#if there's one thing i hate more than wasted potential is characters going through horrible events and after having no consequences at all
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effei-s · 3 months ago
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and... this iconic reaction pic is relevant again...
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i'm fucking cursed... am i?
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bibibbon · 7 months ago
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MHA chapter 420 rant
New chapter new rant it's become somewhat of a thing at this point 😭
So hori's out here deflating any stakes or tension as always. I personally hated what happend last chapter with Izuku losing both his arms but I did wish for hori to continue on the path he chose instead of completely reversing it with some bs in this chapter. Heck I don't understand how Eri even had enough energy to heal his arms considering it was stated chapters before that she couldn't and shouldn't help Izuku it wasn't her fight and neither should she be forced to watch what's going on but here we are.
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Heroes are hypocrites when it comes to Eri and she deserves better. Oh Eri the ever so lasting plot device. As someone that likes Eri's character and wished for her trauma and what she went through to be explored this is just bs and shows that the heroes are incompetent hypocrites at their jobs for allowing Eri to mutilate herself (the same thing overhaul did to himself) so she can be useful to these people who she views as her saviours?!?!?! Let's not even tall about the fact that ECTOPLASM stated that he helped her with that and allowed her to do that like?!?!? You're an adult who is supposed to be supervising the child and you almost failed to stop her from running away into the battlefield but allowed her to do that to herself. Let's also talk about how aizawa horribly failed as a guardian like its clearly stated in the chapter that she did want she did because she was inspired by aizawa and how he cut his leg off so she mimicked him so she can be helpful?!?! Aizawa isn't angry, worried or disappointed but shocked and that's it nothing else he doesn't even reprimand her like seriously 😑.
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Present mic and kurogiri deserves better. We still don't know where present mic is but he deserves better than this I still hate how his feelings aren't acknowledged in this bs and he is just there pushed to the side as support. Kurogiri is a mix at this point they seem to realise that oh oboro is dead he ain't coming back but kurogiri is acting on memories that haven't died and to be honest Iam sick of hori drawing the same memory panel over and over we should just get new content show us them play fighting or doing something that friends do idk 🤷‍♀️
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Wasted potential aizawa at this point. I lasted made a post about aizawas wasted potential but dam does it really show and basically at this point hori reduced all the characters involved in the kurogiri situation to just that and it's sad like we could of had more and we should of. Aizawa was doomed from the start as he was hori's mouthpiece which sucks
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Iam not a fan of everyone coming in to fight AFO. I already hate the fact that AFO is back but having everyone who hasn't had a big moment or can still fight yet come into the fight is horrible. Iam ok with having a few characters come in but having some endgame avengers type of thing is horrible especially because class 1A and izuku aren't shown to have a strong bond a lot of the time it's one of the reasons why the vigilante arc fails and why a lot of other moments concerning class 1A and izuku fail.
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Iam a fan of the civilians trying to help however they can but no inko?!?!!?!!. I loved that we got the page of civilians genuinely wanting to help Izuku and offering their shirts to stop the bleeding also even though we don't get much from the all might guy I genuinely loved the development he has gone through. Sadly, I was expecting to see inko in this chapter and considering we had a whole page dedicated to the civilians it's sad that we didn't get any update on inko as she was probably there watching what happend to her son
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Eri's dream. I loved that Eri's dream is something way outside of heroics and it's something that doesn't involve her quirk at all. It makes me remember of izuku holding her hand and telling her that he supports her dream. I wonder if Eri and jirou hang out often or anything considering that jirou is Eri's inspiration or if present mic also inspired Eri. it's sad that Eri's character is never truly explored considering what happend to her this chapter and the double standards that are with both heroes and villains.
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ALSO MONOMA YOU DESERVE BETTER YALL TELLING ME THAT DENKI ALREADY QUIRK EXHAUSTED IS OUT HERE FIGHTING BUT MONOMA CANT FOR SOME REASON IS VILE
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hollow-dweller · 7 months ago
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5-10 🤭
it's always you at the scene of the crime
5. worst discord server and why
the answer to this is actually not in spidey, it's this one klance server i was in back in ye old voltron days that was absolutely horrible to exist in as an Allura lover/Allurance shipper. when she died, and klance didn't become canon (because it was never going to), things got nasty and i will freely admit i am still bitter about it! nothing made me dislike klance faster or more thoroughly than klance fans.
6. which ship fans are the most annoying?
anyone with a Tony Stark ship, really, though obviously the one I see the most nonsense from is irondad. Tony fans are, 90% of the time, there for Tony, and really focus on him to the exclusion of any of the other characters, including the one that he is partnered/shipped with. as someone who writes for and interacts with irondad because i love both Tony and Peter, who wants to explore them and their extended universes, it fucking sucks to have to wade through post after post that grossly misrepresents or misinterprets Tony, and treats Peter as a prop more than a character.
7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?
having said the above: Tony Stark you will always be famous! none of these people who pretend you're a soft uwu dad who's never done anything wrong could make me hate you, because that's NOT you!
i don't know there are any characters i "hate" per se, but certainly there are ones i will AVOID because the fandom is so terrible. in Spidey, though he's not a Spidey character, that's Harley Keener. i have zero feelings toward his canon character because he was a child and then an easter egg, and basically has no canon character. but i will avoid him at all costs in fic/tumblr tags, because his fans use him to completely supplant and erase actual Spider-Man characters, like Ned and MJ and Flash.
8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about
MJ WATSON WOULD NOT WORSHIP PEPPER POTTS ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME
MJ "i want to get a little light protesting in before lunch" Watson, MJ "so really this is all your fault" Watson, MJ "i don't want to tour a building made by slaves" Watson would NOT be falling over herself to talk about how "cool" Pepper Potts is.
fandom loves to drop MJ into interactions with Tony where she's snarky and rude and makes "eat the rich" jokes. but then they'll turn around and also make her look up to Pepper as a girl boss.
and it's because people's aren't representing her as anti-billionaire or anti-establishment as a genuine reflection on her character and how she might behave meeting Tony Stark or Pepper Potts. she's an audience avatar to spout a couple memes and jokes, then is unceremoniously shuffled off stage left so that Tony and Peter can cuddle on the couch or whatever. it's about making Tony look cool and chill for "putting up" with her, and to make Peter embarrassed so that Tony can reassure him.
9. worst part of canon
Far From Home, beloathed. its sins are innumerable but to sum them up in as concise of terms as possible: it represents so much wasted potential. we could have had post-blip meta! we could have had the FOS as more than a joke! we could have had actual development of the petermj relationship! and yes we could have had an actual examination of the impact of Tony Stark and his legacy on Peter and his life!
WE COULD HAVE HAD MAY PARKER
instead we got a kidz bop european road trip movie and only head fakes to anything deeper going on between any of the characters
10. worst part of fanon
here's the thing: the idea of a community of people coming together to collaboratively fill in the blanks of a piece of art is, conceptually, beautiful, and exactly what fandom should be about. doing collaborative, generative creative work is genuinely valuable, and an important part of community building in creative spaces.
but the relationship that people have to fanon, is, frankly, completely fucking whack. modern fandom doesn't use fanon to generate collaborative and creative elaborations, variations, and interpretations of canon: they use it to supplant canon. popular fanon goes beyond being just an idea that a lot of people like; it starts being treated as law. people start interpreting canon through the lens of fanon, and in doing so treat the canonical text not as a work of art that deserves consideration and interpretation, but as a static and authoritative source whose purpose is to be excavated for "proof" of fanon, and anything that exists outside of fanon or in opposition to it is to be dismissed, ignored, and denied.
there are plenty of people who will happily admit they don't pay attention to canon and prefer fanon, and while that isn't my preferred way to engage with art, i have way less of a problem with that. people who engage with the original work through a fanon lens first, in an attempt to "prove" fanon, aren't seeking alternative interpretations or elaborating on the art. they're not even picking and choosing the things they like and the things they don't. what they are doing is working backwards from a foregone conclusion to pretend like art has one fixed, immutable interpretation, and that interpretation is the only correct or acceptable one.
the only proof you need of this tendency is the way people lose their fucking minds when you question popular fanon, or, god forbid, point out how it is directly contradicted or disproven by canon. it's a shitty way to engage with fandom as a community, and it's a shitty way to engage with art, and i have no patience for it.
choose violence ask game
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rabbithaver · 11 months ago
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Tell me about Danse and Cait? I've never played their parts of 4 and I probably never will.
i do not blame you. Fallout 4 can be frustrating because it's very. hm. it feels like a lot of wasted potential. i love it, but it could have (and should have) been... more, y'know? this is especially true for both Danse and Cait; i tend to prefer the fanon for these two over the canon because canon just feels like a lot of missed opportunities lmao
you find Cait as a chem-addicted cage fighter in the Combat Zone, a pre-war theater that's been retrofitted into an arena and is (at the time) occupied by raiders. after going whole hog and killing all the raiders, the owner of the venue basically gives you Cait's contract, stating that until he finds a new audience, she's not going to be able to make him any caps. it's also implied that he's getting concerned about her health, as she's been using chems to keep fighting when she really shouldn't be. she hates it but cooperates, and as you travel together and treat her like a person, she's initially suspicious about your intentions. eventually she trusts you enough to tell you why she's so distrustful of people, and uh... yeah her backstory is rough. her parents were shitty and abusive, and ended up selling her into slavery -- you can imagine the kinds of horrible things that she endured. eventually she was able to buy her own freedom using caps she stole from the people who abused her, and once free, she went home and gunned down her parents. but the damage was done, and she turned to chems in an effort to cope with her past.
her personal quest is... hm. i don't care for it. it's not... it's not well done. basically to summarize, Cait wants to be freed from her addictions, but she doesn't know how and addictol won't work anymore, and going cold turkey would kill her. conveniently, Vault 95 happens to have a magic solution. it's all very contrived and bullshit, and it's very much so a case of the writer wanting to resolve a complex issue with a simple solution. if it were me at the writer's desk, i would've thrown out the Vault bullshit entirely and made it a much more drawn out thing where you have to actually sit with her as she goes through withdrawal at first, but gradually improves and recovers. Cait deserved better than the quick-and-lazy resolution she got.
Danse's story is pretty heavily tied up in the Brotherhood of Steel questline. he's the one who recruits you and guides you up until it's revealed that he has been a synth the whole time. not even he was aware of this up until you retrieve some data from the Institute. when he learns what he is, he flees the Brotherhood, and Elder Maxson sends you to find him and kill him. i prefer not to do this because i like Danse a lot, and i think the concept behind his story is really interesting. i just wish Fallout 4 had done more with it. if they'd taken it just a little bit further, Danse could have had some truly compelling character growth, maybe even going so far as to find pride in his new identity as a synth and possibly even joining the Railroad. but... they didn't, and it sucks because it feels like he only got half a story.
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talesofourworlds · 8 months ago
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//Ten Facts about Rita! Ready Set Go!
🌟 Drop one of my characters’ names in my inbox and I’ll tell you 10 facts about them 🌟
I've done Rita facts before, but here's ten more!
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Even though they both live and work in Aspio, Rita doesn't really have any idea who Witcher is as a person. Like she knows he exists, has seen him around once or twice, but barely knows anything about him outside of 'Oh, yeah, he lives around here I guess.' This partly has to do with her whole thing about preferring Blastia to people, and also based on what little she does know about him makes it hard for her to imagine ever getting to be on any kind of friendly level with him. She and he just would clash in terms of personality, she feels, and doesn't really want to waste the time doing so when she already has people she's close to. She is willing to collaborate with him if needed, but that's likely all they ever would be. Work colleagues.
She wouldn't ever admit it, but Rita does get nightmares about the time Estelle spent as Alexei's puppet. Sometimes they end in Estelle dying. Rita knows that Estelle is okay, but she hates that what Estelle went through still continues to come up in her dreams. Horrible what if scenarios, that's what she tries to dismiss them as.
Her Bodhi blastia was given to her when she officially became a Blastia researcher. She was still fairly young when this happened, no older than eleven, and definitely caught some attention within Aspio as a result. She chose to wear it around her neck just because she thought it went well with the way she'd put her outfit together.
Coupled with the above, Rita does have researcher robes like what we see Witcher wear and the other residents of Aspio. She just chooses not to wear them a lot of the time because she prefers to basically do what she wants. Most people in Aspio just let her because what are they going to do about it? She's the genius mage, and they know her reputation in terms of temper. Better to just let her wear what she likes and not earn her ire.
Even though Rita is under the Empire's employ, Rita can and will turn down requests at a moment's notice. Case in point, turning down the offer to help Flynn before meeting Yuri and everyone. Whether she'll turn down work or not has to do with how she feels about an assignment. She would, for example, turn down a request if it involved working closely with a lot of people. At least, pre meeting Yuri and everyone. Whereas if it were a solo research task, she'd take that request without a second thought.
Following Blastia being replaced by spirits and mana, Rita started accepting more requests related to the new field of research and energy. This was partly because she was pretty much heading the field, and because it gave her excuses to come visit Estelle if she ever was needed in Zaphias.
Like many people in Aspio, Rita did lose her home when Tarqaron was raised. At first, after everything with Duke was finished, Rita just opted to live in her little place that we see in The First Strike. It was small, and inconvenient for visiting her friends, but it suited her needs just fine. It was Estelle who eventually convinced Rita to ask Brave Vesperia for assistance in getting her home rebuilt. Rita didn't even know how Estelle figured out where her second home even was to begin with. It turns out that Estelle asked Chastel and Hisca about it, and Chastel told her where to find it.
