#because of his job he has a lot of overall lore implication

[heshemejoshi]

you know something i really really like about octopath 2 is that you can stumble upon a lot of cool things just super casually without meaning to. i found the equivalent job to the warmaster in octopath1 just thanks to giving medicine to someone??????? and at some point i got 3 of the multiple weapons needed for the skills already so i can use those weapon-specific skills now?????? what?….

also just straight up spooky stuff with no answer or explanation. or at least i haven’t found an answer or explanation for those yet. which is epic. i love the mysteries

[boyheros]

whats the story behind the face stealer? how are they related to reo (if they are, i think thats the implication right?) whats with reos yellow pupils?

the facestealer isn't actually very 'related' to Reo. i'm curious on what you interpreted as being that implication who knows what i've implied.. but honestly the facestealer has EVERYTHING to do with Maverick and mostly only has anything to do with anyone else because of their relation to him. FS kills Maverick, facesteals him (he copies other people way less often, and the goal is mostly just to get people to distrust Maverick. or to be a shithead...), and was a shitty older brother to Maverick. y'know, the works.

Maverick and the Facestealer were made at the same cloning facility and raised together. because Maverick had all his....issues (defaced. related health issues. problems eating, speaking, etc.) the facestealer, childishly, always viewed Maverick unfavorably. he was weird and gross and couldn't even talk right and couldn't play like the rest of us and was just quite annoying to deal with overall.. that compounded with the fact that the facestealer was actually JEALOUS of Maverick (maverick's genetic modification makes him a "unique" clone, Maverick had "better" parents then the facestealer had) means. FS just DOES NOT like Maverick.

the whole "killing Maverick and stealing his identity" thing was the accumulation of a lot of resentment as well as some traumatic events (The Livon Pinon-West Massacre....long story) and some misconceptions (namely that Maverick, like the facestealer, is mizrieta-like and would just heal himself just fine from any attack). also because Maverick hit him with the butt of his woodcutting axe. but yknow.

So yeah. it's ALLLLLL related to Maverick. very little to do with Reo. Reo is, literally, ONLY "the witness." he's there when Maverick is killed only because he was trying to help Maverick. the first time Reo and the Facestealer even meet was on the night of the murder! and even though Reo blatantly witnessed the killing, and even tried to interfere, the facestealer almost completely ignores him (he actually believes Reo will die on his own because Reo's soul got realized, and he was experiencing vessel rejection, which is commonly lethal. Reo did not die, though.)

however, most of the Facestealer's later antics DO heavily revolve around Reo. because he's trying to steal Maverick's identity, who else are you gonna try to terrorize with that but Maverick's Best and Closest Friend? Reo Singh? but it doesn't happen because of Reo. it could've been anyone.

NOW. moving along to Reo's yellow pupils!!! top 10 asks that make me realize i've done a HORRIBLEEE job at drawing my other reincarnated characters recently.... ALL reincarnated people have colored pupils. they're the color of their soul. why? well here's what i so succinctly wrote on the OLDEST lore diagram i made of this story, from 2020:

"eyes are the window to the soul, lol." it's literally that simple HAHA i'm sure i could come up with some logical in-universe reason but. i just wanted to. it looks cool. it visually separates reincarnates (colored pupils) from natural humans (no soul color, regular black pupils) from mizrieta (because mizrieta can shapeshift, their souls can appear in more or less places if they so desire.)

for instance, the facestealer (when copying Maverick, bc his eyes are already green) and Mizrieta both present their soul color as their iris color instead of pupil. Amar presents his as a sortof ring around the pupil:

meanwhile reincarnates just have the pupil going for them. they can't control it. you can see some examples who aren't Reo heeeeere:

[dandelion-wings]

Seamus, at least, feels like the type who’d want more power, even if Varka doesn’t really care for it. We know he’s definitely more politically inclined than Varka at least, as indicated by him actually being present for the meeting with Dottore meanwhile Varka just sent Kaeya to do his job for him. And rarely are religious figures the paragons of virtue they often present themselves as, especially in the pre-modern era—rising through the ranks of the Church was, after all, the primary route to power for those who had neither noble blood nor great physical talent/combat prowess.

Then you look at how Barbara ended up under his parentage (i.e. not good) and yeah, I could see a Seamus as someone who would be just fine with eroding away Mondstadt’s democracy for his own personal gain.

As for Varka, if he really does get involved in such as plot (as unlikely as it is), I could only maybe see it happening because Seamus ropes him in with the reasoning of ‘less democracy = less bureaucracy and paperwork for him to deal with = more time for having fun and/or fighting monsters’—but that would very much be Seamus luring him in as a lackey, rather than Varka doing it of his own accord or even doing it as an equal partner to Seamus.

It’s more likely he’d just not notice that anything’s going on at all.

I'm gonna be honest with you, Anon, I'm... not really sure where you're getting this? Seamus' one appearance is in the manga, where he shows up for a fancy party with political implications, as a major figure in the civil side of government should, brings Kaeya in to ask a loaded question, then thanks Diluc for delaying the Fatui and expresses distress (that we have absolutely no reason to believe insincere; the manga even gives him a panel on his clenched fist) that innocents have suffered because the Ordo can't more firmly keep the Fatui out. And then tells Kaeya the Fatui have left town in what seems to be drunken excitement. (It's been a while since I re-read the manga, and I hadn't caught it before, but the way he and Kaeya coordinate there suggests an interesting relationship between those two....)

Which, overall, suggests a guy who's somewhat politically savvy, but not tremendously politically skilled (since he is polite with Dottore and gets him out of the way, but relies on Kaeya and Diluc to actually handle him), feels responsibility and/or compassion for the innocent people of Mondstadt, and participates freely in Mondstadt's drinking culture. (The last of which I am contrasting to my own headcanons about Fredrica. XD)

Religion was a path to power in pre-modern times, but there were also many, many people, including in the power structure, who genuinely believed and were doing their best to follow their own tenets! Their interpretation of those tenets may also have benefited them--that's human nature, I say as a religious person who is very aware that I am deliberately following an interpretation of my own religious tenets that many other people who share them would disagree with--but we have no evidence or reason to believe that Seamus is cynically or deliberately using his position to erode democracy and consolidate his own power. I'd argue, in fact, that his manga appearance argues against that particular take. Now, from what he says there about how if the Ordo was stronger they could have prevented the Fatui from hurting people, you could get someone who's seeking more power for himself and the Ordo with the belief that they'll better protect Mondstadt that way, but that doesn't seem to be how you're presenting it?

(Also, how Barbara turned out seems to me to be pretty explicitly, from her lore, Gunnhildr Trauma, possibly with a side of Seamus being neglectful and/or just not having a clue how to deal with it. Her lore has a lot about how her feelings of unworthiness stemmed from her mother, and only mentions him as encouraging her to become a healer; I agree that becoming a healer was bad for her mental health too, but the root cause there is the mental health, not the healing. She could be a pastry chef or a clerk and she would have the same issues.)

Now, if this interpretation is one you want to run with for a story, or even a headcanon, you can do so! We have very little on Seamus, and it's possible to say he was putting on a front in his manga appearances. That's just not the first conclusion I'm going to leap to when there's no other indications or hints of it (and Hoyo is pretty good at hinting when someone is lying or putting on a front. By 'hinting' I mean 'painting a signpost twenty feet tall.' They ain't subtle). If what you are proposing is the plot for a specific story, then... well, that's not how I'm reading the asks, but I may be missing a cue; feel free to continue exploring it yourself, but it's not really one that I'm interested in building upon myself. If what you're proposing is an overall drawing-from-canon character interpretation, then I'm sorry, but I just don't think you have the evidence.

[bloodgulchblog]

ok on the topic of Kelly, I need to ask you this because I can’t be the only one that sees this. I really think our poor dude Troy Denning either has no idea how to write her (ie last light and her argument with Veta) or he just straight up dislikes Kelly (the weird personality change in Shadows of Reach that kind of made her seem like a bitch). Do u see it too? Am I going insane???

The only pre-existing character I think he has handled with high accuracy is the Arbiter. I'm not sure why that is, but I'm at least grateful he seems to know what to do with him.

Denning sometimes does an okay job with Chief, but I think he fumbles him a lot. It's not that his characterization is outright horrible, it's that he misses opportunities to explore interesting ideas and doesn't feel like he fully thinks through implications. I think he's just not overall a particularly strong character writer, he's better in setting and plot ideas.

When it comes to any Spartan less developed than Chief, which is most of them, it really looks from the outside like he just doesn't know what to do with them? Team Saber is missing the defining handhold traits they were given in Ghosts of Onyx, which was weird to me because if I had to pick up characters like them that would be the first thing I grabbed onto. Blue Team is all over the map.

Fred in Last Light reads mostly the way he writes the Master Chief, which is kind of generic. Then you've got Shadows of Reach, where Chief was back so he had to think of something else to do with Fred to make them not exactly the same and apparently he just... decided that Fred should be Blue Team's funny guy?

I think he has super struggled to figure out what to do with Kelly and Linda, they're frequently just kind of there if they're there at all. They basically get written out of Last Light as soon as there's an opportunity, and it feels like because he's not sure of their characters he feels like he has to invent random surface traits (Kelly being a fan of 20th century classic rock (???) and Linda doing a lot of meditation (in fairness though, I think this one works)) in order to make them more... interesting?

Kelly in particular suffers because Kelly had more of a pre-existing character: She's funny and observant, supportive toward her team mates, and actually an excellent right hand. I seem to recall that he gives her a lot of Being The Anxious Guy moments, which is weird to me with her because she's generally one of the more getting-the-fuck-in-there guys. It's Fred who's Blue Team's Anxious Guy generally, so it feels like some of their traits got flipped.

And hey, I get it, man's doing contract work on a pre-existing IP with specific goals on the job board he's supposed to hit. He seems to be genuinely enthusiastic and it's possible he's actually read the prior books with these characters (he has a tendency to bring up surprisingly deep cut bits of setting lore from older material?) but if he has, I think he really missed the characterization handholds on most Spartans and has kind of chalked them up to "these characters are flat and have no detail so I need to invent details about them."

[obsidianstrawberrymilk]

Depends on what you want expanded on.

In terms of character dynamics, Dazai Osamu's Entrance exam gives some great context for Kunikida and Dazai's partnership, where Dazai was at when he first joined the Agency, as well as some interesting Fukuzawa implications.

55 Minutes gives some excellent character moments between the trio of Kunikida, Dazai and Atsushi, as well as some great Atsushi moments in general. It also provides quite a bit of lore on the BSD world and how some things in regards to Abilities outliving their users and Singularities work.

Dazai and Chuuya, Fifteen is not one that's necessary to read. It provides context for how Soukoku came about, has some interesting Mori moments (especially his speech at the end) as to his perspective on leadership, and is good for Dazai and Chuuya characterization, but I think in terms of 'expanding' the universe it's not as important.

Stormbringer does a good job explaining Singularities and gives some nice context to both Chuuya as a character and Soukoku's partnership, but it's the least connected to the main manga/anime overall and probably the one you could do without reading.

Dead Apple is another that's not technically necessary, but does have some fascinating Atsushi lore. I have several posts about it because it's my personal favorite LN, but it may be a bit confusing if you don't understand how Singularities work in BSD. That said, it has some great development for Atsushi, Akutagawa and Kyouka, some lovely moments between Dazai and Atsushi, and has some interesting drop-ins about Fyodor, Ango, and Chuuya. Especially Fyodor.

Dark Era and The Untold Origins of the Detective Agency got relatively good anime adaptations (while both Entrance Exam and, to a lesser degree, Fifteen, didn't), so if you've watched those, you don't need to read the LNs. They do have more context and details the anime adaptations missed, especially Untold Origins - there's some interesting implications about the Decay of Angels and Natsume there - though. Untold Origins does expand the universe, especially as to how people outside the main cast tend to see Abilities, but a lot of it is subtler. Dark Era also has some details the anime missed, especially in regards to Oda and Dazai's relationship, but also Oda's narration just really makes it kind of funny in general (which doesn't really help alleviate how sad the novel is, but is great nontheless).

All in all, I'd say character wise, read Entrance Exam and Dead Apple. Lore wise, read 55 Minutes (and also character wise). Make sure you understand how Singularities work before you read Dead Apple. You don't need to read Untold Origins or Dark Era if you've watched the anime adaptations, but also there are a lot of details the anime missed and imo the LNs are better.

Also, the first 56 (I think?) pages of Untold Origins are just pre-Atsushi Agency shenanigans. You get some funny Naomi content and also it's just great in general.

which light novels expand the bsd universe the most I wanna know

[unohanadaydreams]

Okay I’m mentally prepared to ramble about the Hell Arc. No panels, just words.

