#like you can have nuance and be ambitious and kill who you want for personal gain and still have people rooting for said woman

[lya-dustin]

watching hotd and magnificent century back to back and even girl fail!Hatice would mop the floor with Rhaenyra and Alicent and Rhaenys. like why were the writers so afraid to make them want power and be willing to kill for it.

[romeave]

the real reason why mcd zane sucks, from purely a writing standpoint, is that the writers really want him to be a pure evil villian. a force of evil that can not be reasoned with or stopped. absolutely nuance free and unsympathetic no matter how you slice and dice it.

which, would normally be fine, but is a weird choice for zane specifically because the writers keep naturally bringing up ways to give him depth, only to bend over backwards to shut it down once they remember zane is supposed to be cardboard flat for their kid audience to remember he's the bad guy.

and by all the time i do mean all the time. here is a list of roads blocked off by the no development tree that fell across the road:

Zane grew up isolated even by the standards of noble children, as heirs to the O'khasis throne start their training rather young, and, according to accounts about his childhood, Zane preferred to spend his free time alone as opposed to with family. At some point, his father contracted some illness that turns people into asshole tyrants, and began to groom a very impressionable Zane into a good and obedient pawn for him to control on his quest for world domination -> Zane was actually always evil from birth, which makes him immune to trauma. Garte's dickheadness actually only affected the "good" Ro'Meaves, and actually it's Zane's influence that turned Garte into a bad person. Even shit that Garte did long after Zane died are Zane's fault by proxy.

Zane's strained relationship with his brothers are also largely attributed to Zane being evil. Honestly there's a lot I could put here but the most damning one is probably the fact that Zane isn't allowed to talk about his upbringing at all after vaguely mentioning having a dead brother on the docks.

Zane's initially introduced as an ambitious young priest who came to power due to his commitment to his studies. He secretly uses taboo ancient magic that people can't exactly come across if they don't have an obsessive drive to learn about the divines beyond the church's teachings. -> Actually Zane stole everything from "real scholars" and never actually cared about his research outside of what power it could bring him. Apparently he can't even read for himself without a "real scholar" in the room.

Zane's most terrible deeds (Kiki's pendant, Alexis, Falconclaw) were committed in service of opening the Irene dimension. Its implied that some, if not all of the specific deeds needed to open the portal were decided long before Zane ever got his hands on the amulets. -> Each portal-opening crime is treated as its own separate crime, motivated purely by sadism. Falconclaw specifically is referred to as a "horrific mass slaughter Zane had a lot of fun committing", even though everyone involved just painlessly fell over dead

Zane only raises a sword to people to have actively betrayed him. Jeffory betrayed him, the Wolf Tribe was plotting to eat him the next time he showed up, and Garroth committed treason two seperate times and shoved his own sword in Zane's face before Zane tried to kill him about it -> Evidence that Zane is just a bloodthristy killer who would kill his comrades unprompted. His victims are not traitors, but martyrs to his unreasonable wrath

Zane possessed the protector's relic for a period of time. Surely he must've had some reason to hold it -> Zane was entirely undeserving of the relic. He only had it because blood relations.

Despite already having a relic, Zane wants to get Irene's relic -> Exclusively to hoard power! No personal reasons or family reasons or nerd reasons. Just an insanely dangerous and high stakes task done solely to have them all. Like its a pokemon with life steal.

Zane gets turned into a Shadow Knight. Zane used to have an absurd amount of knowledge on the Shadow Knights, lots of shadow knights hate his gay ass, becoming a Shadow Knight is usually pretty traumati--> Zane doesn't feel trauma, duh!! He's actually stronger than ever.

And I know I'm aphblr's foremost Zane dick rider but this isn't a Zane did nothing wrong post its just bad writing. Zane's actions affect so much of the plot its fucking bonkers to give him the depth of an evil sheet of printer paper. Aph's usually pretty good at fleshing out her villians I don't know why the one guy who everyone and their mother has a connection to is just a knife roomba of a man. At the bare minimum he should've been as fleshed out as his brothers because then it'd be a tragic tale about a family being torn apart by a system they benefit from instead of a karma-farming AITAH post set in medival times.

[ominous-horse-noises]

final finale thoughts!!

things i loved about the finale

QUEER GODDESS PATHEON YEAAAAAAH!!! i thought it was such a good way to find a happy medium between kristen committing to a worldview that felt authentic and nuanced without being catholic™ about it

everything to do with the scene of Ankarna trying to offer retribution to each of the bad kids, and each of them making peace with past wrongs instead of continuing to stew in it. i love growth!!!

FIG AND KRISTEN MIRRORING ANKARNA AND CASSANDRA

everything to do with mazey and fabian. of all the fantasy high couples aside from fidayda, these two feel the most like they make sense together- they have similar interests, they have similar values, fabian had a crush on her even when she was being 'uncool' (eg. twister) and how mazey actually picked up on that and appreciated the way he used his perceived coolness to extend it to others who might be picked on otherwise. this is the couple i most hope go the distance even post aguefort adventuring academy (again, aside from figayda ofc but i literally cannot imagine those girls breaking up over anything)

fabian's fetus sibling outnemesising him despite fabian building an animosity towards them the whole season before they were even conceived. peak fantasy high insanity

controversial but i thought the maryann/gorgug being introduced and canonised in all of 15 minutes was hilarious. it was very teen of them in a way that felt authentic. my ideal scenario for them is an end of year fling that becomes amicable exes bc they truly have nothing in common beyond thinking the other is hot (real of them) but i dont have a strong opinion on whether they should break up or not

also maybe controversial but i like that kalina is straight up bloodthirsty. she felt like an equal opposite to bakur- rather than being a devoted servant who became corrupted by proxy, she was trying to corrupt her deity into a form she preferred. thematically it extends to the complementary opposites thing ankarna and cassandra have going on (though i get it might be a reach).

"... thats a four. you know what it's for we don't have to talk about it"

squeem

riz coming in clutch with the character arc right at the last moment. i joked ab his neuroticism being part of his natural swag, but im glad murph not only made sure riz FINALLY addressed the way he was burning himself out, but also that by extension, he was burning out both fig and kristen bc riz has a very calculated idea of 'success' and while he had the best intentions, those two dont fit neatly into it

THE HOLD PERSON OVER THE LAVA??? RIZ'S 'very good on paper, but no practical application."??? i screamed

a second blimey-related divine intervention roll by K2 leading her to getting pinnochioed into a real straight british girl, in real non-dnd britain, is the best thing thats ever happened in fantasy high. a simulacrum was so powerful brennan had to do the dnd equivalent of sending her to a barn upstate.

adaine and aelwyn talking about killing their mother over icecream can be something that is so personal...

siobhan's incredible play with the earworm??? phenomenal, i gasped out loud

fig maybe moving into fabian's house even after she drops out so fabian won't be alone again... what if i threw up blood actually

i liked kipperlilly copperkettle being confirmed to be rotten to the core. 'the ritual looks very different when one accepts rage willingly' GOOD!!! i like evil ambitious teenage girls who try to burn the world down to get what they want. i get why they didnt bring her back, that detail definitely cemented her as in the zayne/penelope category of 'past villains who could possibly be redeemed'

