#i think the ending to their arc was very decent because it still gave them room to grow in peace

[anxiously-sidequesting]

Since we're talking about Grandfather Spider can we Girls please just take one single moment of the day to remember and think about his, "I am beyond angry with you, but I could never hate you." quote to Grandmother Raven please. Please. Please can we do that? I will become sick as fuck if someone doesn't acknowledge this with me

[karin-gespenst]

CtM s14e1 first watch immediate thoughts

well that ended better than I had feared it would. Thank you to everyone who posted about the content of the episode, that helped me go in prepared for the story of Paula. While it certainly is upsetting to see how the adults from the church were actively disturbing her instead of helping, I'm glad her parents finally saw that she needed care based on her actual situation instead of some religious belief.

The three different generations of unwed mothers in this episode show how their treatment in society has changed. Millicent had to give up her child and never met him again for decades, pretending that he never existed until his wife was at her front door. Nancy at least got to see her child growing up, and fought her way through all the obstacles that kept them apart. It may not be likely to have happened like this historically, but they are in a good place now and hopefully will have a happy future together. Paula now is going to a mother and baby home, I believe offscreen the midwives gave her some education about her body and now she will have an environment that is meant to support her in the coming time. If that home is the same one that Chummy works in, I believe there's a good chance that both Paula and the baby will be fine in the end. I was impressed how the scenes with Paula and with Colette were cut so close together that it was painfully obvious how young Paula still is. Sister Monica's words about children bearing children were raw and too true.

I'm open to the idea that Roger is a decent person and Nancy and Colette will be happy being in a family with him. It's going to fast for my taste and I blame that on the writers trying to bring Nancy's arc to a close way ahead of the series ending, because they have SO MANY characters to take care of. We haven't had a happily married couple for a while (apart from Turnadette and Fred and Violet - do they have a shipping name?) and supposedly that's what the show is about, or is it?

That religious differences situation with Nancy's future stepmother was interesting to watch, I've recently rewatched Derry Girls and there is certainly a lot of aspects that I won't understand as someone who grew up in a different time and place. I remember thinking that is ridiculous for two persons of different flavors of christian beliefs to be treated like some sort of inconceivably incompatible beings. and it's apparently still a topic today, my uncle and aunt had to get special license from the pope to get married if i recall correctly, and had two different priests at their wedding.

I liked the speaker at the raise the roof meeting, can she come and help Sister Julienne fight for Nonnatus House in the war against the Board?

Did I miss something about how Fred ended up being at the protest? Or was that meant to be a surprise for laughs?

the question of needing another cesarean once you've had one is still a topic today for good reason. All the women in my family who had one with their first baby also needed one for their second, or third. Phyllis being traumatised by the mother who died painfully while she tried to save her is very moving, and I'm glad that Rosalind was able to step in and help. That was a very good job she did there. I can also see how she is struggling with the hard aspects of nursing work, and the intersection with social work. You can be professional and do your best and come up with ideas, but there will always be another suffering person or pain you can't prevent. It's what made me quit social work ten years ago and I still think of the people I tried to help but couldn't because I'm just one person and can't cure everything.

So, Cyril and Rosalind. I understand the compelling elements of the story they have. We haven't had a long term story about an interracial couple yet and I get why they don't want to introduce someone new. With Joyce just going through divorce she's not the best candidate for such a story. Wait - maybe that would be interesting, since Cyril is also in this weird place of being separated and probably working towards divorce in the future. Lucille may have learned about herself that she does not want to be married anymore and prefers staying alone, or taking holy orders or something else. mutual agreement on ending their marriage would be something I can get behind. As I've seen it she never was very keen on finding a husband before Cyril proposed, so I understand if she doesn't want one anymore, especially not in a different country.

the next episode is going to hit hard as well, I guess. while rewatching I notice very much how the show has changed in pacing and how the episodes are more crowded and the ratio of fluff to grit is not always on point. still I'm happy that the show goes on and we meet more patients of the week with their predicaments that still relate to our lives today.

[snowyh2o]

Dumb late night Hazbin ideas:

Ok, so hear me out. What if, Alastor gets a redemption arc? But it happens so slowly and unnoticed that by the end of the series you just turn around and find out that he’s already been redeemed and no one has any clue how it happened.

Alternatively, AU where the hotel’s very presence forces redemption on everyone who stays there whether they want to or not and one day Alastor wakes up and wonders if he should let Vox broadcast his shows uninterrupted that day before promptly glitching out in absolute horror at the thought. And then absolutely going out of his way to decimate one of Vox’s broadcasts just to prove to himself that he’s still just as much of an evil bastard as he always is.

Cue multiple scenarios where Alastor is trying really fucking hard to be eeeeevil and then somehow utterly failing. Watching as he’s slowly forced into being a good person against his will, and knowing there’s nothing he can do to stop it. Oh he’s still just as petty and sassy and sinister as ever, but whatever edge he had ends up lost in the thought of perhaps he should do something special for Charlie and the other residents for their first month of the hotel opening and—GODS BE DAMNED!

No one else notices it, partly because he’s always toned down the Clearly Scheming Aura when he’s around them, but also because he’ll be damned if anyone of them catches on. Husk sees through his bullshit, but ends up with the wrong conclusion and Alastor is happy to let him think whatever about leashes and deals as long as he keeps his mouth shut, buuuuut maybe he’d been a bit too harsh on the barkeep. He should make up for it with some higher quality booze and— really, it’d be nice to have something that’s more to his taste than the stuff that’s usually kept around.

Of course, Alastor’s not the only demon being forced into becoming a good person, he’s just the only one who’s noticed it. Charlie, who is 99% of the time a good person, is absolutely convinced that the better than usual behavior of the residents is a result of her efforts in the hotel. Vaggie’s also already a decent person for the most part, and after that conversation with Husk, Angel’s improved by leaps and bounds. Nifty doesn’t notice anything’s off at all, and Husk just thinks his better mood and temperament in general is because the quality of his liquor’s gone up and the company really ain’t all that bad. Sir Pentious also hasn’t noticed anything, but agrees with Charlie that her efforts have been working.

And then the hotel gets attacked and Alastor discovers this wonderful loophole in whatever spell’s got him entrapped and absolutely decimates the attackers. He’s so gleeful about his discovery and the absolute beat down he gave out without feeling the need to pull his punches that he ends up cooking everyone dinner. Everyone else is understandably very weirded out by this. Alastor couldn’t care less.

Charlie: uh, Alastor? Are you feeling alright there?

Alastor: why Charlie, I’m doing absolutely wonderful! Thank you for asking.

Charlie: oh, that’s uh, that’s great to hear!

Charlie: …

Charlie: so do you mind telling me why you’ve decided to make dinner…?

Alastor: mmmm. Just in the mood for it, I suppose. It’s been a while since I’ve cooked for others, and I’m feeling rather— creative right now!

Alastor: tell me, should I include a portion of today’s unlucky patron into the stew? It’s a bit stringy, but the stew should soften it right up!

Charlie: oh uhm. How about we don’t include any demon parts into the food?

Alastor: *raises eyebrow*

Charlie: I mean, we don’t know where it’s been! He could have had all sorts of diseases inside him. It’d uh, ruin the food if we added…. Bad meat? *nervous smile*

Alastor: mmmmm, fair enough.

[destinygoldenstar]

AnalyzGolden Ranks Every Disventure Camp Season 2 Character

I'm ranking every Season 2 character in Disventure Camp.

I've actually been hyped to do this one, believe it or not.

Even though I think I prefer the Season 1 Cast, the Season 2 Cast actually has a lot going for them. There's quite a few interesting contenders here.

This show is actually pretty decent at handling its characters and getting you a good taste of who they are and why they're here.

I don't want to sell Total Drama short, because obviously that's iconic, and its characters are iconic, but all that show needed to do was make its characters funny with their gimmicks and only a handful were dynamic and/or complex.

Here it's more focused on the arc and their situations instead of their comedy. I can see that being a double edge sword to some, because if characters aren't being funny you just get a ton of angst instead and then the show itself becomes less fun to watch...?

Like, I can see that.

But idk, I might have a kink for angst, so it doesn't bother me.

Keep in mind this entire ranking is just MY opinion based on how I viewed things. So... HOT TAKE ALERT(?????)

Idk, maybe I'm basic and all my faves are the fan faves. Idk.

There's no such thing as taking a tier list objectively.

This order ISN'T based off of elimination order. Because I have A LOT more to say about the Post Merge characters than the Pre Merge characters. So I wanted to space it out. So it's random.

So let's get into it!

Who are we starting with...?

CONNOR

?

...I mean, I did say this was random. But it still feels weird to start with this one.

Whatever. We're starting with the old man.

I think the biggest reaction I had towards Connor was his elimination.

"I'll leave voluntarily."

...

Why...? Why would you do that?

You could've all worked together to get Yul out.

I'm not mad. Just disappointed.

Oh who am I kidding? I'm pissed off.

And I hated it.

That episode was a double elimination. Which, yeah, I guess that needed to happen, but the way he just quit like that really gave me NO respect. And it told me that this was just a filler character and they had no plans for him.

YES I KNOW HE DID IT FOR RIYA'S SAFETY. I KNOW HE DIDN'T CARE ABOUT THE MILLION. I DON'T CARE. THEY COULD'VE WORKED WITH THE POLYCULE TO GET YUL OUT.

Outside of THAT, however, there really isn't a lot to say about Connor. His screen time is so minimal that if he wasn't associated with Riya, nobody would see him as a memorable character.

He just didn't really do anything aside from be Riya's friend, and give Oliver a job offer, which went nowhere cause he got back with Krystal in the same scene.

You only care about Connor because Riya cares about Connor.

I can't really say there's anything to HATE about him though.

He's a nice guy with very good intentions. He just wants to hang out with the kids and feel young again, and not come to terms of his age and his new role in life. That's wholesome and sweet. And I'm sure that relates to plenty of Gen X people.

But I'm not Gen X, so...

Idk, I think the biggest disappointment is how minimal his arc was and how minimal he was utilized. I like the idea of an older figure trying to fit in with the younger generation. But they don't really do anything with it.

I think there was, like, TWO SCENES in the FIRST episode and nowhere else, where Connor tried to bond with a Millennial character but didn't understand the gen's lifestyle.

Two scenes that also didn't go anywhere, cause this is the only time he ever interacts with those characters.

And then two conversations with Riya later, and he's cool with being a mentor now and he's come to terms with his age.

Two talks with one person does not equal a fully fleshed out satisfying character arc, bucko.

Idk, I think if Connor had more screen time, he would've worked for me better. But as is, he's just there as a support character.

I will say I do like his friendship with Riya though, even if that's all he ended up being here for. It was nice seeing Riya bonding with someone in a similar culture shock situation as her. And his perfume gift for her and his goodbye to her was genuinely really wholesome.

Again, you care about him because Riya cares about him, and he's basically all Riya has left now because everyone else hates her.

I saw a comment on my reactions about a ship name. Uh... I don't ship these two. I don't really like it because of the age gap. (29/50) I like them much better as friends.

I'll give him a C Tier.

Yes I'm putting these on my Season 1 Tier list as well. We're combining the two.

And the one I'm using has the All Stars variations. So I'll use those for All Stars too.

AIDEN

Okay, so I spoiled this one in a post already, so I'm just gonna start with the ranking.

I think Aiden is a solid B tier character.

I just realized EVERYONE whose name starts with A is in the B tier. Uh... wow. That's ironic.

I actually LOVE Aiden's character... CONCEPTUALLY.

A trans boy who altered his appearance to appeal to the show and get casted, and due to these things, isn't very confident in his identity.

THAT IS GREAT AND THAT MAKES ME ROOT FOR HIM.

I LOVE that Aiden is trans. 🏳️‍⚧️

Trans rep is so rare as is, so any trans rep that isn't a gross stereotype is a win in my book.

The scene where he comes out as trans is also very well done and very sweet. I liked it.

I also LOVE his character design.

The half and half black and white hair is very visually striking, and the addition of the black and white stripes on his sleeves adds to compliment it so your attention is on the top half of his body. And the red shirt is such a strong center piece. It also tells you about his character as someone who went hard and out there in the appearance department to appeal to others.

AMAZING character design. Really.

Aiden himself is also very likeable and sympathetic. I felt for him when he got used by James and I wanted to see him come to his own. He's also flawed, like, he has some anger issues and a grudge problem, but it's in a way that's endearing and never really annoyed me.

I feel like he and Jake would be great friends.

And most of this shines from me due to the voice acting.

The voice acting in this season... really is not that good. I don't think anyone is arguing in its favor aside from "It's an indie show, cut them some slack." And they do get better as the series goes on.

Aiden's VA is the one exception. From beginning to end, this guy is AMAZING voicing the character and making you invested in him and what he's feeling.

...and unfortunately that's where the positives end.

Yeah, as much as I like Aiden, I feel like more than any of these other B tiers, he is WASTED POTENTIAL.

And you KNOW I mean that, BECAUSE HE IS A FINALIST.

As much as I like his concept, they don't really DO anything with it.

That scene where he comes out as trans? That's in Episode ELEVEN.

...OF THIRTEEN.

There was ONE hint outside of that which alluded to him being trans prior to that.

In Episode 4, it's a confession challenge where they have to confess to harsh truths about themselves. Krystal asks which one of them had sex reassignment surgery, and nobody answers that question.

This question does not get brought up again until Aiden comes out and confirms that question was talking about him. Again, in Episode ELEVEN OF THIRTEEN.

At that point, the trans rep kinda just feels like lip service. They did the bare minimum to get this trans rep in.

Now, I'm not saying a character's queer identity should be the only thing about their character that matters. No. Not at all.

What I'm saying is that I wanted this to matter to Aiden's story more than it appears it does. Because of what his character is.

Using subtext, it's heavily implied that Aiden's lack of faith in his abilities comes from his trans identity and the fact that nobody found him interesting, attractive, or appealing. Especially not the show. So he altered himself to appeal to what other people wanted. (His appearance, I mean, not his sex.)

But he never talks about it outside of Episode 4 and that coming out scene. I would've personally have had the coming out scene two or three episodes earlier. Because at least then you could have a lot more healthy interactions with James.

Speaking of, because of that coming out scene being associated with James, as sweet as that scene is still, and the fact that the subject is minimal as is, tells me that Aiden's individual struggles and growth IS NOT what matters to the story.

Whether or not he'll smooch James is what matters.

Yeah... these two didn't work for me. I'm sorry.

You know why I found Aiden sympathetic? Because he had to be stuck with THIS MOTHERFUCKER the entire time.

I'll get to James later, but for now I'll just address the relationship.

I will say, they're not AS BAD as I made them out to be in my reactions. James DOES get better and DOES become a better person. And the scene where they make up is very well done. They have SOME good and sweet interactions. Even if I can count them all on my hand.

So I GET IT. I UNDERSTAND why you'd ship them. Because ON PAPER, this is a GREAT 'they hate each other until they love each other and grow from each other' story. It's just the execution that rubbed me off the wrong way.

Especially at the start of the show, James has some pretty predatory behavior towards Aiden and exploits him for internet views. (Like seriously was that supposed to be a plot twist? I figured out that was what he was doing from the first episode.) He does a lot of stuff that Aiden is uncomfortable with, lies to him to get him to do what he wants, and influences Aiden to do some very impulsive messed up things.

Combine that with James' hostility towards other people, and you have the bad outweighing the good in my head.

Which is a problem, because the finale has them as your HEROES, and them getting together is the happy ending. It's a problem if I am therefore routing AGAINST their relationship prior to that finale.

Again, James DOES get better, so it's NOT AS BAD AS IT COULD HAVE BEEN.

SIERRA AND CODY ARE TEN TIMES WORSE. And if you asked me to pick James/Aiden or Sierra/Cody, I would take James/Aiden in a heartbeat.

I just personally found the beginning behavior James had towards Aiden, lusting over this clearly uncomfortable and introverted trans boy, and exploiting him for Internet fame, very GROSS.

I UNDERSTAND THAT'S THE POINT. But, idk, I would've just preferred them mutually not liking each other at first and then growing to like each other and then becoming lovers. You didn't need this predatory stuff. Just have Riya be lying about James' exploits, idk.

I also found Episode 9 kinda gross for Aiden. (Though I feel like I should rewatch that Episode just because of my condition when I watched it.)

Karol returns and wants revenge on James and Aiden. James warns Aiden with proof to back up his claim. And what does Aiden do?

He puts a trap on Karol's sled to stop her from winning the race.

This causes Karol to crash her sled and end up in the hospital due to a broken leg.

And Aiden not only proceeds to continue to yell at Karol, AS SHE IS HURT ON THE GROUND, but James also PRAISES Aiden's actions as something to be proud of.

I'M SORRY, WHAT PART OF SENDING SOMEONE TO THE HOSPITAL IS THERE TO BE PROUD OF?

Yes I get Karol was gunning for you. STILL. What was wrong with just voting her out? You had the numbers!

Yes I know Aiden said he 'didn't mean to hurt Karol' when he did that. But, I'm sorry, you're sledding down a mountain without safety equipment. WHY DID YOU THINK THAT WOULDN'T HURT HER?

James ALSO does this. He does this towards Yul. (Even though I loved that one.)

So these two got not one, but TWO PEOPLE SENT TO THE HOSPITAL. AND THEY GET NO CONSEQUENCES.

Listen, murder is wrong, battery is wrong. Riya tries to kill Aiden. Karol kills everyone. But you know why I didn't take much problem with that? THESE CHARACTERS ARE VILLAINS.

BUT SURE, LET'S HAVE OUR HEROIC POWER COUPLE DO THE SAME THINGS, INSTANCES THAT ACTUALLY GET MEDICAL CONSEQUENCES FOR THOSE PEOPLE.

WHAT A GREAT LESSON. /s

This is part of Aiden's 'gaining confidence' arc by the way. He learns that murder is okay.

I guess murder and battery is bad only if you're a woman? It's okay if the boys do it?

WHAT A GREAT LESSON. /s

THAT'S NOT PROBLEMATIC AT ALL. /s

And that all leads to my biggest gripe with Aiden.

He is James' love interest. And that's the only thing that matters.

He has a relationship with TWO characters. Lake, and ESPECIALLY James.

His friendship with Lake is supposedly this tight bond, and I like it on paper, but it's so underbaked to give me that impression.

I think there was like, THREE SCENES TOTAL where these two talk. And only ONE of those scenes was them learning about each other.

Those other two scenes? It's a conversation about JAMES.

