#even though a lot of this was retconned to be part of his backstory

[dickheadcanons]

This is just a little thing, but I just can't get behind characterizations of Jason that talk about him thinking that "Robin makes me magic" was proof that he was like, this sweet little kid.

For one thing, the Jason Todd who says that is pre-crisis. The Jason Todd who says that was being written as Dick, just a little more reckless and inexperienced. For another, Jason said that for exactly the same reason all Robins say shit; to justify disobeying Bruce lol.

The line isn't the cute wish-fulfillment of a poor kid from the Narrows. It's evidence of a circus acrobat's belief in his own invincibility, offered as proof that he is tougher than Bruce thinks he is.

The pages in question, from Batman #385:

[cynicalclairvoyantcadaver]

The thing about HOO is that it's either egregious, or amazing, or just......really plain and boring.

It retcons and ruins Nico and Percy's relationship. It ruins Percy's characterisation in PJO. Piper and Leo are 15 and haven't been attacked by monsters or brought to camp yet.

It depicts Piper and Hazel in a racist way (light hair and eyes to make them more attractive, both Hazel's parents have dark hair and eyes and no one else in the Aphrodite cabin has Piper's kaleidescope eyes)

It has a 14 year old date a 16 year old (Frazel).

Reyna calls Percy dumb in front of a whole group and Annabeth laughs and agrees with her.

It has Nico's acceptance arc be smashed to pieces. It has Nico be forcibly outed.

It has Frank's fatness magically disappear after being given the blessing of Ares.

It has Percabeth be abusive (Annabeth making Percy promise not to use his poison powers again when it could save them, not accepting them even though they're a part of Percy, her laughing at his trauma when he says Tartarus smells like Gabe, her bringing up Rachel to make Percy nervous, her agreeing with Reyna in front of an entire damn crowd that Percy is dumb and couldn't find his way out of a paper bag without her apparently).

It doesn't release Calypso from her island when in TLO the gods swore on the Styx to do so.

And it puts a millenia old goddess in a relationship with a teenager, and Rick even depicts Calypso herself as a teenager while saying that she romanced adult men.

It has a wolf goddes who eats children who aren't good enough according to her standards, when those children could be amazing at something else instead of just physical training and survival.

And I do NOT know how HOO wasn't a YA series based on the last one alone.

But there are also those moments with characters where they really accept themselves, like Piper growing out of her internalised misogyny, or with Jason and Leo, or with Frank learning about and using his abilities to be a badass magical warrior, or having a nice moment with Reyna and Nico. Or how it shows Clarisse and Coach Hedge's relationship and Hedge's backstory and his understandable fear and concern for his wife.

And then it's just kind of boring at times. Jason is an underdeveloped character (with SO MUCH POTENTIAL MIGHT I ADD!!!) He should've been able to wipe the floor with Percy, Nico, Hazel and Thalia. And then his relationship with Reyna was barely expanded on. And Octavian, while initially set up to be an interesting character, was reduced to an absolute clown. Gaia could have been such an interesting, morally gray character, possibly the most complex in the Riordanverse, and Rick could've sent a message about environmental pollution and how we need to do something about it, which would definitely impact a lot of people, seeing as PJO is one of the most if not THE MOST popular book series globally. But she was just made into a cartoon villain instead. And Jason and Thalia's meet up was........dryer than the Sahara Desert, if I dare say so.

This series had so much potential-since the millenia long abusive systems are broken, why not have the camps discover each other after the Titan war? I will always mourn what HOO could have been.

[chaifootsteps]

Still thinking about Viv's claim that she thinks both sides are in the wrong and it's bugging me enough to do a quick episode run down to see how exactly that claim stacks up. Hopefully quantifying a bit more will help see where we're actually at

Ozzies: Between episodes 6&7 Stolas gets a personality transplant and goes from calling Blitzo his 'impish little plaything' and demeaning him to being head over heels for him, calling him by his name and bowing to him. When the car drives away the camera lingers on Stolas crying, though the episode ends on Blitzo and his emotions so we'll call this one even

Queen Bee: We see Blitzo's emotions in the aftermath in the form of a self-destructive bender, but noticeably what he says to Loona is that he's upset that he'll die alone. He doesn't say anything about being upset about feeling used or mistreated by Stolas (he even says his name along with the others before he throws up)

The Circus: Retcons galore backstory about how Stolas and Blitzo were childhood friends and despite using him for sex all s1, Stolas was apparently really in love with Blitzo the whole time?? It doesn't make a lot of sense but go with it. Episode ends with a song where Stolas not only implies Blitzo was somehow lying to him this whole time (Genius.com contributor suggests Stolas believed Blitzo actually loved him, which seems the obvious interpretation of these lyrics) but also makes him out to be a weak victim. He shows no guilt whatsoever for the part he played in making Blitzo feel degraded and used.

What’s between you and I Just a comfortable lie I’m the fool who believes When you look in my eyes

Seeing Stars: Stolas being framed as badass while he's choking his butler and it not being remotely bad on his part that he continues to sexually accost Blitzo in their first meeting after Ozzie's. Any criticisms Blitzo makes of Stolas (not remembering his own spells) are dismissed by Stolas with nonsensical arguments (it's relevant Blitzo can't remember Moxxie's phone number, apparently?)

Exes and Ohs: Stolas isn't in this episode or mentioned at all

Western Energy: Text message exchange after Ozzie's show Stolas giving a non apology where he doesn't actually address the problem, literally doing a 'I'm sorry if something I said or did upset you'. Episode ends on Stolas alone in the hospital where the viewer should pity him that Blitzo didn't come to visit :(

Unhappy Campers: No Stolas!

Oops: Blitzo dismisses the notion that Stolas cares about him by using examples obviously meant to favor Stolas. He is framed as jaded and unreasonable and Fizz is the obvious voice of reason. The imp who hates royalty is called a supremacist, Blitzo is the in between who dislikes Stolas and Fizz - the one who capes for royalty - is presented as in the right

Full Moon: Blitzo again criticizes Stolas, without getting to mention anything specific from s1. He is framed as going too far and tries to apologize. Stolas acts like the deal was a mutual thing even when admitting it was wrong

By my count that's basically no examples in Blitzo's favor. And I imagine if we counted all the Twitter likes from Viv on posts favoring Blitzo we'd turn up a big goose egg there, too

Careful, now! You laid out all the facts and stated them plainly, and we know that that makes a certain subset of fans angry and scared.

Viv can claim that "they're supposed to both be in the wrong" all she likes, but it doesn't mean a thing if every other word of writing in season 2 suggests the opposite. I guess the real test will come in Apology Tour, when we get to see who's actually doing the apologizing.

[kerubimcrepin]

Dofus: The Production - reviewing the artbook

This post won't go too deep in detail, it's just my commentary on the artbook — but the next (or, well, one after the next), post will be me doing some actual research outside of it. I recommend you to buy the artbook, and go see its contents for yourself, if you're curious about it. (or download it. It's been scanned to hell and back...)

God, this makes me deranged and insane. Even being baby does not stop Kerubim from loving Joris's jokes... I'm insane...

This part of the artbook has always scared me because like... Does he kill people in Dofus 2, Tot?. Does he.?

Epic events is a funny way to refer to this movie's unending barrage of traumatic events, but man, we were kinda robbed of cool draconic winged Joris. That's sad.