The first blurb is definitely Ukitake speaking and I’d like to think it’s hiding some bitterness and regret, since he’s in hell, but you know I’m not gonna hold on to hope that it’s anything deep.

Orihime being resigned to laundry as well as just NOT knowing where her son is??? I’m sorry the same Orihime that can sense Ichigo like it’s her fucking job? But y’know uwu it’s okay to be a housewife and this is definitely Kubo showing off his depth of feminist theory and not shoving Orihime in the background bc wife clean and cook and nothing else ooga booga.

Kon as a babysitter is horrifying. The implication that they’ve kept him as a teddy bear for all these years is even more so. Like damn you can’t ask Urahara for ONE gigai after you saved the world, Ichigo? Hope youre paying him a living wage for helping you navigate the terrible twos. Tbh I think it would’ve been better to have a new sidekick and for Kon to be working for Urahara now.

Okay I do think the kid sending souls to Hell on accident is pretty funny. But also it’s definitely Kubo forgetting that Orihime is in the picture and Kazui is not Ichigo. He has more than Isshin; he has Orihime as his mom. He has someone who cares very much that he’s still in his bed and is someone he would talk to about uuuuh sending ppl through a portal. I know women are a different species and are incredibly hard to grasp because of that so it’s okay Kubo.

Ichika being taught by Ikkaku and to a lesser extent Yumichika is very good. Love that enough to gloss over my disappointment at Rukia not teaching her. I just know Byakuya is probably a lil bitter about it too. Rukongai rats 1 Noble clan 0

Booooo Kubo, get off the stage. Pointing out Orihime is at home doing laundry does not fix that she’s there. If she’s not gonna stop Kazui from doing whatever the fuck she might as well be eating bad ramen too.

MAYURI MY BELOVED. You’re so right, king, Urahara is a tasteless capitalist unlike you, who fully commits to the too-organic technological horrors the Seireitei deserves.

Did Kubo forget how to draw Rangiku? Why the fuck is her face so moe. Some of the women look pretty off in the face over all but with Rangiku it’s jarring. I know her face got more moe somewhere in tybw arc but jfc it’s worse here.

I find it hard to believe that Shunsui would stick to a tradition that demands all lieutenants be away and in the human world all at once but maybe he just doesn’t give a shit about anything nowadays. Depression is leading the Gotei 13 now.

It’s not a Bleach surprise attack unless a woman is grievously injured right off the bat.

That being said, I do enjoy the two new lieutenants. The hakama shorts are a Choice but they work somehow. Also a zanpakuto being on nails is fun.

Kira and Akon ❤️ I’m glad Kubo retconned the novels so Kira could make his entrance in a hoodie and black tabi. Hope he gets more depressing and bitter moments tho. Also Akon having so much panel space…..I’ll never recover.

Hell Szayel is so fucking horny which is astounding considering like everything he did was a sex joke in Hueco Mundo arc. His sex appeal has aged like fine wine. Also pure comedy that Ichigo can only ask who he is. If only Uryu were there ����

So did they have ceremonies for Gin and Kaname because if not then???? Like I understand it’s impossible to make this gel 100% bc its not based on anything other than wanting characters to come back as cool demons and is actively working against previous canon but c’mon. They would’ve noticed before this when no ceremony for Gin and Kaname was held and their reishi haunted everyone via molasses rain drops.

That being said, I love love love the concept of characters coming up from Hell with not holes within them but outside them. They do not need to consume others to feel completion, they are consumed to the point of wanting to fill others. Don’t you recognize me? Don’t you see what you’ve done? Don’t you long to fill that hole inside of you, too? All it takes is dying to reach that nirvana of knowing who you are and what you feel in swirling completion. Even fallen, the fruit of knowledge is divine.

I want Ukitake to say he’s glad Shunsui lived to his face while looking so heartbroken that he didn’t get to live too. I want these two to cry across from one another with a flashback to their idyllic youth. I want it *grabby hands*

Sosuke Aizen has disappeared as in dead? Or are they counting ‘out of Seireitei’ as disappeared. Honestly 50/50 whether he’ll have a form of cameo. On one hand he’s incredibly popular, on the other hand Kubo was floundering with him during tybw so I can’t imagine he gives a shit to bring him back.

As far as new lore for hell butterflies goes, I guess we’ll see how interesting it gets but I highly doubt it’s going to get a lot of thought.

With the way Kazui is smiling, it makes me wonder if someone taught him about the shrine and sending souls to hell. Does he recognize the door? Is Kubo implying that Ukitake has had contact with Kazui? I mean, it would make a LOT of sense considering the fish he was riding, the ritual he knows. It would also make sense why the soul reaper badge was highlighted; Ukitake has been around in some capacity before officially being stomped to hell???

Definitely me thinking too much about it but also there’s no way Kazui just knows this shit without someone from Hell telling him about it even covertly.

This entire arc set up definitely seems like it’ll bring some worthwhile angst and maybe some moments for the more unexplored characters if characters like Akon getting screen time is any education.

Overall not hoping for anything other than good Hell designs and seeing characters do things.

If I don’t see Kenpachi with his beefy titties out I will be disappointed. That’s my bare minimum.

[hatchetfieldtheories]

Return to Hatchetfield-Town – The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals Part 1

Alright settle down kiddos. Get comfy, find a warm blanket and hug your favourite fwendy-wend as we start our Return to Hatchetfield-Town series.

I’ll be rewatching all the Hatchetfield scripted content (i.e. not livestreams or interviews) and jotting down what happens, explaining some concepts and delving into some of the key theories in the series (and using the word “implications” that often it will cease to have meaning).

Even though I’ll be doing the rewatch by show in order they came out, there will be spoilers for all Hatchetfield content that is available as of the rewatch.  

I’ve also linked to a number of other blog’s theories here because they are amazing, but if you aren’t happy with your theory being included I will be more than happy to remove it!  Just let me know.

[Part 2]

The Guy Who Really Hated Brigadoon

TGWDLM starts off with the greatest song ever to feature dancing zombies… at least I can’t think of any other notable ones.

In the title song, the cast of singing and dancing zombies explain to us that all great stories have to have a hero, someone who knows right and wrong and that the best way to do this is through singing and dancing in musicals.  This with the later line of “they evoke the philosophical” make me think that Pokey took a class in Campbell’s Hero Myth in College and became that guy.

Hatchetfield Challenge: try not to shrug your shoulders along with the music at the chorus. Its impossible. No wonder the Hive spread so quickly.  Literally killer dance moves.

So then they introduce us to an awful Grinch named Paul and we hit the first point in the show where I laugh out loud every single time I watch.

I know TGWDLM was not originally intended to be the first Hatchetfield show but starting this series with a song which sets up the story so well is truly spectacular.   And is there anything more Starkid than introducing your main character by having other characters sing about how awful they are?

One thing I have noticed while writing, reading and collating Hatchetfield theories is that while most Black Friday and Nightmare Time theories are usually about the overall Hatchetfield lore, most TGWDLM theories are usually quite self-contained and focused on this one show.  TGWDLM – while so fully within the Hatchetfield extended universe, is definitely the show that can best stand-alone without the others.

It’s the end of the world, Paul

If you don’t sing

This is the bridge, Paul

Where we globalize everything

And the words will come to you

We swear we will teach you

What it means to love

What it means to obey, Paul!

On a first watch this is very funny.  On your 10th watch this is terrifying.

CCRP Technical: No-one here knows how to use their printer

Following the absolute bop of a title song we find ourselves in CCRP Technical and all feels very… normal. It’s very weird following all the revelations in subsequent Hatchetfield media, to be watching a show where there was genuinely nothing obviously fishy about CCRP.  We’ll obviously discuss CCRP more when we get to Nightmare Time, but for now all we know is that Paul works in the technical department of CCRP – an unknown corporation, with some key characters, Charlotte, Bill and Ted.

We also find out more about Grinch Paul’s personality and honestly, Paul is me pre-pandemic just outright avoiding social interactions and suddenly going for coffee in the middle of the work day. (I have become a changed woman in lockdown – someone please invite me somewhere… anywhere!)

For all the dark humour and death in the Hatchetfield series, Starkid do know how to bring the joy – I love how excited the town of Hatchetfield are for a touring production of Mamma Mia.  

Fake Fact: TGWDLM is actually an allegory for Europe in the 1970s, when we all became mind-controlled by Abba’s Waterloo.  (Find me a better explanation for Eurovision, I dare you!  The sequins were just too shiny!)

“The idea of sitting there… trapped in a musical.  That is my own personal hell.”

Two words: Emma Perkins – need I explain any more?  

Ah Hot Chocolate Boy.  I really look forward to finding out more about him.  Where does he come from?  He just appears out of the ether. What’s his story?  How old is he? How many hot chocolates does he have per day? I know we have since had some confirmation on who he is, but they raise more questions than answers. For now I will just point you to a gorgeous Mood Board by @hatchetfieldmoodboards which features a bit of a spoiler. 

For real though – is it just me who would love a full version of “I’ve been brewing up your coffee”?

Hatchetfield Challenge: Try not to sing “Shut the f*ck up” along with Emma.

“Watching people sing and dance makes me very uncomfortable”- oh boy Paul… you’re not going to enjoy the next hour and 40 minutes.  Also, Paul, you’re making me uncomfortable watching you throw your brand new coffee around as if you’ve just been given an empty cup.  There’s imaginary coffee everywhere.  Hopefully, HCB won’t slip on it before it’s cleaned up… he’s already having a bad day.

“Thunder and Lightning… very very frightening.  But a big rock hurtling through the clouds is no biggie.” – all the residents of Hatchetfield apparently.

The next sequence happens so fast and we get introduced to a lot of characters.  Notably Greenpeace Girl, Alice and Deb, Sam, and Hidgens (though we don’t find out his name until much later). This scene impresses me because they do such a great job of very quickly bringing out so many characters who nonetheless are memorable when they return later in the show.

Peanuts the Hatchetfield Pocket Squirrel is an Eldritch Being. I won’t go into Peanuts theories here as that could be a whole post in itself – and many a person more brilliant than I have written some fantastic theories on this. You can learn all about how a Squirrel took over the fandom in the following posts:

@dahlialupine : x

@frombothofmyhearts​: x

@abiimaryy​: x

And finally mine which is definitely a serious theory: x

It’s… A… Musical!

Now to remember we are actually watching a musical.  La Dee Da Da Day is such a happy joyful song performed spectacularly by a throng of the undead.

The song is about the Hive singing about how much of a great time they are having now they are tap-dancing zombies, and trying to find ways to convince Paul he should join them too. So the grins on all their faces are not at all terrifying.

 It’s worth noting also that according to the laws of the TGWDLM world, only those infected by the Hive can hear the music in the background.  This becomes important later when it becomes clear some characters have started being infected before they are fully turned into zombies, but for now it just paints quite a funny picture of what Paul must be witnessing. I definitely think for him, this whole scene just sounds like this clip of Greased Lightning without the music: x

The important thing here however, besides Mariah’s singing, is that the Hive leave Paul alone.  They don’t actually attempt to turn him at this point.  I have a theory on the implications of this, but note this has big spoilers for the end of the show and Black Friday.  It was written before we knew that the Hive (Pokey) was related to Wiggly but the content still stands: x

Charlotte, Honey, you don’t need that much sugar – you’re sweet enough

For reference:

@melchron​  noted that the lyrics for La Dee Dah sound very similar to the incantation for soul transferal read out in Jane’s a Car, which leads me to two possible implications.

The Freaky Furbies have a language other than English that they use for their incantations so this is why they sound similar.

There is soul transference happening to the souls of the bodies the Hive take over.

Or it’s just Starkid using similar sounding words for their content…. Three! There are three possible implications…

Paul – just print off another copy of the report

From this point on the musical numbers really do come thick and fast.  We move on to the first instance of Jeff Blim encouraging Paul to talk about his feelings, which I am sure is not important and isn’t worth discussing.  Paul goes through a musical rendition of a promotion interview, which is actually the Hive attempting to find out if he will be the “hero” of their story.  They picked out Paul for the role from the start. That he was chosen was inevitable.

What do you see for this company? I'm looking for someone with strong ambition Someone to sell their specific vision Someone to share with precise precision their thoughts 'Cause I want you to want…To want

So it turns out these will be looooong, so I will end here and see you in part 2!  I’m not sure yet what the upload frequency will be.  It takes quite a while to go through the show like this but it is a lot of fun!

Hatchetfield High Homework:

Where do you stand on the Peanuts the Hatchetfield Pocket Squirrel debate?

Why do you think that the Soul Transference Spell and La Dee Dah sound so similar?

Go follow all the lovely people mentioned in this post!

Bonus points if you know the reference in the post title.

