It’s funny to me how a somewhat big moment in ACOMAF is when they are in the summer court and one of the more significant lines we get from Rhys as a character (IMO) is when he says he is jealous of Tarquin because he would be easy to love and befriend, he doesn’t have to wish for anything, whereas Rhys doesn’t have that life because he is always making tough decisions for what he believes will be good outcome, which in turn gives him enemies and moral grayness and hardship. I feel like that idea - that bold action in the face of conflict isn’t the easy path but it’s the right one compared to passive inaction that won’t ruffle any feathers - is how SJM views the world (at least, her fictional worlds) but it’s something the fandom completely misses. Saying Tarquin, Helion, Eris, Lucien, Kallias, and every non-main male character has never done anything wrong. Saying Vivianne is more suited to be High Lady. Saying the Inner Circle is evil. All the Gwyn stuff. It’s crazy to call characters we only get little snippets of unproblematic and more interesting when we don’t really know them. We know the IC much more intimately and see their faults and fallout from their actions. It’s just funny to me that SJM had that whole ACOMAF scene to show where Rhys and the NC are coming from, yet everyone glosses over it and falls into exactly the thing that SJM was saying not to do. Sorry for the rant.
I think it's actually very true. A good observation.
Because it's EASY to love 'unproblematic' and uncomplicated characters. Every time I see on Reddit some post about 'Gwyn is the only unproblematic character in ACOTAR' and it's true, but i wonder if she WAS problematic, would you like her as much?
I think the rabid hate that Cassian is experiencing now--whereas before he used to be universally loved--is exactly because of that. He WAS unproblematic. He was good and kind and fun and loyal. But the moment he was paired with Nesta and suddenly he is not making 'perfect' decisions and not behaving in an ideal way, he is being lambasted right and left and suddenly 'the mate bond is fake!' and 'Eris is Nesta's true mate!' and stuff like that.
I think SJM does show the difficulty of making decisions which are usually imperfect and how oftentimes, people are forced to do their best under the circumstances. Like with all the 'good' characters, we only hear snippets of the good things that they did--Helion, he has this unrequited love thing happening, and he tore the beasts to save LoA, and he is helping Rhysand in the war and whatever. Same with Vivian and Kallias--we only heard the good and valiant and honourable things that they did.
I dunno. Sometimes I feel like huge chunks of this fandom aren't ready for 'morally gray' and don't understand what it means. Whereas that's exactly what SJM is writing. Moral dilemmas, ambiguity, imperfect actions, bad decisions, etc.
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Plans & the Plan Man
Buckle in, this is going to be a long one!
Princess Iron Fan: "Oh! So you're plan, didn't go according to plan, hm?"
(1x00 A Hero is Born)
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Sandy: "Alright, so what's the plan?"
MK: "Uh...I dunno, I was just gonna wing it?"
Sandy: "Sound's great, let's go!"
MK: "What!? No! I didn't mean you guys too!"
(1x10 The End is Here!)
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MK: "....Let's help him."
Everyone: "Huh!?"
MK: "What other choice do we have? Look, Spider Queen won't see this coming, it's the best plan we got. So I say, let's help a demon rob the celestial realm."
(2x00 Revenge of the Spider Queen)
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MK: "What kind of villain are you!?"
Huntsman: "The kind who's got bigger plans than getting boiled to death by dumpling soup."
(2x02 Dumpling Destruction)
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Lady Bone Demon: "Whatever she's planning...it's all to do with that. I- I've seen you use your staff, surely, you could use it to smash that thing?"
(2x05 Minor Scale)
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Pigsy: "Yeah, yeah, destiny-shemestiny. You saw how fast the kid dismantled your little bone toy, right?"
Lady Bone Demon: "That was part of the plan. I do apologize for what comes next."
(2x10 This is the End!)
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MK: "We have a plan! You could help! We could stop her together."
Macaque: "*laugh* You can't even stop me!"
(3x04 The Winning Side)
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Mei: "Ai-ight, then, what's the plan, Monkey Man?"
MK: "Under cover of darkness, I'll infiltrate DBK's fortress, bypass his security systems, sneak into his bedroom and snatch that nose ring! Meanwhile, Mei, Sandy, you'll find us a getaway vehicle and we'll be home free, ring in hand- then, find the other two, beat the Lady Bone Demon and save the world from total destruction! Okay, any questions?"
