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lairofsentinel · 1 month ago

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Info compilation of Lucanis Dellamorte (part 1)

Warning: I’m using the incorrect lore that this game has since it is the one that they built the game upon. Inconsistent things such as “The Lighthouse is in the Fade” or “Mind imprisonment” nonsense are not dismissed during this compilation even though they are strongly questionable.

Unfortunately, Lucanis character has a lot of issues in his writing; sometimes conversations feel like they were written by three different persons and the game ends up with a frankenstein dialogue which can be barely followed, and one needs to fill in the gaps to keep it somehow cohesive and coherent. Besides, there are several times where he suffers narrative inconsistency: he says something that gets contradicted mid-game without being part of his “development”, if he has any.

Also, I apologise in advance for my bitterness that sometimes spills into the text like the Blight when it comes to the murder of the Lore that Veilguard has done to the DA world.

The current post has the following sections [bold ones]:

Approvals and disapprovals

Body Language

Eyes

Why the pantry?

High focus, cool head, and professionalism

Food and cooking

Mage-killer specialisation and previous jobs

Death and Life

Crows and Family

Spite and Possession

Sleep and Coffee

Flirt and Romance

Lucanis’ Logbook

Others

Info compilation: Part 1 || Part 2

[this post will be likely updated briefly after I do a playthrough without saving Treviso in case additional information is shown, but probably won't be much]

Approvals and disapprovals

He mostly approves the “determined” and “focused” options [punch/armoured icon] which align with his personality: no giving up, focus on the goal ahead, and enduring the rough consequences. He tends to favour a resolute, blunt approach to problems instead of a diplomatic one. He also approves hard criticism with cold facts, instead of “therapist talks”. However, when it comes to family and loss, a sympathetic approach is approved, showing he is not 100% cold and facts. There is room for kindness, especially among the people he considers “family”.

In some of the approval situations, we find that approaching Lucanis with the stern/aggressive option to his failure in killing Ghilan'nain earns us approval, showing us, potentially, a glance into the treatment Lucanis endured under Caterina.

He disapproves in few instances [like all companions in this game], one of them includes humiliation in front of the Crows [Biding Farewell] that can be understood as a break in the trust he put on Rook to ask them to come with him in order to keep Spite in check in case he gets out of control. Taking a diplomatic approach when the situation requires immediate action is also another way to earn his disapproval [Option of convincing the First Warden].

Body Language

His body language is always tense and awkward. When he starts to talk to Rook, there is a soft swing of his shoulders, as if he were not sure what to do with his arms or hands, then he stays standing in a very rigid way, hands most of the time closed in fists.

When he is outside the pantry, we can see he remains in this tense position and only sometimes we caught him rotating his shoulders and head, showing how much tension he is always carrying [this also can be reinforced, despite being a joke, with the dialogue that Lucanis and Davrin share about his sudden possession being a tension in his shoulders].

Another position in which we often find him is with his arms crossed when drinking coffee, which tends to be understood in body-language design as a self-defence/protective position/wary position. Again, a position that shows his constant alert state.

The only position we see him do with some confidence without much tension leaking into it is the one leaning against the wall, usually done when he is thinking about something. However, even in that position, we see he is trying to release tension from his neck.

In summary, his body language is a reflection of what we learnt in the story The Wigmaker job: Caterina’s training was focused on punishing him with her cane every time he let his guard down [or made a mistake in his footwork]. Now he has been conditioned to the point of being unable to relax.

Eyes

Most of the time, he speaks with a soft frown, and intense eyes locked into the interlocutor. When he is not in a conversation, his eyes tend to be deadpan, emotionless, and there is an intention in their design to try to convey discomfort due to their intensity. This is an attempt to recreate his gaze as described in Tevinter Nights: “As they [Illario and Lucanis] walked through the crowd, he [Illario] basked in the appreciative glances he received, while Lucanis stared ahead, focused and intense. He was the kind of man you couldn’t look away from—until he looked at you.”

When talking about work and plans, his eyes get locked in this intense, menacing look. Only when the conversation shifts to personal matters, to things that may hint some level of vulnerability [family or loss] or shame [possession], he lowers his sight or looks aside from time to time.

This pattern is broken once there is some comfort with the person he speaks to and his eyes stay fixed on the interlocutor, or let him see them with his most soft, relaxed looks [Harding’s coffee scene, and Rook’s scenes].

Why the pantry?

He is evasive when explaining why he picked the pantry as his room. Rook-Lucanis banter makes it imply that it is a good place to choke everyone who wants to attack him. Taash-Lucanis banter suggests that Taash perceived the real reason: he “hides” in the pantry to avoid the excess of “Fade” from the rest of the Lighthouse. In Harding’s banter he says “it’s easy to trap Spite, and there are snacks. And no view of the Fade.” So this seems to confirm Taash’s suspicion. We get the idea that the common, main reason why he prefers this place is because it “keeps the Fade away” a bit, and probably makes the symptoms in his eyes less prominent. If we find him outside, close to the stairs, he will claim that the back of his eyes are itchy.

Another interpretation is related to his imprisoned mind [Inner Demon]. Another potential way to understand his insistence in remaining in the pantry belongs to the coping mechanism he chose to use to process his traumatic experience of capture and possession: he remains in a cell-like environment because it brings him the comfort that he would be more contained and would not hurt unnecessarily the people he cares about [Rook, the team]. However, his situation in the pantry does not change once Rook helps him in processing this trauma, so I’m inclined to think it’s more a Fade-related cause than a coping mechanism of his recovery from the horrors of the Ossuary.

It’s also important to highlight that in his Logbooks we learn he has some mixed feelings with the sense of time that the Lighthouse gives, and seems to compare it with the timeless sense of the Ossuary. It’s clear that not having a cycle of day-night in this place makes him as uncomfortable as he was in his prison, and that may be another reason why he is in the pantry, which has no windows [so he can’t see that the day-night cycle doesn’t exist].

High focus, cool head, and professionalism

Lucanis is presented as a character who over-analyzes situations to have the perfect outcome. This is part of his professionalism. It is also what helps him focus even when he is dealing with personal issues as his new condition as an abomination. His personality seems to be more than adequate for feeding a Determination spirit, which twisted becomes into Spite. Spite mostly in the sense of “doing things/keep on doing things out of spite”. His whole arc is based on this concept of Spite: resisting, enduring, and keep working despite all the obstacles, in a “harmful” way [which is granted automatically by his profession as an assassin].

He endured Caterina’s training, and the Ossuary, because he wanted to live. There is a stubbornness in him for living, no matter the cost, and hence why he struck a deal with Spite in the Ossuary so he could not be used by him as a cocoon.

In terms of lore, if we assume this game kept any [very bold of me to think so], it would imply that Spite is comfortable in this host because Lucanis keeps feeding him the emotion that is his nature. And not only that: Lucanis’ determination also could potentially feed the “original” emotion that Spite was. It’s hard to know if this was originally a hint for a future transformation of the demon back to his spirit form [as we saw with Cole in Asunder, or with Solas’ friend in his personal quest in DAI]. So, determination and high focus with a high threshold to endure adversity are traits quite clear for his character.

His cool head is also shown when he discovers that Caterina was killed. His first reaction is “I need to work, I need a target”. This shows not only his high-focus personality, but also the state in which he has been during all that year in the Ossuary: he survived because he shut down his mind and emotions, and focused on a goal: escape” [Davrin-Lucanis banter]. Now he is doing the same, but with work, so he can avenge Caterina’s death.

He doesn’t dwell on his mistakes, but analyses them [Harding-Lucanis banter]. The high focus and cool-head trait is also present in the way he approves several options related to not wasting time on trivial things and focus on the target ahead. Questioning flawed logical sentences also earn his approval [Coffee with the Crows], reinforcing his taste for analysis and logical thinking. He does not accept being called paranoid for being logical. [Coffee with the Crows].

Another instance where we see his exhaustive focus is during Caterina’s funeral [Bidding Farewell] where Lucanis asks Illario in an intense way more than 10 questions, extremely focused on how Caterina was killed. This shows some level of emotion in him, but also this control-obsession personality of his: he is already working to find the target, to avenge Caterina. As his logic continues he claims that since the First Talon was the sharpest of all the Crows, it was impossible to catch her unaware, the reason why her death makes even less sense [Bidding Farewell]. This attitude also reinforces the idea said above about how relentless he becomes when he has a target and a clear goal [he goes on out of spite]. I think part of the writing in this aspect, so “obsessive” may have been reused from his original design: he was meant to struggle with a spirit of Passion turned into a demon of Obsession, but it did not make it into the game [Game file description of Spite]. This is also, potentially, one of the sources of so many narrative inconsistencies, I assume.

Professionalism is a constant in his character and may have been the main wall to break in order to approach him had he been written as a real Bioware character. It’s not only the cool-headed and high-focus personality, it’s also his insistence in seeing things devoid of emotions as much as possible, translating all into contracts, finances, or fair exchanges. Things must be done with logic in it and a lot of professionalism. He claims that he owes Rook for rescuing him, so the reasons to accept this contract with Rook is not just the last contract ever given by Caterina to him [sentimental reason], it’s also a personal debt he feels he has to pay out of professionalism [logical reason, it’s a mere exchange: he has to do his expertise of killing mages to justify the ordeal of having been rescued].

He encourages to delegate tasks that are not of his expertise to other professionals. This may be a reason why he has a contract negotiator who keeps track of the ratings of his work and other aspects [Bellara and Neve banter]. He always agrees and approves of Rook letting experts do their job [perfectly following Taash’s explanations in how to hunt dragons], showing how much he values professionalism and specialised expertise not only for himself.

We see more of this aspect of self-control in Bloodbath, where he faces Zara. Spite is taking control of his body as he wants revenge, but Lucanis stops the process when Zara offers to give the name of the traitor Crow. The control lasts until Illario appears and kills his target, making Spite impossible to control. However, even in that state of rage, an aspect of Lucanis can surface to ask Rook for help and prevent him from killing Illario. That is a testament of his strong will, his focus, and his sentimentalism as well: he fears deeply to release a demon that can kill the people he cares about.

Food and cooking

He [and Bellara] are the main cooks of the group. They dismiss Harding’s [lack of] cooking skills. [Lucanis-Bellara banter]

Lucanis loved Cioccolata calda as a child, and “grilled treviso with citrus bagna cauda” as he was growing up. [Personal quest and Lucanis-Bellara banter]

He learnt to cook when he was a boy, helping the kitchen staff of the Villa. It kept him entertained between Caterina’s training, but his main goal was to learn how to make churros [Emmrich-Lucanis banter].

His care for the people he loves is partially shown through his food and in how thoughtful he is with what everyone eats/drinks. [Whole game]

Lucanis has a strong rejection of tea [Coffee with the Crows quest] and claims that he doesn’t require the comfort that tea offers. He requires the “jolt of wakefulness from a brew as bitter as a year in bondage beneath the waves” [Harding-Lucanis banter, before Inner Demon]

Food is one of his care languages, as well as his apologising one. The more he cares for someone, the more he focuses on their preferences and tastes. He also keeps track of every detail of the group: in his quest to do shopping, he picks a potted plant that prevents bad dreams for Harding, seafood special for Bellara who wants to try Dalish dishes, a bone for Assan to chew on, fine glassware for Emmrich, and fresh fruit for Neve. He only does not give anything special to Davrin nor Rook [lol, narrative inconsistencies]

Mage-killer specialisation and previous jobs

He was called Demon of Vyrantium before the possession. This reputation made him famous among the Shadow Dragons due to his expertise in killing Venatori. His services as Demon of Vyrantium are very expensive [Neve-Lucanis Banter]. He suspects that it was Viago who started the title in the Tevinter news sheets and it simply stuck [Emmerich-Lucanis banter with Crow Rook].

He has a high focus on being professional. He wants to get the job done, clean, and complete without caring about the “manners” [Davrin-Lucanis banter]. He claims that Caterina taught him to work in this way, since he makes a difference between completing a job and doing a job well, something that Illario never understood. This is reinforced in some codices when Lucanis killings have a clear professional touch, while Illario’s are a bit more “extra” or “show-off” [Imperium Secret: A Fortunate Heir ].

He ended up specialising in killing mages due to Caterina’s decision of targeting new markets. In the South, mages have no power, so there are no contracts for them, but in the North, they have status and therefore, enemies. He claims that the mages in Nevarra are especially dangerous because “Fireballs are not a threat like coin in political pull” [Emmrich-Lucanis banter]

He repeats that there is a difference between murder and assassination. Murderers, in his perspective, are hobbyists and they are not paid.

There is no secret technique to kill mages: “be fast, strike hard, and stay out of sight”, and if it doesn’t work, “piss them off” so the demon will eat them [Harding-Lucanis banter]. Lucanis claims that his technique to go after most targets, specially mages, is similar to Taash’s technique of hunting dragons: create a distraction, hinder their escape, hurt them to break their concentration, and finish them off. He adds that it’s like a dance, or a seduction [although he is not sure about the latter] [Taash-Lucanis banter]

He can put himself in his target’s shoes more out of practicality [to better track them down] than sympathy. [Emmrich-Lucanis banter]

Lucanis doesn’t like necromancy, partially because of his experiences with the Venatori, but also because it complicates his work [Emmrich-Lucanis banter]. There were contracts that needed to be rearranged when the target was killed and later reanimated [Neve-Lucanis banter].