FIG AND AYDA MY LOVES!!! sorry but not even the lesbian goddesses are doing it like these two. brennan put his whole pussy into creating ayda aguefort and my life has been changed forever

zac once again dming K2's alternate universe campaign

things i hated

ik it was payoff to the running bit and it made me cackle when it was revealed, but the implications of hallariel and gilear having a baby are so bad to me. fig talks up gilear a lot, and sure, he came around to being a good dad to her, but gilear has objectively been a shit stepdad to fabian and hallariel... is hallariel. its got to sting was watch your mom be basically catatonic for your entire life, and then suddenly prove that she was capable of being an present mother the whole time- just not for you. im hopeful that senior year will address this though!! lou has always been so good giving his characters' weighty emotional arcs that feel satisfying

i dont like the implication of trackerbees getting back together. i never thought bladebees was good beyond a realistic rebound, but trackerbees was SO codependent together, i dont think its a coincidence that kristen had her best emotional intelligence moments when forced to think things through on her own. tracker always struck me as kind of a 'fixer' type, like she feels most comfortable with someone she can act caretaker-y to (hence bouncing off kristen to another girl who had similar issues). i really reaaaally hope they dont regress back into their s2 dynamic

ruben's memory wipe. i thiiink the implication is that those who were the most willing to follow through on porter's orders maintained more of their memories bc they were in control of themselves and those who didn't were compelled into obedience (which might be why ivy and oisin remember more), but it wouldve been nice to actually see the lucy/ruben close friendship brennan said they had with him sobbing and apologising to her

it felt very weird that kristen didnt get some kind of resolution to her yearlong gentle prodding at bucky?? i think ally got sidetracked with the possibility of kristen getting back together with her ex that it kind of slipped from their mind (maybe bc to them the ankarna vision of her upbringing was kristen resolving her feelings towards her family but still), but considering all of elmville was coming apart, i feel like bucky's faith could've been swaying into doubt pretty easily. idk maybe bc ive become a trackerbees hater over the season but it felt annoying that that was what ally focused in on and not their character's more meaningful relationship with her little brother

[amber-jinx]

Hi, it’s me again (:

What was your favorite character traits about Rachel Amber?

Hey! Happy to see you and boy what a great question, thank you! Loaded answer ahead; TLDR, see the good in Rachel Amber.

Rachel's many things. Pretty, hot, charming, stylish, not to mention her lovely voice, these physical traits are already a great start for many. Then you have functional traits-- ambidextrous (can I just say that's hella cool, omg I want that too), social genius/people skills, straight As student, drama queen, masked with a layer of mystery, many people would've already fallen for her, in-game and out, me being one of them when I first got to know her as a character (so pretty much those were my fav traits of her).

But if we strip her physical beauty down and shove aside her fascinating skillset, who is she really? We may never know 100%, but some character traits can still be found.

Here are some of my favourite (&underrated) Yangs to Rachel Amber's sides. aka why Rachel Amber should get more love & less hate from the fandom

Ofc there are exceptions, but those are not relevant in this post; assumptions & headcannons are added

1. A good heart

Kindness to me will always be one of the most important character traits to have for anyone. With all that powerhouse of a Rachel Amber can accomplish, she chooses to use them with kindness.

With her social skills she chooses to lift people up, saving Hayden from a quickly-escalating scolding from Mr Keaton in ep 1, asking Chloe in a nuanced way if she's "taking (getting kicked outta Blackwell) this a little too well", kinda guiding her independent thinking rather than directly telling her what's right or wrong. (There'd be constructive criticism between Chloe & Rachel, which I stan in a relationship/friendship.)

With her intelligence she tutors Justin & helped him improve his algebra from an F to a C I believe? That's pretty impressive, ngl

with her ambidexterity.. idk, she makes Chloe happy :> (yes i'm totally referring to doing graffiti with her left hand on Chloe's insistence *cough*)

This is why I'm inclined to believe that tornado was not Rachel's revenge. She'd never choose to put Chloe, her parents, her friends, at risk; if she wanted revenge she could've killed the men w her powers. Sure you can say some of these might be her trying to live up to her DA father / principal assistant's duties, but at least she chose to do them. She could very well be a kid who doesn't give a damn or fluff through some of these things that requires time & effort.

2. Sees the good in others!

One of the most underrated Rachel Amber traits imo. This girl literally has a reputation of "her friends are her friends", and does not discriminate in terms of friendship/who she hangs out with. She picked Chloe up from her lowest (saw her & praised her for backtalking the biker, defending Nathan, & "you're more of a hero than you think you realise", when Chloe didn't take Drew's money). Rachel stuck with Chloe when no one else did (puts up with her sh*t, which ofc Chloe does the same), literally chose Chloe to share her uncertain future outside Arcadia, did not take her chance to leave when she could in those 3 years, most likely cuz she wanted to leave with Chlo. She also hung out with Nathan (& Chloe when so many wouldn't), saw the good in Frank (yes. same as Nathan & Chloe his reputation is far from great and despite the unhealthiness of this relationship, she at the very least cared for the guy, & saw the humanity inside him), & very sadly fell for the portrayed "gone through some serious shit" act by Jeffers*n, all these showing her being an empathetic & sympathetic person.

I'll add non-judgemental as well, cuz it's why she's able to get along with so many people so well. Like what her VA Kylie Brown says in an interview, whoever you are, Rachel'd be like "hey you're a pretty cool person, let's talk!" It's inspiring. I love that about her. Gotta have more Rachels in the world.

3. Ambitious. Puts in the hard work. Persistent.

"One day, I'm gonna climb Mt Everst." says a 15 year old Rachel in Bts, who has posters of travelling in Asia (the green poster has Chinese words saying "go travel in China", amongst others), already speaks about her courage & ambition. And of course, leaving Arcadia with no one but Chloe for a better life. Yes you can say it's reckless, because it's a big idea for a teenager, but she didn't just give up on it. It stuck with her, and she worked hard for it. Doing photoshoots to get modelling jobs, maintaining her 4.0 GPA, finding opportunities to leave... she did those for 5 years. And in the comics universe, they made it out! Now they're over 22yos with an LA apartment, Rachel's in modelling gigs with her acting career kicking off... what could've been for game Rachel. (oh the things I'd do for Bts' ending to be Max appearing in the nick of time instead of that damn vibrating phone!) Also I wonder if in some universes, like the wheelchair Chloe one, a missing Rachel could mean she actually made it out without others knowing, instead of the darker end.

4. Caring & thoughtful & protective & passionate partner/friend/lover!

She listens to Chloe's problems (therapy session), she gives Chloe nice clothes to wear within the few days they'd met (what financially challenged Chloe needed, & in a way that wasn't awkward for Chloe), she sends post cards to Chloe while she's away (she thinks about her often), & "don't f****ing touch her". Passionate lover, I mean.. the way she kissed Chloe under that lamp (with high intimacy of course) is good enough an example. Chloe's the romantic one in my head. Rachel, the passionate.

*the way she puts her hand on C's shoulder after wiping her tears, OmO*

So far these are the character traits I can think of, and your question helped draw out Rachel's positive sides that are too under-recognised. Thanks again! :)

These links helped me understand Rachel & Amberprice better, here for people's reference:

Because I choose to see the good in Rachel, I'm her defender through and through. Join me, if you can.

Edit: damn I literally wrote an essay, maybe 1 day there'd be a video!

This pain wouldn't be for Evermore.

[nash-dara]

In what world was s1 favouring the greens? They were shown as hypocrites, rapists, pimps, murderers etc. the blacks were clearly the heroes of the story and they continue to be.

I can give you few examples that are pivotal to the whole story;

• Rhaenys' hair is black because her Baratheon Blood is so strong, she didn't inherit the typical Valyrian features.

• Jacaerys, Lucerys, and Joffrey are not 'Strong' babes, they are only rumored, those are only rumors made by the Greens.

• Alicent became someone whose somewhat sympathetic and does some terrible and stupid decisions when in the books she's very decisive and the one who planned it mostly and not a puppet of Otto. She's supposed to be a cunning manipulative stepmother.

• The show make Alicent usurp the throne because of a misunderstanding when in the book it's because she's ambitious.

• The show Aemond, they made him do a "prank/bullying session gone wrong" shitshow, for the reason that he just supposed to appear as sympathetic in killing Luke instead of a psycho going into a rampage .

• On the flip side, they highlighted all the crazy antics of Daemon and erase his good side. He wasn't supposed to kill Rhea, or those moments that shows Daemon cares about his family and not just a power hungry and war monger person were erased.

• Although I do admit that they frame Rhaenyra as the 'protagonist' in the pilot episodes and washed some of her crimes including killing Laenor which is in the book but in the show Laenor somewhat fake his death with the help of Daemon and Rhaenyra.

• However it doesn't changed the fact that they also did the same thing to other characters namely Alicent and Aemond. They also didn't show that Rhaenyra do ruled the Dragonstone and know how to rule and not just a spoiled princess who wants to inherit the Iron Throne because her daddy said so, no, even other lords agree upon it and only minor houses favored the Greens.

