations older than Callum, at the very least, and I have to wonder what her upbringing was like. Is her version of success the one she took? Was she bad at magic once too, but she persisted? She is very soft and doesn't want to kill anyone.

Maybe Lujanne had dreams of doing something else with her life, but she felt she had to pursue the destiny that others handed to her, so she studied magic as hard as she could, and she did get good at it, but using it to defend Xadia from humans is not what she wanted to do with her life. Whether there's a parallel between her and Ethari on that point, there's one between Callum and Ethari, I think. How much of your life are you willing to let others direct for you?

LISTEN I WAS DYING AT THE EAR BREAD SCENE OKAY

This is my new favorite Soren and Claudia moment ever. Soren loves him his bread, okay. Even as earplugs for Claudia's sleep ocarina tune. The fact that it's "super effective" makes me think of a Pokemon defense. The fact that he learned it at camp, where he also learned about Moonshadow Madness, is hilarious. Later on, Corvus doesn't know Soren by name, but I still love the idea of Corvus being a kind of Strider-esque camp instructor, filling the ears of his young charges with all kinds of useful tactics like ear bread for magic spell songs (which actually seemed to work as intended), and warnings about the enemy elves' blood-themed tactics (which may or may not come back around in BH)

I thought they were gonna go in a kind of deep direction when Soren still wanted his ear bread back, but then he just. Eats them. Just noms them. I love this kid. Give Soren all the bread!

[irandomblogfulb]

FATE: What happens when you get a bunch of middle aged white guys to adapt a cartoon for girls

Well, I just went through 6 hours of fate and I have a lot of opinions on it. Yeah, this is going to be long (slightly under 3k words) so putting it under read more and obvious spoilers.

PSA before delving right in:

1) Yes, I will be comparing to the original. Any comparisons are not through rose-tinted nostalgia glasses. There are parts here and there that I genuinely think were done better in the cartoon on a writing standpoint.

2) This is purely my opinion and overall negative. Don't like it? Don't read. I'm all up for discussion but I don't want another person crying to me about how I “ruined” their experience of the show.

3) If you like Fate then good for you. This isn’t me bashing people who like it. 

I've spit it up into sub sections just for my own convince.

1. The problem with the 'I'm not like other girls' trope

This pertains to the entire Bloom-Sky-Stella love triangle. I wasn't as pressed about it compared to other winxers (and I loved Stella's and Brandon's relationship on my rewatch). In fact, I was okay with it. But then I sat down and watched the show and there's a lot of underlying problems with the love triangle. Particularly pitting Bloom and Stella against each other for Sky's affection.

Now this part of the love triangle I already didn't like. Correct me if I'm wrong, since I dropped the OG Winx after season 5 but the Winx while they did have their conflicts and arguments, never fought over a boy. I really appreciated that from the cartoon so seeing that live action would fall into that trap – I was mildly annoyed at that. Then it hit me. It's Bloom and Stella.

The seemingly ordinary girl vs the pristine princess of Solaria. If the title didn't give it away, you should get the point by now. Others have already called it by now but the "I'm not like other girl's" trope in itself, while seemingly feminist is actually misogynist. Saying the more masculine type of girl is better than the feminine is inherently misogynist. Stella, the prime princess, girly and feminine, is villainized by the love triangle. Sky's and Stella's relationship is toxic and Stella's overt co-dependence and jealousy are already big fat red signs - but Sky's and Bloom's relationship is built on how she's "different". Bloom isn't like Stella, she's "real".

2. Am I supposed to like Riven?

As the title puts it, wtf am I supposed to feel about Riven. Is he supposed to be a good guy? Do I root for him? Is he morally ambiguous? Because holy shit compared to OG!Riven, this guy is diabolical and much much worse! OG!Riven is an asshole and he teams up with the trix but his arc was very simple and easy to understand. He joins the bad guys, distances himself from the good guys, the trix betray his ass, he self-reflects in the dungeon - escapes and redeems himself. Net!Riven is so bad to the point where you can't redeem him and the writers don't even try. Freddie Thorp is good in his role. (however, he definitely doesn't pass for a 17-year-old. He's 26 and it shows) and he actually makes the cringe dialogue work. But he's way too diabolical and downright predatory. The scene where he forces Dane to gulp down his spiked drink - it’s worse seeing it than reading it. That grossed me out more than the gore.

