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justanotherwriter140 · 6 months

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Kung Fu Panda 4 - The Movie

The last really, really long discussion post (for now).

Major spoilers ahead!

This review is full of spoilers, so please refrain from reading through it until you've watched KFP4. I would highly suggest doing so, as I want everyone to form their own opinions without my influence. The movie has its flaws (some of which admittedly being a bit distracting), but it's a fun film that has things to offer.

Kung Fu Panda 4 is a fun movie (take that as you will) that takes its audience on an action-packed, surprisingly funny, yet relatively contained adventure on which Po doesn't really do much. It's an inconsequential, safe sequel that doesn't really hurt the franchise but adds close to nothing.

I had a good time watching the movie. It was obviously produced with its theater experience in mind and the action scenes especially reflected that priority. The humor was actually funny sometimes and I enjoyed Po and Zhen's dynamic. During the film, I was able to put most (most!) of my grievances aside and take the movie for what it is. I've discovered that the best way to watch KFP4 is with low expectations and an open mind.

I have a lot of things to say about KFP4, both complaints and compliments (though the former might be taking the forefront in this review), and I hope this review can help those of you who have seen the movie organize your thoughts. I've been having a lot of trouble with that specific aspect of things myself. Those who get it get it.

With that said, let's get into my full review of KFP4! I've been waiting for nearly 2 years to write this and I'm so excited to share every single thought.

I'm going to follow the format of my first discussion post and curate a bulleted list of my thoughts, followed by an analysis of each of these points. Keep in mind that everything I say is IMO and this is more of a rant post than anything else.

Here are my main points:

The Furious Five's role is comically minuscule in the context of the film. Their actions are inconsequential and add nothing to the plot (a confirmed last-minute add), and they have 30~ seconds of screen time. Shifu is also largely irrelevant.

Mr. Ping and Li's presence has little to no effect on the movie (though I won't complain too much because they were pretty fun to watch and this movie has bigger problems). In almost any scenario, I am adamantly against having characters present that don't add anything to the narrative; however, Mr. Ping is an exception. I love Mr. Ping. James Hong is a gem.

Zhen's screen time is not utilized well and her character is underdeveloped. She definitely wasn't annoying, but I didn't find her either compelling or funny enough to warrant the screen time she was given, especially considering it wasn't used to establish a backstory/strong motives. This makes me feel bad for the character because the movie kind of screwed her out of any substantial development.

The Chameleon, while complimented greatly by Viola Davis, is an underwhelming villain. Viola Davis is amazing in this film and I would suggest watching it for her performance if for nothing else, but the Chameleon is underwhelming considering the super cool concept behind the character.

The film feels very rushed. Apologies to those who disagree, but I think the pacing is atrocious and the final fight is anticlimactic. The movie felt like a word-vomit with no discernible intermissions that stops abruptly when the film ends.

I felt as though Po didn't change/grow as a person and the audience never had a chance to either bond with or relate to his character. His internal struggle is kept to a minimum and we don't spend a moment alone with him as an audience, which is disorienting and distracting. Watching the film felt like running into an old friend at the store who's too in a rush to have a real conversation.

The action scenes were strong with few exceptions. Creative art direction was utilized and I thought the martial arts choreography was entertaining and dynamic. I love the color palette of the film and many scenes were very impressive visually.

With my main points established, I do believe it's ranting time. Strap in, folks.

Let's start strong with the Furious Five: I'm gutted. Chagrined, despondent, crestfallen, etc.

The lack of the Furious Five negatively affects KFP4 so much, because not only does their absence hurt the atmospheric integrity of KFP as a franchise, it also forces KFP4 to bring in a slew of different characters—all while still noncommittally including the FF at the very end because I believe the marketing team required it—that clog up the cast a bit. It all goes to show how important strong, established side characters are.

The Furious Five are side characters, but the role of "side character" does not equate to being irrelevant, expendable, or exchangeable. I recognize that the Furious Five aren't super developed as characters beyond a handful of lines that allude to traits sprinkled sparingly among the members; however, I believe that the tiny bits of development we have been given have proved impactful in the past. Tigress's development in KFP2 is a prime example of how much narratively conscious changes (however small they may be) can positively affect these movies.

Because of limited runtimes, the Furious Five often operate as more of a singular unit than five individuals. Even so, I don't think discarding them is valid. They're so important to the KFP universe (to Po's universe!) and not having them with him feels so wrong. The Furious Five are fully integral to the heart of Kung Fu Panda, which is why I believe a lot of those who have seen the new movie have expressed something feeling "off" or something being missing.

I agree with this sentiment. To me, KFP4 didn't feel like a KFP movie. I don't need a Furious Five spin-off movie and I can be fully content with a KFP5 centered around Po's journey as an individual as was intended from the beginning, but he can't carry an entire movie on his back. As strong as he is in every sense of the word, he is only one character. He's the centerpiece of the franchise, but a centerpiece can only go so far without the rest of the design, so to speak.

