#apparently stu has a lot of conflicted feelings sometimes ......

[woozyhere]

10-an eskimo kiss

KISSES MEME → accepting

———

She's just so cute, how can he resist? A means to an end, that's what Tatum was supposed to be ... but it's nights like this where Stu is conflicted. More and more, he's wishing she didn't have to be involved. More and more, he's starting to really enjoy her company, and although he would follow Billy until the darkness took him, Billy, or both of them, Tatum was beginning to become someone he wanted to protect; and not just for the act.

Tatum was becoming more girlfriend and less pre-production.

They're watching some old horror flick from the 70's, and although Tatum's eyes are glued to the screen, popcorn bowl in lap, Stu's bright blues are trained on her. He's got his head propped in his palm, arm slung over the back of the sofa and small, dopey smile on his face.

The boy had been pretty certain of his preferences before Tatum, and even during the first couple of months with Tatum. He was wrong, he was a little disconnected, he didn't know what his parents would think if they knew. Tatum had swiftly become part of his preferences - she's a flexible exception, and Stu trusted her enough to be vulnerable with her. Submissive with her, and maybe that was all he really needed. Not a man, but someone to take charge.

In an act of defiance at that thought, Stu reaches forward with his free hand to tug Tatum into his lap, wrapping his arms around her tightly and clinging to her like his life depended on it - he didn't care if the popcorn bowl fell, he just cared about getting her in his arms. About holding on to something, someone, who gave a shit about him. "Hey baby, you come here often?"

He smiles gently down at her, one hand lifting to pull her face more toward him so he can rub their noses together playfully - he lingers a moment before placing a chaste kiss to her lips. For now, he could live in a dream reality where nothing was macabre and morbid.

[redrobin-detective]

Half of

Danny Fenton was half ghost. Or something.

No one was quite sure what that meant exactly or if it was even true. A ghost in a pure white suit had announced it during an attack on the town until he was beaten and silenced by Phantom. It’s been three days since then and the nerd hasn’t been at school. Not that Dash was looking for him or anything.

Dash worried, for just a second, that something bad happened to him. The Guys in White creeps had been asking questions around school the last few days. There’d been a noticeable lack in ghost attacks around town, maybe another ghost got to him? What about his ghost obsessed parents? Surely they wouldn’t have done anything to their own kid...

“Think Danny will be in school today?” Kwan whispered nervously, leaning in close to Dash’s side. Talking too loudly about the elephant, or ghost he guesses, in the room got people very forcefully interviewed by the government. 

“Why the hell would I know?” Dash grumbled, shaking his friend off to shove his hands deep into the pockets of his letterman jacket. “No one knows what’s going on, Manson and Foley haven’t shown up either.”

“I hope they’re ok,” Kwan said quietly, looking down at the floor. 

“Why do you care?” Dash grumbled, harsher than he meant to.

“You and everyone ditched me for Danny when Paulina was dating him, remember? Sam and Tucker were real pals and Danny, well he’s weird but not really that bad.” Kwan said bitterly before his eyebrows twisted in confusion. “That was actually pretty out of character for Paulina to date him now that I think about it, maybe he was, like, using ghost magic to control her?”

“That’s stu-” Dash was interrupted by the usually noise of Casper High going dead silent. He and Kwan shrugged at each other. He saw Star down the hallway, staring at something. He caught her eye and mouthed What is it at her. Her eyes slid back over to the hall before mouthing Fenton back. 

“Shit,” Dash couldn’t help but mutter under his breath, “Fenton’s here.” He glanced over at Kwan, trying to hide his nervousness. “Guess we���ll find out if he’s some sort of ghost freak after all.”

Kwan eyed him for a second, “you know if Danny really is half of a ghost then maybe you’ll want to quit it with the names.” The warning bell rang for first period. “You guys have homeroom together with Lancer, right? Just, I don’t know, don’t make him mad or anything.”

“Man, don’t even joke,” Dash said with a strained smile. “It’s Fenton, what’s the nerd gonna do?”

XxX

Fenton always sat in the back right of the class so seeing him there wasn’t that strange. What was strange was that he was there before the bell rang, not looking sweaty or exhausted or beaten up. Seeing him sitting there with an almost bored expression, casually leaning one arm over the back of his chair. It was eerie, seeing Fenton try to act normal. Dash felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on his head as he stiffly walked by the nerd he usually smacked when he walked by. He thought he felt Fenton’s icy eyes following him as he passed. Dash made sure he didn’t scurry like a wimp to his seat but it was a close thing.

“Class, please stop staring at Mr. Fenton and let us begin,” Lancer sighed, unsuccessfully trying to start the class.

“Do you know the ghost boy?” Paulina asked, slamming her palms on her desk and ignoring their teacher. “Because if you’ve been holding out on me-”

“I mean everyone in Amity Park knows him,” Fenton shrugged. He’d been so chill this morning, like the whole thing wasn’t bothering him. It only made Dash more antsy. He bounced his leg under the desk.

“Can you do anything cool? Like fly or shoot lasers from your eyes?” Mikey asked, leaning forward with curiosity.

“I can do lots of cool things,” Fenton sniffed. “I know a lot about the space program and local astronomy. I draw sometimes and I’m think I’m pretty good. I also have super flexible joints so I can do this.” He grinned a little as everyone squealed when he bent his thumb back so far it nearly touched his wrist. “Of course,” his grin turned into an eye roll, “no one really cares about that only my supposed superpowers.”

“What is a half of, exactly? What that ghost called you?” Dash found himself asking. He almost didn’t want to be heard but Fenton turned to look at him anyways. 

“What do you think it means?” Fenton questioned back. Though he had a teasing smirk, his eyes looked dull and dead. Dash couldn’t look at them and ducked his head. 

“Alright, alright, enough with the questions. The Fenton’s gave Danny a clean bill of health and allowed him to rejoin class so that’s all you kids need to know. Now, back to what we were actually talking about.” Class continued as expected but everyone still snuck glances at Fenton. He’s not sure what they were all waiting for, him to suddenly turn green or sprout horn or whatever. But Fenton just sat there, still as anything, trying to act normal and it just didn’t fit him right and it was all just. Wrong.

XxX

Dash was relieved Fenton wasn’t in his second or third period classes but they did have the same lunchtime. For the first time since he was skinny, bucktoothed 6th grader, Dash wanted to hide away and eat his lunch in private. But Fenton wasn’t the only one trying to keep up appearances.

“Alright, what has everyone got,” Paulina was whispering to the table by the time Dash was sitting down. “The day is halfway over, someone had to have seen him doing something ghostly.”

“I mean we don’t know how long he’s been like this,” Star commented, flipping her hair as pretense to sneak a glance at the loser trio near the back entrance of the cafeteria. “He could’ve been hiding his for a while.”

“Fenton’s always been weird,” Dale commented with a sneer, stabbing at his beefaroni. “Since day one, he’s been jumpy and clumsy and goes through weird mood swings.”

“Maybe he’s never been normal,” Kwan said with a little frown. Now Dash knows this wasn’t true. He was the only one at the table who’d gone to the same middle school as Fenton. The nerd had talked too much about space and was always tripping over something but he’d been like all the other annoying brats in middle school. Dale was onto something, Fenton had changed once high school hit which means whatever is up with him as been going on for a while. Years. 

He suddenly felt eyes on him, a cold, crawling feeling that made his breath catch in his throat. Dash squeezed his eyes shut and breathed a silent sigh of relief as the eyes turned from him. They didn’t return but Dash found he couldn’t eat after that.

XxX

“Dude, did you hear about Fenton?” Victor said in an excited but still hushed whisper as Dash was leaving fifth period. 

“No, what did he do?” Dash asked with dread.

“He had gym last period and apparently he’s been faking his loser weakness. He crawled up the rope climb like a goddamned spider monkey and then slid himself back down. Don’t know how he didn’t have intense rope burn from that. He also beat Charlie, Katie and Veronica on the sprinting portion. Must be those ghosty genes.”

“Fenton did all that?” Dash asked, he bit the inside of his cheek. Hard.

“Yeah it was crazy, I thought Tetslaf was gonna pass out,” Victor laughed. “Maybe we should get him to try out for the football team, he’d be a great running back or-”

“Come on, Vic,” Dash laughed but the sound came out wrong. “Why would we want Fenton on our team? He’s, he’s Fenton! Just a skinny, weird little wimp.” Vic side-eyed him a bit before clapping Dash on the back.

“World’s changing, Dash. First ghosts, now half ghosts, it’s all wrong but you just gotta roll with it. All I know is I have 2 years left in this hell hole before I leave this miserable place for Chicago and never look back. I recommend you do the same, after all,” Vic grinned again but it was sharper. “Fenton’s always been your personal punching bag, not every day you learn your victim has superpowers.”

“We don’t know what the hell is up with Fenton,” Dash defended. Vic just shrugged.

“Yeah but he’s always been a freak now we know he ain’t human. Who knows what else he’s hiding?” Vic said with a smug smile before wandering off, giving a halfhearted wave over his shoulder as he left.

Dash stood in the hallway, trying to get himself under control until the warning and late bell rang. Only then, when he was certain he wouldn’t run into Fenton, did he head to class. 

XxX

“Should we follow him, see where he goes?” Paulina said, biting onto one of her nails in nervous excitement. Paulie was gorgeous and overall pretty cool but her thing with ghosts sometimes tired Dash out. Now more than ever. 

“Come on, that’s like stalking,” Kwan scolded. “Even if that wasn’t illegal or whatever it’s just not cool. They had a rough day today, leave ‘em alone.” That icy chill returned and Dash looked out of the corner of his eye to see Fenton and his cronies walking out of the school. 

Truthfully, Dash didn’t think Fenton had that bad of a day. Yeah people were asking questions but he’d side stepped them all, gave non-answers. Other people talked about Fenton’s supposed strength in gym but there’d been conflicting reports, some said he flew up the rope climb, others said he levitated doing his push ups. Dash really didn’t know what to believe. Fenton was just acting, well, like Fenton. He paused for a second, stopped walking before catching up with the group.

Maybe... maybe Dash was getting caught up over nothing. There really was no proof Fenton was this ‘half of’ other than what one dumb ghost said. He thought back to Fenton’s grin during first period; stupid nerd was probably milking his 15 minutes of fame and bully free time. His earlier fear and uncertainty burst into flames until a familiar anger was burning in his gut. Now this he knew what to do with.

“Yeah, well his day is about to get rougher,” Dash heard himself say as he stomped off to where Fenton was smiling tiredly at something Manson was saying. “Hey Fentonio! Think you’re pretty cool with every paying attention to you but I-”

Fenton gasped suddenly, like a hiccup only his breath misted out in front of him cold as a winter’s day. Dash stopped midsentence watching as Fenton’s whole face twisted. His earlier weary but tolerant annoyance that he’d been projecting all day was stripped away. He glared at Dash with an expression that was hard as ice and full of an exhaustion and bitterness he couldn’t begin to understand.

“As payment for being forcibly outed,” Fenton spoke up loudly enough that most of the school yard could hear him. “I was promised a week.” His eyes slowly but methodically scanned the crowd who had frozen in place at his authoritative tone. “Where I didn’t have to deal with ghosts, so I want to know... Who is trespassing on my haunt.”