Idk, even if I count those two scenes, THREE TALKS DOES NOT EQUAL A STRONG FRIENDSHIP IN MY BOOK.

Aside from THAT, Aiden ONLY interacts with James. Any time he is NOT directly interacting with James, any other character he talks to is either a conversation about James and his feelings towards James, or meant to serve James in some way.

Again, there is ONE conversation with Lake where that's not the case. But that's it.

IT'S ALL ABOUT HOW HE FEELS ABOUT JAMES. THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERS. THAT'S ALL YOU'RE TELLING ME.

I don't like it when a character is meant to be a love interest and that's all they serve to do.

Say what you will about Jake and Tom. They're messy and I don't deny that. BUT they are also strong characters on their own and can function on their own. AND they have relationships with characters that aren't each other. Tom is friends with Gabby. Jake WAS friends with Ellie. Tom and Jake both care for Miriam. Jake especially cares about Miriam. I got WAY MORE out of Jake and Miriam's bond than I did with Aiden and Lake's.

It also HURTS when in the finale, that's all Aiden serves to be in the end. To smooch James and help James win.

Aiden doesn't feel confident in himself to beat Riya, so he decides James should go do it instead. Meaning his so called arc about confidence meant nothing.

He doesn't even get to glide down the mountain. Like, I don't expect him to completely get over his fear of heights. But I felt like he could've sucked it up then and there at least.

Personally, I would've had James help Aiden win. I would've swapped the roles. Because then that not only showcased Aiden coming to his own to believe in himself and have that pay off, but it also sends a message and sacrifice for James that fame doesn't matter to him anymore. Then the 'money can't buy love' message to oppose Riya with HITS HARDER.

They can still share the money in the end. And with Rosa.

BUT NO. AIDEN NEEDS TO SERVE JAMES. HE CAN'T DO ANYTHING ON HIS OWN.

Sounds reasonable, right?

Well no. Not according to some of you.

I actually LOVE that you made this reply. I love seeing people disagree with me. It's fun. And you were respectful about it. Good for you!

(ANYONE can do this whenever you disagree with me btw. If you're respectful about it like this person is, then go right ahead and voice your take!)

All I will say is that I read it, and I SEE where you're coming from. But respectfully, I don't agree with it. For all the reasons I just said.

Like, no offense, but anyone could've told Lake to hit the canon to help James win, and the same results would've happened. That's not a very revolutionary Aiden action.

If you like this ship though, more power to you. Just because I don't like it doesn't mean it's a bad ship and it doesn't mean you shouldn't like it. James/Aiden shippers are really cool in my book!

I'll just be in my little corner holding Tom and Jake close. Even if I am the only one.

So yeah, I like Aiden, but I wish he was handled differently and I cared about his bond with James a lot more.

I hope he's in Season 3 and not on the same team as James. Then he can interact with other characters AND he can come to his own. I would like that!

MAGGY

Uuuuuuuuuhhhhh…. What’s there to say about her?

I actually don’t remember ANYTHING about her.

She is THAT much of a nothing character.

She’s shy.

She’s bullied for being a big girl.

She doesn’t have any arc or any development or any depth to her situation besides that.

And she loses to her bully.

She also does nothing in the episode she’s eliminated in.

I mean she punches Yul in the face. So just for that, I can’t say I dislike her.

She also is with Kai. But idk, that relationship is just “They crush, they hook.” End of story. No middle.

And then they run away in the woods to be freaky. Or whatever.

Sure. Whatever makes you happy.

C Tier. Nothing to say.

Unfortunately bottom of C tier because at least the rest of these guys contribute something to the plot.

Maggy contributes NOTHING.

But she punched Yul in the face and gave him a black eye. So I can’t hate her.

LAKE

When I was reacting to Season Two, I kept getting messages gushing about how good Lake is.

You all seem to really love this one.

Well… after watching Season Two for myself… I gotta say…

YEP. SHES AWESOME.

I am very much on your side with this one!

Like, this is easily the character with the most concrete dynamic character arc. Especially the one where it's the most solidly handled.

Like, I may LIKE a certain someone more, but I have to admit they kinda take a backseat in the middle of the sesaon.

Lake however? Every episode she's in, there's something that's progressing her story. As such, she stands out pretty quickly.

She was kind of a screen hog ngl XD

But I like her character, so it's okay.

Lake is a sweet teenage girl who is a major perfectionist. She is always studying, even during the summer ON REALITY TV, and she has an alarmingly strict diet.

But it's clear early on that one of this is from Lake's own free will. Her family is a bunch of control freaks who want her to be this prim and proper perfect person.

They set up several tutors for her to make essays and study, to the point where she has little to no free time for herself. They're homophobic. They forced a ton of eating disorders upon her. They even set up an ARRANGED MARRIAGE.

IN THE PRESENT DAY. AN ARRANGED MARRIAGE.

Yeah, no shock it's fucked up.

It was such a fucked up way to live that Lake straight up lost her natural hair. She wears wigs. And her parents chose what wig she would wear.

You'd think your child going bald from stress would set some alarm bells that you're a bad parent and you should lay off, but apparently not.

It's also clear from a handful of lines and from some facial expressions that Lake resents this lifestyle, but she really doesn't say anything or do anything about it because, well, she's a kid. She's been brainwashed to believe this was the best path for her when it's not.

I love her fight with Rosa in Episode 4 when Rosa calls out Lake's parents behavior of her. I love how Lake doesn't immediately pull her face turn to go against her parents and comes to their defense. She even says "Fuck this show, who cares?" At one point which was fun to hear from her.

Well, she doesn't say fuck. She's a good girl. But you know what I mean.

Lake should be allowed to swear.

Anyway, point is, I like how she doesn't immediately learn the lesson from the first time someone calls it out. She needs to figure that out for herself.

In a way, Episode 5's boring as all hell and needlessly hellish challenge was kinda smart. Especially if you consider what we've been told about Lake's homelife thus far, it does feel like a bit like it would send some flashbacks.

And let me tell you, I'VE BEEN THERE. I'VE BEEN THERE SO ANY TIMES.

I had a pretty horrible school life growing up. There was a lot of rules and pressure that didn't even need to be there, and kids and adults alike really got a kick out of it. And there were several times where I started crying from being unable to take it anymore.

So seeing Lake break down here and tell Krystal off was so heartbreaking but also so satisfying because it's Krystal.

And I like how despite expressing that hatred towards Krystal prior, she still takes the time to empathize with her and bond with her over their messed up families.

Lake isn't a bad apple. She's a genuinely good kid.

And her empathy here is rewarded by Krystal letting her stay and carve her own path.

And she does.

But you know what I love? Is that even though this is a 'good girl rebelling against her good girl status', it DOESN'T mean she becomes a more brash and defiant person. *Cough* COURTNEY.

She's still a very decent and nice person. She's just more independent.

I also like how she became an author. That's wonderful for her.

I also love her friendship with Rosa throughout the show. Like, I buy that she's besties with Rosa a lot more than I believe it with Aiden, I'm sorry. I loved watching them bond over Rosa's astronomy interest and writing and little things like that. I love seeing their friendship get challenged and resolved due to Lake's familial pressure. It also shows that Rosa CAN'T help everyone and they need to figure some things out themselves.

This is a really strong bond these two have, and it's very sweet to see unfold.

I wasn't sure how I'd feel about Lake having wigs. But I ended up really liking it.

I love the contrast from her straight proper and neat blonde hair at the start of the series, and then when she rebels, she switches to a more vibrant loud crimson red bob cut that of a punk.

The change actually says something about her character, and I really like that.

Do I think she should have won the season?

Uh... not really...?

Like, I love her, but I am perfectly okay with her not being a winner pick or even a finalist pick. Lake did not need to be a finalist for her story to hit. It doesn't matter to her if she won the money or not. What she wanted was her freedom. A chance to be herself. THAT'S her victory right there.

MONEY IS NOT THE ONLY VICTORY.

So girl WON.

I was just upset with the episode she was eliminated in, because SHE SHOULD HAVE WON THAT CHALLENGE. SHE WAS THE LAST ONE STANDING. IT WAS NOT FAIR.

Now that I'm thinking about it and talking about her, I'm putting her at the very top of S tier ahead of the other Season 1 characters on that tier.

CAUSE DAMN. THIS GIRL WAS AWESOME.

I can TOTALLY see what the hype with her was all about.

LIVE LAUGH LOVE LAKE INDEED!

KAI

I'm not gonna lie, this guy creeps me out.

"I find it calming to share a space with someone who emits such good energy. I can almost feel it in the air."

Okay you're a creep...

~~~

"I observed your good intentions with others, even though your vibrations feel somewhat turbulent."

I can't with this guy's voice and creepy implications, help.

"The universe said you should know."

"You should knooooooooowwwww. It will haunt you for the rest of your days, oooooooooooooooo."

Dude, you're a creep.

~~~

"I felt some pretty erratic vibes coming from you."

Erratic?!

