#but also 2 the finale events happen and it clicks exactly with my character interpretation and im like oh. oh sick love to be right

[pagesofkenna]

My sunday itinerary was getting more and more busy, so i decided to wake up early to watch vampire finale before all my other plans. Vampire finale got me like 🥲

[bestworstcase]

replies on this post ( @ngocthach4020​, numbering mine ):

Counterarguments:

1 - While I do agree that Zhan Tiri does a good job making it seem like she does care about Cassandra, the fact that Cassandra trusted a total stranger for over a year in itself makes her intelligence dubious at best. Not to mention Cassandra never asks the total stranger who mysteriously knows this much about her for her NAME during all that time, nor tries to find out anything else about her.

2 - Rapunzel is the heir to the throne. Of course she’s going to get more recognition than Cassandra. Cassandra herself was given multiple guard assignments throughout Season 1, cheered on by the people of Corona even when she came second place to Rapunzel at the Challenge of the Brave, and trusted with leading the assault against Varian in the season finale. This isn’t even getting into how she has plenty of opportunities at Ingvarr or Vardaros.

3 - The people of Vardaros focused on Rapunzel despite preferring Cassandra over her, yes, but that doesn’t change how they treated Rapunzel like dirt and Cassandra seemed to LIKE that.

4 - In the song I’d Give Anything, Rapunzel does acknowledge she wronged Cassandra.

5 - Just because Cassandra has legitimate grievances, it doesn’t excuse her trying to murder people who never did anything bad to her, which she does several times throughout Season 3.

firstly: i mean this in the kindest way possible but none of these are actually counter-arguments to the point i was making, which is that cassandra has very good reasons for her decision to trust zhan tiri and be emotionally vulnerable with her in the house of yesterday’s tomorrow. #2 is the only one relevant to the subject at hand, #1, #4, and #5 all concern things that happen after the incident being discussed and are thus irrelevant, and for #3 it’s unclear to me what point you think you’re countering and also, i have no idea what you’re talking about. 

but as with anything i have plenty of thoughts

#1: i have two thoughts about this one

the first is that this is, first and foremost, a writing issue. for whatever reason, the writing team was not interested in digging into cassandra’s character arc in s3, and they also were not interested in developing zhan tiri as a character, and they really were not interested in elaborating on the cass + zhan tiri friendship whatsoever. the end result of this lack of interest is that all of this character development is gestured at or loosely implied, and the vast majority of their relationship occurs off screen. we are shown their first meeting in relative detail, given a handful of brief glimpses that mostly comprise zhan tiri saying a line or two while cassandra listens and glares, and then given the end result of cass doing whatever zhan tiri tells her to do until a narratively convenient plot device is inserted to make her stop. the character development in this arc is extremely poor. no one is arguing that it isn’t. 

however my second thought is that, as a consequence, “cass travels with this person for almost a year without ever asking her name or trying to find out anything about her” is not, in fact, canon. that’s a matter of interpretation. (eg: i spent the entirety of the first half of the season assuming that of course cassandra knew who zhan tiri was, my reaction to CR in this regard boiled down to “well if cass didn’t already know that was zhan tiri she certainly does NOW,” RTTS did nothing to change my mind, and i was legitimately taken aback when OAH confirmed that cass just didn’t know. all of this was a plausible interpretation because so little of the cass + ziti relationship actually develops on screen. there is SO MUCH information missing.)

the point being: the only canonical information we have regarding zhan tiri’s identity and cassandra’s knowledge thereof is that cassandra doesn’t learn zhan tiri’s true identity until OAH. this does not preclude cassandra pressing the issue and zhan tiri lying to her by telling her a fake name, or feigning ignorance (a la “i’ve been trapped in that house for as long as i can remember and i have no idea where i came from or who i was before then,” which is absolutely a plausible cover story given the kind of things tromus pulled off whilst team corona was trapped in the HOYT and that cass herself has very recent experience with magical memory loss), or masquerading as an aspect of the moonstone itself (which is at least plausible enough that a good chunk of the fandom theorized that that’s who she was in the early half of the season). 

there is, frankly, no evidence to support interpreting cassandra’s “who are you?” as “i’ve literally never asked this question before” instead of “you told me things about yourself that i believed but it’s not adding up anymore so i’m confronting you on your lies” or vice versa, because... we just don’t know. i personally favor the latter interpretation over the former, because it makes more sense to me, but the text is unclear.

all of which is to say: the post was about why cassandra trusts zhan tiri initially, a questions which - as i said in the original post - is answered very clearly on screen. there is not enough canonical information about the development of their relationship afterwards to do anything more than speculative analysis, ie headcanon, regarding how zhan tiri cultivated that trust. for what it’s worth my personal assumption is that zhan tiri continued to act as she does in RR, fostering the emotional connection between herself and cassandra, and that shortly after the stinger in who’s afraid of the big bad wolf (ie their second proper meeting) she gave cass some explanation of who she was and what she wanted. i also make the general assumption that they shared a lot of conversations during the long walk back to corona because it is ludicrous to imagine otherwise. 