I won't include too much art from the artbook if I can help it, but I wanted to report that this is a very good art and theres a lot of love and um and they love each other and um and [CAR CRASH] [GLASS SHATTERING] ‘GOOD LORD!’ [GENERAL COMMOTION] [BABY CRYING] ‘WAAAAH WAAAAH’ [YELLING] [POLICE SIRENS] WEEWOO WEEWOO [HELICOPTERS] ‘WE’RE REPORTING LIVE-‘ [EXPLOSION] ‘MY LEG… MY LEG…’

I wish I knew what the fuck Tot meant by this. However, knowing that Pupuce is Kerubim's pet, who just liked her owner's kid more than her owner, has fueled some of my headcanons for years and years:

This version of his armour matches the one we could see in the Dofus Manga. :)

I find it quite fascinating that at one point, it was considered for Julith to be an osamodas huppermage, considering it was theorized for some time that Joris might be an osamodas.

I wouldn't call her a tender mother, but eh. She's more of a... "very loving yet despaired mother who doesn't even know her son" mother. A "wants to get back the past which will never return to the point of putting her son into the torture nexus" mother. A "has love in her that is so mentally disturbed" mother. AND I LOVE HER FOR IT!!

I know that her being an alcoholic is a retcon that Dessous did, but its such a good one. I think it's a good show of her decade of slow slippage of sanity. Comic retcons win over Tot's ideas for all Joris-related media once again.

This post was made by "I love Kerubim's dead family from Dofus Heroes Kerubim and Bakara Alcoholism Lore from Dessous de Dofus" gang.

These two huppermages from the movie's concept art were reused in season 4 of Wakfu. Though it would be easier to say what in season 4 of Wakfu isn't reused stuff considering the "shoestring and a piece of chewed gum" budget it was made on...

God, him petting a pupuce is the most important part of the artbook, save for perhaps...

THE KHAN & THE RED-LIGHT DISTRICT & JORIS UNDERAGE DRINKING SCENE

The fact that this was cut is the biggest personal tragedy of my entire life, and I am NOT joking.

Apparently, in this tavern, we were supposed to learn more of his backstory, — like how his father was a gobbowler, but sadly (or happily, if you really hate Khan) it was cut.

But listen. Khan would go to some sexworkers to stare at them and do nothing. He's that much of a loser. He would take a 10yo as his drinking buddy.

This is where my headcanon that he buys Joris booze post-movie comes from, btw.

Compared to the movie's exaggerated visions of Kerubim crying, these images feel like something Joris would remember seeing in real life, something he'd want to avoid.

It feels more real, than just his panicked visions.

[aingeal98]

Thinking again about the al Ghuls and how DC deliberately tanked it's own writing to turn them into ooc cartoony villains because the anti Arab racism post 9/11 was just too potent for them to resist. You take a villain whos love for his family is one of his core characterisations, he's sexist and evil and runs a cult but he forgives his daughter every time she betrays him to help Batman. He lost his godson fighting nazis in world war two, he wants Batman to be his heir, to be family. Because he respects Batman's mind.

And DC looks at this and gives him a Jewish daughter who Ra's left to die in a concentration camp because in Death and the Maidens he found the Nazis to be useful allies. Nazis, who not even Joker would team up with. Who Ra's had talked about fighting against in older continuity. Whoever came up with that plotline needs to never work in comics again.

Nyssa tortures Talia into insanity and turns her into a willing member of the LoA who believes in Ra's vision for the future. Because it wasn't bad enough to assassinate Ra's, every single Asian character in DC had to be one dimensional racist evil villains. It's no coincidence this was the time period they tried to make Cass Cain evil too.

In Cass's case, the backlash to the awful writing forced them to retcon it. In the al Ghul's case, Morrison used it for Damian's story as if evil Talia and evil Ra's who didn't care about his family at all were always canon, and not just a disgusting racist retcon. And now it's the go to characterisation for them. Talia drugging Batman is still what a lot of dc fans assume is canon, even though it was retconned. And there was no reason for it to exist in the first place other than racism.

For DC to actually fix the al Ghuls, they'd have to acknowledge that Talia was brainwashed into being evil, and come up with some retcon for Ra's oocness. The Lazarus Pit is right there as an excuse. Robin Son of Batman managed it with Talia.

But instead DC seems to be working off the impression that their shitty writing for the past 15 years was the character's natural state. It's why "holding Talia accountable for her crimes" doesn't work any better than holding Cass accountable for all the terrible things she did during the garbage evil era.

DC needs to hold itself accountable instead of the characters. More of Ra's Talia and Damian bonding. Ra's runs a cult he is not a good person and it's a good thing that Damian got out but if you can't show that without relying on racist stereotypes and 00s character assassination then why are you even a writer lol. More clarification that what the Ra's and Talia did was not in character for them. Less "I helped torture baby Damian as part of his training but I felt really sad about it." That's never been what gave the al Ghuls their complexity.

Basically, stop trying to add nuance to the racist post 9/11 al Ghul characterisation and just give us back LexCorp era Talia and pre DATM Ra's. You're one of the top two comic book brands in the industry surely you can find someone who can make Damian's backstory work without destroying the rest of his family in the process.

[prince-liest]

IIRC, Alastor was specifically retconned to having Creole/African heritage after concerns were raised over Vodou being a closed practice/religion; he was always intended to practice Vodou, and still uses their religious symbols in the show.

The only official art of human Alastor we have was done BEFORE that retcon, uncolored, but he looks white- which is why fandom usually chooses to interpret that as him being white passing. That's how little thought was put into his backstory as of the pilot.

I've seen fanfics incorporate Vodou tastefully into Alastor's character and background, though- those usually go along the lines that his mother practiced it, but she worked mainly in positive aspects, like healing, protection, and divination (which is what REAL Vodou was commonly used for). There's this one Radiostatic fic that theorizes Alastor's shadow dolls might actually be zombis, lost/dead souls that have been captured by a sorcerer and turned into servants in Vodou folklore.

AH, okay, this makes sense! I love that take on his backstory. And the whole situation also really highlights something else that I have issues with with Hazbin, which is that so much of the background information is just plain not in the show (and oftentimes not in any place where I would even know to find it, at least not as a trustworthy source). I actually didn't even truly know 100% that the common human Alastor design that I see around a lot was based on an official art. I assumed it probably was just from how widespread it is, but I've never seen it, so I wondered if it was also just a fanon that got popular...

But I fully agree with you that I strongly suspect it came into creation with the assumption on Viv's part that Alastor was white. Not because mixed people who look like that don't exist (and boy can that be a trial in and of itself, when people are judging whether or not you look too white), but because the general way that the whole thing went down and Viv as a person make me suspect her default mindset for character design when she was creating her oldest character was indeed 'white.'

I do at least personally really like how a lot of the community has taken to addressing that, both in terms of drawing variations on his design, and in tackling the subject from the perspective of the complexity of being a mixed man in 1920s America and what role being white-passing (or not, or working to try to be) played in Alastor's life.

I'm not Black myself and I don't really have room to speak about this in a great deal of depth, but at least in the circles I've been kicking around in, I've seen a lot of love and effort poured into thoughtfully fleshing out this character's portrayal (especially by people of color), and it makes me happy to see.

[the-martyrfication-of-the-matron]

Zenix’s little tangent in Episode 35… doesn’t entirely make sense. Or at least I don’t like parts of it and so I’m gonna bitch.

Tw I speak a little bit about abuse and cults at the end.

Zenix: “I’m sure garroth told you… didn’t he? How he found me? He must have… you were always his favorite. Isn’t it funny how he found me around the same time the old Lord was murdered?”

That’s just the beginning of it, of course.

But… Zenix saying this doesn’t really… fit.

SKs kill people in order to gain immortality (typically guards who kill their lords, but it’s established in episode 31, Criminal Brains, that it’s not only guards and not only lords). This is usually someone they knew in their human life, that’s just how it’s always been with SKs, that’s the whole… tragic romance of them. Whoever they dedicated their mortal life to will be the sacrifice to their immortal life.

