#character development isnt always on major plot points

[istharaix]

People sleep on filler episodes SO MUCH. Like, sure, this episode isn't adding anything to the main plot, but it's developing the characters and their relationships which, you know what? will affect the way they act during the main plot!!!

Aside from that, i like knowing how the characters are when they are not suffering the horrors.

[anonymousdanganronpaconfessions]

"Originally, what came first was "the trick". It was a character all the time you thought was a girl was a boy. So if you think it's a girl, make it a really cute girl and since she's cute, let's make her a programmer since how often do you think of really cute girls as programmers? It all built off that one idea and then compounded on itself."

is not someone trying to be transphobic, its "haha what if surprise player" while it comes from a place of ignorance, its not someone trying to be transphobic, its a mistake of ignorance not of malice, and thats IMPORTANT thats SO IMPORTANT there's a difference between "a creator fucked up and didnt consider all the implications" and "a creator actively being a bigot" There is no real other "girl secretly boy" or anything in the series, the closest we get is korekiyo maybe, but ONE incident in a series with this many installments isnt enough to condemn someone as an evil transphobic bigot.

Obviously japanese people know about lgbt issues, but in what would have been like 2009 when development started, things like "crossdressing plots are kinda transphobic" were not really a major thing people talked about anywhere, the reason I pointed out japan was because Japan has a culture of not talking about these kinds of things especially back then, to quote a Japanese news article from this time period

"Japanese seem tolerant. But when I see transgender people, I always see people turn and look at them, but I don't know if they're looking like "good for you" or if they're passing judgment."

The point of this all isnt "this wasnt transphobic" its "yes it was, but it was A) not done to be malicious and B) not repeated so you cant just completely dismiss someone as being transphobic to this day for a decade old fuck up"

.

[cacaitos]

so i wanted to rectify this part pon further reflection (specifically abt JnS at least) w what i was saying earlier. while obviously the characters are going to be affected on a personality level by their respective kind of opression and obviously where thwy intersect with others', i now think that's not the true purpose of the story.

but the more i think about it the more it seems to me that it's there to facilitate certain situations or types of interpersonal relationship. am i making sense? that their oppression exists vaguely and/or marginally from the actual character development, or that is defined through the rejection of other things, as a shadow of itself and its material qualities. that the story is not about them but how they set up other things?

say, for starters, obviously J or any random Joe or Jane character on the 60s for that matter, wouldnt start articulately and verbosely describing their complex relationship with xy or z about their identity in modern term bc yk, Exposition, not what im asking for. but moreso it's the point w her that despite it being technically her story, so much is told from other people's point of view or from this more distant style of narration. few internal dialogue; more action oriented, at least for her. at how many points does J say what she feels abt her gender versus the more overwhelming verbal and physical statements other people do to negate it or validate it. while directly affected by it, storywise it's more relevant the effects of the oppresion it has on her personality and the personalities of others than the way itself those two characters' opressions are related.

paul, for starters rectifying he's half ethnically jewish but mostly always christian, not a *religion* convert itself. as far as the story is concerned for the plot, it or his jewishness is defined by what is or what's not christian, by what is not-jewish or un-jewish, what's 'un-normal' (for the american identity), not by almost any definition of what it 'is'. he disavows his father, even if just through indifference didn't care much his traditions (esp gone his mothers wishes too) and is an avid christian, so his story is not so much *about* being jewish so much as is abt how he feels abt it being a shadow, a ghost that creeps behind it. am i conveying correctly what i mean. even christianity (in many other works from places where christianity isnt majority and a given anyway) is more important in the kinds of people (characters) or associations abt character it creates rather than any specific belief. it's not about christianity either.

so paul dislikes J (for ex) not because he's christian but bc she lives openly and 'incorrectly' in a way he can't bc of the things (stability, belonging, etc) he gets though being 'correct' by the acts and appearance of performing christianity, not for christian beliefs.

rita escapes me right now but i hope im conveying my point abt (and i will keep it between JnS, TnS and ktknu for now) ethnicity/race so on while technically relevant to the characters it could very well be better defined as a narrative tool before it is actually important or the foundation to the character/stories. that is not their mariginalizations that instersect but their residual personalities caused by them. or something.

[lesbow]

my issue with The Sea Beast

so i recently watched The Sea Beast and really loved it. a lot of the visuals were stunning (i was absolutely wow-ed during that one scene of drops of water hitting the deck during a battle). i love the pirate atmosphere and the “world of beasts” concept always calls for interesting designs, such as the Giant Crab.

i also loved Maisie. as a black woman, she was the biggest reason i was drawn to the film. i was so excited to see what kind of journey she’d go on, and seeing how many women in general are given roles in the story was pretty great. Sarah, the red head sailor, the laid back carriage driver, etc. not to mention that found family is always a good plot. the movie just checked boxes all around lol!

i just have two issues. one minor and one… pretty major:

the issues

i would’ve had it where in the beginning of the movie after Maisie breaks out of the orphanage, as she goes through town it’s shown that she’s highly loved by the townsfolk. maybe it’s cause she’s been there the longest and knows many of them first hand, or the others find her curiosity abt things to be endearing, or for any other reasons, idk. i’d just put this tweak in bc personally, all the townsfolk siding with her in the end felt a bit rushed. i knew Maisie was spitting, but i definitely thought “omg no one’s gonna believe her :(“ bc how would they? but the townsfolk just immediately do so lol. by having it where we know she’s already highly respected/admired, their unanimous support would feel more natural.

now this is the “pretty major one”. it was a concern i had before i watched, one that unfortunately stayed with me while watching, but that was kinda sorta not really but kinda pacified by the ending? my issue is with Maisie and Jacob’s dynamic.

(no more numbered points bc we’re abt to go into an essay)

going into the movie, i was worried Jacob’s character would overshadow Maisie’s. i already knew most fans would obnoxiously view them in that way, but i was hoping the movie itself wouldn’t and would give them equal development. unfortunately, up until the finale, that hope of mine was crushed.

a compliment i saw that was given to TSB is that it lets Maisie be a child. but i disagree, i think the story throws child!Maisie out the window pretty quickly. after they get shipwrecked, i found myself constantly wondering exactly how old Maisie was supposed to be, as more often than not she was more mature than grown adult Jacob.

let me put this in perspective:

about 80% of the film is Maisie, a young black girl, having to prevent, teach, and beg Jacob, an adult white man, to not be violent and aggressive. do yall see how this kind of arc could be a little disturbing, to say the least?

i am not saying that Maisie was in danger when with Jacob, im merely pointing out how ridiculous it is that the whole plot revolves around it being a young black girl’s job to educate a grown white man on no longer being violent.

but ofc this kind of narrative isnt specific to The Sea Beast. this is the standard in most “young person schools the older generation on how to do better” stories. Coco, HTTYD, Encanto, Moana, the list goes on. but in the case of TSB, it’s an issue bc it largely overlooks the characters’ racial identities when thats just not smthg that can be ignored. and no i am not saying TSB should’ve been a cultural movie, it having an anti-imperialist narrative is fine. great even! but if you’re going to have a diverse cast, then at bare minimum you need diverse writing to match.

representation in media, especially children’s media, is desperately needed and TSB is a decent example of progress. but it is by no means perfect. when it comes to representing marginalized communities, how many times does it need to be said that some things (tropes, archetypes, themes, etc.) aren’t a One Size Fits All?

comparisons

i’m going to compare two movies that come to mind. a lot of ppl compare TSB to HTTYD, but i think it has much more in common with Moana than anything else. it shares similarities with Treasure Planet as well.

Treasure Planet and Moana also have the theme of a younger person having an older one learn and grow alongside them. John Silver develops as much as Jim Hawkins and Maui as much as Moana, but it is still clear it’s Jim and Moana’s stories as we get more time and focus on their characters than their counterparts.

in Moana, Maui starts the film already wrong and committing an injustice as he stole Te Fiti’s heart and caused her to turn into the dangerous and violent Te Kā. Moana journeys with Maui with the hopes of making a difference and helps him grow into a better person along the way (sound familiar?) Moana’s arc is to find herself and save her home. Maui’s arc is learning he has value not because of but despite his abilities, and to not put others down for one’s own glory. they both have their own arcs, but not once does Moana waste time to sit Maui down at a classroom desk and desperately try to teach him selflessness. her goal is bigger than him. as Jim’s journey in Treasure Planet is bigger than John.

but in TSB, Maisie sits Jacob down and tries to “educate” him several times on how to have sympathy. sadly, her development takes a significant backseat to Jacob’s, and what little she does have is rushed as all hell. Maisie realizes Red is a friend 5 seconds after meeting her. she gets over her parents’ image as “heroes” and comes to the conclusion that they were flawed 5 seconds after that. and then at the end, she realizes all of it is the fault of The Crown after a 3-second book searching scene! ffs let her grow slowly! the film makes it a point to say she has the right to speak, but doesnt allow her arc the right to take up too much time in the narrative.

WHY does Maisie have to speed run her own progress and spend the remainder of the time helping a white man through his?! let them develop naturally alongside one another instead of constantly playing teacher and student. i saw someone say “it’s funny how it’s like Maisie adopted Jacob instead of the other way around” and that person was joking ofc but that’s literally how the plot comes across. TSB does NOT let Maisie be a child and it was so disappointing to see.

possible solutions?

some ways this could’ve been rectified:

switch Sarah and Jacob. this could’ve added the subplot of Maisie having always admired Sarah in particular and wanting to become exactly like her someday. then as the truth about the beasts unfolds, Maisie realizes that the hunters aren’t as great as she thought and that instead of following in somebody else’s footsteps, she should make her own. this would make her standalone speech at the end hit even more than it already does. it also would’ve been interesting for Sarah herself, who is known for being “the most loyal 2nd in command ever”, to over time lose her loyalty the more she learns abt the beasts.

if the main pairing had to be interracial, why did Jacob have to be white? for some reason whenever this type of bond is brought up, most ppl’s first go to is a white person being involved. i promise, they are not a requirement for interracial themes.

and include more scenes about Maisie’s own development! we have way more than enough about her parents as heroes, but what abt her actual relationship with them? she talks abt them as if theyre nothing but symbolic figures. were they close? and if not, have her address that too. how was her time in the orphanage? the kids all seemed to like her, but when she meets up with Jacob, its like hes the only family shes ever known in years. slow down her turn from “hunters are cool” to “hunters are wrong” and make it develop over time instead of it being a lightning quick arc. and maybe, besides beasts, have her and Jacob have a side hobby/interest in common so that we can have some clue what theyre going to be doing after they give up hunting for good.

conclusion

with all that said, i did like Maisie and her speech at the end was beautiful. kudos to the script writers and Zaris-Angel’s VAing bc her words abt the The Crown being the one at fault were very impactful. i was so proud of her! if only the story allowed Maisie to be more of a person and less of a mouthpiece, then i probably would’ve even cried.

