#but!! the years spent thinking she was an alien and building up this false narrative for herself and crashing down to earth ohhhh

[mirchloe]

chloe must be one of the strangest interns to come to the program. hollis is just sitting her down, going through her paperwork with her mentor (gisu), and asking her why she wants to be an agent.

"oh, well, i would like to contact whatever entity has been communicating with me since i was a kid. i feel like i'm finally close enough to reach them, and this program is the final key."

and hollis stops typing to stare at her because that is not a fucking answer she has ever heard in her life. she looks at gisu, expecting the same uncertainty, but gisu is just nodding like that was as simple as commenting on the weather.

"gisu-" "yeah, she says she's from space. she's cool. don't worry 'bout it." "oh, i will worry about it."

chloe insists she's from outer space, and she's an alien, so hollis decides to drop it...for now. they'll have another evaluation, so maybe, chloe will realize otherwise! (hollis is not ready to for chloe's teen life crisis when she's hit with the realization that she isn't an alien, a great majority of her life was spent thinking otherwise, thus distancing herself with her parents (who love her, though there is a distance created by chloe), and discounting her relationships with those who either believed or kept going on for way too long (bobby, lili, gisu, etc - not tala, who really thinks she's an alien when bobby already figured it out years ago but didn't have the heart to tell her).)

[dalekofchaos]

The Luke Skywalker that was wasted and the Luke fans deserved.

For the last two years I have shown my displeasure with how Luke Skywalker and I still hate it.  Let’s talk why I hate it and why I think it could have been better

What the hell was with Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi?

Why did Rian Johnson and Kathleen Kennedy depict him as a grumpy, pathetic hermit and a weak failure? Don't give me that crap about 'b-b-b-b-but he did a Force Projection and that's hard'. You can't shit on a character for 99% of the movie and consider his depiction as worthy because he did something useful for the remaining 1%.

Lucasfilm and associates prior to Disney's acquisition of the franchise spent 40 YEARS building the character of Luke Skywalker through the movies, comics and novels. The Star Wars fandom has spent 40 YEARS delving into the lore of the Star Wars universe and its characters. Why would Rian and Kathleen go in the opposite direction with his character? They went as far as making him a depressed, hopeless loser when the very essence of his being is hope. "How did the most optimistic, hopeful character in the galaxy turn into this hermit? ... A Jedi is optimistic, a Jedi has tenacity, he never gives up" - A quote from Luke Skywalker himself: Mark Hamill. When Luke Skywalker himself voices serious concern about the depiction of Luke Skywalker, Rian and Kathleen should have immediately started over.

The annihilation of Luke Skywalker's character was intentional. It's preposterous to suggest that they accidentally ruined one of cinemas greatest hero's. This was a planned character assassination.

Why was Mark Hamill exempt from the marketing of The Force Awakens and forced to stand on a mountain with no lines?

Why was Luke given nothing for The Force Awakens and anytime Mark went to JJ with his great ideas for Luke, JJ just smiled and patted him on the back just to shut him up?

Why did Luke toss the Lightsaber? The Lightsaber of his father, the lightsaber that Obi-Wan gave to him, and the Lightsaber he lost on Bespin after losing his hand to Vader. Such an emotional connection to Luke, he casually tosses it in such a stupid, cold and unemotional matter. Why not allow Luke an emotional reaction to holding this particular lightsaber again after all these years? Why is a sight gag preferable in this situation? Even if Luke being a bitter, detached old man is essential to TLJ, that’s still no reason not to pay even the slightest respect to everything that lightsaber represents from the original trilogy.

Why is Luke not allowed to show emotion, grief or empathy for the death of Han Solo? His best friend, his brother, Leia’s love and the father of his nephew?

Why does Luke not care that his sister’s life and The Resistance is in danger? Why was he willing to abandon his sister in her time of need?

Why does Luke and Chewie never have a moment of forgiveness and reconciliation?

Why was Luke made to fail as a Jedi Master? Luke should have changed the Jedi for the better as he did in Legends. Luke did not negate his emotions, but found a synthesis between both. Luke definitely showed that selfless love and compassion don’t lead to the dark side. Anakin is the Last Jedi of the old order, not Luke. Luke became the first of the New Jedi realizing that attachment made him stronger not weaker. For the new Jedi were attached to the entire universe through the Force. This is why Luke reformed the Jedi for the better.

Why was Han and Leia made to fail as parents and leaders in the NR and Resistance? Why were Luke, Han and Leia’s achievements and victories made invalid?

Why was it necessary to show Luke drink from a giant alien tit? Oh yes, we can show that, but we can’t show Luke mourn for the loss of his best friend 😒

Why did Luke not teach Rey ANYTHING? He did not impart wisdom to Rey at all in the entire movie. They did not have a great master/apprentice relationship, despite it being advertised that their relationship was the beating heart of the movie! That was a giant lie and false advertisement!

Why does Luke give up on the Jedi. Jedi do not give up. You might say that Yoda and Obi-Wan also gave up. But for those two, the Sith took over the galaxy, they had to go into hiding to protect and guide Luke and Leia. Obi-Wan wanted to save Leia and guide Luke. Yoda always wanted to train Leia as a Jedi and bring Anakin back to the light. He was reluctant to train Luke but he still did his duty as a Jedi Master. They did not just give up and wanted to die and they did not betray their characters at all.

Why would Luke Skywalker even think of killing his nephew in his sleep? Why would he even think of igniting the Lightsaber? Luke Skywalker would not even think of trying to kill his nephew in his sleep. Luke decided the Jedi and Sith were both wrong and believed that his father was still good and he was right in saving him. He would try to talk to Ben and try to pull him back to the light. His sister brought Ben there for protection and guidance. Even if that did fail, you did not need to make Luke attempt to murder him. You did not need to make Luke, Leia and Han at fault for Kylo Ren. Kylo is a grown ass man, he is responsible for his own actions. Kylo was going to murder the Jedi and younglings regardless, he already fell to the dark side. No one is responsible for Kylo’s actions but Kylo Ren.

Why does Luke just give up? Luke Skywalker is a beacon of hope and optimism and love against all odds, and the fact that that was twisted into being depicted as some foolish youth naivety, and that the only way to make him “human” was to retract all that and make him a bitter, jaded man is so fucking disgusting. Even more disgusting is in TLJ novelization had him dreaming of never leaving Tatooine and having him live under the Empire’s dominance. He does not even care that his sister’s life and the Resistance she is leading is in danger. He doesn’t connect with Rey on any meaningful level, doesn’t impart wisdom or knowledge, and never reasserts himself as the powerful Jedi he once was. A brief physical duel against Rey ends with her as the undisputed victor, completely killing his deserved mythos and her potential character arc in one fell swoop. It’s clear in that moment that he has nothing to teach her, and nothing to contribute to the overall narrative. The boundless potential that seemed poised to explode at the end of The Force Awakens fizzles here but never ignites.  And without any training at all, Rey defeats Luke Skywalker and Luke acts all cowardly and begs her to leave. He does buy The Resistance time and saves his sister, but it was ultimately pointless. He wasn’t even there and he dies pointlessly. What we got was not Luke Skywalker. Luke Skywalker is hope and optimism. Luke Skywalker is showing that no matter what, compassion, faith and love will always prevail. Luke is the hero that inspired an entire generations to aspire to be better, aspire to be heroes. Luke is what we wanted to see and what we got was not Luke Skywalker. Luke is someone who thought Doctor Aphra was a good person, she proves him wrong but he still had that hope for her. Luke believed that Darth Vader of all people still had good in him and was willing to die and he was able to reach his father. In Battlefront II’s Story, Luke saves Del Meeko because he asked and he offered Del a better life, a choice. Inferno Squad has committed atrocities in the name of the Empire, yet Luke still gave Del Meeko a chance. Canon Luke Skywalker is a kind hearted hero who will never run from a fight or knowingly leave a loved one in danger and will even save his enemy. This is Luke Skywalker. Luke is compassionate, adores his family, would never leave them. The Luke Skywalker I knew would never even think about killing his nephew in his sleep when there is always another way. Luke believes in the light and was willing to die to save his father. Darth Vader committed atrocities for decades, Luke still believed there was good in him. He would never give up on his family nor would he even consider killing his own nephew in his sleep just because he sensed darkness there. He would never abandon his sister at death’s door when she needed him most. The Hero’s Journey that he was following was ignored completely and he just gave up and wanted to die. And he dies instead of reuniting with Leia properly. Mark Hamill wanted Luke to live until Episode IX where he would pass on what he learned to Rey. No big battle with Snoke, no passing on, instead Luke dies and all we’re getting is force ghost Luke. Luke Skywalker was a hero to an entire generation.  Luke was the true heart of Star Wars. His was the journey we followed from idealistic farm boy dreaming of adventure, to reluctant warrior, and finally to savior of the entire galaxy. The original trilogy built him up, and The Last Jedi finally broke him down. I for one mourn my hero’s passing. 

Why is Yoda the one to convince Luke to return? It should have been Anakin

Why does Luke not appear for real and have a real genuine moment with Leia? The final moment between Luke and Leia was ultimately pointless when you realize Luke wasn’t even there, it was just a projection?

Why did Luke not have a worthy final showdown and showing his power as a Jedi Master instead of disappearing and not being anything more than a distraction? Why did he die without passing anything on to the next generation?

These were supposed to be, or should have been completely replaced with extremely powerful moments with emotional weight. These moments should have been mandatory. Yet the creators didn't deliver.

THE LUKE SKYWALKER THAT WE DESERVED

What a missed opportunity. I mean, look at this artwork. There's such potential for greatness and compare that to the steaming pile of shit Rian Johnson / Kathleen Kennedy served in The Last Jedi.

What we should have got to see of Luke in the Sequel Trilogy

First and foremost, the same Luke Skywalker who actually exists in the Star Wars universe.

His Jedi Academy and respectful showcase of Ancient Jedi artefacts.

A mention of a close relationship of his students and most importantly to Ben and how Snoke turned him against Luke and the Jedi

Flashbacks to training his own Ben and his padawans and scenes of Luke training Rey

Reuniting with Han, or at least mourning his death.

Have Luke tell Rey he left the map behind so Leia can find him when the time is right, he did not give up, but he realized Leia sent him someone he can train and give guidance to. Luke and Rey indeed are the beating heart of this story

Lifting his old X-Wing out of the water and flying to the Supremacy to face Snoke and his nephew and to save Leia.

Luke and Rey together fight the Praetorian Guards. Luke faces Snoke, while Rey faces Kylo. Luke kills Snoke, while Kylo wins the fiight against Rey and cuts her hand off

Physically appearing, a beautiful reunion with Leia that has meaning with Luke actually being there

A true moment and showdown against The First Order and Kylo Ren. Kylo Ren orders every ship to fire on Luke. All the AT-M6’s all firing but to everyone’s surprise, all blasts have no effect via protection of the force. Luke wipes the salt off his robes and with a simple wave of his hand, brings the walkers, transports and Kylo’s shuttle down, one by one.  Kylo descends from his crushed shuttle, throwing a tantrum and preparing preparing to kill his uncle. We have a real lightsaber battle between Luke and Kylo. Luke has his green lightsaber. Their blades clash. The battle is emotional and raw. Luke is there. The dialogue is emotional and impactful. Despite all that his nephew has done, Luke asks him to return. Kylo refuses, he embraces who he is and that he is the new Vader. Luke will retort “oh Ben, you are no Vader.” Luke is toying with Kylo, similar to how Vader toyed with him on Bespin. Luke and Kylo’s exchange remains the same. “I failed you Ben, I’m sorry.” “I’m sure you are! The Resistance is dead. The war is over, and when I kill you, I will have killed the last Jedi.” “Amazing. Every word of what you just said was wrong. The Rebellion is reborn today. The war is just beginning. And I will not be the last Jedi.” Kylo will lunge at Luke with all his anger with the intention to kill his uncle, but luke dodges and cuts Kylo’s hand off.  Luke gives his “see you around kid” but Luke does not die, he leaves to board his X-Wing. Leaving the new Supreme Leader and The First Order a mess

Luke passes on what he knows to the next generation. Hope has returned. Rey has given Luke’s faith and hope back. The Rebellion is alive. Luke will not be the Last Jedi. Brother and sister reunited and the Resistance stronger for it. Master and apprentice together once more. Smiles and tears and happy to see each other again. Rey, Luke and Leia together. Both siblings holding their hands together on Rey’s hand. Telling her “We have everything we need. It ends how it begins With Rey grabbing the Lightsaber Rey extended to Luke. Tears in Rey’s eyes. The Millennium Falcon and Luke’s X-wing take off side by side into into lightspeed.