[Part 2]

[diversetolkien]

I hope I’m not too late @diversetolkien, but I wrote this meta on decolonization themes for the anti-racism topic for Diverse Tolkien week! I love your meta’s and they definitely inspired me to write about my two favorite characters Andreth and Nimrodel both of whom are great anti-colonization devices and are also coded as WOC.

Aegnor and Amroth both represent white colonial establishments in power; however, we see them both as assimilating into their lover’s culture and lifestyle. Aegnor who’s one of the few elves ever to be on the frontline and fight alongside Andreth’s people. Aegnor who we have the implication that Andreth told him (and not Finrod) the human lore the Wise kept secret from Elves which as they should lol considering how Elves like Finrod react. Finrod who diminished and patronized Andreth, which is why she shuts down during their conversation, but Aegnor on the other hand who respected Andreth’s culture and believes in the idea of Morgoth as the one who caused humans to now leave Arda and have short lived lives (basically the Adaneth’s Tale).

When we’re first introduced to Aegnor, he echoed similar colonialist thoughts like Fingon and Angrod when they dreamed of creating kingdoms in far off lands they have no right to despite knowing that the Avari live in Middle Earth. The Noldor’s motivations overall have a lot of colonialist implications; however, we do see a journey of growth from Aegnor and him assimilating and respecting Andreth and her people really emphasize how much his mindset has changed. Tolkien had this strange theme of differentiating “good” colonialism as seen in the Noldor and later the Sindar’s arc too (which makes Aegnor stand out even more for this shift in mindset) and Aragorn in the 4th age, which is romanticized and glorified, versus "bad" colonialism, which is rightfully condemned, in the King’s Men and Numenor. It’s awful because all colonialism is terrible.

Andreth to me is the Edain equivalent to Nimrodel, who is coded as a WOC. Both are anti-colonization symbols who keep their own culture and maintain their own lifestyle prior to the introduction of the respective colonial establishments of the Noldor and Sindar. Nimrodel who continues to only use the Silvan language and rejects the Sindar way of living and culture, which was forced onto the Silvan elves. Andreth who’s literal job is to maintain human lore and the culture prior to ever meeting the Noldor. Andreth who wholeheartedly defends her own people. Andreth who is also coded as a WOC (her appearance is NEVER talked about and considering the House of Beor has canon dark skinned people to put two and two together Andreth is a dark skinned WOC -- Tolkien always tried to avoid being called out for racist story lines by making the character in question always ambiguous in ethnicity but nonetheless the coding is always there still).

Andreth and Aegnor’s narrative are heavily entwined with Nimrodel and Amroth. I don’t see any similarities between them and the other Elf/ Mortal pairings simply because a large difference between them and Andreth and Aegnor is that Tolkien himself is heavily against women who he feels is “lesser” than their lover. Both end in tragedies despite the love being of the star crossed lovers type, and I feel like a lot of it is because both narratives include a lot of anti-colonization themes which went against the larger themes of Tolkien's works which often glossed over themes of colonization and glorified it.

Nimrodel’s whole arc resonates with indigenous groups who are justifiably angry at white colonizers such as Amroth and his family. Amroth does later assimilate into Silvan culture, but regardless he definitely profited from the Sindar’s colonization of the Silvans. His family ruled over the Silvan elves who had not had kings prior to the Sindar’s influence as well as led the Silvan Elves to war with Sauron leading to so many innocent lives being taken not to mention how under prepared the Silvan Elves were against what they were facing. Andreth herself pushes back on the colonial propaganda that surrounds the Noldor. Finrod tries to literally correct Andreth’s own experiences, but Andreth remains stalwart in defending her people’s culture and traditions. Both characters definitely are narrative twins including Amroth and Aegnor too.

[gaybd1]

episode 2

I gotta say when I think about this show as a whole I kind of like it but when I reflect on the changes I kind of don’t. So.

Zuko’s dream journal freak out including gayness: accurate no notes. Reaction: Positive

Going to Kyoshi Island for Avatar answers; again it works with the tone of this new show but why did we have to get rid of fun Aang who likes to ride weird animals? Reaction: Neutral

Katara wanting to go with Aang like mostly because he helps her bending? Weird Reaction: Negative

Getting the waterbending scroll from Gran Gran: Sure. Eliminates the need for the pirate episode which helps compress the plot and it kind of does make sense so. Reaction: Neutral

Sokka telling Momo he probably tastes like chicken: the show can’t decide if they want to embrace hybrid animals or not. This comes up a few times. It seems sloppy, make a decision. Reaction: Negative

Strong lady Kyoshi Island leader: sick. Reaction: Positive

Also I just want to say the aesthetics and soundtrack for Kyoshi Island fuck so hard

Suki having a mom: fine, whatever. But I think she had so much more agency in the original show and it was such a better parallel with Sokka as like having to lead a whole village way too young. I actually don’t love how she’s kind of babied and controlled here. Reaction: Negative

Having Zhao start out as kind of a nobody. It’s definitely more explicit here at least. It makes the power hunger like. Better. But I miss this weird creepy ass prior relationship he seemed to have with Zuko in the old one. Also they should have had an Agni Kai. Reaction: Neutral

Suki seeing and being attracted to shirtless Sokka: cool fine I’d actually like that for shipping reasons BUT there’s this whole theme that starts developing here of her being this sheltered boy-crazy girl so on rewatching I’m kind of wary of this scene. Reaction: Neutral

Aang not even learning waterbending at all this season: This episode would have been a great place to start. I GET how he had a hang up initially about how he doesn’t want any new teacher after Gyatso etc etc BUT WE HAVE EIGHT EPISODES TO RESOLVE THIS. Like wtf is he doing with his time otherwise. Also if he did learn with Katara it would have deepened their relationship which was sorely needed overall in the show. Reaction: Negative

The arc with Sokka and Suki being less about sexism and more about his own struggle feeling competent as a warrior: Fine. I like this take actually. Reaction: Positive

More focus on Kyoshi and even hints of her backstory: Cool. It makes sense Aang would try to connect with her. Reaction: Positive

Zhao being the one to attach Kyoshi Island: like a lot of changes, it works with the overall narrative. But I do think the original show did a better job of making Zuko the villain in S1 which IS super important for the overall impact of his total arc… Reaction: Neutral

This added lore of only being able to connect with past Avatars at their shrines… I like it. It makes sense at this point in Aang’s spiritual development. I’d hope that when he gets more in touch with his past lives he can kind of do it anywhere? Reaction: Positive

Kyoshi being the one to guide Aang: Yeah I like how it’s kind of split between past Avatars here. It doesn’t need to be only Roku, right? This works. Also I love how they still made her tall as hell. Reaction: Positive

The reason for going to the Northern Water Tribe: Aang needing a bending master? Made tons of sense. Kyoshi telling Aang an attack is coming? Eh. We’re gonna see this in later seasons too. I don’t like it. Reaction: Negative

The Katara/Zuko fight on Kyoshi Island: love that were involving some trauma here actually. It’s super realistic and of course Katara can’t beat him yet… Reaction: Positive

Kyoshi literally manifesting to kick everyone’s asses in her village: Sorry, this was cool as hell and has some great lore implications. It wasn’t too out of left field because Aang WAS in her shrine which would def make sense to unlock some secret power ups. Plus it did kind of happen in the original show too once. Reaction: Positive

Why would the village leader lady have such a change of heart about Aang, especially when he just got their village destroyed?

“Thank you Sokka for bringing the world to me” no. Sorry. This version of Suki is just Not It. Reaction about that whole characterization: Negative

Zuko and Zhao working together… weird but it works. Reaction: Neutral

Zhao telling on Zuko: of course he would. Reaction: Positive

rating changes made in natla: episode 1

I wanna be clear that I overall enjoyed the series. Most things I had problems with were actually pretty minor.

Planning to attack the Earth Kingdom as a distraction from the Air Nomad genocide: kind of cool I guess but still a weird and random way to open a whole ass show with these randos. Maybe a good way to set up the White Lotus I guess. Cool excuse to see Sozin. Reaction: Neutral

Kyoshi narrating the introduction: Cool. Makes sense. We haven’t met Katara yet. Also cool that they didn’t stick to the original opening monologue bc that wouldn’t have fit as well actually. Reaction: Positive

Showing life in the Air Temple before it was attacked. I mean I get it. It shows Aang’s reaction with Gyatso and kind of leads us to understand where he comes from. It makes his loss hurt that much more. Reaction: Positive

Great Comet Festival: Obviously an excuse to get everyone together for the Genocide but cool I guess. Reaction: Neutral

Aang just going away to clear his head instead of running away from being the Avatar: I get it. It’s to make him seem more likable, not irresponsible. I really don’t care either way. Reaction: Neutral.

Showing the Air Nation genocide: It didn’t last too long and it wasn’t as terribly graphic as I thought it could be. It fit in with the tone and narrative. Did it add anything to the point that it seemed necessary? No. Reaction: Neutral.

Katara using the Fire Nation ship as a place to practice her bending? Badass. Reaction: Positive

Showing more of Sokka’s duties/leadership/burden around the SWT village: love it, delicious, I’m obsessed. Also leaning into Hakoda’s absence. Great. Reaction: Positive

Finding Aang for some random reason that isn’t Katara being pissed at Sokka’s sexism: Honestly I wasn’t bothered by this the first time around but now it’s clear to me this is the first in a long line of choices that make Katara’s character more boring and like. peaceful so. Reaction: Negative

Zuko’s fanatical journal and doodle wall: Love it. Super on brand. Reaction: Positive

Aang already having the bison whistle: whatever. Reaction: Neutral

The SWT having a longhouse: It’s a small change but I love how much more developed the set is… Reaction: Positive

Gran Gran doing the opening monologue from the original show: it fit but I’m sorry it was soooo cringe oh my god….. Reaction: Negative

Let me just mention this here but it’s kind of weird that Katara doesn’t mention her mother’s necklace in the whole show when it was so important to the plot of the original show??? Just another facet of her character ignored I guess. Reaction: Negative

The weird claw thing the Firebenders do: it’s ugly lol. Reaction: Negative

Iroh starting real early trying to convince Zuko his dad sucks: their relationship is so much cooler and better in this show and I can’t really explain it. But I like this and it fits. Reaction: Positive

Sokka’s real ass engineering and defensive skills on full display? Huge love. Reaction: Positive

That one boy close in age to Sokka. Why is he here? Wasn’t Sokka supposed to be the only one left? Glad he gets a boyfriend though. Reaction: Neutral

Iroh’s conversation with Aang on the Fire Nation ship: it’s whatever. An interesting choice to have him tip his hand so early. I have to believe there’s a reason for it and again it works with his overall narrative in the season. Reaction: Neutral

Not spending so much time at the Southern Air Temple… I get it, it was kind of the trade off for showing so much in the beginning. It’s fine, it works. Reaction: Neutral

Aang bringing himself out of the Avatar state by thinking about Gyatso/who he is/whatever, instead of Katara doing it: I get it, they seem to be wanting to cut out any overt Kataang stuff. Still, the relationships between our three main characters are just not nearly as tight in this version of the show and something like this might have saved it? Still, Aang crying in her arms afterward covers that a bit so. Reaction: Neutral

[terramythos]

TerraMythos 2021 Reading Challenge - Book 21 of 26

Title: The Galaxy, and the Ground Within (Wayfarers #4) (2021)

Author: Becky Chambers

Genre/Tags: Science Fiction, Third-Person, Female Protagonists

Rating: 9/10

Date Began: 8/15/2021

Date Finished: 8/22/2021

Gora is an unremarkable planet. It has no natural life and few resources to speak of. In fact, its only use is its proximity to more interesting places. Over the years, it’s become a waystation, notable only as a temporary stop for travelers as they wait for their spot in the wormhole queue. 

The Five-Hop One-Stop is a small, family-owned rest stop on Gora. Three travelers— a marginalized nomad, a military contractor, and an exiled artist-- lay over at the Five-Hop awaiting the next stage of their journeys. But everything goes horribly wrong when repair work on an orbital satellite causes a cascade event, destroying the planet’s communications. Now stranded on Gora with debris raining down from the sky, the travelers and hosts must live with each other while cut off from the rest of the galaxy. As they learn more about one another, each is forced to confront their personal struggles… and challenge their perspective on life.

Speaker had a word for how she felt right then: errekere. A moment of vulnerable understanding between strangers. It did not translate into Klip, but it was a feeling she knew well from gatherings among her people. There was no need being expressed here, no barter or haggling or problems that required the assistance of a Speaker, but errekere was what she felt all the same. She’d never felt it with an alien before. She embraced the new experience.

Content warnings and spoilers below the cut.  

Content warnings for the book: Non-graphic sexual content, child endangerment, ableism (if you squint; it’s not malicious), references to warfare, discussions of intergenerational trauma re: colonization (not the scifi kind), prejudice and xenophobia, recreational drug use. 

