#honestly my bigger issue is people trying to give fandom stakes in this

[snickerdoodlles]

Don’t you feel that if you go on the “loves ao3 more than their own mom” website aka the “can't throw a rock without hitting a writer” website and put in the main tag the opinion that AI writing models are no big deal and don’t do any harm and nobody has any reason to feel hurt over their unethical training in a tone that distinctly resembles the “toughen up snowflake” rhetoric, you might, in fact, just be the one out of line and also an asshole?

*rolls eyes* not what i did nor what i said.

there are many concerns to have with generative AI, such as the ability to extract privatized information from their training datasets, the exploitation of human workers for AI services (tho this one frankly goes for all internet services, not just AI), AI's reinforced biases and lack of learning, and the current lack of regulation against AI developers and AI usage to name a few. in terms of a direct impact on the creative industry, there are several concerns about the uncompensated and unregulated use of copyrighted materials in training data (paper discussing BookCorpus, courtlistener link for writers suing over Books2), the even worse image scraping for diffusion models, screen production companies trying to pressure people into selling their personal image rights for AI use, and publishers getting slammed with various AI generated content while the copyright laws for it are still massively in flux.

i said fanfic does not intersect with AI. actually, i vaguely whined about it in the tags of an untagged post, because i'm allowed to do that on my personal whine-into-the-void space. (which, tumblr is bad about filtering properly in tags and i'm sorry if it popped up anyways, but i also can't control tumblr search not functioning properly.)

there are concerns to be had about AI training datasets (developers refusing to remove or protect private information because it weakens the training data even tho this is a bigger issue for bigger models is my primary concern personally, but the book shadow libraries and mass image scraping are shady ass shit too). but AO3 was never used to train AI. there is a lot of sketchiness involved with AI training data, but AO3 is not one of them.

i get irked when people compare AI generated writing to AI generated art, because the technology behind it is different. to make art, AI has to directly use the source image to create the final output. this is why people can reverse the process on AI art models to extract the source images. written models (LLMs) learn how to string words into sentences and in terms of remembering the specific training data, LLMs actually have a known issue of wandering attention for general written training material like books/articles/etc. (re the writers' lawsuit -- we know AI developers are pulling shady shit with their use of books, AI developers know they're pulling shady shit with their use of books, but unfortunately the specific proof the writers' are using for their case very closely resembles the summaries and written reviews on their books' wikipedia pages. the burden of proof for copyright violation is really hard to prove for books, esp because copyright protects the expression of an idea, not the idea or individual sentences of a work, and LLMs do not retain their written training material in that way.) these are different issues that can't truly be conflated because the methods in which the materials are used and the potential regulation/the impact of potential regulation on them are different.

anyways, back to my annoyances with fanfic x AI -- fanfic is not involved in its development, and if you don't want to read fic made by AI, don't click on fic that involves AI. ultimately, if you read a fic and it turns out AI was involved...nothing happens. if you don't like it, you click a back button, delete a bookmark, and/or mute a user. AI just strings words together. that's it. acting like AI will have a great impact on fandom, or that fandom will be some final bastion against it, is really fucking annoying to me because fandom does not have any stakes in this. there are legitimate issues in regards to developing and regulating AI (link to the US senate hearing again, because there are so many), but "oh no, what if i read a fic written by AI" is a rather tone fucking deaf complaint, don't you think?

[archer3-13]

Thank you all for all the asks, I encourage people incidentally to ask away if they like. I might not always have a good response but I try to generally have a response.

anyways im gonna answer ya annons together though cause theres enough of you all on generally the same subject that its simpler this way.

its the perpetual curse of the player avatar character in the fe format really.

They're about as into it as humans are really: generally not seen as okay/a societal taboo but some people are just really into it/Blaise enough about it regardless.

as for the point of the dlc, my best guess would be its there for much the same reason cindered shadows is in three houses: someone in management demanded the game have a dlc campaign/they started working on dlc as part of the usual development cycles these days but didn't want to make something directly tied to the main campaign for whatever reason. So, welcome to alt fanfic filler arc land where the stakes simultaneously dont matter/matter way too fucking much and can be conveniently ignored in the main campaign/story with ease. With that said from a story angle I do like fell xenologue more then cindered shadows anyways, but then I have a soft spot for mirror dimensions in fiction. the fell xenologue isn't as good as it could be even by those standards though.

I needed to parse the whole thing a couple a times to take the wall of text all in, but dont worry about it. what your saying is generally sound and its always interesting to hear how different fandoms approach the same thing in different or similar ways.

I knew people liked tsubaki and selena but I didn't know that one was the ship considered most cannon of fe14 selenas ships. Which as ya point out does make how she gives birth to her mothers identitcal [visually anyways] clone kinda funny in that context.

