#but he´s still a bit tragic because of how his arc ends

[chemzee]

Morgan "Morg" Grimmes

aka chemzee made another very edgy oc how surprising

A Ravenclaw student you may have never heard of. And if you did, not the best things. His macabre interests in dark art, especially the art of necromancy, certain disregard for some establishments and rules and unceremonious view of death scares an average student, his huge dark eyes feel as if they pierce through your soul, his hazy voice and almost permanent smile makes people feel a sense of unease around him.

Nobody wants to be around him and it might appear he does not mind that, after all, higher chances are you'd find him alone, reading another one of his questionable books with a blissful smile on his face.

Truth is, deep inside, he craves to be accepted and understood, to feel like he belongs somewhere. His interests might be macabre, some of his morals in first glance questionable,yet those who'd know him will tell he's a nice, friendly and patient guy,who means no harm. Too bad so little actually know that about him, leaving him with a desire to find those who'd be on a same wavelength as him. Perhaps so much so he's willing to join questionable groups, just to feel like part of a social circle for the time he has left.

A curse runs through his veins, everyone who shared it with him facing a terrible demise while still young. Morgan had witnessed most of his family pass away, leaving him as one of the few still alive, as he has already accepted the inevitability of his fate, accepted that high chances are he won't make it to the graduation. It might sound terrifying to most,himself included at first, knowing you have so little time left, yet now he prefers to think of it as liberating, he can do whatever he pleases, as he's got nothing to lose. Or so he thinks.

[creatingblackcharacters]

here's a threefer if that's okay, all from Codename: Kids Next Door (early 2000s cartoon network show about kids with wacky technology who fight against adult tyranny)—since their stories are pretty well intertwined, and i can't really talk about just one without including the others here's Numbuh 5/Abigail Lincoln, one of the 5 main characters (Sector V of the titular Kids Next Door organization). she's the voice of reason and the "cool" one of the group.

she's the one who holds the group together most of the time, and has great leadership skills—though she refused to be the official leader of Sector V due to an Incident when she was younger. at the end of the show, though, when the actual leader Numbuh 1 leaves for space, he requests that she become the leader of the sector again. she accepts, and eventually then goes on to become the Supreme Leader of the entire KND. love to see a girlboss winning!!

she also has an adventurous side—there's an arc where she goes on various treasure hunts for rare, mystical candies, and i think that's hella cool.

then there's her older sister, Cree. (yes, named after Cree Summer! she voices both her and Abigail.)

cree is a recurring villain—a teenager, one of the natural enemies of the KND. what's unique about her compared to the other villains is that she used to be a member of the KND herself, before betraying the organization on her 13th birthday and escaping "decommissioning" (the process through which all KND operatives have their memories of the organization removed when they turn 13, i.e. are no longer kids).

aside from being just as cool and skilled in combat as her sister, she and her sister have an incredibly compelling dynamic. back when she was a kid, she and numbuh 5 used to be good friends and partners in adult-tyranny-fighting. in fact, 5's signature hat used to be cree's, which she gave to her out of pride for 5 having completed her second mission. in the present, though, their relationship has done a complete 180˚. they're at each other's throats constantly, now that cree had grown into the very type of person she used to be fighting against, WITHOUT memory alteration to boot.

...or so it seemed. in the episode OPERATION: VIRUS when cree was infected with the KND's "unpoppable zit" virus on the night of her prom, 5 actually went to lengths to get the antidote for her because even she thought it was "too far". in 5's words, "you may be my archenemy, but you're still my sister."

so yeah! they actually still care about each other deep down. aughhhhhh. this is just a headcanon but i imagine that to numbuh 5, her hat is a reminder of the good days when she worked together with cree. perhaps she holds on to it as hope that they can reconcile someday? idk

and finally, here's numbuh 9/Maurice. he was also on abby and cree's team back in the days.

his episode literally made me cry, man. it's focused around his 13th birthday and his decommissioning, which everyone in the KND is tearful about since he was one of the greatest and most beloved operatives in the organization's history. seeing him going from a cool kid operative, dedicated to his organization's mission, to an average, kinda dickish teenager was a bit heartbreaking when i watched it at first

one thing i love about this show is how it's a satire of the childhood experience and the pains of growing up that imo is best understood by ppl who've actually gone through it. the trope of decommissioning, as well as the whole conflict between teens and kids, really hammers in the pain of the end of childhood and how fast things change for you as you grow up. how so many decomm'd operatives had unfinished business that they never get to finish. in real life it's like, there was a moment when you put down your favorite toys or hung out with that one childhood friend for the last time, but never knew it was the last at the time. it's so tragic and juicy aughhhh. a line numbuh 5 says to cree during this episode illustrates it best: "you're a teen...maurice's a teen...soon i'm gonna be a teen...why keep fighting it"

however, it turns out he wasn't actually decommissioned! but rather he kept all his memories and was brought on as a secret undercover teen operative, thanks to all he accomplished while he was in the KND. no one is supposed to know about this except the highest of the higher-ups in the KND, but he trusts numbuh 5 with this info thanks to the bond they had. so he continues his legacy as a heroic figure. i really, really love his character, his dynamics with both numbuh 5 and cree (the latter of whom he pretends to ally with and date), and all the show's themes he represents.

also fun fact he's voiced by Khary Payton, who also did Cyborg from Teen Titans!

Hot Chocolate loves this show, so imma pass it off to him. Though first imma say that I do remember how as a kid I was shocked that it was allowed for your character to have your real name lol, I always thought that was so groundbreaking and taboo. Like aww! Her name is Cree, and so is her character! Now to him:

Hot Chocolate: SOMEONE GETS IT. These three black kids had me ready to join KND, kick butt, and steal ice cream. Numbuh 5 was my favorite! Always cool, and a fantastic leader. I forgot about her becoming supreme leader though, so you know what that meeeeeaans- time for a rewatch. Anyway, her relationship with Cree was so interesting and sad like come on, we were homies! It doesn't have to be this way! 😭😭 Especially because even though Cree was "evil" my young self has a crush on her 🤣.

Anyway the commentary on growing up and becoming old and boring caught me for a while, so I made sure I had as much fun as I could. But then they showed Maurice's episode and I was ready to take on the world. Anything to remain a cool agent of the KND. That being said everyone should give that show a try, it's old but still funny. Think I'll start it again for the Eleventynth time

[johannesviii]

So uh

The Power of the Doctor surely was one of the episodes of all time

Where do I even fucking start

Let's cut to the chase, narratively it was all over the place in a "let's throw everything at the wall to see what sticks" kind of way. The thing is, it was fun. It made no sense but it was still enjoyable. Why was the Master cosplaying Rasputin? Why 1916? What was the point of the Dalek traitor? Why the paintings? Who cares, I'm having the time of my life watching all this shit 7,5/10

Why Tegan and Ace, for that matter? Because it's fun to see them again, that's why. I'll take it. Tegan was especially great. Also Ace wasn't a CEO so bonus points for that

Why was Graham even here

Why the train

Why the Qurunx

Why the uh everything about the Daleks and the Cybermen and no-one getting betrayed or in-fighting in the process

Why do I care

Dan's arc started with him having no money and ends with him having no house. That's kinda bleak for a comic relief companion

I don't know how to feel about Tennant being the Doctor again? It's weird and interesting and I can't wait to see what they do with this, and I find it supremely ironic that the Doctor who was the most terrified of death is the one who will get to die THREE TIMES in this series - but at the same time, I really wanted to see Ncuti Gatwa and I feel like he's been robbed of his thunder, kind of? I don't know, it feels weird

Considering Chibnall's focus isn't usually on character arcs I wasn't expecting Thirteen's ending to have any kind of dramatic irony, but having very low expectations for this specific era was a blessing, because one of the things I desesperately wanted to see was this control freak of a Doctor, who never explains anything to her friends, being forced to rely entirely on her friends, and also completely losing control. And that's exactly what I got here. Yes. Very good

The Qurunx assuming the form of a child because it wants to be protected. The parallels with the Timeless Child. Exquisite

And that bit where she's hit by a deadly energy blast and she's carried back to the TARDIS like this?? Complete inversion of the trope of the Doctor carrying a companion and I loved it

Oh god look at Yaz. Yeah that's right, you can only hold her while she's literally dying! That's the only time she'll be in your arms! And she's DYING!! And then you have to say goodbye!! I'm feeling normal about this

I've already seen quite a few Thasmin fans screaming bloody murder and to be honest I get it but like. I'm also digging how tragic this is

I wasn't asking for a kiss but like. When they were on the TARDIS' roof. I wanted one of them to put her head on the other's shoulder. Was that too much to ask

Pretty fitting that Yaz joins the circle of Recovering Doctor Addicts at the end after that and oh god don't get me started

The empty chair for Sarah Jane?? Don't talk to me

Is Ian even aware that regeneration exists or was he just like "wait so the Doctor is trans? Good for her"

WHAT WAS THE "POWER" OF THE DOCTOR WAS IS TO LEAVE A SHIT TON OF TRAUMATISED PEOPLE IN THEIR WAKE BECAUSE IF THAT'S WHAT THAT MEANT I'M HOWLING

Here's the Doctor's power! You all need therapy now!!

"How many Doctors are there" GOOD QUESTION NOBODY KNOWS

SPEAKING OF WHICH

FIVE SIX SEVEN AND EIGHT ON SCREEN. I FUCKING SCREAMED

BANTER BETWEEN SEVEN AND EIGHT ABOUT CLOTHES?? HELLO??? THE SURREAL LANDSCAPE?? ADRIC'S DEATH BEING MENTIONED IN NEW WHO?? HELLO????

Why is Ace apologizing to Seven when he should be apologizing to HER and why am I even asking. Who cares that was so cool

Eight on screen EIGHT ON S C R E E N how am I supposed to feel NORMAL ABOUT THIS I WANT TO SCREAM I WANT TO CRY

OH SPEAKING OF WANTING TO CRY

TIME TO GET EMOTIONAL AND CRINGE ON MAIN ABOUT A FUCKING IDIOT WHO SPENT HALF THE EPISODE COSPLAYING RASPUTIN FOR NO REASON AT ALL AND MENTIONING HE USED TO BE A FURRY IN THE EIGHTIES

I turned off Anon asks so if any of you want to send me a new round of hate regarding the fact I love that Master which apparently makes me a fake fan or a Missy hater or something, you'll have to use your actual usernames, cowards. You know who you are

"Johannes shut up about that Master's supposed self-loathing that's not in the text that's just your headcanon to make him more interesting" OH YEAH YEAH CLEARLY I'M MAKING THINGS UP UH CLEARLY THIS IS NOT IN THE TEXT UH

THIS MF'S ENTIRE BULLSHIT PLAN WAS JUST AN EXCUSE TO STOP BEING HIMSELF FOR A MINUTE AND BECOME THE DOCTOR HI HELLO YES I'M FEELING NORMAL ABOUT THIS

"DON'T LET ME GO BACK TO BEING ME"

"DON'T LET ME GO BACK TO BEING ME"

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA FUCK FUCK FUCK

I'm not making sense right now I'm sorry

"IF I CAN'T BE THE DOCTOR NEITHER CAN YOU" I want to scream I want to punch a fucking wall why are you like this why. are you. like THIS

The feelings are indescribable and I can't put them into words right now and I will have to make some art to make them go away, I don't make the rules I don't even have a choice at this point

TLDR this episode was a badly written narrative mess and full of fanwank and Doctor Who is terrible and I love Doctor Who with all my heart and I feel more alive than ever right now

[hungnitan]

Penacony TB 2.2 Impression

A bit story summary, here I am after 2.1 having wild imagination what if Churin become AE temporary members but it change into Boothill and made Danheng traumatized and Black Swan (in the end it's just a dream lol).

Unexpectedly we found Argenti in Penacony and then again making us suprise with sudden battling him ! But wow I think hoyo needs another arc/event story to explain Argenti power scale, just how stonk he is can entered nihility and get out alive...

After finish 2.2 I kinda get the reasons we still not getting any info regarding playable Sunday. Additionaly, it explain the reasons why Robin interview with Owlbert came out weeks faster... Now I wondering why Robin gameplay focused on FuA support

Honorable mention scene :

We have three different answer of "why we sleep ?" question and it's really mirroring their personality. Tired of living version from Churin, tired with reality from Sunday and have a hope of humanity from Trailblazer.

Here we are, Welt having a homesick and mention warriors (valkryie) from his home, btw S rank tier is basically their best groupie (lol)

As we expected, SAM is initial and sounds near gundam (lol) but I didn't expect even Firefly isn't a real name...

Remember a male voicing the story summary at finishing part ? It sounds like a boy (if I delulu it's near Heizou voice so yeah boy lol) so maybe it's him... I kinda want to know his VA~

Edit : in the end, it's Lyney (Hiro Shimono) not Heizou, I'm pretty near I guess 🤣

Jade Churin convo talking about his fate as stonehearts, the conclusion could between cut or promotion. But from my finding about Diamond personality so far, I think he's very leniant to "worth to invest" people. From Churin character story, he sounds so sure Churin gonna make profits later. Even Topaz big failure only get her one rank down because he saw she gonna make contribution in next project (Penacony). If somehow he get a cut too I don't think Churin screentime finish only at Penacony arc~ the reason mostly like if you're a screenwriter there's no way you gonna throw all the times for world building you made so meticilous for one person easily...

Overall not the best but it's pretty good, a big twist made me "HUH !?" once or twice (lol) and good change of pace too after 2.1 with Churin's dark past aside the fact some problem still not finish like what's happens with Penacony stellaron, the main antagonist basically running away and throw all blame to Sunday, Boothill searching for Oswaldo (eh moreless around his past I'm sure) and question from 2.1 that still unanswered in this version, IPC move on Penacony. Well with the epilogue finished like that I'm really sure IPC will make their move in TB next version.

From my personal opinion TB 2.2 isn't that interesting, maybe I read too many speculation before but most of them are right like Ena deep rooted on Penacony, Acheron real name eh is this even hidden lol, old man from Acheron convo means her reasons coming to Penacony (it's predictable after read halfway).

In the end, what's the problem with button Sparkle keep distributing ?

