#civil war onwards doesn’t exist to me

[audreydoeskaren]

History of Chinese standing collars (part 3: post republican era)

Quick recap: I was debating with myself whether “Mandarin collar” should be a thing because standing collars throughout Chinese history looked different. I went through the Ming and Qing dynasties in part 1 and the republican era in part 2, now I’ll look at what comes after that. I numbered the styles in parts 1 and 2 but they’re only guidelines so you don’t have to remember anything.

So in this post we’ve kind of reached the end of the era where fashion consisted of a single silhouette in any given year and all hell ran loose. I’m having a lot of difficulties classifying things as Chinese or Western because the distinction is really blurred, and I also ran into problems explaining why certain historical European things looked so similar to Chinese ones so there will also be a lot of confusion. 

1950s & 60s Chinese application

Summary of 1950s fashion, mainland and others.

Because of the communist victory in the Civil War, fashion in the mainland was different to other (capitalist) areas populated by the Chinese diaspora such as Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan etc.. Let’s look at capitalist area fashion first; I’ll be referring to Hong Kong because Hong Kong was the center of cheongsam making at the time.

Collars on 50s Hong Kong cheongsam grew taller on the basis of collar style 10 but retained the rounded, tapering edge, resulting in a v shape gap down the middle that weirdly recalls collar style 6 from part 1 and part 2. It’s basically completely identical to collar style 6 but stiffened and extremely form fitting. It’s usually closed with one pankou at the base but because of westernization, 50s cheongsam often had no visible pankou----everything is closed with snap buttons, zippers or hooks and eyes/bars. An important aspect of collars of 50s and 60s Hong Kong cheongsam is that they left out the binding around the neck. All cheongsam prior to this point were bound around the exterior edge, the side closure, the slits and the collar seam (on the bodice not the collar), 50s cheongsam collars purposefully neglected the binding at the collar seam for some reasons. This makes the collar look like it’s one continuous piece of fabric with the bodice, which it isn’t. A lot of modern representation of cheongsam or any Chinese inspired clothing (in video games, books and anime etc.) do this, even if the character is from before the 1950s. It REALLY bugs me. If you are an artist or writer and designing costumes for Chinese characters prior to the 50s, please include binding/trimmings on all three seams, it’s an easy way to bump up historical accuracy. With that said, completely plain collars without any binding or trim was actually the most common. Let’s call this collar style 13.

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1954 photograph of Li Lihua and Clark Gable. Collar style 13 with stiffening and no collar seam binding. You can see how firm and neck hugging the collar is, contrary to a lot of modern cheongsam collars which are saggy and loose.

The popularity of collar style 13 continued into the 60s. When the cheongsam fell out of popularity, it ceased to exist as well.

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60s cheongsam with collar style 13. I’m really not a fan of the nude/light lipstick trend of the 60s, like, as a person with no lip color definition it makes me look like a potato.

Now moving on to mainland collars. In the 1950s, cheongsam with the 40s collar style 12 were still occasionally seen, but the fashionable collar shape also became taller and was similar to the Hong Kong collar style 13. Interestingly, some 50s mainland cheongsam retained the binding around the collar seam, making them look more “traditional” in a sense. However, collars both with and without collar seam binding existed and it was just a matter of personal preference.

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1950s photograph of a mainland lady in cheongsam. The collar is taller and closes with one button, much like Hong Kong collars of the era, but the neck binding is present.

Aoku robe collars from the 1940s onward mostly had the 40s style low collar, although in the 50s and 60s they rose in height very slightly.

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1964 poster showing a girl in aoku, the robe has a low, rounded collar.

However, garments with a standing collar became worn a lot less frequently in the 50s and 60s in both mainland and non-mainland areas, since a lot of people adopted Western fashion.

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1950s photograph of a group of mainland people wearing jackets of Western construction. Some of them seem to be wearing informal military jackets, commonly known as “Mao suit” or “Zhongshan suit” nowadays, with folded collars.

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1950s photograph of some women in Malaysia, some in cheongsam and some in Western New Look dresses.

Western application

I think it’s also quite important to discuss how Chinese standing collars were perceived by Western designers, because the Western fashion industry does hold a lot more power globally and also reverse influenced Chinese collar designs in the post 1960s era. So, in the 1950s and 60s Western designers thought cheongsam was really cool and produced a lot of affordable sewing patterns for their versions of cheongsam. I think this is also because pre-1950s cheongsam didn’t use the Western construction method and patterns needed to be individually drafted so it was difficult to make mass produced sewing patterns. From all the sewing patterns I have seen personally, the super tall standing collar popular in Hong Kong was not really appreciated by Western designers at all?? Western cheongsam sewing patterns all had the very low 1940s style collar, combined with an hourglass silhouette New Look bodice and skirt, looking rather anachronistic. These collars also didn’t have binding/trim around the collar seam, in line with fashionable Hong Kong cheongsam of the day. 

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1950s Advance sewing pattern for cheongsam. The collar is low and has rectangular edges, something about a decade out of fashion in Hong Kong and Shanghai. No collar seam binding.

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1950s Simplicity sewing pattern for cheongsam. Likewise with super low 1940s collars. Collarless cheongsam died in China in the mid 1920s, yet it lives on in the imagination of Western designers. By the way, the frog closures with a quatrefoil shape are not Chinese, I’m gonna write another post about this. I love the look in the middle it’s very glam.

1970s and later

The post 1960s era is what ultimately created the confusion around standing collars nowadays. Around this time Western and Chinese fashions started to merge and become one, and garments made completely in the historical Chinese method were more and more difficult to come by; Western construction techniques reigned supreme. 

From the 70s onward, most “Chinese collars” had the 40s rounded edge shape but were either medium low or medium height. The lack of collar seam binding persisted into the current day, which is something I kind of lament because without this binding collars easily read as Renaissance doublet... (more on that later)

I usually avoid calling any standing collars from the 1970s onward Chinese/Mandarin because 1) standing collars were never a uniquely Chinese thing to begin with 2) since cheongsam was no longer fashionable among actual Chinese people, designers who made cheongsam pulled all kinds of shenanigans without any historical precedent whatsoever. Also, since clothes with structured/stiffened standing collars stopped being a staple in the average Western person’s wardrobe, white people started calling everything with the most remote hint of a standing collar Chinese to further stir the pot, emboldened by the cultural appropriation craze of the 60s and 70s. Ok that’s very loaded, but it’s true that in the 60s and 70s there was a lot of Western clothing designs that took inspiration from other cultures without permission. Westerners could totally design and wear Chinese style clothing given that the intention is respectful and they know about the garment in question, but a lot of times the accuracy of the designs leaves much to be desired. There was also a lot of Orientalist inspiration in the 10s and 20s but the borrowing back then wasn’t so... literal. When I look at so called cheongsam sewing patterns from the 70s onward, I sometimes seriously have trouble identifying if something is meant to be Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Polynesian or any other region/culture...

I’ll just find pictures of Chinese inspired clothing from the 70s onward with a “Mandarin collar” label and point out their source of inspiration.

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1972 Simplicity sewing pattern for cheongsam. It’s the same Western collar from the 50s and 60s just slightly taller. Oh and the closures used on the two designs in the middle are again likely not pankou. After the 60s, this neck design with a oval shape keyhole cutout became quite common and that persisted to the current day. Don’t know what the purpose of that was, just because you show 5 square centimeters more skin doesn’t mean your cheongsam is sexier?

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The description of this 70s Simplicity pattern says “Mandarin collar” but the source of inspiration is obviously Japanese military/school uniforms, AGAIN. The collar’s height and rectangular edges, combined with the placement of buttons above the waist on the bodice, everything about this reads as Japanese. The frog closures on the left are once again European and not Chinese pankou (sheesh I really need to make this other post). The original designer probably meant for it to be Japanese but the seller mistakenly labelled it a Mandarin collar design. 

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70s Teresa Teng (rest in power legend) in a theatrical cheongsam with a similar collar, either a stretched version of the 40s collar or a shrunk version of the 50s/60s one.

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Google search result for “Mandarin collar dress”. Same Western low collar from the 70s. A new problem with modern mass produced cheongsam is that the collar oftentimes doesn’t fit the wearer and appears too baggy. Or maybe it’s not mass production, just that people nowadays are very unaccustomed to wearing tight fitting standing collars so they assume there needs to be some extra space? As someone who wears stiff standing collars on a regular basis I have to say it actually isn’t uncomfortable at all and elongates your neck a lot better. This is what most cheongsam collars nowadays look like, even the self proclaimed “traditional” ones, they literally originated from 1950s/60s Western sewing pattern companies’ interpretation of contemporary Chinese cheongsam collars.

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Baidu search result for “Mandarin collar suit”. This, is, literally, almost a replica Japanese uniform. The seller is also using the tag Zhongshan suit lmao (I’ve explained in my 1950s mainland post what a Zhongshan suit is not supposed to look like), delusion is not a fragrance I guess. Why is it so hard to let Japan be Japan and China be China??

Conclusion & afterthought

Another thing I need to mention is that standing collars are by no means unique to Chinese historical dress; they were also widely used in European historical fashion, long before standing collars became worn with uniforms of “Mandarins” or Chinese officials, which further proves my point that “Mandarin collar” is not a valid term. Also, standing collars in Europe have always been stiffened/structured, whereas Chinese collars only started to become stiffened around the 1890s, possibly due to European influence as well. For example, the 1950s collar with rounded edges and no collar seam binding reads as European Renaissance doublet very easily. To be fair though, a lot of the collar shapes seen in early 20th century Chinese womenswear had been done before in European Renaissance fashion and during that time period in China only the OG Ming Dynasty collar mentioned in part 1 was used sooooooo

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1630-40 English doublet. The collar looks mighty similar to 1930s Chinese women’s ones. I know next to nothing about Renaissance fashion so I’m not sure how it’s constructed, but it proves the point that collars like these were not a uniquely Chinese phenomenon.

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Meanwhile the Mandarins in China. He’s wearing a crossover collar robe underneath a round collar robe, no standing collar here.

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1780s French men’s coat with a standing collar.

Standing collars were also commonly used in Victorian and Edwardian women’s everyday fashion without any connection to China whatsoever.

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1860s fashion plate for a gown with a low standing shirt collar peeking underneath. 

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1887 fashion plate from the Journal des Demoiselles. Bustle gowns with standing collars.  

Bonus rant

I have come to the actual point of this series of posts, to answer the question: should “Mandarin collar” be a thing? In which case I’m gonna have to go with no. In the three posts I made on the topic I categorized a total of 13 collar styles, each distinct from each other and some being inspired by Western clothing, and showed that the use of the term “Mandarin collar” nowadays is very vague and ambiguous. I don’t understand why people in the fashion industry give my ancestors all the credits for a design feature as basic and common as a standing collar... Maybe it’s a marketing gimmick like how Sternhalma (a German board game) is advertised in the US as “Chinese checkers”?? Or maybe it shows that a lot of fashion designers lack a basic understanding of historical fashion? Either way it makes no sense. I think the concept is also slightly offensive since it simply ignores the diversity of actual historical Chinese standing collar designs, kind of reinforcing the racist stereotype that non-white fashion histories are static and never changing.

If I do have to pick a most traditional/iconic style of Chinese standing collar, I would go with either the original Ming Dynasty soft collar with metal buttons or the 1940s short collar with collar seam binding used on aoku, cheongsam, changshan and magua. In the mainland Chinese countryside, the 1940s style collar was preserved and actually still made today, but in the post-Mao era it became increasingly seen by the mainland population as 土 (a derogatory term for Chinese folk stuff meaning tacky or cringy) compared to the exciting new Western fashions being imported at the time. As a result, more traditional items of clothing like aoku for women, changshan and magua for men were neglected in favor of more westernized cheongsam designs, leading to some cursed contraptions.

Maybe this is a hot take, I personally really don’t vibe with the concept of 土 because it’s very loaded and usually the gateway drug to massive internalized racism. I’ve heard so many people bash aoku and magua constructed in the historical method and put post-60s Western inspired cheongsam on a pedestal even though the former is grounded in history and the latter is an Orientalist mess. There is nothing wrong with making aoqun, aoku, magua, changshan, cheongsam or any other historical item of clothing in the historically accurate method, they’re charming in their own ways and don’t need to be “modified”. In my opinion, the puckering under the armpits caused by the lack of a shoulder seam and the rounded shoulders are what makes historical Chinese clothing beautiful to begin with :3 I think there’s something inherently modern and authentic in the pedantic, antiquarian pursuit of historical clothing, like you know how whenever a revival happens it actually brings something new to the table? It’s not problematic to wear modern cheongsam designs per se, it’s just important to keep in mind that it doesn’t have much to do with actual Chinese history and represents more of the status quo of Chinese fashion nowadays.

Ok I’m going off the collar track but it’s time to finish this post. Thank you for reading, and as I mentioned, the next post will be about Chinese pankou. I’m almost finished with that one as well and I’m really excited with what I have planned next :D

[phenomenalcosmicpowers]

MY LITTLE PONY: A NEW GENERATION (G5 Movie) THOUGHTS

It’s finally here. The beginning of Generation 5. Though before I get into the movie in some detail I’m going to reiterate one more time what G5 means for my content and a non-spoilery summary of the movie.

Again, I will say that the movie nor will the G5 series coming later have much of an effect at all on any of my blogs. The revelation in Secrets of the Dragon’s Tear that life itself is also magic means that a world that implied to have no magic for years would mean the extinction of all life (Perhaps resulting in the wasteland we saw in the Season 5 finale). There may be something I’ll probably do at some point on a certain different blog. But even then, that may likely be a one-time thing and probably come around the time the series is starting to air.

That said, just because I’m continuing with mainly G4 content doesn’t mean I disapprove of G5. In fact, my non-spoilers thoughts on the movie is I think it is a good start for this new generation. There are questions I have that I’m not sure will be answered (Though many of those questions are the same ones I had in my Trailer/Preliminary thoughts) quickly enough. But the movie is structured well enough, in fact it’s probably a better movie as a whole compared to any of the movies G4 had (The 2017 movie, Rainbow Roadtrip, and all 4 Equestria Girls movies). As the 2017 movie was fun, but it jumped around a lot, sometimes scenes transitioning too fast. And while Rainbow Roadtrip may have been this on purpose, the entirely slice-of-life story taking up a long length… made it something of a less interesting plot to follow. It feels like some of that special could of been cut to at least a two-parter length and keep the same beats they hit. And while i have a soft spot for the 3rd and 4th Equestria Girls movies, I’ll always say a full-length pony adventure feels better suited for what I want to see out of MLP then spin-off movies with high school movie cliches and weird pony/human world shenanigans.

So movie-wise I’m not a G4 purist. It’ll take some time to see how Gen 5 compares to Friendship is Magic when we get to the series. As I feel it’d take a lot for it to surpass G4 in my mind. But I’m going to try to be as fair as possible and judge on it’s own merits. The implied connection to G4 by referring to G4 being ancient Equestria is going to naturally get the staff and hasbro pressured by fans to tell us what happened in-between the generations. Because that’s the trap they put the writers in when they made it so they want to try to say it’s in the same universe. That’s the double-edged sword Hasbro chose to have, trying to appease the G4 fanbase and keep at least some of them around. But at the cost of questions both nitpicky (Such as character design being inconsistent) or actual honest questions that need to be known (Why did magic disappear, and what happened to the Alicorns) for some of us to truly see this as the same Equestria.

After the break, I’ll have more spoilery thoughts

Even for a brief moment, it was nice seeing the Mane 6 and 2D animation. The former because of course those are the ponies many of us that saw all of G4 loved. And the latter, because while the animation wasn’t bad in this movie. I’m one of those who’d prefer to have 2D animation in an animated film. As in most cases aside from Pixar, it’s just a strong preference of mine. If this had the animation of the 2017 MLP movie but otherwise everything else was generally the same here, I feel that would of have been great.

I wish they didn’t have to have Sunny’s dad die off-screen, as he seems like he could of been a compelling character. And not to mention if perhaps he has any connection the “ancient” days in any fashion. But *sigh* I get it, it’s an old trope where part of the character’s offscreen growth is not having their parent(/s) around.

On a side note there’s quite a few times during the beginning of the movie that somewhat foreshadow what happens to Sunny later. 3 times where she had a fake horn and wings on her. Once in the flashback, then 2 separate times when she’s doing her protest where she has her own costumed wings and horn. As well as the helmet and mechanical wings.

Also, there’s no way around it. Some of the discussions this movie are going to get quite political. (Namely one part of Sunny’s song that could be seen as having a double meaning of a jab at Trumpsts regarding “Building your wall”) From the very premise in the early times, we know that the inspiration for the story was last year’s Black Lives Matter protests. Which honestly, I do support the message they’re going for. Having an anti-racism message to tell kids from the very beginning and making a focus on it is important when in G4 it only got briefly touched upon in Bridle Gossip and the Heath’s Warming Eve play. Although it certainly rose up to some form of prominence with Season 8 and onward. Still, while you can argue if G4 executed the anti-racism message well. it does come with something of a problem that the series finale left Equestria in the least divided it’s ever been.

And personally, I feel it’s a terrible interpretation of time to say “Well, it’s a realistic take. Racism has existed for years in our world. Same should go for the ponies” and while yes, racism is still rampant in today’s world. That said, that ignores that if we went from The Last Problem to the start of G5. There’s a huge difference between our world and Equestria. There is no ancient civilization that we look at like “Yeah, those were the golden days of world peace” when normally the “Golden age” was reserved for the high classes of Ancient Greece or Rome. It was most decidedly not perfect, with slavery rampant and wars for the sake of expanding an empire. While if you look at The Last Problem’s Equestria, you not only have peace between the three main types of ponies. But you literally have non-pony citizens in Equestria. You can see a dragon handing off a flower to a pony which can imply cross-species romantic relations. With the Friendship school still going strong, and was the reason that the world was saved in The Ending of the End. While perhaps it may be too glowing to say that future is perfect for everyone even in-universe. It’s certainly a hell of a lot better outlook then comparing to how we view even the so called Golden age of ancient civilizations. The Last Problem’s Equestria implies it looks to ally with every country outside of Equestria, not conquer them.

So it should still be a valid question on just how this world collapses to the point it gets to where G5 is at the start. I at least assume that it’s not the fault at all of any of the Mane 6 nor Twilight. Or at least I hope it isn’t, as I’d rather the MLP fanbase not have to deal with a The Last Jedi Luke Skywalker situation. (Where after the joyful end of the original trilogy, things go wrong as Luke almost murders the son of one of his best friends and his sister despite trying to hard and succeeding at redeeming his father who at that point in the canon was a galaxy-wide known ruthless mass-murderer.) I assume we’re at a point where everyone of the Mane 6 sans maybe Twilight are presumed dead. And even in Twilight’s case, there’s a chance that G5 decides to say that G4 overestimated the whole Alicorn immortality thing. Though I wouldn’t put it past Hasbro to have some event where the Mane 5 of G5 meet the Mane 6 in some special event whether that’s a a Season finale or a sequel movie/special. Where either the Mane 6 return in a limbo situation similar to the Pillars at the end of Season 7 or Time travel gets involved. They may even string us along on answering just what in the heck happened until they involve a meet-up with the Mane 6 in that way. Though I hope they don’t, I’d really like the beginning of the series (Or I guess this supposed special coming up in Spring supposedly?) starts to answer some questions. G5 should get a chance to stand on it’s own, but I hope the writers are actually well aware there will be so many questions people have and address them in the show. A cynical part of me feels like they’re likely to string us along until at least the Season 1 finale.