Honestly I just think its an issue of how fandom has so much purity wank going on in it these days, not even anything specific to fe. Its not enough that the blorbo is your favorite, your blorbo has to be a MORALLY GOOD PERSON too regardless of if the original text outright states that they arent a good person or not. Hence the oddly puritanical standards everyone holds characters too these days, like we had suddenly warped right back into the 1950's in terms of how mercilessly hard your judging your neighbour for having an unkempt lawn for.

I haven't engaged with the dlc characters as much compared to the main cast, so this isn't gonna be a 100% definitive answer sorry.

madelines a hard classic general, gregorys your inverse sage res tank unit with meh spd, zelestia is high on spd but average across the board otherwise, and nels the myrmidon to rafals mercenary. What ya see with their base stats is what your gonna get for them as units really. if your asking whos gonna be your most helpful, id say zelestia so long as you do the dlc early enough as their levels dont scale from what i understand.

zelestias got some chonky speed, and shes otherwise a mage knight on a flying dragon in her unique class with soulblade her class unique skill presenting some interesting avenues of exploitation in taking the average of an enemies def/res in damage calculations for swords. Give her some investment and I imagine

given the game was supposed to be released a lot sonner then it was, its not entirely surprising that the dlc came out so quick. I wouldn't quite say its 'era' is over yet mind, that simply depends on what comes out next and when.

With all that said, considering how fast it all came out I wouldn't actually be surprised if they announced a second pack of dlc if the first pack and engage as a whole does well enough. its not a sure thing but not impossible either.

I kinda wanna get a hint as to whats gonna come next though. Which is one of my bigger frustrations with is and fe really, i wish they communicated what they're plannin with the fans more.

I dont even think its ideas they're lacking in, its just a seeming reluctance on the koei assisted titles to release the additional maps the 3ds dlc ones did. all of the games since awakening have had an additional dlc campaign of sorts for instance, but in both three houses and engage they dont bother to include any of the gold or exp or weapon dlc grinding maps the 3ds games had, or try their hands at anything equivalent to the robust selections of weird dlc maps the 3ds games often hand like the festival things. engage i feel does better in this regard through the additional dlc emblem trials and campaign over three houses sitting with a dlc campaign alone but still.

i dont think your wrong.

given the trend of the mirror elyos having characters with opposing traits or aspects to their main counterparts, you could certainly head cannon that xeno sombron actually does come from his world compared to main sombron. I dont think theres any specific confirmation either way.

[alia-turin]

For @golden-olea I know that came as your idea, I hope I did it justice. 

Fic Title: Last Words Fandom: The Witcher (Aen Elle) Pairing: Avallac’h/Lara Warnings: Break up, some harsh language. 

AO3 Link

Avallac’h held the piece of paper, his fingers gripping it so hard he had to try not to destroy it before he had finished reading it.

Reading it was a strange way to describe it. He was looking at Lara’s writing but he didn’t see whole sentences even if he was sure they were there. It was single words and phrases that actually reached his mind.

‘It is not easy for me…’

His heart was beating miles per minute. Lara has been absent a lot recently, exploring other worlds she had called it. Seeing new cultures. She was always curious and Avallac’h loved that about her. In his mind he could see all the precious memories of the two of them spending long nights and just talking about other worlds and other cultures. The curiosities they had seen together, the novelties they had experienced with each other.

‘...you will not understand…’

Did he push her too far? Was he too certain of what Fate had in store for them that he ignored everything? All the times he held her in his arms and all the kisses shared between the two of them, was that all for nothing? Maybe he was too persistent or the opposite? He had allowed her too much freedom where he should have been the voice of reason. Did he blind himself with love and all he was seeing was Lara but not the bigger picture? He was imagining it, he knew that but even now he could feel the softness of her lips against his even if they had not shared a moment of intimacy in months.

‘My own path…’

He couldn’t understand - her path? Her path was with him, their future and everyone’s future, they had duty, they had...it wasn’t about him and his ambitions it was also his heart. She had his heart in her hand. They had talked about that, what they would do, how they would change the Aen Elle together, allowing them a better life than what they had. Was that all a lie? Or was that his plan that she just agreed with to make him happy. It was not possible to have a path without him, that was just...he was her destiny as she was his, they were bound by more than just attraction and love.

‘...someone else…’

Avallac’h couldn’t go past that point. Someone else? Who? He started going through his mind. Yes, Lara travelled to other worlds a lot, but that was of no consequence - they all did, they lived for hundreds of years they all had to explore and learn especially someone in her position. Someone else - the words echoed in his mind as if she had pronounced them. It was just a letter but he could hear her voice, confident but kind telling him there was someone else. Who? Jealousy started crawling at the back of his head, thinking of every man or woman he had ever seen her with in Tir na Lia or otherwise.

Eredin.

Somehow the general’s name came to his mind. He knew Eredin had ambition, he knew he was ruthless, was he that ruthless? He started thinking and he couldn’t deny he had seen it - Eredin smiling at her, Eredin opening a door for her and giving her that look...he could even point to moments when Eredin was not in Tir na Lia, but neither was Lara. Avallac’h’s pain grew into anger. He was nothing but a common soldier, what right did Eredin have over his Destiny?