What makes it worse, nobody properly calls him out. Beatrix kinda does on his homophobia – “Homophobic bashing by GIF” - and Sky does chastise him, but they still tolerate him. It is kinda funny in a way Sky has a whole ass arc about how he's enabling Stella's problematic behaviour by still dating her after she blinded her friend but doesn't realize he's doing the same for Riven.

The only person that really puts her foot down with Riven is Terra and nobody takes her seriously about anything she says.

Everyone is very laissez-faire around him and that's not how you respond to your friend being problematic. (Hey, kinda like the other girls sans Aisha are with Bloom!) Everyone surrounding Riven is so disgusting and the notion of him supposedly being a good guy is very hard to buy into. His whole relationship with Dane has a section of it’s own because there’s just a lot to unpack.

3. Stella I am so sorry

I'm also in the majority hating how they've tarnished Stella. Basically, they turned her into the stereotypical rich bully with mommy issues.

I get that Stella has an abusive mom but that’s no excuse to be a total bitch to her roommates. And no, her roommates shouldn't accept her back with open arms. And she doesn't even redeem herself - the girls just accept her back after her mom pulls her from Alfea.

And this is also another issue with the writing were the characters suddenly just change their opinions on a whim. Suddenly Stella likes the winx, suddenly Terra misses Stella even though having that girl literally gives her anxiety. Suddenly Aisha's on Bloom's side in the end.

This isn't me simping for the cartoon out of nostalgia. I was mostly okay with the idea of Stella and Sky hooking up. But Looking at it from a creative standpoint - looking at the source material, and the many paths you can take this character, the best thing Brian Young and co. can think of for her was turning her into the stereotypical rich bully that we've seen time and time again? No deconstruction no meta take, it's played out exactly how you’d expect it.

Again, this isn't me simping for the show. Purely from a creative standpoint Stella was such a major let down. There's so much to the character and Brian Young took the easiest, saturated path.

4. That one scene with Bloom's parents

You know the one. Mike unhinges Bloom's bedroom doors and Vanessa cusses out and insults her child like a petty teen bully. Forgetting how utterly cringey that scene was, you can't have her mom go batshit insane on her child, then act like she's this loving parent that cares so deeply about her daughter. Screw that! Vanessa deserved those 3rd degree burns! She invaded her daughter's privacy. Bloom didn't even do anything wrong!

I can't buy into this narrative of Vanessa and Mike being loving parents when they do something like that. Seriously who thought that was okay?

5. Pity Parties for everyone.

I already discussed this in Stella’s section but I don’t like the “it’s okay for me be a shitty person because my life sucks :)” narrative Fate tries to pull. They did it with Stella, Bloom, Riven.

What I liked about the first season of Winx Club is Bloom’s arc and her character as a whole. Because while she went through shit, from the Trix, to finding out she was adopted, her existential crisis, not feeling like she belonged, losing the dragon flame, she went through a lot. She didn’t throw a pity party. She didn’t whine, bitch and complain. She allowed herself to feel upset, took it as it is and tried to make lemonade out of lemons. And I respect that.

Net!Bloom is agrevating. She does some dumb, reckless stuff but it’s excused because she’s the protagonist? She let the war criminal out, the school gets taken over by the bad guys because of Bloom. Faragonda fucking dies because she let the war criminal out! The burned ones attacked the school because she let the war criminal out!!! But no, Aisha’s villainized for calling Bloom out because Bloom’s existential crisis is more important then anything else.

Getting to Sky, he isn’t as bad as the others. He doesn’t become a shitty person because of his problems. (Though lowkey flirting with Bloom while he hooks up with Stella is uh not good.) But he does come across incredibly whiny. Because of the cringey dialogue and the unnecessary swearing  I can’t take his speech on opening up to Bloom seriously. I laughed throughout the whole thing and Bloom leaving his unconscious body there was the icing on the cake.

One of the few characters that deserved a pity party is Terra. She’s very much like OG!Bloom in a way. She is bullied by Dane and Riven, has body insecurities, anxiety, nobody listens to her and at most only tolerates her. Despite all the crap that is thrown her way she still reminds humble, kind, and respectful. And she is one of the few characters that deserves more support than what she got out of the season.