For me, the Furious Five's absence is one of this film's biggest faults. It's huge and glaring. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, either, because the friends with whom I saw the film refused to talk about any other aspect of the movie after seeing it. Seeing them at the end was better than nothing, of course, but it was a disappointing culmination after eight years of waiting.

That all is to say I feel robbed. Despite all of this, though, I understand that there were reasons why the Furious Five weren't included in the movie. I don't believe the production team would exclude the Furious Five unless they weren't given a choice.

Shifu and Po's dynamic continues to be thoroughly delightful but their interactions are short and simplified. I would have loved to see more of them in this film, especially considering the extreme relevance of teacher-student relationships in KFP4. I (somewhat) digress, though, because the idea of Shifu having to live at the Jade Palace with only Po for an extended period of time is hilarious enough on its own. Maybe that's what the short film is about!

The comedy is odd but has some jokes that stand out. Po maintains a healthy relationship with his inner sass, which I think makes him more fun to watch and kind of eradicates the man-child verdict. Some jokes don't land, of course, but I genuinely thought KFP4 had some funny moments. Mr. Ping was consistently awesome and Po had some good lines sprinkled throughout the film.

As for Mr. Ping, he and Li Shan are the subjects of the film's B-plot as they follow Po to Juniper City out of shared concern for their son's safety. In my mind, they don't add anything to the story that couldn't have been brought about by other characters, but they had their moments of being entertaining. I enjoyed their silliness and thought they had a cute dynamic if nothing else.

Speaking of other characters, I want to discuss KFP4's deuteragonist and why I genuinely feel bad about the way her character was treated.

I want to let it be known that I'm still not on board with Po passing the Dragon Warrior torch to another character. While I agree that his arc is now calling for him to have a student, I disagree with the notion of him retiring from his DW role.

As I stated in my first discussion post:

Didn’t the initial significance and nuance of the title come from the fact that there is only one person who can be the Dragon Warrior, because the concept of the “Dragon Warrior” isn’t so much a title as it is Po himself? The universe (Oogway) must choose the Dragon Warrior because they are a singular being of legend. It is one person, and that person is Po. Wasn’t the point of the first film that the title ultimately doesn’t really matter because there is no “secret ingredient,” so to speak? The title doesn’t actually give Po anything. “It’s just you,” Po says, and that was the resolution.

When it comes to Zhen as a character, contrary to what I predicted I would think of her, I thought she was okay. While I was still a bit distracted by how out-of-place her design looks, I wasn't truly annoyed by her at any point and she and Po had some cute moments. Even so, I think their relationship could have been a bit more refined and developed.

While it's evident that Po and Zhen are meant to have a teacher-student/mentor-apprentice dynamic, I think their relationship feels half-baked. There were parallels that contradicted one another and ended up being confusing come the film's conclusion, and the nature of their relationship seems to vacillate depending on the scene. Additionally, the strength of their bond goes from zero to one hundred within thirty-ish minutes and left me with a bit of whiplash.

We're shown that Po and Zhen care about one another, but we're never shown why. They have a brief conversation during which they bond over being orphans, and Zhen says at one point, "You're actually a good guy," but that's it. This obvious lack of development is a bit disorienting because we're later led to believe that Zhen and Po care very deeply for one another when there's almost nothing to back it up.

A scene that sticks out to me when discussing this is when Zhen attack-hugs Po in a way that explicitly mirrors Tigress's hug from KFP2. This happens around the beginning of the third act, and while it had the potential to be an endearing moment, I think it fell flat.

The impact of Tigress's hug was brought on by her character's hardcore nature and reputation of being heartless, further strengthened with the knowledge that she was hugging Po (which was obviously way outside her comfort zone) as a show of companionship and fundamental understanding. Tigress hugged Po because he needed someone to recognize his strive for closure.

Zhen's hug had little to no impact because she had no reason to do it and it didn't indicate growth. She hugs Po because she's sorry for betraying him and doesn't want him to be killed by the Chameleon, but neither of these things are newly-established via this hug; we have already gathered by now that Zhen regrets betraying Po and doesn't want him to get hurt.

The hug is far from the movie's weakest point, but I think it's unnecessary given the context. I'm big on hugs in movies (an underutilized form of platonic affection, in my opinion), but it didn't fit here. I don't hate it, and I see it as an honest effort to bring emotionality to Po and Zhen's relationship, but it seems arbitrary.

Zhen and Po's relationship has a lot of potential and I'd be open to seeing more of them in the future, but I think some more thoughtful development needs to occur before I can humor it further. Even so, I can see myself featuring Zhen in some future post-KFP4 one-shots—sparingly, of course, because we have a lot of Furious Five content to compensate for.

