#if your main takeaway from bullying is that we do it to the wrong people i don’t trust you at all as an ally

[mitzirockerextendeduniverse]

the idea that allyship consists mainly of consuming Morally Correct Media ™️ is perhaps my least favourite element of the tumblr discourse

[hoefette]

All the petty things I hate about fate!winx and their shitty universe/world building because

I'd added most if these in tags of other posts but I'm still so mad lmao

The way characters, Aisha and Mrs Dowling specifically make references to explicitly human or American things like instagram and Harry Potter

These people are from a different dimension for ffs why are they concerned with or are even aware of this very earth-specific shit? Do they teach earth classes at school over there?

I understand not wanting to have them be oblivious so Bloom wouldn't have to explain it to them, but it simply could be ✨omitted✨

Why would you go out of your way to date your work like this lmao ew

Ms. Dowling calling Tinkerbell an air fairy.. I cannot breeve with the stupidity why did they keep that in there

Why is Ms. Dowling.. the headmistress.. teaching classes? Where are the other teachers?

We ended up with a trio of antagonists (I guess you could call them that?) by the end of the season anyway so why not give us the trix, why have the characters play double roles as friends of our protagonists and also the villains/bullies? They clearly wanted a delinquent trio, in which case they could've gender bent the trix if they wanted to keep all the unnecessary sexual tension.

It just feels like the production team was lazy, they didn't want to hire more actors, they didn't want to bother with making the world immersive or lived in or believable at best, they just didn't give enough of a fuck

They wanted to make this show and attatch Winx to it for.. what? Like did you even google the main plot points? The abridged version or sparknotes to get details on the very literal, basic characteristics of our main characters or their roles or the world they inhabit????

It lacks wonder and intrigue.. I mean Bloom moves to another dimension, a school for fairies and we don't see her marvel once at anything.. and that's because she might as well have been in Switzerland because she's in exactly the same environment she would've been in over there anyway.

They could've said Alfea was in Europe and I'd believe it because nothing about the setting makes it feel otherworldly. I'm sorry but I'm not impressed.

Why do the teachers and graduated specialists communicate via facetime ?? In the magic dimension. ??? Why do they text each other and those texts then appear on screen like .. oh look, like a bad netflix teen movie ????? HELLO ??? it's the way technology and magic could've blended in so seamless into the world THE WAY IT WAS ALREADY DONE/SHOWN. Missed opportunity. it just takes you out of it imo every time you see the ugly, bland, gray text bar. Some fucking flavour pls I'm begging

How stupid the specialist must feel clonking around with the skinniest shreds of armor, plastic swords on their backs and battery powered flashlights and cellphones in their bags. R we larping?? I know I'd be laughing and asking why we hadn't already come up with something more effective .. idk like guns. I'm surprised I ain't see one gun in there.

In the beginning Ms. Dowling says some nonsense about fairies having lost the ability to transform to explain why there are no wings, which means they could've transformed before. So are we to assume that this supposed to be set in the time proceeding the original then?? Because something is not adding up with where they should be as a magical society technologically if that's the case

How does the production team want to keep the dark academia vibes with torches lining the walls and also want them to be face timing each other, presumably from miles and miles away in the dark forest???

Pls pick an aesthetic and stick to it everything was so unnecessarily dark. Where do they charge their phones since it's the only device we see that is the slightest bit modern and dont fucking tell me they charge it with magic I will punch you in the face

Why is there only one major monarchy that we are shown? Why are Solaria the only ones contributing to the efforts to defend the school and where is this mysterious battalion we never see lmaoo it's all so bad its laughable.

Is this set in the kingdom of Solaria? And why does the queen of an alleged interdimensional superpower monarchy pull up in black SUVs??????????? Why does she pull up with Andreas?? Is he not the king of Erakleon?? Where are his soldiers and his battalion and just?? Huh!? The world just feels empty like nobody lives here fr

Are we supposed to believe that the specialists get paired up with fairies just as a normal occurence and that they have to 'trust each other' and not because the plot demands it suddenly half way through when all we've seen so far are the fairies doing normalish school and homework, and the specialists outside, being physical everyday all day. This was never even implied that they'd have to work together apart from when we see the faculty as youngins with Rosalind. But even then.. it's like well why are they even together lmao? Is this a special team formed from Rosalind’s protégées? Were they formed after graduating from Alfea or what is this?? Are they the ONLY team of specialist/fairies hunting every single burned one?? What?

Are we now supposed to buy that Musa is being switched to 'support' because that's where her strengths lie and not in combat?? Are we supposed to believe that these girls know hand to hand combat?? When was this established? We see Terra wrapping some baby vines around a dude and I'm sorry is that the practical application of her power? Is this what the fairies are supposed to do once they graduate? Or is it just a switch in curriculum because of the threats outside the barrier?? This is never made clear.

Because if not then what's the point of this?? Why do they suddenly have endless classes together when the expectation was never set for the fairies to be like soldiers or out in the field fighting ?

Where exactly are they supposed to be what was the purpose of including Aster Dell and why is it a joy ride away from Alfea lmao?? Where Bloom is from and also not from?? Plot pls make it make sense

Why are fairies from another dimension vaping or smoking weed?? They are not human so why are they engaging in specifically human vices, yol couldn't come up with anything else to characterize 'delinquents'?? Very lazy very como se dices.. no effort. Nothing a little more spicy yol could invent, at least change the name and some properties holy shit did yol even try ??

So its fairies everywhere, having a lil party in the east wing of a phat castle.. and they are playing beer pong and dressed in t shirts and jeans..

Can you hear me screaming? Can you hear me vibrating with rage?

Not one floating decoration or magical anything in sight. Just purple lights and subpar vibes

Stella's costume design: tragic. I won't discuss further because we don't have the space or time but just know that it was absolutely atrocious and I hated it. Giving very debutante vibes

The entire budget going to that lame transformation sequence that was not a transformation sequence and those horrible, barely-there fire wings

Edgelord bloom and all her fucking leather jackets. Why do 30 yo, white cis men think girls exist in a binary? They could keep her earlier characterization and make her a hothead.. Bloom literally screamed herself into a couple power upgrades in the original come ooonnnn

Let girls be feminine without it being a character flaw what is wrong with yol its 2021. They could make her more mature, more angsty or whatever the hell else and not style her like that

The way Aisha's abilities flipflop between episodes and scenes. Very inconsistent. One minute she's struggling with a drop of water and the next she is moving an entire body of water for her bestie Bloom to fake transform because the plot demands it. Why even add in her struggles at all if you're just going to ignore it?

Why was Stella with them in that scene? She didn't do anything literally.. Aisha pulled the water and she did .. nothing.

Who the fuck is Rosalind? Why would they add her in,, to add nothing to story? The company of light was a thing, they could've plucked one of them hoes to be the antagonist. Why did the winx club need their own Delores Umbridge? Valtor was right there if you wanted an evil educator type character.

The camera work was so bland during the down beats, stagnant and fixed during a fairy party and erratic and ugly and disorienting during the fight scenes

I'm not getting over the fairy party because it was a good opportunity for the production and everyone else to show the differences between where Bloom was and where she is now but instead it just looks like a regular teen high school party?? This could have been set in Switzerland fr.

Everyone's just kind of standing?? You mean to tell me these people are from all different places in the magical dimension and their customs are all the same? They all throw parties like this ??

White and flavorless I am very bored

I guess the main question or takeaway I have is just.. who is this for? Because everyone, including the showrunners keep saying that it's for us, the fans of the original. But apart from the characters sharing some names, there are really no other similarities. So again, who was this supposed to appease or placate or satisfy? Because it sure as hell wasn't the winx club fans.

Overall, this feels very much like something I wrote and probably published on ff.net when I was 13 because I thought girls couldn't be taken seriously if they liked pink, and injected angst into everything that didn't need it and had no idea how to structure scenes or dialogue. It's just bad, objectively and N*tflix will keep making shit like this because apparently some people have bad taste??? Idk yol, be easy

[seawitchkaraoke]

Your idea of who a character is is always going to be influenced by who you want or need them to be. You rarely get all of a character's motivations and reasons for doing things presented on a silver platter, unless they're the pov character (and even then you don't get everything). There's always things there for you to fill in and well, especially in the case of morally grey characters the things you fill in can be very charitable towards the character or they can be always assuming the worst possible option.

If a character gets a good redemption arc, usually enough of their reasons are explored and they properly apologize and are shown to regret their actions and genuinely change and that usually gets most of the fandom around to also seeing them in a charitable light.

When a redemption arc is pulled off badly or there isn't even one but the character is in some other way grey or can be argued to have good excuses.... That's when you split a fandom.

Snape, Kylo Ren and Azula are all examples of this. Idk about Kylo, I didn't see the last movie but neither Snape nor Azula get redemption arcs. Snape bc he dies before he could get a proper one, what passes for a redemption arc here is more a haha he was good the whole time, he loved lily anyway he's dead now so he's not gonna apologize to anyone and you're not gonna get an explanation for why he bullied kids, Azula bc the show ended before they could give her one, her main defense is that she's 14 when she does all that fucked uo shit and has the worlds worst dad for a father.

Now if you resonate with these characters (bc azula was 14 and abused and alone and snape was an abused bullied poor kid who only ever had one friend he lost bc of his own mistakes and kylo woke up to see hos own uncle stand over him with a lightsaber) you're gonna want to fill in those holes with good things - snape actually just bullied kids to keep his cover or dumbledore made him or harry is an unreliable narrator and it wasn't that bad fir example.

You're also gonna write or read fic that gives them the redemption arc they didn't get - azula gets to bond with zzko and learns how to be a person and interact with people without setting them on fire, snape apologizes about all the stuff and maybe actually makes a friend apart from lily for once and learns to be a person without constantly getting torn between two masters.

But if you don't resonate with them? If snape reminds you of thst horrible teacher you had who bullied you relentlessly or azula of your terrible toxic abusive sister or kylo of your creepy stalker ex boyfriend.... Well then seeing people like those characters, actively come up with reasons why their behaviour wasn't so bad or they didn't mean it or writing about other characters forgiving them... It's gonna feel like a blow. Like they're excusing your abusers. And you're gonna be angry which is fair.

But at the same time if you identify with these characters for whatever reason hearing people condemn them and say they don't deserve redemption is also gonna hurt! If you've made mistakes and redemption arcs give you hope bc it means maybe you can grow from your mistakes and be forgiven too, then hearing that "they're evil and unredeemable!" hurts.

The important thing is that no one is really wrong here. The version of the character you have in your head is probably evil and unforgivable. But the version the other person is thinking of, maybe has the same name and technically the same canon background but they're still completely different.

So I guess the main takeaway is don't harass people over which fictional characters they love or hate. Don't go into each other's spaces to yell about hiw great/horrible this character is. We all need different things from fiction and that's okay as long as we respect each other

[typicalmidnightsoul]

Prythian Valley - Chapter 1

Secrets

 New person of interest: Helion Daye.

Here’s a question how far would you go to hide a secret, to protect it? How far would Helion go to hide a secret? What if the secret wasn’t a thing but a person and what if he wasn’t protecting something horrific but a…relationship? As Nesta and Audrey are coming out late from cheerleading practice hoping to just relax in Nesta’s hot tub will a chance situation rock her to her core and question her loyalties?  Cassian always knew Nesta carried burdens but he was angry at God for giving her burdens to carry which weren’t hers, burdens which made her cry in the dark in school when he was coming back from football practice.

One last question....How young can a criminal be? 

Prologue here

A/N : IM BACK GUYS. I WAS IN LONDON FOR EID BUT NOW I’M BACK GET READY FOR AN ONSLAUGHT OF FIC UPDATES. HAPPY BELATED EID I LOVE YOU ALL.

Helion Daye, 9 years older than Nesta and like an older brother to her from the age of 3. They were nerds for life and he was a much respected former student of Velaris High. When Nesta moved from LA to Prythian Valley with her mother it was Helion who got special permission from the principal and showed her around his old school. Helion was now a part time university lecturer, owner of Daye Publishing and part time party boy.

 But he had a secret, one that went back to his younger days when he was a sophomore. No one could know, because if they did then it would mean nothing to him, but to the other keeper of the secret…

She would be destroyed.

 Her name was Mrs Clarissa Vanserra; she was an English and Art teacher in Velaris High when Helion was in school. She had started teaching when she was so young, only 22, and when Helion stepped in her English class he almost dropped to his knees.

 She was so beautiful, but what struck him the most was… she was helping a boy with tissues, a boy who his friends had been bullying outside. She turned to him and he almost crossed the distance and kissed her. He found out she already had children; her eldest was a 3 year old, the same age as his little Nessie. And as one thing led to another they had an illegitimate relationship, an affair.

 She was ashamed of it, because she was married and as Helion later found out it was an abusive marriage. He tried to tell her to leave him but she wouldn’t hear of it, she had children with this man.

The affair never truly ended… he had to leave for Uni as his mother in LA had got him into one of the best ones in the country.

 But Clarissa was carrying Helion’s child. She knew it was his. And she told him she… she told him she aborted it because it would only stop him from achieving his dreams. After he left Clarissa thought that was the end of her and Helion’s story but she was wrong.

  Nesta came out of double geography stretching her limbs Luna next to her, Feyre and Amren were exchanging homework apparently.

Nesta was about to walk up to them when she saw…

“Helion!!” She ran to him and he picked her up spinning her around, he laughed as he set her down,

“Hey Nessie,” he chuckled,

“Hellcat what are you doing here?!” She asked,

“Well I wanted to see my old school, and try outs for the football team and its new captain is being picked, I’m also now an advisor for the school newspaper so you’ll be seeing a lot of me.”

Feyre and Luna gave him a hug and he said, “Where’s Mrs Vanserra’s new class, it’s not the old one. I needed to talk to her about the placement of the newspaper office.”

Nesta was confused but Eris came up behind her saying, “My mom’s old class is now a biology lab, her new one is in the second floor.”

To most people Helion was glad to see Eris but Nesta could see the tightness in his eyes when Eris came up to them. He nodded and headed upstairs.

Nesta gave Feyre a hug and told her to tell mom she’d be home late with Audrey.

Feyre nodded and headed off to her last class.

--------------------------

 Audrey and Nesta were packing up their stuff. They had spent more time after practice to choreograph a new routine for the upcoming matches. They headed upstairs to return the locker keys to the janitors office. He had let them stay earlier do long as they lock up and leave the keys in his office. As they were returning they went past the new newspaper office,

“Damn!” Audrey whispered, “Helion’s done a good job.”

Nesta nodded and they went to the back entrance that led to the parking lot. As they went past Mrs Vanserra’s office Nesta froze stopping Audrey.

Before Audrey could gasp, Nesta put a hand over her mouth.

Because there… there was Helion and Clarissa Vanserra standing a breath apart, Helion tracing the skin on her hands whispering something to her.

