#it was supposed to be a brothers subplot

[lucyshypemaster]

we genuinely need more platonic male-female relationships like the one brynne and aiden have

[sunflowersandcherryblossoms]

Tite Kubo: "Kuchiki Byakuya is a grown man, a sad widower, 250+ years...

Kuchiki Byakuya's introduction in the Manga:

Looking as much of a teen as Ichigo himself...

And now he have Rebirth of Souls showing that man like this...

That's a babygirl... Not a jaded adult...

[sky-scribbles]

I'm going to say something controversial. I think there's something Veilguard does better than any other Dragon Age game. Namely: incorporating the companions into the plot.

Look, I love Origins as much as everyone. But to be frank: you could cut every companion except Alistair, Morrigan and Loghain and the plot could still work. Once you've finished the mission where you recruit a companion, there aren't other main quests that involve them in any way.

Oghren and Wynne could have stayed home after their recruitment missions for all the difference it would make to the main plot. Sten, Leliana and Zevran could vanish and nothing would change, because once they're on your team, they don't interact with the main plot at all. (There's the Temple of Sacred Ashes, I suppose - but even then, you'd be going on that quest whether Leliana and Wynne were there or not, and it's very telling that they can both die here and next to nothing in the rest of the game is impacted.)

Again: I love Origins. This doesn't detract from any of these characters being great, or from the story being great. It just means there's a layer of separation between the two. They're involved in the story, but they're not driving it, and you seldom get to see them have strong feelings about it.

DA2 is a huge step up. Your companions' personal stories are integral parts of the main plot. You can't do the Deep Roads expedition without witnessing Karl's death and its impact on Anders. You can't enter Act 2 without seeing Varric's brother betray him, or watching your sibling either die or begin a new path in life. Act 2's climax happens because of choices Isabela and Aveline have made. Act 3's endgame is all about Anders making one enormous decision. Even Fenris and Merrill, who have the fewest ties to the plot, have strong reasons to be invested in the Mage/Templar conflict.

And then Inquisition just... backslides. There are multiple companions you don't need to recruit at all, or can send away with zero alteration to the main plot. Your companions don't like Corypheus because he's bad, but no one - except maybe Varric - has any strong personal feelings about him. They have no personal stake in defeating him, not like Alistair has a personal stake in opposing Loghain, or Anders in opposing Meredith.

We go to the Winter Palace, and Vivienne is not made a part of that story. We have a whole subplot about the Wardens, and Blackwall only gets a couple of extra lines, if you even bring him. Their personal arcs could have been somehow impacted by these missions, and they're just... not. Sera is packed with internalised self-hatred that manifests as trying to distance herself from elven culture, to the point of sometimes lashing out at other elves. And despite all the missions you do where elven history features... Sera's growth past that flaw happens entirely offscreen between the base game and Trespasser?????

IMO, this is one of the biggest reasons why Corypheus is such a bland villain. He doesn't make anyone grow, except by starting a plot for them to be part of. He doesn't challenge them emotionally. No one is invested in him. Because no one interacts with the darn plot.

Veilguard, though? Veilguard keeps your companions interacting with the story the whole way through. The Treviso/Minrathous choice affects both Lucanis and Neve heavily, and impacts who they become for the rest of the game. These cities are personal to you, even if you're not a Crow or Shadow Dragon, because your companions love them.

The Siege of Weisshaupt is beyond personal to Davrin and Lucanis, both of whom are entrusted with major parts of the quest: trying to kill the archdemon and Ghilan'nain. Lucanis is affected by his failure to kill Ghilan'nain for ages afterward. Davrin is haunted by survivor's guilt; he should have died when he struck down the archdemon. He's alive. How can he live with that?

Whenever killing the gods becomes a possibility, Rook hands the lyrium dagger to Lucanis. When the squad go to fight the gods' dragons with the Wardens, Taash is the one to flush the first dragon out. When you infiltrate the Venatori, Neve tricks your way in, and everything that happens is especially weighty to Bellara, whose people have been abducted. On Tearstone Island, because of how Lucanis and Spite have grown, they strikes true.

Did you not hate Elgar'nan before that mission? Because you probably will after you watch him capture Bellara or Neve, and see his fellow god kill Harding or Davrin.

You know what's a great piece of writing? There's no reason Emmrich shouldn't have been an option to deal with the wards on Tearstone Island; he's one of the ideal options to take out more wards with the Veil Jumpers in the final mission. But you can't select him to do it. Because Emmrich has far less personal investment in the Elgar'nan battle than the other two. This is Neve's city. This is the monster who tries to call himself Bellara's god. The game makes sure the characters who take control of the Blight at the end are the ones with the greatest stakes in doing so.

One of your companions, not you, wrests command of the Blight from Elgar'nan. The final mission depends on how well you've come to know each companion's skills. They're just... always involved.

And they're invested, too. The companions all have serious personal reasons to hate the antagonists by the end. Lucanis and Neve have either seen their city burn, or know it happened at the cost of their friend's (and potential partner's) hometown. Davrin has seen his order devastated. These are Bellara's and Davrin's supposed gods, and instead of helping the elves reclaim their history and culture, they're trying to enslave the world. Harding learns that the Evanuris maimed and destroyed her Titan ancestors.

Emmrich and Taash have perhaps the smallest emotional tie - and sadly I do think Emmrich especially gets underutilized in the plot. But heck, Taash is still hella motivated by the way the gods are abusing dragons. And Emmrich is tied thematically to the main conflict. He's facing the question of immortality, while nigh-immortal beings are right in front of him, proving how that gift can be abused. The final choice of his personal arc is whether he's willing to embrace his personal, mortal attachments, at the cost of consequences that terrify him... you know, the same question that Solas faces at the end.

And don't even get me started on how everyone is emotionally tied to Solas. Harding and Neve watched him kill Varric in front of them. Everyone not dead or captured has to watch him drag Rook into the Fade. Just about every companion faces some kind of huge regret or failure at some point, in constant foreshadowing for Solas's prison of regret: both the literal one he sticks Rook in, and the mental one of his own making.

Veilguard has its problems, but it absolutely shines at keeping its characters involved and invested in the main story. It gives them things to do, it gives them reasons to care. For all the flaws this game has, this part is good writing.

[ofswordsandpens]

lowkey it’s a relief to know someone else who didn’t enjoy sunrise on the reaping because i really (sadly) disliked it but everytime i check the sotr tag it’s nothing but praise. it’s not entirely unwarranted because the general ideas and themes of this book ARE good they’re just… not done with the finesse and skill i’ve come to expect from suzanne collins.

but if you want to, i’d love to hear more of your thoughts on the book and its problems, especially re: haymitch’s characterization and the rebel subplot.

I think the crux of the issue of SOTR for me is that while it is a very interesting story with powerful concepts and messaging and themes, it doesn't quite feel like it was supposed to be Haymitch's story.

It feels a little too at odds at times from what we learn of Haymitch when Katniss and Peeta watch his games in Catching Fire. And before anyone tells me "that's the point!" or "you're falling for Capitol propaganda! We all fell for Capitol propaganda!!" the issue here is that no, I don't think we did, because when SC wrote about Haymitch's games in Catching Fire, I doubt she was doing it in mind of a Haymitch prequel more than a decade down the line that would recontextualize the entire story. I think what she wrote in Catching Fire in 2009 about Haymitch's games is exactly what it was supposed to be.