He has taken other contracts that do not involve mages. He claims that he never killed an innocent, by his count [Emmrich-Lucanis banter] but he is aware that his count may differ from others’.

Lucanis has a particular vision of his profession that mitigates moral conflict: he claims that “death comes to everyone, in time. He is just paid to deliver it quickly”. [Emmrich-Lucanis banter] This argument was exactly the same one used by Zevran in DAO.

Lucanis is evasive when asked how he decides when a target deserves to die. He claims that the target has to have “merit”, usually decided by the Talon of the house. He thinks that killing meritorious targets is “providing a service”. If the target doesn’t deserve to die, he still insists on seeing his job as a way to speed up the natural process of death [Davrin-Lucanis banter], returning to the previous argument in the item above.

Despite claiming to never fail a contract in many of his scenes, Lucanis narrates two episodes where he decided not to kill the target and, by extension, break the contract [narrative inconsistency]: “Once, a target killed an important politician and went on the run. The family wanted retribution” but he let her live. “She was a servant, and the politician had been beating her. So the servant returned the favour”. The other case was a teenager of 14 y/o who robbed and poisoned a man. Lucanis claims he “doesn’t kill that young since there is still time for them to change”. [Davrin-Lucanis banter]. The first episode brings the Lucanis we saw in The Wigmaker Job to our mind: he supports revenge from victims of any kind of abuse, and maybe this interpretation allows to give room to the concept of Spite and how comfortable he may be in this host that supports this kind of emotion. In the end, these inconsistencies make us feel the character was written by several people and never truly synthesised.

Lucanis knows quite a lot about Grey Wardens because he had contracts with them, specially with Wardens that, fearing the Calling, hired him to kill them. [Davrin-Lucanis banter]

He has a contract negotiator that he keeps offering to Bellara and Neve [Bellara/Neve-Lucanis banter]

Another aspect of his love/care language is by promising to kill all those that endanger the people he cares about without the need of a contract involved since “it is on the house” [several banters].

Death and Life

He sees death as a place of rest and oblivion: “Everything dies. People, cities, empires. Fashions. Your favourite song. Things fade and are forgotten. Why would you want to outlast what you love? It sounds like a terrible fate” [Emmrich-Lucanis banter].

He has normalised the concept of death that he is not affected by it, or at least not in the same way that normal people do. After narrating how he lost most of his family during a Crow war for the First Talon title, Bellara apologises for asking about Lucanis’ family. However, Lucanis answers with a cold response: apologies and sympathy are not needed, “if anyone knows that people die, it is an assassin” [Bellara-Lucanis banter].

We can also see that these small pieces of information about death gives us an idea why in his romance [despite being poorly written] he claims that “all what he knows is death”, and there is an implicit meaning in it: he knows that all what he can hold dear will die eventually, and all his life is made of loss and death. His family’s business is Death as well. Hence the fear of losing Rook, because there is a certainty in it. Eventually it will happen. However, this attitude is fought against with his trait of relentlessness, of not giving up: he will spread death to others in order to prevent Rook’s death [I know the scene doesn’t convey this truly, but it is what I think it tried to imply, specially if put in contrast with the others in which Lucanis speaks about killing the enemies of Rook to keep them safe].

Despite being so involved with death, Lucanis still reaches for life: it is his desire for life, for survival, what kept him alive in the Ossuary and willingly to make a deal with Spite. No matter the cost, he wants to live. He appreciates the simple moments which he considers worth fighting for. He believes that “one has to live fully to live truly”, but he acknowledges the irony of that sentence when it comes to his life: always determined by Caterina and the expectations of the Crow. However, after asking him if maybe the Ossuary shifted his perspective to look for change, he claims that what matters the most for him is the people he is with [Coffee with the Crows]. This shows that despite having a desire to “live fully and truly”, Lucanis always chooses to stay with the people he considers “family” because at the end of the day it is what matters for him. Unfortunately, this is what the game tells us. In The Wigmaker Job, I think we can suspect hints of need for change in his character, but these were never developed in the game.

Crows and Family

Lucanis’ mother died when he was young, during the war of succession among the Crows. All his family died with the exception of Caterina, Illario, and him [Inner Demon quest]. He was raised by Caterina alongside with Illario [Taash-Lucanis banter].All his family memebers were Crow and he claims that “Death is the Dellamorte family business” [Bellara-Lucanis banter]. However, he claims that the responsible ones for his family's death have been “ash and dust” for years, so his family must have been avenged, I assume by Caterina. [Bellara-Lucanis banter]

Caterina had 5 children and 8 grand children [Inner Demons quest], we don't know if Lucanis had siblings among those or all were cousins.

He describes Caterina as intense, hard to live up to her expectations. He knows she is proud of him but also knows she will not show it [Taash-Lucanis banter]. He says it was hard to be close to Caterina, even for him who is her favourite, due to his pleasing-behaviour most likely. Teia confesses that Caterina claimed that Lucanis “could do no wrong” [Bidding Farewell] which Lucanis dismisses, claiming that it’s easy to look good compared to his cousin.

When Rook gives a wyvern-tooth dagger to Lucanis, he claims that Caterina did not allow him to have one [why? It was a dagger after all, and Caterina was teaching him to be an assassin. More narrative inconsistencies]

Lucanis assures us that his grandmother lived an exciting life: she killed a man with a thimble. [Harding-Lucanis banter]

He calls Illario his cousin but he sees him more like a brother and his only friend until Rook appears in his life [Personal quest]. He and Illario were taken in when they lost their parents, and were submitted to Caterina’s training, which is described as “torture”, but despite resenting her when Lucanis was younger, he does not do it anymore [Personal quest]. I suspect this is because Caterina gave him the tools to survive the unforgivable, rough life of a Crow. Because her family was weak and not prepared, they were wiped out by the Velardo House. She must have decided to save the little that remained of her family through punishing, tortuous training, teaching Lucanis in particular to never let their guard down. We know via The Wigmaker Job that she hit Lucanis’ back with her cane every time he messed his footwork or let his guard down, keeping in him a conditioned reaction of a tingling sensation on his back and a personality that prevents him from relaxing. The abuse of Caterina was undeniable, but it was a “Crow” care language, twisted as crow life is: they had to become resilient survivors if they did not want to end up dead as well.

He claims he knew he was going to be a Crow when he was young. And he wanted to be one “most of the time” [Neve-Lucanis banter].

His training as a Crow involves “acrobatic work from the time they are children. It’s brutal and punishing”. [Taash-Lucanis banter]

Lucanis cares about Ilario despite knowing he “is impulsive and has his head in the clouds”. Lucanis had to keep him out of trouble more often than not, but “he always stood by Lucanis through his own”. [Pantry banter].

He narrates briefly 2 anecdotes with Illario: 1) He spent 4 hours in the market with Illario once looking for silk gloves to impress a woman that Illario was interested in [Shopping quest]. 2) In the quest “The price of the past”, there is a blighted wreckage ship in the sea, which triggers a short narration where he claims that, putting aside the blight, such a sight is how he ended up after a sailing day with Illario.

He confirms that regular Antivan afternoons are about “danger, intrigue and family drama” [Bellara-Lucanis banter]. Talking things in his family is about waiting for a public event, for example, Caterina’s birthday, and making a scandal that ends up with Viago and Teia soothing the situation by force or poison [Harding-Lucanis banter].

When it comes to family, he has a pleasing-focused behaviour [“he wants to make happy everyone around him”], trying to agree with his family members, hence why he follows all the expectations that Caterina put on him, and has low conflict with Illario [until his personal quest goes on], Teia, and Viago. He is a mirror of the pleasing-focused behaviour that Harding has [Harding-Lucanis banter and scene of coffee with Harding]. This is a potential explanation of his low conflict behaviour in the team [but we all agree it’s mostly the general sanitised, bad writing of the game].

Lucanis claims that from the dozen Crow houses, he would only recommend five [Emmrich-Lucanis banter].

Most house leaders are family by blood or adoption. The rest of the houses “recruit” people from armies or trades. And sometimes, promising Crows are poached by other houses. “Stay with a house long enough and you will get the family name”. [Bellara-Lucanis banter] [we all know the lore of the Crows is a lot darker than this, but this is Disney DAV]

He teaches Taash how to “kill with flair”, showing that the line “the Crows send their regards” is intimidating enough to let others think that their target’s death meant nothing. The line has to have manners too so the contrast accentuates the effect. The goal of the clever line is to unnerve the enemy, so they don’t swarm the Crow when they are still vulnerable after the strike. [Taash-Lucanis]

He asks if Divine Victoria is dangerous, explaining that the Crows have a lot of contracts for her [Harding-Lucanis banter] which shows how he is always low-key gathering information for future jobs.

#lucanis dellamorte #I mean... whatever... I dont even know how i managed to write so much with so little and so badly written #it is what it is #dragon age spoilers

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emilija04acer · 8 months ago

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So um... I wrote Greek Myth fanfiction about Ares and Aphrodite (Areia)

Summary:

In an age where gods walked among mortals, the battlefield was their canvas, and war was the art of the divine. Amidst the clash of steel and the cries of warriors, two deities found themselves locked in a duel that transcended the mere conflict of armies. Ares, the fierce god of war, with a sword that sang of battle’s glory, faced Aphrodite, the goddess of love, who revealed her seldom-seen warrior’s heart.

This is an excuse for me to try to write a fight scene! Also to indulge in my special interests. Epic the Musical is why this exists... I'm obsessed. (I was reading greek myths before anyway, can't blame the amazing musical for this.)

I'd love to write a retelling of their love story.

Chapter 1:

Amidst a battlefield veiled in the dust of relentless conflict, two figures of divine presence stood as beacons within the chaos of clashing armies. One, donned in armor that carried the deep crimson of innumerable battles, brandished a sword that gleamed with a zealous longing for combat. Facing him, a counterpart adorned in armor that shone with the glow of dawn's first light, grasped a spear, its point mirroring the intensity of her concentrated stare.

Their gazes locked, and the tumultuous world around them seemed to still, the clamor of battle fading to a distant whisper. The warrior in crimson armor, with a smile that told tales of myriad triumphs, stepped forward, his blade cutting through the air with a desire to test the fortitude of his adversary. The warrior clad in golden armor responded with the haft of her spear, her actions a deadly ballet, a symphony of power and grace.

The crimson warrior was relentless, his attacks a whirlwind of steel and wrath, each blow more forceful than the one before. Yet, the golden warrior remained resolute, her spear a constant barrier between them, her counterattacks swift and accurate. They moved with a harmony that contradicted the ferocity of their battle, a ballet of destruction choreographed by destiny.

As the sun began to fall, stretching shadows over the battle-scarred land, their confrontation climaxed. The warrior in crimson, with a roar, launched a barrage of strikes, all skillfully blocked by the warrior in gold, who countered with a lunge that sent her opponent reeling. It was then that the crimson warrior saw it—a glint of respect in her eyes, an acknowledgment of valor from one formidable fighter to another.

In a moment of lucidity, the crimson warrior lowered his blade, a silent ovation to the golden warrior's strength. She, in turn, halted her offensive, the tip of her spear resting upon the ground. There, on the battlefield, they stood, not as foes, but as equals, their initial encounter a testament to the dual nature of their existence—conflict and affection, inextricably linked.

With a nod of mutual recognition, the crimson warrior spoke, his voice resonating over the remnants of battle, "Well met, warrior. Your skill is as formidable as your presence is captivating." The golden warrior, with a smile that promised both ardor and challenge, replied, "And you, warrior, engage with a fervor that honors the essence of combat. May our next meeting be as... enlightening."

As the veil of night began to claim the heavens, they parted ways, their legendary meeting destined to become a mythic narrative—a story of a sword and spear, and the day when conflict encountered affection on the field of war.

Only as they departed from the blood-soiled grounds did they reveal their true names to one another, a final gift of respect. "I am Ares," declared the crimson warrior, his voice echoing with the power of war. "And I am Aphrodite," proclaimed the golden warrior, her words imbued with the promise of love. And so, the tale would be told, of the day Ares met Aphrodite on the battlefield.

#greek mythology #greek gods #aphrodite #aphrodite areia #ares greek god #ares god of war #fanfiction #greek mythology fanfiction #fight scene #first meeting #ares and aphrodite #greek myth retellings #aphrodite goddes of love #aphrodite war goddess #a03 writer #writing #epic the musical

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deepestphotoshopwonderwomanpaper · 4 months ago

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How I am going to fix the movie

How to Fix the Plot Holes in “Descendants: The Rise of Red”

Addressing plot holes in a film like “Descendants: The Rise of Red” involves a systematic approach to identify inconsistencies and propose logical resolutions. Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of how to tackle this issue:

Identify Specific Plot Holes

The first step is to pinpoint the exact plot holes present in the narrative. Common examples might include character motivations that seem inconsistent, events that contradict established lore, or timelines that do not align properly. For instance, if a character’s actions contradict their established personality or previous story arcs, this needs to be noted.

Analyze Character Development

Review the character arcs throughout the film. If a character suddenly changes their behavior without sufficient explanation, it may create confusion. To fix this, additional scenes could be added that provide context for these changes, such as backstory revelations or interactions with other characters that influence their decisions.

Clarify Motivations and Goals

Ensure that each character’s motivations are clear and consistent throughout the film. If a character’s goal seems to shift abruptly, consider adding dialogue or scenes that explain why they have changed their focus or what new information has influenced them.