#2: cassandra is a commoner who was indoctrinated from birth with the cultural belief that the lives of the royal family are more important and have more inherent worth than her own. this only intensified once rapunzel returned to corona. cassandra exists in a system that chews her up and spits her out without so much as a thank you, and rapunzel is the center around which that system orbits. “rapunzel is the heir to the throne so of course she gets more recognition than cassandra, her servant” isn’t, in fact, a counterargument. that is exactly the problem. the world cass is in is inherently devalues her personhood. even her own father repeatedly prioritizes his duty to the monarchy over the wellbeing of his daughter.

in s1, cass is given guard duties which she is expected to fit around her already extremely busy schedule as a maid and lady-in-waiting to the princess, all without ever being made an actual member of the royal guard. she is given, in other words, all of the work and responsibility without any of the recognition, salary, benefits, or job security afforded to actual guards, and she is expected to do it during her scant time off. and she does it all with the constant unspoken threat of being sent to a convent against her will if she screws up looming over her head. that’s not... privilege or an opportunity, that’s flat out exploitation. 

even in SOTS, she is only put in command of the assault on old corona because most of the higher officers of the guard are out of commission, including the captain. and this happens mere hours after her father forcibly sends her to a convent, which really underscores what little autonomy cassandra has in her life and how capricious and arbitrary any “opportunities” that come her way in corona are. 

yes, she is better accepted in vardaros and the queen of ingvarr did at one point extend an invitation for her to join the battalion in ingvarr, but—again, that’s not really a counterargument. “cassandra would have to leave her home and move to a foreign kingdom in order to be treated with respect and live as her authentic self” is an enormous indictment of corona itself. 

#3: the vardarans are less than receptive to rapunzel attempting to force her sunny demeanor onto them and react with hostile indifference when she persists even after being told—by multiple people including vex, quaid, cassandra, and iirc eugene—that her behavior was not wanted or welcome. they make their opinions known without making any attempt to soften the blow, but—with the one exception of “ya clod” lady—none of them harass or bully her. i’m not sure where you’re getting “they treat her like dirt” from. they treat her like people who are annoyed with having someone else’s culture jammed down their throats by some foreign princess, which,

cass, by the same token, enjoys being surrounded by people she “clicks” with and with whom she can just relax and be herself, and she repeatedly cautions rapunzel against trying to make the vardarans act, think, and feel like coronans... in other words, she advises rapunzel to be culturally sensitive. and she’s right to do so. cass doesn’t start gloating about being better liked until after rapunzel lashes out at her and makes a huge deal out of cass’s events being different / more in tune with vardaran culture than her own. 

#4: things rapunzel does a full year after cass meets zhan tiri in the shell house are not relevant to the question of why cass trusts zhan tiri in the shell house and also lol no... she doesn’t? these are the lyrics of i’d give anything: 

[RAPUNZEL] I know we've grown apart It breaks my heart in two I miss your company The closeness we once knew

I won't pretend to know Just what you're going through But I'd give anything for you Yes, I'd give anything to relive everything with you So if you find that you're in darkness or despair Though you won't turn to me Please know I'll be right there Name any sacrifice I'll pay the price that's due 'Cause I'd give anything for you Yes, I'd give anything to relive everything we knew Yes, I'd give anything For you

i don’t... know how to read an expression of apology or even just acknowledgement of wrongdoing into this song because it... isn’t there. this is the exact same sentiment rapunzel spends the entirety of s3 expressing, which is that she misses her friendship with cass and would do anything to get it back and she doesn’t understand why cassandra is so upset. and frankly it really. does not reflect well on rapunzel as a character because cassandra explains her grievances very clearly at the beginning of the season: “my whole life, i’ve been cast aside for you. no more,” followed by, you know, the entirety of crossing the line.

like even just... compare rapunzel’s lines at the top of crossing the line:

[RAPUNZEL] This has to stop now Whatever it is that you're going through We'll fix it together, me and you Just like we've always done

to her lines in i’d give anything: 

I won't pretend to know Just what you're going through

there has been zero growth. zero recognition of the fact that cassandra has, by the time of i’d give anything, told rapunzel what she’s going through at least three times. (she laid everything out for rapunzel in the dark fortress after taking the moonstone; in gothel’s mirror room in TOTS, cassandra expressed her anguish over gothel’s abandonment and her feelings of inferiority; in OAH, cass used feldspar’s play to fumblingly express her difficulty sharing her feelings with rapunzel; and if you want to count the BVA rock telepathy and cassandra furiously screaming “i don’t follow your orders anymore!” in CR, that brings us to a total of five times that cassandra shares at least part of what she’s “going through” with rapunzel only for it to, apparently, go in one ear and out the other because by plus est raps is still like “what could POSSIBLY be GOING ON with cass.”)

