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spop-romanticizes-abuse · 5 months ago

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Hey

Want to know your opinion, how would you improve some arcs of toh characters, like Amity, Hunter, Lilith, Willow, Gus and probably anyone whose arcs you think are bad-written?

good question! let's see,

luz: i have mostly no complaints about her character but i wish they made it clear that her running off to the boiling isles was not ideal. i don't entirely blame her because she was a child and she was looking for a way to avoid going to camp, but the show starts off implying that luz's escapism was a bad thing, but then they kinda contradict that in the end, by letting her have access to the boiling isles forever.

also her s3 arc with her palisman was just overall poorly written. it was supposed to be an emotional and wholesome moment but it didn't have that impact on me. if luz's greatest wish was to be understood, they should have built on that more. i mean, it's not like no one understood her, all of her friends and found family in the boiling isles seem to understand and empathize with her. it just felt like the writers pulled this revelation out of their asses, and the fact that stringbean was inexplicably a shapeshifter didn't help their case.

amity: i would keep some parts of her initial characterization, like her ambitious nature and her resting bitch face energy. even if the idea was to make amity grow into a more cheerful person, it doesn't make sense that it happened so quickly. imo her characterization was at its best when she was warming up to luz but not entirely nice to other people (like during the grom episode). i really liked her cold, standoffish behaviour and i think it would have been nice if she had kept some of that, while still being a better person than she was in the beginning.

also, like i said in another post, she should definitely have goals of her own. her character shouldn't have been reduced to "luz's girlfriend". i would definitely show more of her interacting with the other characters (and these interactions and conversations aren't about luz) and pursuing her own dreams. i think steven universe did this best where connie liked steven a lot and she did hang out with him, but she also had her own life and her own dreams to chase.

hunter: i wouldn't put him in a relationship with willow, or anyone, for that matter. the poor boy has a lot of trauma he needs to work through and based on the stuff that he's said, it's clear that he doesn't know how healthy human interactions work, let alone a romantic relationship.

i would make his arc about slowly healing through his trauma or at least being able to express his emotions, instead of suppressing them for willow's sake. i think it could have been done, despite the time crunch. he needed time to grieve flapjack, to grieve himself after being possessed and almost killed by his abuser, and to slowly start his healing journey.

the others would definitely support him through it, but that's what he needs at the time, not a badass girlfriend.

lilith: i think her redemption arc started off okay but then everyone forgave her too quickly. it wasn't as bad as catra's because lilith did put a little effort into trying to be better, but she still needed to do more before she could have been forgiven.

so either i would extent her redemption arc and let the other characters, especially eda, stay mad at her a little longer before she gets forgiven. or i would just keep her as an antagonist.

they didn't even explore her trauma of being in a cult and the emperor's coven never chased her down after she left. not to mention, her experience of being in the emperor's coven is never relevant to the plot. she could have given luz inside information or talked about belos' potential weaknesses, it was such a missed opportunity.

willow: her arc with amity was not terrible and i like that she was allowed to take her time to trust amity. this is more about amity than willow but i think it would have been nice if we saw amity making more efforts to gain willow's trust. her apology in understanding willow was good but they kinda glossed over the fact that amity wasn't just "letting her friends bully willow", she was also bullying willow.

i think we needed more of willow and amity trying to mend their friendship, instead of lumity being the main focus after that one episode.

and in general, willow deserved a bigger role in the series. for the longest time, she was just luz's friend and then they forced her into a relationship with hunter, which did not work at all.

if her intended arc was to work on her insecurities and get more confident over time, they should have shown more of that process. even Any Sport In A Storm was mostly about huntlow (and hunter, to some extent) then willow. and let's be honest, the whole "half a witch" thing was dragged out more than it needed to be.

gus: okay, buckle up because i think i have the most grievances with gus. i need to make this clear. GUS WAS SO UNDERUSED.

i'm sorry. this guy is a child prodigy who can create illusions and use illusion spells to look into people's minds and force them to relive their worst memories?? why was this not more relevant to the plot? gus is such an insanely skilled witch and yet he's always pushed to the back for some reason. he has the most versatile and useful skillset but he never gets to use it, it makes me so mad!

even him looking into belos' mind was only used for that brief moment where he admits that he knew hunter was a grimwalker, but didn't want to force hunter to talk about it. that's it. we get no further conversation about it, gus never addresses the other stuff he saw in belos' memories like him MURDERING his brother and creating all the grimwalkers and god knows what else??

also just the fact that he's able to psychologically torment people with illusions is such an OP move that the series just kinda glossed over. it was used in a few episodes, but it could have been used to a greater extent. i just think that gus could have been such an interesting and powerful character, if he was given enough spotlight.

he also had a good thing going with mattholomule but instead of making that canon, they went for huntlow. i'm not saying that gus has to be in a relationship (or any of them, for that matter) but why create a new rushed ship when you already have a perfectly good one to work with?

i also find it weird that gus and willow were supposedly best friends but we got very few moments between them. i would have loved to see more of their friendship, and more focus on platonic relationships in general.

so yeah, if i were to rewrite gus, i would definitely give him a lot more spotlight. heck, given his powerset, he has the potential to be the main character even!

belos: i've mentioned it a lot before but belos deserved a more climatic end to his arc. all of the implications of religious trauma and puritan culture was thrown in the trash in s3.

he was actually such a compelling villain, genuinely intimidating and with an interesting motive and backstory. what was the point of crafting such an interesting character, just to be like "lol he's evil murder his ass"?

i'm not even mad that he died, i'm just mad that THAT'S how he died. i was expecting his death to be something ironic and self-inflicted, like the people from the human realm being horrified by him and killing him. maybe even burning him to death, the same way witches were burned at the stake. buuuut no, we get king, raine and eda stomping on his corpse because haha that's funny. hunter didn't even get to be a part of all this, and he was the one who deserved closure, he was the one who deserved to see his abuser face consequences of their actions, not fucking eda and raine.

and that part where he tries to convince luz that he was just under a terrible curse was just.. so childish. and not in-character childish, but just childish writing. it was just so ooc for belos, he is a manipulator but this wasn't how he manipulated people. i guess you could argue that he was just too desperate to survive but eh. i think it could have been written better.

eda: i don't have too many complaints here, i think she was probably the most well-rounded and compelling character in this show. her arc about the owl curse was interesting and very relatable to me, as someone who is epileptic. her relationship with raine was the best in the series imo.

the only thing i would change is, as I mentioned earlier, i wouldn't make eda forgive lilith so easily. i also think that she kind of lost her "morally grey parental figure" edge by the end of the series, and i honestly liked that part of her a lot, so i would keep it. but that's just a personal preference.

raine: they were definitely a very interesting character, i just think they deserved more screentime. most of their role in the story was surrounding their relationship with eda, which was very compelling, but we could have gotten more of their character outside their relationship.

the members of the emperor's coven, as a whole, could have been used better in the series. but for a side character with medium relevance to the plot, i'd say raine was written pretty well.

#god this turned out longer than i expected #long post #toh critical #toh criticism #toh salt #toh discourse #anti toh #bad writing #writing critique #ask

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mr-damian-s-power · 3 months ago

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It’s not just the bad lesson in TOH, The Collecor and Stringbean are good examples of how inconsistent the writing became in the final episodes

In the Collector’s case it’s how their characterization kept shifting from Season 2 to the last episodes of Season 3

And how Stringbean became a “snakeshifter” showing how inconsistent the palismen concept became in the world building.

I am of the opinion that as soon as the writers found out the show was being shortened, they should have instantly cut the Collector. With how late in the game he's introduced, there was no time to develop him, and especially not enough time to give him a meaningful or satisfying 'redemption arc'.

Okay, tell a lie, there MIGHT have been enough time to develop him at least a bit if S3 used its time wisely. Did we really need all that crap at Hexside? Could we not have used this time to further develop Belos and the Collector?

That's not even bringing up what you mentioned! Him going from an aloof trickster God who views everyone as nothing but toys in his game, to a 'poor sad little boy who only wants a friend'. People like to call Lilith's redemption bad (which wasn't perfect, don't get it twisted), but look at how quickly ol' Collie changes!

How about this; Instead of Belos gaining power from the Collector, him and the Archivists just don't exist. Belos has been around for hundreds of years, we won't question it that he's managed to learn and keep some very ancient and very powerful types of magic.

Now onto Stringbean! I don't like Stringbean! I don't like what she represents! First of all, she's just fanservice! I'm sure people debated on what Luz's Palisman would be, and the writers couldn't decide so she's a shapeshifter. So, Luz gets a 'weird' Palisman that can be whatever it wants to. Weird? That's the coolest thing ever! Yep, Luz gets a really cool and special Palisman because she's just that great.🙄

Also, I found it incredibly shitty that Hunter loses Flapjack, his best friend and disability aid, then Luz very shortly afterwards gains her super cool and unique Palisman that is better than all the others. Just me?

How about this instead:

Stringbean is a little Snake Palisman (because Luz likes Snakes) who has been abandoned! She was thrown out by her previous owner when she was damaged and was deemed 'useless'. Her old owner couldn't use her to perform magic as powerfully anymore, and tossed her away like nothing. Luz comes across this poor hurt creature and feels pity for her. She finds it unfair to be thrown away when you've 'outlived your usefulness' like some rubbish.

Palismans are meant to be companions, not disposable tools! This is also under the impression Stringbean is introduced a bit earlier on. The whole time, she's upset at being abandoned and tries to help Luz despite her now limited magic capacity. Luz has to reassure her.

"you don't have to be useful to gain my love. I don't care if you're the most powerful Palisman that ever existed, or as powerless as me. You're more than just my Palisman, Stringbean. You're my friend, and nothing will ever change that. Everyone deserves love, and nobody should be made to prove that they're deserving of it."

Thoughts?

#owl house #the owl house #toh #toh critical #toh criticism #toh salt #the owl house criticism #the owl house critical #criticism #the collector #stringbean #constructive criticism

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sepublic · 2 years ago

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Watching and Dreaming

It’s over.

It’s really over.

…Man! We really had a timeskip and everything!

Was it Luz’s eighteenth birthday? Sorry, I was just. SO caught off-guard and disoriented and in such a daze. I remember hearing them mention how Luz was there for the 16th and 17th, which confirms what we already know about Luz’s 15th happening during the timeskip to Thanks to Them. So we have a general range for birthday and all and.

THERE’S SO MUCH TO TALK ABOUT!!!

I’m feeling numb y’all. Genuinely numb and in a daze. I think I need to sit down and catch my breath. Just… Fine, let me start from the beginning. That’s a good place, right?