[lesbianmarrow]

watched legends of tomorrow 3.11. well. Well. okay. i feel like it is my duty as an indian person to break down all the ways in which this episode was or was not racist. however. the episode embarrassed me so deeply and profoundly, down to my bones, that i feel incapable of assessing it rationally. so you’ll have to forgive me for that. i think this is probably the worst episode of the season so far. that doesn’t mean it isn’t a whole lot of fun, or lacks decent character moments. but on the whole it is an utter mess. i’ve been wanting another zari centric episode, but this? be careful what you wish for, indeed. 

okay. okay. on to the actual episode. i like that they addressed the potential ray/nate conflict right at the start because that was my major question coming out of last episode. not thrilled with the no homo jokes the show keeps making with the friendship between those two characters. legends ought to be better than that. i thought zari and nate were cute enough but if they actually get together i might stop liking them. it’s about the pining........

zari getting pestered by all the ladies about her crush on nate was wonderful. loved the line about them not passing the bechdel test. i believe this is the first time it’s really shown that charlie is shall we say sexually liberated. i kind of always assumed she was but this episode hammers that in. though shes only depicted expressing sexual attraction to men in this episode, which i felt was odd since she has been at least implied to be bisexual. feels like this wouldve been the right place to firmly establish that but anyway. loved when sara said zari should have sex with someone who isnt nate bc then if shes still thinking about nate afterward it means shes really into him. cause that’s exactly what sara did with constantine and ava. 

the failed wedding at the beginning was fun. i like that the bride ran off with the scullery maid. this show knows its audience! i like that charlie was so delighted by everybody kissing each other. she’s a demon, no wonder she loves pandemonium. i was surprised when sara said she thought the 2 ladies kissing was hot, but i really shouldnt be. i just get surprised when women on tv are shown objectifying other women in that way. i definitely think it was the right move to only have the women go on the jane austen adventure. loved the “turn around the room” that was so silly. 

zari’s love interest being an indian guy was enough to embarrass me but then they made him a HINDU LOVE GOD........im telling you ive been hindu all my life and ive never heard of a love god. i swear these people are finding the most obscure gods to feature on their tv shows. ok i just googled him and his mount is a parrot which i have to admit is pretty cool but i digress. i don’t have an issue with legends of tomorrow doing a sex pollen episode, because honestly that was feeling pretty inevitable at this point. i do have a problem with them using, i’m sorry, a hindu. love. god. as the catalyst for it. it’s just like wow i really thought we left this sort of racism back in arrow but i guess not huh! i suppose i have to give them credit for having this romance be with zari instead of (shudder) a white woman. it still sucks though. particularly because he sex pollens the whole crew not just zari. 

i assume the writers developed this whole plot by working their way backwards after they decided they wanted a bollywood musical number and i’m sorry but it was not worth it. none of this was worth it all of it should have been scrapped. it was super cool to have zari sing and she did look lovely in the indian clothes but the episode simply did not justify the musical number to me. im not against western tv having a bollywood musical episode in theory but my personal feeling is that if a show does not have a south asian person as a regular cast member then they shouldnt be allowed to do a bollywood musical episode. i dont think thats too much to ask. so yeah i didnt like that part of the episode and i kind of wish i could erase it from my memory but its fine im fine. 

[theinternetphantom]

Okay so I’m not the biggest fan of the show Spirit: Riding Free, but with the movie that recently dropped and the backlash and opinions circling around the show as a whole I wanted to throw in my two cents on a major issue that I, personally, found with the show that I haven’t seen anyone else talk about.

And it all starts with this bitch right here:

Now if you’re a Kate fan I recommend not reading the rest of this because it’s about to get very not nice. But for the rest of us let me lay in some truth real quick.

Before I get into it let me say that have never actually sat down and watched the show closely. I caught bits and pieces from when a relative of mine watched it over the course of a few years, but I watched enough to understand the plot and dynamics of the characters.

And from the moment we met her I absolutely hated Kate. Kate (Miss Flores) is introduced as Lucky’s school teacher. But over the course of the first and second seasons labels Lucky as a ‘trouble kid’ and looks for every opportunity to knock her down. To give some perspective, remember that Lucky has just moved to a whole new town with all new people. She’s twelve, a child. And Lucky may get herself into trouble, but she’s always got the best intentions. Except that Kate never takes the time to really get to know Lucky or listen to her side of the story. She always looks through an incredibly biased lens and punishes her whenever she can. Throughout the first few seasons, she is nothing but awful.

I can’t remember specifically what the original misunderstanding was that made Lucky (rightfully) hate Kate, but I remember the candle mishap. Lucky tries to fix Pru’s candles after another girl ruins them, resulting in her staying at the school all night. And she does, she fixes the candles! But she accidentally falls asleep and reruins them. When Kate finds her in the morning, she instantly accuses Lucky of sabotage. Instead of reading the situation (because Lucky and Pru are literally friends it makes no sense for Lucky to ruin them on purpose) or asking for her side of the story, she instantly throws Lucky out and sends her home.

My real hate stems from the circus episodes, where the circus where Lucky’s mother was from comes back to the town where Lucky currently lives. The entire arc tries to drum up sympathy for Kate, trying to make it seem like she is being ‘left out’ and ostracized.

But, y’all, THIS ISNT ABOUT KATE. It was NEVER about Kate. This entire arc is supposed to be about Lucky and her connection to her past, which up until this point was almost entirely told to her secondhand. This is an amazing opportunity for Lucky to really learn about her mother and her culture. And of course her father is going to be focused on that! It’s part of his past too! But instead of taking the opportunity to admire how much Lucky comes into her own skin here, Kate spends the whole arc JEALOUS OF A DEAD WOMAN.

She decides to make a big scene where she takes a job offer in the city and leave without saying a word. And why is that again? BECAUSE HER BOYFRIEND IS SUPPORTING HIS DAUGHTER IN CLAIMING SOME OF HER IDENTITY. Kate straight up tries to leave without communicating ANYTHING because she’s not the center of attention anymore?? Because they have family in town that SHE feels like she isn’t apart of? Even when they try to make her feel as welcome as possible?? Pathetic. Lucky’s grandparents are literally thrilled that Jim has someone new in his life, and even make the suggestion to include her more!

Kate, if you want to be a part of Jim’s life, then you have to accept the fact that he’s had a life before you. And part of that life includes a daughter that has a DEAD MOTHER. A dead mother who’s picture you PUT IN A DRAWER WHEN HER FAMILY COMES TO THE HOUSE. I’m sorry, respect for the dead much? And her excuse?? “With all of the commotion I didn’t want it to get broken.” Like sis, seriously? I understand that you were trying to do something good, but I highly doubt the family of the woman in the frame would be careless enough to break it. They know who that is, they wouldn’t throw themselves around a picture of their DEAD family member and break it. They have respect.

Not to mention, if Kate REALLY wanted to try to love and get along with Lucky, wouldn’t she WANT to watch Lucky perform in the show? Instead, you make her father come chase after you so that you BOTH miss the performance entirely. Lucky SHOULD HAVE HAD HER FATHER THERE. That creates such a huge riff in their relationship, and rightfully so!

I’m sorry, but Kate spends the ENTIRE arc JEALOUS OF A DEAD WOMAN. I will never get over that. And to make all of this worse, Lucky’s father knows how much Lucky hates this woman. She complains about her CONSTANTLY. And I understand that sometimes parents date a partner that their child hates, but instead of scold her for being jealous of Lucky’s dead MOTHER, he PROPOSES TO HER. While the circus is still in town. WITHOUT COMMUNICATING ANYTHING TO LUCKY. What. A. Train. Wreck. And, rightfully, Lucky’s pissed.

So, Lucky runs away with the circus. Good. Great! Lucky deserves that. After her father clearly choose Kate over her, she deserves to go with the circus to follow in her mother’s footsteps. I think that that would be a fine way to end the show. With Lucky happy in the circus and Kate and Jim back in that town… except the show paints Lucky as the bad guy here. Everyone shuns her for running away and being immature. Instead of understanding her side (which is the right one, btw) they all get mad at her for going with the circus??? Sis what???? That’s her family! If she wants to go with them, let her! They clearly have her interests at heart (they give her trick riding lessons and teach her about her culture) and she’s happy! But what happens instead? Pru and Abigail decide to follow her and convince her to come back, treating her like a bad person for wanting to be with the circus. They guilt trip her into accepting Kate and in the end she comes back, which isn’t fair! When Lucky finally gets treated like a top priority y’all have to rip her away from that? Gross.

Conclusion: Kate is a horrible character with a weak development that never gets held accountable for treating a little girl like garbage.

[knightofmordred]

let's talk about gwen's trauma in bbc merlin

tw // trauma, grief, torture, death, potential racism.

im not sure what else to tw but my post will surround conversations such as these so if you are reading this and may be triggered please either stop or read with care <3

forgive me for any mistakes i will mainly be talking from memory and ofc if i say anything wrong please lmk !!

generally to start off, all of the main four characters went through trauma however you were always able to see their reaction/result of their trauma e.g morgana turning evil, arthur being self-conscious and doubtful of himself and merlin putting up a barrier in S5, but with gwen there was never anything like that which happened.

gwen went through so much throughout the entire show and yet nothing was ever handled or addressed within the show.

SEASON ONE

from the beginning it was indicated that gwen's mother passed away before the time frame shown in camelot and of course that was later confirmed. the only mention about her mother, that i can remember, is when gwen briefly spoke about how her mother was a maid in sir leon's household. we also know that elyan left camelot shortly after their mother passed away, clearly the reasoning was from grief and hurt. we didn't get to see gwen deal with the loss of not only her mum but also her brother, yes he was still alive however he left without a word, gwen and her father were left alone trying to survive.