the closest rapunzel ever comes to expressing her own wrongdoing is the mealy-mouthed “we both did things wrong” sentiment in OAH (“maybe you’re right and it is your fault, rapunzel... partially...”), which she then undermines by going essentially “but if you had just told me how you felt then none of this would have happened” (ignoring that cass... did... tell her how she felt... repeatedly... in s2...) and rapunzel acknowledging that it was probably annoying to deal with a sunny “flower child” when she was fresh out of the tower (which is true, but entirely glosses over her treatment of cass in s2). in the former instance it’s unclear what, if anything, rapunzel truly thinks she did wrong (certainly “not listening” isn’t it), and in the latter case she is apologizing for being ~too free-spirited~ in the first couple weeks after the tower which... wasn’t even the problem back then and certainly wasn’t the core problem in s2. and by her own admission in i’d give anything rapunzel still doesn’t even understand why cassandra was upset in the first place, let alone how she may have contributed to it. 

like the utter dearth of development between cass and zhan tiri, this is ultimately a writing problem that reflects poorly on the character, rather than a character problem per se. for whatever reason, the writing team didn’t want to examine the legitimacy of cassandra’s actual grievances—which by extension meant that they couldn’t write rapunzel as having any awareness of those grievances, so the end result is cass obsessing over gothel and rapunzel spending the entire season baffled, just baffled, about what cass is so worked up about, all while sadly pining for the friendship they used to have and vocalizing a desire to get it back but simultaneously ignoring everything cass says about why she’s upset, because rapunzel listening to cass would require rapunzel to genuinely wrestle with her own role in what happened, which isn’t possible because that would loop us back around to all those legitimate grievances that the writers just didn’t want to (or couldn’t) deal with.

but tldr no at no point in the narrative of s3 does rapunzel genuinely acknowledge the actual things she did wrong by cass.

#5: i’m genuinely not sure why you think this is even relevant at all, unless you somehow read “cass did nothing wrong” into the argument of “it is both natural and reasonable for cass to trust the one (1) person who appears to give a damn about how she feels,” which i think says more about you than it does about me. 

[redorblue]

Three daughers of Eve, by Elif Shafak

This book is absolutely brilliant and quite possibly one of the best I’ve ever read. I’ll get to my arguments later, but I just have to start with the gushing and the hyperbole because I’m in love with the book, and I’m in love with the author. It’s everything I ever wanted in several (sub)genres at once: dark academia, feminist fiction, in-depth study of a society/milieu, and religion in fiction. It’s also beautifully written with just the right amount of flowery language and magical realism. If anyone’s interested in any of the above, I can’t recommend this book enough to do my enthusiasm justice, and all these feelings have to go somewhere, so let’s get into it (careful - spoilers).

The story has two narrative threads. One is set in Istanbul in 2016 and tells us about a single evening in the life of the protagonist Peri, a housewife with two kids and a rich husband who attends a dinner party for Istanbul’s nouveau riche. It starts with an unfortunate encounter between Peri and a mugger that triggers memories which Peri would have preferred to suppress for the rest of her life. The other thread recounts key events from her life: how she grew up in a family that was split between her father’s strict atheism (and accompanying drinking problem) and her mother’s equally strict insistence on her faith; how she went to Oxford at age 18 to study and promptly ended up in a similar position between her two friends Shirin (who has a hostile attitude towards religion and especially Islam) and Mona (who is a practising Muslim); and how it all falls apart when Peri becomes infatuated (obsessed, really) with her enigmatic teacher, Professor Azur. The story of Peri’s life is woven through shorter chapters that recount the events of the dinner party and how she finally gets to grips with her past and the people she met in Oxford.

Now why is this book a great read for fans of dark academia? I love dark academia and I’ve read my fair share of it, so I feel confident in saying that most of us probably read it because of those exquisitely messed-up characters, not in spite of it. Three daughters of Eve has that, too - the main characters in this narrative thread (Peri, Shirin, Mona, Azur) - are all very much shaped by their families, their pasts and presents, and that doesn’t always lead them to make good decisions. For me, the characters never got to the level of annoyingness or just plain shittiness that people from The Secret History or The Lessons reach, but some of them can be very hurtful and manipulative when it serves their purpose/emotional state. What sets this book apart for me is that 1. they’re not actively trying to be sophisticated, misanthropic, alcohol-abusing misfits, which is nice for a change because it feels more natural and doesn’t take away at all from the fun of interpreting their actions and motives; 2. the students are all female (at least those that get more than a few lines), which is always nice, but especially in this genre because it’s so full of men; and 3. the teacher is not an abusive piece of sh** and actually cares for his students. He may not always be good at it, he’s still pretty self-involved, and generally I don’t approve of teacher-student affairs, but in this case I’m okay with letting it slide because Shirin is someone who can make her own decisions and stand up for herself - and because Shirin is a grown-up, obviously. We don’t get to see much of the relationship between Shirin and Azur, but from the glimpses we’re offered it doesn’t seem like there’s a power inbalance between them. Rather it seems like these are two personalities that just click, and that happen to possess two bodies capable of giving the other what they need at that moment. Eventually, the affair ends on its own and transforms into a lifelong friendship, which made me think that this is one of the rare cases where I don’t mind this kind of relationship - if the difference in age and status really is just a coincidence and not the defining factor. Of course, if Peri had got her will, things would have been completely different (bad different) which is why I’m very, very glad that the author didn’t go there.

