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novantinuum · 1 year ago

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Steven's Breakdown Was Inevitable From the Very Beginning

I feel like the thing that fucks me up the most about Steven Q. Universe and how well conceived he is as a character is that the fundamental building blocks of why he reached his breaking point in SU: Future were laid out as clear as day in the span of legit only the first four episodes of the original show. The writing was literally always on the wall that future him would struggle with matters of self worth and identity in relationship to the others around him.

Let's take a look:

Gem Glow

"Awesome! What are these things?"

Foundational Trauma #1: Steven's home is always either under threat or actively being wrecked by antagonistic forces/beings, and he constantly copes with this by pushing down his fear in favor of a curiosity and silver linings based mindset.

Look at his initial shock when he opens the door and gets tackled by one of these things, and then his response when one of them spits acid:

The kid's freaked the hell out about all this, and while I do think there's a part of Steven that genuinely IS curious about what these lil critters are, I think he's subconsciously using that curiosity as a way to distract himself from his own fears and anxieties. This is Steven actively learning how to ignore the deeper problems in favor of emoting a facade to the others in his life that he can totally handle himself in scary situations like these.

The underlying reason why is incredibly apparent, when you look at the example from the next episode-

Laser Light Canon

"I don't know what a magic lady like her ever saw in a plain old dope like me..."

Genuinely- from the bottom of my heart- I think the above quote from Greg is a moment where his own insecurities around the Gems actually rubbed off on Steven.

At this point in time, Steven may be living with the Gems... but he hasn't started to harness any of his powers at all, so in his own head he might as well be the same as his dad- another human, just one who happens to have a gem! But the way Greg talks about himself... given Steven was living with him in the van for years before moving in to the beach house, he had to have heard negative self-talk from his dad like this before.

And then there's the rest of the Crystal Gems... always speaking of Rose with such reverence as if she were an all-powerful goddess... and Steven can't help but look back at himself, and his gem that won't work... the gem that the others still identify as Rose's...

"Your gem-! You have Rose's gem!"

And maybe he starts to wonder if- without any working powers- he's just a plain ol' dope like his Dad, too.

"Please work... Unlock! Activate! Go! Please-!! Everyone's counting on you, you can't just be useless!"

Foundational Trauma #2: Steven has Rose's gem, and as such, is constantly living under the silent expectation to live up to a standard that he simply cannot ever hope to achieve, because he doesn't KNOW her and he never will.

I want to highlight one of Steven's expressions while his dad is talking about Rose- look at that sad look. My god, I just wanna hug him. This is the expression of a child who has already come to terms with the fact that his only relationship with his mom is through the rose tinted stories that other people tell him about her.

Cheeseburger Backpack

So. Steven has learned so far that he needs to push down his feelings and emote a false veneer of cheer and bravery even when he's afraid, because the rest of the people in his life have expectations and hopes for him due to the legacy of his parentage and he can't bear the thought of letting them down. (And in a sad way, at this point "letting them down" literally just means... being an ordinary human boy. I believe Steven at this stage of the show is flat out scared to be human, because to be human is to fail at being a Gem, and no amount of love and sacrifice in the name of humanity in the seasons to come could've ever saved him from the fundamental fact that the wedge between him and this whole half of his being was already drawn long before the events of season 1 even started. But I digress.)

Let's see where we go from there. Let's check out Steven's first "mission." Or as Pearl puts it about 35 episodes later, his first "test."

"Yeah... they can't all be winners."

This episode is tinted with a little bit of tragedy for me on rewatch, because I genuinely do think the Gems handled the situation as well as they could've. They were supportive of Steven's successful ploys, and (for the most part) responded with grace when he majorly blundered and left the Goddess Statue at home. The main problem, however, is that Steven has already developed a bit of a complex about impressing the three of them-

Foundational Trauma #3: Even when they claim otherwise, Steven has convinced himself that affection from the Gems is transactional, and that when he messes up he's not truly a part of the Crystal Gems.

Of course we the audience know this isn't true- I mean, hell, Amethyst even said as much in episode one after her slip-up ("and you're fun to have around, even if your gem IS useless!")... that the Crystal Gems wouldn't be the same without him. But Steven... the poor kid is a complicated little guy living a complicated life, and whether they intended it or not, the language used they've used around him thus far has not backed up their attempts at fully embracing him, human parentage and all.

Thus, Steven just spends the entire episode wracked with anxiety trying to find creative non-power using ways to make the mission easier so he can convince them he's useful to have around.

Look how nervous he gets even when all three of them are visibly and vocally supportive of his presence here:

This is the face of a boy who feels like he's under constant judgement and scrutiny from those around him.

Blessedly, viewing this episode in isolation, he experiences a brief moment of mental respite where he finally accepts the Gems' encouragement and agrees that his ideas 'can't all be winners,' but this lesson does not stick for him moving forward. A shame, really.

Together Breakfast

"What's the matter, Steven?" "I wanted us all to have breakfast together, so I made Together Breakfast! But everyone keeps leaving..." "Oh, that's nice..."

Taken in context with what we've learned already in the last three episodes, Steven's desperation to spend quality time with the Gems here and his sadness that they keep leaving him alone doesn't just exist within a vacuum. He spends the whole morning watching them shuffle in and out of the temple, or come back from missions he wasn't invited on, and with the disastrous result of the LAST mission he went on probably fresh in his mind it's not hard to understand why this bothers him.

Foundational Trauma #4: Steven internalizes that the price of "not being useful" is that the Gems actively ignore him, meaning that the only way to guarantee their attention is to work as hard as he can to become a stronger member of the team.

I know this screenshot is usually used as a lighthearted meme, but I wanted to include it because I think it's a good example of how Steven's intense desire to impress permeates every facet of his personality at times. Just LOOK at how desperate he is to make Garnet laugh at his joke, to be the one that's at very least "fun to have around," as Amethyst put it in episode one.

The Gems do eventually drop what they're doing to spend time with Steven by the conclusion of this episode, but this only comes after Steven shows his growing strength and "proves" himself by saving their butts from the breakfast monster.

If he successfully gained their attention in literally any other way he might've come away from this episode with a different lesson, but no. Instead, his fears were proven true- the Gems value strength and utility, and if he's not exhibiting that, then what use is he to them?

These fears of his can be seen weaving throughout the foundational fabric of the entire show, but I think Steven lays out what he sees as his "stakes" in the clearest way possible in the episode 'An Indirect Kiss.'

"But- if I don't have powers, then I can't hang out with Amethyst, or Garnet, o-or Pearl, and- I-I can't go on missions!"

And these same insecurities even rear their ugly head as late as the movie.

"I can't believe this... for the first time in years, everyone's in danger, everybody needs me, and- I'm useless!"

Powers = Utility = Worth = Other's love, for Steven. Everything is transactional to the end, which is a hilarious double standard he's set for himself when he's made his reputation as the kid who always listens and encourages and gives others a chance to change, no matter their messy history with him.

So let's recap and restate those foundational traumas from Steven's perspective.

One: The only way to cope when your life is constantly under threat is to bury the damage and pretend to be fine.

Two: Everyone expects you to live up to the standards of someone you're not.

Three: The Gems only love you when you're of use to them.

Four: If you ever stop being useful, the Gems won't want anything more to do with you.

In sum, Steven's habit of burying his feelings for the benefit of others was there from the very beginning, not just since 'The Test.'

Those unreachable standards he felt so daunted and intimidated by all his life were the ones set by Rose, at first... but over the course of the series, the dynamic of this shifted. As Rose's influence fell into the background, Steven's rose into the front. And so it's with great irony that- by the time of Steven Universe: Future, the expectations this exhausted, worn down teenager is fighting to once again achieve are the ones HE set for himself. Many of young Steven's selfless actions during the war are quite admirable when analyzed in isolation, but almost none of them are sustainable. He set himself on fire just to save the world, but teen Steven is genuinely unable to see this for what it is yet- as a tragic sacrifice of his own childhood. You can't burn your own ends for others forever, not at all. His breakdown was simply inevitable.

When it comes to the interconnected beliefs three and four, these are exactly why the ultimate confrontation at the end of I Am My Monster HAD to be one fueled by selfless love. Steven is at his absolute lowest at this point- he's everything he fears he's become, trapped in a form that's nearly incapable of reason. He's big and angry and spiky because that's a part of the facade- because a part of him WANTS to scare the Gems away, wants to be left alone forever, believing this the fate he deserves as price for his misdeeds.

In this form, by his own definitions he is NOT useful to the Crystal Gems at all.

But they don't care.

Because it never WAS about Steven's 'usefulness' to them, they simply love him for being Steven.

With this in mind, the conclusion of Steven Universe: Future wasn't just a salve to teen Steven's immediate struggles, it was a salve to the foundational insecurities that have been plaguing him his entire life.

And hopefully... from this point on... his family's shows of love and encouragement will be enough to finally convince Steven that he's more than worth their time...

No matter what path the future leads him on, and no matter what form he takes.

#su #su future #steven universe #su meta #my post stuff

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janmisali · 2 years ago

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what do you think of tone indicators in general?

unfortunately my thoughts on tone indicators are somewhat nuanced. fortunately, this is tumblr not twitter, so I can just write out my full thoughts in one post and be as verbose about it as feels necessary.

speaking as an autistic person (and I know there are other autistic people who don't hold this same view, this is just my perspective), I think as an accessibility tool, the extended set tone indicators in current popular use is fundamentally misguided.

the oldest ones, /s for sarcasm and /j for jokes, make sense. their notation isn't the most intuitive thing ("does /s mean sarcastic or serious?") but it's not too difficult to explain what they mean. I've had to spend my whole life learning by brute force what different tones of voice mean and what they change about how I'm supposed to interpret something, so I already know what "read this in a sarcastic voice" and "read this as a joke" are supposed to mean. my existing skills can be translated into the new form without too much effort.

the same thing applies to emoji and emoticons. I know what facial expressions mean, because I had to learn what they mean. figuring out if :) is sincere or not from context is a skill I've already needed to develop. it doesn't come naturally for me, but it's something I already at least somewhat know how to do.

most of the tone indicators in current use uh. don't work like this.

tone indicators like /ref or /nbh don't correspond to specific tones of voice. I don't have a "I'm making a reference" voice or a "I'm not talking about a person who's here" voice that I can picture the sentence being read in. these do not indicate tones, they're purely disambiguators. they clarify what something means without necessarily changing how it would be read out loud.

and on paper, that's fine, right? like, it's theoretically a good thing to take an otherwise ambiguous statement and add something to it that clarifies what you meant by it. the problem is that these non-tone tone indicators are not even remotely self-explanatory. it's up to me, the person who is being clarified to, to know what all these acronyms are supposed to mean, and how they change the way I'm supposed to interpret what something means.

it's, quite literally, a newly-invented second set of social cues that I'm expected to learn separately from the set that I've already spent my whole life figuring out, and it works completely differently.

sure, these rules are (in principle) less arbitrary than the rules of facial expressions and tones of voice and how long you're supposed to wait before it's your turn to speak, but they're also fully artificial and recently invented, which means they're currently in a constant state of flux. tone indicators go in and out of fashion all the time, and the "comprehensive lists" are never helpful.

in theory, I appreciate the idea of people going out of their way to clarify what they mean by potentially ambiguous things they post online. if it worked, that would be a really nice thing to do.

however, sometimes I imagine what the internet would be like without them. what if instead of using /s, the expectation was that if you're sarcastic online there's no guarantee that strangers reading your post will know what you meant? what if instead of inventing more and more acronyms to cover every possible potentially confusing situation, we just... expected one another to speak less ambiguously in the first place?

so, I on paper like the idea of tone indicators. I think it's good that some people are trying to be considerate by being extra clear about what they mean by things. but if tone indicators didn't exist, and people who wanted to be considerate in this way instead just made a point of phrasing things more clearly to begin with, I think that would be vastly preferable to even the most well-implemented tone indicator system.

also /pos sucks because there's something deeply and profoundly wrong for an abbreviation that means "I don't mean this as an insult, don't worry" to be spelled the same way as an acronym that's an insult

#tone indicators #jan misali

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t3rrarium · 1 year ago

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It's so weird to me when people complain about Astrid becoming more "feminine" as she grows up, as if that takes away her strength and courage, as if she can no longer be tough if she's associated with traditional feminine qualities.

Specially when you consider how the fundamental thing that changes about her is that she becomes happier and more airy, thousands of years worth of pressure being taken out of her shoulders now that she doesn't have to fight in a war that for so long had dictated her life and future. You can already see how that change begins in the first movie after her flight with hiccup, but it's so blatantly clear in rtte; she's more cheerful, she laughs often, you can see how she's way more comfortable with herself.