The next movie would be about Luke training and preparing the next generation of Jedi. Rey, Finn, Poe, Rose and Jannah, the new Jedi, The Skywalkers. As they stand to face Kylo, Palpatine and The First Order. Luke will sacrifice himself to give his students a chance to destroy The Emperor once and for all

The thing that perplexes me is that both the casual moviegoers and hardcore fans would have loved a depiction of Luke more akin to Legends. Yet Disney chose a depiction of Luke which casuals are indifferent to and the hardcore fans absolutely fucking hate. Why? Why not show the character which majority would love? There's nothing to hate about a powerful and wise legendary hero, while there's everything to hate about some broken hermit that gave up on his family and friends and doing what’s right who reflects nothing of what we've been lead to believe about his character by the creators of Star Wars itself for 40 years.

What a waste of potential. What a slap in the face to George Lucas, Luke Skywalker and the entire SW legacy. I cannot believe the sheer amount of disrespect shown by Disney, Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy, JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson. Luke deserved better.

Mark Hamill tried to warn us

[laughingpinecone]

Press Start letter

I am laughingpineapple on AO3

It’s a whole lot of character combos so the specific requests aren’t overly detailed, please draw at will from my general likes in addition or as an alternative to those!

For any of these, I’d be thrilled to get any small situation or event that highlights the dynamic you see between these characters - show me what ties them together, what could make them drop their barriers with the other person. Or a big situation! I like plotty fic too! But especially if we matched on some bizarre “&” combo that never even interacted in canon, I’d love to simply see what a scene between them could be like.

All requests are art or fic - for art, the stuff I like is the kind that depicts the characters doing something. I’ll aways be happier with a very simple drawing of two characters walking together or sharing a cup of coffee than with an ambitious composition that looks like an Avengers poster.

Likes: worldbuilding, slice of life (doubly so if the event the fic focuses on is made up but canon-specific), missing moments, 5+1 and similar formats, bonding and emotional support/intimacy, physical intimacy, lingering touches, loyalty, casefic, surrealism, magical realism, established relationships, future fic, hurt/comfort or just comfort from the ample canon hurt, throwing characters into non-canon environments, banter, functional relationships between dysfunctional individuals, unexplained mysteries, bittersweet moods, journal/epistolary fic, dreams and memories and identities, canon-adjacent tropey plots, outsider POV, UST, exploration of secondary bits of canon, leaning on the uniqueness of the canon setting/mood, found families, characters reuniting after a long and/or harrowing time, friends-to-lovers, road trips, mutual pining, cuddling, wintry moods, the feeling of flannel and other fabrics, ridiculous concepts played straight, sensory details, sickfic, places being haunted, people being haunted, the mystery of the woods, small hopes in bleak worlds, electricity, places that don’t quite add up, mismatched memories, caves and deep places, distant city lights at night

Cool with: any tense, any pov, any rating, plotty, not plotty, IF, nerdy canon references, unrequested characters popping up

DNW: non-canonical rape, non-canonical children, unrequested ships, canon retellings, consent issues

Ghost Trick

For applicable characters, I am very interested in them finding about the erased timeline, but not getting their memories back, and having to live with being told about what they did but never remembering it. All what-ifs welcome (what if they managed an acceptable happy ending but didn’t reset the timeline, what if a different party went back to the past and kept their memories, what if Alma’s ghost stuck around...) Also open to AUs here, especially for generic fantasy or sci-fi settings or the Final Fantasy ones I prompted for Yuletide

Alma & Emma: an unlikely friendship, and/or something about a book that was clearly inspired by the best detective(s) working for Emma’s husband?

Alma & Sissel: domestic ghost tricks and an increasingly suspicious Alma - or a great team after she finds out what the cat can do!

Cabanela & Jowd: the loyalty... the determination... but how does Jowd express his side of their bond? What’s a Cabanela-being-Cabanela or Jowd-being-Jowd situation that’d be insufferable for anyone else, but which doesn’t bother the other one, who finds it kind of endearing?

Cabanela & Kamila: best uncle and that’s that on that. Does he teach her magic tricks? Is he not great with kids but makes an effort? What does she build that just blows his mind?

Cabanela & Missile: guard dogs bark bark. They obviously adore each other, what else can Cabanela teach Missile - and what can Missile teach Cabanela? What could they disagree about?

Cabanela & Pigeon Man: how do they meet in the new timeline, what makes their odd friendship stick this time? I love how they play off each other, with Pigeon Man’s snark bouncing off Cabs' very secure ego... does Pigeon Man end up feeling fatherly about him, in some way?

Cabanela/Jowd: please no infidelity, I only like the ship without Alma during the canon times when Alma is dead or at most a what-if where she’s not around. Did Cabanela lower his mask for a hot minute during their walk to the minister’s office, did those ~immeasurably deep~ feelings ever find an outlet? What if he’d stayed dead and tagged along with Jowd and Lynne after 15? What if no-reset scenarios? Or office shenanigans where Alma is backgrounded by virtue of not working there but she’s okay with what’s going on.

Cabanela/Jowd/Alma: what’s a hobby one of them has that the other two are dragged into? How about a day at the beach? Or in a cabin? I’ll take hot springs or basically any standard anime filler plot too. Unless you want to write about their get-together, which will never get old for me - Cabs’ stoic pining and Jowd and Alma realizing they want him and telling him is my catnip

Jowd & Lynne & Memry: please show me the Worst Mentor doing his Worst Mentoring? How is chicken involved? Do the two young detectives give him some hope for the future? What’s Memry angling for, actually?

Jowd & Pigeon Man: anything about their friendships from back in the day when Pigeon Man was still Jowd’s coroner to a new timeline where PM is still fascinated by meteors/astronomy/alien conspiracies and Jowd humors him…

Jowd & Sissel: oh the shenanigans. Some clever communication between them, on a case or otherwise? Sissel doing cat things? Gossiping through the ghost world?

Kamila & Amelie: what are they like a few years down the line, how has their friendship evolved? Throw all your aged-up headcanons at me!

Lynne & Memry: next generation detectives! Action! Ridiculous murders! Secret ghost cats! A little bit in the future maybe? Odd girl & odder girl teaming up and leaning into each other’s quirks… maybe undercover?

Lynne/Memry: same as above but they kiss - and Memry trying to get through Lynne’s obliviousness sounds like my kind of fun.

Pigeon Man & Blue Doctor: for how long has the blue doctor been a secret agent stationed in this country, has Pigeon Man crossed his path before?

Rindge & Lynne & Memry: Rindge’s burden is to be the normal one in a cast of unabashed weirdos. Memry won’t let him live it down. Lynne is faintly amused, and wishes the three of them could get a big case to show off their amazing skills...

Sissel & Missile & Lovey-Dove: pets doing pet things! What’s Lovey’s secret, how is she so blue and so strong? Sissel and Missile are on the case!

Cabanela: blind me with sparkles. I love Cabanela being fierce and dazzling bright and determined and loyal to the very end, dancing to his own rhythm, so sure of himself and of his ideas that he doesn’t even need to prove to anyone that he’s right. Too sure of the wrong idea, once, and everything crashed and burned. Casefic with ghosts? External pov about how various characters in the Special Investigation Unit see their boss?

Dark Souls

I’m only familiar with the first game! It’s probably relevant to mention that I think that linking the fire is kind of a dumbass move. There’s no winning move in this world, or at least no obvious one. It follows that I see Solaire as kind of a dumbass, tragically, inescapably drawn to a false flame even in his better ending, a paladin in a world of uncaring gods - if the topic comes up, I’d just prefer if the narrative didn’t validate his choice. Feel free to deviate from anyone's canon endings, to make things happen that'll stave off their hollowing.

Solaire & Siegmeyer: they’re both questing all across Lordran, any chance of a meeting? Could two good-natured people feel less hollow for a while in each other’s company?

Solaire & Laurentius: sun VS pyromancy go! Do their philosophies clash or can they find common ground?

Solaire & Logan: what’s Logan’s tolerance for sparkly sun boy? And what about THEIR philosophies?

Unlimited:SaGa

I’ve been in love with this game since it came out and the Scarlet Grace announcement got me all fannish again! Feel free to expand upon any of the game’s settings, they’re so charming and all so vague!

Iskandar & Leith Torles: well I spent the whole game waiting for some exposition about these two and what little there is... is in the artbook, according to the wiki? Could you expand upon that or make up something else?

Pharr & Grace: friends! And adventuring! Telling friend about adventuring? Leading friend to adventuring and discovering she’s quite apt herself?

Laura: some down time with anyone in her scenario? Or Mythe’s scenario fwiw. Who does she bond with aside from Henry?

Platyphyllum: what’s it like for a plant to travel with animals for a while? Feel free to have them bounce off anyone in either of their routes, or anyone in the cast really.

The Last Remnant

David/Rush is a welcome exception to my “no unrequested ships” DNW. I’m very interested in post-game exploration, and getting a clearer feeling of any of the cities and assorted places.

David Nassau & Torgal & Allan: like a platonic V, I’m intrigued by Torgal’s chillness toward David and by his conflictual relationship with Allan. Put all three of them in the same room and...? Skilled diplomat vs catty cat and poor Torgal in the middle?

Emmy & Glenys & Sheryl & Kate: I don’t have a specific plot hook here, I just love them all, they’re very different people and I’d like to see how they fared traveling together - or reuniting after the end of their travels! Or four unconnected vignettes, one each.

Pagus & Maddox & Sibal & Zolean: this is a ‘please adopt Zolean, he’s sad’ plea. He lost an old friend and the other three can sympathize with that, I think, and drag him into their renewed friendship and bond over being old soldiers. And three Qsiti and a Yama are fun to picture...

Pagus/Maddox/Sibal: old men being together like they couldn’t be in their youth when life got in the way, please? Get-together (who makes a move…?) or established Qsiti triad would all be amazing…

Pyre

Any cutesy activity lifted from the game would be great, like X doing laundry with Y. Any postcanon very welcome with any combination of endings as long as the revolution was peaceful. I love everyone so much. Good with background ships I requested (eg Vofred/Tariq or Bertie/Pamitha mentioned in a Volfred&Sandra fill for whatever reason), Hedwyn/Fikani, Reader/Sandra and Volfred/Oralech if applicable.

Big Bertrude & Volfred Sandalwood: something nice Volfred does for Bertrude? Some mild adventure as he brought her to the Nightwings? A bizarre request for her shop? That dialogue about their relationship slew me dead - friendship through unrequited love is one of my rare tropes, so I’d like to see any aspect of their bond. Or epistolary with an ending that splits them, either way?

Big Bertrude & Sir Gilman: consider: sneks. Tiny snake looking up to grumpy bundle of snakes in a trenchcoat. Doing snake things. SNAKES. Her convo about ascended Gilman is adorable and I wish we could see that begrudging affection in some actual interaction...

Big Bertrude/Pamitha Theyn: they just get each other and it slays me. A friendship and then more for them alone, away from the rabble of the Blackwagon... Bertrude patching up her wing best as she can... joining Pam on her travels (and complaining the entire time)...

Jodariel/Celeste: if the Heralds make it to the Union to get a shot at living a life of their own, and Tariq already has his friends and his interests in the material world, what’s left for Celeste? Maybe she could find herself unexpectedly close to Jodi, who’s good with distance and silence and also feels like the world doesn’t need her anymore...

Jodariel & Sir Gilman: On war, honor, the Bloodborder… Sir Gilman is in awe of her, obviously, but is she in a state of mind where she can be boosted by his unrelenting energy?

Tariq & Big Bertrude: he knows how to treat a lady!!! And her usual tricks just bounce off his back like water off a very polite duck. In short, they’re the perfect comedy duo, or they could be brought together by a serious cause like a Volfred in distress?

Tariq & Sir Gilman: it is a known fact that the chivalric code includes the protection of the weak and defenceless and the respect of the honour of... the moon?

Volfred Sandalwood & Sandra: banter banter banter Scribes. He usually banks on his age, but he’s a baby compared to her, and their views are distant but both reasonable... did they ever have a chat when he was the Reader of the Nightwings, or does the Reader bring her along for a visit postcanon?