Overall, they had a cute dynamic and some sweet moments but I'm not attached. I'm on board with Po having a student but I think their relationship needs a lot more development, something that this film unfortunately didn't give them time to either accomplish or earn.

Now, onto the Chameleon!

The concept of the Chameleon's character is admittedly super interesting. She's the deuteragonist's fastidious mother figure who feels that Zhen owes her a debt and as a result holds her to an impossible standard. That dynamic had the potential to be so interesting but I didn't think it was explored at all. There is no indication of Zhen having any internal conflict about fighting the Chameleon, no emotional complexity between them at all; it's disappointing because I think it would've added a bit of earnestness to the film.

Additionally, the idea of a shape-shifting villain is versatile. A shape-shifting villain gives those telling the story a lot of room to experiment with the protagonist and different ways in which the main character can be challenged and tested. It's yet another good idea utilized poorly. Just one idea: the Chameleon could have disguised herself as one (or several) of Po's family, friends, etc. and brought to fruition a new arc with his character (seeing as he arguably doesn't have one in this film), but she only disguises herself as Zhen very briefly in the movie.

Furthermore, the Chameleon completely relies on the powers of previous villains to pose any sort of threat to the main characters. She summons Po's former nemeses from the Spirit Realm (despite there being little logic in doing so considering Kai's literal evisceration) and takes their kung fu abilities for herself.

An excerpt from my first KFP4 discussion post that I think is relevant to the point I'm trying to make:

I don’t think it would be in the best interest of anyone if the past villains were to come back in any way that’s not a flashback (even then, I’m not sure I’d see the point). In all honesty, I thought that the whole point of the villains was that they died and stayed dead. They were defeated by Po once and for all as a testament to the idea of establishing Po's character growth and journey as a person through the bad things he’s able to overcome. It’d be highly contradictory to the messages of the other films if these villains were to suddenly come back.

While there was an honest effort made to portray the Chameleon as intimidating, I never felt as though any of the characters were endangered by either her or her army of lizard henchman. She's a visually appealing character (aside from her eyes, which I thought more resembled those of a gecko than a chameleon) and I greatly enjoyed Davis's performance, but overall I don't see the Chameleon as a notable villain.

The return of Tai Lung (had he been on his own) had the makings to be an excellent story, especially considering the importance of teacher-student dynamics in KFP4. To see him interacting with Shifu would have been incredible and could have led to further closure on Tai Lung's end (because I think that's kind of what the team was going for anyway), but it didn't happen.

It was nice to see Ian McShane reprise his role, but I wish Tai Lung's characterization had been more reminiscent of the way he was in the first film and more complimentary of his overall character arc. Tai Lung isn't a one-dimensional villain with a singular goal and motivation, and I couldn't help but feel as though the complexity of his character was simplified for the sake of KFP4's narrative.

Tai Lung's presence in KFP4 may be odd, but Shen and Kai's appearances are even more so. Kai, if I remember correctly, was fully obliterated by Po, reduced to literal particles on screen (which is kind of wild now that I think about it). Shen being in the Spirit Realm makes sense all things considered; however, Po and Li had no visible reaction to his presence, which seemed a bit unlikely considering Shen's deeds. This plot hole can likely be attributed to the fact that Shen and Kai's cameos (to my knowledge) were last-minute additions to the movie.

I have to talk about the pacing. I have to. I'm sorry, bear with me.

To me, the film's pacing is erratic and disconcerting. While I can appreciate a quick-moving narrative that doesn't dawdle on storylines that aren't interesting/important, KFP4 kind of flings itself too far in the opposite direction and ends up being frighteningly fast-paced. Once the credits began, I felt like I had been holding my breath for the entire movie.

KFP4 is confusing because while the runtime is standard for a KFP movie, it feels incredibly short. At the same time, the film's story moves at a breakneck speed and leaves little time for heart and development. These things culminate into a barreling boulder of a movie that simply doesn't have time to let its characters, story, or audience take a breath.

A fast pace is not inherently negative, but I don't think it worked in the favor of KFP4. The KFP franchise has always been very emotionally grounded (and just very grounded in general), so to see a film in which emotion/heart takes an aggressive backseat in comparison to action and comedy is jarring. While I think it's unreasonable for fans to expect the same emotional integrity as the original films to be present in the current and upcoming ones, I still think there's room for Po to grow and I felt as though the notion of him developing further was brushed aside in this film.

As for Po's growth, I felt it was nearly nonexistent. The previous trilogy wrapped up his character's journey beautifully and I know that KFP4 was bound to struggle with this particular aspect of making another KFP film; however, just because the strongest pillars of Po's character are established doesn't serve as a valid excuse to reverse his development and repeat what he learned in KFP3.

