#if you make yet another fridged tragic wife character you at the very least have to give her a name that sends me into hysterics

[claire-starsword]

Authentic Story of the Shining Force - Saint Fencer Max - Author's comments

Final translation notes:

Yodobashi Camera is apparently a japanese electronics retail chain, hence the label on the bag.

A volume with 40 pages only feels very weird to me, but I couldn't find any other possible translation for what he says here. Besides, the structure of this thing is already wack anyway, chapter 1 has like, 10 pages while chapter 4 has almost 30.

In any case, I get the feeling that this manga got robbed of an official publication, and this volume is an independent work of sorts thrown together by Ono. Might explain why the printing is wack and cut panels at points. Still very glad it exists, because I doubt scans of the original run would have ever surface on the internet otherwise. Actually, I appreciate this whole afterword so much, it's a lot of info I would have never found out by myself, and god knows video game stuff does not keep any track of its own history overall. Any recorded info helps.

Tao indeed appears in Tanuma's manga with the same design as here. I will not be translating that thing, but Tao's couple of appearances are pretty much all I liked from it, so here:

Ono also refers to that manga as only "Tanuma's version", which I feel is the main way JP fans refer to it, but since the artist's name had already been mentioned, I used the subtitle as well, which I feel is the best way to specify it.

I don't know what a Game On is, nor what a Game Dome Harumi Shop is :( Those are very unfortunate names to try to google (in fact, the latter only gave me results for this very manga lol). Let me know if you know anything.

The fact Ono has worked with Masaki Wachi later however is interesting to me. I assumed through most of my notes here that some odd elements of this manga, especially Max and Cain's backstory, could be hints of things changed late in development, and brought back for the GBA version. I still think that's the most likely explanation, as at least one of the GBA-only flashbacks is very similar to unused content in the game itself. However, I eventually did figure that something else should be considered. Perhaps certain similarities between this and the GBA version are also things Wachi liked from the manga and wanted to add in the remake, since the two continued to work together somewhere. Who knows?

The wife. For the longest I've been reading her name as Sega Blue, which was an easy reference to parse, but while joking in the tags ten seconds ago I realized I was misreading it. I'm not sure if Brel is supposed to mean anything or be read a different way. Oh well. We still have the second name for an easy laugh.

That's all for this weird piece of Shining Force, thank you all for coming along with this ride. I feel this manga has quite a lot for fans to enjoy and think about, and I think it sucks that it is even more obscure than the Tanuma one. I hope this translation helps bringing it more to light, and I hope you all enjoyed!

[nfcv-saltmine]

To christen this blog, how about you compile your top 10 reasons NFCV should not be watched either as an adaptation or its own thing? :3c

Only ten? I have like. 40, at least. But oh well! I'll be happy to provide with ten, for a start. ❤️

(Warning for mentions of SA and death)

Reason number 10: The characters all suck, in one way or another. The only ones I have some sympathy for is Hector who was never given the chance to evolve, and was forced to be a victim the whole show, and Trevor, who is never taken seriously and is mostly there to be mocked by those who are supposed to be his friends.

The others? Dracula is a joke who can't keep his own men in line. He has to wait for a #girlboss to enter and insult his wife to his face. He spends most of his screentime being a poor little meow meow, gaslighting everyone into thinking he deserved the happy ending he got. Isaac is boring and his "deep arc" really is just inconsistent and a bad version of game!Hector's arc. Lenore is. Lenore. :) Going from a manipulative villain to a poor little meow meow so fast it's ridiculous. The lesbian vampires just exist to be lesbians and pretend the plot is more deep and complex than it is.... it's not enough to have good ideas. You need to execute them properly.

Concerning Nocturne? Only the girl who was kidnapped and used as Erzsebet's juice box has my compassion. Everyone else sucks, from Maria being twitter personnified, to Annette being a cunt who gets a pass because she's black. Tera doesn't do shit to defend her own children when Annette insults them right in front of her. Edouard is there for cheap drama. The Abbot Emmanuel's logic for why he does what he does doesn't make any sense. Erzsebet has no charisma and is a cheap replacement for the villain Dracula should have been (not to mention her plan is stupid because we saw vampires being touched by sunlight with no problem on multiple occasions. :) And Olrox literally went to met his future bf in plain daylight. Clearly the sun musn't be THAT much of a problem). Olrox and his bf are there to be gay. And Juste... Juste deserves his own post for how dirty they did him. Richter isn't THAT bad compared to the rest of the cast, but I do not care for him (except when he gets shit on for no reason), he's just a cheap mix of Trevor and Game!Richter. And Drolta is Game!Isaac with boobs. Would be cool if Game!Isaac wasn't constantly shat on by NFCV fans, the same who love Drolta. :)

Reason number 9: You like representation in your media? NFCV sucks at it. They have: man who gets raped by both a man and a woman, two lesbians who exist just to be lesbians and could very well be written out of the plot, two gay men with a rushed relationship who share very little screentime together (four scenes and the first one is them meeting) yet we are supposed to be affected by their romance, one man who is implied to have a bf so vaguely that most people probably have missed the one hint there was of it, and lesbian main villain who uses a random woman as a juice box and potentially is mindcontrolling her (would be hot if said villain had any charisma and random woman was more than a fridge)

Reason number 8: Character developments are either bad, meh, or inexistant. Isaac goes from ordering his night creatures to kill every survivor at the end of an episode, to build them graves and rebuild the town and pretend to be so deep and nice and caring for said innocents and future people of this town in the next. Hector started a nice guy trying to live in peace, has lived as a nice guy trying to live in peace while getting mocked and shit on and used and abused by everyone, and ended as a nice guy trying to live in peace but now in a Castle and with one finger less. I guess Trevor is less of a drunkard than before (but it's not like we saw him drink THAT much before). Lenore's development is not much of a development than it is the writers trying to convince us she was always sweet and tragic and Good Deep Down and make us forget her evil doings...

