#cole is actually an incredible character

[dress-and-impress]

Rant about Cole on Ninjago's journey of becoming a leader because you all need to UNDERSTAND...

Cole has never had anyone to rely on. He's always the one to protect. The strong one. Always the one to put his foot down first. No need to ask for help and no thought to get any help. He was a born leader and you can especially see that throughout the show. Even during the whole "Master Wu going missing" ordeal. He was the one challenging himself to be better by giving up eating cake (allegedly) to teach himself self-control and focus on finding Wu. And yet once Wu was found he was still there looking after him because Wu took care of him when no one else could.

He made sure that all of his friends were happy and taken care of and that's all he needed to care about. Cole was never interested in being in a relationship or doing insane teenage things. He simply felt satisfied because he had friends to be with and people who cared about him and his wellbeing. Plus, someone to talk to about his family dramas (mother being deceased and father spending all of his time and energy into his musical group).

Just to add onto this. Now, in Dragons Rising, you can see Cole opening up more and letting loose. He seemed more "uptight" or "cautious" about things they were doing (Cole is an honest goofball but in all honesty, he would never do something incredibly out of whack insane especially if it were dangerous). Cole created a mini group of friends/companions in the Land of Lost Things (this episode also has a nomination for a Leo Award fun fact side note that is irrelevant) and this showcases the leadership skills that he has. Furthermore, you can also see Cole RELYING on someone to help him continue to be a leader and give some kind of empowerment and reassurance (that someone being Geo). The main idea of this being that Cole struggled his entire teenage life to trust, but then he met the ninja and through that you can see him still pushing himself to be the best (maybe a bit too hard on himself at times as seen in The Ice Chapter) but that's what makes him such an interesting character. But then after the whole merge situation, it allowed him to freely be himself and create new relationships.

Thanks for reading my rant here is a black and orange heart that represents Cole's colours����🧡

[localguy2]

I hate that this is genuinely something I'm writing rn, but nothing has more RATTLED my faith in the writing team's ability to write a Zane story then him calliNG ARIN CRINGE-

[magentagalaxies]

just got a like on my brooklyn 99 jessay-post from a while back which reminded me i've been thinking about the show a lot more bc my brother is currently watching it for the first time so sometimes i'll be in the room while he's watching an episode. and it's such a bizarre experience bc my brother is VERY anti-cop and that made him not want to watch the show at all until a friend convinced him to, and now he really enjoys it in this compartmentalized-way of being like "i know a lot of aspects of this are copaganda but also the character writing and comedy are objectively well done"

and as i'm rewatching bits and pieces it's bizarre bc i also had no desire to rewatch the show after it ended mostly bc of that copaganda aspect and how it fumbled its social commentary in the final season, but damn it i feel myself getting nostalgic and liking the characters. but mostly i feel myself realizing basically all the best parts of brooklyn 99, even if you try to ignore the baggage, have nothing to do with them being cops. it's just a fun group of diverse friends making jokes together! except it isn't, the cop thing will always be the elephant in the room.

i'm not going to reiterate all the points i made in that original essay bc i just reread it and even after properly revisiting brooklyn 99 i think the points i made hold up, but the main thing i think about now is actually an anecdote i heard about when they first decided to adapt "the office" for an american audience. and once of the biggest notes its american showrunners got was you can make michael scott as immature and obnoxious and ridiculous as you want, but you HAVE to make him still good at his job. american audiences won't tolerate that kind of character unless they still get results.

and then you have brooklyn 99. filled with these ridiculous characters having their own zany-and-distracting adventures week after week, but don't worry, they're "good at their job." but when their job is fundamentally an archaic institution responsible for ruining many people's lives and perpetuating the racist prison industrial complex, how "reassuring" is that quality really?

[lovelyrotter]

i still think the funniest thing about playing lavellan was during 'what pride had wrought' and having morrigan humansplain elven things to you. i wish so badly thered been more dialogue options that had been more in line with sorcen's personality cause he wouldve brought that whole thing to the most awkward of silences. hed have "well as a dalish and the first of my clan [...]"'ed her tf up

[gwenllian-in-the-abbey]

Not fluent in English. 

Please tell me I’m not the the only who noticed that team green characters in the show aren’t allowed to hate team black characters. 

Like Aemond can’t even hate Lucerys for cutting his eye and disabled him for life. 

And Alicent can’t hate Viserys for marrying and gr*ping her and forcing pregnancies on her, even though he have no intention to name any of their sons his heir, and treating her mostly like a caretaker and concubine rather than his lawful wife and the mother of his legitimate children. 

Aegon and Helaena aren’t even allowed to hate Daemon the man who ordered the death of their Son.

Like why??? Why aren’t they allowed to hate them???

Hi aleksandra! You make a good point! I think there are a few things going on here.

For one, I think the writing is incredibly inconsistent across the board this season, and there are a lot of dropped plot threads. Some of it is intentional (like, I do think B&C was deliberately downplayed and undermined so that Alicent could have that Dragonstone scene, more on that in a bit), some of it I think is just bad writing and a kind of ... well, look, I can't speculate as to what goes down in the writer's room and have no idea what their workflow looks like or what processes they follow, but a problem going back to S1 is that characters and dialogue vary a lot from episode to episode. I don't think it's all that normal for a fandom to be concerned ahead of time about which writers will be writing which scenes and which episodes, but with HotD there seem to be huge differences in how each writer interprets the characters. Having worked on OFCIR collaboratively with @aifsaath, we work really hard to make sure the chapters are relatively consistent. I gave our first few chapters to my critique partner for original fiction, a guy who knows my writing inside and out, someone I've worked with for about 6 years now, @theravenpiper, and he could not actually tell which scenes were written by me, and which were written by Aife, which I took as a big complement to our collaborative process, and to our ability to edit to a uniform standard. Now I'm not saying we do it better than the HotD writers, but I do think that there is something missing from their collaborative process that makes the entire thing seem disjointed.