5. Bloom, Aisha, Tokenism and their awful relationship

I’m going to be upfront, their relationship sucks. The core of their dynamic is what Aisha can do for Bloom. It’s very one-sided. Bloom only goes to Aisha to help solve her problems, which Aisha gladly does – but when Aisha disagrees with Bloom or says something Bloom doesn’t like, Bloom suddenly goes off and Aisha’s made to be the bad guy. Even though she’s right? And Aisha has her own problems as well, shown to also struggle with her powers. But nope, that’s pushed to the back burner because Bloom needs help.

I am all for creative freedom. I can stomach Stella x actual Sky. I can stomach turning Stella into a rich mean girl. I can stomach the dark academia aesthetic but what Brian Young and co. did to Aisha is just plain racist. Screw the “it’s an adaptation” excuse. Turning this character who had a rich storyline and was a princess into a white girl’s magical negro who fixes all her problems is racist and by definition tokenism. And by whitewashing the other two characters of color, making Aisha the only poc in the group – that’s the worst thing you can do to her.

And frankly we need more black princesses on screen.

6. Dane and the homophobia of the show

Towards the show’s climax it’s revealed Dane is helping Beatrix because she accepts he’s “different”. Not only does this go back to my pity party rant but like bruh,

1)      Beatrix never really did anything for Dane? She hung out and smoked with him a bit, but that’s all. You’re telling me Terra wouldn’t accept Dane? Beatrix never helped him and he never really opened up to her about his struggles.

2)      Nobody else, not even background characters bully or harass Dane for being “different”. It’s only Riven, the guy he’s crushing on. The whole falling in love with the bad boy/abuser trope is bad in a hetero relationship and that still stands for a gay one. And I know damn well if Dane was a woman half of the shit Riven did to Dane wouldn’t slide.

It makes no sense for Dane to side with the bad guys when Riven’s the one bullying him and Beatrix is complacent in the bullying. Oh, and having your second black* character who’s also lgbt+/potentially questioning be a villain? Not good.

I’m all for gay and poly rep, but not like this. If Stella and Sky’s toxic relationship is going to be called out for what it is, why not Dane’s?

*Idk if Theo Graham is light-skinned black or biracial so I’ll just refer to him as black.

7. The plot

It’s very predictable. Personally, wasn’t fond of the ‘twist of a twist of a twist’ style of writing. The story tries to be nuanced and deep but it’s not. Common sense is treated like a big revelation. Not trusting the war criminal you barely know isn’t as big of a take that the writers try to make it out to be.

8.  Everything else

·       Beatrix is fine. No Icy but did like the gothic bookworm aesthetic.

·       Sam is just there to be Musa’s love interest and provide some dumb drama between Musa and Terra. I thought they’d go the Edward/Bella root – Musa’s drawn to Sam because she can’t sense his emotions for some reason. Nope, they just get together for the obligatory make out sessions. Don’t care much for the relationship or the character.

·       Since the powers are all elemental shouldn’t there be classes purely for an elemental? Classes purely for fire fairies, etc?

·       Musa’s powers are confusing. If she has no control over them and they are “always on”, shouldn’t her eyes constantly be glowing purple?  Very wishy washy. Sometimes they overwhelm her and other times she has complete control. Her character is just there for plot stuff.

·       Terra is one of the better characters but can’t enjoy her knowing about the whitewashing. Why can’t we have a plus sized character just exist and not have body issues?

·       Sky doesn’t feel like a prince. Characters treat him like his dad is a war hero and not the King of Eraklyon. There was a point where I thought I misheard and thought his dad was just a war hero and not a king.

·       Why try to justify Rosalind’s war crime if she’s going to be the big bad anyways?

·       The way the characters treat death/act around death is very weird. Musa and Terra see a pile of dead bodies and they’re unreasonable calm. Especially Bloom an “ordinary teenage girl from earth”, reacts very nonchalant when death and war crimes are brought up. Doesn’t help the show tries to push this “they’re kids fighting a war” narrative.

·       Can’t buy into the girls’ friendship. The Aisha/Bloom dynamic is centred on what Aisha can do for Bloom. Bloom only cares about herself and only goes to her friends to help with her problems. Most of Musa’s and Terra’s interaction centre around Sam. Stella didn’t care for the girls until her mom showed up and pulled a 180. The girls were quick to turn on Aisha when she sided with the adults.

·       I have no problem with technology existing but why do they have Instagram, Tiktok and Tumblr? The otherworld is a completely separated from Earth, why do they have the same technology?  