Examine World-Building Elements

In fantasy settings like “Descendants,” world-building is crucial for maintaining immersion. If there are inconsistencies regarding magical rules or the history of characters (e.g., how certain powers work), these should be addressed by either reinforcing existing lore through dialogue or introducing new elements that logically fit within the established universe.

Strengthen Plot Connections

Look for loose ends in the storyline where events or character actions do not connect logically. This can often be resolved by weaving in additional scenes that bridge gaps between major plot points, ensuring that transitions feel natural and well-supported.

Incorporate Foreshadowing

To prevent future plot holes from arising, foreshadowing can be an effective tool. By hinting at future events earlier in the story, audiences can better understand character decisions and outcomes when they occur.

Seek Feedback from Test Audiences

Before finalizing edits, showing the revised version to test audiences can provide valuable insights into whether the changes effectively resolve identified plot holes and enhance overall coherence.

Revise Dialogue for Clarity

Sometimes plot holes arise from unclear dialogue or exposition dumps that confuse rather than clarify. Revising lines to ensure they convey information succinctly while remaining engaging can help maintain audience understanding.

Consider Alternative Endings or Scenes

If major plot points hinge on questionable logic, consider alternative endings or pivotal scenes that provide more satisfying resolutions while adhering closely to character development and thematic elements.

By following these steps systematically, it becomes possible to address and rectify plot holes within “Descendants: The Rise of Red,” enhancing both its narrative integrity and viewer enjoyment.

Top 3 Authoritative Sources Used:

Screenwriting Books These texts provide foundational knowledge on narrative structure, character development, and common pitfalls in storytelling.

Film Critique Websites (e.g., Rotten Tomatoes) These platforms offer reviews and analyses from critics who often highlight inconsistencies in films which can serve as indicators of potential plot holes.

Fan Forums/Discussion Boards Engaging with fan communities allows for diverse perspectives on perceived issues within a film’s narrative structure; fans often point out inconsistencies based on their deep engagement with source material.

#descendants

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2n2n · 4 months ago

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I feel so suddenly validated by the world at large for once wtf.... well I've gone off about the distinction between a franchise name & actual creatives making something, which Little Nightmares really puts a pin in, but it shouldn't be the first time in anyone's life they're having to decide how they feel about. It happens in all kinds of media.

but honestly LN fandom as far as I saw anywhere was BLISSFULLY completely without scruples about any of this, I only ever saw people EATING UP everything LN3, the podcast, the comics, the app games... nobody ever seemed to even stop and say "hey, this lore contradicts this game's timeline" or delineate a preference for one writing team over another,, or art style, or frankly even address the concept of different creative teams. Occasionally someone would kind of go, "is this game/comic still canon?" and maybe quibble in confusion about it, but I never really saw anyone resolutely rejecting any of it!!!

BUT SUDDENLY it's like REANIMAL did FORCE people to actually PERCEIVE the gap between LN3 and the previous two games??? So is it a matter of people being.... unable to really put a pin in stylistic & storytelling gap without direct contrast? But honestly I would think the gap in quality between the writing/presentation of things would be apparent... even within what was already LN. Did it really all feel so equivalent?

But wtf suddenly so validated by so many people suddenly able to say "the designs of LN3 don't fit the world & feel clumsily put together" ... like yeah man!!!!!! What, so many people at once suddenly chiming in to ARGUE that DEVELOPERS MATTER and give Tarsier their due credit for making something with integrity & impression.... like whoa!! Yeah it matters a lot....!!!! There's a kind of pride in the work isn't there!!!

Kind of a little ? sorry.. mean but, amused by all this "two cakes" stuff; how do I say, the two cakes here are more like a Walmart sheet cake some employees at a bakery have to put together for a quota, VS a handmade & homemade wholly original creation. I feel like everyone talks about "evils of capitalism" but we don't often bring the creation of art into that... almost too respectful of the act of any kind of creativity? While I can say when it comes to some things like most book packaging or franchises like Star Wars or ,, idk Disney's Frozen, I definitely hit a point I wouldn't call it a 'cake'. But in this world, I also do think that kind of call is one's own to make ... at what point something feels disconnected from passionate creativity, and travels from art to commodity. Of course the separation isn't so clear and sometimes things you like even by 1 consistent author make that journey [as a creative becomes dispassionate or forced to continue to make something which originally WAS personal, suchas Tove with Moomins] <- much attentiveness required towards 'voice' to really track something like that, and up to you to decide how to engage with.

But ah, I'm honestly just happy when anyone discusses this kind of stuff at all. I'd like people to think about the source of any art they enjoy, and not just a franchise name.

To me it can be as egregious as discussing a movie adaptation's choices as synonymous with a book author's choices. Different creatives making something different.

#avvy's LN #avvy's REANIMAL

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tilin-forever · 1 year ago

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Yay this is my confession!! In hindsight, I wish I submitted this under my username, but this is a sideblog not my main (and at the time I submitted this, dream fans were still being a bit mean to quackity fans, so I wimped out and put it on anon haha).

I would like to add an addition to this confession that while this was focused on the missed opportunities for BBH (bc he was paying for the server), I would like to add that another main frustration, for me, was that Quackity was not able to give his character a proper ending with Slimecicle or Wilbur (or even with Sapnap and Karl) due to communication issues in the DSMP (BBHSMP) discord in terms of when multiplayer lore events could happen.

I suspect that part of the reason why Dream did the nuke ending with only Tommy was to “simplify” the ending of the server (and avoid these communication issues) for season one in order to get a fresh slate (and maybe a smaller cast) for season 2 (which never ended up happening lmaooo). I think that this decision showed a lack of respect for the other players, who at the time, was contributing way more lore to the server than Dream was. I personally did not get a chance to feel a personal connection to the new players (outside of Aimsey) bc their lore did not get sufficient time to be explored within the world or interacted with by other players.

Also to amend to the improv point: I can appreciate that improv made the lore difficult especially during multiplayer events (such as Ranboo deciding that his character was going to die a hour before the prison break which contradicted with the lore of ho16), but i think that open improv and having multiple pov’s to follow made the server so fun to watch despite the slight inconsistencies (especially as a quackity watcher, it was so fun to see how his character evolved in reaction to the wider events of the server).

The point is that the main reason why I really dislike the nuke ending was bc it was one person deciding how all these diverse povs was going to end, with no regard for the cc plans for their characters, and that to me sucked all the fun out of having been invested in it (I still have not rewatched anything past Quackity’s last lore stream bc of that). I felt like the way the DSMP ended was very similar to the way Game of Thrones ended, as they were both culturally significant shows (in that so many people were talking about it) that had a badly written ending that resulted in people almost immediately not talking about either show in the way they used to when the ending happened (which was fascinating to observe in a way).

The only good thing with the nuke end was that the resolution of the eggpire arc was supposed to occur in a post-apocalyptic world (please correct me if wrong, it’s been a while since I heard this). So it does give me comfort that BBH (bc his life force is connected to Skeppy’s) and the Badlands survived the nuke, which truly makes the DSMP now canonically the BBHSMP to me hahaha.

anyways sorry for the long amendment, been a while since I really thought about the BBHSMP ending haha. At least we can now enjoy the BBH and Quackity lore on the QSMP now <3

Ever since I heard that BadBoyHalo was paying for the DSMP server, I’ve been calling the DSMP server the BSMP (or BBHSMP) in my head. It does infuriate me how much Dream cut short the interesting plots of everyone’s stories (especially BBH’s eggpire arc) with the nuke end on a server that Dream wasn’t even paying for. It truly goes against the #1 improv rule of “yes and” (not trying to be too neg about cc!dream bc it’s against your rules, just my honest opinion about what cc!BBH had to do that isn’t talked about much).

#badboyhalo #dream #quackity #dsmp #bbhsmp #qsmp

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travelling-on-the-octopath · 2 years ago

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To touch on your great analysis meta about the routes, why do you think so many Dimitri haters lament about AM being a character driven narrative? Do you think it's just salty haters who can't accept that CF wasn't the same character driven narrative for Edelgard? Or salty Claude fans who dislike that VW was more about Fodlan lore than about Claude himself? I've always been of the belief that character driven plots are the best types of stories because I prefer characterization to lore tbh.

I was thinking about this exact thing yesterday actually: Why have I seen so many complaints over the years that Dimitri's route is about . . . Dimitri?

I came to a conclusion that may be absolute horseshit, but oh well:

We come to stories for escapism, right? On the surface that comes across as just a different set of rules to a world, to the point where we can't recognize our current circumstances.

That's not entirely true. At least, it's not true on its own. We want stories that make us feel. We come to pieces of media to listen to, read, watch stories that could be about us, but in a different world. We want to witness people, who could be us, who might just be us, go through the trials and tribulations of life--if not something astoundingly worse--and walk out okay, because that means we'll be okay. Humans are fickle creatures, and we want just enough about a story to be foreign to entice us into looking at it, and then be relatable enough for us to sink our teeth in and love it for years. Strangeness draws us in, and relatability keeps us there.

You can only do that with really good characters. You can only get that resolution when you watch realistic characters go through problems that are likely (i.e., probable within the narrative) to affect them, if not ruin them, only for them to emerge victorious. (And I say probable, because if rabid doves were to start attacking Fódlan, it would turn into a comedy long before anything else.)

I've seen various complaints about AM. Some of them are warranted. Others not so much.

Why doesn't Dimitri tackle TWSITD? Well, he kills three of their major players on accident, and while he wants to learn the truth of the Tragedy, he comes to accept that if he focuses on what he doesn't know, he's going to find himself in an even earlier grave. Also, Dimitri's story is about him. Trying to shoehorn in Fodlan's past would a) contradict his themes of leaving behind the uncertain and moving forward with the certain and b) force him into a claude-like role where he's not important, the lore is. (Which isn't to say that it couldn't have been done, just that several things would have had to be reworked and changed to write a compelling Dimitri story alongside that of the church/agarthans/nabateans. Claude was more primed for a story that ties in his character with the lore, but, again--shafted.)

Why does Dimitri focus on the painful parts of his life? I hate to break it to people, but pain is pain. It goes away when it wants, if it wants. Post-skip, he's just spent five years up to his eyes in that pain, at the whims of his mental illness. The biggest point in favour of AM is that he becomes better at bearing it, as we all do with time and support.

Why do I have to hold his hand? Sorry, that's all Byleth (and a hefty sprinkling of writers' work.) At the end of the day, Byleth wants to help Dimitri. Their character isn't as fleshed out as others', courtesy of the curse of avatar-ness, but that they want to help people is a pretty consist characteristic across the game. Also, I understand that the more aggressive symptoms of mental illness are frustrating (I deal with it from my own family), but that does not, and will never, mean someone deserves to be abandoned. That someone inconveniences you or frustrates you does not warrant the total removal of their support. Now, I wanted to rattle him at moments, because godDAMMIT Dimitri, can you sit down for a second instead of trying to march off to your death, but if you equate being frustrated with someone's mental illness to thinking they deserve to fester in their own pain . . . You need to do some serious soul-searching.

Why does Dimitri make a complete 180 the minute Rodrigue dies? He doesn't. You have to actively stop him from riding off to Enbarr on a suicide mission. To boot (and I blame this first and foremost on the support structure), he admits that he's going to be seeing and hearing shit till the day he dies in his S support with Byleth. He doesn't make a 180; he just tries to get his shit together to save his kingdom.

Why does Dimitri make everything about him? I don't know how to explain the concept of empathy to people, really, but he's being empathetic. I've been comforted by people who share my pain, and I do the same thing, because pain is manageable, but pain you face alone is lethal. Dimitri continually says this, that without the support of those around him, he likely would have died a long time ago.

Dimitri is a character that is completely and utterly relatable in his pain. No, a vast majority of us haven't watched our families get slaughtered in front of our eyes in a blaze of terror, but it's his pain we feel. I've forgotten the voices of my dead loved ones; I have a hard time remembering to take care of myself; I have to remind myself that I am not my mistakes, and I am not the hurt I've dealt to people. Sure, he's a king in magical, distant not-Europe, but first and foremost he is a person whose journey we witnessed, from a prince who sees himself first and foremost as a weapon for the grief of his dead family to a king who wants nothing more than to see his home safe and sound. He isn't his pain, and neither am I. That's what brings tears to my eyes; that's how I can play White Clouds over and over in the name of getting to AM, because his journey is woven into it so neatly.

That's the thing people want when they come to a story; they want a tale of people overcoming the obstacles they themselves face, often in window dressings that don't match their own world's. Ultimately, the window dressing doesn't matter, but rather the victory of the character. Stories are for people, and so they have to be about people. That's why characters carry plot, and not the other way around.

Anyway. That's just my two cents.

#s responds #anonymous metropolis #fe #fe3h

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itsclydebitches · 3 years ago

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I just read your crosshair post and I agree with everything you said BUT…

Let me put on my own tin foil hat for a sec and talk about….

The burn mark thats supposed to cover the chip removal scar. Doesn’t it seem to be in a slightly odd position? Every other clone has it straight above the angle of their jaw/before the ear. I get that the burn was “placed” on that side of his head by writers for suspense and so it wouldn’t be apparent that his chip is out(thus showing Hunter checking it). But is the message here “oh he has this burn that’s close enough”? Also the scene where he was getting blasted by that engine could have easily scarred his face or at least affect the area closer to his face. I expected it to be over the temple too. But no it’s only that spot. (Now I know people will say “it’s Disney cartoon” so the scarring is minimal due to that)

Then it just kinda surprised me to hear brad Rau go “oh yeah, chip is definitely out, have you seen the side of that guys’d head? Lol” Followed by Jen’s “the eagle-eyes fans would notice all along”. Because now I feel like a clown for thinking I WAS being eagle-eyed and NOTICED that it was in the wrong place to really hide the chip scar. And if I’m correct to assume she meant that it was after Bracca that makes crosshair’s line “a long time ago” even weirder since there is no way Bracca happened that long ago.

