#and this is one of my many reasons why i think kids shouldn't read warrior cats

[boilingrain]

Rain Draws Squirrelflight, Leafpool & Bramblestar a Few Times

Since these three won my poll on which protagonists I should draw, here they are!

They don't get as much art per character as Ashfur did, because that was one character and this is three. Trust me, this was faster and more do-able

So anyways, first up is the Squirrel herself!

I draw Squirrelpaw generally softer & bouncier looking than I draw Squirrelflight, because at this point in time she's just a kid. She has not yet witnessed the Horrors(tm)

Even when I was reading The New Prophecy for the first time as a kid, I always imagined Squirrelpaw/Squirrelflight as having little round ears. Maybe it was just the "Squirrel" prefix, but that trait has always stuck with me and I've always drawn her with small ears.

This isn't a trait unique to Squirrelflight with my designs though! In her family alone, Cloudtail, Alderheart, Lionblaze and Nutmeg also have small, rounded ears (Princess might also have them, but I haven't decided yet. I also haven't decided if any of Cloudtail or Lionblaze's kits have the rounded ears, but at least one probably does)

I wish that she had kept her telepathy thing with her sister, I honestly thought it was interesting. It's a shame that the Erins quickly ran out of uses for it and decided to pretend it never existed. This may or may not be why in my rewrite of Warriors that exists in my head (like many others in this fandom), the telepathy thing didn't stop existing as soon as it wasn't super useful the plot anymore.

Admittedly, she's always been my favorite of the cats who journeyed to the sun-drown place (though tbf, most of them didn't really get any proper development, and the other one was Brambleclaw. I do have a soft spot for Stormfur and Tawnypelt, though).

Also I... forgot to color Squirrelkit's mouth. Whoops

The lady with a somehow worse taste in men than her sister, Squirrelflight!

Please Squirrelflight, you could've done so much better than Bramblestar. You deserve so much better than Bramblestar.

That aside, Squirrelflight has been one of my favorites for a long time. I just think she's a fun and interesting character

I think I said basically all of the things I was going to say when I was talking about Squirrelpaw, tbh. Also, much like a lot of the fandom for some reason, I don't really remember much of what happened during OotS? I don't think Squilf was particularly relevant during that arc, but it's possible she was and I just genuinely do not remember.

Why is Omen of the Stars basically just a void in everyone's memory. What's going on there.

Anyways, those aren't the final designs for Lionkit, Hollykit & Jaykit in that little doodle. Those are just kind of rough concept designs for them, and when I eventually draw them they'll probably look different. Also this is tortie Hollyleaf propaganda

If Lionblaze can be golden (though I typically draw him as cream) when both of his parents are functionally black (brown = black when it comes to cats. Also Leafpool shouldn't be a brown tabby anyways, because her dad is red and her mom is cream, which is a dilute version of red. I should stop talking now, before I get too deep into rambling about cat genetics), then Hollyleaf can be a tortie. (Jayfeather's fine btw. Gray is a dilute version of black, and both of his parents carry dilute. Crowfeather from Ashfoot & Leafpool from Sandstorm)

Okay, I'll finally shut up about cat genetics now

If Squirrelstar doesn't happen, I will eat my hat. I will eat several hats.

I actually don't even know how old Squirrelflight is currently in the books. It doesn't help that the Erins are weird with ages and don't seem to know how cats work.

For my purposes, I choose to believe that the Clans have been at the lake for at least a decade, making Squilf at least 10 1/2 - 11 years old, depending on how old she was when the Clans left the forest territories. And putting her around that age would, in fact, make her a senior (for a house cat, at least. Real feral cats don't typically live that long, but tbf the clans have medicine and stuff, so their life expectancy might be longer than regular feral cats. But cats are considered seniors once they hit 10 years old)

Also all things considered, she's probably been stressed as hell for a while and experiencing the Horrors(tm). So she gets some gray on her muzzle from a combination of age and stress.

Honestly she deserves to go on a nice, relaxing vacation where she doesn't have to deal with the Erin's less than good writing choices and shitty treatment of female characters.

Anyways Squirrelstar's leader mark is her nose spot becoming star shaped, because I love it when leaders are depicted with some sort of star shaped marking. I eat it up every time.

I'll talk more about leader marks and how I do them at a later time, though.