In KFP3, Po learned firsthand that he is capable of spreading wisdom and teaching kung fu. He also learns that he is constantly growing and that change is inevitable; there is always something more to learn.

"If you only do what you can do, you will never be more than you are now."

"I don't want to be anything more, I like who I am!"

In KFP4, Po pushes against this narrative despite fully accepting it in KFP3, actively reversing crucial parts of his character development achieved in the latter. KFP3 was non-ambiguously about learning to cope with change and responsibility, and I can't help but feel like KFP4 is simply copying this message while not adding anything to it.

Additionally, I felt that KFP4's Po generally felt less personal than he has in the past. In every KFP movie up to the franchise's most recent addition, I felt very connected to Po as an audience member. I felt like I was truly seeing the world of KFP through his eyes. I consider this to be one of the franchise's most impressive feats; it's incredibly difficult to build a universe around a character without making the audience feel limited to one perspective and one part of the world.

With KFP4, I felt both limited and disconnected. The world didn't feel as vast and all-encompassing as it has in the past and Po didn't seem fully like himself. This could be me nitpicking (as I'm prone to do), but I can't recall a single moment in the movie in which Po was alone on screen. Scenes like these are crucial for me because I see them as a meet-cute between the character and the audience, a moment for us to cross the bridge into their world in a way that's silent and intuitive. These little bonding moments are absolutely integral to feeling connected to a character.

Po's dream sequence in the first KFP movie is one of the best examples of this. It presents his aspirations, alludes to his way of life up to the point of the movie, and showcases his personality. During Po's dream sequence, the audience is quite literally inside Po's mind; we're there with him, seeing what he sees, subsequently feeling what he feels. Po is a dreamer at heart and makes the audience feel like dreamers, too.

In KFP4, I felt like I little to no point of reference when it comes to how Po was feeling. I didn't feel immersed in him and his world.

I know I've been very "doom and gloom" throughout this post, which is an exhausting mindset for everyone involved. I want to end my critique with something positive because I think some praise is deserved. Let's just say the movie could have been a lot worse, the details of which I'm sure you're all well aware.

The color palette of the movie is beautiful and somewhat reminiscent of the first film. While the animation style of KFP4 is far more simplistic than its predecessors, I was very impressed with its use of shadow and light. Po's many faces were also hysterical, props to those who helped make him as expressive as he is.

Additionally, the movie's action sequences were clearly thought out and discussed in great detail. The experimentation with camera angles was really fun to watch and I enjoyed the majority of the film's fight scenes. They were fun, bouncy, and entertaining, and quite likely reinstated audiences's love of watching a cuddly panda kick butt.

Congratulations, you've reached the end! Thank you so much to all of you who took the time to read this unnecessarily long and detailed review. As long as I help someone translate their conflicted feelings into coherent thoughts, I'll call it a win.

I want to reiterate that I don't hate Kung Fu Panda 4 and I had fun while watching the film. It has its flaws and there are a lot of aspects that I dislike, but the effort of the crew is obvious and I greatly admire and respect the hard work put into the film by those who worked on it. This does not at all excuse my issues with the movie, but it's worth saying.

As for the future of the series, I only hope that the next installment is more considerate of the franchise's origins and why Po's story is being told in the first place. I fully believe that another sequel could be good given a strong, passionate crew with a great understanding of the characters and world (and I wouldn't be averse to some previous directors returning, just to put it out there).

Thanks again to those who took the time to read this crazy excuse for a movie review. Feel free to either disagree with me or add things in the replies/reblogs, I'm always looking for more thoughts to think.

Until next time!

#kung fu panda 4 #kung fu panda #dreamworks animation #kfp #kfp 4 #movie review #i'll add the actual picture of the furious five's cameo when i can get ahold of one of decent quality #my time has come #it wasn't THAT bad #i didn't love it #but it is what it is #it's a tentative 6/10 all things considered #free the five #perhaps i treated kfp3 too harshly #don't get me wrong the movie had good qualities and i can tell a lot of work went into it #a lot of missed potential imo #a lot of characters done dirty #i didn't even mention the score but i thought it was just okay #i wasn't wowed #i know close to nothing about composing though so i should probably just not even go there #credits were the best part both cinematically and musically #i feel mean but i'm not going to be dishonest #bc obviously you all simply must know how i feel about the silly panda movie #a more detailed version of the grievances i have w the dragon warrior plot can be found in my og discussion post if anyone's interested #as well as my thoughts on bringing back old villains #might make some edits to this in the future but this is all i have to say for now

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gabs-magical-abs · 5 months

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Hey kids, let grandabs teach you some old school Xena fandom vocab from the good old forum days!