• Honestly, I just really enjoy the nuance of each character in the book, no matter what team they are even if they are not the team I root for because all of them are complex and not just a binary, white-black morality and now because it is adapted into a show they somewhat have free passed to butcher it. It is just sad and disappointing at this point that they (the show) didn't frame it as like a History Book telling what happen in the past before Dany as they put biases to a lot of characters whether they are Greens or Blacks.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. Hope I gave you some clarity why I think the season 1 was bias to the Greens, although right now I'm still unsure too if the season 2 would be able to show the balance viewpoint of both Team's warcrimes.

[borgialucrezia]

ok so i'm re-reading blood and beauty once again, and i have to say that sarah dunant is the superior borgia fiction writer out there. i absolutely love her delicate and evocative writing as well as how she brilliantly humanizes the characters through compelling narratives. not to mention her attention to detail and meticulous research creates a rich historical backdrop, immersing us in the fascinating world of the borgia family. she also has an exceptional understanding of how hot and terrible cesare can be while still making him nuanced. it's a personal win for me as someone who's pretty much bored of his character being softened up and romanticized in other works. the more he does something awful, the more compelling he becomes to me (although he wasn't romanticized much in showtime's the borgias but his image of an over-ambitious, sadistic, gaslighting, and manipulative guy seems to appear innocent that watchers tend to overlook it, and some of his misdeeds were dumped onto juan, like making him the only one having an affair with sancia of aragon when cesare was involved as well, or having him kill lucrezia's lover, paolo, etc., which is why i wasn't as interested in cesare as i was in juan because juan does nasty acts, but you get an idea of why he did what he did and still find the human in the heinous.) the most phenomenal writing part for me was to not lean into the rumors by not having cesare kill juan because it's closer to historical reality. and as much as cesare's 'from envy to fratricide' pipeline can be groundbreaking like how it worked in showtime's the borgias, dunant proved that juan's murder can still be astounding without the fratricide. because even if cesare did have a tempting motive to kill him, as he wanted his position so badly, cesare's letters to him make me doubt that he ever had any involvement in his murder since the letters show so much fraternal love. i also want to add that rodrigo's deep love for his children, while being self-aware and devastated over the fact that he uses them and forces them into roles they're incompetent for and marriages for political gain, was a standout aspect in the book. in short, the book is emotionally engaging because it delves into the intriguing world of the borgia family's renaissance. imo, it's a must-read for borgia enthusiasts.

[dracomort]

You are so right Tom Ripley is what you would get if you put Draco Malfoy and Tom Riddle in a blender lmao a well seasoned taco if you will 🌮

Sorry to bring the 1999 film to you awareness…I’ve almost finished the series and am debating checking out the film but the vibes seem a little off. Is it at all worth watching? It seems weirdly sappy and generally off brand for the source material

Tl;dr a bad adaptation but a... good film? According to people that aren't massive haters (ie. NOT me).

TALENTED MR RIPLEY SPOILERS FORTHCOMING

It's... the kind of film that is good if you're watching it without having read (and liked) the source material. Sort of like Kubric's The Shining. A lot of people enjoyed it, including people who have read the book, so bear that in mind. I tend to have extremely strong opinions on most things so you may still enjoy it but I loathed it lol. Brevity is not my strength so this is going to be long, sry.

You can read the following quote from the director and see if you want to see an adaptation of Ripley by someone with this opinion:

A legitimate gripe that fans of the novel might voice is that I entirely missed the point of the book, because the book celebrates an amoral central character who gets away with murder and doesn't seem to suffer for it. And part of the fun of the novel is that he doesn't seem to care. [...] You know that he'll have no remorse about killing other people to get what he wants. And there's a kind of glee in seeing him do it. But it's not a glee that I wanted to transform into the film, partly because of the nature of the way you experience film. But, if that's my technical position, it's also my moral position. I don't want to tell a story about a man who gets away with murder and doesn't care. It doesn't interest me.

Minghella

Sorry, but WHY did you adapt RIPLEY if that was how you felt about the source material. Tom is a deeply sensitive, emotional person, but also a stone-cold psychopath who not only doesn't feel remorse—bar brief moments of clarity—but also believes he's entirely morally justified in his crimes.

Minghella's adaptation manages to be both less progressive and less nuanced than the 1955 book, despite being made almost half a century later. It is also less true to the essence of the book than the French 1960 adaptation, Plein Soleil, despite that film being beholden to the standards and censorship of the mid-20th century. Minghella's film is, I think, a great demonstration of why the American audience on the whole never 'got' Highsmith. She was always far more popular in Europe and I do believe that is because your standard American audience couldn't handle the moral ambiguity of her books.

There's a lot you can read into with TTMR but, to me, the book has always primarily been about class, not sexuality. It has more in common with a film like Parasite than Brokeback Mountain or Maurice. Tom is the American Dream taken to its perverse extreme—a ruthless, ambitious, dishonest character who will do anything to get ahead in a world stacked against him. The class element is near completely erased from the Minghella film, with the focus instead on Dickie as some sort of manic pixie dream girl who Tom stumbles into the thrall of and becomes infatuated and obsessed with to the point of snapping and killing him when he rejects Tom's feelings. Yes, Minghella managed to play into every homophobic stereotype out there by depicting Tom as an explicitly homosexual character and... a violent incel who can't take a hint.

In contrast, book Dickie is stunningly mediocre to the point of being an embarrassment to Tom, far from Jude Law's character. If anything, Tom is the one who brings excitement into Dickie's life . Minghella's Ripley is a shy, ungainly nerd; Highsmith's Ripley has his clumsy moments—certainly never managed to win Marge over lol—but is a capable, charismatic and driven person in his own right.

E Shannon's paper 'Where was the sex?' does a better job of discussing the altered interpretation of Ripley than I can. I've linked SciHub as it's locked behind institution login on JSTOR.

Highsmith certainly explores sexuality with great sophistication, but ultimately sexuality remains subtext in the novel, while it dominates the film. To pursue its concerns, Minghella's film revises the novel's characters and invents others, all with the aim of redefining Tom Ripley for a Hollywood audience. Minghella's Tom is first and foremost a gay man besieged by a hostile, straight world and only secondarily an American social climber on the hunt in Europe. Ironically, Minghella's focus on Tom's "taboo" homosexuality leads to a story that is less-not more-subversive than Highsmith's, whose critique of American ideas of class is lost to the film's paradoxically conventional sexual conflicts. In fact, in one sense, the film altogether inverts the sexual context of the novel. Where the novel uses Tom's sexuality to critique contemporary ideas of class, the film uses Tom's class to critique contemporary ideas of sexuality. Highsmith's Tom Ripley is a diabolical "culmination of the American success ethic" (Cochran 162), while Minghella's Tom Ripley is a misunderstood casualty of sexual bigotry and provincialism and a victim of his own frustrated sexual desire.

And also:

Minghella's audience is encouraged to criticize the monolithic presence of the "straight culture" and sympathize with Tom's dilemma, while Highsmith's readers are asked to consider aspects of culture beyond gay or straight sexual identity. For Minghella, Tom is either gay or straight. Either Dickie loves Tom or he loves Marge. The complex, sometimes asexual relationships of the 1950s novel are replaced with the simpler, blunter sexual truths of 1990s Hollywood, where "homosexual" is becoming almost as normalized as "heterosexual."

They also make a good point about Dickie being arguably closer implied to being a closeted gay man than Tom, which is actually quite a depressing thought. You can understand why he chooses estrangement from his family with that interpretation. Also, his assertion that Tom is in love with Dickie's material possessions, rather than him as a person is something I agree with. Tom doesn't miss Dickie after he dies, because he views Dickie as the sum of his parts—those being his signet ring, his fancy watches, his shiny cufflinks and his nice shoes. Again, deranged <3

Ultimately, I don't believe that even the shadow of a character like Ripley can be adapted to the screen. Dostoevsky being a major influence of Highsmith's is no surprise. Tom reads a lot like one of his rambling, neurotic characters, his inner dialogue being his most critical, defining feature, and not one that can be brought to the screen. Still, Minghella doesn't even try lol. I hate it.

