#but hes really representative of the greater problem with that season

[acaptainbyanyothername]

It is so important the Weepe and Saskia episode came directly after the Jonas and Phineas episode, because it really drove home how similar these dynamics are and where they fundamentally diverge.

First of all, Saskia and Jonas got their origins in very similar ways. According to Third Person’s Midst Messages series, beta Phineas (then called “Puck”) was originally a much more self-assured knight-in-shining-armor type, and Weepe was a showbiz guy that actually performed on stage and could command a crowd. Later, when fleshing out the story and characters further, Third Person essentially shaved those parts off of them to make the characters of Jonas Spahr and Saskia del Norma.

On a meta level then— of COURSE Phineas and Weepe are so obsessed with Jonas and Saskia! They are literally looking at their better half, the part of them that was stripped away to increase their flaws. Out of meta and in the context of the story, Phineas and Weepe both put Jonas and Saskia on pedestals. They then deal with these pedestals in interesting and horrific ways.

The pedestals exist because Jonas and Saskia saved them in some regard—Jonas by pulling Phineas out of the Delta, and Saskia through her kindness to Weepe when he came to Midst. This results in Phineas and Weepe primarily seeing Jonas and Saskia as the symbols they represent: heroic Prime Consector and the kind, too pure for this world pillar of the community respectively. These pedestals superimpose a fundamental power imbalance in the dynamics: Phineas feeling inadequate compared to Jonas’ Valor and charm, and Weepe thinking his awfulness will eventually twist Saskia away from him, Then, all of the problems with these relationships come to a tumultuous head when the moon fell on Midst, and it’s interesting to note that both Weepe and Phineas both partially did the terrible things they did to save face for themselves to their counterpart: Weepe specifically wanted to not be there or mentioned during the Cabaret bust, and Phineas went so violent over Sherman in an act of desperation partially to prove to Spahr he was worth something. Both of these attempts end up failing and fracturing their relationships, and Weepe abandons and Phineas is abandoned. These relationships then do not see each other until close to the end of season 3.

One of the major themes of Midst is change and metamorphosis, both on a physical and a mental level. All of the four characters go through a high level of change during their time apart, but Saskia and Weepe’s change is purely physical, while Phineas and Jonas’ is purely mental (save some beard shenanigans). Weepe’s entire body transforms into the clear skeleton man we know and love, and Saskia literally gains another body from the tearror. However, even after these drastic physical alterations, they remain fundamentally the same person. Saskia is still kind and community-focused, and Weepe is still the same diabolical bastard. Conversely, Jonas and Phineas had their worldviews so rocked (Jonas a little slower than Phineas, but Phineas got to smoke a moth about it) they individually decided to renounce the cult and value system that provided structure to their lives. They both interact with others and the world around them differently because of the mental changes they have undergone (seen in Phineas attempting to take greater responsibility for his actions and make choices for himself instead of just following orders, and Jonas learning to take agency and grow a backbone).

This is why Jonas and Phineas manage to reconcile and Saskia and Weepe don’t. For as different as their reunion scenes are, there’s a striking commonality: Saskia and Phineas both express the sentiment “I’m angry at you and I don’t know if I can forgive you” and Weepe and Jonas both respond with “Good, you should be.” It’s why they say those things that matters though. Jonas and Phineas have internally changed since their last meeting. Saskia and Weepe have not. Jonas has reached a point where he’s no longer asking anything of Phineas or placing undue pressure on him, and so he accepts Phineas’ negative emotions and imperfections for the first time in their relationship. Weepe just accepts no forgiveness because he thinks he deserves it, because he’s the same terrible person he’s always been and internal change is impossible. Or so he thinks, at least. Phineas changed and Jonas changed to match him. Saskia and Weepe were incompatible with their polar opposite values, and stayed that way permanently. To tie it back to the idea of pedestals, Jonas happily stepped off the pedestal he was on and Phineas let him—they’re both at zero. Weepe couldn’t take Saskia off her pedestal or view himself as anything less than lower than her, to the detrimental point of denying himself the chance to grow from his mistakes.

These relationships could have easily ended up very differently. In an alternate version of Midst, Jonas and Phineas could have decided to kill each other and Saskia and Weepe could have survived and attempted to try again with each other. It end up happening the way it did because Phineas and Weepe had very different facilitators of their respective metamorphosis. Phineas was guided by the Mothers Merciful to come to a new self-understanding. Weepe had Imelda fucking Goldfinch. Change doesn’t happen in an isolated chamber, it’s influenced by the people around us. Phineas was guided into change. Weepe was tortured into it. If Phineas was not treated with the kindness he was, or Weepe was treated with a little more, there’s a chance the story could have unraveled very differently.

In conclusion (this post ran away from me a bit haha) the codependent relationships of Phineas and Jonas, and Weepe and Saskia heavily parallel each other but reach different conclusions in the key places they diverge, i.e. the internal versus external change the characters went through and the type of support they received. These relationships are mirrors of each other—I think Saskia and Weepe represent the worst possible road it could have went down and Jonas and Phineas represent the best, and the key was a successful metamorphosis and accepting the other as a person as they are, off a pedestal.

They all love each other to a frankly obsessive degree. Sometimes love isn’t enough though. Sometimes it’s just circumstance and a willingness to change that ends up being the determining factor.

[dat-is-chill-ghafa]

my main problem with the ending of arcane s2 (as a person who never and still knows nothing about league of legends lore) is how big the world became, and past the initial crux of piltover vs. zaun:

the arc of arcane has always been really about vi and jinx and how they r representative, almost microcosms of the reality of zaun, violently controlled and forced into worse circumstances, poverty, addiction, crime- all of these things by piltover

inherently the story is around classism, about resisting your oppressors, and season 2 rlly frames the story of the “imperfect hero” - act 2 surrounded the idea of jinx being an emblem and the necessity of zaun’s resistance in order to exceed their circumstances of survival- but the death of her, of simply adding one board member to the council

Of not really fleshing out why or how zaun and piltover simply “got over” their war in order to fight for the greater bad?

Jinx was always going to have a bad ending, from the start- to her hero storyline- it was destined to happen- but reducing it to that simple of a death with little meaning or showcase of the impact she’s had??? Also - controversial opinion possibly?? But I’ve always felt the real hero of zaun was ekko- loved jinx’s and his scenes together but I wanted more in terms of the symbolism of him being the real hero and jinx acknowledging together than their resistance, that their love for zaun was more important than anything, that they understood eachother and their place.

Never been a fan of the caitvi storyline, particularly when it takes precedence over interesting storyline- idgaf about a fucking fascist?? why did we excuse this??? how did we excuse this? did we forget the chemical warfare she casually dealt out? that vi became perfectly fine because they’re in love? Sis, your parents were murdered alongside half of zaun- also fair was a huge part of the copaganda storyline which has never been my favourite- so having the only fine ending for them was a rlly interesting choice.

are we not gonna talk about singed who had almost no allegiances to either piltover or zaun but simply to his daughter who seemed perfectly happy at the end - did he achieve immortality, how does he escape any consequences- sucks that he had no real agenda because I feel that was a missed character choice!

I think the first two acts felt rlly phenomenal in fleshing out the moral ambiguities that come with “war” and how in order to gain freedom, it is never gained through merely peaceful methods - act 3 almost completely dismissed or forgoed that idea

I also may have just missed a bunch of stuff!

[nice-witch-reyes]

I was thinking about the Bad Batch (big surprise) and I realized why Hemlock is such a compelling character

First, let's look at Admiral Edmund Rampart (derogatory).

He was shaping up to be the main antagonist after Rescue on Ryloth... but then he wasn't, midway through Season 2, he was taken off the chess board by our heroes without even KNOWING it.

His victories didn't even feel like victories over our protagonists, I mean, he destroyed their home, he belittled Crosshair, but... he was rarely on the Batch's radar for the most part.

So when he's gone, we're left with our protagonists: Clone Force 99 who only have the galaxy against them.

But the galaxy is an abstract thing, their problems were nothing quite insurmountable. The story was moving on, and they didn't necessarily need to be a part of it.

Until Metamorphosis.

Metamorphosis didn't beat around the bush. It started with Hemlock hitting the ground running: threatening Nala Se, trying to continue the cloning process for the Emperor. And when he leaves, and we know he's going to come back, we just don't know how or why... until the end.

The most glorious and underrated transition is when Tech theorizes that the Empire wants to control cloning, which we, the audience ALREADY KNOW THAT, we've known that since Return to Kamino, so what's the point in saying this?

The point, my friends, is this:

The shot of Omega is what we see IMMEDIATELY after Tech says that, and is immediately followed up with the transition back to Tantiss, and just like that, it answers the questions the episode set up before the questions are actually directly answered:

a) How will Dr. Hemlock achieve his goal? b) How is his story going to affect our protagonists?

The key to controlling Nala Se isn't just "a young girl" it's our girl. Our Omega. The Batch's Omega, their little sister.

And that alone sets Hemlock up to be a greater villain than Rampart EVER was in a few short minutes.

We knew, with dread, that this man with the deceptively alluring voice and feigned compassion, who strolled onto an Imperial base and commanded control without saying anything, who's power and cruelness we wouldn't even begin to comprehend yet... was going after Omega. Our Omega. The Batch's Omega. The little girl who we fell in love with the moment she started the food fight for the brothers she didn't know yet. The little girl who represents hope and joy and kindness, and selfless actions persevering in the face of all other adversity.

And the worst part about it all? What really solidifies Hemlock as a villain?

He succeeded.

[popart-vvv]

Arcana Analysis--Helluva Boss: Loona (The Star)

*gasp* We get to talk about my wife now!

Loona, Blitzo's adopted hellhound daughter and the former receptionist for IMP. Just as dysfunctional as her dad, expressed via cynical ennui and social ineptitude, but she's started coming around as of late.

Her card is The Star, number seventeen in the major arcana deck. It relates to Loona's arc with its connotations of hope and renewal.

Unlike everyone else in the series, Loona used to have no real connections whatsoever, for a pretty damn tragic reason: she grew up in an orphanage. That orphanage was more like a prison, however, with the people surrounding her either apathetic or violent. When the backstory gets shown in "Seeing Stars", we can see a lot of tally marks on her bedroom/cell wall, indicating that she had been there for a long time--probably most of her life. As if that wasn't enough, when Blitzo adopted Loona, she was said to have been a month away from aging out of the hellhole. Considering the treatment of the Hellhound species in the greater setting, that could mean many things; the worst interpretation being that she would've been put down like a horribly ill real-world dog. Thank God/Satan for Blitzo!

Even so, the next few years Loona spent with Blitzo were only marginally better than her time at that pound. As is already obvious, Blitzo has his own baggage, so he wasn't much help in restoring Loona's mental well-being. Thus, she coped by building up walls around herself, turning into the cynical, insecure womanchild we see for the first few episodes of the series. At this point, Loona represents The Star reversed--lack of faith, despair, and disconnection.