Onto the characters for a bit. I think Izzy Moonbow was absolutely the most stand-out character in the whole movie. She was energetic, funny, and aside from “The pegasi are bad news” she along with Zipp and Sunny were the most averse to the way the world was. She was already the most popular due to the tennis ball memes. But now it feels like she legit stands on her own and most certainly deserves to be the most popular character of G5 thus far. Behind her in a bit of a surprise to me was Zipp, who I thought would be mainly a Rainbow Dash-expy. Though she really helps out Izzy and Sunny in Zephyr Heights. Despite having Twilight be my favorite pony from the very beginning of G4 all the way to the end, I didn’t feel as strongly about Sunny for some reason. So she’s in the middle of the pack, she could grow on me later. I just don’t know if I click with her as much as I did with Twilight. As for the last two, while I don’t hate either of them. Either one could be the lowest of the 5 for one reason or another. Pipp (Although I will say she's probably my favorite character design out of the 5) feels like she doesn’t do a whole lot in the movie and it takes until she’s forced to be an outlaw because the other choice was to get imprisoned like her mother was. So she may come off as quite pretentious, though it’s arguable Rarity was the same way early in G4. But she definitely grew later. Could be the same case for Pipp. And as for Hitch, he has shining moments in the film. But what might hurt him is the fact he was such a bad friend to Sunny up until the campfire scene. “I’m the last real friend you have. You really want to lose me too?” is not a healthy friendship. Hitch may have been Sunny’s friend the longest, but it definitely feels like Izzy connected immediately. I don’t know if this show will get into shipping any of the main characters between each other mid-show, but if they do. I hope it’s between Izzy and Sunny currently, cause Hitch and Sunny just gives bad vibes even with Hitch getting better later.

None of the songs I felt were particularly too special. Though I think the closest was Sprout’s “Danger, Danger” song that has similarities to Smells Like Teen Spirit in some parts of the song since I tend towards more rock/metal-esque music.

I touched upon it earlier, but there’s perhaps a stand-out reason for why the G5 movie outdid the 2017 MLP Movie. They have the typical “Our heroic group splits after a sad moment before coming together again for the climatic good end” in Sunny seeing that that the two crystals don’t instantly bring magic back, and when Twilight left the group after an argument that happened with Twilight trying to take a pearl. They perform the same purpose in the movie. But the crystals not working, crushing Sunny’s hope for a little while works better into the story. Where as Twilight’s part frustratingly brought the sea pony scene to an end too quickly and/or doesn’t feel right of Twilight to have done that. It felt forced in the 2017 movie, but works out in the G5 movie. Especially since a part of it is that it’s not the crystals themselves capable of bringing magic back. But it’s the journey going after the crystals that brings the ponies themselves their magic back.

Just a small note on dictator Sprout, he tries to cause a war. Though admittedly the film seems to treat him as a joke the entire time despite his seriously evil ambitions. With the only repercussions is he gets a wishy-washy answer on if he was a good sheriff from his mom. I don’t quite know how I feel about that yet, but I wonder what they’ll have in mind for Sprout given his actions. He and his mom are the only ones that feel like a true antagonist. Though they seem to be ok with things fast when the magic comes back.

But anyway on to the ending, we see that Sunny becomes an Alicorn. Which I guess with no other real Alicorns around, I guess it makes sense to alicornify her since she’s the real leader behind what united the leaders of each type of pony again. Though there is of course this weird thing where her horn and wings don’t seem like as much a part of her body compared to very obvious connected wings on Twilight when she got hers. Sunny keeps her horn and wings to the end of the movie, and has colored streaks in her hair. Though I do wonder if that;s truly permanent. If it is permanent, I suppose at least they got to have a headstart and have it established at the end of the introductory movie rather then have it shock people at the end of a shortened 3rd season. I still feel like Twilight had well earned her alicornhood considering that besides what she did in the series. She has a whole childhood and time as a teenager learning under Celestia. Which had to mean something, and I’m not sure Celestia just leaving her to live the rest of her days with her friends in ponyville was that. Sunny has no doubt been trying countless time to try to spread friendship throughout her life even after the tragedy of her father’s passing. So there’s no doubt she’s been through a lot, and may indeed be worthy of being an Alicorn at this point. Though in terms of screentime before Alicornhood it's definitely a lot less then Twilight had. And it is at least nice to see that it is possible for non-unicorns to become one. (The only case of that we sort of got was a children's book that may or may not be canon that implied Cadence was a pegasus before she ascended)

Though you have to wonder if the visual differences such as Sunny’s alicorn horn and wings, the cutie mark only on one side (Yes I know that’s how it was normally in the MLP generations before G4. But a distinct visual difference between shows is still noticeable even if the context of G4’s cutie marks on both sides of the flank was about it being easier on the puppets for Flash), and how animals can have wings or weird round shapes such as those bunnies when G4 has normal looking animals. There’s enough striking visual differences for any nitpicky G4 to say “This isn’t the same Equestria”. And if someone tries to say maybe some sort of evolution happened. That’s still trying to put a little too much real world logic on this fantasy world. And evolution tends to take millions of years to have such dramatic changes. Not 1000 years or so, there should still be normal looking animals at this point and time. And these small details are probably going to be the things most ignored but nonetheless can build a case that this isn’t the same Equestria. Even if they touch on the important questions like how magic disappeared and what happened to the Mane 6, there will be details they make different that will add to the case that this is it’s own universe if it doesn’t quite matchup with what was remembered about G4. There will be fans who will be that nitpicky to call G5 out of continuity for small details like that. That is again the trap they put themselves in when they decided to try to say it’s the same Equestria.

All-in-all though, I think that’s at least a good enough chunk about my thoughts on the movie to end off here. If there’s something I missed or something from the movie you’d like me to give a particular opinion about or elaborate on something feel free to ask me here. G5 is indeed off to a good start, just I will be along the many hoping some questions get answered sooner then later. And I’m not sure I’m confident in getting anywhere until a Season finale or a 2nd movie. And it’ll be a year before the series starts proper (Though again I guess there’s a 44 minute special coming in Spring to try to hold us over). But I could definitely see G5 finding it's own following, now there's just the inevitable clashes between some of the more vocal fans of each generation bickering at eachother. But hoping there will be enough that take the movie's lessons on divisiveness to heart and be able to enjoy both even if there may be preferences.

[kanchelsis]

If you wrote the Nikolai Duology, how would you change it? You have some good ideas!

aaaaaa thank you!! people have been so lovely about my salty post ghsfjks i'm kissing you all on the cheek 💕

to answer your question, i think it might be less about what i would do, and more about what i wouldn't do. i'll make some bullet points and say whatever comes to mind.

(to be honest, the idea of nikolai having his own duology has lost its appeal to me, which is sad because i adore him. i just believe he's a better side character than main, and there are more interesting grishaverse stories waiting to be told. but let's work on the assumption that i have to keep the basic pillars of the books and not just throw away the whole concept.)

ok so... zoya. i would take her in a completely different direction than lb did. i love a good morally ambiguous character, so i wouldn't just erase that - what drew me to her in tgt was her stubbornness, her shallowness, her capacity for petty cruelty, but also her determination and confidence. we can't just have her holding one of the most powerful positions in ravka and everyone just accepting that. not only does she need to have doubters, the doubters need to have a point.

we have a ruthless young woman, a soldier no less, suddenly needing to utilise diplomacy to protect an entire country. make her screw up. make her uncompromising and callous. make her human. don't expect her to step into this role seamlessly just so unlimited power can be handed to her on a silver platter.

if she has to be an ultrapowerful grisha, it's so much more logical to make her work for it. to hell with the saints on the fold stuff, what even was that?? lb tells us that everything we thought about grisha power is wrong, but 1) throws away the really cool magic system she made and 2) doesn't replace it with anything else. just let zoya be a squaller, not a dragon-saint-chosen-one or whatever.

writing this has kinda made me sad, since zoya could've been amazing, but anyway. onwards to nikolai.

this is the nikolai duology. if he's giving his name to the series i expect him to be the central character. i'd want his main struggle to surround identity and an uncertain future - who is nikolai, underneath the charm and flirtation? there could be an internal war between the demon, carefree sturmhond and the duty-bound king of ravka. both he and zoya are faced with a disarrayed court filled with people who don't think they have what it takes to lead.

there are so many nonsensical subplots in the duology that... fizzle into nothing. cut it down. pick a few things to focus on and give them the detail they deserve.

speaking of, the cult of the starless! lb took what could've been a source of endless interest and turned it into a bland caricature. we get it ma'am, you hate the darkling. but the problem is that the darkling's root motive gets conveniently glossed over in favour of character bashing. he wanted a safe world for grisha. that still doesn't exist. there's a tidbit about grisha no longer being forced to join the second army, but that was not the issue at hand at all? they're not going to know how to use their powers. they're still going to face discrimination.

so onto my point, what if the cult of the starless was predominantly grisha? those who feel let down by the world around them, who see the darkling as a martyr for a reason. now THAT would be something to contend with. a physical consequence for the events of tgt. put them next to people like genya and nikolai who intimately understand the harm the darkling has done, and you've got a badass subplot going there.

plus, imagine zoya spotting old friends and comrades amongst the starless. angst potential. also, yuri's treatment in the books pisses me off so much - lb wants us to see him as a foolish annoyance, but this kid literally marched the religious sect that he leads right up to the gates of os alta. now top that off with grisha powers (inferni would be cool) and you have a way more threatening character.

zoyalai. right, ok. what irks me about these two is that their so-called banter and pining go nowhere. we get some half-hearted justifications for them not being together, and the narrative completely overlooks zoya's comments about him in the trilogy. let's fix this.

maybe they could start off professional around each other, somewhat cold. until at some point, they begin an exclusively physical affair, just fwb and nothing more. i think this could work given the fact they're both flirty and materialistic. the stakes would be that if the court found out, their reputations would be significantly tarnished, yet neither are willing to stop. as they spend more time together, feelings blossom. they're no longer the demon king and squaller general to each other. they just want to be nikolai and zoya, yet both are too proud to make the first move. let the pining commence.

either that or give nikolai a new love interest. wasn't there a line in kos that joked that nikolai would be prone to falling in love with a palace maid? the potential spice of his love interest being someone with zero political standing, someone like dominik. a fellow pirate or even a starless member.

i don't even know what to say about nina. i was devastated over her treatment. there really do need to be more stories where a character who has lost a lover moves on and finds love again, but matthias is quite literally freshly buried when she meets her new boo. that's a major disservice to the potential of hanne's character as well. i'm kinda in favour of scrapping nina's whole plot. it would need a colossal amount of overhaul to work and even though i'm enjoying sharing my ideas, i don't have time to think about that.

same goes for isaac and mayu. either scrap it or give it the attention it needs.

i'm aware this is very kos-centric, but kos is the root of my issues and row is just an extension of that.

MOST IMPORTANTLY: no darkling return. no alina and mal. this story has been told and wrapped up. please don't cheapen it by going back and contradicting tgt. no gratuitous, shoehorned crow cameos either.

that's that about that, i guess!! i apologise for any spelling or grammatical errors, i wrote this rather quickly. i know this isn't gonna be for everyone. that's alright. i just ask people to civil about it and if discussion is going to be had, don't take things in bad faith. sorry anon this got long af.

[the-bafflement-of-scotland-yard]

I love that fic you write recently so much I am jumping up and down

I cant wait to hear more about Greg's side of the story but also I kinda wanna know how either of them got into the military in the first place :0 (and maybe also what they're fighting for)

🥺🥺🥺🖤🖤🖤😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 oh my god I love you so much thank youuuuuuuu ;-;

Greg will be featured heavily in the next chapter, and then from chapter 3 onwards Elias will appear, which will be super fun considering he’s a military musician and I happen to know things about military music so I can throw so much shade lmaoooo

I’m basing this fic heavily on my own experience/knowledge, but I’m not setting it in any existing country cause that gives me a little more freedom, which means that the war they’re going to isn’t an existing war either. They’re going overseas to aid an allied country in the fight against a rebel organisation, so I guess I’m taking inspiration from the wars in Afghanistan and Vietnam and Korea, and in a sense also WW2.

Oki so I’m basing the military heavily on the Dutch military, cause that’s obviously what I know best, which means it’s a small professional organisation that only takes on the best (this takes place in the 80s and technically we did have civil serve time back then, but they wouldn’t send those people on actual missions, that’s what the professionals are for). Greg is a simple case of little brain, lots of brawn, likes to fight and be physical but studying isn’t for him so after high school he went straight to the military academy. Started as a simple soldier, worked his way up to sergeant because he does well in missions, he has a natural charisma that gives him some leadership capabilities (as long as he doesn’t have to actually think too much) and he performs remarkably well under pressure and the stress of going into wars.

C.B. is, obviously, a little more intelligent, so he would take a higher level of high school education. I imagine he’s been interested in fighters all his life, going to air shows, reading magazines and books, designing fighters, and after high school he tested for and successfully got into the officer’s academy to become a pilot. His sharp wit, calculating mind and apparent lack of fear quickly got him promoted up to major. He is very passionate about flying.

Thanks for your interest, hope you’re gonna like the next chapters too!!! 🖤🖤🖤

[thevictorianghost]

The ATLA Comics and the Character Assassination of Zuko’s, Aang’s and Katara’s character arcs (in one page!)

Thank you to Emma/jerkbendinq on Twitter for providing me this image!

Look. I knew the ATLA comics were bad. I’d heard, per example, about what they’d done to the Southern Water Tribe. And, especially, the glorification of industrialization in a world where bending exists, which leads to Northern Water Tribe imperalism and colonization. Others have talked about this in depth and have the tools to talk about these topics.

But THIS! THIS I want to talk about!

Let’s start with this. I know nothing about the context of this scene. But I don’t need context. Because there is SO MUCH TO UNPACK HERE. 

But we do, John Mulaney.

Oooooh, but we do. 

I have too much time on my hands.

I felt so viscerally pissed when I read this that I decided to write this meta. 

So here we go.

Let’s analyze this. Line by line.

Zuko: If you ever see me turning into my father, I want you to... I want you to end me.

Aang: What?!

Up ‘till now, not that bad. Aang’s character’s integrity is kept intact for the moment. Remember the pacifistic monk who didn’t want to kill Ozai? I think he’s here in this reaction. 

Aang: No, I'm not gonna end it like this.

All right. 

But the emphasis on the words end me make me really uncomfortable. This doesn’t feel like Zuko talking. Somehow, these words feel like they could fit more coming out of Azula’s mouth than anyone else’s. 

Azula: You mean it’s not obvious yet? I’m about to celebrate becoming an only child!

But we’ve barely started.

Let’s continue to the next panel.

Zuko: Even now, after everything that’s happened, my family’s legacy is still a part of me.

I’M SORRY??!? 

Is this somehow a bastardized version of this scene from The Avatar and the Firelord??!?

Iroh: Because understanding the struggle between your two great-grandfathers can help you better understand the battle within yourself. Evil and good are always at war inside you, Zuko. It is your nature, your legacy. But, there is a bright side. What happened generations ago can be resolved now, by you. Because of your legacy, you alone can cleanse the sins of our family and the Fire Nation. Born in you, along with all the strife, is the power to restore balance to the world.

(I don’t particularly like this dichotomy either. Good and evil aren’t battling within Zuko. It’s his struggle between doing the righ thing and doing the wrong thing that is. But whatever. I’ll let THAT slide.)

What happened to the “bright side” in the comics?? What happened to the power Zuko has within himself to restore balance to the world?? His entire character growth somehow doesn’t matter anymore because of his father’s and his forefathers’ legacies? The “good” in him doesn’t matter anymore?? 

What happened to THIS scene?!

Katara: You mean, after all Roku and Sozin went through together, even after Roku showed him mercy, Sozin betrayed him like that‌?

Toph: It's like these people are born bad.

Aang: No, that's wrong. I don't think that was the point of what Roku showed me at all.

Sokka: Then what was the point?

Aang: Roku was just as much Fire Nation as Sozin was, right? If anything, their story proves anyone's capable of great good and great evil. Everyone, even the Fire Lord and the Fire Nation have to be treated like they're worth giving a chance. 

Or this?!

Zuko: For so long, all I wanted was for you to love me, to accept me. I thought it was my honor I wanted, but really, I was just trying to please you. You, my father, who banished me just for talking out of turn. How could you possibly justify a duel with a child?

Ozai: It was to teach you respect!

Zuko: It was cruel! And it was wrong.

Ozai: Then you have learned nothing.

Zuko: No, I've learned everything! And I've had to learn it on my own! Growing up, we were taught that the Fire Nation was the greatest civilization in history. And somehow, the War was our way of sharing our greatness with the rest of the world. What an amazing lie that was. The people of the world are terrified by the Fire Nation. They don't see our greatness. They hate us! And we deserve it!  We've created an era of fear in the world. And if we don't want the world to destroy itself, we need to replace it with an era of peace and kindness.

What happened to Zuko’s stand against Ozai during the Day of Black Sun?? What happened to Zuko’s entire character arc from Book 2 onwards?? Suddenly, because he has his father’s blood in his veins, he’s doomed to carry his legacy? What happened to Zuko creating his OWN destiny, to change the world??

Sigh.

This wasn’t the most insulting line in that entire paragraph, though. 

THIS WAS.

Zuko: That’s why it’s my duty to heal the scars that the Fire Nation has left on the world.

I BEG YOUR PARDON?!?

NOTICE THE EMPHASIS I PUT ON THE WORD SCARS?!?

They keep comparing Ozai with Zuko THIS ENTIRE TIME. He’s terrified of failing the Fire Nation. He’s terrified of failing the world. He’s terrified of failing Aang and the Four Nations.

Zuko is terrified of becoming his genocidal abusive father.

AND SUDDENLY THEY BRING UP SCARS??!?

SCARS??

FUCKING SCARS???!?

(But we’ll come back to Katara.)

Let’s keep going or I’ll combust on the spot.

Zuko: But the Fire Lord’s throne comes with a lot of pressures.

Two things about this line.

First of all. It... bothers me that Zuko uses the term “the Fire Lord’s throne” instead of “my throne”. It’s like he still hasn’t accepted he’s the Fire Lord. Zuko’s throne doesn’t feel like it belongs to an individual who is allowed choices in this scene. It’s like he believes he’s all the Fire Lords who were his predecessors. And knowing that he thinks he carries his family’s legacy like a weight on his shoulders... that doesn’t bode well.

And second of all. Where is Iroh in all of this? What happened to Iroh’s mentorship? His kind words to remind Zuko that he can rake control of his own destiny? Is he still in Ba Sing Se? Taking care of the Jasmine Dragon? Has he completely left Zuko alone, enough so that the only person he can ever confide in is Aang, who has Avatar duties to fill?

What happened to this?

Iroh: You know Prince Zuko, destiny is a funny thing. You never know how things are going to work out. But if you keep an open mind, and an open heart, I promise you will find your own destiny someday.

Or this??