Then I think present day SC sat down to write sotr and decided she wanted to write a story about the long-standing power of propaganda. That rebellions are long burning and slow building and people will try and fail and try again. And so she adapted Haymitch's story to fit those themes.

And that's fine! It's fine that it's a bit of a retcon. A retcon doesn't have to be inherently bad and I did find SOTR entertaining overall but like I said, I don't think it fits so cleanly with the rest of the trilogy as others seem to think it does.

For instance, taking these scenes from Catching Fire:

Given what know now from SOTR... well Katniss and Peeta's understandings and takeaways aren't quite right anymore, are they? "But what she doesn't know, and what he does, is that the ax will return." The implication here being that Haymitch planned that moment. But actually Katniss, that's wrong! Haymitch wasn't intentionally leading Silka to the cliff to use the forcefield against her, that was all a complete accident. And it's even worse because Katniss follows it up with: "I think I finally know who Haymitch is. And I'm beginning to know who I am." because now this is a scene where she's actually misreading Haymitch to a degree. Sure, her final conclusion is still ultimately correct: She and Haymitch are both people who have caused the Capitol trouble. And she's right in more ways now than she can know but she's also wrong about Haymitch in a significant way as well. (And it sucks because I've seen so many takes now joking about how Katniss is just sooooo bad at reading people but guys I think she was spot on here until Haymitch's story was altered lmao)

And then, just in a general sense, I think the pacing of SOTR is odd at times. I also think it occasionally suffers from a telling instead of showing, being a bit more heavy-handed in its messaging where the original trilogy wasn't. (Like when Haymitch abruptly called Maysilee his sister, just to make sure that we the readers understood their dynamic).

I also struggled to get into Haymitch's and Lenore Dove's romance because despite him waxing poetic about her every page, we only had a single chapter to establish their relationship and her character before they spend the rest of the book apart until the very end. And its a struggle for me because her presence takes up so much of the story and his thoughts, to a degree that I almost felt I wasn't reading about Haymitch anymore at times. On the flip side, I felt like his brother and mother didn't take up nearly enough of his headspace. Like Sid gets pretty much a single line in the epilogue in a sea of Lenore Dove paragraphs.

As for Haymitch's characterization... this is where we get far more into a personal preference territory, but I won't lie, I was and still am far more partial to a "resourceful Haymitch exploring the arena out of his own volition and outsmarting the gamemakers through his own ingenuity" instead of a "resourceful Haymitch acting out a rebel plan from others". I also am more interested in a Haymitch that lead Silka to the cliff to goad her into essentially killing herself than a Haymitch that ended up there seemingly just to escape her or buy time. And sure Haymitch was still intelligent in SOTR, but too often it felt like he was no longer the driving force in his own story. (which very well might have been the point? but if it was, then the execution of it didn't do much for me).

As for the rebel subplot: conceptually I thought it was interesting... but again, I thought the execution of it left a lot to be desired as it completely lost me the moment Haymitch wasn't insta-killed after blowing the water system. And I know we're given in-universe reasons for why he wasn't killed, but I simply can't buy into it. There were still plenty of tributes left, so it's not like the game makers and Snow had to keep him around. I don't think it would have mattered how popular Haymitch was at that point to the viewers. Haymitch also hadn't done anything yet that couldn't have been edited out so it's not like he had to be kept around by Snow and made into an example for other victors. And I think Haymitch had "suffered" enough in the games at that point for Snow to take him out with mutts. (ALSO - I couldn't help but feel that this rebel plot might have been better suited to an Ampert-centered story? Since Ampert seems to be driving so much of the crucial, behind the scenes work that is.)

But this is grossly long so to wrap this up: In my ideal world, this prequel would have gone one of two ways.

(1) A prequel with the themes and messaging and storylines of SOTR but centered on a different character (Ampert? A career, even? This could be an entirely different year of games with no Haymitch)

(2) A Haymitch prequel, but his games are way more in-line with what we were presented with in Catching Fire (still with a degree of propaganda), no beetee-rebel subplot, and we would've spent more time before the games in district 12, as well as after the games tracking his downward spiral.

[mamawasatesttube]

man... "time machine" by autoheart has me pondering the agonies. like fuck rebirth not doing that, but. a situation in which via magic or something, everyone [temporarily] forgets kon rebirth style. and he has to deal with that. and oops! what's that? oh it's just his suicidal tendencies coming back in FULL force, haha.

like its devastating enough when his friends don't remember him. but john henry? ma kent? clark?

what's he supposed to do with himself now? he has nothing and no one. he knows what he was made for, though. he wants to die a hero. he wants to die a hero. it won't hurt anyone this time because they forgot they love him. why is he here? he's a hero. he wants to die a hero. except heroes are remembered even after they die. what are you when no one remembers you, other than "dead twice over"? and you keep thinking of how unfair it is that the first time you died it hurt everyone you love. and now they forgot you so you may as well be dead. you kind of wish you stayed dead.

so he's not exactly taking it well. and of course ma and clark take it in stride when he shows up at the farm in distress. maybe it's a case of inadvertent dimension travel or something, clark muses, stroking his chin. and kon looks at the notch on the leg of the sofa that krypto accidentally scratched while wrestling on the floor with kon three months ago and says, haha yeah. maybe.

BUT! this time all the discrepancies and all the little things that don't add up? they're the point. kon gets to go to centennial park and point at his statue next to clark and say look. look, i'm real. i lived. you loved me. i died. i'm real. i'm real. i'm real.

and i think clark gets really quiet at that point. and then he's devastated. and furious. because he has a little brother/son/cousin/Little Guy. and someone robbed him of all of his memories of him. he has so few kryptonian family members and someone took one of them from him in the most raw, horrific way possible. they took his little guy from him so thoroughly he isn't even grieving. and isn't that in itself a horror? that there's no grief where he knows grief should be?

and i think kon here just kind of sticks Hard to clark's side at this point. if anyone remembered him or the people he loved, they'd find it odd and notable how conspicuously he's avoiding tim, bart, and cassie. unfortunately, no one knows him anymore, so no one notices. but kon just can't face the complete lack of warmth in their faces when they look at him. and it feels like far too much to explain "sorry, you don't know me, but you're supposed to love me. i love you and it's tearing me apart." so he just needs as much space as he can get.

(there's definitely a subplot of tim's nosy ass going "hey bruce, who was that guy with superman and steel at the jla meeting? what was that about? he looked a lot like superman huh?? hey bruce what's up with that guy? hey bruce what's going on--" and bruce, a paranoid asshole on the best of days, just going "i don't trust him." but tim is a nosy little ferret who will not be deterred and quite possibly pulls bart and cassie in on trying to investigate the guy who looks like superman but isn't superman.)

(however, for some reason, the guy who looks like superman but isn't superman seems to want absolutely nothing to do with the three of them. isn't that weird??)

anyways it has to have a happy ending where the curse is lifted or whatever and everyone gets their memories back and kon gets to have an incredibly cathartic breakdown into ma's lap. but probably not before he nearly gets himself killed at least 4 times first. oops!

[mundaneconspirator]

My Last Faerie King Theories

SPOILERS FOR THE LATEST SNIPPET

As an old shadowhunter veteran, I will propose some ideas and debunk theories I have seen.

First, I highly recommend reading The Wicked Powers Wiki page, which already has a list of released details and snippets from Cassie.

https://shadowhunters.fandom.com/wiki/The_Wicked_Powers

I have seen some guesses that the landscape in Kit's Nightmare is Thule, but I don't think so.

