#end of the show and it’s gonna be unsatisfying and bad. and not good

[fizzlehead]

smash to black end of series making me want to kill myself rn. imagine if this season had been good

[moonsidesong]

i like how much hfjone gives me thinky thoughts. ending spins around in my brain going wheeee whats gonna happen now who knooooows

[linkspooky]

DOOMED SIBLINGS: THE TODOROKIS VS. THE FIRE NATION ROYAL FAMILY

I received an ask in my inbox about how Zuko doesn't owe Azula any forgiveness. Truthfully I wasn't even going to respond because this isn't an avatar blog, but then I watched this video.

Not only do I disagree with the basically everything in this video, but I am going to make the argument that both Zuko' and Azula's arcs are both incomplete with the way the show left the two of them in the final showdown.

In order to make my argument I'm going to compare Azula and Zuko's relationship in avatar to Shoto and Toya's relationship in My Hero Academia and use the latter as a more positive example.

Unnecessary Redemption Arcs

The common fandom opinion I want to argue against is this idea that Azula's ending is a perfect tragedy, and therefore doesn't need to be expanded upon. There's also a sentiment that redeeming Azula would somehow ruin the impact of this perfect tragedy.

I'm about to argue against both of these points.

Azula's arc doesn't work as a tragedy.

Because of this her arc is unsatisfying and unfinished.

I'm going to address the first bullet point but before that let me add another disclaimer. The reason why I think Azula's arc isn't an effectively written tragedy isn't because I like Azula.

Before we even get into the My Hero Academia comparison let me bring up something completely different. I do like Azula, but I like Terra Markov from Teen Titans a lot more and I would not change a thing about her tragic end.

AZULA'S ARC IS NOT A WELL-WRITTEN TRAGEDY

Terra in the comics is what a lot of people accuse Azula of being. She is stated in the text and by her creators to be an unfeeling sociopath. She was also never intended by her creators to be redeemed.

[About Terra] The very first time we see her, she’s trying to blow up the Statue of Liberty. It’s just that all the fans assumed because we went out of our way to make her cute — but not too cute, with the buck teeth and everything — everyone would assume that she was gonna become good by the end and that was never the case. First thing, we made a promise that day that we would never renege on our view that she’d never become good. It’s sometimes hard to do that with characters you like. You want them to become good or something like that. But we never liked the character enough—because we knew what we were doing with her—we never allowed ourselves to fall for the character. Because that’s bad. That’s bad storytelling. You’re doing what you want as a fan at that particular point, not as the creators. T

Now let me clarify, both creators of New Teen Titans say some nasty things about Terra and don't recognize her sexual abuse, but here's the thing. You don't have to read a story 100% the way the author intended, sometimes the story says one thing and the text says something different.

I am going to use Judas Contract as an example of a story where the character from the start was never intended to be redeemed and why that's a positive in this case.

Terra is a teenage girl, the bastard daughter of the king of Markovia and a random American woman who presumably has had no stable home her entire life because she's working as a mercenary at fifteen. She teams up with a man that is in his mid fifties and even starts a sexual relationship with him (this is statutory rape she cannot consent) and Deathstroke uses her to infiltrate the Teen Titans and learn as much as possible.

Terra is sent to live with the team and spy on them for several months. The whole time she only ever engages with them in a fake spunky persona, and never shows her real cutthroat self. She leads Beast Boy on in a fake romance to make him trust her and secure her place on the team. The way you'd usually expect this arc to go is that Terra would grow fond of the team and be torn in her loyalties.

Yeah, that never happens.

Terra loathes the Titans. In fact she's developed a superiority complex about her meta human abilities and she doesn't understand why anyone would use their powers to help others. She despises the concept of superheroes in general, and because of that never bonds with any of the Titans. Her feelings never change from start to finish, because her creators intentionally wrote her as a character that can't be redeemed.

Terra is written to be a psychopath, but even with that intention in mind there are scene that shows a greater range of emotions. She has what could amount to a trauma flashback when Beast Boy too aggressively flirts with her and tries to kiss her and she reacts violently, trying to bury him under the earth.

Let's go ahead and interpret Terra as what is used as the fictional definition of a "sociopath" that is someone who feels no bonds with other people, someone with shallow emotions and someone devoid of guilt. Even if we interpret her that way, her story is still meant to be read as a tragedy.

Terra succeeds in her mission of infiltrating the Titans. Slade captures most of them, and the only remaining member Dick Grayson goes missing. Dick Grayson then unites with Slade's son Jericho, and the two of them team up in order to rescue the rest of their friends.

Even after all she's done the Titans try to make pleas to Terra during the final battle, which she not only rejects but responds to with violence. Which only confirms what I said above, Terra never grew to love them, she never regretted her actions, she only ever engaged with them with lies.

(Terra always lies, Terra always lies, Terra always lies).

Terra is declared by Raven to be devoid of emotions: "Her thinking is unlike ours. She feels no true love or hate. Her soul is corrupt. What she does is done without remorse."

Even after Raven declares this, however she still pleads with Terra to stop because she's going to hurt herself. Terra feels Slade betrayed her because he favored his son Jericho over her, so she decides to take both Slade and the Titans down. As the Titans fight her she begins to mentally fall apart ignoring their appeals to her and lashing out at everything around her. Eventually she makes one last attempt to everything around her, but the Titans escape and she only manages to bury herself.

At no point in the fight do the Titans give up on trying to reach her even as she's loudly screaming how much she hates them. Even after she's buried and it looks like she's dead, Gar and Donna both try desperately to dig her up on the slim hope she's still alive. When they find the body they even give her a funeral afterwards, even though they all think that Terra was beyond redemption.

Even the prose narration that accompanies her death is incredibly melancholy and bemoans her fate, at the same time as it calls her a outright sociopath.

There's no reasoning with her now. However slim, whatever sanity Tara Markov possessed is gone. Now there is only primal hatred! Hatred born, nurtured, and fanned. Hatred that festers and grows without care, without feeling, without plan. her pursed lips part and the sounds which echoes force are garbled and inhuman. Hot, boiling blood gushes wildly from the earth's open wounds, its skin fractures and cracks, and if a world could cry, it surely would. Her name is Tara Markov and she is little more than sxiteen years old, and due to the fault of no one but herself she is insane. No one taught her to hate, yet she hates without cause, without reason. No one taught her to destroy, yet she destroys with glee, with relish. Don't look for reasons which do not exist, plainly Tara Markov is what she is, and she has taken a great power and made it as corrupt as she. Hers was the power over the earth itself she could have brought life to deserts, hat to the frozen tundra, food to sraving millions. She could have damned raging rivers, and tunneled water to packed lands dry and dead. her powers were limited only by the mind which controlled them. A mind which sought not hope, not love, not life, but death.

If you go with the text that she is just a sociopath beyond redemption who hates and hates and hates for no reason, the narrative still mourns her because a sixteen year old with her whole life ahead of being consumed by hatred and then dying because of it is in fact sad.

If you read into the subtext then you can argue that the events of the story, contradicts what the narration is telling us. Terra is being sexually groomed and groomed as a child soldier by a man who is much older than her, even if she thinks he's a partner he clearly has all power in the relationship.

If you think about it that way then Terra is the ultimate bad victim. She doesn't cry and call for help as a victim of sexual abuse, instead she tries to claim power for herself, she manipulates, and she destroys any chance she had for a genuine relationship because she only sees all relationships as transactions she can gain or lose from.

Even if you only go with the first interpretation, the narrative still remains tragic because the Titans themselves did not want to give up on her, they did not want to watch this sixteen-year-old girl destroy herself. They never stop reaching out for her and it doesn't work, because there was no way out for Terra but death.

Here's the thing I don't think Terra's status as a sexual victim automatically means an ending where she dies is offensive. It reflects a reality that victims like Terra often go unseen because they don't present their victimhood in palatable ways, and by the time anyone notices it's far too late. Sometimes tragedies are meant to reflect a reality where many people do not get saved.

There's two reasons that Judas Contract works as a tragic story. Number one the creators planned Terra's ending right from the beginning. Which meant they never gave her any moment where she shows that she's redeemable. There's no genuine bond between her and the titans, no wrestling with the guilt of her actions, nothing.

Number two, Judas Contract is Terra's story from beginning to end. It begins with her betrayal of the Titans, and ends with her death. The death is also brought upon herself by her fatal flaw her hatred, which is what makes her the protagonist of a tragedy. Tragedies are stories where heroes are undone by their flaws. Terra also goes out on her own terms. She buries herself underneath her own rocks. Her death is a direct consequence of her inability to let go of her hatred. Terra's not fridged for anybody else's arc, she retains her agency until the exact moment of her death.

To simplify into bullet points, Judas Contract works because:

The creators thought out what they wanted to do with Terra.

Judas contract is Terra's story.

Now, getting to the part where we actually talk about Avatar, and I start complaining about that awful, awful video.

AZULA'S ARC IS NOT WELL THOUGHT OUT

I just went on a long tangent on how Terra, a character written to have no redeemable qualities can still be tragic. How the creators marked her as clearly doomed from the start, and how she brought about her end on herself, how there no redemption for Terra. How this girl had no real chance, and how regardless of the fact Terra is a lil baby sociopath her fall is still tragic because of how well structured the tragedy is surrounding her.

It's awful to kill off a sixteen year old victim of sexual abuse, but the ending just fits because Terra represents a certain type of bad, unsympathetic victim who doesn't get saved.

Azula's arc isn't as well structured. The ending does not fit. I'm going to start by refuting some points in the awful, awful video I did not like.

"Maybe it's okay if Azula's story ends where it does in the series we would separate how we would treat a real 14-year-old girl from a villain in a series, ad that's why any redemption arc isn't need i a story after all. A character needs of deserves a redemption arc when it becomes the most meaningful way to explore their character and place in the story, but a character deserving redemption usually comes before the story really needing it, and I don't think Azula's done anything to deserve it yet. They've got to exhibit some willingness and action to change..."

So the main reason I'm using Terra as my first example is because Terra is the kind of character that Hello Future Me is describing. Terra was written with the specific intention she'd never experience a change of heart, all of the friendships she makes with the Titans are fake, she very loudly experiences no remorse, or even self-reflection over what she is. Terra's pretty proudly a monster and she never experiences any kind of self-doubt or regret over what she's become.

I can disprove right away Hello Future Me's blanket statement (with no actual cited examples, just trust him guys) that Azula never did anything to hint she may deserve redemption. That suggests Azula is an entirely selfish character who uses, manipulates and thinks she's right and worst of all is comfortable being the way she is, and therefore incapable of doing the self-reflection necessary for change.

Azula does show the capacity to do selfless actions several times in the narrative, and even consider the feelings of others. There's the apology scene with Ty Lee and the way she interacts with her friends in general with the Beach where when she's not fighting in a war or trying to complete a mission for her father Azula 1) interacts with her friends in a normal way and 2) seems to express a desire to experience normal relationships not the hierarchical ones she's experienced all of her life.

However, that's not the example I'm going to use as her save the cat moment. I generally intend to interpret that as a sign that even though she treats Mai and Ty Lee as subordinates and that power she holds over them eventually leads to them leaving her, their friendship isn't just Azula abusing them and lording her authority over their heads 24/7.

No, Azula's save the cat moments all revolve around Zuko. Which is funny, because the entire fandom seems to regard Azula as Zuko's evil little sister who exists to do nothing but torment her.

The first and biggest is Azula deciding to bring Zuko home in Ba Sing Se, and telling a lie to her father that he was the one to slay the avatar.

Ozai: I am proud of you, Prince Zuko. I am proud because you and your sister conquered Ba Sing Se. I am proud because when your loyalty was tested by your treacherous uncle, you did the right thing and captured the traitor. And I am proudest of all of your most legendary accomplishment: you slayed the Avatar.

Zuko: [Shocked.] What did you hear? Ozai: Azula told me everything. She said she was amazed and impressed at your power and ferocity at the moment of truth. [Inspired partly by this post]

Now the show seems to regard this action as Azula being an evil temptress who is there to tempt Zuko back to her side with everything he thinks he ever wanted.

That's only if you regard it from Zuko's perspective.

Think for a moment from Azula's perspective. Number one, Azula is someone thoroughly indoctrinated into Fire Nation propaganda who measures her self-worth based on 1) military achievement and 2) her father's approval and assessment of her talents. In Azula's own logic (wrongheaded as it is) she's helping Zuko. She's bringing him back home with his place in the line of succession restored and his father's approval.

Azula doesn't benefit from this gesture at all, in fact if her father discovers the lie she has as much to lose as Zuko does.

Now Zuko insinuates that Azula only brought Zuko along and told her father that he was the one who killed the avatar so she could let him take the fall if the avatar turned out to be alive.