[shini--chan]

Hello! I’ve read your Alfred x ColdWarSpy one shot and the oneshot of Alfred x Spy who’s target is England/England x Spay who’s target is America.

I love the way you portray Alfred! Someone on here once described him as: brilliant, ambitious, and ruthless. A combination of the superhero myths: Clark Kent & Lex Luthor, Captain America & Winter Soldier.

I love how you can portray him as still the sunny persona, and some of that may be part of his real self, but also the ruthless superpower that people forget about.

What more thoughts do you have on him?

Quick note: answering asks in a non-chronological order at the moment so that I can get around to emptying the ask box

Ooooo... another person who digs stirringwinds’s stuff. We stan. Also, thank you for the kind words.

In total, I have plenty of headcanons for almost all the Hetalia character’s, partially due to me being quiet the history buff. Warning for plenty of TV Tropes references, because I’m that sort of person that also uses TV Tropes as a Getaway Drug, so links!

Aside from the aforementioned characters that America shares parallels with, I see him having a lot in common with Indiana Jones. They are both the sort of figures that hold strong to a certain code, although with Alfred it often goes into the territory of American Execptionalism – a lot of the Utopia Justify the Means making him in the eyes of plenty of the other nations and even people a Well-Intentioned Extremist. This would also have some truth to it, given that his Puritan background would have left marks. Also has a habit of using Indy Ploys in which he has no concrete plan and just improvises as he goes. Has some negative side effects in larger operations, where he would need a more detailed plan aside from vague goals of establishing freedom and democracy or something of the sort. In simple terms, his thought process would sometimes be like this:

Situation A happens

Stuff happens

Situation B comes into effect.

Big on the Obfuscating Stupidity. On some part he is also very silly, and would just want to have some fun. On the other he would just want people to underestimate him. Think of Zaphod Beeblebrox from Hitchhikker’s Guide to the Galaxy. At times can also be as vain and narcissistic.

On both of the upper points – he has a tendency to over think matters at times, leading to the Centipede’s Dilemma. But because that’s one of the things he is generous enough to share, he loves invoking it in others. May or may not have killed Arthur in the past by yelling “Which foot goes next?” when the latter was running down the stairs, causing his father to stumble and break his neck. Yes, Alfred suffers from Comedic Sociopathy, especially when it comes to people he doesn’t really like.

Apropos people he doesn’t like – while Alfred is at times inclusive and loves experiencing other cultures, that wouldn’t apply to morality. Nations have difference moral nuances, things they consider right and wrong that can differ from their neighbour. America is of the opinion that his way is the right way – other modes of thinking would either be tolerated or outright condemned.

Torn between wanting to have adventure and a desire for a simple life. In that sense, he always functions best while living on a frontier, where he would have a mix of both. Always has new ideas, many seeming hare-brained to outsiders, and even to himself in retrospect. But he loves to be a Pioneer, so he won’t let anybody stop him, until it is too late, that is.

Is a surprisingly good cook, although it often involves things that other people wouldn’t eat. Literally can’t stick to the recipe because he would always want to try out something new. As such, he would seldom make the same thing twice. Except steak – the steak must be rare and the tea of the southern sweet variety or else.

Ranges from being a Southern Gentlemen to a loud and rude New Yorker with all of that Brooklyn Rage and everything in between. Though, aside from that, he would often put on the guise of that All-American Boy and turn up that Hollywood Charm.

I shall finish here before it gets out of hand, though you peeps are free to request more in the future.

[witchqueenvisenya]

I like alicent in the same way I like cersei. they are both evil horrible women who only care about getting what they want and fuck who they maim or kill in the process. I find characters like that compelling. they both have trauma but their trauma twisted them into cruel people. I like characters like that. I dont make excuses for them or pretend theyre poor innocent victims. only slightly unhinged woman i don't like is sansa, I find her quite bland and dull, both in books and the TV show.

let me start out by saying that i have a strong love/hate relationship with cersei, but that its mostly on the love side. the way that i love her is exactly as you said; she does horrible things, is a horrible person in general and doesn't really care for acting otherwise. she knows she has the power, and she is unafraid to wield it, and what the idiots at hbo and (most)alicent stans will never get is that that is very appealing. women hardly get to be unashamedly powerful. the moment they do, they are labelled. (the other day i saw some aemond fan crying about how they didn't include him calling rhaenyra an "old whore" on the show.) many of these antis of powerful female characters are women themselves. their internalised misogyny makes them so threatened that they end up falling into vicious attitudes of hatred for any female character that happens to have agency and who makes mistakes.

while reading cersei, you can find many moments where you sympathize with her, even identify with her, because as someone was saying, she is not a feminist character by any stretch, but her story is definitely one with feminist themes. but at the end of the day, you are not supposed to see her acts and handwave them away because she has trauma. book!alicent herself takes the initiative at almost every turn of the war. she is the foremost voice we hear advocating for the greens. she is also an abhorrent misogynist who abused a child under her care and spread vile rumours about her, and effectively isolated her at a stage in her life where she was very vulnerable, for the sole reason that said child was a girl who would one day be queen, as opposed to her son. because of course her precious andal customs and her faith decree that a woman cannot sit the iron throne. precedent is against rhaenyra, but alicent chooses to go against direct law, the king's word, because she is that bull-headed and ambitious.

show!alicent is made to marry someone she wouldn't have chosen for herself (on the show) and she suffers a passionless marriage. instead of recognizing that rhaenyra herself is being made to marry, she chooses instead to hate her for the crumbs of sexual freedom she can carve out for herself. she is fixated on the fact that rhaenyra lied to her, disregarding that she did so to save her reputation from her obsessed father who had set spies upon her. this is literally all it takes for alicent to waltz into rhaenyra's wedding with her petty green dress.

it sounds like a fucking high school spat between frenemies. which is exactly what the sansa/alicent brigade thinks asoiaf is. everyone loves sansa the queen bee because she can charm people (spoilers, she cannot), because she can sing and recall the sigils of houses (what an amazing achievement, give the girl a medal), and daenerys the slut must be eliminated because how dare she assert her rights to her throne established by her family like that's practically unthinkable. alicent just happens to be the sansa placeholder in hotd, because as a very blunt green stan said targ antis watch hotd and love the greens because they are obviously as anti targaryen dynasty as you can get and they lead to the downfall of the house eventually. look at them being honest for once. where is your nuance, neutrals?

[redbelles]

aemond, dany, and lucrezia for the ask game 💜

AEMOND TARGARYEN

general opinion: lmao well! he's knockoff daemon but i do still enjoy him. gotta love an impulsive targ war criminal, you know?

romantic ships: aemond/helaena is the big one, but i also love a good canon-divergent au, so to that end i really dig rhaena/aemond and aemond/visenya*

non-romantic otp: aemond + vhagar, obvs. i love grandma war crimes and the overly ambitious idiot along for the ride

unpopular opinion: the aemond girlies are Insufferable and all the shit they knock daemon for is stuff they ignore in their own fave and it drives me absolutely fucking nuts! aemond wants to be daemon soooooooo badly and yet they're out here like "i can't read suddenly" about it and i! fucking! hate it!

one thing i wish would happen/had happened: i am desperately interested in an au where he didn't actually manage to claim vhagar! me @ me finish the fic you have to that effect

*daughter of daemon and rhaenyra. @ targs please stop reusing the same five names i am begging

DAENERYS TARGARYEN

general opinion: she is an incredibly interesting character, and i'm frothing at the mouth waiting for more of her arc romantic ships: i would have loved to see dany/drogo on more equal footing, but that's about it for canon. in fic though i'm all about dany/robb non-romantic otp: dany + her dragons! and also her silver! what can i say, i'm a horse girl at heart unpopular opinion: i don't think she's a wonderful perfect flawless girlboss who will save the world or a caricature of every awful evil mad conqueror ever. nuance, my guys. one thing i wish would happen/had happened: lmao i want to see how her arc ends. stop fucking around with the elden ring tv adaptation or whatever and cough it up, old man!!!!!!!!!