I’ve had a mixed experience with Wayfarers, which is unusual for me. I can’t remember the last series I read that fluctuated so much in terms of personal enjoyment and (in my opinion) quality. People as a whole seem to enjoy this series more than me, hence the multitude of awards and glowing reviews. I liked book two, A Closed and Common Orbit, because of the focused narrative and dedicated development of two lead characters. But the first and third books suffered from an overly large cast and reliance on generic archetypes. When a series is built on character development and plot is a secondary concern at best, those characters have to be outstanding. And to me, they usually weren’t.

But in this fourth and final book, I felt that Chambers finally hit her stride. On a surface level, The Galaxy, and the Ground Within has striking similarity to book three, Record of a Spaceborn Few. Both are virtually plotless novels which do deep dives into a cast of characters. What sets The Galaxy apart is its execution. All three leads have unique and compelling personal conflicts. An underutilized strength of the series is its creative aliens; something Chambers takes advantage of here with a fully alien cast. Finally, this book hinges upon interaction between the three leads, something sorely missing from the previous book. 

In these reviews I often seem critical of ensemble casts. But when done well, I actually prefer them to singular narratives. The main hurdle is having consistently interesting characters across the board. When there’s one or two characters I prefer over the others, I usually struggle with the novel. There’s an inherent sense of disappointment when leaving a favored character’s POV. For me this affects my overall enjoyment of the story. But when I like all of the characters or they all have something interesting going on, ensemble casts are great. The Galaxy, and the Ground Within is successful in this regard because I thoroughly enjoyed all three perspective characters. In no particular order…

Speaker is an Akarak, a birdlike scavenger species introduced as sympathetic antagonists in the first book. Going in, we know their home planet was colonized by the Harmagians, which has caused irreparable harm to their culture. Robbed of their homeworld and forced into the margins of GC society, the Akarak are nomadic, and many of them rely on banditry in order to survive. We have seen very little of them besides that. The Galaxy expands their lore a lot; their short lifespans, their incompatible biology with other sapients, and the resulting generational trauma from centuries of colonial exploitation. Speaker’s arc in particular is about dealing with the prejudice she encounters daily, adjusting to acceptance after being othered for so long, seeing things from a new perspective, and persistent worry for her twin sister Tracker, who she’s been separated from due to the events on Gora. 

The Aeluon Pei is actually a recurring character; she’s Ashby’s love interest from the first book. Here we get a more intimate view of her as a person. In particular, she struggles with living a double life. She works a prestigious yet dangerous job among her people, running cargo into critical warzones. But her affair with Ashby (a Human) is a huge cultural taboo among the Aeluons. If her colleagues discovered her romantic relationship, her life as a cargo runner would be over. The double life is wearing on her, because she loves both aspects of her life, but knows that it can’t go on like this forever. To make matters worse, she goes into “shimmer”, a once-in-a-lifetime fertility period, during the events on Gora. This adds a layer to her struggle; does she do her duty to her species and produce a child, or does she pursue what she really wants? 

Finally, there’s Roveg, a Quelin. Like the Akarak, Quelin haven’t received a whole lot of development in the series. In the first book, they’re portrayed as a xenophobic insectoid race, and their role is unambiguously antagonistic. Roveg is the polar opposite of that. He’s something of a renaissance man; an appreciator of fine art and dining, who designs artistic sims by profession. He delights in meeting aliens, befriending them, and learning everything there is to know about them. His arc centers around his exile from Quelin society and all the hidden pains associated with that. Chief among these is a mysterious meeting he has to make— which the Gora disaster obviously complicates. 

Complementing the three leads are the Five-Hop’s hosts; a Laru mother and child named Ouloo and Tupo. Similar to the Akarak and Quelin, we haven’t seen many of the Laru (who I always picture as fuzzy dog-giraffe hybrids). Ouloo struggles to be a kind and accommodating host in the wake of disaster. She’s also forced to confront her own prejudices, especially regarding Speaker, the first Akarak she’s ever met. The two initially have a lot of tension, but grow to be great friends over the course of the novel. Her child Tupo is a nonbinary character using xe/xyr pronouns throughout the novel. Xe’s basically a Laru teenager, and super endearing. I love xyr natural curiosity and naiveté. Definitely the “heart” of the group. 

Interaction between these characters is the bread and butter of this novel. There’s very little action; instead it focuses on their differing perspectives and life experiences. It’s a gradual build as the characters grow more familiar with one another. The epilogue is brilliant, because we see the long-term effect of these characters meeting. Despite interpersonal conflict in the story, Speaker inspires Pei to make a specific decision. From this decision, Pei realizes she can help Roveg with his meeting. As a result of this, Roveg is inspired to help Speaker based on one of their earlier conversations. His help fundamentally alters Speaker’s perspective on life— and there’s an implication it will reach beyond that, to the Akarak as a whole. It’s a cascade effect, but rather than the disastrous version that happened on Gora, it’s a positive social change for the leads. That’s the kind of literary parallel that really fires me up. 

I do have a few criticisms of this novel, minor and otherwise. The first is, I wish the tension between Speaker and Pei was more strongly built throughout. While I’m glad the novel isn’t all sunshine and rainbows when it comes to the character interactions, their conflict goes from an idea in the back of one’s mind to an explosive event. This is something of a nitpick because it’s otherwise well executed. I especially like that despite their interpersonal problems, they work together in the climactic events of the novel without sacrificing their respective principles. 

My other criticism is a series-wide observation. Wayfarers is optimistic to a fault. As such, it’s pretty rare that we see true evil or even bad behavior in this series. On one hand, it’s nice to read something where the characters are people who want the best for everyone. But there’s a lot of dissonance here, because there are MASSIVE social problems with the GC at large. For example, we see the effects of xenophobia, war, slavery, and colonialism, but the ones who perpetuate these issues are faceless. If Chambers wants to portray good characters, that’s fine, but it strikes me as odd to build complex social issues into your society, yet exclusively portray groups of morally good people. Why would a society full of such nice, helpful groups also marginalize the Akarak, or create an entire caste of slave clones to sort through their junk? This approach comes off as a desire for nuance without committing to it. 

This trend continues through the final book. The Galaxy, and the Ground Within is clearly a COVID-19 response novel (“we’re all in this together”!)— but everyone is blameless, and the government response is reasonable and timely. That’s just not how it worked in real life. So many people were (and still are!) selfish in response to COVID, often outright endangering others. Practically every government botched their response for the sake of money, leading to mass death worldwide. If Wayfarers has similar social issues to the real world, why would the response to a disaster be any different? It’s an ongoing contradiction; the Wayfarers society is simultaneously utopian and flawed, and it’s hard for me to suspend my disbelief. 

As an individual novel, though, I really enjoyed The Galaxy, and the Ground Within. Like all the other books in the Wayfarers series, it’s a standalone and can be read on its own. My experience with this series has been up and down; I recommend the second and fourth books, but I’d skip one and three if I ever do a reread. There are things to like about Wayfarers in terms of worldbuilding and the creative ideas behind all the different aliens. Characterization is hit or miss, but the hits are great, and this book in particular knocked it out of the park. Chambers’ prose improves a lot over the series, and it’s nice to see how she develops as a writer. As I’ve mentioned, Wayfarers has gotten lots of positive feedback, so it’s possible you will enjoy it more than I did. But I’m looking forward to reading something new.

[beybladefanboy]

Top 5 Worst Episodes of Beyblade

I'm gonna say this right off the bat: ranking Beyblade episodes is weird since they're all so tightly knit together. However, I was able to find five episodes that I find either dull or problematic in some way to make a top 5 worst list. When I make the best list, it’ll likely be top 5 of each season because there are way more good episodes than bad ones. In fact, I don't really think most of this list is bad besides the top two. Anyways, let's get started.

5) Episode 109: Kenta's Determination (Metal Fury)

Yeah... I have really mixed thoughts on this episode. I really love parts of it and I really hate other parts of it. I enjoy it every time I watch it, and I've watched this one A LOT, but if I think about it in a critical way at all, it falls apart. It really does feel like the narrative is gloryfing Kenta for stalking someone. Ryuga told Kenta to go away multiple times and when I first watched this episode, I assumed Ryuga was taking a difficult path specifically to throw Kenta off his trail. We don't know that Kenta's statement about Ryuga taking difficult paths on purpose is true, we're just trusting Kenta's word on that, who is still a total stranger to Ryuga at that point. Kenta and the audience have no actual indication that Ryuga wants Kenta around or is letting him follow him until that moment where Ryuga waits for him in the desert, which you can easily miss if you're not paying attention. I know this because younger me missed it. There isn't as much emphasis on this frankly cute moment as I feel there should be. Still, it does save the rest of this episode and later episodes with these two. Without it, the scene at the end where Ryuga allows Kenta to follow him could easily be interpreted as him giving in because he can't get Kenta to go away. "Remember kids, if you stalk someone for long enough, they'll give in!" You see what I mean? It's obviously not trying to teach that but the way this episode is framed, putting Kenta in the right for this, really makes it feel that way. Still, there is at least that little hint that Ryuga wanted Kenta around before the final scene and honestly I love this episode too much to put it any lower. It bothers me when I think about it critically but dammit I enjoy watching it. I hate that dream sequence where everyone is out of character but putting it aside, I love seeing Ryuga kick ass, I still laugh at that scene where he first meets Kenta and doesn't even know his name, I love seeing Ryuga scare off a tiger just by looking at it, and goddammit, him waiting for Kenta in the desert and that entire scene at the campfire are some of the cutest damn things in this show. I love this episode, even though from a critical perspective, it's a disaster.

4) Episode 68: We Meet Again! Wang Fu Zhong (Metal Masters)

This is ironically the only Masters episode on the list. It's the least of the three seasons for me because the overarching story just isn't as interesting but the individual episodes themselves are fine at what they're trying to do. The only exception for me is this one. I will admit I am not very invested in the Wang Fu Zhong characters. I dislike Chi-Yun and Chao Xin, and before his episode with Julian, Da Xiang as well. Mei Mei is fine though her gag of forgetting words is more often dumb than funny. So seeing them wasn't very exciting for me. I'm also just not invested in this conflict. Gingka, Masamune, Yu, and Tsubasa struggling to work together as a team makes perfect sense given their characters and adds conflict. It makes sense it's just not interesting. There were what... two team battles in the entire tournament? And the way they all worked together in the final act was by fighting their own individual battles so this whole conflict didn't feel like it amounted to much in the end. There was this big emphasis on teamwork with no real pay-off (in this season at least, Fury did a better job with the teamwork angle). It also makes the characters really damn annoying. I mean, I can't stay mad at Tsubasa but the other three were being so bratty, to the point where I was getting just as frustrated as Madoka. There are some good comedic moments in this episode but overall, it's just kind of a slog for me.

3) Episode 37: Rock Scorpio's Deadly Poison (Metal Fusion)

Jeez, another Kenta episode. Kenta is one of my favourite characters. Why are his episodes so hit or miss? This one is kinda like my number four pick: not necessarily bad, just boring and annoying. Busujima is an annoying nuisance and I don't find Sora or his pack of randos interesting. This episode was also really misplaced, coming after Tsubasa leaves the Dark Nebula and before he goes to confront the others. If you skip this episode, you will miss nothing. In fact, this episode takes away from the flow of the story and is just a distraction. Sometimes filler episodes can be okay like the Kenta and Benkei changing parts episode in Fusion or the Blader DJ battle in Masters. The difference is those were fun and the latter especially came at a time when the audience and the characters actually needed a breather. This episode doesn't do that. It takes more than it gives.

2) Episode 130: The God of Venus, Quetzalcoatl (Metal Fury)

Okay, Yu and Tithi's battle is perfectly fine. It's quite fun actually. My problems with this episode occur after that. I've complained about this so many times but I cannot stress it enough: this episode destroyed Kyoya's character. It made me hate him the first time I saw this. Kyoya beat up a child who didn't want to fight. When has Kyoya ever demanded to battle a cowering opponent, much less a child? Tithi being a legendary blader isn't an excuse by the way, he was still a non-combatant. RYUGA was above bullshit like this at this point. Also, Kyoya's reason for deciding to return is horribly stupid and forced. Destiny is a theme throughout Fury but it was always portrayed as a choice the characters made of their own accord, impacting the world around them, not some invisible unstoppable force making them do things. I really respected that about this season. Destiny being a choice is more applicable to real life and just more inspiring and interesting in general. But that's thrown in the trash in this episode when Kyoya feels that destiny is forcing him to be with the group, despite him helping them of his own accord in past episodes and destiny not actually forcing him to do anything. It sounds like an excuse and abandons the actual emotional reason Kyoya left the group in the first place. His internal conflict of feeling weak for being in a group was left unresolved and he comes off as a selfish guy only sticking with the group because he feels he's forced to by some invisible concept, something every other episode in the series disagrees with.