Additionaly we have "another date" with Firefly and she's just dying again this time off screen lol... and she said she's got one more dying later ? hmmm... well yeah she's cute but it's just too absurd, I can't even make any reaction about it, the things I spout after heard she dying again is just "oh she dying again huh...? Oh well she's gonna revive later anyway". Not lowering reader expectation on Firefly but isn't she just too streotype anime tragic cutie girl ? If not because of stellaron hunter + SAM too proper voice I could skip her banner easily. But she should have another chance in next version, let's see if she can turn around all my low expectation on her...

If I gonna be honest she will leave a big impression if she's dying for real at 2.3 plus I heard something like Sunday as stellaron member on future but...let's see~

So yeah I'm more eager with next version TB !

But you know what, with Penacony TB more into nameless and we all know Oswaldo is one of them... can I hope for IPC arc ? To tell the truth, I'm very curious with him and Diamond !

[cursedvibes]

Hello....Do you mind if I ask your top 5 (or top 10) favorite moments from any media that you love (books, anime/manga, tv series, movies, games, etc)? Thanks if you want to answer. Sorry if I ask too much....

You're not asking too much, thanks for this opportunity to ramble about stuff I love :D I'm gonna restrict it to recent stuff I read or watched and one moment for one series to make the scope not quite as big. Since I've been mainly a jjk blog the past years, I'll start with that...

JJK - Baka Survivor Arc

It's hard to pick just one moment from it. There's lots of stuff I like. Takaba's backstory and him reflecting on his life and goals, the reality bending in ch 242, Kenjaku calling Takaba their partner. But I think the one moment I like the most is when they play in the sea and Kenjaku notices that they are actually enjoying themselves, more than they have had in decades. I just love the easy flow of the scene and how soft both Kenjaku and Takaba are drawn there. It was really a pivotal moment for both of them and a big part why this mini-arc does make quite a satisfying ending for Kenjaku's and Takaba's character. Also very telling that Kenjaku immediately tries to stifle those feelings as soon as they become aware of them, an age-old habit by now. Except Takaba isn't that easily shaken off. A close second is the end of their comedy routine right until Yuuta cuts off Kenjaku's head and they keep staring at Takaba. It's where they are most honest about how much they mean to each other and how they have helped each other. Kenjaku realizing Takaba made them weak, but not regretting their actions one bit but instead reminiscing about the good time they had with him still makes me insane. Chapter 270 made it even better because no matter who the person with Takaba is, it proves that he was just as deeply affected by this fight as Kenjaku was and Kenjaku really is the perfect partner for him. He can't even imagine someone else fitting that role this perfectly. I'm glad he got his happy ending and is pursuing comedy again while having fun.

Houseki no Kuni - Phos forcing Kongo to pray

Phos' and Kongo's relationship generally makes me insane, but this is one of my favourite interactions between them. It's such raw emotion. Phos feels betrayed - by everyone but most importantly Kongo, who they cared for so much. Then after having spend years as nothing more than splinters of stone, they return to a semblance of a body thanks to Kongo's meticulous work and care for them. He was the reason they ended up like this, but he also gave them new life. Except Phos is too broken at that point to really process it and so they try to hurt Kongo the same way he hurt them, forcing him to end it all. Except it's all in vain. And then, when they manage to meet up with the rest again, they realize just how much Kongo loves them and that he never stopped loving them despite what they did and are trying to do, which only drives them more insane. Man it's just...I don't know what to even say. This part of the story perfectly shows how toxic Kongo and Phos are for each other despite or especially because of how much they care for each other. It's just beautiful. Both broken, both wanting to push the other to perfection but only hurting them in the process.

Fool Night - Mukuru's Backstory & Death

Fool Night is full of dark personal stories, but Mukuru's is the most tragic we've seen so far I would say. He was just a kid driven by survival instincts and love for his sister, which eventually got twisted into hate. He simply had the misfortune of being born in Austercity and having no adults to teach him the way of the world. He only had himself to rely on and also had to protect his sister. Most cruel I find that their little glimpse of happiness, his sister wishing for sweets is what ultimately was their downfall. No adults bothered to care for them, so they didn't know the snow was contaminated and therefore deadly. Nobody taught them how to read, so Mukuru didn't know that in some places you simply can't breath the air. It was so heartbreaking to see the doctor trying to explain to him that some air lacks oxygen and is therefore not breathable for humans, but he doesn't understand because he lacks the entire scientific concept of how our world functions. His sister wanting happiness by making candy out of snow killed her and him trying to make more money to help her with her illness permanently immobalized his body, giving him no option anymore to make money, meaning his sister will suffer and he will eventually die. All because of a lack of education. Knowledge is technically not something you are born with, but due to the circumstances of his birth he was unable to grasp it.

Imagination is also something he couldn't afford. He had to survive, he had his sister to take care of, he couldn't slack off and the imagination of his sister killed them. However, in the end, when he is released from all responsibilities and suffering, he finally has the time for it. He only discovers imagination when he doesn't constantly have to fight for his survival, which is very realistic. He suffered more than anyone, was used, his love twisted, but after his death it is implied that he gained enlightenment. He is finally free, he is connected to the entire world, he has the power to form his reality with his imagination like he never could before and most of all he has the opportunity to have fun and simply be a child. No responsibilities anymore and no pain. I also found it fascinating how wholeheartedly he embraced the connection with the world this enlightened/semi-dead state gave him. Toshiro was overwhelmed by it, but to Mukuru it was freedom and what he had always longed for.

As tragic as it is, I am glad his character arc ended with this that despite everything he was able to attain happiness and "live" to his heart's content. He is one of my favourite characters of the manga and his story moved me.

Naruto Shippuden (anime) - Kakashi Anbu Arc

This arc perfectly shows the things I like most about Naruto as a series. You have a fairly realistic look at PTSD, the dark underbelly of Konoha and the whole shinobi system that hurts children and if they survive turns them into broken adults, political infighting inside Konoha, the conservative faction fostering only more war and repressing and indoctrinating their own people...and then also things like Yamato's backstory, more info on Root and Orochimaru being creepy and living their mad scientist life. One of my favourite Naruto scenes is when Kakashi and Yamato investigate an old hideout of Orochimaru's. He isn't actually there, but you can feel his presence everywhere. We don't see much of his experiments, just the broken leftovers and that is what makes things even more unsettling. It's such a tense scene because you don't know what lies ahead and your brain fills out the blanks of what horrible things must have happened at that place. It looks even mundane in parts, with regular desks and paper work, but the fact that this existed next to human experiments makes it even more grotesque. Investigating abandoned facilities like that is one of my favourite genre/tropes of horror.

Something I've also come to appreciate on a recent rewatch is how it fleshes out Kakashi and Gai's relationship. We know Gai was pretty much a constant presence in Kakashi's life, but this arc shows just how much he cared, how he tried to help Kakashi as best as he could and was pretty much the only one always concerned for him and his mental health. Everyone's like "Well Kakashi was always the quiet and gloomy kind, he'll fit right into ANBU. The fact that he does well on missions means this is good for him." To which Gai emphatically objects and says Kakashi isn't any more suited or has more darkness than he has. Especially the last part is important. Kakashi is traumatized, but that doesn't mean he always has to stay in that dark mental place or that it represents him.

House of the Dragon - Dance of the Dragons

The end of S2E5. The reason I love this so much is not only the cool dragon fight, but how much gravity it has and how we don't lose sight of what consequences a fight between dragons has for the average human, even a soldier. Something I like about House of the Dragon in general is how much weight the dragons have. They affect the environment around them, they all make different sounds and have recognozable shapes. Any time Vhagar moves, the earth shakes and when she flies it's like watching an airbus take flight right in front of you. These shots of her just carelessly stomping through human allies and enemies alike always gives me chills. That is a true force of nature and this episode shows it most perfectly. The soundtrack makes these moments even more magnificent and imposing. Even with the relatively small screen of my laptop, Vhagar and Meleys moving makes me hold my breath.

And then the aftermath of the fight is so wonderfully terrible. The Greens should be cheering for taking down the biggest and oldest dragon their opponent had at the time, but it has been just as devastating to them. For the average soldier, this is nothing to cheer. They could die, not in a battle against other soldiers, but merely as colleteral and because they happened to stand in the wrong place at the wrong time when a dragon passed them. Even the ones who survive have massive burns they might never recover from. The lone flag bearer falling to ashes is such moving imagery. If dragons fought or someone dropped a bomb on the field, it makes no difference to them. It's House of the Dragon at its best.

[gnomescarfcomics]

Rings of Power: Episode 5 - Partings

Rewatch mini review. Chaotic and out of order.

Harfoots/Harfeet: They continue to be incredibly charming. Poppy's song and the accompanying traveling montage is one of my favorite things from the series. Nori and Definitely-Not-Gandalf's relationship is great. I love the juxtaposition of a hobbit teaching and encouraging a wizard, while he struggles with his own fear and darkness slowly consuming him. Whether intentional or not, their arc feels like an echo of one of the best scenes of Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy (and a quote that is often misattributed to Tolkien himself):

"Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I've found it is the small things, everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keeps the darkness at bay. Simple acts of kindness and love. Why Bilbo Baggins? Because perhaps it is because I'm afraid, and he gives me courage."

The harshness of the Harfoot laws still holds things back a bit though and could have been handled better. I can see why it sucks some of the warmth out of the storyline for so many people.

Southlands: Arondir and Theo's bonding scene is especially great. Even with all the darkness around them, Arondir is trying so hard to keep everyone's spirits up and see their worth as people. And I really appreciate Theo showing them the evil sword-key rather than just keeping it secret for forced prolonged drama. That's something this series is actually pretty good at avoiding most of the time.

Waldreg is still one of my favorites (I really hope he shows up in season 2). The evil of his character is done in a very believable way. So many of the bad choices the characters make throughout the series are done out of misguided senses of righteousness, being trapped in a cycle of tradition, or simply not having all the information they need. But the darkest decisions are always done out of complete despair and desperation.

Numenor: Some of the momentum is lost after the end of the previous episode, not that what they're doing doesn't make sense. They need to prepare. Drama needs to happen first. But I think the ship sabotage, while a nice visual, was ultimately unnecessary. The time could have been better spent elsewhere. Galadriel's insistence on Halbrand being a king could have been expanded on a little bit more. I get that she basically just has a "feeling" about him (almost similar and contrasting Gandalf's about Bilbo), and this season is about the danger of assumptions. But it still felt a little underdeveloped.

Even with his limited screen time, I think Pharazon really comes into his own in this episode. His true intentions and what drives him comes into focus, and he's shown as misguided rather than outright evil. Earien and Kemen's relationship could have been given a little more time. But it's a rather insignificant aspect of the story, so if anything can survive being stripped down to the bare minimum, it's them.

But that brings me back to my main issue with Numenor. There's just too much going on. This series really should have had ten episode seasons, which apparently was the original intention. Hopefully season 2's structure ends up being more accommodating to the episode count.

Galadriel and Sauron's little heart to heart is fantastic. The ambiguity of just how sorry he is makes everything extra interesting. Bringing the Lord of the Rings himself to the forefront of things could have gone very poorly, but I think that, despite some bumps along the way, it's one of the strongest parts of the series. He's a tragic and charismatic character rather than a mustache twirling villain. There's plenty of time to focus on just how evil he is later on, but I appreciate they went for a more unexpected and complex telling of his story from the beginning. And it's all very rooted in Tolkien's descriptions of him.

Lindon: This is where the big problem makes its appearance. That darn mithril. It's hard to judge it completely until we know for sure what's going on. How much of the story is a lie? How does the mithril actually work? Was a Silmaril actually involved? Whatever the truth ends up being, they took a big swing with this lore invention, and I think it's mostly a miss. I appreciate the idea of a legend within the story that not even the characters know to be true or not. That feels very Tolkien and just a good use of myth and storytelling in general. But doing that with such a vital aspect of the overall story's core may have taken things too far.

And then there's Elrond's oath. I think it was poorly handled. The "rules" of his oath feel very vague. Based on his conversation with Celebrimbor, who he tells and what exactly he reveals don't seem to have concrete lines that can or cannot be crossed.

I assume Celebrimbor already knew there was at least some mithril around. Otherwise why would they specifically be looking for it with the dwarves? So are we to assume Elrond just didn't tell him how much the dwarves actually found? When did Celebrimbor test it? Did he mean he tested a piece they already found, which sparked their mission to find more? Did he test the little piece Elrond had after dinner. All of this could have been (and should have been) cleared up rather easily. I have to wonder how much of this is a result of the Celebrimbor recast, but that excuse can only go so far.

Elrond and Durin's friendship continues to be one of highlights of the series. Their chemistry and honesty with each other is refreshing. No matter how many political expectations or awkward racial differences attempt to keep them at odds with each other, it never takes long for them to just get to the raw meat of things.

Overall, some of the best individual scenes in the series only held back a bit by some truncated writing and a loss of momentum from the previous episode.

[stillness-in-green]

Favorite Characters of 2023

Saw this meme template by @limayde and had to drop anything more productive because I Love Character Memes. I tried to focus on characters who particularly signified 2023 in fandom for me, not necessarily just my favorites in any given fandom, and certainly not my favorites of all time! So consider it a reasonable representation of what I read/was reading/was still thinking about last year.

(I'm also relatively sure I could fill this out entirely with BNHA characters, but if I were to do that, it would be with the goal of representing how much I was thinking about said characters in terms of Fix-It Fic(s) Brainstorming, rather than simply how much I like them. Yoichi would be prominent in the former and not present at all in the latter, for example.)

Anyway, after much painstaking cropping, here it is!

(A full list of who all these people are and a blurb apiece of my thoughts on them, as well as the meme template, can be found beneath the cut!)