Nesta made up different circumstances, maybe he was blowing something out of her eye, or she could be hurt, or maybe she had a panic attack and Helion was comforting her.

But as Helion picked up her hand and intertwined their fingers pressing a kiss to the spot below her ears Nesta could no longer kid herself. They had an affair.

Audrey pulled her out and to their car.

As Nesta started it Audrey said, her voice hard, “tomorrow 6am at the office, are we going?”

“You bet your ass we are.”

--------------------

Helion was setting up the new office, when Nesta and Audrey stepped in. Audrey shutting the door and leaning on it to add another layer of soundproof and defence.

“Hey girls, it’s a bit too early but I guess if you missed me-“

“How long?”

He raised a brow, “Pardon?”

“How fucking long Helion have you been sleeping with Clarissa Vanserra?” Nesta ground out.

His face drained of any colour and he swallowed, “How-how-“

“We saw you after school yesterday.”

He let out a strangled breath and dragged a hand through his hair, then turned to Nesta taking her hands in his and sitting her down on a chair,

“Nes, listen it’s not-“ she snatched her hands away, he took them again a pleading look taking over his eyes,

“You want the truth, I’ll tell you all of it,” he took a deep breath, “ I was a sophomore, Feyre’s age and she was a new teacher, we fell in love Nesta, she had a notebook and she wrote stories in them and I fell hopelessly in love with her words with her, it’s like what you and Cassian have”-she growled-“forget I said that, anyway, she loved me back but she had children, and she was married, an abusive marriage albeit but she wouldn’t leave her children. And then I left for uni but every time I visited the valley I’d meet her and we’d…”

He shook his head, “Nesta please don’t tell anyone. No, please don’t”

“Why?!”She was crying now, “Why not?! You have an affair with a married woman with the mother of my best friend, why can’t I?”

“Because I was there!” He shouted,

Nesta looked at Audrey and back at him, “Where?”

“When Amarantha died, the day she died, the night she died, I was there, we heard someone laughing and talking and… i was there with Clarissa.”

Nesta exchanged a look with Audrey who was suddenly furious,

“No! Nesta had to protect Feyre and now you!”

Helion looked startled, “Why? What happened with-“

“Not now,” Nesta said, “We will keep your secret Helion. But you know we have to tell Luna, she won’t tell anyone either. But why can’t we at least tell Eris or-or”

Helion stood up gathering Nesta’s hands in his, tears slipping down his face,

“We had underage sex Nesta, and I got her pregnant. She had an abortion later but… the cracks are still in our relationship from it. Do you understand the gravity of this situation? I, a 15 year old got a 22 year old teacher pregnant. She could lose her job, I could go to jail, and she could too. Please.”

Nesta stumbled back as Audrey slid down the door hands in her hair.

“A child?” she whispered and Helion nodded.

Nesta nodded, “You have our word Helion, we’ll keep your secret.”

Audrey opened the door as Helion thanked them,

They left telling Luna to meet them at Pop’s.

-------------

Luna slurped her milkshake in shock.

“I cannot believe it. And we are not allowed to tell Eris?”

Nesta shook her head.

Audrey leaned back into the booth and groaned.

“What if Eris hates us?”

Audrey and Nesta hadn’t ordered anything. They’d just came in and started rambling. Pop Tate came over,

“What can I get you girls?”

“Turkey club burger, chilli fries and my large regular milkshake for me Pop,” Nesta answered.

“Chicken club, curly fries and my regular milkshake,” Audrey said as Pop smiled at them and hurried off.

“Stress eating?” Luna asked.

Nesta waved her off.

The TV blared quietly in the background as Nesta turned her head.

“A washed up truck was found late yesterday night-“

“Pop can you turn it up please?” Nesta asked as Pop did so.

“By the sheriff’s office. If this red truck belongs to anyone then it can be claimed from the sheriff’s office. Now moving onto todays main headlines…”

 Nesta’s face was etched with horror, as was Luna’s and Audrey’s. Nesta put on a fake smile and turned to Pop,

“Hey Pop, could you pack ours up and also pack in Feyre, Elain and Jonah’s regulars and Mom’s double chocolate milkshake please?”

Pop nodded and gestured to Demi who was preparing the orders.

Nesta let out the staggering breathe as Audrey dialled up one of their friends.

“Leo? We need you to take Jonah to Chicago tomorrow.”

Audrey looked at Nesta. Nesta nodded.

“They found the truck.”

-----------

Nesta rushed in as Elain seemed to be making coffee. Feyre and Jonah were at the table. Jonah was Nesta’s half-brother, the loving result of her mother’s affair. Jonah wasn’t that fond of Feyre or even Elain for that matter but he loved Nesta, a love that went really deep. He was in middle school and his best friend was Cassian’s sister, the youngest Narenz: Nyx Narenz.

She slammed down their takeaway and said, “Go eat in your rooms. Don’t come out and Mom will never know you had takeaway for breakfast.”

They all exchanged looks. Then they all ran to their rooms, grabbing the paper packages.

 Nesta strutted into her mother’s study.

But her mother was already staring at the TV screen. Hand over her mouth in horror. She walked up to her mother wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

“Don’t worry Mom, we’ll sort it out.”

Her mother started shaking her head, “No, no I have already got you involved way too much. I will not allow you to-“

Nesta shook her slightly, “Hey mom, I’m doing it either way. Plus I’ve got everything planned out.”

“I can’t put this on you. I need to protect my baby boy, need to protect you.”

“You’re handling things on the inside. Let me handle this. Besides he’s my brother too you know.”

Before she could answer, the doorbell rang. Nesta took the remote and turned off the TV telling her mother to stay here.

She walked down the hallway to the main door and flung it open.

Her eyes narrowed,

“What do you want?” she snarled.

--------

 Cassian swallowed and asked himself if there was a time of day where Nesta did not look fucking gorgeous.

Her hair was pulled into a long sleek ponytail, and she wore a tight long sleeved sheer meshed crop top with a red dragon print. It showed a black bra underneath and was paired with a black mini skirt and black gladiator heels.

He put on a cocky grin and said,

“Your sister said she needed a ride because Rhys’ car is in servicing.”

She snorted, leaving the door open, “Feyre! Your chauffeurs here!”

She turned back to him, “I’m picking up Nyx at 7:30 for the slumber party, all right with you?”

He nodded, “Who else will be there? Nyx hates all of us and hasn’t really told either of us three who’s coming?”

“Nyx doesn’t hate you, the three of you are just annoying, and I don’t disagree with her. And to answer your question, Roxy and Alec are coming.”

Cassian chuckled, “Ouch, no wonder you’re her favourite.”

She rolled her eyes and made her way back to the study. But Cassian knew Nesta and he could see her shoulders sagging from the burdens she carried. He could see a scared little girl behind those stormy eyes today and that terrified him. But before he could dwell on that matter Feyre bounded in and dragged him to his car.

-----------

Cassian bumped fists with his crew and went to take a long shower. As he came out he saw Nesta in her cheerleading outfit, rummaging around in her locker. He stalked over to her leaning against the adjacent locker.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Nesta Archeron. What’s the residential ice queen doing so late at school,” the next part wasn’t intended to be cruel but the jealousy Cassian harboured at the fact that Nesta wasn’t his leaked through him as he whispered, “Or shall we say who’s heart is she breaking?”

She slammed her locker shut and as she looked up at him he faltered. How did he not notice? Shit.

Her eyes were red, and her voice sounded slightly broken.

“Are you done Cassian?”

She swallowed and out a hand to her mouth running past him to the toilet.

 All Nesta could see was…memories of the blood on her hand. Of the bleach as she used it. As she burned her mother’s old rug because of the red stains on it. She remembered the gore and as much as she tried to push it away it just kept coming back.

She puked her lunch into the toilet and then felt strong warm hands hold her hair back. Long soothing strokes were made on her back and she managed to say,

“Cassian you can’t be in the girl’s toilet.”

“I think I can handle detention for being in here for you puking.”

A few minutes later she was washing her face in the sink. She steadied herself as she gripped the sides. Cassian put a hand on her lower back and guided her outside.

“You need some fresh air.”

She sat on back step that led to the parking lot.

Cassian kneeled in front of her, her eyes were still red.

“Nesta please tell me, what happened?”

No answer, just silent sobbing.

“Nes please. Or I’ll tell Feyre and Elain and let them handle it. You need to tell someone or you’ll break down again.”

Nesta shook her head profusely, “No, no, please it’s just… I can’t handle these secrets, Helion having an affair with Eris’ mom for so fucking long, he-he had a baby with her, he-he had sex with her when he was 15. And got her pregnant. Even though the baby was aborted I and he was at the river when Amarantha- and then there’s Jonah-“ she broke down sobbing.

Cassian waited a few seconds letting it set in. Helion the school’s former golden boy had an… affair? With a married woman?

He pulled Nesta into his arms.

They stayed like that for a long time before Cassian asked,

“What about Jonah?”

She opened her mouth to answer before her phone buzzed.

“I need to go. Mom’s worried.” She picked up her stuff, and as she walked away from him he said,

“I’ll give you a ride-“

“No, it-its fine.” And as she walked away he could’ve sworn he heard,

“Thank you Cassian.”

 Coming up Next:

 Nesta crossed her arms at her mother,

“Jonah is going to Chicago with Leo and that’s final. Leo will take care of him, she would never allow anything bad to happen to him.”

Her mother opened her mouth but the study door burst open,

“You can’t take Jonah away from me!” Nyx pleaded at Nesta.

But Jonah held up a hand and stepped toward his older sister.

There was fear, Nesta realized in her 14 year old brother’s  silver eyes as he looked up at her and asked,

“Is it because I killed Tomas Mandray?”

---------------- 

 Tags:: @skychild29 @aesthetics-11 @perseusannabeth​ @awesomelena555​

[synth-dahl]

H2O Just Add Water, Season 2, Episode 26, Unfathomable

Things we thought during this episode

- Me: Anything to say before the episode starts?

GF: F*ck them up, Charlotte, you are inevitable

- GF: This just reminds me of Mike and I rewatching the bad episodes of Arrow where Oliver is just the villain for no reason

- GF: Oh look, another female in the writing credits

- GF: Rikki is such a vicious little a*shole. As bad as Cleo is in this season, Rikki is just hostile to everyone around her

- Also, “She’s mad at me now that I’m dating Lewis”? What a gross oversimplification of what’s going on.

GF: Remember when they said, “You’re on your own now”?

- Why does no one talk about how genuinely powerful and in control of her powers she is? She manipulated enough wind and air to lift three girls several feet into the air

- It’s incredible how much space relates to magic, proving the theory that mermaids are alien-related

- Rikki: It was his psycho ex-girlfriend!

GF: Rikki is such an a*shole! They won! They finally got Lewis back into their shitty little clique and she’s still yelling at him! What does she want him to do, kill Charlotte?! ‘Oh, if you were a real man who deserved Cleo, you’d do what it takes to get rid of her!’

- Do you people think that Charlotte came out the womb like this?

- Me: Do they seriously not see how their actions might have caused her to be like this

GF: It’s like the writers don’t talk to each other and only write what they think has happened

- Lewis: You can’t use your powers on the girls in public

Me: Oh, you mean like THEY HAVE?!

GF: Yeah, but they’re the main characters

Me: Yeah, so it’s okay when they did it

- GF: Their takeaway from this was that they were right no to trust Charlotte, but it goes both ways! Charlotte was right not to trust them! You do not get credit for predicting a coincidence

- From the very beginning, Charlotte was treated like a monster, and was never really given a chance to be anything else by the girls. When she finally has enough and gives them a taste of their own medicine, their takeaway is not, “Wow, we’ve been treating her wrong,” it’s “Yes, we knew it!”

- GF: I love [Charlotte] just going full Carrie on them

Me: The only danger right now is them turning into mermaids in their house, Charlotte doesn’t know that Ash is there.

- GF: Honestly, when they’re moonstruck, all they seem to want to do is reveal themselves

- It’s incredible that they are conflicted more about their boyfriends finding out their secret than their own parents

- You know, Cleo really isn’t trapped in the pool. She could swim out through the tunnel to get out, or haul herself out if need be

- Seriously, none of them have any imagination when it comes to manipulating water as a weapon, it's always just a ball

- GF, as Charlotte makes the water snakes: Wow, she’s going Green Lantern on them

- GF: i just want to say, at the finale, the only thing Charlotte has done is mess with their plumbing and go to a cave, they didn’t have to follow

- Which, as an aside, Charlotte wasn’t going to hurt Lewis, Cleo and the others didn’t have to put themselves at risk. Also, they should’ve just let the water snakes touch them and transform into mermaids on the edge, they couldn’t have fallen in then

- So, they took away Charlotte’s powers. Which only succeeded in making her less than them again, which is good, because they put her in her place, which is beneath them

- A teenage girl brokenly says, “All I ever wanted was for you to care for me,” and monsters are on the internet are calling her the most evil character ever made

- GF: This is the peaceful finale to a completely different season where they did give Charlotte a chance, but it turned out they had to depower her. And that transition of Charlotte holding her dead grandmother’s necklace to Cleo smiling and holding it like she won, from Charlotte’s loss to Cleo’s shameless joy at winning, it’s like watching a kid steal a cookie and gleefully eating it in front of the person they stole it from

- I have never understood the ending shot of the boyfriends hanging out on rocks while the girls swim away, like what do they do now

- GF: I hope all of you swim into a giant propeller and become chum

- Me: So, what are your thoughts on this season?

GF: *cat hiss*

Me: Anything else?

GF: I agree with everything you said. When you were telling me about it, I thought you were exaggerating because that’s what time can do, but if anything you undersold it, I might be more angry than you about it

Me: Are you looking forward to season 3

GF: Is it less mean?

Me: Well, Emma leaves and a new girl comes in, but they’re nice to her

GF: Well, there can only be three

- Me: What is your final thoughts on Charlotte?

GF: Charlotte deserved better

Me: And the things I told you before we watched it, did that influence your opinion?

GF: No, the main characters are objectively villains

Me: What do you think changed between seasons?

GF: It was a bubblegum show about friends having adventures, two was a CW secrets and lies show revolving around secrets. It’s as if the writes saw the characters growing older, so they thought they should embody all the bad shit they remembered from high school

Me: If you watched this younger, how would you have reacted to what happened?

GF: It would’ve made me sad to see characters I loved become the bullies I had to deal with in real life. Especially since they were sold as compassionate role models, but the show looks at them through rose-colored glasses as they do things. Not every protagonist isn’t supposed to be a role model, but that’s what the show presented them as. And the show presented it as, “This is what friendship is like!”

Me: How would you classify Charlotte’s behavior/personailty?

GF: She has clear self-esteem problems, and when she does choose to fight back, she picks the wrong moments. She has a clear difficulty picking up on social cues and her desire to find community blinds her to a lot of red flags with the people she interacts with

Me: Do you think, in a better situation, they could’ve been friends?

