#maybe i'll be surprised

[illprotectyou-hearteyes]

So, the opening line of MI2 is: "Well, Dimitri, every search for a hero must begin with something every hero requires: a villain."

It's not a line I've given much thought to, what with it hardly being a strikingly original observation.

But giving it a moment, the line makes me think about how much more complex the MI series' approach to that dichotomy is than 'Good Guy vs Bad Guy'. It's far more 'a guy fighting for his humanity vs an institution that seeks to subsume him into their oppressive functions.' Ethan didn't rise from the ashes to combat an Evil Overlord or even an Evil Organization which he attacks from the outside. Dude wants a dog and a family and house, but he is trapped within an organization that leaves no options besides being complicit with its abuses or fighting like hell to subvert both it and the threat it launches him at.

That's why the villains I find most compelling in the series are ones like Jim Phelps and Solomon Lane—even Sean Ambrose in a few select moments—who contrast with Ethan specifically in how they navigate the moral death-trap that is the IMF or similar organizations. (Don't get me wrong, Owen Davion is a top-tier villain when it comes to building a sense of threat and cruelty, but by MI standards I don't find him the most thematically compelling. If I'm going for analysis, I'm more likely to dig into Musgrave and Brassel).

Still, to return to the opening line of MI2: it doesn't refer to the 'creation of a hero', but rather the 'search for a hero'. And, well, I suppose the IMF as an organization is, in its way, always on the search for heroes. But however unintentionally, it finds them not through identifying external villains to toss agents at and see who sticks. It finds and forges them through being the jailor who traps individuals inside it, and villain who will break and turn them within it unless they find the heroism to fight.

And for all its theatrics which these days tend play as rather more funny than cool, for all that its aesthetics make it easy to dismiss, that dynamic is fully present in MI2—more present even, I'd argue, (at least at this point in my rewatches), than in MI3 or MI4.

And personally, I find that dynamic really compelling, not to mention relatable. After all, I suspect it's a rare privilege among us everyday folks to find an individual nemesis against whom to sharpen our skills and wits and moral fiber. But living within systems of oppression we cannot escape, within which complacency and obedience tips all too readily into complicity with horrors, against which we learn to stand in whatever small or large ways we find capacity for even when we cannot find the means to transform it—well, my friends and I know a thing or two about that.

[leliwardens]

very much wait and see for da4 but really thinking anything city elf kinda died with wewh and briala huh

[ofoceansandtombsanew]

already said it to allie privately but there's nothing worse than when you're watch the next season of a show and the male and female leads are both dating different people they arguably have much better chemistry with but you already know by the end of the season the leads are definitely going to dump those people in favor of dating each other again jfndsfjkdnfkjs

[repmet]

@rwrbsource & @rwrbmovie’s rwrb appreciation month bingo: favourite scene

I'll break the sound barrier for you.

[sysig]

Rainbows (Patreon)

[petricorah]

lee from the tea shop boutta get it (wip) [id in alt]

edit: completed illustration here

[edwinspaynes]

All of the art we have for the journal so far, compiled in one convenient location! I'm a little bit confused since the Kickstarter says there are 12 arts, and they say there's only one more to go (making 11 in total), but hey! These are the ones we've got.

(Update: edited to add the Clary & Sebastian one that I forgot the first time)

[inorheona]

slowly making my way thru the second campaign

[spacebar2]

(Characters, not content creators. I don't support William Gold/Wilbur Soot.)

I missed watercolor. Ough.

[gracefireheart]

Idk I just wanted to sketch Medic but as a partial demon or something

[no-brain-just-akutagawa]

when he could almost taste the most expensive french wine but his least favourite anemic turned out not to be dead after all

[ID: An edited "Disappointed man" meme. Instead of the man's face, there's Chuuya looking down with a mix of disappointment and annoyance. End ID]

[vickyt-mv]

quick lon'qu for his birthday 🗡️🗡️

[tosteur-gluteal]

Again, gouache painting I made to relax

[nachosncheezies]

In defense of late-canon x files (including the revivals)

I was thinking about this poll after I commented on it, and I kinda want to be brave and say more.