Iroh: I was never angry with you. I was sad because I was afraid you lost your way. And you did it by yourself.  And I am so happy you found your way here.

(Can anyone give Zuko a hug?? Please??)

Or even THIS??

Iroh: No. Someone new must take the throne. An idealist with a pure heart  and unquestionable honor. It has to be you, Prince Zuko.

Zuko: Unquestionable honor? But I've made so many mistakes.

Iroh: Yes, you have. You've struggled; you've suffered, but you have always followed your own path. You restored your own honor, and only you can restore the honor of the Fire Nation.

Oof. Okay. Let’s keep going.

Zuko: And if I’m being honest with myself... I need a safety net. The world needs a safety net. That’s what I need you to be, Aang. The safety net.

Again. Two things about this line.

What does Zuko mean when he says “the world needs a safety net”? What does he think ending him will accomplish for the world? Zuko’s DEATH could leave an opening for Ozai to take the throne! Because again, Aang has refused to kill Ozai in cold blood! As Iroh has said MULTIPLE TIMES by now and as Zuko has said himself, HE CAN RESTORE BALANCE TO THE WORLD TOO. It doesn’t all revolve around Aang. 

Speaking of Aang, here’s the second thing. Of course, Aang is the Avatar. But he himself alone couldn’t end the war during Sozin’s Comet. Zuko and Katara, Suki and Sokka and Toph, and the Order of the White Lotus all participated. Why should Aang be the only one to take this godawful decision? Why??

What happened to cooperation?? What happened to the Four Nations working together to end the Hundred Year War?? 

On to the next line.

Aang: Zuko, you're not your dad! And you're my friend! How can you expect me--"

One more time. Two things about this scene.

First of all, I’m going to be sarcastic, here. Forgive me, but I have to. 

Thank you, Aang, for pointing out that Zuko is NOT his father and that YES, you ARE his friend. 

Let’s go back to Aang’s speech at the end of the Avatar and the Fire Lord.

Aang: And I also think it was about friendships.

Toph: Do you really think friendships can last more than one lifetime?

Aang: I don't see why not.

Sokka: Well, scientifically speaking, there's no way to prove that...

Katara: Oh, Sokka, just hold hands.

If friendships can last more than one lifetime... why do you have to remind Zuko that you’re his friend, Aang? At least you’re not considering downright killing him and you don’t want to do this, you know!

Does that mean that if he wasn’t your friend and that if he was like Ozai, you’d kill him, though? Is that what you’re trying to say? Because the LAST time you were confronted with the idea of killing someone who WAS LIKE Ozai, oh no wait, who WAS Ozai, you said this!

Aang: This isn't a joke, Sokka! None of you understand the position I'm in.

Katara: Aang, we do understand. It's just ...

Aang: Just what, Katara? What?

Katara: We're trying to help!

Aang: Then, when you figure out a way for me to beat the Fire Lord without taking his life, I'd love to hear it!

What happened to that? 

Hm?

Next line. Once again.

Zuko: As your friend, I'm asking you -- if you ever see me go bad, end me. Promise me, Aang.

Again with these characters having to remind each other that they’re friends! Do you stop being friends while travelling the world and have to remind each other that you’re friends once you meet again? Is that it? (/s)

But that’s not what’s bothering me about this line.

What has Katara said since the beginning of this page?

Absolutely. Nothing.

And this line simply states that Aang is Zuko’s friend. But what about Katara? Are they still friends? They don’t interact much. She barely looks at him this entire page. They don’t talk. This whole scene is about Zuko and Aang. What is Katara doing here? Why is she here?

Oh. Wait.

The ONLY THING Katara does in this entire page...

When Aang looks at her, wondering what to do...

SHE NODS.

SHE. NODS.

She gives Aang the push in the right direction to... wait for it...

MURDER ZUKO WITH HIS BARE HANDS!

Is this supposed to be a callback to THIS scene??

Katara: You might have everyone else here buying your ... transformation, but you and I both know you've struggled with doing the right thing in the past. So let me tell you something, right now. You make one step backward, one slip-up, give me one reason to think you might hurt Aang, and you won't have to worry about your destiny anymore. Because I'll make sure your destiny ends... right then and there. Permanently.

Then what happened to this??

Or this???

Katara: I didn't forgive him. I'll never forgive him. But I am ready to forgive you.

Not only is it that KATARA AGREES TO MURDER ZUKO, she does it while being ENTIRELY SILENT. She never talks. She only nods. Katara has been reduced to become Aang’s silent advisor. 

What happened to THIS girl??!

Katara: I will never, ever turn my back on people who need me!

Or THIS girl?

Zuko: Katara! How would you like to help me put Azula in her place?

Katara: It would be my pleasure.

Or THIS girl?

Katara: ZUKO!

THIS GIRL?

THIS GIRL??!?

(*Bangs head against keyboard*)

And on to the final line. The nail in the coffin.

Aang: ... Fine. I promise.

There we are. He’s accepted it. He’s going to do it if he has to. He’s promised, right? Aang just... gives in. At least Aang doesn’t look thrilled at the idea of doing this. Which isn’t what I can say about Katara. Who looks damn ready to end Zuko right now if that’s necessary. Not that she says anything. 

But the simple fact that they are, THE THREE OF THEM, considering this SUICIDE PACT... 

...is infuriating.

Then we end with a view of the starry night sky as fireworks come to life.

Yeah, right. Sure. Talk about reading the room here, folks.

So let me recap ALL OF THIS.

Zuko is a character who has been abused for years by his father, burned at the age of thirteen and sent on a quest to find the Avatar. During the show, he learns that he doesn’t have to obey his father, that he can make his own choices and create his own destiny and legacy. He’ll be the new Fire Lord who will usher the Fire Nation in an era of peace, helped by Iroh and his friends.

Aang is a pacifist who refuses to kill Ozai, Zuko’s aforementioned abusive and genocidal father. Killing is not the answer for him; he desperately wants to find a way out, enough so that he gets into a fight with his friends about the mere idea of killing Ozai. He values his friends dearly and learns that the world doesn’t only rely on himself, that he has friends he can count upon. 

Katara is a warrior girl who doesn’t back down from a fight. After many trials and trebulations, after being betrayed by Zuko and forgiving him in the end, she has become one of Zuko’s closest friends and allies, especially in their fight against Azula. She’s not afraid to voice her opinions and will never turn her back on people who need her.

But according to the comics... none of that seems to be true!

Or didn’t we watch the same show?

What happened to all of that? What happened to these characters?

I dunno.

You tell me.

[wiltingpierrot]

Gem Glow: Part 1

Welcome! Well, this isn’t really made to entertain. I’m just doing this to recover from trauma and get a good grasp of the show’s lore while having my girls react with me. Feel free to tag along.

We’ll be watching four episodes a day and react only to the major events as tackling all of them is a toughie.

 Sharpie: “I want to see real tears, Wilt.”

Wilt: “Tears? At the very first episode?”

Sharpie: “Yes. Otherwise I’ll make you cry by some other means.”

Wilt: “I have these tear marks. Those count, yes?”

Sharpie: “Real tears, I said.”

Wilt: “Ahh, how iconic.”

Spinel: “The area around the lighthouse is lacking a lot of flowers. That’ll change someday!”

Sharpie: “Yes, after a lot of blood, ink and tears had been shed first.”

Spinel: “Here we have a shot of the show’s hero, lamenting the discontinuation of a certain ice cream snack brand.”

Sharpie: “Is this triggering your PTSD yet?”

Wilt: “Not really. I thought it would but surprisingly I’m still okay.”

Lars: “Well, if you miss your wimpy ice cream so much, why don’t you make some with your MAGIC BELLY BUTTON?”

Spinel: “Hey Sharpie, let’s make foodstuff with just the energy in our gem.”

Sharpie: “And you still owe me 86 years’ worth of happiness.”

Wilt: “What is this civil conversation you’re having? That’s not how I wrote you two.”

Sadie: “Uhh Steven? Do you want to take the freezer with you?”

Spinel: “Think what would’ve happened if Sadie didn’t let him take that freezer home.”

Sharpie: “Does… does the cat’s face looked different to you?”

Spinel: “I love the lighthouse. The view up the top is always so breathtaking.”

Sharpie: “I’m not so happy with our roommate though.”

Wilt: “…I might have to draw this someday.”

Spinel: “Don’t you just love it when your pets greet you as you enter your house? I wish you would greet me whenever I fall asleep.”

Sharpie: “You’re just my nightmare.”

Amethyst: “’Sup, Steven.”

Spinel: “AME!!!!”

Spinel: “I AM IN LOVE.”

Sharpie: “You can stop replaying this 5 seconds worth of Pearl now.”

Spinel: “It’s 4 seconds worth of Pearl, you heathen.”

Spinel: “HOOO MAMA. Remember when Garnet kicked our ass?”

Sharpie: “She kicked your ass. She kicked your ass so much I had to start a switch to intervene. Now that I think of it, I shouldn’t have done that.”

Sharpie: “Being sliced open is one thing. Being pulled apart is another.”

Spinel: “It’s good that we’re stretchy.”

Sharpie: “I can disable that function and tear you apart like that, actually. Ever wondered why it doesn’t hurt when others pull at you like taffy but I can?”

Spinel: “I can do the same and prevent you from escaping my hugs.”

Sharpie: “*sigh*… I hate you.”

Spinel: “Ahaha! Pearl is so cute!”

Sharpie: “Ahaha! I love this technique.”

Wilt: “It’s good for breaking a hole through walls in maximum security prisons, yeah.”

Amethyst: “Uhh you guys, these things don’t have gems.”

Garnet: “That means there must be a mother somewhere nearby.”

Sharpie: “That’s a fascinating thought.”

Wilt: “It’s similar to how Pearl can project figures that can maintain itself while independent of the source. In this case, the main centipeedle can project independent but smaller versions of itself.”

Sharpie: “How come 2nd Projections aren’t like that, I wonder. Like we can’t have separate bodies or anything…”

Wilt: “Probably because the 2nd Projection has a personality of its own and it stems from the original gem, while Pearl Projections and mini-centipeedles are pre-programmed projections that would act accordingly to the original’s commands. Like, if Spinel makes a projection separate from her, it wouldn’t be you.”

Sharpie: “Fair enough.”

Spinel: “Speaking of Pearl Projections…”

Sharpie: “No.”

Pearl: “Steven, until you learned to control the powers in your gem, we’ll take care of protecting humanity. Okay?”

Spinel: “I want Pearl to snap my neck like that.”

Sharpie: “As if impaling you wasn’t enough.”

Spinel: “PFFFTT-“

Amethyst: “We went out and stole a bunch!”

Spinel: “That’s my Ame.”

Pearl: “I went back and paid for that.”

Sharpie: “That’s…. that’s very Pearl of her.”

Steven: “He left his family behind!”

Spinel: “AHAHAHAHAHA”

Sharpie: “What’s so funny about that?”

Sharpie: “Oh my stars. I hope we don’t have to bear another one of those.”

Wilt: “It’s catchy. I like it.”

Sharpie: “What a happy little family. It’s a shame that they’re doomed to a life of madness onwards.”

Amethyst: “Quick! Try and summon your weapon!”

“Awww, no weapon.”

Wilt: “He’s struggling. A sign of a well-rounded character. The progress is dramatic if we compare this episode to the last ones. And it only took him a few Earth years.”

Sharpie: “And it took us like what, 86 years to get this far and we’re still inferior to most we meet in our travels.”

Spinel: “God I love Pearl.”

Sharpie: “Can you even pay attention to anything that isn’t Pearl?”

Spinel: “I’m capable of paying attention to a lot of things and to nothing at the same time, Sharpie. Be amazed.”

Steven: “Can one of you just explain how to summon a weapon?”

Pearl: “Oh! I’ll go first.”

Wilt: “I love Pearl.”

Spinel: “I love Pearl.”

Sharpie: “…”

Spinel: “AUUGH! Pearl is so beautiful.”

Wilt: “This is so anime.”

Spinel: “This scene makes me wanna stand underneath a cherry blossom tree with her in a Friday afternoon and confess my love.”

Sharpie: “God both of you disgust me.”

Pearl: “Pay attention to these petals, Steven.”

Pearl: “The petal’s dance seems improvised, but it is being calculated in real-time based on the physical properties of this planet.”

Wilt: “HELL YEAH, I LOVE PEARL.”

Pearl: “With hard work and dedication, you can master the magical properties of your gem, and perform your own dance.”

Pearl: “Like so.”

Spinel: “HELL YEAH, I LOVE PEARL”

Sharpie: “So… Pearl’s approach is tuning into the technical reality of the universe to tap into her gem’s energy,”

Amethyst: “Listen Steven. All that practice stuff is no fun. Whenever I need to summon my weapon, it just happens.”

Sharpie: “And Amethyst’s approach is just winging it. Considering Ame is a gem made for war, of course summoning a weapon is natural instinct. Pearl however… She had to learn serious fighting, something most Pearls aren’t made for.”

Spinel: “We’re the same, ain’t we? Spinels ain’t made for violence but we can whoop butt just fine.”

Sharpie: “We just got lucky… and incredibly unfortunate at the same time.”

Sharpie: “Gems are such nuisances. So much that in other places of the world, a group of humans actually built little Distortion Bombs capable of disorienting corrupted gems to a point of repelling them away. Unfortunately those things are powered by tiny bits of gem shards, which is obviously not an easily obtainable source of power. The project was discontinued.”

Spinel: “The invention worked on us, too, which is kind of impressive!”

Sharpie: “The best those little bombs done to us were to irritate us, or temporarily disable our senses. Corrupted gems have warped sentience I think, so they would rely more on instincts and run away from the source of irritation as much as possible.”

Sharpie: “They say if enough energy is given into the device, it’ll have high enough amplitude to potentially dissipate a gem’s physical form. But this is just a fever dream. There’s no way they have access to that amount of energy without slaughtering a Diamond first. Still, props to the engineer who thought that was a good idea.”

Spinel: “So instead of using gem shards, he decided to use us by writing the function into Springy. If we poof, we can give bad gems nearby a head ache and make them go away. We can protect people even if we die in battle! He basically turned us into heroic suicide bombers against corrupted gems.”

Sharpie: “Necessary, considering every time we poof we somehow cause part of a building to catch on fire, killing the people we’re supposed to protect in the process.”

Spinel: “Uh huh… yeaaahh….. I mean, where else is the excess energy supposed to go?”

Sharpie: “I dunno. Some other harmless form of energy apart from heat? The sparkly dust clouds were already perfect and you just had to change it into something deadlier. Thanks to you, seven people that stood close to us turned into soup.”

Spinel: “Well, there was that one time where the fire storm actually saved us from a meanie who wanted to crush us. We can’t just ignore that.”

Sharpie: “Seven people died, Spinel. Seven people that happened to be our allies.”

 Wilt: “Please stop. We have to finish this episode.”

Steven: “So I’m supposed to work really hard and not try at all at the same time?”

Garnet: “Yes.”

Garnet: “Or…”

Garnet: “You can link your mind with the energy of all existing matter, channeling the collective power of the universe through your gem.”

Garnet: “At least that’s my way of doing it.

Spinel: “C’mon, kiddo. It’s not that hard to understand. It’s how Springy lived for the past 40 years. If she can do it, so can you.”

Sharpie: “I bet this makes the most sense to you, huh Wilt?”

Wilt: “It does. Considering we are all just ripples of energy on the surface of the large lasagna we call the observable universe.”

Sharpie: “What a nerd. Also we’re half-way through the episode. You better cry, Wilt.”

Wilt: “I’m saving this shot for reference.”

[tinyshe]

Story at-a-glance

There are 10 steps that every tyrannical government has followed. We are now at step 10. Once the 10th step locks into place, there will be no going back

The 10 steps toward tyranny start with the invocation of a terrifying internal and/or external threat. From 2001 onward, that threat was terrorism, which was used as the justification for stripping us of our liberties

With the declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic, we entered step 10, where emergency powers and laws are used to strip remaining freedoms from the people, censorship is enacted and certain kinds of speech is criminalized

We must get involved and fight to enact state legislation that protects against continued erosion of freedom and reestablishes rights and liberties

The Daily Clout platform was created for this purpose. It allows citizens to lobby already drafted, turnkey bills to their legislators

This is the article in full:

Naomi Wolf, a former adviser to  the Clinton administration, is a prolific author and Yale University graduate.  She also received a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship that allowed her to complete  her Ph.D. in English and literature at Oxford University in 2015. Eight years  before that, she wrote a book called “The End  of America,” which is the topic of this interview. “The End of America” was published  in 2007. At the end of this article, you will find a playlist of three videos  in which she reads select chapters of the book. You can also download  the first and last chapters for free on the publisher’s website,  chelseagreen.com.1A Prescient Warning Already in 2007, Wolf warned us of  where we were headed. In her book, she points out that would-be tyrants are  found on both sides of the political spectrum. We must not get locked into  generalizations about political affiliations, because they simply do not give  us a truthful picture of who the enemy is. While Wolf and I could be said to  be on opposite sides of the political spectrum, Wolf being a long-time  progressive while many would view me as a conservative, our views are in  perfect alignment when it comes to the issues of protecting American freedom  and liberty.We are [now] at Step 10. I've been trying to warn people,  tirelessly, as much as I can, that we are at Step 10 and that once Step 10  locks in, there is no going back. ~ Naomi WolfIn “The End of America,” Wolf lays  out the 10 steps toward tyranny. These steps have been followed by virtually  all would-be tyrants, be they on the political left or right. They were  followed in Italy in the '20s, Germany in '30s, East Germany in the '50s, Chile  in the '70s and China in the '80s. “They all took the same 10 steps, and they always work,” Wolf says. “I warned people  that when you start to see these 10 steps, you have to take action, because  there is no way to recover once things go too far without a bloody revolution  or a civil war. We are [now] at Step 10. People have said, since I wrote that book   in 2007, ‘Tell us when we're at Step 10.’ I've always said, ‘Things are bad,  they're getting worse, but there's still hope.’ We're literally at Step 10 now.  I've been trying to warn people, tirelessly, as much as I can, that we are at Step  10 and that once Step 10 locks in, there is no going back.”We’re in the Final Step of  the Implementation of Tyranny.The 10 steps toward tyranny start  with the invocation of a terrifying internal and/or external threat. It may be  a real threat or an imagined one, but in all cases, it’s a hyped-up threat.  From 2001 onward, that threat was terrorism, which was used as the  justification for stripping us of our liberties. Ultimately, that wasn’t effective   enough.“There was still freedom in the world. People were not saying, ‘ISIS  exists; therefore, I'm going to give up my First Amendment liberties, my Fourth  Amendment liberties, my Second Amendment liberties and so on.’ Sadly, this  medical crisis — which is now not a pandemic in many states and countries, it's  an endemic; it doesn't meet the formal definition of a pandemic — was the  perfect excuse for leaders to usher in Step 10,” Wolf says. The last and final step in the  implementation of tyranny, Step 10, involves the creation of a surveillance  state where citizens are spied upon, and critique of the government is  reclassified as dissent and subversive activity. Step 10 The surveillance state is now  being rolled out in the form of vaccine passports, while certain kinds of  speech are said to be dangerous and freedom of speech is being criminalized. Needless  to say, the mainstream press is an important part of this scheme. “The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have essentially bought up  the western press and coerce them, bribe them, into following the party line,  brought up by the CDC and so on,” Wolf says.“Toward the end of the steps, which is Step 10, is emergency law,  [which is a] subversion of the rule of law, also called martial law. We're  here. I'm [in] New York State. We're under emergency law. Every 30 days, I get  an email saying that tyrannical Governor Cuomo has extended emergency powers,  even though in Columbia County where I live, there are only eight deaths a  month with COVID, average age 85, which is older than the average American life  span. It's not a pandemic where I live, but I'm living under emergency   law, which means the legislature has no power. The governor can do whatever he  wants. It’s the same in Massachusetts, same in California — 49 states, all  states except Alaska, are technically under emergency law. This is terrifying. You get what you're seeing, which is governors   deciding, or the federal government deciding, that you can't assemble, you  can't worship, you have no medical choice, the coercion of vaccine passports,  your child can't go to school, your young adult can't get a college education  if they don't agree to an experimental vaccination. You get suspension of the right to property. You can't run your   business — 110,000 restaurants have closed. You get a suspension of freedoms of  speech. People are being deplatformed left and right and there are movements in  Congress to criminalize what had been First Amendment protected speech. You get the invocation of martial powers and there's no end to it.   Literally, with Massachusetts emergency law, I have no rights. I have no  ability to lobby the governor. With New York’s emergency law, I have no  representative with the power to end emergency measures. The governor has to  end emergency measures, [and] he's the one who benefits from them. It's  catastrophic. We're seeing a complete takeover of American rights, freedoms and   bodies by Big Tech, which is up double digits to triple-digit billions since  the pandemic began. China has moved in to … establish its role as the global  superpower under the guise of this pandemic, buying up community groups,  elected officials and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which are flooding  K through 12 education … community groups [and] universities with money to  engage in COVID education — which means a strict party line [narrative] that is  aimed at destroying what's human about us and what's free. That's it in a  nutshell. It's unbelievably terrifying.”What the COVID-19 Passports  Are Really AboutWolf was recently interviewed by Fox News’ Steve Hilton  (above), in which she warned that mandatory COVID-19 passports will spell  the “end of human  liberty in the West”:2,3 In essence, they’re a  precursor to the social credit system that has already been implemented in  China. The vaccine passes have already been  rolled out in New York, where Wolf lives. Surveillance is nothing new, of  course. We’ve been digitally surveilled for years, through social media  platforms, Google and all manner of “smart” technology. Since the early 2000s, Google and  Facebook in particular have been data mining online users. These data, then,  have been applied to deep learning computers, giving them unprecedented ability  to predict the type of messaging triggers that will create the maximum amount  of fear — and thus compliance. There’s also every reason to  assume that this information has also been shared with people like Bill Gates,  who largely controls the World Health Organization. If it wasn’t for the WHO,  we would not be in this situation, because it was the central organization with  the authority to declare a global pandemic, and keep it in place long past its   natural expiration date. They actually changed the  definition of “pandemic,” removing the requirement of mass casualties, and if  it wasn’t for that, COVID-19 simply would not qualify as a pandemic. The Pandemic Is Hypothetical  at BestWolf points out that COVID-19  dashboards, such as Johns Hopkins’ COVID-19 tracking project that mainstream  media keep citing, cannot tell us anything about who’s actually getting  infected, or who’s dying. We don’t even know if they are showing real or made  up data.Wolf, being the CEO of a tech  company, builds digital dashboards based on government data, so she knows what  she’s talking about. You have to have the raw datasets. Since none of the  dashboards provide the raw data, nothing can be verified. “Basically, they can  dial up cases, which are positive PCR tests, or dial them down,” she says. So,  the entire pandemic narrative is unverified.We do know, however, that the CDC  has shifted influenza and pneumonia deaths to COVID-19 deaths, and tens of  thousands of Americans die from these conditions every year. When lawmakers in  Minnesota audited death records, for example, they found a 40% over-attribution   of deaths to COVID-19. Then there’s the PCR test scandal.  Not only have laboratories everywhere been using excessively high amplification  cycles resulting in staggeringly high false positive rates, but they also do  not account for duplicate tests. If you get a positive test, and test once a  week until you test negative, each positive test result you obtain is counted  as a separate “case.”“We literally can't know if there's been a pandemic, there's so  much faulty attribution, inflation of numbers, and so on,” Wolf says. “Those numbers, I  can't stress enough, have never been audited ... We have to do a freedom of information request in Britain to take  a look at the raw data sets that are being fed into the Office for National  Statistics, COVID dashboard. We looked at where the data were flowing from for  the Johns Hopkins dashboard, which again, was used by every major university,  every major news outlet. One of the data providers was a hedge fund! … I know something else about APIs. It is virtually impossible to,  in real time, get hundreds of thousands of reports from hundreds of thousands  of doctors, hospitals, CVS and Rite Aid, feeding into a live digital dashboard.  I keep asking the developers to show me, ‘How did you do this? It's virtually  impossible.’ There's no answer, there's crickets. Literally, we don't know if the dashboards are just dialing up and   dialing down infection rates. Everyone's taking for granted that these must be  real numbers, but there's no evidence that they are real numbers. I'm willing  to stand corrected if there's a FOIA and we see the raw data sets. But right  now, it is a hypothetical pandemic.”Collusion by Tech CompaniesTech companies have also engaged  in what Wolf likens to criminal collusion. She explains:“In March of last year, for the COVID-19 response project, Zoom, NASDAQ, Nintendo, Microsoft, Amazon — all the people who benefited from the lockdown  — coordinated so that wherever you go on the internet, across platform to  platform, you see these alerts about COVID-19, warnings about COVID,  instructions about COVID, and of course, censorship … if you run afoul of the  narrative about COVID. I run a tech company. The question, when you run a tech company, is how do you get people to not do things in the real world, and do things on your  platform? That's the business model. If people are gathering in churches, gathering in real school   rooms, if they're going for walks together, go on picnics, having dinner  parties, going to clubs, that's an opportunity lost to Microsoft and Google and  so on. But if they can drive you indoors, terrify you from being around other  people, or make it unlawful to be around other people through these emergency  powers that restrict assembly [then they can profit] … Digital learning curriculum were turnkey, ready to go. Suddenly,  it was like, ‘Oh, kids have to be at home and do distance learning.’ That's a  $300 million industry for just one company that creates digital curriculums.  They're not going to let go of that. I think we are in a small loop of six tech companies [and] the  Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, having bought legislators in China, who's  up 32% while the economies of the West have crashed, and that's the fight that  we have to fight.”The Legalization of Tyranny. Few people realize that dictators  such as Mussolini and Hitler came to power in legal working democracies. They  became subverted and rules of law were rewritten in such a way as to allow  these leaders to legally take over. That's one of the primary dangers we now face  in the U.S., because at the end of step 10, the leader obtains the legal   authority to become a tyrant.“This is especially true of the National Socialists,” Wolf says. “They kept  passing a set of laws called the Enabling Acts that are very much like the laws  that are being passed now. They criminalized certain speech, created a  surveillance apparatus for citizens … and they did this lawfully. They were  elected, and they passed restrictive law after restrictive law. Then, once democracy was fragile enough, it really only took six   months for thugs to beat up opposition leaders, union leaders, the outspoken  and clergy. After that, everyone was too scared to speak. We're seeing the same  thing happen now, but faster. It's very scary that China has created a white paper — the World   Economic Forum has it on its website — that maps how biofascism, as I call it —  vaccinations, the managing of people's bodies, biometrics and health — is being  launched as a way to control civic engagement, governance, private life,  assembly and every other aspect of human life, to bring about super-fast  totalitarianism. That's why focusing on legislation is something I've been doing   with my company DailyClout, very seriously, because if we don't pass laws  immediately to make unlawful some of the things we're seeing, there will be no  more hope for us.”Using the Legal System to  Save the Law. One strategy of totalitarianism  that must be fought through legislation is the requirement of vaccine  passports. “Once these are launched … people like you and I, Dr. Mercola,  will be switched off of society. ‘Oops, my vaccine passport is positive. I   guess I can't go food shopping for my family.’ ‘I said something critical of  biofascism on Dr. Mercola's show, so now my child can't get into school.’ Just  as in Israel, people who are critics are being surveilled [and] marginalized  from society. It has turned into a two-tier society. If you choose not to get   vaccinated, then you're really in a marginalized minority in an apartheid  state. The more we know about these vaccines, the scarier it is to have  coercion that is social. It's also illegal. In America, we have the Americans  with Disabilities Act. It means it's illegal to even ask me anything about my  medical status. You can't ask me if I'm pregnant. You can't ask me if I'm  disabled. You can't ask me if I have diabetes or HIV. You cannot ask me   anything. By definition, these intrusive measures are unlawful. We have to use  the law to save the law, basically. In Michigan, there's an edict from the  governor that 2- to 4-year-old children have to be masked. This is child abuse.  Science doesn't support it. Unlawful, tyrannical laws are being passed across the country  under the guise of emergency measures, and stupid people going along with it,  like in Congress, I'm embarrassed to say, because I voted for Biden. We have to  fight before we are living in fascist regime where every move is tracked and  we're marginalized from society.”The Courts Are Our Last Hope,  And They’re Now Under AttackOne area in which “The End of  America” excels is helping you understand is that the United States was founded  by people who had repressive societies. Their goal was to prevent such a  repressive society from emerging again. The founders had to personally reckon  with criminalized speech, arbitrary arrest, state sanctioned torture and even  murder.So, at great personal sacrifice,  they signed the Constitution. Had they lost the Revolutionary War, they would  all have been executed, so the stakes could not have been higher. As a result,  our founding fathers constructed a carefully balanced system to make sure no  tyrant could ever come to power. We’re now facing a scenario that  could obliterate that delicate balance, namely the Biden administration’s call  to “pack the court,” i.e., add, in this case four, additional Justices to the  Supreme Court. We’re now facing a shift in our  legal structure that will allow for the legalization of tyrannical reign and  “legally” override the carefully constructed governmental balance between the  legislative, executive and judicial branched that has previously served to  prevent tyranny in the U.S.This three-tier branch, constructed to safeguard  our freedoms, is under direct attack, and this is NOT a partisan issue. Not by  a longshot, and everyone needs to wake up to this fact. It’s an issue of  freedom versus tyranny.“Absolutely,” Wolf says. “Sadly, this is clear. That's why I'm saying progressives have to  wake up … I worry very much about the role of China in this, because I think  we've seen that some people connected to the Democratic Party have close ties  with members of the Chinese Communist Party. That is just established fact. I'm not saying that the tyrants are on the left. In Britain, it's   Tories cracking down on liberty, holding the country under house arrest. In  Australia it's conservatives, in Canada it's Trudeau, a liberal. This isn't  partisan. But in America, we do have to face the fact that this administration  is drunk on power and has some bad actors aligned with it, including Silicon  Valley. They are crushing conservative voices, kicking them off of public   platforms in addition to voices critical of the COVID narrative. They're also  moving at warp speed to use their own phrasing about something else to lock in  power in a way that is against everything our founders set in place — the most  beautiful, delicate system of checks and balances any human beings have ever  created; an ideal of people all over the world who want freedom and balanced  accountable government. Yeah, packing the Supreme Court is a horrific tampering with some   of the last checks and balances that we have … I can't believe I keep saying  thank God for the conservatives on the bench. But these days, I have to say it,  and I'm ashamed. But thank God, because they were the ones who in California  said ‘No, you cannot keep people from assembling to worship. That is a  violation of the Constitution.’ They're our last hope. The courts are our last hope. It is   catastrophic, and I see other scary movements against accountable democracy  that are being put forward by this administration. Among them, President Biden is not saying to the blue states: ‘You   have to give up your emergency powers. You have to open up. You can't control  people in their homes, you can't force people to have vaccinations and you  can't keep people from assembling and worshipping.’ These are all violations of their constitutional liberties. He's   not saying that. That's a complete failure of leadership, if not worse. My  people have to rise up and face it. Conservatives have to face cleaning up  their own houses … What's at stake is everything, and we all have to unite  across party lines and save our Constitution and make these people accountable,  whatever their party [affiliation].”Urgent Call to Action The good news is, the would-be tyrants have not won yet. That said, we have no  time to spare. We have no time to remain idle, hoping it will all just go back  to normal on its own. The answer is peaceful mass civil disobedience.“There's hope in mass peaceful civil disobedience … when things  are really dire,” Wolf says. “My favorite story is about the singing revolution of Latvia,   Lithuania and Estonia, in which they were under the grip of the Soviet Union, a  massive tyrannical monolith. They all decided to just peacefully gather on a  highway that extended the length of their three countries and sing. They kept peacefully disrupting business as usual in their cities,   making it impossible for work to continue, for traffic to go on. They sat down,  they linked arms and they sang. Over time, they just wore down the Soviet Union.  That's a beautiful model. Same thing with Dr. Martin Luther King. His was a  peaceful revolution of civil disobedience.”This strategy is time-consuming,  however, so be prepared to stand your ground for as long as it takes. It can  take months, years even, when you have nothing else in your arsenal. Peaceful disobedience  is the primary strategy in armed countries as well. As mentioned, we must also  rally behind legislation that prevents the alteration of laws that safeguard  our freedoms.Join the Five Freedoms  Campaign!To that end, Wolf has started the Five Freedoms Campaign, which you can find on her Daily Clout website. The campaign focuses on creating legislation to preserve key  freedoms and prevent emergency laws from infringing on our freedom to assembly,   worship, protest and engage in business. Legislation is also being crafted to  open schools, remove mask mandates and eliminate requirements for vaccine  passports.“We've had overwhelmingly high levels of support,” Wolf says. “I hope your  followers will also join us. We hired a really distinguished lawyer who is drafting  model legislation. She has finished the new vaccine passport bill and we've  gotten state legislators in Maine, New Hampshire and Michigan to sponsor to  pass that legislation. I'm sending out the request for 47 other state legislatures to   adopt this model legislation. Contact me, I'll come out, I'll speak to your  legislature. We'll do a rally, we'll do a press conference, as we're doing in  Maine on April 27. We've got to pass these bills. Then she's going to work on an omnibus bill to make all five   freedoms inviolable so that no one can pass mask mandates as they did in  Michigan today. No one can force vaccine passports as they're doing in New York,  so that we can get our freedoms back.”Wolf and her team are making this  interactive process as easy as possible by posting good model bills on  dailyclout.io, and proactively drafting much-needed bills. Many state  legislators are not lawyers, and they don't have lawyers at their beck and  call. Citizens can now send these model bills to their legislators, knowing  that they’ve undergone legal review and are ready to be passed. You can also go  even further than that:“You can tell us the bill you want. We can upload a campaign for that bill. We can hire our lawyer to draft a model bill and then you can pass  it. What we've been doing is gathering names and zip codes, so that we can add  real voters to this piece of model legislation in real states and send it to  real state legislators and say, ‘Look, the supporters are all there. All you  have to do is pass this.’ It's a fantastic intervention in the political process, restoring   real democracy. It's why we founded Daily Clout, but it's beautiful to see  hundreds and hundreds of people from all walks of life rushing to give us  support and resources, to become members and give us donations, which we  appreciate, so that we can keep our lawyer busy creating these draft bills.  It's not just for this issue. Once we get our rights and freedoms back,  whatever [citizens] want, we can draft a bill for you, and you can [call on  your legislators to] pass it.”Limiting Emergency PowersAnother facet  that needs to be addressed is governors’ emergency powers. Some states have  been locked down under emergency power for more than a year, which is insane,  considering we’re not in an emergency and haven’t been for many months. These  emergency powers need to be limited in some way, as they are at the heart of  all this unlawful behavior. As explained by Wolf: “Emergency law basically suspends  the Constitution of the United States. As I've said elsewhere, the Constitution  doesn't say all this can be suspended if there's disease. We've been through  typhus, cholera, smallpox, HIV, Spanish flu, polio, tuberculosis — disease   after disease, without ever having emergency law extended without review month  after month. We've had world wars fought  without emergency laws. We were attacked on our soil without emergency law  being declared in New York state after 9/11. There's no justification for it. It's  against everything we believe in. It's unconstitutional.” So, one of the  five freedoms Wolf’s campaign focuses on is the restriction of emergency laws.  New Hampshire has become the first state to pass a bill that accomplishes this.  It reforms emergency law such that the Governor’s emergency powers cannot be  indefinitely extended without review by the legislature. They also passed a  bill that guarantees freedom of worship, and another bill that ensures  emergency law cannot be invoked indefinitely in any future crisis.4“We've now passed along our model ‘No vaccine passport’ bill to   the New Hampshire legislators,” Wolf says. “If they can do it in New Hampshire,  with our help, with your help, they can do it across the country. But we need  to get that model legislation out to every legislature and mobilize that  grassroots movement to pass the end of emergency law. I mean, look what's happening in New York State. It's insane. Fourteen  state legislators are trying to get Governor Cuomo to end emergency law. But as  our laws are written, Governor Cuomo has to be the one to end his own emergency  law. There're a huge amount of lobbying that has to happen for these   legislators to understand that there are eyes on them, that they're accountable.  I'm going to be reporting and … hopefully millions of people will be following  and helping to pass these laws to get back our rights.”Daily Clout Empowers Citizens  to Lobby for Freedom. To be clear, the Daily Clout is  not a lobbying group. YOU are the ones lobbying your legislators. Daily Clout  simply provides the needed assistance so that you can do that easily and  effectively. “It's such a beautiful effort, because you'd have to come out and  say, ‘The people of New Hampshire have no right to pass their own legislation’  in order to oppose an effort like this,” Wolf says. “We're not a special interest. It's just the  people. It's the people of New Hampshire, people of Maine, passing their own  legislation. I do hear, consistently, that Democrats won't help, that in many   states with their democratic majorities, it's going to be difficult if   Democrats don't reach across the aisle and add their names. I'm sending out the  call to Democrats to support this legislation. I'm going to warn everyone, speaking as a former political   consultant, that the party that embraces the restoration of freedom is going to  be the party that wins in 2022 and 2024. There's no question about that. This  is going to be a winning issue. People know something is terribly wrong, but they don't know what   to do. This is a completely unprecedented assault on liberty. With my many  years in national politics, I know what to do. This is why we developed Daily  Clout. If you show up with a turnkey piece of legislation and some turnkey  supporters, that's a very quick fix for a really catastrophic crisis that has a  legislative solution. As long as there's still legislatures, we can pass good  legislation at the state level. At the federal level, it's going to be harder,   because there isn't any balance right now. I'm very inspired there's so many people serving at the state   legislature level who are really decent citizens, who are not partisan hacks. People  who really ran to help their neighbors and help their communities and who are  not wholly owned by China, Big Tech or whatever, and who want to do the right  thing. I could be wrong, but in two weeks [since we launched the Daily   Clout site] we've already been invited to address state legislators and draft  legislation for three, and that's without any marketing budget or anything but  platforms like this, where I say it's available. We started Daily Clout because citizens didn't have a platform to   be effective at lobbying for their own issues. This is a turnkey platform that  does that for them. I designed it that way. I designed it, as a former  political consultant, knowing that the way things are set up, ordinary citizens  don't have a seat at the table. There is no easy way to engage in civic action.  