And the thing is that she's still Astrid! She still has a bit of an anger management issue, she still isn't afraid to call everyone out on their bullshit, she always speaks her mind, and she never becomes a two-dimensional love interest, she's a very complex character with lots of flaws and strengths. And most importantly, she's still a warrior, that's still one of the more defining traits of her character and something she takes pride in exceeding in and that everyone admires and respects her for.

And I just feel like acting like all of that is erased because she also has more of a “girly” personality is rotted in misogyny and believing that girlhood is a synonym of weakness and superficiality.

#httyd #how to train your dragon #race to the edge #astrid hofferson #hiccstrid

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antigonick · 7 months ago

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Fascism became an all-purpose term because one can eliminate from a fascist regime one or more features, and it will still be recognizable as fascist. […] But in spite of this fuzziness, I think it is possible to outline a list of features that are typical of what I would like to call Ur-Fascism, or Eternal Fascism. These features cannot be organized into a system; many of them contradict each other, and are also typical of other kinds of despotism or fanaticism. But it is enough that one of them be present to allow fascism to coagulate around it.

The first feature of Ur-Fascism is the cult of tradition [and syncretism]. Syncretism is not only, as the dictionary says, “the combination of different forms of belief or practice”; such a combination must tolerate contradictions. Each of the original messages contains a sliver of wisdom, and whenever they seem to say different or incompatible things it is only because all are alluding, allegorically, to the same primeval truth. As a consequence, there can be no advancement of learning. Truth has been already spelled out once and for all, and we can only keep interpreting its obscure message. […]

Traditionalism implies the rejection of modernism. [… For the Nazis], the rejection of the modern world was disguised as a rebuttal of the capitalistic way of life, but it mainly concerned the rejection of the Spirit of 1789 (and of 1776, of course). The Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, is seen as the beginning of modern depravity. In this sense Ur-Fascism can be defined as irrationalism.

Irrationalism also depends on the cult of action for action’s sake. Action being beautiful in itself, it must be taken before, or without, any previous reflection. Thinking is a form of emasculation. Therefore culture is suspect insofar as it is identified with critical attitudes. […]

No syncretistic faith can withstand analytical criticism. The critical spirit makes distinctions, and to distinguish is a sign of modernism. In modern culture the scientific community praises disagreement as a way to improve knowledge. For Ur-Fascism, disagreement is treason.

Besides, disagreement is a sign of diversity. Ur-Fascism grows up and seeks for consensus by exploiting and exacerbating the natural fear of difference. The first appeal of a fascist or prematurely fascist movement is an appeal against the intruders. Thus Ur-Fascism is racist by definition.

Ur-Fascism derives from individual or social frustration. That is why one of the most typical features of the historical fascism was the appeal to a frustrated middle class, a class suffering from an economic crisis or feelings of political humiliation, and frightened by the pressure of lower social groups [or other minorities]. [...]

To people who feel deprived of a clear social identity, Ur-Fascism says that their only privilege is the most common one, to be born in the same country. This is the origin of nationalism. Besides, the only ones who can provide an identity to the nation are its enemies. Thus at the root of the Ur-Fascist psychology there is the obsession with a plot, possibly an international one. [...]

[B]y a continuous shifting of rhetorical focus, the enemies are at the same time too strong and too weak.

For Ur-Fascism there is no struggle for life but, rather, life is lived for struggle. Thus pacifism is trafficking with the enemy. It is bad because life is permanent warfare. This, however, brings about an Armageddon complex. Since enemies have to be defeated, there must be a final battle, after which the movement will have control of the world. But such a “final solution” implies a further era of peace, a Golden Age, which contradicts the principle of permanent war. No fascist leader has ever succeeded in solving this predicament.

Elitism is a typical aspect of any reactionary ideology, insofar as it is fundamentally aristocratic, and aristocratic and militaristic elitism cruelly implies contempt for the weak. Ur-Fascism can only advocate a popular elitism. Every citizen belongs to the best people of the world, the members of the party are the best among the citizens, every citizen can (or ought to) become a member of the party. But there cannot be patricians without plebeians. Since the group is hierarchically organized (according to a military model), every subordinate leader despises his own underlings, and each of them despises his inferiors. This reinforces the sense of mass elitism.

In such a perspective everybody is educated to become a hero. In every mythology the hero is an exceptional being, but in Ur-Fascist ideology, heroism is the norm. [...] The Ur-Fascist hero craves heroic death, advertised as the best reward for a heroic life. The Ur-Fascist hero is impatient to die. In his impatience, he more frequently sends other people to death.

Since both permanent war and heroism are difficult games to play, the Ur-Fascist transfers his will to power to sexual matters. This is the origin of machismo (which implies both disdain for women and intolerance and condemnation of nonstandard sexual habits, from chastity to homosexuality).

Ur-Fascism is based upon a selective populism, a qualitative populism, one might say. [...] For Ur-Fascism, however, individuals as individuals have no rights, and the People is conceived as a quality, a monolithic entity expressing the Common Will. Since no large quantity of human beings can have a common will, the Leader pretends to be their interpreter. Having lost their power of delegation, citizens do not act; they are only called on to play the role of the People. Thus the People is only a theatrical fiction. [...] There is in our future a TV or Internet populism, in which the emotional response of a selected group of citizens can be presented and accepted as the Voice of the People. Because of its qualitative populism Ur-Fascism must be against “rotten” parliamentary governments. Wherever a politician casts doubt on the legitimacy of a parliament because it no longer represents the Voice of the People, we can smell Ur-Fascism.

Ur-Fascism speaks Newspeak. Newspeak was invented by Orwell, in 1984, as the official language of Ingsoc, English Socialism. But elements of Ur-Fascism are common to different forms of dictatorship. All the Nazi or Fascist schoolbooks made use of an impoverished vocabulary, and an elementary syntax, in order to limit the instruments for complex and critical reasoning.

—Umberto Eco, in "Ur-Fascism or Eternal Fascism: Fourteen Ways of Looking at a Blackshirt”

#umberto eco #ur-fascism #hope this helps. wake the fuck up if you haven't yet.#lit

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thethiefandtheairbender · 1 month ago

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Had a good chat with my partner about it today that maybe let me put a finger on what's always bugged me about "we're here to fix canon" attitudes being so prevalent in fandom (especially in the past 10ish years) throughout my life. This is not to say there's never a time or place for that (I've written fix its myself, or the occasional meta on how something could be fixed/improved) or that people are wrong to (we're anti fandom policing). It's also not an issue to me on the basis of "I love my blorbo in canon and fandom mischaracterizes them in the name of 'fixing' them" etc as it is just... coming from a fundamentally different perspective for story analysis / interaction than most (not all) people in fandom, I think.

One of the reasons I enjoyed getting my English degree was because I was finally being encouraged to and taught in alignment with what my brain had always be inclined to do: you always assume that there's a reason, and a good reason, for the story to do whatever it's doing. It assumes that the story is already exactly what it is supposed to be as it is supposed to be, and it's up to you to find the reasons Why.

The story was boring, or made you feel uncomfortable/bad, or you couldn't root for a character or relationship? All of that, at least at the beginning, doesn't really Matter. You assume that the story is paced fine, you assume the discomfort was intentional or part of something broader (historical shit that hasn't aged well) or that the dichotomy of "I feel invested or not invested" isn't useful. And in doing so, you replace all that with asking why.

An example I'll use is 1984 by George Orwell. I read that book in high school and I fucking hated it. Normally, I like the protagonist the most in anything I watch/read, but in that book, I loathed both the two leads and were actively rooting for them to be captured and tortured so the book could end faster; it was an actively miserable affair. I don't think that was necessarily the author's intention (certain amount of death of the author is baked in, but for a lot of the texts I was reading, we didn't even know the author or anything substantial about them, i.e. Beowulf) but, more importantly, I don't think any of those things are Flaws or downsides in the text.

Part of this is because 1984 is a dystopian novel (if a romcom book breaks genre convention that badly where you're miserable reading it, yeah, maybe something went wrong, but more on that in a minute) but even then it doesn't really matter on the basis of genre; I'm sure some people read 1984 and felt fascinated/excited while reading.

Rather, the focus becomes: what do I find so unlikeable about the protagonists? Why would they be written that way (on purpose)? What does it say about the society they live in? What does it say about their characterization, social stratification, etc etc? If a character does something that I think is non-sensical, why? Have I missed something? Should I watch retrospectively for clues? Is there another way to engage and to understand? Is what I label as confusion potentially a, or the, Point?

It is only after finding the reasons, and/or finding them unsuitable, that I let my subjective feelings into play. While a story can have great merit on the basis of relatability, relatability or "this aligns with my worldview / expectations / desires / etc." is not the be-all end-all of discerning quality

For example, I'm never going to be a fan of Jane and Rochester (she's 18, he's her 40 year old employer who routinely lies to her) but there are reasons, Good reasons, they get together in Jane Eyre (a book so subjectively boring I struggled through it twice) in response to both when the book was written and with the book's themes / symbols / their characterization. If they didn't end up together, it would be a fundamentally different story; it would not be Jane Eyre. So objectively, it's fine and an understandably massive influence on the western literary canon; subjectively, it's so fucking bad and I'm so glad I never have to read it again. But if I stopped there with my lack of interest or dislike of the main romance, I'd be missing out on what the text has to offer as well, the text.

This applies to more modern day stuff as well. I don't like Double Trouble from SheRa as nonbinary representation, and I'm nonbinary myself; however, I can acknowledge that the things I don't like about them were probably simultaneously empowering and exactly what the author (who is also nonbinary) wanted to be per his own experience of gender. Having a "I assume the text is right" mindset means that I can hold space for my own feelings/analysis (i.e. I also did not like Catra's arc, as I think she needed to learn other things / be written under a different lens) while holding space for the text as is (under the canonical lens of Catra learning it's never too late to be saved, I think her arc is conclusive and well done). And these two viewpoints aren't fundamentally opposed, but can coexist as analytical soup, being equally true / having equal value under the subjective (my view) and more 'objective' (the canon text's construction, or what I / the scholarly consensus, if it exists, believes it to be, anyway) at the same time.

Again, none of this is to say that you can't take issue with a canon text, or want to change something. I remember one time I was watching a show where their refusal to explore a romantic relationship between the female lead and her guy best friend was actively making the show worse; I understood their reasonings of wanting to put them with other people to explore their relationships, and wanting to emphasize a male-female friendship at the core of the story, and I still wanted them to put the two together as a Ship instead for various reasons. But that doesn't mean my line of thinking would've been Objectively Better—assuming if they had been paired together would've been executed in the manner I'd enjoy, or that them being paired with other people couldn't have been executed in ways I would've enjoyed more—merely that I likely would've enjoyed the series more per my own subjective preferences.

What I see in fandom sometimes is that people, understandably, aren't approaching at the start from a "the story always has a good reason" as much as they are speed-running from a "this didn't make sense to me or felt bad/off" and maybe examining why (which is supremely useful!) but not going back to examine the other side of the coin as to why the story would do it anyway.

Because sometimes the story—or a part of a story—is still 'bad' to us. It's just worthwhile to look at why it's 'good,' too.

#dragons rambles #mine #writing #literature #analysis series #analysis #this is also the singular reason (beyond being able to explain thoughts) why i'm 'good' at analysis tbh #you just ask why. you assume there's a why. you assume there's a good why #only when the story stops giving compelling whys that don't fit into anything else going on does it start Declining tbh #atla fandom im looking at u #'i don't understand why kataang ended up together / the lion turtle energy bending' have u honest to god tried to #this is also reflected in how i write bc whenever my story changes it's underpinned with a feeling of #'this is always the way the story was i just didn't know it till now'#also contributes to taking 90% of things ppl say in good faith tbh

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unionizedwizard · 6 months ago

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so. many people have already pointed that koana is sort of like an ARR alphinaud remix and while it is not untrue, i think this analysis is only superficially correct. because the salient point of koana's character is that he feels shame and resentment towards his roots & origins and therefore overcompensates with sharlayan weabooism (well-intentioned, but still unsuitable). he comes off as really weird and stuck up, in the beginning especially, where it's like. "what the fuck is this guy's problem" in a way that's rather similar to the average player's reaction to ARR alphinaud.