‘...a child…’

Avallac’h threw the letter in the fire without even thinking. Eredin was taking everything from him. Lara, his life, his future...just like that. Hundreds of years Avallac’h had waited for this moment and now someone had taken it from him.

He lashed out of his room walking down the hallways, not seeing anything around himself. He needed to find Eredin. That was absurd. He had no idea what he would do once he saw the man, probably kill him, although what good will that do, he had already stolen his Destiny. Ambitious and arrogant, he knew that he should have told that to Auberon years ago. Dangerous. Everyone knew it, Avallac’h knew it, he ignored it. Why wouldn’t he? A soldier, good soldier, but had no power beside that of his sword. And low cunning. He was hurt by Lara, but it hurt a million times more because it was Eredin. He had tricked her, he had used that brutish personality of his to attract her and trap her. How long had he been planning that? Years? Months?

Avallach stormed into the barracks passing soldiers who just gave him curious looks, it wasn’t common for a Sage to walk among them. He almost kicked the doors to Eredin’s room. The man was standing next to his desk talking to two of his men.

“Get out.” Avallac’h shouted, which surprised him as well. He couldn’t remember the last time he raised his voice at...anything. Eredin’s men did not follow orders from him. They both turned to Eredin with questioning looks.

“Go.” their general said calmly and made a hand gesture pointing at the door.

Avallac’h barely could wait to hear the door being closed behind him when he started - he didn’t want to shout but anger and heartbreak met somewhere in his mind and he could no longer control himself.

“You are irresponsible and arrogant.” Eredin raised an eyebrow but did not answer. Just looked at him with a smug face. Avallac’h could kill him just for that. “It wasn’t enough you took her away from me, but that? You had to go that far? Not just her, but...my life everything I had been working for so many years. But you couldn’t just watch and sit could you? Your arrogance would never allow you to admit that you are nothing but a simple horse master and you will never be anything but a border guard.” Both of Eredin’s eyebrows were raised now, but again no comment, nothing. “I don’t even understand what she sees in you!” that was a lie, he could see what any woman could see in Eredin - the arrogance, the looks, the bravery, the attitude...he couldn’t believe Lara would fall for any of that. “You waited for so many years and now you did it, now you had to take it away from her and from me, you have doomed her with nothing but suffering, the destiny of all of us is at risk and you wasted it for what? Ten minutes of pleasure? Was she even willing or you did her the same way you do your other whores? Probably you did, you are incapable of any sort of gentle emotion or compassion, sick ambition and bloodlust is all you know and that is what you have created now. This was supposed to be my child not yours!”

Avallac’h stopped, Eredin was just staring at him, calm, unmoving. He expected some sort of reaction, defence, insult...anything.

There was nobody alive who could walk in Eredin’s room and talk to him the way Avallac’h did. He would not allow even a king to do it and Crevan was far from a king. He found it amusing that someone like Avallac’h had completely lost control over his own emotions, but if he gathered the situation correctly, probably he would as well. Silly of him to bet all his money on one horse especially if this horse is a woman who, like everybody else, could just change her mind. There were few moments when it was hard to keep silent, the insults were just too...personal, but he kept his cool, he would pay Avallac’h for that with interest. Maybe in two hundred years, but he would.

“Anything else?” Eredin was leaning against his desk, his arms crossed at his chest. Crevan didn’t speak, but there was a storm growing in the man’s eyes. He pushed his hand down to his belt and let it rest on the pommel of his sword, he didn’t expect Avallac’h to attack him, not after the verbal waterfall of feelings, but Eredin had been known to provoke people. “I never touched Lara.”

“Don’t lie! You are low, but even such a blatant lie seems below you.” Avallac’h barked back.

“Crevan, if I came in your precious ticket for internal glory, would I deny it?” He didn’t need to explain further. He waited. He knew there was a drop of reason left in Avallac’h’s mind he just needed to reach it. Honestly he didn’t care if Avallac’h saw reason, he could lose his mind and jump off a cliff, not Eredin’s problem. But there was a bigger problem that the other man needed to see.

Avallac’h opened his mouth and closed it. Then he turned his head to the side like a curious puppy. There it was, the rationality taking over. The storm in Avallac’h eyes calmed, but did not disappear, different sorts of emotions started showing on his face, Eredin found all that amusing, Crevan who had always been so controlled in his actions and words, now the man who always had been a bit of a mystery was an open book from read and gloat.

“Who…”

“I don’t think it’s Aen Elle.” while Avallac’h had been busy looking for creative insults Eredin had been thinking and connecting pieces. He knew Lara would sometimes disappear for weeks or months. He also knew no one made a big deal out of it, including himself, she was young and she had power few others did. “It’s a human.” He had not taken the issues seriously, probably he should have. “One of my men is involved with one of her servants. Lara has been sleeping with a human.”