Reason number 7: There's lots of ACTUAL anime out there with prettier animation, if that's what you like. Or you could. Play the games. ❤️

Reason number 6: The couples are bad. Sypha is rude and never showed any interest or appreciation for Trevor's own interests or findings. They don't have an actual spark, despite "cute" moments here and there. The moment Sypha asked Trevor to travel with her just made me question what she saw in him considering now she's been treating him (also the moment she decides to nickname Trevor as "Treffy" is embarrassing more than cute. Doesn't help that it's the same moment where she pulled him aside to scold HIM for getting mad and defending himself against Alucard's bullying). They lack a proper build-up, because the show loves doing things offscreen and expecting us to go along with it, but they NEED to be together because they NEED to have sex because they NEED to have children even though they completely destroyed the reason why.

Alucard and Greta. Haha. Oh Alucard and Greta. You'll see in reason number 1 the biggest reason why Greta sucks big sweaty balls, but one of them is that she's just a generic girlboss. Her and Alucard are not an official couple, but considering the parellel they made with Draculisa at some point (Alucard bowing to welcome her in his home, like Dracula bowed to Lisa to welcome her in his lab), and her line "lucky you have me to run your life for you now", I think it's implied. And I do not buy it. :) (They both suck anyway, so who cares)

Richter and Annette DEFINITELY have NO chemistry at ALL. Annette spends most of her time HATING Richter, who is only, along with everyone else, trying to help her. And when they finally see each other again after multiple episodes of being away from each other, during wich everytime Annette mentions Richter it's to insult him, when dares to pretend she was worried for him and they have a little "cute" scene together...? NO. THEY DID NOT EARN IT. THEY BARELY SHOWED ANY INTEREST IN EACH OTHER BEFORE RICHTER DISAPPEARS, ANNETTE SEEMS TO DESPISE HIM MORE THAN ANYTHING. And one of the worst things is that thinking of HER, a woman he JUST met and who just kept insulting him, that Richter unlocked his powers??? I CALL BULLSHIT. YOU CANNOT RUSH THINGS TO THIS DEGREE, NO.

I ain't talking about the two gay couples because there's literally nothing to say. The lesbians are supposed to be cute and the gays are supposed to be hot. It's just fetishization at this point.

Reason number 5: Female characters are either fridged or girlbosses. That's it. Don't expect much variety here. Because apparently to be a woman you have to either shut up and die, or be super strong and rude. (Or be a BDSM mommy. :))

Reason number 4: CHURCH BAD mentality with no nuance. Because it's so cool and edgy. And that works for both shows. :)

Reason number 3: The villains sucks too, when you have your brain turned on. You might like the ideas or the designs (though Erzebet Sun Thundercat's design is so awful i can't understand why anyone would like it. Also Carmilla is ugly guys?? Her head melts into her hair, come on), maybe a scene here and there, but when it comes to the execution? Urgh. I already talked about Dracula being a poor little meow meow, but what I can add that him and Isaac are fucking stupid for going with Carmilla's plan. Isaac is fucking stupid for blaming Hector and going after him. And Carmilla is fucking stupid for treating Hector the way she did when he wasn't intending to go against her before she makes him her prisoner and beats him up.

Reason number 2: Play the games. The themes and ideas taken from them are bastardized and done poorly in the show, when they're not straight up ditched.

Isaac's arc? Game!Hector's but more inconsistent and pretentious. Trevor and his family being rejected and hated by the people? Castlevania 3 (and this fear and dislike of them won't end until centuries later, with Simon). Dracula welcoming Isaac and Hector and making them his generals? He did so in CoD and they were literal children seeking a home, wich he helped and shared his own essence with. Not two random dudes who happen to have powers of their own. Alucard vs Dracula and the tragedy of blood fighting blood? Symphony of the Night but way too early

Alucard literally steals Trevor's spot as the main character and the one who is supposed to kill Dracula first, wich is a MAJOR part of the games and the CV universe, completely taking away the Belmonts' purpose as the only ones capable of defeating Dracula. It was completely unnecessary, too, if what they wanted was family angst, as Alucard could have simply been about to stake his father, but because of his love for him, would have been unable to give the final blow. Leading to Trevor giving the final blow himself, so his "friend" wouldn't have to go through the pain of doing it himself, thus keeping the Belmonts' unfortunate purpose intact and still making for a poignant father/son tragedy. But no, they just had to make Alucard the MC and make him destroy the core of the games they are supposed to adapt, on top of making him a cunt.