Rita's sense of fashion might be viewed as a bit questionable. To her, though, it makes sense. It isn't just clothes that she's thrown together for no reason. The clothes are comfortable and, for the most part, stay out of her way when she's working. The exception is the yellow ribbon tied to her right sleeve, but she's able to keep it out of the way for the most part. Though even she has to admit it does have the potential to get caught on something.
What happened in Heliord with the one Blastia isn't the first time Rita ever had gotten injured in the name of her job. In fact, there's been numerous times she's been injured on the job. None quite as serious as what happened at Heliord, but Rita definitely had some close calls before she met Yuri and the others. She ended up pretty good at patching herself up in such circumstances. A lot just were cases where she could shrug it off, eat a gel, and move on. Blastia never betrayed her, she told herself. Safe to say, if it weren't for Estelle being there at Heliord she would have been a lot worse off that time.
She actually cares a bit more about Raven than she cares to admit. He's fishy, shady, and everything in between, but he's not a bad guy, all things considered. He just annoys her more than anything. She'd never say it out loud, but part of her does consider Raven a friend. Even if he does end up as her punching bag more often than not.
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nobodyfamousposts · 3 years ago
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Hey nobody, quick question: in your opinion what’s the worst problem in ml? The consistency, the zodiac's existence or the contrasting informations? Personally my bigger cons are the zodiac since they make everything so DAMN EASY to deal with. Like just a few minutes of Bunny and Horse can easily take the miraculous back before Origins even started. Which to me is weirder than the Agreste's drama not really been EXPLAINED.
I'd say it's the laziness and lack of commitment.
Miraculous is a case of a story with a lot of really good ideas and a lot of potential that could be born of those ideas, but it's undermined by a lack of capability to use those ideas well or follow through with them.
They give "powers" through potions that amount to little more than costume changes and only use three out of the seven in the three seasons they are known to exist.
They have 15 other Miraculous the heroes have access to (with many of which that are substantially more powerful and useful than the Big Two) and don't use them.
Dual wielding is an option but they insist on calling in civilians as allies to help even though by all counts, those allies have no training or fighting experience and are CHILDREN which would make them heavily handicapped compared to any adult that could have been grabbed to help out.
They have Kagami and Luka as legitimate love interests but have each of them break up in the only episodes that allow any focus on their dating.
They have Lila as an adversary but force everyone to be stupid to make her work, and then sort of have her just disappear for a season after each time she manages something serious.
They have Chloe zig-zagging between bully/rival character and hero-in-the-making but can't commit to either interpretation. They have her be an unrepentant bully but make the lesson of the episode be that calling her out or holding her accountable is wrong, then turn round and have her be a sad girl with mommy issues but she does really lousy things that show she's in no way a good person.
And on top of that, they have Chloe's mother be an even worse person than Chloe who doesn't love Chloe and is her Freudian excuse as to why she's so horrible, going so far as to have Chloe call her out and ask why she doesn't love her...only to about-face seconds later and have her and Chloe suddenly get along and all follow up episodes make her Chloe's staunch defender like there weren't years worth of issues between them.
Marinette moves on from Adrien only to about face by the next episode and in ever more cringe-inducing ways.
Adrien continuously prioritizes his feelings over the responsibility he was given the Miraculous for and this is never acknowledged or addressed.
They show Adrien having issues all throughout season four in there being heroes besides him helping Ladybug, but he doesn't have any growth in this regard at any point and the one episode that involves a moral about working as a team and that it can't always just be the two of them (Penalteam), the lesson ends up going to Ladybug, the one person who has all this time been doing nothing BUT acknowledging when she needs help and working with other people as a team. Meanwhile, Chat is supposed to be the sensible/rational team player after having been a brat all season about other heroes helping out. And we're not supposed to find this jarring?
The over reliance of the "rule" that "Marinette is always wrong and must learn a lesson every episode" that prevents anyone else from getting growth or recognizing their faults.
This all ultimately leads to wasted potential, which is perhaps the thing I hate most when it comes to a story.
Wasted potential of characters that COULD get focus but don't. Wasted potential of lessons that COULD have been done appropriately but aren't. Wasted potential of growth or regression that COULD have been accomplished but won't be. All wasted in favor of the same "comedy" of a lovesick girl chasing about an oblivious boy. For four seasons.
Then there's the wasted potential of magic and lore and world building. The wasted potential of relative intelligence of the characters. The wasted potential of anything that could make this world truly seem like it's supposed to be real.
There is so much wasted potential of the narrative and conflict that could have played out with intrigue and plot as the heroes and villains actually try to plan around and out gambit each other. Where the heroes try to find the villain while the villain also tries to find the heroes. Where they try to stop his plans but he has layers of plans so even if he loses the day, he makes little gains over time.
And wasted potential of a plot and conflict that, much like any conflict, should NOT BE STATIC. No conflict is just the same thing over and over! Going on four seasons now and the episodes are still following the same basic formula of Hawk Moth sends out a monster, heroes defeat the monster, everything goes back to normal and the heroes don't take any further steps while the villain is ineffectual in making progress towards his own goals because Status Quo is God.
But here's the thing: if you have a "status quo" in a superhero story, you're doing it wrong.
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libby250 · 3 years ago
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Transformers Rewatch:
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(Long rant incoming)
It’s been a while but rewatching these movies (at least the first three) has reminded me how of much I HATE Sam Witwicky.
He was a whiny little bitch and arrogant and he SCREAMED SO MUCH. Yes, I know, you’ve been in the middle of robot battles while on the highway, but once the Deceptions are gone you can STOP SCREAMING!
He also treated Bumblebee like shit and took him for granted. In the beginning of the second film, he wanted Bee’s help to destroy the kitchen Deceptions he accidentally created, and after Bumblebee did, Sam started yelling at him and blaming him! (CHARLIE WOULD NEVER!!)
And when Optimus Prime came to ask for Sam’s help, he was all “No, I just want to be normal. Fuck you and your MUCH BIGGER problems. I’m not going to talk to the leaders of my species so you can stay on earth, the ONLY HOME YOU CURRENTLY HAVE IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE!!”
Mikaela was a more interesting character and should have been the main character. Megan Fox was a great actress in these movies and she didn’t deserve all the shit she was put through. (Also she didn’t scream nearly as much as Sam did even though they had almost the same amount of screen time in the first two movies and when she did it didn’t irritate me or make me want to punch her in the face.)
Her character had so much wasted potential. She loved cars and worked in a male dominated industry. This could have been the perfect movie of a woman saving the world and becoming the hero despite constantly being undermined by everyone around her and used for her looks. This would have a great message for little girls. The storyline would have also worked perfectly with her backstory.
Her dad stole cars and sometimes had to take her along (this is way more interesting than a boy getting his first car). One day they steal a yellow camaro (bumblebee) from someplace (a junkyard or car lot) and Bumblebee lets them because Mikaela’s grandpa found Megatron in the ice (same story with Sam’s grandpa, but different family name and it’s Mikaela’s grandpa instead of Sam’s. Sam isn’t even in this version of the movie). The film continues like normal with her meeting the Autobots and trying to find her grandpa’s glasses at her house and being taken by Sector 7 blah blah blah.
Or make Sam a woman. We need more female led/dominated movies! I saw a fanfic where Sam was a woman (who still has a crush on Mikaela, which Yay! We need more gay action movies too). But this idea probably wouldn’t work knowing how Michael Bay writes and treats his female characters and actresses. >:(
Long rant short, Sam was a horrible character, Bumblebee deserved better, Mikaela deserved better and the main role.
Also, Charlie in the bumblebee movie was 18 in the 80’s. A fun plot point could be that Charlie is Mikaela’s mom. If Mikaela was 18-19 in 2007, that means that she was born 1988-89, making Charlie somewhere in her early twenties when Mikaela was born and around her mid forties in the first Transformers movie. I don’t think this would work though with how the Bumblebee movie ended.
AND ANOTHER THING!!
That stupid fucking agent that was all condescending to Optimus Prime EVEN AFTER HE WAS DEAD in Revenge Of The Fallen infuriates me!!!
Yes, I know he was supposed to be that way to make us hate him and give a way for Megatron to come back blah blah blah.
But seriously!! You’re a national security agent with a high enough position to even be in the same room as the Autobots and you’re talking about things that are dangerous.
It doesn’t matter if you’re in a top secret base that probably has top notch internet security because you don’t know what the Decepticons are capable of. He already mentioned that the Autobots have greater advancement in weaponry but he doesn’t know what the Decepticons have a greater advancement of. Which means you don’t go into unnecessary detail about things of great national security because you don’t know if the enemy has greater advancement of things you don’t even know about. Which means you should always think that the enemy is listening in. He’s a national agent so he should already know this.
He’s the reason that Megatron came back and that Optimus died and that reason the sun was almost stolen.
That was the point but I feel like they could have figured out a better way of doing it. It just seems like lazy writing.
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priscilla9993 · 2 years ago
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Alice and Robin for character opinion bingo!
I put blue for Alice and green for Robin since it matches their eye colors and the characters’ themes. I love these characters so much as they are flawed but strong women that both love each other deeply to the point where they’re awkward and don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings! Both blorbos in their own respects XD. NGL, I tend to project some of myself or feelings in the moment onto them when writing fanfics or when it comes to a situation they’d probably relate to.
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ALT
I’ll go through them one by one, starting with Robin since I put down her circles first. They are super cool with or without glasses! I mean the girl knows how to hunt, shoot a bow and arrows, stands up for others in the face of danger, and knows how to make anything look good or flawless while making snarky one liners. 
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I repeat, 👏 She knows how to make an entrance! 👏
While we do get some background on her and how she grew up pretending to be someone she’s not, either popular mean girl in high school or Robin Hood’s successor, she doesn’t have much storyline or nuance besides that. I’m entirely sure that we see Margot and her aspirations more than we see Robin, not that I mind her caring and worrying about Alice by being all lovey dovey (bc that shit is cute). I think Robin had ‘wasted potential’, in the sense that there was so much more that we could have seen had we had a second season continuation of season 7. I think she was underutilized at times but the writing team and Tiera did well in those circumstances bc I connected to her/fell in love with her in a short time. 
As for Alice, they are so CUTE looking. I find myself thinking about this character and writing about them most often on here. It’s funny but I was intrigued yet disapproving of Alice when I first saw her because she was based on the Lewis Carroll counterpart and how I thought she could be written as the standout crazy person. Let's be real, mental illness is not the easiest thing to portray well on screen and I can see why the writers would avoid using a version of the character in the show unless it was a spinoff, where they could build the world to just be fitting. 
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However, after the Beauty episode, I found Alice really endearing and I think Rose’s portrayal of her helped because the chaotic, emotional, and energetic traits could have felt extreme or disjointed had it been any other actress. Yes, I’m attributing Rose to this as I can’t see anyone else playing Alice and the same goes for Tiera playing Robin. Point is, Alice drives me nuts by how no matter what she is going through, you want to root for her when things are going good, cry when she does, and just comfort her because she deserves the world! If there was one strong point this character had on me, it was her resilience. I mean she grew up in a tower from birth, imprisoned there for just existing, and she still managed to make it through and try to find her bearings in an ever changing environment.
I genuinely would love if she was just taken around “in a handbag like a tiny dog” because she’d have so much to say and I love driving around to different cities to explore stuff when I can. Think she would like that too and how she’d definitely be able to put up a lot of conversation for thought.
I really do think Alice wasn’t given a chance by most fans just because she was in Season 7, which is fine bc most of the main cast left, but the thing is, she was and still is treated horribly/”done dirty” by the toxic side of the fandom, especially those who are CS shippers. I’m truly sorry to the real Captain Swan shippers for this toxic minority that bring down the fandom’s ship title because you guys are lovely and I still consider myself part of the bunch. What I’m trying to say is most of the things I’ve read from those who hate on her are reasons like because she acts like a child, therefore “Robin has to be stuck annoyed and taking care of her” (that’s infantalizing! ew), could potentially kill anyone and is the villain bc she’s “crazy”, and is the bad replacement for Hope. I would understand that last one if she broke CS, but it’s not even the same Killian Jones and the writers made sure that those two had the same happy ending route they did before. I’m not going to even argue the rest as it goes to show some people just want to hate rather than watch and appreciate the her for who she truly is in the season. Part of the reason why I tag “ouat s7″ so that people can choose if they want to see it and it helps filter out the bad seeds.
Onto Curious Archer/Madarcher topics since the rest of my circles have both of them in it. 
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Ahhhh *swoon* “The Girl in the Tower” Pretty sure I can’t state enough about how much I love this episode where the two of them shine the most and get the most screen time with one another. It’s here where we truly see them as individuals and “deeper than they seem”, realizing that they’re more than just their stereotypes or how they are perceived by others. That’s why I put “they work better as part of a dynamic” because even though they can hold their own, they make each other’s lives better being around one another. 