“And you are telling me that...now?” Avallac’h’s rage came back in his eyes. “You could have prevented all that, do you know what is at stake? We are doomed, Eredin.”

“I’m but a simple soldier, the dealings of the great Sages are beyond my understanding.” He threw Avallac’h words back at him, he had remembered the insult and that was not going to be the payment he collects, but it was sweet seeing Crevan’s reactions. “It is your job to keep her happy, not mine.” he could see Avallac’h about to launch at him again so he just raised his hand to stop him. “Crevan, if we lose her, we lose the portals. Let her have her fun, fix it after that.” If Eredin was in his shoes he would probably find the insolent human and drag him through the streets before he killed him slowly, the baby he would drown and it will be as if it never happened. Avallac’h was not him, and he knew the man would probably just accept it once his current rage had passed. Either way they had a problem.

“I need to speak with Auberon.” Avallac’h had finally found reason and walked out of his rooms as fast as he had walked in. Eredin could see his soldiers peaking through the door the Sage left open. He didn’t know if they heard anything but for sure they heard the raised voice.

Didn’t matter, everyone would know soon, he gave it a week. That created other issues for him, but it did open an opportunity as well. One head never hoped to have even in his wildest dreams. Eredin smiled.

[i-am-the-entertainer]

RevieWBY: Volume 6, Chapter 1 “Argus Limited”

Spoilers for Volume 6, Chapter 1

This is the first of what I hope are gonna be regular RWBY review posts. It’s hard, nay almost difficult to review individual episodes of RWBY considering each part is only a single piece of an overall product, but I think there’s value in giving special attention to what the show gets right in its individual episodes.

I want to emphasize a bulk of this was written in response to the premiere screenings, which is a significantly different experience from watching it on RoosterTeeth.com, considering everything is in your face and you’re watching it with fellow fans, which makes it a more visceral experience I think. I have edited this here and there after watching it again on the website, but since my first experience with the episode will always be from a giant screen, take what I say with a grain of salt.

As I suspected, it looks like the trailer is made up of footage from the first few episodes. About 50% of what we saw in the trailer came from this episode, mostly the stuff involving the action sequences. Two possible explanations for this:

The pipeline for production hasn’t changed: they’re still producing the episodes as they come out.

The pipeline has in fact changed but they don’t want to spoil stuff.

If it’s 1, I’m worried because I and several other people felt a rushed production timeline was why Volumes 4 and 5 had major storytelling issues. The thing is, it’s clear from the BTS stuff they showed that the general production pipeline has changed: the studio has gotten bigger, and I think production on gen:LOCK has forced them to fix the problems they already had: meaning, they’re spending more time on the finished product. And it makes sense not to spoil the latter half of the season in the trailer: considering it’s serialized storytelling, it’s a big no-no to give that kind of thing away before the show even comes out.

And this episode? They clearly had a lot of time to work on it. This is the best animation-wise the show has looked: there’s a lot of attention paid to minute details in the show. Character movements are more fluid, the choice to turn to more anime-like gags is making the show feel more like RWBY that we’re used to (which to be fair the first episodes of the last two volumes also did and did nothing with so take that with a grain of salt), and during our first big battle sequence minute things like firing effects and visuals are so much better than they’ve been: the show looks more like a cartoon/anime now more than ever before, which is coming down to the movements just as much as the visuals. But it even comes down to the little details, like how Weiss’s mouth is at a certain angle when she’s complaining about having to go back to Atlas, and how it seems like characters’ faces use more than just the mouth and eyebrows to convey emotions.

Characterization was, as usual, excellent––let’s be honest, the characters have always been at least the second best part of the show, next to the fights. The dynamic between team RWBY, despite their long separation, is the same as ever. And appropriate for what’s happened, there’s definite tension between Yang and Blake over what happened back in Vale in Volume 3. Considering this fandom’s seeming inability to accurately predict story direction (which I myself am guilty of), I don’t want to make too many calls about where I see the story go, but I think it’s safe to say they’re not going to gloss over a firm reconciliation between Yang and Blake: we get a strong hint of that in the opening.

The humor in this episode was a lot better as well: jokes didn’t seem forced, and at my screening the laughs really came from entertaining character interaction. They’re definitely trying to lean back into the anime vibe from the earlier seasons, but the jury’s out on whether that’s gonna be consistent for the rest of the season.

I don’t have much to say about how Ilia and Sun were removed from the plot other than, “Yeah, that’s a good call.” Let’s be honest, having too many characters doing too many things was a problem even during the so-called “golden age” of the show, so removing them from the equation would have had to happen or we all would have been moaning for the Volume to end sooner. And I think they got proper send-offs: Ilia’s been redeemed and gone off to her own adventures, and SSSN is back together (Neptune had everyone at my screening doubled over in laughter).