Leafpaw! My sweet baby Leafpaw!

My version of Leafpool is big and very fluffy, and you can't stop me from drawing her that way

Right off the bat, you'll probably notice that her design has changed a bit from the original concept design that I posted, as she's now a tortie instead of a regular brown tabby. Admittedly, a big part of why she's a tortie now is that I just love torties & calicos haha

If anything, her name makes even more sense now, because the combination of brown and orange makes her look more like leaves during fall! :)

Why's Leaf a tortie but Squirrel isn't? Maybe Squirrelflight is a secret tortie, or maybe she's trans, who knows? (The actual answer is that I had already finished all the Squilf art when I randomly decided to have Leaf be a tortie, but I didn't want to go back and change Squilf's design because I love it)

I hope it's obvious that I love Leafpool a whole lot

Once again, Holly, Lion & Jay's designs in this are not their final designs and when I eventually get around to actually drawing them, they'll definitely have at least a few design changes.

Also it's really hard to draw tiny little newborn kittens on a small scale like this.

Anyways I've never actually read Leafpool's Wish, so I don't know if it proves or disproves what I'm about to say, but I think that with how much Leafpool loved her kits, I believe that she would've raised them herself if she had the ability to.

I also personally believe that if Squirrelflight hadn't decided to take in the kits, or if Leafpool had decided that she wanted to raise her kits instead of her sister doing it, Thunderclan wouldn't have done shit about it. I mean, she definitely wouldn't be as trusted as she was before, but I don't think she'd lose her job (at least at first) or be exiled. She was their only medicine cat, they literally couldn't do shit about it. Additionally, she's Firestar's daughter and also related to Sandstorm and Squirrelflight, who are both individually forces to be reckoned with.

She'd probably have to train an apprentice as soon as possible and then have to step down from her role as medicine cat, but I definitely don't think she'd be exiled or anything.

Leafpool but she sparkles

For anyone who didn't see my Ashfur post, some of the rules I have for Starclan designs is that Starclan cats are lighter in color and have sharper & more star shaped markings compared to when they were alive. They also have their appearances change over time in a way connected to their names, which is why Leafpool is starting to grow leaves out of her neck fluff.

Additionally, Starclan cats will typically have a sharper shape, to go with their sharper markings. You'll notice that while she has the sharper markings, Leafpool's fur is still soft and rounded.

I feel like Leafpool's whole thing with her trial would affect her Starclan appearance, but that's not really something that results from a trial, so her not becoming sharper in shape is the exception rather than the rule.

I didn't design a Dark Forest Leafpool, but I imagine that the changes she'd get there (because my DF cats have their appearances change based on their crimes) would be that she would still grow leaves out of her body, but she'd also grow feathers and would have particularly long and sharp claws that she wouldn't be able to sheath. Each of these things is representative of the "crime" that she was sentenced for (even though Spottedleaf, a Starclan cat, literally encouraged her to do that)

The leaves would specifically be holly leaves (representing, well... Hollyleaf), the feathers would be a mix of jay and crow (representing Jayfeather & Crowfeather) and the claws would represent Lionblaze (though for this one I went with something meant to represent his power instead of his name. With Leafpool being a medicine cat, I think it fits)

If Leafpool doesn't give Squirrelstar a life we riot

The bramble man

Honestly even as a kid Brambleclaw wasn't exactly my favorite character. I wasn't really old enough to really process how he sucks, honestly I just kind of remember thinking that he was boring. Maybe that's just the fact that I've always liked Squirrelflight & Leafpool way more than him, but I just didn't really care for his POV chapters during The New Prophecy

I did love the Hawkfrost scene, though. Because I wasn't on any warrior cats forums or anything as a kid, I didn't get spoiled about stuff like Hawkfrost's death or the Fire Scene (along with many other important scenes), so I think those scenes hit way harder for me.

When I was a kid reading Po3 for the first time, I genuinely didn't even suspect that Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw weren't Hollyleaf, Lionblaze & Jayfeather's biological parents. So you can probably imagine how shocked little elementary school me was

But anyways, yeah. While I didn't hate Brambleclaw as a kid, I just didn't really care about him.

On another note, my Brambleclaw/star design is pretty similar in shape to my Lionheart design (just with extra toes and not as big of a mane). Since Lionheart was Goldenflower's brother, I thought it would be interesting if while everyone else just saw Tigerclawstar in Bramble's appearance, Goldenflower didn't.