First, Thule!Livvy told Emma and Julian that Thule!Ty was killed, and she then burned his body. I think the details of burning his body are very significant and purposeful to confirm in no way that version of Thule!Ty can come back or influence Our Ty.

So, who is this long-haired and emo looking Ty? I think it's just a nightmare, but somewhat prophetic as we've seen many of Clary's dreams.

Cassie has said this trilogy will be loosely based on Arthurian legends. As a literature major who has read many medieval works (no, I am not white, but I am autistic!), my best guess Cassie will mostly use Syr Thomas Malory's version (Le) Morte d'Arthur (probably the most famous version of most Arthurian legends which any modern media bases their lore on like the show Merlin).

Theories and Ideas Related to the Arthurian:

The Wastelands and Fisher King

Firstly, the landscape described in Ty's dream sounded like The Wastelands, where the Fisher King lives and rules. This is the legend with the Holy Grail. The Fisher King holds the Holy Chalice, and his land is barren, dead. He can only be healed by a bleeding lance, like Ty's weapon in this dream (which has Christian symbolism, blah blah), so the Knights of the Round Table, aka our gang of troublemakers, are sent to retrieve it. Kit's nightmare could be showing that he and Ty will be separated in this journey and since time works unusual in other dimensions (including Faerie), Ty may have to face part of this journey alone which creates this scarred Ty we see who was alone in a dead land may have become someone darker.

Cassie mentioned KitTy would be going on a road trip, so they may have to retrieve the Seelie Queen's missing crown in another dimension or, more likely, in the Unseelie Land. Even if this quest is unrelated to her crown, they could be doing a major side quest for a powerful item to save someone like Jaime who went missing in Faerie (or something idk cause I didn't care enough about him to remember that subplot).

Invisibility is used in the Fisher King story to travel through the Wastelands.

If I remember correctly, Arawn (the dead Unseelie King and Kieran's baddie daddy) had an invisibility cloak. Each (Un)Seelie monarch has an item of magic as a symbol to rule their land, and I believe his was a cloak which was also missing if I remember right.

They could also use the Eternidad (Rosales Faerie teleporter thing), which hides the user in Faerie. Kit's faerie powers may activate it and make it a weapon (or his sonic screwdriver). Dru and Jaime might go with KitTy with the Eternidad in another version of this theory.

The Fisher King could be Kit's mother or another powerful being or important figure to Kit. It won't matter much because when the hero heals the king's wound, the land flourishes and the king doesn't really stick around. After all, the king isn't a character but a personification of the land; he is like a memory or a spirit.

Arthurian Characters and Parallels.

In this theory:

Kit is Arthur.

Ash is Mordred.

Janus is Agravain

Now, in Malory's version, Mordred is Arthur's bastard half-brother son, but my guess is Ash is supposed to reflect the more popular version of Mordred, where he is Arthur's nephew. Evil nephew (Ash) has the same right to the (Seelie) throne as his uncle(ish) since Kit is distantly related to Seelie Queen.

I believe Janus is Agravain, who helps Mordred destroy the knights and allies of the Round Table from within and kills Lancelot (may try to kill someone important by pretending to be Jace).

Morgan Le Fay/Morgause might be Kit's mother or the Seelie Queen because Morgan was originally a benevolent figure until Malory's time, when she is evil or morally questionable but sometimes good. Morgause is the mother of Mordred and sister to Morgan, but she usually isn't evil, so it could be a toss-up.

However, Livvy will be very problematic, so she could be like Malory's version of Morgan and be the evil sorceress.

I do think Livvy will become an evil influence on Ty because GOTSM shows her thinking about possessing Mina. I think Livvy will make a deal with a powerful demon or get an idea to get a corporeal body by telling Ty she found a way to bring her back and telling him to do this task that appears no biggie but is, in fact, a big evil biggie that will involve a decrease in his autonomy, like I don't know, getting possessed by a princely demon.

I think the Ty we see in Kit's nightmare might be him possessed or heavily influenced by Livvy.

Another version of this theory:

Ash is Arthur.

Janus is Agravain.

Ty is Mordred.

Kit is Merlin.

Seelie Queen is Morgan.

Here is why this may be a greater possibility.

Merlin's powers are of a seer, warlock, and shapeshifter. This could be one of Kit's undiscovered faerie powers that we may see. He is already getting dreams and has shown powers.

Ash is the heir to the throne and will undergo character development, realizing his uncle(figure) is not a great guy. Now, Ty, being Mordred, is primarily because of another influence or possession and he may help Janus destroy the world. Depending on which legend, Morgan is a bad influence on Mordred and Arthur, but will show mercy (or weakness) when Arthur dies.

I have more theories on the alternate dimensions but I will make another post on those.

These are my thoughts. Thanks for reading.

--- Luna

[maritteknewtheenemy]

SOTR the reaping could be brilliant if in like two years SC released a book with very little/no initial marketing called 'Sunset on the Reaping' that is about Haymitch Abernathy, an indigenous kid from the seam, getting reaped by the random cruelty of the Hunger Games system who then has to say goodbye to his family and his very normal non fairy princess girlfriend to take part in the 50th hunger games. A Haymitch Abernathy who watches the twelve year old child of a past victor die but he can't quite remember the victor's name, just that he was from District 3. This Haymitch forges a relationship with Maysilee Donner from his district that is contentious but real and he never calls her 'sis' the way someone who has never had a sister thinks people treat their sisters. He's determined to get home to his kid brother and overworked mom and very normal girlfriend- but he's still absolutely gutted when Maysilee is killed. She haunts him forever and so does her twin sister back in the district. His stunt with the forcefield is enough to get his mom and his kid brother and his very normal girlfriend killed. He never sees them again. We get to see his first year as mentor when he meets a man named Chaff from the district right next to and yet so far from his who makes him laugh and hands him a bottle full of liquid that burns all the way down and numbs his throat and his head and the whole damn world for the next twenty five years. It never once references SOTR, it's characters or anything that happened in it, but it is so clearly the true, gritty, hopeless depiction of Haymitch's games. There's no rebel subplot. No hint of rebellion. Just 47 dead kids and the victor who won by his wits and his weapons but lost everything anyway and now has to live with that. It starts with a boy and ends with a bitter, jaded young man.

THAT would make SOTR a literary masterpiece. THAT would make the theme of propaganda in SOTR brilliant instead of the flattest execution of anything I've ever seen from SC. If 'Sunset on the Reaping' was quietly released SOTR becomes the biggest cautionary tale about propaganda and trusting the wrong sources and bandwagoning and the pretty, satisfying lies that true propaganda is trussed up in. Knowing SOTR was supposed to be ABOUT propaganda but not realizing it WAS the propaganda until this other hypothetical book came out would be the most brilliant cautionary tale. 'Sunset on the Reaping' tanking in sales and not being promoted would be poetic. It being more unpopular or panned because it didn't have any fanservice or callbacks to the original trilogy would be cinematic. I'd eat that shit up. I'd hope it was NEVER adapted into a film. I'd never shut up about it ever.

I know it would never happen. I know SC would never do it and she'd never write a book designed not to make money. But if I was SC that's what I would do.