Subtext: the ship name for Xena/Gabrielle

Subtexter: somebody who ships Xena/Gabrielle

YAXI: Yet Another Xena Inconsistency

Shipper: somebody who ships Xena / Ares

Horsetext: Xena/Argo crackship

Uber: fanfics where the characters are reincarnations / descendents of Xena and Gabrielle. Like an AU but with different character names

#xena warrior princess #xena #xena: warrior princess #xwp #i'm not even an OG fan #but i was around for the forums #xoc represent #and forums definitely preserve fandom culture a lot more than social media #also please feel free to add your own #i have definitely missed a lot #it's been like 13 years since I was last on the forums

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cienie-isengardu · 8 months

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The Brothers Sun

Warning: rant not spoiler-free

Recently, I watched Netflix’s The Brother Sun and to be honest, I’m still not okay, because my mind is for days processing everything and analyzing over and over again.

I don’t watch much TV series and I decided to give the series a chance mainly for the titular brotherhood between Charles and Bruce and the series did not disappoint me in that regard. I’m absolutely drawn to Charles, not just because of his good look (and he does look very good), but his whole character and development through the story and also, how despite being such badass, he was also the one in need to be saved from the life (trap) set by his own father. But above everything else, how much he is similar to his mother, how both sacrificed so much for the family.

I swear, I don’t remember the last time when a female character captured me the way Eileen “Mama” Sun did. All female characters were pretty cool and each interesting in their own way, but Eileen definitely stole the show and ultimately, it is her and Charles' relationship that glued me to this series. And I still think about the parallels between those two characters, especially in regard to Eileen’s two lines, from episode 3 (how those who cook for you and clean after you are those you forget about) and from last one (how much she sacrificed for Bruce and no one ever asked what she wants). Because Charles is the one cooking for people he cares about and who was showed doing widely understanded cleaning (getting rid of the dead body, unpacking Alexis’ things and making her flat more home-like, tidying own room before sleep and we were told he always loved do that as a child) but also the one trapped, the one who never had a choice, the one sacrificing everything for the family’s sake - even when he was allowed to pursue his own dreams, the family came first. And I’m so, so much thinking about Eileen and Charles, as he was the one that would fully support her when she finally decided to take something for herself, to take control over triads as the Dragon’s Head. Bruce, understandable, didn’t want her to be involved with gangsters and murderers, especially after everything they've been through, but also, he didn’t want that for his own sake. She was his mom, there was a normal life to choose and I don’t think he truly gasped how much Eileen sacrificed to spare him the cruel life his older brother was forced into. But Charles would step away from the position of head of family - something he may never want but would carry on as a dutiful son - just to make her plan (desire) come true and later step away from the one thing (baking) he desired for himself to support and protect her. And I’m truly touched by their relationship and how it evolved from each doing things their own way into a well-working team, but also, if Charles will learn from his mother how to be so cunning, he is gonna be a much more dangerous figure in the future.

#the brothers sun #charles sun #eileen sun #i came for the brotherhood and i got what i wanted and more #as this series influences my ideas about bi han and kuai liang brotherhood from mortal kombat #but above everything else i got wonderful relationship between mother who could save only one of her kids & the son trapped in horrible lif #who both sacrificed so much for the family's sake but also find a support in each other #and now i'm gonna add the feelings the show thrown onto me to the bi han as mama's boy #thanks very much like i was not enough emotional about it to begin with #i'm pretty sure i'm missing a lot nuances and cultural context but damn #that show was a good choice to spend the ~8h of my free time

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batfamfucker · 1 year

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Appreciation post for 'girly girl' characters and/or shows that celebrate traditionally feminine things that girls and women are shamed for.

Characters on this list that love makeup, fashion, hair, etc. Characters that are still written as strong, intelligent, brave, etc. That told young girls that these interests are valid, they are not lesser interests. Being feminine and liking traditionally feminine things does not make them weak.

#I'm so glad I got to grow up with these girls #I was originally gonna make a post of Barbie Daphne and Stella and be like. They remind me so much of each other #And how much I love characters like them #Because I do #But then I was like fuck it let's just make a post for all the girly girls because they're so good #So here we are. In a world of misogyny. We still have them. And I am so greatful #I'm sad I missed out on celebrating my femininity and stuff like this in my teen years because of just. Stuff I was going through #But I'm glad I'm doing it now. I've been getting into makeup for the past year. Mostly eye it's so fun #The Barbie movie. Dressing up for it. Being proud makeup and skirts and dressing up like I did as a girl. God it was so wonderful #I've not felt this connected to this part of myself in years. It has helped to much #It reminded me of my love for Barbie. The movies. The fairies and mairmaids. The bright colours and fashions #And my love for all of these shows. The outfits and designs I fell in love with. The friendships and sisterhoods in all of them.#Yes it's just Rarity. I know some of the others girls also fit. But some don't as much so I didn't wanna just put a group one #And I know Kim and some others aren't as girly as others. But she's still a good example.#Her and Monique's shopping trip and other stuff is engraved into my mind. I actually think about them a lot I love them #Daphne was also a masisve awakening for me. I had such a crush on her. And the Hex Girls.#If you're wondering why other shows aren't on here. Like Trollz or Powerpuff Girls or something. It's msotly based on what I watched #And I didn't really watch them I'm sorry but feel free to add more.#We're ignoring how I mispelled mermaids. I'm not going back to change that tag.#Anyway I love women basically. We're awesome.#Barbie #Scooby Doo #Bratz #Monster High #Kim Possible #My Little Pony #Winx #Mew Mew Power