Fenton’s mouth opened impossibly wide revealing what seemed like rows of sharped teeth. He curled his fingers into claws and, looking closer, his fingernails had indeed become real claws, as sharp and deadly as his teeth. His eyes blazed an impossible, ectoplasmic green and his dark hair developed streaks of white. He was terrifying, monstrous, but he was still Fenton. That feeling that had been eating at dash all day came back full force. Not the realization that Fenton had powers or whatever but that he had been hiding it in plain sight through ghost attacks and bullies and failing grades. This had always been Fenton, they just hadn’t seen. Until now that is.

And now the script had flipped and Dash didn’t know how this Ghost Fenton, who still was the same Fenton Dash had wedgied last Wednesday, fit. A green blob ghost materialized over by stairs, quivering and wailing in some ghost language. It turned and fled, presumably in the direction of the Fenton Portal to escape Fenton’s wrath. Fenton’s glowing eyes tracked it for a moment before he straightened up from his hunched posture and... was human again.

He brushed his hands through his black hair, lazily blinked blue eyes and, when he smiled, his teeth were normal. But Dash had seen, they all had. He’d let them see but to what end, he had no idea. Fenton turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow and another small smirk, just as tired as earlier.

“Sorry about that Dash, I take my vacation time very seriously. You were saying?” Fenton said with a smug lilt but his eyes were still dead and there was a bit of fear in them now. Despite his powers, he still gripped his backpack tightly.

“When your dumb little vacation’s up, Fentionail,” Dash said with a shaky voice. “It’s-it’s back to business, okay? Punches and wedgies and locker shoving. You,” he voice cracked a bit and he fought it down. “It’ll ramp up now that I know you can take it.” Fenton blinked, once then twice before he smiled. This time it wasn’t annoyed or scary or fearful but like the dumb grins he usually gave his dumb friends. 

“Yeah okay, we’ll start back up next week. The usual time?” Dash nodded, not knowing what else to say. “Alright, see you around.” He turned to walk away before pausing and turning back. “Actually you should be careful on who you shove into lockers, it can get hard to breathe in there and not everyone can phase out of them. You never know who’ll turn up dead,” he grinned and his eyes flashed green again, “if only half.”

That said, he and his friends walked away, ignoring the stares of the entire school on them. “Oh and it’s halfa, not half of,” Fenton called out over his shoulder. “I’m not half of anything, I’m just a whole me even if the details get a bit complicated.”

“Bye Danny, see you tomorrow,” Kwan called after with a grimace. No one else said anything for a minute until Dash found the strength to move his legs from where they’d been planted. He clenched his fists to hide his shaking and continued his walk home. Everyone else slowly did the same, talking quietly among themselves.

“What the hell was that?” Dale asked in a nervous high pitched voice. “What the hell did I just see?”

“Fenton being a weirdo but that’s nothing new,” Dash shrugged with a confidence he didn’t have yet. But if Fenton could show up to school after being outed and then willingly show them his inhumanity, then Dash needed to up his game. Couldn’t let the nerd be cool or anything. “So what if he glows or whatever, he’s still Fenton. Look I gotta get home, it’s Pookie’s feeding time and he is NOT going to believe the day I had.

[holydragon2808]

My Personal Opinion on Edelgard (FE Three Houses) SPOILERS FOR THE GD, BL and BE Routes

Fire Emblem Three Houses has pretty much consumed the majority of my free time since its launch. Someone on reddit made a topic regarding their opinion of this controversial character, and I commented on it. I figured I’d copy/paste my response there here too, just for the hell of it (and I’m curious to see what anyone else has to say or think on the matter). There will be spoilers for three of the four routes in this post, so read at your own risk. Final Warning.

Personally, of the three lord characters, Edelgard is my least favorite so far (I've played the GD route and the BL route and now I'm working on the BE route, and eventually going bookends with the Church because its similar to the GD route). Mainly because I feel the whole "tormented by awful memories of the past" thing was done much better and was much more compelling with Dimitri. Yeah, he definitely snaps and loses himself in all other routes not his own, giving into his mental despair and inner hatred (and like Edelgard, dies in every route not his own), but on the Blue Lions route, not only can you pull Dimitri back from the brink, but he ultimately makes the conscious choice to move forward, realize the suffering he's caused and atones for his actions.

He stops with the whole "violent revenge is the only way forward" (in his case) and resolves to fight and live for what he truly believes in (mirroring the exact same speech he once gave you when Jeralt was killed five years ago), and eventually he rises to be the benevolent king he always had the capacity to be, because he chose to put his past behind him (on his route). He chose to actively find another less violent way to end the conflict (we take a huge, but still necessary detour back to the Kingdom of Faergus to save it from the Empire on the Blue Lions path). And the romance between Dimitri and a female Byleth felt very organic to this arc IMO. Huge Dimileth shipper here lol.

Edelgard, on the other hand, had already made up her mind that violence is really the only answer, and thus, doomed herself to a lonely grave in every route not her own. And, even in her own route, all you're really doing is helping her be less cold. We're still committing massive war atrocities, and far too much sacrificing/murdering for my liking personally, especially having played Claude and Dimitri’s routes beforehand.

With Claude, he actually has very similar ideals to Edelgard, and similar views about crests and a very similar desire to create a more equal world, but he takes it a step further to include tearing down ALL the barriers across the world, not just Fodlan. The major difference between the two of them (and why Claude can potentially survive all four routes and Edelgard dies in every route not her own) is that he's willing to compromise and work with others, admit his faults, and adjust his methods. He's also willing to admit when others might be better suited to change the world than him (i.e., not picking his route.). I’ve actually seen people claim that Claude is a “gary stu” character because he’s the only lord who can survive all four routes. Uh....no, just no. 

AND unlike Edelgard, he's 100% opposed to sacrificing/killing his friends for the greater good. If anything, his constant (and admittedly sometimes questionable) scheming is all in the interest of his closest friends and family surviving (and he's willing to do other things aside from war and slaughter that might still be morally wrong if it means saving his friends, which I found to be very interesting and why he's one of my favorite FE characters. I'm a sucker for the lovable rogue type, and I did a romance with Claude and loved it too).

I find it extremely ironic that Edelgard says that Claude isn't the best qualified ruler because he doesn't know much about Fodlan's history, when it truth, the GD route easily has some of the most world building and truth discovering. Another thing is that Claude is willing to take the time and do some research and learn/seek out the truth rather than just assuming he knows everything already. He doesn't have the same level of hatred towards the Church of Seiros that Edelgard has, so he's more willing to look beyond what others have established or what he's merely heard, and one could argue that Claude's mixed Fodlan/Almyran heritage and his lack of bias actually makes him more qualified to attempt this sort of dynamic change in the world, as well as Dimitri actively making the conscious choice to not let his past, his hatred and his anger rule his every action, becoming a well loved and benevolent king on his route to be frank.

Edelgard never once questioned if the Empire itself might have distorted history. She’s actually the one who's the most misinformed about Fodlan's history, the true conflict between Seiros and Nemesis (it was WAY more than just a "minor dispute or misunderstanding", and the ancestors of Those Who Slither in the Dark were clearly the aggressors in the conflict between Seiros and Nemesis (and it started with what the ancestors of TWSITD did to Sothis and the rest of Seiros' brethren and the TRUE nature of what the hero's relics are. Oh yeah Edelgard, they were "man made" alright....), not the other way around, and actually a more potentially dangerous enemy than the Church, but that's another discussion altogether).

Edelgard is so caught up in her "my way or the high way" mentality that she just flat out won’t work with anyone who doesn't share in her views completely and utterly. She's so convinced that she’s the only one capable of changing the world, and that it has to be her and only her, that she literally runs herself into the ground in every other route (she dies). Again, I'm aware of her trauma, but we all have a choice in how we live our lives going forward, and Edelgard chose war so....).

She's not wrong in her views that the Church of Seiros was stagnating the world and hiding a lot of dark secrets, particularly "Rhea", but she was (and is since this is my current route) completely wrong in being so arrogant to believe that she was/is the only one qualified to exact change, when not only are Claude and Dimitri perfectly capable of doing the same, but they do so with far less bloodshed than Edelgard does (well, once Dimitri comes around on his own route. That was the second one I played. I'm working on the BE route at the moment, then I'll go back and do the Church of Seiros. So far, it's readily apparent to me what Edelgard's flaws are and why her own hubris is typically her downfall in all other routes outside her own, even if some of it has to do with trauma).

Again, Edelgard's route is my least favorite so far because of how arrogant she is really (and I really didn't appreciate her rather rude and arrogant worded speech to me only mere days after Jeralt was killed either compared to the other two lords. Had it taken place at the end of the month, it would have worked better, but just a few days after was her overstepping, future Emperor or no). I get where she's coming from for the most part, but I find her far too narrow minded and far too ready to sacrifice everyone and everything around her for her ideals for my liking....just all my opinion though. I actually found her more compelling on both the Golden Deer and Blue Lions route (the latter in particular), but that's another discussion altogether. I'm glad the BE route is the shortest. Probably not gonna play it ever again personally. Despite how all this sounds, I don't "hate" Edelgard, so much as I just find the other two lords far more compelling.

[tanadrin]

hey *whispers* hey. hey. i saw your post in the wow tag. i would read THE SHIT out of your interpretation of wow lore. i have homework right now but i think i might just read through your blog a bit. the characters have always been such a high point for me (listen. i know knaak did a lot of shit. but you can pry Krasus from my cold dead hands he was EVERYTHING to middle school me) and i feel so conflicted over what theyve done to the characters - sylvanas, anduin, everyone. would love ur take

You might be a little disappointed, most of my blog isn’t about WoW (it postdates my WotLK raiding/RP guild phase, and I’ve only just recently got back into it with Classic). Lots of opinions on WoW characters below the cut.

I actually don’t hate Krasus as a character. He’s fine, he’s not a Designated Idiot Ball Carrier like some of the others are. In re: the dragons generally, I don’t like the simplistic thing WoW lore does a lot where one faction leader going bonkers turns the whole faction into baddies for no apparent reason, because all political entities are monoliths except when they’re not. I’m also not a huge fan of how crowded the, erm, metahuman bureaucracy on Azeroth has become in the lore–like, the Keepers and the Dragon Aspects serve similar roles, and the lore could have done fine with one or the other, and the dragons were here first (and Ysera and Alexstrasza are BAMFs), and so should get to stay.

Sylvanas is bae, obviously, and Sylvanas as Warchief was a terrific move plotwise. I think it’s a pity they had to kill Vol’jin to do it (because I am also very here for Warchief Vol’jin), but she is obviously the more interesting choice. Speaking of Warchiefs:

Thrall doesn’t have the Green Jesus Marty Stu quite as bad as some people think, but he does kinda have it, and I don’t see them grappling quite with the fact that he done fucked up. Like, not only did he install a Warchief who should have had all smart members of the Horde tugging at their collars nervously when he started his rule, Garrosh turned into a Sha-summoning Old God-corrupted, casual-atrocity-perpetrating maniac, not to mention all the bullshit on Old Draenor I do my best to forget about lest my blood pressure spike. We don’t really get a satisfying mea culpa from Thrall for that, and then his response is to fuck off to fiddle around with the Earthen Ring for a bit, before retiring to a farm in Nagrand. Keep in mind, one of the whole reasons the Horde came together in its current shape in the first place is because of the charismatic, hopeful figure of Thrall. It ran the very real risk of splintering under Garrosh for good (ESPECIALLY after the murder of Cairne, RIP Cairne Bloodhoof, you were too good for this world), and even the most unifying successor (which I think Vol’jin was) didn’t have Thrall’s inclusive, unifying vision. Sylvanas doesn’t, either, and even more, is sort of low-key hated by everybody else, so while I don’t think she’s a maniac like Garrosh who would recklessly divide the Horde, she’s also not, I am forced to admit, necessarily the ideal Warchief from a political standpoint.