I do not think it is entirely that the whole of team green is not allowed to be angry at team black, although that is part of it, some of it is part of an overall bigger problem where major events are not allowed to resonate across the story, and I chalk some of it up to simple bad writing. Rhaenyra is apparently over Luke's death enough by E3 that she can seek out Alicent for some kind of vague "let's stop this madness" ploy, but still conveniently needs "a son for a son" in E8. Although Rhaenyra is negotiating from a position of power in E8, there was no reason for her to feel so desperate as of E3, when Rook's Rest hasn't even happened yet, that she would set aside her grief and anger and go seek peace. Peace was offered in E10 of season 1 and Rhaenyra turned it down after Luke died, so what has changed besides Rhaenyra's own husband beheading a toddler? Other events happen too and have little or no consequence. Rhaenyra and Mysaria kiss in E6 and it's entirely forgotten by E8, with zero follow up. Criston Cole is brought to his knees by the sight of Aegon lying injured by his dragon, but never even visits his bedside. Gwayne never interacts with anyone aside from Alicent and Criston. Rhaenyra sends her younger children to the Vale and never mentions them again (she is shown looking wistfully at a box of toys), nor does Jace. Laena in a vision berates Daemon for not looking after their girls, but does he ask after them when Broome shows up directly from Dragonstone? I could go on. Events just happening and then never really mattering again is a consistent problem throughout the season, which makes it hard to tell when it is happening deliberately and when it is happening because the writers can't get on the same page.

There are two things I do think are deliberate, however, one of them being the scrubbing of Viserys' image. While audiences loved Paddy's performance, a lot of viewers did pick up on how Viserys played favorites and neglected his sons, and I think when the show decided to switch up Alicent's motivation from "she wants to protect her children and knows they will face the sword if Rhaenyra comes to power" to "she misheard Viserys' last words," they knew that the natural question is, "why should she care about Viserys' last words?" A lot of the immediate feedback about that episode involved how Alicent was stupid for not knowing Otto planned to have Aegon take the throne, and a lot of people didn't think that Alicent (or Aegon for that matter) really believed that Viserys changed his mind, but apparently that was the writers' intention, that Alicent truly believed it and managed to convince Aegon (there's a lot I could say about how they could have included this deathbed misunderstanding into the plot without having it replace all of Alicent's other motivations, but they did not do that). So in order to drive home the point that the whole entire war is being fought due to this misunderstanding, they have to make sure the audience is clear that all of these characters considered Viserys a good king. Even if he was Alicent's rapist. Even if he was a deadbeat dad. Even if he was a terrible husband. We are meant to believe he chose Rhaenyra not because he was playing mindgames or out of guilt over Aemma's death, no we must believe he chose Rhaenyra because he was good and wise and to convince us he was good and wise we have to have the green characters reminding us constantly that things were so much better when Viserys was around, that Aegon is inferior to Viserys, that Viserys' wishes are all that matter. Nevermind that it goes directly against the book, never mind that it's not even a particularly powerful or interesting change, it's what enables Rhaenyra and Alicent's relationship to continue. Because here's the thing-- if Alicent put Aegon on the throne because she felt it was the only way to keep her family safe, and because she feels that law and tradition ARE on her side, and because absolutism isn't good (!!!) then there's no chance for her and Rhaenyra to ever reconcile. These are irreconcilable differences, not misunderstandings. And so the show has to glaze Viserys otherwise the basic reasoning falls apart.

And the second is the events like Luke's death, Blood and Cheese and Rook's Rest come in, events in which the greens or the blacks harm and traumatize each other directly. It is not that the greens are not allowed to hate the blacks, it is that Alicent is not allowed to hate Rhaenyra, and by extension, the people who Alicent cares about are not allowed to hate her (I would argue that Aemond is allowed to hate Luke on screen, he literally murders him, and I don't think the scene with the brothel madame is an expression of true remorse, it's more "I'm kinda sorta sorry there were consequences for my actions."). Alicent cares about Helaena the innocent, and therefore Helaena cannot be allowed to hate Rhaenyra (note Phia Saban's many interviews about how apolotical and neutral Helaena is). Aegon, on the other hand, can be affected by B&C because he is allowed to hate Rhaenyra. In fact, his hate for Rhaenyra puts him at odds with his mother, which is what the show wants. Aegon is gravely injured at Rook's Rest, but good thing Rhaenyra's forces did not cause the injuries, Alicent herself drove him to battle with cruel words, and Aemond burned him, which puts him at odds with Alicent too (and Helaena is allowed to express ire at Aemond by extension). If you look at S2 as an exercise in driving a wedge between Alicent and her family and downplaying what happens to them in order to justify their decision to have Alicent seek out Rhaenyra and surrender Aegon's life, it makes a lot more sense.

The thing is, it still doesn't work. Their efforts are much too transparent and require characters to act in ways that are simply not within the realms of how normal human beings would react to these situations, much less the characters established in S1. There is a twitter user, and I'm so sorry that I can't remember their name at the moment, but I've seen them express the sentiment several times that Alicent's character this season made them aware, in a way that a viewer should never be aware, that these are scripted lines coming out of her mouth. That is, a lot of the characters in S2 do not feel like actual people. Aegon is such a fan favorite this season because he feels real. Alicent garnered legions of fans last season because her struggle felt real, even if we didn't agree with it. She felt like a character who inhabited a quasi-medieval world, bound by restraints we are not bound by, but nevertheless a human with human reactions who had to make difficult choices and persevere through them. And any human would be angry beyond comprehension at Blood and Cheese, would lose all faith in Rhaenyra, would know that there can be no peace if she is ruling with a man that ruthless at her side. If she thinks her sons are devils (and mind, so far as king Aegon's most egregious action is executing a handful of ratcatchers after one of their number murdered his son, whereas Rhaenyra burned about 65 peasants alive in a quasi religious ecstasy-- will Alicent ever find out about that, I wonder?), they are at least the devils she knows. Better they all die than end up in Daemon's hands, surely? And so OP, you're right, they are not allowed to hate each other when naturally you, and many others, feel like they should. That is because they are writer creations who would never do such things as what happen in the books in the first place, acting out plot points of entirely different characters (their book counterparts).