Oh, and this idea of Dracula being the literal Lord of Darkness? Not just any vampire, but the most powerful of them, a straight-up demon, respected and feared by all creatures of the night, who has multiple terrific forms and cannot be killed by any weapon... other than the Vampire Killer? Out the window! Now we're SUPPOSED to think he's big and scary and dangerous, but he can be killed with a piece of wood and no one respects him! Barely fear him! Not even Death, who is supposed to be his closest confidant and most devoted servant, is now an entity that uses him in the dark and don't hold any respect for him. Pathetic.

There's no respect to the source material. The VK means nothing now, wich is coherent with the fact that Belmonts mean nothing now, because Dracula means nothing now and nothing is near as epic as it is in the games. Nothing that makes "Castlevania" Castlevania matters anymore, it's just bullshit, and chances are, what you like from the show you will prefer in the games.

Reason number 1: It handles trauma and sexual assault like the purest shit.

It's something to not give a shit about Trevor's trauma wich happened offscreen. It's another to treat the trauma the characters go through RIGHT IN FRONT OF US like it's nothing.

As much of a cunt Alucard is, I cannot excuse the way his case with Sumi and Taka was handle. Forget how their reasoning for betraying Alucard was shit and the way they decided to go at it was unnecessary. The fact is, they tricked Alucard with sex. Giving him the deepest kind of affection sexual creatures can share, making him so very vulnerable, making him believe he was loved and not alone anymore... only to betray him. Forcing Alucard to kill them before they kill him. It's a truly traumatizing experience that can easily lead to the victim struggling to trust anyone, on top of having a very complicated relationship with their own body from then on.

How does NFCV handles that? It makes Alucard piss on the corpses of his old friends, then have him tell his story to a random #girlboss who jumps on the occasion to make a joke out of it, comparing this very obvious sexual assault and betrayal of his trust with her willingly sleeping with a married man.

Funnily enough, Hector was going through the same thing at the same time! He has been manipulated and seduced by Lenore. She's the only one who treated him decently (because Carmilla is supposed to be a smart bitch who can trick Dracula and his court, but not smart enough to understand that physically assaulting Hector and letting him rot in a cell naked with only molded bread for food and freezing water thrown at him to wash is a bad idea.), the only one who talked to him, offered him gifts such as books, a bed, a desk. She worked her way into his heart until he fell for her and "willingly" had sex with her... and then, in this crucial moment, where Hector was at his most vulnerable, she stabbed him in the back. Made him her slave with a magic ring. Then went on to say "Shh, the real people are talking" to him when she talks about her brilliant plan to her sisters, and then going "i gave you what you always needed. i made you into my pet." when Hector expresses his horror and pain about the situation.

At the end of s3, there was absolutely no doubt that Lenore was an evil, two-faced villain. And there was hope that Hector would go back at her when he pensively looked into a fire, a parallel to when he burned down his home with his parents inside, and foreshadowing for chaos to come... but nope! Next season, he makes sex jokes with Lenore like we're supposed to believe they share chemistry, and he PROTECTS her from Isaac, and let her die on her own terms because she could not handle to be trapped in the same kind of life she tried to trap Hector in! And Hector's sexual assault is only mentioned ONCE, so Lenore can go "oh shush, you were having fun". :)

Actually, it's not that NFCV handles sexual assault and trauma badly. It's that it does not believe men can go through them, clearly. It uses very heavy topic for cheap drama and nothing else. Lenore did not need to have sex with Hector and trap him with a magic ring for her plan, not any more than Sumi and Taka needed to fuck Alucard if all they needed to do was use some magic object on him to trap him. Ellis just wanted something he could masturbate to. And THAT is supposed to be the Peak Adaptation Of All Time? Seriously?

Oh you also have Richter's trauma. They literally gave him a mom just to fridge her and use that for a little bit of drama that only really matters ONCE, when Richter runs away from Olrox in the dungeon, and Annette hates him for it... but then he quickly gets over this years-long trauma and next time he sees Olrox, it's as if he's just another vampire. It's not as bad as Alucard and Hector's cases, granted, but it's ridiculous. A clear case of bad writing who feels the need to rush things.

SO YEAH. Plenty of things wrong here, and plenty more to come. ❤️ I can't possibly tell them all in just one post. It wouldn't be fun. 🥰

[chronicallylatetotheparty]

Watching (the Adventures of) Merlin season one on Netflix

Episode One: The Dragon's Call

. . . I feel like going to the capital of the kingdom indiscriminately slaughtering magic users wasn't the best idea.

Why? Well, that guy did just get executed.

And now his mom is mad. You tell that sorry excuse for a king, witch lady.

I don't like Uther, in case it was unclear.

Wait... if you could teleport why not just grab your son and ditch before he loses his head? Literally.

Oh, wow. Arthur is a dick.

Morgana. We have no choice but to stan tbh.

Dragon, you're really rubbing me the wrong way.

That's right Merlin! We need more than Because Destiny Says So!

Where did the spiderwebs come from? That sleeping spell gives me Sleeping Beauty vibes.

Ah, yes. The old drop-the- chandelier-on-the-villain trick. :(

If she went after Uther instead of Arthur I would have no complaints.

Manservant? You call that a reward for saving your son?

Episode Two: Valiant

Snake!Shield

Oh, he's gonna- Yup, dead. That's what happens when you deal with knights who cheat.

Where did that guy even get a magic shield in the first place?