Even if he didn’t return to the post of Warchief, Thrall had a moral obligation after the Garrosh debacle to try to help hold the Horde together and heal the divisions his negligence caused. At least to throw his support behind Garrosh’s successors, and not to pretend that Deathwing’s death meant everything was OK forever, job done. And if he wasn’t going to do that (and he has excellent motivations for not wanting to do that!), I think the consequences of that have to be explored. I think some people would blame him, and be justified in doing so. I think somebody like Varok Saurfang, who has had decades of experience with the damage bad leaders could do, would rightly be a little pissed, even as he sought Thrall out for help, that Thrall had let the Horde he built languish under subpar leadership. Thrall has been selfish–and that’s great, because he desperately needed some character flaws more significant than “cares too much” and “believes in people a lot.”

Anduin: better than Varian, still a little bland? Varian was a Professional Idiot Ball Handler, who seemed to do stuff not out of a coherent conception of his character, but just because the plot required a Generic Human King to do it. Plus there was all that stuff with the cloning and the kidnapping that never really made any sense. I like Anduin’s optimism; I like that he feels like a thoughtful, reasonable guy, who’s doing his best in often-impossible circumstances. I feel like they could show him being a little more frustrated sometimes, though, and a little pissed at people like Jaina who obstinately refuse to do the strategically correct thing even if it means setting aside their resentments for a bit. Disclaimer: I play almost exclusively Horde toons, they may address this better in the Alliance quests in WoW.

But oh man, besides the Draenei, I hate most what they did to Jaina. Jaina was that rare jewel, an optimist in a world whose setting demands perpetual chaos. Yes, yes, Theramore and the mana bomb, I’m not suggesting she should be made of stone, but it breaks her character to have her suddenly go from someone trying to forge a lasting peace between the Horde and Alliance in WC3–to the point where she would see her own father dead–to someone who now blames the whole Horde as one no exceptions for what happened at Theramore. Should she struggle with grief and pain and anger? Absolutely. But she should deal with them in more complex ways than “now I am become the mirror image of Daelin.” Nevermind that even if she did that she should at least regret not listening to him back in WC3. (Do they address that in BFA with the introduction of Kul Tiras? Idk, I haven’t played BFA at all yet.) It seems like Jaina’s role now is to be the Person Who Hates The Horde, and honestly, that’s a tired trope. It’s just not interesting, it has no nuance, it has no interesting outcomes. You could maybe get away with it with the generation of leaders from the Second War like Daelin and Genn who knew the Orcs only as the fel-corrupted servants of the Burning Legion, but it’s obvious to anyone with two brain cells to rub together than the current Horde is a very different animal politically and strategically, so even if you hate the Orcs with a burning passion, that is not going to transfer to the Tauren, nevermind onetime allies like the Blood Elves.

Gul’dan: oh my god the time travel plot was so stupid. Did the whole universe get duplicated in the alternate timeline? Since travel between the universes is cheap and easy that means there’s a whole nother Burning Legion with a whole nother Sargeras out there that’s still a huge fricking threat! Not to mention a whole nother Azeroth! Did just Draenor get duplicated? That doesn’t seem to match up with the fact a lot of the Burning Legion characters in WoD seem to be parallel universe versions of Burning Legion villains we already know, but it’s not directly confirmed or disconfirmed. Is it some sort of weird Bronze Dragonflight timey-wimey thing that doesn’t have its own independent reality? Ok, fine, but obviously this alternate Draenor has enough of an independent existence for us to visit it again and see what it’s like decades later, not to mention bring some of the people there back. Gul’dan was a fine, if one-dimensional villain but bringing him back from the dead was dumb, dumb, dumb, in a setting where death often feels meaningless and seems to be reversible at random. And the general incoherence of magic in the setting combined with the perennial incoherence of time travel plots (Gollum voice: *we hates them!*) really just reduced WoD to a quivering mess of plot holes, like febrile fan speculation made manifest.

Tirion Fordring: good example of a purely heroic character done well, which WoW has few of. I think because he actually has challenges to overcome, and he doesn’t feel like an idiot.

Bolvar Fordragon: Literally did not know or care who this guy was until the Wrathgate cinematic, but what they did after that with his character was terrific, 10/10.

Malfurion, Tyrande, Illidan: These characters all bore me to tears. My WotLK main was a druid, and I’m a big fan of the druid lore, so I wanna like Malfurion, I really do, but he’s just so dull. Partly because it doesn’t feel like he has any real limitations on his power, just whatever the plot demands he be able to do or not do at any given moment, partly because he just feels like a stiff-necked scold. Tyrande is even more one-dimensional. Illidan is pure 3edgy5me, and the demon hunters in general feel like they get to be too cool to actually traffic in any of the pathos of what should be their emotional equivalents like the Death Knights and the Forsaken. It’s like, “oh man, my life is so tormented, I have these bitchin’ horns and tattoos, and I’m, like, totally immortal, here, hold my rad sword thingies for a second.” At least with the Death Knights you get the feeling that being a Death Knight is a genuinely miserable experience, so there’s some genuine conflict at the heart of the class: sure, you play as a hero, but not the kind of hero you’d necessarily want to be. Demon hunters are just pissed they don’t get to sit at the cool kids’ lunch table, and Illidan genuinely acts like a giant asshole and then gets self-righteous and whiny when his friends and family are like “Dude! Stop being such an asshole!” There’s room for a prickly character, who’s a dick, but who’s our dick, and maybe that’s what they were going for, but Illidan is just the worst.

Azshara, Lady Vashj: The Naga were a giant fucking mistake. A symptom of the inability to let backstory stay backstory, to have to resurrect and retread the same events over and over again that plagues serials when lesser writers without original ideas get let loose on them. Settings like WoW (like Star Wars, like Star Trek, like Dune) are whole universes. You should be expanding the borders, making them feel bigger, more fine-grained, more alive, not beating the same major characters to death over and over again. The ancient Kaldorei are way more interesting as a lost past and a lesson in hubris than fish-snake-people who live under the sea.

Also, water levels are dumb and I hate them. This applies to coral-and-shellfish themed zones regardless of whether swimming is involved.

Cho’gall: I loved the “insane nihilist death cult” reincarnation of the Twilight’s Hammer Clan in World of Warcraft, and Cho’gall as the many-eyed crazed ogre mage with two heads was great. Would much rather have more Cho’gall than Guldan 2.0.

While I’m on Cataclysm: one thing you don’t often feel in worlds like WoW is the possibility of real defeat, because for extradiegetic reasons, it’s impossible to truly lose in any long-lasting way (or, in quests like Battle for the Undercity in WotLK, they just… don’t let you, which feels dumb as heck). I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of a post-apocalyptic fantasy world, a world where the bad guys won, and all the worst things the good guys feared came to pass. I think this is one reason I loved the original interpretation of the Draenei so much, because we saw in Draenor what that really looked like. It was bleak, and it was poignant, and even though it was set within a silly melodrama, it actually moved me. Cataclysm did something similar with the postapocalyptic time-travel instance (time travel being used well for once in WoW!), where you saw that Deathwing’s victory wasn’t just an abstract possibility, but a thing that could actually happen. It made the possibility of defeat feel more real, and it gave you a taste of that same bleak, poignant feeling: this, it said (just for a moment!) is what failure looks like, an Azeroth without life, without hope, in which everything you ever struggled for was utterly in vain. And that motivated you to work even harder to prevent it.

Alleria, Turalyon: “You last saw us in WC2, and since then we’ve been fighting a thousand years (subjective) of endless war against the Burning Legion and been irrevocably changed by the experience” is actually pretty great! But if I were going to rewrite WoW lore, I would make that a thousand objective years and set the final victory over the Burning Legion in the future, at a time when the Alliance and Horde have made a durable peace, and Azeroth has moved on from decades of endless war. I think there’s a real problem with trying to make the player one of the heroes that brings down Sargeras for good because it’s *such* an epic battle, but it’s a massively multiplayer game. Making every player the grand master of their class order was bad enough, but when you are obviously playing out entirely different diegesis from everyone around you, even if you didn’t have problems like sharding and a glut of phasing and cross-server activities and instant teleportation to dungeons, it really feels like a single-player RPG with a chat function. I mean, conflicting diegeses is always going to be a problem with questing-based MMOs, but suspension of disbelief worked when you were plainly one person embedded in a larger effort, like in vanilla, BC, and WotLK. But “you are one of thousands of people who is the Best Warrior Ever and sole Leader of the Warriors, and who has the Only Artifact Weapon that somehow also has thousands of copies”… yeah, that just doesn’t work for me. I feel like I’m being pandered to, and not in a fun way, like with the Pandaren.

Sargeras: I like that they retconned Sargeras to have a better motivation than “demons made me nihilistic.” The idea of a void-corrupted titan being something so terrible a member of the Pantheon would shatter worlds to prevent it is interesting. But the Void gods still feel��� kinda non-threatening? We don’t see them actively working to threaten anything we really care about, the Void is mostly a pretty passive abstract force like the Light, and in general I feel like the setting isn’t really dualistic, but er… trialistic? Is that a word? In that there’s a three-way opposition between the Void, the Light, and the Nether/Arcane, from the perspective of which each is the opponent of both of the others, but that’s never laid out explicitly anywhere.

[nerdsideofthemedia]

Should the term “Mary Sue” be retired?

The original. 

I didn’t have any intention of posting my non-RWBY, non-MHA blog posts here, but here’s this one seems to be becoming important with the rise of the claims that Arya Stark is a Mary Sue. So here it goes:

In my walks through Dan Olson’s twitter, I came across this:

Which got me thinking: is the term “Mary Sue” completely pointless?

Before I wonder about this question, let’s take a quick journey through time. In the 70s, Paula Smith noticed a character pattern among the Star Trek fanfic and created a parody to point this out, “A Trekkies’s Tale”, whose protagonist was called Mary Sue. During the following years, the “Mary Sue” wasn’t necessarily considered as something bad, instead it was considered as a phase every writer will go through as it was intimately associated with self-inserts and was only applied to fan-fictions1;2.

In recent years, the term has left the fanfic and began being applied to original fiction too, losing its meaning along the way and gaining a pretty negative connotation. In fact, nowadays, “Mary Sue” is such an extremely subjective term that even TV Tropes admits:

“TV Tropes doesn’t get to set what the term means, the best we can do is capture the way it is used.” 1

Hell, I’ve even come across with this subjectivity, as once I called Orihime from Bleach a Mary Sue, on youtube, and one person defended my use of it by explaining she was liked by everyone, which wasn’t the reason I considered a Mary Sue to begin with and consider that justification to be pretty dumb.