[felassan]

Snippets. 🐺💜

Corinne: "PC has been a priority for us! It’s heartening to see so many PC champions on the team working hard to make this a great experience" [source]

Corinne: "Enjoy shield-bashing and drop-kicking hurlocks off the ramparts! Don’t forget to toss that shield around too" [source]

User: "I love that they chose a no mage party to showcase. 😂 The two companions thing had me a little worried that I’d have to take a warrior and a mage into battle with my Rook rogue all the time." / Corinne: "We know players get attached to certain characters, so while there are benefits to having one of each class, it’s completely viable and intended that you can find synergies with a variety of party comps" [source]

Each Background has a specific last name, very much inspired by the approach in Origins [source]

Corinne: "We’ve put a lot of effort into ensuring our gameplay and customized difficulty options allow players to find something comfortable and engaging for themselves. I’m sure you’ll do great! It was one of the biggest challenges in designing the combat system, as we know the Dragon Age player-base has a wide range of motivations and expectations." [source]

Corinne mentioned to a user who said that they prefer a warrior/mage experience but without all the slash and spin of rogue attacks that they might enjoy the Warrior Reaper spec [source]

Hrungr noticed that it looks like you can hide your armor as well as your helmet [source]

Mary: "True fact: For the longest time, in the DA writers' pit, we had "It has been __ (usually 0) days since someone mentioned cannibalism" on the whiteboard." [source]

Gabe, posting the release date reveal trailer: "My friends, I have made an effort to avoid shilling too much here so that when I do, it'll be worth it. I love this game and the team that brought it to life so much." [source]

Bryce: "if I may workpost for a sec, I'm forever grateful for days like today when I get to gush about dragon age with the fans this community is so welcoming and my heart is so full today 💜" [source]

The ray-tracing NVIDIA video from earlier this week that showed mage combat was showing early-on mage combat [source]

Blair: "the achievement names include some personal career highlights for me." [source]

Trick on the podcast: "The [DA:TV game] writers were pretty tapped with other stuff at the time, sadly, but I think it came together great." [source]

Though neither option is wrong or evil, making Cole more human in DA:I leaves him sadder [source]

John: "honestly it’s a very strange feeling to go from a half decade of ‘dragon age? maaaaybe we’re making a new one? tee hee’ to actually being able to talk about it" [source]

John: "been busy all day so I just got to read some of the reactions to the DATV combat showcase. I am incredibly proud of this team and I’m thrilled to see people excited about it. even after spending every day with it for the last 5 years I still love playing it." [source]

John: "being creative director means i work with pretty much every single department and team on the project. everyone brings creativity and innovation to their roles and the project would be nothing without them (and it)" [source]

John: "am I playing our game for fun on a Friday night, I certainly am. romancing my own companion to do one last check to make sure all the conditionals work. folks it is a very strange thing" [source, two]

[absolutelynotsanebaby]

do you have any major ninjago fandom pet peeves? or am i just being overly weird for having some?

No youre not weird I have many too lol

- designs for the main ninja where they're all either white or pale. Its sort of sus to me when people make kai tan(ish) but not nya. Like, why? (<- the answer is colorism. Obviously the prettly girl is pale but the angry guy is tan(ish) ). Also hate when the only tan or darkskinned one is Cole (and hes usually sort of grey).

- 'girlboss' nya where shes dumbed down to 'strong woman character' which is a thiny vieled 'shes the mom of the group' fanonization ngl. Nya is strong and capable, angry and opinionated but none of that is actually captured in the baseless trope applied to her. I see it a lot in fanon Jaya and it bugs the shit out of me.

- misako slander/hate, its literally just misogny. Barely anyone talks about Garmadon the same way.

- lava shippers who feel the need to bring up lava on geode posts. Or lava shippers who hate on geode or geo in general I find incredibly annoying. Another thing is when some of them act like lava was Ever gonna be canon like. Broski, when and where did you find evidence of that?

- fanon jay like. Entirely.

- on a similar note, fanon bruise. I hate haaate the yaoi-topification of Cole lol. I find bruise's dynamic, both platonic or romantic, fancinating and its frustrating to see them so dumbed down.

- big hater of the idea that Jay has to short or cole has to be tall or this or that.

- wu haters die by my blade. Wu's tries so fucking hard and is flawed but apparently people can't view a character in full. Whatever.

- I incredibly dislike woobified morro. Espicially when people make his actions seem less bad or less his choice in a mock way to make him seem more "redeemable." I find it funny that people can't seem to accept that their fav is a bad person and/or did bad things. Recongizing that doesn't make him any less "worthy" of redemption. That's not really how redemption works, at least in my mind.

Ok thats all I can think of rn so hating session over

[royonninjago]

The Ninja's Roles Within the Team

Something I think the various Ninjago shows do really well is the characterizations of each Ninja. If it was bad, then kids wouldn't wanna watch the show or buy the Lego sets to reenact their favorite moment and create new scenarios for the Ninja to go through.

However, for the past few years a problem I've had with the TV show is that some characters feel more... useful than others. Then there are moments when one character is missing, but the team seems to operate just fine without them, and I think that does a real disservice to the characters.

In contrast, take the ATLA episode "Sokka's Master". It's one of my favorites because it separates Sokka, the only non-bender in Team Avatar, from the rest of the team. The episode demonstrates to both us and the rest of Team Avatar why Sokka is essential to their team. Without him, they're bored, can't figure out where they are or where they're headed on a map, and are overall completely directionless. Its like the precursor to those dime a dozen fantasy mangas where the weak member of a dungeon divers gets fired and the rest of the party ends up deeply regretting it.

I want the Ninjago TV show to demonstrate to us why each member is essential to the Ninja Team, and why without one of them the Ninja Team is worse off or have to work twice as hard to compensate.

Dragons Rising had such a good opportunity to explore this, but unfortunately it seems like the biggest problem the Team faces from being separated across the merged realms is lack of manpower and not much else. In lieu of this, here are some of my ideas as to how each character could prove to be essential to the Ninja.

Lloyd - The Leader. This one is definitely the most obvious. He's had a very clear leadership role since he became the Green Ninja, and ever since Wu left this distinction has only gotten more pronounced. However, I do find myself wishing to see a bit more of a dark streak with him. He was originally introduced as an antagonist, and I don't know about y'all but I still find myself enjoying Three Days Grace ever since I played the Halo 3 campaign at a friend's house while listening to AMVs of their songs.