[shadowed-dancer]

Villains and Their Fates - A Tragedy Would Have Been Fine By Me

I've seen a lot of people who try to write off frustration with the league's fates by saying "you just wanted them to survive" or "you're just upset your favourite character died". And while that may be true for a few people, I know that it's at least not true for myself (which must mean there are others who feel the same way). So today I'm here to share my thoughts. Despite liking the villains and wanting them to be redeemed, I was also willing to accept a well written ending if they died. I just wanted to ramble a bit about the three main villains (mostly Toga) and how I felt a tragic ending could have been improved.

The only villain I felt should have lived is Dabi, but that's more because of the awkwardness his unconfirmed death caused for Shoto (read this beautifully written analysis for more). If Dabi had to die, he should have died on the battle field OR in the hospital surrounded by family where he gets a few last words in. Leaving his fate unconfirmed leads to the ruined Shoto arc, but is also just weird for a character who has existed for so long. You're telling me that even Overhaul gets a confirmed ending but DABI doesn't?

I've also talked a bit about how Endeavor's survival ruins the subplot, and in 426 he continues by making Touya's final appearance about him (rather than the two brothers) but that's something I've talked about too much. If Endeavor has to be alive and hogging screen time, the least Hori could do is imply Touya will survive rather than die, so at least Enji isn't literally stealing time from his other family members to have some interaction with Touya.

If Touya has to end up in that machine, an ideal ending would have been the doctor saying "it will be a gruelling and near-impossible uphill climb to recovery" and then Shoto can smile and say "he's done it before". Boom. Simple as that. Leave it open, but at least on a positive note so we can assume that the family will have plenty of time to reconcile, as opposed to an unknown (but limited) amount of time that Enji vows to use to talk to him (yeah I know it's supposed to be a sweet gesture but even Touya calls bullshit on it). Let Shoto and Touya eat their soba, damn it!

For Shigaraki, my grievances extend to the writing of the entire final battle between him and Deku. As such, I don't have much to say aside from that because it really is just a product of poor writing. Neither were really allowed to talk before the big moment (hell, the vestiges were narrating Deku's emotions half the time like "he must be upset, this quirk meant so much to him". Why not let him tell us???) and the back-and-forth of Shigaraki being destroyed and then not only to be destroyed again was too much. It felt sloppy and hard to follow, and once you figured it out it just felt dumb. It's as if each chapter needed some massive reveal, but the story had done it so much at this point that it just felt tired and like it was happening "because Hori said so", and that should never be what drives a story.

Speaking of "because Hori said so"...

Oh Toga. Out of all the villains, I actually liked her confrontation the most. (Lies. If Dabi vs Shoto was the end of Dabi's fight, THAT would have been the best. But the Endeavor fight ruins it). Despite having limited screen time, Toga and Uraraka had a surprisingly well-built dynamic. Their few interactions were actually meaningful and created a strong foundation for a fight, and at the very least they had more of a personal connection than Deku and Shigaraki ever did. I think that Toga giving her blood to someone she loves (as opposed to drinking/taking their blood like she had said the whole series) is a beautifully tragic end to her character, but still something that could have fit.

To me, the problem comes with how she died. Let me replay the scene for you: Toga stabs Uraraka in the stomach and Uraraka bleeds too much because she keeps moving around. Toga then realizes she doesn't want Uraraka to die. To save her life, Toga has to do a blood transfusion with herself as a donor and she dies because she has to give ALL her blood.

Now... sure. Ok. Fine. Yeah. Maybe by real-world logic this makes sense. I guess. Whatever. But within the world of MHA, this setup is laughable.

Here's a list of things characters survived (or at least, they survived LONG ENOUGH to get to a hospital rather than dying on the battlefield): Deku shattering his bones with 1 million percent, whatever happened to Best Jeanist when AFO attacked him, Nighteye getting a massive spike through the torso, All Might with "his entrails strewn across the ground", Bakugo becoming Swiss cheese, Grand Torino being punched so hard a crater forms beneath him, Touya being a literal flaming skeleton, Bakugo's heart exploding, Edgeshot becoming a worm. Mirko getting a limb ripped off and then running full speed at Shigaraki. That's just off the top of my head, I know there's probably more.

But you want to tell me that Uraraka getting stabbed and then moving was a fatal wound that required ALL TOGA'S BLOOD? ALL OF IT? The reason Toga's death bothers me is that the setup cheapens the actual moment of sacrifice. It feels preventable, so when she tells us that Uraraka is going to die without her blood, all I could do is roll my eyes because I'm not allowed to use critical thinking skills, I have to just accept what Hori says and take it at face value.

If the author wants you to live as Edgeworm despite saying you were gonna die, you can. But if the author needs a stab wound to be fatal and require ALL of someone's blood? Well tough luck bud, that's just how it goes. Mirko can run and move all she wants after having a limb ripped off, but moving a bit after one stab wound is fatal. Why? Because I say so.

If Uraraka's wound was actually serious then this ending would have been a beautiful tragedy. But as it stands now, the ridiculousness of her wound makes it all feel preventable.

Oh, there's also the fact that Toga switching blood types when she transforms was never established, but I've rambled enough.

That's it. Thanks for reading!

[maspers]

I feel like those of us in the Cosmere fandom don't appreciate how the Stormlight Archive isn't a murder mystery.

(Well okay there's a little bit of one in Oathbringer but we aren't talking about that)

It could have been so easy for the death of Gavilar Kholin to have been a murder mystery. Let's look at the scenario, shall we? There's a big meeting and party, where peace is supposed to be declared, and then the King dies. Say we DIDN'T know whodunnit. Gavilar's death haunts the narrative, and every subplot in the story soon ties back to that single driving question of "Who Killed Gavilar Kholin?". Over the course of the story, we've seen the layers slowly peeled off, one by one, revealing a whole bunch of suspects.

There's Dalinar, the King's brother, seemingly a depressed drunkard but was once known a deadly warrior and general.

There's Sadeas, the highprince who is seemingly loyal to the king but is otherwise a backstabbing slimeball.

And there's another highprince, Amaram, who was talking with Gavilar for quite a while earlier in the day.

Jasnah, the King's heretical and highly intelligent daughter, and...

Also the person who hired Liss, an actual assassin, to spy on the event and possibly kill someone else.

Then there's Elhokar, the King's incompetent son who is nonetheless next in line for the throne.

And Elhokar's hedonistic wife, Aesudan, who was apparently enough of a problem that Jasnah was planning on killing her.

Speaking of wives, the King's own wife Navani is soon revealed to be cunning in her own right... and angry with her husband.

Dalinar's sons, Adolin and Renarin, don't seem to have been in attendance, but considering everyone else in the family was there there's no reason they couldn't've been around as well and nobody mentioned it.

There's Eshonai and the other Parshendi drummers, a.k.a. the opposing faction. Eshonai in particular seems to be dangerous.

And her sister, Venli, is also dangerous, was also present, and probably wasn't supposed to be.

At least four of the legendary Heralds are soon revealed to be present as well. The King was planning on betraying Kalak and Nale, Jezrien was drinking with Dalinar, and Shalash was defacing the artwork.

Taravangian, the seemingly weak and compassionate King of Kharbranth who secretly is planning on orchestrating a LOT of murdering.

There's the mysterious "Thaidakar", leader of the Ghostbloods who Gavilar himself thought was the one responsible for killing him.

Since it's a Cosmere work and we didn't yet know Hoid couldn't hurt people, it would be easy to assume he's an available suspect as well.