1) Episode 48: The Truth About Light and Darkness (Metal Fusion)

In my opinion, this is the only episode in the series that actively hurts other episodes. The Phoenix twist was already incredibly obvious at this point yet they still feel the need to take up the majority of this episode explaining it and the lore about L-Drago and the dark power in excruciating detail. This episode is nothing more than an exposition dump. In the case of the L-Drago lore, it's actually important, but I ask you: what did the Ryo twist actually add? After this point, it gives us a stupidly incompetent director of the WBBA to make frustrating decisions for the sake of the plot in Masters and to a lesser extent, Fury. However, there was no reason this character needed to be Gingka's dad. Or exist, really. These conflicts could've happened whether or not there was a figurehead for the WBBA orchestrating it. However, this episode even more negatively impacts past episodes by painting Ryo's aggressive actions toward Gingka, especially him breaking his point counter, as abusive. He abandoned him, let him think he was dead, and broke something of his for the sake of shaping him into this "noble hero" and the episode has the fucking gall to not only put him in the right, but have the characters and the narrative glorify his actions. "Remember kids, it's okay if your parents abuse you as long as they're doing it for your own good." This is Kenta's Determination levels of messed up implications. Except while that episode was sweet, funny and didn't hurt any other episodes, this episode is drawn out, boring, and actively makes Fusion as a whole worse. And the worst part is it's unskippable. Like I said earlier, there's a ton of important exposition in this episode as well as Ryuga killing Doji, which is a hugely important scene that shows that not even Ryuga's allies are safe and really hammers in just how greedy for power he is. It's honestly the only good scene in the episode. The L-Drago lore is important and strengthens the final battle but everything else should've been scrapped.

And there’s my list. I tried to make this list somewhat objective, only putting episodes on here that had actual problems and not just episodes that annoyed me. That’s why the Garcias episodes aren’t on here for the record. I actually wanted to put episodes 82 and 83 on here so badly but there’s actually nothing objectively wrong with them. Those characters are annoying but the battles are mostly pretty good, the knockout battle set up is unique, and it’s not a distraction. The world tournament is the main plot after all. Call those episodes dishonourable mentions if you will, I enjoy Kenta’s Determination more than both of them, even though that episode is probably objectively worse.

[kaediisarchive]

Final thoughts on the 2021 Mortal Kombat movie.

LOTS of spoilers under the cut! Do not look at this post if you don’t want to see spoilers!

And remember, this is all just my opinion. It’s not like an actual in-depth review because I’m not a film student; this is just my perspective on what I saw as a fan of this franchise.

POSITIVE

Sub-Zero and Scorpion were great. Opening fight was great.

“Eddy Tobias” namedrop lmao

I love the snow preceding Sub-Zero’s attack. Very foreboding.

Score is AWESOME. My favorite soundtrack is probably the one that plays when Sub-Zero is attacking them in the city towards the beginning.

Sonya rigging her house with a secret bunker and trap doors is smart and fits her character.

I like that the dragon logo has an integral meaning to the story.

Loved Jax vs Sub-Zero. Not mad about the origin change of Jax’s arms. I like that he had to work through his feelings of inadequacy and failure; people don’t just immediately bounce back after something that traumatic. I also like that his arcana manifests to protect Sonya rather than in the heat of battle. It shows his emotional priorities and what separates him from people like Kano who manifest their arcana in a fit of rage.

Sonya “Throw Hands on Sight” Blade lmfao. They nailed her fighting style too and I am happy.

Kano is the best thing about this movie. No competition.

Kotal reference!

Nightwolf reference!

Shang Tsung’s soul magic being black and wispy and foreshadowing Noob Saibot.

KANO DID THE HEART RIP

CHEKOV’S GNOME I’M SCREAAAAAAMMMMIIIIIINNNNGGGGGG

I love Liu Kang in this. He is 1000000% a Wholesome Boi. I like that he’s younger and unhardened and not the fully realized champion version of his character yet. Let him grow into it so it feels earned later on. I like that he’s the underdog, and I like what they’ve set up for him in the future. Also, the casting for him was perfect and they nailed his fighting style, too.

That little “the FUCK” that the Kano actor improvised(?) in the middle of Liu Kang’s lines made me laugh more than it should have. I don’t know why that moment got to me so much but it did.

I love Kung Lao. And they nailed his fighting style, too! Great to see variation that represents the characters (though there were less shining examples, which I’ll touch on later).

LOW SWEEP! LOW SWEEP! LOW SWEEP!

Egg roll scene is best scene.

Kabal! I love his dry humor. And his voice reminds me of Duke Nukem, which I’m not mad about. It complemented his dialogue well.

Not mad about Kung Lao’s death because it was meaningful. His fatality on Nitara was sick, too.

Liu Kang taking the ribbon from Kung Lao’s hat and wearing it in his honor, giving an origin for his signature headband is FANTASTIC.

THE PIT!

FLYING BICYCLE KICKS!

LIU KANG’S DRAGON FATALITY!

SONYA’S ENERGY RINGS!

Sub-Zero was a GREAT final boss. They really built him up appropriately to make him feel like it.

Scorpion’s fatality! And his skull face!

NEUTRAL

Not sure how I feel about Sub-Zero being wholly evil and there being no involvement from Quan Chi. It’s more straight forward for sure. It makes him an interesting (and badass) character, and I’m really behind this portrayal in that he is one of the most believable characters in the movie, but I’m not sure if I like the implications for later films in how this has simplified the dynamic in the entire Shirai Ryu vs Lin Kuei plotline. Having Quan Chi be the Machiavelli was always one of my favorite MK twists. And how do we eventually end the feud now? If Bi-Han / the Lin Kuei were wholly responsible, why should Hanzo EVER make peace with Kuai Liang down the line? The complexity feels like it’s been stripped down a bit, but I do love this iteration of Sub-Zero. I truly do. That’s why this is in the neutral category and not the negative XD.

Why didn’t Jax tell Cole when he saw the mark? Why wait until his family gets attacked? Maybe he didn’t want to do it in front of his family to keep them out of it, but that ends up endangering them more. Not a gripe, just a curiosity.

Sound editing was a bit too intense at times for my taste. I have tinnitus, so...big boomy bass with very mild voices is a chore for my ears to switch between. My ears were ringing within the first twelve minutes.

Torn between “fuck you Reiko” and “Reiko deserved better”. He deserved just a little bit better, but Skarlet says “get fucked” anyway.

I don’t like the “shaky cam” used in the fight scenes. Not my cup of tea. Very hard to visually process at times.

Whatever cosmic force is picking the champions for Earthrealm is doing a shitty job at it.

Why did they change the location of the Sky Temple to a desert? Again, not a gripe, a curiosity.

“We will not see another full moon before the tournament begins” THEN WHERE IS THE TOURNAMENT BUDDY???

Not sure how I feel about the “arcana” concept. It’s an okay plot device but kinda hammy.

Kitana’s fan! But why? Why is it there? I could understand the Kotal and Nightwolf references because Sonya has been researching, but why is Kitana’s fan randomly in an Earthrealm temple? Purely cheap fanservice.

Nitara was really cool. Shame she had to die, but her death was cool and there have to be some characters that get killed off. Wish she had more screentime though; feels like another instance of fanservice just having her show up basically as a namedrop and a quick kill.

The phrase “Are you okay?” was said WAY too much in this film. So much that I actually notices how often it was said, and I usually don’t pick up on these things.

Pretty sure a camera operator fell at one point in a Sonya scene because the camera jerked around violently all of the sudden then stabilized. Whoops.

How did Sub-Zero know to take Cole’s family to the gym? WHY did he take them there?

NEGATIVE

Opening scene was awesome, but it’s emotional impact felt stunted. I feel like the order of events should have been twisted a bit. Hanzo find his wife and son should have been the big emotional climax of the scene, but it felt like a passing moment and gave him no time to mourn and no time for the impact to truly set in with me. It was an “oh no they died” moment instead of an “ OH MY GOD THEY DIED THIS IS SO FUCKED FUCK YOU SUB-ZERO” moment. I dare say that the Legacy web series did it better in spite of their lower budget and overall quality; the series of events had better pacing and gave more emotional impact because of it. I said what I fucking said don’t @ me.

Wish we got more Scorpion. I love Sanada, I love him as Scorpion, but they didn’t give us the time we needed with his character to truly get a grasp of him.

Cole Young is like white bread in a parade of decorative cakes.

Raiden, a normally passionate and protective character whose fatal flaw is that he involves himself too much in events because he cares about the people in his realm and ends up fucking things up because of it, now seems to not care in the slightest. He feels completely uninvolved save for an occasional pop in to give a nod of disapproval. I don’t like this unemotional take on one of the most emotional characters in Mortal Kombat.

Small complaint from my perspective as a martial artist but uh...”Throw your uppercut!” was a bullshit line in a bullshit scene. If you’re locked up with someone like that and the guy has his arms around your neck, you physically cannot uppercut. You cannot fit your arms between his arms because they are cinched tightly around your shoulders/neck. YOUR HEAD is between your fist + bicep and HIS HEAD. In that situation, the guy has also left his body completely unguarded, so the most logical thing to do since you CANNOT reach his head is to go for BODY BLOWS. Beat him until he lets go to protect himself, catch his floating rib with double strikes, or punch the dude in his fucking liver as hard as you can to DROP HIM. Cole is supposed to be an experienced fighter, yet he makes one of the most rookie mistakes a fighter could ever make. Normally I wouldn’t care to point out mistakes in fight choreography or whatever because it’s MK and I expect ridiculousness, but this is the WRONG kind of ridiculous. It’s just NONSENSE.

I have SO MANY issues with Mileena. I’ll make this as short as I can. I don’t like the design of her mouth. I don’t like her weird stacked voice. She shows NO personality, not in her acting or even her fighting style, just an evil minion that got angry because she almost got her ass kicked. The turned one of the principle characters of the entire franchise and a fan favorite into a GRUNT. There is NO mention of Kitana outside of literal “fan”-service. Not even a reference to one of the most important plotlines in all of Mortal Kombat. And then they KILL HER OFF!!! When they do inevitably bring in Kitana WHAT THE FUCK ARE THEY GOING TO DO SINCE THEY KILLED OFF MILEENA???? I��m heated and biased and they did my girl dirty.

Speaking of doing characters dirty, poor Reptile. They turned him into an actual animal. What a waste.

Why are they so mean to Sonya if she doesn’t have a mark? She wouldn’t be as much of a “liability” if they would take the time to prepare her and teach her how to defend against fighters that have unlocked their arcana. Mind-numbingly stupid logic.

This movie relies A LOT on prerequisite knowledge to work. It’s like they want fans to fill in the blanks for them. But not everyone watching is already a fan; this isn’t an obscure release, this is a blockbuster movie released worldwide. These gaps in lore and prior knowledge don’t make sense for such a broad audience.

Cole Young literally could have just been Johnny Cage.

Where was Raiden when his temple was being assaulted?

Cole’s arcana is LITERAL PLOT ARMOR IM FUCKING DONE

No but for real that’s the most boring decision they just ripped off Jax’s MK11 heater effect and Baraka’s blades (I know they’re tonfa and they aren’t attached and I DON’T CARE). Also, now he’s suddenly good at fighting again? After being dog shit this entire movie??? And tanks Goro?????

If Raiden is an Elder God in this continuity, why is he allowed to help Earthrealm AT ALL? It seems like favoritism and bends the rules that the Elder Gods are supposedly bound by way too much. They really just shouldn’t have made him an Elder God; I honestly think they just said it to introduce the concept without a fuck given towards the actual lore of the Elder Gods.

WHY DID RAIDEN TELEPORT KANO TO SONYA’S HOUSE AFTER HE BETRAYED THEM I HAD TO REWATCH THAT SEVERAL TIMES TO MAKE SURE I JUST SAW WHAT I SAW  WHAT THE ACTUAL NONSENSICAL FUCK

Cole REALLY should not have been involved in that last fight. Especially not after Scorpion shows up. It should have been Scorpion vs Sub-Zero ONLY for the final fight. Cole tag-teaming Sub-Zero with Scorpion cheapens Scorpion’s revenge.

Camera work in the final fight was not good, especially in the first portion. At one point Cole gets thrown into a fence, but it cuts to an awkward inverse angle that makes him look like he’s bouncing off of a trampoline. This continues to happen and ruins several shots for me.

Honestly Scorpion should have just possessed Cole. Permanently. No switching back and forth. No more Cole, only Scorpion.

PREDICTIONS

Lots of dead characters come back as revenants and / or with upgrades.

Kano comes back with cyber eye.