Why is being liked by everyone not a good parameter?

Have you ever read/watched a shonen? Most of the good guys are on good terms. Even when there is some animosity between a main character and another one, it’s usually because of the other, like Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z, who dislikes Goku because he’s better than him, not because of anything egregious the latter did. In “My Hero Academia”, Bakugo hated Midoriya mostly because of pride and arrogance (they are now on good terms).  Yes, the Avengers may have not loved each other from the get-go, but, by the end of the film, they were ready to live happily ever after. And when the sequels even stop (they never will), they will end up being on good terms.

Another definition of what is a “Mary Sue” is it’s a character that is overpowered/great set of skills + tragic backstory, (sometimes even without the latter). So let’s take a look at:

Superman: an alien whose planet was destroyed, adopted by 2 humans, and has a set of skills that would make Goku turn… Well, he would probably just find it cool, but Vegeta’s head would explode for sure as he threw a temper tantrum. His powers include flying, super speed and strength (to the point of almost completely invulnerability), X-ray and heat vision.

Bruce Wayne: a poor (not literally) orphan who was raised by his butler and whose riches go beyond Taylor Swift’s wildest dreams, let alone poor (far more literal) little us. Thanks to it, he has access to technology that has little to no limitations, yet his money never ends.

Goku: an alien whose planet was destroyed, adopted by an old man who was killed by him in giant monkey-form. Not only he can fly, he is particularly powerful even for his people even though he’s a low-level specimen according to the planet’s hierarchic structure.

Ichigo: a guy who turns out to be part-Hollow, part-Shinigami, part-Vizard, part-who-the-hell-even-cares-anymore, even though some of them are pretty rare.

Harry Potter: an orphan raised by his aunt and her family, who all treat him badly, finds out he’s a wizard and finds out his parents have left him a mountain of gold (literally). Everyone either admires him or feels jealous as he is famous for “defeating” a particularly powerful wizard as a baby, without any damages besides a scar. He’s also part of a prophecy.

What about those self-inserts?

I guess we could still use the term as just a self-insert, but considering that most of the time we don’t know the writers, then we can only know their self-insertion if they tell us.

It also doesn’t justify its negative connotation. Writers are people, I presume, which means they have flaws. So why is a character based on oneself bad? Provided the writers are realistic and self-aware, those should be some of the most realistic characters. Now, I know there’s a trap in here, which is the tendency of favoring ourselves and make us just a bit (or a lot) more special than we actually are, but 1) this doesn’t necessarily happen to every self-insert; 2) that can happen whenever writers begin to favor a character for whatever reason, even if it wasn’t a self-insert, leading it to become more and more special or less flawed.

They’re the personification of perfection.

OK, except perfection seems to be kind of subjective, since what I like isn’t the same as everyone else’s. I mean I may like active characters and some may like passive characters. You may think perfection is pizza without pineapple, while I say “you are objectively wrong”.

Jokes asides, being different human beings, usually we end up writing “perfect” characters with our definition of it, which may not correspond to someone else’s.

For example, Bella Swan is called “Mary Sue” a lot for being perfect, but she’s deeply flawed. She’s co-dependent and suicidal. Edward Cullen is the one “Gary Stu” that actually stuck, yet he’s manipulative and a stalker. Yet, there is truth to the claim they are perfect, not to me, but to Stephanie Meyers as they are both idealizations to her, regardless of our opinions of them.

I suppose a character can be drop dead gorgeous, have all sorts of skills and being loved by everyone, but, eventually, he/she will make something that many will consider to be wrong. If that doesn’t happen, then there’s probability not a good conflict, which reveals that, maybe, the problem is in the story itself, not necessarily in the character.

Speaking of subjectivity in flaws and virtues…

“So why did you used to call Orihime a Mary Sue?”

Well, because I thought her flaws were inconsequential with Bleach begging me to sympathize with her for awful reasons and smart characters being really stupid, meaning causing unnecessary plot-hole or plot-contrivance for her. The few most glaring examples I recall (and I’ve read/watched Bleach at least half a century ago, so it’s possible there are a few lapses in my memory) being:

Her almost kissing Ichigo while he was unconscious. That scene is framed as if I am supposed to sympathize with her, instead of what it actually is: creepy as hell and also falls under almost sexual assault in many countries.

Her having an obsession for Ichigo to the point of only thanking him for coming for her in her mind, even though Rukia, Chad, Uryu and Renji were also there to save her. This again is framed as I’m supposed to empathize with her, instead of thinking she’s being narrow-minded and has an unhealthy obsession with Ichigo.

About others acting stupid: Uryu takes her to where Ichigo and Ulquiorra are fighting even though where they were before, Ichigo was losing cause he was holding back to avoid hurting her. Yes, the other place was bigger, but their powers were huge and Uryu taking Orihime should have been a stupid idea (and he’s supposed to be smart).

Not to mention, of course, she resurrects Ichigo by crying and yelling his name which was also major bullshit.

And yes, it’s time to talk about the gender-thing and to admit to my own prejudices despite being a woman, because Orihime isn’t the only character I know who has her flaws not being acknowledged or being perceived as good. Many male characters have all of those yet, I still don’t call them “Gary Stu” or any other male equivalent.

Sun Wukong from RWBY has pretty much all the same problems as Orihime: he stalks Blake for months yet faces no actual consequences. And his actions were framed in the show as “needed”, even though they weren’t since the entire Menagerie arc could be written without him with only minor changes. Creepy actions being framed as right and sympathetic – check.

He also abandons his team several times, which, again, was inconsequential (even if he confesses to being an awful leader in V6) and no way in hell a combat school would interrupt classes for an entire year. He’s completely oblivious of the Faunus struggle, though he’s a Faunus and goes to school in one of the most racist territories. And Blake goes from super paranoid to so relaxed she doesn’t even believe him when he says he saw a WF member wearing a mask for no apparent reason. If I had to guess it’s because if she kept being super paranoid, it would stand to reason she would be the one noticing Ilia spying all by herself, rendering him almost useless and without interrupting her talk to Ghira, which would have made Sun completely pointless. At some point, Orihime became all about Ichigo, Sun was always all about Blake (until V6).

Like I said, I have criticized Sun for being badly written, unnecessary and the contrivances his presence demanded, but I have never ever called a “Gary Stu”. Looking back, I think it’s a combination of a few reason:

I know “Mary Sue” is a term too subjective to be used without an explanation afterwards;

We just don’t tend to hold the same standards for male characters;

Even when we use them for male characters, it almost never sticks.

And I know I’m not the only one doing this.

Once, I came across an article that accused several characters of being a “Mary Sue”, including Orihime, but because she’s too perfect (are you sure about that?) and Sailor Moon, yet claimed Goku wasn’t one.  It’s particularly funny, because Sailor Moon is written to be more flawed than Goku (even if I much higher tolerance for Dragon Ball and DBZ to Sailor Moon).

Goku is an absent father and husband, yet his family never really holds that against him. His wife may complain about it a few times during the anime, but there’s no real strife between them and Gohan never holds it against him either. He gives Cell a senzu bean so that he and Gohan can have a fair fight, even though the entire world is at stake. It still is mostly inconsequential, until Gohan’s arrogance gets in the way.

Meanwhile, Sailor Moon is stupid, coward and petty many times, and it’s clear the writers knew it because they acknowledge those flaws within the show. She is mocked because of them, and her lack of resilience even leads to the death of one of the Sailors in a season finale, if I remember correctly (admittedly, I watched it 5 centuries ago, so I might be wrong). Yes, I know they come back from the death.

This is not an argument that Goku should be called a “Mary Sue/Gary Stu”, rather that the term is heavily gendered. It’s much more applied to female characters and even when used for a male one, it almost never sticks. Even in the example I gave, Edward Cullen, which was successfully labeled as “Gary Stu”, still feels like it was gendered-motivated. Not because of his own, obviously, but for the target audience’s: the majority girls and women. So there we notice another double-standard: the sex of the target audience also affects the claims to “Sueness”.

Ultimately, I have to agree with Dan, with the term “Mary Sue” being too subjective to actually have any validity and is deeply rooted in sexism. Explaining why a character doesn’t work for us  and why we think they’re badly written is far more productive. Let’s keep in mind, we aren’t supposed to like every character writers make, even the ones who are meant to be likable and relatable.

Note: Yes, I watched Overly Sarcastic Productions’ video on the subject. While I like Red’s take, I’d say almost no character in original fiction fits the mold. That in itself wouldn’t be the problem, but the fact that it will remain extremely subjective, I still find the term to be counter-productive, heavily gendered and it needs to die.

1 – https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MarySue

2 – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sue

[placetobenation]

The Stand is one of my all time favorite novels. It is hard to get me to sit down and read a book quickly unless it was written by a wrestler. The Stand is a daunting 1,152 page book which I usually can breeze through in less than a week. Of course, I wouldn’t have read this book if not for the 1994 miniseries, which aired from May 8th through the 12th on ABC. This show was the talk of my group of middle school friends for that week and lead to many of us reading as many Stephen King novels as we could get our hands on. There are so many great ones which have made their way to screen and became tremendous movies. The Shining, It, Shawshank Redemption, Misery. A personal favorite of mine is Maximum Overdrive, although I am in the minority when it comes to enjoying that. The Stand is one that doesn’t often get talked about but I remember it being a big deal at the time. CBS All Access will apparently soon be doing an eight part The Stand miniseries for their platform in the near future. So now seems like as good of a time as any to discuss the 1994 adaptation of The Stand.

Directed by horror legend Mick Garris, The Stand was aired in four two-hour offerings, including commercials. I was able to get a two disc dvd for $5 at Walmart. The run time in total is roughly six hours which is probably one reason people haven’t gone back to watch it. You have to make a commitment to sit down and watch all of this show. The story is that a super bug gets released from a top secret lab thanks to a selfish security guard and it kills 99% of the population. Those who are left are called through their dreams by two different figures. Representing the good team is Mother Abagail, played by Ruby Dee. She is a 106 year old black woman in Nebraska who still makes her own bread. On the side of evil is Randall Flagg, a mysterious and powerful figure played by Jamey Sheridan. While much about Flagg is unknown, he does have supernatural, demonic powers and designs on ruling what is left of the world. The show seems to suggest that he is either THE Devil, a devil, or some lesser demonic force in the world. Throughout the series, the forces for good are called to gather in Boulder, Colorado to rebuild civilization there while the forces of evil are gathering in Las Vegas. The ensemble cast is quite impressive and I will get into the details later. There are a lot of recognizable faces throughout this show: Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald, and Rob Lowe among others. The reviews were mostly positive with The Stand currently having a respectable 78% on Rotten Tomatoes. The ratings were good, with each of the four parts receiving a 20.0 or above.