I don't think you'd want to say that to someone. Maybe that's just me.

~~~

"No man, I don't do drugs... too much..."

WHAT THE HELL?!

THE FACT THAT YOU DO DRUGS AT ALL.

SO YEAH.

This guy comes in, he's getting up in people's businesses and making them feel exposed, AND HE SUPPOSEDLY DOES DRUGS.

WHO THE HELL IS THIS GUY?!

Like, this is by far the most 'WTF' character of this entire cast.

Just... WTF?!

And it doesn't even stop when he gets eliminated because then he goes to LIVE IN THE WOODS WITH A GIRL.

WTF?!

This man just creeps me out, and I cannot for the like of me take him seriously.

I'm also a bit disappointed that this plotline went nowhere.

Like, when they were showing where Kai and Maggy were after they were eliminated, I was expecting them to play a role in the finale, like using their zen powers to aid in the finale...

...but no.

Oh, I'm sorry, they DID, but they 'made Aiden happy'.

Cool... James totally wouldn't have apologized without you guys....

...yeah I'm saying that doesn't count.

This guy just creeps me out and I can't for the like of me take him seriously.

He also has THE WORST voice of the entire cast.

Like, I don't want to be too mean to the voice acting of this season. I get it. And they do get better as the show goes on. Especially the mic quality, cause in the first episode? GOOD LORD...

But Kai? He's just straight up hard to listen to. There's little to no emotion in anything he says, he has this very raspy voice so it's hard to understand what he's saying if you don't have subtitles on, the mic is especially bad with him, and the sleezy tone just makes some of his dialogue a whole lot creepier.

Every time this man speaks, my immersion of the scene gets dropped HARD.

Again, no hate to the VA. I get it.

What else...?

Oh yeah. There's one more thing.

This man DID do one AMAZING thing that now lives in my head rent free, and that I thank him for dearly.

And that is him, of course, READING YUL FOR FILTH.

"YES! YES I DO YOU MISERABLE PIECE OF SHIT!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH

GET HIM

"If you were a real man, you would realize how beautiful Maggy is! Her soul is so pure and her heart is so big that it would imitate the sun on a rainy day! But of course an idiot son of a bitchfucker could never notice it!"

😂👏

YEEEEEEESSS

"I'm sure you don't have any friends and your parents only sent you here to keep you entertained and get away from you for awhile! Sure now that you're not there, they're finally happy and I don't blame them! After all, all their son is, is just a piece of shit asshole motherfucker!"

YEEEEEESSSS

😂👏

GET. HIS. ASS.

GET HIS ASS DUDE.

READ THIS MAN FOR FILTH.

Like... DUDE. I RESPECT THE HELL OUT OF YOU FOR THAT.

You are C Tier, but you are an upper C Tier, which is a higher spot than you would have been otherwise.

Like... yeah this is in order. Better than Maggy? Yeah, because I feel something with him.

Better than Jensen? Yeah. Better than Derek? Yeah. Better than Will? Yeah. Better than Drew? Yeah.

I don't think he's better than Connor just because of Connor's friendship with Riya being so much more important to the story than whatever the hell Kai was doing.

Ninjago Kai is a much better character, but props to DC Kai for bringing justice where it belongs for that one scene.

ALLYSON

Btw, I know everyone calls her Ally in the show.

I call her Allyson personally, which is her full first name.

The reason why is a peeve I have with two characters in the same media having names that sound way too similar to each other.

And since these two casts do merge at one point, THIS DOES COUNT. Her name is way too close to Ellie, and I don't like that.

Same reason why I nicknamed Lill Lilly.

SO I AM CALLING HER ALLYSON, AND NO I AM NOT GOING TO HEAR CRITICISM ON THAT.

Anyway, now we can actually talk about Allyson.

Uh... she's there? I guess? I mean obviously she's there, she's a merge character.

I would say I like her though. She's really cute. I like her conceptually and that she's a gamer girl.

It's something I feel like the TDI Reboot WOULD do if they did do it.

The fact that she bonds with people through playing video games is really cute and solid characterization on what kind of person she is.

I like her off the wall way of solving problems.

She dances to stay awake. She makes a snowboard instead of a sled.

She's an outside the box thinker and she don't care what anyone thinks about her. It's really nice to have a character so sure of themselves like this.

I also really enjoy her bond with Tess. She starts off hesitant of the girl because of her crush on Hunter, but then grows to really care for Tess and help her out.

I think Allyson and Tess have better chemistry with each other than they do with Hunter, but that's just me.

(Tess/Allyson shipper?)

But I don't hate the choice to make it a polyamory instead. In fact I love the idea of a polyamory situation. You don't really see that rep anywhere.

So I DO like Allyson.

But... idk, she's kinda hard to talk about.

This is mostly because she's one of the more subtle and mundane characters compared to others. That's NOT a bad thing. But I grasp onto characters with a more emotional range a lot better.

Like, they really could have went all the way with her gamer girl concept and made her really geeky if they wanted.

But I can also kinda understand why they wouldn't want to do that, because then she would probably sound like a Gen Alpha brainrot YouTuber. And that would turn people off. So if that's the case, I would prefer her to be more normal.

That, and she also has the same issue Aiden has, and that her purpose in the story is to be a love interest for Hunter.

It's not as bad as Aiden's case, because again, she DOES have interactions with other characters that aren't Hunter. Tess especially. But Aiden is also a character with more emotional range, so that's why Allyson is lower than him despite that.

Allyson and Hunter are actually really cute. They're a nice pair and they have some cute chemistry.

And again, I really like how this love triangle ENDS, with it becoming a polyamory.

I was fully expecting this to end with Hunter choosing one of them. Expecting him to choose Allyson cause she was the one more open towards her feelings...? I guess...? That's what a lot of love triangle stories do.

UNLESS THEY'RE A HELLHOLE- *COUGH*

But NO. POLYAMORY REP. I LOVE IT.

But before that, it gets a bit dragged with the girls just waiting for Hunter to come clean about what he's feeling. And Allyson gets a bit paranoid in some parts, which would be annoying if it was exaggerated to be fair.

What I found awkward is that in Episode 9, where Allyson is eliminated, Hunter kisses her, and despite her admitting to wanting him romantically, she rejects the gesture and leaves him in the dust.

Like huh...? Girl, you wanted him this entire time. And when you get him you reject him?

I mean, I guess he DID say wait till the game was over, and she didn't want to hurt or betray Tess, so okay...

Another thing I found kinda off was her random tragic backstory she drops in Episode 7.

Her grandfather taught her everything she knows about gaming, and then he passed away three months ago prior to the show. She came to the show to escape that grief.

Cool...?

She and Jake would be besties.

But like, it came COMPLETELY OUT OF NOWHERE. There was NO sign she was grieving anyone's death. And she NEVER mentions or even HINTS at this before OR after this.

It just feels so random and so tacked on.

If the tragic backstory isn't going to affect the character in any way? Why even give them a tragic backstory, you know?

At least Jake's story about his grandma MATTERED to his character. We saw his grief with her. He told the audience a bit about his time with her and what she meant to him. It was a major playing factor in him bonding with Miriam. Which was VERY IMPORTANT for both of those characters.

It wasn't just a tacked on backstory for sympathy points, it played a key factor in the story's events.

With Allyson, it's just... there. Remove it, and nothing changes. We don't get any insight on her from this. It doesn't affect her relationship with Hunter or Tess at all.

I'd give Allyson a low B tier. Unfortunately kinda bordering C.

She's cute. I like her.

I would want to see her again, but just cause I think they could do more with her than what they did.

Flesh out that backstory more. Show off her gamer personality. Show off how that aids the people around her.

Do that, and she can go a lot higher.

KAROL

Oh boy, this one...

So, she's an Eva rip off.

She has anger issues. She gets eliminated in the sleep deprivation challenge. She comes back. And she gets eliminated the very next time she is able to be so.

So yeah, Eva rip off.

I rarely say that because this show is really good at making their own original characters. And similarities are really minimal so it's not very blatant.

Like, are you gonna say Gwen and Tess are the same character because they both wear all black? Come on now.

With Karol though? It's just really obvious.

I thought they were doing something with her in Episode 2 when they revealed she's an animal caretaker and she has a hard time bonding with people because of it. Which is a lot more than what Eva got already.

But then she gets used by James to be an elimination, and she spends the rest of her screen time bitching about James and Aiden.

Does James deserve it? Yes.

But she directs most of it towards AIDEN. Who let's be frank, was ALSO used.

It kinda gets a bit annoying. The only reason I wasn't totally against her was because again, JAMES deserves consequences.

She plays the serial killer and murders everybody to return to the game. Her first priority is to target James and Aiden out of revenge.

Cool! We have an antagonist!

But then she crashes her sled because of Aiden and she has to be medically evacuated. Before she could do anything.

...what was the point of bringing her back...?

I mean, okay, she DOES have a reason to come back. She's a player in Riya's character development and the advice she gives to her is very important to that storyline.

But, idk, SHE COULD'VE DONE SOMETHING ELSE.

So... yeah I don't think she was a good character. She's not horrible. The animal thing is pretty sweet. She's just kinda unpleasant.

OH SHIT... JAMES

James James James James James.

I mean, WHERE THE FUCK DO I EVEN BEGIN?!

THIS IS THE BEST CHARACTER, OBVIOUSLY.

DID YOU SEE WHAT HE DID TO YUL?

MAD RESPECT. MAD RESPECT.

DUDE JUST WENT OUT OF HIS WAY TO POISON THAT BITCH TO GET HIM OUT OF MY SIGHT.

LOVE. NOTHING BUT LOVE.

Okay, now I rank him for real.

I went on a roller coaster of emotions regarding this character.

1-4, I didn't like him.

Episode 5, LOVED HIM CAUSE OF WHAT HE DID.

Episode 6-8, he was okay.

Then 9 onward I went right back to not liking him.

Some of you might then say it's very obvious where I'm placing him.

I didn't like that he won. I prefer Miriam's win. I would've preferred it if Aiden won. Or Rosa won. Or Riya won.

I don't like characters that have predatory behavior. I hate Sierra for this exact reason. The only time I don't mind it is if the character is a villain. But James isn't a villain. He ends up being our hero in the end.

So no sir, I don't like that he won a million bucks.

And I already expressed my distaste for James/Aiden's relationship.

So there. Low tier ranking. Right?

Well...

Actually, it's not that simple.

Out of everyone, this is the most "Where the hell do I rank this one?"

I do confess: I may have been too mean to this character.

Because everything I don't like about James is... kinda the point.

He's an unlikable hero. A jerk protagonist. He's supposed to start off the season sleezy and arrogant and dislikable. But as the season goes on, through trial and error and the power of love, he becomes humbled and develops into a much better person by the end. To the point where you DO root for him.

That IS his story. And I understand that now that I have watched the whole thing and processed it.

And upon reflection, you CAN see that arc very clearly.

The reason he poisons Yul is because he was targeting Aiden. Even if he doesn't want to admit then and there that was why he did it.

When he loses wifi in Episode 6 he becomes erratic, but by the end of the episode when he gets it back, he doesn't use it and instead spends time with Aiden.

Aiden asked him to confront him about schemes, and he actually obliges.

And of course, his apology in the finale.

THE ARC IS THERE. I SEE IT. I ABSOLUTELY SEE IT.

And honestly, I do RESPECT the arc and what James is supposed to be. IT'S A GOOD ARC. And they do show it in a pretty decent way.

It's just... idk, subjectively speaking, it's the execution that gets me.

He just does too much stuff that rubs ME off the wrong way, and thus it's hard for me to root for him at the end.

One, again, PREDATORY BEHAVIOR.

From the beginning, this man has his eyes set on Aiden and exploits him for Internet Fame. Even though he constantly says no. He keeps getting up in Aiden's business without his consent. And he keeps making lustful eyes at him.

Then he uses Aiden for a scheme to get rid of Karol. Something he DID NOT CONSENT TO. Aiden gets pissed and votes James in that Tribal Council.

But according to the show, Aiden is the one in the wrong because Aiden had a temper problem.

NO, AIDEN HAD EVERY RIGHT TO BE MAD.

I mean I GUESS James apologized. EXCEPT NOT REALLY...?

"No I'm just saying that to... apologize."

Oh?

"I don't regret having strategized in the game, but..."

Oh, no, he's not apologizing for shit. He's just making a scene.

That just told me that he had NO remorse for what he did to Karol.

And also, his apology there was about 'not including Aiden in his schemes'. One, he did, in Episode 2. Second, if he's talking about honesty here, WHAT IF AIDEN DOESN'T WANT TO SCHEME?

If Aiden ever said "NO. I don't want to do this." James is still gonna do it.

That's what that was telling me.

And then he straight up S/A's Aiden.

WHICH IS A BIG NO NO FOR ME.

And then he poisons Yul. Which, I LOVE THAT CAUSE THAT WAS YUL.

But IGNORING MY OPINION ON THE PERSON WHO GOT POISONED FOR A SECOND, it's pretty fucked of him to do.

You could've just, idk, swapped out the mushroom for breadcrumbs? Yul was going to be eliminated anyway. You didn't need to poison him to get him out of the picture.

What if Yul DIED from this? YOUR ASS WOULD BE IN JAIL.

Hell, your ass should be in jail for poisoning him ALONE.

But I guess it's fine because James gets no consequences for doing this.

Then he also sleeps with Aiden before he got consent to do that. And Aiden never really said in that scene it was fine. But compared to the others so far it's the least bad.

What does bother me is that we see that he posted a photo of Aiden in his sleep on the Internet later in the season. Which is messed up cause again, NO CONSENT. AIDEN NEVER SAID THAT WAS OKAY.

And then Karol comes back and she wants revenge on James and Aiden. And even though James DID ABSOLUTELY HURT HER, he is still portrayed in the episode as the good guy who did nothing wrong. And Karol is just 'overreacting.'

Which, SHE IS. I will give it that. BUT STILL. JAMES HURT HER IN THE FIRST PLACE. But NOT ONCE, does he EVER show remorse for that.

Instead when he tells Aiden and Aiden sabotages Karol and gets her hospitalized, JAMES PRAISES THIS.

DUDE. SHE'S IN THE HOSPITAL NOW. THIS ISN'T SOMETHING TO ENCOURAGE.

This man is responsible for not one, but TWO characters getting sent to the hospital!

Repeat what I said earlier:

Listen, murder is wrong, battery is wrong. Riya tries to kill Aiden. Karol kills everyone. But you know why I didn't take much problem with that? THESE CHARACTERS ARE VILLAINS.

BUT SURE, LET'S HAVE OUR HEROIC POWER COUPLE DO THE SAME THINGS, INSTANCES THAT ACTUALLY GET MEDICAL CONSEQUENCES FOR THOSE PEOPLE.

WHAT A GREAT LESSON. /s

This is part of Aiden's 'gaining confidence' arc by the way. He learns that murder is okay.

I guess murder and battery is bad only if you're a woman? It's okay if the boys do it?

WHAT A GREAT LESSON. /s

THAT'S NOT PROBLEMATIC AT ALL. /s

I'm just saying, I don't like that. I don't like that this is portrayed as okay.

If you REALLY wanted to have the finale parallels hit harder and see James as the good one in the end, then why are BOTH OF THEM attempted murderers?

Why is Riya seen as a bad guy for leaving someone hanging on a cliff, but James and Aiden get a pass for sending people to the hospital?

Every female character that dares oppose our beloved gay power couple is an enemy and a villain that needs to be put in their place, regardless of their reasonings. Is this season misogynistic? I think it's that...

Then he loses his temper over losing his phone, accuses Rosa of stealing it and attacks her, BEFORE HE HAD ANY PROOF SHE DID IT other than "Well she had a background".

If James had not exploded like that, Riya's plan would have failed and everything would have worked out fine.

But again James gets no consequences for this nor does anyone bring it up.

Then he shoves Aiden off a cliff.

...again, he gets a pass. Riya doesn't.

(Though I get the logic behind that one.)

And then it's revealed to everyone that despite gaining love and respect for Aiden, James is STILL using him for views.

(Before you say he stopped prior to Riya finding the phone: Riya says she saw a message pop up offering him money to take a photo with Aiden. You get those messages popping up the moment they're sent to you. So this implies James was still doing it.)

COOL. I LOVE THAT THE GOOD MOMENTS HAD ANOTHER GROSS FACTOR TO IT.

And James gets called out and cancelled for this. Yay-I mean oh no how sad...

This is the only times James EVER actually gets ANY sort of repercussions for what he does btw.

So he feels really bad about what he's done and he misses Aiden and nobody is routing for him, but all he cares about is making it up to Aiden.

Then, AT THE FINALE, we finally get his backstory about how he's an insecure guy who wanted fame to mean something. Cool. IT'S THE LAST EPISODE. THIS IS TOO LITTLE TOO LATE.

Then he wins a million dollars and gets his boyfriend back!

So like, the only consequence he got, he decided did not matter anymore. And since the people on the show routed for him again after his apology, what's stopping me from thinking he won some followers back too?

Yeah... it's a decent arc and all, but MAN THAT EXECUTION.

It was just SO HARD to like him when you factor in ALL OF THAT. IT'S JUST SO HARD.

But, here's the thing... James also has some good stuff to that as well. He's not the worst.

Despite my feelings towards the ship, there are some scenes where he NOT being predatory.

Helping Aiden with is fear of thunderstorms is sweet. The fact that he decides not to check his phone and hang out with Aiden is sweet and nice character growth. He keeps his promise to Aiden to be honest about schemes. I like the movie banter. And again, Aiden's trans coming out scene is very sweet because James approaches it well and respectfully. Which you don't expect from him.

And on top of that, after he loses his followers, I do find everything he does and says after that to be genuine. I do believe he feels guilty and regrets his actions prior.

And I do find his apology and confession to Aiden to be VERY GENUINE.

He's not likeable, but that's the point. He's supposed to be someone who grows to be someone better and sees that fame is not what matters.

Love is what matters. Staying true to yourself is what matters. Your life is what matters.

The Anti-Riya. Again. The parallels are there.

So, I DO see it.

I would've then had Riya win the money to bring that message home cause then she'd be alone and stuck in an identity that's not herself for the rest of her career and life, and James and Aiden run off happily ever after because money wouldn't buy their happiness-BUT WHATEVER. THAT'S MY OPINION.

YOU HAD A GREAT BUILD UP THERE. JUST SAYING. IT WAS RIGHT THERE.

So really, my biggest problem with James is that he ticks off boxes of things I don't like. Without those, he's actually a pretty solid character with a strong arc.

I... kinda DO want to see James come back. Shocking, I know.

But put him in Season Three, and have him NOT do those things, and BOOM, I might actually like him.

ALSO, he poisoned Yul.

ALSO, he lent money to Rosa. WHICH I RESPECT THE HELL OUT OF, SO MUCH. THAT IS THE ULTIMATE REDEMPTION RIGHT THERE.

So you know what? For those things, this is going to be a VERY SHOCKING ranking.

A low B tier.

He rubs me off the wrong way. But I respect the story they were going for, and there were SOME genuinely good things he did.

Now granted, that ranking is VERY generous. I might change that in the future. Just because this is, again, the most MIXED character for me. The most "WHERE THE HELL DO I PUT THIS CHARACTER?"

So are you happy? I didn't put him in a bad tier. I warmed up to him.

I still would've preferred a Riya win though.

SPEAKING OF, RIYA IS NEXT.

Uh...

IT'S NO SECRET I LOVE THIS WOMAN.

I supported her no matter what! I said "Hey, if you want to leave Aiden hanging off of a cliff, you do it girlie! I support women's wrongs!"

If Riya has 1,000,000 fans, I am one of them.

If Riya has 1,000 fans, I am one of them.

If Riya has 100 fans, I am one of them.

If Riya has 10 fans, I am one of them.

If Riya has 1 fan, I AM THAT ONE.

So... yeah, you know where she's going. I'm a bias bitch with this one. 👑

This is my queen right here.

She's an evil queen, but she's MY evil queen.

I mean Grett's also here. Screw it. We can have two evil queens.

THIS IS MY FAVORITE SEASON TWO CHARACTER BY THE WAY.

There's not gonna be any character from Season Two that goes above her.

I was just really fascinated with her the entire time watching the season. I pretty quickly gravitated towards her character.

At first it was just "This chick is hot." I admit XD

But like,

LOOK AT THIS DESIGN.

You got the curly dark ponytail, contrasted with the gold folded dress and the scarlet red jacket and sandals, two colors I LOVE.

(The hot colors are my favorite colors)

LIKE, THIS IS A SMASH FOR ME. THIS SPEAKS TO ME.

(I'm ace though. I just mean by looking fab 💅)

I immediately went "THIS IS A QUEEN RIGHT HERE" as a result. And then I supported everything she did.

There's also something else that made me absolutely obsessed over her.

For those who didn't see my Season 1 reactions, in Episode 10 of that season, Ellie found herself in a conflict where she needed to get out somebody from the Tom/Jake/Miriam alliance.

And then Tom tells her he found an immunity idol.

So I went "There you go. Steal the idol from Tom and you can nullify the votes in your favor."

But no. She doesn't do that. Instead she makes this very convoluted plan with Fiore and Alec to use Jake's PTSD against him to ruin his relationship with Tom.

Not only was the plan so convoluted, but it was also very disgusting.

And she kept insisting that it was only way she could have gotten what she wanted.

AND I WAS SCREAMING THE ENTIRE TIME FOR HER TO JUST STEAL THE IDOL.

And EVER SINCE THAT EPISODE, it has become a running gag on my blog whenever I post Disventure Camp, to go INSANE whenever an idol shows up.

So when Season Two comes around, RIYA JUST WENT AHEAD AND DID IT. SHE STOLE THE IDOL.

She PROVED to me that my argument was justified. Stealing the idol IS, INDEED, THE EASIEST SOLUTION TO EVERYONE'S PROBLEMS.

SLAY QUEEN👑

It also made perfect sense in the narrative as well. This plan was DIRTY, but it was genius to get herself to the finale.