While her behavior may irritate people who think she's an overgrown, ungrateful brat towards Blitzo, it's important to note that Loona's adoption was relatively recent--four or five years, according to "Western Energy". Compare that to the almost-eighteen years of metaphorical hell her life has been. She's not an "edgy teen", she's a deeply-troubled soul who has known nothing but pain for all of her pre-adult years. That's bound to mess you up in the head, and that pain could last well into adulthood if left unchecked. Even if your life starts improving, the pain won't magically go away, especially if the person who's been contributing to that improvement has issues themselves. As such, Loona's temper problems and childish insecurities persist into the present because the company she keeps aren't really functional themselves. She really does love Blitzo and is grateful towards him, but she has a lot of difficulty in expressing it properly.

Things start turning around for Loona when she meets Vortex, the bodyguard for Blitzo's ex in "Spring Broken". She gains a crush on him, and despite him already having a girlfriend, Vortex takes an interest in her and invites her to said girlfriend's next party; thus, Vortex becomes Loona's first real friend.

When that happens in "Queen Bee", the season one finale, we get to see Loona's social ineptitude on full display. She's incredibly quiet and awkward with how much she stand out in an extroverted crowd, differences that are only exacerbated when she meets with Vortex's girlfriend and the titular character: Beelzebub, the Sin of Gluttony. Bee is incredibly nice, incredibly outgoing, and incredibly sincere in everything she does. In other words, she's Loona's exact opposite, plus the fact that Bee is incredibly popular among the partygoers. Despite welcoming her with open arms, Bee unintentionally makes Loona feel worse about herself to the point where she decides to call Blitzo to pick her up and take her home. Thankfully, though, she starts feeling better when another imp and hellhound take an interest in Blitzo and herself, respectively. She decides to stay and bring her dear dad along to the party, where she strikes up a few more friendships. The big moment, however, is when Bee and Vortex tell Loona about Blitzo indulging in gluttony out of sorrow and not for fun, leading to Loona taking her dad out of the party before he loses himself more. When she puts him to bed back home, she hears him go on a drunken spiel about his fear of dying alone. She responds, "I'll be there, Dad", in response.

Fast forward to the last few episodes of season two, where she becomes more open about her concern not just for Blitzo, but for his special people as well. To start with, the subplot of "The Full Moon" has her working in tandem with Moxxie and Millie to stop some old enemies from interrupting Blitzo's usual night with Stolas. Just as well, she offers Blitzo advice on how to keep Stolas interested in the deal, advice that would've worked had it not been for Stolas' confession in the episode's climax. "Mastermind" becomes a huge wake-up call for her; her and IMP are put on trial in Satan's court for past illegal use of Stolas' grimoire, and Blitzo asks for her, Moxxie, and Millie to be spared when he's put to death. This genuine moment of care on her father's part, plus the close brush of death he receives while she's helpless to stop it, leads to Loona becoming the most open she's been with Blitzo in a long while. She even says "I love you, Dad" as she hugs him after they arrive home safely. She's even okay with a now-depowered Stolas crashing with them. "Sinsmas" has Loona at the happiest she's ever been, as shown in the last scene at the apartment: she's invited her new hellhound friends over for a holiday celebration, and they're all surrounded by IMP and Stolas--Loona's family. And she invites them all to play games and indulge in their gluttony. "Merry fuckin' Sinsmas, am I right?", she says with sincere cheer.

The Star represents what I love about Loona so much. She starts off broken like much of her family, trusting no one with her issues, but as she interacts with more stable people, she starts to lighten up and become more open with herself and her dad. At this point, you can make an easy guess that she'll be integral to a possible reconciliation between Stolas and Octavia, his own daughter.

My wolf wifey...

[valenshawke]

Ramblings… or Word Vomit, whichever.

I think it’s been since January that I’ve been on Tumblr regularly. Unlike the July 2020 start to my extended break, this isn’t quite due to health issues and I’m actively trying to post a bit here and there since I do need to scream into the void. I’ve blamed my job a lot given whom my employer is. This isn’t to say it isn’t deserved, it 100% is. But it’s not the full picture.

And I haven’t really talked about the reasons with people. I actually just finally started speaking about one of the big reasons with my therapist today and I guess we will explore more going forward. But it was a couple of days ago that I realized how Arcane season 2 played out in November and into December had a deep negative effect on my desire to engage (how little I do) with fandom. Any fandom really.

I can quantify how important Arcane is to me. It’s easy, just look at my blog. I started this blog because of Claymore and wanting to find fans of it. And up until the fall of 2024, the single most used fandom tag on my blog was #Claymore. For 10 solid years, the only thing that came close was Fullmetal Alchemist/Brotherhood and even that was a couple of thousand posts behind.

Then I watched Arcane. And in about 2 years, that show did what nothing else could do: It became my most used fandom tag. And the hype machine for season two meant disappointment was greater than pure satisfaction. What we got? To me, a good yet deeply flawed ending. By all reason, I should have been ecstatic. The two characters I shipped were both alive by the end and were unequivocally together. My ship sailed. I should have been over the moon.

But I had some real problems with the sociopolitical themes and solutions. But no media is perfect and under this capitalist society, a piece of media advocating for a revolution was never going to be made under these conditions.

And that was okay.

Critical analysis is okay. And to be critical of something does not mean you hate it. It means you’ve put more thought into it than most people have. I love the Dune Chronicles, but I can sit here and tell you the problems of Frank Herbert’s storytelling, some of his ideology, and the entirety of book 4 (AND I REALLY ENJOYED BOOK 4). Anyone that knows me will not doubt my love and reverence of the original canon. But it’s far from perfect and critique is necessary and blindly following something is dangerous… As Frank Herbert pointed out repeatedly.

But the vociferous reaction by parts of the fandom made this an either/or proposition. You either loved it and thought it the greatest thing since the Epic of Gilgamesh or you thought it was complete trash/unapologetic waste. Does this represent the majority of the fandom? Absolutely not. But it did describe, what I felt, the loudest parts of the fandom. Interesting how fandom behaviors can be reflections of society, eh? Almost like a microcosm.

And that really dampened how I felt about interacting with fandom again. But, if things had a modicum of normality anywhere, I’d get over, things would calm down, and we’d move on. Enter the transition to the current political regime (which has a direct impact on my job) and it makes wanting to engage with fandom even harder. But I would try.

Then Christian Linke opened his fucking mouth. I have a folder in my computer named, “Christian Linke Being a Fucking Dumbass.” It’s just screenshots I took of the stupid shit he was saying on Xitter (since I wanted to show some other people). He is the first creator since Christ fucking Carter to incur such hatred and contempt from me. CHRIS CARTER. THE TROPE MAKER OF “TROLL CREATORS.” Several of the things Linke said left a deep and negative impact on how I felt about the series. And I have to say, that really sucks. Because this show fucking consumed me in a way I didn’t expect. All I knew it as was an animated show based on a video game I played all of two minutes for sometime in 2011.

I know I’ll be back to fandom activities and I’ll be back to reblogging normally. And getting the fandom blog I do actually run up to speed. But it’s just hard between work and the disappointment I still feel about how everything played out when Arcane finished.

But that isn’t the only reason I needed to vomit words today. It was also the harsh reminder that friendships can (and often are) fleeting even if they last a long time. One friendship, I bitched and moaned a lot about from about 2015 to 2023 still hurts on the way it just ended with an immediate thud still bothers me. No growing apart, no drifting. Just saying something at the wrong time (I was watching Soul Eater so subjecting said friend to running commentary) and it was over the next second. The other, I don’t think I’ve ever spoken about at length here. I’m not sure I can even call it a friendship. The time spent actually talking to each other was was maybe less than a year cumulatively. But when we did have to talk, it was… heavy. And I tried to be a supportive friend. And I think I was. But then, the other person drifted away. And I made a few attempts to try to at least keep in contact. My hunch is that I am part of that period of life this person would rather forget and that’s understandable. But I am just… hurt… I guess that my only purpose was to be a therapist (which is fucking laughable). And I got that reminder today on how much that former friend has moved on. I like to think I have but when you have all these negative emotions and an alienated feeling towards your current friends… old memories get dredged up.

And now I am faced with the fleeting and ephemeral nature of friendship again. And the ending of that friendship is nearer, it has definable features now. Maybe even a timetable if I think really hard enough. To be honest, I’m not even sure the other person is aware that the clock is now ticking. And it’s pretty likely that it’ll end when one day of no messaging leads to two, then three, then a month has passed. But alas, I know this is my fault because of whom I choose as friends. Maybe my parents weren’t all wrong when they had their opinions on the nature of friendships and relationships.

And I have another friend who is dying. As much I try not to think about it, I am always left with the phone call in mid-February when I asked, “Well, when are you going home.”

“I’m not going back home, [Val].”

Nothing else needed to be said. Cause I really did not want to hear her say what I knew. I’m always left wondering why she put any value into my life when I wouldn’t (or couldn’t cause of the whole undiagnosed clinical depression thing). But it’s enough to say, I wouldn’t be alive with her. So, there’s that. And knowing the end is near for her is just… a lot.

It isn’t all bad, though. What little focus I have these days goes into my “Homelab.” Which is what people call a home server. I have projects! Right now, I’m trying to setup a selfhosted Google Drive replacement as part of my whole de-Big Teching thing. Moving away from Google (stopped using Gmail entirely, stopped using Google search except as a last resort, trying to find a decent Workspace solution, stopped using Chromium-based browsers a few years ago), Microsoft (we are powered by Linux now babey), nVidia (yeah, joined #Team Red… again… kinda). It’s been fun and frustrating. The frustration goes back to my lack of mental stamina that I had in 2023 since 2024 was a waste (cause I was wasted through a third of it). Took me three weeks to realize why something wasn’t working.

So, that’s where life’s been with me.

Anyways, if you’re reading this: I hope you’re doing well. Or surviving at the very least. We have to survive this current moment in time. If for no other reason, than out of pure spite.

[not-the-tie-youre-looking-for]

Something that's been bugging me for years since the Legends finale. If Zhan had been the writer for Rebels, do you think he would have had Thrawn bomb Lothal to bring Ezra out? On the one hand, from Legends Thrawn's portrayal I imagine he would without a second of hesitation. On the other, Canon Thrawn has been much more... restrained? And on a third point, there's the fact that Legends and Canon Thrawn seem like they really could be the same person just at different points of time. cnt in next

...I'm just curious if anyone else was curious if Zhan agreed with that direction taken. Which, on that note, did Zhan ever say anything about his thoughts on how Rebels handled Thrawn? Both from a writing standpoint as well as an acting and musical one (Thrawn's various leitmotifs)?