(also elyan's trauma is also something important to be raised and spoken about)

during this time gwen and her father were still able to make a life in camelot, thomas being a blacksmith and gwen getting a job as morgana's maid. of course events unfolded and gwen was accused of witchcraft. she was thrown in prison and set to be executed. as we know this isnt the first time this will happen. we obviously saw gwen distraught and inconsolable trying to deal with her sentence however this epsiode revolved a lot around morgana and merlin more than it did gwen. e.g. them trying to release gwen etc

a few episodes later thomas is the one imprisoned and eventually was killed due to his attempted escape. again this epsiode focused more on morgana and merlin. the small clips we saw of gwen crying over her father whilst he was imprisoned and then again when she was mourning her father were little to nothing, and the only other scenes surrounding gwen were shown as her being "strong and getting her life back together". following on to merlin asking gwen if she would wish uther dead and she said no, if he died she would feel nothing but wouldn't wish him dead.

now why does gwen have to be this strong and kind hearted woman especially in this epsiode. she lost her father, practically her last and only family member left as elyan was awol and yet she was portrayed this way. she would have been allowed to be angry and upset over everything that happened.

there was a scene where gwen was crying with morgana and spoke about how she cannot go home but it wasn't about her father. it was about tauren - the man who hired thomas for whatever he was making,he came and threatened gwen.

SEASON THREE

a season later gwen and arthur are romantically involved and caught by uther and morgana during a date. uther banished gwen and was later accused of magic (again) and set to be executed (again). this episode focused more on gwen than the last ones i spoke about but again morgana and merlin's side plots were heavily involved.

after each event has taken place in these episodes, it's almost as if gwen's trauma and what she went through were put aside or forgotten about. twice she was nearly killed and once she lost her father.

later, gwen was kidnapped by cenred and morgause and threatened to bring arthur in exchange for elyan's life.

noticing a theme so far? gwen's trauma seems to be revolved around the white characters surrounding her, whether it is entwined with another character's plot or focuses on them.

SEASON FOUR

i don't remember the epsiode but i believe it was the dochard episode. gwen was attacked by morgana in an attempt to kill her.

during this time too she was also looking after and caring for uther. we know she wasn't doing it for uther but for arthur and her love for him and so he wouldn't have to worry and can focus on his duties but....she was still looking after the man who killed her father, nearly killed her a couple of times and overall ruined her life too.

now we get into gwen and lancelot. of course we all know lance was a shade and gwen was enchanted. the way this epsiode was and how they decided to portray gwen and lance for me was ://

again gwen was thrown in jail. the bracelet was never found and nothing ever came to light that she was enchanted.

so...gwen had to live with all of that regret, guilt and feelings of not understanding or knowing why she kissed lancelot for the rest of her life.

she was banished and threatened with death if she ever returned (again).

shortly later in S4 EP11, she was kidnapped (again) whilst living in ealdor. she was able to escape but then turned into a deer by morgana??? then accidentally hunted by arthur and mithian leaving her injured and hurt. which is so unnecessary because why tf turn her into an animal ???

she was nearly killed again.

and again nothing was ever addressed or spoken about in terms of what gwen went through.

SEASON FIVE

S5, uther came back as a ghost, he threatened and attacked gwen to the point she nearly died had she not been found by merlin.

in the middle of the season, gwen was kidnapped and tortured which eventually led to her being enchanted and under morgana's control in the Dark Tower.

again, gwen's trauma is tied to a white character (as in plot and needs etc).

during her enchantment gwen did a few things:

poisoned arthur and nearly killed him

killed tyr

imprisoned merlin and blamed him

conspires with an enemy and tried to kill arthur again

her enchantment was thankfully lifted but once again it just seemed like it was ignored once it was over but also i know S5 was rushed in itself anyway.

tbh you could say gwen knew nothing and couldn't remember what happened whilst she was enchanted but in With All My Heart there seemed to be some awareness from gwen about her enchantment. and also ofc people would say she couldn't remember in order to avoid the conversation around her trauma.

in the finale we see gwen in the battle helping the wounded and when the battle is won we see her having to cope with the fact they couldn't find arthur.

by this time we know where arthur is and it cuts to a scene of leon telling gwen arthur has still not been found and of course gwen is visibly upset.

when gauis comes back and gwen is informed of arthur's condition of course she believes he will get better but then she would have had to battle with the thoughts he wouldn't.

i really wish there had been a scene after this where gwen just talks to someone about what exactly she is feeling but instead it cut to the plot about eira.

the ending was kind of the same for everyone, no one got to mourn apart from merlin.

overall it just makes me so sad that gwen went through all of this and it was ignored or pushed aside because she is a "kind, strong and honest woman". she went straight back to work when her father died because it was "better than sitting in an empty house waiting for my father to return" no gwen!! you can do that if you need to!! you are allowed to be sad and hurt!!

i genuinely do think it is racist writing as black women especially are portrayed as "strong women who get on with things" when actually they've gone through a load of traumatic events and as any else are should be angry and upset and should be allowed to be portrayed that way too.

it also angers me that majority of these events which took place and gwen's experiences/trauma were almost always tied to a white character and aiding their development/storyline/plot. just why

[penebui]

What is Kaiba /gen

OOHHH Kaiba is an anime made back in 2008 made by Masaaki Yuasa (who directed/created other great animes like Devilman Crybaby and Keep Your Hands off Eizouken!) its 12 episodes long and its about a boy named Kaiba who wakes up with no memories and the only things he has is a hole in his chest and a necklace with a picture of a girl inside.

The first half of the series might seem like filler, but its there to establish world building, character development for Kaiba, and overall foreshadowing and setting up the plot.

It... might seem very confusing during your first watch, its one of those great medias where the more you rewatch it, the more you find symbolism, metaphors, and small details you missed that makes the story a lot more real and in depth. And makes you cry more

A lot of fans (myself included) also enjoy it because of how they portray Kaiba and Neiro (major character) and play with the idea of gender to the point where they are technically both gender ambiguous

Its also one of those animes where there isnt always music playing to fill up space, but when the bg music does play, its more symbolic and does in fact add meaning to the scenes (this is why the OST has multiple versions of the same songs)

A lot of kaiba 2008 fans are also hnk fans as well and vice versa, which is saying something

[kanohivolitakk]

Have you done Krekka for the ask game? I know you're a huge Nidhiki fan, curious if you have any thoughts on his partner?

I haven't gotten Krekka yet actually. So far I only done Toa Ignika and Axonn for the Bionicle ask game (which Im still accepting). That being said great choice. Krekka isn't necessarily a big favorite of mine (partially because I'm not that fond of the "dumb brute" archetype barring a few exceptions), but I have to admit I do have a soft spot for the big guy. Krekka is a relatively simple character when it comes to characterization/backstory/role in the story (especially when compared to Nidhiki), but that doesn't mean I don't have any "deeper" thoughts regarding him or that there isnt stuff worth discussing.

Anyways some thoughts/headcanons/general musings:

This is a weird thing to start with but... Krekka is kinda adorable for me. I think its kinda this ...overgrown puppy (bulldog??) vibe due to his loyalty and dumbness. I admit BOADH is a big reason for me feeling this way since it gave him a few moments that made me go "AWWW he's so cute". Just..love his loyalty so much.

His undying loyalty makes him stand out for me across the other dark hunters. While many dark hunters we ha e are opportunistic and schemy, Krekka is just...very loyal. Maybe too much so. But I love that he is loyal. Feels refreshing tbh.

And now I cant help but feel that TSO is just "guys stupid but at least he wont double cross me and is easy to keep in check" when it comes to him.

Not to go woobifying villains but I genuinely dont think the guys that bad. Hes just really stupid, overly loyal and doing his job. Its kinda like w Lariska being a decent person despite being a knife happy murder girl although to a much lesser extent since guys a literalminded fool and also just smashy boy.

I do like his backstory of being a former guard who lost his job and started wreck havoc until one day a dark hunter found and hired him. It isnt anything too complex but it works well for his character and explains why he is so loyal to Dark Hunters. It also helps bringing a bit more light to his homeland and I love when we get more info of places through character backstories, makes the world feel more real that way.

Also can Gorast please stop hurting charaxters I like. This is the reason shes my least favorite character in the 2001-2008 storyline that isnt just a glorified extra or a plot device.

When it comes to Krekka, one scene I always think of when I think of him is in BOADH where he temporarily forgot to fly and Nidhiki was just "WAIT A MOMENT LARISKA TOLD ME YOU CAN FLY????" and Krekka just goes "whoops I forgot". That was adorable honestly. You dumb idiot, forgot you could fly.

Also, I know he's kinda "the idiot character", and while I am NOT saying he isn't, I do think its worth pointing out that he's basically literal minded. In BOADH (again) when Nidhiki tried to do that training scenario Krekka basically was like "wait I’m here, there’s nothing there why should I move there". This is

Another thing I really like about Krekka is that how, despite being an absolute idiot and tool, he still is willing to sometimes not take Nidhikis bullshit, see preventing him from getting the Zamor launchers (geez BOADH did a lot for this guys characterization lmao)

I sometimes call him truck boy because his name is one letter off my languages word for truck.

Also unless canon/word of Greg says otherwise I don't think every member of his species is as stupid as him. Like possibly on similar level but still.

It is made pretty clear that Nidhiki couldn't stand Krekka at all, but I do genuinely wonder how Krekka feels about Nidhiki. Based on the little we have I'd say he liked him to some extent or at the very least, didn't hate him to the same degree. I also have to wonder how aware he was about Nidhikis haterd towards him.

I also love the idea that when Nidhiki was mutated, Krekka just...wasnt afraid of him at slightest, no fear in this dumb boy. (I also like the idea he didnt recognize him at first and Nidhiki just, had to explain to his thick skull who he was. It took a while but eventually he got it.)

On a related note, I find it interesting how the LOMN website describes him working with Nidhiki because guy knows where to get the good jobs or something rather than being his goverment (read TSO) assigned partner The way the twos relationship were described makes it feel that by this point the staff hadnt figured out what they wanted to do with Dark Hunters , or if it even was an organization or just these two tools.

Its really interesting for me how Krekkas characterization not only varies between the books/comics (where hes more intimidating and him being a simpleton isnt as pronounced) and the movie (where hes more of a dumbass) but also how his characterization evolved. Like, his loyalty wasn't that pronounced trait but now I feel its just as important part of him as him being a dumbass (which is to say, very interesting)

I remember how the aftoermentoined Metru Nui movie website described that Krekka hated toa to the point wouldve hunted them for free if Nidhiki didnt make sure the two would get paid. I feel this is somewhat early installment weirdness as it isnt mentioned anywhere else but at the same time Krekka being willing to fight without payment sounds 1000% in character if you ask me

Something I have been confused over: when exactly was Krekka recruited to the dark hunters??? The timeline is very vague about this and I wish we knew.