LUCREZIA BORGIA

general opinion: your honor she is perfect i would kill and die for her romantic ships: cesare/lucrezia, obvs non-romantic otp: lucrezia + personal agency unpopular opinion: do i have an unpopular opinion about her? lmao i'm not sure that i do one thing i wish would happen/had happened: it would absolutely devastate me but holy shit i so wish we could have seen lucrezia post-viana

send me a character to dissect

[murfpersonalblog]

We are all here to have conversations and communally analyze IWTV, a tv show created adapted from ANNE RICE (a cishet Southern white Catholic woman who never had gay sex but wrote self-insert gay romantic gothic horror--so if only gay men can write/talk about gay relationship dynamics, AR's universe is NOT it, chief). AMC is employing SUBLIMINAL SYMBOLISM, ALLEGORY, and METAPHOR to tell a VERY LAYERED AND NUANCED STORY that is not simply about vampires, but about social and personal struggles revolving around everything from race, class, gender, and yes: SEXUALITY.

"What you like in bed is somehow related to your oppression status? Power imbalances? Personality? If you get abused? Homophobic things people say about you? How you look?" -- @amc-iwtv

This show is about LOUIS, an ambitious BLACK GAY MAN living in a racist and homophobic society. It's about what LOUIS wants in life, and how HE equates his relationships with other people to his oppressed status--YES!!! It is NOT "generally discriminatory reasoning" to analyze how HE views the world and HIS place in it, and how he reacts and internalizes/externalizes those thoughts into his every waking action.

LOUIS IS SCARED TO BE SEEN TO BE AS VULNERABLE OR SOFT OR SUBMISSIVE, because SOCIETY will JUDGE him as WEAK and HURT him.

Even on LIBERTY Street--in the middle of the Red Light District where "everything goes~!," where men go to be free and unmask all their deepest & secret desires--LOUIS is NOT AT LIBERTY, he is NOT FREE to be who he REALLY is. He has to PERFORM in front of everyone--if people KNEW or had PROOF ("no one goes upstairs!") someone might spill his secrets and ruin his reputation and risk his SAFETY! Louis did not live pre-Stonewall and pre-LGBT+ where gay men are free to be OUT and PROUD--back then, gay men were KILLED (they STILL are)! Louis didn't internalize homophobia because he didn't want/like being soft or weak or submissive--but because it was DANGEROUS!

Which is why Louis is so GUARDED with what he shares about himself with even his closest loved ones. He can't even let them know he likes OPERA, because it makes him look WEAK! Even the MUSIC he listens to makes him feel like he's not a man!

Louis' sexuality directly correlate with his oppressed status, YEEEEEESSSS!!!!! What Louis likes in bed has a DIRECT effect on his societal status. Don't just WATCH the show, PAY ATTENTION! 🤦

Which is why the first time Lestat BIT HIM--vampiric SEXUAL PENETRATION--Louis was reeeeeeling.

Vampirism is an allegorical metaphor for sex and sexuality, there are a billion and one books and articles that have looooong dissected the discourse about it, the bibliographies are out there.

Even his CLOTHES were linked to what Louis liked in bed--as seen by how he was judged by his homophobic mother!

VAMPIRISM = SEXUALITY = STATUS

The nails (Florence thought he was getting manicures) and glasses were BOTH intrinsically linked to Louis' vampirism (vampire claws and his inhuman neon green eyes), but Florence (representing the IGNORANT JUDGES in society) assumed it was because Louis was an effeminate gay man! And she HATED him--her own son. She saw the gayness/vampirism in him and linked them together, JUDGED him, and it HURT him.

Because the vampire bite IS sexual (even in the books where it was their greatest physical sensation AR's more-or-less asexual vampires had, pre-Dr Fareed). Because Lestat is Louis' Maker, Louis' vampirism represents his status not only as a fledgling who must follow the whims of his "Master"--as Anne Rice's vampire Makers are often called in the books, and which Louis himself picked up on when he said vampirism sounded like a simile for SLAVERY--again: NOT taking things at face value but showing the ability to READ BETWEEN THE LINES--but also as a sexual partner, and whether or not Loustat really could be "equals in the quiet dark". And the show's been SCREAMING at us that the answer is NO!!!

Again: LOUIS CORRELATES HIS SEXUAL & RACIAL STATUS AS A BLACK GAY MAN with his OPPRESSED STATUS.

"It ain't that complicated, and it has nothing to do with any of this. It is literally an irrational personal preference.... It is whatever the hell the writer wants to write and that is fine!" -- @amc-iwtv

Are you saying that television and stories in general are only meant for the viewer to stare at the screen with their brains turned off, and just accept what is shown on face value because writers have no deeper meaning and viewers have no cognitive reasoning? 🤨 I'll remember that the next time I watch Get Out, or Parasite, or the Matrix, or Moonlight, or Attack on Titan, or anything by Studio Ghibli, or Pose, or the Sixth Sense, or etc etc etc. Wow--those darned Literature and Media Studies majors have lied to everyone!

With Louis, a character they DELIBERATELY race-swapped, you CANNOT casually sit back and just say Meh! The writers aren't sending out a larger societal message, none of these exchanges have deeper implications, it's just a show, stop being weird about everything, it's not that deeeeeeep~!

Even if this show had been written exclusively by a gay man, or preferably a black gay man who actually lived both pre-Stonewall and pre-Civil Rights, it would STILL involve discourse about societal issues. But because it's written from the ETIC perspective of outsiders looking in (the writers room, showrunners, stakeholders, and AR herself) in the GUISE/STYLE/PROSE of the EMIC perspective of an insider--interviews & journalism & diaries--we HAVE to peel back the layers to determine what the show and its team of writers is telling us THROUGH Louis' carefully CURATED (or as Daniel put it, "editorialized, rehearsed") narrative. That is what DANIEL is doing every time he analyzes and even PSYCHOanalyzes Louis' relationships. And because DANIEL REPRESENTS THE AUDIENCE, that is what WE are encouraged to do as well: ANALYZE and INTERPRET.

It ain't that complicated, and it has nothing to do with any of this. It is literally an irrational personal preference. And it is about as relevant as what ice cream flavor they like the most. It is whatever the hell the writer wants to write and that is fine! @amc-iwtv

Since @amc-iwtv hyperbolically mentioned eating ice cream--you think the writers threw in that ice-cream eating conversation right after Louis described eating the tenor, just for...what? The aesthetics? To fill in the run time? NO! It's cuz Daniel was making a not-so-subtle SUBLIMINAL point through a seemingly unrelated issue about HIS WIFE'S INSECURITY about her frikkin EYEBROWS, to metaphorically compare it to LOUIS' status and treatment by Lestat (who represents white men and society at large), who did not accept Louis as he was, and made Louis/Alice conform to societal standards. For Alice, this was with regard to society's beauty standards that made her insecure about her eyebrows, and the lengths she went to to conform & be accepted even though Daniel "liked it when she kept it blonde." For Louis, it was the (societal/peer) pressure Lestat put on him about drinking human blood and killing people, when Louis just wanted to eat animals (a diet which killed his SEXUAL LIBIDO, mind you, because vampirism = sexuality)--and in the modern day, is eating human dishes like ice cream, even though it tastes like paste, chalk! That ice cream was Daniel's WIFE's favorite! But LOUIS CAN'T TASTE IT! It's about MARRIAGE. Even being married to Lestat, the one soul Louis was supposed to have felt MOST safe & comfortable around, he wasn't FREE to be his true self "without apology" or enjoy the SWEET THINGS in life!

@amc-iwtv I promise I am trying to be calm, because we SHOULD be able to have open conversations even with people we don't agree with, without accusations and insults and inflammatory claims about strangers online we don't even know the first thing about. But your own reaction and statements indicate that you are neither engaging analytically with the messages the series is continuously showing, or anything I said, either, to make such REDUCTIVE claims about my post or @armandaniels' poll in general.