It's the Final Five. Everyone is ganging on Hunter because he wins immunity all the time.

And if Hunter wins immunity again (which is what ends up happening), then who's out next? James and Aiden WON'T turn on each other, and everyone loves Rosa. So Riya would've been next.

And Rosa has an idol. So the plan was to steal Rosa's idol from under her nose, and frame Rosa for theft to get the others to turn on her. Then without the idol, Rosa takes the votes instead of Riya.

And even if they find out Riya did this? Doesn't matter. She has the idol. She can use it for herself and guarantee her spot in the finale.

IT WORKED. And I have to give credit to a great plan where credit is due.

Girl KNEW what she was doing.

The only reason she lost in the end was because of a canon malfunction.

BUT THERE'S UNIRONIC REASONS WHY I LIKE HER TOO, I SWEAR.

We associate her with being a villain character NOW, just because of where her story went.

If I was to compare her to any Total Drama character, it would be Julia.

Both of them are twist villains in their respective seasons, and became such after being fueled by fame and viewership and support for nasty behavior.

But wouldn't say they're the exact same character, because in Julia's case, her nice zen self was the act and her true self was her nasty self.

Whereas Riya it's actually the opposite.

Because in the beginning Riya is a genuinely sweet woman.

Her story is that she is an actress in India down on her luck because she can't get any roles in movies to keep herself afloat. Even before she came on the show, very few people like her and support her. It's implied she doesn't have a great relationship with her family, and she didn't have any friends even there.

So when she went to the west to try and aid her career, her depressing lonely life hit her like a truck from culture shock.

I kinda wish they did more with showing her culture shock, but what we did see of it was still good. And I bet any immigrants can relate to what she says.

What I found really interesting was that at the start of the season, Riya says that her policy is to stay true to herself to stay strong.

But then her being herself is the very root of her failures in her circumstance.

The acting industry is BRUTAL and DEMANDING. I know this from my schools. They only want the popular people who fit these criteria's and can fit the personas required correctly. If you go there and be yourself, you're not gonna get ANYTHING.

Trust me. I KNOW.

So I was suspicious of Riya's story from how her policy contradicts her means of success. AND I WAS RIGHT.

It's also how the show works. This and Total Drama. Reality TV is corrupting because what they look for is entertainment. If you're not entertaining, you're gonna get a bad edit and then people online know you, but won't like you. So you see people acting to make these characters to appeal to the masses and get not only their chance to shine but their shots to win. By any means necessary, that's how the cutthroat game works, and that's what the success there is. And i's very easy to lose sight of yourself and your identity.

It was one of the things and theming's I found so fascinating about Total Drama to begin with. So you can imagine it's a soft spot for me in this show, where it's straight up explicit that this is what they're going for.

Deep down, Riya is just a sweet girl with a dream to make it as an actress, but she feels so alienated to the world and people around her as is that she craves and what she NEEDS is companionship.

But nobody goes to talk to her. Hunter Allyson and Tess go to YUL of all people, and Kai is insane. So most of them just ignore her and she's at the bottom of her team.

Despite this, she meets Connor and learns they have some things in common, and they bond over their culture shock. She's one of the key players in helping Connor come to terms with his age, and as a result, he becomes a close friend of hers.

COOL! I HOPE HE DOESN'T GET ELIMINATED OR ANYTHING-

Op, he quit.

F for Riya for sure.

Connor leaves and he gives her a very expensive perfume as a birthday present. And Riya absolutely treasures it.

She values it because it came from Connor, obviously, but there are people around her without knowing the meaning making comments about his luxurious it is. So yeah, it was a very subtle detail I picked up on, and I have to applaud that writing choice to make the perfume be that significant.

She finds an advantage to help her get out of her spot on the bottom, switching two people. Taking Yul out (SLAY), and bringing in Rosa Maria. Who Riya takes the opportunity to gravitate towards as well to be her trusted friend and ally.

...to the point where she's kinda possessive over her.

Everything's great until the merge, where Lake comes back to the picture, and it's clear Rosa has more faith and trust in Lake than Riya.

It becomes evident when Rosa only reveals she found the immunity idol to them ONLY after Lake joins them.

Now, Rosa cares about Riya too, so it's not that. Riya's being paranoid.

But I kinda see Riya's POV here of feeling betrayed and like her bond with these girls isn't as strong as she thinks it is. And she becomes so paranoid of them abandoning her that she ends up doing it herself.

Which then leads to her starting to prioritize the game and her career over these friends, and in the process she ditches her morals and her sense of self.

It starts small, when she decides to not warn Rosa about the votes against Lake to get Lake out of the picture. For the reason being she wanted Rosa to herself.

Then Karol comes in and gives her some advice.

"We don't fit in this place. And although they may seem friendly, in the end we are not a priority for them. Sooner or later they will want to discard us."

Which cuts Riya deep because that's exactly what her circumstance is. That's how the game works.

The Green Team wanted to discard her at one point despite her not doing anything to deserve it. Connor left. And Rosa didn't trust her enough to let her in on her plans until someone else was in the picture.

And then she's here witnessing the boys getting Karol to the hospital, and they are PRAISED for it.

Of course that's gonna go in her head.

So is it any wonder she did what she did and completely ditched her sense of self, in favor of this ruthless, cunning, villainess character?

It was only THEN that Riya ACTUALLY got success.

And that's the saddest part about it. How she was enabled to become this by the show and the people around her. Fame became the priority.

And in the end, Rosa denounces their friendship entirely, and everyone else hates her. All she has is Connor, and even then, they're on the fence.

I wouldn't be surprised if she ruins that too.

I love not only how natural the build up was to this, but also the ambition to do this negative character arc.

It really hit a soft spot for me to get a character with this story and have it be as explicit as this. Really showing how this industry works and how people in this field get corrupted in one way or another.

I LOVE gushing over her villainy persona. I kinda made some gags out of it. BUT ALSO, I can't help but feel sorry for her. She learned the wrong lessons. She didn't have to do this to herself. At the end of the day, she isn't this demon from hell. She's a person. A misguided person.

It's also why I would have preferred it if Riya had won.

I KNOW SHE'S A VILLAIN. But hear me out. The build up was there! They could have done something REALLY ambitious here by having her WIN, but she LOSES what was actually important.

It would've been very unique and very interesting instead of the safe "The good guys win and the bad guys lose".

I genuinely want Riya to win this season.

I get she might be evil, but it's Total Drama so who cares look what show you're watching, BUT THAT WOULD BE SO POETIC AND BRILLIANT.

She came here as an outsider outcast with no social life and desperately wanted it. But because of the game and what her career needed to succeed, she had to ditch both that and her morality so she could find success.

SHE WINS AND SHE SLAYS, BUT SHE WON'T BE HAPPY. HER LIFE WILL BE MISERABLE AND AN ENDLESS CYCLE OF ACTING SHE CAN'T BREAK FROM.

I WANT RIYA TO WIN NOW. THAT WOULD BE SUCH A GREAT ENDING. TOTAL DRAMA WOULD NEVER DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT.

But sadly no. She loses and Connor forgives her.

So maybe there's hope for redemption in Season 3?

Probably. Probably not. Honestly, they could go either way.

And since Riya was a finalist in Season 2, obviously my ideal Riya win is out of the equation now. They're not gonna have anyone be a finalist twice.

But, honestly, depending on the arc, I could also see there being a good excuse for her to at least make it to merge of Season 3. Maybe even Final Five or Four. Whether as a redeemed woman who saw the light, or someone who doubles down and loses everything.

I'm gonna make a prediction post once I react to the Season 3 cast select. By prediction I mean elimination order.

When I predict an elimination order, it doesn't have much to do with my opinion on the character. If it was solely that, then look at that, Jake and Riya are my finalists. But obviously that's a no and that's not something that would happen. I need to be realistic on that front.

I don't know. I'm going off track now.

Point is, RIYA IS QUEEN. I STAN HER AND I LOVE HER.

ALRIGHT! WHO'S NEXT?😄

🙃

*Moves to the end of the row*

TESS! TESS IS NEXT!

Tess is great. I like Tess. She might be my favorite of the polycule.

Looking at her design alone and looking at her on paper, she just seems like a Gwen knock off.

And I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the original vision.

She’s a woman who dresses in all black, is antisocial towards people in the beginning, and is tied to romantic plotlines half the time because people have a kink for goth girls.

But I personally think because both of these characters stories go in wildly different directions, Tess can still be called her own character.

I already said I really enjoyed her friendship with Allyson. I forgot to say this before, but I also love how neither of them actively go to antagonize each other to win the guy. They're very mature about the situation, and it's really appreciative to see that in some characters.

Again, I think Tess has way more chemistry with Allyson than Hunter BUT THAT'S JUST ME.

I can definitely see why Tess and Hunter would bond with each other due to their shared lifestyles of never being able to connect with people.

Not because they want to be alone. Not because they’re lazy. But because they simply struggle in the world in the department.

In Tess’s case, it has to do with depression.

And yes, they explicitly say that.

So skip to 🖤 if you want to avoid the subject of depression.

Tess is an orphan. She has had nobody her entire life. No purpose, no peers, no nothing.

It got to a point where she had been diagnosed with depression and needed to take meds to prevent herself from being suicidal.

Hunter finds out this is what's going on with her, and he approaches her about it. And he is very respectful towards what is going on. He doesn't judge her. He just makes it clear he understands and wants to be by her side.

And since that point, Tess starts to open up a little more to Hunter and Allyson and form a bond with them. Even when she, at first, expects the worst in Allyson. She is proven wrong when Allyson helps her out of a panic attack.

It's clear that Tess's motivations didn't involve winning the million at all. She just wanted the experience. She just wanted to do something with her life and feel alive.

And in that sense, her victory is finally forming a bond with people that love and accept her for who she is. Even when it feels like there's no reason for them to do so.

I love her elimination for these reasons.

Tess eavesdrops on everyone else and learns they are planning to vote her off.

She COULD, if she wanted the million, try to scheme and prevent this from happening. IF SHE WANTED TO.

But as she approaches the unassuming Allyson and Hunter, what does she do?

"Guys, there's something I want to tell you."

"We are SCREWED. Nice knowing ya."

"I just want to say... thank you."

Oh? Awww...

"Thank you for not giving up on me. Thank you for insisting on reaching out to me, even though I'm a mess. I was horrible to you, and yet you treated me with kindness, patience, and love. I... I am very, very happy that I came to this camp. Despite many horrible things I've been through.... meeting you two has been on of the best things that's ever happened to me."

AWWWWWW. HONEY. OH MY GOSH...

I'm actually touched. SWEETHEART.

Tess... just quietly accepts her fate. Because she has decided what matters in that moment.

This wouldn't work for any other character. If it was any other character, I would have called BS, and that they could've absolutely done something to save themselves from winning.

But BECAUSE IT'S TESS, someone who got her win already, I'm glad they did it like this.

I have a loved one who goes through depression. And I myself am seeing a therapist. So in terms of how they handled the subject of depression itself...

I think it was pretty respectful all things considered. Again, I love how Hunter and Allyson approach it with her she has an episode. Said episode is very real for anyone going through it. Sometimes you just spiral into a sea of negative emotions and everything just feels hopeless and meaningless. It's very real.

I also LOVE that they NEVER treat this as a joke. That was one thing I was SCARED of when I saw the pills, but they took the subject with the seriousness it deserved.

And they NEVER spoke in any way that this a good thing to say or feel. They were merely just patient.

I really like that.

🖤

In terms of where I'd rank Tess...

I mean I think she's great. I'll put her in...

A Tier. Above Ellie? ...yeah, cause Ellie's stupidity REALLY bothered me.

I WISH they MORE with Tess's backstory.

That is the ONE reason why she is not in S Tier.

We know from ONE LINE that she is an orphan. That's it.

Other than that, we don't know how she got depressed, what her life was like to explain the depression, or anything.

Well, you can't EXPLAIN depression, so maybe that's not the right way to word it. But you know, knowing more about her past would've been nice to at least give audiences their own conclusions to draw.

I just feel like I SHOULD know MORE about Tess than I actually do.

Give her more backstory and she could be S Tier.

But I still love her. I also like that she's an artist. That's really cute.

HUNTER

HUNTER IS MY PICK FOR BEST BOY OF SEASON TWO.

...I'd give him B Tier.

Yeah... looking at this tier list and that statistic, I really didn't like the male characters in this season, huh?

Yeah, looking at the S Tier and the Stan Tier, only TWO boys in those tiers. WOW.

And neither of them are from Season Two.

Anyway, about Hunter.

It's kind of funny that the label he has is "The Player".

But uh... he's really not?

He just hangs out with other girls. That doesn't say anything about him being a romantic player. He's not trying to play with these girls emotions. Willingly, anyway.

He's more just an introverted guy trying way too hard to be social. Mostly because he doesn't get out a lot.

And it's actually kinda cute to see him try and fail to make social connections with these people. The card thing is really cute and awkward. And I love how oblivious he is towards romantic subtext.

I knew it was wrong, but I still kept reading Hunter as aromantic. He was giving me that energy.

I don't hate that it was wrong, I'm just saying.

Hunter is asexual. I'm not taking criticism.

He also has really good chemistry with the girls, and I buy he would struggle to figure out how to approach the subject of their relationship. Not because he's manipulative, but because he has a hard time sorting these things out.

CAN YOU SAY "AUTISTIC CODED"?

If I liked the other guys better, Hunter probably would be lower, but here we are.

He's just, a REALLY nice and genuine guy. He's never antagonistic towards anybody and is going out of his way to help them out and be respectful about what's going on.

This man KNEW a woman's depression meds were important to her, and he went out of his way to save some and keep them in a safe place in case anything bad happened to her bottle.

BLESS THIS MAN'S HEART FOR THAT ONE.

And even when he becomes target number one, it doesn't mean he's doing anything malicious. He's just a physical threat because he's constantly winning immunity.

EVERY TIME FOR BULLSHIT REASONS MIGHT I ADD.

Except the last time.

Episode 7, the ring holder said "Lol nope" to Lake.

Hunter didn't even win the Episode 8 challenge, Karol just shared immunity with him to stir the pot.

Episode 9, he loses his blindfold AND his partner going down the sled. BOTH OF WHICH were REQUIREMENTS. And yet he STILL got immunity.

It got RIDICULOUS. And kinda made it predictable that eventually they would HAVE to beat Hunter. Because if he bullshat is way to the finale and won, people would be LIVID.

Ngl, I kinda feel sorry for him that this became his circumstance in the merge XD

Dude did nothing wrong leave him alone.

But it's also because of the merge that Hunter isn't any higher unfortunately.

Once Tess is eliminated, Hunter kinda just becomes bland and I stopped caring about his plotline. I was just waiting for him to go home.

That and Hunter really isn't a character with a lot of emotional range, like I said. He has the same thing going for him that Allyson has. But at least Allyson had the gamer girl motif so she was a BIT more of a standout.

Oh and he allies with Yul at one point. WHICH IS A NO NO.

He says his reasoning is "If Yul is in the game, attention is on him and not me." BULLSHIT. HAVE YOU WATCHED SURVIVOR?

If you ally with a villain, and people realize they can't vote the person out, they're gonna decide to take out their allies. They have to if they want the villain out eventually. This is EXACTLY how you get a target on your back!

And that's exactly what happens. Once Yul is gone, Hunter has NO PLAN.

HE'S A FLOATER.

Anyway, mostly I'm just impressed that they made a love triangle that WASN'T completely annoying. In Total Drama that's a miracle. Nobody tried to kill each other and nobody was painted as a bad guy!

OH ROSA. SWEET ROSA!

GOD BLESS THIS WOMAN. OH MY GOD.

Listen, as we've established, I love the messy characters. I latch onto the messiness and unstable characters because they're so much more interesting to analyze.

But if everyone was messy, nobody would be, ya know?

Sometimes, you just need that one SUNSHINE in the cast. That one character that just handles everything thrown at them with a smile on their face and genuine kindness.

ROSA IS THAT CHARACTER.

Everyone else here has SOME sort of angst and trauma and drama going on. And it weighs them down. And while Rosa has trauma too, she handles it with her head held high.

And dammit, that's inspiring.

I previously called Rosa "The Paddington of this cast". And I still stand by that.

Not exactly the most dynamic, but they don't need to be. Their strength and their role in the story is to have their sunshine-filled goodness rub off the people around them to make the world a better place.

She very quickly stood out to me for being not only one of the nicest people ever, but one of the mot optimistic and happiest people ever.

IN A TOTAL DRAMA KNOCK OFF SHOW.

THAT'S IMPRESSIVE.

These settings are usually VERY mean spirited and sadistic and cruel. And yet despite that, she stays true to herself and doesn't let them wipe away her smile and positive outlook on the world.

Her story is also very interesting to me.

She's an extroverted Latina teenager from a not so safe neighborhood. There's a lot of scary messed up people where she's from. Despite this, she was a bit of a flirt with the boys that came and went in her life, all for happiness and satisfaction.

And then she got pregnant from that. And people did not take it the best way. Especially when it forced her to grow up fast. Teenage mother and all that. The lack of support and the fact that she had to become a thief to survive gave her every reason to look at the world negatively. But she still knew that wasn't the future she wanted for her daughter. So she held it together.

She came to the show to financially support her daughter and her future. And DAMMIT, I WAS ROUTING FOR HER TO WIN.

I thought she WAS gonna win for the longest time. She had everything going for her. A strong social game. She was physically capable. Nobody wanted to get rid of her for the longest time. If Riya didn't interfere, she probably would have won.

But she got money from James in the end, so you know what? Can I gaslight myself into thinking Rosa won?

Fuck it. ROSA WON.

It's a strong foundation that plays sense into all of her actions.

She's kind and social, and will give you a hug. But she also has a backbone and a bit of a no nonsense attitude. Especially towards bullshit like Yul existing and Riya's scandal towards her. Which the latter she had EVERY RIGHT to be pissed at, and I LOVE that she doesn't forgive Riya. That tells me Rosa isn't naive and knows when people can't be helped. And the former, GIRL WAS ABOUT TO THROW HANDS. AND SHE DID SO WITH A GODDAMN SERIAL KILLER.

HOW CAN YOU NOT STAN?

I also like how Rosa can't really FIX anyone's problems. She can give advice, but not everyone is gonna take it. Lake snaps at Rosa when she calls out her parents and they have a falling out. She straight up FAILS with Riya. Like, girl, why didn't you trust Riya enough to show her your idol sooner? After you knew Riya was weary about friendships. That said, I would still say Rosa was undeserving of what happened to her.

Oh, and she decides to betray her own alliance just because she felt bad for Hunter. Which is... girl, no. Hunter's not a bad guy so I get it, but GIRL. IT'S A GAME.

James still had to apologize on his own. Lake still had to find her independence on her own. Rosa's just there to be a light bulb. But I really like that for her.

She's also not above justice. She knows when to put her foot down and call someone out. Again, with Riya. And SHE was the one who suggested they sneak in Krystal's tent to steal Riya's perfume back.

I also love love LOVE that she's into astrology. That's a huge ME thing. But I LOVE THIS SO MUCH.

I love it when characters have hobbies like that.

I LOVE HER LIBRA NECKLACE, OH MY GOD.

I also, again, love Rosa's dynamic with Lake and how much of a mother figure she becomes for her. I also like how she stuck with Riya despite Riya being the outcast. It wasn't until Riya betrayed her that she ended that friendship entirely. Rightfully.

Is she a stan...?

Yeah.

THIS GIRL DESERVES THE WORLD DAMMIT!

She's a Paddington. That's all I'll say. She is a Paddington and a beacon of light in such a CRUEL, MISERABLE environment where there's so much deception and hate going around. And not only does she refuse to get pushed, but she also says that sweetheart. I SALUTE HER.

Sadly, I don't think she'll get to go far in Season 3 because she already has money from James. She might get some sort of conflict with Riya, but that's it. But you know, I would like to see that get fleshed out. I like to see a scenario where Rosa doesn't like a teammate and wants them to get eliminated. Rosa deserves that.

ALRIGHT, that's it with the contestants! Now we can move on to the hosts...