GF: Absolutely, in a situation where everyone communicated better, and the main girls weren't written as openly hostile to everyone they meet, the second Charlotte enters a room they act like completely different people, like the show has to bend them into people who act like that. if she had been introduced in season one, they would’ve gotten along fine.

Me: Overall, did you enjoy watching it?

GF: I’d say so, I maybe did not find the show an enjoyable experience, but I enjoyed the ride, and I definitely feel like we got to know each other better

Me: *gives her a big hug and kiss for putting up with my weird obsession after posting this*

[ashleyspinelliburnbook]

S1E6: My Fair Gretchen/Speedy, We Hardly Knew Ye

Me, literally one recap ago: “When are we gonna get a good Gretchen episode?”

Me, today, looking at the title of the next episode and refusing to be embarrassed: “WELL, FINALLY”

My Fair Gretchen

The most pressing revelation here is that “Recess” apparently takes place in Arkansas, as the episode begins with Miss Finster handing out the Arkansas Standard Achievement Test.

Beyond that, this is a lovely ~ironic subversion~ of the “My Fair Lady” trope. Let me explain: “My Fair Lady” is all about turning Eliza Doolittle into a more acceptable member of high society, right? Turning her from Cockney to, well, refined?

Here, we’ve got Gretchen, who’s by no means a member of high society, but the goal isn’t to get her there either. See, Gretchen is smart — very smart — to the point that she gets a perfect score on the ASAT. She’s called into Principal Prickly’s office, where she learns that she has the opportunity to go to Oppenheimer Elementary for the Incredibly, Extremely Gifted. (Of course, Prickly has a vested interest in this too. If two more of his kids go there, he gets that job at Spiro Agnew Middle School!)

But...Gretchen doesn’t really want to go to Oppenheimer. Her mom is excited to hear the news, but it just makes Gretchen sad. And when she tells her friends she’s on the fence about what she’s learned, they decide to take action.

After Gretchen takes one last walk around the school, saying goodbye to the swingset, the graffiti, and the rancid fish sticks in the dumpster, she gets home to find...the gang! And they’ve got a plan to de-smart her so that when she goes in front of the Oppenheimer review board the next day, they’ll have no choice but to turn her down.

“I’ve been trying to dumb myself down ever since kindergarten,” Gretchen says, to which TJ replies, “This time, you’ve got experts on your side.”

“Yo, Prickly,” New Gretchen says as she walks into the gym for her review. After a whirlwind day of trying new looks (courtesy of the Diggers, the Ashleys, the kindergarteners), she shows up in, um, I’m not a fashion person but she’s coming off as very...not this decade? Wow, helpful.

So yeah, instead of going for “refined,” we get, well, the opposite of that. But here, it’s also the socially acceptable landing point. Instead of being a super-genius who aces standardized tests, Gretchen is now...just like any other kid.

The board, pictured above, asks Gretchen a handful of trivia questions, and she gets them all spectacularly wrong (“Who was the 14th president of the United States?” “Dennis Rodman?”). From outside, the gang celebrates her achievement...until the plan backfires.

A humiliated Principal Prickly accuses Gretchen of cheating on the exam, and Gretchen can’t help but recite all of the correct answers to their questions, in order, with perfect accuracy. Albert Einstein (you see him, come on) asks why she was hiding her intelligence, and she explains she doesn’t want to go to the new school. The board banishes Prickly to the hallway, where he and the gang await Gretchen’s fate.

When they emerge, Einstein explains that Gretchen convinced the board that there's more to education than book-learnin’ (which sort of reminds me of “Bart the Genius,” where Bart initially tries to convince the gifted school he has cheated his way into to let him go back to his old school undercover, “to see what makes ‘em tick”).

The board suggests the school instead implement a tutorial program, and the episode ends with Gretchen teaching...a room full of teachers. As it should be.

Takeaway: Every time I see an episode about a gifted kid/genius kid, I think about all the memes that go, like, “if you were ever a ‘gifted kid’ in school, you’re depressed now,” and...yeah. Imagine having all this pressure to succeed in fourth grade, you know?

Speedy, We Hardly Knew Ye

(Today in “trying something new on the blog,” I want to share something I wrote a few years ago that pretty much says what I would have written here anyway. The episode is about the class hamster, Speedy, dying, and how the kids react to it.)

In middle school, I had two opportunities to take part in Challenge Day, a day-long anti-bullying program meant to bring to the forefront all the deeply personal things that participants have in common, all while celebrating their diversity and inspiring them to dismantle the structure that causes these differences to drive them apart.

Being middle schoolers — 11-, 12-, and 13-year-olds in the thick of maintaining childhood friendships, facing new encounters, and experiencing puberty — there was a wide range of expectations for the event and the reactions throughout it. Many students saw the day solely as an opportunity to be able to skip school, while several of us read the material given to us with our permission slips and at least vaguely understood that our emotions — and our beliefs — would be tested.

The first time I did Challenge Day was in sixth grade, and at first, my primary concern was that my best friend and had been separated, relegated to participating on different days. But when the 100 or so of us entered the gym, whose windows had been blacked out to avoid any interruptions from the other 300 students on campus, the specially-trained Challenge Day leaders made every opportunity to pull us out of our comfort zones right away. Suddenly, we were sprinting within a massive circle of chairs, instructed to find a new seat, and found ourselves sitting between two people we’d never met to whom we would then have to introduce ourselves.

Eventually, we split into small groups of 6 or 7 — similarly randomly assigned, paired with a parent volunteer — and talked more candidly about our worries, how we truly felt going to school every day, and even our personal tragedies. The point here was to prove that we were able to open up to a group of strangers following all of the icebreaker activities we’d completed. And, from what my friend had told me after completing her Challenge Day the previous day, this portion of the day was where everyone started crying. While a good number of the students who were just happy to have the day off from school didn’t take this part seriously, I really wanted to – and luckily, both times, my group was just as keen.

I don’t much remember what I shared at that first Challenge Day, but in eighth grade I was dealing with both that friend’s sudden move to a school two hours away and the death of my hamster, my first real pet, and I felt I had a lot to talk about. The students in my group were very receptive to what I had to say, and one even took me aside after we moved on from the small group activities and complimented my candidness, saying I was very brave to cry for my friend and my pet.

Unfortunately, the parent volunteer in our group was less sympathetic. On the Challenge Day website, it states that volunteers receive a quick overview of the day before students arrive, and that’s it. Sadly, you can’t teach sympathy in half an hour. When I almost immediately starting sobbing about my troubles and was met with kindness by my fellow middle school-aged group members, this woman promptly interrupted me.

“Are you sure you’re not just getting caught up in the emotions, sweetheart?” she asked, her attempted pleasantness pierced by skepticism. “At your age, you’re too old to be crying about hamsters and one lost friend. There are more hamsters, and there are more friends.”

What could I do? I was a shy, insecure 13-year-old who was clearly overwhelmed by my own hardships — albeit comparatively minute to what some members of the group had shared — and all this woman could do was point out my perceived weaknesses and trivialize feelings I thought were legitimate and sincere. So I gave in. I nodded.

“Mm-hmm,” she confirmed, her face lit up in victory. “You need to learn to be stronger. That’s what today is all about. Let’s move on to someone else.”

Of course, because of the quiet, non-confrontational person I was — and still, only 13, barely beginning to emotionally mature — I let her words sink in. I entirely believed that what I had shared was completely out of line, and rebuked myself for crying at all. Since early childhood, I was the type of person who cried whenever I felt worried or insecure, and this woman, in just a few sentences, had made me so worried and so insecure that I didn’t want to cry anymore.

For me, Challenge Day in sixth grade was exciting. Because my school had only opened that year, even the seventh- and eighth-graders who transferred from the middle school across town were open to making new friends, and it was a wholly positive experience. But after Challenge Day in eighth grade, I wondered if I’d become too comfortable being openly emotional two years before. And, not to place the entirety of the blame on this one woman’s speech, since I clearly had many reasons to feel down, eighth grade was when I first recognized that I might be depressed. Even still, I don’t think I should have had to say, “Look, lady, I appreciate your fake concern, but I’m clinically depressed” to avoid any further insult.

I know so many people whose feelings were invalidated as kids simply because, as kids, many of them just hadn’t been alive long enough to experience the type of pain that adults have. (And even if they have, the emotional differences inherent in both parties for the exact same tragedy or other life change can be profound.) When adults don’t understand that comparing the plights of a single 13-year-old to their own — or anyone’s — is completely unfair, their words and actions can quickly devolve into invalidation and, sometimes, abuse.

During that second Challenge Day, the main message conveyed by the leaders was beyond my attention. I thought I’d come away with the advice to not cry unless it was about something really important, and to “be stronger” — which was completely abstract to me at the time. (It still is, honestly. Is there a checklist I have to fill out to determine if I’m “strong” enough to…what? Be a living, appropriately emotional person? I mean, evidently not.)

I don’t want adults to be rude to kids who are expressing emotions of any kind, even if it’s about something they don’t think is worth expending energy to worry about. Children and teenagers have vastly different capacities to internalize the world around them compared to adults, and that doesn’t make their reactions to hardships wrong or invalid. We should all know this, having been kids ourselves, but obviously we don’t.

When adults can’t understand a world in which a hamster’s death is, for one day, the most important thing, perhaps the sole hardship on a child’s mind, then we don’t deserve their innocent happiness at learning on their own that there are, in fact, more hamsters.

If we can’t handle children’s emotions at their worst — the worst “worst” they’ve ever experienced — to what fate are we dooming them when the things they don’t talk about, their depression and abuse and appropriately hard hardships that are allowed to challenge their strength, get bad enough for us to care?

Takeaway: Let kids feel their feelings when they’re kids so they have a healthy relationship with their emotions as adults. (Please.)

[comicteaparty]

December 21st-December 27th, 2019 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble chat that occurred from December 21st, 2019 to December 27th, 2019.  The chat focused on the following question:

Without heavy spoilers, describe the worst thing you’ve put one of your characters through?

carcarchu

for a comic i haven't released yet (this happens in literally the first chapter so i don't really consider it a spoiler) the main character in this story has a rough life. she's saddled with enormous debts and gets fired from her job, then when things finally start looking up for her she gets hit by a car and "dies" the whole premise of the story is that people who die and get brought back to life by doctors (dead for just a few seconds) get powers

Cronaj

Hmmm.... I won't say whose, but probably the death of their child, and I've done some awful things to my characters. For some reason, all the pain and suffering in the world does not amount to the loss of one's child. To be fair, I don't usually consider it my fault that these horrible things occur in the story, because I couldn't change it if I wanted to. To do so would feel like a lie. These stories exist in my mind independent of what I want, and I'm simply telling them to the world. But yes... that child is the saddest creature I've written.

eli [a winged tale]

Torn apart, watched their friends die, forced to live forever... you name it, we got it In all seriousness, I also like focusing on the small (but not insignificant things) like not having your love reciprocated and questioning your worth. Sometimes it’s the small things that can collectively be destructive.

Capitania do Azar

In some ways, I think I have already done the worst I possibly could to my characters (war, being unable to help and losing their loved ones in darkness and loneliness). But on the other hand, I do plan to extend the mechanics of mind intrusion to the point of completely mangling up people's psyches, so I guess I'll have to wait and see which one feels worse

FeatherNotes

So far in GJS, we've had a character go through some, well, explosive limb loss There's quite a lot of hard things the chars go through / will go through, but i def see the brutality of the leg loss as something pretty huge for the character!

taterviking

I threw my main character under a semi, off a cliff, and shoved a tree branch into his brain. And then when he woke up I gave him long term memory loss and stole 80% of his memories from before he was 12

Kelsey (Kurio)

Boy am I glad none of us are gods heh

taterviking

I kind of treat writing like the Sims: which one am i torturing and which two did I build specifically to get naked together.

eli [a winged tale]

Omg Tater that’s a perfect analogy (edited)

taterviking

the only difference is that I can follow them to work and they're alllllll the money slave/work horse

Also, Viking is my father's name, you can call me Tater ;P

snuffysam

the worst thing that has happened to one of my characters canonically is something i have not and will not describe in-comic, so i'm not about to describe it here. there are certain... types of trauma... where even if a story depicts things realistically, respectfully, and with properly directed condemnation, fans romanticize the hell out of it. and i want no part of that. so, like, i'm keeping this stuff in the character's backstory, because i want to depict living with and growing past traumatic experiences, but i refuse to actually describe/depict what happened so fans don't get the wrong takeaway. the important thing isn't what happened, it's how she deals with it. as for things that actually happen in the comic - one character does get tortured by a government for information?

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Oh boy. So I am rather known for torturing my characters. I don’t even know what the worst thing is, but ‘dying horribly’ or ‘very dark and tragic backstory involving abuse and/ or terrible loss’ describes 95% of my casts.

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Several of my characters get horribly bitten/eaten by hungry spirits. If they aren't already completely wrecked by the attack, the resulting cursed bite leads to quarantine and ostracization. Even little kids get abandoned or sent away. And those who are eventually totally consumed by the curse... basically become half-dead. ...Yeah, I got a lot of 'worse than death' stuff going on

Nutty (Court of Roses)

Won't say who, but i don't think i could do much worse than giving a character the perfect life and then taking it and everyone they've ever loved away from them in one fell swoop, leaving them to wander aimlessly.

Deo101

I've put all of my characters through different things that I think aren't really comparable as far as saying one is "worse" than the other. Though, I think that I'll probably say making one of them essentially live through a genocide is pretty undeniably the worst thing, and also the only one that I've really canonically discussed.

DanitheCarutor

I'm lowkey into character torture porn, so I like putting my OCs through some shit. Apollo probably has the most cushy life of every character I've ever made, the spoiled brat! The worst thing that will happen, in TGtaHR at least, will be related to death and/or near death. Not so much the subject in itself but how it is used, which may or may not be the worst thing from a reader perspective, but from the character's perspective. I mean...? I guess anything relating to death is pretty bad, but I've kind of seen situations where the person would have considered it a luxury, soooo. I don't know where I'm going with this!(edited)

Deo101

sounds like you're going towards "my comic is the meanest thing I've put my characters through"

you big meanie.

DanitheCarutor

Ah! I'm such a bully! Nothing like putting your characters through the worst to make the positive payoff more worth it.

khkddn

is psychological or physical pain more impactful to readers? prolly depends heavily on the context huh

anyway for my comic I think it is a tie between a psychologically hurtful thing and a physically hurtful thing

the psychological one is a little something I like to call The Dress Arc, and the physical one is called Cold Swiss Cheese

Deo101

Incredible

khkddn

what is the point of having painful scenes if one does not give them cool names amirite

Deo101

Absolutely. You know whats up

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I’d say psychological pain is much worse. A broken leg can heal in a month, but trauma stays with you. Of course, the former can cause the latter, but I always find it much more emotional when the character is feeling internally tortured rather than externally.