Whether Zenix is saying he showed up in Phoenix drop shortly before or after he killed the lord is nothing to me, because either way, it’s clear they don’t have that bond. Even Azura states that Zenix swore himself to GARROTH. And the later established lore that sks have permanently red eyes after killing their person doesn’t even apply to Zenix in this case, because he had brown eyes the entire time we knew him, up until they clearly decided that he was the one who murdered the old lord and scrapped Vylad’s involvement.

Because up until this point… all evidence pointed to Vylad. From flashbacks of him standing outside of the old lord’s house with a flint and steel to Sasha basically outright saying it, everything has pointed at Vylad. And I’m not saying twists are a negative, red herrings are fun, but nothing good ever comes when you mix jesson and red herrings… clearly. So this was just… not a good twist. I’ve been keeping track of a lot of stuff and there just wasn’t enough for me to justify it as something pre-planned. But if someone else has another opinion I’m happy to hear.

This is something they do a lot with Zenix. Even with the original reveal that he was a bad guy, they retconned Brendan’s statement of events to make him look worse. They turned Zenix using him like a human body shield into Zenix going out of his way to hurt Brendan, though it didn’t need to be done. It just made him seem unnecessarily cruel.

And now they’ve retconned who killed the old lord to make Zenix look worse again. And I think this is because Jesson cannot cope with moral ambiguity.

Vylad and Zenix are the two most morally ambiguous characters up to this point. Zenix has an evil lean, no doubt, but a lot of his actions lack any known motivation, especially his kind actions, or moments when he does things that are objectively good but… we don’t know why, in order for us to actually understand his moral compass. Sure he is evil-aligned, but he is clearly not fully evil. He has shades of grey… and so does Vylad. Vylad clearly has a good lean, but we don’t know enough about him, and we know he is evil-aligned (he is shown to be peers with Gene and Sasha in earlier episodes) so it’s very… vague. Hazy. Morals? Questionable.

But then Jesson went— HOLD UP! Make Zenix explicitly bad by stating that he was the one to kill the old lord because he wanted immortality… and make Vylad explicitly good by stating that he was the one who hindered Zenix from killing more people.

It wss more interesting when Zenix was just some guy who did bad stuff and had an unknown backstory, and some people rooting for the good in him.

And when Vylad was spooky as fuck.

But that’s too much nuance, give a clear morality to the gay men.

Dont make SKs interesting by giving Zenix red eyes for attempting to kill the man he dedicated his life to! No! Don’t expand the lore by making it obvious that the reason that SKs have to kill their loved ones is to mirror cult/abuse tactics that distance the victims from any real support system they could have to escape! Dont give Zenix red eyes even though he failed at killing Garroth because the bond between them is irreparably damaged despite Garroth’s denial of it! Don’t do that! That’s too much nuance!

[inamindfarfaraway]

What are your thoughts on Duela Dent? Specifically her Pre-Crisis backstory—before she was retconned to not even being related to Harvey for Some Reason. I think there could be some interesting themes about generational trauma and how his own childhood severely impacted Harvey’s relationship with his own daughter.

Harvey and Gilda having a kid who becomes a superhero to try to redeem her heritage is a great concept, and like a lot of great concepts, DC dropped it down the drain. But that’s what fanon is for! There’s so much you can explore with Duela. If I were to remake her myself, I’d do away with the whole Joker’s Daughter and Harlequin identities, at least after the initial phase of her trying to get Batman’s attention by pretending to be other supervillains’ daughter; and instead have her reflect Harvey and Two-Face’s themes of duality and justice. Like, maybe her heroic identity has a Lady Justice theme with a symbol of scales, a sword for a weapon and a tied domino mask with coloured lenses to mimic a blindfold. Or maybe she defiantly avoids all things duality-related to disown her father’s evil legacy, only to later incorporate her own version of it as she accepts him as a part of her. I think that like Batman, she’d hate using guns. It doesn’t feel right to have her so associated with the Joker and similar to Harley Quinn when she isn’t even related to them, especially when they’re both very popular and present in DC already (in the Joker’s case, far more than he deserves). Let’s keep her a Dent first and foremost.

Anyway, onto the relationships! I like the idea that Harvey and Gilda wanted kids and them trying before the acid attack and turning out to have succeeded after the dad is a crime lord or in Arkham Asylum is so perfectly tragic. Maybe Harvey “Definitely Not Hanging on by a Thread” Dent wants to be a dad partly, subconsciously to prove to himself that he can be the opposite of his father, to create the ultimate proof that he isn’t doomed to fail and suffer and ruin everything he touches, that he’s capable of having a healthy, happy family and can handle his C-PTSD just fucking fine. In essence, to ‘redeem’ and stick it to his own terrible childhood and paternal heritage. The cycle of generational trauma can’t have that much power over him if he breaks it, can it? No more power than Gotham’s cycle of violence and corruption will have once he, Bats and Gordon take the streets back for the people! A nice work/personal life parallel that mirrors how Bruce doesn’t stop thinking like Batman when he takes the cowl off. But then the trial happens. And then Gilda misses her period. And now Harvey, unable to find a way out of perpetuating Gotham’s vicious cycle, is an absent father with an ever-growing criminal record who perpetuates his family’s vicious cycle as well. He passes that whole toxic mindset down to his child. He loves her so much and hates that he’s failing her! It’s just that you can’t hate yourself into becoming a better person, so the ‘Oh God, I’m just like my father’ stress on top of everything else wrong with him actually makes him spiral lower faster.

Two-Face, I believe, loves Gilda as much as Harvey does (though she doesn’t seem to love him back). I’d imagine he loves Duela too. I bet Duela is the only thing both he and Harvey can ignore the coin for. Two-Face loves in a particularly “If anything happens to her, I will kill everyone in Gotham and then myself” way. Of course, he makes things happen to her. Growing up with your dad, or his alter or whatever, committing murder and terrorism and such on the news is not fun. She could easily be bullied because of Harvey and Two-Face. So she would really resent them, especially the more immoral Two-Face, before gaining a more objective, nuanced understanding of them and struggling to reconcile how awful her daddy issues have felt her entire life with the system who caused of them being sympathetic and not beyond rehabilitation. When she becomes a superhero, does she avoid Gotham to avoid them? Does she never go on patrol while Two-Face is at large? Or does she seek the system out for catharsis or the desperate, painful need to know her father in any capacity? Does she want revenge on him and inspire him to reconsider his own vengeful ways? Do they have incredibly awkward fights? The drama writes itself, but there’s a lot of comic potential too.

Duela: Dad, for fuck’s sake, go to therapy.

Two-Face: That’s my girl! We’re so proud of you, sweetheart! I mean, the way you took out my best muscle, that was amazing.

Duela: (rolls her eyes) Therapy. Now.

Two-Face, still robbing the bank: Right, right. In a minute. And don’t stay out too late again. It’s a school night. A little bit of financial redistribution really doesn’t have to be your problem, you know. Just saying.

Henchman: I didn’t know you had a daughter, boss. Seeing you act like this is so -

Two-Face: Finish that sentence and you’ll get a closed-casket funeral.

Duela: Dad!

Two-Face: Sorry. It can be open casket.

Duela: (sighs) Put your gun down and stop stealing the public’s money, or I will start vaping to cheer myself up.

Two-Face: Alright, Jesus! I’m coming!

Does he kill innocent people, sells drugs and guns and hurt the Batfamily without losing any sleep over it? Yes. Is he absolutely horrified by the thought of his little girl being unhappy? Also yes. Will he stop doing the aforementioned activities that she’s unhappy about? …Later. After she’s done all her homework.