Volfred Sandalwood/Tariq: All I know is Tariq of all people fell and fell hard - he makes it sound like Volfred is the biggest deal ever and he’s some servant… but he’s the herald and Volfred is actually some dude who got kicked Downside (albeit a particularly charismatic and idealistic dude). And I like this double imbalance very much. What happened in the woods during Volfred’s self-imposed exile? Or do they find each other again after the ending, in the Union? If you want to lean on how alien Tariq is and/or how tree Volfred is, please do!

[rachelkaser]

Gears 5 is an experiment -- one that (mostly) failed

Gears 5 is a game from a studio that really wants to try new things. It’s a new entry in a very entrenched franchise that tries to bolt said new things onto an established-to-the-point-of-obstinancy gameplay formula. It’s an interesting experiment -- and, though the experiment wasn’t successful, I think it does set some important groundwork for the next game.

There were quite a number of franchise games that came out this year that excelled specifically because they returned us to the kind of gameplay we’re used to from them -- Kingdom Hearts 3 brought its JRPG madness after years of development hell, Devil May Cry 5 tripled down on its over-the-top action. Hell, Ubisoft basically slapped some pink paint on Far Cry 5 and shoved it out the door as Far Cry New Dawn and it was perfectly acceptable.

All Gears 5 had to do was basically that: Give us more of the same gameplay we’ve had all along, and we’d have gobbled it up. So I actually am surprised that developers The Coalition have chosen to experiment with it as much as they did.

But here’s the thing: While I do think the attempts to add new spice to the formula didn’t work out in this instance, I think they could if they were properly incorporated into the game. I’m not using the word “failed” to mean the game was bad -- because it wasn’t bad. But it definitely tried some new stuff, and failed to successfully incorporate that new stuff into the final product. With a few select changes, I think it could definitely pull it off better when it’s time for Gears 6.

Empty lands

The biggest new change is, of course, the open world. I’ve already expounded on most of my thoughts in my review for The Next Web, but I’ll add one thing I didn’t cover there: The characters don’t interact with each other nearly enough to justify the empty spaces. Especially during the second (and final) open level where you’re parasailing around this Mars-like red hellscape with four of the main characters packed onto the vehicle together, and they’ll say maybe ten words to each other. I feel they could have done more to alleviate the boredom.

This wouldn’t be a huge problem -- the story moments serve to build the character relationships sufficiently -- except when it comes to the final moments of the game. Then the game takes a very sharp turn into territory it has heretofore not tried.

I’m going to drop some truly epic *SPOILERS* here, so consider yourself warned.

In the final moments of the game, heroine Kait Diaz is attempting to fight off the Swarm Queen, a.k.a. her imperfectly resurrected mother Reyna. The Queen somehow manages to snatch up Kait’s two best friends, JD Fenix and Del Walker. Because she only has one knife to throw at their tentacle-y restraints (long story) she can only save one of them.

Okay. So. Two problems with this.

Problem One: The Options

I imagine that, when the developers were drafting the story for this game, there was a moment when one of the staffers raised their hands and asked the obvious question: “Why would anyone want to save Del?”

It would have been a fair question, too. While Del is a perfectly likable companion, JD is both the son of series hero Marcus Fenix and was himself the protagonist of the last game. Kait was without question always going to be the player character for Gears 5 -- Gears 4 was already her story, and I’m sure The Coalition realized what a splash it’d be to have the main character of the latest in this notoriously testosterone-fueled franchise be a woman. But still, going into Gears 5, JD will have made far more headway with the average player than Del.

So what’s the solution? The Coalition appears to have taken a two-pronged approach to solving this problem, stemming from the same incident. In the prologue of the game, JD instigates a disastrous Hail Mary attack in an attempt to get his squad unpinned in a big battle, which results in the death of Lizzy Carmine. After this incident, he becomes positively Byronic with his perpetual broodiness and bad mood.

To compound this sudden personality change, he’s retroactively revealed to have been part of a major war crime (that apparently took place between games, because I don’t recall it ever being mentioned before), in which he ordered his fellow Gears to fire on civilians. Needless to say, this turns Del against him, and his hostility towards Kait over his suspicions about her lineage alienates her as well.

While this is happening, Del proves himself to be a true mensch, siding with Kait and accompanying her on her quest to find out how she’s related to the Swarm. He supports her when she has a meltdown upon learning the truth, covers her when she tries to get the Swarm’s hive mind burned out of her brain, and even gives JD hell when he comes slinking back to join the two with his proverbial tail between his legs. I can’t say he’s exactly given much character development, and he’s certainly no Dom despite that blatantly being the hole he was created to fill. But his friendship with Kait definitely feels more developed and meaningful this time ... but only because JD’s not around.

I can say that this whole palaver works, in that I did feel torn about who of the two I wanted to save. But it’s robbing Peter to pay Paul, kneecapping JD in a false attempt to uplift Del. The reason I mentioned before that the characters needed to interact more on the open world traversal is because I think it would have been perfectly plausible to have the characters bond more deeply and therefore make the final choice more difficult purely by having them interact more in this big empty space. It just feels like there had to have been a better way to balance this than by completely altering JD’s character.

To put it into perspective, the entire prologue is about giving JD a good reason to not be in the game for a few acts so that Del can get some more bonding time with Kait. And while I have no proof of it, I’m convinced that this whole thing happened because the developers started with the idea that the game was going to end with Kait’s choice, and then they built the rest of the story around it.

Which brings me to the next problem...

Problem Two: The Suddenness

The choice of who to save, Del or JD, is literally the only time in the entire game the player is called upon to make a choice of any kind. The rest of the campaign is purely linear. The problem with including choice in your narrative is that you can’t throw in such an important one in at the literal final hour -- at least, not without it feeling stupidly contrived.

I had this same problem with Resident Evil 7, which also throws in a last minute “who do you save” option. In that game’s case, it was essentially what would have happened if Gears 5 hadn’t built Del and Kait’s friendship up. The choices were Mia, main character Ethan’s wife whom he’d spent the entire game trying to rescue; and Zoe, a woman Ethan had known only a few hours.

The vast majority of gamers I saw had the same reaction: Why would you ever save Zoe? Mia is Ethan’s wife and rescuing her is the only reason we’re in this nightmare, so if you don’t save her, the entire game was for nothing. And even if you pick Zoe, she dies anyway and you get the bad ending. There’s also a whole story DLC about Zoe’s uncle coming to rescue her after Ethan leaves her behind, which it just assumes is what you did, so why the fuck was this even an option?!

As an example of how this works when done properly, see the first Mass Effect game. What that particular game did well -- and what the sequels, though I love them, failed to do quite as wonderfully -- was weave in both big, meaningful choices and smaller ones. At the one minute, you’re trying to decide if you should make a pleasant or harsh dialogue choice. At the next, you’re trying to decide whether or not you should exterminate the last living member of an alien race.

It’s all building up, not necessarily to the final battle, but to the mission on Virmire. In this pivotal mission, you must decide which of two teammates to save. Both have had your backs for every moment of this multi-hour RPG, and the prospect of losing either one is heartbreaking. But while it’s a gut punch, it’s not wholly unexpected -- the entire game has been priming you to make exactly this kind of big, meaningful, terrible choice.

Gears 5 doesn’t build you up to its final decision. You’re basically playing Rooty-Tooty-Duck-n-Shooty, then all of a sudden the game asks you which of your two closest friends you want to see die. I don’t feel anything from this choice, because I wasn’t emotionally prepared to be making a choice, if that makes sense. It feels so out-of-the-blue that I more or less detached from it -- I definitely didn’t feel that sense of deep conflict and upset that I did during the Virmire mission.

Heck, at least when Wolfenstein: The New Order did this, it had the courtesy both to do it at the beginning of the game and to not pretend it made any real difference... and I still felt more deeply affected by that choice than I did by the one at the end of Gears 5.

This dabbling in open world, in player choice -- it’s not done well in Gears 5. But I sense this is something the developers are just trying out. Just because I don’t think the attempt succeeded doesn’t mean I’m not interested in seeing them trying again. There are the seeds of something really good here, even if they didn’t grow in this particular soil.

If The Coalition can figure out a way to fill their open worlds and make player choice a core part of the narrative rather than something to surprise the player with at the last minute, it could actually make Gears 6 into something interesting and different.

[knightofbalance-13]

http://sssn-neptune-vasilias.tumblr.com/post/155896702298/i-guess-the-jaune-issue-is-really-starting-to

A bit older than what I am use to but I believe my point will remain relevant for now and deep into the future of the FNDM.

So let’s go!

“I guess the “Jaune Issue” is really starting to boil yet again. It’s happened almost every season and I can almost understand the need to want to protect him from people who’re being overly harsh on him, or those who just downright hate him, but at this point, four seasons in, if you can sympathize with Jaune more than the people who’re put off by Jaune, you’re missing something really important- something that people have been arguing is a really big issue with this show in general“

So in essence: if you think with our threats to painfully kill him, maim him, torture him and his writer, you’re wrong and this is why you are wrong.

Also, this is coming from the fan of the (by RWDE standards) womanizer Neptune? Yeah....

I just wanna start off with saying a lot of people feel cheated out of a different anime thanks to Jaune. All of the marketing during the trailers and most marketing today is about RWBY- four girls- and the audience this show gathered back then was obviously an audience who were hungry and starved for more shows that featured girls kicking monster ass. Jaune becoming such a prominent side character that he’s essentially one of the main protagonists now was something not many people wanted, and something the show or Jaune has never really earned.

Yes and those people are oversensitive idiots. I know this sounds hypocriticial of me considering my previous point but here’s the deal: I went through all of Volume 4 and counted the seconds of time were Jaune got the focus. This means that he had to be the one the narrative was focused on, things like the Kuroyuri talk does not count because the narrative is using Jaune as a mouthpiece to focus on RWBY. Jaune’s amount of focus? 5;44 minutes. Down to the second, Jaune does not even have enough time to make a Volume 1 episode, let alone compared to the girls. For reference, yang the one who was criminally underused had 16:32 minuets of time, nearly triple that of Jaune. He is not the “main character” as everyone keeps saying.

And then there’s the fact that Jaune along with the rest of Team JNPR ARE main characters, confirmed by Monty himself. There is no debate, there is no ambiguity: Monty wrote Jaune as a main character like Pyrrha, Ren and Nora. So that argument is even false at the base.

And here’s the thing: Characters like Jaune prevent RWBY from falling into a dangerous trap as female eccentric shows have a strong tendency to neglect the male gender as their distaff counter parts do the opposite. Even the manliest of these shows like Kill La Kill do not have a strong male cast yet RWBY is special in that it’s writing is good enough to support both genders thus making it feel so much more organic and real. And Jaune, acting as a foil to Ruby is an important element in that: the only reason that Jaune lost his focus didn’t disturb this balance was other male characters like Taiyang and Ghira picking up that slack.

“Jaune started off as an audience surrogate (a trope you can learn more about in the link provided, and I’m gonna be linking back to tropes like this as often as I can). Everyone else in the world that we’d met so far already knew what Hunters were supposed to be doing, what Beacon was for, etc, etc. Ruby or Nora wouldn’t ever need to ask about Aura or Semblances or weapons, because they’ve been training and fighting for years before Beacon. Juane is the character who needed this all explained to him, and through Jaune’s eyes, we were given crucial information about the world. In a show like RWBY, a Jaune is important, as it eases the burden of world-building and allows these really basic conversations that normally wouldn’t be happening with regular characters to happen with Jaune.”

And yet people have demanded that Jaune be removed entirely from the show and proclaim he does not and has never had a purpose.

And you talk as though Jaune as stopped being the audience surrogate. Many of his scenes in Volume 4 (Getting tossed around, growing in Pyrrha’s memory, his silent mourning of Pyrrha, his scorn of Qrow and his talk with Ruby) are reflections of the fanbase and it’s attitude or feelings. He hasn’t stopped being an Audience surrogate no matter how much you say otherwise buddy.