DanitheCarutor

I'm no expert but from personal experience with my comic, it's kind of depends on the reader? But physical is more universally comprehensible. A lot of the pain depicted in my story so far is psychological, with a little physical, and I've noticed people who have experience and/or are educated with the psychological aspect are more impacted by that than people who have never experienced or learned about it. Or to be more straightforward, people who have never experienced or have no knowledge of mental/emotional abuse have no idea what's going on in the story. Although when I had a scene where my frail, mentally unstable MC got punched in the face, everyone flipped out equally.

Of course this is just relating to abuse, when it comes to other stuff relating to pain I can't really give an opinion. I would say it's similar, since most people generally need to have a certain level of understanding of something to be impacted by its depiction of fiction, but I have no idea. Lol(edited)

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

No, you make a really good point. People generally can’t comprehend a pain they haven’t experienced, so I admit it would make sense to only feel empathy for physical pain if you’ve never known psychological trauma.

DanitheCarutor

Yeah, it's a douchey thing to do since this is subjective (there are people who have experienced trauma who lack the ability to empathize with others who go through something similar and vice versa), but I like to make a game out of figuring out who has and hasn't been in a really bad relationship based on how they respond to my comic irl, and online to an extent. Admittedly I'm hardcore into getting feedback half due to wanting to psychologically evaluate my readerbase.

Kelsey (Kurio)

Wait what?

DanitheCarutor

"What what" what? Don't worry, I don't do anything or judge based on stuff like that since it's so little info, I just like psychology... even if I may not be very good at it.

But yeah, I'm kind of a creep.

DanitheCarutor

Oh yeah, don't be scared to go back to posting in this channel? Thing? I won't be hanging out here, unless someone talks to me directly. I just responded originally because I had a tiny bit of knowledge on the subject asked.

Cronaj

I get that. I'm also kind of creepy. Plus, I kind of feel like webcomics are a bit of a social experience to begin with, which often involves a lot of studying the readers' emotional responses to the story.

keii4ii

Human beings automatically judge each other alllll the time, so part of it is inevitable. I think the most important thing is to acknowledge that you can be a little, very, or even totally wrong. ...The other important thing is, I do think there's a difference between subconsciously judging others and actively looking forward to it? If you are actively looking forward to judging others, that sort of turns your comment section into a social experiment of sorts, and I don't feel comfortable about that. If I knew the creator of a comic I follow was like that, I would be like "uhhhh you do you, but I want no part in that" and never comment.

I'm not saying it's a bad thing. Just.... ideally should be consensual?

I know some people who actually enjoy that kinda stuff, like even if they found out, they'd be like "ohhhhh SMART! :D"... Then there are people who would feel upset if they found out. So yeah, ideally this would be all consensual so people can opt in or out, but I don't know how you can do this while fully informing prospective participants.

DanitheCarutor

It sounds like a lie, but really, I don't judge. I make up fantastical concepts of what kind of person this is based on the little info I get from body language, facial expressions, what they say, and tone of voice but it's all thrown out the window because people are more complicated than that. At the end of the day I'd rather actually get to know the person before I truly judge their character. Also when it comes to normal comments I don't analyze unless the commenter is analyzing, usually the "judging" is when I ask for feedback... like, more than a couple sentences worth to get a good idea of how the story is mentally processed by that person. For example when I was asking for feedback after finishing chapter 4. While I was asking for critique, I also wanted to know how the story affected that person, get a vague idea of what kind of people the story draws in or what kind of people it drives away, etc. And yeah, I kinda go the extra mile with it because that's just how my brain works, it just runs all the time. I assume that person consents to me analyzing them and their experience when they respond to me asking for their opinion, but I dunno. Maybe I'll just... teach myself to not think when it comes to my comic or audience, I don't want to scare people off just because I'm an overly analytical weirdo. <_<'

Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS

I like when you use the physical pain for psychological pain. like someone is in heavy dangers, and comes out with only a broken leg. the other characters can feel guilty, hurt, etc other feelings. For me, physical pain is not enough, it is the reaction it sparks

DanitheCarutor

Oh uh, also @keii4ii, I can vouch that being analytical doesn't make you smart. My dad is like that and he's a complete moron, also I'm not the brightest bulb in the box either, I'm just a slave to my thoughts. Sorry, just wanted to clear things up to make myself look less bad.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I can understand that side of analysing. I’m often curious about my readers because I don’t have very many; my comics tend to be quite niche. So I wonder about what sort of demographic I’m attracting. From the people who have commented and shared a bit about themselves, it seems to be a lot of European and American adults in the 20-40 range who have received higher education (med students, professors, people in STEM, etc), which to me is kind of wild because I’m not writing ‘smart’ comics. There’s no real science or anything in my dark and morbid fantasy comics, so I’ve wondered what about them appeals to this demographic. This isn’t counting my new WT audience I’ve gained over the last couple of years, which is a very different demographic from those who follow on my site, but it’s really interesting to think about ‘What kinds of stories appeal to certain groups of people?’.

keii4ii

@DanitheCarutor Oh, I didn't mean to imply it was a bad thing. I apologize if that's how it came across. I meant it as a "thing I want vs thing I don't want." Just because I don't want a thing for myself, doesn't make it a bad thing.

Re: demographic analysis, more power to you if you're naturally into it. I'm like 'no..... let me just sit here and make this comic in peace.........' and even that's hard enough!

I do think about that stuff from time to time, but when I do, it's usually because I'm sad and am trying to think of non-worst-case-scenario explanations. So yeah, not something I enjoy pondering.(edited)

DanitheCarutor

@Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios) Same, even though my comic has gotten more readers than I imagined, it's still niche. Honestly don't know the age range, but I've gotten a range from psychology and medical students, or people with PHDs to normal 9to5ers who've been through similar experiences. (People who live with schizophrenia or clinical depression, or who have been in bad toxic relationships.) It's really interesting too because some of the readers who comment are very open about sharing intimate stuff about their lives without me even asking, which I'm not sure is due to the type of comic it is or because they relate to it? Either way I don't mind, it's kinda nice that someone feels comfortable enough to share that kind of info despite me being a total stranger. That's really interesting with your comic, though! Like, it's cool the types of people your work can attract, maybe your comic is smarter than you think. Lol

@keii4ii Yeah, but I don't want to discourage readers from interacting with my comic just because I'm into that stuff. Even though the work itself is far from safe I want people to feel comfortable enough to leave comments or discuss amongst each other.

keii4ii

Yeah, I think that's the dream for pretty much all of us, cultivating a comment section where everyone feels comfortable and welcome to interact

keii4ii

Getting back to the question, I really don't think I could answer, given the theme of my comic: "your pain matters, even if it doesn't affect the fate of the world/ even if it seems insignificant in the grand scheme of things." I don't have it in me to go against that and say to my characters, hey, guess what! Your pain pales in comparison to [this other character]'s!

Cronaj

That's an interesting thought. I mean, I spoke of what I consider the saddest scene, but really, in regards to the characters, they might not see it that way. That scene makes me cry, (and probably the character(s) directly involved), but the other characters have other sorrows weighing on their hearts, and those sorrows are also powerful in their own way.

[writingmilo]

Talking - Maya and Rowan (OCs)

Okay, so this is a thing involving @honestlyitsjustkenna, @goldenoceanaart, @ashphoenix06, @samariah-keeper and @thelunarmasquerade

also tagging my main @normallyemma so you know it’s me if you couldn’t guess

I had fun with this one, and it’s pretty important for Maya...

“Maya, it’s Rowan. I’m a bit worried, you’ve been gone all day, and it’s getting dark. Please, just send me a text or something when you get this.”

“Maya, it’s me again, I’m really starting to worry now, please just give me ring to let me know you’re okay? Love you.”

“Maya, where the hell are you? It’s nearly two a.m. and you’re not home. I’m out of my mind, just please let me know you’re safe, call me, text me, anything.”

The first three voicemails weren’t too bad, but as Maya clicked through them, a knot of dread began in her stomach. How could she have forgotten to tell Rowan where she was going? She was such a bad sister, Rowan was going to be so angry. They must be out of their mind with worry, especially after mum and dad and everything that had been happening with Anti recently.

Her phone vibrated in her hand, and the screen changed to Rowan’s profile picture. “Shit. What do I tell her?” She looked at Oceana, Willow and Sammie who were stood either side of her. They both shrugged, and Oce looked worried. She knew a little about Rowan, Maya had told her bits since they first met.

“No time like the present kiddo,” Sammie forced a smile at Maya, before walking towards the door. Oce followed, mouthing a good luck and giving her two thumbs up. With no way left to avoid it, Maya’s thumb slid to the right. “Hey, Ro,” even though Rowan couldn’t see her, she still looked sheepishly to the floor.

“Where the hell were you? Where the hell are you? You’ve been gone for over twenty-four hours, I’ve been out of my mind!” Maya heard a faint sob from over the line. “But you’re okay? Are you okay? God you’re not are you, do you need me to come and get you?”

“Ro, calm down, please, you’re gonna hurt yourself. I’m fine, not a scratch on me.” She heard the breathing calm down a little as she grimaced at her scratched-up arms. “I promise you I am fine. I’m staying with a friend tonight, they needed some help with something.”

“Okay, but you could’ve at least let me know you weren’t coming home. I’ve been up all night worried sick.”

“I know, I’m sorry. I was working for too long and I must’ve passed out from exhaustion. I’m sorry, I just got really... involved in what was happening.”

“Okay. Will you want me to come and pick you up later?” Maya had been asked this question before. It wasn’t a question.

“Yeah, later. I’m at Oceana’s house.”

“You know I know you really well, right?”

“Yeah? So?” Brow crumpled, Maya looked at the doorframe where Oce had just appeared.

“So, I know when you’re mad at me.”

“Huh?” She stared at Oce who was mouthing something at her.

“Look, I get it, I was young once too. If you don’t want to go, I’ll come pick you up, take you home where you can pack a bag, get changed and come back. As long as you let me know when you’re coming home after that.” Maya, though still slightly confused as to what had prompted this, was thankful. She didn’t want to leave Kenna, even if she thought she was imposing on the family.

“Okie, thanks Ro, love you.” She hung up the phone and turned to Oce, who was still in the doorway.

“So, how did it go?” She grinned smugly, the first time Maya had seen her smile in any form for a while.

“A: fuck you, B: fuck you, C: —”

“Yeah, I get the picture, fuck you too. Anyways, what did they say?”

“They said they would come pick me up so I can go home and get some stuff and get changed. They said I could come back though after if I wanted. If it’s okay with you and your mum?” Maya feigned nonchalance to hide her hope. She really didn’t want to impose.

“I’ll check, but I would like you to come back.”

“Okay, I’ll text Ro, let her know to come get me.”

“Chill, I’ll check with mum.”

***

“Hey May, can I come in?” After Maya hummed a yes, Rowan’s head appeared around the door, before the rest of them followed. “You nearly ready to go?”

“Yeah, just finishing up.” She walked to her wardrobe and pulled out a yellow button down. “Yes or no?”

“Yes, but wear it tied over a vest or something.” Rowan always gave such good fashion advice.

“Cool, thanks Ro. Blue or black jeans?”

“Black, always black. Otherwise you’ll look like a primary school paint palette.” They smiled and Maya threw the shirt at them.

“Dude, really? Just ‘cos you didn’t get the red hair doesn’t mean you have to bully me about it.”

“I know,” Maya started to close the zip on her bag. “You got pyjamas?”

“Yep, I’m not completely useless you know!”

“Totally, What about toothbrush?”

“Yep.”

“Clean underwear? Spare shirt?”

“Yes and yes. Come on, I’ve got everything I need, I’ll only be half an hour away anyways.”

“I know, deodorant?”

“Ooh, no. Aw fuck, okay you right. I guess.”

“Told you I knew you better than you do.”

“Told you I knew you better than you do myeah myerrm. I’m Rowan and I know everything, myerrm!” Rowan threw a pillow from her bed, hitting her in the stomach. Maya laughed, crumpling over and collapsing onto the floor. Soon Rowan caught the bug, and they were both laughing hysterically.

Once they stopped, they sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes.

“May?”

“Yeah Ro?”

“What’s wrong, you seemed agitated before, and you’re never upset when you’re with Kenna and Oce?”

“Okay, well, you see,” she took a deep breath, she had to tell them, she couldn’t lie, “Kenna was taken by Anti. She made a deal, and we were rescuing her. We only managed to last night.”

“Shit. Well, okay then, do you want to talk about it?” Maya nodded.

“Well, yesterday, when I was in my room all day, I wasn’t doing homework or coursework, I was trying to crack a cipher that Anti set us. He said that if we could crack the cipher we could have Kenna back, but we only had forty-eight hours to do it. Then, I left in such a hurry because I cracked the cipher and I needed to go tell Oce so we could go and find her. I never even thought to leave a note because I was so worried about Kenna. It was pretty late by the time we found her, and it was so hard calming her down and comforting her. Eventually, she started to trust me enough to let me call Marvin to bring us back home, and according to Oce, I passed out pretty much as soon as we landed.”

“And you want to check on her. I’m sorry kiddo, how is she?” Rowan threw an arm round Maya’s shoulders, pulling her close.

“She’s alive. Marvin healed all her physical wounds, but she has pretty bad amnesia, and can’t remember any of us. I managed to get her to drink something last night, and when I spoke to her this morning, she said she ate something and slept a little. But she still looks pale. I’m worried about her, she is so jumpy and she keeps thinking we’re going to hurt her.” Tears were welling in Maya’s eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Kenna was okay, and Anti would never hurt her again.

“Okay. How are you feeling about everything? This must be tough for you too, you’ve known her for years.” Rowan stroked Maya’s hair as they spoke.

“I... I guess I’m scared.” She blinked the tears away, letting them roll silently down her cheeks. “What if she never remembers who we are? I mean, mum never did, did she? She came home, and we thought it was over, but it wasn’t. We thought it would get better, but it never did, and eventually he came, and he killed mum, and when dad tried to fight, he killed him too.

“Anti is so powerful, he plays by his own rules. How can any of us ever be safe again when he knows who we are? When he knows where we are? And now he knows Kenna, so she’ll never be safe again. And what if she wants to go back, what if he stays inside her head forever?”

“I know, kid, I know. You just have to trust Kenna, trust that she is fighting her way out.” Rowan rubbed her shoulder and stood up before extending a hand to Maya.

“Now then, you. Sort your face out and go back to your friends.” They hugged Maya tightly, and left the room.

 ***

“You sure you’ll be alright on your own Ro? You know Marv right, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind you coming over as well.”

“No, no, I’ll be fine, there’s a few shows I fancy binging with song wine and a takeaway. Now go, and be careful when you’re walking.” They planted a kiss on her forehead, before pushing her out the door.”