It's been AGES since I watched my home countrys dub of LOMN but what I recall I really liked Krekka's voice in that dub. He sounded more badass and I loved it, the VA had a pretty unique sound. Sadly dont think there is any clips of the LOMN dub, which is a shame. UPDATE: I rewatched the dub and I love the voice itself but felt the voice direction made him sound kinda inconsistent

This is more a "Nidhiki and Krekka related thought" rather than just Krekka related but one thing I really like about Krekka and Nidhiki is that how they are like a more serious and competent take of "those two evil henchmen with contrasting personalities" trope. Often these types of villains are rather goofy, but these two could be rather dangerous as well and I really like that. I also like their dynamic of just doing Nidhiki being done with Krekkas bullshit. One of the main reasons I wish LOMN was a miniseries rather than a movie is because I really wanted more screentime with the two.

On a related note can I JUST SAY I LOVE the way the two compliment/pararell each other. From design (Krekka being bulky mostly blue colored, Nidhiki being slender and monstrous, mostly green colored) to personality (Krekka being foolish and simpleminded but loyal Nidhiki being cunning and ambitious but treacherous) to powersets (Krekka being strong physical attacker, Nidhiki being weaker(??) but faster and more special attacker).Heck, even their backstories have similarities as they both lost their orginal purpose in one way or another and didnt have anywhere to go but Dark Hunters (the main difference being that Nidhiki inflicted his fate upon himself by betraying the toa while Krekka didnt really do anything iirc)

Now for something crossovery, Krekkas and Nidhikis dynamic reminds me a lot of Kronk and Yzma from Emperors New Groove. Yes I have drawn a parody of the "pull the lever kronk" meme, yes I intend to make more screencap redraws. They also remind me a lot of Mummymon and Archenemon from Digimon 02, partially due to the dynamic (smug spider that tries to be cunning and intimidating but gets outclassed by most other villains in that + loyal blue dumb boy) partially due to their ultimate fate being rather similar.

I don't know how familiar you are with the franchise, but Krekka reminds me a fair bit of Gamel, one of the four villain generals in Kamen Rider OOOs, mainly because "the dumb brute major villain that's kinda cuteish and loyal a f while everyone else is an asshole".

I remember reading a p good oneshot fic that was just him accidentally killing a civilian when all he wanted was a hug and...honestly that is p much what I imagine him being like. Guy may be strong, reckless and a fool but like I said I dont think hes all that bad and just a puppy. An overgrown, moronic puppy but a puppy nontheless

For AUs, I remember I have thought once of "What if Krekka survived but Nidhiki died" and just ...guy wouldve been very lost and confused and unsure what to do tbh. He would most likely returned to Dark Hunters but Mata Nui knows how say TSO wouldve felt about that. Its not too complex au yet but I am thinking of developing it further one day.

Thank you for asking.

Sorry this took longer than expected. I had too many thoughts and half of them were deleted so. I hope its worth the wait tho. I do have a lot of Krekka thoughts and tbh wasnt sure if I was even able to get them all here.

(I am still doing the ask game so if anyone wants to send me a bonkle I will try to give thoughts, meta and headcanons on them)

[camelely]

13rw S4 Fix

 So i did one of these for last season and I think now that I’ve had some time to think about S4 I’ll do the same. While last season I thought the issue was one character being overused. But here it seems like there were multiple smaller things that could have improved the whole season Again I’m keeping the same basic plotline and characters :) 

1) Winston 

Have Winston stay at Hillcrest. Him moving to Liberty did nothing for the main plot and he was basically a red herring through most of it. Let him try are befriend the characters from the outside. He can learn about Jess from Bryce’s trial and the news coverage and then try to befriend her at Monet’s. This is where he meets and later starts to date Alex. Since he doesn’t go to liberty school Alex sees him as a sort of escape and lets him in. Clay and Ani dont tell everyone about him because they dont know he is trying to get close to them. It makes them seem less like assholes and more like people. They don’t mention his connection to Monty because they dont realize how close he is getting to answers. Clay can still suspect he did the graffiti, after all it was a break in and a non student could have done that. Plus Estella is another red herring in the school. She serves that purpose so let Winston be the outsider looking in. His arc would still be about knowing a different Monty and not knowing who is was at Liberty but now he is literally the outsider who didn’t really get Monty, rather than it just being a figurative thing at the prom. You can still have the prom scene it would just be entirely imagined rather than the half imagined thing they went with. I think they overused the people talking to ghosts thing so here it would be a  fantasy of Monty and the relationship they had rather then a representation of what could have been. However I don’t think this would have retracted from the point. Also play him up, he is a sympathetic antagonist and it sucks how much he is sidelined for Diego. I didn’t hate Diego but Winston and him basically went through the same arc. They were pro Monty and ending up dating a member of the group, couldnt believe that member was involved and then learned something about Bryce and Monty agreed to move on and just did. All while saying they will alway care for that member of the group. It was an unnecessary rehash. Having WInston be the outsider looking in and Diego the insider looking out also lets their characters compliment each other. They should still work together, just have Winston contact him looking for Monty’s friends. It’s simple. 

2) Tyler and Tony 

Oh Tyler. The character who seems to be in the middle of everything despite never doing anything himself. I didn’t mind his arc of helping the cops find the guys who sold the illegal guns. But Tony’s suspicions, eventually leading to Clay and Tony finding out the truth and just moving on never really go anywhere. I think  it would be cool if Tyler tells Tony, despite the cops telling him not to tell anyone, because he trusts Tony. But Tony, who has had bad run ins with the cops, thinks it is a bad idea. He doesn’t want Tyler taking the deal. Tyler says its the only way the guns wont be traced back to them but Tony thinks teh cops are planning to double cross them to mind out more about Bryce and Monty. At the same time he starts getting close to that cop that takes him boxing and helps him get into college (i dont remember his name for the life of me lol). Tyler sees this as being hypocritical and pulls away. Tony still suspects Tyler is behind the lock down because he is pulling away and Tony is getting paranoid. The rest of their story can still be the same but this way they can show Tony’s paranoia and his loyalty. 

As for Tyler and Estella, It was fine. The scene of them in the bathroom was really powerful, being in the bathroom with a de la cruz and becoming comfortable because isnt her brother was really nice. This could even be another reason Tony and Tyler fight. Tony can be paranoid that Tyler is trusting her too quickly and think she will turn on him. 

3) Jess

Her arc with the principal, being scared and agreeing with the security measures before she sees them in action was really interesting. Focus more on it and less on her manipulating Diego. I did like parts of that arc for her so I don’t want it completely gone but I do think focusing on her working with the principal would have been cool. I would call more attention to her first meeting and her agreeing with the measures and slowly show her change her mind and start to turn against them. Maybe even have an early scene of her and ANi talking about it and have Jess admit she feels safer. Move the creepy cop trying to pat her down to the second or third day. So she can have a moment where they make her feel safe before the negative experience. I loved the protest and a bit better build up would have made it amazing

Her arc with Ani. They fought over Bryce... It should have been a conversation. Not a moment where Ani judges Diego and then they argue. I still think this arc should have been Chloe and Jess and should have been in last season. But they had the opportunity to include Chloe this season and just didnt. I’ll talk about this a bit more in the Zach section but I think Chloe should have been at Prom and the moment between the Ani Jess and Chloe should have been then. It would be right after Jess and Ani made up and would have been cool. 

I don’t think she should have had scenes where she saw and talked to Bryce. Yes it created some powerful moments but they could be reworked. Have WInston use his wealth to commission a positive thing in the paper about Bryce and Monty and have her talk to his idealized photo of Bryce. I will mention it in the Clay section but her hallucinations detracted from his journey with mental health. 

4) Clay

Okay two thing here the first is his arc with mental health, hallucinations, and blackouts. They used it for drama and I wish they hadnt. It should have been about him healing. I didnt mind the way they handled the realization for clay that it was him doing everything (Did they explain the symbol he kept drawing because I missed it if they did? or i just forgot because it was that forgettable lol) but I think the whole thing could have been handled a lot better and a more educated fan then I can provide a better explanation for what exactly was off about it. I will say the the therapy sessions were repetitive and I know thats realistic but for a tv show its boring. The scene were Clay goes to his home was weird and low key scary. I understand the purpose but  I wish he had called him and asked to meet at his office instead. A more likable and relatable journey for Clay with his mental health would be really good for a show that was accused of glorying suicide (personally i dont think it did. My inbox is open if you wanna talk though :))

The second thing is the phantom phone caller. I hate this trope so it might just be me but this is so stale. There are exactly two ways it could go. The person could know everything and be a real problem or the person could be fishing for information and not be a real problem. The whole thing was predicable since Winston had red herring written all over him, Estella was barely developed, and on this show it is always the football guys. Instead let the pranks be smaller and less crazy. Like these boys had to coordinate a lot to mess with Clay. There should be more than one prank and end with a Monty doll and Clay holding a knife to set up the camp episode. But they should be pranks, not the phantom caller psychological torture bs. The blood shower can also happen just on a different day. Clay can be confused about what is real and what isnt making him even more worried about his blackouts and again assuming the mental health arc is handled well, the pranks can be a real part of it. Dumping him in the pit on the camping trip also seemed kinda attempted murdery so maybe do something like tie him to a tree of the path or in a small dirt ditch not a rocky pit where if he hit his head or fell weird the team would all be murderers. 

5) Alex

His arc with Charlie was one of my favorite stories this season. I was also not bothered by him getting close to and exploring his sexuality with Winston and Zach. I’m in the minority but I’m glad Zalex wasn’t made canon and Zach was used to be an effective (kinda) ally and good friend. Plus this way Zalex can live on in the fandom untouched or ruined by the writers interpretation. 

They should have given us Alex in therapy. He tried to kill himself had a traumatic injury, an arc with steroid abuse, and an arc about killing someone. All of which were forgotten this season. All the other characters seemed to be dealing with Bryce and Monty, why not focus on Alex? Even if it isnt in therapy just let him exist in his feelings.

