#because they were already major villains on previous series

[captain-ashby]

All of this and more. I loved this game a lot, it had many strengths, and for me it stands next to the others in the series, if an inch or two lower. However this IS the heart of most of the problems with this game: the writers refused to allow conflict except with the antaam, the venatori, and the elven gods.

All the previous dragon age and mass effect games revolved around the fact that even the world's/galaxy's saviors are people who had one goal: save the world/galaxy, no matter how broken it is and how much you are hated. The HoF fought simultaneously against and for a nation that believed wholeheartedly that they were traitors. Hawke and his family/companions are made up of people that are considered the scum of the world. The Inquistor is wrongly persecuted as a heretic and has to fight against overwhelming religious and political pushback. Shephard CONSTANTLY is treated as little more than nuisance until the galaxy ending threat has already started, despite being one of the most decorated soldiers in the galaxy.

On top of this, their companions are a constant source of conflict. Tali/Legion, Jack/Miranda, Alistair/Morrigain, the entire da2 team, Solas/Sera, Dorian/Bull. Almost all the companions have centuries old prejudice baked into them, and more often than not they are willing to betray you and each other for their own goals. Where all of these games shine is leaning into that, working through the conflicts, and resolving them in ways that are satisfying.

Rook and his team face almost no pushback. Lucanis is a murderer and an abomination. Taash is Qunari, who are by and large considered zealous and violent conquerors. Davrin and Bellara have just had their gods almost destroy the world, and elves are almost always second-class citizens. Necromancy is not just accepted by the rest of the Thedas as just another school of magic.

In fact, mages in general no longer face any of the persecution they used to, despite the fact that Elgar'Nan, Ghilan'Nain and Solas are the most powerful mages to ever live and are responsible for almost all the major ills of the world. All of this isn't because the Veilguard has proven to the world that their prejudices are wrong, it is just... not addressed. Ignored. Rook is respected by everyone bar the comical villains (even then The Butcher respects you with no effort on the players part), with the exception of the people of the city Rook didn't personally go fight a high dragon for because they were busy fighting another one elsewhere.

And there's the crux. Theres no proving that you are the one in the right, or that there's a bigger evil to focus on. No political maneuvering. Theres not even really any conflict resolved outside of killing Venatori, Antaam, and darkspawn, all of whom are outcasts from any real society and as such have no real ramifications to being destroyed. The other BioWare heroes succeeded despite the world they were saving not wanting them, Rook succeeds because everyone puts their entire faith into one person.

Again, I enjoyed this game very much. But it forgets that "fighting against impossible odds" doesnt just mean mortal against deity, but also nation against nation, race against race, and ally against ally. Everyone in Veilguard comes across as a good person in need of a little therapy, when bioware as a whole thrives on stories about inherently flawed and tragic characters rallying together to do what MUST be done to save an ultimately ungrateful people.

TLDR: One line from the Inquisitor in Trespasser perfectly sums up the inherent frustration that permeates all other bioware games to create compelling stories, which I believe is the missing thread from Veilguard: "Dammit! We save Ferelden, and they're angry. We save Orlais, and they're angry. We close the Breach twice, and my own hand wants to kill me. Could one thing in this fucking world just stay fixed?!"

Why Fenris could Never Cameo in Dragon Age: The Veilguard

In the run up to Dragon age: The Veilguard, I was almost certain that Fenris would be our main legacy character from previous games. Not only has he been central in the comics released between DAI and DATV, he is an escaped Tevinter slave who's plot revolved around magisters, magic and the structural prejudices surrounding elves in Thedas. Not only that, but he's canonically in Tevinter killing slavers currently so he's geographically in the right place for us to meet him.

About halfway through the game though, it was clear to me: Fenris could never cameo in The Veilguard. Because he'd break it.

How the Veilguard treats Thedas is...odd to me, to say the least. I will be writing another post about how much I adored the expanded big lore in this game (the titans, ancient elves were spirits, where the blight came from etc.) and yet while these large lore expansions worked for me, the actual culture of modern Thedas is entirely softened, its sharp edges filed down until it's a sanitised fantasy world devoid of what made the franchise so vibrant and compelling in the first place.

So let's start with Fenris and slavery. In all three games, the reality of slavery is pushing at the corners of the world. In DAO Loghain allows Tevinter Magisters to enslave elves in order to raise money for his war effort. In DA2 Fenris is fighting to be free from slavers who will not leave him be, let alone the reminders that the city was built by slaves which are everywhere. In DAI one of the two possible mini-bosses is Calpurnia who was a slave, and characters such as Gatt and Dorian both show us how much slavery is tied into Tevinters culture and success.

But DATV the first game actually set in Tevinter where we get to see the famed Minrathous...it's like the game purposefully wants to avoid the issue. I can feel it tilting the camera away to not allow me to see. Slavery is mentioned, but never talked about in depth or as a specifically ELVEN problem in Tevinter. This might have been done to be less problematic, it feels ignored.

We are in DOCK TOWN. We are at the DOCKS. You would think that slaves from all over Thedas who are being smuggled and bought by various groups would be everywhere. You would think that the injustice in dock town would be partly built on the back of ships we've seen in the comics crammed with elves in chains. This is the world Dragon age set up for us. And yet...nothing. zilch. A tiny easily skippable side quest where we free a couple of venatori slaves, but only one of whom is an elf.

None of our Tevinter characters seem to have been influenced by their culture even a little bit when it comes to how they view elves; there is no moment when Neve fucks up and says something prejudiced, no moment when Bellara or Davrin are distrustful of her for being a Tevinter mage.

The same goes for Zevran; a character who epitomised the issues with the crows. The crows have consistently been characterised as very morally dubious assassins who kill for the highest bidder and who buy children on the slave market and torture them as they grow in order to assure that they reach maturity able to withstand torture without giving away a client's name. Zevran is very explicit about the fact that if you fail a contract your life is forefit.

Nobody responds particularly to you if you're an elf. Nobody trusts rook less for it in Tevinter. Nobody treats Rook any differently. Even DAI had better mechanics for this; with nobles in Orlais less likely to trust you as an elf.

Considering one of the main plot points of this game and what makes Solas sympathetic is the fact that he was fighting against the slavery of ancient elves...you'd think the game might want to mirror that in modern Thedas. It might want to show us how characters fighting to end slavery in Tevinter are similar to Solas and how the society Solas fought against was similar to the one that characters we love such as Fenris have fought against in modern Thedas. Maybe we'd want to explore how in a world of slavery like this, how could the answer NOT be to tear it all down? Maybe we should have that option at the end of the game so it really can chose whether we agree with Solas and his plans or not.

Adding Fenris to this game would entirely break the game because Fenris refuses to allow you to look away from this horror. He is a sympathetic character who had to learn to trust mages again because of course he didn't trust them. Of course he didn't. Fenris wouldn't allow the camera to shift focus because he's literally covered in the lyrium scars that show how slaves are used as experiments in Tevinter. Fenris WOULD question Neve on how she feels about elves and slaves. Fenris WOULD have things to say about Lucanis and the crows (let alone the fact Lucanis is an abomonation). So he could never be in this game; he'd drop a bomb on it's carefully constructed blinders to the very society its supposed to be set in.

And yet, in DATV, the crows are presented as...a found family of misfits and orphans? The politician who opposes the crows having absolute power in Antiva is framed as a comically evil idiot who doesn't understand that the crows are ontologically good. Yet...they're NOT. Crows in this game act more like a secret rebel group than an assassin organisation. We see no crow taking contracts with the VERY RICH venatori magisters despite being hired killers. We see crows just refuse to kill people despite having a contract because 'its crueler to leave them alive'. The crows don't feel like the crows here, they feel like a softened version of a cool assassin group who are cool because they wear black and purple.

Our pirate group are also sanitised; the Lords of Fortune are good pirates who only steal treasure that's not culturally significant. Theyve clearly read the modern critiques of the British Museum and have decided to explicitly stop anyone levelling similar critiques at them. There is no faction of the Lords of Fortune who aren't like this, no internal arguments about it. Everyone just. Agrees. And is able to accurately tell what a cultural artifact is vs. what treasure that you can have yourself is. Rather than showing us why a pirate stealing cultural artifacts might be bad (like in da2 where such a situation literally causes a coup and a war) it just tells us it's bad. But also pirates are cool so we still want them in our world.

This issue seaps into Thedas and drains it of any of the interesting complexity and ability to SAY anything that this franchise had before this game. It becomes a game about telling and not showing rather than the other way around. The games have ALWAYS asked questions about oppressive structural systems and their interplay with society, religion and culture and how these things can affect even the most well meaning character. Dragon age at its best IS a game about society and how society functions both for and against it's characters and what happens to societies built on cruelty and indifference. The best bad guys dragon age has given us are those who are bad because they embody these systems or have been shaped by them. Our main characters have had to wrestle with questions surrounding how to exist in these systems, fight against them, learn and grow.