This makes it easy, makes it digital and people are using it.”How to Use the Daily Clout Site.So, how do you get involved?  First, go to  dailyclout.io and sign up to become a paying member or free subscriber. You will then receive an email explaining how to use the Five  Freedoms Campaign.

Presently, there is a model “no vaccination passports” bill   that you can send to your state legislator.There’s also a feature called  BillCam, where you can see who your state legislator is by entering your zip  code. Daily Clout will also email you links and explain how to find your state  legislator. If you provide your name and zip code, which will remain  confidential, your state legislator’s contact information will be included in  the email.“We're creating a widget right now to attach your name and zip   code to the model bills so it goes right to your state legislator, showing that  the bill already has support,” Wolf explains. “But in the meantime, you can look up any bill on BillCam. Those are  bills that have already been introduced or passed. There are ‘No vaccine passport’ bills, for instance. We're   showcasing them on BillCam. It's already set up, so you can just tweet it to  the sponsor, tweet it to representative. You can Facebook it to your community.  It already goes through social media and you can show support by ‘voting on it’  in the widget on BillCam as you share legislation with your community.”Once you’re a subscriber or  member, you’ll get regular updates about happenings around the U.S. and  community events. They’re also installing a widget that will allow you to meet  with like-minded people in your state who want this legislation passed. Lastly,  you can write to Daily Clout and ask them to draft a bill. A lawyer will then  be assigned to draft it for you.“Right now, we're focused on the Five Freedoms Campaign, but there  is that functionality. You can write a blog and explain the bill that you want.  You can send us a video and explain what your issue is, and all of this goes to  shining a light on the legislators. They're not used to having a light shone on  them. That really does drive outcomes. Those are the steps that you can take,” Wolf says. We’ve already seen how effective  this strategy can be, with New Hampshire passing three bills to protect  citizens’ freedoms. “I never want to take credit away from legislators working hard to  pass bills, but I know that we helped,” Wolf says. “I know that our lawyer has been in close  touch with some of those state legislators in New Hampshire and provided  language that we pay for, so that those legislators would have a turnkey bill  to act on.”Hundreds of people also wrote to  New Hampshire’s Governor Christopher Sununu, urging him to lift the mask  mandate, which he recently did. Knowing that the Daily Clout would report on  the outcome of that campaign, he not only felt the political pressure, but he  also knew he had support from his constituents. So, please, use this unprecedented  opportunity to get involved, in any capacity that you can. Your freedom, and that of future generations, hinge on  our getting involved and fighting for it. Last but not least, to understand  where we are and how we got here, I strongly recommend reading “The End  of America.” In the video below, Wolf reads select  chapters from the book. You can also download  the first and last chapters for free on the publisher’s website,  chelseagreen.com.5 

[busghost]

Fu Hua’s very long lore

She’s more than 50,000 years old, what did you expect?

Also I cried rereading the manga for this so you better appreciate it.

VERY LONG POST

Sources

https://manga.honkaiimpact3.com/book/1018/3

Fu Hua origin story

https://manga.honkaiimpact3.com/book/1012/1

Story to make you cry, please read it. It’s so good.

https://manga.honkaiimpact3.com/book/1020

Fu Hua makes a school.

https://manga.honkaiimpact3.com/book/1011

Fu Hua kicking Schicksal’s collective ass.

https://manga.honkaiimpact3.com/book/1005

The Second Eruption Manga because it’s connected to literally everything in the story. No I’m not exaggerating. Please read it, it’s so good.

https://manga.honkaiimpact3.com/book/1010

Fu Hua the secret agent.

I will be spoiling parts of all of the above.

Previous Era of Civilization

Fu Hua’s story starts 50,000 years ago in her home city of Sapphire, a Honkai eruption had occurred and she had hidden from the beasts and was one of the few survivors. She was found by Himeko, the leader of Squadron V in MOTH, and she offered to teach Fu Hua how to fight the Honkai. A year later Himeko was corrupted by the Honkai and became the 7th Herrscher, the Herrscher of Flame and was killed by Kevin Kaslana. Fu Hua was the only survivor of Squadron V after their leader became a Herrscher and was mistrusted by other members of MOTH, calling her the “Firewytch’s Little Bird”, because she and Himeko were close.

Later Fu Hua was assigned with a group of other MOTH soldiers to take back a mine in Australia. They were going to be given 10th Divine Key weapons as they had begun being mass produced, and told that it was a field trial for the Divine Keys. They were given an injection before the mission and sent off.

(note: there are multiple 10th Divine Keys because the 10th Herrscher took over many bodies, thus there are multiple Herrscher cores to weapons)

When they arrived they had no problems killing smaller Honkai beasts but then the massive Emperor class Honkai beast Gensha appeared and killed everyone, the Divine Keys being wielded by regular humans had no effect on such a strong Honkai beast.

When Fu Hua confronted Ganesha her Divine Key shattered and she was thrown against a building but unlike the other soldiers the metamorph ICHOR which they had injected into the soldiers before the mission took hold and Fu Hua became a MANTIS soldier, adding Honkai genes to her human DNA. Her shattered 10th Divine Key also changed form from a Xuanyuan Sword to the Grips of Taixuan.

DR. MEI also gave Fu Hua the 8th Divine Key, Fenghuang Down; it creates illusions/ dreams that Fu Hua can trap her targets in. She is also seen using it to power up normal attacks, or perform attacks that are impossible, such as cutting out a man’s tongue when she’s tied up and he tries to assault her. She also put herself/a copy of herself in somebody else’s mind using Fenghuang Down.

After this we know she fought the Honkai as a MANTIS like Kevin Kaslana, the previous era Sakura or Su did. She also took part in the final battle against the  14th Herrscher, the Herrscher of the End, on the Moon. After the previous era’s final defeat at the hands of the Herrscher of the End, Fu Hua and the remaining Humans went underground and into cryostasis to wait for the 4th Divine Key to heal the damage Honkai had done to the Earth.

Current Era of Civilization

Sometime around when human civilization reappeared was when the survivors from the Previous Era reemerged from cryostasis. When exactly isn’t shown but we are shown panels in the manga of Su and Kevin in Ancient Egypt and Rome/Greece.

Fu Hua, Fuxi, and Nuwa are in charge of aiding human civilization around China and they’ve set up base in Shenzhou. They were in charge of Project EMBER, a project meant to speed up the development of human civilization. Fuxi and Nuwa were also entrusted with a 10th Divine Key and tasked with giving it to a person of this era who could wield it, they picked a young woman with a stigmata Ji Xuanyuan. Fuxi and Nuwa also created the Phoenix image for Fu Hua to have to make her a legend

Fuxi and Nuwa weren’t MANTIS soldiers unlike Fu Hua so they would age and die. They didn’t want Fu Hua to become lonely when they were gone so they make the ELF Book of Fuxi to keep her company.

Unfortuntely because the Honkai grows with civilization Project EMBER sped up the growth of the Honkai and gave birth to the Judgement class Honkai beast Chiyou. Nuwa and Fuxi died to stop it and Ji Xuanyuan was trapped inside the beast. Project EMBER was cancelled and Fu Hua became the Immortal Celestial, Phoenix, Protector of Shenzhou to protect China because that’s what she promised she’d do.

Fu Hua also starts a school to teach people how to combat the Honkai. It was Book of Fuxi’s final request.

In the late 1400s Schicksal has solidified its control over Europe and wants more, so they decide to head east. Schicksal and the Ming Empire fight in the Eurasian steppe from 1470-1475 but then Fu Hua shows up and defeats Schicksal’s army single-handed. She also defeats Kallen Kaslana in single combat and call her out for using the Oath of Judah against humans.

Now we get to the visual novel. It’s not translated but I’ll give a brief summary of what I know from hearsay. Fu Hua is betrayed by her students and killed in an extremely gory description that includes organs outside of the body and exposed brains. Luckily a few cells are left alive, so she can heal back from that, due to being a MANTIS soldier. She sets out looking for answers as to why she was betrayed. She also meets Otto Apocalypse, who is wandering the world after Kallen’s death. I don’t know what happens beyond that.

Mihoyo please translate your shit.

Anyway, Fu Hua continues protecting civilization in Shenzhou. She also adopts and trains Cheng Lixue sometime in the 1990s but then also abandons her.

the Second Honkai War

(again seriously, read the Second Eruption Manga)

The Second Honkai War is where we see how terrifyingly powerful Fu Hua is.

When Otto mobilizes all of Schicksal to defeat Sirin, because she had gained 6 Herrscher cores and the situation had gotten really out of hand. He also calls upon his old friend Fu Hua, because Sirin has the Gem of Serenity, the core of the Herrscher of Death and Otto believes he needs the Herrscher of Death to revive Kallen.

Otto, Cheng Lixue, and Fu Hua personally confront Sirin on top of Babylon labs where they confront the Herrscher of the Void directly. Fu Hua immediately traps her in a dream world and fights her in the dream world and kills her there, making her think she’s dead. Then Otto fucks everything up by letting Sirin get in touch with God and she free’s Sirin from Fu Hua’s dream, so Fu Hua creates an attack so powerful Sirin that God has to shield her from the blow. Sirin had to be saved by deus ex machina.

Luckily Fu Hua’s punch did sever Sirin’s connection to God. Unfortunately, she burnt up so much of the 8th Divine Key she lost her memories. Sirin also left the dream world with control over some of the powers of the 8th Divine Key.

When she exits the dream world she doesn’t remember who Cheng Lixue is and Cheng Lixue sacrifices herself to let Otto escape with the unconscious Fu Hua. 

By the time the 2nd Honkai War is over, Fu Hua wakes up and runs away from Schicksal but she has nowhere else to go. She has lost a great deal of her power and is dying as well, so she has to rely on Schicksal to defend Shenzhou because her promise to do so is all she really remembers. She basically has to become Otto’s personal lackey in order to ensure her home’s safety.

In 2014, Kiana and the gang are at St. Freya and Fu Hua takes Kiana on a mission with her under the guise of it being easy. A Schicksal scientist has defected and taken the Gem of Serenity with him to neutral Singapore to escape to Anti-Entropy territory. Fu Hua has to get it back. Fu Hua kills a pervy clone of the 1st Herrscher and Kiana gets to the Gem first. Kiana is possessed by the Herrscher of the Void because the the Gem of Serenity was returned to her. (Kiana is Sirin, want that explained? Ask me or go read the 2nd Eruption Manga). Fu Hua beats her up and gets the Gem back, saving Kiana. The whole purpose of Fu Hua’s mission was actually to make sure that the Herrscher could get the Gem of Serenity.

Stuff That Happens in Game (spoilers for Chapter 4 onwards until the end of the post)

After Chapter 4 in the game Fu Hua uses the 8th Divine Key to go into Bronya’s mind to help her put her mind back together after Bronya destroys the chip in her brain to stop Cocolia from being able to mind control her.

Chapters 5 and 6 are both illusions created by the Herrscher of the Void using the small part 8th Divine Key she stole from Fu Hua in the Second Honkai War. When the Herrscher of the Void begins to awaken within Kiana at the end of Chapter 6, Fu Hua kidnaps Kiana takes her Schicksal HQ. Fu Hua fights for Otto in the beginning and captures Himeko. She uses the 8th Divine Key to heal Himeko after their fight then goes to save her friends, then Otto kills her for betraying him.

BUT all those people she’s used the 8th Divine Key on still have a copy of her in their heads. So Himeko is guided around Schicksal HQ by Fu Hua and given the means to save Kiana from the Herrscher of the Void. Bronya is saved from Grey Serpent by the Fu Hua in her head. Kiana has the Fu Hua in her head throughout ARC City until Fu Hua fights Kevin to let Kiana escape. And now Kevin has that Fu Hua as a feather.

Where does that leave us now?

At least one copy of Fu Hua still exists in feather form. Kevin says he’ll wake her up when it’s all over, in reference to defeating the Honkai.

The Fu Hua in Bronya’s head doesn’t seem to be explicitly gone.

If you’re in the “Himeko’s not dead” crowd then she’d still be there but,, Himeko.

And if it’s possible for her body to come back from near-death again then that’s a possibility but she was extremely weak when she died compared to when she healed the last time.

Anyway, Phoenix is the Hottest Thing There Is.

[pinkbelugacollective]

Damn there’s a lot to cover so it’ll be in a few parts I’m anon bc I think ur cool and I want us to be on good terms but I’m not sure yet if we can disagree politely ;(

I got to disagree with you on some parts like Julius callously just straight up collecting ppl like Pokémon. He simply selected people who he thought had cool magic and a potential to be good warriors. He is both childish and ambitious. Simple as that.

He knew he had to create a strong squad so he could be WK one day and he did it in the nicest way possible. He helped Yami become more acquainted with the language and culture and made him a strong knight. He did the same thing for William. He showed kindness and respect when William had none and helped with his insecurities. William knew that realistically speaking, not everyone is going to accept his visage as graciously as Julius so he was content with at least one person(whom he regarded highly) knowing and accepting him. Giving someone a purpose and the will to live not a bad thing yk?

But at the same time, he achieved his goal to be Wizard King without stepping on anyone.

Though I have to agree that he flopped as WK to achieve what he wanted.

So I will preface this with four things:

Really, I am just a Siberian sheep farmer, and thus you are welcome to post a dissenting opinion at any time. I do not bite!! The rest of your asks are under the cut. :D

I have never read the light novels.

My knowledge is 75% anime, 25% manga. I started the anime and watched all the way to the beginning of the Heart mini-arc. Then I stopped and read the manga from where the anime stopped. Therefore, I only have knowledge of the story through the anime up to volume 23. Volumes 23 onwards, I’ve been manga-exclusive until recently, now that the anime is adapting from the manga.

I am a crackhead.

So for the Pokemon part, I was referring to Yami, but like... How you describe Julius is exactly how I’d imagine a Pokemon trainer. He’s a forty-year-old man and his passion in life is to look at shiny magic things, and that’s OK! Julius is an eccentric man, and there’s never anything wrong about being passionate about the things you love.

But at the same time, Julius’ passion is also one of his primary weapons because he did recruit William and Yami specifically because they had interesting/rare magic, and despite how passionate he is about magic, they were recruited for the military. They were also, arguably, at their most vulnerable when Julius came along. Yami was poor, illiterate in the Clover language, and not ashamed to walk off with a stranger for a simple meal, whereas William was basically the Clover equivalent of weird lil forest boy. Now, do I think Julius recruited them because he planned to take over the world? Absolutely not! But he did manage to recruit them into a system he would, eventually, go on to oversee, so it’s very difficult for me to view Julius as some flighty old man just asking cool magic people to join him when he’s shown to be one of the sharpest and coldest people in the room, and intelligent enough to forecast what power he needs to be able to leverage in order to maintain control.

And I agree - he’s ineffective as a leader, and incompetent at his job in general. However, I don’t think his incompetency is just because his head is in the clouds about magic. I think it’s also because of his privileged birth, his aimlessness in life before Zara came along, etc. In any other world, Julius would probably be your favorite archeologist living off daddy’s trust fund, but he’s not that. He’s the head of a military force and the face of a nation, and I truly believe he’s failed both.

As for toxic loyalty.... I would have to disagree. I think superficially Yami is just a dude going about his day, squatting in Mr. Legolant’s house with his Pokemon, but I don’t think Yami is so dumb that he doesn’t recognize how much he’s despised for being a migrant. You’re right, he doesn’t have to be a beacon of change for any other immigrants, but I think it depoliticizes his character and does an overall disservice to his narrative when race/species conflict, class conflict, and genocide are all key themes in the story. You’re right, Yami doesn’t give a fuck most of the time because he’s just not interested in social justice or bringing any meaningful impact to Clover politics, but it’s because he doesn’t give a fuck is the problem. Yami’s complacent in upholding Julius’ institution, just like William is complacent in Patolli’s acts of terror, because regardless of how Yami feels, he’s part of a larger military complex seeking to uphold the Crown, a crown Julius controls as leader of the military.

And I heavily disagree that William wasn’t focused on equality, discrimination, and all that jazz. William’s grimore was not dedicated to Julius pre-elf reincarnation. If it was, William’s struggle in deciding between Patolli and Julius would never have existed because Patolli would have either been contained and or exorcised before it got to the point that it did. More than that, William’s betrayal runs far deeper than the moment he receded to let Patolli chop off Fuegoleon’s arm and put him in a coma. No - William’s betrayal was a decade’s worth of actively building a squadron of bodies that would be fit to hold the souls of the elves once the reincarnation began. I’d argue that William implicitly chose Patolli from the start, even if he explicitly made the case that he didn’t really have a choice. In addition, William was aiding and abetting a terrorist whose entire motivation hinges on the genocide of his people. Sorry to say, but I can’t agree that William didn’t have these things in mind when he was making his choices.

For Fuegoleon and Nozel, I won’t argue they’re seeking to fulfill political ambitions. It’s true! They want the Crown because they want the power and can strive for it due to their position on the hierarchy.

As for overthinking Yami’s behavior... I like to overthink. Lemme tell you why. Yami being aware of Charlotte’s feelings aint the problem, and neither is his him getting into fights with Jack. No, the issue is Yami has a habit of collecting people like Pokemon when people shouldn’t be treated as such!

I make jokes that Yami never got management training, but lemme expand - he hired an ex-con, a mage whose true visage he didn’t learn about until the Underwater Sea Temple arc, an alcoholic with mommy issues, an anxiety-ridden taxi with daddy and brother issues, etc., basically all of the members have some kind of issue that stems from trauma/violence/etc and Yami just invites them to his squad like, literally, it’s a halfway house. Now, the people he recruits are grateful and all, but they’re all fucked up! Every one of them, except Asta.

And that’s why I say Asta was the wake-up call Yami needed, and the character that will drive Yami’s development, because Asta has something Yami doesn’t have - and that’s clarity. Asta’s history, his rise to power, his ambition, all of that hinges on a childhood raised with love and warmth even if he was born with what the kingdom could view as a disability (ie. no magic). Asta knows what he wants because his goals benefit more than just him. Asta wants it for Hage, for his adoptive father, and for his foster family. Asta has his eyes on the prize because his circumstances allowed for him to keep his eyes on the prize.

Yami does not have that level clarity in his life. You said it yourself - Yami isn’t the type to sweat the political stuff, he’s living because he can, and he surpasses his limits because he wants to and not because he has to. He leaves his squad to his business, and he expects them to get their shit together when necessary, but besides that, it’s hands-off.

And that’s where the issue is! Yami is detached from his own squad emotionally. Part of the reason why it’s easy to parentify Yami as the team dad because it’s assumed his detachment is a regular shounen-dad trait, not present but he loves you anyway. I don’t think that’s the case with Yami. I think it runs deeper than that, and part of the reason why Yami can’t bond with his own teammates and actually lead the squad is because he’s overcompensating for his own insecurities and inability to have a clear and necessary vision for his future.