Short answer to the poll's question before I go any further: If you're a new fan and a sensitive sort who thinks you'll struggle with your blorbos Really Going Through It and you really need a happy ending, I suggest you stop at the end of season 8. Do not pass go, do not look at spoilers. Disregard this post entirely, close the internet, and go look at something that makes you happy. (Also fuck every part of society that characterizes sensitivity as inherently weak and bad and some kind of personal failing, you are valid.)

That said, "quality" as a concept is entirely subjective, and the question of whether or not there's a decline in quality for any story is wholly subjective, too. In the case of x files? I'm not convinced there is a decline. I am going to be upfront that I haven't yet watched past season 8, though I am almost completely spoiled on events after that - and the reason I haven't watched yet is not because of how I know events are going to unfold, but simply because I don't want it to end!!! Ohh, the tension between "I CAN'T WAIT!!!" and "Nooo don't be over D:"

When I first came to txf fandom on tumblr and gradually became spoiled about what happens in late canon though, I was often left uncomfortable and tbh kinda queasy about it. As I said in my comment on the poll, the hate for especially the revival and IWTB, or to a lesser extent even seasons 8 & 9, is very well documented. But! There are other takes to be found here on tumblr if you figure out where to look, and my feelings have changed!

The thing is, I have yet to find myself in any fandom where there isn't a vocal subset of fans who dislike the story after a certain point. I am not joking when I say that no one hates the things they love as passionately as sci-fi and fantasy fans. In my experience, it often hinges on the extent to which a viewer has strong notions on where they would like the characters to end up. In particular with series where shipping is a dominant component for the bulk of a fandom, I have almost universally found that there comes some turning point in the story where "let them be happy you cowards" is the dominant view, and things that compromise the attainment of a degree of romantic stability and/or domesticity are, to many fans, annoying at best and despicable at worst. But! As one tagset on the linked poll said:

and I think for any fandom, that last tag especially is so so so important. (I think that's harder for people watching a weekly series live, bc you have so much time to analyze and speculate and dream before the next breadcrumb drops, but I digress.)

So why am I saying this and how do I apply it to x files? Well, I eventually found that there are also a subset of fans who find redeeming things right up to the very end and actually quite like the whole thing! The things that I had seen people rage and ventpost so much about honestly never quite sounded to me as "out of character" or "untrue to the story" etc as those same ventposts made them sound. And I've discovered I'm not the only one who felt that way. Do I love that the spooky squad had to go through all of those things? No, those poor guys D: Life is hard and they have been through so much trauma. But do those events and their choices make sense to me in light of everything that came before? Yes! And I honestly can't wait to see them fight to overcome those things, breaking, healing, always learning, always growing, always getting better.

So if you're wondering "where does it go wrong"... well, I'm a completionist, as many people who've answered that post are, but also my personal opinion is that I don't think it does go wrong. If you're new and interested in exploring why I've gone from "vaguely queasy" to "excited" about the whole thing, or want to maybe balance out the impressions you're getting about the later seasons before deciding whether or not you want to see the whole thing, I'll put a few blog names in the comments.

Final admission: even once I started feeling a little more confident in the possibility that "actually ok maybe I'm not crazy, maybe this all kind of is in character and does make sense", there was one big plot point that I was NOT looking forward to and I thought I would never be comfortable about. In hindsight, I think my discomfort came from the negative responses being SO seemingly universal that I hadn't stopped to let myself truly consider other possible interpretations on that point. (I mean my initial instinct when I first read about it was, why are we mad about this?? CSM is literally the most unreliable narrator in history???? it's obviously fake news?????? this must be either a fever dream someone's having or it's a misdirection ploy against whatever shadowy forces might still be lurking?????????????? but for whatever reason I guess I had halfway written that off.) Happily, just last month there's a new post-s11 novel out, and although reviews for the book as a whole are mixed, it seems to have laid the groundwork for resolving that plot issue in a way I think most fans would be broadly happy with. If you're interested in being spoiled about that and seeing how, I recommend searching #perihelion on @agent-troi who liveblogged reading it with receipts, scroll back chronological-style to the first post on the subject and see how it unfolded. (And never forget that Dana Katherine Scully is the queen of denial as a coping mechanism lol)

Everyone's mileage will vary. Each person can feel however they want! But for anyone new, I wanted you to know that the very many ventposts you might be seeing are not all there is to this show or its fandom. Some of us love it despite - or even because of - all the things that went "wrong". I think we just don't talk about it as much.

[uwo-kun]

doctor day