Yet every group you come across in DATV is sanitised and cleaned up to the point of being as non problematic as humanly possible. None of our cast of characters have to wrestle with where they came from or the world that shaped them. None of them have to confront their own biases. They start the game perfectly non-problematic and end it that way too.

And this just...isn't what Dragon Age has been in the past. It isn't why I love the franchise. The whole game just felt, in a way, hollow. And this was a CHOICE and it is why the legacy characters are few and far between. Too many dragon age characters are just too...angry and complex for this game. You can feel them pulling their punches on this one. I have to imagine they did this because they didn't want to be criticised or have too much controversy? But I think it honestly goes far too much in the other direction and just makes it bland.

I can't imagine what I say here will be unique, but it is the basis for a LOT of my other thoughts on this game so I wanted to get it out of the way first. The softened Thedas and characters make this game by far the weakest in the franchise.

[explodingchantry]

hi sorry to come into your inbox for this but i just need. to gripe. every new bit of info we get about the new DA game is making me more and more preemptively tired lol. mostly the way it's looking like eeevery bit of lore that's been revealed has something to do with such and such book. or this comic over here. or this podcast from two years ago. or THIS podcast that is happening now that's a ~discord exclusive~. or this youtube series. or this random VA talk show. etc etc ad nauseam. i am so tired of videogames coming with HOMEWORK you're expected to do just to know what's going on

Please never apologise for sending messages!!

I think its honestly REALLY funny how bioware just doesn't know what it wants. On one hand they say that the new game is fine for newcomers, the way they did for dai, and use this as an excuse for how dumbed down some of the writing is - but then in the other hand the majority of the characters and plot beats have origins hidden behind pay walls.

It was already bad enough when, to understand each game properly you had to have paid for the previous one's dlc (want to know anders' past as a warden? Buy awakening! Want to know wtf is up with Morrigan and the eluvians? Buy witch hunt! Want to know who tf corypheus is and what hawke and varric even have to do with him? Buy legacy! Want to understand ANYTHING about veilguard? Play the descent AND trespasser, our epilogue that we hid behind a paywall!!!!!) and you know at least the dlcs were pretty good on their own so I could forgive it a little bit.

But there's so much extra media now omg I haven't touched a single one of the comics because I'm not rly into American comics, I've read almost all the books and some of them are genuinely fucking mid. And at least back in the day the books were more... Bonuses? You DONT need to read the stolen throne to understand anything on the games, but it's INTERESTING. it explores characters you mightve been curious about. I love that ! Or the last flight is really interesting, just, to see how the 4th blight was beaten, to get to know those legendary heroes, and know why griffons went extinct. A bit annoying because you do need to read it to also understand how the hell they're coming back - but it still feels a bit more like a bonus than a necessity.

But then we have asunder, which also in general just kinda sucks as a book, that is really really needed to understand the mage rebellion, Fiona, Cole, and the cure for tranquility. The characters will explain a lot of those things to you in game, but it leaves you with the certain feeling that you're missing something. It's a huge advertisement for asunder.

Similarly wicked eyes and wicked hearts is hollow if you haven't read the masked empire which is also my least favorite book because it's so damn fucking boring I literally never managed to finish it, but it's mostly because I hate Trick Weekes' writing lmfao. Gaider was wildly misogynistic but my god at least he was entertaining as a writer whenever he didn't butcher female characters.

That's two major plot beats in inquisition that require reading one of the books. And ofc it's major villain and another major plot beat that require having played the previous game's dlc to properly understand.

And since then we've had so much more. I don't know. It's just complicated because I *like* book characters showing up and the books having importance in the sense that, I like reading and I'm a lore nerd lol. But I think there's a lot of frustration to be had as to the sheer quantity of extra media you need to consume if you want to be invested in the story. Because you could say "well just don't buy them then" but I LIKE dragon age, it's story, and plot, but omg some of the books and comics are also so hard to find and so EXPENSIVE. I think tevinter nights costs like 20£ if you want it on paperback rather than Kindle, and don't get me started on the dozens of comics.

At least the podcasts and discord only content isn't nearly as offensive, imo, because they're free. But also there's another issue with all of this extra content - it's that it doesn't get fucking translated. Not often, anyway. Not in as many languages as the games do. That means there are many, many many many players and fans who are just not allowed to learn more about their favorite game series because they don't speak English, because theyre not rich enough to buy 10 books and 20 comics. It feels a bit wrong

[soda-gremlin]

The Newer Thea Sisters Books Aren’t as Good as the Older Ones, and Here’s Why

Yes yes, I know I am beating a dead horse here, but I have noticed quite a few patterns when it comes to the newer books, specifically why I don’t like them. So here is my comprehensive list of traits that make the newer books so lackluster.

1. No Continuity

And no, I am not simply referring to small details, like the name of a celebrity that has already been established. What I am referring to, is both the lack of reference to previous books even when relevant, and the complete absence of background knowledge. Let me explain.

So, y’all have read Mystery on the Orient Express, right? If you haven’t, major spoilers ahead. The villains turn out to be a set of identical twins, Dimitri and Leon. But first, before discovering that fact, the Thea Sisters had to tangle with the conundrum of Dimitri’s hand, and why the burn kept disappearing and reappearing. It took them quite a bit of time to work that out because, well, they’d never seen that before. And they’re still new to mystery-solving.

However, in a later book, (spoilers for Phantom of the Orchestra) they are confused by a character named John’s seemingly contradictory behavior, like greeting them like old friends one minute, and acting like they never met the next minute. But here’s the thing. They’ve seen this before, in Mystery of the Orient Express. That shouldn’t have been a huge twist. They shouldn’t have taken that long to figure that out, because they’ve seen it before.

Need another example? So, a common trope in the newer books is that one of the side characters aiding them mysteriously goes missing. Then it turns out, they were kidnapped/led away. It happens almost every single time. Riddle of the Ruins, Niagara Splash, you get the idea. But every single time, the girls dick around like, “Oh no, I wonder where John Doe could have POSSIBLY went” GIRLIEPOPS. THIS AINT YOUR FIRST RODEO. YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS.

I get it, they want the series to be episodic and all that, but when it’s actively hurting the story’s writing, and when quite a few readers have read previous books, it ends up detrimental instead of convenient.

2. The Forgettable Side Characters

Have any of you read the Mouseford series, or the graphic novels? If you have, you’re probably familiar with Vanilla (Ruby), Vic (Ryder), Shen, Craig, Tanya (Tanja), and Dina (Elly). All pretty well-established side characters, some even making an appearance in the beginning of the original series’ books.

Clearly, they have a very diverse cast of side characters in their roster. Shen being a sweet, bookish nerd, Craig being a himbo jock, Vic being a chaotic neutral rich boy, Vanilla being your average spoiled rich girl, you get the idea.

So I bet they bring one along on the girls’ adventures to spice up the story, right? Bringing in a fresh new perspective on the story’s events and a refreshing deviation in recurring character dynamics, while also expanding on the side characters themselves. Right?

WRONG

Instead, they make up a character to use as a plot device. I hesitate to even call them characters, because they have no personality. They’re all the same cookie cutter cardboard cutouts again and again. Especially the new male characters.

Can you tell me a SINGLE unique trait about Didier, Ioannis, Mateo, or Akhun?

Can you even tell me which books they’re from?

Of course you can’t! You probably don’t even remember they existed! (Unless they’re your blorbo, in that case, you have my sympathies…)

So instead of using the more interesting and established side characters from Mouseford, they just stick in a plot device of a character and call it a day.

In the older books, the new characters were memorable. Take Ashvin for example, aka, the only character’s name in this category I didn’t have to look up. He had an actual character. He was impulsive, reckless, but had a strong moral code. Contrast that to the new books’ Forgettable Twink #12.

3. Less Emphasis on Culture

This section will be shorter, due to me not really being any of these cultures, and being American, but I still think it’s worth covering.

The idea of the Thea Sisters exploring new countries and cultures is not new. I’d wager that’s the very purpose of the books, to expand the worldviews of impressionable children.

However, in the newer books, it feels a lot more shallow. As in, “a leaflet you got at an airport” shallow. They just barely scrape the surface, and call it a day. Only covering well known foods and internationally known traditions/practices. It’s like if Cherry Blossom Adventure only had the Thea Sisters eating sushi and learning about ninjas or origami. It does that country a massive disservice, especially if you’re native, or even if you’ve just lived there.

This is due to the newer books having the girls see the country through the eyes of a tourist rather than getting immersed in the life of a local.