Top/bottom discourse is pointless and evil and has destroyed friendships and fandoms. However because i'm evil and love doing pointless research i'm going to figure this out once and for all:

Try to ignore your own personal preferences and only consider what do you think it's like in canon. This debate pops up every once in a while, sometimes with actual fighting, and to me it seems like the fandom is definitely leaning one way but i know my own bubble or fanfic statistics don't necessarily reflect the broader fandom opinions so i'm curious what majority of people actually think

[fireemblems24]

Crimson Flower Review

This is a long one guys. 

For a bit of context about this review. I didn't play Crimson Flower first. I played all 4 routes first, beating them back-to-back one in-game "week" at a time. I've realized in the fandom that knowing someone's route order is sometimes taken into consideration, so I wanted to share that. 

Oh, boy. I think the length of this review says a lot about Crimson Flower. Unfortunately, a lot of what's below is fairly negative, but that's mostly because I'm so upset at what this route could've been. Ultimately, I believe bad noise is better than no noise at all, and, say what you want about CF, but it makes a LOT of noise - good and bad - for better or worse. 

Crimson Flower wants to tell a story similar to Kingdom or Legend of the Galactic Heroes where a character, dissatisfied with the injustice of the world, decides to amend that by taking everything over and fixing it themselves. It flips the usual script where the person wanting to acquire power through violent conquest is little more than a cackling villain who kicks puppies as a hobby and turns said character into an ideologically motivated one, furious at injustice rather than seeking personal gain. However, Crimson Flower really misses the mark on its execution due to the confines of current Fire Emblem's storytelling abilities, how it often undermines itself, and also because it lacks what I'm now calling the three Cs of storytelling: conflict, consequences, and character development. 

Crimson Flower is too ambitious for Fire Emblem's current limitations, a point I'll touch on again in my upcoming Azure Moon review too. In order for CF to work, you have to believe in the change Edelgard's going to make. The problem is that Fire Emblem isn't a game that easily includes the political theory required to tell this story to its fullest extent or to tactfully handle aspects of this plotline like blatant imperialism and nationalism. Concrete details are dropped here and there in scattered supports, and, honestly, all of Edelgard's plans are terrible. From acknowledging that she never considered inequality to giving all the power to one person, these details only convince me she has no idea what she's doing. With Fire Emblem's current structure, I'm not sure there is a way for it to handle politics all that well, which makes me wonder why they added these details in the first place. 

CF also ends way too early for stories like this. And, no, I don't mean her killing TWSITD. Yes, that's a necessary catharsis totally missing too, but what I also mean here is the complete lack of the aftereffects of her actions. CF thinks they can end it with King Louis XVI getting his head lopped off or the British squatting in India and call it a day. It ends with TWSITD unresolved, a violent aggressor forcing herself on cultures who never wanted her to lead them, and a continent suffering through five years of non-stop warfare she also forced on them. You can't just pretend everything's magically resolved after Rhea dies and that Edelgard only needed to work for another five or ten years before skipping through flower fields with Byleth and expect me to take this story seriously.  At the same time, there's no real way for Fire Emblem, with its current structure, to realistically deal with any of this. 

There are, though, also major failings in CF's writing that have nothing to do with Fire Emblem's structure not really allowing for some of what CF's plotline demands. It severely undermines itself, creates bizarre mood whiplashes, and is desperately lacking in conflict, consequences, and character development.  

CF often undermines itself with its complete lack of nuance. Everything is far too convenient, simplified, and portrayed as very black and white. Killing Rhea solves the systematic abuse of power and everyone is peaches and cream about getting their nation invaded according to the ending cards. Rhea's an evil monster who hates humanity, Dimitri's a vengenance-driven murder machine, and Claude's scretly hoping to take over Fodlan himself. None of the legitimate grievances of Edelgard's antagonists are considered so the player never has to never feel potentially bad about what they're doing. And when what you're doing is textbook imperialism, that's a bit uncomfortable, especially when the country writing the story has yet to acknowledge their imperialistic past. This is a stark difference from the nuanced and sympathetic treatment Edelgard gets when she's the antagonist. Edelgard opines about all the blood on her hands with no thoughts about who is doing the bleeding. CF acts like there's no real cost to war because nothing lost is given any value in CF's writing, despite also wanting to act like Edelgard's made hard choices and sacrificing oh so much for the good of all (despite actually losing nothing). CF seems almost afraid of anything resembling self-reflection and opts for borderline hilarious lines screaming in neon letters "Edelgard good, everyone else bad! Please don't look behind the curtain." For a route that flirts with the idea of tackling systematic change and engages in imperialism 101, this is all incredibly disappointing and feels more like an angsty teenager's first anti-government/religion wish fulfillment wattpad fic than a story with depth. 

This white/black treatment of Edelgard vs everyone else undermines the very core of the story CF is trying to tell. It wants the player to simultaneously believe Edelgard is taking the road to hell to rescue everyone else while treating that road like a quick stroll through a sunny forest because it doesn't want you, the self-insert, to feel potentially bad. This issue, both wanting a "morally grey" story but without ever letting the player feel bad, is an issue with most routes, but is felt the hardest in CF.  

As a result of CF's unwillingness to engage with nuance at risk of making the player feel sad, there is a noticable lack of conflict, consequences, and character development. In CF, you take the biggest, baddest, richest country and curb-stomp everyone. Edelgard nor Byleth nor anyone else ever stops to question or disagree on anything. Nothing of value is lost. Everyone you mow down is secretly awful. There's no interesting conflict anywhere in this route. Likewise, there's no consequences. Edelgard can threaten to kill her classmates, hire known serial killers, tell everyone her enemies took actions her "allies" actually did, and never come clean to either Byleth or the Black Eagles about - well - anything, and everyone just nods along like drones. It's like CF forgot the Flame Emperor existed, because Byleth and the Black Eagles certainly do. It's impossible to invest in this route's storyline when the interesting actions characters take go nowhere. 

Because this route desperately lacks conflict and consequences, none of the characters are really allowed to grow or develop. Characters like Ferdinand and Petra seem set up for mini-storylines of their own, but do absolutely nothing. Byleth and Hubert agree with everything Edelgard does with no conflicting interests, debates, or questions. Even Edelgard gets very little development and seems barely different from the young woman in the prologue, except now she's not lying to Byleth - I guess. She has opened up to you and only you, self-insert, while Hubert's impact on her life is disregarded because only you, self-insert, ever really supported and understood her. 

Overall, CF was a massive disappointment. If it had the guts to follow through on some things, it maybe could've been my favorite route. In the hands of writers less concerned with self-insert pandering and willing to "go there," it would've had a vastly different review and ranked among my favorite stories in Fire Emblem's franchise. Instead, we get a shallow and uninteresting let down. 

[swan-orpheus]

I was reading your tags and I think you’re one of the few people who “gets” the character of Syril. Everyone else seems to just write him off as a dangerous, power hungry, fascist but that isn’t really what the show has been telling us about him. It just seems like a lot of people are projecting and don’t understand nuance. I’m not saying he’s a poor meow meow or anything but a lot of these reads are just bizarre.

Yes, it seems as if folks are dead set on him being cookie cutter evil even while they express appreciation for the show's lack of a simple explanation for character motivations.

Certainly if he were power hungry, he would have behaved with a bit more prudence or chosen something more ambitious than corporate security, and as for dangerous, he is no Dedra. She is with the ISB precisely because she is more competent and put together and doubtless had to work her way up there. The ISB does not select folks merely based on their potential and I seriously doubt that you can have anything bad on your work history. He is also awkward and appears to lack confidence. She is everything professionally that he is not. I find it odd that folks always draw a comparison. They do share one trait: an inquiring mind. Which can either be an asset or a hindrance, especially within an unforgivingly rigid hierarchy. In Dedra's case it appears to be working for her, at least based on the trailers.