“Jaune then continued to evolve as a sympathetic character during Jaunedice. “I’m tired of being the lovable idiot stuck in the tree while his friends risk their lives!” That line to this day is still so fucking powerful, and Miles Luna is so fucking good at delivering those heart-wrenching lines with quivering voices about feeling inadequate. During season one of this show, people LOVED Jaune. “My baby” “My son” etc, were common terms of endearment for him because Jaune’s feelings of inadequacy were so powerful and so relatable. Despite the fact that Jaune Arc was basically the “Ordinary High School Student” main protagonist of every shounen anime ever, the FNDM loved him anyway because of his conviction. He desperately wanted to get better and we believed him beyond a shadow of a doubt.”

... No they didn’t. People ahted him back then for consuming a fourth of the first volume and for the most part rightfully so as episodes like Jaunedice and the Badge and The Burden were addressed in previous epsiodes and should have been longer running conflicts.

And Jaune is STILL relateable to this day as he is almost completely helpless to keep what little people he has left safe as he is so woefully underpowered, he is bitter about life beating them down and drew strength from another to keep moving forward. Just like real people.

“Despite all of this, Jaune took up an unearned amount of screen time during season 1. Jaunedice 1, Jaunedice 2, Forever Fall 1 and Forever Fall 2 was a four episode long arc based almost exclusively around Jaune. 4 episodes and 25 minutes spent on away from RWBY and the rest of the plot of the show just to showcase Arkos’ rocky start, reveal Jaune’s dark secret, and a bullying arc that all could’ve taken less than an episode to tell and ended up resolving itself in a self-defeating way: Pyrrha never told Jaune she helped him kill the Ursa in the forest. Despite the fact that Jaune was ready and willing to allow Pyrrha to teach him how to fight, Pyrrha never took the time out to explain to him how absolutely dead he would’ve been had she not intervened. Because of this, Jaune doesn’t get the growth he needed, he doesn’t actually get to understand just how dangerous this job really is. It spares Jaune’s feelings, but also puts him and everyone he’ll ever fight with in danger until he actually learns that lesson.’

Except Jaune knows how weak he is, never fights directly unless forced too (like against the Nuckelvee or the Grimm horde) and gives out orders like a tactician.

And then there’s the fact that Jaune’s arc benefitted Pyrrha heavily as well: it showed how much she cared about jaune, how close they are, her flaws (threatening Cardin) and her strengths (forgiving and understanding Jaune) as a character. It was done to her benefit too so it was not solely Jaune.

And I’ve already tackled all the bullshit surrounding Arkos criticism so I won’t repeat it here. Just because a ship is straight does not make it bad.

“Granted, if you’re unwilling to forgive a show for not-so-great pacing and a few loose ends during its first season, you probably shouldn’t have been following a start-up show like RWBY in the first place. The writers were so obviously just beginning to learn how to tell the story, and needed time to get better. So most people held their complaints and waited until season two.”

Judging from what I’ve seen, not one person held back about Jaune’s arc and even blow it out of proportion so much. So that’s not true at all.

“Here’s where shit absolutely hit the goddamn fan.”

Your shit and your fan, that is. and unfortunately for me, I have to mope it up.

“Jaune had a crush on Weiss since volume 1, while Pyrrha had a crush on him from before he’d even seen Weiss. The same Love Triangle trope we see all the time. It’s a bit tired, and Tumblr hates it for its heteronormative aspects, its potential to create abusive relationships, and for the simple fact that polyamorous relationships are an easy way to end the trope, but most people just shrugged it off because it hadn’t been to intrusive yet. Then it got really fucking intrusive. Jaune. Wouldn’t. Leave. Her. Alone. Over and over again she rejected him and he continued to pursue her. Walking to her dorm to harass her and ask her to the dance, harassing her during class, etc, etc. Now considering a lot of the FNDM were women, Jaune alienated the core audience RT had been marketing towards. So many women came forward feeling irked, annoyed, and even triggered by Jaune’s constant harassment. He was every guy that didn’t know how to take “no” for an answer to these women- and if you talk to them, almost all of them have at least one story similar. But for some reason the narrative painted WEISS as the bad guy here. With Yang ruffling Jaune’s hair with “Some day” and Yang again calling Weiss an “ice queen” after slamming their door in his face, the show had somehow made Weiss the antagonist to Jaune’s “lovable and charismatic dope.” Pair that weird framing with younger male members of the FNDM who related even more with Jaune because of this, and it was a disaster. So many posts from guys about how “girls just don’t understand how hard it is to try to flirt” and “if Weiss weren’t so mean to him then maybe he’d get the message” flooded the tag and it was just all around disgusting. Because of how the show had framed Jaune as the guy trying his hardest to earn what he wanted up to that point, “Weiss” just became “something he wanted” instead of an actual person who had no romantic interest in him whatsoever. Then the added conversation with Neptune sealed the deal and people outright despised him for his grandiose, accusatory and entirely hypocritical tone he took with Neptune. Most women were put off almost entirely by a character they used to identify with. Some guys identified with him even harder because they hadn’t yet learned that Jaune’s failures at love weren’t something to sympathize with, but to correct.“

... This is sexist as fuck.

Every instance of Jaune here can be used step for step against Pyrrha. Won’t leave lover alone despite not being interested? Check. Constantly shows disinterest and keeps going? Check. Only gives up when they see that they can’t win? Check and double check because unlike Jaune who stopped, Pyrrha kept going afterwards. And unlike Jaune who is treated as in the wrong with Weiss, Pyrrha is treated as in the right.

And you act as though that guys are the only ones who do this: Women do this too and guys don't get pissy when a girl can't take no for answer because most of the time it's a personal flaw, not a gender flaw. Jaune personally did not undertsnad that and again unlike Pyrrha, learned to move on.

... No, it wasn't. The narrative treated Jaune as being wrong. Sympathetic but still wrong as his positive resolution only comes by letting go. And again, I hear no one getting on Pyrrha’s case.

And the story clearly shows that unlike what Weiss and YOU PEOPLE thought, Jaune wanted to get to know who Weiss was, not what she is. He loved her for who she was, not what she was. And that is what seperates Jaune and Pyrrha’s behaviors form stalkers: They care about the other person and want what is best for them, not theirselves.

P.S. A friend of mine @tumblezwei alone said she didn’t find it offensive at all so you saying that alienated all of the women in the audience is wrong. In fact, I’d bet most women didn’t thin of it that way at all (especially considering I never found Pyrrha to be creepy in any iteration until recently)

‘So we ended up with this huge divide in the FNDM, and people on the left didn’t want anything to do with Jaune even if they’d previously liked him, while people on the right would go to any length to defend his actions and keep up the same “he’s just a teenager, he doesn’t know any better” attitude that Jaune himself had asked people to stop using on him.:

No, he asked people to stop thinking eh needed coodling, not that he wanted people to let them say things that would make Cardin vomit.

“Two other nitpicks from season 2 were Jaune reading comics while he was supposed to be studying, and Jaune’s reaction to seeing Pyrrha take charge during The Breach when he’d failed to. The first is just a minor character inconsistency- season 1 he’d been so willing to try to learn to be the best Huntsman he could be, why is he slacking off long before his first real test as a Huntsman? The second, though, was a bit more alarming. With RWBY in trouble, Jaune hesitates, unsure of how to rush in to battle. Pyrrha takes charge and rallies JNPR forward into the fight. Jaune- instead of running behind his teammates, instead of being glad Pyrrha helped him out, instead of being thankful- groans at the missed opportunity. Not only was that groan inconsistent with Jaune’s earlier promise to allow Pyrrha to help him, it was just downright childish. People’s lives are on the line and he wastes time from joining the fight to pout that he didn’t get to rush his team into battle? That’s good behavior from a leader at all.“

Was he the butt of a joke? yes? Then it is totally in character for him to gran that life is making him into a joke yet again. And you utright acknowledge these to be nitpicks and yet treat them as glaring flaws. Also, no one mentioned the fact tahthe Finale was anti-climatic that it neglected Nora and Ren, that Penny’s reveal was fumbled ect.? Really? I call bullshit.

“Two seasons in and there’s already a divide about Jaune. He’d taken up so much screen time and people were all around tired of seeing him. People were so tired of Jaune as a character, that he was the only character whose figure didn’t sell out at RTX and ComiCon. Again, here’s where I’m assuming RT got the hint- less Jaune please”

And then tehre’s the fact that Jaune has the most fanart and fanfiction around him that excludes shipping. Also, just because people didn’t buy a fucking figurine that means less Jaune? And people really liked the arc with the dance in Volume 2 for resolving the Love Triangle, developing Pyrrha, Jauen and Neptune so your argument once again does nt have a leg to stand upon.

“And they followed through! Jaune had so few lines season three and so much less screen time some of the people who’d been feeling alienated by him started to get over it. Jaune was finally being used to further Pyrrha’s plot- a plot with actual relevance to the overall plot of RWBY- instead of his own. He said all the right things, his characterization stayed consistent, and people genuinely felt bad for him when Pyrrha shoved him in the locker and blasted him off. The one thing Jaune hated the most, and Pyrrha did it to him to save his life. Granted, a lot of people took issue with the fact that Jaune never actually tried to get a hold of any of the professors Ozpin had commanded him to, and instead called Weiss before breaking his phone, but not everyone’s perfect. “

Here’s the deal: Qrow stepped into the spot light and picked up jauen’s slack, ergo why Jaune’s downplayed importance is fine here as a notehr male character picked up his importance. That and the fact that jaune was downplayed not because RT was cattering to you people but that’s how Jaune was built: He needed to step down personally, not out of fan outcry. Volume 3 was already written well before you started bitching so this doesn’t work.

“Season one Jaune was back during season three. Someone the original targeted audience could and wanted to relate to.”

Ironic considering jaune’s purprose as an audience surrogate was at it’s least prominate in Volume 3 and Ruby became the Audience Surrogate as she suffered the harsh reality crashing in like the rest of us. Jaune’s character was only liked when his purpose was mostly removed and he wasn’t seen or heard that much: Again, if not for Qrow, this would have been a huge problem.

“Unfortunately the plot is bending yet again to Jaune Arc’s shenanigans. Most people can agree the pacing for this season is god awful, but somehow the efficiency of Jaune’s alienation of the original FNDM has increased.“

And here comes the bullshit.

““We hit it, harder” was an absolutely terrible explanation to his actually somewhat decent plan, that required further explanation and precious time the others could’ve gotten seriously hurt during.”

It was a joke and the narrative treated it as such, not to mention this happened in Volume 3 with team BRNZ and you said not one word ergo you have lost the right to complain about this.

“Melting down Pyrrha’s shield and tiara into his armor seemed like an entirely inappropriate gesture- instead of being laid to rest, they’re being used to strengthen Jaune? The gesture would seem less inappropriate if Jaune actually managed to start becoming a better fighter, but no… no he doesn’t.“

Actually he was becoming a better fighter as he actually damaged the Nucklevee, didn’t get killed by Tyrian and has been shown to be training. You also talks as though a character whose purpose was to strength another is a bad thing: hear that? Kamina’s calling and he’s gonna make you griyt your teeth if you say that again.

“Jaune getting all of the character development the loss of Pyrrha allotted the team is just bad writing. ALL of RNJR (as well as RWBY) lost a friend in Pyrrha. So far Jaune’s been the only person to have gotten any sort of growth from her loss (the recordings she left behind). Jaune wasn’t supposed to be a main character, why has he taken up growth that could’ve been spread evenly across RNJR or delegated to Ruby- the main protagonist of the story.‘

Yes, eh was menat to be a main character. Monty has confirmed it: Deal with it.

Oh really? Only Jaune? Jaune who devolved into a bitter cynic? And not Ruby who came to accept the world around her and still choose to fight, hwo had her values tested the most and who had most of Jaune’s mourning scenes (forest training nd Kuroyuri) dedicated to her and Jaune is only developing because Ruby gave him strength?

P.S. Don’t need to remind us that everyone lost Pyrrha, Jaune does a better job of it for you.

“Calling Jaune the “strategist” of the team always seemed so out of place. Even more so considering how quick-thinking and resourceful Ruby always has been, from opening Neo’s umbrella, to shooting Nora with lightning Dust during the Tyrian fight in such a way Tyrian entirely thought the shot had been meant for him and gave Nora a clear shot for what would’ve been a fantastic OHKO. A couple of ill-described plans does not a strategist make.“

No one else ever noticed the Geist was protecting it’s face, no one else noticed that the Nuckelvee’s sides were unprotected. Him being the stradgest makes perfect sense.