My spoiler free review is that The Stand is definitely worth your time. If you can find the dvd for $5 or if it’s available on a streaming service, I would say check it out. The series doesn’t feel as long as the run time. I felt like the time breezed by. The strong point of the show would be Jamey Sheridan as Randall Flagg. He absolutely delights in his evilness and is a delight to watch in this role. I would say all of the acting with a few exceptions was pretty good. The writing is good for a tv miniseries. Of course if you have read the book and enjoyed it, you are going to notice some big holes of stuff that is missing. Unfortunately, that is just the nature of the beast when it comes to adapting any novel for film or television. The novel does a better job of developing the characters. There are characters in the book that have a lot of time devoted to them who have limited roles in the miniseries. I feel like the most important characters to the story were given the chance to develop but I can see people would be annoyed that some of the supporting characters were glossed over.

Things I didn’t like so much – These special effects have dated terribly. That is one of the reason I feel this is ripe for a remake. Even though I love the book and the miniseries, I never liked the ending of The Stand. It really seems like the main protagonists could have been given more to do in the end. In the end, The Stand is a fun watch and if nothing else you will enjoy finding all the people who have cameos in this miniseries.

Who Made Who?

One of the ways I think I am going to cover this is by pointing out who was

in this show. The Stand may not have had the biggest stars in Hollywood but there were a lot of faces you will recognize. They really got the most out of their budget when you consider the size of the cast, the number of locations, and how much work had to be put into making these places look post-apocalyptic. The acting in this movie was been derided by some reviewers, particularly the performance of Molly Ringwald but I thought it was just fine. You can cherry pick a scene here and there where things may have come off a bit cheesy but with 6 hours of footage, you can take anything out of context and make it look worse than it really was. So who was in The Stand?

Gary Sinise

Gary Sinise plays Stu Redman. He is, for the most part, our main protagonist. Stu is a redneck of East Texas who gets caught up in all this mess when the security guard fleeing from where the super flu was released crashes into a gas station in his small Texas town. Stu was just enjoying a beer with some friends when this guard crashes his car into the gas pumps and releases the Captain Trips super flu onto the world. For the record, I will sometimes still call a bad cold “Captain Trips” when I catch one. The government swoops in and takes Stu, along with other people from his town, to a research center in Vermont in order to quarantine and study this deadly virus. The flu kills everyone it comes in contact with very quickly, usually only taking a day or two. Stu, however, feels fine. Sinise does a good job in the role. Having watched him play Lieutenant Dan in Forest Gump just two weeks prior, this role can seem small by comparison. This may have to do with the difference in directors, Robert Zemeckis vs. Mick Garris. It seemed like Gary Sinise got to show a lot more of his range and talent in Forest Gump whereas less was asked of him for The Stand. Also, Stu isn’t given much of a character arc. His situation is changed drastically by the events of The Stand but Stu seems like more or less the same guy in the end that he was in the beginning. He is a brave, resourceful guy who reads people well.

Molly Ringwald

Molly Ringwald plays Fran Goldsmith, the dutiful daughter who cares for her father until he succumbs to the flu. She is from a small town in Maine and the only other person to survive the flu epidemic in her town is Harold Lauder, a teenage boy who has a hopeless crush on her. Since this is a Steven King horror movie, this will not turn out like Sixteen Candles or Pretty in Pink. Molly is a fine actress who is working to this very day. But let’s be real. She is mostly known for her roles in 80s teen comedies and by 1994 her career was in a period of transition. Some critics have said she was miscast as Fran. While the character in the book is much different in my mind than what I saw on screen, I thought she did a fine job. Fran’s role comes off as somewhat different in the movie than the book which might explain why the performance is what it is. In the book, Fran has more of a leadership role in the Boulder Free Zone with the people resisting Flagg and his forces. In the miniseries, Fran comes off as a respected member of the community and the source of conflict between Harold and Stu but it is a diminished role. The subplot of the love triangle between Fran, Harold, and Stu pays off in explosive ways which I will cover later. For as much screen time as she is given, Fran’s role is that of a love interest. In the end, Fran has a baby and we see that there is hope for the future mankind with the next generation. Before that we question whether babies will be immune to the Captain Trips virus or if it is gone entirely with the 99% of people who died. There end up being enough philosophical and practical questions by the end of The Stand that a sequel could have been in order but that was never to be.

Jamey Sheridan

Jamey Sheridan plays Randall Flagg. I don’t evny the person who will have to play Randall Flagg in the remake of The Stand because this will be a tough act to follow. His performance as the mysterious Dark Man is the highlight of the miniseries. The general rule surrounding villains is that they are the hero of their own story. This is not the case with Randall Flagg. He is evil and he loves it. Every time he is on screen, Flagg as a charisma that you are drawn to. This isn’t a case where you end up secretly cheering for the villain though. It’s just that you can see how people would follow him. This is in no small part due to Sheridan’s performance. I have never heard a shoot interview with Sheridan but he looked like he was having a lot of fun with this part. Randall Flagg is our main antagonist. He is appearing the survivors of the flu epidemic and calling them to join him in Las Vegas. Along the way he personally drafts a few of his main players like Lloyd Henreid, a convicted criminal who survived the flu but no one ever bothered to let out of jail. Flagg also recuits Trashcan Man, a mentally ill fire bug who just wants to watch the world burn.

He also calls Nadine Cross, promising her\ a romantic relationship but leaving out the part where she will have to carry his demonic spawn. She is seduced by him and turns on everyone in the Boulder Free Zone in order to serve Flagg. She also appears to be rapidly aging. Jamey Sheridan you will recognize from shows like Arrow and Law and Order: Criminal Intent. He has been in a ton of movies and tv shows over the years so you will probably look at him in this early role and wonder “Where do I know him from?” One last thing on Randall Flagg. I am not the resident PTBN Fashion Critic for 1994 but his look, while distinct, was fairly dated by 1994. He is dressed in all denim and has hair that has to be seen to be believed. It’s a real hair metal kind of look that gets your attention if nothing else.

Ruby Dee

Ruby Dee plays Mother Abagail. She is 106 years old and still makes her own bread. She is the opposite of Flagg. She is calling everyone to meet her in Nebraska and then go to Boulder to oppose the evil forces of Randall Flagg. Mother Abagail seems to be in tune with the will of God and plays the role of a Prophet, having visions of who and what will come but always remembering to be humble before God. Ruby Dee was exactly what I had in mind when I read The Stand. She was fantastic in this role. She has had an interesting career going all the way back to 1950 with The Jackie Robinson Story, a movie that actually stars Jackie Robinson as himself. Her last movie came out in 2017, three years after she died. You may also recognize her as Mother Sister in Do The Right Thing. She was also Mama Lucas in American Gangster. She worked pretty consistently through her life on tv and movies big and small. This will also be a role that will be tough to fill when they remake The Stand.

Rob Lowe

Rob Lowe plays Nick Andros, someone who is deaf and mute. Nick gets beaten badly by Ray Booth and his croonies before the plague hits. After the plague hits, Nick shows his humanity by letting Ray and his associates out of jail, a move that nearly gets him killed. Nick hops on a bike and meets Tom Cullen, a special needs individual with a heart of gold. Their friendship and journey together is covered much better in the book. They hit the highlights in the miniseries and you get the idea of what their friendship was like. Nick and Tom make their way to Nebraska. Along the way they run into a disturbed young lady named Julie who wants very badly to have sex with Nick. When he turns her down, she gets a gun and starts shooting at them. She will be somewhat important later in the story and as I recall had a larger role in the book. Nick and Tom make it to Nebraska then move with Mother Abagail to the new base of operations in Boulder, Colorado. Nick will end up being voted on the leadership console of Boulder and give his life for the group when he jumps on a bomb for them. Rob Lowe is a very recognizable actor. His breakout role, along with many other actors, was in The Outsiders. He has been working fairly consistently ever since having been in movies like St. Elmo’s Fire, Wayne’s World, the Austin Powers movies, and Tommy Boy. If you don’t know who Rob Lowe is, I don’t know what to do for you.

Bill Fagerbakke

Bill Fagerbakke plays Tom Cullen. M-O-O-N. That spells Tom Cullen. You probably are asking yourself and by extension me, who the hell is Bill Fagerbakke? You probably woudln’t recognize his face or name but you probably know his voice. He has spent the last twenty years as the voice of Patrick on Spongebob Squarepants. Whatever else he has done in his career, roles big and small, that is the kind of career an actor can only dream of, to have steady work for twenty years on a popular tv show. He plays Tom Cullen perfectly. You can hear a little bit of Patrick in his performance. Tom will play a big role in The Stand. He gets sent to Las Vegas to spy on Randall Flagg and his operation. Tom is noticed by Julie, the girl who tried to kill him long ago. She smells that something is wrong and tries to warn Flagg. However, Randall is showing his new wife, Nadine, what he considers to be a good time and doesn’t have the time to hear or act on Julie’s information. The Las Vegas situation is pretty well handled before Tom can return home with the information but he does manage to save Stu’s life on the way back to Colorado. Tom Cullen is one of the most likable characters in the book or movie. He tries really hard to be helpful and has a good soul.

Laura San Giacomo

Laura San Giacomo plays Nadine Cross. We meet her when she teams with Larry Underwood in New York City. As you can guess, New York is quite the mess following the apocalypse. Nadine struggles with finding her place in the world, both before the apocalypse and after. She seems to cope by attaching herself to terrible men and when we meet Larry, he certainly qualifies. She is called by Randall Flagg through her very erotic dreams and he lets her know he has big plans for her, all she has to do is sabotage and back stab many people along the way, which she gladly does. She seduces Harold into blowing up a meeting of the Boulder Free Zone. With him on the losing side of the Fran-Stu-Harold love triangle, it didn’t take much convincing. Harold and Nadine leave for Las Vegas and she leaves him for dead along the way. She finally is in the presence of Flagg and it turns out he is a demon, which is a bit too much of a bad boy for her. Laura San Giacomo is the definition of someone who I know their face better than I know their name. I know her from something but what? Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Pretty Woman, and Nina Takes a Lover are some of the movies you may know her from. On television she did several seasons of Just Shoot Me, Saving Grace, and NCIS.

Adam Storke

Adam Storke plays Larry Underwood. This is one of the few actors where this movie is the only thing I know him from. Also Mystic Pizza but I am trying really hard to forget that I watched that movie. Larry is a would-be pop star who borrowed too much money from the wrong people. So he visits his very disappointed mother in New York City until the royalty checks come in and he can pay off the leg breakers and thumb takers. Then Captain Trips wipes out most of the population. He is off the hook for the money he owes but it’s unlikely his music career will take off now and he has to find a way to survive. It is questionable as to what side Larry will join at first. He is a character that is not entirely wholesome but not the worst person we have seen. Larry goes through a significant character arc through the story. He starts out as a selfish coward running from his debts and ends up a selfless hero who follows his destiny to a certain death for the great good of all mankind. Sadly, he will never meet his child. Adam Storke plays the character quite well. He always comes off as likable. You don’t really feel his struggle as far as which side he will choose. There are subtles in his performance that gives you clues but the internal conflict is not out there in open.

Corrin Nemec

Speaking of the worst person we will meet, Corrin Nemec plays Harold Lauder. You would know him best as Parker Lewis from Parker Lewis Can’t Lose. I have covered much of Harold already. He starts out as an arrogant, petty, jealous person and just keeps getting worse as the series goes along. Nemec is excellent in this role. The character traits are similar to the novel but he isn’t even close in how Harold is physically described. He is a character that by the time he is left for dead you really feel like he had that coming.