Take Mountain of Fire for example, they are thrust headfirst into Nicky’s home country. They’re not put up in a hotel in the touristy part of the country, they’re in Nicky’s ranch, experiencing the wildlife, as well as what it’s like to live so far from the city. They see the natural wonders of Australia, as well as learning from the Aboriginal peoples living around the area, including Nicky’s family.

4. Boring Conflict

This one is pretty straightforward. The conflicts in the newer books feel so boring, almost sanitized in a way. There are no real stakes. In the older books, there were many consequences laid out if the villain succeeded. An important link to a dying art would have been lost, the livelihood of Pam’s family business would have been compromised, and not to mention, PEOPLE COULD HAVE DIED.

But now it’s like, “Oh nooo, a single piece from a model is missing, and it’s gonna lose the contest, whatever shall we do 🥺🥺 It’s not like we can recreate it or anything”

There is nothing compelling about the conflicts or its villains. We have no reason to be at the edge of our seats like with Mystery of the Orient Express, where Pam and Nicky LITERALLY CLIMB ON TOP OF A TRAIN TO CATCH THE THIEF BEFORE HE CAN GET AWAY

But now it just feels like a fetch quest of clues, and a wild goose chase for good measure. And just lot of fapping about in general.

I also have to bring up villains. They’re having the same issue as the side characters. They’re all the same greedy, shifty characters that are so obviously up to something.

Final Thoughts

I think all of these flaws can basically boil down to the fact that every book feels like the same story, over and over again, just with different names. (There are some exceptions, but my point still stands)

And just one more note I have is that, I wish the Thea Sisters got more personality to them. Like, I wish they acted like an actual friend group, not like how kids shows love portraying friend groups. Which is a group of girls all nice to each other all the damn time. There’s no depth, there’s no added dynamics that make the friend group feel real. The dialogue is all so flat. I need banter, I need inside jokes, I need playful jabs at one another, I need each sister having a different relationship with one another. We don’t want perfect, we want interesting. (But this isn’t exclusively a newer book issue, so I didn’t put it in the main list)

Aaaannndddd that’s about all I’ve got for you today! Hope you enjoyed this little rant/analysis!!

[dartheclipse0816]

Trolls Band Together

Hello once again, everyone.

At this point, I’m sure you all already know why I’m not as active as I used to be.

But if some of you need a refresher, in Layman's terms, being an adult, with the responsibilities that all comes with being an adult, has left me very busy, and it just caused me to lose interest in Tumblr and only come back for short periods of time, from time to time.

But now, now that the newest Trolls movie, Trolls Band Together, has released, I figured I’d write my thoughts about it.

But before I begin, I must give you all a heads up: There’s going to be major spoilers with what I’m about to talk about, so if you are reading this and haven’t seen the movie yet but still want to see it, if you don’t want the movie to be spoiled, then don’t read this any further. It’s going to have major spoilers.

But, for those who have seen the movie, well, here’s what I have to say:

I loved it.

I loved the music, the animation, the voice acting, as well as the all the new characters and the chemistry between the new and returning characters.

I appreciated that the movie started acknowledging the Bergens again and gave them a more prominent role in the movie after they mostly went ignored for a long time after the first movie, Trolls Holiday, and the first few seasons of TTBGO (even though it and Trollstopia aren’t canon to the movies). Seeing Gristle and Bridget finally getting married and contributing significantly to the plot was nice to see, and cute, I'd say.

I also thought it was cool seeing that Branch also once was part of a band with his four older brothers, and him going through the movie trying to reconnect with them, while difficult for him after they left him in his childhood, was still nice to see, especially with Floyd. It was nice seeing Floyd comfort Branch when he was a baby, and be the most supportive of him throughout the movie next to Poppy, after seeing Branch being the one who always got the short end of the stick for a long time throughout TTBGO and Trollstopia. It really made me smile.

I also liked Camila Cabello as Viva. Seeing the singer who sung Havana voicing Poppy's secret long lost sister, it was cute.

And, of course, seeing *NSYNC appear in the movie and collaborating with Justin Timberlake again after over 20 years, was awesome! Their new song, 'Better Place', gives me the same feeling of joy when I listened to 'Green Light Ride' from Crush 40 when they reunited with the Sonic series after a long break for Team Sonic Racing. It was awesome to hear them back together again in both instances.

I also especially loved seeing the combined band of Branch, his brothers, and Poppy and Viva all singing together for both a remix of 'Better Place' and 'Family', and it made me realize why the film was even titled Band Together, because they were literally banding together!

Now, with all that being said, I did have some issues with the film as well.

The movie's villains, Velvet and Veneer, they felt kinda one-dimensional and shallow. I thought they could’ve spent more time with them to develop their backstories a bit more and make them a bit more fleshed out.

And also, what’s the name of the species of Velvet and Veneer? They never appeared in any of the previous movies, holidays specials, or non-canon shows, and were never implied to or hinted at before, but that we do know about their existence, why don’t the Trolls or Bergens know about them? And also, they have advanced technology that can suck out a Troll's musical talent? And apparently Wi-Fi and social media exists in the Trolls world? What the heck?

Okay, okay, I know most of that doesn’t bother a lot of you guys, but to me, it highlights an ongoing issue I’ve always seen within the Trolls series: Inconsistencies with regards to its world building. I know a lot of you guys have seen it in the non-canon shows, but I also saw it in Trolls World Tour, since that movie introduced Trolls tribes that all have their own unique musical genre. As cool as I thought that was, it also made me think: Do those other musical Troll tribes know about the Bergens? Do the Bergens know about those other Troll tribes?

And speaking of those other Troll tribes, I was also disappointed that they aren’t even seen or mentioned in this movie. It left me very disappointed, since there’s a lot of potential you could do with those other Troll tribes, like make some kind of new evil threat that could threaten the entire Trolls' and Bergens' species, and have all the Troll tribes and Bergens band together (pun intended) to stop that evil threat. That could’ve been awesome!

Oh, and the Snack Pack got reduced to extras, which, like my disappointment with the absence of the other Troll tribes, left me feeling a bit disappointed, since they could’ve done something more with them in this movie.

Other than those things, I really loved the film!

And for all you Trolls fans out there, I think it’s time that I mention the elephant in the room with regards to Broppy.

Finally…

After waiting over seven long years since the first movie…

And seeing a far away version at the end of World Tour…

Branch.

And.

Poppy.

Finally.

At.

Long.

Last…

…

…

…

KISSED.

THEY FINALLY DID IT!!!

BRANCH AND POPPY FINALLY KISSED EACH OTHER ON THE LIPS!!!

IT HAS FINALLY HAPPENED!!!

Now, unfortunately, unlike with Trolls World Tour, Trolls Band Together is still in theaters, and I didn’t find any leaked screencaps in time for the writing of this review, but trust me, I’m not kidding, this actually happened in the movie!

And I couldn’t have been more overjoyed to finally see it happen officially, front and center, on screen, and made me cheer in the theater!

And I thought I’d let you all know after being silent for a long time!

Because after waiting for over seven years, after all that waiting, I couldn’t be happier to see that the kiss was well worth the wait.

As a big Trolls fan.

Thank you all for reading this.

And I’ll talk again next time.

Maybe when there’s a new Trolls show or movie?

I guess we’ll just have to wait and find out!

Thank you all once again, and have a wonderful day.

[badass-queer-couples-battle]

Gay wrongs tournament, round 1 of the minor bracket

Propaganda:

For Mick Rory and Leonard Snart:

The only supervillains on that show that understood the assignment. Thieves with a flare and loyal only to eachother. Eventually become anti heroes on legends of tomorrow but I liked them best as villains. The best part of both shows. Over the top and committed to the theme for the vibes. Puns and crime.

Fire and ice pairing! 

For Sergey and Oleg: (propaganda from the previous tournament here)

They're so married!!! The domesticity oh my god they live together and they sleep in the same bed and they're worried if the other isn't here when they wake up and they take care of each other when they're sick. Sorry, the latest issue was a lot. Anyway, the crime-doing part. They're both officially criminals and they're wanted in quite a few countries for various reasons: in Russia they killed A Lot of people in various bloody and/or arson-y ways (most famously rich corrupted people, which only antagonists can do) and blew up some stuff (which also killed a lot of innocent people) and kidnapped other innocent people just to get revenge on one guy who was just doing his job (the cop who got Sergey in prison while Oleg was out of the country) (and technically Oleg breaking Sergey out of prison is also a crime, on top of all his solo mercenary stuff). In Italy they also killed people and also broke countless laws (you can even count building safety laws in here for fun), in Mexico (honeymoon!) they had a run-in with the local mafia and that also ended bloodily, in a few other countries they were mostly just evading the law but you can't really do that without breaking other laws. They stole at least one helicopter (after killing the soldiers in it). And that's all *before* the current series. In that one they're coercing someone into becoming a vigilante (an already wanted by the law vigilante), and they're trying not to do so much public things, because they like being presumed dead and not being on the run. But that doesn't stop them from bloodily killing anyone who threatens them or Lera (the med student under the new Plague Doctor costume) or their plan, or defending themselves (by killing people) when the consequences of their past actions come around (does it even count as legitimate defense when you kill almost all the henchmen of the guy who wants to kill you because years ago his parent was an unfortunate victim of your beef with someone totally unrelated? Not sure). And yes *technically* they're killing other criminals, but also they are much worse criminals themselves (as said on- page by a secondary character who was trying to kill them because of, well, all the past terrorism / murder).