Look at these cute beans that make heart eyes at each other and look out for their loved ones. How can you tell me that they’ve done anything wrong in their lives because they haven’t OwO! “They didn’t get enough screentime” because they both made every minute on screen feel new and exciting. When episodes were still airing, I couldn’t get enough of them and hoped they were in the next episode. If it were up to me, we’d get another season so these two could get a proper conclusion, maybe see a wedding, have more backstories, adventures, dates, comedy, and romance play out. I’m sure so many of us that love them would like a spinoff since the show is done. Alas, only fanfics and edits can keep them alive now.  Lastly, I can’t believe that for characters that had the runtime or only appeared for half a season, I fell in love with them and even got invested back into ouat as if it were season 1 or 2 all over again. They were such a well developed LGBT couple that could have used more spice sure, but were overall such joy to see on screen.
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ryoryeonggu · 3 years ago
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Stolen from @alyssaslahey​ lol xD
1. My First Ship: Violate (AHS)
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I watched American Horror Story even before I even knew what the heck ship was. My first thought, apart from “Wow, this Tate guy is really horrifying” lol, was “their love is so beautiful.” Despite being a monster, he truly cared and loved her with all his heart. His relationship was so pure, regardless of their capricious situation, he never once hurt her, respected her and always was sweet and gentle toward her. They were my first and my always OTP.   
Damn, the chemistry was so good that I wish Evan and Taissa actually were together. 
2. Current Ship: Guzmuel (Elite)
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HAHAHAHA GUY I DON’T EVEN WHAT THE HECK GOT INTO MY HEAD SO DON’T ASK ME xD
But seriously they have been on my mind lately. Watching a whole season where Samuel endlessly suffering from Guzman being a jerk was totally painful, and the way the writers treated their relationship quite horribly, but the fact that after everything had been going on, they still stuck by and chose each other in the end melted my heart. Their chemistry was so good that even better than the actual gay couple on the show (sorry not sorry lmao) and the actors doing questionable gay things didn’t make it better 😂🤣
3. My Ship Since The First Minute: Cherik (X-Men)
It wasn’t easy for me to be hooked from the first sight, but these men... right on the first time they shared the scene, I already thought, they had to be together.
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Same with Hannigram - Murder Husbands xD 
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4. I Wish They Had Been Endgame: Megstiel (SPN)
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DEAR WRITERS, YOU HAD ONE JOB!!!
Like everything was right there. Everything was perfect. The chemistry, the ultimate trope enemies to lovers, the love story of an angel and a demon, she loved and cared for him more than anything else, even sacrificed her life for him while she’s supposed to be a fucking demon, he thought she’s beautiful even he’s able to see through her meatsuit, he used “Clarence” - the one she used to call him - as his cover name, The Empty used her imagine to torture him because it knew “who he loved”, etc. 
Then you brought back the empty using Meg’s vessel but not ACTUALLY her and just let her stay dead, then had Cas confessed his one-sided feelings to his long-year abuser before dragging him to hell? WHAT THE F*CK MAN!!?     
5. I Wish They Had Been Canon: Sterek (Teen Wolf) & Klayley (TO)
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I adore Stalia, I really do, but I have been shipping Sterek from the start and wish that the writers actually gave them a chance. Dylan and Tyler had brilliant chemistry, and they had very fun chaotic dynamic in the show. They saved each other repeatedly, cared so much for one another, shared so many meaningful moments and deep connection, to the point that Stiles was actually Derek’s anchor. Seriously we had been queerbaiting till the end but still falling so hard for it :( 
Same with Klayley, with the whole married couple things and wasted potential. Even they did have sex one time, but only just for the baby plot then nothing more than “former one night stand” while they could have been so much more than that. They inspired each other to change for the better and the way they looked at each other was too intimate for just “mother/father of our child” and better than their own love interests. 
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6. Most Of The Fandom Hates, But I Love: Rizzy (Shadowhunters) 
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When she said she didn’t care about sex but only him when he came out as ace, that’s where they got me. I no longer cared about anything else. Just wish they had last longer. 
7. Don’t Watch The Show, But I Ship Them Anyway:  Villaneve (Killing Eve)
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8. I Wish They Had A Different Storyline:  Handon (Legacies)
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They are wonderful as separate characters and together, their soft scenes really have my heart. And their chemistry and their kisses are just like... wow, beautiful. But the fact that the writer just gave them codependent dynamic where they couldn’t reach full capabilities of their own, and their relationship were hated by most of the fandom really upset me. Since they broke up now, I hope both Landon and Hope can develop themselves as a character before finding way back to each other. Because I just want them to be endgame. 
9.  A Background Ship That I Wasn’t Supposed To Ship, But I Do: Golan (TW)
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I wasn’t supposed to care at all about them because they’re pretty toxic, but it was true that they once cared deeply for each other (enough to shot up a house then murder people for the other lol) and I liked the “us against the world” “go gay do crime” kind of dynamic, so yeah xD
10. My NOTP: Destiel (SPN)
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THANK A LOT JENSEN!
I swear there’re no other ships in the world make me despise than this pairing. Forced fanservice, no chemistry, ABUSIVE AF, even Jensen Ackles himself hated it. Dean had been horrible to Cas for most of their time and for YEARS, took advantage of him, used him, tossed him aside when he’s no longer needed, abused him both physically and emotionally, blamed Cas for everything went wrong in his life, tortured Cas’s son to the point this kid was suicidal and so on, there’s so much things wrong with this relationship that I couldn’t ever count (but if you really want to know then go to this post pls: https://ryoryeonggu.tumblr.com/post/189698174685/as-heartbreaking-as-castiels-departure-was-last). But the worst part is that the ship justified Dean’s shitty behaviors and neglected Cas’s pain just for that delusional “love” which was clearly one-sided and not even close to a normal brotherhood. So NO! I will kindly send my “fuck-off” blessings to that ship till the day I die.  
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serenadeonacanoe · 3 years ago
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Honestly, I'd piss him off on purpose. (Namjoon x OFC)
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Pairing: Namjoon x Original Female Character
Genre/Warnings: Smut, Angst, Fluff, too tired to beta
Tags: Artist!Namjoon, Yoongi and Tae are the best flatmates, Enemies to Lovers I guess... more like brats to making out in the storage unit, OFC is an idiot.
Summary:
"Wow. Is that that grumpy artist behind you? Jesus. He really looks like a bit of a dick. And you are right. He really is hot..." Oh no. Speakerphone. Namjoon was standing behind me and was staring at me. Then at my phone. He let out a little laugh, then raised his hand to wave at Tae and Yoongi outside who were now also staring at him as if frozen, before turning around in unison. As if that would help. As if he couldn't see them. Or better even... couldn't hear them.
[...]
Mister Darcy has nothing on Kim Namjoon - that new and upcoming artist you probably already heard of (You haven't? How dare you? At least have the decency to pretend you have!). He is cold, serious, and rather good at making other people believe he is a prick. Especially Elizabeth Bennet - uh... Charlotte - is about to lose it because of him. Maybe in a good way. Man, I'd literally piss him off on purpose.
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CHAPTER 1
Even the sound of my own nails rhythmically tapping on the top of the counter was annoying me. To be fair, it didn't need much today to blow my fuze that had never been particularly long in the first place. But after a week consisting of being belittled by old white men and endless hours of unpaid overtime I about had it. Welcome to the art world. You know well before you enter that the hours are horrible and the job market is more than frustrating, but you love art and you have good organisational skills, you are resilient, charming when it counts and tend to romanticize things even when you know you shouldn't. It's too late to turn around now.
"That is why I don't use an agenda or notebook. If something is important enough for me to attend I simply won't forget. I know you youngsters are all about the bullet journaling and expressing yourself by mapping out your life but it really is just another way to procrastinate instead of getting to actual work." For a second I considered throwing my damn notebook in the buyer's face, but that probably wouldn't have helped my CV and the new job I would have to look for starting tomorrow. At least I should have screamed at him a little. Mainly, that I didn't care, that I was on my period and my shitty shower in the shitty flat i shared had broken and no dry shampoo in the world had fixed my hair this morning and that god damn it, how the hell was I supposed to remember every phone number, every call my boss had to take, every art handling transport I had organized if I couldn't write it down somewhere. Instead, I smiled. Died a little on the inside and complimented him on the gift of his exceptional memory and asked whether he would like another cup of coffee.
"What a dick." Samantha murmured, more to herself than me, after the guy had finally left, which made me snort under my breath. She usually didn't say much but when she did it was usually pure gold. In the end, it didn't matter that he was. Didn't matter that everyone at the gallery thought the art he had bought from us over the last couple of months had neither been smart nor impressive purchases. Mainly expensive. And flashy.
"Doesn't matter now." I said in a sigh after a quick glance at the clock. It was Friday night and we were about to close. Since it was my birthday on Monday I had taken two days off, about the longest break I had had this year and I was looking forward to being the lazy slob for a few days I was maybe always meant to be. In silence we answered a few last emails, tidied up the desks and counters so that potential buyers that would come in over the weekend wouldn't have to suspect anyone was actually working here. - A white desk. A huge Imac on it. That was all they needed to see, folders and pens and apparently especially agendas to be hidden away in drawers.
At five to eight I threw on my coat and Samantha just gave me a tired smile. Probably happy for me, just exhausted. "Have fun then? Don't get too wasted?" "Oh..." I said with a huge smug grin on my lips. "You have no idea... gonna take a bottle of Moët with me from the bar and drink it in my bathtub after eating a huge pepperoni pizza by myself and dancing to only the finest of 90s Euro Trash." I couldn't help it, apparently, I felt it necessary to give Sam a little demonstration, waving my arms up and down while swaying my hips in a way that I'd probably would not have if it hadn't been for a bit with an audience of a single person. Or maybe two?
A quiet scoff behind me and I quickly turned around, slowly lowering my arms, Sam biting her lower lip at the sight of me standing there like an idiot in front of HIM of all people.
Men didn't have to be old to annoy me. Or white. Yes, those were the ones that pissed me off most usually, but no one had managed to do so as much as Kim Namjoon recently. And now he was standing there, looking me up and down and stopping at my hair. The crazy too-much-dry-shampoo-because-the-shower-broke-hair. "Nice." He just commented and then looked over at Sam. "I'd like to take a last look before Sunday's opening if that is okay?" I stood there, my shoulders dropping, completely ignored.
"Uhm, actually, my babysitter has to leave in about an hour and I will have to be home before that." Samantha replied and I was impressed by how calm she stayed. "Of course." Namjoon said and gave her a slight smile. "Anyone else still around? Chris maybe?" Of course Chris hadn't been in today. It was Friday and unless important guests had announced themselves the owner of the gallery wasn't around on Fridays... "I am afraid not. But maybe Charlotte has a few minutes?" Well. Thanks. Thanks a lot. I felt a little betrayed. "Wouldn't want to keep anyone from their important Moët-Pizza-Dance Party plans." Namjoon replied before I could say a word. His voice once more dropping to a hushed, deep disapproval and his hands buried in the pockets of his rather expensive looking coat. Silence for a few moments and then he just walked off towards the room his exhibition had been set up all week. Showing without a further word that I would have to stay anyways if he wanted it that way.
"Well thank you for pushing me under the bus like that. Really appreciate it." "I am so sorry. But I was serious, I can't lose this babysitter. She got Jamie to eat vegetables. VEGETABLES!" Samantha suddenly seemed in a rush, grabbing her jacket and purse and showering me in promises she would make it up to me. Even though we both knew that wouldn't happen and wasn't necessary. Suddenly having to stay longer was normal. I just hated that it had to be today. And because of him.
I heard the door close behind Sam and I stood there for a second before putting my bag down again. Usually, I would have followed the artist, asking if I could somehow help, but nahhh... my ego was bruised up enough now, especially remembering the little dance. I closed my eyes. Fucking hated the guy. Always had. Well, not quite. I had thought he was cool for about five minutes when he had come in the first time. We had heard about him for quite a few months before, I think I had even seen pictures of him at some point, but those were nothing compared to him in real life. He came in all cheekbones and sharp chin and an all grey outfit, quick pace, observant gaze. Incredibly hot. He had also completely ignored me.
That's how it had started - a bruised ego. He couldn't know that it was my weak spot. Having studied art and its management and now feeling like a better secretary at times, when my colleagues and I were doing all the behind the scenes work while Chris worked very little hours and ended up with all the money and recognition. I was aware this wasn't the only field of work where this was the case, but it still frustrated me... I had imagined my life in the last years of my 20s to be a bit more glamorous than living in a tiny apartment on the outskirts of the city... spending my Friday night waiting for some rude artist dude to leave so I could lock up.
But what I perhaps hated most about him... was that I admired him. - Purely for his art. Really. Even the fact that he kept acting as if I wasn't around every time he came in didn't mean I couldn't admit that. At least to myself. The stories behind his huge colleagues were clever and thought through, but even without context, the pure aesthetics were mesmerizing. It was the kind of art that touched something deep inside of you and standing in front of it I always had a hundred questions. Whenever he brought in a new piece I was the first one to sneak a peek in the back rooms before it was hung.
"I don't get why you have such a problem with him. He is just... quiet. I think he might even be shy... stop being so sensitive and just ask him out already." I had almost strangled Sam for that comment a couple of weeks back. Stop being so sensitive. What did that even mean? Comments like that made me want to cry and scream at the same time, which probably would have been perceived as even more sensitive, but when had insensitivity become something to strive for? I had only kept quiet because I liked Sam and I knew what she had tried to say. At least I thought so. That I might have given less of a shit if I hadn't been rather attracted to Namjoon. Even though I had never mentioned it, she just knew. She knew if I didn't care about something I didn't waste my time on it. But if something made me angry or upset there was usually more to it. I hated that she could read me that easily. But he was still a dick and I still wanted to go home.