On the walk to Kenna’s house, Maya was thinking about how powerful Anti was, how little he valued people, how truly evil he was. And all of the grief and hurt and fear from the past week that had been churning around inside her head slowly started solidifying into anger and hatred, which in turn, bred a plan.

[themothership-ideas]

WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH “Sierra Burgess is a Loser”

OH MY JEEBUSSSSSSSSSS - me, for like 75% of the time of the movie in different octaves. 

Alright, here’s the the deal. This movie just came out and I AM LIVING FOR IT! I mean of course, one of the casts is Noah Centineo, who became everyone’s crush since “To All the Boys I Loved Before” came out. BUT THAT IS NOT THE REASON WHY I WATCHED THIS FILM. (of course, I thought of watching it for that sole purpose, but you know, when you’re in a committed relationship, attractive male cast isn’t that motivating anymore y’know what I mean?)

Anyways, first of all, let us talk about that trailer. What really baited me is when the teacher asked her... “What’s your sell? Sierra Burgess is...” 

There’s a lot of things to learn and takeaway from this film. First of all, I really enjoy how modern the concept of the movie is... I mean, it’s all about being a catfish. It’s what you would call, a story within a story. At first, it was about Sierra not having her own niche, what is she exemplary good at, what would make her standout in the best of ways. In a way, it really starts to make you think of yourself... what about me? What is my niche, what am I extremely interested in, what are my strengths, what can I possibly have to offer that no one else can’t provide exactly the way I do it?

But then it mostly revolves on her interactions with the other characters, Jamey and Veronica. And hey, you know what’s funny? It’s how high schools portrayed in movies before and how it is portrayed now is EXACTLY the same: the mean beauty divas (because every movie need it’s own version of mean girls, we are still under the influence of the lovely Tina Fey), the hot sports dude who isn’t one of the jocks, the nerdy protagonist and the best friend that they ignore midway into the movie for the protagonist to go through some changes in personality because of the mean beauty diva queen. 

DO NOT GET ME WRONG I’M NOT TRYING TO SAY THAT FILM MAKERS NEED TO STOP MAKING FILMS IN THIS SORT OF PLOT. What I’m trying to point out is, for more than a decade of film-making, why is this concept still up-to-date? Isn’t it a bit disappointing to see that even after years of generation has passed and lots of trends have already died down and vanished, bullying and high school “hierarchy” is still at the top of the main issues society is facing?

This movie is very encouraging of course, it gives people hope that, maybe I won’t have to go and try to catfish my crush because he will also accept me as who I am, and that maybe they’d be more confident in letting their voices be heard, in a place as simple as home in front of very powerful and strong influences such as their parents. 

It also shows you, that when you make mistakes, good thing happens when you try your best to set it straight. 

And last but definitely not the least, in the end you will find yourself, your niche, and when you do, you have to let everyone see, because its the best way to make yourself shine. 

And that in any given day, someone can pick the sunflower over the rose. 

[thecloserkin]

book review: Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (1985)

Genre: Sci-Fi, YA

Is it the main pairing: Yes

Is it canon: No

Is it explicit: No

Is it endgame: Kind of

Is it shippable: Emphatically yes

Bottom line: must-read, watch the movie if you can

When I say it’s “kind of” endgame I mean there are nine thousand sequels I haven’t read but as of the end of this novel, yes, they’re together. Not canonically together, not romantically together, yet they are far and away the most important relationship in each other’s lives. They’re on their way to board a generation ship & colonize another planet, so that’s “together” enough for me thanks. I think you can love someone romantically without loving them sexually. One of the reasons children’s books are so ripe for those of us wearing incest-shipping goggles is because all the principals are kids and very young kids have not yet had time to grow apart from their siblings — to put down deep roots with college roommates or colleagues or whatever. I think the oldest major character in this book is like twelve.

John Paul and Teresa Wiggin have three extremely precocious children. Peter, the eldest, washed out of the government’s child-soldier-in-training program because he’s a sociopath who likes to hurt and manipulate people and has zero empathy. Valentine, the middle child, washed out because she has too much empathy. John Paul and Teresa got a special dispensation to have a third child and that child is Ender. For the first six years of his life, the most salient fact about Ender Wiggin is that he is a “Third,” a term of abuse and derision we frequently see hurled at him. There are bullies, Peter foremost among them. And the only one who who loves him unconditionally, who tries (usually in vain) to protect him from Peter, is Valentine.

It gave him something to do while the teacher droned on about arithmetic. Arithmetic! Valentine had taught him arithmetic when he was three.

Awwww just two gifted kids doing coursework way too advanced for their grade level. Only there are three kids, not two. Ender’s primal fear is that he will turn out to be “just like Peter” ie. that he too will enjoy hurting people; the person most able to soothe that fear and instill self-love in him is, of course, Valentine. It’s obviously unfortunate for his psychological development then that Ender passes all the tests and is recruited into the officer training program known as Battle School. There’s an impending alien invasion, you see; it’s a national emergency. So six-year-old Ender is separated from the only person he trusts and thrust into an environment designed to mold him into a killer. The military brass aren’t stupid, either. They see it right away:

“The sister is our weak link. He really loves her.” “I know. She can undo it all, right from the start. He won’t want to leave her.”

And this:

”Your brother hates you because you are living proof that he wasn’t good enough. Your parents resent you because of all the past they are trying to evade.”

”Valentine loves me.”

”With all her heart. Completely, unstintingly, she’s devoted to you, and you adore her.”

Once Ender heads off to Battle School—and that place is the emotional core of this story, just like Hogwarts is the center of the HP universe—the grownups make a conscious decision to isolate him from his peers and prevent him forming any intimate friendships: “He can never believe that anyone can help him out, ever.” Guys I get that Ender is a once-in-a-generation child prodigy but doing that to a six-year-old is tantamount to solitary confinement or sensory deprivation. He’s violently homesick — something I didn’t pick up on when I first read the book as a kid because I was so eager to get to the war games in the battleroom — but home is not a place, home is Valentine. The first night “he could hear several boys whimpering for their mothers or fathers or dogs. Then he could not help himself: His lips formed Valentine’s name.” Oh, dear heart.

He forms bonds with other kids, sure — they wouldn’t be grooming him for leadership if he wasn’t likable — but you know how you can be friends with people selectively, and share only very specific areas of your life with them? Yeah, Ender has superiors and later, subordinates; he has mentors and competitors and nemeses and allies but he doesn’t have anyone who understands him through-and-through the way Val does. Which makes his memory of her assume all the more prominence. He worries that by the time they let him see her again (there is a communications blackout so no letters) she will have changed and their relationship won’t be the same. A not unfounded fear, I think, but look at this:

”Hi,” he said.

”Hi,” Ender said.

”I’m Mick.”

”Ender.”

”That’s a name?”

”Since I was little. It’s what my sister called me.”

He prefers to go by the childhood nickname his sister gave him rather than his “real” name Andrew. When Ender finally makes his first friend at Battle School here is how it goes down:

On impulse Ender hugged him, tight, almost as if he were Valentine. He even though of Valentine then and wanted to go home.

It’s just so clear that Val represents all that is good and pure in the world. When he turns seven, all alone in his bunk and no one to celebrate with, he remembers his last birthday at home:

Valentine baked him a cake on his sixth birthday. It fell and it was terrible. Nobody knew how to cook anymore, it was the kind of crazy thing Valentine would do. Everyone teased Valentine about it, but Ender saved a little bit of it in his cupboard.

The only reason I’m here is so that a bugger won’t shoot out Valentine’s eye, won’t … split her head with a beam so hot that her brains burst the skull and spill out like rising bread dough, the way it happens in my worst nightmares.

There’s a scene where another kid rails against the unspoken Battle School norm that prohibits the kids talking about home and Ender starts crying:

”No, it’s all right,” Ender said. “I was just thinking about Valentine. My sister.”

”I wasn’t trying to make you upset.”

”It’s okay. I don’t think of her very much, because I always get—like this.”

He’s learned to suppress his own feelings because it’s too painful to dwell on how much he misses her. Meanwhile back at the ranch, Valentine celebrates Ender’s eighth birthday alone. The family has moved since Ender left for Battle School, and Valentine wonders:

How would Ender find them here, among these trees, under this changeable and heavy sky?

You have to remember that this whole time she’s been stuck with Peter, who’s convinced all the adults with an iota of authority that he’s turned over a new leaf, that he’s no longer the sadistic little boy he used to be. But Valentine knows better. Peter skins squirrels alive in the woods and stakes them down for her to find.

She couldn’t think of anything so terrible that she didn’t believe Peter might do it. She also knew, though, that Peter was not insane, not in the sense that he wasn’t in control of himself … Peter could delay any desire as long as he needed to; he could conceal any emotion. And so Valentine knew that he would never hurt her in a fit of rage. He would only do so if the advantages outweighed the risks … In a way, she actually preferred Peter to other people because of this. He always, always acted out of intelligent self-interest.

This is such a chillingly perceptive paragraph. The main takeaway is that the separation from Ender has been hard on Valentine too, and the hardest part is that she begins to grow ever closer to Peter, the brother she hates and fears, as the memory of her favorite brother fades. Peter hits her up her with a proposition. He wants to take over the world …. by disseminating political essays on the internet, writing under pseudonyms. And he needs Valentine’s help. Valentine agrees, because if she’s working with him she can curb his worst tendencies right? Haha. One day Valentine is summoned from class to meet with a stranger in uniform. “I’ve come to talk to you in confidence about your brother,” he says, and Val immediately assumes she and Peter have been found out, their aliases penetrated. It takes her a minute to realize it’s her other brother he’s come about. Ender’s performance has taken a nosedive, and they won’t let Valentine see him but they want to pick her brain about what might be troubling him. The audacity! She hasn’t been allowed to see him for three years and they want her to diagnose what’s wrong and tell it to them? Please. Moreover, she’s wracked with guilt over her first impulse, which was to protect Peter’s secrets, not to demand to know what was wrong with Ender:

She felt a deep stab of pain, of regret, of shame that now it was Peter she was close to, Peter who was the center of her life. For you, Ender, I light fires on your birthday. For Peter I help fulfill all his dreams.

to think of her little brother, who was so good, whom she had protected for so long, and then remember that now she was Peter’s ally, Peter’s helper, Peter’s slave in a scheme that was completely out of her control.

Valentine’s disloyalty to Ender is tearing the poor girl apart. If there was any sexual attraction involved this would be a super juicy incestuous love triangle but like I said at the beginning of this review, all these kids are prepubescent and introducing the element of sex would not fundamentally alter the interpersonal dynamics. We don’t get a Peter POV in this book but he’s perfectly aware Val’s always loved Ender best, and Peter may be a monster and incapable of love but surely he’s capable of jealousy?

A letter arrives for Ender at Battle School:

He read four lines into it, then skipped to the end and read the signature. Then he went back to the beginning, and curled up on his bed to read the words over and over again.

This is relatable behavior for anyone who has ever received a long-awaited missive from a loved one and just wants to savor it over and over again. Especially if it’s from the person he loves most in the world whom he hasn’t heard a peep from for three years. Ender being Ender, he parses the letter for signs it’s not the genuine article. He concludes:

It isn’t the real thing anyway. Even if she wrote it in her own blood, it isn’t the real thing because they made her write it.

Ain’t that the truth.

He had no control over his own life. They ran everything … The one real thing, the one precious real thing was his memory of Valentine, the person who loved him before he ever played a game … and they had taken her and put her on their side.

”I sold my brother,” Valentine said, “and they paid me for it.”

When Ender suffers another bout of burnout upon graduating, the grownups are smart enough to ship him back to Earth for an unscheduled leave of absence and to bring him Valentine, who is literally the only reason he wakes up in the morning. They spend a beautiful afternoon on a lake. Valentine intuits the purpose of the visit right away:

”Oh. So I’m therapy again.”

”This time we can’t censor your letter. We’re taking our chances. We need your brother badly. Humanity is on the cusp.”

Can we stop to reflect on how fucked up it is that these jackals are STILL taking Ender and Valentine’s bond — the only true and good thing in these kids’ lives — and bending it to their own purposes?

But she knew that he was glad to see her, knew it because of the way his eyes never left her face.

”You’re bigger than I remembered,” she said stupidly.

”You too,” he said. “I also remembered that you were beautiful.”

Recall that we don’t love people because they are beautiful, people are beautiful because we love them. Though the narrative spends exactly zero words dwelling on Valentine’s appearance, as far as Ender is concerned she is obviously the most beautiful, perfect human being to ever draw breath. She goes to squeeze his knee right where he’s always been ticklish—and finds that he’s seized her wrist in a vice grip. He took self-defense classes in Battle School. Ender says, “I didn’t want to see you … I was afraid that I’d still love you.” If this isn’t a line straight out of a romance novel. I’m not here to ding romance novels, of which I read plenty; I’m just stating the facts: Ender and Valentine are framed as the romantic leads of this story. They spend pages upon pages pining for each other, their decisions are driven by the suite of potential consequences for the other, and their long-awaited reunion is staged with all the trappings of big-R Romance:

And he touched her cheek so gently that she wanted to cry. Like the touch of his soft baby hand when he was still an infant.

Also, everyone and their mom ships it. Even Ender’s commanding officer ships it:

”I may have used Valentine,” said Graff, “and you may hate me for it, Ender, but keep this in mind—it only works because what’s between you, that’s real, that’s what matters.”

Ajdkfjddkjkdf give the people what they want. Okay so Ender defeats the aliens (by accidentally-on-purpose committing genocide but that’s beyond the scope of this review) and the war is over. Valentine comes to him and asks him to LEAVE BEHIND EVERYONE THEY KNOW and GO WITH HER AMONG THE STARS:

”I came because I’ve spent my whole life in the company of the brother that I hated. Now I want a chance to know the brother that I love.”

”While you’re governing the colony and I’m writing political philosophy, they’ll never guess that in the darkness of night we sneak into each other’s room and play checkers and have pillow fights.

Let me repeat: Ender and Valentine’s idea of a good time is sneaking into each other’s rooms and having pillow fights. Which is both innocent and potentially—not. It’s a scenario fair to bursting with incest potential, and when he agrees to go with her this is her reaction:

She squealed and hugged him, for all the world like a typical teenage girl who just got the present that she wanted from her little brother.

In my experience teenage girls are notoriously bored by/annoyed by/reluctant to be seen in the company of their little brothers. Not Valentine though, her little brother has always been her favorite person. Their bond is intense enough that I felt obliged to review this book even though it’s def not canon, and even though Orson Scott Card is garbage and a raging homophobe.

[seyaryminamoto]

Yeah why does Zuko treat his sister like that when his entire character and development revolves around him learning compassion and sympathy?

Because that’s what his entire character and development SHOULD revolve around, what most people think they revolve around… but it’s actually not the case.