Everything about Gilda is underdeveloped in canon, but she’s usually depicted as unconditionally loving Harvey despite his crimes. Having a child to worry about complicates that. The Dent system are in no condition to coparent. They might even be dangerous, if not directly. Completely cutting your husband out of your life is hard and could hurt your daughter, but so could taking her to visit him in Arkham every weekend. Offering your heart is one thing, exposing your kid’s is another. The conspicuously on-theme name Duela sticks out to me. Did Harvey, newly fixated on duality, get to name her? Was that a concession Gilda gave him while they were arranging for him to have little to no involvement in her life? Does Gilda tell Duela stories about the good in Harvey and their past together? How comfortable is she discussing who he’s become? Is she willing to forgive, or perhaps rather put aside, every atrocity the system could possibly commit except deliberately hurting their daughter? What happens if somehow one of them crosses that line?

One thing I don’t need to question is that Duela is the ultimate mother’s girl. If a villain threatens Gilda to get to her, so help them. She might have no interest in law because look how well that career turned out for the last Dent who tried it, but be an avid artist, in Gilda’s field of sculpting and/or different mediums. Art can be very therapeutic, after all. And Duela undoubtedly needs therapy. (“I’ll go back to Arkham if you talk to the school counsellor tomorrow!” “I’m not killing people, Dad!” “That’s no excuse!”) You could have a fun contrast between her having an archetypical creative type’s disorganized, emotional, eccentric personality as a civilian and her serious vigilante persona being all about rationality, clarity and balance. Chaos and order in one. Her vigilante costume and equipment could even be greyscale, like an unpainted statue, while her casual clothes and art are brightly coloured.

[justatalkingface]

So in light of the absolute fuckery that's been Chapter 407, I want to talk about All For One, because I don't think I've ever really talked about him.

I don't mind that he's evil for evil's sake, I don't mind that his ultimate goal is to take OFA so that he can take over the world and make everyone reliant on him or whatever. I don't mind that he nearly took over Japan back in the day. But like everything else Horikoshi touches, AFO had potential that was ultimately squandered away.

I hate how he was literally pure evil IN FUCKING UTERO, I hate how he was barely even utilized (outside of Kamino Ward, which that was fucking awesome) before he tries wrestling control of Shigaraki to be the main villain again. I hate how even though he allegedly has hundreds upon hundreds of Quirks, he spams the same 3-4 ones, and I hate how for supposedly smart and devious he is, we never see him utilizing UA's bad PR or his traitor to his advantage.

It's kind of weird to say this, but I both miss AFO, and feel sorry for him. I know he's been in the story a lot, but... it feels like AFO, the real one, fucking died at Kaminio, and his idiot corpse has just been running around since with Hori's hand up his ass.

Before Kamino, AFO was evil, yes, and and we didn't know about him, but he felt like a real person; an asshole, but he was something you could imagine a super-powered mob boss could end up being.

Since then, though? He's just been becoming more and more... shallow. It's like Hori was hinting at these dark, mysterious depths of ancient man, and then he pulled the curtain and showed us a fucking puddle. And now? All the mystery, all the backstory?

'BeCaUSe i'M EEEEEEEVVVILLLL'. Unironically, it seems to be his only motivation anymore. He does bad things because he's evil; he doesn't actually want to take over the world, that's just something he's doing because taking over the world is evil. Money? Power? Ultimately worthless, nothing more than tools for the purposes... of EVIL!

So... here's the question: why is he evil?

Because he was evil when he was an adult. Why was he evil as an adult? Because he was evil as a kid, apparently, instead of anything more interesting like him slowly being radicalized by Quirk Discrimination. Why was he evil as a kid? Because he was born evil, instead of anything more interesting like a terrible family, or because a police officer hurt him and traumatized him for life. Why was he evil when he was born?

??????

Because he was born of evil genetics, maybe; I wouldn't put it past Hori to make him unironically Quirk Satan or something. The thing is, that's not how human beings work; even an actual sociopath isn't going to be born this gibberingly, one-dimensionally evil. Worse yet, it's fucking boring to have a human being this basic; at this point why aren't they fighting a robot, or monster or something? It'd have the same level of motivation, and it'd feel more interesting than this.

Even ignoring how stupid he's become post-Kamino (which is a related but different point, best summed up by post-Kamino AFO is basiclly running around with his pants on his head, constantly getting one upped by the heroes, the kids, and basiclly random strangers by now), AFO was at his most interesting, not only when he was competent, but when he felt like a person; there's a reason DFO is so popular, and it's not just because it drags Izuku into it, but because it humanizes AFO, gives him real, human motivations to make us interested in his character.

The worst part of it? There's been so many chances to make him more than this caricature of a human being; by making him care for Shigaraki (or for Dr. Plot Device, or even Kurogiri, his loyal minion, before he was Eraserhead's seemingly somewhat retconned 'human interest' (which was barely a thing), or even just for Gigantomachia, who is basiclly a giant, super-violent dog, who he could have cared about like he was just a giant dog), or for him caring for his brother.

I mean, shit. In all honesty, I could make the 'biting baby' thing work, even. Ideally, it'd need some set up beforehand, but you know how Himiko is (the only one we've ever seen) with desires from her Quirk? Do something similar to how Yhwach in Bleach was on AFO, with that kind of logic, with him needing something, at this fundamental level, to be functional, that he's almost addicted to stealing Quirks, that AFO as a Quirk only works as a Quirk because somewhere in his magic DNA he's... unstable. That the very versatility that allows him to hold every Quirk is starving for the stability of a normal Quirk, so that even as a infant, he's instinctively trying feed himself something a normal human would never need.

There's this whole, interesting dynamic this would introduce, a real nature/nurture-y kind of thing, that would put a whole new spin on his character; he's this seemingly pointlessly evil person because his needs, combined with the only real role model he had for someone in his situation, the demon kings he's seen in manga, and a society that rejected him, both as someone with a Quirk by the normal humans, and as someone who could take away their Quirks by the Quirked, turning him into this because that's all he's ever known.

And here's the thing? This idea? Hori could still try to do that. He could try to turns table us with this sudden development, and try to make a real boy out of AFO. But I don't think he's going to; I really don't think he'll do that. Worse, even if he does try that, he'll just double down on AFO being 'born evil' instead of anything with any real depth to it. Do you know why I think that?

Because in all honesty, AFO isn't a real character anymore; he hasn't been for awhile now. All he is is a plot device, the duck tape Hori's been putting on everywhere to try and hold the story together against all the plot holes and logic failures that have been built up from years of bad, biased and rushed writing. More and more, he's become the reason for everything, the cause of every problem Hori can't be bothered to think through, every villain he didn't want to actually have to explain.

The Readers/The Characters: Why did X happen? What caused that? How does Y feel abou- Hori: AFO did it. I ain't gotta explain shit.

And that's the real reason he's so stupid, BTW, the reason he never uses any other Quirk, or applies any creativity in combat (or anywhere else), and why he keeps losing... it's for the plot. Because the thing is? AFO is fucking overpowered.

Let me tell you something I've never seen anyone else acknowledge: All Might never should have won. He overpowered AFO, sure, but we saw from their fight that he barely did that; didn't crush the puny caster AFO once he got past the lasers, his one super Quirk barely out-performed AFO's stacked Quirks in direct combat. Which, yeah, sure I can see that....

But. Why did AFO fight fair, just power against power, blow vs blow? Why didn't he, like, release poison gas as they fought? All Might is strong, but he still has flesh, blood, lungs; he's still very vulnerable to all kinds of softer Quirks. Where was the touch activated Quirk, like that kid from the License Exam, would have turned All Might into a meatball, or taffy, or whatever? Where was the voice activated Quirk that would have stunned All Might for a critical moment?