Most Favorite Blorbo(s) of 2023

Lord Glück and Macht of El Dorado (Sousou no Frieren) – Macht's was the arc that turned me around on Frieren's treatment of demons—he’s so interesting, and so tragic, totally set in his ways while also yearning to change them.  Glück, meanwhile, is so devoted to his word, blunt in his assessment of Macht’s character but wholly sincere about trying to give him the knowledge and environment he needs to change.  My BF asked me for the spoiler-free version of what I liked about them, and the best I can sum it up as is, “A mutual acceptance despite the parts of each other they can’t understand,” and, “They’ve made each other promises that go all the way to end, to the goddamn end.”  Thirty years of that!  I am once again begging on my hands and knees for Frieren to get a second season, and also, if the universe really loves me, to end the first season with a tease for the Golden City.[1]

(I cheated a bit here; the central square is intended for a single supreme fave, not center-mounting one's OTP. I am, however, entirely incapable of picking one of those two above the other. Also, putting them both there does bring the character count to a nice even 50.}

1: A second tease.  There’s actually been one already, a reference to Macht’s enchanted jewelry, squirreled away in some on-screen text—one of the anime’s many additions to the background detail compared to the manga.

12 Characters vs. 12 Months In A Year. Coincidence? Probably!

(Starting at the top left corner and moving clockwise.)

Shigaraki Tomura (BNHA) – 2023 was the year Shigaraki Tomura got his groove back, thank heavens.  While he didn’t get much material in which to speak his own mind—really just Chapters 379 and 411, a full year apart (the latter didn’t officially come out until just a few days ago; we just got the leaks a week early).  We’ll see how he holds up going forward, but even those few scenes effortlessly demonstrate just how profound a waste of time handing AFO the reins to the end game was.  Here’s to not letting Heroes off the hook in the new year!

Iguchi Shuuichi/Spinner (BNHA) – Spent a lot of 2023 worrying about this guy.  Still am worried about this guy.  But him turning the tides of the war at the end of 2022 shifted the whole course of the battle, and new we’ve got Shigaraki invoking The Horizon to finally give us incontrovertible evidence that Shigaraki and Spinner have talked about more than just video games!  2024 is shaping up Spinaraki!

Yotsubashi Rikiya/Re-Destro (BNHA) – I provide fanart for this man because, of course, he was in the actual canon not at all last year, absent a single flashback panel from Hose Face, not at all making up for what a caricature that character was otherwise.  All the good Re-Destro content I was getting last year was thanks to @nickfoo’s wonderful, wonderful fanart of him.  Thanks for continuing to give this guy love, foo! (full art here)

Geten (BNHA) – Himura backstory reveal!  And that revelation accounted for the only fanfic I posted last year at all, as well as being super satisfying in terms of largely clearing Todoroki Enji of the responsibility for the heteromorphobic microaggressions perpetrated by certain of his children, as well as giving us some more hints about Geten and Re-Destro’s relationship.  Exquisite. (Now just let him have something to say that isn’t mostly there to Contextualize Dabi.)

Vamirio/Anne from Management  (Helck) – I reread Helck last year in celebration of its anime, and just to reiterate this again, Vamirio and her determination lead her to make firm stands and fiery declarations about her combat role and priorities that Deku has never even fuckin’ thought about.  Vamirio a best; vote Vamirio for Head of Management.

Samuel Murphy +Hal and Nobu (Canis: The Speaker) – Sam’s my favorite of another inseparable trio, probably because, at least as an adult, he’s the most vulnerable—not simply because he lacks the firearms or goons that his partners’ positions allow them to call to hand, but also because of his struggles with insomnia.  Whip-smart, observant, and well-spoken, and I always have had a preference for the smart ones.

Jasper (Steven Universe) – I started reading @faelapis’s post-canon Jasper exploration fic Something Better last year and absolutely fell in love with it.  It reminded me all over again how much I love Jasper, and how much I wanted a story that gave her all the time she needed to change.

Somei Yoshino (Yakuza Fiancée) – Last year saw the anime announcement and Yoshino’s totally amazing bathtub fight with Azami, which I guess there are cowards out there who didn’t like?  RIP to them but I’m different, I guess!  I’ll watch Yoshino break her terrible suitors’ fingers any time!

Wolfgang Grimmer (Monster) – Reread the back half of Monster last year solely because I love Grimmer and wanted to read his material again.  A perennial favorite, manga and character alike.  I love a man held together with scotch tape, stitches and good intentions.

Boutarou the Pirate (Golden Kamuy) – Probably not my actual favorite character in the series, but I finally got to see him in anime form last year after a maddening wait thanks to the delay in 2022.  Shiraishi’s best ship and a feral merman (look at the way he uses his hair and tell me I'm wrong) that someone unaccountably let walk around on dry land. A+ character.

Sailor Cosmos (Sailor Moon) – Speaking of characters with a huge wait on seeing them in the anime..!  God, I’ve wanted anime Sailor Cosmos since high school, and I’m thrilled to finally get her (and the merch that would accompany her).

Mitaka Asa (Chainsaw Man) – I read the first half of Chainsaw Man a while back, largely on the basis of @robotlesbianjavert’s enthusiasm, and while I enjoyed it well enough, particularly Denji’s assorted travails, I never got super invested in it because, not having to wait week to week for releases, there was never really enough time to get attached to most characters before they got unceremoniously offed.  Whether it’s the week-to-week wait or just that I like Asa as a character more, she’s really done the job of getting me interested in the series.  I love this loser failgirl and I want only the best for her; while I doubt that’s what she’ll get, at least I can watch her torture logic to make sick weapons and have affecting scenes about her own crippling inadequacy issues in the meantime.

36 Others

(As before, starting on the top left and moving clockwise through the BNHA Zone.)

Scarecrow/Spinner’s Number 2 (BNHA) – Scarecrow’s big speechifying moments would have been back in autumn of 2022, but I still loved him more than enough in 2023 for him to make this grid.  He was reduced to a shallow caricature and still had to get knocked off a roof because no one could actually out-argue him, and through all of that unendurable authorial laziness, his potential still shines through for me.  Stan the MLA, MLA 5Evah.

Toga Himiko (BNHA) – The only Villain whose Hero foil plotline is working for me on any level, though a lot is hanging on whether or not she, y’know, lives.  She definitely should have gotten to stab the bejeezus out of Hawks, and Ochaco should definitely go on the run with her once Apple Cheeks realizes that the HeroAca justice system could not possibly be relied upon to do anything other than throw Toga in a hole for a few years before executing her.

Gentle Criminal (BNHA) – The only redeemed villain whose regard for Deku functions at all thematically.  Lady N’s return is hogswash on multiple levels, but I will defend Gentle’s without reservation.

Kunieda + Aoyama Yuuga (BNHA) – Consider these two to be a stand-in for all the thinking I did last year about Fix-It Fic scenarios for this whole final arc.  For example, Kunieda in the canon speaks far too knowledgeably both about and to Aoyama for them to be total strangers, so why not plant some seeds for their confrontations earlier?  I ask the reader to consider this:

In a version of the Edgy Deku arc that allowed the rest of 1-A to get out into the world to help out with relocation efforts, they one day come across a scene of dread: a neighborhood full of corpses and Kunieda’s flowers.  Aoyama has a noticeably shaken reaction, which he plays off as just horror to his similarly horrified classmates, but the truth is that he’s got prior history with Kunieda—AFO didn’t plop corpses in front of his parents to intimidate them (because that’s ham-handed and silly), but bodies were still involved.  They’d turn up buried in the family's fancy gardens sometimes, always heralded by those vivid red-black flowers…

Frieren (Sousou no Frieren) – I was relatively neutral on the title character until the anime came out and I had to suffer through The Discourse about her attitude towards demons (arguments on both sides tending to be poorly considered and ignorant, both of canonical details and real-world relevance).  That made me a bit more defensive of her, but even setting my contrarianism aside, I was also very pleased with how she navigated the manga’s most recent arc.[2]  She’s maybe the first character I can think of who I have actively wanted to write Asexual Representation fic for, if only because my answer to, “Does she Romantically Love Himmel?” is much more complex than just saying, “No, she only saw him as a friend,” or, “Yes, and now she’s going to be sad about her Tragically Lost Love for the rest of her life and we need to write all the fix-it fics about that.”

2: She wants to go home!  Her feelings for Himmel, whatever they are, are of less importance to her than going home!  Despite everything we know about how she perceives time, she still values her “now” more than her lost “then”!  My gloating aside, though, I was far more affected by the sword scene than I was the wedding attire or the near kiss.  Being trapped in a wedding illusion?  Trite, overplayed.  Being trapped in a wedding illusion yet still being able to wrap your hands around your partner’s arm and faithfully guide them into drawing the sword neither of you can perceive?  Now that’s intimacy!

Heiter (Sousou no Frieren) – While I had little overall use for the aforementioned most recent arc of Frieren, I did very much enjoy my favorite member of the Hero Party getting a moment to demonstrate what being The Priest Of The Party That Defeated The Demon King actually means in practice.  Grausam being unable to put him down with an illusion?  Being the only one who could defend his downed companions?  The sheer level of trust he has in Himmel?  A little bit of vulnerability where he’s bare seconds away from getting gibbed by Grausam?  Heiter is the member of the party that we get the least amount of in on: Sein didn’t stay with the party long enough to serve as a point of comparison, and despite Heiter raising Fern, she didn’t assume his role in the new group, like Stark did Eisen’s, nor do her reminiscences about him get anywhere near the amount of screentime that Frieren’s do of Himmel.  So for real, you guys, Chapter 118 was so good.

Edward (Shadows House) – *bangs fists on table*  WORST BOY WORST BOY WORST BOY!!  Anime Edward is pants, but Manga Edward is where it’s at, always keeping Kate scrambling, always coming out on top of his maneuverings against his peer group rivals, just flappable enough that his victories doesn’t look effortless, and engaging enough that his smugness feels earned rather than intended to turn the reader against him.  I have no idea how the story is going to deal with the adult shadows, who are after all still just as brainwashed and wronged by Grandfather’s workings as the kids are!  If anything, they’re worse off, having already been manipulated into losing the “faces” they must once have loved dearly.  Thus, while Kate and her allies certainly approach the conflict with a very Us vs. Them, Adults=The Enemy mentality, the screentime Edward’s own affairs get, fully independent of how they intersect with Kate’s, along with an avowed desire to improve the House that parallels Kate’s, make me hopeful that the authors have something a little more nuanced in mind than, “Free the current victims by wiping out all the previous ones.”

Melinda Desmond (Spy x Family) – The main cast are all perfectly fine, but Melinda is interesting.  Super curious to find out more about the Desmond family dynamics, and I love Melinda bouncing around with Yor. (I swear, though, judging by the collective response to the most recent chapter, the fandom is going to turn me into a Donovan Apologist yet. Only one member of that family has visible scars suggesting brain surgery, folks!!)

Anti/Knight/Gridknight (Gridman Universe) – Always my favorite single character from both Gridman and Dynazenon, and he was characteristically great in the movie as well.  His scene with Akane at the end was only my second favorite beat because, while it’s wonderful emotionally cathartic (more fanservice like this, please!), it’s also kind of muddled thanks to the idea of Gridman!Anti and Dynazenon!Knight being two separate entities. Churlish to hold that against it, though, when it's so heartfelt.

Minami Yume + Asanaka Yomogi (Gridman Universe) – Such a great pairing in their own show—I once saw someone call them forced, which has always struck me as just being too high on Bashing The Hets to see that Yomogi and Yume have a great arc towards getting together, actually.  Seeing them be unabashedly together and happy about it in the film was 100% delightful and deserved. Yume swooping down out of the sky on Dynarex to scoop up her wifeguy boyfriend is my actual favorite beat in the movie.

Hyura (Helck) – Firstly, the dry humor around Hyura is fantastic.  (“Something like an arm grows back simply enough.  That’s just common sense.”  “It doesn’t, right?”  “It does not.”)  Secondly, she’s the biggest badass in the secondary cast.  Thirdly, she and Edil have the designated rival ship dynamic (incredibly rare to see across gender lines in shounen manga), and Hyura holds her own all the way to the end.  Hyura is great.

Mikaros (Helck) – “Yes, we may have lost some assets and I personally shattered the mind of one of our strongest soldiers, removing him from the playing field.  But the important thing is that I personally overcame my trauma, so overall it’s a win.”  What a slimeball.  What a total heap.  And what an excellent example of the end-stage stakes driving the title character's choice in the epilogue! I love Mikaros unreservedly.

Harold Aldo Hughes and Iwaki Tadanobu + Sam (Canis: The Speaker) – Transformation, reinvention, the fierceness of devotion and the ruthlessness of rebirth—I don’t love them quite as much as I do Sam, but they’re also both great.

Hera (Lore Olympus) – Lore Olympus is one of those series I read more because it’s interesting enough while also being blisteringly gorgeous than because I’m deeply invested in the characters, but the plotline about Hera and Kronos really has pulled me all the way into active, character-specific interest.  Great, tense, painful stuff.  Can’t wait to see where she goes following recent events.

Redcloak (Order of the Stick) – His last really insightful and heartwrenching scene was in the year before last—that fantastic exchange with Oona!—but for as long as I’m reading OOTS, Redcloak is going to be a favorite.  God, the Law Elemental summoning is so funny.

Hyness (Kirby franchise) – This one’s entirely on my sis-in-law—like another character further down the list, I am not remotely “in” the Kirby fandom.  But what can I say—tell me about a warped cult leader who started in a bad place and only got worse who still managed to get saved by the Hero taking a leap of faith that paid off, and tell me the fandom calls him a horrible abuser?  Sorry, but I Have No Choice But To Stan. (full art here)

Lafcadio Boone (The Sexy Brutale) – Replayed this again last year, and it’s still great.  In a sense, despite its sizeable named cast, it really only has the one character, and his story is such that I want to make every single person on tumblr that gets hyperbolic about the forgiveness and redemption of fictional wrongdoers play this game.  “Time to move on, old man,” indeed.

Sissel (Ghost Trick) – Finally got the remaster of this and replayed it, and it’s also still great.  Knowing The Spoilers about Sissel seriously make replays such a scream, but also man is this game really sitting on some completely over-the-top darkness not at all far beneath its candy apple red and Matrix-text green surface.

Pavitr Prabhakar/Spider-Man India (Across the Spider-Verse) – Strictly in terms of character writing, he’s very fun, but I don’t think he’s as strong as Spider-Punk or Miguel O'Hara, but on the other hand, he’s so much fun, especially to simply watch in motion.  Most of the rest of the leads, however varied their artstyles might be, still feel like they move in basically the same ways, just with varying levels of grace vs. power, intent vs. controlled collapse, but because of the way Pavitr uses his thread, he moves completely differently, and it’s just a ton of fun to watch.  The first character I went hunting for fanart of when I got out of the movie theater.

Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman (Across the Spider-Verse) – I have outstanding affection for Spider-Gwen from reading her comics back when, but that opening Vulture fight, the fantastic look of her dimension, and all the trans signaling kept her right at the top, too.

Brutha (Discworld: Small Gods) – @codenamesazanka read this and a few of the Watch books last year, prompting me to do some rereads as well, and Brutha and Small Gods remain very dear to me.  I only wish more artists would draw versions of him that remotely resemble “fat, simple-looking young man from a desert country in fantasy!expy!Middle East” rather than “suspiciously trim and Benedictine.”

Sam Vimes (Discworld series) – Ditto on Nal’s read above, but also chatted with foo a lot about this guy, and he’s been my favorite single character in the series since high school.  It takes very little to prompt me to reread his books generally, but last year was the first time I’ve had it in me to reread Snuff, as it was previously a little too tied up in my feelings about the last few books prior to Pratchett’s death.  Regardless of anything else, though, Snuff is the book for Sam/Sybil.

Mina Murray (#DRCL: Midnight Children) – Discovered this lush chonk of horror phantasmagoria last year and I’m kind of in love with it.  Its take on Mina anchors it well—she’s smart and fiery but up against ingrained sexism and classism in her setting, and not too Anachronistic Grrl Power to not be hurt by that sometimes; she’s stubborn, but vulnerable to the supernatural horrors in the way any child would be.  An unreliable but intriguing and sympathetic narrator.

Capone Bege (One Piece) – The other character I got onto largely without getting into the series he hails from, nickfoo—whose art I again use to illustrate—does great work with this guy, a once-jovial monster shocked back from that moral brink by marriage and fatherhood.  Still gets a bit Into It at work, but tries not to bring it home, at least as much as that can be avoided when carrying both family and crew around in the same heart/sub-dimensional space.  (Also, foo’s version of Bege is great, but her rendition of Chiffon is—speaking as someone who doesn’t read the series and can only gauge by image search or skimming the wiki—borderline miraculous, accurate to Oda’s lively caricature design, but so much more sensitive, expressive and human.)

Prince Kazu/Lady Chikako (Ooku: The Inner Chambers) – On the occasion of the Netflix anime, I finally tracked down and finished Ooku last year, and when I tell you that I laughed more and harder in the final arc than I did through the entire rest of the series combined…  The Kyoto cast members are a big part of why,[3] and none more delightful than the stuffy, prideful, possessive, and deeply impetuous Chikako, one of the most singularly human characters in the whole 19-volume melodrama.

3: Catty ex-male prostitute turned head of the Inner Chambers Takiyama is the other part of this equation, by the way.

Gao Shun (The Apothecary Diaries) – Long-suffering stoics are my absolute favorite type, and that holds true even though Gao Shun's stoicism has been largely a humorous beat thus far.  I want this guy to get more attention, but until then, I will continue to enjoy his weary exasperation every time he has to deal with Mao Mao’s eccentricities/Jinshi’s enthusiasm about same.

Mao Mao (The Apothecary Diaries) – Best female character of the season, for sure, but I’ve been reading one of the manga for a while now, and she’s a regular delight.  Eccentric and ruthless by turns, painfully aware of the limitations of her position and yet wholly willing to make her own decisions and exert her own agency within those limitations without ever concerning herself with whether she should ask permission from or report to someone above her rank.  Mao Mao’s mercy takes the form of knowing when to speak and when to demure, and every time I see some stuck-in-their-own-ethical-framework commenter complain about her moral compass, I appreciate it harder.

Accustomizer Stud/Tiffany (Angelic Acceptor Alouette) – Enthusiastically resourceful teenage girl who would probably be super into transhumanism if she hadn’t fallen in with angels (sic) instead, transforming into the gloriously nonbinary pile of muscles and amazing hair that is Accustomizer Stud, Tiffany’s ultimate expression of her inner self.  Stud is magnanimous, gracious, and well-spoken, and they are also VERY LOUD AND FIGHTY.  My absolute favorite character in a game wall-to-wall with great characters.

Yuunagi Tsubasa/Cure Wing (Hirogaru Sky PreCure) – The first Official Boy Cure with absolutely no provisos or qualifications or ways to wiggle out of it, and the show gets him just right by playing him basically completely straight.  Has a costume no one would look twice at in a magical girl line-up, wastes no time on masculine embarrassment at his frills, with the only nod he/the show make towards his gender at all being to frame his role as being a knight to a princess, rather than simply a guardian to one, but it’s not really what he’s about.  His actual character is driven by knowledge, studiousness, and a desire to overcome the limitations placed on him by being a human/pudgy flightless bird fairy.

Kei Miyama (Go With the Clouds, North By Northwest) – Something of a stand-in for his series generally, which I read the two most recent volumes of last year and fell in love with all over again—particularly the most recent one, which switches deftly between depictions of shattering, world-hollowing grief and the beguiling intimacy of the rhythms of life and nature.  But my love for the manga itself aside, Kei’s a great protagonist, full of little contradictions and snags that make him feel much more fleshed out and grounded than your average animanga male lead, even as he’s running around doing very Animanga Male Lead Things, like solving mysteries by using his Strange Power to get information a normal person could not.

Lord El-Melloi II/Waver Velvet (Fate franchise) – Waver is possibly my favorite character of all time in any medium, so it takes very little to rekindle the love.  In last year's case, it took the Fate/strange Fake special!  Love to see my boy continue to wrest more narrative space for himself than he was originally allotted by virtue of being a run-away audience favorite of the Fate/Zero anime!

Ivan (Giant Robo: The Day the Earth Stood Still) – Got the remastered Blu-ray last year as a gift, and guess what?  I still love Ivan in all his cartoonish mini-boss villainy layered over the pathos of tragic loss and resentment.  Honestly, I can only assume he’s as well-adjusted as he is because Alberto is so inspiring to work in close quarters with (mood), because otherwise I’d think it pretty unfair that the sole surviving Bashtarle national in the story gets so little to say about/to the people who blew it up.

Isurugi Camice (Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans) – I was a bit too preoccupied with BNHA meta last year to think much about my prior fandom phase, but I still made time to rotate Isurugi in my mind from time to time.  As one of my beloved long-suffering stoics, I can always make that kind of time for him.  (Image source is from the cover of a doujinshi I have, because melancholy BL doujinshi is definitely more the kind of tonal zone my mental rotations were occupying than they were canon’s!)

And, finally, the blank

(If anyone reading this wants to give it a whirl, I reccommend blowing it up to x2 size; makes the small squares easier to work with.)

[archer3-13]

for fun, thoughts on each of the original gotei 13's captains and lieutenants in relation to the soul society arc

yamamoto: for the kind of character he is, i've always rather liked him. he hits the kubo sweet spot of a sympathetic monster, and overall he serves as an effective symbol of the calcification thats gripped soul society for thousands of years but without being completely unreasonable in the process. ontop of that i do appreciate the suprise of the tybw noting how the original gotei 13 were far stronger then the modern gotei, but because of the intervening centuries they lost the blood thirsty edge of warlords that made them so terrifying, because it adds an interesting dimensionality to the sentimentality yamamoto often displays to that modern gotei 13 and what distinguishes him from ywach despite being similarly brutal, overpowering authoritarian figures. which can be further complicated by reading into yamamoto and his history as a stand in figure for japan and its history as a whole, though obviously thats just reading into things.

sasakibe: like so many figures in bleach, more a plot device then a man. i like his design, i like his power, i like his relation to yamamoto and the grief that his death inspires in the resolute head captain. but hes otherwise such a non entity that theres not much else to say.

soifon: shes cute and i find it absolutely adorable how shes a murder simp for yoroichi. aside from that serves as a pretty fun minor antagonist in the soul society arc, and i enjoy how shes very a 'do as i say not as i do' kinda person who cares waaaay to much for her subordinates despite being the head of the gotei black ops murder squad. which arguably ties into her complicated feelings regarding yoroichi and the feeling of being abandoned when yoroichi had to go into exile [which makes it all the cuter that they patch things up, albeit off screen].

omaeda: not a fan as i think he can be a bit too annoying compared to his moments of competence, and the joke of 'big goofball is actually an elite assassin' does wear thin for me. i do appreciate how hes genuinely devoted to his captain and how that feeds back into soifon being more willing to do stupid things to keep his ass alive due to her own history.

gin: gin saaaaaan! always been a fan of the shit stirrer and his grins and constantly closed eyes. gin is one of the characters kubo used to best effect in all of bleach i'll go out and say, serving as an excellent red herring in the soul society arc, and a strong third party looking for the right opportunity in the winter war ontop of his tragic and well presented death. plus hes just a fun unnerving dude who can easily go from goofy to terrifying looking at the drop of a hat and for whatever kubo needed him to do.

kira: hes okay, helping to make the soul society arc and its mysteries all the more intriguing, and his power is neat. plus his gloomy demeanour does well at hiding how intelligent and decisive he is in a fight which is nice. as it stands however hes one of many characters that feels unfulfilled in terms of potential, not helped by whatever the fuck was going on with him in the tybw.

unohana: theres a reason everyone liked her even before the tybw and kenpachi 'mc fucking losing it' unohana became realized. kubo just did a really good job at giving a character with such a non threatening design overall the atmosphere of such a potential dangerous person well still overall acting in a kind and mothering way in most of her interactions. i still find her shikai kinda confusing in relation to her bankai though, but thats retroactive writing for ya.

isane: i get why she ended up being pushed into the role of fourth division captain at the end of the series as there really wasn't any other option for it that would make sense. but at the same time it does frustrate me because i feel like with that end in mind it would have been amazing to see kotetsu develop the confidence or display the combat skills that speak of potential captaincy over the course of the series, but she ultimately just kinda white mages it up well deferring to her captain. which is even more of a shame because i love her personality and her design.

aizen: aizen is amazing in the soul society arc, because hes an incredibly successful twist villain whos plan makes sense and is intimidating not because of its complexity but because of its simplicity. hes unnerving because of how he combines the captain aizen qualities we briefly glimpse of affability and politeness, even kindness, with casual and monstrous cruelty and overwhelming power once the mask comes off. aizen is fantastic in the soul society arc. that all goes out the window following the soul society arc, where after he just walks around preening like any other peacock chess master villainous overlord about how everything is going according to keikaku, not helped by his plans and what influence hes had on things becoming progressively more complex, far reaching, and stupid as the series progresses. its really not surprising why hes such a contentious villain for so many people.

hinamori: man she gets the shit kicked out of her, to the point that it gets really cruel and sad. and the worst part is that theres never really a sense of pay off for all that suffering either, she gets the shit kicked out of her and then fades into the background of relevancy. i feel it woulda been cool if instead she got to be a captain following the timeskip into the fullbringer arc, get some satisfying sense of karmic self actualization following all the shit she gets pushed through. woulda been more interesting then just dumping the visored into the empty spots anyways.

byakuya: pretty boy pretty man. an effective rival antagonist for ichigo to match up against in the soul society arc, and i find his development from cold and ruthless to finally displaying the buried emotions and affections he has for others in his life to be some strongly compelling stuff given the heartbreak and tragedy in his life, as well as an effective commentary on class, position and the stifling effect that rules and the expectations of conformity and propriety can have on individuals.

renji: he deserves to be one of the main characters i'd say. overall solid stuff.

komamura: big fluffy dog man ruff ruff. theres a lot to unpack with komamura that i feel bleach never really did, but what was done with him was at least compelling and interesting to see. plus he fights far more intelligently then his broiling blood and brute force powers might suggest he would which is fun to watch. plus hes a big dog man! whos a good boy? he is!

iba: well an easily likeable character, being a gruff exterior dude with a surprisingly insightful mind on people and their character, like isane he doesn't really... do much outside of accompanying his captain. and well hes a total devoted bro, it is frustrating the he ends the series in a captains seat without being allowed to showcase the kind of potential that would inspire that positioning.

kyoraku: an effective captain jack sparrow type, who gets more compelling but also scarier the more insight we get into the tragedies that have befallen his own life which tend to scale with how viscous he can be in proportion during combat.

nanao: i feel like her fight in the tybw really helped salvage her as a character, because well she was perfectly acceptable until then she was also kinda just background noise as kyorakus secretary like lieutenant who freaked out hard to show off how powerful yamamoto is. her fight with the chicken god angel however opened a lot more compelling aspects of her character and the ending involving gaining courage from kyoraku assuring her he'll always support her is sweet in relation to how their character dynamic is a lot more give and take equally between the two.

tosen: i feel like kubo ran into the problem of what to do with tosen when it came to how aizens power works, and so he just kinda gave up and made tosen a surprise third bad guy as a character. i say this because he gets his ass handed to him quite brutally by zaraki and has a whole little character thing during that fight, and then the betrayal happens and he suddenly feels like a completly different character acting like he shouldn't be keeled over/nearly dead from being almost killed by kenpachi like ten minutes ago. doesnt help that his contributions during the winter war are mostly just to fuel komamura and hisagis own angst by being as villainously despicable as possible in the brief ten minutes he has showing off weird new powers that never really get expanded on again and then unceremoniously killed off in an abrupt and cruel fashion to have aizen be a cheeky bastard.

hisagi: i feel like kubo wanted hisagi to be more of a thing then he ended up being, but what is there is a solid character nonetheless who ends the series getting a bit of a yamcha treatment unfortunately. which is rather frustrating.

hitsuyaga: theres a lot more anger and impatience in him when we first meet him compared to later, which could arguably be said as character development or could be called out as inconsistent but im not gonna split hairs. hes the kind of character the inevitably gets popular and in his particular case i do rather like him so thats a plus.

rangiku: like gin shes great though for different reasons, and like a lot of characters like her i feel her more interesting qualities, the ruthlessness she often displays in combat, her intelligence and master of social situations, often get lost in favour of people slobbering over her sex appeal. shes a real fun character overall though.

zaraki: a bit overhyped if im being honest, but as far as battle maniac intense bloodlust dudes go hes a solid 8/10. it helps that hes a lot more emotionally vulnerable and complex in that regard then shonen battle maniac bloodlust dudes can often be.

yachiru: adorable murder girl is an adorable murder girl mascot. the stuff in regards to her relation to kenpachi not just as a girl he takes care off but a manifestation of his inner desire for companionship and the sword spirit stuff are i feel more interesting then she herself is.

mayuri: if his first appearance hadn't been so harrowing i feel he would have ended up being more popular then he is. he serves as a personal demon for uryu to fight very effectively, but as others have pointed out he quite obviously gets reconnected to be more charming and goofy then he originally was in later appearances. i actually find his tybw role to be the most interesting however, as it often feels hes at something of a crossroads there still embodying the older gotei mindset of peace at any cost, that older darkness, thats coming into conflict with the newer ideals and gentleness the gotei is starting to move towards thanks to figures like ichigo, a conflict he only resolves on a personal level upon nemu's death by not so much repenting as resolving that hes not gonna wallow in the old darkness and change with the times instead. that's the way i interpretted it anyways, which i feel gels with how he seems far more gentle with hachigo nemuri then he was with nemu from what little of them we see. also, i do find it interesting how he seems genuinely taken aback to some extent by ikkaku genuinely thanking him for saving zaraki, which when combing through what details we have of his past suggests some desire to actually connect with the people around him that he tends to bury due to his research and troubles with interpersonal relations in the past. which is all fascinating in its own way, but also as noted before, all comes from his post uryu fight soft character retcon where he becomes goofy murder scientist as opposed to horrific murder scientist.

nemu: eh. in her first appearence shes more so there to remind us that mayuris a monster. and in later appearances shes just kinda there to be weird fetish bait for villain powers, and unnaturally strong. and then she blows up. point being i feel like she never really finds solid footing as a character, which makes it difficult for me to really care all that much. it kinda happens at the very end, but again... she blows up pretty quickly after. essentially needed more time to cook as it were.

ukitake: less developed kyoraku but instead of being a jack sparrow type hes a sickly man whos secretly a bad ass. i dont dislike him, i just kinda wish we got to see more of him before he croaked.

kaien: is black haired ichigo. effective in relation to rukia and her character journey and story, but i dont personally have much interest in him.