That nightmare sequence was so HORRIFYING, the way it called back to Lilith and Gwen’s betrayals of Eda over the curse, her trauma over Dell with him losing his second eye! King seeing the skulls of his siblings and being confronted by Bill! And Luz’s dream, being told she’s Belos… Seeing everyone dead, having it reminded to her that she helped him meet the Collector!

But the way she knows her friends enough that in a final moment of crisis… She knows not to trust this! Reminds herself they’d never do that! And just shrugs it off, the way it all comes around to her original light spell! And it’s what saves and awakens everyone from this dream, because it’s called Watching and Dreaming, beat the fantasies of Adegast like before!

And that reunion! They’re so glad to see each other… Eda’s excitement to see Stringbean, the way it loops back to that original trio! And the Collector, aww the Collector… The way they’re so mad but also still reasonable, they’re not THAT mean just not aware of boundaries.

And how Belos manipulates them and GAUGH the age-old theory of the Titan being possessed and halfway resurrected by Belos, covered in his goopy mass… It came true!!!

But first, I loved how everyone befriended the Collector. How even at their most malicious, they weren’t THAT malicious. And the way King counted on Luz to reach out to them, as she always has! The way they recounted Luz’s own journey to one of her narrative parallels!

Raine and Belos fighting each other REAL… They’ve dedicated themselves so much to stopping him, and now they face off! And how CLOSE they were too… Titan I love Raine.

Belos’ giant mock-Titan design was PHENOMENAL, he really went Bionicle this finale and I love it! And good Titan the way the Collector tried to apply the kindness and forgiveness to Belos, because they’re just so naïve! They’re still learning Luz’s compassion and they think it’ll work on this man they’ve been stuck with for centuries, because they can see he’s lonely too!

But as tragic as it is, you can only get help if you accept it. You need to want to change. And he kept refusing, time and time again.

Luz’s death, AUGH… I was panicking because they wouldn’t ACTUALLY, but the way the Collector was breaking up! In disbelief! They don’t understand death and they’re just. They really are a metaphor, or just a straight up example, of kids finding things out! They were lied to by the Archivists, who presumably got killed in the mutual war between Collectors and Titans.

Titan, you’re a monster Belos. You really killed Luz. But Luz, she GAVE her life for this kid she just met, who antagonized her for so long! Because she sees herself in him, she’s just bristling with so much COMPASSION, it’s overflowing!

And finally meeting King’s dad, and Belos killing what’s left of him. That hurts so much, but it was wonderful seeing the full shot of his skeleton. And the Hooty parasite in his eye… Well. I guess that just confirms that Hooty is one of those eye-worms that survived after all these millennia! Damn.

Harpy Luz!!! But also Titan Luz!!! And she got big hair!!! Just like she always wanted, and Stringbean came back for her! I loved seeing King and Eda go FERAL over Luz, I love that trope to death. But the way Camila shed a tear like she could tell she lost the last member of her family, after losing Manny…

But nope! Luz’s friends have faith in her, and they manage to save everyone! With the Collector, my boy… Ngl I thought they’d go with the reveal that Belos’ growth sapped their magic and left them powerless, but oh well!

And the callback! The callback to magic coming from the heart, Luz, Eda, and King diving through! Luz knowing what she wants, getting to wield bile magic for just a brief time! And the animation the ANIMATION…

Raine was blind as a bat and just whistling lmao! But seriously it’s sad when you consider they were possibly trying to access any bard magic, but were too exhausted. And getting to reunite with Eda after all this time… Those tear scars are metal ngl. We got Possessed Raine scars after all, folks!

And the way they all came together to finally PRY Belos from the heart, even as they made a final callback to the beginning scene! Just as Eda said, if Luz works, she can make her fantasies happen, bring them to life, and she DID! AND BELOS ATE IT!!!

Him trying to appeal to her one last time. Blaming the magic, accusing Eda of having been cursed by dark magic, once again relying on the curse as an excuse. But the WAY the show finished him off… Boiled, BURNED to death in the rain, after talking about how he missed the cool rain of the human realm. The ultimate rejection of this world towards him, that rain that acts as a signifier for the different worlds.

Luz just watched Philip burn to death. That shit was ICE COLD, in spite of rain itself! Just letting him beg for his life, feebly trying to appeal to ‘peace’, but Luz was allowed to be a bit feral and get some revenge herself. And of course, Eda, King, and Raine got some too! The leaf umbrella was hilarious and anyhow I think there’s something poetic about Raine being named after the thing that helped kill Belos in the end. So long, you messed up bastard! Killed by the witches, by the world you despised! I love the way his patience wears away to reveal his hatred and rage and truth, and he dies by the people he loathed.

Seriously, that underwater coral look to everything was so cool but so fitting, given the Titan was submerged in water and everything… Luz bringing back the red leaves that were another thing to distinguish from the green grass of the isles, against the green of Belos!

The callback to Really Small Problems with the BREAD PUN, THAT KILLED ME!!! And Luz regretting, trying to think of what to say, realizing when it was seemingly too late, to THANK them like the first episode of S3’s title! And now…

Now it’s over. The timeskip and reparations. I feel sorry for everyone who lived in Palm Stings or on the left arm in general, Belos still got to wreak havoc and devastation one last time… But everyone’s freed, STEVE AND LILITH’S FRIENDSHIP I LIVE FOR IT SO MUCH!!!

Everyone reuniting at the Owl House, Raine and Eda those hags having some rest in the nest… The Collector bringing back Hooty! Lilith and Camila and Amity! Gilbert and Harvey kiss, HUNTER WITH DARIUS AND EBERWOLF!!! Amity and Alador… And Odalia, just straight up ignored! Would’ve loved to see her and Kikimora one last time, it’s a shame we didn’t get to see Kiki again. Maybe I missed her later on, but lol what if we just took the opportunity to say Boscha and the others killed her off-screen what then.

Luz losing the last of the Titan, the original glyph that started it all… The pain!!! But the way she makes a NEW LANGUAGE WITH KING!!! And still has Stringbean, so she still has another way of doing magic! So it’s not the end, just a new beginning all over again!

AUGH WHY DID THEY MAKE THE COLLECTOR LEAVE! When King said he showed up one last time I wanted to SEE them again, sure they definitely wouldn’t have aged given it was only a few years and they didn’t grow after millions but whatever.

Timeskip… GOD THE WAY IT THREW US FOR A LOOP! A three-year timeskip, three years of the show. The photos with an older Vee, that barista lady with Hooty, Eda introducing Camila to Apple Blood! AND OLDER VEE AND LUZ!!!

I love the way the show psyched us out, making us think Luz was just gonna settle for human college lmao. And the way she said ‘After all this time’ like she was gone for years, and I was thinking! Please tell me it’s a joke! AND IT WAS! AS I HOPED, Camila reminds Luz it’s only been a WEEK!

And seeing everyone again. The Bat Queen start a new forest of Palismen with Gwen and Dell, Hunter learning from his lowkey descendants? THE TRIBUTE TO FLAPJACK I’M CRYING, WILLOW!!! DAMMIT WE SHOULD’VE GOTTEN A HUNTLOW KISS IT’S BEEN YEARS IN-UNIVERSE!!!

Checking up on everyone, from Morton to the Selkidomus, Wrath and Braxas, Tibbles and the Slitherbeast with its baby! HARPY LILITH! I saw Boscha… Hexside’s faculty, BARCUS AS A TEACHER! Alador figuring out how to remove the sigils, Darius’ joy and becoming tsundere! Emira’s short hair, I was worried about Edric but then we saw him as a teacher, bless! ALONGSIDE GUS, who is ROCKING IT with those golden dreads and being an expert on humans!

The way the symbol of Belos’ tyranny was replaced with a forest of wild magic, unbridled, for people to learn in. THAT being the college. Raine there, everyone there. And then they all come together one last time to say goodbye, acknowledging how we missed out on the Quincenera… THE MESSED UP CAKES! Steve just letting the spiders crawl as Luz did!

And the final light show by the Collector. And that META joke… Saying “They’re about to leave” which could refer to our favorite star child, but it also refers to the audience! One final BBBYYYEEEEE is perfect. That running gag. Both by the crew in real life and in the show. This show gets so wonderfully meta and I ADORE it…!

(Lmao that last look at the Coven Heads, VITIMIR GETTING AN EXTRA BIT!!! Does the crew love him too, is it a bone thrown to his fans! HELL YEAH!!! Still salty over his hat lmao.)

…It’s over. It’s really over. After all this time, this is the last I’ll ever write something like this, about a new episode. Unless we get that Raeda prequel which the finale even jokes about, but for now. Thank you so much everyone. For listening, for reading to all of these posts I’ve made per episode since Season 1B began. With how much I dump here, I’m amazed anyone’s read it, but…

Thanks so much you guys. It means everything. I dunno how to end this off, I feel like Luz… Oh wait! I know exactly how! Just as my beloved characters did, just as @danaterrace herself...

BBBBBBYYYYYYEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!

#the owl house #luz noceda #eda clawthorne #edalyn clawthorne #king clawthorne #the owl house hooty #lilith clawthorne #the owl house collector #emperor belos #philip wittebane #camila noceda #the owl house hunter #willow park #gus porter #augustus porter #amity blight

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mdhwrites · 11 months ago

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I feel like I remember you mentioning Luz inheriting Owlbert as her palisman instead of Stringbean a while back (I've checked but nothing comes up, so idk if I'm just imagining this or tumblr is just being tumblr lol) and if you did, how would that work exactly? I'm very intrigued by it, but I wonder how it would play into the story, especially if Eda stays alive. I'm curious to hear your thoughts!

(Sorry if you haven't haha, I just remember reading somthing about it and I'm 70% sure it was you but..)

This is kind of both where I've mentioned it, so Tumblr should be able to bring it up, but I've never talked in depth about it I think. Let's fix that here.

So I still believe this take. The core premise is that it is a passing on of who Eda once was to someone who can now hold her rebellious torch. For Luz it is true acceptance of her being Eda's apprentice and her daughter, a family heirloom effectively passed on. Also, Owlbert would have been carved while Eda was still at her most rebellious and probably has missed the side of Eda that could do a lot of that but the curse tamped down and now Momma Eda just can't act on as much. Not like Luz. Owlbert is also more family for them than Stringbean literally had time to be. All of this is thematically WAY stronger than almost anything to do with Stringbean, leaning into new homes, found family and the mentor/student side of the show. I've DEFINITELY talked about why Stringbean doesn't work though, as cute as they are.