The choice to start the episode with the fight, then cut to earlier, then show a small portion of the fight before continuing the story was an interesting one, one I enjoyed. For one thing, it gives us a chance to see the whole Team RWBY in action right off the bat, and definitely sates everyone’s desire to see an action scene: we don’t need any context as to why they’re fighting, we just know for sure that they are once again a team. Honestly? After two seasons of waiting, the fan in me is relieved they didn’t waste any more time for that. Plus it would have saved the fight sequence from going on longer than it needed to with a weird pause to have Oscar tell Dudley to turn off the turrets.

So, uh, speaking of the fight...

Regarding the big battle sequence: it’s an improvement, there is absolutely no denying it. But on first viewing I didn’t think it was particularly memorable.

There was a lot going on, sure, and after watching it a few times I think we can all agree they’ve definitely improved the fight animation: characters are once again on the move constantly, they’re using their weapons in the way they were designed to, no more awkward pauses, etc. But it felt like a battle that was inserted specifically to give the show a reason to set team RWBY on its own path. Which, granted, it was, but the problem was bigger than just it didn’t have very high stakes (and I applaud them for trying by having Dee get killed off almost immediately, but killing off a character we weren’t given much time to appreciate or even given the chance to like isn’t very high stakes––same reason why Sienna Khan’s abrupt death felt more annoying than shocking). The problem was the fight scene had too much going on.

Let me explain. If you’ve seen Lindsay Ellis’s Transformers film theory series, you might have seen her video essay about why it’s so hard to remember what happens in Michael Bay’s Transformers series. Basically, the Transformers films have a whole lot going on in terms of visual: explosions! Guns! Robots that transform into cars! Cars that transform into robots! Yeah yeah, lot of spectacle, but because the action is non-stop, you don’t have the mental power to retain it all.

One could argue that madcap fight sequences have always been part of RWBY’s charm. But the thing about previous fight sequences, especially Monty’s (look, I know it’s been some years now, but it’s an inevitable comparison, he set the bar), is that nonstop visual spectacle was never really all they were: in terms of pacing, shots of action were followed by moments that gave characters time to breathe: the separation of actions would then lead to a new way of shooting the fight. For reference, look at the gunchuck fight from Volume 1: camera angles and movements changed based on what portion of the fight is happening, with appropriate breathers in between. This contrast gives the fight maximum impact: it’s why the gunchucks’ introduction was so cool. For one of the best examples from Volumes 4 and 5, look at the Qrow v. Tyrian fight for a similar rhythm.

And while the shots in Volume 6′s premiere certainly showed off the movements well, the pacing was fast, the characters’ actions made sense, I wasn’t snoozing during the fight––basically covering a lot of the problems I’ve had with the post-Monty era of fight animation––because there wasn’t a whole lot of room to breathe in the fight, I didn’t get a very big impression from it. And it’s a pity, because there are some genuinely creative things going on that I couldn’t recall after the premiere and had to actually be reminded: I especially love the split screen of Qrow and Ruby using their scythes to to attack the Grimm, and I’m guessing based on the splitscreen’s presence in the opening that we’ll be seeing it used more (once again adding a more anime-feel to the show). Last volume’s Cinder vs. Raven fight actually got the right contrast down in terms of giving the battle time to breathe, but again it was still mostly non-stop visual explosion. I’m hoping we’ll see some improvement on this front. Plus, I can understand why they may have felt obligated to do this, as they wanted to make sure the season premiere was telling you “You want action? Here’s some action!” And this was a shitton better than the Volume 4 premiere fight and basically every fight that wasn’t Qrow v. Tyrian, Yang v. Bandits, and Cinder v. Raven (...damn. They haven’t had very good fights for a while, huh?). We’ll just have to see how the other fights hold up.

So overall verdict? Genuinely optimistic. They definitely seem to be taking viewer feedback into account with the little stuff I picked up in this episode (it helps that some of the relentlessly positive RWBY reviewers that I’m sure Rooster Teeth follows got so annoyed with the last volume I think they finally realized “Huh. Maybe we aren’t doing so great after all”). I can’t make a call on whether that logic applies to the whole Volume. So we’ll just have to wait and see.

Nitpicks/Observations

The relic is inexplicably smaller. Why is the relic inexplicably smaller? Look, I get it, maybe you made it too big in Volume 5, and ultimately I can’t bring myself to care that much about it, but don’t just retcon it. Either just keep it that size and try to work the story around it, or show some sort of explanation as early as possible.

An accusation was made in the rwde tag shortly after the film screenings that claimed the shot of Ilia’s feet as she walks over to hug Blake was queerbaiting because the shot is framed as though she is going to kiss her. Look, that wasn’t the impression I got at all on first viewing, I’m still doubtful about it after rewatching the scene a few times, but the fact is queerbaiting is not an accusation that is leveled lightly. Representation is important, and I would hope the team understands that and that someone in the CRWBY would call out any moment of concern. That said, I also don’t think queerbaiting is an accusation that should just be made without some thought put into it (lest we forget the whole Lapidot thing on a show known for representation), and the thing is we haven’t gotten any signs from the show that Ilia and Blake are in any way meant to become a couple and the fact that both she and Sun (one of the characters most shipped with Blake) are leaving the show for now was enough for me to not interpret that show as romantic. But I think it’s important that the queerbaiting accusation not be just tossed aside. Have thoughts? Comment.