[crystal-lillies]

A Rambling First Thoughts Review + Critique of "Peter Pan and Wendy" (Disney+ 2023 movie) Spoilers ahead.

Okay for being called "Peter Pan and Wendy" I think aside from prequel iterations, this movie had the least bit of connection and bonding between Peter and Wendy that I've ever seen.

Wow okay, not even sure where to begin on the rest of my thoughts but certainly that was the first one. I didn't feel much connection between Peter and Wendy at all, and the story had very little justification for the emotional moments between them it tried to eke out, which is actually very difficult to achieve since the original source material has it baked in that all the adaptations, even the ones that twist the formula, have been able to adapt and grow off of.

Oof and I gotta say the movie rushed the beginning to really crawl through Neverland. I was shocked at how fast it was that they were already going, and it didn't really seem like an urgent event. Just like, oh yeah Peter's just gonna show up at your window and take you to Neverland one day kthxbai. Rather than it being a motivated decision for Wendy to say "I'm growing up tomorrow" (leaving the nursery, going away, etc.) but I don't want to, so I'm going to go and never grow up.

Also sidebar, Wendy my love, being an ass to your brothers is not endearing to your plight and is definitely new for this adaptation which was a Very odd take. And it could be argued by the end...or even the middle...she realizes her responsibility to take care of them and look after them in Neverland but that's a weak sauce character arc for someone who HAS one built in that's just as valid.

A really odd take for them NOT to double cast Jude Law as Mr. Darling and Hook. I actually would have liked to see his take on Mr. Darling. But RIP Mr. Darling had barely a personality at all or anything to do here.

And RIP Nurse Nana. Now you are just a dog with nothing to do, and no reason to be put out in the dog house.

And then Neverland, oh my dear place of literal dreams, what they did to you! Now, I am somewhat a fan of the Home Under the Ground being a castle ruin in this version, that's actually something close to how I've seen Neverland at least once. But it felt very empty, both the Home and the island. It was too...empty. And even though every iteration we know only the pirates, Lost Boys, Peter, the Indians, the fairies, and the mermaids live in and around the island, plus animals, all the other versions haven't felt so barren. Is it because Neverland became one large same-y landmass rather than a place that has mountains and lagoons and tropical forests and literally anything children dream of? Maybe that's part of it. But it's hard to place precisely. It doesn't feel lived in. The castle ruins didn't have beds or a table for meals. It had a neat rope swing and a fireplace yes, but it still just looked visually and felt empty, when a badass castle hideout could be so cool!

And regarding Hook and Peter having a history, having a tragic background. First, I'm not opposed to the friends to enemies take. Saw it done pretty well in the prequel special Neverland, though it was from a Fagin+Snape-like mentor to an orphan Peter who looked up to him, rather than two kids and one who grew up. But again, it may have worked with a different story. I don't think it was the right choice here, or at least it was not properly executed. The voice in my head kept saying, if Hook was a lost boy and Peter's friend and he KNEW where Peter's hideout was all along, then WHY hasn't he tried killing him before? The whole sticking point in the source and other adaptations was that he had NO IDEA where Peter's hideout was, otherwise he would kill him there!

Tiger Lily being a badass is never bad in my book, but once again, her service in the story feels unearned. I don't feel the bond between her and Peter, honestly. She had more of a connection with Wendy (and it caught me off guard how I immediately thought, "okay I would ship that" after their conversation en route to the hideout.) And then her tribe is just sort of there. Without much connection to the island, or to Peter. Tiger Lily calls him "Little Brother," but taking the movie as it is without reference of any other Peter Pan media, it doesn't feel earned from what we are given up to that point. It just feels like Tiger Lily being Peter's deus ex Machina, which really historically has been Tinkerbell, and that made sense given Tink and Peter's shared history and friendship. (Something that's also sadly toned back in this movie as well)

"Peter Pan and Wendy" is not even a poor live action adaptation of a Disney animated movie, it's just... a strange and lackluster adaptation of Peter Pan, which had been done successfully as a Disney animated movie. And I think that feels a bit more disappointing.

[rayshippouuchiha]

"stripper!izuku"

...

non hero quirkless (vigilante) izuku who's mom gets sick and he needs some extra cash to pay the medical bills and starts stripping

and shouta is dragged to a stripper joint by nemuri, tensei, and hizashi bc "u need to get out and enjoy urself" and he sees this cat boy (?) or maybe bunny boy stripper who's moving in a very familiar way

but he gets destructed be wow the muscles on those thighs he wants his head to be crushed

Oh hell let me just take this and twist it a bit:

So Izuku’s life has been pretty shit.  He was labeled quirkless at 4, his dad left by the time he was 5, and school was hell.  Inko did her best and she loved him but, well, it’s hard for a woman with a son like him.

So things were never easy.

But by the time he’s 16 Inko’s dead and he’s out on his own and things get harder.  His saving grace?  A few of the dancers from a local club on the scruffier side of Mustutafu.  They don’t care that he’s quirkless or that he;s scrawny and he mumbles or anything like that.

They’re just ... kind. Something Izuku’s seen too little of in his life.

They take him in, get him a job busing tables and sweeping floors because nowhere else but the clubs want to hire someone like him.  They even find him a place to rent for super cheap where the only real issue is the way he has to make sure he wedges a chair under his doorknob every night. But he normally uses the window instead of the door anyways so it works out.

So the dancers help him out and he balances finishing school as fast as possible (because he promised Inko he would no matter what and the teachers are more than happy to see him go) and his new life that happens at night. Working in this new world of glitter and sequins, thigh highs and flesh.  It’s rough and it’s messy but it’s good in so many ways. Filled with laughter and long nails scratching at his scalp and bartenders who feed him and dancers who slip small yen notes and coins into his pockets when he’s not paying attention because he’s “just baby, look at those cheeks”.

And he knows not all of them have tragic backstories, some of them just like to dance, but none of that matter because they’re all so good to him.

He gets older.  Turns 17 and a few of the dancers see the way he wiggles to the beat when he buses tables and sweeps floors and they start teaching him in the down time before the club opens and after it closes.  He’s always been good at patterns, always been good at keeping aware of his surroundings and once something catches his attention he latches on hard.

And dancing, this thing that’s such a huge part of all these people who’ve taken over his life now, absolutely catches his attention.

He gets real good, real fast and the owner is more than willing to let him take a turn on the stage on slow nights for half the regular stage fee.  But then it becomes the full fee because Izuku’s good.  Good enough to where the owner asks him what he wants his gimmick to be.

And it’s cliche, he knows it is, but all he can think is how Inko used to laugh and poke him in the cheeks and tug lovingly at his hair when he was little and coo “look at my little bunny” thanks to how he’d hop in place and flap his hands just a bit whenever he was excited about something, unable to stand still.

So soon he’s not just busing table anymore he’s a fulltime dancer too, Usa-chan on the stage.

He still helps out around the club though. Still runs drinks and even takes shifts behind the bar if necessary.  And once the night’s through he’ll take the time to walk a few of the dancers home because he wants them to be safe.

So of course when someone tries to rob them, tries to steal the money his friends worked so hard for Izuku steps in, body just moving on its own.  But he’s strong now.  Running and dancing and working the floor have all seen to that.

“My hero,” Nanami-chan sobs, half smothering Izuku in his cleavage even as the other dancers coo and laugh and agree. 

And Izuku just ... yeah, he still wants that.  So after that night Izuku just, never stops stepping in wherever he goes, with whatever he sees.

Turns out dancing is actually a pretty good source of income and training for a vigilante too.  A flexible schedule, good pay, and a job that guarantees him a special kind of physical training in the process.

So time passes, he gets older and while his life isn’t perfect, while it’s still hard and it’s still rough in a lot of ways, it’s also ... good.  Better than he’d ever imagined.

And then, one night when the music is loud and the club is packed, he ends up in the lap of Eraserhead himself and everything changes.