There are many instances where the show tries to press on that Zuko has become a kind and compassionate man, and those instances are mainly dialogues and quotes. I’ll list several ones that the fandom seems to cry about back and forth, and then we’ll break everything down bit by bit, so I can explain why I think Zuko’s development isn’t about any of these things…

Examples: The Guru

“It’s a new day. We’ve got a new apartment, new furniture, and today’s the grand opening of your new tea shop. Things are looking up, Uncle.”_____________Iroh: “Who thought when we came to this city as refugees, that I’d end up owning my own tea shop? Follow your passion, Zuko, and life will reward you.”Zuko: “Congratulations, Uncle.”Iroh: “I am very thankful.”Zuko: “You deserve it. The Jasmine Dragon will be the best tea shop in the city.”Iroh: “No. I’m thankful because you decided to share this special day with me. It means more than you know.”Zuko: “Now let’s make these people some tea!” Iroh: “Yes, let’s make some tea!”

Day of Black Sun Part 2.

“No, I’ve learned everything! And I’ve had to learn it on my own! Growing up, we were taught that the Fire Nation was the greatest civilization in history. And somehow, the War was our way of sharing our greatness with the rest of the world. What an amazing lie that was. The people of the world are terrified by the Fire Nation. They don’t see our greatness. They hate us! And we deserve it! We’ve created an era of fear in the world. And if we don’t want the world to destroy itself, we need to replace it with an era of peace and kindness.” 

Ember Island Players

Toph: “Geez, everyone’s getting so upset about their characters. Even you seem more down than usual, and that’s saying something!”Zuko: “You don’t get it, it’s different for you. You get a muscly version of yourself, taking down ten bad guys at once, and making sassy remarks.”Toph: “Yeah, that’s pretty great!”Zuko: “But for me, it takes all the mistakes I’ve made in my life, and shoves them back in my face. My uncle, he’s always been on my side, even when things were bad. He was there for me, he taught me so much, and how do I repay him? With a knife in his back. It’s my greatest regret, and I may never get to redeem myself.”Toph: “You have redeemed yourself to your uncle. You don’t realize it, but you already have.”Zuko: “How do you know?”Toph: “Because I once had a long conversation with the guy, and all he would talk about was you.”Zuko: “Really?”Toph: “Yeah, and it was kind of annoying.”Zuko: “Oh, sorry.”Toph: “But it was also very sweet. All your uncle wanted was for you to find your own path, and see the light. Now you’re here with us. He’d be proud.”

Sozin’s Comet: The Old Masters

Zuko: “Uncle, I know you must have mixed feelings about seeing me. But I want you to know, I am so, so, sorry, Uncle. I am so sorry and ashamed of what I did. I don’t know how I can ever make it up to you. But I’ll-… How can you forgive me so easily? I thought you would be furious with me.”Iroh: “I was never angry with you. I was sad because I was afraid you lost your way.”Zuko: “I did lose my way.”Iroh: “But you found it again. And you did it by yourself. And I am so happy you found your way here.”

There’s even a hilarious thing going around in a popular post these days, about his “Father Lord” slip of tongue, interpreting that as Zuko being so aware of the fact that it’s his FATHER who has to be defeated/die… while of course, ignoring the rest of the context. Just the kind of posts I love, as you’ll imagine.

Anyways, with these quotes in mind… what is the main takeaway the general public gets? That Zuko learned kindness! That Zuko learned the Fire Nation was wrong! 

And now I ask… if he learned it all, as apparently he did, where’s the proof of it in his actions? When does Zuko show genuine kindness and empathy towards other characters and people, post-redemption?

First of all, the Guru gives us the creepy Zuko who’s happy and chill after getting out of his emo coma. What bothers me about Zuko in these episodes is that his transformation doesn’t feel genuine to me AT ALL. Zuko made the right decision, he let Appa go, after Iroh encouraged him and told him to do that. But reasonably speaking, did he really understand what Iroh was telling him? Iroh scolds him for not thinking things through, and tells him that it’s time for him to think about what he wants, and who he wants to be, basically. Zuko’s answer to that is letting Appa go, and then fainting, and then coming back to life as a happy boy. Which… eh? He should have changed, no doubt, after this experience… but to this extreme? And this fast?

The reason it feels fake is because you can’t really see him pondering Iroh’s words properly. He had a bunch of nightmares and even then we have no idea if he learned anything from them. If there was any reflection on his part over what he was experiencing. Where he SHOULD HAVE asked Iroh for advice, where he should have taken his seat and sipped his tea while asking Iroh about his own experiences, hoping to unravel what his own path should be… Zuko just got happy. That’s that. That’s how he learned kindness and empathy and sympathy and all that. So he becomes a very supportive nephew, but Iroh doesn’t really understand where that came from, and from the looks of it, neither does Zuko because as soon as the stakes are high again, what did he do? Pick his old life over the new. And that, again, reinforces my interpretation that his “change” was him trying to behave the way Iroh would approve of, rather than him actually trying to understand ANYTHING from Iroh’s words in lake Laogai. Rather than him learning a single thing about kindness and peace and good will towards men.

Second, DOBS Part 2. Zuko gives Ozai a funny speech about how they’ve been indoctrinated in the Fire Nation to believe they’re great and spreading greatness through the war. What an amazing lie it was, he says. A lie he believed in and fought for, directly, during at least 3 years. Yet also a lie he set aside for his own benefit, whenever he so wished (see the Blue Spirit, for instance). A lie he apparently stopped believing in when Azula shows up to drag him home as a prisoner. He cuts his hair and discards his ties to his nation…

… And yet still tries to fight Aang in the Chase. Because he’s got to get the Avatar, despite he knows the Fire Nation has listed him as a wanted criminal.

And he still tries to use Appa to bring Aang to him in Lake Laogai, because this way he’s going to get the Avatar for real and still go back to the horrible nation that issued out a wanted poster for him.

When you look back, all the way to episode 3?

“If my father thinks the rest of the world will follow him willingly, then he is a fool!”

Point and case being: Zuko, for one thing, wasn’t as blind to Ozai’s war at every point in the show as most people would have you believe. If he was aware of how Ozai wasn’t going to get the world to follow him, to the point of calling his terrifying father A FOOL??? Then clearly Zuko didn’t buy into the propaganda entirely. His actions during the war are NOT for the Fire Nation’s sake, or for his father’s sake, but for the sake of going home already and putting an end to his banishment once and for all. Nothing in the entire show has ever lead me to think otherwise, and I know for a fact that I’m not the only person who sees it this way. So Zuko didn’t really care about the lies and the greatness: it was NEVER what guided his actions, because what he truly wanted was to stop being banished.

So, now that the whole lie thing is out of the way, he tells Ozai that the rest of the world hates them! And yes, they do! He sees that for himself in Zuko Alone… you know, that episode that comes after he’s been out there, stealing from Earth Kingdom people, OUT OF A SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT. So sorry, I will always bring this up because Zuko NEVER owned up to this and I have no reason to believe he even regretted it. So… ugh. Anyways, point being that Zuko is telling Ozai all about how the Fire Nation deserve the Earth Kingdom’s hatred… which of course, Ozai knows. He’s not THAT stupid, he just doesn’t give a crap about being despised xD But the thing is… Zuko talks about this like he’s seen the world, like he’s watched how Fire Nation people treat Earth Kingdom people horribly, like he’s learned how messed up his own people can be. 

But…  when did we see Zuko standing up to Fire Nation people who were oppressing Earth Kingdom ones?

The answer is a grand total of zero times. Zuko stands up to a group of Earth Kingdom bullies who are harassing other Earth Kingdom people, and then after revealing who he is, he discovers they hate him even more than they hate the bullies. Zuko also helps Jet steal food on their ferry ride to Ba Sing Se, but who’s he stealing it from? Earth Kingdom people who are oppressing Earth Kingdom people. Zuko didn’t actually see how the Earth Kingdom people hated the Fire Nation, he saw how the Earth Kingdom people hated HIM, all through Books 1 and 2. 

Now, why did Zuko help the people he helped? The bullies bothering Lee’s town had bothered Zuko too, the people hoarding food bothered him as well because he was eating crap while the good stuff was kept elsewhere. Zuko NEVER acted the way Aang did, spontaneously deciding to help the oppressed and downtrodden who needed help out of the good will of his heart. Nope, Zuko worked with others when it was convenient, most of all. Lee only gets Zuko to stay after the bully soldiers steal Zuko’s food, convincing him when he offers to feed Zuko’s ostrich horse at his house. Without that offer, Zuko would have just left and done nothing for these people.

In short, Zuko apparently learned that the Fire Nation is despised… when, as I said, going by his experiences, the one he should have learned was despised was HIM. He’s holding the Fire Nation as a whole responsible for his actions, for his wrongdoings, for everything bad he ever did in the Earth Kingdom. I repeat, the only time Zuko saw Earth Kingdom vs. Fire Nation in the flesh was when it was Earth Kingdom people mad at him for whatever he was doing, be it setting their villages on fire, stealing their food or treating them like lesser than him. The only exception I can think of is when the Earth Kingdom soldiers captured Iroh, and what happened there? Zuko and Iroh fought them, didn’t even reflect on how rightful or not these people were to pick a fight with them, and moved on. That simple.

We never get to see Zuko reflecting on how the Fire Nation has harmed these people so badly. We don’t get him reflecting on his own faults and mistakes often, but he certainly never seems to give much thought to how messed up things are and how the Fire Nation has no right to destroy everyone else. His showdown with Ozai, so very awaited by so many people? It, again, feels forced and hard to believe. It comes after we’ve seen Zuko talking to Mai about how he was his father’s perfect son but then he wasn’t HIM… and aside from that? What else did we have throughout the first half of season 3 to show us why Zuko is seeing the world differently than how he saw it before? He heard a story about his ancestors and was told he had good and bad inside him? Well, gee, that didn’t stop him from displaying his entitled side again by boasting to Mai that he can make anything she wants happen because he’s a prince, only a couple of episodes later. It didn’t stop him from wanting to be part of a war meeting desperately, with the attitude of a tantrum-throwing child.

There are SO MANY CHANCES the third season could have taken to portray a Zuko who ponders things, who pays attention to the world around him and realizes that he’s part of the Fire Nation, that he wants to respect everyone different from him too, that he doesn’t care about nation division but about doing what’s right by the world. Instead, he’s out there sending murderous cyborgs to kill the Avatar, he’s yelling at his imprisoned uncle, he goes to the beach and just picks fights both with his friends and with complete strangers, and throws more temper tantrums than anyone ever should.

And that brings up the really essential question: where, in all three seasons, did Zuko learn that peace and kindness were the answer? He says as much to Ozai, no doubt. But HOW is this his conclusion? Why would Zuko think that everyone should be kind and get along when the first person who always jumps into violence/conflict mode is him?

His field trips do nothing to prove he actually changed in this way, if you think about it:

Aang’s field trip: Zuko is aggressive and angry over losing his bending. He’s not very kind and peaceful about it, as far as I can remember. When they reach the Sun Warriors’ place, he’s clever for 10 seconds and stupid right after again, and when told that they have to be deemed worthy by Ran and Shaw? His immediate response to Aang’s doubts and uncertainties is “Well, we’re the Fire Prince and the Avatar. I think we could take these guys in a fight, whoever they are”. Again, responding with violence to a situation that he didn’t even know understand fully. What’s Zuko’s instinctive response to everything? Violence!

Sokka’s field trip: Zuko may know a thing or two about political prisoners, who knows, I certainly don’t know because the show never touched this subject. Tyrants like Ozai can and will imprison people who don’t deserve to be in jail… but as far as we saw? That might not have been the case in the Boiling Rock. We learn no stories of any of the people in this prison. We don’t have any clue about who they are. We don’t know if they deserve to be in there or not. But Zuko not only agrees to help Sokka break out his dad and girlfriend… he also agrees to helping Chit Sang, a complete stranger, who may just be hella dangerous for all they know (the wikia claims he’s been accused for murder and he says it’s not true: if he’s lying that means Zuko helped release a murderer from prison!). While the Boiling Rock is Zuko’s best field trip by far, it still makes you wonder if he gives his actions proper thought. Does he really want to release Fire Nation prisoners without knowing who they are or what they did to end up in there? How does this count as “peace” and “kindness”? Granted, the kind part is letting the guy go, sure, and what about the part where, if he were a murderer indeed, he might just go out there and kill again? How is that still kind, still peaceful?

Katara’s field trip: I barely even need to talk about this because Zuko absolutely condones Katara killing Fire Nation soldiers, who are/were acting UNDER ORDERS OF THEIR SUPERIORS, all because he wants to be her friend. Zuko, Mr. I’m-going-to-be-the-Fire-Lord-of-peace-and-kindness, standing by and even encouraging a girl who’s mad with grief and who wants revenge for her mother’s death, regardless of the cost. Again… is this Zuko’s peaceful doctrine? What sort of kindness do these actions reflect? When Aang says they shouldn’t do this, Zuko SCOFFS, he MOCKS him… and yet six episodes ago he was rambling about peace and kindness to his father, who of course, LAUGHED IN HIS FACE THE SAME WAY ZUKO WAS LAUGHING IN AANG’S FACE NOW…?

My point… Zuko learned some very pretty words that he can’t seem to put into actions. Heck, who knows if he even understands their meaning. But maybe what he meant was that everyone else should be kind and everyone else should be peaceful, and only when they all are nice and peaceful will he become nice and peaceful too. Maybe.

Carrying on after his speech to Ozai, though: as usual, his conversation with Toph only strengthens my belief that his development was about becoming exactly what Iroh wanted him to be rather than growing on his own and genuinely learning to better himself for his own sake. He says that the play rubs his worst mistakes in his face: what did the play show him doing? Yelling at Iroh, sending Iroh away, and I suppose having a weird affair with Katara (is this somehow implying that having a moment with Katara was one of his worst mistakes? Well, okay then, Zuko… x’D)? I can’t remember the play portraying anything else. Oh, well, growing out his hair. I guess he didn’t like his hair much either. Ah, and breaking Aang out of prison, I’m guessing he’s really sorry for that now, for… some reason?

Point is… the play didn’t show a Zuko who was hurting strangers, the way he often did in Book 1. It didn’t show a Zuko who was treating Earth Kingdom people like they owed him stuff just because he was Fire Nation royal, as he did in Book 2. We were shown a Zuko who, above all else, was mean to Iroh: THAT is his biggest mistake. Or so he believes. His remorse, his guilt? It’s all about Iroh. And that he’s acting the way Iroh expects of him is what makes him a worthwhile person now, basically. Instead of Zuko questioning what deserves to be questioned, we get a Zuko who adopts Iroh’s beliefs blindly, and who doesn’t even act on them entirely. He just tries to talk the way Iroh would, but as I said above? His answer to every problem is STILL violence. He STILL doesn’t think things through, he may have set a murderer loose in the Fire Nation on his trip to get out of prison, he thinks murder is fine and dandy in general… but because he will recite Iroh’s creed he’s somehow all good now?