However, if you look at the actual order of events that doesn't make sense. Azula saw the avatar die, she didn't know about the spirit water, and therefore had no way of knowing Aang could come back. In fact, it's Zuko who 1) knew about the spirit water and 2) decides to keep the spirit water and the fact the avatar might have survived a secret that is throwing Azula under the bus. After all she has as much to lose as he did and instead of sharing that information with her he decides to keep it all to himself.

Now Azula does imply that if the avatar were to turn out to be alive all of Zuko's glory would dry up, but this is only after Zuko 1) throws accusations at her and 2) makes it's pretty clear he's lying to her putting her on the defensive.

This is also a scenario where Azula doesn't have much to gain by bringing Zuko back, if you look at it from her perspective. If Azula just lets Zuko rot in a ba sing se prison, then her claim to the throne is secure. With Zuko back he's restored in the line of succession. She also, when making the decision to invite Zuko to her side probably didn't need him for her plan to succeed.

There is a dramatic moment of Zuko choosing to side with Azula over Katara which turns the tide in Azula's favor, but Azula can't see into the future and therefore wouldn't be able to predict that happening. If you look at it from Azula's perspective she 1) successfully infiltrated the city, 2) already had the Dai Lee in her pocket. She likely already thought she had the city secure at this point so her decision to extend a hand out to Zuko is therefore likely motivated by selflessness instead of self-interest.

That's important because usually when Azula usually only gives her help to others if it also benefits her in some way. Azula might genuinely see her recruiting Mai and Ty Lee to her side as a member of the royal family extending her favor and giving them status and security in their positions but it has the underlying motivation of 1) she keeps them in a position to beneath her and therefore in her complete control.

Azula will interact with Mai and Ty Lee like friends on the surface, as long she maintains control over them, but if they do anything to something that displeases her she'll do anything to regain her control.

Mai: I thought you ran off and joined the circus. You said it was your calling. Ty Lee: Well, Azula called harder.

This is set up in Azula's very first interaction with Ty Lee. Azula greets her like an old friends, Ty Lee even seems happy to see her, but the second Ty Lee tries to say no to her Azula goes to extreme lengths to "persuade her". Azula's friendship with Mai and Ty Lee is an abusive friendship because there is a power differential and even if Azula feels genuine affection for them both it's clear they're not allowed to say no. Mai and Ty Lee are put into positions where it's in their best interest to please her, and live in fear of the consequences if they don't do just that.

Here's the thing, I'm not arguing that Azula didn't deserve any consequences for her actions. I'm arguing that the setup doesn't match her eventual ending. Azula is set up to have Mai and Ty Lee leave her from the very first scene that Azula interacts with Ty Lee. It's satisfying because the set up matches the pay off.

It's also tragic because it's Azula continuing the chain of abuse. The video isn't entirely wrong (which is why they came to the wrong conclusion frustrating).

Azula's fall is about how differenting parenting styles can a child. Ozai's affection is exchanged for being useful. Something Azula would go on to repeat with her friends, whereas Iroh's affection is something freely given with patience for imperfections and failures, something Zuko goes then on to repeat.

It's like... there it is it's so close. Here's the thing, Azula is set up for a tragic falling out with Mai and Ty Lee (and one she deserves) but the set up is different with Zuko. Azula's save the cat moment revolves around Zuko, and her genuine attempt to bring her brother home.

Yes, the first time Azula interacts with Zuko in season 2, she tries to take him home by force. However, by the ending of the season Azula's perspective on the matter has obviously changed because she begins by trying to bring him back as a prisoner, and by the end of the season invites him back as an equal.

There's no moment in Season 3 where Azula treats Zuko the way she does Mai and Ty Lee (unless Zuko provokes it first and puts her on the defensive) in fact most of her interactions are either them interacting normally (such as when Azula goes to find Zuko at their old beach house because she knows he'll be there and advises he leave instead of dwelling on their depressing memories) or Azula deliberately trying to look out for Zuko such as when she advises him not to go visiting with Uncle because it'll make others suspicious.

On the other hand, Zuko never at any point looks out for his sister the way Azula is demonstrated looking out for him. He doesn't say, try to tell her where he's going on the Day of Black Sun, or try to convince her the fire nation is wrong. There's a scene in the later part of Season 3 where Zuko is watching Azula fall to her death while sitting on a flying bison and not only sits there and does nothing about it, but sounds disappointed when she doesn't hit the ground and become an Azula Pancake.

That's pretty much the opposite of a save the cat moment. It's a "let the cat fall to their death" kind of moment.

Yes they were enemies at that point, but Zuko's the one who's supposed to learn that affection is something freely given with patience for imperfections and failures, something Zuko goes then on to repeat.

How exactly is he doing that in this scene?

The thing is... this setup doesn't have to be bad. Of course Zuko has trouble has trouble empathizing with Azula, he doesn't even think about sending a letter to Mai, Zuko's shown at this point to be like a healing abuse victim who's understandably focused on himself.

This in fact could be excellent set up with step 1) learning what genuine love and forgiveness is and 2) demonstrating those two things by applying it to others.

However, that's not where we got. We got Zuko watching his sister have a complete emotional breakdown, crying and screaming while chained to a grate and looking somewhat sad.

And once again to bring Terra into this, Terra is what Stay at Home and parts of fandom argue that Azula is. Terra screams at the top of her lungs how much she hates the Titans, how much she was always lying to them, and the Titans STILL try to reach Terra with words, try to de-escalate the conflict, when she's about to bring the rocks falling down on herself warn her she's going to hurt herself, and then when she's buried under rubble try to dig her out begging for her too still be alive.

Terra who's intentionally created by her writers to be as hatable as possible, is shown more compassion by the heroes in her ending than Zuko ever does to Azula. They also give Terra multiple opportunities to change until literally the very last minute, which Zuko doesn't do either.

What's set up is Azula has this save the cat moment with her brother, that Zuko is pretty much the only person she doesn't treat like a subordinate in the story (because she just like Zuko has a craving for familial love she tries to earn from her father). However, her ending with Zuko just taking her down doesn't fit that setup.

Azula's ending only fits if you consider her arc entirely from Zuko's perspective, which is the underlying issue. Azula's not the protagonist of her own tragedy, she's a plot object that's used to benefit Zuko's arc.

Azula's is written to have a downfall, the same way that Zuko loses everything at the ending of season 1 b/c of his inability to give up on the obsessive search for the avatar (and his father's love with it). Azula is written to be left by Mai and Ty Lee (this is the strongest point of writing when it comes to her since it comes from the beginning).

However, she's not written to be left completely alone and insane with the only empathy being shown is that her brother looks kinda sorta sad. That's only good if you view her as an object to further Zuko's arc, because isn't the ultimate culmination of Zuko beating his sister who has always been ahead of him at life? Azula needs to torn down completely without even some small glimpse of a hope of recovery so Zuko can be built up even moreor at least the writers of avatar seem to think so.

However, even Azula just existing for Zuko's growth and character development doesn't have to necessarily be a bad thing. This is where we get to MHA, which does the tragic siblings and the final Ag Ni Kai about 1000 times better with Shoto and Dabi.

THE GOOD

The comparisons between Shoto and Dabi to Zuko and Azula are made pretty often by the fandom. Shoto has a scar, Dabi has blue flames. Shoto has an arc about healing and learning what it means to be a hero, Dabi's arc is about self-destruction.

Dabi's not the center of his own story, he exists to foil Shoto and help Shoto reach the endpoint of his character development however that's not necessarily a bad thing. These are both two pairs of tragic siblings, the main difference is that MHA doesn't feel the need to tear down one sibling in order to build up the other. In fact, the final step to Shoto's arc is HELPING Dabi, not PUTTING HIM DOWN.

Not only that but the decision to help Dabi is a decision that Shoto makes on his own, and him going against the tide of a society that has already given up on Dabi and would much rather have Shoto shoot Dabi like a mad dog. Which makes the decision to do so even more powerful and emblematic of Shoto's growth.

Now you could say that Shoto and Zuko are too different to compare their arcs, Zuko has a redemption arc, and Shoto has what most people would probably term a healing arc. Shoto starts out the series as a hero.

However, this is what annoys me about the redemption arc debate. A redemption arc is really just a normal character arc. However, calling it redemption drags things like morality and forgiveness into the debate. if you take remove the discussion about moral philosophy both Zuko and Shoto have character arcs where they start the story defined entirely by their home situations and their father's abuse (hence why they have big obvious scars on their face), recover from their trauma, and go on to find an identity outside of their father and form healthy non-abusive connections with others.

In fact I'd see the theme of both arcs are the same, to literally find balance within themselves. Shoto is divided quite literally into right and left sides, fire and ice, and even seems to view himself as half of his father and half of his mother. Zuko is someone who's permanently marked and dishonored by the burn scar on his face. He suffers from an internal imbalance as well. Iroh says that Zuko is the descendant of both Roku and Sozin and therefore both pathways are open to him (but wouldn't that apply to Azula too). Zuko says to his father that the fire nation has destroyed the balance to the world and he's going to leave to assist the avatar in order to fix it.

Shoto's balance isn't just about fixing his internal trauma though, it's also about finding a balance between his family which has defined his entire life up until this point, and his desire to become his own hero not the hero his father groomed him into.

It's why the culmination of his arc is Shoto reaching out to save his family member Toya, because it's the ultimate balance in wanting to heal his family, and also the kind of hero he wants to be, someone who saves and brings peace to others instead of just violently putting down villains. He can bring peace to his family and become his own hero in one action.

However, let's go back to the beginning of Shoto's arc, because saving Toya as an endpoint to his arc is set up pretty early on.

Shoto's arc begins with Deku, a stranger breaking down Shoto's walls as an outsider in order to allow him to look past his own trauma and recall for the first time what he wanted outside of his resentment towards his father. This sets up the idea early on for Shoto that sometimes you need outside interference, help you didn't ask for, especially when you can't see outside of your own problems.

What Deku brings about ultimately is a change of perspective, Shoto's so hurt by the memory of his mother throwing boiling water in his face and everything that came after that he can't recall the memory of her telling him he could be who he wanted to be.

But, you want to be a hero right?

Shoto takes away two things from this arc, sometimes you need help even when you're not asking for it, and sometimes a change in respective is required in order to take the first step forward.

He goes to demonstrate these things multiple times, but here's two exaamples. The first Shoto demonstrates immediately after the tournament arc. When Iida is about to go down a dark path and commit a revenge killing on Stain. When, as a result of that IIDA is paralyzed and about to die in an alleyway, it's Shoto who both notices Midoriya and Iida are missing and shows up in the clutch. He's practicing the same thing that Deku taught him in the last arc: Giving help that's not asked for is what makes a true hero.

He even mentions the second idea, that a small change in perspective can be all it takes to save someone, and he wants to do for Iida hat Deku did for him. His words are the one who convinces Iida to stand back up again when he's paralyzed.

If you wanna stop this, then stand up. Because I've got one thing to say to you. Never forget who you want to become!

However Shoto's arc doesn't end here, because one of the major conflicts in MHA is that heroes don't pick and choose who to save and a true hero will give help even to those people who don't ask for it.

This is a point which further develops when Shoto's abusive father starts to show a change of heart at the end of the Pro Hero Arc. Shoto still holds his father accountable for what he did in the past, but he also acknowledges that if he had the capacity to change then so does Enji. This isn't about whether or not Enji is forgivable, this is an extension of what Shoto learned. Shoto originally believed he was controlled by the circumstances of his birth, that his fate was set in stone, but a change in perspective allows him to realize he can determine who he wants to be. So, Shoto is just applying what he's learned, Enji has the capacity to grow.

There's one final piece of setup that I want to cover before showing how these separate dies all culminate in saving Dabi. Shoto's not only someone who has to find balance between his family and his desire to be a hero.

The theme of balance is written into the quirk itself. Enji basically practiced eugenics to create Shoto as his masterpiece. He noticed a flaw in his own quirk where he could only make his flames so hot without overheating. So he arranged a quirk marriage with Rei who possessed an ice quirk to create a hybrid ice and fire quirk that he could use to cool himself off to prevent him from overheating.

Enji only ever cared about the fire half of Shoto's quirk. His ice quirk only exists for his flames to grow stronger. This is shown when Enji is trying to force Shoto to learn all of his signature moves, because he only cares about Shoto's flame quirk. Shoto was created to carry on his father's legacy, and surpass him with an even more powerful flame quirk. Part of his character development is him learning how to use his quirk in his own way.

This is a theme that continues in the class training arc where Enji is still repeating the behavior of trying to force Shoto to learn his signature moves instead of considering what he wants at all, because still Shoto only exists in Enji's mind to carry on his legacy.

This all culminates in Toya's decision to save his brother. The first is his action in choosing to identify with his brother. If Shoto believes in his own capacity to change, and even his father's, then why would he deny Toya that same chance to change?