They're widely considered to be the worst people in a town full of criminals. A lot of people want to kill them, because of all the murders they did earlier. In all their appearances they're either the most married couple of a series that also has real married couples, or extremely efficient killers who don't have a qualm disposing of everybody else's henchmen.

[rubychan228]

I started this a long time ago, when there was talk of a reboot of Xena: Warrior Princess and both Xena and Hercules were available on Nexflix. That's no longer the case, though both shows are currently available on Prime, and I have a different reason for wanting to finish and post this.

Back then, with a reboot supposedly in the works, I had thought people may be interested in going back and watching the original series. While that seems like a good idea, if you just jump in with episode one of Xena, you will likely be substantially confused, as Xena is a spin-off. On top of that, you can't keep watching just Xena, as it's not 100% stand-alone.

A bit of history: The Xenaverse (as it's called) does not begin with Xena. It begins with "Hercules and the Amazon Women", a made for TV movie that first aired on April 25, 1994. This was followed by four more TV movies and then a spin-off television show, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, which debuted on January 16, 1995.

Xena herself would first appear on March 13, 1995, as a villain in the Hercules episode "The Warrior Princess". On May 1st of that year she would return and get a redemption arc. She would then be written out of that series and into her own spinoff show, which would debut on September 4, 1995.

There was also a (non-canon) animated movie released on January 6, 1998, a pilot movie about Hercules's youth that aired on February 17, 1998, and a Young Hercules television series that debuted on September 12, 1998.

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys stared Kevin Sorbo (yes, that guy) as Hercules and Michael Hurst as his sidekick Iolaus. Xena: Warrior Princess stars Lucy Lawless as the titular Xena and Renee O'Conner as her sidekick Gabrielle. In the Hercules flashback episodes and the Young Hercules TV movie Hercules is played by Ian Bohen and Iolaus by Dean O'Gorman, In the Young Hercules television show, Hercules was recast and now played by, and I am not kidding about this, Ryan Gosling.

But what's most relevant for this post is that, in addition to being spun off from Hercules, Xena and Hercules also crossed-over on occasion and also sometimes shared plots. And in very substantial ways. Like, characters would die on Xena and then show up alive several episodes later with no in-episode explanation, because the explanation was that they were resurrected in a Hercules episode. Hercules characters would also show up in Xena with little explanation because you were expect to already know them from Hercules.

At the time it wasn't a huge deal, as the shows aired back to back and crossovers were well advertised. Nowadays though, it's a bit more complicated. Which is what this post is, a guide for what episodes of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys are to varying extents necessary to watch in order to follow what happens in Xena.

One final note is that, as you may have picked up by the fact that it's called the Xenaverse, despite Xena being a spin off, Xena was the most poplar of the shows. This has two major results, which adds a lot of episodes on to this list. One is that, in an effort to get Xena viewers to watch Hercules, one of Xena's major plots was suddenly shifted to Hercules, so if you want to see that story concluded, you need to watch several Hercules episodes.

And, in the end, Hercules would be abruptly canceled, leading to a massive coda for the Hercules series happening during Xena (in a way that's very tied-in to the the Xena events of the time). But there are a lot of beats through-out Hercules that build up to the Xena-based coda, though it's up to individual preference as to how many you think are necessary to watch.

As an example that at least some people might be able to follow: How much of the previous MCU do you need to watch to follow WandaVision? Wanda and Vision appear first in Age of Ultron. Their story is minorly expanded on in Civil War and the most important beat happens in Infinity War. Though, there is both a relevant Wanda scene and also the resolution of something huge from Infinity War in Endgame. But also, Wanda's backstory involves misbehavior by Stark Industries and her subsequent grudge against Tony Stark. Tony realizing his company was doing f-ed up things and trying to fix it is the plot of the first Iron Man movie, so should that be considered required? There's also several supporting characters that return from previous MCU projects; Darcy Lewis from almost all the Thor Movies, Jimmy Woo from the second Ant-Man movie, and Monica Rambeau from the Captain Marvel movie. On top of that, Vision's story (and Wanda's as well, tbh) is intimately tied to the Infinity Stones and their explanation comes from the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie. And then there are other Infinity Stone beats in the other movies, etc, etc, etc... An amount of the previous movies are probably required, but how much depends on your personal curiosity, your need for answers/completeness. Same with how much of the following MCU projects you need to watch for closure. Multiverse of Madness, The Marvels, Agatha All Along, VisionQuest...........

For the purpose for this guide, I am giving the Hercules episodes on this list one of four designations:

Required – Pretty self-explanatory. The content directly relates to the plot of Xena in such a way that you will likely be confused if you try to watch Xena without watching this ep.

Recommended – You can watch Xena without watching this, but you'll understand things a lot better if you do watch it.

Coda – This is not related to Xena, but to a prior Required/Recommended episode. In the event you became, in some way, emotionally invested in the contents of the prior episodes, you may want to watch this too.

Tangential – Only very mildly related to anything, but it'll flesh things out a bit more, so if you're board or whatnot, you may still want to watch it.

Since this is all just suggestions, this is also a pretty expansive list, meaning I include a lot of things that merely flesh-out the world as tangential recs. I always explain that though.

So, here we go!

First Season of Hercules:

(1x01) The Wrong Path: The series premier of Hercules: The Legendary Journey is Recommended, as it sets up the world.

(1x02) Eye of the Beholder: This episode is Recommended, as it introduces the recurring character of Salmoneus (Robert Trebor).

(1x06) As Darkness Falls: This episode is Tangential, but it has Lucy Lawless not as Xena, but as a character called Lyla. It also sets up certain concepts like prejudice against centaurs and human/centaur relationships. There is also a Recommended follow up episode.

(1x07) Pride Comes Before a Brawl Really Extremely Tangential but introduces a character/relationship that is the first thread in the story that will become the Xena-based Hercules coda.

(1x09) The Warrior Princess: This is the first episode that Xena appears in, so it is Required. HOWEVER, in light of what we later see of Xena in her own series, the characterization shown here is not correct.

(1x12) The Gauntlet: This is Xena's redemption arc, it absolutely Required. (Best characterization too.) Also has Dean O'Gorman in one of the ten million supporting roles he did before being cast as young Iolaus.

(1x13) Unchained Heart: The continuation of the previous episode, but the characterization is wonky again. Still Required, though.

Second Season of Hercules:

(2x01) The King of Thieves: This episode is Recommended, as it introduces the recurring character of Autolycus (Bruce Campbell). Ideally, watch this before Xena 1x17 - The Royal Couple of Thieves.

(2x05) Outcast: This episode, the continuation of As Darkness Falls, is Recommended as it continues the story of Lyla and Deric (Peter Muller) and drastically expands on centaur prejudice. You should probably be familiar with that, ideally, before watching Xena 1x10 Hooves and Harlots and definitely before Xena 1x24 - Is There a Doctor in the House?.

(2x08) The Other Side: This episode is highly Recommended. It is the Xenaverse version of the story of Hades (Erik Thomson) and Persephone (Andrea Croton) and establishes the character of Hades, which will be relevant to Xena. It also introduces the recurring character of Falafel (Paul Norell). Watch it before Xena 1x9 - Death in Chains.

(2x11) Highway to Hades: It is Required that you watch this episode, after Death in Chains but before Xena 2x08 - Ten Little Warlords.

Third Season of Hercules:

(3x03) Love Takes a Holiday: This is Tangential as it establishes the consequences of Aphrodite (Alexandra Tydings) vacating her post, something that will involuntarily happen again in Xena.

(3x07) The Green-Eyed Monster: Introduces Cupid (Karl Urban) and tells the story of him and Psyche (Susan Ward). Establishes Cupid and the power of his arrows, something relevant in multiple Xena episodes, beginning with Xena 2x16 - For Him The Bell For this reason it's Recommended.

(3x12) Surprise: This is a highly Required episode, which must be watched after Xena 2x08 - Ten Little Warlords but before Xena 2x14 - A Necessary Evil.