Shawnee Smith

Shawnee Smith is Julie Lawry. I already covered the part of the movie in which Julie is important. Shawnee Smith is another face that is recognizable, especially to horror fans. She was in the Saw movies, Wes Craven’s Carnival of Souls, and The Grudge 3. You may also know her from Becker and Who’s Harry Crumb? Julie isn’t in this series for much of it but Shawnee really takes command of the scenes she is in. She comes off as a genuinely disturbed individual.

Matt Frewer

Matt Frewer plays Trashcan Man. Mentally ill fire bug pretty much sums up his character but he plays the role so well. He is so messed up, you kind of feel sorry for him. Trashcan Man devotes himself to Randall Flagg, completely committing himself. Trashcan Man even goes so far as to find a nuclear bomb for Flagg and hand deliver it to him. Isn’t that sweet? Can you guess how the series ends? You would know Matt Frewer for any number of movie and television roles over the last near 40 years but at the end of the day, you would probably remember him as Max Headroom.

Miguel Ferrer

Miguel Ferrer plays Lloyd Henreid. Lloyd is a convicted criminal who is left is prison during the flu epidemic and is just forgotten. Flagg visits him in jail and makes him an offer he can’t refuse. Lloyd is a character you don’t see much of but he has two of the best scenes in the movie in my opinion. The scene where he is in jail and Flagg offers him the job of being the leader of Flagg’s operation is great. The other great scene is where they have Glenn Bateman in jail awaiting execution. The scene with Lloyd, Flagg, and Glenn might be the best single scene in the movie in terms of acting. Miguel Ferrer has had a long and storied career. If you have seen Iron Man 3, he played Vice President Rodridguez. He was in Traffic, Hot Shots Part Deux, and of course, Twin Peaks.

See what I mean? I have managed to review most of the entire miniseries by talking about just half of this ensemble cast. And look at these names and list of credentials. I am going to wrap this up with some of my favorites of who is left of this cast. The point being, for a tv miniseries, this was an impressive roster of people that the audience would know, and quite frankly, a lot of very talented actors.

Steven King is in this movie and not in a small role. His characters name is Teddy. While he doesn’t play a role in the plot, he does have several scenes and lines of dialogue with the main cast. King was not a bad actor and seemed to be having a lot of fun with the role. I don’t know his acting background but he is by far not that worst actor. That award goes to…..

Joe Bob Briggs. He plays Sheriff Joe Bob. He is responsible for spreading the plague into Arkansas. I love Joe Bob but his brief performance was wooden. I wouldn’t have accepted his takes if I had been directing him back when I was in film school. Speaking of directors.

Sam Raimi and John Landis also have brief cameos in this movie. Both are good directors but not polished actors. Mileage may vary on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s cameo in the movie as a doomsayer. Speaking of polished actors.

Kathy Bates plays Rae Flowers. She is a rude radio talk show host. Talk radio was becoming a thing by 1994 so having a scene like this fit with what was in the zeitgeist. Kathy Bates is well known to fans of Stephen King movies particularly for Misery. The scene she is in goes to show that there are no small roles. But put a lot more into this bit part than was probably called for. The subtleties of her performance while taking calls adds to the human element and emotion that this plague has taken on people. If I were coaching actors, this is a scene I would use to show how body language can affect a scene.

en King movies particularly for Misery. The scene she is in goes to show that there are no small roles. But put a lot more into this bit part than was probably called for. The subtleties of her performance while taking calls adds to the human element and emotion that this plague has taken on people. If I were coaching actors, this is a scene I would use to show how body language can affect a scene.

Ed Harris is also in this movie as Gen. Bill Starkey. He goes uncredited but I can’t figure out why. He has a handful of scenes and several lines of dialogue in part one. His scenes are quite good, showing how at the top levels of government the situation feels hopeless almost from the beginning. Opposite of Gen Starkey is a military official only called Len. I swear this part of played by a very young Clark Gregg, Agent Coulson himself but I can’t get confirmation of this. It’s not listed anywhere in his filmography and neither is the identity of who played Len.

In conclusion, The Stand was an excellent miniseries and I recommend it to anyone who has the time and inclination to watch it. When it comes to the pop culture of 1994, The Stand would have to be considered a big hit. One thing I noticed was how good the soundtrack was, using songs like Don’t Fear The Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult in the opening credit sequence and Don’t Dream It’s Over by Crowded House for a scene with Fran and Harold. I hope another contributor more qualified than I can explain the importance of a good soundtrack in 1994 because this is a theme that keeps coming up in my reviews. Now if you will excuse me, I am in the mood to read the book again.

[jolteonjordansh]

Thoughts on The Digital World Arc

Well, I at least only have one college class left on my to-do list, making writing and gushing about Digimon a lot easier than it would have been in the last three weeks. Nevertheless, I should have tackled this much earlier and I have (as always) been putting it off for long enough. Let’s talk about the biggest arc that Digimon Tamers has to offer below the break, because oh boy, there is a lot to talk about.

With the Digimon Tamers cast moving into a whole new environment along with new focal characters like Jeri, her partner Leomon, Kazu and Kenta as well as the introduction of new characters and substantial development of older ones, there is so much to discuss about the Digital World arc that I almost have no idea where to start. But we can make that easy by starting from... well, where else but the start? And while I will definitely say the Digital World arc is a strong arc with strong moments, I would definitely not say it starts off the strongest. To be blunt, it starts off a little awkward and has some slow moments and it does have to take some time to not only establish new characters but establish the new world. For me personally, it by no means ever got bad, but I could completely understand why some people don’t like or even hate Kazu and Kenta as tagalongs, and I’d be lying if I were to deny most of their purpose is to be the comic relief. 

Let me cover most of the “new” characters first before talking about specific episodes and moments. Kazu and Kenta, while definitely being distracting at times, I never really hated. They were never knee-slappingly hilarious, but I never found them obnoxious. They do add some sense of normalcy to the group and did sort of help stabilize things in a group of Tamers, eventually becoming Tamers themselves. Kazu ends up with Guardromon who isn’t particularly interesting, though I do like that he is kind of funny and has whistling Bullet Bills for attacks. He’s quirky enough to fit someone as confident and fun-loving as Kazu. Kenta doesn’t get his partner until the very end of the arc so I won’t get into that just yet, but Kenta is among the most normal yet the one I like the most of the duo--simple yet funny... sometimes anyway. Jeri is someone I should also talk about but I’m only going to go into very specific moments in this post and only talk about her character in-full in the post of my thoughts on the last arc. But to talk about the all-new character Ryo... I’m gonna need a new paragraph.

To say Ryo is complicated is a huge understatement. He was technically present in Digimon Adventure 02, but I could go on about how much of a mess Adventure 02 is plot-wise all day. The Japan-exclusive Digimon WonderSwan games only make this more complicated, and even then there’s no real connection made back to the Adventure universe with this (despite Battle of Adventurers doing this). If these materials didn’t exist, I would just say this Ryo is not the one from the WonderSwan games and is his own guy, but this isn’t the case and because of this his whole existence is extremely weird. Supposedly in the Tamers universe, he’s basically the best Digimon player ever and went missing for some time--being trapped in the Digital World--which makes him a huge idol for Kazu and Kenta (and thus a big running joke). 

But his presence is still very... spaced out, and said presence really doesn’t bring much to the table other than Rika hating his guts. Random excuses will come up for him to leave like his Cyberdramon running off to chase “his enemy” like an upset puppy, so if he comes across as shoehorned... that’s because he is, as his whole involvement in the show was a case of executive meddling. Just by his presence and only really use as being a sort of back-up I can tell the writers wanted as little to do with the character as possible. And considering he’s about as interesting as XY!Ash Ketchum, I’m glad that they barely bothered with him. He’s very much a sort of Digimon Marty Stu character, and it bothers me because from what I read about the WonderSwan games, they do try some interesting things. They just should have never put him in this show because he clearly doesn’t belong here, and the writers made no attempt to make him feel that way.

But if Ryo is pretty much the worst thing about Digimon Tamers and is mostly bad by just being plain and shoehorned into the story, I don’t think that’s really so bad or terrible considering how much worse it could have been. Though the fact that his introduction episode title in the dub is named “Blame it on Ryo” is pretty hilarious in hindsight. A couple of the first few episodes in this arc are odd too, with Kazu and Kenta teaming up with a Jijimon and Babamon, a killer motorcycle attacking a village and some Gekomon having to constantly brew saké to keep an Orochimon drunk (obviously not kept in the dub). But despite this, there are small interesting complexities lying throughout some of these episodes. There’s little bits like how the motorcycle is compared to “The Red Shoes” fairytale (a pretty dark fairytale at that) and Jeri being confident dealing with Orochimon when kidnapped by him because she claims she’s “dealt with drunks before” does give a bit of insight that her life at home might not exactly be so nice. This is also around the time where Beelzemon gets introduced, who is Impmon having basically made a deal with the devil with one of the Devas (Caturamon) to achieve Digivolution.

The search for Calumon also becomes a sort of running fetch quest mixed with a game of Hot Potato (if that makes sense), which does make the pace feel a little slow as well, but it’s nowhere near as bothersome as Digimon Adventure’s search for the very obvious Eighth Child, Kari--being more of a running series of unfortunate events rather than a stream of people’s stupidity. During this however, Henry, Terriermon and Takato get separated from the rest of the group, leaving Guilmon and Takato distressed for each other as they become torn apart. But at the same time, this develops an inner conflict with Takato as he discovers Guilmon’s origins.

Things also get a tad muddy here plot-wise, and I’m not sure if it was a change of plot as the writers went on or something they changed very early on. Shibumi, the last missing member of the Wild Bunch, appears in the Digital World. He’s somehow here due to being in a coma, and I guess it’s because he’s technically attached to a machine that he’s essentially there in a spiritual way, but it’s still pretty odd. Apparently, he was originally going to die at the end of the Devas arc, but this never happened (and was replaced with that odd pseudo-ending I mentioned in the last post) and he’s instead put here. When Takato and Henry get to meet him here, they learn about the DigiGnomes that have been occasionally appearing in the arc. They’re digital data like Digimon, but just... not Digimon I guess. But these guys are capable of granting wishes, which in turn was how Guilmon was created--through Takato’s wish and a collection of data put together.

This is where I admittedly got confused and it took a while for the whole concept to sink in for me. Takato is borderline devastated by this, learning that Guilmon is more or less just data. In my mind, this confused me because my mind process was along the lines of: “Well, DUH he’s data. He’s a DIGImon. DIGITAL monster.” But I guess I wasn’t quite thinking of this through a kid’s perspective. For Takato, Guilmon is truly real, like a fantasy he imagined having become real in a way that a lot of kids look at their toys and wish they were real--we’ve all done it, and we’ve all seen shows where it actually happens. When Takato learns that Guilmon was simply formed out of data rather than magic however, it’s a mental shock for him. Guilmon is potentially no longer unique in his eyes in the same way you could write a program, but it can easily be replicated and has nothing to distinguish it afterwards. It’s not anything like how no human being or animal is alike no matter how similar the genes may be.