He took his sweet time. After an hour I walked up to him, a little speech prepared in my head about how he could come back first thing tomorrow. But when he turned around he just raised a hand between us to keep me from interrupting and turned away again. I hadn't seen that he was on the phone. "No, it's nothing, just one of the gallery employees." I heard him say and okay... if I wasn't about to explode before I was now. I stood there for a minute, fuming, and then simply walked back to the office area, my hand shaking when I started turning off the gallery lights one by one. It wasn't as satisfying as I had hoped but still felt good. Two minutes later the only lights still on were the one above my head and the one in front of the door. I would at least give him a clear direction where to head, he seemed to need it.
When Namjoon appeared out of one of the dark corners he looked even more annoyed than usual. Looking my direction through squinting eyes and his tongue pushing against the inside of his cheek. "Seriously?" he yelled my way and almost walked into one of the little flyer shelves. Wasn't the first time I had seen that happen to him though so maybe that had nothing to do with the light.
I felt oddly triumphant. By the time I had put on my coat and turned off the remaining lights, ready to finally lock up, Namjoon had almost found his way, standing in the open door, still on his phone. A little groan from my side when he didn't even notice that I was standing behind me went by unnoticed. Or simply ignored. But instead of the appropriate clearing of the throat or the maybe less polite squeezing past him, I just put my hands on his back and gently pushed him forward a bit, until his feet hit the pavement and he turned around. Dropping his hand with the phone in it, for a second he looked like he wanted to push back. Or trample me.
"Okay, what the hell is your problem, Charlotte?" His voice was hoarse. His eyes dark. God, he was hot. I hated him so much. "You." I simply replied and stared at him for a second, then turned around and locked the two locks on the door before stepping over to the alarm system. I couldn't help feeling smug because apparently, he knew my name. I imagined him staring at the back of my head because he was flustered, but couldn't be sure. All I knew was that when I turned around again a minute later he was still standing there, his arms crossed in front of his chest, his lips pressed together forming a straight line and watching me.
"Do you always act like that at work around people who could get you into trouble?" He was right, he could get me into trouble. But I was too fired up now, my heart racing. "Is that a threat?" "An observation." "Only around the ones I don't like." "Cool." "Great." "Enjoy the dance party. Sounds shit."
And with those words he had turned around, coat flying open in the wind, unfortunately making him look really cool as he walked away and I ABSOLUTELY HATED HIM. I kept my mouth shut and just walked off in the other direction, realizing minutes later that my car was parked the other way, but I kept walking for a while before I finally turned around. It took a while to calm down and only cuddling up to my cat on the couch to trash tv finally did the job. But by then I had realized something I wasn't sure I liked too much. Yeah, I thought he was a prick. And yeah I should have just played it cool. Would have been much smarted in many regards. But I also had somewhat enjoyed myself in the most fucked up way.
Seeing that stern look, that intense posture as he was towering over me... man, I'd literally piss him off on purpose.
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Top 5 Character Deaths That Made Me Side-Eye the Writers
There are a lot of character deaths in TWDG... obviously. It a series about the literal dead walkin’ around and eating people, so as you’re playing, one of your favorite characters is bound to meet such a fate. To give this series credit, it does have quite a few well-executed deaths that, while I hate them, they have a purpose in the story that works. 
The best example of this is Lee’s death-- we all hate that Lee dies, but it’s well-done. It serves its purpose, it acted as both a shock and a slow-burn for the player, and left us all an emotional mess. 
However, we’re not talking about the “good” deaths today. No, we’re talking about the character deaths that are poorly executed, cheap, lazy, and just plain dumb... they’re the deaths that make me side-eye the writing team and wonder what the fuck happened there. 
By the way, it was reeeeeeal fun narrowing it down to only five deaths, because it seems like for every great death, there’s at least two bad ones.
5. Mariana and her death that ruined ANF’s potential story
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I’ve talked at length about Mariana’s death and how much I hate it. Like, I get it TWDG... you love your sudden deaths and you’re so edgy for killing off a child character because you’ve never done that before... but maybe consider things a little further before pulling the trigger?
Yeah, killing off Mariana the way they did got a reaction outta people when it happened, and we got the burial scene if you stayed with Clementine... but you didn’t consider the future of this storyline? You pretend you did by name dropping Mari when it’s convenient, but then throw it out the window when it comes to characters like David or Gabe.
Listen, I know that ANF is a mess and what’s the point in telling the mess that it’s a mess? Well, I’m still annoyed at the writers for wasting the biggest opportunity for this game’s story, something that could’ve saved it from being a mess.
And I get it, you gotta make a death quota, so instead of killing Mariana off... why not kill Kate off instead? Oh no? We don’t get the stupid love triangle that no one actually enjoys or is engaged in?
Instead of this dumb story about Javi falling in love with his sister-in-law but oh no David’s back.... we could’ve had a story about Javi losing Kate and being left to care for two children by himself. Mariana and Gabe are all he has left, and he going to do whatever he can to keep them safe all while the three of them are mourning Kate.
Then David comes back, and he immediately takes these kids away from Javi.
There is no stupid storyline with Kate, but an actual conflict between two brothers who were never on the same page and two kids caught in the middle.
Plus, Mariana herself as a character really could’ve brought something to the table. She could’ve brought out a lot in David’s character since she seems to be more like Javi.
Her death is just... annoying. It’s frustrating when you know they could’ve told a better story with her alive, something ANF desperately needed.
My side-eye is one of disappointment and annoyance.
4.Luke and his easily preventable drowning
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Ugh.... where to even begin? 
Luke really just gets butchered as a character throughout the second half of S2, and the writers end up demolishing the set up they placed at the beginning of the season for a Luke vs Kenny thing. 
Why? Well, Luke vs Kenny was the initial ending they were gonna go with, but because this season went through all kinds of bullshit, they scrapped that and replaced Luke with Jane... and it’s so dumb.
Hell, it kind of ruins a lot. Not only did it ruin Luke, a character that many players loved, but it forces the new character of Jane, who we only get two episodes to get to know, so they can fade Luke out. 
But that’s not all. 
His death is so... ugh. It’s stupid, okay? Stupid and easily preventable, but noooo... we gotta kill Luke off for reasons because all we know is that S1 killed off a lot of characters and we’re gonna do that again but worse because we failed to understand what made those deaths impactful in the first place. 
Lots of character death and despair = good game. 
Yep, uh-huh. Okay. 
So we all know that Luke’s leg is hurt, yeah? Great, so you’d think that the group that has an injured man and a new born baby would be extra cautious and go around the frozen lake. Yeah, Arvo says that it’s safe but let’s not take any chances. 
But no. We gotta go across like a group of dingdongs and whattya know-- the ice begins to crack beneath Luke’s feet. Now, even here, we coulda got him outta there safely... if Bonnie wasn’t a dingus. 
Think about it. If we shot the walkers who were coming towards Luke with all their weight, he could’ve slowly scooted away, even if he’s already fallen through. BUT NO. Bonnie either guilts Clementine into going towards him, adding more weight to the already fragile ice as Luke tells her to stop, or Bonnie will go over there herself... and she’s a full grown woman soooo her weight breaks the ice. 
Good job, you dipsticks. 
When you have to make your characters into morons in order to move the plot along and kill off characters....maybe do some rethinking, yeah? 
 3. Mitch and his shock-value death
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This death is so dumb... so incredibly, dumb. Even now, I can’t help but give full side-eye to the writers every time one of them tries to justify this death. 
I’m sorry, but this death didn’t have the impact you wanted it to have. And because there’s always someone who says, “Mitch didn’t die for shock value, you just can’t tell the difference between a good and bad death” lemme tell you a thing. 
What was the point of killing of Mitch? Well, according to those who worked on TFS, it was to show that Lilly and the delta are serious. This is when shit gets real, and when Lilly is established as a bad bitch who will do whatever it takes to get what she wants. We should be scared of her now. 
Except no. 
This scene doesn’t tell me that Lilly is a bad bitch. It tells me that she has good reflexes, and going off her reaction after killing Mitch.... I’m not fucking scared of this dumbass. If anything, this scene says more about Mitch than it does Lilly. It says that Mitch is also a dumbass for running at her like he did. 
Y’know what would’ve been more impactful? If Mitch didn’t immediately get stabbed in the throat, but instead, actually got her on the ground and struggled with Lilly. Then, Lilly gets the upper hand and when you think she’s about to send Mitch to the cart, she fucking murders him in front of everyone to prove a point. 
There’s no remorse, it’s slow enough for Lilly to actually process what’s happening and show that she does know what she’s doing. That would scare me. That would show me that these people aren’t fucking around and they’re willing to kill some of them if that means getting the rest for their army. 
You still get your shock value death but it actually does something other than kill a character off. 
I’m really supposed to believe this is the same Lilly who can order to have Louis’ tongue cut off? 
But it doesn’t end there. No, no... there’s another part to Mitch’s death that annoys me, and it’s how insistent everyone was that his death is going to have a greater impact on the second half of the story. It had a purpose within the story, we did it for a reason.
...I mean, it has an impact on Willy and his arc for the second half. 
But that’s it. 
Oh... oh, what’s that? Oh, you were referring to those throwaway lines about Tenn? “He was screwing up again, just like when he got Mitch killed.”
OOOOOH.... I see, that’s what Mitch’s death was really amounting to... some lines dealing with whether or not AJ shot Tenn. Well, I guess I was wrong. Mitch’s death wasn’t just shock value. It really had a big purpose. In fact, Mitch’s death has the biggest impact on the series. Fuck Marlon and Brody’s deaths, and Lilly and James, and hell, fuck Tenn’s death, too. They’re meaningless compared to Mitch’s death. You did it, guys. You really did it. 
....Okay, I’m done. I’m just... salty, I fully admit. 
Being serious again, Mitch’s death is probably the worst in TFS as far as unpreventable deaths go and the real reason I side-eye the writers is because they tried to tell us it was going to have this huge impact in the future and it just... didn’t. 
2. Nick and his offscreen death.
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I’m sorry, but what the fuck happened here? Why- what are you- how the hell did this happen??
I’m actually baffled. 
Someone wrote this. 
They set up at the end of ep3 that Nick is shot.... then ep4 comes and we find him like this. I just... did someone on the writing staff not wanna do their job that day? Someone was working on the story and at the last minute forgot Nick was a character, so they were like “Eh, he’s not important anyway, and it adds to the shittiness of everything so we’ll pretend this was 100% intentional.” 
Nick was one of your more interesting characters and you really thought killing him off like this was the way to go, huh? 
Like, his first death is shitty, but in the very least it kind of makes sense. 
But this? 
This is horrible. If I wrote this, I’d be embarrassed. 
I just... I’m so tired of S2 right now. 
This is at #2 because it’s just lazy, bad writing. At least with Luke, Mitch, and Mariana, we got to see their deaths and they had some, even if just a little, impact on the story afterward. 
But Nick? 
Nothin’.
Even Luke, who is the closest person to Nick, name drops him maybe twice? It’s just.... nothing. 
And yeah, you can come at me with the “oh well not every death has to have meaning!” 
This is a story, okay? This is a story crafted with characters who have arcs by people who wanted it to be a success, and usually that means having satisfying conclusions.... or, intentionally unsatisfying if that acts as a natural conclusion to their story or is a reoccurring theme. 
Nick’s death is just the writers falling flat on their faces and hoping no one would notice. 
1. Sarah and both of her shitty deaths. 
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Ugh. UGH.
Okay. 
I’m not even side-eyeing anymore-- I’m fully glaring.
I don’t have to tell you how shitty both of Sarah’s deaths are. We all played S2, we all know that no matter what you do, Sarah dies in ep4. You can try to save her, she lives a little bit longer, and then falls to her death... and both deaths have her being devoured alive by walkers. 
Now, this is enough to annoy me. First off, I guess my choices don’t really matter. Sure, you can justify this as one of those “sometimes you can’t save someone, no matter how hard you try” ...and fine. Sure, if they had bothered to execute that point well, then great. 
But I disagree that the writers had that in mind when they were killing Sarah off. 
In fact, I know what what going on in their brains-- “God, can’t wait to kill Sarah off! Give us any reason to do it! She’s so damn annoying!”
The writers have openly admitted that a lot of the team were just waiting to kill Sarah off, waiting for any reason, so when the major part of the community who take everything at surface level because why think? kept complaining about Sarah, they jumped on the opportunity to kill her off.... but the deaths are dumb.
Listen, this isn’t like when the writers planned on killing Lee off. You can plan a death and even be excited about it because you’re excited about the story and execution of it all. You can be excited to see the heartbreaking end of this character’s story that you crafted because you know you put everything you had into it.
These deaths were lazy and the product of a team who didn’t care about the character. Sarah dies and no one cares. 
Sure, you leave her to die the first time and Jane does her thing about how you can’t save everyone, she talks about Jaime, and then Luke exposes himself as the fake Luke by agreeing that leaving Sarah behind was probably the right thing. Like what?
Now as much as I hate that first one, the second one is even worse. 
For some reason, Sarah is standing in the corner while they’re trying to fight off the walkers instead of being inside with Rebecca... y’know, where she would be if this was logical. 
Then the deck breaks and Sarah falls, trapped under a pile of wood. Jane, despite being the one who sees Sarah as a liability, goes down there to try and help her after Clementine begs her to. 