(3x13-15) Encounter / When a Man Loves a Woman / Judgment Day: This three-part arc is borderline-Required. The second episode has a Joxer (Ted Raimi) cameo and the third has Xena and Gabrielle themselves cameo. This story also establishes the concept of "Hind's Blood", which will be relevant to the end of season three of Xena.

(3x19) The End of the Beginning: This episode is a Coda to the previous three parter, so watch it if you were in invested in that story. (It is also an Autolycus episode.)

(3x22) Atlantis: Very Tangential. This establishes an item that will reappear in a somewhat Recommended-ish fifth season episode.

Fourth Season of Hercules:

(4x05) Stranger in a Strange World: This episode is highly Recommended as it establishes a concept and a particular item that is critical to future required episodes. It also has somewhat of a Xena and Joxer cameo.

(4x06) Two Men and a Baby: Very mildly Recommended as it is a significant beat in the Hercules coda story.

(4x07) Prodigal Sister: This episode deals with a rogue tribe of Amazons, very different from the ones we're familiar with from Xena. It also includes a cameo from Xena character Ephiny (Danielle Cormack) and her son Xenan (Reece Rocewyk) as well another supporting role filled by Dean O'Gorman. It’s Tangental.

(4x13-14) Armageddon Now / Armageddon Now Part 2: REQUIRED! Watch after Xena 3x11 - Maternal Instincts but before Xena 3x21 – Sacrifice.

(4x21) Top God: This is Recommended as it sets up for the next episode. (Also, the beginning scene of Xena 3x14 - Forgiven is hilarious if you've seen the depiction of Apollo (Scott Michaelson) in this episode.)

(4x22) Reunions: This is Recommended as it's an important beat in the relationship between Hercules and Hera (Meg Foster), which will eventually become pivotal to an important season five episode of Xena.

Fifth Season of Hercules:

(5x01-02) Faith / Descent: After Xena season three, these episodes pick up the Dahak storyline. If you are interested in the conclusion of that story than this is Required.

(5x03) Resurrection: This continues the emotional fallout of the previous episodes and introduces a new character, Morrigan (Tamara Gorski), who will appear in many future episodes on this list. For this reason, it is Recommended.

(5x05) Render Unto Caesar: This is Recommended for the appearance of important Xena character Julius Caesar (Karl Urban).

(5x06-07) Norse By Norsevest / Somewhere Over the Rainbow Bridge: This introduces the world of Vikings and the Norse Gods, which return in season six of Xena (though there is NO relation between the depiction of Odin (Peter McCauley) seen here and the version of Odin (Alexander Petersons) seen in Xena), it also includes additional beats in the Dahak storyline, so I'm saying this is Required.

(5x08) Darkness Rising / (5x10-11) Let There Be Light / Redemption: (No, I don't know why there's an irrelevant filler episode in the middle of this.) These episodes finally conclude the Dahak storyline, and so they are Required, if you are invested in that story.

(5x12) Sky High: This episode features another cameo by the Xena character Ephiny (and the return of the item from Atlantis). Recommended if you're invested in her character.

(5x13) Stranger and Stranger: This is a Coda to both the Dahak storyline and the "Strange World" storyline. Does not feature a return cameo by Xena (due to schedule conflicts) but does feature a cameo by Nebula (Gina Torres).

(5x22) Revelations: This ties up one final loose end from the Dahak storyline as well as introduces the character of Michael (Charles Mesure) that will reappear in season five of Xena. It is borderline-Required (also serves as a finale Coda to the Dahak story).

Sixth Season of Hercules:

(6x08) Full Circle: Due to being cut short by cancellation, this is the final episode of Hercules: The Legendary Journey. It is also another important beat in the important Hercules/Hera relationship. Recommended, if not Required and you should watch it before Xena 5x12 - God Fearing Child.

And that's it. Hopefully this was helpful!

[quirkwizard]

I've been wondering how medical care would be involved with quirks and what you thoughts were. Some thoughts I've had were if there are specialists for certain quirk types, such as fire quirks or physical therapists for strength enhancement quirks. Would checking the ability of a person's quirk factor into medical practices, because I doubt many quirks would be at their best performance at all times.

I've already talked about the medical field before, but I can always go over it again.

I could certainly see there being a lot of changes and advancements within the medical field. Quirks are biological in nature and would be covered by doctors. Surely, there would be to massive adjustments to have doctors are trained into to work with this whole new aspect of the human body. I can't imagine all the training doctors would have to go through in order to work with all the new parts a human may or may not have. How do you determine how Since we know that Quirks can be affected by psychological blocks, they are bound to be affected by physical issues of it. Besides very direct examples of it, like Gran Torino poor lungs weakening "Jet" as he ages, I think there are kinds of ways how your physical health could affect Quirks, even something as small and common as a cold. And while I'm not sure if there is any singular way to check someone's Quirk factor, as they are far too varied to fit under a single test, I'm sure you could run a series of tests based around the Quirk's functions. Like a doctor could test and compare the potency of someone's armored shell to a previous visit or see how potent someone's fire is on a dummy.

That being said, I'm not sure if there would be such specific fields for Quirks. I doubt that something as basic or common as a fire power would have a whole field dedicated to it. Besides being too specific of a field to have any kind of doctorate based around, I believe that Quirks are a whole are too diverse to really teach anyone. Then again, the medical world can have super specific surgeons and doctors, so there could be a chance that is a thing. I think it would be more likely that you'd need some equivalent of a general practitioner for Quirks, going to them for any and all medical issues related to Quirks or that whatever field that'd study in would be expanded to include those Quirks. Using the physical therapist examples, they would turn learn how to handle and get the equipment to handle people with hyper dense muscles. Otherwise, I think there would be specialists, just with a broader net. Like there could be a doctor who specializes in people with major mutations to their body, such as "Sludge Villain" or people with Animal Mutations. Stuff like that is such a massive deviation and a common enough issue that I could see it requiring that level of dedication to work it.

[angevinyaoiz]

saw Dune 2 (2une?), and since I don't have my dune blog anymore I'll post here, since blah blah this is my place for posting about Dynastic Weirdos. This is long but NO MAJOR SPOILERS, except about like, small detail things that aren't plot things but whatever

Tbh it was disappointing. It had all the correct elements to be liked but one thing grated on me the whole time...the Bad Dialogue and lack of Elevated Speech! Why the hell were all these characters saying stuff like "these guys" "we're ok" and "literally" it took me out of the fantastical world sOOO bad. Super bummer because what I loved about Dune 1 (D-uno?) As someone who went into it before reading or knowing anything was how much it didn't explain, how it let the visuals and the world unfold before you, and how serious and somber it was in a way that gave it a sense of scale and time.

I can only wonder if WB saw all the complaints and tweets about people being like "we didn't understand the first movie!!! It wasn't funny and quippy!!!" And decided to simplify it down so characters just SAY things really obviously and inelegantly. The writing has some competence in moving the story forward but there's no poetry or rhythm to the way characters say things, it's serving "Rings of Power" scriptwriting to me lmao. And it's not like any of the actors are bad? I've seen them do well in the previous movie and in other things, so wtf was going on with the direction. I know people complained Abt Villeneuve saying that whole thing about being more into visuals than dialogue but maybe he was right...there needed to be LESS WORDS. bc much of the words we had were NOT GOOD.

Positivity: the middle and latter part was where the movie picked up for me. The Harkonnen Freak Villain behavior was everything I could have wanted! Finally instead of EXPLAINING everything obviously we got to see a LOT of character building, for Feyd specifically in a very short amount of time. I know a lot of us complained about Bald Feyd-Rautha but Mr Elvis did a very good job. And we got Madame Fenring and weird scifi femdomming finally, which is Essential for the Duniverse! Wonderful fantastic no notes.

Of course, getting back to our heroes, I anticipated this 2 years ago sadly and it was true...the Fremen were badass but SWAGLESS. More Learned ppl have already written about the frustration with the erasure of the Arabic/North African cultural presence so I won't reiterate that here since I'm not super knowledgeable about the specifics of that but even as a casual watcher there was a weird emptiness to the way I feel the society was portrayed. There were individual good character moments, such as fun bantering among the Fedaykin etc, but for Pacing or Whatever they cut out the community aspects that served to make them feel more like well, a People rather than just either Grizzled Soldiers/ Religious Fundamentalists aka Marks/Panicked refugees. I have to guess this was ppl were like "we can't show a culture too cool and colorful and the part with Harrah (Jamis' widow) would feel too ORIENTALIST!!! But the result is something sadly very dry. At least in more older orientalist works, the interest comes from when the ~exotic~ stereotypes figures are able to have charming personalities and personalities and be known as people despite the cliches sometimes but this sadly wasn't even like that....

Jamis' funeral is a good example of this; in the Book, it's a moment where you first get a good look of what rituals are like in this world, and how people relate to each other and to the dead. In the movie, the funeral is looks more foreign and even a little creepy as the water is extracted from the body. There's not really a Personal or community connection aspect to it at all.