Kai - The Weapon Master. Although there was never anything to support this, I always thought that Kai made the weapons that the Ninja used in the pilots. He is a blacksmith, after all. I think it would be cool if this aspect was more leaned into and not only make him the guy that creates all the swords and throwing stars and whatever other simple weapons the Ninja use, but to also be the best one at using those weapons. A sword is obviously his go to, but put any kind of simple weapon in his hands and I think he'd be able to use it very well. Imagine how much cooler it would have been in season 11 if Kai managed to defeat Aspheera's sheer power with his incredible swordsmanship skills. It'd certainly tie into his arc that season much better than what we actually got.

Jay - The Scout. Remember that scene in the pilots where the Skulkin cars were trying to reach 88 mph or whatever and Jay was gaining on them just by running? The writers sure don't! Though in all seriousness, whenever the Ninja need to learn a new technique to do something, Jay always picks up on it really quickly. First to perform Spinjitzu and summon his Golden Weapon Vehicle, second to unlock his true potential, third to summon his Elemental Dragon, he managed to surprise Ronin when practicing Airjitzu, not to mention his laundry list of hobbies. If they really leaned into his speed, combining that with his skills as a Ninja would make him perfect for running ahead and reporting back on the enemy forces. In my own little world, I like to imagine him as a PG version of the Scout from TF2 (Jay even had a slight Boston accent in the pilots!).

Cole - The Muscle. This one is also fairly obvious due to Cole's signature Earth Punch, but I feel as though it should be noticed more when he's not around, especially in Master of the Mountain. If I'm remembering correctly, they don't fully acknowledge his absence until they're locked up in the Vengestone cage about to be executed. If I regularly hung out with a dude that could lift a car over his head, I'd be lamenting about his absence whenever I needed to lift a heavy box.

Zane - The Information Officer. Another obvious one, but in this case I feel as though they lean a bit too heavily into it. Yes, he's a robot and yes, it's his job to know things, but I want to see his more dorky and silly side from time to time. Give us more Zane following a bird because it danced and him just chilling (literally) in the fridge at midnight for no reason type of stuff. After all, his greatest fear is losing his humanity.

Nya - The Strategist. I feel as though on a 'don't judge a fish by it's ability to climb a tree' level, Nya is just as smart as Zane. Due to his physiology, Zane can hold much more raw information many times over Nya, but I feel as though Nya is much better at putting that information to use. Going back to Master of the Mountain (I realize I'm referencing it a lot, its still fresh in my mind), when Kai and Zane were lost, they relied entirely on the raw data from Zane's internal compass, and because of that they got lost and had to rely on Geckles capturing them to reach their settlement. On the other hand, when Lloyd, Jay, and Nya were lost, Nya was able to determine the location of the Munce settlement by searching for signs of life and finding footprints. Also, I think this characterization fits the Master of Water really well considering water adapts to whatever environment it resides in.

The new Ninja from Dragons Rising are still very inexperienced and still haven't really found their grooves within the team, but I'm still gonna try and analyze them here.

Arin - ???. Right now, Arin's main skills are his unique Spinjitzu skills and his talent with a grappling hook. Its still so early in his Ninja training that he hasn't really carved out a distinct role for himself, though I hope this changes as time goes on. Not too long ago I proposed a cool idea for his future if any of y'all wanna take a look at that here.

Sora - The Technical Specialist. While I don't enjoy the idea of PIXAL being replaced as the Ninja's primary vehicle builder, with Sora being the Elemental Master of Tech it seems very possible that this is where things are headed. Instead of that, I think it better for her to either focus on using her skills in the field or to specialize in Mechs. Both of these ideas come from the Elemental Mech mini-series. I thought the idea of switching up parts on a mech in the middle of a battle to be a fun concept and one giving credence to her being a Field Tech, and whenever she uses her Elemental Powers its for the purpose of creating or altering or fixing a mech about half of the time.

Wyldfyre - The Dragon Expert. Even before the Merge, the Ninja encountered Dragons a lot. Now that there are dragons seemingly everywhere, Wyldfyre seems like the perfect liaison for communicating with these dragons, assuming she can learn to cool off when its needed. She also seems to know a good amount about dragons, considering that she was easily able to identify the Wasting Sickness and make a soup to help ease the pain it caused. There's still a lot she needs to learn before anyone can consider her an expert, but with her love of dragons and the belief that she is one, I think she'd be more than willing to learn.

And there you have it. If you have any ideas or head cannons or questions surrounding this topic, I'd love to hear them!

[itsjustmylifeconfessions]

Whenever I doubt myself I remember that there are people with 0 brain cells that are writing the biggest show in the world.

Blood and cheese was terribly done. Absolutely awful writing, especially adding Alicent and Cole at the end, that was ridiculous. To make Daemon want Aemond instead of actually having him order the killing of a boy? I hate how scared they are to make team black bad people. They are all bad people, from both teams. Daemon ordered the murder of a child but these idiots don't want to make team black the bad guys, ever, so let's write him not ordering this and make it another misunderstanding, why not?

Ridiculous.

It's not just about b&c, but their refusal of making team black grey characters, from the start, is so stupid. They can't be villains, they are the heroes, good people suffering an injustice, and we can't have our heroes doing a terrible thing like this!

That is the mentality of a middle school writer working on a kid's play. If you can only write black and white characters you shouldn't be writing for asoiaf.

The interesting part of the story is that they are all doing bad things, that's why fans like the book so much, cause it's fucking interesting to see them all doing bad shit.

I'm not upset cause I'm team green, I just hate bad writing so much...

Yes I'm aware that Daemon smirked when the guy asked what to do if they can't find Aemond, probably telling them to get one of the kids instead (but not showing us this of course cause we can't have even more proof that this man is a piece of shit), but that is not the same as him actually ordering the murder of a little boy with his own words as the first choice.

They turned one of the most gruesome and horrible moments in the story into a 3 min point and run moment, with a laughable 'catching your mom having sex is weird right?' ending. This takes away all the pain we are supposed to be feeling in that moment. This takes so much from Helaena as well, what the book describes is so fucking sad and gives her character so much more depth.

I also wish they had given more for Phia to work with, she was incredible but that was a pivotal moment for her character and she deserved to be given more in that scene. And don't tell me they didn't do it like the book because it would be traumatic for the kids because yes it is possible to shoot that with and without the kids, you just have to be specific about the framing and shots you use, it's all about camera work.