But because the writers don’t know what they’re doing, Jane gets hit by a random piece of wood and can’t get Sarah out in time, leaving her to be eaten alive by walkers. 
Then AJ is born and no one cares about Sarah ever again. 
I just.... 
Could’ve had an interesting story arc with a character who just lost her father in such a gruesome way, a character that already deals with anxiety and other problems that you never bothered to explain other than “she isn’t like Clementine” and you could’ve had her grow. 
But I guess that would’ve taken effort.... and screen time away from Kenny, and god forbid we ever do that. 
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Honorable Mentions
-Ava falling to her death in the most comedic way possible, made even more hilarious by David’s two seconds of mourning. -Omid.... because hope is dead. Do you get it? Hope? is dead? Because Omid means hope? Do you get it?? -Honestly you could put most of S2′s deaths on this list because oh my god. -Ben because I’m still a salty bitch.  -I also wanna add Louis and Violet’s deaths on the bridge mostly because they die, Clem is sad for two seconds, Tenn says sorry, and then no one cares. Yeah, yeah, they mourned off screen and I call that lazy bullshit. -Hell, throw Tenn’s death on here, too, for similar reasons-- no one but Louis/Violet and AJ seem to care. Even Clementine is like “whatever” after it happens. 
---
Y’know, picking this one seemed like a good idea at the time, but by now I’m just annoyed by all these dumb deaths. So, what are your thoughts? Are there any deaths that make you question the writers that didn’t end up on the list? Do you agree or disagree with my list? Lemme know, we can have a friendly discussion about it. 
Have any suggestions for future T5F’s? Feel free to send ‘em in! :D
---
Next week’s T5F Top 5 Favorite Louis Moments
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bibibbon · 5 months ago
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Wait, did Hori completely skip over their second and third year at UA? Or is the graduation talking about a different year?
Love how there's still absolutely ZERO introspection from anybody about the war, what drove Aoyama's parents to force him into being the traitor, Tokoyami and Izuku possibly being Quirkless, or Aizawa being such a shitty teacher that he never noticed the UA traitor being one of his own students.
And Shinsou can go kick rocks. I've never liked him since I learned how pervasive Fanon!Shinsou is in the fandom, and seeing his Goob from Meet The Robinsons ass being rewarded for his victim mentality really irks me. Again, love how Aizawa supposedly hates favoritism despite turning around and favoring Shinsou (and Bakugou).
#BringIzuku'sFluffyHairBack
Hi @nutzgunray-lvt 👋
No hori didn't completely skip over 1A's seconds and third year. The time skip was only a few days (which bugs me even more) so I was talking about mirio and his classes graduation. Personally I feel like it's too early to do such a thing but I mind of see it as hori making a full circle moment with what he mentioned in the war arc.
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Oh my Iam so mad that there is no and I mean NO INTROSPECTION about what everyone or anyone just went through!??!?! Like y'all just went through a whole war and there is nothing acknowledging that!!!! Heck not even last chapters hospital scene made an effort in acknowledging what went down. The only type of acknowledgement we get is mirio's speech talking about how the heroes are trying hard to go back to square one and how they know there is a lot of work cut out for them but other than that complete radio silence which is weird as hell.
I mean we have seen people die in that war arc, many suffered injuries or lost things, many are probably mentally or physically scarred or both and hori opening no acknowledgement to that and trying to go back to normal is just horrible writing. The fact that it's been a few days since the war and they're going back to school is horrible in itself.
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The series in itself doesn't even bother to mention aizawas faults as a character or teacher. Look I got into MHA because of the fanon promise of dadzawa (so Iam bias and have a soft spot for it) but dam horis writing of aizawa is such a let down to what fics and friends have told me about dadzawa. Also it's such a shame that aizawa apologises to izuku mid battle using his first name btw and then we are never brought back to that moment it's simply a one off. Also the simple lack of intropsection and information coming from every character is seriously annoying me it's like I can tell that they're simply puppets that hori is horribly controlling.
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Also yuuga deserves better I have talked about how I wanted hori to use the idea of transfer students and students dropping out but this was unsatisfactory. Iam not saying that yuuga shouldn't of dropped out but Iam saying that there was no point considering that he went through that whole ordeal saying that if he fights that the education system may overlook his treachery but now he is leaving?!?!?!?
I like the potential that shinsou had but in all honesty he is way too underdeveloped for anything. There hasn't been any acknowledgements of his own mistakes and flawed ideology, we never see his interaction with Izuku and him learning that izuku isnt privileged, we don't see him apologising to ojiro for insulting him, we don't see him actually warming up to 1A rather he seems to be happier in his own class. I have talked more about shinsou and what he could of been here
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Honestly it never made sense to me why aizawa likes bakugo so much when bakugo is like a carbon copy of his childhood bully so🤷‍♀️. Shinsou I kinda get but dam it's not a good look for sure.
#BRINGIZUKUSFLUFFYHAIRBACK
Horikoshi has no reason to take away Izuku's fluffy hair!! I need it to comeback and I beg for him not to give izuku a disgusting undercut like those aged up fan arts do. Also best Izuku is MHA 411 izuku!!!
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komatsunana · 2 years ago
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hiiii hope you're doing great 😊💗
for the character opinion bingo
reira serizawa & johan liebert <33
hello thanks for asking, I'm recovering from the stomach flu!! So much better than I have been lol. Unfortunately, even though Monster has been very high up the list on my to watch/read... I haven't yet done. But it's been so highly liked by trusted people so I know I will like it. But can't say anything on my thoughts on Johan Liebert yet 😩
As for that Reira.... all comments about my tabs under the cut because that's how I roll lol.
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So close to 2 BINGOS and yet I'd sooner have the stomach flu again than dab them lol
So yes. Reira. That hair, those curls......... love. But more importantly THAT COLOR??? wowie it's been a dream coloring for me. Like I know it somewhat varies from illustration to illustration and even in the anime... The dusty rose color is like a DREAM. It's like,, are you pink? blonde? strawberry blonde? silver? lilac? puce? and the answer is yes <3
but also skipping ahead to a future dab........... why she look like that? yeah why the terf bangs. more importantly... she she (and the rest of trapnest) look like this in this one illustration
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I am sorry but I think about this absolute fashion nightmare of Trapnest's on the daily and none of these fools have looked worse. None of these colors go, why you look like that... please stop
Not to be arrogant but I see so many bad takes on Reira it makes my head spin. People really be like "Reira is the worst character, I hate her she should die" and I'm no you need to shut up you're incredibly wrong and then others are like "I love Reira she's so great, she's never done anything wrong" and I'm like wow you absolutely need to never talk again. Sorry, I'm joking but also... no I am not <3
I NEED to see Reira interact more with Hachi and Nana and frankly every other member of Trapnest and Blast other than Shin. Also like, it's such a waste that she's like "hi, I am an incredibly lonely and damaged person and the only company I have really found romantically is a boy being sex trafficked, using my minimal power in my life to have a relationship with this boy and later another young child of the man I've been infatuated with my entire life" which COULD be a fascinating exploration of cycle of abuse, how the abused will try and control an even more vulnerable person to lay their frustration and damage of their own abuse on another.......... BUT INSTEAD all we get is that the relationship Reira has with a sex trafficked teen is that it's socially wrong and would be a bad for for her career. Like OKAY I GUESS BUT NOT REALLY
That said Reira is an incredible fascinating character with depths to explore it's just the whole her relationship with little boys is very distracting.
GOSH tho does it do my head in that for so many years Reira was given was her interference with Hachi/Takumi and Nana/Ren then her relationship with Shin. Like come on NANA fandom of 15 years ago. Get it together
Sleeping with a 15 year old when you are in your 20's is a horrible person move thank you next
When I take my own gosh darn "Which NANA character are you" personality uquiz I always get Reira and this is very mentally ill of me and I have way too many feelings about that and about her in general that it's damaged my psyche permanently.
"works better as part of a dynamic" and that dynamic is Ren. it's Naoki. It's how she should have a dynamic with Hachi and Nana that isn't just,, through their relationship with men but actual feelings about and for each other as people. DO NOT LET THIS WOMAN BE ON HER OWN, she can't take it... I can't take it
Given the wasted potential of her story arc and her relationship of using sex trafficking like... idk. Maybe the story would just be better off without her. That or the relationship with Shin, or better handling of it. You decide.
And yeah, I would NEVER marry this woman and CLEARLY I think this woman has done many very bad things wrong.
Thank you for asking!! I have no idea why I wanted to do this more than the 4 very good and fascinating questions that are waiting in my ask box very much not forgotten but still just. sitting waiting.
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ato-matsuri · 4 years ago
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On Agartha
Been a while since I’ve written a long text post, most of all one about Fate. It honestly inspires a lot of rambling in me, after all. But I don’t think, this time, it’s due to its good writing, the emotions it makes me feel, or anything good. This, my friend, is about Agartha. I should probably prelude that this contains a metric shit ton of Agartha spoilers. If you haven’t seen Agartha, and you’re actually wanting to see the story -- scroll past. But, having played through Agartha completely and rested on the story for a bit, I think I want to repeat what everyone else has for ages lol.
Agartha, on paper, is incredible. A subterranean world built off fantastical story off fantastical story, made by a woman known for her ability to weave story after story, within stories, on the fly, and from a database of every possible Arabian Nights tale. Where the fear Scheherazade has due to Shahryar's endless abuse and fearmongering has stretched even to men as a whole due to literal years of having to survive Shahryar. Where the only leaders were queens, where the only rebellion force was a man so horrifically corrupt that he'd easily fall for the tricks she played. Her intent -- to reveal magecraft forever, removing any power magecraft has, saving her from ever having to fight and face kings -- and die -- ever again. That... sounds pretty good when I describe it that way, huh? Now if only it were executed with any modicum of sense.
From the beginning, Agartha's writing struck me as remarkably odd. It was like I was watching someone desperately try to emulate Nasu's writing style -- but had absolutely no idea what made Nasu's writing so good. Its exposition dumps, rather than being interesting, ended up being thoroughly boring -- as they focused on the mundane, like the fact that moss glows to light up the landscape -- instead of the magical implications of a world like Agartha even existing to begin with. Albeit, with the mystery of Agartha at that time, we can safely assume that there wasn't much to focus on, but then why spend so damned long talking about this stuff?
The worldbuilding, while passable, feels fairly flawed in execution. The idea of a world made the way Agartha was could've made for some interesting commentary about the way men treated (and still do treat) women in modern society, but Agartha not only misses the point, but tumbles head-over-ass into the uncanny valley and makes the whole thing sound like a continent-wide BDSM session. There's barely any actual subtle or well-done symbolism to showcase misogyny in this way -- and while hyperbole can serve a good point at times, the hyperbole combined with the strangely sexual writing of these segments makes it feel less like commentary and more like a badly-done doujin.
For example -- El Dorado was as simple as it gets. Men are slaves/breeding machines/whatever. The whole 'breeding machine' thing is played off extensively, even with Penth -- a minor at this stage, mind you -- comments on using the protagonists as such breeding machines. I'll come back to this later, because this serves as another point.
Ys was a fucking cool concept -- a world ruled entirely by rampant consumerism and chaos. Men, in this world, are still second-class citizens, pretty much the playthings of the women around them. I say that Ys is the best kingdom comparatively, as it was at least more bearable than its other kingdoms, but it still felt weirdly sexual in its writing tone. Of course, following tone, Dahut (who I'll get back to later) smashes men constantly, and is very keen on fucking Guda as well, following a trend. It's played for comedy, mostly, but it's still uncomfortable as all hell. Even so, I note it's more bearable because it's a very slightly more subtle take on the whole 'misogyny' allegory -- these people are using men for basically whatever they want, and tossing them away after. I'd compare it to a few true crime cases of people who murdered, or assaulted women for no good reason at all, purely out of a want that was either denied (for good reason), or that the want itself was to inflict harm. While the allegory still does feel unintentional here, it's at least slightly less unintentional. It was probably mostly just by accident due to Agartha's generally uncomfortable writing style, but the allegory here feels a little more potent when it's not so blatantly a BDSM fic.
I hate the Nightless City, despite it again being a cool concept. A 'utopia' where speaking out at all means death -- where men are in concept free citizens, but in practice fall victim to the law if they look at someone funny. Again, in concept, great allegory. The law does not treat men and women the same -- and while it differs depending on the case which is preferred, the vast majority of the time, women are pretty much shafted by the legal system (see Brock Turner), especially in very conservative areas. Cases can be made for both genders being shafted, of course -- but for the purpose of this allegory, picking out the prejudices of the legal system against gender is a fair critique. But, like everything else Agartha does, these neat ideas fall flat in practice.
They barely touch at all on the allegory, and nobody seems to even realize it in the cast, making me further believe the allegories aren't intentional at all. In due fact, it's as if the writer didn't even realize that this could be read as an allegory. The men's plights make some sense, as they were yoinked out of nowhere into a world that hates them. But the Servants and Guda don't think about it at all past the 'wow men are slaves that sucks' -- barely even considering that this could be an allegory the world's creator made due to their own horrific circumstances. They do point this out, but to my knowledge, it's very late -- when Scheherazade's called on her bluff, only then is it ever mentioned, and only in passing at that. If anything, the fact they point this out so close to the ending makes the ending itself that much more insulting. But before I get to the ending, I think there's something else about Agartha that sets the scene for just how awful it is -- and that's the way the characters are written, and the dialogue that comes of it. For this, I'll split it up into the characters who portray this the most. I'll even describe their personalities in Agartha's context.