The ending was pretty good as it satisfied all the Cool Dune Moments I think we all wanted to see, and also did literally the end of The Godfather Part 1 Framing which was hee hee heh. Anyways, Messiah is MY favorite book of the series personally so curious how they get to that.

Maybe I've been too spoiled by Cool Historical Fiction lately? I've been watching too much of The Devil's Crown where action happens mostly off screen but the dynastic drama is written and acted so compellingly, the historical mindset and setting so alien and yet so human and relatable, it's frustrating to see when works try to do the opposite? Idk??? Dune books themselves is fun in how action is mostly an "offscreen, offstage"' thing.

*if ANYONE in the Universe is a quippy Bastard, it should be Leto II esp in God Emperor where he literally has nothing to do all day but quip all day to terrified acolytes

[toastess-with-the-mostess]

Voltron: The Series

Last stop folks! One I'm sure you already know well This was my introduction into Voltron, fell in love with it, led me to its predecessors, then had a rocky relationship with it, and still do Thanks for joining me so far! I love Voltrons history because there's so much to be inspired from Dotu/VV - V3D - VF - VLD (here)

Word vomit under the cut <3

Oh boy 2016, nothing can go wrong here Frankly this is the better looking Voltron out of all of them, I'm glad to see what 2D and 3D can really do together since VF had a rocky time with that itself. Like I said in the Dotu/VV post, this show is a hard reboot, at most it takes the names and basic legend of the original show and just runs with it. Though it does take inspiration from the previous shows, again with Pidge being a genius, the lions being mystical, and this time I'm fairly sure the bayards were directly inspired from the voltcoms from VF That's the main reason why I don't find it fair to compare Voltron Legendary Defender (VLD) to the other Voltrons because it's not the same story at all, it's its own thing and is pretty well isolated. It has major changes to the story beats, like Lotor not automatically being a villain, the pilots aren't trained soldiers and instead cadets themselves, for a while the team aren't even friends, Allura's planet is renamed (to be fair it's back to the original anime name) and also destroyed, and Pidge is a girl now, which I don't mind but from what I've learned its a joke between older fans since many of them thought dotu Pidge was a girl at first due to his headband. The gist of VLD is vaguely similar to the rest of them, a team of five lands on Altea (Arus) and discovers Voltron which is then used to defend the universe. Like I mentioned though, the team isn't made up of soldiers, most of them are cadets with only one (1) seasoned soldier on the team who has been missing for years until the group found him. They have an Indiana Jones moment and find blue lion hidden away on Earth which abducts the entire team to Arus, a planet unrelated to Altea, where the castle of lions sits locked up. The rest of the show is them learning to work together and the best way to handle dangerous situations when more than just easily ignored lives are on the line. In total, it had 8 seasons in 2 years (yikes), the most of the shows (probably ran too long in retrospect), spawned 3 volumes of comics (15 in total), and brought the return of the toy line. This iteration brought in the most viewers because of the original fans who were still kicking, the animation, the story (in the beginning), and it was on Netflix which many people had at that point so it was easily accessible. It also spawned an incredibly large fandom which could be amazing at some points and down right radioactive at others. Either way though, it created avenues for merchandise, podcasts, fan interactions, and furthering the legacy of Voltron itself! As of this post, there's information slowly coming out about a live action movie for Voltron (probably not VLD related, that ship has sailed lads) which has many fans excited for what's to come

[applesandpavenders]

Voyage of the Dawntreader film thoughts:

I do get why they changed it in the movie, because really the book doesn’t play out in a film friendly way. It’s all mini adventures with an objectively pointless goal (sailing really far East just because you can doesn’t have the same weight as trying to save a kingdom.) Its such a different book from any of the others.

In essence, the directors were faced with selling a story of explorer shenanigans to an audience that was expecting epic battles and big bad villains. It was never going to work. I don’t really like how they changed the adaptation but I do see where they were coming from.

What they should have done was make a TV show.

The book would have fit so much better into a tv show format. The story is mainly a series of small adventures tacked together anyway. And by changing the format from film to tv show they would have already communicated that this story is going to be different from the previous two.

We could have had 6-10 episodes of Lucy and Edmund sailing around with Caspian finding cool islands to name. One swashbuckling adventure after the other (which Ben Barnes would have been great at) while Eustace trails after them complaining that he wants his lawyer.

Yes they probably would have had to add stuff into the show, but it would have been world building stuff not wrecking major plot points. I would love to see more weird and wonderful flora and fauna of Narnia, or hear about one of Reepercheep’s adventures, none of which would have ruined the overall point of the story.

[milesonthenet]

Unseen Stars: Bumblebee and Mal Duncan are DC's first African-American Superheroes

Welcome back to another episode of Unseen Stars. The concept behind this show focuses on highlighting lesser-known African American characters within comic books I want to explain why these characters have untapped potential within the DC Universe.

Our guests for today are already well-known in their circles. The character Bumblebee, for example, is quite familiar to the Teen Titans. Karen Beecher has made numerous appearances across various animated series. She was also a core member of the Teen Titans Go for a brief period. Furthermore, she played a prominent role in both DC Superhero Girls series.

However, her significant other, Malcolm Duncan, has not been as fortunate. He only appeared in the finale of Teen Titans. He was a recurring cast member in Young Justice before retiring.

Their Origins

Mal Duncan: Too Many Names?

Mal Duncan's first appearance has him saving the Titans from a rival street gang known as the Hell Hawks. He does so by defeating their leader in a boxing match. Because of this, he's granted membership in the team. However, Mal feels useless due to not having any powers.

The interesting thing about Mal is that he's had numerous turbulent name changes. At first, he became Guardian after finding a strength-enhancing exoskeleton. Then he became Hornblower after gaining Gabriel's mystical horn.

After the Crisis on Infinite Earths event, Mal was given another name change. This idea explained away the mystical elements of the horn and instead made it technology.

Both Karen and Mal were recruited by Donna Troy to avert a future crisis in space. The trip to space had left them both severely changed. Mal's horn was destroyed, which damaged his lungs & vocal cords. A complicated surgery leads to him becoming Vox and joining the Doom Patrol with Karen.

Mal Duncan's next few appearances have been with the Teen Titans. In the New 52, he was a part of the Titans Hunt series. He played a pivotal role in summoning an entity for the villainous Mister Twister. In DC Rebirth, he tagged along with the Titans to help Bumblebee regain her memories.

The Busy Bumblebee:

Karen Beecher first appeared in Teen Titans in 1976 and later adopted the identity of Bumblebee after a few issues. Although often attributed as DC's first black woman superhero, Nubia also holds this distinction, even though she wasn't a superhero at that time. In fact, Nubia appeared three years earlier, in 1973.

Karen Beecher is the scientific girlfriend of Malcolm Duncan who donned a bumblebee-based suit to make her boyfriend look good in front of the team. Karen pretended to be a supervillain and attacked the Titans. She later came clean to the team about the incident. The team was impressed and offered her an invitation to join them. Bumblebee and Mal went on to become major members of Titans West, a team featuring lesser-known Teen Titans characters.

Titans West eventually disbanded, and Karen and Mal retired. They were happily married and, except for a few stints, had quit being superheroes altogether. However, Karen and Mal were recruited to avert an upcoming crisis that affected their physiology and made them permanently small. They had to take special medicine given to them by The Chief, or else they would go into cardiac arrest.

In the story arc called Titans Hunt, Karen Beecher is pregnant. Karen can fire energy beams from her hands, a characteristic she inherited from her previous self. She assists in defeating the demented Mister Twister and later gives birth to her daughter.

What are their powers?

As Guardian, Mal donned an exoskeleton that enhanced his physical strength. Before that, he was just a skilled kickboxer in exceptional physical condition. He is also trained in various other fighting styles.

As both Hornblower and Herald, Guardian made use of Gabriel's Horn. This highly sophisticated instrument could open the pathway between dimensions. These spatial warps make it easy for Mal to traverse other planes.

He would no longer need the horn as Vox. Instead, he relies on his own artificial lungs and voice box. They can still create spatial warps and utilize hypersonic blasts.

Before becoming Bumblebee, Karen was already a genius-level enabled intellect. She created a solar-powered suit that enabled her to fly, shrink to insect size, and fire electrical 'sting' blasts. It is a testament to her theme, as most of her abilities have not changed over the years.

Why they deserve the push:

Mal Duncan's identity crisis

I understand that Mal has had several name changes over time, which suggests a lack of commitment to his character. Initially, he was introduced as a character with no powers or gimmicks. However, over time, his character evolved from one gimmick to another. He was initially known as Guardian, but then became Hornblower, then Herald, and later Vox. This indicates that the writers were unsure of what to do with Mal and did not develop him enough to make him a memorable character.