But the book is not only a great example of dark academia. It’s also about the intersections of religion, tradition, feminism and modernity, and it has a very distinct way of studying how these fields act with or against each other. The story that’s set in the present uncovers how, despite all their efforts to appear Western and secular and enlightened with regards to women, Istanbul’s high society is still very much bound up in traditional and restricting gender roles. A telling example of this is when after dinner, the guests split up: the women go to the living room to exchange gossip and beauty tips while the men stay put to talk about politics and the economy. Mixing is not appreciated. This is not meant as an accusation against Turkey - I doubt that this scene would read differently if it was set in London - but as a very accurate (I guess) analysis of how talk of women’s emancipation only goes so far. What really needs to change is the underlying preconceptions about (binary) genders that have been embedded in both women’s and men’s minds - otherwise there’s no real equality or liberation, no matter how short the dresses are becoming.

In Peri’s backstory, the topic is not so much (Western) feminism but the tensions between tradition and/or religion on the one hand and a belief in women’s equality and rights on the other - without any particular affiliation, Western or otherwise. Peri, Shirin and Mona (to whom the title, Three daughters of Eve, alludes, by the way) each have their own way of uniting these two value systems: Shirin (”The Sinner”), whose family fled Iran shortly after the Islamic revolution because they didn’t want the new regime’s values forced onto them, completely rejects religion and Middle Eastern/Iranian value systems in favor of secular Western feminism. Mona (”The Believer”) uses a feminist reading of Islamic sources to justify her belief in women’s rights, while staying in touch with aspects of her cultural background that fit into her worldview, like abstinence before marriage (for men and women). Mona is actually one of only very few characters that I know of who give a clear and accurate picture of Islamic feminism, which makes me love her (and Elif Shafak) even more. Peri (”The Confused”) is exactly that - confused. But her confusion stems not from ignorance but from a critical mind that can’t help but question both the values that were instilled into her in Turkey and those that she witnesses in Oxford. This questioning means that she never settles on anything, never stands still long enough to form a coherent worldview although that is what she’s desperately searching. It’s terribly uncomfortable for her, but it also means that she has a very keen eye for injustices done to women, however they may be justified.

[moon--melon]

WKM - Headcanons, Theories, and Confusion.

The text below is a series of headcanons, theories, and questions about the Who Killed Markiplier? (WKM) series. If you’re curious, it would mean the world to me for you to continue reading my post by clicking “Keep Reading”. Thank you regardless of your decision! Hopefully we can get @markiplier to see this, so reblog to help out!

Seriously though, there’s some juicy stuff in here. It would mean everything for you to check it out. I’m mentioning that fact again because I’m very passionate about this. I didn’t sit on my ass for two and a half hours straight typing this for no one to pay attention to it!

(Sources for videos/resources have been provided with links)

From the livestream, we actually now know a lot more things about WKM and its characters than ever before, but of course…there’s still plenty of questions that have gone unanswered (despite them being very simple questions).

But before I get into the questions, I want to go over some headcanons and my theories, which I deem very likely. (Not out of ego or anything, but just because Mark has mentioned/implied these theories and comments). I will save the questions for the final notion of this post. Thank you again to anyone reading! And special thanks to Mark if he just so happens to read this. __________

First off:

Some things to know! (these have all been confirmed by Mark and the teamiplier crew in the livestream):

-Mark, Mayor Damien, and the Colonel have been friends since they were kids.

-Mark and the Detective have been friends for a long time, but Damien and William (the Colonel) didn’t know of the Detective.

-Mark hired the Detective kind of as an investigative body guard. He hired him to keep things in check and to look into anything mysterious. Over time, they became friends.

-Damien was the only one who REALLY cared about everyone and what was happening. He viewed Mark as a true friend, and was genuinely distraught from his death. The Detective is the second most one who took this all to heart.

-Mark and Celine were married and lived together in the house for a while, but eventually Celine and the Colonel ran off together, leaving Mark alone in the house (for a long time).

-Celine and Damien are brother and sister (Mark didn’t necessarily confirm this; he just said that this was an idea he was heavily leaning towards, and that it is technically up to interpretation. However, Mark confirmed that they have NO romantic relationship whatsoever).