My Tawnypelt design has a more similar shape to Tigerclawstar, though.

Bramblestar!

Leader marks are usually an already existing marking that becomes star shaped (like how I made Squirrelstar's nose spot star shaped), but sometimes a new marking entirely will appear as the leader mark.

While I easily could've made one of the spots on the backs of his ears into a star shaped for his leader mark, I have plans relating to Bramblefake/The Imposter and Bramblestar's mark.

You'll see said plans in a moment, but what I will mention about it is that my Ashfur design has a broken heart shaped marking on his chest.

On an unrelated note, Bramblestar should have someone else name warriors for him because great Starclan is he bad at names.

There's totally nothing wrong with Bramblestar, what possibly could've made you think that

Anyways, a combination of the whole being possessed thing & Ashfur's broken heart marking have caused Bramblestar's leader mark to "break". It actually doesn't get fixed after he's no longer possessed, his leader mark stays that way.

The Imposter's fur is darker and droopier than regular Brambkestar. I don't have a real reason for the darker color (other than that it looks cool), but the fur is Ashfur's doing.

Another thing that is Ashfur's doing is the blue pupils. Bramblestar is supposed to have red pupils (due to him training in the Dark Forest in TNP), but being possessed kind of overrides that and so The Imposter's pupils are blue. They do turn red again after Bramblestar is no longer possessed, though.

Honestly, I still kind of wish that the theory that Bramblestar had rabies was canon. The possession was interesting, but I don't think rabies has even been mentioned in the series. Which is a bit surprising considering that it's basically a soap opera with cats, but then again the Erins sure do love taking the opportunity to ignore possible interesting new plots. Why do anything interesting when we could instead have a billion more badly written romances

But I will admit, it was interesting to have Ashfur come back to be awful again. I'm still mad that he got let into Starclan after trying to kill at least 4 people because he "loved too much" and that gave him more of an opportunity to pull this shit. They absolutely butchered Yellowfang after she died. Not really even recognizable as the same character as her living self.

I'm not doing more art for this post. I'm tired and I'm going to go get some sleep. Tomorrow I will get back to work on hypokit requests, but for now it is time to put away my art supplies and lay in bed.

[tobiasdrake]

I kind of want to break stuff out of spite. Like, even if we fail, our deaths won't untrash the place. It will be a lot of work to get it all livable again. So that's a small victory.

Then again, judging by all those cobwebs and the swirling clouds, I'm not sure the Dweller uses this place for much anyway. I'm pretty sure the mist is supposed to be spooky horror mist but given the state of this place, I think it's just a thick cloud of dust.

Seems pretty obvious that her main hobby is just wandering around replacing and relighting the oh my god why are there so many candles in order to maintain the spooky atmosphere.

In any case, there's an interesting book over there, so we should--

--burn it, apparently. The books are a trap.

*sigh* No wonder Roro doesn't read them.

Well, that's me eating crow. The spooky mist vanished after we burned the books. I should make a note of that for the future.

"Old Person Physical Media is Evil". Got it.

Oh, I would but I'm jazzed up on caffeine now. Thanks for the offer though.

In any case, we're now set for a full-scale de-cursing.

And yet, I'm clearing it out of each room with less than a minute of mayhem. It really makes you stop and think about how much more effort goes into creation than destruction. Violence can unmake in seconds what took weeks or months to build.

I would be mad about that given that you're a ghost but Garl is the best chef this side of ever, so you've got yourself a deal just so I can show his talents off. You're lucky I'm egotistic.

Eh, I know someone who eats banana and mayo sandwiches. We all have our weird tastes.

Fuckin' told you. Don't mind me, I'll be over here beaming with pride as if I was the one who somehow turned that nonsense of a recipe into something not only edible but phenomenal.

:D I am such a great manager!

A small detail that I really appreciate is that the Waltzers come in both opposite- and same-sex varieties. That's neat. Even among the undead, love is love.

Well, now we know where all the Maleficent Thorns in the forest came from. The Botanical Horror's responsible. I bet these things are, like, its buds.

That's fine.

Me and my buds are gonna torch this whole place.

And Teaks will record it all. For history.