Despite this, there is still an opportunity to bring Malcolm back into the spotlight. One idea could be to have him return to one of his previous identities, such as Vox or Herald, which would give him a reason to use the horn.

Bumblebee's next big opportunity

Bumblebee is a superhero character who has made several appearances outside of the comic books. She was a recurring character in the Teen Titans animated series and one of the main cast members in both of the DC Superhero Girls series. For a while, she also appeared in Teen Titans Go!

Bumblebee is a memorable character who has left a mark on the audiences. Her unique powers make her an enjoyable character to watch. I believe that more people should be exposed to her and get to know her better.

A power couple in the making

Karen Beecher and Mal Duncan are characters in comic books who share a loving relationship, but they do not receive much attention outside of the comics. Hence, giving them more exposure could be a good opportunity for them.

DC Comics has created many iconic power couples such as Clark Kent and Lois Lane, and Batman and Catwoman, where they have developed intriguing romantic storylines. However, if DC decides to create another power couple, it could create a problem.

Marvel Comics once had a couple in Black Panther and Storm, but they eventually split up. If DC Comics decides to feature Karen and Mal as their black power couple, it could be a significant addition to their comics. Black love is empowering in itself, and exploring its depths within comics could be great.

Conclusion:

That's all, folks! I will be happy to share more facts about any Unseen Stars. If you have anyone you would like to recommend? Then please comment and give me a shoutout.

[kamreadsandrecs]

Title: Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (Mo Dao Zu Shi) Vol. 5 Author: Mo Xiang Tong Xiu Genre/s: danmei, xianxia, historical, horror, fantasy, queer romance, romance Content/Trigger Warnings: physical and emotional abuse, rape (mentioned), body horror, death, violence Summary (from publisher’s website): Foes, allies, and one reassembled fierce corpse converge on the Guanyin Temple for a climactic showdown. With decades-long schemes finally unveiled, and dark secrets unearthed, the events of this rain-battered night will decide not just the fate of the entire cultivation world–but also that of a love story two lifetimes in the making. Also included are eight short stories that focus on the future and the past. From magical incense burners to tense banquets, to lotus-pod hunting and nighttime expeditions with the juniors, these stories span from dawn to dusk and so much more! Buy Here: https://sevenseasentertainment.com/books/grandmaster-of-demonic-cultivation-mo-dao-zu-shi-novel-vol-5/ Spoiler-Free Review: So I’ve had this last volume for a while now, but it took me some time to get to it because life and work and blah blah blah. But now I’m finished reading it, and WHOO BOY WAS IT A RIDE! First of all, it was nice to read how everything was finally, FINALLY wrapped up - not always happily or tidily, but in a way that made sense, given everything that had already happened in the previous four volumes. I will admit that the final unraveling of the villain’s schemes and motivations was a bit info-dumpy, given how it was all set up, but at the same time I don’t really know how else all of that could have been revealed in a more subtle way without doing so in another four or five chapters, so all in all it’s not so bad. But what this volume focuses on is a theme that tracks across the entire series: the cyclical nature of vengeance. While that cycle is now closed (or is it?) for Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji, the ending shows that the cycle can potentially continue. I can’t really talk about the details because it would be a MASSIVE spoiler to do so, but regardless: I find it interesting that it’s mostly Wei Wuxian who notices what’s going on with the character in question, and it is his musings that point all of this out to the reader. After all, he was a major contributor to the momentous events that led to this ending: events that, when you really get down to it, sprang from someone, somewhere, wanting to avenge themselves on a person, or people, or the entire world. I also find the inconclusiveness of the cycle’s perpetuation in the form of a certain character to be very interesting too. I know some people might find this annoying or frustrating, but I’m not the sort of reader who expects every single plot thread to be tied up in a nice bow, so I’m honestly fine with the way this particular thread has been left up to the reader’s imagination. Will that character go on to perpetuate tragedy in the same way the series’ primary villain did? Or will they take a different path? Will that path be more or less wicked, more or less tragic? No one can say, because the author’s declined to write that story, and it’s up to the readers to decide whether or not this character will turn out for better, or for worse - though I’m sure there are fanfic writers who’ve got ideas of their own, and are probably churning out epics as I write this. Speaking of extra writing, the Extras included in this volume were lovely to read. Now that Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji FINALLY know how they feel for each other (after the intervention of OTHER CHARACTERS, it must be noted), the Extras show what life’s like for them in the wake of everything that’s gone before. The tone taken is mostly bittersweet, but there’s plenty of spice there too. If the one spicy scene in Volume 4 was just a little taste of what could happen between these two characters, then the Extras in this volume show ALL THE OTHER THINGS they get up to after the main story’s ending. But the Extras aren’t all just smutty scenes (though there are those too). In fact, my favorite stories are the ones where the plot is built around a Night Hunt, and Wei Wuxian and/or Lan Wangji and/or the Lan juniors try to get to the bottom of it. I’m very fond of mysteries, and even more fond of those with supernatural/urban fantasy leanings, and these specific Extras really hit the right notes for me in that regard. It was also an interesting bit of worldbuilding, in that the reader gets insight into how “regular” Night Hunts work, as compared to the very grand and dangerous ones that were featured in the main story. Overall, this volume was a great wrap-up for this epic and emotional series. The current cycle of vengeance has come to an end for most of the characters involved, but whether or not it’s ended for good is up in the air, given what happens with a certain character during this volume. But in the space between the ending of this cycle and the beginning of the next, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji get to have the best fate of all: time to build a life with each other and their loved ones. After everything that’s happened to them, I can’t think of a better ending for them both. Rating: four lotus pods

[serenitas]

sere can you tell me how lost ended? i fell off the show like 3 or 4 seasons in, right around the time they were dealing with The Others, a rescue boat showing up, etc

oh boy, buckle up because around season 4 was where shit got WILD

it's hard for me to explain the ending without giving the full context of everything leading up to it in seasons 5-6, so basically: the second half of season 5 involves the core cast of characters being split up between being on the island in 1977 (27 years before the crash, during the height of the Dharma Initiative) and 2007 (3 years after the crash) (there were some time travel shenanigans, don't worry about it). some of the characters in 1977, ultimately spearheaded by Jack, come to the conclusion that the might be able to change the past/create an alternate timeline by detonating a hydrogen bomb at the construction site of the Swan station (aka the hatch from season 2, where there was a computer with a button that had to be pressed every 108 minutes), therefore preventing Flight 815 from crashing (because it crashed due to an electromagnetic anomaly caused by the button in the hatch not getting pressed). season 5 ends with the bomb going off with unclear results. but put a pin in the concept of am alternate timeline, because that'll come back later in this explanation.

the beginning of season 6 establishes that the only thing the bomb seemingly did is yeet all the time traveling characters from 1977 into 2007. the plot on the island during season 6 mostly focuses on the final battle for control over the island, which dates back 2000 years to the conflict between Jacob (who you might remember as an unseen leader figure that the Others mentioned a few times in season 3) and his canonically unnamed twin brother who is unofficially known as the Man in Black (he's also the smoke monster and can assume the forms of dead people and is currently stuck in Locke's body. don't worry about it). at the end of season 6, a dead apparition of Jacob transfers his island protection powers to Jack and gives him the mission to protect a light-filled cave on the island, which is the source of life, death, and rebirth (whose power the Man in Black is trying to harness for his own gain), and someone needs to go into the cave and pull out a stone cork to turn off the protective light so that the Man in Black will be killed. Jack and Kate succeed in killing the Man in Black, but Jack is severely wounded in the process. he passes on his island protection powers to Hurley and goes into the cave of light to put back in the stone cork, returning the magic light to the cave. meanwhile, the rest of the remaining survivors, minus Hurley (who stays on the island as its new protector) and Ben (who's had a little bit of a redemption arc since his leader-of-the-Others villain days in seasons 2 and 3), are now able to successfully leave the island, via a plane that brought the characters who were rescued at the end of season 4 back to the island (don't worry about it). the final shot of the series is Jack watching the plane fly overhead as he dies, smiling with the knowledge that he helped save everyone, and then his eyes close in a callback to how the opening shot of the series was his eye opening.