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redheadlesbianfreak · 1 year

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Me collecting female characters that had the amazing potential to have fantastic character arcs, only for them to get no development outside of how they can better support the men in their lives.

#sakura haruno #hinata hyuga #april o'neil #ochako uraraka #botw princess zelda #she doesn't get the screentime she deserves #most women in anime tbh #feel free to add more in the tags #there are a lot i missed #every time a female character does reach her full potential #everyone calls her an evil bitch #i'm gonna scream

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twicetolivetwicetodie · 1 year

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Rand al'Thor and Anakin Skywalker Parallels

Okay, I said I was gonna do this so let's go. Warning: this is full series spoilers for Wheel of Time so if you do watch the show and don't want Rand's arc spoiled, look away!

First thing's first, they're both the Chosen Ones of their perspective stories. Anakin being called the Chosen One, Rand with the titles the Dragon Reborn, He Who Comes With the Dawn, Car'a'carn, and Coramoor (all Chosen One in all those cultures)

Prophecies foretell that Anakin will bring balance to the Force (though afaik they're pretty vague on how he's supposed to accomplish this). The prophecies regarding Rand are complicated and unending and too much for this one post but the gist of it is that he will both save and destroy the world.

Anakin was born of Shmi Skywalker but has no father (the Force made him possible). Rand was born to Tigraine Mantear former Daughter-Heir to Andor and Janduin, clan chief of the Taardad Aiel. Tigraine was a Maiden of the Spear sworn to take no husband so that's where the Maiden birth fits in here.

Trauma is an ongoing theme here as neither of them can seem to catch a break. Anakin was enslaved as a child, loses his mother, is tortured a numerous amount of times (I've lost count the amount of times he's electrocuted in Clone Wars), and loses many soldiers under his command as well as the enormous pressure of being the Chosen One. He is constantly being told to suppress his emotions as anger will only lead to the Dark Side however he is never given the space or even any idea how to process his trauma. He loses Ahsoka due to her being kicked out of the Jedi Order due to the Jedi's own mistakes. Even after she is exonerated and very rightly leaves the Order, he's expected to keep his emotions under control and pretend everything is fine with this entire situation. Sidious groomed him for the Dark Side from a young age and ultimately ended up weaponizing his trauma.

Rand had a relatively normal childhood until Winternight when everything went to hell. Trollocs attack his village and he finds out he's adopted leading to the first of many identity crises. He's forced to leave the only home he's ever known and leave his adopted father behind who means everything to him. He and his friends are pursued across the world by Shadowspawn and Darkfriends who mean to turn him over to the Dark One, he's repeatedly tortured in his dreams every night by Ba'alzamon, and by the end of EoTW he discovers he can channel, which in this world means he's doomed to go insane the more he uses this magic.

He finds out he's the Dragon Reborn and the pressure of that adds onto his ongoing trauma of being pursued by Forsaken, being used and abused over and over and over again by people who are supposed to help and protect him, having the voice of his previous life in his head, losing people under his command and he blames himself for every last one. Everyone around him gaslights him into believing his trauma isn't real and that his very real PTSD symptoms are a result of him using the corrupted side of the magic system.

Rand suppresses his emotions as a coping mechanism and outwardly presents a mask that he feels nothing. These emotions he is not allowing himself to feel otherwise he would not be able to function he is funneling over to the voice of his previous life as Lews Therin. We as the reader experience his true emotions via Lews Therin. And I can't end this without mentioning when a group of Aes Sedai kidnap him and force him in a box to take him to the Tower, only to take him out to beat him with the Power, an extended torture that takes place for two weeks.

Both have lost a hand. Anakin lost a hand when Count Dooku cut if off with his lightsaber in Attack of the Clones. Rand lost a hand when Semirhage burned it off by channeling a fireball at him in Knife of Dreams.

Both of their falls I think are incredibly similar. Anakin kneels to Sidious begging him that he'll do anything just help him save Padme. In the Gathering Storm, Rand kneels to Semirhage and begs her that he'll do anything, just stop hurting Min. These end differently as Anakin ends up swearing to Sidious and becoming Darth Vader. Semirhage refuses to stop hurting Min, so Rand breaks the one line he won't cross and kills her with Balefire, but not without briefly channeling the True Power to escape his bonds; a Power only those sworn to the Shadow can wield.