And when Iroh takes him back, everyone’s happy, everyone’s moved, that’s what he deserves! Well, no doubt Iroh was going to accept him as he did, why wouldn’t he? Zuko modeled himself after his uncle, entirely. He wants to be Iroh 2.0, and he’ll do whatever he has to do to earn his approval. 

But being Iroh 2.0 doesn’t mean having mercy for everyone, it doesn’t mean believing in peace and kindness as the answers to every ordeal. No, it means stopping the war, at any cost, and by doing whatever needs to be done. And that would be fine, but it also means that BOTH Iroh and Zuko don’t care, ultimately, if their other relatives live or die. Iroh never suggested Aang could find another way to defeat Ozai other than killing him, meaning he probably didn’t think there was another one and, meaning, he didn’t care that his brother had to die. He must have seen it as a necessity. Likewise, Zuko sees his sister unhinged and broken, and his reaction is simply to take advantage of her loss of sanity, and after her defeat, to stand by watching her writhing on the ground. Iroh has already told him Azula needs to go down, and that he shouldn’t get along with her. So he doesn’t even try. He doesn’t really need to freak out about whatever his sister’s future will be, because as long as she’s not standing between himself and the throne, he can easily just discard her.

I brought up that I found that “Father Lord” interpretation ridiculous to no end, but I’ll expand on why now: Zuko isn’t “painfully aware” of the fact that it’s his father who has to die. He’s not shown hesitating, instead, he’s shown hoping Aang can get it done, basically. Zuko isn’t particularly worried about Ozai’s fate, and it shows not only an episode before, where he’s actively scolding Aang for trying to find a solution other than murder. And it shows, again, in the finale when he confronts Ozai in his prison cell by telling him: 

“You should count yourself lucky that the Avatar spared your life.”

Does this SERIOUSLY sound to anyone like a guy who was conflicted and sad that his father had to die? I can’t see it. I really can’t. If he was worried about Ozai, if he felt bad about his potential death? That feeling was buried SO DEEP that Zuko wasn’t even conscious of it. And as a reminder.. he has accepted Iroh as his actual father. He outright tells Ozai that Iroh is the one who was a real father to him. So… I don’t know if he’s really that conflicted about Ozai dying. Not when the person who’s most eager in the show to get Aang to kill Ozai is Zuko.

… Anyways.

In short, Zuko’s story was not about kindness, despite what the show would want everyone to believe. Zuko has ALWAYS suffered from a severe disconnection between his actions and his words. It’s something many people have criticized about his character before, and this ask really just ended up turning into a criticism about that, too. Zuko can talk about goodness and honor and kindness and peace all he wants, but when he stands watching his broken sister, with a look on his face that suggests Katara is more affected by Azula’s broken display than he is? You get the feeling he’s really just all talk. That a guy who preaches peace and then goes out to help his new best friend on her vengeful killer spree actually doesn’t care about peace or kindness unless it’s convenient to bring it up. Sure, he poured tea for people once in a while. Sure, he has taken up Iroh’s example and he may become an even better person in the future.

But the Zuko we saw in the show? He’s not changed nearly as much as people want to think he has. His redemption was supposed to be about how he learned better, how he became a good person, and how he’s the ideal Fire Lord for a Fire Nation headed for peace: do excuse me for questioning that, considering that the comics got their start with a trilogy where Zuko was charging against the Earth Kingdom all over again, as if his speech to Ozai had been hollow because here we are again, Fire Nation vs. Earth Kingdom. Who learned anything from the 100 Year War? Not Zuko!

All talk about Zuko’s kindness and good heart isn’t completely unfounded, but the show never developed his best traits the way it was supposed to. And the thousands of times where he shows no kindness, no mercy, where he chooses violence over peace, speak much louder than the handful of times where he decided to do the right thing, for a change. Especially when the merciless, violent stuff happens after he’s supposed to be all redeemed. Zuko’s growth was nowhere near as brilliantly executed as so many people would like to believe. Switching sides while barely changing your behavior and responses to situations is merely switching sides. It’s not a full-blown redemption, let alone is it one based on how compassionate and nice he’s become.

[aidan-sullivan]

Social Media Ethics

There are many social media ethics. One that I always see happening is people being completely honest with each other in the comments. This is something that a lot more people do online considering they are sitting behind a screen. Two current cases related to social media ethics are respecting others' privacy and being considerate of others. These two examples are something I actually see a lot of people violate. There are people who will post whatever they want with no second thoughts. You should always be sure what you are putting out on social media is appropriate. Inappropriate posts can lead to problems with your workplace, future jobs and more. I would love to join “Grailed” as their social media staff. Their code of ethics is basically zero-tolerance for bullying, racism, harassment, and hate speech. They also have a zero-tolerance policy towards selling fake or replica items. 

The first brand that comes to mind that has strong social media ethics is actually Coca-Cola. For example this month of July, Coca-Cola is pausing all paid and organic posts across all of their social media platforms globally. They are doing this for at least 30 day and it started on July 1. The reason for this is because they are boycotting. The Coca-Cola Chairman/CEO James Quincey said the following “The Coca-Cola Company will pause paid advertising on all social media platforms globally for at least 30 days. We will take this time to reassess our advertising policies to determine whether revisions are needed. We also expect greater accountability and transparency from our social media partners”. There is a professional on social media that is very good with ethical behavior. There is someone named Joey Swoll and I see him on TikTok all the time. His posts consist of reacting to other peoples videos that they had taken. The videos he reacts to are ones where people are making fun of others in the gym environment and shaming them. Joey Swoll shuts that down and makes sure they know what they did is wrong by posting his reaction to it. Joey Swoll is a bodybuilder and fitness model so he doesn’t appreciate seeing others being made fun of in a gym environment. Some takeaways I can bring upon myself is to just have respect for others and don’t judge someone if you don’t know them and their story.

The main concepts that I believe are necessary to add here for my own personal conduct online are kindness, respectfulness, self awareness, and carefulness. These traits are something I believe are very important when online and being across various social media platforms. I’ve always believed in being nice to people and if you have something mean to say then you should probably just keep that to yourself. You also always need to be cautious and careful of your actions that you take when online. You never know what can come back around to bite you in the future.

Concepts that I try to avoid on social media are things such as giving out confidential information, being friends with the wrong crowd, lying, and share baiting. Never give out vital information that can put you in harm's way or affect you in any way. You never want to be friends with someone who you shouldn’t be. For example, someone who is posting explicit things on social media, saying crazy things, and making threats. You wouldn’t want to be linked to that or dragged through any drama that would come with that or have a bad impact on your future.

Concepts that I will follow as a practicing social media professional are…

Truthfulness

Giving proper credit 

Respectfulness

Being considerate of others 

Authenticy 

Transparency

Knowing how to interact with certain audiences

Listening to feedback 

Giving positive feedback

Kindness

Sources:

[evakuality]

(1/3) Hey again, thanks for your detailed reply. I agree with everything u say. I want to clarify to the other anon I never meant nora has to be completely healthy to have romantic relationship (it may never happen). My main point was about the lack of communication and josh’s unhealthy dependence. It’s interesting u mentioned the scene in josh’s room. It rubbed me either.

(2/3) We have to understand nora’s disinterest and the absence of focus there as the influence of her MI but the truth is we never saw her interest in him as a person: what he likes, what he wants etc. ‘Cause again, they never talked properly. And I absolutely agree one of the problems is pacing. The writers decided to hide josh as LI from us AND nora for 3 eps!! It’s almost 1/3 of the season. So ofc they have no time to properly develop this relationship.

(3/3) But nora/josh could have been cute and unproblematic teen relationship. But then the writers decided to add this unhealthy "romantic" line. And I wanna mention that now josh’s instagram is only about nora. Yara, his other friends and even his parkour suddenly disappear at all. So I’m absolutely sure that he can’t work on his issues while being in relationship with nora.

Thanks for this, anon!  I think the biggest takeaway from this whole business is that we all have different things that resonate with us and different levels where we draw the line.  For me, the pacing and the lack of development of this relationship, along with Josh’s unresolved issues, is a problem in terms of me enjoying this pairing.  Does that make it objectively bad?  No, of course not.  There’s a lot to love about it, and the actors do work very well together.  So done in a different way I’d probably love it more than I do.  I don’t dislike it, either.  There’s a lot I really like about it.  I just don’t feel really connected to them.  Which, as the other anon mentioned, is fair enough.  The romance isn’t the main focus of the season and nor should it be.  

The thing is we all have those lines, those things that stop us from connecting to something (or allow us to truly connect).  For example, I’m not watching Fatou’s season live because I need to see if they address the bullying story properly before I let myself engage with this relationship.  For other people that’s not a deal breaker, for me with my job and what I deal with on a daily basis it absolutely is.  I don’t think anyone who’s enjoying the season and love the pairing is doing or feeling anything wrong, but I can’t join them just yet.  So I feel you, anon.  

[the-lone-witch-and-secret-room]

I’m not an only child, I actually have a younger brother! But while we definitely annoy the hell out of each other sometimes, I’d never do any of the things to him the twins did to Amity.

And no, the diary thing isn’t normal under any circumstances. I have a number of posts about the Blight kids and their behaviors, but the main takeaway from this specific incident, to put it short, is that the twins learned from their parents that if others don’t act the way you want them to, you make them understand that their behavior is wrong—note that they word it “Amity needs this” over “Amity deserves this”. They were actively trying to teach her a lesson thinking they were doing the right thing for her, which makes this specific thing infinitely more fucked up than them doing stuff to get a rise out of their sister.

Also the key difference here is that their original intention was to befriend Luz because they knew it would get to Amity. That they actually ended up kinda liking Luz in the process (which is why they invited her along) is not the point.

Even that could technically be read as them still trying to get to Amity, because it’s right after Amity called Luz a bully. Asking the kid that your little sister considers her bully to hang out with you is never not fucked up.

The twins are also not just entitled rich kids. To an extent, sure. But all of the Blight children are growing up in an emotionally abusive household that teaches them certain toxic behaviors, and that’s important to consider when talking about them and the ways they hurt each other. Amity isn’t the only sibling her parents treat shitty, and I feel like a lot of people overlook that part.

Sometimes I think about how the twins approached Luz in LIL after hearing how she embarrassed Amity in school and at the Covention, and after seeing how annoyed Amity was at Luz being in the library.

I didn’t think too hard about this when I first watched the episode, but they didn’t do this because they were actually interested in getting to know Luz. They did it because they knew exactly how much it would get to Amity.

…god those kids all need so much therapy.

[samtheflamingomain]

welcome to death note, where the plot makes no sense and the rules don’t matter

Unless you've been living under a rock the past few months, you're aware that there's a live-action American Death Note movie on Netflix.

I wasn't going to watch it because I knew it would be bad and I am a MASSIVE DN fan. I didn't want it to ruin one of my favourite things.

While I wouldn't say it did that, I will say that it was, without exaggeration, the worst screen adaptation of anything I've ever seen.

I went in with low expectations and knowing they'd have to change the plot around to fit into 90 minutes. The bar was so low and yet they managed to disappoint me at every turn.

So let's get into the details. Spoilers ahead, but who cares this movie is garbage.

I'll break it down into several aspects: acting and characterization, pacing and plot, visuals and sound, and finally, the sheer amount of nonsense and bullshit this film vomited into my face.

Okay. I hated every single character's personality. NONE of the characters were even remotely similar to the characters in the manga/anime. Light is a stupid, naive teenager who thinks with his dick. Mi(s)a is a sociopathic, manipulative cunt, Light's father is EXTREMELY stupid, Ryuk is not a neutral character (which is extremely important), and, finally, L. Oh, lord, L.

L is a cold, detached, calculating super genius detective. In the original. In the movie, he's a ballsy, irrational, emotional mess who somehow knows how to drive and wield a gun - unthinkable of OG L.

And to touch briefly on the acting: Nat Wolff is the only one I really have a problem with. He wears a constant look of confusion the whole movie and acts like a troubled child, not like a fucking serial killer.

Now, to your immense surprise, there is one character that I found was nearly spot-on: Watari.

And finally, the movie lacked in sheer number of characters. The ones I listed are, quite literally, the only ones in the film who speak. I get it, they didn't have time to do the Near, Mello, Takada, or Mikami plots. But I guarentee this movie would've greatly benefited from a Matsuda character, a Rem character, and Light's mother and sister.

Onto pacing and plot.

Again, I know they only had 90 minutes, but within the first ten minutes, Light has the notebook and hooks up with someone he barely knows (Mia), shows her the notebook, and they’re instantly dating and having some creepy murder sex. Within the first 30 minutes, nearly everyone knows Light is Kira.

Now to the main problems with the plot itself: there is no reason to give Light more motive to become a killer. It's his personality and his worldly outlook that causes him to take up killing. In the movie, they sloppily throw in some bullshit about his mom being killed, but they don't make that the actual motivation for killing. How do we know this? Well...

In the movie, his first kill is a bully at school (something OG Light was smart enough to realize is fucking stupid) and when told to add a cause of death, he immediately jumps to "decapitation" - revealing instantly that he's a sick fuck. Sure, bullies suck, but do they deserve to be fucking decapitated? Light Yagami only killed actual criminals (until he has to kill people investigating him).

This might seem petty, but it's actually super important: Ryuk shows up before Light kills anyone. In the original, Light needed no prodding from a Death God to begin his murder spree. In the movie, it's Ryuk that goads him into his quest. This goes back to the fact that Ryuk is supposed to be neutral. It takes away Light's agency and makes it feel like Ryuk is controlling him.

L makes WAY too many guesses with little logic or evidence. It takes a lot longer for L to deduce Light is Kira in the original. Movie L makes some very uncharacteristic leaps of logic just for the sake of driving the movie on.

There's a scene pretty early on that mimics a similar scene in the original with Light and L sitting in a diner together. In the original, it’s not super important. Movie version involved L outright accusing him of being Kira on flimsy-at-best evidence, and then, in what might be the worst event in the movie, Light readily admits to being Kira and taunts him about not knowing how he kills.

After some bullshit about Light mind-controlling Watari (more on that later) to try and get L's name and Watari dies, L goes on a destructive car/foot chase with Light. In the original, it's important for L to figure out how Kira kills before killing him. This movie L doesn't seem to care about anything but revenge and being proven right.

I keep saying this, but another horribly-written thing happens that might be the worst part: L has Light cornered with a gun on him and someone randomly comes and knocks L over the back of the head, the very epitome of a Deus Ex Machina.