Is there a thriving magic black market or something?

I love Guin.

. . . I feel like Sir Valiant didn't think this through. If bite marks are visible.

Ugh, you're the worst Uther.

It's only the second episode! Did you forget who saved your son already?

Stop being a jerk Arthur.

Lol. Merlin bringing a dog statue to life in order to practice for the Snake!Shield.

Bye Valiant!

Episode Three: The Mark of Nimueh

Whatcha up to with that egg, new witch lady?

You gonna poison the water of all of Camelot? Seems like a jerk move.

Dang that's a lot of dead bodies...

No, I like Guin's dad!

Yes! Cure him Merlin!

No! Stop arresting Guin, Uther!

You tell him, Morgana!

That plague monster that hatched from witch lady's egg is creepy.

Dead monster!

Arthur is kinda oblivious to Merlin's magic ngl.

Yay! Guin's free!

What do you know about witch lady Nimueh, Uther? Hmm? Why she want you dead? Besides the obvious reasons.

Episode Four: The Poisoned Chalice

Wow, Nimueh really doesn't like Merlin saving the day.

Wow, Nimueh really orchestrated an entire diplomatic incident in order to kill Merlin while also ensuring Camelot is destroyed by its neighbor. Impressive.

I really like Merlin and Guin's friendship.

Dang. Merlin really drank poison in order to save Arthur.

Merlin saved Arthur's life, Uther! Let him return the favor!

Oh, wow. Arthur really disobeyed his father in order to save Merlin's life.

I didn't know Merlin could cast spells while deathly delirious. And several miles away from him too.

Uther you b****! The antidote is right there! Let Arthur save his friend!

Putting your own son in a cell is such a jerk move.

At least Arthur and Guin manage to sneak the antidote to Merlin.

Quick aside: Internet spoilers say Uther needs to die for Arthur to complete his himbofication- I mean character development. So, if you could get on with that? Thanks!

Episode Five: Lancelot

Wow, that's a very CGI griffin.

Lancelot is so precious- Uh, I mean effective! Saving Merlin and all.

I know, Guin. I know.

Always thought it was a stupid rule to only let nobles be knights.

You're really going to commit magical forgery for someone you just met, Merlin?

I mean, Lancelot is earnest, hardworking, modest, kind despite his tragic backstory and it's his childhood dream to be a knight...

Yeah, I'd commit magical forgery too.

Lol, knocked you on your ass didn't he Arthur? (The second time at least)

I don't remember griffins being man-eaters!

Uther stop arresting people! Ugh, you're such a classist.

Let Lancelot help fight the griffin, Arthur! You need all the help you can get!

Well okay letting him go was nice of you.

Lancelot-Merlin tag team!

Wow. Lancelot really strode in with Camelot's singular braincell by figuring out Merlin has magic.

(The bar is low, okay.)

No, don't take away the braincell! Stay! The griffin was a team effort!

Okay, Lancelot's lawful good tendencies are a little annoying but, hey, nobody's perfect.

Episode Six: A Remedy to Cure All Ills

Edwin, no. Leave Morgana alone.

Oh, beetles! Curse beetles! That's not creepy at all.

Gaius how do you know Edwin?

What diabolical plot are you hatching Edwin? Oh, you're replacing Gaius in the royal court. That's kinda rude.

Merlin's so happy meeting another magic user that isn't trying to kill him (yet).

Le gasp! Uther's purge killed Edwin's parents? WhO cOuLd HaVe fOreSeEn tHis!?

But seriously. No wonder Edwin wants Uther dead.

I know Edwin blackmailed Gaius with exposing Merlin but he also wants to kill Uther!

That gives him a pass in my book.

Gaius no. Let Uther die.

Edwin stop trying to kill Gaius! You're going to-

Yup, here comes Merlin and-

Edwin's dead :(

Well he was trying to overthrow the kingdom. That's... bad... I guess.

Episode Seven: The Gates of Avalon

That title is misleading. It's more of a natural portal/magic lake type thing.

Arthur saves a father and daughter from bandits (Which they hired but shhh)

And they immediately try to put a love spell on Arthur

For human sacrifice purposes of course

Idk why the Sidhe want a human prince's soul -look at him, you don't know where he's been- but that's the price for readmission

I wonder how the dad killed one of his own kind? Was it an accident or...?

Exiling the daughter too makes me suspicious of Avalon's justice system

Evil laugh is a bit out of place for someone who is trying to restore his daughter's immortality

(They are so whiny about being mortal. Hey, we put up with it all the time!)

The fairy-like Sidhe moving in accelerated time so they just look like tiny orbs of light was an interesting touch. The blue faces and razor sharp teeth is not a good look for them, lol

They make Arthur ask to be married ('cause it takes a while for the love spell to go into full blown mind control or something)

Prompting Uther to threaten to kill both of them

(I feel like they didn't think this through)

Morgana admonishes Uther for being the worst

He replies that first love rarely lasts and that Arthur is inexperienced in such things. Plus that Arthur only met the girl yesterday

... I can't believe Uther is the voice of reason this episode

He doesn't get any points though. Due to the whole "threatening to execution his son's 'crush' " thing

The daughter is having second thoughts about using Arthur as a human sacrifice

Dear old dad puts those to rest and they try drowning Arthur in the lake that is/is the portal to, Avalon

Merlin's really leaning into the whole "Cool motive. Still murder.", thing huh?