Gavilar could have even committed suicide, as some part of an elaborate scheme.

A huge assortment of servants and partygoers, all of which could have been the killer. Not to mention the spren (and a seon!), who are soon revealed to not necessarily be as mindless as they seem.

Literally anyone else in the story becomes fair game at first glance. Even though she definitely wasn't there at all, Shallan Davar is revealed to have history with that particular night as well. You can keep going and connect everyone to the murder somehow, at least at first.

And lastly Szeth-son-son-Vallano, a mysterious Shin man in white, seen roaming the halls with a very bizarre sword.

Of course, we all know what happened. It was Szeth, in the King's chambers, with the honorblade. And he did it on the orders of the Parshendi. There's no whodunnit, or even a howdunnit (and even the whydunnit is only partially hidden from the reader, Jasnah's POV reveals Eshonai and the other Parshendi were pretty upfront about why they did it). There's no ambiguity, the death is merely a spark that kicks off the plot into motion.

"The Mysterious Murder of Gavilar Kholin" would have been a crutch. It would have been so easy for Sanderson to use it as a backup sideplot, supporting the other stories and keeping things tied together. There's an AU out there where Kaladin ends up being the amateur detective who puts the last piece together and confronts Szeth in an epic battle in the sky. That could have happened. But it didn't.

Brandon Sanderson does not need to rely on a murder mystery to keep his story standing. Regardless of whether it was intentional or not, he had enough faith in his narratives to make them stand on their own, moving forward beyond the death of one pathetic man. The Stormlight Archive is not about how people die, it's about how people choose to live. So it cast aside its crutch, walked forward on its own legs, and became one of the best dang fantasy sagas in history.

And then, in the ultimate "psych!" moment, things went back around and kept connecting to that night anyway. Like a bizarre episode of Columbo, where everything else around the extremely upfront murder gets revealed instead. Instead of using the murder mystery as a device to support the plot, the entire rest of the story is used as a device to support the account of the murder. So that even though it WASN'T a murder mystery we're thrown by the plot twists anyway.

And then, of course, while we're still reeling from those reveals, the rest of the plot hits us with some more Sanderlanches, because this story is still going. And it was never really about Gavilar, anyway.

It's brilliant. How the heck does Sanderson pull these crazy writing shenanigans off?

[princeloww]

rivals plot summary (including content warnings)

What to expect from the new DT show, basically. Vague spoiler warning.

Tony Baddingham, DT's character, runs a British television company in the Cotswold area. He is a lord and, as you might guess, extremely rich. He tends to manipulate people and spend their money instead of his, so that when his ventures go wrong, other people are left scrambling to pick up their losses, while he's completely fine.

He has a long-lasting rivalry with the tory minister for sport, Rupert Campbell-Black. Rupert is extremely charming and athletic, and has a new mistress every week. He is divorced and does not see his two children very often. He's an athlete at heart, and adores his horses more than people --- but politics are a lot more stable than that.

The plot follows a very large cast of characters, which can be quite confusing at first. I had to go back and work out who Beattie Johnson was, for example, because I'd completely forgotten who she was and who she was involved with. There are lots of wives and husbands and mistresses and children, so it gets a bit complicated. Most of the characters are somehow linked to Corinium, Lord B (Tony Baddingham)'s TV company.

Tony hooks up with and employs an American director/writer, Cameron Cook. She moves to England to work at Corinium. Her arrival and bad attitude forms tension in the Coriunium workspace, and the tension furthers when Declan O'Hara, an Irish TV presenter and author, arrives at Corinium. He is a leftist (in contrast to the conservatives around him) and often discriminated against for being Irish. At times he is accused of having IRA links, mostly just to make him look bad. He and Tony's personalities clash, leading to a fall out at Corinium. Declan, in a drunken rage, quits his job and falls into a bit of a bad state.

Recovering from the publicity of his departure, Declan groups up with Rupert Campbell-Black and a few others (including Tony's brother, Basil Baddingham) to create a rival television company, Venturer, to challenge Corinium and Tony for the franchise.

There is a lot of romance and a LOT of subplots. Declan's daughter, Taggie O'Hara, is a dyslexic cook who struggles to find work due to her inability to read and write. She develops a crush on Rupert, who is considerably older. If I start talking about how much I despise their relationship, I will never stop. Taggie will probably be quite a main character in the show, I'm guessing. Declan also has a wife, Maud, who is a failed actress and spends all of his money.

Tony's wife, Monica, is very charitable and employs Taggie despite Declan and Tony's rivalry. She is aware that Tony is having an affair with Cameron Cook. An affair which, while Cameron is under his employment, becomes extremely toxic and abusive.

I'm sure the show will be rounded out a bit for modern audiences, but warnings wise (at least in the book), Rivals includes themes of sexual assault (particularly groping), misogyny, domestic abuse and much more. A big majority of the characters are rich and extremely corrupt. Tony, the baddie of the story, has some of the worst moments. There is a scene where he hits and throws a woman until she is bleeding, because she's 'betrayed' him. He also threatens to kill somebody. On a separate occasion, he tells a distraught SA victim not to tell anybody, because the attacker is somebody who he needs on his side, for money. There is also, obviously, given the kind of characters we follow, a lot of classism. Valerie Jones, for example, exists as a punching bag for a middle-class Northern woman who wants to be like the rich Southerners.

Tony might be the bad guy, but Rupert, who we're supposed to like, is also awful. He's Jilly Cooper's little golden boy, despite being horrible. I hate him so much but Jilly clearly loves him. He gropes eighteen-year-old girls and objectifies every single woman he speaks to.

Again, I'm sure a lot of this will be toned down, but watch with caution. The story has light moments and lots of romance, comedy and drama --- it just occasionally dips into dark themes. There will probably be lots of dinner parties, as every other scene is a giant social gathering. As much as I have issue with Jilly Cooper, she is absolutely excellent at writing large social scenes with dozens of different subplots combining.

There's also a weird theme of characters describing 14-year-olds (specifically 14-year-olds) in weird predatory ways. It's weird though, because a strange amount of characters do it -- to the degree where I think it's just Jilly Cooper describing them weirdly. She acts as though being a teenage girl is a woman's prime and that she is wasted after that. She has also gone on the record to state that she hates feminists. I'm not a giant fan, frankly.

On a lighter note, if you want to tell who's supposed to be a good guy, just remember that the good guys always quote poetry and like animals.

Despite its many flaws and dark themes, Rivals really is an interesting read. Jilly Cooper says the weirdest, most fucked up things ("she's like a little sister", thinks Rupert, right after staring at the 18-yo's ass) but the story really supports itself. It's interesting, gossipy, raunchy and very well written. Cooper is an expert at big scenes, and works so well with the giant ensemble cast. I disagree with a lot of things she says, but I think the show will be really good. I'm super excited and can't wait to watch it. There's a particular scene with David's character that I'm looking forward to; while in the book it was a bit scary, because we know how Jilly is with teenagers, there's a scene where Tony drives Declan(his enemy)'s daughter home, and is actually very nice to her before realising who she is. I think DT will do this scene a lot better, and it might actually be a bit endearing. Idk, I don't wanna jinx it, but I think it has potential to be a sweet scene, with the charm DT typically brings to these roles.