6) Zach

I have one major issue with Zach’s arc, the lack of Chloe. She was the reason he almost killed a man. Let them date, let him start to spiral while dating her. She doesnt know what he did. Have them grow apart on screen but her still connecting to him and not wanting to give up on him. They should go to prom together. I know the hooker was supposed to represent Zach turning into Bryce with the hookers and the drunken sex/potential rape  and cocaine. But Chloe fills the same comparison. He brings cocaine she is not okay with it, He tries to convince her to have sex in the back she is not having it. Maybe he tries to convince maybe it becomes a bit worse than that but she breaks up with him at prom and leaves early. She sees Bryce in him, she doesnt have to say it but you can see it on her face and she walks away when her mind and heart tells her to this time no making excuses. Boom Chloe actually has an arc. As for Zach this is a big wake up call for him he sees what we had become. I know it is later in the actual show but I think it should be in the prom episode so he can have a better conclusion in the finale, like the other characters. The whole season was a downward spiral and I wish we got to see more of him pulling himself out of it. If the whole finale is him getting better even though he wont be all the way done he will be in a better place up the end.

7) Justin

Okay the hard one. I think the writers really wanted to kill him. I mean a fan favorite, who did bad things, and the death would be in the series finale. this is a tv writer’s drug of choice. So I’m gonna do a fix where I still kill him first then to the ideal version. Ok so first Justin dies. No HIV/AIDS. It was out of nowhere, unneeded, and seemed a bit insensitive. If you want it to be related to his drug use, make it so he got a bad batch when he relapsed. Or maybe organ failure. If it doens’t need to be drug related it can be an accident or someone he knew on the streets getting revenge, like that drug dealer we spent time with last season. Or if Justin helps Tyler put the gun salesmen behind bars then have it be retaliation for that. He can still go to the hospital and have goodbyes but it wont be an aids diagnosis and death in the same episode. I know they had signs in earlier episodes but the timeline is still really fucked up...

An ideal ending would have him live. He can still pass out at Prom. The diagnosis can be a combination of stress and withdrawal symptoms.He can be the red herring for the person in the coffin. If Justin lives he can represent hope. He can show the audience that you can get better and things can work out. Even if you are sick and think you will die you can do better be better and live in a better world. Plus I love him and really wanted him to be happy. The message would be you can get out of a bad situation and wold have ended a sad series on a positive note. Even if you are a bad person. Even if you have bad circumstance. Even if it feels like the world is against you, it can get better if you put in the effort. Which felt like the message the show was going for in eariler seasons by showing the people on the tapes doing better but abandoned this last season.

So who would I put in the coffin. Ani’s mom. Now I know she wasn’t a well liked character and her mom wouldn’t have the same audience or character reaction Justin’s death did. But this version isn’t about making the audience sad. Ani would finally have a plot that was really about her, her mom died, Bryce’s mom basically wants to provide for her. And she isn’t sure what to do. Justins funeral felt like it was overshadowed by graduation anyway. Now Ani’s moms absence and the funeral being overshadowed both make sense. She is going to college and doing what she can to honor her mom. And the death of a parent causes Clay to immediately appreciate his own family more. The theme in the first season with Clay was appreciating and acting on his feelings for Hannah before she was gone. Ani’s mom dying is a reality check for him and he know the most important things are his family and friends. Justin’s arc was about finding a family and he did. The core of the show is about family, friends, and the importance of  a strong support system. And starting it with a mother grieving her daughter and ending it with a daughter grieving her mother would be a cool full circle moment.

This post is really long so if you read all the way down Thank you! :) 

[mayabishopapologist]

station 19 - season 4, etc

this is long but i want to put down my thoughts before thursday comes and i guess i have A Lot To Say.

honestly didn’t pay much attention to this show until halfway through season two—  always liked maya and was glad that they gave her more to do. going into season 3, i was excited for more character development &stronger storylines. however, by the end of  301 the dip in quality was glaringly obvious. a quick google search revealed that there was a new showrunner and, well, it showed. 

while the show had been going in a really good direction with balancing the screen time between andy and the other regulars, this season, the plot was all over the place. it was uber dramatic and just. so much happened just to happen? seemed like every other episode had a major event(deaths alone; ryan,rigo,pruitt?!!?). they were so frequent, it was hard to process. it was also hard to get invested as the characters themselves moved on(or were shown to have moved on, extremely quickly!) 

i enjoy the show for what it is and i have no delusions about broadcast tv shows (or shondaland productions, for that matter)but the suspension of disbelief.... i mean: a stabbing, a robbery, a shooting and a car crash? all in one episode? please! lmaooooo. drama for dramas sake is always boring and weakens the story.  

& as for the characters... .

everyone felt like a hollow version of themselves this season and it was hard to watch sometimes, actually. characters switched motivations /personalities for the sake of the current episode and i know this show is very ‘monster/emergency of the week’ but. some consistency! please! like—

maya: she’s always been determined and focused but they went so far with it this season, it was almost cartoonish. her competitiveness was hinted at in season 2 but she was always portrayed as self aware. ‘the beast,’ as she dubbed it to andy, was something she knew of and tried to contain, because she knew it could get out of hand. 

yet, in season 3 she suddenly forgets this and just. becomes the most power hungry/singularly focused person, ever. she goes after the captain position behind andy’s back, (citing andy’s emotional state, because of the death of her best friend as a reason she shouldn’t get the job?? huh. since when is maya this purely callous??!) she just doesn’t give af, suddenly, about andy at all, and goes for a job that she is hardly qualified for(she was lieutenant for like, a few months?)

and then after she gets the position, she just. loses all sense of reality? literally she was so unhinged(fun to watch but so much) and it was like. um?? maya has never been the uptight one (they've mentioned and depicted andy as being the one like this, multiple times!) and we know she knows how to have fun, so, for her to all of a sudden just. not know how to read the room? yeah okay. to make her so intense and severe, especially w the drills and training was, a choice. a bad one, on the writers part. like, i get that they needed her start as captain to be dramatic or whatever,  but there were ways to do that. and even the animosity with the team and her went so far, i just think that whole storyline was amazingly lazy, honestly.  

and the friendships!! andy and maya’s friendship is just, a mess. at this point they've spent more time at odds, and the idea that they're supposed to be best friends with this super close bond? yeah, i just... i dont buy it tbh. if they'd spent more time building up their connections and making us understand why they would be friends and showing them being there for each other past a few scattered scenes her and there? maybe. but so far, that hasn't been the case.  making that bond real, solidifying that friendship, would have made this conflict have more of an emotional impact. but doing it now? making maya ‘turn’ on andy, this soon and this drastically just. it made her seem like she was extremely jealous and had been waiting to pull the rug out from under andy all along. and also, why would they stay friends when, so far, maya has showed, time and time again, that she’s willing to let her wants/ambitions leech on her loyalty to andy? (jack thing, job thing, etc). although, it’s not like andy’s a good friend to maya either, she’s selfish and seems to like it when maya is in her corner but isnt always there for her. they went so far with the idea that maya was this coldly calculating asshole that she was almost a villain?? it was so silly to me.

and the traumatic home life plot they gave to maya was clearly their attempt at some adding nuance to her character and trying to explain why she would act the way she did, but to me? it fell flat. it was rushed, and they went from zero to 100(why did her mother come to talk about her divorce/abuse at maya’s job? like she was literally working? idgi. no boundaries lmaoo) 

and i actually relate and sympathize w maya a lot. and while i liked that they were exploring the many ways abuse can present itself, it was very... hm, ham-fisted. just super rushed and then wrapped up so quickly. they have, i think, written themselves into this dark place i fear they have no intention of exploring. 

and while i understand it, i hated how far they let maya go, especially because i don't feel they’ll adequately address it. they move on so quickly( maya was deaf for like half a season and then. she just. wasn't) and i hate the idea of her just being ‘fixed’. a relationship and an apology doesn't undo years of abuse, idc. also will they ever address maya’s um, thoughts about death??? because that was super heavy and not just something someone gets over? going to need for her to get actual professional help. that isn’t her girlfriend, like. asap. 

speaking of carina, i do like her and maya together a lot. big part of why i watch, ngl. but i need their relationship to be a lot more reciprocal. like, lets dial it back on the codependency, maybe. carina cant (and shouldn't have to) hold her up so much ! that’s not love. also maya needs to start being a good girlfriend. they started off that way, i know they can get back there. but like, we hardly got to see them settle into it, we got those cute 30sec clips of sweetness then maya was lashing out and cheating and it was like. wait a minute! what??? 

for s4, i want to see them working at reconciling—im talking, groveling, awkward in-between moments where carina isnt sure she can trust her. okay, tough conversations, hell, even jealousy because let's be real. maya working with jack is a lot for carina to just. take? i know i absolutely would not be happy about that, but i also wouldnt take maya back so... anyway! brushing over that would not just be a missed storytelling opportunity, but it would also be super unfair to carina and do a huge disservice to their relationship as a whole. as cute as they are, having cute moments with no real depth would get very old, very quickly.

carina: what can i say but-perfect, amazing, fantastic, WOW

seriously, carina is almost unrealistically perfect. she takes a lot and has been through the most (can they be nice 2 her this season? like just for fun) going forward, im going to need her to be more than a plot device to calm and soothe maya. i get that she was introduced as a love interest, but in season 4(as a season!!regular!!) that cant be all she is.

speaking of, it was really weird to me that she was promoted to station 19 and not greys because... what is a gynecologist going to do at a fire station? the general consensus seems to be that she’ll join warren’s PRT but like. she’s not a general surgeon so that’s a reach but, i want her around so ill buy it. i just want better and more for her tbh. not just screen-time, but also character development and depth! also friends! tired of carina being isolated, they did it on greys which. a waste! i meaaan, amelia was RIGHT. THERE. just look at the material! for s19, i want her, vic and travis to be friends or even just her and vic, like yesplease! i also want to know more about her and im tired of her being treated badly. like, i think society had progressed past carina being shitted on, thanks!

vic: my fave!!! they did so lazy by her this season ugh. she’s so charismatic and charming and just so good!! yet, her storyline was all over the place. we hardly got to see her sit with her grief  (spontaneous crying aside; barrett doss is so good!) she was just kind of... around. and that relationship w jackson. lol. it was so obviously for crossover potential and well. i didnt hate it or like it. actually, i was mostly indifferent. bored, even when they were onscreen together. i just didn't care and wanted more of vic, not vic and whoever. i know they're up in the air rn but i wouldn’t be torn up if he doesn’t come back. 

i want more for vic past just romantic entanglements. i know we’ve gotten a bit of her past, but i would like to see more! also, what about employment accomplishments? her artsy theatre friends? her family? just. more vic, please!!

she’s so fun and cool and when they let her, she shines. they need to let her! 

jack: my boy! so dumb, but i love him sm. he def needs like. major help, though lmao. and maybe it’s just me but im tired of his sex addict plot. like, we get it, but can we move on now? kthanks. they need to let him work on himself especially, the constant self sabotage. it's getting old. for ALL of them, actually, seriously, how many times can they all get in their own way.

andy: don’t really think about her. the mom storyline seems like it would be wonderfully dramatic, im intrigued. she and sullivan are cute, i guess. hope they make it.

ben: no major issues w his storyline, hardly remember it honestly. i liked the rapport he was building w vic and want them to explore that relationship more, its cute. 

travis: so funny and adorable, let him do more.

dean: loved him in all his entitled first born African son glory. i didnt so much love the baby plot but that always bores me. his sudden love for vic though. lol. since when? it def, came out of no where and while i really enjoy their friendship, to me, there is zero romantic chemistry there so i would prefer it if they just. stopped. lmao. also. the way he treated her because he could get a handle on his emotions? ridiculous. has humanity not like, gotten past the ��he’s mean bc he likes you’ thing?? like grow up maybe?

and this isnt just about dean but like. are there not more single young people in seattle? why do they all have to sleep with the same 5 people. ik for the sake of plot, workplace relationships are easier but still. i think they should branch out. really. 

overall, i want better for all of them, and i think if the writers would just. take a moment and stop trying to tell so many stories in such little time, they could do better! also, whoever’s out there. please, enough w the crossovers! dont want to be forced to watch greys just to know what’s happening on 19. i get that they're in the same universe. it’s only mentioned every other episode. we. get, it. i liked what they did with private practice, it was like once every few seasons. and i know they won’t do that, but maybe, two a season. 

this is so much. but this how does have a ton of potential and i just really want it . like, get there.