Like, he did NOT hesitate to blow up both of them

Episode Eight: The Beginning of the End

Why do magic users keep going to Camelot!? The king is trying to KILL YOU!

Wow, this grown ass man is threatened by a literal child... I hate Uther so much

Morgana is the MVP of this episode. I love her

Protect that druid kid!

I feel like you're being paranoid Uther

You tell him Morgana!

Dragon, no. Stop prophesying death and destruction.

Wow, this grown ass dragon is threatened by a literal child...

Aaaand Morgana got caught sneaking the kid out of the city :(

Uther she is your adopted daughter! Stop putting people in cells!

Arthur is gonna sneak him out now?

While Morgana distracts the king?

Yes, excellent. What could possibly-

Merlin stop listening to that destiny dragon! Hearing his voice in your head is no basis for trust!

Cutting it close... Yay! They made it!

Mordred!? MORDRED!?

THAT little boy is Mordred!?

... Okay, I'm more inclined to believe the destiny dragon now

Still think letting him die would be a dick move

Episode Nine: Excalibur

What're you up to with that tomb Nimueh?

Oh! It's some kind of undead knight. Yes.

Throwing down the gauntlet. Pfft! Always thought that was a stupid idea.

Also: that Black Knight literally crashed your party!

Ugh, knights.

Nimueh if you can just teleport into the heart of Camelot while Uther is alone why don't you just stab him? Grab one of those pointy things he likes so much and stab him in the back. Easy peasy!

Stealing this joke but Don't do evil magic kids. It fries your brain cells.

Wait, the Black Knight is Uther's brother-in-law!?

Arthur's mother died in childbirth!?

Uther asked Nimueh to use her magic so he could have Arthur!?

Equivalent Exchange!?

Uther went on a genocidal rampage because he didn't bother with the instruction manual of ancient and powerful magic!?

Actually, that last one is not surprising at all.

I can't believe they're using the Wife in the Fridge trope. That appliance hasn't even been invented yet!

Ooh, Merlin's going to use his magic to destroy the Black Knight so Arthur doesn't have to fight him

As he's killed two knights already

Aaaaand, yup, he's still there. His cloak didn't even catch fire...

Arthur stop being a bastard. It doesn't suit you

Dragon forged sword! DRAGON FORGED SWORD!

Only Arthur can wield it. Yup, got it. How could this possibly go wrong?

Uther drugged Arthur and took his place in the fight... I have mixed feelings about this.

Wait, the dragon was very specific about only Arthur using that super special sword! Oh, snap.

Well at least the Black Knight is dead. Again.

Oh, dragon is not happy.

I know the dragon said "where no mortal soul could find it" but are you sure you wanna throw it into Avalon, Merlin?

Those people were gonna suck Arthur's soul out of his body

Episode Ten: The Moment of Truth

The way this episode title just lies to your face like that...

Oh, you're Merlin's mother! Thought we had an anime protagonists type thing going on

I... would like to say Uther is being unreasonable when he decides not to cross borders to get rid of some bandits. But I can totally see everyone hating him so that's a no go.

Lady, you were in a whole different kingdom. Why for the love of Merlin did you send him to Camelot!?

We're off to save the village! Morgana and Guin are coming too!

A wild Arthur appears!

Morgana better at swordplay than Arthur confirmed!

Merlin! I didn't know you had friends!

Granted he's a bit rough around the edges but

Okay. If it were literally anyone else besides Arthur. I'd say he was right about lords and knights being useless snobs.

Actually. He's right about lords and knights being useless snobs. Ah, that felt great.

Wow, the homosexual subtext is strong with this one.

The girls can tell Arthur came for Merlin.

But get your foot out of his face! I don't care how royal it is!

Look at Guin over here calling out Arthur for being a dick

And talking him into letting the women fight. She's on a roll

Aw, Merlin's friend died. :(

And he took credit for Merlin's tornado (so Arthur wouldn't find out about Merlin's magic)

Episode Eleven: The Labyrinth of Gedref

Lol, that unicorn could use a haircut.

No, Arthur. I said a haircut not an arrow to the chest!

Bad things? What kind of bad things Gaius?

Uther what's the point of having an expert in magical lore if you're not going to listen to him!

And all the crops are dead. Fantastic.

I know it's a magic thing but stating outright that the blight only targets edible plants is still really unsettling.

And the water's turned to sand. Great.

Who're you and how come Merlin is the only magic user that can't teleport?

What kind of tests mister Keeper of the Unicorns, sir?

Arthur I know you don't want to believe it's your fault... But it's totally your fault.

Uther no. People are starving.

You tell him Arthur.

Oh, the "theif" was a test!

Aaaaand he failed the second one. :(

Merlin's got a lot of faith in Arthur.

It's interesting how the Keeper can only direct the curse caused by the unicorn's death. Or rather the trials surrounding the curse, but can't break it himself.

Unicorns have some powerful magic.

The Labyrinth was barely on screen for five minutes! Surely something with Unicorn in the title would be more appropriate?

Arthur drinking a poisoned cup so Merlin could live?

That's some strong parallels right there.

The Keeper of the Unicorns is such a troll! Sleeping potion, hah!