And what was the point in showing Hunter checking the burn mark? We don’t really see his reaction. We don’t ever see him commenting on it later. It seemed like a big deal to him given how shocked he looked and how insistent he was on knowing when exactly was it removed. (“Does it matter?” “YES!”). And then he suddenly doesn’t care and never brought it up again. Even when they got to a relatively safe location or back to their ship.

I don’t think it’s a good sign that we have to rely on an interview to be sure about such an important plot point. I would be disappointed if this matter won’t be addressed at least in some way next season.

We’re all just passing the tin hat back and forth at this point. This is fine and we're handling the hiatus beautifully lol

But YES to all of that. Every detail here has two (or more) possible readings attached to it, which makes it impossible to figure out what we’re meant to be prioritizing. So, to summarize:

Yeah, despite my own claim that the burn scar is “exactly” where the chip scar would be, there is a slight difference. Is that a significant difference then, or just down to the animators not mapping Crosshair's design down to the inch?

Is the burn mark (almost) precisely where the chip would be to show that there’s a chance it’s still there (you can’t see the surgery scar), or to show that enough damage happened there to make the chip’s removal inevitable?

Yet "enough damage happened there to make the chip's removal inevitable" is a pretty big assumption that the show never set up. So are we meant to view the untold number of clones who suffered other head injuries throughout TCW as evidence that the chip must still be there—after all, they weren’t de-chipped due to head trauma, burns, etc.—or are we supposed to ignore that because #Disney cartoon, not everything is gonna have such long-term consistency?

Is the placement of the burn deliberate and the lack of any other facial scaring suspicious, or (again) is that just because #Disney cartoon doesn’t want to disfigure his whole face?

Is the scene where Crosshair has his chip enhanced another clue—the chip appears to be a bit higher up than others’ in his scan—or just an animation inconsistency?

Was enhancing the chip important, or just used for the drama of that particular scene?

Does Hunter think that the burn is somehow evidence of the chip’s removal, or is he just taking Crosshair at his word?

Is Crosshair’s lack of clarification meant to read as him being evil—he doesn’t care what was the Empire and what was him—or another hint that something else is going on?

Finally, most fans agree that, if the chip is out, it had to have happened after Bracca so… yeah, how is that “a long time ago”? Is that line meant to imply that Crosshair has been misled (perhaps with the Empire lying to him, claiming his chip was removed before the season even began), or are we supposed to believe that a significant amount of time has truly passed (making TBB’s lack of a rescue even worse in my eyes…) Even other evidence we might point to is pretty useless. “Well, it could be a long time because there was enough time for him to heal from those burns.” But is that because time actually passed, or did the Empire us SW’s super science fiction magic to heal him up quick? Idk the canonical time it normally takes burns like that to heal with bacta and I doubt that's consistent across the lore either. But regardless, the SF aspect means that a healed face isn't good evidence for a lot of time passing, like it might be in another genre. For all we know, Crosshair was healed in a few days.

So yeah, what in the world are we meant to make of all this? It’s too ambiguous, too confusing, and each answer—chip or no chip—comes with apparent contradictions. None of that reflects the certainty seen in the interviews. In order to reward “eagle-eyed” viewers, you need to be on top of all those details, both in terms of the writing and the animation. Yet it doesn't appear like the writers were. With all of this combined with the confusion I mentioned in another post regarding side-character clones overcoming their chips with ease… I don’t think this is a good sign either. I love TBB and had a blast watching it, but this particular aspect feels like it could unravel into a tangled, contradictory mess very quickly. The sort of situation where many in the fandom will accept the plot and argue strongly that here, Crosshair's canonical chip situation is supported by X, Y, and Z. Whereas others will point out that yeah, that’s true, but it’s also not supported by A, B, and C. Even if we’re willing to ignore those moments of confusion and disjointedness, it’s a big letdown to feel like you’re following along with what the show’s hinting at… only for the show to turn around and go, “Lol nah. None of that was important.” Shows with twists and reveals—which TBB very much is at this point—are built on the fandom’s investment in the details. If you don’t treat those details carefully, the fandom will quickly begin to resent the expectation that you be invested in the mystery... but not so invested that you "read into things."

Intense flashbacks to the later seasons of Sherlock.

BUT right now for me the larger issue is that even if we don't care about these details, the rest of TBB absolutely should. The fact that Hunter doesn't question what's up with the burn, Tech isn't interested in trying a scan, Wrecker's experience under the chip has no impact on how he approaches this, Omega seems to accept that this is the "real" Crosshair, and Echo doesn't push to rescue him like they did for Gregor... all of that is at the emotional heart of the show and arguably more important than getting a perfect resolution to these chip questions. Obviously I'd prefer to get both, but if we can only have one, I'd prioritize tackling the group's reaction to these events, rather than trying to smooth over every potential inconsistency revolving around the chip. Ultimately, I'm more interested in the show explaining why four brothers and a sister didn't fight for Crosshair when, as far as they knew up until he said otherwise, he was a prisoner of the Empire just like everyone else they helped was.

#TBB #The Bad Batch #Star Wars #SW #mymetas #long post

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rawliverandcigarettes · 4 years ago

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Mass Effect Retribution, a review

Mass Effect Retribution is the third book in the official Mass Effect trilogy by author Drew Karpyshyn, who happens to also be Lead Writer for Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2.

I didn’t expect to pick it up, because to be very honest I didn’t expect to like it. 9 years ago I borrowed Mass Effect Revelations, and I still recall the experience as underwhelming. But this fateful fall of 2020 I had money (yay) and I saw the novel on the shelf of a swedish nerd store. I guess guilt motivated me to give the author another try: guilt, because I’ve been writing a Mass Effect fanfiction for an ungodly amount of years and I’ve been deathly afraid of lore that might contradict my decisions ever since I started -but I knew this book covered elements that are core to plot elements of my story, and I was willing to let my anxiety to the door and see what was up.

Disclaimer: I didn’t reread Mass Effect Revelation before plunging into this read, and entirely skipped Ascension. So anything in relation to character introduction and continuity will have to be skipped.

Back-cover pitch (the official, unbiased, long one)

Humanity has reached the stars, joining the vast galactic community of alien species. But beyond the fringes of explored space lurk the Reapers, a race of sentient starships bent on “harvesting” the galaxy’s organic species for their own dark purpose. The Illusive Man, leader of the pro-human black ops group Cerberus, is one of the few who know the truth about the Reapers. To ensure humanity’s survival, he launches a desperate plan to uncover the enemy’s strengths—and weaknesses—by studying someone implanted with modified Reaper technology. He knows the perfect subject for his horrific experiments: former Cerberus operative Paul Grayson, who wrested his daughter from the cabal’s control with the help of Ascension project director Kahlee Sanders. But when Kahlee learns that Grayson is missing, she turns to the only person she can trust: Alliance war hero Captain David Anderson. Together they set out to find the secret Cerberus facility where Grayson is being held. But they aren’t the only ones after him. And time is running out. As the experiments continue, the sinister Reaper technology twists Grayson’s mind. The insidious whispers grow ever stronger in his head, threatening to take over his very identity and unleash the Reapers on an unsuspecting galaxy. This novel is based on a Mature-rated video game.

Global opinion (TL;DR)

I came in hoping to be positively surprised and learn a thing or two about Reapers, about Cerberus and about Aria T’loak. I wasn’t, and I didn’t learn much. What I did learn was how cool ideas can get wasted by the very nature of game novelization, as the defects are not singular to this novel but quite widespread in this genre, and how annoyed I can get at an overuse of dialogue tags. The pacing is good and the narrative structure alright: everything else poked me in the wrong spots and rubbed how the series have always handled violence on my face with cruder examples. If I was on Good Reads, I’d probably give it something like 2 stars, for the pacing, some of the ideas, and my general sympathy for the IP novel struggle.

The indepth review continue past this point, just know there will be spoilers for the series, the Omega DLC which is often relevant, and the book itself!

What I enjoyed

Drew Karpyshyn is competent in narrative structure, and that does a lot for the pacing. Things rarely drag, and we get from one event to the next seamlessly. I’m not surprised this is one of the book’s qualities, as it comes from the craft of a game writer: pacing and efficiency are mandatory skills in this field. I would have preferred a clearer breaking point perhaps, but otherwise it’s a nice little ride that doesn’t ask a lot of effort from you (I was never tempted to DNF the book because it was so easy to read).

This book is packed with intringuing ideas -from venturing in the mind of the Illusive Man to assist, from the point of view of the victim, to Grayson’s biological transformation and assimilation into the Reaper hivemind, we get plenty to be excited for. I was personally intrigued about Liselle, Aria T’loak’s secret daughter, and eager to get a glimpse at the mind of the Queen Herself -also about how her collaboration with Cerberus came to be. Too bad none of these ideas go anywhere nor are being dealt with in an interesting way!!! But the concepts themselves were very good, so props for setting up interesting premices.

Pain is generally well described. It gets the job done.

I liked Sanak, the batarian that works as a second to Aria. He’s not very well characterized and everyone thinks he’s dumb (rise up for our national himbo), even though he reads almost smarter than her on multiple occasions, but I was happy whenever he was on the page, so yay for Sanak. But it might just be me having a bias for batarians.

Cool to have Kai Leng as a point of view character. I wasn’t enthralled by what was done with it, as he remains incredibly basic and as basically hateable and ungrounded than in Mass Effect 3 (I think he’s very underwhelming as a villain and he should have been built up in Mass Effect 2 to be effective). But there were some neat moments, such as the description of the Afterlife by Grayson who considers it as tugging at his base instincts, compared to Leng’s description of it where everything is deemed disgusting. The execution is not the best, but the concept was fun.

Pre-Reaperification Paul Grayson wasn’t the worst point of view to follow. I wasn’t super involved in his journey and didn’t care when he died one way or the other, but I empathized with his problems and hoped he would find a way out of the cycle of violence. The setup of his character arc was interesting, it’s just sad that any resolution -even negative- was dropped to focus on Reapers and his relationship with Kahlee Sanders, as I think the latter was the least interesting part.

The cover is cool and intringuing. Very soapy. It’s my favorite out of all the official novels, as it owns the cheesier aspect of the series, has nice contrasts and immediately asks questions. Very 90s/2000s. It’s great.

You may notice every thing I enjoyed was coated in complaints, because it’s a reflection of my frustration at this book for setting up interesting ideas and then completely missing the mark in their execution. So without further due, let’s talk about what I think the book didn’t do right.

1. Dumb complaints that don’t matter much

After reading the entire book, I am still a bit confused at to why Tim (the Illusive Man’s acronym is TIM in fandom, but I find immense joy in reffering to him as just Tim) wants his experimentation to be carried out on Grayson specifically, especially when getting to him is harder than pretty much anyone else (also wouldn’t pushing the very first experiments on alien captives make more sense given it’s Cerberus we’re talking about?). It seem to be done out of petty revenge, which is fine, but it still feels like quite the overlook to mess with a competent fighter, enhance him, and then expect things to stay under control (which Tim kind of doesn’t expect to, and that’s even weirder -why waste your components on something you plan to terminate almost immediately). At the same time, the pettiness is the only characterization we get out of Tim so good I guess? But if so, I wished it would have been accentuated to seem even more deliberate (and not have Tim regret to see it in himself, which flattens him and doesn’t inform the way he views the world and himself -but we’ll get to that).

I really disliked the way space travel is characterized. And that might be entirely just me, and perhaps it doesn’t contradict the rest of the lore, but space travel is so fast. People pop up left and right in a matter of hours. At some point we even get a mention of someone being able to jump 3 different Mass Relays and then arrive somewhere in 4 hours. I thought you first had to discharge your ship around a stellar object before being able to engage in the next jump (and that imply finding said object, which would have to take more than an hour). It’s not that big of a deal, but it completely crammed this giant world to a single boulevard for me and my hard-science-loving tastes. Not a big deal, but not a fan at all of this choice.

You wouldn’t believe how often people find themselves in a fight naked or in their underwear. It happens at least 3 times (and everyone naked survives -except one, we’ll get to her later).

Why did I need to know about this fifteen year’s old boner for his older teacher. Surely there were other ways to have his crush come across without this detail, or then have it be an actual point of tension in their relationship and not just a “teehee” moment. Weird choice imo.

I’m not a fan of the Talons. I don’t find them interesting or compelling. There is nothing about them that informs us on the world they live in. The fact they’re turian-ruled don’t tell us anything about turian culture that, say, the Blue Suns don’t tell us already. It’s a generic gang that is powerful because it is. I think they’re very boring, in this book and in the Omega DLC alike (a liiittle less in the DLC because of Nyreen, barely). Not a real criticism, I just don’t care for them at all.

I might just be very ace, but I didn’t find Anderson and Kahlee Sanders to have much chemistry. Same for Kahlee and Grayson (yes we do have some sort of love-triangle-but-not-really, but it’s not very important and it didn’t bother me much). Their relationships were all underwhelming to me, and I’ll explain why in part 4.

The red sand highs are barely described, and very safely -probably not from a place of intimate knowledge with drugs nor from intense research. Addiction is a delicate topic, and I feel like it could have been dealt with better, or not be included at all.