-The Chef and the Groundskeeper (who are good friends) have been living at/in the house for years; the Groundskeeper had been living there the longest, even before Mark showed up.

-The broken bottle in the cellar has a backstory: (this took place during the events of WKM) Mark brought William down into the cellar to settle things, but in actuality, it was all apart of Mark’s plan to get back at the Colonel for taking his wife (that’s how Mark sees it. Celine ran off with William on her own accord though) He offered William alcoholic drinks, getting him completely drunk while Mark stayed totally sober. Mark then offered to play Russian Roulette, putting one bullet in the Colonel’s gun. Mark pointed the gun at William and pulled the trigger, but the gun did not shoot. Mark then gave the gun to William, saying something along the lines of “There, now you can shoot me, and if it doesn’t kill me, we can put our anger behind us and become friends again. I can forget that you ran off with my wife, and you can forget that I was ever angry with you”. The Colonel hesitated, but he agreed, proceeding to shoot Mark and kill him. William, of course, freaked out and frantically hid the evidence, quickly cleaning everything up. That’s why he was avoiding everyone, including Damien, and that’s why he said that all of this was an accident. Mark…planned for this. He wanted the Colonel to kill him; it was all apart of his plan for revenge.

-Mark is just a heartbroken idiot, and his original plan doesn’t go exactly accordingly.

-Mark is the one who stabbed himself 37 times, drowned himself, beat himself, and poisoned himself. Mark (the real one. The one discussing the livestream—so not the character of Markiplier) said that (character) Mark was once trying to commit suicide, because his friend “stole” his wife and betrayed him.

-Mark took control of Damien’s body to rid himself of his original body, which was absolutely fucked up (His original body was…y'know: stabbed 37 times, beaten, poisoned, etc.). Afterwards, he presumably left the manor for good. (Mark didn’t mention that last sentence, but it is implied, and it makes sense).

-The inside of the house is VERY different from the outside—it’s like stepping into a different dimension, or as Mark put it, “stepping into someone’s mind” (which is JUST AN ANALOGY!). No one can die inside of the house. If something happens to you, you keep that injury and keep on living in pain. You can only die outside of the house (obviously, because that’s where the real world is)

- ^^^ That means that the Detective is still alive, and so is the viewer.^^^

-Damien and Celine used your body to get out of the black, purgatory-esc realm. They then ditched your body, turning into Darkiplier. Virtually none of Damien and Celine are left in Dark. Just like the groundskeeper said: “Everyone is…[gone]”.

-Damien and Celine did this ^^^ because Celine thought she knew more than she actually did, she thought she had more control than she actually did, and Damien trusted and believed her, so he thought it was in your best interest to “let them in”. In actuality though…the viewer is left stuck in the house.

-By the end of it, Damien hates Mark, feeling betrayed and left alone to live in pain and regret.

-The Colonel (obviously) turns into Wilford Warfstache. His red overalls faded into pink ones over the years.

-The Colonel sits with your dead body for 10 HOURS STRAIGHT, cradling Damien’s cane. At that point, he is not experiencing madness…he is experiencing pain, regret, mourning, and sorrow. He doesn’t experience madness until your dead body (which has been lifeless for 10 HOURS), suddenly gets up. (Keep in mind that in normal circumstances, rigor mortis sets in between 2 and 6 hours after death. The house prevents you from decaying, because you cannot die in that house).

-The house (as you could’ve guessed) doesn’t follow the laws of physics in its layout, and in it’s overall reality. For example, it was hiding the Detective’s room from the viewer. (Although, Mark seemed to lean away from the idea that the house could be sentient).

-The Detective’s room has been that way for years, recent stuff has just been added to it. When the Colonel angrily says that the Detective has been “keeping tabs on us”, he means that the Detective has been doing that for YEARS. Remember: Mark hired Detective Abe to keep tabs on people and to look into anything of question, and that’s exactly what he did. __________

Now that that’s out of the way! Here are my headcanons/theories (these are not 100% confirmed! Although, some are very likely):

-William (Now Wilford) wears bowties because of Damien. (Notice how Darkiplier doesn’t wear a bowtie/any tie at all [anymore]). (This headcanon was mentioned by Amy).

-After the events of WKM, the Chef and the Butler went as far away as they possibly could from the house. The two of them, although they did not particularly like each other, worked at a restaurant together (as seen on A Date With Markiplier). The Butler becomes a waiter and befriends another waiter (Ethan), the two of them also working at a small, independent theatre.

-The Mark (character) that we see in all other (important) sketches/skits is actually Damien’s body, but is just being controlled/possessed by Mark (from WKM. It’s not a “new” Mark, it’s the same one, he just has a different body—-Damien’s body).

-Wilford, being mad (insane), sees Darkiplier as Damien, being unable to see him as broken and corrupted. Wilford doesn’t see the glitchiness and unstableness of Darkiplier, he just sees his old friend Damien.