The foiling between Shoto and Toya isn't supposed to reduce the two of them to "Shoto is the good one, and he's the bad one", but instead Shoto and Toya were both in a point where they were consumed by hatred and couldn't see any other path in life. Therefore if Shoto was able to change because someone gave him help when he didn't ask for it, then Toya not only has the capacity to change - but in order for Shoto to stick to his stated beliefs that the smallest of things can bring about a change in people he has to be the one to give his brother that chance to change.

It's not about whether Dabi is worthy or not, it's about the themes in Shoto's arc finally being paid off.

Shoto's identifying with Toya, and even parts where he tells Bakugo he'll make Toya sit down and make Toya tell him his favorite food indicate that from the beginning Shoto's intention was to find a way to stop Toya without killing him (which is what several of the adult heroes were encouraging him to do).

@stillness-in-green does a more succinct summary of this plan.

Just me?

Because, like, Shouto had a plan. He spent the time between the two war arcs specifically developing a brand-new combat technique that he planned to use to shut down Dabi's combat advantage without killing him. He convinced his dad not to change the plan like Endeavor was hesitantly sounding him out about[1]; he went out and talked and asked questions, and even if they weren't the right words every single time, he did his best and he did it with intention. If Dabi proves to be dead, it won't be because of anything Shouto did to him; it'll be because Dabi himself chose to stand back up, take a warp gate across the country, pick a fight with the guy who doesn't have the power set to shut him down without unduly hurting him, and trying to replicate an Ultimate Move specifically tailored for someone with a balanced power set Dabi doesn't have. And if Dabi lives, it's still going to be because Shouto booked it across the country and used that same technique to stop him again.

Shoto's decision to save Shoto is also a continuation of his decision to help save Iida from Stain. It's not enough for Shoto to experience a change of heart about his own life, he's got to take what he learned about people's capacity to change, and the importance of connections and then put that into practice and help others the way he was helped.

However, it also further develops the theme of giving help that's not ask for from Iida because Shoto's not saving a mostly heroic kid, he's saving Toya to help break a familial cycle of abuse (because murdering the abuse victim isn't how you end the cycle of abuse... actually).

Shoto's last lines to Dabi are also a refutation of this idea of destiny that he once thought he was ruled by. It's once again, Shoto teaching someone else the lesson he learned. Toya says a warped rail can never mingle with a straight and narrow one! In other words Shoto can never understand or get along with Dabi, because Dabi will forever be defined as the failure because of the circumstances of his brith, whereas Shoto will always be the success.

His final action is a decision to break the cycle they were born into: no, we're gonna mingle whether you like it or not.

Shoto's ultimate move Phosphor is not only a move he designed far in advance to take down Dabi non-lethally, it also is a rejection of his father's teaching method. Toya says he only ever taught me how to turn up the heat. Enji only valued both Shoto and Toya for their flame quirks. Developing his own quirk and breaking away from what his father wanted, specifically in order to save his brother. It's Shoto rejecting what his father created both of them for (a successor to his quirk) and finding his own path. By using that move to take down Dabi he's not only teaching Dabi their flame exists for more than just destruction, he's also by letting Dabi live giving Dabi a chance.

From a conversation with @class1akids

Dabi was the last push to unlock Shoto’s full power. Until then he was on the track of mastering flashfire like Endeavor planned for him (except for his own reasons) but realising the fighting Dabi with fire was gonna kill them both and also he’s simply no match fire only helped Shoto to fully take control of what his quirk is Like his quirk development goes parallel with how he faces each member of his family and finally meeting Toya is like the last piece of his puzzle to find his own full power and identity.

It's not just Shoto decides to save his brother because he's just that nice, his arc is literally incomplete without it. The act of creating phosphor a move specifically to save Dabi is both him unlocking the full power of his quirk (by balancing the fire and ice sides of his quirk) but also achieving balance between trying not to leave his family behind while at the same time becoming his own person and hero outside of his family circumstances.

Citing my conversation with class1akids again:

Toya is endangering everyone at Gunga. Endeavor has no means to stop him and when he tries to murder suicide Rei interrupts and his “hero way out” is taken. All he can do is watch helplessly as his family is about to burn to death with a bunch of strangers he tried to protect. But it would do Shoto dirty to use his heart technique to kill his family and the strangers so he comes in a clutch and I see that confrontation as the power trauma vs the power of healing in the family. With Shoto who is a true hero, they can put the fire out and save the family and strangertoo. Shoto become a balanced hero and bring relief and reassurance, Endeavor was completely helpless, and Toyas inner child got the attention he wanted, plus depending on how you read it, he may have become less suicidal.

Shoto also, and I want to point this out desires to stop his brother not to take him down but because he doesn't want him to hurt any more people. He's again finding a balance between two ideas 1) Shoto needs to stop his brother in order to stop him from creating more victims and 2) Shoto needs to find a way to stop him that's not just putting him down because Toya himself is a victim.

Shoto also, and I must point this out for the comparison between Zuko and Azula goes out of his way to engage Dabi in conversation, ask him why he didn't come home and what happened to him in the years after he died. This is especially poignant because unlike Zuko and Azula who grew up together, Shoto basically had no relationship with his brother (and the rest of his siblings really) before Toya died because Enji purposefully kept Shoto separate from all the "failures."

So yes, the act of saving Toya is more for the completion of Shoto's arc than any redemption arc for Toya but Toya's not just a plot object to move around for Shoto's arc, Toya has his own agency all throughout. In fact it's the fact that Toya resists being saved every step of the way that provides the challenge that Shoto needs to grow in order to be able to save him.

Toya's not just after revenge against his father that's the surface reason, Toya is also just blatantly suicidal. Toya's birth is marked as a failure, his death wasn't even acknowledged by his family and everything stayed the same in his absence, so he created Dabi while praying at his own shrine in order to mourn Toya. Dabi can't find any meaning in his life where he was born as a failure, so he'll use his death taking revenge against Endeavor for having been born in order to give his life meaning.

What makes Avatar look especially bad in its treatment of Azula in comparison to how MHA treats Dabi, is that Dabi is way, way less redeemable than Azula. For one Azula has clearly proven affection both her friends and her brother (and I don't think she even deserves Mai and Ty Lee's forgiveness they had every right to walk out on her and want nothing to do with her again.)

Dabi is probably the ugliest victim of the League of Villains. The rest of the league have far more moments in their bonds with each other. Toya is the outsider to the league even if there are some subtle hints to his affection (he tries to show up to save Twice, and also burns down Toga's family house to comfort her). The villains are mostly shown to be redeemable by their positive friendship with each other, and Dabi at several points denies the league's bond (he pulls a Terra and yells out loud at the top of his lungs none of the league matter to him). Unlike with Terra you can argue this is most likely Dabi trying to cover up his real feelings. However, the fact that he feels the need to hide his affection from the league shows he's purposefully distancing himself from any bonds whatsoever.

Unlike Azula who has gone out of her way to help her brother in one major way, and also shows hints in early season 3 of having that sibling bond with him Dabi just straight up wants to murk Toya. Azula also tries to murk Zuko, but that's only when Zuko leaves on the day of Black Sun (one without telling her, and two something that probably left her alone to deal with the consequences of lying to her father for his sake). Either way, Azula's behavior in early season 3 is setup for the fact that their sibling bond can be salvaged.

Dabi is way worse to Shoto in comparison. Dabi in the first part never saw Shoto as his own person, just a puppet of his father (puppets have no autonomy or personhood). His feelings towards Shoto only went so far as Shoto was someone who could kill in order to upset Enji. Dabi also doesn't particularly care for the rest of his family as well (only calling out Natsu's name when his brain is literally melting), they're either ways to hurt endeavor, or he wants to drag them in hell with him. Heck his last words after being saved is telling everyone to die and go to hell.

Dabi doesn't bother to make bonds with the league or have any lingering affection for his family because Dabi's determined to seslf destruct. He's given up on life the moment he saw that he died and nothing changed in that household, now all that's left is for him to create a meaningful death by dragging his family to hell with him.

Dabi is also even as a child made out to be an unpleasant victim. He attacks baby Shoto with his flames early on out of jealousy (even though he later admits that he was being unfair to Shoto). He makes the situation in the house worse by loudly screaming and demanding his father's attention. He screams at his mother and throws her complicity in Enji's abuse in her face.

This is in comparison to Shoto who in childhood flashbacks we are only ever seen either 1) crying, and 2) trying to comfort and protect his mother. Toya's even made out to be difficult to empathize with as a child - which like flew over half of the fandom's heads because he got accusations of somehow abusing his father and the rest of his family in that chapter at 10 years old. However, that in a way illustrates my point.

The fact that Dabi is so disliked by a certain portion of the fandom is because Horikoshi paints such an ugly portrait of Toya in the way he expresses his victimhood. It's done deliberately too, because number one Toya by resisting Shoto's attempts to save him and trying to self destruct instead retains agency as a character. He makes decisions even though they're bad self destructive ones, he's not just a prop. Number two, the fact that Toya is intentionally portrayed as such an ugly victim makes Shoto's decision to break the cycle of familial abuse by saving Toya and not leaving a single family member all the more poignant.

Toya is an uglier victim than Azula, actively trying to kill himself in a way that Azula isn't, and treats Shoto way worse than Azula ever treated Zuko and yet Azula isn't shown the sympathy or given the salvation that Toya is.

Because once again, the writers didn't think about the ending of Azula's arc or of Azula as her own character. Shoto defeating Toya is the culmination of his desire to break the cycle of abuse in his family. Zuko putting Azula down is just to make Zuko look better. It's in service of Zuko's character instead of both of their characters.

THE BAD

Avatar isn't setting up some gritty ending where the bad guys can't be stopped, they can only be killed. In fact it's pretty close in tone to MHA.

Season 3 especially is the season that really begins to hammer in on the themes that even the people on the enemy side are still human after all. The headband shows that Fire Nation children are indoctrinated into the war, but they are in the end still children. There's the story between Avatar Roku and Sozin, and once again Iroh saying that Zuko has both options becoming like Roku or becoming like Sozin available to him (but not Azula I guess). There's Zuko joining Team Avatar, even after he betrayed Katara in Ba Sing Se and should have burnt that bridge then and there. There's Zuko working to earn their trust again when no one on the team really owe it to him.

The main character of the show is a pacifist, who deliberately learns a way to stop Ozai without killing him before the final battle because he doesn't want to break the values taught to him by his culture.

If the entire theme of season 3 is redemption, healing and that the fire nation are not inherently evil then why does Zuko's sister and character foil end the last shot of the series screaming and crying with no one comforting or even attempting to sympathize with her. Why is this one character marked for tragedy in a show that is about redemption and healing and showing compassion to your enemies and very specifically not a tragedy.

Toya literally burns all of the flesh off of his body, and somehow he has a gentler ending than Azula, because at least Toya's arc ends with all the members of his family showing up to try to cool down his flames, and when he's on the ground burnt to a crisp his father finally apologizes to him. Toya is a skinless burnt chicken wing, my boy has no skin, and somehow he's better off than Azula.

I don't think the writers gave Azula such a cruel ending because they don't like her, but rather because they just didn't think about her ending outside of what it meant for Zuko. Which is why you get moments like Aang who is apparently a pacifist who doesn't want to kill the Firelord, watching his daughter fall to her death while sitting on a flying bison and doing absolutely nothing to save her. ALL LIFE IS PRECIOUS (except for Azula I guess).

It's not bad because a victim doesn't get saved, it's bad because it doesn't fit in with the rest of the story.

Not only is Zuko saving Azula a very natural conclusion to his arc, but there's far more setup for Zuko reaching out to his sister and saving her than there ever was for Toya and Shoto. Both Toya and Terra are screaming at the top of their lungs "I HATE EVERYONE, YOU SHOULD ALL JUST GO TO HELL." They're both making decisions and committing to their self destruction while Azula is a 14 year old girl having a mental breakdown.

Anyway, time to quote the bad bad video again.

"When does a villain deserve a redemption arc? When do we deserve a redemption arc? I know this is gonna hurt, but characters are not people. They are tools. They are represetations of people. They can be used to say other things. They can be symbolic representation of other ideas. Azula's story is not just about a fourteen year old defeated by her brother for the throne, Azula is Zuko's character foil, where she is ruthless and practical, Zuko is empathetic and emotional. Where Azula's a prodigy, Zuko has to work hard to earn eve a fraction of her power.

I specifically chose to cite MHA, because of how differently it decided to use Shoto and Toya's character foiling. Shoto recognizes himself in Toya, and how different their paths were in life. This is explicitly motivates him to save Toya. It's also the culmination of everything that Shoto has learned because Shoto is a hero who believes that actions speak louder than words. It's not enough for Shoto to resolve his own inner struggle, he also has to help Dabi with his because that's showing Shoto has grown rather than telling us.

I think that is where the major difference lies between Shoto and Zuko, we're told that Zuko has chosen the path of empathy and healing, that he's learned to give people love and patience like Iroh has but instead of showing that the culmination of his arc is having a fist fight with his sister in a denny's parkinglot.