Oh man. Ohhhhhhhh maaaaan. My friend, you have asked exactly the right person this question, because not only have I wanted to talk about this multiple times before, but I also have ~receipts~. 👀

⚠️Spoiler warnings for Star Wars: Rebels, The Mandalorian, the canon Star Wars novels Thrawn, Thrawn: Alliances, Thrawn: Treason, Thrawn Ascendency: Chaos Rising, and Thrawn Ascendency: Greater Good, and the legends Star Wars novels Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, The Last Command, and Outbound Flight.⚠️

Oh man. Where to begin.

Lets start with who Thrawn is, because depending on who you ask, you're gonna get different answers—whether you're strictly a Legends fan, Dave Filoni, a guy who's only seen Thrawn in Star Wars: Rebels, Timothy Zahn, or just a writer/artist fan like me.

To Timothy Zahn, the man behind our favorite chiss, Thrawn is a character that is constant in both attitude and personality throughout all of his content. In multiple interviews, ranging from Thrawn's debut in Rebels to the latest about the writing of the Ascendancy Trilogy, Zahn states that Thrawn in canon and Thrawn in Legends are indistinguishable.

And so I present the receipts:

In a 2017 interview with The Verge on writing the first canon Thrawn book Thrawn, Zahn is asked the following question and responds as such:

How do you navigate bringing back a character who already has an extensive backstory and audience expectations, with telling a new story that fits in the new continuity?

Actually, I didn’t find that to be a problem. I’d never written Thrawn in this part of the Star Wars timeline, so it was simply a matter of bringing him into the Empire and chronicling his rise through the ranks. It’s still the same character as in the 1990s books, just a decade or two younger and in a very different military and political environment.

In another interview with The Verge in 2018 (a few months after the finale of Rebels aired) about writing Thrawn: Alliances, he repeats this sentiment twice:

Thrawn feels like if it had been written before the canonization purge a couple of years ago, or if you squinted a bit, it would serve as a perfect setup for Heir to the Empire.

Oh, I don’t think you need to squint at all. I wrote him in these two books to fit in with everything else I’d done. So if someone at Lucasfilm snapped their fingers, and suddenly all of my other books were canon, and there would be no real retrofitting that would have to go in. It would all fit together.

Thrawn: Alliances feels more at home in the new canon, especially because Thrawn has been fleshed out a bit more in Rebels. Was there any adjustments for that?

Not really. I’m getting to play with more canon characters like Vader and Padmé and Anakin, but the character himself, I still see him as the same person. He’s got goals, and he won’t necessarily share them with you, but he as long as you’re going the same direction, he’s happy to cooperate and assist along the way.

...and this is referenced again in a 2020 interview with Polygon about writing Thrawn Ascendancy: Chaos Rising:

Along with Thrawn’s appearance in Rebels, Zahn would pen a new novel, Thrawn, that chronicled the character’s early days as an Imperial officer. Zahn didn’t have to change anything with the character, telling me in 2017 that “he’s like an old friend who I understand completely.” While Heir to the Empire was no longer canon, a reader could easily read Thrawn as a precursor to that classic novel. Thrawn went on to become a major presence in Rebels, and Zahn continued to explore his origins in Thrawn: Alliances and Thrawn: Treason.

The next day, an interview with IGN was published on the same subject:

Thrawn is an especially unique case because Zahn has been able to effectively continue the work he started way back in 1991 with Heir to the Empire. That novel may not be a part of official Star Wars lore any longer, but as Zahn explained, Thrawn himself is basically the same character regardless of continuity.

[....] The closest comparison between Chaos Rising and Zahn's earlier EU work is probably 2006's Outbound Flight, which is set during the Clone Wars and details the first encounter between Thrawn and the Galactic Republic (while also retroactively laying the groundwork for elements of Heir to the Empire). That novel is no longer canon, but Zahn told us he prefers to operate as if it were. He's making a concerted effort not to retread the same ground as Outbound Flight and to avoid contradicting the events of that novel as much as possible.

So yeah. In Zahn's opinion, Legends Thrawn is Canon Thrawn is Book Thrawn, and there is no difference whatsoever between Thrawns in, say, Outbound Flight, Heir to The Empire, Alliances, and Chaos Rising. I wholeheartedly disagree, but lets move on.

Now that the books are out of the way, its time for Rebels.

In July of 2016, after the trailer announcing Thrawn's canon debut aired, Dave Filoni had the following to say about Thrawn's character in regards to Timothy Zahn:

“I was pretty adamant with a couple of people saying, ‘Listen, we need to have Tim sign off on this. This is kind of a waste of time [otherwise],'” says Filoni. “We, of course, can do what we want with a character that Lucasfilm owns, but without Tim’s okay, what does it mean? That’s not going to be good. Once we had some stuff, we wanted to do what we thought was right and make the character. Then we brought him in. We had the production fully prepared. I said, ‘Look, if there’s something that Tim says that I think is really valuable, even if it changes something dynamically, we need to be ready for that and see what we can do.’ I wanted to make sure we did this right by everybody. We brought him in and we didn’t really tell him why. We just flew him up to Lucasfilm and sat him down in a theater and said, ‘Hey, we’re bringing Thrawn into the show.’ He was like, ‘Wow.’ and I said, ‘Yeah, wow. And I’m going to show him to you right now and you let me know what you think.'”

(Before we continue, keep that first highlighted sentence in mind for future reference. I'm going to come back to that later.)

Fortunately, Timothy Zahn was delighted at the show’s approach to the Empire’s imposing blue-skinned Chiss.

“We showed him some of the scenes with him,” Dave Filoni recalls. “He looked like a kid in a candy store. I think it meant a lot to him not just because it was his character, but because you have to imagine what he went through when it was announced that everything is Legends now, not Expanded Universe. I get that and I’ve always appreciated the work that goes into the Expanded Universe… For Tim, I think it was us saying, ‘No, no, no. We really like your character. We want him to be part of the real thing. The canon universe.'”

So in 2016, before we even saw Thrawn in action beyond a trailer, we were told that Zahn gave the OK, and he was chill with the way Thrawn was created in the show. In 2017, he gave a little more of the background of this process in an interview with FANgirl Blog:

The events of Thrawn dovetail closely with Rebels and shed light on some of Thrawn’s more seemingly surprising actions on the show, like when he appears to lose his temper and yell at Lieutenant Lyste. What was it like to see Thrawn come alive onscreen? Is he how you’ve pictured him in your head?

I don’t see my characters in terms of voice or appearance, but rather as personality or attitude. That said, I very much enjoyed the way the Rebels team brought him to life, in his appearance, voice, and actions.

I also appreciated the freedom I had to tweak certain incidents, such as the one you mentioned, and give additional or alternate explanations for the viewers who may have thought those were somewhat out of character for him.

He doesn't really elaborate on this, but we can assume he had SOME creative input on Thrawn's character, and he was overall pretty happy with the choices made in the show.

But then, we have this from that earlier 2017 the Verge article:

When did you learn that Dave Filoni was intending to bring Thrawn to Rebels, and did you have any input into how the character would be handled?

[...] I didn’t have any real input into how Thrawn was going to be handled, mainly because the lead time of an animated series is so long that much of season 3 had already been finished. But I trusted Dave and the team to do the character right. After all, why bring him into Rebels if you were going to drastically change him? Having seen the entire season now, I think we can agree that my trust was completely justified.

So... he didn't have "any real input," but was satisfied with it in the end? I guess? I don't know. We're getting into some contradictions now.

The last thing I've got in regards to Rebels is an interview Zahn did with the YouTube channel Star Wars Explained after the finale aired, where he responds to the following:

“So, maybe let's jump over to Rebels for a little bit. Now that it has wrapped up, how do you feel Thrawn was represented in Star Wars: Rebels?”

“They did a really good job—they not only understood the character and how to write for him, but they also understood the meta around how you defeat him. The only way to defeat Thrawn is to throw something at him he can't control, or can't anticipate. Given perfect knowledge and control, Thrawn will always find a way to win. But they understood, this is how you defeat him, these are the things we can use against him... so his portrayal in general, is very good; he's smart, he's anticipating, he's a step ahead of everybody, he's looking at clues and picking up on them, so I was very pleased with how the Rebels team handled the character."

I think these quotes answer many of your questions, so to answer your initial question: If Zhan had been the writer for Rebels, do I think he would have had Thrawn bomb Lothal to bring Ezra out?

Yes—but ONLY because at that point, the only established™️ Thrawn content was found in Legends, where Thrawn was a ruthless and calculating warlord.

However!

I do believe that if given the chance to re-write the Star Wars: Rebels finale using his now-canon novels as a solid background TODAY, Zahn would choose to not let Thrawn bombard Lothal's Capital City.

I believe this because he made one single very interesting creative choice when writing Thrawn that completely overwrote Thrawn's pre-established Rebels character: Thrawn was not responsible for the civilian deaths on Batonn—Pryce was.

And that's that on that.

A few months ago I would have ended it there, but today, Thrawn's story is no longer just contained in the novels and Rebels, but also in that of The Mandalorian.

This is where I will proudly say I have no idea what the fuck is going on. Before The Jedi aired, I was 100% sure that the next time we saw Thrawn, it would be nowhere NEAR the Empire, because Zahn was pretty adamant in the novels that Thrawn was only in the Empire to help. His. People.

So now he's apparently doing fuck-knows-what in fuck-knows-where and is STILL associated with the Seventh Fleet and Imperial Warlords???

Huh??? Despite the fact that he held no true loyalty to the Empire or to the Emperor??? It's been months and I'm still confused as fuck. Add to the fact that Zahn also doesn't know what the fuck is going on to the equation and we get a big fat question mark with one pretty clear answer that Filoni said himself that we have to keep in mind:

"We, of course, can do what we want with a character that Lucasfilm owns."

So I don't think Zahn has much control over Thrawn as we would all like to think. We can hope he gives us the crazy Thrawn and Ezra Space Adventure™️ novel all we want, but ultimately, Thrawn's fate does not rest in his hands.

If you guys have more to add please let me know!!! This is, obviously, a topic I am very passionate about, so I'd love to hear your thoughts!

[twin-books]

About that Adrien takes, I think you have some interesting perspectives. He definitely has a greater lack of focus than in season 1. But I personally interpreted that as part of his self finding arc and also saw it as quite realistic, since real life people can change vastly between situations and moods (and hunger lol). Unlike Alya, whose personality changes with the role she has to provide for Mari, I've felt with Adrien those changes were more autonomous. When did Adrien verbally bully Felix?