Guda: Crouching pervert, hidden Mash stan. A few non-sequiturs of Guda complimenting Mash despite the mood being completely broken by it. Guda's incapable of taking a situation seriously in Agartha, even when the world's basically due to be changed forever. They keep cracking jokes, creeping on Astolfo/d'Eon, and other such things even when people are literally dying all around him. For that matter, I clearly recall the scene where -- for no real reason -- Guda just changes gears with Mash in tow, and starts trying to decipher d'Eon's gender. There's absolutely no real context to this, nor any reason for Guda to do this. Further noted is the fact Guda has worked with d'Eon before, and should've probably realized d'Eon's situation by this point. The Nasuverse has always been a bit, er, behind on gender norms and such, but it's so prevalent in any scene with d'Eon it hurts -- especially in that particular scene.
Astolfo: Oddly enough, the most tolerable person here (sans one other person). Agartha's refusal to take itself seriously works remarkably well for Astolfo. And while Astolfo isn't exactly written well here either, the fact that Astolfo's always been a bit loopy makes them seem, well, more in character. They're responsible for some of the funnier moments in Agartha, with their input composing approximately 3/4 of the, like, seven or eight funny moments in Agartha proper. Even so, Astolfo's appearance sometimes hurts Agartha as much as they help it, probably since Astolfo is a bit of the reason Agartha won't take itself seriously.
d'Eon: Deserved fucking better. The previously mentioned scene was the worst offender by far in my eyes, with it coming out of fucking nowhere. d'Eon's paired with Astolfo as a buddy and fighting partner, which itself could've made for good material -- instead, d'Eon is constantly dragged into Astolfo's fanservice-y gimmicks, and d'Eon themselves are pretty often creeped on by Guda. I'd go out on a limb to say that d'Eon's implied dislike of gendered clothing (see the maid outfit) made their scenes wearing such outfits far more uncomfortable, especially with how distinctly sexual the Agartha humour is. I just hated it.
Columbus: I can't fucking believe I'm saying this, but Columbus was the funniest character in Agartha. And I don't even think that was intentional. Something about how unabashedly horrible he was caught me completely off guard -- I thought he'd end up sort of like Napoleon at a glance, someone whose Spirit Origin was completely changed due to Europe's collective worship of the dude -- but holy FUCK was I wrong. Something about the hilariously cursed faces Columbus pulls, combined with his loud-and-proud irredeemable evilness, made him a blast to watch -- and an even bigger blast to beat the shit out of. His, uh, toothy grin still cracks me up even a few weeks after playing it.
Penthesilea: One of a very large amount of people who really deserved better. She barely ever shows up -- and when she does, she voices her desire to turn Guda and co. into a breeding machine/slave (recall she's like. 16?), and pretty much throws the whole 'reasonable-ish zerk' thing out the window instantly, because Agartha decided to forego decent writing in favour of 'funny berserker hates achilles haha brrrrrr,' therefore losing pretty much all the characterization they could've given her. The lack of 'alternate views' that show her in greater detail make this far worse, which I'll go into later.
Dahut: God, wasted potential out the asshole! A woman who made an entire world that fucked around and needlessly consumed stuff, she's the epitome of such a belief. But that's all she is. I'd be able to forgive this awful writing if Scheherazade, who 'implanted' Drake onto Dahut, was a bad writer -- but she's fucking Scheherazade! Dahut's a completely flat character, who constantly tries to bed (and kill) Guda, and generally likes the idea of needless consumption. That's literally it. Again, could be explained if Dahut had difficulty keeping control of Drake's body and conscience -- but this isn't explored either! She's just a walking, talking missed opportunity.
Wu: God, look at her design. Do I even need to say more?! She falls under the same problem that the other rulers do -- shallow characterization, no opportunities to flesh them out, etc.
Scheherazade: She could've been so fucking amazing. Scheherazade's story is one ripe with interpretations the Fate series so loves to utilize -- and on paper, her character is amazing. It'd only be natural for someone like Schez to be this deeply traumatized after so many days on death's door -- not many could really get through that okay. The incredible storyteller who fears death, kings, and unconsciously, men as a whole -- creating Agartha as a subtle way of ensuring none of them harm her while she prepares her ultimate plan of revealing magecraft to the entire world. However, as with the other Agartha characters, she becomes cripplingly one-note. Bringing her fear of death above all else, she comes off as an unreasonable asshole, constantly freaking out about death and preserving exclusively herself to a fault. While one could argue it's partially due to a Pillar's influence, Phenex doesn't seem to have a hold on her at all -- it's a basic alliance, and nothing more, as the ending shows us. It just leaves her as a one-note death avoider, with no other character traits at all. I'd go into further detail, but I'm saving that for later.
Fergus: God fucking damnit, man. A literal child version of Fergus, who the entire cast constantly expects to sexually harass every woman in sight. He's a one-note flanderization of Fergus, just without the one character trait Agartha gave Fergus. It just makes him... boring, a character whose only character trait is his refusal to hit a woman. Like... Come on. The fact the entire team is so sure this literal child will start trying to hit on women is just uncomfortable to witness, and the fact he slowly starts gaining these traits feels less like him 'meeting his fate' as Fergus, and more like Agartha wants an excuse to sexually harass more of the cast.
The Fucking Ending I'm giving this its own category, because of just how much of a punch to the face it was. In short -- the plan to reveal magecraft is revealed, more jokes are made, bla bla bla. Agartha can't keep a serious mood at all. ...But the final few scenes take it to a whole other extreme.
Wu Zetian comes out of nowhere despite being squashed by Megalos earlier, stuffing Phenex into a pit of her weird water shit, placing Phenex in a state of 'life and death.' Child Fergus then sac's his own Spirit Origin to summon Fergus inside himself(???), thus gaining the power of Caladbolg to weaken Phenex enough for the player to destroy. ...However, Child Fergus just summoned Fergus inside his own body. So, what happens when you put Agartha!Fergus, a one-note sexual harasser, into the body of a child? You get the final scene of Agartha. For some reason, I guess you need more help from others to take out Phenex. To this end, Fergus decides to convince Schez to join their side. I'd like you to recall that FGO!Scheherazade is implied to have the trauma of Shahryar's abuse, sexual and physical, burned into her memory -- not just the whole death thing. In every form of the story, Shahryar abuses her in such a fashion almost nightly. It's to the point where Schez' first line of defence, and much of her skills, are as much oriented around storytelling as they are charm and seduction (moreso the former than the latter, albeit), because her defence mechanism was that as much as it was storytelling, to keep her abuser happy. This is a part of why Agartha is the way it is -- to keep such men away from her. Hell, there's not a single King in sight, save technically Fergus, and Chaldea's d'Eon and Astolfo. Fergus knows this. Hell, he heard this being called out. He's well aware how terrified she is. So, what does he do?
SEXUALLY HARASS HER. He claims she has to live to have kids. That men and women have to live to have kids. He claims that she should live, because he'd smash her. ...Now, that's insulting enough -- moreso, that it's played dead serious. Nobody even as much as calls him on such a shitty persuasion tactic, and nobody even mentions how awful it is to sexually harass a woman who'd been sexually assaulted at best for the better part of almost three straight years. AND IT. FUCKING. WORKS.
SCHEHERAZADE. IS IMPLIED. TO BE INTO IT.
And because of this, she's swayed to join the heroes and seal Phenex away for good -- giggling about how Fergus' worldview was partially correct even as she fades away. The epilogue features Fergus, sexually harassing Scheherazade ON SIGHT -- calling out 'tits on my 12:00' or whatever, as Scheherazade darts off. However, Schez isn't avoiding him due to trauma. She's avoiding it because, while she's into it, she doesn't want to 'die' so fast. This fucking ending highlights among the biggest issues with this damned Singularity. Even Blavatsky coming out of fucking nowhere to Deus Ex Machina a grail and help into Guda's hands -- despite seemingly being slaughtered by Columbus in a (admittedly a bit funny) way to get the base of the Resistance -- means nothing to me compared to the blatant slaughter of two characters at once. Fergus is a total horndog even outside of Agartha's reach, but he even notes he respects his partners' consent, and doesn't overstep his bounds if he makes them uncomfortable. Scheherazade isn't exactly trusting in the slightest, least of all in Agartha - she barely even begins trusting Guda due to Guda treating her with actual respect. Even then, she isn't actively prostrating herself for Guda in that sense, very likely due to the fact that's more of a defence mechanism to her rather than something she'd enjoy, due to extreme trauma. Albeit, Fate writing does leave the possibility in the air for Guda specifically, but that's very likely just due to Guda being Guda and being careful to treat her properly and help her than anything else (and also the whole 'self insert harem' thing, I guess, but that's a hell of a lot easier to ignore esp in contrast to Agartha) And yet, we see that epilogue, that butchers both of them in one fell swoop so badly that I almost ended up hating both of them. Agartha's biggest problem is that it tried to be deep and intriguing, while having the writing quality of the goddamned Valentine's events. It picked all the right characters to have an incredibly intriguing storyline, and fell flat because the author decided that playing sexual harassment, d'Eon's everything, and even the most serious scenes for comedy was more important than telling a story even half as meaningful as the chapters before it. Lo and behold -- to my knowledge, Minase wrote it. Of course he did. He chose the best, the most interesting characters he could find, and made them so fucking one-note that the story lost all its charm in moments. He chose to emulate Nasu without understanding what made Nasu's writing so good. He chose to make Agartha a laugh fest despite simultaneously trying to make it 'deep.' He chose to fall head-over-ass over a possibly interesting allegory into misogyny and fall right into sexualizing it to the point of feeling like a femdom BDSM fic. And go figure the only character he did decently was Christopher fucking Columbus. I have a hatred for Agartha I can't reasonably place anywhere else. Prillya was just as shitty, but I ignored it, because Prillya itself wasn't great, so of course the crossover sucks too. Valentine's events written by him weren't great, but whatever, it's a Valentine's event. Septem, written by someone else, was similarly not great. But it wasn't insulting. It simply wasn't great, and had a lot of wasted potential. But its ending wasn't out of character to the point of being insulting. Its story didn't make incredible mythological and historical figures too infuriating to like anymore. It didn't almost ruin entire Fate characters for me. Not the way Agartha did. I should probably contextualize that Scheherazade is among my favourite mythological figures. I introduced myself to her through Magi (lmao) due to further research into the base stories -- as well as a favourite Magic: The Gathering card, Shahrazad, which forced you to play a game within your game, like how Arabian Nights featured stories within stories.
Even in Fate outside of Agartha, I liked her. Her design didn't make much sense to me considering her character, but whatever, I didn't need to think too hard of it. It's just a design, and despite my hatred of Penth's design, I still love Penth as a character, so I can handle Schez. But Agartha painted her in such a way that all the subtlety and interesting parts of Schez went completely out the window. No longer was there any hidden references to the aftereffects of her life beyond 'i dun wan die,' and there was hardly an ounce of sympathy or kindness in her bones at all. While her being an anti-hero made some sense, especially as she was only a normal person with far above-average storytelling prowess, there was a point when she stopped being a 'good, but terrified person' and started being a complete asshole. And Agartha was that time. If it weren't for her Interlude, which redeemed her considerably, and Ooku, which did wonders for her character despite being written by Minase (as I believe Nasu was overseeing him at that point), I very likely would've never gone for her at all, despite my love of the myth. In Conclusion This rant is just to say that Agartha is bad. Horrific. Insulting, even. At every step where it could've been good, it tumbled head-over-ass into the most insulting, uncomfortable shit you could imagine. It failed to take itself seriously, and paced itself like a comedy event, but simultaneously acted as if it expected its audience to take it seriously. Like a clown brigade deciding to take on Les Mis, it loses all of its punch when every few lines is interrupted by a jab at Fergus, sexual harassment, or something that comes close to being cool before suddenly turning into a badly-timed joke, or suddenly becoming laden with dialogue so sexual it feels straight out of a porno. It's aggravating, awful, and with only brief reprieves of bareable comedy in between long, long lengths of hellish text and awful characterization. The only good part was the gameplay -- which, laden with interesting mechanics not seen elsewhere, was legitimately fun. My take? Avoid all Agartha cutscenes and plot, and just play the gameplay. The gameplay's fun, and if enjoyed on its own, would probably make for a far better experience than observing the story surrounding it. But good gameplay doesn't make up for a horrible story, especially in a game where plot is as important as it is in F/GO. Agartha's a pile of shit in my eyes, but that's ultimately only my opinion, and nothing more. If others have an opinion counter to mine, that's completely fine -- and don't let this analysis ruin your fun with Agartha if you enjoyed its plot. To be frank, I'd be happy if you enjoyed it where I could not. And if you think my takes are misinformed, or if I missed a spot (or overreacted to a spot), that's what the reblogs and comments are for! I'm definitely not the kind of dude who has the final say in matters like this -- this is only what I picked up. Thank you for reading!
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popculturebuffet · 4 years ago
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Star Vs The Forces of Evil: Is Another Mystery (Prince of Wishful Thinking) or Wasted Potetial
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Happy Valentine’s Day Lucifans! And while I originally intended to cover this along with the much worse Booth Buddies I had too much to say about both to try and clown car both together so here we are. And just in times for V-Day we have a StarTom episode.. that isn’t as focused on thier relationship as I thought because I hadn’t seen this in a while because every time I think of things in this series I think of all the wasted potetial and it gives me a migrane. I’d also like to thank @jess-the-vampire for talking this one over with me as usual, and helping me think through some stuff. And as with last time we’re picking up about where we left off, so no real exposition to get through. Join me under the cut as we solve a mystery and marvel at HOW much potential from this episode the show squandered. 