After his fall, Anakin kills the younglings. For Rand an equivalent would be Natrin's Barrow, where he balefires an entire city out of existence just to get at the Forsaken Graendal.

As far as their return to the light goes, both is accomplished by a family member. Anakin is brought back by his son Luke. In Rand's case, it's his father Tam.

The Jedi and the Aes Sedai both have significant roles in both their arcs which includes losing trust in them after a certain point. They're both orders of magic users that did good in the world at one point in time but at some point lost their way or became corrupted.

The Jedi become majorly involved in the Clone Wars despite their vow of being peace keepers. They're aware of the origin of their clone army by the end of season 6, yet they decide to do nothing. Ahsoka being kicked out of the Jedi Order is Anakin's last straw. She's invited back in, and yet the Jedi refuse to change despite recognizing that they did Ahsoka wrong.

The Aes Sedai get involved in things that further their own ends or "Control the world with puppet strings" as some put it rather than their purpose of being "Servants of All". They deny the existence of the Black Ajah and pretend they haven't infiltrated their ranks. A faction of Aes Sedai kidnapped and tortured Rand for two weeks and the rest of the Aes Sedai refused to hold them accountable.

Both Anakin and Rand are Chosen Ones who cracked under the pressure and experienced persistent trauma.

I'm gonna end with a quote by Rand that seems pertinent to both of them.

"My life isn't my own. I'm a puppet for the Pattern and the prophecies, made to dance for the world before having my strings cut." -Rand al'Thor, The Gathering Storm

#this ended up super long but i had a lot to say #my rand trauma section is longer cause there's 14 books plus i'm more well versed in wot lore than star wars lore #if i'm missing anything for either rand or anakin feel free to add more #rand al'thor #anakin skywalker #parallels #wheel of time #wot book spoilers #star wars #clone wars #clone wars spoilers

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shipping1addict · 8 months

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I recently played the Spirit of Vengeance FP again and when the cutscene of the aftermath played and we Saw Heta presenting her speech to her supporters, something clicked.

See that? In addition to what happend to Bask Sunn in "Showdown on Ruhnuk", Tyrus Brokenblade also fell on Kessan's Landing.

So WHO is left?

Durn Wynnward aka representer of the Ash'ad.

My guess is that with the next story-fragment, we get to face off agains Durn and hopefully after that, Heta herself.

~ more theorising under the cut ~

I didn't realise that they gave us this very obvious fight-the-small-fish-first-and-then-the-big-one hint at the beginning of the "Hidden Chain" storyline, but here we are.

I find it also interesting that Heta talks about reliability in this speech. Making a statment with injuring Tyrus and endangering not only the people in the room but herself.

Now that she found out about Bask's betrayal and his greed (who would've known /s) and the loss of Tyrus, the mentality with which she will continue her operations will propably get very interesting.

Since Sa'har, her interest in mando-communication also seems very neglected. I don't know if this is on purpose or if the few cutscenes we got just gave away too little information.

I would also need to rewatch every cutscene to build upon my theories.

#This storyline is so draining and that makes me sad because it's genuinely an interesting storyline #as the BH Story was my very first playthrough it also hits a nostalgic nerve #and I'm glad that after what felt like only force sensitive content we now have something other classes can enjoy #I hope they don't drag that one out any further though or give us at least something to work with #the so called enemies feel very out of touch because we barely get to meet them #even Sa'har who feels like she will join us eventually seems more like an idea than a character #LET US INTERACT WITH THEM #I haven't played past KOTET with Torian alive and i already feel like I missed A LOT #anyway my rambling is already too long #please feel free to add #SWTOR #7.4

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mikesbasementbeets · 2 years

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the storm (part 1)

s2:

[rock you like a hurricane playing]

#the significance of all the storms hit me in s4 when someone said brain storming and i started thinking..........#also every time i post one of these i start finding stuff i missed so. i'm sure i've missed some feel free to add on or lmk (up thru s2)#no analysis to offer rn just gathering things... been sitting on this one bc it's not very interesting yet. but i'll get to s3-4 #decided i'm going to just post these when i finish them and eventually i'll make a post linking all of them #if there's any motif you care about particularly feel free to lmk it'll probably encourage me to focus on that one more #mikesbasementbeets posts #compilations

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displayheartcode · 2 years

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what horror lesbian novels would you recommend? 👀

*cracks knuckles for toxic queer ladies*

a lesson in vengeance by victoria lee

house of hunger by alexis henderson

blood countess by lana popović

house of hollow by krystal sutherland

adult

plain bad heroines by emily m. danforth

carmilla by joseph sheridan le fanu

#anyone else need recs?#i know i'm missing more but here's a sample of what i'm familiar with/have read/will read very soon #feel free to add more because i've read way more horror/spooky novels that have different dynamics that what the text post described