Do I understand Helaena dissociation in that moment? Absolutely. Did I want to see a little boy getting his head cut off? Absolutely not, no one did, we are not psychopaths. But it does piss me off that they wrote such a pivotal scene in such a bad way, that was supposed to be red wedding levels of shock and pain, and the most shocking thing was Alicent on top of Criston (good for her tbh she deserves to have fun).

They have been terrible writers from the start, for both teams (Rhaenys in the coronation is pure comedy to me), but this to me is painful how bad it was. The only good thing about that scene is Phia's acting.

Anyway that's just how I feel about it. I have so many thoughts about this but I don't think I'll write more, so I'll just say this:

Don't give up on your dreams guys. Anyone can do it. Anyone.

[sophiemariepl]

Honestly, there are days in which I would like to enjoy HotD and GoT in peace, but then some idiots gain incredible popularity and remind me of how much I’m done with THE FANDOM.

And yes, I’m talking about this meme.

For the context: in HotD S2E2, Ewan Mitchell (Prince Aemond Targaryen) has a naked scene. Not much is revealed in it, but apparently some idiots out there decided that bodyshaming the actor is just so-so funny 💀

I’m not even talking about the fact that actors (usually male actors, but not only) have to either loose weight or dehydrate themselves for nude or semi-nude scenes in order to expose their muscles (Henry Cavill also dehydrated himself for the bathtub scene in the Witcher season 1, from what I remember).

Like, people, how old are you even? Can’t you even understand the difference between disliking/being critical of a particular character and hating on the actor playing the role? And even openly bodyshaming them?

I’m seeing similar tendencies in the way a large chunk of the fandom treats Olivia Cooke (Queen Alicent Hightower) and Fabien Frankel (ser Criston Cole). Olivia is being harassed with blatantly misogynistic texts. Fabien had to limit his Instagram comments under some of his posts because of how much hate he has received.

Have you guys forgotten how people harassed Lena Headey just because she played Cersei Lannister on Game of Thrones? How someone even publically called Lena a “b*tch” during an actual fan meeting?

Or how Jack Gleeson, despite his obvious talent and great job prospects after GoT, resigned from acting for several years, specifically after he received waves of hate for playing Jeoffrey Baratheon?

Like, people, allow actors and actresses to do their f*cking jobs without being harassed.

Lena, Jack, Ewan, Olivia, Fabien and many other actors out there are not criminals by earning money through their jobs. There are far worse people in the film industry who don't receive even half of the hate that actors and actresses who play disliked characters do.

It should be obvious, I’m so ashamed that I have to explain this to an audience composed of mostly adult people.

[kindaasrikal]

All of my thought on the possible Morro return and then some, in one long rant about characters, powers, relationships, and ages:

The Morro minifig and the possibility of Morro soon being a character in Dragons Rising means we will soon also get more lore on the Departed realm AND the Cursed realm.

Im hoping this will not only give us world building lore, but Morro scenes and lore, as well as a possible hint at the fact he and Garmadon hung out when they were both dead, and also a lot more dead characters like Soul Archer, Bansha, Wrayth, Howla, Ghoultar, and previously alice characters like the previous king and queen, dr Julien, maybe some old friends of the fsm too to get some lore on him and how Lloyd’s element might work.

If they show Dr Julien as a ghost i hope they introduce Echo Zane against as either his own character or as Mr E as well as an explanation on why he left him.

Morro coming back is actually so important when it comes to the story in regards to the two realms of the dead because not only is Morro likely to be the most knowledgeable about BOTH, but whatever the ninja will need or have to do is likely to end up in the cursed realm and they would need Morro to help them. Not to mention he’s also the only trustworthy ghost who would know all the information that they would need.

Using him can also help give more Euphrasia scenes and story and let us see her grow too.

Im scared as to how they might portray Morro, since before he was a brat, then he was strangely calm and sarcastic, but he’s also really strategic and smart in what he does and super talented, so i hope they don’t portray his character wrong. I think it really a huge 50/50 on it since its been ages since Morro’s last scene so it can’t be that bad but its kinda scary to think what might happen cause if they do mess up his character (no matter how limited it is) it would be really disappointing.

Morro would is also likely to be introduced in either a super over dramatic way, a sudden and hidden surprise kinda way, or the most stupidest way possible. Examples: Morro flying in and kicking ass as he saves the ninja or someone the ninja know which leads them having a conversation as to their situations where the ninja and co are super untrusting with Morro who lowkey understands but doesn’t wanna give a damn, Morro is introduced as a faceless/random character who no one knows and helps the ninja in their recent adventure until eventually something makes his reveal his identity, or Morro just kinda appears and follows along because being dead can be boring.

Genuinely though I’m so excited to see it all happen because Morro is such a great character with such a huge lack on information on him, and it would be a good way to help develop some characters and give characters who haven’t had a lot of attention to get some. Euphrasia can train with him and learn her element better, we could get a Cole arc about his previous ghostlyness and maybe it could be affecting him even now, maybe Some bonding between Nya and Morro about elements of Wojira, and the obvious angst of the whole possession incident and how they should deal with it after years of not seeing each other, Kai being incredibly cautious and Lloyd being unsure how to react, and maybe Morro could help point Zane to Pixal because Morro and Pixal is probably the best duo ever.

Then we also need to take in consideration the fact that Morro does not have an element anymore, and unless they pull some weird elemental lore shi like “Morro is the first elemental master of wind so he can still control it too” he won’t ever have one. So far with a lot of non elemental characters or when elemental masters lose their element they are shown to be incredibly weak and unable to defend themselves, which is incredibly stupid to me. So i al hoping to imagine that Morro is a straight up badass with his hand to hand and weapons combat. Just realising this but whilst all of the non elemental masters are shown as weak, if you’re non-human you’re an exception to that rule. So maybe he will be fine in that aspect.

I also hope they don’t portray him as weaker then the ninja, BUT ALSO don’t portray the ninja as weaker than him. It’s always annoying when people do that when it’s more logical they’d be equals.

You know maybe they might resurrect Morro too but i don’t feel like it would be the best idea knowing Ninjago. They wouldn’t portray it the best and it would end up being a mess that might just ruins his character. But in my little au’s i can imagine him getting resurrected by accident and getting stuck with Wu’s element.