Azula is Zuko's character foil, where she is ruthless and practical, Zuko is empathetic and emotional. Where Azula's a prodigy, Zuko has to work hard to earn eve a fraction of her power.

If Zuko is empathic and emotional and that is why he's gained friends while Azula is now alone after having lost her friends due to the way she treated them, then like... what a great opportunity for Zuko to SHOW that quality of empathy.

However, Zuko doesn't do anything that Shoto does in the final fight. He's not even here for Azula, Azula's just an obstacle for taking back the crown. He doesn't talk to Azula, engage her in any way, try to de-escalate and avoid the fight.

If you want to make the tragedy that Azula and Zuko have taken such different paths in life that that Zuko fighting with his sister is unavoidable you could um... at least show Zuko being sad over the prospect of fighting his sister or being reluctant in any way.

(Before you come in here with "Zuko doesn't owe Azula anything take" this isn't about whether or not Azula is a terrible sister to Zuko, this is about the story that avatar is attempting to tell. Shoto and Dabi's fight is tragic because Shoto doesn't want to fight Dabi, he wants Dabi to come home and for their family to be complete. Zuko never expresses anything like that so where does the tragedy come from?)

If it were 100% committed to a tragedy like Terra's death then I wouldn't mind. if it were 100% committed to a story of redemption like Shoto reaching out to Toya then I wouldn't mind. My issue arises from the fact they want to have their cake and eat it too.

They want to give this tragic end to Azula, and use it to illustrate how Zuko has grown as a character. However, you can't have both.

If Zuko's growth is about learning that his father's love based on achievement and 2) learning he needed to get lost in life in order to find himself then why doesn't any of Zuko's actions demonstrate this lesson Zuko has learned about love, and about how you can be your own person outside what your father expects from you.

If Zuko has grown as a character he should be able to show those actions. He does show his new understanding of love and friendship to Team Avatar, but as I said that's easy mode. That's Shoto's attempts to save Iida, it's a step in the right direction. It's also not really Zuko demonstrating a selfless love, because he's also at the same time trying to earn their trust and earn his way into the group.

It's also not Zuko breaking the cycle of abuse in their family in any way. Shoto is trying to break free from his role of his father's masterpiece, and at the same time helping Dabi break free from his view that he's the failure.

It's also such a natural ending for Zuko's arc, to take the lessons he learned from Iroh and give them to his sister who needs them so they can both break away from their father's parenting. As I said Zuko does solve the internal conflict within himself, but he doesn't really demonstrate that by helping someone else find their balance.

If you wanted the tragic end, then it would have to be about Zuko's failure to reach out to his sister, because he hasn't learned how to reach out to her. Or because he tries and is unable to. The writers don't seem to understand that though, they think the tragedy is about Azula bringing it all on herself, and not the inherent tragedy of a fourteen year old girl being unable to be saved.

The set up is right there too, because number one avatar is about balance. So, wouldn't the true ending be finding balance between the siblings, not having Zuko rise and Azula fall. Number two, Azula being alone and friendless because of her own actions is again a parallel to where Zuko was in early season 2 at his lowest point. Except Zuko can be the better person in this situation by reaching out to her.

Zuko doesn't break the golden child / scapegoat dynamic, he just flips it so now he's the success and Azula is the failure.

While Azula's fall comes from cruelty and rejection from friends and allies it is Zuko's humility and kindness and friendship that ultimately wins the day. Him sacrifcing herself for Katara and her bringing Azula down and then her healing him. Azula ending up imprisoned isn't something happening to a real person, it's a deliberative narrative choice by the author to say something about how people like this isolate themselves and end up alone. "

As I've stated above, I'm not saying Azula didn't deserve to take a fall. Her fall is actually set up from the first moment she met Ty lee. However, there's no set up for her fall being permanent.

Azula's given way more humanizing moments than characters like Terra or even Dabi. Which is why Azula being in an insane asylum for the rest of her life doesn't fit as an ending at all.

Azula is one link in the chain of abuse. Her father only gives out affection in regards to her usefulness. No matter what Azula is an asset first and a daughter second. Azula then repeats the cycle and treats her friends the same way. She has been shown through an improper model of parenting of using fear to dominate others with power and control and she replicates that in her other relationships.

Therefore, Ty lee and Mai leaving her is not only deserved, it's the perfect opportunity to pull the rug underneath Azula and to show her that her understanding of how relationships work is completely wrong.

This also mirrors Zuko's arc, because part of Zuko's arc is realizing just how wrong Ozai is for making both children earn his love, and that he doesn't need to measure his self-worth based upon his father's approval. He also learns about healthy expressions of trust and friendship from the gang.

Azula loses in part due to her own inability to form healthy relationships is losing people rapid fire, her brother leaves and joins the enemy side, Mai and Ty Lee betray her in favor of her brother, then her father in one action of leaving Azula behind and throws the title of Firelord to her after it's become completely meaningless reminds her of her place. Azula learns in about five episodes what Zuko had in 3.5 seasons to process that her father's love was always conditional and no matter what she did she would never truly "earn it."

People leaving Azula isn't exactly the problem, the problem is that Azula ends up alone permanently without being given the same chance that Zuko is. Terra, and Toya both get opportunities to turn back. They both refuse the hand that's reaching out to him. Mai and Ty Lee leaving is caused by Azula's own choices, but her ultimate end isn't. She's not even given the chance to turn away being saved like Terra and Toya do because Zuko doesn't even bother to try saving her. Her ending is not entirely brought about by her own choices, because the writers need her to take a fall to uplift Zuko.

Azula ending up imprisoned isn't something happening to a real person, it's a deliberative narrative choice by the author to say something about how people like this isolate themselves and end up alone.

I think once again it comes from the author's misunderstanding things because they don't want to look at the story from Azula's perspective, only Zuko's.

Stay at Home almost had it when he said the tragedy of Zuko and Azula was there to show how two different parenting styles affected these children.

The tragedy is that Zuko and Azula started in the same place, but Zuko had persistent guidance and someone who modeled for him a healthy kind of love. The difference is that Azula has never experienced any kind of healthy love or support on the level Zuko has, so she models all her relationships on the way her father treats her. It's not that Azula is offered some chance for change and rejects it, it's that Azula isn't even aware of the fact that there's another way because no one is there to show it to her.

Which is why I said once again, Zuko being the first one to show Azula the lessons he himself was shown by Iroh is such a natural place for his character to end.

Azula also even while completely alone and with no idea what healthy love is, knows that there is something wrong with her and is troubled by that fact in a way Dabi and Terra aren't.

Azula: I can sit here and complain about how our mom liked Zuko more than me. But I don't really care. My own mother... thoguht I was a monster... She was right of course, but it still hurt.

Then there's the famous mirror scene:

Ursa: I didn't want to miss my own daughter's coronation. Azula:Don't pretend to act proud. I know what you really think of me. You think I'm a monster. Ursa: think you're confused. All your life you used fear to control people, like your friends Mai and Ty Lee. Azula: Well what choice do I have?! Trust is for fools. Fear is the only reliable way. Even you fear me. Ursa: No. I love you, Azula. I do.

Both of these scenes indicate that Azula thinks of herself as a monster and is deeply uncomfortable with the idea. Considering Ursa is a voice in Azula's head and not a ghost, it also shows on some level Azula knew what she did to Mai and Ty Lee was wrong and feels conflicted over it.

Once again she's much more in conflict with herself than Toya and Terror ever are, and who's someone who's constantly warring with himself? Who's someone who could help resolve her inner conflict... Zuko (too bad the way the show's written he never does).

Azula doesn't choose to self-destruct the way that Terra and Toya did. Azula's ending isn't brought about by her choice not to change, because she's never given the chance to change in the first place. Her tragic ending would make sense if it was entirely of her own choices, but Azula doesn't retain her agency in the end it's literally taken away from her. She loses control of her mind, and her ending is being chained to a grate screaming and then thrown into an asylum.

I'm not arguing against Azula's ending because she's my favorite character and I don't want bad things to happen to her. It's because her tragedy isn't about her it's about Zuko, and her ending actively takes agency away from her where at least Toya and Terra both retain their agency up until the end. It's not good writing because the tragedy doesn't fit in with the rest of the story which is about balance and healing - and it's also ableist as hell.

THE UGLY

Azula's ending is unfitting to the tone of the story she's in, makes her and Zuko's arcs feel incomplete, and also is ableist as hell.

Here's yet more evidence that Azula's tragic ending is poorly thought out. Azula's mental breakdown doesn't exist in service of her character, but Zuko's.

Azula's issues pop up out of nowhere after episode 15, and take place over the last 6 episode of the series. The idea of Azula having a mental breakdown isn't necessarily a bad concept, but it's executed poorly.

The first way it's executed poorly is just how rushed it is. There's basically no hints of any mental instability beforehand. Of course people can have mental breakdowns spontaenously like that in real life, but this is a story and stories require foreshadowing. Azula spontaneously developing mental issues doesn't feel like it's planned as a part of an arc. First off, because the writers don't seem too sure about what Azula's symptoms even are. Hallucination, paranoia, manic laughter, but apparently she's still able to bend lightning just fine. Secondly, the writer's intentions for giving Azula a mental breakdown are pretty transparent.

The writer's room needed to come up with a believable reason why Zuko would suddenly be able to fight on equal terms with Azula, so boom sudden mental illness. The intent was not to create a sympathetic portrayal of a young girl struggling with both paranoia and delusions. The intent was to nerf Azula because they couldn't think of any other way this plot could end, other than Zuko and Azula fighting in a denny's parkinglot.

As I said they use mental illness as a plot device to take Azula's agency and choices away from her. It's not done with the intention of humanizing her, and in fact except for one small scene with her talking to her mother in the mirror it's a pretty negative and unsympathetic portrayal of mental illness. Not because the writers hate mentally ill people, but because they needed Azula to have a mental breakdown in order for a plot point to happen. Which is why they didn't think of the potential implciations of such a writing choice at all.

Now, people are going to argue about me so I'll use one final example. Azula's ending may be controversial but it's universally agreed upon that the Game of Thrones Ending was bad, right?

Game of Thrones uses mental illness as the exact same plot device, to explain why Daenerys Targaryen turns from a hero to villain in the last few episodes with absolutely no foreshadowing. In fact, the all of the show director's interviews about that choice are just blatantly ableist.

Rant from @hamliet

This quote is (likely unintentionally) gaslighting, ableist, terrible logically, and downright offensive. 

First, ableism: why, why, why are we conflating madness with evil? She was driven to madness so she killed a bunch of people and had to be put down? And you think this is a great message in the year of our Lord 2019? [...] Additionally, while good writing is to an extent subjective, there are general consensuses on what make good writing--and Game of Thrones hit all the general consensuses for bad writing, from bad pacing to confusing character assassination. Critics are like, pretty united on this front. No one thought Dany’s turn made sense, even the ones who expect Mad Queen in the books. Maybe if people love a character who is meant to be evil you're not writing them correctly... or maybe they aren't meant to be evil. 

Daenerys and Azula are incredibly similiar characters. They're both dragon themed, alligned with the element of fire, they're both colonizers they both represent the warrior princess archetype.

I'd say Daenerys is more of a tragic heroine though, because while Danerys is essentially doing the same thing as Azula, waging war in a foreign land and a culture that's not hers, for the purpose of then bringing back soldiers to her home continent so she can wage war again - while she is definitely a war mongerer she has good intentions. Daenerys for all of her faults, genuinely wants to break the chains and help out people.

I think Azula definitely sees herself as the hero for winning the war for the fire nation's sake, but she's completely uncritical of her own culture and she doesn't really have the good intentions that Dany has. She does it more out of a sense of duty, and her belief of divine right, not because she wants to break people free.

Daenerys's problem is that she doesn't understand the culture she's invading and the complicated world she lives in and despite all good intentions, is as I described above, invading a foreign power so she can go back and wage a war to reclaim the throne. Even if Daenerys would then proceed to go on to be the bestest queen ever that wouldn't change the fact her methods to get to the throne were incredibly violent, and she's sort of failing to break free from the cycle that led the Targeryen rule to fail in the first place.

Azula's problem is she sees herself as the hero and is therefore uncritical of fire nation values. She doesn't have any nobler intentions either other than service to her country, she just like Zuko is just trying to fulfill her duties as daughter and believe her birthright puts her above others. (I mean Dany does too but digressing).

Azula's more of a tragic villain who plays the antagonist role in the story, Danerys is one of the three heroes. However, she's more of a tragic villain in the sense that she's first season zuko pre character development just way more competent.

However, while Daenerys is a much more heroic character than Azula, here's the thing. I still think she's going to die. She is foreshadowed pretty heavily to die, and fail for her quest for the throne, because her entire story is a deconstruction of the warrior princess and the liberator archetype.