🙃

...oh wait, I did forget someone!

🙃

OLIVER

You remember Oliver, right? He competed.

Yeah I don't have much to say with this one. He was the first boot. His backstory is being a Gen Z employee. And he spends the rest of this season as Krystal's intern and getting abused.

Which, you know, I DID feel bad for him.

And he DOES serve a purpose to the story as someone who becomes very important to Krystal and her struggle to maintain her sanity. He's a light in her life. Despite the abuse, he doesn't lose faith in her and sees the best in her when no one else did.

It's nice. I like him. I'll give him a B tier. He served his purpose well.

I will say though, it was HIS FAULT that Aiden almost died. Dude is in charge of the safety equipment in this show! And he's been very good about that all season.

And then SUDDENLY he forgets to get anything set up in case someone falls off the FREAKING MOUNTAIN?!

OUT OF CHARACTER. BULLSHIT. CHEAP DRAMATIC EFFECT.

Who is this? Marcus?

Oh that's his name.

Uh... I actually have NOTHING to say. Why is this character even here? He doesn't do anything aside from be protective over the doll. Remove him and the season does not change-

-oh wait I just remembered the puppet.

She did kill everyone that one episode.

Just... WHAT THE HELL EVEN IS THIS THING?

IS IT A PUPPET? IS IT A CHILD? IS IT A DEMON FROM HELL???

I DON'T KNOW. But, idk, I kinda love not knowing in this case.

Top of C Tier just for the puppet.

KRYSTAL MCLEAN

Daughter of Chris McLean. Yes, THAT Chris McLean.

So, when it comes to this show, I don't really care about the hosts.

In Season 1 especially, their plotline just did absolutely nothing for me. And I didn't care about the duo's dynamic either. It was very boring.

Important, but boring.

KRYSTAL ON THE OTHER HAND.

Honestly, I actually DID dig her storyline.

She's certainly NOT Chris in terms of icon. But I really liked her.

I really liked her story about being a executive trying to do her job and get the show picked up to work, and dealing with childhood trauma and her way of being raised getting in the way of her actions and manic behavior.

Like, she was a bad person. And I don't deny that. Especially in the start of the season where she enslaves the campers in a challenge and tells somebody to throw their depression medication in a fire... it's disgusting. But it's also supposed to be.

But she wasn't very one dimensionally sadistic. She doesn't WANT to be that way. It was just due to how she was raised with her neglectful father being THAT MOTHERFUCKER, that she lashes out and lets those teachings take hold of her.

And it's not until she loses Oliver that she grows to realize she actually respects him as a person and she NEEDS him in her life. He put up with her when no one else did. Which is something that meant a lot to her. So she REALLY puts in the effort to be the best version of herself to keep him around, only to burn herself out because of how much of a culture shock it is for her.

Idk, I liked it, and I found it interesting. She was very interesting to me. Especially since she's tied to a lot of this show's lore.

So I'll give her an A Tier. She's the best host character.

*Groan*

This took me three days to make. But I can avoid it no longer.

It's Yul's turn.

Fuck this fucking piece of fucking shit from fucking hell...

I mean it's no secret I hate Yul. Right?

I think the reasons I hate him are pretty obvious as well.

Disventure Camp really likes fleshing out its characters and going beyond their stereotypes and roles. Making them far more human.

So isn't it great that we have a character that IS nothing but his stereotype?

And he's also one of the most COMICALLY UNLIKEBALE, SHALLOW, SADISTIC, OFFENSIVE BITCH BAGS I've ever met on a Total Drama season.

Like okay, he shows up, first thing that comes out of his mouth is a joke about a woman's menopause.

Then we find out he's here because he was cancelled in his country for SHOVING AN OLD LADY DOWN AN ESCALATOR.

Then he proceeds to bully Maggy cause she's a big girl. He continues to do this to the point where he costs his team the challenge just because he doesn't want anything to do with her.

And then he also tries to KILL AIDEN with a mushroom.

And then the entire time when people are calling him out on his crap, he proceeds to ignore all of it and insult everyone's race, gender, sexuality, body type, etc.

He was giving me Velma flashbacks if I'm being honest. (He's not as bad though cause at least we're supposed to not like it.)

He didn't NEED to be one of the most complex characters of the cast. But even the Total Drama characters that are meant to be their gimmicks and nothing else should at least have an entertaining gimmick.

So what's Yul's gimmick?

He's a biggot.

...where's the punch line?

Not only is that not funny, but it's also extremely problematic. For obvious reasons. And there's NO backstory to explain it either.

Like, you can be a villain and still not turn off half of your audience. Just saying.

OH WAIT, HE'S A VILLAIN. I'M SUPPOSED TO HATE HIM.

OKAY SO ALL MY PROBLEMS ARE NEGATED, RIGHT-?

NO.

Because as a villain, he's SHIT.

One, he's not even the main villain of the season. There is nothing about his character that serves any way to push the themes further. He has no impact on making Riya a villain at all.

Not that he needed to be, but this man wants to be Grett SO BAD. With NO understanding of what made Grett good.

Like, NEWS FLASH, HE DOESN'T DESERVE TO BE IN THE SAME ROOM AS GRETT.

He spends the entire game with his strategy being to be a biggot to EVERYONE, and rely on a four person alliance who stayed in that... BECAUSE.

Again, HE was the one who made the Green Team lose the kissing challenge.

You'd think a villain would WANT to win, right? He doesn't have any interesting strategy. He's just a douche for the sake of being a douche.

I mean, I guess he lies to Aiden to get a vote thrown...?

But that was James' idea, and that is BAD for Yul because then he gets in a tie with Maggy.

What if he lost that tiebreaker?

DON'T PUT YOURSELF IN A TIE LIKE THAT.

And then the only strategy he comes up with on his own is murder.

Great. I'm sure that won't backfire at all.

So no. Yul does not get points for being a villain. Especially if he's shit at the role.

Oh, and something else I find disgusting and really problematic about him:

Disventure Camp and Total Drama characters have labels. Something to establish their stereotype or something major about themselves.

Riya is the Bollywood Actress. James is the Influencer. Allyson is the Gamer Girl. Tess is the Asocial. Etc. Things like that.

Yul's label, the thing that defines him, is "The Korean Dancer".

...

His label includes his race.

See the problem?

There is absolutely NO redeeming qualities about this character WHATSOEVER.

It is my absolute HONOR to give this man the ONLY F TIER ON THIS LIST.

And the only way anyone is gonna join him is if Season 3 really REALLY REALLY fucks up their character.

FUCK YUL. FUCK THIS PIECE OF SHIT. I NEVER WANT TO SEE HIM AGAIN.

Okay, but I WILL say though: It is FUN to dunk on him.

He is one of those "So bad it's funny" characters.

Does shit to his ranking. But you know.

The DMs I've been getting talking about Yul have definitely made me like Yul more than I would have if I was just watching the show for yourself.

Like, some of your rewrite ideas for him? A+. I bet your fanfictions would make me like Yul a lot more than in canon.

So, I may hate the character and never want to see him in canon again, but I do love dissing him and bullying him.

When he was eliminated due to mushroom poisoning, I was laughing and cheering. It was hilarious.

And again, Kai roasting Yul lives in my head rent free.

Fuck Yul. Truly. FUCK. YUL.

And that’s my ranking! Let me know what all your thoughts are!

[northoftheroad]

I know I just gave you an ask and you must be super busy, but what do you think abt Dickory vs Dickbabs?? Personally, I think Dickory is way better but in Tom Taylor’s run and the current runs, Dickbabs is the main ship. Anyways, I just wanted your opinion on it :D

Also thoughts on Tom Taylor’s run? I thought about it and I kinda have mixed feelings. On one hand, it’s great for fanservice and has some super cute and funny moments. On the other hand, the characters and their relationships are kinda one dimensional. Thoughts?? Take your time and thanks if you answer! <3

Hi, As I've said before (and I'm going to quote myself from older posts here quite a lot, if you happen to come across them 😉 ), I'm fine with both pairings as long as it's well written. I guess a lot of fans lean towards preferring what they grew up with and such like. I'm old enough to have started reading Batman when the idea of another Robin than Dick Grayson was ludicrous, and read the NTT in my slightly older teens. So I definitely have a nostalgic feeling for Dick/Kory.

I think they worked well because they were so different; they each learned from the other and grew as people. Being with Kory helped Dick become more emotionally open after some ten years of growing up with Bruce and Alfred. In NTT # 26, he talks about how he is too introspective and that Batman taught him to be guided by his head, not his heart. And in turn, I'd say Kory learned not always to be ruled by her emotions, and Dick helped to ground her on Earth. They had their fair share of problems, one obstacle was their different approach to relationships and sex. While Starfire is fine with being married to another guy, for reasons of state, but live with Dick, it takes Dick quite some time to come to terms with that he loves Kory enough to get over that. Dick and Kory were one of the most stable and loving couples in DC for over ten years. Now, in superhero comics, writers and/or editoral make the rules. There were plans to let them get married, but as far as I remember a change of editorial led to that being scrapped. We got Dick being raped by Mirage instead, and eventually, the couple split up. Disregarding that, I think you could very well see them growing apart. They were young when they started dating. I guess they were a couple for two-three years? At that age, it's not unreasonable to think they developed in ways that made them decide to go their separate ways.

If Dick and Kory were good because they were poles apart, I'd say Dick and Barbara are more alike. They have both worked with Batman; they are originally street-level detectives and athletes; they are used to work in similar ways. I could see them as a slightly more mature couple than Dick and Kory, being more in sync and relaxed with each other because they have similar backgrounds and shared experiences. (Which, of course, could make them a more boring couple in fiction…) I'm not a fan of the retcon that they've been friends since school, but they did work occasionally together as youngsters, so it can still make sense to write them as really good friends, imo. I honestly think Dick and Kory have been written as a good couple more than Dick and Barbara. Maybe things had been different if Devin Grayson had got the chance to tie up her long arc with Dick in Nightwing vol 2. Not that I think her run was without its problems, but it would presumably have been better if she had got the opportunity to finish what she started. The ending (or rather the absence of a decent ending) of her run, and the fact that the first Nightwing stories after Infinite Crisis were downright cringeworthy, has soured my impression of her writing of Dick/Babs. So I guess editorial decisions have ruined both Dick's most important relationships…?

I don't know if you're new to the debate about Dick/Kory vs. Dick/Barbara? Because it's sometimes a heated discussion, with people claiming he doesn't deserve either of them, he mistreated one or the other etc.

(Here's what Barbara herself had to say about Dick, by the way. In Birds of Prey # 71. By Gail Simone, art Ron Adrian and Rob Lea.)

I can definitely work myself up too much about fictional characters myself, but there are a few things I try to keep in mind… Fictional characters have no agency. Creators and editoral use them to tell stories (and sell stuff…). Don't get angry at fictional characters or, even worse, real people who love them. Also, reading comics is a lot about filling in the blanks between panels, and different readers can put a book down with very different pictures of what has happened. You can absolutely find examples where Dick has been written as behaving badly against both of them. Sometimes, it's a reasonable part of the writer's long game, sometimes it actually is bad and out-of-character writing. (And if you look, you can find examples where the women have been written as behaving badly against Dick too.)

Honestly, the most important thing for me when it comes to Dick and relationships is that he takes them very seriously indeed. Dick has not had a lot of one-night stands and is on record as saying he's not comfortable with casual sex. When he had one with Helena/Huntress, he wanted to talk about starting a relationship just because of that. When he (fake) married a girl to try to expose her as a murderer, he still avoided to sleep with her, and then he offered to stay with her when the case was closed, because he felt bad for deceiving her. Outside the blasted annual, I don't know of any time he was written as (knowingly) having sex with someone while he's in a relationship with another. Girls tend to break up with him, not the other way around. I'm sure other people have different ideas, and it can vary between writers and eras, but I think you can read Dick as someone who likes to be in a relationship, to be intimate with someone – but who's not into casual sex.

When it comes to Tom Taylor's run, I pretty much agree with you. I don't hate it, as some people seem to do, but I think the art has been the best part. It's mostly been pretty meh, TT has at several times spoken about how Nightwing is an A-lister among DC superheroes, but I don't think he shows it. And here and there he produces some really nice panels/pages (sometimes it's up to debate whether the characters are out of character or not). We're heading towards the end of his and Bruno Redondon's run and they've hinted he's going to stop being Nightwing. As if we need a third period of Dick not being Nightwing in ten years… 🙄 The best writer of Nightwing vol 4 was Sam Humphries, in my opinion. Unfortunately, it was very short.

Ok, this post has definitely gone on long enough... but if you want to go deeper into the rabbit hole, here are some earlier posts.

[aotopmha]

I'm around level 82 Endwalker MSQ and I know that some really hate the Garlean section of the story, but I really like it.

Above all I really like the nuance in it all.

Firstly, I think they spell out the intentions of the expedition really well – the goal is to help the regular people who are suffering, but not excuse the system they live under.

Secondly, they spell out the really important detail that a bunch of the characters do not support the Ilsebard contingent.

As an example, not all of your job mentors might show up, as was my case with the RDM mentor because of his history with Garlemald, adding important nuance in terms of varying perspectives regards to helping Garlemald.

Reading some takes you'd think everyone agrees that Garlemald is all okay and cool now, but this is not the nuance/subtext I see in the text itself myself.

This was also not the sole objective of the expedition. The towers needed to go for the world to not end.

So it isn't just randomly barging in there to self-righteously "help" another nation. Everyone needed to be on the same page at least somewhat to survive.

Thirdly, I think they gave Gaius and his group enough nuance back in ARR (and Regula in HW) and we had enough decent and more complex good/less villainous Garlean characters across the game (Cid, Nero, Lucia, Maxima) for me to not feel like asking to see them as people was rushed or too late.

The key to me is that even the Garleans who were villains had defined, substantial perspectives and sometimes had non-villainous aspects to them.

The humanity itself was always there.

Fourthly, I see people say it is a thematic mess, but I don't see any of that, either.

The entire zone is full of nuanced perspectives on how fascism can hurt people and not once are we told to push everything the empire did under the rug – if nothing else the horrors of the system are only emphasised.

I agree with the system itself being the central enemy, which to me has been the entire thematic point of Garlemald from the start.

Licinia and her sister, the ceruleum workers from other provinces, Jullus and Quintus all represent very important aspects of how the empire's principles and its own self-made "faith" affected the people of Garlemald and to see it reduced to "oh some of them are just sad now", I think really misses the point considering the foundation of some of their stories.

Genuinely believing you're right, making nationalism almost a core of your identity and being distrusting of your enemy due to far-reaching propaganda are very real struggles under systems like this.

Finally, I've seen people say we are done with Garlemald now and it's so rushed because of this and I'm just not sure about that because to me that has never been the identity of this game.

It's really rare something is dropped and never brought up again, so I always disagree with almost any claims like this.

This is why I think Sky Pirates and Four Lords will also eventually have larger significance.

(And so will the 6.x series.)

I still feel the framing is very much "there is a long way to go here."

Doma and Ala Mhigo both had restoration arcs in various content and are still in progress, really, as the 6.0 role quests, literal "restoration" content and also patch content itself (4.1-4.3, 5.4-5.5 in particular for Ala Mhigo and Doma) attest.

I think we will still see more of the aftermath of Garlemald's collapse in the yet occupied provinces as I still think we will have to open up the huge cloud in the middle of the map in some form, I even think there still would be room for a Garlemald expansion, it just wouldn't be "as" urgent anymore and mixed with other stuff because the empire is an husk now.

As much as Bozja might seem like it was dropped suddenly because of the field notes, I do not think it is like this story to not address important aspects like this until we are unquestionably, completely done.

I know there are some reveals in the role quests and material in 6.x quests that people are also iffy about, but to me most of that seems pretty okay, too.

Garlemald has to reestablish proper trade connections, they have to fight the remainder of their old guard and they can never be complete victims. They also need an entirely new governmental system.

It's the old guard that holds them back, but also crumbles when threatened.

So I think where we are now narratively, we still need more time with Garlemald and I think we are not quite done with them yet and if there is something I personally would dislike from here on out, it *would* be getting no follow-up at all.

I think we need to actually visit Dalmasca, Corvos and Nagxia in some form and put a final end to all of those regimes.

Now, do I think more could've been done here?

Absolutely. As I said, we have whole occupied provinces we have still not seen and a whole massive cloud right in the middle of the map still uncovered.

(And I think revisiting Ala Mhigo's and Doma's struggles against specifically Garlemald in some form also needs to happen.)

So as much as I really liked the zone, it is still clear to me there might have been more done there (in fact it was confirmed because we know about a potential Garlemald expansion).

So I actually do share a criticism I see around, I just think what we got still turned out to be really good and really important nuance to go into regarding Garlemald.

Something about asking to somewhat empathise with an enemy faction just destroys any nuanced discussion on the internet, be it the heroes doing something bad (for good or bad reasons) or villains doing something good (despite having really awful views otherwise).

You see an enemy faction just even dip toes into nuance and the story automatically must be excusing them.

You see the heroes not be completely, unconditionally respectful and thoughtful and the story must be disrespectful itself.

It's such a boring way to discuss art (which is also made by people, who are flawed like anyone else) in my eyes.

[fandomfaeofveryfewf4cks]

Spoilers for Our Flag Means Death finale.

I just needed to talk things through as a crew.

So, I already posted something about how I felt about Izzy's death immediately after watching the finale. Now that I've given myself more time to mull it over though, I'm not quite as satisfied with the ending as I thought. But I think I know why I'm not exactly angry about it either.

I think I just see it as an open ending for next season? Like, I can see how Izzy's death brings parts of the story around full circle. (Mainly in Ed growing out of being Blackbeard who wasn't really Blackbeard without Izzy Hands.) However, after thinking about it some and reading some other people's thoughts about it, it doesn't really work for bringing Izzy's story around full circle, does it? No, really, does it? I'm still not entirely sure.

On the one hand, I've seen people talk about how Izzy represents piracy and piracy is coming to an end, so it makes sense for him to die with piracy. With his talk with Ricky about how they may die, but they'll live on in other ways, it makes sense.

On another hand, I also see people talking about the fact that Izzy survived a suicide attempt (potentially for the reason of protecting the crew) only to end the season saying he wants to die...

This choice just makes me a bit queasy because it invalidates some of the hope I've had building up with every episode I watched, especially in season 2, where Izzy goes through the bulk of what I feel is (at least mostly) such an amazing character arc.

On a third hand, I saw someone saying that Izzy should captain the Revenge while Stede and Ed go off to run their inn. I had thought this was going to happen too until I started seeing the foreshadowing for Izzy's death and started doubting that theory.

Part of the reason this makes so much sense is because, firstly, Izzy runs the ship already. Plus, he's changed his priorities to be about the crew.

Remember in season 1 episode 9, when the crew is planning to mutiny against Izzy and are trying to decide who should be captain next. And Oluwande says,

"It's gotta be someone we can all trust. Someone who's got the whole crew in mind. Not just themselves."

Izzy didn't make a good captain in that episode because he still didn't trust them, they didn't trust him, and he was doing everything for himself.

In season 2, none of that is true anymore.

The crew DOES trust him. He DOES think about the crew first and foremost. And, we even get to see him learn to trust the crew as well. Learn that they see him as not just a part of the crew they have to deal with like in most of season 1, but a crucial part of the crew and a person they all care about.

In short, it really would have made so much sense to make him Captain.

"Okay, but why do you think his death is an open ending? Death is typically a decidedly very closed off ending."

Ah, I see the point I keep losing is back.