But Nerumi is a huge supporter and likes to frequent the local clubs, showing her support to the dancers and just enjoying herself. Hizashi’s always down for a night out and Tensei is surprisingly at home anywhere. So of course that means Shouta gets dragged out more often than he might like to one club or another.

~~~

For his part Shouta’s never been a strip club kind of person.  Nothing against the people who work there it’s just that they’re normally loud and crowded and sometimes the lights hurt his eyes.

He’s absolutely not expecting to be taken in by one of the dancers. But Usa-chan is all lithe muscles and mouthwatering thighs and he dances with something that looks a lot like a sensual sort of violence in every move and Shouta can’t help but watch.

And Nerumi, Hizashi, and Tensei can’t help but see him watch. So of course they interfere, more money than necessary piling up between the quickly as they wave Usa-chan down after his set and buy a lap dance for their grumpy friend.

“Oh,” Usa-chan practically squeaks as he pretty much lands in Shouta’s lap, face flushed and dark lined eyes wide.  “Eraserhead!”

And Shouta’s shocked of course that he’s been recognized here in this club.  But then Usa-chan smiles, this wide and bright sort of grin and leans forwards to brush a barely there kiss against the arc of Shouta’s cheek.

“Thank you for all you do,” Usa-chan tells him softly with a small wink.  “Let me make this dance really good for you.”

And Shouta’s stuck there with a lap full of dancer while his idiot friends hoot and holler beside him and, well, Shouta’s always been a cat person but maybe bunnies aren’t so bad either.

Maybe.

[thevindicativevordan]

On Kong Kenan/Super-Man

It should've been him. He should've been the Superman of 5G/Future State/right now not Jon, and he should be the one getting an HBO Max series not Val. Hell he should be getting a movie!

God this dude is literally the best legacy character Superman has ever gotten, wholly his own person with his own lore and status quo while still building on the idea of "Superman". I am so pissed at DC for essentially just dropping him after his ongoing ended, what the hell Lee? You keep trying to make the Wildstorm characters happen, I need you to get my man Yang another Kenan book.

Have to admit I was a bit nervous at first about whether or not Kenan would be a worthwhile character. Yang's New 52 Superman run had been a disappointment to me overall, with only the the arc where Superman has underground wrestling matches against forgotten gods really sticking with me. Now he was introducing a brand new Superman? Didn't feel like he had "earned" that yet. But from the first issue I was hooked on this new character.

Kenan was unlike any other member of the Superfamily. He wasn't kind or sweet, he was an asshole! He was a bully! He was fantastic! Right from the start Kenan was set up to undergo a very different kind of character journey than the other members of the Superfamily. Empathy, humility, respect for people weaker than himself, these are all traits most heroes wearing the S-shield already posses by the time they first don the crest, but not Kenan.

Like all bullies he was even a bit of a coward himself at first, trying to bail on the experiment meant to give him Superman's powers right as it begins. After "saving" Lixin (the kid he bullies and steals lunch from every day) from Blue Condor he demands all the money Lixin has on him as payment. He's not courageous or selfless either at the start, Kenan is as much of an opposite of Superman as you can get short of being Bizarro. Learning the appeal of these traits formed the basis for his growth over the course of his series.

Seeing Yang bring in a lot of recognizable "Superman" elements in the series, but with a twist, was also great. Kenan is the one who bullies "Luo Lixin" rather than the traditional Clark/Lex friendship of Pre-Crisis and Birthright. Initially Kenan develops a crush on intrepid reporter for Primetime Shanghai, Laney Lan, but she dismisses him as too young and Kenan eventually ends up pursuing Avery Ho (Flash) instead. Baxi the Bat-Man of China has a similar relationship with Kenan as the traditional Superman/Batman in terms of being vitriolic best buds, however Baxi is the one who has the most respect for authority while Kenan is the rebel. Kenan is a part of the "Justice League of China" which does not meet with the approval of the already established Chinese superheroes, the Great Ten. That contrasts nicely with the good relationship the Justice Society and Justice League have, as well as seeing Yang lampshade the "Chinese copy" trope and incorporate that into his storytelling.

One of the funniest differences is how Kenan chooses to immediately reveal his identity as Super-Man to the world by taking off the compliance visor he was forced to wear, contrasting with Clark's choice to hide his identity. He was so eager to impress people that he never gave any thought to the danger he could put himself or his family in by revealing his identity until it was too late, something Clark is well aware of and has taken great pains to keep his identity secret. Was a missed opportunity for DC to have Kenan comment on Clark copying him for once when he outed himself under Bendis.

But one of the most poignant differences between Clark and Kenan is the gulf in separation between their relationship with their parents. Clark has a loving relationship with Ma and Pa Kent, trying to live up to their lessons as best he can. In contrast Kenan's mom was believed to have died in an airplane crash when he was just a child, and he never really knew her. His father was distant from him after that and the two weren't really close despite Kenan's attempts to impress him. So Kenan lacks that strong connection while still clearly loving both of them.

Pa Kent's death is one of the most tragic examples of Clark's love for his parents, and I've always been a fan of takes where Clark promises his father to fight for the powerless on Pa's deathbed. Kenan gets a similar scene at the start of his career, his dad "dies" (after being exposed as Flying General Dragon, a pro-democracy "supervillain" from the Chinese authorities perspective) and wants Kenan to promise he'll fight for Truth, Justice, and Democracy. But because Kenan's dad never really bonded with him, Kenan doesn't know what those mean, and can only promise that he never wants to see people die, something his father takes comfort in at least. In classic comic book fashion it's revealed that Dr. Omen, Kenan's "boss" and the one who gave him his powers, saved Kenan's father, because she is Kenan's mother! Kenan's relationship with his parents forms a lot of the crux of his character arc, and seeing how Yang utilizes the classic Superman concept of family kept the storytelling exciting.

Yang's brilliant exploration of the concept of "Superman" through the prism of Chinese culture was a great way to differentiate Kenan as well.

I absolutely freaking love how he tied to the concept of Qi to the S-shield in particular. Connecting the shape of the shield with the way Kenan has acquired his powers along the path of the Bagua (eight trigrams used in Taoism that represent the fundamental principles of reality), with his octagon S-shield outline representing all eight principles together, was mindblowing! So was the idea of restricting Kenan's access to his powers unless he was actually acting in a Superman manner, that tied his character growth to his power growth in an entertaining manner. There were so many characters and concepts that meshed Chinese and DC lore together, like how Emperor Super-Man was Kenan's "Doomsday", they even recreated that iconic dual kill shot! The Chinese Wonder Woman Peng Deilan, being based on the Chinese Legend of the White Snake! There was even some Korean mythology referenced with the Aqua-Man member of the JLC "Dragonson".

Yang also managed to do a Superman Blue/Superman Red story with Super-Man Yin/Super-Man Yang!

Shameful that it took me a while to realize what Gene Yang was doing but once I caught on I was touched. You can tell how much Yang loved Superman and his mythology, and how he was excited to incorporate as much from Clark as he could, while still using it in a way that was solidly Kenan's. And not just Superman's mythology, but the history and lore of the entire DC Universe. I-Ching got to be brought in, fleshed out, and used as Kenan's mentor! The "Yellow Peril" villain from Detective Comics #1, the comic DC gets its name from was brought in and revamped as I-Ching's twin brother All-Yang! Hats off to Yang for taking a racist caricature and attempting to make him into something more.

This series was a beautiful attempt by Gene Yang to build a space for Asian heroes and villains where they could be more than stereotypes, Kenan himself being a defiant mold-breaker in every regard as the complete opposite of most Asian characters in Western media (a jock, a bully, loves his dad but not on great terms with him, a powerhouse as a hero, etc). So much thought and hard work was poured into this by Yang and his team of artist collaborators.

Especially the costumes, man Kenan had so many great looks. From his starting outfit (which is my favorite Superman variant not worn by Clark himself), to the one with the Yin/Yang shield he acquired later on, to his Super-Man Yin & Super-Man Yang outfits, Kenan looked damn cool. Part of me is bummed they didn't go with the Chinese character shield they toyed around with, but I loved how Yang used the "s-shield" as a plot point, so I'm not too broken up over it.

All that great work Yang did to build that space up has been more or less forgotten sadly. It was nice to see Kenan in the DC Asian Month Celebration issue. Avery is going to be in Justice Incarnate at least (unsurprising considering she was created by Williamson). So fucking bummed that Superman Family Adventures cartoon didn't happen, they were going to have Kenan and John Henry Irons in it! Would've been a dream come true for me to see Irons in animation again, and Kenan making the jump to outside media! Maybe that would've encouraged DC to let Yang keep writing New Super-Man, or at least encouraged them to use him elsewhere instead of allowing him fall into Limbo.

Unfortunately I'm not sure what the future holds for Kenan. Jon is being pushed as Clark's replacement in the comics, with DC keeping all the other contenders such as Kon benched. Calvin is leading the Justice Incarnate team likely due to the upcoming Coates reboot that will make Clark black. Val will probably get something once Taylor leaves Jon's book or once they officially announce the HBO Max show is happening. So where does that leave Kenan, my new favorite PoC legacy hero? Currently my only hope is that Yang is working on something for DC involving him. Yang left Batman/Superman, where I was hoping to see a Baxi/Kenan team up, to go work on "exciting other opportunities" per his Twitter. So fingers crossed that there's something in the works for Kenan!

One day I hope he gets his day in the sun again.

[raeynbowboi]

Disenchantment and Fairytales

By now, we’re well aware that Disenchantment is to the fantasy genre what Futurama is to the Sci-Fi genre. It’s made many references to Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, and of course, Disney. But a less glaringly obvious inclusion in the realm of Disenchantment is its use of fairytales, as they often exist only in sight gags or very minor elements. Take for instance the glass slippers Bean refuses to wear for her coronation in the finale for season 3, or Elfo’s Snow White style glass coffin actually being an aquarium. The only overt fairytale is Hansel and Gretel, which even then is given a very dark spin with the twins being cannibals who imprisoned the witch and used the gingerbread house to attract kids and other people to cannibalize. So, I wanted to examine the use of fairytales and how they might be used, played with, or subverted by Disenchantment.

The Wicked Step-Mother

Most noteworthy in the fairytales like Snow White and also Hansel and Gretel, in the original versions of both stories, the wicked mother is actually the biological mother of the heroes. But in later renditions, it was altered to vilify step-mothers. Thanks largely to the Brothers Grimm popularizing these stories with evil step-mothers, they were driven to make these alterations due to their own perception of motherhood as pure and sacred, making the step-mother a wicked obstacle to the wholesome nature of the nuclear family. Disenchantment heavily leans on this trope, mostly with Dagmar resembling the wicked mother from Snow White. Like the Evil Queen from the fairytale, Dagmar is a smolderingly beautiful queen with a knack for witchcraft and sorcery. Oona meanwhile is the deconstruction of the Evil Stepmother trope, as Bean comes to recognize that she put her birth mother on an undeserving pedastal, and only comes to appreciate how cool Oona was too late, only seeing Oona as a true friend once she and Zog were divorced. 

The Princess and The Knight

Lady Bowmore is the bee knight that Bean meets in Steamland, and she even calls herself Bean’s “Knight in Rusted Armor”. The only thing we really know about Lady Bowmore is that she drives a mechanical horse-car, is very helpful and flirtateous with Bean, and she wears a bee medallion. While this is a personal theory, I wonder if the bee blimp that Bean took back to Dreamland belonged to Lady Bowmore, which would mean that she’s connected to Gunderson Airships, and possibly in allegiance with Alvin Gundersen and the plot to kill Zog. Based on the story conventions and Disenchantment’s general tone, the fact that she calls herself Bean’s knight in rusted armor implies that while she’ll seem like a heroic helper at first, the apparent chivalry isn’t as clean and pretty as it seems, and she’ll turn against Bean somewhere down the line as a deconstruction of the gallant heroic knightly figure. However, I could be wrong and applying a cynical reading, when instead the trope will play rather straight, and Lady Bowmore will be the stock gallant knight who rescues, aids, and defends the fair princess, possibly even defecting from Steamland to serve Bean as the new Penderghast and captain of the royal guards.

Pinnochio

So far, Freckles has only been in three episodes. He showed up in a cameo in the pilot, and then appeared in earnest at the end of season 3. Freckles is clearly mischevious and very probably dangerous. For starters, the shop is literally selling haunted puppets, and the shop keeper (who is very likely Dagmar) says that she can’t part with Freckles because he’s a very naughty boy who is like a son to her, much like how Pinocchio is like a son to Geppetto. What’s more, in the book version of the fairytale, Pinocchio is a mischievous little brat whose actions get Geppetto arrested and kills his conscience. We also know that Dagmar told Zog to let her into his mind in exchange for being let out of the asylum, so this access to his headspace could have something to do with why he was drawn to Freckles specifically. There’s also a sign in the shop that reads “Replace your Child”, which Pinocchio was a substitution for Geppetto who had no biological children of his own and replaced that void in his life with a puppet he made. This stands to reason that Freckles is somehow going to threaten Bean’s place in Zog’s heart in one way or another. Another sign reads “Need a Friend? This Won’t Help” again alluding to how dangerous Freckles is going to be. When buying the puppet, Freckles says “Don’t you see? He talks through me. But it won’t be free.” Fairytales have a longstanding tradition of “paying for something in an unconventional way”.

Beauty and the Beast

I’ll admit, when Merkimer first turned into a pig, I assumed he was downgraded to a running gag side character, but season 3′s episode Hey, Pig Spender shows us a miraculous bit of character growth for Merkimer. He gives up his chance to be human in order to save Bean, and in that moment, I realized he wasn’t just a man turned into a pig as a joke. Merkimer is the Beast. Like Merkimer, Beast is usually depicted as a cruel, selfish, or vain man, who is changed through magic into a hideous creature in order to learn a lesson. While the Disney version is more similar to a wolf, most of the older illustrated versions depict the beast as either having the head of a boar, or being otherwise pig-like. In fact, the fairytale even has a related fairytale called The Pig King, which likewise features a handsome prince turned into a pig and only becoming human again once he obtains the love of a woman. With only 3 seasons so far, it’s hard to say whether Bean will eventually come to love Merkimer as he keeps growing and changing or if he will slowly win the heart of another woman (or man), Merkimer’s character arc is clearly setting up that he’ll become human again when he’s completed his redemption arc and become a better person. In a sense, he’ll stop being a pig when he stops thinking and acting like a pig.

The Little Mermaid

Like her fairytale counterpart, Mora gives up her home and family to pursue her passion, only to find it’s not what she expected it to be, and find herself regretting the choice she’s made to leave it all behind. The Little Mermaid wanted to see the land of the humans, and also longed for an immortal soul that she might live forever in Heaven. Mora meanwhile desired to be an actress, but due to her tail, wasn’t given a fair shake. This also mirrors the real life casting discrepancies of the early film era, when non-white actors had a hard time finding roles, and even the few actors of color who did manage to get roles were still largely disrespected by the industry at large. Due to the original tragic ending of the fairytale, I half suspect that Mora too will get an unhappy ending with Bean, likely due to how distant their kingdoms are, or how different their biology is. However, considering how much merfolk imagery appears in the Dreamland Castle, it is highly possible that Mora is Bean’s soul mate and ultimate love interest for the series. Mora’s song, though short, all but confirms that Mora is not gone from the story. When Bean finds herself caught in a war, Mora will appear and take Bean’s side, and fight beside her, likely as an archer like the mermaid in the constellation.

[night-filled-mountain]

Captivity and Escape in Critical Role

So this post has been sitting in my drafts for about half a year. It’s about a persistent theme I noticed throughout campaign 2, which I’m sure others have noticed and written about before, but parallels and recurring themes have always been my Thing, and I couldn’t let it go. And with last week’s episode, and the campaign finale airing tonight, and the dominance of this theme being more glaringly obvious than ever, I thought I’d just give myself a treat and finish up a giant meta post. For old times’ sake.