However, the story that GRRM is building throughout his books with Dany as an incredibly flawed heroine is different from what we got in the show, which was Daenerys going crazy and starting to murder people. That's because Daenerys turn to darkness wasn't about her character at all, it was just making her into a plot device to move their bad idea for a plot forward. That's why the turn is so unnatural and makes little sense with her character, that's why it's so rushed.

That's also why it's ableist, because it's using mental illness as a plot device to make a character unsympathetic and monstrous and give the other characters a reason to put them down.

The same for Azula, outside of one scene where he's talking to her mother, Azula's mental illness manifests in her screaming, maniacally laughing, looking like the joker did her makeup, and her instability also makes her violent and dangerous to be around. (Ignoring the fact that most people who experience delusions in real life are harmless, and more likely to be the victims of violence).

Her sudden mental illness isn't even used to make her more sympathetic in say Zuko's eyes and make him realize she's a victim, no it's just there to nerf her so she can be violently put down. The way she's drawn, the way she acts, it's to paint her as monstrous as possible. Her last action is like sobbing and screaming while being drawn as ugly as possible. She's not even given a small hope for recovery, because it just ends there. That's a pretty great message to send people that experience delusions, not only will you not recover or be shown sympathy, you'll also get sent to a mental asylum for the rest of your life. The choice for both Azula and Dany is not to portray any kind of mental illness in a respectful way, but to make a plot point happen.

As I said I expect Dany to die in the books, but there's a difference between dying as a tragic hero succumbing to your flaws but still having your good intentions acknowledged and just turning into a villain for no reason and being put down like a rabid dog.

(This is a quote I stole from a Shigaraki post but): "Why does she need to be put down in the first place, she has trauma, not rabies."

The problem isn't bad thing happened to my favorite character, the problem with the ending is it doesn't take Dany's setup into consideration.

Stealing from @hamliet again:

The thing about tragedies is that you have to manage expectations and clearly show that your tragic hero is doomed from the very early on–ie you have to show them making steadily worse and worse decisions (see: Eren Jaeger in SnK), if not directly tell your audience at the very beginning that this is a tragic story (ie see Greek choruses and Shakespeare, the prequels from Star Wars because everyone knows Anakin is Vader–plus I’d argue Anakin’s arc only works because we know he comes back to the light in the end. Audiences don’t like reversing on set up/undoing structure. To make Dany a tragic villain is to go against the structure of her arc in both show and book. That’s why people don’t like it, even if the books makes it seem more believable.

Kate then goes onto describe a character that's much more comparable to Azula's. Honestly Arianne is closer to Azula than Daenerys is.

You know who is set up as a tragic heroine destined to descend and die because of her flaws in the books, whose arc has almost certainly been combined with Dany’s in some sense in the show? Arianne Martell. (and another character known as f!Aegon) In the books, Arianne is incredibly ambitious, and especially resents her brother and his quest for power. Like Margaery (another tragic character), Arianne seeks power and is intelligent and manipulative in her quest for it. But Margaery’s fatal mistake is that in seeking power and prestige, she’s become more a pawn than anything else for a villain (Cersei). She chose to play with lions, and she’ll be torn apart; that’s not surprising. Arianne, as her chapters hint, is going to almost certainly marry f!Aegon, playing with fire, and die burning for it.   Arianne’s grasping for her own power is never portrayed as cruel or stupid like the main human villain (Cersei); on the contrary, we empathize with a girl who truly cares about her people, but resents her father’s preferential treatment towards her brother. That’s the difference between Arianne and Cersei: Arianne cares. She is not cruel. But her pride is still going to get her killed.

There's a lot of game of throne females you could compare Azula to because GOT is full of queens, but like. Azula may be a tragic villain firmly on the side of the antagonists but she's not Cerseie. She's not queen, she doesn't wield the power that Cersei wields. In fact one of Azula's downfalls is finding out she doesn't have as much power as she thought she had, and ultimately was just a tool of her fathers.

She's not Rhaenyra or Alicent, because yes she may be grabbing for power but her character isn't affected by misogyny. Because once again, the writers simply didn't think about misogyny except for a really surface level "girls can be just as strong as boys" way so we really have no idea how women are seen in the fire nation. The show doesn't really explore if being a woman makes things harder, or makes people treat her differently than Zuko because the writers just didn't consider Azula's perspcetive on that matter.

Azula is alike to Danaerys in several ways, but as I said I think her ultimate end comes from Azula understimating her own importance in her father's eyes, and quickly realizing when her father is her only family left she never had his love or loyalty in the first place.

But Margaery’s fatal mistake is that in seeking power and prestige, she’s become more a pawn than anything else for a villain (Cersei). She chose to play with lions, and she’ll be torn apart; that’s not surprising.

Azula's most famous quote is about how Long Feng isn't even a player, only to find out her father considered her a pawn from the beginning and be broken by the revelation.

The difference being of course that Avatar is not Game of Thrones and it won't even kill the evil fascist dictator so it doesn't make a lot of sense to hand Azula the ending that Arianne got. They have the same fatal flaw.

Anyway, I made this big post but I can explain why Azula's tragic ending down't work in one sentence.

AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER IS NOT A TRAGEDY.

Maybe the reason Azula should get redeemed is because THE SHOW IS ABOUT F&%CKING REDEMPTION.

[eyecan02]

Beetlebabes Spoiler: Discussing THAT Ending Scene

At the end, Lydia wakes up from a nightmare of Astrid giving birth to Babyjuice only to find Beetlejuice in bed with her groggily saying, "I just had the strangest dream." before Lydia wakes up one final time, slowly looks over and sees no one there but there is a definite imprint on the pillow and sheets that Beetlejuice had definitely been lying down next to Lydia.

First of all, kudos to Tim for briefly getting Beej and Lydia into bed together. It was probably one of the most shocking parts of the movie for me. There's a couple of interesting things about this scene I thought was worth discussing.

First of all, it's cute that Beetlejuice sleeps with the covers all the way to his neck. Ghosts would probably be cold all the time so that makes sense. My headcanon is that sleeping next to Lydia not only gives Beej some warmth, but it's also the only way he gets a good night sleep.

Another interesting thing worth noting is the fact that they appear to have had the same dream.

"I just had the strangest dream."

I don't think it was a random dream. It had to be VERY strange in order for someone as weird as Beej to call it "strange". And I would say having a nightmare of his potential step daughter giving birth to a baby that looks like him definitely would be strange as hell.

Earlier in the film, Beetlejuice alluded to him and Lydia sharing a psychic connection. So it seems they're able to share dreams. Beetlejuice may have actually been the first to wake up and forced Lydia to wake up as well so that she wouldn't have to continue to experience such a nightmare.

Lydia may have said that she was ready to "start living life", but what we have to understand is that while Lydia's ghost show is over, Lydia will always carry the ability to see ghosts so "living" for her will never mean leading a normal life, which Beetlejuice is taking full advantage of.

Beej couldn't marry Lydia but still became the "man of her dreams" in a sense. lol We don't know how much time passed/how much space Beetlejuice gave Lydia before he started haunting her again, but it's clear that he'll always haunt her/be a part of her. I think he'll always be looking out for her best interests/keeping her away from assholes like Rory.

One thing that bothers me about this ending is that Tim had said in an interview that "every character gets a satisfying ending except Astrid." Except this ending doesn't feel satisfying for Lydia. Great that she made up with Astrid but this weird ghost guy is gonna be haunting her during the day and sharing her bed at night?

It just seems like a weird, unsatisfying ending for Lydia, especially with how Winona has said that Tim has always been protective of Lydia's character. It didn't have to be a traditional ending of them married (but yes it should have been lol) but Lydia's story ending with her never truly finding peace? It just doesn't sit right with me and other fans.

Instead of leaning into a horror ending, I think somehow it could've still ended with a musical song and dance number just like the first film. I want there to be a third part so bad that I'm actually thinking of writing my dream script for it, AND I'm delulu enough to believe Tim will find it floating around on the internet a few months from now and love the script so much that he officially announces Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Delulu is the Solulu.

[bigification]

Fit to Fat to Fit - Male TF

Nate stood in his bathroom, staring at his own reflection. "What have you become?" He asked himself. His untamed hair. His big ball belly. His moobs. It physically and mentally weighed him down. He grabbed a measuring tape and wrapped it around his gut. "48 inches, a new high. I'm truly at rock bottom."

He spent a few more minutes poking and prodding at his fat. Being more and more depressed as he discovered new rolls of fat and bulges that stuck out farther than they did before. He then pulled out his phone and started looking at photos of himself from years prior. He landed on one from 3 years ago. He had taken a selfie of himself in a jockstrap.

"That was the beginning of the end for me." Nate stared at the photo. It was taken just after he stopped playing hockey, though he never lost the appetite he had while he played. "Man I thought I was so fat in this photo. It was the first time I realized I was getting fat, but if he could see me now I don't think he would feel so bad. Or maybe he would feel worse knowing this is where he ends up in three years." Nate can't help but to spiral. He thinks of what he could have done differently. Maybe if he just stayed in hockey, or if he just slowed down on his eating after hockey. Maybe he wouldn't end up like this.

In the middle of Nate's spiral of self pity, his boyfriend Andres walked into the bathroom. He noticed the measuring tape on the counter and picked it up.

"You shouldn't worry about it so much, it happens when you're in your thirties and you have an office job." He said trying to cheer Nate up."

"That's not helping. Besides can't you just do your weird magic thing and make us skinny and hot again." Nate sulked.

"For one, I promised never to use that on us. And also you're hot now so why bother." Nate just sulked in response. "Look, if it makes you feel better, I know the feeling." Andres continued. "Before we met, I was so hot, so fit. I was even an underwear model, although that was due in part to me using my power to make myself skinny. But that's beside the point." He pulled up a photo of him from before the two had met and showed it to Nate.

"The point is that I fell in love with a beautiful man with amazing cooking and now look at me. In a couple years I turned into a fatass with a beer belly and I couldn't be happier." Andres gave his gut a jiggle.

Nate seemed to chuckle a little, lightening his mood. Though he still seemed to be unsatisfied with his body. "Can we at least get a personal trainer." Nate asked. "Fine, if you really want to." Andres responded, feeling as though his reassurances failed to comfort his boyfriend.

A couple weeks went by and it was time to meet with their new personal trainer. The couple had tried to begin adjusting their diet to ease into the training, but both of them had gained weight leading up to it. Nate's cooking was just too good to give up so easily. They both drove to the gym and paused in the parking lot to gain their composure before going in.

"Does this shirt make me look fat? I hope it's not too small." Nate asked Andres.

"No you look great!" Andres reassured.

"I'm scared our trainer is gonna be a dick. What if he's like some jock douchebag that's gonna make fun of us for being fat."

"Well we're paying him so I don't think he'll care how fat we are, I don't think he'll be a dick. He looked pretty nice in the photos on the website." Andres pulled up the photo of their trainer. "Ok, he kinda does look like a dick." Andres said. Their trainer was posed in his car, flexing and pointing at his arm with a smug look.

"You know what, don't worry about it. Let's just go in." Andres said quickly as he got out of the car and went to Nate's side of the car to drag him out of the car.

The two sheepishly entered the gym, being that it was the first time they had entered one in years. They made their way to a private office to meet with their trainer to discuss a routine and diet before the training would begin. They knocked on the door and a tall strong young man answered. "Andres and Nate, yes?" He said politely as he let them in. "Take a seat." The trainer said pointing at a couple chairs across the room. The chairs seemed to let out a squeal as the two men sat down.

The session went on normally. The trainer introduced himself as Kent. He then went through a workout schedule and a diet schedule after asking a few basic questions about their life. After a little while, Kent excused himself to get a protein shake before they would finish up the meeting.

While Kent was gone, Nate leaned in toward Andres. "He's nice but he's still kinda scary."

"Well maybe... I could make him less scary." Andres suggested.

"You mean-"

"Ya." Andres interrupted. "Have you ever seen fit to fat to fit?" He asked.

"No, what is it?"

"It's a show where personal trainers gain a lot of weight so they can then lose it with the person they're training. It makes the weight loss feel more personal cuz both of them are losing the weight together." Andres suggested.

"So you're saying we make him fat so he can lose the fat with us." Nate questioned.

"Yes!" Andres responded.

They were both interrupted when Kent entered the room. He sat down at his chair and began typing away at his computer. Andres winked at Nate as he got up and approached Kent. He put his hand on Kent's neck and he almost immediately froze. Fat started to pile into the young man's body. His cut six pack became a large muscle gut that stretched his shirt to its limit. His solid pecs became soft moobs that pressed firmly against his shirt. His arms started to look soft as a thick layer of fat covered his muscle, though they still looked large and imposing. His ass widened until it took up the entire office chair he sat in. And his legs thickened until they permanently rubbed against each other. Andres was feeling generous as a large bulge formed in Kent's pants. Finally Kent's jawline disappeared under a layer of fat and a double chin folded under his shirt stubble.