9. Brian Young, what do you mean by mature?

I grew up on the 4kids dub before transitioning to the Nick dub for season 4 and 5 then dropping the cartoon for good. So naturally on my rewatch of the cartoon I decided to go watch the RAI dub since I heard it’s more accurate and 4Kids are infamous for their horrid localisations straying too much to the source material. Upon finishing season 1 and currently watching season 2, a few things took me by surprise. For one, the cartoon is surprisingly dark. The schools are at war with the Trix and their army of Darkness, Sky almost dies in Season 2, Riven almost dies and the Trix thinks he suicided, it’s heavily implied in Season 2 Darkar murdered some of the pixies, the paedophilic undertones of Bloom and Avalon’s relationship, the list goes on.

When the interview with Brian Young came out, he said Fate would be a mature take on the cartoon. And I wondered, what did he meant by mature? Was he going to delve deeper into the darker aspects of the show, or did he mean he was going to have the girls swear and have sex? Watching Fate, I found my answer.

If you take out the gore, swearing, drug and alcohol usage from the live action, the maturity is on par with the RAI dub. The difference is in the presentation. This is what sucks about the mentality surrounding live action remakes. Because the OG!Winx was colourful with glittery transformations , was super girly and overall had a positive upbeat tone (not forgetting 2D animated) - it can’t be taken seriously. You have to strip all that, the colour, the kindness, the femininity in order to be deemed mature.

10. Wrapping up

I went into Fate expecting the worst and honestly, it wasn’t that bad. There were things I liked about it. The show looks pretty, and I did like what they were trying to do with Sky’s arc. The actors did what they could with the material. Freddie Thorp made the cringe dialogue work and Abigail Cowen proves she can carry a show as the lead.

Fate is your generic, YA, dark academia show. It follows all the tropes of the YA genre to a T. If that’s your niche, then you’ll love Fate and I’m not bashing anyone who liked it.

For me, as a creative, it doesn’t capitalise on the strengths of the source material. I’m not asking for Winx Club again, as I’ve reiterated, I’m all for creative freedom. But Brian Young, Iginio Straffi, whoever worked on this – they could’ve created something new, innovative, something that stood out from the hordes of other YA shows. They had good material in their hands! But what I got -  I’ve seen before, and I’ve seen it done better. That’s a major disappointment.

As a winx club fan, don’t bother watching this. It’s a very diluted version of the Winx. In trying to capture the interest of the adult fans who grew up with the franchise – Iginio showed how out of touch he is if he thinks this is what they wanted.

[aros001]

Going in blind: Watching season 1 for the first time. Random thoughts.

This show is kind of nice because I have no memories of the original She-Ra show, or even any of He-Man, honestly. I'm not sure if I ever watched the original, so I have no frame of reference for how the series is "supposed" to be. I can just take it and judge it as is.

Of the bat, all I know is that supposedly She-Ra and Catra get together as a romantic couple later, but I'm also a huge My Hero Academia fan and the fandom around me ships every character with every other character, so for all I know that might just be shipper wishful thinking I've been seeing and hearing. Given fandoms for Gravity Falls, Thor, and Supernatural ship even siblings together, I've learned not to trust anything except for what I see in the series for myself.

By the way, this isn't a review, just random thoughts and comments I'm having as I'm going through season 1 for the first time.

Episodes 1 and 2: Right off, I really like Catra's "No duh" response to Adora about the truth of the horde. She knows they've been lying to them and have been doing terrible things, she just doesn't care. If she and Adora play their cards right they could end up being the ones in charge and then they'd have all that power. Not necessarily to make things better but enough to where they could do whatever and live however they want. That's a good build for an antagonist. Not ignorant to the fact what they're doing is wrong, just simply so selfish that they don't care.

Episode 3: It really feels like there was no good reason why Glimmer didn't just outright introduce Adora to her mother and every reason she should have known it was a bad idea to try and hide her for a surprise. Being a former horde soldier she'd probably get treated with hostility if Glimmer brought her to the front gate but you'd almost guarantee Adora would get arrested or outright killed if she got caught while no one else knew she was there.

On the other side, we have Hordak being pretty intelligent in promoting Catra. He probably knows Shadow Weaver already doesn't like him, so it's not like he's losing anything making her upset with him, and it's clear she favors Adora way more than Catra, so that little bit of advancement towards Catra probably goes a long way in earning her loyalty to him and a person on the inside with Shadow Weaver.

Also, I'm not the only one who saw Madam Razz and immediately thought Adora had found her Yoda, right?