“Tyrian’s insinuation at being interested in Jaune for some unknown reason was- at least for me- the straw that broke the camel’s back. What exactly is so interesting about Jaune Arc? Well, we the audience don’t know- nor do most of us really care at this point- but RT will be sure to tell us eventually anyway. This pattern of giving Jaune unearned and undeserved attention stretches all the way to people who’re actively plotting the world’s demise. We’re tired of him, stop making him even more important without having him earn it!”

.... Dude, when someone like Tyrian says you interest me, it translates as “I am going to especially enjoy stabbing you.” It’s like if Freddy Krueger started making sexual advances towards you: Its suppose to freak you out. And considering Tyrian pulled off a rape face that would compete with fucking Yami Marik’s, I think he did a good job especially considering Jaune is the Audience surrogate as you said thus this is a subconscious attempt to directly creep out the audience: And it worked all because of Jaune.

“Jaune closing his eyes, entirely unimpeded and unencumbered while holding the melted down remains of someone who died to protect her friends as the first person to ever show him an ounce of kindness at Beacon was about to die was so absolutely terribly bad. Ren and Nora at least were trying to recover from Tyrian’s assault. Jaune closed his eyes and grit his teeth and didn’t even bother trying.”

Considering the last time someone made a Heroic Sacrifice it left Ruby with mild PTSD and made Jaune cynical, I think eh knew that even if he did die for Ruby that would only serve to amek her sadder. And again. he’s the Audience Surrogate: He’s helpless because we are helpless to save Ruby. I bet you everyone closed their eyes in defeat just as Jaune did when Tyrian was gonna introduce his stinger to Ruby’s innards.

“And after watching Qrow save Ruby’s life and suffer a pretty bad injury at the hands of Tyrian, begins to demean Qrow for the adverse effects of his Semblance. “Some load of help you’ve been.” Jaune’s talking down to a man who’s not only a father figure to Ruby, but a man who saved all of RNJR’s lives and who stepped in to save Ruby when Jaune was too busy trying not to watch“

Same guy who also forced Pyrrha into becoming a Madien, killing her and openly attracts Grimm like a walking talking steak. jaune has some right to be bitter.

“Last episode left off with Jaune being a huge dick to Ruby, who was only trying to comfort him. “They’ll be okay. “You don’t know that.” Jaune. Buddy. Pal. You’re kinda holding the comatose body of Ruby’s uncle, desperately trying to find medical help before he dies. “Our two friends who just split up probably won’t be okay” is not what she needs to hear right now. But for some reason, framing Jaune as more pragmatic was more important than giving Ruby and growth or emotion about the whole situation? Okay…”

*Sigh* SOmetimes trying to comfort someone does tehe xact opposite and it was more important considering it was to foreshadow the danger of the Nucklevee and red herring detah flags onto Ren and Nora. Also, you care about what Ruby needs to hear but not Jaune huh? I smell bias...

“Now- for the reason I’m writing this in the first place- the Great War WoR. People are already assuming Jaune’s weapon, Crocea Mors was the sword the King of Vale had used during the final battle. Whether or not it is, whether or not Jaune is a relative of the King and through that, royalty. Whether or not all of these theories are unfounded, I can say this. Through my observation of the FNDM, most people are tired of Jaune Arc. Making him an heir of the king or placing any more unearned importance on him is going to drain people“

People alos assumed Roman was going to be a long lasting villain, Raven was going to be a good mom, Qrow’s semblence was just shapeshifting, that yang would be all better by the beginning of Volume 4, that Blake didn’t have parents, that Sage and Scarlet were important characters ect. Doesn’t mean it will come true.

And from what I have seen, people love the shit out of Jaune and love him for who he is: You just refuse to acknowledge anything that doesn’t line up with your way of thinking.

And if people can still eb drained after listening to you, I commend their fortitude.

He will fight, he wil earn his spot as he has been doing and your compliants of “untapped potential” and over focus and bad writing will just be that: compliants. Meaningless, stupid, obnoxious complaining.

Learn to watch the damn show.

[rynehambright]

20 Not So Sweet 16.

2016 felt like the weirdest mixed bag. Like one minute you could reach in to find a delicious piece of your grandma's homemade peanut brittle and the next you might pull your hand out to realize three of your fingers were missing. "It is what it is” so they say, and this year certainly...was.

Below you will find my top 20 of '16. On this list there are records, movies, books and more. Eligibility was granted to anything and everything that 1. entertained me and 2. had an original release date in the calendar year. Anywho, I've got to keep this short before our new President takes over and this domain changes to Trumplr.

20. Hello, My Name is Doris

As terrible as 2016 proved to be in the taking of some of our greatest artists, thank the Lord not a hair on Sally Field’s head was harmed.  Turning in her quirkiest and most charming performance to date, Field plays Doris, a young-at-heart sixty something who is trapped between the comings of old age and the millennial workplace.  When a new hire, played by New Girl’s Max Greenfield enters the picture, Doris finds herself falling for a man that could comfortably be her grandson. It all sounds so horribly wrong but feels so honestly right. You do you, Doris. (SPOILER ALERT: She does.)

19. Cleopatra - The Lumineers

With the strength of a thousand fedoras, The Lumineers roared onto the scene with 2012's Top 40 hit 'Ho Hey'. The self-titled album that housed the track proved to be a powerhouse of its own, expertly blending folk and Americana instrumentation with pop melodies. This year's followup, Cleopatra continues to expand the band's discography both sonically and narratively. Handily overcoming the pitfalls of the sophomore slump, the album finds The Lumineers shining bright as ever.

Standout Tracks:

'Sleep on the Floor', 'Cleopatra' and 'Sick in the Head'

18. Life's Too Short to Pretend You're Not Religious - David Dark

When I hiked 250 miles of the Appalachian Trail earlier this spring, I took one book with me: David Dark's The Sacredness of Questioning Everything.  Early on in my read, I started underlining what were some of the most profound and relatable thoughts on Scripture and faith that I had ever come across.  By the time I finished I realized I had highlighted something on every single page.  Dark’s followup is, in the best way, more of the same.  ‘If what we believe is what we see is what we do is who we are, there's no getting away from religion."  Again, I recommend a Costco pack of highlighters.

17. 10 Cloverfield Lane

2008′s Cloverfield single-handedly reinvigorated the found footage genre.  I remember sitting in the theater being completely overwhelmed and shocked by the true horror and helplessness I felt coursing through me.  The only thing that would come to shock me even more was to learn a sequel of sorts had been filmed back in in 2015 under a false project name.  Some eight weeks after the first official trailer dropped early this year, 10 Cloverfield Lane found itself in wide release, a true feat in the digital age where major spoilers daily flood the pages of blogs and forums.  Set in the same universe as the original, the film takes place days prior to the first attack in New York City.  With a whip smart script and a powerhouse performance from John Goodman, 10 Cloverfield Lane left me wanting more, a LOT more, from the Cloverfield chronicles.  Thankfully, this October, we get just that.

16. Integrity Blues - Jimmy Eat World

Jimmy Eat World is one of maybe three bands I can think of that have put out multiple perfect records.  Both Bleed American and Futures are, in my not so humble opinion, flawless from front to back.  Since their crossover smash ‘The Middle’ was released, the band has spent the last two decades building an impressive, albeit under the radar, discography.  And while the band’s more recent releases have been more inconsistent than those releases, Integrity Blues is a step back in the direction of perfection.  Showcasing what has become the staple Jimmy Eat World sound while also ushering in a new future, the album is the perfect companion for a night drive when you have nowhere to be.  Continuing the tradition of having THE best album closers, ‘Pol Roger’ is the denouement of Integrity Blues and finds the band wings outstretched, taking full flight.  (Aside: Clear winner for album artwork of the year).   

Standout Tracks:

'The End is Beautiful', 'Integrity Blues' and 'Pol Roger'

15. Glory - Britney Spears

I’ve always had an idea for a meme of Britney Spears playing Quidditch, flying high on a broomstick, arms outstretched for the winged, golden ball with the words ‘IT’S BRITNEY, SNITCH’ in bold.  Felt like the right time to put that million dollar idea out there.  Truth be told, I’m always rooting for Britney.  As horrible as it sounds, I feel like she should have probably died in her late 20′s.  She had an infamous breakdown in 2007 that I’m not sure we will ever quite know the extent of (even now her parents still have a conservatorship over her) that would have taken most of us out.  Since then, she’s released three full-length studio albums, secured a multi-year Vegas residency and slowly built herself back into form.  Glory is the culmination of it all.  Easily the most underrated effort of 2016, the album is absolutely STACKED with bonafide pop anthems and what Tom Haverford would deem ‘bangers’.  Had the majority of these tracks been released by Selena Gomez or Katy Perry they would have ruled the roost and the airwaves but alas Britney has become a dark horse of sorts.  It’s the comeback we knew was a ‘when’ not an ‘if’.  It’s the phoenix from the ashes.  It’s Britney, bitch.

Standout Tracks:

'Do You Wanna Come Over?', 'Hard to Forget Ya' and 'Liar'

14. Don't Think Twice

 Mike Birbiglia has quietly and carefully been crafting a name for himself in the comedy community for some time.  I was introduced to him by my good friend Netflix when the 2012 Sundance darling Sleepwalk With Me was added to Instant Streaming.  While that effort left a lasting impression, this year’s followup, Don’t Think Twice leveled me.  Often times, the things that move us the most serve as mirror held close, expanding our field of vision and allowing us to see things the way they are.  For 92 minutes, Don’t Think Twice made everything clear, even when it hurt.

13. This is Acting - Sia

Any artist would kill to have a single chart on the Billboard Hot 100.  Most would kill AND sell their first born to have that single reach the summit and be deemed ‘Song of the Summer’.  Sia did that all of that...with a B-Side track (see: Cheap Thrills).  Undisputedly one of the most prolific and talented songwriters currently working in mainstream pop, Sia Furler had exclusively been known as the go-to girl for artist like Rihanna, Britney Spears, Katy Perry and Adele.  Then came 2014′s Chandelier, a global phenomenon and top 10 hit that allowed Sia to became her own brand and ultimately her own artist.  This Is Acting feels in some ways like a massive middle finger to the cutting room floor, as every single song on the album was intended for another artist who ultimately chose not to use it.  Believing the material was good enough to stand on its own, Sia chose to release what had unintentionally become B-Sides under her own moniker.  The album is further proof that everything Furler touches is gold and serves as a reminder that we have a Midas in our midst, even when we foolishly forget.

Standout Tracks:

'Bird Set Free', ‘Move Your Body' and 'Reaper'

12. Arrival

Everything about Arrival is different.  It’s a slow-burn drama about the power of communication disguised as a sleek sci-fi.  It’s a fictitious work serving as a very real warning sign.  It’s a testament to Albus Dumbledore that “Words are our most inexhaustible source of magic. Capable of both inflicting injury, and remedying it.”  With yet another tour de force performance from Amy Adams (is there anything the woman can’t do), Arrival is the kind of film that sits with you for days and makes you feel distinctly human.  Not because you’ve been made to stand beside an alien, but because you’re reminded that, in the end, we all want understanding.  Even though I figured out the slight of hand the film tried to pull quite early on, it didn’t even matter.  Arrival is that good.

11. Hero - Maren Morris

I was late to this party.  I had heard for months that this debut was something special, but because I wanted to spend another night in or had a Netflix marathon to run I never showed.  Then, the week after Thanksgiving, I finally decided to RSVP.  Maren Morris’ Hero is a rarity in its distinctness and maturity, something that seems far too developed and harnessed for a first timer.  ‘I Could Use a Love Song’ is arguably one of the best country ballads of the year while ‘80′s Mercedes’ could have a seat at the table with the best of Taylor Swift’s crossover hits.  A firecracker that doesn’t care much for self-restraint, Hero attests to the fact that Less isn’t Morris.

Standout Tracks:

'I Could Use a Love Song', '80′s Mercedes' and ‘Once'

10. 4 Your Eyez Only - J. Cole

J. Cole is an Avenger.  He, with the likes of Chance the Rapper and Kendrick Lamar have assembled to save hip hop.  4 Your Eyez Only isn’t about the material world, a place modern hip hop seems to have set up shop.  It’s about the big questions: What is society’s perception of me?  Why?  How have I found love and what do I do with it?  Am I worthy?  Do I want to be alive?  J. Cole wrestles with it all.  Like all of us, there are times when he has to tap out and others when he can go another round. Riddled with insecurity and vulnerability, the album ultimately serves as one huge love letter to his new wife.  One written from the exact opposite perspective of Nicholas Sparks.  One that seems a lot more real. 