Andres seemed like he was just about to end the transformation, but wanted to add one final touch. Kent's face seemed to mature as wrinkles formed on his face and his hairline receded. It receded almost to the point of leaving bald. His build also seemed to change as his already broad shoulders broadened and his belly and ass stuck out a bit more. Finally Andres lifted his hand from Kent's neck and sat back down in his seat. "Now he's about our age, and much heavier. He should be no problem." Andres said confidently to Nate.

As if nothing had happened, Kent swung his chair around toward the couple. He lifted his hand up to his gut and began rubbing it.

"Well let's get started."

[seltzer-tastes-pretty-good]

Some Pico, Darnell and Nene headcanons

-Pico stims by scratching the side of his gun with his thumb. In the events he's without a weapon, he'll just scratch his own palm.

-Darnell is the smartest among his friend group. He also serves as most of his group's impulse control.

-Nene has a mild case of spectrophobia. Her bathroom mirror is covered up by a hand towel, and she'll generally avoid rooms with mirrors unless she needs to.

-Pico has a small hard drive connected to his PC. on it, contain a shit ton of sfw files of various flash pieces, mostly from Negrounds, as his own private archive. His long standing grudge at Adobe for killing flash is, thus far, unsatisfied

-Darnell, whenever he's home, will put on one of those "ambient fireplace noises background noise" Youtube videos. He can't really sleep or even relax without one of those playing

-Nene was really big on the show '1000 Ways to Die' while it was still airing. She bought a bootleg 'complete series DVD' of the show once.

-Pico's favorite food is macaroni and cheese, Darnell's is onion rings and Nene's is cinnamon toast

-Pico and Darnell spar kind of a lot. Sometimes when angry, sometimes when just bored. Darnell is usually the one to patch both of them up afterward

-Darnell usually walks Nene home at the end of the day, once the three are done hanging out. He's mostly just wanting to make sure she doesn't try to hurt herself on the way back. Pico tags along too, just in case anyone else tries to jump on them. Safety in numbers and all that.

-Nene can and will run her mouth off to anyone to listen to her special interest, seals. Usually, that person is Pico. He doesn't exactly care for the animal, but he hates not having any noise going on, to keep any bad thoughts away

On their relationship with Boyfriend (when not hired to kill him at least):

-Boyfriend and Pico, of course, dated for a bit of time, having met when BF was on an unguided tour of (read, broke into) the Newgrounds hq. The two hit it off pretty good, at least, at first. Boyfriend found Pico's contract killer life a bit too much for him, something that gave him a mild case of insomnia. Pico, having experienced what he did and having never forget what it did to him, agreed he didn't want BF to go through what he did and agreed to break it off after they talked it out. He didn't exactly feel he could leave the life behind, anyways, what would his friends say?

-Darnell and Boyfriend get along great. The two of them follow each other on Soundcloud at least, and they often hang out. The two actually collabed on a song. "Fresh - Boyfriend Mix" - which was a gift for GF.

-Nene, as soon as he heard BF and Pico broke up, immediately went like, "Oh, you want me to kill em then?", something Pico had to correct pretty fast. BF thankfully went by unharmed, mostly, but still gets a little nervous around Nene. Pico assures him that Nene won't just up and kill him without reason, but BF likes to play it a bit more cautious. She does love her knives after all.

On their relationship with Girlfriend:

-when the ex of your lover is still their friend, things can usually be a bit contentious, but GF doesn't want it to be that way. This is why she's usually super nice to Pico whenever he's around. She's usually the one to pay for stuff when she, BF and Pico's crew hang around, rich parents and all. Pico finds it a bit odd, but isn't gonna just turn down her hospitality. He does find it odd, though, that BF broke up with him because his lifestyle was too much...and then went on to date a demon.

-Darnell and GF both have a mild fascination with fire, so they usually bond over that. Sometimes, they go out back to her family's trash pit just to throw shit in and watch it burn. Boyfriend sometimes joins as well, but he has a bit habit of leaning too close in and getting his hat caught on fire.

-Nene and GF are fairly good friends. The two hang out a lot for 'gal's nights out', where they chat about their friends, family, and usually just watch shit on Newgrounds together. One special time, GF was going on about how BF and GF protect each other, and Nene mentions her contract killer gig, and brings up if anyone wanted to hurt Boyfriend. Girlfriend shut the idea down there, stating 'if anyone tries to hurt boyfriend, their not even gonna have time to smell his breath before I come in to take them out.' Nene was all, 'heh, yeah right. I'm sure if I wanted, I could kill 'em', Girlfriend wanted to challenge that, something that Nene agreed to and, no less than twelve hours later, Nene woke up in a hospital bed from the fight she tried to start with her. Thankfully, GF agreed to pay the medical bill.

[saturn-sends-hugs]

ok, this has been burning a hole in my notes app and i’m just gonna send it out there:

Why (i think) the Finale was Like That:

to preface, if you liked the finale, good for you!! that’s totally valid and i’m not trying to bash that. but i know a lot of people were left wanting more, and i’m one of them. anyway, to my point:

as silly as it sounds, this show is not written for us.

we’re fans. the producers already know we’re gonna watch the show. they don’t need to convince us to give them our attention, they already have it. why waste time digging into random side characters in the larger Star Wars saga when the average person doesn’t even know who that is?

their real job is to convince outsiders to watch. to get hooked. to see an element they like, probably from the main movies, and tune in, even for one episode. if they can get them hooked with fennec or ventress or hell even rex, that’s a win for them.

the plot lines wrap up in such an unsatisfying way because honestly? they cant waste time focusing more on these characters than they have to. the people writing and designing the show might love them and want to include more meaningful resolutions, but that takes too long and costs too much money. you know what’s cheaper and will satisfy the average viewer? kill the mystery clones, cut off the “trauma hand”, and wrap it all up in a nice little “look, she’s joining the rebellion, guys!” moment because the more bland and broad the ending, the more people will understand it.

i mean, remember the Fives mention? Echo didn’t react, he didn’t even stutter, he literally moved the conversation along like they were talking about where to go for dinner like HELLO. we already know they cannot be bothered to show real important emotional scenes because that would take too much spotlight away from the whole star wars politics plot or whatever were supposed to care about. (honestly, who is watching bad batch for the og trilogy implications? woah tarkin and a couple other empire dudes are talking about project stardust definitely gimme more of that and not any meaningful connection between these characters i love)

it’s scummy, it sucks, it especially kills me that the story is basically lost to corporate greed but let’s be honest, this is Disney’s Star Wars. i could literally just leave it there. meaningful moments will always be sacrificed for shock value and character cameos because the random guy seeing an ad is only gonna watch the show if he thinks “oh cool, tarkin, i didn’t know he was in that show, maybe i should see what that’s about.”

and yes, i know, there absolutely is a ton of love and care poured into this show. i appreciate the effort that went into it. i’m just sad they didn’t have full creative freedom under Disney to give us the story we wanted.

but you know who won’t sacrifice story for money? you know who’s guaranteed to have the fans’ interests in mind? you know who does have full creative freedom and is equally pissed about bad show moments and want to do them better? FANFIC AUTHORS. Fan artists, theorists, even roleplay accounts and every other type of dedicated fandom blog is here for that shit and will reshape things however they want a million different ways because that’s the point. the show simply cannot give us what we want, but we can make it ourselves.

your support, your creativity, and your determination to give these characters what they deserve is how we can solve the problem.

i didn’t really mean to turn all “we’re all in this together” here lol but yknow what i really do mean that. i think supporting the community around you is the best option we have for truly enjoying all of this show’s potential.

tagging a few people cause i value your input!! and let’s be honest i’m probably leaving a few things out that you might be able to expand on: @the-bi-space-ace @inkstainedhandswithrings @phantom-of-the-501st

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

Other than catra/catradora, what problems do you have with the show?

oh boy, where do i even start? i'm just gonna try and keep it short because if i try to explain every single aspect in detail, this post could be turned into a book. so i'm just gonna list out all the problems i have with this show, both in terms of problematic elements and poor writing.

blatant ableism towards the autistic character

bullying and mistreatment of a young boy being played for laughs

war and desolation being used as an Aesthetic™ rather than a theme/message

rushed and poorly written character arcs (and no, it's not just catra)

amatonormativity and forced ships (the show is supposed to be representative of the LGBT community, yet almost all of the characters need to end up in a relationship, in order to have a happy ending)

boring and poorly written Final Boss™

too much fanservice (little snippets of fanservice is fine but when you ignore and disrespect canon just so you can make the viewers happy, that's a problem)

an entire kingdom is conquered and its people probably killed/seriously harmed, and its ruler is shown moping around in a bathtub and eating ice cream as if they got stood up by their date instead (this connects to my earlier point about war being trivialized)

the only non-binary representation being a shapeshifting lizard creature (look, i like double trouble as a character but you have to admit that they're not exactly good representation)

one of the most powerful female characters in OG she-ra being reduced to the "doting aunt" (for a show that claims to be about empowering women, they sure ignore the powerful women in canon)

weird pacing and inconsistencies (apparently two or three years passed within the five seasons, yet the characters haven't aged at all, especially frosta who supposedly went from 12 to 14, yet looks exactly the same)

the princesses are useless (they should have named the show 'Catra and the others' lmao)

overuse of character archetypes instead of making original characters (the peaceful vegan flower princess who sometimes loses her temper, the depressed emo girl™, the hyperactive child™)

stereotyping of certain communities (the high-functioning autistic genius, the angry latina, the predatory lesbian, etc)

bad comedy (this is probably subjective and i don't expect everyone to agree, but most of the comedic elements is SPOP was just.. corny. only scorpia worked well as a comic relief character imo)

the only polyamory representation being two bullies and their victim

death of the author™ (basically, confirming things outside of the series, instead of portraying them well in canon)

plot holes and unsatisfying conclusions (adora's origin was a huge plot point in s4 but they completely abandon it in the last season)

there may be a lot that i've missed because i have a goldfish brain and tend to forget stuff. but i'd say these are the main problems i have with the show. it did a few things right, but fucked up on a thousand others.

[ripplestitchskein]

Where do you see Stolitz being at the end of the season? I don’t know how much heartbreak I can take.

Oooh Nonnie I’d prepare for some ANGST but there’s nothing in the text to indicate it’s the bad kind imo. I feel confident that it’s gonna be that good productive angst that gets us places we wanna go, that we’ll flail about and be heartbroken about but not that Game of Thrones style pointless nihilist angst that is just for shock value or because the creators wanted a cliffhanger or a twist.

One of the things I find comforting about this show is the people making it are very much a part of fandom rather than corporate studios using general audience analytics or creators who are just there for a paycheck. The creative team of this show genuinely seems to care about these characters. I have a lot of anxiety about my hyperfixation ships so I feel you on the worry but it would be a huge waste of time and incredibly unsatisfying for the audience to change directions midstream. And the beauty of a cartoon is that even if the actors leave or people change out from the creative team as long as there is money and a drive to make it they aren’t beholden to the same logistics issues as a live action.

From a storytelling perspective it doesn’t make sense to reverse course and break them up forever. I’m not writing the show so I can’t tell you with 100% certainty but there are too many threads intricately knotted together and if they cut this relationship out the whole fucking show unravels. I’ve always said Stolas and Blitzo’s relationship was central in the first two episodes of the show, Stolas is how IMP does business, the 2nd episode was literally all about Stolas’s family drama and the show is about Blitz so it would take a lot of work to stop this train and still leave your audience satisfied at the end. Work that it doesn’t make sense to do. This is not a fanservice thing, like Stolitz is too popular or something like that, but a storytelling thing. It’s such a huge part of the show they can’t drop it in a way that wouldn’t drive the audience away, even casual viewers. And being an indie production they have to be very deliberate and careful with their choices, they don’t have the capital to be doing like two sample hypothesis testing with the story or trying out different threads. It’s just not feasible.

If the trailer did anything it was reinforce every assumption or speculation I’ve made, like I got so much dopamine from that fucking trailer. And all the speculation lines up perfectly with my episode deep dives and how I, as a writer and creative, understand the structure and narrative choices being shown. And I am SO PUMPED ABOUT WHERE THIS TRAIN IS HEADING. It’s gonna hurt but in the best way I think.

To answer your question, as far as the end of this season I am of two minds. Either Stolas and Blitz make the decision to start a relationship in S2 and S3 is them working through it during whatever trials and tribulations they are undergoing.

Or they are not together but we get a lot of delicious pining through S3 where they finally get together together and S4 is the working through the relationship season.

How I think it’s going to play out after a few days of rearranging things in my head:

Blitzø and Stolas are both excited and anxious about their upcoming rendezvous. Blitzø is doing sexy date prep and seeking advice from his bestie on sex toys. Stolas is drowning in anxiety.