All of this would also have paid off the Owlbert episode in S1 or felt like it was happening already with how Luz kept borrowing Owlbert in early S2. She was growing a bond with the palisman and Owlbert is even why she's able to trick Belos during the S1 finale because otherwise she wouldn't have been able to activate the glyphs remotely.

This is also without getting into the fact that once Eda has Harpy Mode... She just doesn't need Owlbert. She can fly, she uses glyphs, it's potentially dangerous for her to use her old friend who might still want to spread their wings, etc. like that. The palisman is no longer required, kind of like how we don't see Lilith's palisman in the finale because she has her own wings now. I am happy they have their wings but... Are their palisman just being left at home, without their companions?

That starts getting kind of close to why the Bat Queen didn't trust Luz in S1. And hey, it would have been a GREAT way to end Hunting Palisman. Rather than a brick of wood that was going to take a REALLY smart hand to make eventually work without either feeling awkward in execution or feeling pointless because whatever Luz said was going to end up feeling like something she could have said here, both of which are Stringbean frankly, it's that Owlbert comforts her. Eda sees this, smiles, frowns then shuts her eyes. When they open back up, it's to Luz and Owlbert, now in first person perspective from Eda's eyes, looking up at her and asking if she's okay. She wipes her tears, knowing what's right for her friend and her daughter and tells Luz that until she figures out what she wants, what fits her, she can use Owlbert. He has been getting a little chubby sitting around The Owl House after all and she's more likely to keep him from getting into mischief. Owlbert hoots in indignation while Luz puffs out her chest and goes "And what if I want to get into Mischief?" and Eda just smiles before saying that then they BOTH can keep each other out of trouble.

It's a genuine Mentor/Student moment that also has SO many shades of when someone hands down the old car that's been around for so long and meant so much to the older generation. Now it can be useful and ride anew with the sons and daughters who originally ran those tires into the ground. How it can cause mischief all anew while the old generations also knows how reliable it can be.

It even fits with what Luz's statement is eventually. "I want to be understood." Why not the family who took her in and showed so much understanding? Hunting Palisman is one of the genuinely good moments for Luz, Eda and King, brief as it is, in part because it is showing so much understanding of Luz. That she would appreciate the gesture, needs time, needs opportunity and doesn't need pressure. But that understanding never really goes anywhere. Eda never passes anything on to Luz. She barely ever teaches her anything, even when that was ostensibly what the show was about. This could have at least been a gesture bringing the elements closer together, rather than keeping them apart.

Instead, even when the family is all together to fight Belos, Owlbert just... Isn't there. He's gone from the finale until the endings start. Someone who always protected Luz, helped her, even back in the first episode when Eda tries to send Luz away with Owlbert and he's just... gone. Left by the wayside like so many elements that seemed to matter at one point.

Left to rot like so many abandoned palisman. That doesn't feel like how things should have gone. Not when there was so much to be gotten out of keeping him around.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

#the owl house criticism #toh critical #toh #the owl house #Owlbert

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loupy-mongoose · 1 year ago

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i know its not entirely related to the series in general but more towards the author ofc.

do you have a top 3 or top 5 favorite characters In pokemon? (game and anime included if you wish to have 3/5 of each) and if so any reason for those characters? :0

Interesting question! I'll try to pick based on their canon selves, and my own opinion of such, rather than the fandom's or my own portrayal of them.

They're listed in no particular order. Just tacked on as I settled on them.

Now, I'm super basic (a lot if not all of these are fan favorites, honestly) and can easily include N in my top 5. Growing up I was one of the peeps who subscribed to the "N is a Zoroark" theory, and I fell in love with the mystery of it all. (I may have had a slight crush on him as well lol) I will say that I recognize that accounts for most of the attachment I have toward the Gen 5 era. X3 (Music being another big factor.) (Cheren and Bianca are honorable mentions. I also had a crush on Cheren. XD)

Another top of mine is Zinnia, mostly because she reminds me of one of my oldest and favorite ocs. (We'll be meeting said oc at some point. :3) She's such a wild, thrilling character!

I'm gonna have to include Arven in the list. He's one of them gruff-but-secretly-sweet guys. Also, tragic backstory ftw. XD

Rika can be included, I suppose. I like stringbean characters, and she's as stringbean as they come. XD Plus her actual character is pretty cool.

Hmmmm... Who's my last one...? I might go with Jacq. I liked him from the moment he was revealed, and just find him a fun, comfortable guy to be around in the game. He makes me happy. ^^

I'm aware that three of them are S/V characters, but... I like S/V, darn it, and they did a bang-up job on the characters! XD But anyway, those are my top picks, at least for the time being. ^^

#peppercosmos #ask

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phantomoftheorpheum · 6 months ago

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PLL: OS (Summer School) 2x07 thoughts

*Spoilers for 2x01-2x07 of Summer School + the trailer for the final 3 episodes.

Okay, this is it, y'all, the last chance to make any predictions! I suspect this is going to be very long.

Unfortunately I have a lot going on rn, so I'm pretty exhausted and I fear this will not be my best, but I'm going to do my best to push through the brain fog. If I struggle with expressing my thoughts, at least you'll know why.

I think, for the final analysis of the season (I will post something about 2x08, but it will probably be a much shorter post, since I don't anticipate doing much speculating [outside of loose threads]) I'm going to break things down by girl, but fully go through every character most closely linked to each girl, then move on to stuff that doesn't fit well in those categories. Okay, let's do this. I hope you're ready for overthinking. (P.S. there are weird breaks in the formatting because of tumblr's limits of how long a single block of text can be).

Faran

I'm starting with Faran because she is both my personal favorite, and because I think she may be the simplest to talk about. So while it does feel like Faran's gotten to grow this season, a lot of her story is really an internal journey for her character development, and I think a lot of it isn't super directly linked to the BR plot. Despite her character getting a lot of physically strenuous scenes, I think her confidence/emotional strength was what was really tested this season. So like I said, aside from being linked to the church through the characters outside of the girls that she interacts with the most, Faran doesn't feel super tied in to the BR motive. I've really enjoyed Faran this season (and relate to a lot of aspects of her personality), but her story does feel a bit peripheral to the main events of the season (which is fine, tying to deeply tie villain motivations back to each of the girls in this plot seems like a lot. It worked with their moms, but would be harder to do repeatedly). That being said, there are characters and plot lines attached specifically to her, so let's take a look at those.

Henry - I think he's irrelevant. He was mentioned one time this episode. I think this is just a character (or maybe more the relationship) they just wanted to cycle out. He's felt doomed (figuratively speaking) all season, and if he doesn't make any kind of appearance in 2x08, that doesn't feel like a loose thread. I've never hated or loved Henry (and I think that's a bit of the problem and the reason they've basically written him out), he's just kinda there. And now he's just kinda not there. If they have a third season, I could see him possibly making very minor appearances (depending on the availability of the actor), but it does just feel like the show is pretty done with him. Considering his connections to Kelly's church, it is possible he "sold the girls out" in some way, but that just feels unnecessarily complicated, tbqh. This is probably the last time I will talk about him at all, unless he pops up in an important way next episode.

Coach Rhodes & Stringbean - It feels like this storyline was here to close out Faran's arc of finding herself and feeling confident/comfortable in her strength, both physically and mentally. Obviously Coach Rhodes has Faran's number, and they still haven't explained the info showing up on SpookySpaghetti, but that always felt like a distraction anyway (Coach Rhodes, I mean). I'll be surprised if he has any kind of important role.

Greg - I guess it's time for me to really talk about Greg, because I've mentioned him and Faran/Greg a little over the course of the season, but mostly in passing. It now feels like it's time. Listen... Greg is (I think) in my mind benefitting massively from the fact that I didn't bother to rewatch season 1, because I don't think I have as many negative feelings about him as people who that season was fresh for. I barely remember him in season 1, so I've forgotten a lot of the stuff he said/did, so basically season 2 Greg exists in my mind by himself. BUT, please don't get me wrong, he is still annoying and problematic and I think they've rushed (and cut) key stuff they really needed for a good redemption arc for a character like him. And I do think he needs a redemption arc if they want to move forward with him as a protagonist, even a background one. In the scheme of the show, sure, Greg is probably not the literal worst (I don't think he's murdering anybody, anyway), but the show has also made him intentionally an example of toxic masculinity, misogyny, etc. etc. etc. and because the show has chosen to center a lot of these topics, then ignoring that Greg has spent the majority of his screen time as an embodiment of all those things, just having him say a few "Sorry, I'm better now," kind of lines just doesn't cut it, imo. I actually really respect the idea of taking an incredibly privileged, toxic, and even harmful character and deconstructing them, to show that it's hard and it's a process and that people can change, but it's not easy to unlearn all that stuff. It can be fascinating, and also a reminder that, as hard as it might be for us to like someone like Greg, the message that "once a shitty person, not always a shitty person," is ultimately, if executed thoughtfully, a positive. So yeah, I think that kind of storyline can be done well, but it takes time, which is something this show lacks in a lot of ways (lots of characters, lots of elements, very few episodes). Personally, I think they should have played the long game with Greg, if they really wanted to turn him into a protagonist and possible love interest. I don't know why they wouldn't, except maybe that he's going to be sacrificed to add to the body count of the finale and so they knew they didn't have time to do a developed arc with him.

Faran/Greg as a ship - If you told me I had to write a follow up to season 1 and make Greg a love interest for Faran, here's what I would have pitched- Use season 2 to show that he's questioning things and people around him (maybe we introduce his gay cousin [I know that was a Riverdale reference, but that could have been anyone] who's visiting for the summer and he's someone Greg already loves/respects who calls out his inappropriate comments and toxic masculinity). Show him listening and absorbing the thoughts/behavior of the people that he's now surrounded by (his cousin at home, Faran and Ash [and Shawn if he existed enough to be anything] at work), instead of his usual group of friends from school. Show him becoming unsatisfied and embarrassed with the way that he's been acting. Make him realize, now that he's starting to open his mind a bit, that he does really respect Faran, shown through interactions of them working together. Have them clash at the beginning of the season, but also have them talk and have friendlier moments, because they're stuck together at work and there's a lot of just sitting around, basically. Let us, the audience, watch him change, while Faran maybe doesn't see it that much, because the change is slow. If you have to have Faran/Greg "romance" in season 2, make it casual. Faran will have spent enough time with Greg by mid-season that she's friendly-ish with him, but after her breakup with Henry, she's just looking for a FWB kind of situation and, now that she's seen a slightly better side of him, she thinks Greg's kinda hot. She sees him shirtless all day, she finds that their bickering has evolved into less serious topics and now it's evolved into some sexual tension, she doesn't see him as a real romantic option, but he and Kelly are broken up (which I would have had happen earlier), so why not? Get them to a point by the end of season 2 where you've set up a "he's completely smitten with her, but she thinks it's just casual and it doesn't even occur to her they could be a real couple," dynamic for season 3. If you get a season 3, great. If you don't, that's okay, too. That way, you still get your ship in season 2 (and it's PLL, they tend to have to have their ships), but it doesn't feel entirely unsupported, and you can continue to have that relationship evolve into something deeper, OR you can have it fall apart easily, whichever direction you want to go if you get renewed because there's groundwork for either (scenario one, Faran develops feelings, scenario two, she doesn't and realizes he has and that ends things). So that would have been my pitch if you told me I have to try to make this ship work (would I have pitched this ship in the first place? no, I wouldn't have, but that won't stop me from trying to retroactively work out how it could have been handled), anyway.