OH NO THAT DEFINITELY NEEDS TO DIE. That's about an 8 on the Botanophobia Scale right there. FUCK THIS THING.

Now to see how Erlina and Bugraves are doing. Bet their part isn't going so well, given that we need some reason to explore the other part of the mansion before we fight the Dweller.

Oh. Uh. Bye? Didn't expect her to peace out this soon.

We should probably have asked her to take Garl with her, if it's. Y'know. Time. I really don't want him losing another eye on my account.

...she might be trying to avoid Moraine, given that she waiting until we were isolated from him to pop in and then popped back out before we hooked back up with him.

I suggested that she might be Yoyo earlier, but she also could be Momo. I still don't think she's either though, on account of her visible youth.

Momo's kid, perhaps? I dunno. I do think she's trying to avoid the more professional Solstice Warriors.

Thanks, we did it all by ourselves. Yep. I'm just awesome like that. Zale helped. A little.

No more postponing, Dweller. By the unstoppable might of the moon and slightly more stoppable might of the sun, we're here to conquer!

This does seem about that time.

Probably should have asked Serai to take him with her. We'd have to come up with an excuse for what became of him, but I'm sure Moraine would buy, "He realized it was a mistake to be here and bailed."

Simple enough. You hold up the piñata while the rest of us celebrate my birthday.

It's the winter solstice. We're nowhere near it. But Erlina, Brugaves, and Garl all missed like ten of them so I'm owed a belated party.

Aww, you shouldn't have. It's just what I wanted.

Wait, is this not going well? I thought this was going well. Okay, so maybe I was a little cocky but we seem to be doing pretty well.

So that's a yes. Something is definitely going awry that I am not aware of.

Any way we could, like, blast a hole in the ceiling?

HA! Just like that, our poor decision to bring a normie along is fully vindicated. If we win this battle, I am never letting Moraine live this down.

...sorry, I'll stop being smug and focus on the fight.

HOLY SHIT, GARL.

I'll stop being smug and focus on the fight but you'd better prepare yourself for at least a week of insufferable smugness when we're done here, Moraine!

You know what? I take back that piñata stuff. I regret cracking this thing open to see what's inside. I liked her better when all the disgusting horror was on the inside.

Nowhere to go now but through. We're committed to this.

With, like, a Moonerang? I don't remember this part of my--

WHY NOT!? @_@ WHAT THE FUCK, SERAI! I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS. We did an aggravated robbery together and every--

You know, maybe I need to learn to be a better judge of character.

[stimmypaw]

Warriored Cat Thoughts: A Reply To A BrambleFan

I read this fan article about Brambleclaw, and I wrote some thoughts about it and OP liked it so I decided to share them here also. All below but summary is that his development made sense, even if it upset the fans, people just missed some of his darker qualities probably.