Before I go into probably the biggest and most important parts of this arc, I want to discuss a couple of other things. First, some of the involvement of side characters and others like the Devas. Takato is able to communicate with Yamaki from the Digital World with a device he gives him, but only during certain grace periods. I really like how Yamaki becomes far more of an ally and manages to get over his extremism from the first two arcs--it does make him a sort of enigmatic badass who is out to help for some form of redemption for his own mistakes. Henry’s dad also starts to become more involved here too and is also a pretty cool smart guy (being voiced by Jamieson Price in the dub is also a plus). But around the time we start seeing these two together a bit more, things start to get a little weird and sudden.

Out of nowhere, the writers decide to drag Henry's younger sister Suzie into the Digital World and give her a Digimon partner. In fact, they give her a Deva of all things: the rabbit Deva Antylamon who, after becoming Suzie's partner, de-Digivolves to Lopmon. Supposedly from what I understand, Suzie was never meant to be a Tamer and “The Biggest Dreamer” opening animation is to blame by mistakenly showing Suzie holding a Digivice. By the time this error was noticed, it was already too late, so the writers had to work with forcing her into the story. I'd be lying if I said it didn't feel somewhat forced in how she sort of inexplicably gets dragged into the Digital World on top of befriending a Deva, but to be fair Antylamon is shown to be the most gentle of the Devas and it does lead to a kind of funny episode as the two befriend each other. Plus, Lopmon ended up working rather well for Suzie considering her affinity for Terriermon in the first place. For something they did have to force, Suzie still works out miles over the hamfisted Ryo.

Unfortunately for the Devas, I do have to say they are downplayed in this. This isn't necessarily bad, but considering how huge of a role they played in their own arc, it's pretty sad to see most of them treated as jokes. While Makuramon makes sense in he was kind of a joke to begin with (and if you know the episode he dies in, let's face it--the creepy fucker deserved it), to see a freaking dragon Deva like Majiramon go out so easily and barely have a presence is seriously disappointing, especially when he's treated more as Makuramon's steed than anything. Caturamon gets the most attention out of any, being the one to convince Impmon to go against the Tamers and their Digimon and he is a pretty despicable Digimon that gets what he deserves. Other than that though, the other two just feel like sort of leftovers from the Devas arc that just had to be dealt with.

Finally though, I really have to give Digimon Tamers some heavy criticism on one of its bigger problems. This isn't necessarily a problem with the writing or the plot itself, but it is a problem with some of its presentation. This show has no boundaries for spoiler alert whatsoever, and it's actually a huge problem as someone just wanting to enjoy the damn show and its surprises. Not only does the opening from the start of the Digital World arc outright spoil the main three Digimons’ Mega forms, it spoils Beelzemon as well. I was thankfully warned of these ahead of time and kept my eyes closed every time I watched the opening (which kinda sucked), but the fact that they made this decision and don't even show the first Mega form for ten episodes is honestly really aggravating from a story-telling standpoint. The episode previews are no better either. Not only do they also go out of their way to spoil things like the Mega forms and evolutions of Digimon, but they don't even hide the fact that Leomon is meant to outright die in the episode preview for the episode. I mean, not only does the first line of the preview literally yell "Leomon is dead!", the freaking episode title is "The Kind-Hearted Hero, Leomon Dies". Talk about no freaking subtlety! It kills any build-up towards his death in the episode, which would have been a pretty shocking moment had they said nothing. I get that Leomon dying is a sort of cruel running joke in Digimon, but if any series started this trend of doing so, it was undeniably Digimon Tamers. Once again, I was warned not to look at certain episode previews by a friend so from my personal experience, I still got a handful of nice surprises.

Okay, most details out of the way, NOW let me talk about the really important parts of the Digital World arc, where the arc really starts to move fast and for the better. While yes, Leomon dying does become a running joke from here on out in pretty much every Digimon series, as of now I have to say that Digimon Tamers treats it the best (other than, you know, outright spoiling it). While Digimon Adventure still made Leomon's death a sad event and he was a good character, the effects of the death of Leomon in Digimon Tamers are much greater and heavier than Adventure's ever was. Jeri is traumatized to watch Leomon--her Digimon partner she wanted so badly--not only get killed but killed by Beelzemon, who was once a friend. This is also the absolute breaking point for Takato, having reunited with the rest of the group and still dealing with the inner conflict of Guilmon's existence. And this, ultimately breaks to the Dark Digivolution of the series--Guilmon ultimately Dark Digivolving to Megidramon, probably one of the most terrifying monstrosities in Digimon. If people thought SkullGreymon was terrifying, they haven't seen the hellish undead dragon that is Megidramon--a being so rage-filled and powerful that it threatened to destroy the very existence of the Digital World.

This Dark Digivolution is really well-developed, not only with the lead-up of Takato reuniting with Guilmon while still struggling to accept his existence, but also with Takato losing his own self-control after seeing Leomon killed and seeing the girl he adores being broken to pieces. While Tai's Dark Digivolution for Agumon to SkullGreymon was not bad and had its impact, it was a little on the forced side (something the dub made even worse to the point of writing Tai out of character) and didn't have much build-up. Takato's is not only well-developed and by no means forced, it actually works extremely well. A child's wrath is frightening, as they still have much to learn about the concepts of empathy and have not learned to control their emotions well--part of why he outright wants to do everything to kill Beelzemon, even at the risk of Guilmon. But the emotion of anger alone is especially frightening. Anger can be a driving force--it can run our adrenaline and empower us, but it can be a driving force to a terrifying level as well. When we're angry, we lose all rationale and have no idea when to stop. Megidramon is essentially Takato and Guilmon's intertwined emotions personified, with the power to destroy everything if not stopped. And being such an ugly creature, with Jeri even crying to Takato about what he’s done to Guilmon’s original adorable form, Megidramon truly is a physical manifestation of Takato's ugliest emotions, the ones that make him still human nonetheless.

But it's after this traumatizing chain of events where I think the show leads to some of its best moments. After Megidramon gets beaten down by Beelzemon, Takato’s self-reflection (which is pretty abstract and drug-induced) helps him achieve the self-realization that despite Guilmon's existence as data, Guilmon is his true friend and everything they experienced together was and is truly real. With Takato finally reconciling with himself and Guilmon, they just barely dodge probably the slowest bullet ever from Beelzemon (Well, more like Guilmon somehow uses his leftover Megidramon tail to slap it away) and Takato is invigorated to fight along with Guilmon, but he truly wants to actually fight with Guilmon, something that has been established as just impossible with Digimon... until now.

Just as Takato wished for Guilmon, Takato earns his wish to be able to fight with Guilmon by achieving his true Mega form through Matrix Digivolution--Gallantmon--literally becoming one being and fighting together against Beelzemon. On a side note, the dub decided to call this specific Digivolution "Biomerge Digivolution", which I admit I kind of like because just reusing the term "Matrix Evolution" in Japanese doesn't make this type of Digivolution feel unique when it's probably one of the most unique methods of Digivolution that Digimon has done. Regardless, I still don't think I would call it Biomerge Digivolution myself personally. So from here, I'm just going to continue saying Matrix Digivolution because I enjoy being confusing as hell to dub and/or sub watchers (I'm not sorry).

But before I can go in-depth about the Gallantmon VS Beelzemon fight, I need to talk about Gallantmon himself; because my God, I freaking love Gallantmon. I was told the moment I started this series "Guilmon's Mega form is going to be your favorite Mega ever." While I didn't really doubt it, I wasn't really sure how that was going to happen. But the moment I watched the Matrix Digivolution animation and heard One Vision for the first time, I was jumping-off-the-couch-excited (but also extremely emotional because I was still being assaulted with feels from several angles at once). Gallantmon's design isn't just awesome, but the concept of him as Takato's partner and Guilmon's Mega form is just perfect. Absolutely perfect.

Remember how I was just going on about Megidramon as the physical manifestation of Takato's negative emotions? Gallantmon is the exact opposite of this--a physical manifestation of Takato's positive emotions and of his true convictions. Not only that, but the idea of Gallantmon is a perfect example of something a kid like Takato would come up with. Takato created Guilmon, went through a long process of designing the idea of Growlmon, and Megidramon was subconsciously created by Takato's worst feelings and emotions (WarGrowlmon is kind of the exception and just sort of happened, but let's ignore that for now). In the same vein as Megidramon, Gallantmon was subconsciously created by Takato's strongest feelings. Think from the perspective of a kid like Takato--he thought of Guilmon as a sort of lizard/dragon, even often using the White Wings card on him. Dragons are awesome, right? Dragons fight knights all the time in fairy tales, and it's awesome. But what would be the coolest thing ever? An actual dragon knight, a dragon that is actually an armored warrior capable of wielding a sword and shield. Not only that, but knights are symbols of justice and chivalry--exactly what Takato is fighting for against Beelzemon. It's all of these combined elements that make Gallantmon not only an awesome Mega form, but literally the perfect choice for Takato and Guilmon. Their thoughts and feelings are truly one here, which just makes One Vision all the more perfect insert song for this. And it also downright nails and proves my previous point in the Devas arc that Matrix Digivolution is a million times better than Pokéani's Ash-Greninja nonsense.

In the Devas arc, I stated that the Indramon fight was my favorite thus far. But my freaking God. From this point on, I have so many favorite fights in this series that I don't even know if I have an actual favorite. They're all that awesome, but Gallantmon VS Beelzemon begins to set that standard with a really good, evenly matched fight. Who possesses the upper hand is always changing, from powerful attacks from Gallantmon like Royal Saber and Final Elysion, to Beelzemon aiming one of his guns at contact range at Gallantmon (which naturally got censored in the dub), only for Kazu and Guardromon to drive Beelzemon away with Destruction Grenade and finally putting Gallantmon in a position to finish off Beelzemon. It's so action-filled and such a melee combat-heavy battle that it's definitely high up in one of my favorite Digimon fights. But this fight is stopped when Jeri begs Gallantmon not to kill Beelzemon because doing so won't bring Leomon back. And, well... she's right. This actually gets Beelzemon's attention as he retreats, now beginning to lose his own conviction. This arguably makes it an unfinished battle, but regardless of that it's too damn good not to love, and sparing Beelzemon proves to be the better choice as we see later in the series.

Now I know I gushed on and on about why Gallantmon is the perfect Mega Digimon and how he's perfect for Takato and Guilmon, but... unfortunately I can't quite do the same for Henry and Terriermon as well as Rika and Renamon when they achieve their Mega forms. Now, I'm by no means saying they get no development and that it doesn't work at all. But Takato and Guilmon were definitely better thought-out, being the main character of the series. It's the same way how Tai more or less got several episodes to develop activating his Crest of Courage while most characters got a few episodes at best or had a lot of it develop in the background. Still, this doesn't mean Henry and Rika don't get their good bits of writing and development with their Digimon. After defeating all of the Devas barring Lopmon (because of course Caturamon would also get an underwhelming death during the Gallantmon VS Beelzemon episode of all times, but to be fair it's because Beelzemon absorbs his data that the tides of the battle keep changing), Lopmon is to take the group to the "god" the Devas have gone on and on about--Zhuqiaomon, one of the Four Sovereigns. While these Four Sovereigns are different from the ones in the Adventure universe, let me just scream finally and thank you that Digimon Tamers actually brought the Four Sovereigns into a more prominent role than Adventure 02's lone plot-dumping Azulongmon.