Hell. Why didn't AFO cheat? Why did he fight All Might, like an honorable person, when he realised the man was possibly a threat to him, instead of just... assassinating him, like a crime lord (or demon king)? Go to his home (or Might Tower, or wherever), drug his food, put something in his water, hell, just launch a surprise attack from point blank range? We know he tried for Eraserhead's Quirk once, before... apparently just giving up and never trying again; why didn't he try again, get it, and use that?

And beyond even all those problem, I don't see a reason for OFA to have survived long enough to get to All Might in the first place!

I mean, seriously: we know that every user fought AFO, viciously, to point where it caused their early deaths (except the one that basiclly started to Snap himself out of existence). We know OFA was only slowly building up in power, and the early versions especially didn't do much at all, and the Quirks all of them had where never top of the line because they were literally just a random person nearby when the Holder before them died.

So. Riddle me this: why, when a bunch of honestly mid-tier people tried, again and again, to kill AFO, who was overwhelmingly stronger than them, who had access to more tools, powers and money than they did; why, when all these factors were stacked against them, did they survive to the point where they could even pass OFA on? How did they survive blows strong enough to destroy buildings, laser blasts, all these powerful Quirks and techniques that AFO uses casually that most heroes would have been instantly killed by, if not flat out destroyed.

I mean... fuck, there's a decent chance AFO knew they had OFA in them, which he wanted (for whatever reason; sentimentality clearly isn't a emotion he's allowed to have, and early OFA wouldn't have been worth the effort for him to go through all of this to try and acquire it), which means instead of just killing them, he would have captured them, taken them back to his base, and then tortured them until they gave him OFA, just so they would finally be allowed to die and not hurt anymore? While I'm at this, why didn't he just kill any pedestrians around after he killed whatever OFA Holder he was fighting; it's not like morals are going to stop him, are they?

Fundamentally, MHA is built off the premise that AFO, terrifying criminal genius with countless Quirks, strong enough that he makes people by him hallucinate out of terror, is so pants shittingly stupid that he spent almost a hundred years basiclly punching himself in the face rather than just winning fights that were ludicrously stacked in his favor again and again and again; I mean, hell, he could still be an utter moron, and as long as he just got lucky once, just once, the giant, unending sequence of coincidences and logic breaking victories that allowed All Might to get his Quirk never would have happened.

None of this, of course, is even mentioning everything happening in the Final Arc, like AFO's obvious weakness to allow him to be finally beat forever appearing out of nowhere, in him having Remnants (even though AFO took eight users to to power it up enough to get to the point that AFO was apparently always at, and us having no reason to think this was a thing before now, much less all the absolute nightmare fuel questions that raises about the Nomu, and all the Quirks that AFO's doctor had stored away), and Eri's Quirk actively accelerating to heal him, thus limiting his life span (or the fact it's even working like that in the first place), even though it's a time Quirk, not a healing Quirk, and it doesn't fucking care about how wounded he is.

So, why did it happen? Why is it still happening?

Because he's a plot device. Because he exists, not as an active character with his own agenda, but as an adjustable target for the heroes to fight against, again and again and again, and if he won, the story would be over. Fundamentally, Hori made AFO too strong, too smart, too well connected, too perfect to every truly lose in this setting, and instead of trying to fix that, in any real way, impose some kind of realistic limitations or drawbacks in his wildly over-powered Quirk, or just kill him off so he wasn't a factor anymore, he just... made the man stupid.

[eliotquillon]

Hello!

For House MD, who is your glup shitto/obscure character fav?

ok tysm for asking this as a 1-1 question because now i get to talk about my favourite thing :) which is: characters who Exist On Paper but do not make an actual appearance.

not to be like ‘ooo i’m doing my dissertation on christopher isherwood’s queer silences ooooo’ but i’ve always been really fascinated by…paper doll characters, as it were. characters who matter to the narrative, to the backstory, but who never appear. i looove that kind of negative space in a story, and the way other characters shift to fill their absence. and there are a pretty few big ones in this show! cameron’s first husband (and the rest of her family), chase’s mother (and retcon sister, if you don’t count a phone call as an ‘appearance), wilson’s younger brother, house’s bio father, julie, good lord i could go on. arguably house pre-infarction could be one of these. and it’s so so fascinating because, well, obviously there’s no way we could feasibly see the likes of cameron’s first husband on screen—he’s dead years before the show begins, they’d have to do a full flashback style episode just to shoehorn him in—but equally he’s so central to what we understand of cameron’s character. house’s desire to know who his father is and if genetics really mean something shapes a lot of the later parts of the show, but neither he nor audience get the satisfaction of knowing him. julie is wilson’s last wife, the only one to cheat on him instead of being cheated on, the one whose divorce results in house and wilson becoming more codependent than ever…and she’s the only one we don’t meet. it’s just so so fascinating. and obviously a lot of it is down to the practicality of television making—no point casting an actor for a part that is important on paper but essentially limited to cameos on screen—but it’s still so interesting how the show essentially isolates its cast in the hospital. not as much in the later seasons, but still. i like being able to make things up in my head, and i like that there’s an element of unreliability as to what we’re TOLD these ‘silent’ characters are like and what they might actually be like.

so in that regard—i guess all of those characters are my favourites?? but if we’re talking actual minor characters who appear, it’s gotta be nurse brenda. i love that diva. she’s sooo funny and i think we sorely missed her bringing everyone back down to earth. wish the show had done more with animosity between the nurses and house’s team especially. i also really love that one background nurse who always wears pigtails/bubble braids. never gets a single line but serves pure cunt for 4+ seasons. whenever i see her in the background i’m like That’s My Friend :) even though she doesn’t even have a name LOL

[mha-grievances]

All Might’s Final Fight with AFO:

So recently, All Might’s taken up arms and is fighting against AFO. Though All Might’s unable to use his quirk, he’s been fitted with a power suit.

Why am I dedicating a blog post to this? Well, it’s because I find it to be one of the best written parts of the manga. For starters, we get more backstory on All Might, who he was before he got his quirk and why he desired to be a hero in the first place. Even without a quirk, All Might still wanted to help out. Armed with nothing but a makeshift weapon, he began patrolling his neighborhood to fight against people who abused their power. His dream of being a Symbol of Peace was a result of him wanting to do good. Even when Nana tells him that he’d be extremely limited in how much he can contribute without a quirk, he still doesn’t waver, in fact claiming that normal people are “protecting their three meters area” and that he feels obligated to do so himself. This line of thinking is very similar to how Izuku feels as well, which further emphasizes the point on why All Might chose him as the next successor of OFA. We also get a great fight scene where All Might is able to damage AFO significantly using only his grit, determination, and support gear, which finally grants the audience on an answer regarding whether a quirkless person can be a hero. Sure, All Might’s power suit is probably expensive as hell, but the fact that he’s able to damage AFO, the guy who literally pulls quirks out of his ass to adapt to whatever Hori needs him to do, is a great showing. The line that All Might says about “protecting his 3 meters” also tells us that the quirkless can still function as underground heroes if need be. Finally, at the end of the day, this is meant to show how All Might’s answer regarding his signature “everyone can be a hero” line has come full circle. Prior to getting OFA, his answer would’ve been “yes”, claiming that even though they might not be able to handle certain threats, they could still protect people at a street level. After meeting AFO, the man who killed his mentor and crippled him for life, he loses sight of the bigger picture, how someone can still be a hero even though they can’t fight someone as powerful as AFO. Now, we see that with the aid of technology and having allies (Stain serving this purpose here), he can still stand up against AFO while remembering his humble roots.