I'm going to admit that I tend to exaggerate a few things for humor's sake and don't really think about how that may not come across very well in type. So I really should have used better wording than "goes out of his way to verbally bully Felix". I think I should have said, "He verbally bullied Felix" which is not untrue and would still get my point across without accidentally misrepresenting Adrien's character. I'm very sorry for that. I probably should have thought that one through. But it would be the episode "Felix" where he kind of picks on Felix saying something about how he doesn't have friends and is a bit passive aggressive the entire time. Which I had no issue with because Felix was an absolute asshole. It's just the contradiction of the fact he would be mean to Felix almost immediately as Chat when Lila has also gone out of her way to ruin his life and it took him a few episodes to finally stand up to her and that was only purely for Marinette's sake. You're definitely right. Alya's personality almost always changes to suit the narrative though her goals tend to stay the same at the very least so I have a better handle on her character as compared to Adrien. It's easier to identify the faults in her character than it is for Adrien simply because there is something to hold on to. Alya always has the goals to help Marinette get with Adrien. To be a hero. To care for her boyfriend. These are pretty clear throughout her character even if they aren't represented all that great. I think that idea is a good take where people can change drastically in real life. I think that's pretty fair. I suppose my issue with Adrien is just how much he changes and how it feels less like a gradual shift down or up and more like this squiggly line that goes here and there. Of course, I don't expect Adrien to immediately solve an issue. Like all of a sudden one day he realizes self-sacrificing so much is unhealthy and goes "I won't do that" and then just stops. Obviously that would be completely unrealistic and would also send the wrong message to children. That once you recognize a mistake you will never make that mistake again. That's not a healthy way of thinking because you absolutely will. Healing and growing is not immediate and takes time and we need to allow for that time. The issue I tend to take with how he does things is just the general fact a recognition will occur "I like Kagami" and then things get worse where he continues to fawn over Ladybug despite liking Kagami and trying to reciprocate her feelings. And things do get worse before they get better. Failure is to be expected and I would not expect him to just immediately drop his feelings for Ladybug and focus on Kagami. But I would expect he would at least try to do better when recognizing a fault or try and act on something he recognizes in general. I would expect him to feel guilt for harboring feelings for Ladybug while either leading on Kagami or being in a relationship with Kagami. Or I would at least expect him to feel some guilt for up and abandoning her even when he is direly needed somewhere else. I would also expect him to be trying to devote more of his attention to Kagami and less to Ladybug which actively seeks out and spends a good half of Lies trying to get her to show up when he has a devoted girlfriend waiting for him. Problem is that I don't see him feeling guilty at any point for how he's clearly hurting Kagami even though Adrien's character has previously been shown to be rather empathetic/sympathetic. He doesn't express any remorse for how his actions effected Kagami besides maybe a little bit when she ended the relationship. My issue with how he is written is that I am given this expectation of how he would act based on previous narratives only to have the rug pulled out from under me once I find my footing. He suddenly changes and morphs and now I have nothing to stand on once more. It's rather confusing in that sense.

However, this isn't to demonize Adrien. I just don't have the energy to demonize fictional children. I don't have anything to gain from it and I would much rather see the kids get some love. But the writing doesn't make me feel like they're very loved. It feels very careless and like they thought of the ship and jokes first and then the characters were an afterthought. It makes it hard to relate to any of them. This is also coming from somebody who used to have a huge bias for Adrien. I used to relate to him quite a bit as someone who couldn't find their own voice and opinions and was rather dependent on others. But I tried to change and I felt bad when I hurt others. I'm still trying to change and I still feel bad when I hurt others. I lost my ability to relate to Adrien when it came to those episodes where he just felt like he stopped caring about others. I'm fine with the boy being selfish every once a while, especially considering his circumstances but most of the time his selfish moments feel very... heartless, I guess, for lack of a better term. However, you're very right, they did feel very autonomous... But perhaps that's partially the issue. Sometimes it feels like he deliberately decides to not care for others which is most likely not true but that's what it feels like to me, anyway.

Also yes, hunger changes people man. Just look at Fu and Tikki. Those guys are the epitome of those Snickers' commercials. XD

Thank you for your lovely ask. <3 Sorry for the misunderstanding with Felix. I hope your having a nice day, afternoon, evening, or whatever time it is where you are. <3

[justalittlelemony]

card symbolism and dream smp members

ok so with both c!wilbur and c!quackity having a card motif for their respective games (solitaire and poker), my little gremlin brain immediately tried to attach people to specific cards and their symbolism. i have filled the roles of kings, queens, jacks, aces, and jokers for all four suits and can defend every single one of my choices (although some are less defensible than others). also i am not familiar with every single card game under the sun, so my idea of which cards are more “powerful” than the others is based solely on the game of War, which i feel is pretty fitting for the dream smp (also i don’t know shit about poker).

Kings:

Eret, the King of Hearts

Philza, the King of Spades

Bad, the King of Diamonds

Ranboo, the King of Cloves

Kings appear to be the most powerful cards, but are not actually, being able to be taken by aces. In this way, kings can represent the illusion of power, but with a single weakness. Eret is the King of the Greater Dream SMP, but, as it was pointed out on November 16th, that power can easily be stripped away. Philza is the Angel of Death and along with Technoblade and Dream, completely demolished L’manberg on Doomsday. But Philza only has one canon life. Bad is the leader of the Eggpire, but he isn’t really the one in control, the Egg is. Ranboo seemingly has strong morals with his defining belief of “choosing people not sides,” however he is not fully in control of his actions and could be unknowingly assisting Dream.

Queens:

Niki, the Queen of Hearts

Puffy, the Queen of Spades

Hannah, the Queen of Diamonds

Tubbo, the Queen of Cloves

Look, I don’t really have that much of explanations for these other than 3/4s of them are female and therefore are queens. Tubbo is the only one that I have a real explanation for. Tubbo has been called a pawn by Dream, and yes I’m mixing my chess and card metaphors, but in chess, a pawn can be promoted if it makes its way to the other side of the board, usually becoming a queen, the most powerful piece in the game. Between his nukes and his relationships with Tommy and Ranboo, Tubbo has the potential or is already a power player on the server. While I don’t have great reasons for the choice of queen for the other three (other than being women), I can explain the choice in suits. Niki’s journey has been one filled with heartbreak: the loss of og L’manberg, Wilbur’s fall and eventual death, and the destruction of L’manberg, twice. Puffy, as of late, has been fighting for causes that she has seen as right and good: being one of the leaders of the pro-omelette resistance and being one of the few adults to try and help Tommy. I’ve kind of associated the diamond suit with the Blood Vines for the King and Jack, so Hannah is a good choice for the queen.

tldr: these explanations are weaker than most but these characters are important and i wanted to put them on here and this post has been sitting in my drafts for like a week

Jacks:

Fundy, the Jack of Hearts

Jack Manifold, the Jack of Spades

Antfrost, the Jack of Diamonds

Tommy, the Jack of Cloves

Jacks were the servants of the king in medieval times. The characters I have chosen as Jacks are people whose worth or purpose is often determined by how they are helping or affecting the people around them. I’m not super caught up on Fundy’s lore, but I know part of it in Season 1 was how Wilbur did not see him as his own person, but rather seeing him as more of a symbol or something to protect. Jack Manifold constantly feels used and belittled by Tommy, which is currently the driving force behind his arc. Antfrost’s main purpose in the story right now is to be the second-in-command to the Eggpire, to the point that we don’t even know why he joined. Within the context of the SMP, people only seem to have a positive opinion of Tommy when he is doing something for them. Any other time, he is seen as the cause of all problems on the server. 

Aces:

Sam, the Ace of Hearts

Wilbur, the Ace of Spades

Quackity, the Ace of Diamonds

Karl, the Ace of Cloves

Aces, despite having the number value of one, can take Kings, making them arguably the most powerful cards. Thus aces can symbolically mean characters who are overlooked or underestimated. Sam, until very recently, had not been considered a powerful person on the server. However, despite new breaks in his will, he holds a lot of power as the warden of the prison. Wilbur refused to wear armor and was not great at pvp, but he was able to found L’manberg and eventually destroyed it. Quackity is usually only seen as comic relief, but as proved with yesterday’s stream, he now has Dream scared of him. Karl had not had any major impact on the lore until fairly recently with his time traveling, but now that has the potential to be extremely important to the overall story.

Jokers:

Technoblade, the Red Joker

Dream, the Black Joker

Jokers don’t have suits and are used wild cards. Technoblade and Dream are the two pvp gods on the server and are not held back by a single narrative role. They can be an ally, victim, or villain and the opinions of other people on them vary greatly.

[f1]

F1 and FIA should step in to help W Series Hamilton | 2022 United States Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton has called on Formula 1 and the FIA to help the struggling W Series after it cancelled the remaining races of its 2022 season. The junior championship for female racing drivers was due to support F1 at this weekend’s United States Grand Prix. However last week the championship announced it had cancelled the event and the planned double-header in Mexico due to financial problems. Hamilton, a passionate advocate for greater diversity in motorsport, was asked in yesterday’s FIA press conference at the Circuit of the Americas whether the sport’s governing body and F1 should help the championship continue. “100 per cent I do,” he said. “There has not been enough focus on women in sport the whole of Formula 1’s life, and there’s not enough emphasis on it now,” he said. “They’re not magnifying enough the great work that is being done there. There is not enough representation across the board, within the industry. And there’s not really a pathway for those young, amazing drivers to even get to Formula 1. W Series began in 2019 but was forced into hiatus the following year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It returned last season, supporting F1 for the first time, but cut short its third season this year. Jamie Chadwick won all three championships. Singapore appears to have been the last race for W Series Hamilton said the series is needed to help promote women racers. Over 30 years have passed since the last time a woman attempted to qualify for an F1 race. “You have some people who say we’re never going to see a female F1 driver ever,” said Hamilton. “So that’s not a good narrative to be putting out. “I think we need to be doing more, and with the organisation, with Formula 1 and Liberty doing so well it’s not a lot for them to be able to help out in that space.” The seven-times world champion founded the Hamilton Commission to examine why some groups are under-represented in motorsport and subsequently launched the Ignite charity in conjunction with his Mercedes team to promote diversity and inclusion in motorsport. “In the work I’m trying to do with Mercedes for example, we’re trying to get like 8,000 young girls into the sport,” he said. “But every team should be doing that.” Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free 2022 United States Grand Prix Browse all 2022 United States Grand Prix articles via RaceFans - Independent Motorsport Coverage https://www.racefans.net/

[animatedanalysis]

That's a good point! I had to fight tooth and nail defending the Collector in discussions with friends after season 2, but there's a really good reason their race is presented the way it is in canon and it comes down perspective!