As it is, I really don't get the Faran/Greg thing from a pacing/storytelling/character POV. I get the tropes that they're leaning into with this relationship. I get that there's limited time. I think I entirely get what the intent was. I just don't think they've done enough with Greg's character or his relationship with Faran to support where we are now with them. Mostly. I said last week that I thought it was good they cut the 2x06 kiss, because while I could see where they were trying to go with things, it just didn't feel like they'd managed to actually get those characters to a place where it makes sense, but now I kind of want to take that back because I think this felt even weirder? Like I don't know what was said in the 2x06 conversation that led to a kiss, or what other Faran/Greg content they might have cut from earlier in the season, but I just didn't feel like they'd had enough legitimately friendly interactions (yeah, Greg apologized to her that one time, but they've not really talked about anything of substance with each other, ever) for them to suddenly be legit hanging out and hooking up. When Greg said, "You know why," I thought to myself- Yeah, I do, but what if I didn't know about the cut kiss from 2x06 and/or I haven't been paying that much attention to the show, would I? That conversation makes a lot more sense with the context of that not being the first time they've kissed, but since that scene was cut, I guess it canonically is and hhdfjshfkjsdfs. Because romance is not central to the plot, and you have 5 main characters, this is the perfect opportunity to plan multi-season romantic arc that doesn't ruin anything if it's not resolved, and I just think they should have taken that. Y'all, I want to be very clear that my critiques of the show come from a place of fun for me. I like thinking about how things that I believe are particularly weak elements could have been different. If I weren't enjoying myself, I wouldn't be watching, and I definitely wouldn't be making posts like this. So when I say I think something is done poorly, that doesn't mean that I'm horribly upset or I don't like the show. I just like talking about what could be done better. The only time I am legitimately annoyed (and it's more frustration than anything) is when I feel like I just cannot understand what/why/how the creative decisions were made. I don't think Faran/Greg has been handled particularly well (too fast, too unsupported, not enough change on Greg's part, etc.), but I do think I understand what the intent/goal was, in this case, and so it doesn't bother me as much as it easily could.

Kelly

I'm giving Kelly her own section this time, and I think it makes sense for it to follow Faran's, since their plots are tied together this season.

Kelly's actions are quite interesting to me this episode. She seems to be genuinely investigating the Bloody Rose plot, and she seems genuinely suspicious of her mother. And also she could be dead now. (I do not think Kelly is dead, because if she is, then Faran didn't have to find her right away. I assume Faran will be able to save her, tying up the "Faran rescuing people from drowning," arc).

The question remains- is Kelly genuine? She does a lot of things in this episode that point to "she doesn't know what's going on," like calling Sandy's mom and asking where she is, questioning her mom about who she blames for Karen's death, locking her mom up and fleeing her house. All these things are consistent with actions a character would take if they don't know what's going on and are trying to find out.

My problem with this is... I think that there is a plan from the BR team (I'm calling it a team, because I think it's minimum 2 people and likely 3 or more) to frame someone (or someones) for the Bloody Rose attacks, so also all of those actions (along with a possibly faked attack intentionally witnessed by Faran) could be part of Kelly setting up her mother as a fall guy (so in this scenario, Kelly is playing out the "concerned friend & investigator" role by doing things like calling Sandy's parents to establish actions that would make her seem innocent). When you think about it, it would make sense. A lot of the BR stuff ties back to the church, which her mother has a major role in. Whoever BR is, they were able to convince people that their victims are still alive and not trigger a murder investigation or search parties. Whoever BR is, they are covering their tracks. Mrs. Beasley would be a great fall guy if Kelly were involved, and Mrs. Beasley is abusive towards Kelly, giving her motivation to frame her.

So, for that reason, I haven't cleared Kelly from my list. That being said, her behavior this episode does more likely point to her innocence, as it's a simpler explanation and allows her to stay in the show as a sometimes protagonist, sometimes antagonist. I also think this episode makes it pretty difficult to think Mrs. Beasley and Kelly are involved. If they were, a lot of their conversations don't make any sense.

However, if Kelly is involved, I can't help but wonder if her BR attack was staged (I mean, she may really be injured à la Billy and Stu) because she was tipped off about the girls beginning to close in a bit by Faran's conversation with her. She could also be pissed at Faran for her thing with Greg (though since the show seems to have cut a lot of that, it's probably not that important to the plot) if she somehow found out about that.

Mrs. Beasley is obviously incredibly suspicious at this point, but since PLL properties favor twist villains, she may very well be too suspicious. She blames the girls for what happened to Karen (and what warped thinking, that this happened to Karen because of the video is. Ma'am Karen's doom did not start with a video, it started when your husband r**ed Angela), which is certainly motive. She also specifically ties Karen's death to The Orpheum, which is another arrow pointing at Tabby's storyline. Anyway, obviously she's growing roses (but literally anybody could go cut some) and she's connected to the church and we know she's hurting Kelly, so... But those reveals are all pre-finale, and also all of those things would be a great way to frame her.

The timing of Kelly's attack is difficult to pinpoint. It looked like it was daylight when she locked Mrs. Beasley up, and Kelly is attacked after dark. It's not totally clear, but I think the only side characters with alibis during this particular attack are (actual Rose, Mouse's grandmother, Shawn, & Greg). Since I believe that there may be multiple people dressing up as Bloody Rose, this isn't really helpful. (Finally a BR attack where it seems like Shawn has an alibi, though).

Mouse

This is probably going to be a pretty short section, since Mouse doesn't have a ton going on, though there are some interesting implications in her story this episode.

So... how did Mouse get exposed on SpookySpaghetti? It still feels like there's someone with inside info on the girls (phone numbers, their redemption house info, now this), but as far as we know the only character who knows Mouse made the Angela video is Ash. Are we supposed to believe people just recognized her/her voice (which tbf, was not particularly disguised)? Or was the laptop she was brought a trap? (or even if it wasn't, could someone have remote access to Mouse's computers?) Is someone tracking her digital info, and possibly even watching her through her webcams? It's interesting because we've only seen this happen once, but Mouse accepted that video chat with Bloody Rose, so could the point of that have been for Rose to gain access to her computer? That's never come back around.

Speaking of Mouse's computer, we did meet her "computer teacher" this episode, and he is clearly a character who would be capable of all that, but it feels waaaay too late for an important introduction.

Ash - Again, I don't have a lot to say here. The fact that he knew about the Angela video does look not great for him, particularly with the leaked phone numbers, since he's someone who probably had all the new numbers at that point. The girls say they didn't give the numbers to anyone, but I think they mean new people, because they were all still talking to their boyfriends, so I assume they were excluding people they really trust. But... I just don't see how Ash fits in as a good villain for this season. He's been very background and the biggest part of his story is Pride vs Hell House, and that just feels really genuine. He's nowhere near the top of my predictions.

Mouse's Grandmother & Rose - I am glad that this plot point is going to get addressed to some degree, because I've been wondering why they had Rose jump off of a bridge. It would have been really easy to just have her be unwilling to speak to the girls or not coherent when they found her. Whether or not she actually is Rose Waters, and what her connection to stuff might be, does still feel like it needs to be resolved. I don't have much new to say about Mouse's grandmother. I suppose she might have known Rose back in the day, since her daughter obviously knew Angela.

Imogen

There are a few elements to Imogen's storyline this season that need to be addressed in the finale, the most obvious being if BR is pretending to be her mother and why.

I still think we're building to Imogen stabbing someone (quite probably Johnny), just not sure whether that's going to be a hallucination, a bad guy, accidentally a good guy, etc. I don't think the fact that she's had two meltdowns where she's grabbed knives and Johnny has talked her down from both of them is in any way an accident (rule of threes).

I'm still unsure why they introduced Rebecca, when it's had absolutely nothing to do with anything (I guess it's informed Imogen's mental state and kept her relationship with her mother at the surface). I just don't see how they tie it in with any sort of satisfaction because we've literally met this character one time.

In general, I'm honestly really not sure how Davie ties in to everything, unless she doesn't, really, but it's part of the storyline BR is crafting for a film or something.

Johnny - He's continued to be super chill about all the stuff Imogen is throwing at him. Out of the three new love interests, he is the least developed, which I think makes him the least likely to have a big twist reveal (though I do have a theory that includes him, but we'll get to that later because there's a lot of other stuff I need to bring up first), but that shot of what appears to be Imogen dragging his body across the creamery floor is something. I've thought it is most likely a nightmare that she has (because if he was revealed as a villain and killed or injured, why would she need to move his body? Surely under those circumstances she'd just call 911, like do we think Imogen is going to hide a body this season???), but I also kind of expected it to be in tonight's episode. I think I also instinctively discredit it a bit because if it is real & what it looks like, that feels very spoilery and I would never put something key like that in a trailer, but also sometimes they really do put stuff in a trailer that you probably shouldn't. Since I have no new information on his character, this is about all I've got for you on this one.

Imogen/Johnny - Johnny has one point in his favor with me, and it's a small point, which is that he got the 2x06 Greg treatment this episode, AKA they gave him a shot were Imogen leaves and then he's all smiling and smitten. There's literally no one there to see it. But I only give that a tiny bit of weight because it could just be editing. The choice to linger on him in this moment feels weird if he's going to be evil, but weird choices happen sometimes. It also makes me very nervous that Imogen keeps talking about how safe she feels with Johnny. That seems like terrible foreshadowing. I just really want Imogen to not have to relive the trauma of dating people who have literally always had an ulterior motive.

Small note, but- "Stop analyzing me." Imogen, I love you, but do you know what a therapist is for?