[miaxeu]

      though the mist might prevent some from seeing it, MIA STOEGER is actually a descendent of DIONYSUS. it’s still a question of whether or not the TWENTY-ONE year old MYTHOLOGICAL STUDIES MAJOR from LOS ANGELES, USA has taken after HER godly parent completely, but the demigod is still known to be quite CHARISMATIC & DUPLICITOUS. 

( y’all dont deserve this real messy intro but im workin w half a bwain cell at 4am so i beg thee 4 mercy. nywyy im the excited new girl who’s hella pumped to meet all ur charas : katya ! feel free to hop in my ims to plot or drop a like and i’ll hop in urs ! x  )

POWERS

natural acting abilities — her ma’s a hollywoo agent so she started actin real early & now shes a big shot actress. there r more deetz on her career below !

chlorokinesis — it wasnt as natural as acting n she only started working on it when she turned 13 n started going to camps. b4 she just noticed shes good w plants but it wasnt super crazy or nything. its p good now tho ! shes prioritizing vine binding and manipulation 4 the self defense bc awards r cool n all but they dont rlly protecc from monsters ykwim 

levitation — shes trying her best ur honor

alcokinesis  — she cant conjure it or anything, she’s just immune to it ffff

BIO POINTS — cw: drug use ( full biography here )

her mom raised her by herself bc dionysus the party god was out of the picture immediately. she never told mia she’s a demigod & it was always just “ wow ur so talented ” or “ aww u got a green thumb ! ” but when she saw him claim 13 y/o mia by placing a weird hologram over her head while she slept, she knew she had to spill da beanz & tell her kid

ofc mia thought her mom was jus playing sum weird acting exercise w her bc her powers r so lowkey she could highkey just be a Mortal but insert sad whistle, the realizashun & the claiming meant heightened monster threat !! so yea ,,, one ended up chasing her a couple days later rip 

aside from the trauma, mia was ok. mostly bc she ended up cryin for dionysus like any child would n lo & behold he came & helped !!! as he should. nywy she made sure to go to summer camps every year after that but mostly just for protection purposes

she lowkey rlly hates this whole god business esp now that shes grown lmfao deadass thinks she got a bad deal bc life threats arent sexy !!! went to eonia eventually bc its Too Much Man. she just wants to go back to work and her life w the mortals w/o worryin for her life. would deadass fade her father if she could. may or may not be majoring in greek mythology to figure out the logistics of it all out of spite, who knows !

PERSONALITY

not ! a Drama Queen  —  dont get me wrong, shes hella Extra in the way she moves n acts sorta like shes always bein captured on film. is quick-witted & playful & can be a huge tease/flirt if she feels like it, but miss her w Real Feelings ! totally not sentimental. srsly she will try to rationalize away everything and is just,.,., not good w it. so soz folks, we just keepin it breezy here

ugh, she’s an Actress — aka she can act like she cares tho ! shes very much into keeping ppl on her good side. shes friendly n palatable to everyone bc its how shes been trained & while it doesnt seem fake, its def diff when its genuine

The Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known —  lemme circle back to the first one, ok so shes good w emotions but only in theory. does intense character work with her roles so she thinks that counts as her having eq when rlly shes just emotionally stunted, projecting n repressing like an idiot

blonde, skinny, rich, & a lil bit of a Bitch — shes only a bitch inwardly or to ppl she trusts enuff to let in on the gossip. if anyone full on opposes her or becomes real emotional, then this lil diva will rear its superiority complex head n snap a lil. will most probably do it v underhandedly n w a smile but it will be Brutal

girls just wanna have FUN ! — shes the child of da party god, so ofc she a true party girl. officially off the rails when she parties. inhibitions ? we dk her. can be insensitive in that case bc smtms its truly no strings attached, tis all abt the fun. likes company a lot & it doesnt even have 2 be loud or particularly abt her, she just likes having people around n the escapism of it all. will make friends with everyone n make sure they have a jolly fun time guaranteed at dionysus parties 

Work Hard, Play Hard — real responsible when it comes to work and commitments and if she trusts/likes u enough, she’ll give it 2 u straight, no bs. def thinks Calling Out is an act of love but maybe does it a lil too harshly smtms. v much into efficiency, sentiments be damned. not the feely words type. will sit next to u or party w u or even pay 4 ur therapist if u need sum1 to talk to. she will Be There while u work thru it, so long as u dont expect her to change n be all emotional n stuff

if she seems a lil contradictory thats bc she kinda is. tis the good ol nurture vs nature. her ma’s a real no nonsense chick n her pops is a frat guy drama geek greek god whos rlly into cottagecore so u get this lil blonde bitch whos sorta teetering on the edges

OTHER INFO  — cw: drug use ( full headcanons here )

re her career, she achieved pegot status when she was 18 aka she truly b dat bitch. shes not super mainstream famous tho, more like indie sweetheart, film snobs/critics fave typa gal. if ya want a trajectory she started w baby commercials then a sitcom from 4-10 ( think modern fam’s lily ) then it was off to the big screen & the stage ! 

mia has a lil bit of a drug habit. its not abusive or dependent, but it is a staple whenever shes parties bc alcohol is useless 2 her. started a lil young too bc hollywoo. primarily uppers/hallucinogens. she smokes weed a lil more liberally but the rest is mostly just an on occasion thing ( which, ngl, is a still a lil problematic when u party a lot rip )

after she got claimed, mia ended up going to demigod camps in a lot of diff places n countries, depending on where production would take her. there was never an established place, more like wherever was nearest when they wrapped up shooting bc monsters afoot n wutnot  

she was always homeschooled but she still managed to go to a prom and homecoming bc party is life. that makes eonia uni p much her first chance at having a normal educational environment & experience and even then its anything but. still tho this is her moment !!! im lit rally begging her to get a personality that isnt her internally rolling her eyes going “ its not that deep ”

might put up a bio/stats page if im feelin sxc but i wud jus like the records to show that mia stoeger is a bi sxc babe bc me ? write a het ? no grassy ass.

POSSIBLE CONNECTIONS — cw: drug use ( full connections here )

omg danny devito i love ur work ! 

,,, p self explanatory sdkjfs sum1 who loves her work ! it can be lowkey/highkey fangirl to a civil admiration

OR alternatively, y/m can Not Be a fan of her work. they might think the storyline of the projects she takes on r too out of touch n highbrow yada yada yada, but yes, we love to see either of it ! 

summer camp sweetheart !  

someone she met when at camp when they were teens ? doesnt matter in what country/city, but mia was only visiting so it was truly a one summer romance typa thing. bc she was younger, im thinkin 13-17 or w/e she was probably sweeter n a lot more emotional then. was it either’s first puppy love ? first kiss ? first “ relationship ? ” idk, do yk ? truly, so many possibilities. nothin set in stone just hmu bub 

summer camp pals ! 

p much the same as above but make it Platonic

party buddies !

or druggie pals. either way works but she wud luv it if theyre both xoxo

friends w benefits !

most probably ( but not limited to ) sum1 she met at a party skdjhsjk is it exclusive ? is any1 starting to develop feelings ? im down 4 nthing n evrything

alexa play true friend by hannah montana !

give mia her college bestie ! her confidant who knows her feels and can call each other out viciously with no ounce of resentment. we stan the friendships !

omg i love ur skirt !

that is the ugliest effing skirt i've ever seen. lmao basically sum1 mia pretends to like or acts civil w but rlly ,,,, Cannot Stand for w/e rzn   

im p much braindead rn but those are just sum ideas !!! ofc the usual staples like the pals, enemies, wutnots are also v welcome we love to see it. if u also have a wc that u think mia would fit in, id luv to know more ! there are also a couple more detailed ones here, but pls feel free to shoot me a msg n we can get 2 plotting x 

( * wipes brow * how did i type so much n say so little rip. mia is also a completely new muse so pls b patient n if i fuq up from time to time, pretend u do not see >.< nywy thnx 4 readin, sweets ! feel free to hmu here or at discord if ya wanna <3333 )

FULL INFO  ||  EONIA TASKS 

[sortagaysortahigh]

Also i know im not the only bitch mad that they used Lamar as a plot device to basically advance john walkers bitch ass. However comma i honestly wish marvel wouldve actually kept my homeboy around and actually made him into y’know battlestar-like the comics bruv-the power this man couldve had. I feel like tfatws is hitting a lot of like key points regarding phase four of marvel and it’s really introducing the fact that race, class, etc all play a huge deal in a lot of characters lives and development but im genuinely irritated that they just used Lamar as Walker’s black sidekick to mimick that of sam and steve-basically subduing sam as a sidekick-and enforcing the black sidekick stereotype. Like i know it’s an important piece to sam’s storyline and to sam essentially becoming captain america but Lamar’s character could’ve been executed in so many different ways that still played on the stereotype of the black sidekick that eventually movese to become his own person (because us agent aka john walker is a BAD GUY YALL PLEASE DONT HAVE ANY HOPE OR FAITH IN THIS CUNT). I feel like Lamar might not actually be dead-and I wanna hope that he isn’t and that they didn’t cop out of a dope character like him in the MCU because if yall wanna get a little dorky with me here-in the comics he does get heavily injured around i think the civil war arch if im not mistaken here-this is all based on memory okay my adhd is screaming rn-but Cap’s team (in this case it would be Sam’s team bc sam is the only cap i acknowledge atp since steve is old and wrinkly somewhere) actually helps his ass and he eventually joins their side. 