Everything we learn about the Collectors/Archivists (which I will just be calling "Celestials" for ease) is told via Collector himself, the Titan Trappers, or the Owl Beast via Eda's dream. The Collector was essentially shunned from their older siblings, the Titan Trappers are antagonists, and the Owl Beast also had a run-in with another Celestial that traumatized it (it's also implied that Celestial turned that Owl Beast into the scroll that makes it a curse)

I completely agree that Celestials are likely morally neutral/gray and their book explains it best:

"Should they meddle in our affairs, we'll clean the planet and scorch the air"

It's important to note the dictionary difference between a Collector and an Archivist

A collector is a hobbyist and an archivist is someone who's *job* it is to maintain archives

The Collector is still a child and is very much-so treated that way by his siblings as he's told to go down and play and essentially "get out of their hair" while they work

We don't know how the war between the Titans and Celestials started. It's implied Titans were a huge threat simply because they have magic on par with the Celestials and probably weren't happy with being "preserved". I don't think the Celestials see what they're doing as wrong. After all their role in their society and the greater cosmos as a whole is to "collect" and "archive".

But because they aren't being archived or preserved themselves, they don't empathize with why that would be a problem for other races. When Titans give them a taste of their own medicine and put them in the discs, it's seen as being meddlesome and they become inclined to neutralize the nuisance before it impedes on the work they do.

Nonetheless most sympathetic antagonists have a point where we see their side of the story. None of the Archvisits have a chance to speak except in the dream or the Collector says what they said, but again it's all negative

If we want to take this a step further, at the end of the show, the Collector represents *us*, the audience, the fans of the show. As the Collector passes by, the final send off is to them, but the camera shows the cast of characters from their perspective. We're the hobbyist that interact with the media. The archivists on the other hand could represent a number of things and I won't say one interpretation is more right than another, but it could be any sort of industry professional or critic whose prominance in the industry might make them disconnected from fans or a critic/commentator whose job it is to critique the work. It could even be a metaphor for Disney (and the greater animation industry as a whole) and how projects that get canceled are just their property, locked away and unable to have a new life because it's constrained by copyright. It sits in the vault and collects dust. This interpretation could also be a reason why the Archivists are meant to be more evil-coded

I also want to bear in mind that the Archivists actions *are* evil. They did commit genocide and almost completely wiped out an entire species. They are adults who made that choice while separated from the Titans. Meanwhile Collector spent all their time getting to know all the other Titans. However the mindset behind it isn't malice. They're doing as they were taught or think is best, which while makes them more morally gray at least intention-wise, but still liable

TLDR: The Archivists are portrayed as evil due to framing, perspective and meta-thematic reasons. Them committing genocide is an atrocity, but they do so out of obligation more than genuine malice. Essentially, soldiers going to war to serve their society. They're adults with jobs who send their kid sibling to the planet and thus the kid is the only one who makes an actually connection with their society's sworn enemy. The Archivist vs Collector dichotomy could be a representation of the state of the animation industry as a whole

I don't know why but I don't like the fact that toh the entire collectors race evil expect for our collector, It just felt like that the collector race (what is the name of the actual race? And am I spelling race wrong?) alignment is true neutral or even chaotic neutral it didn't seem like it was full and completely evil y'know?

[cheri-translates]

[CN] S2 Gavin and MC in Chapter 11 (Part One)

🍒 Warning: This post contains detailed spoilers from Season 2 🍒

I’m focusing on the interactions between Gavin and MC, not the plot (because the latter requires extensive time and effort that I can’t spare). So the less essential parts are in bullet-point form :>

Phone calls: First l Second

To investigate an issue related to pathological changes in Evolvers, MC heads to a hospital to talk to the director (who is a genuinely kind man)

While they’re discussing the issue, the alarm suddenly goes off, and two Evolvers barge into the office and bring them to the main lobby

Cutting the drama short: Five Evolvers have taken everyone in the hospital hostage. They don’t have weapons, and are subduing everyone with their Evol. The person leading them is a 43-year-old man called Yang Ping, who has a compression Evol. This means he can exert pressure on surrounding objects at will, and can even destroy a person’s organs

Yang Ping releases the Evolvers, but MC decides to stay because she wants to figure out his plan

MC notices a little girl crying, so she controls her own trembling and comforts the girl:

Girl: T-they suddenly barged in! And they said all of us would become hostages... and that they wanted to negotiate with the STF!

A man without a left hand offers the girl a tissue (this fact sounds really random but it’d make sense later!)

MC tells the girl not to worry because her boyfriend the STF will never lose to someone who isn’t on the side of justice:

MC: As long as that person is around, STF will never cower, and will definitely protect everyone’s safety.

The STF arrives at the scene, and Yang Ping uses a row of doctors as a meat shield while he negotiates with the STF

Gavin is in complete Commander Mode™:

Gavin: Your actions have amounted to “endangering public safety”. Release the hostages right now, and the STF will take this into consideration for leniency in punishment.

The moment I hear Gavin’s voice, I finally heave a sigh of relief.

He seems to be standing among a small formation towards the front. Even though I can’t see his face clearly, I know he’s there.

At this moment, it’s as though all the fear is gently pried open by a gust of formless wind, and the leaves outside sway slightly.

As though it’s saying - Don’t be afraid. 

Yang Ping states that the recent series of Evolver assassinations and Evolvers going missing shows how they aren’t being protected sufficiently. He demands for the STF to promise to change the way Evolvers are managed, and to give them better privileges and protection. If the STF refuses, they’d start dealing with the hostages one by one

MC spots Gavin with his team, and thinks he can’t see her from where he is

The little girl starts crying again, and it annoys one of the kidnappers. MC is worried he’d harm the girl, so MC speaks up, admitting that she’s an Evolver and that she fully agrees with what Yang Ping said. She tries to reason that hurting a civilian would be ruining the entire plan because they’re the bargaining chips to negotiating with the STF. If any of the civilians were to be harmed, STF would never listen to their requests

The kidnapper recognises MC as a suspect of the assassination incidents, which makes MC think that there’s more to this kidnapping situation than merely waiting privileges and protection

After all, aside from a few people in STF, no one should know that she’s a suspect i.e. there might be a spy in STF PLEASE DON’T BE TANG CHAO LOL

-

Now, we switch to Gavin’s perspective of the same events

He has received surveillance footage of what's going on in the hospital, and is discussing the issue with Tang Chao and Eli while figuring out how best to get the hostages out...

All of a sudden, Gavin’s pupils widen slightly, eyes focused on one spot, and he freezes.

In the footage, after a stream of Evolvers have left, a girl remains at the same spot. She glances around her surroundings, then smiles as she says something to a little girl, and appears to be consoling the other party quietly.

At this moment, he feels as though his heart has stopped.

What’s she doing here?!

Gavin realises that his right hand is trembling. He clenches it into a tight fist, fingertips buried in his palm, silently turning white.

His mind is a complete blank. All he wants to do is rush in and bring the girl out safely.

Gavin closes his eyes, taking a few deep breaths. When he opens his eyes again, they are filled with an even colder aura.

The sound of his beating heart in his chest gets louder with each beat, as though questioning his forced facade of calmness.

He watches as MC talks to the kidnapper, and realises that MC is using this method to show that she has faith in him

At this point, a call from the “other side” tells him to give up on negotiations and rescue the hostages using force

But Gavin refuses because there’s still time to negotiate, the hostages would be put at great risk, and STF will only use force when truly necessary

The “other side” says it’s an order. So Gavin says that the STF will handle problems using its own ways and hangs up LOL

Tang Chao: Captain Gavin, no matter what you say, the Special Operations Team will only listen to your orders.

Eli: Same for the STF.

A chilly wind brushes the faces of everyone on the scene, but the trust and determination in their eyes remain resolute.

Eli: Also, we aren’t the only ones in this battle.

Gavin smiles, returning his gaze to the small figures in the footage. The girl is standing before the man firmly, reminiscent of a flower that can never be destroyed. 

Gavin: She’s always been very brave.

The smile on his lips is abruptly tucked away. Gavin leans in closer to the screen, and sees that the girl is being brought closer to the entrance by one of the kidnappers.

--Every nerve in his body tenses up once again.

-

And we return to MC’s perspective

As the negotiations progress, Yang Ping tells the kidnappers to bring all the doctors back inside, except one

MC figures out that all this time, the real objective of the kidnappers is to test the STF

Gavin steps forward:

Ever since Gavin and I parted ways at the STF the last time, I haven’t seen him again.

Even though I’ve been asked to report my activities to STF at regular timings, Gavin has been very busy during this period of time, and I haven’t seen him much.

Looking at Gavin in front of me, it seems as though everything else in the world are kept outside a screen, and I can only see his eyes.

His hair is a little fuzzy, but he still looks unstoppable. It’s just that while his eyes have always been determined, they now carry an almost imperceptible worry.

I smile, wanting to tell him that I'm fine. Gavin’s gaze lingers on my face of a few seconds. When he sees my smile, he blinks, then shifts his eyes to the man.

The man and Gavin exchange glances for a few seconds. The corners of his lips simply tug upwards, pushing me around five metres away from Gavin.

Even though it looks like I’m a supporter whom he has incited, I know that I’m just another hostage.

Yang Ping gives Gavin a choice - If Gavin pushes that one doctor out of the window, the kidnappers will release everyone in the hospital and will turn themselves in. But if he chooses to save the doctor, he’d blow up the entire hospital

Basically, the kidnappers are trying to stir hate towards STF because no matter which option he picks, it’s going to cause public uproar

Gavin is quick to point out that the kidnappers haven’t directly hurt any of the civilians. Because they are representing Evolvers, they can’t hurt anyone or it’d give all Evolvers a bad name

Gavin, who represents the STF, has to find a perfect way to resolve this matter - no one can die, even the kidnappers

What he says are actually hints on what MC should do

MC gets it  - she pretends to fall to the ground, and cuts her own arm with a dagger she’s hidden

The reason for this is because Yang Ping’s plan rests entirely on his status as “helping Evolvers”. If MC manages to show that Yang Ping would hurt Evolvers too, his plan would fail

While Yang Ping is shocked, Gavin rushes forward and flips Yang Ping onto the ground. The Special Operations Team rush out and arrest them using Evol-neutralising handcuffs

Gavin arrests Yang Ping:

Gavin: Evolvers and humans - neither will be sacrificed, including you. If you think there’s only a superficial peace and balance now, and that you can’t see normal civilians and Evolvers walking down a common path, just open your eyes and look. I’ll walk down that path.

It dawns on MC that she barely made it out of this situation alive, and she shivers. Then, she’s drawn into someone’s arms:

Lifting my head, I see that Gavin’s handsome eyebrows are scrunched up. His hand is holding bandages he took from the medics.

Gavin: You were supposed to pretend. Why did you actually cut yourself?

MC: Doesn't this have a greater impact? It’s more realistic.

He sighs slightly, holding my wounded arm gently and bandaging it meticulously.

Watching as Gavin leans over as he helps me with the bandage, the fear I had suppressed earlier suddenly pour out from my heart like a tidal wave.