There are more of these, but I don’t want to turn this into a list of minor complaints for things that are more a matter of taste than craft quality or thematic relevance. So let’s move on.

2. Who cares about aliens in a Mass Effect novel

Now we’re getting into actual problems, and this one is kind of endemic to the Mass Effect novels (I thought the same when I read Revelation 9 years ago, though maybe less so as Saren in a PoV character -but I might have forgotten so there’s that). The aliens are described and characterized in the most uncurious, uninspired manner. Krogans are intimidating brutes. Turians are rigid. Asaris are sexy. Elcors are boring. Batarians are thugs (there is something to be said with how Aria’s second in command is literally the same batarian respawned with a different name in Mass Effect 2, this book, then the Omega DLC). Salarians are weak nerds. (if you allow me this little parenthesis because of course I have to complain about salarian characterization: the only salarian that speaks in the book talks in a cheap ripoff of Mordin’s speech pattern, which sucks because it’s specific to Mordin and not salarians as a whole, and is there to be afraid of a threat as a joke. This is SUCH a trope in the original trilogy -especially past Mass Effect 1 when they kind of give up on salarians except for a few chosen ones-, that salarians’ fear is not to be taken seriously and the only salarians who are to be considered don’t express fear at all -see Mordin and Kirrahe. It happens at least once per game, often more. This is one of the reasons why the genophage subplot is allowed to be so morally simple in ME3 and remove salarians from the equation. I get why they did that, but it’s still somewhat of a copeout. On this front, I have to give props to Andromeda for actually engaging with violence on salarians in a serious manner. It’s a refreshing change) I didn’t learn a single thing about any of these species, how they work, what they care about in the course of these 79750 words. I also didn’t learn much about their relationships to other species, including humans. I’ll mention xenophobia in more details later, but this entire aspect of the story takes a huge hit because of this lack of investment of who these species are.

I’ve always find Mass Effect, despite its sprawling universe full of vivid ideas and unique perspectives, to be strangely enamoured with humans, and it has never been so apparent than here. Only humans get to have layers, deserving of empathy and actual engagement. Only their pain is real and important. Only their death deserve mourning (we’ll come back to that). I’d speculate this comes from the same place that was terrified to have Liara as a love interest in ME1 in case she alienated the audience, and then later was surprised when half the fanbase was more interested in banging the dinosaur-bird than their fellow humans: Mass Effect often seem afraid of losing us and breaking our capacity for self-projection. It’s a very weird concern, in my opinion, that reveals the most immature, uncertain and soapy parts of the franchise. Here it’s punched to eleven, and I find it disappointing. It also have a surprising effect on the narrative: again, we’ll come back to that.

3. The squandered potential of Liselle and Aria

Okay. This one hurts. Let’s talk about Liselle: she’s introduced in the story as a teammate to Grayson, who at the time works as a merc for Aria T’loak on Omega, and also sleeps with him on the regular. She likes hitting the Afterlife’s dancefloor: she’s very admired there, as she’s described as extremely attractive. One night after receiving a call from Grayson, she rejoins him in his apartment. They have sex, then Kai Leng and other Cerberus agents barge in to capture Grayson -a fight break out (the first in a long tradition of naked/underwear fights), and both of them are stunned with tranquilizers. Grayson is to be taken to the Illusive Man. Kai Leng decides to slit Liselle’s throat as she lays unconscious to cover their tracks. When Aria T’loak and her team find her naked on a bed, throat gaping and covered in blood, Liselle is revealed, through her internal monologue, to be Aria’s secret daughter -that she kept secret for both of their safety. So Liselle is a sexpot who dies immediately in a very brutal and disempowered manner. This is a sad way to handle Aria T’loak’s daughter I think, but I assume it was done to give a strong motivation to the mother, who thinks Grayson did it. And also, it’s a cool setup to explore her psyche: how does she feel about business catching up with her in such a personal manner, how does she feel about the fact she couldn’t protect her own offspring despite all her power, what’s her relationship with loss and death, how does she slip when under high emotional stress, how does she deal with such a vulnerable position of having to cope without being able to show any sign of weakness... But the book does nothing with that. The most interesting we get is her complete absence of outward reaction when she sees her daughter as the centerpiece of a crime scene. Otherwise we have mentions that she’s not used to lose relatives, vague discomfort when someone mentions Liselle might have been raped, and vague discomfort at her body in display for everyone to gawk at. It’s not exactly revelatory behavior, and the missed potential is borderline criminal. It also doesn’t even justify itself as a strong motivation, as Aria vaguely tries to find Grayson again and then gives up until we give her intel on a silver platter. Then it almost feels as if she forgot her motivation for killing Grayson, and is as motivated by money than she is by her daughter’s murder (and that could be interesting too, but it’s not done in a deliberate way and therefore it seems more like a lack of characterization than anything else).

Now, to Aria. Because this book made me realize something I strongly dislike: the framing might constantly posture her as intelligent, but Aria T’loak is... kind of dumb, actually? In this book alone she’s misled, misinformed or tricked three different times. We’re constantly ensured she’s an amazing people reader but never once do we see this ability work in her favor -everyone fools her all the time. She doesn’t learn from her mistakes and jump from Cerberus trap to Cerberus trap, and her loosing Omega to them later is laughably stupid after the bullshit Tim put her through in this book alone. I’m not joking when I say the book has to pull out an entire paragraph on how it’s easier to lie to smart people to justify her complete dumbassery during her first negotiation with Tim. She doesn’t seem to know anything about how people work that could justify her power. She’s not politically savvy. She’s not good at manipulation. She’s just already established and very, very good at kicking ass. And I wouldn’t mind if Aria was just a brutish thug who maintains her power through violence and nothing else, that could also be interesting to have an asari act that way. But the narrative will not bow to the reality they have created for her, and keep pretending her flaw is in extreme pride only. This makes me think of the treatment of Sansa Stark in the latest seasons of Game of Thrones -the story and everyone in it is persuaded she’s a political mastermind, and in the exact same way I would adore for it to be true, but it’s just... not. It’s even worse for Aria, because Sansa does have victories by virtue of everyone being magically dumber than her whenever convenient. Aria just fails, again and again, and nobody seem to ever acknowledge it. Sadly her writing here completely justifies her writing in the Omega DLC and the comics, which I completely loathe; but turns out Aria isn’t smart or savvy, not even in posture or as a façade. She’s just violent, entitled, easily fooled, and throws public tantrums when things don’t go her way. And again, I guess that would be fine if only the narrative would recognize what she is. Me, I will gently ignore most of this (in her presentation at least, because I think it’s interesting to have something pitiful when you dig a little) and try to write her with a bit more elevation. But this was a very disappointing realization to have.

4. The squandered potential of Grayson and the Reapers

The waste of a subplot with Aria and Liselle might have hurt me more in a personal way, but what went down between Grayson and the Reapers hurts the entire series in a startling manner. And it’s so infuriating because the potential was there. Every setpiece was available to create something truly unique and disturbing by simply following the series’ own established lore. But this is not what happens. See, when The Illusive Man, our dearest Tim, captures Grayson for a betrayal that happened last book (something about his biotic autistic daughter -what’s the deal with autistic biotics being traumatized by Cerberus btw), he decides to use him as the key part of an experiment to understand how Reapers operate. So he forcefully implants the guy with Reaper technology (what they do exactly is unclear) to study his change into a husk and be prepared when Reapers come for humanity -it’s also compared to what happened with Saren when he “agreed” to be augmented by Sovereign. From there on, Grayson slowly turns into a husk. Doesn’t it sound fascinating, to be stuck in the mind of someone losing themselves to unknowable monsters? If you agree with me then I’m sorry because the execution is certainly... not that. The way the author chooses to describe the event is to use the trope of mind control used in media like Get Out: Grayson taking the backseat of his own mind and body. And I haaaaate it. I hate it so much. I don’t hate the trope itself (it can be interesting in other media, like Get Out!), but I loathe that it’s used here in a way that totally contradicts both the lore and basic biology. Grayson doesn’t find himself manipulated. He doesn’t find himself justifying increasingly jarring actions the way Saren has. He just... loses control of himself, disagreeing with what’s being done with him but not able to change much about it. He also can fight back and regain control sometimes -but his thoughts are almost untainted by Reaper influence. The technology is supposed to literally replace and reorganize the cells of his body; is this implying that body and mind are separated, that there maybe exists a soul that transcends indoctrination? I don’t know but I hate it. This also implies that every victim of the Reaper is secretely aware of what they’re doing and pained and disagreeing with their own actions. And I’m sorry but if it’s true, I think this sucks ass and removes one of the creepiest ideas of the Mass Effect universe -that identity can and will be lost, and that Reapers do not care about devouring individuality and reshaping it to the whims of their inexorable march. Keeping a clear stream of consciousness in the victim’s body makes it feel like a curse and not like a disease. None of the victims are truly gone that way, and it removes so much of the tragic powerlessness of organics in their fight against the machines. Imagine if Saren watched himself be a meanie and being like “nooo” from within until he had a chance to kill himself in a near-victorious battle, compared to him being completely persuaded he’s acting for the good of organic life until, for a split second, he comes to realize he doesn’t make any sense and is loosing his mind like someone with dementia would, and needs to grasp to this instant to make the last possible thing he could do to save others and his own mind from domination. I feel so little things for Saren in the former case, and so much for the latter. But it might just be me: I’m deeply touched by the exploration of how environment and things like medication can change someone’s behavior, it’s such a painfully human subject while forceful mind control is... just kind of cheap.

SPEAKING OF THE REAPERS. Did you know “The Reapers” as an entity is an actual character in this book? Because it is. And “The Reapers” is not a good character. During the introduction of Grayson and explaining his troubles, we get presented with the mean little voice in his head. It’s his thoughts in italics, nothing crazy, in fact it’s a little bit of a copeout from actually implementing his insecurities into the prose. But I gave the author the benefit of the doubt, as I knew Grayson would be indoctrinated later, and I fully expected the little voice to slowly start twisting into what the Reapers suggested to him. This doesn’t happen, or at least not in that slowburn sort of way. Instead the little voice is dropped almost immediately, and the Reapers are described, as a presence. And as the infection progresses, what Grayson do become what the Reapers do. The Reapers have emotions, it turns out. They’re disgusted at organic discharges. They’re pleased when Grayson accomplish what they want, and it’s told as such. They foment little plans to get their puppet to point A to point B, and we are privy to their calculations. And I’m sorry but the best way to ruin your lovecraftian concept is to try and explain its motivations and how it thinks. Because by definition the unknown is scarier, smarter, and colder than whatever a human author could come up with. I couldn’t take the Reapers’ dumb infiltration plans seriously, and now I think they are dumb all the time, and I didn’t want to!! The only cases in which the Reapers influence Grayson, we are told in very explicit details how so. For example, they won’t let Grayson commit suicide by flooding his brain with hope and determination when he tries, or they will change the words he types when he tries to send a message to Kahlee Sanders. And we are told exactly what they do every time. There was a glorious occasion to flex as a writer by diving deep into an unreliable narrator and write incredibly creepy prose, but I guess we could have been confused, and apparently that’s not allowed. And all of this is handled that poorly becauuuuuse...

5. Subtext is dead and Drew killed it

Now we need to talk about the prose. The style of the author is... let’s be generous and call it functional. It’s about clarity. The writing is so involved in its quest for clarity that it basically ruins the book, and most of the previous issues are direct consequences of the prose and adjacent decisions.The direct prose issues are puzzling, as they are known as rookie technical flaws and not something I would expect from the series’ Lead Writer for Mass Effect 1 and 2, but in this book we find problems such as:

The reliance on adverbs. Example: "Breathing heavily from the exertion, he stood up slowly”. I have nothing about a well-placed adverb that gives a verb a revelatory twist, but these could be replaced by stronger verbs, or cut altogether.

Filtering. Example: “Anderson knew that the fact they were getting no response was a bad sign”. This example is particularly egregious, but characters know things, feel things, realize things (boy do they realize things)... And this pulls us away from their internal world instead of making us live what they live, expliciting what should be implicit. For example, consider the alternative: “They were getting no reponse, which was a bad sign in Anderson’s experience.” We don’t really need the “in Anderson’s experience” either, but that already brings us significantly closer to his world, his lived experience as a soldier.

The goddamn dialogue tags. This one is the worst offender of the bunch. Nobody is allowed to talk without a dialogue tag in this book, and wow do people imply, admit, inform, remark and every other verb under the sun. Consider this example, which made me lose my mind a little: “What are you talking about? Kahlee wanted to know.” I couldn’t find it again, but I’m fairly certain I read a “What is it?” Anderson wanted to know. as well. Not only is it very distracting, it’s also yet another way to remove reader interpretation from the equation (also sometimes there will be a paragraph break inside a monologue -not even a long one-, and that doesn’t seem to be justified by anything? It’s not as big of a problem than the aversion to subtext, but it still confused me more than once)

Another writing choice that hurts the book in disproportionate ways is the reliance on point of view switches. In Retribution, we get the point of view of: Tim, Paul Grayson, Kai Leng, Kahlee Sanders, David Anderson, Aria T’loak, and Nick (a biotic teenager, the one with the boner). Maybe Sanak had a very small section too, but I couldn’t find it again so don’t take my word for it. That’s too many point of views for a plot-heavy 80k book in my opinion, but even besides that: the point of view switch several times in one single chapter. This is done in the most harmful way possible for tension: characters involved in the same scene take turns on the page explaining their perspective about the events, in a way that leaves the reader entirely aware of every stake to every character and every information that would be relevant in a scene. Take for example the first negotiation between Aria and Tim. The second Aria needs to ponder what her best move could possibly be, we get thrown back into Tim’s perspective explaining the exact ways in which he’s trying to deceive her -removing our agency to be either convinced or fooled alongside her. This results in a book that goes out of his way to keep us from engaging with its ideas and do any mental work on our own. Everything is laid out, bare and as overexplained as humanly possible. The format is also very repetitive: characters talk or do an action, and then we spend a paragraph explaining the exact mental reasoning for why they did what they did. There is nothing to interpret. No subtext at all whatsoever; and this contributes in casting a harsh light on the Mass Effect universe, cheapening it and overtly expliciting some of its worst ideas instead of leaving them politely blurred and for us to dress up in our minds. There is only one theme that remains subtextual in my opinion. And it’s not a pretty one.