The few times Yami has had to surpass his limits is when he’s had to protect his squad, people who are mentally ill and generally incompetent themselves, and it’s because Yami knows he’s the only one capable of doing it. And that’s a problem! Yami doesn’t offer them the tools to get better mentally and physically. It’s not even a joke anymore because Henry has tried murder-suicide twice in order to win a battle, and it’s for Yami. Before Asta, the Black Bulls were a fractured mess of people with Yami holding them together for dear life, but with Asta, they were able to see life beyond the comforts of the Black Bulls den. Vanessa and Finral faced their traumatic pasts. Grey finally found the courage to enhance her magic. Henry finally came out of the attic. In a way, the Black Bulls are also toxically loyal to Yami because Yami? He’s not a good leader either! Now, is that Yami’s fault? No, but he is responsible for the health and wellbeing of his squad, and his kidnapping by Zenon was testament that he’d ultimately failed in the only real responsibility he’s ever had. Maybe that’s overthinking Yami’s character and motivations, but I think that’s fine.

As for the civil war, that’s just something I would love to see because Bleach never did a Rukongai civil war when we were ripe for it. It’s pure self-indulgence! Of course I know neither Fuegoleon nor Nozel will start a civil war, but I like to think something will, and sometimes I think it will be Asta’s trial... and sometimes I think it will be something completely outta left field, but the concept fascinates me because much of the story is predicated on the ongoing issues of social and political injustice, race/species conflict, even if it’s all fluffed up with cool character designs. Now, a lot of why I want to see Black Clover attempt a civil war is because I hold Tabata to a standard simply because he claims his work is Berserk but for babies. Now, I never thought such a concept would come to light, but as a Berserk stan... I just wanna see if he’s worth his mettle! I think there’s a lot in the story that’s ripe for inter-Clover conflict, but I also understand his limitations. Yes, because it’s shounen, he can’t expand on certain themes, but like, he teases it well enough that it makes it, quite frankly, annoying as heck when he doesn’t pull through. Perhaps it’s my own fault for holding him to the standard, but like, if you gon say you gon write bootleg Berserk, then write bootleg Berserk!!!

I digress. Now, if a civil war were to begin, I honestly think it would be one mainly driven by what happens to Asta post-Spade. If Damnatio turns around and paints him as a hero for having saved the kingdom, then there won’t be any need for a civil war because uwu Asta will become Wizard King and do policy change from the top-down (trickle-down social and poltical justice).

But if Asta were to be charged and jailed anyway, just so he could take the fall for the amount of destruction that’s about to go down, then it doesn’t make sense for there not to be a civil war. Because once Asta goes down, who’s gonna become Wizard King? Yuno? The guy whose birthright is the Spade throne? Even if Yuno remains a Clover citizen, the chances of him becoming Wizard King are next to null because his parentage would be viewed as a conflict of interest.

So really, it’s not a question of who starts the war, but what propels the issue. We already know that in the context of the story, kin punishment exists, so if Asta has to take the fall, who’s to say his family won’t take it too? That the family in Hage and Yuno won’t have to bear the brunt of the blame in order to bring “peace” to the nation.

I’d like Tabata to go the route of a civil war because then he’d be forced to show that the issues in Clover run way deeper than just Augustus and the nobility. It’s their caste-like social structure, lack of infrastructure and resources for the people living in the “outer” areas, their discriminatory practices towards those of lower birth, racism, etc.

But again, that entirely depends on if Tabata wants to tell such a tale, or if he prefers Asta take the assimilationist route, save the day, and become the uwu hero. He can! It’s an easy way to frame things, and mirrors Lumiere’s Big Battle well enough, but I think a war would also be great so that it can really put Asta in a position to exercise his brain in the face of absolute loss, and spark hope from nothing. Asta is my favorite of the new generation of Shounen Jump protags because he has a level of potential I just don’t see in others. He has a drive, but he also has critical thinking skills, and he has a support system when shit gets real. I want to see Asta feel the weight of decisions beyond his control, so that he can experience decision-making from a place of true helplessness, which I honestly think will help him see that there’s more to the dream of being Wizard King than just climbing the ranks. It’s advocating for real change. It’s not only knowing how to empower the people, but also being able to actively challenge injustice in every form. It’s not full-on anarchy like Liebe, but it’s not just assimilationist politicking he was doing earlier. I think with a civil war, Asta will understand that there’s more to his world than just magic, and that he, as a non-magic person, can make change that doesn’t hinge on him following the rule of the law, because the laws have to change, and they can’t change when Asta’s forty and finally Wizard King, they have to happen now. A civil war will expose a lot of the underpinning issues and offer the cast a change to work through them! Also, it makes for good conflict uwu.

But that’s entirely my opinion!!! I’m a HUGE fan of historical political thrillers. Absolutely LOVE that shit. I wanna see it in Black Clover because selfishly, it would make me happy!!

[floatingstirnerhead]

You know I appreciate the intent of the whole "we have got to create" genre of posting going on recently but I wanna put forward the argument that it's kinda a consumerist sentiment.

Not for some puritanical idea about "excess" or whatever the fuck either.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The cult of the human being, the various liberal and socialist humanists who love the navel-gazing act of celebrating the accomplishments and common points of all the homo sapiens as if we're all members of some deeper, more primal nation (a bold proposition), love to celebrate "the creative act" as if it is a universal good. They extol our artists and speak about the importance of imagination and creation (and who but a bitter fascist could be against something like that?), and put forward the view that no matter what form it takes, we have to just keep creating and creating.

This is not the appeal of this or that art form or movement or what have you, but of creating anything at all.

And its hyper-consumerist BS.

I spent a good amount of time at art school, THE foundation for capitalist-values shaping cultural values, and they pretty much told me this exact same thing. Sure, some people were a bit more puritanical, but the general vibe was "learn about everything, creativity is beautiful by it's own merits, just keep making ART WHATEVER form it takes, art is where we gaze upon the HUMAN BEING, long live art and long live the human being". And you know what?

The idea that the differences between art forms are unimportant in the face of the universal human spirit is the fucking essence of consumerism. It's the idea that the very real partisan lines between the between the Dadaists and the Futurists, the realists and the post-modernists, are unimportant; because what we are celebrating is the fact that a HUMAN BEING has CREATED we don't actually listen to them, their forms and words are just one brand of many that line the department store shelves of Netflix and HBO. Political difference is leveled in favour of fetishizing production, ANY production, in the same way that the capitalist says "everything that exists can be found in my store, there is no need to go anywhere else but to me". The fact that the Futurists or the Theatre of cruelty people would have spat in the face of any art institution operating today that teaches about them becomes unimportant as all the rough edges are filed off to allow them to be squeezed into the capitalist ideology of "look at the wonderful diversity of the human being, all the lovely constellations orbiting a single glorious star, subscribe now for 9.99/month and get it all".

I blame this attitude for the fact that you can scroll through Netflix or a Tumblr feed and see literally hundreds of "creations" in a single day without it meaning a god damn thing. So much of it is just noise at this point; it's the constant discourse about itself, the glory of a subject (the universal human being) that doesn't exist.

This is what the heat death of culture looks like. As capitalism advances, hyper consumerist politics seeks total control over the planet, which requires a universal subject. The human being, that shadow, has to fit in everywhere. Here they are driving along the highway in their suv. It could be anyone, black, gay, disabled, trans, as long as they keep driving. Here he is going through the turnstile, able to go anywhere as long as you sit quietly and pay your fare. And here she is enjoying HUMAN ART, could be about anything as long as it has the civility not to change your life, not to challenge the universality of the consumerist life.

Look, I love making things and making theatre, but I don't love it universally, I love it selectively. I like this play and not that one and I love these artists but not those, sure that one was okay and that one was boring and pretentious, etc. Etc. Artists and art patrons are pressured to just appreciate ART as a whole, which just ends up amounting to loving the platform, of loving the production process with what comes out of that process being less and less relevant.

This is the logic of the factory that has brought about climate collapse. Just keep the machines fired up, just keep making and making and making while the landfills get higher and higher and our lives fill with more doodads and gizmos. It's the same logic as a new Iphone every year and the mega mall with their fast fashion, hurtling faster and faster onwards, terrified of what will happen when it stops.

I'm begging you, if you're going to make things make them for a reason. Let your words have weight. Be a partisan and let your claws rip and kill and don't let them file 'em down because it's only so they can turn you into a product. And not to be a stereotypical anarcho-nihilist type but if we abandon the consumerist ideology of production we will see that we need to start tearing shit down; it's time for make total destroy! Let the production STOP. No more Star Wars (👴), no more Instagram, no more novelty shit and no more art for it's own sake.

If you're gonna be an artist, let it be because you have a line in the sand to draw, a gauntlet to throw down. Let your words be weapons against banality, against the brutality, a discordant note that breaks the constant 4/4 of endless production. Because otherwise? The more we chase after pure creation the more any reasons to create at all are going to erode away, as all our gestures of love and war get swallowed up by the relentless need to produce them as art. And I don't know that we'll ever escape the capitalist hellscape if we dont relearn how to have our gestures matter, with a weight that changes the rhythm and alters the flow of the world.

Good night fuck O's, don't forget to embrace the life of the partisan and make total destroy.

This has been a PSA.

[thepilgrimofwar]

Her House

Things were finally beginning to fall into place. With the counter-attack stopped, their lines broken, the war against Westheath and House Illithia was quickly approaching it’s only conclusion. Victory. Though she did not know the number of lives it would take to get there, or how. But with the resources of all the other provinces coming under their control, and days away from liberating the capital city of Kearn, it was now only a matter of time.

It was a luxury she was going to use to get Shalemarch in order before the final push. A task that Lirelle had helped of her own accord by obliterating the Springvale Free Company who had been looting their way through her province.

She sought her out after the end of the war meeting, joining her outside the dining hall and looking up at the cloudless stars that night. “I don’t think I thanked you yet,” she began once Lirelle was within earshot. “I know it was to salvage the reputation of sell-swords and mercenaries everywhere to deal with those looters. But regardless, it was a task I could not have responded to as quickly as the Crows did.”

“And it may yet prove to be pointless if the people insist on stirring up more trouble.” Lirelle doesn’t bother to look, Judereth’s gait and voice already showing her exactly who it was without having to look. “If they stoop that low, they’re no more than common bandits, and the State has its hands full with all the ones still on the mainland. They were neither organised nor competent,  frankly speaking, Goodember got swindled.”

“From the way he tells it, they were supposed to be cannon fodder. Reasons why they were up there on the frontlines, even ahead of the militia.” Judereth responds, rolling her shoulder. “That man has some sense, but zero contingencies. Throw a wrench in the works and you can literally watch his mind fall apart from the look in his eyes.”

A small chuckle rises from her, one of the few that Lirelle had heard since the Civil War began. “So based on what I heard earlier, I can count on you to deal with the peasants if things go poorly?” Judereth bites her bottom lip. “An ugly affair to be sure. But at least we can be sure that all that are punished, knew the risks, and raised their torches and pitchforks anyway.”

“Well, in that case let us hope that his tenure under you is uneventful at worst. If you’ve figured how to make him dance I doubt you’ll run into many issues, but if you do I’m sure any of the Crows would be more than happy to assist you. They’re all very very taken by Vissehn’s song. It’s almost inescapable at this point.”

Lirelle could sense Judereth’s discomfort when she brought up the peasants, and her stance relaxes slightly as she turns to face the new Lady. “If they refuse to see sense, we will handle things. The ones that wish to leave are free to go, only those who insist on testing the boundaries of rebellion will be gotten rid of.”

“I’ll make him dance, I’ve made it clear to him that he’s not just my steward, but also a hostage. So far he’s been cooperative. Likely because he sees more profit in working for me than getting hanged. Which is smarter than most Lords I’ve read about” Judereth nods to herself. “But I appreciate the support nonetheless. Especially when it comes to those… Shalemarchers. Might even hire you and The Crows after this is all over for a couple of years just to parade around the province and remind the people that we saved them. Nice cushy job that the Gilders could tell you all about.”

“I’ll make sure that Garris knows to take the job when it comes around. If you do need anything from the Crows he’s the one to look for. I have no intentions of staying once the war is done. MY job here is to bring this to a close as fast as possible so that all of us can be done with this ridiculous business.”

Judereth nods and takes note of that. “So, where are you off to then? Home?”

“If you can call it that. Borrowed time has to run out eventually.”

She regards her form. The bladed arm. The crimson red eyes. “I see,” she bows her head, turning away from the stars. “Then for what it’s worth, it’s been good knowing you and it has an honor to serve with you- However short that time may have been. Part of me wishes we had met before your death. Though, being a logistical officer never straying far from the Heartlands, I don’t see how that could have ever happened.”

Judereth makes another chuckle, darker and more sombre this time. “Maybe if Sederis had siphoned me away to the Guard instead of my father and brother.” 

Lirelle dips her head. “Maybe it’s better that he didn’t. I didn’t know your father or your brothers, but I doubt that any of them would be able to do a finer job than you are with Shalemarch.”

“Knowing father, he’d just have Goodember hanged- Put me in charge of the books, and we’ll be struggling to keep the whole place from just collapsing I bet.” She shook her head. “Then again, more likely, I’d have died instead of them on the same field they did- You did.” Judereth pauses for a good long moment. “What is it like? On the other side I mean. If you don’t mind me asking.”

Lirelle looks up to the sky, here the moon hung heavy and full, almost blindingly bright. "That depends on what you want it to be. Death is as old as existence itself. Anything that it could possibly be like has already been written a hundred times over. Whether you choose to search for what you believe is there or simply unravel is up to your own will." 

She takes the cryptic words and does not question them or ask for an explanation. There was no point to it. This would be as close as she got to an answer and she was content with that. “I wonder what my brothers and fathers chose when they passed on. But best to assume that I’ll never see them again. Can’t be disappointed then.” But though she said that outloud, in her heart, she hoped they were waiting for her and her mother. That they could go onwards to whatever it was as a family.

“Where do you think Sederis is? Try as we might to fill his corpse with Light- With priests and paladins calling for him. But he didn’t come back.”

“Because he’s an asshole.” Lirelle closes her eyes. She knew that bastard was listening.

Judereth looks over. “What?” Gears turned in her mind, and then they clicked. “He chose not to?”

“I was the only priest who would have been able to force him back. And besides, he finally got what he wanted.”

The Banneret nods. “Of course he did,” she looks back up to the stars and wonders what she would choose at the end of things if her family wasn’t waiting for her. “Before you go- really go- we ought to share a drink after this war is over. There should be time for that, no?”

“Time yes, but better if you keep the drinks for yourself. They would be wasted otherwise.” Lirelle smiles faintly.

“That I will do, shame though. I heard you used to be quite the drinker.”

“Well, yes. Better than Sederis that’s for sure. He was hopeless at holding it down, and then he would cheat.” Lirelle breaks out in a rare laugh. “It’s a shame he isn’t around, get him the right amount of drunk and you could convince him to do almost anything.”

“Like what?” Judereth snorted. Though they spoken from time to time, she had never shared a drink with Sederis. Not that it was ever possible. Their views of the Emberglades… His rule as an absent ruler for the first years of his reign, never really sat well with her.

"When we were in Dalaran he spilled a drink on himself and when he went to wash up I convinced him one of my pairs of underwear was his. He complained the entire day the next day but didn't actually bother to check until he finally had a bath." It was the first time since she had returned that her thoughts had turned to things that weren't of immediate concern, and she wasn't prepared for how it felt. It was almost painful how far away those memories were now, where all four denizens of the apartment were split across such great distances. Sederis was waiting for her on the other side, Arrenir had vanished, Elleynah had sacrificed herself, and she was here, fighting a war long past her due.

A smile spread across Judereth’s lips. “Sounds like you shared quite a few good memories,” she commented but dared say no more. “You didn’t say he unravelled, since he chose not to come back. So… He’s waiting isn’t he?”

Lirelle nods. "And leaving me to deal with his messes."

“I’m glad for it then,” she replies. “There’s something to drink two. Two ladies cleaning up after Sederis’ messes.”

-

@retributionpriest @stormandozone @thanidiel

[wheremytwinwatches]

[Where My Twin Watches]: Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood Episode 29

Quick moment to check out last episode for a post-credits scene, seems Gluttony’s just a bit worn out from the fight. Uncle- [Uncle]: “There’s no need to worry. You’re not my son.” Proceeds to rip out Gluttony’s Stone

Leto! Ok, so Gluttony’s out of the picture. Uncle says he’ll bring him back later with all his memories (including getting Kali Ma’d?). Last time: We had a semi-family reunion, the Protagonists faced the Dragon just a little too early in the story, and Ling got a personality change. Onwards!

Envy’s gone back to his humanoid form, and is walking the Elrics to an elevator. So after everything that’s happened, Uncle is just letting them go? I mean sure, they can’t really do anything against him right now, but talk about a blow to your pride. “I am so far above you that even after you invade my inner sanctum, I’ll have a minion walk you to the door.” Oh yeah, Uncle DNGAF about any “threat” from the Elrics; they got shown to an elevator that goes directly to Central Command, and the first thing that Envy says is that they look filthy and takes them to the showers. The brothers take the time to update each other, including the good news that Al’s body is (more or less) ok. Now they’re even closer to getting it back! Aha! Called it, Shao May is hanging out on Al’s shoulder, which means that May Chang is there too! Close your eyes little ones, Al’s not decent! Wait, just May? Then how did Scar get away? Pffft! Ok, no sympathy for Envy. That’s what happens when you barge into the bathroom, dude. Episode 29 - “Struggle of the Fool” Freshened up, Envy shows the Elrics to their new babysitter Wrath. You may know him better as King Bradley, your Fuhrer? The Goth’s having tea with a very annoyed Colonel Mustang, who breaks the news that the rest of the Conspiracy have been shuffled all across Amestris. No “practically” about it, Wrath is holding them hostage. So we’ve got the two Protagonists and their strongest ally in a room with only one Goth who’s not even fully armed. But if any Goth can be confident they can handle those odds, it’s Wrath. Oh crap, be quiet May! Play it cool, Elrics! While the Soul Armor fakes a cough Ed confronts Wrath, demands answers. Wrath just calmly tells him to sit down and shut up, stop digging any deeper. He’s “important”, after all. Ed’s not having any of it, throws aside his watch and resigns as a State Alchemist. Swears he’ll warn the others- [Wrath]: “What was that lovely young girl’s name again? Ah yes. It’s Winry Rockbell.”