Mileena comes back with full teeth.

Liu Kang becomes MK champion, wins tournament, and kills Shang Tsung. As it should be.

Cole Young helps Liu Kang become champion somehow idk maybe he sacrifices himself or something just please don’t make Cole the champion I will start a riot.

Next movie will start IMMEDIATELY at the tournament since there was supposedly less than a month until the tournament starts in this movie.

New characters coming in will be Kitana, Shao Kahn, Jade, Quan Chi, Kuai Liang, Noob Saibot, Ermac, and Johnny Cage.

OVERALL

This movie was good, bloody fun! It’s not an A++ Oscar-winner, but if you expected that going into it, you played yourself. It was Mortal Kombat; it was stupid, it was gory, and I had a blast watching it. Kano and Liu Kang were the best parts of the movie for me, with Scorpion and Sub-Zero tied for third. Also I popped a lot for the cheap nostalgia hits. I’m overall satisfied with what we got in spite of my complaints, and I only complain so in-depth about the things I love lmao so trust me when I say I’m not actually mad, just nitpicky. I’ve watched it twice now, and I would watch it again. It’s like a 6.8/10 for me.

[synonymroll648]

if you don’t know shit about the sonic franchise i am so sorry in advance for this word vomit because it is going to make very little sense

ok so. first things first the soundtrack for this game is FUCKING GORGEOUS. sonic games always have good background music but GODDAMN did this game deliver. every song in this game that i’ve heard from watching my brother play it or listening to the ost is <3333333 so far my favs that i know the names of are “Kronos Island: 2nd Mvt.”, “Kronos Island: 3rd Mvt.”, and “Cutscene: Mystery Girl”. mystery girl would be great to write action scenes to and the other two are pretty versatile for mood :) also the songs for when you go into cyberspace sections of the game slap. very fun edm. also there’s a lot of rock in this game for boss battles!! kellin quinn is on all of the boss battle songs in this game and it sounds SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO delicious. “Cutscene: Sonic on the move” just came on and i must say even if it’s 40 seconds long if you put that on loop it would be a nice vibe for the atmosphere of wherever you’re at :) 

[edit: there are many, many more good songs in this ost holy shit]

anyway!! forcing myself to shut up about the music. (as i get further in the ost i will probably ramble more tbh.) the storyline and characterization for this sonic game is the best i’ve seen in a long time!! which makes sense since they got at least one guy from the archie sonic comics to be a head writer for this game. but i’m just super super happy w/ the way the characters are written here!! 

typically amy and tails’ characters get butchered but this game redeemed them so hard man. tails is my fucking baby and i am OVER THE MOON that this boy got some depth to him. i also found out through one of my fav cutscenes w/ tails and sonic that tails is 8? and sonic is 15? they both seem so so so much older in this game and other games. esp tails. since tails is a fucking genius. also the introduction of sage is super cool!! i thought she was gonna be an annoying new antagonist but she actually turned about to be quite cool!! as w/ all the other characters, there’s a lot of depth that i have to love about her. she surprised me at times! in a good way! also eggman’s relationship w/ sage was like. i didn’t expect that but i’m SO here for it. i would love to go into specifics but i don’t want to give big spoilers in case you do decide to check this game out. 

also sonic!! the main man!! LOVE the way his dialogue is written. he’s sassy but he’s also quite empathetic! overall he just feels so much more...real than in most games. i don’t really delve into sonic often but like. i’ve delved in enough to know that his character before was mostly “gotta save everybody + be funny”. but in this game he fails and he gets up again and he does it over and over and over until he succeeds. and sometimes he fails so hard that he has to have other people help him, which he usually tends to avoid since he thinks that’s his job! and it’s so awesome to see! also sonic being able to run underwater but not swim is extremely funny to me. running underwater makes no sense. but him being able to swim doesn’t either because it’s been a thing FOREVER that this boy Cannot Swim. so it’s just goofy as hell and i fucking love it 

one last thing on the character front - THE LORE OF THE KOKO??? OUGH. won’t go into specifics because spoilers but. highly approve of what they did there man. i didn’t even play the game the koko are from but. some of the cutscenes centered around them made me feel things man

alright!! uhhhhhhh what else do i wanna scream about...i’ve already talked about characters and music...oh! i guess i can muse about the islands. i won’t give major spoilers there but basically the way they’re named really intrigues me. all of the names are drawn from greek mythology and have interesting implications about the islands themselves. especially when you consider the main quest missions that are on each island. i will refrain from spoilers but just how well the island names fit w/ characters and the storylines that occur on those islands is just *chef’s kiss*

the gameplay is also interesting! it’s one of the biggest things that set it apart from most sonic games tbh. most sonic games have fairly linear gameplay, right? but frontiers goes ‘hey here’s all these things you can do. for the most part, do it whenever the hell you want’. that’s because it’s open world. like. breath of the wild levels of open world. which is a rather big step for sonic games in my opinion. and while i do have questions and opinions about just having floating rails and springs everywhere - which are essential because you simply cannot have a sonic game without those - it’s interesting! also the environments are cool :) 

ohhhhhh yeah also the bosses have cool designs!!! and the juxtaposition of how you fight them versus how they fight you is cool. attempting to refrain from spoilers even though that’s probably pointless now 

OH GOD. i forgot. ok. so. sonic frontiers is great. BUT. i have grievances with the intro and the STUPID FUCKING FISHING GAMES. 

the intro i watched w/ my brother since it’s his first playthrough and he was excited to share the experience w/ me and i was excited to be included. but like. sega. the fuck do you mean the characters are standing on a plane’s wings w/o straps and not getting blown straight off immediately. it’s been a while since i’ve watched the intro but like. i remember nitpicking ten million little things because it just didn’t make sense. so. beware of that. just push through it 

and then. and THEN. the STUPID. FUCKING. FISHING GAMES. ok so here’s the thing. you go find this character named big the cat that’s been around for a while now in previous games. i’m fine with that. and big the cat’s like hey bro do you wanna fish w/ me. and i’m fine w/ that too. what i’m NOT fine with is WHAT YOU PULL OUT OF THE WATER. these are all PONDS. PONDS. so like. i can excuse an old tire. i can excuse treasure chests. (though i will nitpick how all the fish look the same and then you go fish it out and sometimes it’s not even a fucking fish.) i can be more than ok w/ catching a bass! but. BUT. i CANNOT with the sheer amount of saltwater creatures you catch in these ponds!!!! like. my brother’s caught crabs before. big ass saltwater crabs. and SUNFISH. and. AND. I KID YOU NOT. A FUCKING ANGLERFISH. IN A POND. why. why. SEGA. PLEASE. ANSWER ME

anyway!! sonic frontiers has its flaws but overall it is an excellent game!! very fun to dive into, even just for the music and story :) done screaming about it now

my good sir have you heard of and/or watched a playthrough of and/or played sonic frontiers

I have not but I would love to hear about it

[echidnana]

hey logan ! i’m thinking of getting into re8, so here i am at the re8 expert’s door for any lore and headcanon’s you have for any of the characters/place settings (i’m fine with ‘spoilers’!) :]

OMG OMG JACK HELLO I AM SO HAPPY TO OBLIGE

i’m adding a cut because i started rambling so the post ended up being a bit long. i tried to organize all the ideas as best i could and made some smaller sections to make it easier to process

also, i wrote this operating on the assumption that this is your first re game. so i might go too in depth for some stuff that you might already know i just like talking about re

TO PREFACE: i haven’t played 8, and i’m not sure if i’ll ever be able to. i’ve watched a bunch of edited play throughs and am currently about 2/3 of the way thorough snapcube’s full play through!

ok so. in my opinion 8 is VERY different from a lot of the other resident evil games in terms of atmosphere/setting. while most of the games before had been very ‘zombie/virus/mad science’ feeling, this game is closer to a fantasy type vibe (although it is all explained by science).

just to give a brief synopsis- ethan winters is the protagonist. his main motive is to rescue his daughter, who was taken into this village that is overrun by monsters. the village is run by mother miranda, who’s sort of a deity to the people of the village. the rest of the land is divided up amongst the four lords. i’m order to save his daughter, ethan has to fight through each of the lords.

my favorite lords

my favorite lords are donna beneviento and karl heisenberg. i hc them both to be trans and autistic :) to be honest, i hc every single resident evil character to be trans lmao

anyways. donna beneviento. she’s the doll maker and her portion of the game is probably my favorite. she only speaks once in the game, and you only see her face once. she’s very reclusive and typically speaks through her dolls. i also personally think she’s the most compassionate of the lords, despite her section being one of the most horrifying. her abilities rely mostly on causing someone’s own mind to sort of turn on itself and feeds into the person’s fears. but yeah, i love her and hc her as autistic :)

karl heisenberg is the magneto dude lmao. i love his parts in the game because he feels very… genuinely unhinged. like he’s HILARIOUS but not really on purpose, he’s just being really showy and dramatic. i personally wasn’t a fan with how they ended his part on the story bc i want to see more of him lmao

ok also. she isn’t a lord, but i adore daniela dimitrescu. she’s one of the daughters of the Tall Vampire Lady and she’s TOTALLY unhinged. even though i have favorite parts of the game, i love all of it. i wasn’t expecting to care that much about the dimitrescu section of the game but honestly all of it was so enjoyable

ethan winters

ethan winters is probably my favorite playable character of resident evil because he’s so… i don’t wanna say stupid, but he’s a dumbass

he’s like a horror movie protagonist that is in the situation they’re in because they made a dumb decision. but i think that’s so funny, especially for resident evil. his character in 7 vs 8 is pretty much the same- his objective is always to protect his family, and i think that’s really good for resident evil as well. most of the past characters’ motives were taking down huge corporations or stopping the spread of a virus, but ethan’s is just to protect his family and get somewhere safe.

tie ins to other games

i figured i’d add a section about this since i love all of the re games so much!

so the first obvious one- chris redfield is a relatively main character in this. he’s the co-protagonist of the original resident evil, so he’s definitely still involved with plot lmao. he was 25 in the first game, so in re8, he’s nearing 50.

at the end of re7, ethan winters meets chris redfield after escaping the baker’s residence. chris was working with blue umbrella at the time I THINK i’m gonna be honest i don’t keep up with what organization he’s with because he switches around so many times. basically he takes ethan and his wife and move them to europe as a sort of witness protection program. i like to think chris became close with them and would go over for dinner

anyways in re8 he gets tangled up in the plot in pretty significant ways. he’s one of the ogs of re so it was definitely fun to see him fighting monsters well into his 40s

there’s a few references to other games throughout re8. my favorites are

- the duke (who is the shop keep) has a line where he says something along the lines of ‘what’re ya buying? heh, just something a friend of mine says.’ this is a reference to re4’s merchant, who would say that when you opened his inventory. i thought this was a really funny implication- that the duke and the merchant know each other.

- one of heisenberg’s lines refers to chris as a ‘boulder-punching asshole’ which is capcom making a joke about themselves. in resident evil 5, there’s a scene where chris redfield literally punches a boulder into an active volcano. it was memed a lot because it was such a ridiculous scene, so this line is capcom acknowledging it

general/setting

i think resident evil 8 did a good job being a great game but also keeping the core resident evil elements. like the plot’s connection to the overall re universe is dumb as hell but it feels very resident evil. personally i feel like it’s super similar to re4 in the sense that it takes the typical zombie genre but gives it a completely different setting or tone than you’d usually expect. like, castles in a zombie survival horror game is BRILLIANT and not something i’d ever expect.

i’m also a huge fan of the sort of ‘mutating into something that isn’t human’ trope and resident evil 8 has SO MUCH of that. all of the lords are basically infected by a parasite that affected them all in a different way. so heisenberg can control metal while donna causes hallucinations and shit.

———

ok i think that’s most of my thoughts on it… re8 is such a good game and even though the plot can be dumb and full of contradictions the campiness and seriousness is balanced near perfectly in re8. one of the issues some of the past re games had is they took themselves too seriously. re8 does a great job at not taking itself too seriously in order to be a fun game.

i hope this wasn’t too long! i love re8 to death and will always jump to talk abt it lol. ethan winters is one of my favorite re characters ever, and this game is full of great ethan moments. i hope you enjoy it!! it’s definitely a great experience regardless of if you care about the lord and connections to other games.

[infinite-xerath]

Thoughts on Sentinel and Ruined Skins

Alright, I plan to give my full thoughts on the entire event once it’s over, but for the time-being, I wanted to give my general thoughts on each skin so far. I’ll be putting this under a read-more for convenience.))

So I guess I’ll start by saying that I like the concept of the event as a whole, though I’ve got some gripes (as do many) with who was chosen to partake. I think, having played through the VN up to its current point, that they do a decent job justifying most of the characters who get Ruined/recruited. That said, it does annoy me that they didn’t even go all-in on the concept; one Sentinel and one Ruined champ per region could have been great, but then there are some regions that don’t even have one of each.