Dr. Sullivan - Okay, this is still a big thing, even though we got some kind of explanation out of her in this episode. It's hard to know how honest she's being. Even without her vanishing and the rose petals appearing, her past with this situation didn't feel resolved. Archie murdering her son for revenge against Dr. Sullivan for simply not reporting his situation doesn't totally line up to me. Like I get that she should have done something, but he had apparently already escaped at that point, so... She's from Millwood. Did she know the girl's moms? Did she know Davie? We know she knew Rose. Also Imogen couldn't find anything about her son online. He has a gravestone, so it feels like he's real (though she could have scouted the cemetery and found a Sullivan and then used that person's first name in her explanation to Imogen), so that makes me question if Dr. Sullivan is Dr. Sullivan. I mean, I know that Dr. Sullivan is a character from the original and she is definitely actually Dr. Sullivan, but with all the theories around twins, could she actually be Dr. Sullivan's twin, impersonating her to gain access to the girls (would also explain why she was so willing to risk her license by recording the girls without their consent)? But that feels overly complicated, too.

Obviously Imogen has that dream where Dr. Sullivan is BR and impersonating her mother. But Imogen's story is so intertwined with motherhood, she clearly spends part of the season looking up to Dr. Sullivan as a kind of stand-in mother figure, and Dr. Sullivan and Davie do look a little alike. This is clearly unresolved, but I'm conflicted in where I think it's going. It could be more about Imogen's personal journey, and I would probably assume that if BR hadn't (probably, we didn't actually see it) been wearing a Davie mask.

Dr. Sullivan's flashback scenes were weird, like tv (or film) recreations, rather than legit flashbacks (another SpookySpaghetti film? Or possibly the movie BR might be making?) and what was with Archie's mask in the flashback??? That looked like a Christian monster mask, rather than the A mask we're used to seeing. That's another reason I wonder if the "flashback" might be a dramatized recreation for the film. And is that supposed to be Archie's "real" face?

I still haven't forgotten that someone pushed her down the stairs (according to her) and we've just avoided bringing that up again.

"Something about Rose compelled me," is a very interesting wording. It's also very "The power of Christ compels you!" feeling.

And then, obviously, she disappears and the rose petals are left behind. So presumably she's either been kidnapped by BR or she's in on it. I'm still very conflicted about this character.

Noa

Here we are again. That's it.

Okay, no, I'm actually going to talk about it. I'm not going to continue to go on about all the stuff leading up to this episode because I have discussed it in length in previous posts. Yes, I'm still frustrated with this storyline, and yes, that's still mostly because I cannot figure out what the show is trying to say/do here. Either Noa is getting set up for a big fall/surprise, or they genuinely didn't see how this arc was going to be received. It's one or the other.

While I can understand why Noa would feel so connected to Jen and why she might grow apart from Shawn and why this love triangle situation happened in the first place, what I struggle to understand (from a character perspective) is how she'll go from casually discussing the fact that she's been cheating on Shawn (those are her own words, it's not like she's in denial about her actions), then crying and seemingly genuinely feeling guilty, but then she'll turn around and think she's justified in smashing up his car because... he was angry at her and Jen for their affair?

Characters respond to things emotionally, and I do think Noa is someone who operates on her gut instincts, rather than spending a lot of time thinking things through, but what in holy hell was she thinking? Of course he's gonna be really pissed, Noa. You cheated on him (and it's not even addressed if he's aware this happened while she was in juvie, too), literally moved the person you're cheating with into your house under his nose, asked him for 2k to bail out the person you're cheating with, continued to instigate a sexual relationship with him instead of breaking things off, didn't actually do anything when the person you're cheating with literally robbed his own house (which he may also still not know), then dumped him without even being honest about why. But he's the bad guy because... he yelled at the person you were cheating with a put a hole in the wall? Wild. And like... listen, someone putting a hole in the wall in anger is a red flag to me (irl), but considering the circumstances and his lack of a history of violence, if we are supposed to think this in any way warrants Noa then smashing his car (which like... at least equally big red flag irl as punching a wall) then I don't get it.

So that brings me to the fact that I'm not convinced Shawn actually did damage the wall (he does not specifically deny this when confronted, but he's also a little distracted by the fact that his ex is smashing out his car windows). I mean, who the hell knows? We literally only have Jen's version of events and she's got a history of lying and twisting situations around to suit her ends. We also don't know what her reaction to being confronted by Shawn was. Her pattern in confrontation that we've witnessed is to get angry and accusatory with the person confronting her. She also basically taunted Shawn to his face with the comment about not getting much sleep, so why would I believe she didn't intentionally escalate that situation as well? She hardly seems like a character who would sit there and be all shaken up by it.

All that being said, if Jen is going to get majorly exposed as a villain, then this storyline will make a lot more sense to me. I'm frustrated with this storyline because I feel like I don't feel the emotions they imply we should with things like the cinematography, lighting, music, editing, etc. but if that is an intentionally contradictory choice, then that removes my frustrations. I mean, it's still a trope I don't particularly enjoy the journey of, but at least it will have been on purpose. And that's the thing I've been asking myself this season, is this on purpose? If it is, then great. It's not my kind of storyline, considering I really dislike love triangles, but they did what they wanted to do. If it's not, then someone missed the mark big time.

I'm going to discuss Jen further in a later section, so I'm not going to give her character too much attention here, but I do have one thing-

"Some lies are helpful," 👀 okay, Jen, are we gonna find out about yours? Is this going to be a "Well, yeah, I originally came here for nefarious purposes, but now I actually love you, so it's all good, right?" type of thing?

Shawn - If he's not a villain, then sorry bro, this has been a rough season for you.

Tabby

We've made it to Tabby! Our ultimate final Final Girl of season 2! At this point, it very much does seem like Tabby is at the absolute center of all this (which is why I am the most suspicious of characters directly tied to her) and that probably means some really not fun things in store for her in the finale.

We already know (from the trailer) that she's going to fall down the steps at Christian's house. She's also MIA from the riot at the Orpheum scenes (Riot At The Orpheum sounds like a PATD cover band or something, lol), so I think she's getting a lot of solo screen time in the finale.

This may not matter, but I wanted to note it here that Wes calls the owner of the movie theater "Mrs. Orpheum," which stuck out strangely to me. "The Orpheum" is a super common theatre name, so I have to assume this is a nickname (and not her actual name) Wes is using to refer to their boss, so then... considering how much is centered around Tabby this season, who actually owns the theater? And could they be behind the LLC that turned Imogen's house into Redemption House? Clearly whoever owns this place has a ridiculous amount of money, considering they're running a 35 mm capable theater that appears to have practically no customers.

Wes - So. Yeah. How likely do we think it is that Wes is dead now? Or at least kidnapped? His storyline is clearly completely unresolved (masks in his apartment, mysteriously missing for days, no BR attack alibis, his relationship with the film festival stuff, etc.) and he pretty much either has to be evil or is being framed. Him suddenly moving away (I mean, I don't think he's gone, but he did clearly tell Tabby he was leaving, so it's not like that was entirely fabricated) makes me wonder (assuming he's not BR) if he's been threatened to do so somehow. I also have no idea how Tabby is not suspicious of him. He's been acting weird, you have no idea where he is most of the time, you know he's a total asshole, and you found masks at his place and evidence he was using SpookySpaghetti, but he's not on your BR suspect list??? He's ridiculously suspicious! So suspicious, in fact, that it makes me slightly less suspicious of him. But the fact that no one has brought him up as a suspect circles me back around to being super suspicious of him again. While I'm considering some other options heading into the finale, if he were behind BR (though it has to be more than one person, imo) I wouldn't be shocked. He certainly has potential motive (I mean, if you're a terrible, terrible human being, which he is) with his film storyline and his "things are so hard for straight white men these days," mentality. I just don't love this theory as much as I did before the show started pointing at him so hard.

Mrs. Langsberry - I don't think I need to talk much about this. If she is part of the BR plot, we all know why. She has also been confirmed as a member of Kelly's church, so she does have links there, and it seems like someone on the BR team must be directly involved with the church.

Christian - I didn't want to be so suspicious of him, but we're here now. Also, Tabby, I love you, but someone is dressing up in special effects makeup and masks, both a horror mask and a hyper realistic one (we think) and your response is, "I'll ask Christian if he knows anybody," with absolutely no suspicion of him?? Like, WHAT??? And then you spent the night at his house??? I absolutely could not sleep in a house I knew had all those terrifying masks in the basement, particularly if someone was dressing up in masks and trying to kill me and friends?? I also think we spend a lot of time with Christian this season (without learning much about his past or him having his own separate arc), which makes sense if Tabby's the center of the story, but also if Tabby is the center of the story, then the villains are more likely to be directly connected to her. I also wondered why Tabby didn't question Christian suggesting they leave town together (don't you think some parents might have some opinions on this?), and because I am very suspicious of anyone the girls are not suspicious of, it made me think, "Are you trying to set up a situation where people won't think to miss her right away?" Like with Sandy or Pastor Malachi.

When Tabby asked Christian if he would help her make her movie, I thought, if he is part of the BR plot, and if that plot does involve making a movie, wouldn't it be absolutely wild if he responded to this with, "Already done." (like saying it in a friendly, 'of course' kind of way, but then meaning it literally). I feel like that's the exact kind of fun/silly thing this show would do. And if he's not involved, what a missed opportunity to creep your audience out and make them spiral (but I'm doing that anyway, so) about his character.

I want to be super fair, since I just wondered how Tabby is not suspicious of Christian and how she felt comfortable staying at his house (also where are anyone's parents? Like at least with Noa we understand why there's no parental supervision, but everyone else just stays over at their SOs place anyway?? this is one of those things I just have to not think too hard about because I don't think there is a good explanation), all of that applies to Imogen with Johnny and Noa with Jen, as well.

While horror has always been referenced in this show, it really does feel like horror films are making a huge appearance in different ways, and it just feels fitting for this to be Tabby-centric.

Speculation & More

With the "trio of villains" imagery on the poster (that has literally predicted the first 4 tests, so seems very relevant), I can't help but wonder if it could be as simple as all 3 of the new love interests. Johnny, Christian, Jen, all in it together. They're all new in town and we haven't met any of their family, so they're all pretty mysterious. I have at least one big thing about each of them that bothers me.

With Johnny it's simply those shots from the trailer (well, plus my incredibly far fetched theories about set decor and his line about his dad, but I wouldn't call either of those things compelling evidence), which make it seem like he may die in the finale (or at least be incapacitated), and since it seems to be Imogen that is possibly trying to cover that up, that doesn't bode well for his innocence. I can't think of anything that's been mentioned about him that would indicate motive, so I would have to assume that he's related to someone (like Chip) and has a revenge motive. But the shots from the trailer could still all be a dream.