BUT!

the thing with ARR alphinaud is that he was the Quintessential Sharlayan, both on account of his upbringing and family tree, and of his personal interests and achievements. he was (and still is) secure in his origins and cultural identity. koana's case is different, because he clearly loathes tradition and turali cultural practices in a way that comes across (and fundamentally is) really weird and destructive, which comes to bite him in the ass on many occasions during the rite of succession (and understandably so).

it all starts to make sense when you learn about his backstory though. while we know that wuk lamat doesn't remember anything of her own childhood, having been adopted by gulool ja ja as a toddler, koana was adopted at a much older age. he remembers his early years, and that's what fuels his entire vision for the future of tural. as he tells it, he was born to one of the most traditionalist hhetsarro tribes in tural, and abandoned (accidentally(?) left behind) during one of their yearly migrations, only surviving thanks to a pelupelu merchant who rescued and took him in before employing him in his tuliyollal shop. an obviously incredibly traumatic event that would shape everything about his future mindset: he's closed off and withdrawn to the extreme, highly analytical, values self-sufficiency and independence and technical innovations above all else, because that's how he survived to begin with. because his nomadic, highly traditional, presumably (from what we've seen of the one hhetsarro tribe we've met so far) tight-knit, spiritual and social tribe rejected and abandoned him. it would make sense that he'd rationalize this unfathomable violence by leaning hard into the opposite, and letting his own pain and resentment color his entire vision, turning his own feelings into a more general mindset of shame, resentful inadequacy, and complete rejection of anything "traditional"

i think sharlayan was a good choice for him because it's pretty much, indeed, the opposite atmosphere: in sharlayan culture, family ties are a lot less emphasized, while the kind of ties that colleagues, peers, teachers and students develop are considered as very important (see pretty much every sidequest and margrat's custom deliveries and all). all these relationships based on a common work and aspirations rather than origins would indeed agree with koana's character better, and his analytical skills, vision and intelligence are pretty much the most valued traits to them.

which is why it was actually such a stroke of genius to have thancred and urianger specifically support him. of course, both of them had a character development arc that echoed with koana's issues: learning how to express himself more openly and acknowledge his feelings, all that, meaning they were uniquely able to help him. but when you look more closely, they can also relate to him on a more personal level: thancred was "adopted" by louisoix as an orphaned lominsan street urchin, probably at a similar age as koana when he was adopted by gulool ja ja; and urianger's parents notably "abandoned" him to the point he was mostly tagging along at moenbryda's house and, later, at the leveilleur estate, as louisoix's disciple and honorary uncle to the twins (also worth noting that urianger and koana share the same flavor of autism).

so the rite of succession was a much-needed window into his own biases and (literal) coping mechanisms, and must have been quite difficult to deal with considering pretty much all the feats involved interacting with and strengthening tight-knit smaller communities with strong traditions and family ties. luckily, partly thanks to thancred and urianger (but not only! he did the work himself), he was clear-minded enough to realize his own failings, and well-intentioned enough to step down - because he did not want power for its own sake, unlike zoraal ja; he wanted to protect the turali people from a potential invasion by leaning hard into foreign technological advances, therefore mimicking his own personal journey and adapting his own tried-and-true methods of survival: anticipating the hardships, being as independent and self-sufficient as possible, and choosing isolationism.

and finally i want to point out that the new techniques and technologies he imported from sharlayan are all (safe, fast and reliable) modes of transportation: aetherytes, dirigibles (including the alpaca carriage adaptation), and trains. interesting choice, moreso considering that while aetherytes are the #1 sharlayan specialty, they have neither dirigibles nor trains; which takes on a whole new layer of meaning when you remember that his original tribe was nomadic and that he specifically was left behind, stranded in the desert, during one of their traditional migrations............

in this regard he truly IS green g'raha, considering that g'raha was, similarly, raised in a traditional seeker manner before being sent to sharlayan for his own (and the tribe's) safety; of course the difference is that g'raha embraced his heritage by locking himself in the crystal tower by the end of ARR, since the G tribe was tasked with guarding the remaining allagan ruins and weapons, to make sure their power would not be misused by yet another imperialist military force (he locked himself in the tower to reinforce its defenses and make sure the garlean empire would not access it to conquer eorzea)

thank you for your time 👍

#dawntrail spoilers #dawntrail #7.0 spoilers #koana #listen i know i'm forgetting a bunch of things #but this is a beginning #i also think (and hope?) that he'll get more character development #what a great and compelling character i did not anticipate that i'd love him so much #on a more personal basis this is killing me because this is pretty much irma's entire character and backstory.#top ten traumatized children who developed hardcore cringe sharlayan weaboo tendencies To Cope

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raguiras · 5 months ago

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What's this?! Spade of Storms is canon in the game now?! /j

Finally finished this Spade of Storms WIP from early June 😅 Click for better quality!

Reblogs are very appreciated ~

「 Bonus versions & ship ramble below the cut! 」

♤ More Deuce x Allen: ♤

SHIP INTRO: 1 // 2 // 3 // 4

OTHER ART: 1

Ship blog: @spade-of-storms

♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤

♤ Ship ramble ♤

There are many reasons why Allen and Deuce are perfect for each other (list), but a fair share of said reasons are rooted in or can be traced back to one massive, highly important core point: these two have extremely similar experiences in a reversed order.

Said experiences shaped their personalities, goals, insecurities and "masks" — all of which are highly important factors for Deuce and Allen's relationship development.

So today, I'll be talking about how their backstories influence Allen and Deuce's relationship.

Something I noticed is that if Spade of Storms weren't dating, they'd pretty much end up experiencing at least parts of each other's backstory... and end up in a super miserable state.

Allen is a former honor student who overworked himself to the point of burning out, all because he was a people pleaser and his stellar grades still weren't enough for his teachers who expected nothing but the absolute best from him. Additionally, he had to suppress his true self and interests because he was expected to be a model student in every single way, and anger was something only "bad" kids felt.

Sounds familiar? Deuce is unknowingly on the path to end up in the same situation, except in his case, the fact that he can't seem to achieve better grades no matter what causes him even more distress. If he actually ended up becoming a honor student, Deuce would experience a ton of additional pressure, not to mention that he's already struggling to hide the delinquent tendencies that are a fundamental part of his true personality... Sure, "honor student" sounds like a nice and admirable title to have — but the reality behind it is cruel, and Deuce isn't aware of that yet.

Which is why I gave him Allen.

A large part of Allen's trauma is rooted in his past as a honor student and the crushing expectations people (including himself) threw at him, and he desperately wants Deuce to watch out for himself and approach his goal of becoming a honor student carefully and logically rather than bite off more than he can chew and end up drowning in even more pressure, self-suppression and insecurities. Allen doesn't want Deuce to experience all the negative sides of being a honor student and instead supports the Heartslabyul student's goals by working towards them with a pace appropriate for Deuce, helping him study through actually unique methods specifically tailored for Deuce, and — most importantly — giving Deuce a safe and healthy environment where he can be his 100% authentic self and learn how to properly get his impulsiveness under control at the same time.

And the other way around? How does Deuce's past help Allen?

Deuce quit being a delinquent because it not only disappointed his mom, but also caused him a lot of trouble and massively stained his reputation. While Allen can handle his own delinquent tendencies just fine on the outside, his anger is actually much worse than Deuce's, not to mention that he has incredibly violent fantasies about the people he can't stand...

So far, Allen hasn't done anything bad. But Deuce, despite being a delinquent at heart himself, is able to calmly remind Allen to not do anything he might end up regretting or that might stain his reputation, especially since this is a major fear of Allen's. Deuce's worries and loving way manage to keep Allen in check, no matter how strong the Ramshackle student's hatred for society grows.

♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎

Now, HOW exactly are they able to help each other grow? WHY did they form intimate levels of trust to begin with? And especially, why can Allen actually efficiently help Deuce in the first place when nobody else can?

All will be revealed in the next issue Spade of Storms explanation post >:)

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dzvelinaskebiyars · 30 days ago

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No because can we talk about team Sabbath? Not to say that they're hot and they're cool but like analyse them?

Can we talk about how they're different from others individually? How they're socially rejected as if they're fundamentally different from normals?

Firstly, Vinny Hong.

He was always discriminated for being different in every way one can be different from someone. His looks- red hair and Heterochromia which is said to be his albinism. He has been bullied for looking differently than what's beauty standard in Korea, for being different from normal people as he was convinced that he's abnormal one. He was also bullied a lot for being a poor, which sets his difference between rich or non poor people and him. He has been picked on a lot because of that and the fact that he was struggling with money affected his character a lot. We saw that society doesn't treat ppl with albinism and/or Heterochromia well, and plus poor people are often victims of bullying. On top of that, he got in troubles a lot and made himself a name "a thug" in school, which again set him apart from rest of students. He's called mad dog. Teachers can't deal with him, adults are having problems with him and etc. He's completely rejected by society. That's why he wants recognition so badly, so that he can deal with his inferiority complex.

Secondly, Hajun a.k.a Joker

Hajun is underground fighter, I think that already sets him apart from most people and most boxers (as they don't fight for underground fights) so that's one difference for you. Even his little brother hates that he's underground fighter, despite the fact that Hajun genuinely seems to like fighting just as cycling but despite that, his love for fighting isn't being accepted by his own family. He's also different from others as a character. For example, his attention span seems to be short and messy as he gets easily distracted. He's in middle of important race but he gets distracted and stops at red light when he actually doesn't have to. No one stopped in entire windbreaker at red light except Hajun. He also stopped to save the puppy during the race and came in last because of that. People were confused because what Hajun was doing was not making sense for them, that it was actually very different from what kind of players they're used to. Plus Hajun, just like Vinny, is facing money problems.

Thirdly, Wooin Yoo

Wooin was rejected by his own family but I think it's also said how people, even now, refuse to admit that he's normal. But first of all, his main issue is his family. Wooin has been trying for years to get recognition from his family, some love and acknowledgement but he never got one, in fact he got redeemed as useless, disappointment, troublemaker punk. All he honestly wanted was recognition from his family, no one else. He was locked up, yes fucking locked up, by his own father and the freedom got ripped away from his hands. I doubt he had much freedom from the beginning anyway. He got locked up for assumingly long time and even if his house was big and even if he was rich, he was extremely lonely. Now, he's seen as weird by people but I honestly think it's because he couldn't develop well due to his abusive family.

Lastly, Hyuk Kwon

We all know why Hyuk is being rejected: his style. He's pro Cyclist, he's really good and talented but unfortunately, he can be aggressive. Like his jack-knife, or how he tried to crush team ghost's member's head with his bike while telling them to die. That's what got him expelled from his previous team.

"i heard Hyuk is kicked out."

"Finally. Everyone who races against him ends up injured haha."

So it's obvious he was rejectec by his own team. If it hasn't been Wooin, he'd probably be dealing with this problem again.

Team Sabbath is being rejected by rest of the teams as well, as other crews don't welcome their style of cycling. But it's like Hummingbird and Sabbath aren't that different, they're both similar to found family but they have different morals.

#windbreaker manhwa #wind breaker #wooin windbreaker #joker windbreaker #vinny hong #hyuk kwon #sabbath crew #windbreaker webtoon analysis

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perseas-wellyboots · 11 months ago

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The Luke Castellan problem in PJO books and Fandom

I just finished rereading the pjo series for the dozenth time and I have so many thoughts about Luke and how the fandom woobified him.

Like no Luke did not have the right idea and executed it in the wrong way. He wasn't a misguided victim, although there is no doubt Kronos manipulated him. But him being manipulated does not absolve him of his wrongdoings. Hurt people can still hurt people, you can be abused and still become an abuser.

Most of Fandom's idea of Luke being a 'hero' because he did the right thing in the end is extremely doozy like ok he killed himself to stop Kronos but that does not absolve him the blame of killing innocent people.

While Luke's main goal was the destruction of Gods, that was not because he wanted the demigods to have better lives. He actively killed demigods.

In the Sea of Monsters, when Percy, Annabeth and Tyson snuck into Princess Andromeda; they saw 12 year olds being trained how to kill a 'dummy in camp half blood tshirts'. He was actively exploiting children and manipulating them into killing other children and saw nothing wrong with it.

He only considered deflecting from Kronos when he found out that he was going to be possessed by him.

He only worked and cared for him, he was so lost into power and revenge that HE became a monster.

"Oh but he cared for Thalia and Annabeth!!" I'll get into that later too

I think Luke's fatal flaw contrary to the opinion of fandom is The Urge to Prove Himself.

He had one conversation with Hermes which made him angry and bitter and Thalia even notes that after that conversation Luke got into more and more fights with monsters like he had something to prove which Annabeth didnt seem to see as a problem since he was her hero. They got into more skirmishes because of his recklessness, fighting more monsters since Luke wanted to pick a fight with each one he came across.

(Conversation from PJO, The Last Olympian)

His fatal flaw being to Prove Himself would explain why he took the failure of his quest so hard that the night he returned from the quest was the same night Kronos started speaking to him for the first time. It didn't help that when he returned from his failed quest, the campers treated him with pity.