How many times has someone been "dead" only to come back later. How many times has IZZY "died" to come back later. Granted, Izzy going through this multiple times is part of what foreshadows the idea that he's going to not come back this time, so it's possibly just false hope to think he'll come back (assuming we get a third season).

But think about it. Izzy has died. Stede gave up his pirating dream, which seems how likely to stick? And Ed thinks he's going to be able to work a customer service job? And both Stede and Ed think they'll be good at running a business they don't know jackshit about? Ed has proved to be lousy at working a "simple" life. Ed's subconscious said so. Pop-pop said so. Even Jackie sees this as a "wish I was a regular dude phase." Also, Stede has proved that he can be a decent pirate. Zheng said so. Spanish Jackie said so. The entire Republic of Pirates said so. The Pirate Queen said so.

I guess I just have a hard time believing the creators of ofmd couldn't bring Izzy back somehow and turn out a new plot for another season if they wanted to.

At the end of season one, Ed and Stede resign themselves to a future that is not ideal for them and Lucius "dies."

At the end of season 2, Ed and Stede decide to try for a future that is arguably also not ideal for them (it's just less angsty than season 1) and Izzy "dies."

I dunno. I guess what I'm saying is, it makes enough sense for an ending, but not this story's ending. And this show actually managed to make me feel things in my mucky rustbucket of a heart and gave me hope like not many things do. I'm just not ready to give up on it yet.

. . . . .

Maybe they didn't want to make Izzy captain because then if/when Stede and/or Ed come back wanting to be Captain, they'd have to decide how to make that work? But that wouldn't be too hard to figure out, right? I mean, they already decided a ship can have two captains. Why not 3?

Here's some of those posts I was talking about:

[pink-strawberry-kissess]

my re4r analysis  (spoilers for gameplay, story/plot, characters, aeon)

analysis here is without information about separate ways for re4r so please keep that in mind as my opinion may (and will mostly likely) change slightly 

(for my separate ways analysis read here)

gameplay

It very much falls in line with a newer modern interpretation of the series. There’s gameplay that caters to new and old audiences. If you’ve already played re4, you’ll still find re4r enjoyable as well.

the dark and moody look to the game is so well done and overall the visual designs are beautiful and devastating stunning.

there is still a considerable amount of things cut that I don’t think was detrimental to the overall gameplay style. 

the lack of QTEs was a good thing, and the parry system was the perfect way to allow players a new way of playing resident evil games. 

each chapter felt like the right amount of time, and has an amazing amount of replayability.

Because of the open world nature of the game, there are many possibilities to miss things and I’ve seen many people accidentally miss things because they rushed their first playthrough or didn’t bother to check every single little thing.

og re4 players can play on standard or hardcore and still have an INCREDIBLY difficult time finishing the game with a good rank

there’s still a bit of adaptive difficult, if you’re on hardcore and continue dying, it will help you out and switch to assisted if it’s continual deaths. 

story/plot

pacing was very well done, but again, some scenes were removed for a lot of characters and i wish they were still included in some way

the changing of luis was JUST the right about of lore that was needed to flesh out a more cohesive story. why we want to know more about him and why he’s doing what he’s doing. (this also leads to why we need separate ways and how he works with Ada)

a lot of people tend to not read the notes but you are missing a lot of the story that way.

It does feel like a few things are missing, (again maybe it will be better with separate ways) but particularly with krauser I feel like a lot is missing)

I also laughed too hard at the “fight”-xposition (exposition + fight)

there were a few retcons with how the scenarios worked out but i either liked them or felt indifferent about it

characters

leon 

I actually initially disliked the attitude change they gave for Leon. He seemed so rude and distant, even from Ashley. Og re4 he was incredibly sweet to ashley, his voice getting higher and more gentle sounding. Whereas in re4r, Leon just ignores Ashley a lot of the time. He’s cold and it may be a facade he plays to get over the trauma he had gone through.

(Although I do like the scene where Leon comforts Ashley because she’s upset after she “changed” and attacked him. It was the right amount of comfort needed with a bit of humor as well.)

He doesn’t want to feel anything good, maybe he thinks he doesn’t deserve it. It’s a much colder interpretation of Leon (think Vendetta Leon) In the end, I don’t really hate it, but I wish we got to see some sweetness with him. He was nice to Ashley one time, Luis only when he was dying, and Ada when he lets her go after their initial meeting. (It’s the first time he smiles in the game- when he sees Ada.) 

I kinda miss the canonical cheek scar Leon has from og re4 that is still there in re6. I guess this cut is retconned for the newer timeline. 

I’m still a fan of Nick for Leon’s voice but I will say that I much enjoy him as re2r Leon as opposed to re4r. It’s still obviously familiar to me, and although I still think he did decent work, I am still a fan of Matt Mercer for Leon as he was the one I fell in love with first. 

His design is good as well, and I don’t mind the slight alterations. 

Ada

Now a lot of people think that her character has been completely changed and or “ruined,” but I really think that capcom had decided to work on Ada’s “redemption arc” as soon as humanly possible in the canon. 

I do like that she seemed more like a person in this interpretation. She’s not constantly putting on the “Sexy spy lady,” facade. And since a LARGE majority of RE fans outside of aeon stans, still to this day think of Ada as an “evil” woman. I think it’s fine that capcom decided to get her to show more of an emotional side, that she does pine over Leon. And that despite her job, she still tries to help Leon. (but people who play Separate Ways or her re6 campaign, would KNOW that Ada continually and consistently tries to help Leon and save him.)

Even though she had “more screen time” in re4r than in og re4, I do miss the few scenes that were removed with her.

Lily’s expressions for Ada are SO incredibly heartbreaking and oh boy did they push up the angst. 

Lily’s voice for Ada grew on me more and more, she she has a coldness that makes sense for her character’s growth and development. The fact that men were thinking she’s not sexy enough is more of a them problem than anything.

Because Ada’s re4r design is incredibly hot and sexy and I 100% think capcom decided to keep her almost entirely covered with clothing to keep her from being overly sexualized. (And her old outfit didn’t make sense for the cold weather but... I digress.) 

Ashley

I don’t know how they managed to do it but they made her an extremely likeable person. She’s ambitious but scared. Terrified but excited. She’s the perfect self insert :P BUT yes, I do enjoy how they changed her and allowed to somewhat be able to be more capable.

She does “flirt” with Leon a lot but I barely blame her. But her subtle hints at flirting go on deaf ears lol As Leon continually ignores her or rebuffs her statements. And furthermore calls her a kid/young girl twice when talking about her in third person. 

A lot of people still think that Ashley’s just being nice to Leon rather than flirting, which is also fair. We need to have more platonic relationships in games, and the fact that capcom explicitly removed the ability to hold Ashley’s hand because they didn’t want the relationship to be interpreted as romantic says a lot. (I didn’t care much for the removal, but it made the few times that they did hold hands make it seem more friend like rather than romantic, I do agree with that.)

Even towards the end of the game when Ashley asks for Leon for her protective detail, he still turns her down. “You don’t need me.” Rather he encourages her to protect herself. 

I think her AI was a bit dodgy at times, it’s so easy to get her killed. Too easy imo. And having her downed all the time was a bit annoying. Even in good playthroughs that I watched, people lost Ashley after she died over something really stupid.

Luis

WE love love love more lore and backstory. The fact Luis helped to make nemesis??? WOW

His banter with Leon and Ada (god I’m hoping for more in separate ways) is SO SO good, and he’s so flirty and unserious at times, which makes his death so much more upsetting. He’s trying so hard to atone for his sins and even from the beginning we can already see he’s very similar to Ada. Wanting to do good despite all the red in his ledger. he wants to make amends in any way possible. 

Also Luis has smokes later!! Did Ada remember?? Where did he get the smokes from :’)

The switch from Ada to Luis, saving Leon in that fight made me like Luis more, but also a bit sad that this scene was cut from Ada. Especially since capcom has a habit of favoring their male characters as opposed to their women characters.

Jack Krauser

I initially did not like his voice. It just seemed odd to me, but once I had more information on why the actor decided to go that way. it kind of made sense for his character. That he was “silenced,” in some way so that it actually affected his vocals. His rasp that’s not sexy but damaged sounding. 

His design is.. interesting.. I made a point to realize that he looks like a messed up Matt Donovan from TVD, and i can’t unsee that so that’s great LOL

His scenes are a bit lackluster, the only one I really liked was when he showed up after killing Luis.

That man is not straight.

Hunnigan

I do not like that she was basically gone for the entire rest of the game after she loses connection with Leon. She doesn’t even get confirmation at the end of the game if Leon and Ashley are even safe. I felt like they really did her dirty imo.

LOVED her redesign though she is gorgeous 

it’s wesking time

I WANT EVERYONE TO GET OVER THE FACT HE DOESN’T SOUND LIKE WESKER. We (og fans) know that Ada is talking to Wesker at her second? scene, and it would’ve been way too obvious to viewers that it was Wesker if he was like MMRHRHAAHWWW YESSSSS IM WESKERRRRR IT’S WESKING TIME KITTENWHISKERSMEEYAEAAHSSS That bit of his voice is JUST enough for me to still read it as Wesker. And the banter between Wesker and Ada. 

“Don’t come crying to me when you get bit.” “Control your dog.” OH MY GOD. Ada’s, “He’s a good boy, predictable.”

This also removes the whole fight with Ada and Wesker though. “I don’t play by your rules Wesker,” so I don’t really know how I feel about that, but in saying that, this ALSO fleshes out the relationship between Wesker and Ada. The fact that Wesker already knows about Leon and Ada in THAT kind of context makes me WOW.

Did Ada go crying to Wesker about Leon before? OH MY GOD SO GOOD

I also think his redesign is good, tbh most of the redesigns were UP >>>> as opposed to og re4

The Merchant

Every single playthrough I watched, everyone wanted to kill the merchant and found him annoying lol

He kind of grew on me and I do like his voice even though people hated it because it wasn’t a carbon copy from og re4

whatareyabuyin?

The Enemies

I don’t want to go into every single enemy type so 

the ones that scared me the most were Armaduras and the Regeneradors

At some point during the game, the enemies are a bit repetitive but at the end it’s not that much of a complaint since you’re still hit with new enemies a lot. 

I HATE THE BUG ONES even though those are the easiest to kill they just scared me randomly the most

“IF YOU CAN MELEE A BUG- IT’S TOO DAMN BIG.”

aeon

now ever since the game came out people have been asking me my opinions on aeon “do i think the ship is ruined?” etc.

Absolutely not. If anything, it helped the ship. 

OG re series had Leon be this flirtatious, (often times cringe) type of ladies man, where it kind of doesn’t make sense? 

“I’m a one lady type of guy.” Is a complete retcon from og Leon. (This is also since his gf in re2 is retconned in re2r, and his flirting with Hunnigan is also retconned. And he’s outright mean to Ashley a lot in re4r tbh or just ignores her. He’s also a bit rude to Ada (which is actually more justified tbh since he’s angry with her, but he doesn’t have a reason to be mean to Ashley.)

We have to remember that between 1998 and 2004 is 6 years of NO CONTACT FOR THEM. Leon thinks Ada is dead. And he’s had 6 years of trauma, mental anguish and survivors guilt. Which heavily affects Leon and how he interacts with the world. He’s just genuinely a lot meaner. He sees the world as broken still. And when she just shows up alive, he’s allowed to be angry. Instead of having re4 Leon just be like

“Your right hand comes off?” “No THANKS BRO.” He still has some one liners here and there, but he’s not as goofy as fuck anymore. He’s more grounded. (And you’re completely allowed to enjoy re4 more than re4r, that’s an okay opinion to have imo.) I firmly believe that both can still be enjoyed.

Now for Ada we have, is what I believe is what capcom intended for her. She was immediately labeled as “an evil woman,” and nothing else. And capcom wanted to get rid of that idea immediately. “Nothing personal Leon,” she is just doing her job. And in that ending she betrays Wesker as soon as she realizes that he’s going to kill billions of people. She may have a questionable moral compass but ultimately she’ll do what she thinks is better. And she KNOWS THIS. She’s very much the lesser of two evils type when it comes to her work.

“Have you changed Ada?” “What do you think?” She wants her actions to be louder than her words. She never has her finger on the trigger when she first sees Leon. (re2, she never had bullets left in her chamber when she threatened him with her gun) 

She invites him onto the helicopter knowing that Leon would say no. She even has the back up with the keys and bear (thank you capcom for the bear) Capcom clearly wanted to show that Ada still wants him, even in ways that general audiences couldn’t see. (Where as aeon stans who played separate ways, and her re6 campaign, already know that Ada tries to save him whenever she can. Same with Damnation. She warns him and does what she can to get away.)

I think the whole banter of “you owe me,” is simply a way to continue their relationship, that there’s a promise of seeing each other again. 

I’m honestly not the hugest fan of the whole marvel “WE SAID THE THING :D” because true og fans know that separate ways is Ada’s campaign. BUT it serves for the angst. We know that we don’t see aeon on screen till damnation which is another 6 years but the developers have already stated that their lives continued on off screen as well. That’s where we get the re5 off screen “that night.” 

When the developers were remaking the games, they knew that the whole re2 “They fell in love immediately,” and then they said, “that’s not right, there needs to be more interaction first.” Which COMPLETELY goes with where capcom is going with a more realistic interaction of the ship. 

The fact that they flipped the “she’s like a part of me I can’t let go,” to “HE’S like a part of me I can’t let go,” is a BIG change for how capcom is interpreting their relationship and expressing it WAY MORE CLEARLY that Ada is interested. 

A LOT of people still see Ada as someone who doesn’t care about Leon, which is the furthest thing from the truth. The fact that Capcom felt the need to do the reversal really shows that they always intended for the ship to be mutual. That it was merely their lifestyles and jobs that would make it difficult for their relationship to work. Which is what AEON FANS ALWAYS KNEW.

But this is for outsiders, new fans who don’t have all that information. That the slightest bit of a redemption arc, and VISIBLE hurt from Ada from Leon’s “rejection,” is what people needed to see to see that they are still mutually interested in each other. 

Even after receiving the bear keychain, Leon still looks longingly at Ada as she flies away. He doesn’t question her, he simply accepts the fact that their jobs make it so that he can not follow her. 

And reminder again we have 6 YEARS to flesh out what happens next.

Overall, I still very much enjoyed the game, I feel like a few things were missing but not entirely enough so that I felt like parts were missing, more like beats were missing. But again, with separate ways, we’ll maybe get to see more of the other side of the story.

gameplay 8/10

story/plot 9/10

characters 7/10

aeon 8/10

overall 32/40

and as leon said it,

“take it however you like it.”

[tenebriskukris]

Oshi No Ko Chapter 144 – My Thoughts/Analysis

We're thrown a bit of a curveball for this chapter, but it's certainly an enjoyable chapter nonetheless. Spoilers for Oshi No Ko Ch144 below.

A timeskip??? After the absolute banger we got in the last chapter we’re served up a timeskip?? Considering how the last chapter ended I fully expected things to focus on everyone else’s reactions to the kiss scene as well as Aqua and Ruby’s new dynamic but shifting the spotlight to the movie’s hospital scene in Miyazaki is a massive departure from where we were in the last chapter. The pacing issues of the arc are starting to become more and more evident.

Traditionally movie productions take months if not years to get to a stage where they can actually film the movie. Even setting aside that most of the people involved are basically newcomers to the big leagues of stardom, the production shouldn’t run this fast towards the finish line. And now the manga’s telling me that there’s nothing that would be relevant in between the bureaucratic mess that would actually be making a movie of this scale? I can believe reincarnation exists, but certainly not paperwork and bureaucracy running as fast as it has throughout the arc.

The manga does infodump some cursory knowledge on how actual productions are supposed to work—thankfully enough. But the fact that it has this basic knowledge and it hasn’t seen fit to add in other, smaller interactions between the cast members who already lack sufficient screentime—and by proxy Aqua and Ruby—is a grating offense. Perhaps it would have been better to split this entire movie arc into two, perhaps three arcs in total while juggling more character focused chapters? I’ll make sure to give my thoughts on this arc as a whole as soon as it finishes.

With all the hubbub of Aqua as Hikaru and Ruby as Ai, I’ve almost forgotten that Melt wiggled his way into production. Why is he here again as a B-list actor? I know Kaburagi likely pulled some strings to get him in, but his acting ability isn’t really something to harp on. Then again Goro would basically be a B-list character in a story about Ai so I get why they didn’t try very hard to find someone good in acting.

Ruby’s face as she glares at Melt is perfect. Her roasting Melt is fucking hilarious, especially since she’s not even wrong in her criticisms. Of course that girl is going to have opinions on someone that’s trying to portray her sensei. If it was some role that wasn’t Goro I’m sure she wouldn’t have cared as much as she has about how he acts.

The little little princess shirt in Ruby is a treasure. This girl needs to be protected.

Melt knowing that his acting skills are only decent is a great moment of self awareness from a character we don’t seem to see much of. Other actors coughKanacough would have egos too large than to admit that they were doing anything wrong without some sort of outside intervention.

We’re basically in the final stage of the movie??? This arc’s pacing has been all over the place, so I can believe we’re approaching its conclusion, but there’s still too many plot points left unresolved. 

It’s refreshing to see Melt admit his deficiencies to Ruby and doing what he can to shore up his weaknesses.  It shows that not everyone is not to the level of Akane or Kana or even Aqua—Melt may just be the least experienced actor among the cast. And while Ruby’s acting ability may be less refined in comparison to Akane or Melt, I don’t think it’s a leap to say that she performs the role of Ai better than Akane or Frill simply because she can understand Ai’s heart better than what’s written on the script. Her impromptu scene after Kana’s outburst was proof enough of that—I doubt that either of them would’ve let their emotions run free and gave us a peek at what Ai was really feeling.

Ruby saying that Himekawa would’ve been a better fit for the role of Goro is multi-layered. On one hand of course she wants a good actor to play her sensei. But on the other hand Himekawa is also her half-brother. 

Melt saying that he’s putting more effort to understand the characters than anyone else is somewhat ironic considering Akane’s very existence. Ditto for Aqua and Ruby when they’re playing their parents. Perhaps Melt has also been affected by Kana’s insensitivity with how those words can be interpreted very badly.

Oh. Some of Ai’s merch in Melt’s pocket. I’m starting to see where this is going. Also I know that guy who sold Ai’s merch! Funny how he keeps popping up.

Melt’s analysis of Goro…even if he’s not on the level of Akane or the rest of the cast, I think he’s managed to grasp the man’s heart well to make these kinds of statements. I have to give Melt props for it and I have to dock the manga points for basically infodumping this to Ruby and the average reader. It’s a typical case of the manga telling us rather than showing us Goro’s character. Really, would it be difficult for us to see another Ruby flashback of what her thoughts are of Goro?

Ruby’s face as Melt explains his reasoning for his portrayal of Goro’s character…And the way the panel is drawn—hiding Ruby’s star eye from the reader—that’s good paneling. Also, “A symbol for his feelings for that child.”? I’d say that the manga was trying to bash in the fact that Goro and Sarina had a very unique relationship even further but the fact that I can still see people screaming about this exact subject even almost 150 chapters into the manga so I can forgive them for it.

Ruby gushing about Melt’s portrayal immediately after dissing him is also funny. Melt’s proved he can understand Goro, so she has a greater respect for him after that. I’d also wonder if Akane would have similar thoughts about Goro from the script…

Crow Girl???? Finally you’ve reappeared. I was wondering what the payoff for her being in the arc would actually be.

Oh man Ruby…with how 143 ended I think this tells us that Aqua didn’t break Ruby’s heart after that kiss scene. If he did—which would be very much out of character with how AquaGoro holds RubySarina in his heart—it would definitely be shown to us immediately afterward. Letting what happened after that scene linger in the background still doesn’t sit right with me with the arc’s already bloated pacing, but I understand why it’d have to be offscreened—doesn’t mean I can’t critique the hell out of it.