If anyone has any plot-related questions, or about David's character or anything, please feel free to ask! I'm more than happy to ramble about this book, because I do really like it. I see and dislike its flaws, but personally I am able to look past them and appreciate the story and characters. They're all horrible people, but let's be honest. They're politicians and rich, tory lords in the 1980s. They were always going to be horrible. You can like something that contains problematic characters without necessarily, immediately condoning and agreeing with those things. People online and especially on places like TikTok seem to struggle with this concept, but I'm a firm believer in media literacy and accepting flaws. You can like something that is bad. You can like villains. It's fine.

Declan is my favourite btw. Live laugh love Declan O'Hara

[ranahan]

Trying the Republic Commando novels again,

spoilers under the cut!

At first I was really skeeved by both the pregnancy storyline and Kal’s character (he’s great as a fictional character, but man, what a piece of work). But now I’m starting to question why these elements were chosen for the story. What questions is the reader invited to ask? Is it just the author’s own biases showing, or are these elements there for a purpose?

I find the choice of Etain’s pregnancy storyline and her reasoning of “giving Darman a future” interesting. The “my line and legacy will continue after me” is a natborn concept. Would clones even attach similar sentiments to reproduction? I think not. If you shared your genetic code with millions of others, would you feel it was tied to your individuality, or would it feel more like common property? Would it be a part of what makes you, you—or would you find the part that’s not genetic more important? Would giving it to a child be an act of tying you together, or would the act of raising them (like you were trained by your training sergeant or brothers) be more salient?

Is this a purposeful “cultural” misunderstanding from the author’s part? I’d find that an interesting angle to explore, but since the pregnancy is hidden, we don’t get Darman’s thoughts on the matter (at least as far as I’ve gotten so far). Or is it simply a misunderstanding the purpose of which is to illustrate the clones’ position and other people making all the decisions concerning them, even outside the military life (Etain’s to get pregnant on purpose; Kal’s to not tell Darman)? Is the whole point of the plot line that there are no civilian lives and freedoms for the clones? Or is it just the author’s own biases showing through?

Similarly, I’m starting to wonder whether the whole point of Kal’s character isn’t that even the clones’ own father figure controls all their choices? It’s repeatedly emphasised how Kal doesn’t like and refuses to share information, makes one-sided decisions all the time, and bullies around everyone from jedi generals to his own sons until he gets what he thinks is best. He’s a control freak who can’t deal with letting other people make their own choices.

I was first disappointed that even the story that was supposed to be told “from the point of view of the disposable grunts,” actually centred on a pregnant Jedi and a rogue natborn sergeant. But now I’m wondering if the point of these characters isn’t to tell something about the clones? Military fiction after all sometimes does include relationship subplots, to explore how serving in the military affects the soldiers’ relationships and lives beyond the military. So are Etain and Kal serving the same function here, only because the soldiers in question are clones without rights, it works out a bit differently?

I don’t know. I hope I’m getting on the right track here, and not giving too generous an interpretation to the books, because I really wanted to like them (military fiction! in SW!) but then to my surprise didn’t. So I’m trying again with a bit more deliberate engagement with the elements that bothered me the first time. 🤔

[bitchcakegreen]

I finally watched all four episodes of season 3 part 1 and I have thoughts, as a fan and as a screenwriter/former romance novelist, and professional director. I didn’t have netflix but I got it for this season. I did this kinds of analyzations and such during Game of Thrones. Hopefully people enjoy reading. Full disclosure, I have not read any of the Bridgerton books. (I’m about three chapters into Romancing Mr. Bridgerton)

First off, give me all the Pen and Colin all the time. I’ve been hoping they get together from season 1 and I’m so happy Shondaland didn’t make us wait another season, as the books go in a different order. There’s a lot of subtle nuance to Pen and Colin’s scenes, Colin always seeking out Pen wherever they are, the tent pastry scene followed by Colin clearly eating the same pastry as Pen did. The tent scene was freaking hot. I said what I said. Things of this nature make their love affair so lush. It’s that journey to getting to the carriage scene that’s so thrilling.

I didn’t mind Francesca’s subplot or the Mondrich one but I do agree with many I’ve seen here that the subplots almost took over. There was a lot of emphasis placed on things other than Pen and Colin which annoyed me somewhat. Hopefully when we get to part 2 there will be more intense focus on Polin and the subplots are just rotating around them because right now, with the pacing of these first four episodes, it’s the opposite. Polin feel as if they are somewhat an afterthought.

The Cressida redemption movement I don’t think will last into part 2. I think all this work is to try and make the audience sympathize with her and then when she goes after Pen, Pen as Lady D, and so forth we are supposed to think “OH! But she was being so nice.” Hopefully I’m wrong and they follow through on her storyline because if they don’t…they wasted a lot of time and storyline on her instead of focusing on Polin.

I’m ambivalent about Lord Debling, so meh. Sorry about it.

Anthony and Kate - absolutely unnecessary but I know why they brought them in. One, he is the Viscount so he would be around. Two, they are fan favorite. I get it. I accept it. It was just wasted real estate for me. But to each their own.

I love Mr. Finch and I LOVED he got to be such a beaming brother-in-law for Pen in the green dress. I do wish they hadn’t shown us the dress reveal in the trailer. It would have been such an awestruck moment for us to see it first in the show. Sweeping cape removal and glittering loveliness.

Pen’s sisters and their race to get pregnant. It’s all a setup for Pen to be pregnant first or with the male heir by the end of the season. Cute but really long winded in getting there. There is a now since deleted promo clip of Pen, with Colin standing behind her, where she takes his hand and places it on her stomach. So we’re getting a pregnancy nod somewhere next part. May even be why she faints in whatever scene they show in the trailer for part 2.

Eloise needs to get her head out of her butt. I don’t think she’s angry Pen is LW but more angry that she didn’t figure out Pen was Whistledown sooner. She’s mad that Pen didn’t try to see her during the offseason, yet she tells her at the end of season 2 to get the fuck out of her life. Get it together Eloise. I love Eloise, don’t get me wrong, I adore her. I just want her to stop acting like an ass and TALK to Pen.

There is discourse about the second Colin threesome scene, but there really shouldn’t be. There’s a reason for it. It showcases that Colin is done with the charade he’s been playing all season. He isn’t the bon vivant, dashing rake he’s supposed to be. It’s jarring but it’s a scene with a purpose.

All the Polin scenes are delightful. The balloon scene might be my favorite - the pastry scene I include in this. And of course the first kiss and the carriage scene (which lives in my head on repeat) but I have to say, I wanted more Polin screen time. I think if we spliced all the Polin scenes together we see that out of four hours of film, they have maybe a cumulative 1 hour of screen time. Which isn’t much for a couple that is the lead of the season. Hopefully the ratio will be better in part two.

Merit badges and raises to the Featherington coachmen and to Pen’s maid Rae. They are MVPs and are totally gossiping about Polin. You know that tea was flowing in the servant’s quarters about the carriage ride…

Scenes I hope we get in part 2.

1. Full on sexfest with Pen and Colin, the likes to rival Daphne and Simon.

2. Whistledown reveal to Colin. First I want him angry - that passionate angry we use in romance novels. The kind where the hero is always “I’m so mad at you right now I can’t see straight but I need you writhing with passion underneath me screaming my name RIGHT NOW!” kind of angry. I want ripped corsets and torn skirts. If you know you know.

3. Pen and Eloise make up.

4. Big stupid lavish wedding.

5. More unhinged Queen Charlotte wigs. Because reasons.

Sorry this was such a long post, but I needed to get my thoughts out. Thanks for reading if you made it this far. Now excuse me while I go watch part 1 elevenity million more times.