First thing that I notice in this article is this: "In a relationship, there are two people (or cats) trying to work together, and it’s a two-way street. Fights are usually made when one person is struggling to meet in the middle, and a lot of the time, the fights resolve themselves and both people in the relationship grow and learn from their mistakes." Now this is very confusing, why does a relationship need the participating parties to fight? When I'm not managing to uh "meet in the middle" with someone I care about I try to talk to them, I never get into a fight with my loved ones, the one time that happened in my life things were very wrong and turned very unhealthy! I can't understand your argument that it's more realistic and healthy for Bramblestar and Squirrelflight to fight, interesting maybe because it's drama sure, but realistic and healthy I don't know. I don't remember the books I haven't read in a while but this argument doesn't seem to make sense to me. If fight was just a word for "Communication" you should have said that instead. Warrior Cats has some issues doing proper communication and it's definitely not where I'd go to learn about it but uh as the article continues, OP seems to think it is: "But the fact that they reconciled in The Last Hope continued and stayed faithful to the message of how fights are important for those in a relationship to grow and understand each other." I think the cool thing here instead was that they reconciled, that Brambleclaw was able to process what happened and feel better and grow to understand and trust his mate enough to want to be with her again, let me know if that's not exactly what happened since it's been a while since I read OOTS but I think the message here shouldn't and isn't that fighting with your loved ones is good. It's not good, it's ok that it happens sometimes but it's still a bad thing and you should solve your issues in another way, waiting for problems to break into a fight is not healthy or necessary in any way shape or form. If that's how any of you live, please change. Then, OP describes what he calls "the Onestar effect", in which a character becomes leader and loses their development as the authors pay less attention to them, consequently becoming a jerk Personally howerver, I think Onestar was made a jerk on purpose and, while it seemed a bit sudden it makes perfect sense plot wise :o He was young and inexperienced. He worried a LOT about his image. And there was a lot of pressure, and a whole coup, because of how nice and friendly he seemed specially to Thunderclan. I'd be very surprised if he still managed to seem nice and friendly after that, I think if he tried to do that he probably wouldn't have managed and Windclan would have coup'd him out eventually. He became a jerk and unfriendly as a result of all the other happenings in his life and that is very reasonable and uh in my opinion some good character writing. I think that could be the case for uh Brambleclaw being an incompetent leader too. OP says it was just for conflict but, it feels a bit like uh just his development in Bramblestar's Storm which was uh not fun I'll say that here I didn't have fun reading Bramblestar's Storm I thought it was kinda boring, but it's what happened to his character and his actions followed his development from there I think. He wants to be loved as a leader just like Firestar was. This bit actually I think has always been kind of there in his character? He feels hated because of his origins and he really REALLY wants to prove himself and feel better no matter what he has to do to get there He learns some lengths taken for respect aren't worth taking (like accepting attention from your father's evil deceased spirit) and uh I think the ending of Bramblestar's Storm tries to tell us he learns he is already respected and a good leader and he just needs to chill a bit. And maybe the thing from AVOS is that he's kind of too chill sometimes, his son is exploding with anxiety because of the prophecy and he's like "Calm down kid it's just a lil Starclan

you'll figure it out" like it isn't a real issue that is affecting all clans as he speaks. I've heard people say this is him being a bad father but I think it's him being a bad leader, he's like a pretty average father in my eyes not particularly bad just kind of uh not very existent maybe but that's the average for Warrior Cats fathers, Alderheart seems to think kindly of him and their relationship but we don't actually get to see them uh bond that much, they have a fun interaction once or twice I think??? It's like, really average. Hm, in conclusion, Brambleclaw has always been average! A cat with flaws and qualities, and uh a lot of his flaws stayed and some got worse or more visible with time. As the readers grow our vision of the stories do too, and things won't always be the way they seemed when we were kids.

[fillingthescrapbook]

Rewriting The CW's Kung Fu, Part 9: Reflections and Moving Forward

And we have reached the end of our Kung Fu journey. If you haven't seen where we began, here's a handy guide to the previous posts:

Part 1: The Characters

Part 2: The Pilot

Part 3: The Mythology

Part 4: The Story Map

Part 5: Act I

Part 6: Act II

Part 7: Act III

Part 8: The Finale

Before I start with the lessons I learned and my other reflections, I want to thank @flailingbloo for all of her help and support in this endeavor. Without her to talk to and commiserate with, I would probably have gotten stuck in Act II forever and everything I've written would've been riddled with spelling errors and grammatical mistakes. So my eternal gratitude to flailingbloo. And now, we begin:

Lessons.

Going into this writing exercise, I already knew it was going to be hard. Writing stories is time-consuming, it's nerve-wracking, and it takes a lot of research...and patience. Writing, especially for television, is also not a solitary task. I mean, sure, the writing itself needs to be done alone--but everything that comes before, during, and after the writing needs input from so many people.

Although I have a lot (and I mean A LOT) of complaints about how The CW's Kung Fu was handled and written, I do have a lot of respect for the work that the writers put into their scripts. And I do appreciate all that they have done to have a show like this produced.

Doing this rewrite, I learned that it's really important to make the main character likeable. Like, every episode I broke down, I had to ask myself: is Nicky likeable here? Is she someone who viewers would want to root for? Like, for me she is, but only people who read what I wrote can say for sure. My perspective is now a bit skewered because I have bias.

Second, story maps are very helpful. There were times, especially during Part 6 (where I wrote breakdowns for Episodes 6 to 9) where I kept getting road-blocked by where I want the story to go. So I went back to the story map over and over again, to remind myself--where does the story itself need to go? How do I help the characters get to the point where they're ready for what needs to happen? (This is also where flailingbloo helped the most for me. Like, she really reminded me why I was doing this rewrite in the first place. Because I care about Nicky and the show. I wouldn't have funneled so much of my time and effort into this if I didn't.)