And now, finally, i hope you all realise every single ninja would be much older than Morro now if they meet him again.

[randomanimeandmangablog]

So, I really look at the P4's actions as I would any fictional characters: Since they aren't real, I don't judge them in the way I would an actual person. I think most people understand that liking a character in fiction isn't the same as liking a person who behaves that way in real life.

But I also have researched true crime too much not to also be able to also see them in a more realistic light. So here are some interesting things I'd notice if I were judging their behavior if they were real-world people.

Yes, they had an excellent "crime of passion" defense. The scene they walked in on was horrific. Combined with the realization that Agares would aid and abet Derrick and co. in doing this to others and that due to Derrick's family connections, he would likely be given much power with no accoubtability, the P4 flying into a rage is something I think a lot of people could understand.

But immediately after, the four are incredibly calm. Only Greenhill shows any remorse. The four are surrounded by the broken bodies of people they knew. Even if they'd just realized who Derrick really was, this was a boy who had been their friend. It is impossible to not form some psychological bond with people you spend hours of every day with. But the P4 are very calm as they survey and further mutilate his dead body.

Redmond even says this was for the best. Psychologically speaking, this is not normal.

Then the behavior in the ensuing weeks/months. Normally, people who have just committed a murder display odd behaviors after the crime. Especially if the people aren't psychopaths. But the P4 go about their lives as normal. They show no deviance from routine or in behavior.

Even when confronted with the truth by Ciel, they are completely unrepentant, not a lick of shame.

And while people might say that they just realized that Derrick was a danger to the public...that makes sense from the pov of cold logic, but even so, most people would not be able to just go about their days as normal after killing anyone.

Then we see the incident with Cole. Even after knowing he had murdered several people with a cricket bat, Greenhill grabbed that before he'd even seen what was happening. A strong man like him, with authority in the school, could have stopped this without the bat. But still he used it to attack the bullies. He didn't kill them, but as a juror or judge, I would find it pointed toward a lack of remorse that he so readily used it again.

So if this were a real-world situation, I would definitely say the P4 are dangerous. If I were a judge, I could see some lighter sentencing based on the circumstances they found Derrick and his friends in, but I would still sentence them to a lengthy prison sentence.

[senseandaccountability]

the narrative that could have been

Having mulled over the game for a couple of days I have realised that the main problem for me is that Veilguard is good based on the premises they ultimately choose, but not based on the set up and promise of what was there before. I know this isn’t a unique take by any means and yes it’s all about the Evanuris and the Veil and Solas. 

Replaying really emphasises how incredibly little the game convinces me of its original main quest - to prevent Solas from doing his ritual. This is a problem as a long-term player because for three games we’ve had build up for a great crescendo tackling the overarching themes of the (restrictions and oppression of) magic, of tears in the Veil, of religious tyranny and oppression based on myths about the Black City and the temptations of flawed humans, we’ve seen and deconstructed the elves quite a bit, we got started on the dwarves and in DAI your Inquisitor can openly ask Solas if it wouldn’t be better if the Veil came down because then spirits wouldn’t be separated from the living and risk becoming demons. Cole, whose function is to reflect the plot, talks endlessly about the old songs wanting to be sung again, about how it hurts to be cut off from part of yourself, how the templars feel it, how the mages feel it, how the elves and the dwarves feel it. The Veil as a prerequisite for life has been deconstructed, the Fade demystified, the gods have mostly fallen. The Veil as an actual wound inflicted on this earth has been presented as a theory and not been convincingly rejected by the narrative. 

The game actually gives no explanation whatsoever as to why the Veil coming down would be worse than what Rook causes in the beginning and what the escaped gods then do to the entire Thedas. The entire south falls to the Blight because Elgar’nan and Ghilan'nain are let loose. The Wardens are more or less wiped out. There’s enormous political turmoil. The game gives us Solas saying “thousands” would die when he brought the Veil down, but that he had a host of spirits there to help. (Yes, I know, his sole function in this game is to Trick and Deceive so who is to say if he’s lying, HUH, but even so, THE ENTIRE SOUTH FALLS TO THE BLIGHT IN ROOK’S VERSION OF THINGS.)

The game puts emphasis on Solas's questionable methods and past horrors but it doesn't ever explain why his goals are despicable here and now. It doesn't convince us that tearing down the Veil with lots of safety measures in place and after considerations is a bad result, all things considered - save for Varric’s initial yelling about demons. (We even learned in DAI that the Veil itself creates demons because it restricts the passage of spirits, come on.) Because three games have suggested it's not, not ultimately. Trespasser especially nuances this, just as it nuances Solas’s view of this current world state. Right after his long nap he would have nuked it all, I’m sure, but the whole point of character arcs is that things happen in them and what happened to him is that he was shown layers and angles he had not considered and adjusted his mindset and ultimately his plan accordingly. That is where DAV should have picked it up. That's where the build up was headed. But, now he must serve the narrative solely as the God of Treachery and Lies which means that previous build up is washed away for the most part. (In no way do I think he is OOC in DAV, I just want to point that out so nobody thinks I’m a sappy fangirl or whatever. I think he is perfectly in tune with his inner Dread Wolf, but that is also all he gets to be, because of the narrative, and I’m always much more interested in when roles and personas clash.) Again. The main problem is that the narrative cannot explain why bringing down the Veil would be the worse option than the shit we see unfold on screen. Instead it gets a bit lost in the past.  And I have Issues with that, as well.  Like, the dumbing down of the war against the Evanuris. The war that started because the leaders of the rebellion - who previously had to carry out terrible orders so the Evanuris, the upper crust of the Elvhenan, could play gods - decided that the Evanuris was a threat to them all. And the game gives us what, a depiction of how the rebellion ended up crossing lines, too? No shit.

Like, I am fully on board with the individual theme of regret on Solas’s part and he ought to be wrecked with guilt but I wish the game could be less all over the place with what sort of things he ought to be wrecked with guilt over. Saying fuck you to the Evanuris is the best and brightest of his character, I suppose I just don't want it dragged down to the same level as him breaking the Titans. I suppose I would have wished for a narrative that also worked on a systemic level when depicting things like, you know, war and revolutions and subjugation. But we don't have that, because DAV is only about personal choices. The Lighthouse crew flippantly writing the hierarchical and violent power struggle off as being about love and betrayal is on my shitlist forever. 