Standout Tracks:

'She’s Mine Part 1 and 2', 'Neighbors' and 'Foldin Clothes'

9. Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them

You may not know this (I tend to keep it quiet) but I am a Harry Potter fan.  Everything about the magic, the world, and most importantly the characters exhilarates me in way few things in life can.  If I had to pick a safe word it would probably be ‘Expecto Patronum’ (which, with more thought, seems horribly fitting).  After the final book was released and Deathly Hallows Part 1 and 2 had long left theaters, Potter Heads everywhere were left with a hole that could only be filled by revisiting the series.  Then, last year, in an apparent attempt to give millions of people worldwide a heart attack at exactly the same time, author J.K. Rowling announced that she would serve as the screenwriter for a new prequel trilogy taking place some 70 years before Harry’s time.  Rowling more than made good on her promise.  The originally planned trilogy instead became a five part series, kicking off with this year’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.  The film is an expertly crafted launching pad for the 1920′s story of magizoologist Newt Scamader and his discovery and documenting of magical beasts throughout the Wizarding World.  The film evokes all the nostalgia and excitement that comes with reading a new Potter book for the first time -- the highest praise I know to give.

8. Where Am I Now? - Mara Wilson

The film that single-handedly shaped my childhood the most was Danny DeVito’s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Matilda.  It’s also one of a handful of films from that time that I can still watch as an adult and completely holds up. Naturally, when star Mara Wilson announced she was releasing a memoir that would heavily discuss her time as a child actress on flims like Mrs. Doubtfire, Miracle on 34th Street AND Matilda, I Amazon Primed the shit out of it.  I had been following Wilson on Twitter for years prior because of her prowess as a young writer and also because we had had a brief exchange about how good the songs in A Goofy Movie were.  Where Am I Now? is an absorbing read that seemed to constantly rotate between warming my heart and breaking it.

7. Manchester By The Sea

I will burn the Academy to the ground (a pun that’s in poor taste here) if Casey Affleck doesn’t take home the Oscar for his work in this film.  He gives absolute and full commitment to a man processing one of the worst tragedies imaginable, all without the gimmicks of losing a lot of weight or crawling into a horse carcass.  For all the heartbreak Manchester by the Sea serves (and I’m telling you it is a LOT), I somehow left the theater slightly hopeful.  Not because of a happy ending or because it has an uplifting message but because anytime this degree of honesty is put on display there’s not much else to do but be inspired.

6. Stranger Things

The pop culture event of the year, Netflix Stranger Things was something I stumbled upon on a Sunday morning in July.  I had no clue what it was (except that it had an incredible poster) but I DO remember that some eight hours after I started episode one I finally surfaced from my room for a burrito.  Led by a very welcomed return from Winona Ryder and five young finds, The Duffer Brothers truly and utterly turned my world Upside Down.

5. Coloring Book - Chance the Rapper

The uncontested breakout of the year, Chance the Rapper’s Coloring Book doesn’t worry about staying in the lines.  Not only is the content different from what any other artist is doing, so are the means.  Chance is 100% unsigned, operating without the backings of a major label and offering large amounts of his music (this album included) at no cost to his listeners.  Coloring Book is a polaroid of the 23 year old rappers life growing up in Chicago, a snapshot of what navigating the waters where faith, family and life coalesce looks like.  Chance is a modern day prophet, who’s not for-profit or for sale.   

Standout Tracks:

‘Blessings', 'Same Drugs', and 'All Night'

4. Blond - Frank Ocean

The hype surrounding Frank Ocean’s follow up to 2012′s Channel Orange was legitimately palpable.  With each passing day of 2016 you could feel it a bit more.  After a mock library due date slip with over ten various dates showed up on Frank’s website, each apparently representing possible release schedules, it was as they say ‘lit, fam’.  However, one by one, the dates came and went, with the Internet breaking and subsequently repairing itself just in time to repeat the cycle again.  Finally, on August 20, the Ocean’s tides changed and Blond washed ashore.  Filled with vibrant use of unexpected instrumentation and vocal manipulation, Blond (originally titled Boys Don’t Cry) continues to push the envelope and break the boundaries of who Frank is and what his work is capable of.        

Standout Tracks:

‘Ivy', 'Solo', and 'White Ferrari'

3. La La Land

La La Land is what would happen if someone personally asked me for the ingredients to a perfect film recipe.  You take my two favorite actors, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, add a scoop of Damien Chazelle (who’s last project Whiplash was my favorite film of 2014), a dash of a L.A. based musical and let set 2 hours 8 minutes.  Truth be told, I hadn’t been this excited for a film all year (including Fantastic Beasts) and rightfully so.  La La Land not only lives up to every bit of its potential but takes the parts of its whole and makes them into something bigger than we could have ever imagined.  It’s a film for dreamers, a film for lovers, a film for the ages. 

2. Kubo and the Two Strings

Prior to the start of the year, I don’t think you could have done anything to convince me that there was even a chance of my liking another film more than La La Land.  Yet, here we are.  Yes, it’s animated and holds a risquè PG rating, but Kubo and the Two Strings really is as good as it gets.  With the breathtaking stop motion animation that Laika has become known for, a rousing script that sees its young hero navigating some of life’s hardest lessons and brilliant voice over work from the likes of Charlize Theron and Matthew McConaughey, Kubo finds itself in a league of its own.  'If you must blink, do it now’, says young Kubo.  Great advice before the film begins, as you won’t want to miss a thing. 

1. (TIE) Lemonade - Beyonce

I know that having two number one’s might seem like a cop out but this is my list and, as I plan to say quite often when I become a dad, "My House, Ja Rules".  Having to choose between Beyonce’s ground breaking Lemonade and Broadways’ show-stopping Dear Evan Hansen seems a crime on par with The Office or Parks and Rec?  What Beyonce has done with her sixth studio album is unprecedented.  It’s un-Bey-lievable.  Albums like this only come beyONCE in an artist’s lifetime.  Okay, I’m finished.  But in all seriousness Lemonade is an evolution.  From angry, heartbroken, questioning, to free, powerful, secure the album delves into the relationship of music’s most prominent couple.  And that would be enough.  But on repeat listens it starts to feel that maybe Beyonce isn’t simply speaking to the plight of the person who’s been cheated on but the person who is seemingly always cheated.  The downtrodden of society, the least of these, the marginalized.  In this case the black community.  Lemonade is her attempt to reconcile it all.  Darwin was right, life really is about the survival of the fittest and Lemonade finds Beyonce not just surviving but thriving.  As the old adage goes, ‘”When life gives you lemons, make the album of the year”.  

Standout Tracks:

‘Sorry', 'Freedom’, and 'Formation'

1. (TIE) Dear Evan Hansen

If you didn’t have a reason to go to New York City before now, I’m giving you the only one that matters.  I saw Dear Evan Hansen in previews over a month ago and am still putting myself back together.  What Ben Platt does everyday, sometimes TWICE a day, on the stage of the Music Box Theatre is nothing short of super human.  The show had been recommended to me by someone I trust on these matters, so I went in knowing absolutely nothing prior to my showing. Looking back, it’s the only way to do it.  Let the show wash over you and make you better.  Go in unsure and lost and I can promise, you will be found.

[gibsongirlselections]

Election Meddlers Find a Scapegoat

Like me, until recently you got most of your news from PeaceData.net. It was where you looked to form your opinions, including the all-important one about which way to vote. What you missed on PeaceData you caught up with via Facebook memes and Tweets from people you do not know.

Or maybe not. Maybe like nearly everyone on planet Earth you have no idea what I’m talking about and never looked at the now-defunct PeaceData site. That reality should pretty much end the discussion, but this is 2020. So you must know by now that Facebook claims an unvisited web site named PeaceData was actually a Russian influence operation targeting voters in the United States, all the while posing as an independent news outlet. PeaceData’s sneaky tactics included hiring real freelance “journalists” to write about U.S. politics and racial tensions from their parents’ basements.

PeaceData also operated 13 Facebook accounts, now suspended, supposedly using fake identities and “coordinated inauthentic behavior” by people with some kind of link “to individuals associated with past activity by the Internet Research Agency,” the Russkie company which U.S. intelligence officials say was part of Comrade Trump’s 2016 win.

Yep, that old story: Russians, social media, blah. To say PeaceData itself truly does not matter, especially in relation to the attention it has received in death, gives too much credit to not mattering. What does matter is how the intel community, quasi-private tech firms, the media, and the Democrats worked together to exaggerate the threat and create the narrative outcome of “foreign influence.” Pay attention; this is the magician revealing how the trick is done.

It seems the Russians have gotten so good at influencing cow-like Americans that only five percent of English-language articles on PeaceData actually concerned the U.S. election, out of over 700 articles published. You’d think no one would have even noticed they existed. However, a company called Graphika nonetheless told Facebook to conclude “this facet of the operation suggests an attempt to build a left-wing audience and steer it away from Biden’s campaign.” See, the conclusion from Graphika is by making almost no impact whatsoever, PeaceData was actually “trying harder and harder to hide.” It worked; Graphika found most of the English-language posts achieved only single-digit engagement.

Back to net nanny Graphika for a moment. We don’t know who funds them. Their venture capital was raised privately, in two tranches of about three million dollars each, in 2014 and 2019. We do know who they work with. Their current “Innovation Officer” is Camille François, who once worked for Google’s analytics offshoot Jigsaw before quitting to run a project for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, alongside now Graphika CEO John Kelly (no relation to the Marine.) Their December 2018 reporting helped Democrats “prove” the Russians used Facebook and Twitter to influence the 2016 election. Graphika also has ties to the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Defense Department’s Minerva Initiative. If you look at their stuff you realize they write like spooks, talk like spooks, and snitch out news sites like spooks.

What is missing from Graphika’s spooky work is any evidence whatsoever of any actual influence on the only thing that matters: how people vote. Graphika offers nothing quantitative, claiming only that by using American freelancers PeaceData was part of the “fabric” of communities and this made them credible. A step up from 2016 efforts, which relied on what Graphika said were foreign “trolls who typically researched American life so they could more effectively pose as U.S. citizens online. One key trick was to watch American TV shows like House of Cards.”

One is inclined to imagine here the customer service rep with a south Indian accent who asks you to call him “Mike” and wonders “How it goes my man in that American town of Iowa?” Older readers, please substitute Boris and Natasha voices.

So who are these nefarious American writers unknowingly selling out their country? The New York Times tracked down one who ended up writing for no money somehow, though PeaceData rates of $75-$200 per article fluttered below average (lots of unknown sites recruit freelancers for small payouts; PeaceData used Guru). This particular PeaceData journalist also once played Rusty in Starlight Express before selling insurance. One of his recent articles outlines his battle with dementia. Sorry to pick on the poor guy, but the NYT profiled him and it seems using such services to influence an election may not be the best use of those rubles.

He did write a nice piece claiming Susan Rice would have made a fine Vice President. One point in her favor was “I challenge anyone to find a video, or statement which shows Susan Rice raising her temper, shouting, acting hysterical or making comments.” Rice of course is known for her signature profanity and temper; here’s The Washington Post calling her out for describing Lindsey Graham as a “piece of sh*t.” Her f-bombs are legendary. She famously flipped the bird at Richard Holbrooke, told France’s UN. ambassador “you’re not going to drag us into your sh*tty war” and drew complaints of disrespect from allies on the UN Security Council.

But before just calling a Susan Rice-like bullsh*t on this whole sad attempt to frighten Americans into believing foreigners are here to steal our precious bodily Internet fluids, let’s go have a look at some of what else PeaceData had to say.

For example, here’s a quote from a PeaceData article about Q-Anon: “The effort to mainstream conspiracy is meant to distract from the true mechanisms of exploitation and alienation, while allowing for the continued consolidation of capital and upending norms with power grabs. As liberal institutions fail and capitalism continues to deliver uncertainty, the extension of a false mythos—that promises to yield revolutionary change and free the masses—gives allure to desperately confused people.”