Now really Ed, how did you think that Wrath was going to respond? He already did the subtle “look at me having tea with your friend” method, since that didn’t seem to work he’s putting it plainly: shut up or Winry pays the price. What else can Ed do, but take the watch back? Oh well, at least Wrath oh so graciously agrees to let them keep searching for a way to restore their bodies, and tolerates Roy’s ambition to climb the ranks. Not like it matters to him, anyway. They’re free to g SWEET LETO WHAT THE FUCK NO NO NO NO what Wrath just shanked Al went right through his armor but no blood how no blood tried to kill little girl how he miss did May dodge or what how Whew! Ok, while the Elrics have a little freakout we see that the Mays were hiding in Al’s legs. Way too close! The brothers just bummed some spare change from Roy (phone call?) and ran off, he’s off to find Riza. Hey, The Mighty Armstrong! And Riza’s still around, good. She’ll be tied up working for Wrath now, but at least they’re all still around. Winry! She gets a call from Ed and immediately assumes that he’s broken his automail again. To be fair, that does seem to be the precedent. He’s calling- ...well, he’s calling from that DAMNED PHONEBOOTH WHY DID YOU HAVE TO SHOW THAT LETO-FORSAKEN PLACE AGAIN AAAAARGH anyways Ed’s calling Winry to make sure she’s safe, no creeps hanging around the shop. Dawww, she’s speaking softly and twirling the cord and it’s sweet and cute and she has no freaking idea what’s going on aaargh. AAARGH it’s Greed! Dude’s just leaning against the Booth, chides them for their desperate worry that makes them so easy to manipulate. Shock and terror! But he’s not here to fight, just pass on a piece of cloth. “Your pal” asked him to pass it on? Hmmm, now why would Greed agree to pass on a memento for his host? He doesn’t get anything out of it, after all. He just claims that he has more class than using this as a trap and that he doesn’t fight women. And he never tells a lie? Man, Greed is really playing up the Noble Demon personality here, following his own code. And he’s off, with his new catchphrase of “It’s still Ling!” Very dramatic mid-episode pictures of Colonel Mustang and Doc Marcoh. So is he showing up this episode? Hey, Scar! So while May hid in Al’s armor I guess Scar just booked it out of there under the cover of steam. He’s still in the sewers killing monsters, when he runs into a familiar voice. Hey Doc! Gonna patch up the Ishvalan? Yes yes, he’s the serial killer Scar, but right now he’s your best chance at- [Marcoh]: *Mad laughter* “My God! This must be fate! I’m the Alchemist responsible for the extermination of your people!” Um. A) Probably not the best thing to say to your potential rescuer, and B) I remember there being quite a few more Alchemists involved in the Civil War. Back on the surface it seems the other Doctor (sorry I can never remember your name dude) is diagnosing May with a mild concussion, she just needs a bit of bed rest. Speaking off, dude is ticked that our heroes are treating his place as a hospital. Seriously, where’s he supposed to sleep?!

Speaking of injured, Lan Fan should probably not be out of bed right now, but she’s worried about Ling. Yeah, about that… Al passes on the message. He’s written that he found a Philosopher’s Stone? Well, he’s not lying. Greed’s up on top of Central, looking out over the city when Wrath comes up to have a word. Greed crows about having a royal body, how Ling just let him take over his body. Wrath derides the boy for his political ideals, all “caring for the people” as if they mattered- [LING]: ”Shut the hell up! Don’t underestimate humans!” HA! Called it again! And oh my Leto that wide-eyed look of delicious surprise on Wrath’s face! Oooooh, this is so satisfying. Ling’s still there, surviving in his body and capable of taking even the slightest bit of control. And this is being revealed to Wrath, the guy who was made a Goth like Ling was and doesn’t even know if his surviving soul is the original. The strength of will to exist alongside a Goth? That’s something that he may very well have not have. In your face! Roy, Riza and The Mighty Armstrong are crammed into a car as Roy breaks the news about the Fuhrer. The Mighty Armstrong is shaking with fury at the reveal, how he’s only wanted to protect his fellow people but now knows that he serves a monster. Roy remarks that he could resign, that he would suffer knowingly serving with his disposition. The Mighty Armstrong- Ah. It’s a flashback to Ishval, Mustacheless-Armstrong cradling the corpse of an Ishvalan child in his arms and crying out about how wrong the war is. His CO just dismisses him for disobeying an order and moves on. Armstrong is left kneeling in the dust with the body, we get the intro image of him crying at the wrongness of the war. In the present Armstrong grits out how he’s been haunted by his decision ever since, how he hates himself for giving up his beliefs to follow orders back then. Now? The Mighty Armstrong faces the choice once again, and refuses to run away again. Roy? Well, he calmly remarks about how he straight up told the Fuhrer that he wasn���t going to give up his ambitions, and that Wrath was apparently eager to reveal his true nature. To clue Roy into knowing even he has a commander? Wrath really is treating this as a test for Roy, isn’t he? Roy’s just happy to have another fight like with Lust, to live fighting monsters. Back to Lan Fan, who’s been updated about Ling. And of course she just blames herself for failing to be the perfect bodyguard. Welp, time for a new arm! You know an engineer, right? Al knows That Look all too well from the past, agrees to introduce Lan Fan when she’s got her strength back. Time to get some food oh hi May! Shouldn’t you be resting? Wait why did Lan Fan react in shock to that name? Gah, kunai! May, why are you trying to kill Lan Fan? Unless… Ha! For the third time this episode, called it! May Chang is actually the Chang heiress, 17th daughter of the Emperor, Princess May Chang. Oh yeah, they are totally going to throw down. May wants to stop her competition for the secret of immortality, Lan Fan wants to protect her Lord, and even Al can’t calm them down from their duel. This is gonna [PISSED OFF DOCTOR]: ”WHAT THE HELL DO YOU TWO THINK YOU’RE DOING?!” *Slams bowls onto their heads* [POD]: “You’re supposed to be resting in bed!” [May]: “Quit trying to interfere with the affairs of our-” [POD]: “I DON’T CARE ABOUT THE AFFAIRS OF YOUR COUNTRY, DUMBASS!!!”

So after the Doc shuts down ‪the clash‬ of the clans, he gets Al to help him clean up around the place. And geez, I may not have the tidiest room but that has got to be a health hazard. Al comes across a picture of the Doc’s family, and given this show’s focus on that subject obviously doesn’t like hearing that Doc doesn’t talk to his wife and son. He’s seen the other side of that. Back outside, it seems Ed’s back to patching up damage around town with his restored Alchemy. Some MPs remark that they had some other Alchemists were called in earlier that day, but their Alchemy just so happened to not work. Looks like Uncle’s Anti-Transmutation Field reached a bit further than just that room. Ed’s walking along later, thinking about that poor soul he had to sacrifice to get them out of the Stomach. But along with that, even when they were depowered by Uncle Scar and May were still able to fight. A weakness in Alchemy that’s not in Alkahestry, that if he can learn may help him get Al’s body back, and “take down that bearded bastard.” But first, he needs to give Roy his gun back. Credits! Post credits: Oh hello, the song’s been cutting off at Winry greeting the sunrise, but now it continued to Central at night and faded as it went down to Uncle’s Mancave. Uncle’s sitting in his as Doc Marcoh explains how the Goths made him make a Stone using the lives of the Ishvalans OK THAT’S GROSS did not need to see a little baby Gluttony crawling out of Uncle’s robe. Meanwhile Marcoh’s telling Scar he’s being used in another plan that may cause genocide, begs for the murderer to kill him. Guh. I mean, Scar’s whole deal is that he’s been an avenging killer striking down those who murdered his people, but after seeing Winry and learning that the instigator was Envy he has a chance to stop, to change. To go from that to Marcoh kneeling and begging for death, saying that his appearance is like a god? Scar is not happy.

[rxgersrxmanxff]

On Romanogers and Steve and Natasha’s endings in Endgame:

******SPOILERS BELOW******

I enjoyed Endgame as a whole.  But all in all, I’m disappointed.

Romanogers: Going into Endgame, I really was not expecting much.  After all, Steve and Natasha didn’t even exchange any lines in IW.  As much as I could hope and dream about my two favorite characters and my #1 OTP getting together in the end, I knew it wasn’t happening and was/am fine with that.  Their interactions in the beginning of the movie definitely make the closeness of their friendship highly palpable.  Even if they were not speaking to each other, they were always standing or sitting next to each other in the same frame.  I’m really glad that we got another trademark deep Steve and Natasha talk.  What I’m not so glad about is the closure that this complex friendship got.  When they get their missions to retrieve the stones, they all think they’re going to make it back, I know.  Even then, ceasing all interactions between Steve and Natasha with one little “See you in a minute” from her does not cut it.  They grow so close over the span of, at this point in the movie, over ten years.  The depth of their relationship has been explored so many times throughout the movies from the “I would now” scene in CA:TWS, to the “I didn’t want you to be alone” scene in CA:CW, to them going on the run together between CA:CW and IW.  They became each other’s rocks, gaining shared life experience, and yet, we only see Steve shedding one tear for her and hardly talking about her within the span of maybe a two minute scene following her death so devoid of emotion (from all parties), let alone the rest of the movie.  Clint and Natasha got their closure. Tony’s character got his closure with everyone he loved in a long scene with a poignant voice-over.  With the movie barely making time for an emotional goodbye for the ending of this deep friendship that spanned over a decade, it is not what the characters who have grown so much in each other’s company and in their shared experiences deserve.

Natasha’s ending: In a logical and pragmatic sense, I understand why Nat is the one to make the sacrifice.  She felt that it was her duty to “wipe out the red in her ledger” and make up for her past, though Clint felt the same way for what he did as Ronin. While she did view the Avengers as her family, Clint has a wife and children. This factor, one could argue, makes Nat the more expendable of the two.  So yes, it makes sense that she was the one to go.  What came after does not sit well with me.  After Clint comes back alone, only a very brief grieving scene is shown for a woman who willingly gave up her life for the sake of her friends and the world, which barely even allows time for audiences to soak it in as well.  There's no time for funerals in war; I understand that. Yet, when peace finally came, there was still hardly a mention of her. Furthermore, as part of the O6, her character deserved to be at the final battle.  She deserved to be right there when Steve finally says “Avengers assemble” on screen and during the team-up of all the female heroes. She only got 33 minutes of screen time, while her other core teammates, Steve and Tony, whose character arcs also end in this movie, got over an hour.  I’ve seen arguments that say the movie didn’t give her a formal or long goodbye because they might try to bring her back or that she’ll get more time in her own upcoming movie, but still.  Nat’s character has never been explored in depth in her own solo movies prior to Endgame, nor has it been a main focus of any other movies.  The pacing of her death in the movie warrants such disrespect toward her character, a character who always supported her team, a character who wanted her team to stay together no matter what, a character who has made great waves in pop culture. Though her death makes sense for the flow of the movie, there was definitely not ample time granted toward her exit.

Steve’s ending: [Note: I am not trying to hate on St*ggy in any way. I love that ship. That scene at the end actually made me cry. I’ll just be talking about how this ending just doesn’t make sense.] There’s two theories that I will be addressing here, so please bear with me and my potential lack of knowledge about Endgame’s time travel rules. 1)Steve goes back in time within the same main MCU timeline. My initial understanding was that this was what occurred because putting back the stones restores the main timeline, but then you have all the questions of how does this not significantly alter history, the the whole franchise’s stories, etc, which leads me to the other theory I came across. 2)Steve goes back in time and his staying in the 40s and living out his days with Peggy creates an branch timeline that runs as a close parallel to the main MCU timeline, with the branch timeline ultimately converging with the main one when we see Steve as an old man at the end of the movie.

Now this is the confusing part. With both theories, even for the second as it supposedly runs as a close parallel, historically would not make sense. So Steve goes back in time, marries Peggy (for all my Romanogers shippers, I know there’s hope out there that he married Nat somehow since he never said who he married but this is a whole other interpretation I won’t be diving into in this post) without altering the main timeline of the first theory??? And even if it was the closely running branch timeline of the second theory then doesn’t that mean his staying in the 40s significantly veers that timeline away from the main one then???

Time travel workings aside (this hurts my brain), Steve’s decision to stay in the past is insanely out of character. It is a contradiction to his arc that Markus and McFeely (screenplay writers of all the Cap movies, T:TDW, and IW) have built ever since CA:TFA. Many of the movies have focused on Steve attempting to adapt to a foreign modern world. They touch upon his struggle to move on from his past and his eventual acceptance of his situation. And that was his character growth through the years–a man out of time eventually finding friends, family, and most of all a home in the Avengers.

His action, I believe, goes against his morals. By staying in the past with Peggy in either timeline, he knows he is erasing her relationship with her husband and the existence of her children, who may have affected history in a sizable manner for all we know.  And I don’t think Steve is one who can sit idly by throughout the course of history without taking action (this relates more to the first theory, but if the second theory states it is a close branch to the main timeline, then not much should change either right?) and truly living a quiet life when he knows that suffering, pain, political unrest, and oppression will occur.  This implies that he is going to live through the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the whole Civil Rights Movement, and much more and not contribute anything significant to the alteration of history.  Simply the thought of him not telling Peggy about HYDRA already being in SHIELD is hard to grapple with, along with how much he could have changed the development of SHIELD. And then there’s also all of Bucky’s missions and assassinations though the years.  Don’t even get me started on 2011 onward when they find and unfreeze an alternate Steve.  There’s so many unanswered questions, and my thoughts probably only scratch the surface of the logistics.

I get it. Steve deserves a happy ending and a restful life. They all do. The end scene was beautiful and poetic with “It’s Been a Long, Long, Time” and the long-overdue dance and the ever-cliche kiss.  Yet this end scene felt somewhat too dreamlike, bordering on fan fiction-like.  I have such a love-hate opinion of this scene. I mean, I guess I would say that this reveals the biases of Markus and McFeely for St*ggy and how they believed Steve and Peggy were always the only ones meant for each other.  However, I think that it is truly a regression for Steve’s character development as Peggy was the one who urged him to move on with his life as she had lived a full one herself. They demonstrated in previous movies that Steve was finished clinging so tightly to the past, yet they make a 180 and go straight back to his mentality from 10+ years ago.

I, personally, cannot think of another decently satisfying end for Steve that isn’t just him dying, so I have no suggestions.  While the ending was sweet, it just doesn’t make sense.

[whitewolfofwinterfell]

How do you like Mad Men so far? I never know how to feel about it, I really had high hopes for Betty, but was disappointed at the overall lack of character development/focus on her in season 2 and onwards! But I was generally happy about Peggy and Joan. And Don is quite the intricate & complex character (at least in the first couple seasons), but the level of detail and accurate depiction of the time is really well done and so fun to watch! Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!!! :)

Hey there, anon! I just finished watching Season 4 Episode 7, which was an amazing episode, so it’s quite fitting that I’d get an ask like this.

Mad Men had been on my ‘To Watch’ list for years because it seemed to be considered a timeless classic along with shows like The Sopranos, The Wire and Breaking Bad. I finally got around to it because one of my mutuals (shoutout to @sulietsexual​) recently finished watching it and when I started seeing posts about it on my dash it gave me that push to finally commit to watching it.

So far I really like Mad Men. It’s very specific in its style, which means that it might not be everybody’s cup of tea. I didn’t know that much about it before I started watching and it is quite a lot different than I expected. It’s unlike a lot of other shows because it’s very character driven. There are character arcs and sub-plots related to the characters careers and personal lives, however, there’s no overarching plot across the seasons and no central story. It’s completely devoted to the evolution of the characters, but since I’m such a character orientated person, that works out fantastically for me. I believe the best thing any show can have is a cast of diverse, complex and well-written characters, and Mad Men certainly has that.

In addition to the character focus, the other main element of the show is definitley the decade that it’s set in, which is of course the 1960s. For me, the decade is a character within itself, because it’s such a rich period in American history. It’s not just about the aesthetics with the fashion, hairstyles, cars and media, it’s the fact that Mad Men manages to capture the spirit of the 1960s so well. And I think if the show was set in any other time-frame it wouldn’t work half as well. That specific period presents challenges for the characters (the female characters, in particular) and shapes everything that is happening in the world of advertising, and consequently what happens to and around the characters.

Surprisingly, I didn’t know the show was set in the 60s until I started watching, but it was a very pleasant surprise for me. As a history student, American history was one of my favourite areas of history, I even specialised in 1960s America. When I got to my final year and had to start planning my dissertation I knew almost immediately that I wanted to write it on 1960s America, I just didn’t know which part. As I said, it’s such a rich decade of history where so much happened: the Civil Rights Movement, MLK’s assassination, JFK’s assassination, Malcom X’s assassination, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War. There was such huge political, social and cultural change; there was a growth in social movements not just for African Americans but other racial minority groups such as Latin Americans and Chinese Americans, women and LGBTQ groups. The rise of rock ‘n roll came about (Elvis, The Beatles etc.) and with it a new kind of rebellion expressed through the art of music. The introduction of and access to the contraceptive pill gave women more sexual freedom, later followed by the “Summer of Love”. This was a decade where anything felt possible; where man landed on the moon and a president was assassinated in broad day light; where groups of people across America stood together, challenged the status quo, fought for what they believed in, dreamed big and strived for positive change for the millions of Americans that had been suppressed and voiceless for decades. It proved just how powerful unity can be and how citizens can truly have an impact and drive political and social change if they have the courage to stand up. The 1960s changed America in significant ways and was such a decisive period in its history. I could continue talking about this all day, because I bloody love it, but the point is that this period of history is a personal favourite of mine and so seeing the characters live through this time makes it particularly enjoyable for me.

As much as I love the character-centred approach of the show, at times I do think it suffers from the lack of plot and can feel very slow. Sometimes I don’t really have motivation to watch an episode for this reason. This becomes more noticeable when the characters I’m most invested in don’t get as much screen-time. Betty is a classic example of this. Just like you, I adore Betty’s character but I’ve been so diappointed with how she’s been cast aside. So far, she hasn’t featured in season 4 at all and based on what you’ve said, I’m guessing she probably won’t get much focus or development in seasons 5-7. There’s also the issue that character focus and development doesn’t always feel consistent. As the lead, Don obviously gets the most focus, but other characters like Pete, Roger, Joan, Peggy, Betty, Sally etc. sometimes get a few episodes where they get a lot of attention and development, then they disappear or are barely present for the following 5 episodes. Despite this, Mad Men, still does character development better than almost any other show and episodes like 4x07 completely blow it out of the water.

I’m only on season 4 and there’s still 3 more seasons to go, but Don is already one of the most of the complex and well-written characters from any show I’ve ever watched. There’s always something new to learn about him and he’s so multi-layered that I don’t even think I could begin to unpick his character. Peggy’s arc is inspiring and empowering. But all of the characters are well-written regardless of whether I like them on a personal level or not. However, my personal favourites at the moment are: Pete, Joan, Betty, Don and Roger. I’m intruiged to finish the series and see where these characters end up. I’ve seen a couple of spoilers and already know that I’m going to be upset with how Betty’s story ends, but hopefully the other characters I love they will have a satisfying and deserving ending to their arcs. 

I do think that there could be more diversity within the cast and dare I say it, better representation. Given the period it’s set in, it would be interesting for a POC to be a series regular. I understand that the world of the “Mad Men” is one of white men and white priveledge. So it makes sense that the only times we  see people of colour is when they’re in the background working as maids, housekeepers, janitors etc. And in those moments, they’re purposefully portrayed as being invisible to show how overlooked, excluded and inferior they are in the eyes of the characters. But in my heart of hearts, I’d still love to see even one person of colour have a genuine arc and place on the show. Sal counts as LGBTQ representation, but sadly, his time on the show was so short-lived. As I say, I know that these omissions are deliberate because the characters are all wealthy, priveleged white people who embody the very idea of the “American Dream”, but I definitley think there’s more room to have explored these themes. Race, in particular, was such a huge factor in the 1960s that it’s strange to me that it’s practically non-existent and that there are only brief mentions or scenes that give a nod to the racial context of the period (e.g. when Carla is listening to MLK’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech on the radio).