No, Taash et al, it was not about pussy, it was about feeling compelled by superiors to commit heinous war crimes and being lied to about the actual purposes of your damn war in the first place. The elves shouting at Elgar’nan and Mythal in this painting aren’t driven by love and sex they have been lied to by their ruling class. It was never about freedom or ending the wars, it was always about Elgar’nan jerking off to ultimate godhood. The writing even suggests betrayal here is to be understood as Netflix drama betrayal, maybe some juicy porny plot but it’s ABOUT THE BETRAYAL OF THE ELVES BY THEIR OWN KIN.  ((ETA: I would have wanted my Dalish mage to be allowed to be furious, NOT WITH SOLAS, but with the fucking Evanuris for betraying her people and being so fucking vile that the only option that remained was to create a world where she's a second-class citizen. I would have wanted the game to recognize that not all causes are equal and that Elgar'nan's cause for godhood was objectively more vile than Solas's cause for freedom because as it stands now, there are some really iffy vibes of "both sides are equally bad" and other things authorities tend to say when comparing destructive regimes with uprisings.)) I’m sorry, this shit hits me on a personal and political rage level. 

I also can’t help but mourn a game where the Trickster God fulfilled his trope’s duty and shook the stagnation apart with his actions - for good or ill, the way trickster gods are wont to do - and where Rook was tricked into helping and then, a more complex game about its consequences could have unfolded. The Evanuris could still have been the bad guys, if they wanted big villains frothing at the mouth. There could still have been numerous unplanned consequences, like all of Solas's plans have. Maybe other ancients awake as well. Maybe ancient evils who aren’t elves, who knows. Point is - the Veil should have come down, at least in some form, at least in some outcome. THAT is what they've been building up to. In this game that never was, Rook could be an actual interesting character where we could mold her as either accepting of this trickster role (which fits perfectly for a blank slate with no ties) or set to overturn it and enforce status quo, with some vanilla option in the middle. Maybe the Veil doesn’t come down until the very end of the game, ancient magic takes time after all, maybe a lot has happened by then. But ultimately, Rook’s choice in the end should not have been about siding against Solas because he’s lying to you or because he did horrible things in the past or siding with him because you want him redeemed. The narrative should have provided those options either way. The narrative should have been brave enough to suggest that hey, maybe Solas isn't wrong at all - his methods maybe, but his goal, no. If they truly wanted mirrors between Rook and Solas, Rook should have tackled the issue of actively bringing down the Veil herself, not because it's a roses and sunshine-outcome but because it might very well be the lesser of two evils. Gods, that would have been interesting. It should have been a choice about what sort of world Rook and the Veilguard wants to see in the future. It should have been about the people, the world, not how angry Rook is that an ancient elf has tricked her. 

That would have been the game I wanted to play.  This story doesn't really give anything new to the world of Thedas, which a world without the Veil would have. It accomplishes closure for our favourite trickster god and bless them for that, but as for the plot and the world-building it ends on a meh because the narrative isn't about the people unless they're brought up as being endangered. This is why I can feel satisfaction regarding the thematic conclusion to certain character arcs, the trickster becomes the healer with the bloodiest hands, the wolf submits willingly to his trap and so on and so forth, and I can have fun with the characters and their arcs but also really mourn the game that was there, in subtext and build up over three previous games and in several tie-ins.

[junkanimate]

EHY I'VE BEEN READING A LOT OF FANFICTIONS LATELY

I know, who would have guess?? Anyway I wanted to send some appreciation all around to some of the fanfics I've read, because writers need some more appreciation in general.

so, in no particular order:

✨Here's a list of fanfics I've read/I'm reading that I think they're pretty good✨

Solid Stone Turns To Clay by @randyzorra - MK fic

A solid Johnshi fic set in a pirate au, I'm absolutely obsessed with it. It's a beautiful slow burn, where Johnny is a disgraced bounty hunter who's trying to regain his fame by stealing The Shadow, legendary cursed ship. Ship that so happens to have a certain someone as her captain. Honestly not only I love the romance, but also the friendship between Johnny and Kung Lao and Johnny and Baraka.

Beware that this fic is tagged as explicit, so check the tags carefully

Back There by houndhead - MK fic

Ehy, have you ever thought that Raiden wasn't there when the others went to Outworld to find Shang Tsung? Yeah what if they never told him what happened back there because of good ol' classic trauma? I'm in love with this concept and houndhead explores it in a very interesting way, showing us how each character would act after experiencing what happened at the lab. I also really love how the characters interact with each other, in the last chapter Tanya and Tomas are just perfect.

Raise The Blade (Make The Change) by cherrycola94 - MK fic

A very fun Johnshi fic that's written a little bit like a script, it has some added scene set before the game, some exploration of the canon through a Johnshi lense, ad finally it continues as a post canon, with a very fun story. While I was reading it I could see in my head the scene perfectly, like it was actually a movie. The second chapter has an AMAZING SCENE, like I was so in love that I have a wip of that scene. I should come back and finish it honestly. The new chapter had exactly the kind of scene I was craving for recently, I'm so happy they wrote it!

But I lowered my sword when you held me and swore (you'd stay, stay, stay) by @necromanticzz - MK fic

It's a johnshi fic with a Kenshi pov, where Kenshi has so many walls up doesn't want any help but Johnny just seems to be able to go through them without any problems. Honestly I also advice the other fic necromanticzz wrote about them, the way Kenshi gets chracterized in both of them is just *chef's kiss* perfect, beautiful, amazing. The two fics are just my favourite in the way Kenshi is written, applause all around, love it.

Koffee Shop Kombat by @loujitsushotsoup - MK fic

Because a classic coffee shop au is always needed. We have multiple ships, different writing styles between chaptes, changing with which character's pov we are following, and I love the creativity that was put in it. You maybe saw this post where I drew one of the scenes in this fic, so YOU KNOW that I mean it when i say that I love this fic. And I'm a big sucker for coffee shops as a setting, really love them in real life as well.