Ok, that was too easy, somebody just held on to their Socialism 101 textbook. Another PeaceData article, on the post office, is lifted idea-for-idea from the NYT: “One way or another, the truth always comes out and with President Donald Trump, his motives were especially apparent after a news conference in the White House Briefing Room. He admitted on Thursday he opposed additional funding for the United States Postal Service (USPS) in order to make it more difficult to deliver mail-in ballots. Trump’s desire to not expand on voting by mail further sent society into a chaotic state amidst a pandemic.” The NYT said “President Trump stirred new questions on Thursday about whether he would seek to hold up new money to the Postal Service to impede mail-in voting this fall in the middle of the pandemic.” Kinda the same thing, but one is Russkie propaganda and the other is the New York Times.

It is very unclear that any of this is illegal. Foreign organizations hire American writers all the time. And the line between “taking an editorial stance” and “influencing an election” lies closer to how paranoid you are than anything in the law. That did not stop the FBI from telling social media to act against PeaceData based on Graphika tattling. The action Facebook (and Twitter, who called PeaceData “Russian state actors”) took against PeaceData was based entirely on so-called violations of Terms of Service. That allows the social media giants to show off how they are doing something to, whatever, save democracy. Facebook was not asked to return $480 in advertising money PeaceData spent.

PeaceData doesn’t matter by itself. The real value in this fluffy jihad against a no-name site is to create a talking point to allow the MSM and Democrats to announce again that Trump is being helped by a foreign power, that our electoral process is corrupt if Trump wins, and to revive whatever distant warm, wet memories the faithful had of Russiagate. A little daydreaming that maybe the old tricks will work this time where they have failed ever before.

For the rest of us, no big deal, just a glimpse behind the scenes of another Deep State information op where under the cover of blaming foreign collusion, corporate America, the intel community, and the media hide their own collusion, here, in the Twilight Zone of democracy.

Peter Van Buren, a 24-year State Department veteran, is the author of We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People, Hooper’s War: A Novel of WWII Japan, and Ghosts of Tom Joad: A Story of the 99 Percent.

The post Election Meddlers Find a Scapegoat appeared first on The American Conservative.

[clubofinfo]