-Dark, being nothing more than a husk with the feelings of revenge, uses Wilford, not actually considering him as a friend. Dark contains virtually no trace of Damien and Celine anymore. Their spirits have been corrupted with hatred and revenge so much, that all it is now is Dark. __________ The questions (HOEPFULLY TO BE ANSWERED BY MARK!):

-What is the time setting?! Mark and the gang VERY briefly brush up on this in their livestream explaining WKM, but what they say is even MORE confusing. Mark says that it takes place around the ages of the 1920’s through the 1950’s. I am going to completely dismiss that idea, because it makes no goddamn sense. Maybe Mark meant that it was based on those eras? But then Amy goes on to say that they wanted WKM to seem timeless. Idfk, this needs to be cleared up. The timeline is VERY important! For some reason, Mark always dismisses it!

-What happened to the Detective? The person speaking at the end of Chapter 4 of WKM is confirmed to be the Detective. He says (verbatim): “ *recorder beep* *intense coughing* Colonel…*coughing* if you can hear this…you better run”. Clearly, the Detective is angered and full of hatred towards the Colonel. He knows that he killed Mark, so maybe he will also be out for revenge? If not, what is the importance of his character? It’s clearly left on a cliffhanger. Is the Detective still stuck in the house with the viewer? If so, why was that last audio clip put in? (I understand this particular question cannot be answered yet. I just want everyone to think about it, because it seems to be that everyone forgot the importance of this character. No one’s talking about Abe!).

-What exactly happened to the Butler and the Chef? I tried to answer this question using my headcanon, as seen above, but I think it’s still good to mention here. I consider them to be very important characters, and I think that Mark could answer this one very easily.

-Is the Groundskeeper still keeping the grounds of the manor? Obviously, after the events of WKM, George (the Groundskeeper) definitely vowed to never go back in that house ever again. But…he’s done this before…so did he go back to his job? Or did he leave for good? (This may not be important at all).

-What’s the deal with Wilford? All that we know about Wilford is that he is insane, and that he is now working with Darkiplier (as shown in Markiplier TV), but what are the specifics? Does he know that Dark is (or, ..was) Damien and Celine?

-Are Wilford’s other videos not canon now? Now that Wilford has an official origin story, we are left to question his first origin story. Yep! You read that right. For the new fans of Markiplier: Wilford has always had a backstory. We see it in these videos (which are in order; that’s important) The Warfstache Affair and The Ned Affair. He was a journalist who slept with someone who was having an affair with her husband. After shooting and killing the woman, her husband, (and their neighbor and their dog), Wilford burned the house to the ground and fled the scene, being wanted by the police. Did those videos not even happen, or did they just happen way after WKM? (Also, does “Warfstache Interviews Markiplier” have any canon or importance?)

-Who is the new Markiplier? As mentioned in this post, Mark took control of Damien’s body and left the manor, planning to leave the Colonel, Damien, and even the viewer. So what does that mean for the Mark character we see in A Date With Markiplier and Markiplier TV? I think that it’s still the Mark from WKM, but just in Damien’s body, but that has not yet been confirmed or disapproved.

-Who is the new viewer? The viewer’s character (the one looking at everything in first person) is confirmed to be stuck in the manor at the end of WKM, …but, in A Date With Markiplier, there seems to be a new character for the viewer’s perspective. Who is this new person? They have to be significant in some way! In ADWM, Mark’s character says SEVERAL times: “Do I know you from somewhere?” “you look familiar” “Do we know each other?”. What does that mean?? I’m pretty sure that was NEVER explained! __________

And with that, this post has officially concluded. Sorry…that it’s so long. I’m sure that fact will deter Mark from it :(

Thank you to anyone and everyone who decided to take the time out of their lives to actually sit down and read this. It took me a long time to not only type this, but to do the small amount of research that went along with it.

Mark, this post means a lot to me….it would mean so much for you to comment on it and explain a few things. You inspire me every single day, and the WKM series is a masterpiece that I absolutely adore. I’m very confident in this post, so I think it would be pretty close to a total waste if you never come across this.

Once again, thank you everyone for reading this. You have no idea how much it means to me. I’m going to spread this like the plague—I need people to see this, I’m so passionate about it.

Again, special thanks to Mark.

[mrsspidermanmaryjanewatsonparker]

Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows V2 #4 Thoughts

Click here to see my older thoughts 

Story:

 The Parkers flee the Mole Man and the Moloids who are firing the Regent’s big green laser device at them. So focuses are they upon avoiding the blasts they inadvertently (because they don’t have Spider Senses apparently) find themselves plummeting over a pit of lava.

  Whilst Peter and MJ are able to right themselves Annie isn’t so lucky, prompting her parents to dive down to the rescue. Unfortunately between MJ getting sprayed in the face by Peter’s webbing and the pair colliding mid-swing Annie is left to rescue herself.