Another thing I learned, or rather re-learned, is the art of letting go. I created the character of Stanley to recur throughout the series as a reminder of who Nicky was and who she is becoming. And then I finished writing the first act without even mentioning him. By the second act, I was ready to use him finally--but, after multiple false starts, I realized Stanley was one of the reasons why I was having a hard time pushing Nicky's story forward. Because I kept trying to go back to the past. So I decided in the writing of the second act to shelve Stanley completely, only to find him popping up in the second to last episode in a, at least I hope, more organic way.

The last thing I learned in this exercise was that, whenever a new character needs to come in, I have to look at my existing characters first to see if any one of them can fulfill the role I needed for the story. Like, creating new villains for Nicky was fun, sure--but, at the same time, I realized that there were already existing villains that could recur. Like the Triad, who played villains in two more episodes after the pilot; and Henry's martial arts class at the community center became the source of two existing storylines from the actual show.

Reflections.

Do I think what my rewrite is better than the show? To me, yes. But, again, I am very biased. That said, I am proud of how I utilized the characters that the show created and didn't really give much importance to. Dennis, when he was introduced, felt like a rich character that could provide a very different point-of-view from the Shen siblings--but he was mostly relegated to being eye-candy. And I thought I gave him more meat by making him more involved in Althea's sexual harassment storyline, while also involving him in Nicky's stories.

That said, I also realize that I wasn't able to play up Nicky and Evan's past relationship as I was writing the episodic breakdowns. I was able to give them a lot of opportunities to explore their chemistry together, as I did with Nicky and Henry, but I kind of dropped the ball as a writer on guiding those planted moments into something more significant. Granted, I only wrote breakdowns and not actual scripts. Maybe I could've explored the romance angle more with a little sprinkle of direction and dialogue.

As I went deeper into the rewrite, I do see how easy it is to fall in love with characters as you write them. It's very easy to trap yourself into wanting villains to be more well-rounded. I keep having to remind myself that I don't have to redeem everyone. Just Nicky. Which became harder and harder as I went further and further into the story.

Another thing that became difficult as I went on? Keeping the mythology from just bursting open. That's how Henry, as I wrote him, evolved into becoming the son of a guardian--just so there's a reason for him to be so invested in Nicky's quest, while also having someone who can explain things to our main character. I'm actually really proud of that evolution.

All that said, I also have to recognize that I rewrote the show with the benefit of hindsight and the lack of budget constraints. In the real show, there's a group of writers who each have their own ideas of what the show should be. (This is where a head writer--not a show runner--would come in handy, so they could reel in the story to what needs to be told.) With more writers comes more chances for inconsistencies to happen. (And this is where a script supervisor, or a writing assistant, could come in handy.) And then there's production notes and budget. Not to mention, you know, the whole pandemic that's still happening. I didn't have to think about those things while doing this rewrite.

So, again, I want to give the writers kudos to actually producing scripts. I hope they haven't lost their minds--or their will to write--just because there are people like me who nitpick at everything. That's what people who love things do. We nitpick because we care.

Moving forward.

I do plan to stick with the real show for Season 2. I hope it's planned better. I hope they get researchers (plural!) and a writing assistant to help in the writing room. I hope the writers would sit down with the cast to discuss and develop the characters more. And I really hope they hire a better fight choreographer and fight director for the second season. (Like, rehire the people who choreographed and filmed the flashback scene in... Episode 11? The one with Nicky's maternal grandmother and Pei-Ling's own mother?)

I hope that the Nicky-Henry relationship gets explored realistically, and if a potential new love interest is ordered, they get introduced in a way that isn't antagonistic. Make them more well-rounded characters too, please. Make us want to root for their success. And while I think Nicky doesn't have an iota of chemistry with Evan, I do like Evan himself as a character. So I hope they get him more involved in future storylines--as an outsider looking in, sure, but also as an honorary member of the Shen family.