He wanted to pull Olympus down stone by stone because He failed his quest that he didn't want to do because it was already done by Hercules once. 🥴

His endgame has nothing to do with wanting to help ANYBODY. He wanted to take down gods because he had a grudge against them and wanted to Prove that he could do it. Everything else comes secondary if it fits his agenda.

This is one of the reasons why it bothers me so much when people say that Luke had the right idea or that Percy would have joined Kronos if Sally had died like you fundamentally misunderstood the character of Percy if you think he would have joined Kronos.

He talks about "driving humanity back into caves, all except the strongest - who would serve him" THIS IS LITERALLY FASCISM???

(According to Merriam-Webster, Fascism is a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression)

Now onto the topic of Thalia, Annabeth and Luke

First of all, I absolutely hate that 'Thalia and Luke had a thing before she got turned into a tree bit' because Thalia was 12 and Luke was 14 when they met and Thalia was 15 and Luke was 20-21ish when they meet again in TTC ugh hate that.

Now TTC, where to begin, here I used to believe Luke had already bathed in river Styx as there are some narrations where Percy notes that Luke looked worse and like his scar was reopened and would certainly explain how he survived the cliff fall but on my rereading I realised that Thalia and Luke fought when Percy was holding the sky and Thalia injured Luke so nvm then.

It is however in this book that Luke began to realise Kronos's plan for him as it is implied by the General and he starts to fear for his life.

Mind you, what did Luke think would happen if Thalia did agree to join Kronos when he knew Kronos was looking for a host of body...

Luke is many things, he is cunning, manipulative, a great swordsman but what he is not is stupid. If Thalia would have agreed then Kronos would have used Thalia as a vessel 😬

And oh boy the can of worms that is Luke and Annabeth. I've seen many Luke fans/apologists deny that there is no canon evidence of Luke being romantically interested in Annabeth BUT THERE IS?? they refuse to believe and call Annabeth an unreliable narrator because otherwise their uwu white boy would be a Pedophile. Even if he wasn't a Pedo, he manipulated Annabeth so many times to make her sympathise with her and use her emotions against her.

(excerpts from various books: TLO, TLO, BoTL, MoA annabeth's pov)

^ Annabeth was 15 almost 16 or already 16 I believe when Luke asked her to run away with him in a romantic sense and he was 21-22.

also another evidence adding to the theory of his fatal flaw having proving himself.

Now, onto the topic of CHB and Luke:

Luke being hesitant to attack camp half blood in BotL has less to do with him suddenly growing a spine (as some fans suggest) and more to do with the inevitable possession.

When Kronos informs that he will himself lead the attack, Luke advises to use Hyperion instead because he knows for Kronos to attack it in person, he would finally possess Luke.

(first one is from TTC, the other two from BoTL)

One of the last things I wanna talk about is Silena Beauregard & Luke and Luke's portrayal in the new Percy Jackson series:

Luke was 17 when Kronos started speaking to him and 19 when he left the camp. Silena was 17-18 when she died which makes her 13-14 when Luke left the camp in TLT and 11-12 when Kronos first started talking to him. Adult Luke charmed an underage girl, and promised her that she was helping the demigods and then when she tried to stop, he started blackmailing her. [excerpts from TLO]

According to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children UK, Grooming is when someone builds a relationship, trust and emotional connection with a child or young person so they can manipulate, exploit and abuse them. The relationship a groomer builds can take different forms. This could be: a romantic relationship, as a mentor, an authority figure, a dominant and persistent figure. They might use blackmail to make a child feel guilt and shame or introduce the idea of 'secrets' to control, frighten and intimidate.

So canonically, Book!Luke is a fascist groomer pedophile.

Now on the new Disney+ Percy Jackson show, it seems that Rick Riordan is subtly rewriting the character of Luke and removing the more problematic aspect of him (pedophile and grooming). Let me explain why I think that:

Even though in TLT the book, Luke describes Annabeth as his little sister we know how well that lasted but I don't think they are keeping Annabeth's crush on him on the show from what I've seen (though I could be wrong).

Secondly, the casting of Dior Goodjohn as Clarisse puts Clarisse on the same age range as Luke, maybe a year or two younger but in the first book Clarisse was 13-14 and she was 17 in TLO, so they have aged her up. It is my assumption that they will also age Silena by casting a 17-19 yr old actress as her.

And they have made Luke far more sympathetic in the show than the books (him not calling a hellhound during capture the flag and no pit scorpions in the finale), but we wouldn't know how sympathetic or villainous they are making him until season 2 comes out. Charlie Bushnell gives an excellent performance imo

Though this again reflects the double standards it comes to PJO, they have given much grace and praise for the changes made to Luke's character and little to no complaint for ageing up Clarisse but the hate Walker and especially Leah are given is so cruel. Leah has been so much racially targeted though I think she's an excellent Annabeth, just something to think about.

Also, before I forget-

We don't give enough flack to Rick Riordan for writing two weird age dynamics without recognising as grooming and pedophilic nature. (Lukabeth and Caleo/Capercy)

The characters are never made to realise (especially Annabeth) that an older person having feelings for them as a minor is not a normal behaviour.

Especially in regards to Calypso who may take the form of a 15 year old but is actually more than 4612 (according to the riordan wiki) and her having a crush on 14 year old Percy and 15-16 yr old Leo Valdez, not to mention how rudely she treated Leo. Also her cursing Annabeth because Percy left her. Not only is it plain nasty but she's never called out. Its actually so disgusting🤕.

Anyways this turned into a long rant but I would love to read your opinions, especially on Luke's fatal flaw.

I know for some people it may seem like I'm too hard on him but this is just my opinion.

IMO I have no problem if you like a morally bad or gray person, an antihero or a villain as long as their bad deeds aren't swept under the rug and pretend they never happened or glorify their good deeds.

I actually think villian's bad things make them more interesting.

Luke is an antagonist and a villain of the PJO series and a part of being a villain is that some people are going to hate you and that's ok.

Me personally, I was never a fan of his and that's ok.

I know some people are going to bring up the fact that Percy in MoA sympathises but the PJO characters are complicated and Luke was very skilled at making others think of his reason to destroy the Gods the way they would sympathise the most and we see that multiple times.

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williamrikers · 2 years ago

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On the subject of consent in recent BLs

In this analysis, I will take a look at several love scenes in recent Thai BLs, how they frame consent and the sexual agency of the characters, and why those matter.

(KinnPorsche deserves its own post: I’m sure people have already written in detail about how much emphasis is placed on issues of consent/non-consent throughout the show and how fundamental consent is to the relationship arcs of both KinnPorsche and VegasPete, and I won’t belabor the point here. Also, special shout-out to The Warp Effect for what it brought to the conversation about gay sex, but TWE isn’t technically a BL so I decided not to include it in this analysis.)

I am going to take a closer look at the following shows in this essay: Not Me, The Eclipse, A Boss And A Babe, Step By Step, and La Pluie.

Not Me and The Eclipse predate the other shows by two years/one year respectively, but I feel it is valuable to include them here because both show very explicit negotiations of consent that I feel are spiritual successors to the wonderful scenes we’ve been getting in the other three shows.

Why am I even writing this? There used to be an unfortunate tendency in the genre to have a power imbalance between the “seme” and the “uke” character, which translated into the seme deciding when to have sex and what kind of sex to have—and even though recently, several shows have done good work in dismantling the seme/uke dynamic and questioning the associated stereotypes, it cannot be denied that the archetypes are still an important part of most BLs, and even in cases where the tropes are played with and questioned, understanding those subversions still requires a knowledge of and familiarity with the original tropes on the part of the audience.

However, gone are the days of Until We Meet Again and Dean’s “I’ve waited long enough, make sure you’re ready.” (I enjoyed UWMA a lot but that was. Yeah. Not Great.) Now, we see characters actually talking about and negotiating their limits, and doing what feels good to them.

Let’s start from the very beginning. Not Me was an absolute trailblazer in this regard, and not mentioning it here would be a gross oversight. The first time Sean and White have sex, it happens in their version of the beach episode. (Which, in Not Me, is the two characters briefly living in a tent inside an abandoned building. This show is the best.) Sean and White are removed from their usual environment and protected from the outside world by two barriers: the walls of the old house and the tent that’s literally enveloping them and giving them a space that is unequivocally theirs, shared, in which neither one of the characters has any sort of power over the other. And what happens in that space when they’re about to have sex is extremely interesting: the first thing Sean asks is whether White is afraid of him, which White denies. The following exchange goes like this: White: "So, what are we doing?" Sean: "What should I do to you?" White: "That’s up to you." (Watch the whole scene here.)

I find this exchange incredibly meaningful because this already turns the seme/uke dynamic that can be found in a lot of other shows on its head. OffGun as a branded pair can easily be stereotyped into the seme/uke dynamic just because of their physical appearances, and clearly spelling out that both characters have agency in this scene is incredibly important.

And then it gets better! Sean assumes that White is sexually inexperienced (which is not true but the fact that White was actually in a relationship with a woman back in Russia never comes up again after the pilot episode, so maybe the show expects us to assume this, too), and suggests they try different things and White can tell him what he likes and doesn’t like. Compared to the stuff we’re getting now, this scene isn’t very high heat at all, but it’s one of my favorite intimate scenes ever because them asking each other “Do you like this?” after every kiss, every touch, is so incredibly unique and transports a wonderful sense of figuring out sexual pleasure together, as a couple.

Sex in Not Me is not something one character does to another, it is something that is discovered and shared together, and we even get an afterglow scene in which they gently tease each other about their fast beating hearts. (And don’t get me started on the importance of White choosing to ask Sean whether Sean is okay with White not being like Black in that moment right before they have sex, because he doesn’t actually want to have sex with Sean as Black! He wants to discover and share intimacy with Sean as White, as himself, not as his brother! The layers!)

Anyway, I think that scene paved the way for a lot of the conversations around consent we’re now getting in BL, just because it is so explicitly, unashamedly putting forward a definition of sexuality that has nothing to do with one character actively giving and the other passively receiving, but frames intimacy as something that is built together. (More on giving and receiving later!)

Now, moving on to The Eclipse. I decided to include the first time Akk and Aye have sex for a different reason: while we don’t really see them actually talking about consent, we see them practicing non-verbal consent. Let me explain. Akk’s and Aye’s whole thing is teasing each other. At first, Aye is usually the one doing the teasing, but Akk gets the hang of it towards the end of the show and teases his boyfriend right back. When they’re in Akk’s childhood bedroom together, Aye clearly alludes to the fact that he thought they might use this opportunity to have sex for the first time, which Akk pretends not to understand, all while alluding to it himself. I love this guy. (Watch the whole scene here.) Anyway, Akk says he wants to sleep, lies down and once again, tells Aye jokingly he just wants to sleep, clearly expecting Aye to do what other BL protagonists do at that point and not take no for an answer (sidenote: I HATE the “saying no as foreplay” trope with a passion and as far as I’m concerned it should die already).

However, Aye is not like other BL love interests, and he backs off. He stops touching Akk, lies down with his back to Akk, showing Akk that he takes him by his word: if Akk says he wants to sleep, Aye is going to let him do just that. So now, it’s on Akk to say that, no, that’s not what he meant, can Aye please come back to cuddle. And then Akk is the one to escalate from cuddling to kissing, which is extremely important: we know that Aye has been ready to have sex with Akk since forever, it’s Akk who’s been having hangups about intimacy this whole time.

They don’t put consent into so many words on this show, but Aye shows Akk that he respects his limits and that Akk only has to tell him he doesn’t want to do something and Aye will take him at his word.

So, these are, to me, two foundational scenes of establishing consent: one that shows consent as something that is established verbally, as an ongoing conversation, and one that shows consent as something that is established physically, by showing your partner that you respect their choices and limits by way of simply acting accordingly.

Now, let’s get into the fun part: scenes we got so far in 2023. I’m writing this post on the 13th of June, and I’m sure this year still has some great things in store for us, especially because Step By Step and La Pluie are both ongoing and neither of the main couples are actually together yet at time of writing. However, they’ve both already given us AMAZING scenes on the topic of consent, so I feel it is worthwhile to write about those already.

I want to start off by talking about A Boss And A Babe.

Let me just preface this by saying that the intimate scenes in ABAAB are some of my all time favorites in BL ever, because in them, sex is something that is just so normal. When Gun and Cher have sex, we don’t see them very passionate, excited, reluctant or wide-eyed innocent (which are some of the emotions traditionally associated with sex in BL). On the contrary, in every single scene that shows them being intimate, both characters are incredibly calm. They’re certainly happy to be with each other, but in a subdued way. Someone described their second intimate scene as them seeming like they’ve been married for a few years. They’re both just… incredibly normal about having sex with each other. It’s simply something they like to do together. It’s a part of their romance but it’s not more or less important than any other aspects of their lives.