So, just for the heck of it, here’s an exhaustive exploration of a single through-line of campaign 2 since the very beginning: captivity, and escaping or being freed from it.

Let’s start by taking a quick look at everyone’s backstories, the things that happened to them before the campaign even started, and how they were ultimately resolved. 

FJORD: Entered unknowingly and unwillingly into a pact with Uk’otoa, which bound him to perform services he never agreed to in exchange for powers he never asked for. Fjord did not know how he got into this pact or how to get out of it. He makes his escape when he pitches his sword into a lava river and pledges himself to the Wildmother.

JESTER: Spent the majority of her life “locked in her room” (or at least hidden from sight) until the consequences of one of her pranks forcibly liberated her into the wider world. While Jester loves her mother dearly and thinks of her long “captivity” as being for her own protection, its negative effects on her--loneliness, insecurity, a lack of worldly experience and social awareness--were still apparent, and she spends much of the campaign working through them.

BEAU: Her parents had her kidnapped by monks. It could be argued that even before the kidnapping, she was a prisoner to her father’s “over-protective” tendencies and her parents’ expectations when it came to her career, behavior, gender role, etc. But most significantly, she was very much kidnapped by monks, and made her escape from the Cobalt Soul shortly before we met her.

CALEB: Where to start? First he suffered coercion and abuse at the hands of Trent (a form of captivity); then he was made to torture and execute prisoners; then he spent eleven years literally imprisoned in an asylum, and had to kill and steal in order to escape; and four and a half years later, he met Nott when they were both thrown in jail (and had to engineer their own escape once again). Caleb’s ordeals ultimately made him a prisoner of his own guilt and fear, and escaping that prison has been the heart of his storyline.

VETH/NOTT: Besides the aforementioned stint in jail, the catalyst for her entire adventuring career was being captured by goblins along with her family--and then, after engineering the escape of her husband and son, being imprisoned in the wrong body (and subsequently enslaved!). The desire to escape from this second imprisonment was her driving motivation through much of the campaign. With Caleb’s help (and Essek’s, and Jester’s), she ultimately succeeds.

MOLLY: His first memory was of clawing his way out of a grave, which is just about as extreme a form of captivity and escape as you can get. More subtly, he was also a prisoner to the expectations placed on his body--to the life that body once lived, which he could not remember and refused to claim. Arguably (and tragically), his escape from this particular prison is his own death...until Cree resurrects Lucien, Mollymauk fragment and all. Then he presumably becomes a prisoner much like Yasha was, subsumed body and soul by a mind and a will that are not his own. Until last week.

... (incoherent sobbing)

Until last week.

YASHA: She was a prisoner to her clan’s laws and expectations. Her brief attempt to escape this prison through a forbidden marriage ended tragically, and then she was forced to make a second, literal escape (fleeing into the desert)--only to be (presumably) possessed by Obann, imprisoned inside her own mind, and forced to do his bidding until the Storm Lord liberated her once again.

CADUCEUS: When the gang first meet him, he’s literally a prisoner of his own fear (and/or inertia)--though his whole family has left the Blooming Grove, he’s been too afraid or hesitant to brave the corruption of the Savalirwood without companionship, and spent years isolated in the family temple as a result. The Mighty Nein (or rather, Caleb, Nott, Beau, Keg, and Nila) initiate his escape.

***

And that’s just the backstories! Now let’s take a look at each of the places the Mighty Nein have visited since they came together, and the story arcs therein.

***

TROSTENWALD - CARNIVAL ARC: This arc’s entire goal is to free the (future) Mighty Nein and the other carnies from jail or house arrest. (Much later, the M9 come back to pay Gustav’s debt and liberate him as well.) And remember that Beau is especially sympathetic to Toya’s predicament because she, too, was once a young girl held somewhere against her will.

ALFIELD - GNOLL ARC: This arc’s entire goal is to free the citizens of Alfield who have been kidnapped by gnolls to feed to their manticore leader (and to kill off the gnolls and manticore to keep it from happening again).

ZADASH: The Mighty Nein’s first undertaking in Zadash is to kill off the giant spiders in the sewer. In the process, they free a halfling imprisoned in a spiderweb, which leads them to the Gentleman and all his future quests.

Aside from that, their biggest job in Zadash this time around is the High Richter heist--which, yes, is a mercenary/political job that goes terribly wrong, but why does it go terribly wrong? Because Ulog, the M9′s NPC ally at the time, is so furious over his wife being wrongfully imprisoned by the High Richter that he impulsively blows up both her and himself. And arguably the most poignant moment in the heist’s aftermath is Caleb speaking to the next High Richter, Dolan, and ensuring that Ulog’s wife will be freed.

Also, let’s not forget the drow the M9 meet in the sewer. The one they capture, interrogate, and ultimately...let go. Yes, he’s killed shortly afterward and his beacon falls into their hands, but I think it’s very important to remember that the decision they make, when holding a captive terrorist from an “enemy” nation, is to return his stolen artifact to him and let him walk away free.

LABENDA SWAMP/BERLEBEN: The most memorable events during this interlude are: (1.) The M9 literally freeing Kiri from the swamp, where she is stuck in the mud and at the mercy of crocodiles, and (2.) Bowlgate, a.k.a. Caleb and Beau’s tense confrontation over what to do with Calianna, which is once again fueled on Beau’s side by her sympathy for a young woman held against her will. (Caleb proposes that Cali spend the night with the M9, which she did not intend, so they can use spells to determine her truthfulness the next day.)

HUPPERDOOK: This one’s obvious: The M9 fight a deadly automaton to free two gnomes from prison and reunite them with their children (largely to prevent said children from being taken to an orphanage against their will).

GLORY RUN ROAD/SHADYCREEK RUN - IRON SHEPHERDS ARC: ...Even more obvious. The sole goal of the remaining M9 members (and Nila) throughout this arc is to free their friends from slavery. They end up slaughtering all the slavers and freeing several other captives as well.

LUSIDIAN OCEAN - PIRATE ARC: Here’s where things get really interesting. Because this whole arc is also about captivity and freedom, isn’t it?

It’s about whether or not to free a little old captive named Uk’otoa!

I haven’t given nearly enough thought to how this arc fits in with all the others thematically, considering its central lesson is that freeing this particular captive would be a very bad thing. I do think it’s significant that:

(1.) The beginning of this arc, which leaves the whole party feeling so bad and icky, involves them quite inadvertently taking a captive of their own--and one whom they don’t treat very well. (And still don’t, for that matter...poor Marius.)

(2.) Soon after that incident, the M9 are themselves effectively taken captive by Avantika and her crew. This situation doesn’t last nearly as long as many audience members (and quite possibly Matt, and quite possibly the players themselves!) thought it would, because they panic on Darktow, go all Wall of Fire, and free themselves in a huge, climactic, desperate battle. The Mighty Nein do not take well to captivity.

Anyhow, they follow all this up with...

FELDERWIN/XHORHAS - YEZA ARC: ...another very straightforward quest to free a captive. Not only is this arc all about rescuing Yeza from a Xhorhasian dungeon, but after Caleb returns the beacon, after the Bright Queen of Xhorhas offers the Mighty Nein anything they want...all they ask her for is to let them go.

BAZZOXAN & BEYOND - OBANN ARC: ...By now, you know where I’m going with this, right? The entire arc is about freeing Yasha from Obann, who has her imprisoned inside her own body, inside her own mind. There’s a reason That Moment in the cathedral hit so hard, right? “And as you close your eyes, you see yourself breaking the shackles. You see the influence no longer holding any sway over your soul. There's nothing but the storm, vengeance, and hope.”

(Bonus: In the middle of the above arc, we get the HAPPY FUN BALL - RESCUING YUSSA ARC, which, once again, is devoted to freeing a captive.)

KAMORDAH/CYRIOS MOUNTAINS - ISHARNAI ARC: Aimed entirely at freeing Nott from the body in which she was imprisoned. Beau also has a bit of a freedom arc here: confronting the parents who imprisoned her figuratively and literally, turning her back on them (possibly for good), and then confronting a major source of the expectations and superstitions they shackled her with: Isharnai, who is neutralized by Jester’s cupcake.

THE MENAGERIE - CLAY ARC: Aimed entirely at freeing Caduceus’s family, who are imprisoned in perhaps the most literal way possible, being turned to stone. (The M9 also manage to liberate the Stone family while they’re at it.)

RUMBLECUSP - TRAVELER CON: Two great liberations take place here. First, all the residents of the Village of Vo are freed from Vokodo’s influence, their memories restored, their blind devotion dispelled, able once again to choose the course of their own lives. Second, the followers of the Traveler are freed from the deception he’s imposed on them, the cult he’s roped them into. Thanks to the Moonweaver’s interference, they, too, are free to make informed decisions. And I think we can also safely say that Artagan is freed from them, from the false “god” role he managed to box himself into, and he’s happier for it.

EISELCROSS - SOMNOVEM ARC: ...And this is it, folks. This is why I decided to finish this post today. Because I was openly not feeling the Eiselcross arc as an endgame. The hard slog through the elements just wasn’t doing it for me, or the frequent combat, or the increasingly complex lore, or the traditionally heroic quest to save the world from being swallowed by a monstrous city.

...Until last week. Until Lucien’s defeat. And Molly’s oh-so-improbable resurrection.

When I heard all the voices of the Somnovem whispering “Thank you” as their individual souls were freed from the Lovecraftian hivemind...when I heard Jester sobbing that at least Molly’s soul wasn’t “trapped” inside a monstrous Lucien anymore...when Cad’s Divine Intervention succeeded, and Mollymauk Tealeaf opened his eyes--his two plain old natural eyes--unburdened by Lucien and his Somnovem eyes and all of his dark baggage for the first time--I was finally able to embrace this as the ending.

Because it’s not about saving the world. That’s just a bonus. It’s about saving a friend. Freeing a friend. Freeing captives, wherever they find them. Whether from Crown’s Guard, gnolls, and giant spiders, or from royal dungeons; whether from ruthless enemies or from their own families; whether from eldritch abominations or from the forces that chain their own minds.

In the end, the Mighty Nein--and the people whose lives they touch--belong to no one and nothing that they do not choose to belong to. They belong to themselves, to the people they most sincerely love, to the gods and causes they have chosen freely. And that has always, always been my favorite kind of story.

And I can’t wait for tonight.

[renegadewangs]

Van Zieks - the Examination, part 12

Warnings: SPOILERS for The Great Ace Attorney: Chronicles. Additional warning for racist sentiments uttered by fictional characters (and screencaps to show these sentiments).

Disclaimer: (see Part 1 for the more detailed disclaimer.) - These posts are not meant to be taken as fact. Everything I’m outlining stems from my own views and experiences. If you believe that I’ve missed or misinterpreted something, please let me know so I can edit the post accordingly. -The purpose of these posts is an analysis, nothing more. Please do not come into these posts expecting me to either defend Barok van Zieks from haters, nor expecting me to encourage the hatred. - I’m using the Western release of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles for these posts, but may refer to the original Japanese dialogue of Dai Gyakuten Saiban if needed to compare what’s said. This also means I’m using the localized names and localized romanization of the names to stay consistent. -It doesn’t matter one bit to me whether you like Barok van Zieks or dislike him. However, I will ask that everyone who comments refrains from attacking real, actual people.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11

Let's bring this thing home! It's time for the conclusion of the essay series!

Conclusion With a stupidly long essay series behind us, it's time to look at what we've learned! Let's go back to Part 1 and review what we needed from Van Zieks's character development for a fully rounded redemption arc, shall we?

1) Present an antagonistic (possibly immoral) force who personifies Ryunosuke’s biggest personal obstacle/weakness, in this case racial prejudice. 2) Humanizing traits begin to show. OPTIONAL: A backstory to justify any immorality he has. 3) Over time, Barok has his realization and sees the error of his ways. 4) Barok atones for his immorality, not simply through apology but by taking decisive steps. 5) The cast around him acknowledges his efforts and forgives him.

And looking at the main game (plus additional dialogue), we have...

1) Antagonistic force:

Etc. etc. I have many of these. We can all agree that as an antagonistic force, he does his job quite well. CEO of Racism and White Privilege in the flesh. It works, since we as the audience get very frustrated and want to see him defeated.

2) Humanization:

Giving him an old friend to be a defendant was a brilliant move, really. Albert's reflection on the friendship and the person Van Zieks used to be really helped flesh him out and make him appear more like a human being with, y'know, emotions and weaknesses. The little snippets of dialogue in his office really help too. Presenting evidence can also lead to fun tidbits. All in all, considering how gruff and distant Van Zieks is, they really did their very best to humanize him. The writers were given very little to work with but they exploited every opportunity to come their way.

OPTIONAL backstory:

Again, I don't think we needed a tragic backstory to have a well-rounded, redeemable character. Still, it ties in very expertly to the game's plot and the motivations of quite a few other characters. The story of Klint van Zieks and his death isn't necessarily Barok van Zieks's backstory, it's the center of an intricate web which also holds Kazuma, Stronghart, Gregson, Jigoku, (S)Holmes, Mikotoba, Sithe, Drebber- I could go on. A LOT. So because of how very integrated it is into the main narrative's recurring themes and characters, I'll give it props for being relevant and well thought out. The bigger question is: Does it justify his immorality? Not entirely. I think the game could have gotten more out of this if they'd involved the other two exchange students in this tale just a bit more. They could have given more attention to how Jigoku's aggressive behavior in the trial impacted Van Zieks, and explained whether he might've suspected Mikotoba of sabotaging (S)Holmes's investigation. If the narrative had done that, all three Japanese people to come to London would have been ‘the bad guy’ in Van Zieks's eyes and it would have given more credence to his racial generalization. They could have also given more attention to how the people around him reacted to Genshin being the Professor, because I'm sure Stronghart and Gregson stoked the fire in terms of xenophobia. As it stands, there isn't really enough there to justify hatred of an entire race as opposed to just one person.

3) Realization/Redemption

We see him already start to realize the error of his ways around the end of 1-5, which is technically only about halfway into the full narrative. Unfortunately, thanks to 2-2 being played afterwards (but chronologically set before 1-5), any progress made in 1-5 can become invalidated in the player's eyes. Growth works best when it's done linear. Don't get me wrong, flashbacking to earlier times when a character is still more morally tainted can work well, but it needs to be executed properly. Barok's behavior in 2-2 is downright insulting towards the audience itself and therefore, it causes emotional friction when relaying the narrative endgoal of redemption. It also makes it extra jarring when we hit 2-3, and suddenly Van Zieks is meant to be relying on the protagonist's desire to expose the truth. How on earth can we as the audience trust that Van Zieks believes in Ryu's abilities when we just came fresh out of a case where this man actively sabotages Ryu's efforts?

Still, the line of redemption continues from 2-3 into 2-4 well enough. He admits that he was wrong- that his hatred was illogical and that he needs to change. This is the very definition of redemption. I need to stress once more this is not to be confused with atonement, which comes next.

4) Atonement

Here it is. It's not enough to simply acknowledge mistakes; one needs to work hard to fix them. Since Van Zieks is the defendant for two whole episodes, equaling roughly 20% of the full narrative and 67% of the time following his first true realization (chronologically), there isn't much that he can actively do to atone. Because remember, not only do these actions need to fit the situation he's currently in, they need to fit his personality. These two limitations ensure the atonement mostly takes the form of dialogue. Of apologies.

One might want to point out that he never apologizes specifically for his racism, but there's a reason for that. If you pay close attention, you'll notice that there isn't a single character who ever uses a word like “racism”, “xenophobia” or even “racial prejudice” in this game. It's for the same reason you'll never see an Ace Attorney character utter words like “alcoholism”, “drug abuse” or “depression”. These things may be implied very strongly, to the point where you'll know for certain a character is suffering from it, but it's never given these exact labels. It has to do with the tone of the game. In Great Ace Attorney's dialogue, Barok van Zieks is only ever described as holding “a deep hatred for Japanese”, which is then the only thing he could apologize for. And he does, so long as you aren't looking for a literal phrasing of “I apologize for my deep hatred of your people”.