Another thing I like about this chapter is that we see the true extent of All Might’s willpower. We see how he was still willing to fight even when he was bloodied and unable to use his lower body. He’s the (former) Number 1 hero for many reasons, and it’s not just because of his power. Here we see that on full display.

Now, I do have a nitpick about this chapter and it’s one that kinda ties into an issue I have with MHA as a whole. During the fight, All Might’s power suit “mimics” the abilities of 1-A’s quirks. This is meant to be seen as a fact that 1-A has inspired All Might to keep fighting. On paper, this would seem like a nice nod in showing how both 1-A (kids beginning their hero journeys) and All Might (who has technically ended his) have caused each other to grow. The issue I have is that we don’t really see 1-A and All Might have a heart to heart moment. All Might has really only consistently interacted with two of the students, Izuku (his mentee) and Katsuki (ew). Obviously he’s going to have a lot more moments with Izuku due to OFA, but there’s never really a scene where All Might gets to bond with 1-A. It’s kind of just implied. In a similar vein, Shota’s supposedly very attached to 1-A, but this isn’t something we see all too much. He has one real moment of teaching, which is when he and Izuku talk during the Overhaul Arc, but outside of that, we get almost nothing. Yeah, Ms. Joke mentions how he didn’t expel all of them like he did with his previous classes, but Hori goes on to retcon that by stating he only suspended his previous classes, making this moment feel out of place. Basically what I’m getting at here is that the relationships between the students and teachers are touted as this “big thing” but we get little to no showings as to why this is. In the instance of the reveal that All Might “copied” his students quirks, it’s nowhere near as emotional as it could’ve been. I’m not saying that a lot of time needs to be spent on developing said relationships, but one or two instances where Hori actually shows us the teachers bonding with the students instead of telling us about their bond would’ve elevated this scene to be much more impactful than it is now. Also, when I mean “show”, I mean actually show us in present tense, not in flashbacks that happen right before/after something happens. Flashbacks are a great tool when used properly but good god does Hori abuse flashbacks more than he has Katsuki abuse Izuku.

In conclusion, while it could’ve been more emotionally powerful if Hori developed the relationship between 1-A and the teachers more, quirkless All Might vs AFO is another Hori W, easily being one of the best written moments to come out of MHA.

[my-mt-heart]

Where's Daryl?

This was very difficult to write. It opened up a lot of old wounds for me, so if you read this, thank you. If my thoughts on this show haven’t been your cup of tea, that’ll most definitely be the case here as well, so maybe just move along. ***Trigger warning for discussion of childhood abuse***

For about a year and a half, Caryl fans asked Where's Carol? as a pointed reminder that the spinoff was always meant to be hers just as much as it was Daryl’s. Even though she's back now, her fans didn't always know she would be (nor did the EP's 🙄) so her absence during filming and promotion of the first season was a heavy burden to bear. The irony is, though “Daryl Dixon” sticks out like a sore thumb in that ridiculous font, he's the one who feels absent sometimes, as if important parts of his character development were lost when he washed ashore while other parts come and go as the plot demands.

Zabel talks about swapping Daryl's iconic vest for "old man" suspenders as a matter of pragmaticism i.e. they were the only clean clothes available. Norman says it was a choice he wanted for some unclear reason, but neither of them seem to consider the intelligence of their audience, particularly Carylers, to see it more symbolically. The costume change is our visual reminder that Daryl isn't himself. In some scenes he's chattier than he should be, far more trusting of strangers with personal details, and far more theatrical. Then in others, the differences are even more alarming. He calls a child cruel names, puts his hands on him, and feels conflicted about returning home to his family, to the woman he said he loved.

I mentally prepared myself for retcons, but the one I'm struggling with a lot right now, which I haven't seen anyone bring up yet, is the retcon of Daryl’s childhood abuse. Daryl tells Isabelle that he and Merle had to take apart engines and if they couldn't put them back together, their dad wouldn't let them have dinner. It's a milder version of the stories the scars on his back tell us, though I can buy Daryl omitting the worst of it like he did in the pilot. What I can't buy is Daryl saying his dad was "hardly ever" around and emphasizing it as the main source of his pain growing up. It feels contradictory for one thing. When we see Daryl's scars for the first time in S3 of the flagship show, it's implied Daryl was trapped in an environment that enabled his dad to physically hurt him often. Presumably that's why Merle felt guilty about leaving him behind. The revelation also seems like it's only intended to highlight the consequences of an absent father figure, explaining Daryl's fear of not making it home, but also justifying his "close" bond with Laurent. The best stories allow a character's emotions to drive the plot, but this just does the opposite, twisting Daryl's backstory to fit the current narrative.

Daryl's backstory made so many people root for him in the first place. It allowed Carol to see him when nobody else in the group could. It helped me process my own childhood trauma. The ways I got to watch him overcome his violent past gave me hope that masculinity could mean more than what I grew up around—more than anger, shouting, and swinging fists. Daryl taught me that men could still be tender, kind, and loving even if those closest to them in their childhood never showed them how. I imagine Daryl's representation has been important to boys and men too, specifically to those who were afraid to speak up about their abuse because of the stigma around it. The implications of this scene may not be easily noticeable to some, but they are to me, and I'm deeply offended by it.

I’ve talked at length on this blog about how it takes a village to make or break a show, though it’s usually the showrunner who has to answer for it. I've already mentioned that I do blame Zabel. His knowledge of French history has no value when he obviously didn’t bother to study Daryl’s history aside from reading old scripts and (maybe) watching the first couple seasons. That's incredibly irresponsible and terrifying for S2. I also blame AMC for their short-sightedness and their determination to save face no matter how much it costs them. I blame Gimple for his pettiness. I blame Greg Nicotero for his insensitivity to Melissa and her fans.

As for Norman, he's hinted very loudly that he wants credit for the show being "different," so in theory he should be prepared to take some of the blame too. I can't name all of the decisions he specifically made, but no matter what they were, I can blame him for not speaking up about the shipbaiting, Daryl's wavering loyalty, and the childhood abuse retcon, all things that hurt his character and hurt the fans. I genuinely don't know what else to think other than Norman didn't give either the consideration they deserve. The show has been treated like nothing more than a vanity project, and it’s unfortunate when you think about what he and AMC had to gain from the original Caryl spinoff.

I love the version of Daryl I knew before this whole mess, I love Carol, and I love the relationship between them. I want them to have the story they deserve in S2. At the moment, I don’t know how to reconcile that with the agony I feel over the damages to half of my two favorite characters. If Carol is going to cross the Atlantic ocean to find Daryl, I want him to be the man who threatened to punch holes in all the boats so she couldn’t leave and the man who told her he loved her before—ironically—leaving himself. I need to hear Daryl admit he hasn't been completely honest with the French characters, not because he was afraid of getting too close to them, but because he didn't want to face the pain of potentially living without Carol and TF. I need to hear him say that he can't be Laurent's father, which is okay because the kid has plenty of other family to take care of him. I need to hear him say, out loud, that he could never love another woman romantically because he's already in love with Carol. That's what I need to feel better about this story. That's where my investment is. I feel like Carol is safe in Melissa's hands, but I don't feel like I have anyone to rely on for Daryl. That’s a big problem because their stories are so intertwined. There’s no Daryl without Carol nor Carol without Daryl. If you ruin one of them, you risk ruining both of them, and that’s a possibility I really can’t bear.

[ratoru]

Why Kirimaru is a depressing character || Nintama Analysis || 1

I know that Kirimaru knows how to behave funny lol and that people want to smack him if he causes trouble, but it's not that hard to feel sorry for him, considering what his general situation is like.