Cole's Chilli Recipe by @before-time-had-a-name - Ninjago fic

Another fic where I drew one of the scenes and it's because it deserves it. It's a lostshipping fic, very sweet, very cozy, honestly Cole and Geo make me incredibly emotional everytime and this fic also straight up picked me up and squashed me. I saw in some of the reblogs on my post that people went to check out the fic and I'm so happy about it because they deserve his work to be checked out. And honestly if I can give her more spotlight I will take the chance. Go check out this fic, it's very cool.

Here Comes Casey Jones by Invader_Sam - TMNT MM fic

Very sweet rasey fic that takes place post movie, with the turtles going to highschool and Raph meeting for the first time Casey Jones. What can I say? I just really love Rasey, and I love they're both clearly crushing on each other but they're not really saying it. And the fact that there's no unecessary teenage angst, they just really like each other, and I love that for them ❤

Think Of It As War Paint by less_depresso_more_espresso - TMNT 2012 fic

Another Rasey one, short and sweet, where both of them honestly are giving so much gender in my humble opinion. It's hard to explaning it without just saying all the fic, so we could say it's about them just chilling on a roof.

A Garden Across Our Collarbone by PittedPeaches - LMK fic

I think everyone and their mom already know this fic, and if you don't it would be my honor to talk to you about it. This for me is THE spicynoodle fic, it was one year of my life and honestly at the end of it I cried. This is a soulmate au, where demons sometimes have soulmates, and when that happen it's like they share skin, so they can write stuff on their body and it will appeared on the skin of their soulmate. It mostly starts like a rewriting of seson 1-2-3 by Red son's pov with this new dynamic, and then it becomes a new original timeline. The way this fic is everything to me, every chapter was an incredible experience, I fell in love with this fic at every chapter. So many beautiful scenes, written so beautifully, as I said this fic was 1 YEAR of my life. It was also a very difficult year, and I'm honestly so happy that this fic was there for that time of my life.

Desde el Principio by ShippingMyWorld - Nicktoons United fic

Okay idk If you saw me reblogging a bunch of Nicktoons fanart like two days ago, but just so you know I'm totally going into the rabbit hole of this fandom and I will be lost for a while. Now, this is a Danny Fenton/Manny Rivera fic, the tag has only two fics and both of them are from this writer.

I wish I had this commitment in my life, to just being THE ONLY one creating a specific content for something and still having the motivation of doing it

I read this fic last night, I finished it at 5 a.m. and I do not regret it at all, this was amazing

I actually recommend reading both fics because they are very good, I'm giving a shout out to this one because I think it's the one that made the biggest impact to me personally. ShippingMyWorld you did it, you converted me, I ship this now.

And that's the list, thank you so much to every fanfic writers that give us such amazing art everyday, you're the backbone of fandom!

[syndrossi]

Using the stereotypical seven sins model, which sins do you think each character embodies the most (specifically in Resonant, not just HOTD)? For instance... Pride - Daemon? Rhea? Alicent? Rhaenyra? Greed - Otto? Aemond? Envy - Aemond? Jon? Alicent? Wrath - Daemon? Cole? Jon? Lust - Rhaenyra? Laenor? Gluttony - Aegon? Rhaegar? Sloth - Viserys? It's interesting to look at different characters and think that they might have the same "sins" in common. Like Aemond and Jon both seem to suffer from envy, yet they're incredibly different characters.

Oh, this is tricky for some of them. We definitely have some who embody multiple (*cough* Daemon *cough*). This is looking to take some time, so I may tackle in groups, starting with the Daemon-Viserys-Rhaenys trio.

Daemon: He's so interesting because of how love tempers both of his primary sins, wrath and pride. He swallows his pride out of love for the boys, ready to beg Rhea to claim them as trueborn. And his instances of wrath so far (primarily killing the Volantene on the pier) have also been out of love for the boys. The hatred he's nursing for Allard comes from a similar place of wanting to harm one who harmed his sons. And outside of Resonant, aka in canon, we've got Blood and Cheese, which is pure wrath. Lust is one that I think is a surface-level sin based on your source of truth; my read of Daemon is actually that he longs for connection/love, hence him getting attached to individuals (Mysaria) rather than being some orgy-loving hedonist. He wants connection first, then sex. Which is one reason (among many) why he struggled with Rhea. Ultimately, I give the edge to wrath.

Viserys: Sloth is fitting for him. (In the books, he was obviously gluttony, and you could even make an argument for it in the show/Resonant due to his excessive wine drinking.) Prone to inaction, avoiding conflict, etc.

Rhaenys: Pride. She is convinced she could have ruled circles around Viserys, and she's not wrong. She would not have been a perfect monarch (no one is), especially with Corlys likely trying to interfere constantly, and the succession would have been an utter mess with Laenor, but her reign would have spared the realm and its dragons.

The overlap between Rhaenys and Daemon with "pride" is partly why, I think, she understands Daemon better, and tends to sympathize with him over Viserys. Daemon's very short-sighted, but he does at least try. (If Rhaenys ever had to try on the crown herself, I do think she'd find a little more understanding for Viserys.)

[lavendercarnation]

god i just need to rant about the veilguard world state choices

it's incredibly disappointing that nothing we did in inqusition will matter or even be mentioned in any way. i didn't expect the choices to necessarily be important to veilguards story or even cameos but i wanted at least some one-liners or codex entries. i wanted something similar to how varric mentioned the companions from da2 in dai. but we wont even get that. varric cant mention cassandra because she could be the divine. he cant mention iron bull because he could be dead. he cant mention cole because he could be either human or spirit. the game literally wont mention any character from dai except solas and maybe dorian.

and even the choices they did include are insanely badly implemented. you can choose if you romanced iron bull but not specify weather he betrayed you or not so that world state just can't exist. what was the point of including the romance option if they werent going to implement them properly? they shouldve just had a choice that said "did you romance solas?" since that is clearly the only thing that will matter. i'm guessing unless it's solas or dorian whoever you romanced wont even be mentioned.

i'm still going to play the game but this has really made me less excited for it. those little references to previous game matters! that's what makes the game feel like your own story!

and it's annoying the fuck out of me how much emphasis they're putting on solas and solavellan in these articles?? i dont even dislike solavellan, i actually find it very compelling, but there's more to the game than one ship and it sucks that nothing else from dai will be brought over.