And consent is at the very heart of it.

When Gun and Cher have their first time, we see Gun explicitly asking for consent two times: first, “Can I kiss you?”, then, “Can I do more?” The second one even comes with the promise that if Cher says no, Gun will immediately go to sleep without mentioning it again. And then it is on Cher to say yes, to pull Gun close and kiss him to show him that he is comfortable with taking things further. (In the show, these two questions were shown apart from each other, I cut together a version of the whole First Time Scene in its entirety, watch it here.)

Now, things get more interesting: the second intimate scene shows Cher initiating the encounter (watch the whole scene here). Cher pretty consistently falls into the uke category, both physically and as far as characterization is concerned, but he’s certainly not shy in the bedroom. And this time, he’s the one who asks for consent from Gun: Gun asks “You’re starting it?” and Cher’s response is “Can I?” Despite him being framed physically lower than Gun, basically at Gun’s mercy, he still seeks confirmation that Gun is okay with the way things are going. Not to overstate it, but to me, this feels revolutionary. Once again, we’re being shown that sex is something two people do together, as a shared activity, and that the “seme” character isn’t expected to just be up for it. He, too, has the right to say no.

On this show, sexual agency is taken extremely seriously, and it is clear that both Gun and Cher give each other space to decide what they’re comfortable doing. This is shown in non-intimate scenes as well: there are so many moments on ABAAB in which the characters negotiate physical touch and closeness, asking each other for hugs before actually hugging each other, Cher leaning on Gun’s shoulder in the car but not allowing Gun to touch him because that’s not what he’s comfortable with in that moment, and so on. (The only exception to this otherwise pretty consistent rule is the kiss in the car scene, which I’m still extremely confused about because it seems to go completely against Gun’s character. Who knows what happened there.)

Of course, the fact that so much emphasis is placed on negotiation and consent isn’t surprising on a show that has such obvious kink undertones and whose Our Skyy 2 entry basically consisted entirely of Dom/sub roleplay at work—I’m just saying, I think someone on the writing team is way into BDSM and knows all about the importance of enthusiastic consent from all parties involved, and I would like to send them flowers.

Step By Step hasn’t really reached the point where we can analyse the dynamic between the main couple (although we can take some educated guesses based on the interactions we’ve seen so far). However, last week’s episode had an extremely important scene between Pat and Put: Pat wanting to have sex with Put, then changing his mind mid make-out (watch the whole scene here). I really like the way this scene was done. No matter how shitty Put treats Pat at times, in this instance, he immediately understood and respected Pat’s change of mind without Pat even saying or explaining anything—at the end of the episode, Put says to Pat that Pat should tell Put when he feels ready to have sex. (We already know this will never happen because of course, Pat and Put are not endgame, but I do appreciate the sentiment.)

BLs rarely include a whole storyline in which the protagonist is in an actual, serious romantic relationship with someone other than his endgame love interest (hi Moonlight Chicken!), or if they do then just to up the angst factor. In this case, however, I feel that this scene raises our expectations for Jeng even further: if the guy who is definitely not a romantic match for Pat treats Pat with this much respect in the bedroom, then Jeng has to do at least that and then some. I do feel confident that Jeng won’t disappoint in this regard, but it’s fascinating to see a show frame this kind of respect as the absolute baseline minimum, with the endgame love interest expected to do even better.

Now, the one you’ve all been waiting for. The one that made me write this whole essay in the first place: La Pluie.

Oh boy. Where to start.

A week ago, we got an incredible make-out scene on Saengtai’s floor, which ended in Patts stopping the encounter because he could tell Tai wasn’t really comfortable taking things further—@bengiyo talked about that scene in detail here. And then, three days ago, La Pluie gave us the most unique, trope-defying, timeline-changing blowjob scene of all time, and I want to talk about it.

Tai and Patts are making out on their bed, Tai is not ready to go “all the way” and stops Patts from undressing him. We see a very realistic frustrated reaction from Patts, who nevertheless immediately stops and accepts Tai’s wishes—it is clear that Patts does not expect things to go any further at this point, and that he won’t pressure Tai into anything.

And then, Tai offers to blow him.

(Unfortunately, this show is only on iQiyi so I can't link to it, but you can get a good impression of the scene here.)

I mentioned the concepts of giving and receiving earlier: other people have said this more eloquently than me, but there is a tendency not only in BL but also in wider society to view sex in terms of giving and receiving, with a lot of expectations and stereotypes attached to the roles during different sexual acts. On other shows, that blowjob might be framed as a consolidation or an apology, something that the giver does out of a sense of obligation without enjoying it much. Not so on La Pluie! Tai is shown incredibly happy and satisfied afterwards, both when they’re sleeping next to each other, as well as on the morning after (see also @ginnymoonbeam's post about that here). Tai offered to blow Patts because he simply wanted to, not motivated by guilt or anything of that sort. And he genuinely enjoyed it! In the post I linked above, @bengiyo points out that La Pluie consistently centers queer desire, or more specifically in this case, male desire for a male body; much in the same way that the camera fucking loves Force’s body on ABAAB: the sensuality of the skin, the hands, the abs, the flat chests, the broad backs and shoulders of these men is explicitly emphasized, and Tai’s desire for a dick in his mouth is made absolutely crystal-clear. Of course, since this is a TV show and not a porno, we only see Patts’s thumb in Tai’s mouth instead of his dick, but the imagery, the implications, are clear as day.

And it is such a gentle framing, too: Patts caresses Tai’s lip lovingly, Tai opens his mouth slowly, seductively, then faces Patts’s crotch with a soft look on his face. We do get a clear sense of this encounter as tender, and gentle, and most of all, desired. Tai’s queer desire is at the heart of this scene, and at the heart of the afterglow scene as well. He wanted this man’s dick in his mouth, openly suggested it, showed Patts he was sure about his decision after Patts asked him whether he was, and ended up clearly happy and satisfied with the sex they had. This post, also by @bengiyo, goes into more detail on that.

This, once again, shows us sex as a conversation rather than a series of predetermined acts, shows us sex as a shared activity, as something that can be wonderful and intimate and make people happy without following what society views as “the correct steps”. I think this is extremely important because one part of queer identity is figuring out one’s own relationship to sexuality, one’s own desires and needs, and BLs that ignore this aspect fall a little short in my opinion. Sure, those men are kissing, but do they experience queer desire? Do they experience joy in their queer desire?

For me personally, a show that does not shy away from these questions is a lot more meaningful than a show that does, and consent is at the heart of it all. By framing sex as a conversation, as something that is built and shared together, the shows I looked at here are actively positioning themselves against the idea that there should be predetermined roles for partners during sex, and instead suggest that queer joy can be found in communication and consent. Understanding sex and intimacy as something that is built together, with both partners as equals in conversation, is just as radically queer as a man waking up with a smile on his face after giving his soulmate a blowjob the previous night.

And quite honestly, a male character who clearly, passionately, unquestioningly communicates that he wants a dick inside of him—that is incredibly sexy. But maybe that’s just me.

#*mine #not me the series #the eclipse #the eclipse the series #a boss and a babe #step by step #step by step the series #la pluie #la pluie the series #i said ''is anyone going to write a 3k meta analysis on this topic'' then didn't wait for an answer

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keen-eye · 10 days ago

Note

What is your opinion on Wincest?

thank you for asking. i hope you're ready for me to go very in-depth into my personal opinions about the ship and about the fandom, but if not:

TL;DR: take it or leave it, but you cannot deny that sam & dean do not act like normal siblings. because of this i think that i have some level of an objective view on it (or maybe not, idk). and most importantly, bullying is never okay. these are fictional characters

okay here we go ⬇️

if someone hates wincest they should block the tag/blog and move on, it's as simple as that. i myself had the tag blocked when i first started my rewatch. they are only embarrassing themselves by coming on here and crying about it. if fictional incest upsets you so much then i don't think this is the right show for you

jared and jensen have insane chemistry, they and the crew recognized it very quickly. so when you have two people with that much chemistry playing siblings their relationship will come across as very questionable and the audience will pick up on that. they didn't make it up out of nowhere. also, the cast and crew joke about the ship outside and within the show. it's not that serious

do i personally ship wincest? i guess technically i do. i follow a few wincest blogs, i've made a couple joke posts. but i never watch shows for shipping, i never watch shows just for hot people. power to those who do, though. i watch this show because i've never come across a more unique character than sam (reasons too long for this post). so the content i engage in/the blogs i follow are centered around sam and his and dean's canon dynamic, sometimes mixed with this hypothetical version of their relationship because i find it interesting to speculate on. because i do believe something more explicit than what was already shown could absolutely have fit into canon. and that's the only type that i find interesting, where they are not regular boyfriends but as they already are: brothers with a very fucked up and power imbalanced relationship. but i am not actively wearing shipping goggles when i'm watching

i understand that incest makes people uncomfortable. but the show was (originally) a gothic horror. taboo subjects, like incest, are a fundamental part of that genre. emotionally incestuous undertones were ingrained into the show from the beginning. sam & dean are not normal about each other. if you think that they act like regular siblings then i don't even know what to say. and even though the show shifted genres their codependency only intensified as it went on. many characters commented on their weirdly close relationship throughout the show

on that note, this taboo has been around literally forever. it's in literature, it's on tv, it's in porn. it will never not be a subject many people want to explore in fiction. on that note, i see a lot of people say that fictional incest ships will affect reality. i can promise that it will not all of a sudden make everyone want to start fucking their family members. and if someone believes this then i'd also expect them not ship other "problematic ships" (e.g., hannigram, a relationship between a murderous cannibal who physically and psychologically tortured the other person). sam & dean are serial killers but you don't see people saying that being okay with that in a fictional show makes someone a bad person

i can't say from personal observation (because i only joined tumblr in october last year) but i have seen many mentions that more people are becoming increasingly sensitive/engrossed in purity culture compared to fandom years ago and this is evident in how they behave on social media (i can at least corroborate that last part)

for example, seeing someone's sam & dean edit and freaking out in the comments about whether it's meant to be wincest or not before they reblog. or joining in bullying wincest shippers to fit in/appease other antis. or making a post about how disgusting wincest shippers are and directly tagging wincest. i don't know if this is something from the new generation or maybe something else but i will say that when i see people acting like this my immediate thought is that they are children who never learned social media etiquette

attacking and insulting anyone over any ship is extremely wrong and immature. going after people who worked on the show for not condemning a ship is wrong. i also see a lot of people say to wincest shippers that they are probably attracted to their own siblings. once again, these are fictional characters. if you feel comfortable saying that to a real person and without any shame then that says a lot about you. people ship things and explore subjects in fiction for different reasons and it does not mean that it is a one to one reflection of their morals

and lastly, maybe slightly unrelated, saying that wincest shippers have invaded tumblr, ao3, or now rednote is dumb. they were there first, they've been around since 2005. they made these platforms what they are today and they aren't going anywhere no matter how much others bully them

if you got this far then thank you for reading

#i didn't address one thing and it's the other main ship #many of the people that ship it started the show purely because of it #they went into the show actively looking for it #and they get defensive when no one sees what they see #but that people do notice the brothers weird relationship #people have recognized that a lot of these shippers seem to want to ship wincest but only feel that it's acceptable to ship the other one #but even so #they feel a sense of moral superiority to wincest shippers #i can tell this too #I have never seen bullies online so bad as those who ship the other ship #i'd say if anyone has infected fandom it would be them #and if you are one of those respectful shippers then i'd hope you'd encourage your mutuals not to bully #wincest

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ficsinhistory · 6 months ago

Text

There's a criminally low amount of content about Wendy and man, I intend to take matters into my own hands! Her character is amazing, so here's my character analysis of Wendy's journey in the series, along with my two cents because her writing scratches my brain in the best possible way!

Spoiler for the entire Netflix series, Sweet Tooth.

Season 1

To begin with, after Gus, Jeep and Becky, Wendy is the most important character in Sweet Tooth. She, and by extension her mother, don't appear so early in the story for nothing. Not only that, but to talk about Wendy is to talk about other characters too, because her arc is intrinsically linked to the others. Even this season, where she appears relatively little.

As we already know, she is a hybrid girl found and raised by Aimee since she was a baby, which started the life of this woman in the story. Wendy is curious, likes to paint, loves her mother more than anything and helps her keep their little family of rescued hybrids safe and in peace.

What may go unnoticed, however, is how the PPreserve and rescue of hybrids as we know it only happens because of Wendy.

Aimee wanted nothing more to do with the outside world and was content to watch society burn, focusing only on looking after her daughter.

But Wendy listened to the people on the radio, realizing that they were afraid,andnot only felt sorry, but she also felt compelled to respond and help. She almost responded once and only didn't because her mother wouldn't let her.