Episode 4: I don't know how it was in the original She-Ra and He-Man series but I kind of like She-Ra being this title from legend. Adora is not the first She-Ra, given what Razz was talking about with a Mara, so instead of being something new, impressing everyone with abilities they've never seen before, and creating the legend, Adora is placed in a position WAY over her head where she's having to live up to what came before her.

Episode 5: Calling it now, as long as her personality is genuine I think Scorpia is going to be one of my favorite characters in this show. She's...endearing, I think is the best word. She's like a mix of Kronk and a nicer Shego.

For a little bit I thought Mermista was voiced by the same actress who played Poison Ivy in the Harley Quinn animated series. She's not but they do have the same kind of Daria-ish inflections, thus by confusion. Given the prom episode, Sea Hawk feels kind of like her Kite Man.

Episode 6: Okay, now it's between Scorpia and Entrapta who are likely to be my favorites by the end of this. She's fun and quirky.

Episode 7: Quite the lore drop. Shadow Weaver was once a Mystacor sorceress known as Light Spinner. I like to imagine we'll get more on that later. Her haunting Adora reminded me of the Teen Titans' episode where Robin was similarly haunted by Slade. This didn't go as far as that but that's probably for the best, since TT had two and a half seasons to build that dynamic up with Robin and Slade while we're only now halfway through the first season.

Episode 8: Well dang. Again, I don't know for sure if Adora and Catra do end up together but boy do I buy why they're shipped together after that dance. Also, good on Bow for standing up for himself. It's clear that he'll always be Glimmer's friend and this won't change that but that doesn't mean he has to just accommodate her. I understand where her issues stem from but I am still glad he gave her a reality check. It helps him feel a little more like his own character.

Also, another nice little bit of lore and worldbuilding. Scorpia's a princess, the horde landed where her people lived, and they seemed to join them willingly.

Episode 9: Surprisingly don't have a lot to say about this other than I don't buy for a second that Entrapta is dead (EDIT: She's not). This was mostly action.

Episode 10: Not going to lie, this one kind of annoyed me a little, at least the first half. The conversation between Glimmer and her mother saved it a bit. It was a bit of a trifecta. You have the alliance breaking apart, saying that the loss of Entrapta only happened because they were all together...even though Entrapta only "died" because of her own machine obsession that caused her to deliberately walk back into the purging chamber. You have Entrapta who might be turning to the horde's side because she feels abandoned by the other princesses...even though they thought she was dead, and again it was her fault they got separated. And you have Glimmer refusing to tell her mother that Shadow Weaver's dark magic has caused her powers to go on the fritz and is causing her great pain. It just feels like none of this would be an issue if most of these people would stop being self-absorbed for three seconds and talk like any normal person would. It feels very CW drama, like something I'd see in a bad season of Arrow or The Flash. The only person whose issues I buy is Adora, who is basically a soldier who was never properly raised to deal with emotion or loss and is already struggling with the burden of being She-Ra, the legendary savior. I get why she's beating down on herself for not being able to do more even if nothing that happened was her fault.

Episode 11: JEEEEEEEEEZZZZ, that was such a good episode! Focused entirely on Adora and Catra and their past together. Like, just showing someone this episode alone could probably get them to want to watch the series. That was everything you needed to know about their dynamic and history together.

Also, that moment when Catra and her past self are looking at each other, while obviously Catra takes the opposite lesson, it reminded me of this fanart I'd once seen of Jason Todd, the Red Hood, looking at his past self as Robin. The past says to the future "You ruined everything". Catra could be happy but, ironically for someone who hates Shadow Weaver, she's probably going to be a lot like her, sacrificing everything for power and ambition.

Given the way she looked, I'm guessing Shadow Weaver is either addicted to the power of the Black Garnet or she suffered some kind of past injury and its power is the only thing keeping her going. Or both.

Episode 12: I'll be honest, Swiftwind being able to talk kind of gobsmacked and I needed a moment to recover. What a great voice they chose for that character.

So She-Ra is kind of like the legendary heroes from Rising of the Shield Hero, coming from a long line of people chosen to wield the sword. I tend to dislike chosen one types of stories because I think prophecy takes a lot of weight out of the character's actions, so this and Avatar are more what I like. The MC is special but not the only one who's ever been special and they can still easily fail. Their destiny was only to be able to use the weapon, not that they would succeed in any specific purpose.