With Jen it's the contradictory ways they've portrayed her storyline with Noa, and the fact that we know that we cannot assume she's being honest. It's not been specifically brought up a lot, but she could easily have a financial motive to be involved. Her stealing has been a consistent part of her character, and she says this is because she and her mom need the money. I don't know whether or not to believe that, but regardless of why she needs/wants money, it seems pretty clear she is a character who could be tied to the events of the season for financial gain (or it started that way and she regrets it, but is in too deep). It's also possible production just didn't realize how unpopular this love triangle would be (but it's hard to imagine, when they were emphasizing how loving/trusting Shawn is all season, like it feels very intentional, but then sometimes it doesn't) and the contradictory tone is not intentional.

With Christian it's his special abilities (horror makeup), the fact that he fits well into the "someone is making a movie" theory, and that he's directly tied to Tabby this season. His motive would presumably be film related (though there could be a personal element as well, since we know basically nothing about his past). But he could be a red herring or a fall guy.

Anyway, my problem with these three as a trio of villains is that it doesn't obviously connect back to the church in any way that I can think of, and I think it needs to. I guess all three of them could be supporting villains with someone else as "Rose," or maybe only one or two of them are involved.

Another consideration is that any of the love interests could be secondary antagonists, not in on the BR plot (or aided it without realizing how serious it was) and they will have a separate villain reveal (like Chip last season).

I certainly haven't forgotten about the online faction of the BR cult, particularly since it looks like they're rioting next episode (The Reckoning?), but how specifically they tie in, I don't feel confident in predicting. If the film theory is true, then I suppose their purpose could be to provide a "grand finale" for the film. I mean, it's kind of hard to get extras when your film is also an actual murder project, so brainwashing people into creating a big action sequence for you is the next best thing, I guess.

Dr. Sullivan's past just really feels like it also needs to come back around and be resolved, and I keep forgetting about the fact that she vanishes in this episode because I'm thinking about so many other things.

I'm bothered that I don't feel confident about where they're going with the Davie stuff.

I am putting a certain amount of faith in the show that they heard the criticisms of season 1 and the villain reveals will be characters we've spent a lot more time with. They have seemed to take other feedback (like the Ezra thing) and apply it to season 2, so I'm hoping this is the case for this, as well.

Anyway, I think this is all I've got right now. If you're still reading, thanks for sticking with me! I know this was a long one. I probably didn't need a whole "if they had to have Faran & Greg as a couple, here's how I would have done it," section, but Faran is my favorite and I've criticized Noa & Jen loads this season, so I gotta be fair and call it like I see it. If I think of anything else, I'll do a part 2, because this post is clearly long enough.

EDIT:

This literally doesn't matter, but I forgot to mention it & didn't want to make a whole new post about it, but I just now noticed Christian's movie on his name tag is Attack the Block, which is a absolutely ridiculous, underrated film, imo.

CLARIFICATION: I called all of the 3 new love interests "new in town," but I'm not sure that's really accurate. Christian is new in town, Jen (I think) lives elsewhere but reasonably near by because she mentions having to come to Millwood for summer school and clearly does not usually attend their school, and Johnny we really don't know. I didn't get the impression that he's recently moved like Christian, but we don't know where his house is, and none of the girls seemed familiar with him (and Millwood seems pretty small) and he mentions Rosewood when he's asking that girl out, so I kinda assumed he might be more from the Rosewood area. Anyway, "new in town" might only technically apply to Christian, but the point that all their pasts are pretty unknown still stands.

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lampmanliveblogs · 6 months ago

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THIS. THIS ENTIRE SEQUENCE. STUNNING. JAWDROPPING. GORGEOUS.

You guys know how much I love pretty lights, and this is like… the prettiest light.

Hold on, I gotta go back and rewatch this entire sequence, it’s just that beautiful. The animation!

When Luz and King do their second roar, Luz bounces back from the force, that’s so cute. And then when she flies up, she lets go of Stringbean and catches the butt of the staff and the she and Eda spin around to draw the big spell circle. And then they twirl around inside the circle and cast the spell together. Good stuff, good stuff.

Inside the Archive House, the witch kids and Camila are doing their best to make sure no one gets hurt even as the Tiara Halls begin crumbling around them. And hey, glyphs still work, that’s good.

Aw man, what will Amity say when she sees Luz’ transformation? My guess is she’ll say nothing, because she will be too stunned to speak.

(Future Lampman here: I think I noticed the first time through but didn’t bring it up, but Amity is using a plant glyph and Willow is using a fire glyph. Plants are of course Willow’s thing, and aside from abomination magic, Amity is known to use a fireball spell. They’re using each other’s elements.)

Gorgeous.

…

HOLD ON A MINUTE! How come King and Dad Titan in the In-Between only have three fingers, but the Titan’s skeleton clearly has five?????!?!?!!!!?!?? How???? Okay, uh,,, c’mon Lampman, you’re good at coming up with weird ideas for this kinda stuff…

I guess… maybe… maybe the strange big claws we see on King and Dad Titan’s hands are actually like… some sort of covering over their four fingers? Not sure what purpose that would have, evolutionary, but then again, these are magical beings. Plus, King doesn’t have wings right now, while he’s small enough to use then, but Dad Titan had wings (we can even see remnants of them in the water on The Titan’s right side) while he was WAY too big to possibly use them.

Anyway, time for something completely different.

We can see quite a lot of bones from other Titans lying around. On the left side of the image we can spot a skull (and I think there might be another corpse in the upper right corner, but it’s a bit difficult to tell with the clouds). Not only is there a skull, but there is a pretty large landmass. Which is odd, because didn’t that book King was reading at the beginning of Young Blood, Old Souls say that there were only a few, smaller remains of other titans to be found in the boiling sea?

I dunno, maybe I’m misremembering.

Also, tough luck for anyone who lived on the left arm, your house is now sideways. We can literally see entire villages or towns in some shots, so, uh… the people of the Boiling Isles are gonna have to learn how to build high-rises with cheap apartments real fast, or find some other way to deal with the large chunk of the population that is now homeless.

One downside with this super smooth, super gorgeous animation is that it makes it slightly more difficult to get screenshots in motion that looks good. Whatever, they’re gonna cut Philip Phungi off from his source of power. Callback to season one episode four, The Intruder, where, when asked by Eda where magic comes from, Luz replied ”The heart.”

(Future Lampman here: We have a trio of heroes who crashes into the large body of a monster in order to get inside and take out the core which is the source of its power… am I taking about this scene right here, or am I talking about Chrono Trigger, if you chose to crash the Epoch into Lavos’ shell in order to skip the first eleven phases?)

(Future Future Lampman here: I can’t believe I forgot to mention it, but the music in the background here is the melody from the opening theme. And you know things are hype in an anime when the main theme starts playing.)

Raine is alive! YES! Ha, Belos, you absolute failure! You buffoon! Raine was literally in the midst of things, and you couldn’t even kill them. The only person you’ve managed to kill so far was a powerless human, and she came back strong.

And that is Raine’s Rhapsody/Eda’s Requiem Raine is whistling.

#the owl house #liveblog #the owl house liveblog #toh s3e3 #watching and dreaming

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tedturneriscrazy · 2 years ago

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The whole "discourse" about Stringbean is so ridiculous to me because it's so obvious that it's a case of a particular segment of the fandom indulging in "Bitch eating crackers" syndrome.*

Like, when you actually look at Stringbean's characteristics, nothing is truly overpowered or out there, and she fits Luz perfectly. The shapeshifting doesn't really affect her powers or abilities. Ultimately, a Palisman's form is just an expression of personality rather than an indicator of power.

"B-but the big energy blast!" That's not a case of being overpowered! It's power incontinence!That's a case of Luz and her newly hatched Palisman still getting used to their magic.

(Not to mention this also happened when the body swap happened)

So no, this isn't a case of poor writing or balance, some people just found yet another excuse to shit on Luz for no good reason because they refuse to just admit they hate her.

*"Bitch eating crackers" is a term I borrowed from @greatcheshire , who used it in her AVGN video that y'all should watch

#the owl house #luz noceda #stringbean

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semisentient-entity · 2 years ago

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Hey wanna see some Owl House doodles I made in my planner the week after wad? Yes? No?

...

Perhaps?

Felt like drawing some glyphs (kinda wonky but still good). Then there's Tiny Luz and King flying, and my friend gave me the idea to draw Owlbert sleeping while Stringbean is wrapped around him like a little nest. Too cute not to draw.

And here we have Tiny Nose, a wonky looking King, and an attempt at drawing Hooty and Lillith from memory.

I like tiny characters shut up

I still wanna make that Goo-Los rug to stomp on.

A bit of an odd angle, but here's some doodles of Owlbert interacting with Raine and Eda. Along with a little note saying that Raeda is real and they're married and I will die on this hill. As well as Tiny Raine (which was extremely difficult to draw) and Tiny Eda. And also Porta Hooty!

A close up of Porta Hooty! I did not mean to draw him winking, I just noticed it when I took the photo. This drawing was very small

Close up of Tiny Eda! I love her! :D

(TW just in case: Mention of vomiting?) Hooty doodle underneath a fitting vocabulary word that I noticed after I drew him.

And finally, the bird siblings, Waffles and Flapjack! I little memorial to Flapjack because I fucking miss him.

That's all of them because I had no more space to draw on those pages and I've had an art block ever since I finished these.

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thisbelongsto-nohbodys · 2 years ago

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Also....What did you think of how Luz's palismen looked before it took shape? Like, all that dark energy and stuff....it just looked so EVIL to me! Like, I don't mean her palisman IS evil. Just that the color scheme of black energy makes it look so damn sinister.

I see it more of celestial energy, space and the stars. The fusion of Luz's typical Fantasy genre (Good Witch Azura) and her parent's love of Sci-Fi (Cosmic Frontier). It even is incorporated with Stringbean's colors being deep purple with sparkles.

Plus this helps to parallel her with The Collector who's a Child of the Stars. Camila teaching Luz about "The Astral Oath" vs the Collector's messing with worlds because he wants to play but his games are all destructive. Not to mention Luz and the Collector both wanting to be understood but have different meanings behind it.

#ask #the owl house #the owl house spoilers #the collector owl house #luz noceda #l-egionaire

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and-so-he-rambled · 2 years ago

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(Got amputation on a whump wheel and chose Leo)

Leo rolled out of bed with a groan, stumbling a bit as his balance was briefly thrown off. He was still getting used to this.

His arm lay in ist capsule, disconnected and sitting pretty like a Halloween decoration. He hated looking at it.