Regardless, he can't take more active, decisive action until he's freed from prison and two scenes with Van Zieks later, the game has ended. He still manages to take two actions, though! The first is to publicize the truth of the Professor, taking the blame of the mass murders off Genshin's shoulders (and losing his own privilege in the process). The second is to take Kazuma under his wing as his disciple. I'm not certain there's anything else the narrative could have had him do. What is decisively missing, however, is the following:

5) Acknowledgment

The above aren't good examples of cast acknowledgment that Van Zieks is taking part in a redemption arc, rather, they're the best I could find. Characters are acknowledging that he's changing- that he's being kinder to them and they can get along with him now, but they're not acknowledging that he caused hurt in the first place. This, in my opinion, is the Great Ace Attorney's biggest narrative flaw. I've talked before about how Ryu's reaction to Van Zieks's racism is 'indirect communication', a typically Japanese manner of dealing with negativity. I've also talked about how Ryu is not in a position to speak up, as he's a literal minority who is there to represent his country in an official capacity and can’t afford to make enemies. However, characters like Susato and Kazuma are far more outspoken in their opinions, as is Soseki. The only one who ever calls Van Zieks out on his racism is the British judge, and even that is done very meekly. When an old crusty white guy is the one who condemns white privilege in a cast full of minorities, you've got a problem. The Japanese cast's refusal to acknowledge that Van Zieks's words were harmful is like Team Avatar telling Zuko that sure, he can join since he's a good guy now, but never once acknowledging that he burned down villages or betrayed everyone's trust in Ba Sing Se. There's something very vital missing, see? If indeed the cast had called Van Zieks out more actively on his harmful ways and how necessary it was for him to change, he in turn could have taken more atonement steps in response.

So, for the conclusion: Does Barok van Zieks tick all the necessary boxes for a complete redemption arc? Yes. In a very technical sense, all the requirements are there. But does that mean it's a successful arc? Not necessarily. The game has a few slip-ups, a few things not executed as well as they could have been. For that reason, whether the audience is satisfied with the arc is entirely up to them. Taking into consideration that they had to cram a whole lot of story into just two games- the second game in particular, I can acknowledge they did their very best with the limitations that were there.

And there we have it! That’s all I could think to say on the matter. I hope everyone who read this till the very end enjoyed it, maybe even learned a thing or two. I’m always open to questions, input and constructive criticism!

[rwbyconversations]

Penny's arc was tragically worthless in Volume 8

Looking at Penny's arc in V8 just feels like... torture porn. Her and Oscar really got the short end of the stick in just being beat over the head and put through the wringer. But the way her arc went in Volume 8, looking at it from the POV of the season at large... it feels disjointed and haphazard.

I have to assume that Penny's V8 arc was built around the concept of the writing team going "How do we kill Penny and convince the fanbase that it will stick this time, no takebacks from Pietro?", alongside them thinking about how to give the Winter Maiden powers to Winter. And I think as a consequence all the steps in V8 are done to lead to her getting a human body so that Cinder can scrape out a win and Penny sees no other option but having Jaune euthanise to be sure Cinder doesn't get the powers. But the problem was that most people assumed that Penny had at least one more life left in the tank- Pietro pretty much made it clear in V7 that he only had one more burst of Aura left to give her, and it was obvious that Penny couldn't stay the Winter Maiden because she would break the balance of the show in staying. So they couldn't just kill her twice in one season, that would be excessive and feel forced, and only killing her once would lead people to assume Penny 3.0 would appear during Volumes 10 or 11.

So I think that's why we got the Watts virus plot- something that would make Penny kill herself after going to the Staff so that RWBY can use it to make her a new body that is conveniently a lot easier to kill, while also taking Penny out of show for the middle part involving the Atlas Invasion. But in turn, Pietro then had to be taken off the board because if Pietro was around, he'd be able to solve the virus thanks to his omnidisciplinary science skills that already include mastery of the fields of rocket engineering, prosothetics, robots, artifical intelligence and more. So when Amity falls and Penny is first infected with the virus, Pietro and Maria... just leave the show. They're still on Amity, but no one ever thinks to fly out and see where they landed to find Pietro. Which in turn means Pietro has no role to play for the rest of the season, meaning he never gets to find out Penny is a full human and then subsequently be there for her death. I'm sure CRWBY will eventually say "Oh we meant to have a cameo at the end but it got cut for time" like they usually do, but that's gonna feel like an excuse. Likely there was no hypothetical return of Pietro and Maria because they'd served their purpose so no sense bringing them back for the season. It's also a bummer because I think a Pietro/Watts hacker battle would have been cool. Watts was a very interesting character and I would have liked to have seen more explanation of his vendetta against Atlas, especially against the man who one-upped his project.

But the problem is twofold with the writer's plan to kill Penny. First off, Penny's "Real Girl" moment this season just copy pastes the message of her arc in Volume 7- where she again received confirmation that despite her mechanical nature, she had a real soul and was a Real Girl enough to get the Maiden Powers. This was a great way to show the Maiden Powers being used to validate Penny's identity without being too on the nose about Penny being a Pinnochio metaphor. Volume 8's version of this as a consequence feels far cheaper and undermines the intent of the Volume 7 finale. I mean, it literally includes a blue fairy, I think they went beyond on the nose and just punched the viewer with how unsubtle it was.

Her final death in turn is another can of worms, not least of which due to her suicide by Jaune which is more a shipping container's worth of worms, but what hurts the most is the idea that Penny is happy to die when she's talking to Winter, all smiles and content that she got to make a choice for once. Putting aside the horrific undertones in relation to Penny's choice to commit suicide (alongside the fact that this is a real thing people with depression have done where they have killed themselves due to feeling it was the one choice they honestly had in their lives), it's also a lot of wasted plot potential for Penny. I didn't like her getting another Real Girl Moment when she already had a great one, but if they were gonna do it then they could at least explore the concept- show Penny being a Real Girl and getting her wish, getting to have a happy ending with Pietro and Ruby. Yes, sometimes people die in media before their arcs resolve because that's realistic or some crap, but RWBY's not that show. Every time someone has died they have been at the conclusion of an arc, not the beginning of a new one.

Instead it just feels like Penny was a "Real Girl" so that both Penny was easier for Cinder to kill, and so someone on CRWBY could get paid to model her feet. And I don't know which of those upsets me more.

I was never a ride or die Penny fan but she always livened up a lot of the seasons she was in. Floating Array goes swish and I go yaaaaaaay. I was even gonna say that Penny's arc, with the exception of the virus subplot, was one of the generally better arcs in Volume 8. But the way they handled her in the final hour just felt miserably cruel, to say nothing of the choice to have the credits song be Penny's first song as a deliberate attempt to emotionally manipulate the fanbase. This death is so cheap and under-handed that now her death in Volume 3- one of the Best Scenes Of The Whole Fucking Show- has been retroactively weaked and stripped of impact. Because all it led to was Penny getting to come back for two seasons and dying right after, and Ruby doesn't even get to be there when she dies again. Or Nora, or Winter, or anyone she had a bond with or a pre-established dynamic. I still can't fathom what choices creatively led to Jaune being her killer given the focus of her bonds with the aforementioned trio, but regardless it was easily the worst call they could have made. Literally anyone else would have made the scene flow better.

You can re-write the Solitas arc in a way where Penny never came back and nothing changes- the exact same circumstances occur across the board for Volumes 7 and 8 except Winter gets the Maiden Powers a bit earlier. That's how little she mattered. Penny feels like she came back just for fanservice like Neo's return in Volume 6- a way to boost ratings and make money off merch for her again. And now in turn, her death just feels like a mix of a ratings stunt and a way to get rid of an OP character. She didn't have to die, and I don't mean in show.

I just mean writing-wise it was pointless torture-porn. What a waste.

[myenterpriseisparked]

can.... can we get a cast for your zoologist Trek show?

I don't have names for them but here we go! This is kind of long, so I'm putting the characters under a cut.

The ship is called the USS Frontiersman. It works mostly in deep space, studying new forms of life on newly discovered planets. Crew compliment of 160. 50 exozoologists, 50 exobotanists, 20 environmentalists (including geologists and atmospheric experts). The remaining 40 crew members are engineers, security officers, helmsman, and the captain and first officer. I'm not positive on the time period this is set during, but it's at least at a point where there's not much conflict between Cardassia and the Federation.

Captain: She's a 40-year-old Engineer who never expected to make captain. Finding out she was being offered a command was the best day of her life. The worst day of her life was the next day, when she stepped on board and realized it was an exobiology ship filled with eccentrics. She slept through her required exobiology course so she has no idea what any of her crew members are talking about. She's basically that babysitter who's charges are all extremely passionate about things she doesn't understand and the parents have asked her to drive them around to local museums and science learning centers while the kids yell in the backseat about who's topic of interest is better.

First Officer: She's a 30-year-old who went through the academy on the command route and was known for being an excellent pilot. Has less knowledge of exobiology than the captain. The two of them keep trying to push interpersonal conflicts to be solved off on one another because neither of them understand what anyone's talking about enough to truly help solve the issue and, frankly, they're both a little frightened of the ferocity of their crew.

Head Engineer: Bajoran who actually did pay attention in biology and, while she's a little confused, she's eager to learn about what the others are prattling on about and is an excellent listener. She tries her best to translate for the non-exobiologist crew members, especially the captain and first officer. She was married (spouse died. tragically) and has a daughter that follows her around engineering. Everyone loves the kid and tries to convince her to study whatever their area of expertise is. Later in the show, when she's a little older, she decides to go the command route at Starfleet and become a pilot, much to the crew's dismay. The First Officer is absolutely tickled.

Chief Medical Officer(s): The Frontiersman actually has 2 chief medical officers; a doctor and a veterinarian. Yes, this is terribly inefficient and yes, they constantly butt heads. The vet is a young human woman from Ohio with a dry sense of humor and a penchant for snark. The doctor is a young human male from Michigan with a dry sense of humor and a penchant for snark. They absolutely hate each other until the day they realize that they are actually in love with each other and all of their arguments have been attempts to deny their attraction. Both of them are absolutely disgusted that they could fall in love with someone so... so... infuriating gosh dang it. They try to continue denying their feelings for each other because they are from rival states and they constantly fight over jurisdiction in the medbay for new species. One day, however, one of their most heated arguments ends in a passionate kiss and they stop fighting their feelings (but not each other).

From there, the rest of the crew is divided up under chiefs of specific taxonomical divisions. Sometimes a division will only have 1 scientist, other times it has a whole crew of people. Depends on the frequency of that type of living thing appearing. Most divisions only have 3 people; a chief and two junior officers. Not every chief is featured in the show because that would be too many characters, so just the ones that are considered part of the senior staff, which were selected by Starfleet at the time of commission based on training.

Chief of Feliformia: She's a hotheaded Betazoid in her mid 30's who spends her free time boxing on the holodeck. She argues a lot with the Chief of Canidae, but they still have breakfast together every morning to trade ship gossip. She wrestles with PTSD and anxiety, which she hides under a layer of bravado. Surprisingly enough, the only person she really feels comfortable opening up to about her past is the Chief of Canidae, because, despite all of their banter about cats vs dogs, they're her closest friend and she appreciates their blunt honesty.

Chief of Canidae: They're a Trill in their mid 30's who's passionate to the point of poetry about dog-like creatures. They're host to a younger symbiont, and they're one of the shortest people on the ship. They also only really open up to the Chief of Feliformia for similar reasons; the blunt honesty. Their relationship is strictly platonic (and I mean actually platonic, not whatever the VOY writers were trying to sell to us about Janeway and Chakotay).

Chief of Rodentia: He's a 70-year-old Bajoran/Cardassian. His mother defected from the Cardassian army to be with his father and the two of them raised him on earth where he raised pet rats. He always has about 7 various rodents tucked into his lab coat. He is a neat freak about his lab space and refuses to let anyone into his area unless they have completely scrubbed up and promise not to touch his PADD stack. Part of his particularity about his lab comes from the fact that he faced a lot of public ridicule due to his mixed heritage when he was young and so he's naturally very defensive of everything he does and owns.

Chief of Chiroptera: She's a twenty-something Half Vulcan-Half Betazoid who was raised on Betazed. Her Vulcan mother was the Vulcan ambassador on Betazed, and her work made her somewhat absent so, while she has enough of a restraint on her emotions not to be violent or aggressive, she's also more Betazoid in terms of personality. The combination of telepathic and empathic abilities from her parents has made her sensitive to large crowds, which is why she LOVES working in caves with bats away from other people. The combination of the two species' abilities constantly bombarding her and the need to restrain her Vulcan emotions have also resulted in her having ADD (her attention is being pulled in every direction so focusing on other tasks that don't immediately grasp her interest is SUPER difficult for her). However, she's also incredibly kind, difficult to shock or surprise, and very passionate about her work.

Chief of Reptilia: They're a human in their early 50's, a bit reclusive, and VERY unwilling to let people in their lab. They never show up to a meeting without a snake around their neck. The snake might be venomous. No one knows for sure. Whatever the case; everyone on board is pretty sure the reptile division is actually a cult because they never see anyone from that crew outside of the lab decks.

Chief of Aves: She's human, no one knows her age, and she refuses to wear a standard-issue lab coat, opting instead to wear a tie-die coat that reaches the floor. She speaks in riddles and everyone thinks she's crazy, but she's actually incredibly wise and an excellent listener. She specializes in raptors.

Chief of Livestock: Even though it's not technically a taxonomical order, they have a guy who specializes in studying livestock of alien cultures. No one is sure how old he is, or what his species is, for that matter. He has the calm, level-headedness of a Vulcan, but he always wears a hat so no one sees his ears or eyebrows to know for sure. He might just be a Midwestern farmer, because they can be Like That too. Despite working with livestock, he also never gets injured, so not even the doctor knows. Some people speculate that he's not human OR Vulcan, but some other immortal species, like a Q. This mystery is never solved on the show, but everyone really likes this guy.

Chief Exobotanist: Despite the fact that the plants are divided up into other taxonomical species, they all report to one Chief Botanist because the plant department is a lot more efficient and interconnected than the animal departments. Despite this, she's completely overworked and undercaffeinated. However, her workload doesn't stop her from being one of the sweetest and most creative people on board. As to the rest of her character, I defer to @emilie786 , as she is the inspiration for this character!

There are other chiefs who are occasional recurring characters, like the Chief of Aquaculture and the Chief of Amphibians. There are also several junior officers who we get to know a bit that are kind of fun. I'm thinking there's some kind of star-crossed lovers arc going on between someone who works in exobotany and someone who works in exozoology. There's also an overworked head of security who is getting really sick and tired of all the escapee animals he has to track down. I think he might fall in love with the Chief Exobotanist partially because plants don't run away and get into the Jeffries tubes (until they do, of course).

Anyway, if anyone wants to add to this, go for it! I'm open to ideas!