Blitzø fucks up. Either he says something hurtful or embarrasses Stolas in some way, either about his royal duties or Octavia. I theorize that the issue with the Full Moon is Stolas’s fault and Vassago is the character who will bring that to his attention. Might possibly comfort him. Andrelphus and Stella are going to take advantage of the situation.

Blitzø tries to take it back, that’s why he’s reaching out but he’s denied.

In Apology Tour Blitzø tries to get back to their casual “If I ignore it it’s fine” status quo but Stolas is not having it. That’s the garden conversation where he’s serving so much cunt.

Stolas either defends Blitzø with his song at Verosika’s tour or it’s so heartbreaking Blitzø has no way to hide from it anymore. I also think Versoika herself will point out that Blitzø is treating Stolas quite a bit differently than he did her which also keeps him from shoving his feelings down.

I think at the end of this episode Stolas calls things off but Blitzo is now aware of how Stolas feels and how he feels. He is not ready to act on it yet.

Ghostfuckers I think will be primarily Millie and Blitzø. Blitzø will probably have to confront how he was when they first met, and other things like his mother and Barbie.

Mastermind is probably the CHERUB/DHORKS episode. I still think it’s probably a gag tbh. Like the actual episode is not about them at all because in my mind they are the Sir Pentious of HB. Like they believe they are this big bad but they just kind of fail and disappear and keep coming back as a running annoyance. I kind of think the real threat is maybe Satan or Andrelphus/Stella.

In one of three episodes, or at the end of Apology Tour something happens to Stolas. He is taken out of commission in some way. He loses his job, he is absent. I don’t think it will be his fault.

I think this will come into play in Sinsmas, which maybe very much like Seeing Stars where maybe Stolas promised Octavia something for the holiday or they had a tradition and he misses it because of being out of commission. She finds him with Blitzø who is rescuing him from Andrelphus. I kind of think Vassago will help him or tip him off that Stolas is in trouble. Octavia is mad and lashes out. That conflict I see going into S3.

Blitzø needs proof that he doesn’t fuck up people’s lives and right now the person who’s life is in the biggest shambles because of Blitzø (not like because of him but their involvement, you know what I’m saying) is Stolas. He’s divorcing, he might lose his job, his daughter is going to be pissed at him. Stolas will have literally nothing because of their dalliance. So either way I see no way that the breakup is permanent.

If they breakup for good that reinforces Blitzo’s fear he fucks up people’s lives. There’s no resolution to that conflict. Moxxie and Millie don’t have a lot of life problems related to Blitzø tbh, he’s creepy about their relationship but it doesn’t cause them strife only annoyance. Loona is fine too right now. Fizz and he have started reconciliation and Fizz out right told him he was doing well. Verosika is pissed and still a drunk last we see her but her career is taking off.

By having Stolas break up forever only reinforces the idea that you don’t get a second chance at love for Stolas (or a first chance), and says “Yeah, Stolas IS better off without him” and I doubt that’s the story they want to tell lol. On Stolas’s side it would be all kinds of fucked up to imply that parents can’t have romantic relationships because their kids are mad about it imo. That his only option as a loveless arranged marriage and continuing to lie to himself and the world. Like a child should be priority but parents are also fully formed humans with lives outside of their children and it’s not great to have a child throw a fit and the parent be like “Oh okay, guess I’ll just be alone cause my teenage daughter is sulky”.

Like the issues they’ve set up can only be resolved satisfactorily one way at this point, at least in my opinion. Whether that happens in S2 or later in S3 I still very firmly believe it will be a focus and we’ll get lots of little moments.

[quietsamurai98]

So, thoughts on Doctor Who Season 1/14/40 now that it's over... MAJOR SPOILERS WITHIN!

It was... fine? I guess?

I've been doing a Doctor Who rewatch between the releases of the new episodes. Holding up the other seasons next to the new one throws some issues into sharp relief.

First and foremost, probably the root of most of the other issues... The episode count. The season was just way, way too short. Eight episodes (nine, including Church on Ruby Road) is just not enough time to fully flesh out the main characters and their relationship and dynamic, not enough time to build a cohesive storyline, and not enough time to pace the story correctly.

Second... I feel like the characters of the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday just weren't explored as thoroughly as they should've been, and definitely not the relationship/dynamic between the two, especially when one episode (Dot and Bubble) has the Doctor and Ruby practically off screen almost all episode, and another (73 Yards) has the Doctor off screen all episode and Ruby basically stripped of all agency. A few more episodes could've done wonders for letting the audience get to know the characters better.

Third... The lack of a cohesive storyline. Yes, there are some recurring things (Susan Twist cameos, the TARDIS growling, the snowing, the pantheon), but it really felt like you could basically take episodes 1 though 6 and shuffle them, with minimal changes made, and it wouldn't make much of a difference. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that something like that happened in production, and that Devil's Chord was originally meant to air significantly later in the season before being moved up for Reasons™.

IMO, the best single season of NuWho was season 10, with Twelve and Bill Potts. God, I loved that season. Bill is probably one of my favorite companions, Twelve was firing on all cylinders,The ongoing mystery of What's in The Vault?, the exploration of Missy's character, and the finale... Actually, let me talk about the finale a bit.

I feel like Empire of Death fell a bit flat for me because it had stakes so comically high that they wrapped right back around to being completely meaningless. If all life in practically the entire universe is ended, there are no stakes left, because you know it'll be undone by the end of the episode. The ending is a forgone conclusion right from the beginning. And I'm sorry, but the twist being "there was no twist! this mythical, extremely important, deeply mysterious character is just some woman!" is just a shitty twist. It's deeply unsatisfying. It's only a twist because people didn't expect the story to be bad. And yes, yes, I get it, "everyone is important, in nine hundred years of time and space and I've never met anybody who wasn't important before, etc", but we've already done that! Twice! Donna Noble and Clara Oswald!

Compare that with the finale of season 10. It had reasonable stakes, stakes that the show could afford to lose without having to retcon everything. It had a satisfying twist with Missy deciding to kill The Master, and then a double twist with The Master killing Missy right back. And then, most importantly, the Doctor loses. He's up against impossible odds, and for once, he actually fails. That's how you do a damn twist in a show that constantly has the Doctor pulling impossible wins out of his back pocket! Of course, that's not the kind of twist you can pull all the time, but still. It's engaging. You're not just sitting there wondering "Oh, how are they going to retcon the apocalypse this time?" So yeah... I'd prefer to see losable stakes in the future. Or at least, stakes that aren't so catastrophically high that the only resolution is "they're gonna have to retcon it within the episode somehow".

For as much complaining as I've done, overall, I have to say that 1/14/40 was fine. It was solid television. A good 7/10. Not an internet 7/10, where anything below an 8 is dogshit, but an actual 7/10. It was better than average, but still pretty middling.

[kentopedia]

Maannn Rylie… I swear I’m not gonna bother much with JJK. I love the characters and still plan to write for em mainly but the manga just hurts in the wrong way 🫠 all my faves dead…. Getting back into TV shows and Kdramas anyway lol fave Kdrama rn is The Glory and Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo

If you have any recommendations for shows I’m all ears, plus I would loveee to know about some of your faves!

right?? 😭 i feel the same way. i love the characters but the manga is just so frustrating and i feel so unsatisfied :/ maybe if i understood the vision i would enjoy it but idk. i just want to know how it’s going to end sob.

omg same!! i’ve been getting back into tv, i haven’t watched much anime lately </3 i’ve only seen 2 kdramas (squid game & all of us are dead), so i will have to check these out!

ooh ok my favorite tv shows at the moment ! supernatural as u know teheh. and i’m so close to finishing breaking bad it’s sooo good idk if you’ve seen it! i’m planning on watching better call saul after when i’m done. and then the walking dead of course <3 i am a hugeee interview with the vampire fan (i luv the book & movie) so i’ve been watching the new show & it’s very very well done. i have been obsessed! i’m really riding amc rn w the recs 😭 but they have so many bangers. alice in borderland is another one of my favs!! it’s based off a manga so it’s a little crazy but super addicting. and the characters are great! OMG i’m also watching the boys (bc jensen is in it HAHA) and it’s soo good too. it’s kind of a lot sometimes though there’s some really dark themes, so just be aware of that. i also really enjoy the umbrella academy, it’s one of my favorites and its sooo funny. also if you like dark comedies, barry is really good and pretty short! i haven’t watched it in a while but i remember being addicted.

i watch a lot of tv LMAOOO so i have more recs if ur ever in need. i mostly like supernatural / dark / drama shows so idk if that’s to your taste but if so i would def recommend these! i’d love to hear ur favs as well, im always looking for recs tehe <3

[dr-ground-zero]

Would you be willing to do a scenario where someone has a cold so stuffy and congested that all their sneezes are stifled. And the stifles only make their nose tickle more so they end up having desperate nonstop messy fits with some stuffy talk as well and maybe a worried partner?

A was congested no that was an understatement, they were completely clogged up. They haven't been able to blow their nose all day and they're truly paying the price for it. Nose packed full of congestion that refuses to budge with any amount of sniffling or blowing (now that they finally have tissues) Now when they sneeze it comes out as a unsatisfying stifle. They haven't gotten out a proper sneeze for a good few hours and its keeping them up late into the night. B is worried that A wont get any sort of rest and will get worse. A feels bad being up all night thinking they're keeping B up because of it. But B reassures them. "its okay my love, i'm just concerned for you. You really need to sleep" "I kdnow I really wad to sleepb but I'b s-so stuuh stuuhh hh’ixsschh! hih- hih-ht'schh! ugh guh!" B sighs and pulls A into their loving frame and kisses their forehead. A whimpers a little and starts to hitch again. "oh baby are you sensitive?" "uh-huh I c-cad s-stopb! hh’ixsschh! hih- hih-ht'schhh h’ixsschh! hih- hih-ht'schh hh’ixsschh! hih- hih-ht'schh!" B could hear that the congestion was getting worse and it sounded like it was only making A sneeze more. "bless you baby, oh your nose is starting to run" B says as they reach for a tissue, maybe this is what A needs, for their nose to get runny? Knowing A's nose was getting sensitive B pressed the tissue up to A's nose and rubbed it a bit. They could feel the nostrils quivering and the hot air that could barely escape through the thick congestion. "come on honey, come on" B started to coax A who started hitching, gasping chest moving erratically. "b-beeh babe w-wait heh! heeh! bm-bmy dnuuh dnose is ruuh ruh! ruddig!" A was starting to get desperate, they really needed to sneeze and with the way B was rubbing their septum and nostrils in slow methodical pattern it was gonna be alot! B knew this and was prepared keeping the box of tissues close to them. When they hear A let out a sharp gasp, they feel A's nostrils flare as wide as they can feeling the dampness pouring out they know its time. Gripping gently to keep the tissue secured to A's face they hold on through the fit. "HETCCHIIEW! ETCHIIEW! EEDDSHIIIEW! EEETCHIIIEW!" it just kept coming as did the snot. Quickly soiling the cloth there was nothing protecting B's hand from the onslaught of mess A's nose was producing to get rid of this cold. This was a true show of how congested A was. A's sneezes were starting to get drawn out showing how badly they needed this. Bucketing out rounds of snot soaking B's hand in the warm substance. All B knows is 'they're definitely gonna catch whatever A has' afterwards no doubt about it. But it was worth it to help the other feel better.

[loversgothic]

Maybe you've done it already and I missed it, but what would Gabriel's two-week-notice look like in the Ultradanse AU?

This has nothing to do with any other comments you have made about feral Gabriel or any other desire to see how he changes from The Gilded Nightingale to The Nightingale.