So yeah, in addition to giving my overall thoughts on each existing skin, I also wanna touch on who else I think could have been included.

Sentinel Vayne: In my opinion, the best Sentinel skin of the lot. Not only does it look good (arguably better than her original design) but Vayne is a natural fit for the Sentinels. She already devotes her life to hunting monsters and dark magic, so it absolutely makes sense that she would join up at least until the Ruination is dealt with.

Ruined Shyvana: I wasn’t so sure about this one at first, but I’ve warmed up to it now that we know how Viego’s possession works. Taking the worst aspects of someone’s personality and bringing them to the forefront? Yeah, go figure that Shyvana would give into her monstrous side and resentment for being persecuted almost every day of her life. You could argue that there were better picks, but hey, better Ruined Shyvana than yet another Lux skin, right?

Sentinel Olaf: While not my first choice, I can’t deny that it works in the long-run. The dude already has a history of fighting the undead in his endless quest to find a worthy foe capable of slaying him, and of course the Ruined King seems like a suitably worthy opponent for Olaf to go up against. That being said, I feel like we should have gotten a Ruined Champ from the Freljord as Olaf’s rival, rather than it just being Vex. I don’t mind Vex appearing when she did to have us encounter her for the first time, but she should have had a Ruined champ to help her, which leads me to...

Ruined Tryndamere: Come on, this one’s obvious. There are a few characters in the Freljord that might have fit the Ruined theme, but none more-so than Tryndamere, I think. The guy’s already got a whole thing about controlling his rage and trying to use it as a force for good in the Avarosa tribe. Imagine Viego corrupting Tryndamere and causing all of that primal fury to just explode forth. Plus, come ON Riot, Olaf vs Tryndamere. Battle of the Berserkers. Frankly, it’s absurd to me that Olaf hasn’t tried fighting Tryndamere already, given that they’re both too angry to die. He HAS to have at least heard about the Barbarian King, right?

Sentinel Riven: Honestly, this one is interesting to me. With the other Sentinels, we all kind of know/expect that they’ll return to normal once the event is over and go back to their status quo. Riven feels like an exception. As she stated herself in the event: she’s a wanted criminal in Noxus and it’s not exactly like she’d be super welcomed back in Ionia. She joins the Sentinels because she has nowhere else to go and no other cause to fight for once freed from Draven’s arena. Aside from Vayne, Riven feels like the one who’d most likely stay with the Sentinels once the event is over, even though I know that probably won’t happen. Still, I like her inclusion, all-in-all.

Ruined Draven: Honestly, not the one I would have picked. I mean, it’s just Draven. Absolutely nothing has changed from him being Ruined. Granted, I do think it’s absolutely hilarious that Draven’s worst version of himself is already just himself, an egotistical prick who craves attention, but there are way better picks in Noxus to see getting Ruined. I mean, the event teaser showed Darius getting possessed, and I think there’s a lot more to work with there. Also, am I the only one that thinks that Ruined Draven feels redundant when Soul Reaver Draven is already a thing?

Sentinel Diana: So this one I have some complicated feelings about. On one hand, it makes sense that Diana would join the fight against the undead for the sake of the Lunari. On the other, it feels like MOST of the Aspects should be getting involved with this. I mean, the VN has her say that the other Aspects ARE fighting the Undead all over Targon, but then you’d think we would wanna go and recruit them as well. Seriously, Taric? WTF are you, Protector? Also, Diana needing a Sentinel weapon is weird since we already confirmed that the Mist doesn’t like Celestial magic, but... Eh, the blade she gets is cool, I guess.

Ruined Pantheon: And here comes the controversial one... Right, so like many, I did not care for this skin. In fact, I still have reservations about it. I DO like that it is actually Ruined PANTHEON, because yeah, the Black Mist turns dead things undead. Go figure it could bring back the remnants of the war god lingering in Atreus. That’s a really cool idea, but there’s absolutely an argument to be made that it fucks with Atreus’s whole character arc and makes his seemingly indomitable will look like a joke... But hey, Viego himself said that he’d never be able to take a proper Aspect, which absolutely tracks, which kinda makes Atreus the only Targonian champion he COULD defeat and corrupt.

Sentinel Irelia: To be frank, not too much to say about this one. Irelia’s entire character motivation is defending her homeland against invaders, and... Yeah the undead definitely count as invaders. While someone like Shen probably would have been a better recruit for the Sentinels, Irelia works just fine.

Ruined Karma: And heeere’s another controversial one. Yeah, Karma is not the one I would have chosen. Honestly, just about anyone else from Ionia would have been a better fit for Ruination. Ruined Pantheon can be justified by the dead war god coming back and taking over Atreus’s body again, but Karma and her vessel Darha should have absolutely been able to resist it... And they kind of do. In the event, we actually do see Karma switching back and forth. She’s the only one we’ve seen fight back against Viego long enough to revert to her normal self, at least for a time. In fact, the implication that Darha is being corrupted while the entity of Karma itself fights back is neat. Still, I would have preferred Ruined Zed or something along those lines.

Sentinel Graves: OK, I love this skin. I don’t love the context around it. First of all, the fact that he’s the Sentinel for Piltover is dumb. Graves is from Bilgewater, and should have been the Sentinel we recruited there. I also don’t care for how Twisted Fate is completely missing and never even referenced from his story. Like, OK, Graves fled Bilgewater because it was already overcome with Harrowing. Fine. But... Did he just leave TF behind? If so, why does he have Fate’s blue card? There’s so much we’re missing here. I love that he’s joining just because he’s got a bone to pick with Viego, but Graves should have been the choice for Bilgewater. As for who should be the Piltover Sentinel? Well...

Sentinel Jayce: Think about it. Jayce is a character who’s had nothing to do in the Piltover/Zaun lore for ages. He already considers himself a hero and a defender of Piltover. Plus, imagine what a Sentinel version of his hammer would be like! Hell, Jayce’s whole conflict with Viktor revolves around their opposing beliefs around free will. Of course he’d have a word or two to say about the Ruined King, who’s running around and stripping people of their free will! On that note..

Ruined Viktor: Absolutely a perfect fit for Ruination. Under Viego’s influence, he could deem undeath as the next logical step of evolution, casting aside the limits of flesh and emotion for a spectral form where one’s thoughts were dictated by a single, “superior” consciousness. It would be a perfect contrast for Sentinel Jayce, and besides: we’ve already seen a ghostly version of this concept with Death Sworn Viktor. If Draven gets two undead skins, why not? Plus, we know that the Harrowing can effect machines thanks to Legends of Runeterra, so... Yeah. Ruined Viktor. Let’s go.

Sentinel Pyke: Another controversial one. While I like the general idea behind it, frankly, I would have just left Pyke as he is. We already have him fighting the undead in the Ruined King game, and we know Nagakabouros power can hurt the undead; there was no real need for him to pick up Sentinel gear. Much as I love the line “Wraiths, wraiths are on the list,” I would have just made Graves the Sentinel rep for Bilgewater and called it there.

Ruined Miss Fortune: This one just sucks. It absolutely sucks. The Sarah Fortune I know would have never gone to such lengths merely for power, especially when she already rules most of Bilgewater at this point. Her various short stories show her doing a pretty damn good job stamping out the warring factions challenging her rule, and even if she decided that she needed some kind of supernatural leg up on the competition, it’s not like Bilgewater is lacking in magic. Also, the design sucks, turning her back into the sex icon that they’ve spent the last 7 years moving her away from. Ruined Fortune sucks. As for who SHOULD have gotten the skin instead...

Ruined Gangplank: Now HERE’S a pirate lord desperate for power. He lost his ship, he lost his fleet, he lost his throne, he even lost an arm. Gangplank has been struggling to regain control of Bilgewater ever since Burning Tides, and while we haven’t heard much of him recently, it can be safely assumed that he’s not making much progress with how much control Sarah currently has. Gangplank is absolutely ruthless enough and immoral enough to bargain with the Ruined King for power. Plus, think about it: he’s already been “reborn” once, so to him, Ruination probably wouldn’t even be that big of a deal.

Sentinel Rengar: All things considered, I like this one. Rengar, I think, has one of the best justifications for joining the Sentinels. When Rengar’s jungle is invaded by wraiths, Rengar finds himself faced with monsters that even his skills cannot take down. Yeah, these undead are worthy prey challenging his reign as the apex predator in Kumungu, and if the Viego is their alpha, then he’s the target to go for. Now, obviously he’s still got a hunt for Kha’Zix that has yet to be resolved, but let’s be honest: we’re never going to see that rivalry conclude, and this is the most lore relevance Rengar has had in ages. I’m for this skin, though of course we do still have the issue of who in Kumungu would be a good Ruined rival for him. On that note...

Ruined Zyra: Alright, here me out. Ixtal as a region doesn’t have that many characters, let-alone good candidates for Ruination. Perhaps the best and most obvious candidate would be Qiyana, but I take issue with this for a few reasons. Firstly, accepting Ruination for the power to rule is already something we’ve done with MF/GP, and second, I don’t think the Shadow Isles aesthetic works super well with her elemental-swapping gameplay. I chose Ruined Zyra because, well, Zyra already wants to spread her plants far and wide across Runeterra, and the Mist would be a great method for carrying seeds, not to mention making her offspring harder to prune. Not the most deep, but yeah, I think Ruined Zyra would have been a cool concept to work with.

Lastly...

Unbound Thresh: A mistake. I’ve already made my opinions on Thresh’s lore abundantly clear in my rewrite for him, and this skin just destroys any hope for his character for me. This sexy E-Boy is unquestionably the worst thing to come out of the whole event, and whatever Riot is planning to do with Thresh in the future, it does NOT justify this design. Plus, the whole idea that an undead character can become “unbound” is just dumb. Like, when has it ever been implied that Thresh himself was actually bound in any way? He’s one of the few Shadow Isles entities that can freely leave the Mist, at least for a time! Yeah, this skin was a mistake, but Riot has to cash in on the simps, I suppose.

Anyways, I’ll give my thoughts on the story itself once this is all said and done, but for now, these are my takes on the individual skins. Hope you all enjoyed hearing me ramble.

[arlakos]

The problem I realized with Adrien Agreste (and many of the other miraculous characters)

Ok, let me just put a disclaimer here.

I love all the characters in miraculous Ladybug, I really do. I mean, aside from Lila and Gabriel, but really who doesn’t? I think all the characters are cool from both design and initial character standpoints and made you wish we see more of them. 

But just like most of my other posts, I see both good and bad in the show and acknowledge all of it. I like the concepts, but I don’t have to necessarily like all the executions of said concepts.

I’ve been holding off this post for a while due to me wanting to take some time to review the show first and see if there was anything that would have made me change my mind on my newfound stance. But surprisingly, there really wasn’t.

So let me get to the point

Adrien Agreste...Is one of the blandest characters I have ever seen in a show

As with most to all the other characters in the show as well.

(Cue sounds of  betrayal)

“But Arlakos!” you might say, “Why would you think this way? You love Adrien! He has a great personality!”

Yeah, I love him. I love his initial character and I think he as Chat Noir is just amazing. But having watched three seasons of a single show, as well as comparing Miraculous to ANOTHER similar show, I have to address this issue and how it affects all the characters.

So first, let's talk about the show

Spanning three seasons, Miraculous Ladybug, as of this moment has released 78 episodes of this show (also including the Christmas special). In comparison, the show I'm using has released 87 episodes, so I feel that after this long, its fair to now compare the two shows, even with the 9 episode difference.

After watching Miraculous Ladybug for so long, I realized by this point that a lot of episodes in the series are pretty much flash and no substance, along with some ship teasing. I would call it filler, but that's under the implication that there was any plot they were following, to begin with. With each of the episodes bottled into one standalone story, most of the episodes have no impact to each other aside from a few rare few. Season 1 was chock full of this, but it was ok for the time being as Season 1 was used to introduce most of the characters in the show and the world itself. But that has also been the basis for the other two seasons as well, especially those that promised to expand the story of the show. 

But it didn’t. Each of the episodes would occur, their story would end, and any important lessons the characters would learn would be forgotten by the end. The episode and its story would never be brought up again, aside from the Akuma if the person in question was to be re-akumatized again. Maybe it would be brought up in passing, such as Kim and Ondine’s relationship, but truth be told, none of the episodes mattered to the lore or plot of the show. You could feasibly cut out most of the episodes, aside from episodes introducing a new hero, the finales and the first episode of each new season and the show would still work plot-wise.

Because of this format of the show, the characters have undoubtedly suffered a lot development-wise, due to character resets cause of the nature of standalone episodes, most characters not being utilized in most episodes unless its for setting up an akuma, and the overall Marinette focused nature of the show not allowing any other characters to have focus.