Do you understand?

Wendy is such a youngchild, no more than nine years old, but she is already trying to take an active role in alleviating the suffering of others in the face of horrors. A fundamental characteristic of her character is compassion and that makes me so delighted!

She's a child who should hate humans who aren't her mother. She should be selfish and only think about her life, and it would be normal because she's just a child.

We have images of her in a peaceful life with Aimee. It could go on like this. But Wendy doesn't want to.

Because she has so much love inside her!

She loves her mom, her home, and these children she doesn't know but wants to have a safe place for. Which drives her to care for Bobby, even if her mother didn't let her.

This girl sticks to her ideals and acts on them because it's the right thing to do! She says that they have to help!

Wendy convinces Aimee to rescue hybrids, officially takes Bobby in, and assumes responsibilities as an older sister, taking charge of the Preserve with her mother. She learns ASL because not all her siblings speak. She knows what each one does and has been through.

Damn, the girl is a born nurturer! She's intelligent, brave and kind. So sociable and ready to put herself in a position to help that it's touching!

And it's not even for herself because we find out later that Wendy feels actively different from her siblings!

Probably because she's a highly developed hybrid and takes on too much responsibility to interact as an equal with the other children. Plus, she's not human either and doesn't see herself entirely as her mother either!

Wendy remains in this limbo that leaves her lonely and sad. A person who loves to be cared for but finds it difficult to let herself be cared for, and yet focuses not on her own feelings, but on others!

Things then get very ugly as the Preserve is discovered by Abbot.

And guess what? She wants freaking help, wanting to do anything she can for her mother and siblings, even though she's terrified, because sees herself as the leader of the place just like her mother!

Aimee decides that they need to run away, and Wendy needs to leave the place she has known all her life, separate from her mother and guarantee the lives of her siblings, all without losing control. After all, she's the big sister they trust with all their hearts, and they're her little brothers. And Wendy doesn't want to separate because, listen, it's dangerous for Aimee and she's worried that, more importantly, being alone might mess things up.

She is afraid of not guaranteeing everyone's life.

Wendy is fleeing the house she's lived in forever from people who actively hunt children like her and all she can think about is looking after the younger ones! It's an unimaginable amount of stress and tension that she handles like a champ! So much so that they make it to run with her leadership!

The problem was that the Last Men got there first, and they were captured. I can't imagine what a blow that must have been.

Her mother, the person Wendy loves most in the world, put her in charge of the family, relying on her intelligence and decision-making skills in her absence, and they were all caught. Not only that, with captivity leaving them incommunicado with Aimee, Wendy became "mom" until they were rescued.

And this initiates one of Wendy's main traumas and much of her arc in Season 2: her parentification in the mission of keep her siblings together and alive.

She really is Bear's sister, because like Becky, Wendy swallows her own feelings in the name of caring for a greater goal and does not process what she feels.

Because her mother has asked Wendy to be strong and she can't be wrong, afraid or insecure because it will cost her dearly!

She's a kid who's always felt responsible for others now having to really be the main support since everyone sees her as the person in charge, without Aimee.

To make matters worse, one of her siblings, Roy, is taken away and there's nothing she can do about it. A fact that haunts her all the time in captivity.

HOWEVER, when he's taken away, Gus shows up and GUESS WHAT???

WENDY IS THERE TO HELP THIS DEER BOY AND ADD HIM AS ANOTHER ONE SHE CARES FOR!!!

DO YOU UNDERSTAND? SHE SEES GUS AND SAYS: "YEAH, HE'S PART OF THE FAMILY NOW" EVEN THOUGH SHE ALREADY HAS SEVERAL OTHER CHILDREN TO LOOK AFTER AND DOESN'T NEED TO DO THAT!

THE GIRL HAS JUST LOST HER HOME, MOTHER, A BROTHER, BUT SHE LOOKS AT GUS FOR A FEW SECONDS SEEING THAT THIS BOY IS IN NEED OF A GOOD HUG AND SUPPORT AND PROVIDES IT BECAUSE WENDY IS KIND LIKE THAT!

Season 2

So much that her first scene of the second season is her personally taking care of Gus. He's having a nightmare and she goes there to get him out of it.

And boy, the second season isn't kind to Wendy at all (neither is the third, but that one isn't kind to anyone).

She and her siblings are stuck in the worst place in their old home and being treated like animals, with Wendy trying to maintain everyone's dignity. She doesn't want them to be treated like captive animals eating dog food, but her siblings need to eat and, with options scarce, she accepts her defeats.

The trials have only just begun, and she must feel like she's already failing because looking after her siblings is everything to her!

Even her name, Wendy, is significant in this respect.

Just like Wendy Darling from Peter Pan, the big sister who looks after the brothers well-being like a grown-up even though she's still a child. That is what she is! A child with a lot of pressure having to act like an adult because she's the big sister.

I think that's why she got attached to Gus so quickly.

He, like Wendy, is one of the few hybrids in the series who grew up in a loving home and was raised as an ordinary child since he was a baby. Gus is probably the only child in the series that Wendy has connected with on an equal footing, not being a sibling who needs her care. He's smart, brave and has this sense that they can't be treated like that too.

Gus understands and thinks similarly to Wendy, and she notices this. So much so that they both end up in this season as the "father and mother" of the hybrids in captivity, working and deciding on plans together.

Gus talks about running away and Wendy shows that them were already trying and failing miserably. She then officially introduces the rest of the hybrids to Gus, and we see how much she loves these children.

(And I have to say, I think it's really cute that the sign she chooses for Gus is his antlers).

As an older sister myself, I can say that Wendy is excellent. This girl knows everything about her siblings to the point of being able to tell Gus every quirk that he's going to have to deal with. She cares and tries to accommodate each one as best she can.

And then we're hit with Roy's reminder. And how everyone there is counting on her.

Because Wendy misses her mother, is scared and hungry as much as any of them but can't afford to just be like that. Because the others actively depend on her. To the point where Jojo asks when Roy is coming back, even though she's been in the same place as them the whole time.

All the children see her as this figure of answers that Wendy isn't but needs to be.

Wendy is 👏🏽nine👏🏽years👏🏽years old👏🏽!

Then they manage to come up with a plan to call Aimee on the radio and thanks to Bobby's skills, they get the key and manage to escape. With Wendy taking the initiative by knowing how to operate by observation.

Except that she's starting to crack under all this pressure. And the most devastating thing is that it's not even about her.

It is for her family.

Wendy is👏🏽nine👏🏽years👏🏽years old👏🏽, is surrounded by bad people (so the possibility of dying is very real) but her concern is that if she doesn't make it her siblings will pay the price.

Like Roy. Because Wendy feels responsible, even though it's not her fault.

This girl doesn't even think about her own life!

And that's what makes Gus' support vital. Because, up until this point, no one was looking after Wendy apart from Aimee. Sure, her brothers care and love her, but she's still the mother figure, the leader, the nurturer.

But Gus is supportive and looks after Wendy just as she does him. He assures her that she will not only make it but will go with her to help. He brings optimism and perseverance to her care and caution.

Is very nice that, in Wendy's arcs in general, she always has to accept help in order to be able to help. She gets help from Gus and later from Becky. She doesn't have to deal with everything on her own. She's not alone. She gets as much love and care as she offers.

Returning to the escape, the two of them cross the zoo to the radio room, a sequence that cements their connection and how Wendy and Gus now work together as equals.

They reach the radio and Wendy has her confidence renewed with the help of Gus's reassurances (which is ridiculously cute by the way), warning Aimee. However, things start to go wrong.

They almost get caught, which forces them to hide again, and Wendy comes across her brother's formaldehyde-dipped corpse.

Do you realize how insane this is?!

Wendy now has confirmation that Roy is dead, that they are in serious danger and more pressure as if didn't have enough already. Not only that, but their mother also doesn’t answer. They end caught and the few means been taken away from them, with Bobby on a leash and Jonnhy reinforcing security with cameras.

Not only that, but now she and Gus must tell the truth about why Roy isn't coming back.

... except that Gus lies without thinking twice and puts Wendy in an impasse that she does not see much way out of other than agreeing.

We realize that despite the brief time they've known each other, Wendy trustsGus even though she doesn't agreewith him. The girl could have denied everything on the spot, but decided not to because the moral was already low and it was a lighter way out, although not ideal. Even though she knew deep down that it wouldn't work out and would come back to bite them later.

Even so, Wendy isstill going to have some much-needed words with Gus because doesn't agree and says that lying creates a rupture that will be difficult to mend. That's what her mother taught, and he's put that trust in check (and so has she).

But above all, Wendy is distraught by the whole situation.

And Gus understands. Because he sees that, although the lie is one of the reasons she's so angry, much of the anger comes from the guilt Wendy is carrying. Of being captured and losing Roy. And he shares his experiences to make her feel better. That he understands because he's been there. And that things will get better. They will not end up dead, and they'll all get out of this together.

And Wendy brings Teddy into the conversation, revealing for the first time what is really bothering her to Gus.

She doesn't know how to look after her siblings without her mother and maybe can't do it on her own.

She is being truly vulnerable for the first time since was kidnapped, expressing doubt and fear freely and being the comforted one rather than the comforter, to which Gus replies that she doesn't have to do it alone, because they'll think of something. And that she can do it because Wendy is clever (Jesus, they're so cute!).

And Wendy is accepting help from someone other than her mother for the first time, and it's lovely to see. Because, remember, Wendy is 👏🏽nine👏🏽years👏🏽years old👏🏽. She's just seen her brother killed, has to lie about it and can't mourn properly, having to look after the siblings left without their mother, who doesn't even know if she's alive.

Guilt, responsibility and family are major elements of Wendy's arc. And the series talks about how in order to deal with all of them in a healthy way we have to forge connections in love, experiences and mutual affection. Beautifully illustrated in this conversation.

Finally, she has a foothold again...which is immediately ripped away from her.

Seriously, as soon as these poor kids have finished talking, Gus is taken out of Wendy's hands. Literally. She's still fighting it, but there's no way.

Man, the look on her face when Gus is carried off can only be described as devastated, her eyes glistening with tears, and so absorbed that she doesn't even react to the guard's mockery.

The first person who really understood her since the whole ordeal began is going to meet the fate that Wendy knows killed her brother.

This leaves her so shaken that her next scene is of her curled-up crying, hugging Bobby.

Dude, that's a hard blow! The girl lost her mother, her home, one of her younger brothers and now her new best friend in two days tops!

Fortunately, Gus not only returns, but informs her that he has bought them some time and brought a nightlight for Teddy that Wendy had mentioned. This makes her incredibly happy and grateful, as well as making Gus accepted as another older brother by the rest of the hybrids.

So much so that when dog is found, Wendy and Gus are called in to see and organize the next steps.

A quick aside to say that I congratulate the writers for handling Wendy and Gus' arc like champs. Sweet Tooth is about Found Family, friendships forged in the face of adversity and I'm thankful every day that the most canon romantic subplot was Rani and Adi (and we know how that one ended).

However, they've managed to translate Gus and Wendy's dynamic well in a way that makes it clear that they are best friends, but their connection is stronger and deeper than just friendship per se and different from what either of them has, and we understand well why they end up building a family together in the end. They are basically soulmates who decided to get married, having had a strong enough love from the start regardless of the form.

Anyway. Wendy now has the support of Gus in leading the children and everyone begins to organize for the escape with the signal given by Aimee and Jepp, who are together. However, they have nowhere to go, Gus still has his own traumas related to his return to Yellowstone and Bobby is on a leash. Not only that, but the lie about Roy is getting out of hand.

Jonnhy then shows up to take Gus away at Singh's request and everyone must wait alone with the others until he returns, at the same time as the adults get on the Last Men's radar. However, they couldn't reach the zoo and have to leave town.

And we get one of Wendy's stand-out scenes of the season.

Her mother is alive, but she's and Big Man aren’t coming back, and no one knows why they left or if they'll return. She is then faced with the harsh possibility that will be in charge not until Aimee rescues them, but from now on. She's going to have to be the "mother" for real now because waiting is no longer an option, she's going to have to act. Wendy will now have to guide them and come up with an escape plan, a👏🏽nine👏🏽years👏🏽years old👏🏽!

If before she was the mother figure with the only grace in all the pressure of keeping everyone together being the rescue of the mother, now she has to actively get them out without knowing when or if can see her mother again, taking on a position that no child should take on.

But Wendy is too brave and too full of love for her family to give up and disappoint them. Not when they are the ones she holds most dear. Even though she's overwhelmed, afraid and grieving.

Gus then returns, informed that the rescue has gone and that they are on their own, and brings exactly what was missing: somewhere to go. He brings hope and perspective, a light at the end of the tunnel. And we see how much Wendy values this and genuinely cares for him.