The day is saved, Arthur lies to Uther's face about killing the Keeper and the unicorn resurrects itself.

Still needs a haircut though.

Episode Twelve: To Kill the King

Whatcha up to Guin's dad?

Oh that guy isn't suspicious at all.

You didn't think it was shady when he asked to meet in the middle of the night!?

Philosopher's Stone!?

Wow, the guards found him quickly.

What- No! Don't arrest Guin's dad!

Uther, he's a blacksmith! Stop being paranoid!

Will you stop executing people!? That inn keeper didn't know that guy was a dangerous sorcerer!

No, nononononono! He surrendered! Why did you do that!? Guin's father was important to Morgana!

That's why she gave him the key!

Dragon has his priorities straight.

Shut up, Merlin. You literally blew up a father and daughter for trying to kill one(1) person. (No really, you could see their hands flying off.)

Morgana deserves a little murder. As a treat.

Yes! Get him! Kill the bastard!

No! Why would you make GUIN say that!? Who are you and what have you done with Guin!?🔪🔪

UGH, he literally committed genocide!

The "that would make me as bad as he is" DOES NOT APPLY!

What- Oh, he still has the fairy's staff.

No. Stop it! Let Uther die!

Oh, God, Uther is such an abusive piece of GARBAGE!

Stop! Don't fall for it Morgana!

*sees dagger being pushed closer to Uther's "heart"* Yes! Yes! YES!

*Morgana saves him* NO!

NO!

NOOOOOO!

*inarticulate ranting in the background*

Episode Thirteen:

Okay, the cgi might be getting a little better 'cause the Questing Beast is freaky

Old religion? What is that? And how come it's conveniently absent from the previous episodes?

Dang, they really here just casually gaslighting Morgana like that 😡

Merlin you know Morgana has visions! You couldn't have been a little more careful? She warned you. Now look at Arthur, he's got the heroic death disease

Granted that thing does seem like a handful

Why do you only act like a father when it's a matter of life and death? Why can't you be a father literally any other time!?

"The old religion is the magic of the Earth itself."

Well that sounds fascinating, dragon. Are you going to elaborate? No? Later then?

Soooooo, is the old religion actually a religion or is it a magic? It's really unclear...

"You will be a better king than your father could ever hope to be." Guin, you're back!

I expected a place called the Isle of the Blessed to be less... creepy

Nimueh! Whatcha up to girl? Plotting the demise of a kingdom? Not today it seems

Oh there some Equivalent Exchange type nonsense going on is there?

Arthur you were supposed to be in a coma not listening to Guin!

Oh. Oh, no.

Merlin saying goodbye as he prepares to trade his life for his mother's is 😢😭

Wow, that dragon really knew Nimueh would give Merlin's mother the curse and didn't say anything. The little b*****!

No wonder Merlin's mad at him. Stop breathing fire at him! It's your own fault!

Gaius, no! Not the dead mentor trope!

"You stood by and watched as our friends died." Damn, Nimueh isn't pulling her punches.

Merlin vs Nimueh! Ready? Fight!

Anime protagonist power up! Dang, Nimueh's dead... I feel like that wasn't supposed to happen.

At least no one else is dying. Since Nimueh's death appeased the Equivalent Exchange laws of the old religion.

[marcomardon]

heyy so i know that it wasnt your post but i was hoping could elaborate on the legends part of that post about negative points about dctv. english isnt my first language (and im a little lazy) but i really want to fully understand it. " yes, you can enjoy legends, but yes you should also acknowledge ....within five minutes (they don’t even mention Jax’s chronic pain anymore)."

yeah sure thing, hopefully i can expand on this well enough:

…it’s been incredibly antiblack,…

2x04, “abominations” was on all accounts, a white man’s attempt to show the viewers what racism was like, and pretend that it’s over now so we should feel… good? they put the two black mains (the only characters of colour as series regulars on the show) undercover by having a historically important black man killed so one of the mains could impersonate him while the other pretended to be a slave.

(i will give this episode 1 thing and it is jax saying “I get it might be difficult for you to understand this, but I’ve been black my entire life, Grey. And honestly, I can’t think of a time period we could go to where I wouldn’t face some sort of racism.”)

2x16, “doomworld” was specifically antiblack because of amaya’s death. this episode aired at a time when the flash was going through a season-long plot to save iris, and having two WOC mains dying to affect everyone else on their show is uh…. fridging. where female characters are often killed, maimed, or otherwise assaulted for male characters to feel anger, sadness, emotions at all, or to be motivated to go after the “villain” of the story. in this case, we have leonard freezing and shattering amaya, in the most literal sense dctv has ever gotten with the term “fridging” – all because the writers and producers wanted us to be able to feel how mick and leonard’s partnership was unable to be fixed. they wanted “real consequences” for that episode and the way to do it is … kill the black woman. i guess. after she spent most of the episode brainwashed by damien darhk and had to be ‘saved’ from her brainwashing from sara and nate.

one might argue that almost everyone died in the doomworld universe, but amaya was the only one to die in the actual episode “doomworld” and her death was about her being mick’s friend. compare it to ray’s death – he had his heart ripped out by eobard because ray is too trusting. it fits him. he has a big heart. we even saw it. he got a death 100% about him. amaya did not. 