He used to be the weak one, but now, with his arm off and a metal hole where his bionic arm was made to slot in, he felt weakest of all. He was back home again, never quite able to be away from his mom for too long. Janelle liked the visits too, growing up into a firecracker of a lady and studying engineering at the local college. He’d always wanted to be cool for her, but he was a bit of a trophy boyfriend these days.

He made his way to the kitchen, his left arm habitually opening doors as his stump hung uselessly. The right arm was too powerful anyways when it was connected, so he’d taught himself to be left handed. He still slipped up sometimes away from the reinforced walls and doorknobs of the island, but he was getting better at it.

He found his way easily in the dark, familiar with the house as he pulled a glass from the cabinet.

“Leo?” Light filled the room, his mother standing in the doorway in her robe. Her baby belly was barely showing, but he found that he noticed it every day. A reminder he’d have a little sibling, one he swore to keep safe from their crazy life. Was this how his mom had felt when he started going on missions?

He was startled by a cry from his mom, a hiccuping sob that she tried to cover with his hands. The glass slipped from his weak fingers, exploding on the floor.

“Mom? Are you okay? Is it the baby? Do I need to call Davenport?” He asked in a flurry, watching her shake her head while tears began to escape her eyes. She took a step forward and he held his arm out to stop her. “Mom, there’s glass, stop there!”

She didn’t respond, just staring with her hand over her mouth. He followed her gaze, right to his stump.

Oh.

“It’s okay mom, it’s okay.” He tried to assure her, stepping away from the mess to reach out and touch her. It felt safer, hugging her without fear of crushing her. He missed being able to hold her with both arms and squeeze, the way she used to groan dramatically as if he was the strongest kid in the world instead of a stringbean little punk.

“I-“ She attempted to speak, swallowing. “I’d never seen it off before. I didn’t realize…”She held him, pressing her teary face into the crook of his neck. When he’d she gotten so small? When had he gotten so big?

“My baby. My baby.” She repeated, one hand around her boy and the other on her small bump. It made his chest ache, hearing his mother cry. She never cried, said there were always better things to do than cry. She used to tell him she cried to say he was born and when he got his first shots, but he’d never seen her cry in front of him in all his years. It felt wrong. He was the emotional little kid who would run to her and son into her chest. She was the strong woman who wiped his tears.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything.” She whispered, squeezing his hand.

“Mom, you have nothing to be sorry for.” He tried to assure her. “This wasn’t your fault, none of it. I just got hurt, it happens. I’ve got training now, it won’t happen again. It’ll be okay.” He just spoke in a stream of consciousness, word vomit that seemed to help. Her little sobs died down, hands frantically wiping away the traitorous tears.

“I’m your mother Leo, I’ll always feel responsible for you, no matter what you do, or how old you get. It’s my job.” He wisely didn’t mention the birthdays she missed for reporting or all the times she forgot to pick him up from school. It didn’t really matter now, she’d been a good mom, taken care of him after his dad died. He loved her.

“I’m okay.” He promised through the phantom pains and nightmares. He’d try and remember to wear it when he left his room, to hide the reminder. Just because he’d gotten used to the sight doesn’t mean the rest would.

“Just be careful baby.” She pressed a kiss to his head, standing to get the broom as she gathered herself together, shooing him away when he tried to help.

He promised he would, going back to his room to hopefully sleep. He’d be heading back to the island tomorrow.

A week later, Mr, Davenport built the space elevator.

#leo is doing his best #happy Mother’s Day to Tasha #probably not timeline correct #lab rats leo #lab rats #lab rats bionic island #leo dooley #tasha dooley #tasha davenport #mothers day #arm amputee

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onyx-archer · 2 years ago

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A Follow-Up Post About Stringbean (Sort Of)

Well, I didn’t expect my first real post on Tumblr in... *checks notes* about 4 years (that wasn’t just OC art related stuff) to get any steam, but it’s doing pretty okay. Probably because it’s about The Owl House, but hey, so far (at time of writing), nobody has said my take is bad or anything. I look forward to eventually seeing that, but until then, I wanted to make a follow-up post to address Stringbean’s role in the story, and why it’s one of the few things that I was disappointed by in the specials. Spoilers will be discussed here, much like the last post, but I’ll put it under the cut as per usual.

So... Stringbean. If there are any specific things that I can point at and say “the cuts really hurt this,” Stringbean would be one of them. In fact, of the things cut, Stringbean is the biggest casualty of Disney’s Apple Blood fueled bender. The Collector and Hunter are the other big two casualties, as far as characters are concerned, and the stuff involving the Human Realm is the biggest bit of the story next to Luz’s Palisman as far as I’m concerned. I might make a post about Hunter in the future, since he’s a topic I have a lot of thoughts about too, but that will have to wait. If people actually want to hear my thoughts, then by all means, let me know.

Now, before I get too deep into this, I want to address the Owlbeast in the room: I’m speaking from a place that involves a great deal of speculation on my behalf, and unless Dana reads these posts and tells me I’m right, take stuff I’m saying with the appropriate amount of salt you deem necessary. Obviously, when talking about a character or plot element that had it’s potential affected by the powers that be in a negative way, you can only really speculate on these things. I’m looking at how things could have been in relation to how they are, and I’m far from an authority on the subject of the story of The Owl House.

Stringbean, as previously mentioned, is a plot element that I feel was cut off at the knees when the show got cancelled prematurely, and naturally didn’t have the most room to breathe as far as plot is concerned. It’s clear that she, much like Hooty’s Origin Episode (which we know was a thing Dana and the TOH crew wanted to do) was more or less cut. I say it that way because of the imagery within The Titan’s eye in the realm in-between seems to imply Hooty was a creation of the Titan, and Stringbean DID appear, albeit in a functionally neutered form. This is basically how most plot/character threads that could have gone somewhere that were set up in Season 2A ended up by the end.

As stated in my previous post, I firmly believe that the early stages of Season 2 (i.e. most, if not all of the first half) were written back when the show got greenlit for a second season. A lot of media, especially cartoons, have a long period of preproduction before we hear so much as a peep from the creative team or the production house reveal that stuff to the general public. Cartoons in particular generally have a long creation pipeline. Unless you’re South Park, you typically can’t get away with lackluster writing. Disney, being one of the cornerstones of animation, likely has tight production schedules, but they’re likely still at least 6-9 months on the low end.

Dana has said that she was just told one day, likely weeks after it was decided, that the show was getting cancelled. I’d hazard a guess and assume that she and her writing team for the show had already submitted plot outlines and basic script stuff for approval for early episodes of Season 2, up to a certain point. I believe this to be the case because Standards & Practices are pretty quick to demand rewrites and the like, as seen with Alex Hirsch’s little montage of actual things they told him to change on Twitter on Gravity Falls’ 10 year anniversary.

That’s the thing with creative projects where you have to answer to a studio with investors: you have to do what they say, and while you can fight certain decisions, you’re ultimately not in charge of your own creation from a business angle. This isn’t always a bad thing, but it largely depends on the state of a show. This can ultimately save a show from having a terrible conclusion, or it can highlight just how little the team had left in the tank (see Star Vs.). Either way, you are beholden to people who are largely not creative types, and are more about doing smart business. Whether or not the business decisions they make are actually smart or not is irrelevant, as the intention is doing right by the company’s pocketbook.

Now, none of this is to say that I’m gonna kiss Disney’s ass and say that Dana should have planned things better just in case the show got cancelled, because that’s often not how I think creative people think. It’s my belief that if you get a single season, or even a single movie, to make what you want to make, you’re going to do your best to have everything fit within that timeframe, and you’ll kill your darlings more liberally because you want to make the best possible representation of your vision within that limited amount of “space.” When you get greenlit for more though, you start thinking about those ideas that you had to push to the side, and you want to do more with them. You then start thinking in a more “long-term” sort of way, insofar that you’re thinking with what I like to call “trilogy brain.”

I think this is something that is born from how a lot of stories tend to have conventional 3 Act Structures, and seeing a trilogy of things rather than a duology slots into that part of your brain that recognizes the 3 Act Structure. It’s one of those “you may not have noticed it, but your brain did” kind of things. That why I firmly believe that if you’re greenlit for a second season, and you have the ideas for more story beyond the first season, you immediately push for a third season before you so much as lift a finger for season 2. This way you can fulfill the feeling of a 3 Act Structure, and you get room to tell your more complex ideas. Don’t push your luck beyond 3 seasons though.

“Well Onyx, that’s all well and good, but how exactly does this relate to Stringbean?”

Simply put, I believe Stringbean is one of those things that was written before the cancellation was finalized that was set up and needed to be resolved in some capacity, even if not the way that Dana wanted, because the set up was likely already approved. I feel this because Season 2A and Season 2B feel like they were written with two different mindsets: 2A is pre-cancellation, 2B is post-cancellation. While they could certainly edit parts of the plot for 2A to minimize the damage dealt by a cancellation, it seems pretty likely to me that some things just couldn’t be cut out without pissing off the fans. It was a very “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” sort of things.

Stringbean’s eventual existence ties into Luz’s growth as a Witch, and the idea that Witches earn their magic staffs (aka their Palismans) when they are “ready,” which presumably refers to a point of magical maturity or something to that effect. Eda directly says that Luz will earn her staff one day, and that was enough to get people thinking about Luz earning her staff. It’s kind of like how Hunter appearing in “Young Blood, Old Souls” was written before the team even knew they were cancelled. That episode was already in the can by then after all. They couldn’t just not use him going forward. Yeah, they could have downplayed the role in his case, but the fact that they didn’t tells me that Season 2A was written without the knowledge of that cancellation in mind, and by the time they knew that was a thing, they’d likely already been greenlit to start production with what they had, and could only make minimal changes to reflect the truncated run time.

Stringbean’s role is very clearly trimmed down to the bare minimum, and you need only look at how Stringbean is used in the episode following her debut (aka, the finale of the series) to see what I mean. Her impact on the story had served what little purpose was left after the cuts in “For The Future,” as I have to assume that Titan Luz was something that was planned for the finale before the cuts. I imagine elements of the Titan form date back to early planning for the series, and were considered the logical endpoint for the way Glyphs work lore-wise.

Now, I want to briefly explain why, in my last post, I think that Stringbean would have been used in a more climactic moment than what we got in “For The Future,” had the series not been cancelled too soon. Or rather, I want to address a misunderstanding caused by that thought. As stated near the beginning of this post, I was speaking from the stand point of what I assume would have been the case, based on my reading of the way the series was set up versus how it ended up because of the cuts. I don’t think we would have gotten “For The Future” had the cuts not been made. Maybe we would have had an episode by that name, sure, but the events of Season 3 are very clearly speedrunning through things to make the best possible end product within the very tight restrictions born from the circumstances of the show’s cancellation.