 Meanwhile above ground news reporters are covering the recent events at the Regent’s HQ. Among them is Betty Brant who informs Jonah over at the Bugle about Spider-Man’s involvement along with a new mysterious spider woman (no mention of Annie though). Whilst demanding an inventory of the site (and all information on Annie), young Normie Osborn spots the damaged remnants of Peter’s camera drone amidst the rubble.

  Back in the Mole Man’s domain, Peter and MJ bicker over getting in one another’s way, though they soon make up. Their moment is interrupted when Annie asks about a codename for herself, prompting Peter and MJ to argue over her role as a hero. As they continue to ‘talk’ Annie takes note of a hole in the cave wall where the Mole Man’s voice seems to be emanating from. She tries to inform her parents about the hole and how she should use it to sneak up on Mole Man (given how it’s too small for her parents). When they fail to listen she crawls into the hole, infuriating Peter and MJ (though they confess they are sort of proud of her).

  As Annie sneaks up on Mole Man he rants about making his enemies pay and how the device converts ‘life energy into weapon energy’, leading him to begin killing his own forces. Soon though the Parker’s ambush him and his forces, making short work of them.

  Later the family observes Normie Osborn fume over the feds impounding the Regent’s device, with Annie commenting on how she finds him cute (*coughjustlikeMaydaycough*). On Mj’s prodding Peter reluctantly accepts Annie as a hero, dubbing her Spiderling.

  Review:

Pros

·         The arc is over. Whilst enjoyable we’re done with the set up and can now hopefully move onto more of the meat that fans wanted out of the series. Also we don’t need to see more of this annoying interpretation of Mole man

  ·         Whilst there was not enough action for a climax to an arc, the action scenes we got were energetic and well rendered by Stegman who, as I have said before, is exceptional on this book. Of particular note is his opening double page splash and the sequence where Annie climbs down the hole.

  ·         Annie is cute and smart in this issue and does that thing kids do wherein they do something they know they aren’t supposed to do after telling their parents whom they know is not listening just then. It was funny (especially when presenting the conversation from her point of view) and fairly true to life. Okay yeah it was maybe on the cliché side of things but in fairness we’ve never seen such a cliché employed in Spider-Man before.

  ·         The conversation/argument scene itself was also...well it was sort of neat to see again because it’s another down to Earth domestic thing that happens in real life. It was also nice to see the scene balancing out Peter and MJ’s relationship. They were presented as loving, but also far from the perfect couple and like most couples prone to arguing. And fittingly, like many couples such arguments centred upon their kid. So at least conceptually having the scene in there was great though there were problems with it which I will discuss in the cons.

  Their earlier disagreement though about working together was in contrast better handled and similarly worked in balancing their problems with their love for each other. The scene leading into it where they got in one another’s way was also amusing and (as the issue itself mentioned) highlighted some of MJ’s more fiery personality traits.

  ·         Peter is not however left out as appropriately he demonstrates a real resistance to his daughter being a hero but simultaneously has pride in her when she shows her skills. A great balancing of the mixed emotions our hero would be feeling in the situation.

  ·         Normie Osborn continues to be intriguing.

  ·         Betty’s reintroduction is a fun bit of nostalgia especially if she sticks around. In the min universe we’ve seen little of her and whether you enjoy her as a reporter character and/or for her...eccentric antics shall we say, it’s nice to see her all the same. She’s just part and parcel of the classic status quo and cast we know and love.

  ·         There is some funny/endearing dialogue towards the climax of the issue where Peter and MJ talk about punishing Annie. There is another nice exchange when MJ brings up an old proverb about families fighting together which Peter is sure isn’t really a proverb.

  ·         Finally we have a nice little nod to Mayday at the very end of the issue which also undermines her recent stupid name change into Spider Woman.

  Cons

·         Whilst I’m glad the arc is over and we can move onto to more low key plots with Spider-Man elements (as opposed to Fantastic Four elements), the issue kind of felt like it went by too fast. It wasn’t liking rushed exactly but it was more like...It just felt like too quick of a read for a wrap up issue.

  ·         Part of that is tied to the Mole Man’s goal being underwhelming, along with his defeat. Essentially it amounts to running away, sneaking up on him, dodging some blasts then a one punch knock out. As much the Mole Man was annoying I feel like it was a lacklustre way to wrap things up and wasn’t worth the price of admission. I mean this whole arc was fought over like...a laser basically...that’s it...

  Then again this arc is for setting up the characters and the Mole Man is supposed to just be somebody for the family to fight. At which point though there was really little point making Mole Man the villain instead of a Spider-Man centric character. Well, little point except to thematically poise this series as partially a Fantastic Four substitute.