MC: I won’t be this rash next time.

Gavin: There won’t be a next time.

When our eyes meet, I see the worry and earnestness in Gavin’s eyes. 

MC: Okay, there won’t be a next time.

Thinking that the matter has been settled, MC waves at the hospital’s director from afar, and he smiles at her

A red dot suddenly appears on his forehead, and Gavin tries to rush to the director... but he’s too late, and the director is shot by a sniper... T^T

MC is dumbfounded as she takes in everything that’s happening - shrill cries from the crowd, the STF members who are once again on guard, and the director on the ground

Gavin kneels behind the director. Perhaps if he made it a second earlier, he could have prevented this tragedy.

The STF uniform, which has always been white, is now dyed completely red. There are specks of blood on his face, and droplets of blood roll down the sides of his face slowly.

He kneels in place, and doesn’t turn back for a very long time. The hands at his side tremble slightly, and he quickly balls them into fists. 

After a long while, Gavin turns his head expressionlessly, looking at a shocked Yang Ping.

Yang Ping shakes his head repeatedly, muttering softly as he backs away.

Yang Ping: No... this isn’t right...

He stops backing away, as though something dawned on him. Then, he suddenly bursts out laughing.

Yang Ping: ...looks like the people from GRAY RHINO are even better.

In the next second, the sound of a gunshot once again fills the air.

Yang Ping is standing in position, and I watch as blood spatters from his temple.

His eyes are wide open, is in a daze for a moment before toppling to the ground.

Another patch of crimson spreads on the ground. Yang Ping’s twitches slightly, as though saying something, yet no sound comes out.

His eyes remain open till the end, staring at Gavin.

I’m in a state of shock as I take everything in, and feel unsteady on my feet.

An incredibly icy aura exudes from Gavin’s body. He stands up slowly, like a silent volcano.

Gavin: Who was it... who fired the gun?!!

I seem to hear something which had been crumbling finally caving in.

-

MC gets home somehow and falls asleep LOL same

At the STF office, the Special Operations Team are gathered and there’s a really heavy atmosphere in the air

Tang Chao verifies that the bullet that shot Yang Ping wasn’t from the STF’s sniping team. Another member pipes up and adds that even so, it belongs to STF

Gavin asks for further details, but another officer reports that there are no leads. There’s a possibility that an Evolver did it

Gavin orders them to investigate properly

And sounds really fierce (つω`｡)

Afterwards, Gavin walks along the street and some random man without a left hand steps out of an alley and greets him with: “Captain Gavin, this is the first time we’re meeting.”

-

By the time I’m roused awake from the heavy downpour, it’s already late at night.

With a sigh, I get up from the sofa and decide to draw the curtains. 

Large droplets of rain continuously pelt onto the ground. I stare outside the window in a daze. When my eyes focus, I see a familiar figure downstairs.

MC: ...Gavin?

Taking an umbrella, I rush downstairs. Gavin’s profile enters my vision -- and my heart is tugged.

I have no idea how long he’s been standing in the rain, and his entire self seems to be soaked in it.

The rain has soaked his entire body. Drenched hair sticks to the sides of his face, water droplets continuously sliding off his chin.

The STF uniform is in a mess, sticking to his body. The organisation’s emblem on his chest has been washed till it has lost its metal shine. 

I step out of the apartment building slowly, rain pouring down.

I suddenly recall the night he spent accompanying me in the rain a very long time ago.

--it’s as though he’s lost his drive, removed all his defences, and it gives one heartache and sadness.

I have no idea why Gavin is standing here right now, but across the curtain of rain, I seem to once again see that careful heart.

Gavin seems a little surprised by my appearance. His unfocused pupils constrict slightly, and his shoulders tremble imperceptibly.

Gavin: ...why aren’t you asleep?

MC: ...if I were asleep, were you planning to stand in the rain for an entire night?

I walk over slowly, lifting the transparent umbrella over our heads. Rainwater patters against the surface of the umbrella, becoming the only sound in this silence. 

Gavin doesn’t speak. His eyes, which have always been shining with light, seem to be layered with the colour of the gray clouds overhead, and an unspeakable dullness. 

There’s neither grief nor anger in them. All that’s left is helplessness.

Very slowly, his lips finally twitch slightly, breaking the silence.

Gavin: Aren’t you going to ask?

MC: Nope. If you want to talk, I’ll listen and resolve the problem with you. If you don’t want to talk, I’ll keep you company as we stand here, then...

Gavin: Then?

MC: Trust you.

I smile as I reach out, brushing the drenched fringe in front of his forehead, revealing his beautiful amber eyes.

MC: No matter what happens, I’ll always trust you.

Gavin’s eyes widen slightly. The hands beside him are clenched into fists, trembling slightly.

Gavin: ...you once said that every single one of my bullets are for justice. If you were to find out that perhaps I can’t really do that... 

Gavin: ...what would you think?

I’m stunned.

Gavin’s voice is faint, a solid darkness hidden in his words.

His entire self seems to be encumbered by a layer of thick sheet of iron. His back is straight, as though waiting for a final judgment.

MC: I’d look for the truth behind it.

Gavin purses his lips and doesn’t say a word. But I know that he’s waiting for my answer solemnly.

MC: Even if there was really such a bullet, I’d want to further verify why that bullet strayed from its course. And whether, at that point of time when the situation happened, there was really a violation of justice?

Gavin watches me quietly, and I smile as I look at him.

MC: No matter what reason you had for standing there, and for shooting that bullet, you would have done so based on what you saw, heard, and the result of thinking. And I believe in it, and I believe in your judgment at that point of time. That bullet definitely has its meaning.

I say these things instinctively, hoping to give him even the slightest bit of support and courage.

The dim streetlights meld into the water droplets, reflecting into Gavin’s eyes.

The rain gradually lightens. The air Gavin breathes out turns into a white patch of mist in the air. 

Gavin: I’ll find the truth behind this matter. I can’t use “I don’t know the true state of affairs” as an excuse. If it’s something I’ve done, I should take responsibility.

Gavin takes the umbrella in my hand, his eyes carrying with them resoluteness and certainty.

Gavin: I don’t want to fail to live up to your trust, but I... have to face up to the truth. To give you, and to give those who no longer have a voice, a genuine explanation.

-

Two days pass after that rainy evening

Even though MC doesn’t know what Gavin is up to, she can tell that it’s something important and dangerous

She’s at STF to give her regular report, and Gavin walks into the room. His eyes are bloodshot, and he looks thinner and more pallid, and she knows that he’s been working very hard to live up to that promise

I think of comforting him, wanting to tell him not to overdo it, and to take care of his health.

However, the moment I open my mouth, all my emotions morph into a dry greeting.

MC: Gavin, have you been really busy lately?

Gavin doesn’t respond. He simply places his palms on the table between us, his expression solemn as he comes closer to me.

Gavin: Are you investigating the Evol assassinations?

MC: Of course. I’m still a suspect, so I need to think of ways to clear myself of suspicion.

Gavin: This matter could be even more serious than you imagine.

Looking at Gavin’s somewhat resigned expression, I smile.

MC: Things have already reached this stage. What could be even more serious than this? Don’t worry, I know what I'm doing. But are you going to do something dangerous again? You’ve got to take care of yourself. If you need my help, just say it. After all, I’m Nox from Black Swan!

I deliberately use a light-hearted tone, and the corners of Gavin’s lips tug upwards as well.

Gavin: Proudly saying that you’re from Black Swan in the STF - you don’t want to leave, do you?

MC: ...

I freeze. Only when I see the teasing glint in Gavin’s eyes do I realise that he’s toying with me. 

At the same time, I release a sigh of relief. At least Gavin is still in the mood for jokes.

Gavin: To be honest, what I need to do is indeed very dangerous, and I need more people whom I can trust completely. With your help, my investigation will definitely progress much more smoothly.

He lifts his head to look into my eyes directly. The light in his amber eyes reveal trust and sincerity.

I’m left astounded. Receiving such an invitation from Gavin for the first time makes my mind lag a little.

MC: Gavin, what you're saying is... that you’re letting me help you?

Gavin: You didn’t mishear.

The faint scent on his body fills my surroundings. In my trance, I even think that a gentle breeze brushed my cheek. 

Gavin: ...of course, from my personal perspective, I wouldn’t want you to be involved in such matters. So, you’re free to reject.

MC: Why would I reject! I’m really happy to be of help.

Gavin stares deeply at my smiling face. After a long time, he reveals a somewhat relieved and resigned smile. 

Gavin: Thank you, MC.

Part two: here

[novantinuum]

Is the “villain card” really a VILLAIN card- or something else?

So, I’ve been thinking a lot today about @faelapis​‘s recent post (link in reblogs so this can go in tags) discussing the corrupted Steven theory, and specifically how he pointed out how in the intro... that the camera “zooms inside Steven’s heart” when transitioning to the shot that features Big Looming Pink Fella.

And I know the fandom generally refers to threatening spreads such as these as “villain cards,” since- at the time of the intro’s release in October, all of these characters were heavily implied to be antagonistic to our main characters in some way. But after seeing the first ten episodes of SUF in full, I feel we should pause and ask ourselves-

Are any of these characters really villains?

And if not, then what IS their role in the greater story of this epilogue, and more importantly- their role featured prominently in the show’s intro?

Let’s take a quick look at the characters we’ve seen already.

_

Jasper

Thus far, Jasper has played the least antagonistic part she ever has in the entire history of Steven Universe. I’d even go so far as to consider her a shaky acquaintance of Steven’s, at this point. 

But as far as her purpose in the show goes so far, Jasper is important because she is the very first person to mash it up with Pink Mode Steven. The very first person who catches a glimpse of this new ability of his to begin with. When Steven first shifted into this state, it was because she pushed him into a situation that was both emotionally and physically compromising. Jasper is every bit as stubborn as Steven. She knows exactly how to push his buttons. It’s for this reason that I don’t think he would’ve discovered his pink state without her, without her egging him on to fight.

Steven tries his best to be very patient with everyone, and yet his frustrations with Jasper’s inability to move forward (hypocrite, much?) elicited a rather jarring rush of directed anger that- before- he generally seemed to keep bottled inward. 

I get the strong sense that he didn’t allow himself to freely and openly express these sorts of “negative” emotions at all before this encounter. 

Furthermore, Jasper slapped him in the face with the biggest call-out of his mental state ever.

Jasper: “I don’t need your help. You’re the one that needs help. You think you’ve beaten me, but you’ve never beaten me on your own. You’ve always been a fusion. You’ve always had your friends because you’re nothing without them. You think everyone needs help.”

Steven: “I – I just…”

Jasper: “But it’s only you. No one is as pitiful as you.”

Every other episode of the show so far has only gone to further showcase that this is what Steven believes about himself right now. (See: Little Graduation, especially.)