The reason why I think Kirimaru is such a tragic character is because Kirimaru does not have enough money to afford resources and so he is struggling to earn it. He is basically that one person who needed financial support from others because he grew up without family, and that he needs money to take care of himself so this explains his money obsession and part-time jobs (and possibly the scarf as a tragic keepsake???). 

Speaking of keepsake, the scarf that Kirimaru has been wearing this whole time MIGHT be belong to his parents or just a gift his parents gave to him. Either way, you gotta admit that it's heartbreaking to see him losing his parents. This may be the reason why Kirimaru keeps wearing the same scarf and never remove it unlike the others. He clearly loves them and the scarf REALLY means a lot to him, a memento.

With the help of his friends and peers, Kirimaru is not only able to interact with people but also he sees everyone as his family thanks to the love and care he received. Even if people are annoyed by his antics, they still care for and support him, even being more protective of him such as Doi-sensei, who also had a similar upbringing as him. 

I couldn't imagine how Kirimaru would feel if he doesn't come to the Ninjutsu Academy School. He would definitely remain aloof for the rest of his life, with no one else reaching out nor approaching him for his own issues. What drives it home is that he may have to steal money from others as a part of a coping mechanism for being an orphan and he possibly believes that he feels like a burden to anyone. Deep down, Kirimaru may feel depressed about not having anyone to take care nor adopt him and must have put on his facade to not worry others.

When I was younger, I used to think that Kirimaru is just a greedy kid, but now that I grow up, I literally bawl my eyes out when finding out about his life as a whole so I changed my opinion. In truth, Kirimaru is a relatable person imo and is again, a tragic case of a character whose comical behavior is a result of the harsh backstory. Yep, Cerebus Retcon indeed, though I STILL FIND HIM FUNNY!!

Note: this is just my opinion so I don't mind if you share your own thoughts on this as long as you respect it!

[zahri-melitor]

I've made it through the first 6 issues of Batman: Urban Legends.

I honestly think as a title it's a bit too busy setting up spin off title pitches and not spending enough time just telling Batfam stories that wouldn't otherwise have a home. It's also currently running at about 1 decent story an issue (and of course I then checked the trades and they've spitefully collected Cheer and Sum of Our Parts in separate trades).

I don't think devoting effectively 5 ordinary comics worth of pages to Cole Cash was necessary, even if they were trying to set up a WildC.A.T.S. title. (Also the plot dragged) Grifter is not interesting enough for the amount of push DC was giving him around this time.

The Harley story could literally have been in the new Harley volume they had started, Cecil Castellucci's Oracle story reminded me why I was just fine with her run on Batgirl winding up, the Batgirls story from Marguerite Bennett was cute but insubstantial (shocker), the Outsiders was okay (look I was happy to see Rex back with Jefferson and Tatsu) but didn't really go anywhere, the Black Canary had Joshua Williamson write Dinah like it was a Green Arrow title (though I did snort that it was a lead in for a Deathstroke title as there's a ship that will never fully die).

The Shiva story was definitely in conversation with Batman and the Outsiders 2018 and her characterisation in Tynion's 'Tec run. This is a Shiva that cares a lot more about being a parent than preboot Shiva. It had some cute elements, and was picking and choosing from histories.

Cheer quite interested me (even though it was about Jason), because what I saw in it was Zdarsky doing a whole bunch of reconciliation work to connect various disparate Jason!Robin retcons together into a coherent narrative that functions as a modern version of Jason's time as Robin. He is an angry kid there, with feelings of inadequacy and living in Dick's shadow. He's violent even back to before being Robin in ways that occasionally scare him. It picked up from the characterisation Winick used in More Time. He's not the best detective in the family and he knows it (which also is something that's been clear for years; both Dick and Tim are naturals in this area and also had far longer and uninterrupted training with Bruce). It had the compassion for kids that Jason fans like, and had Jason overidentify with a kid and get too caught up (a plot we've never seen Bruce have, oh never), and had a fair amount of underlying story about Jason fighting his own demons in his head. And it actually confronted the whole 'rubber bullets are a ridiculous compromise' situation, because even as Jason was still repeating 'they won't kill you' they're still very dangerous, and it established a fascination in Jason about guns going all the way back to his training.

As far as I'm concerned, I think it makes a decent blueprint of a backstory for Jason for current storytelling. Others may disagree, but if you're willing to accept that 'Jason was angry and violent' is a retcon that's baked in at this point, I think it works. (That said, he is not one of my areas of expertise but this played well with all his appearances I have read)

I think I want to read it again against Gotham War when I get up to it, because I can see some arcing themes that Zdarsky carried over into it.

The Tim story I'm addressing separately.

[three--rings]

So it turns out there were a lot of things from S2 I was waiting to pass judgement on until I saw how they played out and...I ended up not thrilled about. And it's all these little things that keep bothering me.

Things I'm not happy with in OFMD S2:

-Jim and Olu feel retconned into not being in love. Like I know we want to talk about happy polycule but it feels like they aren't even very close this season? They were even more of a secondary ship than Lucius and Pete in S1 but we got essentially no good Jim/Olu stuff in S2. Instead we got the Olu/Zheng Yi Sao romance which on paper sounds good, but lacked chemistry. Especially from Olu's side. I feel like they kept repeating that "break in your day" thing cause they didn't have anything else. IDK weird weird decisions were made. I don't mind the Jim/Archie stuff at all but that was also not given any real romance time. They kissed and then I guess that was that?

-While on the subject of Zhang Yi Sao...why was she there? Like, don't get me wrong, I love her character and her inclusion in the show, but while the build-up in the first few episodes was great, then...they did basically nothing with her. Her entire plan was foiled by a moron in a split second and then..IDK she's now just riding on the Revenge and not even in charge? She's come way down in the world and I don't like it.

-Izzy dying. I don't mind the death scene itself, (though i wanted Izzy's friends on the crew more involved) but I think having him die shifts the genre and is disappointing in a way that feels unlike this show. more to be said obviously but not in this post.

-Speaking of that scene I grow more and more annoyed with Izzy saying "they love you, Ed." Not because it's not a great sentiment that would be narratively meaningful, but because it's NOT DEMONSTRABLY TRUE. Who loves Ed on that crew? Maybe Fang? There was absolutely no moments between Ed and crew after ep 3. They tolerate him for Stede's sake is all I can say. They love Stede. They love Izzy. And then Ed just leaves them and they are probably relieved.

-the way the central problem the whole season with Ed and Stede was communication but they never actually do anything about that, just declare victory.

-the way there was no climax or resolution with any antagonist in the last episode, they just barely escape, swear revenge like they're gonna head into battle, and then retire. Which makes ZERO sense and it bothers me SO MUCH.

-The lack of Stede and Ed costuming. IDK if it's because I've been writing a fic for a year centered around the clothing but like the show feels incomplete if they're not getting to dress up. I was looking forward to Ed wearing more than his leathers and we got a rice sack. This is entirely a personal gripe and not important but, yeah.

-Zero focus on the crew and no new info about any of them. I was really, really looking forward to getting more backstory, more personal info on characters like Roach, Frenchie, Wee John, but no.

And yanno, the thing is that I'm not unhappy with what S2 GAVE us. I like most of it. I love eps 1-6. Though 6 is showing the pacing issues badly. But what I miss is what we DIDN'T get. None of the stuff on screen was bad per se or couldn't have fit into a very excellent, cohesive season of TV. But I feel like all the connective tissue, all the thematic resolution, all the stuff that would have made it shine was missing.

Like they had a bunch of notecards of great scenes and filmed them but forgot to write the parts to connect them in a meaningful way? IDK this season feels a little like a first draft?

Not eps 1-3 though. I feel like they were perfect, and then they ran out of time/energy to polish the rest. (4-5 were also great, but they could have fit in with the rest better ultimately.)