[the-far-bright-center]

The Searchers (1956) dir. John Ford // Attack of the Clones (2002) dir. George Lucas

One of the major plot threads in Attack of the Clones concerns Jedi apprentice Anakin Skywalker’s search for his mother Shmi, who was left enslaved on the desert planet Tatooine at the end of the previous movie in the series. Plagued by nightmares of his mother’s distress and convinced these visions are prophetic, Anakin rushes back to Tatooine in the hopes of finding her. Instead, he discovers that Shmi, though briefly liberated and happily married to a farmer, was captured by the Tusken Raiders, a nomadic tribe hostile to outsiders. Anakin tracks down the Tusken camp and finds his mother just as she is dying, presumably from weeks of beatings. Enraged, Anakin kills every Tusken in sight—(in)famously “not just the men—but the women—and the children too!” This chapter of the film almost operates as a condensed remake of The Searchers. Anakin’s scouting out the camp and the later funeral scene openly quote shots in Ford’s movie. And then there’s the basic dramatic trappings: the quest for a captive loved one, the obsessed warrior driven by hatred and grief, and even, to a smaller extent, the emphasis on the individual’s psychological need for belonging in a community. Ford extensively explores that third point through the romance subplot with Laurie and his depiction of close-knit settler families, while Lucas makes those notions more implicit in Anakin’s alienation from the stoic Jedi Order and how this divide pushes him to the dark side. Everyone talks about how Anakin is meant to evoke James Dean’s red-jacketed teen hero in Rebel Without a Cause, but he shares way more DNA with Ethan Edwards. For both characters, the genesis of their never-ending rage comes from the violent death of a mother (we see it plainly in Attack of the Clones, while this bit of Ethan’s backstory is only evidenced by the information on Mrs. Edward’s gravestone). Erotic transgression troubles both characters as well: Ethan is in love with his brother’s wife Martha and the supposed-to-be-free-of-romantic-attachments Anakin is in love with Padme Amidala. For these anti-heroes, love becomes twisted into something obsessive and ugly, turning each into monsters unable to connect with anyone. In the end, both are redeemed by love, though neither will ever fully escape their isolation from the greater community. — from 'On George Lucas, the Searchers, and Cinematic Quotations'

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

Minecraft Movie was surprisingly okay. It’s not amazing, but I had a fun time. It was basically the Jumanji reboot, but Minecraft. You can tell the makers went into this movie with the intention of making a goofball, don’t take it too seriously comedy. 6/10 would be my score, not a highly recommend, but at least worth checking out.

Minor observations:

1) It was surprisingly underdeveloped? I know the plot probably wasn’t the most important thing in the making of this movie, but I did feel that there was a genuine attempt at making a story that could work. The problem was that the movie needed more time to breathe, especially regarding the sister character.

2) Speaking of the sister, I feel like they could’ve merged her with either the real estate agent or Jason Momoa. Think about it like this. If Garbage Man was the older sibling, then the movie would be about a loser older brother who is trying to be a good role model to the younger brother, only to be upstaged by Steve. If the real estate agent was the older sibling, then her character becomes a contrast to both Steve and Garbage Man. Steve and Garbage Man are the loser adults who the younger brother idolizes while the real estate agent is the adult who has their life together, but is estranged from her younger brother. My main point here is that because the sister is the least developed of the main characters, I feel like they could’ve cut her character out and merge her storyline with the other characters.

3) The movie was definitely made for kids. And not in the sense that Avatar the Last Airbender was made for kids. I mean, this movie was made for kids. Think Sharkboy and Lavagirl. Even the pacing feels like it was made for kids since the movie never slows down. The entire movie has the energy of a hyper toddler on a sugar rush.

4) Jack Black and Jason Momoa feel like they’re playing against type. In any other movie, Jack would be a Garbage Man-type character while Jason would be a Steve-type character.

5) Oh, just to emphasize how underdeveloped the sister character was, the movie set up a plot point about how she feels like she never got to be a kid and that she sucks at Minecraft-ing. So, naturally, you’d think her arc would be about her embracing her inner creative side/inner child and becoming an expert crafter. Except, that’s not what happens and they just kinda make her the person who swings a sword around. And at the end of the movie, she starts teaching self-defense as if that was supposed to be her arc from the beginning.

6) The main protagonist was fine, but his acting was…yeah. I get that the makers wanted a little kid to be the protagonist of a Minecraft movie since that’s the target audience, but his acting was just not it.

7) I love Jack Black’s singing, but his little jingles were hit and miss lol.

8) Now that I think about it, this movie would actually be better if they reduced the main cast size. Obviously, Steve needs to be there. But for the other four, the movie really didn’t need all of them. I feel like this movie could’ve worked better as a trio instead of a quintet (Steve/brother/sister or Steve/Garbage + sister combo/brother or Steve/real estate agent + sister combo/brother would be my ideal trios for the story).

9) The romance subplot with the vice principal and the villager was entirely unnecessary but one of the best parts of the movie lol.

[velvetvexations]

So my thing with TCW's Anakin is that he's a completely different character from the Anakin of the films.

TCW is a TV show told over several seasons and has to present Anakin as like, actually likable, which may have been what Lucas intended, but if you actually watch Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith it's hard to cite Anakin does that goes beyond occasionally not being an a weird jerk, and he achieves even that a lot less than you'd think. All I can think of offhand is that his first instinct when his clone wingmen are getting killed is to go back and help them, but Anakin's better nature otherwise basically vanishes after TPM.

And none of that is necessarily a flaw of the prequel trilogy. We can argue about the execution, and certainly I agree that if Lucas actually expected audiences to see Anakin as a poor little meow meow then, haha, no? But assuming both that it it was totally intentional and supposing that in another world it was delivered in a way that was more compelling than what we got, this as a faucet of who he is flows. Anakin Skywalker of the prequel trilogy is a immature, raging asshole who spends nearly every shot he's in mouthing off, complaining about how mean everyone is, throwing himself at a crush he developed before he was a preteen that makes him literally the worst possible choice out of countless Jedi to be assigned the job of protecting her, and just generally proving he was absolutely not ready to be knighted because he still acts like the world's whiniest douchebag teen to ever exist.

I mean, my fucking God, the fit he has over being not elevated to the rank of master. At the very least that's better justified from his perspective by the cut subplot of him wanting clearance for archival shit he thinks he needs to save Padme, but even then, it's cringe for him as a person because he's still going about it in the most childish way possible. This is, again, not inherently a bad presentation of his character because being childish and not in control of his emotions is kinna meant to be his whole thing.

So it's surprising then that TCW starts with him getting assigned a padawan, which I guess is how that works now. I saw someone say Yoda meant it as a "he'll learn from her as much as she learns from him" thing, and like, I guess I could see Yoda doing that? But the bigger issue is that the show then goes on to present Anakin as someone who is like, even a tiny bit competent at being a big brother-type mentor, which absolutely nothing in THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF THE FRANCHISE up to that point had ever portrayed Anakin as having the potential for being. TCW Anakin is simply not the Anakin that has public hissy fits even by the time of RotS.

The problem is that Anakin's fall is obviously shown in two movies so even though TCW comes between them there's no pressure to actually have to portray it because that's taken for granted as having been clearly depicted already, and thus the show is free to not have to do any of the hard work of depicting Anakin as someone who is maybe a bit of a jackass. They can have him be a very uncomplicated rational hero guy, they suppose, because his traits that are the exact opposite of that are displayed elsewhere.