Hmm. Considering how little we are told about Syril, seemingly on purpose, it remains to be seen whether his own curiosity will eventually grant him a success. But apart from that one scene where Sgt. Mosk does all of the talking, we don't really know where he ultimately stands in the bigger picture. Dedra, on the other hand, is very clear about siding with the Empire's version of order, and wanting to locate rebel factions. All that we really know about Syril is that he has family issues and appears to like to exert control over others to make up for his lack of control in other areas of his life. (I don't think that it's a coincidence that he bullies Maarva, another mother.) I mean is he operating according to any particular belief system or his own personal issues with the corporate job being a convenient place to unwittingly role play them?? Does he have any friends? Evidently not. How long was he at his job based on the fact that he had recently altered his uniform and the way in which Chief Hyne addressed him? What did he do on his days off? Where is his father? Why did he keep the warrant puck? Was it an accident? Why didn't the ISB find it amongst his things? Does that mean that he kept it close to his person? As a reminder of his failure or as a symbol of something else?

For us, Cassian is this important figure in the narrative, but to Syril he was just a criminal with a rap sheet who killed a couple of company men. If he assigns particular importance to him at all, it is for what Cassian represents to him, not for who he actually is. Not yet at least. And what will he do if and when he does find him??

I just feel like there are far too many questions about this dude to draw too many hard conclusions about where he is going and who he will ultimately wind up being. And folks are much too apt to chuck him into a quaint little box based on their expectations.

[codenamesazanka]

I see your frustration with the heroes conditional empathy in bnha and your (very correct) thinking in that unless hero society changes nothing will get better, in knowing that: do you think there will be a 'subversive' ending/bnha part 2 ? Since the hero kids are just starting to see/feel the villains and the bigger picture? (I mean deku's seen it for awhile, but I don't know where he thinks he's going, with what he believes should happen vs what hero society will actually do)

I really really really want there to be a Part 2!!!! I would love for HeroAca to do a Chainsaw Man where Horikoshi gets to take a break, recuperate, plan new things, maybe move to a magazine where he can indulge in the worldbuilding and horror-tinted concepts he seems to like and where people can appreciate his furry characters.

Unfortunately, I have to think there won't be. I feel like going any further into changing Hero Society would be approaching topics that just might be too heavy, too much, too ambitious(?) to be done while keeping the core vibe of HeroAca. We've already got fans who think the Villains should all be killed, so a manga about not just saving these mass murderers but 'forgiving' them and integrating back into society? oof.

Plus, these topics might also too boring, because it'll have to talk about judicial systems and laws and ethics. I mean, I would love that; but I can see the challenge in incorporating fistfights into that to keep with the action genre.

Even though my dearest wish is that this 'end' we're approaching is just AFO being defeated and Shigaraki 'saved' from his clutches but he still hates Heroes, and therefore Part 2 would be where Deku faces off against Shigaraki/The League/Villains regarding how society should be rebuilt, I don't think that will happen. Deku doesn't have a vision for that after, and after Shigaraki abandons his plan of 'Destroy Everything' for something lighter, Shigaraki probably doesn't have a specific vision either. And therefore enter the MLA, except they're a libertarian cult with issues of their own.

See, I don't know where exactly Deku thinks he/heroes/society is going, and I think he doesn't know it either, because Horikoshi doesn't quite have the right answer for us as well. That's the issue with examining that in Part 2.

A Part 2 would likely be rebuilding a society, and even after 5000 years irl, people haven't come up with a plan that satisfies everyone about how to do just that - and to write something thoughtful and intriguing, nuanced, popular, just - that's not a task I would force on anyone if they don't feel they can handle it. Can Horikoshi handle that? Maybe, maybe not, it's up to him to decide whether he wants to tackle it. A Part 2 would be even more focus on the Villains and criminals and how they have valid points, and Villains arcs are already apparently considered 'taboo' for JUMP. HeroAcaLand is a futuristic sci-fi Japan, but it reflects modern-day Japan and its issues; it's more direct and less allegorical than a story set in an original fantasy-land would be. Somehow I think questioning the status quo is not something Shonen JUMP would like to do.

As much as I berate Deku and his friends about how disappointing they are, I know it's not 'their fault' as much as how Horikoshi writes them and handles their actions in response to the questions he set. Personally I think Horikoshi knows what their responses should ideally be and he's taking a really agonizingly long way to get there and that's frustrating especially when other readers think the kids are doing great, but that's probably me projecting and being blind to the true intent, whatever it is. Is Horikoshi pointing out their conditional empathy and is he showing the trying to tell us that all Villains should be saved, no just Shigaraki, Toga, Dabi? Or is that just my interpretation? Am I even making sense? There's so much to talk about the story, what the story seems to be about, how the author is handling the story, if the author is successfully getting the story to be about what it's about, what purposes the characters serve towards that goal, etc, etc, stuff I should've paid attention to in lit class that I've fried my brain and forgot what I'm trying to say.

But basically, yeah. I think the Hero Kids have conditional empathy and that's something they need to fix. I think they can't just save the STD trio and call that a happy ending when all the other Villains are left to continue get hunted down by Heroes. I think that's the point the story is trying to go for, but sadly I don't think there will be a Part 2 to examine that in detail because it'll be quite a Topic, one that's A Lot and Too Much. I hope there's at least one line before the end where we know society has changed and all Villains are saved.

Sorry for the ramble! Thanks for the ask! Please have a good day!

[melis-ash]

have you watched elite's season 4 finale already? what are your takes on caye and phillipe? no judgements here tho, just want to know your opinion on them

 Hello, nonny! Yes, I did. My opinion about Caye and Philippe has several different aspects (which a litle bit conflict with each other).

Lets write long post.)) Sorry for mistakes and typos, English is not my first language and I`m not really good with grammar.

1) Caye and Philippe story is feminist retelling-reverse of the Beauty and the Beast, where main characters didn`t became couple and The Beauty left her Beast not for Gaston other romance, but for her own path. And their relationship helped the Beast to realize his past mistakes and make to want to fix it, even if it`s too late . Comparing with many other things in that season that storyline was not bad. Really. There MANY problems with s4, I think the best stolyline had Rebe and Mencia, it was really good, and in my personal opinion, despite many flaws, Caye and Philippe storyline is second one for me. Kinda it was not really good, but it had plot, idea, composition and message. Writers knew very clear, what they tried to say, and despite obvious lack of screen time, they handle it, and this story, despite it doesn`t connect with main plot, resonate with main storyline on the level of their ideas. (About it later.) I know, Georgina is feminist, so I wonder, could she give some advice writers? Kinda “it can work better if...” something like it.

2) Personally I`m very disappointed how OOC was Caye in that season and how few screen time she had. For me Caye from s4 feels like too much different person than in s2-3. I wanted character development for her, but something more slow and realistic. S4 Cayetana feels like all her character development happened between s3 and s4 (and partly in special, which really was very good), and I don`t believe in it. Caye from s4 is good character, but there is no real connection with Caye from s2-3.

I knew, she was very upopular character in s2-3, so maybe creators afraid to gave her too much screen time. But also they still wanted she was part of story and write redemption arc for her. And honestly, anon, these two thing can`t work together well. When you write redemption arc for well written nuanced character that Cayetana was in s2-3, you need give character enough screen time and nuances. But it seems, s4 writers don`t care enough about writing S1-3 characters in character. In s2-3 Caye was bad girl, but also she was comedy relief (but s4 has very few comedy moments), she had family (where the fuck her mother and granddad now? We know only that her mother cannot work in Las Ensinas, but don`t know, why), we saw, that she did`t sleep almost, because she learn in Las Ensinas, worked as janitor and still hung out with rich kids. (I think I began feel compassion for her, when realized it). It that seson she almost has not other scenes than with Philippe. OK, she was pariah in school during previous year, but if writers began that things with Caye and Rebe friendship, can they continue it. Rebe and Caye both had problem with their love interests and they never discussed it. Only time they speak about Philippe was in 402. Also Benjamin fired Azucena, and wanted to expel Samu and Omar, but Caye still works there? And Benjamin still protects her even? Why? I mean, after whole thing with scam in s2. Maybe it because protection of Polo`s mothers, but it never was said in s4 even. It seems, Benjamin knows things about her story with Polo (like he knows about Philippe`s past), and it could be really interesting possiblity to bring on scene that aspect of situation and Benjamin`s character and him and Caye interaction. 