Knowing they're about to face a god however, Henry begins to become overprotective of his sister Suzie, and I mean really overprotective. This is to the point that he acts out of his character (but naturally, not because of bad writing) by yelling and even almost hitting Suzie when she cries about not being able to come with Henry to confront Zhuqiaomon. I'd be lying if I said Suzie didn't annoy me here a bit too, but I think that was kind of the point for the audience to understand that Henry was becoming frustrated with the struggle of fighting in the Digital World but having to protect his younger sister at the same time. But because of this, Henry fails to notice Terriermon hiding a bad injury from the last fight with Caturamon. After Henry is forced to watch Zhuqiaomon break Rapidmon to literal pieces in a fight, he realizes this all happened because he worried about Suzie too much, and this basically brings Henry back to when he first saw Terriermon get injured through the Digimon video game, and it does nearly break him. But seeing Suzie sneak in leads both Henry and Terriermon to become protective of her--their convictions lining up just like Takato and Guilmon and leading them to Matrix Digivolve to MegaGargomon, and temporarily defeat Zhuqiaomon with a combination of Terriermon's missiles and Henry's martial arts techniques we saw him practice in previous episodes. Again, there's a sense of unity here in the Matrix Digivolutions that makes them work so well, even if Henry and Rika's aren't as deeply thought-out as Takato's. But I just need to ask: Am I the only one who finds it hilarious that the smallest Digimon of the main three evolves into a gargantuan dog mech?

But as I said before, Zhuqiaomon is just temporarily defeated--or more like it's just a fake-out defeat, but it's clear regardless that the Tamers and their Digimon are no match for a god... until another god shows up, our good old friend Azulongmon. Contrary to my initial belief while watching, he actually defends the Tamers and argues against Zhuqiaomon for taking Calumon in the first place. So it's here that once again, Azulongmon serves the purpose of giving plot dumps to the protagonists about what's going on and who the true enemy is for the show (the dub title for the episode is even called “Azulongmon Explains It All”). But the problem in that is... they don't even know who their true enemy is. Yeah, kinda hard to fight something you don't even know about isn't it? But I will say Azulongmon is definitely not as much of a plot device as he is in Digimon Adventure 02, nor does he have as much exposition. He actually does things and on top of that, we do get to see the other Four Sovereigns like the jolly Ebonwumon and... unfortunately very little presence of Baihumon. It's a shame because I do like how each of the Sovereigns are sort of tropes of old men--Zhuqiaomon is the grumpy old man, Azulongmon is the wise old man, and Ebonwumon is the jolly old man. Baihumon pretty much gets no personality or development, but I still give Tamers way more credit for including them and making most of them do things. Still, if we're going along with the old man tropes, should Baihumon be the senile old man a la Game Grumps' Dr. Hoffman? Not to mention, how do these old guys ever work together or get anything done in the Digital World? Maybe that explains why Azulongmon took forever to actually do something about Zuqiaomon being an asshole.

I should quickly go over Calumon now--revealed by Azulongmon and Zhuqiaomon to be not really a Digimon but a personification (Digification? Digimonification?) of the power to Digivolve Digimon, the "Digi-entelecheia". The term alone had my attention as a big nerd for Tales of Vesperia, but the short of it is that Calumon really is and truly just a plot device. But regardless? I don't care, because he's just too freaking adorable for me to hate and it's not complete BS, being brought forth to grant Digivolution to Digimon in the Digital World to address the real Big Bad of our show. I still have to commend Digimon Tamers for keeping me guessing about who I was supposed to see as the "villain" for the show, until finally giving us one. As for how I feel about our new villain we get to know as the D-Reaper, this is another thing I'll go into with my post of the last arc.

On that note though, Calumon does get in serious danger because he comes in contact with our villain. Something so threatening that just by touching anything in the Digital World, it deletes it. This includes any Digimon or even any human in the Digital World. So yeah, it's kind of no wonder that this thing is a big threat. And considering Calumon is in close range of it, in a cavern where it's basically taken the form of a lava lamp with dangerous blobs constantly floating up, the Tamers need to save him. This leads up to Renamon and Rika's inevitable Matrix Digivolution, which I should finally talk about. I would say it's simultaneously one of the most and least developed of the bunch. On one end, Rika's bond with Renamon has probably grown the most, having originally treated Renamon as nothing more than a servant but now treating her more as a true companion. But on the other end, the way it comes together is that after Rika and Renamon save Calumon and hand him off to Ryo (who just... showed up like he always does), Rika ultimately decides that even if they risk their lives to contain the D-Reaper from the others, they will still ultimately decide their fates together of whether they live or die and they make this life-risking decision together. It does still work, and I do like how Rika has gone through subtle but noticeable development, but the lead-up to the Matrix Digivolution to Mega form isn't quite as impactful to me as Takato and Guilmon's or Henry and Terriermon's. Still, I wouldn't call it bad by any means; I still do like it and I like seeing just how much Rika herself has changed. My personal opinion on Sakuyamon is that it's probably my second least favorite Mega form in this show (we'll get to the least favorite in the last arc fellas, I promise), but I certainly don't dislike her. Considering it's a human and Digimon merged design, I still find it more sensible than something like Nefertimon (whose random cleavage still bothers the crap out of me design-wise).

Having discussed all of the Matrix Evolutions here, I have to say that one detail I really love about them is that all three of them have their own variants for One Vision. Gallantmon's starts with a rocking guitar, MegaGargomon’s has a strong bass, and Sakuyamon's has a beautiful set of vocals with oriental instruments that fit her whole aesthetic. If you guys have read this post and know my personal tastes, you'll already know which variant is my favorite, but I do love all three.

With Calumon finally saved, the Four Sovereigns finally decide to utilize his power and he mass Digivolves many Digimon across the Digital World into their Mega forms, giving a lot of fun cameos of some great Mega forms like Hououmon, Plesiomon, MetalSeadramon, Gryphonmon and even a tiny little guy known as MarineAngemon, who ultimately ends up becoming Kenta's partner. And my God, MY GOD. MARINEANGEMON. IS. ADORABLE. I should be saving this bit for the next arc where MarineAngemon gets a tad more attention, but I may as well go on about it now. MarineAngemon is probably--no, IS the most adorable Mega form Digimon in existence. He has tiny little wings, he's small enough to fit in your pocket (exactly how he sneaks in along with Kenta), and he doesn't talk--he just makes little sounds of gibberish. But they're the most adorable sounds of gibberish ever. Seriously, I'm not sure what it is about Digimon Tamers having extremely adorable Digimon capable of being extremely powerful, but I am all for it and completely adore it. MarineAngemon is so adorable and precious that it's almost like if Gomamon and Patamon Jogress Digivolved into the cutest, most powerful thing in existence. It's that adorable. And normally, I will admit I should be annoyed when in the past I've been bothered by things like Kari ending up with a Champion level Gatomon and Meiko having the Champion level Meicoomon. But I guess I can excuse it for a few reasons:

Kenta is a much more minor character, and he and MarineAngemon are very downplayed (fortunately and unfortunately).

MarineAngemon, while by no means should be underestimated, isn't some sort of behemoth like Armageddemon.

MarineAngemon comes towards the very end of the show (with 10 episodes left), so he isn't relied on as a crutch or Deux ex Machina.

HE’S TOO GOSH DARN CUTE TO GET MAD ABOUT.

But enough gushing about this literal angel. After Calumon mass Digivolves a majority of the Digital World population, Takato receives a message from Yamaki that they have 40 minutes to reach a machine known as the Ark, something he and the Wild Bunch have been working on in the background all of this time to help the kids and their Digimon return home. But Rika and Renamon decide to go search for Impmon, wishing not to leave him behind but vowing to return in time. When they do come across him, they don't find Beelzemon but indeed Impmon, who has become a shadow of his former self in power and is even picked out by hordes of Chrysalismon like a flock of vultures--ironic in that he was once taking them out as target practice early in the arc. Rika and Renamon then rush back towards the Ark with him, but it has already begun leaving to the real world, even beginning to leave Takato behind who stays waiting for Rika. Out of desperation, Guilmon begs for the Ark to stop, and somehow... it does. This gives just enough time for Rika and Renamon to arrive with Impmon, and everyone manages to board the Ark safely and begin to make their way home. The D-Reaper tries to stop this of course, but Takato also begs for the Ark to take them home, actually leading it to respond through Yamaki's PDA with an "OK". It's a good bit of foreshadowing for the next arc, and honestly it was kind of cute to watch Guilmon try to converse with the Ark as if it were a friend.

And thus, everyone finally arrives back in the real world and reunites with their parents (even Ryo, who somehow has parents who knew exactly where he would show up) with the exception of Jeri, who has become ominously quiet since they discovered the D-Reaper. The reason she's alone however is because supposedly Jeri has an asshole dad who is so angry with her leaving that he'd rather her just find her way home by herself. Yeesh dude, she's been in a completely unknown world with her life constantly in danger. She may have made that choice, but show some damn hint of concern. Overhearing this however, Takato vows that he'll guide Jeri home, unable to shake off how much he cares for her. But he's pained to see her as nothing but a shell and even bursts out crying to her as he tries to confess his own feelings. And I have to admit, it's pretty painful to see. I know sometimes I'm annoyed by crushes in shows or that it's easy to get annoyed when a show tries to push a certain couple, but Takato's childish yet truly caring crush on Jeri is genuine enough for me to feel for. Not to mention, it's not often played for laughs too much and when it is, it's simple and charming. Here, there's some actual emotional development going on and it really does not only make you feel for Takato, but feel just as concerned for Jeri as he does.

When Takato manages to actually escort Jeri to her father, you can honestly feel how much of a mystery and how intimidating he is. I was just waiting for the moment he would slap her, and I wouldn't be surprised if he had done it off-screen. The whole thing, as minor as it is to the rest of the story, is pretty heartbreaking regardless.

And finally we reach the end of the Digital World arc, arguably the longest of any Digimon arc while remaining really eventful nonetheless, avoiding being dragged out too much for the most part. And all seems well in the end... until SURPRISE! Takato and Guilmon look on the news to see that the D-Reaper has found its way into the real world! What, were you actually expecting a happy or peaceful conclusion for this arc? Pfft, this is Digimon Tamers! We ain't got time for that!

Overall, the Digital Arc was a really exciting and extremely fun and heartbreaking arc to watch. While a little slow in the beginning and having a few odd episodes, once it picks up, it really picks up. There's so many amazing moments in this arc, from emotional to fun to just downright awesome. I really loved some of the developments that came from here, and there's just so many good fights in this arc alone. It definitely captured some of that Digimon Adventure feel of exploring the Digital World, but also in its own way and I really enjoyed it for that. Lots of characters got some nice development, we got a few random additions--some good and... then there's Ryo--and we got some much-needed insight on things like the origins of Guilmon and Calumon, as well as world-building for the Digital World. It was just really fun. If there's anything else I really had to complain about... it'd be how much it took to write about it. It took me not only a few weeks of putting off due to school work, but several days of actually writing this damned thing. And if it kind of shows in the sloppiness, I do apologize for that.

But now hopefully the D-Reaper arc won't be so hard on me. I mean, it's 10 episodes. How much could they really do in that time for me to talk about, right? ... Right?