Look, as dramatic as “don’t let anyone else die” may have seemed, I really didn’t care that Dee died, and probably could not have been made to care.

Yet I should add––they weren’t gonna kill off a major character in the premiere. At this point I think they’ve learned deaths and major character injuries should only be done for emotional impact, if they’re done in the way where it’s just shock value (like Weiss getting impaled), it’s going to be very hard to get people to care (like everyone being like “Oh, that’s just stupid” when Weiss got impaled and there was a cliffhanger).

Like, I dunno, maybe just have the Grimm cause a significant amount of damage? That still gives them a reason to separate the relic from the rest of the car, and still gives RNJ something to do in the name of removing them from the plot.

The shot of the train crash was a little awkward. I think there was an issue with the framerate, or maybe the physics of it didn’t seem to work. I remember seeing it in theaters and thinking “Oh. That doesn’t look that great...”

Good intro to the mystery lady, who we now know is named Maria Calavera. So...when do we learn more?

Predictions

All the posts seem to be saying “Oh that hooded figure is Neo because of Torchwick’s hat floating nearby and she’s the only one without a parasol” or “Oh, that hooded figure is Cinder because of the Grimm arm and Cinder’s sword.” And the thing is: they’re two separate shots, and the latter is really darkened to hide their identity, moreso than the other. I am almost positive they’re two different people...

A note: Cinder’s return to the series is basically guaranteed. Unlike Torchwick, in public statements the writers have avoided outright confirming she’s dead. It would make sense for her survival to be revealed a couple episodes in, with her shot in the opening then brightened.

As for Neo, it’s been 3 years. If they don’t bring her back now, what exactly is the point of the character continuing to exist?

Whoever our mystery person is...they are probably the one whom Kerry claimed in the BTS bit would be the one we’d sympathize with. I don’t think he’s referring to Adam: it doesn’t feel as though Adam is being set up for a redemption arc, especially given his characterization in the character short.

The moon is whole...and then it shatters. Symbolism? Could this be another Volume 3?

Judging by the trailer and the intro, we might finally get some “Ozpin is not what he seems” explanation...

Death flags for Qrow: he already had the major injury in Volume 4. If a major character is going to die this Volume, it’s him.

[sceawere]

We’ve lost more than just the plot: my thoughts on the season 4 finale

I have a lot of problems with this season. I have problems with characterisation. I have problems with storylines. I have problems with the way things were shown (I’m looking at you, informed consent).

But last episode was so good! The Luca/Alfie scene was one of the best pieces of television I’ve had the pleasure of consuming. So, there were problems, but I went in with high hopes because, you know, it’s Peaky Blinders, and I love it, so I ignored stuff. But how am I supposed to ignore that raging inferno of a dumpster fire that was the finale. Look. I’m so mad I’m using Americanisms. On that note, give me a Changretta spin off because we deserve it.

A lot of the arguments I make here are going to circle back to a few main points which can be covered by various subtitles such as: ‘Holy Fuck, is someone going to jump a shark in the cut at some point?’, ‘Tommy Shelby is a 4D chess master, except he hasn’t told anyone else where the board is kept’, and ‘Why?’.

This is rambing and probably at times confusing but bleh. Let’s begin.

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Major shout out to dorahog for her comment where she said that it seemed very truncated – I think the events of the finale should have been spread over at least two episodes, and maybe three. A lot of the tying of the knots to me still left loose threads and didn’t really seem complete.

I think this, and some of the editing as a result is what causes some of the major problems I have with the episode. Lots of rushed finishing off to introduce too many new lines, idk. Anyway, I’m going to walk through it pretty much scene by scene, so buckle in.

We spend at least the first quarter (in terms of irl play time) of the episode at the boxing match. I was pumped. It was great. The Gold’s are my new faves, and while I may try to present myself as a refined you know, whatever, I love watching two people kick six shades of shit out of each other in a semi controlled manner any day of the week.

Even better when everyone is wearing sharp tailoring and it was someone’s entire job to light the place fantastically. I was about to write an ode to the costumes and props people but then I got a shot of Abbeys wig and the feeling swiftly fled.

Still, I will give the editing people props for this particular section. The pacing was great, the frenetic activity, the flicking back and forth between sets. Here, the editing was spot on. It built up the feeling of not only the excitement, but a sense of panic. Arthurs paranoia really seeped into me and I was on edge about whether Bonnie might be just a little over his head.