Also there is something with Georgina`s acting in s4, in most of scenes she acts as different character, so maybe it was and her (as actress) decision too. I wrote before, she is feminist, and maybe she wanted to bring more feminists vibes in s4 Caye, because it makes storyline works better? Given how few connection with previous seasons on script level her s4 story had, it make sense even, it`s just feel OOC for me, because Caye is not feminist at all. She is strong and ambitious, but she is not type of women what call themselves feminists, and when she said “I became my own Fairy Godmother” in s2, she meant that she was forced to do it. Caye was girl who wanted to be princess from old school Disney animation. In s3 she wanted to live and study on Polo mother money in London and was fully OK with it. When she refused their proposition, it was because thoughts, that Polo could be alive and even more or lesser happy in other school without those her messages, haunted her. Plus when Polo died, he thought Caye was with him more because his money than because Polo himself. I remember, in her first scene Caye read  The Second Sex, but it was spectacle for her schoolmates. And when she spoke with them about her fake rich life, it always was “look how rich and glamour I am”. Partly she spoke in this way because she knew very few about rich people`s life, but also there were some of her dreams. She wanted to be rich and and be part of this glamour life. In s3 she became in some way, and she had a lot of possiblities to understand how many shit, pain and tragedies can hide for glamour facade. Theoretically she knew it before. But she was exctremely poor, so it was a little bit difficult for her to think about it too much.

3) So I think more mention of Caye`s story from s2-3 could make her and Philippe story better. Philippe himself have same problem as Polo in some way: he is rich guy, and his mother indulged him too much. Caye saw how Polo`s mother indulged him and saw where it ended. Not good for Polo and many other people. Marina and Polo could be alive and Samu`s family could live with him in Spain, if Polo`s mothers raised their son better. Even if Caye don`t care much about Guzman or Samu and she never knew Marina, she had enough time between seasons to reflect of situation. So with more s2-3 reference that “matter of education thing” Caye says to Philippe`s mother could sound not only as sort of feminist  slogan, but as something very personal and painful for Caye. She was in love with boy, who was spoiled too much by his parents (like Philippe), and it brought a lof pain him, his friends, Caye. I don`t say there are not at all attempts include previous Caye experience in s4. For example, when Caye does google research about Philippe and finds nothings, she is still suspicious because she know, how easy money could erase some thing.  Also that thing with Pilippe`s mother. I think after conversation with her,Caye realized that Philippe`s and Polo`s promblems had very much same roots. But such moments really have not enough space. Guzman had at least one scene, where he speak about his reflection on s1 evens (where he compares Mencia and Marina). I would like to see something like it with Caye.

4) Many things in Caye and Philippe storyline feel offscreen. We know they regularly talk in school, but see very few of it etc. Actors have good chemistry, and since they both like fashion design, it feels enough for beginning of communication, plus Caye had crush on Philippe long before they met, plus she was first who was really friendly with him in new school (in some way it`s repeat of Caye and Polo story, but with more positive vibes). But I want to see more illustration, why Philippe fell in love with Caye so much.

5) Now about Philippe himself. I saw many hateposts and hatecomments about him, and it`s really funny, because I constantly see how many people in this fandom love Polo and think he deserved better, despite Polo is murderer. Yes, he killed Marina out of emotion, but she is fucking dead. She will never resurrect. Guzman will remember till grave that his best friend killed his sister and then was killed by Guzman`s ex-girlfriend, because policy failed to handle their job well. Samu`s brother was forced to left Spain because it. But it took 2 seasons for Polo to understand he needs go to policy and confess he killed Marina. Caye didn`t understood how wrong her actions were till Polo`s death. I don`t know how long was Elodie`s rape, but at least Philippe didn`t need someone`s corpse to realize his mistakes. Inside standart of this show that guy isn`t hopeless. “Everybody deserve second chance” was important point in Caye`s story in s2-3, so now I wonder how writers will play this card in s5 in relationship between Philippe and Caye. 

Also I want to say I was wrong, when doubted in Pol Granch acting, he`s good additon to Elite cast.

6) Caye x Philippe storyline and main storyline. In that seson Elite brings of scene, in additon of another murder and drug traid, sex crimes. Prostitution, rapes. It`s interesting, that connection here takes place through Ari, girl, who has serious problem with sexual behavior, when she`s drunk. She`s know it`s perfectly, but also she knows, that when woman says “no”, it`s means “no” and end of story. I really like her role in Caye and Philippe story and I hope in s5 there will be at least some scenes with her and Caye. Also interesting point were Ari`s word that she never report to the police without prove. It feels ambigous. She knows, Phillippe is not angel at all. But also there is other side of coin. I think, she also knows, reputation can be ruined very easy. During s4 there was subplot with discussion club. And Samu speak that ex-criminals cannot become somebody else, even if they wants. Their reputation in society was ruined. In final of Philippe story he sent Elodie his confession. So maybe writers tried to write about theme “can criminal, who admitted his mistakes, to became somebody else?” through season and I think they will continue it in s5.

Sorry if this all sounds muddled and too long. Maybe later I will make some additon into reblogs to this post, I don`t know.

[hunxi-after-hours]

Hi! This is the same anon who asked about the "gang" translation. Thanks for your response, it's really enlightening to know that. Though something in your response got me curious about something else. You already talked about Yu Ai in detail before, but you never talked much about the other four masters who attacked Yan Wushi. Sure it's pretty easy to sum them up, but still, what's personal opinion of them? ʕ⊙ᴥ⊙ʔ

sldkfjsdlkjf 《千秋》 anons, know that I love and cherish you all for chasing down literally every single thought I have ever had (and many that I've never had) about this text and its characters

(you can find my Yu Ai nonsense here, along with Chen Gong)

all right all right let's speedrun this, who do we have:

Xueting Fashi - criminally underused character who deserves his own spin-off novella. Yan Wushi has an established enough rivalry with him that Yan Wushi has an insulting nickname for him (老秃驴 / 'old bald mule'). Friendly reminder that no other rival gets that treatment, so like, I have questions. Was apparently exiled and/or departed himself from Tiantai Zong (??!), then became one of the Big Ten (!!!??), and I want to know more about THAT spicy backstory. Or I'm simply weak for characters who are reasonable and competent but willing to kill a man, and Xueting fits that bill exactly

Dou Yanshan - RIP m'dude the donghua turned you into a bit (a lot) of a loser. he... exists? lacks classiness and screentime and well-developed motives that other characters receive, unfortunately. I do think one of the funniest things about him is, immediately post five-way ambush, he goes two-on-one with Guang Lingsan against Shen Qiao, and when the going gets tough, simply nopes out of there like "nah I'm good that's enough dueling for one day" and leaves Guang Lingsan out to dry. Love that for him

Guang Lingsan - what a delightful chaos agent and another character who also deserves a spin-off novella. I am continually perplexed and fascinated that we never meet anyone else in Fajing Zong, and occasionally amuse myself by imagining that he's a sect of one (1) person and just powerful enough that no one can really do anything about him. I have so many questions about his cultivation (battle guqin battle guqin BATTLE GUQIN--) and think it's awesome that his relatively alternative cultivation is developed enough to 1) kick many asses, 2) take down Yan Wushi (with help), and 3) land him on the Big Ten list. Also like, is the only character to call Yan Wushi just 'Wushi' onscreen (on-page?) so like. even more questions, I have them

Duan Wenyang - another deeply underrated character who--yeah I'll keep saying it--could carry his own spin-off novella. I think there's a lot to unpack about race and ethnicity in 《千秋》 (which I am most definitely not qualified to do), and I'm still quite salty about how the donghua plot changes flattened that nuance into (sigh) pretty straightforward Central Asian stereotyping and xenophobia. We get all sorts of tantalizing hints about Duan Wenyang's character and backstory (he's biracial, better--cultivationally--than Kun Ye, politically clever and ambitious) and he's one of those characters whose story clearly continues on after the end of the book. One of my favorite moments of him is in the first fanwai chapter where he and Yu Shengyan race to the foot of Half-Step Peak and run into Shen Qiao coming down with Yan Wushi, and all of their past conflicts and enmity are put aside in favor of jianghu priorities and relationships, Duan Wenyang's concern for his shizun, and it's like. yeah that's the jianghu spirit all right and it gets you right in the hidden feels