With regards to the Shen family, I do hope that we get to explore their relationships and dreams more before the show drops the reveal about Mei-Xue's daughter. I want Althea to have a cohesive storyline that doesn't pause for no reason. I want Ryan to explore being Asian AND gay as a first-generation Asian-American. And give the Shen siblings some recurring friends. They don't have to be semi-regulars (unless there's a story that can be explored) but let's not keep the Shens in a bubble. It was weird in the first season. Especially for Althea whose friends only showed up for her bachelorette party and never again. Not even when she was panicking about wedding preparations, which, considering how rich Dennis's parents were? They wouldn't let Althea be in charge of anything. They would hire a Chinese wedding coordinator. And an expensive and hard-to-book one at that. They donated an entire hospital wing, for crying out loud.

I want Jin to have an actual character, and not just be the supportive dad who loves his kids very much (admittedly my own rewrite also made this same mistake). And I want Mei-Li to be consistent as a character. Like, no more surprise twists about being the descendant of a legendary warrior without proper foreshadowing and plot-planting please.

Dennis shouldn't just be eye-candy. The same applies to Kerwin. Sure, I get that shirtless men are a must in a CW series, but please give their characters some meat too. Dennis's nerd-side was never showcased in the show, and Kerwin had that poor little rich boy background that didn't get explored either. Because the show was too busy keeping him and Zhi-Lan tearing each others' clothes off--when they're not tearing other people down.

Also, don't drop the ball on the tease that Bian-Ge is now everywhere. If I understood correctly, Bian-Ge is Kung Fu's version of Qi. If yes, then I hope they treat it respectfully as a force of nature--and not just the source of magic. The flowers from Bian-Ge itself can be magical, sure, I have no problem with a fictional flower being a McGuffin.

Finally, I hope the show also explores other Asian communities and cultures. Like, Kung Fu is great--but imagine if Nicky had to face someone who is versed in Silat Melayu? Or someone who uses Arnis? Someone who practices Kalaripayattu or Lathi Khela? Or Kuntao? Imagine Nicky having to use Wing Chun against someone who uses Karate or Krav-Maga? Asia is a big continent and there are so many different types of martial arts found from the Middle East to Southeast Asia. Kung-Fu is an umbrella term, so it'll be great to see the different styles found under it.

... This went long again. Sorry about that. Funny thing is, when I started this whole rewriting plan? I thought it would take three posts, tops. And look at us now. Nine posts deep, and it seems I still haven't run out of things to say. So I'm cutting myself off before I completely wear out my welcome.

But if you've read all my Kung Fu posts, please do reach out. Let's discuss the show and what it can do to produce a better second season.

[doodledust2017]

Wow! Someone tagged me??? Thank you so much @quinndecker214! I don't really have any OCs from any games that aren't self inserts why am I like this, so I guess I'll do one from a story I'm working on called The Lepers. I hope that's okay 🥰

If you're reading this and you really want to do this interview thingy, then guess what? I'm tagging you! :D

Mainly because I don't know who to tag

1. What's your name?

"Gabor. Nice to meet you."

2. Do you know why you’re named that?

"Yeah, I was actually given this name when I was, like... yeesh... 19 I think? It means 'God's greatest warrior', which I think is a bit much, but I am a good fighter, I suppose. My given name is Azrael. It means... Well... 'Archangel of death'... yeah I think you can see why I changed it."

3. Single or Taken?

"Ha! Single. Not to many girls into the whole 'cabin in the woods, living off the land' thing."

4. Have any powers or abilities?

"Yooou'rrrre... joking... right?"

5. Stop being a Mary Sue.

"Mary what? *chuckles* Come on, I know my hair's getting long, but that's hardly a reason to call me a girl.

That reminds me, I should stop at the barbers on my next trip into Empyrean."

6. What’s your eye color?

"Brown. Well... My grandma calls 'em russet."

7. How about hair color?

"Black. I like it that way. Helps me blend into the night when... uh... necessary..."

8. Have any family members?

"My parents, I suppose, but I'm honestly not really close with them. My grandma on the other hand, is more of a mother to me than my real one could ever be!"

9. How about any pets?

"No pets. Just my loyal companion, Aala... Ah, did I forget to mention she's a hawk? She helps me hunt rabbits, small birds and things. Some would call her a pet. I would call her a friend."

10. That’s cool, I guess. Now tell me something you dont like.

"I... Well, I suppose I'll be honest... I don't... really like... myself... uh, yeah, sorry, I... I shouldn't have- L-let's just move on."