And what happened with Jasper that day... was just the beginning of his slow decline.

Bluebird Azurite

This character... also isn’t big villain material. She’s barely even a threat.

Rather, Bluebird serves as a stark reminder for Steven that there are people out there that hate him for being him. Not only that, but those who would fuse for just that reason.

To hate him together.

(I must admit, I still find the notion of Steven potentially falling apart because of a lack of self-love interesting, as much as it is heartbreaking. But I already wrote that post, so moving on-)

But she also is a reflection of how Steven is resistant to change right now.

Greg: “I mean, everyone can change, but not everyone wants to.”

Steven: “Yeah...”

He used to believe in the idea of positive change wholeheartedly, and yet... I think the passing years have led him to a place where he himself is scared of it, of the unknown, of moving on from what’s comfortable, of all the nebulous what-ifs. Which is why when Bluebird shows up, he projects his own resistance on this scenario. He doubts Bluebird’s ability to change for the better because he now doubts that for himself.

Instead, I think he fears he may be changing for the worse.

I strongly believe we’re going to see Bluebird again. I just get the sense that there’s more she can bring to the table. 

“Mean” Lapis and “Nice” Lapis

Also not villains. Just obstacles.  

Similarly to Bluebird, they seem to push that “resistance to change” theme further for Steven. Some people just... are stuck in their ways. (Thankfully though, not all of them. Thanks, Freckles. Love ya lots!) 

Since Why So Blue is focused squarely on capping Lapis’ character arc, there’s not as much Steven-related meta threads I can glean from their first appearance, truth be told. 

I think we’re likely to see more from these two, as well. If they do serve a greater role in the overarching story of SUF, it isn’t complete yet. Fingers crossed!

Cactus Steven

Dear goodness, this creature is completely innocent. Poor baby. XD

This poor fella plays the role of being a physical embodiment of- at the time of Prickly Pair- Steven’s mental state, and pushing the lad to repress his turbulent emotions even further.

Throughout SUF so far, Steven has become consumed by negative self-talk, (”I used to be helpful, but the Gems don't need me anymore”), a stark reluctance to let anyone see the evidence of his mental instability, and explosive anger he cannot gain a handle on. 

And as his mirror, Cactus Steven: 

Repeats things Steven says, spilling all of that negative self-talk and the reasons why he doesn’t want to approach the Gems about his issues.

Is shoved away under a box, representing Steven’s emotional repression.

Warps into a monstrous form, explosive anger brimming at the surface.

Notably, Cactus Steven only fights in direct response to what others lay on him. He is not overtly antagonistic until Steven himself makes the first strike. Later, while the Gems are attempting to fight him back, he desperately tries pushing them away... much like Steven has been all season.

Cactus Steven: “Just... get... OUT!”

Furthermore, Steven creates him. He creates this monster. He’s the reason he becomes so messed up in the first place. That has to feel pretty awful, especially when he’s doubting his ability to be helpful nowadays. He tried to nurture this creature, and look where that got him? This furthers the narrative idea mentioned earlier, of Steven perhaps fearing that he’s now changing for the worse.

Finally, by by the end of this episode, it seems worryingly as if Steven’s reluctance to open up about his problems has solidified.

Pearl: “Is there anything you need to talk about...?”

Steven: “...I think I’ve said enough.”

_

To wrap...

We don’t yet know what role White Diamond will play, but it’s probable that it’ll be something that strongly impacts Steven in a personal way. And at this point in the show, I’m doubtful she’ll suddenly heel-turn back into villainy.  

With all this in mind, my current theory is that... 

These characters are not on this title sequence card as ‘villains’ at all, but rather, each serve as important ‘road markers’ on the path towards the eventual climax of SUF.

Meaning, Steven’s encounters with each of them will influence his way of thinking in a way that leads him further down the road towards eventual corruption. Or whatever else is waiting for him at the end.

And the camera specifically “zooms into Steven’s heart” because these characters, standing in front of that monster, represent the moments that lead him into that state. 

What we’re seeing here is a visual record of the burden he carries inside him.

[jedi-enthusiast]

I feel like this is a very glaringly obvious trend in Felony’s writing, where he removes all nuance and changes complex characters so that they're bad/wrong/etc. in order to lift up his favs and/or to bash the Jedi---who are undeniably the good guys. And, to be frank, it’s really just coming at the cost of his shows being, y'know, actually interesting.

Not to beat a dead horse, BUT-

In 'Tales of the Jedi' he takes Mace Windu---a character that has been shown to be compassionate, just, intelligent, and who is willing to bend/break rules for the greater good---and then changes and degrades his character into someone who is arrogant, a goody-two-shoes stickler for the rules, and self-serving.

Also in 'Tales of the Jedi,' Felony takes the Council's wariness of believing the Sith are back---a very reasonable skepticism---and frames the Council as being arrogant and complacent and wrong to exercise caution.

Why? To make Dooku, a literal fascist, seem reasonable and to bash the Jedi.

Even though Dooku is wrong, and the Jedi are right.

In 'Star Wars: Rebels' he has Yoda say something to the effect of- "in our [the Jedi's] arrogance, we rushed in [to war]" -to bash the Jedi and make their joining the war seem like a bad thing, despite all the reasons that they did so and the fact that they were doing it for the greater good---something that's literally addressed in 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars!'

Also in 'Star Wars: Rebels,' he makes the laziest ass decision to have Kallus pull an "All Lives Matter" move on Zeb and make it seem like the Rebellion- (the good guys) -is just as bad as the Empire- (the fascist government) -because the rebels kill stormtroopers, who are literally participating in the oppression of countless peoples/worlds.

Why? To give Kallus a "redemption" I guess.

In season 7 of 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars,' he frames the Jedi as wrong and arrogant for not giving Ahsoka---a child who no longer has any sort of military title---an army to go help a terrorist.

Also in season 7 of 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars,' frames Obi-Wan as wrong and "playing politics" for going to save the Chancellor and protect Coruscant, despite the fact that the Separatists would do fucking horrible things to the people of Coruscant if they captured the planet and they would literally win the war if they did so!

Why? To uplift Ahsoka and bash the Jedi.

----------

There's plenty of other examples of this in other works, but the point is he's now continuing the same thing in 'Ahsoka.'

He's taken Huyang and changed him so that Ahsoka can have her "in your face" moments against him and the Jedi, whom he represents.

He's also taken Sabine and completely changed her in order to uplift Ahsoka into this "Jedi master" role, despite the fact that---at least in my opinion---Ahsoka hasn't done anything to take back her Jedi heritage and has actively rejected it---not to mention that all of it is completely out of character for Sabine.

And now he's taken Xiono, who has been shown to have sympathetic reasonings, and turned him into a stupid jackass to lift up Hera.

Like...

It's a serious problem.

I'm convinced that he's just a shitty writer who gets too much leeway from fans just because he was involved in TCW, because it's very clear that he doesn't know how to write an interesting story and is just switching shit up at random to try and make his stories make sense.

I continue to be on Senator Xiono's side over Hera's which is a REALLY frustrating position to be in.

Hera, you cannot tell Xiono that he isn't "seeing" the problem when you are literally SHOWING HIM NOTHING. You HAVE nothing to show, so how the FUCK could he see what isn't there? He's not omniscient, and if you have no proof of your claims, why SHOULD he believe you? Just because you used to be a Rebel? They've stated that you are personally invested in this mission, you've used Republic resources like six times to go on a mission that is basically just so you can try to find one person you care about and failed six times, you apparently repeatedly disrespect the orders you're given from Republic leadership, so why should Xiono just... trust you?

This is SO frustrating because it makes NO FUCKING SENSE for Hera to be getting all high and mighty about this when Xiono's RIGHT to question her. This would be a way more interesting plot if it wasn't being presented as just "Hera vs. The Asshole Senator" but an actual nuanced storyline where Hera and Xiono are BOTH RIGHT. Thrawn IS out there and he IS a threat, but Xiono is ALSO right to point out that Hera's abusing Republic resources and disrespecting Republic resources for a personal agenda and has no proof of her own claims.

They COULD'VE gone down the route that Hera is so caught up in this mission that she's sort-of losing her perspective and is now reaping the consequences of those choices. Maybe we see a role reversal where it's SABINE who is trying to talk Hera into being more reasonable about it and let Ezra go or something. But noOoOoOoOo we HAVE to have this whole terrible storyline about how the New Republic SUCKS and is basically the Empire by another name and everyone who runs it are IDIOTS or lazy rich assholes who will drive it into the ground in a few years. Individually, some of the New Republic people are okay, but as an organization, it's too flawed and it needed to catch up with the times to keep from falling.

Sound familiar?

[ilovejevsjeans]

Why there’s far more to Russell than qualifying specialism

The old adage in Formula 1 that the first person you must beat is your teammate may be cliched, yet it rings true. Drivers constantly compare themselves with the man across the garage, knowing the importance of becoming the in-house alpha.

It makes qualifying head-to-head records a valued statistic for many drivers. As pally-pally as Lando Norris was with Carlos Sainz at McLaren, he took some pleasure in pipping the Spaniard on Saturdays across their two seasons together (11-10 in 2019, 8-8 in 2020). Fernando Alonso’s 21-0 whitewash of Stoffel Vandoorne in 2018 meant so much to the two-time F1 world champion that he was still trotting out the statistic 18 months later.

But even Alonso’s qualifying prowess looks workmanlike compared with that of George Russell. In his 46 appearances with Williams , not once has he been outqualified by a teammate. He equalled Alonso’s 21-0 sweep in 2019, when paired with Robert Kubica – a grand prix winner – and leads Nicholas Latifi 25-0 in their season-and-a-bit together. The only F1 teammate to ever outqualify Russell is Valtteri Bottas, who pipped him to pole in their single race together at Mercedes – and we all know who really walked away as the moral winner that weekend…

It has led to the moniker of ‘Mr Saturday’ being attached to Russell by TV types, who then rattle out those statistics like tickets from a slot machine every time he makes it through to Q2. As impressive as his qualifying record is, to reduce his significance to that of a quali-day footnote belies the true power of Britain’s burgeoning F1 star. Last year in Sakhir he offered a glimpse of what he could one day do for Mercedes, jumping in at the last minute and making full use of the tools at his disposal. But to be true world champion material requires a greater contribution: it’s being a leader, rallying those around you, and being a figurehead in the team’s progression in every area.

They are valuable skills which those around Russell at Williams have seen him hone since making his debut in 2019. “He’s just got better and better, and developed almost with every race,” says Dave Robson, Williams’ head of vehicle performance. “Not so much in terms of the driving, that’s always been very strong. But in terms of his understanding of the whole game that we play and everything that we need to get right and we need his help with, it’s just improved endlessly.