As said earlier, I think that Season 2A and Season 2B were written largely pre-cancellation and post-cancellation respectively, so the story we got in Season 2B is likely a truncated version of what we were going to get had we got a proper Season 3. They had to make the best of a bad situation, rather than continue on like nothing changed and hope Disney would change their mind. Otherwise, The Owl House very well could have ended on the same sour note that Star Vs. did, and it would have likely stung more than that show’s ending did due to how much better a show The Owl House is considered to be when compared to Star Vs. I obviously don’t much care for that show, but I’m sure even the most devout fan of Star would tell you the show lost it’s spark somewhere along the way.

Stringbean’s execution very much feels like they planned to have the reveal likely serve as the Season 2 finale or even the mid-season finale for Season 3, had we got the story as the team likely intended when stuff like Eda’s mention of Luz being able to earn her staff one day, or when Luz got her piece of Palistrom Wood in “Hunting Palisman.” Otherwise, Luz could have just gotten a Palisman in that episode. It very clearly was something that was written before the cuts, and couldn’t just be swept to the side either. If they scrapped that part of the episode, then Luz would have been better off adopting a Palisman like everyone else. If they didn’t, but then act like Luz never got the piece of Palistrom, the audience would be like “hey, wait, why hasn’t Luz carved her Palisman yet?” Likely, as a result of the cuts, they were stuck in a tricky situation, and ultimately decided to go with what we got because at least then we’d get something rather than nothing.

The reason I suggested adding the idea of Luz and her Father coming up with the idea of a Snakeshifter together was, in part, to give Stringbean’s debut an extra layer of emotional depth. It’d do more to make the best out of what we got, it would have potentially had Camila’s words about understanding her daughter mean more, and it would give the mention of Luz’s dad being dead more narrative and emotional impact. Of course, I’d ideally prefer this to be part of a more fleshed out Season 3, and a less truncated Season 2B, but that’s what fanfiction is for.

Anyway, I spent a lot of this post talking about industry stuff, and less about Stringbean, but to be fair, the industry stuff is why I feel Stringbean was narratively kneecapped. Anyway, as always, feel free to let me know what you think. You can reblog it without writing that stuff in the tags if you want by the way.

#The Owl House #TOH Analysis #The Owl House Spoilers #Stringbean #the owl house analysis #TOH #Talking about the cancellation #How the cancellation affected the show #Long Post #TOH Spoilers

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mdhwrites · 2 years ago

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You know, I think Dana didn't plan Belos at all in s1.

The whole eating palismen wasn't even a thing till s2. And what frustrates me about it the most is Lilith, most of her actions in s1 created a huge plot hole in s2 with that decision. He confiscates and eats all the palismen yet she's allowed to keep hers while Hunter is on a stress marathon at the idea of Belos finding Flapjack, and I couldn't care much since Lilith was right there. Same about the coven sigils, why does she not have one????? She was the freaking E.C head not just a regular.

And another plot hole about the sigils brands, one coven scout mentioned switching covens (Severine was her name don't remember the episode), was that meant to be a silly joke? Or considering that Dana voiced her, people assumed she did it to poke fun at Disney's decisions. It still creates a contradiction to the brands being permanent tho, people did consider a possibility that there's a way to debrand someone, and there should be in this case right?

Sometimes I feel like Dana cares more about hating Disney than writing sense in her story and I'm tired to pretend it's not like that, which pisses me off. Can you forget about that mouse for a damn second to consider that maybe you shouldn't write some things that make no sense? Or be aware of your time limit to not write certain things, like the freaking collector? But god forbid you'd be mad at her in this fandom smh🤦

So... I could talk about each of these subjects on their own. Belos/Philip as just a complete mess of a character and inconsistencies, Palisman and how they're a good concept that got fucked over by what this blog will actually be about and the EC/Coven system which... Holy fuck. HOOOOLY Fuck S2 fucks it up sideways.

And because I've talked some about some of these topics, here are three different blogs covering

Belos' asinine rise to power and TOH wanting to mirror historical fascism in his rise.

Talking about why people are mad about Stringbean is the closest I've actually come to talking majorly about Palisman.

And I did some talk about metatext and plain text to do with the magic tracks in TOH that is about to become VERY relevant to this blog.

It's actually your last paragraph I want to talk about though. Because... The problem isn't that Dana was too focused on hating Disney. That would only explain, realistically, the problems with S2B and S3 and the jokes at the Mouse's expense take very little time and don't really detract from the show. It is not a major issue about her as a writer.

Now before I get into what her biggest weakness, at least as you can tell from TOH, is as a writer: Don't attack creators. I am attacking her writing and criticizing it but I am not attacking her as a person or getting mad at her. Her creation does nothing offensive, nothing cruel, etc. like that. Are there problems with it? Yes. Do I have issues with how she has used excuses to shield herself and TOH from criticism? Yes. But we still need to be good people and I just wanted to take a moment to remind everyone about that.

Anyways: I've talked at LENGTH about the fact that TOH has a focus problem. That it is effectively three shows at once. I even just yesterday talked about how this lack of focus damages its ability to have coherent themes because nothing is given enough time, attention or is actively contradicted eventually.

As the show runner, it's Dana's job to keep focus. To not let writers do whatever they want and keep the show consistent and in continuity with itself. Her job, effectively, is to follow a line I ADORE:

A great piece of art knows as much what it isn't as it knows what it is.

The problem is... Dana quite obviously doesn't agree with this. She appears by her writing to have a mentality that there is no idea she doesn't like. There is no statement, regardless of the contradictions it makes.

If you want to talk about how early this happens, just look at Covention. Dana, as the creative lead, should know that the covens are a very serious thing, that the nine covens are important to Belos' plans and she should know about glyph magic.

That is the episode that introduces there being potentially HUNDREDS of covens simply for the sake of a job fair joke and setting and also the power glyph EXISTS. Yes, the power glyph is used to make Amity more impressive in the fight, cranking up the spectacle, but notice how it has NEVER been brought back up? And Construction magic explicitly isn't what was described when we were first told about it? Almost like witches using paper goes against Amity's shock at seeing Luz use a piece of paper to cast a light spell.

Dana also should be the one most acutely aware of how dangerous it is for a witch to be a wild witch. How much deciding to use multiple forms of magic is hazardous to them. Well... Dana was on the writing team for First Day (linked in the metatext blog) and Reaching Out was SOLELY written by Dana. You know, an episode where Amity treats joining a coven like going to college, Alador has no objections about this and the twins both get a bad girl coven shirt like it's something to purely celebrate for them.

And if we look at what Dana hasn't explicitly written, she still doesn't appear to be willing to say no to anyone. Hollow Mind was written by other people and includes the line that the Titan was believed to be dead when Belos rising to power. In King's Tide, an episode Dana DID write, Belos talks about Luz must having been blessed by the Titan in order to have already gotten glyph combos despite Belos being the LAST person who should think the Titan is alive, especially since he's been in the things skull and made a fake religion around it.

Worse yet is that while Dana has never met an idea she doesn't like... She's never met an idea she likes enough to commit to. So much of the show is about presenting potential, even with what I've described above, but then doing nothing with it. In fact, more often than not, ESPECIALLY WITH THE COVEN SYSTEM, it will be discarded, ignored or changed for the sake of a different concept. Amity's parents are like this where Alador seems 90% on board with anything Odalia does in his first two appearances but then he's only a little neglectful but still moral come Reaching Out. We can have Luz and Amity try to have a healthy relationship and agree to not lie to each other but that would make the reveal of Luz's dad being dead so much harder so just... ignore that. It's okay that Luz is still blatantly lying and breaking her girlfriend's trust.

Remember: It was Dana's FIRST solo episode, Eda's Requiem, that setup how important the coven heads were for the sake of the Day of Unity. That even one going missing at this point would be a MAJOR problem for it.

Buuuut that is a problem that a lot of prophetic fantasy faces and usually doesn't have an answer to. It's a hard thing to have an answer as to why the heroes don't just keep one mcguffin away, let alone what TOH did with three of them being on the side of good. So what did other writers do with it when they actually had to deal with what Dana had written?

Throw that shit out in one line that implies replacing coven heads is as easy as replacing paper plates.

The show is, to put it lightly, a disaster. And you know a better show runner can do better than this because Amphibia doesn't have these contradictions. Gravity Falls doesn't have these contradictions. Hell, we go to less renowned media, to stuff like Randy Cunningham Ninth Grade Ninja or Danny Phantom and THEY don't have the same sorts of inconsistencies despite being about as serialized as TOH just not touting that as some sort of revolutionary aspect of it.

And the worst part? At least to me? It... It's a fanfiction writing problem. And in fanfiction, it's fine. Fanfiction is meant to use a piece of media to explore every potential part of the world and characters it wants. A professional piece of media, that takes so much money and effort to create, is meant to have greater focus and coherence so as to actually have a point to its story.

And if you want a comparable example for professional work, look no further than 50 Shades of Grey. I'm not saying TOH is as bad as 50 Shades but they both suffer from whenever the writer loses interest in an idea and just writes it out or has it vanish for no reason. Both go on tangents when the writer has some new idea that comes into their brain.

It reminds me of when people would ask while I was writing Crises Girlfriends, "What are Gus and Willow doing in this AU?" Because I am more of an original writer than I am a fanfic writer, and Crises Girlfriends was a story that I always planned to convert to original fiction, I'd never even considered them. Not for even a second.

Because... Could I have given them a role? Yes. But like TOH, it would have been performative, dilute the point and focus of the story and just felt like a waste of word count. So I didn't include them because they had no point.

But it was also fanfiction and Willow and Gus probably mean a lot to the people who asked. That's not their fault. That's part of fanfiction. I didn't get mad or anything, I just described what I just did as to why they wouldn't show up.

Because I knew what Crises Girlfriends was. I can make a one sentence pitch for it. It's about two girls who find love through the person they are with, but find help through the place they're in. It gets across how the two give support and care for each other but that love isn't the answer to mental health so within the story, you can actually expect some treatment of their mental health issues.

For Amphibia, you can say "It's the story of how another world helps bring light to the flawed friendship of three girls and makes them better people" and that works for explaining the main thrust of Amphibia.

What the hell is the main thrust of TOH? I can say what its main theme is, that self expression is king, but that's even an awkward placement when it clearly wants to be about reality versus fiction. But then it also is way too much wish fulfilment. It wants to be subversive of the fantasy genre but it uses too many of the tropes and excuses of it.

It doesn't know what it isn't, which doesn't let it know what it is. And that's such a shame. =======

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