…aired an episode chock full of anti-Asian specific racism,…

2x03, “shogun”, was uh… i’m not sure how to describe this one so i’m mostly sourcing from other people here, but this review by a japanese viewer is the best way to explain, here’s her summary:

In grotesquely stereotypical White Saviour fashion, Nate has a fling with Masako Yamashiro who is engaged to marry the shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu.

Ray’s suit is stolen and he does a nonsensical stereotypical “sensei” montage trying to push Nate to embrace and understand his new metahuman abilities.

The team arrives later on to help them fight the shogun and his samurai, all while making tacky quips about ninjas because the mispronounced Japanese by supposedly Japanese characters just wasn’t enough to fill up the offensive quota.

Ray and Nate have to make the sacrifice of destroying Ray’s suit to defeat the shogun and of course Nate undermines Masako’s opportunity to be the hero because it’s a White Saviour trope episode, after all.

and as ari said best, “the writers watched three whole episodes of naruto before writing this episode”

honestly the singular good thing about this episode was that they hired an asian director, kevin tancharoen, aka the love of my life, but there’s only so much he can do with a shitty script. at least the episode looked visually amazing. 

(let me know if you need more on this point since i’m pasting from other people here)

…erased a Jewish man’s identity,…

i’m not 100% sure if bette means martin stein or ray palmer so let’s talk about both.

martin stein, in his 8 appearances in the flash before moving over to legends of tomorrow, mentioned his faith in at least half of those. he has now been in 33 legends of tomorrow episodes + flash again for the “invasion!” crossover + kinda “duet” and hasn’t mentioned it once. he participated in a christmas dinner with the team, we’ve seen his wife clarissa in various forms, and now lily and still no mention. i’d have to look closer at the set of his office on the waverider for anything in the background, but i doubt there’s anything. the closest we’ve seen is mick congratulating him on now having a daughter with “mazel tov” in 2x10. 

ray is a little trickier and i had lenny rewrite my explanation here but dctv is all about showing characters like felicity, martin, and rory, with big references to holidays, their menorahs, the torah, and less about showing smaller references like dropping yiddish into a conversation or their quirks about keeping kosher. since we don’t have any of them (except snapper carr on supergirl) with these small references, we just see generic characters, who everyone assumes to be agnostic. the few pieces of evidence i think we have for ray being jewish are donna smoak’s excitement over he and felicity dating, and that he and martin are the most educated people on the waverider, with how judaism places a strong value on education. so when ray plans a christmas dinner, it’s not earned as an ironically jewish act, it’s just white guy.

….and fixed someone’s disability within five minutes…

nate heywood’s backstory was that his parents more or less had him in a bubble, because they were afraid his hemophilia would cause him to die. hemophilia is a disorder that interrupts the body’s ability to clot blood, which is how people normally stop bleeding from even small cuts or bruises. if you have hemophilia, if you start bleeding inside your body, then you are in serious danger.  

basically, it was the writers’ attempt to give a character an excuse for not having had as exciting of a life as the rest of the characters have had, and a reason why developing steel powers to protect his skin would be personally relevant to him. 

what would have been more interesting is if he kept the hemophilia and gained the steel powers anyway, as a first and more solid line of defense than his skin was, preventing him from bleeding at all. if i was in his situation with hemophilia and suddenly gained steel powers i literally would not turn them off for fear of … sara with knives, probably, and any small accident near her meaning not being able to stop bleeding. but you know, ray’s super serum cured his hemophilia, since there is no current real world cure for it at all. this is not the first time we’ve seen miracle cures on dctv though, with… felicity. malcolm. leonard. hartley. charles mcnider. probably more. 

…(they don’t even mention Jax’s chronic pain anymore).

the last time we heard about jax’s chronic pain, his torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), was 1x05 when he had to run across the prison yard. he was limping after he got there, and limping when he got back on the ship. we’ve seen jax run a few times with no negative results, implying gideon fixed jax’s pain, i guess, yet another miracle cure. 

people with things like deafness (like me!), or blindness, or chronic pain, or hemophilia, or missing limbs, or partial paralysis very very rarely have positive representation on screen, and here dctv is, curing everyone. especially for ailments and disabilities that don’t have cures, or are even part of people’s identities. we’re seeing characters go through a healing process that we will never have (or don’t want), and the writers just keep writing more “miracle cure” situations. “how tragic, look, we fixed their problems perfectly” for nate’s hemophilia or leonard’s missing hand or “look at this assistive technology that makes their lives 100% perfectly back to normal” for malcolm’s hand, felicity’s spine, charles’s vision, and hartley’s tinnitus, and not often showing the struggles even with the technology.it’s the disability equivalent of the white hero complex.

if anyone wants to add anything or correct me please do since i am not black, asian, or jewish, nor do i specifically have hemophilia or chronic pain. 

[yoyo-inspace]

I’ve been thinking a lot about Madi recently. 

There’s quite a few ideas floating around in my head, but I didn’t seem to be able to find the right words to express them (though I made some attempts), and then I read jaune-clair’s fantastic meta over here and it’s expressed perfectly. (Really, you should read it, it’s great.)