:3c. OOOHH. WELL

ive been really trying to think about that hard, since comparing the characters to those in fairytales and ballets tended to skew the story a bit.

and uh... my descriptions wont be the best.. im not the best at explaining things in ballet terms moreso just based on my perception of the art form and what i see in it through my eyes.

also im gonna go off of the concept that ultradanse is almost like a stage performance, a show

the most i can do to describe how it looks is to compare it to my vision for the first encounter with Odile/V1... because of the way i designed his lil costume he has a sort of princely look, and even though hes yknow. out to kill V1 because V1 traversed past his warnings, his dancing with V1 then is much more... poised. it might feel a bit distant, maybe it might even seem like hes unsatisfied doing it, as at the time there is no personal connection with V1, no love nor hatred. its not romantic, hardly so. i dont know if this is a good example, but i was thinking abt Prince Siegfried's dancing in Waltz: Tempo di valse...

once V1 is pretty much responsible for his 2-week notice, i like to think Nightingale/Gabriel starts to match V1's high energy, his grace is kinda going out the window... itd be much more intense. if its a pas de deux hes probably getting his fucking hands all over them like hes about to tear them apart. hes abandoning that princely facade. i feel like though in the second half a pas de deux between them would make them slow their pace. now that both of them are dancing together and able to match intensity, it starts to slow down into something more... romantic? yeah :3 i like to think this, this is where any romantic tension starts

now about how he changes from the gilded nightingale to the nightingale. you see... after their second encounter, Gabriel is convinced hes going to die, after all thats what he was told. once he returns from heaven, he seeks out V1 to ask of one final request. he doesn't want to die lonely, and asks V1 to dance with him until the final hour runs out. V1 has no reason to accept his request, other than something pulling at it do so and the possibility it could take a little bit more blood before he's gone. dancing together, progressively Gabriel becomes weaker and weaker.

i REALLY wanted to keep this secret for a scene i wanted to draw but honeeesttlyyyy i dont think its too bad if i share it. after all, im not sharing V1's feelings here. im sharing Gabriel's :3

i had this whole.. plan

my thing abt pas de deuxs is that. i like to find symbolism in the fact that traditionally, the male dancer is supposed to support the ballerina to be able to perform moves she typically wouldnt be able to on her own without someone holding her.

towards the end of their dance, V1 switches positions to hold and uplift Gabriel instead, who has this entire time been in the place of the male dancer. in his approaching final moments V1 lays him down on the ground. he's hardly moving, and V1 holds onto him, finding itself not wanting him to just... disappear.

now im still figuring out HOW i want this to work. but i thought abt V1 in desperation, grasping onto the sides of his helmet and ripping his helmet in half being the symbolic thing that sets him free. the thing about the gilded nightingale, is that the armor is the bird's cage. Gabriel's design in this AU only really has the helmet and no other armor, so it just... makes sense to me. this is what sets him free. how the transformation works though? i am.. still thinking about it. you might need to give me a bit to think about that

[venus-is-thinking]

Disventure Camp All Stars Power Ranking (Round 20 - Venus)

The final power ranking... the finale is incoming...

Before getting into the actual results, here's the results of @accirax and my bench prediction face off:

My points: 7/15 Accirax: 9/15

I lose :( sad. To be fair, James made it very clear he'd have RATHER been on Ally's team, so I'm taking a moral tie at 8-8.

Anyways, here's the beginning of the post like normal:

Recap: Ally's Elimination (2/3 points)

(Total: 25/41 points acquired)

And with that, my dreams of getting a passing grade have officially died :'(

(I didn't actually run the math they were probably dead already lol)

I'm sorry to Ally that she didn't get to be in the finals (as her own contestant). I think it's honestly probably (?) a good move on the writers' part to give Ally a chance to process her loss more fully on screen, which wouldn't have been possible if she lost right at the very end.

I do wish there had been a bit more warning/lead up to how it was going to play out though. Since I didn't think Jake was actually getting eliminated, I predicted the "someone doesn't have all of their diamonds" twist coming, but I incorrectly assigned Riya as the loser, considering we'd heard confirmation both Jake and Ally had their 10 and we never saw Riya pick any up with her bad tools. Still, I think the overall decision was probably a decent one.

For context, we normally rank people by how likely they are to go home. This time, we're ranking people based on how likely they are to win, but #1 is most likely to win. So, I guess lower numerically on the list still means you're more likely to be the episode's loser. But, also, we're putting #2 physically higher than #1 so we can talk about our winner prediction second? That was phrased really badly, but it'll make sense when you read it.

2: Riya (Loser)

C'mon, guys. There's no way Riya's going to win.

She's been the villain WAY too hard this season. I've said before that I think Riya could have gotten a negative win in Season 2, but I think it would feel extremely unsatisfying here, especially when you consider that it may be a lot of our All Stars' last times competing. Like, can we leave Connor's character off with "man, Riya still fucking won. Guess I'll never play this game again!"? I don't think so.

The appeal of the negative victory is a mixture of shock factor and the intrigue of winning not necessarily being a good thing. However, I think it'd ring hollow this season, because the consequences of Riya's actions have already been made plenty apparent to her. She already knows what she's putting at stake, and she's already decided time and time again that it's worth it to her to lose it for the sake of winning.

I don't think that winning the season would change her mind. That fundamental truth alone bars Riya from the win, imo.

Also, like... we aren't going to give Yul some of the prize money. Alec and Ellie seemingly being on her team makes it more (?) plausible, just because they're both characters who very clearly need the money, but like, c'mon. We're going to give the money to the heroic fan favorites, not the villainous fan favorites.

1: Jake (Winner)

If you've read any of the last, like, six of these power rankings, you saw this coming. I've been talking about how I think Jake is gonna win the whole thing for a LONG time now.

Even before his only remaining competition was Riya, Jake had major winner equity. A large part of the season has been centered around his relationships with others and his character arc of trying to change for the better. Even more than that, a lot of the season's theming is around the willingness to try to change for the better no matter what (and Riya's unwillingness to do so will be her downfall). Jake's character arc fits perfectly into the overall narrative of the season, positioning him perfectly for being the winner.

He's also being supported by James, Tom and Ally, all people who I can definitely see the show giving a cut of the prize to. The people love James, Tom has a good cause for the money already defined (giving money to local schools) and Ally has been fighting her hardest throughout the season as well. It's nice that both Jake and Ally will presumably be monetarily rewarded for finally being able to work together.

I really don't have much else to say about Jake being the winner. I feel like I've said it all already. Go claim your crown, king.

[novorehere]

Hey all! Just wanted to give everyone a bit of a content update.

I apologize for the lack of content for the past… year. I’ve been working through some stuff, and it’s been hard for me to find the motivation or inspiration to write. It comes in short bursts, meaning I’ve been (very) slowly chipping away at multiple projects at once. I just thought I’d update everyone on how things are going and make a list (partly for myself) of what I have in the works, what still needs to be done, and what you can expect from me in the future. Admittedly these are mostly obey me fics but I DO have other things tumbling about in my brain, I promise.

Opposite Day: 2/5 chapters finished, the rest 100% planned and around 30-40% written.

I’ve been sitting on an unfinished chapter 3 for almost a year now, and have written good portions of the other chapters in the meantime. This is the project I’m most excited to finish, and I feel bad for abandoning it for so long. Rest assured, I *am* still working on it, and am extremely happy it’s been so well received.

Untitled Simeon Comfort Fic: 75% finished.

Originally I wanted this written for his birthday (which was in February lmao) but as you can see that did not happen. I’ve got the beginning and end all written out, I sort of went off the script at the end with fun purgatory hall family fluff so the only thing I don’t have written is… actually the eating part. This will probably be the first fic I actually post, seeing as it’s the closest to completion.

“A series of Obey Me Vore Headcanons” Re-Write (Title Very WIP) 2.5/7 chapters re-written

This one I don’t think I’ve mentioned on here yet. I’ve grown increasingly unsatisfied with my original obey me headcanons list that I posted last year when I first got into the fandom. A. Because I hadn’t gotten very far into the story when I wrote it and didn’t get the full scope of the characters yet and B. (Most importantly) I feel like I really didn’t do the characters justice.

Since I originally posted it, there’s been a healthy amount of discussion on depth and nuance in vore media and reducing characters to tropes, etc. I’d like to re-write this series to focus less on physical aspects and “how they eat you” but rather more of an emotional and story driven story of why they eat you and their emotions and struggles that come with it. The obey me brothers are incredibly interesting characters, and I’d like to explore them in more depth and show you how interesting they can really be and why I love them so much.

This one might take a while to complete, but it’s gonna happen at some point. I‘ll keep up the original half-finished version in the meantime since I don’t want to delete it and ao3 doesn’t allow privating fics without orphaning them. I know it’s ugly in it’s current state, just know I’m working on it and the rest of those chapters will be overhauled eventually.

“Miss Em”: 80% written (kind of)

I’ve had this one sitting in my drafts for a while now. Originally I had plans to start another multi-chapter series but then Opposite Day sort of went to shit so I scrapped it knowing it was way too ambitious. But now I still have a mostly written Mammon fic in my notes app just sitting there and it would be a shame to just…leave it. I’m not sure what I’m gonna do with this one, Maybe I’ll write the Beel companion piece to it that I had planned and just leave it as a 2-parter. Who knows. It’s really cute, and I want to share it at some point.

Untitled Obey Me mini-drabbles: 60% written

Honestly this wasn’t supposed to be a whole thing. I started randomly writing one day on a burst of inspiration and it turned into little mini “scenario slices” for all the characters and I really like how it turned out. I still need to write for two of the characters and polish up some others, but it’s a fun low-stress thing to work on in between projects. Also excited to share it possibly soon since they’re fairly short and shouldn’t take long to finish (but you know me…)

An unspecified ITWOM fanfic: 0% written, 50% planned

For those who aren’t familiar, “In the World of Monsters” is an amazing novel authored by @vore-toast that just recently received a fantastic ending and epilogue (Please read it! It’s fantastic!) And I really would like to write a little something for it to show my appreciation. I have an idea planned out, but details would involve spoilers so I can’t say much. I’d need to ask for guidance on what exactly to include since the things I would like to write about haven’t exactly *happened yet* but I’ve said too much already… hee hee. I don’t know when this fic is gonna happen, but I swear to you it will. And if my original idea doesn’t work out, it’ll be something. I WILL be writing for this series, mark my words.

Heroes Off-Duty. 0% written, ??% planned

Huh? That’s weird... That one’s not supposed to be there. Ah well, It’s not relevant anyway. Carry on.

[tolnas-vault]

WIP to Watch Out For: Good Measures

Reviewed: May 2 2024

Fic Data

Rating: M

Status: Incomplete

Publish Date: 2024-03-18

Last Update: 2024-04-04

Chapters: 3

Word Count: 11,187

Main Ship(s): Barcus Wroot/Zanner Toobin

Side Ship(s): Barcus Wroot/Wulbren Bongle

Other Side Character(s): Wyll, Obelia Toobin

Summary:

At the end of it all, outside the Steel Watch foundry, when they stood before each other for the final time, the hardest part for Barcus was not the physical cleaving of himself from Wulbren, as he was already so used to being pushed away. It was not that Wulbren would not see reason, or even that when passion finally flared in his eyes as he looked at Barcus, it was clear, virulent hatred.

No, the hardest part of all was turning away, only to be left with the simple fact of his loneliness. Without Wulbren, who was Barcus, after all? What life was left for him to live?

He did not know.

***

Nearly a year out from the fall of the Absolute, Barcus Wroot finds he has the strength in him for one more go at love, after all.

Tags and rating to change.

Ao3 Stats (As of May 2 2024)

Barcus Wroot/Zanner Toobin works on Ao3: 1

Barcus Wroot works on Ao3: 37

Zanner Toobin works on Ao3: 7

Review (Mild Spoilers Only)

Warnings: Wulbren Bongle style Abuse, anxiety inducing procrastination.

Favorite Quote:

"Barcus gave Wyll a look of sheer exhaustion. “…They sincerely want to meet at half eight in the morning? I hope they plan to come bearing breakfast.”

He was only halfway serious, of course, but serious nonetheless. Even surface-dwelling deep gnomes — more used to the sun though they were — remained naturally averse to pre-noon activities, especially when deprived of much needed breakfast and tea."

Main POV: Barcus

Thoughts:

Barcus Wroot really shows off his Steampunk Bilbo Baggins side in this fic. To the pleasure of everyone but himself. His social anxiety in this fic is very real, and very relatable. There's a lot of secondhand stress to be had watching him get caught in the endless loop of anxiety and avoidance. He wants to do right by the Ironhands but he's struggling in his new leadership role.

Someone who's not struggling with their leadership role (or at least not obviously) Duke Wyll Ravengard! Who responds to Barcus' avoidance with delightfully cheery passive aggressiveness. I cannot emphasize how iconic he is in this fic. The patience with which he calls out Barcus' bad behavior while acting absolutely charming and accommodating the whole time. It was such a delight to read. And had me grinning from ear to ear even as Barcus shriveled in embarrassment. This is the Wyll and Barcus friendship I've been wanting.

As for this fic's primary ship. Zanner is so sweet in this fic. He's clearly very into Barcus from the get go. And poor Barcus is very overwhelmed by this fact. It's such a brilliant way to build up romantic and personal tension. It feels so bad when Barcus' anxiety and history with Wulbren gets in the way, but it also feels very understandable. Zanner is giving Barcus everything he ever wanted from Wulbren and after so many years of rejection, getting what he wants is absolutely terrifying for Barcus.

This fic so far was an absolute page turner, I couldn't put it down. The political and social tension in Barcus' life makes me want to keep reading. I cannot wait for the next chapter.

Who I'd recommend this fic to: Barcus Wroot fans, if you wanted more follow up on the Gondian-Ironhand relationship after Barcus took over, this is the fic for you.

How Unsatisfied Would I Be If This Never Updated Again?: I'll be honest here, this fic is on the hurt part of the hurt/comfort at the moment. The hurt is delicious, it's so true to the character and realistic. But it's currently left at the "awwww I'm disappointed in the character's actions, I want to see them do better" stage. It would be rough not knowing where this story goes, not gonna lie. But the set up so far is absolutely brilliant.