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We open with Marco chasing Glossaryck.. and it’s only now I realize I have not talked about this subplot at all. Or Glossaryck really. As you probably know Glossaryck is the tiny man who lives in the big book of spells, created the magical high comission and is a colossasl assshat whose likeablity plumted this season. For starters his voice actor Jeffery Tambour was outed as a massive creep, making him harder to stomach even if the show had reduced him to stock footage of one line. Speaking of which he came back from the dead... and despite it being revealed he was fully sapient the whole time and just saying Eclipsa’s husbands name without context a twist coming up int he finale that i’ll give out about here as while clever when you first hear it. makes NO sense in hindsight, as Eclipsa might of mentioned it before now especially since Glossaryck was around her quite a few times, had no reason not to, and you’d THINK Star, Marco or Moon, especially the latter two, would be curious why he can only say that and has seemingly been reduced to an infant. It’s an annoying subplot tha’ts just casually part of the series and no one seems to care about despite Glossaryck being a big deal and the spellbook revealing there IS a way to make copies, one that would be used next season. 
But what really just made me HATE him.. is how he contributed to how bad things on Mewni are, by doing nothing. Being omnicent and powerful does not mean you do nothing.. it just means you have to be VERY careful. Power is a responsivity not an excuse to say “Wheelp my kids were a mistake going to just let them overthrow the government, become far more entriched in mewni politics, and boss me around without EVER questioning them or trying to replace them”. His apathy is never really called out by anyone but Marco, and he’s treated with all this undue importance despite not doing anything but train the queens, which even then i’ts questionable how good he was at that. Just an asshole, not the worst character in the series, he’s coming up in a few episodes, but just wholly unlikeable. And I get he’s supposed to be comically douchey but after what we learn about eclipsa it just passes into unforgivable and it’s never brought up or talked about. Which is a trend for this series and I don’t know why i’m even bothering being annoyed at this point when I could easily COUNT the number of potential plot threads the series half finished, dropped or wasted and it’d probably hit 50+. 
So Marco is chasing after Glossarcyk and ends up in Buff Frog’s office. Buff Frog was Ludo’s former second in command, who reformed, and became close with Star and Marco, and who Star gave a position as Royal Monster Expert in order to have an ACTUAL MONSTER doing their job since the previous person was a crazy lady who thought of htem as less than sapient and tried to drown them all for reasons I don’t quite remember. This.. has not come up since and this is the first time we’ve seen his office since and it’s empty. 
Marco finds a note for star but accidently reads it before he can get it to her, and we do get a glimpse of the old Marco as he’s disgraught over “reading someone’s mail without their permission!” I missed this.. I think I blocked out the GOOD times with marco in my brain behind a butter-like wall of all the stupid shit he did this season and the next and the whole resolution to the starco thing that left a taste in my mouth not unlike sardine juice mixed with vinegar, aka what causes Mitch Mconnel’s face to look like delfated and to sound like the ghost of Michgian J Frogs Condederate Uncle. 
Meanwhile Star is with Tom and is distruaght after finding our her life is a lie and feels there’s no one she feels she can talk to about this, and Tom’s face when she says this just...
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You can tell the poor guy is just hurt. HIs girlfirend is hurting.. and she dosen’t even CONSIDER talking to him about this or think she can trust him despite him being RIGHT THERE. This expression is only on screen for half a second but it says so much. And another thing it says is that he dosen’t know HOW to help her, as evidenced by the fact his offering to is very awkward and sitlted, that he’s clearly HURT she dosen’t think she can confide in him, but is so awkward in general and out of his depth her ehe dosen’t know how to help he just wants to.  But while Star eventually seems receptive.. Marco busts in and we get a seen of EVERYONE involved being a canoe filed with dicks and old vhs copies of biodome. After of course Marco tells Star, Buff Frog is gone. To wit
Star: Immediately plans to take off with Marco and only Marco despite tom being right there, that he could help even if he has no stake in it, and the fact that cloudy can both grow, and Tom can you know.. FLY. That’s a thing we’ve seen him do a lot. So space isn’t an issue, sh’es just forgetting tom exists. Which WOULD work if it was an intentional issue but is sadly the beggining of Star being a pretty terrible girlfriend to tom. This example is lighter since you know , one of her closest friends and his small children are missing, and this is the day after her entire world got flip turned upside down, so I can forgive her a bit since she’s probably not thinking clearly.. but it’s the start of a LONG pattern fo her forgetting tom exists when it’s not coinvent and not thinking about his feelings.
Marco: When Tom asks to take Marco’s place, Marco says, not that he’s buff frog’s friend or he’s worried again about the fact he has kids that could be in danger but “I’m her squire it’s my job”... BEFORE you know the fact his friend WITH YOUNG CHLIDRNE WHO COULD BE DEAD VIA HATE CRIME, is missing. 
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Seriously it says something about how far Marco has fallen by this ponit that even in an episode wher eh’es largely his old self.. he STILL make this about him and star to her boyfriend’s face. HiS FRIEND’S FACE. There will be worse from Marco soon enough, and far worse we won’t be covering, but it does say something that they did him so wrong this season that THIS is minor in comparison to some of the other shit he pulls. 
Tom: The only INTEITONAL one of these, as Star’s neglect feels like it was an accident, as he insists on coming along as her boyfriend despite this being a fairly serious situation and him clearly just wanting alone time. 
OH and if you thought the writers you know ACTUALLY cared about STar’s anguish over finding out her whole life was a lie, her newly found grandma who actually relates to her and treats her with respect unlike her mother isn’t biologically related (Not that blood relation matters but I can see why finding out the one family member besides your dad who was anything like you in recent memory.. isn’t related to you would hurt).. 
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This highlights the show’s biggest flaw, and yes folks it’s bigger than the ending with the accidental genocide and the horrible implications. That was bad.. but what really tripped the show up long before that.. is the lack of payoff. Now sure some plots get payoffs, especially the Metora one, it’s one of the series best arcs.. but TONS of other threads are just outright ignored, casually dropped or never really pulled.  Look I know that every show has things we wished they’d done more with, and most of the greats of this generation have stuff they dropped the ball on by dropping it or never really getting into it: She Ra never really had any closure with Catra and Scorpia, despite Catra hurting her the most out of anyone and that could’ve been a good thing for her character developent and Scorpia’s own character development. Ducktales had NO intention of going into Della’s reaction to Scrooge and Donald’s feud and quitely ignored or retconned the fact Scrooge clearly erased Della’s long history from the web and wherever else he could, as why else would the kids have never known. Did they just not use google? Steven Universe, if partially by design as it turns out, skipped over a LOT of things and ignored a lot of intresting characters human and gem. It’s the nature of writing seralized teleivsion: Sometimes you just forget to take care of something or simply don’t have the space to. That is fine.  The problem is star does this.. for major plot points that really CAN’T be ignored. Starting with this season they flat out ignore Star telling Marco how she felt for pretty much the entire season. They only deal with it in booth buddies.... THREE EPISODES before the season finale two parter. Despite it having massive impliciations, doing so IN FRONT OF JACKIE, who was her friend, and Jann who is both Jackie and Star’s friend and is not subtle.  We never get any fallout from this and the show weirdly acts like Marco can’t easily visit home. I mean yes he’s star’s squire but she’s not a heartless monster> The DIazes were her parents for a while too. And that’s not even getting into Marco Junior... “Shudders”. But that part of the cliffhanger was just the start after that the pile just kept getting larger. Before it was basically JUST the monster arm and it possibly being involved with the blood moon. So to prove my point i’m making a list of EVERY dropped plot point or storyline from the series, most of which are from season 3 onward. And naturally I asked jess for help with this after the first 25.. and the list DOUBLED. One or two of these are nitpicky.. but the fact the vast majority AREN’T .. yeah.
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1. Jackie’s reactoin to Star’s feelings for Marco 2. Janna’s Reaction to Star’s feelings for Marco 3. Buff Frog being head monster expert 4. Buff Frog and Co fleeing this dimension and where they WENT exactly 5. Tom being a Monster 6. Star not being a Butterfly by blood 7. Moon’s reaction to not being a butterfly by blood 8. Rhombulus feeling guilty 9. Marco’s reaction to hekapoo being a terrible person 10. Marco and Kelly’s Relationship (Technically resovled but done poorly) 11. Tad not being over Kelly 12. Hornanne never getting a horn (I know minor but it bothers me a lot) 13. Eclipsa having to win over the other kingdoms 14. Related, the Johnasons being the hardest one of those to overcome 15. Related to 13 again: Why Tom’s Parent’s didn’t suppport eclipsa 16. What the Jaggy Mountains are or are like at all 17. WHy Glossaryck was worried about Globgor 18. Why Glossaryck faked being feral for a season 19. How Star had a piece of the spell book 20. What Mr. Candle’s Deal is 21. The Pie Folk knowing the true lineage of the queen 22. Was the commission conspiracy ever made public.  23. Meteora possibly having memories from her previous self 24. Lobster Claws 25. River’s reaction to moon’s betrayal 26. Toffee’s Past  and Motivations 27. Marco’s Cheekmarks 28. Any reaction by Star and Janna to said cheekmarks 29. The kingdom’s reaction to the book being stolen is never brought up again 30. The Past Queens (Never brought up in show itself, but Jess feels there was supposed to be more there and I agree) 31. The Septarian Painting in ST.O’s (While i’ts a hint at who meteora is WHY it’s there and why ST. O would even allow it and why it’s of septarians is never explained) 32. Monster Arm 33. Relicor’s Wife 34. Why the dance memory was different 35. How do people in other dimensions get dimensional scissors? 36. How Did Toffee Know of the Whipsering Spell? 37. Where did Toffe, Ludo and Rasticore’s dimensonal scissors/chainsaw come from? 38. Toffee’s Damage to Mewni (Never gets brought up aagain after silver bell) 39. Why Globgor eating Shastacan was “Complicated” 40. Upwards Waterfall Unicorn 41. Star spying on Marco and Jackie 42. Any Explination for Green Magic 43. The photo’s of star and marco’s kiss (To quote jess, into the void they go) 44. How Metora Learned Soulsucking and why she can do that 45. Metora taking Rasticores arm with her.  46. The Neverzone’s weird time dialation 47. Star’s Neglect of Tom 48. The Spiderbites reaction to globgor being freed 49. The “Big Surge of Dark Magic” 50. Eclipsa “gets into your head 51. Star learning wandless magic with no effort 52. Where did Brian Go? 53. Star and Marco Never apologize for the kiss on screen 54. “I know how this all ends 55. Why Lekmet was never Replaced and why reynadlo didsn’t replace him
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55 in the span of an hour.. and that’s not even getting into the fact Jess was thinking these up off the top of her head and probbaly coudl’ve kept going, but I didn’t want to overtax her since I was asking a favor of her, and  fifty goddamn three is more than enough to say ya done fucked up. Just.. holy shit. MARVEL has less dropped plotlines than this, and that at least has the caveat of changing writers and some writers being dipshits who don’t CARE about resolving what happened before. The Star team has an excuse for maybe 10 or 20 of these.. but 55! Fifty Goddamn five! And that’s stopping as we could probably have found more and just tying this paragraph we did, hence 55. How much do you have to NOT care about your audience, your plots and your characters to miss this much? The three I mentioned before all have understandable explinations behind them: She-Ra had a set episode count and only so much space and it made more sense story wise to have scorpia be taken over by the horde. Ducktales is on a kids network and Disney isn’t at all supportive of adult plots to the point a courtroom episode was deemd too confusing for kids... which first off , no, and secondly you see what they were dealing with. and Steven Universe again did this slightly intentionally, with things happening offscreen because that’s how life works, sometimes it worked sometimes it didn’t. 
This is just incompetence on a MASSIVE scale that boggles the goddamn mind. I have seen shows do worse, but i’ve never seen a show flush most of i’t spoteital drama nad character development down a goddamn hole again, and again and again in such a consitent manner. There’s no wonder I didn’t see this at the time. This is a level of messed up you have to see from helicopter view! The show just stopped carring about finishing most of it’s storylines and just brought shit up when it was convient and threw it out on a scale that just... just.. 
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It sucks. It sucks to see a show that had so much potetial squander it, it sucks the show ended up like this, as only a handful of those are from pre season 3, and it sucks that the clock is ticking on how much good I have to say about the show without having to add the button “And then this was never properly resolved.” Good. Fucking. Grief. And Jess wanted to find MORE, and probably could, but I didn’t want her to dedicate her life to this. It’s monuentally frustrating, and saddening to see waht a waste of potetial this series was by the end. All of this is one big list of what if and most of it shoudl’ve been resolved in some way. “Sigh”.... let’s move on.. for my sanity’s sake. I made myself very sad. 