And dang, Catra's turn against Shadow Weaver happened faster than I thought it would but I'm not complaining. That great "This is what you've really been preparing me for" speech and Hordak, again, being an intelligent villain. "Oh, this experiment could net me a MASSIVE gain and all it could potentially cost me is this rock I already gave away to someone who lately hasn't been producing any results and has been consistently disobeying me. Yeah, I'm going to let this play out."

Episode 13: That was kind of a brutal fight between Adora and Catra. Not the worst I've ever seen even in other shows for this age range (Samurai Jack, for example) but those punches are connecting and those claws are leaving marks.

Also, maybe I'm just misunderstanding the exact situation but shouldn't the good guys' side be called the Resistance instead of the Rebellion? Being a rebellion would imply they are rebelling against an established power or rule over them, but the actual conflict we are shown is the established power and rule that is the kingdoms of Eternia resisting an outside force that wishes to establish a new order over them.

Season 1 verdict: I'm into it. I'm definitely more invested in the villains' side of things but that's not a fault of the series, that stuff is just way more geared towards me than the current princess stuff. I actively am at attention whenever the horde main characters are on screen. For the good guys it's mostly Adora and the She-Ra stuff I'm invested it. That isn't to say I have any real dislikes for that side. Bow especially I'm liking much more than I thought I might. He has kind of this gravitational pull around him. You will be his friend regardless of how much you might want to resist. He's definitely the rock for everyone else to hold onto.

Minor side note, kind of like Korra in Legend of Korra, I love how even when her powers aren't active Adora is shown to still be pretty strong physically with how easily she was lifting people up at the prom.

And I was right, Scorpia is my favorite side character.

On to season 2!

Original Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/PrincessesOfPower/comments/nyll2e/going_in_blind_watching_season_1_for_the_first/

[queerbluebird]

Re: "People act like SPN canon in particular is sacrosanct"

I actually think there's trauma issues that make SPN canon specifically more contentious than usual. SPN has had so many different creative hands involved, many of whom have had obviously contradictory opinions. And some of those contradictory opinions have bumped heads in parts of canon that relate to IRL trauma. Like whether John is abusive or not. Obviously some of the creators think he is and depict him that way, and some of them think he is not and depict him that way. And while in some circumstances this sort of duality in canon might be a fun fictional debate, in this case it becomes (unintentionally and often without any fault on the part of people who see John as a good dad) a recreation of IRL trauma for some of the people who view him as abusive. Ie, people with abusive parents who've been gaslighted about it see canon depictions of John as abusive and then get told by that same canon and by other people referencing canon that actually he was a good and loving father who always did the best he could for his sons. And the reflex is to try to find out the truth: was he abusive or was it imagined? And even though it's not possible to get this answer from canon because the reality of this particular canon is that it was made by many people with varying and even contradictory intentions, people still end up looking to the canon to try to a) figure out some definitive answer and b) hold on to as evidence that the perception of John as abusive wasn't something made up whole cloth when people say "John was a good dad actually."

SPN for various reasons has a) attracted a lot of people with trauma to its audience and b) picked a lot of traumatic subjects to have conflicting canon over. I think that naturally begets a lot of people with an extremely heightened investment in what is and isn't canon even if they might otherwise not care.

Am I saying this is a healthy way to interact with the canon? No. But therapy is expensive and often inaccessible. So I don't think it's surprising at all that people are extremely invested in having their version of canon validated by people heavily involved in the creation of the original canon, or that we see a lot of this generally in the wider SPN fandom relationship with canon when this fandom is so large and active.

And not to tmi, but in the aftermath of the finale a queer meta writer I admired made a post saying it was ridiculous how many people thought Dean and Cas would have at least one more conversation when there hadn't been any canon evidence of bi!Dean or canon evidence of Dean loving Cas since season 8 and it literally took me over a year of personally compiling evidence before I felt confident enough in my own assessment of canon to feel like I didn't just get swept up in the hype and imagine all that. Knowing intellectually that the creators don't actually have any authority over how their work is received and that the best way to engage with canon is to treat it like a sandbox doesn't necessarily prevent getting invested in canon in unfortunate ways. And like, maybe I'm just projecting, but I've seen a lot more people a lot more worked up over ideas like 'The Winchesters comes down on the side of John being a good father' than stuff like 'angels didn't exist until season 4 and then got retconned into earlier canon timelines all over the place'.

I for one fully support Jensen Deankinny Ackles in his first fanfic writing endeavor.