I feel like people who are happy with this season are like 'we got this moment and this scene!' and that's great and cool and I also love that moment but I'm still left unsatisfied by the whole, yanno. Sigh.

[longitudinalwaveme]

Some thoughts:

While I certainly won't deny that Len has some anger issues, he doesn't really strike me as having the explosive rage you see in the Red Lantern Corps. That's more Lisa's thing. If anything, I think Captain Cold is a Green Lantern. He's stubborn to a fault, he's managed to keep a team of supervillains with widely disparate personalities together for at least a decade, and, when faced with an opponent who is far more powerful than he is (the Flash), he continually and insistently keeps fighting him, coming up with new strategies and plans to stay one step ahead of the Scarlet Speedster. He also faces down much more powerful villains regularly, and without much fear. All that takes serious willpower, and I think that that's ultimately a more prominent part of his character than his anger. Also, Len didn't originally create the Rogues. It was Sam who came up with that idea, and who was originally often the one calling the shots. Len sort of fell into the role later as a result of being the only remaining Rogue with his head screwed on straight.

I agree that Sam Scudder would be an orange lantern. He loves his money and his shiny, shiny mirrors, and he loves attention even more. Evan McCulloch, though...I honestly think he'd be a better fit for the Sinestro Corps. He's basically an Eldritch horror, and borderline unstoppable. Of all the Rogues, he's easily one of the creepiest. I do, however, agree that both he and Sam would be interesting in the Indigo Lantern Corps (particularly Evan, since he's had so much trauma and done so many messed up things). Also, I kind of hate the retconned backstory of Sam having killed someone in a botched burglary before he became the Mirror Master. In his original stories, he was arrested for robbery, and there wasn't any indication that he'd killed someone, and the retcon darkens all his fun Silver and Bronze Age appearances. I love Geoff Johns' Rogues, I really do, but he really needed to lay off on the grimdark retcons.

I agree that Grodd is either a red or a yellow lantern, though I would strongly lean towards the yellow end of the spectrum myself. Usually Grodd isn't especially angry. Brutal, yes. Angry, no.

Captain Boomerang being a red lantern does work, though honestly I would lean towards him being part of the avarice corps myself. Like Cold, while he does have a lot of unresolved anger issues, he doesn't really have that obvious burning rage that seems to characterize a lot of the Red Lantern Corps---and he is very greedy and gluttonous. I also agree that him being a part of the Indigo Tribe could be potentially interesting.

Weather Wizard as a Red Lantern makes sense, since he's frequently very prickly and was very revenge-motivated in his first couple of appearances, but he could be part of the Orange Lantern Corps as well. He's a thief, of course, but, more importantly, we know that he craves power and respect, and it seems very likely that on some level he envied his older brother, who was always his parents' favorite child. I also have to admit that an Ultraviolet Lantern would be a good way to learn more about him, since unfortunately he doesn't usually get as much characterization as the other Rogues do. I will also say that Mark's New 52-and-onward backstory (the only part of which I like is the fact that he and his family are from Guatemala) does make him lean more towards the Red Lantern Corps than he would have previously, since in that version his brother was killed by someone else whom he then took revenge upon.

Eobard being a Red Lantern does make total sense (especially since Barry is a Blue Lantern), but I could see him fitting into the Orange Lantern and Yellow Lantern Corps equally well. As the video mentions, he wants to have Barry's life, which would mean he could slot in quite well to the Orange Lantern Corps, and, of course, as a time-traveling murderous stalker, there's no doubt that he's scary.

Killer Frost is NOT a Flash villain! ARGH! I do agree with the Lanterns assigned to her, at least if we're assuming this is the Caitlin Snow version of her (the Crystal Frost version would have been a more malevolent/stalkerish Star Sapphire or Orange Lantern, and the Louise Lincoln version would have been a Red Lantern).

I mostly disagree on Heat Wave. While the New 52 Hothead McAngryman version of Mick would indeed be either a Red Lantern or a Yellow Lantern, I'm inclined to think that classic Mick part of the Star Sapphire Corps. Not only does that group need some men in it, but, more importantly, Mick is traditionally incredible devoted to and supportive of the people he sees as his friends. You know, I think I now know why the person making this video doesn't like Heat Wave. It's because he's only familiar with the most terrible version of him.

The three rings the person making the video gives to the Pied Piper work pretty perfectly for him. We know that he was lashing out against society and his cold, controlling parents when he was a villain, so a Red Lantern ring does make sense for him as a villain, he did, of course, reform, and he probably does inspire a lot of hope as a hero and social activist. That being said, I think he could simply stay as part of the Indigo Tribe from his reform onwards, as he is extremely compassionate. And hey, he knew about Piper's stint in Breedmore! And...didn't know that William Magnus was paid to give Hartley the hearing aids that allowed him to hear. Piper didn't build those himself.

I definitely disagree that Trickster belongs in the Orange Lantern Corps. James is many things, but one thing he is not is greedy. Back in the Silver Age, he explicitly said that he didn't care nearly as much about money as he did about messing with the Flash, and he's much more interested in showing off and in outsmarting people than he is in simple financial gain. I'd put him in either the Green Lantern Corps or the Blue Lantern Corps myself. He's a persistent little imp, and he certainly holds out a lot of hope for his own future, being as he is generally cheerful and optimistic. Axel would probably be a Green Lantern (due to his teenaged stubbornness and general recklessness), although the very early Axel who was a total sociopath might have fit into the Yellow Lantern Corps. Either way, neither one would be an Orange Lantern.

The Top is either a Green Lantern or a Yellow Lantern. While I don't deny that he hates the Flash and isn't very fond of society generally, his anger is fair outstripped by his willpower and just how scary he is. This is a man who taught himself everything he could about tops and engineering, who taught himself how to spin at super speed, who tried to take over the world, the country, and the city on separate occasions, and who repeatedly dug his way out of the grave several different times through his own sheer willpower. If that doesn't qualify him for a Green Lantern ring, I don't know what does. And, of course, the fact that he's a power-hungry, bomb-building ghost that possesses corpses makes him very scary, so he would also be a natural fit for the Yellow Lantern Corps. But hey, props for acknowledging the fact that Roscoe is mentally ill, and that that does affect his behavior. I can't say that the ultraviolet corps would be bad for him per se, just that I think Yellow or Green would fit him better. Especially since they're already the colors of his costume.

The Orange and Yellow Lanterns would both work well for Savitar.

Characters who weren't mentioned in the video, but who I will classify anyway:

-Zoom (Hunter Zolomon) would probably be either a Red Lantern (because of his anger at Wally for refusing to help him) or a Yellow Lantern (due to his sheer power and willingness to kill). Before he became Zoom, he would probably have qualified for a Green Lantern simply because of all the terrible things he managed to survive.

-Golden Glider is 100% a Red Lantern, being almost entirely motivated by the desire to seek revenge for Roscoe's death. Prior to his death, she would have been either a Green Lantern (because of her incredible determination, bravery, and ability to overcome her abusive father) or a Star Sapphire (because of her deep love for Roscoe).

-Albert Desmond is a Blue Lantern, always hoping that he'll be able to live a normal life with his wife, Rita (who also qualifies for a Blue Lantern ring). Mr. Element is an Orange Lantern; he was primarily driven by a desire for profit. Dr. Alchemy is a Yellow Lantern, as he was disturbingly detached from his humanity, and possessed of almost unlimited control over the elements.

-Alvin Desmond would either be an Orange Lantern (he's a lot like Digger in many ways, but much more power-hungry) or a Yellow Lantern (for the same reasons as Albert when he's Dr. Alchemy).