And nobody has really suffered more, that the Big Cat himself, Adrien Agreste.

But why though?

To understand this, let's go over his initial character traits

He’s Kind

He’s willing to see the good in people

He’s Lonely and has no friends

He’s a model

He loves Ladybug.

He makes puns (as Chat Noir)

He’s flirty with Ladybug (as Chat Noir)

As you can see, most to all of these character traits are pretty much all the traits  Adrien has shown in season 1. Actually, all of these traits were shown in just the Origins itself which, being the first chronological show in the series, does a pretty good job of setting up Adrien's initial character.

(Also just a quick mid note here, I just realized why the show produced this episode last compared to the others. If this was the episode that came out first, most to all of the other episodes in comparison would just be seen as boring. With the origins being both action-packed and plot rich with its main cast, most of the other episodes would be seen as filler if they came out after this banger of a season finale.)

But going on the topic of later seasons, ask yourself:

What have you learned about Adrien's Character in season 2 and 3?

And when I say character, i mean actual stuff about him. What other stuff does he like? What does he want to do in the future? What does he do when he spends time with Nino? What does he think of other people (aside from Lila)?

Chances are, that unless the stuff you’re pulling at might be from a headcanon in whatever fanfic you are writing, most of you will answer nothing. I mean, sure some people may say that he’s likes games as made evident from Gamer, but that is probably the only moment where we see a bit more of Adrien's character, and again we are talking about season 1, so it doesn't really count

Some people may say that Gorizilla was an episode that explored Adrien's character. While I do agree that it was more Adrien focused than others, and easily one of the best episodes in the show, looking back on the episode, I realized that more or less all it does is show how Adrien is pretty much a Disney Princess more helpless than Snow White. He’s trapped in the house, unable to escape, waiting for a hero in spots to ‘save him’ from his loneliness. Also, it had some Adrienette in it, but again it was just teasing.

(Note: I just gotta say though that Wayhem’s character and growth were just the best. Being just another fanboy at first, he realized his mistake and even stood up to an Akuma to save Adrien, then apologized at the end even though he would pretty much get no reward for his action, becoming an actual character in the process rather than just a background one. The fact that Adrien became friends with Wayhem was just heartwarming for a background character. Despite Roi Singe being a blast, I’m really sorry that they restricted Wayhems character to just being another Akuma in Party Crasher, it would have been nice for Wayhem to be an actual Friend Adrien could talk to outside of school and add more development into the show.)

So back on the Topic of Adrien, we haven’t really learned much about Adrien's character or see him develop in any meaningful way. The only thing we ever see him really do outside of being part of the Squad (Alya, Nino, Adrien, Marinette) is just either pine for Ladybug in his spare time, or complaining about not being able to spend time with his dad. No seriously, look at most episodes where Adrien's at home and that's all he does!

But now for the topic of Chat Noir. I mean, Adrien is trapped as a normal boy, so it would make sense that Chat Noir would be able to develop as a character and show the world he is more than just a sidekick right?

Unfortunately, Chat Noir, just like his civilian counterpart, also suffers from a lack of any meaningful character growth. Shorts vids on youtube aside (which btw should never be used to develop the main characters, otherwise what is the point of the show), we never see him talk to Ladybug in any meaningful way (I mean he does try, but chances are Ladybug shuts him up because (a) she wants to leave and (b) blah blah secret identity)

Basically, he has three different moods.

He flirts with Ladybug, often using puns to do so. 

He’s a suicidal mofo who takes hits for Ladybug, saying its because she's the only one who can save the day (Hot take though, I just think Chat Noir is just the persona of Tumblr that wants to die)

He worships Ladybug and thinks shes amazing, complimenting her on the daily, as well as comforting her and giving her pep talks when shes low.

Other than that, he’s written as basically useless. Don’t expect him to come up with any plans and if he does, expect them to fail (Reflekdoll). Don't expect him to actually help Ladybug and for Ladybug to always say him. If Ladybug is in any way made useless or incapacitated, be sure that Chat will in no way be able to help Ladybug as he will be made to be more useless than Ladybug so that Ladybug has to take care of him (Reverser). Also Chat will flirt at the worst times to show Ladybug is better and more ‘professional’ at being a hero (Prime Queen)

Also Chat Missile

WARNING: Not suitable for anyone under 13 years old. Only use if your a superhero with increased Strength, otherwise it may hurt your back.

These are all the same traits we see in every episode, without change without fail. I mean, in Glacitator Chat promised to stop flirting with Ladybug because she likes another boy, but since characters reset after every episode he went back to flirting the next episode. So yeah, that's it. Next episode

Aside from that, we never see him do anything else, nor have anything as a hero impact him in any way. The only times I have ever seen him be impacted as a hero was 

Syren, where he was tired his partner kept hiding secrets from him (as HE SHOULD), and was about to quit, but reconsidered once Fu arrived and explained some stuff, which bascially set him back to normal, which i guess its fine, but i wish the episode had more of an impact on Chat’s character.

Frozer (where Astruc was making Adrien salt cause Luka)

The Ladybug episode, where he saw a living, thinking duplicate of Ladybug, who had just become free from Mayura and became a hero, killed by said villain, and was just about to have a heroic breakdown and attack Mayura. However, this one was cut off due to Hawkmoth, resulting in Chat going from Heroic breakdown to making puns about Hawkmoths age. Really?

However, despite all that I have said, some of you may still think I am wrong. You may think that Adrien does show more character and that I'm just pulling facts out of my ass. You may think he does show character because of that one ship tease moment that you think qualifies at plot development.

But some of you may also think, why does this even matter? Its called Miraculous Ladybug, the show is about Marinette and Ladybug. Its all about her. Who cares about the other characters? Who cares about Adrien? He doesn’t need character development, we need to focus on Marinette and her making Adrien's birthday gifts for his next 35 birthdays. We should all just stop worrying about Adrien's character. All he should be is just a kind pretty boy for Marinette to idolize and have as a prize at the finale, and for Chat Noir to be useless comic relief while Ladybug saves the day, because she is juuuust that amaziiiiing.

Well first of all 

It’s called Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir. Miraculous Ladybug is just a nickname used by fans and writers to simplify the name. The name implies that there is another main character, known as... Chat Noir. It's not called tales of Ladybug and Marinette, get with the program.

The show can still focus on one main character but still develop other characters as well. If anyone thinks otherwise, they either have a character bias or don't realize how to make a good show.

If anyone actually thinks this way, well then screw you. Developing a character should not be made at the expense of another character. Chat Noir should not have to be made to be comic relief just because Ladybug is the only one who can purify Akumas.

Secondly (yes I realized that I used 3 points but IDC) there’s another show that is very similar to Ladybug that also focuses on a school girl saving the world with the help of her sidekick male character.

That’s right, I’m talking about ... KIM POSSIBLE!

But to be more precise, I’m talking about its secondary hero... Ron Stoppable.

This guy right here, just in case any of you thought I was talking about the kung fu naked mole-rat.

But in all seriousness though, let's talk about him.

In the series, Ron Stoppable is the partner of the teenage heroine Kim Possible. Just like Chat Noir, he helps KP on her missions, and unlike Chat, is actually seen as a sidekick by the world, including KP.

Then why is it that I think he’s a better Character than Chat?

Well, the thing is unlike Miraculous, the show has a good job of integrating its school and hero stories together, and it helped to explore Ron’s character as well. Sure, he was a clumsy dude who got scared a lot and had an unhealthy obsession with Mexican fast food, but we still got to explore his character.

Just a few small examples:

Most episodes in KP had the fine job of adding stuff to Ron’s Character. Small stuff, but it fleshed him out over time He shows in one episode that despite being clumsy in the hero business, he can cook pretty well! In another episode, he learns he is pretty good at running and becomes a back runner for the football team at his school.

He also gets to have a few episodes where he and his buddy Rufus (the naked mole rat) get to shine despite being a secondary character. He becomes the second incarnation of the fearless ferret (an in show super hero), visits Japan where he gets to learn some monkey Kung Fu, and often times fights villains himself, though this is usually in one of the situations where he gets a one time power up or Kim Possible is not available, but it still showed that Ron could be a hero as well. Hell in the finale, he actually helped Kim Possible as a partner rather than a sidekick.

Now I get that Miraculous and KP are two radically different shows. Secret Identities aside, Kim Possible has a large variety of villains, while Miraculous only has the One big villain, so it's very difficult to have Chat be able to stand on his own two feet while the only thing they are fighting is something only Ladybug can fix. 

But in that regard, this also shows the importance of Miraculous needing more plot progressed the story. Unlike Kim Possible, who’s many villains and overall lack of an ‘ending villain’ can allow for one-off episodes involving Ron and some villains, Miraculous only has the one. Once Hawkmoth is defeated, the show technically ends (future version not counting), so It would make sense that the characters should develop over time as the show gets closer to that finale. 

So in that Regard, what could I do to make Chat Noir more fleshed out?

Honestly, you could add in some moments in the show where Chat noir interacts with Paris. Like maybe in one episode Chat rescues lost cats and takes them to the shelter, or perhaps he works at a cat shelter in his spare hero time.

Perhaps have an episode or two where Chat saves the day on his own while Ladybug is busy or oblivious to the trouble in Paris. Regarding Akuma, I have often considered Chat should have an ‘ability’ similar to Ladybugs that allows him to ‘purify’ the Akuma by disrupting the magic inside the Akuma (the ability being called Disruption), but can’t use it too often without proper training due to the dark energies in the Akuma being too harmful to Chat to use often. That way Chat can occasionally take on a few Akuma by himself.

Have a few episodes where something happens which allows the audience to learn what Adrien/Chat likes. Maybe there’s an episode where he learns to cook desserts, and finds out he’s actually pretty good at it!

I feel the need to add some ideas in because in the end I still love Chat Noir and consider him my favorite character. But I also have to acknowledge this problem because it ruins the quality of the show.

In fact, I think that Adrien's problem isn’t just limited to him, but also to every other character in the show, and even Marinette to an extent.

Going back to the show and looking at all the side characters, it's obvious that looking at them, a lot of them are very one dimensional in their character. We don't learn much about them or their personality, and even when we do, we only learn about them when it's their turn to be akumatized, or if the akumatized person is related to them in some way like in Markov. Once they usually are done, we don't get to see the characters much, unless there is a second akumatization. 

Juleka only became important when she got akumatized twice and aside from that, we don't get to see her much or learn about her. Ivan and Mylene were basically forgotten after they became akumatized. Pretty much no one is affected post akumatization with any sort of trauma or worry, so nothing about the characters actually changes as a result of events in the show.

Even those that do become heroes don’t really get any character growth, they are just considered to be worthy to be heroes because they are good people, but considering the qualifications of good in the show are determined by if you like Marinette, that means pretty much everyone in Marinette’s class could be a hero, aside from Chloe because HEY! SHE DOESN’T LIKE MARINETTE THEREFORE SHE’S VILLAIN!

(God I hate Miracle Queen)

Also, these problems pretty much apply to Marinette as well.

I mean, all the things she does in the show basically comes back to the same simple fact that ‘Marinette is kind and helpful’. That's it.

She helps Jagged getting some glasses, its because she is kind and helpful. Helping her classmates? Kind and Helpful? Helping Kitty Section with Costumes? Kind and Helpful? Helping Adrien? She wants to get into his pants.

(Also because she’s kind and helpful.)

Like, this isn’t bad, but nothing seems to change about her, she goes and helps people as Marinette, helps people as Ladybug, and despite this, is unaffected by the school or her life. What is she going to do post Lycee? How is she going to become a fashion designer? Work as an intern at a fashion company. Work at Gabriel Agreste’s company? Startup her own local business? The show refuses to acknowledge any of these things, despite her being a schoolgirl, because she has more important things to worry about than school. Such as being a Guardian for a box magically bound to her that will take away her memories if she tries to get rid of it.

(God Miracle Queen was a mistake, she didn’t even learn how to be a Guardian yet! )

To close things up, most of the characters in the show lack any meaningful character development, which i can safely say is due to the structure of single-story episodes in a show that has a defined ending (and therefore doesn't work) lack of care for writing these amazing characters, and just the writing in general.

Despite what some people may say about Astruc, it's clear that beyond all that, he’s not good at writing stories and characters beyond initial design, he’d rather go making one-dimensional characters and show off how amazing Marinette is, rather than allowing them to develop in any logical and meaningful way that shows the distinction between earlier and later seasons

Here’s to hoping these characters get some character development in season 4. Even if all we get is Plagg learning he likes milk.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk. As always, thanks to the amazing @twin-books​ for talking to me and helping to refine my views on the characters and the show!