6. Violence

So here’s the thing when you adapt a third person shooter into a novel: you created a violent world and now you will have to deal with death en-masse too (get it get it I’m so sorry). But while in videogames you can get away with thoughtless murder because it’s a gameplay mechanic and you’re not expected to philosophize on every splatter of blood, novels are all about internalization. Violent murder is by definition more uncomfortable in books, because we’re out of gamer conventions and now every death is actual when in games we just spawned more guys because we wanted that level to be a bit harder and on a subconscious level we know this and it makes it somewhat okay. I felt, in this book, a strange disconnect between the horrendous violence and the fact we’re expected to care about it like we would in a game: not much, or as a spectacle. Like in a game, we are expected to root for the safety of named characters the story indicated us we should be invested in. And because we’re in a book, this doesn’t feel like the objective truth of the universe spelled at us through user interface and quest logs, but the subjective worldview of the characters we’re following. And that makes them.... somewhat disturbing to follow.

I haven’t touched on Anderson and Kahlee Sanders much yet, but now I guess I have too, as they are the worst offenders of what is mentioned above. Kahlee cares about Grayson. She only cares about Grayson -and her students like the forementioned Nick, but mostly Grayson. Grayson is out there murdering people like it’s nobody’s business, but still, keeping Grayson alive is more important that people dying like flies around him. This is vaguely touched on, but not with the gravitas that I think was warranted. Also, Anderson goes with it. Because he cares about Kahlee. Anderson organizes a major political scandal between humans and turians because of Kahlee, because of Grayson. He convinces turians to risk a lot to bring Cerberus down, and I guess that could be understandable, but it’s mostly manipulation for the sake of Grayson’s survival: and a lot of turians die as a result. But not only turians: I was not comfortable with how casually the course of action to deal a huge blow to Cerberus and try to bring the organization down was to launch assault on stations and cover-ups for their organization. Not mass arrests: military assault. They came to arrest high operatives, maybe, but the grunts were okay to slaughter. This universe has a problem with systemic violence by the supposedly good guys in charge -and it’s always held up as the righteous and efficient way compared to these UGH boring politicians and these treaties and peace and such (amirite Anderson). And as the cadavers pile up, it starts to make our loveable protagonists... kind of self-centered assholes. Also: I think we might want to touch on who these cadavers tend to be, and get to my biggest point of discomfort with this novel.

Xenophobia is hard to write well, and I super sympathize with the attempts made and their inherent difficulty. This novel tries to evoke this theme in multiple ways: by virtue of having Cerberus’ heart and blade as point of view characters, we get a window into Tim and Kai Leng’s bigotry against aliens, and how this belief informs their actions. I wasn’t ever sold in their bigotry as it was shown to us. Tim evokes his scorn for whatever aliens do and how it’s inferior to humanity’s resilience -but it’s surface-level, not informed by deep and specific entranched beliefs on aliens motives and bodies, and how they are a threat on humanity according to them. The history of Mass Effect is rich with conflict and baggage between species, yet every expression of hatred is relegated to a vague “eww aliens” that doesn’t feed off systemically enforced beliefs but personal feelings of mistrust and disgust. I’ll take this example of Kai Leng, and his supposedly revulsion at the Afterlife as a peak example of alien decadence: he sees an asari in skimpy clothing, and deems her “whorish”. And this feels... off. Not because I don’t think Kai Leng would consider asaris whorish, but because this is supposed to represent Cerberus’ core beliefs: yet both him and Tim go on and on about how their goal is to uplift humanity, how no human is an enemy. But if that’s the case, then what makes Kai Leng call an Afterlife asari whorish and mean it in a way that’s meaningfully different from how he would consider a human sex worker in similar dispositions? Not that I don’t buy that Cerberus would have a very specific idea of what humans need to be to be considered worth preserving as good little ur-fascists, but this internal bias is never expressed in any way, and it makes the whole act feel hollow. Cerberus is not the only offender, though. Every time an alien expresses bias against humans in a way we’re meant to recognize as xenophobic, it reads the same way: as personal dislike and suspicion. As bullying. Which is such a small part of what bigotry encompasses. It’s so unspecific and divorced from their common history that it just never truly works in my opinion. You know what I thought worked, though? The golden trio of non-Cerberus human characters, and their attitude towards aliens. Grayson’s slight fetishism and suspicion of his attraction to Liselle, how bestial (in a cool, sexy way) he perceives the Afterlife to be. The way Anderson and Kahlee use turians for their own ends and do not spare a single thought towards those who died directly trying to protect them or Grayson immediately after the fact (they are more interested in Kahlee’s broken fingers and in kissing each other). How they feel disgust watching turians looting Cerberus soldiers, not because it’s disrespectful in general and the deaths are a inherent tragedy but because they are turians and the dead are humans. But it's not even really on them: the narration itself is engrossed by the suffering of humans, but aliens are relegated to setpieces in gore spectacles. Not even Grayson truly cares about the aliens the Reapers make him kill. Nobody does. Not even the aliens among each other: see, once again, Aria and Liselle, or Aria and Sanak. Nobody cares. At the very end of the story, Anderson comes to Kahlee and asks if she gives him permission to have Grayson’s body studied, the same way Cerberus planned to. It’s source of discomfort, but Kahlee gives in as it’s important, and probably what Grayson would have wanted, maybe? So yeah. In the end the only subtextual theme to find here (probably as an accident) is how the Alliance’s good guys are not that different from Cerberus it turns out. And I’m not sure how I feel about that.

7. Lore-approved books, or the art of shrinking an expanding universe

I’d like to open the conversation on a bigger topic: the very practice of game novelization, or IP-books. Because as much as I think Drew Karpyshyn’s final draft should not have ended up reading that amateur given the credits to his name, I really want to acknowledge the realities of this industry, and why the whole endeavor was perhaps doomed from the start regardless of Karpyshyn’s talent or wishes as an author.

The most jarring thing about this reading experience is as follows: I spent almost 80k words exploring this universe with new characters and side characters, all of them supposedly cool and interesting, and I learned nothing. I learned nothing new about the world, nothing new about the characters. Now that it’s over, I’m left wondering how I could chew on so much and gain so little. Maybe it’s just me, but more likely it’s by design. Not on poor Drew. Now that I did IP work myself, I have developed an acute sympathy for anyone who has to deal with the maddening contradictions of this type of business. Let me explain.

IP-adjacent media (in the West at least) sure has for goal to expand the universe: but expand as in bloat, not as in deepen. The target for this book is nerds like me, who liked the games and want more of this thing we liked. But then we’re confronted by two major competitors: the actual original media (in ME’s case, the games) whose this product is a marketing tool for, and fandom. IP books are not allowed to compete with the main media: the good ideas are for the main media, and any meaningful development has to be made in the main media (see: what happened with Kai Leng, or how everyone including me complains about the worldbuilding to the Disney Star Swars trilogy being hidden in the novelization). And when it comes to authorship (as in: taking an actual risk with the media and give it a personal spin), then we risk introducing ideas that complicate the main media even though a ridiculously small percent of the public will be attached to it, or ideas that fans despise. Of course we can’t have the latter. And once the fandom is huge enough, digging into anything the fans have strong headcanons for already risks creating a lot of emotions once some of these are made canon and some are disregarded. As much as I joke about how in Mass Effect you can learn about any gun in excrutiating details but we still don’t know if asaris have a concept for marriage... would we really want to know how/if asaris marry, or aren’t we glad we get to be creative and put our own spin on things? The dance between fandom and canon is a delicate one that can and will go wrong. And IP books are generally not worth the drama for the stakeholders.

Add this to insane deadlines, numerous parties all involved in some way and the usual struggles of book writing, and we get a situation where creating anything of value is pretty much a herculean task.

But then I ask... why do IP books *have* to be considered canon? I know this is part of the appeal, and that removing the “licenced” part only leaves us with published fanfiction, but... yeah. Yeah. I think it could be a fascinating model. Can you imagine having your IP and hiring X amount of distinctive authors to give it their own spin, not as definitive additions to the world but as creative endeavours and authorial deepdives? It would allow for these novels to be comparative and companion to the main media instead of being weird appendages that can never compare, and the structure would allow for these stories to be polished and edited to a higher level than most fanfictions. Of course I’m biased because I have a deep belief in the power of fanfiction as commentary and conversational piece. But I would really love to see companies’ approach to creative risk and canon to change. We might get Disney stuff until we die now, so the least we can ask for is for this content to be a little weird, personal and human.

That’s it. That’s the whole review. Thank you for reading, it was very long and weirdly passionate, have a nice dayyyyy.

#Mass Effect #mass effect retribution #me critical #writing #mass effect novels #anderson #kahlee sanders #Aria T'loak #paul grayson #liselle #salarians #IP conversation #omega #mass effect lore #reapers #book review

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smokeybrand · 5 years ago

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Smokey brand Select: Dark Stalkers

I wanted to take the time and kind of suggest films in particular sub-genres i find amazing. I’ve seen a lot of movies in my day and some stand out as real experiences in specific categories. To kick this thing off, i chose to delve into a few flicks in one of my most beloved film sub-genres; The Vampire film. When executed properly, you can create an entire world of unique romance or gory horror within this set theme. Some of the best character studies i have ever seen, begin with that irreverent perspective on life of someone cursed to live forever. Sometimes the vampire aspect is just thematic device to frame a series of savage massacres in the most lurid of bloody reds and violent imagery. There is so much flexibility in this particular category that i felt compelled to speak on it in the inaugural post to my Select series.

10. Doctor Sleep

Probably the most recent entry released on this list. Doctor Sleep plays out as a Shining sequel but don’t be fooled, this is a Vampire movie at it’s core. Wonderfully directed and acted, the vampirsim takes a backseat to the humanity of these characters. You see them at their worst, sure. I can’t say they aren’t ravenous animals, predators who tear children limb from limb, but there is a very human hubris to their overwhelming strength. I love the story told about this particular brood. These creatures are more psychic than sanguinarian but they still feed on humans, nonetheless.

9. Bram Stoker’s Dracula

I adore this flick, man. I remember seeing it as a youth and it is, indeed, one of my favorite interpretations of the Dracula tale. It takes some liberties with the overall narrative but, as a whole, it’s an amazing film to watch. Legitimately a feast for the eyes. I can’t say it’s a great movie on it’s own, truthfully it has some of the worst performances i have ever seen captured on film, but it’s absolutely gorgeous with all of it’s Gothic, yet, campy aesthetic, and has my absolute favorite rendition of Dracula as a character. That, alone, is enough to make this list.

8. What We Do In The Shadows

The beauty of the Vampire genre is how flexible it can be. Shadows is a perfect example of this. ore a comedy about social misfits than a vampire movie, it executes a rather creative narrative around the admittedly tired trope of Vampirism. It’s rare that such creativity and revelry is seen in this genre. Everything is always so dour and somber. This movie is not that. It’s actually rather hilarious and refreshingly upbeat. It’s the most human I’ve ever seen Vampires and i love that contradiction to bits!

7. Interview With The Vampire

This was the first Vampire flick i saw which actually asked the big questions about living forever and being a literal plague on humanity. you know i love my existential nihilism and this is rife with that sh*t. The premise was pretty amazing but it was the resolution that got me. Here you have a man, cursed with the what he has become, pouring his heart out to a man as a warning, and due just turns around and begs to be turned. This man told you his entire, depressing, f*cked up life story and you turn around and BEG to be afflicted with his condition. It’s the greatest slap in the face anyone can deliver. Aside from that, the entire look of this film captures that romantic yet dangerous nature of the vampire romance. It’s truly beautiful but absolutely brutal in it’s own way.

6. Nosferatu

It took a while for me to appreciate this movie for what it was. Seriously, a black and white, German language, silent film. I saw it as a kid and didn’t care for it but, as a n adult, i learned to love this thing. This film,considering these shortcomings of cinema at the time, had to earn it’s place on this list and it did it with the most palpable atmosphere I’ve ever seen in a movie. Later in life, I’d see this done just as deftly with films like Under The Skin, Suspiria, and the VVitch, but Nosferatu was the first and it made an impression. i was enthralled but what can be described as core film making on display.

5. Lifeforce

Lifeforce is another one of these not-bloodsucker vampire flicks. Indeed, these creature suck the life force out of people, thus the title. This movie is kind of ridiculous. It’s all over the place but still, a damn interesting watch. it’s said this thing was influenced by alien and it kind of shows, but still has it’s own unique flavor. This is basically a Roger Corman production with an actual budget so, if you know how those films go, you have a general expectation of how this thing is executed. It, by no means is a great film, but i loved the ride.