He then gives more details about Yellowstone and tells stories about Bear, this being the first mention of the sister Wendy has, even though she doesn't know it.

I have to say that she's a real one impressed with Becky and that it's amazing how alike these two are.

This little girl has just as much talent for leadership and strategy as her sister, and just as strong a temper. I mean, this nine-year-old unashamedly states that she hates the cell guard, is happy to hear about the death of the Last Men, has a firm and somewhat cheeky personality, as well as resorting to violence without blinking an eye. I am sure she'd have her own army under other circumstances too, lol.

Escape plans are being made when things start to go wrong. Gus is taken away again, and it's becoming apparent that things are different for him.

The children begin to question Wendy about the obvious difference in treatment, asking why he can have some freedom and if wouldn’t ending up running away like Roy. Of course, she knows that Roy is dead, but that brings up something very real: Gus has different circumstances. Those bad people want him alive, a grace that she and the others don't have.

Wendy replies that they can trust Gus of course, but the doubts are already there.

Rani's visit bring some relieves, but rock bottom arrives when the cell guard reveals the truth about Roy and Wendy is confronted about the lie alone in a claustrophobic scene and she ends up folding under so much pressure and giving in to mistrust.

And I don't blame her.

To begin with, Wendy is alone taking onthe consequences of a lie that was Gus's idea, which she would never have told if it hadn't been for him, who goes against everything Aimee taught him. Her mother and the person she love most.

Now it is brought to light that the person who is helping her the most is also the one who is being "favored", no matter how much she wants to ignore it.

It is in this fragile state that we see how Wendy's trauma has left its mark on her.

She loves Gus very much but is so overwhelmed and worried that she chooses fear and distrust over her inherent empathy and goodwill.

Because Wendy is only nine years old and is a scared child, no matter how much tries to want to be more than that, tasked with a duty that's too big and too stressful. And what's a bigger breach of trust for frightened children than lying?

That doesn't make it any easier for her. On the contrary.

Wendy got attached to Gus, remember? She loves him as much as her brothers, he is her best friend. But her best friend also lied and came back from what was supposed to kill them.

Something that her worry and above all her guilt cannot let go of.

Because Gus always came back while Roy didn't. While none of her brothers would come back. And Wendy won't let it happen again.

She couldn't take it.

Even if this separation makes you more tense, stressed and lost, because that's how fear leaves you.

That's why I find it symbolic that Bobby is the first to trust Gus again.

Bobby is the embodiment of Wendy's love and empathy. The child she took in before his mother allowed it because it was the right thing to do. From her thought of having to help others hoping for the best, not the worst.

A thought she still has. It's just... buried under guilt and pressure.

So much so that when Wendy angrily confronts Gus about letting Bobby go, he just... apologizes.

Because he recognizes that his best friend doesn't really see him as different. Because Wendy is just desperate to keep everyone together, alive, and having a tough time with it, which affects the way she acts. And that yes, he had made things worse, despite his best intentions. That Wendy reacted like him after finding out the truth about Paba and Birdie because lies hurt. And this sincere response moves her so much that he manages to calm her down, even a little.

Because they're still friends, they're still each other's support. That's thetruth and it hasn't changed.

So much so that when Wendy is threatened, Gus doesn't hesitate to protect her, although he ends up panicking after learning what happened to Peter and the results of trusting Singh.

And Wendy supports him immediately after he returns from what was essentially a torture session with Abbot.

At that moment, we see her returning to the way she really is.

A brave, kind, empathetic and loving girl who wants nothing more than to help those in need and relieve their fears. Especially those she cares.

And Wendy ignores all the misunderstandings from before because Gus arrives frightened.

Her best friend is trembling, terrified, and she does not hesitate for a second. With the necessary space given, he says he's feeling guilty, afraid, and the roles are reversed.

Now Gus needs to be comforted. And Wendy acts like him, bringing her experience to make him feel better. Assuring him that they will make it and make it stronger. Together.

Because they are friends. Family. He is one of them.

This attitude restores their bond and marks Wendy's choice of friendship, love and connection over fear and mistrust.

The day of the escape arrives, and we see this bond cemented when she entrusts one of the most important parts of the plan to Gus. Not only that, but she also openly supports him when doubts about him threaten to return.

After all, this is the boy who protected and helped her, Wendy doesn't need to fear. No need to give in to fear and anxiety.

She's only nine, but she's already chosen the right path more than most adults.

The plan is put into practice, the guard is subdued, and everyone escapes. A hilarious scene with a little personal revenge on the guy.

However, the soldiers are alerted by the flare that Jepp throws, and Teddy almost gets caught. Gus sets himself up as a distraction for the others to escape and guarantees his friend's life, providing a scene that shows just how important he is to this Wendy.

She is simply paralyzed by Gus leaving. We can see her conflict clearly because she loves Gus as much as her brothers. She doesn't want them to be separated. And only the reminder that this is the chance at his request for everyone to be okay that keeps her going.

Because again, Wendy is full of love and compassion, feelings that overflow in everything she does and even inspire everyone around her.

It inspired Aimee to rescue other children. Rani to see hybrids as more than wild animals. Gus to talk and fight for everyone's life.

Wendy is a symbol of this. How no, it's not easy to maintain empathy, kindness and a sense of community in the worst of times... but it is possible. It's necessary. Because we only really live when we love and connect. Otherwise, it's just survival, which turns you into a shell of what you once were and fought for.

And all the kindness she shows is reciprocated in a beautiful domino effect of positive consequences in which Gus refuses to leave with a newly arrived Jepp without the others, which saves her siblings, makes her reunite with her mother because she refused to leave her best friend behind and ultimately generates a successful escape.

Wendy got everything she wanted thanks to her love, empathy, and resilience. Gestures that could be described as naive or weak, but which turned out to be her greatest asset.

And she can be a child with her siblings and mother in a new home once again. All because Wendy decided for the love and unity that allowed connections with like-minded peers.

... Unfortunately, that doesn't last long.

Because Aimee gets the Sick and Becky finds her.

The end of the second and third seasons dealt with the same arc of community, siblinghood and family that has always been Wendy's hallmark, albeit from a perspective of mourning, maturing and new beginnings.

They finally arrive in Yellowstone, their new place to call home. Life seems to be working out again.

Her mother is there. Her brothers are there. Gus is there. They're eating real food once again. She can go back to drawing. Everything is fine, she made it. They've made it. She even has new friends, Becky in particular who is always genuinely nice to her.

And then her mother calls her to talk, and Wendy finds out that Aimee is going to die (not only that, I dare say that Wendy was the only child who knew, as the only one who didn't wish her mother well when they separated).

The person who has always looked after Wendy, the person she loved most in the world... is simply leaving and will never come back. With one last request from her mother in front of the fire for her, for everyone, to explore a world that is theirs. After everything she's been through.

And this beginning of the end comes with Tiger's warning that Abbot is coming after them.

The children need to hide, and they split up.

Wendy is only nine years old and has to say goodbye to her mother for good after all she's done to find her again and keep everyone together. Not only that, but her best friend is also falling behind, and she finds herself in the worst position she could want: unable to do anything to help.

And she doesn't take it well at all. Wendy is numb to the facts, still doing the best to maintain order, but her mind couldn't be more disturbed. She wants to go back and fight. To help Gus and, especially, Aimee.

And Becky, poor thing, is trying to console her as best she can.

Except that Wendy gets progressively more impatient and irritated because still has no idea who Becky is, only that the warrior tells her to wait while all the people she loves most in the world are risking their lives. To stay safe.

For a girl who has never done anything but take risks and fight for those she cares about regardless of the danger.

Even though Becky still tries to appeal to her siblings, Wendy jumps in and runs off into the chaos. Which, considering everything she'd done so far had been for them, shows that this girl has a lot of personality.

However, she ends up being caught, taken back by Becky and discovering that they are sisters.

...at the worst possible moment, because between her grief and the urge to do something, Wendy is overwhelmed and ignores Becky. She only comes to her senses when she is saved from bisons.

Reality finally hits. She has a sister who loves her and has searched for her for years, and who she genuinely feels is there... but doesn't know. Becky is not familiar.

Nothing about it is.

Wendy has been the big sister all her life. The one who protects all her life. The leader of the hybrid children and whose care came from her mother. Now Becky arrives, with Aimee on the verge of death, and has her as precious family. Wendy is on the other side this time. The protégé instead of the protector.

This girl is nine years old and her whole reality is disintegrating.

Fortunately, she manages to arrive in time to have one last conversation with her mother before she passes away with a final promise of consolation.

Then we have the funeral scene. Not just of Aimee, but of Wendy's childhood and innocence. Poignantly represented when she stops wearing her bow on her head.

A symbol of childhood.

So much so that in the next scene she appears reading a story about...growing up.

Because she'll never be the child she was. Life has taken a lot from her. Now it's up to what she's going to do with all these changes. With all the numbness of grief and the new relationship with Becky.

We also see that she is going to accompany Gus, choosing to help him as his brothers are safe. It makes sense, he is one of the most important people in the world to her and they've been through enough trauma bonding and life connections to seal that Gus is as much a priority to Wendy as her mother was. They find Birdie's possible location and they go after her in Alaska.

Season 3

Things start off lightly with a car ride, one of the few scenes in which Wendy and Gus are children. The two are even much more in tune this season, clearly being a rock for each other, providing mutual support, wearing complementary colors and all.

We also see Becky trying to be a good sister and ensuring the safety of her dear little sister and Jepp struggling to be a father of three.

It is also remarkable that Wendy's grief for Aimee still affects her and her relationship with Becky, for example when she sniffs out a family killed by The Sick.

They arrive at a casino and, a few puns later, the children sniff out food, get caught in a trap and end up meeting a group of elderly people who run the place. They deny the necessary supplies and in the middle of the conversation, death is brought up once again. Which, for the nine-year-old girl who has just lost her mother, is obviously too much.

She hasn't fully processed Aimee's departure and this pain has a bearing on her ability to form bonds with her new sister.

Because, ironically, although deeply empathetic, Wendy it is extremely difficult to be vulnerable.

Which comes to light with his relationship with Becky.

In the whole show, this girl has so far only been able to connect with her mother, who raised her from the cradle, and Gus, who is her best friend and basically kindred spirit. Wendy has always felt out of place and had trouble relating, ever since the first season.

Having an older sister is not familiar in any way to Wendy. On the contrary, it puts her in an uncomfortable position, even more so with her mother dying, and the opposite of everything she has lived through. Even the fact that Becky is human puts her in a different position from Wendy.

That's why Gus is the one who can console her.

As I said before, the writers were goats at working out Gus and Wendy's connection. They look alike and this similarity illustrates their connection with flying colors. Gus understands what it's like to lose the person who's looked after you all your life. That's all Wendy needed to hear. That it wasn't fair, that it never stops hurting. And that they dealt with it together. Which is familiarity and support enough for Wendy to pull herself together.

Although this leaves Becky feeling powerless.

Things at the Casino don't work out and they have to go without supplies.

Wendy is obviously irritated by the petty behavior of those idiots, and she reflects on old age together with Gus, promising to be better when it's their turn. It's a cute scene, especially because they're children in a world that wants them dead (dying too) and reaching that age hasn't been possible for many, both hybrids and humans.

And once again, Wendy thinks of others in the moment, reinforcing her empathy, her bond with Gus and some very well done foreshadowing (I'll never stop finding it endearing how Wendy just decided that yes, Gus will be around until her old age and they'll still be close and that's that, after stealing one of the boy's coats. Soulmates are soulmating).

However, an avalanche hits and the group narrowly escapes. And mortality surfaces once again, this time for her sister.

Becky and Jepp may be dead and Wendy panics. She and Gus have barely escaped, and he can't hear them. However, Gus manages to calm her down and they find them both.

Then we see that Wendy really does love Becky, she just doesn't know how to deal with the change. Which is understandable. After an intense exchange between Gus and Jeep, they manage to get to Idaho and rest...

...for a few moments before Dr. Singh appeared.

I love how Wendy immediately calls him out for killing Roy! That's it! My girl holds grudges and it's iconic! No one messes with her family and gets away with it! However, Gus agrees to bring Adi with them, and they all escape thanks to the wolf boys who found them. They make their way to a house and meet Ven.

He won't let the children in because they are hybrids, forcing Wendy and Gus to wait outside while the others help his wife give birth.

During the wait, Gus asks if Wendy is angry about bringing Singh. It's sweet that he worries about it. After all, Aditya murdered her brother and that's not taken lightly. On the other hand, it's also sweet how Wendy isn't angry per se, even though she obviously can't stand the doctor's presence.

Trust has always been the basis between them, and she trusts Gus' decisions, only questioning whether he believes Adi is telling the truth. This shows how the pair have evolved over this long road.