Then we get to the climax, which is an extremely long scene where Light and Mia hijack the Seattle ferris wheel, take it to the top and fight over who should own the book. They've both written each others' names down and the pages need to be burned by midnight if they want to live (groan, unnecessary race-against-time). They spend a good 5 minutes dangling from the wheel when RYUK causes it to collapse; something OG Ryuk would have NEVER EVER DONE, because, as the movie fails to explain, Ryuk’s motivation is supposed to be boredom. I’ll touch more on why this happens in a bit. Mia falls to her death, Light falls into the water, into a coma, and wakes up two days later.

Okay, now I do have to give the movie a bit of credit here: it seems at first like a bunch of ridiculous coincidences that lead to Light outliving Mia. Turns out he saw all this coming (somehow) and had quickly used the book to ensure that: the wheel collapses, Mia falls from the wheel and dies, the page with his name is burned so he will live, that he's rescued from the water after his fall, that he's in a coma but murders continue via a random criminal writing in the book before delivering it back to Light just as he wakes from the coma. I'll pick this part apart in a minute because there is just so much wrong with this sequence of events that I can’t even.

And finally, the ending, if you can call it that. The writers were VERY clearly trying to be clever and leave us with a cliffhanger.

L is "proven wrong" about Light being Kira because the murders continued while he was in a coma, and is supposed to go back to Japan, before he suddenly remembers that Mia has a page of the book at her house. He gets there and finds the page she used to kill invesigators behind Light's back. The movie ends with L, shaking in uncharacteristic anger, about to write Light's name. Fade to black.

Finally, one last thought on the plot before I touch on other elements: this is a terrible adaptation, but an even worse movie. As a stand-alone movie, viewers new to Death Note would no doubtedly leave feeling confused and like nothing important was said in the movie. It does nothing to touch on the ambiguity of Kira's actions vs. L's. It has no underlying takeaway besides "Hey look at this cool book!"

Okay, quick thoughts on visuals and sound. Visuals are great (minus whatever bullshit paper mache project that is Ryuk). They dont' shy away from gruesome depictions of murders. I'd cite the incredible series of events that lead to Kenny being decapitated as the best example.

Hated the audio. Random songs start playing where score would've been better.

Okay, now onto the nitty-gritty details that make this movie absolutely fall apart.

Most of them are to do with the mechanics of how the Death Note is supposed to work. The original only has one page of rules and no names in it yet. Movie Book has pages and pages of rules and names filled in. There are rules that don't exist in the original (like the burning of the page to save the life of the victim, the fact that Mia can't see Ryuk after touching the note*, and most deplorably, the rule about "must be physically possible" being shattered into pieces at every turn.

*When Light first shows Mia the book and has her touch it, he assumes she’ll be able to see Ryuk WITH NO REASON TO BELIEVE THIS. In the original, Ryuk has to tell Light about this rule. In the movie, Light GUESSES that that’s how it works. And he’s wrong: unlike the original where Mia would’ve seen Ryuk, Ryuk claims in the movie that only the owner of the book can see him - super convenient for Light, who walks around school with the book in full view.

But there's a lot of other bullshit that ruins this monstrosity. There's a turning point in the movie where Mia tries to convince Light to kill his own father. The prompting event doesn't happen in the original, but I have no doubt that OG Light would've killed him without hesitation, as he outright says in the original. Because OG Light would be smart enough to know that leaving his father alive in that situation would immediately implicate him.

Here's one of the worst offenses (again, I know): Light writes the name "Watari" in the book. And it works. Watari is not his real name, and even if it were, who only has one name?

L does the whole "taunting Kira to kill him on TV" as in the original, but this event leads him to the conclusion that Light needs a name and a face - something that makes absolutely no sense for him to instantly know after one test.

Now, about the ending sequence at the ferris wheel and the hospital. The police are chasing Light and Mia, the two threaten the wheel's operator with a gun to take them up. And then he's later "officially" exonerated because the murders continued while he was in a coma, but because Light killed his mother's killer, his father "knows” he's Kira, which, of course, Light admits. If he's "officially" not Kira, why did he run from the cops and hijack a ferris wheel? L knows the power of killing can be transferred to another, yet doesn't explain this fact to anyone when the killings continue during Light’s coma.

And the biggest shitshow of nonsense? The way Light kills Mia and ensures he lives and ends up with the book again. Waaay too much of it is contingent on luck, along with some great rule-breaking.

Light writes: Mia takes the book, the wheel collapses, she falls to her demise, and the page with his name on it is burned. That's not how it works. There cannot be a passive action in a Death Note murder. He would've had to write: Mia takes the book, burns Light's page, then falls to her demise.

He also writes that he himself falls but goes into a coma, set to wake up in two days. Also impossible. You can't create a sequence of events that affect someone other than the murder victim. And you especially can’t use it to (directly) save someone’s life.

Essentially, Light is writing things he'd like to happen in the book. It's a Death Note, not a Life Note, and certainly not a Wish Note.

He also writes that criminal number one retrieves him from the water and revives him. The criminal would have to know there's a kid in the water, where he is, and how to revive him. Possible, but not foolproof because of the "physically possible" rule. If dude didn't know CPR, Light would've died.

Then, he has criminal number two retrieve the Death Note and continue writing names in the book for the two days he's in the coma, and then return it to him in the hospital. This is less about "physically possible" and more about somehow being able to brainwash him. The events leading up to his death have to be something he could conceiveably do on his own. See also: the brainwashing of Watari.

Let me explain a bit more: in the original, Light experiments with the "physically possible" rule. In one test he writes: (criminal) draws a perfect likeness of L's face on his prison wall before dying. This isn't physically possible because the criminal doesn't know what L looks like, so it's inconcievable that he could, under any circumstance, draw L's face.

Similarly, there's no way that Watari would think of going back to the orphanage to get L's real name, nor is there a conceivable way that a criminal would think to go to Light's specific hospital room and leave him the book. It has to be something they could potentially think of themselves.

Now, I know these are a lot of extremely fine details, but to people who know how the book is supposed to work, it all looks messy and contrived.

Finally, let me leave you with one last gripe/thought. Death Note is an IP originating from Japan. I get that it's a purposely American adaptation meant for American audiences, but something in the movie happens that kind of pissed me off:

Light chooses the name Kira (instead of his fans choosing the name) largely because it means "killer" in Japan, then decides to try and throw people off his scent by focusing his murders in Japan. I have no doubt that this was meant to be a nod to its Japanese origins, but it comes off as... kind of like kicking the original when it's already down. You're taking a Japanese IP, taking it to America, then using Japan as a scapegoat for American Light. Maybe it's just me, but it really made me think, "Haven't they suffered enough just by the fact that this movie exists?"

I'm sure there's a bunch of stuff I've missed due to repressing the memory of ever seeing this terrible movie, but those are my major (and minor) problems with it.

Don't see it. It's bad.

And DEAR GOD, PLEASE DON'T MAKE A SEQUEL.

Stay Greater.

[ashleyspinelliburnbook]

S1E5: King Gus/Big Brother Chad

Before starting this post, I wrote a light analysis of the opening sequence, and in it, I realized that probably most of my previously-held beliefs about Gus’ character come from that alone. He gets gum all over himself and falls into the ball bin, which is on wheels, so it goes flying. Which is just...so not his character at all, it turns out. I mean, he might not be all Army macho like his dad, but he’s not a dweeb, either.

Anyway, this first episode just serves to further prove me wrong, and I’m cool with that.

King Gus

You know how the first season of a network TV show usually sucks? Like, it gets by on what it can get by on — famous actors, okay writing, a fun premise, or...famous actors — but if the show gets picked up for more seasons, it becomes the season where you’ll be selling it to your friends as, “If you must watch the first season, take it with a grain of salt”?

Animated kids’ shows are not! like! that! Some of the things that this show has already gotten into are, like, season three minimum for a network adult show. You know, let the characters live their daily lives for a bit, then start throwing wrenches. But already, we’ve had “what if two characters kissed,” “what if one of the main characters joined the Ashleys,” “what if Miss Finster had a boyfriend,” and now we’re getting “what if one member of the gang became king?”

That’s right — Gus, meek, dweeby Gus, is king of the playground. Temporarily. Until King Bob returns from his tonsillectomy.

How? Well, King Bob doesn’t want someone stronger than him, or smarter than him — someone who the people might like more than him. He wants a regular guy, someone who’ll do what he’s told, who can think for himself. And, as luck would have it, there’s our boy Gus getting gum all over himself (literally, as it turns out) — right place, right time.

TJ and Spinelli are stoked that their friend is king, and they start brainstorming all the ways that they’ll finally have a say in the goings-on of the playground now (Spinelli, for example, expresses an interest in becoming “Lord Emperor of the West Playground”). Gus is less excited, likely because he didn’t ask for this, but TJ assures him they’ll be around to give him advice along the way. In the meantime, he’s just gotta be “kingy,” TJ says.

(Side note: Without all his stuff on, King Bob kinda looks like a turn-of-the-century football player. Tell me I’m wrong.)

So anyway, Gus is sworn in, and he’s immediately taken by the idea of all the snacks he can eat. King Bob’s henchmen bring him crackers and his preferred brand (and vintage!) of apple juice, more snack food, a glow-in-the-dark yo-yo, and...cookies. We’ll get to the cookies in a bit.

Meanwhile, things on the greater playground aren’t going so well. TJ and the gang want to go up to visit Gus, but they learn there’s increased bureaucratic nonsense they have to endure first — namely, a ton of paperwork that may or may not ever go through. (You know the Brooklyn Nine-Nine episode where Amy is trying to submit paperwork for a block party request, and she does it all correctly, but she still somehow doesn’t have the right forms? It’s like that.)

Gus is then tasked with his first royal judgment: deciding which of two girls gets to keep a doll they’re fighting over. In true King Solomon style, he suggests cutting the doll in half. When one girl is fine with this and the other is visibly upset, Gus...gives it to the girl who’s fine with this. Oops.

“It’s the second-best decision you could have made!” his henchman says, and we continue.

Angered by not having the proper kind of cookies he desires, Gus imposes a cookie tax on the playground: every day, each student must bring him two cookies. He’s tasking the third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders with building a cookie mine in the meantime (as well as renaming kickball “Gusball” and mandating that each recess begin with the student body singing a song about...Gus).

It’s then that the gang say “to hell with bureaucracy” and just walk up the jungle gym to see King Gus, who’s happy to see them until they start questioning his motives. TJ, then Gretchen, then the rest of the school (more or less) get locked up — except for the poor kid who can’t pay the cookie tax, who’s sentenced to hard labor.

The kids stage a protest to usurp the throne of this cookie-centered dictatorship, but before it can escalate to riot levels (well, aside from the dodgeball-throwing and Spinelli getting a few good punches in), King Bob returns. There’s a smooth transition of power, and suddenly, Gus is no longer king.

“Uneasy is the head that wears the crown,” Mikey says, as the gang decides whether or not to be mad at not-king Gus. “Absolute power corrupts absolutely,” Gretchen adds. And soon enough, they’re all friends again.

Spinelli does hear back about her application to be Lord Emperor of the West Playground, and I really want to know if that worked out and that she’s just, like, doing that from here on out. Maybe that’ll be my personal headcanon.

Takeaway: Boy, oh, boy, do we keep getting these #deep Gus episodes or WHAT? When are we gonna get a good Gretchen episode?

Big Brother Chad

This isn’t the most important part, but after watching this episode, I have to ask: Does this type of stereotypical nerd exist...anywhere?

Not to spoil the episode’s first big twist right away, but here’s the scoop: Vince, who, um, plays sports(?), has a big brother named Chad. And Chad...is a geek.

See, Chad uses pocket protectors. His suspenders hike his pants up past his ankles, he wears glasses that are taped together, he’s in chess club, he has a pet turtle, he’s the scorekeeper on the baseball team, and his idea of a good time is going to Compu-Hut and watching the employees “unpack the latest mousepads.”

Your garden-variety ‘90s geek, basically. A person I have never seen before, and a person who may not have ever existed all at once like that.

But see, the real twist is unraveled throughout the episode. Vince is bragging to the gang that his big brother is going to pick him up from school that day, and word spreads around school fast. Everyone remembers Chad — who it looks like his about five years older than Vince — but they haven’t seen him in a long time. (How big is this town supposed to be? Anyway.)

The entire student body is waiting outside after school to get a glimpse of Chad, who arrives...on a bicycle he’s fashioned himself along with a sidecar, which he calls “the Chadmobile.”

“Why, he’s nothing but a nerd!” King Bob proclaims, and the students all leave disappointed.

To Gretchen, a self-proclaimed geek, it all makes sense. “What fifth-grader would want to hang out with kindergarteners?” she asks, referencing the gang’s earlier reminiscing about all the things Chad taught them when they first started school. The next day, though, Vince isn’t convinced, even as Gretchen doubles down with, “Take it from someone who knows.”

At dinner that night, it all starts to click, though, as Chad regales the table with tales of his “really neat” biology class and the aforementioned mousepads story. Vince has a breakdown, crying, “It’s true! It’s true!” and that’s when things start to get a little weird for me.

See, Chad hasn’t been hiding any of this. The sign on his bedroom door says “Chad’s room: Earthlings keep out!” He sleeps in a racecar bed, upon which he’s playing 3-D chess. And, well, his whole look.

“You’re a geek,” Vince tells his brother, thinking he’s telling Chad something he doesn’t already know.

“Yeah, so?” Chad replies.

Weirdly, the thing that sells it for Vince is that he always thought his brother was cool because he listened to CDs. But Chad explains they’re “geek CDs: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Sondheim, Gilbert and Sullivan.”

“Sorry, Vince, but I am what I am,” Chad says. “And the fact is, I’m a geek.” And then he logs into a chatroom he’s in with his friends.

Look, okay, part of it is weird that Vince didn’t notice that Chad was who he was sooner, especially when the stereotypes are in your face like that (and one of your best friends also fits those stereotypes to a T). But even if we haven’t all had the experience of checking in on a much older kid later in life, we’ve all grown up ourselves. In kindergarten, the fifth graders were impossibly tall, and therefore impossibly cool. In third grade, I knew someone who had a sister in high school. But as I reached those ages, I didn’t feel impossibly cool, or old, or anything. I knew myself a little better — I knew that I liked hanging out with the band kids, even though that wasn’t “cool” — but I wasn’t trying to be anything to younger kids. I was content having grown into myself (as much as any angsty high schooler can).

What really drives this point home is the end, where a bully that Vince got to stop bothering some younger kids earlier in the episode shows up with his big brother, who’s out to teach Vince a lesson. Chad shows up and threatens this kid...with not helping him with his math homework anymore, after which the other big kid immediately backs down.

“Just because I’m a geek doesn’t mean I’m not a cool geek,” Chad says. Because isn’t the real reward being confident in who you are — or, in this case, confident in who your older brother is?

Takeaway: What do we think of the name “Chad” these days? I think this was how I always pictured “Chad” as a kid, perhaps because of this episode and perhaps because I didn’t know any other Chads. Now, um, that name is seen...quite differently, isn’t it? I greatly prefer this Chad.