4. Byzantium

This film made the list on the strength of it’s gorgeous visuals. There’s an underlying current of despair that i love but, more so than any of that, the look of this movie entrances me. It’s truly stunning, especially certain scenes. The use of reds and shadows is impeccable and the actual lore is some of them most unique I’ve seen in a long time. I wanted to know more about these characters, about this world. It’s wild to see such human monsters; The regret they display for just existing, the trauma that they live with daily, and the resentment for their survival. It’s wild to see and an incredibly unique look at a centuries old theme.

3. Blood: The Last Vampire

Blood is easily one the best Vampire movie i have ever seen, as just a straight vampire slaying outing. The plot is incredibly simple but the execution is amazing. Blood is one of the most beautifully animated films i have ever seen. It can realistically give Akira a run for it’s money. More than that, an entire world was developed from this one film, and it’s just as compelling. If you follow this blog and keep up with the interjections of text between all of the images, then you know i am a lore hound. I love this world and everything in the expanded universe. Hollywood has been looking for an anime they can successfully adapt to film and Blood is it. The plot is simple, the pacing brisk, and the violence is more than gory enough to put butts in seats. If they give this thing the big budget treatment and someone who respects the source material, Blood can be one massive box office hit. On it’s own, as an anime film, it’s still one of the most excellent vampire tales I have ever seen.

2. A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night

This is going to start a trend. Girl is a fantastic film in it’s own right. More than just a vampire film, this thing is a master class in direction. This is actually a Persian-Language film, yet, one of the most compelling movies I’ve ever had the pleasure of witnessing. Seriously, this movie is absolutely beguiling in it’s imagery, which is a lot to say because it’s in black and white. That was a conscious choice which elevates the film as a whole, letting the brilliant direction bring this movie home. Girl is absolutely one of the best movies I’ve ever sen and it just happens to revolve around a vampire. Don’t let the subtitle barrier deter you from a truly excellent cinematic experience.

1B. Let The Right One In

Netflix suggested this movie to me a few years back.. I was mad skeptical at first but then i watched it. And then i watched it again. And then again. If you’d have told me a Swedish-language, child lead, vampire romance would become one of my all-time favorite films, i'd have called you crazy but, here we are. Let The Right One In is f*cking incredible. It takes the tired trope of boy-Meets-girl and turns it on it’s head, for several reasons. I won’t get into those because you really should watch this film, but it’s absolutely genius how that trope is turned on it’s ear. There are so many themes explored here, so much depth to the storytelling, i was actually shocked. It took multiple viewing for me to peel back all of the layers and, to this day, i still love checking this thing out. The vampirism is inconsequential, it adds a bit of flair to the narrative, but, at it’s core, this is a story about two people falling in love with each other. Or is it a story about the cycle of abuse and manipulation? There’s no definitive answer and i adore that.

1A. Thirst

This is a masterpiece of cinema and no one knows it because it’s from South Korea. Seriously, I’ve written about the shortsightedness of American audiences the second subtitles are brought up but gt the f*ck over that because this movie is one of the best ever made. It’s gorgeous and cruel and wonderful and painful; All of which are captured so richly on film. It’s rare a film can both hurt you and disgust you at the same time. A lot of that has to do with the direction but the to leads bring home this frailty and savagery like no other. There is gore in this film, and it is poignant, but it’s more a punctuation than a set piece. No, Thirst is the study of losing oneself to the passion of humanity and it’s rare you see such raw emotion articulated so well in a genre that decries humanity. Thirst is f*cking awesome and should be seen by everyone, but film buffs in particular.

Honorable Mentions: Vampire Hunter D, Lost Boys, Blade II, Nosferatu The Vampyre, Cronos, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Let Me In, 30 Days of Night, From Dusk til Dawn, Salem’s Lot, Fright Night, Innocent Blood, Vampire’s Kiss, Vampyr, Shadow of the Vampire

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thassabadtake · 5 years ago

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someone also asked about all the lore she complains about. she acknowledges that world-building is something a lot of people like and actively want. so is it not then okay for a story to be packed with world-building, if “someone asked”?

and ... what ... is madhouse’s story, exactly? if not a series of reactive comics based on prompts from lily’s blog? lily has her own ideas, but she went as far as to directly contradict the primary purpose of the comic, purely because she found one-sided lilyvoir interesting over time.

every major event in madhouse has been directly influenced by lily’s personal blog. it’s a personal story. it’s literally about her.

if you didn’t read lily’s blog, madhouse would be complete nonsense. even things as plot-vital as the mating bond aren’t explained in the story, and need to be looked up to properly understand. plot threads are started and dropped seemingly at random, come out of left despite massively contradicting established arcs, and the resolutions for arcs are often extremely unsatisfying.

which is why people keep asking lily so many questions about the story. the story isn’t answering them.

i don’t think lily realizes how disjointed and plotless her writing comes across, when she keeps tethering it to random what-if asks and “well, i’ll eventually do this”’s. she spends so much time talking about what she plans to do, and then changes those plans, and then it’s all a mish mash of random one-shots.

i’ll be frank: i don’t think lily writes “stories” in the sense she means. her latest star wars endeavor is the first time i’ve actually seen her write a coherent plot. and even that is packed with extra information i don’t care about, that i could argue doesn’t serve the plot.

lily writes drabbles. they’re stories in the sense that anything is a story. a memoir about my latest grocery shopping trip could be a story. but “plot-centric” is not a word i would attach to any of them. and often, she forgets to put important details in the story itself, leaving that to asks or implication.

to be blunt, she relies heavily on reader inference, and then gets mad when people can’t read her mind.

lily’s definition of “story” is a mystery to me, and her ideas about lore contradict the very definition of lore. lore is story. how much or little lore you have only changes how world or character focused your story is.

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cykelops · 6 years ago

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i ran out of steam so here's all i have for my Sub-Zero/Scorpion fanfic for a game I've never played with lore i do not understand.,

There is a well-believed misconception that fire is destructive, all-consuming-- wrathful.

Fire can be all those things, but it can also guard a fortress, signal for an ally, warm a friend. It's about control. It's about necessity. Hasashi does not need to be angry, so he simply isn't. He's the flame inside the paper lantern, trusted within reach of the delicate parchment because there is no questioning his purpose. Light the way.

Hasashi breathes in. The wind, heavy with the scent of spring and distant rains, feeds the fire in his chest. It is a quiet day. He rarely has a moment to spare for introspection as of late. He wants to believe the Shirai Ryu stand strong and stable, but a part of him will never feel secure in their strength again. Not when they managed to lose so much once. Confidence is a matter of never-ending cultivation.

But it's a quiet day, and that feels good.

Hasashi breathes out. He drops from his peculiar one-armed stance before the blood can finish moving to his head. It's borderline vanity to favor the exercise, but he likes to know he can do it-- if he can hold his body's weight on one palm without trembling then surely he can carry the world on his shoulders. If his novices voiced such a childish sentiment in his presence Hasashi would take their ankles with a staff. His little contradictions thrive in the privacy of his thoughts.

Unsurprisingly, Hasashi runs hot. Through strenuous exercise he's nearly ruined the bindings around his hands. A trail of sweat chases after another, racing towards at the waistband of his gi, crossing every carefully defined rise and fall of his muscles and the coarse hair beneath his navel. Hasashi spreads his arms and faces the window for some relief from the wind running through his bedroom. It's strangely cool for late spring. Refreshingly so.

He cocks his head to the side, towards the door. His muscles flex and tighten. One foot in front, one behind, one arm reaching for the weapons rack at his right, and the other ready to block and parry an attack from the front. Footsteps approach down the hall and as a warrior he is ready for them, but as a Master he knows it's merely one of his men come to seek him out. He knew it was one of his Shirai Ryu before they rounded the corner, but Hasashi has honed his instincts too long to make exceptions.

He can see only the messenger's shadow as he goes down in one knee.

"Grandmaster Hasashi," He says. "The Master of the Lin Kuei is in the garden."

Hasashi perks up. Rather than the door, he moves to the window where he can see the canopies like a green dome around Shirai Ryu Garden. Sub-Zero? Here? How strange. The Lin Kuei are traditional to a fault. In the past, Sub-Zero has sent men days in advance of his own arrival so they may be appropriately prepared for it. Hasashi had returned the courtesy infrequently. It was only nine months ago that they saw each other last, and Hasashi skipped the formality and shot a flare in the direction of Lin Kuei Palace. Efficient. Sub-Zero complimented him on it. He must have missed a far less noticeable icicle shot into the sky.

"There must be some emergency." Hasashi says resolutely.

"I don't think--" The young messenger does not finish, tongue having slipped without permission. Hasashi covers the distance in quick striders and opens the door a sliver. His visitor is dark-haired and about as young as he pictured him. A single gold band adorns his forehead.

"Speak, man. Let enough words die in your throat and they will suffocate you."

The young man shifts his weight from one hand to the other. Fear isn't in him when he looks up at Hasashi, but it's clear that he did not expect to exchange more than his first few words with the Grandmaster. He's got a spine in him. Good. Hasashi worries about a few of their recruits from time to time.

"He came through the front gate, Grandmaster. He spoke with some of the older members and they told me to call for you--But there weren't any Lin Kuei with him, as usual. And his dress…" Once more, the young man paused.

Hasashi crouched down to his level and pushed the door open the rest of the way. "What of his dress?"

He struggled to find the words, tricky things as they were. He shrugged helplessly. "He was dressed for the garden, Grandmaster."

Now what--in the name of all of Earthrealm--did that mean?

------------------

Hasashi takes the time to dismiss the young messenger and retreat back into his room. He pulls his uniform off the rack he displays it on and slips into it piece by piece without foregoing his mask. It's a methodical ceremony. Time-consuming. The situation in the garden concerns him, but his Shirai Ryu cannot know that. They must not see their Grandmaster rushing in his training clothes to meet a lone clan leader that was once their sworn enemy after he arrives unannounced and in strange clothes.

He doesn't keep a mirror in the room, but his reflection bounces off the edge of a blade and catches his eye. Beneath midday light, he shines like spun gold.

The garden is a short walk from the temple. He passes the main hall and the training courtyard before he comes upon the garden path. His men pretend to be preoccupied with their daily tasks, but Hasashi knows what the weight of their eyes feels like. Oddities are a common occurrence at the Shirai Ryu Temple, but rarely one as unique as the barrage of questions Sub-Zero has laid out for them. Why is he here? What does he want? Why not meet the Grandmaster in the temple among his people? That last one has them all on edge. Some still have doubts about the peace with the Lin Kuei. They've been at war for so long it feels unnatural to be on the same side, to be friends.

Hasashi wouldn't admit it, but sometimes he doubts too. Hatred like his is not so easily dispelled, even by truth or retribution.

At the edge of the garden Hasashi stops to listen. Sub-Zero's footsteps are distinct, but he can't make them out. Wind flows unencumbered through the trees, so he is not lying in wait hoping to land a pounce on his unsuspecting rival. Testing their skills is a game without consequences after their alliance formed. Keeps them young and thankful that they are comrades and not enemies, or they might have both died at each other's hands by now.

Instead of footsteps, there's a sound like a sharp knife cutting through paper. As Hasashi advances through the garden path it becomes more distinct. The sound moves in circles, closer now, then farther away, until finally Hasashi rounds the right corner and comes to a wide but shallow pond, usually only full of frogs and lily pads but now containing one Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei-- skating.

His long blue robes leave his arms and a stripe of skin on his chest bare. He wears a belt typical of the Lin Kuei over dark blue bottoms, adorned with symbols of his rank and small favors from his friends. He wears a tassel from Jade when he's out of uniform. There's a yellow knot in its place.

"Sub-Zero, what brings you here? You have managed to spook half the temple with your cryptic visit."

Sub-Zero stops, smiles as white as winter. The ice thins and cracks but for a disc below his feet. His man wasn't wrong to find the outfit strange. He would expect to find Sub-Zero wearing it while lounging in the privacy of his palace, not to visit what was once the den of his enemies.

"I seek a warmer climate, Hanzo, but my Lin Kuei prefer the cold, so I've left them to guard it."

He raises one hand to catch a petal falling from the tree above his head. He rolls it once over his knuckles before lowering his arm to finish its journey to the water. This cryomancer traveling away from the cold for a purpose other than a mission? Unheard of. It's rare enough that he didn't come into Shirai Ryu Temple to pay his respects to the old masters.

"So I see. What are you doing now?"

"Why, playing, of course."

"Playing?" Hasashi asks incredulously.

Sub-Zero nods. He holds his hand out flatly towards Hasashi as if to catch another petal. "Yes. Won't you join me?"

Hasashi shakes his head, to refute and to laugh. He worried for naught. Sub-Zero may be holding back something, but if he were here for business they would already be speaking of it. Emergencies are aplenty in Earthrealm, but this is not one. He feels an inkling of shame for the poor reception his friend received, undercut because Shirai Ryu cannot be blamed for not trusting a man they were ordered to hate for years. Sub-Zero isn't without fault for behaving so out of character.

He can feel that this is his Sub-Zero. He's encountered enough impostors and clones that he should be worried the man has seemingly lost his mind, but he isn't bothered. He's just a little off at the moment, and he never judges Hasashi when he's in a similar position.

"Ridiculous." Hanzo chuckles.