 ·         Going back to that conversation I mentioned in the pros there are some real problems with it which go right back to the underlying problem with the concept of the series. Look...the series is supposed to be about the Spider Family. The essential problem being that what parent allows an 8 year old to go into dangerous situations like this? I’ve said this many times before. It was part and parcel of the problem of Renew Your Vows volume 1 when Annie was drafted into the battle. At least there it sort of made sense on the grounds that with so few active super heroes the characters needed all the help they could get. Here though with heroes existing in the world what justification is there for allowing Annie to be an active hero?

  In this issue Peter’s natural opposition to this role for Annie is brought up and prompts the conversation/argument between him and MJ. And the thing is that it’s partially consistent and partially inconsistent.

  On the one hand its consistent because in Renew Your Vows volume 1 MJ was towards the end of the story onboard for allowing Annie to help out whilst Peter throughout the story was protective of her (going so far as to retire for 8 years and remain in hiding). So in this issue Peter being opposed to Annie’s life as a superhero whilst MJ defending it makes sense with what we’ve seen before for this universe’s versions of the character.

  However it’s inconsistent because in issues #2-3 MJ grounded Annie for coming to the Regent’s HQ and Peter has clearly already consented to Annie being a hero earlier in the series, hence her costume. Similarly in issue #1 the implication was that he’d discussed and accepted that she was going to fight crime with them.

  How the question on consistency pales next to the fact that again...why is Mary Jane defending and even encouraging an 8 year old to fight crime? For the sake of argument lets presume her and Peter’s histories are more or less the same as their 616 counterparts. If that’s true then she knows all too well the dangers her husband has endured in that line of work. It’s one thing to ask for Annie to be trained in her powers that she might defend herself in the advent of an enemy attacking her. This is different though.

  And the problem really for this book is that it really needs to either come up with a convincing explanation or just not mention this issue and make the concept enjoyable enough that readers just accept that this is just the point of the series. In this issue though they bring up the incredibly valid criticisms of Annie being a hero but the best defence presented is that Peter is too stuck in his ways and won’t let anyone else help him, which is a weak argument against his point. The problems are compounded when the conversation switches to Annie’s POV and we don’t hear anything else being said. It’s evocative of how Conway is at least struggling to legitimately justify this concept from a character point of view. But the solution to that is not to pay lip service to the fact that Annie’s parents would argue about it without finding a genuine justification.

  Making matter worse at the end of the issue Peter’s problems with his daughter’s dangerous new direction in life are essentially handwaved and he just welcomes her to the team.

  ·         Similarly Conway is again seemingly trying to make the point that having MJ stay at home whilst Peter went off to be Spider-Man was a bad status quo back in the day. The thing is that...it really wasn’t. I mean sure MJ just waiting by a window all the time was bad, but the idea that MJ not being actively involved in Peter’s crime fighting life somehow was undermining of her isn’t true at all. She had her own subplots to deal with, one of which involved her cousin Kristy which you know...Conway wrote.

  ·         Another dilemma in this series is its relationship to the first Volume of Renew Your Vows. Conflicting answers have been given as to whether or not Volume 2 takes place in the same universe or a different one or if it’s the same universe albeit it altered. This issue continues to present confusion as it has a caption referencing Volume 1 as though the events o it happened exactly as we saw. Which clearly isn’t the case as other heroes are alive in this universe and it seems unlikely that Peter wasn’t Spider-Man for 8 years.

  ·         Moving onto some smaller quick fire points, Peter and MJ getting in one another’s way was fun but if we are to presume Peter’s history is mostly the same as his 616 counterparts then surely he must’ve worked with other people before in the past. Whilst never an Avenger in this universe did he really never work with Black Cat, Daredevil, Captain America or other such characters? Surely someone as experienced as him would be able to avoid getting in someone’s way or letting someone get in his? If nothing else wouldn’t their respective Spider Senses have allowed them to avoid one another?

  ·         The cave hole was a little too convenient.

  ·         The codename Spiderling is pretty lame if we’re being real here.

  ·         If Normie Osborn is only 10 years old why is he in charge of his family business and acting like he’s an adult? Also whilst creepy to most people why were Peter and MJ so distant and even a little mean to their friends’ son/their godson?

  ·         The way the Regent’s device worked was poorly explained. It converts life energy to weapon energy? What does that mean exactly. It acted as just a big laser but then Mole Man behaved as though by sacrificing his Moloids by shooting them with the laser it somehow powered it up?

  ·         Normie finds Peter’s drone that he used to take pictures of himself. Read my thoughts on issue #1 to hear me elaborate on the drone, but this issue fulfils some of my points about it. It’s large size and colourful design make it a big target and could possibly compromise the Parkers’ secrets.

 ·         Finally...how did the family get free in between last issue and literally the first page of this issue?

  Ultimately my problems with this series roll right back to the inherent conceptual ones I’ve had since day 1. Beyond those though the only real sins of this issue are being a bit too fast and anti-climactic. Still it was fun enough for what it was though.

  B-