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vocaloid-song-showdown · 2 years

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the poll for how to arrange the brackets just finished with proceeding as originally planned winning!

so, without further ado, here are the lineups ^^

note :: songs with a * next to them may require a content warning. i'll provide specific warnings as soon as i have the time, but as of now please proceed with caution

main matchup bracket ::

alice of human sacrifice* by yugami p / fear garden* by chaa

magnet by minato p / romeo and cinderella by doriko

world is mine by ryo / world's end dancehall by wowaka

triple baka by lamaze p / the disappearance of hatsune miku by cosmo p

meltdown by iroha(sasaki) / luka luka★night fever by samfree

fire◎flower by halyosy / trick and treat by oster project

daughter of evil by mothy / dancing★samurai by kanimiso p

rolling girl by wowaka / matryoshka by hachi

madness of duke venomania* by mothy / alluring secret ~black vow~ by hitoshizuku x yama

senbonzakura by kurousa / outer science by jin

doubleganger by kulfiq / mikusabbath by utsu p

jinsei reset button by kemu / common world domination by pinnochio p

the fox's wedding* by masa works design / tokio funka by takamatt

heat haze days by jin / patchwork staccato by toa

six trillion years and an overnight story by kemu / lost one's weeping by neru

aishite aishite aishite by kikuo / echo by crusher p

setsuna drive by taki yoshimitsu / yoake to hotatu by n buna

a fake fake psychotropic by kairiki bear / therefore you and me by tadanoco

my r* by kurage p / i'm glad youre evil too by pinnochio p

chururira chururira dadada by kurage p / mkdr by deco*27

blessed messiah and the tower of ai by hitoshizuku x yama / 86 by dasu

law evading rock by neru / nakakapagpabagabag by dasu

sand planet by hachi / ghost rule by deco*27

monster by kira / hated by life itself by iori kanzaki

cause i'm a liar by mcki robyns p / honey i'm home by ghost

hole dwelling by kikuo / bring it on by giga

meteor by divela / seraphim on the ring by mitchie m

the court jester by thquib / casino by azari

king by kanaria / villain by teniwoha

lower by lanndo / phony by tsumiki

higanbana milk tea by vane / scapegoat by ghost

queen by kanaria / bug by kairiki bear

honorable mention bracket ::

electric angel by yasuo p (original), giga (giga arrange) / freely tomorrow by mitchie m

po pi po by lamaze p / go google it by wintermint p

black★rock shooter by ryo / bacterial contamination by kanimiso p

i like you, i love you by gevanni p / first love academy • school of true love by nem

(also a quick general note ! i don't have everything ready for a formal polished reveal at the time of posting this. i plan on updating this post with links to the songs and also a visual bracket when i have the time. they'll definitely be up soon, so make sure to check back in a bit for them ^^

i'll also make sure that reblogs are turned on for the final version!)

#vocaloid song showdown #sorry it's just a list for now i promise i'll update it and make it look nicer as soon as i get the chance :'D #i'll also add the playlists to the final post so those will finally be out soon too !#but for now it's just a quick little post to get the matchups out sooner rather than later since this is already kinda behind schedule :')#anyway it's still kinda bonkers to me that only one person nominated po pi po and electric angel #those songs used to be Everywhere it felt like #and unless i continually missed it no one sent in llevan polka :(#(to be fair itnisn't originally a vocaloid song. idk if i could fully qualify it bc of that but still shocked that it got no nominations)#oh also ! until i have the image finalized if anyone thinks any matchups should be tweaked at all feel free to lmk !#i was mostly judging popularity based on nominations and view count (reprints included) but it was hard to tell for some ???#like i remember a whole bunch of reprint channels getting deleted or privating all their videos and i'm sure that impacted some view counts #and rolling girl in particular has a lot less views than i thought it would ???#it's not a small amount by any means but it also seems to be on the higher side of the average for the final bracket songs #it was also unsurprisingly the most nominated song #so some of the matchups were a bit weird and wonky to put together fhdkfh #(especially echo actually too ? it got 2 nominations and barely made it but has the highest view count out of all the songs last i checked)#anyway all that to say if anyone wants to give feedback on the bracket pairings i'm open to it until i get the formal version up ( ^^)b #additionally if i missed any songs that should have some sort of warning please let me know fhdkdh #i added them only off the top of my head so i might've missed one #(the final version of this will have more specific warnings too. potential flash warnings as well)#EDIT :: changed up within 24 hours to up soon #i wish i could've had everything together within 24 hours but things came up and i need just a little more time :(#but i wanna get started on voting monday (february 27) for real this time ! no more putting it off :'D

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