11. Any hobbies or activities you like to do?

"Oh, that's easy. Hunting with a bow and arrow. Hands down my favorite thing to do. I don't always kill the animal, though. If I already have all the meat I need, sometimes I'll hunt down an animal just to... y'know... watch it, I guess.

Hey! Don't judge!

Watching deer graze is very relaxing!"

12. Ever hurt anyone in any way before?

"Well, yeah, I suppose. I'm not proud of it, but that's part of being... human I guess."

13. Ever killed anyone?

"Ah, that's... that's quite the question. Well, I... I did say I'd be honest a couple questions back, didn't I? Okay, alright, well, I was 18. 18 and... I was so young... It was an accident I didn't mean to, he was going to hurt my dad and... and... and I broke... I broke...

14. What kind of animal are you?

"This is what you choose to ask after that last question!?

S-sorry, I didn't mean to snap.

Alright, I guess you could say I'm a lion. I would do anything to protect my family and I have a strong 'bite', I suppose you could say. I'm also pretty strong willed."

15. What are your worst habits?

"Worst habits, hm? I dunno, it drives my grandma crazy when I leave my bow and arrows lying around in random places."

16. Do you look up to anyone at all?

"Other than my grandma? Elohim. The King of Empyrean. It's incredible how he just spends time with all of his subjects. He knows every one by name, he helps them with their duties, he plays with the children. It's just amazing."

17. Gay, straight, or bisexual?

"Straight."

18. Do you go to school?

"Nah, been there, done that."

19. Ever want to get married and have kids?

"I suppose I'd like to, sure, but realistically I don't think I'd be a very good dad."

20. Have any fangirls/boys?

"Oh, yeah, most definitely, everyone's lining up at the door for my autograph.

You hear that?

Those aren't crickets, that's actually the sound of the paparazzi taking my picture."

21. What are you most afraid of?

"Yeesh, what's up with these random deep questions amidst the fun, goofy ones?

Okay, okay, fine, I'm afraid of myself, happy?

And also crabs, but don't ask why.

Seriously, don't."

22. What do you usually wear?

"This. White shirt, green pants, gray cape, black boots. Earthy colors, you know? Helps me blend in with the environment."

23. What’s one food that tempts you?

"Oh, man, nothing beats a good slice of cornbread that is absolutely doused in honey... my mouths watering just thinking about it!"

24. Am I annoying to you?

"What? No! No, of course not, why would you think that?"

25. Well it’s still not over.

"Good! I enjoy making conversation. Wish it wasn't so focused on me, but that's alright."

26. What class are you?

"Class? Oh, like Level? Well, back home in Malaise I'd be forced to live as a level 3 which is, uh, upper class I guess you'd call it. But here in Empyrean we don't have levels or classes. As long as you got food, family, friends, and a good roof over your head, you're the richest man in the world.

Heh. That was weird, I'm pretty sure my grandma was the one speaking just then."

27. How many friends do you have?

"Oh, I don't know. I guess I just have five close friends. My grandmother, Elohim, Mr. Alden - ah, the butcher, Trista - that pretty young girl I met in Malaise when visiting grandma, and her friend Odysseia. Well, I'd say it's a love-hate relationship with Ode. I lovingly tease her, she unconditonally hates me, it's a great friendship. And of course there's also my best friend, Aala."

28. What are your thoughts on pie?

"Delicious! Kaarina, the baker, makes the best rhubarb pie you'll ever taste in your life!"

29. Favorite drink?

"A nice hot coffee with just a touch of honey to cut down the bitterness a little."

30. Favorite place?

31. Are you interested in anyone?

*blushes* "Me? Interested? Ha, that's, uh, that's ridiculous! I mean, Trista's nice and all, but it's not like she'd ever see me in that way or anything, heheh..."

32. Would you rather swim in the lake or the ocean?

"Well, I've never swam in the ocean, even though it was right next to Malaise. Wasn't allowed outside the city limits, y'know? And when I did finally sneak out, my priority was making it to Empyrean, so... I guess I prefer swimming in the lake."

33. What’s your type?

"My type? I dunno... kind and honest are the two main things I look for. Not to picky, otherwise."

34. Any fetishes?

"Right, I'm gonna take a pass on this one."

35. Camping or outdoors?

"Aren't they the same thing? Unless by camping you mean those stupid travel trailers. It's not camping unless it's in a tent. Or even just laying on a blanket next to the campfire."