Crow Girl lore???????? Crying and shaking and throwing up right now what the fuck does she mean by that. The implications are all running into each other because with how Crow Girl described how the reincarnators could be considered gods it’s looking more and more likely that Aqua and Ruby are in a position to eventually become gods. Comparing that with how Miyako in the flashforwards was talking about how Aqua and Ruby were given favored treatments and trials in equal measures alongside divine guidance…it paints a picture of how the potential supernatural aspect is going to pan out. 

I am also pretty sure that some of the gods Crow Girl refer to are Aka and Mengo themselves, the actual writer and artist of Oshi No Ko. Especially with that whole “you guys often receive help from god without knowing it” bit. That smells very much like narrative relevance and protagonism. If the manga decides to go meta now I wouldn’t really mind that, but I’d hoped it would be foreshadowed better beforehand. A small comment about how “god-like” Aqua and Ruby would be would’ve really helped. 

And of course we end off on Crow Girl being a gag. For a very powerful supernatural entity she seems to be easily handled by Aqua and Ruby. You’d think she would put the fear of god more into them, really, but if Aqua and Ruby actually do become gods I can see why she’s being pushed around by them like this. 

What the actual fuck was this chapter. We don’t get to see if Aqua has white star eyes after the kiss but we do see Crow Girl and her massive lore drops written between the lines. Ever since she’s been introduced in this arc I’d been wondering what the followup would be to her whole thing but having even more evidence that Aqua and Ruby are on the path to godhood was not on my bingo card for this chapter.

I’ll be the first to admit I don’t have the cultural knowledge on the Japanese versions of gods—the kami—so I can’t put the pieces together on some of the more subtle things that Crow Girl might be referring to, but casting off mortality for the divine isn’t something that most people can aspire toward on a whim. In my mind you’d ideally need at least two things for it. Belief and freedom.

The former for people to believe in you in a certain manner—of which both Aqua and Ruby are already there with the movie releasing—and the latter through some sort of catalyst that makes a person more than flesh and blood. For a manga without much of a magic system at all, the only thing I can think of at the top of my head is dying.

Of course this assumes that both Aqua and Ruby will choose to become gods in the first place. Perhaps to reincarnate Ai again? But with how the manga is pushing this narrative of godhood and the supernatural it’s still in the cards for them. Something to consider as the arc unfolds.

[co-mixed]

Daredevil by Charles Soule

Let’s start with the wow. The same wow that comes after finishing a great run by a great writing team. Charles Soule and various artists alongside him took the several times reimagined, arguably the darkest hero of Marvel and gave him an entirely new life. Let there be spoilers.

Bottoms up

I want to immediately talk about the end of this run. It's a dream sequence, which is a notoriously difficult trope to pull off. Most people will agree that gotcha! dream sequences cheapen their own effect. But I can't say that the resolution felt cheap here. Despite watching it unfold throughout several issues, it was everything that Matt had ever wanted. From turning imaginary family real to having the final dramatic night with Elektra, to heroes assembling to take down Kingpin. It was so epic it was doomed to be a fantasy. 

But none of that would've happened had it not been for the previous events. The run starts with Daredevil in black, which is never a good sign for a hero. And don't for a second think that no one makes a joke about that. Spider-Man is first in line. But it's not only the costume that's different: the whole public identity cat is back in the bag. To be frank, it gets a bit confusing. So much so that I had to go back and recheck reading guides, to make sure I didn't miss a special where Daredevil makes a deal with Mephisto. He doesn't, in fact, when he gets the opportunity, he walks away. Good for him, I suppose. 

It takes 20 issues of city and overseas adventures to finally find out how and when he pulls off the restoration of the status quo. It's a pretty enjoyable arc for which the narrative style and the colors of Waid’s run make a temporary comeback. 

Status quo

But back to the now, to the beginning: Daredevil has his own Robin, a kid called Blindspot who wants to protect Chinatown like Daredevil does in Hell's Kitchen. The only one who knows Matt is Daredevil is Foggy and he's so salty about that, they're almost on the outs.

Kirsten had joined the extensive group of exes (I have a mental list of them so far) and a shorter list of exes who got away alive. Oh, and Matt was back in New York. It's been way too odd to see him in San Francisco. If the X-Men could thrive there, Matt Murdock definitely belongs in NYC. 

Connections

Let's start with the romantic life. There is none. Charles Soule manages to tackle every other aspect of Matt’s life, even religion. But he has no romantic partner for the duration of this run. Which means no woman has to suffer and die unnecessarily. Yay. 

Well... if you don't think too hard about their conscience.

And you know, Matt's inability to maintain a relationship is probably 30% of the fun in his books. Still, Soule manages to deliver a rich dynamic narrative without dragging Matt’s partners through hell. 

Matt is not left without a connection though, despite everyone forgetting who he is, he gets a partner and an apprentice. Now of course this kid, Blindspot, gets the short end of the stick. He is blinded by Muse, who is a new villain on the block. Gotta say he’s a pretty decent villain too. A very Batman villain, I want to say. Since he goes all out with his creepiness and finds a BS pseudo-philosophical explanation for his sick hobby. That always makes me think of Bats because who else has a rogues gallery so twisted? But like I keep saying, the characters share a lot of common features so it's only fair their villains do as well. 

Muse, in fact, shows up twice and both times cracks sickness up to 11, even throwing in a little social message here and there. 

He serves as both Daredevil villain and Blindspot's re-origin story. Although I can't exactly say I’m happy with where Blindspot ended the run. He had potential and he had a struggle with darkness which surely could be used better anywhere other than with a group of flying nuns fighting priests.

Before that, of course, Matt has to go to China and fight the Beast. Why not? 

The why we fight

When he comes back though, that's when everything hits the fan and brings the arc that to me holds this whole run together. Wilson Fisk becomes the mayor of New York. And that, to me, is it. The why we fight of it all. A raging obsessive and violent maniac becoming a recognized public authority figure. I knew right then and there that no matter what Matt or Daredevil tries, he is screwed. And how beautifully it's delivered: it's not just that Fisk grabbed a position of power, it's that people showed up to vote for him. They bought and believed his message. And no one stepped in. He twisted the system and he used it to grab more influence. He sketched an idea of an enemy and united people against it. And yes, he rigged the election but in the end, we find out he didn't have to. Because fear and hate, they always work, don't they? 

There were two moments when I felt this book bleeding realism. 

The first one is when Daredevil mistakenly says he has faith in the people of New York. He believes they know what Fisk is and they can't support him. That's a lie. Or wishful thinking. Either way, they don't. And they don't come to his rescue as he is declared public enemy number one. Even the cops he’s helped so many times, they are in fact the first to pick up tasers and advanced sound systems to join the hunt. 

The second moment is Matt's paralegal at the D.A. office, Ellen, saying she supports Fisk’s ideas since Spider-Man destroyed her car once. Well maybe not just that but you get where I’m going with this. It's always the seemingly small things. And it's always the unexpected people. Her reluctance to respond when Matt asked her who she voted for, it was louder than a poster at a rally and if you have experience fighting the good fight, you feel it like a bucket of ice water. Of course, Matt gets to shake it off and go swinging through the city. You don't, so you're left with the remaining issues of the run.

Talk to The Hand

The power struggle goes on and on, neither Matt Murdock nor Daredevil gets a win until Fisk is shot full of The Hand’s arrows, and due to a lucky break, Matt becomes the mayor. Everything works out in a questionable arc that I don't want to focus on too much. I'm gonna say, however, that “I can't see the light so I will be the light” is a hell of a powerful phrase. With this phrase, Soule does to the reader what Daredevil is supposed to do. The whole reason for his endless misfortunes, and battles, and losses: inspiration.

This is, actually, the message of this run. Not guilt, not responsibility. Inspiration. At one point, Daredevil mentions that people have to fight for themselves too. And maybe the fact that people hear that is why he believes in New York. 

This optimism under the darkest of circumstances is another thing that continues Waid’s narrative. Because the tone, that returns to a more familiar Miller-inspired brooding nature. If you ask me, that's good. That's where Daredevil functions best. He’s not great at wisecracking, he's not Spider-Man. He has to remain intense and on guard.

Let's talk colors.

Several artists work on the run and each one brings a different look. Keep in mind, that this run was happening at the same time as the Netflix show. So yes, at some point characters began to look a little too much like the actors from the show. Which isn't bad, just curious. Either way, all styles worked in their own way. 

But my personal favorite was the arrival of Phil Noto. It took his mastery to deliver the final blow, the final massive arc that might have been meaningless in a wider sense but did bring a fat bouquet of emotions.

There were many moments throughout Soule’s run when I laughed and praised his writing. Even if the stories didn't always go where I’d like them to, it was never dull. From taking a case to the Supreme Court (and delivering a hell of an argument splash page) to the last words “And I am not afraid,” this series remained surprising and moving. 

[bonebabbles]

im curious, do you think there is any good way to portray a redemption by death? like, can a character truly be made a better person by dying? or is it just an all-around bad trope? i vaguely saw what the authors were trying to do with tom and sandgorse's situations, but they just sucked too bad and gave it the absolute wrong effect imo

I think there's a way to make anything work! So I won't say "NO NEVER." But personally, I have a big bone to pick with it so I avoid it

A redemption death doesn't give the character time to meaningfully change, imo, or truly make up for their actions. That all has to come before the death itself. And even the very idea of giving your life up to "redeem yourself" just... sits uncomfortably with me.

Dying never makes a person better. It just kills them. A person who's dead is not changing nor growing.

So Tom and Sandgorse... what their deaths are supposed to do is re-frame everything they did before that point. With no apology on Sandgorse's end for how badly he hurt his son or wasn't there for his mate, he was a good enough person to die for someone else and thus must be forgiven. Tom thrashes two women and they both die because of him, but he was still willing to heroically throw his life down for his child, and so he is 'worthy' of being avenged and honored.

No growth. No change. No acknowledgement. The death is supposed to add sympathy to them, while there's no actual reckoning of how they hurt their victims. Not even a real consequence. "Their intentions were good, and this is proven through the ultimate sacrifice." As if that changes anything. It doesn't.

I think if there's an decent example of a redemption death in warriors, it's Bluestar's. I still have problems with how it believes Stone and Misty have to "forgive her" for some reason, REALLY don't like the fact that this series has always equated redemption and forgiveness... but that aside? Just focusing on Firestar, ThunderClan, and Bluestar?

I think what makes the moment so strong is that it is a moment of clarity through her cruelty arc. We saw the heroic person she was at the start of TPB. We know that her actions are coming from anger, spite, and paranoia. That is never shown as a thing to be excused. But while she's wrapped up in her own misery, Fireheart is being the leader she isn't.

And her last life is a return to form, spending it the way she is supposed to, as a leader, and as his mentor.

Her arc could never be about 'growth' because... she WAS a great leader. She WAS selfless, long ago. Her redemption death is a return to that, and a plot necessity. Bluestar and Firestar cannot both exist.

But, anyway, it's generally a trope I'm not fond of. I think that nearly anything can work in the right context, but I think it's so situational that I personally avoid it when possible.

[derekscorner]

Fated Rantings: Remnants Rambling

A Game Better Than It Has Right To Be

I recently finished what is my fourth romp through the Fate Series. It has been slow going due to life but truth be told I didn't want to rush either.

My go of Fate Grand Order is still ongoing, my first anime was Apocrypha, then I watched the 2006 Fate Stay Night, and now I've finished Samurai Remnant after 70+ hours.

Each of these has been good so far. I may hate gacha games but FGO has a solid initial story arc and it's Lost Belt 6 story is also great apparently. I'm not sure I'll get that far but I am determined to finish Solomon's villain arc.

While I'd rate Apocrypha a better anime than it's often given. I am still in shock from the sheer contrast of Astolfo in-story vs the internet osmosis he's become. While the 06 anime was decent for me I do admit I had already seen plenty of lore videos prior so I knew what was going on.

Then there's Samurai Remnant that is better than I expected. I tried it because I am a new Fate fan and Type-Moon doesn't localize things often. I'd argue it is my second favorite story so far falling just behind Apocrypha.

Imagine a Fate Stay Night remade in this style!

Game mechanics weren't perfect or without annoyance for me, I will admit. I feel like Iori gets knocked around far to easy and can be stun locked.

The barrier gauge among most enemies and bosses is honestly a pain and feels like it's padding a bit (until you hit max level anyway) and it is easy to get lost in the towns at first.

Yes you have a map but I did get annoyed more than once be slow traversal hazards or dead ends. Granted, this is an aggravation for extras.

When in-story it is all fine. There's story reasons or game mechanic reasons for why you will have to crawl around, sneak, and so on. It was very much an issue I gave myself for wanting to do every thing and search every corner.

Many other things that annoyed me at first quickly vanished later as I leveled up or filled out skill boards so I will not list them. It was a somewhat basic but unique (in ways) game play set up for what is essentially a visual novel.

I only mention it all because I think this game would be an amazing blueprint for other Fate games. I've already seen people hope for a Fate Stay Night remade in this game's image.

Whether it's a new route or just the old novel redone the hope is now there and I find myself agreeing with them. Samura/Remnant is a great prototype for taking visual novels that began Fate and turning them into a video game that can reach more people.

Story is where it Shines

I won't lie, I expected something 'okay' or "mid" as kids call it, but no. This story actually is rather good. Several characters have more going on than it initially appears and multiple runs are required.

You'll play this game 3 to 4 times if you want every ending or to finish ever digression mission. Something I highly recommend you do because you'll miss out on explanations for several plot points or character motivations.

Admittedly, there are several things that I didn't get answered despite my thorough go of the game. I completely missed the fact that Tsuchimikado's family can use divination for future sight. It was this very skill that allowed him to create the Waxing Moon Ritual.

The whole reason the ritual is flawed is due to him using imperfect foresight to orchestrate the event. The story tells you several times that the ritual is a sham compared to the Fuyuki Grail War but I don't remember it ever actually stating why.

The wish of Rogue Berserker was also something I missed in-game. I won't spoil who he is (or was?) but knowing his wish now makes his finale and leyline placement much more sensible.

Leyline you ask?

Ah yes, it's explained in-game but I'll spoil it here since it's not that much of one. Due to the rituals imperfection a number of extra servants are summoned to Edo.

They're "rogue" or stray servants who are bound to a leyline in the land. (A spot of particularly high mana essentially.) On top of the rogue servants a pseudo servant and ruler class servant are also summoned.

Of course, none of these extra heroes have much interest in the ritual. You can befriend them in the story but the actual war itself is carried out by the 7 actual servants and their masters.

As for the ruler, well, Gilgamesh really just proves why he never gets the role in the funniest way. He doesn't care about the false grail, he doesn't care about the half-assed ritual, and he doesn't care for his job as a ruler.

He literally fucks off, weebs out, and opens a store five houses down from yours early into the game. It is one of the funniest fucking things.

It's small things like this or Gilgamesh's antics that give the story life. I don't want my section above to paint the image of it being bad for some things going unexplained. It's entirely possible I missed the in-game explanation.

But do know that characters will sell this story too you more than the plot beats will.

The story itself, in terms of progression, is simple. Iori gets drug into the ritual like most Fate protagonists do. Many of the events triggered are usually by way of the other masters having an actual battle.

Iori is there, he's an active participant, but he mostly runs around seeking information or making allies while major events are kicked off by the magi or servants triggering them. The digressions show you a lot of these perspectives.

Iori isn't a fool or ignorant of magic, he's just not a man of status or means to pull the stunts many others cause. I would argue he "has no desire too" but that in of itself is a murky topic.

Overall, I do consider it a good thing because the story is character driven instead. So much so that I won't even dare to try and fit it all in a post. I'll let you discover that for yourself...except for Assassin.

Not a bad character by any means but he has a moment in the game mid way and to this very day I do not get why he does what he does. It's like they just did whatever they had to for that boss fight to happen...

I just find it a shame because his digressions are actually humorous. Many character interactions are funny at times. It's always the small things too, little scenes that you could miss if you rush.

Other Questions & Conclusions

To be honest there's more I could ramble on but it won't fit into one post and I do not feel like I can make more than two or three. One reason is due to me obviously missing details that I only learned later due to a video by Otakudaikun.

Another reason is due to the sheer number of characters. There's several I've only seen for the first time outside of FGO and do not feel like I can do them justice due to my lack of familiarity.

Others are so simple that I do not think they have much to be said. They're not bad for it they're just simple and true to their nature.

Such as Jeanne. I didn't even get into how disappointing it is for her personality to be muted. And make no mistake, this is Jeanne corrupted not FGO Jalter.

I didn't cover just how much Rogue Berserker hit me personally since I liked his legend as a child.

I'd need a whole post of it's own to talk about Rogue Rider and her antics. Sure you see a loli but by hell I know Amaterasu's lore in Fate, her nature, so I only get nervous seeing her grin. (though I do love her dynamic with Kaya)

Nor did I elaborate on how cool it is for the main servants (the ones paired with masters) to be legends from Japan or China. I actually learned a few interesting ones due to this writing decision.

There's the other endings as well but nothing is as deep as the 'Entreat the Darkness' ending imo. They're all decent though.

I even have this theory that Iori is the reason Musashi was summoned to t his timeline with no proof other than he wants to best his master and she wants a decent opponent.

What I will reiterate is that you should try this. It's a great place to start Fate and it's a good one to try if you already follow Fate.

Go give it a try, bye now~

================================================

Other Fate related ramblings here: https://derekscorner.tumblr.com/tagged/fated-rantings

[moonstone27ls]

X-men 97 thoughts so far...

Gonna give one spoiler warning....

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.........

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Why? Because if reviewers haven't spoiled it, most youtubers have dozens of dozens of clips. Literally no point in me saying it much....

Sooo... that pretty much it....

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.....Spoiler warning....ends.......

............................................now....(Also warning I do not have a Disney+ account. I'm on a budget I'm relying on clip unfortunately)

So my thoughts initially when I was hesitant to really look at it. Not so much because Disney owns this now. Its just been a long time. I kinda quit watching the original cartoon I wanna say before the last two seasons.

First ep didn't really grab me. At first the animation turned me off. I can't give a definitive reason why. Just something about when they first talked. And also.... did everyone suddenly get paler? oO No I'm not accusing them of whitewashing Storm. I'm referring to in general. I mean even Magneto looks a bit bleached.

It at best seemed decent. Ep 2 was shown and I was intrigued to see Magneto was apparently in Charles will and just gave him everything. Either he loved/had faith in Magneto more than he showed or just dang he pulled a 180 as they say. Lol I kid, I do think Xavier did all that out of good faith.

That one grabbed my attention a lot more. To see Magneto struggle against what he's use to. To try and be better for Xavier and the X-men. I admit seeing Storm lose her powers was a shocker. But I don't believe she'll stay human forever.

As hard as it is sometimes to see the other side. The show did actually attempt to show a pov for humans. (And no not referring to friends of humanity group). Its just a youtber pointed it out, that although Storm was protecting Magneto, yeah through a humans' eyes the powers could look more terrifying. And although it was stupid of the doctor to refuse aid to Madelyne (Jean's clone, sorry warned earlier on spoilers).