Since I’m going to reference pay off recurrently, I want to point out these elements. Arthur is always a paranoid, frenetic, madman. Bonnie has been woven into this season and everything has been building to this moment. The scene with the garotte and Bonnie winning the match – that’s how you do payoff.

Before we move on, I’m focusing on Alfie’s story a lot more later, so I’m skipping over that particular scene for the moment.

I loved the scene in the loos. It was funny, it was an accurate depiction of the politics and preening that goes on, the interplay between the women was indulgent. We got exposition, we got characterisation, we got costumes that made me salivate. More of all of this please.

I’m assuming that Linda is going to get a bigger role in Season 5 – the focus on her descent into Shelby Ladyhood, and the mentions of her past and family (especially her mother) seems to point that way. Which, I for one would enjoy. I think Linda gets a lot of hate because she’s written to. She’s portrayed as the shrew who tore poor little rabid dog Arthur away and leashed him up. I don’t think their relationship is completely healthy, I think there’s co-dependence issues there. But the way I’ve seen her described in fandom is eye-rolling to an extent that I physically injured myself on at least three occasions. So, please, give me more of her as a character and less as a caricature.

I’m so upset that Tommy would lie to Finn about Arthur being dead. Finn, the baby of the family, who wasn’t in the war, and doesn’t think and feel the way they do, was lied to about his brother dying just months after his other brother died. I think it’s sick emotional manipulation and unconscionable on Tommy’s part. If you can’t trust Finn, don’t bring him near the business. You can’t have it both ways. Either he’s in and you bring him in, or you don’t, and he needs to leave. I understand keeping the circle small, but they’ve just learned with the ‘don’t tell Michael about the plan’ plan that it doesn’t really work, and you just end up causing more problems.

Tommy has no consideration for people’s emotions or their state as beings of their own. They’re players to him, pieces on a board, and he’ll move them how he wants. He gets to make all the decisions, they don’t have any real input, and they have no ability to decide if they want to accept the consequences or not, because they’re already five steps deep in the process by the time they learn about it.

Side note: I’m bored of all the plans being made off screen and magically revealed to us later. If you’ve seen the really good video essay about why Sherlock is shitty for doing this, that’s the basis of my argument. It’s not smart or exciting to say ah! Got you! When I never had a chance to work it out in the first place. It’s just kind of lazy and boring.

Also, Tommy lied to a pregnant woman and caused her great distress, so that’s nice.

I cannot believe this is the first proper scene with Isaiah we get, because opening car doors and skulking in the background doesn’t count. Jordan Bolger is a great actor who brings so much to the character and they continually waste him. Isaiah could be so much more – he’s a black, working class kid, with a preacher for a father, in a crime family, and all he gets is a two-minute scene where he’s a bystander to Finn’s character development. Give me his struggle, give me him working through the moral conflicts – even the times they’ve just shown him to be a young lad being a young lad it’s been great, give us more. I assumed with the including of him in the heist plot that he would be stepping up into actual business, but they seem to have abandoned that idea and it’s disappointing. He can firmly join the ‘they deserve better’ club.

Finn should be left to be smol and soft, those are my complete thoughts.

Also, Tommy terrifies and holds hostage a whole room of innocent people as a charade because he doesn’t give a fuck about anyone else’s feelings or autonomy any longer than they are useful to him.

Also, I love Goliath and I’m sad that with Alfie gone we’re probably not going to see anymore of him, my big son, I loved you while I had you.

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We move away from the boxing scenes and get Arthur’s ‘funeral’.

I will say, I bloody love the wagons and wish my alternate theory that the Shelby’s did in fact lose everything to Luca and have to start from scratch could have happened because they were would have got more shots of them being ethereal in the forest somewhere surrounded by beautiful woodwork a la the Polly/Abbey scenes, but alas…we get this instead.

The shot of the empty room and the fireplace was beautiful, and poignant, and I’m gonna give them that.

Also, was that Karl? Thank fuck if it was because I had assumed Ada had abandoned him in the states somewhere for all we’ve seen/heard of him so far. It’s not as if any of the children are seen to be particularly important or have any type of characterisation of their own though so why am I surprised?

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The way that Tommy treats Michael is ridiculous. You can’t complain about Michael keeping something back from you when you are lying to him about the exact same thing. I am so heartened by Michael saying, ‘I chose my mum’ because it not only shows that Michael isn’t Tommy Jr after all, but also that there’s a chance that the new generation will succeed the old guard after all and that this won’t just carry on forever.

Also, if Tommy can’t trust Michael with his life of all things, why would he trust him to handle the American business alone? How ridiculous. If I think someone was willing to screw me over in a double-cross that led to my death, I wouldn’t hand them the key to my secondary kingdom. Sense – this makes none.

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Audrey Changretta turning up at the funeral like the badass she is and I’m so sad that her whole life has been torn apart in order to make Tommy Shelby look like a big man. Honestly, if you ask me, the Shelbys should have lost. Luca should have won. It would have made more sense, and provided such great material for next season.