Mad Men also knows how to write relationships well, which I suppose is an extension of the characters. It’s strange, because I don’t ship anybody on the show because every single relationship is toxic, unequal or volatile in some way, but every single relationship is completely authentic. There’s no epic romances that are pushed in our faces or over-dramatised and cliche; every relationship is human in nature. The characters cheat and they enter into casual sexual relationships and both parties know exactly what the relationship is - it’s not a “real” relationship, it’s not marriage and it’s not love - yet the couple build a companionship and understanding which adds layers to it. We see this with Roger and Joan, Pete and Peggy, and Duck and Peggy, to name a few. Even the “proper” couples like Don and Betty, Pete and Trudy, Roger and Jane, Joan and Greg, aren’t relationships that are exactly happy or built on love. I think what the show does so well is show that the big, epic, fairytale romances we see in film and television, that most of us aspire to have, don’t exist. All of these characters don’t have sex, get married or enter into relationships because they’re head over heels in love and give each other butterflies and steal each other’s breath away - it’s because they happen to be in each others’ lives and over time develop some sort of connection that evolves from being in the same space on a daily basis. It’s really that simple. 

Overall, I think the show does a fantastic job at showing the way in which humans connect and the various levels that those connections can develop and grow. Most shows show three levels of relationships: family, friendship and romance. Mad Man exceeds this massively and is one of the few shows that I feel actually realistically portrays the nature of human relationships. Not every person in our lives slots neatly into one of those boxes - family, friendship, romance. In fact, most people don’t. Human emotions, bonds and relationships are much more complex than that. And when I see relationships like Peggy and Pete or Don and Anna, those are the sort of relationships that are so complex and real, but that don’t fit into any of those boxes. 

Mad Men is certainly a good show; it’s well written and I’m enjoying it, but for me personally, it doesn’t stand out as being a show that’s going to go onto my favourites list. I still have 3 seasons to go, so that might change, but stylistically it’s not my ideal kind of show. I love the character-orientated approach, but I do think that the lack of plot lets it down. I like to have a real story to get invested in but Mad Men just doesn’t really have one. 

So, those are my thoughts on the show so far. With any luck, I’ll finish the show over the Christmas holidays (however, I’ve become slightly preoccupied by The Witcher, oops) and will have more to share with you. 

Thank you for stopping by to ask this, anon, and I also wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

[roseisread]

My Year in Movies: Favorite Non-2018 Feature Films (Part 1)

I watched a LOT of movies this year. At last count, I had logged 229 features and 126 shorts; and that doesn’t count rewatches--only movies that were new to me.

I set a few challenges for myself as well this year. The first one was to watch at least one non-English language/US release per week--this exposed me to so much world cinema and some really amazing filmmakers. Anyone who avoids foreign films because “I don’t like subtitles” is really missing out, and I found myself craving these narratives from voices I don’t ordinarily get exposed to in my everyday life. 

Other personal challenges: Watching as many horror movies as possible in October (with horror defined pretty loosely so I could include entries from silent era and onward, as well as some comedy cult classics that have horror/thriller elements); participating in Noirvember (in addition to attending Noir City in Chicago); crossing off some major blindspots from my list (such as Bicycle Thieves, The Producers, Lethal Weapon, A Few Good Men, Grease, Home Alone 2, Brazil, and Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom); and trying to watch movies and short films from every decade that motion pictures have existed.

In 2019, I hope to do similar personal challenges with a focus on movies made by women, LGBTQ+, and people of color, in addition to filling in the gaps of my classical/canonical movie knowledge. 

OK, so that’s enough preamble. Let’s get to the list! For this list, I’m excluding movies that were released in 2018--that’s coming but this is for movies released before that. 

50. Linda Linda Linda (2005, directed by Nobuhiro Yamashita, country of origin: Japan)

High school girls recruit the Korean exchange student (Doona Bae, of Cloud Atlas and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance) to join their rock band a few days before the school talent show. This is just a feel good film, recommended if you enjoyed the likes of Sing Street, We Are The Best!, and The Runaways. Unfortunately, it’s out of print in physical form; but last I checked someone had uploaded it to YouTube so you might want to get on that before it’s removed. You can watch the trailer here.

49. The Blue Dahlia (1946, directed by George Marshall, country of origin: US)

This film noir stars Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd, and like any good noir, it deals with dark subjects including murder, blackmail, political corruption, and PTSD. It’s been on my watchlist for a long time, and thanks to Noir City Chicago, I got to see it on the big screen at the Music Box Theatre. For small screen viewing, you can catch up with it via rental on Vudu, Amazon, iTunes... the usual suspects. 

48. Siren of the Tropics (1927, directed by Mario Nalpas and Henri Etievant, country of origin: France)

My dearly departed Filmstruck had a spotlight on the films of Josephine Baker, and this was among them. I fell in love instantly with the lively, beautiful Baker, here playing a woman named Papitou who deals with some super scummy dudes but manages to be herself in the face of all that nonsense. Silent films can sometimes be tougher to engage with for modern audiences, but this one flies by and contains some unexpectedly racy sequences for the time. Its racial politics don’t meet today’s cultural standards, but considering Baker’s parents were former slaves and their daughter went on to become the first woman of color to star in a major motion picture, this is still a landmark film worthy of our consideration. She broke down many barriers and contributed a great deal to both the entertainment world and the Civil Rights movement, and this serves as a nice entry point into her career. It’s available on DVD through Kino Lorber, and hopefully one day soon it’ll pop up on another streaming service that carries on the Filmstruck legacy.

47. I Don’t Feel At Home in This World Anymore (2017, directed by Macon Blair, country of origin: US)

Here’s a film that goes to some unexpected places. I had no idea what to expect from Macon Blair, who frequently appears in the movies of Jeremy Saulnier; but in his debut feature for Netflix, he pulled out all the stops. Hilarious, violent, and intense, with memorable performances from stars Melanie Lynskey and Elijah Wood, this is a movie about getting in over your head and just going for it anyway. I don’t want to tell you about the plot because it’s best discovered through watching--just go to your nearest device and add it to your Netflix queue. 

46. Song of the Sea (2014, directed by Tomm Moore, country of origin: Ireland)

Absolutely gorgeous animation from the team that previously brought us The Secret of Kells, and a touching story that combines family and mythology. I adored this one. Watch it on Netflix or rent on the usual streaming sources--for a preview, click here. 

45. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942, directed by Michael Curtiz, country of origin: US)

I always watch Independence Day on the Fourth of July; but in 2018, I decided to mix it up and cross this patriotic musical off the watchlist. I’d seen James Cagney’s gangster movies like White Heat and The Public Enemy, but seeing him sing and dance was a whole new joyous discovery. This movie is entertaining, funny, touching, and full of iconic sequences that other films would go on to borrow from. I absolutely loved it. Pretty sure I saw this on Filmstruck originally, but since that’s no longer possible you should be able to find it at your local public library or you can rent it for a couple bucks on Amazon, YouTube, iTunes, and the like. 

44. The Man Who Cheated Himself (1950, directed by Felix Feist, country of origin: US)

This tightly wound noir thriller pits brother against brother against the backdrop of 1950s San Francisco. Lee Cobb plays an aging bachelor and an accomplished police detective who falls for the wrong dame. His younger brother, played by John Dall (Gun Crazy, Rope), has just joined the police force and idolizes his older brother. Trouble strikes when the dame murders her no good husband and needs help from Cobb to cover it up. Naturally, Dall gets assigned to the case and as he begins to piece together the clues, he doesn’t like where they’re leading him. The climactic sequence is one of my favorite endings to a noir film, and I’ve seen a lot of them. Watch it for free if you have Amazon Prime; otherwise, there are a few versions uploaded to YouTube of varying quality or you could wait for it to pop up on TCM. 

43. Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003, directed by Thom Andersen, country of origin: US)

This documentary edits together clips from movies of every era that were filmed or set in Los Angeles, and explains through voiceover narration the significance of each location and the history of the motion pictures in LA. That’s it--very simple concept but also fascinating. I split this up over a couple nights because it’s pretty long, but if you’re a film fan or a Los Angeles native, this is well worth your time. The voiceover is kind of hilariously flat in its delivery--kind of a Steven Wright sound actually--but that sort of adds to the charm for me. Get a taste by watching the trailer, and then you can rent it on YouTube for $1.99.

42. A Simple Plan (1998, directed by Sam Raimi, country of origin: US)

It’s been almost two years since we lost Bill Paxton; I don’t know about you but I don’t think any other actor can really fill those shoes. This year I caught up with three films that showcased his talent: A Simple Plan, One False Move, and Frailty. He plays very different characters in each one but in many ways they all start off with a similar premise: Ordinary guy dreams of becoming more. What that “more” is for each character is what sets each film and performance apart, but Paxton provided a great canvas to paint these unique characters onto. He inhabited the ordinary man better than just about anyone. 

In this film, which I watched during Noirvember, Paxton plays Hank, a college-educated guy working a blue collar job in a small town, trying to make a better life for himself and his family. He’d like to get away from those small town roots, but his socially awkward brother Jacob (Billy Bob Thornton) relies on him. Unfortunately, Jacob is often accompanied by the hard-drinking loose canon Lou (Brent Briscoe). When the unlikely trio discover a crashed plane in the woods containing a suitcase full of cash, they each have ideas for how to handle the situation. Of course things escalate from there, and the way the movie explores human nature and family ties set this story apart. Available for online rental on the usual platforms.

41. The Iron Giant (1999, directed by Brad Bird, country of origin: US)

Given my obsession with Vin Diesel in the early 2000s, it’s pretty shocking I never saw this movie til now--sure, he and his glorious muscles don’t appear on screen, but he does provide the voice of the title character after all. When the Iron Giant made a controversial cameo in this year’s film adaptation of Ready Player One, I decided it was time I saw the source material for myself. 

This gorgeously animated fable unfolds during the Cold War era, and features an ET-inspired story arc of a young boy befriending an unlikely being that the government is looking for. If you’ve never seen it, this is definitely a must-watch. Currently available on Netflix, but rentable on other platforms too.

40. The Unsuspected (1947, directed by Michael Curtiz, country of origin: US)

I adore Claude Rains, star of this film and supporting actor in Curtiz’s more famous work, Casablanca. Here, he plays the host and narrator of a popular radio show that revolves around tales of murder--basically the Law and Order: SVU of its day. We learn early on that he sometimes draws inspiration for his broadcasts from real life criminals. When people in his own life start dropping dead, the plot thickens and he finds himself at the center of the action. A very suspenseful and well-plotted film noir, which is available from the Warner Archive collection on DVD. I got to see it at Noir City Chicago, and loved every second of it. 

That’s all for this entry--stay tuned for part two of this list, posting soon! 

[ruwithmeguys]

Arrow Season 7 wishlist

I had a season 6 wish-list: about half of them came true.. Sadly, the rest didn’t and there were some really juicy ones.

In no particular order... (I’ll add to this as I go and please be assured; anything I say about characters relates in no way to the actors who portray them)

1) One of he NTA needs to go...

Okay, so this is a dark thought; especially to start off with. But they did this. The writers/creators/producers/executives; they screwed with characters many of us were warming to or flat out loved and forgot how loyal we are to OTA regardless. They FORGOT. I mean, I was very sure they were more attune to their audience than that and we were clearly wrong.

But not in every way. They got a lot right. I’m not holding a grudge; there’s no point. I... have no interest in Rene beyond Zoe, I do NOT like Curtis and Dinah... she shows potential.

But they can’t come back from the clusterfuck of the civil war arc. They can only push forwards. I’m doing the same.

The problem is that, until the majority of us see serious growth, something to keep us/me interested, we’re going to stay in the ‘I don’t give a crap’ squad, which tells me that maybe - just maybe - something huge is going to occur in the first or second episode to make us all spit out our food/drink during the airing of 7.01.

Unfortunately I couldn’t care less that Curtis has a boyfriend or that he’s working with Felicity. People who act likes dicks tend to get the good things in life. Granted he’s suffered: I understood Paul’s reason for divorcing him but his genuine desire to NOT fight for his marriage confused me. This and the fact that he seemed to just exist for a full season (5) made me feel reluctantly sympathetic. Especially when part of his literal reason for existence was to reunite Olicity who didn’t need his help but... that was his thing.

Now? Sympathetic? Not so much. He’s become a massive juvenile, callous and selfish hypocrite that makes us all question his existence on the show. Even his fans.

However, as the sole homosexual character on the show with a love interest, they won’t kill him off. He has zero SL. He very literally has to be joined to Felicity’s, each time. The boyfriend is the only difference. I can’t ‘like’ this person. The man needs to learn humility. He’s become unnecessary enough that he wasn’t even present in the trailer: the ONLY character who wasn’t in it. That’s a bold neon light on the truth right there. Being a judgemental ass is a bad look. 

I don’t have blind faith in Beth but I very much love everything she’s said about S7 so far. I’m giving her the benefit of the doubt THROUGHOUT the season. She’s already proven a better spokeswoman. It’s all good.

Dinah... there’s potential here. Now that she’s finally stepped off her high horse, I’m hoping Oliver’s incarceration will make her question her own horrible choices and what it REALLY means to be a masked vigilante, because she clearly didn’t know in S6. Thankfully, shes actually mentioned this. I don’t need a LI for her this season; that fell flat. Right now, I need her to find purpose that doesn’t make her a hypocritical ‘insert expletive’. 

(I’m a huge fan of love interests occurring when we least expect it: two people that shouldn't fit but do, which is part of the essence of Olicity)

Leaving the civil war arc behind, I still kind of like her. I WANT to like her again. 

Oliver went to prison for them all; surely that should change them all?

She, Rene, Curtis; they have no idea what true heroism means. They’re only in their second/third seasons and they still haven’t been through anything to close to one year of Oliver Queen’s life. 

I’d like to see her find this. And I’d like to see her change and accept responsibility for who she’s chosen to be. It would provide a nice mirror to BS’s viewpoint and actions in season 6.

But Rene... this one is dicey. While he made more headway than the other two, I felt it was partly undeserved. If he wasn’t obnoxious, he was confusing. When eh apologised, he managed to add in a few insults. That kind of, you know... nullifies the apology. But he got away with it. His ‘Hoss’ and ‘Blondie’ have gone dry. Over-dry. His zero care about going against Oliver on trial made his defence fall flat, even when Oliver showed distrust. The only time I liked him, was when he was with Zoe.

If any of them get killed, it will be Rene. I’m not saying it will happen; but IF it does, it’ll be Rene. 

So either... kill Rene or change all of them, because honestly at this point, most of us aren’t here for them.

2) If Felicity isn’t allowed friends, can we get a couple of scenes between her and Dinah or Lyla or both that aren’t all based on their night lives. Give me a few heartfelt moments. Give me something real to believe. Friendship is built; it doesn’t just exist because the writers tell us it does. Show not tell. A mistake made with LL in season 4. 

3) Reunion sex for Oliver and Felicity because, damn if they’ve been deprived. And, why not? I mean, chuck in some hot argument sex, some poignant love affirming sex, some flirty flirt sex, some nude shower scene sex, some epic love reaffirmations; go for it!

They've been put through shit; some of it because of friends. If even ONE friend cock-blocks them, this includes Diggle, they’re on my shit-list.

4) Give Oliver the agency he needs during this prison arc; let us see the process of him falling back into that dark place he started in, S1. Let us see him crawl back upwards without Felicity’s help. 

We know, thanks to Stephen, that Oliver has - in the 5 months since has incarceration - realised his choice was a ‘fucking bad choice’ in terms of what it’s done to Felicity and William. In fact I’d go out on the limb and say he knew that immediately when he got in the cell judging by the dead look in his eyes.

So let’s see him escape prison because this is BEGGING for a break out, and let us see him go to his family, because you know part of the reason he breaks out will be because of THEM. Because he HAS to. Because he’s needed.

Let’s see him and Felicity heal this forced separation, which was, at part, due to him. It was selfless, because he didn’t WANT to. He did it because he thought it was the right thing to do. He’s going to regret it and it’ll hurt to watch in all the best ways.

5) I’d enjoy a scene between Diggle and Felicity which focuses on him being there for her and mentioning that he wasn’t last season.

I’m sorry. I love Dig. But if he’d been there, Oliver might not have gone off on his own.

6) Given that this is a season about redemption, then can all characters be included?

Why? Well...

The theme redemption doesn’t just mean characters finding it, it means characters failing to reach it. People who may realise that it isn’t for them, like BS possibly. Or people who try really hard but can’t and are left devoid.

It involves characters who don’t need redeeming: people like Felicity who, this time, is done with reacting and is going to be proactive. Who deserves nothing but the happiness that has been robbed from her as a woman and as a wife.

It means understanding that redemption isn’t always clear cut and can mean unusual realities occurring.

It means the city, who need to open their eyes to what one man, his wife and his best friend did for their city all these years.

7) Focusing.

I won’t lie: I’m biased, BUT. I’m not wrong when I say Olicity need to be focused on this season. I’m not talking A full season: and there will be plenty of focus apart before they’re together. 

I’m talking time to focus on them as a couple. Separate from them as parents and them as parents, them as friends to others.

This is a normal thing: for a show to focus on a couple that has been put through the mill. I’m guaranteeing it won’t be a lot. 

I do think it will be more than you expect.

I’m highlighting this for a reason. A lot the fandom are under the impression that they get sidelined: Olicity are given quite a bit more screen-time than we think. But some of us notice the lack of other things happening so, those people, rely on more Olicity in order to forget that. Episodes 6.13 - 6.15 come to mind.

Like it or not, they were focused on in season 6. I know Felicity had little story and Oliver was sidelined several times but, sometimes that happens (it happens quite a bit in Felicity’s case). Doesn’t mean we won’r get what Oliver and Felicity NEED in season 7 and onward.

 8) Felicity

I never needed Smoak Tech. 

I just want her to be INVOLVED.

The fact that she’s a) in protective custody living under a different name and looking after William and b) in contact and in actual scenes with Watson, getting more and more INVOLVED (I like this word) with the law whilst committing crime like the ultimate paragon for getting shit done and for being the backbone of (Oliver) heroism in the city and a paradox (a very good person doing the right things by being a cyber badass and vigilante hacker) makes me feel like I’m going to enjoy season 7 already. 

Then we’ll get a prison breakout. Olicity reuniting. Olicity re-acquainting Themistocles with each other through touch, words, sex etc. Re-finding what it means to be a vigilante in eyes of the public will be just as much her mission as Oliver’s.

9) Paying homage

Let’s have tribute to everything Oliver, Felicity and Diggle have done for the past 6 seasons. We’ve had focus on Tommy, on Robert, Moira and LL. They died: none of them needed to.

Robert died to save his son.

Tommy died to save the woman he loved.

Moira died to save her children.

Laurel died because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time and it was reaffirmed in season 6, that it was partly due to her lack of skill and experience, her incredible stubbornness to listen to anyone else’s logic, and her need to reach that high.

They all died, except LL, for love. And all of them had tribute paid to them, some more than others. 

But now that’s over so can due attention be given to what these three have sacrificed over the years? Can we have people see how much Oliver has given to the city, what Felicity has both lost and gone through, the time and effort and heart John has spent on their mission of three?

You don’t have to die to have people recognise the amazing good you’ve done. This isn’t the time of the Renaissance artist: let’s have a little respect paid to the OTA as separate people and as a team of three amazing heroes and as people who have loved each other in many different ways: team mates, partners, friends, family... lovers. Married soul mates. Brothers/comrades in arms.

Let’s have that moment that makes us all glad we’ve been watching for years, where the city, Rene/Dinah/Curtis and the law recognise them.

I’ll probably add to this list.