I've watched enough hero shows to see... the doc had a point. DC's Ace accidentally killed her parent as a baby. Cyclops has had accidents. So the fear wasn't totally without cause. Still cool though that Rogue could absorb medical knowledge and the nurses complied.

Enjoyed Wolverine's face when she said the baby was coming. Baby Nathan was cute. And the monologue Magneto gave the UN was really well done.

Ep 3 came and well wasn't entirely shocked the Jean, Cylcops had a baby with would turn out to be her clone. I dunno if it was everyone guessing or the comic reference. Hmm for me it was her face in the background. I swear Madelyne looked more angry than shocked.

And also dang that was good moment to show us they could let go of some restraints. Besides the excellent animation in both their fears being shown and Goblin Queen's fight with X-men and Magneto. And I'm gonna say it... Jean's talk with Wolverine. Very sweet moment, it made me a Jean/Logan shipper. And I recall as a kid I wasn't really into it.

Though will it happen... dunno. Probably not. But I wouldn't be entirely against it. Especially watching that whole ep. Just neither one can remember when they got switched. Just awkwarddddddddd. And while it was sad Cyclops had to say goodbye to his baby, granted I had not read the comics but was told enough to know it was gonna happen. Changed obviously but cartoons does their own thing.

Ep 4 was okay, Jubilee's okay but stuff with Mojo was never my thing. I just enjoyed it when her and Roberto finally became an item. Super cute. Though surprised that the X-men just basically bent over when Magneto said "no" to Jubilee's birthday wish. I mean granted yes he owns their group?/or home. But they all literally wanted to enjoy/and give Jubilee a birthday party. Just surprised not even Wolverine offered to take them out.

Storm's arc was so far ok(waiting for part 2 to full give opinion). Felt sorry for her the entire time cause she clearly missed her powers. And was a bit surprised Forge made those weapons... (dunno if thats a direct ref to the comics).

Then on to ep 5... the one I think so far has clearly blown our minds. I'm not gonna lie part of me saw what happened with Genosha coming because I follow people who explain comic history. So moment the place was mentioned I thought "oh boy what are they gonna do". I am a bit surprised Cable attempted to stop it. Or warn others of it? Sooo... is Madelyne dead? Went to fast to show if she survived.

Action scenes were intense to say the least. Not gonna lie I will be super pissed if they killed off Remy just so Rogue can run back to Magneto. Yes I know what the robot said and everyone's all "Magneto's dead".... but considering how this ended I wouldn't be surprised if he's shown alive later. Guess just a bit surprised people died in general. I mean its not Invincible level but you get the idea still surprising.

Any personal notes... okay what I liked. Voice acting's good, glad they got back the original actors, animation, music even pretty good, some of the story has done fairly well. I like some of the new characters.. I mean I guess.. its been 5 episodes I can't say there's been a lot. All of the cameos and easter eggs.

Anything I don't like...the love drama. Cyclops love rectangle(had to add Wolverine). Not sure were the writers are planning to go with this. And Emma Frost is here, as a character I dunno. But her role with Cyclops I DO remember. Please people don't add more. Lol. After this ep I can already see his variables. One, Madelyne's alive and he choses her. Two, Madelyne's dead and he wants Jean back as a rebound; though she's clearly in my opinion should be given space instead of being asked to choose whom to love right now. Or three she's hurt and he drags his feet in between both. Which sucks.

Honestly although I know Logan turned Jean down. I would prefer Jean go "I need space". She finds her space and she just asks Logan on a date. Just to see where it goes.

Then there's the one I REALLY didn't ask for Rogue/Magneto/Gambit. Yes I know this was in the comics but even then I didn't like it. But onto the show version. Don't like it cause there was no hint of it in the series. And secondly felt like the story was trying to give us Rogue/Gambit as a couple. So to see them trying to find their footing and then shoehorn this love triangle in was EXHAUSTING. I mean I love Magneto as a character both hero/antihero and villain. But I don't ship him with Rogue. He's old enough to be her grandfather and the animation doesn't really do well of hiding it either. He's a cool grandpa but still grandpa to me.

AND yes I know this is a revival. But even their attempts to give it justification felt off. Their background made it more awkward. I'm giving my opinion to be clear. You don't like it don't read it. From what I can tell Rogue was kicked out as a teen. And according to the wiki she was 13.

She met Magneto (according to this revival ) sometime after Mystique took her in. What time? I admit it doesn't say. Given how she's in her mid 20s in the show. We still have to assume she was still a teenager when they met.

Again can't give a precise age besides the fact that it was vague on purpose. Secondly, the animators made her look her 20s age even when she met Magneto. And I'm not buying that. I get it they're attempting to not make this triangle so out of the blue.

But doing it like this now and then I'm gonna be blunt watching his actions/and that dance felt wayyyy more predatory than it did romantic. At least Wolverine wouldn't put Jean on the spot so he could get into her pants. I mean come on writers Magneto could literally have ANYONE else without making it feel predatory BD;.

I'll say it again, I will be PISSED if Gambit is killed and Magneto lives. And just so we can push a may/December romance NOBODY asked for. And at Gambit's expense.

Thats it. I'll write my opinions when the rest of the eps are shown. Later till then!

[maya-matlin]

I'm embarrassed to even admit this (and am thankful that you have anon on!) but I actually like Lucas Scott more than Dan Humphrey. Please don't think I'm disagreeing with anything you wrote in that Jess vs Dan vs Lucas vs Jughead analysis, because it really was brilliant and totally on target. But Dan kind of desperately wanting to be accepted by the snotty high society Upper East Side crowd even while judging and mocking them (and apparently secretly stalking and humiliating them all as gossip girl lol) just bothers me and for me isn't at all something Lucas - or Jess or Jughead- would care about. Lucas is a lot of not great things, but he's truly not into status, pretentious or desperate for acceptance. And as you've pointed out, Lucas is actually a decent and generally honest human being outside of his romantic relationships---I just can't ever see him playing a secret 'gossip girl' type role in OTH or even caring enough about gossip to constantly read and write about it. Even if we pretend Dan wasn't Gossip Girl, which he shouldn't have been for several reasons, he's got more of a Julian thing of caring more about status and popularity than Lucas, Jess or Jughead imo. I still like Dan and think he's a great match for Blair---I just also think he's a little more deceitful, hypocritical and into status than Lucas, Jess or Jughead...but then again he's a character on Gossip Girl, where pretty much everyone is fairly terrible in that way :) As for Lucas---yeah, he's indecisive and lies to himself and therefore others about his romantic feelings, and the center point in any love triangle always justifiably grates on everyone's nerves lol. And like the other three guys mentioned here, he can definitely be judgy and self-righteous. But there's a lot I like about Lucas too---he's smart and cerebral, he's brave and protective, he's very insightful (except when it comes to himself lol) and I really do think he cares about people deeply. But I get that that doesn't excuse his flaws :) Thanks for reading this - I have no idea how or why it's so long!

Aw, you don't have to be embarrassed! I respect your privacy, though. It's funny I gave the impression I don't like Lucas. The truth is, I like him a lot and spend most of the show actively enjoying his character. Seasons 1 and 5 were pretty terrible (though season 1 at least gave him a solid foundation compared to season 5's constant fuckboy behavior). I bash Lucas because I genuinely care and get so frustrated because I know he's capable of being better than he ends up being. His whole arc went to shit because of multiple love triangles and the bizarre idea that he needed to be "in denial" over his feelings for Peyton, multiple times, rather than just owning up to the fact he had complicated feelings for multiple women at the same time. And unfortunately, this behavior manifested itself in multiple instances of cheating because the dude was desperate for love and needed validation when it came to his love life. Anyways. Needless to say, I also prefer Lucas to Dan simply because I'm way more invested in One Tree Hill than Gossip Girl.

I appreciate the compliments. 💙 It really wasn't anything. Just random thoughts I threw together LOL. Your critique of Dan is fair. The thing about Gossip Girl is that the morality is upside down. Everyone screws over everyone and it's generally accepted that the wealthy elite can do no wrong. Dan doesn't quite fit into this crowd yet benefits from much of the privilege due to attending the same private school and later becoming Lily's stepson and eventually, Serena's husband. So he ends up being an honorary member of the core group, though he grew up in a very different environment, meaning it's much easier for Dan to be judgmental of the other characters. I think I just ignore the "Dan is Gossip Girl" reveal? There's no real way to make sense of it or to claim everything adds up based on what we saw on screen throughout seasons 1-5. It was a mistake for any character we saw on a regular basis to be revealed as Gossip Girl. But if I'm forced to acknowledge the reveal, you're correct that none of the other three would ever in a million years do such a thing. This implies there was a part of Dan that was so desperate to belong and to fit into the upper east side that he schemed, manipulated, stalked, gaslit and essentially pretended to be a different person to keep up the ruse. It's very dumb, as is the idea that everything was actually a secret love letter to Serena, someone he'd stopped seriously loving years before. To be fair though, I still haven't seen the final season of Gossip Girl. Your point about Dan being a Julian type is probably accurate. The thing about comparing those four characters is that it doesn't 100% add up. They're similar archetypes, but don't necessarily play the same roles on their respective shows. Dan was never presented nearly as heroically as Lucas was. By the time season 2 premiered, it was pretty clear the morality of the show had shifted with Chuck Bass becoming the male lead. The focus shifted to awful, privileged people doing underhanded things while looking beautiful (and Ed Westwick was there too) rather than viewing these characters through the eyes of the less privileged Humphreys. I mean, it was always a stretch due to Rufus being a rockstar, but in Gossip Girl world Dan is the poor one.

I have nothing to add to your thoughts about Lucas's strengths, but I 100% agree. Lucas has a lot going for him and is truly good at heart. He just doesn't need to be in a relationship until he gets some therapy. Unfortunately, he masked his problems by rushing down the aisle and starting a family. At this point, I have to assume he and Peyton are divorced, but that's just my wishful thinking.

[waitingforwinterwinds]

A Clash of Kings - 63 DAENERYS V (pages 786-799)

Dany loses one ally, but gains two more while out boat shopping.

-

-when Irri brought her a Qartheen gown, an airy confection of ivory samite patterned with seed pearls. "Take it away," Dany said.

... I have a comment on ivory dresses, but I'm too lazy to track down the other mention I think I remember, but if I am remembering correctly, that's an interesting connection between who gave it, who received it, what happened to the two dresses, and how that reflects on symbolism in her and Dany's story arcs.

Her small breasts moved freely beneath a painted Dothraki vest, -

… I hope she has something for the chafing. But also good for her, embracing the identity of those who first embraced her instead of trying to fit in with people who will never think of her as at least an equal.

Jhiqui had braided her hair in the Dothraki fashion, and fastened a silver bell to the end of her braid. “I have won no victories,” she tried tried telling her handmaiden when the bell tinkled softly. Jhiqui disagreed. “You burned the maegi in their house of dust and sent their souls to hell.” … She chimed as she mounted her silver mare, and again with every stride, but neither Ser Jorah nor her bloodriders made mention of it.

She deserves that bell. But also, it's interesting that that's something D&D chose to exclude from the show, given their Girl Boss!Dany narrative intentions, because it's like... the Dothraki already accepted Dany as Khaleesi, as mother of dragons, as pretty much their god, but giving her a bell feels like a different form of acceptance, something more of worn in trust than just married in power or authority earned by amazing and impossible feats. She's not just a mother who leads them, but a leader who can defend them, a warrior in her own right (even if her weapons of choice are dragons, it still counts), it feels very much like a point of culmination for the journey through the wastes.

“And so it was, then. But now? I am less certain. It is said that the glass candles are burning in the house of Urrathon Night-Walker, that have not burned in a hundred years. Ghost grass grows in the Garden of Gehane, phantom tortoises have been seen carrying messages between windowless houses on Warlocks Way, and all the rats in the city have been chewing off their own tails. -”

Phantom tortoises!? I need six hundred. Also iirc, ghost grass features pretty heavily in the apocalypse story of the Dothraki. !! an omen!

“- Sail with me around the Jade Sea, and we can yet make it so! It is not to late. Give me a son, my sweet song of joy!” Give you a dragon, you mean. “I will not wed you, Xaro.” His face had grown cold at that. “Then go.”

Pft, Dany knows what's up. Also? Xaro? Totally that charming, charismatic guy at the bar who calls a woman a slut the second she denies his advances and thinks women owe him for being a decent human being. (Not that he really is.)

"I am trying to set a price on one of the three living dragons in the world." Dany smiled at him sweetly. "It seems to me that one-third of all the ships in the world would be fair." Xaro's tears ran down his cheeks on either side of his jewel-encrusted nose. "Did I not warn you not to enter the Palace of Dust? This is the very thing I feared. the whispers of the warlocks have made you as mad as Mallarawan's wife. A third of all the ships in the world? Pah. Pah, I say. Pah."

tch. Yeah, goodness forbid a young woman reject your advances and demand "fair" things you can't afford for things she doesn't want to give up, absolute madness there. (angry sarcasm.)

Every word from his mouth brings me closer and closer to smacking him with the steel chair.

The warlocks whispered of three treasons... once for blood and once for gold and once for love. the first traitor was surely Mirri Maz Duur, who had murdered Khal Drogo and their unborn son to avenge her people.

mmm. Pressing F to doubt.

Partly because Mirri didn't kill Drogo. His complete rejection of medical care killed him, and I'm still not convinced Rhaego's death was intentional.

But also because of some of their other wordings during the prophecy bit, made it sound like it was a thing yet to come, not something that might have already happened.

... boat shopping is not going well.

"A most excellent brass, great lady," the merchant excaimed. "bright as the sun! And for the Mother of Dragons, only thirty honors." The platter was worth no more than three. "Where are my guards?" Dany declared, " this man is trying to rob me!"

Ha! I'd almost say Dany and Jorah had fun with this little bit of espionage if it weren't so serious.

... Wait. Hold on. old white-haired guy? Not... It's not Barristan Selmy already, is it? I almost forgot he existed, it's been ages.

... no. "Arstan." or is he? ... I'm probably just going to assume that's Barristan in disguise until evidence otherwise. Just saying, Arstan sound's a little like Barristan.

Also, can we talk about the fact manitcores come in freaking pocket sized? I need some. just a dozen or so, I'd get them a terrarium and everything.

... Dany was not kidding about the repeating threes in her plot at the moment. Even three ships to carry her ho- wait a minute. That's not the plot! Ooohhhh, something's going to go terribly wrong with the boats, isn't it?

"- But the ships that bring me home must bear different names." "As you wish," said Arstan. "What names would you prefer?" "Vhagar," Daenerys told him. "Meraxes. And Balerion. Paint the names on their hulls in golden letters three feet high, Arstan. I want every man who sees them to know the dragons are returned."

I do like the symbolism in the name choices, but speaking of name choices, I notice GRRM switched from "Dany" to "Daenerys" for this line.

I remember in a previous chapter, GoT, I think, I mentioned Dany's narrative voice changed her name to Daenerys when she was intentionally trying mental shuffle herself into a more cold hearted persona, so it's just interesting to see that name change crop up again when she's channeling her "conquering Khaleesi" persona.

[outofcontexttokusatsu]

People have been giving you crap for not liking Kingohger, and trust me I don't agree with you, but I am at least glad you're still watching it and giving it a shot. You even praised a cliffhanger! So, be honest: Do you think it'll be crap (in your opinion) beginning to end, or do you think this is just a weak opening introduction arc or what? Also, do you think that, regardless of the series's quality, that doing non-set-in-Tokyo series will be a good step forward for plot diversity?

Going to assume these anons are all from you as well based on the wording (and if not I apologize to you and those anons but for sake of convenience I'm going to lump them all together).

Honestly overall I wouldn't exactly care that much people disagree with me about the show since I've spent enough time online to deal with people disagreeing with me about media (hell Faiz is in my top 5 and people still treat that show like the plague), but because Certain People I Won't Name wanted to start a massive argument over it and seem convinced that they can bully me into changing my mind for some reason I feel compelled to keep my rebuttals up.

I didn't go in WANTING to hate it, I've never gone into a show expecting or wanting to hate it beyond maybe Saber and even that I gave it a fair shot. I made my post about it to keep the running joke going (which I planned to do anyways regardless of quality) and when asked I made my points very clear, and at the point of the writing the first 3 episodes all have the very same reaction from me: the CG is ugly and genuinely distracting, the cinematography and general production of the show is very bad and makes a lot of basic mistakes that Sentai has never really struggled with before (seriously how hard is it to make sure the lights on the actors match the lighting of the environment?) because they're putting the fancy new tech first, the writing ranges from being decent (I do like Gira's gimmick of just pretending to be a moron want to overthrow Racules as a despot but so far little is done with it) to bland (Yanma and Himeno end up being pretty one-note despite attempts to add a new layer to them, Bugnarok and Racules are 1980's JRPG levels of generic BBEG) and even decently written/acted scenes are ruined by terrible editing or throwing in LOLRANDUM wacky and zany shit to them (DUDE HACKING BATTLE LOL) that takes me out of it.

If it weren't for the excessive flashy CG and cool new projection theater stage tech being front and center it'd be a painfully average Sentai show that is exactly why Sentai has been flopping in ratings and sales since Gokaiger, nothing new is being done and there isn't anything to hook a viewer, and the toys are kinda boring looking too. Especially after the moldbreaking psycopathy of Zenkaiger and Donbrothers, that we've gone right back to the same shit as always rather than keep pushing the envelope in the areas that actually matter is the problem. I don't even want to say someone didn't "get" Donbros (although based on some of the arguments people keep raising to me they really didn't) or blame it on sensory overload like my initial post, definitely a bad choice in hindsight but I was self aware about that, but this obsessive defense really makes just no sense to me at all.

I don't set out to make myself as the true objective arbiter of taste despite the jokes I make, and you shouldn't treat my words as such. I'm just some goofy (insert gender here) dork on the Internet who has some modicum of attention on themselves. Jokes(tm) aside I don't put myself above or below anyone else, I've been an avid fan of tokusatsu for ages and gotten particularly deep into it, deeper than the average person for sure, but I don't use that to build a pedestal for myself. You like Kingohger? Good, I'm glad you find something in it I don't. I won't attack or insult you for liking something I don't or enjoying something that from an objective standpoint is not good content, excluding maybe Ghost but even then you do you weirdo. But I've made my point and will continue to make my point until the show ends or I give up, and no outside force will change that.

Basically, what I'm trying to say about my opinion is:

And to get back to your point, I don't WANT the show to be shit beginning to end and I really hope it isn't, but based on opening perception and knowing who's behind the scenes I have low hopes for the show improving. Knowing me I end up just watching the entire show out of spite at some point but I really am going in each week hoping each episode is the one that changes my mind. Hell, I stuck with Kyuranger longer than most and that ended up getting pretty good when Houou showed up so maybe whenever SixOhger drops the show gets that kick it needs but as it stands now I couldn't say. As for the alternate setting offering plot diversity, see it's too early to make a judgement but I don't really see it. The different kingdoms are all so drastic from one another and the bizarro Final Fantasy-eques schizotech levels put the show in a weird place where paradoxically the setting itself doesn't really matter much, if the show were confined in one specific kingdom or at least had each kingdom separated into different plot arcs I could see it - which it may end up doing who knows - but the approach it seems to be going for seems to make it irrelevant. Even then, Adult Concerns will eventually rear their ugly head and the show will go through some shift to where the unique setting is dispensed with to end up with the same 8-9 filming locations we always end up in, again with Kyuranger that set itself up as a cool spacefaring action-opera and then we park our asses on Earth 4 episodes in and spend nearly the entire show there and the few times we DO go offworld after we just end up at the same quarry and stream we always go to.