The Shelby’s, having lost everything and become the people they used to rule, must fight to get back to the top. It should have been everything this season was meant to be, getting back to their roots, scrapping again. It would have provided stakes again. They need to be taken down a few pegs. If I know that Tommy is just going to fix everything off screen at the end anyway and everything turns out the same, then why am I wasting my time?

But that’s what the show has become. It started off as an interesting look at the moral complexities of the family, how they worked together, struggling to be something other than what they were destined for by the people who consistently maligned them. Now it’s a show about how amazing Tommy Shelby is. But the only way they’ve made Tommy Shelby great, is by making everyone else an idiot.

Tommy is a 4D chess-master, but only because no else knows where the table is being kept.

Luca Changretta was introduced as what should have been the most terrifying antagonist yet. And they turned him into an idiot. Luca Changretta, mob boss, doesn’t know to leave men behind to keep an eye on the kingdom? Bullshit.

I understand that Tommy is the main guy and has plot armour, but he doesn’t need to be the centre of the universe to be compelling as a character. This guy has manipulated Churchill and the king, got a city, a country, and an empire revolving around him, been given an OBE and now is an MP. But he can’t count two steps in front of himself and predict that killing a mob boss’ father might bring the mob down on him? He never really sees the consequences of his actions. His wife dying didn’t change him as a person, he just got meaner. His brother dying didn’t change him as a person, he just got reckless. I need a little bit more.

Alfie is such a beloved character not just because Tom Hardy plays him so well, not just because he belts out hilarious nonsense like a slightly faulty spitfire, but because he’s a match for Tommy. A much-needed match. He can go toe-to-toe with him, hell, even half the time get one over on him. He tells it straight when he knows Tommy needs it, and he doesn’t take his bullshit. He’s a breath of fresh air in a show that wants to convince us the literal world (or at least the empire, and America, and the political-social climate of the period, and every woman in sights life) revolves around Thomas Shelby.

Even add Campbell to that pile. He was a shit show. He was disgusting. He was mildly inept at times. But he was menacing. He had political connections. You knew he was the guy they sent out to do the work that everyone turned an eye to, and how much damage he could cause without official recompense. But in the end, it wasn’t Grand Master Tommy who got him – it was Grace, and then Polly. Hell hath no fury like women scorned, and the beauty came so much more from the fact that it wasn’t the person who he perceived as his adversary that ended up doing him in. Someone he trusted, and someone he abused, doing what needed to be done. The priest last season was menacing because of the same, and in the end, it wasn’t Tommy that brought him down, it was Michael. It meant something because it was Michael.

I don’t see how killing Luca makes sense except it as a way to make Tommy look good and have the big Arthur reveal, which was bullshit anyway. There was little pay off there.

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And Alfie. Oh, sweet love, Alfie. So, not only do they take what is pretty much the most beloved character in the fandom, even casuals love the shit out of this man, and dispatch of him like a secondary mop up, but they do it in such a shitty way.

When the spoilers came out about Alfie’s cancer I had a personal reflexive ‘well fuck off with that’ having just lost someone irl to a long and messy cancer battle, so mainly I pushed it away and thought ‘ah, that won’t get dealt with yet, they’ve done nothing about it for season upon season, it’s probably just internal backstory bullshit’. Nope.

Alfie has been chronically underused in this show, and I understand it. I think the rare glimpses we get are so powerful that it makes sense. It’s Christmas Day. It’s an island in the sea of winter, and the anticipation’s half the fun. You get presents every day, and you’re just going to turn out to be a spoiled brat. But we spend seasons adoring this guy who lives in the damn shadows, scrapping together parts of his life so that we can better understand him, only to be fed a massive plot point as an offhand spoiler and then have the entire thing resolved in what felt like 20 minutes? There was no anticipation. There were no stakes. There was no payoff. I was just…sighing, mostly.

I knew when he started talking about Margate that I was about to be emotionally ruined, but I expected at least to get a fitting end. But no. We got Alfie screwing Tommy over again in a predictable but fucking useless way. We got Tommy shooting him on a beach and walking away. And that was it.

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I think the Tommy breakdown scenes would have had a bigger impact on me two seasons ago when I still had care for his character, but I just used the time to check my messages, so it didn’t really land with me tbh. The whole last segment of this ep just flew over me.

The malignment of Jessie Eden’s character will likely get a post of its own soon. Except I am going to say here that I’m entirely sure that what Tommy is doing counts as sexual assault – see the case of the woman who had a child with someone she didn’t know was an undercover agent in her what I think was also Communist action group, and also the new laws that stop undercover people from sleeping with those they are surveying. Because you can’t give informed consent. But they’re probably not going to address that, because we have a love triangle to deal with now.

Also, Tommy abandoned a dog and tampered with an election so he’s everyone I hate now. You don’t come for the animals or the democratic process. Taking inspiration from my dear love, Alfie Solomons, what a fucking cunt.

But besides that, it was fine.