That's when they spot a human child and Wendy decides, bless her sociable little soul, that they should talk to the boy (who just for the record was running away from them and yet she decides yes, new friend spotted lol).

They then meet Theo, Ven's son, and the rooster Kirby. Wendy is thrilled to meet another child, taking the initiative to introduce herself and interact. This girl doesn't have a bad bone in her body and her hobby is collecting friends at the end of the world, which is why the rooster approves of her.

She and Gus talk more about the hybrids, and we realize that Theo is a genuinely nice boy, but clearly misguided. He thinks they can't read, that they eat people and that they're not normal, basically. Thoughts that are misguided to say the least, but which the pair don't take to heart because it's a clear influence from their parents.

Theo loves to fly. He loves flying very much. And it doesn't take long for Wendy to connect the dots, her intelligence and observation skills highlighted once again. With a bit of gentle prodding from her and Gus, Theo reveals that he's a hybrid too. It's just that he suffers from self-loathing because of what he's been taught, hiding his animal characteristics thanks to his family.

We have a powerful moment of him learning from a speech by Gus that no, that doesn't make him abnormal, but special. That no one, whether someone else's opinion or his parents, can take away what makes him special. Theo then tells Ven his plan and the three of them go to stop him hurting his newborn son.

They succeed, but Ven hands them over to Zheng, but not before Theo gives them a van.

I feel this was one of the hardest trials for both Wendy and Gus. Both were raised by loving parents who nurtured their nature as hybrids, but seeing how they are more the exception than the rule has certainly touched them. Especially Gus, who is in the very arc of taking responsibility for everything and everyone.

And once again, we see how these children are rocks in each other's lives with Wendy assuring them that they'll be fine, even if Theo didn't accept the invitation to come along. Both holding hands in support.

They get to the beach to catch the ship to Canada, but everyone has already left. As the journey progresses to a point of no return, Wendy begins to get anxious.

She can't stop thinking about her siblings and above all, she can't stop thinking about Becky. Wendy can resist Sick for being a hybrid and escaping from hunters because that's what she's been doing for the last few weeks.

But her older sister is more likely to get hurt. And although Becky thinks Wendy is distant, here we see that it couldn't be the other way around. She has finally gotten used to her sister and is afraid of losing her too, especially with Aditya's predictions that humanity is on the brink of extinction.

So much so that when they discover that the new boat will not fit everyone, I believe Wendy had already decided not to go to Alaska.

Because she didn't want to put Becky in danger. Not after hearing that she could lose her too. She wants to try to build that bond. Wendy is nothing but a family person, after all.

So much so that she gives Gus one last gesture of support by fixing his antler as a reminder and saying that she believes in him no matter what. Because he can handle. Gus is smart, immune and has Jepp with him. But Becky only has her and needs her more.

This is reinforced by the conversation with Coral.

When Rosie arrived, her mind was made up. Seriously, you could see the certainty and confidence in that girl's eyes. She knows that Gus can do it and that now her sister is the priority.

I believe Wendy's original plan was to return with Becky to Yellowstone and wait until Gus and the others returned, taking advantage of the time to get to know each other better and take care of the others.

...except that they are attacked by one of the wolf boys and Becky narrowly saves Wendy by accidentally killing Bruno, a hybrid, which shakes her to the core and creates guilt in her for going against her mission.

She is captured and Wendy's new focus is to save her sister. The teenager just appeared in her life and no way losing her is an option.

Becky is not having a good time. Captured and questioned by Zheng, I believe she believed that Wendy had left her. That's what she asked for.

Becky's character is at the height of her trauma here. She's lost the animal army; her sister apparently doesn't accept her as family and now she's killed a child she swore to protect. As well as being tricked by Jordan and revealing where Gus and Jepp are going. She has no purpose anymore.

This teenager no longer has any impulse to fight and, in short, has lost the instinct for self-preservation. Everything she did was for Wendy, who in her mind was safe and could go back to be with the kids she loved. And soon Gus and Jepp would be back, and everything would be fine.

The face she makes when she is taken to Alaska is that of someone who has accepted her own end. At most, Becky would stay alive for Wendy, not for herself. I think she gave up on herself a while ago, in fact.

She just didn't count on the unconditional love and iron persistence of Wendy who, once again, made the right decisions and achieved positive consequences. Choosing her sister only allowed her to show Beckey that she loved her, reignited the teen will to live and later guaranteed the support behind the curtains that Gus would need.

Wendy sets off for Alaska by getting on Zhang's plane, hiding in the same car Rosie was using and listening to the transmission with the plans, meeting the wolf boys (the first hostile hybrids she has ever met), staying safe thanks to the protective screen and infiltrating the enemy base.

Bear is not having a good time once again with Jordan making fun of her. Seriously, this guy gives me the crepes! He gives me the vibe of a kid who doesn't have his life under control and in order to get some, he ruins other people's lives because he feels like he's in charge. This jerk uses the Animal Army against her, threatens her with Helen's whole plan about births (remembering that Becky already said she didn't want children) stopping only when Rosie arrived.

Rosie questions her and Becky manages to make a connection by seeing that she loves her children, something the grieving mother didn't expect. Ginger then needs help, leaving the way open for Wendy to get her sister back and Becky with the opportunity to escape.

Jordan picks her up and is a weirdo once again when Wendy invades and chooses violence! This little girl is nine years old, but she's going to move heaven and earth in the name of the one she loves. It was so satisfying for me to watch her wipe the floor with Jordan, you have no idea!

It's lovely to see how far Wendy has come with her acceptance of her sister. She has overcome her grief for Aimee and accepted Becky as family and someone to care for. She has matured and grown up, ready now to be the support her older sister needed, returning the affection she received.

This was essential not only for Wendy but also for Becky. She did everything for her lost sister and after the two reconcile, this traumatized girl can begin to heal too.

With the rescue successful, Wendy sets out to help the rest of her family. It's in Alaska, in fact, that we see the best of her leadership and strategy skills. Position of the guards, where to go and where not to go. I can't help but laugh when she asks Becky why she didn't fight.

Wendy has no chill when it comes to the people she loves. A menace!

They take a car and head out into the blizzard after Gus and Jepp but end up getting lost. They stop and we finally see how Becky feels: she has spent so much time finding and looking after Wendy that she has forgotten to look after herself. She thinks she has no future or expectations in becoming an adult. Just as Aimee thought, that for humans, death is inevitable and hybrids are the future. That her little sister shouldn't waste her time or risk her life to save humanity and her.

And Wendy sees guilt, self-sacrifice and the conformism of the end, things that she herself and even Aimee had. And she says no. Becky doesn't deserve to die just for being human. She and the others are not inherently better for being hybrids. Rosie's wolf boys would tear her apart if they could, even if she was one of them.

Nor for being a bad human for defending herself. The fault lies with Zheng, who made them feel lost and like war machines. For pushing them, all of them including Becky, to extremes like death. Wiping Becky's face as she finally cries for the first time since the Animal Army dies.

But there would be good people to help guide them. Like Aimee was for Wendy, and Wendy would be for Becky.

This scene of consolation between the two of them cleansed my skin, watered my crops, and cured my anxiety. Because finally Becky is feeling Wendy's love back, seeing that she can have the bond with her sister that she always wanted.

They continue with the help of the constellation that Aimee spoke of before she died, finding Jepp in Birdie's old house, but without Gus. Which can only mean that the boy was outside.

The sisters send after him and stay to help stop Zhang and retake the base from the Alaska survivors who are also there before the polar night. With the plan in place, of which the two were also the leaders, everyone goes into action.

At the Alaska base, Becky and Wendy manage to break in and seize control of the wolf boys thanks to Nuka and Siena. To fulfill their part of the plan, the two need to lure the wolf boys and trap them, then stop a large station machine called the Beast, which Jordan has been assigned to drive.

Everything narrowly goes wrong when Rosie manages to figure out the plan, but the sisters arrest them, not without attracting the attention of Zhang's people in the process.

Much chaos, destruction and death ensue, especially after Rosie's children are freed by their mother and Zhang arrives at the tree-antler, ordering the Beast to come. Siena says there's one last chance to stop the Beast, since getting to the garage isn't working, by going to the greenhouse.

Opportunity presents itself when Wendy picks up and throws a Molotov into flammable oil barrels at enemy personnel. Seriously, this girl chooses and is great at violence. Her sister is proud and so am I.

(Man, I love my unhinge sisters who canonically have a body count).

However, it wasn't enough to stop the machine and Jordan heads off to the cave with Rosie, Ginger and Tex. Fortunately, Nuka thinks of a plan to stop the machine with harpoons, and they all leave too.

I'm not going to lie, the scene of the invasion of the Alaskan base is one of my favorites. Seeing Becky and Wendy being leaders together and having sisterly synergy is everything to me. These two are so alike and that shines through here. As well as relieving the parallel cave arc that...well, is not making Gus have a very good time to say the least.

In the chase, Wendy and Backy hold Rosie back from shredding and Siena harpoons the Beast's fuel tank, but Becky has to jump it to speed up the leak, much to Wendy's dismay.

Things get worse when one of the wolf boys almost catches her, but with her spirits renewed thanks to her conversation with her sister, Becky manages to subdue the boy in a non-lethal way. She tries to convince Jordan to give up, but he's too stuck in his convictions that forces Becky to make a drastic decision and turn into the Beast.

And man, if Wendy was scared before, she's terrified now. This nine-year-old girl has already lost her mother and now her sister may have died too. Certainly, one of the worst moments in Wendy's life, even more so with Sick being released because of the exposed sap from the tree.

She had everything stolen from her: the house she lived in, her mother, her childhood, innocence, freedom and now she could have lost her sister.

Wendy is indeed very brave and kind because this girl had extraordinarily strong reasons to hate everyone and everything. After Gus, she is easily the child who has suffered the most in the entire series. But Wendy has nothing but good faith and love in her body and if that isn't an example of resilience, I don't know what is.

I think that's the word that most defines Wendy: resilience. She persists and maintains kindness in the face of a world that hates her because there are people in it who love her and whom she learns to love, like Aimee, her brothers, Gus and Becky, who survives the accident.

The two sisters meet, reaffirming their love for each other and what a moment, my friends!

That's when they hear one of Rosie's children. Wendy, being Wendy, releases him without further ado, using her empathy to calm the boy down. Rosie even goes as far as to threaten them, but she's clearly only doing it to defend her son and no longer sees any point in such senseless violence.

Especially as finally recognizes that Becky is just like her when she realizes that the sister she talks about so much is also a hybrid and sees that everything has changed since that day. Ginger goes into labor, and everyone goes to help her.

Gus and Jeep finally get out of the cave and the group has an emotional reunion. The journey ends with confirmation that the hybrids are the new dominant species, but humans remain will be able to live without fear. Gus thanks everyone, asking for some time with Jepp and Wendy continues down the mountains with Becky.

The trials are officially over, and everyone finally has peace. Wendy, Gus, Becky and (for me, for the sake of my future fics and psychology) Jeep return to Yellowstone where they build a community based on peace and a respectful remembrance of the past.

Becky can finally stop having to take on a fighting role and have a lighter life, helping to look after the children and her sister while honoring the Animal Army's original mission to protect the hybrids by now looking after them. As well as getting some peace and beginning to heal, watching her little sister become a leader in her own right.

Jeep can finally grow old calmly, taking care of his new children, and making amends for the past with a new perspective. No more fighting or pushing the boundaries.

Gus can now have full freedom with his questions answered, settling things with nature itself and bringing the cure he and his mother wanted. Being able to concentrate on living and taking care of this new community that he so longed for in a more peaceful world.

And of course we have the character of the review: Wendy! She made peace with Aimee's grief, bonded with her sister and was finally able to take care of her family and the hybrids as she wanted. Finding support in Becky and Gus, whom she eventually marries and, even after they've grown old, are still each other's rocks.

In a future that promises nothing but good things.

Final considerations

And that was the analysis!

Wendy is my favorite character, and it was great to do this analysis! This girl is very underrated, and it was great to give her a bit more love!

You can't approach her alone because her character has always been about community. It makes me happy that she has achieved one, with a secure family and honoring her desire to help other hybrids as she always wanted and her mother's desire to see and inherit the world.

Wendy received as much love as she gave and was never alone as a result, from childhood to old age, even when it wasn't easy.

And if that's not a good message, I don't know what is. Thank you for reading my thoughts.

Please share what you think, I would love to hear it!

#sweet tooth netflix #sweet tooth show #sweet tooth #sweet tooth wendy #sweet tooth gus #sweet tooth season 3 #sweet tooth spoilers #sweet tooth becky #my girl is amazing #this series is amazing!

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