Expert: The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. — Edward Bernays, Propaganda, 1928 For the first time in human history, there is a concerted strategy to manipulate global perception. And the mass media are operating as its compliant assistants, failing both to resist it and to expose it. The sheer ease with which this machinery has been able to do its work reflects a creeping structural weakness which now afflicts the production of our news. — Nick Davis, Flat Earth News, 2008 There is a strange uncanny quality to a number of recent stories. In fact, an uncanny quality to nearly everything recently. And it is a quality that includes paranoia, but also the sense of living within some increasingly malevolent psy-ops experiment. Now everyone runs for cover when this idea of psy-ops is introduced. The conspiracy theorist label is the most feared appellation in contemporary culture. But the truth is that I cannot recall a time when there was so much psychological disquiet running through the populace of North America and Europe. But especially, unsurprisingly, in the U.S. Edward Snowden released information last week that set the CIA black budget at 52 billion (and change) for 2013. Of course, there is some reason to suspect Snowden himself is part of this budget (see how this goes?). One writer noted: In comparison, the Department of Homeland Security was allocated $55.4 billion in 2013. The black budget comes in at a figure larger than the sums received by the Department of the Interior, the Department of Commerce and NASA this year combined. A few years ago the late Daniel Inouye wrote: There exists a shadowy government with its own Air Force, its own Navy, its own fundraising mechanism and the ability to pursue its own ideas of the national interest, free from all checks and balances, and free from the law itself. Today, it is estimated (!) that there are close to 200 special access secret intelligence programs in the U.S. government. Nobody has any idea how many are employed in these programs or, obviously, what they do. Nor does anyone have any clear idea how much money there is to which they have access. Now the recent Snowden leak prompted a number of online publications, many of them ostensively liberal (Wired, The Verge) to declaim the obvious — that’s a lot of money — near more than most small countries spend on everything in a year. But see, anyone paying any kind of attention knew all this. And when James Clapper notes that much of the secret budget is targeting North Korea, you know that such leaks are part of the psy-ops themselves. For you know Clapper is lying because his mouth is moving. Nobody in the intelligence community really thinks the Pentagon fears North Korea. Lots more discussion makes mention of Pakistan, Hezbollah, and Syria. The usual targets the CIA and Pentagon want America to fear. Not a word about false flag ops or domestic propaganda. Are we to believe the black budget is not spent on propagandizing the U.S. public? Are we to believe the CIA covert program does not engage in false flag operations? Take this notification about Armageddon that occurred in Hawaii recently. I mean seriously, think about what happened. Bill Van Auken wrote: The “false alarm” delivered to a population of 1.5 million in the US Pacific island state of Hawaii on Saturday morning has laid bare the clear and present danger of a nuclear war. Cell phones lit up with the text message “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.” Television and radio broadcasts were interrupted with the chilling announcement that “A missile may impact on sea or land within minutes. This is not a drill.” For 38 minutes, residents of and visitors to Hawaii were confronted face to face with nuclear Armageddon. Parents frantically sought to find and protect their children, families said last goodbyes and people desperately sought largely nonexistent shelter in anticipation of a nuclear blast. Thirty-eight minutes, huh? Okay. Van Auken adds: There is no reason that anyone should blindly accept this official story as true. Given the record of the US government in staging provocations and launching wars based upon lies, not only severe skepticism, but outright suspicion is called for. Of course. The problem, though, runs even deeper than just the idea that somehow this intentional false alarm was meant to frighten the public about Nuclear War. It may be that, too, although while I don’t think the U.S. will attack the DPRK (they are too useful as the regional villain), it’s certainly useful to normalize the very idea of nuclear war. But this false alarm does something else. It is part of the manufacturing of existential terror. And certainly it fits in seamlessly with the spike in internet censorship (see Diane Feinstein and Adam Schiff letter to Mark Zuckerberg…I mean you can’t make this shit up). Or listen to Monika Bikert, the Facebook rep as she talks of the doubling of Facebook personnel devoted to weeding out subversives, or what she called counterspeech (sic). Fear, fear, fear everywhere. Even fear of your neighbours. Most everyone is aware of Google and YouTube and Facebook now deleting voices they don’t like, and effectively disappearing web sites that are anti- capitalist and anti-imperialist. For your own good, of course. Normal. Or think about the Robert Mueller investigation and the massive propaganda campaign against Russia that has taken place the last year. The entire “Russia-gate” narrative is a fiction. But much of the educated white populace are now literally frothing at the mouth in outrage (for what is often unclear, actually, but Trump inspires a new level of hatred and contempt in many) and falling over themselves to laud praise on Mueller and the FBI. Ponder that a moment or two. Clint Watts, jar head ex Army, and ex FBI, and now head of some creepy organization that works on censorship (Alliance for Securing Democracy), spoke to a judiciary hearing last year and said: Civil wars don’t start with gunshots, they start with words. America’s war with itself has already begun. We all must act now on the social media battlefield to quell information rebellions that can quickly lead to violent confrontations and easily transform us into the Divided States of America. This in an article by Andre Damon. So fear words too. The public faces of repression. A populace now saturated with online psychological manipulation. Now most of us have noticed, for years, really, the Israeli hasbara trolls on social media. They pop up at odd times to attack any critical discourse on Israeli crimes. The U.S. government does much the same thing for a variety of topics. And it should be noted that there is a precipitous spike in antisemitism on the left. Some of it almost just structural in nature, but much of it blatant. But this is the top text, so to speak. It is never that simple. For the deeper psy-op activities are housed directly in the voices of dissent. Others, all those voices that pop up to attack, with faint praise sometimes, socialist countries — Cuba or the DPRK or Venezuela — are achieving something opposite of what they appear to be claiming. There is always this not quite radical criticism of, say, Hillary and Bill Clinton. But if one just asks…just asks, what about that trail of dead bodies going back decades that seem to follow in the wake of Bill and Hill. Ask that and you are slandered. Ask, say, about any left or even liberal journalist…why is this guy saying this stuff. I’ve asked about Chris Hedges’ unwavering attacks on Slobodan Milosevic. I mean Hedges claims he was there. He should know better. Right? But maybe it’s just a blind spot. I find that hard to understand, but maybe. I mean, maybe it’s all in my head, too. Could be. But if one has any illusions about the CIA and media, here is a useful quick primer. Conspiracy exists. That’s just a fact. COINTELPRO, Iran/Contra, the ‘babies torn from incubators’ meme, or those mythical rape camps in Serbia, or Operation Northwoods, or Operation Gladio for that matter. Yet, there is an enormous resistance to even suggesting any suspicion about certain things. And that is understandable. After all, there are countless crazy conspiracy stuff one can find. And there are certainly tons of people propagating these crazy theories. And it is tiresome. And the complexity of the experience of dealing with crazy theories is often also just enervating and depressing. Lodged within much of it are various layers of antisemitism, xenophobia, and racism. For the people who embrace the worst and most unrealistic conspiracy theories are also, usually, just not very smart. Uneducated, and their embrace is part of a character structure built on resentment and anger. From the crude Trumpian build-a-wall-to-keep-out-those-foreigners-who-are-taking-your-jobs, to the latest incarnations of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion (just the word Rothschild is enough for me to stop reading) the sheer volume of this stuff is mind numbing. But then there is the possibility that the most outlandish stuff, that which attracts the nativist racists or antisemites might itself fall under the umbrella of that black budget. See how this goes? I mean, I often worry everything too outrageous just might be part of some massive psy-ops. The latest UFO video has garnered a lot of attention. I’d love to believe it, I really would. And it’s compelling, actually. But those drawings of the flying saucers. Why do they resemble Buck Rodgers serials? Why is the alien aesthetic, as it were, so retro? All these retired military guys, isn’t that a red flag? I don’t know. Or the moon landing didn’t happen meme. It was done on a sound stage in London and directed by Stanley Kubrick. I love that one, I admit. Why? Because those photos, the colour ones, DO, in fact, look like something Kubrick would have done. Do I actually believe it? No. But I get the appeal. I get the appeal for all of it. And I get the appeal because the actual world, itself, is so, well, unreal. Edward Said, not long before his death, did a BBC interview in which he was asked the single thing he felt most about the world at that moment. And he said, “the unreality”. Did private security teams shoot people after Hurricane Katrina? Yes. So did a lot of cops. Did land get stolen from the poor? Of course, it did. The ruling class is highly opportunistic. Disaster capitalism and all that. But nobody manufactured a hurricane in some lab at DARPA. But this unreality is not a hallucination. And the denial of it increasingly feels like its own neurosis. It also strikes me, the denial of all conspiracy theory, as a masculine affliction. It is the residual Puritanism or Calvinism of the stoic nose to the grindstone American male. Take Michael Hastings or Seth Rich, and ask yourself if one can with any equanimity accept the official story. Once upon a time people laughed at the idea that the U.S. government trained death squads at a place called School of the Americas. Unreal. But, of course, it was factual. Air America or CIA cocaine importation and the Gary Webb story. Unreal? Yeah. Sure it was. The shocking fact, Cockburn and St Clair assert, is the utterly quotidian nature of CIA operations. This is a healthy bureaucracy in which organizing drug transshipments, reportfiling, business lunches and clocking-out of the office are the workaday routines of well-educated, well-spoken men in suits. In contrast to the glamorous Hollywood depiction of espionage culture, this is the sphere of public servants, who are bid to do the job of achieving American geopolitical aspirations as best they can: “it should again be emphasized,” write Cockburn and St Clair, that the ClA works not as a “‘rogue’ Agency but always as the expression of US government policy” dictated from the Oval Office. All this might be dismissed as conspiracy theory were it not for the impressive research and documentation in Whiteout. — Brian Musgrove, review of Whiteout Catch that? Might be dismissed as conspiracy theory. Would have been. Almost was. For many still is. And yet there are decades of evidence that the U.S. does, in fact, engage in routine clandestine operations on foreign soil (and probably, this same evidence suggests, domestically), up to and including murder. There are a million Hollywood movies with this story line. But if one suggests that something not officially recognised might have been a black op — you are just a conspiracy theorist. Or in another register, look at the remarkable work of the Innocence Project. Look at the number of men acquitted of murder, rape, assault, and kidnapping. These men were set up. Those men were not convicted because of accidents or just bad legal representation (though they often had that, too). No, they were set up by venal dishonorable racists, white supremacists, men in positions to take away your freedom. If you are poor, especially poor and black or brown or Native American, then your life is always going to be precarious. And yet, much of America still needs convincing that the death penalty is wrong. People laugh about how everyone in jail claims innocence. Yet we know many ARE innocent. Or Chelsea Manning’s campaign for congress. The former Bradley Manning launched her campaign with an Orwellian video in which she is dressed in black, wearing a designer hoodie and which suggests nothing so much as some V for Vendetta out take, by way of Oswald Mosley. But, but she is running as a Democrat. What does one make of this, exactly? Unreality. Color me suspicious. But I want to return to the current wave of antisemitism I see in the West. Much of it on the self identified left. For this represents something symptomatic of the dissipation of critical thinking that is helping foster this climate of unreality. An unreality that aligns psychologically with fascism. The British ruling class, which was rabidly anti-Semitic, had its own reasons for this support. Out of the First World War, Arab nationalism had emerged as a major threat to domination of the Middle East and Britain hoped that Zionists could be a useful force for policing the Arabs. But Winston Churchill gave another reason for supporting Zionism–defeat of the left wing “International Jews.” In an astoundingly anti-Semitic article titled “Zionism versus Bolshevism,” Churchill wrote, ‘First there are the Jews who, dwelling in every country throughout the world, identify themselves with that country, enter into its national life and, while adhering faithfully to their own religion, regard themselves as citizens in the fullest sense of the State which has received them…( ) It becomes, therefore, specially important to foster and develop any strongly-marked Jewish movement which leads directly away from these fatal associations. And it is here that Zionism has such a deep significance for the whole world at the present time.… [S]hould there be created in our own lifetime by the banks of the Jordan a Jewish State under the protection of the British Crown, which might comprise three or four millions of Jews, an event would have occurred in the history of the world which would, from every point of view, be beneficial, and would be especially in harmony with the truest interests of the British Empire. — Anne Levin (International Socialist Review, 2002) As John Rose wrote: The shadow of anti-semitism as a partner of Zionism rather than its polar opposite, as the Zionists would claim it to be, hung over the Balfour Declaration. Lord Balfour, the British minister in whose name the declaration was signed, had enthusiastically campaigned for the introduction of the British Aliens Act in 1905 – which aimed deliberately at stemming further Jewish immigration into Britain. The antisemitism of the educated left today, just as much as the rabid Jew hating of the David Duke variety, both serve to absolve the ruling class of its crimes, to absolve the bourgeois plutocrats and even Capitalism, itself. It’s all the fault of the Jews! The Zionist project has always employed antisemites and Imperialists. The Arab revolt of 1936 was brutally squashed by the British (something at which they were to become very adept) but with massive Zionist assistance in the form of the Haganah paramilitary. Once the Arab populace was soundly defeated and demoralized the Zionists turned on their Imperial guardians. Anne Levin again: In 1945, they declared war on the British and drove them out. In 1947, the United Nations imposed its criminal partition of Palestine, which granted the majority of the land to the minority of Jewish settlers. For the Zionists, this was a green light to begin a terrible war of ethnic cleansing. In 1948, through systematic terror and murder, they drove 800,000 Palestinians off their land and founded the state of Israel on the ruins of destroyed Arab Palestine. The legacy of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is still palpable. Remember too that Vladimir Jabotinsky, the right wing revisionist of early Zionism, was much enamored by fascism. The Revisionist newspaper of the time even wrote sympathetically of Hitler, who they believed would discard his antisemitism but trusted he would not discard his more important animus toward Marxism and Bolshiviks. The Israeli massacre of the British at Dir Yassin in 1948 marked the final act for the British mandate of Palestine. The point here is that antisemitism is a hugely useful tool for the current Israeli state. Netanyahu beats the drum constantly. Nothing is more pleasing to Israeli officials than to watch the rise of far right parties today in Europe (all of which echo the language of the Protocols). The destruction of the revolutionary left in Europe by Nazi fascism allowed the Zionist propagandists to manufacture a narrative of Jewish ideological support for Israel. The socialists who fought and died in resistance to fascism have been essentially erased from History…at least Israeli history. The socialist anti Zionism among huge numbers of European Jews has been relegated to Western and Israeli rabbit holes of amnesia. (never mind the Bolshiviks put an end to all racist laws and all anti Jewish legal restrictions in 1917). The anti-communism of Churchill and the instrumentalization of political Zionism in order to weaken the socialist appeal to Jews were not endeavors free of contradictions. On the Jewish question, Bolshevism at that time had been opposed to Zionism on the ideological front and to anti-Semitism on the political level. British imperialism, in contrast, was promoting Zionism to counter Bolshevism while supporting the elements of the White Guards in the Russian civil war who had a long tradition of anti-Semitism and pogroms. During the civil war, anti-Bolshevik forces killed at least 60,000 Jews. — Jacques Hersh Socialist and Marxist opposition to Zionism has existed ever since the modern political movement was launched by Theodor Herzl in 1897. Before World War I, Jewish nationalism was, if anything, more vigorously criticized by Jews than by non-Jews, at least outside Palestine. Jewish adversaries of Zionism at that time included much of the liberal communal establishment in Western countries, “assimilationist” Jews, religious reformers, and most of the preeminent “Orthodox” and ultra-Orthodox rabbis in Russia and Eastern Europe. On the secular Left, the Bund (the leading Jewish workers’ organization in Tsarist Russia), and later the Communists, vehemently opposed Zionism as a utopian, reactionary, “petty-bourgeois” movement. — Robert Wistrich Wistrich, himself a defender of the Israeli state, was also a perceptive analyst of contemporary antisemitism. And he recognized the dynamics of prejudice: On the far Left as well as the far Right, anti-Zionism uses a type of discourse and stereotypes concerning the “Jewish/Zionist lobby,” Israeli/Jewish “criminality,” and Sharonist “warmongering” that is fundamentally manipulative and anti-Semitic. This has penetrated the mainstream debate to the point where 60 percent of all Europeans regard tiny Israel as the greatest threat to world peace; where over a third of those surveyed in Europe and America regularly attribute to Jews excessive power and influence; where Jews are suspected of dual loyalties by ever greater numbers of non-Jews; and where “anti-Zionist” attacks on Jewish institutions and targets show that we are talking about a distinction without a difference. Anti-Zionism is not only the historic heir of earlier forms of anti-Semitism. Today, it is also the lowest common denominator and the bridge between the Left, the Right… And this is all exactly true. The problem for Wistrich and those critics like him is that Israel IS a criminal state and one that is engaged in something exterminationist regarding Palestinian Arabs. On social media of late I find a nearly never ending discourse on Jewish power, the New Jew World Order, and evil Jewish bankers. And most recently the Jews were behind 9-11. So, to return to my sense of unreality and psy-ops. One does wonder exactly why this striking revanchist antisemitism? The current sort of stealth fascism of much trendy or branded left discourse fits into this, too. One sees it in the romanticizing of the Kurds (the YPG) and some vague nostalgic and sentimental image of Kurdish nationalism. The Kurds who fight alongside the Imperialist U.S. in Syria, and are armed and trained by the U.S. and UK (long friendly with the Tories). But liberals seem to only care about the perception of Kurdish victimhood. One sees it in the closeted Islamaphobia in much of the left, too. One that often cross-pollinates with western bourgeois feminism. Discussions of head scarves or veils often feel like delivery systems for latent xenophobia. Holocaust survivor Jacques Hersh wrote at Monthly Review: This notwithstanding, some survivors found it difficult to comprehend why, after the industrialized and scientific massacre of millions of Jews, as well as that of other ethnic groups and nationalities, together with the persistent anti-Semitism in both postwar Europe and America, the big powers were now willing to accede to the project of a Jewish homeland. Was this change of heart purely a function of guilt over the treatment of European Jews or was there some “intelligent design” involving the mapping of a future international political architecture which the new state formation would help bring about? Anti-Semitism, the German socialist leader Bebel therefore felt, was ‘the socialism of idiots.’ Yet what strikes us about the rise of political anti-Semitism at the end of the century is not so much the equation ‘Jew ≈ capitalist,’ which was not implausible in large parts of east/central Europe, but its association with right-wing nationalism. — Eric Hobsbawm Gianfranco Fini of the Italian National Alliance and Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch Party for Freedom, have also professed their admiration of Zionism and the ‘white’ ethnocracy of the state of Israel, while on other occasions making their anti-Semitic views plain. Three things that draw these anti-Semites towards Israel are, first, the state’s ethnocratic character; second, an Islamophobia they assume Israel shares with them; and, third, Israel’s unapologetically harsh policies towards black migrants from Africa… — Neve Gordon Kim Domenico (at Counterpunch) had a perceptive piece on the Me Too movement. And it touches on this increasing friendliness toward the fascist sensibility in liberals as well as the far right. But reading story after story in the news, hearing the salacious details discussed at parties, one can begin to feel the taking down of successful men of business and the arts as being tinged with that McCarthyist kind of sadism, of puritanical vindictiveness. Like all stories coming from Identitiarianism, it blots out the Much Bigger problems of free market capitalism and imperialist wars, of rule by oligarchy and plutocracy, of which dirty “old satyrs” are but one symptom and not the worst, while forefronting victimhood. And in another piece she writes: Eyes are off the fascism discernible in this mood of furious vengeance that casts the offender as a special category of monster, tosses aside due process, innocence until proven guilty, and ruins the alleged offender’s reputation for life. The crimes of the ruling class are absolved. Institutional violence against women is mystified. I have read, a number of times, in fact, Aziz Ansari described as a pig. Sometimes by people I know and like. The Ansari narrative, driven by an online tabloid site that solicited such gossip for months, is a sterling example of unreality (I have noted, however, a certain backlash to that particular story…however small). The United States is, today, a crumbling empire where the white bourgeoisie clings ever more deliriously and desperately to their privilege…even if sometimes only illusory. A privilege that includes the right to be victims. A nation of bruised feelings. Victim’s rights is partly an outgrowth of a new sub phylum of narcissism. The prison system is cutting out visits by family and friends. Only a pay for Skype call is allowed. Prison libraries are being shut down, too. This is gratuitous sadism. Or, maybe a sort of surplus sadism. For the society is one run on resentment and disappointment. The average American is consumed by both. No prison visits. Unreality. The current under the radar rise of fascist thinking in the liberal West is both disturbing, for obvious reasons, but also haunting. It feels unreal. I see or hear people I know saying things that I find shocking. Racist and xenophobic and mostly just vindictive and vengeful even. The tolerance for American wars speaks to this, I think. Yemen is being reduced to rubble but America simply doesn’t care. The erosion of public education and its effects are partly masked by the addiction to technology. Smart phones, I suppose, in particular. But I say that sincerely. The weird masturbatory text compulsion eats up hours of everyone’s day. People no longer even look at each other. Where Walter Benjamin once marked the shock of late 19th century urban life with the rapid passing of faces in a crowd, today the shock is of the passing faces not seen. Life takes place on screens. A life increasingly unreal. And yet, one will be called a conspiracy theorist for just asking questions. Just that. And right now it seems to me EVERYTHING should be questioned. There are literally a dozen books now, by serious journalists, outlining the media manipulation and covert activities of the intelligence services here and in the UK. The CIA has manufactured fake news stories since Allen Dulles. And they even admit to manipulating polls, creating or destroying website popularity (and page view counts), and hiring trolls or shills to highjack social media discussions. But it is hard to imagine the intelligence community does not engage in far more concrete activities. Of course, the flip side is that such speculation (a side bar benefit) encourages paranoia. It is natural to feel this way given that nothing can be trusted. Nobody and no institution. German journalist Udo Ulfkotte recently said (reported by Eric Zuesse): Most of the journalists you see in foreign countries … European or American journalists …, like me in the past, are so-called non-official cover. … Non-official cover means what? You do work for an intelligence agency… And Hollywood is, again, a means to normalizing such activities. It offers mild rebuke, but mostly it just valorizes the duplicity of the government. Of all western governments. And the consequences for such normalization, and the discouragement of skepticism, is the growing expression of this latent xenophobia, racism and antisemitism. The ruling class and its stenographers, the ownership class and its affluent flatterers, have colonized the western imagination. And it is leading to this sense of pervasive unreality. And this unreality seems designed to promote a new fascism. One that makes use of all the old tropes and symbolism, only retrofitted to appear new. And it is growing. http://clubof.info/