BUT, that's not the part of the ending that everyone talks about. for that part of the ending, we have to go back to the pin I put in the alternate timeline where Flight 815 never crashed. in addition to the on-island plotline in season 6, there's also what is unofficially dubbed the "flash sideways", which take the place of the flashbacks (and later flashforwards) that were used during the previous seasons. at first, the flash sideways timeline seems to show a universe where the crash never happened, with Flight 815 successfully landing in Los Angeles. however, it soon becomes clear that there are other major divergences in the timeline - for example, in the flash sideways, Desmond on the plane instead of already on the island, Jack has a teenage son, and Sawyer is a detective instead of a con man. as we get to see more characters in the flash sideways, eventually Desmond starts showing an awareness of his life on the island and starts trying to awaken the other characters to their memories of the island as he comes across them. the characters all end up gathering at the church where Jack was planning to have his father's funeral (since the reason why Jack was on Flight 815, in both the regular timeline and this one, was to retrieve his father's body in Australia). Jack enters a side room of the church and sees his dead father, who reveals that Jack, and everyone else in this timeline, is dead, and the flash sideways is actually an in-between space between life and death that exists outside of time, where all the characters can meet up to move on to the afterlife together after their deaths (because the most important moments of their lives were spent with the people they met on the island). Jack then enters the main area of the church, where he's welcome by all the other characters, and a flash of light engulfs them as they move on to the afterlife together. this final scene with the characters in the church is interspersed with Jack's dying moments on the island, for some context of how the last scenes of the series all fit together.

with all of that said, the common misconception about Lost's ending that is still circulating to this day is that "it was a stupid ending! they were dead/in purgatory the whole time!" and the thing is, that statement isn't entirely wrong, because it is in fact revealed that everyone is actually dead and in a purgatory-like space in the flash sideways timeline. BUT, that's in a timeline that's completely independent from the present-day events of the show. there's even a moment during the conversation between Jack and his dad in the church where Jack's dad assures him that everything that happened to him (i.e. everything that happened on and off the island from season 1 all the way to the end of season 6) was in fact real and happened to him while he was alive, which in turn confirms to the audience that it was JUST the events of the flash sideways that took place in the purgatory space, not the events of the whole series. but I think what happened was that some people, who either missed that line in the finale or were just going off secondhand information after having not watched the episode for themselves, started spreading the "dead all along" part of the ending without giving the full context, and people who stopped watching in earlier seasons because they didn't like the direction the show was going saw this as vindication for dropping the show, because of COURSE a show that they felt like had dropped the ball was going to have a cop-out ending like "they were dead all along." of course, there's something to be said about how convoluted Lost became in that "yes, they were dead all along, but only in one timeline that doesn't appear until the final season of the show, and it doesn't mean that everything else that happened in the series didn't actually happen" is a clarification that has to be made, but I do think the ending 100% gets a bad rap because of how widely it gets misinterpreted. I personally don't think it's a perfect ending (and I have a lot of problems with season 6 as a whole), but I'll still defend it to the death against people who misinterpret it.

anyway, I hope this very long-winded explanation of how Lost ended made sense! this really was just the express version of the major events/circumstances leading up to the finale, and it leaves out SO many of the bonkers things that happen in the meantime (my personal favorite being "at the end of season 4, some of the characters are told that they have to move the island. this turns out to be quite literal, because if someone turns the frozen donkey wheel located in an underground chamber, the island disappears from its current location and yeets the wheel turner into the Tunisian desert. also if the wheel gets thrown off its axis, the island starts bouncing around in time"). but now you know why I said in the tags of that post how I could easily give a multi-hour presentation about Lost lmao

[kats-chaotic-wonderland]

The answer is bad writing and sexism. They only died to push Obi-wan and Anakin further. That's it. Past that is all Palpatine and Vader. They were written specifically to twist a knife, then immediately forgotten.

And for anyone who's going to say,"But that's not sexism!!"

Nearly every woman in starwars gets fridged.

Leia, died for Poe and Ben

Rey, almost died for Ben but they pulled gross stuff at the last minute.

Yaddle, literally dragged back out after twenty years just to push Dooku to the dark side.

Rose, had one line to push Finn and got harassed for years

Padme, died for vader

Satine, killed to tear everything away from Obi-wan and give mandalore to Maul.

Hera, stops having any real screen time after Cainen bites it and while they don't die, both her and Sabine take a complete back seat to Esra for the rest of rebels. And they probably will in Ashoka too, since we've already gotten confirmation about him and Thrawn having major roles.

Fennic, still doing well, supportive no hetero husband, one acception to the trend

Bo, literally tossed around like a rag doll all series until Din shows up. This includes being trashed by Visla and Gideon.

Barris, villain batted to give the council some power move

Aela, given the worst missions in the GAR as an excuse for why her men shoot her corpse repeatedly in 66, this was added in post to villainize her, and make Bly more sympathetic because he shoots her in the head first instead of letting them kill her slowly.

Ashoka, fridged from her home to push Anakin to the dark side because they wrote him too well in the previous seasons, had to be dragged back out repeatedly just to play second fiddle to Ezra, Din, Luke, and probably Thrawn. Also getting dragged back into the series just to go through 66 and be forced to kill her own men.

And those are just off the top of my head. There's acceptions, but they're usually minor characters. The major ones usually end up biting it or losing their character to push forward a male character.

Male characters can do things and progress, but a woman shouldn't have to die or stop being a real character to do that.

the deliberate erasure of Padme Amidala and Satine Kryze from every piece of Star Wars media where it would be narratively and thematically relevant to mention them is absolutely insane

because how did we get to a place where we can have two separate shows that collectively co-star three of Padme's best friends and her child and only get one (1) oblique mention? How did we get two whole shows focused on Mandalorians and post-Imperial Mandalore, one of which co-stars Satine's sister, and not mention the Last Free Ruler of Mandalore? How did we get a show focused on Obi-Wan Kenobi and not mention one of his best friends or the love of his life? How did we get a show focused entirely on politics and spying and the true birth of the Rebellion and not mention the fact that Padme helped build that? How did we visit Sundari and not mention Satine? How did we get an episode where Ahsoka literally attends Padme's funeral and never once says her name?

The fact that Satine is essentially confined to The Clone Wars despite her sister being the current co-protagonist of Disney's flagship Star Wars show while Padme has been basically erased from every single piece of Star Wars media that isn't the Darth Vader comics is baffling. It would be like Leia being completely non-existent and never mentioned in the sequel trilogy despite it co-starring her son, brother, and husband. It makes no sense, it's clearly deliberate, and it's extremely irritating.

[halflingkima]

First Chapter Test

Of all of these.

Crossbones by Kimberly Vale: The tightness of the worldbuilding without sacrificing of high-stakes action hooked me immediately. I love the mood, the vibe, where it seems we're going. The complete swerve of info-dumping is laudable. I'm engaged in this world immediately and can't wait to see where it leads. (5/5)

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows: I have tried this in audio a few times, and feel as though something's been going over my head. Reading it physically appears to be much more engaging. I think because it's written in first person, it carries that Fantasy Speak which I suppose is easier to parse in my own head – i can fill in gaps if i think i've missed something instead of rewinding 80 times. So far, it sounds amazing! The worldbuilding is complex and i've quickly imprinted on Vel as a character voice. My only worry is the Fantasy Speak (and in turn their terms, politics, etc.) slowing me down a bit. (4/5)

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness: I have started this a number of times and it is dry. Like. Too dry to even fall asleep to (as it doesn't engage my own thoughts). But it's such a long one (and kinda older? I think?) that I feel like I've got to give it more time to let itself be known. She does get to the ~special manuscript~ very quickly, but we start as an academic in a library, which is really only engaging when you're doing it yourself, imo. Lotta info-dumping about her heritage that I don't care to retain yet. Something about alchemy. (1/5)

The City & The City by China Mieville: There's an intro of a murder scene that reads like almost every police procedural, but it's sprinkled with subtle worldbuilding that adds a layer of interest. The beat of seeing into the other city at the end was off-putting. I'm engaged enough to keep reading, but the tone and delivery put me in mind of straightfoward magical realism, which may or may not ultimately work for me. (4/5)

In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead: The tone of this is engaging, as one expects of a thriller. I do not like our narrator. So far, I doubt I'll be able to refrain from comparing this to If We Were Villains the whole time, which i doubt will be a favorable comparison. However. If the driving force of the thriller-tone persists, I may enjoy it. Short(er) chapters are working in its favor. (2/5)

The Killing Moon by NK Jemisin: Engaging, as all her writing seems to be. Falls victim to the front-loading of the fantasy genre – lots of unfamiliar terms and practices, that we spend to time to explain. The weaving of the introduction and action are seamless, though. The next chapter appears to be an interlude, which I enjoyed in the fifth season. Longish chapters, maybe? Or I might have to adjust my ebook font. (3/5)

Fire Season by KD Casey: Either a real short chapter, or I spend through it. The leads have met nearly immediately, which is a great sign for a romance. They also seem to have chemistry already, which is impressive. There's little character nods already. I'm once again reminded why I liked the previous book in the series – this author's got a great gravitas of style. there's an anxiety pushing this chapter forward – a last-minute trade, from minors to majors on top of that – so I nearly sped-read. But. Intriguing. (5/5)