The thing is, anyone who’s followed me for a certain amount of time, or anyone who remembers me persistently posting in the Black Sails tag over the years (in very sporadic bursts), know I love Treasure Island. I’m that meme, basically. Long John Silver is one of my favorite literary characters of all time. And while his wife is only mentioned three times in the entire book, their relationship has always fascinated me to no end. So I’m always disappointed that she’s never included in any adaptions. Sure, I have a very specific set of headcanons for the two that no show would ever be able to fulfill, but still. She’s never in anything (except for that Eddie Izzard version which I have a liveblog of that continues once every century), which is such a shame.

When Black Sails’ first season came around, those who knew TI already went full out speculating. Max was the most popular one back then, because while Black Sails has a great deal of diveristy in many departments, there weren’t really that many options. Besides, she had a fitting relationship with Silver and it seemed like it could work. That theory has gone a bit up and down over the years though.

Enter season 3 and Madi. I think that those familiar with Treasure Island, me included, took one look at her and her budding relationship with Silver and said “Yep, it’s her”. And I’ve kind of remained in that position, and 4x01 didn’t really lessen my conviction. Their relationship is played out very beautifully, and I really felt for Madi when she hugged him in s3 as well as when she cried out for him after he fell in the water in the most recent episode. Their post-sex scene was beautifully filmed. 

And yet something keeps bugging me. 

I really want all the best for Madi. She’s a wonderful addition to the show and her relationship with Silver is really cool, as is her relationship with power and the other characters on the show. 

I think a lot of us have been too stuck in immediately going “Oh, obviously she’s the wife” to think of what that would mean. I’m not saying she won’t be, I’d still say I am about 75 % sure that she is. Maybe higher. But what exactly would it mean if she is, indeed, Mrs Silver?

I have a post in my draft waiting to be edited about how Black Sails deals with stories, both in the show and outside of it. I’m just going to briefly reference concepts I talk about that here. The core of it is, they see Treasure Island not as a definitive source, but as a tale created for children based on the actual events but far from factual (which I mean, it technically is). I think that’s a brilliant way of relating to a text. But even if they took liberties with it, there’s not much liberties to be taken with Silver’s wife. 

What we know of her, is that she and Silver run their inn together. They’re married, which is very unconventional. We know that Silver leaves the inn as well as all his savings in her safe-keeping while he goes off looking for the treasure. We know he has decided to meet up with her at a secret spot after they return and that he (and through him, Jim Hawkins) firmly believes that she’ll be there waiting for him. Jim even finishes by saying that he wishes Silver is indeed living happily with his wife somewhere. 

As I pondered this, I was trying to merge this image with that of Madi. 

Madi is a Queen. She’s a queen and a leader of her people, a co-leader of the entire rebellion against England. She’s fierce and knows that even if she cares for Silver, her people needs to come first. And I asked myself “What would make her leave them?”

And thus, as is also brilliantly described in the most I linked at first (but I also felt the need to ramble about it so here we are), we are faced with a number of options, and I honestly can’t say which one I prefer. 

1) Madi leaves her people after the failure of the war against England to go with Silver to England. While this would technically mean a happy outcome for her (she’s alive), I still can’t reconcile her willingly leaving her people behind, if they’re still standing. And then she’d just sit around and wait while Silver risks his life on some fool’s quest to maybe, maybe get some more of the treasure Flint left behind? Maybe as the season goes on I can see it. Is she dethroned? Does she think they’re better off with someone else? Is her love for Silver that strong? If any of you have any meta or thoughts about this outcome, I’d love to read it. 

2) The entire Maroon community gets killed. I really don’t want this. I mean, I know that most characters probably wont’ survive this season, and when you have a diverse yet small cast like Black Sails does, this will most likely end up in characters you’d rather see alive for representation getting killed. I know that happens, and that’s not necessarily always a fault as long as done right (and as long as they’re not the only ones dying). But for the majority of that community to be completely wiped out? I’d hate to see that happen, on just an emotional level. And it would devastating for Madi. 

3) Madi isn’t actually Silver’s TI wife. She either doesn’t go with him and chooses to stay with her people, or she dies. It would break my heart, and depending on how they do it it would tip closely to fridging. I mean, it really does depend on how she’d die. If she dies for her own cause, for her people, through her own decisions, it would be less so, true. It would work thematically. Silver is taking over Flint’s position and learning that when you’re essentially Flint everyone you love will die. The great love for Flint that put it all in motion was Thomas, and he lost him (and then Gates and Miranda too, of course), and it would be fitting if tragic if Silver’s great love Madi would suffer the same fate, and this would somehow cause the falling out between Flint and Silver.  In this case, I’d probably revert back to the Max theory, which would in some ways also be thematically fitting, given how Silver made plans for them to escape together already in episode 2.

I still think that overall, no.1 is the most likely. But the possibility that the creators are totally aware of that we (at least the people who know of TI) would assume Madi is safe was an idea that hit me. And I can’t shake it. It’s making me nervous, but I’m still completely open to all of these ideas (well, maybe less open to number 2 tbh.) if done in a way that stays true to the characters. 

I’ve mostly just rambled here, but if you have any thoughts on the matter, I’d love to hear them. I know in the end we want all of our favorite characters to survive, even though in a show like Black Sails that is unlikely. And if they do, we still want them to stay true to who they are. 

So what do you make of my dilemma? Do you just not see it as I do, or do you have another solution to the whole conundrum?