Now okay stay with me here yall. So if Lamar isn’t actually dead-just heavily injured-he is the one who essentially encouraged John walker to take the super soldier serum, meaning that if he’s alive and they follow the nationalist piece of shit arch for walker/us agen-which evidently i think they are bc the amount of racialized social cues in the show thus far show that, esp when he talks down to ayo and the dora milaje who are single handedly some of the strongest (human) warriors in marvel-but im gonna hope my big homie lamar isnt actually dead and he gets to live through to become the actual character he’s supposed to be because he’s a good guy unlike john walkers bitch ass. Also another thing about this episode of tfatws like it was just an iffy vibe i got here-DOES ANYONE ELSE THINK THAT AYO AND BUCKY HAD SOMETHING????? like ik in the comics ayo and okoye are actually together but in the mcu adaptation okoye is married i think. HOWEVER I JUST FEEL LIKE THE BETRAYAL FROM BUCKY TOWARDS THE WAKANDANS IS SO MUCH DEEPER THAN JUST THE SURFACE LEVEL OF FREEING ZEMO. there’s something there and until proven otherwise i refuse to believe the two didn’t fornicate or something bruv. 

Also sam is so fine, i have to include that in every post i make about tfatws atp because sam doesnt get enough love and im tired of people acting like hes not fine as hell because he is, and he’s a great fucking character with a dope background and im glad they’re expanding on it in the show. However comma one thing i have to mention is that the mcu is definitely missing a few boxes for me in terms of the racial stigmas and dealing with racism, prejudice, etc in the show as of right now, i feel like things are being glossed over because they’re supposed to be inferred or symbolic-but for a majority of the white audience they’re not exactly gonna get shit because a lot of them don’t really understand racial stigmas and symbolism the way the bipoc audience does. and honestly theres a fuck ton of racism within the marvel fandom itself-like i know yall remember the ending of endgame when steve originally gave sam the shield and the literal outrage from a multitude of racist ass white people mad as hell bc the next captain america is gonna be black. Mfers act like they read the comics and refuse to acknowledge that CAPTAIN AMERICA WASNT ALWAYS A BLONDE WHITE MAN. I need them to expand more on Isaiah Walker’s character more and hopefully have more interactions between him and sam, because while he’s incredibly resentful (as he should be) towards Bucky and towards white people in general-he’d be a key element in sam’s development and in sam’s realization that he’s supposed to be captain america regardless of if America’s ready for a black cap or not. 

Oh and another thing while im on my tangent I’m gonna hope and pray that the introduction of his grandson alongside wanda’s kids in wandavision is a large hint at the formation of the  young avengers and that marvel actually does go that way-and y’know executes it well because kids can be fucking annoying.

[loudmouthcd]

introducing . .  MALI CHUSUK . CIS WOMAN . 21 YEARS OLD . HEALTH AND SPORTS SCIENCE MAJOR . GIRLS SOCCER TEAM CAPTAIN .

hello hello !! im so excited to be here ! my name is g , and u can find me on my musings blog @ pocmuzings if u ever want to hmu ! i’m 23 and in the aest timezone , so ill be on at pretty random hours between working my 9-5 ! i’m a cis woman , and use she / her pronouns . i’m a proud brown beautiful woman ( im indian ) !  if u would like my discord , feel free to ask ! i’m a horror movie enthusiast , and would d*e for any poc in the entire world . . 

i’m currently trying to figure out where the heck my sidebar links have gone on this theme . . so pls Bear with me fkjnfnjkfj . ( help . . help . . they’re in the theme preview idk what i did ) 

here’s mali , she’s a muse i’ve always wanted to play but never been able to !

inspiration for her is mandy milkovich from shameless , rosa diaz from b99 , rebeca from elite , kiara from outer banks and viola from shes the man

mali was raised in a house filled with boys , and her father was quite strict and determined . her relationship with her father has never been very personal, but more so almost like a business deal , or like a coach and his student 

mali was quite active as a child , and quite energetic . she was always running around and bouncing off walls - it drove her father wild because he could never make her sit still , whilst also trying to raise her older brothers at the same time

because of this , mali kinda took to her own devices . she was introduced to soccer at school , and that was her first love . she found herself playing it at every lunch break , or rolling the ball under the desk during class time . it helped with her jitteriness 

it took a year or two before her father realised that she was quite keen on soccer , and she was good at it - and he was overjoyed at the talent she had when it came to playing . she was a strong striker and attacker , but she was also quite aggressive and competitive on the field . she didn’t really have much etiquette when it came to the game , and she would play dirty at times . this . . only made her father even happier . suddenly he went from barely noticing her , to being at every soccer practice and game she had . he bought her the best soccer cleats he could afford , and pushed for her to win every game and score as many goals as possible . he went from not being very invested in mali , as the only girl in the family ( he didn’t know what to do with a girl ) , to being her number one fan

at first it was great . . but then . . her father got a little overbearing and controlling. if she didn’t make a shot , she could feel his disappointment radiating from a mile away . if she allowed someone to trip or foul her , her father would berate her in the car for not having been more intuitive . her father pushed her to be more and more competitive and the best she could be . mali still thoroughly loved soccer , but she started to find it slightly draining . 

whenever she had a second of time outside of studying , her father would be making her run drills or shoot goals in the backyard . she never really got a lot of time to be by herself or do stuff she wanted ( like just normal teenage girl stuff . . getting crushes on people , going to house parties , having her first beer . . ) 

mali has spent majority of her time either with her brothers and her father ( the entire house is pure chaos . messy . loud burping . video games . yelling across rooms to each other . there’s constant noise at all hours of the day ) , or hanging out with her fellow soccer team players ( sometimes they got along with mali , sometimes they saw her as too much of a ball hog or taking the game ‘ too seriously ‘ ) . mali hasn’t really had a chance to develop many friendships outside of this , and it’s beginning to really effect her 

mali has decided to take somewhat of a step back from soccer ( and the competitiveness of it ) , but she’s also not telling her father about that . mali misses having FUN with playing , instead of seeing it as a sport and chore .

she also wants to have the full college experience . her entire first year was dedicated to soccer and getting used to college and living out of home for the first time . this new independency is fantastic , but mali has no idea what to do with it . she wants to live . really live . really get the full experience .

mali really wants to be more ‘ feminine ‘ . she wants to know how to do boss eyeliner , and wear pretty dresses with heels . at the moment , her wardrobe consists of baggy sweaters , ripped jeans , and a lot of sweatpants . she finds woman to be so so beautiful . . but looks at herself and sees a Gremlin . . oh to be a Woman . . wow . . 

mali can be described as . . . very very blunt and loudmouthed . a bi disaster . chaotic and messy . competitive and driven , but also very blasé and careless at times ( reckless may be a better word ) . she’s very spontaneous , and always up for literally anything ( if u wanna get a burrito at 2am , mali will come . if you want to roadtrip across the state , mali will ride shotgun . she never says no ) 

mali is very sick of being seen as ‘ one of the dudes ‘ or ‘ one of the guys ‘ , she especially wants to be making more female friends and have more females in her life , because . . she’s literally never had many that weren’t on the soccer team with her , or her own competition !

connections ( but also pls i will fill any connection u WANT )

trainwreck meet trainwreck : give me two disaster bastards ! together they are absolute chaos ! they are very similair in that they are both abrasive and intense and very high energy . they usually will encourage each others bad behaviours or be somewhat of a bad influence to each other 

‘ one of the boys ‘ : give me a male friend who literally sees mali as another one of the guys . it irks mali sometimes and she has to remind them , hey  . . im a girl too , and they’re always like ‘ yeah but ur not a GIRL girl ‘ , and that lowkey grinds her gears . SHE WANTS TO BE A GIRL GIRL

soft females : please . . my god . . give me the softest sweetest gal to mali’s absolute demonic energy

soccer players : 100000% believe mali has challenged ur character to an impromptu game of soccer at one point . it doesn’t matter if ur not in the same league or team as mali . if u play soccer for even one second , she will want to size u up and try Beat u at it . 

childhood friends : i ain’t never seen two pretty childhood friends . . no i’m kidding , but i do love childhood friends so SO much

ride or die : I LOVE RIDE OR DIES . GIVE ME TWO PEOPLE WHO WOULD DO ANYTHING FOR EACH OTHER AT ANY TIME . THEY’D DROP ENTIRE WORLDS FOR EACH OTHER

siblings but not by blood : they bicker , they rant , they get frustrated . . but they always always come back to each other . they can call each other an asshole then text each other ten mins later and be like ‘ taco bell ? :) ‘ dskjnfdnjk

watch it , bitch : mali is . . a Lot . she’s very intense and loud , and she has no manners . she’s very competitive and aggressive at times and i completely understand why that isnt everyones cup of tea ! lets get some negative connections up in here !

bi bi bi : give me hookups . past . present .emerging . future . let mali be a hoe , she deserves it . she deserves the college experience

party in the usa : whos gonna introduce mali to alcohol n partying and having  a Wild As Heck night ?

outer banks : pls pls pls pls PLEASE give me an outer banks - esque squad . total idiots . absolute morons ..  there’s not a single brain cell between them  . . 

mali , you look like shit : please teach her how to not wear the same sweatshirt 10 days in a row . pls clean her up . pls show her how to be Pretty . make her over . . . i beg of u . . 

older sister : honestly kinda like the above plot but i’d love for a Wise Woman to just . . be a mentor and guide to mali and be an amazing friend to her 

GIRL SQUAD : i literally love female friendships so muhc . . its smth that can be so personal . . but really my god . give me and mali a bunch of females in her life , shes never really had that before and she Deserves it 

pain in my ass : they both irritate each other endlessly . they’re both too similair , maybe ,and that’s why they clash . a lot of it is ‘ harmless teasing ‘ and ‘ banter ‘ for the most part , but they literally fight like an old married couple around each other .

[raposarealm]

did you not understand the completely fine and not as all disappointing ending?

literally all a comatose dream??

the ending that definitely isnt bullshit???