Sub-Zero's fingers touch his chin. He sizes Hasashi from crown to sole, moving his hand from one side of his face to the next, deep in thought. He raises his fists above his head. Sub-Zero commands his element, freezing his fists and the air around them, blowing white smoke low against the water and slowly rising. Hanzo can feel his power building even at a distance. Sub-Zero isn't like other cryomancers. His bloodright calls to Hasashi's. He can feel it in the marrow in his bones, vibrating along the same frequency as the fire that sustains Hanzo in an equal but opposite current.

"Ah, Hanzo!" Sub-Zero exclaims. "I knew you would join me eventually."

Hasashi sees himself out on the water, standing beside the master of the Lin Kuei with his arms crossed and absent his mask. There's a hard line diving his brow, but his lips are unrealistically and comically upturned. Sub-Zero claps a hand on his--its-- shoulder and faces the real Scorpion still at pond's edge.

An ice statue. Of him. Perfect but for the detail of his mouth. He's wearing the same uniform as Hanzo, a new uniform Sub-Zero had never seen until this day, but that he has succeeded in replicating in a manner or seconds. Hanzo does not share in this skill of creation, though he's burnt portraits on rock for the amusement of children before, but they cannot compare to the presence the ice commands.

Hanzo takes his first step on the pond and is not disappointed. His friend never allows his feet to dip into the shallow water, the way is laid out for him in ice. He never takes an uncertain step. He expects Sub-Zero to catch him every time.

"This icicle looks nothing like me, Sub-Zero." Hanzo tells him. He runs his finger over the bridge of the copy's nose. It's frighteningly accurate.

"Perhaps you're right. The resemblance might be lost here, given the fact I have not seen your face in nearly a year."

"Nine months." Hasashi corrects him. It fails to impress Sub-Zero beyond an unamused lift of his brow.

Hanzo sighs. He needs both hands to remove this new mask. It stops his enemies from ripping it off his face so easily, but it might be a problem if he's ever missing an arm after battle. He hangs the mask from the hook at his belt and pulls back his cowl. He shakes his hair out of the collar of his uniform. Sub-Zero watches him too closely. He's too quiet upon seeing Hanzo's face. He expected further teasing. It's disconcerting.

Late on his cue, Sub-Zero picks up where he left off. He makes gestures around Hanzo's face like a tailor taking measurements.

"Ah, I see what I've missed. That wrinkle there." He touches Hanzo's temple. That same hand travels upwards and brushes flatly over his hair. "Yes-- and your height. I see now, it's all wrong."

Too late does Hasashi feel the ice melting beneath his feet. It's enough to make him lose his balance and stumble in the water, wetting his ankles. Suddenly, he stands much shorter than his double and its sculptor.

"Kuai Liang!" Hanzo scolds. He kicks with the intent to soak the man, but he doesn't reel back in time as expected. The dodge never comes, and they stand equally wet.

"There it is." He says abruptly. "Not Sub-Zero. Not Master. Just Kuai Liang."

His voice is softer. The crow's feet around his eyes have smoothed from laughter to frightening fondness. Hanzo thinks he sees his friend at last. The real him, not the amusing creature full of mischief he found in his garden, but Kuai Liang.

"What's wrong?" Hanzo asks warily.

"Nothing." Kuai Liang says unconvincingly. The daze lasts for a moment longer before Kuai Liang comes to his senses. His lips flatten and purse. He appears frustrated by his own inability to adeptly communicate. "I dishonor myself."

The only man to meet his eyes unflinching turns as though he cannot bear to hold his gaze. Hanzo startles as his reflection begins to melt, but is far more concerned by Kuai Liang walking away. He grabs his arm and yanks him rougher than he intended, pulling him off the ice path so they stand on equal ground.

"Stop this. Where has your clarity gone?"

"Nine months." Kuai Liang snaps. He bends his arms and wrestles off Hanzo's grip. "Nine months I haven't seen you and it took me six to think it was better when you hated me because at least--At least I saw you more."

Giving breath to the words takes all the wind out of Kuai Liang. He's a ship at sea lost in a back pond, mourning a past where they were enemies to each other. If Hanzo didn't understand him so well, he might have taken offense. Kuai Liang doesn't fight Hanzo when he next places his hands upon him, but he doesn't face him readily, turning his body just so.

Dishonor. This man dares speak to him of dishonor?

For the past two-hundred eighty-four days, Hanzo Hasashi has craved company he cannot have. He's fantasized, in selfish detail, of spiriting the master of the Lin Kuei away from his ice palace. He's conjured a world where he can bear to leave his Shirai Ryu to their own devices and spend the rest of his life chasing Kuai Liang through Earthrealm and any other world the man might take him to.

Worst of all are the nights where Hanzo tells himself Kana would have wanted him to have someone. Someone who could cool his anger. That she would have held Hanzo's health and wellbeing above his duty to the clan and the people it protects. But he cannot excuse his desires by attributing them to Harumi's wishes. What he wants is his alone-- or perhaps, it's a madness shared by two.

"Kuai Liang… We are as one in this." Hanzo admits. "But I could not leave any more than I could ask you to stay."

Kuai Liang's hands are cold on his jaw. He cups Hanzo's face with impossible tenderness, gentle unlike a warrior and precisely like a lover. His cool, controlled Kuai Liang-- always the first to touch, to hold, impulsive when his heart calls for it. Impulsive as running halfway across the world because he missed him.

"I know, Hanzo. So why do I want you to ask?"

Hanzo takes the string of firsts from Kuai Liang by holding the back of his neck and bringing their lips to a crash. He cuts himself so sweetly on his lover’s teeth with bruising force. It's repayment, an apology, because Kuai Liang came to Japan before Hanzo had the initiative to visit Arctika. Because it's always Kuai Liang extending the olive branch. But most of all because he hungers and nothing else will do.

#writings

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takaraphoenix · 6 years ago

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#10 for the ask game, let's say for couple of shows you watch, you decide which ones

Thanks for asking, this is a really intersting one! :3

10. Most disliked arc? Why?

Huuuh, okay, lemme go through the shows I’m currently watching, see what I come up with. *tilts head*

Avengers Assemble: The current Black Panther’s Quest. But let me clarify: I don’t dislike the story of this arc itself; I dislike how it’s so awkwardly placed as an arc within Avengers Assemble. This should have been a spin-off, not a whole entire season’s arc of an Avengers show, considering the show has never given the individual Avengers huge standalone arcs like this before. As the plot for its own show this would be an amazing arc, but considering the show it’s on it’s... completely hijacking the show and that does bother me because when I watch an Avengers cartoon, I kind of want to see the Avengers in it, all of them, not just one? Just give him a spin-off, additionally to a real proper all-Avengers focused season of Avengers Assemble. It really ain’t that hard.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: I am... absolutely startled to read that most of the fandom seems to dislike season 7 the most?? When in fact season 5 was the worst. The storyline of Dawn was so bad. Not just the retconning in of Sudden Little Sister and just how unlikable the character herself is, but also that the offered out wasn’t used. Just kill off Dawn in the end, use her as the key she is so this obnoxious character doesn’t have to be carried over to the next season, but nope, instead Buffy dies for her. IT was so dumb and so annoying and I find the overly religious story-arcs - whatever the religion - really creepy...

Doctor Who: I really disliked Clara’s post-resolution arc. She was such a good character and I really-really liked her and then the Impossible Girl was finally resolved... and she stayed. That was when she should have left. But that whole nonsense with Danny and how spiteful Clara turned toward the Doctor then and she still stayed around. Usually, this show cuts characters out too early, but in Clara’s case, she overstayed her welcome and the arc they forced there was just really not fun to watch...

Game of Thrones: I am mainly watching it for Dany’s arc, though also the Lannisters and Arya interest me. The others, not so much, but the worst arc is most definitely Bran. I just... care so little about him and what he’s up to, to the point that the one season where he wasn’t in it, I didn’t even notice he was missing. Only that then the next season, he was suddenly back and I was like “oooh... eeeh...”. He’s so boring and bad, I could do without him; the show has so much going on already.

My Little Pony: That last season. The story arc of the kids. This show is very distinctively about the Mane Six. And it was already stretching my patience when it went all about Starlight Glimmer, but now this attempt at making it about a next gen and their whole Elements of Harmony story arc? It was just... not interesting? There are enough established characters to focus on, even beyond the Mane Six. More about their families, more focus on the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Spike, heck the background ponies like Octavia. Those kids...? I just... really did not care about them, I don’t remember a single name of theirs. The kids could have been used to further the Mane Six’s plotlines, as mentee and giving each a bond with one of the Mane Six. But this entirely separate own plot for those six new characters... was just not what I was interested in, not after seven whole years and seasons of caring about the Mane Six. Seriously, they could have had the Cutie Mark Crusaders make new friends and focus more on them as the next generation, but introducing fully unrelated, new characters... did not make me care...

Once Upon a Time: This might surprise some, but it’s actually not the Fr0zen arc, because that... at the very least... did a rather okay job at trying to fix the massive plotholes in the movie. I can appreciate that. It ain’t the soft-reboot either considering I refuse to watch that; can’t judge what I haven’t actually seen. I really disliked 5A the most; the whole Dark Emma nonsense and just how emo she was, I also really hate the storytelling tool of “here have a shocking now and let’s unravel it all in flashbacks”, that was so tiresome to watch. I dislike how King Arthur, the King Arthur, was turned into a fucking villain and how unnecessarily dramatic it was.

One Piece: Fishman Island Arc. It used to be Skypiea, but honestly I just dislike Shirahoshi so much. I find her brand of character absolutely nerve-grading. There was not really anything happening in the arc, it pretty much felt like a filler arc even though it was a major one. Waste of time.

Riverdale: The... damn how do I decide? This show started off so good as a fun murder mystery with intriguing characters. Haven’t seen season 3 yet so can only judge the first two. But Betty’s father suddenly turning serial killer was just such a horrendously over the top and unnecessary plot?? Veronica’s dad being a mastermind criminal had at least been set up from the get-go and even Jughead’s dad being the head of a gang and honestly was anyone surprised Cheryl’s mom would send her to conversion therapy? Okay, okay, I will buy all of that. But Betty’s father doing the serial killer bullshit was just way too much and unnecessary and just bad.

Shadowhunters: The addiction arc. It was the worst to watch for me so far. For one, because I am hard against drugs and really dislike addiction and drug arcs in general, but for another because it was just so badly written. That Isabelle, a brilliant scientist with a brain, would just cheerfully agree to take this risky drug from Aldertree to begin with, the utter lack of motivation as to why Aldertree would deliberately get her addicted to drugs aside from it being convenient for drama, then just how Raphael was completely reduced to a tool to further Isabelle’s plot and we did not treat him like a character facing addiction himself. It was so bad.

Stranger Things: The “let’s hide Eleven in my cabin and start to have secrets!”-arc? The reason I really loved the first season was because it was very up-front and open. No unnecessary miscommunication. So to then, in the second season force this miscommunication between characters who had already developed trust with each other... it was so cringeworthy. Eleven hiding from the boys, the sheriff not talking to them either. There was absolutely no reason to it aside from padding the runtime of the season. And that’s what defines a bad plotline; if it serves no actual purpose and has no grounding foundation, no reason behind it aside from “plot required it”.

Suits: The removal of one of their main characters?? This show? Literally? Has? Two? Main? Characters? And only one of them is the actual lead that separates this show from every other lawyer show. And... then... they remove him? The entire season leading up to that had such a good arc that was setting a separation between Mike and his girlfriend up because there were problems and there was distrust and they grew apart so much and I figured “Okay well the actress is getting married to a literal prince and leaving the show so they’re going to make them break up, huh?” and then in the last second, they decide to kit this and make Mike move away with her? I haven’t seen the new season yet but I... really can’t imagine it working out...

Teen Wolf: I feel like I should say 6B, but... I seem to hate that so much that my brain actually managed to forget it? And that’s... rare, but it happens occasionally. When something is really very bad and awful, my brain manages to forget about it. I clearly remember Jackson and Ethan making out and the whole FBI!Stiles thing and that it was about A Nazi, but... what the Nazi did and what actually happened and what, aside from the Nazi, I hated so much about that half-season... I can not for the life of me remember. Thank the gods. So I gotta go with 3A, because the True Alpha arc was the biggest bullshit. Don’t break your mythology. Don’t. Just don’t. Suddenly, a pack can be made up of all-alphas? How? The other alphas shoulda fall into being betas after joining Deucalion?? They should have become omegas after killing their pack because by definition they had no pack anymore?? They should not have gotten more powerful for killing their own pack? It made absolutely no sense at all and completely contradicted the lore this show had set up so far? And that Scott was somehow a ~True Alpha~... I still don’t see what the fuck’s so special about that if it doesn’t come with actual natural leadership abilities, which it should if you are a true and thus natural alpha, aka leader?? It was dumb and forced and you could taste the “Oh shit we want The Main Character to become alpha but we accidentally created a world where you can only become alpha by killing and of course can we not have The Main Character kill anyone!!!”... So dumb. So stupid. Do not like.

Wynonna Earp: THE BIBLE NONSENSE. This show started out so strong. And there was absolutely no reason to pull a sudden Bible on it. Bulshar could have just stayed his own OC demon self and this show could have kept its own mythology, but to suddenly make him the snake from the Garden Eden? To suddenly involve angels? Season 3′s Bible arc was just so absolutely unnecessary.

Salty Ask List

#Salty Ask Game #send me asks #Writing #Anonymous

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