Like, I like some of the Imperial March bits in TCW, but absolutely none of them have real consequences at all. Even Anakin force choking people is very quickly brushed off and never given any depth. Most critically, he's never depicted as being wrong for doing any of those Imperial March things. He's not having his secret darkness exposed when he force chokes someone to get information because it always turns out to be the right choice in the moment. It's just these little unconnected moments of "oooh see because he turns evil later" while forgetting to make him any percent of evil in the here and now.

Don't forget by this point in time Anakin has already murdered an entire village of people, and not just the men, but the women and children too! They were like animals and he slaughtered them like animals! So why is it so difficult to reconcile that with TCW Anakin? Like, hey, TCW Anakin, do you remember doing this really brutal and horrific crime against humanity? Are you really the kinna guy who murdered a ton of children and is about to murder way more? The answer is, no, he isn't, he's just like, a great guy who sometimes gets justifiably angry and is also okay with killing someone who is threatening to blow everyone up.

But like, that bit with him killing someone threatening to blow everyone up was a really good scene because it contrasted Anakin with both Saitine's pacifism and Obi-Wan's desires to live up to Saitine's expectations of pacifism and to prove Jedi morality, so it did not necessarily need him to be the worst person alive. But the fact that every Imperial March moment is validated and justified and never causes any problems whatsoever is an issue here.

And it just comes down to the fact that TCW frankly would have been considered completely unwatchable by most people if Anakin was actually 🎶 the worrrrrst 🎶 like he should be. Like the ideal way to have done it would be to make Ahsoka Obi-Wan's second padawan and Anakin view her as a rival so they sometimes get along but more often clash in a way that shows Anakin is still on his bullshit as he will be by the time of Revenge of the Sith. But at that point you're going for the kinna protagonist complexity that would not make for a good Cartoon Network show at all on top of the fact that TCW was already way more violent than you'd ever have ever expected from western animation back then. That's edging into being something like Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad, which you could do as a kid's show that keeps the edges just barely under the maximum sharpness they're allowed, but kids are still probably not going to watch it and executives are still definitely not going to approve it. And execution still may have fallen short regardless, even if it had been a show aimed at adults, given both the differences between things like that and grounded character study crime dramas that were getting massively popular around the same time, and, you know, the prequels.

[toorumlk]

Harry/Ginny

AH HINNY!

oh man, i oscillate between really liking hinny one day and feeling completely indifferent towards them the next.

hinny might be the relationship i like the most for harry, and it's all because because of the family aspect. through marriage w ginny, harry officially became a weasley family member. and, of course he always was one, but he actually is a weasley on paper and i think having that in writing would mean a lot to harry. and my golden trio heart can't not mention that by hinny being married - ron and hermione are literally harry's brother and sister (in-law) now and !!!!! that just makes my heart melt (i know those two were always harry's family but bc of the aforementioned reason, etc. you get it)

so right off the bat, when i try to organize my more positive thoughts on hinny, i'm mostly focused on how the relationship best serves harry, and only harry. and this is where my frustrations with the ship begins: it's so hard to think the other way around because ginny's narrative purpose is just to be harry's ideal love interest, instead of being a fully fleshed character. i really love ginny with all her spunk and feistiness, but she's so underutilized. she had a cute crush on him in the start of the series which was adorable, but her character was inarguably just "ron's younger sister". and after she gets possessed by volde/gets saved from the CoS by harry, she still continues to have a puppy-love crush on harry until OoTP!!! GAAHHHH!!! Apparently joanne said hinny were always meant to be soulmates and i think if these two had a consistent "invisible string" motif throughout the series, it would've been so good (and almost as good as romione's slow burn). So...

here's how i'd fix hinny (lmao):

i wouldve made the ginny a much more prominent character in PoA and beyond.

we get to see hinny actually have heart-to-hearts about the incidents of CoS - for ginny to play such an IMPORTANT role in the titular plotline of the second book, then to just have her blend into the background afterwards just boggles my mind - that was the perfect oppurtunity to make ginny an invaluable character in the cast. she has this huge experience in common with harry - being personally victimized by voldemort - that harry doesn't have w ron or hermione at that point and it would've been so nice to see harry find an equal, a confidant in ginny from then on - like, dont let the readers forget that harry and ginny have this huge thing in common, have it be with us in the back of our heads the whole time!

start the hinny romance subplot fr fr in GoF

the potential of ginny being a maybe date for harry to the yule ball, harry feeling jealousy towards neville for getting to dance and spend time w ginny and harry being like "wait a minute! i'm supposed to crush on cho! im jealous of neville??" that wouldve been FUN - again, they couldve been a less insane version of romione hello

having the hinny subplot unravel in tandem with harry's crush and relationship with Cho in ootp

in ootp, you can argue that the story attempts to make a foil between cho and ginny's characters but if that were the case, it could've done a way better job of it

with harry's relationship w cho - harry likes her bc she's cool and pretty but she wants to connect with him through their connection via cedric and his death, which is off the bat a hugely touchy/traumatic topic for both of them and cho couldn't possibly fathom what it's like to be in the presence of voldemort/tom but guess which other character does ehehe...

now we're at hbp and this is where the good stuff starts bc if i'd had it my way, we'd have gotten their friendship in poa and two books of solid romantic build-up up until now

i honestly had a such a fun time with hinny in hbp, ginny in her OWL year being so cool and harry's hugeass crush on her- harry being a hormonal teenager was hilarious to read like its implied that harry is having increasingly inappropriate thoughts about her throughout the novel and theyre just intercut with "BUT RON-" that's some good shit

my one gripe w hbp's hinny is that i wish we actually got to see their dates sneaking around hogwarts, finding the perfect hideaways for makeout sessions, etc etc i know hp wasn't a romance fantasy by any means but imagine how swoony it wouldve been if we got to actually see these sunset dates instead of just being told about them - it wouldve been cathartic to actually see harry actually live the life of a normal teen boy before everything fell apart lol

if we got all these invisible string moments between them throughout the series, harry thinking about ginny and how good it felt to kiss her lips before he walks to his death in DH would've felt so much more earned

from a storytelling perspective, the case with hinny begs the question of if you can have a love interest for the jesus figure of your narrative? can you make a believable, grounded and balanced love story for the chosen one? i honestly think so but then you'd have to put equal amounts of effort and work into creating two nuanced characters and unfortunately we don't see that effort be put in ginny's character and that's why harry's endgame falls short for so many people. earlier, i said that this is the ship i like most for harry, but honestly that isn't saying a lot - i think with an almost saint-like character like harry, its hard to imagine a satisfying love and partnership for this kid. i like tomarry as a ship for when im feeling a bit insane but other than that, my main harry ship is him with a lifetime of peace and healing.

i also want to argue that hinny was never meant to be a primary romance in this story - the main romance/love story in the series is ron and hermione's and i think joanne's romance prowess all went into romione and i'm so thankful for that because i think it makes for better story (also i'm totally biased)

i also cant not mention the freudianess of it all with hinny, right? like god freud would Love hinny bc what do you mean they look identical to jily, what is going on here. that and the fact they had their first kid at 22/23 years old like my god, WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING you should be at the club!!!!! i do dig the failmarriage vibes they were serving in TCC, also.