Mei: "Nope! Sounds like a good plan, MK."
Sandy: "Flawless!"
(3x06 The First Ring)
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MK: "I'm okay with rushing him! What's the plan, Monkey King? We got all three Rings of Samadhi, so how do we use 'em to make the Lady Bone Demon go boom!? Is there a switch or...?"
Sun Wukong: "It's a bit more complicated than that. In order to reforge the Samadhi Fire, we'll need to reach the summit of that mountain."
[...]
Pigsy: "Maybe Monkey King's not as trustworthy as you think, MK."
MK: "Wha... what do you mean?"
Pigsy: "Think about it. He told us he had a plan, but we don't know what it is; he told us there were three rings, but maybe there's a fourth; he told us that map was so important, but it hasn't been useful once this whole trip!"
[...]
Sun Wukong: "Stop! If you hurt that kid, I'll-"
Macaque: "What? Make things worse for MK?"
Sun Wukong: "Stop! I have a plan!"
[...]
Macaque: "So this was the Monkey King's great plan? How do you still not see that he has no idea what he's doing! How about this for a plan—stay down, MK, or I will put you down."
(3x09 The King, the Prince, and the Shadow)
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Sun Wukong: "This wasn't supposed to happen. I thought if I could somehow get the Samadhi Fire out of you—without hurting you of course—then I could put it inside myself! Then, I don't know, use it to burn up the Lady Bone Demon or something? I was kinda making this up as-"
Ne Zha: "-that was your plan?"
MK: "That's not a good plan!"
Sun Wukong: "Yeah, to be honest, this is the first time I've said it out loud, so..."
Mei: "We trusted you. All of us! How could you lead us into this fight without a real plan?"
(3x10 The Samadhi Fire)
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Lady Bone Demon: "It appears your quest to use the power of the Samadhi Fire to destroy me hasn't quite gone according to plan? Why else would you show up unarmed with none of your friends for back up."
Sun Wukong: "I didn't need The Samadhi Fire to put you away last time, figured I could make do without it.
Lady Bone Demon: "Oh, my power has far surpassed what it was when we last met in battle. Even now, I sense you do not have what it takes to defeat me.
Sun Wukong: "Hmph. That won't stop me from trying."
Mayor: "A hero to the end! How delightful."
Lady Bone Demon: "*laughs* No back up and no weapon. So your plan is to...fist fight a child?"
(3x11 This Imperfect World)
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Red Son: "Dragon Girl! We have to go after them!"
MK: "No! What we need is a plan. If we go after them now, there's no way we win."
Red Son: "But our only chance to beat the Lady Bone Demon just teleported away! The Dragon girl was our last hope."
MK: "As long as we're still standing, there's always hope! Mei is more stubborn than anyone I know—between that and your training, she's not gonna give up the Samadhi Fire without a fight!
Red Son: I can't tell if you're being heroic or moronic. But alright, let's make a plan."
[...]
MK: "That's why we're gonna formulate a plan!....I'm open to suggestions, what we got?"
Tang: "Uh...Die with dignity?"
Pigsy: "What kind of plan is that!?"
[...]
Pigsy: "We're just doing the same thing over and over again! I'm losing my mind over here!"
Macaque: "I hope I'm not interrupting—but, if you're making a plan to defeat the Lady Bone Demon, I know a guy who might be able to help."
(3x12 The Corrupted King)
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Emperor: "You- you've been planning this from the beginning, haven't you? To work your way to the top, to overthrow me?"
[...]
Mayor: "That information won't help you now. My Lady has corrected the one mistake in her previous plan. [...] The Samadhi fire is the one thing strong enough to cleanse not only the mortal plane, but the celestial realm and everything beyond even that! A fresh start, a clean slate—just as she had planned."
[...]
Sandy: "Alright! So, what's the plan, Monkey man?"
MK: "Well, if the Lady Bone Demon needs her Mech to use the Samadhi Fire, then all we gotta do is destroy that Mech before she gets the chance!"
(3x13 Time to Be Warriors)
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Sandy: "And now you're thinking Mr. Tang's gonna use his newfound powers to free our mystic monkey. Right?"
Pigsy: "And if that amazing plan doesn't work?