I definitely caught that -- and to make it worse, I've played the Collector's version too, which had an even more bullshit ending. Back when I was still writing for the fandom, I noticed that the most common type of fic I saw were ending rewrites and extensions, so yeah, the ending's definitely bullshit.

I always chose to interpret the 'comatose dream' part as just confirming that there are multiple worlds/universes in canon, and that while Mike's body was comatose in his world, his mind had somehow taken form in the Raposas' world. I still don't have the best explanation for this, but it feels better than 'haha it was all a dream screw you' so

I wonder if The Next Chapter hit some development issues along the way that forced its writing to end the way it did -- it seems really rushed at the end, and kinda... nonsensical. Like, once the Turtlerock docks at the Wasteland, the story kinda falls apart. How is it that some characters can stand on colorless land and others can't? Why would Mari go after just Jowee and not as many as she could, given that she was trying to save her people? Hell, why didn't she just give the explanation of her betrayal in the first place?

And speaking of Jowee, it really hurt to see him just passively switch sides. He'd spent the majority of the game up to that point serving as the leader pro tempore for the villagers, since Mari leaves relatively early -- by the time they get to Lavasteam, Jowee's on his own, and we still have, like, two thirds of the plot to go! He gets so much character development from that point on, being forced into a position of authority that was so opposite to what he knew, and no longer having someone to lean on. He had to deal with not just his loss of Mari, but also having to effectively figure out who he was without her -- all while trying to keep the villagers calm, and while trying to save the areas where they landed. Jowee desires nothing more than to be a hero, and when he's given the opportunity, he realizes that balancing his ideals with the priority of keeping those under him safe was a lot more difficult than he expected. He learns to become a true leader by the time he lands on the shores of the Wasteland, but then... he sees Mari, gets nabbed by her, and then just heel-turn decides to go against all the progress he's worked so hard to make towards saving everyone. I get that by restoring all color to the world, the game implies that Mike would wake up, and therefore the Raposas' world would disappear. However, the fact that the game doesn't let us see Jowee confronting this information, the realization that his actions in attempt to save everyone had actually been condemning them... To have to then choose between following his morals and restoring the color and therefore setting Mike free, or saving everyone he knows and loves, including himself... Why didn't we get to see any of that?! That would have been such an amazing scene; and even if Jowee did make the same decision that he does canonically, it'd still now be justified, we'd see his reasoning for making that extremely tough call. I... Ok I know I wrote a lot about Jowee in particular but he's my favourite and also serves as sorta the 'protagonist' for most of the second game.

But the ending really feels super rushed. It feels like entire scenes are missing, like major plot points were left out because there was no more time to include anything else. Even just a confirmation that the Raposa still exist would have been preferable, but I guess we just can't have nice things, can we? I happen to know that both games were handled by the same writer, so it wasn't an author-switch issue, so all I can assume is that the game ran out of time or funding to deliver better ending. In fact, it might have even been originally meant to set up another sequel, but it got chopped off, and therefore the ending that was supposed to be a cliffhanger now just falls flat.

But this is all theory, and actually way too much theory wow how much did I write-

[shooks-stupid-stuff]

i have the text dump, it has lots of lore and will probably break the text limit-

SO BASICALLY JACIAN AND TAIANA SHIZ BASICALLY ALL I HAVE COME UP WITH FOR THEIR RELATIONSHIP AND PLOT STUFF AND YES-

so basically they first meet in act 1 of the main plot (tm) which is really just adventure to go stop odd thing thats happening (idk exactly what atm but thats not really important).  Jarcian is basically a knight whos working for an unknown(at the time, we'll get to it later) person, and he has been tasked with impeding the progress of the main group.  how does he plan to do this? well, despite literally having troops at his disposal (who all adore him and are 100% loyal to him, they love their goofy captain), of course he challenges the main character group to a one on one duel, because he is just a goofy villain who fights fair and lives by his honor.  Of course Taiana accepts his challenge, being a knight herself, and they proceed to have a draw.  Out of respect, and because he's lowkey thrilled that someone has taken him seriously for once, Jacian concedes and retreats for the time being, but not before he and Taiana declare each other to be rivals (with like 75% of the main group just being so done with both of them and wanting to leave).  They have a few more encounters after this, with taiana always insisting that they take up his challenge fairly rather than just like have everyone defeat his forces because she feels he's not a bad guy and actually at this point considers him a friend, and after a while Jacian begins to think that he might be developing feelings for Taiana, which he really doesnt know how to feel about so he consults his second in command, Anton (short for Anthony; this man is just a side character but he is like the best side character ever and im 100% giving him a unique design bc he's just like the most supportive dude ever-). i plan on making a short comic based off the conversation they have but basically Jacian has his suspicions confirmed, and goes full panic attack and sad mode bc oops literal forbidden love this is so sad : pensive : .  There are like 2 more encounters between the main group and Jacian's group, both of which Jacian is just like being very obvious on accident but taiana has no idea what a social cue is so she just doesnt pick up on any of it, and then major plot shit happens and we're onto part 2.

in part 2, things get kinda angsty and really can split off in 2 different directions, with one being significantly less angsty than the other. basically, shit goes down, and all 3 of the main kingdoms are all just kinda in conflict now.  Taiana ends up becoming the queen of her kingdom (called Serenia) and, despite her appearingly newfound confidence and leadership skills, she is internally in turmoil due to previous plot events (and this only gets worse with future ones) and is beginning to fall into a state of self doubt due to the pressure she puts on herself to protect everyone coupled with the fact that she cant, and failed to protect her own father and brother.  After a bit of rebuilding and strategizing, Taiana decides to lead a counterattack against the neighboring kingdom of Grysia who's king, Natalio, has basically backstabbed every other kingdom and had invaded Serenia while the main group was out doing other stuff (his son is also part of the main group, and some real shit happens there but thats another tale for another ramble-).  It turns out that Jacian serves him, and is having one hell of a moral struggle right now.  His knights honor forbids him from betraying his lord, but he's unsure if he's truely doing the right thing as he's been complacent to so many inhumane atrocities that Natalio has preformed.  But in the end he decides that he must stick to his duty to the very end, no matter what (and let me just say, once natalio shows his true colors he does some bad shit, like really damn bad. but again, another disscussion for another day).  Eventually, the main group is pretty much on the castle's doorstep, and so Natalio makes the decision to send Jacian to put a stop to them. More specifically, to their leader, who at this point is Taiana.  Jacian of course, really doesnt want to (but as he later figures out, Natalio knows of his crush and plans on having the two destroy each other, with the result of one being killed and the other being emotionally destroyed. as I said, natalio is a very bad man), but his duty commands that he must, and so he tells Anton to make sure his troops escape the conflict together, and heads off to his final duel, where he intends to head to his grave and take his secret with him.  When he confronts the main group, he is much more solemn than he normally is, and he challenges Taiana to one final duel. and despite every other duel they had resulting in a draw, this one results in a loss from Jacian.  As a final wish, Jacian begs Taiana to take his life, as he'd rather die at her hands than at Natalios.

now, since im thinking about the plot in terms of it being a game, there actually is a branch in the plot based on a choice made at this point (mainly bc the angsty one is more interesting character development wise but the not angsty one makes me happy and i want to see these 2 be happy together-). so the two choices are basically to take Jacian's life, or to spare him.  ill go over what each choice leads to in order.

choose to take his life:  Taiana tries to take Jacian's life, but she just can't bring herself to.  She already internally feels as if she's lost or come close to losing many of the peopleshe holds dear, and she could never bring herself to kill someone she considers a friend.  Seeing this, Jacian smiles before apologizing to her for everything, and thanking her for the joy she's brought him, before telling her he loves her and taking his own life via stabbing his sword through his chest.  His intent is to save her the pain of taking his life by ding it for him, but this ends up pushing her over the edge, as she blames herself and sees it as yet another failure to protect someone she cared about.  The main group ends up defeating natalio and liberating Grysia, but Taiana is left with menatl and emotional wounds that would leave her unstable for much of the remaining plot. it doesnt help that she eventually realizes that she loved him too.  His former troops, which had deserted the war just as he asked, end up joining the Serenian military, with Anton becoming the captain of the knights.  This mainly leads to alot of character development for taiana, and how she learns to cope with and accept the fact that she cant protect everyone, no matter how much she wants to.  (there also is another really angsty part later bc main villian has some bs powers but uhh we've had enough sad i thinkand this is getting really long-)

choose to spare him:  Taiana refuses to take Jacian's life, to which Jacian retorts that she had to if she wanted to get past.  Of course, she once again refuses as she wont harm someone she cares about, especially when she's already lost people she cares about and is really close to just losing it.  She then states that if one of them had to die, the he should take he life, much to his dismay.  She stands firm on this, and he attempts, but his feelings finally overpower his sense of duty, and he just cant.  but at the same time, his honor won't let him betray his lord, and if he goes back he will just be killed.  He and taiana argue a bit, with taiana trying to convince him to join her before finally breaking down and just letting out everything she's had pent up inside since the the end of part 1 of the plot (different story for a different day)  Jacian lets out some emotional baggage of his own, including confessing his feelings for taiana,which she is completely surprised about.  They talk and mildly argue for a bit more, with Jacian eventually surrendering to his feelings, and vowing to right the wrongs made by his complacency before thanking Taiana for helping him to remember why he became a knight in the first place, and abandoning his old sense of honor to take up arms with the main group and find a new sense of honor, fighting for the people as taiana does rather than just for one corrupt man.  Natalio really isnt suprised by this, and simply says that he'll send them both to the grave by his own hands, before being defeated by the main group with the help of Jacian's troops because yknow, theyre loyal to Jacaian before theyre loyal to the king.  During the 6-year skip between part 2 and 3, Taiana and Jacian end up getting married, and similarly to the other option Anton is appointed captaianof the Serentian Knights, and remains a close friend to Jacian (along with the rest of his troops, theyre his bois).  This mainly leads to more development of Jacian and how he interacts with the other charcaters in the main group, as well as him helping taiana to cope with many of her insecurities and issues, and offering support in a way that none of the other characters in the main group can (i meant to not this earlier as well, she may be very close to other characters as well, such as xayvion, but they just dont understand certain aspects of her personality deep down as well as Jacian does. The two are just a pair of overly excessive goofy knights, and though they may be slightly different they understand each other in a way no one else does).

and uhh thats basically it, this was way more than i meant to write and i really need to go to sleep now so uh yeet- anyways i love these 2, thank you for coming to my ted talk-