So with Marco out of the way Tom and Star start investigating and Tom is a bit of a dick about it, suggesting they abandon the search for her friend and his CHLDREN to go get a corn shake and that the monsters just went out grocery shopping.. the former is just horribly out of character, as even if he would WANT to leave he woudln’t be so cavialer about it when sh’es this upset just a few episodes AFTER monster bash, where he learned you know.. not to do that. The other is just ehhh... like you think he’d react to an entire town being missing and Star’s JUSTIFIED fear mina did it , after she easily swatted both of them aside, with more than “eh maybe their doing pesant stuff I don’t know” Thankfully the “Tom is a huge dick and also star is grossed out by him liking monster food revealing she might still be a touch racist without realizing it, which itself is nver touched on, let’s call that number 54″, portion of the episode ends when dark gets a little something on him
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Star gets one in her arm, and the two pass out and wake up with sacks over them. We do get the best part of the episdoe where both try to run around blind, and Tom realizes he’s claustrophbic and starts panicking, which results in him falling around and kicking in a circle, while Star takes a guy out and while she can’t see assumes she did something cool. Eventually we find out their kidnappers are related to the buff frog thing and tell her to stop looking and just to be serious are going to break tom’s horns... before Buff Frog arrives wondering what the fuck their thinking and stopping them, and he and his kids are fine. Turns out he’s leaving Mewni and Katrina, his oldest daughter who has giant legs now, wanted to make sure they got to say goodbye, so she left the note in his name knowing Star would come and find them. Before we get into all of that, just a quick aside.. okay so baiscally these monsters who threatened are either fleeing mewni or running some sort of underground railroad to cover up the monster exodus. Which begs the question... why did they tihnk breaking the horns of a crowned prince of one of their allied states and kidnapping and threatning the princess of mewni, who is PUBLICLY pro monster and thus only makes them look worse, was at all a good idea. I get wanting to hdie this but breaking Tom’s horns is only going to lead to a fight at best and two kingdoms coming down at them with their full might, putting innocent people in the crossfire at worst and most likely
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But yes the Monsters are leaving.. and this is part of where the episode misteps as the scale is kind of hard to figure in hindsight. On one hand the montser villiage is abandoned , meaning that the episode implies ALL the monsters are leaving.. but not only are some left, once Eclipsa takes over plenty of monsters come back or may of never left, making nit very vauge just how many actually left, especially since the party leaving that we see is just about 10 monsters not including buff frog’s babies.. where did they come from by the way? Ludo just kinda stole them but from where? Jess brought that up but i’m not sure I got it on the list so 55. The show is entirely too vauge on if this is a mass exodus of eveyr monster at long last or just a large migration of them wanting a better life. Instead of explaining any of this when it’s a very intresting and engrossing idea, the monsters leaving the predjuicde outright, the possible hateful reactoins of the commission given how paranoid they are, how star would combat this, a possible divide in monsterkind with one half going back and the other staying put, WHERE they went exactly.. there’s a lot of great questions and stories here.. but as the list the size of my gut should make clear, none of them get answere dbecause this series just didn’t care about it.. and if so then WHY bring it up. That’s why I brought up the list in the first place.. because this is one of MANY times they bring something up and just.. do nothing with it. Then why did you bring it up in the first fucking place?! As I said I can abide by dropping a plot point for time or beacause Disney is kinda dumb or you just want to get to other good stuff and you had to make a cut. And while a portion of the list is that. i’ts mostly things like this: really fascenating stuff.. that’s ignored because htey just stopped caring. 
So before they all can leave despite Star’s best efforts, TOM steps up and calls them cowards.. and admit’s he’s a monster too. And while one.. WEIRD looking guy points out he’s rich, so should he count, Tom counters with the fact that sure he’s rich.. but when he gets in an elevator he’s a monster. He may be part of a diffrent “catageory”.. but to a stranger he’s just the same as them. While it dosen’t feel quite earned by the episode, it is a moral that needs to be taught: prilvage dosen’t insulate you completely from prejudice. You can still be discrminated against no matter how much money you have or how far you get because the system sucks.  And once again this is a waste of potetial: tom technically being a monster and being the son of a human and a demon is never brought up again.. despite you know also being a massively powerful monster child of a monster and a mewman.. like a certain someone who’se the big bad for this half of the season. It just never comes up... and I get it’s a categorical bullshit thing, that the comission werne’t worried about a lucitor doing any of this because “Well demons are okay and we have a treaty and stuff”, but the show had no trouble pointing out categorical bullshit before.. why not now? 
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The ending however is good as Buff Frog.. isn’t convinced. HE admit’s tom’s speech is good.. but he’s been dealing with this stuff for too long. It also works because him leaving the job they never focused on.. isn’t framed as him being ungreatful or anything. He’s genuinely appricative of what Star is trying to do and gets her heart is in the right place.. but she doesn’t have the power to fix this. She’s just a kid, and while she has some power her mother has no real intention of making things better for them. And he has to think of a better life for his kids.. so we get some tearful goodbyes as Buff Frog promises to return when she’s in charge.. even though he does because she’s in charge in the season finale and we never see him , 56, and he has to be talked into coming back in the last season... so they leave but Tom promises her it can work out because their a monster and a mewman and they hug and I sigh a little knowing how this relationship ends and the accidental message it sends. 
Final Thoughts: This episode is DECENT on it’s own but in hindsight.. it’s just depressing, bringing up some good ideas.. that end up going nowhere and the ending REALLY isn’t great in hindsight when he leaves star so she can be with another human-type person. Also tom’s charcterization is a bit lopsided starting off worse than ever and being fine in the end, and while that COULD just be that he felt he coudln’t admit he was a monster... it honestly just feels liked they wanted the moral without having to work for it as him being a monster has nothing to do with how he acted earlier. Till the next rainbow... UUGGGGHHHh. 
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blee-bleep · 4 years ago
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Though I disagree vehemently about your take I'm also very curious of your arguments for why you think Akko is such a bad character?
Anon, you have no idea what you just fucking asked of me. Time for a review! This is going to be hella’ long. 
Vanilla Character that insists that she has personality
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So the one thing I’m going to start off with is; The Relatable/Vanilla Protagonist Syndrome. This is the syndrome that is used for most main characters in order to have a clean-slate character that is basically the audience in order to promote the world-building in the series by having them absolutely no clue of what is the world around them. That is what Akko exactly is, and that is what Trigger abuses her out of. 
Little Witch Academia is an anime that focuses solely on world-building, so much so that they’re willing to pile over their characters in order to show what magic can do. 
(And apparently for Trigger, world-building also means learning who the author of a 200-yo Twilight spinoff book is and who was Holbrooke’s dad)
But the point is, the anime is a pile of boring trash fire that focuses on world-building, even from its original exposition of the OVA. It uses the pattern of ‘theme/problem of the week’ in half of the series with arcs going nowhere for a while and suddenly rushes an epiphany in the last few episodes. *cough ep 15*
The point with world-building serialization is that it needs a way to be promoted, and what way for it to promote is to get Akko to fuck around with it. As her job as the protag, that’s exactly what she does for more than half of the series. She’s like a stretchy character that is carried by the plot with gross insistence from the show that she has character (which is being stubborn and clumsy that is written off as ‘passionate’).
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What’s worse is Trigger has all these ideas yet none of them are polished to its fullest (like the political divide between witches and modern government) or is overlapped by some bullshit to add because Japan. (seriously, a hunting-themed episode with cool lore, and yet a third of the episode is all about robots and building it? What the fuck?)
See, that’s why I think Akko is a horribly written character, not her character itself (if that were the case then I would’ve ditched the show the first episode) but because how she’s executed with it for the show. She’s constantly pulled by different bullshit the show comes up and makes her pull the answers the episode needs out of thin fucking air just because the writers said ‘fuck you’ to development and that they need to end the problem at some point right?
If characters can’t be tied correctly to the worldbuilding then there’s a chance that the character themselves would break, because it just can’t often work with what you’ve already placed in the previous episodes you’ve set up in the first place. Arcs overlap with each other and LWA doesn’t do shit for that until it needs a banging climax. 
Akko is constantly renewed and she learns nothing from what she learned (or at least hints of it), except for the metamorphosis bullshit and Shiny Rod. Which brings me to my next point on why Akko is such a horrible character.
Shiny Rod is a Leech
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This thing is basically the plot device that Akko is so tied to. If there’s ever an episode where it solely focuses on Akko herself, it’s often related to either Shiny Rod or Chariot du Nord, which is the shittiest way to limit a character with so much exposition with everything the series has thrown at her. The only other way the series doesn’t do this to her is Diana in episode 12, but it isn’t even focused on her, it’s focused on the cabbage and her Draco Malfoy syndrome.
Anyways, were an episode be connected to Akko in some way, it’s always limiting to her duty as the holder of the Shiny Rod and the occasional situation from Chariot. Not from her friends, who she clearly relates to and has more history with, but with the Shiny Rod and Chariot.
The series lazily signs this as Akko’s resolution to her character by the last episode (FUCK THAT) and does nothing else with her relationship with other characters outside of Diana and Chariot. Honestly, you’d expect that after going through Sucy’s mind and visiting Lotte’s hometown, she would’ve grown as a better character and more than being a two-dimensional ‘chosen-one’ character who only gets an episode if it focuses on the plot-device that pulled her in the magical world in the first place. 
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But no, Trigger is still insisting pies, weird shops, and other boring stuff needs to be shown for the series to make it interesting, and dumps the idea to the next. An arc is never properly made for all the shit they let Akko go through because the series is so fast-paced in the wrong places. And when it does focus on what is important (more important than finding about Nightfall’s author), it’s usually done spontaneously thus eliminating the suppose suspense that the single important thing is supposed to do *I HATE EPISODE 15 WHAT THE FUCK*
The point is, Akko is just a ‘believing heart’. A holder of Shiny Rod, who managed to get under Chariot without her knowing. It’s like she’s Midoriya (My Hero Academia) but much watered down and if you take that away from her, she has nothing, when out of all the stuff she could’ve had.
What LWA’s writers hadn’t realized is that what they actually wrote for Akko is what could’ve been her focus but Trigger insists for the world-building theme is that Akko’s arc should only come in the climax and the filler episodes are for her friends because you know, it won’t be more interesting that way and now they have a main protagonist that’s actually interesting beyond their design and suppose-personality. 
Thus I’m next to my last bullshit:
Akko, the Wasted Potential™
I recently rewatched Citrus lately, and though the show is much narrow than LWA’s world of magic, I realized what actually makes it better than it in ways that the latter fails. And it’s their protagonist.
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I know you guys will trash about Yuzu being a simp and all, and I absolutely agree with that, but what makes Yuzu better than Akko is not because she’s more down-to-earth, but she has a three-dimensional mindset, a mindset which is the very thing kept away from Akko. 
While Yuzu may not have been pushed into a world of magic by the neck and gets dragged by the plot as violently as Akko (and the two very different themes of the two shows of course), but if you pull those away, their passion are nearly built the same. What differs them both is that Yuzu actually acts out what she needs to do and builds a steady relationship with the other characters around her, even if it’s very subtle and small. (Like, Harumin being her wicked hot sidekick? God yes, top-tier Gyaru)
Akko, on the other hand, literally goes into one of her best friend’s mind in a poison-induced coma and gets shoved into her other best friend’s culture by visiting her hometown. You might think she’d grow from that and realize what it takes to be a better character, right? WRONG.
Of course, Trigger uses these things as filler episodes and nothing more. It doesn’t reflect on Akko’s character because she’s not allowed to think like it should. Though the show would insist she has personality, it does the opposite when Akko’s only character is only used as ‘believing heart’ for the Shiny Rod and nothing much else, because the only times when they do get her a new attitude is dropped off right after.
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It would’ve been cool if they dropped the world-building theme for a bit and focus on how they should make the characters much more interesting than having their personalities as the root problems of episodes. 
When I first watched LWA, I had so much more expectation for the characters themselves, especially Amanda O’Neill after her introduction in episode 3. But came episode 5 and then she… didn’t really matter that much despite being in half of the episode. And she didn’t have another one not until 11 episodes later. Imagine making and hyping up such a unique character and barely giving her screentime of three episodes! That’s one of the grossest things you can do in baiting lesbians, Trigger! 
And it doesn’t stop at Amanda; it applies to almost every other character. Chariot is the pink-print disappointment of a hyped character that didn’t have enough time. She’s a plot-device character that everyone was anticipating but she’s barely given the after of a shitty episode 14 (that has another completely different problem altogether). Episode 15 was literally the worst you could’ve done to make a twist because a) the development leading to that revelation was undercooked, and especially shitty because the show basically used Croix as a plot device, b) it’s done nearly towards the end of the series so the timing for her hype was weirdly placed, and c) Chariot’s personality from that episode is being used repeatedly just to let Akko become a sitting duck. 
So yeah, Trigger was so focused on the concept of world-building and making magic look as interesting as possible that the idea that maybe the characters would flat-out look bleak was not in their cone of vision. Akko was fundamentally a boring protagonist because she keeps getting pulled apart and has not ingrained anything in that, and to rub salt into the wound, she becomes so used to it that when Croix set her up with the Wagandea trap, Chariot has to intervene and at the cost of her flight powers, which does not help their characters one bit.
Akko is a shitty protagonist Trigger shredded apart just for their sake of world-building and she has learned nothing from what the show has thrown at her because the writers didn’t think she needed it, because, in the first place, it’s not about her. It’s about the Shiny Rod and completing Chariot’s story (which is half-assed in its own way). Lord knows how they botched her to the point she’s blank. She’s nothing more than a ‘believing heart’ and if Trigger just keeps there, that’s forever what she is. And that, in itself, is why I think Akko is a horrible character.
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