(4x02 New Adventures)
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Scroll Subodhi: "Without question, you were not born from the stone as he was! Who or what you are, even I do not know the answer—but of one thing, I am certain: fate has plans for you! Great plans or foul? Time will tell."
MK: "I- I can't be! I'm just- I'm just MK!"
Scroll Subodhi: "The Monkie Kid?"
(4x06 Show Me the Monster)
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Tang: "I saw it. Here. Wherever this place is, him, plotting to take down Monkey King. That was his plan all along, to trap Monkey King inside that scroll and do something sinister, something bad, probably!"
(4x08 The Brotherhood)
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Sun Wukong: "So we all know I'm the greatest teacher in all of history."
Macaque: "Ugh, this guy."
Sun Wukong: "But my plan making..."
Mei: "Is the worst!"
Sun Wukong: "Okay, hurtful, I was gonna say "needs improvement". Either way, Imma hand this over to a pro! -You're up, kiddo!"
MK: "-Wha...Wh-Why me?
Sun Wukong: "'Cause you're the Plan Man, man!"
Pigsy: "Oh yeah, give us one "MK master plan special", to go."
MK: "Hmm...Okay. Ne Zha's right. While Azure's got the Jade Emperor's power and the scroll, there's no way we could beat him head-on."
(4x12 The Plan Man)
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Sun Wukong: "Hey, Lieutenant Monkey! How's the plan going?"
[...]
MK: "Huh! This planning thing is really working out, huh?"
Sun Wukong: "Yeah! Who'da thunk?"
[...]
Mei: "Every time we've gone into a final fight, we've basically winged it without a real plan. But it's like Subodhi said: that won't be enough this time. We need to wait for the moment to strike!"
Pigsy: "But Azure ain't gonna just wait around for us to attack. If he's got as much of a grudge against Monkey King as Macaque says he does, he's just gonna come and attack us first!"
Mei: "Exactly! By not attacking, he'll think we're not ready for him, but he'll be wrong! The plan is to make it look like there is no plan at all, when really, we're already doing the plan! MK's plan!"
(4x13 Rip and Tear)
-
I reached the image limit but we did it! We're done!
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Ya know, current setups are real fun, but I've been playing horse games again lately and I've noticed some things...
If Roxy were to find the horses in storage and decide to keep them as her own, her only knowledge of horses up to that point would be horse games. I'm trying to think about the other ones I've played because I can't say I ever really looked for accuracy before, but depending on the games, Roxy would have a surprisingly hard time with this.
To my memory, none of them have the saddle positioned correctly. I don't remember any that used martingales or chest plates which some of the Plex horsies have. Horse games are designed in such a way that you can visibly see where the budget and time was put in, meaning you have some games that tell you a little about what you're doing, and some that are very detailed about certain aspects of horse care, but completely fuck up the rest of it. It's fascinating to me.
If Roxy played Bella Sara for example, she would know you can't ride until you've cared for your horse, but she wouldn't know about any sports outside of show jumping. If she played Pony Friends, she would know about trail riding, that racing is a thing and that horses get sick if not cared for properly, but may not understand that you can't ride a sick horse. Sick horses aren't really relevant here, but you see my point.
Like the standard sports tend to be show jumping, cross country and the chronically under-explained dressage games. They also all have a mechanic for brushing the horse and cleaning the hooves out, with most of them having you clean out the stable too. BUT none of them are consistent outside of that. So even if she played a bunch of them, she's not going to know what she's doing at all
Brushing and combing is straight forward enough. There's a method to doing hooves and stuff she'd not know but if she can figure out how to lift their foot up, she'll be fine. She may also know about leg wraps from some games and would find it pretty easy to do simple hairstyles with them, though the tail would be a bit harder.
But that saddle is not staying on that horse. She may get a basic bridle right but probably doesn't know what the bit is. The horses are literally built to help in teaching this stuff and they're struggling trying to find ways to help her but they're fucking horses man. What are they gonna do? All they can do is kinda give her a nudge, make loud noises, move out the way, steal shit and bite her. The Minis are trying to help but they also don't know what they're doing at all so that's not working either
The absolute relief when Roxy finds Foxy's bird and reactivates her. They've never been so excited to see a duck before. Things get easier at least, but lack of information is only part of the issue for Roxy so uhh... Yeah it's not the biggest improvement ever, but hey! At least the saddle's staying on this time!
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