“His role within the team is particular, he takes it in his stride in leading that. He’s an excellent asset in all regards.”

The evolution into a leadership role was something Russell was required to embrace quickly. As the depth of the team’s plight became clear in early 2019, there was a contrast in the response of the two drivers: while Kubica – the more experienced, seemingly senior head – subsided into negativity, the junior Russell accepted the state of affairs and got stuck in trying to make a difference.

“2019 was an incredibly difficult baptism of fire,” recalls Robson. “Once he’d got his head around the situation we were in, he was extremely good at being clear about the order of the problems that needed tackling.”

Dealing with a car as devilish as the FW42 helped Russell hone his development skills and feedback, helping the team make big strides in each of the past two seasons and move off the foot of the pecking order in 2021. He even gleaned some helpful slivers of information during his one-race sojourn with Mercedes, feeding back to Williams that it should change its clutch paddle designs after sampling a different steering wheel.

The technical understanding he has forged is “right up there” with the best drivers Robson – once a race engineer to Jenson Button and Felipe Massa – has worked with: “His technical understanding of what the car has to do, how the tyres have to work, and some of the compromises you have to make, is now as good as anyone, I think, in the pitlane.”

It has made Russell not only an important asset to his team, but also to his teammate. Nicholas Latifi joined Williams as a rookie in 2020, and while paired with a younger driver who had just 21 grands prix to his name, he was quickly able to lean on Russell to help his own performances as he got up to speed in F1.

“It’s been hugely beneficial to have a teammate like George,” Latifi says. “Definitely in those opening races at the beginning of the year and throughout the year, [I was] learning from him what I can in the data, seeing what he is asking for from the car, what he thinks the car needs to go quicker, when I was just trying to find my feet and get up to the limit – for sure relying a bit on that information was very helpful.”

Latifi’s confidence may have grown into his second season, but he still finds it a “great help” to have such a strong reference in Russell – even when on the wrong side of the qualifying scoreline. “Part of it just stems from having George as your teammate,” Robson says of their head-to-head record. “He does have an incredible ability to pull something out when it really matters.”

But it is not just Russell’s on-track capabilities that have made him such a powerful and important figure within Williams. The soft skills he has developed off-track, knowing how to best work with the team around him and keep heads up – even through the trickiest of times – has been hugely important to Williams.

“It’s not just his technical input, but also the way he interacts with everyone and his positivity,” says Robson. “Although he can, quite understandably, get frustrated in the heat of the moment, his positivity and general way he is so constructive is very good and exactly what we needed over the last couple of years. He’s played a big role.”

At just 23 years old, Russell has a growing voice and authority that few of his peers boast. It has earned him the respect of the entire F1 grid, evidenced by his appointment as the GPDA’s newest director at the start of this year following Romain Grosjean’s exit from the series, wishing to represent “the younger half of the grid”. Internally at Williams, he has also used his eagerness to speak up to good effect, wishing to make himself heard from day one.

There’s something about him: when he talks, people listen,” says Robson. “It’s important, provided he’s talking about the right thing. Perhaps right at the beginning, he didn’t always get [that] right, but it didn’t take him long to suss that out and understand.”

Robson’s comment is another sign of Russell’s willingness and ability to learn from his mistakes, a trait that fits perfectly with the culture built by Mercedes in its evolution to a title-winning F1 juggernaut.

It was something that he has already had to put into action this year, having brazenly pointed the finger at Bottas for their crash at Imola and then proposed a theory that had tinfoil hats quivering across the F1 Twittersphere. On the flight home after the race with Mercedes head honchos Toto Wolff and James Allison, Russell said he was given some “tough love”, but he acted quickly: he apologised, retracted his comments, and vowed to learn from the saga.

It’s exactly the kind of growth Mercedes wants to see, and will undoubtedly be part of its considerations when it decides on Russell’s future for 2022. He is a free agent, as is Valtteri Bottas, the man he would surely replace should Wolff decide the time is right to cash in on his investment.

But where would that leave Williams? Robson does not mince his words, admitting it would be a “huge loss” for the team both on- and off-track.

“It’s been fantastic working with him, right from when we first put him through the evaluation,” Robson says. “It was obvious George had something about him, some genuinely outstanding talent to drive the car. And it’s been probably frustrating at times, but a great journey to be on with him.

“Of course he’d be a massive loss. I think we’ve all put in a lot of time and effort to help him where he needed a bit of help, to guide him, and it would be a real shame to lose that without really seeing the benefits of it in our car.”

CEO Jost Capito says he would “of course” hand Russell the multi-year deal he craves from 2022, should it be viable. “I think he would fit very well to Williams for our future as well,” Capito says. “If he believes in our future, there might be a chance to keep him.”

It is a future that Russell has helped forge for Williams. Steps such as the sale of the team and investment from Dorilton Capital has secured the team’s immediate future, but Russell’s role must be recognised.

Robson agrees, saying he “can take a good amount of credit” for the team’s progress since hitting rock bottom at the start of 2019.

Williams may have a strong history for backing and cultivating young talent, giving the likes of Jenson Button, Nico Rosberg, Nico Hulkenberg, and Valtteri Bottas their starts. But to be the force that helps lift the team out of its hardest moments, acting as the catalyst in its revival, arguably makes Russell the most important of the bunch – even if he doesn’t stick around to enjoy the fruits of his labour. (X)

[nellie-elizabeth]

The Handmaid's Tale: The Wilderness (4x10)

Oh boy. I don't even know what else to say. Just. Lots of stuff happening here.

Cons:

So, obviously I'm going to talk about the Fred situation, but I actually want to start by saying there was a logistical weirdness with the end of the episode that kind of troubled me. For one thing, and this is just a script decision I don't understand, why does the mailman open the mail and see the severed finger and wedding ring? Why not have Serena opening it so we get the full impact of the horror? That just felt odd to me.

And then... the ending. June comes back to say goodbye to Nichole, and says she's leaving in five minutes. My initial read on this was that she was going to go and face the consequences/get locked up for what she did to Fred. But then I realized that made no sense, and maybe she's instead going back to Gilead to get Hannah? See, the problem here is that a) I'm bored of Gilead and want to keep the story in Canada. And b) June's connections with Lawrence and Nick seem to be able to get her a lot of things... it feels like it would be a relatively simple matter to snatch Hannah and run at this point, wouldn't it? The narrative stakes feel uneven, after what we saw June was capable of orchestrating in this installment.

Also just going to go ahead and say that as this was a finale, I was a little bummed not to have more time with certain characters. No Janine update, and only sparse screen time for Moira, with no mention of her love life at all.

Pros:

Okay, let's start with a smaller detail: Mark Tuello has been more of a narrative device than a character for most of the show, so much so that I kept forgetting his name. I don't think this is necessarily a mark against the writing or acting. He's meant to be representative of the slow-moving arc of justice, of a neutered American government trying to do its best. But here he came to life for me, in two moments. One when he asked Serena to explain her decision to stay with Fred. And another when June shows up outside his house and he has an outburst about how she's crossed a line, and then apologizes for it.

He's a person. He's dealing with a lot of fucked up people, and traumatized people, and he's trying to prioritize the greater good while seeing the very real personal consequences of Gilead's atrocities up close. I just really liked how he was utilized in this episode; it almost felt like a culmination, happening quietly in the background.

And then there's Fred Waterford. It's hard to really put my finger on why Fred is such an unsettling villain, but I think it has something to do with the fact that he buys his own bullshit so easily. He's really incredibly gullible. When he and June have that chilling scene where they both say they "miss" Offred, Fred is 100% buying what June is selling. June is... not even that good of an actor except when she has to be, but Fred genuinely, actually, believes that they had something approaching a relationship of mutual understanding back when June was his literal sex slave in Gilead. And June plays him like a fiddle. He's utterly shocked by June showing up at the end and kissing Nick. It never occurred to him that June, a person he repeatedly reminds everyone is duplicitous and sneaky, might be involved in some greater scheme.

And why? Because he really is that full of himself. He has every reason to believe that the world will keep catering to his needs, that he will, again and again, be able to dodge the consequences of his actions. It's always been true in the past, hasn't it?

That's the genius of Fred as a villain. He's not playing three-dimensional chess, he's not someone you can just "outsmart" and be done with. It's his worldview, this absolutely unshakable belief that he is a good person. He even apologizes to June in this episode, but it's not in a way that holds himself accountable for his behavior. It's more in a "I'm sorry you suffered, I do regret that aspect of it" kind of way.

There's something so twisted about a zealot whose zealotry is tied up so intensely with his misogyny that he looks like a caricature of a sexist man when you see him talk, and yet he's not playing it up. That's really how he thinks! Just imagine it.

But also... holy shit, that scene at the end was brutal. Can't really blame June for it, I guess, but it was tough to watch. Not because I felt sympathy for Fred, but because I felt sorrow in my heart for what he'd driven these women to. I hope they get some measure of peace from his death.

I think (and kind of hope) that Season Five of The Handmaid's Tale is the end. Not because there's not a lot here to enjoy, but because it seems like we're reaching a culminating moment for June. Getting back to Hannah has been the driving force of the show, and now June is right on the edge of achieving that.

There's a lot more I could say, but I'm keeping this one nice and zippy for the moment. See you next season!

9/10

[gayofthefae]

I think the main thing with the “I love you” speech is that the end result really wasn’t the point here. It’s great that he got there etc. but they didn’t get there collaboratively. They separated and by the time they reunited he had sort of figured it out on his own/with someone else’s help. Them being able to resolve conflict consistently (and beyond that, prevent it) is conditional to them being able to that place together. If he needs to talk it out, he should be able to do that with her. They partially didn’t because they were separated but he also didn’t talk to her at length about it in the diner before the pineapple pizza scene - just tried to skip to the “point”, and wasn’t super open himself in the conversation they had before being separate though he did try to see her side, he didn’t share his own except in response to her fears, taking them somewhat as accusations.

The issue here wasn’t that he “couldn’t say I love you”. That’s surface level. It represents something different: that he fears vulnerability with her. And that hasn’t actually been solved. He only fixed the thing he thought he needed to but the greater issue is unresolved because he only got to that place by being vulnerable with someone else and not working it out with her and then when the moment came to be vulnerable with, he was, but not without needing a bit of a push to do so.

It’s great that they resolved that part of the issue and all but the real problem is that they haven’t demonstrated an ability to problem solve in season 3 or 4. The season 3 lying issue was never even actually resolved. And they can’t just go about their relationship depending on their ability to figure it out themselves and regroup with a solution. That will lead to a lot of breakups like in season 3 and a lot of distance like we saw this season (she chose to leave + they were emotionally distant before that) and just “waiting it out” until the issue is let go of but not solved or they stumble onto/find a solution on their own or by talking to somebody else. And that doesn’t work.